“I feel kinda bad about sending Pinkie off like that!” Matter-Horn shouted as she and her ‘sidekick’ leapt across building tops.

“It comes with the territory, Twi!” Spike shouted back. “If reading all those comic books has taught me anything, it’s that you’re gonna have to learn to balance being a superhero with your normal life! I like Pinkie, too. But sometimes you’ll have to do these things! You have to think about the greater good!”

“I know! I know!” she grumbled. “It’s just…something to get used to, I guess!”

“So, do we know where we’re going?!” Spike asked.

“Unfortunately, no!” Matter-Horn replied. “Flash never said during his phone call!”

“And that big computer in the basement?!”

“Raven said she’s gonna have someone over to get it up and running! Hopefully soon!” she said. She looked around trying to spot any possible chaos. “I guess we’ll just have to keep an eye out for anything out of the ordinary! Look for police cars with their lights on!”

“Sounds like a plan!”

They continue for a couple more minutes with no luck. Matter-Horn signals to Spike and they stop on a building.

“I know Maretropolis is a big city, but you’d think we would’ve spotted Love Bunny’s minions by now. GAH!” she shouted stamping her foot, causing her breasts to jiggle.

“Yeah, they’re not known to be subtle. Big, crowded places. Making a show of things.” Spike tried not to look at her wobbling body.

“This is going to sound bad of me, but I kinda wish they had a neon sign that said: ‘We’re over here’!” Matter-Horn held her hands up as if she was holding a sign.

“I know what you mean. It’s a bit frustrating. But I guess that’s why superheroes go on patrols.”

“Patrols?! Who has time for that?” she said in exasperation.

“Ahem,” Spike gave her a look and folded his arms.

“I know. I know. Let’s just keep going. We’ll find them eventually. Should we split up?”

“No, I think that’s a bad idea,” Spike shook his head. “We don’t have any kind of long-range communication. So, if either of us find the problem, we’d be facing it alone. Right now, it’s best if we stick together.”

“Alright.”

After another ten minutes, Spike spotted something on the streets.

“Hey, does ten police cars surrounding the entrance to a building seem odd?”

“More than a little. Let’s check it out.”

They land on a rooftop across the street and survey the situation.

“Hey, it’s a bank!” Matter-Horn pointed out. “Why would Love Bunny attack a bank?”

“Maybe she’s trying to open an account?”

Matter-Horn gave him a look and turned back to the building. “Well, in any case, let’s get a closer look.”

“You aren’t gonna jump right into the action again, are you?”

“Nooo. I’ve learned my lesson. Come on. Let’s ask the police what they know.”

On the ground, Matter-Horn spots Flash Sentry amongst the officers and groans. Spike noticed and nudged her in the side.

“Looks like lover boy’s already here.”

“Oh, shut up,” she hissed. “Detective Valerius. Good to see you again.”

To no one’s surprise, Matter-Horn’s presence drew a lot of looks from the police. Flash turned and groaned as well. “Somehow I’m not shocked to see you here.”

“Oh, and why is that?” she said.

“There seems to be a lot of weirdos out nowadays, and you always show up.”

“Holy shit! Is this the woman you were talking about?” Brawly Beats pulled up next to Flash.

“Masked Matter-Horn. Local superheroine, at your service,” she introduced herself. “Were you just calling me a weirdo, detective?”

“Well, I mean…have you looked in the mirror?”

“I’m here too,” Spike said waving. “I’m…her partner? Still don’t have a name.”

“As a matter of fact, I have,” she said stepping closer to him. “And you may have a point. But I’m not going around transforming people on the streets.”

“Partner? More like her sidekick,” Brawly quipped. “And are those pajamas?”

“Be that as it may, I could have you arrested for public indecency,” Flash retorted doing his best not to look at her ample cleavage and maintain eye contact.

“We have equal standing!” Spike jabbed a finger at Brawly. “And it’s a Halloween costume.”

“I’m not naked! All of my naughty parts are covered!” Matter-Horn shouted.

“Oh, yeah. Like that’s supposed to make it any better?” Brawly teased Spike.

“I’m not having this conversation. I can’t take you seriously when you look like one of those women obsessed with body enhancements. So, kindly take your saline filled water balloons away from here!” Flash pointed a finger in a direction away from the bank.

“Feh! I’ll have you know that these are all natural! Care to inspect them yourself, detective?” she said pressing her massive mammaries against his chest. “And if previous encounters with these ‘weirdos’ is any indication you’ll need my help!”

“AHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!” a familiar laugh echoed from the bank entrance. Everyone turned to see Trixie emerge from a huge cloud of purple smoke. “If this is how the cavalry behaves, then I guess I didn’t need to bring reinforcements?” she taunted swinging her arms out wide.

“Well, I hope you brought enough people, because I recall kicking your butt last time!” Matter-Horn retorted.

“Why are you antagonizing her?” Spike hissed.

“HA! I have more than enough with me!” Trixie said moving towards the police barricade, jiggling with every step. The police all draw their guns and take aim on her. “They might be too much for you to handle, though.”

Matter-Horn pushed past Flash and marched over to Trixie. She stopped inches from the magician and put her hands on her hips hoping to look intimidating. “So, why are you robbing banks, now? Is Love Bunny behind on her monthly bills?”

“You might wanna stick to your day job. Comedy is not your strong suit,” Trixie teased stepping forward so her equally large chest presses against Matter-Horn’s.

“We’re still working on her one-liners!” Spike called from the barricade.

“So, any plans, wise guy?” Flash asked Spike.

“Unfortunately, no,” he said pulling out his staff. “We heard the call for help and came as fast as we could. But we don’t know what we’re up against. Other than Trixie and her ‘reinforcements’.”

“I think I have an idea. Things are gonna get ugly.”

“Hm?” Spike gave the detective a sideways look.

“Sir, what are your orders?” one of the police officers asked Flash.

“Stand your ground, for now. Wait for my signal.”

“So, are we just gonna stand here and compare our boobs, or are we gonna fight?” Matter-Horn said pushing against Trixie.

(Thump. Thump. Thump.)

“As much as I’d love to do both,” she said stepping away from the superheroine. “It would seem my reinforcements have finally finished their business.”

(Thump. Thump. Thump.)

From the smoke, Rover, Fido, and Spot walk out into the open. Each of them is carrying a large sack stuffed full of cash. They lumbered forward and stop right behind the nefarious magician.

“Holy shit! What are those guys? Are they on super steroids?” Spike said in exasperation.

“They would be the Diamond Dogs. Well, three of them anyway,” Flash answered.

“Wait, I thought the Diamond Dogs were just a group of thugs?”

“It seems they’ve found themselves a new business partner.”

“AHAHAHA!! You like them?” Trixie taunted leaning back against Rover. “They’re my new breed of hunks. Bigger, stronger, better.”

“Your tricks are getting old, Trixie. A paint job isn’t going to make things any different,” Matter-Horn said charging up gem. “You might want to consider changing your act.”

“Oh, you’ll find that my latest ‘trick’ is gonna be a real crowd pleaser,” Trixie said giving the superheroine a sly grin. She reached into her cleavage and pulled out a small object. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have important business to tend to. Boys, I’ll leave the rest to you. Have a bit of fun before you return.” Trixie threw the object at her feet and a cloud of pink smoke erupted from it.

“GET BACK HERE!!!” Matter-Horn hollered as Trixie vanished. She focused her attention on the dissipating smoke, readying herself for anything.

The smoke cleared and the three hulking men stood there talking amongst themselves.

“So, what do you wanna do, Spot?” Rover asked the one to his right.

“I WANNA SMASH THINGS. I WANNA BEAT THE COPS TO A PULP!!” he shouted, a crazed look in his eyes.

“Alright,” Rover turned to the guy on his left. “Fido? How ‘bout you?”

Fido stood there for a moment thinking. “Oh, I don’t know. I just want to make Miss Trixie happy,” he said in a quiet voice.

“Well, I think Spot has the right idea. We should smash things. Plus, smacking the police around would be a lot of fun.”

“You think so?”

“You bet.”

“YEAH! YEAH! YEAH! LET’S GOOOOOOOO!!!!!” Spot swung the sack of money around and hurled it towards the police barricade.

Everyone panicked as the sack soared through the air and desperately scrambled to move away from its trajectory. Right before it could crash into anyone a fuchsia aura surrounded the sack and it stopped in midair. Matter-Horn had reacted in time to catch the projectile.

“Guh! I got it!” she gasped holding it in place. Once clear she set it down gently.

“OPEN FIRE!!!” Flash ordered.

Every available officer aimed their guns at the three men and began firing on them. Fido and Spot flinched at the hail of bullets, but Rover just stood there unfazed. He chuckled as the bullets bounced harmlessly off him. After about a minute of shooting, Flash ordered them to cease fire.

“How the hell?” Brawly said looking at his gun to make sure he did fire it.

“Heheheh. Is that all you got? That tickled,” Rover said dusting off his shoulder.

Fido and Spot looked themselves over shocked to find they were unharmed.

“Haha! I’m alive!” Spot shouted.

Rover dropped his bag and charged for the barricade. Matter-Horn jumped in front of him and shot a blast of magic at him. The blast hit the hulking man square in the chest, and he was momentarily stunned. Rover shook his head and directed his attention on the costumed heroine. He drew back a massive arm and launched a punch at her.

“Eep!” Matter-Horn squeaked and erected a force field in the nick of time. Rover kept up his assault and continued slamming his fists against the barrier.

“Matter-Horn!” Spike cried out and jumped over the barricade.

“Not so fast, little man!!” Fido shouted blocking his path.

“Dammit!” Spike gritted his teeth and readied his staff. He charged Fido, feinted left, and swung hard at his head. (THWACK!!) His aim was true, and he struck the man in the temple. However, Fido was completely unfazed. “Uh-oh.”

Fido turned on the spot and hurled a fist at Spike. With only half a second to react, the sidekick ducked under the oncoming attack. He jumped around the huge man and repeatedly struck him while avoiding being hit himself.

“Geez! For a guy your size, you’re awfully fast!”

“Hold still, will ya!” Fido shouted. “I gotta squash ya!”

“Yeah! I’m gonna go with no!”

Meanwhile, the police force was having time dealing with Spot. The third Diamond Dog had jumped right over the barricade and began wailing on them. Unprepared for a frontal attack, the cops tried to flee the crazed man. Spot, however, was quite eager to beat the Maretropolis police into a bloody mess. He charged through the crowd, flailing his arms about wildly, and knocked them over like bowling pins.

A few of the psions attempted to blast them with their magic, but it simply bounced off with no affect. The avians tried to keep their distance by taking to the sky, but Spot just picked up police cars and tossed them in the air.

“AHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! RUN ALL YOU WANT, PUNY COPPERS!! YOU CAN’T ESCAPE MY WRATH!!!!” Spot hollered.

“Hey, tiny!” one of the police yelled at him.

The Diamond Dog spun around. “WHO SAID THAT?!” he bellowed eyes wide with rage. He spied Brawly thirty feet away from him, smirking.

“You know what? Even with this makeover, you’re still kinda small!” he taunted.

“WHO ARE YA CALLIN’ SMALL??!!”

“Dude, what are you doing?” Flash said, standing right next to Brawly. “Don’t rile him up even more.”

“Relax, I got a plan. Just move when I say so,” he reassured Flash. “I’M CALLING YOU SMALL!!” he yelled turning his attention back to Spot. “LOOK AT THE OTHER TWO! THEY’RE HUUUGE! AND YOU’RE NO BIGGER THAN ME!!!” Brawly was six feet two and barrel chested, whereas Spot was only a little taller.

“GRAAAH!! I’M GONNA CRUSH YOU!!!” Spot screamed and charged Brawly.

“Can I move now?!” Flash said through clenched teeth.

“Hold. Hold!” Brawly waited until Spot was mere feet from them. “NOW!”

Brawly jumped to the side while Flash flew straight up. With no time to stop or change his direction, Spot crashed headfirst into the police car that was right behind them. The vehicle slid a few feet and Spot found himself tangled in the twisted metal.

“GAH! DAMMIT!!!”

“OH! I think I see what you have in mind!” Flash shouted down to his partner. He landed right behind the Diamond Dog. “HEY, PIPSQUEAK?!”

“GRAAAH!!!” Spot ripped the police car apart and spun around. His eyes were bloodshot, and he growled viciously. “SAY THAT AGAIN! I DARE YOU!!!”

“It looks like your muscles have gotten bigger, but your brain is still small!” Flash taunted. He primed his wings, ready to take off. “I can’t believe the Diamond Dogs would want someone so stupid in their gang!”

“I’M GONNA CRUSH YOUR SKUUUUULLL!!!!” Spot screamed and charged Flash.

Flash leapt backwards and manifested his wings. He zipped about a few feet of the ground. Spot chased him relentlessly, fixated only on the airborne detective. Flash kept this up for a bit before suddenly flying straight up. The Diamond Dog was so focused on Flash that he didn’t notice the brick wall he was about to collide with. Spot slammed full speed into the building.

“SEE WHAT I MEAN?!” Flash called down to Spot. “YOU AREN’T EXACTLY THE BRIGHTEST BULB ON THE-WHOA!!” he dodged a bit of brick wall that was hurled at him.

“GET DOWN HERE AND FIGHT ME!!!!” Spot was picking up the rubble and throwing it at Flash.

“NAH! I LIKE IT UP HERE!” he said stretching his limbs. “IT’S QUITE ROOMY!!”

“GRRR!!” Spot growled as he climbed out of the wreckage. He grabbed a nearby car and flung it at Flash.

“HEY! EASY THERE! YOU ALMOST HIT ME!!”

Spot ripped a lamp post out of the ground and swatted at Flash with it. “WILL! YOU! STOP! MOVING!”

Matter-Horn was getting exhausted. Rover seemed intent on breaking through her force field, and maintaining it was tiring. The constant pounding made it difficult to concentrate, and the barrier was losing its integrity.

“Think,” she said to herself. “How can I get out of here? I can’t teleport. It’s hard to focus with this guy constantly punching the barrier.” She looked up to see the force field beginning to crack. “And I’m low on magic. What am I supposed to do? Where am I going to find more-Oh! Of course!”

The busty heroine grabbed her breasts and began squeezing them. She moved her hands in circular motions, remembering the technique Timber taught her. Matter-Horn felt the magic welling up within her and moved faster.

“What the hell are you doing?” Rover paused dumbfounded by Matter-Horn suddenly feeling herself up. “Well, no matter! I’ll get you out of that hamster ball, and then we can have some fun!” He returned to punching the barrier, now with more vigor.

Matter-Horn ignored him and pinched her nipples. She could feel her mind going fuzzy, but she remained calm. Her began gem glowed brilliantly and she knew she had to release the magic soon.

Rover clasped his hands together and drew them back over his head. “Time to bust open this ball and collect my prize!” he shouted.

Right before he could swing his arms down, Matter-Horn released the barrier and unleashed the magic she was charging.

“HAAAAH!!!!”

“WHAT?!?!”

A massive blast of energy shot out from her gem hitting the Diamond Dog square in the chest. Rover was sent flying into the building across and broke through the wall. Matter-Horn dropped to one knee and breathed deeply. She placed a hand to her head and tried to regain herself.

“Whew, that was a rush,” she said slowly standing back up. She looked up at the place Rover was blasted to, wondering if he was still conscious. “Heh, guess that did it. I really don’t know my own…”

At that moment the side of the wall exploded as Rover jumped out. He landed in front of Matter-Horn and cracked his neck. “Okay, that hurt,” he said brushing the dust off his shoulders.

“OH, COME ON!!” Matter-Horn shouted in exasperation. She gritted her teeth and charged her gem again.

“It’s gonna take more than some pretty lights to take me down!” he taunted punching his fist into his palm.

“Alright, we’ll just do this the ‘normal’ way,” she said forming a plan.

Matter-Horn first shot the ground beneath Rover, causing him to sink into the asphalt.

“AH, DAMMIT!!” he shouted trying to pull himself free,

Next, she blasted him in the eye, blinding him.

“SHIT!! MY EYES!!!” Rover screamed clutching his face.

With the hulking man distracted, Matter-Horn rushed up to him. She reached up to his neck and was about to snatch the collar off but stopped short. “What? Where is it?” Matter-Horn looked over Rover’s collar but couldn’t find the little heart-shaped gem.

“What’s the matter, sweetheart?” Rover said regaining his sight and freeing himself. “Looking for something?”

“It should be here! How could you be so strong?”

“Sorry hotstuff, I’m just ‘naturally’ this buff.” Rover wrapped his hands around Matter-Horn and lifted her up. “Now, why don’t we have a bit of fun?”

“Guh, let go!” Matter-Horn grunted as she squirmed in his grip. “Ew.”

“Come now, don’t be shy,” he said licking his lips. “I just wanna get to know you better. Hehehe.”

“NO!” Matter-Horn zapped the hulking man in the eyes again.

“AH! FUCK!! DAMMIT, NOT AGAIN!!!” Rover screamed in pain. He dropped the masked heroine and clutched his face.

“Oof!” Matter-Horn grunted as she landed hard on her butt. She scrambled away from the screaming man, trying to find Spike. She spotted him jumping around Fido and repeatedly smacking him with his staff. “HEY…UH…GUY!!” she shouted trying to get his attention.

Spike glanced at her and extracted a smoke bomb from his belt. He threw it in Fido’s face and left him coughing up a storm. “Did you just call me ‘guy’?” he asked Matter-Horn.

“What else am I supposed to call you?” she said shrugging. “You still don’t have an alias.”

“I’ll have you know that I…” Spike cut himself off at the sudden realization. “Shit, you’re right. I don’t.”

“We’ll worry about that later. Right now, we have bigger problems.”

“Oh, you mean the fact that these guys don’t have those little gemstones for us to smash? Yeah, I noticed!”

“What are we going to do? That’s how we’ve been stopping these freaks for the last month!”

“Does any of your magic work?”

“Sort of,” she said with uncertainty. “I was able to knock that guy back,” she indicated Rover who was still blinded, “but that took some time to ‘charge up’.” Matter-Horn motioned towards her breasts and gave Spike a look.

“Oh, you mean? Okay, let’s hold off on that for now. I don’t think any of them would just sit still while you played with yourself.”

“Crude, but I agree. Flash and his partner are having a time with that one guy. You and I are just barely hanging on.”

“I didn’t even put a scratch on the dude I’m fighting,” Spike said shaking his head. “Man, it used to be so simple. Get the heart gem, smash it on the ground. Easy peasy. So, any ideas?”

“Unfortunately, no. The best I can say is to-“

Matter-Horn was cut off as both Rover recovered from being blinded and Fido found his way out of the smoke. The two Diamond Dogs rushed the two heroes and attacked them together. Matter-Horn put up a barrier in front of her and Spike brought up his staff. The superheroine flinched and her sidekick was knocked to his knees. She grabbed him and warped them forty feet away.

“God damn, that really smarts!” Spike cried out shaking his wrists. “Oh, shit! How strong is this guy?” He held up his staff to see it dented.

“Oof, that could’ve been much worse. Doesn’t look like Flash is doing much better,” she said looking his way.

Flash and Brawly were working together to stop Spot, however, the beefed-up thug proved to be more than a match for them.

“Go to sleep. Go to sleeeeeep,” Brawly had the Diamond Dog in a sleeper hold and was trying to subdue him.

Spot flailed around, angrily stomping his feet. He tried to get Brawly off, but the detective held on tight. Eventually, Spot reached behind him and pulled the man off, throwing him a distance away. Brawly smacked into the ground and skidded across the asphalt. Flash rushed over to his partner to check on him.

“You okay, man?” he asked pulling Brawly to his feet.

“Yeah, just a few scrapes and bruises,” he said looking himself over. “I’ve had worse playing football. Fuck, this guy is strong. Think anything will stop him?”

“No, and I’m fresh out of ideas. I don’t know if anything will put a scratch on these guys.”

“We could always call in a tactical nuke. Think your uncle has any connections?”

“Don’t joke about that stuff, he might,” Flash said. He watched as Spot ripped a parking meter out of the sidewalk and walk towards them.

“Well, think fast. I’m pretty sure he’s gonna cave our skulls in with that thing!”

Spot was slowly marching towards Flash and Brawly with a smirk on his face when he stopped suddenly. In fact, all three Diamond Dogs stopped what they were doing and stared off into space as if they just heard something.

[DIAMOND DOGS!] Trixie called to the three men telepathically. [YOU’VE HAD YOUR FUN FOR NOW! GRAB THE MONEY AND RETURN TO BASE!]

“ALRIGHT, BOYS! YOU HEARD HER!!” Rover shouted. He leapt over to his discarded sack of cash and picked it up. “LET’S MOVE OUT!!”

Fido quickly followed suit and grabbed his own bag of money. Spot grumbled but dropped the parking meter. He pointed at the two detectives and gave them an angry look as if to say, ‘Next time’. The three Diamond Dogs left the scene of the crime with everyone in a daze.

“Should we have someone follow them?” Brawly asked Flash.

“And then what? Get ripped apart by a group of those roided out maniacs?”

“We could at least learn where they’re staying. Keep tabs on them.”

“As much as I’d love to do that, we still don’t really know what we’re up against. Sending someone after them could be dangerous,” Flash said shaking his head. “Besides, it’s probably best if we handle things here first.”

“I actually thought I was going to die,” Spike said to Matter-Horn. “I’m pretty sure if they hadn’t left like that, they would’ve killed us.”

“I wonder why they left? That one acted as if someone said something to them. It may have been Trixie. She probably used telepathy.”

“Hey! How’d you guys fair?” Flash said running up to them.

“About this well,” Spike said holding up his damaged staff.

“Whoa! Think someone can buff that out?” Brawly joked, catching up with Flash.

“How about you guys?” Matter-Horn asked them. “Any serious injuries to the Maretropolis police?”

“I don’t know yet. Everything happened so fast,” Flash said. “So, anything you can tell us that would help?”

“Sadly, no. I know about as much as you do. We have the lunatic Trixie teaming up with these Diamond Dogs and turning them into unstoppable juggernauts. Though, right now they seem to be only hitting up banks, which is odd.”

“Not so odd for that pack of mutts, it’s practically their bread and butter. Banks and jewelry stores.”

“So, you think they’ll go after that next?” Spike asked.

“No idea. I’d like to focus more on finding these clowns.”

“Ahem,” Brawly cleared his throat.

“Yes, yes. I know,” Flash waved his partner off. “I’d rather wait until they aren’t wary of us. If we tail them right after a robbery, they’d see it coming and possibly ambush whoever was following them. This may have to be done the old fashion way.”

“Ugh, that sounds tiresome,” Brawly groaned inwardly.

“Well, if that’s all, detectives, we’ll be on our way.”

With no protests from either Flash or Brawly, Matter-Horn put her hand on Spike’s shoulder and warped them away from the area.

“And we still aren’t following them as well, right?”

“Right. As bizarre as it may seem, they may be able to help us out in the future,” Flash said crossing his arms. “Let’s not jeopardize this tentative partnership.”

“Partnership? Okay then. You trust them?”

“Oh, absolutely not. They’re dressed for a comic book convention, and the woman look’s as if she’s visited a body modification clinic more than once.”

The superheroine and her sidekick leap across the rooftops back to the library. As per Spike’s suggestion, they don’t make a direct line there, but rather a zig-zagged path. ‘So, it’s not so obvious where we’re heading’, he said.

“So, how are you?” Matter-Horn asked him. “Hurt anywhere? Need to see Meadowbrook?”

“No, I’m doing alright,” Spike said looking himself over. “A bit banged up, but nothing some rest won’t take care of. “What about you?”

“I’m fine. No real injuries, unless you include the splitting headache I have now. I need to practice combat magic more.”

“Just say the word, I’m more than happy to lend a hand.”

“Thanks,” she said giving him a smile.

They arrive at Old Maretropolis Library and enter through the side door. Twilight takes a moment to return to normal and Spike pulls the sweaty mask off his face.

“PHEW! It feels good to be out of that,” she said stretching.

“I hear ya,” Spike said squeezing a considerable amount of sweat from the mask. “Gonna take a looong shower later.”

Twilight noticed Spike still had his staff out and that it was still dented. “Is that thing going to be okay?”

“I dunno, let’s find out.”

VRRRRRRR. Spike tried to collapse the staff, but the poor object just vibrated violently and refused to shrink every time he pressed the button.

“There’s your answer.”

“Yikes. Do you think you can fix it?”

“I was kinda hoping you would know something about this thing.”

“I know a bit about magical tools, but that thing seems far too complex for me. You’d have to take it to a specialist.”

“Well, that’s a no. On the plus side, I’m pretty sure Lily or Inky would love it as it is now,” he said clicking the button again.

“Gross,” Twilight said making a face. “But that reminds me, I really should have mine in.”

“Gross.”

They head for the head office and take the hidden elevator to the sub-basement.

“I just don’t see the point in the hero-villain banter,” Twilight said as they stepped out. “Why can’t I just stop the bad guys and that be the end of it?”

“Look, all I’m saying is that the banter is a staple of the superhero scene. It’d be like having a sundae and there wasn’t a cherry on top. It completes the package. Oh, you guys were down here. Good,” Spike said spotting Raven next to the computer console with Celestia in her arms. “And you have a guest?”

Standing with them was a man who appeared to be in his late forties. He was a little shorter than Spike, with two-toned cerulean hair in a bowl cut, bright azure eyes, and a light-blue Ceylon-cut gem in his forehead. The man turned and gave the siblings a warm smile.

“Ah, you must be Twilight and Spike. Tia and Raven told me about you two,” he said holding out his hand. “I’m Stygian Sciuto, I worked with them during the ‘good ol’ days’.”

Twilight shook his hand first then Spike. His slim frame belied a strong grip.

“It’s nice to meet you. But what are you doing down here?”

“This was the guy I told you would get the computer up and running,” Celestia answered. “He was the one who built it.”

“Yes, one of my finer accomplishments,” he said with an air of pride. “Though it will take a bit longer. It hasn’t been used in a while, nearly two decades, and some parts have simply corroded. Also, there was a bit of a rodent problem.”

“So, what are we looking at time-wise?” Twilight asked him.

“About a week. The parts should be in by then. I hope you haven’t needed it.”

“Fortunately, no, but we may need whatever help it can provide. Things are getting a crazier.”

“I’ll see if I can get it fixed sooner. But the earliest would be Friday,” Stygian said.

“You were on the old team?” Spike spoke up. “Who were you?”

“Yeah, I was known as Dark Horse,” he said.

Spike’s eyes lit up at hearing that. “Then, do you think you can fix this?” he held up the damaged staff.

Stygian recoiled at seeing the warped staff. He recovered himself and stomped over to Spike, quickly snatching the staff from his hands. “Oh, my baby, what did he do to you? How did he let this happen?” He pressed the button to see what would happen. The staff simply whirred and vibrated, and Stygian closed his eyes. He reopened them and glared daggers at the young man. “HOW?! How did you do this? This is made of ithilmar. How did you damage my staff?”

“Hey, look. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for it to happen. But his guy was far stronger than the ones before,” Spike apologized profusely. “Did you say ithilmar? That stuff’s super rare.”

“What ‘guy’ are you talking about?” Stygian asked moving uncomfortably close to Spike, poking him in the chest with the staff.

“Wait, what do you mean far stronger?” Celestia jumped in. “Who were you dealing with?”

“Well, Trixie at first. Then the Diamond Dogs showed up,” Twilight said.

“Hold up! Trixie and the Diamond Dogs? Start over and tell us everything.

Twilight and Spike took turns telling the three of them what happened outside the bank. Trixie showing up first. The Diamond Dogs appearing with a radically new look. Their lack of the magic gems that powered them. How they just stopped what they were doing and suddenly left. Celestia, Raven, and Stygian all stood there in silence for a moment. Finally, Celestia spoke.

“Okay, this poses a bigger problem than I had foreseen,” she said with noticeable frustration. “I had thought this Love Bunny was some amateur having fun with her newfound power. Clearly, I was mistaken.”

“What do you think, Tia?” Stygian said. “Direct infusion of the magic?”

“That’s what I was thinking. Given your description of the Diamond Dogs and of Love Bunny’s forces from before, that’s the only possible conclusion.”

“What do you mean by direct infusion?” Twilight asked raising her hand.

“It’s basically what it sounds like,” Stygian answered. “From what you tell me, the people you fought before had a simple glamour spell cast on them, probably with mind control woven in as well. Those gems you talked about are much like the one in the belt he’s appropriating,” he turned and gave Spike a look.

“Hey! Talk to her,” he pointed at Celestia. “She’s the one who gave them to me.”

“Anyway, the gems from those people were probably the crystallized form of the goddess’s magic. A little can go a long way, but it needed an external source to work. The Diamond Dogs on the other hand…”

“Those three had the magic put inside of them. Likely through sex,” Celestia jumped in. “Love Bunny, or one of her people, used the energy from a sexual act to super charge them. It’s like injecting yourself with performance enhancing drugs.”

“Oh, I didn’t know that was possible,” Twilight said scratching her head. “Still seems rather odd that it’s done through sex.”

“Well, what do you expect, Twi?” Spike said. “This is a goddess of love, beauty, and sex. What did you think that training from last Saturday was all about?”

“Who got training and who got to fool around with two women?” Twilight grumbled.

“You’ve started training? That’s good,” Stygian said. “This Love Bunny sounds like she could be dangerous. Take as much precaution as possible. If you need any help, don’t hesitate to call.”

“That actually brings me back to my earlier point,” Spike stepped in. “Can you fix that?” he pointed to the staff.

Stygian sighed and closed his eyes. After a moment he opened them and looked directly at Spike. “Alright, I will repair my multi-staff. Under the condition that you are trained to use it properly. I can’t believe you dented it. Were you not using the magic barrier?”

“That thing has a magic barrier function?” Spike said incredulously. “What? How?”

“Ugh, we’ve got a long road ahead of us,” Stygian groaned.

“So, I’m going to ask the obvious here,” Twilight said. “But how are we supposed to stop these ‘infused’ Diamond Dogs if they don’t have something for us to destroy?”

“Well, there are multiple ways to dispel magic like this,” Stygian started. “The easiest is to let it simply wear off. Though, who knows how long it lasts for. And I doubt they would let that happen to begin with. Whoever is providing them with this magic is likely keeping them replenished.”

“That’s a bit gross to think about,” Twilight said smirking. “What other ways can we deal with them?”

“There’s exhausting them of the magic.”

“How do we do that?”

“Literally beat it out of them. Fight them until the magic runs out,” Stygian explained. “Every punch, every kick, every blow to the head will drain the magic from them, bit by bit.”

“Given how much difficulty we had with three of them, I don’t think that’s an option right now,” Spike said.

“Which would leave extracting it from them. The first way is to pull it out with your own magic. Though I doubt you’re experienced enough to match magical wavelengths?” he looked at Twilight.

“Oh no, not at all,” she said holding up her hands. “This is a magic I’m completely new to. I barely know my own power.”

“Luckily, there are alternatives. The most obvious one being that you stimulate the person, so they release it themselves.”

Twilight cocked her head to the side and thought for a moment. “Uh…”

“Oh my god, Twilight! He means jack them off!” Spike practically shouted.

“Oh, ew.”

“Heh, he picks up on this quick,” Stygian praised Spike.

“I’m not socially stunted. Unlike someone,” he turned and gave Twilight a look.

“Oh, whatever. I graduated top of my class, and with honors,” she folded her arms and pouted.

“Anyway, if that doesn’t suit your tastes, and judging from that look you’re giving me I’d say no, I believe I can cobble something together to extract the magic from them. Tia, do you still have the Staff of Sacanas? I should be able to replicate it’s magic.”

“Ooo, about that…” Celestia said shifting her eyes around quickly.

“Don’t tell me you sold it? Come on! That’s a priceless artifact,” Stygian snapped at the crystal ball.

“Well…if it makes it any better, I didn’t sell it. if I had, we’d be able to track it down.”

“OH, GODDESS!! It was stolen, wasn’t it? Celestia, please tighten security on this building. You’ve already had a break in!”

“Calm down, Styg. The staff wasn’t stolen either,” Celestia sighed. “No, it’s been destroyed.”

Stygian stood there with a look as if he was just slapped in the face. He stumbled over to the computer console and leaned against it for support. “How? Please explain how in the name of Ourania a powerful and dangerous item like the Staff of Sacanas was destroyed,” Stygian finally choked out.

“Um…I can explain,” Twilight said in a small voice.

The blue-haired man turned to face Twilight. “Well, I’m listening.”

“Uh…well, you see…when I first awakened as an Ourania, I was a bit overwhelmed by it.”

“She was assisted by the chalice for that,” Celestia added.

“Not helping,” Twilight gave her a sideways look. “Well, the power just sorta ‘came out’, and I blasted this ‘Staff of Sacanas’ with magic. Into a bunch of little pieces.” She said sheepishly, giving Stygian an apologetic look.

Stygian held his head and let out a sigh. “Okay, okay. This is upsetting, but not a problem. I can still fashion a device that can extract the magic from the Diamond Dogs. It’s just going to take much longer now, since I won’t have the staff. And, I still have this to deal with!” he shouted holding up the staff.

“Anyway, I think that’ll be it for now,” Celestia said to Twilight and Spike.

“Um…hey,” Spike said moving over to Stygian. “You wouldn’t happen to have another one of those lying around, would you?” he pointed to the staff.

“No, it’s one of a kind,” he said coldly. “And you should be grateful I’m letting you keep that belt.”

Taking the hint, Spike immediately backed up towards the elevator. “Yes sir, of course sir. I will be going now.”

“Hey, wait up,” Twilight said following him. “I want to take a shower.”

“Yeah, me too. Summer’s just started, but it’s already blazing hot. Plus, I want to wash this thing,” he said pulling at his costume.

“Oh, I’ve been practicing a dry-cleaning spell,” Twilight said excitedly. “I can have that washed in no time.”

“How good are you at it?”

“Uh…I will need to buy a new wardrobe.”

“That’s promising,” Spike said as the elevator door swung close.

“So, that’s your new protégé? I like her,” Stygian said.

“Yeah, she’s fun,” Celestia said wistfully. “Everything’s so new to her.”

“Well, I hope for her sake things go much better than your last one.”

“Hey! That wasn’t my fault! I never told her to go after them,” she said defensively. “Besides, she has her brother for support. Even if he doesn’t have the spark.”

“Kinda reminds me a bit of, well, me. Young, fool hearty, completely out of his depth.”

“Don’t sell yourself so short, Stygian,” Raven said. “Even if you didn’t have the power of the goddess, you still kept up with them.”

“Yeah, if it weren’t for you, this city would’ve been destroyed a long time ago,” Celestia added. “The team wouldn’t be anywhere without you. I mean, you did help bring us together.”

“Thanks,” he said and gave them a small smile. “Don’t worry about the extraction device. I should have it ready in a few weeks. What worries me is this.” Stygian looked at the staff. “Ithilmar is a durable but flexible metal. To think someone was able to dent it.”

“What are you thinking?” Celestia asked.

“That whoever this Love Bunny is, they are not playing around.”

“That bad?”

He nodded. “If Twilight is going to take on this new foe, she’s going to need help. And probably sooner than we think.”

“That’s what I was afraid of.”

"Should we bring the old team back together? I know Magnus is getting restless being cooped up in that office of his."

Celestia sighed and closed her eyes. "I'm still debating that. On the one hand, having everyone back would be a huge relief. But on the other hand, I know everyone's pretty much settled down with their lives. Plus, we still have no way of contacting Rockhoof. We haven't seen him in twenty years."

“I know, what happened that day was...tragic," Stygian said with a pained look on his face. "Oh, by the way, before I forget.” He walked over to a cabinet and pulled out a small black box. “Please give these to Twilight and Spike.” He opened the box to reveal several gold coins inside.

“Oh, right. The warp medals. I actually forgot about them.”

“Seriously, Tia?” Stygian said in exasperation. “You have those two actually running around the city trying to stop crime? Why do you think Starswirl and I took the time to set up those way points?”

“Hey, come on. Give me a break. When you become as powerful as I was, teleporting was just a simple matter. I could even teleport multiple people at once.”

Stygian just rolled his eyes and shook his head.

Author's Note

Yes! Finally! I got this chapter finished. Whew, that was a bit of a chore.

So we have the first real confrontation between our heroes and the Diamond Dogs. At least with them buffed up like this. I hope the action was good and easy to follow. I'm still getting used to writing action and fight scenes.

We see Twilight making use of her new powers and the training that she started with Timber. It's fun writing Twilight getting used to these crazy abilities and their "weird" activation rituals. She's also getting used to being a superhero and what that means, as well as learning from her past mistakes.

Spike is beginning to realize how out of his depth he is. Being non-super powered and going up against these monsters, he's trying to fight smarter.

Flash and Brawly were also fun to write. I like them working together to trying to stop a roided out Spot, who seems to be a bit trigger happy. I'm partly basing them on Nick Burkhardt and Hank Griffin from the show Grimm. Two detectives being thrust into this unknown world of monsters and teaming up with some of those monsters to fight crime. Flash is debating whether or not work with Matter-Horn is a good idea. Brawly also seems to be able to hold his own against Spot, but that may be more about Spot's own reckless and guns blazing personality.

We now have the introduction to Stygian in this story. Given that he doesn't have any other name to him, I had to come up with something. His last name comes from the character Abby Sciuto, from the show NCIS. I thought this was a perfect match since she's a forensic scientist and Stygian is a crime scene analyst. I want Stygian to be not active, but still training. He's stopped the vigilante scene, but he keeps himself fit and ready for action. Also, I hope to write some scenes with him and Flash Magnus at the police precinct together. I feel like that would be fun.

For those wondering about the material that Stygian's staff is made of, I just looked up fictional metals on the internet. I wanted to use something for the staff, but had trouble thinking of what it could be. I didn't want to use adamantium or vibranium since they're virtually indestructible and popular to Marvel comics. I thought about mithril, but decided against it given how often it's used in media in general. So I checked out the TV Tropes page for some help and went with 'ithilmar' from the Warhammer franchise. I don't know a whole lot (or rather anything) about Warhammer or ithilmar, but it sounded neat. I'm still kinda finalizing how the staff works. For the most part, I think I want it to have some shape shifting attributes, but nothing to outrageous. Or maybe completely outrageous. Who knows?

Trixie of course is always so much fun to write. She relishes in her actions and is wonderfully over the top.

Well, that's it for now. I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter of The Power Bimbos. Don't hesitate to leave a comment below. Tell me what you liked, what you didn't like, what may need improvement. Until next time.