Shine on! Ultrawoman Aster!by Michael_RavencroftChapters2nd Light: Are you Sunset, or Aster? / A Choice to Make!3rd Light: Secrets Revealed! / The Fiery Power Awakens!4th Light: SMILE in Crisis! / The Phantom Zone is gone!6th Light: Suspicion! / The new student arrives!7th Light: Investigation / More questions?8th Light: Trouble Off World! / The Kugutsu Threat! (Part 1)9th Light: Trouble Off World! / The Kugutsu Threat! (Part 2)10th Light: Meet the Sparkles / Underground Attack!11th Light: Happy Halloween! / Save the Students Ocellus!12th Light: Battle on Hive Prime! / Unite the bonds of friendship!13th Light: Seeking Answers! / Return to Crusader's Peak!14th Light: Friendship In Danger / Fight Together! (Part 1)15th Light: Friendship In Danger / Fight Together! (Part 2)1st Light: Welcome to S. M. I. L. E. / The Hero Rises!5th Light: Rescue the hostages! / The Serene Warrior cuts down evil!2nd Light: Are you Sunset, or Aster? / A Choice to Make!Sunset Shimmer found herself sitting in Commander Celestia Solstice’s office. It was spacious, a blue carpet flooring with the SMILE insignia printed at the center of the floor, a mahogany wood desk with a gold colored name plate sitting in front, one bookshelf set off to Sunset’s left filled with old books and some newer ones, mostly novels, manuals, law books, and older looking books. To her left was a small trophy case showing SMILE Concordia Base’s various accommodations, sports and academic victories, and some of her and Vice Commander Luna’s old glory days pictures. Behind Celestia was a window that showed the outside of the base, they were a significant ways up as Celestia could see a good amount of the base and Academy. However, Commander Celestia wasn’t the only person in the room, the Grand Inquisitor – ahem – Vice Commander Luna, was busy giving the teen a scrutinizing look while her older sister was conveying a more stern, motherly gaze. “What exactly were you thinking, transforming in the middle of the city like that?! And initiating combat?!” Vice Commander Luna asked. Sunset sat with her arms and legs crossed as she gave a cocky smirk. “I thought your guys could use a hand, because clearly, they were getting their asses handed to them.” “Please watch your language, Sunset,” said Celestia. “Sorry, but seriously, what’s the big deal? Yeah, I transformed, and in the process, I destroyed the monster and saved the lives of every SMILE agent and the civilians, you’re welcome!” Celestia glanced towards her little sister. “She does have a point, Luna, this Space Beast was a bit tougher than what we usually face. Had Sunset not stepped in, I fear that instead of injuries, we’d have dead bodies.” Luna did concede the point, it was true. SMILE Concordia Base prided itself with keeping civilian and combat personnel casualties to a minimum, there was no such thing as “acceptable loses”, it was why Canterlot City had extensive work done to have the latest Phase Space Shelters scattered across the city, and why their air and land attack vehicles had strong armor and protective shielding. “I do commend you for your swift action in eliminating the Space Beast before it could do more harm, for that you do have my thanks.” “On that note, Sunset, I thought you said you weren’t going to transform? That you didn’t want to become that giant woman version of yourself?” Celestia noted. Sunset’s smug demeanor cracked a little. “Um…well…it was a special case, I was in danger and my ride to get back to the base was smashed by some random debris. I wasn’t close to a shelter either so…you know, option B.” Celestia raised an eyebrow but nodded at her response. “Alright, you’re dismissed then.” Sunset stood up and began walking towards the door, but not before Celestia said, “Should you need to change again, you know you don’t need permission, I just ask that you use your best judgement when you do.” The fiery redhead stopped for a second, glanced over her shoulder, and nodded before finally she finally exited. Celestia leaned back in her chair as she smiled a little, this did not go unnoticed by her little sister. “What’s with that grin, Sister?” Luna asked. “She was lying,” said Celestia. “Pardon?” “She didn’t transform just because she felt like it, she did it to protect someone.” Luna blinked in surprise. “What – how do you know?” Celestia brought up a holo-screen and said, “Because I checked the records of all vehicles that were rented and taken off campus, one of which was registered to Sunset, but onboard systems show that one other occupant entered the vehicle with her before leaving the campus.” “But…why would she not say that?” Luna asked in confusion. “Is saving someone’s life truly such an embarrassing thing?” “I think it’s having to do more with the fact that what she said and what she wants to do is conflicting with her innate sense of protection. She must’ve found something worth protecting enough to become Aster.” Celestia stood up from her desk and peered through the window as she contemplated her next move. “I think it’s time we created that special team we were discussing.” “You really want to create a counter measure team centered around that girl? Tia, we still don’t know who or what she really is! For all we know, she could be a far bigger threat than the Space Beasts themselves!” Luna argued. “That may very well be the case.” “Then–!” “But, that is precisely why I believe that a circle of friends, of comrades, can make all the difference in the world.” Luna sighed as she joined her big sister, gazing at the rising moon together. “But a group of first years…?” “A group of exceptionally talented first years.” \*****///** [Dormitory Alpha, 8:30 pm] Sunset stood before her dorm room door, she swiped her hand over the pad, activating the holographic display to show the current occupant of the room. Twilight’s name showed up, and Sunset sighed in response. When Sunset became Aster, she managed to clear the rubble that confined them, allowing Twilight to slip away unharmed. Now though, she wasn’t sure how Twilight would react to her after seeing such a strange thing. “She might’ve locked me out after what happened…guess I should knock…” The redhead gently rapped her knuckles against the door, doubtful that Twilight would answer. And would she? She just saw me transform into a 51-meter-tall woman who can shoot energy beams from her hands! The door quickly flung open and, without warning, Twilight grabbed ahold of Sunset and dragged her inside the room, shutting the door quickly behind them. Before Sunset could properly react, Twilight quickly embraced Sunset, making the redhead blush from the contact. “I’m so glad you’re alright!” Twilight exclaimed. Sunset was caught off guard. “You…You are?” Twilight separated herself from Sunset to look at her with an incredulous gaze. “Of course, I am! The last thing I saw was you flying off into the distance, I didn’t know if you were hurt or if you died or…or what?!” The nerdy girl looked at Sunset, who had a dumbfounded expression. “Sunset, you are alright, right?” “Huh, oh, yeah – Yeah! I am, it’s just I’m surprised is all. You’re not afraid or at all weirded out by me?” Sunset asked. Twilight rubbed the back of her head nervously. “In all honesty I was afraid when you first changed, but then when I saw what you became, and what you did, my fear just left! I was filled with curiosity more than anything! Which reminds me!” Twilight grabbed Sunset’s wrist and dragged her into the living room, sitting her down on the couch. She ran into her room and returned a few seconds later with a laptop, sitting down next to Sunset and looking at her with wide expecting eyes. “Please tell me how you did that?! How do you manipulate – or break – the Law of Conservation of Mass?! Comparing your size now to what you were then, and what about your skin, you did take several blasts of fire to your body, and blows from a mace, so it doesn’t appear that there was any lasting physical damage–!” “Whoa now, hold up!” Sunset interrupted, placing her hands in the air in a stopping motion. “One question at a time, please.” Twilight blushed as she began playing with one of her bangs. “S-S-Sorry, I was just really excited, especially when it comes to scientific phenomenon I sometimes ramble off questions and…sorry.” Sunset chuckled at how apologetic Twilight was. “It’s fine…but to be honest…I don’t quite know how or why either.” “You don’t know?” “I know that I can transform, and,” Sunset raised her right arm up, a flash of light went off and the device reappeared on her arm, “that this thing, the StaRaizer, helps me to do it. Along with these.” A belt appeared around Sunset’s waist, and on her right hip was a container. Sunset opened the container and took out both coins, both depicting the images of Ultraman Ginga and Ultraman. “May I?” Twilight asked. Sunset shrugged and placed the coins in Twilight’s hand. Twilight examined the first coin that had Ultraman Ginga, the coin itself seemed to be made of some type of gold metal, on the bottom of the coin was a small crystal, while the top had the art piece of Ginga. Twilight examined the Ultraman coin and found a similar crystal beneath it as well. She motioned for Sunset to bring her arm over, and Sunset did. Once in hand, Twilight could see, within the slot for the coin, there was a hole right where the crystal would be able to fit in. “I see, these coins must possess some kind of energy. The crystals act as a way to release that energy into the device and into the central sun crystal on your device, which is what triggers your transformation. And you say you have no memory of what these are?” Twilight asked. Sunset took back the coins and placed them back into the container. The belt and the StaRaizer both vanished as she slouched into the couch. “Not a clue…I know how to fight, I know what those things are, I know what the thing I turn into is called, but as far as why I can do this, or who I was before? Nothing…my whole childhood save for the last three years is gone…” Twilight’s heart grew heavy upon hearing Sunset’s plight, she couldn’t imagine not knowing anything about her past, never knowing the warmth and comfort of her mother and father, the fun she had with her older brother or her babysitter/sister-in-law. And then to top it all off to have strange powers which you didn’t know the origins of, altogether was pretty overwhelming. Twilight reached out with her hand and placed it on Sunset’s shoulder as she said, “I’m sorry.” “Don’t be, you didn’t steal my memories. But it wasn’t all bad, the Commanders took me in, well, Commander Celestia did, Vice Commander Luna’s still waiting for me to ‘show my true colors’,” said Sunset as she threw up air quotes. “So…are you cool with having and amnesiac, giant woman, monster busting roommate as a friend?” Twilight smiled as she said, “I don’t know, are you okay with having a roommate that’s a total nerd, likes science, mathematics, chemical, and mechanical engineering to the point that it’s almost bordering weirdness, likes anime and comics, and has an unhealthy fear of quesadillas and ladybugs?” Sunset shook her head, “Wait, you’re afraid of quesadillas and ladybugs?” Twilight puffed out her cheeks in indignation. “The ladybugs are my big brother’s fault! He told me that the black spots are extra eyes that watch my every move!” “But you know they’re not, right?” “A phobia is by it’s definition is an irrational fear, so, do I logically know that that’s factually incorrect and that the black spots are just spots? Yes. However, will I still scream in terror and possibly run away at the sight of one? Yes.” Sunset smirked. “Uh-huh, and the quesadillas?” Twilight’s left eye twitched as she shuttered. “Soooooo…cheesy…” The redhead giggled a little at Twilight’s reaction, feeling a lot less worried about her situation. “Okay, then if we’re agreed to put up with each other’s neurotic tendencies, then I don’t have a problem.” Sunset extended her right hand towards Twilight. Twilight smiled and shook Sunset’s hand. “It’s agreed, Roomie.” The nerdy girl let out a squeal of delight. “I’ve always wanted to say that!” This is going to be an interesting time here. \*****///** [SMILE Academy, 10:30 am] The first thing that Sunset Shimmer learned with having Twilight Sparkle as a roommate, was that the studious girl did not like to be late for class, and therefore made it a point to get up early. The first thing that Twilight learned when it came to entering Sunset’s room, was that it was prudent to knock before entering, as apparently Sunset’s idea of pajamas consisted of nothing at all, which made her blush and yell “SORRY!” before closing the door fast. Although loathing the fact that the sun had barely crested over the horizon, Sunset didn’t mind the walk to the school, the cafeteria was serving breakfast and Sunset was starving. The two enjoyed a little breakfast together, and while they sat, both girls had a light conversation regarding Sunset’s abilities. “So, how long can you, you know, stay like that?” Twilight asked. “On average, three minutes, tops. Four if I really, really push myself. But my cooldown time is about three hours,” Sunset explained. “Fascinating, so its one hour for every minute of transformation time. While that doesn’t sound bad, it’s not necessarily good either…what if a battle takes more than three minutes, and how would you know when your time is almost up?” Sunset swallowed a bite of scrambled eggs before she said, “Remember that sun symbol on my chest? It glows blue most of the time, when I’m close to changing back, it will flash red.” “Fascinating, truly fascinating!” “Hey, hey, don’t get any ideas about dissecting me or anything,” Sunset warned. Twilight shook her head. “No, no, you’d probably change and squash me under your giant foot……on second thought, given your physical ability, you could do that right now.” “Oh, admiring my physique, are you?” Sunset asked as she wiggled her brow. “Want a more detailed look?” “N-N-NO! I wasn’t insinuating that – I mean –!” Twilight stopped her stammering when she noticed Sunset laughing it up. “I’m starting to learn that you like to tease, a lot.” “No, me a tease? Perish the thought,” said Sunset in dramatic tone. Twilight rolled her eyes playfully, feeling happy with her dynamic with her new friend. Soon breakfast was done and the first day of classes were underway. World history was first, which proved to be Sunset’s weaker subject, Twilight attributed this to her memory loss, who knew how much of her memories were lost that pertained to her middle school teachings. That was Twilight’s assessment at the time. It was also here that they learned about the spire at the center of the Academy. The Phantom Zone Emitter. A device that, when activated, created an alternate dimensional copy of everything within a given area. It was in this space that the SMILE forces could do battle with the Space Beasts without fear wrecking buildings and could fire their weapons with indiscriminately. “Teach, how do the Phase Space Shelter’s work?” one student asked. The teacher, who had mulberry colored hair, green eyes, and some freckles, turned around and said, “Excellent question. The Phase Space Shelters release a sort of ‘opposite charge’ to the Phantom Zone Emitter. Once inside the shelter, it puts all inside it out of phase with the Phantom Zone, so no one is affected by any destruction that may occur. Once the battle is completed, all SMILE forces are to return to a designated ‘standby position’, along with recovery of any debris from fallen crafts. Because, when the Phantom Zone is brought down, the city returns to normal. Which also means any and all vehicles that were displaced in a battle are returned to their original positions.” “People caught outside when the Phantom Zone dimensional shift occurs are ordered to immediately head to the nearest shelter and alert the shelter that they are outside, the shelter will temporarily phase back into the Phantom Zone. Once the civilians have been brought in, the shelter will phase out of the Phantom Zone. The creation of the Phantom Zone has been our biggest and most invaluable asset in keeping the people safe from harm, as well as nearly eliminating all collateral structural damage and the need for constant repairs to city streets and buildings.” When math class was had, Sunset proved to be quite the mathematician, she’d even go so far to say as her equal? After their math class, chemistry seemed to be another of her strong suites, having been partnered up immediately and displaying their scholarly skill during their lesson. Biology proved to be a bit of stumper for the both of them, in this category, one girl shined. They remembered her well, she was quite beautiful. Long, silky, light-pink hair, teal colored eyes, and a cute smile. She was simply known as Fluttershy, and she aced many of the questions given to them by the professor. Now came the time of day that Twilight had been dreading since they got their class schedules, Gym Class. A normal gym class was one thing, but this was SMILE Academy, and it did require its students to be able to perform various physical activities. The teacher, who went by the name of Iron Will, was one of the few teachers of the school who was not from Earth. He was, strangely enough, a minotaur, a being from the planet Minos. “Alright, boys and girls, Iron Will needs to see where you all stand! So that Iron Will can determine what exactly Iron Will’s working with!” Twilight leaned close to Sunset and asked, “Why is he referring to himself in the third person?” “Beats me…given that he’s an alien, it’s probably just how they all talk. Either that or he’s just full of himself,” Sunset suggested. From there the students went through various tests, all from pull ups, pushups, standing long jump, and a thirty-meter dash. Among the students, a few stood above the rest, Flash Sentry was one, along with Rainbow Dash, and Applejack Apple, the fourth was – unsurprisingly to Twilight – Sunset Shimmer. Twilight had, well… “I have never failed at any test, ever…” Twilight grumbled. “It wasn’t really a test-test, just something to see where you’re at,” said Sunset. “And where I’m at is the bottom of the barrel…you were among the top four! I feel and look like death warmed over, but you look perfectly fine!” Sunset couldn’t help but find Twilight’s pout cute, to which she ruffled the scholarly girl’s hair as she said, “Don’t worry, I’ll help you get stronger.” “Alright class, Iron Will’s a firm believer in working hard and playing hard! So, we’re going to play a good old traditional game of…dodge ball!” Iron Will announced. A series of groans and cheers rang out from the group. Flash was picked as team captain, and Rainbow Dash for another. After about two minutes both teams were set up, with Sunset and Twilight on one team, and Rainbow and Applejack on the other. Applejack Apple, she was a stout girl, with some noticeable muscle, and a freckled face. Her blonde hair was tied up into bun for the class, but there was no doubt she had long flowing hair when undone. Rainbow Dash was a tan skinned girl with short and spikey rainbow-colored hair, and with a wicked grin as she and her team readied to do battle. Coach Iron Will blew his whistle and balls flew across the blacktop. One after the other, the satisfying rings of the dreaded red rubber balls bouncing against the ground, and smacking into the sides, guts, backs, arms, and some accidental groin shots. Throughout the game, Twilight was standing stock still, her reflexes weren’t good for this particular setting, when in front of a keyboard or in a lab, she could react within a nanosecond, but in this case, after going through that grueling test, her body wasn’t up for dodging. Sunset grabbed one of the balls from the ground and ran towards Twilight, spotting a member of the other team aim right for her before gut checking him with her throw. Sunset picked up another ball and handed it to Twilight. “Uh, I-I–!” “Just use it to block the balls, you don’t have to throw it,” Sunset instructed as she ran back into the fray. After a good minute and a half, the field was barren save for four. Sunset and Twilight, Rainbow and Applejack, the two most athletic of girls of the group proved to be quite the duo, but Sunset wasn’t a slacker either, having been able to hold onto two of the red spheres to use for blocking, however, the majority of the ammo was on the opposite team’s side, and Twilight had the only other ball. Thankfully, the two had been focused on taking out Sunset, believing that Twilight would bow out the moment that Sunset was taken out. “Hey, AJ, I hate to admit it, but bacon hair over there is pretty good,” Rainbow whispered. “Definitely, she’s like a rattle snake, take yer eyes off her and she’ll bite ya without you knowin’,” said Applejack. Rainbow Dash eyed Twilight, whom they had been steering clear of, but now Rainbow was thinking differently. “I say we go for the girl with the glasses.” Applejack grunted in disapproval. “Seriously, Dash? The girl looks terrified, she hasn’t made a move since the game started. Ah’d rather not hit someone who looks that afraid.” “No, listen, you go left, and I’ll pretend like I’m about to do the same, but then I’ll break right and aim for Twilight make like I’m going to throw at her. That’ll make Sunset double back towards her and leave her wide open for you to bean her!” Applejack looked to Twilight and then to Sunset. “Ah don’t know if Ah like that idea, Ah’m pretty sure she can tell when yer fakin’ a throw.” “Trust me, I’ve been practicing my fake out, I can throw the ball just right so that it rolls of my fingers and back to me, by the time she realizes it, it’ll be too late! Trust me!” Applejack still didn’t like it, but her competitive side was winning out in this little game. The cowgirl nodded, and the game was on. Sunset could tell the two had worked out some kind of strategy but wasn’t sure what kind they could pull of with just the two of them. The cheers of their defeated teammates did give her a bit of an ego boost, and she technically could end this quickly, but she didn’t need to give Twilight another reason to want to experiment on her. Suddenly, Applejack broke to Sunset’s right and Sunset pivoted in that direction to give chase but noticed that Rainbow Dash had gone the opposite direction. The rainbow haired girl wound up for her pitch, while Twilight raised her ball up to defend. Sunset quickly turned right for her, but not before spinning around throwing one of her balls straight at Applejack and striking her in the shoulder. Rainbow got distracted by the move and threw the ball straight for Twilight. “OH, CRAP, DUCK!” Rainbow shouted. Twilight was stunned as she watched the ball whiz towards her, but a light breeze blew in, and thankfully, with that breeze, the trajectory of the ball was changed, whizzing by Twilight’s left ear as her hair fluttered about by the cross breeze generated by the wake of the ball. Twilight’s eyes were wide with shock, the left corner of her mouth went up into a crooked smile, and her left eye twitched as she chuckled a little. Then the strength left her legs as she collapsed onto her rear. “Twilight!” Sunset called out as she threw the ball away. Coach Iron Will blew his whistle. “Foul! No head shots! We aren’t playing Mino rules here – the law requires protective headgear for that!” “I…I didn’t mean to I…” Sunset kneeled next to Twilight and examined her. “Hey, are you alright?” “Y-Yeah, I just, I was just a little overwhelmed, it all happened really fast…” Twilight explained. Sunset stood up as she glared at Rainbow Dash. “What is your problem?! You didn’t need to throw it that hard or aim for her face!” Applejack, after recovering from Sunset’s earlier attack, walked up until she was standing between them. “Simmer down now,” Applejack walked over to where Twilight and Sunset were, kneeling down before Twilight to check on her, “You okay there, Sug?” Twilight nodded. “Looks like the ball just wheezed past ya, no nicks or cuts Ah can see. Just spooked ya a bit, huh?” Applejack asked. “A little…yes.” Applejack turned around to look at Rainbow as she said, “She’s fine, Dash. Now c’mon over here and apologize already.” Rainbow Dash looked away as she rubbed her left arm, she turned and looked like she was about to say something but paused for a moment before turning around and saying, “We forfeit…” The rainbow haired girl briskly walked away. “Rainbow! Stubborn…” Applejack stood up and said, “Sorry ‘bout that, she’s not so good at apologizin’.” Iron Will sighed and blew his whistle, “Alright, everyone hit the showers, lunch is next, so get some grub!” Applejack offered a hand to Twilight, who carefully accepted and was hoisted upwards in one go, making Twilight go wide eyed at how strong this girl was. “Name’s Applejack Apple, pleasure to meet ya, although, wish it were under better circumstances.” “Uh, thank you, my name’s Twilight Sparkle.” “Sunset Shimmer,” said Sunset in a quick manner. \*****///** [S. M. I. L. E. Academy, 12:30 pm] Sunset and Twilight sat together in the lunch room, the fiery haired girl was still a little miffed about what had happened during gym class and had been on the look out for a spikey head of rainbow hair ever since. “Are you angry, Sunset?” Twilight asked. “Yes, not at you though,” Sunset answered. “Is it because of what happened at gym?” “Yes.” Twilight turned away from her salad and looked to Sunset. “But I’m fine, I don’t have a scratch. And in all honesty, I think it was a mistake on her part.” “Damn right it was, throwing a ball at a friend of mine’s face is a mistake.” “Ahem, while I do a appreciate your gallantry, I really don’t think she meant to throw it at me. They were more focused on you than me, if anything it was a possible tactic to distract you long enough for Miss Apple to hit you with her ball, but you reacted faster than was expecting and threw off – what was her name? – Rainbow Dash! – Rainbow Dash to the point where she wasn’t able to control how she was supposed to throw it.” Sunset blinked at that explanation. “Yeah, like that’s what actually happened.” Twilight meekly shrugged. “It’s just a theory.” “Howdy!” Sunset and Twilight looked up and saw Applejack appear before them. Like most of the students she had her own way of wearing the uniform. Her way consisted of tying the blazer around her waist and leaving the top two buttons of her shirt unbuttoned. Considering her impressive bust, Sunset could see why. That, and apparently they allowed her to wear her Stetson hat. “Mind if Ah sit with you gals?” “It’s a free world,” Sunset replied. “Yes, it is.” Applejack sat down, showing off her impressive spread of food. “Soooo, why are you sitting with us?” Sunset asked. “Mostly, because Ah wanted to get ta know you two, we’re all part of the freshman class after all. And you look like good people,” Applejack explained. Twilight smiled as she said, “Oh, well, thank you.” “And because Rainbow’s being a mite stubborn about apologizin’.” Sunset snorted. “Sheesh, does she think she’s above apologizing?” Applejack shoveled a spoonful of mashed potatoes into her mouth, chewed, and swallowed before continuing. “It ain’t that, it’s just Rainbow’s got this complex when she hurts or comes close to hurtin’ someone. She kinda shuts down and chastises herself internally, kind of like a little kid. No doubt she’ll come to ya on her own and properly apologize.” “It sounds like you know her well,” said Twilight. “Shoot, Ah better, wouldn’t be much of a girlfriend if Ah didn’t know how my gal’s head worked,” said Applejack in a nonchalant manner. That grabbed both of their attention. “Did you just say ‘girlfriends’?” Sunset asked. “You meant that with a space in the middle, as in ‘girl’ and ‘friends’?” Applejack polished off her meatloaf and answered, “Nope, exactly what Ah said, girlfriend, no space.” The cowgirl took stock of their expressions. “Is there a problem?” Twilight shook her head vigorously. “Nononononononono! I have absolutely no problem with that! It’s just that I’ve never met someone who, ‘swung that way’, before.” Applejack gave a hearty laugh. “Shoot, Twi, Ah don’t bite. And don’t worry about me makin’ a pass at ya. Yer cute and all, but Ah like my Dashie.” “Um. Thanks?” “Huh, that kind of relationship always fascinated me,” Sunset commented. “Well, if there’s somethin’ ya want to know, Ah’d be happy to tell.” Before Sunset could answer her question, the alarm sounded and grabbed everyone’s attention. {WARNING: Space Beast detected entering Earth’s atmosphere, all personnel, report to battle stations immediately. Repeat–} “Seriously, another monster attack?!” “Is it another Incursion?!” “It might be that giant from yesterday!” “The one that blew up the other monster? It came back for revenge?!” Sunset felt a little anger hearing all this, but let it slide for now. “Better get movin’ then,” said Applejack. Twilight raised an eyebrow as she asked, “Where are you going?” Applejack threw her trash away and stacked her tray before saying, “Dash and Ah are selected Special Agents, and we’re part of the first response team, Ah pilot a Goliath and she pilots a Gungir.” Applejack began to chuckle. “Funny thing, yesterday, Dash got chewed out for tryin’ to chase down that giant, guess she thought she could out race her. Anyway, wish us luck!” With that, Applejack ran off down the hall, leaving Twilight and Sunset. \*****///** [S. M. I. L. E. Base Hangar, 1:05 pm] “Dash, ya really should just go up and say yer sorry,” said Applejack. Rainbow Dash looked off to the side as the elevator kept descending, her expression was sad and a bit angry. “Ah know ya didn’t mean to do what ya did, it was an accident, but the longer ya put this off, the more they’re gonna think yer a jerk or somethin’.” “I’m not a jerk!” Rainbow mumbled. “Ah know that, and Ah know you blame yerself fer not payin’ attention.” “I could’ve really hurt her, AJ…as fast as it was going, I could’ve knocked her out or something! And you saw that girl – the one with the fire hair – she looked about ready to kill me, and wouldn’t have blamed her for it either,” said Rainbow. Applejack placed her gloved hand on Rainbow’s shoulder as she said, “How about, after this op, we both go and apologize together, deal?” Rainbow cocked an eyebrow in confusion. “But, you didn’t do anything.” “Ah know, but since we’re together that means Ah gotta share some responsibility.” The sporty girl blushed as she crossed her arms. The elevator dinged and soon opened up into a vast underground hangar. Several Gungir fighters and Goliath tanks were lined up and ready to roll out, both the land and air teams were assembled at the far end of the hangar, Rainbow and Applejack ran and got into their respective units and waited for their Captains to start. For the ground forces, they were donned in yellow armor, for the air forces, they were donned in a navy-blue armor. The captain of the ground forces was a man with bright red hair and piercing blue eyes, his name was Flash Magnus. The captain of the aerial forces was a woman with spikey blonde hair, with orange highlights, giving hair a fire appearance, she was only known by her call sign, “Spitfire”. “Listen up, about three minutes ago, long range scanners picked up an unknown object entering Earth’s atmosphere and is projected to land in Canterlot City. Civilians have been evaced to the Phase Space Shelters below, so we won’t have to worry about civilian casualties,” said Spitfire. “Any idea what’s attacking this time!” yelled one of the pilots. “It’s another unknown, unfortunately we’re going in blind just like last time. With that being the case we’re urging extreme caution when we engage, don’t take any unnecessary risks, if your shields are low, fall back. Our first priority will be recon to assess, and if deemed possible, engage,” said Magnus. “What’s command saying to do if that giant woman appears again?!” another pilot asked. At this the rest of the units paid close attention. “The Commanders haven’t given us any instruction yet on how to proceed with that one. I wouldn’t go and call it our ally just because it blew up another monster, for all we know that was a territorial dispute. So, for now we will we adopt a wait-and-see approach when it comes to that one, if at any time it shows hostility towards us, you are to either get away or engage if left with no other options, understood?!” “YES SIR!” “ALL PILOTS MOVE OUT!” the captains ordered. The pilots quickly entered their vehicles, Applejack and Rainbow Dash fist bumped before entering their respective fighters. Once seated and powered up, a large doorway opened before the Goliath drivers, while the Gungir squadrons were ascending from a lift. The Goliaths revved their engines and took off down the long tunnel. On the surface, part of the landscape around the Academy opened up and from that opening the platform rose, once out in the open the Gungirs performed vertical takeoffs and zoomed towards the city. A few miles away, the ground opened up and from it poured a dozen Goliath tanks that rolled down the city streets and got into formation. Up above the Gungir’s went to hover, awaiting the inventible arrival. The sky was already purple, indicating that the Phantom Zone had been activated. Just like before, a violet fireball descended from the sky, piercing through the clouds and slowing itself down the closer it got to the ground. Once it was a few meters from the ground, the sphere broke apart and revealed the latest giant monster to attack their world. This new creature was insect-like in appearance, with a grayish-black carapace that covered its torso and head, with two large teardrop shaped glowing protrusions, and a linear yellow glowing oval in the middle of its head. This latest monster didn’t wait long as it the yellow strip in the middle of the beast’s head began to glow and release a stream of blazing electrical energy that mowed through several buildings at once, creating a series of explosions until it finished where the beam struck against a sky scrapper. The Gungir squadrons flew, opening fire on the Space Beast in teams of three, however, the monster didn’t bother to raise its arms, as a hexagonal, yellow energy barrier formed around its body. The photon bolts merely deflected off of the protective shielding, striking the nearby buildings around it. The Gungirs broke off as the Goliaths began unloading their plasma cannons at the monster’s shield. While these attacks detonated on impact, it still did little to nothing in breaking the monster’s shield. The insectoid creature made a strange warbling noise and in the next second, it vanished. All SMILE forces were on high alert as the searched for the monster, but they didn’t have to look long as it reappeared in the sky and swatted three Gungirs out of the sky, the monster followed this up by bringing its hands together and firing a wave of energy pulses that hit several more Gungirs, but while the wave did damage them, the worst was yet to come. The shielding had been disrupted, and now left the them open for direct attack. {This is Spitfire, that thing just took out our shields, we’re sitting ducks up here!} {Flash Magnus to Goliath units, aim towards the sky, try to get that thing’s attention away from the Gungirs!} The Goliath tanks began opening fire straight into the sky, thankfully, most of their blasts hit around the monster, making it turn its attention back on them. From its aerial vantage, the monster discharged three electric fireballs straight down on the Goliath tanks, the explosions rang out through the city, shattering glass and melting what wasn’t protected by the shields. The tanks began to fall back, but they did manage to give the Gungir’s time to retreat. {Seriously! This is the second tough as hell monster we’ve had to fight, and it’s only be a day!} Rainbow exclaimed. {Keep it together Dash, we gotta keep this thing from ramapagin’! If it keeps this up, the Shelters won’t be able to take it!} Applejack stated. As Rainbow’s Gungir was about to get away, the monster teleported again, and snatched it out of the sky. Applejack’s Goliath stopped as her view screen zoomed in on the monster holding her girlfriend’s fighter. {REQUESTIN’ SUPPORT! THE MONSTER HAS ONE OUR FIGHTERS!} The monster looked at the fighter with some small amount of intrigue, but Rainbow Dash was trying to keep herself as composed as possible, wondering if it may help if she fired her photon repeater cannons while she was this close to its face, but then the monster could easily crush her. Guess I won’t get the chance to apologize… \*****///** [S. M. I. L. E. Academy, moments earlier…] The students had all been moved to the emergency locations, just in case the monster decided to move towards the base. Sunset, however, was watching from one of the verandas in the student lounging areas. It offered a clear view of the distance, where she could see multiple explosions going off one after the other, a few moments ago Sunset had watched the Gungirs take off towards the city, and now the monster had appeared. Sunset opened her HoloFrame and brought up any news site that was covering the battle. Thankfully there were a few which offered a look at the monster, and the moment she laid eyes on it, a name popped into her head. “Zetton…” she whispered. “Why do I know what you’re called?” “Sunset?” The redhead turned her head and saw Twilight walking towards her. “Shouldn’t you be in the Shelter?” “I could ask you the same thing,” Twilight pointed out. “Touché.” Twilight stood next to her, both were staring into the distance in silence at the numerous explosions going off. The egghead turned to her new friend and asked, “You’re not going to go fight?” “I don’t know…I seriously don’t know what I’m supposed to do!” Sunset exclaimed. “My body feels this urge to just run towards that fight, but…” “But what?” Twilight asked. Sunset hugged herself as she said, “I’m scared…it’s not the first time I’ve transformed…but each time I do, I’m afraid I’ll lose part of myself. Or, what if…what if I become a bigger threat than the monsters that are attacking?! I have no memories about my past, for all I know, I could be here to destroy the world?!” Twilight moved closer to Sunset and placed her hands on her friend’s shoulders. “I don’t believe that, if that were true, you wouldn’t have saved me. You wouldn’t have stayed by my side the whole time we were trying to get to the Shelter. So, I know, you’re not evil.” Sunset glanced at Twilight with skepticism. “How can you say that? We’ve barely known each other a day!” “Because…well…isn’t trusting in your friends something that friends do? Even if they don’t believe in themselves?” The fiery haired girl stared at her friend with a stunned expression. “You really trust me that much?” “I want to, and I’m willing to trust you. And that’s why I know, the girl who rescued me yesterday, and the girl who ran to my defense earlier today during a dodgeball game, that’s the Sunset Shimmer I know, I trust in the you that I believe in!” Sunset’s face split into a wide grin as she laughed out loud, causing Twilight to blush. “Did…hahaha…Did you just-just quote that old ass mecha anime?!” Twilight fidgeted with her bangs as she looked around at nothing in particular. “It seemed appropriate in the moment…” Sunset went into another round of laughter, which eventually made Twilight’s face evolve from embarrassed to pouty. After finally catching her breath, Sunset ruffled Twilight’s hair as she said, “Damn, after a line that corny, I’m kinda pumped now.” Sunset motioned for Twilight to move back. “Thanks, Twi.” Twilight nodded as she smiled and took a few more steps back. Sunset raised up her left arm and the StaRaizer appeared, and in the next second, she was engulfed in light and transported to the starry world. “Grant me the strength of a hero!” || ULTRAMAN! || “Grant me the power of a galaxy!” || ULTRAMAN GINGA! || “Release the light within me!!” Upon saying this Sunset pressed down on the sphere in the center of the bracer, causing it to glow bright blue as she thrust her arm into the air. ||SHINE ON! ULTRAWOMAN ASTER!|| The two Ultramen transformed into light and swirled around Sunset until her body absorbed their light, creating a galaxy of swirling stars. From that galaxy, Ultrawoman Aster rose up and then just as quickly flew off in the direction of Canterlot City. Aster broke the sound barrier, creating a powerful sonic boom as she crossed a few miles in a minute. As she got closer, Aster spotted Zetton, but also saw that the Space Beast had a Gungir in his hand. Aster hyper focused her vision on that aircraft and saw that it was that girl, Rainbow Dash, inside. Acting quickly, Aster flipped around until she was coming in legs, first. She then got into a flying kick position as she channeled her energy into her right foot, and yelled, “ASTEROID KICK!” Zetton was then blindsided by a powerful energy kick that sent the monster flying in the opposite direction, and made it release its grip on the Gungir. Aster landed on the ground with a thunderous boom, quickly snatching the aircraft from the air. Aster brought the fighter close to her face to look inside, she could see Rainbow Dash was moving around and didn’t look harmed from what she could tell. The giant of light noticed a Goliath that was approaching and hurried towards it, bending down to place the Gungir onto the street next to it. Zetton recovered from the attack, releasing an angry warbling sound as it charged up its power and fired off another electric fireball. Aster turned around, with her being so close to the two other SMILE classmates, Aster coated her left arm in sparkling light, she then drew a circle with her left arm and called out, “Aurora Shield!” Just as Zettons got close, a shield made of an aurora light formed in front of Aster. The electric fireball exploded harmlessly off the surface of the shield, creating a cloud of smoke. Aster charged through the smoke, keeping her shield up as she approached Zetton, the giant monster continued to lob more electric fireballs at her, but as she got closer, Zetton raised a crystal-like barrier around its body. Aster cocked back her fist and shouted, “STARRY SMASHER!” Her powered fist collided with the barrier, but to no avail. The barrier went down and Zetton punched Aster in the stomach, followed by an uppercut, making her stumble backwards. Aster recovered and threw a roundhouse kick, catching Zetton in the side of its head and made it slam into a building. The giantess dashed towards Zetton and slammed its body through the building right on top of him. But Zetton merely teleported away, making Aster look around for the monster. Zetton reappeared behind her and fired an energy pulse wave from its hands, hitting Aster in the back making sparks fly from her back. Aster was getting irritated with this monster. Aster placed both hands on either side of her crest, causing it glow. She then pulled forward and light followed, Aster gripped the light with her right hand, transmuting it into full fledge material weapon. The weapon had a double arch, the top arch had a silver edge with a tip that curved upwards, at the center were coin slots on both sides, and for the lower half, it had a full curve, with a blue hilt connected to the bottom of the blade. “Stellugger!” Aster called out as she ran towards Zetton. The Space Beast brought up its shield again, but as Aster grew closer, the Stellugger’s blades shined white over the blade edge. With one slash, Aster cut through the barrier, causing sparks to fly as a stream of white light was left in the wake of the slash. Aster slashed again, forming an X pattern and forcing Zetton to fall back, the giantess once again attacked the monster but Zetton teleported away. Zetton reappeared on Aster left and fired another round of electric fireballs at her, Aster took the full brunt of the attack, and readied to counter, but Zetton teleported again and appeared on her right, firing more lightning fireballs at her. Zetton continued this assault, teleporting around Aster again and again and firing at her from multiple directions. Aster was forced down on one knee, but then her sun symbol began to flash red. On the ground, Applejack had driven up to Rainbow’s fighter as she disembarked and hurried to her girlfriend’s fighter. The rainbow haired girl was busy trying to get her Gungir back up and running, completely focused on her task. “Dash, are ya’ll alright?!” Applejack asked. “A little bruised, but I’ll live. We have to help Aster though!” Rainbow exclaimed. “Dashie, we have to fall back, she can handle that monster!” “She saved my life, AJ! And now she’s in trouble, I’m not going to abandon her after she did that for me!” Rainbow insisted. Applejack looked towards the battle, noticing that Aster was on the defensive now, and her sun symbol was flashing red. “Okay, that’s not lookin’ too good…But, Rainbow, what’re we gonna do against that thing?! It already kicked our asses!” Rainbow finally resorted to kicking her console, and the ship turned back on. “I never said we had to beat it ourselves.” Applejack smirked as she understood her plan. “Don’t miss, Sug!” Meanwhile, Aster was trying to think of a way to attack Zetton, but the monster was not sticking around long enough to for her to land a blow. [Dammit, I have to pin him down, and I’m running out of time…crap! Just then, the sound of a Gungir fighter echoed in the air. Aster briefly looked up as she watched Rainbow’s fighter zoom around the battlefield. When Zetton appeared, she opened another barrel from the nose of the Gungir and fired. A red speck whizzed through the air and struck the side of the beast, but it didn’t seem to cause any damage. The bottom of the Gungir opened up and Rainbow unleashed salvo after salvo of missiles. Zetton noticed them coming, but then teleported away. The missiles continued to zoom into the distance, making Aster wonder why she even bothered to release her whole payload like that knowing it wasn’t going to hit? Zetton reappeared behind Aster, ready to fire another shot to end it. But at that moment, the missiles did a one-hundred and eighty degree turn and zoomed straight for Zetton. The Space Beast looked up at the last second and watched as all the missiles collided with its face, releasing a cloud of sparkling dust that seemed to throw the beast off balance. {HA! How do like that?! SMILE’s special chaff, it disrupts missile guidance systems, and when it gets ignited – AJ, wanna show ‘em?} {With pleasure! FIRE IN THE HOLE!} Applejack’s Goliath tank fired a plasma bolt straight up into the sky. The plasma arched itself until it was aimed directly at Zetton’s head. The moment it came into contact with the particles it ignited a multi series of explosions around the monster’s head, confusing and damaging the monster as it tried to get ahold of itself. Yow two are crazy, but I like the way you think! Within the inner space of Aster, Sunset placed the Stelluger in her left hand as she took out each of the coins and placed them into the slots on her weapon. On the outside, Aster took up the blade in her right hand, the Stellugger’s blades ignited with orange flames, with the blade itself glowing bright yellow. Aster dashed across the battlefield towards the distracted Zetton, twirling her blade around as she cried out, “Solar Slash!” A blade of fire and light slashed through the monster, causing multiple explosions all over its body, sparks flying in all directions. Zetton stumbled forward as Aster skidded to a halt a few meters behind it, but it seemed Zetton wasn’t completely done just yet. “Stubborn monster aren’t ‘cha?! Guess it’s time for the finale!” Zetton charged up what remaining energy he had into the yellow emitter strip on its head, while Aster charged up as well. The Space Beast fired a stream of fiery electric energy straight towards Aster, but the Ultra Warrior did not falter as she counterattacked. “ASTRONIUM RAY!!!” Aster brought her arms into their cross position and fired her beam attack straight for Zettons. The two beams clashed in the middle, generating a shockwave upon impact. Zetton tried to push the attack forward, and looked as if it was gaining ground, but Aster released a loud battle cry just as her Astronium Ray pierced through Zettons attack and struck the Space Beast, completely annihilating Zetton in the wake of a huge explosion. The Ultra Warrior cut off her attack and took a deep breath. Rainbow’s Gungir flew close to Aster, allowing her to see Rainbow Dash in the cockpit, giving her a thumbs up. In the inner space, the corner of Sunset’s mouth curled into a smile as she raised her right hand and gave a thumbs up to Rainbow, her Ultrawoman form mimicking the motion. She then looked to the Goliath on the ground and gave it thumbs up as well before jumping into the air and zooming off into the distance. \*****///** [S. M. I. L. E. Academy, the next day…] Sunset seemed antsy this morning, at least that’s what Twilight could tell. The two of them were called into the Commander’s office, but Twilight wasn’t sure for what exactly. Part of her wondered if it was because of Sunset’s transformation, had she broken some kind of rule between them about doing that at school. “Sunset I just want you to know, I’ll take full responsibility! I was the one who forced you to go out and fight that monster yesterday and–!” “Whoa, whoa, slow down. First off: you didn’t make me do anything. You just helped me to make up my mind. Second: whatever punishment – if any – she gives me, I’ll take it. Besides, I’m not apologizing for monster busting and saving some lives.” Sunset interrupted. The two girls continued down the hall but stopped when they noticed Rainbow and Applejack standing outside the office. Applejack spotted the two of them and smiled as she waved them down, “Sunset, Twilight, what brings y’all over here?” “We were called by Commander Celestia, what brings you here?” Twilight asked. “Same, not sure why, but we’re probably guessin’ that it was because of that stunt we pulled yesterday workin’ with Ultrawoman Aster. But, to tell ya the truth, Ah don’t regret it one bit.” Applejack placed her hands on her hips as she proudly said, “Anyone or anything that went through all that to save Dashie here can’t be all that bad.” Sunset and Rainbow blushed. Applejack looked to her girlfriend and sighed as she got behind her and gave her a shove forward, earning her an indignant glare from Rainbow. The stout girl just crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow at Rainbow, silently telling her to get on with it. With a frustrated sigh, Rainbow walked up to Twilight, rubbing her left arm nervously as tried to get the words out. “L-Look, I’m sorry…about yesterday. I didn’t mean to throw the ball at you! I just lost my concentration and aimed it for the wrong person, my fake out was turned into a real throw…I know I missed, but I know it could’ve really hurt you if it hit, and I could see how scared you were after that and I…I felt really bad so…sorry!” Rainbow bowed her head before Twilight. Applejack walked up next to her and did the same. Twilight stammered for a few seconds and said, “P-Please don’t, it’s alright! I kind of figured that’s what happened, you both ignored hitting me the entire game even though I was an easy target, so I had a feeling that you didn’t do that intentionally to hurt me.” “Well, looks like you were right, Twi. Hey, look up.” Rainbow Dash and Applejack raised their head and watched as Sunset held out her hand. “Name’s Sunset Shimmer, figured we start over.” Rainbow grinned and shook Sunset’s hand as she said, “Rainbow Danger Dash, but you can call me Rainbow or just Dash, whichever.” “Not going to introduce your girlfriend?” Sunset asked. Rainbow blushed as she looked at Applejack. “You told them?!” “Yeeep.” Applejack answered. “It’s cool, right, Twi?” Twilight nodded in agreement. “Well I would certainly hope so.” A new voice had joined their conversation, all four girls turned their heads in the direction of the new voice. Walking down the opposite hall was the girl that Sunset had saw who made some elegant alterations to the uniform, followed behind her was Fluttershy from their biology class, and right alongside her was a girl who was smiling and humming a tune to herself. “After finally getting those two to confess to each other, I shant have anyone break apart this relationship!” “Simmer down, Rarity, we ain’t breakin’ up,” Applejack chuckled as she hooked an arm over Rainbows shoulders. “Sunset Shimmer, Twilight Sparkle, this here’s some friends of ours.” The girl with sapphire eyes and curled, silky violet hair walked up and said, “Rarity Belle, a pleasure to meet you.” Fluttershy peeked out from around Pinkie Pie, her uniform consisted of a longer skirt that went a little past the knees as opposed to the slightly shorter skirts. Her blazer was left open, her bow sitting cutely around the collar of her shirt and decorating her light-pink hair was a butterfly burette. “H-Hello, my – um – name is…” “Fluttershy,” Twilight answered. “Eep! H-How did you know?” Twilight scratched her head. “Sunset and I are in the same biology class as you.” Fluttershy blushed as she realized her faux pas. “Oh, I’m sorry.” The other girl, with bright pink, bouncy, curly hair, and had pins of ice cream and other cute mascot characters decorating the lapels of her blazer, walked up to both Twilight and Sunset and shook their hands simultaneously at a rapid pace. Which ended up with their hair getting disheveled and Twilight’s glasses going crooked. “Hi, I’m Pinkamina Diane Pie, but everyone calls me Pinkie Pie!” she explained. “So, what’re you guys doing here?” Rainbow asked. “Same as you I suppose, we got a summons from Commander Celestia and now we’re here,” said Rarity. Now Twilight and Sunset were confused, they were sure it may have had something to do with Sunset changing into Aster, but with all seven of them here, they didn’t know what the reason was. After a minute the doors to the Commander’s office opened, Vice Commander Luna was on the other side and ushered them inside. Once inside, the girls stood at attention and saluted the Commanders. “At ease girls, and you can relax a little, I assure you all that the reason for you coming her isn’t for disciplinary reasons,” Celestia assured. While they did release a sigh of relief, it still didn’t dispel their unease for why they were called in. “As you all know, the last forty-eight hours have seen two monster attacks back to back. Such a thing hasn’t occurred in many years, even before my sister and I were children. Now, we may be facing an increase in frequency of attacks in the future, and we need to do something about it.” Rarity raised her hand and Celestia nodded to her. “Pardon me, Commander Celestia, but can I assume correctly that our presence here is correlated to that ‘something’?” “Indeed, it is.” Vice Commander Luna answered. “As of right now, you seven are to be given Special Agent status, which means you will be called upon to assist or even head – depending on the circumstances – investigations into alien activity, and combat against the Space Beasts.” “Each of you has shown promise in one field or another. Miss Belle with her innovation in combat gear, making the materials lighter, flexible, and even more durable under fire.” Rarity blushed a little. “Miss Shy, you have been touted by some of the biology professors as quite knowledgeable when it comes to Space Beast and xeno-animal mannerisms and behaviors, as well as a proficiency in the medical side for both.” Fluttershy smiled, but still hid behind her bangs. “Rainbow Dash and Applejack Apple, two of the youngest, and proficient pilots in our Gungir and Goliath units. Your captains speak highly of not only your skills, but your brashness and sometimes flagrant disregard for protocol.” Both girls rubbed the back of their heads with embarrassment and pride. “Pinkie Pie, your ability to connect with all those around you, even with other alien races and bring them to a table, such diplomatic skill is greatly needed in our changing times.” The pink haired girl beamed and saluted. “Twilight Sparkle, you tested higher in the fields of physics, mechanical engineering, chemistry, and astronomy than any other candidate thus far. The only one comes close is, well, Sunset Shimmer.” At this, Sunset stood at attention. “You do have quite the attitude at times, you can be harsh, and a bit lazy at times.” Sunset’s expression became deadpan as the other girls snickered a little. “But…despite this, you are loyal, fierce, and unwavering when it comes to what you believe. And, might I add, proficient in hand-to-hand and weapons combat.” The fiery haired girl blushed at the praise but managed to keep her composure. Vice Commander Luna walked up to each of the girls, taking off their school crest and replacing them with a new one. This one featured a pair of silver crossed swords, it was slight change and one that wouldn’t be noticed unless someone was deliberately looking right at it. “These new crests acknowledge you as Special Agents and can be called on for different field operations or projects that SMILE is conducting. They are water proof and can resist intense cold and heat, so you needn’t worry about putting them in wash and having them destroyed. We will have a few more made up to replace the crests in your wardrobes, for now I suggest interchanging them.” “Sweet!” Rainbow commented. “Commander Celestia, exactly what kind of operations will we be assigned to?” Twilight asked. “Mostly, it will be ones that are centered around Ultrawoman Aster.” The girls all gave Celestia their undivided attention. “As of today, she is designated an ally of SMILE. But I get the feeling that she may need some help considering the strength of the enemy yesterday.” Sunset grumbled and whispered under her breath, “Damn teleporting bug!” “So, we are currently working on improvements to the Gungir and Goliath that Miss Apple and Dash pilot, and if you wish Miss Sparkle, you can look over the designs and schematics to see what improvements can be made,” said Commander Celestia. Twilight’s eyes grew wide and practically sparkled as she heard this. “R-Really! I can give design input and recommend changes?!” “Whatever you believe can make their vehicles give Aster an edge.” Applejack and Rainbow slung their arms over Twilight’s shoulders as they smiled at the nerdy girl. “I got a few ideas of what you can change on mine,” said Rainbow. “Ah think we should get together after class and go into more detail about what meh Goliath could use,” said Applejack. “Oh! New vehicles could mean new clothing, a complete overhaul of the pilot suits! Oooooh, this will be exciting!” Rarity squealed in delight. “Whether you tell your fellow classmates or not is up to you. Of course, this means you will be exempt from certain activities and given extensions for certain assignments, you are all dismissed, except for Miss Shimmer.” Twilight hesitated a moment, but Sunset nodded for her to go and join the rest of the girls. Once alone, Sunset sighed and said, “So, I’m guessing you think I need help?” “Not help, comrades.” Celestia corrected. “Sunset, I see it in your eyes. You’ve made the decision to fight and I won’t stop you, however, I would like it if you not only help in battling the Space Beasts, but also receive help in that endeavor. And I believe these girls will help you.” Sunset had to admit, they were a strange bunch, an animal lover, a fashionista, a farm girl, a sports girl, a party girl, and a cute nerdy girl. “I could do worse, but, aren’t you going to tell them that I’m Ultrawoman Aster?” Celestia stood from her desk and walked around it to stand before Sunset, she then placed her hand on her shoulder gently and said, “I believe that is your decision, it is not mine to make for you. If you trust them, it’d be better to tell them.” Sunset smiled a little. “I’ll think about it.” “Good, also.” On cue, Luna opened her HoloFrame and brought up a holographic display of the veranda where Sunset had transformed. The camera footage showed Twilight there, and then a flash of light around Sunset before she zoomed off into the distance. “Please be more aware of your surroundings, Sunset, you’re lucky we caught that and erased the footage.” Sunset blushed and face palmed herself, she couldn’t believe she had gotten caught like that. “I’ll give you a list of some the camera blind spots around campus so that if needed you can transform in these locations, but please keep them to yourself. Well then, let me make this official then.” Celestia held out her hand smiled. “I look forward to working with you, Sunset – rather – Aster.” Sunset shook Celestia’s hand gave cocky grin of affirmation. The whole time, however, Luna seemed skeptical of this alliance. \*****///** [Unknown Sector of Space…] A man, or what looked like a man, sat upon a throne carved of what appeared to be obsidian rock. His body was wrapped in silver armor, with engravings of a long-forgotten alien language. His blood red cape flowed down his seat, with tattered, battle worn edges. His face was shrouded in shadows, with only a single red curved horn protruding from his forehead. Before him floated a violet colored crystal, which displayed a kind of recording of Ultrawoman Aster defeating Barabba and, more recently, Zetton. The man gripped the armrests of his throne hard, causing cracks to form in the crystal it was made of. It would appear she has returned. “I see that, it will not be a problem,” said the shadow man. I was assured that the first time, and now she is back. The Utlras are spread thinly and will not be able to render too much aid to this planet. However, we must act cautiously, one Ultra Warrior is already a problem. “Have a little faith in my power, we will strike again.” 3rd Light: Secrets Revealed! / The Fiery Power Awakens!It had been over two weeks since the last monster attack, but everyone was still a bit on edge. The students of SMILE Academy still went about their daily activities, but the real talk of the school had been the announcement made by Commander Celestia last week, designating the giant, Ultrawoman Aster, as an ally. Of course, this was met with some criticism from the teachers and other rank in file agents of the base, but in the end, the decision was held up and no acts of aggression were permitted against the Ultrawoman, unless otherwise provoked that is. Sunset and Twilight had been taking some time to get to know their new teammates, it was evident that the two girls were loners by nature, and somehow found a budding friendship between them, but now their circle of friends had expanded to something that neither of them were expecting. Lunch time was particularly livelier nowadays, with a table consisting of seven girls with seven different personality types, the conversations were sometimes louder, more dramatic, and more often than not with regards to Pinkie Pie, more nonsensical. Currently, Sunset was a guest of one Rarity Belle. Through talks with the fashionista, she found out that she wanted to be a fashion designer later on down the road and showing that she can work in any situation would show her versatility under pressure, and her ability to work with all manner of material. Sunset was standing on a platform, arms out, legs shoulder width apart, while Rarity was busy taking measurements. “You know, darling, this would be a little easier without the uniform,” said Rarity. “Yeah, not too keen on stripping down in front of a girl and teammate I just met two weeks ago,” Sunset replied. Rarity made a few scoffing noises and said, “Puh-lease, darling, it isn’t as if you have anything that I don’t already have.” Rarity got closer to Sunset and wrapped the measuring tape around her chest, she then blinked a few times and gave Sunset an annoyed look. “Scratch that, perhaps there’s one thing. That or I’m off on my numbers.” Sunset let a little smirk spilt across her lips at how Rarity tried to play off her slight jealousy of Sunset’s bust. “Still, maybe we’ll work up to that.” Rarity rolled her eyes but smiled nonetheless. “Very well, but I would like you to know that I do maintain professionalism. Can’t very well be skittish or embarrassed about seeing anther person in their birthday suit when fitting and getting measurements in this business.” “True. Either, that or you just really want to see me in my underwear?” Sunset asked with a wiggle of her brow. “I see you’re like Rainbow with all her pervy ideas and innuendos. That’s fine, I’ve grown accustomed to them over the years. But…” Rarity got really close to Sunset, close enough for Sunset’s breath to hitch as she stared into those sapphire eyes. “If you’re feeling up to the task, I’d wouldn’t mind seeing if the grass is indeed greener on the other side, in a manner of speaking, especially if it was with the right person…” Sunset began stammering a bit as she tried to make sense of what was happening right now, her mind was going to a million different places at once and some of them ranged from vanilla to gutter. After a few seconds, Rarity pulled back and had superior smirk. “Rainbow isn’t the only one who can get someone flustered,” said Rarity as she booped Sunset’s nose before walking over to a large digital screen. “I’ll input the measurements, and after words I’ll speak with Twilight about the material I’ll need to craft us all a new set of body armor for field operations, both stylish and functional!” Sunset shook her head as she tried to shake off the red blush on her face. “Y-Yeah, cool. Was there anything else? I kind of need to go and meet up with Rainbow and AJ in the training room.” Rarity nodded and waved her off as she was deeply engrossed in her work on the board. Seeing the future fashion designer with such an intense look, reminded Sunset of how Twilight would concentrate intensely on her homework and books back at their dorm. The fiery redhead exited the design R&D lab and headed to the training room where she was to be given some hands-on training. There was one thing that Sunset had yet to make a decision on, she wasn’t sure exactly when or if the time was right to tell these other girls that she was Aster. With Twilight it was different, there really wasn’t a choice, either she transformed and saved their lives, or didn’t and they’d both be dead, well, one of them anyway… Without realizing it, Sunset had found her way to the training room, she placed her HoloFrame against the door to allow her entry since it was a private room. As soon the door opened, she could hear the sounds of the two girls yelling as their feet stomped against the ground with every landing from a kick thrown. Sunset watched as Applejack closed in on Rainbow, throwing rapid fire jabs at the girl to make her back up towards the wall, but Rainbow wasn’t slow, she was nimble and quick, dodging every blow that her girlfriend was dishing out. Just as Applejack had wanted, Rainbow’s back was against the wall and open to some body blows. But Rainbow smirked as she squatted and jumped right into the air, and before Sunset’s eyes, Rainbow sprouted two, five-foot-long, cyan feathered wings from her back. The avian appendages allowed her to glide upwards, she then wrapped herself in her wings as she performed a spin in midair. Before her feet could touch the ground, Rainbow unfurled her wings and flapped them once, propelling her across the room. Applejack turned around just in time to watch Rainbow close in on her, grabbing her by the arms, and pinning her against the wall. Applejack gave her girlfriend an annoyed look. “Dammit, Rainbow, that’s cheatin’! You used yer wings!” Rainbow raised her eyebrow as a cocky grin appeared on her lips. “Really? I don’t remember there being any rules against not using them. Besides…” The rainbow haired girl flared her wings and gave a light flap. “You know you like ‘em, and I quote, ‘They give ya that exotic look, Sug’.” Applejack blushed, neither denying nor confirming those words. As she tried to look away, Applejack’s embarrassed expression changed to one of shock when she saw the door close and saw Sunset Shimmer standing inside the room. Rainbow followed her gaze and she too shared the same expression, Rainbow quickly moved away from Applejack and hid behind her like a scared puppy dog, her wings covering her as if to act like a shield. “Uh, okay, so…Rainbow has wings…that’s…huh?” “L-Look, Sunset, we can explain…!” “Explain what?” Sunset asked. “That she has big blue wings? I am curious about those, actually.” “Please…don’t tell anyone…” Rainbow begged. Sunset was taken aback by what she heard, Rainbow always sounded confident, and was bold and brash, but now…she looked so scared and frightened, as if she was anticipating Sunset to do something to her. “Rainbow, I’m not going to tell anyone if that’s what you want, but…I mean, I’d still like to know, y’know?” Applejack could see the look in Sunset’s eyes, she was being sincere, but she just really confused by what she was seeing. The country girl knelt down and gently rubbed the small of Rainbow’s back where her wings sprouted from, the action seemed to calm Rainbow down a little. Her wings began to shimmer a little as they retreated into her back, now revealing a crying girl. “It’s okay, Sug, she ain’t scared a ya, just confused is all,” said Applejack as she coaxed her girlfriend to look in Sunset’s direction. Rainbow looked, and her fears were slightly eased by the look of wonder rather than disgust or fear. After wiping her tears away, Rainbow said, “I’m…not exactly all human…” “Say what?” The sporty girl sighed heavily. “My dad, he’s an alien. He was actually one of the alien races that came to Earth’s defense during the First Incursion…he was injured and couldn’t go back at that time, then he met my Mom, and had me with my Mom. He’s an Alien Avian, and his people have wings and are, like, strong warriors. My hair matches his, so no, this isn’t a dye job it’s all natural…” Applejack placed her arm around Rainbow’s shoulders as she said, “Lotta kids used to make fun of her fer her hair color, the last she needed was the wings complicatin’ things.” “So how do you know?” Sunset asked. Suddenly, Sunset’s HoloFrame went off, she took out the device and read the message. [Special Operations Message: Report to briefing room 103 immediately.] “That’s story for another day, Sug.” \*****///** [Briefing Room] The HoloFrame showed a map of the school and gave Sunset, Rainbow, and Applejack directions to the briefing room. Two minutes later, they entered the room, saluting when they noticed that Vice Commander Luna was present. There were a few other special ops members as well, one of which she recognized, the boy with spikey blue hair that looked like a Rocker, the other with silver hair. Once last few entered, Vice Commander Luna cleared her throat. “Welcome, for some of you this will be your first Special Ops Mission, for others business as usual.” The blue haired woman snapped her fingers and a holographic image of the Evefree Forest appeared behind her. “We’ve been getting some unusual readings within the forest proper, our scanners haven’t been able to pinpoint the source, but we do have a general area.” The hologram painted a wide area in red just a few miles to the south of the base. “In order to pinpoint the source, we’ll have you go in teams of three with these monitoring devices.” A hologram of the device appeared, which was a backpack with a small antenna connected to tablet. “These are the coordinates that each time will be heading towards, we should be able to triangulate and pinpoint the source of the strange readings and get a better idea of what we’re dealing with. Be aware, the forest is strange. Even though it is responsible for keeping the Earth safe, that doesn’t mean that it itself is a safe place for humans to venture in. Understood?!” “Yes ma’am!” they answered together. Everyone was dismissed, and Rainbow said, “Sweet! Our first mission together, well, least three of us.” “Can’t say Ah’m too keen on goin’ into that forest, at least not without my Goliath,” said Applejack. “You’d end up mowing down the forest if you do that and mind you it is the only thing keeping us somewhat protected from a Second Incursion,” Sunset pointed out. Rainbow waved that off. “Yeah, but that was before we had Ultrawoman Aster! Now when one of those things shows up, she can just blow it away with that astro ray thing!” Rainbow then began imitating Aster’s stance when she performed her ray attack. It’s called the Astronium Ray, Sunset thought with a slight blush on her face. “Ah wouldn’t completely put all my chips on that bet. If we didn’t help her out that last time, Ah think that thing would’ve won,” said Applejack. Sunset grumbled a little under her breath, while grateful for their assistance during the battle with Zetton, Sunset still didn’t like how close she came to losing to the overgrown space roach like that. I have to get strong somehow…I can’t let another one of those things come that close to winning against me. “Sunset, you alright, Sug?” Sunset shook her head. “Huh, what?” “You looked like you were thinking really hard on something. Some trouble in paradise with Twilight?” Rainbow asked. “No, why would you think that?” Sunset asked curiously. Before Rainbow could answer, Applejack swatted her girlfriend upside the head. “Don’t go projectin’ our relationship on others now. You and yer shippin’ nonsense.” “……‘Shipping’?” Applejack patted Sunset on the shoulder. “Trust me, don’t worry about it. Let’s go and suit up.” \*****///** [Everfree Forest, 10:30 AM] Three black SUV vehicles drove through the field and right to the edge of the Everfree Forest. From each vehicle the three teams exited, along with them was a senior agent who would be leading their respective teams. Sunset, Rainbow, and Applejack were teamed up with a fairly young lieutenant named, Ballista. She was a lithe woman, with lean muscles, raven colored hair, and dingy yellow eyes. Once they were out, Applejack went to the back of the vehicle and opened up the trunk, hefting the scanning device unto her back, having volunteered to carry the heavy machinery. “Okay ladies, listen up, we’ll be heading in, I want weapons drawn, safeties off. Keep aware of your surroundings at all times, and do not – repeat – do not get separated. Do you get me?!” Ballista asked. “We get you, Ma’am!” the girls stated together. With that, the three teams made their expedition into the forest. Upon entering it, the differences were immediate, the air felt cool, but not freezing. The sun didn’t completely break through the canopy of leaves, only small rays of sunshine were allowed through, giving the already eerie forest and an even eerier feel. Tiny particles of light would dance in the shadows of the trees, it was proposed by researchers that this was either some insect or a kind of bioluminescent spore that the trees released, either way, it played havoc with their nerves. One couldn’t distinguish the particles for eyes or the other, at least probably not until it was too late. Ballista was armed with a pulse rifle, fitted with a scope for long range sniping and recon. Sunset, Applejack, and Rainbow were armed with photon pistols, not quite as strong as their lieutenant’s weapon, but it would make sure that anything coming towards them would need to think twice before doing so again. Applejack kept one hand holding her weapon, and the tablet in the other, checking the readings as the strange energy they were tracking went up and down like a wave. “Alright, our scan point is about fifty meters in, afterward we hold until the Bravo and Gamma teams set up and we begin the scans,” Ballista explained. The girls nodded and proceeded further in. The foliage of the forest was a weird mixture of colors, some were violet, others were a blue-green, the bushes that littered the other portions of the forest had the same color tone, but the flowers ranged from either some kind of polka dot pattern, some were striped, and others looked as if they were dipped in a tie-dye machine. They were warned not to pick or touch the flowers with their bare hands, as the science division was not sure if the plants had a toxic effect on humans. They eventually made it to their designated point, of course the constant noises that echoed through the forest, along with the snapping of branches always drew their attention, making them jump and point their guns in that direction. Ballista would often shake her head and whisper, “Rookies” under her breath. “Alright ladies, heads on a swivel, we have to wait for Bravo and Gamma to get into place, so keep your eyes and ears open. AJ, keep your eyes on the monitor, if that energy reading starts to rise too quickly we’re pulling back.” Sunset and Rainbow kept their eyes on the dense forest around them, with Ballista doing the same. Strangely, ever since entering the forest, Sunset had been feeling a strange headache, she hadn’t said anything so as to not hinder their mission, but now it seemed as if it was getting a little worse, still, she kept her attention forward, trying to spot anything that looked potentially dangerous. Then, Sunset’s eyes caught something, or rather someone. From what she could see, it was a woman, and she seemed to be holding something. Sunset made to raise her photon gun in that direction, but the headache suddenly spiked, images flashed through her mind, too fast to see clearly, a loud ringing sound echoed in her ears, deafening her to any other sound in the area. It was only when Applejack took her eyes away from the monitor to look around did she see Sunset in pain. “Sunset, what’s wrong?!” Ballista and Rainbow finally took notice and rushed to her side, Sunset looked back to where she saw the woman-like figure, but she was gone, and miraculously, so was the headache and the ringing in her ears. Sunset shook her head for a moment, trying to regain her bearings after what just happened. “Hey, Shimmer, are you with me?! Hey?!” Ballista called out. “Y-Yeah, I…I’m fine,” Sunset half lied. Applejack looked to the lieutenant and said, “Maybe we should fall back, the forest might be doin’ somethin’ to us that we ain’t aware of?” Ballista was about to say something but was interrupted by the echoing of blaster fire in the background. “Who’s firing?! What’s going on?!” {This is Bravo Team, we’re retreating! There’s too many of them!} {Gamma as well, all teams full retreat!} “What’s attacking! Someone copy me!” “Uh, Lieutenant…Ma’am!” Rainbow called out. Ballista turned around and watched as several green glowing eyes became visible up ahead. One of the creatures finally came into the light, its body was canine in form, walking on four legs, but it was what its body was made of that gave them pause. Vines, bark, and moss were woven together, and tightly compacted, creating a body born of the trees themselves. Its teeth and claws were made of sharpened stone, its drool ran like sap down its long muzzle. In all honesty, such a creature shouldn’t be able to move or snarl, but this one did, it snarled and growled as it approached them, but not alone. Soon more appeared from the shadows, like a stalking wolfpack they crept closer towards their prey. “What the hell are those?!” Sunset asked. “They look like wolves made of trees, what else?!” Ballista answered. “We’re getting out of here, don’t shoot unless they start running at us, just start moving back slowly.” All four SMILE agents slowly moved backwards, Rainbow was keeping an eye on the back, making sure that their retreat was covered and that the beasts weren’t circling around. Unfortunately, they didn’t get two feet before the wolves howled and charged straight towards them. With the slow retreat no longer an option, the agents of SMILE opened fire on the pack, several shots either pierced their hides or blew them up completely. The creatures went down easy, it was getting them to stay down that was the problem. Every time they fired and hit the creatures, they would just reform themselves by pulling from the earth and trees nearby. “Anybody think to bring grenades?!” Rainbow asked. “NO, BUT IF WE LIVE THROUGH THIS, I’M NOT LEAVING BASE WITHOUT ANY!” Ballista shouted. Sunset watched as one of the beasts was about to lunge for Rainbow, she had to act fast. She didn’t want to reveal too much, but this was a dire circumstance. Sunset swiftly moved Rainbow aside just as the wolf began its lunge, when it was in range, Sunset backhanded the monster with her fist, and then fired three shots to keep it down, at least for now. It all happened so fast, Sunset was sure that Rainbow didn’t see that, but then she turned to her and saw a look of surprise, she had seen it. Just then a scream caught their attention as Applejack’s leg was wrapped up a vine and was quickly pulled in the opposite direction, she shot at the vine, but it kept regenerating faster than she could shoot it. “RAINBOW!” Applejack cried as she pulled in the darker part of the forest. Rainbow’s eyes widened with fear as she watched her girlfriend get carried away into the forest. “APPLEJACK!!!” Ballista turned to see what was happening and was about to run in the direction Applejack was taken, but the pack was quickly beginning to circle, she looked to her subordinates, and to where Applejack was dragged off. With a growl of frustration, she dragged Rainbow by the arm, the athletic girl struggled against the lieutenant’s grip, fighting to try and escape to go after Applejack. “LET ME GO! I HAVE TO SAVE HER! DAMMIT LET! ME! GO!” Rainbow shouted. “I’m not giving up on her, but it does us no good if we all die in here! Now move your ass!” Sunset looked towards the direction where Applejack was taken, wanting to so badly to transform and rip Applejack free, but Ballista would see her, she didn’t feel too stressed if Rainbow saw, but Ballista… “She’s right, Rainbow, we can’t save AJ if we’re dead! We’re not abandoning her!” Sunset stated. Rainbow hated to admit it, but they were right, the pack was getting closer and their numbers were increasing. “I’m sorry…” \*****///** The exploratory teams finally made it out of the forest, the wooden wolves had ceased their pursuit the moment they exited the tree line and went back into the forest. Ballista reported it to the base, and were told to standby while they sent reinforcements to begin rescue operations. Sunset was kicking herself for not doing more, she also knew that that woman she saw had to be behind this, it was only after seeing her that the wolves appeared, or “Timber Wolves” was what they were being called now. Rainbow Dash was sitting off by herself, staring straight into the forest. Sunset could tell that she was readying herself to charge right back into the forest, punishment be damned, she was going to save Applejack, and Sunset was going to help. Sunset took out her phone and immediately dialed Twilight’s number. {Hello?} “Twilight, I need your help.” {What’s wrong?} Sunset quickly went through the events that happened, when she was finished, she could tell that Twilight was distressed. {This is terrible, but what can I do?!} “Applejack was still wearing her detection device that was transmitting to the base. Can you…I don’t know…hack the system and give me the coordinates?” Sunset asked. {……Normally I have morals against the hacking of official networks and databases, but granted this is to save a life, so this is the exception! Give me two minutes then check your HoloFrame.} “You’re the best, Twi!” Sunset walked over to Rainbow Dash and knelt next to her. “Hey.” “I’m going in to save her, don’t try and stop, Sunset.” “You’re not going to do that –” “I told you –!” “Without me.” Sunset finished. Rainbow grinned upon hearing that, but her grin fell soon after. “How are we going to find her anyway…If we do…we’ll end having the rescue team rescue us instead?” At that moment, Sunset’s HoloFrame began beeping. The redhead opened her device and saw a little avatar of Twilight delivering the info, and then opening it up to reveal the spot where Applejack’s backpack was transmitting from. “Thank Twilight for this.” “Thank her! I’ll freakin’ make out with her for this! Let’s go!” Both girls wasted little time and dashed towards the woods, amidst the protest of the team leaders and their classmates, they ran right into the woods. Sunset led the way, keeping her weapon drawn as the HoloFrame showed their position relative to where Applejack was supposed to be. The girls walked for three minutes through the still creepy forest, and had yet to run into the Timber Wolves, thankfully. “So, how did Applejack learn about your wings?” Sunset asked. Rainbow was caught off guard by the question, but still managed to get the words out. “Well, it wasn’t so much that I wanted to, more like I had to, or she would’ve died. When we were little I played at her family’s farm, we were running around playing tag until she ran too far and came to the edge of this cliff and fell face first. I didn’t think, I just acted, I tore off my shirt and let my wings out. I swooped down and carried her up enough to slow us both down before we hit the ground.” “I was – still am – anxious about other people seeing my wings. So, when I did that, I did the same thing back in the training room, I shielded myself with my wings. I remember asking her, ‘Please don’t hate me’ over and over again. But she did something I definitely wasn’t expecting. She hugged me, and cried into my shoulder, and I did too…” Rainbow rubbed the back of her neck as she remembered her emotional moment. “It was the first time anybody wasn’t afraid of my wings…and she actually said they were pretty.” Sunset smiled a little. “That how you got her as a girlfriend?” “No, that’s a different a story–” Suddenly, a loud jingling sound echoed through the trees, catching the attention of Sunset and Rainbow. A thick fog began to appear, obscuring everything from sight. Sunset looked around and tried to reach out for Rainbow, but she wasn’t there, in fact, it seemed as if not even the trees were there anymore. Soon, the woman Sunset had saw earlier reappeared before her, but now she had a better look at her. Her skin was ebony, with tribal stripes and markings done in gray paint. She wore a brown leather like bodice, and a skirt, and long knee-high boots, and a cloak made of the same material. Her left arm had at least four gold rings hanging off her wrist, which could’ve caused the jingling sounds from earlier. In her right hand she held a wooden staff, it bent and curved, and at the top were a few branches with leaves. The woman’s eyes glowed yellow in the shadows of her hood, but she made no sound or approach. Sunset raised her weapon at the woman and said, “Stay right there! What are you doing here?!” The woman gave no answer. “Did you sic those wolves on us?! Where’s Applejack?! Tell me!” Sunset ordered. “Why?” Sunset blinked. “What?” “Why do you care for this girl?” the woman asked. “Because, she’s my teammate, and her girlfriend’s worried about her!” The woman raised her left hand slowly and grabbed at the edge of her hood. She drew it back slowly and revealed her face. She had blue-green colored eyes, and mohawk styled hair that was colored black and white. Her neck had three gold rings wrapped around it, and her ears had looped gold earrings. “No other reason?” “Do I need a better one?” Sunset asked in an incredulous tone. The woman shook her head. “No, but it’d be wise to cease lying to yourself, and your wish to create bonds.” “I’m not ‘lying’ to myself! What could I possibly be lying about?!” “The fact that you are Ultrawoman Aster, and your fear of this group you find yourself among will see you as a monster,” she said. Sunset’s eyes widened, but then narrowed as she carefully took aim at the woman, now on edge. “You know I’m her, how?” “It doesn’t matter, what does matter, is your stubbornness to keep others at arm’s length or further.” The woman began slowly walking, tracing a circle around Sunset as she continued to speak. “Loyalty and honesty, such things are hard to do, and sometimes the truth hurts. But the truth needs to be spoken, and sometimes in order to have loyalty, you must show it. You placed your trust in another and spoke the truth to this person, why is it hard for you to do so again?” Sunset looked away for a moment. “Because…I don’t trust myself…I know nothing about myself or why I can do the things I can do…How I can be loyal to anyone when I don’t even know if that’s the kind of person I am?!” “Memories of the past are important, but what matters is not to be chained to them, what matters is the future, and the actions you take now. Be brave, Sunset Shimmer, be strong, Ultrawoman Aster…” As mysteriously and suddenly as when the fog came, it left just the same, leaving Sunset alone. She frantically looked about, trying to find Rainbow, but she was nowhere in sight. Just then, Sunset heard the sounds of blaster fire coming from up ahead. She glanced down at her HoloFrame and noticed that she was much closer to Applejack’s signal, Sunset didn’t wait to contemplate how this happened, she rushed through the brush, running as fast as she dared so as to not to hit a low hanging branch or trip on an upturned root. Soon, Sunset made it out of the trees and into a clearing, where she saw Applejack and Rainbow fighting off a pack of the Timber Wolves. The pack had them backed up against a huge boulder, keeping them encircled and leaving little room to escape. From where Sunset stood, she could see one of the wolves jump up behind the rockface, climbing all the way to the top. The beast looked down at the two girls, right in their blind spot and ready to pounce on one of them. Sunset didn’t think, she just acted, she called on the power within her, she didn’t care what they thought about her later, at least they’d be alive to think. The fiery redhead dashed across the clearing, just as the wolf jumped Sunset jumped, and delivered a flying kick to the beast’s head, kicking it clear off and sending its body tumbling into its brethren. Sunset landed in front of both girls, quickly doing an about face so that she was staring down the Timber Wolves. “SUNSET?!” Rainbow and Applejack exclaimed. “Hey, guys…I’m glad you’re alive, AJ,” said Sunset. Applejack’s body armor was scratched up, some parts were missing, but through it all she managed to keep the device safe. “These mutts have been doggin’ me ever since Ah shook off that vine that snagged me earlier, kinda runnin’ on fumes here…” Sunset took count of the wolves, about fifteen in total. “We can take them, but we…we need to work together, and not hold anything back…alright?” Rainbow and Applejack looked to each other, a kind of silent understanding passed through them as they nodded to each other. Rainbow removed the top portion of her suit, the only piece of clothing left was a sports bra, with a small grunt, her cyan wings flared outwards, creating a small gust of wind that made the Timber Wolves take a step back. Applejack cracked her knuckles and then worked the kinks out of her neck as she took a fighting stance. “GO!” Sunset shouted. Rainbow took off into the sky, using her blaster, she began raining down photon bolts from sky. Sunset and Applejack ran right into the fray, hitting a few of the wolves with swift kicks to their muzzles, one wolf attacked Sunset, but she quickly ducked below it and uppercut the beast in its stomach, another tried to attack her from behind. Sunset swiftly spun around and roundhouse kicked the wolf away from her. Applejack, in an amazing feat of strength, caught the Timber Wolf that Sunset kicked and got it into a headlock, she squeezed tight and jerked violently to her right, snapping the creature’s neck. Applejack took the limp creature’s body and threw it into another group that was coming at her. “Rainbow!” Sunset called out as she tossed her weapon into the air. Rainbow swooped in and grabbed the blaster in midair, spinning in the air, she turned around and began dual firing her weapons, hitting the Timber Wolves with amazing accuracy. Being half Alien Avian gave her keen eyesight, allowing her to zoom in and shoot the wolves down without worrying about hurting Sunset or Applejack. Rainbow was amazed to see how fast and strong Sunset was, Applejack’s strength was nothing to sneeze at, but Sunset was practically tearing through them. The pack seemed to finally get the picture that this was going to be more work than they had originally were ready to deal with. Sunset, Rainbow, and Applejack stood side by side, all three girls were scratched up, but none of them lost their fierce gaze. “Yeah, you get it now, we’re not going down without a fight! You won’t hurt my friends!” Sunset exclaimed. “Got that right, you mess with one of us, you mess with all of us!” Rainbow added. “An Apple sticks by their kith and kin, so ya’ll aren’t gettin’ to them easily,” said Applejack. Upon uttering those words, a flash of light went off from all three girls. Sunset’s body was glowing with a blue, sparkling aura, while Rainbow and Applejack both had red auras coming off their bodies. That seemed to be the limit of what the Timber Wolves were willing to put up with as they all made a hasty retreat back into the woods, not once looking back as they disappeared into the shadows of the forest. Once they were gone, Applejack and Rainbow looked at their bodies with a bit of trepidation, not really sure what was happening to them. After a minute, their auras coalesced before them, forming two coins that floated between them. The coins floated towards Sunset, who held out her open palms for the items to fall onto, and upon contact with her hands her aura flowed towards the coins and energized them, awakening them. Both had the images of Ultramen, but they were different from the coins Sunset used to transform with. “Uh, Sunset…what in the heck just happened?” Applejack asked. Sunset sighed a little as she smiled at her friends. “What just happened was a way for me to tell you the truth. Guys, I’m Ultrawoman Aster, you helped me out during the battle with Zetton two weeks ago…and it looks like I was able to somewhat return the favor.” Rainbow suddenly broke out into a fit of laughter, holding her sidrs and wincing a little from the fighting earlier. “Hahahaha, good one Sunset, Aster’s a giant, you’re…I mean…you are joking right?” Applejack looked at Sunset, trying to find any sign that the girl was lying. “She isn’t, Dash, she’s tellin’ the truth.” Rainbow’s eyes widened as she said, “Seriously?” Sunset raised her right arm, and immediately, the StaRaizer appeared on her forearm, along with the belt and coin holster. “Seriously.” “……That…is…AWESOME!” Rainbow exclaimed as she rushed to Sunset. “You’re like a real live superhero!” Sunset began to blush at how Rainbow looking at her all starry eyed. “Thanks…it actually feels good letting you know.” In the distance, Sunset could see the woman from earlier, she had a smile on her face and disappeared into the forest. The backpack device began to beep, prompting Applejack to take out the tablet. After turning it on, they saw that the area where the strange energy was being emitted had disappeared. “What just happened?” [Alert! Alert!] The girls quickly pulled out their HoloFrames. [Space Beast alert, all combat personnel, please report to battle stations.] “Ah crap, a monster attack and we’re stuck out here in the woods,” Rainbow grumbled. Sunset smirked. “Not exactly. If you guys don’t mind, I’ll get us out of here the express way.” Rainbow started to get giddy. “Are you going to transform?! She’s totally going to transform!” “Simmer down, Sug. Go on, Sunset, we’ll cover ya,” said Applejack. Sunset nodded as she was once again engulfed in light. The starry universe spread out before her, as she reached into the Coin Keeper and pulled out the Ultra Coins. “Grant me the strength of a hero!” || ULTRAMAN! || “Grant me the power of a galaxy!” || ULTRAMAN GINGA! || “Release the light within me!” ||SHINE ON! ULTRAWOMAN ASTER!|| The stars swirled around Sunset, transforming her body as she grew higher and higher. From the clearing, a giant of light arose, the giant known as Ultrawoman Aster. Down below, Rainbow Dash smushed her cheeks together as she looked up at Aster and said, “So, AWESOME!” Aster knelt down and held her hand out her hand. “Hop on.” \*****///** A new space beast had arrived to Earth, Goliaths continued to barrage the behemoth, but it showed no signs of slowing down. The creature was forty-five meters high, had yellowish brown, segmented scales, with strong arms and legs, and a long tail, but with a small head. The creature lumbered through the city, its huge size and bulky frame proving it needed little effort to smash through the buildings by just walking. The monster opened its mouth and fired a hail storm of sharpened stone at the Goliaths, the tanks were pelted mercilessly, each impact chipping away at their shields. Just then a streak of light shot through the sky and struck across the monster’s chest, causing sparks to fly from its body as it ceased the attack and backed up. Imbedded in the ground was the Stellugger, and floating down from the sky was its wielder, Aster picked up the blade weapon and assumed a fighting stance. Upon looking at the Space Beast, just like the others, another name popped into her head. Red King, well allow me to give you a royal ass whooping! Aster ran towards Red King and slashed down with the Stellugger across its chest, again. Sparks flew from Red King, but the beast pushed back as she readied for another swing, body slamming Aster. The Ultra Warrior stumbled backwards, but managed to regain her footing, however, that allowed Red King to raise up its fists and slam them down onto the ground, a wave of energy rushed through the earth and erupted with several chunks of earthen debris exploding around Aster. Disoriented from the attack, Red King took advantage of the opening and used its powerful tail to strike Aster in the side, sending her flying into a building. “Okay, now I’m mad!” Within the starry inner universe of Aster, Sunset placed the Ultraman and Ultraman Ginga Coins into the Stellugger and the blade shined with power. Aster ran at Red King, the behemoth of a beast fired more of its sharpened rocks but Aster’s Stellugger deflected all the shots with a skillful wave of the blade. Once in range, Aster cried out, “Star Burst Stream!” The hero slashed once, causing a bright blade of light to cut through the monster’s body as she reappeared on the other side. Several sparks erupted from Red King’s body as the monster staggered forward; Aster dismissed her weapon and prepared to finish it with the Astronium Ray, but something happened. Red King’s body began to glow, well, red. Its scales resembled rock as veins of molten lava filled the cracks in those segmented scales. The scales were now black as tar, its arms had grown out to the point that they appeared simian-like in appearance. This was Red King EX. “Okay…that’s new…” Red King turned around and roared as it stampeded towards Aster, throwing a punch with its huge fist and hitting Aster right in the chest. Sparks flew from her body upon impact, sending her straight to the ground, but Red King wasn’t done, the powered Space Beast grabbed Aster by the legs, raised her up, and slammed her mercilessly into the ground. Aster released a painful gasp when she hit the ground, but she didn’t have time to take it in as Red King tossed her into the air. The buff monster threw an uppercut as she came down, the second hit sent Aster into the air again, landing in the park with a thunderous BOOM as chunks of earth, cars, and trees flew into the air. Aster coughed, and within the starry inner world of the giant, Sunset hurt all over. This monster was strong, stronger than Zetton, and she was alone, she didn’t have Applejack or Rainbow in their vehicles to give support, and she dared not risk the lives of the other SMILE agents. “But I’m not alone…I can feel them…” Sunset could almost hear them, hear their cries for her to get up and fight back. The Coin Keeper opened up and before her floated the two Ultra Coins that were created from Applejack and Rainbow. “I get it, let’s go for round two!” Sunset took the coins in hand and stood back up, her form as Aster doing the same. Sunset placed the first coin into the top slot. “Bestow, the strength of the brave!” || ULTRAMAN LEO! || Red essence flowed out of the coin and reappeared next to her, showing Ultraman Leo. “Bestow, the power of the bold!” || ULTRAMAN MAX! || Yellow essence flowed from the second coin and appeared on Sunset’s left as Ultraman Max. “Ignite the fire in my heart!” Sunset pressed down on the sun symbol on her StaRaizer; both Ultramen transformed into particles of red and yellow light and wrapped around Sunset, changing into blazing flames that erupted into a column that rose higher and higher. ||BURN UP! SOLARIS MAXIMUS!|| Aster was engulfed in blazing flames that even made Red King wait before attacking. All around, the agents of SMILE watched and wondered what was happening, and soon they got their answer. The flames that surrounded Aster dispersed, changing into ember-like particles that danced in the air. Aster’s head had changed, she now sported a mantle of five horns that slanted backwards, with a green diamond shaped gemstone at the center of the forehead. Her shoulder pauldrons had become bigger, with studs to give it a look of metal rivets. A line of armor went down the side of her arm and ended around the forearm and hand, surrounding both was a metal gauntlet. The gauntlet had a cylinder similar to that of a revolver pistol, the hands had segmented armor around the joints to allow for movement, and the knuckles had raised spike-like vents. The armored chest plate now had the image of a burning sun in golden-yellow metal surrounding the smaller sun color timer. Her legs were covered in the same thick metal and revolver cylinder, the vent in this case was located at the heel of the boot and the tip. Her body had bulked up, with the red of her body now showing some crimson armor plating around her stomach biceps, and thighs. This was Aster’s power form, Solaris Maximus. I can feel it, this warmth, this burning in my body and soul! “I’ll burn you away with the flames of my heart!” Red King roared as it slammed its fists into the ground, channeling its heated power into the earth and causing a lava wave to rush at Aster. An explosion went off, engulfing the Ultra Warrior in intense flames. Red King ceased its attack, waiting to see its handiwork, however, thundering footsteps could be heard coming from the spot where Aster was hit, and from the flames and smoke, the empowered Ultra walked straight towards Red King, unfazed by its attack. Red King, now furious, charged at Aster, drawing back its huge fist to punch the Ultra Warrior once again. Aster just stood her ground as she held out her left hand and caught the punch. A shockwave erupted from the sudden stop in momentum, but Aster did not flinch in the slightest. The powered Ultra pushed the fist away and struck the behemoth right in the chest, causing a huge number of sparks to fly from its body. Aster began unleashing a flurry of jabs at the monster, Red King held its ground, trying to weather the attack, but each punch was forcing Red King back. Aster drew back on her left fist, the revolver cylinder spun and locked, she then punched the monster right in the chest as she called out, “Break Buster!” As soon as she made contact, all six salvos fired one after the other in rapid succession until all six had been discharged. The result was an explosion of fiery energy that cause the scaly armor of the behemoth to crack, not only that, but Red King was pushed back a good fifty meters away from the attack alone. Just then, the color timer began to blink red, her time was almost up. Aster slammed her knuckles together, a sphere of orange, red, and yellow fiery plasma energy began to gather. When she separated her fists, the orb split into two for each fist. “INFERNO SHOOT!” The Ultra Warrior thrust both of her fists forward, unleashing a stream of burning power that roared towards Red King. The Space Beast could not defend against this attack as it was blown into ashes, a massive explosion took place after, annihilating anything that was left of Red King. Aster ended her attack and took a calming breath, she then jumped up in the air and flew off into the distance. \*****///** [Alpha Dorm, 6:45 P. M.] Rainbow and Applejack were walking down the hallway, they had decided to come over and do a little celebrating of their safety and Sunset’s victory over the giant monster. Applejack had brought a homemade apple pie, and of course Rainbow couldn’t help but make many inappropriate innuendos regarding the confection and its relation to her girlfriend. But in all honesty, Rainbow did want to thank both Twilight and Sunset, it was only thanks to Twilight getting the coordinates from the pack were they able to find Applejack. The two girls arrived at the front door and were about to knock but stopped when they started hearing voices. “C’mon Twilight, I’m tired, can’t we do this tomorrow?” “No! We have to do it now! After what you did today, it just got me really excited and I need to this now before it’s too much later!” Rainbow looked to Applejack, and Applejack to Rainbow. “Should we…uh…should we come back later or…?” Applejack asked. “Well…if it were me, I’d probably be a little irritated if someone interrupted us…you know, for whenever we go there, I mean…” Rainbow rubbed the back of her neck nervously. Applejack gulped. “Well then…nothin’ to it but to do it…” The farm girl pressed her hand against the pad, activating the doorbell that rang within the dorm room. About ten seconds later the door opened and showed a fully clothed Sunset Shimmer standing in the doorway, her pajamas were a bright mauve color, with the image of a sun done in a yin-yang style. “AJ, Rainbow, what’s up?” Sunset asked. “Oh, hey, Sug. Um, is now a bad time? ‘Cause we can come back a little later…” Applejack asked. “Naw, come on in. Twi, we got company, so put that stuff away!” Both girls gulped as they entered, not entirely sure they were ready to see what salacious things Twilight and Sunset had planned. Their nervousness immediately evaporated as soon they entered the living room and saw Twilight hefting a machine that was giving out readings and other data that neither girl understood. The table at the center of the living room had scattered papers with notes jotted down that looked like they were done by someone in a frenzy. “Um, were you and Twilight about to get down to some egghead style of doing it? If you were, no judgement, just wanted to know.” Rainbow asked. Sunset rolled her eyes. “No, Twilight wanted to get data on my latest transformation, of which I told her I’d give her the full details after I rested.” “Sorry…I just wanted to get it from you while it was still fresh in your mind,” said Twilight. She then walked up to the Applejack and Rainbow did a small bow to them. “Thank you for helping Sunset out, and for accepting her as Aster.” “Aw shucks, it ain’t like we got any right to judge, ‘sides, friends help friends,” said Applejack. “Yeah, and since Sunny vouches for you, I guess it’s okay to let you know.” Sunset took the hint and closed the blinds to the patio. Once she did, Rainbow took off her shirt and released her wings, making Twilight’s eyes widen with awe. “You’re an Alien Avian!” Rainbow blinked. “Wow, not a lot of people figure that out right away. And technically, I’m only half.” “Oh my gosh! You’re half alien! A hybrid! I’ve heard of instances like this, but I never thought I’d get to meet someone like you!” Twilight quickly took Rainbow by the wrist and dragged her to the couch, whereupon she took out her notepad and said, “Tell me everything, what are your bathing methods for your wings? How fast can you fly? Do you have a high tolerance to cold temperatures for when you’re high up in air? Do you still eat regular food, or do you need a special diet?” Sunset shook her head as she chuckled, “Oh boy, hope you weren’t planning on leaving any time soon.” Applejack shrugged. “It’s fine, Ah can already tell Rainbow’s gonna like her, if there’s one thing I know about my girl, it’s that she loves talkin’ about herself. Probably best Ah don’t mention my crazy strength right now, huh?” “Not if you’re planning on leaving before the sunrise.” “I heard that!” Twilight called out. Sunset blushed and Applejack laughed. “Seriously, though, thanks for accepting me, and Twilight as your friends,” said Sunset. Applejack threw her arm over Sunset shoulders and said, “Sug, Ah don’t know how to say this, but bein’ with ya’ll feels right. And Ah wager Dashie feels the same way. Now let’s eat this pie before its cold.” “That’s what she said!” Rainbow exclaimed. Sunset and Applejack face palmed themselves, Rainbow laughed her head off, and Twilight looked confused. 4th Light: SMILE in Crisis! / The Phantom Zone is gone!Sunset was strolling down the paved walkways of SMILE Academy. It had been at least three weeks since her last battle, and things had been quite peaceful so far. Classes were kind of a bore at times, between her and Twilight, the more physics, science, and the math-based classes were a breeze and made up a majority of their homework load. So, with that mostly done, Sunset was free to roam around the campus. It was strange for her, having more than just the Commanders know about her secret, but she didn’t dislike it. Knowing someone had her back felt good. Not to mention a more recent discovery in the Everfree Forest, the mysterious cloaked woman, and the acquisition of two new Ultra Coins. Sunset began to wonder why it was that Applejack and Rainbow Dash held those coins? From what they told her, they had no knowledge of ever coming into contact with anything strange like the Ultra Coins, nor had they ever seen Aster until recently. This only further exacerbated Sunset’s frustration with her lack of memories. This all tied together somehow, and something inside told her that she needed to find more of those Ultra Coins, and the fact that she felt this way meant that there were probably more of them out there. How many? Sunset didn’t know, but she was hoping that they’d get her one step closer to her past. While she was walking, she started hearing the strumming of a guitar on the wind. Sunset turned to her right and saw the boy known as Flash Sentry. In his hands was a navy-blue electric guitar that sparkled in the sunlight, it was one of the newer models, it produced sounds without the need of an amp for practices and small sessions, but for bigger venues, it would need to be hooked up to an amp. For some reason, Sunset felt drawn to this sound, and before she knew it, she was standing next to the bench where Flash was sitting. The young musician glanced to his right and said, “Hey there.” “Oh, um, sorry I didn’t mean to interrupt,” said Sunset. “You’re Sunset, right?” Flash asked. “Y-Yeah, I am.” “I remember you. You and that rainbow haired girl charged back into the Everfree and gave the Senior Agents a heart attack,” said Flash with a smirk. Sunset rubbed the back of her head as she chuckled a little. “Yeah, that was me. So, do you play a lot?” “Yeah, I like making music,” said Flash. “Really, then, why are you here instead of some music school?” Sunset asked. “If that’s not too personal?” Flash shook his head. “Nah, my Dad’s in the military, the regular military. And he thought music wasn’t exactly a good way to make a living, so he decided that I should go here and help make the world safer as a SMILE Student, and the next thing I know I’m selected for Special Agent status. And before you ask, no, my Dad had nothing to do with it.” Flash strummed his guitar a few more times and said, “You seemed pretty interested in this, you wanna try?” Sunset nervously chuckled. “Uh, I’m not sure, I don’t think I’d be very good.” Flash smiled. “Don’t know until you try?” Flash took off the strap and held his axe towards Sunset. Sunset looked upon the instrument and bit her lower lip, she then gingerly reached out to take hold of the instrument. That is until the alarm went off. [ALERT!] [ALERT!] [ALERT!] The central spire began to release sparks of electricity, and all at once, the entire central spire shut down. Sunset and Flash looked on in shock at what they saw, for the central spire was the very thing that housed the Phantom Zone Emitter, and if it shut down, then that meant that there was nothing to stop the destruction of the city if a Space Beast attacked. At that same time, Sunset and Flash’s HollowFrames rang and stated, “Emergency Meeting”. \*****///** The entire student body had been assembled, and those who were unable to make it into the auditorium were watching via monitors from different places around campus and the base. Commander Celestia stood up at the podium and looked to everyone in attendance. “I don’t see a need in hiding this from you, so I will just come out and tell you all, the Phantom Zone Emitter is currently offline,” said Celestia. A loud roar of murmurs erupted from the crowd, all of which sounded panicked. Commander Celestia raised her hand and most of the students went back to being silent. “As I’m sure you’re all wondering, let me assure you, right now we are looking into how and why the tower was disabled. We haven’t ruled anything out, but top priority has been given to the repair of the tower. That being said, we will be running round the clock patrols in the sky and on land, we’ve also brought in workers from other SMILE bases to help in the repair. For now, go about your activities, but be vigilant. That is all, and thank you.” The crowds of people began to leave, but Sunset managed to work her way down through them to catch up with her guardians. “Commanders!” Sunset called out. Both women stopped as Sunset approached. “What exactly happened to the Emitter?” Sunset asked. “As the Commander has said, Sunset, it’s still under investigation,” said Vice Commander Luna. “How long do you think it will take to repair it?” “If we’re lucky, less than a day, we can’t afford for the Phantom Zone Emitter to be down for that long. Right now, every minute it remains in its current state is dangerous,” said Celestia. Sunset furrowed her brow; this was a crisis. A Space Beast could appear at any moment and cause major havoc to the city. “Alright, I know what I need to do.” \*****///** [Day 1, 9:25 am] Rainbow Dash’s squadron had been called out for the patrol. Since the announcement of the Phantom Zone Emitter’s malfunction, it had now been at least eight hours since the late afternoon of when everyone was told. Rainbow’s Gungir was flying patrol, along with several others that were crisscrossing the sky. Just then, Rainbow’s long-range radar was picking up on something, the squadron was alerted and ready to engage, but a stand down order was given when they saw what, or rather, who was flying close to them. Ultrawoman Aster was swiftly flying through the skies, stopping close to the squadron and giving them a salute before jetting off. {All Gungir aircraft, we have Aster flying recon with us, somehow? Don’t engage.} {Seriously? She’s patrolling with us?} {Guess she saw us all flying around and decided to help us out.} {Hell, right now with the Emitter down, I feel better knowing she’s out here.} Rainbow Dash smiled as she heard the chatter on the comms, and by the time she looked ahead, Aster flew back around and then rose higher into the air. The Ultra Warrior continued sailing higher and higher, going further than any of the Gungirs could go, stopping once she reached the outer atmosphere. Aster scanned the area, and even peered into the vastness of space itself, trying to pick up on anything that looked like another Space Beast attack. She stayed there for a few seconds, at least until her color timer began to flash red. Aster flew back down and flashed the other Gungirs a thumbs up before zooming. {Did she just go into the outer atmosphere?} {Damn right she did, I think she’s telling us that it was clear up there for now,} said Rainbow over the comms. {Well let’s not make her do all the work ladies! Keep your eyes peeled and stay alert!} Captain Spitfire exclaimed. \*****///** [Day 1, 12:10 pm] The Goliath tanks were making their rounds around the perimeter of the city. They couldn’t roll into the city itself, so they had to stay on the fringes. Thankfully their heavy-duty treads allowed them to traverse the seldom travelled routes around the city. As they made their rounds, they were given the heads up that Aster was spotted in the area. She was hovering over the city itself, rotating steadily as she looked into the distance. Their heavy tanks couldn’t move into the city, but Aster could at least hover over it and keep watch from there. \*****///** [Day 1, 2:07 pm] It was the passing period and the tension was still high, but it was probably less than what it would’ve been, this was thanks in part to the news about Ultrawoman Aster doing patrols around the area. Twilight’s literature class couldn’t stop talking about it, especially those who were also Special Agents and piloted Gungirs and Goliaths. When Twilight went to her locker, she spotted Applejack and Rainbow Dash, both looked tired from their patrols, and it was showing. Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie had joined them, and had the same look of concern as she did. “Oh dear, are you two okay?” Fluttershy asked. “We’re fine, Sug, don’t fret. Just a little beat from driving around so long,” said Applejack. “And flying, I mean I love flying, but those patrols can wear you down,” said Rainbow Dash. Pinkie Pie tapped on Rainbow’s shoulder and said, “You’re not the only one who looks like they can use a nap, look.” All six girls watched as Sunset came stumbling towards them. Her movements were somewhat labored, and she looked as tired as their two friends. “Sunset, are you alright?” Twilight asked. “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine!” Sunset said in a chipper mood that was not convincing anyone. “Sunset, darling, are you involved in any of the Special Operations going on? Not to sound rude, but you look dreadful,” said Rarity. The flame haired girl gave Rarity a deadpan look, but then answered. “Something like that. Can’t really say what exactly, but it’s tiring all the same.” Applejack, Rainbow, and Twilight glanced to each other, knowing exactly what she had been doing all this time. “Um, Sunset, do you mind I can talk with you right quick?” Twilight asked. Sunset shook her head as she nearly dozed off standing. “Oh, y-yeah, sure.” Both girls walked to a little secluded spot, still within view of the girls, but it gave them enough privacy to speak freely. “Sunset, have you been patrolling around, coming back, and then going back out again?” “Yeah.” “Don’t you think transforming that many times is wearing you down?” Sunset leaned against the locker and sighed. “It’ll be fine, Twi, besides, maybe seeing Aster fly around will make the Space Beasts think twice before attacking. If anything it’ll serve as a deterrent until the Emitter’s fixed.” “And what if it takes longer than a day?” Twi asked worriedly. Sunset weakly smiled and patted Twilight on the shoulder. “I got this, Twi. I’m stronger than I look.” \*****///** [Day 2, 12:00 pm] Twilight was getting increasingly worried about Sunset. Her friend hadn’t stopped her frequent transformations, heading out every three hours after she recharged, patrolling until her time was up, and then going about her day until she was charged back up. This cycle didn’t stop, even into the wee hours of the nighttime. Several times Twilight caught Sunset sneaking out to patrol, then coming back three minutes later to get some rest, only to wake up again in three hours to patrol once more. By the time Sunset got back to rest up again, her regular alarm to get up and get ready for school went off. It was now lunch time, and Sunset was in no better shape than she was before. Currently the flame haired girl had her head down on the table, a light snoring sound coming from her could be heard if one listened close enough. Rainbow Dash and Applejack joined them at their table, their lunch periods matching with theirs today. On some days they’d only see two or three of their teammates at a time, and on other rare occasions they’d have a table filled with the seven of them, but Twilight and Sunset always had the same lunch times. Applejack looked at Sunset and had a worried look. “Ah’m pretty sure this is a stupid question. But, has she slept fer anythin’ more than three hours?” Twilight shook her head. “Jeez, AJ can be a workaholic, but even she knows when to stop and rest! She can’t keep this up, if a monster does show up, she’ll be too tired to throw a punch!” Rainbow stated. “On that note, have ya heard anythin’ about it yet?” Applejack asked. Twilight took out her HoloFrame and scrolled through the information that was being released to the public and students. “So far they say they’re making progress but aren’t sure when it will be fully operational.” “Same thing they’ve been telling us,” said Rainbow. Twilight sighed remorsefully. “I wish I could do something for Sunset. But she’s determined to keep the city, and everyone safe until the Phantom Zone Emitter is fixed.” Applejack smirked as she said, “Maybe it’s time ya laid down the law, Sug.” Twilight’s eyebrow rose. “What do you mean?” “Sometimes, when it comes to this one here, she can be a mite stubborn about some things,” said Applejack. “Hi pot, I’m kettle,” Rainbow commented. Applejack blushed and the cleared her throat. “Ahem, well, anyway, sometimes when either of us gets stubborn about something that’s clearly not good fer the other, we usually have to put our foot down on each other to stop it. Do we get angry afterwards? Yes, but then when ya realize it wasn’t out of spite and that it’s because the other person cares about ya, it turns out alright.” “In other words, Twi, you need to make Sunset get some rest. Don’t ask, tell her.” Twilight looked to her still sleeping friend. “I…I don’t know, she’s really…I mean…what makes you think she’ll listen to me? I mean, honestly, what right do I have to tell her to stop?” “Yer right is that yer her friend.” “And if she doesn’t, she’s gonna collapse soon.” Twilight was still new to the nuances of friendship and what was appropriate to do and say in such relationships. Part of her reason not to say anything was the fear of Sunset getting angry with her and not wanting to be her friend anymore. Sunset was the first person she could say is her real friend, and slowly but steadily, so were Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and the rest of their team. But Sunset was the first among them, and losing that would be devastating. However, Twilight couldn’t deny what was before her eyes, her friend was exhausted, running herself ragged to protect everyone, and if a threat did arrive, Sunset would be in no shape to combat it. “Okay…I…I need to make a call.” \*****///** Eventually, the bell rang, signaling the end of the lunch period. The entire lunchroom cleared out, save for two girls. Sunset finally awoke from her light slumber, rubbing her eyes as she looked around and saw that everyone was gone save her and Twilight. “Oh crap, did I make us late?” Sunset asked groggily. “No, the bell just rang,” said Twilight. “Okay…Okay, good, we can make it to our next class if we hustle–!” Twilight took ahold of Sunset’s wrist and said, “Sunset, we…we need to talk.” “But, Twi, we’ll be late,” said Sunset. “I called Commander Celestia, I told her you weren’t feeling good and I asked for permission to take you back to the dorms to get some rest. Of course, she knew what I really meant. So, we’re excused from the afternoon classes.” Sunset looked at Twilight with confusion. “Why would you do that?” “Because…” Twilight looked down at her knees as she tried to say the words she needed to. “Because you’re tired, Sunset…Y-You’re tired, groggy, and look as if you’re about to collapse!” Sunset sighed and said, “Twi, I told you I’m–” “‘Stronger than you look’, I know, but you’re still human to a degree! And humans cannot appropriate on the little amount of sleep that you have been getting! All I’m asking is that you sleep for more than three hours. Please?” Twilight almost begged. Sunset rubbed the back of her head as she gave a light frustrated growl, her tired mind was not in the best place to think about this kind of thing. “Twi, I need to protect the city. I’m the only one who can do it.” Twilight stood up and faced Sunset, look her straight in the eyes. “I am not budging on this, let me take you back to the dorm to rest up a little more!” “This…This is stupid, I’m going and…and…whoa, things are spinning.” Sunset began to lean forward, and Twilight quickly rushed to Sunset’s side to catch her. Thankfully, a combination of Twilight’s help and Sunset’s reflexes managed to keep the young redhead from face planting against the linoleum floor. Sunset looked to Twilight, seeing the worry plastered all over her face. “……Fine, I guess…I guess I’ll rest up more.” “Okay, I’m taking you to the nurse’s office then. At least until I’m sure I can get you back to the dorms without you passing out.” \*****///** [Day 2, 5:30 pm…] Sunset awoke sometime later, feeling not as exhausted as she was earlier. The sterile smell that invaded her sinuses informed her that Twilight did indeed take her to the nurse’s office. Sunset was aware of someone near her and looked to her right to see that Twilight was there, her head lying down against a small part of Sunset’s cot. Sunset smiled at the nerdy girl, she didn’t leave her, despite the how difficult she was being. “Hey, sleepyhead, wake up,” said Sunset. Twilight stammered awake as she looked and saw that her friend had finally awoken. “How do you feel?” “Better, actually, I’ll probably need a little more sleep than this, but at least I’m not like how I was earlier…” A look of regret befell Sunset. “I’m sorry, Twilight.” The young genius merely shook her head. “You don’t have to apologize. I know you want to take your job as Aster seriously, but you’re not some kind of machine. The best way to help everyone is to stay healthy and ready. So, please be more mindful of your health o-or else!” Sunset smiled. “Yes, Mom.” Twilight puffed out her cheeks. “Don’t call me that! I’m being serious.” [ALERT!] [ALERT!] [ALERT!] Sunset shot up out of the cot, and Twilight sprang to her feet upon hearing the alarm. At that moment, Sunset’s HoloFrame beeped at her as she opened it up. What she saw was a message from Applejack. [Sunset, we just got word that long-range scanners are picking up some kind of meteor heading straight for us! They think it’s a Space Beast since it’s correcting its path the closer it gets. It’s traveling fast and will be here soon! I don’t know if you’re okay yet, but we need Aster on this one!] Twilight looked to Sunset and said to her, “Go!” Sunset smirked and nodded. She ran swiftly out of the room, definitely feeling a lot better than she did hours ago. She headed outside, to one of the blind spots that Commander Celestia had sent her information on to avoid the cameras. Sunset pulled up her sleeve, and the StaRaizer appeared on her forearm, along with the silver belt and Coin Keeper. Light shined around her as a she pulled out the Ultra Coins. “Grant me the strength of a hero!” || ULTRAMAN! || “Grant me the power of a galaxy!” || ULTRAMAN GINGA! || “Release the light within me!” ||SHINE ON! ULTRAWOMAN ASTER!|| A bright flash of light went off, and the hero of light, Aster, shot up straight into the air. She rose faster and faster, zooming past the clouds. Twilight watched this and felt a stirring inside her. She couldn’t let Sunset be the only one out there fighting, Twilight knew she may not have the piloting skills, or the amazing powers, but there was another way she could try and help. Twilight ran in the direction of the spire, seeing several workers already huddled around it as they frantically worked to get the machine back up and running. The two Commanders were already there, trying to coordinate the effort as the threat was drawing closer. “Commanders!” Twilight called out. “Twilight Sparkle, what are you doing here? You need to head to the bunkers!” Commander Celestia advised. “I know, but I thought I could at least try and help!” Twilight stated. Vice Commander Luna sighed heavily. “Miss Sparkle, SMILE’s best are right here and working nonstop to try and fix this, we have all we need.” “Please, let me try, Ma’am!” Twilight asked as she stood at attention. Celestia eyed Twilight, seeing the flames of determination in the young woman’s amethyst eyes made her feel confident for some reason. “I’ll allow it.” “WHA – SISTER?!” Luna exclaimed. “We need all the brain power we can get, and Twilight has scored at the top of the class in science and engineering, a fresh perspective could be useful. Plus, need I remind you we have an impending threat that could level the city?!” Luna looked as if she was going to offer protest, but when she couldn’t think of a better argument she relented. “Go, you have my permission to assist with the repairs, do what you can and what you must to get this thing back up and running!” Twilight saluted Celestia and said, “Yes, Commander!” \*****///** Aster broke through the outer atmosphere. Her eyes caught sight of the incoming object, it looked like a asteroid, but there was something about it that did not sit well with Aster. “Whatever, I’ll just blow it up before gets that far!” Aster’s forearms shined with power as she brought them together to unleash her signature finishing move. “ASTRONIUM RAY!” The beam of blue light and golden sparks sailed through space, and in no time at all, the Astronium Ray struck the surface of the asteroid, creating a massive explosion of fire. However, something was wrong, Aster could feel resistance against her ray attack. Aster focused more of her power and doubled the size of the beam, but it was no use, the asteroid flew out of the flames and continued to push against her attack. “So, you are a Space Beast! Whatever, I’m not letting you get past me! AAAAAAH!” Aster focused more of her power into the beam, using it to at least keep the monster at bay for however long she could. \*****///** Back on the ground, Twilight had been given a schematic on the spire. When she entered the spire itself, she paused. It was a massive cylindrical chamber, spiraling all the way up a good two hundred feet. The real issue, from what Twilight was reading up on, was that the center of the spire, which contained a kind of specialized, crystal glass filament, should be generating a beam of energy that produces the Phantom Zone, that energy is then sent to the top of the spire and emitted over a wide area, relayed by several other towers strategically placed to expand the field itself. Twilight walked to the edge of the railing and saw that several workers were further down below, working on the power source to the Phantom Zone. The young genius ran to the closest lift and had it take her down to where the action was. Once at the bottom level, Twilight looked upon the massive machine that served as the base of the spire, and which powered the Phantom Zone. The machine itself was about twenty meters in width, and ten in height, not counting the filament that was attached to it. A series to tubes were connected to it, feeding the device coolant to keep it from overheating. There a few super computers attached to it, each one serving as a different station, about five in total, and each one was being manned by different engineers and scientists as they scoured through the computers and tried to figure out what caused the malfunction. Twilight opened her HoloFrame and went over the schematic of the spire’s base. This system has a series of fail safes that should always keep it running, backup generators, backup systems, in theory this spire should be impossible to stop short of blowing it up. So…why? Twilight continued to look over the base and her HoloFrame, until something caught her eye. It was minute, very out of the way, but there was a part on the machine that wasn’t showing on the blueprints. It was a panel, its seams were thin, almost like they were made that way to be hard to see purposefully. Twilight didn’t know why, but something about this didn’t sit right with her, everything should be listed on a schematic, down the smallest detail, so why wasn’t this on it? “Excuse me!” Twilight called out. One of the workers, a tall, lightly muscular woman, with red hair, and a bandanna around her head, approached Twilight and spoke to her with an accent, “What can do ya for, kid?” “There’s a panel here, I want to see what’s inside of it!” Twilight requested. The woman in overalls brought a crowbar with her and knelt to see the crease Twilight was speaking of. Sure enough, there was a crease there, how she had missed it confounded her. “Stand back, dear!” the redhead took the crowbar and worked it into the crease, and with one good pull, she worked the panel off. “Got it!” Twilight knelt beside the older woman and both looked inside. A series of circuits boards ran along the walls, leaving only the bottom free to allow crawling movement. The space itself was five feet wide, and about four in height, none of the workers there could fit inside. “I can fit.” “Pardon?” “I can fit inside this crawl space, maybe whatever’s affecting the Emitter is through here?” Twilight though aloud. “Young lady, I cannot in good conscience let you go in there!” “Look, Miss…?” The older woman sighed, “Torque, my name is Torque Wrench.” “Miss Torque, we don’t have a lot of time to argue about this! Ultrawoman Aster’s fighting a Space Beast, or some kind of asteroid that’s coming straight for us! If we don’t get the Phantom Zone Emitter up by any means necessary, then everyone in the area will be killed from the impact alone!” Twilight argued. Torque looked around, trying to see if there was anyone else other than this young girl who could do it. She’d do it, but Torque could tell right away she’d get stuck the moment she tried. “I don’t like it, but fine.” Torque unhooked a radio from her belt and gave it to Twilight. “Channel two, dear, and keep talking to me.” She then unhooked her tool belt and gave it to Twilight. “I don’t know what you’ll need in there, but it’s better than nothing.” Twilight nodded as she got down and began to crawl through the vent. \*****///** Aster’s beam broke off as the asteroid still flew straight for the Earth. With little recourse, Aster flew out towards the space debris Space Beast. Aster slammed her hands against the surface as she pushed back against the monster, but the creature within screeched as it continued forward, pushing the hero back as she tried to stop it, or at the very least slow it down. Unfortunately, her efforts were making just a marginal difference. The monster carried the both of them into the atmosphere, flames lapped off of Aster’s body as they both made reentry, but the whole time, Aster continued to push back, continued to fight against this thing. C’mon, guys, please get the Emitter back up and running! \*****///** Twilight continued her speedy crawl through the small space, a slight bought of claustrophobia was trying to set in, but all Twilight had to do was remember that Sunset was out there trying prevent a catastrophe, and that she needed to fight just as hard. {What do you see, Twilight?} “Nothing yet, just a lot of circuit boards, they all seem intact, no shorts or damage that I can visibly see. I’m actually almost at the end of the tunnel.” Twilight did make it to the end, opening up to a wider space so that Twilight could stand up. What she saw kind of baffled Twilight, above her was the filament which funneled the energy into the spire, but what was before her, from what she could deduce, must be the core. It looked like a tree, but it was made of crystal, its trunk was a dark blue sapphire-like color, transitioning from the branches into a clear diamond-like crystal. Around the trunk were rings that were spinning about, but one of them was off its axis. There were wires that led to terminals that were stationed at five points around the tree, most likely connected to the supercomputers outside. Twilight began her investigation, checking the internal terminals to see what had made it malfunction. Twilight looked over the information, compared to the outside terminals, the internal ones seemed to give more data. The three rings that surrounded the tree worked as oscillators to focus the power of this strange crystal tree. “One of the rings malfunctioned, so that’s why the Phantom Zone wasn’t working…?” Twilight looked to the middle ring, which was spinning at an odd angle. “Okay.” \*****///** The ground was getting closer and closer, and both Aster and the meteor monster were now a giant fireball that was hurdling towards the city. The color timer on Aster’s chest began to flash red as her time in her hero form was coming to an end. “I won’t let you through, no matter what!” Sunset took up the Ultraman Leo and Max coins. “Bestow, the strength of the brave!” || ULTRAMAN LEO! || “Bestow, the power of the bold!” || ULTRAMAN MAX! || “Ignite the fire in my heart!” ||BURN UP! SOLARIS MAXIMUS!|| A bright flame burned around Aster, transforming her into her powered form, Solaris Maximus. With the increased power, strength, and durability of this form, Aster drew back her right fist and punched the meteor right on its surface, and when she did, one of the cylinders on her revolver gauntlet fired, and discharged a blast of fiery plasma energy. Aster did this again with her left fist, discharging another one. She repeated until all six chambers in both gauntlets had been emptied, and now the surface began to crack, splitting down the middle to reveal a monster with a long beak and rows of sharp teeth screeching at Aster. “Okay, yeah, you’re just too ugly to let live,” said Aster as she recharged her revolver chambers and prepared to strike. The Space Beast released a burst wave of flames and heat that caused an explosion, making Aster fly off of its body. Aster stopped herself in midair and hurriedly flew after the monster, but it was too late. A bright flash of light went off as the roar of a powerful explosion went off all around her. Dust and heat flew upwards and obscured everything in sight. Inside the starry nexus, Sunset’s eyes widened with shock and horror, she had failed, she was supposed to protect everyone, and now they were gone. Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie, Fluttershy, Rarity, and…Twilight. The smoke that cluttered the sky was swept away for a moment by a small gust of wind, revealing the sun, and…a purple sky. “PURPLE SKY?!” Aster flew above the smoke and to her great relief, the sky was now a light purple color, which meant only one thing. “THE PHANTOM ZONE IS BACK!” The smoke down below cleared as the creature emerged from its meteor cocoon and roared, its motions creating smalls gusts, revealing the devastation it wrought. “And you're done!” Aster shot towards the monster at full speed. She flipped around as she thrust her right leg forward, performing a flying kick. The monster reconstructed its meteor shell. The moment Aster made contact with the shell she cried out, “SOUL CRUSHER!” All six revolver chambers fired off at the same time, releasing a pinpoint burst of energy that shot through the shell creating a big hole in the center of the shell. Aster landed on the ground as she cocked back her right fist and thrust her right fist into the breach. “BREAK BUSTER!” All six chambers on the right arm fired at once, the energy released in the contained space was magnified as the monster blew up in a spectacular explosion that formed a smoldering crater in the earth. Aster quickly inspected the area to make sure the monster was gone, and when she was satisfied that it was completely destroyed, she jumped into the air and took off into the distance. \*****///** [Same Day, 9:00 pm…] “Let’s here it for the hero of the hour, Twilight Sparkle!” Pinkie Pie declared. The official announcement would not be made until tomorrow, but Twilight was given permission from the Commanders to at least inform her friends of her soon to be granted honors for reactivating the Phantom Zone Emitter. And when she did, somehow, Pinkie Pie managed to set up a party in their dorm room, despite only Twilight and Sunset having access to the room. Twilight felt a little embarrassed with the cheers and congratulations being heaped upon her. “Really, it was nothing.” “Oh no, darling, you don’t get to downplay the importance of your actions,” Rarity tutted. “If not for you, the entire city – indeed the whole area – would be reduced to a smoldering crater. Aster may have defeated the monster, but if not for you, everyone would be gone.” Twilight rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment. “I-I don’t know about that, I mean, if Aster hadn’t flown up to slow down the monster, I don’t think I would’ve made it time. I guess you could say it was a team effort.” Sunset shot Twilight a knowing glance as she lightly elbowed her roommate, knowing full well she was trying to share the credit. “Yeah, but you’re still the hero, Aster gets to be one every day, so it’s your turn, Twi.” “I’ll drink to that!” Rainbow exclaimed as took up her cup of punch and chugged it. “Um, how did you fix it, Twilight?” Fluttershy asked. “Unfortunately, since it was a crisis situation, I was given access to some secret information, and because of that, I’m not allowed to say what I saw or how I actually fixed it,” said Twilight. Pinkie Pie snapped her fingers, “Ah, shoot, I really wanted to hear how you did it!” Twilight waved her hand dismissively. “Believe me, you don’t, it was really technical, and honestly the explanation would put you all to sleep. And, well, the point of a party is to have fun, right?” “Yep! And after all that hullabaloo over the last couple of days, the Commanders are given everyone the day off while they look into some things, and to give us some time to relax. All Ah’m doin’ is sleepin’ in the rest of the day,” said Applejack. “Our dear Applejack, sleeping in?! Oh it truly must be the end times!” Rarity stated in a dramatic tone. Rainbow Dash busted out laughing, Twilight and Sunset didn’t need to know the inside joke to get that Applejack looked like someone who would get up at the crack of dawn. A couple of hours passed by with the team laughing, playing some games on a gaming system Pinkie brought over, and others just sharing in conversation. Closer to the end of the second hour, everyone helped clean up as all, save for Sunset and Twilight, left the dorm room. Both girls headed out to the patio outside, and stared up at the star filled sky as they took it all in. “Jeez, these last two days were stressful,” said Sunset. “I’ll say, and I expect you to catch up on your sleep tonight and tomorrow,” said Twilight in a stern tone. “Okay, Mom.” “Stop that!” Twilight whined. Sunset chuckled and eventually Twilight shared in the laughter as well. “You know…” Twilight spoke. “I’m starting to come a realization that there are truly things in this universe that we don’t know. I mean, you as Aster, the Everfree Forest, the Space Beasts that come and attack us…” And one more mystery… “Well, guess we’ll just have solve those mysteries, huh?” Sunset asked. “Yes, we’ll solve them together.” ~~~ [Same Day, 4 hours earlier…] Twilight had fixed the ring and placed it back into its proper position, everything looked great, all systems were nominal. “SO WHY AREN’T YOU WORKING?!” Indeed, despite the repairs, the Emitter had not activated. Time was running out and Twilight was out of ideas on how to make this strange thing work. “Sunset’s fighting that monster, and if it crashes everyone will die! There has to be something else I’m not getting here!” Twilight walked up to the tree, one of its crystal vines draped over her shoulder, but she didn’t pay it any mind. “Please, I need this to work! For my friend! For everyone!” Suddenly, the vine that touched Twilight glowed purple. The purple light traveled through the vine, into the branch, and traveled along the branch until it reached the heart of the tree. Twilight didn’t notice it, but when the light reached the heart of the tree, the crystal tree began to glow. That glow began to magnify as a bright light and energy began to build up. The three rings around the tree spun at a more rapid pace as they began to funnel that energy, and in the next moment, a ray of light rose up and struck the filament above Twilight’s head. The light began to fill the giant cylinder and in no time at all, the entire system came back to life. Twilight hurriedly rushed to the terminal and verified that the Phantom Zone Emitter was functional again. She didn’t wait for approval or confirmation as Twilight scoured through the system and found the activation protocols for the Phantom Zone, and just as quickly, turned it on. A wave of purple light zoomed outward, and with that, Twilight breathed a sigh of relief. Through the vent she had crawled through, she could hear the faint echoes of people cheering. “Miss Torque, are you there?” {Yes I am! The Emitter’s workin’ again! Was that you dear?!} “Yes, as far I can tell, it’s fully functional again!” {Well come on out here so we can celebrate the hero!} Twilight blushed from being called a hero, but as she readied to crawl back through the vent, she paused as the light behind her seemed to change. The young genius turned around and watched as the silhouette of a woman appeared, made up of sparkling purple light. Twilight just remained still, not sure what exactly she should do right now. This construct tilted its head to the side, like a dog when it was confused and trying to understand what it was looking at. The construct maiden then turned around and walked back towards the tree, but not before glancing over its shoulder to Twilight. For some reason, she felt as if the construct was smiling at her despite not having any defining facial features. The construct resumed its walk and disappeared, or returned to the tree, Twilight wasn’t sure which. ~~~ “Twi, you alright?” Sunset asked. “Y-Yeah, just thinking. 6th Light: Suspicion! / The new student arrives!“So, let me get this straight. You made those little bombs?” Sunset asked. Sunset was in her history class, and in this class with her were Twilight, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie. It had been a couple of days since the attack on the Preserve, and things had gotten back to a relative sense of normalcy. “Yep, I was trying to create a new kind of mini fireworks that give you the same kind of oooooh, and awwwwe, effect, but I kind of ended up just making those things I used back in the cave,” said Pinkie. “Fascinating, were those the only ones?” Twilight asked. “Oh no, I have plenty more stashed up in my hair, just in case of emergencies. Although they are a bit of a pain in the rear to get out when I want to shower.” The girls chuckled but then grew quiet when they heard the bell ring and their history teacher, Miss Cheerilee, entered the room. The teacher stood before her class and said, “Good morning everyone, I have some news. Starting today, you’ll all have a new classmate transferring into your class.” The students began to murmur amongst themselves, wondering who could be transferring to their school at such a time. Cheerilee looked towards the open door and said, “You can come in dear.” The class watched as girl entered their class room. She had light olive skin, artic blue eyes, and salmon colored hair. She clutched her backpack kind of tight, and was having a hard time making eye contact with everyone. “Go on ahead, dear, introduce yourself,” said Miss Cheerilee in her cheerful tone. “Um…m-my name is…Ocellus…” Immediately, Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Sunset’s eyes widened upon hearing her name. Leading all three of them to rise from their desks and call out, “Ocellus?!” The sudden calling of her name made the young girl yelp as her body flared up with arctic blue energy, changing her body and form to that of her true Changeling form, the uniform she was wearing was specially made with slits in the back to compensate for her wings, and another slit was made in the skirt for her tail frill. “Sunset, Fluttershy, Pinkie?!” Ocellus exclaimed happily. The class as a little taken aback by the fact that she had just changed from a human girl into an insectoid human-like creature. “Oh, well then, I guess this is as best a time as any to tell you all. Ocellus is a Changeling that comes from Hive Prime, she’s new to Earth and so because of that, I expect you all to treat her kindly and help her with anything that she may not understand. Ocellus, since you seem to know some of my students, you can take the seat closest to them.” Ocellus turned to Cheerilee and gave a slight bow. “Thank you, ma’am.” As Ocellus made her way to the seat next to Fluttershy and Pinkie, she could hear several of the students whispering suspiciously about her. Her body ignited once more, changing her back into her human disguise and once again making the class gasp. Class went on, but Ocellus could tell that the other students were sneaking glances at her when they thought she wasn’t looking. After about an hour of class the bell rang and began the transition time to get to their next class. Ocellus tapped on Sunset’s shoulder and asked, “Um, hi, Sunset. C-Could you show me to my next class? I have the schedule, but I don’t know where to go exactly.” Sunset smiled at the Changeling. “Sure, let’s see.” Ocellus handed her HoloFrame to Sunset. “Oh, cool, you have Physics next, Twilight and I have that class. We can walk you there.” “Thank you,” said Ocellus. Fluttershy came up and said, “We’ll have to catch up later, maybe during lunch?” “I’d like that.” “See ya later, Ocellus!” Pinkie exclaimed as she left the room. Twilight, Ocellus, and Sunset left the classroom and walked down the hall. Apparently word had spread fast as the other students were looking at Ocellus with suspicion as well. “Hey, if you don’t mind me asking, what happened?” Sunset asked. “Um, is it okay to talk about that?” Ocellus asked. Twilight leaned down to the slightly shorter girl and whispered, “I know that Sunset’s Aster, so do the rest our teammates, and the Commanders, but no one else in the school knows.” “Okay, well…I’ll tell you after school, it’s kind of complicated…” \*****///** The Commanders of SMILE Concordia Base stood in the communications room, making contact with Ocellus’ home world of Hive Prime. After a minute, the screen showed the image of the current Changeling ruler. His carapace was a bright green color, his chest was a darker green color, and sparkled brilliantly. Around his collar bone were three embedded white jewels, the color around his collar was an orange and faded into the light green color halfway up his neck. His eyes were a deep violet color, and upon his head had three horns. One in the middle of his forehead which was dual tipped and green, and the other two came from the sides of his head and were colored orange. Ocellus bowed when she saw her king and said, “King Thorax!” “Ocellus, I’m happy you’re safe!” King Thorax exclaimed. “She is safe and sound thanks to Ultrawoman Aster. We’ve also apprehended the ones who enslaved her, and are currently awaiting trail and extradition.” “As such, we are also ready to have Ocellus returned home. Do you wish for us to make the journey to you or are you sending a ship for her?” Vice Commander Luna asked. King Thorax looked a little troubled at that question. A look that did not go unnoticed by Ocellus. “Is…Is something the matter my King?” “Yes…and no…It’s complicated.” King Thorax sighed heavily. “There’s no easy way to say this, so I’ll just say it. Ocellus, you can’t come back to Hive Prime right now.” Ocellus’ eyes widened with shock. “W-Why?! Did I do something wrong?!” Thorax quickly shook his head. “No, no, little one, you didn’t! It’s just…we discovered something about you that puts you in more jeopardy should you return. We recently went over your last biometric information, trying to see if there was a reason you in particular were kidnapped. And there is a reason, or maybe they weren’t aware, regardless, it’s important enough that the Dark Changelings would attack you again.” Commander Celestia narrowed her gaze. “Forgive us, King Thorax, if this is classified information, then we need to switch to a private channel.” Thorax nodded. Vice Commander Luna looked to one of the workers and they quickly switched the feed to a secure communication line. “You may speak now, our conversation is encrypted.” “Thank you. It turns out, Ocellus, you have the potential to become a Queen Changeling.” The strength in Ocellus’ legs drained as she collapsed onto her rear, prompting Luna to rush to the young Changeling’s side. “I…I can become a Queen Changeling?!” “It’s true, a very rare occurrence given our times. We’re still running more data to make sure, but it’s looking like this is more and more a fact. If Queen Chrysalis learns of this, your life is in danger on Hive Prime.” “I’m sorry, King Thorax, but how does this endanger Ocellus? You are the King of the Changelings, and while I’m not familiar with your customs, Ocellus looks far too young to take as your bride,” said Luna. Thorax rubbed the back of his head. “It’s not exactly the same thing as marriage. With Chrysalis, she practically gave birth to all of us on Hive Prime, there was once a King who helped in fathering our race, but once he served his purpose, he was killed by Chrysalis, from then on, she laid the eggs that would soon become the race of beings you see before you.” “When I began this rebellion, and converted us from what we once were, initiating this dramatic change to our bodies, it’s made it so that we do not need to feed off of the emotional energy of other creatures, we can share that energy amongst ourselves, love when freely given can be shared with others. That power is what changed us. That change is what helped me start this revolution, and allowed other Changelings to procreate with each other and have families of their own.” “But the Queen is the Queen, she can continue to make more Changelings. And because of that, she can assert her power as ruler and life giver. But, if a new Queen type of Changeling is born…” “It would take away that power, and possibly bring more of the Dark Changelings over to your side, dwindling their numbers,” said Celestia. “…It’s more than that…” Ocellus finally spoke. “There cannot be more than one Queen Type in a Hive that is a law that has been set since the beginning of Hive Prime, before Chrysalis, and before the one who spawned her. If it’s true…If I do become a Queen, I’ll have to face her…by ancient law, we must fight until only one of us stands.” Celestia and Luna’s eyes widened as they looked upon Ocellus in a new light. If this was true, then Ocellus was the key to ending the civil war on Hive Prime, and in that case, Chrysalis would stop at nothing to try and kill Ocellus before she could become a threat to her. “I know you want to come back home, Ocellus, but given what we know now, it’s more than likely that Chrysalis has figured this out as well. I’ve already talked with the SMILE Director, as well as the Earth Federation, and they have agreed to grant you and your family asylum on Earth. And, with your permission, Commanders, I’d like it if they could migrate to your area, and have Ocellus attend your school. I can think of no safer place in the universe than on a planet that as a member of the Ultra race protecting it.” Celestia looked back at the young alien girl, she looked as if she was still processing all this. The tall woman walked over to where Ocellus was still on the floor and knelt before her to look the Changeling in the eyes. “Ocellus, this is as much your decision. I would be happy to have you at this Academy, and having Aster around does make this area safer than most. But that’s not up to me, I know you want to go back home, however, Earth is called home by many different aliens who have decided call it that. I know there are at least two or three people here who’d be willing to be your friend and help you transition.” Ocellus looked up to the monitor, and then to Celestia. With a heavy sigh, she made her decision. ~*~*~*~ “And that’s what happened…” The girls had met up outside, sitting at a bench as Ocellus told them what had been going on this past week. They were each in various states of shock, and didn’t know what to say about what they heard, they were mostly feeling sorry for the young Changeling. Twilight cleared her throat to break the silence and asked, “If this isn’t too personal, do you know when you’ll become a Queen?” Ocellus shook her head. “No, a metamorphosis like that could happen at any time. It could take years before I become that. Or could happen this week. All I know is, from what King Thorax told me, I’ll grow a cocoon around myself, and then when I emerge, I’ll be a Queen Changeling. I’ll be as strong as Chrysalis is, and be able to fight her for rule of Hive Prime. But, again, there’s no telling when that will happen. I’ll be the first Queen of the newly reformed Changelings…I should feel honored, excited even…” The girls all had saddened looks on their faces. Fluttershy scooted closer to Ocellus and asked, “It’s okay, you can tell us how you feel.” “Is it…Is it okay if I change back?” Ocellus asked. “You don’t have to ask permission for that, Sug. You just be yerself,” said Applejack. Arctic blue energy flared around Ocellus until she was in her true form. Her eyes began to water as she sniffled. “I don’t want to become a Queen! I just want to live with my family, go to school, and have a life of my own…! Now…Now everyone, my entire race, is going to be looking to me to end this war! I…I don’t know what to do!” Fluttershy brought Ocellus into a hug as she let her cry into her chest. The overwhelming pressure of becoming the potential savior of her people was a lot to be hefted on a young girl’s shoulders, alien or not, that was a heavy burden to bear. “Sunset, this may sound like a stupid question, but is there any way you can, like, go to Hive Prime and ray beam blast this Chrysalis?” Rainbow asked. “I’d love to, but I’m not sure how well that would go over with Celestia and Luna. Plus, I know I can go into space, but I don’t want to run the risk of flying out there and changing back before I got there. The only other way would be to jump on a ship heading to Hive Prime, but that would leave Earth vulnerable to Space Beast attacks. No offense, but if more like Barabas, Zetton, and that Meteor Raptor show up…” Twilight pushed her glasses up as she chuckled. “Well, we may be closer to providing you with backup sometime soon. With the improvements I’ve suggested and with some added research thanks to you, Sunset, we may be able to at least start causing more damage to the Space Beasts.” “Oooh, I like where that’s going!” Pinkie exclaimed. “Ocellus, if they haven’t given you a room yet, you can come and stay with Pinkie and me. Our room can house at least three comfortably.” Fluttershy offered. Ocellus wiped her tears and smiled up at the teal eyes girl. “I’d like that.” \*****///** [Wednesday, 3:15 pm…] Three days had passed since Ocellus was brought into the Academy, unfortunately, the rumor mill had been going on about her. And once they learned she was a Changeling, people became suspicious of her. Since she had the power to turn into anyone, it was hard not to think that she could do some things and get away with it. It also didn’t help that her involvement in the Preserve attack was also circulating around, so now people knew that she could transform into a giant monster whenever she chose. Ocellus mostly kept to her human form, only dropping her disguise when she was with Sunset or the others, or just in her dorm room with Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie. Currently, Ocellus was in one of the design rooms, Rarity had asked for assistance with an idea for a gown for herself for a party that she had to attend back in the city. Ocellus agreed, happily willing to help. She transformed into Rarity herself, and allowed the fashionista to begin her work. “Oh, darling, you have no idea how much easier it is to work on an outfit for yourself, when you can actually see how it looks on you.” Rarity took a step back as she looked upon Ocellus in the unfinished dress. “Although, I must admit, it’s a bit of a weird feeling to see yourself and touch my own body from this perspective.” Ocellus chuckled, “I’m sure it is. But, if it’s not too much trouble, could I ask you to make something for me? I don’t have that many clothes and…” Rarity gasped upon hearing this. “Darling, you mean to say you have no wardrobe at all?!” Ocellus shook her head. “Not really, we Changelings don’t normally wear clothes, but I have grown a fascination with them. And, typically, when we transform, we can also recreate different outfits with our power. It’s fake though, and disappears when we change to another form.” Rarity tutted. “No, no, no, this simply will not do. A young girl requires a detailed wardrobe. This Saturday, you and I will go on a shopping spree, my treat!” Ocellus blushed. “Oh, you don’t have to, I don’t want to spend your money on me.” “Nonsense, it is my money, and I shall spend it how I wish! We’ll pick out some fashionable, yet comfortable clothes, and I’ll also treat you to some of my original designs. What do you think?” Ocellus smiled and then her voice changed. “If you insist, darling, then I’ll happily take you up on your offer.” “Oh you cheeky thing.” Both girls laughed, at that moment, some of the other design students stepped in and saw the two Rarity’s. “Uh, Rarity, what are you doing?” “Ocellus was assisting me with a gown I was making for myself, and she kindly agreed to turn into me to model that dress so I could see how I look in it,” Rarity explained. The female students glanced to each other with uncertainty. They motioned for Rarity to walk over to them and asked, “Is that, okay with you?” “Of course it is, I asked her to.” “But, what if she goes around the rest of the day as you.” Rarity raised her eyebrow. “I’m failing to see the issue here.” “We’re just saying, you might wanna be careful she doesn’t impersonate you.” Rarity rolled her eyes. “Humph, yes, thank you for the warning, but if you don’t mind I am busy.” The female students left, leaving only Ocellus and Rarity in the room. “Don’t pay attention to them, darling.” “Okay…sure.” \*****///** Sunset had decided to let things cool down before she asked some questions, but now knowing about Ocellus, it was more than likely not going to be a good time one way or another, so Sunset made her way to the office of Commander Celestia. She knocked on the door of her office, to which Celestia replied, “You may enter.” Sunset pressed on the pad next to the door and let it slide open as it revealed both Commanders going over some documents. Geez, I know they’re sisters, but they’re always together when I see them…people are going to start talking, thought Sunset. “Sunset, to what do we owe this visit?” Celestia asked as she briefly glanced to see who it was and then went back to her work. “Gomora.” Both Commanders stopped what they were doing as they looked at Sunset. “What about, Gomora?” Luna asked. “How long has SMILE known that there’s a Terra Beast resting under our feet near the city?” Sunset asked as she crossed her arms. Celestia raised her brow. “Are you concerned that Gomora may attack?” “No, that’s not my concern. I’m pretty sure he’s on our side, if that lick meant anything. No, what I’m concerned about is the fact that you didn’t tell me he was there! Don’t you think I should know something like that?! I mean, I made the decision to protect the Earth from Space Beasts, shouldn’t I be aware that there are Terra Beasts sleeping underneath our feet?!” Luna cleared her throat. “I’m sorry you’re not privy to all our classified information, Sunset Shimmer. But it’s best that certain bits of information are kept secret, even from you. Your being Ultrawoman Aster does not grant you Top Secret Clearance, the chain of command has to be followed.” “I’ll have to agree with Luna on this one, it’s not our call whether to divulge classified info to you Sunset or not. We can only provide the best information we can under the circumstances, but rest assured, that won’t be happening again. We’ve increased security around Gomora, more specifically the Preserve.” Sunset sighed. “Anything else I should know?” “No, but Sunset,” Celestia rose from her desk, “I can’t tell you a lot because of where I’m stationed in SMILE, neither of us can. But know this, I do care about you, and I’ll always be there to help you in whatever capacity I am able.” The redhead smiled at that as she sighed. “Thanks. I’m going to hang around with Pinkie and Twilight.” With that said, Sunset left the room and left the two sisters alone. When she left, Celestia sat at the edge of her desk and held the bridge of her nose as she sighed heavily. “I don’t like keeping these secrets from her, Luna. I feel as if I may be keeping her from regaining her past!” Luna came around the desk and stood before her elder sister. “Tia, what else can you do? You know about as much I do about her, which is little.” “I still think I can make a better effort to find out who she is, and where she came from. To give her some kind of closure.” Luna placed her hands on Celestia’s shoulders and then brought her into a hug. “Tia, you always have to play the role of the mother, but that’s what makes you such a good commander.” “Same to you, I guess one of us has to be the stern parent to our wards.” “Oh, and you’re thefun parent?” Luna asked with heavy skepticism. “Well maybe if you showed more of your cute side, our students would see you the same way I do!” Celestia raised her hands up as she wiggled her fingers. “Oh no…y-you wouldn’t dare!” “Run if you can, Lulu!” No one would ever hear the cute, if not torturous laughter that emanated from Celestia’s office, nor would they ever hear the constant pleads of the Vice Commander for mercy. But then the door slid open. “Oh, sorry, I wanted to ask if there…was…” Sunset looked down at the floor. Before her was Commander Celestia, on the floor, straddling the Vice Commander, her hands paused at her sides, and said Vice Commander’s shirt and coat were bunched upwards, exposing her midriff. Vice Commander Luna’s face was bright red, with tears running down from her eyes, Commander Celestia’s face was just as red as her younger sister, both also sported a look that was caught between shock and mortification. “Uh…I…I don’t…Do I need to help her…come back in a few minutes…?” “S-Sunset, this isn’t what it looks like!” Luna exclaimed. Sunset raised her hands as she said, “Hey, no judgement, whatever you guys do in your private time is your business. But, a word of advice, you might want to lock your door if you plan to–” “THAT’S NOT WHAT WE WERE DOING!!!” “THAT’S NOT WHAT WE WERE DOING!!!” \*****///** [Saturday, 10:00 am…] Sunset was currently laughing her rear off as she, Ocellus, and Rarity were sitting in the food court. The fiery redhead had recounted the story of her having a chat with the two commanders, only to find them in a precarious situation. Ocellus couldn’t help but giggle a little at the story, while Rarity was blushing. “Really now, Sunset, I don’t think it was that funny,” said Rarity. “Oh, you had to be there and see it, and if you were, you’d be laughing just as hard! Ha, ha, ha-ha!” Sunset exclaimed. “Damn, I should’ve taken a picture, could’ve come in handy.” “Don’t you dare think about blackmailing our commanders over such a thing! I’ve had such interactions with my little sister, Sweetie Belle. Sometimes when she’s getting overly clingy or she’s interrupting me, I often resort to tickling her into submission. There’s nothing scandalous about that.” Sunset waved off Rarity’s concern. “I know, I know, it’s just funny to see the stern and stoic Vice Commander Luna looking that embarrassed and flustered.” Rarity thought it over for a moment and her lip couldn’t help but curl upwards a little. “I suppose it is a little funny when you put it that way.” Ocellus was quiet throughout the conversation, mostly just listening to them and also paying attention to the people around them. Ever since finding out she was a potential Queen type, the idea of an assassin lurking about crossed her mind constantly. Not only that, but she also noticed that some of the people did have an eye on her. Most she recognized from school. She knew that the story of what happened at the Preserve had spread, and how she was one of the giant monsters that fought Ultrawoman Aster. In a way, Ocellus couldn’t blame them for being on edge in her presence. Earth had suffered the First Incursion, and have had subsequent Space Beast attacks, some of which have increased recently in frequency. But add to the fact that Ocellus could imitate anyone in the world, or any creature, then it made it easy for her to be seen as a potential danger. “You know,” Sunset spoke, snapping Ocellus out of her inward thoughts, “you could always, change your form. It won’t bother us if you do.” Ocellus shook her head. “No, thank you. I chose this human form to help put people at ease around me. I like to think it helps. But…” Rarity saw the looks of the people who would glance their way and huffed in indignation. “Honestly, it’s not as if you’re the only alien in this building. There are plenty of other aliens who have dangerous abilities, but none here have done anything to harm another soul.” “Yeah, but not many can…you know.” Sunset left that open. The fashionista sighed. “Very well, so, we found many cute things for me, and we finally found some more stylish choices for Sunset.” “Don’t know what was wrong with my taste in clothes,” Sunset muttered. “Oh, darling, nothing’s wrong, it’s just…well…you could use more variety,” said Rarity. Sunset raised an eyebrow at that, she then looked over to Ocellus and noticed that there weren’t that many bags, maybe one or two small ones that only contained accessories. “Well, if I have to be your dress up doll, then so does Ocellus.” “Oh, I…” “Fabulous idea, let’s hop to it then!” Rarity wasted little time in gathering their things and then practically dragged the young Changeling into the nearest store. Rarity began picking out a few things here and there, Ocellus had attempted to argue that her school uniform was more than enough. Sunset and Rarity swiftly denied that idea out right. Rarity had Ocellus try on different outfits that complemented her human form, and Sunset would chip in her two bits to make sure that Rarity didn’t have Ocellus wear something too overly complicated. “Now, then, I think that’s enough for you in this form, why don’t we do something for the real you,” Rarity suggested. “Oh…um…I-I don’t think…I mean, Changelings don’t normally wear clothes, our carapace is quite durable and protective,” said Ocellus. Rarity placed her hands on Ocellus’ shoulders. “My dear, you don’t always need to hide who you are. You are beautiful, and you deserve to show others that beauty. Plus, you look quite stunning in your natural form.” Ocellus blushed and then nodded. The young Changeling surrounded herself in artic blue plasma, and when it faded, she was in her true form. Rarity circled Ocellus, now that she was a getting a better look at her features and coloring, humming in contemplation as she did so. The violet haired girl then walked the aisle, perusing the store’s selection until she happened upon the perfect dress for the young Changeling. Rarity took it and gave it to Ocellus, she then nudged Ocellus into the changing room, and the two young women waited. After a minute, Ocellus stepped out. She wore a simple salmon red blouse, with a matching skirt that had a few sequins that were tactfully placed to give the skirt a nice sheen without making it flashy. The blouse had a low hanging back that dipped into a “U” shape, giving Ocellus plenty of room for her wings to move about. Rarity got up and inspected the outfit and smiled happily. “Just as I thought, simplistic, but it makes such a difference. Hmm, I forgot to take into account your tail, perhaps I could find another skirt?” Rarity suggested. Ocellus shook her head. “No, I like it. But maybe you could alter it a bit to let my tail hang out?” “Consider it done.” Sunset nodded her approval of Ocellus’ outfit. “Wow, you really look cute in that Ocellus. You should wear it out.” “Capital idea…” Rarity looked back at Ocellus. “Only if you’re comfortable, Ocellus.” Ocellus looked at Rarity and Sunset with eyes full of budding confidence and nodded her head. Rarity smiled and three went to the cashier who rang them up. The trio of teens walked through the rest of the mall, with Ocellus still in her true form and wearing the outfit she liked. She was catching some glances again, but this time around they weren’t exactly suspicious glances, more like they couldn’t believe how cute she looked. Sunset lightly elbowed Ocellus and whispered, “Looks like you’re turning a few heads.” Ocellus blushed under the attention, but she didn’t dislike it, compared to earlier, this was much more preferred. Rarity and Sunset fell back just a bit to give Ocellus room and to not obstruct the view, which also allowed them time to speak privately. “You did a good thing, Rarity,” said Sunset. “Nobody deserves to be seen as an outcast, she’s beautiful, kind, and very sweet. Circumstances have not been kind to her lately, so, I felt that it was our job as friends to cheer her up, to help make the best of her current situation,” Rarity explained. Sunset chuckled a bit. “What’s the matter?” “This is going to sound a little bad, but, when I first saw you, before we became teammates. I thought you were going to be haughty, stuck up, and really nitpicky. But, you’re none of those things.” Rarity rubbed her left arm. “Well, I will admit, I do tend to act that way from time to time. But, overall, I try to maintain the bonds I weave with others, and doing what I can – whether it is spending time with my friends, or making something beautiful for them – is how I express that and doing so fills me with energy.” Sunset felt a strange sense of happiness from hearing Rarity’s words. Suddenly, the alarms went off, and PA system turned on. {All shoppers, we have an emergency situation. Imminent Space Beast attack. All shoppers are to quickly and calmly make their way to–} A violent rumble ceased any further talk from the PA system, causing the people to look around in a panic. Another round of tremors came, stronger than the last. People began running for the nearest shelters, holograms appeared and displayed arrows which pointed to where the shelters were. Sunset, Ocellus, and Rarity looked up through the skylight and watched as the blue sky turned purple, indicating that the Phantom Zone had been activated. “I think you might want to get outside, Sunset,” Rarity suggested. “Agreed, you two get to the shelter!” Sunset stated as she ran off. Another violent tremor coursed through the mall, causing the walls and ceiling to crack and chip. As Rarity and Ocellus made their way to the shelter, Ocellus spotted a group of people heading their way. But her eyes also spotted how part of the cement ceiling was gradually cracking. A second tremor hit and caused the group to stumble, Rarity rushed towards the people to try and help them hurry along to the shelter. However, another tremor caused the large chunk of the ceiling to fall. “RARITY!” Ocellus cried out. The young woman looked up, making the others look up as well, and all could only watch as a giant slab of concrete came rushing towards them. \*****///** ||SHINE ON! ULTRAWOMAN ASTER!|| A bright flash of light went off in the city, and from that light appeared the giant hero of light, Ultrawoman Aster. Aster landed upon the ground and entered her fighting stance as she beheld a new foe. Its body was made of a tough red and black carapace, with exoskeletal blades that rested on the sides of its arms, red compound eyes, and a long tail that had a sharp stinger on it. “You are all kinds of ugly, but you’ll go down like the rest!” The monster chittered as it rushed towards Aster, extending its arm blades as it swiped at her. Aster blocked the first strike, but the creature managed to move faster as it slashed upwards with its left arm, hitting Aster in her chest and causing sparks to fly from her body. Aster stumbled backwards, but the monster wasn’t done yet. The tip of its extended horn began to spark, and in the next second, unleashed a blast of Red Lightning that crackled as it sailed towards Aster. The Ultra Warrior braced herself as she took the full brunt of the blast, buildings exploded around her, turning into rumble as her body released more sparks from the continuous damage. Sunset had had enough and decided to get serious. “Bestow, the strength of the brave!” || ULTRAMAN LEO! || “Bestow, the power of the bold!” || ULTRAMAN MAX! || “Ignite the fire in my heart!” ||BURN UP! SOLARIS MAXIMUS!|| A pillar of fire rose up around Aster, transforming her into powered form, Solaris Maximus. The Red Lightning continued to hit her, but now she barely felt it, and the sparks were appearing less than when she was in her default form. Aster began walking towards the Space Beast, the creature continued its attack, but was quickly finding out that Aster’s defense was far stronger than it had anticipated. Aster used her left hand to grabs its horn, forcing it to look up. She then cocked back her right fist as the revolver chambers spun and locked. The empowered hero thrust her fist forward, hitting the Space Beast in the gut as the chamber fired and released a burst of energy that sent it flying backwards as sparks flew from its body. As it flew, Aster began to charge forward, running for the monster and waiting it for it to land to give it more punishment. However, that would not happen as the monster quickly sprouted wings and stopped itself in midair. Aster came to a skidding halt as she watched this and groaned in annoyance, “Of course the bug monster flies.” The beetle Space Beast began gathering energy around its pincers, the sphere that formed glowed a bright magenta as plasma flames wafted from it. The Space Beast fired the sphere from its high position, the blazing sphere sailed through the air as it made its way towards Aster. When the sphere hit, a massive explosion went off that managed to pick Aster off the ground and throw her back down with unforgiving force, causing her to roll into a few buildings before stopping against a skyscraper. Aster groaned painfully as she kneeled in a slight daze. “Damn, that was strong, if I wasn’t in this form I think that would’ve made me change back!” The beetle seemed to realize that its Inferno Bomber attack was the key to damaging this Ultra. It wasn’t long before it charged up again and fired a second blast. Aster didn’t try and tank this next attack, instead choosing to roll to her right and jump away just as the sphere hit ground, exploding on impact. \*****///** Rarity had shut her eyes when she saw the concrete fall towards them, believing that her life was at an end. But she didn’t feel dead. With reluctance she managed open her eyes, and she gasped. Standing above her, above all of them, was the insect monster that fought Aster during the Preserve incident, although it was much smaller compared to then. Rarity instantly knew who had saved their lives. “Ocellus!” “Thank goodness…ugh…you’re alright!” Rarity took a moment to look around them, Ocellus was holding up a large slab of concrete, but all around them more had fallen, burying them in debris. It was dark thanks to that, but Ocellus’ underbelly provided a bioluminescent glow that lit up the inside. “Are you okay?!” Rarity asked. “N-Not really…I think there’s something stabbing me…!” The people trapped with them were scared, both because there a large creature looming over them, and also due to the fact that they were buried under tons of rock. Rarity took out her cellphone and turned on her light, prompting the others to do the same. “Where do you feel it?” “M-My left third leg…!” Rarity hurried to the spot and indeed she was injured, a piece of rebar had broken off and pierced her leg, allowing green blood to ooze from the wound. Rarity took another look at how Ocellus was positioned and realized the horrible truth. “You’re holding up the slab aren’t you?!” “Uh-huh!” she grunted. “Can’t you make yourself bigger and push it off?” Rarity asked. “Not with that stabbing me, and even if it wasn’t, if I did, I could make the rest fall off and crush the rest of you!” Ocellus explained. Rarity looked at her legs, she could see them straining, shaking with fatigue and sheer willpower. “I…I don’t know how long I can keep this up, but I’ll try!” Ocellus stated. There was a shift, and Ocellus began to buckle under the strain, causing the slab to grind against the rest of the concrete as it gained a few more inches. The people were getting worried as they watched the Changeling strain against this daunting task, knowing that she was doing all she could to keep them from getting crushed to death made them see this alien in a different light. Rarity walked up to Ocellus’ head and petted her gently. “Don’t worry, I know we’ll make it through this.” “H-How?” “Because our friend will help us. Bonds of camaraderie and friendship are strong, and oftentimes, those strong bonds can let a friend know when the other needs help.” Just then, Rarity began to glow bright purple, making the others gasp in shock. Rarity gasped too, not entirely sure what was happening to her. That purple light left her body as it formed a circular object in front of her. Rarity gingerly reached out to touch the object, and upon doing so, it flew off, piercing through the stone that kept them imprisoned. \*****///** Aster was starting to get tired, and now her timer was blinking red, which meant she didn’t have much more time before she turned back. But all of that was forgotten when she sensed something. Her head turned towards the mall and watched as a purple light hovered over it. What the heck is…? Wait… Aster bolted for the mall as the monster opened fire on her from above. The Ultra Warrior dodged to the right as she grabbed a building, tearing it up from its foundation, and then tossed it into the air right at the monster as it fired another attack. The Inferno Bomber hit the building just as it got close to the Space Beast, exploding violently. The shockwave from the blast managed to send the monster into a tailspin for a few moments. That was all the time that Aster needed as she approached the mall, and looked directly under where the light was shining. There was some debris huddled around small, exposed area. Someone’s there! Aster carefully reached down and used her right thumb and index finger to lift the slab up, revealing Ocellus in her monster form, Rarity, and some civilians. Aster could see that Ocellus was hurt, but otherwise she looked okay as she was finally allowed to collapse onto the floor in exhaustion. Rarity sat by her side as she petted her head soothingly, the fashionista took a moment to look up and smile at Aster. Thank God, I was in time. The purple light then zoomed towards Aster, zipping right into her color timer. In the starry nexus, Sunset reached out towards that purple light as it transformed into a new Ultra Coin. “Seriously?! A new coin?! But…only one?” The Ultra Coin flashed and briefly displayed the image of a new Ultraman to Sunset. And when saw it, one name entered her mind. “Orb…” The sound of angry chittering caught her attention as Aster turned around and saw the Space Beast recover as it readied to counterattack. “Okay, then I know the best way to use you then!” Aster turned around to face the beetle monster; in the starry nexus, Sunset opened her Coin Keeper and took her two newest Ultra Coins. “I ask for the gift of kindness!” || ULTRAMAN COSMOS! || “I ask for the gift of protection!” || ULTRAMAN AGUL! || “Let the waves of my soul quell your rage!” ||FLOW AND CRASH! COSMIC WAVE!|| A pillar of light and water rose around Aster, changing her into her agile and accuracy focused form, Cosmic Wave. Aster raised both of her hands to her head as the shark fin crest on her head began to glow. The light began to take form, and Aster grabbed the light, pulling forward and twirling the object around until it transformed into her bladed weapon. “Stellugger!” Within the starry nexus, Sunset took the Ultraman Orb Coin and placed into the top slot of the Stellugger, and in the bottom slot, she placed the Ultraman Coin. Sunset twirled her Stellugger around as the two Ultra Coins empowered her weapon, making it glow with an aurora of colors. Outside, Aster used her left hand to draw a circle of light around the entire mall and said, “Healing Halo!” The Halo bathed the area in healing light, the rebar rose out of Ocellus’ leg and fell harmlessly against the floor, allowing the wound to close up. Her fatigue was erased as she allowed the healing light to enter her and make her well. Ocellus looked up and smiled at Aster, but then her eyes widened when she saw the creature that was about to attack her. “A Bezelb!” Ocellus then watched as the monster’s tail coiled around and lashed towards Aster like a snake. “DON’T LET IT’S TAIL HIT YOU!” Aster sensed the attack, time slowed for her as she stepped to the side, leaving behind an afterimage of herself. The Bezelb believed it had pierced her, when in reality that was not the case. Aster took advantage of this and slashed at the tail, cutting it off and causing the Bezelb to screech in pain. Aster launched towards the Bezelb and slashed it across its chest as she flew by, using her hyper speed, Aster turned around and attacked again, and again, and again. In the sky, it appeared as if a blue blur was slashing at the monster from every direction, causing sparks to fly from its body with each successful blow. Aster hovered a few feet away from the monster as her eyes glowed. She used the Stellugger to draw a circle of light in front of her, particles gathered around the circle, filling the center. Aster drew back her Stellugger, entering a thrusting stance as she cried out, “SUPREME SPECIUM CALIBUR!” Aster thrust the Stellugger forward into the ring of light. The light was absorbed by the blade and was then released in beam of aurora light that struck the Bezelb right in the chest as its carapace began to crack with fissures of light. The fissures expanded at a rapid rate until the insect Space Beast exploded in a shower of sparks. Aster ceased her attack as she let her Stellugger change into light and disappear. With the Space Beast defeated, and her time nearly up, Aster flew off into the distance. \*****///** [Monday, 1:45 pm…] “Thanks Ocellus!” A student exclaimed. The insectoid girl blinked at the sudden praise. “Um…d-do you mean me?” “Yeah, you saved my Mom in the mall during that attack!” “Same here, you saved my Sis,” said another. Before Ocellus knew it, she was being swarmed by more and more students as they wanted to get a picture and give their thanks to the hero of that day. Rarity and Sunset were standing a few feet away from the crowd as they watched Ocellus, although the shy Changeling was obviously embarrassed about the attention she was getting, it didn’t stop her from letting a big grin appeared on her face. Something that made both teens happy to see. “So, let me get this straight, that coin flew from me, and then to you?” Rarity asked. “Yep, same thing with Rainbow and AJ, same thing with Pinkie and Shy,” said Sunset. “Hmm, if these come in sets of two, does that mean that there’s another one to come?” Sunset shrugged. “Unfortunately, I don’t make the rules when it comes to this sort of thing. I did some experiments with Twi yesterday, trying to transform with it and another coin, but no luck. For now, it’s only good for my Stellugger until I get the next Coin, I guess.” Rarity nodded as she turned her attention back to Ocellus. “I’m just glad that you aren’t particularly annoyed that she’s getting the credit as the hero of the hour.” Sunset smiled. “I’m a hero every day, so it doesn’t matter. Besides, if this helps make people less edgy around her, then I’ll call it a win.” Although… ~*~*~*~ Ocellus and Sunset met in the office of Commander Celestia, the young Changeling needed to talk to her immediately about the Space Beast that Aster had confronted yesterday, and from the sounds of it, it was urgent. “We’re free from any prying eyes or eavesdropping, you can speak freely, Ocellus,” said Celestia. “That thing that Sunset fought yesterday, it was called a Bezelb, a creature that can control others with the poison in its tail stinger.” Ocellus explained. Sunset flinched upon hearing that. “Wait, what?! You mean, if that thing stung me I could’ve been controlled by it?!” Ocellus nodded. “Its poison is called Kugutsu. Once stung, you become a slave and do its bidding, there’s no cure for it.” Sunset gulped. “Damn, glad I killed it.” Ocellus didn’t seem relieved by that, something that Celestia immediately picked up on. “Ocellus, there’s something else to this, isn’t there?” Celestia asked. The arctic blue Changeling nodded. “Hundreds of thousands of years ago, the Changelings and Bezelbs were at war with each other. You see, while there is no known cure, we Changelings have a natural immunity to it, due to our power of shapeshifting it gives us some resistance to it, but what really keeps us from being controlled is the connection we have to the Hive. According to our history, Queen Chrysalis’ control over the Hive at that time was immensely strong, so combined, it made it nearly impossible for the Bezelbs to infect us.” “So…did the Changelings kill them all or something?” Sunset asked. Ocellus shook her head. “No, at that time, the task was impossible, but the same was true for them. The war between our races lasted hundreds of years until the Bezelb Queen and Queen Chrysalis settled on an armistice. We would not attack them, and they would not attack us. Our two colonies would take residence in their respective territories.” Sunset and Celestia shuddered, the Changelings and Bezelbs, if those two ancient races had decided to join forces instead of agreeing to a ceasefire, the universe would be under their control. “Many years passed by, and eventually, the Queen of the Bezelbs was killed by a team of Ultra Warriors. That being said, many of the Bezelb were presumed dead since they no longer had a queen to follow. That doesn’t seem to be the case anymore…” “Are you saying that there might be a new queen?” Celestia asked. “Or…something just as bad.” Sunset narrowed her gaze. “Queen Chrysalis, you’re saying she may have control over the Bezelb?” “It would make sense, the only other species who could equally match them was ours, and the remnants might have sought out Chrysalis as they might see her as the closest thing to their original queen. I pray that is not the case.” ~*~*~*~ Sunset didn’t like it, if it was true, then Chrysalis had an ace up her sleeve. Ocellus told them that Changelings could resist the poison, but the reformed Changelings had no Queen of their own to combat the power of the mind control. Apparently, King Thorax’s authority only did so much, the true power lied with the Queen. If this Chrysalis really does have some of the Bezelb under her control, then sending some to try and infect Ocellus and bring her under her control before she ascends to a Queen would do the trick… “Sunset, are you alright?” Rarity asked. Sunset shook her head, snapping herself out of her contemplation. “Yeah, why?” “Sorry, it just seemed to have this intense look on your face for a moment.” Sunset waved off her concern. “It’s nothing, really. But, I think we should go and save Ocellus, I don’t think the little bug girl can take anymore.” As if to emphasize her point, Ocellus managed to squeeze some of herself out of the crowd and reach out to her friends as she pleaded, “Sunset, Rarity help me…!” 7th Light: Investigation / More questions?About a month had passed since the last Space Beast attack, and so far, things were peaceful. The students were able to actually concentrate on their work without the threat of attack, and for Twilight Sparkle, that was a godsend. Currently, the young genius was with Sunset, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash, standing in the R&D hanger, with the latter two jaws dropped as their eyes were fixated on the sight before them. Twilight had a proud smile on her face, while Sunset smirked impressively. “What do you guys think?” Twilight asked. “Can I drive it now?” Applejack asked. “Can I fly it now?!” Rainbow begged. “The answers are, soon, and not now.” The objects of their awe were the newly modified Gungir and Goliath that the two girls piloted. The fighter was silver in color, with rainbow lightning bolts painted on the top and bottom of the wings. There were two individual Bombay doors on the belly of the jet, allowing for dual missile launches, and the bow photon repeater cannons were replaced with inwardly mounted cannons that were smoothed to the point that couldn’t tell exactly where they were unless you were standing in front of the aircraft’s nose. The wings were made in a reverse crescent position, while the back only had single tail instead of the two of the typical Gungir. To the right of the Gungir was Applejack’s old Goliath, but like the Gungir, it too had been modified. The cannon had been replaced with a new model, it had rotating barrel with missile pods attached to both sides of the tank, and the armor was now orange colored, with two large front wheels and treads on the back. The side had a painted red apple with a shadowy image of an eight-legged horse behind it. “Rainbow, this is your next generation Gungir, code named: Pegasus. And Applejack, yours is code named: Sleipnir. Both have been upgraded with the latest armor to maximize mobility and durability, so that these machines can get right in the heart of the battle and take the fight to the Space Beasts,” Twilight explained. Sunset looked over the machines and hummed in contemplation. “Aside from the updated look and armor, what’s new with the weapons?” Twilight’s smile widened. “That’s where you came, or rather Aster.” Applejack, Rainbow, and Sunset gave Twilight confused looks. “Ahem, before when we first met, I was doing all those studies on your energy for fun. But when the Commanders made us into a team, I started to think of a way to better assist you in battle. So, I came up with a way to replicate your Astronium Ray attack with our given technology and created these! The cannon and beam repeaters can fire beams close to the same intensity and power of your strongest attack!” Sunset’s eyes widen with shock. “Seriously?!” “Seriously!” Twilight giddily exclaimed. “The missiles work on the same concept, they store that replicated energy and compact it, so when the missile explodes it has a bit of a stronger punch. However, I’d like to point out that it’s only a replication. Your power is still really unique and hard to replicate, so I did the best I could. We won’t know how effective they’ll be in battle until we field test them.” “Almost can’t wait for the next Space Beast – OW!” Rainbow exclaimed as she felt Applejack punch her in the arm. “Don’t go sayin’ stuff like that!” Applejack scolded. “Sorry.” “Still, very impressive, Twi. This’ll be a big help when I’m out fighting, knowing you all got my back like that will be great,” said Sunset. Twilight made and “O” with her mouth as a thought crossed her mind. She dashed off and then came back with three strange looking blaster weapons. They were colored red and silver, with the barrel ending with an eight-pointed star crystal fastened to the mouth of where the barrel’s opening would be. “These were also made using my data, they discharge the same kind of energy as the Pegasus and Sleipnir.” “Wait, ya sayin’ you made mini Ultrawoman beam guns?” Applejack asked in awe as she took up the weapon. “Indeed, I did, again we won’t know the full amount of damage these weapons can cause without first field testing them, but theoretically, they should at least pack enough of a punch to make a Space Beast think twice before coming near anyone. I call them Aster-X Blasters.” Sunset took one of the weapons in and examined it carefully. “Huh, now I’m curious to see what this bad boy can do. Any more of them?” “Just the three for now, if they test well, they’ll make more,” said Twilight. Applejack came up behind Twilight and gave her a goodhearted pat on the back, nearly knocking the genius over as her glasses scooted down her nose. “Twi, yer a genius!” “T-Thank you,” Twilight replied with a slight grunt. “I say we tell the girls about this, Pinkie’s going to flip!” Rainbow exclaimed as she ran down the hall. “Oh, for the love ah – Dash, hold yer horses!” Applejack called out. Sunset chuckled at the couple’s antics, but then turned her attention back to Twilight who had this pensive look on her face. “Hey, you alright?” “Are you mad at all that I…used your data to make these?” Twilight asked. Sunset shrugged. “Not really, I mean, is not like you were doing something that was invasive or anything. Like I said, if it helps give us an edge over the Space Beasts, then I’m onboard.” Just then, Sunset got an alert that pinged several times from her HoloFrame. Sunset took out the HoloFrame and opened it up to see that a mission had been brought up. “Huh…catch you later, Twi. Looks like I’m tapped for a mission.” “Okay, be careful.” Sunset gave her a thumbs up as she left down the same hallway that her teammates did. \\***/// Sunset arrived at the mission briefing room, and inside she wasn’t surprised to see Applejack and Rainbow Dash in the room, but she was surprised when she saw Flash Sentry in the room. Inside the briefing room was the Mission Director under Commander Celestia, she had dark brown hair, black rimmed glasses, and purple eyes. Her suit was a dark, navy-blue color, with a red necktie. Sunset recognized this woman, her name was Raven, nothing more, nothing less. “Please, take a seat,” said Raven. The four teens did as they were told, once seated, Raven brought out her HoloFrame and pressed a few buttons, bringing up a holographic screen. The images of several teens appeared on the screen, all of which were listed as “Missing”. “Recently, we’ve been seeing an increase in abductions in Canterlot City, most specifically, young teens.” “Sure they aren’t just runaways?” Sunset asked. “The police have not ruled that out for some of them, but there are a few that have raised enough eyebrows to assume that this may be extraterrestrial in origin.” Raven pressed a few keys on the HoloFrame screen and some images of the abduction locations appeared on the screen. “Some of the teen abductees have been taken around the busier locations of the city, such as the entertainment district where most of the shops, restaurants, theaters, and parks are. We have determined that the kidnappers are using the crowds to slip away, it also doesn’t help that there are several alleyways that can assist with the kidnappers escape and abductions.” “So, what did you want us to do ma’am?” Flash asked. “We’re going to set up a sting operation, and take the abductors in. Each of you will be fitted with a tracking device, we’ll have you do this in pairs. Team one will be Applejack and Rainbow Dash, and Team Two will be Flash Sentry and Sunset Shimmer. We’ve noticed that most of the abducted teens were doing couple activities, so the pairings have been done to ensure that we entice the kidnappers.” Applejack and Rainbow Dash fist bumped, of course they’d have no problem with this since they were in a relationship. However, Sunset wasn’t sure about how this was going to work with Flash. He seemed like a nice guy and all, but she wasn’t sure that they could pull of the “teens in love” look. Flash glanced over to Sunset and smiled a little, he was hiding it well, but Sunset could tell he was a little nervous. “When do we start?” Rainbow asked. “Right now, go back to your dorms and chose appropriate outfits. We’ve already requisitioned some vehicles that are not SMILE marked but have been fitted with tracers. On that note…” Raven walked towards a desk and brought up a gun-like device. “Please roll up your sleeves, I’ll need to inject you with the tracers, they’ll also transmit your bio data so that we may be aware of any changes to your body should something happen.” The four gulped. “Uh…how long do those last?” Applejack asked. “They’ll last for at least seventy-two hours, and will dissolve harmlessly in your bloodstream. We’re also going to be backed up by the local PD. Any questions?” “Any chance we can be armed?” Sunset asked. “We’ll be outfitting you with some concealed stun weapons. We are trusting you not to discharge them in public, but if you need to, they’ll only stun whoever it hits. Now, let’s get started.” \*****///** [Investigation, 12:00 pm…] Sunset and Flash walked around the area, side-by-side. She was wearing an orange skirt, with a cream and purple stripe running along side it, a black leather jacket, and a mauve blouse that was held by ring around her neck, and black leather boots that had a purple, wispy decorations on them. Flash was wearing a pair of denim jeans that had small rips, a dark gray leather jacket, and a white t-shirt that had a shield with a lightning bolt superimposed on it. The two teens walked together, Flash had a nervous smile on, while Sunset’s expression was more or less neutral. This was going to be a hard mission for her, granted that the only knowledge she had regarding dates was what she saw in movies and TV shows. Actual dating experience? Zero. Sunset wasn’t sure what she should be doing, should she hold his hand or cling to his arm? Should Flash have his arm around her waist? Should they be saying some corny, sappy, cringe inducing lines about how much they liked each other? They didn’t even know much about the other, other than what Sunset remembered when they last talked to each other, and that was a while ago. Sunset pinched the bridge of her nose as she growled in frustration, Flash looked to his partner and asked, “You alright?” “No, I’m partly ticked that they chose us for this mission,” said Sunset. “Sorry, you were probably wanting someone else,” said Flash with a chuckle. “No, it’s not that. I mean, it’s better if they had gotten another couple instead of pulling two random students and asking them to act like a couple! Rainbow and AJ make sense, but us? We barely know each other!” Flash rubbed the back of his head. “I think that may be the point, one team who are a genuine couple, and another who’s not, just in case the couple team is distracted by each other, the one that’s not can act quicker if need be. Just spitballing here.” Sunset rolled her eyes, in theory it made sense, but she still thought it should be an actual couple. Either that or they thought that this would involve some Ultrawoman assistance? Hopefully it won’t come to that……who am I kidding? It always comes down to that. The faux couple walked along the busy sidewalks keeping their eyes peeled for anything suspicious, aside from the occasional alien family, there wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. While they were walking, Sunset paused in front of a music shop, her eyes lingered on a turquoise electric guitar, a model that could generate sound without an amp. Sunset didn’t know why, but she had a fascination with rock ‘n roll music, especially songs with guitarist really going all out on their instrument in the middle of a song. Flash noticed Sunset’s gaze lingering on the guitar, the corner of his mouth turned up as he walked towards the shop. “Let’s check out this shop,” said Flash nonchalantly. “I need a backup string for my guitar anyway, that cool?” “Um, uh, sure, yeah, that’s fine,” said Sunset. The two teens entered the shop, inside were all manners of different instruments, turntables, violins, flutes, horns, bass guitars, electric guitars, and even some of the more advanced versions of those instruments. The shopkeeper noticed the new arrivals and excused himself from some other customers. He was a tall man, with cobalt colored hair that reached down his back, his kind amber eyes looked upon the two youths as he smiled. “Welcome to Music For All, I’m Note Worthington, but I’ve been come to be known as Noteworthy. How may I help you?” “I was wondering if you had spare guitar strings,” said Flash. “Yes indeed, let me finish with these customers and I’ll be right back, feel free to browse and try some of the instruments out,” said Noteworthy as he returned to the other couple. Sunset was about to say something until Flash walked over to where the guitars were at, he looked around and finally found the electric guitar that was on display in the shop’s window. Flash picked up the axe and showed it to Sunset, “Pretty cool, huh?” “Y-Yeah, I guess…” “C’mon, hold it, it isn’t going to bite you,” Flash joked. Sunset grumbled and carefully took the instrument into her hands. She fumbled with the guitar, trying to find the right way to hold it, remembering some shows and music videos of people holding the thing. Flash was chuckling at how Sunset was having a hard time holding the instrument. “Right or left-handed?” he asked. “What?” “Right or left-handed, which are you?” “Oh, um,” Sunset took a moment to think about that. Starry Smasher, Astronium Ray, Break Buster, Caliburn End…After running through her previous battles in her head Sunset confidently said, “Right-handed, definitely.” “Alright then.” Flash walked until he was behind Sunset, positioning the neck of the guitar in her left hand, and helped position her right hand where the guitar strings were. “There, now you got the form down.” Sunset blushed a little, holding the guitar in her hand felt surreal for some reason. “So…I just…pluck the strings or…?” “There’s a little more to it than that. You gotta use your fingers on your left hand to hold down one or two of the strings, doing so can make the string let out a different sound. Do you mind?” Sunset shook her head. Flash proceeded to place his left hand over Sunset’s, replicating her finger positioning and giving them slight nudges to make her place them a certain way. “Remember this position, this is called a ‘resting position’. Kind of like when you’re typing on a keyboard, you always return to a certain spot before going at it again.” “O-Okay, I think I got it,” said Sunset. “Great, now, apply some pressure.” Flash pushed gently against one of Sunset’s fingers, making her do the same against the string. “And then pluck it.” Sunset strummed the guitar, hearing it make a simple note, it wasn’t anything grand, but it felt exciting all the same. The flame haired girl let Flash continue to show her some basics as he guided her hand on the neck of the guitar. At some point he let go, and Sunset began playing on her own. The music seemed to come to her from deep inside, she wasn’t really sure how or why, it just felt right. Flash had taken a few steps back and watched as his partner began playing a gentle melody, it was soothing, and almost felt sad for some reason. He watched as Sunset had closed her eyes, letting the music guide her, he didn’t feel like stopping her, it was almost like it was having a therapeutic effect on her. After about a minute, Sunset stopped and opened her eyes, noticing that Flash was once again standing before her. Her attention was then shifted to the clapping of Noteworthy as he walked towards them. “Magnificent, young lady, what a nice little melody you played.” Sunset blushed. “Um, t-thanks, I’m not really sure where I heard it before.” Sunset looked at the guitar now in a newer light. “But it felt right…” Flash smiled and asked, “How much for the guitar sir?” “W-What?!” “Hmm, it is one of the newer models. They run about $800, but I’ll tell you what. For that nice song I’ll let you have it for $400, and I’ll throw in a twenty pack of replacement strings each, no charge,” said Noteworthy. Sunset spluttered as she finally was able to speak. “Flash, no, you don’t have to, that’s too much!” “Done.” “What?!” Flash took the guitar from Sunset and presented it to Noteworthy who went to the front to ring it up. Sunset, having snapped out of her daze, rushed to the front desk as Flash was pulling out his credit card. “Flash, c’mon, that’s a lot! You don’t have to buy me that!” “I know, I just do. If for nothing else, you looked happy while playing it.” Sunset growled in frustration, since when did this mission turn into…whatever this was? With no further resistance, Flash purchased the guitar, Noteworthy was kind enough to also provide Sunset with a case to carry her instrument in. Once they bid their farewells to Noteworthy, Sunset gave Flash a slightly angry glare, the blue haired boy smirked. He could tell that Sunset was one of those tough girls who didn’t like to show their emotions too much, that, and she seemed like a pretty headstrong and independent kind of girl, too. So, while the buying of the guitar may have been much, there was no denying that Sunset looked happy while playing it, one could even say nostalgic. Flash held up the guitar towards Sunset, who carefully took the case and huffed. “……Thanks.” Flash smiled as the two of them continued their little walk about the area. Sunset checked her watch after about ten minutes of them milling around and said, “What do you think, should we call it a day or something? We haven’t had a single–” {Sunset, Flash, come in!} Rainbow called. Sunset and Flash placed their index fingers against the node in the ears. “We’re listening, what’s happening?!” Sunset asked. {We just spotted someone suspicious, we’re in pursuit right now!} Applejack stated. “Give us your location, we’ll be right there,” said Flash. {Going down Trotting Ave., cut them off on the opposite alley way on Horseshoe Lane and we’ll force them into the dead end!} Rainbow suggested. Flash and Sunset, unfortunately, dropped their things off at some random store and stated “Official SMILE business!” before rushing back out. Sunset and Flash rushed through the crowd of people, hurriedly making their way to the street they were told to go to. Flash spotted the street and both of them turned into the alleyway. Sunset and Flash stopped when they saw a girl with silver hair, bright golden eyes, and a pin on her tank top in the shape of a lyre. The girl headed down the opposite way, with Applejack and Rainbow hot on the girl’s tail. After about a minute run, the two teams managed to corner the girl in the dead end that Rainbow had spoken of. When they converged, Sunset asked, “So, why are we chasing this girl, exactly?” Applejack handed her HoloFrame to Sunset, and showed her the list of missing teens they had seen at the briefing, and opened the file of the girl they were looking at right now. “Lyra Heartstrings, she was reported missing. Shouldn’t we be taking her back to the police?” Flash asked. “Yeah, we were goin’ to do that, until she tried to take another girl by force, someone who recognized her,” said Applejack. Sunset stepped forward, at the ready to attack. “Are you Lyra Heartstrings? If you’re being forced to do this, we can help you! We’re with SMILE!” “SMILE…oh crap, guess this was bound to happen eventually.” Lyra snapped her fingers. The back end of the alley suddenly closed as a barrier was erected above them. Two baseball sized orbs were tossed by Lyra, which rolled towards the teens and began releasing a purple smoke cloud. Flash, Sunset, Applejack, and Rainbow all began to cough as they tried to look for a way out, but then they started to feel weak, their vision blurring along with their bodies becoming more and number. They tried to fight it, but soon, Rainbow fell, followed by Applejack, and then Flash. Sunset focused as hard as she could as she rushed towards Lyra, using her great speed to close the distance and grab Lyra by the collar of her top. Sunset raised her right fist as she asked, “What or who are you?!” Lyra chuckled as she pushed Sunset away, an easy feat as the gas was doing its job. Sunset watched as the girl changed, her body glowed gold and in the next second, she wasn’t a human, but an alien. A golden one, with wild hair, red eyes, gold and black armor, and a mercury symbol on its chest. “Call me Bedu, and you’re my next haul.” Sunset tried to remain conscious, but it was no use, her body finally gave in as she dropped to her knees and fell over. \*****///** “……What……you think…?” Sunset’s head felt clouded, and she could barely make out words. “Keep……we don’t need………” She had to focus, Sunset had to regain what sense she could. The last thing she remembered was getting gassed, and then the alien, and then everything went black. Sunset tried to move her arms, they didn’t move. She tried to move her legs, they didn’t move. Sunset was almost near panic, but then she tried something smaller, first she wiggled her fingers. The process was a little slow, but she could feel all ten digits moving. Next she wiggled her toes, and thankfully she was able to feel them moving, which gave her the relief to know that her limbs were still attached to her at least, and that she could still feel and move them. O-Open…Open your eyes, Sunset commanded herself. Open your eyes…! Sunset’s eyes fluttered open, at first, all she saw were some blinking lights, and blobby figures moving about. Sunset blinked a few times, trying to make her eyes adjust. Again, it took a minute, but her eyes finally obeyed, the blurry world became sharper as she soon realized she was in a room. She slowly turned her head to the right and noticed that Rainbow, Applejack, and Flash were strung up. Shackles clamped around their wrists as they were held up by an energy tether. Their legs were separately shackled, and anchored to the floor by the same yellow energy tether. Sunset wasn’t sure what was going on, but this wasn’t looking any better as she took in more detail. The room was a darkish blue, but metallic. Off to her right was a panel giving off readings, and it seemed it was pertaining to each of them. Sunset noticed another panel with a few buttons and a container that had a few of their belongings. Just then, an alien entered the room, it was black all over, with large milky blue eyes, and a glowing, gill-like thing where it’s mouth would be. The alien walked over to the panel and looked over the readings nodding at what he was seeing as it cycled through each of her teammates’ data. “W-Who…Who are you…?!” The alien stopped its work and looked at her with intrigue. “My, I didn’t expect you to awaken. Most who are hit with the gas are out for a bit longer. But, then again, if there wasn’t something unique about you humans, then there would be no point in coming here, would there?” The alien then shook his head. “But where are my manners, I am Xalex, and I’m an Alien Mephilas.” “Have you…been kidnapping kids?!” Sunset demanded. “Yes, indeed. But, that’s all I can say. We’ve gotten a good amount for this city, since SMILE’s onto us. So it’s best we move onto a new city.” Xalex looked at the data and then made a sound that could be construed as disappointment. “Oh, well that’s a shame. One is a half-breed, and the other doesn’t really have anything abnormal in his readings. Shame, well, two good ones out of four isn’t so bad.” Xalex closed the panel and began to walk away. “No…let us go! If you don’t, SMILE’s going to be all over you!” Sunset threatened. “My dear, they haven’t found us yet, what makes you think they will now?” The door to their room slid open and Xalex left. Sunset looked around the room, trying to figure out something. If they didn’t get out soon, they would be taken away, experimented on, who knows what? Some feeling was starting to come back to her, so Sunset began struggling. Sunset continued to thrash, trying to use her strength to snap the binds. However, the gas was still affecting her, it would most likely take a bit longer before her body filtered the rest of it out and have her full strength returned. Sunset looked up and saw the point where the energy tether was connected, wishing that she could strike that point overhead. Suddenly, Sunset’s hands felt warm, and not long after that they began to glow with a bright yellow shine. The light began to grow and grow, and then, that light fired straight up, hitting the point that Sunset had her eye on. She gave a little yelp of surprise as the tether fizzled out and let her fall forward. Sunset managed to fall on her side, but it still didn’t make the hard fall hurt any less. Sunset looked up at the scorched point and then back at her hands, the glow was slowly fading and the warmth with it. The redhead looked back and forth between her hands and where the energy hit, confused as to how she had done something like that. Sunset looked over at the panel, and then to her teammates. With a determined look she pointed both her hands at the panel that was monitoring them. “If it worked once…” The fiery haired girl concentrated, and not long after doing so, the warmth and light returned. Sunset let it build up until it shot off again. The bolt of light struck the panel, destroying it completely. As soon as this happened, the tethers and shackles automatically released them, which was then followed by three thuds as the limp bodies of Flash, Applejack, and Rainbow hit the floor, making Sunset wince. “Sorry.” Sunset hurried to each of them, shaking them as hard as she could to rouse them from sleep. It took a little bit, but soon all three started to come around. “Ugh…Sunset…what hit me?” Flash asked. “The floor. Can you stand?” Sunset asked. Flash shook his head, trying to focus his senses. “Y-Yeah, I think so, just give me a minute.” “AJ, Rainbow, are you with me?” Rainbow was the first of the three to fully stand to her feet, Sunset believed that it was Rainbow’s half alien physiology that was helping her body combat the gas quicker. “Ugh, I feel like crap…where the hell are we?” “On a ship, I think? Look, we don’t have much time, we need to get off this thing and get some help before they decide to leave!” Sunset stated. Applejack started to get to her feet, she wobbled a bit, but she seemed alright. “Ah hear ya, Sunset. Let’s get a move on.” Flash stood up and nodded his agreement. The four teens watched as the door opened and an Alien Dada appeared in the doorway. The alien looked confused for a moment as he looked to the standing teens, but before he could do anything, Sunset used her speed to quickly grab the Alien Dada and throw him into the room, letting the door slide closed behind her. Flash and Applejack held him down while Rainbow took his blaster, after which, Flash gave the alien and punch to the face, knocking him out. “Well this sucks, we don’t even half our stun weapons,” said Sunset. “Not like they’d let us keep them,” said Flash. “Oh, they didn’t get everything, trust me. Applejack, break that case!” Rainbow stated. Applejack made her way to the case that had their things, she then balled up her right fist and struck the container, shattering the glass and allowing her to get their things. Rainbow hurried to one of the bags she had brought with her and rummaged through it. She then gave an “Ah-ha!” before pulling out three familiar blaster weapons. Applejack’s eyes widened when she saw them. “Rainbow, those better not be Twi’s Aster-X Blasters!” “Yep!” Rainbow stated as she handed one to Flash and then to Applejack, she then tossed the pilfered weapon from the Alien Dada to Sunset. “When did you…?!” “Well, since we didn’t know exactly what we’d be getting into, I thought it might be good to take them with us in case of a monster attack, y’know, so we can test them,” said Applejack. “Yeah, and those are still experimental,” said Applejack. Flash looked at the blaster, noting the obvious homage to Ultrawoman Aster. “Twilight Sparkle made this? She’s on your team, right?” “Yeah,” said Sunset. “Do you trust her?” Sunset looked at the blasters, and her answer was obvious. “Of course.” “Okay then, we’re armed and ready.” Before they readied to leave, Applejack picked up the Alien Dada and gave him one more swift punch, making sure he was thoroughly knocked out before they left. The door slid open and Rainbow was the first to check the hallway, there was no one. Rainbow was then followed by Applejack who covered the opposite end as Rainbow covered the other. Flash and Sunset came out next, once all of them were out, they headed down the right hallway. Slowly, and carefully, they stealthily made their way through the ship. They had a few close calls along the way, but managed to stay out of sight. Although, they knew that that would not be the case for much longer once that Alien Dada woke up. While dodging another close call, the four stumbled upon a room. Inside this room were dozens of capsules, and each one held one of the missing teens, and some that weren’t on the briefing list. Applejack and Rainbow kept watch at the door while Sunset and Flash walked through the rows, each one was in suspended animation, taken from their homes, and forced to endure heavens knew what. Sunset tapped on the glass of one of the capsules, and from it formed a holographic screen that was written in the language of the aliens that captured them. “Damn, wish we knew what it says, maybe we could get an idea of what they’re after,” said Flash. “It says, ‘Subject 10023-01: Displays genetic traits for enhanced sight, subject has also displayed instances of being able to spot objects and other lifeforms from several feet away and react accordingly’.” Flash blinked. “Wow, I didn’t know you could translate.” Neither did I…Sunset moved onto another capsule and brought up another screen. “This one says the kid in here has the potential for a rapid regeneration gene.” Sunset and Flash went to a few more and started to see a pattern. Each of the kidnapped teens seemed to either possess or had the potential to possess a unique genetic ability. Sunset’s mind immediately went to Applejack, remembering how the farm girl was able to fight off the Timber Wolves with just her own strength, practically matching Sunset’s strength. They kidnapped teens who have or could have abnormal abilities, it wasn’t just random, Sunset thought. “Flash, we cannot let these guys leave! If they do, they’ll just do this again in another city and they’ll take even more!” “Okay…but, how are we supposed to keep them grounded? The moment we leave they’ll be gone before we get the chance to tell SMILE,” said Flash. Sunset bit her bottom lip. There was a way, but it was going to involve a bit of property damage, possibly. “Hide!” Rainbow hissed. Applejack and Rainbow Dash hid behind a row of capsules, while Flash and Sunset did the same. At that moment the doors to the room opened, and in walked Xalex and the golden alien from earlier. “SMILE’s going to be more of a nuisance then we first thought,” said Xalex. “They created that Phantom Zone, so they’ll be waiting in the wings for when we lift off,” said the gold alien. “Dammit, now what?” “Calm yourself, Bedu. Don’t forget, we hold the bargaining chips. They won’t risk shooting us down if they know that we have these humans aboard our ship. Neither will that Ultrawoman dare attack us for the same reason. Why don’t you help clear them away, and bring out that other weapon? I’ll secure the cargo and join you later.” Bedu chuckled happily as he left the room. Sunset glanced over to the other side where Rainbow and Applejack were, she gave a nod towards Xalex, and both nodded back to her. Rainbow moved swiftly until she was at the other end, she jumped out from the row and pointed her weapon at Xalex. “FREEZE!” Xalex looked as if he was about to draw his weapon, but stopped when he felt a weapon pointed at his back. “Don’t even think about it, partner,” Applejack warned. “Hmm, resourceful little things, aren’t you?” Sunset and Flash walked until they were on either side of Xalex. The fiery haired girl took his blaster and tossed it aside as she pointed her weapon at his head. “We need to get off this ship, and you’re going to help us do it. It’s either that or my friend here is going to shoot you with a very experimental and very dangerous blaster. Not sure what it will do you, but I promise it will be lethal.” Xalex chuckled. “Are you sure that’s a great idea? Considering what’s about to happen, it’s probably safer in here.” Just then, the ship rumbled, and the teens felt a shift in gravity. “What’s going?!” Flash asked. “Right about now, Bedu and Black King are probably carving a path of freedom for us right now.” Sunset primed the blaster. “That’s it, you’re taking us outside, NOW!” \*****///** The Phantom Zone had been activated, allowing the Gungirs and Goliaths to scour the area for their missing students. However, they didn’t have to look long as a silver ship arose from a wide alleyway. The ship rose higher and higher until it was about a thousand feet in the air. Several of the SMILE vehicles converged on the ship, but not before one of the aliens, Bedu, jumped out and began growing at an accelerated rate. The Alien Babarue now stood at about fifty meters tall, towering over the tanks and some of the buildings. The ship then fired a beam, and from it appeared a small figure, that figure began to enlarge at a rapid rate, until it was a full sized Space Beast. The Space Beast stood at about sixty-five meters, with a black, scaly, armored hide, large fangs, red eyes, and a yellow horn. “Listen up, SMILE! If you try anything, me and Black King here are going to make this a very bad day for you,” said Bedu. Black King roared in agreement. One of the Goliaths approached, and from it came the voice of Captain Flash Magnus, “We have you completely surrounded, either give up now, or we will open fire.” “You can do that, but then you’d be shooting down a ship load of kids.” Bedu paused to let that sink in. “That’s right, we have all your missing kids in that ship, so go ahead and shoot, if you don’t want all their blood on your hands!” Black King’s horn charged, and inside its mouth, plasmatic flames began to spill out from the corners. The black Space Beast turned its head towards the sky and fired a stream of his Hell Magma straight into the air. The Gungirs quickly took evasive action, dodging the stream before it could hit. Bedu raised his left arm and fired a few beam blasts from this gauntlet. The blasts struck around the Goliath, exploding and jostling the tank and forcing it to retreat as it did so. Meanwhile, the airlock door on the outside of the ship opened up, revealing the four teens and their prisoner. Rainbow Dash looked down and grimaced as she saw the alien from before, along with a Space Beast. “That’s not good, we’re already in the air!” Sunset looked down as well, cursing under her breath as her eyes searched for a solution. “Rainbow, is it possible for you to take some of us down?” Rainbow hesitated to answer, her eyes briefly glancing to Flash Sentry for a moment. “I mean…I am strong enough…I can at least take two of you…but, Sunset, he’ll see.” Sunset nodded as she placed right hand on Rainbow’s shoulder. “I know, but I don’t think he’s like that. We can trust him with that much at least.” Rainbow was still reluctant, but she understood. She removed her jacket and shirt to reveal her sports bra. The athletic girl motioned for everyone to stand back as she knelt. Her back arched as two slits of sky-blue light formed on her back, and from those slits sprouted two large, cyan colored wings. Flash blinked in surprise for a moment, but then shook off his surprise. Rainbow felt the urge to wrap herself in her wings, that is until she felt the comforting hands of her girlfriend and Sunset and her fear subsided. “Okay, I can fly two people down, and then I can comeback for another.” “Good, take Flash and AJ.” “What?!” Flash exclaimed. “Nuh-uh, you and Flash go, Ah’ll stay here and watch this varmint,” said Applejack. “I know you’re strong enough, but you’re also one of the people that they want to take, so you two have to go,” said Sunset. “It sounded like they wanted you, too. In that case it’s better if you three go, and I stay!” Flash argued. “LOOK!” Sunset shouted. “This isn’t up for discussion! You three are heading out, NOW!” With a deep frown, Flash, Rainbow, and Applejack agreed. Rainbow jumped out, flapping her wings to make herself hover outside the door. Applejack holstered her Aster-X blaster, while Flash did the same and stood next to Applejack. Rainbow Dash reached out and took their hands pulling backwards and letting them dangle as they held on as hard as they could to her. The prismatic haired teen grunted as her teeth gritted with the straining effort of holding onto two people in midair. Without another word, Rainbow began the arduous task of flying back to the ground, leaving Sunset and Xalex alone. “Very admirable, letting your comrades get to safety while you stay behind, it’d be easier if you shot me,” said Xalex. “Tempting, but then if your goons appear, I won’t be able to use you as my shield,” said Sunset. “Cunning, you’d make a fine catch. However, you did forget to account for one thing.” Sunset scoffed. “And that is?” Xalex pointed his raised hands backwards, and from them a blast of sonic energy hit Sunset, making her fall to her knees as the sound waves caused her pain throughout her body. Xalex turned around and wristed the blaster away from Sunset, grabbing her by the hair, and then tossing her towards the airlock door. “You didn’t stop to consider that I might have some abilities as well.” “Ugh…damn you!” “Now, now, this doesn’t have to get messy. I’ll forgive this transgression if you come with me and get into a capsule,” Xalex offered. Sunset looked out the airlock door, she couldn’t tell if her teammates had made it to the ground yet, but since Flash was gone, Sunset did have another option. With a smirk plastered on her face, Sunset looked to Xalex and said, “I chose option B.” With that, Sunset rolled out of the airlock, leaving Xalex to shake his head remorsefully at the loss of a specimen. In the sky, Sunset wasted no time. She summoned her StaRaizer and let her body be engulfed in light. “Grant me the strength of a hero!” || ULTRAMAN! || “Grant me the power of a galaxy!” || ULTRAMAN GINGA! || “Release the light within me!” ||SHINE ON! ULTRAWOMAN ASTER!|| The light shined brighter and grew bigger, and in a matter of seconds, Sunset had transformed into her gigantic form, Ultrawoman Aster. Aster flew down towards the two aliens, flipped once, and then extended her right foot forward for a flying kick. “Asteroid Kick!” Sparkling energy coated her right foot, Bedu heard the attack and turned around just in time to get Aster’s kick right in the face, sending the golden alien flying as he bounced on the ground and into a building. Aster didn’t let up, once she landed on the ground, she bolted for Black King and coated her right fist in the same sparkling energy. “Starry Smasher!” The punch landed against Black King’s chest, sparks flew, but the Space Beast showed no reaction to the attack, making Aster look up at the creature in confusion. Black King used its right claw to strike at Aster, hitting her in the chest as sparks flew from the point of impact. Black King, once Aster backed away, slammed its body against her, throwing her back first onto the ground. “Damn, he’s tougher than I thought,” said Aster. Aster got back up, but not a second later did she get bombarded with energy blasts to her back, making her stagger forward. When she looked back, her eyes fell upon Alien Babarue who was charging straight for her. His right gauntlet extended a blade weapon as he got closer. Aster blocked his first strike with the blade, and delivered a knee strike to his gut, followed by a backhand to his head. Bedu shrugged off the attack and continued, he once again led with the blade, but Aster blocked it. The attack proved to be a decoy as he went for a left hook to Aster’s side. The blow landed, and right after, Bedu fired multiple shots at point blank range. Aster grunted in pain from the attack, but managed to endure it as she readied her counterstrike. However, Black King fired his Hell Magma, hitting her square in the back and caused more sparks to fly from Aster. From the sky, another being appeared, the leader, Xalex. He dropped down with a great BOOM against the asphalt and concrete, he then released his sonic Cruelty Waves straight at Aster, at the same time, Bedu jumped back and began firing several shots at Aster. The Ultra Warrior went down on one knee as she tried to defend herself against the attacks. On a rooftop, some feet away, Rainbow Dash finally landed, letting Applejack and Flash go as she collapsed onto the roof. Her wings disappeared into her back as she caught her breath. “Okay, I need to work on my strength…I’m hitting the gym when this is over…!” Applejack and Flash watched as Aster was getting bombarded from all sides by the two aliens and Space Beast, and their ship was still hovering in midair. The Gungirs and Goliaths didn’t move in for fear that the aliens would take aim at their own ship and kill their hostages. That’s when Applejack had an idea. The country girl took out the Aster-X weapon and flipped the safety switch off. “Guess it’s time we tested these things!” “Applejack, you never really told me what these do,” said Flash. “They use similar energy to Ultrawoman Aster’s ray attack, they may not destroy the Space Beast, but it definitely should cause them some damage, according to Twilight anyway,” said Rainbow Dash. The half-Avian girl reached for the holstered Aster-X weapon and switched its safety to the off position. Flash did the same and said, “Let’s do this.” “Pick yer targets! I got the ugly one!” “I got the golden boy!” Rainbow stated. “The Space Beast is mine!” All three pulled back on a leaver at the back of the weapon until it clicked. [Now charging Ultra Energy.] The three weapons began to whir as the energy built up. The star crystal at the end of the blasters began to glow brighter and brighter, with the charge gauge quickly building up into the green. [Charging complete.] “FIRE!” [Astronium Ray Discharge.] All three weapons fired at once, letting loose beams of sparkling blue and gold light that sailed across the way. The three assailants were too busy attacking Aster to see the three beams of light as they struck each of their targets. Bedu and Xalex released grunts of pain as the beams exploded against their bodies and made them stop their attacks. The third beam struck Black King in the face, causing an explosion that made the Space Beast cease its attack. Aster rose up, using her Ultra Vision to see that her teammates had used the Aster-X weapons to help her. Twilight, you’re a genius, and thanks you guys! Now it’s my turn! The giant of light was suddenly bathed in dual blue lights, along with water that rose into a column around her. ||FLOW AND CRASH! COSMIC WAVE!|| Aster switched into her Cosmic Wave form, and quickly went to work. “Water Bullet!” Aster raised her right hand into a spear thrust position, and from her hand fired off several high pressured, energy infused water blasts that shot off like bullets straight for Xalex. Several explosions went off from his body, before one last shot sent the alien flying and onto his back. Bedu came in with his blade, but thanks to Cosmic Wave’s speed, Aster was able to get around him before he realized that she was gone. “Aqua Blades!” Two blades of energy infused water formed in her hands, Bedu turned around and charged in once again. At the same time, Aster did the same, and in a quick second, both attackers passed each other. Bedu and Aster stood there for a moment with their backs turned, but then Bedu’s arm blade and blaster were sliced, and a spray of sparks erupted from his chest as he too fell to the ground. Black King wasn’t having this as he fired another Hell Magma blast at Aster. The hero of light dashed away from the attack, and did so again when Black King fired a second time. Aster finally got in close as she took her Aqua Blades and slashed the monster across the chest. But each blow she dealt did little to no damage against his hide. Unfortunately, it was at this time that her color timer began to blink red. “Alright, time to turn up the heat!” Aster’s body shined once again, this time she was engulfed in raging flames. ||BURN UP! SOLARIS MAXIMUS!|| The flames dissipated and revealed Aster’s power form, Solaris Maximus. Embers lapped off Aster’s body as she walked towards Black King. The Space Beast fired again, but Aster didn’t dodge it, instead taking on the brunt of the attack as the heat washed over her. The flames of the Space Beast did no harm to her, in fact, they merely made her stronger. Once she was close, Aster delivered a strong right hook to its side, releasing a chamber from her revolver gauntlet that exploded against Black King’s side. When Black King backed away a little, Aster jumped up and performed a spinning back heel kick to his chest. Another revolver chamber fired, causing even more damage to the Space Beast as it reeled back further away from the Ultra Warrior. Aster’s body erupted with raging flames that were tinted red, orange, and yellow. The flames grew bigger and bigger until she focused all the heat and energy inwards, making her entire body glow with plasmatic energy. Aster dashed towards Black King, firing off two revolver chambers at her feet to give her a boost. Once she was close, Aster gripped Black Kings shoulders and shouted, “NOVA BURN!” All the contained energy released at once as Aster’s body exploded into a blast furnace that was about thirty meters wide and seventy meters tall. The blast stopped, not growing any bigger than it had, and after a few seconds, the dome of fiery energy was released, turning into small embers that wafted in the air, leaving only Ultrawoman Aster standing in the center, and Black King nowhere to be seen. Aster’s body glowed once again, this time shrouded in blue and gold sparkling light. ||SHINE ON! ULTRAWOMAN ASTER!|| Aster returned to her original form as she flew up towards the spaceship hovering overhead. She pointed her right hand at the ship’s engines and called out, “Beam Bullet!” Her right hand shined with light as it discharged a bolt of light straight at the engines, hitting them in just the right place to cause the ship’s engines to explode and fall from the sky. Aster hurriedly flew under the ship, and used her strength to catch the ship, slowly, she brought the ship into a slow descent. She brought the ship close to where the Goliath tanks were, sitting it down as gently as she could. Aster gave the SMILE pilots a thumbs up before shooting off into the sky. \*****///** [Same Day, few hours later…] Vice Commander Luna watched as their agents interrogated the leader Xalex, but along with her was also Sunset Shimmer. The Vice Commander of the SMILE base didn’t hide her displeasure of allowing Sunset to hear the interrogation as she was not a full fledged agent of SMILE until she graduated, even with Special Agent status. Nonetheless, Celestia had pulled rank and allowed it. “Now, tell us, why did you take all those kids?” the male agent demanded. Xalex sighed. “Why else? To preserve you.” “What do you mean, ‘preserve’?” the female agent asked. Xalex leaned back into his chair. “Word has gotten around in the proverbial ‘underground’. Something has its sights on this planet, the event that you call The First Incursion, has put this little planet on the radar for not just all the evil aliens, but even the good ones too. You can see by the number of other aliens who walk either in plain sight or in disguise. And with the recent increase in attacks to your planet, I thought it necessary to take a few of your young to make sure your species lives on.” The female agent looked upon him with a narrowed gaze. “You seemed to be taking specific types of teens, teens who display or could display some abilities.” “Yes, it’s quite the mystery about those types. Is it a natural evolution? Is it due to that strange forest? Or is it because of the other alien races who have come to live on Earth? Such a rarity must be preserved should something unfortunate happen, and I figured, taking these types of humans would yield a more evolved human race in the long run.” “Are you saying you think Earth is going to face a Second Incursion?” the male agent asked. Xalex shrugged. “Who can say? I merely wanted to get as many specimens as possible before anything happened. You have my word they would’ve been treated with the utmost care.” Luna switched off the intercom and furrowed her brow. “This alien and his companions are saying the exact same thing.” “They think we’re going to be an endangered species?” “It seems to be knowledge only known in the darkest recesses of the universe at large. Either way, this is troubling to hear. We’ll have to bring this to the SMILE Director and Commanders of the other SMILE bases.” Sunset sighed. “Guess I’ll head back.” As Sunset turned to leave, Luna called out, “Sunset Shimmer.” The girl in question turned around to face Luna. “I would like to commend you for your work today. Both as a student of SMILE and as Ultrawoman, you saved many lives today and should be proud of that.” Sunset blinked in surprise, this was a first, hearing Vice Commander Luna actually praise her for once. “Um, wow, uh, thank you, Vice Commander Luna.” Luna nodded and with that Sunset left the room. She made the long walk back to the dorms where she eventually was tackle hugged again by her roommate, having heard the news of the mission and their capture. It had taken a while, but they managed to convince Flash Sentry that Aster had flown by and rescued Sunset before entering into battle with the aliens, and thankfully, he promised not to tell anyone about Rainbow’s wings. When she got inside, Sunset blinked when she saw the case from earlier. “Is that…?” “Oh, um, Flash Sentry stopped by, he said he went by that shop earlier today and brought this back,” said Twilight. Sunset walked over to the case and opened it up. Inside was Sunset’s newly bought guitar. Twilight looked over Sunset’s shoulder and watched as the fiery haired girl took the instrument out and attached the sling to it. “You bought a guitar?!” “Oh…well, not me. Flash did – even though I told him not to – but, yeah, it’s mine now,” Sunset answered. Twilight bristled at hearing that for some reason. “Oh, he did…t-that was nice.” Twilight cleared her throat and said, “I’ll have to scold Rainbow later for taking my inventions without permission, but all in all, I’m happy that they worked and were able to help you.” Sunset walked over to Twilight and ruffled her hair playfully. “Yeah, those blasters worked great! If they hadn’t used them, I would still be on the wrong end of a three way. So, thanks, Twilight, you helped save the day.” Twilight groaned a little from her hair being messed up, but she still beamed knowing that she had helped to save her friend. Sunset walked over to the sliding doors which led to the balcony. Sunset used the dial that was on the guitar to turn it to a low setting, she then began strumming the guitar, playing a melody that had a soft, almost lullaby-ish tune to it. Twilight leaned against the doorframe, just simply listening to the tune, she often found listening to certain songs soothing and relaxing, but what Sunset was playing resonated with the young genius on another level deep down. Sunset continued to play, still unsure why or how she knew how to play, or where this song was coming from. Her entire life seemed to be a mystery, she determined. The mystery of being Ultrawoman Aster, the mystery of the Ultra Coins, the mystery of how she lost her memories, and the mystery of how she knew how to play the guitar or knew how to play this strange, yet familiar song. One day, she thought, I’ll figure it all out…one day… 8th Light: Trouble Off World! / The Kugutsu Threat! (Part 1)Sunset was on a special mission today. Today, Sunset was going off planet for the first time, at least as far as she could remember. Which wasn’t much. Fluttershy had been asked to join in a mission, as both a student with Special Agent status, and a member of the Preservation team, to go and help on a planet that was having some…issues, with the local wildlife. Fluttershy’s natural ability to speak with different forms of fauna was essential to this. When asked what kind of animals she was going to be dealing with, Fluttershy told her friends that they’d be big enough to be classified as Space Beasts. With that said, Sunset immediately volunteered to assist with the mission. Although, this did receive some blowback from Vice Commander Luna… “I’m sorry, but I do not think that this is a good idea,” said Luna. “Fluttershy’s going to be on a planet filled with creatures as big as Space Beasts, if anything, I need to be there in case things go south,” Sunset argued. Luna crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. “And what if there’s a Space Beast attack on Earth in the meantime? Aster is our most powerful weapon, what if a powerful Space Beast comes and you’re not here to fight it?” “Applejack and Rainbow’s new Gungir and Goliath pack enough punch to drive away a Space Beast, on top of that, we still have the Aster-X blasters, all those combined should be enough to take down, if not drive away, a Space Beast,” Sunset shot back. Luna huffed as she looked to her eldest sister. “Commander Celestia, you can’t be thinking of allowing this? This will leave us vulnerable to attack!” Celestia was silent for most of the talk, contemplating her options. She had to admit, Luna did make a very good point, Sunset as Ultrawoman was their best anti-Space Beast weapon. However, the thought of only viewing her as a weapon made her feel sick. Sunset was not a weapon, nor was she anyone’s property, she was a young girl, and one who was concerned for the safety of her friend. An admirable thing, considering Sunset’s indifference towards friendship to begin with. Although, Celestia was certain that she wasn’t ready to say the word “friend” completely, yet. “Vice Commander Luna does present a very valid point,” said Celestia. Luna smirked, and Sunset was about to open her mouth to argue. “However, Sunset is not a gun that we draw one moment and holster the next. She’s a living being and is free to make her own decisions. We will have Miss Applejack and Rainbow Dash on standby and have the Aster-X blasters handed out to three of our best marksmen. Besides, Miss Fluttershy and her family are still on surveillance are they not? In that case, it would be prudent to allow someone close to her, but also reports to us, to be watching over her. Besides, your trip shouldn’t be more than a two to three days max anyway.” Luna looked at her sister with shock. “Wha – but – T-Tia?!” Sunset smiled and then raised her hand to salute Celestia. “Thank you, Ma’am!” \*****///** [SMILE Controlled Launch Port, Canterlot City. 8:10 AM…] Sunset had to admit, she was a lot more confident about going when she was in Celestia’s office, now that she was actually sitting in the spaceship that was about to take her and her friend into space, to a different planet no less, Sunset was getting a little nervous. Fluttershy sat next to Sunset, the kind alien girl gently placed her hand atop Sunset’s, noticing how tense she looked. “You really didn’t have to come with me, Sunset,” said Fluttershy. “I…I know I don’t have to. But I just…you know, got a little worried…just because Gomora is on our side, doesn’t mean they’re all nice. And knowing that, if one of them gets too riled up, you’ll need someone as strong and big to take it down,” said Sunset. “I’m just surprised that they’re allowing you off planet, considering what you told me last time.” Fluttershy smiled appreciatively at her friend. “Well, once in a while, the Preserve can use its power to allow me to make special trips like this for work related purposes, provided I have a designated SMILE agent embedded with the crew.” “And that would be me.” “I’m happy it is you. Most times they’ll send a nice Agent, or one that’s really serious and…” Fluttershy’s kind visage diminished for a moment as one of irritation and sadness took its place. “…often really suspicious of me.” Sunset smiled and confidently said, “You don’t have to worry about that, I know who you are.” Fluttershy’s smile returned, and it got even bigger when she saw someone else approaching them. The girl who sat across from them was very familiar to Sunset, with olive skin, bright red hair, and azure eyes. “OCELLUS?!” Sunset exclaimed. She wore the same type of space suit as them, white, slightly form fitting, with patches on their arms indicating who they are. On Sunset’s right arm was a patch that had the SMILE insignia as well as the letters of SMILE showing each word they represented. On Fluttershy’s right arm was the same patch, but on her left arm was the patch for the Wildlife Preservation Group, same as Ocellus. “W-W-What are you doing here?!” Sunset asked. “I joined Fluttershy as part of the Preserve. I wanted to make amends for what I did in wrecking some of it,” said Ocellus. “And I’ve told her she doesn’t have to, but she insists,” said Fluttershy. “Plus, I do like learning about different creatures, and that’s not just because I’m a Changeling. So, I asked if I could come and I was approved, especially since they said you were coming along, Sunset,” said Ocellus. “Heh, heh…Now I feel as if I was played somehow.” [Attention all passengers, will be begin lift off. Our destination is planet Zodio, in the Beellor Galaxy.] Outside the ship was angled out on its launchpad, the ship was oblong shaped, green stripes ran along the ship's length, and with the insignia of the Preserve group painted on the side. When the green light was given, the ship’s engines ignited, and the ship rose into the air. The ship rose higher and higher, breaking through the atmosphere and fighting gravity. After a few minutes the ship eventually made it out into the open space. [Good morning passengers, this is Captain Star Chase. We’ll be activating the warp drive and arrive at our destination in no less than five hours from our exit. Total Warp travel time will be thirty minutes.] The ship began to glow with blue light, and in the next second, the green striped ship zoomed off into the distance. \*****///** Thirty minutes had passed, and the ship was in the Beellor Galaxy, now their five-hour journey began. The passengers were free to move about the ship, so Sunset walked around to keep herself from getting too bored. Sunset couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but she felt different now that she was in space. She wanted to say…stronger, unfiltered. Sunset continued to walk about the ship, there was a nagging voice in the back of her head that told her that she should be sticking close to Fluttershy as per her job, but the people on the ship all knew Fluttershy wasn’t a threat to anyone, except to those who cruelly hurt animals, or her friends. Sunset was about to head back to Ocellus and Fluttershy, but then her ears picked up on something. There was a slight banging sound coming from the cargo hold. Sunset decided to check it out, just in case there was a problem that the crew needed to be alerted to. The flame haired girl entered the cargo hold, there were several large crates around, the ship had two levels. Sunset worked on the first level, listening for the sound again. *bang, bang* Sunset turned on the lights, but unfortunately, the lights didn’t get to all the nooks and crannies of the hold, which made Sunset have to use the flashlights that were mounted next to the entrance. After taking one, Sunset walked through the hold, listening carefully as the sound as it went off again. *bang, bang* Sunset was starting to become less concerned that it was a noise the ship was making, and more concerned that it might be a person. In that case…Sunset switched the flashlight to her left hand and readied her right to fire a beam bullet, just in case. The echo the banging sound made was making it hard to pinpoint, but it was getting louder the further in she got. *BANG, BANG* The young woman turned to her right; the banging sound was coming from the crate that was marked “Cleaning Supplies”. Sunset took a deep breath, setting her hand aglow before hitting the button that opened the crate. And from the metal container rolled out a girl, she continued to roll until she hit the container on the opposite end, ending with her upside down. The girl was about thirteen, most likely in middle school. She wore a black tank top, with an orange hoodie over it. She wore black shorts, had lightly tanned skin, and her hair was purple and spikey. The young girl groaned as she rubbed her head and grumbled when she noticed the way she had landed. Sunset walked over to her, her turquoise colored eyes meeting the opal colored eyes of the girl lying on her back. “So, we have a stowaway.” “Eh, heh…hi?” \*****///** “Scootalua Allgood! What were you thinking?!” Fluttershy scolded. “Sneaking onto a starship?! Stowing away in a metal container?! Do have any idea what could’ve happened to you if Sunset hadn’t found you?!” The last couple of hours had been spent alerting the Captain of the ship, as well as the Wildlife Preservation crew about Scootalua, or Scootaloo as she preferred. Unfortunately, they were too far into their flight plan to turn back now, so the decision was made to press on to Zodio, Fluttershy had told the captain that she would personally take responsibility for her during the duration of the trip. With that assurance, Scootlaoo was confined to Fluttershy’s quarters, which was where she, Ocellus, and Sunset were listening to the pink haired young woman give Scootaloo an earful that only a mother could. Once Fluttershy was done, Fluttershy took a deep breath and hugged Scootaloo to her, which surprised the young girl for a moment before she returned the hug. “Despite all that, I’m so glad you’re okay,” said Fluttershy. “Sorry,” said Scootaloo. “You should thank Sunset, had she not been there, we might not be having this conversation.” Fluttershy released Scootaloo, allowing her to face the “bad girl” and said, “Thank you, for saving my life, I mean.” Sunset shrugged and then smiled. “Kind of what I do. But now I’d like to know who she is, and why she’s here.” “Oh, of course. This is Scootaloo Allgood, she’s the daughter of two of the Preserves two top field specialists, Snap and Mane Allgood. They’re actually running point on this mission and we’ll be going there to help them,” said Fluttershy. “Huh, I see, and just how were you able to survive that long in the cargo hold, it was pretty cold, and there’s not that much oxygen in there?” Sunset asked curiously. Ocellus’ eyes scanned her form, it didn’t take her long to recognize some similarities between Scootaloo and another girl she knew back at SMILE. “She’s like Rainbow Dash, she’s half Alien Avian. Alien Avians can withstand high altitude cold temps and can operate with less oxygen when at higher altitudes, and sometimes under extreme circumstances.” Sunset blinked. “Well, can’t get more extreme than in a locked container.” Scootaloo’s jaw dropped. “How did you know?!” Ocellus blushed. “Well…” The Changeling girl let her azure plasma flames rise around her, briefly allowing Scootaloo to see her true form before going back to her disguise. “It’s because I’m a Changeling and can see DNA just as easily as I’m looking at you.” “Wow…” Scootaloo gasped. “Okay, and how do you two know each other?” Sunset asked. “Oh, that’s easy, she’s friends with my big sis, Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo stated proudly. “Wait, Rainbow Dash has a sister?!” Sunset and Ocellus exclaimed. “Not quite. You see, Rainbow Dash had said she’d take Scootaloo under her wing. In the Avian culture, it’s not just a saying, it’s a pledge to accept another person or Avian as an official part of their family. Since there aren’t that many Alien Avians, or more specifically, half-Alien Avians, Scootaloo really looks up to Rainbow, and of course, Rainbow couldn’t resist having her number one fan also be her little sister. Plus, Scootaloo had been following Dashie around since she was smaller,” Fluttershy explained. Scootaloo blushed as she looked up at Fluttershy. “Fluttershy, don’t tell them that! It’s embarrassing!” Sunset and Ocellus couldn’t help but giggle at the thought of seeing a young Scootaloo shadowing the bold and brash Rainbow Dash. Just then, alarms started to go off, Sunset opened the door and caught one of the other crewmembers and asked, “Hey, what’s going on?!” “We’re getting attacked by some Corvus and an Aquila!” the crewmember stated before dashing off down the hall. “Some what and what?” Sunset asked. “Those are some of the creatures from Planet Zodio! But what are they doing this far out?” Ocellus questioned. The ship began to rock back and forth, causing the girls to be launched towards Fluttershy’s bed, and ending up in a pile. Sunset dragged herself out of it and said, “Doesn’t matter why, they're attacking!” Sunset got out of the pile and ran towards the door, but not before Fluttershy called out, “SUNSET!” The girl in question stopped and turned around. “Don’t destroy them if you can help it…” Sunset smiled wearily. “I’ll try, but if they leave me no choice…” The flame haired girl left it there and ran down the corridor. Sunset found one of the air locks and prepared to open it but paused. “Dammit, if I use the airlock, they’re going to know something’s up…” Sunset’s right forearm began to glow as her StaRaizer appeared. “Okay, guess there’s a way to do this without ripping the ship apart. I’m trusting you, StaRaizer!” Light engulfed Sunset as she was transported to the starry nexus, opening her Coin Keeper, Sunset took out her first Ultra Coin. “Grant me the strength of a hero!” || ULTRAMAN! || “Grant me the power of a galaxy!” || ULTRAMAN GINGA! || “Release the light within me!” ||SHINE ON! ULTRAWOMAN ASTER!|| A flash of light shot out from the ship, passing through the metal and grew until it became the giant of light, Ultrawoman Aster. It was now outside the ship, that Aster could see exactly what was attacking them. Two creatures that resembled crows flew around in a death circle, they’re bodies were ethereal, with different points of light that formed a kind of constellation, the body of the creature was a shimmering mauve color, with red eyes that shone bright in the dark of space. The third creature resembled an eagle, with points of light that formed a constellation pattern on its body, and shimmered a bright yellow color, and had the same red glowing eyes. “They’d look cool if they weren’t trying to kill us,” said Aster. The first Corvus flew straight at Aster, but she quickly flew to her right just as the creature got close, and then the second one came along. The second Corvus brandished its talons and grabbed Aster by the shoulders, whisking her upwards and away from the ship. The Corvus flapped its wings once and flipped upward, throwing Aster up even higher. The Ultra Warrior spun for a few seconds before stopping and righting herself. She was about to fly down, until the Aquila came in and wing bashed her in the side, causing sparks to fly. The Aquila came around again, and struck her on the opposite side. The Aquila wasn’t just fast, it was strong too. The giant bird came around for another attack, but Aster wasn’t having it. She raised her right hand and fired off several Beam Bullets, each one hit its mark and exploded against the creature’s body, causing it to release a shriek as it backed away from Aster. With the Aquila distracted, Aster flew down towards the ship and coated her right arm with sparkling blue energy as she came down with her Starry Smasher right on top of Corvus number one, and then fired more Beam Bullets at Corvus number two. All three birds of prey were watching her now, trying to determine the best course of action. Aster took her time to analyze the situation as well, something was off about the way they were acting, especially with that red glow in their eyes. “I wonder…” Within the starry nexus, Sunset once again reached into her Coin Keeper and brought out two Ultra Coins. “I ask for the gift of kindness!” || ULTRAMAN COSMOS! || “I ask for the gift of protection!” || ULTRAMAN AGUL! || “Let the waves of my soul calm your rage!” ||FLOW AND CRASH! COSMIC WAVE!|| Aster’s body was engulfed in blue light and water, transforming her into her fluid form, Cosmic Wave. “I will wash away all cruelty with serenity!” The two Corvus gave a threatening caw and charged for Aster. The moment they came close, Aster masterfully redirected the first Corvus away from her, letting that one ram itself into the second due to her redirection. The Aquila came next, baring its sharp glowing talons, but Aster managed to get away from it as well, utilizing her incredible speed to dodge the creature and make it ram itself into the two Corvus. The three creatures, now ticked, began bickering and fighting amongst themselves, allowing Aster the time she needed. “Aura Rect!” Aster’s hand glowed as she released a sparkling aurora of energy towards the three creatures. The Aquila and two Corvi suddenly stopped bickering and attacking each other, their eyes going from a harsh red to a bright and soft cerulean. Aster slowly approached the shimmering birds with her hand extended outwards. The Corvi and Aquila looked at her hand for a second, the Aquila then placed its beak into her hand, and Aster flipped her hand around to pet the giant eagle on its head. Aster in turn did this for each of the Corvi, the three great birds then took their leave, heading the same way they were about to go. “Best I run escort until my timer goes out.” Aster flew over to the cockpit and said to the pilots, “I’ll guard you for as long as I am able.” The pilots nodded and flew off alongside Aster. \*****///** [3 Hours Later…] “Holy crap, I can’t believe that worked!” Sunset exclaimed. Eventually, they reached the planet. Surprisingly enough, Sunset was able to maintain her Aster form throughout the entire three hours instead of her normal three minutes. Although, when they reached the planet and entered its atmosphere, Aster’s body glowed and shot back into the ship as a beam of light. “I thought you could only maintain that form for three minutes, how were able to pull that off?” Ocellus asked. “No idea, but I will say, when we made the transition from space and to the planet, I could feel a change, like I was getting less energy or something,” said Sunset. “Huh…well, I’m sure Twilight will be interested in this development.” Sunset chuckled. “Oh, I’m sure she will. On that note, what were those things?” “Constellatins, they’re from the planet we’re on now. It’s strange that they came out that far.” “I knew something was probably going to happen. By the way, I never got around to asking, why is it that we’re here? I know they said they needed Fluttershy, but for what exactly?” “Oh…well…we’re possibly going to be preventing a…ahem…civil war.” “………WHAT?!” When the ship landed the group of scientists, as well as three students, and one stowaway, departed the ship. The planet had a green colored sky, with white fluffy clouds, and lush green forests. However, the sky had several more of the same creatures they encountered in space, the Corvus and Aquila, all bearing the same star patterns on their bodies. Along with them were smaller – relatively speaking – bird creatures, its body was shimmering blue and had a different star pattern on its body, they sort of resembled swans. The group got into a large vehicle that sported six wheels and armored plating. The transport traveled a good distance, and along the way the saw many more of the Constellatins, there were some that were monstrous scorpions that were a deep yellow color, wolves that were a bright navy blue, bulls that were green in color, and various others as they made their way to a campsite about five minutes out. Temporary structures were built, with some serving as labs, others as medical bays, and a few more were lodging. The vehicle came to a stop and the group disembarked. Sunset, Ocellus, Fluttershy, and Scootaloo all inhaled deeply, the atmosphere was the same as Earth’s, allowing for the group to walk around without the need for air tanks. As the group made their way further in, two people approached them. The first was a man, brawny, with some stubble peppering his jaw line. He had dark purple hair, and mauve colored eyes, his skin was bronzed from long hours out in the sun and wore a hat with crocodile teeth (collected from crocs who lost them through natural means mind you). The woman next to him was obviously an Alien Avian. Her skin was a pink color, with large feathered wings that were of the same color protruding from her back. Her hair was blonde, long and shimmering, and where her ears should be, were smaller wings that twitched to and fro as if picking up on sounds. Her nails were sharp, almost like talons, white as ivory, and had a nice sheen from them. Her eyes were a light purple color, which matched a certain stowaway’s eyes. “Dr. Allgood!” Fluttershy called out. “Yes!” Both the man and woman answered in unison. That got a chuckle out of the group, from what Sunset could deduce it must be a running gag. She then noticed that Scootaloo ducked behind herself and Ocellus, trying to hide her presence. Fluttershy separated from the group and went up to the Allgoods, the Alien Avian hugged Fluttershy while the human male shook her hand, his movements nearly lifting Fluttershy off the ground. If it wasn’t for the fact that Sunset knew Fluttershy was an alien herself, and clearly stronger than she let others realize, she’d have worried that the large man might break her arm accidentally. “It’s good to see ya, Fluttershy, shame it’s under such circumstances,” said the man in an Australian accent. “We promise, next time, we’ll just come visit without it being work related,” said the female Alien Avian. “It’s no problem…although, speaking of visits…” Fluttershy nodded towards Sunset and Ocellus, both girls walked towards them, the doctors noticing that there was an extra pair of legs following behind them. “Doctors, these are my friends from SMILE. Sunset Shimmer, a teammate of mine, and Ocellus, she’s new to the Academy and new to the Preserve team. Sunset, Ocellus, this is Dr. Snap Allgood,” Fluttershy pointed to the man, “and his wife, Manera Allgood.” “Nice to meet ‘cha,” said Snap. “Likewise, and call me Mane,” said Mane. “But, who’s that behind you?” Scootaloo flinched. Sunset peered over her shoulder and nodded towards Snap and Mane, silently saying, “Better do it now.” With a sigh, Scootaloo walked from behind the two girls, making Snap and Mane gasp. “SCOOTALOO?!” Mane and Snap exclaimed. “Hey, Mom. Hey, Dad,” Scootaloo greeted nervously. The two teenagers stepped back a bit to give them room. Snap and Mane approached Scootaloo and got down on one knee before her. The two parents, without a word, wrapped their arms around their daughter, Scootaloo forgot all about the fact that she was going to get in trouble for what she did, it was a small, microscopic concern compared to this moment. Scootaloo returned their hug as best she could, but considering she had two pairs of arms wrapped around her, that was a little difficult. A long minute passed by before Mane and Snap released their daughter and looked at her directly. “Scoots, I can’t believe you’re here,” said Snap. “Nobody told us you’d be coming! It’s not a holiday back on Earth is it? Did we miss one?” Mane asked her husband. “I don’t think so. I’ve been keepin’ up to date as far I remember…” That’s when snap realized. “Wait, shouldn’t you be in school right now, young lady?” And the moment had passed. Scootaloo chuckled nervously. “Y-Yeah…kinda.” Mane’s smile turned to a small frown. “Scootaloo, what happened?” “I sorta, maybe jumped on the ship when I heard they were going to the same planet you were working on,” said Scootaloo with a small, yet nervous smile. “And how did you sneak on board the ship and not get noticed before now?” Mane asked. “She hid in a container and got locked in it. But I found her and let her out,” Sunset answered. “YOU DID WHAT?!” They exclaimed in shock. “Scoots do ya have any idea how dangerous that was?! They very well could’ve left that container on the ship the whole trip and never opened it!” Snap scolded. “Scootalua Allgood, what on Earth was so important that you risked doing such a reckless thing to come and see us?!” Mane asked. Scootaloo went silent, which intrigued the three teenage girls. During the trip, when it came to the subject of why she had snuck onto the ship, Scootaloo was particularly vague with the details. Fluttershy, indeed even Sunset and Ocellus, had figured it was just to see her parents, seeing as their job took them to faraway places and probably not home as much as they wanted to be. Snap and Mane noticed her silence and were now wondering if there was more to this than the young girl was letting on. However, they couldn’t overlook the fact that what she did was incredibly dangerous, and stupid. “Scoots, if ya don’t want to tell us right now, that’s fine. But ya mother and I have a bit of a crisis goin’ on here, and it needs fixin’ before things escalate farther than we have now,” said Snap. “But we’re not done talking about this, so until we’ve resolved this, you’re grounded to our cabin. Understood?” Mane asked, although it was more like an order than a question. Scootaloo sighed in defeat. “Yes, Ma’am.” \*****///** After Scootaloo was left at their cabin, the three teens along with Snap and Mane, began their drive to their destination. “Okay, so let’s give ya the rundown. We told ya there’s a civil war breaking out, but we never told ya between who. There are two factions, one is led by the Leo, King Regulus,” said Snap. “Regulus?! But the last time I was here, he was ruling with fairness, he’s a protector! Why would he be doing that?!” Fluttershy asked. Snap shook his head. “No idea, which is why we need you to ask, as far as we can tell, there’s been no immediate change to the environment , the population of all the different Constellatins hasn’t drastically decreased, so the prey to predator ratio is nominal.” “Who’s the other faction led by?” Sunset asked. “A large Ursa Major, the second strongest Alpha on the planet aside from Regulus, Chief Uudora,” said Mane. The transport passed through rough terrain but managed to roll with the bumps and dips. The trail had markings that it had been traveled through by large creatures, making Sunset get a little edgy about meeting these Consetalltins. Sunset leaned next to Ocellus and whispered, “If things get bad, I might need to transform. If that happens, can you back me up?” Ocellus nodded and whispered back, “I don’t know how much I can do against creatures like what we’re about to see, but I’ll at least keep everyone safe.” They drive continued for about a couple of more hours, finally arriving at a large rock formation. There were several lionesses forming a perimeter around the rock formation, their fur shimmered gold, and their eyes…their eyes were red. Along with the lionesses were green bulls, the Taurus, and others like the wolves, and flying overhead were some Aquila. Snap stopped the transport and looked back towards the girls. “Sunset, right?” “Yes, sir.” “Ya ever been around a wild animal?” Black King, Meteor Bird, Zetton, Barabba, and then I got licked on the face by Gomora. “Kind of…” Mane turned around and said, “Well, we’ll just say this anyway. Don’t make sudden moves, keep your actions slow and calm. They’re edgy right now, we don’t need to provoke them. Regulus is like the king of this planet, so when we see him, bow your head, we’ll let you know when it’s okay stop.” Sunset and Ocellus nodded. The group of five exited the transport, and just as the two doctors instructed, they moved slowly and calmly, hands out to their sides. Two giant lionesses approached their group and Fluttershy stepped forward. “We request an audience with King Regulus, we only wish to speak to him,” said Fluttershy. The two lionesses looked to each other, their noses sniffing the air around them. They eyed Sunset and Ocellus for a moment, but then they nodded in the direction of the rock formation. “They said that they would bring us to the King, and to follow them.” The five followed the two giant lionesses into the den, several more of the lionesses were either eyeing them, or attending to their cubs. But the interesting thing was that the ones that were eyeing them had crimson eyes, while the others that were attending to the cubs had blue. The lionesses led them further in, and straight to the den of the King. Regulus sat upon his rock, his mane shimmering like solar fire, the star pattern upon his body was brighter compared to the others, possibly due to his alpha status among the other Constellatins. Upon his forehead was an eight-pointed white star. To his right was his wife, a lioness that shown as bright as the King, showing her status as the Queen of the Pride. To Regulus’ right was a young cub, a male Leo, the beginnings of a shimmering fire mane were forming around his neck and on his head. What was interesting, just like in the rest of the den, the King’s eyes were crimson red, and lioness and cub’s were blue. The two guard lionesses bowed to the King, the group followed their lead and did the same. Regulus regarded them and gave a growl. The two lionesses raised their heads and backed away. “Now,” said Mane. The group lifted their heads and looked upon the royal family. Shy walked up and said, “Greetings, King Regulus. We’ve come to you, seeking answers. From what I am told, your kingdom is on edge, and a war is going to break out with Uudora, the Ursa Major. Please, tell me why this is?” While the growls were unintelligible to the others, to Shy’s ears, she could hear the words clearly. “What I do with my kingdom is none of your concern,” said Regulus. “It does concern me, you are like a good friend to me, as well as most of us assembled here! You’ve been at peace with Uudora, you’ve ruled the planet with fairness and strength, why fight her? Please, if you tell us what is wrong, maybe we can help you?” The Queen glanced to her husband and said, “Husband, perhaps it could not hurt to hear her words.” “Do you question my decisions Reiru?” The lioness shook her head. “No, Regulus, but would it not be helpful to have an outside perspective.” Regulus stamped down his paw down, causing a slight tremor. A testament to the strength this creature possessed. The King then turned to his left, his mane swishing a bit as he said, “I do not. Why should I let a human tell me what to do?!” Reiru, the cub, and even Fluttershy raised an eyebrow at that. Snap slowly walked up to Fluttershy and said, “Fluttershy, what did he just say…?” “I think something’s wrong…we should leave.” Fluttershy bowed to the royals. “I’m sorry, King Regulus, we meant no offense. We only sought knowledge. We shall leave if that is your wish.” The cub looked like he wanted to protest, and so did Reiru, but they remained silent. Regulus turned back to face them and said, “Very well, leave here, humans.” About twenty minutes later, the group had entered their transport and Fluttershy gave the others the translation of what happened. Afterwards, Snap and Mane’s brows furrowed. “Is something wrong?” Sunset asked. “This isn’t the first time we’ve met the King, Queen, and Prince. They’ve seen me in my true form, and they’re also keenly able to determine who is and isn’t human. And of course, the blatant fact that he lumped Dr. Mane into the human category, even though she’s in her true form, isn’t a mistake that they make. I’m sure the Queen and Prince could tell that Ocellus wasn’t human, but Regulus didn’t seem to acknowledge it.” “…We may have another problem.” Ocellus spoke up, looking pensive as she did. “When King Regulus moved to face Queen Reiru, his mane moved just enough for me to see…it.” “It?” Snap asked. “The mark of the Kugutsu.” Sunset’s eyes widened, but Fluttershy, Snap, and Mane didn’t know what she was talking about. “I’m sorry, what is Kugutsu?” Mane asked. “You two are aware of Ultrawoman Aster, correct?” Ocellus asked. Snap and Mane nodded, it was hard not to know about the hero giant that was protecting the city and destroying Space Beasts. “The very one that helped Gomora and saved another creature?” Snap asked. Ocellus nodded back. “The other creature was me. I’m a Changeling, I was forced to fight against her. And the following week, another attack happened, a creature known as a Belzeb, came to kill me. The Belzeb have strong mind controlling venom called Kugutsu. Once injected, the victim loses all control of their body and essentially you become their slave. To fight and die as they see fit.” “That’s horrible!” Mane exclaimed. “When one is infected, a red rash forms at the injection spot. When the King’s mane moved, I saw it. It was hidden under his mane, but it is there, he’s under the control of a Belzeb, and the Belzeb respond to their Queen, in this case…” “Chrysalis. The Changeling Queen and leader of the Dark Changelings. But what does she want with this planet?” Sunset asked. “An army,” Fluttershy spoke. “Constellatin’s are a strong race of creatures, an army led by Regulus…” A grim thought appeared in Ocellus’ mind, a vision of Hive Prime getting overrun with Constellatins, all controlled by Chrysalis. “We should talk to Uudora, if this Belzeb creature is around, maybe one of the other Constellatins might’ve seen it.” \*****///** [2 hours later…] The team made it to the opposite faction, which had taken up camp at the base of a mountain. Several more Constellatins made up this faction. Canis Majors, which were golden brown color. Monoceros, which were essentially unicorns, were colored silver and had shimmering horns. There were also Lynxes that prowled the area, their bodies colored black like space itself. In the sky above were Pegasi, which were magenta colored, and some Corvi. Like before, Fluttershy spoke to the guards, which were a pair of Monoceros. The two unicorns nodded and had them come into the mountain. There were more creatures inside, some were other Ursa Majors, some were Aries, which were red, and others like Scorpios. The two Monoceros guards led the team further in, and it was here they saw her. The second Alpha of the planet, she stood about sixty-one meters tall, had shimmering mauve fur, her eyes were blue, and her claws were long. Next to her was a cub, an Ursa Minor, with sky blue fur. One thing that Sunset noticed that was similar between both Uudora and Regulus, was that they both had an eight-pointed star mark in the middle of their foreheads, a possible mark of their Alpha status. “Uudora, Chief of the Ursas, thank you for seeing us,” said Fluttershy. The giant bear sat down and leaned its head down. “It is wonderful to see you as well, young one.” Uudora looked to the group and tilted her head curiously. “Hmm, you travel with new company. The human male and the bird female I have seen before, but the other two…she smells similar to a Musca, and the human female smells…different.” Fluttershy sighed happily, Uudora could recognize them, plus, not one of the Constellatins assembled had red eyes. “Chief Uudora, you are at war with Regulus, correct?” Uudora snarled at the mention of the Leo’s name. “I once thought him a fair and noble king, who knew better than to try and wrest control of all creatures. He may rule, but I am an Alpha as well. Ursa have always been independent, and now he wishes to bring all of us under his tyranny!” Uudora gave a short roar before adding, “Well, I will not stand for it!” “Chief Uudora, we have suspicion to believe that King Regulus’ actions may not be his own,” said Fluttershy. Uudora cocked an eyebrow. “Explain yourself.” Fluttershy did, explaining about what they found out while speaking to Regulus, as well as the Kugutsu venom and the possible Belzeb infestation. “Have you, or any creature, seen anything strange on your planet?” Uudora thought on this. “Not much…however, I have heard from the Musca that they sensed the beating of wings that were not their own. I too have heard such unfamiliar buzzing around our camp.” Fluttershy turned to her team, “Uudora says she may’ve heard the Belzeb around here!” Sunset already knew what she needed to do. “Okay, I’ll check it out, if one of these big guys could point the way.” “Hang on now, we can’t let ya go out searchin’ for something that dangerous. You may be SMILE, but you’re our responsibility, we can’t let ya go,” said Snap. Sunset raised her hand as if to dismiss his concern. “I appreciate it, but I’ll just recon and come back.” “I’m coming with you,” said Fluttershy. Sunset was about to say “no”, but one look at Fluttershy’s determined face made her think otherwise. “Young one.” Fluttershy looked up at Uudora. “You should know, that Regulus has issued a challenge to me. The day after tomorrow, we will fight.” “What?! B-But we just said–!” “All the more reason. If his will is not his own, then he will lead all of us into ruin. As another Alpha, I cannot allow that. If you are unable to find an alternative, I will have no other choice.” Fluttershy grit her teeth but nodded reluctantly. \*****///** A Lynx led Sunset and Fluttershy through the forest, the timid girl assumed her true alien form, wanting to be ready in case something happened. The Lynx made a few grunting sounds, which Fluttershy translated. “He says, ‘I heard the strange buzzing up ahead’. And I think he’s right, I can smell something in the air, something bad.” Sunset looked up at the Lynx and said, “Thank you, but stay here, we’ll go on ahead, we’ll be too small for them to notice.” The Lynx nodded and stayed low to the ground. Fluttershy and Sunset headed towards the scent, with Fluttershy leading the way. About a meter from where they left the Lynx, Fluttershy raised her hand in a stopping motion. The alien girl nodded her head towards the front, Sunset nodded in understanding. Slowly, they approached the edge of the tree line, and then moved some leaves around to see exactly what they were suspecting. Huddled around a large cliff, rested several of the Belzeb. The buzzing sound they made was unnerving as they scuttled around. The two girls released the leaves and took a few steps back. “How many do you think there are?” Sunset asked. “Many, from what I could tell, about…fifteen or twenty, there’s way too many for you alone, Sunset,” said Fluttershy. Sunset looked around, and then looked up and had an idea. “Maybe not. Who said I had to fight them all? I can just burn them away.” “How?” “We’ll need that Lynx, c’mon!” Sunset and Fluttershy ran back to the Lynx, Fluttershy informed him of what they saw, but then Sunset told him her plan. “I have a plan for them. I want you to balance me on your paw, and then toss me as high as you can into the air.” The Lynx and Fluttershy tilted their heads to the side, it was rather cute. “Um…Mr. Lynx here is asking, ‘Why would I do that? I don’t want to hurt you’.” “Trust me, I can get them all in one shot if you do.” The Lynx looked at Fluttershy, and she at him. Fluttershy knew that Sunset could transform into Aster, but this request was quite odd. Nonetheless, the alien girl managed to assure the Lynx that Sunset would be alright. Reluctantly, the Lynx let Sunset kneel on its paw. “Fluttershy, once he tosses me into the air, I want you both to run in the opposite direction as fast and as far as you can, you got it?!” Fluttershy nodded. “ALRIGHT, LYNX, TOSS ME!” Sunset shouted. The Lynx yowled and then tossed Sunset into the air as hard as it could. Sunset braced herself as the g-forces pushed down on her as she ascended higher and higher. Down below, she could see the clearing and the cliff where the Belzeb were huddled around. Sunset’s speed gradually slowed, and then she began to drop, Sunset angled herself towards the cliff and quickly summoned her StaRaizer, surrounding herself in the starry nexus. “Bestow, the strength of the brave!” || ULTRAMAN LEO! || “Bestow, the power of the bold!” || ULTRAMAN MAX! || “Ignite the fire in my heart!” ||BURN UP! SOLARIS MAXIMUS!|| Plasmatic flames erupted around Sunset’s body, growing bigger and bigger as her entire body transformed into her powered form of Solaris Maximus. “I’ll burn you all away with the flames of my heart!” Aster’s body erupted with flames. The flames grew bigger and burned hotter as she quickly descended towards her target. The Belzeb down below saw a bright, fiery star, staring at it as they could not determine what it was. Those raging flames were then absorbed by Aster’s body as she performed the classic “superhero landing” pose as she touched down on the ground before the face of the cliff. The Belzebs’ eyes all glowed red as they readied to attack, but then Aster looked up, her eyes glowing with power. “Nova Burn!” Aster’s body exploded into a fiery dome of destructive power. The dome grew bigger and higher as it engulfed everything in a twenty-meter radius. The Belzeb released a screech as they were all burned away, even their ashes were burned into nothing, the cliff broke apart into rumble, then turning into molten lava. Aster ceased her attack, the fiery blast furnace dissolved into embers as Aster stood up and surveyed her work. A crater had formed due to her attack, smoldering and as the area hissed from the intense heat that she used to burn the Belzeb away. “Probably best I take care of this.” Aster’s body glowed blue as a wave of water rose around her, transforming Aster into her Cosmic Wave form. Aster rose above the crater and concentrated her energy, creating a large sphere of water above her head, Aster then threw the giant water ball straight down into the crater. The water ball exploded upwards, instantly putting out any small fires from her attack, and cooling the crater, which generated a huge cloud of steam that rose up high into the air. Aster flew out of the cloud and used her Ultra Vision to peer into the distance, it was there she saw Fluttershy and the Lynx, who were standing on a cliff far from Aster’s attack. Aster flew over to where they were, surprisingly, despite seeing her display of power, the Lynx didn’t seem threatened by her. “Wow, surprised he isn’t scared of me after what I did.” Lynx looked to Fluttershy and then to Aster and then began to grunt and growl. Fluttershy listened and her eyes widened. “What’s he saying?” “Sunset, he says that you remind him of a blue Ultraman who came to their planet a long time ago!” Despite her face being unable to express, that didn’t stop Sunset from making a shocked gasp upon hearing this. “You mean…He’s seen me?!” “Not…hold on.” Fluttershy listened closer to what the Lynx said. “No, not you specifically, he says the Ultra was a male, but was blue and moved fluidly like you.” A blue Ultraman, within the starry nexus, Sunset looked at her StaRaizer, and looked at the top coin she first inserted to activate her Cosmic Wave form. “Was his name…Cosmos?” The Lynx yelped happily. “He says, ‘Yes’.” Aster landed beside the Lynx, who purred as he nuzzled against Aster’s leg. The giant of light petted him gently, making the Constellatin relax. “That explains it…” “Explains what?” Fluttershy asked. “When I cleansed those Corvi and Aquila, the ones that attacked, they became really friendly towards me…I think…I think they thought that I was Cosmos, or I reminded them of him at least.” Aster’s body glowed and the Lynx pulled away, watching as she shrunk down and became Sunset again. The fiery haired girl sat on the grass and Fluttershy sat next to her. The Lynx laid down as well, giving her a pleading look to keep petting him, despite her change in size. Sunset chuckled and patted his jaw, she wasn’t sure how much the Lynx was enjoying this, given that she was much smaller, but she supposed it wasn’t how big she was, it just the feelings that were put into the action. Sunset summoned her Coin Keeper and pulled out Cosmos’ Ultra Coin. “I gathered all these coins, each one representing an Ultra Warrior. Ultraman, Ginga, Leo, Max, Agul, Cosmos, and now Orb…yet I still have no idea who I am…” “Sunset…?” “Oh…yeah, you didn’t know. Only Twilight does…yeah, I don’t have much of any memories of my childhood, my past is a complete blank to me. I know how to fight, I know how to transform into Aster, and that’s it. I don’t even know what I am. Am I human or an Ultra? Which is my real form? And if there are other Ultras out there, where are they?! Why haven’t they come to help me?! I’ve collected these coins with their powers, you’d think that mean I was bound to meet them at some point?!” Sunset stopped petting Lynx as she looked down at the grass. Fluttershy wrapped her tails around Sunset in a comforting fashion, and then wrapped her arm around her shoulders. “I didn’t know you were suffering like that…” “Only Twilight knew…I was debating whether I should tell you all or not…” “I’m sorry you don’t remember your past, but whether this is your true form, or Aster, it doesn’t matter. What matters is what you do now that defines you. You’re my friend, a hero, and a kindhearted person,” said Fluttershy. Sunset shrugged at the last one. “I don’t know if I’m that kindhearted.” “I don’t think you would’ve asked Commander Celestia to let you come with me if you weren’t. Plus, I think that coin thinks so, too.” Sunset looked at the Cosmos Coin again, for a moment, the carved image of the coin’s eyes shined blue, as if agreeing with Fluttershy. Well of course you would, you came from her. “Alright, enough of my pity party, let’s head back. Hopefully that was all the Belzeb, now we just need to figure out what to do about King Regulus…” 9th Light: Trouble Off World! / The Kugutsu Threat! (Part 2)[Base Camp…] Night was falling on the planet, but not many were getting any sleep. The scientists all tried to come up with a solution to break the hold the Belzeb have on the King. “If Aster burned them all away, shouldn’t that mean that King Regulus will be free?” asked a scientist. “Not accordin’ to Ocellus. Once poisoned, even after death, they’re connected to the hive mind of their Queen, and can be controlled from anywhere. And if it is the Queen of the Dark Changelings, she could be controlling them from the next galaxy over,” said Snap. “Okay, we synthesize a cure,” said a female scientist. “Also, not going to work. Ocellus said that the Kugutsu cannot be purified by anything in this universe. The Changelings have a natural immunity to it, but otherwise…” “All we’re hearing is ‘Ocellus this’ and ‘Ocellus that’, why are we taking the word of some kid?!” another asked. Snap glared at the man who asked that. “Because, she’s a Changeling too, and her people would know more about what we’re dealin’ with than anyone here.” “How do we know she isn’t behind this? Is it me or does anyone find this a little too coincidental?” another female scientist asked. Mane slammed her fist against the table and flared her wings for intimidation. “That’s enough! You have no right to accuse her of anything! If it weren’t for her, we wouldn’t have known the real reason behind this civil war!” “Well, come the day after tomorrow, it won’t matter. Either Uudora kills Regulus, or Regulus kills Uudora.” *knock, knock* The other scientists turned in the direction of the door. Snap walked towards the door and opened it, revealing Ocellus. “Ocellus? What are you doing here?” “I’m here to help.” Ocellus walked into the room and stood before the scientists. “I may have a solution to the problem.” The eyes of everyone in the room widened with surprise at this news, along with some skepticism. “How, Ocellus?” Mane asked. Azure plasma flames surrounded Ocellus, changing her back into her true form. “My blood. Changelings have a somewhat natural immunity to the Kugutsu, but the effects should be stronger if it’s from a Queen Changeling.” That earned a few confused looks. “I’m sorry, we’re not following,” said a male scientist. “According to my King, I have latent potential to become a Queen. I…I still don’t know if that’s true, but it’s enough that Chrysalis wants me dead. So, if there’s a chance…maybe you can synthesize a cure from the blood in my veins,” said Ocellus. The scientists began murmuring amongst themselves, as they tried to think this through. If what Ocellus said was true, then they could fix King Regulus and this whole war would be over. “We certainly have the equipment,” said a female scientist. “And we do have a sample of the King’s blood, and it’s fresh too. We can use it to see if whatever antidote we create works,” said Snap. “The problem lies with the quantity. If you’re blood is strong enough to counteract the effects of the Kugutsu, a small veil won’t be enough to spread through the King’s entire bloodstream,” said Mane. “Again, I have a solution…I think.” All eyes fell on Ocellus once again. “Changelings can increase and decrease their size depending on whatever creature we’re mimicking looks like. I could just change my size, that would increase the amount of blood in my body.” \*****///** [The Next Morning…] “I don’t like this,” said Sunset. “I don’t either,” said Ocellus. “If I don’t do this, a fight will be waged the day after tomorrow, and either both or one creature is going to die. One dies it’ll be a tragedy, if the other wins, it’ll be a tragedy and Chrysalis gets control of this planet.” Sunset watched as the crew brought in the instruments that they would be using. It seemed odd to Sunset when she saw the drop ship bring a large syringe needle, and several machines made for diluting blood. Fluttershy had explained to Sunset and Ocellus that it was typical that they have this kind of equipment, especially when dealing with very large creatures. The equipment was set up in an area with a soft patch of dirt, right next to a rock face that would hopefully serve as a place for her to rest up against. Fluttershy watched as the final preparations were complete and sighed as she walked over to Ocellus and Sunset. “They’re ready.” Ocellus nodded and walked over to where everyone had set up the equipment. One large syringe hooked up to an industrial sized hose, and all leading to two large devices, one that would collect the blood, and another that would begin analyzing and breaking it down into different components, allowing the scientists to find the factor in Ocellus’ blood that allowed her to resist and combat the mind controlling effects of the Kugutsu. The young Changeling didn’t know if this was going to work or not, changing her size while keeping her original form was not something a Changeling did every day, such specific changes usually took a lot of practice, along with trial and error. Ocellus reasoned that this shouldn’t be that hard, it wasn’t as if she was trying to change her gender. Yes, she could turn into males, but changing your own original body’s sex was a different matter. But this was just her body size, and hopefully it would be a lot easier, emphasis on hope. Okay…increase my body’s size and height…let’s see. I’ll shoot for Aster’s height, that should be big enough, she thought. Ocellus’ azure plasma fire swirled around her, but it didn’t completely obscure her body like it would normally when she was changing into someone or something else. The young Changeling struggled, her brow sweating as she concentrated as hard as she could, focusing on Ultrawoman Aster’s height and body dimensions without completely changing into her. This is a lot harder than I thought…! It feels like I’m fighting against my own nature! Ocellus stumbled a bit, making her go down on one knee. “OCELLUS!” Fluttershy cried. “That’s enough, stop!” Sunset insisted. “NO!” Ocellus shouted back, rising back to her feet. “I can…do this! I have to…! This is my fault…! Chrysalis is going to hurt all these creatures just to win a civil war…! I will not…let her…do that!” Ocellus then let out a loud cry as she poured all her effort, all her spirit into this transformation. The azure plasma flames swirled around her fiercely, and just then, her body grew. It was subtle, at first, having grown a few inches, but then it was becoming more gradual. With each passing second, Ocellus’ body enlarged, growing bigger and taller, it was still a struggle in her mind and body though. Her body wanted to change completely into the mental image she set forth in her mind, but Ocellus willed herself to just focus on the size and height, not the look. Everyone watched with bated breath as Ocellus grew taller, her shadow was cast upon them, she stood at an impressive fifty meters tall, her tail frill swished back and forth, creating a gust of wind. From her back her translucent wings flared, catching the sunlight and bathing everything in a bright salmon, pink color. “OCELLUS!” Sunset and Fluttershy yelled. Ocellus slowly turned around, minding her step as she did so. When she turned, she looked down at her friends and smiled triumphantly. “I did it!” Snap and Mane let out a sigh of relief, unfortunately, that was the easy part. Mane flared her wings and flew up towards Ocellus and hovered in front of her face. “Okay, are you ready?” “I think so…” Ocellus said with a nod. The young Changeling walked towards the rockface, sitting down and resting her back up against it. She gave a shuddering sigh as she looked at the oversized syringe needle, it was strange, it looked so much bigger when she was her normal height, but now it looked like a regular sized I.V. needle. “Okay, normally either myself or Snap would do this, and believe me we would. Unfortunately, we can’t turn into giants, and you definitely don’t want us trying this with a drop ship,” said Mane. Ocellus immediately shook her head. “So, I’ll have to guide you, and you’re going to be inserting the needle into yourself. I won’t lie, it will hurt, but at any time you want to stop, just say the word.” Ocellus nodded. “You’ll want to find a soft spot on your carapace that the needle can easily go into. Once you do, find a good vein that you can use.” Ocellus knew exactly where, looking at the spot where her elbow bent, there was a gap in her exoskeleton, allowing for joint movement, and of course it was more tissue there than hard shell. She stretched out her arm, allowing her a better view of the gap and noticed a good vein that appeared. Ocellus felt her heart beating fast as she took the needle into her right hand and readied at the insertion area. “Breathe, Ocellus, deep, calm breaths. Steady yourself.” Mane instructed. Ocellus tried to do as she was told, taking calm breaths in and out, but her pulse was going fast, and she was finding it hard to calm herself. That is until she saw something out of the corner of her right eye. Ocellus watched as Fluttershy, in her true form, leaped and bounded until she was climbing the rockface, with Sunset clinging to her back as she did so. Both girls landed on Ocellus’ right shoulder and gave her looks of encouragement. “’You can do this, Ocellus,” said Fluttershy. “We’re right here,” said Sunset. Mane flew lower and placed her hands atop of Ocellus large right hand. “We all are, dear.” With the assurance of their presence, Ocellus swallowed her fear and looked down at her arm. She breathed steadily as she moved the needle towards her arm, it was easy to see that she was tensing her body, but thankfully she managed to not tense up her left arm. Ocellus let out a yelp of pain as she felt the needle pierce her skin, the immediate instinct to stop and pull the object that was causing her pain was trying to take over her mind, but Ocellus fought against it as she continued to press it further in, making her release small squeals of pain. “Okay – okay that’s good, Ocellus, it’s in!” Mane stated. “You did great, dear!” Ocellus panted, her arm releasing waves of discomfort as she was keenly aware of the needle in her arm. Just then the machines kicked on, and the process began. The tube was clear, allowing everyone to see the green tint of Ocellus blood as it flowed out and into the machines. The first machine began extracting the blood, and the second started analyzing it. Snap looked over the data and gave the thumbs up to his wife. “You did great, Ocellus! Just rest up against the rocks. Tell us when you think you’re feeling lightheaded and we’ll stop. We shouldn’t need that much at this rate.” “Okay…” Ocellus stated. She then turned to her right and smiled at her friends. “Thank you.” “No problem,” said Sunset. Fluttershy patted Ocellus’ cheek and smiled at her. “I hope this works…I know we have the ability to create an antidote, but I don’t know if they can create a way to inject him with it, or allow us to get that close,” said Ocellus. Sunset cupped her chin as she began to think. “I think I might have a way.” “You have a plan?” Fluttershy asked hopeful. “Part of a plan…like, twelve percent of one.” Ocellus and Fluttershy looked at her with a deadpan expression. “Give me a break, I’m working on the fly here!” \*****///** [A few minutes later…] Scootaloo sat upon a hill that overlooked the camp from a distance. She could see Ocellus, still laid up against the rock face as all the scientists in the camp, including her parents, worked feverishly to create an antidote to the mind control poison. Scootaloo scowled a little as she hugged her legs closer to her chest. “Huh, didn’t expect to see you out here. Didn’t your ‘rents ground you?” The spiky haired girl looked towards the voice and frowned a little. “You going to rat me out?” Sunset chuckled. “Not my style.” Sunset then jumped straight up, making Scootaloo gasp as she cleared the nearly six-foot-tall hill and land behind her. “Whoa, how did–?!” “Let’s just say I’ve done some intense training,” said Sunset as she took a seat next to Scootaloo. “What’re you doing out here?” Scootaloo asked. “Mostly, thinking. But, now that you’re here, I’ve been meaning to ask you something.” Scootaloo averted her gaze and stared out into the distance. “What?” “You risked nearly starving or suffocating to death, stowed away on a ship bound for an alien world where any number of complications could’ve happened, just to come and see your parents. So, either it was something so important that you couldn’t wait to tell them, or…” Scootaloo huffed. “What does it matter. They’ve been too busy with all this mess for me to even ask.” “Well, I’m not your mom and dad, but you could always bend my ear,” said Sunset. “Thought you came out here to think, not hear my whining?” “Sometimes you need a distraction in order for your idea to come to you. So, spill, and if you want, I won’t tell your parents,” Sunset promised. Scootaloo sighed heavily. What was the harm? Her parents were too busy to talk, and Sunset seemed alright, she did save her after all. “…Alright…so…you know I’m half alien, right?” Sunset nodded. Scootaloo stood up and removed her hoodie. Underneath that she wore a modified tank top, which was low cut in the back to allow her wings to flare. The young girl concentrated as slits of orange light appeared around her shoulder blades. In the next second, two orange, feathered wings sprouted from her back. Despite having seen that at least three times now, it still never ceased to amaze Sunset every time she saw it. “Your wings are cool.” Scootaloo smiled a little. “Have you seen Rainbow Dash’s wings?” “Yeah, three times actually.” “Then can you tell me the difference between my wings…compared to my Mom and Rainbow Dash?” Sunset furrowed her brow as she thought, at first glance, Scootaloo’s wingspan was about four feet, at least. Sunset would be the first one to admit, she wasn’t as knowledgeable about different alien races as Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy, but as far as she could tell, she couldn’t see any differences. “Sorry, Scoots, I can’t…” “My wings are short…” “Yeaaaah…and?” “They should be bigger…my wings should be as big as Rainbow’s. Average wingspan of an Alien Avian is about six feet when fully flared, but Rainbow’s is eight. My Mom’s is about seven feet, Rainbow’s will probably be larger than that when she’s older, but me…” Scootaloo flapped her small wings. “Mine are small…I mean, can they lift me off the ground?” Scootaloo flapped her wings, which, remarkably, were able to lift her at least three feet off the ground. “Sure. If I run with them out, they can make me run faster too. But flying…? That won’t happen, I can’t join Rainbow or my Mom in the sky…” Sunset rubbed the back of her head. “Well…maybe you’re like a late bloomer or something?” “That’s not the case…A doctor told us that, sometimes, when it comes to half aliens, one part of their DNA will be dominant, but sometimes, when they get older and go through…ugh…puberty…the body can make changes, even on a genetic level. Which means…” Sunset figured it out. “Which means your wings could be affected, too.” “They are affected…the doctors said I’d have a seventy-forty chance of my wings growing or not. Guess which of the two the seventy percent is on.” Scootaloo sat back down and hugged her legs to her chest again. “One of the girls in my class saw me trying to fly with them at school…she’s a real bitch to me and my friends, but that day she pushed it too far, for me at least.” “What happened?” Sunset asked. “She started to say things like, ‘Why do you even have wings if you can’t fly?’ and, ‘You’re better off without them, flightless chicken.’” Okay, yeah, she is a bitch. “I got so mad, my eyes watered, and then I punched her! And, just as a fact, she’s a half alien like me. An Alien Adamantite, they have diamond hard skin. Fortunately, I punched her so quick she didn’t have time to harden her skin. Anyway…of course I got in trouble, they called my aunts, I told my side and her rich daddy and mommy raised hell about it, and I was suspended for a week…I just got frustrated with all of it! I just wanted to go! So, when I heard about the trip from the Preserve, I snuck on.” Sunset’s expression saddened now that she heard the whole story, the young girl just wanted to get away and be with her parents, but when all this happened, she didn’t have the chance to talk to them about it. “Do they know you’re suspended for that?” “No, I live with my aunts, and communication out this far is sketchy, so they planned on telling them when they came back…” Scootaloo sighed heavily as she gazed back out into the distance, watching the ongoing commotion down below. “I’m not smart like my Mom and Dad, at least not like they are…I can’t fly like Rainbow or my Mom, what good am I?” Sunset chuckled a little and made Scootaloo look at her with annoyance. “Sorry, I just realized you’re not that different from me.” “How do you figure?” she asked skeptically. “You’re kind of directionless, and for a while I was too. You see, kid, I have no memories of my past.” Scootaloo’s eyes widened with shock. “I don’t remember my parents, my friends – if I had any – my home, whether or not I was a good person or not, pretty much everything. All I knew was my name, and that was it, well that and a few other things, but none if helps me remember.” Scootaloo blinked and then looked away, feeling really bad about how she sounded. “I’m sorry…here I go whining about something like that, when you don’t even have memories.” “Don’t worry about it. It is frustrating, but up until recently, I didn’t know where I was going, or what I should be doing. Then I met someone I can call a friend, and she helped me figure out what I wanted to do.” “That is?” “Be a hero,” said Sunset with a wink. “In my own way. Point is, you may feel like this now, but trust me, if a girl who has no past can find her direction, then so can you. And you have parents, aunts, friends, and an awesome big sis, so you kinda got a leg up on me there, Scoots.” Sunset ruffled Scootaloo’s hair, making her groan in annoyance, but she didn’t swat Sunset’s hand away, and she allowed a small smile to grace her lips. At that moment, both girls watched as Ocellus began to shrink down until neither of them could see her anymore. Sunset and Scootaloo looked at each other and then headed down. Scootaloo flapped her wings as she fell, slowing her descent and bringing her to hover above the ground, Sunset just jumped straight down, landing with little effort against the dirt. “Race?” Sunset asked. “You’re on!” Scootaloo landed on the ground and then took off down the dirt road, a dust trail was kicked up in her wake as the young teen ran with incredible speed. Sunset blinked, impressed at Scootaloo’s speed despite not being able to fly. The flame haired girl smirked as she too dashed away, kicking up her own dust trail in the process. In no time at all Sunset caught up to Scootaloo, she was a little surprised, but not as much, the older teen was bigger, and so had a longer stride. But it was fun nonetheless, not many of the kids at school could keep up with her aside from Rainbow when she hung out with her, now it seemed she had a new running partner. In no time at all, the two girls made it back to camp, stopping only when they made it to where the operation was going on and saw Fluttershy was helping Ocellus walk towards them. “Is she okay?” Sunset asked panting a little. “She’s fine, we just need to get her hydrated and then Ocellus needs to rest,” said Fluttershy. “Did…was it enough?” Ocellus asked. Snap came up and patted Ocellus gently on the head. “More than enough, Missy, you’ve helped us a lot. Go on and rest, you’ve earned it.” Ocellus smiled weakly and began heading to her lodgings with Fluttershy's help. Sunset turned to Snap and asked, “So, how are we with the antidote.” “We’ll be cuttin’ it close, but we might have something. The real issue is time. Time to finish it, time to load it onto the ship, and time to administer it, all of which King Regulus won’t give us,” said Snap. “If Aster shows up, maybe she could stall the battle and keep them from battling long enough for you to finish,” said Sunset. “It’d take a miracle. But stranger things have happened.” Snap then took notice that Scootaloo was standing beside Sunset. “Here now, what are you doing here, Scoots?” “I just…I needed to think, and I couldn’t stay cooped up in the room. Sorry…” Scootaloo looked down at the ground. Snap sighed and then smiled as he ruffled his daughter’s hair. “Chip off the old block, can’t sit still too long in one place. It’s fine, Scoots. I know we haven’t had time to properly speak with ya, but your mother and I promise to talk with you when this is over.” Scootaloo perked up as she looked up at the rugged man that was her father, her eyes practically sparkled upon hearing that as she nodded her understanding. \*****///** [The Next Day, Sunrise…] The two forces marched on the designated field of battle, a spot at the base of the largest mountain in the region. Uudora led her Constellatin army across the forest, as the sky was filled with her forces. In the distance stood more of Regulus’ army, not just his lionesses, but also his controlled creatures. The red eyed Constellatins didn’t seem to have a red mark on their bodies, there was no need for it, for King Regulus was one of the strongest Alphas on the planet, so his power allowed him to control the other Constellatins as he wished. I power he rarely invoked, but under the control of another, he was given no other choice. Howls, roars, neighing, grunts, hisses, caws, and other animalistic noises filled the air as the two Alphas squared off with their armies at their sides. In the distance, however, was another faction, one that was fervently working to keep this fight from happening altogether. Now though, only two served as the vanguard, one was Fluttershy, and the other was Sunset. Both looked through binoculars that zoomed in on the action as they tried to get an estimate on how big the respective armies were. Fluttershy raised her wrist communicator and asked, “How much longer?” {We’ve just finished synthesizing it, but we need more time to turn it into an aerosol form to spread out!} Mane answered. “No time for that, tell them to get it here,” said Sunset. “Just bring it here, I think I see Ultrawoman here!” Fluttershy replied. {Understood, ETA: one minute!} “You sure you’re up for this, Shy?” Sunset asked. Fluttershy narrowed her gaze. “Of course, I won’t let Chrysalis harm these innocent creatures! Whatever it takes!” “Then let’s do it!” Fluttershy nodded and threw her binoculars to the ground. The pink haired girl grunted and growled as her body grew bigger, busting the seams of her clothes until they completely burst apart, allowing Fluttershy to assume her true alien form once again. Sunset summoned the StaRaizer and thrust her arm into the air, creating the starry nexus. “I ask for the gift of kindness!” || ULTRAMAN COSMOS! || “I ask for the gift of protection!” || ULTRAMAN AGUL! || “Let the waves of my soul calm you!” ||FLOW AND CRASH! COSMIC WAVE!|| A blue pillar of light and water swirled around Sunset, transforming her body as she rose up as Ultrawoman Aster Cosmic Wave. When the light faded, Aster knelt upon the ground and placed her hand down. Fluttershy hopped into it and held on as Aster rose up. The hero of light then jumped into the air and flew off in the direction of the two armies. Meanwhile, Regulus and Uudora stepped away from their armies as the moved closer towards the middle and began circling each other. “Don’t make me do this, Regulus! I know your mind is poisoned and you’re not in control of your actions! But for the sake of our world, I will not let you be used as a puppet, nor bring harm to our people!” Regulus sneered menacingly and what came out was not the voice of the King. “So, you can see right through him, can you? It doesn’t matter, yes, your King is my puppet, and once I have him kill you, I’ll have control of this planet. Or, you could always join me?” “Laughable! Why would I join forces with a cowardly wretch like you?! Face me in battle and we’ll see if you’re worthy of leadership!” Uudora challenged. “Ha, ha, believe me, you don’t want that. It wouldn’t be a contest, at least this way it’s a handicap for you. Now, DIE!” Regulus roared and so did Uudora, the two titans of the planet charged for each other, prepared to fight to the death. That is until a bright blue light shot down to the ground between them, making the two Alphas stop dead in their tracks. The blue light slowly faded and revealed Aster as she held up both of her arms. “Enough, please cease this battle!” Uudora’s eyes widened upon looking at this giant. She recognized it, and she wasn’t alone, all the Constellatins settled down upon seeing the blue giant, apparently the memory of Ultraman Cosmos was etched into their minds, exactly what Sunset was counting on. One of the Canis Majors ran up to Uudora and asked, “Is it him? Has the blue one returned?!” Uudora narrowed her gaze as she looked upon the giant. “Yes, and no. This one is female, but her aura is similar to that of the other blue one. But…wait a moment, is that not the one called Fluttershy?” “I am Ultrawoman Aster, I am a Warrior of Light. I am here to stop this war! King Regulus is under the influence of poison that is allowing him to be controlled!” Aster then turned her gaze towards Regulus. “Regulus, if you’re still in there, we have a way to save you! If you can, I ask that you fight it! Do not let yourself be her puppet!” Regulus glared at Aster and said in the voice of Chrysalis, “So, you know of me, and you know of my Belzeb, and their Kugutsu venom.” “I do, and I’m sure you know that I burned them to ashes yesterday.” “Tch, I was hoping to use them to control more of these beasts should Regulus fall, but no matter. You can’t stop me without killing Regulus, are you willing to kill an innocent creature to save all of them?” “Fluttershy…” Fluttershy nodded, knowing exactly what was going to happen. “Uudora!” Fluttershy called out as she jumped off of Aster’s shoulder and landed upon the Ursa’s head. “My apologies, but Aster didn’t want me to be in the middle, great chief.” Uudora grinned. “I see, so were I to go into battle now, I’d risk your safety.” “I…well…” “At ease, Fluttershy, I know what’s going on. She may not be the same blue giant, but she has the same spirit. I will put my faith in her.” Aster assumed a defensive stance as Regulus roared and charged straight for her. Regulus lunged at her, but Aster sidestepped, using her hands to redirect the great beast, making the Leo tumble to the ground. The great beast picked himself up and charged for her again, but Aster once again sidestepped and redirected, making Regulus fumble and roll on the ground. Regulus quickly sprang back to his feet, inhaled deeply, and released a roar that turned into a torrent of flames. Aster made a circle with her arms as she generated a shield of energized water, the flames struck against it, releasing a loud hiss as steam blanketed the area. Regulus began shooting fireballs into the steam cloud, but each one that was fired was sniped out of the air by a Water Bullet. The Leo was getting more and more frustrated by the stalling tactics of Aster, and so too was Chrysalis. \*****///** Mane and Snap piloted the drop ship, they proceeded with caution as they not only had a giant capsule of the antidote, but also because Scootaloo was with them. How she managed to talk them into this, they hadn’t a clue, but it didn’t matter now, they were all on a mission and they would see it through. The ship was finally in view of the battle, Scootaloo rushed to the front and watched as Aster fought against Regulus, well, not exactly fighting, more like she was tripping him up and using his own power against him. “Cricky, just like Shy said, Ultrawoman Aster’s here!” Snap exclaimed. “That means she can get the antidote to him! Let’s get above them and prepare to drop,” said Mane. “Let me help!” Scootaloo stated. Mane looked to her husband who nodded. Both mother and daughter went into the cargo hold, Scootaloo was instructed to release the straps and stand back. The young teen hurriedly did as she was told, heading to each side and releasing the lock straps to allow the giant capsule to slide down. Mane went to the control console and opened the bay doors. The doors slowly opened as wind rushed in and howled around them. Once they were opened, Mane hit the button that activated the ramp, the capsule slowly moved towards the opening and was put into drop position. “Okay, now I’ll set the timer for the release latch to make it easier for Aster to administer the antidote, and then we’ll drop it.” Just as Mane was about to hit the button, a rogue fireball exploded next to the ship, jostling everyone inside. Mane held onto the console and accidentally hit the button to release the capsule. Both Scootloo and Mane watched as the capsule was ejected from the cargo bay and out into the sky. “No! I didn’t set it!” Mane cried. Scootaloo narrowed her gaze as she took off her hoodie and ran towards the opening. Her mother yelled something at her, but with the roaring wind whatever she did say was drowned out. Scootaloo jumped off the edge and summoned her wings as she dove down to the capsule, thankfully it was falling straight down, allowing the opening to be pointed up towards her. The young half alien flapped her wings, giving her a small boost as she dived down faster. Her wings were small, and she couldn’t fly well, but gliding wasn’t a problem, hopefully. Down below, Scootaloo could see the battle still raging, a thick steam cloud now obscured the battlefield, but she didn’t have time to worry about that now. Scootaloo landed on the top and found the panel, only to realize she didn’t know the code to open it. “Well, when all else fails, use some finesse!” Finesse in Scootaloo’s case consisted of cocking back her right fist and punching the control panel until it broke. The locking mechanisms released, now the capsule could be opened, now only if she had another plan to get herself on the ground safely and without dying. “Yeah, didn’t think this through all the way!” Scootaloo looked down and saw Aster, in a desperate attempt she cried out, hoping that Aster would hear her. “ASTER!!! HEADS UP!!!!” Scootaloo?! Sunset thought. Aster looked up and watched as the capsule descended from the sky, along with Scootaloo who was riding it. Regulus used this distraction as he lunged for her again, fangs and claws bared to rip into the hero. But Aster was aware, using her incredible speed to dodge Regulus, and then slammed him down onto the ground, hard. The mighty beast let out a grunt as the wind was knocked out of him upon impact. “Time to put my plan into action!” The Ultra Warrior zoomed into the sky, flying higher and faster until she caught the capsule, with Scootaloo still clinging onto it. The young teen looked up at the giant and chuckled nervously. “That was reckless, but very brave. I need you to hang on now. Okay?” Scootaloo nodded. Regulus was slowly getting back up, but Aster was ready. Aster’s left hand glowed as she drew a sparkling circle with it. “Healing Halo!” A giant halo formed over the battlefield; Regulus smirked as the voice of Chrysalis came out of his maw.“Seriously? You think this is going to work? The Kugutsu is too strong to be stopped by your little ring of light!” “Maybe, but what if I added this?!” Aster popped off the lid of the capsule as she floated down to the Halo, Aster thrust her right hand into the Halo, letting the capsule's contents spill into it. The color of the Halo changed to a bright turquoise color, releasing particles of the same colored light. Regulus began to thrash about, roaring as he felt the invading presence begin to leave. “What’s going on?! How can this be?!” “Invader…BEGONE!!!” Regulus released a mighty roar as the red mist of the Kugutsu fled from his body, his crimson eyes returning to that of a clear cerulean. Aster dismissed the Halo as she descended to the ground and stood before the King. The eyes of the lionesses, as well as many of the other Constellatins, all changed from their angry red color and were now blue like the rest. Uudora walked towards Aster, stopping at her left side as Fluttershy translated for the great bear chief. “Uudora says, ‘Thank you, once again we owe our lives to another giant of light’.” \*****///** [The Following Day…] Sunset reclined in her seat, awaiting the rest of the crew as they were close to launching and returning to Earth. With the administering of the cure to Regulus, his Alpha control that made the other Constealltins do his bidding was stopped, no longer sharing in his mind-controlled madness. Peace had been forged between the King and Chieftain, and of course they expressed their thanks to Ocellus, and asked that their thanks be passed onto Aster. Scootaloo was scolded for her reckless move, but in the end was praised for her quick thinking. With a little encouragement from Sunset, Scootaloo opened up to her parents about what she was feeling and what had happened back on Earth. Snap was noticeably angry, along with Mane, after hearing their daughter was made fun of like that they were sure to have a word with the Rich Family when they came back. Sunset heard footsteps behind her and saw that Scootaloo was coming around the corner and sat across from her. “So, how’d it go?” “Mom and Dad are going to be coming back in a couple of days, they just want to make sure that everything’s stable first. But after that, to quote my Dad, ‘I’m on the bloody warpath for that Rich!’.” Sunset smiled. “Good, and it turns out that you’re still badass even with short wings.” Scootaloo blushed. “Thanks. And don’t worry, I’ll be sure to not do too many reckless things…Ultrawoman Aster.” Sunset shot up straight. “W-What?” “Oh c’mon, you think I didn’t notice? The adults were too busy with everything, but I wasn’t. Every time Aster appeared, you were gone, and when Aster was gone, you suddenly reappeared somewhere,” said Scootaloo. “Um…uh…dammit. Alright, yeah, I’m her. So…?” Scootaloo smiled and said, “I’m not gonna tell anyone, besides, now I have another hero rooting for me.” The two girls shared a smile as a bond had been forged between them. It was then that Fluttershy and Ocellus entered and sat down with them. “Ocellus, again, you did great! It’s thanks to you that all the Constellatins are free from Chrysalis’ influence,” said Sunset. The young Changeling blushed. “T-Thank you, I mean I know it was a long shot, but I’m glad it worked.” Ocellus looked at her arm and sighed. “I guess this means that I am a Queen class, which also means I might have to face Chrysalis…” Fluttershy reached over and took Ocellus’ hand into hers. “You won’t be alone on that day. We’ll be there to help you in anyway we can.” Sunset nodded in affirmation, especially after all the chaos Chrysalis caused on this planet, Sunset was looking for some payback of her own. “Thank you, all of you.” 10th Light: Meet the Sparkles / Underground Attack!Sunset was standing in some strange city, it wasn’t Canterlot City, that much she could tell. It was a gleaming city, very advanced from what she could tell, the landscape was made of some kind of platinum, so were the people, but they were faceless. “Hello…?” Sunset asked as she walked about. The people avoided her, the faceless phantoms just going about their day. “Hello? Where am I?” Sunset asked again. Sunset continued to wander, her eyes spotting a large castle in the distance, with winding spires and a strange light hovering over it. For some reason, it radiated with a calming light. Sunset felt some sort of familiarity with this place, but she couldn’t figure out why. Suddenly, the sky went dark and the people stopped what they were doing. The sky was then filled with dozens of shadowy creatures, each one ready to descend upon the city. Sunset instinctively readied herself to transform, but the StaRaizer didn’t come out. Sunset continued to try and summon the device, but it still wouldn’t appear. The monsters that littered the sky descended like meteors and the moment they did, fire swept through the city. Sunset put up her arms and screamed. ~*~*~*~ Sunset awoke with a start, body dripping with sweat, hair a mess, and her chest rising and falling with each labored breath. The redhead grabbed her phone, it was already five-thirty. Sunset groaned, she hadn’t had a dream that bad in a long, long while. Not even fighting the Space Beasts caused her nightmares. But why did she see something like that? Hell if I know… Sunset found that sleep eluded her, plus, her clothes were sticking to her skin thanks to her sweating a moment ago. With the decision made for her, Sunset disrobed and jumped into her shower, letting the hot water soothe and relax her body, hoping that it might help her get back to sleep. No such luck. By the time she was done it was already six, her stomach grumbled. Deciding to get an early jump on breakfast, Sunset opened the door and was surprised to see Twilight cooking something in the kitchen. “Oh, Sunset, you’re awake? I thought you were going to sleep in since it’s the weekend?” Twilight asked. “Couldn’t sleep too well, so I just decided to get up at this ungodly hour,” said Sunset. “It’s just six in the morning,” said Twilight. “Like I said, ungodly.” Twilight giggled. “I’m making some eggs and toast, did you want some?” “Sure.” Sunset dragged herself over to the small table that was their dining room and sat down. Not long after, Twilight arrived with a plate of scrambled eggs and toast with jam on it. Once Twilight sat down, Sunset started eating. When she was halfway done she asked, “So, what’s on your agenda today?” “Nothing much, I was just going to go visit my house today,” said Twilight. “Huh, something up?” Sunset asked. “No, I had spoken to my parents and they wanted me to come and see them, nothing major, just a visit.” Twilight took a swig of her OJ and paused to look at Sunset. “Um, if you don’t have anything planned, do you mind taking me? And possibly staying with me?” Sunset blinked. “I think it’s a little too early to meet your folks, Twi. I mean, you’re great and all, but I don’t think they’re ready to know about…us.” Twilight gave Sunset a cockeyed look. “Uh, Sunset what are you…” Then it hit her and Sunset blushed. “Sunset!” The girl in question chuckled. “It’s too easy sometimes, but then I see that cute pouty face of yours and I can’t help myself!” Twilight crossed her arms and gave her a roll of the eyes. “Anyway…will you or won’t you?” “Will. I honestly got nothing better to do, and as far as I know, the team is out doing their own things.” Twilight sighed with relief with that confirmation. “Thank you, I suggest we stay overnight, we have a spare bedroom, so you’ll at least need a pair of pajamas.” “I’ll have to get my other ones, the ones I wore last night are damp and clingy,” said Sunset absentmindedly. Twilight blushed again. “O-Oh my…um…d-did you have one of those dreams?” Sunset cocked an eyebrow. “ ‘Those dreams’ what do you – OH! Oh. I get what you mean.” The redhead leaned forward and shot Twilight a teasing look. “Why, you want the dirty details?” “NO! Sorry forget I asked!” \*****///** [Canterlot City, 4:00 P. M.] Much like their last excursion out, Sunset rented a SMILE vehicle and drove the two of them into Canterlot City. As they drove, the cityscape gave way to a suburban area, Twilight gave Sunset directions as they continued down the various streets, eventually ending up before a two story house. It had a large porch, as evidenced by the patio furniture, along with a two car garage off to the right side of the house. Sunset pulled up against the curb and eyed the house, it was brown in color and fairly large and looked cozy. Both girls went to the backseat and grabbed their small bags of overnight clothes, Twilight led the way up the walkway and to the front door. From her skirt pocket Twilight took out a key and unlocked the front door. “Mom, Dad, Spike, I’m home!” Twilight called out. “And I have a guest too!” When Sunset entered she took stock of her surroundings. It felt homey. There was a staircase to her right next to a coat closet, to her left was the living room with a large flat-screen TV, a couch, armchair, and a loveseat. At the center was a coffee table with a glass center and wooden frame, the legs were made of wrought iron and painted black. Right below the TV was a fireplace, electric, as far as Sunset could tell. There was a sound, as if someone was scrambling up top. Within seconds someone was at the top of the stairs. It was a young boy, about ten years old, he was kind of scrawny, had spiky green hair, and intense green eyes. He was wearing a purple shirt and a pair of khaki shorts. The boy himself had a big, bright smile on his face as those green eyes locked onto one girl in particular. “Twilight, you’re home!” he exclaimed. Within seconds the boy was bounding down the stairs before jumping straight at Twilight and tackle hugging her to the floor. Twilight let out an “oomph” followed by a “thud” as the two of them hit the floor. The young boy nuzzled the side of Twilight’s cheek affectionately, making Sunset chuckle. “Okay, I’m happy to see you too Spike!” With a slight shimmer of his body, Spike transformed before Sunset’s eyes. His body began to morph until his smooth skin turned into purple scales, his clothes seemed to morph at the same time, allowing a scaly, three-foot-long tail to come out. His fingers turned into claws, and his mouth turned into a muzzle, and Spike’s ears turned into frills. Sunset blinked a few times and then asked, “Uh…Twi, Spike just turned into a lizard.” Spike immediately stopped and looked up and panicked as he shifted back to his human form. “Uh…Uh…I…” “It’s okay, Spike,” said Twilight as she got up. “This is my friend from school, Sunset Shimmer.” Spike blinked. “Wait, you have a friend that’s not me or Shining Armor? Who are you and what have you done with Twilight?” Twilight rolled her eyes ruffled his hair. “Hilarious.” “Twily?” Sunset, Twilight, and Spike turned towards the door down the hall and from it emerged a woman. Sunset had to blink a few times, because either Twilight had an older sister or her dad married someone way younger than him. The woman before her was wearing a white blouse and black skirt, her eyes were a baby-blue color, and her hair was purple with white streaks. She had fair skin, and looked beautiful, she was definitely a looker. The woman walked down the hall and stopped before her daughter and gave her a big hug. “Welcome home, baby!” “Thanks, Mom,” said Twilight. Ah, she is her mom. Damn…! Twilight and her mother broke the embrace, with the former turning to Sunset. “Mom, this is my friend, Sunset Shimmer.” Twilight’s mother looked a little shocked. “Twilight, you have a friend?! And you were bringing her over?! Why didn’t you tell us, we could’ve done something special!” Sunset smiled awkwardly and waved her hand. “No, no, you don’t have to do anything on my occasion.” “Nonsense! It’s not everyday my little Twily brings home a friend! Oh goodness where are my manners,” Twilight’s mother offered her hand, “I’m Twilight Velvet Sparkle. But I go by Velvet.” “Nice to meet you,” said Sunset as she shook Velvet’s hand. “Honestly, I was wondering if you were Twilight’s big sister.” Velvet gave a lilting chuckle. “You have no idea how many times I hear that. But it’s true, I’m her forty-year-old mother, but it’s nice to know I still pass for a younger woman.” “Hey, where’s Dad?” Twilight asked. “He’s out running some errands – which reminds me, I should call him and tell him to pick something up! Will you be joining us for dinner, Sunset?” Velvet asked. “Yeah, I’m staying overnight, at least.” Velvet clapped her hands together. “Wonderful~! Twilight, show her the guest room and I’ll go call your father.” The three teens watched as Velvet disappeared back into her office, Twilight led Sunset. On the way up, they passed by a few rooms, one was left open and had posters of superheroes and action figures. Sunset assumed that that was Spike’s, but then she came to another one and saw the second one that was similar to the other. Another door, Twilight’s room she assumed, had a bookshelf filled with all sorts of tomes on many different subjects, a small chemical lab in one corner, and a PC on another side of the room. The spare bedroom was, well, a spare bedroom. It had a nightstand, a king sized bed, and a dresser with an attached mirror, simple, which was fine, Sunset didn’t need much for a night’s stay. Sunset placed her small bag on the bed and looked to Twilight. “So…Spike,” Sunset began. “Yeah…he’s an Alien Dragonoid. We’re all human, but Spike, he’s my adopted little brother,” said Twilight. Sunset sat at the edge of the bed and asked, “How’d that happen? I hear it’s kinda hard for human families to adopt an alien child, a lot of red tape and crap.” “Normally, yes, but with Spike it was different. You see, it was when I was six-years-old and I was out stargazing with my Dad. One night we saw what we thought was a shooting star, but that quickly turned into a meteor that smashed near our area. Dad’s an astrologist, and I’m just as big a nerd as he is, so we investigated. Turns out the meteor was a purple looking egg.” Twilight leaned against the doorframe as she recalled the memory. “We took it to his lab and alerted SMILE, it wasn’t radioactive or contaminated with any germs, so I was allowed to carry it around. What I didn’t know was that I was warming up the egg with my body heat until it hatched, and Spike was born. We tried to look for any Dragonoids in the area missing an egg, SMILE even reached out to the Dragonoid Embassy, but nothing. So we adopted him, of course Mom and Dad had to jump through all the legal hoops, but we managed it.” Sunset smiled. “That’s cool.” Just then, Spike knocked on the door. “Hey, Mom, Mom says she wants to know if pizza’s okay for dinner tonight since it’s a ‘special occasion’?!” Sunset raised an eyebrow and Twilight blushed up to her ears. “Y-Yes, that’s perfectly fine! You know what I like!” Twilight quickly turned to Sunset. “Sunset, y-your like pepperoni too, right?!” “Yep.” “GOOD, GREAT! Go tell Mom, Spike!” Twilight stated stiffly. Spike shrugged at Twilight behavior and went back downstairs. Twilight face palmed and dragged that same palm down her face. “Did he just…call you Mom?” Sunset asked as she smirked. “Twi, Sparky, is there something I should know about you? Be honest, is Spike your lovechild?” Twilight made an “X” with her hands and shook her head. “No! Nothing like that! For gods sake I was six! He imprinted onto me! I was the first person he saw, and he called me… ‘momma’…as he got older we told him that I wasn’t his mom, and that I wasn’t old enough to be his mother. Since scent is a strong way for Dragonoids to know their parents, my Mom spent a lot of time with him, since apparently my Mother and I share a similar scent. But every once and awhile he’ll call me ‘mom’ without realizing it…” Sunset chuckled. “That’s really cute, Twi.” “Cute…but embarrassing.” Twilight slumped. “Do you have any idea the looks I got when I was younger whenever he said that out loud? I don’t really mind it at home, but out in the open, it gives people ideas.” \*****///** Sometime later, Twilight’s father, Night Light, a man with cobalt blue hair and pale yellow eyes, walked in with a few pizza pies. The man was just as ecstatic about his daughter having an actual friend as Velvet was. Once they all sat at the table, Sunset couldn’t help but ask about Spike calling Twilight “Mom”. That seemed to tickle the two parents’ funny bone, which also made Twilight slide down in her seat as her face heated up from embarrassment. Spike seemed completely unfazed by it, he understood why it was embarrassing to Twilight, but he also couldn’t help but think of her that way sometimes. “Oh yes, Spike used to do that all the time, less so now, but back then, it was so cute,” said Velvet. “I remember this one time Spike got lost in the supermarket, he kept crying out ‘Momma, Momma!’ again and again until one of the workers found him. Velvet and I got there and were trying to calm him down, when Velvet tried to hold him he said ‘Not the Momma!’ and threw a toy at her head.” Sunset had to bite down hard on the piece of pizza to keep the food from flying from her mouth from laughter. Spike finally seemed embarrassed as he rubbed the back of his head. “When Twilight made it to the station, he immediately calmed down and waddled over to her, he was so adorable. Of course the workers gave us some looks, but that’s to be expected, but whatever, the heck with them,” said Velvet. “Hey! Why don’t we talk about Sunset! We haven’t let her say anything!” Spike interjected. Twilight flinched and quickly said, “No, no, let’s keep this going! I mean, what about that time when Spike and I–!” “Twi,” Sunset spoke gently. “I don’t mind, really. What do you want to know?” “Well, what drew you to going to SMILE?” Night Light asked. Sunset shrugged a little. “I was adopted by the Commander/Principal of SMILE Academy, Celestia Solstice, so you can say I just decided to go there just because, at first anyway.” “Oh my, I’m sorry, I didn’t know…” Velvet stated. “It’s fine, honestly, I also have zero memories of my past, so I couldn’t tell you if I had a good life or bad one before being adopted. At first I just joined SMILE because, well, what else was I going to do. But, after awhile, and after meeting Sparky here, I decided that I want to help protect the world.” It was as simple a thing as Sunset could manage to say, because it was true, she didn’t have much in the way of direction when it came to her being Aster, or what she should do with her life. After meeting Twilight, it just clicked in her head that this was what she was meant to do, what she wanted to do. “Wow, I didn’t know our little Twily inspired you so much,” said Night Light. “I wouldn’t say ‘inspired’,” said Twilight sheepishly. “Don’t sell yourself short, Sparky.” Sunset gave her friend a playful jab to the shoulder. “You gave me some clarity, which was what I really needed, and a little push in the right direction.” Velvet smiled at the way Sunset and Twilight interacted, she and her husband had feared that Twilight’s introverted nature would prevent her from making any kind of friends outside her family, but seeing Sunset Shimmer put those fears to rest. “It’s also great that we’re on the same team,” said Sunset. Twilight flinched. “Team?” Night Light asked. “You mean, sports?” “No, although Twi almost got nailed by a dodgeball one time. No, we’ve been granted Special Agent status, and we’re on a team along with five other girls,” said Sunset. Velvet narrowed her gaze. “I see, and, what kind of activities did you go on?” “Oh…uh…” Twilight stammered. “Well, Twi’s not really a ‘in the field’ kind of person. But she has helped in modifying a Gungir and Goliath. Oh! And she made these blaster weapons that shoot the same energy as Ultrawoman Aster, they came in real handy during that kidnapping case that we worked, well me, AJ and Rainbow Dash, and Flash, but–” Twilight swiftly stuffed a slice of pizza into Sunset’s mouth in an attempt to silence her. Sunset was about to ask why she did that, that is until she noticed the tense looks in Night Light and Velvet’s faces. Spike seemed to have read the room and kept his focus on the meal before him. “Twilight, if you don’t mind, can we talk a little later in my study?” Velvet asked. “Y-Yes, Mom,” said Twilight. Sunset didn’t understand why, but the rest of dinner was tense after that moment. She helped clean up and put away the leftover pizza, afterwards, Sunset headed upstairs and decided to get changed into her sleepwear. When she was done, a knock came at her door, Sunset walked over and opened it to find Spike on the other end. Sunset leaned against the doorframe as she crossed her arms. “If you’re trying to sneak a peek at me, it’s usually done without knocking first, but I’ll give you credit for being polite,” said Sunset with a smirk. Spike blushed. “T-That’s not why I came here! I’m not a perv!” Spike settled down and sighed. “It’s about what happened at dinner.” Sunset raised an eyebrow and invited Spike inside. He sat at the edge of her bed while she leaned up against the wall. “Momma Velvet and Dad, they’ve never really been that enthusiastic about Mo –uh – Twilight going to SMILE,” said Spike. “Why not?” Sunset asked. “They were afraid of Twilight getting caught up in Space Beast and alien stuff. Kind of like the stuff you were talking about at dinner. Twilight wanted to go there because she knew SMILE would allow her to ‘broaden her horizons’. Even though she knew they were mostly about defending the Earth, they are the best. Twilight eventually wore them down and they allowed her to join, on the condition that she wouldn’t do anything dangerous.” Sunset suddenly realized her faux pas earlier and tensed up. “W-Wait, all that stuff I said, she wasn’t involved in any of it! True, she did make the blasters, and the mods to the machines, but she hasn’t been involved in any battles or anything!” Spike nodded. “I figured, Twi’s brave, but she’s not like a hardcore fighter or anything. She’s more the brains behind the operation kind of girl. But I think Momma Velvet and Dad feel that that’s just as dangerous, and that it’s only a matter of time before she’s pulled into a mission like that.” Sunset was starting to worry. “How bad is it?” “Don’t know…” Spike fidgeted. “Honestly, I miss seeing Twilight, I was kinda sad when she left for SMILE. But I know it’s what she wants and it’ll help her to be a great scientist. But, Momma Velvet and Dad might just take her out and put her in some fancy school closer to home. I’d like that, but I know it’d make her sad.” Sunset suddenly felt more worried than when she was off world and had to deal with that Zodio civil war. And that scared her more for some reason, not the monsters, not the aliens, but losing someone she had come to call a friend, that made her scared. “Crap…I should’ve kept my stupid mouth shut…” \*****///** Velvet and Night Light were in the study with Twilight, the young girl sighing as she awaited her parents to ask their questions. “I’m going to tell you now. No, I haven’t been involved in any of the recent operations having to deal with Space Beasts or aliens. My expertise has mainly been in lab work and engineering.” “Well…that’s good to hear, Twilight, but that doesn’t mean that you won’t get called on at some point,” said Velvet. “SMILE doesn’t force me to do anything that I am not comfortable with. As I am a student, any dangerous assignments or potentially dangerous assignments involving a minor does require the permission from a parent or guardian. And of course, I’d call you if that were the case anyway.” Night Light leaned back in his chair and sighed. “I know…we know, but, Twilight, we’re just worried is all. I mean, there was that incident when the Phantom Zone didn’t appear.” “Yes, and I was there for that. In fact, I helped in the restoration of the Phantom Zone generator,” said Twilight. Both Velvet and Night Light looked at their daughter with eyes wide with shock. “SMILE is aware of my expertise, and wouldn’t put me in a situation where they knew I wasn’t physically able perform the task they need of me. Plus, I trust Sunset, as well as my other teammates,” said Twilight. Velvet sighed as she rested her right hand against her cheek. “When Shining Armor decided to join the military, we were worried, but we knew he’d be fine…but when you said you wanted to go to SMILE Academy…” Night Light leaned forward and clasped his hands together. “We know that SMILE is more on the front lines when it comes to things regarding aliens and Space Beasts, and the military is the secondary line of defense, that’s why we aren’t as worried. You’ve only ever shown an interest in science, so going to SMILE kind of threw us for a loop for a minute.” Twilight couldn’t blame her parents for feeling the way she did. Even she questioned her choice at first, but all the data showed that SMILE was on the cutting edge of science and technology, mostly because they integrated a lot of technology and knowledge from other worlds in order to advance our defense systems and Earth’s medical knowledge as well. So it only made sense that Twilight wanted to go there, and even though SMILE was in the business of training people to become defenders of Earth, it also knew that not all wanted to enter into a career with SMILE, which was way they allowed students to come in who weren’t specifically going to join SMILE after graduating. “Twilight, we just don’t want you to get hurt. Shining Armor is in the military and we worry everyday about him, but as we said, SMILE is the first line of defense, which means if there’s any kind of attack, or counterattack, it’s SMILE getting hit or attacking first,” said Night Light. “We respect your decision, Twilight, but, we’re still not thrilled about it. So, we’ll trust you to not take risks and do anything dangerous, but if you get hurt because of SMILE, then we won’t hesitate, we’ll pull you out,” said Velvet. Twilight’s eyes widened with shock. “MOM?!” “I’m with your mother on this one, honey. I’d rather you’d be alive to hate us than dead,” Night Light added. Twilight wasn’t one to go against her parents, and right now, she felt like telling them that getting hurt was unavoidable, something was bound to happen, but the school jumped through hoops to ensure the safety of every student in the school, even those who were pulled away for missions. But at the same time, Twilight felt that if she fought them on this that they might just go ahead and unenrolled her. “I understand,” said Twilight as she left the room and trudged up the stairs. Twilight entered her room and plopped onto the bed and sighed heavily into the comforter. She knew that there were a myriad of different schools in the city that boasted high academic potential for her, but after spending the time she had at SMILE, none of them could compare. A light knock came at the door and Twilight thought it was one of her parents, but when she angled her head towards the door she noticed that it was Sunset. Twilight rolled onto her side and looked at her friend with a small smile on her face. “Oh, Sunset it’s you.” “Hey, Twi, you alright?” Sunset asked. “Yeah…kind of…” Twilight answered. Sunset sighed as she ran a hand through her hair. “I’m sorry, I should’ve read the room better…I didn’t know your parents weren’t onboard about you going to SMILE and here I am bragging about the crap we get into over there…” Twilight waved her hands as if to dismiss that. “No, you don’t have anything to apologize for! I mean…what you said was true, I wasn’t directly involved in any of those operations, they’re just a little overprotective.” Sunset walked over and sat at the edge of her bed. “Still, I’m sorry. I guess they don’t think too well of me either.” “Actually, I think they like you.” Twilight mused as she sat up. “I don’t want to sound like a jerk or anything…but is it that surprising that you have a friend?” Sunset asked. Twilight looked down at the floor as a sad smile across her lips. “I wasn’t a very social person in elementary and middle school. Even when I was younger, I was smarter than the majority of my peers. While being a prodigy sounds like something amazing, it isn’t always. What they don’t tell you about is how lonely it makes you feel. That adults seem to give you more attention or try to measure you to that prodigy and foisting high expectations.” Sunset’s brow furrowed. “How’s that any of your fault?! Sounds like they’re parents were the problem, and their egos, not you.” “Intellectually, I knew that. But the little girl in me was still hurt by it. So I became a little – okay a lot – introverted. I guess that was another reason why I wanted to go to SMILE. With so many different alien races in the school, surely there would be a handful or more who were smarter than me. I never thought I would meet someone like you…or become friends with you right away,” said Twilight with a smile. Sunset smirked as she crossed her arms. “Someone like me, huh?” Twilight bumped her shoulder against Sunset’s. “You know what I mean.” [ALERT! ALERT!] “You gotta be kidding me?!” Sunset exclaimed. Both girls whipped out their holoframes, and sure enough there was a warning for a Space Beast attack. The sounds of rapidly approaching footsteps drew their attention and the girls watched as Velvet appeared in Twilight’s doorway, while Night Light zoomed past her and towards Spike’s room. “Girls! We need to go to the shelter, NOW!” Velvet stated. Sunset thought quickly, she needed to get out there and become Aster. “A-A-Actually, I just got a call to come in as quickly as possible! Yep! So, you guys head to the shelter, and I’ll head out now! Like, right now!” Sunset put her holoframe away and rushed past Velvet who looked confused. The older woman glanced at her daughter and asked, “You didn’t get a message too did you?” “No, but let’s hurry and go!” \*****///** Sunset took the rented SMILE car and drove out to as remote a place as she could find. Once she was sure she wasn’t in sight of anyone, she quickly summoned her StaRaizer and entered the starry nexus. “Grant me the strength of a hero!” || ULTRAMAN! || “Grant me the power of a galaxy!” || ULTRAMAN GINGA! || “Release the light within me!” ||SHINE ON! ULTRAWOMAN ASTER!|| Light erupted upwards towards the sky, as the giant of light, Ultrawoman Aster, arose with a sparkling entrance. The Phantom Zone washed over the area, separating the dimensions and shelters from the current one they were placed in. Aster was about to fly out towards the city, that is until the earth beneath her feet began to rumble. “What the…?” As soon as she said those words, something big burst from the ground before her. Aster was thrown backwards as something struck her chest and sent sparks flying everywhere. The Ultra hero rolled around and then quickly recovered, getting into a kneeling position as she shot her head towards what had attacked her. The dim light of night made it hard to make out, but her enhanced vision was allowing her to make out some details. The creature looked like a mole, but it had eyes that were bright yellow, and it’s fur was purple, with its underbelly a lighter shade of purple. It’s front paws had four long talons, while it’s hind feet had three. It’s snout had razor sharp teeth, with two buck teeth in front, and it’s nose blossomed like a flower. The creature gave a roar as it locked eyes with Aster. The Ultrawoman stood up and released her own battle cry as she charged for the mole monster. Both the monster and giant slammed against each other, Aster threw a punch at its head, but the oversized paw of the monster blocked her attack. The mole monster used its body and slammed back against Aster, causing her to lose her balance. The Space Beast raised its right claw and swiped it across Aster’s chest again, causing more sparks to fly from her body. Aster grunted, but then channeled energy to her hands and fired off multiple Beam Bullets at the monster. The beam bullets hit their marks as sparks flew from the mole monster, but the creature looked unfazed by the explosions. “Tough hide huh? I got something for that!” Aster’s body glowed red and then was engulfed in raging flames. ||BURN UP! SOLARIS MAXIMUS!|| When the fires died out, Aster had entered her power form, the revolver chambers on her arms and legs spun once, and locked when she entered her attack stance. “I’ll burn you away with the flames of my heart!” Aster began her charge towards the mole monster, just as its left claw came down and struck her. But thankfully, Solaris Maximus boasted not only great offense but also defense. While the blow did damage, it was minimal compared to earlier, allowing Aster to wind up her left fist and punch the monster right in its chest. The mole monster was sent skidding backwards, destroying several houses as it did so. Aster slammed her right fist into the palm of her left hand and said, “That’s right tough guy, I can dish it out twice as hard!” The mole monster made some hissing sounds and then flexed its claws. The claws began to glow with a dim white color, and there was a distinct humming sound in the air. The mole monster fell forward and struck the ground, immediately a plume of dirt and dust was shot into the air, obscuring Aster’s view. The Ultrawoman hurried to its location, but only found a giant hole in the ground. Aster got on guard, she couldn’t figure out where the attack was going to come from, not with that creature going underground. Suddenly, the ground beneath her feet began to rumble, as quick as before, the mole monster erupted from the earth and slashed at her back. The creature’s talons hurt more than they did last time, most likely due to the white glow, she figured. She quickly turned around and readied to unleash an attack, but the creature was gone, having ducked back down the hole it sprang from. Without missing a beat, the mole monster attacked again, slashing her side and causing more sparks to fly from her body. Aster grunted with annoyance and frustration, not to mention pain as well as those attacks were starting to hurt. All she could do at the moment was stand firm and brace herself. Well, that wasn’t all she could do. “Okay, you want to play this game, then let’s see how you like THIS!” Aster’s body began to build up energy, her body ignited with flames that grew bigger and bigger. She felt another rumble beneath her feet and then cried out, “NOVA BURN!!!” A giant explosion of fiery energy burst forth from her body, burning everything around her. The sphere of fire expanded further and further until it was at least an even hundred meters radius. When it was over, Aster was standing in a smoldering crater, the ground hissing as steam wafted off the molten rock. She looked around, trying to find any trace of the monster, but so far couldn’t see it. Still, she was on edge, that was too easy, even for her. Unfortunately, she wasn’t going to have time to verify as her Color Timer began blinking red. Dammit…I can’t stop now, I’m not even sure I got it! The red light continued to blink, in less than a minute she would return to her human form and be completely defenseless should the monster still be there, but that also meant that an entire neighborhood would be left to its mercy. Three hours…just gotta hope it doesn’t do anything until then. Aster jumped into the sky and took off, her body shimmering and transforming into light as she landed somewhere far from the battlefield returned to her human form. Sunset quickly took out her holoframe and called Celestia. {Sunset, are you alright?} “Yeah, don’t worry about me! Listen, I’m not sure if I got the monster! It was digging around underground, so I’m not sure if my last attack even destroyed it! It could still be roaming around down here! Don’t deactivate the–!” Just as she said those words, the purple sky began to vanish, and the burning crater that Sunset, as Aster, left behind was erased as if nothing had happened. “–Phantom…Zone…” {Oh no, I’ll have them reactivate it immediately, are you still able to fight?!} “No! I’m out of time, I need to wait at least three hours! I can transform again, after an hour, but that’ll only give me one minute of active time!” Celestia nodded. {I understand, I’m having them restart the Phantom Zone, we’ll send in Gungirs and Goliaths with seismic detection equipment and–!} Suddenly, a rumbling sound caught Sunset off balance and nearly made her fall. It was then that a call was coming through, the name read “Twilight Sparkle”. With fear in her heart, Sunset tapped on the incoming call and Twilight’s face appeared. “Twilight, what’s wrong?!” Sunset asked. {Uh…S-Sunset, I-I don’t want you to panic…cause I’m trying not to…b-but I think the Space Beast found the shelter!} “WHAT?!” Sunset brought up Celestia alongside Twilight’s screen. “Celestia, hurry up and turn on the Phantom Zone!” {It’s activating in three…two…one!} As soon as Celestia gave that countdown, the Phantom Zone spread across the sky. Sunset went back to Twilight and said, “It’s back up, you should be safe now!” the ground shook again and on Twilight’s end as well. {That doesn’t explain the rumbling though! Hold on.} Sunset and Celestia watched as Twilight moved around. She stopped and then did something off-screen. {Oh dear…um…we have a problem…The Phase Space Generator isn’t working!} Celestia and Sunset were stunned silent. The generator was responsible for keeping the shelters out of sync with the Phantom Zone, wasn’t working… \*****///** [War Room, S.M.I.L.E. Academy, 9:15 P. M.] At the War Room inside SMILE Academy, Celestia and Luna held a meeting regarding the issue with the shelter, along with the Space Beast, video conferencing Captain Spitfire and Captain Magnus, and one of their structural tech experts, Torque. From Sunset’s description of the creature and the satellite images from when it landed, the Space Beast was a Maulwurf. They brought in a specialist from the Preserve, a Dr. Fauna, a woman with icy blue hair and lemon-yellow colored eyes. According to the doctor, the Maulwurf was a subterranean creature that could vibrate its talons at supersonic speeds in order to dig through solid rock, and steel. The creature had a thick hide, allowing it to withstand the rough sediment and heat of the underground of its native world. Maulwurfs were extremely aggressive creatures, and more often than not, were vindictive in nature. They would chase down whatever crossed them and destroy it. However, knowing their foe was only half the battle, they still had the issue of the hundred or so people who were now in harm’s way. The theory was that the Maulwurf must’ve retreated further underground during Aster’s Nova Burn attack, and because of that, when the Phantom Zone was brought down, it must’ve nicked the shelter with its talons and damaged the Phase Space Generator. {Right now, we have few options, that Maulwurf is a predator, it sure as hell knows that there is prey close by and will more than likely attack it,} said Captain Magnus. {Its eyesight is very poor, but it’s hearing is perfect, so long as they remain as quiet as possible, then the Maulwurf won’t find them,} said Dr. Fauna. {Then why don’t we just make some noise up top? Make it think that there’s more food on the surface than where it’s at?} Captain Spitfire asked. Dr. Fauna shook her head. {Maulwurfs won’t abandon an easy kill, especially one that’s close by and within its reach. If anything, it might come back up after it’s done with that shelter…} Luna tapped on her holoframe and brought up a three-dimensional replica of the shelter and the surrounding area via a hologram. It showed the residential area, and a cube structure about two miles down under the ground. It was made up of four cubes, one at the center which spread out into three additional structures labeled “Supplies”, “Medical”, “Recreation”, and the center serving as “Residential”. Luna studied the structure and asked, “And we’re sure the generator is damaged? Perhaps it’s a system error?” “Even if it was, the system is closed off. The shelter receives input from the shelter captain, once the shelter captain has confirmed the shelter is full, they close the doors and activate the generator manually, it’s done that way to prevent hacking from the outside and causing an incident like the one we have now,” said Celestia. {Can it be repaired? I’m sure at least some of the civilians have experience in mechanics, maybe if we send instructions, they can repair it?} Magnus suggested. Torque shook her head. {That’s a negative. I wouldn’t recommend a novice work on it, plus, we don’t know how extensive the damage is. And if that creature is circling them like a shark, then the noise from the repairs could draw it towards them and then…well…} Celestia clenched her fists, they were quite literally between a rock and hard place. For now, the civilians were safe, but it would only take one errant sound and the Maulwurf would tear apart the shelter like a can of sardines and feast on the people inside. It was too deep below ground to attack, and even if they used weapons made to penetrate to that depth, they ran the risk of damaging the shelter. Her thoughts turned to Sunset, her last communication with her young ward informed her that Twilight was able to relay the information about the Maulwurf to the rest of the shelter occupants, that would at least ease their worries about the people making unwanted noise and attracting the Maulwurf’s attention. From there, their communication had been through text messages. They were also receiving the same kind of messages, monitoring the communications coming from the shelter, as well as receiving several calls from different people, asking what SMILE was going to do to help them? Celestia knew Sunset was going to feel at fault for this, she silently prayed to whatever god was listening that something would happen, Sunset was starting to open up, and Twilight Sparkle was the reason behind that. She didn’t want to see Sunset retreat back into herself and become distant like she used to be. \*****///** [Underground Shelter, 9:30 P. M.] Twilight sat huddled against the terminal, the lights were still working, and she managed to hack her way into the operating systems of the shelter to rig the machines for silent running. It reduced them to a low hum, but given the hearing of the Maulwurf, it only made it aware that they’re there, but not enough to pinpoint their location. The children were told to remain quiet and still, the adults admonished them harshly if they spoke above a whisper or giggled too loudly. In reality, Twilight didn’t think a child’s giggle would make that much noise, so long as the entire shelter didn’t break into hysterics than they’d be fine. Mothers with babies had made their way to rooms that had extra insolation, afraid their babies’ cries would draw the monster’s attention. Twilight scanned the room with her eyes, the residential area was about a hundred meters tall and had several rooms that could fit at least five people at max, it might be a bit cramped, but it was better than nothing. There were floors upon floors stretching upwards, while at the center, there was a small grassy garden with a fountain, now shut off, of course. Three large doors led to the different areas that were used for different purposes, the main building had a medical ward, but that was mostly for stabilization before moving them into the medical wing of the shelter. Twilight had her mother, father, and Spike sitting on her left. Velvet hugged Spike close to her, he was visibly scared, shaking in her arms. Some would make fun of Spike, he was a Dragonoid, and Dragonoids were known for their fierceness and often no-nonsense attitudes, but Spike wasn’t like that. He was gentle, dorky, a great cook, just as good as their mother, and very smart. Twilight didn’t rightly care what others thought of Spike, he was fine the way he was, he didn’t need to act like other Dragonoids. Plus, given their current situation, it was perfectly natural to seek comfort from your parents. Night Light had his arm draped over Twilight’s shoulders, offering his comforting presence without hindering her work. She smiled, remembering the times before when she was held in the strong arms of her father, feeling like nothing in the world could harm her. A slight rumble made everyone freeze for a minute, but when nothing happened and they relaxed a little. The young genius looked down at her holoframe and saw a message from Sunset that read, [How are things right now?] [Tense…there was a rumble just now. It’s like we’re in a sinking raft and there’s a shark swimming around just waiting for us to fall in.] [Dammit…this is all my fault! I should’ve…I don’t know…!] Twilight sighed sadly. [Sunset, it’s NOT your fault. You didn’t send the Maulwurf to Earth. You didn’t damage the Phase Space Generator. The only thing you did was try and defeat the monster, but it went somewhere beyond the reach of your attacks, it’s not like you could help it. So, stop blaming yourself, I know we’ll figure a way out of this.] [……Just hang on, Sparky. I’ll get you guys out of there.] Twilight smiled, leaned back, and sighed. “Trying to think of something, Twily?” Night Light asked in a whisper. “Yes…Sunset’s given me some information from SMILE regarding what they know of the Maulwurf. Thankfully we were able to get everyone to be silent before we gave ourselves away. Right now they’re trying to lure it up to the surface by making as much noise as possible, but they’re not sure if it’ll take the bait with easy prey nearby.” Night Light made a grim expression. “Quite the conundrum…” Twilight continued to think, there had to be some way of making the Maulwurf go away from them, but also drive it upwards towards the surface. It was sensitive to sound, could barely see…sensitive to sound. Sensitive to sound…? Twilight looked about the room, the various speakers that lined the different levels. She slowly started to lean forward a bit, her brain working overtime. Twilight quickly hacked back into the shelter’s systems, looking up the audio system’s configuration. Night Light, Velvet, and Spike could see Twilight’s intense look of concentration, she only ever got that way when she was close to getting an idea. Then that expression warped to one that reminded them of a mad scientist. “I think I have a solution!” \*****///** [Underground Shelter, 10:20 P. M.] “Twi, this plan is bogus!” Spike stated in a harsh whisper. “It’s not ‘bogus’, it’ll work. Twilight had messaged Sunset, Commander Celestia, and Vice Commander Luna about her plan to make the Maulwurf go away from the shelter. She would hack the audio system of the entire shelter and release a loud feedback that would hurt the Maulwurf’s ears so bad that it would run away. Problem was that it had been strong enough to travel through the rock and sediment around them. Twilight deduced that the center Residential area, with its structure and height, would better amplify the sound waves and penetrate to the outside. The downside to this plan is that it was going to hurt their own ears. “Twi, there’s no way anyone’s going to be able to withstand that much feedback blaring in their ears!” “I know, we’ll have the people inside move to the other three locations, then we’ll set it off,” Twilight explained. The plan was relayed to the rest of the people in the shelter, some were highly skeptical of Twilight’s plan, a plan thought up by a teenager wasn’t exactly an easy sell to a bunch of scared adults. But thankfully, with a mass message to the residents of their shelter via their holoframes and cellphones, instructing them to lesson to a one, “Miss Twilight Sparkle, Special Agent of SMILE ''. The police and SMILE agents that were inside with them were helping with the redirecting of the people into the other three areas, packing them in as best they could. While they were doing this, Twilight was rigging the audio system, once in awhile she had to stop when Sunset messaged her. [This plan of yours is nuts, Sparky.] [Maybe, but it’s better than nothing. By now you should be able to remain transformed for at least one minute. I hope that’s enough time for you to take care of the Maulwurf.] [I’m going to make every second count! I won’t let it get away from me again!] Twilight smiled and wrote, [I know you won’t. ☺] Twilight continued to type against the hard-light screen of her holoframe, putting all her mental power into her work as her family hovered close by. One of the officers walked up to them and spoke softly. “We managed to evac the entire residential area, Supply, Recreation, and Medical are filled to capacity.” “Thank you, let’s move to recreation,” said Twilight. The Sparkle family and the officer swiftly, but calmly, made their way down the long hallway that connected each module of the space. Just then, the hall began to rumble, making the others stop. The rumble got stronger and stronger until they realized with a panic that it was getting closer. That was when they heard the shearing of metal, they looked to their left and watched as the Maulwurf’s talons were digging through the wall and was about to slash right through it at any second. Twilight, thinking quickly, pushed her parents forward, Spike, letting his human disguise fall, used his Dragonoid strength to pull both his parents forward and onto the other side just as the talons cut through the tunnel. Twilight hurriedly ran the other way towards the Residential area and closed the door behind her. The fear and panic was starting to grip her yet again, much like that day when Sunset saved her, the trembling of her hands, the rapid beating of her heart, it felt like she was having a heart attack. Twilight mentally knew that this wasn’t what was happening, it was a panic attack, right down to the cold sweat she was experiencing. She was alone, and the Maulwurf was practically on the other side of that door. Her vision started to blur and Twilight’s legs felt weak, she felt like she was about to pass out, about to die. At that moment, an image of Sunset appeared in her mind, of the flame haired girl looking at her with a confident smile, no worries that she would come through for her. Twilight focused on that, her plan, she had to finish her plan. But now she’d be subject to the feedback the moment she activated it, and the sound could not only bust her eardrums, but possibly rupture her organs and brain. She acted quickly, going into one of the rooms and pulling out the mattress, and then going into another room and pulling out its mattress. She then grabbed as many pillows as she could find and piled her findings onto the floor. With some ingenuity, Twilight was able to fashion herself a little fort, with the mattresses, she made a six walled structure, lined the inside with as many thick pillows as she could find, and used the sixth mattress to close it like a crypt. Twilight used some pillow cases to wrap around her head, pinning her ears back to muffle whatever sound would be coming at them. She had to remove her glasses, but made sure that the button was ready to hit and start the reaction. Twilight’s breaths were erratic, and she was more than sure she’d pass out before this was over. But she had to do it, or else everyone was going to die, including her. Steeling her nerves, Twilight hit the button, dropped the hollowframe and covered her already covered ears. Almost immediately the entire Residential block came alive with the worst sounding feedback imaginable. It was so strong that it made the structure rumble, Twilight gritted her teeth and huddled into a fetal position. The small crypt of mattress and padding that she created was only minimally dampening the sound, the pain was still there, but she needed to endure it, just a bit longer. There was another sound that caught her attention, the sound of a creature crying out in pain. \*****///** Sunset had her StaRaizer on, waiting for Twilight’s plan to go into action. Not a moment later, her holoframe went off and alerted her to the sound wave pulses taking place beneath her feet. Her holoframe was secretly connected to Celestia and Luna’s command center, granting her a sonar image of the Maulwurf’s position. It showed the creature, which was close to the shelter, suddenly shooting straight up and away from the structure. Sunset fist pumped as she watched the monster ascend faster and faster, she was about to shut off her holoframe and transform, but that’s when she saw something that made her heart plummet. “YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME?!” The sonar showed that the Maulwurf stopped about a half mile from the surface and was just holding there. Sunset wanted to throw her holoframe to the ground, it was so close, but still too far for her attacks to reach. The feedback would only last for a minute, and she didn’t have any way of attacking it from the surface. “C’mon, there’s gotta be something! Twilight’s going to die if I don’t!” Sunset begged to anyone, anything that would listen to her. Something must’ve heard her as the StaRaizer device’s sun-star emblem began to glow. Sunset held out her arm, and from the StaRaizer arose two Ultra Coins. Unlike the previous ones, these two had a silver finish on the back, but also had the images of two Ultra Warriors on the front. Sunset took the two coins into her left hand and held them close to her heart as she closed her eyes. “Gaia…Victory…” Sunset opened her eyes and narrowed her gaze. “Alright then, let’s do this!” || ULTRAMAN! || || ULTRAMAN GINGA! || ||SHINE ON! ULTRAWOMAN ASTER!|| A bright beam of light shined straight up into the sky, and from the pillar of light appeared the giant known as Ultrawoman Aster. Unfortunately, as they predicted, an hour of charge time granted only a minute of fight time as her Color Timer was already flashing red. “Then let’s not waste time!” Within the starry nexus, Sunset summoned her Stellugger into her right hand, and in her left, she readied the two Ultra Coins. “Let’s go you guys, lend me your power!” Sunset placed the first coin into the top slot of the Stellugger. \ ULTRAMAN GAIA! // A red Ultraman appeared to her right, it looked similar to Agul, but different. She then placed the second coin into the second slot. \ ULTRAMAN VICTORY // Another Ultraman appeared to her left, this one sported glowing, yellow crystals, one of which was shaped like a “V” on its forehead. The two Ultramen broke down into particles of red and yellow energy that energized the Stellugger in Sunset’s hands. On the outside, the weapon was sparking, releasing arcs of yellow and red lightning as it readied to unleash its power. Aster turned the Stellugger around, putting it into a reverse grip, she then grabbed it with both hands and raised it over her head. “TERRA DESTROYER!!!” Aster dropped to one knee as she stabbed the ground beneath her with that Stellugger. The bladed weapon, upon making contact with the ground, exploded downwards, the electrical energy passing through the ground like a spider’s web as it raced downward. Aster could feel it, she was one with this energy, and what was better, she could sense the presence of her enemy. Aster locked onto the unsuspecting Maulwurf and struck. Down below, the Maulwurf was surrounded by the red and yellow lightning, energizing the rock and sediment around it. The soil and rock began to move around the Maulwurf, surrounding it in a sphere of empowered rock, the creature tried to claw its way out, but its claws were proving useless against this. In a matter of seconds, the energy that empowered the rock coalesced to it and made the rock sphere rise up like a bullet. Aster watched as a giant sphere burst from the ground some five meters from her position. Once in the air, the energy reached critical mass and then exploded in the air, destroying the Maulwurf in a shower of sparks. Ultrawoman Aster sighed in relief, she quickly struck the ground with her weapon and sent a dust cloud up into the air, obscuring her as a flash of light went off inside the cloud, and a few seconds later, she was nowhere to be seen. \*****///** [Canterlot All-Trust Hospital, 8:05 A. M.] Sunset visited Twilight in the hospital, thankfully her quick thinking to muffle the sound saved her any permanent damage to her hearing, there was a ringing in her ears that made it hard for her to hear anyone speaking, but the doctors assured her that that would go away after a few hours. Of course, Sunset almost had her own panic attack when she heard what Twilight did, she had to admit, that was a crazy – if not ballsy – thing Twilight did. And honestly, Sunset was proud of her for taking control of her fear like that. When she arrived at Twilight's room, she saw that Spike was sitting at her bedside, he was writing something onto his holoframe and showed it to Twilight, she chuckled a little and nodded before writing something down and showing it to him. Sunset knocked, alerting him to her presence. Twilight looked in the same direction Spike was and was happy to see Sunset. She was about to say “hi”, but remembered that Twilight wasn’t going to be able to hear her, at least not for a while, Twilight even had bandages wrapped around her ears to help protect her ears as they healed. A sad expression appeared on Sunset’s face as she sat down on Twilight’s left. Sunset took out her holoframe and wrote down, [I’m sorry this happened to you.] Twilight rolled her eyes and wrote, [It’s not your fault, Sunset! Stop blaming yourself! It’s not like you could’ve predicted that that would happen! Just like I couldn’t predict that the Maulwurf was going to attack the tunnel connecting the Recreation to the Residential area, but it did and I did what I had to do. As painful as that was…] Twilight rubbed her ears for emphasis. [I know I just…] Sunset stopped when Twilight grabbed her hand and made Sunset look her in the eyes. The flame haired girl could see it without Twilight needing to speak, yes, she was scared and terrified, but she did not blame her for a second. There was trust in her eyes, trust that she knew that Sunset would prevail over the Space Beast, and that trust was rewarded. Sunset nodded and squeezed her hand in a silent reply that she understood. Just then, something glowed between Twilight and Sunset’s held hand. That light flowed into Twilight and in a matter of seconds her expression changed to one of shock. Spike shot up from his seat and asked, “What the heck is happening?!” When the light faded, they released their hands. Sunset was surprised to see that an Ultra Coin was in her hand, it wasn’t a new one, but one she already owned, Ultraman Cosmos. Twilight started to remove the bandages around her ears, much to Spike’s protests, but when she did, she smiled. “I can hear! The ringing’s gone!” “Seriously?!” Spike asked. “Yep!” Twilight chirped happily. Spike globed onto his mother/big sister and nuzzled her cheek affectionately, while he did that, Sunset looked down at the Ultra Coin in her hand. Did…Did you do that…for me, Cosmos? There was no voice, but a glint of light from the eye of Cosmos was all the answer Sunset needed. Thank you. “Mom, what was that light about?” Spike asked. “Well…let’s just keep that a secret for the time being, alright?” Twilight asked. Spike looked to Twilight and then back to Sunset, and then to the shiny coin in her hand. “Honestly, right now, I don’t care. So long as you’re feeling better, that’s all that really matters!” Sunset smiled happily as she pocketed her Ultra Coin. “So, what did your parents say? Are they…Are they going to take you out of SMILE after this?” “Actually, they changed their minds on that. Apparently the way I handled all that back there made them a little less afraid of letting me stay there, they said that before SMILE there was no way I would’ve implemented such a plan, or been able to do what I did. And I’d have to agree, but I came very close to not coming through,” said Twilight. Sunset reached out and patted Twilight on the shoulder. “But you did, and thanks to you, Aster was able to blow that thing away.” Twilight smiled at Sunset. “Thanks, and because of all that, they want me to stay at SMILE. They think you and that place are a good influence on me.” Sunset chuckled mischievously as she smirked. “Oh if only they knew that I was corrupting their precious daughter, secretly turning her into a delinquent with each passing day! Mwahahaha!” Spike deadpanned. “Please, there’s no way Twilight could pull off that whole ‘bad girl’ look.” For some reason, that seemed to offend Twilight. “And why not?” “Because…well…you’re you,” said Spike innocently. “And because you’re too adorkable,” said Sunset as she pinched Twilight’s cheeks. Twilight swatted Sunset’s hand away and said, “I am NOT adorkable!” Author's Note Before anyone asks, no, the Gaia and Victory coins will not be used for transformations, they're mainly utility coins to power up the Stelluger, much like in Ultraman R/B. Also, this fic is not dead! I was on a role with Witchblade and my ADHD brain lost interest for a minute. But now I'm back and will be making updates to both stories. Stay tuned Ultra fans! 11th Light: Happy Halloween! / Save the Students Ocellus!Applejack wiped her brow, taking a look around the orchard. It had taken a while, but they managed to get most of the harvest done. Of course that was mostly due to Applejack’s super strength, she never questioned how or why she had it, even though the doctors said it was just a genetic mutation. Whatever the case may’ve been, it helped her protect her family, and it helped with harvesting apples. Instead of plucking, all Applejack had to do was give it a good kick, and all the apples would fall down at once. Sometimes that was her only job, hit the trees and let the apples fall, then Big Mac and Apple Bloom would take up the rear and pick up all the ones she had knocked down. When she filled her quota, Applejack would join them in picking up the ones she knocked down. It was hard work, but rewarding, much like her work at SMILE. Applejack sighed in content and then moved on to her next tree. She got into a fighting stance, bouncing on the balls of her feet as she sized up the apple tree. “Okay, Luther, just you and me,” said Applejack. The apple farmer threw a roundhouse kick to the side of the tree, despite the quickness of her attack, she had perfect control as she slowed down her kick just enough to give it a light bump. The moment her boot made contact, something happened. Instead of the tree rattling, a sharp crack formed on the impact site. “W-What the–?!” The bark snapped and exploded, fissuring the tree in half. The tree tipped to the left and came down with a rustling crash to the earth. Applejack gaped as she walked over to the downed tree, she fell to her knees as she looked upon the damage she had caused. Applejack heard the sounds of footsteps rapidly approaching her, when she turned her head Applejack saw her two siblings. Apple Bloom was a twelve year old girl, with apple red hair and a pink bow tied into it. She had lightly tanned skin, much like her big brother and sister, but her eyes were an amber brown color. Big Macintosh had orange-red hair, with emerald green eyes same as his little sister, Applejack. Both siblings looked upon the middle child of the family with worry. “What happened?!” Apple Bloom asked. “Ah…Ah don’t know…?” Applejack turned her attention back to the downed tree. “Ah…Ah kicked it the same way I’ve always had, Ah used the same amount of strength I’ve always used, but…somehow…Ah killed Luther…” Mac walked forward and knelt next to Applejack as he inspected the damage. “Doctor did say ya might get stronger, could be ya just got stronger doing all the farm work.” “But…” Applejack whimpered. Apple Bloom knelt on Applejack’s opposite side. “Don’t worry, Sis, we know ya didn’t mean it. It was an accident.” Big Mac stood up and offered her his hand. “C’mon, we still got work to do.” Applejack smiled and took Big Mac’s hand, she gave it a light squeeze, but upon doing so, several cracking and snapping sounds rang out around them, followed by Big Mac screaming in pain. Applejack released his hand and watched in horror as he fell to the ground, clutching at his left arm. Apple Bloom and Applejack gaped in horror at the sight of Big Mac’s arm, it had become limp, bruises formed all up and down it, along with slight poking as if the bones were broken. “Sis, what did ya do?!” Apple Bloom asked. “Ah…Ah didn’t mean it! Ah swear I wasn’t squeezin’ his hand tight at all!” Apple Bloom rushed to her big brother’s side, worry plastered on her face as she tried to figure out how to help him. Applejack got up and started to reach out towards Big Mac. “Don’t touch him!” Apple Bloom exclaimed as she swatted Applejack’s hand away. However, the moment she did, Apple Bloom’s entire right forearm broke, and now both of Applejack’s siblings were on the ground in pain from broken limbs. Applejack stepped back, but with each step she took, the ground rumbled violently, even when she tried to take smaller steps. When she took another step back, the ground split open beneath her siblings. The middle child of the Apple Family watched in horror as her two siblings were swallowed up by the fissure she had made and were lost to the darkness beneath. And in the darkness, was a purple mist that floated about and growled. \*****///** Fluttershy was panting, fear gripped her as she found herself in a cage. She was not in her human form, but had reverted to her true alien form, which was just as well because if she did turn back, she’d be naked. She tried to remember what she did last, but could not remember. The cage she was in was similar to that of the ones that they used at the Preserve, one used for animals. The bars were most likely made of a special alloy, so there was no way for her to bend the bars with her strength. There was light shining down on her, illuminating only a four foot radius around the cage itself, everything else was shrouded in darkness. Just then, two people emerged from the darkness. One was Commander Celestia holding a manila folder, and the other was a man in a white coat and black helmet. In his hands he held a rod with an electrical barb that sparked. Fluttershy recognized the device, it was a cattle prod. Celestia pulled out a chair and sat down before the cage, and when she did, Fluttershy immediately rushed to the side closest to Celestia and asked, “Commander Celestia, what’s going on, why am I in this cage?!” Celestia nodded to the man. The man turned the staff around and jabbed it into the cage, striking Fluttershy in her left thigh. The Vivirendan yelped as her entire left leg stung with pain. “And here I was buying your little kind and demure act, all that time I wasted trying to help you, and you go and repay me and your friends like this,” said Celestia in a cold tone. Fluttershy bit through the pain as she looked at Celestia. “W-What are you t-talking about?” The guard jabbed the prod at Fluttershy again, hitting her in the stomach and causing the muscles to cramp up. Fluttershy rolled onto the floor of the cage, clutching at her midsection and whimpering as she bit back the tears. “Stop with the innocent act, everyone warned me not to trust Vivirendans, but I felt sorry for you. Well, I won’t anymore.” The guard hit Fluttershy again, and again, and again. Each time Fluttershy convulsed and yelped, each cry was more painful than the last. “A sleeper cell, just as they suspected, I regret taking pity on you and your family, and because of my foolishness, Sunset, and your so-called ‘friends’ are dead,” Celestia accused. Celestia gestured for the guard to stop, she then threw the folder into the cage, hitting Fluttershy in the head and letting the contents spill onto the floor. Fluttershy, weakly, saw that there were photos, images of her friends all killed, killed with claws and fangs. “No…No…I would never…!” “The evidence is as plain as the blood on your hands and mouth.” Fluttershy looked back at her claws, her eyes widened with horror as she saw them stained with blood. “No…No, there wasn’t any blood on my claws! This…This isn’t happening!” “And yet it did, your family will be deported back to your home world, and they’ll do with you as they please. But for right now, I’m going to inflict as much pain as I can before you’re on that ship.” Celestia snapped her fingers and three more guards stepped out of the darkness, all armed with cattle prods. Without a word spoken, all four of the guards began shocking Fluttershy, she felt the pain, but it wasn’t anything compared to the pain in her heart, she had killed her friends, their blood was on her hands. Celestia got up and walked back into the darkness, but when she did, her eyes shifted to yellow slits before disappearing. \*****///** Twilight walked through the halls of SMILE Academy, though for some reason, the warm and welcoming feeling had somehow evaporated, everyone walked around with a cross look on their faces, and even more so when Twilight was near, she seemed to receive the bulk of their ire. “Freakin’ know-it-all.” “Little Miss Perfect.” “Teacher’s pet.” Twilight hugged her books to her chest as she continued to walk down the hall, still hearing the other students berate her as she tried to find safety. Her prayers were answered when Twilight spotted the distinct head of fiery hair. Twilight stopped behind Sunset and said, “Sunset, I’m really glad I’ve found you. Everybody’s acting strange, do you know what’s going on?” Sunset didn’t turn to her. “Sunset?” Again, Sunset didn’t acknowledge her. “Sunset, I’m talking to you. Could you please–” Sunset turned on her heel and backhanded Twilight across the cheek. The young genius was sent sprawling onto the floor. Twilight sat up and felt her cheek, which was hot and stung with pain, but she didn’t register it as much, she was too in shock by the fact that Sunset hit her. She looked up at the girl whom she called friend, and when she did, Twilight saw a look of indifference towards her. “S-Sunset…w-why did you hit me…?” “Because I’m tired of having to look after you, if you want me to keep you around, get up and hit me back!” Sunset stated. “N-No, I-I don’t want to do that! Y-You’re my friend!” Twilight exclaimed. “Oh, so that’s what you thought we were? No, let me correct you.” Sunset knelt beside Twilight. She grabbed Twilight by her shirt and drew her close. “You’re just something I tolerate, you’re useless in a fight, and you haven’t even given me an Ultra Coin. Rarity has, Rainbow, Pinkie, Applejack, hell, even Fluttershy gave me one! But you? Nothing. You’re useless to me as an ally and as anything else.” “No…No, Sunset please, I-I’ll do anything, I’ll try harder, please don’t leave me alone!” Twilight begged. Sunset threw Twilight to the ground as she stood up. Her eyes briefly flashed yellow as she turned her back on Twilight and began to walk away. “No… Sunset please don’t leave me alone! Sunset!” ~*~*~*~ “Sunset! Sunset! Sunset!” The door to Twilight’s bedroom burst open as Sunset Shimmer entered the room, her eyes fell on Twilight as she thrashed back and forth, calling out her name. Sunset hurried to Twilight’s side and grabbed Twilight’s shoulders. “Twilight wake up! It’s me, Sunset, I’m here! Wake up!” Sunset nearly shouted. After a few seconds, Twilight’s eyes finally shot open as she shot up with a start. Twilight finally took notice of Sunset and then scooted back and held up her arms in defense. “D-Don’t hit me, Sunset! I-I promise I’ll be more useful!” Twilight begged. Sunset was caught off guard by those words, so much so that it might as well have been a punch to the face. “Twilight, what…what the hell are you talking about?” “I…I…” Twilight started to regain her senses, her breathing became less erratic as she looked around and saw that she was in her bedroom. The door was wide open and Sunset was sitting at the edge with concern heavy in her eyes. “Sunset…?” “Yeah, it’s me Sparky, what’s wrong?” Twilight didn’t say any words, she simply threw herself at Sunset and hugged her tight. Sunset was taken by surprise at the show of affection, but when she felt how Twilight was shaking, she ignored the awkwardness and hugged her back. “I’m right here, Twilight, don’t be afraid,” Sunset assured. It took a couple of minutes, but eventually, Sunset was able to calm Twilight down. She handed the prodigy some tissues as Twilight wiped her eyes and blew her nose. “Feeling better?” “A little…thank you.” “Okay, soooo…care to tell me what all that was about?” Sunset asked. “I…I had a really bad dream, well, more like a nightmare. I dreamt that everyone in SMILE hated me, and in my dream, you…y-you hit me.” Sunset’s eyes flew wide open. “W-What?! Sparky, I would never do that to you!” “I know, I know…but it happened in the nightmare. You also said I was useless because the rest of our friends were able to summon an Ultra Coin for you, but I haven’t…” Sunset gently placed her hand on Twilight’s shoulder and gave her a serious look. “Twilight, I don’t care if you ever summon an Ultra Coin, you’ve done so much already! Plus, you’re my first real friend, so I’m not letting you off the hook that easily.” Twilight smiled and nodded her understanding. “Sorry.” “Don’t be, you can’t control when you have a nightmare.” Sunset yawned. “And with that, we should get back to bed.” When Sunset stood up to leave, she felt a tug at her pajama shorts. She looked down and saw that Twilight was pinching the hem of her shorts leg. “Sparky, if you wanted to get frisky tonight, all you had to do was ask,” Sunset teased. Twilight seemed to realize what she had just pulled on, and noticed that Sunset’s shorts had fallen just a tad to let her see a bit of her hip. Blushing red, Twilight released her hold. “N-NO! T-That’s not what I want! I…c-can you stay with me tonight? Please?” Sunset smiled and nodded her head. Twilight was still blushing, but smiled appreciatively, she laid back down on the right side of the bed, while Sunset rested on the left, their backs pressed against each other. “Sunset…thank you, and I’m sorry.” “Don’t worry about it Sparky, let’s just go to bed.” Sunset’s lips curled into a coy smile. “And no touching, Sparky, unless you’re planning on taking responsibility.” Twilight’s blush intensified. “Goodnight, Sunset.” Sunset chuckled. “Goodnight, Sparky.” \*****///** [Wednesday, 7:00 A. M.] “Guess you weren’t the only one who had a rough night, Twi,” Sunset commented. Indeed, when all seven girls met up for breakfast in the lunchroom, they saw that Fluttershy and Applejack weren’t doing so hot either. They had dark bags under their eyes, Fluttershy was acting jittery, like a scared puppy. While Applejack was taking extra care in how she handled everything, to how she was holding her fork, and how she was walking when they got there. “What’s up with AJ?” Sunset asked. “She had a bad night,” said Rainbow. “Had a nightmare that she broke her brother and sister’s arms with her strength and then fractured the earth. Babe, I told you, it was only a nightmare! You’re not that strong and you’re always careful.” Applejack put her fork down as she sighed. “Ah…Ah know, but the doctors who found out about my strength told me it’s likely I’ll get stronger as I get older, and even more so when Ah train. Ah…Ah just don’t want to hurt anyone…” Rainbow Dash rubbed small circles on Applejack’s back, trying to sooth her. “You won’t hurt us, AJ.” “I would never hurt any of you, y-you know that, right?” Fluttershy suddenly asked. Twilight blinked. “Yes, we do, Fluttershy.” “Forgive her, she’s…rattled. She had a nightmare about being caged and accused of…ahem…killing us all. Poor thing was crying most of the night,” said Rarity. “We kinda spent the night trying to cheer her up,” said Pinkie. “That’s… strange…I had a nightmare last night, too.” Now the others were getting weirded out. “It could just be a coincidence that we all had nightmares, we at least didn’t have the same nightmare.” “But…” Ocellus spoke up. “They do share a commonality, it was a nightmare of what you’re most afraid of. Unless Twilight's dream was different?” Twilight cupped her hands as she recalled her nightmare, her hands started to shake until Sunset patted her shoulder. “You don’t have to tell them, Sparky,” said Sunset. “No, it’s okay,” said Twilight. “My nightmare…was about everyone in the school shunning me, and also that Sunset…that Sunset saw me as useless…” Applejack shook her head. “Twi, that’s plum crazy talk, ya ain’t ‘useless’! Ya fixed the Phantom Zone Emitter.” “You made the Aster-X blasters and made mods to mine and AJ’s vehicles,” said Rainbow. “And,” Rarity added, “saved hundreds of people from a rampaging, underground Space Beast.” Twilight smiled, “Thank you, everyone.” Sunset bumped Twilight with her shoulder as if to say “I told you so.” Rainbow tapped the table and got everyone’s attention. “Alright, alright, enough of this depressing stuff, although it is the perfect setup considering that Halloween is tomorrow night! You guys ready?!” Rarity crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. “Really, Rainbow, we just got through talking about nightmares, I don’t think the topic of Halloween should be broached right now.” “Well, better now than tomorrow,” said Rainbow. “Anyway, have you guys picked out your costumes?” Pinkie Pie raised her hand. “Oh, oh, I did! I’m going as a werewolf! No offense, Fluttershy.” Fluttershy shook her head. “It’s fine, and besides, I’m staying in anyway.” Rainbow groaned. “Shy, you’re a teenager now! And personally speaking if you went full beast mode, you’d be scarier than anything out there. You don’t even have to dress up as something scary, you can be a…a fairy or something?” “I’ll…I’ll think about it.” Rainbow looked to the rest of her friends, waiting for an answer. “Eh, I didn’t see the appeal a while back, but I’ll give it a shot. I’ve always wanted to dress up like a vampire,” said Sunset. Rainbow cocked an eyebrow and smirked. “Regular or sexy?” “Which kind do you think?” Sunset replied coyly. Applejack sighed. “Shoot, guess I’ll get into the game. I’m a goin’ was one of those forest spirit things. What ‘dya call ‘em again?” “Dryads,” said Fluttershy. “Yeah that.” The school was going to hold a Halloween party for the students to attend, and since the announcement the girls were finalizing their plans. For Ocellus, this would be her first Halloween, for Twilight, it would be her first Halloween with actual friends, and for Sunset, well, she did get into some mischief on Halloween, but this will be the first she’d spent not making trouble. No promises. Once they were done, the girls dispersed to their individual classes. Ocellus, Twilight, and Sunset had the same class so the three of them walked together. Along the way they noticed that maybe the nightmares the three had weren’t isolated. As they walked, they noticed several of their fellow classmates didn’t look so good, some were jittery, scared, or just irritable from a lack of sleep. “Okay, maybe there is something going on?” \*****///** [12:00 P. M., that same day] A tear opened up in the skies above SMILE Academy. The school went into high alert as the Phantom Zone was deployed and the students moved to the shelters. All except for one student as she made it to one of the blind spots of the campus security feed and summoned her StaRaizer and entered the starry nexus. “Grant me the strength of a hero!” || ULTRAMAN! || “Grant me the power of a galaxy!” || ULTRAMAN GINGA! || “Release the light within me!” ||SHINE ON! ULTRAWOMAN ASTER!|| Sunset’s body was wrapped in cosmic energy as her human form was shed away and revealed her alter form, that of Ultrawoman Aster. The energy within her expanded and allowed her to grow higher and higher until she had attained her giant height. Aster jumped and flew into the sky, stopping a few feet away from the tear in space. She felt something ominous on the other side of that tear. It was easily twice the length of Aster’s body, and twice the width, certainly big enough for something to come through. It was dark purple around the edges, and inside the tear was something like mist. What the hell is this? Just then, yellow slit eyes appeared inside the tear, and shortly after, violet lightning shot out of the tear towards Aster. The Ultra warrior quickly took evasive maneuvers, dodging the lightning as it came at her. When the volley ended, Aster fired off multiple Beam Bullets at the tear, each of the Beam Bullets struck the surface of the tear and exploded, but none of them seemed to reach the entity on the other side. The entity fired more lightning at her, but this time Aster created a shield of light to take the brunt of the attack. “Alright, let’s see if you like this!” Aster reached for the crest on her head with her left hand, once she touched it, the crest glowed and produced her Stellugger. Inside the starry nexus, Sunset opened her Coin Keeper and took out the Agul and Gaia Ultra Coins, then placed them into the slots on the Stellugger. || ULTRAMAN GAIA! || || ULTRAMAN AGUL! || Red and blue light swirled around the Stellugger until the converged and turned into a whip-like beam of yellow light. Aster broke away from the entity’s attack and began heading towards it, the entity kept lobbing lightning bolts at her, but Aster used her Stellugger to whip away the lightning bolts one after the other. Once she was in range, Aster raised her Stelluger into the air and thrust it forward. “PHOTON RUPTURE!” The beam of light raced towards the tear in space, and, surprisingly, pierced through it. The entity on the other side was shocked and moved to dodge the attack, but the beam managed to nick the entity, making it growl threateningly at Aster. The Ultrawoman readied to attack again, but stopped when she saw that tear begin to mend itself until it was a small sliver in the sky, the entity’s glowing yellow eyes glared at Aster for a few moments before the sliver closed up. Aster stayed where she was for a little while longer, waiting to see if the entity would appear again. But so far, there was no sign of any distortions. Figuring that was that, Aster released a flash of light and then zipped back down to the Academy. Once the Phantom Zone Emitter was off, the school was taken off of high alert, but was still on rapid deployment status, for now the students were allowed to go back to their classes. Sunset was messaged by Celestia to come and meet in her office. When Sunset arrived at Celestia’s office, she was surprised to see her guardian in the same shape as the other students, Luna seemed alright though. “Rough night?” Sunset asked. “Just a bad dream, kept me up a bit. But enough about me, are you alright?” Celestia asked. “Yeah, I don’t know what that thing was, but it’s definitely coming back. I didn’t give it a finishing blow, but I did injure it, hopefully,” said Sunset. Celestia placed her right hand against her forehead as she sighed in exhaustion. “This is the first time a Space Beast has appeared over the Academy, if our sensors hadn’t picked up on the distortion, it could’ve killed so many of the students and staff…” Luna gave her big sister a sympathetic look. “Tia, don’t be so hard on yourself. We usually see these creatures coming from space and have a lot of time to deploy. And not to mention, the Everfree Forest is supposed to keep us safe from direct attacks from Space Beasts. This one tore a whole in space and just appeared.” “Still, that was too close. For now, we’re keeping our forces on standby just in case it makes an appearance again.” Sunset shrugged. “That’s for the best. I won’t be able to change back for at least three hours, but if something happens I can change back.” “Very well…rest up while you can.” Celestia watched as Sunset nodded and turned to leave, but then she called out, “Sunset!” The fiery redhead stopped and turned around. “Yes?” “Y-You know I don’t think of you as a weapon or anything, right? I-I do care about you, I…I just wanted to let you know that,” said Celestia with a slight pink tint to her cheeks. Sunset’s face was tinted pink too as she felt a bit embarrassed by the affection that Celestia showed. “Y-Yeah, I know…thank you. And, you get some rest too. See ya.” With that exchange, Sunset left the room. Luna looked to her big sister and asked, “Are you alright, sister?” Celestia leaned back in her chair as she sighed again. “I had a nightmare about SMILE using Sunset like a weapon, chaining her and deploying her as they saw fit, no matter how exhausted she was, no matter how many times she protested, they just kept throwing her out into the fray, and I was powerless to stop it…” Luna approached her big sister and took one of Celestia’s hands into her own. “Tia, you and I both know that that will never. While I won’t lie that I have seen Sunset as an asset, I wouldn’t go so far as to treat her in such an inhumane way.” “But the brass know about her, how long will it be until they decide they’d rather control her than trust in her?” Luna leaned down and gave Celestia a hug, something that the older sister reciprocated. Neither of them saw that there was a small shadow with yellow eyes that disappeared. \*****///** [7:00 P. M., Thursday] Ocellus watched as her friends gathered in Pinkie, Rarity, and Fluttershy’s dorm room. It was fun seeing others change their appearance into something other than themselves, she was a Changeling, changing her body and form was a natural part of her life, so she didn’t see much need in participating. As advertised, Sunset did indeed dress up like a vampire. Fake fangs poked down from her upper lip, and she wore a black wig to hide her fiery hair, a black leather jacket, maroon pants that were torn, a low-cut black shirt with fake blood stains on it, and two red dots painted onto the side of her neck. Applejack was made to look like a woodland nymph, complete with fake bark, leaves, and a mixture of green and brown body paint. Pinkie Pie was donned in her werewolf outfit, although it was more like a “wolf-girl” outfit. She had fake wolf ears, fake fangs and claws, a pink fluffy tail, and painted on whiskers. Somehow they managed to get Fluttershy in on it, dressing her up in a fairy outfit, a beautiful green dress and a pair of sparkling fairy wings on her back. Twilight was dressed, as cliché as it might be, as a mad scientist, complete with a lab coat, oversized goggles, and black leather gloves. Her hair was tied up into a bun, but messed up a little to give her a frenzied look as if she hadn’t slept in days, and considering how she felt last night, it wouldn’t be too hard to act. Rarity dressed up as a fairytale princess, with a sparkling tiara and sparkling pink and purple dress that flowed elegantly over her body. And Rainbow Dash dressed like an elven warrior, complete with some fake pointy ears, cape, and a bow and arrow set. Ocellus looked at Rainbow Dash curiously and asked, “What made you choose that costume, Rainbow?” Rainbow smirked as she sidled next to Applejack. “Let’s just say, when we’re all about to turn in, this elf is going to ‘commune’ with nature later tonight.” Applejack blushed and then swatted her girlfriend away. “DASH, c’mon, don’t go airin’ our business like that!” “Oh my…” Fluttershy whispered as she blushed. “Oooooh, kinky,” Pinkie Pie commented. Sunset crossed her arms and smirked. “Seconded.” Rarity rolled her eyes, Twilight blushed, and Ocellus just giggled. Twilight sat next to Ocellus on the couch and asked. “Are you sure you don’t want to come with us? I know Halloween isn’t something you’ve experienced before, unless they have something like that on Hive Prime?” Ocellus shook her head. “Nah, we don’t. But I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to go. With my shapeshifting powers, I could turn into anyone or anything, and I don’t want to cause trouble for anyone at the party.” Rainbow Dash groaned. “Ah, c’mon, Ocellus, Halloween’s all about causing a little trouble! We could prank soooo many people if you were there!” Rarity came up and pinched Rainbow’s cheek. “And that’s why she wants to stay here.” She let go of Rainbow and allowed her chromatic friend to rub her sore cheek. “We’ll respect your decision Ocellus, but the party will be going on for a few hours, feel free to stop by if you change your mind.” The young Changeling smiled. “I’ll think about it, thank you all. Go have fun.” Ocellus watched as her friends left the room and headed to the party at the school’s gym. She kind of wanted to go, but she was scared. Ocellus didn’t tell anyone, being a Changeling, she was able to hide how she really looked that morning, but the truth was, she had a nightmare too. Her worst fear was shown to her, the fear of transforming into a Changeling Queen, and becoming a worse creature than Chrysalis. She saw herself enslaving her people, overthrowing King Thorax, and forcing the rest of her people to become Dark Changelings. Then came the invasion of Earth, enslaving the six of her friends, and battling Aster (Sunset) to the death, and killing her. Ocellus hugged herself, fear gripping her, she didn’t want to become a Changeling Queen, although she knew that it could happen at any time, it could be in a few years, a few months, heck, it could be in the middle of the night. Sometimes she’d wake up, halfway through the night and go to the bathroom to check and see if she made the change. Thankfully, her abilities would never make her look like that, the transformation into a Changeling Queen was distinct, so there was no faking it even with her abilities. “I’m not ready to be a leader…I just…I just want to continue being here, with everyone…” Ocellus spoke to herself. At first, she was sad about being on a strange planet with no one else of her kind around to help her. But then she met Pinkie, Sunset, and Fluttershy, then Applejack and Rainbow, and Rarity and Twilight. They had become her friends, and the days she spent here on Earth, in these classes were some of the best times she had. The incident on Planet Zodio with the Belzeb did open her eyes to how sadistic and cruel Chrysalis was in her pursuit to rule Hive Prime. How long would it be before she set her sights on Earth? Just then a strange sound echoed through the sky, Ocellus rushed to the balcony of the dorm, hearing the sound get louder, like someone was tearing apart fabric. When Ocellus looked up, she noticed that it was indeed fabric tearing, the fabric of space. The tear from yesterday reopened over SMILE Academy, and from that tear, a dark purple mist poured out and hit the school building. The school wasn’t destroyed, but the mist continued to pour out, spreading over everything. The Phantom Zone Emitter had quickly kicked on, someone must’ve given the order to set it off, either that or that someone was acting out of fear. Ocellus looked down as the mist was approaching the dorms, the few students who were outside tried to run away from it, but when they were caught in the mist, they suddenly fell to the ground. Ocellus’ eyes went wide with fear as she dropped her human disguise and changed into her true Changeling form. Her back shell opened and released her translucent salmon colored wings, those same wings flapped rapidly as she was lifted into the air. Ocellus flew up and over the building heading straight for the Everfree Forest. The mist was starting to catch up with her, so Ocellus transformed into a Peregrine Falcon, the bird of prey zoomed across the field, putting considerable distance between Ocellus and the mist. But as if it had a mind of its own, the mist doubled its speed, determined to catch everyone in its grasp, including Ocellus. The young Changeling was sweating as she looked back and saw the sparkling mist getting close to her tail feathers. At the last second, Ocellus passed into the forest, and, strangely enough, the mist stopped. The trees along the perimeter of the school all began to glow, forming a wall as if to contain the mist and stop it from spreading towards the city. Ocellus flew close to the ground, and then shifted back to her true form, landing on her feet before dropping to her knees and panting hard from her exhaustive flying. “H-How i-is this possible?! The forest is supposed to keep Space Beasts from getting this close to the Academy!” “Normally that would be so, on any other night.” They young Changeling gasped, a fog rolled in, and with it, a mysterious woman in a cloak and hood. The jingling of her bracelets made Ocellus flinch with each step she took, and when the mysterious woman stopped, her yellow glowing eyes made her freeze up. “W-Who are you?!” Ocellus asked. The mysterious woman pulled her hood down, her eyes no longer glowing. “That is not important child, what is important is how you will act now.” “W-What do you mean? Do you know what’s happening?!” Ocellus asked. “That is the Tantabus. A creature of the dream realm, normally kept in check by the light,” the mysterious woman used her staff to draw pictures in the fog, and the fog formed a silhouette of the Tantabus. “However, it has been feeding ravenously on the negative energy of nightmares. The more fear its victims feel, the stronger it becomes until…” Ocellus gulped. “Until what?” “Until it enters our world. It can then create waking nightmares, and twist the world into a dreaded place of horror.” Ocellus managed to stand up, she took another look through the trees and saw that the tear was still open, but the mist had retreated back to the tear. “How did it get here? The forest makes it so that no Space Beast can get close to the Academy, that’s the whole reason why SMILE built its base and school in this giant clearing!” The mysterious woman walked until she was standing beside Ocellus. “This is the night of all Hallows Eve. The night when the boundaries between the physical and ethereal planes of existence are blurred together, and beings of a spiritual or magical nature are able to crossover. The Everfree is doing all it can to prevent it from breaking free, but with the weakened boundaries, it will not be easy. With the sleeping victims, it can feed on their fear until it is strong enough to come out.” Ocellus tried to think of something, but remembered the color of the sky. “The Phantom Zone is up! That should keep it from getting anywhere, right?!” The mysterious woman shook her head. “The moment it fully manifests into this world, not even the Phantom Zone can stop it. Look…” Ocellus watched as the same mist poured from the tear, but this time it formed a column. That column then took form, growing arms, legs, a body, and a head with four horns. Yellow eyes shined from the mist, but it seemed the Tantabus was incomplete. It wasn’t completely physical, its body was made of the mist. “Does that mean…?” “There is still time, if the Warrior of Light can awaken within the realm of dreams, she can fight the creature from the inside out. However, time is what she needs, and you need to give it to her.” Ocellus didn’t need the mysterious woman to paint her a picture, she knew exactly what she meant. But, given the circumstances, there wasn’t much of a choice. If she didn’t fight, the creature would attack the Academy, and none of them were in the shelter, they were easy prey. Ocellus balled her hands into fists as she gathered the courage within her to do what needed to be done. The mysterious woman smiled down on Ocellus and said, “You are braver and stronger than you realize young one, do not forget that…” The fog rolled out, and with it, the mysterious woman, as if she was a phantom. Ocellus looked around, but couldn’t find a trace of her. What made this weirder was the fact that her eyes weren’t able to get a read on her DNA. Changeling eyes could read the biological structure of almost any creature, no matter how complex, but when she looked at that woman, it was as if she was being jammed. Whoever she was, she’s right about me needing to buy Sunset time. If she does have the power to beat this thing from the inside out, then I’ll do whatever I can! To that end… Ocellus flared her wings and flew as high into the air as she could. When she was high enough, she wrapped her body in her plasma flames. The flames grew bigger and bigger until they matched the thirty meter height of the monster. When the flames died out, Ocellus had transformed herself into Ultrawoman Aster. I may not be Aster, but at least this thing doesn’t know that! And…well…I feel better fighting like this! Sunset, I’ll do my best! “Aster” entered into an attack stance and charged straight for the Tantabus, she threw a punch which struck the Tantabus in the face. The smoky creature fumbled backwards before planting its foot into the ground and regained its balance. But “Aster” wasn’t about to let it attack, she rushed Tantabus and body slammed into it. The Tantabus could only brace as it took the full impact of her attack. Ocellus needed to get the monster as far from the Academy as possible, any attacks that she or it used could kill the students and faculty. The young Changeling yelled loudly as she continued to push Tantabus to the edge of the forest, but that seemed to be as far as the monster was willing to go as it dug its heels into the earth and stopped their momentum. Ocellus backed away and threw a punch at the monster, but it blocked it and threw one of its own, hitting her right in the stomach. The impact was strong and nearly made Ocellus lose consciousness, but she held on, she had to hold on. \*****///** Sunset walked through a fog, she felt strange, as if she wasn’t where she was meant to be. In the distance she saw someone, two people actually. As she continued to walk, Sunset was able to make out more detail, one had long blonde hair, and the other rainbow-colored hair. “Rainbow, AJ!” Sunset called out as she ran towards them. The two individuals glanced over their shoulders and were about to say something, but the moment that Sunset got near them, they disappeared into the fog, no, more like they turned into the fog. Sunset took a step back in confusion, but then spotted another of her friends, Pinkie Pie. Sunset ran for her, running as fast as she could towards the familiar face. “Pinkie Pie!” When Sunset reached out for her, Pinkie did the same, but when their hands touched, Pinkie vanished into vapor. “W-What’s happening?!” Rarity appeared in the fog, Sunset once again ran towards another of her friends, but like the last time, she disappeared. Sunset was starting to get scared, she was alone, nothing and one around, her friends were disappearing one after the other. Sunset kept looking, she had to find someone, anyone…Twilight. Yes, Twilight would be able to explain what was happening, she had to be in the fog, somewhere. Sunset wandered the endless expanse of the dense fog, until, finally, she spotted Twilight. Sunset dashed with all her might, trying to catch her. Twilight turned around and a smile formed on her face. When Sunset got near her, she wrapped Twilight in her arms and was so glad she didn’t disappear. “Twilight, thank god you’re real!” Sunset exclaimed. “It’s alright, I’m here, I’ll always be here,” said Twilight. “Rarity, Pinkie, Dash, AJ, Fluttershy, they’re just…gone! They slipped through my fingers! But you’re here, and I’ll make sure nothing–!” Just then, Twilight felt as if her legs were taken from her, Sunset looked down to see that Twilight’s feet were slowly vanishing into the fog. Twilight looked into Sunset’s eyes with fear as the vanishing crawled up Twilight’s legs. A panicked expression befell Twilight as she gripped Sunset’s arm in desperation. “Sunset, don’t let me go! I’m scared, please don’t let me disappear!” Twilight begged. Sunset held Twilight tighter. “I won’t, I promise I won’t!” The vanishing continued, going up further, now to her waist. “Make it stop, Sunset! Please make it stop!” Sunset’s eyes shed tears as she knew she was powerless to stop whatever it was that was happening. “I-I don’t know how! I’m sorry!” “Y-You s-said you’d protect me! Protect all of us! Please, do something!” Twilight cried. Sunset felt Twilight becoming lighter as her body continued to disappear. Sunset released Twilight, now seeing that her torso and arms were almost gone, and only her head and neck remained. “I…I trusted you…believed in you…” “NOOOO!” “That’s just how it is, all of it will disappear.” Sunset turned her back and saw…herself. Her form as Ultrawoman Aster stood behind her, her imposing height casting a shadow over Sunset and Twilight. Sunset turned back to Twilight and then watched her completely vanish. “No…” Sunset grasped at the air, as if trying to bring her back. “NO!” She then turned to her other form and shouted. “WHAT DID YOU DO?!!!” “Do not act as if you are blameless. Did you honestly think that we’re a hero? That we’re a guardian? We’re a destroyer, stronger than all these creatures that come to attack the Earth. Because they know the sight of their true ruler when they see it, it’s an alpha predator instinct.” “Shut up! I am a hero! I fight for this world and my friends!” “If that’s true, why did you lay waste to this city?” Aster waved her hand, a gust of wind blew the fog away, blinding Sunset for a moment. When she opened her eyes, she beheld a decimated Canterlot City, and SMILE Academy. The city was on fire and the Academy was in ruins. Gungirs and Goliaths were strewn all over, completely wrecked. The closest ones were the specialized units that were made for Rainbow Dash and Applejack. Both of which were melted from a strong heat attack. At the Academy, several students were laying dead on the campus, either crushed by debris or just lying dead on the ground. Among them were Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rarity, and…Twilight. Out of all of them, Twilight’s expression struck her the worst, there was such a look of utter betrayal, that it pierced Sunset’s heart like a rusted dagger. “You’re a destroyer…Your power is only meant for one thing…destruction…” Sunset fell to her knees as she began to cry, she did all of this, by her own hands she killed so many. She dared to look again, and that’s when she spotted Celestia and Luna, the two women who took her in and decided to give her a chance. “You’re alone…You will always be alone…You are not meant to be close to any creature…” Sunset could feel it, the emptiness was taking her, she didn’t care anymore, she didn’t care what happened to herself, not even death scared her. The shadows cast by the wildfires around Sunset began to creep towards her, and within seconds they formed a pool of darkness that began to swallow her. Sunset sank deeper and deeper into the darkness, feeling its icy tendrils begin to overtake her. At that moment, a bright light shined forth from Sunset’s chest. This light changed to a purple color and burned the shadows to cinders. The light then took the form of an Ultra Coin and turned to face Sunset. The light reignited something in Sunset, her will to live, her will to fight. Sunset shook her head as if waking up from a daze, she reached out and took the coin into her right hand, when she opened it, she saw that it was the coin of Ultraman Orb. “You saved me,” said Sunset. The eyes of Ultraman Orb shined. “No…I get it, you’re power…it comes from bonds.” The coins eyes flashed brighter as if indicating that she was correct. Sunset held the coin close to her heart. “The bonds I share with those girls…they are my strength. They believe in me, and I won’t let them down. Wait…” The flame haired girl looked around, she saw the shadows regrouping and when they did they shot out towards her. Sunset held out the Ultra Coin and the shadows were repelled once again. The shadows revealed yellow glowing eyes, and hissed at Sunset. “You’re the one responsible for this!” The shadows snaked across the ground and jumped into a hole that tore open a few feet away. Sunset ran after it and stopped at the edge of the hole. Down below, she could see multiple spheres, each one was playing something, like a movie, but she recognized some of the people in those spheres as the students of the Academy. “Oh crap…we’re in a dream, the nightmares that the girls had, that thing was causing them!” Sunset tightened her grip around the Ultra Coin. “And I’ll bet you’re the one who tried to attack SMILE earlier yesterday! Okay, there’s no getting away from me now!” Sunset opened her hand and looked at the coin. “Orb, will you give me a hand?” Orb’s Ultra Coin glowed brighter. Sunset held the coin high into the air and said, “Lend me the power of bonds!” The teen girl was wrapped in purple light and then flew down the hole. She was like a comet flying through space, but she was not wandering aimlessly. From the shimmering comet, six beams of light shot out, each one zigzagged across the expanse and found her targets. \*****///** Twilight once again found herself in the school hallway, all the students were gathered around her, giving her incredulous looks, but the one that hurt the most was the one coming from Sunset, her first real friend and she was looking at her with such a look of hate and disappointment that it made her want to disappear. “Don’t give into this, Sparky!” Twilight’s eyes went wide as she looked to Sunset. “What did you say?” “I didn’t say anything to you, but I am thinking a lot of what I’m going to do with you,” said Dream-Sunset. “That’s enough from you!” Suddenly, a bolt of light shot down the hallway and struck Dream-Sunset in the chest, sending her flying into the crowd behind her. Twilight looked over her shoulder and nearly cried in joy. Sunset came walking up, with all the confident swagger Twilight had come to expect from her friend. The real Sunset Shimmer stood beside Twilight and flashed her a grin as she offered a hand to Twilight. The young genius took that hand and let herself get pulled up to her feet. “Sunset, how is this…?” “It’s a dream, Sparky, we’re in the nightmare you had last night!” Sunset looked back at the false Sunset and the crowd. “And that thing is not me!” False Sunset growled as her eyes shined bright yellow. The false Sunset and the crowd melded together into a large sparkling shadow, the shadow bolted to the left, piercing through the lockers as another hole in space opened up. “Where’s it going?!” Twilight asked. “Probably to mess with the rest of our friends, but I’m working on freeing them too! C’mon,” said Sunset as she held out her left hand to Twilight. Twilight grabbed Sunset’s hand without hesitation, and together, they turned into a comet of light that followed after the Tantabus. \*****///** Fluttershy was back in her cage, feeling the sting of the cattle prods as the guards jabbed her with them, all while Commander Celestia just watched with a sneer. Just as another of the guards was ready to jab her, the end of his cattle prod was blasted off by a light bolt. The three other guards’ prods were also blown off, making them back away in shock. Commander Celestia bolted from her chair and looked around. “What’s the meaning of this?!” “The irony of this whole thing, is that Fluttershy’s caged up, but the real monsters are outside the cage!” Fluttershy’s eyes flicked in the direction of the voice, her head daring to perk up as she watched more light bolts fly towards her cage. Each one hit the bars with amazing accuracy, making the top half of the cage slump to the side. From the shadows, Twilight ran out and pushed the top half the rest of the way off. Sunset walked in, standing before Fluttershy and Twilight and acting as their shield. “You’re no monster, Fluttershy,” said Sunset. Twilight helped Fluttershy out of the cage and smiled at her. “You’re the kindest person I’ve ever known, and we’ll always trust in you.” Fluttershy’s eye began to water, tears flowed down her muzzle at the same time a smile broke out. Sunset narrowed her gaze at the Tantabus and said, “I’m going to make you pay for not only using the face of someone who took me in, but also for making Fluttershy cry!” Sunset’s left hand glowed as she fired off several light bolts from it. The Tantabus shifted into its shadowy form and swiftly ran away to its next victim. “Are we…in a dream?” Fluttershy asked. “Yeah, we are, and if we don’t hurry up and get the others it’ll make them sink into darkness too,” said Sunset. Fluttershy nodded as she took Twilight’s hand, and Twilight took Sunset’s. All three changed into a comet of purple light that chased after the Tantabus yet again. \*****///** Applejack stood in the ruins of her family’s farm. Her monster-like strength had destroyed all her family had built up, and just from taking a few steps. Her big brother, her little sister, her grandmother, all of them were swallowed by the earth because of her. Applejack remained as still as could be, trying not to move at all for fear that the smallest, easiest of movements would cause the world around her to shatter even further. “You’re not a catastrophe Applejack.” Applejack watched as Sunset, Twilight, and Fluttershy walked towards her. “No…s-stay back…A-Ah’ll hurt ya if you do! Please, Ah don’t want to lose anyone else!” “You won’t lose us,” said Fluttershy. “This is your strength, your power, you can control it!” Sunset stated. “We believe in you, Applejack, so believe in yourself,” Twilight encouraged. Applejack slowly raised her hand up and made a fist. The action caused a whirlwind to be produced from such a simple action, but Applejack was determined. “This is my strength…! I am in control of it!” Applejack took a step forward, and the world didn’t shake. She took another step and then another, but when she did, the earth beneath her feet began to mend itself. Applejack realized it now, she was in control of her strength. She slammed her right fist into her left palm, and the impact created a whirlwind that washed over everything, making the world of ruin return to one of lush green and peace. “Ah don’t know what’s goin’ on, but Ah’m ready to go!” \*****///** Rainbow Dash was huddled into a corner, her large feathered wings covered her body like a shield as the jeering voices of the other students continued to call her a freak and a half-breed. Without warning, the wall to Rainbow’s left exploded out. Rainbow coughed from the dust, but then watched as Applejack emerged from the hole. “Now since when is the girl that Ah like ever cowered in fear?” Applejack asked. “Applejack?!” Rainbow exclaimed. “Stand up, Dashie, show ‘em how proud ya are of those wings!” Rainbow Dash, emboldened by her girlfriend’s words, stood up and flared out her azure blue wings, striking a confident pose as she smirked. “Thanks, Babe,” said Rainbow. “No problem, Sug, now let’s go, we got some bad guys to bust up!” Rainbow Dash fist pumped and shouted, “Hell’s yeah!” \*****///** Rarity stood before a panel of judges as they looked over her newest creations, all of which looked drab compared to her normally fabulous outfits. The three judges before her all gave her a thumbs down, showing how displeased they were with her work. Rarity’s life’s work was to become a fashion designer, but now those dreams were shattered into dust, what was left for her now that her ambitions and goals all led to nothing? “The Rarity I know would never let this get her down!” Fluttershy strode out onto the stage, her kindly smile mixed with a look of determination. “These were just your ‘fun’ dresses, they’re not your serious stuff, right?” A fire lit in Rarity’s eyes as she heard those words. “Of course, Darling, why ever would I use these horrid things?” Rarity pushed her three creations off the stage and sashayed over to Fluttershy. “If you don’t mind?” “Not at all.” Rarity took Fluttershy’s hand and began to spin her around, a flash of light went off, and when she stopped twirling Fluttershy around, she was donned in a beautiful green, nature themed dress. “This is just something I threw together,” said Rarity. The dark stage lit up with different colored lights, and the faceless crowd became animated, cheering and snapping pictures of her creation. The three judges became one large shadow that left through a hole. Rarity released a shocked gasp and asked, “What in the world is going on?” “We’re in a dream, Rarity! Sunset and the others are waiting for us,” said Fluttershy. Rarity nodded and took Fluttershy’s hand. “Lead the way, Darling!” \*****///** The group had gathered in a sphere of light which was floating in the vastness of the dreamscape, Fluttershy had reappeared with Rarity, but Sunset wasn’t there. “Sunset hasn’t come back yet?” Fluttershy asked. Twilight shook her head. “Not yet, but I’m sure she’ll–!” At that moment, Sunset and Pinkie appeared in the sphere, with Sunset looking frazzled and Pinkie with a big smile on her face. “Are you okay, Sug?” Applejack asked. “Uh…it just left, I didn’t have to do anything,” said Sunset. “Wait, really?! How?” Rainbow asked. “I don’t know, I was just having one of my normal dreams,” said Pinkie. “We are not going to discuss that,” said Sunset with finality. A loud roar echoed through the dreamscape, the sphere of light became translucent, allowing the seven girls to look outside and watch as the Tantabus took form. The creature’s sparkling mist became semi-solid as silver armor wrapped around it, allowing it take a humanoid form. Its hair was wispy, its face was covered in a silver mask with four horns protruding from it. Its yellow eyes narrowed upon seeing the ones who had been interfering with its mission. Behind the Tantabus was a tear in space, and beyond that tear, the girls could see that…Ultrawoman Aster was fighting a similar creature on the other side. The girls looked to Sunset, and she looked to the others. “I swear, I’m the real me!” Sunset stated. The other Aster seemed to notice them and shouted, “It’s me, Ocellus! Listen, the Tantabus is gaining power from all the people who were put to sleep on this side! You have to beat it there before it can get enough power to manifest in the waking world!” As if to prove her point, some of the Tantabus’ essence was streaming into the tear and to the monster on the other side. “How’re we supposed to fight that thing?! We don’t have tanks or jets,” said Rainbow. “Or the Aster-X blasters,” said Pinkie. Twilight thought for a moment before a grin formed on her face, she looked to Sunset and it seemed as if she had the same idea. “We’re in the dream world, and in dreams, anything is possible,” said Twilight. “Got that right, Sparky!” Sunset raised her left arm as the StaRaizer appeared. The Coin Keeper shimmered into existence on her belt and from it flew out six Ultra Coins. Two light silhouettes of Sunset appeared on either side of her as they mimicked her movements in placing their Ultra Coins into the slots of the StaRaizer. “Release the light within me!” “Ignite the fire in my heart!” “Let the waves of my soul quell your rage!” ||SHINE ON! ULTRAWOMAN ASTER!|| ||BURN UP! SOLARIS MAXIMUS!|| ||FLOW AND CRASH! COSMIC WAVE!|| Three pillars of light formed outside of the sphere, one made of fire, another of water, and one of pure light. The pillars shattered, and from them emerged Ultrawoman Aster in both her default, power, and speed forms. Solaris Maximus bumped her fists together as flames erupted from the impact. “I’ll burn you away with the flames of my heart!” Cosmic Wave took a defensive stance as she spoke, “I will wash away all cruelty with serenity!” And finally, Aster assumed her fighting stance as she declared, “My light will overcome the darkness!” All three versions of Aster charged for Tantabus, Aster came in with a punch, but the Tantabus caught it with its right claw. But just as it did that, Solaris Maximus attacked its blind spot with a fiery punch right to the face. The dream creature was sent into a tailspin, but released a burst of its energy to stop it from flying off further. However, when it did that, Cosmic Wave came down with its Aqua Blades and slashed it across the chest, forming an “X” pattern as sparks flew from its body. On the other side, Ocellus was continuing her fight with the ethereal form of Tantabus, but as she fought she noticed that parts of its body were becoming more defined. The essence that was coming from the tear was giving it form the longer this fight dragged out. Back in the dream world, Solaris Maximus and Aster flew high into the air, spun once, and descended towards Tantabus with flying kicks. Aster’s was wrapped in cosmic energy, while Solaris Maximus was coated in flames. “Soul Crusher!” “Asteroid Kick!” Tantabus raised a shield of dark energy, both kicks landed hard against the surface, but Aster and Solaris Maximus refused to stop as they drove their kicks forward. Unbeknownst to Tantabus, Cosmic Wave was floating a few meters behind it. Yellow light formed a bow and drawstring, Cosmic Wave grabbed the drawstring and pulled back, and as she did an arrow of yellow light formed. “Artemis Arrow!” Cosmic Wave released the arrow, sending it flying through the expanse until it struck Tantabus in the back, exploding on impact. The damage was enough to break Tantabus’ concentration, allowing Aster and Solaris Maximus to break through the shield and strike it in the chest with their power kicks. Another explosion went off as Tantabus was sent flying backwards until it stopped itself from going further. The dream monster glared at all three versions of Asters, having had enough of this game. Tantabus roared loudly as the entire dreamscape shook. A web of darkness formed above, connecting the various dream spheres together. The center of that web released a beam of dark energy that bathed over Tantabus and increased its size to the point that it nearly dwarfed the three Ultra beings. “Oh crap…” the three uttered in unison. On the other side, Ocellus watched as the Tantabus she was fighting roared as well, it’s eyes glowing brighter as the essences that it was absorbing sped up dramatically. “Oh no…” Tantabus charged for Ocellus, its speed increased to the point that it was a blur as it got closer. Ocellus fired off several light beams from her hands which missed each time. When the Tantabus was close, it threw a punch that resonated like thunder right into her midsection. Ocellus gasped violently from the attack and was lifted a few feet off the ground. Tantabus jumped back and threw a spinning roundhouse to Ocellus’s left side, sending her flying in the direction of the Academy. Ocellus managed to regain some of her senses as she fired off a beam from her left hand a few feet behind her. The resulting explosion was strong enough to stop her from going further, making her land on her front onto the ground. Ocellus coughed as she got to her knees, her body flickering with her azure plasma flames, indicating that her transformation wasn’t going to last much longer. I…I can’t stop…If I do…everyone’s going to die! Ocellus thought as she rose to her feet. Tantabus narrowed its gaze into slits as if getting an entertaining idea. The dream monster raised its right hand and fired a dark lightning attack straight for the Academy. Ocellus dashed and got into the interception path of the lightning, letting it hit her and explode against her body. The Tantabus continued to assail her with dark lightning again and again, knowing that she would not move from that spot if it meant the school got hit and the people unconscious inside got hurt. “INFERNO SHOOT!” “ASTRONIUM RAY!” “CALIBURN END!” Each form of Aster fired off their signature beam attacks at the giant Tantabus. The three attacks hit the monster dead center, releasing a powerful explosion, but alas, their combined attack didn’t seem to faze the behemoth in the least. “Well, this isn’t good,” said Solaris. “It’s getting stronger with each second, and sending that energy to the real world, we have to cut it off somehow,” said Cosmic. “Ocellus is taking a beating, we can’t let this drag on…” Meanwhile, the girls were watching from the light sphere as their friends continued to fight for them all. “We can’t just stand here and do nothing,” said Twilight. “But what can we do?” Fluttershy asked. “This a dream world right?! That means we just need to think of something strong enough to help Sunset out!” Rainbow stated. “That thing strong enough to fight Aster in her three forms, how are we going to think up anythin’ stronger than that?” AJ asked. Pinkie appeared between the two girls and draped her arms over their shoulders as she said, “Who said we had to think of something individually?” Rarity cocked an eyebrow. “Are you saying…that we think of something together, pull our dream power as it were?” “Yep!” “That sounds awesome, but what exactly?” Rainbow asked. “Ahem.” All eyes fell on Twilight as the genius of their group raised her hand and had a sheepish smile on her face. “I may know something…” \*****///** The Tantabus thrashed its giant arms through the air, sending a wave of dark energy that buffeted the three Ultras, their options were limited and their time was running short, as too was Ocellus’. The trio braced themselves as Tantabus readied to unleash another attack, but was soon stopped by several blasts of energy that pelted it from the front. All three Asters turned around and – had their jaws had the physical capability to drop they would’ve right then and there. An orange tank bearing a golden apple insignia came rolling through the dreamscape and fired one round after the other. And right behind it was a cyan colored fighter jet, its jet flames were an aurora of different colors and it too fired energy rounds from the nose of the plane and rockets. From behind the creature, a fox-like mecha ran towards Tantabus, it’s one tail released a stream of azure flames right at its back, exploding on impact. From high above the monster, another mecha animal appeared, this one was a purple unicorn. The horn of the machine beast glowed with stored energy, and then fired a magenta beam of light right for Tantabus’ head. Tantabus looked up just in time for the beam to strike its face, making it stumble backwards. A horn honked in the distance as a pink semi-truck came rolling in, the sides of the trailer read “Party Buster” with some balloon decorations. The sides of the trailer opened up and produced cannons and missile launchers, all of which fired at the same time and unleashed a barrage on the monster’s right leg. The resulting explosion tripped the dream monster, Tantabus tried to regain balance. However, another mecha appeared, it was human mech, porcelain white, with a red crystal heart in the center of its chest, and metallic purple hair. The human mech crossed its arms over its chest and fired a ruby red beam of light that hit the monster’s right knee and sent it slamming onto the nonexistent ground of the dreamscape. All six of the mechas gathered around the three Asters, making them do double takes at what they were seeing. Hatches popped open and from them emerged their Sunset’s friends, although they were dressed in the craziest looking superhero outfits Sunset had ever seen. “Uh…what’s going on?” Twilight’s suit was violet, with dark navy coloring around the forearms and boots. A golden belt tied around her waist with that had six symbols on it. Her helmet was the same color as her uniform, but had a star pattern for the visor. “The magic of knowledge, Chōwager Violet!” Fluttershy had a similar suit, but the pattern on her visor was that of a butterfly. “Uh-Uh…f-fierce kindness, Ch-Chōwager Yellow!” Rarity struck a pose and announced, “Fabulous generosity, Chōwager White!” Pinkie Pie bounced around and declared, “Hyper laughter, Chōwager Pink!” Rainbow flew around with her wings and stated, “Soaring loyalty, Chōwager Blue!” Applejack slammed her fists together and said, “Honest strength, Chōwager Orange!” “Six friends united against evil! Peacekeeper Sentai: Chōwager!” It was right around this time that explosions went off in the background as a giant logo appeared overhead showing that exact name in Japanese kanji. The Asters looked around again and said in unison, “We repeat…what is going on?!” Twilight rubbed the back of her head in slight embarrassment. “Heh, heh…well, you see, we decided to help you out by fighting together, and the best way I could think of was to impersonate an original Super Sentai team…?” “Okay…” Cosmic spoke, “I’ll follow you there.” Tantabus rose back up, clearly agitated and enraged at having been brought down by such ridiculous outfits and machines. “Alright, Chōwagers, it’s time to do that!” Twilight stated as she jumped back into her mecha, along with others. “Wait, ‘that’? What do you mean by ‘that’?” Aster asked. “Oh you know…GATTAI!” All six mechs flew high into the air and were surrounded by aurora light. Rarity’s mecha held out its arms and legs as the different mechs took position. The wings of Rainbow’s fighter shot off and attached themselves to the white mech’s back. While Rainbow’s fighter reconfigured into an arm, producing five fingers as it slipped over the white mech’s left arm. The orange tank reconfigured itself, producing a hand with five fingers and turning into the right arm that slid over the white mech’s right arm. Next came the yellow fox that transformed into a left leg that went over the white mech’s left leg. The pink truck did the same, forming over the white mech’s right leg. Finally, the violet unicorn fitted itself over the white mech’s head, with the rest of its body forming chest armor for the machine. The wings on its back transformed into metallic bird wings and the metal hair flowed in the power that it generated, at the same time, the new helm-head of the mech’s eyes shined bright as it came to life, the ruby heart at the center shifting to a clear blue color. “Six hearts and souls become one mighty force! Grand Knight Concordia!” The giant super robot struck a pose, throwing its right fist into the air as it’s name appeared overhead in Japanese kanji. The Asters looked to each other. “Should we question this?” “I don’t think so, let’s roll with it.” “Yep, roll with it.” The super robot was now the same size as Tantabus, the dream monster was, to say the least, perplexed by what it was seeing. The super robot cocked its right fist back and took a giant step forward as it threw a power punch right to the Tantabus’ face. The blow resounded like thunder throughout the dreamscape, making the monster stumble a bit, but Tantabus recovered and slashed at the super robot’s chest, causing sparks to fly from its chest armor. “Fluttershy, Pinkie!” Twilight ordered. “Roger!” they responded. Concordia jumped back and as it did, the right leg’s panels opened up and revealed missile launchers, and on the left leg, azure fireballs formed on the left side of the leg. “Foxfire!” “Fireworks Blitz!” The missile launchers fired off several sparkling ordinance while the fireballs flew straight for Tantabus. The fireballs and fireworks struck Tantabus, exploding spectacularly against the giant creature. When they were far enough away, the right and left arms clasped hands as the cannon on the right arm came forward, and the twin guns on the left arm shunted forward. “Let’s go, Sugar Cube,” said Applejack. “You got it, Babe!” Rainbow agreed. “Twin Spiral Cannon!” The cannon barrels glowed bright until both discharged two beams of vermillion and cyan, the two lights combined together into a spiraling beam of power that slammed against Tantabus, exploding and causing more damage to the dream monster. The Tantabus was growing more agitated by the second, the monster roared as several spheres of dark energy formed around it, with a wave of its left claw, the orbs fired several beams of dark light straight for Concordia. The beams struck their target all at once, resulting in a massive explosion that made even the three Ultras have to flee for safety. They feared the worst, however, when the smoke cleared, Concordia was completely undamaged. A shield had been formed before the super robot, clear and sparkling like a diamond. The dream beast roared as it charged for Concordia, and Concordia charged as well. The two behemoths met in the center, grappling as their impact shook the dreamscape. The Asters decided to get in on this action as they flew straight for Tantabus, all three of them firing off their signature beam attacks as they flew over its body, hitting it as much as they could while the monster was otherwise occupied. In the real world, Tantabus was continuing to pelt Ocellus-Aster with more black lightning, but the lightning stopped as it started to look strained. Ocellus-Aster looked up, and watched as her friends were still battling with everything that had on the other side. She began to stand up, her body hurting all over, but she refused to let Tantabus hurt the school and the people inside. “I’m not an Ultra…But I’ll still protect everyone with everything I’ve got!” Just then, Ocellus-Aster went still, her eyes going dim as she slumped forward. A crack formed on the back of fake Aster, this fissure of light grew longer and longer until it ran the length of fake Aster’s back all the way to the back of its head. The fissure was then made bigger as four large, salmon colored, translucent wings sprouted from it. The wings flapped a couple of times as they grew stronger. The cracks continued to grow as now a back protruded from it. In a matter of seconds, the fake Aster shattered completely and revealed a whole new form. What stood now was a Changeling, but vastly different from Ocellus’ original form. She stood as tall as Aster, her carapace was a smooth arctic blue color, with white patches that ran under her forearms, biceps, inner thighs, the back of her calves, and along the front of her chest. Around where her collarbone would be, were now five gemstones that formed a “V” pattern, with the center fifth gem at least twice as big as the other four and located at the center of her chest. Her single head frill was gone, instead now having long, shimmering salmon colored hair. From her forehead her exoskeleton protruded out just a bit, forming a pseudo-crown, her curved horn formed the center, while two others stuck out from under her hair around the sides of her head. A white patch was formed around her mouth, and her eyes sparkled with a greater brilliance than they had before. Tantabus didn’t understand what was happening, but its body was almost complete and when that happened it would be able to complete its mission. Summoning more of its power, Tantabus fired off more black lightning at Ocellus, but the Changeling Queen, waved her right hand in front of her, creating a barrier of blue-green light that blocked the black lightning completely. “Aster, my friends, let’s end this now!” Ocellus declared. On the other side of the tear, the girls all nodded in agreement. All three Asters gathered before Concordia and started to glow blue, red, and white. “Let’s combine our powers together guys!” Aster stated. Solaris, Aster, and Cosmic, transformed into light that shot towards the crystal heart at the center of Concordia. The super robot’s eyes exploded with intense light as its entire body shined with golden light, and its eyes shining a bright white. The horn on the top of Concordia’s head disengaged and grew three times bigger than the machine. Concordia raised its right arm as the horn weapon attached onto its right hand. Tantabus’ body flared up with dark energy, sensing its opponents were about to enter their final attack. At the same time, the real world Tantabus did the same, building up power in preparation to destroy Ocellus and the Academy. Ocellus’s wings glowed as particles of green light became visible in the air. The gemstones on Ocellus’ chest began to glow. In the dreamscape, Concordia flew into the sky and then charged straight for Tantabus as the drill horn spun at a rapid pace, creating an spiraling rainbow that was coming straight for the dream demon. “TEAM ASTER DYNAMIC FINISH!!!” “LUMINOUS SPARK!!!” Ocellus fired a beam of sparkling green energy from the center gemstone that roared with great power for Tantabus. The dream demon fired off a massive volley of black lightning that slammed against her beam, and at the same time, the dreamscape Tantabus released a giant beam of darkness that struck against the spiral rainbow. The attacks on two fronts continued to fight against the evil one before them. All eight of the friends released a powerful battle cry as Ocellus’ Luminous Spark tripled in size and bathed over Tantabus, making it shriek in pain as it was erased from the real world, but the beam continued on, piercing through the spacial tear. At the same time, Team Aster’s drill spun faster as it pierced through the beam of darkness and struck Tantabus dead center in the chest, at that exact moment, Ocellus’ beam hit the back of Tantabus as the two attacks synchronized in the dreamscape. A great explosion took place in the dreamscape as the darkness of the Tantabus was incinerated, along with the dark web that connected it to all the dream spheres. Ocellus cut off her beam attack and covered her eyes as the light from the explosion was blinding, fear gripped her heart as the thought that her attack might’ve killed her friends. However, when the light faded away Ocellus was overjoyed to see that the super robot and Aster were alright, both giving Ocellus a thumbs up. The tear in space finally closed and when it did, Ocellus collapsed onto the ground, landing on her rear as she released a sigh of exhaustion. She took a moment to look over her body, her wings, her carapace, and even the three horns that acted as a crown. “I’m…I’m a Queen now…” \*****///** [Unknown Space…] King Sombra narrowed his gaze as he swiped away the image of the Tantabus’ defeat, growling with indignation that his creature was so easily destroyed. “What’s the matter Sombra? You’re plan not go so well?” Chrysalis mocked. The dark king glared with red glowing eyes at Chrysalis. “The Tantabus shouldn’t have been so easily defeated, especially in the dream world!” “Looks like Aster has some alleys that are strong, and her power seems to extend even into the realm of dreams. But I suppose I must thank you.” Sombra raised an eyebrow in confusion. “And why, pray tell, do you have need to thank me?” Chrysalis chuckled darkly. “Because, now that little grub has finally evolved into a Queen caste. Which means now I can kill her and establish my rule as the one true Queen.” An explosion went off in the distance as fire and lightning raged around where the explosion went off. When the flames died down, a creature stood up with yellowing glowing parts that gave out an alien sound. “And lucky me, Zetton’s ready to play, too.” Author's Note In case you're wondering, I may or may not use "Chowager" in a future sentai story. Still brainstorming that. And for those of you wanting to know, Chowa means "Harmony", and the "ger" is the last part of "ranger". Now for the preview! The time has come for Ocellus to assume her role as the new Queen of the Changelings, and to do this, she and Chrysalis must engage in mortal combat to determine the next queen of Hive Prime. But a powerful foe of the Ultra's makes its appearance and forces Sunset to fight! Will her power be enough to stop the mighty Zetton and Chrysalis? Or will Hive Prime, and possibly Earth, fall victim to the evil of Chrysalis?! Find out in the next episode! 12th Light: Battle on Hive Prime! / Unite the bonds of friendship! 12th Light: Battle on Hive Prime! / Unite the bonds of friendship!Ocellus sighed heavily, she knew this day was coming, she knew, but she still wasn’t mentally prepared for it. When the battle with the Tantabus ended, Sunset and the girls came rushing out of the school to find Ocellus, and it was then that they saw her in her new state. After giving a report to Commander Celestia and Vice Commander Luna, they made a call to Hive Prime to speak with King Thorax. After a lengthy chat, arrangements were made so that Ocellus would return to Hive Prime, in three day’s time she would leave from a SMILE spaceship and be sent to the planet. Two days had passed since that call, and Ocellus didn’t have the energy to go to classes. She mostly spent her time looking out from the balcony of her shared dorm room, watching the students go to and come back from whatever activities they were doing. She assumed her human form, which didn’t change much, she was a bit taller, a little curvier, and her hair was longer, but other than that, she still looked the same. She explained it as a reflection of her new maturity, it was also embarrassing because it also meant that she was technically biologically capable of producing offspring, by the thousands if so needed. Ocellus shuddered, the idea of birthing so many new Changelings made her exoskeleton crawl. Things like that weren’t even on her mind, if anything, they were way into the future as far as she was concerned. Perhaps when she was older, maybe? But that wasn’t the biggest issue at the moment. As of tomorrow, Ocellus would have to battle Chrysalis for the right to rule over the Changeling race. If she lost, Chrysalis would solidify her standing as the one true ruler of the Changelings and covert the remaining Changelings into Dark Changelings. But if Ocellus won, she could convert the Dark Changelings into their Reformed forms, and end the longstanding civil war on their planet. It was all on her, the fate of billions on her tiny shoulders, and she hadn’t even had her first kiss yet. The young Changeling sighed again, slumping onto the railing of the balcony. She heard the door open behind her, but didn’t turn to look. She was sure that it was either Fluttershy, Rarity, or Pinkie Pie returning to get something that they forgot. However, she was surprised when Sunset took the spot next to her and said, “Hey, Celly.” “S-Sunset?! Are you skipping class?” Ocellus asked. Sunset shrugged. “Eh, maybe.” Ocellus put on a wan smile as she looked back out into the distance. “You really shouldn’t skip classes because of me.” “A friend of mine is facing something monumental and is clearly depressed. I can’t think of a better reason to not skip class,” said Sunset. “Still…” “Ocellus, I know you never wanted any of this thrust onto you. And honestly, I get how you feel.” Sunset brought up her left wrist, a flash of light went off and the StaRaizer appeared. “Being Aster means I’m responsible for the lives of every single person on this planet. I don’t know how or why I have this power, whether I wanted it or not. With my lost memories, it kind of feels like someone just slapped this on me.” Ocellus nodded, if there was anyone on the planet who could relate to Ocellus, it was Sunset. The flame haired human may not have to rule over anyone, but she was still responsible for protecting people. “How did you make the decision to fight? To take on that kind of responsibility?” Ocellus asked. Sunset chuckled. “Honestly, up until a few months ago, I didn’t.” Ocellus turned to Sunset with surprise. “Really?!" "Really. It was actually Twilight who helped me figure out what I wanted to be.” Sunset placed her right hand on Ocellus’ shoulder and looked her in the eyes. “I’m not here to tell you what’s right and what’s wrong. At the end of the day, it’s up to you. Honestly, I wish I could fight with you and take her down myself.” “I wish you could too, having you as Aster would definitely scare Chrysalis.” Sunset and Ocellus began to giggle at the idea, and for Sunset, it was a relief to see that Ocellus could giggle or laugh at all. After their little fit, they settled to stare out into the distance again. “Well, you’ll be happy to know that I’ve gotten permission from Celestia to accompany you to Hive Prime,” said Sunset. Ocellus nearly dropped her human disguise when she heard that. “Y-You are?!” “Weellll…not just me.” Sunset turned around and leaned her back against the railing as she pointed back into the room. “They decided to tag along.” Ocellus turned around as well and spotted Twilight, Pinkie, Rainbow, Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy standing in the living room, all of whom had confident smiles on their faces. “We’ve also been given permission to accompany you to Hive Prime, darling,” said Rarity. “B-But how?!” Ocellus asked. Rainbow crossed her arms and said, “Aside from being given Special Agent status, we all thought you could use the moral support.” “Ain’t no way we’re leavin’ a friend to go and face somethin’ this big alone,” said Applejack. “It wasn’t easy to convince my parents, but I managed to persuade them to let me come,” said Twilight with a nervous smile. Fluttershy walked across the room and stood before Ocellus, she then took Ocellus’ hands into her own and said, “We believe in you, Ocellus, and we’ll be there for you. You can do this.” Ocellus’ eyes began to water, tears were shed as she hugged Fluttershy, and Fluttershy returned that hug. After a minute of crying, Ocellus wiped her eyes and looked back at Sunset, “I think I get what you meant.” Sunset nodded. “Thank you, all of you. I’ll fight as hard as I can a-and…I will win!” \*****///** [Saturday, 9:33 A. M., Space: In Transit] The shuttle glided through hyperspace and eventually exited just outside of Hive Prime’s orbit. From space, the planet was green in color, with some patches of water that could be seen here and there. The ship made its final approach and entered the atmosphere of Hive Prime, the friction burned the outer hull, but did no real damage as they entered Hive Prime’s airspace. Two fighters appeared on either side of the shuttle, they were colored white, and had an insectoid look to them, like a dragonfly. The two ships brought the shuttle into the spaceport where a private hangar had been set up for them. Once the shuttle was inside, the doors opened up and Sunset was the first to exit. Down below the stairway was a regiment of forty Changeling guards, all of whom were dressed in white armor, holding a spear weapon that also doubled as a rifle. At the end was King Thorax, he too wore white armor, but trimmed with gold and a purple cape. Next to him was another Changeling, he had a more aggressive look to him, he had three horns like Thorax, but his side horns were more curved. His chitin was a dark cyan color, and his eyes were bright purple. “My name’s Sunset Shimmer, I’m a friend of Ocellus,” she announced. Thorax and the second Changeling walked through the line of forty soldiers and said, “I am King Thorax, and this is Pharynx, my Second-in-Command, and leader of the Changeling Armed Forces.” Pharynx placed his right fist over his chest in salute. Sunset nodded and looked back into the ship. “It’s okay, I think.” The soldiers watched in stunned silence as they saw Ocellus step out of the ship. She was in her true form, when she was giant, her exoskeleton was more angular, appearing more like armor, now it was smoother and laid against her body. The white faceplate was gone, allowing her mouth to be seen. She held her hands out in front, her eyes darting from Thorax and then back to the stairs, clearly embarrassed by the amount of attention she was getting from her fellow Changelings. Sunset led the way down the stairs, followed behind her was Vice Commander Luna, and right behind her was Fluttershy, Twilight, who was carrying a large backpack, Rarity, Pinkie, Applejack, and Rainbow. All of whom were dressed in their school uniforms. Once all nine of them were down on the ground, Thorax and Pharynx walked up and met them halfway. “It’s good to see you returned, Ocellus,” said Thorax. Ocellus bowed and said, “Thank you, my King.” “King Thorax,” Luna bowed as well, “on behalf of SMILE, we wish to be present for this occasion. That being said, Ocellus’ friends wished to be here to offer her moral support.” Pharynx looked upon the assembled girls, appraising them. His gaze fell on Applejack and Rainbow Dash, he knew warriors when he saw them, one of them was half-alien and another was full alien, another four were human, and lastly, his gaze lingered on Sunset. His eyes could see something in her that was…different from the rest of them. It wasn’t threatening, but it was something that he was sure he needed to keep an eye on. “That would be fine, I’m sorry we couldn’t bring your family with you, but I thought it better that it’d just be you to come. Once this is over, you can all come back to Hive Prime,” said Thorax. “Thank you,” said Ocellus. “We’d best be on our way, we don’t want to linger too long. COMPANY, MOVE OUT!” Pharynx ordered. The soldiers all turned to the same direction, the group moved towards the entrance of the hangar, the first ten soldiers went out first, scouting the area and then moved to the stag beetle looking transport. Once they were sure that it wasn’t rigged with explosives, they signaled for the rest to come out. When the group got outside, the SMILE students awed at the city before them. It was built up in large spires, greenery and color were everywhere, it was almost as if the buildings were made from the land itself. After a brief moment of looking at the city, they were directed to head inside the transport, the rest of the soldiers mounted smaller vehicles that sat two at a time, one seat for the driver and another for the gunner. The stag beetle transport rose up and then took off, along with its twenty ship escort. During the ride, Twilight decided to ask, “I-If you don’t mind me asking, how does all this work?” Thorax shook his head. “I don’t mind telling you, but…” his eyes turned to Ocellus. The young Changeling nodded. “It’s alright, they’re going to see it anyway.” Thorax nodded. “It’ll take place in the ceremonial battlegrounds called the ‘Arena'. It’s a rough terrain, formed from the many battles that have taken place there centuries before all of us, where previous Queens have battled. The land deformed and scarred from their powers clashing. It’s the place that all Queen caste Changelings are to go. Two enter, but only one leaves.” Ocellus clenched her hands together. “Is there any way for Ocellus to get some help?” Sunset asked. “No,” Pharynx answered, “it’s a duel, any outside interference would show that the Queen is unworthy of rule, if she can’t defend herself, then why should we protect her? The Queen should always be the last line of defense against any invaders, it is our job as the hive to protect our King and Queen.” Sunset glanced at Ocellus and gave a small shrug, silently saying, “I tried.” Ocellus patted Sunset’s right arm and smiled at her, silently telling her that it was alright. “Has Chrysalis appeared yet?” Vice Commander Luna asked. “She has, she sensed when Ocellus changed, and immediately came back to Hive Prime, she and her Dark Changelings are gathered at the battlegrounds, waiting for Ocellus,” said Thorax. “Are we…Are we heading there now?” Ocellus asked. “Not if you don’t want to. You technically have at least five days reprieve before entering battle, so you have until the day after tomorrow to prepare yourself,” Pharynx stated. Ocellus clenched her hands into fists, she knew what she wanted, the longer she dragged this out, the more worried she’d get, and the more worried she got, the higher the chance that she might do something disgraceful to herself, her friends, and the Changelings who were counting on her. “No, let’s do it,” said Ocellus. Everyone looked at Ocellus with shock. “O-Ocellus, you don’t have to fight Chrysalis right away,” said Fluttershy. “No, I do, if I don’t, I’ll be too scared to actually face her! I want to do it now while I still feel like I have the nerve to do it!” Ocellus looked up at Thorax. “Please, my King, let me fight her now!” Thorax looked to his commander, and brother, Pharynx. While they were both happy to see Ocellus’ enthusiasm to fight and protect her people, they were unsure of her mindset, she looked nervous, as well she should be, but it seemed she was making this decision in haste. “I’m ready to face her, please allow me!” The two male Changelings sighed wryly. “If that is what you wish, then we will do so.” Pharynx walked to the pilots and said, “Change of plans, tell the escorts were heading to the Arena” The pilots looked at Pharynx with mild surprise. “Just do it.” With their own wry nod, the pilots relayed the message to the escorts, the ship changed direction and was then on its way towards the Arena. Pharynx walked to one of the lockers and opened it, inside were breathing apparatuses. “Hive Prime’s atmosphere can support beings like you, but there are some areas where the air isn’t so good, the Arena being one of them. You all will need to wear these. We Changelings can alter our bodies to survive in almost any climate condition,” said Pharynx. “Do we need suits to go with these?” Luna asked. “No, the air won’t hurt your skin or eyes, your lungs are a different story.” \*****///** [Ceremonial battlegrounds: Arena, 10:15 P. M…] The Arena was a jagged, crooked land. The earth rose from the ground like claws trying to grasp at anything that tried to get close, the land itself was black and gray, scarred from the countless battles that had taken place over the centuries. No greenery would grow from this desolate land, to live in this place would be to endure harshness on a daily basis, where the name of the game was survival. Deep in the heart of this wasteland was the Arena, formed due to the fighting that took place there, it served as the place where all the Changeling Queens would begin their battles. Across from the arena was a jagged mountain, you could scarcely call it a palace of a forgotten age of the Changelings. With many holes and catacombs that once served as the primary hive of a long-forgotten generation of Changelings, now it was a ruin. On one side of the giant arena, a swarm of Dark Changelings waited, they hissed and squabbled amongst themselves, only being stopped twice when they began to annoy their Queen. Unlike the Reformed Changelings, these Changelings wore violet armor, all of them looked the same, you couldn’t distinguish male from female like the current Changelings. To be fair, most Changelings before the reform were non-binary, mostly because they could transform into either males or females and recreate the proper equipment to further sell their disguise. It was all to help them feed on the emotional energy of their victims, to make them fall in love or care for them deeply. Chrysalis sat on a makeshift throne on one side of the bowl shaped Arena, her eyes were half-lidded with boredom. She had come to the Arena and waited all day for the past three days for the whelp of a Queen to appear. Part of Chrysalis hoped she didn’t appear, not because she was scared, but because it would show the “Reformed” Changelings just how cowardly their new Queen was, and that there was only one true Queen to follow. Are you certain that the Ultra will appear here? “Trust me, my lord. She came to the rescue of that planet, and to the rescue of that grub. I doubt she’ll let her die that easily, especially with what I have planned.” Do not fail me, Chrysalis. I agreed to give you a seat before me because I see the value of your Changelings, their ability to infiltrate and impersonate will allow us to get closer to the Tree. However, that’s if you can convert the rest of your hive back to what they once were. Your loss of the few Belzeb you had was a great blow to your forces. Chrysalis grimaced. “A minor setback. But once I kill her, all that will be nothing.” Just then, the sound of an approaching ship caught Chrysalis’ attention, causing her to smirk. “And here comes my entertainment.” The transport ship and the escort speeders landed on the far side of the Arena, the hatch opened and from it walked out King Thorax and Commander Pharynx. Next Ocellus walked out, flanked by Sunset and Luna, and right behind them were their friends. Chrysalis got up from her throne and began walking towards them, followed by a contingent of five Dark Changeling guards. The two groups met in the middle, with King Thorax and Commander Pharynx staring down their former Queen with knitted brows, while Chrysalis just smiled cockily at them. “My little Thorax, it’s been a long time. You’ve grown so much and become quite the strapping King caste. Had I known that whiny little thing would become this,” she gestured towards Thorax’s body, “I would’ve made sure to bring you to my chambers.” Thorax huffed, but said no words, not even wanting to dignify her words with a response. “And Pharynx, you disappointed me. You were one of my greatest, and strongest soldier caste, and yet you betrayed your hive.” Pharynx growled at her as he said, “I betrayed no one! Your way would see our race starve to death, Thorax showed us that there was a different way, and we are thriving, and I know that’s just killing you.” Chrysalis narrowed her gaze as her horn lit up, but Thorax put himself between Pharynx and Chrysalis as his two bigger horns glowed in response. The King and Queen stared each other down, the area felt extremely tense, and despite the rebreathers, it felt hard to breathe. After a minute, their horns dimmed and the two backed up. Chrysalis turned her attention to Ocellus, upon which Sunset was quick to shoot an arm out in front of Ocellus to protect her. “So, this is the grub who would be Queen? I’ve certainly seen much fiercer back in the old days, even my predecessor was scarier looking than you.” Ocellus remained silent. “What’s the matter, grub? No words? No witty banter? Come now, you have to give me something, this may be your last chance to give some encouraging or awe-inspiring words, at least before you die,” Chrysalis mocked. “She’ll do her talking on the battlefield,” said Sunset. Chrysalis glared at Sunset, but the human did not flinch. “Watch your tongue, outsider.” “Then try not to stick it out when you hiss,” Sunset countered. Chrysalis hissed, making her forked tongue come out. Her right forearm produced a scythe blade as she made to attack Sunset, but Ocellus quickly moved Sunset out the way and threw her right hand up, her five gemstones glowed as a light shield appeared before her, stopping Chrysalis’ attack before it could land. “Do not harm my friends! Your fight is with me!” Ocellus stated. Chrysalis looked upon Ocellus and chuckled as she retracted her blade and backed away. “Very well, shall we get on with it?” “Yes, let’s.” Chrysalis made a gesture for her guards to leave her, at the same time, Ocellus nodded her head towards Thorax. With that signal given, Thorax and Pharynx directed the group to head back to the ship. “Why do those guys look so much different from you and the others?” Rainbow asked. “Before the reform, we Changelings lived off of the emotional energy of other creatures, the strongest of this was love. In order to syphon as much of this as we could, Changelings evolved so that we had the power to perfectly imitate someone that another creature loves and cares about deeply. Before the change, we didn’t have set genders, which made it easier for Changelings to, ahem, shift their genitalia from male to female on the fly if needed, it also helped their personalities so that they shift from one to the other.” “Damn…” “It’s different now, we share our love with each other, the love of our hive and for other creatures and things. It’s thanks to this that we can thrive and not have to scavenge the universe for sustenance. Chrysalis would have us return to that, which would mean endless wars with different planets as we harvested different planets for their love energy, and result in the loss of many of our hive. Thorax found a way for us to continue living and not have to invade and die,” Pharynx explained. Sunset kept an eye on Chrysalis, something didn’t feel right about this whole thing, aside from the fact that one of her friends was about to enter into mortal combat for the fate of an entire planet. It felt like a setup, Sunset couldn’t explain it but it was making her skin crawl, like there was a hidden danger somewhere that she could sense, but couldn’t pin down. “Sunset, are you okay?” Twilight asked. “Not completely…something’s not right, but I can’t put my finger on it. I might end up having to transform,” said Sunset. “You can’t, if you do, the match will be deemed invalid and Ocellus will lose,” said Twilight. “I know, I know…I just hope I’m being paranoid.” Once both sides were a safe distance away, Ocellus and Chrysalis took a few steps back. Chrysalis’ body glowed with dark green energy, while Ocellus’ body glowed with artic blue energy. In a matter of seconds, both Queens were enveloped in their respective auras as pillars of light shot into the sky. From those pillars, Chrysalis and Ocellus appeared in their giant battle forms. Chrysalis’s body had more jagged armor, like the landscape had melded with her exoskeleton, her mouth had grown into a muzzle, with sharp rows of fangs, and two pincers on each side of her face. Her single horn had grown with her, now pulsing with dark green light. Ocellus’ armor was sleek and knightly, with her white faceplate having formed once again. Her three horns glowed with her arctic blue energy as the two squared off. “Once I’ve killed you, the hive will be mine again,” Chrysalis declared. “I won’t let you continue this civil war or make us return to what we once were! I will stop you,” said Ocellus. The two giant Queens charged and crashed into each other, causing the ground to rumble beneath their feet. Ocellus came in with a right punch, but Chrysalis blocked the attack with her left forearm and swiped upwards with her right claw blade. Sparks flew from Ocellus’ body as she stumbled backwards. Despite the direct hit, Ocellus seemed okay. Ocellus’ crystals glowed as she created a sword construct in her right hand, and on her left forearm she formed a circular construct shield. With her weapons made, Ocellus charged in yet again. Chrysalis swung at Ocellus with her blades, but Ocellus blocked the first strike with her shield, and parried the second with her sword. The New Queen’s horns glowed as her wings flared out, her wings fluttered quickly as green particles gathered to her. Without warning, Ocellus became a blur, zooming around the Arena. She struck Chrysalis in the back, sending sparks flying from the Former Queen, another attack hit Chrysalis in the front three times before backing away. Ocellus continued this blitz attack, making Chrysalis grow frustrated by the swiftness the young Changeling was showing. “ENOUGH!” Chrysalis’ wings flared out as dark green energy gathered to her wings. In less than a second, she too dashed at incredible speeds to match Ocellus. A high-speed battle occurred before the Dark Changelings, Ocellus’ friends, and the Reformed Changeling soldiers. All they could see were black and blue blurs and sparks that would occasionally go off. The blurring streaks eventually stopped as Chrysalis and Ocellus took to the skies. Ocellus flew higher than Chrysalis until she was right above her, her five gemstones glowed as spheres of arctic blue light appeared around the new Queen. “CASCADE!” The six spheres of light shot forth towards Chrysalis at rapid speed, Chrysalis was too late to react as all twelve beams hit her and exploded. Ocellus didn’t let up as she launched multiple Cascade volleys, barraging Chrysalis and forcing the old Queen to back away from her. “DAMN LITTLE GRUB!” Chrysalis roared. The old Changeling Queen’s horn glowed and then fired a column sized beam of dark green light. Ocellus hurriedly moved out of the way as the beam sailed higher into the sky. Chrysalis wasn’t done as she fired the beam again, but this time, Ocellus fired off her Cascade again, trying to hit Chrysalis from around her beam attack. The beam cut through several peaks and caused chunks of debris rock to fall. Ocellus looked back and saw that several of those pieces were heading for her friends and allies. Thinking quickly, Ocellus pointed her next Cascade attack towards the debris and fired, each of her beams struck the falling debris with pinpoint accuracy, destroying them before they could reach her friends. Unfortunately, that gave Chrysalis time to fire another beam attack, this time hitting Ocellus dead on. The beam exploded against Ocellus, sending her into a tailspin. The young Changeling Queen slammed against a spire, making her grunt in pain. Chrysalis flew straight for her, brandishing her sickle blades Ocellus summoned her Cascade attack, but instead of firing at Chrysalis, she blasted the spire behind her, allowing the dust to blow out towards Chrysalis and provide Ocellus with cover. Chrysalis stopped when the dust plume struck her, obstructing her view of Ocellus and stinging her eyes. What came next caught Chrysalis off guard as something barreled into her stomach at high speeds and forced her back down to the ground with a large BOOM! Ocellus rolled on the ground for a few seconds before stopping and springing to her feet, Chrysalis shot up and swiped at the air in front of her, causing a gust of wind that blew the dust away. “You have power, little one, but I have experience!” Ocellus narrowed her gaze as she entered a fighting stance. “SMILE didn’t just teach me how to sharpen my mind…” The young Changeling charged for Chrysalis again. She moved like she was going to the left, but feinted as she came in with an uppercut to Chrysalis’ jaw. “They also showed me how to hone my body!” Ocellus followed up by spinning in midair and throwing a flying roundhouse kick to Chrysalis’ left side. The twin blows sent Chrysalis flying to the opposite of the Arena as she crashed into the wall. Sunset, Twilight, Rarity, Pinkie, Applejack, Rainbow, and Fluttershy all cheered and yelled at Ocellus’ combo move. “Booyah! I taught her that!” Rainbow boasted. Chrysalis tore herself out of the body sized crater and dusted herself off as she strode towards Ocellus. “I dare say this has been the most fun I’ve had in centuries little grub. But there’s something lacking in your attacks, something that probably would make me fight more seriously.” “And that is?” “You have no intent on killing me.” Ocellus’ eyes widened with shock. “Despite how powerful your attacks have been, they’re lacking the proper intent to kill. You may have resolved to fight me, but you haven’t hardened your heart to kill the one being that stands in your way!” Chrysalis accused. Ocellus wavered, it was true, even with all the attacks she had thrown thus far, none of them were initiated with the intent to kill Chrysalis. Chrysalis smirked as she continued. “You were probably naively hoping to overpower me and make me surrender to you, right? Trying to show mercy? Or were you hoping to win this without spilling any blood? Whatever the case may be, you’re never going to become a true Queen if you don’t take down what’s in front of you! ZETTON!” In a flash of yellow light, a being appeared next to Chrysalis. The girls recognized it as the second monster that Aster defeated, but it looked far different from the last time they saw it. Zetton had a more streamlined look, his head was slender, with two jagged, horn-like antennae. Upon its face was a yellow, glowing four-point star pattern. The exoskeleton looked much stronger than it did previously, with two yellow nodes on its chest, and one more on its waist. Its forearms were blade-like, with yellow glowing edges. This was his evolved form, Hyper Zetton Imago. “Zet-ton…!” “W-W-What is that thing doing here?!” “CHRYSALIS!” Thorax yelled. “THIS IS IN VIOLATION OF THE ANCIENT LAWS OF THE CHANGELINGS!” Chrysalis turned to Thorax and looked down on him with a smirk. “I make the laws here, Thorax, from this moment forward!” Sunset clenched her fists and gnashed her teeth, “That’s it!” Sunset broke away from the group and summoned her StaRaizer. || ULTRAMAN! || “Grant me the power of a galaxy!” || ULTRAMAN GINGA! || “Release the light within me!” ||SHINE ON! ULTRAWOMAN ASTER!|| A bright flash of light ignited in the Arena, and within seconds, Ultrawoman Aster now stood next to Ocellus, already in her fighting stance. “My light will overcome the darkness!” “Ah, there you are, I was wondering where you were hiding, Aster! Go on, Zetton, strike down your prey!” “I took him down once, I’ll do it again!” Aster declared. “Oh, did I forget to mention that the Zetton you defeated was one of my Changelings? Of course, that one couldn’t fully imitate the full power of Zetton, but since this is the original, well…” Zetton teleported and then reappeared before Aster. The Ultra warrior managed to release a gasp before a fireball exploded between them and sent the hero flying towards out of the Arena and into a pillar of rock. “SUNSET!” Ocellus yelled as she prepared to assist. But before she could, Chrysalis reached out and yanked on Ocellus’ hair, making her fall to the ground. “Worry about yourself, grub!” \*****///** Aster’s chest hurt, that attack really hurt. But even so, Aster peeled herself off the wall and stood ready to fight. Zetton teleported again and appeared on Aster’s right, the Ultra went for a backhand strike, but Zetton teleported again before her strike could land. Zetton continued to teleport again and again, confusing Aster as to where she should attack. When Zetton finally stopped, Aster dashed towards him and threw a punch, but right before she made contact, Zetton split apart and became two Zettons. Zetton 1 gave a swift kick to Aster’s stomach, followed by Zetton 2 hitting her in the back with both arms, making her slam against the hard ground. Both Zettons merged together, now behind Aster. When she saw that, Aster quickly sprang up and crossed her left arm over her right as energy gathered to the two points. “Astronium Ray!” Aster’s sparkling beam blasted towards Zetton, but the creature didn’t even bother to dodge it. Zetton raised its arms up and created a wormhole between his arms, allowing the Astronium Ray to fly right into it until Aster stopped her attack. Once done, Zetton collapsed the wormhole as the glowing edges of his arms shined brighter and unleashed yellow lightning upon Aster. Explosions erupted around her, along with sparks all over her body. When the explosions reached their apex, Sunset decided to use this to change up her tactics. || ULTRAMAN LEO! || || ULTRAMAN MAX! || ||BURN UP! SOLARIS MAXIMUS!|| From the roaring flames, Aster emerged in her powered form, Solaris Maximus. Before she could land a punch, Zetton immediately began teleporting around the area. “Don’t think that’s going to work on me twice!” Aster’s body began to absorb the flames from the explosions, and then build it up more and more. When Zetton appeared again to strike her, Aster unleashed her attack. “NOVA BURN!” The dome of burning energy erupted in all directions, scorching the spires around her until they crumbled under the strength of her attack. Aster ended her blaze and quickly looked around to see where Zetton had gone, hoping that the blast was big enough and quick enough to destroy him. Alas, her hopes were dashed when Zetton teleported before her and struck her with its right arm, causing sparks to fly from her chest, then teleported again until he was behind her and swiped at her back. “Dammit! Okay, let’s try this!” || ULTRAMAN COSMOS! || || ULTRAMAN AGUL! || ||FLOW AND CRASH! COSMIC WAVE!|| Meanwhile, Ocellus was reengaged with Chrysalis, with the latter fighting with more ferocity than when the battle began. Ocellus could barely keep up with her, focusing more on defense than offense as she brought up a construct shield to defend herself. “WEAK!” Chrysalis’ sickle blade struck Ocellus’ shield. “PATHETIC!” Another strike made Ocellus fallback. “MISERABLE EXCUSE FOR A QUEEN CASTE!” Chrysalis’ two sickle blades glowed with dark green light, and with a single swipe, she unleashed a crescent energy attack in the form of a large “X” that roared towards Ocellus. The young Changeling focused her energy forward and doubled the power of her shield, but it was no use, the “X” attack smashed through her shield and carried her all the way towards one of the spires and exploded right after impacting. Before Ocellus could fall from the spire, Chrysalis zoomed across the way pinned Ocellus against the spire with her clawed hand. “How does it feel, little grub? To know that you’re not only going to let down so many, but that you’ll be responsible for the death of Aster?!” “A-Aster w-won’t lose…!” As she said that, three rock spires broke in half as something blue was tossed straight through them. The blue object flipped around and revealed Aster in her Cosmic Wave form, she dug her heels into the earth as she came to a stop and produced her Aqua Blades. Zetton teleported again and again as Aster slashed through the air of where he was, but failed in landing a single hit against the evolved Space Beast. Zetton, however, was landing several hits as he fired one Dark Fireball attack after the other, causing significant damage to Aster. Chrysalis smirked and then tossed Ocellus in that direction. The young Changeling couldn’t stop as she found herself plowing into Aster and as they skidded across the Arena. The SMILE agents and Reformed Changelings looked on in terror as their New Queen and Ultra hero were now on the ground. Aster’s speed form ended as she returned to her default form, Ocellus managed to get off of her, her own body aching with pain. “We…We can’t give up…Ocellus…!” “I…I know…but she’s so strong…!” “You’re stronger, I…I believe in you!” Aster stated. Both heroes rose to their standing height, Aster reached up to the crest on her head and summoned forth her Stellugger. “Let’s give this everything we got, alright?!” Ocellus nodded and answered, “A-Alright!” Within the starry nexus, Sunset took out the Victory Coin and from her StaRaizer, the Ginga Coin, and placed them into the slots of the Stellugger. || ULTRAMAN GINGA! || || ULTRAMAN VICTORY! || Ocellus flared her wings and began gathering particles of bright green light. On the opposite end, Zetton and Chrysalis were charging up as well. The Changeling Queen’s horn shined with dark green power, while Zetton collected his energy into a large fireball. Once both parties were charged, they initiated their attacks. “GINGA-VICTORY! ULTIMATUM STRASH!!!” “LUMINOUS SPARK!!!” Aster slashed the air with the Stellugger, unleashing a crescent wave of blue and yellow light, at the same time, Ocellus’ beam fired from her central gemstone, the two attacks melded together as the crescent spun at the tip of Ocellus’ beam attack. Zetton discharged his fireball, with Chrysalis firing her dark green energy beam. The beam wrapped around the fireball as both attacks roared across the battlefield and slammed against each other, causing a cacophonous, thundering roar through the Area. The attacks from either side vied for supremacy, pushing back and forth with great struggle. The struggle, however, did not last long as Zetton’s body erupted with an aura made of violet flames. At the same time, the Dark Fireball that it fired ignited with violet flames, and doubled in size. Aster and Ocellus watched in horror as their attack was pushed back more and more with each second, Aster looked to Ocellus and made her choice. The Ultrawoman put herself between Ocellus and the oncoming beam. With her left arm, she created her light shield and took the brunt of the villains’ attack. When the beam struck, a massive explosion took place that obscured Ocellus and Aster. The ground beneath their feet broke apart as Ocellus was tossed to the side while Aster was tossed into the air her body shimmered, appearing as a shooting star and landing somewhere far in the distance. “Sunset…” Twilight began walking. “Sunset…!” Her legs moved faster. “SUNSET!!!” Twilight broke into a sprint as she made her way to one of the speeders from the Reformed Changeling soldiers, which was easy enough as the majority of them were stunned from what they just saw. Twilight got into the pilot’s seat, her brain worked overtime as she deciphered how the instruments worked, and in a few seconds turned on the speeder and immediately took off in the direction that Sunset flew. Zetton was readying himself to give chase, but Chrysalis raised her hand and said, “Don’t bother, if she isn’t dead already, she’ll be dead for sure if she shows her face again. Now then…” Chrysalis walked towards Ocellus, she knelt before the downed Changeling, grabbing a fist full of her hair and pulling her up. Chrysalis brought her sickle blade to Ocellus’ throat, letting it hover mere inches from her. “It’d be so easy to end it here, but that would be too easy,” said Chrysalis. “What are you…going to do…?” Chrysalis smirked as she let the young Changeling fall back to the ground. Unconsciousness finally took hold as Ocellus knocked out, her body reverting back to smaller form. Chrysalis used her giant hand to scoop up her defeated prey and turned to King Thorax. “Let the rest of the hive know that I have won, and that I will end this one’s life, publically. An execution will be held at sunset today. To mark the end of this era, and so that a new dawn will rise on Hive Prime, with me as the undisputed Queen!” The Dark Changelings buzzed loudly as they took to the skies, hissing and snarling as they got closer. “We have to go!” Luna stated. “B-But, Twilight and–!” Rarity stuttered. Luna grabbed Rarity by the arm and said, “We can’t go searching for them! We need to move out, NOW! King Thorax?!” The tri-horned king balled his fists and gave the order. “We’re retreating, all forces head to the transport and speeders and give covering fire as we go!” Without another word spoken, the girls, Luna, King Thorax, and Commander Pharynx returned to the transport while the soldiers opened fire on the swarming Dark Changelings. Once they were in their speeders, the transport rose up and flew off back to the new capital, along with its escort ships. \*****///** [The Battlegrounds, 10:25 P. M…] “SUNSET!!!” Twilight yelled. The teen genius tried to keep her eyes on the sky while also looking downward to see where Sunset had landed. She searched and searched for she didn’t know how long, but soon she saw the signs. Several jagged pillars were broken in a clear line that indicated a path. Twilight followed that path until it eventually ended at a small crater. Not wasting any time, Twilight aimed the speeder downwards, once she was close to the ground Twilight slowed her descent until she was a few feet from where Sunset landed. When she touched down, Twilight practically leapt out of the speeder and ran towards her friend, she stopped and took a moment to look over Sunset’s injuries. She was bruised and cut up, her clothes were nearly in tatters but thankfully weren’t so bad as that they couldn’t preserve her modesty. One thing that she did notice was that Sunset’s breathing was ragged, it was then she realized that her rebreather mask was gone. Twilight decided to not look around for it, as it may’ve been dislodged somewhere along the path she followed miles back. Thinking quickly, Twilight ripped the hem of her shirt until her midriff was showing. Taking the piece of cloth, Twilight wrapped it round Sunset’s mouth and nose to try and at least minimize the amount of particulates in the air that was making it hard for her to breathe. “It’ll be okay, Sunset, I promise! You saved me, so I’ll save you!” Twilight declared. The teen genius carefully hooked her arms under Sunset’s armpits and slowly dragged her towards the speeder. Twilight was nearly out of breath by the time she got Sunset close to the speeder, now she needed to get her into the speeder. It was then that Twilight picked up on the sounds of buzzing. “Oh no…” Twilight didn’t bother to look up, knowing full well that it was the Dark Changelings, no doubt on orders from Chrysalis to find Sunset and kill her. “I won’t let that happen, I won’t let her get you!” Twilight hefted Sunset into the speeder, but when she did, she fell backwards and Sunset’s unconscious body fell on top of her. For some reason, having Sunset pressed this close to her made her feel funny despite the situation. Shaking off that feeling and filing that under “will look into it later”, Twilight hurried to the pilot’s seat and took off yet again. She didn’t really know where she was going, she just needed to put some distance between herself and the patrol that was getting closer. Just then, Twilight spotted a cave up ahead, it might’ve been cliché, but at least it was some cover. Twilight aimed the speeder down going as fast as she could to avoid getting spotted by the patrol. Once she was close to the mouth of the cave, she pulled back on the controls, making the speeder come to a violent and abrupt halt. Thankfully, Sunset was wedged in the seat behind her and wasn’t sent flying, while Twilight’s harness kept her from doing the same, however, her chest begged to differ on whether that was a good thing or not. Thinking of the worst case scenario, Twilight unfastened herself and got into the gunner’s seat where Sunset was, she turned the turret around and aimed it right at the mouth of the cave. Her hands trembled as her index fingers hovered over the triggers, shaking in fear that the Dark Changeling patrol was going to fly in and kill them. The buzzing got louder and Twilight’s shaking got worse, she felt as if she was going to go into a panic attack and pass out right then and there. But then she remembered the Maulwurf incident, and then she looked down to the unconscious girl whom she owed her life to. With a firm resolve, Twilight steadied her hands and readied for a potential fight. Thankfully, the buzzing seemed to dissipate and eventually it was gone. Twilight nearly collapsed when the tension finally left her body, but she knew her work wasn’t done yet, Sunset was still unconscious and she didn’t have a rebreather like Twilight did. The rag was barely doing anything to filter out the particles that were in the air, and there was no way she could take off with the Dark Changelings patrolling the area. “Luckily…I leave prepared,” said Twilight as she unslung her backpack. The first thing she took out was her holoframe, she hooked it up to an air analyzer that could get a better readout of what exactly was in the air that was causing breathing issues. “Okay, nothing that could ignite if a fire was started, that’s a good thing. Although the particulates in the air are bothersome…really bothersome…” Twilight glanced to Sunset. “Provided I don’t move around too much.” With her resolve affirmed, Twilight ripped her uniform skirt and fashioned another rag. She took a deep breath and quickly took off the rebreather and wrapped the rag around her mouth. She removed the rag from Sunset’s face and replaced it with her own rebreather. Once affixed to Sunset’s face, her breathing became less ragged, then it became smooth and even. “You need it more than I do, Sunset…Ocellus needs our help…your help. I just hope you’ll be ready before then,” Twilight whispered. Twilight tried to connect to another holoframe that belonged to her friends, but it was no use. She then moved to the speeder, Twilight found the communications console and began fiddling with the device to try and contact the Reformed Changeling soldiers, or even reach the transport. Unfortunately, all she was getting was static. “Shoot…the cave must be causing interference…” Twilight coughed a little. The young genius opened her backpack and took inventory of her supplies. “Okay…I have about twenty ration bars, a plasma heater, and…two bottled waters…” Twilight looked at the clock on the holoframe and grimaced. “It’s only been twenty minutes since the fight ended…and Ocellus is going to get executed at sunset.” Twilight typed on the holoframe and grimaced more when she realized that sunset would be at five on this planet. “That gives us little more than seven hours…Sunset needs at least three to recharge, but with these injuries…” Twilight sighed as she sat next to Sunset and sighed. “All we can do is wait…” \*****///** [Hive Prime, 1:30 P. M., Capital: New Elleria…] Rainbow Dash was pacing the floor grumbling as she did so, Applejack leaned against the wall with her arms crossed and a single finger tapping on her bicep in frustration. Rarity was sitting next to Fluttershy as she held her hand and rubbed circles on the crying girl’s back. Luna stood stoically as she stared down the large double doors, the group from SMILE was requested to wait in the hallway while Thorax and Pharynx went to work. After the debacle at the Arena, King Thorax and Commander Pharynx immediately convened a war council and informed them of what had occurred during the battle. Many of the Reformed Changelings were shocked to hear that Chrysalis would actually bring outside help to fight with her, to go against their own ancient laws was unheard of. Many on the war council were demanding an immediate strike on the Dark Changelings and Chrysalis in order to save the new Queen, if Chrysalis was not going to abide by the old laws than there was no reason they shouldn’t pull out all the stops to end her and the war once and for all. Thorax understood their frustration, but there was the appearance of Zetton. After witnessing the power that creature had, power enough to fell a member of the Ultras, that wasn’t something to take lightly. With Zetton, Chrysalis could possibly wipe out their forces easily if they weren’t careful. And there was no guarantee that their attack wouldn’t cause Ocellus’ death to come quicker. Too many unknowns, and too many risks to take that could end up with many lives lost. The war council went into recess so that they could come up with some options to attack. Once Thorax and Pharynx were out, Vice Commander Luna hurried to them. “Well?” Luna asked. “We’re getting some plans together to figure out how we’re going to launch a counterattack against Chrysalis,” said Pharynx. “Is there any way you can spare some of your troops? Two of my students are out there! One most certainly injured,” Luna pleaded. Thorax nodded. “We have sent a small team of Recon Changelings to check the area, the speeders have a tracking signal in case they’re stolen or if a soldier is missing in action. If we use too large a group, we run the risk of the Dark Changelings intercepting them before they find those girls, that or we agitate Chrysalis in moving up her timetable.” Pharynx gently placed his hand on Luna's shoulder. “We’ll find those two, especially since that one girl is an Ultra. That one student of yours was quick and brave to steal a speeder and go after her.” Luna rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. “To be honest, Twilight Sparkle was the last person I would’ve suspected to do something like that. I half expected some of my more energetic students to do that.” “Only because I was still in shock! Otherwise I would’ve!” Rainbow stated. “Simmer down, Sug, we know ya would’ve,” said Applejack. Pinkie Pie walked up to Rainbow and gave her a hug as she smiled. “Don’t worry, I know they’ll be okay.” “How do you know?” Fluttershy asked. “Because, it’s Sunset and Twilight, if there’s any two people who would be okay, it would be those two! Just have faith,” said Pinkie. Faith was something that was dwindling fast, but despite that, Pinkie’s words struck a chord with them. They needed to believe in Sunset and in Twilight. \*****///** [Hive Prime, 3:44 P. M., Arena…] The Dark Changelings swarmed around the Arena as they crafted a large platform. Communication and video equipment were brought in, making good on Chrysalis’ threat to make the execution public. While the construction was taking place, and nearly completed, Ocellus was on her knees, tied up with a special resin that was once used to make their hives. Chrysalis sauntered over to the young new Queen and used her clawed right hand to make her look up at her. “Don’t worry little grub, you did put up a decent fight back there. So, I’ll honor that by making this execution as quick and painless as possible.” “Somehow…I doubt that…” Ocellus spoke. “If that was all you were going to do, you would’ve just ended me hours ago. You want me to suffer so that everyone will see and no one will ever question your right to rule again.” Chrysalis let go and smiled wickedly at Ocellus. “Well, damn, you are smart. I was going to let you keep that hope up until I delivered the first painful blow so that I could see your face twist in agony as you realized that it wasn’t going to be quick at all.” Ocellus furrowed her brow as she looked upon the Dark Changeling Queen. “What happened to you?” Chrysalis went silent as she looked Ocellus in the eyes. “What do you mean?” “I’ve studied our history; the Changeling race wasn’t always like this. We were beings of love, we spread peace, now…we spread chaos and syphon love from other living things like parasites!” Chrysalis huffed as she said, “What does a little grub like you know of our people?! Know of the struggles, the pain, and hunger we faced eons ago! We were weak before, I made us stronger! Those that didn’t survive were weak! I was once like you, bright big eyes filled with wonder and hope, but then I learned the ugly truth! The universe is not a kind place, and I’ll be damned if we die like some bugs!” “We are stronger now! We no longer have to starve in this form, we can sustain ourselves, and the burden of generating a new brood of Changelings no longer has to fall solely on the Queen! We can mate now; we can make new Changelings ourselves! You can still be a part of that change!” Ocellus pleaded. Chrysalis narrowed her gaze. “You’ve also become weaker due to this change. You’re no longer the battle-hardened brood I hatched thousands of years ago, most of you have forgotten how to fight. Anyone of you could do battle and survive and I wouldn’t have to worry about any of you! Now…ugh, you make me sick! This form of yours makes me sick!” The Dark Changeling Queen slapped Ocellus across the face, sending her to the ground in a heap. “Once they see how weak they are, they’ll know they’ve made the wrong choice. Our race will be the strongest in the universe. You’ll see…not even your Ultra friend was strong enough to help you, what hope do you have?” Ocellus watched as Chrysalis walked away, now alone, she thought about Chrysalis’ words. Chrysalis was once like her; did that mean she too had fears about taking on the burden of becoming a Queen caste? Did she become this twisted version of herself because she saw no other way of keeping their race safe and strong? Would Ocellus herself become something just like Chrysalis, or worse? I won’t…Chrysalis was alone…I have my friends…I have King Thorax and Pharynx…my Mom, Dad, and my little sisters and brothers. But…Ocellus looked up at the nearly completed stage. I guess that’s a moot point now… \*****///** [Hive Prime, 4:30 P. M., 30 Kilometers from the Arena…] Sunset began to stir from her unconscious state, her vision was blurry for a few seconds before everything came back into focus. There was a damp smell, and it was dark. She felt something over her mouth, when Sunset touched her face, she found that her mouth was covered by the rebreather. Not only that, but her right arm was bandaged up. Sunset sat up slowly and noticed that most of her body had been tended to, cuts had Band-Aids or were wrapped with bandages, there were some bruises but they were healing quickly. The flame haired teen looked around and noticed she was in one of the Changeling soldiers’ speeders. Then her eyes fell on Twilight, she was slumped up against the turret mount. “TWILIGHT!” Sunset called out as she moved closer to her and grabbed her shoulders. “Hey, open your eyes, Sparky! C’mon, wake up!” Twilight stirred awake, her eyes opening slowly. “S-Sunset…you’re awake…” “Yeah I am! What happened! Why are we in a speeder, in a cave?!” “When…When you were hit…I s-stole a speeder…and chased after you. I-I found you…Your mask was gone…so I gave you mine…and flew us into this cave…to avoid the Dark…Dark Changelings…” Sunset shook her head in disbelief as she smiled. “You crazy little nerd girl! I’d congratulate you on jacking a military speeder if you weren’t in the state you’re in!” Twilight smiled under her face rag. “Heh…I…I thought the rag might help…turns out…the particulates in the air…don’t affect you as much as they do me…Perhaps that because you’re an Ultrawoman…or I’m just really out of shape…” “Don’t joke around, Sparky! Stay with me!” Twilight took in a raspy breath. “At least…you’re okay now…y-you can save Ocellus…I was at least…least of use…” “Shut up! You aren’t useless to me! You’re my friend, Twilight Sparkle! Y-You’re my best friend! And my best friend doesn’t get to leave me alone in this godforsaken place!” Sunset stated as she cried. “I’m your…best friend…?” Twilight asked. “Yes.” “I’m, I’m so happy…to hear you say that…” Just then, a bright flash of purple light erupted from within the cave. It washed over Sunset and Twilight, and when it did, Twilight took in a deep breath of air. She coughed for a moment before she was able to catch her breath, but somehow, she was able to breathe again. From her chest, a small sphere of light shot out. This sphere hovered between them before it took the form of a coin. Twilight held out her hands, and when she did, the coin fell into her open palms. The young genius nearly cried tears of joy upon seeing what lay in her hands, it was an Ultra Coin, an Ultra Coin born from herself. Sunset smiled broadly at Twilight, sensing the pride she was feeling in doing something like this for her best friend. Twilight turned to Sunset and presented her with the coin. “Here, Sunset, this is for you,” said Twilight in an elated tone. It was a tone that made Sunset’s heart thump a bit harder for some reason. Regardless, she gladly accepted the coin, and when it was in her hands, the name of the Ultra who was upon it entered her mind and she spoke aloud. “Ultraman…Hikari.” At that moment, Ultraman Orb’s coin appeared next to Hikari’s, the two powers resonated, showing Sunset that like the others, these were meant to be used together. “We need to go back and save Ocellus,” said Sunset. Twilight opened her holoframe and gasped. “If they’re still at the Arena, then we have only ten minutes to get there!” Sunset glanced at the controls. “Let me drive.” \*****///** [Hive Prime, 5:00 P. M., Arena…] The platform had been completed and Ocellus was kneeling at the center of it. Drones flew around the platform as they began broadcasting, the signal reached far and wide, allowing every Changeling on the planet to witness the impending death of the newly evolved Queen. Back at the capital, everyone was already heading back, with Luna, Rainbow, Rarity, Pinkie, Applejack, and Fluttershy watching with bated breath as the events were about to unfold before them. Chrysalis stood tall and proud as she raised her hands to the air and said, “To my Changelings all over Hive Prime. It is time to end this ridiculous civil war set into motion by one, ‘King’ Thorax. The usurper, made you believe that there was another way to live as a Changeling, but I’m here to tell you, there is only ONE way. MY WAY! See here before me is the newest of the Queen caste, one who believed she was strong enough to defeat me, but low and behold, she is as weak as the rest of those of you who call themselves ‘Reformed’!” Chrysalis extended her sickle blade from her forearm and held it against Ocellus’ cheek. “Any last words to say before I fill the air with your screams, little grub?” Ocellus looked up at Chrysalis, but instead of rage or fear, Chrysalis saw something that she never thought any creature would dare show her…pity. “I’m sorry you had to endure a lot on your own,” said Ocellus. Chrysalis bared her fangs and growled with hate in her heart as she raised her blade up, “DON’T YOU DARE PITY ME!!” A bright flash of light took all the Dark Changelings by surprise, the light came from straight ahead, and from that same direction, several Beam Bullets shot through the air and smashed right through the foundation of the platform. Chrysalis flew into the air while Ocellus fell, but before she could fall too far, Ultrawoman Aster came in and caught the young Changeling Queen. Aster skidded to a halt as she dug her feet into the ground, churning up dirt and rock before she stopped. Aster opened up her right hand and looked down at Ocellus, who in turn looked up at her with shock. “Miss me?” “Sunset?! Y-You’re alright!” Ocellus yelled happily. “Can’t keep a hero down.” Aster’s right hand glowed and released an energy pulse that destroyed the resin that was binding Ocellus. “I’m going to fight, get to safety” “No.” Ocellus flew out of her hand and as she did, artic blue energy wrapped around her body as she was once again in her battle form and standing next to Aster. “You won’t face her alone! I won’t let my friend fight my battles!” Aster nodded as she turned around, just in time to watch as Chrysalis entered her battle form, and at the same time, Zetton teleported to her side. “You couldn’t defeat Zetton last time, what makes you think you can beat him this time?” Aster stepped forward and said, “Because I have something new to bring to the table! Something that was given to me by my best friend! So, let’s go!” Within the starry nexus, Sunset opened the Coin Keeper and took out two Ultra coins. “Shine, the power of bonds!” Sunset placed the first coin into the top slot. Upon doing so, an Ultraman with black, red, and silver appeared on her right. || ULTRAMAN ORB! || “Shine, the power of knowledge!” Sunset placed the last coin in the bottom slot, and from it appeared a blue Ultraman. || ULTRAMAN HIKARI! || “The stars are aligned for victory!” Sunset pressed the center sun symbol on her StaRaizer. Nine spheres of light appeared over her, and once they were in alignment, a beam of purple and violet light shined down upon her. Within this light, Sunset entered her third transformation and rose from it. ||CONVERGENCE! PLANET REVIVE!|| The purple light faded and when it did, all were granted the sight of the newest form of Ultrawoman Aster. Aster’s Color Timer had changed, there was a blue circle at the center, with a round blue ring that had bands that made it look like a star was bursting into existence. Her chest armor changed as well, it sported ten studs known as Star Marks, five on one side of her chest, and five on the other. Her shoulders were covered with silver armor that curved like a shark's fin, while each of her fingertips were coated in metal. Her coloring had changed as well, the silver, eight-pointed star pattern was no longer on her hips, but was now at the center of her waist, with the side bands looping around her waist to form a makeshift belt design. Purple dominated the color scheme, along with violet streaks that sparkled like stars in the night sky. Aster’s head design changed, now sporting elf-like ears on the sides of where her horn frills were, her crest reversed so that it was pointing towards the back of her head, a central vertical blue crystal rested in the middle of her forehead, and along both sides were two gold bands for a total of four. This form embodied the power she felt when her feelings were aligned with those of her friends, the bonds they shared resonated within her, bringing her great strength, she could almost feel them all inside with her. Aster assumed a fighting stance and announced, “Witness our unified power!” “ZET-TON!” The alien growled as it discharged its Dark Fireball. Aster quickly got in front of Ocellus, inside the starry nexus, Sunset pressed down on the sun symbol of the StaRaizer twice. ||HERO’S ARMOR!|| Armor plates hovered over Aster for a second before all of them attached themselves to her body just as the Dark Fireball made impact. A large explosion took place before Zetton and Chrysalis, the Dark Changeling Queen smirked, but that smirk was wiped away when she saw the flames fizzle out. Aster was now donned in armor, her entire right forearm was covered in silver armor, with the same shark fin design, but now the tip was gold plated. The StaRaizer on her left forearm had taken on the same color and changed slightly to match the other forearm armor. Most of Aster’s upper body was covered in silver armor, with the center having a gold sun painted on it, and the upper portion of the armor colored purple. Her thighs were covered in this same armor, having a slight curve to the sides of them. Her shins were covered in greaves, with an amethyst crystal at their center, and a gold band running down the middle. The top of her head was covered with a thin layer of armor which went over her eyes, but had a slit, “V” shaped visor that glowed blue. “Did you attack me? I barely felt that.” Zetton released strange noises, possibly irritated by this turn of events and quickly teleported. Ocellus jumped up from behind Aster and attacked Chrysalis. “CASCADE!” A barrage of energy beams fell upon Chrysalis, making her back away quickly as they began to engage. Aster remained where she was, but not for long as she sensed a shift in the spatial energy around her. “Mercury Racer!” Just before Zetton appeared, a silver aura formed around Aster, and in the next second, she became a silver blur that disappeared just as Zetton appeared. The destroyer was caught off guard by this, even more so when he saw that she was now five meters away from him and waving him down. “Yoo-hoo!” “ZET-TON!!!” The insectoid alien teleported again, but just as he did, Aster raced off. What occurred next was a rapid game of tag as Zetton would teleport, and Aster would dash away, again and again Zetton chased after, trying to pin her down, but he was finding out quickly that her speed was outpacing his teleportation. When he appeared again, Aster was right in front of him, something that made him take a step back in shock. “Surprise!” Aster’s fists flared up with red energy as she called out, “Mars Raging Heat!” Aster struck Zetton in the head with a blazing red punch, causing sparks to fly, her second punch struck him in the chest, then in the head again, the shoulder, the stomach, the punches kept coming until they were nothing but a blur of red comets that were barraging Zetton. The Destroyer of Worlds teleported away from the onslaught and unleashed two Dark Fireballs right at her. The empowered Ultra stopped her attack as she flattened her palms into knife hands. Purple light wrapped them as she brought both arms up to form an “X”. “Saturn Sickles!” Aster slashed the air with her hands and launched two crescent blades that boomeranged through the air and slashed through the two Dark Fireballs, causing them to explode in midair. Violet light shined from Aster’s hands as she pointed her left hand at Zetton and called out, “Uranus Collider!” The air around Zetton became distorted, then, in an instant, his entire body was forced straight to the ground as the gravity suddenly tripled in intensity and strength, forcing the Destroyer straight back to the ground. Aster opened her right hand and formed a sphere made of graviton energy, she then slammed that sphere into the ground and launched the real Uranus Collider. The sphere of graviton energy tore the ground apart as it rushed right for Zetton and detonated upon impact, sending Zetton flying right into a jagged rock spire. Aster’s right foot glowed green as she concentrated her energy into it and shouted, “EARTH BRINGER!” The Ultrawoman slammed her foot against the ground, sending a surge of emerald energy through the dirt and rock. The ground rumbled and roared as the surge reached where Zetton was. When it reached the spire, the ground erupted with giant slabs of hardened rock that sandwiched Zetton from the front and back, causing a thundering “BOOM” to echo through the area. While this was going on, Ocellus and Chrysalis were engaged in their battle. Ocellus had gained a new resolve, seeing Sunset alive and stronger than before gave her hope, not just for this battle, but because of what this meant for the future. Suddenly, Ocellus’ exoskeleton began to crack. Lines of green energy flowed through the newly formed grooves in her chitin, and upon her back, her salmon colored wings transformed into sparkling, green energy butterfly wings. Her hair took on a luminescent property, along with her glowing eyes, made Ocellus appear to be a fearsome warrior, no, she was a Warrior Queen. “What… What is this?!” “This is the power you scoffed at! The power of love freely shared! I can feel it now, the love of the Changelings who are wishing for my victory! The love that the Dark Changelings wish to also give freely!” Chrysalis’ eyes widened as she turned to some of the Dark Changelings, “YOU TRAITORS!” Chrysalis’ horn glowed with dark green energy as she prepared to attack, but Ocellus appeared right in front of her, a faint afterimage formed behind her from the speed of her quick movements. Before Chrysalis could react, Ocellus threw an uppercut, slamming it against Chrysalis’ lower jaw and making her beam shoot upwards and away from the Changelings. Ocellus spun in place and hit Chrysalis with an elbow strike to her abdomen. The sudden strike sent Chrysalis flying, but Ocellus wasn’t letting up, she flew straight for her, appearing as a streak of sparkling light. When she was close, Ocellus kicked her straight up in the air, Chrysalis managed to right herself just in time as Ocellus came in with a construct sword, meeting it with her forearm sickle blade. The two Queens began clashing in the sky as the sound of ringing metal resounded in the air above. Chrysalis spared a glance to see how Zetton was doing, and much to her dismay, he wasn’t faring any better, if anything, he was worse off. “DON’T TAKE YOUR EYES OFF YOUR OPPONENT!” Ocellus shouted. Chrysalis paid for that mistake as Ocellus slashed across her chest, sparks flew from her carapace as Chrysalis shrieked in pain. With that opening, Ocellus summoned forth four dozen spheres of light around her as she held up her right hand. “SHINE RAIN!” The spheres fired off beams of light, but each light splintered off and made a new beam of light, and then splintered again, and again, and again. Before Chrysalis knew it, her vision was filled with sparkles of light as they rained down on her and sent her plummeting into the ground as explosions erupted all around her. Meanwhile, Zetton managed to burn down the pillars of rock he was sandwiched between, he sprouted wings as he gathered all his dark energy and summoned forth a giant Dark Fireball, strong enough to reduce the entire area into molten slag and then some. Aster stood her ground, knowing that she wasn't going to run from this attack. Aster widened her stance, she swiped her left hand out in front of her, and four spheres appeared. The far left orb was Jupiter and was yellow, the far right was Saturn was purple, the second from the left was silver Mercury, and the second from the right was arctic blue Pluto. Aster used her right arm to swipe upwards, and created five more spheres. The top sphere was violet Uranus, the very bottom was blue Neptune, second from the top was red Mars, second from the bottom was pink Venus, and at the center was green Earth. Zetton made more of its strange warbling sounds as it launched its Giga Dark Fireball straight at Aster. At the same time, Aster brought both her arms together in a cross formation. “GRAND CROSS STRIUM!!!” The nine spheres swirled together and burst out into a beam of swirling aurora light that roared through the sky. The Grand Cross Strium slammed against the Giga Dark Fireball, Zetton didn’t hold anything back as a violet aura overtook him, causing the color of the fireball to change and double in size. But the beam wasn’t getting pushed back. Aster released a battle cry as his beam doubled in size, nearly swallowing Zetton’s attack. After a brief moment of struggle the Giga Dark Fireball shattered into embers as the Grand Cross Strium continued unobstructed. Zetton was powerless to dodge the oncoming beam as he was swept up into it like a riptide. The beam chipped away at his body, causing multiple cracks until Zetton exploded in the air, filling the sky with thunderous noise and purple flames. Back on the ground, Chrysalis managed to get back up after watching Zetton get blown away by the Ultra. Aster turned her attention to Chrysalis, making the Dark Queen go on guard. The Ultrawoman crossed her arms as her armor disengaged. “Don’t worry, I’m not interfering in this. It’s just you and Ocellus now.” Speaking of whom, Ocellus landed on the far end of the Arena, her five crystals began to glow as she gathered energy for her final attack. Chrysalis did the same, gathering every last scrap of power she had left to fell this young Queen once and for all. “I won’t kill you, Chrysalis!” Ocellus declared. “WHAT DID YOU SAY?!” “I WON’T KILL YOU! That may’ve been the old way, but that’s not MY way!” Chrysalis’ left eye twitched as she roared, “INSOLENT GRUB, DIE!!!” Chrysalis’ beam fired a column sized beam of dark green energy that razed the ground beneath it as it traveled towards Ocellus. “I’ll save you, from yourself! AMORE LUMINOUS SPARK!” The light of Ocellus’ wings, grooves, and eyes changed to a bright pink. That same light filled her gemstones, and from the center gemstone, a huge beam of pink light exploded forth. The two beams met at the center, but their encounter did not last long as Ocellus’ beam overtook Chrysalis’, making it fizzle out as Chrysalis was bathed in the sakura colored Amore Luminous Spark. Chrysalis felt her body being penetrated by this light, every fiber of her body was being filled to the brink, the former Queen of the Changelings released a loud shriek as the beam released a flash of pink light, not an explosion, but a flash. Ocellus stopped her attack and waited to see if it had worked, and when the light faded, Ocellus gave a sigh of relief that it did. She walked over to her foe and said, “Open your eyes, Chrysalis.” Chrysalis tentatively did so, and when she did, she gasped at what she saw. Her carapace was no longer pitch black, but a light gray color, there were no more holes in her arms and legs, they were whole. She saw that her scraggly hair had become luxurious locks of grass green hair, the jagged horn that once adorned her forehead was smooth and curved. Her wings were no longer sharp and jagged, but more like Ocellus’ butterfly-like wings. The eyes of the former Queen weren’t slit anymore, they were round and filled with uncertainty and realization. “Did you…Did you change me?” Chrysalis asked. “I shared my love with you, Chrysalis. You were right about one thing, the old ways got us here. The sun will set on this current era of the Changelings.” Ocellus offered her hand to the former Queen. “So, let’s create a new era, together. Your wisdom, and my beliefs, we can make the Changelings a better people.” Every Dark Changeling watched this, too afraid to move for fear of setting something off. Aster was still on edge, ready to act at a moment’s notice, but inside she was pleading, Please just take her hand, I really don’t want to have to blow you away… Chrysalis sighed heavily as she closed her eyes. “Ocellus…” The young Queen gasped a little, that was the first time Chrysalis had said her name. “I yield…I am no more the Queen of the Changelings.” Upon saying those words, the crown that was atop of Chrysalis’ head began to wither and disappear, and at the same time, Ocellus’ makeshift crown grew two extra horns for a total of five, showing all around that she was now the undisputed Queen of the Changelings. “I have crimes to answer for…and I will accept whatever the punishment may be,” said Chrysalis. Ocellus stepped forward and placed her hand on Chrysalis’ shoulder. “Then as my first act as the new Queen of the Changelings, I hereby order that your punishment is to serve the Changeling people, not as a ruler, but as my Vizier. However, when I’m not around, King Thorax's word is law.” Chrysalis’ eyes seemed to water, although she tried to look away to avoid having the young Queen see her predecessor shed tears. Ocellus gently brought Chrysalis’ face to look at hers and said, “You’ve kept your tears at bay long enough. Shed them now.” With those words, all the strength in Chrysalis’ legs gave out as she fell to her knees and began to cry, Ocellus opened her arms and hugged Chrysalis, bringing the former Queen’s head to rest against her chest. The tears she had held back from every decision she made to ensure the safety and continued survival of their race, all the lives lost in the civil war, dealing with the dark entity. The dark entity… Chrysalis stopped for a moment and looked to Aster. “Ultrawoman Aster, you need to know that there is a force trying to attack Earth and it wants – AAAAAH!!!” Chrysalis cried out in pain as she clutched at her head and backed away from Ocellus. “Chrysalis!” Ocellus called out. The former Queen jerked back and forth as she tried to get her words out, but each attempt only caught in her throat. But then, she went stiff and stood straight up. Her eyes became pitch black and the aura around her changed completely. Aster zoomed across the Arena until she was standing in front of Ocellus, ready to defend her. Ultrawoman Aster…you’ve grown stronger yet again. The voice was deep, hollow, and cold. Whatever this was, it wasn’t Chrysalis, it was using her as a mouthpiece. “Who or what are you?!” Aster demanded. Something seeking the end of light, and a return to the primordial. Where savagery and power ruled over all things, where I ruled once as a king above all things. “What have you done to Chrysalis,” asked Ocellus. Heh, heh…you feel concern for this bug, despite the fact that she nearly killed you. I will grant you this thing back, she is useless to me as she is now. However, I will take with me all the memories of my existence from her. I still need to keep a few secrets…until next time, Aster, but by then, I hope to see you face to face. “And when I do, I’ll kick your ass like every other monster!” With those words exchanged, Chrysalis went limp and fell to the ground, her body reverting back to its regular size. At that time, the Reformed Changeling Army rode in on transport ships, fighters and speeders. They knew the fighting was over, and so did the Dark Changelings as they made no attempt to run or engage in confrontation. Another speeder came flying in, this one belonging to Twilight, Aster looked in her direction and nodded to her, with Twilight doing the same. Aster looked up into the sky and took off, flying into the setting sun. \*****///** [Hive Prime, the following day, 8:02 A. M…] Life changed on Hive Prime that night, the remainder of the Dark Changelings gave up, no longer wishing to fight and instead accepted and shared their love with each other, allowing them to transform into Reformed Changelings, but Ocellus made sure to throw out such things like “reformed” or “dark”, they were now Changelings, all of them. Chrysalis was in the care of the medical team, she had sustained little injuries thanks to Ocellus’ sharing of love, which in turn seemed to heal most of the injuries she had sustained during the initial battle. They weren’t sure of her mental health, especially after the Dark Entity took over Chrysalis’ mind and body for a moment, but only time would tell. Twilight and Sunset were greeted to a bone crushing group hug that nearly put them in the hospital, Vice Commander Luna chewed Twilight out for her hijacking of a military speeder and putting herself in danger. Once she was done chewing her out, Luna praised her for her quick thinking and for saving Sunset’s life. Then Luna did something that no one saw coming, she stood in front of Sunset and then embraced her. “Don’t you ever scare me like that again,” she told her. Sunset had awkwardly returned the hug, but admittedly, she didn’t dislike it since it was the first time that Luna showed any sort of affection for Sunset. That night they all ended up sleeping in the same room, after that near close call it was understandable that they wanted to be near them. Which ended up with Sunset being sandwiched between Twilight and Fluttershy, not that she was complaining of course. That morning, they were all invited to the coronation of the new Queen of the Changelings. It was held in the central palace of New Elleria, Rarity had been complaining that she wished she had made them something special for the occasion, instead of them having to wear their school uniforms. Luna had internally agreed with Rarity, as a representative of SMILE and Earth, she had wished she had packed her formal uniform. Thankfully for Twilight and Sunset, the seamstresses at the palace were able to fix their uniforms since they were ripped and tattered from their ordeal. Now, they stood in the front row as honored guests of the new Queen. King Thorax walked towards the throne where a podium had been set up and turned to look into the room filled with Changelings. “My fellow Changelings, today is a momentous occasion, for now we are in the midst of a new time, a new era. For centuries we have fought a long and arduous civil war with our own brethren, but now that is no more, now we can march forward together, with our new Queen. Queen Ocellus!” Thorax pointed his hand down the long aisle in between the crowd. From the opposite side the double doors opened and out walked Ocellus. She carried herself regally and with poise, she was flanked by royal guards and Commander Pharynx as they walked towards the throne. The soldiers moved to the opposite sides of the throne as Ocellus walked up towards the podium, Thorax bowed to Ocellus, and she bowed to him. Thorax stepped away and allowed the young Queen to take her place. “I told Chrysalis, that when the sun set last night, it would mark the end of an era, and it has. Now the dawn has come and a new one begins, one where we are no longer divided, but are now one people!” The Changelings cheered and the girls joined with them. “The ancient laws dictated that I end Chrysalis’ life to assume the right to rule. But I chose a different way, I chose to share my love with her, and in so doing, I have freed Chrysalis. I’m not asking that you forgive her for what she’s done, that will be up to all of you, but I have. In the end, she was doing what she thought was right to keep us alive, to see that we, her children survived. Now, it is time that we showed her that we can, together, we will reestablish our race, not as beings who take love, but ones who spread it and defend it. I have seen that there is darkness in this universe, but with love, and friends…” Ocellus looked at the assembled seven girls who helped her get to this point in her life. “I know that we will make it through. And thanks to our friends of Earth, I would like to take this time to announce that I would like to establish a strong alliance with Ultrawoman Aster, and assist in the defense of Earth.” Luna’s jaw nearly broke through the floor. “I will extend our hand in friendship to Earth, and from there, other worlds will begin to see that we have changed. I am still young, and I may not know everything I need to, so I ask you all to be patient with me as I learn from King Thorax and Chrysalis, I want to know all I can to make sure I become a better Queen to you, not like the Queens of the past. For our new future, begins now!” A round of applause filled the room, Ocellus blushed a little from the attention, but she still ended up smiling nonetheless. Sunset smiled as she watched this all happen, glad that Ocellus had become stronger, confident that she would be a good leader. As Sunset kept clapping, something strange happened. Scenes flashed before her eyes, replacing many of the features of the insect palace and replacing it with a crystal structure, her school uniform would change from golden armor and then back to her uniform. When she looked up at Ocellus, she was replaced by someone else, a girl in a purple dress, and a woman in a white dress standing next to her. Their faces were covered by shadows, but somehow, this all seemed familiar. The girl in the purple dress turned in Sunset’s direction, what facial features she could make out told Sunset she was concerned. “Sunset…are you alright.?” A hand fell on her shoulder and suddenly Sunset was brought back to the here and now. Her head darted around the room until her eyes fell upon Twilight who was giving her a worried look. “Sunset, are you alright?” Twilight asked again. Sunset looked around the room once again, but this time she seemed to catch the attention of Luna. “Sunset, what’s the matter?” Luna asked. “I…I think I remembered something…something from my past…?” 13th Light: Seeking Answers! / Return to Crusader's Peak!The wind howled and roared around her ears, when she looked down, she was several miles in the air, hanging onto the face of a mountain. Up above her was another person, she could not make out their face, and she could not hear their voice, but when that person looked down, she could read their lips, the person above just said, “C’mon, slowpoke, or I’ll get to the top before you!” Sunset looked up, and at the peak of this mountain was a bright light, a light that took the form of a halo of light. Why was that? What was so significant about that symbol? She wanted to know, she had to know. Sunset pressed on, feeling the roughness of the rock beneath her hands, scraping against her skin, but she did not care, she was going to get to the top, because somehow, someway, she knew that the answers were at the top of this mountain. The person ahead of her smiled at her and began climbing alongside her. It was like a race to this other person, and despite knowing that, Sunset did not feel like they were an enemy, but she was also not sure if she was a friend either. The top was getting closer and closer, the answers she sought had to be up there, she just needed to get to the top. Finally, Sunset reached out and gripped the edge of the peak, she hoisted herself up and then – “Dammit!!!” Sunset awoke with a start, her heart pounding in her chest. Sunset groaned as she swung her legs out from under the blankets and sat on the edge of the bed. She sighed frustratingly as she ran her hands through her long hair. “Again…always right before I get to the top…” Sunset groaned. It had been a month since they returned from Hive Prime, Ocellus was on her way to becoming a great queen, and although she had not been at S.M.I.L.E. for very long, Sunset considered the young Changeling to be a good friend among them. But ever since she had her vision in the palace, upon their return home, she has had that dream off and on for many nights now. It was incredibly aggravating, so much of her life was a blank slate, she had no idea where she came from, why she had these powers, or if she even had a family. Was there anyone looking for her? Was she missed by anyone? “How big of an a-hole did I have to be that no one is looking for me?” Sunset muttered to herself. There was nothing more to do, all Sunset could do was go back to bed, as hard as it would be. All the while, Sunset was unaware that someone was listening to her, someone who was worried for her wellbeing. \*****///** [Wednesday: Lunchroom, 12:03 A.M.…] Sunset looked tired, everyone at the table could tell. It was noticeable at first, but recently it was starting to become noticeable by her friends. “Sunset, Darling, I think this has to be said, but…you look dreadful,” said Rarity. “Gee, Rarity, don’t sugar coat it or anything,” Sunset remarked. “Nicer than what I was going to say,” said Rainbow. “Seriously, though, what’s up? You not sleeping right or something?” Sunset was reluctant to answer, but it seemed Twilight was not of the same mind. “She hasn’t been sleeping well lately.” “Twi!” “Sunset, you’ve been having trouble sleeping this whole month. What kind of a best friend would I be if I don’t say something?” Twilight asked rhetorically. The redhead sighed as she rested her chin in the palm of her left hand. “Guess there’s no getting around it then. Yes, I haven’t been able to sleep well lately. I keep having this damn dream off and on for over a month since we came back.” Sunset reached into her backpack and took out a notebook. She placed it on the table and opened it to reveal a drawing. “Each night that I have the dream, I draw what I see. And each time I have the dream, more detail is shown to me.” The girls crowded closer and looked at the series of drawings, it depicted a tall mountain, almost pillar-like in shape. At first the drawings had no distinguishing features, but as Sunset flipped through the pages, it steadily began to get more detailed. Like she had mentioned, the picture was getting clearer with each subsequent dream. She turned to the final page and showed a much more detailed version of the mountain. There were jagged peaks all around in the background, the mountain that stood like a pillar amongst them all had more jagged features that weren’t prominent in the other drawings, there were two figures on the mountain, one had read and yellow hair that was clearly supposed to be Sunset, and a second person that was not as detailed. And at the top of this mountain, she drew a halo of light. “Ah’ve never seen a mountain range like that ‘round here, or anywhere,” said Applejack. “Same here, but, wow, Sunset, I didn’t know you could draw,” said Pinkie. “Neither did I.” The girls looked at her in confusion. Sunset sighed heavily as she leaned back into her seat. “Look…I only told Twi and Fluttershy this, but…I don’t remember my past. My life is a blank slate to me. I don’t know if I’m even from this planet or if my family is even on this planet! The only ones who have looked after me are the Commanders. This mountain, this dream, my vision back at Hive Prime. I know they’re connected, and it’s equal parts annoying and frustrating that the answer could be right there and I don’t know how to find it!” Fluttershy had remained quiet throughout Sunset’s rant, which was not anything new when regarding the alien girl. But her eyes were fixated on the drawing of the mountain. Something about it seemed familiar to her. After a few seconds, Fluttershy’s eyes widened as she shot up from her seat and exclaimed, “I remember!” The girls all looked at her, startled at her sudden exclamation. “Eep!” Fluttershy squeaked as she blushed from embarrassment. “S-Sorry, I…I just, I think I might know what that is…” Sunset stared at Fluttershy with shock as she bolted from her chair and grabbed the busty, shy girl and shook her like a nanny possessed. “What?! You have?! Where?! When?! Details, Shy! DETAILS!” “S-S-Shaki-n-n-ng t-o-o-o m-mu-ch! P-Pl-lease, s-s-stop!” Sunset quickly released Fluttershy, allowing her to sit back down as the world tried to stop spinning. “S-Sorry, I’m so sorry! I just…” Fluttershy raised her hand in a stopping motion. “It’s okay. Bear in mind, what I do remember comes from a story my grandmother used to tell me when she was alive, but I have no idea how much of it is true.” “Right now, I’ll take anything!” Just before Fluttershy could tell the story, the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch. “Dammit!” Sunset cursed. “Shy, after school, meetup in our dorm room!” \\***/// [Wednesday: Dorm Room 4:05 p.m.] After classes were done, the girls all met up at Sunset and Twilight’s dorm room. All attention was turned to Fluttershy, most of all was Sunset, her eyes were practically sparkling and wide with anticipation, like a puppy that was waiting for a treat. Fluttershy could not help but make the reference in her mind, it helped to ease her anxiety a bit. “Okay…my grandmother told me that there is always a force for good in the universe. And sometimes, this great force would call upon those it deemed worthy, and compel them to climb the tallest mountain of the world this force resided on, a mountain called–” “Crusader’s…Peak…” Sunset finished. The girls all turned to Sunset in shock, and then back to Fluttershy, who was even more shocked than them as that was exactly what she was going to say. “Sunset…?” Twilight asked gingerly. “I…I don’t know…it just…popped into my head…What else is there, Fluttershy?! This might be triggering something!” Sunset stated. “Uh…Um…Well, my grandmother said once they climbed to the top, this great force would bestow upon one or many, great power to fight against the evils of the universe,” Fluttershy finished. “So…wait, what is this ‘great force’?” Rainbow asked. Fluttershy shrugged. “My grandmother referred to it as the ‘Voice of Light’. But it was just regarded as a fairytale, and one that not many Vivirenden actually like. Being a warrior race, most of my people care more about stories of war and glory, not of heroes. But grandmama knew I didn’t like those kinds of stories, so she would tell me that one. In particular, of a hero that climbed the peak and saved the universe from a terrifying end. He was a stalwart fighter, always heading towards the setting sun. His name was–” “Orb…” Sunset took out the coin of that very Ultra. “Ultraman Orb.” “Wait, so does that mean that there are more Ultra people?” Pinkie asked. “Ocellus said that the Belzeb Queen was defeated by a band of Ultra warriors, on Zodio, the creatures there mistook me for another Ultra clad in blue…Wherever Crusader’s Peak is, that’s where I need to start! If it’s not on Earth, then it’s somewhere out there!” Sunset pointed towards the window, more specifically, to space. “If I can find out on what planet this Voice of Light is on, I can go there and maybe start piecing together my past!” Twilight thought about Sunset’s dilemma, finding a planet with a particular geographical feature was going to be difficult, partially because if this planet had gone undiscovered, then there would be no official record of it in the Galactic Planet Catalogue. “We can try looking through the database of discovered planets, cross reference them with your drawing, and maybe we can get close to it at least?” “You can do that?” Rainbow asked. “It won’t be easy, but if I tinker with the programming, I can get it to work, with a possible thirty percent margin for error. It’s not good but not bad either,” said Twilight. “Whatever you can do, Sparky.” \*****///** [Friday: Space Observatory Wing, 2:10 P.M.…] Twilight was determined to help out her friend, she made a copy of Sunset’s drawing and entered it into the S.M.I.L.E. geographic analyzer engine, with that, she was able to cross reference the mountain, known as Crusader’s Peak, to try and locate a planet that might have a similar feature. She doubted that the computer would find the exact planet, but if she could at least get some hits, it would give them a place to start. That was two days ago, and today, the computer in the observatory still had no hits. Twilight tried to speed things along by stealthily diverting computing power from some of the base’s nonessential functions in order to overclock the computer. Twilight did her own search via her tablet, although she doubted that she would find it faster than the computer could, it was at least worth a shot. “You seem to be hard at work, Ms. Sparkle.” “Eek!” Twilight jumped when she heard someone behind her. The young genius turned around and gulped when she noticed who it was. “C-Commander C-Celestia!” The tall woman smiled, a little mischievously, as she looked at the computer. “I was wondering why the observatory was drawing in so much power. You know, diverting computing power from other systems is against school and S.M.I.LE. regulations.” “I…I…I…” “And depending upon the reason why you were doing so, it could land you in detention, or a dismissal from the Academy,” Celestia added. Twilight looked like she was on the brink of a full panic attack, she was just trying to help Sunset, she did not think that it would cause this much trouble. Celestia could see that poor Twilight was about to break down, so she quickly said, “Twilight, relax, it’s okay. It was just a little teasing is all. I didn’t mean to frighten you.” The teen genius took a moment to breathe and release her tension. “Sorry, I really didn’t mean to scare you,” Celestia apologized. “It’s…It’s fine, Commander…” Twilight panted. Celestia pulled up a chair and sat next to Twilight as she asked, “But, seriously, Twilight, what are you researching that you have to pull so much computing power from different systems. While against regulations, I must admit how impressed I am that you managed to do such a thing.” Twilight fidgeted in her seat and began to nervously play with her bang. Commander Celestia Solstice was Sunset’s legal guardian, perhaps she had an idea of what was going on? But Sunset never mentioned that she talked to the Commander about this. And she never did say if she even wanted her to know about what she’s been dreaming. The older woman reached out and gently patted Twilight on her shoulder as she gave her a warm smile. “Twilight, I’m not just a Commander, but I’m also the Principal of this academy. And as such, I’m here for my students, however, whether or not I am able to help is dependent on you telling me what the problem is, if there is any.” Twilight sighed inwardly, Sunset might not like that she talked to the Commander about this, but this search might go a lot faster if more information was obtained from one of the two people who were looking after Sunset. “I don’t know if Sunset has told you anything, but…she’s been having trouble sleeping lately.” Celestia pinched the bridge of her nose as she asked, “Tell me she’s not running herself ragged like what happened when the Phantom Zone Emitter was offline?” Twilight shook her head. “No, not for that reason. She hasn’t been able to sleep because she’s been having this dream, and she thinks it’s connected to her lost memories.” The tri-color haired woman sat up straight when she heard this. “You’re serious? She’s starting to remember her past?” Twilight made a wavy motion with her hand. “Well, she had a vision back on Hive Prime, and ever since we’ve come back, she’s been having this dream about her climbing a mountain. Thanks to Fluttershy, we think we know what the mountain is called, Crusader’s Peak. Sunset drew a picture of the mountain, a very detailed picture, and I fed that into the computer to cross reference every known geographical feature on the discovered planets in the GPC. I drew power from nonessential systems to overclock the computer so it could scan faster. I’m sorry, I just really wanted to help Sunset.” Celestia hummed in contemplation. “……For so long I’ve wanted to help Sunset regain her memories, to grant her some closure or peace. I know she doesn’t say it out loud, but I know it’s frustrating to her that she can’t remember. And it frustrates me that there might be someone out there looking for her, with no way to find her. Or even worse, she was just abandoned because she was different.” The older woman had a look of determination on her face as she added, “I’ll help you in any way I can, Twilight. For now, I’ll overlook this since the systems you took offline don’t impact the Phantom Zone Emitter or our defense or early warning systems, but next time, please ask for permission.” Twilight blushed and replied. “Yes, Ma’am.” \*****///** Sunset once again found herself at the base of the mountain, but now she knew its name, Crusader’s Peak. This mountain was both a symbol of hope and despair for her. Would she be able to find this mountain, and if she did, would she obtain the answers she sought? The dream began as always now, the other person appeared next to her, their face still cast in shadow, the only thing visible to Sunset was their mouth, of which no sound left it. However, even without hearing this person’s voice, she could still make out what they were saying to her. “We’re here, just like we were called. I’m not losing to you, so don’t you dare hold back or give up on me.” Sunset sighed, it did not matter what she responded with, the dream, or memory, was on a loop. Sunset could say, “Cotton candy clouds raining chocolate milk,” and they would just say whatever line was next, unfazed. So, instead of saying anything, Sunset rushed ahead. Instead of saying a word, she was going to focus on climbing Crusader’s Peak as fast as she could, before she woke up, so that she could see what lied over the peak. With determined speed, Sunset climbed the side of the mountain, the ground below her swiftly shrinking with each foot and handhold. She knew that things were accelerating in the dream, because now she was already halfway up when she was only about teen feet off the ground when she started climbing. But that did not matter, she was going to reach the top at all costs. The person beside her kept pace, but Sunset paid them no mind even when they said something. All that mattered was the top of the mountain. The light of the peak was getting brighter, which meant she was getting closer. Sunset was close now, just one more handhold and she would see what lied at the top. As her head began to rise, that’s when– “OH, SON OF A – UGH!” Sunset growled angrily as her eyes flew open. She jumped out of bed and tossed the pillow across the room, angry that she was so close, but it was if her own mind was against her. “I just want to know where I came from! Is that so much to ask?!” Sunset released an exasperated sigh as she sat back down and ran her hands through her hair. She glanced over at her nightstand, looking directly at the Coin Keeper that housed her Ultra Coins. Sunset grabbed it and opened the Coin Keeper, taking out the Ultra Coin that housed the power of Ultraman Orb. “You were there, at some point, you climbed that very same mountain and became an Ultra. I know I’m desperate, hell, I’m talking to a coin for Pete’s sake!” Sunset continued to stare at the image of Ultraman Orb and then said, “Please…I just need a little help…from one Ultra to another…” Sunset held the coin in both her hands, as if praying. Just then, the Ultra Coin began to glow in her hands. The redhead opened her hands, and as she did, the coin flew out of her hands and pierced through the wall as a trail of purple light followed behind it. Sunset bolted from her bed and ran into the living room, throwing open the sliding glass doors and going out onto the balcony. From there she could see the trail of light still shining bright in the sky and heading straight up. “Are you…Are you showing me the way?!” The young amnesiac ran into Twilight’s room and shook the genius awake. “S-S-Sunset, w-w-why a-a-are y-y-you s-s-shaking m-me?!” Twilight asked. “Sparky, go to the balcony and tell me what you can see!” “What?” “Just do it!” Sunset did not wait as she practically dragged Twilight out of bed and brought her to the balcony. Once there, she pointed towards the trail of light and said, “There, do you see?!” Twilight glanced at her friend with confusion. “What am I supposed to see? Cassiopeia? The Libera constellation?” Now it was Sunset’s turn to look confused. “You really can’t see that?” “Sunset, I’m serious, I don’t see anything other than the stars,” said Twilight. Then…am I the only one who can see? The flame haired girl shook her head and had a serious look on her face before she turned towards the direction of the light. “I’m going to go. Earlier, the Orb Ultra Coin glowed and shot through my bedroom wall and headed into space. There’s a light trail that I can see. I think Orb is trying to show me the way to Crusader’s Peak.” Twilight’s eyes widened upon hearing this news. “WHAT?! Sunset, this is a major development! We have to tell Commander Celestia!” “W-What? No, Twi, I have to go! Now! While the trail’s still there!” Sunset argued. “Sunset, you shouldn’t do this alone,” Twilight retorted. “I told Commander Celestia what’s going on with you, and she wants to help. Just give her a chance.” The teen girl looked back and forth between Twilight and the light trail, she wanted so badly to fly off into the sky and follow that light wherever it lead. But at the same time, she knew she could not just simply leave Earth defenseless all of a sudden. Twilight could see the eagerness in Sunset’s eyes, as well as the mounting anxiety that whatever she was seeing would disappear soon. She feared that, too. What if this light trail Sunset was seeing was only temporary? What if in the time they take get everything ready to leave, the trail goes cold, and Sunset loses her one shot at finding some answers because of Twilight’s insistence on getting Celestia? She could not live with herself if she did that to Sunset. “I know it’s a lot to ask, Sunset, but please, trust me. Let Ms. Solstice help you!” Sunset glanced up at the sky again, and with a reluctant groan she yielded to Twilight. “Fine…but the moment I see that light trial fading – I’m sorry – but I’m leaving right then and there. Okay?” “I promise, things will work out.” \*****///** [Saturday: S.M.I.L.E. Controlled Launch Port, Canterlot City. 3:10 A.M.…] “Okay, this was faster than I thought…” Upon contacting Celestia and telling her what had occurred, the commander of Concordia Base moved swiftly, jumping out of bed, and putting in a call to ready a S.M.I.L.E. lightspeed ship. Thankfully, being the commander of the first S.M.I.L.E. base ever made came with a lot of perks, one of those being no one asked that many questions when the commander gave an order. Within less than an hour after their call, Celestia had driven to the dorm and picked up Sunset, however, Twilight was insistent on going with her. After a brief back-and-forth, Twilight went with them. The three women donned their space suits and entered the ship, after getting seated, Celestia pressed some buttons and flipped a few switches, and spoke to the control tower as she went through their check list. Finally, after everything was done, the ship took off, using the magnetic railgun to launch the ship straight into the air without incident. Despite this being her second trip into space, Twilight was still not used to the g-forces that were exerted on her body. Partway through the launch she almost blacked out, but thankfully they managed to break free of Earth’s gravity before that became an issue. Now that they were outside of Earth’s orbit, Celestia placed the vessel into a holding pattern. “Okay, Sunset, which way do we go?” Celestia asked. Sunset unbuckled her harness and went to the window. She glanced around and that’s when she spotted the light trail of the Ultra Coin. “There!” Sunset pointed. “Fly in that direction!” Celestia nodded and turned the ship in the direction that Sunset had showed her. Once she was aligned with the light, Celestia ignited the fusion engines and propelled them forward at incredible speeds. Stars and planets whizzed by them in a matter of minutes as they flew to their unknown destination, Sunset rubbed her left arm as she took the co-pilot’s seat next to Celestia. “Hey…thanks…for doing this. I don’t know if you’re going to get in trouble for this, but…thank you.” Celestia smiled at Sunset as she said, “It’s no trouble at all, Sunset. I’ve lamented the fact that I couldn’t give you any real answers to your past, so, when Twilight told me that you needed help, I didn’t think twice about it.” Sunset chuckled a little. “You really do take being my guardian seriously, huh?” Celestia shrugged. “I guess you could say I’m living a dream by doing so.” “What do you mean?” Sunset asked. “…I’m not able to bare children, Sunset.” Sunset shook her head in shock, and Twilight clasped her hands together. “Seriously?” Celestia nodded. “When I was a cadet like you and Twilight, I was selected for Special Agent status. I flew Gungirs back in the day, and during one Space Beast encounter, I got shot down, and was severely injured.” Celestia took her right hand off the yolk and gently placed it over her stomach. “The damage was…severe…some of my intestines were gone along with other organs. All of which had to be replaced by cybernetic prosthetics. Medical science and technology has come a long way, but the one thing that it can’t do is recreate a uterus. At least not one that can grow a human life.” Twilight decided to chime in. “It’s not all impossible for you to have a child, Commander. There are other methods, adoption, surrogates, they even have incubation tanks. I’m sure with your being the commander of a S.M.I.L.E. base, you’d have plenty of funds to access any of those.” Celestia nodded. “Yes, all of those are viable options, and I do have the financial means to pursue them. But I want to feel it…I want to feel that life growing inside me, to have that connection to my child from the moment it begins to form inside of me. Call me old fashioned, I guess. Besides being a S.M.I.L.E. Commander, being a mother was my other big dream. You can imagine how devastated I was when they told me the news.” Twilight never thought about it until now, her hands unconsciously moved towards her stomach. Having children had never crossed her mind, romance never popped up either even though she was at the age where she could start sifting through potential love interests. “I’m sorry that happened to you.” “It’s in the past, neither of you have anything to be sorry about.” “Wish I was around to make sure that didn’t happen…though.” Sunset added. “Sunset, you were barely born yet. Don’t blame yourself for something that you had no ability to stop. Besides, now I get to take care of many children, watch them grow, stumble, laugh, cry, and I see new faces every year. But I will say that I’ve been happier since I was granted guardianship of you, Sunset. I know I’m not your mother, but I still regard you as my daughter. And as much as Luna will deny it, she sees you as the niece she never had.” Sunset blushed a little, she had no idea that Celestia felt that way about her, or Luna. Perhaps she should open up to them a little more, Luna seemed to regard Sunset with a little more fondness after what happened on Hive Prime. Maybe it was time she did the same for them. “Now that I think about it, what did Vice Commander Luna say when you told her we were going off world?” Sunset asked. Celestia whistled a little tune as she kept her eyes forward. “You didn’t?” Sunset and Twilight asked. \*****///** [Same Day: Concordia Base, 6:00 A.M.…] Luna groggily awakened to the alarm clock blaring. She sat up in her bed, stretching her arms up as the black t-shirt that read, “Gamer Girl 4 Life”, rose just a bit to show off her midriff before she finished her stretch and brought her arms down. After smacking her lips, Luna got out of bed, the baggy t-shirt flowed down stopped halfway down her thighs. She walked into the bathroom and began her morning routine, brushing her teeth, washing her face, brushing her hair, the usual. Afterwards she went back into her room and got out her uniform, which she ironed and placed on a hanger, ready to go. She knew Celestia would be up already, compared to Luna, Celestia was always a morning person, but lost steam during the night, whereas Luna’s internal clock had her more alert at night. After getting dressed, Luna headed into the living room of their home and called out, “Tia, I’m ready! Is breakfast ready, yet?” When she got no response, Luna called out again, “Tia? Tia?! Ugh, sister, what in the world are you doing?” Luna walked into their kitchen and said, “Tia, I swear, you better not be in your underwear, listening to rock music on your headphones, and shaking your ass. That is the last thing I need to see in the morning! Again!” However, once Luna reached the kitchen, she was surprised to find it vacant. There was not even a small hint that her sister had been in there. “Odd…she never sleeps in. Is she sick?” Luna was about to head to her big sister’s room but stopped when she saw a tablet with its kickstand out, sitting on the bar area of the kitchen. Along with the tablet was a note that said, “Play me”. “What in the world?” Luna swiped open the tablet, brought up the video file, and pressed play. [Hi little sis!] “Oh, nothing good ever comes after she says that.” [Now, don’t be mad–] “Too late for that.” [But I got a call from Sunset and Twilight Sparkle tonight, and Sunset might have remembered something from her past. So, we’re taking a S.M.I.L.E. space cruiser and heading out to follow a trail of light that only she can see to find some mysterious planet with a mountain that may hold the answers she’s seeking. So, needless to say, Aster is MIA for today, and you’re in charge of the base and academy! Don’t know how long we’ll be gone, but I doubt it’ll be that long. Do your best, Lulu!] Luna’s left eye twitched. “You headed off to space…in the middle of the night…and you didn’t even tell me………TIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!” \*****///** [Space: In Transit, 10:30 a.m.…] Twilight raised an eyebrow as she looked around and asked, “Did you hear something?” “Kinda in the middle of space, no sound in a vacuum.” Sunset then began stalking towards Twilight, putting on a creepy, menacing face as she said, “And in space…no one can hear you scream, Sparky.” Twilight, on the other hand, had a deadpan expression. “Not doin’ it for ya?” “Not even a little.” “Eh, worth a shot.” Sunset turned around and then asked, “How far have we gone since we left Earth?” Celestia checked the computer and said, “Well, we’re already out of our own solar system. It would be helpful if we could warp to this planet where the mountain is on, but without knowing the coordinates, we’ll just have to follow the trail you can see, Sunset.” Sunset grumbled as she leaned back in her seat. “This place could be in another galaxy…do we even have enough supplies onboard for that long a trip?” Twilight opened her HoloFrame and linked with the ship’s computer. “At best…if we ration the water and food supply, we could maintain this course for about two months max. Since the ship has a warp engine, we can always warp back to Earth once we get to this planet. Wherever it is.” Celestia grimaced. “Two months…that’s a long time to be away from Earth. It’s been quiet for right now, but there’s no telling how long that will last.” Sunset bit on her bottom lip a little. Celestia was right, two months flying through space was too long, and even then, there was no telling if that would be enough time for them to get to their destination, it could be much further than that. Part of her wanted to tell them that if it really did take two months, that they should warp back to Earth, and she’d fly the rest of the way there as Aster. But that would not do either, if a powerful Space Beast arrived, and she was not there to help, so many people might be killed, and it would be her fault. Orb, I need one more miracle from you, please, she thought. “What’s that?” Twilight asked as she looked out the window. Just ahead there was a purple glowing light. Sunset saw that the light trail ended at that sphere of light. “Celestia, slow down, we’re reaching the end.” Celestia did as Sunset asked, cutting the main engines and firing the retros to slow them down. After a minute, they came to a full stop before the glowing sphere of light. The three women looked around, and Twilight ran scans, but there was no sign of a planet anywhere near them. “Why did it stop here?” Celestia asked. “I…I don’t know.” Suddenly, the sphere enlarged within a matter of seconds. That same sphere punched a hole through space, creating another light trail that lead into the newly made wormhole. “I think it wants us to go in,” said Sunset. “Alright then, girls, strap in! And helmets on, we don’t know what’s waiting for us on the other side of that rift,” Celestia ordered. Sunset and Twilight took their seats, and pressed the buttons on their suits’ colors, activating their helmets which constructed around their heads. Once Celestia had her helmet on, she fired the engines again and they flew straight through the wormhole. The tunnel was made of purple light that sparkled and shimmered, Celestia could feel a great force tugging on the ship, as if they were caught in some kind of cosmic version of an undersea current. The ship was tossed up and down and side to side as they followed the path the wormhole took them. After several minutes of rough traveling, the wormhole opened and revealed regular space. “Hold on girls, we’re about to exit!” Sunset and Twilight braced themselves, just as they exited the wormhole, Celestia fired off the retros and brought the ship to halt. The sudden stop jerked them forward, the harness digging into their chests as the momentum of the ship carried them forward. After a few seconds the retros stopped firing, and the ship was finally brought to a stop. Everyone groaned from the sudden stop, and the soreness felt from the harness. “Is…everyone alright,” Celestia asked. “I feel like my chest is a flat as Rainbow Dash’s after that, but otherwise alright,” Sunset commented. “I think I went down a few cup sizes too,” Celestia remarked. “I think I’m going to have an ‘X’ shaped bruise after that,” said Twilight. “Look!” Sunset and Celestia stared out of the window and saw a huge planet in the distance. The planet’s atmosphere was a mixture of different blues, with clouds hovering around. Sunset unbuckled herself from the harness and stepped closer to the window, standing next to Celestia. A deep sense of nostalgia hit her, she definitely knew of this place, this planet, it was so familiar to her. Celestia and Twilight quickly accessed the computer and began scanning the space around them. “I’m not seeing any known constellations, either in our galaxy or any other,” said Celestia. “I’m running this planet through the GPC, but there’s nothing, I’m finding no matches,” said Twilight. “We don’t even know what this planet’s name is.” “O-50.” Celestia and Twilight both looked at Sunset with surprise. “This…This planet is called O-50. I…I know that…w-why do I know that? How do I know that?!” Celestia looked back at the planet with determination. “Perhaps this place is where the answers you need are. But where do we even begin to look for this ‘Crusader’s Peak’?” A bright purple light visible to even Twilight and Celestia zoomed past the ship and headed straight for the planet below. “Follow that light!” Sunset stated. “Strap in!” Sunset sat down in the co-pilot’s seat, and once she had, Celestia went full throttle and chased after the light. She placed the shields to maximum as they entered the atmosphere, never losing track of the light as they passed through the multiple atmospheric layers of O-50. Once they were finally through, they could see vast land below them. The light angled itself and began curving to the right. Celestia angled the ship that way, keeping pace with the floating ball of light as it lead them, hopefully, to the destination that Sunset sought. It took a few minutes, but soon the light began to slow down as they entered a mountain range. As they did, Sunset began to see things. The mountain range was familiar to her, but what was stranger was how the inside of the ship was shifting back and forth between the S.M.I.L.E. cruiser layout, and then to something else that was familiar yet strange to her. The light of the Ultra Coin faded and stopped, prompting Celestia to stop the ship as well. The coin flew towards the ship, phasing through the hull and floated before Sunset. The fiery haired teen took hold of the coin and put it back in the Coin Keeper. “Wait, that’s it?! Where’s the mountain?! I thought it was leading us to Crusader’s Peak?” Twilight asked. “Sunset?” Celestia spoke. Sunset looked at the yolk for the ship and asked, “Can…Can I drive?” Celestia’s first instinct was to say “no”, she knew Sunset could fly as Aster, but she has not logged that many hours in the flight simulators. However, the longer she looked at Sunset, the more she felt that something was resonating with Sunset, something that compelled her to fly this ship. “Okay.” Celestia pressed a few buttons and switched control over to the co-pilot’s side. “You have control, Sunset.” Sunset gripped the yolk, letting whatever instinct that was kicking in dictate her movements. The dials, buttons, and switches were relatively the same as the flashing vision in front of her. And after making the necessary adjustments, Sunset took hold of the reins and flew the ship forward. She lowered their altitude to about two-thousand feet in the air, which seemed odd to both Twilight and Celestia. “Sunset, why are you bringing us lower?” Twilight asked. “Crusader’s Peak…it won’t allow anyone to just simply fly up there who isn’t worthy…” Sunset was speaking these words but was unsure how she knew them. Celestia was carefully watching Sunset as she piloted the ship, taking it slow and steady as she navigated the mountain range. It was all so strange, Sunset had never flown an actual cruiser, and yet, she was doing so with a steady seasoned hand. Sunset continued to navigate the range, images flashed before her, shifting the environment of the ship to a different ship. She glanced to her left and saw the same person she had climbed the mountain with in her dreams. So, whoever that person was, we must’ve known each other. And…we piloted the ship. We came here, to this planet, together. But…this place doesn’t feel like it’s my home…But it does feel important to me. It’s almost calming. After another few minutes of careful piloting, they had arrived. Twilight removed her harness and walked up to the front to join Celestia and Sunset. Twilight and Celestia’s jaws dropped when they saw the tall, spire-like mountain that pierced the clouds, and at the top of this mountain, even from their distance, they could see a halo of light shimmering at the very top. “Is that…?” Celestia whispered. “Crusader’s Peak,” said Sunset. “We’re…We’re here.” [ALERT!] [ALERT!] [ALERT!] Sunset was snapped out of her trance by the warning systems going off. Celestia regained control of the ship and began taking evasive maneuvers as sonic scarlet beams shot towards them. A high-pitched screeching sound could be heard coming from the beams that made all three occupants of the ship cry out in pain from the assault on their eardrums. Another beam shot towards them, but Celestia pulled up and away from the beam attack. However, there was a third beam that hit them from the left just as they dodged the first two. The beam exploded against the shield, knocking them off kilter. Twilight, who was not in her seat began to tumble about the cabin. Sunset quickly unbuckled herself and launched herself at her friend. Before the bespectacled girl could slam into the ceiling, Sunset grabbed ahold of her and put herself between Twilight and the ceiling, letting herself take the blow. Celestia leveled out the ship, and from that, caused the two of them to fall. Sunset once again put herself between Twilight, allowing the redhead to take the impact of landing on the floor. “Sunset! Are you alright?!” Twilight asked. “Sore, but I’m good! What the hell was that?!” Sunset took this chance to get Twilight into her seat. “We’re taking fire!” “From what?!” Suddenly, a pair of red glowing eyes appeared before them. “THAT!” Celestia pulled up as quickly as she could, making Sunset have to hold onto Twilight’s seat as they rapidly ascended to get out of the way of whatever it was. “Okay, that’s it! I’m not letting some Space Beast get between me and my past!” Sunset raised her right arm and materialized the StaRaizer. A bright light enveloped Sunset, and within that light, she was transported to the starry nexus. A comet of light fazed through the hull of the ship and expanded in the air above it. After a moment, the comet dispersed, revealing the Herald of Light, Ultrawoman Aster. Now that she was outside the ship, Aster could see exactly what it was that was attacking the ship. The Space Beast was yellow in color, goldenrod streaks formed intricate patterns on its body, with a long snake-like trunk, its body was covered in scales, frills on the side of its face, and black spines that ran the length of its back. The monster had semi-muscular arms, with long black claws, and on its chest was a red gemstone that pulsed with power. The monster had a long muzzle, with rows of sharp teeth, and piercing, glowing red eyes. Aster gathered energy to her hands and fired off multiple shots of her Beam Bullets at the monster. The yellow scaled creature bobbed and weaved each shot and now shifted its attention towards her. Just as she wanted. Aster flew towards the monster and threw a punch. The yellow monster dodged the attack and struck Aster in the stomach with her tail, swung her around, and threw her straight towards the ground. Aster impacted hard against the face of one of the nearby mountains, causing her to groan, but it was going to take more than that to take her down. That’s when she heard a crackling sound. The Herald of Light looked up just in time to see bolts of lightning raining down on her position. Aster narrowly dodged the lightning bolts as they cut grooves into the face of the mountain with ease, burning through it and boring deep holes that cut down into the ground. “Okay, it’s tougher than it looks! But I’ve got more up my–!” A huge explosion went off near Aster, sending her flying backwards. When Aster regained her balance, she paused and looked at what had attacked her. To her shock, there was another one. This Space Beast resembled the yellow one, but this one’s scales were purple, with streaks of turquoise that formed similarly shaped patterns like the first. Its black spines were more jagged than the first, it also had more muscle than the other, and looked even meaner. This one also had the same piercing red eyes and glowing gemstone on its chest as well. The second monster’s spines glowed as it opened its mouth and released a deluge of purple flames that scorched the land in front of it. “Oh crap! Aurora Shield!” Aster made a circle with her left arm, creating a shield of aurora light just in time for the deluge of flames to slam against it. The Ultra warrior dug her heels into the rock, cutting grooves into it as the sheer force of the flames was enough to push her back. “Okay, one v two, I got this!” Just then, Aster sensed something, but the moment she did it was too late. Aster was suddenly struck from behind by an extremely cold sensation, she managed to glance over her shoulder to see a beam of cryo energy striking her and causing multiple sparks to be let loose from her body. Aster could not maintain the shield any longer due to the second attack, causing both the flames and cryo beam to hit at the same time, releasing a powerful explosion that threw Aster into the distance. The yellow scaled monster intercepted Aster and released more lightning bolts that hit her, causing more sparks to fly from her body, and throwing Aster back down to terra firma. When the smoke cleared, Aster managed to get herself out of the crater and she was now facing, not one, not two, but three Space Beasts. The third one was arctic blue in color, with navy blue streaks that formed similar patterns to the previous two, her spines were curved, she looked less muscular than her partners, probably built for speed rather than power, and she sported the same gemstone and glowing eyes. “Seriously? Three on one?!” “Unlucky for you,” said the yellow scaled monster. “Who the heck are you?!” “Adjya,” the yellow scaled monster spoke. “Not like you deserve to know my name, but it’s Arjora,” spoke the purple scaled monster. “And I’m Souja, nice to meet you!” the blue scaled monster greeted. “What the hell do you three want?! I’m not here to fight you, I just want to go to that mountain!” Aster stated. Adjya smirked as she winded about and said, “We figured that much, little Ultra, and that’s why we won’t let you.” “What are you, some kind of guardians?” “Tch, please, we came here to tear that mountain down,” Arjora corrected. “Yeah, our Master was all like, ‘GO AND BLOW UP THAT MOUNTAIN! OR ELSE!’, totally rude. He could’ve at least said ‘please’ or something.” “So, there you have it, we came here to tear down that precious mountain of yours. But it looks like we get a bonus, our Master will be pleased that we were able to take down the Ultra girl who has been a thorn in his side!” Aster growled in anger and shouted, “I WON’T LET YOU DESTROY THE MOUNTAIN! IF YOU WANT ME, THEN COME AT ME!” A flash of red light emanated from Aster as she entered her power form, she charged straight for the trio, but the only one who met her charge was Arjora. The muscular leviathan grabbled with Aster, their fingers interlocked and squeezing as they tried to bring the other into submission. Aster fired off one of the revolver cylinders on her leg and created a blast of force and pressure that propelled her right leg forward, allowing Aster to knee strike Arjora in the gut. Arjora grunted from the blow, but instead of letting go, she only got angrier and bellowed forth a torrent of flames, bathing the hero in them. “Is that all you’ve got?!” Aster mocked. There was a prideful glint in the leviathan’s eye as its spines glowed brighter. The flames started to glow brighter as well, becoming a full-on plasma blast that burned even hotter than before. Sparks were coming off Aster’s body, and it was becoming increasingly apparent that her high defense was not cutting it at point blank range. “NOVA BURN!” Aster gathered her cosmic and flame energy, igniting her body, and released a powerful explosion around herself. Arjora was sent flying but managed to bring herself to a stop as she raked the land with her claws. She growled indignantly at the, as far as she was concerned, cheap trick. Out of the flames came a blue streak, Aster had switched to her speed form, closing the distance on Arjora as particles of water began to form around both her hands. “Aqua Blades!” Just as Aster was about to bring down both of her water construct swords, Souja slithered quickly towards Arjora, creating blades of ice in her hands as she blocked Aster’s swords. “Hey! I didn’t ask for your help! Souja!” Arjora growled. “Oh, don’t be mad, I just want a turn to play!” Souja then turned her attention to Aster as a sinister grin formed on her muzzle. “So, let’s play, Aster!” Aster broke off from Souja and began fighting her with a flurry of slashes, but each slash was countered by the blue leviathan. She may have sounded a bit ditzy, but that did not mean she was not as dangerous as her partners. Still, Aster kept at it, the air resounding with the ringing sound of their blades’ impact. Souja’s grin widened as she struck Aster’s swords again, but this time, she funneled her cryo energy into her own blades and flash froze Aster’s. The Ultra warrior was caught off guard as her swords were turned to ice, and in the next moment, Souja struck again and shattered them, slashing Aster across the chest in an “X” pattern. The Herald of Light quickly backed away and formed an energy bow in her left hand. “Artemis Arrow!” Aster drew on the light bowstring and fired multiple shots at Souja. The blue leviathan proved to be fast as it took to the air and began weaving and dodging each of Aster’s arrows. Souja’s spines glowed bright blue as she fired icicle missiles. Turning their battle into a shooting match as Aster had to switch between trying to shoot down Souja and intercepting the icicle missiles. Meanwhile, Celestia and Twilight were watching from up above, worried at how the battle was going. “We have to help her,” said Twilight. “Doesn’t the ship have any weapons systems?!” “It does, but at this point we’d only get in the way,” said Celestia. “We don’t have to defeat them, if we can at least make an opening for Sunset to gain the upper hand, then that should be enough, right?! Celestia contemplated Twilight’s suggestion, the odds were not in Sunset’s favor, and she needed some assistance. As Aster kept looking for an opening to counterattack, several bolts of lightning rained down on her position. Aster had no time to dodge as she was struck again by Adjya’s lightning bolts, but this time the damage was bit more severe due to Cosmic Wave’s low defensive power. The yellow leviathan chuckled evilly as she watched from on high as the hero fell back to the ground, smoking from her attack. That’s when all three of the leviathans lined up in a row, their spines glowed a bright scarlet in tandem with their gems. Aster’s body reverted back to her original form, her color timer blinking red from all the damage she had taken. When she spotted the trio about to attack, she quickly gathered what energy she had left into her arms. The leviathan trio inhaled and released a long singing note that transformed into a combined sonic scarlet beam that shrieked towards Aster. “ASTRONIUM RAY!!!” Aster placed her arms together in an L-shaped pattern and fired her Ultra Ray straight up. The two attacks slammed into each other halfway, causing a powerful shockwave that nearly threw the S.M.I.L.E. vessel into the distance. Aster struggled against their combined might, pouring every last ounce of power she had into her attack. But unfortunately, it was not enough, the leviathan trio released a louder note, doubling the size of the beam and overtaking Aster’s Astronium Ray. Thinking quickly, Aster diverted the beam, using it launch herself away just as the beam hit the ground. The resulting explosion created a powerful, buffeting shockwave that tossed her into the air before she came crashing back to the ground. Aster’s transformation ended as she changed back into Sunset Shimmer. The teenage girl groaned painfully as she stood onto her feet, her clothes scuffed, and her forehead bled a little, but she was still standing. Adjya, Arjora, and Souja floated down to the ground before Sunset and stared at her curiously. “Huh, the great Aster is nothing but a little girl,” Adjya mocked. “And Zetton lost to this punk? And in his evolved state? Pathetic,” said Arjora. “But she is cute, do we really have to kill her? I wanna keep her,” whined Souja. “Oh, by all means, go ahead, Souja. Just don’t come crying to me when the Master asks why she’s still alive.” Souja’s expression fell. “Ah, that’s not fair!” “Ugh, you’ll find another playmate, let’s just smoke this chick and get it over with!” Sunset, despite seeing no way out of this, still stared defiantly at the trio. I just wanted answers…and now I’m going to die without getting any…Sunset looked up towards the ship and pressed on the communicator on her space suit. “Celestia, Twi, head back to Earth. Warp there now.” {WHAT?! WE’RE NOT LEAVING YOU!} Twilight shouted. {We have weapons onboard; we’ll attack now and give you time to run!} Celestia suggested. “You both know as well as I do that that’s a stupid plan. You’ll only get killed…Celestia, you have a duty to protect your students, and Twilight is one of them. She has a family that cares about her, and will be devastated if she dies here,” said Sunset. {AND YOU DON’T THINK I WON’T IF YOU DIE?!}Celestia argued. {Please…Please let me try and save you!} Sunset glanced at the trio who were preparing to fire their own individual elemental attacks. “I’m sorry I never bothered to get closer to you, Celestia…Tia.” Just then, a ball of light came careening straight down from the sky and impacted a few feet from where Sunset was standing. A cloud of smoke obscured what the object but was enough of a distraction that it made the leviathan trio pause. Suddenly, a harmonica began playing a strange melody. Sunset suddenly turned her attention back to the leviathans as they were now shrieking in pain as they pressed their hands against their heads, as if the sound was hurting them. Sunset looked back at the smoke cloud, and out from it appeared a man. He was of Asian descent, or at least that’s what he looked like. The man wore a long leather coat, blue jeans, and a black t-shirt. As he emerged, Sunset saw that it was him who was playing the harmonica. “Who…Who are you?” Sunset asked. The man stopped playing the harmonica and answered, “Gai. Kurenai Gai.” “What are you doing here?” Gai stood beside Sunset and pointed to the halo of light floating above the mountain. “The Voice of Light called out to me, it said someone was fighting to protect it and needed help. So, I came here.” “The Voice of Light…it called for help?” Sunset looked up at the halo, and just as she did, the halo released a pulse wave of light. That coalesced over Sunset’s position and poured down on her, bathing the teen in that powerful light. All the fatigue and injuries she sustained from the battle had been healed, and she could feel that her energy had been replenished. When it was over, Sunset whispered, “Thank you.” “Looks like you got a bit of a problem here, huh. Three on one isn’t very fair, so…” Gai reached into his jacket and pulled out a device that was red and silver and had a clear half ring that ran from one end to the next. “Let’s even things up a bit.” “Wait…are…are you Ultraman Orb?!” Gai nodded. “Tch, so what! One or two, we’ll kick both your asses!” Arjora stated. “Let’s find out.” Sunset summoned her StaRaizer, when she did, both she and Gai were transported to a starry nexus. “Ultraman-san.” “Grant me the strength of a hero!” || ULTRAMAN! || || ULTRAMAN! || “Tiga-san.” “Grant me the power of a galaxy!” || ULTRAMAN TIGA! || || ULTRAMAN GINGA! || “Let me borrow the power of your lights!” “Release the light within me!” ||ULTRAMAN ORB: SPACIUM ZEPERION!|| ||SHINE ON! ULTRAWOMAN ASTER!|| Two pillars of light shined forth, rising into the air, and causing the leviathans to turn away from the blinding light. Once it had faded, two heroes of light stood before them, Ultraman Orb and Ultrawoman Aster. “I light the darkness and strike at evil!” “My light will overcome the darkness!” “Let’s go, rookie,” said Orb. “Right behind you!” Aster replied. Both Ultras dashed forward at the same time, Aster leading with a left punch and Orb with a right punch. The two heroes struck Adjya in the face at the same, launching the lead leviathan straight into another mountain a mile away. The other two were taken by surprise by the combined attack, which gave them time for a follow up. Orb and Aster spun on their heels and delivered a powerful double thrust kick to Souja, sending her flying far into the distance as she smacked into the side of a mountain, leaving Arjora alone. “Taro-san!” “Bestow, the strength of the brave!” || ULTRAMAN TARO! || || ULTRAMAN LEO! || “Mebius-san!” “Bestow, the power of the bold!” || ULTRAMAN MEBIUS! || || ULTRAMAN MAX! || “Help me bring the heat!” “Ignite the fire in my heart!” ||ULTRAMAN ORB: BURNMITE!|| ||BURN UP! SOLARIS MAXIMUS!|| Flashes of red went off in front of Arjora, right before she got hit with two powerful punches that sent her skidding backwards. When the light cleared, both Orb and Aster had transformed into their powered forms. “I’m burning crimson red!” “I’ll burn you away with the flames of my heart!” Arjora roared angrily, she charged up her spines and unleashed a torrent of her purple flames at the two heroes. Orb got in front of the attack and let the flames strike him. At first, Arjora thought that he was trying to protect Aster and intensified her flames, believing that she could take him down if he was willing to take the blow head on. However, she was shocked to find out that he was taking no damage at all. In fact, something was wrong. The flames, they were absorbed by Orb. Orb and Aster began advancing on Arjora, with Aster raising her right fist, and spinning the revolver barrel. Arjora hurriedly cancelled the attack, but it was too late, Orb had absorbed enough of the flames, changing their properties to match his own energy. “Break Buster!” “Stobium Counter Zero!” Aster and Orb struck with both of their right fists. The revolver gauntlet released all six of its energy chambers, at the same time, Orb released all the flames he had absorbed. The combined power of the attacks struck Arjora hard, making the monster cough violently from the impact. A powerful explosion took place that sent the monster flying into the air. “INFERNO SHOOT!” “STOBIUM BURST!” Orb generated a huge ball of fire and launched it, while Aster cocked back both of her fists and thrust them forward, blasting out a fiery plasma beam the combined with Orb’s attack. Arjora was helpless to block the attack as the explosion went off in the air and had the leviathan fall back down to the ground in a heap. Now with one down, they had another to deal with. “Jack-san!” “I ask for the gift of kindness!” || ULTRAMAN JACK! || || ULTRAMAN COSMOS! || “Zero-san!” “I ask for the gift of protection!” || ULTRAMAN ZERO! || || ULTRAMAN AGUL! || “Give me something with an edge!” “Let the waves of my soul quell your rage!” ||ULTRAMAN ORB: HURRICANE SLASH!|| ||FLOW AND CRASH! COSMIC WAVE!|| Blue light shined forth from both Ultras. Souja managed to regain her senses and swiftly came back to help Arjora, but when she found her partner down, she fired her cryo beam at the two heroes. Now in their respective speed forms, the two Ultras easily dodged the attack, breaking in different directions and zooming right into the air. “I cut down darkness faster than the speed of light!” “I will wash away all cruelty with serenity!” Souja fired several of her icicle missiles at the Ultras, but unlike last time, she had two targets to attack, which was dividing up how many she could fire at which Ultra. In order to counter this, Orb used the Orb Slugger Shot, firing off his two horns like boomerangs that floated around himself and Aster, smashing every icicle missile that came their way, and for the ones that he missed, Aster used her Artemis Shot to snipe the few strays that came their way, while also landing many of her own shots on Souja which was also damaging and disrupting. The blue leviathan needed a moment to come up with a counter, so she released her cryo energy and created a sphere of diamond hard ice around her body. Orb dove in first, summoning his Orb Slugger Lancer, a long trident weapon with two bladed tips. Orb pulled the lever on the trident three times and pressed on the button below it. “TRIDENT SLASH!” Orb unleashed a flurry of slashes at an extremely fast pace, creating afterimages of himself, making it difficult to tell which slash came next, or which slash already happened. Streaks of light came with each slash, slicing and cutting away at the ice shell, which only made Souja worried. Normally when she used this, hardly anything could break through it, but here this Ultra was chipping away at it like it was nothing. Orb came down with one more powerful slash, cutting a large grove into the ice shell, but he didn’t manage to completely go through it. Souja felt relieved, but that relief was short lived when she saw Orb move out of the way as Aster came in next, her right arm glowing with blue and bright blue light. “CALIBURN END!” Aster thrust her arm forward, creating a huge and long beam blade that roared towards the spot where Orb had been concentrating his attacks. The blade of light struck that spot and pierced the ice shell, stopping just mere inches from Souja’s chest. The blue leviathan gulped but went full panic mode when the blade glowed brighter and brighter until it released a burst of energy that exploded in her face and sent the monster spiraling to the ground in a heap. Bolts of lightning showered the two Ultras, making them have to dodge quickly to avoid getting hit. Adjya had managed to regain her senses, and she looked really ticked off. “And then there was one,” said Aster. “Let’s wrap this up,” said Orb. Within the starry nexus, Gai pulled out his signature card and scanned it into the Orb Ring. || AWAKEN, ORB ORIGIN!|| From the Orb Ring, particles of light shot out that combined together and materialized the Orb Calibur sword. Gai took the sword and pressed down on the trigger once. The sword’s guard lit up in sequence with four different colored symbols, each one representing one of the four elemental forces of nature. Once all four had lit up, the four powers combined, and from it the Ultra attained his true form, that of Orb Origin. “Shine, the power of bonds!” || ULTRAMAN ORB! || “Shine, the power of knowledge!” || ULTRAMAN HIKARI! || “The stars are aligned for victory!” ||CONVERGENCE! PLANET REVIVE!|| “I am Orb! Ultraman Orb!” “Witness our unified power!” Orb, while floating in the air next to Aster, turned to her and said, “By the way, it’s kind of strange to hear my name announced for a transformation.” “I’m sure, even my Color Timer has the same ring as you,” Aster pointed out. “Oh, yeah, you’re right!” “I’M STILL HERE YOU JACKASSES!!!” Adjya roared as she hurled several lighting bolts at them. Aster took the lead on this one as her body began to glow with orange electrical energy. “Jupiter Stormer!” Her body started to unleash her own lighting bolts, striking at the ones that Adjya fired at her. The air came alive with the buzzing sound of electricity and the smell ozone as lightning danced between them. Orb decided to lend a hand, and within the starry nexus, Gai turned the wheel on the Orb Calibur four times, and each time one of the symbols glowed, with the last one stopping on the green symbol for wind. Gai pulled the trigger of the sword, and spun it, activating the power. “Orb Wind Calibur!” Orb swung his sword around, generating powerful emerald gusts of wind, with one more swing of the sword her created a huge tornado that slammed into Adjya and threw her about, the leader of the leviathans growled and used her electrical power to create a powerful discharge that broke her free of the hold, allowing her to ascend to get the high ground so to speak. “Mercury Racer!” Aster flew faster than the eye could see, appearing as a streak of silver light that quickly met Adjya in the air, intercepting her before she could get any further. “Hi there!” “GYA!” Aster came down with a roundhouse kick, striking Adjya in the face as she plummeted straight down into the ground. “Uranus Collider!” Aster cried out as she thrust her right hand towards Adjya’s position. Adjya’s body suddenly grew incredibly heavy, stopping her from moving altogether. While this was going on, Orb landed on the ground a few feet away. Gai turned the wheel on the Orb Calibur three times, the symbol that glowed this time was the one for earth. Gai pulled the trigger and spun the wheel, just as Orb raised his sword and cried out, “Orb Ground Calibur!” as he stabbed the sword into the ground, creating two dual energy waves that traveled along the ground, winding into a circle that was on an intercept course with Adjya. Up above, Aster prepared her next attack. After flattening her right hand, she sliced the space in front of her, creating a rift in dimensional space. “Neptune Wave Crashing!” Out of that rift poured out a huge deluge of glowing, deep blue water that roared like a tsunami down towards Adjya. The yellow leviathan had no way to dodge or defend as the two elemental attacks hit her at the same time, exploding mightily and tossing her into the same area that her two partners were at. Aster flew down and stood beside Orb. “You guys are done, give up while you still can!” “I’d listen to her, this can only end one way for you three,” Orb warned. All three leviathans rose, glaring at the two heroes in defiance and hate. “We’re not going to lose here!” “Failure is not an option!” “We won’t be thrown away again!” The leviathan trio’s spines began to glow red, along with the gemstones on their chests shining brighter. Aster knew what was coming next, but this time she was ready. Aster slashed upwards with her right arm, and in its wake created five different colored spheres, she then swiped her left arm in a horizontal pattern, creating four more spheres of light to form a cross. At the same time, Gai raised the Orb Ring, and thrust the Orb Calibur through the gap in the ring. ||UNLEASH THEPOWEROFORB!|| Gai spun the wheel of the Orb Calibur, making each of the symbols light up and blink before the wheel stopped with all four of them glowing. Gai pulled the trigger and then spun the Orb Calibur’s wheel once more. Ultraman Orb raised the Orb Calibur into the air with his right hand and drew a circle of aurora light with the tip of the blade. Once the ring of aurora light was completed, he thrust the sword’s blade through the center, making the ring collect all its energy and then transferred it into the Orb Calibur. “GRAND CROSS STRIUM!” “ORB SUPREME CALIBUR!” Aster brought her arms together in an L-shaped pattern, making all nine planet spheres combine and fire in the form of a huge aurora colored beam of light. At the same time, Orb pointed the Orb Calibur at the three leviathans and fired his own aurora beam in tandem with Aster. The twin beams roared with great power as the leviathans unleashed their sonic scarlet beam. The attacks met in the center, creating a huge shockwave that caved in the area where the two beams met. The two sides battled it out in the beam struggle, the three leviathans giving it all they had to overcome the two Ultras standing before them. But the Ultras weren’t slacking off either, in fact, they were about to get serious. Aster and Orb released a loud battle cry as they poured more of their power into their beam attacks, making them glow brighter, and double in size as they began to push back against Adjya, Arjora, Souja’s combined beam. The leviathans were now worried, no, they were scared, the only thing holding back their inevitable destruction was their beam attack, but they were quickly running out of power, if they cut it off now, they would surely get swept away in the combined powers of Aster and Orb and be destroyed, but continuing this attack would only delay their death, either way, they were going to die. They could no longer sustain the attack as the blinding light of the two Ultra’s broke through and hit, creating a huge explosion that bellowed upwards and shook the air and ground with its force. When the dust settled, there was not a trace of the three monsters, the invaders had been defeated. \*****///** Now that the battle was over, Sunset and Gai stood before Crusader’s Peak. The ship had landed a couple of feet away, with Celestia and Twilight standing next to Sunset. The older woman hugged Sunset fiercely, almost threatening to never let her go. “Celestia…Celestia…! Can’t breathe!” Sunset chocked. “You can bare it after worrying me so much!” Celestia shot back. “Fair enough…!” After a couple of minutes, Celestia finally released her. Only for Twilight come up and fiercely hug her best friend. “Oop! Okay, not done yet.” “Don’t you ever tell us to leave you behind, ever!” Twilight stated. “I’m sorry…I just wanted to know you guys would at least make it,” said Sunset. “We understand, but that doesn’t make it any easier to even think about doing that…” Twilight sniffled. Gai found the whole thing heartwarming, seeing how strong this young Ultra warrior’s bonds with those who care about her were. “You seem to have a good parent, and a good friend.” Celestia blushed at the compliment and replied, “Oh…well…I-I’m her guardian, not her mother, unfortunately.” Gai shook her head. “Whether you are blood related or not, it’s how you feel and act that counts. From where I stand, you are a mother to her.” “But…I…” “Oh, just take the compliment!……Momma Tia,” said Sunset with a blush. Celestia was practically gushing at being called that, restraining herself from hopping around like a child. “Don’t get used to hearing that in public! I-I’m only going to call you that sometimes, not all the time, okay!” “I don’t care, just hearing you say it once was enough for me!” Twilight giggled at the reaction, but then turned her attention to Gai. “You’re an Ultra, I can’t believe it! Another Ultra is standing here with us! I have so many questions for you, I-I don’t even know where to begin?!” “I do.” Sunset turned to face Gai and asked, “You said the Voice of Light called you here to help defend it. Does that mean this is the place where you became Ultraman Orb?” Gai crossed his arms and nodded. “Yes, many, many years ago, my friend…and rival, Jugglus, climbed Crusader’s Peak. We were summoned by the Voice of Light to undergo the trial to determine if we were worthy of receiving its great power. We climbed to the top, but the power of light chose me instead of my friend. From then on I was Ultraman Orb, hopping around from galaxy to galaxy, universe to universe, defending the helpless and protecting the innocent from the evils that wish to exterminate life and all that is good.” “So, that’s how Fluttershy’s story came about.” A thought just occurred to Sunset. “Wait a minute, Ocellus said that the Belzeb were defeated by a band of Ultra warriors, were you responsible for that?” “I was.” “And Fluttershy said that the story of Orb was something handed down to her from her grandmother, which meant it had to have been handed down from someone just as old or older before her…” Twilight was starting to piece together where Sunset was going with this train of thought, and it worried her. “Gai…tell me, how old are you?” Gai rubbed the back of his head as he thought about that question. After a moment he sighed and said, “I wish I could tell you, it’s been so long that I’ve forgotten my age. But I know it’s more than a hundred years.” The color drained from Sunset’s face as she began to stumble backwards. Thankfully Celestia caught her, but was confused as to why that answer would make Sunset react like that. “I…I don’t understand, Sunset, what’s the matter?” “You…Did you stop aging when you became Orb?” Gai nodded. “No…then…then that means I could be…I could be hundreds of years old!” Sunset spoke in horror. “If that’s true then…anyone and everyone who could’ve remembered me, knew me, is probably dead and gone!” Sunset turned and began crying into Celestia’s chest. The realization struck Celestia now, if this was true, then that meant that Sunset’s parents, friends, or any relatives she might have had were long since dead. There was no hope of finding anyone alive that could link her to her past. Twilight walked over and hugged Sunset from behind, sniffling as she felt her friend’s sadness and trying to offer some comfort to her. Gai felt for the young woman, she came here to get answers, but it seems that the answers were not what she had hoped for. The wanderer looked up at Crusader’s Peak, and with a determined expression he said, “Sunset-chan, let’s climb.” “W-What?” “We’ll climb Crusader’s Peak together.” Sunset broke out of the hug of her guardian and friend and stood before Gai angrily. “What good will that do?! Even if I remember my past, it won’t matter! ‘Cause everyone I know might be dead!” “Might, not is. You’re giving up too early. You’re human, but you’re not from Earth. We are granted longevity from the power of light, and my people age just like normal humans. But who is to say that is the same for your people? You could come from an Earth-like planet that has a people that live much longer lives, but you won’t know that until you start somewhere, and getting to the top of Crusader’s Peak is your first step,” said Gai. Sunset wiped her eyes free from the tears as she looked up at the tall mountain. Is it possible…? Gai gently patted Sunset on the back as he started walking towards the base of Crusader’s Peak. “C’mon, rookie, or you’ll get left behind.” “Hey! I never agreed to go!” “Go, Sunset.” The flame haired girl turned around and saw that Celestia had a serious look about her. “Mr. Kurenai is right, if you don’t do this, you’ll only be haunted by this. Wondering ‘What if he was right?’ Don’t live in regret, Sunset. I’m telling you this as your…ahem…as your mother, climb!” Sunset turned to Twilight, but it seemed she was of the same mind as Celestia. “You need to do this, Sunset. For yourself.” The teen girl sighed heavily, “Fine. Hey! Wait up!” Gai smiled. \*****///** [Crusader’s Peak, 4 hours later…] “Damn I forgot how tall this mountain was!” “Don’t you have amnesia?” “I do! And one of the things that’s coming back to me is how much I disliked climbing this friggin’ tall thing!” Hours had passed since Gai and Sunset started their climb on Crusader’s Peak, and with each mile gained, Sunset’s memories were piecing back together. So far, she was remembering the arduous climb to the top, the buffeting winds that howled around her, threatening to blow her off the side of the mountain. She remembered a loose rock that nearly caused her to fall to her death, which was good because she managed to move around that very same rock. Together, the two heroes climbed, and thanks to their altered physiology, the climb this go around was easier, at least to Gai, Sunset was just remembering how much she hated climbing this mountain. But they were getting closer, they had past the cloud layer and the peak was drawing nearer. The halo of light was bigger now that they were closer to the top, just a few more feet and Sunset might be able to get the answers she sought. However, before they could pass that last bit, she paused. Gai looked to his right and asked, “Sunset-chan, what’s wrong?” “I’ve been having dreams about this place, memories in the form of dreams anyway. And each time I clear that ledge, I wake up.” Sunset looked at Gai worriedly and asked, “What if all of this was a dream? What if I’m still back in my room, and I wake to find out that this whole ordeal was just something my mind fabricated?!” Gai smiled determinedly and said, “Only one way to find out, Sunset-chan. But the only way I’m moving forward is with you. We can let go now, transform, and fly back down. We’ve come farther than I thought you were willing. But this last half has to be your choice.” Sunset looked back up at the peak, just a few more feet, a few more feet separated her from the possible answers she sought. “Okay…thank you, Gai.” Gai merely nodded and followed after Sunset. One hand in front of the other, slow and steady, she was almost there. Sunset’s right hand grabbed ahold of the ledge; this was the moment of truth. Gritting her teeth, Sunset pulled herself up over the ledge, after getting all the way onto the flat surface of the peak, she lied there on her back, panting from the ordeal, eyes shut. Gai came up after her and sat down next to the young lady. Once she had caught her breath, Sunset opened her eyes and found that she was not in her room, this was real, this was not a dream. Sunset stood up and looked above, being this close to the halo of light was awe-inspiring, and very nostalgic. The halo of light appeared around the pupils and irises of Sunset’s eyes, and in a flash her mind was flooded with memories. She remembered flying a spaceship, accompanied by someone, that part was still shrouded in shadows, she knew she was with someone, but still could not remember who they were. Her and this person flew to O-50 together, and together they climbed Crusader’s Peak, summoned by the Voice of Light. They climbed and climbed until, eventually, it was Sunset who reached the top first. There the halo of light released a sphere of glowing light in the middle of the platform, Sunset walked towards it, and placed her hand into it. Upon doing so, the light released a burst of energy, taking the shape of the sun symbol that was on Aster’s chest, and after a moment, it formed around her forearm, creating the StaRaizer bracer. Sunset turned to the person who came with her, she could sense some disappointment that the Voice of Light did not bestow its gift to them, but regardless, they seemed alright that it was her. The person who accompanied her then mouthed the words, “Congratulations, now, let’s head back to Equenta. You don’t want to keep the Princess waiting, Royal Knight Sunset.” Sunset came out of her trance with a gasp, causing Gai to quickly go to her to make sure she didn’t collapse. “Sunset-chan, are you alright?” Gai asked. “I am…I…I know the name of the planet I’m from.” \\**/// [Unknown Space…*] A portal of darkness opened, and from it spilled out Adjya, Arjora, Souja. The three leviathans fumbled about on the floor of the Dark Sanctuary, glowing in their respective colors before finally shrinking to the to a smaller size. The yellow leviathan had transformed into a teen girl, she was fair skinned, with voluptuous curves, and had rose colored eyes. Her hair was curly and big, flowing down her back, it was goldenrod colored, with yellow streaks in it. The second had lean muscle on her body, with her purple hair done up in twin-tails sporting streaks of neon turquoise. The last one had her hair in a ponytail, which was colored bright blue with navy-colored streaks. She her curves matched the first girl, but her, ahem, assets were a bit bigger than the other two. All three of them had rose colored eyes, all three wore the same raggedy tops, all three had the same raggedy looking shorts, all three of them had ruby gemstone necklaces, and all three of them sported a tattoo of their monster form on their right upper arms. “What…What happened?! I thought we died!” Arjora exclaimed. “Obviously, we’re not dead, sister,” Adjya retorted. “Or are we dead and we went to the bad place?” Souja pondered. “Go back to sleep, Souja!” Silence. All three of the girls had a chill go down their spine upon hearing the voice of the dark one. Now that they took a moment to see where it was they were, they realized that they had returned to the Dark Sanctuary, sitting before Lord Tirek and Lord Sombra. All three girls hurriedly got into bowing positions and said, “Greetings, Master!” “Tch, we sent you with a simple mission. Destroy Crusader’s Peak, and you three couldn’t manage to do something as simple as that,” said Tirek. “We’re sorry, Lord Tirek, but Ultrawoman Aster arrived on the planet at the same time we did,” said Adjya. “We would’ve ended her if that stupid second Ultra didn’t show up,” Arjora added. Sombra raised an eyebrow at that. “Second Ultra? Who?” “He said his name was Ultraman Orb,” Souja answered. The dark lord of the realm grumbled indignantly at the mere mention of that Ultra’s name. “Please, forgive us! We can try again once they leave!” Adjya suggested. Do not bother. This only proves to me that the Voice of Light will defend itself in one way or another. There is no point in throwing resources at a target that is this resourceful. Adjya raised an eyebrow and asked, “M-Master, forgive me, but did you know that that might happen?” It was a possibility, if you two failed to destroy it, and no defenses were mounted, I would have had sent Tirek to obliterate the planet. But as it seems, the Voice of Light will not allow itself to be snuffed out. You proved yourselves useful, which was why I used my power to save your lives. “And we’re so grateful–!” However, if you ever stop being useful to me. I will not hesitate to end your lives myself. My full resurrection will not be impeded by incompetence. From ANYONE. Understood? “Yes, Master!” Tirek, Sombra, and the three sisters replied. Once that was out of the way, the three sisters left the Dark Sanctuary and moved to their personal grotto room where they submerged themselves in the water. The moment they did, their bodies began to undergo a rapid regeneration process. “Sis, I don’t like that guy,” said Souja. “Like he cares. It’s the same story no matter where we go…if we’re not useful in some way then we’re thrown away,” said Arjora with hurt in her voice. “Come here you two.” Adjya opened her arms and allowed her two sisters to rest their heads against her left and right shoulders respectively. “I promised you we would always be together, that we would obtain greater power, power enough to assure that no one could look down on us. And I meant it.” “Yeah, but how? That guy’s got even Tirek and Sombra jumping when he says so, and he’s just a disembodied voice!” Arjora pointed out. “And you saw what he did to Chrysalis, the moment she turned on him he put her in a coma!” Adjya held onto them tighter. “I will not let him hurt you, I will not let anyone harm us. Never again.” Author's Note Guess who's back~ Back again~ HA! Seriously, though, yes, Aster has been revived! I'm on a bit of a hiatus from writing a couple of fics for Amphibia and Owl House, both Kamen Rider themed, BTWs, and in the meantime I'll be writing on this fic and another. I'll try and drop another chap this week, hopefully! 14th Light: Friendship In Danger / Fight Together! (Part 1)“So, Sunset’s from some planet called ‘Equenta’?” Luna asked. “Yes, when she climbed the mountain, some more of her memories returned to her, and from them she learned that she was a ‘Royal Knight’ on the planet of Equenta,” Celestia explained. “I see, have you checked through the GPC?” “The first thing I did when we found out. I even checked again once we returned, but there was nothing on this planet.” Celestia sighed sadly. “I’m afraid that…maybe this planet no longer exists.” Luna was sad to hear about what was discovered during her sister’s impromptu space trip. Especially when she learned of Sunset’s possible advanced age and that she may no longer have a home planet anymore. “What of this ‘Gai Kurenai’, where is he?” “He was called to O-50 by the Voice of Light to help Sunset defend it. But after we got everything sorted out there, we all went our separate ways. I’m sure he’s out there, defending other worlds as an Ultraman. Although, he did mention to us that there are more out there, more than we even realize,” said Celestia. “Be nice if some of them were here during the First Incursion. Anyway, I’ll do some digging on my end. I’m getting rather curious as to how S.M.I.L.E. knew about Sunset Shimmer, and her abilities.” Celestia nodded, it was a fact that they had not bothered to inquire about, but with recent information coming to light, perhaps it was worth investigating. “By the way, Luna…” “Yes, dear sister?” “Can you please have mercy on me?!” During her little space adventure with Twilight and Sunset, a mountain of paperwork had been accrued in her absence. Luna did manage to cut down the workload while her sister was away, but let’s face it, sibling rivalries die hard. “Consider it karma for leaving in the middle of the night with only a note!” \*****///** (The Dark Sanctuary…) The dark master of this realm was hard at work, summoning his malevolent energies, and concentrating them into a point in the middle of the throne room. This ball of dark power continued to rage, undulating, alive, and wanting to wreak havoc. Tirek stood with his arms crossed as he waited for his master’s work to be done, meanwhile, Sombra came walking and looked upon the work that was being done. “I hope you’re not wasting the Master’s time and energy by doing this,” said Sombra. “Believe me, it will pay off in the long run,” Tirek assured. The ball of negative energy condensed until it exploded outwards, releasing a wave of dark energy. The three sisters watched from around the corner, unsure of what was happening. When the dark energy dispersed, the only thing remaining was a device. A device that was forged of pure dark power, and only sought those with evil in their hearts. This was the device known as the Dark Ring. It is done. The Dark Ring floated towards Tirek, the device was like a small crumb in his hands, but it was fine, the Dark Ring was not made for him. The centaur turned around and looked towards where the three sisters were, making them flinch. “Enter,” he ordered. From that same hallway, a figure walked by the sisters, clad in black robes and with their hood up, obscuring their face from view. The figure stopped before the giant centaur and bowed before him. “Use the Dark Ring, my disciple, bring chaos and destruction upon the Earth from the inside. They won’t know what hit them!” The Dark Ring floated from Tirek’s hand and hovered before the robed minion. The glow of the Dark Ring illuminated their face only enough for their wicked smile to be seen. \*****///** (S.M.I.L.E. Academy: Wednesday, 9:30 a.m.) “What did you just say?!” Twilight and Sunset were walking through the halls of the academy, on their way to their next class when Sunset told her something that honestly made her head spin. “I just think that you guys should put some distance between me,” said Sunset. “I…I don’t understand, are you saying you don’t want to be friends anymore?!” Twilight asked. Sunset did not want to say that exactly, but essentially, that’s what she wanted to happen. “Look…it’ll be better for you guys and me if we’re not all together.” “Is this because…” Twilight looked about to make sure no one was eavesdropping. “You found out that you’re immortal?” “Longevity, but…” Sunset sighed. “Yeah, it is.” Twilight was still having a tough time understanding Sunset’s reasoning. “I still don’t get it.” “Look, it does neither me nor you guys any good to be friends with me. I’ll outlive you all…I’ll…never get any older than I am now. Hell, I’m probably way older than anyone here! So, I think it’s better to spare us all the headache…and heartache…if we don’t interact with each other as much. Missions and things like that are unavoidable, but the faster you guys forget about me, the easier things will be for all of us in the long run.” Twilight’s grip on her textbooks tightened. “I don’t accept that. I won’t accept that, Sunset Shimmer.” “Sparky…” “Before I met you, I never had any friends! Now I have you, and six other friends whom I adore! And the person responsible for bringing them into my life, for opening my mind up to so many things, is telling me to just forget her as if she never existed?!” Twilight began to sniffle. “Well, sorry, not sorry, I’m not going to forget you!” Twilight ran off, leaving Sunset standing there cursing herself. Of course, Twilight would react like that, how else would she? Asking Twilight to forget about the first real friend she’s made, her best friend, someone who has saved her life, and was saved by that same girl not too long ago. “Ugh!” Sunset smacked the side of a locker, leaving a dent in it. “Well, my strength, speed, stamina, and beam hands make more sense now.” Meanwhile, Twilight kept running down the hallway. Normally she was one to abide by the rules, including the one about not running in the halls, but she was not in the right state of mind to care at the moment. Sunset wanted to break ties with her friends, with her. Twilight felt her heart ache when she heard those words. She wanted to no longer be friends, or a part of her life, or their lives. Just as she turned the corner, she ran into something rather sturdy, making Twilight fall onto her rear. “Whoa there, Twilight, y’all alright?” Twilight looked up and saw the sturdy thing she ran into was in fact Applejack. And standing next to her was her girlfriend, Rainbow. The chromatic haired teen chuckled as she said, “So, the color is pink today.” Twilight was confused for a moment before she looked down and realized that her skirt was up a little and her legs were open. Blushing bright red, Twilight quickly pushed her skirt down and closed her legs, embarrassed to the umpteenth power. AND THAT’S WHY YOU DON’T RUN IN THE HALLS! “AHAHA!” Rainbow laughed. “OMPH!” Applejack lightly elbowed her girlfriend before rolling her eyes at her. The country girl leaned down and offered a hand to her friend. “Ignore her. But what’s got ya runnin’ so fast? Ya look like a chicken runnin’ from a starvin’ fox.” Twilight took Applejack’s hand, and with a swift pull, was brought back up to standing height. Sometimes she forgot about Applejack’s superhuman strength. “I was just upset…” After recovering from the elbow, Rainbow noticed that Twilight had some remnants of tears in her eyes and immediately grew concerned. “Hey, what’s wrong, why are you crying? Did someone mess with you?! Tell us who, and I’ll teach ‘em a lesson!” Twilight shook her head. “No, no one hurt me or did anything. It’s……” Applejack and Rainbow glanced at each other, now they were more worried. “Twi, ya can tell us anythin’. We aren’t just teammates, we’re friends,” said Applejack. “Ya, I may tease and stuff sometimes, but that doesn’t mean I don’t care about you any less. Just talk to us,” Rainbow added. Twilight’s tears were starting up again. “Sunset…doesn’t want to have anything to do with us anymore.” “WHAT?!” The three girls turned to the new voice and saw Pinkie, along with Rarity and Fluttershy walking by. The pink haired girl rushed to Twilight, turned her around, grabbed her by the shoulders, and shook her as she asked, “SHE DOESN’T WANT TO BE FRIENDS ANYMORE?! WHY?!” “S-S-Stop s-s-shaking p-p-please!” Pinkie did as she asked. After regaining her senses, Twilight looked around to make sure that there were no eavesdroppers. She motioned for the girls to move further down the hall, away from the any possible listeners. Although Sunset and Twilight told the girls about what they found out about Crusader’s Peak and Sunset’s possible planet of origin, Sunset had asked her not to tell the girls about her immortality. But, if Sunset was really planning on severing ties with everyone, then they had the right to know. “Sunset asked me not to tell you, but considering what she wants to do, I think you have the right to know.” Twilight sighed; this was not going to be easy. “There’s something else we didn’t tell you about our adventure. The other Ultra we met, who gained his powers from the same place as Sunset, it seems that he stopped aging when he did.” Rarity furrowed her brow and asked, “Wait a minute, you said ‘stopped aging’, as in, he’s immortal?” “I don’t think he’s like a god, more like he won’t age or get old, although I’m sure he’s still subject to death if something bad happens to him.” Fluttershy was slowly putting two and two together as her face morphed to match her realization. “Wait…so that means, Sunset is also ageless?” Twilight simply nodded. “Okay, I’m not seeing how that’s a bad thing,” Rainbow stated. “Seems it be kinda awesome not to have to worry about getting old and slowing down.” Applejack lightly swapped the back of Rainbow’s head. “Think about it, feather brain……It means Sunset’s gonna be here long after we’re all pushin’ up daisies.” “And she’s struggling with that fact. She wants to stop being around us, because she’s afraid of being hurt when the time comes and we’re…you know,” Twilight explained. Silence reigned over the group for a while. It was a heavy thing to consider. Sunset would still be around long after their death, and for them, all six would continue to grow older, while their friend will remain the same age. “Well, that’s dumb,” said Pinkie. Everyone looked at the party girl with confusion. “She doesn’t want to hurt us or herself so she’s pushing away people who care about her. I mean, that just sounds really stupid. I know if I would live forever, I’d want to have as many friends as possible! Being alone forever sounds like it would horrible!” Pinkie stated. Applejack blushed a little and smiled as she wrapped her arm around Rainbow’s waist and brought her girlfriend’s hip close to hers. “Ah’d have to agree with that. Even if Ah was goin’ to live forever, Ah wouldn’t want to be alone. Ah’d rather be with someone for the rest their life, no matter how long that is.” Rainbow blushed as well, feeling embarrassed that Applejack said such a mushy, romantic thing. “Okay, okay, you don’t have to get all mushy on me…” It was taking all her willpower to keep her wings from flaring out to cover her face. “But…yeah…what she said.” “Better to have known love and friendship, than to never have known it all. I don’t think I could bear being alone such a long time like that,” said Rarity. Fluttershy simply nodded. “Then it’s decided! We’re throwing Sunset a party!” “YEAH!” the girls shouted in agreement. Then Twilight took a moment to take in what Pinkie suggested. “Wait, what?” \*****///** (Friday: Academy Rooftop, 3:30 p.m.…) Some answers had been obtained, the biggest one being Sunset’s home planet, at least what she hoped was her home planet. After returning to Earth and informing their friends about what was discovered on O-50, the girls were quick to surround Sunset with hugs and pats on the back and assurances that they would continue to help her, no matter what. Sunset did feel relieved knowing that her friends would stand by her. However, she had Twilight omit the part about being an immortal. That was probably the thing that was proving hard for Sunset to get over the most. If Gai Kurenai was ageless after becoming Ultraman, then that meant that Sunset would never die, at least due to aging, anyway. It brought a whole new prospect onto her life as she went through classes. Constantly asking herself the question, “Does any of this matter?” And really, did it matter? Going to these classes, attending training. Now that she thought about it, was it even a good idea for her to even continue being friends with the girls? This question was rattling in her head repeatedly, even now as she lied on the roof and stared into endless sky. I’ll never grow old…I’ll never change. The girls will grow old…they will change. AJ, RD, Rare, Pinkie, Shy…Sparky. Even Luna and Celestia…they’ll all just…grow old and fade away. And I’ll still be here… Sunset’s heart began to hurt when she thought about this, the first real friends she made since she decided to fight and protect the Earth, no matter how powerful she was, Sunset could not shield her friends from time. They would all eventually grow old and die, and she’d be alone. “What am I going to do…?” “You look bummed out.” Sunset sat up and looked behind her, finding Flash Sentry walking onto the roof from the access door. “Oh, hey, Flash. Kinda having an existential crisis over here.” “Wow, about what?” he asked as walked closer. “Nothing that I can say that would sound sane,” she replied. Flash sat down next to Sunset’s left and said, “You do remember that we fight invading aliens, giant monsters, and that we have a giant superwoman who can fight against said giant monsters. And then there was that Halloween thing last month, soooo…” Sunset hated to admit it, but the guy did have a point. S.M.I.L.E. Academy has faced some crazy things, but that did not mean that she was ready to dump all this onto him. Heck, she still did not like that she dumped half of what she did on the girls, the last thing any of them needed was to do deal with her anxiety. “Just…drop it…okay?” Flash could see that the fiery redhead was not in a talking mood. So, he shrugged and said, “Okay, if that’s what you want. But I’m willing to listen. Mind if I lounge around up here, too?” Sunset sighed as she lied on her back again. “Free country, do what you want.” “Thanks.” Flash lied on his back and stared up into the sky, there were a lot of clouds in the sky and Flash decided to point out, “The clouds are really nice this time of year, huh?” “…I never paid attention to ‘em.” “Too busy to look up?” Sunset rolled her eyes. “No.” I just fly through them a lot, so I don’t exactly care what they look like. “I just…ugh…” Flash grinned a little and said, “I think that one looks like a dragon.” Sunset looked towards where he pointed, she tilted her head a little, only now vaguely seeing the serpentine dragon-like cloud. “Huh, yeah, I guess.” “You’re turn.” “We’re taking turns?” “Yeah, why not?” “Ugh, you’re annoying,” Sunset groaned. The flame haired teen scanned the skies and spotted a cloud that looked vaguely like a unicorn. “There, that one’s a unicorn, I guess.” “Huh? I think it looks like horned horse.” Sunset glanced to her left with confusion plane on her face. “That’s what I said, a unicorn.” “No, it’s a horned horse,” Flash countered. “What’s the difference?! A unicorn and ‘horned horse’ is the same thing!” Sunset argued. Flash raised his finger in a matter-of-fact fashion, “Not true, a unicorn is a mystical, magical creature. Whereas a horned horse is just a horse with a horn mutation.” Sunset chuckled in disbelief. “You’re weird, Sentry.” “No weirder than you are, Shimmer.” “Shut up.” Sunset went back to staring up at the sky, her eyes briefly glancing over at the young man. “Flash…thanks.” “Anytime.” At that moment, Sunset’s HoloFrame sounded off. The flaming redhead took out her HoloFrame from her skirt pocket and saw that she had a message from Twilight. Her first friend had been mostly silent towards her since Wednesday, no doubt upset about what she said. Sunset wanted to make amends, to tell her that it was not as if it was because Twilight was a bad friend. More like you’re a good friend that I don’t want to hurt…more. Sighing, Sunset opened the device and read the message. [Sunset, please come to our dorm as soon as you get this message. We need to talk.] “Guess it’s time to confront this,” said Sunset. “Trouble?” Flash asked as he sat up a bit. “No, just some drama I caused between Sparky and me. It’s my mess to clean up.” “Hmm, alright. Offer still stands, Sunset,” said Flash as he laid back down and looked up at the sky. Sunset got up and walked towards the door and said, “Thanks, again.” \*****///** Sunset stood before the door of her dorm room. On the other side was Twilight, no doubt wanting to have a serious discussion about what she was planning on doing. With a deep sigh, she opened the door, only to find not a single light on inside. “Uh…Twi? Sparky? You in here?” Sunset called out as she entered. “Look, I don’t want to leave things off on a sour note. But I’m doing this for–” “SURPRISE!!!” “AAAH!” *Bachoom!* The lights suddenly clicked on as all six of Sunset’s friends sprang out from the corners and couch. This startled the redhead and made her fire off a light beam from her hand. Thankfully, the light bullet burned its way through the sliding glass door, leaving a hole about six inches wide. When Sunset realized what had happened, she got irritated. “WHAT IN THE BLUE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?! I ALMOST KILLED YOU GUYS!” Sunset yelled. “Told ya a surprise party was not a good idea,” said Rainbow. The light bullet had whizzed by Pinkie’s head, lightly singing her hair a little. “Yeaaaaah…mental note, next time, no surprise parties for the girl who can shoot light beams from her hands. Or for the girl who can turn into an anthropomorphic fox-wolf.” “Most definitely not,” Fluttershy muttered. After getting over the initial shock, Sunset managed to scan the room. There was a banner hanging across the room that read, “You’re Good Friend Sunset Shimmer!”, along with streamers, confetti, a few bottles of cola, a cake, and some pizza. The girls had on party hats, and whistles in their hands. “I repeat, what the hell are you guys doing?” Pinkie stepped forward and said, “Well, Twilight told us about how you’re planning on not being friends anymore, and how you’re going to do a lone wolf thing and cut us all out!” Sunset’s brow furrowed. “Twilight, what the hell?!” “Sunset, please, just listen to us. We don’t want you to just push us away,” said Twilight. “She’s right, Darling, we’re your friends, from now until the end. Be it now or far in the future,” Rarity added. Sunset gritted her teeth as she clenched her fists. “Well maybe I don’t want to see that?! Did you think about how I feel?! Maybe I don’t want to see you guys waste away?! Maybe I don’t want to watch as you all get older, and I stay the same?! Maybe I don’t want to feel the pain of…of…losing you! The answer is I DON’T!” “Sunset…” Fluttershy began. “No!” Sunset cut off Fluttershy. “Just get out! Just…Just leave me alone! From here on out, we’re not friends! We’re not teammates, we’re not anything!” A pregnant silence befell the room. But that silence did not last long. [ALERT!] [ALERT!] The girls’ HoloFrames went off as a Space Beast alert went off. “Ugh, you’ve got to be kidding me?! Right now?! No. You know what, good! I need some stress relief!” “Sunset!” Twilight cried out. Sunset ran to the roof of the dorms, to one of the several hidden blind spots of the campus and quickly summoned her StaRaizer. “Give me the strength of a hero!” || ULTRAMAN! || “Give me the power of a galaxy!” || ULTRAMAN GINGA! || “Release the light within me!” ||SHINE ON! ULTRAWOMAN ASTER!|| Sunset’s body was engulfed in light, a light that shot straight into the air and reformed into that of the Herald of Light, Ultrawoman Aster. The giant of light flew through the skies over Canterlot City, and just in time for the Phantom Zone generator to kick on. Now that everything had been shifted into a clone-like dimension, Aster wasted little time in landing in the middle of the city, cracking the asphalt and shattering some windows upon impact. Aster got into her ready stance and stared down the new Space Beast. “Uh…where’s the monster?” Indeed, there was no monster, in fact, there was not that much destruction that she could see around there. There were a couple of buildings smashed, and some crushed cars, but there were no other signs of a Space Beast attack. “What the heck?” Are the warning systems malfunctioning or something? Far away, atop the roof of a tall building, a lone figure stood and observed Aster. They was situated behind the hero, so Aster did not spot them at all. The figure chuckled sinisterly. “Know nothing Ultra, I’ll make you suffer.” The figure pulled out the Dark Ring with their left hand, and with their right they pulled out two cards with the image of a monster on them. “Bemstar. Gan-Q. Time to come out and play.” ||/BEMSTAR! ||/ ||/ GAN-Q!||/ The figure held up the Dark Ring, and from it two beams of light shined forth from it. One beam of light shot towards the ground and from it appeared a large monster. The monster had a giant eye in the middle of its body, with its lower half having a few more of them. Its arms were long and sharp, and it was colored a rusty red color. This was Gan-Q The second light appeared in the sky, this creature was wide, and had a leathery hide, and an almost tribal ornament around its waist. Around its belly was a metal plate, and at the center of that plate was a red, almost flowery protrusion. It had a curved horn on its head, and a short beak, this monster was Bemstar. Aster suddenly turned around and saw the two monsters, and quickly got on guard. WHAT?! How did they get behind me?! Bemstar channeled energy into its horn and unleashed a blue lightning attack that rained down on Aster from above. The Ultra hero rolled to the left, dodging the lightning as it tore through several buildings and reduced them to rubble. Gan-Q stepped up, releasing a pulse wave of its energy, wrapping it around the rubble as it lifted them up into the air. When Aster stopped rolling, she noticed that the chunks of metal and concrete were floating in the air. Gan-Q sent out another pulse wave, and the debris was thrown directly at Aster. The Herald of Light quickly fired off her Beam Bullets with her hands, blasting several pieces of rubble, but this was just a feint as Bemstar came around and fired its lighting attack. Several sparks exploded from her back, causing the hero to stop her attack. Unfortunately, this allowed Gan-Q’s rubble barrage to strike her several times over. “UGH! Okay, now I’m annoyed!” Aster channeled her energy into her forearms and shouted, “ASTRONIUM RAY!” Aster formed an L-shaped pattern with her arms and fired her Ultra Ray, aiming it straight at Bemstar. The mutated penguin looking monster floated in the air, not even bothering to dodge the attack. The flower-like piece on its chest plate suddenly opened, creating a vacuum effect. The Astronium Ray was drawn to that, sucking it all in and causing zero damage Bemstar. “What the hell?! He’s absorbing my attack?!” Aster swiftly cut off her attack, preventing it from taking in anymore of her power. However, what she did not expect was that Gan-Q was now a few meters away, with a direct line of sight to Aster. The giant eye of the monster glowed, and in the next moment, Aster’s Astronium Ray came blasting straight out of its eye. Aster turned around at the last second and quickly summoned her Aurora Shield. She did not have time to completely power it up, so it only mitigate some of the damage when it hit and exploded. The Ultra Warrior was sent flying into a building, smashing through it, and out the other side, having the entire thing fall before she impacted against another one, leaving a body sized impression in it. “Did…Did I just get hit with my own attack?” Aster glanced at Bemstar, and then back to Gan-Q. “I see, that messed up penguin can absorb my attacks, and that eyeball with legs can shot them back at me. Okay, okay. This is a tag team. So, first things first, take out the air support!” Within the starry nexus, Sunset took out the Cosmos and Agul Coins. However, when she looked at the coins, she saw that they were grayed out. “What is this?” She tried to slot the Ultra Coins into the StaRaizer, but the bracer refused to allow them to be inserted. “I don’t get it?! Why can’t I use the Ultra Coins?!” Bemstar was getting into position to rain down more lightning, but Aster wasn’t about to let this slow her down. “Fine, Plan B then!” Aster tore herself out of the building and flew into the air just in time to miss the lightning as it destroyed the building she had been thrown into. Aster placed both of her hands over her crest, causing the curved crest to glow and from it, Aster produced her Stelluger. She needed to take down Bemstar to stop him from absorbing her energy attacks and having Gan-Q redirect them. So, for the time being, physical attacks would have to work. Aster flew in and slashed Bemstar across its chest, causing the mutated penguin to shriek in pain as sparks flew from its body. Aster then performed a roundhouse kick in midair, striking the monster’s head and sending it hurdling straight down into the ground. Bemstar landed on top of skyscraper, plowing through it, and bringing down the structure around it as it finally made impact with the street below and was immobilized, temporarily, by the debris on top of it. Sunset took a moment to look over her coins, the only ones that were not grayed out were the Ultraman, Ginga, Victory, and Gaia Coins. All the others were grayed out, their shine gone. Sunset still had no idea why this was happening, especially at a time like this, but that was a question for later. For now, she would have to make do with what she had. The young hero took the Ginga Coin and inserted it into the Stelluger. || ULTRAMAN GINGA! || The Stelluger sparked with yellow lightning, calling upon one of the elemental powers of Ultraman Ginga. Aster flew back down to meet Gan-Q, but the eyeball Space Beast threw more rubble at her, trying to stop her. However, the Herald of Light used her powered up Stelluger to slash through the rubble, and once she was in range, she slashed at its midsection, creating a shower of sparks from the monster before stabbing it right below its giant eye. “LIGHTNING STRIKER!” Lightning surged through the Space Beast before inevitably exploding on the spot. However, Aster was not done. Inside the starry nexus, Sunset placed both the Victory and Gaia Coins into the Stelluger. \ ULTRAMAN GAIA! // \ ULTRAMAN VICTORY // “TERRA DESTROYER!” Aster came down with her Stelluger, stabbing it into the earth. The ground shook violently as a surge of energy shot from the Stelluger and broke off large chunks of the ground. Bemstar was starting to get up, but the moment it did, Aster raised her Stelluger and pointed it at Bemstar. The chunks of earth shot towards it, forming a huge cocoon around it, however, before Aster could finish the attack entirely, Bemstar began to absorb the rock pieces. “Great, it can absorb matter, too?! But it’s busy absorbing all the rocks, this is my chance!” Aster ran and then flew as high as she could until she was right behind the monster. Inside the nexus, Sunset replaced the Gaia Coin with the Ginga Coin. || ULTRAMAN GINGA! || \ ULTRAMAN VICTORY // “GINGA-VICTORY ULTIMATUM STRASH!” The Stelluger raged with the energy of the two Ultras, she then slashed the air in front of her, releasing a large crescent blade made of blue and yellow energy. Just like she thought, Bemstar was too busy absorbing his rock cocoon from the front, so it could not see the attack coming from behind. By the time it did realize what was happening, it was too late, Aster’s attack struck it in the back and completely sliced it diagonally. The monster penguin let out a pathetic little whimper before exploding in midair, sending a shower of rocks going everywhere. Aster landed back on the ground, panting from the effort, but satisfied that she was able to take down two monsters even without her other Ultra Coins allowing her to form shift. “Nice going, Aster, but let’s see how you deal with this. Come on out, Segmeger.” ||/SEGMEGER!||/ Out of nowhere, a spiraling column of purple, glowing flames struck her in the right arm. Aster cried out in pain as the flames managed to burn her, but when they stopped, something else was noticeable. Her right was still burning, and there was a purple, glowing burn mark. The hero looked in the direction where the attack came from and saw a third monster. This this thing looked like a dragon and a snake rolled into one. With green scales, and golden, sharper looking scales that acted as armor pieces. This was the beast known as Segmeger. The Space Beast’s spines began to glow, and in the next moment, it fired a beam of blue light from its mouth. Aster dodge rolled out of the way of the attack. When she stopped, she got down on one knee, feeling her body hurting all over, and the pain was starting from her injured arm and spreading through her body. Is this some kind of poison? And where did that one even come from?! Screw it, just take it down! Within the starry nexus, Sunset took out the Ultraman Victory Coin, and replaced it with the Ultraman Coin and inserted them into the weapon. || ULTRAMAN! || || ULTRAMAN GINGA! || Outside of the nexus, lavender and blue light swirled around the Stelluger until they converged and turned into sharpened blade of light. Segmeger blasted another round of purple poison flames, but Aster used her Stelluger to slash through the poisonous flames, parting them down the middle as she charged straight for Segmeger. “ULTRA SEVER!” Aster spun in place and repeatedly slashed the monster again and again, ending with one last slash down the middle of the monster before the light blade vanished. Segmeger gave a little pathetic whimper before the whole monster exploded, unfortunately, that’s what the mysterious figure wanted. The moment that Segmeger exploded, its purple blood was splattered everywhere and began to hiss against the concrete and metal of the buildings, and even melted the cars. A lot of it hit Aster’s body, making the Ultra drop her Stelluger weapon as she grunted in pain from the poison that was seeping into her body. “Just like I planned. You’re so easy, Ultrawoman Aster. Oh, Zetton, Pandon. It’s your turn my little friends,” said the figure as they scanned the cards. ||/ZETTON! ||/ ||/PANDON!||/ Another two lights appeared, one on either side a few meters apart. On her right was Zetton, and on her left was a two headed, red scale and feathered, two-headed bird monster known as Pandon. The two heads of Pandon opened their beaks as they gathered flaming energy into them, at the same time, Zetton gathered more energy, forming his own fireball. Aster’s body was still burning due to the effects of the poison, she was feeling paralyzed to, about the only thing she could feel right now was pain. And it was about to get worse. The two monsters unleashed their charged fireball attacks, and blasted Aster from both sides. The attacks met and caused a huge explosion that erupted around the hero. The searing flames, combined with the poison coursing through her body, it was becoming too much for Aster, something only made worse by the blinking of her Color Timer. The two monsters continued to pummel Aster with more and more fireballs, not giving her a moment to rest or counterattack, and all the while, the figure laughed with evil glee as they enjoyed the show “Heh, heh, that’s it! That’s it! Destroy her! Destroy her! Don’t let a single piece of her remain!” However, as the figure continued, their body noticeably began shrinking. It was slow, at first, but after summoning Zetton and Pandon, it was happening faster. The figure looked at their body and hissed in agitation. “Dammit, this is my limit? Guess I was playing around too much, but at least now I have a good idea of how the Dark Ring operates. So, for now, Aster, I’ll grant you mercy.” The figure swiped the Dark Ring in a horizontal pattern, and immediately after the monsters stopped their attack, and broke down into particles of red light. Disappearing from the battlefield entirely as the figure disappeared with them. Aster was on her knees now, the entire area was a molten crater, her body hissed from the heat, and her cries of agony were still going. She could tell that the battle was over, but she needed to leave, she needed to get out of here before she changed back. Aster mustered all the strength she had left, and jumped into the air, taking off in the direction S.M.I.L.E. Academy. Unfortunately, the damage she suffered, combined with the poisoning, drained the last of her energy, bringing her crashing right into the Everfree Forest. Her body glowed, transitioning from her Ultra form back to her humanoid form. Some of the trees were crushed and uprooted, following a long groove that was cut into the dirt due to her rough landing. However, the forest began to glow, and the damage that was done due to Aster’s landing was undone almost immediately. In the depths of the Everfree, Sunset lied on the ground, her body paralyzed except for the sensation of never-ending pain. She felt like she wanted to just roll over and die, the poison coursing through her veins made even the simple act of breathing painful. Her vision was fading in and out, for a moment all she could see were flashes of bushes, and then she heard the howling. In little time at all, a pack of the wood wolves appeared from the bushes, snarling, smelling a wounded animal. But just before the pack could do anything, a flash of light went off that scared the pack away. Sunset squinted her eyes as she tried to see what it was that made them leave. When the light faded, Sunset swore she recognized this person, the Woman of the Everfree. \*****///** (3 hours later…) The Phantom Zone was still active as several S.M.I.L.E. forces roamed the battlefield. Gungirs flew patrol patterns while the Goliaths did the same by land, all of them searching for the whereabouts of the monsters that had suddenly appeared to fight against Aster. At the same time, Team Aster was in Commander Celestia’s office, with Twilight nearly yelling, “We have to go and find her!” “Twilight, we understand, believe me. We do. But she crash landed in the Everfree Forest. The last time an expedition was sent in there we nearly lost some agents, and one of them was Ms. Apple,” said Celestia. “All the more reason we need to go in there help her,” Applejack spoke up. “Yeah! She helped me save AJ, it’s time we returned the favor!” Rainbow added. “The new Gungir and Goliath’s for them are ready for combat, they can easily navigate the Everfree,” Twilight argued. Luna stepped up and said, “Even if that is so, the Everfree is the one thing preventing a full-scale invasion by the Space Beasts, it’s the only reason why they haven’t descended on us in masse. If we damage the forest too much, then run the risk of jeopardizing the safety and security of the world.” “But…” Luna placed a hand on the teen genius’ shoulder and gave her a sympathetic look. “I know…I feel the same as the Commander. I want to rescue Sunset, but we must do this carefully.” Fluttershy, who had remained quiet during this conversation, stepped forward, saluted, and said, “Ma’am, permission to perform a search for Sunset Shimmer.” “Ms. Shy, we can’t risk a whole–” “No, you misunderstand. I want to do this myself, no team.” “WHAT?!” the girls shouted. “Fluttershy, y-you want to go into the Everfree?! By yourself?!” Rarity asked. “I do.” Fluttershy raised her right hand and partially transformed it. “I’m a Vivirendan. I’m not human. If I go into the Everfree in my bestial form, I can track Sunset down and bring her out. Plus, I can move faster if I’m alone.” “Wow, I’d thought you’d be scared to go in there,” said Pinkie. Fluttershy was shaking a bit. “I am…the Everfree is scary, it’s an unknown even after all the years it’s been here since the First Incursion.” The alien girl clenched her fists as a look of determination formed. “But Sunset would not give up on us, as her friends, we shouldn’t give up on her either! If it was any of us, she’d be the first one out there!” Celestia closed her eyes as she considered Fluttershy’s request. This was not something she should do lightly, Fluttershy did have Special Agent status, which meant that Celestia was within her rights to have Fluttershy go on this mission and allow Fluttershy to do it as she saw fit. The Commander of Concordia base looked up at the young girl and asked, “You may need to indulge in the combative nature of your people in order to survive in there, and I know that’s something you don’t particularly like to do, and that you avoid if at all possible.” Fluttershy nodded. “Knowing that you might need to become a warrior in there, are you sure you want to go alone?” Celestia asked. “I am. I run the risk of…falling prey to my instincts…but that won’t happen!” Fluttershy stated. Celestia got out of her chair and looked the shy girl dead in the eyes. “Then, as Commander of Concordia base, and as the Principal of S.M.I.L.E. Academy, I task you with this mission. Enter the Everfree. Locate Cadet Sunset Shimmer. And bring her back.” Fluttershy stood at attention and saluted. “Yes, Ma’am!” “Rainbow Dash, Applejack Apple, I want you both on standby in your Pegasus Custom and Sleipnir Custom! If those monsters appear again, Sunset will need backup!” “Yes, Ma’am!” “Yes, Ma’am!” “If that is what we’re doing, then, Fluttershy, I’d like you to come by my studio. I’ve made something that will at least provide you with a bit more protection,” said Rarity. Twilight pushed up her glasses and said, “I’m going to work on a strategy to combat those Space Beasts. Pinkie, I’d like your help with this.” “You got it!” Author's Note Next Time: Sunset is saved by the mysterious Woman of the Everfree! And the mysterious invader strikes again! It's time for Team Aster to roll out in full! 15th Light: Friendship In Danger / Fight Together! (Part 2)15th Light: Friendship In Danger / Fight Together! (Part 2) Sunset’s body ached all over, her eyes were still shut, but she could feel something soft underneath her. Which was strange as not too long ago, she felt the rough dirt of the forest floor. Sunset slowly opened her eyes, wow, even her eyelids ached. Slowly, but surely, she managed to open them, and what she saw surprised her. She was not in the middle of the forest anymore, there was a roof over her head, and now that her eyes were open, she could see that she was on a mattress. Slowly, Sunset sat up, feeling woozy upon doing so. She could hear something bubbling, and that’s when she spotted a cauldron a few feet away. She took in more details, it looked as if she was in a hut of some kind. There were shelves that held various glass containers filled with unknown liquids, substances, and other things Sunset could not outright identify. When she turned to her left, she saw someone at a counter, grinding up some plant before bringing it to the cauldron. “You…” Sunset spoke after recognizing the woman. “You’re that woman…from last time.” The woman poured what she had ground up into the cauldron and turned to Sunset. “I am, indeed. I’d advise taking it slow, you are still recovering from the poison. And what I have brewing will help with the aftereffects of riding the poison. I’m sure you want to go back into the fight as soon as possible.” Sunset tried to sit up more, but her body was against it, and she eventually hit the mattress again. “I do…but, who are you? And you live in this forest?” The woman stirred the cauldron as she thought about her answer. “As to what I am. The closest word would be a ‘sage’, and yes, I do live in this forest.” “Okay…are you human?” Sunset asked. “Depends on what your definition of ‘human’ is. Someone who looks like you? Someone who bleeds the same blood? Or someone who walks on two legs?” “Okay, okay, no need to get philosophical on me. Do you at least have a name? I’d like to call you something.” The sage hummed in contemplation for a moment before answering, “The name ‘Zecora’ has appealed to me. You may call me that.” “Alright, Zecora. How do you know I’m Aster, and how are you still alive in this place?” “Those answers in due time, but I think there is a more pertinent question you should be asking yourself,” Zecora remarked. Sunset raised an eyebrow. “Such as?” “Why you could not use your other forms.” Sunset struggled to sit up, and when she did, she said, “Okay, how the hell do you know that?! Were you there?!” Zecora shook her head. “The Everfree speaks to me sometimes, and it sensed some turmoil in you. So, what troubles your heart?” “What do you mean? What does my heart have to do with my powers?” Sunset asked in confusion. Zecora sighed as she stopped her stirring and walked over to the bed, she then smacked Sunset on the head, causing the teen to yelp and fall back onto the mattress. “I see you have yet to learn your lesson, fully.” “OW! I’m still sore from all that fighting! That hurt!” Sunset argued. “I can see it clearly now that you are before me, you wish to shut off your heart to those around you, but what I can’t understand is, why?” Zecora questioned. Sunset turned away from Zecora, “Because…I’ll outlive them! I found out some things about myself, about my past. Becoming an Ultra granted me long life, I won’t die from old age, nor will I ever age! Meanwhile, my friends will all grow old and eventually die in front of me! I…I don’t want to see that…I’d rather remember them as they are now. And I’d rather they forget me.” “You seem to have forgotten something in learning about your past. The true source of your power,” said Zecora as she walked back to the cauldron. “True source?” “Think about it. How did you obtain the Ultra Coins?” Sunset thought about it, she got each of the coins from the girls, Max and Leo she got from Applejack and Rainbow. Cosmos and Agul she received from Fluttershy and Pinkie. And the last two, Orb and Hikari, were from Rarity and Twilight. Apart from Ultraman, Ginga, Victory, and Gaia, all the others came from her…friends… “Aw, crap…” Sunset smacked herself in the forehead, only to regret it a moment later. “OUCH! Ugh!……You’re telling me that my power comes from them? My friends?” Zecora kept her back to Sunset as she stirred. “Is that so strange? Bonds of comradery, of friendship, and of love, few things are stronger in this universe than these things. Why shouldn’t such things be the source of great power?” “But…” “No warrior stands alone, there are always those who back them. Who help them, even if it is not on the battlefield, they are always with them.” Zecora walked over to her counter and got an empty bowl. She then brought it over to the cauldron and poured some of its glowing contents into the bowl itself. The sage walked back to Sunset and presented her with the bowl. “Drink this, it will relieve you of your physical pain, and restore your fighting strength. You should be at full power to transform again, but you will require this to ensure your body can keep up.” Sunset, with the aid of Zecora, was able to sit on the edge of the bed. The teen took the offered bowl, taking a sniff of the glowing liquid. “This is going to taste bad, isn’t it?” Zecora shrugged. Sunset rolled her eyes. “Down the hatch.” \*****///** (A few moments ago…) A S.M.I.L.E. airship flew through the air and stopped just above the Everfree Forest, right at the spot where Aster landed. The door on the side of the ship slid open and revealed Fluttershy. She was wearing a black and silver suit that shined in the lights of the aircraft, it looked like armor, but was flexible like spandex. The shy teen had no weapons, but she did possess a belt that had a tracking device on it. Vice Commander Luna was piloting the craft, and once she got the aircraft stabilized, she said, “You have one hour, Fluttershy. I do not want to leave you in there any longer than is completely necessary. If you cannot find her this time, we’ll try again. I will remain in the sky and extract you, whether you have her or not. That is the condition of this mission.” “I understand.” “Very well, you’re clear to drop.” Fluttershy took a few deep breathes before she let herself fall out of the aircraft. As she fell, Fluttershy tapped into the power of her true Vivirendan form, and right before landing, had completely transformed. She landed perfectly onto the forest floor on all fours, not once showing any pain or discomfort from the impact of her landing. The outfit she was wearing had automatically expanded and shifted, allowing a hole to form for her tails, and stretching to match her new musculature and frame. Fluttershy stood up and found that the suit was still comfortable to wear. If she had not been looking at it, Fluttershy would sworn that she had nothing on. “Rarity, this is amazing! I really need to thank her for this. Now, then.” Fluttershy got down on all fours and sniffed the ground, using her enhanced senses to pick up on any lingering scents. Sunset was here, there was something dangerous here as well. But there’s a third scent…strange. It smells human, but at the same time isn’t. A hybrid like Dashie or Scootaloo? Fluttershy pointed her head in the direction of where the scent was going. “Whoever it is, they took Sunset in that direction.” Suddenly, Fluttershy started hearing growls coming from around her. In a matter of seconds, she was surrounded by a pack of the wood wolves that Rainbow and Applejack warned her about. Fluttershy got back down on all fours and growled at them all, flaring her tails in a showing of aggression. “I don’t want to harm you, but I will if you impede me from finding my friend!” One of the wolves attacked her from behind, but one of Fluttershy’s tails lashed out and whipped the wolf across the face with enough force to send it crashing into a tree. A second came at her from her left, but Fluttershy sped towards it, grabbed it by the throat with her right hand, jumped, and then tossed it into another of its packmates. The Vivirendan performed a somersault in the air before coming down on another and slashed it with her claws, causing green, sap-like blood to come out of it. Another two attacked from behind, but Fluttershy was very aware of her surroundings as she used two of her tails, raising them up, and then bringing them down like a couple of hammers on the heads of the two wolves, smashing them into the ground hard enough to leave an imprint of their heads. Fluttershy turned around, her eyes narrowed as she growled at the pack, making them whimper. “What’s the matter? Are you afraid of me? Good!” Fluttershy’s eyes shined as she used her Stare on the remainder of the wolves. All of them went stark still, their bodies paralyzed. Fluttershy used this opening and went in for the kill, tossing, slashing, and even biting the last of the wolves, and ending up as the victor. However, the ones that were “killed” began to put themselves back together, and after they did, Fluttershy released a loud roar that made them all whimper more. The Vivirendan snorted, she knew this would drag on if she continued to fight, but at least she made her point that she was not to be messed with. With that settled, she ran in the direction of the scent, bounding from tree to tree as she followed the trail. She hoped whatever else was in this forest had not harmed Sunset. They all saw the footage of the battle; she was outnumbered and was hurt by some kind of poison. We need to get her to the medical station as soon as possible, who knows what that monster’s toxins are doing to her! “AUGH!” Fluttershy came to a skidding halt as her ears twitched, picking upon a familiar voice. “SUNSET!” The bestial girl kept running, the sounds of disgust were coming in the same direction of Sunset and the stranger’s scent. The alien teen burst through some bushes and found herself in a clearing, and in that clearing was a large tree that had a hut built into it. Fluttershy would have to contemplate that later, she needed to save Sunset. Wasting little time, she ran straight for the door and kicked it open, getting into attack position as she said, “Sunset, I’m here to save you!” “Augh…God, that tastes terrible,” said Sunset. “Fluttershy?!” “Sunset?” Fluttershy took a moment to read the room. The hut was spacious, and very homey, and Sunset was sitting on a bed with a mysterious woman standing next to her. And Sunset looked alright. “Um…I’m confused.” “Ah, a guest. This is rare,” said Zecora. “Also, continue to drink that. You must finish it, or you won’t be healed completely.” “Ugh…great.” Sunset braced herself and downed the entire contents in one go. “…Oh man…next time, try to make it taste better.” A green glow went off around Sunset for a moment before fading away. And when it did, the pain was gone. All her aches and pains from the battle were gone. “Wow, it works! I feel great!” “You’re welcome,” Zecora replied as she took the bowl and went back to the counter. Fluttershy, while still confused, walked further in, and asked, “Sunset, are you alright?” “Y-Yeah…I am…Why are you here?” Sunset asked. “I came to save you, but…” Fluttershy turned to Zecora. “It looks like you were already saved. Sorry about your door…” Zecora shook her head. “No apologies needed. It can be mended.” Sunset looked away from Fluttershy and said, “You shouldn’t have…” Fluttershy reverted to her human form and looked Sunset in the eyes. “Sunset, you’re not the only one who has to go through this. I’m the same.” Sunset looked directly at Fluttershy with shock. “Wait, you mean, you’ll live forever, too?!” Fluttershy made a wavey motion with her hand. “Vivirendan have long lifespans. Longer than humans. And we age slower once we hit physical maturity. For me, that’ll be on my eighteenth birthday. So, I’ll still age, but very slowly.” “How slowly?” Sunset asked. A sad look appeared on her face. “Slowly enough to see all our friends pass on before me. I’ll still be here for some time longer after that. Provided I keep myself healthy. But otherwise…I’ll pass on sometime in the future. So, you’re not the only one who has to live with the idea of outliving your friends, Sunset. I dread it every day.” Sunset rubbed her left arm and asked, “How do you deal with it?” Fluttershy smiled as she reached out and took both of Sunset’s hands into her own. “Make as many happy memories as you can. Fill your heart and mind with love and happiness. That’s what I’ve decided to do. I know it will hurt, one day, when they’re gone. But I know the memories I’ve made and happiness I’ve shared with our friends, even you, will help me through that dark time to come. But for now, I cherish every day I’m with them, including you, Sunset.” Sunset started to cry, she hated crying, but here she was, crying again. I’m such an idiot… Fluttershy released Sunset’s hands and brought her into a hug. “I’ll still be here to help you through it. But even then, don’t ever let that pain stop you from creating memories with those you care about now, or with new friends in the future. You don’t have to be alone forever, Sunset.” “Thank you…I’m sorry.” The Coin Keeper on Sunset’s hip started to glow, Sunset slowly broke the hug and opened it. When she reached in, she took out the six Ultra Coins that had been grayed out earlier, but the moment she did, the grayness evaporated, returning the color and shine to them. Zecora smiled as she said, “This is the power of your bonds, of your friendships, Sunset Shimmer.” “I get it…I won’t forget again.” {Fluttershy, come in!} “Vice Commander Luna, what’s wrong?” Fluttershy asked as she pressed the tracking button on her belt. {The Space Beasts are back! Have you located Sunset?!} “She has, I’m right here,” Sunset replied. {Sunset! Oh, thank God, you’re alive! What is your condition? Tell me honestly, I am not about to lose you for a third time!} “I’m fine, pick us up. I got a score to settle.” {On my way.} Sunset looked to Zecora and smiled. “Thanks for healing me. Will I see you again?” “If you find yourself needing counsel, simply enter the forest. I will find you,” Zecora remarked. Sunset nodded and ran outside, Fluttershy bowed to Zecora and apologized once more before leaving her hut. After they got outside, a whoosh of air struck them, and that’s when they saw the airship descending. Sunset and Fluttershy quickly boarded the aircraft and closed the door behind them. “Sunset, I’m glad you’re alright! Are you sure you’re okay?” Vice Commander Luna asked. “I am, Auntie,” Sunset replied in a teasing tone. Luna blushed a little, but nonetheless nodded. “I can’t believe you made it to this clearing without assistance.” “Not really, Zecora helped me out,” said Sunset. “Who?” “The woman living in that hut down there.” Luna looked out from her window and said, “I don’t see any hut, Sunset.” Fluttershy and Sunset both gave the commander a confused look. “What are you talking about? It’s right – what?!” Sunset went wide eyed as she looked through the window. “SHY, LOOK!” Fluttershy opened the door of the airship and gasped. The hut and tree were gone. There was nothing aside from grass in the clearing. “What…is something wrong?” Luna asked. Sunset and Fluttershy glanced at each other, a silent understanding passed between them as Fluttershy closed the door. “No, get me halfway to the city, and I’ll do the rest.” Fluttershy placed her hand on Sunset’s shoulder and said, “Not this time, you’re not going in alone.” “What do you mean?” “We’re picking up some help.” \*****///** (Canterlot City: 5 minutes later…) The mysterious figure was standing atop a tall skyscraper, looking down upon the city below. The figure had already summoned three more monsters, one was dinosaur-like in appearance, with dark gray armor scales, a thick body made of muscle, and a long tail that whipped around and smashed through some of the buildings. This creature was known as Golza. The second was avian and flew around the city, appearing as a hybrid between a bird and a dragon, with club-like feet, a large wingspan with leathery membrane wings, red eyes, and a sharp beak. Its name was Melba. The third monster was another hybrid-like monster, it had mantis-like sickles for arms, a long-scaled tail, a large horn upon its head, and glowing yellow eyes. This one was simply known as Super C.O.V. (Cosmic Organism Vanguard). “Where are you, Aster. Surely you don’t intend to hide? How long do you think this little Phantom Zone can last? They can’t keep it on forever, eventually they’ll have to shut it down, and then real havoc begins.” A bright flash of light appeared out of the sky, and from it landed the Herald of Light herself, Ultrawoman Aster. The ground shook beneath her as she made impact, her eyes glowing in the dark of the night as she rose into her fighting stance. “A new group, huh? That’s fine, you’ll all go down the same!” Aster proclaimed. The figure chuckled. “Such bravado, I can’t wait to crush it. Attack!” Melba flew down, preparing to strike Aster, however, did not move an inch from her spot. And that’s when it happened. Several rapid-fire beams of sparkling blue light rained down on Melba, causing several explosions along its body and forcing the avian monster to pull away from Aster before it could attack. Out of the sky a Gungir appeared, but it was twice as big as the normal Gungirs. This one had the custom paint scheme of Rainbow Dash, and was flown by her, codename: Pegasus Custom. The junior ace pilot dogged Melba and fired more of her rapid-fire energy blasts from the nose of her ship. Melba managed to dodge them and counterattacked with its Melbanic Beam, firing its own rapid fire energy blasts at her. While they were in their dog fight, Super C.O.V. charged for Aster, but again, she did not move. Just then, two huge blasts of sparkling blue light struck the monster from the front, sending it flying backwards as the blasts exploded on its chest. The second of the custom vehicles appeared, the Goliath, codenamed: Sleipnir Custom. Applejack shifted into high gear as the treads ground into the pavement and propelled her forward. Super C.O.V. managed to get back up, and once it did, its chest released a few flashes of energy before they coalesced in the large horn on its head, releasing its own huge blast of energy at the Sleipnir. However, when it hit, there was some scuffing, but it was barely anything close to damage. {YEE-HAW! Let’s get ‘em, RD!} {You got it, AJ!} Golza was confused at first by the extra fighters, but then it was punished for taking its eyes off Aster. The Hero of Light dashed straight for it and gave the monster a strong uppercut with her Starry Smasher. Golza backed up, growling in both pain and anger from the hit, it opened its mouth and retaliated with a blast of its Ultrasonic Ray. Aster dodged the first blast, on the second she dove behind a building, letting it take the blast instead of her. She jumped from behind it as soon as it went down and fired off several Beam Bullets from her right hand. Unfortunately, Golza merely absorbed the heat of the explosions once they hit, nullifying the damage. Once it had, it returned the attack in the form of a heat wave that blasted through several buildings before slamming into Aster. Her body released several sparks, but she managed to stay standing. Aster looked to the skies and saw Rainbow in her Pegasus Gungir battling it out with Melba, and Applejack in Sleipnir Goliath against Super C.O.V., so she had to step it up. “Bestow, the strength of the brave!” || ULTRAMAN LEO! || “Bestow, the power of the bold!” || ULTRAMAN MAX! || “Ignite the flames in my heart!” ||BURN UP! SOLARIS MAXIMUS!|| Aster’s body erupted with red light and flames, shifting herself into her powered form, Solaris Maximus. The powered-up hero knocked her knuckles together and charged straight for Golza. The hulking monster did the same and stomped its way to her, the two met in the middle and body slammed against each other, sending debris flying into the air from the shockwave of their slam. Aster cocked back her right fist and punched Golza in the face, firing off one her revolver cylinders and releasing a blast wave that knocked the monster a few feet back. “I’ll burn you away with the flames of my heart!” Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash was getting dogged by Melba, the avian monster was relentless in its pursuit, but it seemed as if it was not about to give up. Rainbow Dash looked down and saw that Aster had shifted to her red form. Rainbow Dash remembered the day Sunset obtained that form from herself and Applejack. If Sunset’s stepping up, then so am I! Throw caution to the wind and cut the sky! Rainbow hit a switch on her console, and immediately the boosters kicked in and propelled the Pegasus higher into the sky until they were now above Melba. Once this was done, she hit a second button, making the screen display the words, [STAND UP: PEGASUS]. The modified Gungir’s body began to shift and open, and in a matter of seconds, the fighter had transformed into a humanoid robot fighter with a glowing visor that shined in the moonlight. The Pegasus flew down, even faster than before, and sped past Melba. The flying beast flew by it as well, but after a moment, both of its wings were cut off, sending it falling towards the ground. The Pegasus turned around and revealed that two blades of light that were extending from the top of its forearms. On the ground, Applejack was getting into a shooting match with Super C.O.V., the two of them exchanging fire. Applejack noticed that her girlfriend and her friend were getting serious as their foes were getting beaten back. Well shoot, Ah ain’t gettin’ left behind! Let’s go, Sleipnir! Applejack hit a button on her console, her HUD displayed the words, [STAND UP: SLEIPNIR]. The Space Beast fired another of its beam attacks and caused a huge explosion to erupt where the Sleipnir Goliath was. The machine was obscured by flames, but just then, two glowing green eyes appeared in the flames, from those flames appeared the Sleipnir, flames lapped over its hulking body as its twin cannons were now shoulder mounted cannons, and it now possessed two huge fists. Those two fists began to glow as energy coated them, once in range, the Sleipnir gave the monster a one-two punch, each hit causing a shockwave of energy to erupt, and to finish it fired off both of its cannons at point blank range, creating a powerful explosion that sent Super C.O.V. crashing through several of the buildings before landing in a heap on the ground. The mysterious figure could not believe their eyes. “Since when do they have machines like that?! Alright, fine, let’s up the ante! Gan-Q! Reicubas!” ||/ GAN-Q!||/ ||/ REICUBAS! ||/ Gan-Q made a reappearance, alongside another new monster. This one looked like a giant crustacean, with a large pincer arm on its right, and a shorter one on its left. It had a long lobster-like tail, and glowing blue eyes. The Space Beast, Reicubas. Aster saw the two new monsters but was in the middle of a grappling match with Golza. Thankfully, that was not the end of their backup. The ground beneath them began to rumble, and out from the middle of the city appeared a sixth monster, but this one was one that Aster was relieved to see. The Terra Beast, Gomora. The saurian monster had someone riding on its shoulder, it was Fluttershy, and in her right hand she held one of the Aster-X blasters. Gomora roared mightily into the air as it made a b-line for Reicubas, body slamming the monster and taking it through several buildings, away from Gan-Q. “WHAT?! I DIDN’T SUMMON THAT!” A S.M.I.L.E. airship dropped out of the sky and came into view of the city. The side door slid open, and standing in a row were Rarity, Twilight, and Pinkie Pie, each one armed with an Aster-X Blaster, and suited up for battle. There were straps hooked onto their combat suits, keeping them from falling out of the airship as Vice Commander Luna flew in and brought them in range of Gan-Q. “FIRE AT WILL, LADIES!” “YES, MA’AM!” Twilight, Rarity, and Pinkie charged up their Aster-X Blasters and fired a triple beam attack at the monster from behind. The three beams hit the back of Gan-Q’s head and caused an explosion on its back to go off, making the giant eyeball monster stumble forward. Gan-Q gave off an angry warbling sound and used its telekinesis to launch some debris at them. Rarity and Pinkie intercepted by firing their Aster-X Blasters, while Luna launched interceptor missiles from underneath the ship, hitting a few that got by them. Twilight took careful aim with her newly modified sights, making even a complete amateur like herself able to hit with pinpoint precision. Once her target had been locked, she fired her next shot straight into the monster’s eye. Unfortunately, that was a mistake, as the beam was absorbed by its eye. Aster saw what happened and had a bad feeling. “That’s it!” Aster broke off their grapple and cocked back her right fist. “BREAK BUSTER!” Aster struck Golza in the gut and fired all six cylinders at once, sending a super powerful wave of energy and force through it that threw the hulking monster into the air. Just in time for Gan-Q to fire back the beam it absorbed, and hit Golza, resulting in an explosion that sent the monster flying into another building. “I ask for the gift of kindness!” || ULTRAMAN COSMOS! || “I ask for the gift of protection!” || ULTRAMAN AGUL! || “Let the waves of my soul quell your rage!” ||FLOW AND CRASH! COSMIC WAVE!|| Aster sped towards Gan-Q and called upon her Aqua Blades, once in range, she slashed at the monster’s giant eye, damaging it, and making the monster have to close it. “I will wash away all cruelty with serenity!” Gomora and Reicubas were going at it claw and pincer, the giant monsters slashed and smashed against each other, throwing their weight around into their attacks as they fought ferociously. Reicubas fired a blast of cold energy from its mouth, but Gomora countered with its Super Oscillatory Wave attack. The two beams struck each other, creating a powerful explosion of steam that blanketed the area around them. It was in that steam that Reicubas took advantage of the situation, charging forward and grabbing Gomora with its large pincer, getting a strangle hold around its neck. Fluttershy, in her bestial form, roared and jumped off Gomora’s shoulder as she charged her Aster-X Blaster. Once she was on the large pincer, she slid down it and fired the weapon straight at its face, she held the trigger down and continued the beam attack as Reicubas’ face was exploding with showers of sparks that eventually made the huge crab monster release Gomora as it tried to swipe at Fluttershy. However, her fast beast reflexes allowed her to easily dodge the attack, firing a few more shots before she jumped high into the air. At that moment, Gomora appeared just in time to catch her with its right claw, holding fast to her as it charged up its three horns and crashed into the crustacean, headfirst. Gomora roared as it enacted it Super Oscillatory Wave: Zero Shoot. A burst of energy passed through the horns and into Reicubas, creating another huge explosion that sent the beast flying onto its back, where it landed and remained motionless. Gomora looked down at Fluttershy, and Fluttershy up at him, and together they released roar of triumph. \*****///** The mysterious figure as getting angrier, she could not let this stand. The figure grabbed their cloak and threw it off, letting it fly off into the wind as her form was revealed. She was teenage girl, with locks of curly blue hair, freckles, and pale red eyes. She wore a combat suit that was black, with some silver armor plates. Overall, the teen would be cute if she was not scowling in rage. “Fine then! You want something done right, then you have to do it yourself!” The teen girl raised the Dark Ring up and released its power, wrapping her in a field of energy that transported her into a version of the starry nexus, but this one was not as bright, it was darker, and had hues of purple that made up what light there was. The teen’s body from the neck down was coated in red light as she pulled out each of the cards that summoned the Space Beasts. “Golza! Melba! Reicubas! Gan-Q! Super C.O.V.!” ||/ GOLZA!||/ ||/ MELBA!||/ ||/ REICUBAS! ||/ ||/ GAN-Q!||/ ||/ SUPER C.O.V.!||/ As she did this, her body started to change, shifting from an older teen into that of a girl of ten years. “Unite and become a great evil!” ||/ FUSION UP!||/ All five defeated monsters transformed into pure energy and shot themselves towards the tallest building. The sphere of dark energy fell off the top of the building as all five monsters’ particles infused themselves into the sphere, and in a matter of seconds, the sphere broke apart and revealed a brand-new monster! ||/ FIVE KING!||/ The new monster landed with a great crashing “THUD!”, sending cars flying into the air along with shattering many windows, and cracking the street. This monster was an amalgamation of all five Space Beasts, it had the pincer of Reicubas for its right arm, its left arm had the giant eye of Gan-Q, its heads were a melding of Golza and Melba, while its torso combined features of both Golza and Super C.O.V. It also possessed the legs of Super C.O.V., the armor-plated skin of Golza, and Melba’s wings and tail. This was the super fusion monster known as Five King. “They fused together?!” “Yes, or to be more specific, I fused them together.” Aster was surprised to hear a voice from this creature, it sounded child-like but distorted. “Are you saying you’re the one who brought them here?!” “Brought them? No. I summoned them! I can summon a lot of different monsters, and fuse some of them together! Like this adorable creature of destruction! I’ve been sent to put an end to you, Aster! And make way for my Master’s return to glory!” The same one that Chrysalis once served, and the same Master of those three leviathans. Guess I made his list, thought Sunset. “Now, if you’ll excuse me. I have to kill you now! Catastrophe Spark!” The different body parts of Five King began to glow, and from each of them a different kind of beam attack was fired off. Three different energy beams and multiple scattering energy bolts flew in Aster’s direction and everywhere else. Gomora took cover behind some buildings, but they only barely gave any protection against the attack. Luna quickly ascended to get them out of harms why, while Rainbow Dash in her Pegasus took evasive maneuvers. Applejack’s Sleipnir brought its arms up and weathered the attack thanks to its thick armor. Aster, still in her speed form, used that speed to quickly evade the attacks the best she could. Meanwhile, the child controlling Five King laughed manically and happily as she unleashed total destruction upon the entire area, blasting away until there was barely anything left standing, and the area was awash in flames. “HAHAAHAHAHAHA!!! So much for the mighty Aster! You can’t stand up to me and the power of the Dark Ring!” “Shine the power of bonds!” || ULTRAMAN ORB! || “Shine, the power of knowledge!” || ULTRAMAN HIKARI! || “The stars are aligned for victory!” ||CONVERGENCE! PLANET REVIVE!|| A bright flash of purple light erupted from the flames and snuffed them all out, revealing Aster in her powered balance form, Planet Revive. Gomora rose with a mighty roar from the rubble as he stomped his way over to Aster, with Fluttershy having retaken her position on his shoulder. {If this brat wants to take it to the next level, then let’s do the same, AJ!} {Gotcha, RD!} {Wait, we haven’t had a chance to test that feature–!} [SEQUENCE INITATED: TITAN STAND] The Sleipnir fired off the boosters in its feet, launching itself into the air as the Pegasus flew over it. The two machines began to open as their various parts interlocked and combined. Once it was over, the new machined stood just a few inches short of Aster’s full height in her original form. The heavy armor and light armor of the Pegasus and Sleipnir melded together, forming a lean looking robotic fighter, with the wings of the Pegasus Gungir releasing jets of energy that looked like feathered wings. The twin cannons were moved to the hips, while gauntlets of Pegasus had combined to form a hilt, from which a large energy sword was brandished. [SEQUENCE COMPLETE: TITAN READY] Twilight sighed in relief that the two machines were able to pull off that addition, she had gotten the idea after the whole Halloween Incident and integrated it into Sleipnir and Pegasus, but they have yet to do a proper test run. {Twilight, you are the GOAT!} Rainbow stated over the comms. {Ah’ll be, this is somethin’ else! Way to go, Twi!} Applejack praised. Aster was amazed as well, but she would voice her opinion on how cool it was later. “Alright! Witness our united power!” Gomora and Fluttershy roared, Rainbow Dash and Applejack released a battle cry, and Aster got into her attack stance before all three of them charged for Five King. “UGH! CATASTROPHE SPARK!” Five King unleashed its destructive barrage at them, but Aster channeled her power into her right foot and came down with a hard stomp. “EARTH BRINGER!” The green energy surged through the earth as multiple walls of reinforced rock jutted forth from the ground out in front of them. The multiple beam attacks slammed into the walls of earthen dirt and rock. Each one exploding with their destruction, but when Five King blew through all of them, Aster was not there. “Mercury Racer!” A streak of silver light struck Five King in the face, and then the gut, and then it received a kick from the back. Five King whipped its tail around, trying to trip up Aster, but she was too fast to have that happen. The Herald of Light jumped up into the air and called out, “JUPITER STORMER!” as several bolts of orange lightning rained down on Five King, creating explosions of sparks that flew out from its body. The Titan robot brought both of its cannons to bear, charging up its energy, at the same time, Gomora gathered power into its horns. Together, Gomora and the Titan fired off their individual beam attacks at Five King. However, Five King raised its left arm and used the eye of Gan-Q to absorb the energy attacks until they stopped. The super monster then took that energy and fired it back at them, causing a huge explosion to go off near them. Gomora turned its back to avoid Fluttershy from getting hit, while the Titan managed take the brunt of the explosion as it put itself in front of Gomora to protect him and Fluttershy. Luna flew in and had the girls fire their Aster-X Blasters, hitting the monster in the back of the head and getting its attention away from their comrades. Five King turned to their direction and called out, “Flash C.O.V. Shot!” as several bolts of energy flew from its chest and stomach and headed towards Luna, Twilight, Rarity, and Pinkie. Luna took evasive maneuvers, and managed to dodge some of them, but one was on a collision course with them. “Neptune Wave Crashing!” A deluge of blue glowing water surrounded the airship, acting as a shield to protect them. Five King saw that it was Aster and unfurled its wings to fly up and meet her. Once Aster was sure the ship was safe, she reopened the dimension and sent a wave of the glowing water straight for Five King. The super monster used its Gan-Q eye to absorb the empowered water and laughed at her. “Are you stupid or something?! I just absorbed their attacks! And now you’re going to just do something like that?!” However, Aster did not stop, in fact, she didn’t seem close to stopping. Something that was worrying the creator of Five King. “H-Hey! What’s going on?! Why aren’t you stopping?!” “This attack opens a portal to a dimension of endless water, I’m only using my power to open that dimension and control the direction of the water, so I’m not really using up that much power doing this. And since it’s an endless ocean dimension, well, figure it out!” Aster landed on the ground, and when she did, Aster waved her hands around, the air around them became chilled as vapor trails of freezing cold followed her movements. “Pluto Ice Razer!” Aster brought her hands together and fired bright blue beam of cryo energy at Five King. When the monster rose, it was immediately struck by the beam, encasing the fusion monster in a block of ice the size of an iceberg. Five King tried to free itself, but the ice was too strong, making any effort to break it futile, and absolute zero cold of the ice made it incredibly difficult for the monster to build up its energy. In fact, it felt as if the ice itself was sapping that energy every it tried to power up. “WHAT?! C’MON! MOVE YOU STUPID THING! THIS IS SO UNFAIR!” The Titan flew down from the sky and floated on Aster’s right to Aster, Gomora came stomping over, with him and Fluttershy taking their place at her left, while the airship got into position above Aster. “EVERYONE! LET’S END THIS!” Aster swiped left arm across her chest, creating four spheres of varying sizes, and then swiped her right arm upwards, creating five additional spheres of different sizes. Fluttershy, Twilight, Pinkie, and Rarity powered up their Aster-X Blasters, the Titan readied its twin cannons, and Gomora charged its horns again. Five King managed to pick itself up from the crater, and that’s when the girl inside eye’s widened with shock. “GRAND CROSS STRIUM!” The spheres combined as Aster formed an L-shaped pattern with her arms and fired a beam of aurora light, the Titan fired its twin hip cannons at full output, shooting twin columns of energy. Gomora opened its mouth and fired its Super Oscillatory Wave beam attack alongside the others, at the same time, the girls fired their Aster-X Blasters, all the beams combined into one huge blast of power that roared straight towards Five King. “Screw this!”The girl within waved the Dark Ring out in front of her and was immediately ejected from the fusion monster as the combined attacks completely obliterated Five King, setting off a massive explosion that leveled half the city in the process. A dark sphere floated high in the air above the city, the girl, whose suit shrunk to the same size as her, stomped angrily against the sphere and growled in rage. “Next time, Aster! Next time I’ll end you!” The sphere took off into the night, leaving Team Aster standing, victorious. \*****///** (Saturday: Dorms, 12:03 p.m.…) After the battle was over last night everyone was excited. The plan that Twilight and Pinkie came up with was a success, and they managed to beat back the summoner of the monsters. Although, any real celebrating was saved for today, as everyone was dead tired after all of that. Sunset had asked if they could still have the party, but no surprises. Something that Pinkie was more than happy to agree to. The girls had gathered in their room, and once they had, Sunset stood up and decided to clear the air. “Hey…listen…I’m sorry for being a jerk to you guys yesterday. I know you wanted to throw this party for me to show how much you guys care about me. And I didn’t really act like a good friend despite what you did…” Twilight stood up and gently placed her hand on Sunset’s shoulder. “We understand Sunset, it’s hard knowing that you’ll outlive us. Honestly, I’m still coming to grips with it myself.” A round of nods was seen from the rest of the girls, it seemed they, too, were struggling with this information. “I’ll admit, knowing that you’re always going to remain young and beautiful forever does irritate me just a bit,” Rarity threw out there. “It’s so unfair.” “Rares, c’mon now,” said Applejack. “Well, some of us work hard to look this fabulous, Darling! Excuse me for wanting to have eternal beauty at the very least! Humph!” Rarity huffed as she crossed her arms. Sunset began to chuckle, which broke into laughter. Rarity could not help but do the same as the others joined in. After a moment, Sunset said, “I don’t know what other surprises lay in store for me, I have a feeling all of this is only the tip of the iceberg, but…even so…I do hope you guys will stay by my side. And I promise, I’ll always have your backs, no matter what happens.” Pinkie bounced up next to Sunset and globed onto her. “Of course, we will, silly! We’re all BFFs! From now until forever!” Sunset began to tear up a little as she replied, “Thanks, Pinkie.” “Group hug!” Pinkie announced. “Wha – wait – hold up!” It was too late as the girls surrounded Sunset and gave her big hug. The bad girl huffed, squirmed, and then surrendered to it. “Fine…just this once.” Sunset let the warmth of the hug envelop her, as she basked in the feeling of having friends. Just then, something flashed within Sunset’s mind. Images of a crystal palace, herself, and a group of girls who were sitting at a table, all of them smiling and laughing, there were seven, not including her, and one of them felt like they were looking directly at Sunset, but not in a threatening way, more like…affectionately. “Sunset? Sunset?!” Twilight called out. “W-What?” “You zoned out, what happened,” the spectacled girl asked. Sunset looked at each of the girls and said, “I think I just saw another of my memories flash before my eyes…And I think I saw my friends from the past…? I…I had friends in the past, too.” Author's Note Next Time: Trouble arises when Commander Abacus Cinch and her Shadowbolt Six arrive at S.M.I.L.E. Academy with Global Defense General Neighsay. And, the mysterious monster summoner returns, but this time to attack the Everfree Forest! Aster will have to tap into a new power in order to bring this foe down, and will she able to keep the secret of Aster with the Shadowbolts around? See it all unfold next time... 16th Light: Trouble Arrives! / Unleash the might of POWER XZEED! 1st Light: Welcome to S. M. I. L. E. / The Hero Rises![Welcome to the Space Monster Interception League of Earth, otherwise known as S. M. I. L. E! First off: congratulations for being selected to join this elite peace keeping force, but your journey has just only begun! As of today, you will be entering SMILE Academy, a place dedicated to not only preparing you for the rigors of fighting in the League, but to also furthering your education, should you feel that during the course of your enrollment you find that SMILE is not for you, you can take all you’ve learned and pursue another career!] [SMILE Academy sports the latest in technology and accommodations, all students are required to stay in the dormitories that are on campus and must abide by the rules set forth: Curfews are enforced, all students are to be back at the dorms no later than 10:00 PM. Dorms are separated, one houses only the girls and the other only the boys. Under NO circumstances are boys allowed in the girl’s dormitories and vice versa. Next it should be noted in case of a monster attack, the Phantom Zone Emitter will be activated, all students – except for those with special assignment or permission – must go to the nearest Phase Space Shelter immediately. SMILE base may be on campus, but you are not allowed to engage in combat operations without the expressed permission of a senior officer or under life or death circumstances. Next –!] “Okay, that’s getting old,” said the girl with fiery hair as she closed the holographic welcome packet. This girl was sitting at the back of a bus that was ferrying a batch of new first year students to the most prestigious school, SMILE Acadmey. The teenager huffed as she looked out the window, seeing the vastness of the so called “Everfree Forest”. It was a strange anomalous forest that grew during, what had come to be known as “The Incursion”, where creatures called Space Beasts had come to attack Earth, it was in fact thanks to this forest that The First Incursion was stopped, creating a barrier that forced the waves of monsters back and threw them across the stars. Since then, SMILE Base and the Academy had been built at the center of the huge forest, there was a large enough clearing that both could be accommodated equally. That very barrier that saved the world had diminished over the years, allowing some monsters to get in and cause havoc, but with SMILE, they were quickly taken down. “Or so the story goes…” said the girl with fiery red and yellow hair. The road leading to the academy was a long bridge that ran from Canterlot City to the Academy and base. Several students filled the bus, all of which were in varying degrees of excitement. From her spot in the back she could spot a few students she could tell she wanted to steer clear of, not that she thought that they weren’t good people, but because she wasn’t in the mood to get chummy with anyone. Suddenly, the bus stopped, making the fiery haired girl look out the window, there seemed to be some car parked on the side of the bridge. From what she was able to see, there was a tall woman with tri-colored hair, pink, beige, and lilac. Her lavender colored eyes conveyed a sisterly aura that would probably make most young teens confide in her, as well as make both genders swoon. “Not me,” she said aloud. The bus stopped and the driver got out to see what the problem was. While the bus driver was talking with her, the fiery haired girl could spot someone else in the car but was having a hard time making out who. After a minute of talking, the older woman seemed happy and went to the back of the car to pull out a suitcase, the driver opened up the cargo area and helped her put the luggage in, from the passenger side, a girl emerged that actually made the redhead pause and pay attention. She was slender, with black rimmed glasses framing her mousy face, and brought attention to her amethyst colored eyes. Her hair – which was done up in a ponytail – was a dark violet color, with a light steak of purple and pink running through it. This girl was wearing the school uniform, a blue blazer with the SMILE emblem over her left breast where her heart was. The redhead made a note of her appearance, the uniforms didn’t allow for much individuality, so the students had come to accessorize a little to give them individuality, either by wearing the uniform a different way or putting on little buttons or making slight – but Academy approved – alterations. Hers was a little more laid back, she let her white shirt hang out instead of tucking it into her skirt, only leaving the middle button of her blazer buttoned, and left her collar open. She let the ribbon hang loose, on her collar she had a pin that was in the shape of a sun, with one have red and the other half a golden-yellow in a sort of yin-yang pattern. Compared to the girl outside, she seemed to follow more to the dress code. “Kinda cute, though,” she commented. The bus driver ushered the girl onto the bus and went back to talk to the woman again, probably wondering if she’d like a ride the Academy. The redhead watched as the new girl began walking down the aisle, most of the students were still being their rowdy selves, with some offering the girl a seat. She politely declined their offers and continued her journey down the aisle until she was at the back of the bus. “H-Hi,” the nerdy girl greeted. “Hey,” the redhead replied. “Um…I’m sure you picked this spot back here to be alone…but…would it be alright if I…sat over here, too?” The redhead glanced up at the girl quizzically. “It’s a free country, sit where you want.” “Right, sorry! I just, you looked like you wanted to be alone, and I didn’t want to intrude or –!” The redhead held up her hand in a stopping gesture. “Just sit down, please.” The nerdy girl smiled awkwardly and sat down in the right seat. She had been clutching a digital tablet the whole time, and once she sat down immediately swiped it open and began reading something. The bus driver concluded his conversation with the woman and continued on their way towards SMILE Academy. After a good five minutes of travel, the redhead asked, “Car trouble?” The nerdy girl snapped her attention from her tablet and to the redhead. “Oh, um, yes. The battery appeared to have died, I must’ve told my sister-in-law several times to get it replaced, even though my calculations indicated that given that her car’s an older model and not incorporating Ziestral power cells, that it would possibly die out halfway before reaching the Academy.” “Uh-huh, guessing you don’t like to be tardy to things, huh?” The nerdy girl shuddered. “That word is like taboo to me, besides, I’ve wanted to get into SMILE Academy ever since I was a little girl!” “Let me guess, you want to save the world from monsters?” the redhead asked. The nerdy girl began to play with her bangs a little. “Well…nothing as grandiose as that…I’m mostly wanting to advance my academic career, and SMILE Academy is the best of the best. Besides, you don’t necessarily have to join the organization, some just go on to further their careers in other fields.” The redhead shrugged. “That’s cool.” “Um, if you don’t mind, what’s your name?” The redhead observed the girl sitting in the opposite seat. She wasn’t here to make friends, and she definitely didn’t see the need to get close to anyone. Still, this girl seemed to be less hyper than the rest of the students, so she didn’t see any harm. “Sunset, my name’s Sunset Shimmer.” “Oh, that’s a pretty name! M-Mine’s Twilight Sparkle, it’s nice to meet you,” said Twilight. Sunset grinned a little. “Same.” \*****///** [S. M. I. L. E. Academy, 9:10 A. M.] The bus finally joined a caravan of several others that were ferrying students, teachers, and SMILE agents. To say that the school and the base were vast would be a huge understatement. The school itself stood like an ivory castle, with tall spires that led to different observatories, a large quad was set at the center, and a statue of the first agent of SMILE, the founder and creator, a woman simply known as Faust. A small staircase led up to the main entrance, where many of the students were filing in, off to the right path stood several buildings which looked like apartments, no doubt the student dorms. To the left were the training fields, some of which both agents and students used. But behind the school was the towering SMILE Base, it was one of many, but this was considered the first and best of them all. The base had domes structures built around it, with a central building that had a flight control tower as well as a scanning equipment meant to detect any anomalous changes in the atmosphere. There was a larger structure behind the domes, one that housed the mobile weapons of SMILE, like their Goliath tanks, carriers, official SMILE urban vehicles, and of course the Gungir fighters that were routinely patrolling the airspace. The main center piece of the entire structure was a large spire that sat in the center of the base and Academy, but it was currently not in use. Sunset slid on her backpack and dragged her rolling suitcase behind her. According the schedule, orientation would be held at 10:30 A. M. so that the students could unpack in the dorm or just walk about after the long bus ride. Sunset walked down the stone pathway up to Dormitory Alpha, once inside, Sunset noted that the commons area was quite large, sporting a few chairs and sofas, as well as tables to sit and eat. Sunset went to the holographic map that was mounted in the middle of the commons area. Many students were crowding around the terminal as they got their room assignments. Sunset pulled out her a device called a “HoloFrame”. With a flick of the wrist the device parted down the middle and extended out a good six inches, the center of the rectangular object created a hard-light screen, displaying various apps and other things. Sunset held the HoloFrame up to the terminal and immediately the device began downloading and registering her. After about a minute, Sunset brought the device closer and tapped a few buttons until the device read, “Room Assignment: Room 326”. Nodding, Sunset walked to the elevator’s, she waited a moment until the crowds died down, she really didn’t like sharing a cramped space with half a dozen people. Thankfully her prayers were answered as one of the elevators opened and Sunset was the only one around, she quickly entered and pressed the button for the third floor. “WAIT!” cried out a familiar voice. Sunset recognized that voice, they may’ve only met just this morning, but it was unmistakable. She briefly contemplated just letting the door close, but then sighed heavily as she pressed the button to keep the doors open. As expected, Twilight Sparkle came stumbling into the elevator, suitcases and all. Sunset hurriedly pressed the button to close the doors to keep anyone else from rushing in, sharing an elevator with one other person was tolerable to six. Twilight was panting as she slumped against the wall, making Sunset chuckle as she said, “If this is going wind you that easily, training is going to be murder.” The nerdy girl blushed in embarrassment. “I-I was never that physically active…mostly studying and science projects and reading…I realize now how poorly that has impacted my stamina and body.” Sunset gave Twilight a once over, looking her up and down. Twilight was slender, small waist, not much up top, but the uniforms didn’t help, they sometimes made a girl appear flat, Sunset had found that to be the case upon donning the uniform herself. Her skin was a slightly pale, showing that while she may have spent most of her time indoors, she had gone outside enough to not appear ghostly. Compared to Sunset’s lightly tanned skin and lean build, she could see why the girl was embarrassed. “Eh, you’re not that bad on the eyes, and some guys actually dig the whole nerdy librarian look.” Twilight blushed again as she fixed her gaze at her shoes. “I-I-I wouldn’t know, I’ve never actually dated anyone…nor am I particularly looking for romance.” “That’s cool, neither am I,” said Sunset. The elevator dinged, the doors sliding open to show a multitude of their fellow students meandering through the halls to find their assigned rooms. Sunset had to admit, this school really spared no expense, the hallway walls were painted sky-blue, with immaculate white doors, and plush, velvety carpet. Sunset opened up her HoloFrame again and began walking as the device gave directions, after a few turns Sunset stopped before her room, but paused when she noticed that Twilight had followed her. “Uh…can I help you?” “Sorry, it’s just…I think that’s my room.” Sunset raised an eyebrow, she quickly snatched Twilight’s HoloFrame out her hands so fast that it took Twilight a minute to register it. The redhead looked at her device and Twilight’s, and sure enough, both had the same room number, which could only mean one thing. Sunset gave the device back to Twilight and said, “Guess we’re roommates.” “Oh, is…is that bad?” Sunset looked at her for a moment, thinking about the question. “I was hoping to be alone, but I guess it doesn’t matter. I call top bunk now or whatever’s closer to the window. Got it?” Twilight shook her head. “Okay then.” Sunset placed her HoloFrame against the pad next to the door and immediately the door unlocked, Twilight followed behind her, putting her HoloFrame against the pad to register that she was also in the room. Once inside, both girls went wide eyed with surprise. It wasn’t so much a dorm room as it was an apartment. The room was spacious, with a large couch at the center, a recliner to the right of that, and a flat screen TV mounted on the wall. There was a wood coffee table below that was set between the chair and sofa, with a fruit basket that read “Welcome!”. The girls walked further inside and spotted a kitchen, it had a small island in the middle, complete with a dish washer, stove, refrigerator, and sink. From the sink there was a flat top bar with stools sitting on the other side, and a small table that could at least seat four comfortably. Further back the girls spotted sliding doors that led to a balcony, which gave an impressive view of the campus, base, and forest. Sunset broke to the right and opened the door, Twilight followed suit to get an idea of what her room would be like. Inside was a queen-sized bed, complete with a desk that was placed into the corner of to the bed’s right side, a closet, and a dresser, with a TV mounted above it. On the left side of the room, was a bathroom. It was a standard one-person bathroom, with a walk-in shower. “Huh, well that’s a bummer, guess no relaxing soaks in a tub, but I can make do with this. They really go all out with this stuff,” said Sunset. “It reflects how much the backers of SMILE are investing in their organization, and the students. I figured it was going to be a cramped room with two beds, but this is something else,” said Twilight. “You got that right.” Once the bedrooms were chosen, Twilight and Sunset went to unpacking their things. Sunset paused as she moved some of her unmentionables away to reveal a sort of bracer. The device was red in color, with an eight-pointed gold star painted on both sides. The top part had a similar sun symbol design, but it was a raised blue crystal that looked as if it could be pushed down. On the top of the star button was a round slot, and at the bottom of the star symbol was another slot. Lying next to it were two coins, one that had the strange image of a warrior of silver and red, and the second had another strange looking warrior with blue crystal armor pieces. “Can’t leave these things lying around.” Sunset placed this bracer on her right forearm, and when she did, a silver belt appeared around her waist. This had a case strapped to it, which Sunset unhooked and opened. She placed both of the coins into the case and hooked it back onto the belt, and immediately as she did so, the bracer and belt vanished into particles of blue and red light. \*****///** [Assembly Hall, 11:45 A. M.] Since they were now officially roommates, Twilight seemed to stick by Sunset as they headed out for the Assembly Hall, Sunset grinned a little, feeling as if Twilight was a lost little puppy following her around. Once they arrived, they saw that the whole auditorium was filled with a deafening roar of people talking over each other. As they took their seats, Sunset once again took notice of the rest of the students filling the seats. Two girls seemed to be getting into an arm-wrestling contest, one was wearing a cowboy hat, and the other had rainbow hair. There was a third who seemed to be refereeing the spectacle, she had bright blue eyes and a bouncy, curly head of pink hair. A little off to the side she spotted two others, the one with violet hair was really done up, having taken every measure to make her uniform show her individuality, adding white frills to the cuffs of the blazer, along with accentuating the hem and collar with gold trim. The girl she was speaking and the girl next to her seemed to just be listening rather than doing any talking, she had long pink hair, a shade lighter than other girl, her teal eyes conveyed understanding, and meekness. Aside from them not very many others stood out to her, there was one other girl with silver hair who was performing some sleight of hand magic, a rather large bulky boy, another boy with blue spikey hair that had a Rock n’ Roller vibe to him, and another girl who had blonde hair, and had wall eyes. The auditorium went silent as a woman took center stage, holographic screens appeared above her, allowing her face to be seen by everyone in attendance. The woman walking up to the see-through podium had long, midnight blue hair, her shimmering aquamarine eyes had a piecing look to them as if peering into your soul. This was accentuated by the woman’s graceful application of black mascara and navy-blue eyeshadow. She wore a SMILE uniform, the left side of the chest bared the crest of SMILE, but her right side displayed her badge, which had four stars on it that indicated her rank. Once at the podium, the woman tapped the mic to make sure it was working and said, “Hello, and welcome to SMILE Academy. I am the Vice Commander, as well as the Dean of Students, Luna Solstice. As the Dean of Students, I also head the Disciplinary Committee, I will remind all students and returning students to adhere to the rules.” Strict as ever, thought Sunset. “Now, here to give you some context on our pristine base and school, allow me to introduce you to the Headmistress and Commander of SMILE Concordia Base, Celestia Solstice.” From the entrance, another woman walked up. Her uniform was all white, barring the gold trim around the shoulders, and around the cuffs, and on her badge, it showed a sun with four stars at the center. Her skin was a beautiful pale color and flawless, her hair was three colors of green, blue, and pink, and her fuchsia eyes shown with a motherly warmth despite her obvious high rank in the organization. Celestia and Luna were both tall women, but Celestia still towered over her by a head. Celestia cleared her throat and said, “Thank you, Vice Commander Luna. Welcome my new students and returning students! I am happy to have you all for another year here at SMILE Academy! Now, I know not all of you are here to join our organization and are here to further your education before moving onto whatever you are aspiring to. Let me be the first one to say this, you needn’t feel pressured nor ashamed for not joining. Defending the Earth is a noble endeavor, but so is chasing after your dreams, whatever they may be.” “Here at the Academy, you’ll learn and grow over the next four years, some who have come here not wanting to join sometimes end up joining right after graduation. That is why you all will be taking some courses in engineering and maintenance, biological science, and astronomy. As well as some basic training courses. SMILE was created to ensure that another event like The First Incursion never happens again, and for the past twenty years, we have been able to repel all manner of Space Beast attacks, as well as covert alien operations.” Celestia took the mic and began walking around, looking up to the faces of the students to connect with each of them. “The future is what you make of it, take what you learn here and apply it in your endeavors, whether it is defending the Earth or achieving your dreams, I only ask that you give it your all!” The students all stood and clapped their hands in a standing ovation, for a moment, Sunset locked eyes with the Commander, Celestia smiled and then walked back to the podium to continue. “Alright, now, I would also like to talk to you all regarding ‘Special Operations’. These are kind of onsite work-study programs where you will be able to work alongside our fellow SMILE agents, whether it is in maintenance, logistical support, civilian evacuation – but only when accompanied by a senior agent, and research and development. Those of you who have been selected for this are to report immediately to your designated stations when the alarm sounds, and yes, you will be given slight leeway in your classes and some assignments, but you are still expected to maintain your grades either way, monster attacks or no monster attacks, understand?!” As one, the entire student body answered, “YES MA’AM!” The rest of the orientation dragged on into the class structure, the rules regarding the dorms, and off campus excursions. Sunset had long tuned out what Celestia was saying, but snuck a glance at her roommate, watching as she gazed upon the Commander, eyes as big as saucers and practically sparkling with admiration and enthusiasm. Sunset had to admit, it was cute in a nerdy way. After everything was done, the students were dismissed to go about the campus or whatever they wished. One of the perks of being a student, was the ability to rent a car from the campus, provided they had passed SMILE’s driving course before entering or during their stay in SMILE, so Sunset decided to head into the city. I’m going to be spending a majority of my time here, might as well go and have some fun away from here. Just then, Sunset stopped when she spotted Vice Commander Luna and Commander Celestia talking with her roommate, she really wasn’t in the mood to talk to Celestia, so she quickly did an about face and – “Sunset Shimmer?” Damn it! Sunset slowly turned around and waved at Celestia, “Heeeeey…Commander…” Celestia rolled her eyes at Sunset’s pitiful greeting. “Oh please, you can call me Auntie Tia, and of course you can call Luna Auntie Lulu!” Luna’s eye twitched. “Please, don’t.” Twilight blinked a few times as she looked between Celestia, Luna, and Sunset. “W-Wait, a-are you related?!” Sunset crossed her arms in front of her chest and said, “Not really, just…on paper. They’re more or less my guardians. Guardians which I remember asking not to talk to me so much around here.” “We’re just making sure that you are acclimating well so far,” said Luna. “I am ‘acclimating’, just fine, thank you.” Sunset quickly grabbed Twilight’s hand and began dragging her away, ignoring the nerdy girl’s blushing embarrassment. “See ya later!” “Uh-Uh, Sunset where are going?! Sunset?!” Both Commanders watched as the two girls left through one of the entrances, Celestia sighed and placed her hands on her hips as she gave Luna a stern glare. “Really, Luna, can you at least try and be a little less…well, there’s another word I’d like to use, but since we’re among our students, I’ll just say: uptight?” Luna rolled her eyes. “Sister, you treat that girl in a much too familial way. Lest you forget what she is and what she can do?” “I haven’t forgotten at all, but perhaps treating her as family will have a more positive impact than treating her differently,” said Celestia. “Agree to disagree, Sister.” \*****///** [Canterlot City, 2:15 P. M.] Sunset had dragged Twilight along with her to the city, in all honesty she was acting instinct rather than thinking it through, but in the end, they found themselves at the Crystal Palace Mall, sitting in the middle of the food court. Upon surveying the area, it seemed that Sunset wasn’t the only student who wanted to get away from the campus for a bit, as there were some students who were still in uniform either walking about the mall or in the food court. There were possibly more, but they may have already switched to their regular civilian clothes. The two girls were sipping on some smoothies that Sunset had bought, the air around them had become silent and awkward. Twilight looked as if she wanted to say something, but Sunset’s slight scowl made her stop before the words could leave her mouth. “Sorry.” “W-What?” “I mean, sorry for dragging you out here…I wasn’t really thinking, and I just acted…Probably scared you a little, huh?” Twilight gave an awkward smile. “Well, maybe not so much ‘scared’ as much as ‘surprised’. Do you not like the commanders?” Sunset released a sigh as she leaned back and looked up at the ceiling. “I don’t know, I don’t hate them…I guess that’s something…it’s complicated.” “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be prying,” said Twilight. “Don’t worry, it’s actually nice to have someone to talk to, I’ve always been a loner…for as much as I can remember, anyway.” That caught Twilight’s attention. “Wait, what do you mean by that?” Sunset thought about it for a moment, she was going to be living in the same dorm with this girl for the foreseeable future, and it couldn’t hurt to have at least one person to trust. “Truth is…I don’t remember much about myself, can’t remember my parents, where I lived, or anything. The last three years I’ve been shipped around until I ended up living with the commanders, and they enrolled me in this school to help me and probably to keep an eye on me. Sorry to say you got stuck with a bit of a problem child as a roommate.” Twilight shook her head. “It’s not your fault you have amnesia, but…can I ask you something?” “Yes.” “Well…I never really had a friend – I’ve always been a bit socially inept…” Sunset raised an eyebrow at Twilight. “Okay, I am socially inept, but I kind of want to change that. I know in order to advance anywhere in life, you need to socialize, make connections, and not just business ones, but ones built on trust,” Twilight explained. “Sounds like you’re talking about friendship.” “Yes that! And…I don’t know if this is too forward of me…but, I’d like it if we could be friends?” Twilight asked nervously. Sunset couldn’t help but chuckle at that wording. “I don’t know…tell you what, make it friends with benefits, and then I’ll agree.” “Oh, I’ve never heard of that kind, but if you want to be friends like that, I wouldn’t mind trying it!” Twilight stated enthusiastically. The redhead spat out her smoothie onto the table. “Are you serious?! Do you even know what that means?!” Twilight blinked. “Oh god, you really are socially inept…” Sunset ran her hand down her face. For a moment, she thought about letting her agree, but she wasn’t that evil. “No, no, we’ll just be friends, not the other one.” “Did I say something wrong?” Twilight asked, nervous that she may have damaged a potential friendship right out of the gate. “It’s…give me your ear.” Twilight leaned forward and allowed Sunset to whisper into her ear, after a few seconds Twilight’s face was burning bright red to the point that steam was practically coming out of her ears. “Sunset Shimmer!” Twilight exclaimed as she pulled back. Sunset laughed at her reaction, making the nerdy girl pout. “Sorry, sorry, but seriously though, I wouldn’t mind. Just letting you know now, I’m a handful.” Twilight cleared her throat, “I’d be lying if I said I probably wasn’t the same way, but others have said otherwise.” She then grabbed her smoothie glass and held it up. “To new friends?” The fiery redhead chuckled and brought up her glass, “New friends.” *tink* Suddenly, an alarm went off from their HoloFrames. Every student in the food court immediately pulled them out and opened them to see what was going on. [Code Red: Imminent Space Beast Attack. If you are receiving this message report to the nearest Phase Space Shelter immediately, SMILE Assault Teams have been dispatched.] “Crap, Twilight we need to – Twilight?” Twilight was beginning to hyperventilate, her pupils shrinking to pinpricks as her body began to shake. Sunset quickly slipped her HoloFrame back into her blazer pocket and went around the table to Twilight. “Twilight, you’re having a panic attack, I need you to focus!” “I…I…can’t breathe!” “Yes, you can, look at me!” Sunset made Twilight look her in the eyes. “We need to leave and head to the shelter, I know you’re scared, but I’m right here!” Twilight kept her focus on Sunset’s eyes, trying to control her breathing and the hammering of her heart. It was strange, but Twilight did feel herself calming down, whenever this happened, the only other people who could get her to calm down was her parents, her big brother, and her sister-in-law/former babysitter. But Sunset, somehow, was having the same effect on her. After a few seconds, Twilight’s breathing steadied itself enough to where she didn’t feel like she was going to pass out. “You with me?” Sunset asked. “Y-Yes,” Twilight stated in weak tone. “Good girl, let’s go!” \*****///** The airspace around Canterlot City was blanketed with SMILE’s specialized aerial fighter jets, code named Gungirs, a nod to the ancient war god of Norse mythology, Odin’s, spear. The aircraft had a blade like design, sporting bow mounted twin photon repeater cannons, and missile launcher that was released from the Bombay panels beneath the aircraft. On the ground, several tank-like vehicles were scrambled and lined up. Each one was colored blue, and was heavily armored, on top of the tanks they sported a large plasma cannon, these powerhouses were code named: Goliaths. Suddenly, a wave of violet light washed over the entire area, a slight distortion in reality occurred, but then it stabilized. After this happened, the sky was no longer its bright blue color, but was now a light purple color. The squadrons watched as a meteor fell from the sky, but once it got closer to the city, it began to slow down until it hovered a few feet from the ground. The flames surrounding this meteor were dark violet, releasing sparkling embers that crackled and popped. The meteor began to show cracks, as if it were made of glass. After a moment the meteor shattered, and from it appeared a giant monster. The beast landed upon the earth with a thunderous BOOM, releasing a screeching cry. Its body was covered in a blue-gray, exoskeletal, armored hide, with gnarled teeth sticking out from its maw. Its arms had several rows of long spikes, and at the end of its right hand was a spiked mace weapon, where its left hand would be, was instead a long-curved metal hook. The monster’s eyes glowed a bright orange as its tail thrashed about. The Goliath tanks immediately fired upon the beast, releasing bursts of plasma energy straight at it. The energized ordinance impacted against the monster and exploded, it didn’t appear to cause it too much damage, but did succeed in grabbing its attention. The monster inhaled and then exhaled a jet a flames that roared down the street and washed over the tanks, thankfully the Goliaths and Gungirs were equipped with energy shielding, however, it wasn’t permanent. The Gungirs broke off into teams of three and nosedived for the monster. The photon cannons fired rapidly on the creature. The flame attack was ceased as the monster used its hook arm to shield itself from the rain of photon bolts. The Gungirs broke off as another three followed up behind them and launched several missiles. Each struck the beast’s head, shoulders, arms, and back, exploding against its armored body. Unfortunately, their attacks seemed to do little more than irritate the behemoth. When the next trio arrived, the horn on the top of the beast’s head began to release a series of bright flashes. The Gungirs that were flying in all began to scatter, but some did not escape, the flashes managed to pierce their eye shielding and temporarily blinded them. Several Gungirs fell out of the sky and crash landed in the city, thankfully their shields weren’t down and saved them from meeting a fiery end. The monster was not done yet as it reared its head back and launched the curved horn on its head. The blade horn sailed like a boomerang, whipping through the air as it hit a few more of the Gungirs and taking them out of the fight. One of the fighter’s broke off from the rest and followed behind the blade-horn, the code name written on the side of this fighter was “Blitz”. When it reattached to the monster’s head, the rogue Gungir released one salvo after the other, continuously firing its photon cannons into the beast’s face. At the same time, one Goliath tank revved up its engine and charged up its plasma cannon. The tank fired a concentrated charged beam blast straight at the monster face, combining into a powerful explosion that made the beast cry out in pain as it stumbled backwards and crashed into some buildings. The rogue Gungir pulled up and rejoined the rest of the squadron, but not before getting an earful from their captain. {Dammit rookie, I told you not to pull any crazy ass stunts like this! This ain’t the simulator!} {Sorry, Captain Spitfire, but if I didn’t that thing was going to keep taking out our fighters! Ma’am!} An audible groan could be heard coming from the other line. {Yeah, you and that tanker did good, but that trick won’t work twice, next time you might get a face full of fire. Your shield’s reading at 30%, hang back with the rest of us. That’s an order Private Dash.} At that moment, a voice with a southern drawl called in and said, {Sorry to interrupt, but that overgrown lizard is gettin’ back up again!} Indeed, the monster was getting back up, and looked none too pleased that it had gotten the equivalent of a sucker punch to the face. The monster inhaled again bellowed out more of its intense flames, bathing the ground and sky indiscriminately in its blazing rage. Many of the structures around it began to explode and crumble under the intensity of the flames forcing the SMILE forces to fall back. \*****///** This is not good, Sunset thought. It had taken a bit for Twilight to find the strength to run, Sunset had hoped the adrenaline would be enough to get her strength back after her panic attack, it was, but not to the degree she was hoping. Nonetheless, Twilight was able to finally get her legs moving the way she wanted to, but her lack of physical activity was showing as her breathing was labored, her muscles crying out in protest of how long the two girls had been running. Both of them had to stop several times while the battle was going, the monster had appeared not too far from the mall, and the nearest shelter was close to the battlefield. Sunset had thought to take the car, but a rogue chunk of debris had fallen right onto the car, caving it in and making it useless. The girls stopped again in an alleyway, catching their breath. Sunset took out her HoloFrame and checked their position, from what she could tell, they were one block away from the shelter. Sunset looked to Twilight, her body slumped up against the wall of the building as her chest heaved, if it was just herself, she could make it easily, but Twilight… “L-Leave…me…Sunset…!” Twilight stated between breaths. “What?!” “You…You’re faster…You’re not as tired…as I am…! At this rate…we’ll…we’ll both die!” Sunset’s brow knit at that. “I am not leaving you to die out here! We’re getting to that shelter if I have to carry you there!” Or…there’s another option… Suddenly, a roar from the monster ceased all thoughts running through their heads. An orange glow grew in intensity from around the corner, and not soon after that flames washed over the buildings, slamming into them like a freight train and causing them to fall over. “TWILIGHT!” Sunset shouted as she dove for her new friend. They both hit the ground just as a large chunk of the building slid down and crashed against the other. Pieces of debris cascaded on both sides, cutting off their escape, and right over that, the flames. Sunset and Twilight coughed as dirt covered them and the dust hung in the air. Twilight took out her cellphone and turned on the light, seeing how they were alive. Miraculously, the building fell in just the right way to allow for a small pocket to form, however, that was not exactly a good thing. It didn’t take long for both girls to feel the heat radiating around them, turning their small refuge into a brick oven. “At…At this rate, we’ll die from heatstroke long before those flames get to us, that’s also factoring in our current physical condition!” The redhead gritted her teeth, there was something she could do, something that she wasn’t sure that Celestia and Luna would like. Just then, she felt Twilight’s arm wrap around hers as she held tight, feeling her body shaking in fear and terror. “Sunset, I’m scared, I don’t want to die…” Screw it! Sunset bent down on one knee and looked Twilight in the eyes. “I need you to make me a promise, right here, right now, Twilight!” “W-What promise?” Twilight asked. “Whatever you see today, you will never speak a word of it to anyone at school! Not your family, not anyone! Do you understand?! Please promise me!” Twilight nodded vigorously and said, “Yes, I promise!” Sunset smiled and patted Twilight on the head, earning her a confused look from the bespectacled girl. She then stood up and held out her right arm, within seconds the entirety of their refuge was engulfed in blinding light, but for Sunset it was different. All around her was a starry nexus, and upon her right arm was the bracer. A silver belt appeared around her waist, and on it was the case from earlier. She opened the case and pulled one coin that had a figure drawn on it and said, “Grant me the strength of a hero!” Sunset placed the coin into the top slot of the bracer. A red essence flew out from this coin and appeared on her right, this being looked similar to the first, but his body was more silver and red. || ULTRAMAN! || Sunset took another coin and said, “Grant me the power of a galaxy!” before placing it into the bottom slot. From that coin a blue essence flew out and appeared next to her in the form of a man, with blue crystals embedded into its body. || ULTRAMAN GINGA! || “Release the light within me!!” Upon saying this Sunset pressed down on the crystal sun in the center of the bracer, causing it to glow bright blue as she thrust her arm into the air. ||SHINE ON! ULTRAWOMAN ASTER!|| The two Ultramen transformed into light and swirled around Sunset until her body absorbed their light, creating a galaxy of swirling stars. From that galaxy, a being rose up, no not rising, growing. From the outside, where the rubble was strewn, and the flames continued to roar, a light shined from the spot that Twilight and Sunset were trapped under, causing the buildings to blow apart. A wave of sparkling, azure light washed over the entire area, extinguishing the flames. The wave eventually slammed into the monster, causing sparks to fly from its body as it was hurled onto its back. All SMILE forces paused to watch as a giant of light appeared, the light that coated that giant began to dissipate and reveal the giant’s true form. This being was female in appearance, its body, arms and legs, were all colored bright red. Along the sides of the giant was an eight-pointed star pattern that was printed on the hips, drawing a silver line going down the outside of her legs and up along her sides, and from the sides they branched onto her midsection to form two wavy lines. The middle bands joined at waist to form a makeshift belt, completing the circuit around her back. Wrapped around her left wrist were a silver bracelet that had an embedded turquoise jewel, the giantess also sported a pair of anklets that also had the turquoise colored jewel in them, while her right arm sported the same bracer as Sunset. Her upper body was covered in a silver armor plate, with intricate sigil markings that run upwards along curved wing-like engravings. At the center of this armor plate was a bright blue, crystal sun, the object was fastened to the armor by a gold metal edging that outlined the star. The giantess’ head was silver colored, her eyes were slightly slanted, and glowed a bright yellow. The plates around her mouth were angled like a “V” and upon either side of her head were sharp, horn-like frills. Upon her head was a blade that started at the forehead and rand down the back of her head, like a helmet plume or a mohawk, and at the center of her forehead blade was a blue oval shaped crystal. “I am…Ultrawoman Aster!” The Ultra Warrior announced as she assumed a fighting stance. After picking itself back up, the beast’s eyes shined as it cried out with another screech, as if challenging the giantess of light. Barabba, that’s your name…I know it for some reason. Aster took off like an Olympic sprinter, charging straight for the creature, she cocked back her right fist and punched Barabba right in the face. The beast reeled from the impact, stumbling backwards, Aster didn’t let up as she got in close and delivered a left hook to the monster’s stomach, making it cry out in pain. Barabba inhaled and bellowed out a stream of flames at Aster, forcing her back a few feet. The flames lapped off her body, causing small sparks to fly off, but Aster held her ground as the flames continued to stream. The Ultra Warrior crouched low and then jumped into the air as the flames continued onward. Aster flipped around in midair and stopped a few feet over the monster’s head, she then descended as she wrapped her right fist in sparkling energy, Barabba looked up at the last second as Aster cried out, “STARRY SMASHER!” Aster slammed her energized fist into the side of the monster’s face, sending it flying several feet as it slammed through several buildings at once. Aster wasn’t about to give the creature a chance to counterattack as she dashed towards it again, energizing her fist again to deliver another powerful blow to it. But before she could do so, Barabba rose up and its blade-horn flashed several times. Aster was unfortunate enough to have her eyes get a full view of the flashing light as she skidded to a halt as spots danced in her vision. Barabba rose up from the rumble and then aimed its hook-claw right at Aster and fired it, a chain materialized as it continued to sail towards Aster. The chain and hook managed to wrap around her neck and Barabba pulled forward, causing Aster to lurch forward and fall onto the ground. Barabba reeled her in quickly, bringing her to his feet as it raised its right arm, and brought down its mace hand onto Aster’s stomach and chest, causing sparks to fly from each impact and making the Ultra Warrior grunt in pain from each strong strike. Aster had to get out of this, but her options were limited, she had to wait for the perfect moment to get out. When Barabba had had its fill with bashing her with its mace, the beast raised its head back as flames began to spill from the sides of its mouth, preparing to unleash another fire attack. Aster took this chance as she swung both her legs back and struck the monster in the gut with both of her feet, making it back away and belch out its flames too early onto a building nearby. However, Barabba still had its chain wrapped around her, giving the monster some leverage over her. The beast’s horn began to glow again and with a flick of its head, launched the bladed boomerang-like weapon at Aster. The Ultrawoman moved to the right and reached out for the weapon just before it passed her by. Aster grabbed Barabba’s weapon and used the weapon to slash at the chain. The weapon cleanly cut through the materialized chain, causing the rest to go completely slack. Barabba roared in either pain or anger as it lost not just one, but two of its offensive weapons. At that time, the sun symbol on her chest began to blink red, and Aster knew she had to end this quickly. Just then, both of her forearms began to glow brightly. The Ultrawoman’s yellow eyes shined as she widened her stance, bent her left arm to a ninety-degree angle, and crossed her left forearm over her right. Energy continued to gather more and more, creating sparkling stars that coalesced into on spot. The name, the name of her strongest attack rang in Aster’s – in Sunset’s – head as she bellowed it out. “ASTRONIUM RAY!!!” A beam of blue light and golden sparkles shot out, tearing up the street and buildings in its wake. The beam struck Barabba with the sound of resounding thunder. The monster roared in pain as the beam continued to deal continuous damage to it, but, after another couple of seconds, the lizard-like monster exploded into a fiery nothingness. Aster quickly ceased her attack, panting as she saw that Barabba had been completely destroyed, no trace remaining of the lizard monster from the stars. Aster turned around and saw that the Goliath tanks were still training their weapons on her but had not fired. The Gungirs in the sky were still flying around, and no doubt ready to attack should she do anything else. Better get going. Aster jumped straight up, taking flight and zooming through the air. One of the Gungir’s, with the code name “Blitz” written on it, flew after Aster. The Gungir fighter managed to get alongside Aster, the pilot looked in Aster’s direction, and as she did, Aster glanced towards the Gungir and gave a little salute before doubling her speed and leaving the fighter in the dust. Aster continued to fly until she vanished from sight. As the pilot of the Gungir brought her fighter into a hover, the voice of their Commander called out, {Space Beast eradication confirmed. Begin recovery of all fallen aircraft and personnel and prepare for Phantom Zone deactivation.} It took a few hours for the Cleanup Crew to collect the wreckage of the down Gungirs, but thankfully there were no casualties. After all the Goliath and Gungirs headed back to their standby positions. The sky changed from its light-purple hue back to a bright blue. As the Phantom Zone dropped, the damage that was done to the buildings was erased. The fires were snuffed out, and all the damaged vehicles were returned to their original positions, as if the battle had never happened. 5th Light: Rescue the hostages! / The Serene Warrior cuts down evil!Sunset had been asked by Fluttershy to help at the local Canterlot Wildlife Preserve. It was here that the Preserve catered to a menagerie of different animals, but they’re specialty mostly consisted of animals that were not native to Earth. Ever since the First Incursion, Earth received assistance from different planets to both battle the Space Beasts that had come, and to rebuild. Part of Earth’s ongoing partnership with the different alien races and planets, was to help in preserving some of their species that were in danger of going extinct. For some of those planets, Earth provided an environment that was close to if not an exact match to the conditions that the alien animals’ habitats. However, this was not a permanent residence, once a new planet had been discovered that could safely serve as a new home, or if the threat to the habitat on their home planet had been dealt with, the animals were to be transported to their old or new home. Fluttershy had been helping at the Preserve since she was a little girl, and had built up quite the reputation for being the local “animal whisperer”, not just for alien animals, but even the Earth based ones. On this particular day, Fluttershy needed help with some of the new arrivals, a creature called a “Pukwudgie”. She had asked some of her friends and others for assistance, but out of those she did ask, only Pinkie Pie was able to volunteer. And somehow, without Sunset knowing it, she had as well. There was just something about Fluttershy that made it hard to say no, as if, if you did, your very soul would feel unimaginable guilt that it would be crushed. So, Sunset made the long drive to the preserve. It was located some miles on the other side of the Everfree Forest. Some had cautioned against it as they were not sure of what the forest was and how welcoming it would be. But the forest’s presence seemed to have a calming effect on not just the Earth based animals, but also the alien ones. With that said, the Preserve was built, and a section of that forest was enclosed. Sunset had driven the three, using one of SMILE’s official vehicles. Fluttershy mainly took public transport to the Preserve and didn’t like to drive much, and Pinkie, well, Sunset didn’t trust Pinkie behind a wheel, call it instinct. The three girls approached the Preserve, it was a large expanse of a facility, stretching over a hundred miles in both directions. The main entrance was a giant, two story gate that read “Welcome to the Preserve”. The gate led to a bridge that went on for about five miles before entering the main hub. The preserve was spilt into sections, and each section housed different animals. For simplicity’s sake, the section that housed mostly alien creatures was dubbed the “Xeno House” and for local animals, the “Terra Residence”. Fluttershy directed Sunset to head towards the Xeno House, Sunset made a left and they were soon taken through a long tunnel before exiting and seeing multiple buildings spread out through the area, each one catering to a specific type of alien animal, one was for aquatic animals, insectoids, reptilians, and mammals. Fluttershy pointed towards the building that was for mammals and Sunset pulled into the parking lot. When they exited the car, Sunset sighed. “I can’t believe I’m spending my Saturday with smelly, alien animals.” “Sorry…” Fluttershy apologized as her gaze turned downcast Sunset cursed inwardly, not realizing she had said that below a whisper. “No, don’t be. I’m just being cranky.” Pinkie Pie appeared next to Sunset and threw her arm over her shoulders. “Don’t worry, Sunset, I’m sure we’ll have fun here! I mean, this place is filled with alien animals! How can that not be fun?!” Sunset rolled her eyes, but she did admit, this could be interesting. Since this was a weekend, the girls had adopted their casual attire, and as per Fluttershy’s instructions, they were to wear something comfortable and airy since they were going to be moving around a lot today. Fluttershy had put on a plain white tank top with brown shorts, and pink and white tennis shoes. Sunset had put on a red t-shirt with flame decals around the sleeves, black, hip hugging shorts, and black running shoes. Pinkie wore a cotton candy pink, sleeveless shirt, and a tri-colored skirt made up of yellow, white, and blue colors. The three made their way to the main entrance, it was there they saw many people, some were their age, but the majority were older. The staff were either dressed like they were about to go out on safari or had white lab coats. Fluttershy led her companions to the front desk and cleared her throat. A young woman with brown hair and freckles looked up and beamed at Fluttershy. “Well, hello Fluttershy! Here to help out with the new arrivals?” “Yes ma’am, I also brought some friends of mine from the Academy to help, if that’s okay?” The receptionist looked at the two girls and smiled at them as well. “Well of course, the more the merrier, we’ll just need to sign them in. Oh, do you have your card dear?” Fluttershy reached into her pocket, fished out her wallet, and took out an ID card from it. The card had Fluttershy’s name on it, along with her picture, and read as “Canterlot Wildlife Preserve: Junior Xeno & Terra Specialist”. “What’s that mean, ‘Junior Xeno & Terra Specialist’?” Pinkie asked. “Oh, that means our young Fluttershy here has been coming to the Preserve for so long, that we presented her with this special card that grants her access to both the Xeno and Terra facilities. But not just because of her attendance, she has displayed excellent knowledge when it comes to the care of the animals that reside here. It may say ‘Junior’, but considering how long she’s volunteered her, it should read ‘Senior’. But, hopefully we’ll see you in a more official capacity when you graduate.” Fluttershy blushed at the kind words of the receptionist. She handed her card to the young woman who scanned it into the system, and then produced two sign in sheets for Sunset and Pinkie. Once they were complete, they were given visitor badges. “Now, be aware, those badges will only grant you limited access to the facility, they’re only good for opening and closing doors in the facility. Only badges like Miss Fluttershy’s here have the access needed to get into the habitats, labs, and storage areas. So, Fluttershy, remember, you’re responsible for your friends so long as they’re here.” “Yes ma’am, I promise, there won’t be any trouble.” The girls made their way down one of the many hallways in the facility, a lot of the workers stopped to greet Fluttershy on their way to whatever assignments they were working on. “Wow, you’re pretty popular here,” said Sunset. Fluttershy fidgeted. “Oh, I-I don’t think of myself that way.” “Don’t see why, considering most of the guys at school seem to think you’re cute.” The light-pink haired girl blushed. “Oh my…” “Shy, you never did tell us, what is a Pukwudgie is,” said Pinkie. “Oh, well, they’re small mammal creature from planet Correlida. Their habitat is being threatened by an atmospheric event that’s harmful to them, in fact, most of the species of that planet are being shipped to this Preserve, as well as a few others on Earth. They’re just one of the ones I’d like your help with, once we’re done, you guys can have a look around if you’d like, or you can head back to the Academy.” The trio eventually arrived at a door that read “Preparation Room”. Fluttershy swiped her card and the door opened, allowing them entry. Once inside, they noticed it was a ladies locker room, complete with showers, and to the far side of the room were some suits, and a little bit further was a door. “Uh, Fluttershy, what’re we doing in here?” Sunset asked. “The Pukwedugies are sensitive to smells, so we’ll have to scrub with a special soap that will coat us in a nonthreatening scent. Leave all your clothes in the locker, and once you’re done drying off, get into the suit.” Sunset walked over to where the suits were contained in a case that was sealed. They looked baggy, and had a helmet with a clear face visor. “Soooo…we’re supposed to wear these things completely nude?” “Ahem…well…yes, any of our clothing could have a variety of scents that could leak out through the suits. They’re designed to prevent that, but it’s best not to take any chances. Oh, and don’t worry, they may look baggy, but they have a button that allows them to shrink and fit your body.” Sunset raised an eyebrow at that. “Form fitting, protective suits. I’m starting to wonder if we’re in one of those ecchi anime things.” “Ah don’t worry about it, Sunset. If we were, the author would go into a detailed explanation of us undressing, washing our bodies, and getting into the suits. At best he’ll cut us off now or else he’d have to give this an ‘M’ rating.” Sunset blinked and then shook her head. “Wait, wha–?” \*****///** Outside the facility, five black SUVs were parked out by the woods. A man with black hair and dressed in a black suit gazed at the Preserve through binoculars, zooming in on one of the habitats in the distance. “That’s our target, the Xeno House.” Another man, who almost looked identical to the first, stood next to him and said, “We got intel that the creature housed entrance to the creature is somewhere in there. Are you sure you want to use her for this mission?” “She’s disposable, and talented. I’d rather walk away with both, but I’ll settle for what’s in there. Bring her to me.” The second man turned around and motioned towards one of the other SUVs, the back passenger side door opened as an alien walked out. His body was white and lumpy, with red dots scattered about that made the lumps look like eyeballs. The alien had fur around its wrists, and wore a black belt with a holster. The alien’s head was rectangular in shape, with two red eyes and at the center of his head was a red glowing crest. Around this alien was a poncho, black in color, with silver markings. The alien reached inside the vehicle and pulled out a young alien girl. She was insectoid in appearance, but humanoid as well, her carapace was an arctic blue color, and was smooth to the touch. She had long ears that were pressed to her skull, which possessed a horn that was twin tipped, and a translucent frill that ran from the top of her head to the back of her neck. The alien girl also had beautiful, translucent red wings, and a tail frill that was of the same color and see-through like her wings. The girl wasn’t bound, nor were her wings, however, she did have a strange metal collar strapped around her neck. The large male alien pointed his gun to the small of her back and pushed her forward, making the insectoid alien move forward. The alien girl looked up with fear at the man who was still looking at the Preserve. Her cyan eyes were pleading, as she said, “Please, let me go, I don’t want to do this…” “That is unfortunate, because you don’t really have a choice.” The man put down the binoculars and took out a device from his pocket. He then pressed the button on the device and immediately after, the collar began to open, revealing red glowing rods. The rods then released red lightning the surged through the young girl’s body, causing her to writhe and scream in pain. The torture continued until she collapsed onto the ground, her legs losing strength as continued to thrash about until the man switched off the device. Collar closed back up, and the pain ceased. The young alien girl took in deep, raspy breathes of air as the pain was subsiding a little. “You were given to me by your Queen with the promise that you would be useful.” “I…I was taken! And she’s not my queen! I…I’m nothing like them!” “Regardless, if you wish to live to see your home again, you will fulfill your obligations to us, or…” The man raised the remote device and the insect girl’s eyes widened with fear. “Now, get to work.” The young insectoid girl walked forward until she was standing at the edge of the tree line. She gave a tentative look to the man, her eyes still pleading for him to let her go. But she only saw coldness in his eyes. Taking a shaky breath, the young alien’s body became engulfed in arctic blue light that swirled around her. The light danced like flames, growing bigger and bigger with each passing second, and then, after a minute, the young alien girl was no longer herself, but something else entirely. The creature stood about forty meters tall, not including its four wings, and twenty meters in length. The primary wings were about thirty meters in length, the secondary about half that, and the wings themselves were a translucent lime-green color. The creature had a mostly blue-green carapace, with a light-blue underbelly color. Its head was long with red oval eyes, and two red antenna. The top of the creature’s abdomen was a darker shade of blue-green and had course hair, and its thorax had a long red stinger. The creature released a shrieking sound before it fluttered its wings and took off with great haste towards the Preserve, at the same time, the SUVs all floored it, following after the insect monster they just unleashed. \*****///** Sunset and Pinkie panted as they slumped up against the locker room wall. “Those things…are…little monsters!” Sunset exclaimed. “They…They could do with an attitude adjustment,” Pinkie panted. Fluttershy removed her helmet and gave her friends an apologetic look. “I’m sorry girls, I didn’t think they’d be that testy.” “‘Testy’? ‘Testy’?! They shot their spines at us! Thank God that these suits are reinforced gradium fibers or else we’d be pincushions! And they want to ‘preserve’ those things? They’re like miniature Space Beasts!” Fluttershy’s brow furrowed ever so slightly. “N-Not all Space Beasts are evil, Sunset.” Sunset stood upright as she made her way to the locker where her clothes were kept. “Tell that to all the ones that came and tried to kill us all in the First Incursion, or the ones after that, or the ones that Aster has taken out.” “I’m just saying…not all of them have to be destroyed, some are just animals,” said Fluttershy. Pinkie Pie finally caught her breath and joined in on the conversation. “I gotta agree with Shy, it’s the same for aliens, not all of them are bad, it’s just like us. Some people are bad and some are good. We can’t judge an entire race on the actions of a few bad apples. And we can’t judge a Space Beast’s species to be all bad just because one or two of them attacked us.” Sunset sighed as she deactivated her suit into its baggy form for removal. “Look, I have yet to meet a ‘good’ Space Beast, and until then, all are bad guys.” Fluttershy puffed up her cheeks as she marched over to Sunset. “Well, what if I showed you one?” “Say what?” Just then, the entire building shook violently, followed by a series of explosions that made Fluttershy yelp in fear. Sunset activated the suit, allowing the form fitting protective gear to form to her body. Another violent shake occurred and Fluttershy lost her footing, Sunset quickly grabbed her and held her close as the shaking continued. Pinkie Pie joined them, but just when she did, the shaking stopped. “What…What was that?” Pinkie Pie asked. Just then, the door to the room burst open, revealing an alien, its body had black and white stripes all over it, and its head was big, and half-moon shaped. The head was black, with the face white, and its eyes were large and magenta. In the alien’s hand was a blaster, and Sunset instinctively put herself between the alien and her teammates. “Oh, so there were people in here too. Come with me.” “Or else…?” Sunset dared to ask. The alien shot the blaster up at the ceiling, making Pinkie and Fluttershy duck. “Or you won’t live through this.” “Can you at least let us change out of these suits first?” Sunset asked. “No, now MOVE!” The trio was moved into the lobby area, where most of the staff had been corralled like cattle, forced to sit down while their captors had blasters pointed at them. Sunset, Fluttershy, and Pinkie were in the back, with the alien who escorted them there walking back to join his crew. “T-That was an Alien Dada, they normally go by numbers, no actual names,” said Pinkie. Her eyes then caught sight of another alien with a poncho, talking to a man in a black suit. “A-And that’s an Alien Nackle!” “How bad is this?” Sunset asked. “Really bad. They aren’t very friendly, they’re practically hitmen for hire!” Alien Nackle walked up to the only human among the group and said, “We’ve secured the building, the Changeling is circling the perimeter as we speak.” “How many are here?” Alien Nackle scoffed in annoyance as he said, “Unfortunately, the little wench didn’t make it to this building in time, and because of that, a lot of the staff here has evacuated, all we have is this lot of ten.” The human narrowed his gaze as he sighed. “Very well, bring her inside and barricade this entrance. It won’t be long before SMILE finds out we’re here, but with some hostages, they’ll be cautious in their actions. Remember our main objective.” Alien Nackle nodded and went outside. After a minute, a large creature came stomping towards the building, and in the next second, that creature shrunk down until it was of more manageable size. Sunset watched as Alien Nackle and the insectoid alien walked in, the latter of the two looked depressed. “Stand over there and keep the hostages in check, if you lose one…” Alien Nackle let that hang in the air. The alien girl didn’t need much more instruction as she walked over to where the hostages were being kept, the guards who were looking after them left to attend other duties, some were already going through the computer terminals. Fluttershy managed to glance at the sad alien girl and gasped. “She’s…She’s a Changeling,” Fluttershy whispered. “A what?” Sunset asked. “They have this incredible ability to take on the form of whatever creature they see, it doesn’t even matter if it’s a different species, sex, or size. Their eyes allow them to scan every small detail of another being, right down to their DNA, it’s almost impossible to tell the difference between them and whatever creature they’re mimicking. But it isn’t perfect, they can’t copy the memories.” Sunset eyed the alien girl, she was keeping an eye on them, and the fact that she was the only one assigned to the task meant she was the most dangerous one in the group. “How tough are they?” “Well…their carapace is strong, but not impenetrable, it also depends on their individual endurance and pain tolerance…why?” “I’m trying to do a threat assessment. Right now, that Alien Nackle and this Changeling are the biggest threats, if I can neutralize them–” “Yeah, I’m going to have to stop you there, Sunset,” Pinkie interrupted. “I don’t think she’s with them, at least not willingly.” Sunset gave her teammate a skeptical look. “And what makes you say that?” “Well, the fact that she has bright colors.” Sunset blinked. “Okay, I’ll bite, why does that matter?” “There’s currently a civil war going happening on their planet, with one faction converting to a race that doesn’t need to be parasitic in order to live, the mark of this change is bright colors on their bodies. The other wishes to stay parasitic and become really tyrannical, their shells are black as night, and they look a lot scarier. They both have that changing power, but I think this one may have been kidnapped.” “Oh my!” Fluttershy exclaimed. “Regardless, we’ll just have to wait and see what happens, we can’t make a move until then.” At least, I can’t anyway. \*****///** [Saturday, 1:00 pm, 3 hours after takeover…] Police and SMILE Agents had swarmed the Preserve, SWAT units along with SMILE’s elite extraterrestrial combat unit, Foxtrot Alpha, or as they were nicknamed, the “Roughnecks”. Unfortunately, the building that they had occupied had an entry way that led to the Everfree Forest and their ability to attack or infiltrate was limited by the access codes granted to certain staffers. Inside, the Alien Dadas were still searching around for something. Sunset had overheard the leader of the group give their demands. They stated that they were here for a creature, and that so long as the SMILE and police maintained their distance, the hostages would remain safe. Sunset didn’t trust this guy, they were definitely looking for something, that much was certain, but their safety was another matter. If and when they found what they were looking for, there was no guarantee that they would let them live. Sunset wished she could fight these guys, with her abilities she could easily overpower them, but that was if she was alone, she couldn’t risk everyone’s safety. Meanwhile, Pinkie had somehow managed to scoot herself closer to the alien girl. She then looked up at the girl and said, “Hi, my name’s Pinkamena Diane Pie. But everyone just calls me Pinkie Pie. What’s your name?” The alien girl fidgeted. “I…I’m not supposed to talk to you…” “I don’t remember that scary man saying that. He just said to guard us, so long as you’re doing that, you’re not breaking the rules right?” Pinkie asked. “Um…I guess not…Well, my name’s Ocellus.” Pinkie Pie smiled. “That’s a pretty name, you’re a Changeling right?” “Y-Yeah, I am…” Pinkie continued to focus on Ocellus’ frown. “You don’t look like you’re liking any of this, are you?” Ocellus furrowed her brow. “No…I hate this! I…I don’t want to be here…!” Pinkie watched as Ocellus unconsciously rubbed the collar around her neck. “Is that thing the reason why you’re doing what that mean man says?” Ocellus nodded. “It attacks my cells, it makes it feel like I’m being ripped apart. I’ll die if he leaves it on too long…I don’t want to die…I don’t want to hurt anyone either…” Ocellus’ eyes began to water a little. “I miss my home, I miss my parents, my brothers and sisters…” Pinkie Pie’s smile grew somber as she placed her hand against Ocellus’. “Hey, hey, it’s okay. Things will work out, I promise.” “You don’t know that…so, please don’t lie to me.” Pinkie Pie shook her head. “I never lie when I make a promise, a Pinkie Promise is never broken, and that’s my solemn oath.” Ocellus managed a small smile, her eyes darted to one of the guards and she quickly spoke. “Please go back with the others, they’ll hurt you if they see you talking to me.” Without a word, Pinkie Pie scooted back to where Sunset and Fluttershy were sitting. Sunset glanced at Pinkie and asked, “What were you doing?” “Just talking to a new friend,” Pinkie answered. “Pinkie, don’t go Stockholm on me now, she’s our captor, not our friend!” Sunset hissed. “She doesn’t want to be here, Sunset! She’s just as much a hostage as we are! Look at her, does she really look like a bad guy?” Sunset gazed at Ocellus, her hard expression softened just a bit when she saw the sad look on the Changeling’s face. Still, she couldn’t just completely put her faith in that, not yet anyway. One of the Alien Dada’s behind the desk exclaimed something in their language, prompting their leader to come over and see what he found. The man’s brow furrowed after seeing what was on the computer. He then pulled out his own blaster and began walking towards the ten hostages. “It seems we have hit a snag in our operation, ladies and gentlemen. In order to get what we came for and be on our merry way, we need someone with level nine clearance.” Fluttershy’s eyes widened upon hearing that, however, other hostages just murmured amongst themselves in confusion. “It also appears that the files as to whom has access are restricted. So, I’m going to ask everyone, who here has level nine access?” the man asked. No one spoke up. “I see, well, here’s how it will go.” The man snapped his fingers and two of the Alien Dadas grabbed the receptionist and brought her to the leader, making her kneel before him as he pressed the barrel of his blaster to her forehead. “If no one speaks up before I count to five, I will execute her. I will then do the same thing to someone else and we will continue until someone eventually says they do. Bare in mind, the longer you draw this out, the more blood is on your hands. One…” Sunset gritted her teeth, she felt the urge to speed towards the leader and break his jaw, but the moment that she made that move, the others would surely open fire on her and the hostages. “Two…” Ocellus looked away, she knew people would get hurt, but she had hoped she didn’t see something like this. “Three…Five.” “WAIT!!!” All eyes fell on the light-pink haired girl who stood up. “I-I have level nine access!” “Fluttershy!” Sunset and Pinkie exclaimed. “I can take you to where you need to go!” The leader removed his blaster from the woman’s head and nodded for his subordinates to put the woman back with the others. Afterwards two others walked towards Fluttershy, taking her by the arms as they brought her before the leader. “You had better not be lying to me. There are worst things than death for you if you are.” Despite how scared she was right now, Fluttershy managed to put on a brave face as she said, “I-I’m not lying. I know exactly why you need that clearance, you want him, don’t you?” The leader smiled wickedly. “Smart girl. Let’s go then, call the ship and have them be ready for transport.” “Um, I don’t think that’ll be very good.” Everyone looked to Pinkie Pie. “You’re going to halve your team to go and do whatever it is you’re going to do, and leave the rest here?” “Girl, you had better shut up and sit down,” Alien Nackle warned. “I’m just saying, you’d have way better leverage with three SMILE students, plus, it would give you more time if you let the rest of these hostages go,” said Pinkie Pie as she winked to Sunset. Sunset smirked and nodded. “She’s right, the three of us are have been granted Special Agent status, which means they won’t go smashing their way in here if they think we’re in danger.” “So, what do you say?” Pinkie asked. The leader looked to the group and then to Fluttershy, running the numbers in his head, not counting Ocellus, this was a team of ten, and if it was down there then he’d need more manpower. “A good argument, very well. We’ll release these hostages, but you three will be staying with us.” \*****///** As was promised, they released the staffers, but kept Sunset, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie. After being informed that they had three of SMILE Academy’s students as hostages, the assault team was quick to stand down. Just as Pinkie said they would. Now with a more manageable hostage size, the captors and three girls were led to a door in the back which led to a subbasement. Fluttershy walked up to a set of lockers that looked old and unused. However, when she opened one of the lockers with the number “203”, it released a panel with a card reader. This was the moment of truth, the other Alien Dadas and Alien Nackle pointed their weapons at Fluttershy, ready to punish her if she lied. Fluttershy took a deep breath and swiped her card, inputting the locker number right after. As soon as she did that, the lockers rattled as they opened inward, revealing a long tunnel. Lights flickered on and showed just how far it went down. Pinkie and Sunset were noticeably confused as to what was going on. The group headed down the lit pathway, going deeper and deeper, at the same time, they noticed the tunnel was getting wider and wider. After about ten minutes of walking, the group stopped when Fluttershy did. There was an entrance to their left, before that, there were several computers and tables setup, as if there was work being done down in the cavern. “Around that corner, he’s there,” said Fluttershy. “Who’s there?” Sunset asked. “The Terra Beast, Gomora,” said the leader. “So, you are after him!” “Heh, heh, of course we are,” said Alien Nackle. “A monster like that that’s able to fight off several Space Beasts on its own, that’s worth something to the right person.” Fluttershy narrowed her gaze. “All you want to do is use him as a weapon!” “We were hired to do a job, we don’t really care what it’s used for, so long as we’re paid. Now, you’re going to tell us how to restrain him. I’m not so stupid as to just walk in there and let that Beast tear us apart.” Fluttershy looked away from the leader. The leader narrowed his gaze and snapped his fingers, and immediately the other Alien Dadas pointed their weapons at Sunset and Pinkie. “You really don’t have any room to negotiate. I have no qualms with throwing one of them to the Beast and seeing what happens to learn what I need to do. It’ll be messy, but we can avoid that.” “……He’ll respond to me. I can make him calm long enough for you…” “Good girl.” Fluttershy walked on ahead and turned the corner. Inside the larger cavern rested a giant Beast, its horns were curved upwards, its body was scaly and brown, with long sharp claws. The ancient Terra Beast, Gomora. The Terra Beast sniffed the air, its giant eyes fluttering open as it caught a familiar scent. It looked forward and saw Fluttershy standing there. “Hello, Gomora.” The giant creature gave a low growl. “I know, it’s not our normal time that we meet up, but…something’s happened…” Gomora tilted its head to the side, a look of concern on its face. “Gomora…around this corner are some really bad people…they’ll kill me and my friends.” Gomora’s eyes narrowed as its body rose higher; a threatening growl echoed in the cave. Alien Nackle grew angry upon hearing this. “That little bitch, she’s going to sic that thing on us! That’s it, I’m killing the redhead!” “Wait!” the leader ordered. “I know you want to protect me, but you can’t, if you do, my friends will be killed! Gomora…you know I wouldn’t ask this of you if it wasn’t important, but please, for my sake and my friends’ sakes, please don’t fight back.” Gomora now caught the scent of the intruders that Fluttershy spoke of, its eyes locked on the spot behind the cave wall. But then, Gomora looked down at the pleading Fluttershy, and its expression softened. “I promise you, it’ll be alright! I’ve never broken a promise to you, isn’t that right?!” Fluttershy pleaded. Gomora thumped its tail against the ground, causing the cave to shake. There was frustration in its eyes, but even still, there was a deep trust that did not waver. Gomora lowered its body back down into a submissive stance. Fluttershy walked up to Gomora’s enormous muzzle and patted him on the lower jaw. “Thank you, and I promise, it’ll all be alright.” The young animal lover turned towards the opening. “It’s fine, he won’t attack.” The leader of the mercenaries, along with his crew, brought Sunset and Pinkie inside. The leader walked up ahead of them and smirked. “Magnificent, our they’ll pat out the nose for this Beast. Set up the collar and have the ship lock onto our coordinates!” Four Alien Dadas ran off towards the Gomora, but as they did, Gomora released a threatening growl that gave them pause. Fluttershy made some cooing noises as she petted Gomora on his muzzle, and within a few seconds the growl subsided. The leader nodded to them and they resumed their work. The Alien Dadas took positions on the right and left sides of the Beast’s neck. They opened up their duffle bags and took out two large black blocks. The Alien Dadas pressed on one of the panels, and the two blocks grew out, angling themselves as they formed a semicircle around Gomora’s neck. The two bars fused into one large block, becoming the top half of a collar. As they set up for the second half, Sunset whispered to Pinkie, “We cannot let them take that thing! We have to stop them!” “I’m with you, and I have a plan.” As before, the guards left the two girls alone, leaving only Ocellus as their sole guard. Pinkie stepped backwards so that she was in earshot of the Changeling. “Ocellus, we’re going to stop them, and set you free.” “Y-You can’t…please, just let them do this so I can go back home,” Ocellus pleaded. “There’s no guarantee that they will let you. Once they have Gomora, they’ll either kill you, or keep you to use for more jobs, bad guys like that don’t keep their word! But I do, and so does Sunset.” Ocellus looked at Pinkie, and then to Sunset. Her eyes then turned towards Gomora, a creature that was soon to wind up in the same horrible situation as herself. No creature should be subjected to this, to be used as a weapon, as a slave. The Changeling looked to Pinkie and nodded. Sunset looked to Pinkie Pie with a little surprise. Gomora had such trust in Fluttershy that it was willing to let itself be captured, and Ocellus was willing to place her faith in Pinkie’s promise that everything would be alright. Maybe she had it all wrong, there were good and bad aliens and Beasts out there, and sometimes you needed just a little faith and trust. Just then, they heard the snapping of the second half of the collar as Gomora released a roar. The device released red lightning that was similar to Ocellus’ collar, but then the Terra Beasts’ eyes shined red. “Perfect, now he’s obedient.” “Sunny, when I give the signal, go in!” Pinkie stated. The cotton candy haired girl reached into her curly, puffy hair and pulled out something. She then tossed it right at the two guards before them, and as soon as she did, a series of mini explosions went off before them, both burning and disorienting them. Sunset sprang into action as she rushed towards the two Alien Dadas, using her enhanced speed to wrench the blaster out of the first one before punching him in the face and sending him sailing to the other side of the cave. With the same speed, she swept the legs of the second, and then elbow dropped onto the alien’s stomach, the result was a blow that made the ground fissure slightly. The other guards finally noticed what was happening and were about to attack, but then Fluttershy pressed the button to her suit, letting it become saggy and loose. The moment she did, she slipped out of the suit and immediately her body transformed. She grew five long tails, yellow fur, and white ivory claws. Her ears morphed into dog-like ears as her legs took on a lupine appearance. “What?!” The leader only managed to get out one word before being punched by Fluttershy, his body went straight down, eating the dirt. Fluttershy jumped up and tailed whipped the two guards that were beside her. Alien Nackle was about to shoot, but Fluttershy’s eyes began to shine as she stared directly at him. The mercenary stopped dead in his tracks, his body became stiff, feeling an oppressive force pushing down on him. A two more guards came to assist, but Pinkie Pie tossed her mini bombs towards them, stopping them before they could attack. That allowed Sunset to rush them, drop kicking the first Alien Dada on the right, and then tossing its weapon straight at the one at the left, nailing him in the face as he went down. One of the guards wasn’t completely unconscious and was about to attack Pinkie Pie, but a swift large orange fist backhanded the guard into the cave wall. Pinkie turned around and saw that Ocellus had saved her. Fluttershy’s keen ears heard the sounds of blaster’s being primed behind her. Without looking, two of her five tails shot out and wrapped themselves around the two mercenaries’ legs. The tails hoisted the two Alien Dadas into the air and threw them towards the cave wall, knocking them out on impact. Sunset finished off two more by delivering a flying kick to its chest, and body slamming the last one. The redhead looked around and nodded with satisfaction that the mercenaries were knocked out or incapacitated. “Uh…Shy, you’re uh…you’re a wolf?” “Vivirendan, the closest Earth animal you can compare me to is a maned wolf, but right now, I need you to knock out Alien Nackle, my Stare won’t last much longer,” said Fluttershy. Sunset was about to do just that, until Fluttershy yelped. The sound of a blaster went off and Sunset watched as Fluttershy fell to her knees, clutching her right arm. The leader of the mercenaries finally revealed his true form, it was another Alien Dada. “That’s enough of that! This is 334, lock onto us and get us out of here! Alien Nackle, give our potential clients a show!” 334 ordered. Alien Nackle took out his own remote device and switched it on. Both Gomora and Ocellus began to wail, Ocellus’ eyes turned red like Gomora’s eyes. “Grow and fight!” Ocellus started to change, and at the same time, Gomora started to rise up. Alien Nackle removed his poncho and then he too began to grow in size. 334 glowed blue, along with the rest of his subordinates, and then they disappeared. The cave began to rumble and shake as the ceiling began to give way to the three gigantifications that were going on at the same time. Sunset tapped into the power of her speed, time seemed to slow down as the debris rained down around her. The redhead dashed towards Fluttershy, grabbing her at the waist as she hauled her over to Pinkie Pie. Sunset hooked her left arm around Pinkie’s waist and sped off once again. The cave continued to collapse behind them, with Sunset trying to outrun it. Faster and faster she ran, hearing the thunderous symphony of rocks falling behind her. The entrance was coming up, and Sunset pooled all her might into diving straight for it. The trio cleared the entrance and made it back into the subbasement just as a huge plume of dust bellowed out from the collapsed tunnel. All three girls coughed and wiped their eyes from the stinging dust in the air. Fluttershy and Pinkie helped Sunset up and took her to the top of the stairs outside and into the hallway. Now in a more fresh air environment, the girls breathed in. Sunset finally recovered as she sat up against the wall. “You two…okay?” “Yeah, A-Okay,” said Pinkie Pie. “Shy, your arm…” Fluttershy looked to her scarred arm, but it already looked halfway healed. “Don’t worry about me, my people heal quickly from wounds, so long as they aren’t too severe.” Sunset sighed in relief and asked, “So, how long did you guys know that I could get us out of there?” Fluttershy and Pinkie looked to each other, and then said in unison, “From the start.” “You looked like you were ready to take them all, but were holding yourself back because of the hostages, and us,” said Fluttershy. “So, I convinced mister Dada back there to let them go and keep us,” said Pinkie. “Once that was done, we just needed to show you that we could fight too, that way you could take them. But, we kinda weren’t expecting super speed and super strength.” Sunset chuckled, these girls read her like a book, and what’s more, they were willing to place their trust in her, even if she was kind of acting like a jerk earlier. “You guys…thanks.” All of sudden, Fluttershy glowed bright blue, and Pinkie glowed a navy blue. That light then separated from their bodies and formed into two round, coin shaped objects. The coins floated towards Sunset who took them into her hands, upon doing so, the light faded from the coins and revealed two new Ultra Coins. Pinkie smiled and said, “You’re her, aren’t you? Ultrawoman Aster?” Sunset nodded. Some explosions went off outside, shaking the building. Fluttershy looked to her friend and teammate and said, “Please, Sunset, you have to help them!” “Don’t worry, I will!” Sunset rushed out a side door, she could see even from her position that Alien Nackle, Gomora, and Ocellus were heading towards the city. Sunset looked about her surroundings, no cameras, and no people. The heroine wasted no time as she summoned her StaRaizer and allowed the starry nexus to expand around her. “Grant me the strength of a hero!” || ULTRAMAN! || “Grant me the power of a galaxy!” || ULTRAMAN GINGA! || “Release the light within me!” ||SHINE ON! ULTRAWOMAN ASTER!|| \*****///** The trio of giants made their way towards the city, almost immediately the sky turned purple. Alien Nackle knew what this meant, but it was of little concern, he was going to show their products’ destructive power, and it would be recorded for their client and potential buyers to see. Alien Nackle looked up and saw that their spaceship was hovering a safe distance in the sky, ready to record the mayhem that was to come. However, a being dropped down from the sky, landing with a great “BOOM” as dirt and rock were thrown up into the air from the impact of her landing. Aster stood to her full height and entered her fighting stance as she stared down the three before her. “Release them from your control and I’ll show you mercy!” Alien Nackle laughed sadistically at the threat. “This is perfect, an Ultra to fight, if they can kill you, we can charge whatever we want! Gomora, Ocellus, kill the Ultra!” Gomora and Ocellus’ eyes shined red. Ocellus flew straight for Aster, her stinger glowed bright red as it began launching blazing red stingers at a rapid fire rate. Aster back flipped away from the attacks as each stinger exploded against the ground upon impact. At the same time, Gomora’s horns glowed as he fired a Super Oscillatory Wave straight at her. The attack came out as an orange and magenta colored flame beam that roared towards Aster. Aster performed one more back flip before stopping, but the moment she did, she quickly fell backwards as Gomora’s wave came flying towards her. The beam flew past her, but struck a building in the distance, causing a massive explosion that leveled a city block in one shot. Aster propped herself up on her elbows as she looked back at the destruction Gomora caused. “Jeez! And that was one attack!” “Pay attention, hero!” Before Aster could react, Alien Nackle came up and kicked Aster in her side, sending her flying before she landed back down on the ground hard. Aster coughed as she rolled about and recovered, getting back to her feet. “Okay, now I’m mad!” Aster’s hands glowed as she powered up. “Astronium–!” Before she could finish her attack, Ocellus appeared in front of Alien Nackle. Dammit… Aster cancelled her attack as the light faded from her arms. While she was distracted, Gomora charged towards her and struck her with his mighty tail, the blow hit Aster in her chest, causing sparks to fly from her body as she was once again sent to the ground, unfortunately, the onslaught didn’t stop. Ocellus flew in and grabbed Aster, flying her up into the sky before she released her and fired several stinger shots at her. More sparks flew from Aster’s body as she was sent into freefall and hit the unforgiving earth hard, leaving an ultra-sized impression of her body on the land. Within the starry nexus, Sunset was growing frustrated with the current flow of the battle. Great…I’m getting blitzed, I have to set Gomora and Ocellus free before SMILE’s Gungirs and Goliaths get her and attack them! Sunset took a breath. Calm down, getting worked up won’t solve this problem. I have to think clearly, I have to be calm. Sunset’s Coin Keeper opened up and the two blue Ultra Coins appeared before her to answer her call. “Alright, help me save these two!” Sunset stood up, and Aster did the same. She took the first Ultra Coin into her left hand and said, “I ask for the gift of kindness!” Sunset placed the coin into the upper slot as light blue essence flew from the Ultra Coin, and to her right appeared a new Ultraman. || ULTRAMAN COSMOS! || “I ask for the gift of protection!” Sunset took the second Ultra Coin and placed it into the bottom slot. Navy blue particles of light flowed from the coin to her left, the essence took on the form of another Ultraman. || ULTRAMAN AGUL! || “Let the waves of my soul quell your rage!” Sunset pressed down on the crystal, once she did, the two Ultras broke down into particles of light and melded with Sunset’s body. A stream of water and sparkling cerulean light flowed upwards as Sunset assumed her new Ultra Form. ||FLOW AND CRASH! COSMIC WAVE!|| Aster’s body was completely engulfed in cerulean energy and water. The two controlled Beasts and Alien Nackle were on edge, not sure how to attack or if they should attack now. When the waters dispersed, Aster had transformed into her newest form. Unlike her Solaris Maximus form, which was bulky and armored, this form was sleek and lean. Her chest still sported the sun color timer, but surrounding it was a four-pointed golden star. Aster’s forearms and lower legs were black in color, the black coloring was outlined with golden edges, and had a deep blue line. On the arms, that line began from the ocean blue hands and stopped at the gold band. On the feet, it encompassed the whole foot and stopped at the gold band. Along the arms and legs, sky-blue and ocean-blue colors mixed and swirled like water against the contrasting silver color of Aster’s body. This pattern continued on her body, stopping around the color timer which looked like the star was splitting a wave. Aster’s head still had her crest, but instead of appearing like a helmet plume, it was reversed to look like a shark’s fin, but she still had the emerald jewel at the center of her forehead. The fin was ocean blue, which covered the top of her head and stopped around her eyes. Aster’s movements had changed as she assumed her fighting stance, it was more fluid, calm, and relaxed, exerting no effort in her movements. But that belayed the strength that she possessed, she was like water, able to flow like a stream and crash like a mighty wave. “I will wash away all cruelty with serenity!” Ocellus swopped in and fired her stinger at Aster. The blue Ultra Warrior became a blur as she dodged the first stinger. Ocellus didn’t know what to make of it so she fired more in rapid succession. Aster exerted no effort as she flowed through each of the stingers, her enhanced speed granted her time and clarity to see the attacks coming. The stingers that were close to hitting her, she merely gave them a gentle nudge to make them hit another stinger that would’ve hit her, causing a chain reaction that made the other stingers explode. Ocellus took to the skies and so did Aster, her speed translated well into her flying speed as she not only kept up with Ocellus, but was out pacing her, getting in front of the Changeling multiple times. “It’s time to free you from your bonds.” Aster brought her hands outstretched before her, and then made and arch. In the wake of the movement a crescent made of blue light appeared before her. Aster grabbed the crescent at the center, making the construct take the form of a bow. The Ultra Warrior created a drawstring as she pulled back and formed an arrow of cerulean light. Ocellus began making quick movements, trying to avoid Aster’s sights, but it was to avail. “Artemis Arrow!” Aster released her arrow, shooting it off like a beam of light. The arrow snaked through the air until it finally hit its mark. The collar around Ocellus’ neck began to crack, and in that moment, it shattered to pieces. The red glow faded from her eyes as she looked about in confusion. “Wha…What happened?! H-How did I get out here?!” “Peace, Ocellus, I just freed you from that collar,” said Aster. Ocellus’s compound eyes widened with awe. “Are…Are you an Ultra – AHHHH!!!!” Suddenly, several laser bolts struck Ocellus from below, sending the Changeling into freefall as she fell to the earth. “OCELLUS!” Aster used her right hand to draw a circle in the sky above her, creating a ring of sparkling sky-blue light. “Healing Halo!” Aster tossed the Healing Halo over Ocellus’ position, and almost immediately, the Halo began to shine down a sky-blue light that ebbed the pain away, the wounds from the attack were starting to close just as quickly. “Tch, just die already!” Alien Nackle cursed as he fired his blaster again. This time, his blasts didn’t hit their mark, as each bolt bounced off against the screen of light that had enveloped Ocellus. “What the?!” “No harm will come to those within the Halo’s light. Now it is time to free your second prisoner!” Aster raised her hands up as particles of water and light gathered to them. With swift motion, two swords made of water and light formed in her hands. “Aqua Blades!” Gomora fired another of his Super Oscillatory Wave blasts. Aster flew down towards the great Terra Beast, weaving around his flame beam like a surfer weaved through a wave. At the last second, Gomora tried to tail whip Aster, but Aster merely performed a flip while still in midair and slashed with both of her blades. She landed gracefully behind Gomora before standing back up. At that moment, the control collar snapped, falling to the ground before the behemoth’s feet. Gomora shook its head, it too was in a state of confusion, looking around the area and trying to figure out where it was. “Damn you, Ultra!” “You still have a chance to surrender, I suggest you take it.” Alien Nackle’s reply came in the form of several blasts from his blaster. A few of which hit Gomora’s back. The Terra Beast roared in slight pain from the attack, but then turned around and glared at the mercenary. Gomora charged for the mercenary, hitting him with a head-butt and throwing him into the air. Aster flew up higher to intercept. Her right arm began to glow with sky-blue and ocean-blue light, that light grew brighter and brighter until it was shining all over Aster’s right forearm. “CALIBURN END!” The blue Ultrawoman thrust her right arm forward, creating a blade of dual blue lights that roared towards Alien Nackle. The blade pierced through the mercenary’s body as the blade shined brighter and released a burst of energy that made Alien Nackle explode into nothingness. The blade of light dissipated and Aster turned her attention up to the spaceship. Inside the spaceship, 334 was not pleased by these results as he said to the pilot, “Get us out of here, so long as we know it’s here, we can come back for it with greater force.” The ship suddenly lurched forward as alarms went off everywhere. “What’s happening?!” 334 demanded. “Our starboard side was hit,” said the pilot. “Was it the Ultra?!” “No, it…it was the Terra Beast!” Indeed, down below, Gomora was charging up for a second strike. The ancient creature fired off its Super Oscillatory Wave straight for the ship, however, its aim was off and the wave only hit the engines. The engines exploded, and with that, the ship began to fall from the sky. It descended faster and faster until it stopped. Much to 334’s displeasure, they were saved from the crash by Aster. The Ultrawoman flew the ship down close to the Preserve entrance, so that SMILE could arrest them. However, Gomora was stomping towards them, enraged for what they had done to him, and for what they had put Fluttershy through was not forgotten. Aster turned around and said, “Gomora, stop! It’s over, they can’t hurt you or Fluttershy anymore!” Gomora roared, its mind dead set on destroying the perpetrators. Aster took a deep breath as she waved her hands around and thrust them towards Gomora as she called out, “Aura Rect.” A wave of blue, sparkling light washed over Gomora. The Beast’s movements ceased as he looked at Aster. “Listen to me, Gomora, you’re a good guy. You helped bring these men to justice. Fluttershy promised you that everything would be okay, and she never breaks her promises to you. And I’m here to tell you, everything is alright.” Gomora’s fierce gaze softened, Aster ceased her Aura Rect and watched as Gomora approached her. She stood her ground, not sure what to expect from the Terra Beast. But what happened next was completely unexpected, Gomora sniffed Aster for a moment, smiled, then opened its mouth and licked Aster’s face. “Um…good boy. Now, um, go back to your home.” Gomora nodded, the Terra Beast took a few steps back and then quickly dug into the ground. His Super Oscillatory Waves did more than allow him to fire beams of fiery energy, they also allowed him to destabilize the dirt and rock so that he could burrow deep down into the earth. Whatever tunnel he dug closed up as soon as his tail sunk down. Aster couldn’t rest yet, a squadron of Gungirs and Goliaths were making their way towards Ocellus. She stayed within the Halo, afraid to come out for fear of getting attacked by the humans’ weapons. Aster flew over to her and raised her hands towards the fighters. “Do not attack her! She’s not our enemy!” The Goliaths cannons lowered upon hearing Aster’s words, and the Gungirs retracted their missiles. Aster dismissed the Healing Halo, causing Ocellus to shake with fear. It wasn’t fear of the Ultra Warrior, no, even among her people, the exploits of the Ultras were legendary as defenders of the universe. Her fear came from the numerous tanks and fighter jets that were around her. The Ultrawoman knelt before the Changeling and said, “A promise between friends is never broken.” Ocellus’ eyes widened further. “Are you…you’re not the one I made the promise to, you’re the other one.” Aster nodded. Aster held out her hand as Ocellus flew up and steadily changed her form until she was her normal self, fitting within the palm of Aster’s head. The Changeling looked up at the Ultra Warrior and cried tears of joy. “Let’s get you some help, and then we’ll get you home.” \*****///** [Sunday, 12:00pm…] Several things happened towards the end of yesterday. First off, the criminals that held the Xeno House hostage were placed in prison, pending extradition for other crimes 334 and his crew had committed beforehand. Gomora had returned to his underground den, using his powers to open up the tunnels that had collapsed earlier and allowing those with access to the Terra Beast to set their equipment back up as well as check on the behemoth, Fluttershy was brought into check on him once she was through being questioned. Of course, a lot of suspicion was placed on Ocellus for her role in attacking the Preserve and the battle with Ultrawoman Aster. But, thanks to Pinkie Pie’s statements, as well as finding more control collars on 334’s ship, she was seen as just as much a hostage as everyone else, cooperation under duress. She was to be sent back to her home world of Hive Prime before the end of the week. After they returned back to the dorms, tears were shed as Twilight hugged Sunset tight after hearing that she was in a hostage situation, and once she was done bear hugging her roommate, she then proceeded to asking numerous questions about her latest transformation. Everyone had agreed through messages that they would convene in Twilight and Sunset’s dorm room the following day to discuss what had happened. “I still can’t believe you’re an alien, so, half or full?” Sunset asked. “Um, full, I’m not like Rainbow.” Rainbow Dash smirked. “You can imagine my surprise when I found out, it felt really good to have another friend who wasn’t exactly all human.” “Did you two know?” Twilight asked as she looked at Pinkie and Rarity. “Well…yes, we did, we have been friends for a long time, so this was known to us,” said Rarity. “We didn’t mean to not tell you guys! It’s just, we wanted to gauge your reaction. Not a lot of people are open to aliens from other planets migrating her, especially…well…” Pinkie stopped and let that hang in the air. Twilight and Sunset looked confused, and the others didn’t see to want to finish that sentence. Fluttershy took a deep breath as she spoke, “I’ll tell them, they should know. A lot of people forget, it wasn’t just Space Beasts that joined in the First Incursion, there were also some alien civilizations that joined in. One of those…was my civilization, the Vivirendan.” Sunset raised and eyebrow, while Twilight stealthily took out a notepad. “My people are war like, and excel in combat and conquering other planets. But, there are some of us who don’t want to engage in such violent acts, some of us just want to live peaceful lives. Such wishes are seen as weakness, and weakness is either met with rehabilitation, or death. My mother and father fled our home world when I was just three years old, and my little brother Zephyr, he was barely a year old.” “When we arrived, my parents immediately surrendered themselves to SMILE, requesting asylum. It was granted, but it was a tentative request. Not many forgot that my people did assist in the attack on Earth, so we were granted asylum, but only under the condition that we would be under surveillance so as to assure we weren’t spies or a potential sleeper cell. That was almost thirteen years ago.” Sunset nodded. “I thought it was taking you a bit when they were questioning you. Was that the reason why?” “Yes, it would be easy for them to assume that I was possibly embedded with those mercenaries to help steal Gomora, but the staff, as well as what you and Pinkie Pie told the agents and police, helped to clear me of any suspicion.” Twilight’s brow furrowed. “That’s ridiculous, to have you under such surveillance for all this time while there are legitimate threats out there!” “Commander Celestia has actually been helping my family with lifting the surveillance and travel restrictions, but its fine, I’ve made friends that don’t care about where I’m from, just who I am. Plus, I don’t think I could leave Gomora alone, he’d get lonely.” “Yeah, we’re going to need to talk about that later. But…” Sunset got up from her seat and walked over to Fluttershy as she knelt in front of her. “I’m sorry for what I said, about labelling all aliens and Space Beasts.” Fluttershy placed her hand on Sunset’s shoulder as she smiled her kindly smile. “It’s alright, because I can see that you’ve changed your mind on that, you just needed to see a different perspective.” Sunset smiled gratefully and stood back up. “Well, I guess I should ask, anyone else an alien or half-alien?” “Nope, one-hundred percent homegrown human,” said Applejack. “Same!” Pinkie Pie chirped. “All natural, darling,” Rarity replied. “I can attest that I am unequivocally, homo sapien,” said Twilight. “Hey, I knew it! Welcome to the club Twi!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. Applejack face palmed. “Not homosexual, homo sapien, it’s the fancy way of sayin she’s human too.” Rainbow’s face burned a crimson red color as she crossed her arms and stated, “I-I knew that!” “Okay, so, seeing as Rarity’s the only one who doesn’t know by now, I guess it’s time I let her in on the secret.” The others nodded, but Rarity looked noticeably confused. “Um, pardon, was there something I was supposed to know?” “Nah, it’s just that at this point, almost everyone here has learned about it because of some life or death circumstance and I’d rather avoid that happening with you.” Sunset turned and looked directly at Rarity. “I’m Ultrawoman Aster.” Silence hung in the air for several seconds, at this point the others were getting worried since there was no visible reaction from the resident fashionista. After almost a minute of silence, Rarity stood up and said, “I KNEW IT!” “Huh?” Sunset stated dumbfounded. “Oh please, darling, it may not be obvious to others, but I do have a fine eye for details. And I pieced it together after these last few instances. The fact that Applejack and Rainbow Dash were saved from the Everfree by Aster, your multiple absences when the Phantom Zone Emitter was down, and of course our recent incident with Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy. I must say, I’m glad to have this confirmed, and it makes much more sense why Commander Celestia said we’d be involved with operations concerning Aster. I assume she and Vice Commander Luna are aware, correct?” Sunset nodded. “Well then, you needn’t worry, I know how to keep a secret. But now I can create official gear centered on your giantess form!” Rarity exclaimed with glee. Sunset looked around as the others shared in a bit of laughter, their smiling faces, the warmth of this moment, it felt…familiar, and nice. \*****///** [Unknown Sector of Space…] Within the shadowy space, three thrones appeared, the center throne had the familiar man with the red horn, but two others flanked his, forming a triangle. The second obsidian throne was larger than the rest, but that was only due because of the size of the one who sat in it. He was a centaur, with a black lower half and silver hooves, his lower body rippled with muscle, much like his upper half. His arms were bright red, with tight muscles and sinew. The centaur had two long, curved horns which pointed up, and a goatee that ran halfway down his body. The Seeker and Devourer of Power, he went by the name of Tirek. The third obsidian throne had a woman sitting in it, but she wasn’t human, more like humanoid. Her body was covered in a thick, jet black carapace, her legs and arms had hollowed out holes, but despite this, she managed to move her arms and clawed hands as if nothing was wrong. On each forearm was a retractable claw-like scythe, her stomach had a light green and teal coloring to it, and was almost translucent. Her wings were jagged and see-through, like a dragonfly’s wings. The insectoid, had glowing green eyes, with black, slit irises. She had hair that was the dual shade of teal and light-green, which parted and flowed down over her chest. Upon her head grew a crown, a symbol of her authority and right to rule. This insectoid woman was known as Queen Chrysalis, the leader of the Dark Changelings. A shadow appeared over the thrones, prompting the trio to look up as a blue glow emitted from the center. The Ultra Warrior has shown her power, now we can proceed to eliminate her. “I should hope so, I had to sacrifice one of my drones to impersonate Zetton, and he was destroyed!” Chrysalis slammed her first against her throne in anger. Tirek scoffed. “Spare us, you have, what? Thousands of drones? And besides, can’t you just make more?” Chrysalis seemed to blush a little at the thought. “Don’t talk as if you know how we reproduce! I just don’t want to use my forces when I’m currently fighting a war right now!” “Then you should’ve kept that brightly colored one, she seemed strong, we could’ve had her impersonate Zetton instead. But you went and let her be sold off to some mercenaries and now she’s out of your reach.” “SHUT YOUR MOUTH SOMBRA!” However…that little one does seem interesting… The shadow pulsed and the three went silent. Regardless, now we can prepare to end her. What is Zetton’s status? “Currently undergoing his metamorphosis,” Sombra answered. “Tch, thinks he’s so tough just because he killed an Ultra once. Allow me to go to Earth and I’ll take care of this Aster!” Tirek proclaimed. Were it that easy I would’ve dispatched you already! The Forest’s power keeps the likes of us from getting close to the planet, so for now, we will send those who can to attack the Forest, or kill the Ultra Warrior before then. How went our other operation? “That went off without a hitch.” The three rulers watched as a young woman appeared in a flash of light, she wore a black robe that obscured her face and body as she knelt before the dark rulers. “I can confirm that the Tree is there. My apologies though, I couldn’t get closer to it.” I didn’t expect you too, what you’ve done gives me more than enough information. It is time we planned our next course of action…
2nd Light: Are you Sunset, or Aster? / A Choice to Make!Sunset Shimmer found herself sitting in Commander Celestia Solstice’s office. It was spacious, a blue carpet flooring with the SMILE insignia printed at the center of the floor, a mahogany wood desk with a gold colored name plate sitting in front, one bookshelf set off to Sunset’s left filled with old books and some newer ones, mostly novels, manuals, law books, and older looking books. To her left was a small trophy case showing SMILE Concordia Base’s various accommodations, sports and academic victories, and some of her and Vice Commander Luna’s old glory days pictures. Behind Celestia was a window that showed the outside of the base, they were a significant ways up as Celestia could see a good amount of the base and Academy. However, Commander Celestia wasn’t the only person in the room, the Grand Inquisitor – ahem – Vice Commander Luna, was busy giving the teen a scrutinizing look while her older sister was conveying a more stern, motherly gaze. “What exactly were you thinking, transforming in the middle of the city like that?! And initiating combat?!” Vice Commander Luna asked. Sunset sat with her arms and legs crossed as she gave a cocky smirk. “I thought your guys could use a hand, because clearly, they were getting their asses handed to them.” “Please watch your language, Sunset,” said Celestia. “Sorry, but seriously, what’s the big deal? Yeah, I transformed, and in the process, I destroyed the monster and saved the lives of every SMILE agent and the civilians, you’re welcome!” Celestia glanced towards her little sister. “She does have a point, Luna, this Space Beast was a bit tougher than what we usually face. Had Sunset not stepped in, I fear that instead of injuries, we’d have dead bodies.” Luna did concede the point, it was true. SMILE Concordia Base prided itself with keeping civilian and combat personnel casualties to a minimum, there was no such thing as “acceptable loses”, it was why Canterlot City had extensive work done to have the latest Phase Space Shelters scattered across the city, and why their air and land attack vehicles had strong armor and protective shielding. “I do commend you for your swift action in eliminating the Space Beast before it could do more harm, for that you do have my thanks.” “On that note, Sunset, I thought you said you weren’t going to transform? That you didn’t want to become that giant woman version of yourself?” Celestia noted. Sunset’s smug demeanor cracked a little. “Um…well…it was a special case, I was in danger and my ride to get back to the base was smashed by some random debris. I wasn’t close to a shelter either so…you know, option B.” Celestia raised an eyebrow but nodded at her response. “Alright, you’re dismissed then.” Sunset stood up and began walking towards the door, but not before Celestia said, “Should you need to change again, you know you don’t need permission, I just ask that you use your best judgement when you do.” The fiery redhead stopped for a second, glanced over her shoulder, and nodded before finally she finally exited. Celestia leaned back in her chair as she smiled a little, this did not go unnoticed by her little sister. “What’s with that grin, Sister?” Luna asked. “She was lying,” said Celestia. “Pardon?” “She didn’t transform just because she felt like it, she did it to protect someone.” Luna blinked in surprise. “What – how do you know?” Celestia brought up a holo-screen and said, “Because I checked the records of all vehicles that were rented and taken off campus, one of which was registered to Sunset, but onboard systems show that one other occupant entered the vehicle with her before leaving the campus.” “But…why would she not say that?” Luna asked in confusion. “Is saving someone’s life truly such an embarrassing thing?” “I think it’s having to do more with the fact that what she said and what she wants to do is conflicting with her innate sense of protection. She must’ve found something worth protecting enough to become Aster.” Celestia stood up from her desk and peered through the window as she contemplated her next move. “I think it’s time we created that special team we were discussing.” “You really want to create a counter measure team centered around that girl? Tia, we still don’t know who or what she really is! For all we know, she could be a far bigger threat than the Space Beasts themselves!” Luna argued. “That may very well be the case.” “Then–!” “But, that is precisely why I believe that a circle of friends, of comrades, can make all the difference in the world.” Luna sighed as she joined her big sister, gazing at the rising moon together. “But a group of first years…?” “A group of exceptionally talented first years.” \*****///** [Dormitory Alpha, 8:30 pm] Sunset stood before her dorm room door, she swiped her hand over the pad, activating the holographic display to show the current occupant of the room. Twilight’s name showed up, and Sunset sighed in response. When Sunset became Aster, she managed to clear the rubble that confined them, allowing Twilight to slip away unharmed. Now though, she wasn’t sure how Twilight would react to her after seeing such a strange thing. “She might’ve locked me out after what happened…guess I should knock…” The redhead gently rapped her knuckles against the door, doubtful that Twilight would answer. And would she? She just saw me transform into a 51-meter-tall woman who can shoot energy beams from her hands! The door quickly flung open and, without warning, Twilight grabbed ahold of Sunset and dragged her inside the room, shutting the door quickly behind them. Before Sunset could properly react, Twilight quickly embraced Sunset, making the redhead blush from the contact. “I’m so glad you’re alright!” Twilight exclaimed. Sunset was caught off guard. “You…You are?” Twilight separated herself from Sunset to look at her with an incredulous gaze. “Of course, I am! The last thing I saw was you flying off into the distance, I didn’t know if you were hurt or if you died or…or what?!” The nerdy girl looked at Sunset, who had a dumbfounded expression. “Sunset, you are alright, right?” “Huh, oh, yeah – Yeah! I am, it’s just I’m surprised is all. You’re not afraid or at all weirded out by me?” Sunset asked. Twilight rubbed the back of her head nervously. “In all honesty I was afraid when you first changed, but then when I saw what you became, and what you did, my fear just left! I was filled with curiosity more than anything! Which reminds me!” Twilight grabbed Sunset’s wrist and dragged her into the living room, sitting her down on the couch. She ran into her room and returned a few seconds later with a laptop, sitting down next to Sunset and looking at her with wide expecting eyes. “Please tell me how you did that?! How do you manipulate – or break – the Law of Conservation of Mass?! Comparing your size now to what you were then, and what about your skin, you did take several blasts of fire to your body, and blows from a mace, so it doesn’t appear that there was any lasting physical damage–!” “Whoa now, hold up!” Sunset interrupted, placing her hands in the air in a stopping motion. “One question at a time, please.” Twilight blushed as she began playing with one of her bangs. “S-S-Sorry, I was just really excited, especially when it comes to scientific phenomenon I sometimes ramble off questions and…sorry.” Sunset chuckled at how apologetic Twilight was. “It’s fine…but to be honest…I don’t quite know how or why either.” “You don’t know?” “I know that I can transform, and,” Sunset raised her right arm up, a flash of light went off and the device reappeared on her arm, “that this thing, the StaRaizer, helps me to do it. Along with these.” A belt appeared around Sunset’s waist, and on her right hip was a container. Sunset opened the container and took out both coins, both depicting the images of Ultraman Ginga and Ultraman. “May I?” Twilight asked. Sunset shrugged and placed the coins in Twilight’s hand. Twilight examined the first coin that had Ultraman Ginga, the coin itself seemed to be made of some type of gold metal, on the bottom of the coin was a small crystal, while the top had the art piece of Ginga. Twilight examined the Ultraman coin and found a similar crystal beneath it as well. She motioned for Sunset to bring her arm over, and Sunset did. Once in hand, Twilight could see, within the slot for the coin, there was a hole right where the crystal would be able to fit in. “I see, these coins must possess some kind of energy. The crystals act as a way to release that energy into the device and into the central sun crystal on your device, which is what triggers your transformation. And you say you have no memory of what these are?” Twilight asked. Sunset took back the coins and placed them back into the container. The belt and the StaRaizer both vanished as she slouched into the couch. “Not a clue…I know how to fight, I know what those things are, I know what the thing I turn into is called, but as far as why I can do this, or who I was before? Nothing…my whole childhood save for the last three years is gone…” Twilight’s heart grew heavy upon hearing Sunset’s plight, she couldn’t imagine not knowing anything about her past, never knowing the warmth and comfort of her mother and father, the fun she had with her older brother or her babysitter/sister-in-law. And then to top it all off to have strange powers which you didn’t know the origins of, altogether was pretty overwhelming. Twilight reached out with her hand and placed it on Sunset’s shoulder as she said, “I’m sorry.” “Don’t be, you didn’t steal my memories. But it wasn’t all bad, the Commanders took me in, well, Commander Celestia did, Vice Commander Luna’s still waiting for me to ‘show my true colors’,” said Sunset as she threw up air quotes. “So…are you cool with having and amnesiac, giant woman, monster busting roommate as a friend?” Twilight smiled as she said, “I don’t know, are you okay with having a roommate that’s a total nerd, likes science, mathematics, chemical, and mechanical engineering to the point that it’s almost bordering weirdness, likes anime and comics, and has an unhealthy fear of quesadillas and ladybugs?” Sunset shook her head, “Wait, you’re afraid of quesadillas and ladybugs?” Twilight puffed out her cheeks in indignation. “The ladybugs are my big brother’s fault! He told me that the black spots are extra eyes that watch my every move!” “But you know they’re not, right?” “A phobia is by it’s definition is an irrational fear, so, do I logically know that that’s factually incorrect and that the black spots are just spots? Yes. However, will I still scream in terror and possibly run away at the sight of one? Yes.” Sunset smirked. “Uh-huh, and the quesadillas?” Twilight’s left eye twitched as she shuttered. “Soooooo…cheesy…” The redhead giggled a little at Twilight’s reaction, feeling a lot less worried about her situation. “Okay, then if we’re agreed to put up with each other’s neurotic tendencies, then I don’t have a problem.” Sunset extended her right hand towards Twilight. Twilight smiled and shook Sunset’s hand. “It’s agreed, Roomie.” The nerdy girl let out a squeal of delight. “I’ve always wanted to say that!” This is going to be an interesting time here. \*****///** [SMILE Academy, 10:30 am] The first thing that Sunset Shimmer learned with having Twilight Sparkle as a roommate, was that the studious girl did not like to be late for class, and therefore made it a point to get up early. The first thing that Twilight learned when it came to entering Sunset’s room, was that it was prudent to knock before entering, as apparently Sunset’s idea of pajamas consisted of nothing at all, which made her blush and yell “SORRY!” before closing the door fast. Although loathing the fact that the sun had barely crested over the horizon, Sunset didn’t mind the walk to the school, the cafeteria was serving breakfast and Sunset was starving. The two enjoyed a little breakfast together, and while they sat, both girls had a light conversation regarding Sunset’s abilities. “So, how long can you, you know, stay like that?” Twilight asked. “On average, three minutes, tops. Four if I really, really push myself. But my cooldown time is about three hours,” Sunset explained. “Fascinating, so its one hour for every minute of transformation time. While that doesn’t sound bad, it’s not necessarily good either…what if a battle takes more than three minutes, and how would you know when your time is almost up?” Sunset swallowed a bite of scrambled eggs before she said, “Remember that sun symbol on my chest? It glows blue most of the time, when I’m close to changing back, it will flash red.” “Fascinating, truly fascinating!” “Hey, hey, don’t get any ideas about dissecting me or anything,” Sunset warned. Twilight shook her head. “No, no, you’d probably change and squash me under your giant foot……on second thought, given your physical ability, you could do that right now.” “Oh, admiring my physique, are you?” Sunset asked as she wiggled her brow. “Want a more detailed look?” “N-N-NO! I wasn’t insinuating that – I mean –!” Twilight stopped her stammering when she noticed Sunset laughing it up. “I’m starting to learn that you like to tease, a lot.” “No, me a tease? Perish the thought,” said Sunset in dramatic tone. Twilight rolled her eyes playfully, feeling happy with her dynamic with her new friend. Soon breakfast was done and the first day of classes were underway. World history was first, which proved to be Sunset’s weaker subject, Twilight attributed this to her memory loss, who knew how much of her memories were lost that pertained to her middle school teachings. That was Twilight’s assessment at the time. It was also here that they learned about the spire at the center of the Academy. The Phantom Zone Emitter. A device that, when activated, created an alternate dimensional copy of everything within a given area. It was in this space that the SMILE forces could do battle with the Space Beasts without fear wrecking buildings and could fire their weapons with indiscriminately. “Teach, how do the Phase Space Shelter’s work?” one student asked. The teacher, who had mulberry colored hair, green eyes, and some freckles, turned around and said, “Excellent question. The Phase Space Shelters release a sort of ‘opposite charge’ to the Phantom Zone Emitter. Once inside the shelter, it puts all inside it out of phase with the Phantom Zone, so no one is affected by any destruction that may occur. Once the battle is completed, all SMILE forces are to return to a designated ‘standby position’, along with recovery of any debris from fallen crafts. Because, when the Phantom Zone is brought down, the city returns to normal. Which also means any and all vehicles that were displaced in a battle are returned to their original positions.” “People caught outside when the Phantom Zone dimensional shift occurs are ordered to immediately head to the nearest shelter and alert the shelter that they are outside, the shelter will temporarily phase back into the Phantom Zone. Once the civilians have been brought in, the shelter will phase out of the Phantom Zone. The creation of the Phantom Zone has been our biggest and most invaluable asset in keeping the people safe from harm, as well as nearly eliminating all collateral structural damage and the need for constant repairs to city streets and buildings.” When math class was had, Sunset proved to be quite the mathematician, she’d even go so far to say as her equal? After their math class, chemistry seemed to be another of her strong suites, having been partnered up immediately and displaying their scholarly skill during their lesson. Biology proved to be a bit of stumper for the both of them, in this category, one girl shined. They remembered her well, she was quite beautiful. Long, silky, light-pink hair, teal colored eyes, and a cute smile. She was simply known as Fluttershy, and she aced many of the questions given to them by the professor. Now came the time of day that Twilight had been dreading since they got their class schedules, Gym Class. A normal gym class was one thing, but this was SMILE Academy, and it did require its students to be able to perform various physical activities. The teacher, who went by the name of Iron Will, was one of the few teachers of the school who was not from Earth. He was, strangely enough, a minotaur, a being from the planet Minos. “Alright, boys and girls, Iron Will needs to see where you all stand! So that Iron Will can determine what exactly Iron Will’s working with!” Twilight leaned close to Sunset and asked, “Why is he referring to himself in the third person?” “Beats me…given that he’s an alien, it’s probably just how they all talk. Either that or he’s just full of himself,” Sunset suggested. From there the students went through various tests, all from pull ups, pushups, standing long jump, and a thirty-meter dash. Among the students, a few stood above the rest, Flash Sentry was one, along with Rainbow Dash, and Applejack Apple, the fourth was – unsurprisingly to Twilight – Sunset Shimmer. Twilight had, well… “I have never failed at any test, ever…” Twilight grumbled. “It wasn’t really a test-test, just something to see where you’re at,” said Sunset. “And where I’m at is the bottom of the barrel…you were among the top four! I feel and look like death warmed over, but you look perfectly fine!” Sunset couldn’t help but find Twilight’s pout cute, to which she ruffled the scholarly girl’s hair as she said, “Don’t worry, I’ll help you get stronger.” “Alright class, Iron Will’s a firm believer in working hard and playing hard! So, we’re going to play a good old traditional game of…dodge ball!” Iron Will announced. A series of groans and cheers rang out from the group. Flash was picked as team captain, and Rainbow Dash for another. After about two minutes both teams were set up, with Sunset and Twilight on one team, and Rainbow and Applejack on the other. Applejack Apple, she was a stout girl, with some noticeable muscle, and a freckled face. Her blonde hair was tied up into bun for the class, but there was no doubt she had long flowing hair when undone. Rainbow Dash was a tan skinned girl with short and spikey rainbow-colored hair, and with a wicked grin as she and her team readied to do battle. Coach Iron Will blew his whistle and balls flew across the blacktop. One after the other, the satisfying rings of the dreaded red rubber balls bouncing against the ground, and smacking into the sides, guts, backs, arms, and some accidental groin shots. Throughout the game, Twilight was standing stock still, her reflexes weren’t good for this particular setting, when in front of a keyboard or in a lab, she could react within a nanosecond, but in this case, after going through that grueling test, her body wasn’t up for dodging. Sunset grabbed one of the balls from the ground and ran towards Twilight, spotting a member of the other team aim right for her before gut checking him with her throw. Sunset picked up another ball and handed it to Twilight. “Uh, I-I–!” “Just use it to block the balls, you don’t have to throw it,” Sunset instructed as she ran back into the fray. After a good minute and a half, the field was barren save for four. Sunset and Twilight, Rainbow and Applejack, the two most athletic of girls of the group proved to be quite the duo, but Sunset wasn’t a slacker either, having been able to hold onto two of the red spheres to use for blocking, however, the majority of the ammo was on the opposite team’s side, and Twilight had the only other ball. Thankfully, the two had been focused on taking out Sunset, believing that Twilight would bow out the moment that Sunset was taken out. “Hey, AJ, I hate to admit it, but bacon hair over there is pretty good,” Rainbow whispered. “Definitely, she’s like a rattle snake, take yer eyes off her and she’ll bite ya without you knowin’,” said Applejack. Rainbow Dash eyed Twilight, whom they had been steering clear of, but now Rainbow was thinking differently. “I say we go for the girl with the glasses.” Applejack grunted in disapproval. “Seriously, Dash? The girl looks terrified, she hasn’t made a move since the game started. Ah’d rather not hit someone who looks that afraid.” “No, listen, you go left, and I’ll pretend like I’m about to do the same, but then I’ll break right and aim for Twilight make like I’m going to throw at her. That’ll make Sunset double back towards her and leave her wide open for you to bean her!” Applejack looked to Twilight and then to Sunset. “Ah don’t know if Ah like that idea, Ah’m pretty sure she can tell when yer fakin’ a throw.” “Trust me, I’ve been practicing my fake out, I can throw the ball just right so that it rolls of my fingers and back to me, by the time she realizes it, it’ll be too late! Trust me!” Applejack still didn’t like it, but her competitive side was winning out in this little game. The cowgirl nodded, and the game was on. Sunset could tell the two had worked out some kind of strategy but wasn’t sure what kind they could pull of with just the two of them. The cheers of their defeated teammates did give her a bit of an ego boost, and she technically could end this quickly, but she didn’t need to give Twilight another reason to want to experiment on her. Suddenly, Applejack broke to Sunset’s right and Sunset pivoted in that direction to give chase but noticed that Rainbow Dash had gone the opposite direction. The rainbow haired girl wound up for her pitch, while Twilight raised her ball up to defend. Sunset quickly turned right for her, but not before spinning around throwing one of her balls straight at Applejack and striking her in the shoulder. Rainbow got distracted by the move and threw the ball straight for Twilight. “OH, CRAP, DUCK!” Rainbow shouted. Twilight was stunned as she watched the ball whiz towards her, but a light breeze blew in, and thankfully, with that breeze, the trajectory of the ball was changed, whizzing by Twilight’s left ear as her hair fluttered about by the cross breeze generated by the wake of the ball. Twilight’s eyes were wide with shock, the left corner of her mouth went up into a crooked smile, and her left eye twitched as she chuckled a little. Then the strength left her legs as she collapsed onto her rear. “Twilight!” Sunset called out as she threw the ball away. Coach Iron Will blew his whistle. “Foul! No head shots! We aren’t playing Mino rules here – the law requires protective headgear for that!” “I…I didn’t mean to I…” Sunset kneeled next to Twilight and examined her. “Hey, are you alright?” “Y-Yeah, I just, I was just a little overwhelmed, it all happened really fast…” Twilight explained. Sunset stood up as she glared at Rainbow Dash. “What is your problem?! You didn’t need to throw it that hard or aim for her face!” Applejack, after recovering from Sunset’s earlier attack, walked up until she was standing between them. “Simmer down now,” Applejack walked over to where Twilight and Sunset were, kneeling down before Twilight to check on her, “You okay there, Sug?” Twilight nodded. “Looks like the ball just wheezed past ya, no nicks or cuts Ah can see. Just spooked ya a bit, huh?” Applejack asked. “A little…yes.” Applejack turned around to look at Rainbow as she said, “She’s fine, Dash. Now c’mon over here and apologize already.” Rainbow Dash looked away as she rubbed her left arm, she turned and looked like she was about to say something but paused for a moment before turning around and saying, “We forfeit…” The rainbow haired girl briskly walked away. “Rainbow! Stubborn…” Applejack stood up and said, “Sorry ‘bout that, she’s not so good at apologizin’.” Iron Will sighed and blew his whistle, “Alright, everyone hit the showers, lunch is next, so get some grub!” Applejack offered a hand to Twilight, who carefully accepted and was hoisted upwards in one go, making Twilight go wide eyed at how strong this girl was. “Name’s Applejack Apple, pleasure to meet ya, although, wish it were under better circumstances.” “Uh, thank you, my name’s Twilight Sparkle.” “Sunset Shimmer,” said Sunset in a quick manner. \*****///** [S. M. I. L. E. Academy, 12:30 pm] Sunset and Twilight sat together in the lunch room, the fiery haired girl was still a little miffed about what had happened during gym class and had been on the look out for a spikey head of rainbow hair ever since. “Are you angry, Sunset?” Twilight asked. “Yes, not at you though,” Sunset answered. “Is it because of what happened at gym?” “Yes.” Twilight turned away from her salad and looked to Sunset. “But I’m fine, I don’t have a scratch. And in all honesty, I think it was a mistake on her part.” “Damn right it was, throwing a ball at a friend of mine’s face is a mistake.” “Ahem, while I do a appreciate your gallantry, I really don’t think she meant to throw it at me. They were more focused on you than me, if anything it was a possible tactic to distract you long enough for Miss Apple to hit you with her ball, but you reacted faster than was expecting and threw off – what was her name? – Rainbow Dash! – Rainbow Dash to the point where she wasn’t able to control how she was supposed to throw it.” Sunset blinked at that explanation. “Yeah, like that’s what actually happened.” Twilight meekly shrugged. “It’s just a theory.” “Howdy!” Sunset and Twilight looked up and saw Applejack appear before them. Like most of the students she had her own way of wearing the uniform. Her way consisted of tying the blazer around her waist and leaving the top two buttons of her shirt unbuttoned. Considering her impressive bust, Sunset could see why. That, and apparently they allowed her to wear her Stetson hat. “Mind if Ah sit with you gals?” “It’s a free world,” Sunset replied. “Yes, it is.” Applejack sat down, showing off her impressive spread of food. “Soooo, why are you sitting with us?” Sunset asked. “Mostly, because Ah wanted to get ta know you two, we’re all part of the freshman class after all. And you look like good people,” Applejack explained. Twilight smiled as she said, “Oh, well, thank you.” “And because Rainbow’s being a mite stubborn about apologizin’.” Sunset snorted. “Sheesh, does she think she’s above apologizing?” Applejack shoveled a spoonful of mashed potatoes into her mouth, chewed, and swallowed before continuing. “It ain’t that, it’s just Rainbow’s got this complex when she hurts or comes close to hurtin’ someone. She kinda shuts down and chastises herself internally, kind of like a little kid. No doubt she’ll come to ya on her own and properly apologize.” “It sounds like you know her well,” said Twilight. “Shoot, Ah better, wouldn’t be much of a girlfriend if Ah didn’t know how my gal’s head worked,” said Applejack in a nonchalant manner. That grabbed both of their attention. “Did you just say ‘girlfriends’?” Sunset asked. “You meant that with a space in the middle, as in ‘girl’ and ‘friends’?” Applejack polished off her meatloaf and answered, “Nope, exactly what Ah said, girlfriend, no space.” The cowgirl took stock of their expressions. “Is there a problem?” Twilight shook her head vigorously. “Nononononononono! I have absolutely no problem with that! It’s just that I’ve never met someone who, ‘swung that way’, before.” Applejack gave a hearty laugh. “Shoot, Twi, Ah don’t bite. And don’t worry about me makin’ a pass at ya. Yer cute and all, but Ah like my Dashie.” “Um. Thanks?” “Huh, that kind of relationship always fascinated me,” Sunset commented. “Well, if there’s somethin’ ya want to know, Ah’d be happy to tell.” Before Sunset could answer her question, the alarm sounded and grabbed everyone’s attention. {WARNING: Space Beast detected entering Earth’s atmosphere, all personnel, report to battle stations immediately. Repeat–} “Seriously, another monster attack?!” “Is it another Incursion?!” “It might be that giant from yesterday!” “The one that blew up the other monster? It came back for revenge?!” Sunset felt a little anger hearing all this, but let it slide for now. “Better get movin’ then,” said Applejack. Twilight raised an eyebrow as she asked, “Where are you going?” Applejack threw her trash away and stacked her tray before saying, “Dash and Ah are selected Special Agents, and we’re part of the first response team, Ah pilot a Goliath and she pilots a Gungir.” Applejack began to chuckle. “Funny thing, yesterday, Dash got chewed out for tryin’ to chase down that giant, guess she thought she could out race her. Anyway, wish us luck!” With that, Applejack ran off down the hall, leaving Twilight and Sunset. \*****///** [S. M. I. L. E. Base Hangar, 1:05 pm] “Dash, ya really should just go up and say yer sorry,” said Applejack. Rainbow Dash looked off to the side as the elevator kept descending, her expression was sad and a bit angry. “Ah know ya didn’t mean to do what ya did, it was an accident, but the longer ya put this off, the more they’re gonna think yer a jerk or somethin’.” “I’m not a jerk!” Rainbow mumbled. “Ah know that, and Ah know you blame yerself fer not payin’ attention.” “I could’ve really hurt her, AJ…as fast as it was going, I could’ve knocked her out or something! And you saw that girl – the one with the fire hair – she looked about ready to kill me, and wouldn’t have blamed her for it either,” said Rainbow. Applejack placed her gloved hand on Rainbow’s shoulder as she said, “How about, after this op, we both go and apologize together, deal?” Rainbow cocked an eyebrow in confusion. “But, you didn’t do anything.” “Ah know, but since we’re together that means Ah gotta share some responsibility.” The sporty girl blushed as she crossed her arms. The elevator dinged and soon opened up into a vast underground hangar. Several Gungir fighters and Goliath tanks were lined up and ready to roll out, both the land and air teams were assembled at the far end of the hangar, Rainbow and Applejack ran and got into their respective units and waited for their Captains to start. For the ground forces, they were donned in yellow armor, for the air forces, they were donned in a navy-blue armor. The captain of the ground forces was a man with bright red hair and piercing blue eyes, his name was Flash Magnus. The captain of the aerial forces was a woman with spikey blonde hair, with orange highlights, giving hair a fire appearance, she was only known by her call sign, “Spitfire”. “Listen up, about three minutes ago, long range scanners picked up an unknown object entering Earth’s atmosphere and is projected to land in Canterlot City. Civilians have been evaced to the Phase Space Shelters below, so we won’t have to worry about civilian casualties,” said Spitfire. “Any idea what’s attacking this time!” yelled one of the pilots. “It’s another unknown, unfortunately we’re going in blind just like last time. With that being the case we’re urging extreme caution when we engage, don’t take any unnecessary risks, if your shields are low, fall back. Our first priority will be recon to assess, and if deemed possible, engage,” said Magnus. “What’s command saying to do if that giant woman appears again?!” another pilot asked. At this the rest of the units paid close attention. “The Commanders haven’t given us any instruction yet on how to proceed with that one. I wouldn’t go and call it our ally just because it blew up another monster, for all we know that was a territorial dispute. So, for now we will we adopt a wait-and-see approach when it comes to that one, if at any time it shows hostility towards us, you are to either get away or engage if left with no other options, understood?!” “YES SIR!” “ALL PILOTS MOVE OUT!” the captains ordered. The pilots quickly entered their vehicles, Applejack and Rainbow Dash fist bumped before entering their respective fighters. Once seated and powered up, a large doorway opened before the Goliath drivers, while the Gungir squadrons were ascending from a lift. The Goliaths revved their engines and took off down the long tunnel. On the surface, part of the landscape around the Academy opened up and from that opening the platform rose, once out in the open the Gungirs performed vertical takeoffs and zoomed towards the city. A few miles away, the ground opened up and from it poured a dozen Goliath tanks that rolled down the city streets and got into formation. Up above the Gungir’s went to hover, awaiting the inventible arrival. The sky was already purple, indicating that the Phantom Zone had been activated. Just like before, a violet fireball descended from the sky, piercing through the clouds and slowing itself down the closer it got to the ground. Once it was a few meters from the ground, the sphere broke apart and revealed the latest giant monster to attack their world. This new creature was insect-like in appearance, with a grayish-black carapace that covered its torso and head, with two large teardrop shaped glowing protrusions, and a linear yellow glowing oval in the middle of its head. This latest monster didn’t wait long as it the yellow strip in the middle of the beast’s head began to glow and release a stream of blazing electrical energy that mowed through several buildings at once, creating a series of explosions until it finished where the beam struck against a sky scrapper. The Gungir squadrons flew, opening fire on the Space Beast in teams of three, however, the monster didn’t bother to raise its arms, as a hexagonal, yellow energy barrier formed around its body. The photon bolts merely deflected off of the protective shielding, striking the nearby buildings around it. The Gungirs broke off as the Goliaths began unloading their plasma cannons at the monster’s shield. While these attacks detonated on impact, it still did little to nothing in breaking the monster’s shield. The insectoid creature made a strange warbling noise and in the next second, it vanished. All SMILE forces were on high alert as the searched for the monster, but they didn’t have to look long as it reappeared in the sky and swatted three Gungirs out of the sky, the monster followed this up by bringing its hands together and firing a wave of energy pulses that hit several more Gungirs, but while the wave did damage them, the worst was yet to come. The shielding had been disrupted, and now left the them open for direct attack. {This is Spitfire, that thing just took out our shields, we’re sitting ducks up here!} {Flash Magnus to Goliath units, aim towards the sky, try to get that thing’s attention away from the Gungirs!} The Goliath tanks began opening fire straight into the sky, thankfully, most of their blasts hit around the monster, making it turn its attention back on them. From its aerial vantage, the monster discharged three electric fireballs straight down on the Goliath tanks, the explosions rang out through the city, shattering glass and melting what wasn’t protected by the shields. The tanks began to fall back, but they did manage to give the Gungir’s time to retreat. {Seriously! This is the second tough as hell monster we’ve had to fight, and it’s only be a day!} Rainbow exclaimed. {Keep it together Dash, we gotta keep this thing from ramapagin’! If it keeps this up, the Shelters won’t be able to take it!} Applejack stated. As Rainbow’s Gungir was about to get away, the monster teleported again, and snatched it out of the sky. Applejack’s Goliath stopped as her view screen zoomed in on the monster holding her girlfriend’s fighter. {REQUESTIN’ SUPPORT! THE MONSTER HAS ONE OUR FIGHTERS!} The monster looked at the fighter with some small amount of intrigue, but Rainbow Dash was trying to keep herself as composed as possible, wondering if it may help if she fired her photon repeater cannons while she was this close to its face, but then the monster could easily crush her. Guess I won’t get the chance to apologize… \*****///** [S. M. I. L. E. Academy, moments earlier…] The students had all been moved to the emergency locations, just in case the monster decided to move towards the base. Sunset, however, was watching from one of the verandas in the student lounging areas. It offered a clear view of the distance, where she could see multiple explosions going off one after the other, a few moments ago Sunset had watched the Gungirs take off towards the city, and now the monster had appeared. Sunset opened her HoloFrame and brought up any news site that was covering the battle. Thankfully there were a few which offered a look at the monster, and the moment she laid eyes on it, a name popped into her head. “Zetton…” she whispered. “Why do I know what you’re called?” “Sunset?” The redhead turned her head and saw Twilight walking towards her. “Shouldn’t you be in the Shelter?” “I could ask you the same thing,” Twilight pointed out. “Touché.” Twilight stood next to her, both were staring into the distance in silence at the numerous explosions going off. The egghead turned to her new friend and asked, “You’re not going to go fight?” “I don’t know…I seriously don’t know what I’m supposed to do!” Sunset exclaimed. “My body feels this urge to just run towards that fight, but…” “But what?” Twilight asked. Sunset hugged herself as she said, “I’m scared…it’s not the first time I’ve transformed…but each time I do, I’m afraid I’ll lose part of myself. Or, what if…what if I become a bigger threat than the monsters that are attacking?! I have no memories about my past, for all I know, I could be here to destroy the world?!” Twilight moved closer to Sunset and placed her hands on her friend’s shoulders. “I don’t believe that, if that were true, you wouldn’t have saved me. You wouldn’t have stayed by my side the whole time we were trying to get to the Shelter. So, I know, you’re not evil.” Sunset glanced at Twilight with skepticism. “How can you say that? We’ve barely known each other a day!” “Because…well…isn’t trusting in your friends something that friends do? Even if they don’t believe in themselves?” The fiery haired girl stared at her friend with a stunned expression. “You really trust me that much?” “I want to, and I’m willing to trust you. And that’s why I know, the girl who rescued me yesterday, and the girl who ran to my defense earlier today during a dodgeball game, that’s the Sunset Shimmer I know, I trust in the you that I believe in!” Sunset’s face split into a wide grin as she laughed out loud, causing Twilight to blush. “Did…hahaha…Did you just-just quote that old ass mecha anime?!” Twilight fidgeted with her bangs as she looked around at nothing in particular. “It seemed appropriate in the moment…” Sunset went into another round of laughter, which eventually made Twilight’s face evolve from embarrassed to pouty. After finally catching her breath, Sunset ruffled Twilight’s hair as she said, “Damn, after a line that corny, I’m kinda pumped now.” Sunset motioned for Twilight to move back. “Thanks, Twi.” Twilight nodded as she smiled and took a few more steps back. Sunset raised up her left arm and the StaRaizer appeared, and in the next second, she was engulfed in light and transported to the starry world. “Grant me the strength of a hero!” || ULTRAMAN! || “Grant me the power of a galaxy!” || ULTRAMAN GINGA! || “Release the light within me!!” Upon saying this Sunset pressed down on the sphere in the center of the bracer, causing it to glow bright blue as she thrust her arm into the air. ||SHINE ON! ULTRAWOMAN ASTER!|| The two Ultramen transformed into light and swirled around Sunset until her body absorbed their light, creating a galaxy of swirling stars. From that galaxy, Ultrawoman Aster rose up and then just as quickly flew off in the direction of Canterlot City. Aster broke the sound barrier, creating a powerful sonic boom as she crossed a few miles in a minute. As she got closer, Aster spotted Zetton, but also saw that the Space Beast had a Gungir in his hand. Aster hyper focused her vision on that aircraft and saw that it was that girl, Rainbow Dash, inside. Acting quickly, Aster flipped around until she was coming in legs, first. She then got into a flying kick position as she channeled her energy into her right foot, and yelled, “ASTEROID KICK!” Zetton was then blindsided by a powerful energy kick that sent the monster flying in the opposite direction, and made it release its grip on the Gungir. Aster landed on the ground with a thunderous boom, quickly snatching the aircraft from the air. Aster brought the fighter close to her face to look inside, she could see Rainbow Dash was moving around and didn’t look harmed from what she could tell. The giant of light noticed a Goliath that was approaching and hurried towards it, bending down to place the Gungir onto the street next to it. Zetton recovered from the attack, releasing an angry warbling sound as it charged up its power and fired off another electric fireball. Aster turned around, with her being so close to the two other SMILE classmates, Aster coated her left arm in sparkling light, she then drew a circle with her left arm and called out, “Aurora Shield!” Just as Zettons got close, a shield made of an aurora light formed in front of Aster. The electric fireball exploded harmlessly off the surface of the shield, creating a cloud of smoke. Aster charged through the smoke, keeping her shield up as she approached Zetton, the giant monster continued to lob more electric fireballs at her, but as she got closer, Zetton raised a crystal-like barrier around its body. Aster cocked back her fist and shouted, “STARRY SMASHER!” Her powered fist collided with the barrier, but to no avail. The barrier went down and Zetton punched Aster in the stomach, followed by an uppercut, making her stumble backwards. Aster recovered and threw a roundhouse kick, catching Zetton in the side of its head and made it slam into a building. The giantess dashed towards Zetton and slammed its body through the building right on top of him. But Zetton merely teleported away, making Aster look around for the monster. Zetton reappeared behind her and fired an energy pulse wave from its hands, hitting Aster in the back making sparks fly from her back. Aster was getting irritated with this monster. Aster placed both hands on either side of her crest, causing it glow. She then pulled forward and light followed, Aster gripped the light with her right hand, transmuting it into full fledge material weapon. The weapon had a double arch, the top arch had a silver edge with a tip that curved upwards, at the center were coin slots on both sides, and for the lower half, it had a full curve, with a blue hilt connected to the bottom of the blade. “Stellugger!” Aster called out as she ran towards Zetton. The Space Beast brought up its shield again, but as Aster grew closer, the Stellugger’s blades shined white over the blade edge. With one slash, Aster cut through the barrier, causing sparks to fly as a stream of white light was left in the wake of the slash. Aster slashed again, forming an X pattern and forcing Zetton to fall back, the giantess once again attacked the monster but Zetton teleported away. Zetton reappeared on Aster left and fired another round of electric fireballs at her, Aster took the full brunt of the attack, and readied to counter, but Zetton teleported again and appeared on her right, firing more lightning fireballs at her. Zetton continued this assault, teleporting around Aster again and again and firing at her from multiple directions. Aster was forced down on one knee, but then her sun symbol began to flash red. On the ground, Applejack had driven up to Rainbow’s fighter as she disembarked and hurried to her girlfriend’s fighter. The rainbow haired girl was busy trying to get her Gungir back up and running, completely focused on her task. “Dash, are ya’ll alright?!” Applejack asked. “A little bruised, but I’ll live. We have to help Aster though!” Rainbow exclaimed. “Dashie, we have to fall back, she can handle that monster!” “She saved my life, AJ! And now she’s in trouble, I’m not going to abandon her after she did that for me!” Rainbow insisted. Applejack looked towards the battle, noticing that Aster was on the defensive now, and her sun symbol was flashing red. “Okay, that’s not lookin’ too good…But, Rainbow, what’re we gonna do against that thing?! It already kicked our asses!” Rainbow finally resorted to kicking her console, and the ship turned back on. “I never said we had to beat it ourselves.” Applejack smirked as she understood her plan. “Don’t miss, Sug!” Meanwhile, Aster was trying to think of a way to attack Zetton, but the monster was not sticking around long enough to for her to land a blow. [Dammit, I have to pin him down, and I’m running out of time…crap! Just then, the sound of a Gungir fighter echoed in the air. Aster briefly looked up as she watched Rainbow’s fighter zoom around the battlefield. When Zetton appeared, she opened another barrel from the nose of the Gungir and fired. A red speck whizzed through the air and struck the side of the beast, but it didn’t seem to cause any damage. The bottom of the Gungir opened up and Rainbow unleashed salvo after salvo of missiles. Zetton noticed them coming, but then teleported away. The missiles continued to zoom into the distance, making Aster wonder why she even bothered to release her whole payload like that knowing it wasn’t going to hit? Zetton reappeared behind Aster, ready to fire another shot to end it. But at that moment, the missiles did a one-hundred and eighty degree turn and zoomed straight for Zetton. The Space Beast looked up at the last second and watched as all the missiles collided with its face, releasing a cloud of sparkling dust that seemed to throw the beast off balance. {HA! How do like that?! SMILE’s special chaff, it disrupts missile guidance systems, and when it gets ignited – AJ, wanna show ‘em?} {With pleasure! FIRE IN THE HOLE!} Applejack’s Goliath tank fired a plasma bolt straight up into the sky. The plasma arched itself until it was aimed directly at Zetton’s head. The moment it came into contact with the particles it ignited a multi series of explosions around the monster’s head, confusing and damaging the monster as it tried to get ahold of itself. Yow two are crazy, but I like the way you think! Within the inner space of Aster, Sunset placed the Stelluger in her left hand as she took out each of the coins and placed them into the slots on her weapon. On the outside, Aster took up the blade in her right hand, the Stellugger’s blades ignited with orange flames, with the blade itself glowing bright yellow. Aster dashed across the battlefield towards the distracted Zetton, twirling her blade around as she cried out, “Solar Slash!” A blade of fire and light slashed through the monster, causing multiple explosions all over its body, sparks flying in all directions. Zetton stumbled forward as Aster skidded to a halt a few meters behind it, but it seemed Zetton wasn’t completely done just yet. “Stubborn monster aren’t ‘cha?! Guess it’s time for the finale!” Zetton charged up what remaining energy he had into the yellow emitter strip on its head, while Aster charged up as well. The Space Beast fired a stream of fiery electric energy straight towards Aster, but the Ultra Warrior did not falter as she counterattacked. “ASTRONIUM RAY!!!” Aster brought her arms into their cross position and fired her beam attack straight for Zettons. The two beams clashed in the middle, generating a shockwave upon impact. Zetton tried to push the attack forward, and looked as if it was gaining ground, but Aster released a loud battle cry just as her Astronium Ray pierced through Zettons attack and struck the Space Beast, completely annihilating Zetton in the wake of a huge explosion. The Ultra Warrior cut off her attack and took a deep breath. Rainbow’s Gungir flew close to Aster, allowing her to see Rainbow Dash in the cockpit, giving her a thumbs up. In the inner space, the corner of Sunset’s mouth curled into a smile as she raised her right hand and gave a thumbs up to Rainbow, her Ultrawoman form mimicking the motion. She then looked to the Goliath on the ground and gave it thumbs up as well before jumping into the air and zooming off into the distance. \*****///** [S. M. I. L. E. Academy, the next day…] Sunset seemed antsy this morning, at least that’s what Twilight could tell. The two of them were called into the Commander’s office, but Twilight wasn’t sure for what exactly. Part of her wondered if it was because of Sunset’s transformation, had she broken some kind of rule between them about doing that at school. “Sunset I just want you to know, I’ll take full responsibility! I was the one who forced you to go out and fight that monster yesterday and–!” “Whoa, whoa, slow down. First off: you didn’t make me do anything. You just helped me to make up my mind. Second: whatever punishment – if any – she gives me, I’ll take it. Besides, I’m not apologizing for monster busting and saving some lives.” Sunset interrupted. The two girls continued down the hall but stopped when they noticed Rainbow and Applejack standing outside the office. Applejack spotted the two of them and smiled as she waved them down, “Sunset, Twilight, what brings y’all over here?” “We were called by Commander Celestia, what brings you here?” Twilight asked. “Same, not sure why, but we’re probably guessin’ that it was because of that stunt we pulled yesterday workin’ with Ultrawoman Aster. But, to tell ya the truth, Ah don’t regret it one bit.” Applejack placed her hands on her hips as she proudly said, “Anyone or anything that went through all that to save Dashie here can’t be all that bad.” Sunset and Rainbow blushed. Applejack looked to her girlfriend and sighed as she got behind her and gave her a shove forward, earning her an indignant glare from Rainbow. The stout girl just crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow at Rainbow, silently telling her to get on with it. With a frustrated sigh, Rainbow walked up to Twilight, rubbing her left arm nervously as tried to get the words out. “L-Look, I’m sorry…about yesterday. I didn’t mean to throw the ball at you! I just lost my concentration and aimed it for the wrong person, my fake out was turned into a real throw…I know I missed, but I know it could’ve really hurt you if it hit, and I could see how scared you were after that and I…I felt really bad so…sorry!” Rainbow bowed her head before Twilight. Applejack walked up next to her and did the same. Twilight stammered for a few seconds and said, “P-Please don’t, it’s alright! I kind of figured that’s what happened, you both ignored hitting me the entire game even though I was an easy target, so I had a feeling that you didn’t do that intentionally to hurt me.” “Well, looks like you were right, Twi. Hey, look up.” Rainbow Dash and Applejack raised their head and watched as Sunset held out her hand. “Name’s Sunset Shimmer, figured we start over.” Rainbow grinned and shook Sunset’s hand as she said, “Rainbow Danger Dash, but you can call me Rainbow or just Dash, whichever.” “Not going to introduce your girlfriend?” Sunset asked. Rainbow blushed as she looked at Applejack. “You told them?!” “Yeeep.” Applejack answered. “It’s cool, right, Twi?” Twilight nodded in agreement. “Well I would certainly hope so.” A new voice had joined their conversation, all four girls turned their heads in the direction of the new voice. Walking down the opposite hall was the girl that Sunset had saw who made some elegant alterations to the uniform, followed behind her was Fluttershy from their biology class, and right alongside her was a girl who was smiling and humming a tune to herself. “After finally getting those two to confess to each other, I shant have anyone break apart this relationship!” “Simmer down, Rarity, we ain’t breakin’ up,” Applejack chuckled as she hooked an arm over Rainbows shoulders. “Sunset Shimmer, Twilight Sparkle, this here’s some friends of ours.” The girl with sapphire eyes and curled, silky violet hair walked up and said, “Rarity Belle, a pleasure to meet you.” Fluttershy peeked out from around Pinkie Pie, her uniform consisted of a longer skirt that went a little past the knees as opposed to the slightly shorter skirts. Her blazer was left open, her bow sitting cutely around the collar of her shirt and decorating her light-pink hair was a butterfly burette. “H-Hello, my – um – name is…” “Fluttershy,” Twilight answered. “Eep! H-How did you know?” Twilight scratched her head. “Sunset and I are in the same biology class as you.” Fluttershy blushed as she realized her faux pas. “Oh, I’m sorry.” The other girl, with bright pink, bouncy, curly hair, and had pins of ice cream and other cute mascot characters decorating the lapels of her blazer, walked up to both Twilight and Sunset and shook their hands simultaneously at a rapid pace. Which ended up with their hair getting disheveled and Twilight’s glasses going crooked. “Hi, I’m Pinkamina Diane Pie, but everyone calls me Pinkie Pie!” she explained. “So, what’re you guys doing here?” Rainbow asked. “Same as you I suppose, we got a summons from Commander Celestia and now we’re here,” said Rarity. Now Twilight and Sunset were confused, they were sure it may have had something to do with Sunset changing into Aster, but with all seven of them here, they didn’t know what the reason was. After a minute the doors to the Commander’s office opened, Vice Commander Luna was on the other side and ushered them inside. Once inside, the girls stood at attention and saluted the Commanders. “At ease girls, and you can relax a little, I assure you all that the reason for you coming her isn’t for disciplinary reasons,” Celestia assured. While they did release a sigh of relief, it still didn’t dispel their unease for why they were called in. “As you all know, the last forty-eight hours have seen two monster attacks back to back. Such a thing hasn’t occurred in many years, even before my sister and I were children. Now, we may be facing an increase in frequency of attacks in the future, and we need to do something about it.” Rarity raised her hand and Celestia nodded to her. “Pardon me, Commander Celestia, but can I assume correctly that our presence here is correlated to that ‘something’?” “Indeed, it is.” Vice Commander Luna answered. “As of right now, you seven are to be given Special Agent status, which means you will be called upon to assist or even head – depending on the circumstances – investigations into alien activity, and combat against the Space Beasts.” “Each of you has shown promise in one field or another. Miss Belle with her innovation in combat gear, making the materials lighter, flexible, and even more durable under fire.” Rarity blushed a little. “Miss Shy, you have been touted by some of the biology professors as quite knowledgeable when it comes to Space Beast and xeno-animal mannerisms and behaviors, as well as a proficiency in the medical side for both.” Fluttershy smiled, but still hid behind her bangs. “Rainbow Dash and Applejack Apple, two of the youngest, and proficient pilots in our Gungir and Goliath units. Your captains speak highly of not only your skills, but your brashness and sometimes flagrant disregard for protocol.” Both girls rubbed the back of their heads with embarrassment and pride. “Pinkie Pie, your ability to connect with all those around you, even with other alien races and bring them to a table, such diplomatic skill is greatly needed in our changing times.” The pink haired girl beamed and saluted. “Twilight Sparkle, you tested higher in the fields of physics, mechanical engineering, chemistry, and astronomy than any other candidate thus far. The only one comes close is, well, Sunset Shimmer.” At this, Sunset stood at attention. “You do have quite the attitude at times, you can be harsh, and a bit lazy at times.” Sunset’s expression became deadpan as the other girls snickered a little. “But…despite this, you are loyal, fierce, and unwavering when it comes to what you believe. And, might I add, proficient in hand-to-hand and weapons combat.” The fiery haired girl blushed at the praise but managed to keep her composure. Vice Commander Luna walked up to each of the girls, taking off their school crest and replacing them with a new one. This one featured a pair of silver crossed swords, it was slight change and one that wouldn’t be noticed unless someone was deliberately looking right at it. “These new crests acknowledge you as Special Agents and can be called on for different field operations or projects that SMILE is conducting. They are water proof and can resist intense cold and heat, so you needn’t worry about putting them in wash and having them destroyed. We will have a few more made up to replace the crests in your wardrobes, for now I suggest interchanging them.” “Sweet!” Rainbow commented. “Commander Celestia, exactly what kind of operations will we be assigned to?” Twilight asked. “Mostly, it will be ones that are centered around Ultrawoman Aster.” The girls all gave Celestia their undivided attention. “As of today, she is designated an ally of SMILE. But I get the feeling that she may need some help considering the strength of the enemy yesterday.” Sunset grumbled and whispered under her breath, “Damn teleporting bug!” “So, we are currently working on improvements to the Gungir and Goliath that Miss Apple and Dash pilot, and if you wish Miss Sparkle, you can look over the designs and schematics to see what improvements can be made,” said Commander Celestia. Twilight’s eyes grew wide and practically sparkled as she heard this. “R-Really! I can give design input and recommend changes?!” “Whatever you believe can make their vehicles give Aster an edge.” Applejack and Rainbow slung their arms over Twilight’s shoulders as they smiled at the nerdy girl. “I got a few ideas of what you can change on mine,” said Rainbow. “Ah think we should get together after class and go into more detail about what meh Goliath could use,” said Applejack. “Oh! New vehicles could mean new clothing, a complete overhaul of the pilot suits! Oooooh, this will be exciting!” Rarity squealed in delight. “Whether you tell your fellow classmates or not is up to you. Of course, this means you will be exempt from certain activities and given extensions for certain assignments, you are all dismissed, except for Miss Shimmer.” Twilight hesitated a moment, but Sunset nodded for her to go and join the rest of the girls. Once alone, Sunset sighed and said, “So, I’m guessing you think I need help?” “Not help, comrades.” Celestia corrected. “Sunset, I see it in your eyes. You’ve made the decision to fight and I won’t stop you, however, I would like it if you not only help in battling the Space Beasts, but also receive help in that endeavor. And I believe these girls will help you.” Sunset had to admit, they were a strange bunch, an animal lover, a fashionista, a farm girl, a sports girl, a party girl, and a cute nerdy girl. “I could do worse, but, aren’t you going to tell them that I’m Ultrawoman Aster?” Celestia stood from her desk and walked around it to stand before Sunset, she then placed her hand on her shoulder gently and said, “I believe that is your decision, it is not mine to make for you. If you trust them, it’d be better to tell them.” Sunset smiled a little. “I’ll think about it.” “Good, also.” On cue, Luna opened her HoloFrame and brought up a holographic display of the veranda where Sunset had transformed. The camera footage showed Twilight there, and then a flash of light around Sunset before she zoomed off into the distance. “Please be more aware of your surroundings, Sunset, you’re lucky we caught that and erased the footage.” Sunset blushed and face palmed herself, she couldn’t believe she had gotten caught like that. “I’ll give you a list of some the camera blind spots around campus so that if needed you can transform in these locations, but please keep them to yourself. Well then, let me make this official then.” Celestia held out her hand smiled. “I look forward to working with you, Sunset – rather – Aster.” Sunset shook Celestia’s hand gave cocky grin of affirmation. The whole time, however, Luna seemed skeptical of this alliance. \*****///** [Unknown Sector of Space…] A man, or what looked like a man, sat upon a throne carved of what appeared to be obsidian rock. His body was wrapped in silver armor, with engravings of a long-forgotten alien language. His blood red cape flowed down his seat, with tattered, battle worn edges. His face was shrouded in shadows, with only a single red curved horn protruding from his forehead. Before him floated a violet colored crystal, which displayed a kind of recording of Ultrawoman Aster defeating Barabba and, more recently, Zetton. The man gripped the armrests of his throne hard, causing cracks to form in the crystal it was made of. It would appear she has returned. “I see that, it will not be a problem,” said the shadow man. I was assured that the first time, and now she is back. The Utlras are spread thinly and will not be able to render too much aid to this planet. However, we must act cautiously, one Ultra Warrior is already a problem. “Have a little faith in my power, we will strike again.”
3rd Light: Secrets Revealed! / The Fiery Power Awakens!It had been over two weeks since the last monster attack, but everyone was still a bit on edge. The students of SMILE Academy still went about their daily activities, but the real talk of the school had been the announcement made by Commander Celestia last week, designating the giant, Ultrawoman Aster, as an ally. Of course, this was met with some criticism from the teachers and other rank in file agents of the base, but in the end, the decision was held up and no acts of aggression were permitted against the Ultrawoman, unless otherwise provoked that is. Sunset and Twilight had been taking some time to get to know their new teammates, it was evident that the two girls were loners by nature, and somehow found a budding friendship between them, but now their circle of friends had expanded to something that neither of them were expecting. Lunch time was particularly livelier nowadays, with a table consisting of seven girls with seven different personality types, the conversations were sometimes louder, more dramatic, and more often than not with regards to Pinkie Pie, more nonsensical. Currently, Sunset was a guest of one Rarity Belle. Through talks with the fashionista, she found out that she wanted to be a fashion designer later on down the road and showing that she can work in any situation would show her versatility under pressure, and her ability to work with all manner of material. Sunset was standing on a platform, arms out, legs shoulder width apart, while Rarity was busy taking measurements. “You know, darling, this would be a little easier without the uniform,” said Rarity. “Yeah, not too keen on stripping down in front of a girl and teammate I just met two weeks ago,” Sunset replied. Rarity made a few scoffing noises and said, “Puh-lease, darling, it isn’t as if you have anything that I don’t already have.” Rarity got closer to Sunset and wrapped the measuring tape around her chest, she then blinked a few times and gave Sunset an annoyed look. “Scratch that, perhaps there’s one thing. That or I’m off on my numbers.” Sunset let a little smirk spilt across her lips at how Rarity tried to play off her slight jealousy of Sunset’s bust. “Still, maybe we’ll work up to that.” Rarity rolled her eyes but smiled nonetheless. “Very well, but I would like you to know that I do maintain professionalism. Can’t very well be skittish or embarrassed about seeing anther person in their birthday suit when fitting and getting measurements in this business.” “True. Either, that or you just really want to see me in my underwear?” Sunset asked with a wiggle of her brow. “I see you’re like Rainbow with all her pervy ideas and innuendos. That’s fine, I’ve grown accustomed to them over the years. But…” Rarity got really close to Sunset, close enough for Sunset’s breath to hitch as she stared into those sapphire eyes. “If you’re feeling up to the task, I’d wouldn’t mind seeing if the grass is indeed greener on the other side, in a manner of speaking, especially if it was with the right person…” Sunset began stammering a bit as she tried to make sense of what was happening right now, her mind was going to a million different places at once and some of them ranged from vanilla to gutter. After a few seconds, Rarity pulled back and had superior smirk. “Rainbow isn’t the only one who can get someone flustered,” said Rarity as she booped Sunset’s nose before walking over to a large digital screen. “I’ll input the measurements, and after words I’ll speak with Twilight about the material I’ll need to craft us all a new set of body armor for field operations, both stylish and functional!” Sunset shook her head as she tried to shake off the red blush on her face. “Y-Yeah, cool. Was there anything else? I kind of need to go and meet up with Rainbow and AJ in the training room.” Rarity nodded and waved her off as she was deeply engrossed in her work on the board. Seeing the future fashion designer with such an intense look, reminded Sunset of how Twilight would concentrate intensely on her homework and books back at their dorm. The fiery redhead exited the design R&D lab and headed to the training room where she was to be given some hands-on training. There was one thing that Sunset had yet to make a decision on, she wasn’t sure exactly when or if the time was right to tell these other girls that she was Aster. With Twilight it was different, there really wasn’t a choice, either she transformed and saved their lives, or didn’t and they’d both be dead, well, one of them anyway… Without realizing it, Sunset had found her way to the training room, she placed her HoloFrame against the door to allow her entry since it was a private room. As soon the door opened, she could hear the sounds of the two girls yelling as their feet stomped against the ground with every landing from a kick thrown. Sunset watched as Applejack closed in on Rainbow, throwing rapid fire jabs at the girl to make her back up towards the wall, but Rainbow wasn’t slow, she was nimble and quick, dodging every blow that her girlfriend was dishing out. Just as Applejack had wanted, Rainbow’s back was against the wall and open to some body blows. But Rainbow smirked as she squatted and jumped right into the air, and before Sunset’s eyes, Rainbow sprouted two, five-foot-long, cyan feathered wings from her back. The avian appendages allowed her to glide upwards, she then wrapped herself in her wings as she performed a spin in midair. Before her feet could touch the ground, Rainbow unfurled her wings and flapped them once, propelling her across the room. Applejack turned around just in time to watch Rainbow close in on her, grabbing her by the arms, and pinning her against the wall. Applejack gave her girlfriend an annoyed look. “Dammit, Rainbow, that’s cheatin’! You used yer wings!” Rainbow raised her eyebrow as a cocky grin appeared on her lips. “Really? I don’t remember there being any rules against not using them. Besides…” The rainbow haired girl flared her wings and gave a light flap. “You know you like ‘em, and I quote, ‘They give ya that exotic look, Sug’.” Applejack blushed, neither denying nor confirming those words. As she tried to look away, Applejack’s embarrassed expression changed to one of shock when she saw the door close and saw Sunset Shimmer standing inside the room. Rainbow followed her gaze and she too shared the same expression, Rainbow quickly moved away from Applejack and hid behind her like a scared puppy dog, her wings covering her as if to act like a shield. “Uh, okay, so…Rainbow has wings…that’s…huh?” “L-Look, Sunset, we can explain…!” “Explain what?” Sunset asked. “That she has big blue wings? I am curious about those, actually.” “Please…don’t tell anyone…” Rainbow begged. Sunset was taken aback by what she heard, Rainbow always sounded confident, and was bold and brash, but now…she looked so scared and frightened, as if she was anticipating Sunset to do something to her. “Rainbow, I’m not going to tell anyone if that’s what you want, but…I mean, I’d still like to know, y’know?” Applejack could see the look in Sunset’s eyes, she was being sincere, but she just really confused by what she was seeing. The country girl knelt down and gently rubbed the small of Rainbow’s back where her wings sprouted from, the action seemed to calm Rainbow down a little. Her wings began to shimmer a little as they retreated into her back, now revealing a crying girl. “It’s okay, Sug, she ain’t scared a ya, just confused is all,” said Applejack as she coaxed her girlfriend to look in Sunset’s direction. Rainbow looked, and her fears were slightly eased by the look of wonder rather than disgust or fear. After wiping her tears away, Rainbow said, “I’m…not exactly all human…” “Say what?” The sporty girl sighed heavily. “My dad, he’s an alien. He was actually one of the alien races that came to Earth’s defense during the First Incursion…he was injured and couldn’t go back at that time, then he met my Mom, and had me with my Mom. He’s an Alien Avian, and his people have wings and are, like, strong warriors. My hair matches his, so no, this isn’t a dye job it’s all natural…” Applejack placed her arm around Rainbow’s shoulders as she said, “Lotta kids used to make fun of her fer her hair color, the last she needed was the wings complicatin’ things.” “So how do you know?” Sunset asked. Suddenly, Sunset’s HoloFrame went off, she took out the device and read the message. [Special Operations Message: Report to briefing room 103 immediately.] “That’s story for another day, Sug.” \*****///** [Briefing Room] The HoloFrame showed a map of the school and gave Sunset, Rainbow, and Applejack directions to the briefing room. Two minutes later, they entered the room, saluting when they noticed that Vice Commander Luna was present. There were a few other special ops members as well, one of which she recognized, the boy with spikey blue hair that looked like a Rocker, the other with silver hair. Once last few entered, Vice Commander Luna cleared her throat. “Welcome, for some of you this will be your first Special Ops Mission, for others business as usual.” The blue haired woman snapped her fingers and a holographic image of the Evefree Forest appeared behind her. “We’ve been getting some unusual readings within the forest proper, our scanners haven’t been able to pinpoint the source, but we do have a general area.” The hologram painted a wide area in red just a few miles to the south of the base. “In order to pinpoint the source, we’ll have you go in teams of three with these monitoring devices.” A hologram of the device appeared, which was a backpack with a small antenna connected to tablet. “These are the coordinates that each time will be heading towards, we should be able to triangulate and pinpoint the source of the strange readings and get a better idea of what we’re dealing with. Be aware, the forest is strange. Even though it is responsible for keeping the Earth safe, that doesn’t mean that it itself is a safe place for humans to venture in. Understood?!” “Yes ma’am!” they answered together. Everyone was dismissed, and Rainbow said, “Sweet! Our first mission together, well, least three of us.” “Can’t say Ah’m too keen on goin’ into that forest, at least not without my Goliath,” said Applejack. “You’d end up mowing down the forest if you do that and mind you it is the only thing keeping us somewhat protected from a Second Incursion,” Sunset pointed out. Rainbow waved that off. “Yeah, but that was before we had Ultrawoman Aster! Now when one of those things shows up, she can just blow it away with that astro ray thing!” Rainbow then began imitating Aster’s stance when she performed her ray attack. It’s called the Astronium Ray, Sunset thought with a slight blush on her face. “Ah wouldn’t completely put all my chips on that bet. If we didn’t help her out that last time, Ah think that thing would’ve won,” said Applejack. Sunset grumbled a little under her breath, while grateful for their assistance during the battle with Zetton, Sunset still didn’t like how close she came to losing to the overgrown space roach like that. I have to get strong somehow…I can’t let another one of those things come that close to winning against me. “Sunset, you alright, Sug?” Sunset shook her head. “Huh, what?” “You looked like you were thinking really hard on something. Some trouble in paradise with Twilight?” Rainbow asked. “No, why would you think that?” Sunset asked curiously. Before Rainbow could answer, Applejack swatted her girlfriend upside the head. “Don’t go projectin’ our relationship on others now. You and yer shippin’ nonsense.” “……‘Shipping’?” Applejack patted Sunset on the shoulder. “Trust me, don’t worry about it. Let’s go and suit up.” \*****///** [Everfree Forest, 10:30 AM] Three black SUV vehicles drove through the field and right to the edge of the Everfree Forest. From each vehicle the three teams exited, along with them was a senior agent who would be leading their respective teams. Sunset, Rainbow, and Applejack were teamed up with a fairly young lieutenant named, Ballista. She was a lithe woman, with lean muscles, raven colored hair, and dingy yellow eyes. Once they were out, Applejack went to the back of the vehicle and opened up the trunk, hefting the scanning device unto her back, having volunteered to carry the heavy machinery. “Okay ladies, listen up, we’ll be heading in, I want weapons drawn, safeties off. Keep aware of your surroundings at all times, and do not – repeat – do not get separated. Do you get me?!” Ballista asked. “We get you, Ma’am!” the girls stated together. With that, the three teams made their expedition into the forest. Upon entering it, the differences were immediate, the air felt cool, but not freezing. The sun didn’t completely break through the canopy of leaves, only small rays of sunshine were allowed through, giving the already eerie forest and an even eerier feel. Tiny particles of light would dance in the shadows of the trees, it was proposed by researchers that this was either some insect or a kind of bioluminescent spore that the trees released, either way, it played havoc with their nerves. One couldn’t distinguish the particles for eyes or the other, at least probably not until it was too late. Ballista was armed with a pulse rifle, fitted with a scope for long range sniping and recon. Sunset, Applejack, and Rainbow were armed with photon pistols, not quite as strong as their lieutenant’s weapon, but it would make sure that anything coming towards them would need to think twice before doing so again. Applejack kept one hand holding her weapon, and the tablet in the other, checking the readings as the strange energy they were tracking went up and down like a wave. “Alright, our scan point is about fifty meters in, afterward we hold until the Bravo and Gamma teams set up and we begin the scans,” Ballista explained. The girls nodded and proceeded further in. The foliage of the forest was a weird mixture of colors, some were violet, others were a blue-green, the bushes that littered the other portions of the forest had the same color tone, but the flowers ranged from either some kind of polka dot pattern, some were striped, and others looked as if they were dipped in a tie-dye machine. They were warned not to pick or touch the flowers with their bare hands, as the science division was not sure if the plants had a toxic effect on humans. They eventually made it to their designated point, of course the constant noises that echoed through the forest, along with the snapping of branches always drew their attention, making them jump and point their guns in that direction. Ballista would often shake her head and whisper, “Rookies” under her breath. “Alright ladies, heads on a swivel, we have to wait for Bravo and Gamma to get into place, so keep your eyes and ears open. AJ, keep your eyes on the monitor, if that energy reading starts to rise too quickly we’re pulling back.” Sunset and Rainbow kept their eyes on the dense forest around them, with Ballista doing the same. Strangely, ever since entering the forest, Sunset had been feeling a strange headache, she hadn’t said anything so as to not hinder their mission, but now it seemed as if it was getting a little worse, still, she kept her attention forward, trying to spot anything that looked potentially dangerous. Then, Sunset’s eyes caught something, or rather someone. From what she could see, it was a woman, and she seemed to be holding something. Sunset made to raise her photon gun in that direction, but the headache suddenly spiked, images flashed through her mind, too fast to see clearly, a loud ringing sound echoed in her ears, deafening her to any other sound in the area. It was only when Applejack took her eyes away from the monitor to look around did she see Sunset in pain. “Sunset, what’s wrong?!” Ballista and Rainbow finally took notice and rushed to her side, Sunset looked back to where she saw the woman-like figure, but she was gone, and miraculously, so was the headache and the ringing in her ears. Sunset shook her head for a moment, trying to regain her bearings after what just happened. “Hey, Shimmer, are you with me?! Hey?!” Ballista called out. “Y-Yeah, I…I’m fine,” Sunset half lied. Applejack looked to the lieutenant and said, “Maybe we should fall back, the forest might be doin’ somethin’ to us that we ain’t aware of?” Ballista was about to say something but was interrupted by the echoing of blaster fire in the background. “Who’s firing?! What’s going on?!” {This is Bravo Team, we’re retreating! There’s too many of them!} {Gamma as well, all teams full retreat!} “What’s attacking! Someone copy me!” “Uh, Lieutenant…Ma’am!” Rainbow called out. Ballista turned around and watched as several green glowing eyes became visible up ahead. One of the creatures finally came into the light, its body was canine in form, walking on four legs, but it was what its body was made of that gave them pause. Vines, bark, and moss were woven together, and tightly compacted, creating a body born of the trees themselves. Its teeth and claws were made of sharpened stone, its drool ran like sap down its long muzzle. In all honesty, such a creature shouldn’t be able to move or snarl, but this one did, it snarled and growled as it approached them, but not alone. Soon more appeared from the shadows, like a stalking wolfpack they crept closer towards their prey. “What the hell are those?!” Sunset asked. “They look like wolves made of trees, what else?!” Ballista answered. “We’re getting out of here, don’t shoot unless they start running at us, just start moving back slowly.” All four SMILE agents slowly moved backwards, Rainbow was keeping an eye on the back, making sure that their retreat was covered and that the beasts weren’t circling around. Unfortunately, they didn’t get two feet before the wolves howled and charged straight towards them. With the slow retreat no longer an option, the agents of SMILE opened fire on the pack, several shots either pierced their hides or blew them up completely. The creatures went down easy, it was getting them to stay down that was the problem. Every time they fired and hit the creatures, they would just reform themselves by pulling from the earth and trees nearby. “Anybody think to bring grenades?!” Rainbow asked. “NO, BUT IF WE LIVE THROUGH THIS, I’M NOT LEAVING BASE WITHOUT ANY!” Ballista shouted. Sunset watched as one of the beasts was about to lunge for Rainbow, she had to act fast. She didn’t want to reveal too much, but this was a dire circumstance. Sunset swiftly moved Rainbow aside just as the wolf began its lunge, when it was in range, Sunset backhanded the monster with her fist, and then fired three shots to keep it down, at least for now. It all happened so fast, Sunset was sure that Rainbow didn’t see that, but then she turned to her and saw a look of surprise, she had seen it. Just then a scream caught their attention as Applejack’s leg was wrapped up a vine and was quickly pulled in the opposite direction, she shot at the vine, but it kept regenerating faster than she could shoot it. “RAINBOW!” Applejack cried as she pulled in the darker part of the forest. Rainbow’s eyes widened with fear as she watched her girlfriend get carried away into the forest. “APPLEJACK!!!” Ballista turned to see what was happening and was about to run in the direction Applejack was taken, but the pack was quickly beginning to circle, she looked to her subordinates, and to where Applejack was dragged off. With a growl of frustration, she dragged Rainbow by the arm, the athletic girl struggled against the lieutenant’s grip, fighting to try and escape to go after Applejack. “LET ME GO! I HAVE TO SAVE HER! DAMMIT LET! ME! GO!” Rainbow shouted. “I’m not giving up on her, but it does us no good if we all die in here! Now move your ass!” Sunset looked towards the direction where Applejack was taken, wanting to so badly to transform and rip Applejack free, but Ballista would see her, she didn’t feel too stressed if Rainbow saw, but Ballista… “She’s right, Rainbow, we can’t save AJ if we’re dead! We’re not abandoning her!” Sunset stated. Rainbow hated to admit it, but they were right, the pack was getting closer and their numbers were increasing. “I’m sorry…” \*****///** The exploratory teams finally made it out of the forest, the wooden wolves had ceased their pursuit the moment they exited the tree line and went back into the forest. Ballista reported it to the base, and were told to standby while they sent reinforcements to begin rescue operations. Sunset was kicking herself for not doing more, she also knew that that woman she saw had to be behind this, it was only after seeing her that the wolves appeared, or “Timber Wolves” was what they were being called now. Rainbow Dash was sitting off by herself, staring straight into the forest. Sunset could tell that she was readying herself to charge right back into the forest, punishment be damned, she was going to save Applejack, and Sunset was going to help. Sunset took out her phone and immediately dialed Twilight’s number. {Hello?} “Twilight, I need your help.” {What’s wrong?} Sunset quickly went through the events that happened, when she was finished, she could tell that Twilight was distressed. {This is terrible, but what can I do?!} “Applejack was still wearing her detection device that was transmitting to the base. Can you…I don’t know…hack the system and give me the coordinates?” Sunset asked. {……Normally I have morals against the hacking of official networks and databases, but granted this is to save a life, so this is the exception! Give me two minutes then check your HoloFrame.} “You’re the best, Twi!” Sunset walked over to Rainbow Dash and knelt next to her. “Hey.” “I’m going in to save her, don’t try and stop, Sunset.” “You’re not going to do that –” “I told you –!” “Without me.” Sunset finished. Rainbow grinned upon hearing that, but her grin fell soon after. “How are we going to find her anyway…If we do…we’ll end having the rescue team rescue us instead?” At that moment, Sunset’s HoloFrame began beeping. The redhead opened her device and saw a little avatar of Twilight delivering the info, and then opening it up to reveal the spot where Applejack’s backpack was transmitting from. “Thank Twilight for this.” “Thank her! I’ll freakin’ make out with her for this! Let’s go!” Both girls wasted little time and dashed towards the woods, amidst the protest of the team leaders and their classmates, they ran right into the woods. Sunset led the way, keeping her weapon drawn as the HoloFrame showed their position relative to where Applejack was supposed to be. The girls walked for three minutes through the still creepy forest, and had yet to run into the Timber Wolves, thankfully. “So, how did Applejack learn about your wings?” Sunset asked. Rainbow was caught off guard by the question, but still managed to get the words out. “Well, it wasn’t so much that I wanted to, more like I had to, or she would’ve died. When we were little I played at her family’s farm, we were running around playing tag until she ran too far and came to the edge of this cliff and fell face first. I didn’t think, I just acted, I tore off my shirt and let my wings out. I swooped down and carried her up enough to slow us both down before we hit the ground.” “I was – still am – anxious about other people seeing my wings. So, when I did that, I did the same thing back in the training room, I shielded myself with my wings. I remember asking her, ‘Please don’t hate me’ over and over again. But she did something I definitely wasn’t expecting. She hugged me, and cried into my shoulder, and I did too…” Rainbow rubbed the back of her neck as she remembered her emotional moment. “It was the first time anybody wasn’t afraid of my wings…and she actually said they were pretty.” Sunset smiled a little. “That how you got her as a girlfriend?” “No, that’s a different a story–” Suddenly, a loud jingling sound echoed through the trees, catching the attention of Sunset and Rainbow. A thick fog began to appear, obscuring everything from sight. Sunset looked around and tried to reach out for Rainbow, but she wasn’t there, in fact, it seemed as if not even the trees were there anymore. Soon, the woman Sunset had saw earlier reappeared before her, but now she had a better look at her. Her skin was ebony, with tribal stripes and markings done in gray paint. She wore a brown leather like bodice, and a skirt, and long knee-high boots, and a cloak made of the same material. Her left arm had at least four gold rings hanging off her wrist, which could’ve caused the jingling sounds from earlier. In her right hand she held a wooden staff, it bent and curved, and at the top were a few branches with leaves. The woman’s eyes glowed yellow in the shadows of her hood, but she made no sound or approach. Sunset raised her weapon at the woman and said, “Stay right there! What are you doing here?!” The woman gave no answer. “Did you sic those wolves on us?! Where’s Applejack?! Tell me!” Sunset ordered. “Why?” Sunset blinked. “What?” “Why do you care for this girl?” the woman asked. “Because, she’s my teammate, and her girlfriend’s worried about her!” The woman raised her left hand slowly and grabbed at the edge of her hood. She drew it back slowly and revealed her face. She had blue-green colored eyes, and mohawk styled hair that was colored black and white. Her neck had three gold rings wrapped around it, and her ears had looped gold earrings. “No other reason?” “Do I need a better one?” Sunset asked in an incredulous tone. The woman shook her head. “No, but it’d be wise to cease lying to yourself, and your wish to create bonds.” “I’m not ‘lying’ to myself! What could I possibly be lying about?!” “The fact that you are Ultrawoman Aster, and your fear of this group you find yourself among will see you as a monster,” she said. Sunset’s eyes widened, but then narrowed as she carefully took aim at the woman, now on edge. “You know I’m her, how?” “It doesn’t matter, what does matter, is your stubbornness to keep others at arm’s length or further.” The woman began slowly walking, tracing a circle around Sunset as she continued to speak. “Loyalty and honesty, such things are hard to do, and sometimes the truth hurts. But the truth needs to be spoken, and sometimes in order to have loyalty, you must show it. You placed your trust in another and spoke the truth to this person, why is it hard for you to do so again?” Sunset looked away for a moment. “Because…I don’t trust myself…I know nothing about myself or why I can do the things I can do…How I can be loyal to anyone when I don’t even know if that’s the kind of person I am?!” “Memories of the past are important, but what matters is not to be chained to them, what matters is the future, and the actions you take now. Be brave, Sunset Shimmer, be strong, Ultrawoman Aster…” As mysteriously and suddenly as when the fog came, it left just the same, leaving Sunset alone. She frantically looked about, trying to find Rainbow, but she was nowhere in sight. Just then, Sunset heard the sounds of blaster fire coming from up ahead. She glanced down at her HoloFrame and noticed that she was much closer to Applejack’s signal, Sunset didn’t wait to contemplate how this happened, she rushed through the brush, running as fast as she dared so as to not to hit a low hanging branch or trip on an upturned root. Soon, Sunset made it out of the trees and into a clearing, where she saw Applejack and Rainbow fighting off a pack of the Timber Wolves. The pack had them backed up against a huge boulder, keeping them encircled and leaving little room to escape. From where Sunset stood, she could see one of the wolves jump up behind the rockface, climbing all the way to the top. The beast looked down at the two girls, right in their blind spot and ready to pounce on one of them. Sunset didn’t think, she just acted, she called on the power within her, she didn’t care what they thought about her later, at least they’d be alive to think. The fiery redhead dashed across the clearing, just as the wolf jumped Sunset jumped, and delivered a flying kick to the beast’s head, kicking it clear off and sending its body tumbling into its brethren. Sunset landed in front of both girls, quickly doing an about face so that she was staring down the Timber Wolves. “SUNSET?!” Rainbow and Applejack exclaimed. “Hey, guys…I’m glad you’re alive, AJ,” said Sunset. Applejack’s body armor was scratched up, some parts were missing, but through it all she managed to keep the device safe. “These mutts have been doggin’ me ever since Ah shook off that vine that snagged me earlier, kinda runnin’ on fumes here…” Sunset took count of the wolves, about fifteen in total. “We can take them, but we…we need to work together, and not hold anything back…alright?” Rainbow and Applejack looked to each other, a kind of silent understanding passed through them as they nodded to each other. Rainbow removed the top portion of her suit, the only piece of clothing left was a sports bra, with a small grunt, her cyan wings flared outwards, creating a small gust of wind that made the Timber Wolves take a step back. Applejack cracked her knuckles and then worked the kinks out of her neck as she took a fighting stance. “GO!” Sunset shouted. Rainbow took off into the sky, using her blaster, she began raining down photon bolts from sky. Sunset and Applejack ran right into the fray, hitting a few of the wolves with swift kicks to their muzzles, one wolf attacked Sunset, but she quickly ducked below it and uppercut the beast in its stomach, another tried to attack her from behind. Sunset swiftly spun around and roundhouse kicked the wolf away from her. Applejack, in an amazing feat of strength, caught the Timber Wolf that Sunset kicked and got it into a headlock, she squeezed tight and jerked violently to her right, snapping the creature’s neck. Applejack took the limp creature’s body and threw it into another group that was coming at her. “Rainbow!” Sunset called out as she tossed her weapon into the air. Rainbow swooped in and grabbed the blaster in midair, spinning in the air, she turned around and began dual firing her weapons, hitting the Timber Wolves with amazing accuracy. Being half Alien Avian gave her keen eyesight, allowing her to zoom in and shoot the wolves down without worrying about hurting Sunset or Applejack. Rainbow was amazed to see how fast and strong Sunset was, Applejack’s strength was nothing to sneeze at, but Sunset was practically tearing through them. The pack seemed to finally get the picture that this was going to be more work than they had originally were ready to deal with. Sunset, Rainbow, and Applejack stood side by side, all three girls were scratched up, but none of them lost their fierce gaze. “Yeah, you get it now, we’re not going down without a fight! You won’t hurt my friends!” Sunset exclaimed. “Got that right, you mess with one of us, you mess with all of us!” Rainbow added. “An Apple sticks by their kith and kin, so ya’ll aren’t gettin’ to them easily,” said Applejack. Upon uttering those words, a flash of light went off from all three girls. Sunset’s body was glowing with a blue, sparkling aura, while Rainbow and Applejack both had red auras coming off their bodies. That seemed to be the limit of what the Timber Wolves were willing to put up with as they all made a hasty retreat back into the woods, not once looking back as they disappeared into the shadows of the forest. Once they were gone, Applejack and Rainbow looked at their bodies with a bit of trepidation, not really sure what was happening to them. After a minute, their auras coalesced before them, forming two coins that floated between them. The coins floated towards Sunset, who held out her open palms for the items to fall onto, and upon contact with her hands her aura flowed towards the coins and energized them, awakening them. Both had the images of Ultramen, but they were different from the coins Sunset used to transform with. “Uh, Sunset…what in the heck just happened?” Applejack asked. Sunset sighed a little as she smiled at her friends. “What just happened was a way for me to tell you the truth. Guys, I’m Ultrawoman Aster, you helped me out during the battle with Zetton two weeks ago…and it looks like I was able to somewhat return the favor.” Rainbow suddenly broke out into a fit of laughter, holding her sidrs and wincing a little from the fighting earlier. “Hahahaha, good one Sunset, Aster’s a giant, you’re…I mean…you are joking right?” Applejack looked at Sunset, trying to find any sign that the girl was lying. “She isn’t, Dash, she’s tellin’ the truth.” Rainbow’s eyes widened as she said, “Seriously?” Sunset raised her right arm, and immediately, the StaRaizer appeared on her forearm, along with the belt and coin holster. “Seriously.” “……That…is…AWESOME!” Rainbow exclaimed as she rushed to Sunset. “You’re like a real live superhero!” Sunset began to blush at how Rainbow looking at her all starry eyed. “Thanks…it actually feels good letting you know.” In the distance, Sunset could see the woman from earlier, she had a smile on her face and disappeared into the forest. The backpack device began to beep, prompting Applejack to take out the tablet. After turning it on, they saw that the area where the strange energy was being emitted had disappeared. “What just happened?” [Alert! Alert!] The girls quickly pulled out their HoloFrames. [Space Beast alert, all combat personnel, please report to battle stations.] “Ah crap, a monster attack and we’re stuck out here in the woods,” Rainbow grumbled. Sunset smirked. “Not exactly. If you guys don’t mind, I’ll get us out of here the express way.” Rainbow started to get giddy. “Are you going to transform?! She’s totally going to transform!” “Simmer down, Sug. Go on, Sunset, we’ll cover ya,” said Applejack. Sunset nodded as she was once again engulfed in light. The starry universe spread out before her, as she reached into the Coin Keeper and pulled out the Ultra Coins. “Grant me the strength of a hero!” || ULTRAMAN! || “Grant me the power of a galaxy!” || ULTRAMAN GINGA! || “Release the light within me!” ||SHINE ON! ULTRAWOMAN ASTER!|| The stars swirled around Sunset, transforming her body as she grew higher and higher. From the clearing, a giant of light arose, the giant known as Ultrawoman Aster. Down below, Rainbow Dash smushed her cheeks together as she looked up at Aster and said, “So, AWESOME!” Aster knelt down and held her hand out her hand. “Hop on.” \*****///** A new space beast had arrived to Earth, Goliaths continued to barrage the behemoth, but it showed no signs of slowing down. The creature was forty-five meters high, had yellowish brown, segmented scales, with strong arms and legs, and a long tail, but with a small head. The creature lumbered through the city, its huge size and bulky frame proving it needed little effort to smash through the buildings by just walking. The monster opened its mouth and fired a hail storm of sharpened stone at the Goliaths, the tanks were pelted mercilessly, each impact chipping away at their shields. Just then a streak of light shot through the sky and struck across the monster’s chest, causing sparks to fly from its body as it ceased the attack and backed up. Imbedded in the ground was the Stellugger, and floating down from the sky was its wielder, Aster picked up the blade weapon and assumed a fighting stance. Upon looking at the Space Beast, just like the others, another name popped into her head. Red King, well allow me to give you a royal ass whooping! Aster ran towards Red King and slashed down with the Stellugger across its chest, again. Sparks flew from Red King, but the beast pushed back as she readied for another swing, body slamming Aster. The Ultra Warrior stumbled backwards, but managed to regain her footing, however, that allowed Red King to raise up its fists and slam them down onto the ground, a wave of energy rushed through the earth and erupted with several chunks of earthen debris exploding around Aster. Disoriented from the attack, Red King took advantage of the opening and used its powerful tail to strike Aster in the side, sending her flying into a building. “Okay, now I’m mad!” Within the starry inner universe of Aster, Sunset placed the Ultraman and Ultraman Ginga Coins into the Stellugger and the blade shined with power. Aster ran at Red King, the behemoth of a beast fired more of its sharpened rocks but Aster’s Stellugger deflected all the shots with a skillful wave of the blade. Once in range, Aster cried out, “Star Burst Stream!” The hero slashed once, causing a bright blade of light to cut through the monster’s body as she reappeared on the other side. Several sparks erupted from Red King’s body as the monster staggered forward; Aster dismissed her weapon and prepared to finish it with the Astronium Ray, but something happened. Red King’s body began to glow, well, red. Its scales resembled rock as veins of molten lava filled the cracks in those segmented scales. The scales were now black as tar, its arms had grown out to the point that they appeared simian-like in appearance. This was Red King EX. “Okay…that’s new…” Red King turned around and roared as it stampeded towards Aster, throwing a punch with its huge fist and hitting Aster right in the chest. Sparks flew from her body upon impact, sending her straight to the ground, but Red King wasn’t done, the powered Space Beast grabbed Aster by the legs, raised her up, and slammed her mercilessly into the ground. Aster released a painful gasp when she hit the ground, but she didn’t have time to take it in as Red King tossed her into the air. The buff monster threw an uppercut as she came down, the second hit sent Aster into the air again, landing in the park with a thunderous BOOM as chunks of earth, cars, and trees flew into the air. Aster coughed, and within the starry inner world of the giant, Sunset hurt all over. This monster was strong, stronger than Zetton, and she was alone, she didn’t have Applejack or Rainbow in their vehicles to give support, and she dared not risk the lives of the other SMILE agents. “But I’m not alone…I can feel them…” Sunset could almost hear them, hear their cries for her to get up and fight back. The Coin Keeper opened up and before her floated the two Ultra Coins that were created from Applejack and Rainbow. “I get it, let’s go for round two!” Sunset took the coins in hand and stood back up, her form as Aster doing the same. Sunset placed the first coin into the top slot. “Bestow, the strength of the brave!” || ULTRAMAN LEO! || Red essence flowed out of the coin and reappeared next to her, showing Ultraman Leo. “Bestow, the power of the bold!” || ULTRAMAN MAX! || Yellow essence flowed from the second coin and appeared on Sunset’s left as Ultraman Max. “Ignite the fire in my heart!” Sunset pressed down on the sun symbol on her StaRaizer; both Ultramen transformed into particles of red and yellow light and wrapped around Sunset, changing into blazing flames that erupted into a column that rose higher and higher. ||BURN UP! SOLARIS MAXIMUS!|| Aster was engulfed in blazing flames that even made Red King wait before attacking. All around, the agents of SMILE watched and wondered what was happening, and soon they got their answer. The flames that surrounded Aster dispersed, changing into ember-like particles that danced in the air. Aster’s head had changed, she now sported a mantle of five horns that slanted backwards, with a green diamond shaped gemstone at the center of the forehead. Her shoulder pauldrons had become bigger, with studs to give it a look of metal rivets. A line of armor went down the side of her arm and ended around the forearm and hand, surrounding both was a metal gauntlet. The gauntlet had a cylinder similar to that of a revolver pistol, the hands had segmented armor around the joints to allow for movement, and the knuckles had raised spike-like vents. The armored chest plate now had the image of a burning sun in golden-yellow metal surrounding the smaller sun color timer. Her legs were covered in the same thick metal and revolver cylinder, the vent in this case was located at the heel of the boot and the tip. Her body had bulked up, with the red of her body now showing some crimson armor plating around her stomach biceps, and thighs. This was Aster’s power form, Solaris Maximus. I can feel it, this warmth, this burning in my body and soul! “I’ll burn you away with the flames of my heart!” Red King roared as it slammed its fists into the ground, channeling its heated power into the earth and causing a lava wave to rush at Aster. An explosion went off, engulfing the Ultra Warrior in intense flames. Red King ceased its attack, waiting to see its handiwork, however, thundering footsteps could be heard coming from the spot where Aster was hit, and from the flames and smoke, the empowered Ultra walked straight towards Red King, unfazed by its attack. Red King, now furious, charged at Aster, drawing back its huge fist to punch the Ultra Warrior once again. Aster just stood her ground as she held out her left hand and caught the punch. A shockwave erupted from the sudden stop in momentum, but Aster did not flinch in the slightest. The powered Ultra pushed the fist away and struck the behemoth right in the chest, causing a huge number of sparks to fly from its body. Aster began unleashing a flurry of jabs at the monster, Red King held its ground, trying to weather the attack, but each punch was forcing Red King back. Aster drew back on her left fist, the revolver cylinder spun and locked, she then punched the monster right in the chest as she called out, “Break Buster!” As soon as she made contact, all six salvos fired one after the other in rapid succession until all six had been discharged. The result was an explosion of fiery energy that cause the scaly armor of the behemoth to crack, not only that, but Red King was pushed back a good fifty meters away from the attack alone. Just then, the color timer began to blink red, her time was almost up. Aster slammed her knuckles together, a sphere of orange, red, and yellow fiery plasma energy began to gather. When she separated her fists, the orb split into two for each fist. “INFERNO SHOOT!” The Ultra Warrior thrust both of her fists forward, unleashing a stream of burning power that roared towards Red King. The Space Beast could not defend against this attack as it was blown into ashes, a massive explosion took place after, annihilating anything that was left of Red King. Aster ended her attack and took a calming breath, she then jumped up in the air and flew off into the distance. \*****///** [Alpha Dorm, 6:45 P. M.] Rainbow and Applejack were walking down the hallway, they had decided to come over and do a little celebrating of their safety and Sunset’s victory over the giant monster. Applejack had brought a homemade apple pie, and of course Rainbow couldn’t help but make many inappropriate innuendos regarding the confection and its relation to her girlfriend. But in all honesty, Rainbow did want to thank both Twilight and Sunset, it was only thanks to Twilight getting the coordinates from the pack were they able to find Applejack. The two girls arrived at the front door and were about to knock but stopped when they started hearing voices. “C’mon Twilight, I’m tired, can’t we do this tomorrow?” “No! We have to do it now! After what you did today, it just got me really excited and I need to this now before it’s too much later!” Rainbow looked to Applejack, and Applejack to Rainbow. “Should we…uh…should we come back later or…?” Applejack asked. “Well…if it were me, I’d probably be a little irritated if someone interrupted us…you know, for whenever we go there, I mean…” Rainbow rubbed the back of her neck nervously. Applejack gulped. “Well then…nothin’ to it but to do it…” The farm girl pressed her hand against the pad, activating the doorbell that rang within the dorm room. About ten seconds later the door opened and showed a fully clothed Sunset Shimmer standing in the doorway, her pajamas were a bright mauve color, with the image of a sun done in a yin-yang style. “AJ, Rainbow, what’s up?” Sunset asked. “Oh, hey, Sug. Um, is now a bad time? ‘Cause we can come back a little later…” Applejack asked. “Naw, come on in. Twi, we got company, so put that stuff away!” Both girls gulped as they entered, not entirely sure they were ready to see what salacious things Twilight and Sunset had planned. Their nervousness immediately evaporated as soon they entered the living room and saw Twilight hefting a machine that was giving out readings and other data that neither girl understood. The table at the center of the living room had scattered papers with notes jotted down that looked like they were done by someone in a frenzy. “Um, were you and Twilight about to get down to some egghead style of doing it? If you were, no judgement, just wanted to know.” Rainbow asked. Sunset rolled her eyes. “No, Twilight wanted to get data on my latest transformation, of which I told her I’d give her the full details after I rested.” “Sorry…I just wanted to get it from you while it was still fresh in your mind,” said Twilight. She then walked up to the Applejack and Rainbow did a small bow to them. “Thank you for helping Sunset out, and for accepting her as Aster.” “Aw shucks, it ain’t like we got any right to judge, ‘sides, friends help friends,” said Applejack. “Yeah, and since Sunny vouches for you, I guess it’s okay to let you know.” Sunset took the hint and closed the blinds to the patio. Once she did, Rainbow took off her shirt and released her wings, making Twilight’s eyes widen with awe. “You’re an Alien Avian!” Rainbow blinked. “Wow, not a lot of people figure that out right away. And technically, I’m only half.” “Oh my gosh! You’re half alien! A hybrid! I’ve heard of instances like this, but I never thought I’d get to meet someone like you!” Twilight quickly took Rainbow by the wrist and dragged her to the couch, whereupon she took out her notepad and said, “Tell me everything, what are your bathing methods for your wings? How fast can you fly? Do you have a high tolerance to cold temperatures for when you’re high up in air? Do you still eat regular food, or do you need a special diet?” Sunset shook her head as she chuckled, “Oh boy, hope you weren’t planning on leaving any time soon.” Applejack shrugged. “It’s fine, Ah can already tell Rainbow’s gonna like her, if there’s one thing I know about my girl, it’s that she loves talkin’ about herself. Probably best Ah don’t mention my crazy strength right now, huh?” “Not if you’re planning on leaving before the sunrise.” “I heard that!” Twilight called out. Sunset blushed and Applejack laughed. “Seriously, though, thanks for accepting me, and Twilight as your friends,” said Sunset. Applejack threw her arm over Sunset shoulders and said, “Sug, Ah don’t know how to say this, but bein’ with ya’ll feels right. And Ah wager Dashie feels the same way. Now let’s eat this pie before its cold.” “That’s what she said!” Rainbow exclaimed. Sunset and Applejack face palmed themselves, Rainbow laughed her head off, and Twilight looked confused.
4th Light: SMILE in Crisis! / The Phantom Zone is gone!Sunset was strolling down the paved walkways of SMILE Academy. It had been at least three weeks since her last battle, and things had been quite peaceful so far. Classes were kind of a bore at times, between her and Twilight, the more physics, science, and the math-based classes were a breeze and made up a majority of their homework load. So, with that mostly done, Sunset was free to roam around the campus. It was strange for her, having more than just the Commanders know about her secret, but she didn’t dislike it. Knowing someone had her back felt good. Not to mention a more recent discovery in the Everfree Forest, the mysterious cloaked woman, and the acquisition of two new Ultra Coins. Sunset began to wonder why it was that Applejack and Rainbow Dash held those coins? From what they told her, they had no knowledge of ever coming into contact with anything strange like the Ultra Coins, nor had they ever seen Aster until recently. This only further exacerbated Sunset’s frustration with her lack of memories. This all tied together somehow, and something inside told her that she needed to find more of those Ultra Coins, and the fact that she felt this way meant that there were probably more of them out there. How many? Sunset didn’t know, but she was hoping that they’d get her one step closer to her past. While she was walking, she started hearing the strumming of a guitar on the wind. Sunset turned to her right and saw the boy known as Flash Sentry. In his hands was a navy-blue electric guitar that sparkled in the sunlight, it was one of the newer models, it produced sounds without the need of an amp for practices and small sessions, but for bigger venues, it would need to be hooked up to an amp. For some reason, Sunset felt drawn to this sound, and before she knew it, she was standing next to the bench where Flash was sitting. The young musician glanced to his right and said, “Hey there.” “Oh, um, sorry I didn’t mean to interrupt,” said Sunset. “You’re Sunset, right?” Flash asked. “Y-Yeah, I am.” “I remember you. You and that rainbow haired girl charged back into the Everfree and gave the Senior Agents a heart attack,” said Flash with a smirk. Sunset rubbed the back of her head as she chuckled a little. “Yeah, that was me. So, do you play a lot?” “Yeah, I like making music,” said Flash. “Really, then, why are you here instead of some music school?” Sunset asked. “If that’s not too personal?” Flash shook his head. “Nah, my Dad’s in the military, the regular military. And he thought music wasn’t exactly a good way to make a living, so he decided that I should go here and help make the world safer as a SMILE Student, and the next thing I know I’m selected for Special Agent status. And before you ask, no, my Dad had nothing to do with it.” Flash strummed his guitar a few more times and said, “You seemed pretty interested in this, you wanna try?” Sunset nervously chuckled. “Uh, I’m not sure, I don’t think I’d be very good.” Flash smiled. “Don’t know until you try?” Flash took off the strap and held his axe towards Sunset. Sunset looked upon the instrument and bit her lower lip, she then gingerly reached out to take hold of the instrument. That is until the alarm went off. [ALERT!] [ALERT!] [ALERT!] The central spire began to release sparks of electricity, and all at once, the entire central spire shut down. Sunset and Flash looked on in shock at what they saw, for the central spire was the very thing that housed the Phantom Zone Emitter, and if it shut down, then that meant that there was nothing to stop the destruction of the city if a Space Beast attacked. At that same time, Sunset and Flash’s HollowFrames rang and stated, “Emergency Meeting”. \*****///** The entire student body had been assembled, and those who were unable to make it into the auditorium were watching via monitors from different places around campus and the base. Commander Celestia stood up at the podium and looked to everyone in attendance. “I don’t see a need in hiding this from you, so I will just come out and tell you all, the Phantom Zone Emitter is currently offline,” said Celestia. A loud roar of murmurs erupted from the crowd, all of which sounded panicked. Commander Celestia raised her hand and most of the students went back to being silent. “As I’m sure you’re all wondering, let me assure you, right now we are looking into how and why the tower was disabled. We haven’t ruled anything out, but top priority has been given to the repair of the tower. That being said, we will be running round the clock patrols in the sky and on land, we’ve also brought in workers from other SMILE bases to help in the repair. For now, go about your activities, but be vigilant. That is all, and thank you.” The crowds of people began to leave, but Sunset managed to work her way down through them to catch up with her guardians. “Commanders!” Sunset called out. Both women stopped as Sunset approached. “What exactly happened to the Emitter?” Sunset asked. “As the Commander has said, Sunset, it’s still under investigation,” said Vice Commander Luna. “How long do you think it will take to repair it?” “If we’re lucky, less than a day, we can’t afford for the Phantom Zone Emitter to be down for that long. Right now, every minute it remains in its current state is dangerous,” said Celestia. Sunset furrowed her brow; this was a crisis. A Space Beast could appear at any moment and cause major havoc to the city. “Alright, I know what I need to do.” \*****///** [Day 1, 9:25 am] Rainbow Dash’s squadron had been called out for the patrol. Since the announcement of the Phantom Zone Emitter’s malfunction, it had now been at least eight hours since the late afternoon of when everyone was told. Rainbow’s Gungir was flying patrol, along with several others that were crisscrossing the sky. Just then, Rainbow’s long-range radar was picking up on something, the squadron was alerted and ready to engage, but a stand down order was given when they saw what, or rather, who was flying close to them. Ultrawoman Aster was swiftly flying through the skies, stopping close to the squadron and giving them a salute before jetting off. {All Gungir aircraft, we have Aster flying recon with us, somehow? Don’t engage.} {Seriously? She’s patrolling with us?} {Guess she saw us all flying around and decided to help us out.} {Hell, right now with the Emitter down, I feel better knowing she’s out here.} Rainbow Dash smiled as she heard the chatter on the comms, and by the time she looked ahead, Aster flew back around and then rose higher into the air. The Ultra Warrior continued sailing higher and higher, going further than any of the Gungirs could go, stopping once she reached the outer atmosphere. Aster scanned the area, and even peered into the vastness of space itself, trying to pick up on anything that looked like another Space Beast attack. She stayed there for a few seconds, at least until her color timer began to flash red. Aster flew back down and flashed the other Gungirs a thumbs up before zooming. {Did she just go into the outer atmosphere?} {Damn right she did, I think she’s telling us that it was clear up there for now,} said Rainbow over the comms. {Well let’s not make her do all the work ladies! Keep your eyes peeled and stay alert!} Captain Spitfire exclaimed. \*****///** [Day 1, 12:10 pm] The Goliath tanks were making their rounds around the perimeter of the city. They couldn’t roll into the city itself, so they had to stay on the fringes. Thankfully their heavy-duty treads allowed them to traverse the seldom travelled routes around the city. As they made their rounds, they were given the heads up that Aster was spotted in the area. She was hovering over the city itself, rotating steadily as she looked into the distance. Their heavy tanks couldn’t move into the city, but Aster could at least hover over it and keep watch from there. \*****///** [Day 1, 2:07 pm] It was the passing period and the tension was still high, but it was probably less than what it would’ve been, this was thanks in part to the news about Ultrawoman Aster doing patrols around the area. Twilight’s literature class couldn’t stop talking about it, especially those who were also Special Agents and piloted Gungirs and Goliaths. When Twilight went to her locker, she spotted Applejack and Rainbow Dash, both looked tired from their patrols, and it was showing. Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie had joined them, and had the same look of concern as she did. “Oh dear, are you two okay?” Fluttershy asked. “We’re fine, Sug, don’t fret. Just a little beat from driving around so long,” said Applejack. “And flying, I mean I love flying, but those patrols can wear you down,” said Rainbow Dash. Pinkie Pie tapped on Rainbow’s shoulder and said, “You’re not the only one who looks like they can use a nap, look.” All six girls watched as Sunset came stumbling towards them. Her movements were somewhat labored, and she looked as tired as their two friends. “Sunset, are you alright?” Twilight asked. “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine!” Sunset said in a chipper mood that was not convincing anyone. “Sunset, darling, are you involved in any of the Special Operations going on? Not to sound rude, but you look dreadful,” said Rarity. The flame haired girl gave Rarity a deadpan look, but then answered. “Something like that. Can’t really say what exactly, but it’s tiring all the same.” Applejack, Rainbow, and Twilight glanced to each other, knowing exactly what she had been doing all this time. “Um, Sunset, do you mind I can talk with you right quick?” Twilight asked. Sunset shook her head as she nearly dozed off standing. “Oh, y-yeah, sure.” Both girls walked to a little secluded spot, still within view of the girls, but it gave them enough privacy to speak freely. “Sunset, have you been patrolling around, coming back, and then going back out again?” “Yeah.” “Don’t you think transforming that many times is wearing you down?” Sunset leaned against the locker and sighed. “It’ll be fine, Twi, besides, maybe seeing Aster fly around will make the Space Beasts think twice before attacking. If anything it’ll serve as a deterrent until the Emitter’s fixed.” “And what if it takes longer than a day?” Twi asked worriedly. Sunset weakly smiled and patted Twilight on the shoulder. “I got this, Twi. I’m stronger than I look.” \*****///** [Day 2, 12:00 pm] Twilight was getting increasingly worried about Sunset. Her friend hadn’t stopped her frequent transformations, heading out every three hours after she recharged, patrolling until her time was up, and then going about her day until she was charged back up. This cycle didn’t stop, even into the wee hours of the nighttime. Several times Twilight caught Sunset sneaking out to patrol, then coming back three minutes later to get some rest, only to wake up again in three hours to patrol once more. By the time Sunset got back to rest up again, her regular alarm to get up and get ready for school went off. It was now lunch time, and Sunset was in no better shape than she was before. Currently the flame haired girl had her head down on the table, a light snoring sound coming from her could be heard if one listened close enough. Rainbow Dash and Applejack joined them at their table, their lunch periods matching with theirs today. On some days they’d only see two or three of their teammates at a time, and on other rare occasions they’d have a table filled with the seven of them, but Twilight and Sunset always had the same lunch times. Applejack looked at Sunset and had a worried look. “Ah’m pretty sure this is a stupid question. But, has she slept fer anythin’ more than three hours?” Twilight shook her head. “Jeez, AJ can be a workaholic, but even she knows when to stop and rest! She can’t keep this up, if a monster does show up, she’ll be too tired to throw a punch!” Rainbow stated. “On that note, have ya heard anythin’ about it yet?” Applejack asked. Twilight took out her HoloFrame and scrolled through the information that was being released to the public and students. “So far they say they’re making progress but aren’t sure when it will be fully operational.” “Same thing they’ve been telling us,” said Rainbow. Twilight sighed remorsefully. “I wish I could do something for Sunset. But she’s determined to keep the city, and everyone safe until the Phantom Zone Emitter is fixed.” Applejack smirked as she said, “Maybe it’s time ya laid down the law, Sug.” Twilight’s eyebrow rose. “What do you mean?” “Sometimes, when it comes to this one here, she can be a mite stubborn about some things,” said Applejack. “Hi pot, I’m kettle,” Rainbow commented. Applejack blushed and the cleared her throat. “Ahem, well, anyway, sometimes when either of us gets stubborn about something that’s clearly not good fer the other, we usually have to put our foot down on each other to stop it. Do we get angry afterwards? Yes, but then when ya realize it wasn’t out of spite and that it’s because the other person cares about ya, it turns out alright.” “In other words, Twi, you need to make Sunset get some rest. Don’t ask, tell her.” Twilight looked to her still sleeping friend. “I…I don’t know, she’s really…I mean…what makes you think she’ll listen to me? I mean, honestly, what right do I have to tell her to stop?” “Yer right is that yer her friend.” “And if she doesn’t, she’s gonna collapse soon.” Twilight was still new to the nuances of friendship and what was appropriate to do and say in such relationships. Part of her reason not to say anything was the fear of Sunset getting angry with her and not wanting to be her friend anymore. Sunset was the first person she could say is her real friend, and slowly but steadily, so were Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and the rest of their team. But Sunset was the first among them, and losing that would be devastating. However, Twilight couldn’t deny what was before her eyes, her friend was exhausted, running herself ragged to protect everyone, and if a threat did arrive, Sunset would be in no shape to combat it. “Okay…I…I need to make a call.” \*****///** Eventually, the bell rang, signaling the end of the lunch period. The entire lunchroom cleared out, save for two girls. Sunset finally awoke from her light slumber, rubbing her eyes as she looked around and saw that everyone was gone save her and Twilight. “Oh crap, did I make us late?” Sunset asked groggily. “No, the bell just rang,” said Twilight. “Okay…Okay, good, we can make it to our next class if we hustle–!” Twilight took ahold of Sunset’s wrist and said, “Sunset, we…we need to talk.” “But, Twi, we’ll be late,” said Sunset. “I called Commander Celestia, I told her you weren’t feeling good and I asked for permission to take you back to the dorms to get some rest. Of course, she knew what I really meant. So, we’re excused from the afternoon classes.” Sunset looked at Twilight with confusion. “Why would you do that?” “Because…” Twilight looked down at her knees as she tried to say the words she needed to. “Because you’re tired, Sunset…Y-You’re tired, groggy, and look as if you’re about to collapse!” Sunset sighed and said, “Twi, I told you I’m–” “‘Stronger than you look’, I know, but you’re still human to a degree! And humans cannot appropriate on the little amount of sleep that you have been getting! All I’m asking is that you sleep for more than three hours. Please?” Twilight almost begged. Sunset rubbed the back of her head as she gave a light frustrated growl, her tired mind was not in the best place to think about this kind of thing. “Twi, I need to protect the city. I’m the only one who can do it.” Twilight stood up and faced Sunset, look her straight in the eyes. “I am not budging on this, let me take you back to the dorm to rest up a little more!” “This…This is stupid, I’m going and…and…whoa, things are spinning.” Sunset began to lean forward, and Twilight quickly rushed to Sunset’s side to catch her. Thankfully, a combination of Twilight’s help and Sunset’s reflexes managed to keep the young redhead from face planting against the linoleum floor. Sunset looked to Twilight, seeing the worry plastered all over her face. “……Fine, I guess…I guess I’ll rest up more.” “Okay, I’m taking you to the nurse’s office then. At least until I’m sure I can get you back to the dorms without you passing out.” \*****///** [Day 2, 5:30 pm…] Sunset awoke sometime later, feeling not as exhausted as she was earlier. The sterile smell that invaded her sinuses informed her that Twilight did indeed take her to the nurse’s office. Sunset was aware of someone near her and looked to her right to see that Twilight was there, her head lying down against a small part of Sunset’s cot. Sunset smiled at the nerdy girl, she didn’t leave her, despite the how difficult she was being. “Hey, sleepyhead, wake up,” said Sunset. Twilight stammered awake as she looked and saw that her friend had finally awoken. “How do you feel?” “Better, actually, I’ll probably need a little more sleep than this, but at least I’m not like how I was earlier…” A look of regret befell Sunset. “I’m sorry, Twilight.” The young genius merely shook her head. “You don’t have to apologize. I know you want to take your job as Aster seriously, but you’re not some kind of machine. The best way to help everyone is to stay healthy and ready. So, please be more mindful of your health o-or else!” Sunset smiled. “Yes, Mom.” Twilight puffed out her cheeks. “Don’t call me that! I’m being serious.” [ALERT!] [ALERT!] [ALERT!] Sunset shot up out of the cot, and Twilight sprang to her feet upon hearing the alarm. At that moment, Sunset’s HoloFrame beeped at her as she opened it up. What she saw was a message from Applejack. [Sunset, we just got word that long-range scanners are picking up some kind of meteor heading straight for us! They think it’s a Space Beast since it’s correcting its path the closer it gets. It’s traveling fast and will be here soon! I don’t know if you’re okay yet, but we need Aster on this one!] Twilight looked to Sunset and said to her, “Go!” Sunset smirked and nodded. She ran swiftly out of the room, definitely feeling a lot better than she did hours ago. She headed outside, to one of the blind spots that Commander Celestia had sent her information on to avoid the cameras. Sunset pulled up her sleeve, and the StaRaizer appeared on her forearm, along with the silver belt and Coin Keeper. Light shined around her as a she pulled out the Ultra Coins. “Grant me the strength of a hero!” || ULTRAMAN! || “Grant me the power of a galaxy!” || ULTRAMAN GINGA! || “Release the light within me!” ||SHINE ON! ULTRAWOMAN ASTER!|| A bright flash of light went off, and the hero of light, Aster, shot up straight into the air. She rose faster and faster, zooming past the clouds. Twilight watched this and felt a stirring inside her. She couldn’t let Sunset be the only one out there fighting, Twilight knew she may not have the piloting skills, or the amazing powers, but there was another way she could try and help. Twilight ran in the direction of the spire, seeing several workers already huddled around it as they frantically worked to get the machine back up and running. The two Commanders were already there, trying to coordinate the effort as the threat was drawing closer. “Commanders!” Twilight called out. “Twilight Sparkle, what are you doing here? You need to head to the bunkers!” Commander Celestia advised. “I know, but I thought I could at least try and help!” Twilight stated. Vice Commander Luna sighed heavily. “Miss Sparkle, SMILE’s best are right here and working nonstop to try and fix this, we have all we need.” “Please, let me try, Ma’am!” Twilight asked as she stood at attention. Celestia eyed Twilight, seeing the flames of determination in the young woman’s amethyst eyes made her feel confident for some reason. “I’ll allow it.” “WHA – SISTER?!” Luna exclaimed. “We need all the brain power we can get, and Twilight has scored at the top of the class in science and engineering, a fresh perspective could be useful. Plus, need I remind you we have an impending threat that could level the city?!” Luna looked as if she was going to offer protest, but when she couldn’t think of a better argument she relented. “Go, you have my permission to assist with the repairs, do what you can and what you must to get this thing back up and running!” Twilight saluted Celestia and said, “Yes, Commander!” \*****///** Aster broke through the outer atmosphere. Her eyes caught sight of the incoming object, it looked like a asteroid, but there was something about it that did not sit well with Aster. “Whatever, I’ll just blow it up before gets that far!” Aster’s forearms shined with power as she brought them together to unleash her signature finishing move. “ASTRONIUM RAY!” The beam of blue light and golden sparks sailed through space, and in no time at all, the Astronium Ray struck the surface of the asteroid, creating a massive explosion of fire. However, something was wrong, Aster could feel resistance against her ray attack. Aster focused more of her power and doubled the size of the beam, but it was no use, the asteroid flew out of the flames and continued to push against her attack. “So, you are a Space Beast! Whatever, I’m not letting you get past me! AAAAAAH!” Aster focused more of her power into the beam, using it to at least keep the monster at bay for however long she could. \*****///** Back on the ground, Twilight had been given a schematic on the spire. When she entered the spire itself, she paused. It was a massive cylindrical chamber, spiraling all the way up a good two hundred feet. The real issue, from what Twilight was reading up on, was that the center of the spire, which contained a kind of specialized, crystal glass filament, should be generating a beam of energy that produces the Phantom Zone, that energy is then sent to the top of the spire and emitted over a wide area, relayed by several other towers strategically placed to expand the field itself. Twilight walked to the edge of the railing and saw that several workers were further down below, working on the power source to the Phantom Zone. The young genius ran to the closest lift and had it take her down to where the action was. Once at the bottom level, Twilight looked upon the massive machine that served as the base of the spire, and which powered the Phantom Zone. The machine itself was about twenty meters in width, and ten in height, not counting the filament that was attached to it. A series to tubes were connected to it, feeding the device coolant to keep it from overheating. There a few super computers attached to it, each one serving as a different station, about five in total, and each one was being manned by different engineers and scientists as they scoured through the computers and tried to figure out what caused the malfunction. Twilight opened her HoloFrame and went over the schematic of the spire’s base. This system has a series of fail safes that should always keep it running, backup generators, backup systems, in theory this spire should be impossible to stop short of blowing it up. So…why? Twilight continued to look over the base and her HoloFrame, until something caught her eye. It was minute, very out of the way, but there was a part on the machine that wasn’t showing on the blueprints. It was a panel, its seams were thin, almost like they were made that way to be hard to see purposefully. Twilight didn’t know why, but something about this didn’t sit right with her, everything should be listed on a schematic, down the smallest detail, so why wasn’t this on it? “Excuse me!” Twilight called out. One of the workers, a tall, lightly muscular woman, with red hair, and a bandanna around her head, approached Twilight and spoke to her with an accent, “What can do ya for, kid?” “There’s a panel here, I want to see what’s inside of it!” Twilight requested. The woman in overalls brought a crowbar with her and knelt to see the crease Twilight was speaking of. Sure enough, there was a crease there, how she had missed it confounded her. “Stand back, dear!” the redhead took the crowbar and worked it into the crease, and with one good pull, she worked the panel off. “Got it!” Twilight knelt beside the older woman and both looked inside. A series of circuits boards ran along the walls, leaving only the bottom free to allow crawling movement. The space itself was five feet wide, and about four in height, none of the workers there could fit inside. “I can fit.” “Pardon?” “I can fit inside this crawl space, maybe whatever’s affecting the Emitter is through here?” Twilight though aloud. “Young lady, I cannot in good conscience let you go in there!” “Look, Miss…?” The older woman sighed, “Torque, my name is Torque Wrench.” “Miss Torque, we don’t have a lot of time to argue about this! Ultrawoman Aster’s fighting a Space Beast, or some kind of asteroid that’s coming straight for us! If we don’t get the Phantom Zone Emitter up by any means necessary, then everyone in the area will be killed from the impact alone!” Twilight argued. Torque looked around, trying to see if there was anyone else other than this young girl who could do it. She’d do it, but Torque could tell right away she’d get stuck the moment she tried. “I don’t like it, but fine.” Torque unhooked a radio from her belt and gave it to Twilight. “Channel two, dear, and keep talking to me.” She then unhooked her tool belt and gave it to Twilight. “I don’t know what you’ll need in there, but it’s better than nothing.” Twilight nodded as she got down and began to crawl through the vent. \*****///** Aster’s beam broke off as the asteroid still flew straight for the Earth. With little recourse, Aster flew out towards the space debris Space Beast. Aster slammed her hands against the surface as she pushed back against the monster, but the creature within screeched as it continued forward, pushing the hero back as she tried to stop it, or at the very least slow it down. Unfortunately, her efforts were making just a marginal difference. The monster carried the both of them into the atmosphere, flames lapped off of Aster’s body as they both made reentry, but the whole time, Aster continued to push back, continued to fight against this thing. C’mon, guys, please get the Emitter back up and running! \*****///** Twilight continued her speedy crawl through the small space, a slight bought of claustrophobia was trying to set in, but all Twilight had to do was remember that Sunset was out there trying prevent a catastrophe, and that she needed to fight just as hard. {What do you see, Twilight?} “Nothing yet, just a lot of circuit boards, they all seem intact, no shorts or damage that I can visibly see. I’m actually almost at the end of the tunnel.” Twilight did make it to the end, opening up to a wider space so that Twilight could stand up. What she saw kind of baffled Twilight, above her was the filament which funneled the energy into the spire, but what was before her, from what she could deduce, must be the core. It looked like a tree, but it was made of crystal, its trunk was a dark blue sapphire-like color, transitioning from the branches into a clear diamond-like crystal. Around the trunk were rings that were spinning about, but one of them was off its axis. There were wires that led to terminals that were stationed at five points around the tree, most likely connected to the supercomputers outside. Twilight began her investigation, checking the internal terminals to see what had made it malfunction. Twilight looked over the information, compared to the outside terminals, the internal ones seemed to give more data. The three rings that surrounded the tree worked as oscillators to focus the power of this strange crystal tree. “One of the rings malfunctioned, so that’s why the Phantom Zone wasn’t working…?” Twilight looked to the middle ring, which was spinning at an odd angle. “Okay.” \*****///** The ground was getting closer and closer, and both Aster and the meteor monster were now a giant fireball that was hurdling towards the city. The color timer on Aster’s chest began to flash red as her time in her hero form was coming to an end. “I won’t let you through, no matter what!” Sunset took up the Ultraman Leo and Max coins. “Bestow, the strength of the brave!” || ULTRAMAN LEO! || “Bestow, the power of the bold!” || ULTRAMAN MAX! || “Ignite the fire in my heart!” ||BURN UP! SOLARIS MAXIMUS!|| A bright flame burned around Aster, transforming her into her powered form, Solaris Maximus. With the increased power, strength, and durability of this form, Aster drew back her right fist and punched the meteor right on its surface, and when she did, one of the cylinders on her revolver gauntlet fired, and discharged a blast of fiery plasma energy. Aster did this again with her left fist, discharging another one. She repeated until all six chambers in both gauntlets had been emptied, and now the surface began to crack, splitting down the middle to reveal a monster with a long beak and rows of sharp teeth screeching at Aster. “Okay, yeah, you’re just too ugly to let live,” said Aster as she recharged her revolver chambers and prepared to strike. The Space Beast released a burst wave of flames and heat that caused an explosion, making Aster fly off of its body. Aster stopped herself in midair and hurriedly flew after the monster, but it was too late. A bright flash of light went off as the roar of a powerful explosion went off all around her. Dust and heat flew upwards and obscured everything in sight. Inside the starry nexus, Sunset’s eyes widened with shock and horror, she had failed, she was supposed to protect everyone, and now they were gone. Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie, Fluttershy, Rarity, and…Twilight. The smoke that cluttered the sky was swept away for a moment by a small gust of wind, revealing the sun, and…a purple sky. “PURPLE SKY?!” Aster flew above the smoke and to her great relief, the sky was now a light purple color, which meant only one thing. “THE PHANTOM ZONE IS BACK!” The smoke down below cleared as the creature emerged from its meteor cocoon and roared, its motions creating smalls gusts, revealing the devastation it wrought. “And you're done!” Aster shot towards the monster at full speed. She flipped around as she thrust her right leg forward, performing a flying kick. The monster reconstructed its meteor shell. The moment Aster made contact with the shell she cried out, “SOUL CRUSHER!” All six revolver chambers fired off at the same time, releasing a pinpoint burst of energy that shot through the shell creating a big hole in the center of the shell. Aster landed on the ground as she cocked back her right fist and thrust her right fist into the breach. “BREAK BUSTER!” All six chambers on the right arm fired at once, the energy released in the contained space was magnified as the monster blew up in a spectacular explosion that formed a smoldering crater in the earth. Aster quickly inspected the area to make sure the monster was gone, and when she was satisfied that it was completely destroyed, she jumped into the air and took off into the distance. \*****///** [Same Day, 9:00 pm…] “Let’s here it for the hero of the hour, Twilight Sparkle!” Pinkie Pie declared. The official announcement would not be made until tomorrow, but Twilight was given permission from the Commanders to at least inform her friends of her soon to be granted honors for reactivating the Phantom Zone Emitter. And when she did, somehow, Pinkie Pie managed to set up a party in their dorm room, despite only Twilight and Sunset having access to the room. Twilight felt a little embarrassed with the cheers and congratulations being heaped upon her. “Really, it was nothing.” “Oh no, darling, you don’t get to downplay the importance of your actions,” Rarity tutted. “If not for you, the entire city – indeed the whole area – would be reduced to a smoldering crater. Aster may have defeated the monster, but if not for you, everyone would be gone.” Twilight rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment. “I-I don’t know about that, I mean, if Aster hadn’t flown up to slow down the monster, I don’t think I would’ve made it time. I guess you could say it was a team effort.” Sunset shot Twilight a knowing glance as she lightly elbowed her roommate, knowing full well she was trying to share the credit. “Yeah, but you’re still the hero, Aster gets to be one every day, so it’s your turn, Twi.” “I’ll drink to that!” Rainbow exclaimed as took up her cup of punch and chugged it. “Um, how did you fix it, Twilight?” Fluttershy asked. “Unfortunately, since it was a crisis situation, I was given access to some secret information, and because of that, I’m not allowed to say what I saw or how I actually fixed it,” said Twilight. Pinkie Pie snapped her fingers, “Ah, shoot, I really wanted to hear how you did it!” Twilight waved her hand dismissively. “Believe me, you don’t, it was really technical, and honestly the explanation would put you all to sleep. And, well, the point of a party is to have fun, right?” “Yep! And after all that hullabaloo over the last couple of days, the Commanders are given everyone the day off while they look into some things, and to give us some time to relax. All Ah’m doin’ is sleepin’ in the rest of the day,” said Applejack. “Our dear Applejack, sleeping in?! Oh it truly must be the end times!” Rarity stated in a dramatic tone. Rainbow Dash busted out laughing, Twilight and Sunset didn’t need to know the inside joke to get that Applejack looked like someone who would get up at the crack of dawn. A couple of hours passed by with the team laughing, playing some games on a gaming system Pinkie brought over, and others just sharing in conversation. Closer to the end of the second hour, everyone helped clean up as all, save for Sunset and Twilight, left the dorm room. Both girls headed out to the patio outside, and stared up at the star filled sky as they took it all in. “Jeez, these last two days were stressful,” said Sunset. “I’ll say, and I expect you to catch up on your sleep tonight and tomorrow,” said Twilight in a stern tone. “Okay, Mom.” “Stop that!” Twilight whined. Sunset chuckled and eventually Twilight shared in the laughter as well. “You know…” Twilight spoke. “I’m starting to come a realization that there are truly things in this universe that we don’t know. I mean, you as Aster, the Everfree Forest, the Space Beasts that come and attack us…” And one more mystery… “Well, guess we’ll just have solve those mysteries, huh?” Sunset asked. “Yes, we’ll solve them together.” ~~~ [Same Day, 4 hours earlier…] Twilight had fixed the ring and placed it back into its proper position, everything looked great, all systems were nominal. “SO WHY AREN’T YOU WORKING?!” Indeed, despite the repairs, the Emitter had not activated. Time was running out and Twilight was out of ideas on how to make this strange thing work. “Sunset’s fighting that monster, and if it crashes everyone will die! There has to be something else I’m not getting here!” Twilight walked up to the tree, one of its crystal vines draped over her shoulder, but she didn’t pay it any mind. “Please, I need this to work! For my friend! For everyone!” Suddenly, the vine that touched Twilight glowed purple. The purple light traveled through the vine, into the branch, and traveled along the branch until it reached the heart of the tree. Twilight didn’t notice it, but when the light reached the heart of the tree, the crystal tree began to glow. That glow began to magnify as a bright light and energy began to build up. The three rings around the tree spun at a more rapid pace as they began to funnel that energy, and in the next moment, a ray of light rose up and struck the filament above Twilight’s head. The light began to fill the giant cylinder and in no time at all, the entire system came back to life. Twilight hurriedly rushed to the terminal and verified that the Phantom Zone Emitter was functional again. She didn’t wait for approval or confirmation as Twilight scoured through the system and found the activation protocols for the Phantom Zone, and just as quickly, turned it on. A wave of purple light zoomed outward, and with that, Twilight breathed a sigh of relief. Through the vent she had crawled through, she could hear the faint echoes of people cheering. “Miss Torque, are you there?” {Yes I am! The Emitter’s workin’ again! Was that you dear?!} “Yes, as far I can tell, it’s fully functional again!” {Well come on out here so we can celebrate the hero!} Twilight blushed from being called a hero, but as she readied to crawl back through the vent, she paused as the light behind her seemed to change. The young genius turned around and watched as the silhouette of a woman appeared, made up of sparkling purple light. Twilight just remained still, not sure what exactly she should do right now. This construct tilted its head to the side, like a dog when it was confused and trying to understand what it was looking at. The construct maiden then turned around and walked back towards the tree, but not before glancing over its shoulder to Twilight. For some reason, she felt as if the construct was smiling at her despite not having any defining facial features. The construct resumed its walk and disappeared, or returned to the tree, Twilight wasn’t sure which. ~~~ “Twi, you alright?” Sunset asked. “Y-Yeah, just thinking.
6th Light: Suspicion! / The new student arrives!“So, let me get this straight. You made those little bombs?” Sunset asked. Sunset was in her history class, and in this class with her were Twilight, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie. It had been a couple of days since the attack on the Preserve, and things had gotten back to a relative sense of normalcy. “Yep, I was trying to create a new kind of mini fireworks that give you the same kind of oooooh, and awwwwe, effect, but I kind of ended up just making those things I used back in the cave,” said Pinkie. “Fascinating, were those the only ones?” Twilight asked. “Oh no, I have plenty more stashed up in my hair, just in case of emergencies. Although they are a bit of a pain in the rear to get out when I want to shower.” The girls chuckled but then grew quiet when they heard the bell ring and their history teacher, Miss Cheerilee, entered the room. The teacher stood before her class and said, “Good morning everyone, I have some news. Starting today, you’ll all have a new classmate transferring into your class.” The students began to murmur amongst themselves, wondering who could be transferring to their school at such a time. Cheerilee looked towards the open door and said, “You can come in dear.” The class watched as girl entered their class room. She had light olive skin, artic blue eyes, and salmon colored hair. She clutched her backpack kind of tight, and was having a hard time making eye contact with everyone. “Go on ahead, dear, introduce yourself,” said Miss Cheerilee in her cheerful tone. “Um…m-my name is…Ocellus…” Immediately, Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Sunset’s eyes widened upon hearing her name. Leading all three of them to rise from their desks and call out, “Ocellus?!” The sudden calling of her name made the young girl yelp as her body flared up with arctic blue energy, changing her body and form to that of her true Changeling form, the uniform she was wearing was specially made with slits in the back to compensate for her wings, and another slit was made in the skirt for her tail frill. “Sunset, Fluttershy, Pinkie?!” Ocellus exclaimed happily. The class as a little taken aback by the fact that she had just changed from a human girl into an insectoid human-like creature. “Oh, well then, I guess this is as best a time as any to tell you all. Ocellus is a Changeling that comes from Hive Prime, she’s new to Earth and so because of that, I expect you all to treat her kindly and help her with anything that she may not understand. Ocellus, since you seem to know some of my students, you can take the seat closest to them.” Ocellus turned to Cheerilee and gave a slight bow. “Thank you, ma’am.” As Ocellus made her way to the seat next to Fluttershy and Pinkie, she could hear several of the students whispering suspiciously about her. Her body ignited once more, changing her back into her human disguise and once again making the class gasp. Class went on, but Ocellus could tell that the other students were sneaking glances at her when they thought she wasn’t looking. After about an hour of class the bell rang and began the transition time to get to their next class. Ocellus tapped on Sunset’s shoulder and asked, “Um, hi, Sunset. C-Could you show me to my next class? I have the schedule, but I don’t know where to go exactly.” Sunset smiled at the Changeling. “Sure, let’s see.” Ocellus handed her HoloFrame to Sunset. “Oh, cool, you have Physics next, Twilight and I have that class. We can walk you there.” “Thank you,” said Ocellus. Fluttershy came up and said, “We’ll have to catch up later, maybe during lunch?” “I’d like that.” “See ya later, Ocellus!” Pinkie exclaimed as she left the room. Twilight, Ocellus, and Sunset left the classroom and walked down the hall. Apparently word had spread fast as the other students were looking at Ocellus with suspicion as well. “Hey, if you don’t mind me asking, what happened?” Sunset asked. “Um, is it okay to talk about that?” Ocellus asked. Twilight leaned down to the slightly shorter girl and whispered, “I know that Sunset’s Aster, so do the rest our teammates, and the Commanders, but no one else in the school knows.” “Okay, well…I’ll tell you after school, it’s kind of complicated…” \*****///** The Commanders of SMILE Concordia Base stood in the communications room, making contact with Ocellus’ home world of Hive Prime. After a minute, the screen showed the image of the current Changeling ruler. His carapace was a bright green color, his chest was a darker green color, and sparkled brilliantly. Around his collar bone were three embedded white jewels, the color around his collar was an orange and faded into the light green color halfway up his neck. His eyes were a deep violet color, and upon his head had three horns. One in the middle of his forehead which was dual tipped and green, and the other two came from the sides of his head and were colored orange. Ocellus bowed when she saw her king and said, “King Thorax!” “Ocellus, I’m happy you’re safe!” King Thorax exclaimed. “She is safe and sound thanks to Ultrawoman Aster. We’ve also apprehended the ones who enslaved her, and are currently awaiting trail and extradition.” “As such, we are also ready to have Ocellus returned home. Do you wish for us to make the journey to you or are you sending a ship for her?” Vice Commander Luna asked. King Thorax looked a little troubled at that question. A look that did not go unnoticed by Ocellus. “Is…Is something the matter my King?” “Yes…and no…It’s complicated.” King Thorax sighed heavily. “There’s no easy way to say this, so I’ll just say it. Ocellus, you can’t come back to Hive Prime right now.” Ocellus’ eyes widened with shock. “W-Why?! Did I do something wrong?!” Thorax quickly shook his head. “No, no, little one, you didn’t! It’s just…we discovered something about you that puts you in more jeopardy should you return. We recently went over your last biometric information, trying to see if there was a reason you in particular were kidnapped. And there is a reason, or maybe they weren’t aware, regardless, it’s important enough that the Dark Changelings would attack you again.” Commander Celestia narrowed her gaze. “Forgive us, King Thorax, if this is classified information, then we need to switch to a private channel.” Thorax nodded. Vice Commander Luna looked to one of the workers and they quickly switched the feed to a secure communication line. “You may speak now, our conversation is encrypted.” “Thank you. It turns out, Ocellus, you have the potential to become a Queen Changeling.” The strength in Ocellus’ legs drained as she collapsed onto her rear, prompting Luna to rush to the young Changeling’s side. “I…I can become a Queen Changeling?!” “It’s true, a very rare occurrence given our times. We’re still running more data to make sure, but it’s looking like this is more and more a fact. If Queen Chrysalis learns of this, your life is in danger on Hive Prime.” “I’m sorry, King Thorax, but how does this endanger Ocellus? You are the King of the Changelings, and while I’m not familiar with your customs, Ocellus looks far too young to take as your bride,” said Luna. Thorax rubbed the back of his head. “It’s not exactly the same thing as marriage. With Chrysalis, she practically gave birth to all of us on Hive Prime, there was once a King who helped in fathering our race, but once he served his purpose, he was killed by Chrysalis, from then on, she laid the eggs that would soon become the race of beings you see before you.” “When I began this rebellion, and converted us from what we once were, initiating this dramatic change to our bodies, it’s made it so that we do not need to feed off of the emotional energy of other creatures, we can share that energy amongst ourselves, love when freely given can be shared with others. That power is what changed us. That change is what helped me start this revolution, and allowed other Changelings to procreate with each other and have families of their own.” “But the Queen is the Queen, she can continue to make more Changelings. And because of that, she can assert her power as ruler and life giver. But, if a new Queen type of Changeling is born…” “It would take away that power, and possibly bring more of the Dark Changelings over to your side, dwindling their numbers,” said Celestia. “…It’s more than that…” Ocellus finally spoke. “There cannot be more than one Queen Type in a Hive that is a law that has been set since the beginning of Hive Prime, before Chrysalis, and before the one who spawned her. If it’s true…If I do become a Queen, I’ll have to face her…by ancient law, we must fight until only one of us stands.” Celestia and Luna’s eyes widened as they looked upon Ocellus in a new light. If this was true, then Ocellus was the key to ending the civil war on Hive Prime, and in that case, Chrysalis would stop at nothing to try and kill Ocellus before she could become a threat to her. “I know you want to come back home, Ocellus, but given what we know now, it’s more than likely that Chrysalis has figured this out as well. I’ve already talked with the SMILE Director, as well as the Earth Federation, and they have agreed to grant you and your family asylum on Earth. And, with your permission, Commanders, I’d like it if they could migrate to your area, and have Ocellus attend your school. I can think of no safer place in the universe than on a planet that as a member of the Ultra race protecting it.” Celestia looked back at the young alien girl, she looked as if she was still processing all this. The tall woman walked over to where Ocellus was still on the floor and knelt before her to look the Changeling in the eyes. “Ocellus, this is as much your decision. I would be happy to have you at this Academy, and having Aster around does make this area safer than most. But that’s not up to me, I know you want to go back home, however, Earth is called home by many different aliens who have decided call it that. I know there are at least two or three people here who’d be willing to be your friend and help you transition.” Ocellus looked up to the monitor, and then to Celestia. With a heavy sigh, she made her decision. ~*~*~*~ “And that’s what happened…” The girls had met up outside, sitting at a bench as Ocellus told them what had been going on this past week. They were each in various states of shock, and didn’t know what to say about what they heard, they were mostly feeling sorry for the young Changeling. Twilight cleared her throat to break the silence and asked, “If this isn’t too personal, do you know when you’ll become a Queen?” Ocellus shook her head. “No, a metamorphosis like that could happen at any time. It could take years before I become that. Or could happen this week. All I know is, from what King Thorax told me, I’ll grow a cocoon around myself, and then when I emerge, I’ll be a Queen Changeling. I’ll be as strong as Chrysalis is, and be able to fight her for rule of Hive Prime. But, again, there’s no telling when that will happen. I’ll be the first Queen of the newly reformed Changelings…I should feel honored, excited even…” The girls all had saddened looks on their faces. Fluttershy scooted closer to Ocellus and asked, “It’s okay, you can tell us how you feel.” “Is it…Is it okay if I change back?” Ocellus asked. “You don’t have to ask permission for that, Sug. You just be yerself,” said Applejack. Arctic blue energy flared around Ocellus until she was in her true form. Her eyes began to water as she sniffled. “I don’t want to become a Queen! I just want to live with my family, go to school, and have a life of my own…! Now…Now everyone, my entire race, is going to be looking to me to end this war! I…I don’t know what to do!” Fluttershy brought Ocellus into a hug as she let her cry into her chest. The overwhelming pressure of becoming the potential savior of her people was a lot to be hefted on a young girl’s shoulders, alien or not, that was a heavy burden to bear. “Sunset, this may sound like a stupid question, but is there any way you can, like, go to Hive Prime and ray beam blast this Chrysalis?” Rainbow asked. “I’d love to, but I’m not sure how well that would go over with Celestia and Luna. Plus, I know I can go into space, but I don’t want to run the risk of flying out there and changing back before I got there. The only other way would be to jump on a ship heading to Hive Prime, but that would leave Earth vulnerable to Space Beast attacks. No offense, but if more like Barabas, Zetton, and that Meteor Raptor show up…” Twilight pushed her glasses up as she chuckled. “Well, we may be closer to providing you with backup sometime soon. With the improvements I’ve suggested and with some added research thanks to you, Sunset, we may be able to at least start causing more damage to the Space Beasts.” “Oooh, I like where that’s going!” Pinkie exclaimed. “Ocellus, if they haven’t given you a room yet, you can come and stay with Pinkie and me. Our room can house at least three comfortably.” Fluttershy offered. Ocellus wiped her tears and smiled up at the teal eyes girl. “I’d like that.” \*****///** [Wednesday, 3:15 pm…] Three days had passed since Ocellus was brought into the Academy, unfortunately, the rumor mill had been going on about her. And once they learned she was a Changeling, people became suspicious of her. Since she had the power to turn into anyone, it was hard not to think that she could do some things and get away with it. It also didn’t help that her involvement in the Preserve attack was also circulating around, so now people knew that she could transform into a giant monster whenever she chose. Ocellus mostly kept to her human form, only dropping her disguise when she was with Sunset or the others, or just in her dorm room with Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie. Currently, Ocellus was in one of the design rooms, Rarity had asked for assistance with an idea for a gown for herself for a party that she had to attend back in the city. Ocellus agreed, happily willing to help. She transformed into Rarity herself, and allowed the fashionista to begin her work. “Oh, darling, you have no idea how much easier it is to work on an outfit for yourself, when you can actually see how it looks on you.” Rarity took a step back as she looked upon Ocellus in the unfinished dress. “Although, I must admit, it’s a bit of a weird feeling to see yourself and touch my own body from this perspective.” Ocellus chuckled, “I’m sure it is. But, if it’s not too much trouble, could I ask you to make something for me? I don’t have that many clothes and…” Rarity gasped upon hearing this. “Darling, you mean to say you have no wardrobe at all?!” Ocellus shook her head. “Not really, we Changelings don’t normally wear clothes, but I have grown a fascination with them. And, typically, when we transform, we can also recreate different outfits with our power. It’s fake though, and disappears when we change to another form.” Rarity tutted. “No, no, no, this simply will not do. A young girl requires a detailed wardrobe. This Saturday, you and I will go on a shopping spree, my treat!” Ocellus blushed. “Oh, you don’t have to, I don’t want to spend your money on me.” “Nonsense, it is my money, and I shall spend it how I wish! We’ll pick out some fashionable, yet comfortable clothes, and I’ll also treat you to some of my original designs. What do you think?” Ocellus smiled and then her voice changed. “If you insist, darling, then I’ll happily take you up on your offer.” “Oh you cheeky thing.” Both girls laughed, at that moment, some of the other design students stepped in and saw the two Rarity’s. “Uh, Rarity, what are you doing?” “Ocellus was assisting me with a gown I was making for myself, and she kindly agreed to turn into me to model that dress so I could see how I look in it,” Rarity explained. The female students glanced to each other with uncertainty. They motioned for Rarity to walk over to them and asked, “Is that, okay with you?” “Of course it is, I asked her to.” “But, what if she goes around the rest of the day as you.” Rarity raised her eyebrow. “I’m failing to see the issue here.” “We’re just saying, you might wanna be careful she doesn’t impersonate you.” Rarity rolled her eyes. “Humph, yes, thank you for the warning, but if you don’t mind I am busy.” The female students left, leaving only Ocellus and Rarity in the room. “Don’t pay attention to them, darling.” “Okay…sure.” \*****///** Sunset had decided to let things cool down before she asked some questions, but now knowing about Ocellus, it was more than likely not going to be a good time one way or another, so Sunset made her way to the office of Commander Celestia. She knocked on the door of her office, to which Celestia replied, “You may enter.” Sunset pressed on the pad next to the door and let it slide open as it revealed both Commanders going over some documents. Geez, I know they’re sisters, but they’re always together when I see them…people are going to start talking, thought Sunset. “Sunset, to what do we owe this visit?” Celestia asked as she briefly glanced to see who it was and then went back to her work. “Gomora.” Both Commanders stopped what they were doing as they looked at Sunset. “What about, Gomora?” Luna asked. “How long has SMILE known that there’s a Terra Beast resting under our feet near the city?” Sunset asked as she crossed her arms. Celestia raised her brow. “Are you concerned that Gomora may attack?” “No, that’s not my concern. I’m pretty sure he’s on our side, if that lick meant anything. No, what I’m concerned about is the fact that you didn’t tell me he was there! Don’t you think I should know something like that?! I mean, I made the decision to protect the Earth from Space Beasts, shouldn’t I be aware that there are Terra Beasts sleeping underneath our feet?!” Luna cleared her throat. “I’m sorry you’re not privy to all our classified information, Sunset Shimmer. But it’s best that certain bits of information are kept secret, even from you. Your being Ultrawoman Aster does not grant you Top Secret Clearance, the chain of command has to be followed.” “I’ll have to agree with Luna on this one, it’s not our call whether to divulge classified info to you Sunset or not. We can only provide the best information we can under the circumstances, but rest assured, that won’t be happening again. We’ve increased security around Gomora, more specifically the Preserve.” Sunset sighed. “Anything else I should know?” “No, but Sunset,” Celestia rose from her desk, “I can’t tell you a lot because of where I’m stationed in SMILE, neither of us can. But know this, I do care about you, and I’ll always be there to help you in whatever capacity I am able.” The redhead smiled at that as she sighed. “Thanks. I’m going to hang around with Pinkie and Twilight.” With that said, Sunset left the room and left the two sisters alone. When she left, Celestia sat at the edge of her desk and held the bridge of her nose as she sighed heavily. “I don’t like keeping these secrets from her, Luna. I feel as if I may be keeping her from regaining her past!” Luna came around the desk and stood before her elder sister. “Tia, what else can you do? You know about as much I do about her, which is little.” “I still think I can make a better effort to find out who she is, and where she came from. To give her some kind of closure.” Luna placed her hands on Celestia’s shoulders and then brought her into a hug. “Tia, you always have to play the role of the mother, but that’s what makes you such a good commander.” “Same to you, I guess one of us has to be the stern parent to our wards.” “Oh, and you’re thefun parent?” Luna asked with heavy skepticism. “Well maybe if you showed more of your cute side, our students would see you the same way I do!” Celestia raised her hands up as she wiggled her fingers. “Oh no…y-you wouldn’t dare!” “Run if you can, Lulu!” No one would ever hear the cute, if not torturous laughter that emanated from Celestia’s office, nor would they ever hear the constant pleads of the Vice Commander for mercy. But then the door slid open. “Oh, sorry, I wanted to ask if there…was…” Sunset looked down at the floor. Before her was Commander Celestia, on the floor, straddling the Vice Commander, her hands paused at her sides, and said Vice Commander’s shirt and coat were bunched upwards, exposing her midriff. Vice Commander Luna’s face was bright red, with tears running down from her eyes, Commander Celestia’s face was just as red as her younger sister, both also sported a look that was caught between shock and mortification. “Uh…I…I don’t…Do I need to help her…come back in a few minutes…?” “S-Sunset, this isn’t what it looks like!” Luna exclaimed. Sunset raised her hands as she said, “Hey, no judgement, whatever you guys do in your private time is your business. But, a word of advice, you might want to lock your door if you plan to–” “THAT’S NOT WHAT WE WERE DOING!!!” “THAT’S NOT WHAT WE WERE DOING!!!” \*****///** [Saturday, 10:00 am…] Sunset was currently laughing her rear off as she, Ocellus, and Rarity were sitting in the food court. The fiery redhead had recounted the story of her having a chat with the two commanders, only to find them in a precarious situation. Ocellus couldn’t help but giggle a little at the story, while Rarity was blushing. “Really now, Sunset, I don’t think it was that funny,” said Rarity. “Oh, you had to be there and see it, and if you were, you’d be laughing just as hard! Ha, ha, ha-ha!” Sunset exclaimed. “Damn, I should’ve taken a picture, could’ve come in handy.” “Don’t you dare think about blackmailing our commanders over such a thing! I’ve had such interactions with my little sister, Sweetie Belle. Sometimes when she’s getting overly clingy or she’s interrupting me, I often resort to tickling her into submission. There’s nothing scandalous about that.” Sunset waved off Rarity’s concern. “I know, I know, it’s just funny to see the stern and stoic Vice Commander Luna looking that embarrassed and flustered.” Rarity thought it over for a moment and her lip couldn’t help but curl upwards a little. “I suppose it is a little funny when you put it that way.” Ocellus was quiet throughout the conversation, mostly just listening to them and also paying attention to the people around them. Ever since finding out she was a potential Queen type, the idea of an assassin lurking about crossed her mind constantly. Not only that, but she also noticed that some of the people did have an eye on her. Most she recognized from school. She knew that the story of what happened at the Preserve had spread, and how she was one of the giant monsters that fought Ultrawoman Aster. In a way, Ocellus couldn’t blame them for being on edge in her presence. Earth had suffered the First Incursion, and have had subsequent Space Beast attacks, some of which have increased recently in frequency. But add to the fact that Ocellus could imitate anyone in the world, or any creature, then it made it easy for her to be seen as a potential danger. “You know,” Sunset spoke, snapping Ocellus out of her inward thoughts, “you could always, change your form. It won’t bother us if you do.” Ocellus shook her head. “No, thank you. I chose this human form to help put people at ease around me. I like to think it helps. But…” Rarity saw the looks of the people who would glance their way and huffed in indignation. “Honestly, it’s not as if you’re the only alien in this building. There are plenty of other aliens who have dangerous abilities, but none here have done anything to harm another soul.” “Yeah, but not many can…you know.” Sunset left that open. The fashionista sighed. “Very well, so, we found many cute things for me, and we finally found some more stylish choices for Sunset.” “Don’t know what was wrong with my taste in clothes,” Sunset muttered. “Oh, darling, nothing’s wrong, it’s just…well…you could use more variety,” said Rarity. Sunset raised an eyebrow at that, she then looked over to Ocellus and noticed that there weren’t that many bags, maybe one or two small ones that only contained accessories. “Well, if I have to be your dress up doll, then so does Ocellus.” “Oh, I…” “Fabulous idea, let’s hop to it then!” Rarity wasted little time in gathering their things and then practically dragged the young Changeling into the nearest store. Rarity began picking out a few things here and there, Ocellus had attempted to argue that her school uniform was more than enough. Sunset and Rarity swiftly denied that idea out right. Rarity had Ocellus try on different outfits that complemented her human form, and Sunset would chip in her two bits to make sure that Rarity didn’t have Ocellus wear something too overly complicated. “Now, then, I think that’s enough for you in this form, why don’t we do something for the real you,” Rarity suggested. “Oh…um…I-I don’t think…I mean, Changelings don’t normally wear clothes, our carapace is quite durable and protective,” said Ocellus. Rarity placed her hands on Ocellus’ shoulders. “My dear, you don’t always need to hide who you are. You are beautiful, and you deserve to show others that beauty. Plus, you look quite stunning in your natural form.” Ocellus blushed and then nodded. The young Changeling surrounded herself in artic blue plasma, and when it faded, she was in her true form. Rarity circled Ocellus, now that she was a getting a better look at her features and coloring, humming in contemplation as she did so. The violet haired girl then walked the aisle, perusing the store’s selection until she happened upon the perfect dress for the young Changeling. Rarity took it and gave it to Ocellus, she then nudged Ocellus into the changing room, and the two young women waited. After a minute, Ocellus stepped out. She wore a simple salmon red blouse, with a matching skirt that had a few sequins that were tactfully placed to give the skirt a nice sheen without making it flashy. The blouse had a low hanging back that dipped into a “U” shape, giving Ocellus plenty of room for her wings to move about. Rarity got up and inspected the outfit and smiled happily. “Just as I thought, simplistic, but it makes such a difference. Hmm, I forgot to take into account your tail, perhaps I could find another skirt?” Rarity suggested. Ocellus shook her head. “No, I like it. But maybe you could alter it a bit to let my tail hang out?” “Consider it done.” Sunset nodded her approval of Ocellus’ outfit. “Wow, you really look cute in that Ocellus. You should wear it out.” “Capital idea…” Rarity looked back at Ocellus. “Only if you’re comfortable, Ocellus.” Ocellus looked at Rarity and Sunset with eyes full of budding confidence and nodded her head. Rarity smiled and three went to the cashier who rang them up. The trio of teens walked through the rest of the mall, with Ocellus still in her true form and wearing the outfit she liked. She was catching some glances again, but this time around they weren’t exactly suspicious glances, more like they couldn’t believe how cute she looked. Sunset lightly elbowed Ocellus and whispered, “Looks like you’re turning a few heads.” Ocellus blushed under the attention, but she didn’t dislike it, compared to earlier, this was much more preferred. Rarity and Sunset fell back just a bit to give Ocellus room and to not obstruct the view, which also allowed them time to speak privately. “You did a good thing, Rarity,” said Sunset. “Nobody deserves to be seen as an outcast, she’s beautiful, kind, and very sweet. Circumstances have not been kind to her lately, so, I felt that it was our job as friends to cheer her up, to help make the best of her current situation,” Rarity explained. Sunset chuckled a bit. “What’s the matter?” “This is going to sound a little bad, but, when I first saw you, before we became teammates. I thought you were going to be haughty, stuck up, and really nitpicky. But, you’re none of those things.” Rarity rubbed her left arm. “Well, I will admit, I do tend to act that way from time to time. But, overall, I try to maintain the bonds I weave with others, and doing what I can – whether it is spending time with my friends, or making something beautiful for them – is how I express that and doing so fills me with energy.” Sunset felt a strange sense of happiness from hearing Rarity’s words. Suddenly, the alarms went off, and PA system turned on. {All shoppers, we have an emergency situation. Imminent Space Beast attack. All shoppers are to quickly and calmly make their way to–} A violent rumble ceased any further talk from the PA system, causing the people to look around in a panic. Another round of tremors came, stronger than the last. People began running for the nearest shelters, holograms appeared and displayed arrows which pointed to where the shelters were. Sunset, Ocellus, and Rarity looked up through the skylight and watched as the blue sky turned purple, indicating that the Phantom Zone had been activated. “I think you might want to get outside, Sunset,” Rarity suggested. “Agreed, you two get to the shelter!” Sunset stated as she ran off. Another violent tremor coursed through the mall, causing the walls and ceiling to crack and chip. As Rarity and Ocellus made their way to the shelter, Ocellus spotted a group of people heading their way. But her eyes also spotted how part of the cement ceiling was gradually cracking. A second tremor hit and caused the group to stumble, Rarity rushed towards the people to try and help them hurry along to the shelter. However, another tremor caused the large chunk of the ceiling to fall. “RARITY!” Ocellus cried out. The young woman looked up, making the others look up as well, and all could only watch as a giant slab of concrete came rushing towards them. \*****///** ||SHINE ON! ULTRAWOMAN ASTER!|| A bright flash of light went off in the city, and from that light appeared the giant hero of light, Ultrawoman Aster. Aster landed upon the ground and entered her fighting stance as she beheld a new foe. Its body was made of a tough red and black carapace, with exoskeletal blades that rested on the sides of its arms, red compound eyes, and a long tail that had a sharp stinger on it. “You are all kinds of ugly, but you’ll go down like the rest!” The monster chittered as it rushed towards Aster, extending its arm blades as it swiped at her. Aster blocked the first strike, but the creature managed to move faster as it slashed upwards with its left arm, hitting Aster in her chest and causing sparks to fly from her body. Aster stumbled backwards, but the monster wasn’t done yet. The tip of its extended horn began to spark, and in the next second, unleashed a blast of Red Lightning that crackled as it sailed towards Aster. The Ultra Warrior braced herself as she took the full brunt of the blast, buildings exploded around her, turning into rumble as her body released more sparks from the continuous damage. Sunset had had enough and decided to get serious. “Bestow, the strength of the brave!” || ULTRAMAN LEO! || “Bestow, the power of the bold!” || ULTRAMAN MAX! || “Ignite the fire in my heart!” ||BURN UP! SOLARIS MAXIMUS!|| A pillar of fire rose up around Aster, transforming her into powered form, Solaris Maximus. The Red Lightning continued to hit her, but now she barely felt it, and the sparks were appearing less than when she was in her default form. Aster began walking towards the Space Beast, the creature continued its attack, but was quickly finding out that Aster’s defense was far stronger than it had anticipated. Aster used her left hand to grabs its horn, forcing it to look up. She then cocked back her right fist as the revolver chambers spun and locked. The empowered hero thrust her fist forward, hitting the Space Beast in the gut as the chamber fired and released a burst of energy that sent it flying backwards as sparks flew from its body. As it flew, Aster began to charge forward, running for the monster and waiting it for it to land to give it more punishment. However, that would not happen as the monster quickly sprouted wings and stopped itself in midair. Aster came to a skidding halt as she watched this and groaned in annoyance, “Of course the bug monster flies.” The beetle Space Beast began gathering energy around its pincers, the sphere that formed glowed a bright magenta as plasma flames wafted from it. The Space Beast fired the sphere from its high position, the blazing sphere sailed through the air as it made its way towards Aster. When the sphere hit, a massive explosion went off that managed to pick Aster off the ground and throw her back down with unforgiving force, causing her to roll into a few buildings before stopping against a skyscraper. Aster groaned painfully as she kneeled in a slight daze. “Damn, that was strong, if I wasn’t in this form I think that would’ve made me change back!” The beetle seemed to realize that its Inferno Bomber attack was the key to damaging this Ultra. It wasn’t long before it charged up again and fired a second blast. Aster didn’t try and tank this next attack, instead choosing to roll to her right and jump away just as the sphere hit ground, exploding on impact. \*****///** Rarity had shut her eyes when she saw the concrete fall towards them, believing that her life was at an end. But she didn’t feel dead. With reluctance she managed open her eyes, and she gasped. Standing above her, above all of them, was the insect monster that fought Aster during the Preserve incident, although it was much smaller compared to then. Rarity instantly knew who had saved their lives. “Ocellus!” “Thank goodness…ugh…you’re alright!” Rarity took a moment to look around them, Ocellus was holding up a large slab of concrete, but all around them more had fallen, burying them in debris. It was dark thanks to that, but Ocellus’ underbelly provided a bioluminescent glow that lit up the inside. “Are you okay?!” Rarity asked. “N-Not really…I think there’s something stabbing me…!” The people trapped with them were scared, both because there a large creature looming over them, and also due to the fact that they were buried under tons of rock. Rarity took out her cellphone and turned on her light, prompting the others to do the same. “Where do you feel it?” “M-My left third leg…!” Rarity hurried to the spot and indeed she was injured, a piece of rebar had broken off and pierced her leg, allowing green blood to ooze from the wound. Rarity took another look at how Ocellus was positioned and realized the horrible truth. “You’re holding up the slab aren’t you?!” “Uh-huh!” she grunted. “Can’t you make yourself bigger and push it off?” Rarity asked. “Not with that stabbing me, and even if it wasn’t, if I did, I could make the rest fall off and crush the rest of you!” Ocellus explained. Rarity looked at her legs, she could see them straining, shaking with fatigue and sheer willpower. “I…I don’t know how long I can keep this up, but I’ll try!” Ocellus stated. There was a shift, and Ocellus began to buckle under the strain, causing the slab to grind against the rest of the concrete as it gained a few more inches. The people were getting worried as they watched the Changeling strain against this daunting task, knowing that she was doing all she could to keep them from getting crushed to death made them see this alien in a different light. Rarity walked up to Ocellus’ head and petted her gently. “Don’t worry, I know we’ll make it through this.” “H-How?” “Because our friend will help us. Bonds of camaraderie and friendship are strong, and oftentimes, those strong bonds can let a friend know when the other needs help.” Just then, Rarity began to glow bright purple, making the others gasp in shock. Rarity gasped too, not entirely sure what was happening to her. That purple light left her body as it formed a circular object in front of her. Rarity gingerly reached out to touch the object, and upon doing so, it flew off, piercing through the stone that kept them imprisoned. \*****///** Aster was starting to get tired, and now her timer was blinking red, which meant she didn’t have much more time before she turned back. But all of that was forgotten when she sensed something. Her head turned towards the mall and watched as a purple light hovered over it. What the heck is…? Wait… Aster bolted for the mall as the monster opened fire on her from above. The Ultra Warrior dodged to the right as she grabbed a building, tearing it up from its foundation, and then tossed it into the air right at the monster as it fired another attack. The Inferno Bomber hit the building just as it got close to the Space Beast, exploding violently. The shockwave from the blast managed to send the monster into a tailspin for a few moments. That was all the time that Aster needed as she approached the mall, and looked directly under where the light was shining. There was some debris huddled around small, exposed area. Someone’s there! Aster carefully reached down and used her right thumb and index finger to lift the slab up, revealing Ocellus in her monster form, Rarity, and some civilians. Aster could see that Ocellus was hurt, but otherwise she looked okay as she was finally allowed to collapse onto the floor in exhaustion. Rarity sat by her side as she petted her head soothingly, the fashionista took a moment to look up and smile at Aster. Thank God, I was in time. The purple light then zoomed towards Aster, zipping right into her color timer. In the starry nexus, Sunset reached out towards that purple light as it transformed into a new Ultra Coin. “Seriously?! A new coin?! But…only one?” The Ultra Coin flashed and briefly displayed the image of a new Ultraman to Sunset. And when saw it, one name entered her mind. “Orb…” The sound of angry chittering caught her attention as Aster turned around and saw the Space Beast recover as it readied to counterattack. “Okay, then I know the best way to use you then!” Aster turned around to face the beetle monster; in the starry nexus, Sunset opened her Coin Keeper and took her two newest Ultra Coins. “I ask for the gift of kindness!” || ULTRAMAN COSMOS! || “I ask for the gift of protection!” || ULTRAMAN AGUL! || “Let the waves of my soul quell your rage!” ||FLOW AND CRASH! COSMIC WAVE!|| A pillar of light and water rose around Aster, changing her into her agile and accuracy focused form, Cosmic Wave. Aster raised both of her hands to her head as the shark fin crest on her head began to glow. The light began to take form, and Aster grabbed the light, pulling forward and twirling the object around until it transformed into her bladed weapon. “Stellugger!” Within the starry nexus, Sunset took the Ultraman Orb Coin and placed into the top slot of the Stellugger, and in the bottom slot, she placed the Ultraman Coin. Sunset twirled her Stellugger around as the two Ultra Coins empowered her weapon, making it glow with an aurora of colors. Outside, Aster used her left hand to draw a circle of light around the entire mall and said, “Healing Halo!” The Halo bathed the area in healing light, the rebar rose out of Ocellus’ leg and fell harmlessly against the floor, allowing the wound to close up. Her fatigue was erased as she allowed the healing light to enter her and make her well. Ocellus looked up and smiled at Aster, but then her eyes widened when she saw the creature that was about to attack her. “A Bezelb!” Ocellus then watched as the monster’s tail coiled around and lashed towards Aster like a snake. “DON’T LET IT’S TAIL HIT YOU!” Aster sensed the attack, time slowed for her as she stepped to the side, leaving behind an afterimage of herself. The Bezelb believed it had pierced her, when in reality that was not the case. Aster took advantage of this and slashed at the tail, cutting it off and causing the Bezelb to screech in pain. Aster launched towards the Bezelb and slashed it across its chest as she flew by, using her hyper speed, Aster turned around and attacked again, and again, and again. In the sky, it appeared as if a blue blur was slashing at the monster from every direction, causing sparks to fly from its body with each successful blow. Aster hovered a few feet away from the monster as her eyes glowed. She used the Stellugger to draw a circle of light in front of her, particles gathered around the circle, filling the center. Aster drew back her Stellugger, entering a thrusting stance as she cried out, “SUPREME SPECIUM CALIBUR!” Aster thrust the Stellugger forward into the ring of light. The light was absorbed by the blade and was then released in beam of aurora light that struck the Bezelb right in the chest as its carapace began to crack with fissures of light. The fissures expanded at a rapid rate until the insect Space Beast exploded in a shower of sparks. Aster ceased her attack as she let her Stellugger change into light and disappear. With the Space Beast defeated, and her time nearly up, Aster flew off into the distance. \*****///** [Monday, 1:45 pm…] “Thanks Ocellus!” A student exclaimed. The insectoid girl blinked at the sudden praise. “Um…d-do you mean me?” “Yeah, you saved my Mom in the mall during that attack!” “Same here, you saved my Sis,” said another. Before Ocellus knew it, she was being swarmed by more and more students as they wanted to get a picture and give their thanks to the hero of that day. Rarity and Sunset were standing a few feet away from the crowd as they watched Ocellus, although the shy Changeling was obviously embarrassed about the attention she was getting, it didn’t stop her from letting a big grin appeared on her face. Something that made both teens happy to see. “So, let me get this straight, that coin flew from me, and then to you?” Rarity asked. “Yep, same thing with Rainbow and AJ, same thing with Pinkie and Shy,” said Sunset. “Hmm, if these come in sets of two, does that mean that there’s another one to come?” Sunset shrugged. “Unfortunately, I don’t make the rules when it comes to this sort of thing. I did some experiments with Twi yesterday, trying to transform with it and another coin, but no luck. For now, it’s only good for my Stellugger until I get the next Coin, I guess.” Rarity nodded as she turned her attention back to Ocellus. “I’m just glad that you aren’t particularly annoyed that she’s getting the credit as the hero of the hour.” Sunset smiled. “I’m a hero every day, so it doesn’t matter. Besides, if this helps make people less edgy around her, then I’ll call it a win.” Although… ~*~*~*~ Ocellus and Sunset met in the office of Commander Celestia, the young Changeling needed to talk to her immediately about the Space Beast that Aster had confronted yesterday, and from the sounds of it, it was urgent. “We’re free from any prying eyes or eavesdropping, you can speak freely, Ocellus,” said Celestia. “That thing that Sunset fought yesterday, it was called a Bezelb, a creature that can control others with the poison in its tail stinger.” Ocellus explained. Sunset flinched upon hearing that. “Wait, what?! You mean, if that thing stung me I could’ve been controlled by it?!” Ocellus nodded. “Its poison is called Kugutsu. Once stung, you become a slave and do its bidding, there’s no cure for it.” Sunset gulped. “Damn, glad I killed it.” Ocellus didn’t seem relieved by that, something that Celestia immediately picked up on. “Ocellus, there’s something else to this, isn’t there?” Celestia asked. The arctic blue Changeling nodded. “Hundreds of thousands of years ago, the Changelings and Bezelbs were at war with each other. You see, while there is no known cure, we Changelings have a natural immunity to it, due to our power of shapeshifting it gives us some resistance to it, but what really keeps us from being controlled is the connection we have to the Hive. According to our history, Queen Chrysalis’ control over the Hive at that time was immensely strong, so combined, it made it nearly impossible for the Bezelbs to infect us.” “So…did the Changelings kill them all or something?” Sunset asked. Ocellus shook her head. “No, at that time, the task was impossible, but the same was true for them. The war between our races lasted hundreds of years until the Bezelb Queen and Queen Chrysalis settled on an armistice. We would not attack them, and they would not attack us. Our two colonies would take residence in their respective territories.” Sunset and Celestia shuddered, the Changelings and Bezelbs, if those two ancient races had decided to join forces instead of agreeing to a ceasefire, the universe would be under their control. “Many years passed by, and eventually, the Queen of the Bezelbs was killed by a team of Ultra Warriors. That being said, many of the Bezelb were presumed dead since they no longer had a queen to follow. That doesn’t seem to be the case anymore…” “Are you saying that there might be a new queen?” Celestia asked. “Or…something just as bad.” Sunset narrowed her gaze. “Queen Chrysalis, you’re saying she may have control over the Bezelb?” “It would make sense, the only other species who could equally match them was ours, and the remnants might have sought out Chrysalis as they might see her as the closest thing to their original queen. I pray that is not the case.” ~*~*~*~ Sunset didn’t like it, if it was true, then Chrysalis had an ace up her sleeve. Ocellus told them that Changelings could resist the poison, but the reformed Changelings had no Queen of their own to combat the power of the mind control. Apparently, King Thorax’s authority only did so much, the true power lied with the Queen. If this Chrysalis really does have some of the Bezelb under her control, then sending some to try and infect Ocellus and bring her under her control before she ascends to a Queen would do the trick… “Sunset, are you alright?” Rarity asked. Sunset shook her head, snapping herself out of her contemplation. “Yeah, why?” “Sorry, it just seemed to have this intense look on your face for a moment.” Sunset waved off her concern. “It’s nothing, really. But, I think we should go and save Ocellus, I don’t think the little bug girl can take anymore.” As if to emphasize her point, Ocellus managed to squeeze some of herself out of the crowd and reach out to her friends as she pleaded, “Sunset, Rarity help me…!”
7th Light: Investigation / More questions?About a month had passed since the last Space Beast attack, and so far, things were peaceful. The students were able to actually concentrate on their work without the threat of attack, and for Twilight Sparkle, that was a godsend. Currently, the young genius was with Sunset, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash, standing in the R&D hanger, with the latter two jaws dropped as their eyes were fixated on the sight before them. Twilight had a proud smile on her face, while Sunset smirked impressively. “What do you guys think?” Twilight asked. “Can I drive it now?” Applejack asked. “Can I fly it now?!” Rainbow begged. “The answers are, soon, and not now.” The objects of their awe were the newly modified Gungir and Goliath that the two girls piloted. The fighter was silver in color, with rainbow lightning bolts painted on the top and bottom of the wings. There were two individual Bombay doors on the belly of the jet, allowing for dual missile launches, and the bow photon repeater cannons were replaced with inwardly mounted cannons that were smoothed to the point that couldn’t tell exactly where they were unless you were standing in front of the aircraft’s nose. The wings were made in a reverse crescent position, while the back only had single tail instead of the two of the typical Gungir. To the right of the Gungir was Applejack’s old Goliath, but like the Gungir, it too had been modified. The cannon had been replaced with a new model, it had rotating barrel with missile pods attached to both sides of the tank, and the armor was now orange colored, with two large front wheels and treads on the back. The side had a painted red apple with a shadowy image of an eight-legged horse behind it. “Rainbow, this is your next generation Gungir, code named: Pegasus. And Applejack, yours is code named: Sleipnir. Both have been upgraded with the latest armor to maximize mobility and durability, so that these machines can get right in the heart of the battle and take the fight to the Space Beasts,” Twilight explained. Sunset looked over the machines and hummed in contemplation. “Aside from the updated look and armor, what’s new with the weapons?” Twilight’s smile widened. “That’s where you came, or rather Aster.” Applejack, Rainbow, and Sunset gave Twilight confused looks. “Ahem, before when we first met, I was doing all those studies on your energy for fun. But when the Commanders made us into a team, I started to think of a way to better assist you in battle. So, I came up with a way to replicate your Astronium Ray attack with our given technology and created these! The cannon and beam repeaters can fire beams close to the same intensity and power of your strongest attack!” Sunset’s eyes widen with shock. “Seriously?!” “Seriously!” Twilight giddily exclaimed. “The missiles work on the same concept, they store that replicated energy and compact it, so when the missile explodes it has a bit of a stronger punch. However, I’d like to point out that it’s only a replication. Your power is still really unique and hard to replicate, so I did the best I could. We won’t know how effective they’ll be in battle until we field test them.” “Almost can’t wait for the next Space Beast – OW!” Rainbow exclaimed as she felt Applejack punch her in the arm. “Don’t go sayin’ stuff like that!” Applejack scolded. “Sorry.” “Still, very impressive, Twi. This’ll be a big help when I’m out fighting, knowing you all got my back like that will be great,” said Sunset. Twilight made and “O” with her mouth as a thought crossed her mind. She dashed off and then came back with three strange looking blaster weapons. They were colored red and silver, with the barrel ending with an eight-pointed star crystal fastened to the mouth of where the barrel’s opening would be. “These were also made using my data, they discharge the same kind of energy as the Pegasus and Sleipnir.” “Wait, ya sayin’ you made mini Ultrawoman beam guns?” Applejack asked in awe as she took up the weapon. “Indeed, I did, again we won’t know the full amount of damage these weapons can cause without first field testing them, but theoretically, they should at least pack enough of a punch to make a Space Beast think twice before coming near anyone. I call them Aster-X Blasters.” Sunset took one of the weapons in and examined it carefully. “Huh, now I’m curious to see what this bad boy can do. Any more of them?” “Just the three for now, if they test well, they’ll make more,” said Twilight. Applejack came up behind Twilight and gave her a goodhearted pat on the back, nearly knocking the genius over as her glasses scooted down her nose. “Twi, yer a genius!” “T-Thank you,” Twilight replied with a slight grunt. “I say we tell the girls about this, Pinkie’s going to flip!” Rainbow exclaimed as she ran down the hall. “Oh, for the love ah – Dash, hold yer horses!” Applejack called out. Sunset chuckled at the couple’s antics, but then turned her attention back to Twilight who had this pensive look on her face. “Hey, you alright?” “Are you mad at all that I…used your data to make these?” Twilight asked. Sunset shrugged. “Not really, I mean, is not like you were doing something that was invasive or anything. Like I said, if it helps give us an edge over the Space Beasts, then I’m onboard.” Just then, Sunset got an alert that pinged several times from her HoloFrame. Sunset took out the HoloFrame and opened it up to see that a mission had been brought up. “Huh…catch you later, Twi. Looks like I’m tapped for a mission.” “Okay, be careful.” Sunset gave her a thumbs up as she left down the same hallway that her teammates did. \\***/// Sunset arrived at the mission briefing room, and inside she wasn’t surprised to see Applejack and Rainbow Dash in the room, but she was surprised when she saw Flash Sentry in the room. Inside the briefing room was the Mission Director under Commander Celestia, she had dark brown hair, black rimmed glasses, and purple eyes. Her suit was a dark, navy-blue color, with a red necktie. Sunset recognized this woman, her name was Raven, nothing more, nothing less. “Please, take a seat,” said Raven. The four teens did as they were told, once seated, Raven brought out her HoloFrame and pressed a few buttons, bringing up a holographic screen. The images of several teens appeared on the screen, all of which were listed as “Missing”. “Recently, we’ve been seeing an increase in abductions in Canterlot City, most specifically, young teens.” “Sure they aren’t just runaways?” Sunset asked. “The police have not ruled that out for some of them, but there are a few that have raised enough eyebrows to assume that this may be extraterrestrial in origin.” Raven pressed a few keys on the HoloFrame screen and some images of the abduction locations appeared on the screen. “Some of the teen abductees have been taken around the busier locations of the city, such as the entertainment district where most of the shops, restaurants, theaters, and parks are. We have determined that the kidnappers are using the crowds to slip away, it also doesn’t help that there are several alleyways that can assist with the kidnappers escape and abductions.” “So, what did you want us to do ma’am?” Flash asked. “We’re going to set up a sting operation, and take the abductors in. Each of you will be fitted with a tracking device, we’ll have you do this in pairs. Team one will be Applejack and Rainbow Dash, and Team Two will be Flash Sentry and Sunset Shimmer. We’ve noticed that most of the abducted teens were doing couple activities, so the pairings have been done to ensure that we entice the kidnappers.” Applejack and Rainbow Dash fist bumped, of course they’d have no problem with this since they were in a relationship. However, Sunset wasn’t sure about how this was going to work with Flash. He seemed like a nice guy and all, but she wasn’t sure that they could pull of the “teens in love” look. Flash glanced over to Sunset and smiled a little, he was hiding it well, but Sunset could tell he was a little nervous. “When do we start?” Rainbow asked. “Right now, go back to your dorms and chose appropriate outfits. We’ve already requisitioned some vehicles that are not SMILE marked but have been fitted with tracers. On that note…” Raven walked towards a desk and brought up a gun-like device. “Please roll up your sleeves, I’ll need to inject you with the tracers, they’ll also transmit your bio data so that we may be aware of any changes to your body should something happen.” The four gulped. “Uh…how long do those last?” Applejack asked. “They’ll last for at least seventy-two hours, and will dissolve harmlessly in your bloodstream. We’re also going to be backed up by the local PD. Any questions?” “Any chance we can be armed?” Sunset asked. “We’ll be outfitting you with some concealed stun weapons. We are trusting you not to discharge them in public, but if you need to, they’ll only stun whoever it hits. Now, let’s get started.” \*****///** [Investigation, 12:00 pm…] Sunset and Flash walked around the area, side-by-side. She was wearing an orange skirt, with a cream and purple stripe running along side it, a black leather jacket, and a mauve blouse that was held by ring around her neck, and black leather boots that had a purple, wispy decorations on them. Flash was wearing a pair of denim jeans that had small rips, a dark gray leather jacket, and a white t-shirt that had a shield with a lightning bolt superimposed on it. The two teens walked together, Flash had a nervous smile on, while Sunset’s expression was more or less neutral. This was going to be a hard mission for her, granted that the only knowledge she had regarding dates was what she saw in movies and TV shows. Actual dating experience? Zero. Sunset wasn’t sure what she should be doing, should she hold his hand or cling to his arm? Should Flash have his arm around her waist? Should they be saying some corny, sappy, cringe inducing lines about how much they liked each other? They didn’t even know much about the other, other than what Sunset remembered when they last talked to each other, and that was a while ago. Sunset pinched the bridge of her nose as she growled in frustration, Flash looked to his partner and asked, “You alright?” “No, I’m partly ticked that they chose us for this mission,” said Sunset. “Sorry, you were probably wanting someone else,” said Flash with a chuckle. “No, it’s not that. I mean, it’s better if they had gotten another couple instead of pulling two random students and asking them to act like a couple! Rainbow and AJ make sense, but us? We barely know each other!” Flash rubbed the back of his head. “I think that may be the point, one team who are a genuine couple, and another who’s not, just in case the couple team is distracted by each other, the one that’s not can act quicker if need be. Just spitballing here.” Sunset rolled her eyes, in theory it made sense, but she still thought it should be an actual couple. Either that or they thought that this would involve some Ultrawoman assistance? Hopefully it won’t come to that……who am I kidding? It always comes down to that. The faux couple walked along the busy sidewalks keeping their eyes peeled for anything suspicious, aside from the occasional alien family, there wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. While they were walking, Sunset paused in front of a music shop, her eyes lingered on a turquoise electric guitar, a model that could generate sound without an amp. Sunset didn’t know why, but she had a fascination with rock ‘n roll music, especially songs with guitarist really going all out on their instrument in the middle of a song. Flash noticed Sunset’s gaze lingering on the guitar, the corner of his mouth turned up as he walked towards the shop. “Let’s check out this shop,” said Flash nonchalantly. “I need a backup string for my guitar anyway, that cool?” “Um, uh, sure, yeah, that’s fine,” said Sunset. The two teens entered the shop, inside were all manners of different instruments, turntables, violins, flutes, horns, bass guitars, electric guitars, and even some of the more advanced versions of those instruments. The shopkeeper noticed the new arrivals and excused himself from some other customers. He was a tall man, with cobalt colored hair that reached down his back, his kind amber eyes looked upon the two youths as he smiled. “Welcome to Music For All, I’m Note Worthington, but I’ve been come to be known as Noteworthy. How may I help you?” “I was wondering if you had spare guitar strings,” said Flash. “Yes indeed, let me finish with these customers and I’ll be right back, feel free to browse and try some of the instruments out,” said Noteworthy as he returned to the other couple. Sunset was about to say something until Flash walked over to where the guitars were at, he looked around and finally found the electric guitar that was on display in the shop’s window. Flash picked up the axe and showed it to Sunset, “Pretty cool, huh?” “Y-Yeah, I guess…” “C’mon, hold it, it isn’t going to bite you,” Flash joked. Sunset grumbled and carefully took the instrument into her hands. She fumbled with the guitar, trying to find the right way to hold it, remembering some shows and music videos of people holding the thing. Flash was chuckling at how Sunset was having a hard time holding the instrument. “Right or left-handed?” he asked. “What?” “Right or left-handed, which are you?” “Oh, um,” Sunset took a moment to think about that. Starry Smasher, Astronium Ray, Break Buster, Caliburn End…After running through her previous battles in her head Sunset confidently said, “Right-handed, definitely.” “Alright then.” Flash walked until he was behind Sunset, positioning the neck of the guitar in her left hand, and helped position her right hand where the guitar strings were. “There, now you got the form down.” Sunset blushed a little, holding the guitar in her hand felt surreal for some reason. “So…I just…pluck the strings or…?” “There’s a little more to it than that. You gotta use your fingers on your left hand to hold down one or two of the strings, doing so can make the string let out a different sound. Do you mind?” Sunset shook her head. Flash proceeded to place his left hand over Sunset’s, replicating her finger positioning and giving them slight nudges to make her place them a certain way. “Remember this position, this is called a ‘resting position’. Kind of like when you’re typing on a keyboard, you always return to a certain spot before going at it again.” “O-Okay, I think I got it,” said Sunset. “Great, now, apply some pressure.” Flash pushed gently against one of Sunset’s fingers, making her do the same against the string. “And then pluck it.” Sunset strummed the guitar, hearing it make a simple note, it wasn’t anything grand, but it felt exciting all the same. The flame haired girl let Flash continue to show her some basics as he guided her hand on the neck of the guitar. At some point he let go, and Sunset began playing on her own. The music seemed to come to her from deep inside, she wasn’t really sure how or why, it just felt right. Flash had taken a few steps back and watched as his partner began playing a gentle melody, it was soothing, and almost felt sad for some reason. He watched as Sunset had closed her eyes, letting the music guide her, he didn’t feel like stopping her, it was almost like it was having a therapeutic effect on her. After about a minute, Sunset stopped and opened her eyes, noticing that Flash was once again standing before her. Her attention was then shifted to the clapping of Noteworthy as he walked towards them. “Magnificent, young lady, what a nice little melody you played.” Sunset blushed. “Um, t-thanks, I’m not really sure where I heard it before.” Sunset looked at the guitar now in a newer light. “But it felt right…” Flash smiled and asked, “How much for the guitar sir?” “W-What?!” “Hmm, it is one of the newer models. They run about $800, but I’ll tell you what. For that nice song I’ll let you have it for $400, and I’ll throw in a twenty pack of replacement strings each, no charge,” said Noteworthy. Sunset spluttered as she finally was able to speak. “Flash, no, you don’t have to, that’s too much!” “Done.” “What?!” Flash took the guitar from Sunset and presented it to Noteworthy who went to the front to ring it up. Sunset, having snapped out of her daze, rushed to the front desk as Flash was pulling out his credit card. “Flash, c’mon, that’s a lot! You don’t have to buy me that!” “I know, I just do. If for nothing else, you looked happy while playing it.” Sunset growled in frustration, since when did this mission turn into…whatever this was? With no further resistance, Flash purchased the guitar, Noteworthy was kind enough to also provide Sunset with a case to carry her instrument in. Once they bid their farewells to Noteworthy, Sunset gave Flash a slightly angry glare, the blue haired boy smirked. He could tell that Sunset was one of those tough girls who didn’t like to show their emotions too much, that, and she seemed like a pretty headstrong and independent kind of girl, too. So, while the buying of the guitar may have been much, there was no denying that Sunset looked happy while playing it, one could even say nostalgic. Flash held up the guitar towards Sunset, who carefully took the case and huffed. “……Thanks.” Flash smiled as the two of them continued their little walk about the area. Sunset checked her watch after about ten minutes of them milling around and said, “What do you think, should we call it a day or something? We haven’t had a single–” {Sunset, Flash, come in!} Rainbow called. Sunset and Flash placed their index fingers against the node in the ears. “We’re listening, what’s happening?!” Sunset asked. {We just spotted someone suspicious, we’re in pursuit right now!} Applejack stated. “Give us your location, we’ll be right there,” said Flash. {Going down Trotting Ave., cut them off on the opposite alley way on Horseshoe Lane and we’ll force them into the dead end!} Rainbow suggested. Flash and Sunset, unfortunately, dropped their things off at some random store and stated “Official SMILE business!” before rushing back out. Sunset and Flash rushed through the crowd of people, hurriedly making their way to the street they were told to go to. Flash spotted the street and both of them turned into the alleyway. Sunset and Flash stopped when they saw a girl with silver hair, bright golden eyes, and a pin on her tank top in the shape of a lyre. The girl headed down the opposite way, with Applejack and Rainbow hot on the girl’s tail. After about a minute run, the two teams managed to corner the girl in the dead end that Rainbow had spoken of. When they converged, Sunset asked, “So, why are we chasing this girl, exactly?” Applejack handed her HoloFrame to Sunset, and showed her the list of missing teens they had seen at the briefing, and opened the file of the girl they were looking at right now. “Lyra Heartstrings, she was reported missing. Shouldn’t we be taking her back to the police?” Flash asked. “Yeah, we were goin’ to do that, until she tried to take another girl by force, someone who recognized her,” said Applejack. Sunset stepped forward, at the ready to attack. “Are you Lyra Heartstrings? If you’re being forced to do this, we can help you! We’re with SMILE!” “SMILE…oh crap, guess this was bound to happen eventually.” Lyra snapped her fingers. The back end of the alley suddenly closed as a barrier was erected above them. Two baseball sized orbs were tossed by Lyra, which rolled towards the teens and began releasing a purple smoke cloud. Flash, Sunset, Applejack, and Rainbow all began to cough as they tried to look for a way out, but then they started to feel weak, their vision blurring along with their bodies becoming more and number. They tried to fight it, but soon, Rainbow fell, followed by Applejack, and then Flash. Sunset focused as hard as she could as she rushed towards Lyra, using her great speed to close the distance and grab Lyra by the collar of her top. Sunset raised her right fist as she asked, “What or who are you?!” Lyra chuckled as she pushed Sunset away, an easy feat as the gas was doing its job. Sunset watched as the girl changed, her body glowed gold and in the next second, she wasn’t a human, but an alien. A golden one, with wild hair, red eyes, gold and black armor, and a mercury symbol on its chest. “Call me Bedu, and you’re my next haul.” Sunset tried to remain conscious, but it was no use, her body finally gave in as she dropped to her knees and fell over. \*****///** “……What……you think…?” Sunset’s head felt clouded, and she could barely make out words. “Keep……we don’t need………” She had to focus, Sunset had to regain what sense she could. The last thing she remembered was getting gassed, and then the alien, and then everything went black. Sunset tried to move her arms, they didn’t move. She tried to move her legs, they didn’t move. Sunset was almost near panic, but then she tried something smaller, first she wiggled her fingers. The process was a little slow, but she could feel all ten digits moving. Next she wiggled her toes, and thankfully she was able to feel them moving, which gave her the relief to know that her limbs were still attached to her at least, and that she could still feel and move them. O-Open…Open your eyes, Sunset commanded herself. Open your eyes…! Sunset’s eyes fluttered open, at first, all she saw were some blinking lights, and blobby figures moving about. Sunset blinked a few times, trying to make her eyes adjust. Again, it took a minute, but her eyes finally obeyed, the blurry world became sharper as she soon realized she was in a room. She slowly turned her head to the right and noticed that Rainbow, Applejack, and Flash were strung up. Shackles clamped around their wrists as they were held up by an energy tether. Their legs were separately shackled, and anchored to the floor by the same yellow energy tether. Sunset wasn’t sure what was going on, but this wasn’t looking any better as she took in more detail. The room was a darkish blue, but metallic. Off to her right was a panel giving off readings, and it seemed it was pertaining to each of them. Sunset noticed another panel with a few buttons and a container that had a few of their belongings. Just then, an alien entered the room, it was black all over, with large milky blue eyes, and a glowing, gill-like thing where it’s mouth would be. The alien walked over to the panel and looked over the readings nodding at what he was seeing as it cycled through each of her teammates’ data. “W-Who…Who are you…?!” The alien stopped its work and looked at her with intrigue. “My, I didn’t expect you to awaken. Most who are hit with the gas are out for a bit longer. But, then again, if there wasn’t something unique about you humans, then there would be no point in coming here, would there?” The alien then shook his head. “But where are my manners, I am Xalex, and I’m an Alien Mephilas.” “Have you…been kidnapping kids?!” Sunset demanded. “Yes, indeed. But, that’s all I can say. We’ve gotten a good amount for this city, since SMILE’s onto us. So it’s best we move onto a new city.” Xalex looked at the data and then made a sound that could be construed as disappointment. “Oh, well that’s a shame. One is a half-breed, and the other doesn’t really have anything abnormal in his readings. Shame, well, two good ones out of four isn’t so bad.” Xalex closed the panel and began to walk away. “No…let us go! If you don’t, SMILE’s going to be all over you!” Sunset threatened. “My dear, they haven’t found us yet, what makes you think they will now?” The door to their room slid open and Xalex left. Sunset looked around the room, trying to figure out something. If they didn’t get out soon, they would be taken away, experimented on, who knows what? Some feeling was starting to come back to her, so Sunset began struggling. Sunset continued to thrash, trying to use her strength to snap the binds. However, the gas was still affecting her, it would most likely take a bit longer before her body filtered the rest of it out and have her full strength returned. Sunset looked up and saw the point where the energy tether was connected, wishing that she could strike that point overhead. Suddenly, Sunset’s hands felt warm, and not long after that they began to glow with a bright yellow shine. The light began to grow and grow, and then, that light fired straight up, hitting the point that Sunset had her eye on. She gave a little yelp of surprise as the tether fizzled out and let her fall forward. Sunset managed to fall on her side, but it still didn’t make the hard fall hurt any less. Sunset looked up at the scorched point and then back at her hands, the glow was slowly fading and the warmth with it. The redhead looked back and forth between her hands and where the energy hit, confused as to how she had done something like that. Sunset looked over at the panel, and then to her teammates. With a determined look she pointed both her hands at the panel that was monitoring them. “If it worked once…” The fiery haired girl concentrated, and not long after doing so, the warmth and light returned. Sunset let it build up until it shot off again. The bolt of light struck the panel, destroying it completely. As soon as this happened, the tethers and shackles automatically released them, which was then followed by three thuds as the limp bodies of Flash, Applejack, and Rainbow hit the floor, making Sunset wince. “Sorry.” Sunset hurried to each of them, shaking them as hard as she could to rouse them from sleep. It took a little bit, but soon all three started to come around. “Ugh…Sunset…what hit me?” Flash asked. “The floor. Can you stand?” Sunset asked. Flash shook his head, trying to focus his senses. “Y-Yeah, I think so, just give me a minute.” “AJ, Rainbow, are you with me?” Rainbow was the first of the three to fully stand to her feet, Sunset believed that it was Rainbow’s half alien physiology that was helping her body combat the gas quicker. “Ugh, I feel like crap…where the hell are we?” “On a ship, I think? Look, we don’t have much time, we need to get off this thing and get some help before they decide to leave!” Sunset stated. Applejack started to get to her feet, she wobbled a bit, but she seemed alright. “Ah hear ya, Sunset. Let’s get a move on.” Flash stood up and nodded his agreement. The four teens watched as the door opened and an Alien Dada appeared in the doorway. The alien looked confused for a moment as he looked to the standing teens, but before he could do anything, Sunset used her speed to quickly grab the Alien Dada and throw him into the room, letting the door slide closed behind her. Flash and Applejack held him down while Rainbow took his blaster, after which, Flash gave the alien and punch to the face, knocking him out. “Well this sucks, we don’t even half our stun weapons,” said Sunset. “Not like they’d let us keep them,” said Flash. “Oh, they didn’t get everything, trust me. Applejack, break that case!” Rainbow stated. Applejack made her way to the case that had their things, she then balled up her right fist and struck the container, shattering the glass and allowing her to get their things. Rainbow hurried to one of the bags she had brought with her and rummaged through it. She then gave an “Ah-ha!” before pulling out three familiar blaster weapons. Applejack’s eyes widened when she saw them. “Rainbow, those better not be Twi’s Aster-X Blasters!” “Yep!” Rainbow stated as she handed one to Flash and then to Applejack, she then tossed the pilfered weapon from the Alien Dada to Sunset. “When did you…?!” “Well, since we didn’t know exactly what we’d be getting into, I thought it might be good to take them with us in case of a monster attack, y’know, so we can test them,” said Applejack. “Yeah, and those are still experimental,” said Applejack. Flash looked at the blaster, noting the obvious homage to Ultrawoman Aster. “Twilight Sparkle made this? She’s on your team, right?” “Yeah,” said Sunset. “Do you trust her?” Sunset looked at the blasters, and her answer was obvious. “Of course.” “Okay then, we’re armed and ready.” Before they readied to leave, Applejack picked up the Alien Dada and gave him one more swift punch, making sure he was thoroughly knocked out before they left. The door slid open and Rainbow was the first to check the hallway, there was no one. Rainbow was then followed by Applejack who covered the opposite end as Rainbow covered the other. Flash and Sunset came out next, once all of them were out, they headed down the right hallway. Slowly, and carefully, they stealthily made their way through the ship. They had a few close calls along the way, but managed to stay out of sight. Although, they knew that that would not be the case for much longer once that Alien Dada woke up. While dodging another close call, the four stumbled upon a room. Inside this room were dozens of capsules, and each one held one of the missing teens, and some that weren’t on the briefing list. Applejack and Rainbow kept watch at the door while Sunset and Flash walked through the rows, each one was in suspended animation, taken from their homes, and forced to endure heavens knew what. Sunset tapped on the glass of one of the capsules, and from it formed a holographic screen that was written in the language of the aliens that captured them. “Damn, wish we knew what it says, maybe we could get an idea of what they’re after,” said Flash. “It says, ‘Subject 10023-01: Displays genetic traits for enhanced sight, subject has also displayed instances of being able to spot objects and other lifeforms from several feet away and react accordingly’.” Flash blinked. “Wow, I didn’t know you could translate.” Neither did I…Sunset moved onto another capsule and brought up another screen. “This one says the kid in here has the potential for a rapid regeneration gene.” Sunset and Flash went to a few more and started to see a pattern. Each of the kidnapped teens seemed to either possess or had the potential to possess a unique genetic ability. Sunset’s mind immediately went to Applejack, remembering how the farm girl was able to fight off the Timber Wolves with just her own strength, practically matching Sunset’s strength. They kidnapped teens who have or could have abnormal abilities, it wasn’t just random, Sunset thought. “Flash, we cannot let these guys leave! If they do, they’ll just do this again in another city and they’ll take even more!” “Okay…but, how are we supposed to keep them grounded? The moment we leave they’ll be gone before we get the chance to tell SMILE,” said Flash. Sunset bit her bottom lip. There was a way, but it was going to involve a bit of property damage, possibly. “Hide!” Rainbow hissed. Applejack and Rainbow Dash hid behind a row of capsules, while Flash and Sunset did the same. At that moment the doors to the room opened, and in walked Xalex and the golden alien from earlier. “SMILE’s going to be more of a nuisance then we first thought,” said Xalex. “They created that Phantom Zone, so they’ll be waiting in the wings for when we lift off,” said the gold alien. “Dammit, now what?” “Calm yourself, Bedu. Don’t forget, we hold the bargaining chips. They won’t risk shooting us down if they know that we have these humans aboard our ship. Neither will that Ultrawoman dare attack us for the same reason. Why don’t you help clear them away, and bring out that other weapon? I’ll secure the cargo and join you later.” Bedu chuckled happily as he left the room. Sunset glanced over to the other side where Rainbow and Applejack were, she gave a nod towards Xalex, and both nodded back to her. Rainbow moved swiftly until she was at the other end, she jumped out from the row and pointed her weapon at Xalex. “FREEZE!” Xalex looked as if he was about to draw his weapon, but stopped when he felt a weapon pointed at his back. “Don’t even think about it, partner,” Applejack warned. “Hmm, resourceful little things, aren’t you?” Sunset and Flash walked until they were on either side of Xalex. The fiery haired girl took his blaster and tossed it aside as she pointed her weapon at his head. “We need to get off this ship, and you’re going to help us do it. It’s either that or my friend here is going to shoot you with a very experimental and very dangerous blaster. Not sure what it will do you, but I promise it will be lethal.” Xalex chuckled. “Are you sure that’s a great idea? Considering what’s about to happen, it’s probably safer in here.” Just then, the ship rumbled, and the teens felt a shift in gravity. “What’s going?!” Flash asked. “Right about now, Bedu and Black King are probably carving a path of freedom for us right now.” Sunset primed the blaster. “That’s it, you’re taking us outside, NOW!” \*****///** The Phantom Zone had been activated, allowing the Gungirs and Goliaths to scour the area for their missing students. However, they didn’t have to look long as a silver ship arose from a wide alleyway. The ship rose higher and higher until it was about a thousand feet in the air. Several of the SMILE vehicles converged on the ship, but not before one of the aliens, Bedu, jumped out and began growing at an accelerated rate. The Alien Babarue now stood at about fifty meters tall, towering over the tanks and some of the buildings. The ship then fired a beam, and from it appeared a small figure, that figure began to enlarge at a rapid rate, until it was a full sized Space Beast. The Space Beast stood at about sixty-five meters, with a black, scaly, armored hide, large fangs, red eyes, and a yellow horn. “Listen up, SMILE! If you try anything, me and Black King here are going to make this a very bad day for you,” said Bedu. Black King roared in agreement. One of the Goliaths approached, and from it came the voice of Captain Flash Magnus, “We have you completely surrounded, either give up now, or we will open fire.” “You can do that, but then you’d be shooting down a ship load of kids.” Bedu paused to let that sink in. “That’s right, we have all your missing kids in that ship, so go ahead and shoot, if you don’t want all their blood on your hands!” Black King’s horn charged, and inside its mouth, plasmatic flames began to spill out from the corners. The black Space Beast turned its head towards the sky and fired a stream of his Hell Magma straight into the air. The Gungirs quickly took evasive action, dodging the stream before it could hit. Bedu raised his left arm and fired a few beam blasts from this gauntlet. The blasts struck around the Goliath, exploding and jostling the tank and forcing it to retreat as it did so. Meanwhile, the airlock door on the outside of the ship opened up, revealing the four teens and their prisoner. Rainbow Dash looked down and grimaced as she saw the alien from before, along with a Space Beast. “That’s not good, we’re already in the air!” Sunset looked down as well, cursing under her breath as her eyes searched for a solution. “Rainbow, is it possible for you to take some of us down?” Rainbow hesitated to answer, her eyes briefly glancing to Flash Sentry for a moment. “I mean…I am strong enough…I can at least take two of you…but, Sunset, he’ll see.” Sunset nodded as she placed right hand on Rainbow’s shoulder. “I know, but I don’t think he’s like that. We can trust him with that much at least.” Rainbow was still reluctant, but she understood. She removed her jacket and shirt to reveal her sports bra. The athletic girl motioned for everyone to stand back as she knelt. Her back arched as two slits of sky-blue light formed on her back, and from those slits sprouted two large, cyan colored wings. Flash blinked in surprise for a moment, but then shook off his surprise. Rainbow felt the urge to wrap herself in her wings, that is until she felt the comforting hands of her girlfriend and Sunset and her fear subsided. “Okay, I can fly two people down, and then I can comeback for another.” “Good, take Flash and AJ.” “What?!” Flash exclaimed. “Nuh-uh, you and Flash go, Ah’ll stay here and watch this varmint,” said Applejack. “I know you’re strong enough, but you’re also one of the people that they want to take, so you two have to go,” said Sunset. “It sounded like they wanted you, too. In that case it’s better if you three go, and I stay!” Flash argued. “LOOK!” Sunset shouted. “This isn’t up for discussion! You three are heading out, NOW!” With a deep frown, Flash, Rainbow, and Applejack agreed. Rainbow jumped out, flapping her wings to make herself hover outside the door. Applejack holstered her Aster-X blaster, while Flash did the same and stood next to Applejack. Rainbow Dash reached out and took their hands pulling backwards and letting them dangle as they held on as hard as they could to her. The prismatic haired teen grunted as her teeth gritted with the straining effort of holding onto two people in midair. Without another word, Rainbow began the arduous task of flying back to the ground, leaving Sunset and Xalex alone. “Very admirable, letting your comrades get to safety while you stay behind, it’d be easier if you shot me,” said Xalex. “Tempting, but then if your goons appear, I won’t be able to use you as my shield,” said Sunset. “Cunning, you’d make a fine catch. However, you did forget to account for one thing.” Sunset scoffed. “And that is?” Xalex pointed his raised hands backwards, and from them a blast of sonic energy hit Sunset, making her fall to her knees as the sound waves caused her pain throughout her body. Xalex turned around and wristed the blaster away from Sunset, grabbing her by the hair, and then tossing her towards the airlock door. “You didn’t stop to consider that I might have some abilities as well.” “Ugh…damn you!” “Now, now, this doesn’t have to get messy. I’ll forgive this transgression if you come with me and get into a capsule,” Xalex offered. Sunset looked out the airlock door, she couldn’t tell if her teammates had made it to the ground yet, but since Flash was gone, Sunset did have another option. With a smirk plastered on her face, Sunset looked to Xalex and said, “I chose option B.” With that, Sunset rolled out of the airlock, leaving Xalex to shake his head remorsefully at the loss of a specimen. In the sky, Sunset wasted no time. She summoned her StaRaizer and let her body be engulfed in light. “Grant me the strength of a hero!” || ULTRAMAN! || “Grant me the power of a galaxy!” || ULTRAMAN GINGA! || “Release the light within me!” ||SHINE ON! ULTRAWOMAN ASTER!|| The light shined brighter and grew bigger, and in a matter of seconds, Sunset had transformed into her gigantic form, Ultrawoman Aster. Aster flew down towards the two aliens, flipped once, and then extended her right foot forward for a flying kick. “Asteroid Kick!” Sparkling energy coated her right foot, Bedu heard the attack and turned around just in time to get Aster’s kick right in the face, sending the golden alien flying as he bounced on the ground and into a building. Aster didn’t let up, once she landed on the ground, she bolted for Black King and coated her right fist in the same sparkling energy. “Starry Smasher!” The punch landed against Black King’s chest, sparks flew, but the Space Beast showed no reaction to the attack, making Aster look up at the creature in confusion. Black King used its right claw to strike at Aster, hitting her in the chest as sparks flew from the point of impact. Black King, once Aster backed away, slammed its body against her, throwing her back first onto the ground. “Damn, he’s tougher than I thought,” said Aster. Aster got back up, but not a second later did she get bombarded with energy blasts to her back, making her stagger forward. When she looked back, her eyes fell upon Alien Babarue who was charging straight for her. His right gauntlet extended a blade weapon as he got closer. Aster blocked his first strike with the blade, and delivered a knee strike to his gut, followed by a backhand to his head. Bedu shrugged off the attack and continued, he once again led with the blade, but Aster blocked it. The attack proved to be a decoy as he went for a left hook to Aster’s side. The blow landed, and right after, Bedu fired multiple shots at point blank range. Aster grunted in pain from the attack, but managed to endure it as she readied her counterstrike. However, Black King fired his Hell Magma, hitting her square in the back and caused more sparks to fly from Aster. From the sky, another being appeared, the leader, Xalex. He dropped down with a great BOOM against the asphalt and concrete, he then released his sonic Cruelty Waves straight at Aster, at the same time, Bedu jumped back and began firing several shots at Aster. The Ultra Warrior went down on one knee as she tried to defend herself against the attacks. On a rooftop, some feet away, Rainbow Dash finally landed, letting Applejack and Flash go as she collapsed onto the roof. Her wings disappeared into her back as she caught her breath. “Okay, I need to work on my strength…I’m hitting the gym when this is over…!” Applejack and Flash watched as Aster was getting bombarded from all sides by the two aliens and Space Beast, and their ship was still hovering in midair. The Gungirs and Goliaths didn’t move in for fear that the aliens would take aim at their own ship and kill their hostages. That’s when Applejack had an idea. The country girl took out the Aster-X weapon and flipped the safety switch off. “Guess it’s time we tested these things!” “Applejack, you never really told me what these do,” said Flash. “They use similar energy to Ultrawoman Aster’s ray attack, they may not destroy the Space Beast, but it definitely should cause them some damage, according to Twilight anyway,” said Rainbow Dash. The half-Avian girl reached for the holstered Aster-X weapon and switched its safety to the off position. Flash did the same and said, “Let’s do this.” “Pick yer targets! I got the ugly one!” “I got the golden boy!” Rainbow stated. “The Space Beast is mine!” All three pulled back on a leaver at the back of the weapon until it clicked. [Now charging Ultra Energy.] The three weapons began to whir as the energy built up. The star crystal at the end of the blasters began to glow brighter and brighter, with the charge gauge quickly building up into the green. [Charging complete.] “FIRE!” [Astronium Ray Discharge.] All three weapons fired at once, letting loose beams of sparkling blue and gold light that sailed across the way. The three assailants were too busy attacking Aster to see the three beams of light as they struck each of their targets. Bedu and Xalex released grunts of pain as the beams exploded against their bodies and made them stop their attacks. The third beam struck Black King in the face, causing an explosion that made the Space Beast cease its attack. Aster rose up, using her Ultra Vision to see that her teammates had used the Aster-X weapons to help her. Twilight, you’re a genius, and thanks you guys! Now it’s my turn! The giant of light was suddenly bathed in dual blue lights, along with water that rose into a column around her. ||FLOW AND CRASH! COSMIC WAVE!|| Aster switched into her Cosmic Wave form, and quickly went to work. “Water Bullet!” Aster raised her right hand into a spear thrust position, and from her hand fired off several high pressured, energy infused water blasts that shot off like bullets straight for Xalex. Several explosions went off from his body, before one last shot sent the alien flying and onto his back. Bedu came in with his blade, but thanks to Cosmic Wave’s speed, Aster was able to get around him before he realized that she was gone. “Aqua Blades!” Two blades of energy infused water formed in her hands, Bedu turned around and charged in once again. At the same time, Aster did the same, and in a quick second, both attackers passed each other. Bedu and Aster stood there for a moment with their backs turned, but then Bedu’s arm blade and blaster were sliced, and a spray of sparks erupted from his chest as he too fell to the ground. Black King wasn’t having this as he fired another Hell Magma blast at Aster. The hero of light dashed away from the attack, and did so again when Black King fired a second time. Aster finally got in close as she took her Aqua Blades and slashed the monster across the chest. But each blow she dealt did little to no damage against his hide. Unfortunately, it was at this time that her color timer began to blink red. “Alright, time to turn up the heat!” Aster’s body shined once again, this time she was engulfed in raging flames. ||BURN UP! SOLARIS MAXIMUS!|| The flames dissipated and revealed Aster’s power form, Solaris Maximus. Embers lapped off Aster’s body as she walked towards Black King. The Space Beast fired again, but Aster didn’t dodge it, instead taking on the brunt of the attack as the heat washed over her. The flames of the Space Beast did no harm to her, in fact, they merely made her stronger. Once she was close, Aster delivered a strong right hook to its side, releasing a chamber from her revolver gauntlet that exploded against Black King’s side. When Black King backed away a little, Aster jumped up and performed a spinning back heel kick to his chest. Another revolver chamber fired, causing even more damage to the Space Beast as it reeled back further away from the Ultra Warrior. Aster’s body erupted with raging flames that were tinted red, orange, and yellow. The flames grew bigger and bigger until she focused all the heat and energy inwards, making her entire body glow with plasmatic energy. Aster dashed towards Black King, firing off two revolver chambers at her feet to give her a boost. Once she was close, Aster gripped Black Kings shoulders and shouted, “NOVA BURN!” All the contained energy released at once as Aster’s body exploded into a blast furnace that was about thirty meters wide and seventy meters tall. The blast stopped, not growing any bigger than it had, and after a few seconds, the dome of fiery energy was released, turning into small embers that wafted in the air, leaving only Ultrawoman Aster standing in the center, and Black King nowhere to be seen. Aster’s body glowed once again, this time shrouded in blue and gold sparkling light. ||SHINE ON! ULTRAWOMAN ASTER!|| Aster returned to her original form as she flew up towards the spaceship hovering overhead. She pointed her right hand at the ship’s engines and called out, “Beam Bullet!” Her right hand shined with light as it discharged a bolt of light straight at the engines, hitting them in just the right place to cause the ship’s engines to explode and fall from the sky. Aster hurriedly flew under the ship, and used her strength to catch the ship, slowly, she brought the ship into a slow descent. She brought the ship close to where the Goliath tanks were, sitting it down as gently as she could. Aster gave the SMILE pilots a thumbs up before shooting off into the sky. \*****///** [Same Day, few hours later…] Vice Commander Luna watched as their agents interrogated the leader Xalex, but along with her was also Sunset Shimmer. The Vice Commander of the SMILE base didn’t hide her displeasure of allowing Sunset to hear the interrogation as she was not a full fledged agent of SMILE until she graduated, even with Special Agent status. Nonetheless, Celestia had pulled rank and allowed it. “Now, tell us, why did you take all those kids?” the male agent demanded. Xalex sighed. “Why else? To preserve you.” “What do you mean, ‘preserve’?” the female agent asked. Xalex leaned back into his chair. “Word has gotten around in the proverbial ‘underground’. Something has its sights on this planet, the event that you call The First Incursion, has put this little planet on the radar for not just all the evil aliens, but even the good ones too. You can see by the number of other aliens who walk either in plain sight or in disguise. And with the recent increase in attacks to your planet, I thought it necessary to take a few of your young to make sure your species lives on.” The female agent looked upon him with a narrowed gaze. “You seemed to be taking specific types of teens, teens who display or could display some abilities.” “Yes, it’s quite the mystery about those types. Is it a natural evolution? Is it due to that strange forest? Or is it because of the other alien races who have come to live on Earth? Such a rarity must be preserved should something unfortunate happen, and I figured, taking these types of humans would yield a more evolved human race in the long run.” “Are you saying you think Earth is going to face a Second Incursion?” the male agent asked. Xalex shrugged. “Who can say? I merely wanted to get as many specimens as possible before anything happened. You have my word they would’ve been treated with the utmost care.” Luna switched off the intercom and furrowed her brow. “This alien and his companions are saying the exact same thing.” “They think we’re going to be an endangered species?” “It seems to be knowledge only known in the darkest recesses of the universe at large. Either way, this is troubling to hear. We’ll have to bring this to the SMILE Director and Commanders of the other SMILE bases.” Sunset sighed. “Guess I’ll head back.” As Sunset turned to leave, Luna called out, “Sunset Shimmer.” The girl in question turned around to face Luna. “I would like to commend you for your work today. Both as a student of SMILE and as Ultrawoman, you saved many lives today and should be proud of that.” Sunset blinked in surprise, this was a first, hearing Vice Commander Luna actually praise her for once. “Um, wow, uh, thank you, Vice Commander Luna.” Luna nodded and with that Sunset left the room. She made the long walk back to the dorms where she eventually was tackle hugged again by her roommate, having heard the news of the mission and their capture. It had taken a while, but they managed to convince Flash Sentry that Aster had flown by and rescued Sunset before entering into battle with the aliens, and thankfully, he promised not to tell anyone about Rainbow’s wings. When she got inside, Sunset blinked when she saw the case from earlier. “Is that…?” “Oh, um, Flash Sentry stopped by, he said he went by that shop earlier today and brought this back,” said Twilight. Sunset walked over to the case and opened it up. Inside was Sunset’s newly bought guitar. Twilight looked over Sunset’s shoulder and watched as the fiery haired girl took the instrument out and attached the sling to it. “You bought a guitar?!” “Oh…well, not me. Flash did – even though I told him not to – but, yeah, it’s mine now,” Sunset answered. Twilight bristled at hearing that for some reason. “Oh, he did…t-that was nice.” Twilight cleared her throat and said, “I’ll have to scold Rainbow later for taking my inventions without permission, but all in all, I’m happy that they worked and were able to help you.” Sunset walked over to Twilight and ruffled her hair playfully. “Yeah, those blasters worked great! If they hadn’t used them, I would still be on the wrong end of a three way. So, thanks, Twilight, you helped save the day.” Twilight groaned a little from her hair being messed up, but she still beamed knowing that she had helped to save her friend. Sunset walked over to the sliding doors which led to the balcony. Sunset used the dial that was on the guitar to turn it to a low setting, she then began strumming the guitar, playing a melody that had a soft, almost lullaby-ish tune to it. Twilight leaned against the doorframe, just simply listening to the tune, she often found listening to certain songs soothing and relaxing, but what Sunset was playing resonated with the young genius on another level deep down. Sunset continued to play, still unsure why or how she knew how to play, or where this song was coming from. Her entire life seemed to be a mystery, she determined. The mystery of being Ultrawoman Aster, the mystery of the Ultra Coins, the mystery of how she lost her memories, and the mystery of how she knew how to play the guitar or knew how to play this strange, yet familiar song. One day, she thought, I’ll figure it all out…one day…
8th Light: Trouble Off World! / The Kugutsu Threat! (Part 1)Sunset was on a special mission today. Today, Sunset was going off planet for the first time, at least as far as she could remember. Which wasn’t much. Fluttershy had been asked to join in a mission, as both a student with Special Agent status, and a member of the Preservation team, to go and help on a planet that was having some…issues, with the local wildlife. Fluttershy’s natural ability to speak with different forms of fauna was essential to this. When asked what kind of animals she was going to be dealing with, Fluttershy told her friends that they’d be big enough to be classified as Space Beasts. With that said, Sunset immediately volunteered to assist with the mission. Although, this did receive some blowback from Vice Commander Luna… “I’m sorry, but I do not think that this is a good idea,” said Luna. “Fluttershy’s going to be on a planet filled with creatures as big as Space Beasts, if anything, I need to be there in case things go south,” Sunset argued. Luna crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. “And what if there’s a Space Beast attack on Earth in the meantime? Aster is our most powerful weapon, what if a powerful Space Beast comes and you’re not here to fight it?” “Applejack and Rainbow’s new Gungir and Goliath pack enough punch to drive away a Space Beast, on top of that, we still have the Aster-X blasters, all those combined should be enough to take down, if not drive away, a Space Beast,” Sunset shot back. Luna huffed as she looked to her eldest sister. “Commander Celestia, you can’t be thinking of allowing this? This will leave us vulnerable to attack!” Celestia was silent for most of the talk, contemplating her options. She had to admit, Luna did make a very good point, Sunset as Ultrawoman was their best anti-Space Beast weapon. However, the thought of only viewing her as a weapon made her feel sick. Sunset was not a weapon, nor was she anyone’s property, she was a young girl, and one who was concerned for the safety of her friend. An admirable thing, considering Sunset’s indifference towards friendship to begin with. Although, Celestia was certain that she wasn’t ready to say the word “friend” completely, yet. “Vice Commander Luna does present a very valid point,” said Celestia. Luna smirked, and Sunset was about to open her mouth to argue. “However, Sunset is not a gun that we draw one moment and holster the next. She’s a living being and is free to make her own decisions. We will have Miss Applejack and Rainbow Dash on standby and have the Aster-X blasters handed out to three of our best marksmen. Besides, Miss Fluttershy and her family are still on surveillance are they not? In that case, it would be prudent to allow someone close to her, but also reports to us, to be watching over her. Besides, your trip shouldn’t be more than a two to three days max anyway.” Luna looked at her sister with shock. “Wha – but – T-Tia?!” Sunset smiled and then raised her hand to salute Celestia. “Thank you, Ma’am!” \*****///** [SMILE Controlled Launch Port, Canterlot City. 8:10 AM…] Sunset had to admit, she was a lot more confident about going when she was in Celestia’s office, now that she was actually sitting in the spaceship that was about to take her and her friend into space, to a different planet no less, Sunset was getting a little nervous. Fluttershy sat next to Sunset, the kind alien girl gently placed her hand atop Sunset’s, noticing how tense she looked. “You really didn’t have to come with me, Sunset,” said Fluttershy. “I…I know I don’t have to. But I just…you know, got a little worried…just because Gomora is on our side, doesn’t mean they’re all nice. And knowing that, if one of them gets too riled up, you’ll need someone as strong and big to take it down,” said Sunset. “I’m just surprised that they’re allowing you off planet, considering what you told me last time.” Fluttershy smiled appreciatively at her friend. “Well, once in a while, the Preserve can use its power to allow me to make special trips like this for work related purposes, provided I have a designated SMILE agent embedded with the crew.” “And that would be me.” “I’m happy it is you. Most times they’ll send a nice Agent, or one that’s really serious and…” Fluttershy’s kind visage diminished for a moment as one of irritation and sadness took its place. “…often really suspicious of me.” Sunset smiled and confidently said, “You don’t have to worry about that, I know who you are.” Fluttershy’s smile returned, and it got even bigger when she saw someone else approaching them. The girl who sat across from them was very familiar to Sunset, with olive skin, bright red hair, and azure eyes. “OCELLUS?!” Sunset exclaimed. She wore the same type of space suit as them, white, slightly form fitting, with patches on their arms indicating who they are. On Sunset’s right arm was a patch that had the SMILE insignia as well as the letters of SMILE showing each word they represented. On Fluttershy’s right arm was the same patch, but on her left arm was the patch for the Wildlife Preservation Group, same as Ocellus. “W-W-What are you doing here?!” Sunset asked. “I joined Fluttershy as part of the Preserve. I wanted to make amends for what I did in wrecking some of it,” said Ocellus. “And I’ve told her she doesn’t have to, but she insists,” said Fluttershy. “Plus, I do like learning about different creatures, and that’s not just because I’m a Changeling. So, I asked if I could come and I was approved, especially since they said you were coming along, Sunset,” said Ocellus. “Heh, heh…Now I feel as if I was played somehow.” [Attention all passengers, will be begin lift off. Our destination is planet Zodio, in the Beellor Galaxy.] Outside the ship was angled out on its launchpad, the ship was oblong shaped, green stripes ran along the ship's length, and with the insignia of the Preserve group painted on the side. When the green light was given, the ship’s engines ignited, and the ship rose into the air. The ship rose higher and higher, breaking through the atmosphere and fighting gravity. After a few minutes the ship eventually made it out into the open space. [Good morning passengers, this is Captain Star Chase. We’ll be activating the warp drive and arrive at our destination in no less than five hours from our exit. Total Warp travel time will be thirty minutes.] The ship began to glow with blue light, and in the next second, the green striped ship zoomed off into the distance. \*****///** Thirty minutes had passed, and the ship was in the Beellor Galaxy, now their five-hour journey began. The passengers were free to move about the ship, so Sunset walked around to keep herself from getting too bored. Sunset couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but she felt different now that she was in space. She wanted to say…stronger, unfiltered. Sunset continued to walk about the ship, there was a nagging voice in the back of her head that told her that she should be sticking close to Fluttershy as per her job, but the people on the ship all knew Fluttershy wasn’t a threat to anyone, except to those who cruelly hurt animals, or her friends. Sunset was about to head back to Ocellus and Fluttershy, but then her ears picked up on something. There was a slight banging sound coming from the cargo hold. Sunset decided to check it out, just in case there was a problem that the crew needed to be alerted to. The flame haired girl entered the cargo hold, there were several large crates around, the ship had two levels. Sunset worked on the first level, listening for the sound again. *bang, bang* Sunset turned on the lights, but unfortunately, the lights didn’t get to all the nooks and crannies of the hold, which made Sunset have to use the flashlights that were mounted next to the entrance. After taking one, Sunset walked through the hold, listening carefully as the sound as it went off again. *bang, bang* Sunset was starting to become less concerned that it was a noise the ship was making, and more concerned that it might be a person. In that case…Sunset switched the flashlight to her left hand and readied her right to fire a beam bullet, just in case. The echo the banging sound made was making it hard to pinpoint, but it was getting louder the further in she got. *BANG, BANG* The young woman turned to her right; the banging sound was coming from the crate that was marked “Cleaning Supplies”. Sunset took a deep breath, setting her hand aglow before hitting the button that opened the crate. And from the metal container rolled out a girl, she continued to roll until she hit the container on the opposite end, ending with her upside down. The girl was about thirteen, most likely in middle school. She wore a black tank top, with an orange hoodie over it. She wore black shorts, had lightly tanned skin, and her hair was purple and spikey. The young girl groaned as she rubbed her head and grumbled when she noticed the way she had landed. Sunset walked over to her, her turquoise colored eyes meeting the opal colored eyes of the girl lying on her back. “So, we have a stowaway.” “Eh, heh…hi?” \*****///** “Scootalua Allgood! What were you thinking?!” Fluttershy scolded. “Sneaking onto a starship?! Stowing away in a metal container?! Do have any idea what could’ve happened to you if Sunset hadn’t found you?!” The last couple of hours had been spent alerting the Captain of the ship, as well as the Wildlife Preservation crew about Scootalua, or Scootaloo as she preferred. Unfortunately, they were too far into their flight plan to turn back now, so the decision was made to press on to Zodio, Fluttershy had told the captain that she would personally take responsibility for her during the duration of the trip. With that assurance, Scootlaoo was confined to Fluttershy’s quarters, which was where she, Ocellus, and Sunset were listening to the pink haired young woman give Scootaloo an earful that only a mother could. Once Fluttershy was done, Fluttershy took a deep breath and hugged Scootaloo to her, which surprised the young girl for a moment before she returned the hug. “Despite all that, I’m so glad you’re okay,” said Fluttershy. “Sorry,” said Scootaloo. “You should thank Sunset, had she not been there, we might not be having this conversation.” Fluttershy released Scootaloo, allowing her to face the “bad girl” and said, “Thank you, for saving my life, I mean.” Sunset shrugged and then smiled. “Kind of what I do. But now I’d like to know who she is, and why she’s here.” “Oh, of course. This is Scootaloo Allgood, she’s the daughter of two of the Preserves two top field specialists, Snap and Mane Allgood. They’re actually running point on this mission and we’ll be going there to help them,” said Fluttershy. “Huh, I see, and just how were you able to survive that long in the cargo hold, it was pretty cold, and there’s not that much oxygen in there?” Sunset asked curiously. Ocellus’ eyes scanned her form, it didn’t take her long to recognize some similarities between Scootaloo and another girl she knew back at SMILE. “She’s like Rainbow Dash, she’s half Alien Avian. Alien Avians can withstand high altitude cold temps and can operate with less oxygen when at higher altitudes, and sometimes under extreme circumstances.” Sunset blinked. “Well, can’t get more extreme than in a locked container.” Scootaloo’s jaw dropped. “How did you know?!” Ocellus blushed. “Well…” The Changeling girl let her azure plasma flames rise around her, briefly allowing Scootaloo to see her true form before going back to her disguise. “It’s because I’m a Changeling and can see DNA just as easily as I’m looking at you.” “Wow…” Scootaloo gasped. “Okay, and how do you two know each other?” Sunset asked. “Oh, that’s easy, she’s friends with my big sis, Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo stated proudly. “Wait, Rainbow Dash has a sister?!” Sunset and Ocellus exclaimed. “Not quite. You see, Rainbow Dash had said she’d take Scootaloo under her wing. In the Avian culture, it’s not just a saying, it’s a pledge to accept another person or Avian as an official part of their family. Since there aren’t that many Alien Avians, or more specifically, half-Alien Avians, Scootaloo really looks up to Rainbow, and of course, Rainbow couldn’t resist having her number one fan also be her little sister. Plus, Scootaloo had been following Dashie around since she was smaller,” Fluttershy explained. Scootaloo blushed as she looked up at Fluttershy. “Fluttershy, don’t tell them that! It’s embarrassing!” Sunset and Ocellus couldn’t help but giggle at the thought of seeing a young Scootaloo shadowing the bold and brash Rainbow Dash. Just then, alarms started to go off, Sunset opened the door and caught one of the other crewmembers and asked, “Hey, what’s going on?!” “We’re getting attacked by some Corvus and an Aquila!” the crewmember stated before dashing off down the hall. “Some what and what?” Sunset asked. “Those are some of the creatures from Planet Zodio! But what are they doing this far out?” Ocellus questioned. The ship began to rock back and forth, causing the girls to be launched towards Fluttershy’s bed, and ending up in a pile. Sunset dragged herself out of it and said, “Doesn’t matter why, they're attacking!” Sunset got out of the pile and ran towards the door, but not before Fluttershy called out, “SUNSET!” The girl in question stopped and turned around. “Don’t destroy them if you can help it…” Sunset smiled wearily. “I’ll try, but if they leave me no choice…” The flame haired girl left it there and ran down the corridor. Sunset found one of the air locks and prepared to open it but paused. “Dammit, if I use the airlock, they’re going to know something’s up…” Sunset’s right forearm began to glow as her StaRaizer appeared. “Okay, guess there’s a way to do this without ripping the ship apart. I’m trusting you, StaRaizer!” Light engulfed Sunset as she was transported to the starry nexus, opening her Coin Keeper, Sunset took out her first Ultra Coin. “Grant me the strength of a hero!” || ULTRAMAN! || “Grant me the power of a galaxy!” || ULTRAMAN GINGA! || “Release the light within me!” ||SHINE ON! ULTRAWOMAN ASTER!|| A flash of light shot out from the ship, passing through the metal and grew until it became the giant of light, Ultrawoman Aster. It was now outside the ship, that Aster could see exactly what was attacking them. Two creatures that resembled crows flew around in a death circle, they’re bodies were ethereal, with different points of light that formed a kind of constellation, the body of the creature was a shimmering mauve color, with red eyes that shone bright in the dark of space. The third creature resembled an eagle, with points of light that formed a constellation pattern on its body, and shimmered a bright yellow color, and had the same red glowing eyes. “They’d look cool if they weren’t trying to kill us,” said Aster. The first Corvus flew straight at Aster, but she quickly flew to her right just as the creature got close, and then the second one came along. The second Corvus brandished its talons and grabbed Aster by the shoulders, whisking her upwards and away from the ship. The Corvus flapped its wings once and flipped upward, throwing Aster up even higher. The Ultra Warrior spun for a few seconds before stopping and righting herself. She was about to fly down, until the Aquila came in and wing bashed her in the side, causing sparks to fly. The Aquila came around again, and struck her on the opposite side. The Aquila wasn’t just fast, it was strong too. The giant bird came around for another attack, but Aster wasn’t having it. She raised her right hand and fired off several Beam Bullets, each one hit its mark and exploded against the creature’s body, causing it to release a shriek as it backed away from Aster. With the Aquila distracted, Aster flew down towards the ship and coated her right arm with sparkling blue energy as she came down with her Starry Smasher right on top of Corvus number one, and then fired more Beam Bullets at Corvus number two. All three birds of prey were watching her now, trying to determine the best course of action. Aster took her time to analyze the situation as well, something was off about the way they were acting, especially with that red glow in their eyes. “I wonder…” Within the starry nexus, Sunset once again reached into her Coin Keeper and brought out two Ultra Coins. “I ask for the gift of kindness!” || ULTRAMAN COSMOS! || “I ask for the gift of protection!” || ULTRAMAN AGUL! || “Let the waves of my soul calm your rage!” ||FLOW AND CRASH! COSMIC WAVE!|| Aster’s body was engulfed in blue light and water, transforming her into her fluid form, Cosmic Wave. “I will wash away all cruelty with serenity!” The two Corvus gave a threatening caw and charged for Aster. The moment they came close, Aster masterfully redirected the first Corvus away from her, letting that one ram itself into the second due to her redirection. The Aquila came next, baring its sharp glowing talons, but Aster managed to get away from it as well, utilizing her incredible speed to dodge the creature and make it ram itself into the two Corvus. The three creatures, now ticked, began bickering and fighting amongst themselves, allowing Aster the time she needed. “Aura Rect!” Aster’s hand glowed as she released a sparkling aurora of energy towards the three creatures. The Aquila and two Corvi suddenly stopped bickering and attacking each other, their eyes going from a harsh red to a bright and soft cerulean. Aster slowly approached the shimmering birds with her hand extended outwards. The Corvi and Aquila looked at her hand for a second, the Aquila then placed its beak into her hand, and Aster flipped her hand around to pet the giant eagle on its head. Aster in turn did this for each of the Corvi, the three great birds then took their leave, heading the same way they were about to go. “Best I run escort until my timer goes out.” Aster flew over to the cockpit and said to the pilots, “I’ll guard you for as long as I am able.” The pilots nodded and flew off alongside Aster. \*****///** [3 Hours Later…] “Holy crap, I can’t believe that worked!” Sunset exclaimed. Eventually, they reached the planet. Surprisingly enough, Sunset was able to maintain her Aster form throughout the entire three hours instead of her normal three minutes. Although, when they reached the planet and entered its atmosphere, Aster’s body glowed and shot back into the ship as a beam of light. “I thought you could only maintain that form for three minutes, how were able to pull that off?” Ocellus asked. “No idea, but I will say, when we made the transition from space and to the planet, I could feel a change, like I was getting less energy or something,” said Sunset. “Huh…well, I’m sure Twilight will be interested in this development.” Sunset chuckled. “Oh, I’m sure she will. On that note, what were those things?” “Constellatins, they’re from the planet we’re on now. It’s strange that they came out that far.” “I knew something was probably going to happen. By the way, I never got around to asking, why is it that we’re here? I know they said they needed Fluttershy, but for what exactly?” “Oh…well…we’re possibly going to be preventing a…ahem…civil war.” “………WHAT?!” When the ship landed the group of scientists, as well as three students, and one stowaway, departed the ship. The planet had a green colored sky, with white fluffy clouds, and lush green forests. However, the sky had several more of the same creatures they encountered in space, the Corvus and Aquila, all bearing the same star patterns on their bodies. Along with them were smaller – relatively speaking – bird creatures, its body was shimmering blue and had a different star pattern on its body, they sort of resembled swans. The group got into a large vehicle that sported six wheels and armored plating. The transport traveled a good distance, and along the way the saw many more of the Constellatins, there were some that were monstrous scorpions that were a deep yellow color, wolves that were a bright navy blue, bulls that were green in color, and various others as they made their way to a campsite about five minutes out. Temporary structures were built, with some serving as labs, others as medical bays, and a few more were lodging. The vehicle came to a stop and the group disembarked. Sunset, Ocellus, Fluttershy, and Scootaloo all inhaled deeply, the atmosphere was the same as Earth’s, allowing for the group to walk around without the need for air tanks. As the group made their way further in, two people approached them. The first was a man, brawny, with some stubble peppering his jaw line. He had dark purple hair, and mauve colored eyes, his skin was bronzed from long hours out in the sun and wore a hat with crocodile teeth (collected from crocs who lost them through natural means mind you). The woman next to him was obviously an Alien Avian. Her skin was a pink color, with large feathered wings that were of the same color protruding from her back. Her hair was blonde, long and shimmering, and where her ears should be, were smaller wings that twitched to and fro as if picking up on sounds. Her nails were sharp, almost like talons, white as ivory, and had a nice sheen from them. Her eyes were a light purple color, which matched a certain stowaway’s eyes. “Dr. Allgood!” Fluttershy called out. “Yes!” Both the man and woman answered in unison. That got a chuckle out of the group, from what Sunset could deduce it must be a running gag. She then noticed that Scootaloo ducked behind herself and Ocellus, trying to hide her presence. Fluttershy separated from the group and went up to the Allgoods, the Alien Avian hugged Fluttershy while the human male shook her hand, his movements nearly lifting Fluttershy off the ground. If it wasn’t for the fact that Sunset knew Fluttershy was an alien herself, and clearly stronger than she let others realize, she’d have worried that the large man might break her arm accidentally. “It’s good to see ya, Fluttershy, shame it’s under such circumstances,” said the man in an Australian accent. “We promise, next time, we’ll just come visit without it being work related,” said the female Alien Avian. “It’s no problem…although, speaking of visits…” Fluttershy nodded towards Sunset and Ocellus, both girls walked towards them, the doctors noticing that there was an extra pair of legs following behind them. “Doctors, these are my friends from SMILE. Sunset Shimmer, a teammate of mine, and Ocellus, she’s new to the Academy and new to the Preserve team. Sunset, Ocellus, this is Dr. Snap Allgood,” Fluttershy pointed to the man, “and his wife, Manera Allgood.” “Nice to meet ‘cha,” said Snap. “Likewise, and call me Mane,” said Mane. “But, who’s that behind you?” Scootaloo flinched. Sunset peered over her shoulder and nodded towards Snap and Mane, silently saying, “Better do it now.” With a sigh, Scootaloo walked from behind the two girls, making Snap and Mane gasp. “SCOOTALOO?!” Mane and Snap exclaimed. “Hey, Mom. Hey, Dad,” Scootaloo greeted nervously. The two teenagers stepped back a bit to give them room. Snap and Mane approached Scootaloo and got down on one knee before her. The two parents, without a word, wrapped their arms around their daughter, Scootaloo forgot all about the fact that she was going to get in trouble for what she did, it was a small, microscopic concern compared to this moment. Scootaloo returned their hug as best she could, but considering she had two pairs of arms wrapped around her, that was a little difficult. A long minute passed by before Mane and Snap released their daughter and looked at her directly. “Scoots, I can’t believe you’re here,” said Snap. “Nobody told us you’d be coming! It’s not a holiday back on Earth is it? Did we miss one?” Mane asked her husband. “I don’t think so. I’ve been keepin’ up to date as far I remember…” That’s when snap realized. “Wait, shouldn’t you be in school right now, young lady?” And the moment had passed. Scootaloo chuckled nervously. “Y-Yeah…kinda.” Mane’s smile turned to a small frown. “Scootaloo, what happened?” “I sorta, maybe jumped on the ship when I heard they were going to the same planet you were working on,” said Scootaloo with a small, yet nervous smile. “And how did you sneak on board the ship and not get noticed before now?” Mane asked. “She hid in a container and got locked in it. But I found her and let her out,” Sunset answered. “YOU DID WHAT?!” They exclaimed in shock. “Scoots do ya have any idea how dangerous that was?! They very well could’ve left that container on the ship the whole trip and never opened it!” Snap scolded. “Scootalua Allgood, what on Earth was so important that you risked doing such a reckless thing to come and see us?!” Mane asked. Scootaloo went silent, which intrigued the three teenage girls. During the trip, when it came to the subject of why she had snuck onto the ship, Scootaloo was particularly vague with the details. Fluttershy, indeed even Sunset and Ocellus, had figured it was just to see her parents, seeing as their job took them to faraway places and probably not home as much as they wanted to be. Snap and Mane noticed her silence and were now wondering if there was more to this than the young girl was letting on. However, they couldn’t overlook the fact that what she did was incredibly dangerous, and stupid. “Scoots, if ya don’t want to tell us right now, that’s fine. But ya mother and I have a bit of a crisis goin’ on here, and it needs fixin’ before things escalate farther than we have now,” said Snap. “But we’re not done talking about this, so until we’ve resolved this, you’re grounded to our cabin. Understood?” Mane asked, although it was more like an order than a question. Scootaloo sighed in defeat. “Yes, Ma’am.” \*****///** After Scootaloo was left at their cabin, the three teens along with Snap and Mane, began their drive to their destination. “Okay, so let’s give ya the rundown. We told ya there’s a civil war breaking out, but we never told ya between who. There are two factions, one is led by the Leo, King Regulus,” said Snap. “Regulus?! But the last time I was here, he was ruling with fairness, he’s a protector! Why would he be doing that?!” Fluttershy asked. Snap shook his head. “No idea, which is why we need you to ask, as far as we can tell, there’s been no immediate change to the environment , the population of all the different Constellatins hasn’t drastically decreased, so the prey to predator ratio is nominal.” “Who’s the other faction led by?” Sunset asked. “A large Ursa Major, the second strongest Alpha on the planet aside from Regulus, Chief Uudora,” said Mane. The transport passed through rough terrain but managed to roll with the bumps and dips. The trail had markings that it had been traveled through by large creatures, making Sunset get a little edgy about meeting these Consetalltins. Sunset leaned next to Ocellus and whispered, “If things get bad, I might need to transform. If that happens, can you back me up?” Ocellus nodded and whispered back, “I don’t know how much I can do against creatures like what we’re about to see, but I’ll at least keep everyone safe.” They drive continued for about a couple of more hours, finally arriving at a large rock formation. There were several lionesses forming a perimeter around the rock formation, their fur shimmered gold, and their eyes…their eyes were red. Along with the lionesses were green bulls, the Taurus, and others like the wolves, and flying overhead were some Aquila. Snap stopped the transport and looked back towards the girls. “Sunset, right?” “Yes, sir.” “Ya ever been around a wild animal?” Black King, Meteor Bird, Zetton, Barabba, and then I got licked on the face by Gomora. “Kind of…” Mane turned around and said, “Well, we’ll just say this anyway. Don’t make sudden moves, keep your actions slow and calm. They’re edgy right now, we don’t need to provoke them. Regulus is like the king of this planet, so when we see him, bow your head, we’ll let you know when it’s okay stop.” Sunset and Ocellus nodded. The group of five exited the transport, and just as the two doctors instructed, they moved slowly and calmly, hands out to their sides. Two giant lionesses approached their group and Fluttershy stepped forward. “We request an audience with King Regulus, we only wish to speak to him,” said Fluttershy. The two lionesses looked to each other, their noses sniffing the air around them. They eyed Sunset and Ocellus for a moment, but then they nodded in the direction of the rock formation. “They said that they would bring us to the King, and to follow them.” The five followed the two giant lionesses into the den, several more of the lionesses were either eyeing them, or attending to their cubs. But the interesting thing was that the ones that were eyeing them had crimson eyes, while the others that were attending to the cubs had blue. The lionesses led them further in, and straight to the den of the King. Regulus sat upon his rock, his mane shimmering like solar fire, the star pattern upon his body was brighter compared to the others, possibly due to his alpha status among the other Constellatins. Upon his forehead was an eight-pointed white star. To his right was his wife, a lioness that shown as bright as the King, showing her status as the Queen of the Pride. To Regulus’ right was a young cub, a male Leo, the beginnings of a shimmering fire mane were forming around his neck and on his head. What was interesting, just like in the rest of the den, the King’s eyes were crimson red, and lioness and cub’s were blue. The two guard lionesses bowed to the King, the group followed their lead and did the same. Regulus regarded them and gave a growl. The two lionesses raised their heads and backed away. “Now,” said Mane. The group lifted their heads and looked upon the royal family. Shy walked up and said, “Greetings, King Regulus. We’ve come to you, seeking answers. From what I am told, your kingdom is on edge, and a war is going to break out with Uudora, the Ursa Major. Please, tell me why this is?” While the growls were unintelligible to the others, to Shy’s ears, she could hear the words clearly. “What I do with my kingdom is none of your concern,” said Regulus. “It does concern me, you are like a good friend to me, as well as most of us assembled here! You’ve been at peace with Uudora, you’ve ruled the planet with fairness and strength, why fight her? Please, if you tell us what is wrong, maybe we can help you?” The Queen glanced to her husband and said, “Husband, perhaps it could not hurt to hear her words.” “Do you question my decisions Reiru?” The lioness shook her head. “No, Regulus, but would it not be helpful to have an outside perspective.” Regulus stamped down his paw down, causing a slight tremor. A testament to the strength this creature possessed. The King then turned to his left, his mane swishing a bit as he said, “I do not. Why should I let a human tell me what to do?!” Reiru, the cub, and even Fluttershy raised an eyebrow at that. Snap slowly walked up to Fluttershy and said, “Fluttershy, what did he just say…?” “I think something’s wrong…we should leave.” Fluttershy bowed to the royals. “I’m sorry, King Regulus, we meant no offense. We only sought knowledge. We shall leave if that is your wish.” The cub looked like he wanted to protest, and so did Reiru, but they remained silent. Regulus turned back to face them and said, “Very well, leave here, humans.” About twenty minutes later, the group had entered their transport and Fluttershy gave the others the translation of what happened. Afterwards, Snap and Mane’s brows furrowed. “Is something wrong?” Sunset asked. “This isn’t the first time we’ve met the King, Queen, and Prince. They’ve seen me in my true form, and they’re also keenly able to determine who is and isn’t human. And of course, the blatant fact that he lumped Dr. Mane into the human category, even though she’s in her true form, isn’t a mistake that they make. I’m sure the Queen and Prince could tell that Ocellus wasn’t human, but Regulus didn’t seem to acknowledge it.” “…We may have another problem.” Ocellus spoke up, looking pensive as she did. “When King Regulus moved to face Queen Reiru, his mane moved just enough for me to see…it.” “It?” Snap asked. “The mark of the Kugutsu.” Sunset’s eyes widened, but Fluttershy, Snap, and Mane didn’t know what she was talking about. “I’m sorry, what is Kugutsu?” Mane asked. “You two are aware of Ultrawoman Aster, correct?” Ocellus asked. Snap and Mane nodded, it was hard not to know about the hero giant that was protecting the city and destroying Space Beasts. “The very one that helped Gomora and saved another creature?” Snap asked. Ocellus nodded back. “The other creature was me. I’m a Changeling, I was forced to fight against her. And the following week, another attack happened, a creature known as a Belzeb, came to kill me. The Belzeb have strong mind controlling venom called Kugutsu. Once injected, the victim loses all control of their body and essentially you become their slave. To fight and die as they see fit.” “That’s horrible!” Mane exclaimed. “When one is infected, a red rash forms at the injection spot. When the King’s mane moved, I saw it. It was hidden under his mane, but it is there, he’s under the control of a Belzeb, and the Belzeb respond to their Queen, in this case…” “Chrysalis. The Changeling Queen and leader of the Dark Changelings. But what does she want with this planet?” Sunset asked. “An army,” Fluttershy spoke. “Constellatin’s are a strong race of creatures, an army led by Regulus…” A grim thought appeared in Ocellus’ mind, a vision of Hive Prime getting overrun with Constellatins, all controlled by Chrysalis. “We should talk to Uudora, if this Belzeb creature is around, maybe one of the other Constellatins might’ve seen it.” \*****///** [2 hours later…] The team made it to the opposite faction, which had taken up camp at the base of a mountain. Several more Constellatins made up this faction. Canis Majors, which were golden brown color. Monoceros, which were essentially unicorns, were colored silver and had shimmering horns. There were also Lynxes that prowled the area, their bodies colored black like space itself. In the sky above were Pegasi, which were magenta colored, and some Corvi. Like before, Fluttershy spoke to the guards, which were a pair of Monoceros. The two unicorns nodded and had them come into the mountain. There were more creatures inside, some were other Ursa Majors, some were Aries, which were red, and others like Scorpios. The two Monoceros guards led the team further in, and it was here they saw her. The second Alpha of the planet, she stood about sixty-one meters tall, had shimmering mauve fur, her eyes were blue, and her claws were long. Next to her was a cub, an Ursa Minor, with sky blue fur. One thing that Sunset noticed that was similar between both Uudora and Regulus, was that they both had an eight-pointed star mark in the middle of their foreheads, a possible mark of their Alpha status. “Uudora, Chief of the Ursas, thank you for seeing us,” said Fluttershy. The giant bear sat down and leaned its head down. “It is wonderful to see you as well, young one.” Uudora looked to the group and tilted her head curiously. “Hmm, you travel with new company. The human male and the bird female I have seen before, but the other two…she smells similar to a Musca, and the human female smells…different.” Fluttershy sighed happily, Uudora could recognize them, plus, not one of the Constellatins assembled had red eyes. “Chief Uudora, you are at war with Regulus, correct?” Uudora snarled at the mention of the Leo’s name. “I once thought him a fair and noble king, who knew better than to try and wrest control of all creatures. He may rule, but I am an Alpha as well. Ursa have always been independent, and now he wishes to bring all of us under his tyranny!” Uudora gave a short roar before adding, “Well, I will not stand for it!” “Chief Uudora, we have suspicion to believe that King Regulus’ actions may not be his own,” said Fluttershy. Uudora cocked an eyebrow. “Explain yourself.” Fluttershy did, explaining about what they found out while speaking to Regulus, as well as the Kugutsu venom and the possible Belzeb infestation. “Have you, or any creature, seen anything strange on your planet?” Uudora thought on this. “Not much…however, I have heard from the Musca that they sensed the beating of wings that were not their own. I too have heard such unfamiliar buzzing around our camp.” Fluttershy turned to her team, “Uudora says she may’ve heard the Belzeb around here!” Sunset already knew what she needed to do. “Okay, I’ll check it out, if one of these big guys could point the way.” “Hang on now, we can’t let ya go out searchin’ for something that dangerous. You may be SMILE, but you’re our responsibility, we can’t let ya go,” said Snap. Sunset raised her hand as if to dismiss his concern. “I appreciate it, but I’ll just recon and come back.” “I’m coming with you,” said Fluttershy. Sunset was about to say “no”, but one look at Fluttershy’s determined face made her think otherwise. “Young one.” Fluttershy looked up at Uudora. “You should know, that Regulus has issued a challenge to me. The day after tomorrow, we will fight.” “What?! B-But we just said–!” “All the more reason. If his will is not his own, then he will lead all of us into ruin. As another Alpha, I cannot allow that. If you are unable to find an alternative, I will have no other choice.” Fluttershy grit her teeth but nodded reluctantly. \*****///** A Lynx led Sunset and Fluttershy through the forest, the timid girl assumed her true alien form, wanting to be ready in case something happened. The Lynx made a few grunting sounds, which Fluttershy translated. “He says, ‘I heard the strange buzzing up ahead’. And I think he’s right, I can smell something in the air, something bad.” Sunset looked up at the Lynx and said, “Thank you, but stay here, we’ll go on ahead, we’ll be too small for them to notice.” The Lynx nodded and stayed low to the ground. Fluttershy and Sunset headed towards the scent, with Fluttershy leading the way. About a meter from where they left the Lynx, Fluttershy raised her hand in a stopping motion. The alien girl nodded her head towards the front, Sunset nodded in understanding. Slowly, they approached the edge of the tree line, and then moved some leaves around to see exactly what they were suspecting. Huddled around a large cliff, rested several of the Belzeb. The buzzing sound they made was unnerving as they scuttled around. The two girls released the leaves and took a few steps back. “How many do you think there are?” Sunset asked. “Many, from what I could tell, about…fifteen or twenty, there’s way too many for you alone, Sunset,” said Fluttershy. Sunset looked around, and then looked up and had an idea. “Maybe not. Who said I had to fight them all? I can just burn them away.” “How?” “We’ll need that Lynx, c’mon!” Sunset and Fluttershy ran back to the Lynx, Fluttershy informed him of what they saw, but then Sunset told him her plan. “I have a plan for them. I want you to balance me on your paw, and then toss me as high as you can into the air.” The Lynx and Fluttershy tilted their heads to the side, it was rather cute. “Um…Mr. Lynx here is asking, ‘Why would I do that? I don’t want to hurt you’.” “Trust me, I can get them all in one shot if you do.” The Lynx looked at Fluttershy, and she at him. Fluttershy knew that Sunset could transform into Aster, but this request was quite odd. Nonetheless, the alien girl managed to assure the Lynx that Sunset would be alright. Reluctantly, the Lynx let Sunset kneel on its paw. “Fluttershy, once he tosses me into the air, I want you both to run in the opposite direction as fast and as far as you can, you got it?!” Fluttershy nodded. “ALRIGHT, LYNX, TOSS ME!” Sunset shouted. The Lynx yowled and then tossed Sunset into the air as hard as it could. Sunset braced herself as the g-forces pushed down on her as she ascended higher and higher. Down below, she could see the clearing and the cliff where the Belzeb were huddled around. Sunset’s speed gradually slowed, and then she began to drop, Sunset angled herself towards the cliff and quickly summoned her StaRaizer, surrounding herself in the starry nexus. “Bestow, the strength of the brave!” || ULTRAMAN LEO! || “Bestow, the power of the bold!” || ULTRAMAN MAX! || “Ignite the fire in my heart!” ||BURN UP! SOLARIS MAXIMUS!|| Plasmatic flames erupted around Sunset’s body, growing bigger and bigger as her entire body transformed into her powered form of Solaris Maximus. “I’ll burn you all away with the flames of my heart!” Aster’s body erupted with flames. The flames grew bigger and burned hotter as she quickly descended towards her target. The Belzeb down below saw a bright, fiery star, staring at it as they could not determine what it was. Those raging flames were then absorbed by Aster’s body as she performed the classic “superhero landing” pose as she touched down on the ground before the face of the cliff. The Belzebs’ eyes all glowed red as they readied to attack, but then Aster looked up, her eyes glowing with power. “Nova Burn!” Aster’s body exploded into a fiery dome of destructive power. The dome grew bigger and higher as it engulfed everything in a twenty-meter radius. The Belzeb released a screech as they were all burned away, even their ashes were burned into nothing, the cliff broke apart into rumble, then turning into molten lava. Aster ceased her attack, the fiery blast furnace dissolved into embers as Aster stood up and surveyed her work. A crater had formed due to her attack, smoldering and as the area hissed from the intense heat that she used to burn the Belzeb away. “Probably best I take care of this.” Aster’s body glowed blue as a wave of water rose around her, transforming Aster into her Cosmic Wave form. Aster rose above the crater and concentrated her energy, creating a large sphere of water above her head, Aster then threw the giant water ball straight down into the crater. The water ball exploded upwards, instantly putting out any small fires from her attack, and cooling the crater, which generated a huge cloud of steam that rose up high into the air. Aster flew out of the cloud and used her Ultra Vision to peer into the distance, it was there she saw Fluttershy and the Lynx, who were standing on a cliff far from Aster’s attack. Aster flew over to where they were, surprisingly, despite seeing her display of power, the Lynx didn’t seem threatened by her. “Wow, surprised he isn’t scared of me after what I did.” Lynx looked to Fluttershy and then to Aster and then began to grunt and growl. Fluttershy listened and her eyes widened. “What’s he saying?” “Sunset, he says that you remind him of a blue Ultraman who came to their planet a long time ago!” Despite her face being unable to express, that didn’t stop Sunset from making a shocked gasp upon hearing this. “You mean…He’s seen me?!” “Not…hold on.” Fluttershy listened closer to what the Lynx said. “No, not you specifically, he says the Ultra was a male, but was blue and moved fluidly like you.” A blue Ultraman, within the starry nexus, Sunset looked at her StaRaizer, and looked at the top coin she first inserted to activate her Cosmic Wave form. “Was his name…Cosmos?” The Lynx yelped happily. “He says, ‘Yes’.” Aster landed beside the Lynx, who purred as he nuzzled against Aster’s leg. The giant of light petted him gently, making the Constellatin relax. “That explains it…” “Explains what?” Fluttershy asked. “When I cleansed those Corvi and Aquila, the ones that attacked, they became really friendly towards me…I think…I think they thought that I was Cosmos, or I reminded them of him at least.” Aster’s body glowed and the Lynx pulled away, watching as she shrunk down and became Sunset again. The fiery haired girl sat on the grass and Fluttershy sat next to her. The Lynx laid down as well, giving her a pleading look to keep petting him, despite her change in size. Sunset chuckled and patted his jaw, she wasn’t sure how much the Lynx was enjoying this, given that she was much smaller, but she supposed it wasn’t how big she was, it just the feelings that were put into the action. Sunset summoned her Coin Keeper and pulled out Cosmos’ Ultra Coin. “I gathered all these coins, each one representing an Ultra Warrior. Ultraman, Ginga, Leo, Max, Agul, Cosmos, and now Orb…yet I still have no idea who I am…” “Sunset…?” “Oh…yeah, you didn’t know. Only Twilight does…yeah, I don’t have much of any memories of my childhood, my past is a complete blank to me. I know how to fight, I know how to transform into Aster, and that’s it. I don’t even know what I am. Am I human or an Ultra? Which is my real form? And if there are other Ultras out there, where are they?! Why haven’t they come to help me?! I’ve collected these coins with their powers, you’d think that mean I was bound to meet them at some point?!” Sunset stopped petting Lynx as she looked down at the grass. Fluttershy wrapped her tails around Sunset in a comforting fashion, and then wrapped her arm around her shoulders. “I didn’t know you were suffering like that…” “Only Twilight knew…I was debating whether I should tell you all or not…” “I’m sorry you don’t remember your past, but whether this is your true form, or Aster, it doesn’t matter. What matters is what you do now that defines you. You’re my friend, a hero, and a kindhearted person,” said Fluttershy. Sunset shrugged at the last one. “I don’t know if I’m that kindhearted.” “I don’t think you would’ve asked Commander Celestia to let you come with me if you weren’t. Plus, I think that coin thinks so, too.” Sunset looked at the Cosmos Coin again, for a moment, the carved image of the coin’s eyes shined blue, as if agreeing with Fluttershy. Well of course you would, you came from her. “Alright, enough of my pity party, let’s head back. Hopefully that was all the Belzeb, now we just need to figure out what to do about King Regulus…”
9th Light: Trouble Off World! / The Kugutsu Threat! (Part 2)[Base Camp…] Night was falling on the planet, but not many were getting any sleep. The scientists all tried to come up with a solution to break the hold the Belzeb have on the King. “If Aster burned them all away, shouldn’t that mean that King Regulus will be free?” asked a scientist. “Not accordin’ to Ocellus. Once poisoned, even after death, they’re connected to the hive mind of their Queen, and can be controlled from anywhere. And if it is the Queen of the Dark Changelings, she could be controlling them from the next galaxy over,” said Snap. “Okay, we synthesize a cure,” said a female scientist. “Also, not going to work. Ocellus said that the Kugutsu cannot be purified by anything in this universe. The Changelings have a natural immunity to it, but otherwise…” “All we’re hearing is ‘Ocellus this’ and ‘Ocellus that’, why are we taking the word of some kid?!” another asked. Snap glared at the man who asked that. “Because, she’s a Changeling too, and her people would know more about what we’re dealin’ with than anyone here.” “How do we know she isn’t behind this? Is it me or does anyone find this a little too coincidental?” another female scientist asked. Mane slammed her fist against the table and flared her wings for intimidation. “That’s enough! You have no right to accuse her of anything! If it weren’t for her, we wouldn’t have known the real reason behind this civil war!” “Well, come the day after tomorrow, it won’t matter. Either Uudora kills Regulus, or Regulus kills Uudora.” *knock, knock* The other scientists turned in the direction of the door. Snap walked towards the door and opened it, revealing Ocellus. “Ocellus? What are you doing here?” “I’m here to help.” Ocellus walked into the room and stood before the scientists. “I may have a solution to the problem.” The eyes of everyone in the room widened with surprise at this news, along with some skepticism. “How, Ocellus?” Mane asked. Azure plasma flames surrounded Ocellus, changing her back into her true form. “My blood. Changelings have a somewhat natural immunity to the Kugutsu, but the effects should be stronger if it’s from a Queen Changeling.” That earned a few confused looks. “I’m sorry, we’re not following,” said a male scientist. “According to my King, I have latent potential to become a Queen. I…I still don’t know if that’s true, but it’s enough that Chrysalis wants me dead. So, if there’s a chance…maybe you can synthesize a cure from the blood in my veins,” said Ocellus. The scientists began murmuring amongst themselves, as they tried to think this through. If what Ocellus said was true, then they could fix King Regulus and this whole war would be over. “We certainly have the equipment,” said a female scientist. “And we do have a sample of the King’s blood, and it’s fresh too. We can use it to see if whatever antidote we create works,” said Snap. “The problem lies with the quantity. If you’re blood is strong enough to counteract the effects of the Kugutsu, a small veil won’t be enough to spread through the King’s entire bloodstream,” said Mane. “Again, I have a solution…I think.” All eyes fell on Ocellus once again. “Changelings can increase and decrease their size depending on whatever creature we’re mimicking looks like. I could just change my size, that would increase the amount of blood in my body.” \*****///** [The Next Morning…] “I don’t like this,” said Sunset. “I don’t either,” said Ocellus. “If I don’t do this, a fight will be waged the day after tomorrow, and either both or one creature is going to die. One dies it’ll be a tragedy, if the other wins, it’ll be a tragedy and Chrysalis gets control of this planet.” Sunset watched as the crew brought in the instruments that they would be using. It seemed odd to Sunset when she saw the drop ship bring a large syringe needle, and several machines made for diluting blood. Fluttershy had explained to Sunset and Ocellus that it was typical that they have this kind of equipment, especially when dealing with very large creatures. The equipment was set up in an area with a soft patch of dirt, right next to a rock face that would hopefully serve as a place for her to rest up against. Fluttershy watched as the final preparations were complete and sighed as she walked over to Ocellus and Sunset. “They’re ready.” Ocellus nodded and walked over to where everyone had set up the equipment. One large syringe hooked up to an industrial sized hose, and all leading to two large devices, one that would collect the blood, and another that would begin analyzing and breaking it down into different components, allowing the scientists to find the factor in Ocellus’ blood that allowed her to resist and combat the mind controlling effects of the Kugutsu. The young Changeling didn’t know if this was going to work or not, changing her size while keeping her original form was not something a Changeling did every day, such specific changes usually took a lot of practice, along with trial and error. Ocellus reasoned that this shouldn’t be that hard, it wasn’t as if she was trying to change her gender. Yes, she could turn into males, but changing your own original body’s sex was a different matter. But this was just her body size, and hopefully it would be a lot easier, emphasis on hope. Okay…increase my body’s size and height…let’s see. I’ll shoot for Aster’s height, that should be big enough, she thought. Ocellus’ azure plasma fire swirled around her, but it didn’t completely obscure her body like it would normally when she was changing into someone or something else. The young Changeling struggled, her brow sweating as she concentrated as hard as she could, focusing on Ultrawoman Aster’s height and body dimensions without completely changing into her. This is a lot harder than I thought…! It feels like I’m fighting against my own nature! Ocellus stumbled a bit, making her go down on one knee. “OCELLUS!” Fluttershy cried. “That’s enough, stop!” Sunset insisted. “NO!” Ocellus shouted back, rising back to her feet. “I can…do this! I have to…! This is my fault…! Chrysalis is going to hurt all these creatures just to win a civil war…! I will not…let her…do that!” Ocellus then let out a loud cry as she poured all her effort, all her spirit into this transformation. The azure plasma flames swirled around her fiercely, and just then, her body grew. It was subtle, at first, having grown a few inches, but then it was becoming more gradual. With each passing second, Ocellus’ body enlarged, growing bigger and taller, it was still a struggle in her mind and body though. Her body wanted to change completely into the mental image she set forth in her mind, but Ocellus willed herself to just focus on the size and height, not the look. Everyone watched with bated breath as Ocellus grew taller, her shadow was cast upon them, she stood at an impressive fifty meters tall, her tail frill swished back and forth, creating a gust of wind. From her back her translucent wings flared, catching the sunlight and bathing everything in a bright salmon, pink color. “OCELLUS!” Sunset and Fluttershy yelled. Ocellus slowly turned around, minding her step as she did so. When she turned, she looked down at her friends and smiled triumphantly. “I did it!” Snap and Mane let out a sigh of relief, unfortunately, that was the easy part. Mane flared her wings and flew up towards Ocellus and hovered in front of her face. “Okay, are you ready?” “I think so…” Ocellus said with a nod. The young Changeling walked towards the rockface, sitting down and resting her back up against it. She gave a shuddering sigh as she looked at the oversized syringe needle, it was strange, it looked so much bigger when she was her normal height, but now it looked like a regular sized I.V. needle. “Okay, normally either myself or Snap would do this, and believe me we would. Unfortunately, we can’t turn into giants, and you definitely don’t want us trying this with a drop ship,” said Mane. Ocellus immediately shook her head. “So, I’ll have to guide you, and you’re going to be inserting the needle into yourself. I won’t lie, it will hurt, but at any time you want to stop, just say the word.” Ocellus nodded. “You’ll want to find a soft spot on your carapace that the needle can easily go into. Once you do, find a good vein that you can use.” Ocellus knew exactly where, looking at the spot where her elbow bent, there was a gap in her exoskeleton, allowing for joint movement, and of course it was more tissue there than hard shell. She stretched out her arm, allowing her a better view of the gap and noticed a good vein that appeared. Ocellus felt her heart beating fast as she took the needle into her right hand and readied at the insertion area. “Breathe, Ocellus, deep, calm breaths. Steady yourself.” Mane instructed. Ocellus tried to do as she was told, taking calm breaths in and out, but her pulse was going fast, and she was finding it hard to calm herself. That is until she saw something out of the corner of her right eye. Ocellus watched as Fluttershy, in her true form, leaped and bounded until she was climbing the rockface, with Sunset clinging to her back as she did so. Both girls landed on Ocellus’ right shoulder and gave her looks of encouragement. “’You can do this, Ocellus,” said Fluttershy. “We’re right here,” said Sunset. Mane flew lower and placed her hands atop of Ocellus large right hand. “We all are, dear.” With the assurance of their presence, Ocellus swallowed her fear and looked down at her arm. She breathed steadily as she moved the needle towards her arm, it was easy to see that she was tensing her body, but thankfully she managed to not tense up her left arm. Ocellus let out a yelp of pain as she felt the needle pierce her skin, the immediate instinct to stop and pull the object that was causing her pain was trying to take over her mind, but Ocellus fought against it as she continued to press it further in, making her release small squeals of pain. “Okay – okay that’s good, Ocellus, it’s in!” Mane stated. “You did great, dear!” Ocellus panted, her arm releasing waves of discomfort as she was keenly aware of the needle in her arm. Just then the machines kicked on, and the process began. The tube was clear, allowing everyone to see the green tint of Ocellus blood as it flowed out and into the machines. The first machine began extracting the blood, and the second started analyzing it. Snap looked over the data and gave the thumbs up to his wife. “You did great, Ocellus! Just rest up against the rocks. Tell us when you think you’re feeling lightheaded and we’ll stop. We shouldn’t need that much at this rate.” “Okay…” Ocellus stated. She then turned to her right and smiled at her friends. “Thank you.” “No problem,” said Sunset. Fluttershy patted Ocellus’ cheek and smiled at her. “I hope this works…I know we have the ability to create an antidote, but I don’t know if they can create a way to inject him with it, or allow us to get that close,” said Ocellus. Sunset cupped her chin as she began to think. “I think I might have a way.” “You have a plan?” Fluttershy asked hopeful. “Part of a plan…like, twelve percent of one.” Ocellus and Fluttershy looked at her with a deadpan expression. “Give me a break, I’m working on the fly here!” \*****///** [A few minutes later…] Scootaloo sat upon a hill that overlooked the camp from a distance. She could see Ocellus, still laid up against the rock face as all the scientists in the camp, including her parents, worked feverishly to create an antidote to the mind control poison. Scootaloo scowled a little as she hugged her legs closer to her chest. “Huh, didn’t expect to see you out here. Didn’t your ‘rents ground you?” The spiky haired girl looked towards the voice and frowned a little. “You going to rat me out?” Sunset chuckled. “Not my style.” Sunset then jumped straight up, making Scootaloo gasp as she cleared the nearly six-foot-tall hill and land behind her. “Whoa, how did–?!” “Let’s just say I’ve done some intense training,” said Sunset as she took a seat next to Scootaloo. “What’re you doing out here?” Scootaloo asked. “Mostly, thinking. But, now that you’re here, I’ve been meaning to ask you something.” Scootaloo averted her gaze and stared out into the distance. “What?” “You risked nearly starving or suffocating to death, stowed away on a ship bound for an alien world where any number of complications could’ve happened, just to come and see your parents. So, either it was something so important that you couldn’t wait to tell them, or…” Scootaloo huffed. “What does it matter. They’ve been too busy with all this mess for me to even ask.” “Well, I’m not your mom and dad, but you could always bend my ear,” said Sunset. “Thought you came out here to think, not hear my whining?” “Sometimes you need a distraction in order for your idea to come to you. So, spill, and if you want, I won’t tell your parents,” Sunset promised. Scootaloo sighed heavily. What was the harm? Her parents were too busy to talk, and Sunset seemed alright, she did save her after all. “…Alright…so…you know I’m half alien, right?” Sunset nodded. Scootaloo stood up and removed her hoodie. Underneath that she wore a modified tank top, which was low cut in the back to allow her wings to flare. The young girl concentrated as slits of orange light appeared around her shoulder blades. In the next second, two orange, feathered wings sprouted from her back. Despite having seen that at least three times now, it still never ceased to amaze Sunset every time she saw it. “Your wings are cool.” Scootaloo smiled a little. “Have you seen Rainbow Dash’s wings?” “Yeah, three times actually.” “Then can you tell me the difference between my wings…compared to my Mom and Rainbow Dash?” Sunset furrowed her brow as she thought, at first glance, Scootaloo’s wingspan was about four feet, at least. Sunset would be the first one to admit, she wasn’t as knowledgeable about different alien races as Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy, but as far as she could tell, she couldn’t see any differences. “Sorry, Scoots, I can’t…” “My wings are short…” “Yeaaaah…and?” “They should be bigger…my wings should be as big as Rainbow’s. Average wingspan of an Alien Avian is about six feet when fully flared, but Rainbow’s is eight. My Mom’s is about seven feet, Rainbow’s will probably be larger than that when she’s older, but me…” Scootaloo flapped her small wings. “Mine are small…I mean, can they lift me off the ground?” Scootaloo flapped her wings, which, remarkably, were able to lift her at least three feet off the ground. “Sure. If I run with them out, they can make me run faster too. But flying…? That won’t happen, I can’t join Rainbow or my Mom in the sky…” Sunset rubbed the back of her head. “Well…maybe you’re like a late bloomer or something?” “That’s not the case…A doctor told us that, sometimes, when it comes to half aliens, one part of their DNA will be dominant, but sometimes, when they get older and go through…ugh…puberty…the body can make changes, even on a genetic level. Which means…” Sunset figured it out. “Which means your wings could be affected, too.” “They are affected…the doctors said I’d have a seventy-forty chance of my wings growing or not. Guess which of the two the seventy percent is on.” Scootaloo sat back down and hugged her legs to her chest again. “One of the girls in my class saw me trying to fly with them at school…she’s a real bitch to me and my friends, but that day she pushed it too far, for me at least.” “What happened?” Sunset asked. “She started to say things like, ‘Why do you even have wings if you can’t fly?’ and, ‘You’re better off without them, flightless chicken.’” Okay, yeah, she is a bitch. “I got so mad, my eyes watered, and then I punched her! And, just as a fact, she’s a half alien like me. An Alien Adamantite, they have diamond hard skin. Fortunately, I punched her so quick she didn’t have time to harden her skin. Anyway…of course I got in trouble, they called my aunts, I told my side and her rich daddy and mommy raised hell about it, and I was suspended for a week…I just got frustrated with all of it! I just wanted to go! So, when I heard about the trip from the Preserve, I snuck on.” Sunset’s expression saddened now that she heard the whole story, the young girl just wanted to get away and be with her parents, but when all this happened, she didn’t have the chance to talk to them about it. “Do they know you’re suspended for that?” “No, I live with my aunts, and communication out this far is sketchy, so they planned on telling them when they came back…” Scootaloo sighed heavily as she gazed back out into the distance, watching the ongoing commotion down below. “I’m not smart like my Mom and Dad, at least not like they are…I can’t fly like Rainbow or my Mom, what good am I?” Sunset chuckled a little and made Scootaloo look at her with annoyance. “Sorry, I just realized you’re not that different from me.” “How do you figure?” she asked skeptically. “You’re kind of directionless, and for a while I was too. You see, kid, I have no memories of my past.” Scootaloo’s eyes widened with shock. “I don’t remember my parents, my friends – if I had any – my home, whether or not I was a good person or not, pretty much everything. All I knew was my name, and that was it, well that and a few other things, but none if helps me remember.” Scootaloo blinked and then looked away, feeling really bad about how she sounded. “I’m sorry…here I go whining about something like that, when you don’t even have memories.” “Don’t worry about it. It is frustrating, but up until recently, I didn’t know where I was going, or what I should be doing. Then I met someone I can call a friend, and she helped me figure out what I wanted to do.” “That is?” “Be a hero,” said Sunset with a wink. “In my own way. Point is, you may feel like this now, but trust me, if a girl who has no past can find her direction, then so can you. And you have parents, aunts, friends, and an awesome big sis, so you kinda got a leg up on me there, Scoots.” Sunset ruffled Scootaloo’s hair, making her groan in annoyance, but she didn’t swat Sunset’s hand away, and she allowed a small smile to grace her lips. At that moment, both girls watched as Ocellus began to shrink down until neither of them could see her anymore. Sunset and Scootaloo looked at each other and then headed down. Scootaloo flapped her wings as she fell, slowing her descent and bringing her to hover above the ground, Sunset just jumped straight down, landing with little effort against the dirt. “Race?” Sunset asked. “You’re on!” Scootaloo landed on the ground and then took off down the dirt road, a dust trail was kicked up in her wake as the young teen ran with incredible speed. Sunset blinked, impressed at Scootaloo’s speed despite not being able to fly. The flame haired girl smirked as she too dashed away, kicking up her own dust trail in the process. In no time at all Sunset caught up to Scootaloo, she was a little surprised, but not as much, the older teen was bigger, and so had a longer stride. But it was fun nonetheless, not many of the kids at school could keep up with her aside from Rainbow when she hung out with her, now it seemed she had a new running partner. In no time at all, the two girls made it back to camp, stopping only when they made it to where the operation was going on and saw Fluttershy was helping Ocellus walk towards them. “Is she okay?” Sunset asked panting a little. “She’s fine, we just need to get her hydrated and then Ocellus needs to rest,” said Fluttershy. “Did…was it enough?” Ocellus asked. Snap came up and patted Ocellus gently on the head. “More than enough, Missy, you’ve helped us a lot. Go on and rest, you’ve earned it.” Ocellus smiled weakly and began heading to her lodgings with Fluttershy's help. Sunset turned to Snap and asked, “So, how are we with the antidote.” “We’ll be cuttin’ it close, but we might have something. The real issue is time. Time to finish it, time to load it onto the ship, and time to administer it, all of which King Regulus won’t give us,” said Snap. “If Aster shows up, maybe she could stall the battle and keep them from battling long enough for you to finish,” said Sunset. “It’d take a miracle. But stranger things have happened.” Snap then took notice that Scootaloo was standing beside Sunset. “Here now, what are you doing here, Scoots?” “I just…I needed to think, and I couldn’t stay cooped up in the room. Sorry…” Scootaloo looked down at the ground. Snap sighed and then smiled as he ruffled his daughter’s hair. “Chip off the old block, can’t sit still too long in one place. It’s fine, Scoots. I know we haven’t had time to properly speak with ya, but your mother and I promise to talk with you when this is over.” Scootaloo perked up as she looked up at the rugged man that was her father, her eyes practically sparkled upon hearing that as she nodded her understanding. \*****///** [The Next Day, Sunrise…] The two forces marched on the designated field of battle, a spot at the base of the largest mountain in the region. Uudora led her Constellatin army across the forest, as the sky was filled with her forces. In the distance stood more of Regulus’ army, not just his lionesses, but also his controlled creatures. The red eyed Constellatins didn’t seem to have a red mark on their bodies, there was no need for it, for King Regulus was one of the strongest Alphas on the planet, so his power allowed him to control the other Constellatins as he wished. I power he rarely invoked, but under the control of another, he was given no other choice. Howls, roars, neighing, grunts, hisses, caws, and other animalistic noises filled the air as the two Alphas squared off with their armies at their sides. In the distance, however, was another faction, one that was fervently working to keep this fight from happening altogether. Now though, only two served as the vanguard, one was Fluttershy, and the other was Sunset. Both looked through binoculars that zoomed in on the action as they tried to get an estimate on how big the respective armies were. Fluttershy raised her wrist communicator and asked, “How much longer?” {We’ve just finished synthesizing it, but we need more time to turn it into an aerosol form to spread out!} Mane answered. “No time for that, tell them to get it here,” said Sunset. “Just bring it here, I think I see Ultrawoman here!” Fluttershy replied. {Understood, ETA: one minute!} “You sure you’re up for this, Shy?” Sunset asked. Fluttershy narrowed her gaze. “Of course, I won’t let Chrysalis harm these innocent creatures! Whatever it takes!” “Then let’s do it!” Fluttershy nodded and threw her binoculars to the ground. The pink haired girl grunted and growled as her body grew bigger, busting the seams of her clothes until they completely burst apart, allowing Fluttershy to assume her true alien form once again. Sunset summoned the StaRaizer and thrust her arm into the air, creating the starry nexus. “I ask for the gift of kindness!” || ULTRAMAN COSMOS! || “I ask for the gift of protection!” || ULTRAMAN AGUL! || “Let the waves of my soul calm you!” ||FLOW AND CRASH! COSMIC WAVE!|| A blue pillar of light and water swirled around Sunset, transforming her body as she rose up as Ultrawoman Aster Cosmic Wave. When the light faded, Aster knelt upon the ground and placed her hand down. Fluttershy hopped into it and held on as Aster rose up. The hero of light then jumped into the air and flew off in the direction of the two armies. Meanwhile, Regulus and Uudora stepped away from their armies as the moved closer towards the middle and began circling each other. “Don’t make me do this, Regulus! I know your mind is poisoned and you’re not in control of your actions! But for the sake of our world, I will not let you be used as a puppet, nor bring harm to our people!” Regulus sneered menacingly and what came out was not the voice of the King. “So, you can see right through him, can you? It doesn’t matter, yes, your King is my puppet, and once I have him kill you, I’ll have control of this planet. Or, you could always join me?” “Laughable! Why would I join forces with a cowardly wretch like you?! Face me in battle and we’ll see if you’re worthy of leadership!” Uudora challenged. “Ha, ha, believe me, you don’t want that. It wouldn’t be a contest, at least this way it’s a handicap for you. Now, DIE!” Regulus roared and so did Uudora, the two titans of the planet charged for each other, prepared to fight to the death. That is until a bright blue light shot down to the ground between them, making the two Alphas stop dead in their tracks. The blue light slowly faded and revealed Aster as she held up both of her arms. “Enough, please cease this battle!” Uudora’s eyes widened upon looking at this giant. She recognized it, and she wasn’t alone, all the Constellatins settled down upon seeing the blue giant, apparently the memory of Ultraman Cosmos was etched into their minds, exactly what Sunset was counting on. One of the Canis Majors ran up to Uudora and asked, “Is it him? Has the blue one returned?!” Uudora narrowed her gaze as she looked upon the giant. “Yes, and no. This one is female, but her aura is similar to that of the other blue one. But…wait a moment, is that not the one called Fluttershy?” “I am Ultrawoman Aster, I am a Warrior of Light. I am here to stop this war! King Regulus is under the influence of poison that is allowing him to be controlled!” Aster then turned her gaze towards Regulus. “Regulus, if you’re still in there, we have a way to save you! If you can, I ask that you fight it! Do not let yourself be her puppet!” Regulus glared at Aster and said in the voice of Chrysalis, “So, you know of me, and you know of my Belzeb, and their Kugutsu venom.” “I do, and I’m sure you know that I burned them to ashes yesterday.” “Tch, I was hoping to use them to control more of these beasts should Regulus fall, but no matter. You can’t stop me without killing Regulus, are you willing to kill an innocent creature to save all of them?” “Fluttershy…” Fluttershy nodded, knowing exactly what was going to happen. “Uudora!” Fluttershy called out as she jumped off of Aster’s shoulder and landed upon the Ursa’s head. “My apologies, but Aster didn’t want me to be in the middle, great chief.” Uudora grinned. “I see, so were I to go into battle now, I’d risk your safety.” “I…well…” “At ease, Fluttershy, I know what’s going on. She may not be the same blue giant, but she has the same spirit. I will put my faith in her.” Aster assumed a defensive stance as Regulus roared and charged straight for her. Regulus lunged at her, but Aster sidestepped, using her hands to redirect the great beast, making the Leo tumble to the ground. The great beast picked himself up and charged for her again, but Aster once again sidestepped and redirected, making Regulus fumble and roll on the ground. Regulus quickly sprang back to his feet, inhaled deeply, and released a roar that turned into a torrent of flames. Aster made a circle with her arms as she generated a shield of energized water, the flames struck against it, releasing a loud hiss as steam blanketed the area. Regulus began shooting fireballs into the steam cloud, but each one that was fired was sniped out of the air by a Water Bullet. The Leo was getting more and more frustrated by the stalling tactics of Aster, and so too was Chrysalis. \*****///** Mane and Snap piloted the drop ship, they proceeded with caution as they not only had a giant capsule of the antidote, but also because Scootaloo was with them. How she managed to talk them into this, they hadn’t a clue, but it didn’t matter now, they were all on a mission and they would see it through. The ship was finally in view of the battle, Scootaloo rushed to the front and watched as Aster fought against Regulus, well, not exactly fighting, more like she was tripping him up and using his own power against him. “Cricky, just like Shy said, Ultrawoman Aster’s here!” Snap exclaimed. “That means she can get the antidote to him! Let’s get above them and prepare to drop,” said Mane. “Let me help!” Scootaloo stated. Mane looked to her husband who nodded. Both mother and daughter went into the cargo hold, Scootaloo was instructed to release the straps and stand back. The young teen hurriedly did as she was told, heading to each side and releasing the lock straps to allow the giant capsule to slide down. Mane went to the control console and opened the bay doors. The doors slowly opened as wind rushed in and howled around them. Once they were opened, Mane hit the button that activated the ramp, the capsule slowly moved towards the opening and was put into drop position. “Okay, now I’ll set the timer for the release latch to make it easier for Aster to administer the antidote, and then we’ll drop it.” Just as Mane was about to hit the button, a rogue fireball exploded next to the ship, jostling everyone inside. Mane held onto the console and accidentally hit the button to release the capsule. Both Scootloo and Mane watched as the capsule was ejected from the cargo bay and out into the sky. “No! I didn’t set it!” Mane cried. Scootaloo narrowed her gaze as she took off her hoodie and ran towards the opening. Her mother yelled something at her, but with the roaring wind whatever she did say was drowned out. Scootaloo jumped off the edge and summoned her wings as she dove down to the capsule, thankfully it was falling straight down, allowing the opening to be pointed up towards her. The young half alien flapped her wings, giving her a small boost as she dived down faster. Her wings were small, and she couldn’t fly well, but gliding wasn’t a problem, hopefully. Down below, Scootaloo could see the battle still raging, a thick steam cloud now obscured the battlefield, but she didn’t have time to worry about that now. Scootaloo landed on the top and found the panel, only to realize she didn’t know the code to open it. “Well, when all else fails, use some finesse!” Finesse in Scootaloo’s case consisted of cocking back her right fist and punching the control panel until it broke. The locking mechanisms released, now the capsule could be opened, now only if she had another plan to get herself on the ground safely and without dying. “Yeah, didn’t think this through all the way!” Scootaloo looked down and saw Aster, in a desperate attempt she cried out, hoping that Aster would hear her. “ASTER!!! HEADS UP!!!!” Scootaloo?! Sunset thought. Aster looked up and watched as the capsule descended from the sky, along with Scootaloo who was riding it. Regulus used this distraction as he lunged for her again, fangs and claws bared to rip into the hero. But Aster was aware, using her incredible speed to dodge Regulus, and then slammed him down onto the ground, hard. The mighty beast let out a grunt as the wind was knocked out of him upon impact. “Time to put my plan into action!” The Ultra Warrior zoomed into the sky, flying higher and faster until she caught the capsule, with Scootaloo still clinging onto it. The young teen looked up at the giant and chuckled nervously. “That was reckless, but very brave. I need you to hang on now. Okay?” Scootaloo nodded. Regulus was slowly getting back up, but Aster was ready. Aster’s left hand glowed as she drew a sparkling circle with it. “Healing Halo!” A giant halo formed over the battlefield; Regulus smirked as the voice of Chrysalis came out of his maw.“Seriously? You think this is going to work? The Kugutsu is too strong to be stopped by your little ring of light!” “Maybe, but what if I added this?!” Aster popped off the lid of the capsule as she floated down to the Halo, Aster thrust her right hand into the Halo, letting the capsule's contents spill into it. The color of the Halo changed to a bright turquoise color, releasing particles of the same colored light. Regulus began to thrash about, roaring as he felt the invading presence begin to leave. “What’s going on?! How can this be?!” “Invader…BEGONE!!!” Regulus released a mighty roar as the red mist of the Kugutsu fled from his body, his crimson eyes returning to that of a clear cerulean. Aster dismissed the Halo as she descended to the ground and stood before the King. The eyes of the lionesses, as well as many of the other Constellatins, all changed from their angry red color and were now blue like the rest. Uudora walked towards Aster, stopping at her left side as Fluttershy translated for the great bear chief. “Uudora says, ‘Thank you, once again we owe our lives to another giant of light’.” \*****///** [The Following Day…] Sunset reclined in her seat, awaiting the rest of the crew as they were close to launching and returning to Earth. With the administering of the cure to Regulus, his Alpha control that made the other Constealltins do his bidding was stopped, no longer sharing in his mind-controlled madness. Peace had been forged between the King and Chieftain, and of course they expressed their thanks to Ocellus, and asked that their thanks be passed onto Aster. Scootaloo was scolded for her reckless move, but in the end was praised for her quick thinking. With a little encouragement from Sunset, Scootaloo opened up to her parents about what she was feeling and what had happened back on Earth. Snap was noticeably angry, along with Mane, after hearing their daughter was made fun of like that they were sure to have a word with the Rich Family when they came back. Sunset heard footsteps behind her and saw that Scootaloo was coming around the corner and sat across from her. “So, how’d it go?” “Mom and Dad are going to be coming back in a couple of days, they just want to make sure that everything’s stable first. But after that, to quote my Dad, ‘I’m on the bloody warpath for that Rich!’.” Sunset smiled. “Good, and it turns out that you’re still badass even with short wings.” Scootaloo blushed. “Thanks. And don’t worry, I’ll be sure to not do too many reckless things…Ultrawoman Aster.” Sunset shot up straight. “W-What?” “Oh c’mon, you think I didn’t notice? The adults were too busy with everything, but I wasn’t. Every time Aster appeared, you were gone, and when Aster was gone, you suddenly reappeared somewhere,” said Scootaloo. “Um…uh…dammit. Alright, yeah, I’m her. So…?” Scootaloo smiled and said, “I’m not gonna tell anyone, besides, now I have another hero rooting for me.” The two girls shared a smile as a bond had been forged between them. It was then that Fluttershy and Ocellus entered and sat down with them. “Ocellus, again, you did great! It’s thanks to you that all the Constellatins are free from Chrysalis’ influence,” said Sunset. The young Changeling blushed. “T-Thank you, I mean I know it was a long shot, but I’m glad it worked.” Ocellus looked at her arm and sighed. “I guess this means that I am a Queen class, which also means I might have to face Chrysalis…” Fluttershy reached over and took Ocellus’ hand into hers. “You won’t be alone on that day. We’ll be there to help you in anyway we can.” Sunset nodded in affirmation, especially after all the chaos Chrysalis caused on this planet, Sunset was looking for some payback of her own. “Thank you, all of you.”
10th Light: Meet the Sparkles / Underground Attack!Sunset was standing in some strange city, it wasn’t Canterlot City, that much she could tell. It was a gleaming city, very advanced from what she could tell, the landscape was made of some kind of platinum, so were the people, but they were faceless. “Hello…?” Sunset asked as she walked about. The people avoided her, the faceless phantoms just going about their day. “Hello? Where am I?” Sunset asked again. Sunset continued to wander, her eyes spotting a large castle in the distance, with winding spires and a strange light hovering over it. For some reason, it radiated with a calming light. Sunset felt some sort of familiarity with this place, but she couldn’t figure out why. Suddenly, the sky went dark and the people stopped what they were doing. The sky was then filled with dozens of shadowy creatures, each one ready to descend upon the city. Sunset instinctively readied herself to transform, but the StaRaizer didn’t come out. Sunset continued to try and summon the device, but it still wouldn’t appear. The monsters that littered the sky descended like meteors and the moment they did, fire swept through the city. Sunset put up her arms and screamed. ~*~*~*~ Sunset awoke with a start, body dripping with sweat, hair a mess, and her chest rising and falling with each labored breath. The redhead grabbed her phone, it was already five-thirty. Sunset groaned, she hadn’t had a dream that bad in a long, long while. Not even fighting the Space Beasts caused her nightmares. But why did she see something like that? Hell if I know… Sunset found that sleep eluded her, plus, her clothes were sticking to her skin thanks to her sweating a moment ago. With the decision made for her, Sunset disrobed and jumped into her shower, letting the hot water soothe and relax her body, hoping that it might help her get back to sleep. No such luck. By the time she was done it was already six, her stomach grumbled. Deciding to get an early jump on breakfast, Sunset opened the door and was surprised to see Twilight cooking something in the kitchen. “Oh, Sunset, you’re awake? I thought you were going to sleep in since it’s the weekend?” Twilight asked. “Couldn’t sleep too well, so I just decided to get up at this ungodly hour,” said Sunset. “It’s just six in the morning,” said Twilight. “Like I said, ungodly.” Twilight giggled. “I’m making some eggs and toast, did you want some?” “Sure.” Sunset dragged herself over to the small table that was their dining room and sat down. Not long after, Twilight arrived with a plate of scrambled eggs and toast with jam on it. Once Twilight sat down, Sunset started eating. When she was halfway done she asked, “So, what’s on your agenda today?” “Nothing much, I was just going to go visit my house today,” said Twilight. “Huh, something up?” Sunset asked. “No, I had spoken to my parents and they wanted me to come and see them, nothing major, just a visit.” Twilight took a swig of her OJ and paused to look at Sunset. “Um, if you don’t have anything planned, do you mind taking me? And possibly staying with me?” Sunset blinked. “I think it’s a little too early to meet your folks, Twi. I mean, you’re great and all, but I don’t think they’re ready to know about…us.” Twilight gave Sunset a cockeyed look. “Uh, Sunset what are you…” Then it hit her and Sunset blushed. “Sunset!” The girl in question chuckled. “It’s too easy sometimes, but then I see that cute pouty face of yours and I can’t help myself!” Twilight crossed her arms and gave her a roll of the eyes. “Anyway…will you or won’t you?” “Will. I honestly got nothing better to do, and as far as I know, the team is out doing their own things.” Twilight sighed with relief with that confirmation. “Thank you, I suggest we stay overnight, we have a spare bedroom, so you’ll at least need a pair of pajamas.” “I’ll have to get my other ones, the ones I wore last night are damp and clingy,” said Sunset absentmindedly. Twilight blushed again. “O-Oh my…um…d-did you have one of those dreams?” Sunset cocked an eyebrow. “ ‘Those dreams’ what do you – OH! Oh. I get what you mean.” The redhead leaned forward and shot Twilight a teasing look. “Why, you want the dirty details?” “NO! Sorry forget I asked!” \*****///** [Canterlot City, 4:00 P. M.] Much like their last excursion out, Sunset rented a SMILE vehicle and drove the two of them into Canterlot City. As they drove, the cityscape gave way to a suburban area, Twilight gave Sunset directions as they continued down the various streets, eventually ending up before a two story house. It had a large porch, as evidenced by the patio furniture, along with a two car garage off to the right side of the house. Sunset pulled up against the curb and eyed the house, it was brown in color and fairly large and looked cozy. Both girls went to the backseat and grabbed their small bags of overnight clothes, Twilight led the way up the walkway and to the front door. From her skirt pocket Twilight took out a key and unlocked the front door. “Mom, Dad, Spike, I’m home!” Twilight called out. “And I have a guest too!” When Sunset entered she took stock of her surroundings. It felt homey. There was a staircase to her right next to a coat closet, to her left was the living room with a large flat-screen TV, a couch, armchair, and a loveseat. At the center was a coffee table with a glass center and wooden frame, the legs were made of wrought iron and painted black. Right below the TV was a fireplace, electric, as far as Sunset could tell. There was a sound, as if someone was scrambling up top. Within seconds someone was at the top of the stairs. It was a young boy, about ten years old, he was kind of scrawny, had spiky green hair, and intense green eyes. He was wearing a purple shirt and a pair of khaki shorts. The boy himself had a big, bright smile on his face as those green eyes locked onto one girl in particular. “Twilight, you’re home!” he exclaimed. Within seconds the boy was bounding down the stairs before jumping straight at Twilight and tackle hugging her to the floor. Twilight let out an “oomph” followed by a “thud” as the two of them hit the floor. The young boy nuzzled the side of Twilight’s cheek affectionately, making Sunset chuckle. “Okay, I’m happy to see you too Spike!” With a slight shimmer of his body, Spike transformed before Sunset’s eyes. His body began to morph until his smooth skin turned into purple scales, his clothes seemed to morph at the same time, allowing a scaly, three-foot-long tail to come out. His fingers turned into claws, and his mouth turned into a muzzle, and Spike’s ears turned into frills. Sunset blinked a few times and then asked, “Uh…Twi, Spike just turned into a lizard.” Spike immediately stopped and looked up and panicked as he shifted back to his human form. “Uh…Uh…I…” “It’s okay, Spike,” said Twilight as she got up. “This is my friend from school, Sunset Shimmer.” Spike blinked. “Wait, you have a friend that’s not me or Shining Armor? Who are you and what have you done with Twilight?” Twilight rolled her eyes ruffled his hair. “Hilarious.” “Twily?” Sunset, Twilight, and Spike turned towards the door down the hall and from it emerged a woman. Sunset had to blink a few times, because either Twilight had an older sister or her dad married someone way younger than him. The woman before her was wearing a white blouse and black skirt, her eyes were a baby-blue color, and her hair was purple with white streaks. She had fair skin, and looked beautiful, she was definitely a looker. The woman walked down the hall and stopped before her daughter and gave her a big hug. “Welcome home, baby!” “Thanks, Mom,” said Twilight. Ah, she is her mom. Damn…! Twilight and her mother broke the embrace, with the former turning to Sunset. “Mom, this is my friend, Sunset Shimmer.” Twilight’s mother looked a little shocked. “Twilight, you have a friend?! And you were bringing her over?! Why didn’t you tell us, we could’ve done something special!” Sunset smiled awkwardly and waved her hand. “No, no, you don’t have to do anything on my occasion.” “Nonsense! It’s not everyday my little Twily brings home a friend! Oh goodness where are my manners,” Twilight’s mother offered her hand, “I’m Twilight Velvet Sparkle. But I go by Velvet.” “Nice to meet you,” said Sunset as she shook Velvet’s hand. “Honestly, I was wondering if you were Twilight’s big sister.” Velvet gave a lilting chuckle. “You have no idea how many times I hear that. But it’s true, I’m her forty-year-old mother, but it’s nice to know I still pass for a younger woman.” “Hey, where’s Dad?” Twilight asked. “He’s out running some errands – which reminds me, I should call him and tell him to pick something up! Will you be joining us for dinner, Sunset?” Velvet asked. “Yeah, I’m staying overnight, at least.” Velvet clapped her hands together. “Wonderful~! Twilight, show her the guest room and I’ll go call your father.” The three teens watched as Velvet disappeared back into her office, Twilight led Sunset. On the way up, they passed by a few rooms, one was left open and had posters of superheroes and action figures. Sunset assumed that that was Spike’s, but then she came to another one and saw the second one that was similar to the other. Another door, Twilight’s room she assumed, had a bookshelf filled with all sorts of tomes on many different subjects, a small chemical lab in one corner, and a PC on another side of the room. The spare bedroom was, well, a spare bedroom. It had a nightstand, a king sized bed, and a dresser with an attached mirror, simple, which was fine, Sunset didn’t need much for a night’s stay. Sunset placed her small bag on the bed and looked to Twilight. “So…Spike,” Sunset began. “Yeah…he’s an Alien Dragonoid. We’re all human, but Spike, he’s my adopted little brother,” said Twilight. Sunset sat at the edge of the bed and asked, “How’d that happen? I hear it’s kinda hard for human families to adopt an alien child, a lot of red tape and crap.” “Normally, yes, but with Spike it was different. You see, it was when I was six-years-old and I was out stargazing with my Dad. One night we saw what we thought was a shooting star, but that quickly turned into a meteor that smashed near our area. Dad’s an astrologist, and I’m just as big a nerd as he is, so we investigated. Turns out the meteor was a purple looking egg.” Twilight leaned against the doorframe as she recalled the memory. “We took it to his lab and alerted SMILE, it wasn’t radioactive or contaminated with any germs, so I was allowed to carry it around. What I didn’t know was that I was warming up the egg with my body heat until it hatched, and Spike was born. We tried to look for any Dragonoids in the area missing an egg, SMILE even reached out to the Dragonoid Embassy, but nothing. So we adopted him, of course Mom and Dad had to jump through all the legal hoops, but we managed it.” Sunset smiled. “That’s cool.” Just then, Spike knocked on the door. “Hey, Mom, Mom says she wants to know if pizza’s okay for dinner tonight since it’s a ‘special occasion’?!” Sunset raised an eyebrow and Twilight blushed up to her ears. “Y-Yes, that’s perfectly fine! You know what I like!” Twilight quickly turned to Sunset. “Sunset, y-your like pepperoni too, right?!” “Yep.” “GOOD, GREAT! Go tell Mom, Spike!” Twilight stated stiffly. Spike shrugged at Twilight behavior and went back downstairs. Twilight face palmed and dragged that same palm down her face. “Did he just…call you Mom?” Sunset asked as she smirked. “Twi, Sparky, is there something I should know about you? Be honest, is Spike your lovechild?” Twilight made an “X” with her hands and shook her head. “No! Nothing like that! For gods sake I was six! He imprinted onto me! I was the first person he saw, and he called me… ‘momma’…as he got older we told him that I wasn’t his mom, and that I wasn’t old enough to be his mother. Since scent is a strong way for Dragonoids to know their parents, my Mom spent a lot of time with him, since apparently my Mother and I share a similar scent. But every once and awhile he’ll call me ‘mom’ without realizing it…” Sunset chuckled. “That’s really cute, Twi.” “Cute…but embarrassing.” Twilight slumped. “Do you have any idea the looks I got when I was younger whenever he said that out loud? I don’t really mind it at home, but out in the open, it gives people ideas.” \*****///** Sometime later, Twilight’s father, Night Light, a man with cobalt blue hair and pale yellow eyes, walked in with a few pizza pies. The man was just as ecstatic about his daughter having an actual friend as Velvet was. Once they all sat at the table, Sunset couldn’t help but ask about Spike calling Twilight “Mom”. That seemed to tickle the two parents’ funny bone, which also made Twilight slide down in her seat as her face heated up from embarrassment. Spike seemed completely unfazed by it, he understood why it was embarrassing to Twilight, but he also couldn’t help but think of her that way sometimes. “Oh yes, Spike used to do that all the time, less so now, but back then, it was so cute,” said Velvet. “I remember this one time Spike got lost in the supermarket, he kept crying out ‘Momma, Momma!’ again and again until one of the workers found him. Velvet and I got there and were trying to calm him down, when Velvet tried to hold him he said ‘Not the Momma!’ and threw a toy at her head.” Sunset had to bite down hard on the piece of pizza to keep the food from flying from her mouth from laughter. Spike finally seemed embarrassed as he rubbed the back of his head. “When Twilight made it to the station, he immediately calmed down and waddled over to her, he was so adorable. Of course the workers gave us some looks, but that’s to be expected, but whatever, the heck with them,” said Velvet. “Hey! Why don’t we talk about Sunset! We haven’t let her say anything!” Spike interjected. Twilight flinched and quickly said, “No, no, let’s keep this going! I mean, what about that time when Spike and I–!” “Twi,” Sunset spoke gently. “I don’t mind, really. What do you want to know?” “Well, what drew you to going to SMILE?” Night Light asked. Sunset shrugged a little. “I was adopted by the Commander/Principal of SMILE Academy, Celestia Solstice, so you can say I just decided to go there just because, at first anyway.” “Oh my, I’m sorry, I didn’t know…” Velvet stated. “It’s fine, honestly, I also have zero memories of my past, so I couldn’t tell you if I had a good life or bad one before being adopted. At first I just joined SMILE because, well, what else was I going to do. But, after awhile, and after meeting Sparky here, I decided that I want to help protect the world.” It was as simple a thing as Sunset could manage to say, because it was true, she didn’t have much in the way of direction when it came to her being Aster, or what she should do with her life. After meeting Twilight, it just clicked in her head that this was what she was meant to do, what she wanted to do. “Wow, I didn’t know our little Twily inspired you so much,” said Night Light. “I wouldn’t say ‘inspired’,” said Twilight sheepishly. “Don’t sell yourself short, Sparky.” Sunset gave her friend a playful jab to the shoulder. “You gave me some clarity, which was what I really needed, and a little push in the right direction.” Velvet smiled at the way Sunset and Twilight interacted, she and her husband had feared that Twilight’s introverted nature would prevent her from making any kind of friends outside her family, but seeing Sunset Shimmer put those fears to rest. “It’s also great that we’re on the same team,” said Sunset. Twilight flinched. “Team?” Night Light asked. “You mean, sports?” “No, although Twi almost got nailed by a dodgeball one time. No, we’ve been granted Special Agent status, and we’re on a team along with five other girls,” said Sunset. Velvet narrowed her gaze. “I see, and, what kind of activities did you go on?” “Oh…uh…” Twilight stammered. “Well, Twi’s not really a ‘in the field’ kind of person. But she has helped in modifying a Gungir and Goliath. Oh! And she made these blaster weapons that shoot the same energy as Ultrawoman Aster, they came in real handy during that kidnapping case that we worked, well me, AJ and Rainbow Dash, and Flash, but–” Twilight swiftly stuffed a slice of pizza into Sunset’s mouth in an attempt to silence her. Sunset was about to ask why she did that, that is until she noticed the tense looks in Night Light and Velvet’s faces. Spike seemed to have read the room and kept his focus on the meal before him. “Twilight, if you don’t mind, can we talk a little later in my study?” Velvet asked. “Y-Yes, Mom,” said Twilight. Sunset didn’t understand why, but the rest of dinner was tense after that moment. She helped clean up and put away the leftover pizza, afterwards, Sunset headed upstairs and decided to get changed into her sleepwear. When she was done, a knock came at her door, Sunset walked over and opened it to find Spike on the other end. Sunset leaned against the doorframe as she crossed her arms. “If you’re trying to sneak a peek at me, it’s usually done without knocking first, but I’ll give you credit for being polite,” said Sunset with a smirk. Spike blushed. “T-That’s not why I came here! I’m not a perv!” Spike settled down and sighed. “It’s about what happened at dinner.” Sunset raised an eyebrow and invited Spike inside. He sat at the edge of her bed while she leaned up against the wall. “Momma Velvet and Dad, they’ve never really been that enthusiastic about Mo –uh – Twilight going to SMILE,” said Spike. “Why not?” Sunset asked. “They were afraid of Twilight getting caught up in Space Beast and alien stuff. Kind of like the stuff you were talking about at dinner. Twilight wanted to go there because she knew SMILE would allow her to ‘broaden her horizons’. Even though she knew they were mostly about defending the Earth, they are the best. Twilight eventually wore them down and they allowed her to join, on the condition that she wouldn’t do anything dangerous.” Sunset suddenly realized her faux pas earlier and tensed up. “W-Wait, all that stuff I said, she wasn’t involved in any of it! True, she did make the blasters, and the mods to the machines, but she hasn’t been involved in any battles or anything!” Spike nodded. “I figured, Twi’s brave, but she’s not like a hardcore fighter or anything. She’s more the brains behind the operation kind of girl. But I think Momma Velvet and Dad feel that that’s just as dangerous, and that it’s only a matter of time before she’s pulled into a mission like that.” Sunset was starting to worry. “How bad is it?” “Don’t know…” Spike fidgeted. “Honestly, I miss seeing Twilight, I was kinda sad when she left for SMILE. But I know it’s what she wants and it’ll help her to be a great scientist. But, Momma Velvet and Dad might just take her out and put her in some fancy school closer to home. I’d like that, but I know it’d make her sad.” Sunset suddenly felt more worried than when she was off world and had to deal with that Zodio civil war. And that scared her more for some reason, not the monsters, not the aliens, but losing someone she had come to call a friend, that made her scared. “Crap…I should’ve kept my stupid mouth shut…” \*****///** Velvet and Night Light were in the study with Twilight, the young girl sighing as she awaited her parents to ask their questions. “I’m going to tell you now. No, I haven’t been involved in any of the recent operations having to deal with Space Beasts or aliens. My expertise has mainly been in lab work and engineering.” “Well…that’s good to hear, Twilight, but that doesn’t mean that you won’t get called on at some point,” said Velvet. “SMILE doesn’t force me to do anything that I am not comfortable with. As I am a student, any dangerous assignments or potentially dangerous assignments involving a minor does require the permission from a parent or guardian. And of course, I’d call you if that were the case anyway.” Night Light leaned back in his chair and sighed. “I know…we know, but, Twilight, we’re just worried is all. I mean, there was that incident when the Phantom Zone didn’t appear.” “Yes, and I was there for that. In fact, I helped in the restoration of the Phantom Zone generator,” said Twilight. Both Velvet and Night Light looked at their daughter with eyes wide with shock. “SMILE is aware of my expertise, and wouldn’t put me in a situation where they knew I wasn’t physically able perform the task they need of me. Plus, I trust Sunset, as well as my other teammates,” said Twilight. Velvet sighed as she rested her right hand against her cheek. “When Shining Armor decided to join the military, we were worried, but we knew he’d be fine…but when you said you wanted to go to SMILE Academy…” Night Light leaned forward and clasped his hands together. “We know that SMILE is more on the front lines when it comes to things regarding aliens and Space Beasts, and the military is the secondary line of defense, that’s why we aren’t as worried. You’ve only ever shown an interest in science, so going to SMILE kind of threw us for a loop for a minute.” Twilight couldn’t blame her parents for feeling the way she did. Even she questioned her choice at first, but all the data showed that SMILE was on the cutting edge of science and technology, mostly because they integrated a lot of technology and knowledge from other worlds in order to advance our defense systems and Earth’s medical knowledge as well. So it only made sense that Twilight wanted to go there, and even though SMILE was in the business of training people to become defenders of Earth, it also knew that not all wanted to enter into a career with SMILE, which was way they allowed students to come in who weren’t specifically going to join SMILE after graduating. “Twilight, we just don’t want you to get hurt. Shining Armor is in the military and we worry everyday about him, but as we said, SMILE is the first line of defense, which means if there’s any kind of attack, or counterattack, it’s SMILE getting hit or attacking first,” said Night Light. “We respect your decision, Twilight, but, we’re still not thrilled about it. So, we’ll trust you to not take risks and do anything dangerous, but if you get hurt because of SMILE, then we won’t hesitate, we’ll pull you out,” said Velvet. Twilight’s eyes widened with shock. “MOM?!” “I’m with your mother on this one, honey. I’d rather you’d be alive to hate us than dead,” Night Light added. Twilight wasn’t one to go against her parents, and right now, she felt like telling them that getting hurt was unavoidable, something was bound to happen, but the school jumped through hoops to ensure the safety of every student in the school, even those who were pulled away for missions. But at the same time, Twilight felt that if she fought them on this that they might just go ahead and unenrolled her. “I understand,” said Twilight as she left the room and trudged up the stairs. Twilight entered her room and plopped onto the bed and sighed heavily into the comforter. She knew that there were a myriad of different schools in the city that boasted high academic potential for her, but after spending the time she had at SMILE, none of them could compare. A light knock came at the door and Twilight thought it was one of her parents, but when she angled her head towards the door she noticed that it was Sunset. Twilight rolled onto her side and looked at her friend with a small smile on her face. “Oh, Sunset it’s you.” “Hey, Twi, you alright?” Sunset asked. “Yeah…kind of…” Twilight answered. Sunset sighed as she ran a hand through her hair. “I’m sorry, I should’ve read the room better…I didn’t know your parents weren’t onboard about you going to SMILE and here I am bragging about the crap we get into over there…” Twilight waved her hands as if to dismiss that. “No, you don’t have anything to apologize for! I mean…what you said was true, I wasn’t directly involved in any of those operations, they’re just a little overprotective.” Sunset walked over and sat at the edge of her bed. “Still, I’m sorry. I guess they don’t think too well of me either.” “Actually, I think they like you.” Twilight mused as she sat up. “I don’t want to sound like a jerk or anything…but is it that surprising that you have a friend?” Sunset asked. Twilight looked down at the floor as a sad smile across her lips. “I wasn’t a very social person in elementary and middle school. Even when I was younger, I was smarter than the majority of my peers. While being a prodigy sounds like something amazing, it isn’t always. What they don’t tell you about is how lonely it makes you feel. That adults seem to give you more attention or try to measure you to that prodigy and foisting high expectations.” Sunset’s brow furrowed. “How’s that any of your fault?! Sounds like they’re parents were the problem, and their egos, not you.” “Intellectually, I knew that. But the little girl in me was still hurt by it. So I became a little – okay a lot – introverted. I guess that was another reason why I wanted to go to SMILE. With so many different alien races in the school, surely there would be a handful or more who were smarter than me. I never thought I would meet someone like you…or become friends with you right away,” said Twilight with a smile. Sunset smirked as she crossed her arms. “Someone like me, huh?” Twilight bumped her shoulder against Sunset’s. “You know what I mean.” [ALERT! ALERT!] “You gotta be kidding me?!” Sunset exclaimed. Both girls whipped out their holoframes, and sure enough there was a warning for a Space Beast attack. The sounds of rapidly approaching footsteps drew their attention and the girls watched as Velvet appeared in Twilight’s doorway, while Night Light zoomed past her and towards Spike’s room. “Girls! We need to go to the shelter, NOW!” Velvet stated. Sunset thought quickly, she needed to get out there and become Aster. “A-A-Actually, I just got a call to come in as quickly as possible! Yep! So, you guys head to the shelter, and I’ll head out now! Like, right now!” Sunset put her holoframe away and rushed past Velvet who looked confused. The older woman glanced at her daughter and asked, “You didn’t get a message too did you?” “No, but let’s hurry and go!” \*****///** Sunset took the rented SMILE car and drove out to as remote a place as she could find. Once she was sure she wasn’t in sight of anyone, she quickly summoned her StaRaizer and entered the starry nexus. “Grant me the strength of a hero!” || ULTRAMAN! || “Grant me the power of a galaxy!” || ULTRAMAN GINGA! || “Release the light within me!” ||SHINE ON! ULTRAWOMAN ASTER!|| Light erupted upwards towards the sky, as the giant of light, Ultrawoman Aster, arose with a sparkling entrance. The Phantom Zone washed over the area, separating the dimensions and shelters from the current one they were placed in. Aster was about to fly out towards the city, that is until the earth beneath her feet began to rumble. “What the…?” As soon as she said those words, something big burst from the ground before her. Aster was thrown backwards as something struck her chest and sent sparks flying everywhere. The Ultra hero rolled around and then quickly recovered, getting into a kneeling position as she shot her head towards what had attacked her. The dim light of night made it hard to make out, but her enhanced vision was allowing her to make out some details. The creature looked like a mole, but it had eyes that were bright yellow, and it’s fur was purple, with its underbelly a lighter shade of purple. It’s front paws had four long talons, while it’s hind feet had three. It’s snout had razor sharp teeth, with two buck teeth in front, and it’s nose blossomed like a flower. The creature gave a roar as it locked eyes with Aster. The Ultrawoman stood up and released her own battle cry as she charged for the mole monster. Both the monster and giant slammed against each other, Aster threw a punch at its head, but the oversized paw of the monster blocked her attack. The mole monster used its body and slammed back against Aster, causing her to lose her balance. The Space Beast raised its right claw and swiped it across Aster’s chest again, causing more sparks to fly from her body. Aster grunted, but then channeled energy to her hands and fired off multiple Beam Bullets at the monster. The beam bullets hit their marks as sparks flew from the mole monster, but the creature looked unfazed by the explosions. “Tough hide huh? I got something for that!” Aster’s body glowed red and then was engulfed in raging flames. ||BURN UP! SOLARIS MAXIMUS!|| When the fires died out, Aster had entered her power form, the revolver chambers on her arms and legs spun once, and locked when she entered her attack stance. “I’ll burn you away with the flames of my heart!” Aster began her charge towards the mole monster, just as its left claw came down and struck her. But thankfully, Solaris Maximus boasted not only great offense but also defense. While the blow did damage, it was minimal compared to earlier, allowing Aster to wind up her left fist and punch the monster right in its chest. The mole monster was sent skidding backwards, destroying several houses as it did so. Aster slammed her right fist into the palm of her left hand and said, “That’s right tough guy, I can dish it out twice as hard!” The mole monster made some hissing sounds and then flexed its claws. The claws began to glow with a dim white color, and there was a distinct humming sound in the air. The mole monster fell forward and struck the ground, immediately a plume of dirt and dust was shot into the air, obscuring Aster’s view. The Ultrawoman hurried to its location, but only found a giant hole in the ground. Aster got on guard, she couldn’t figure out where the attack was going to come from, not with that creature going underground. Suddenly, the ground beneath her feet began to rumble, as quick as before, the mole monster erupted from the earth and slashed at her back. The creature’s talons hurt more than they did last time, most likely due to the white glow, she figured. She quickly turned around and readied to unleash an attack, but the creature was gone, having ducked back down the hole it sprang from. Without missing a beat, the mole monster attacked again, slashing her side and causing more sparks to fly from her body. Aster grunted with annoyance and frustration, not to mention pain as well as those attacks were starting to hurt. All she could do at the moment was stand firm and brace herself. Well, that wasn’t all she could do. “Okay, you want to play this game, then let’s see how you like THIS!” Aster’s body began to build up energy, her body ignited with flames that grew bigger and bigger. She felt another rumble beneath her feet and then cried out, “NOVA BURN!!!” A giant explosion of fiery energy burst forth from her body, burning everything around her. The sphere of fire expanded further and further until it was at least an even hundred meters radius. When it was over, Aster was standing in a smoldering crater, the ground hissing as steam wafted off the molten rock. She looked around, trying to find any trace of the monster, but so far couldn’t see it. Still, she was on edge, that was too easy, even for her. Unfortunately, she wasn’t going to have time to verify as her Color Timer began blinking red. Dammit…I can’t stop now, I’m not even sure I got it! The red light continued to blink, in less than a minute she would return to her human form and be completely defenseless should the monster still be there, but that also meant that an entire neighborhood would be left to its mercy. Three hours…just gotta hope it doesn’t do anything until then. Aster jumped into the sky and took off, her body shimmering and transforming into light as she landed somewhere far from the battlefield returned to her human form. Sunset quickly took out her holoframe and called Celestia. {Sunset, are you alright?} “Yeah, don’t worry about me! Listen, I’m not sure if I got the monster! It was digging around underground, so I’m not sure if my last attack even destroyed it! It could still be roaming around down here! Don’t deactivate the–!” Just as she said those words, the purple sky began to vanish, and the burning crater that Sunset, as Aster, left behind was erased as if nothing had happened. “–Phantom…Zone…” {Oh no, I’ll have them reactivate it immediately, are you still able to fight?!} “No! I’m out of time, I need to wait at least three hours! I can transform again, after an hour, but that’ll only give me one minute of active time!” Celestia nodded. {I understand, I’m having them restart the Phantom Zone, we’ll send in Gungirs and Goliaths with seismic detection equipment and–!} Suddenly, a rumbling sound caught Sunset off balance and nearly made her fall. It was then that a call was coming through, the name read “Twilight Sparkle”. With fear in her heart, Sunset tapped on the incoming call and Twilight’s face appeared. “Twilight, what’s wrong?!” Sunset asked. {Uh…S-Sunset, I-I don’t want you to panic…cause I’m trying not to…b-but I think the Space Beast found the shelter!} “WHAT?!” Sunset brought up Celestia alongside Twilight’s screen. “Celestia, hurry up and turn on the Phantom Zone!” {It’s activating in three…two…one!} As soon as Celestia gave that countdown, the Phantom Zone spread across the sky. Sunset went back to Twilight and said, “It’s back up, you should be safe now!” the ground shook again and on Twilight’s end as well. {That doesn’t explain the rumbling though! Hold on.} Sunset and Celestia watched as Twilight moved around. She stopped and then did something off-screen. {Oh dear…um…we have a problem…The Phase Space Generator isn’t working!} Celestia and Sunset were stunned silent. The generator was responsible for keeping the shelters out of sync with the Phantom Zone, wasn’t working… \*****///** [War Room, S.M.I.L.E. Academy, 9:15 P. M.] At the War Room inside SMILE Academy, Celestia and Luna held a meeting regarding the issue with the shelter, along with the Space Beast, video conferencing Captain Spitfire and Captain Magnus, and one of their structural tech experts, Torque. From Sunset’s description of the creature and the satellite images from when it landed, the Space Beast was a Maulwurf. They brought in a specialist from the Preserve, a Dr. Fauna, a woman with icy blue hair and lemon-yellow colored eyes. According to the doctor, the Maulwurf was a subterranean creature that could vibrate its talons at supersonic speeds in order to dig through solid rock, and steel. The creature had a thick hide, allowing it to withstand the rough sediment and heat of the underground of its native world. Maulwurfs were extremely aggressive creatures, and more often than not, were vindictive in nature. They would chase down whatever crossed them and destroy it. However, knowing their foe was only half the battle, they still had the issue of the hundred or so people who were now in harm’s way. The theory was that the Maulwurf must’ve retreated further underground during Aster’s Nova Burn attack, and because of that, when the Phantom Zone was brought down, it must’ve nicked the shelter with its talons and damaged the Phase Space Generator. {Right now, we have few options, that Maulwurf is a predator, it sure as hell knows that there is prey close by and will more than likely attack it,} said Captain Magnus. {Its eyesight is very poor, but it’s hearing is perfect, so long as they remain as quiet as possible, then the Maulwurf won’t find them,} said Dr. Fauna. {Then why don’t we just make some noise up top? Make it think that there’s more food on the surface than where it’s at?} Captain Spitfire asked. Dr. Fauna shook her head. {Maulwurfs won’t abandon an easy kill, especially one that’s close by and within its reach. If anything, it might come back up after it’s done with that shelter…} Luna tapped on her holoframe and brought up a three-dimensional replica of the shelter and the surrounding area via a hologram. It showed the residential area, and a cube structure about two miles down under the ground. It was made up of four cubes, one at the center which spread out into three additional structures labeled “Supplies”, “Medical”, “Recreation”, and the center serving as “Residential”. Luna studied the structure and asked, “And we’re sure the generator is damaged? Perhaps it’s a system error?” “Even if it was, the system is closed off. The shelter receives input from the shelter captain, once the shelter captain has confirmed the shelter is full, they close the doors and activate the generator manually, it’s done that way to prevent hacking from the outside and causing an incident like the one we have now,” said Celestia. {Can it be repaired? I’m sure at least some of the civilians have experience in mechanics, maybe if we send instructions, they can repair it?} Magnus suggested. Torque shook her head. {That’s a negative. I wouldn’t recommend a novice work on it, plus, we don’t know how extensive the damage is. And if that creature is circling them like a shark, then the noise from the repairs could draw it towards them and then…well…} Celestia clenched her fists, they were quite literally between a rock and hard place. For now, the civilians were safe, but it would only take one errant sound and the Maulwurf would tear apart the shelter like a can of sardines and feast on the people inside. It was too deep below ground to attack, and even if they used weapons made to penetrate to that depth, they ran the risk of damaging the shelter. Her thoughts turned to Sunset, her last communication with her young ward informed her that Twilight was able to relay the information about the Maulwurf to the rest of the shelter occupants, that would at least ease their worries about the people making unwanted noise and attracting the Maulwurf’s attention. From there, their communication had been through text messages. They were also receiving the same kind of messages, monitoring the communications coming from the shelter, as well as receiving several calls from different people, asking what SMILE was going to do to help them? Celestia knew Sunset was going to feel at fault for this, she silently prayed to whatever god was listening that something would happen, Sunset was starting to open up, and Twilight Sparkle was the reason behind that. She didn’t want to see Sunset retreat back into herself and become distant like she used to be. \*****///** [Underground Shelter, 9:30 P. M.] Twilight sat huddled against the terminal, the lights were still working, and she managed to hack her way into the operating systems of the shelter to rig the machines for silent running. It reduced them to a low hum, but given the hearing of the Maulwurf, it only made it aware that they’re there, but not enough to pinpoint their location. The children were told to remain quiet and still, the adults admonished them harshly if they spoke above a whisper or giggled too loudly. In reality, Twilight didn’t think a child’s giggle would make that much noise, so long as the entire shelter didn’t break into hysterics than they’d be fine. Mothers with babies had made their way to rooms that had extra insolation, afraid their babies’ cries would draw the monster’s attention. Twilight scanned the room with her eyes, the residential area was about a hundred meters tall and had several rooms that could fit at least five people at max, it might be a bit cramped, but it was better than nothing. There were floors upon floors stretching upwards, while at the center, there was a small grassy garden with a fountain, now shut off, of course. Three large doors led to the different areas that were used for different purposes, the main building had a medical ward, but that was mostly for stabilization before moving them into the medical wing of the shelter. Twilight had her mother, father, and Spike sitting on her left. Velvet hugged Spike close to her, he was visibly scared, shaking in her arms. Some would make fun of Spike, he was a Dragonoid, and Dragonoids were known for their fierceness and often no-nonsense attitudes, but Spike wasn’t like that. He was gentle, dorky, a great cook, just as good as their mother, and very smart. Twilight didn’t rightly care what others thought of Spike, he was fine the way he was, he didn’t need to act like other Dragonoids. Plus, given their current situation, it was perfectly natural to seek comfort from your parents. Night Light had his arm draped over Twilight’s shoulders, offering his comforting presence without hindering her work. She smiled, remembering the times before when she was held in the strong arms of her father, feeling like nothing in the world could harm her. A slight rumble made everyone freeze for a minute, but when nothing happened and they relaxed a little. The young genius looked down at her holoframe and saw a message from Sunset that read, [How are things right now?] [Tense…there was a rumble just now. It’s like we’re in a sinking raft and there’s a shark swimming around just waiting for us to fall in.] [Dammit…this is all my fault! I should’ve…I don’t know…!] Twilight sighed sadly. [Sunset, it’s NOT your fault. You didn’t send the Maulwurf to Earth. You didn’t damage the Phase Space Generator. The only thing you did was try and defeat the monster, but it went somewhere beyond the reach of your attacks, it’s not like you could help it. So, stop blaming yourself, I know we’ll figure a way out of this.] [……Just hang on, Sparky. I’ll get you guys out of there.] Twilight smiled, leaned back, and sighed. “Trying to think of something, Twily?” Night Light asked in a whisper. “Yes…Sunset’s given me some information from SMILE regarding what they know of the Maulwurf. Thankfully we were able to get everyone to be silent before we gave ourselves away. Right now they’re trying to lure it up to the surface by making as much noise as possible, but they’re not sure if it’ll take the bait with easy prey nearby.” Night Light made a grim expression. “Quite the conundrum…” Twilight continued to think, there had to be some way of making the Maulwurf go away from them, but also drive it upwards towards the surface. It was sensitive to sound, could barely see…sensitive to sound. Sensitive to sound…? Twilight looked about the room, the various speakers that lined the different levels. She slowly started to lean forward a bit, her brain working overtime. Twilight quickly hacked back into the shelter’s systems, looking up the audio system’s configuration. Night Light, Velvet, and Spike could see Twilight’s intense look of concentration, she only ever got that way when she was close to getting an idea. Then that expression warped to one that reminded them of a mad scientist. “I think I have a solution!” \*****///** [Underground Shelter, 10:20 P. M.] “Twi, this plan is bogus!” Spike stated in a harsh whisper. “It’s not ‘bogus’, it’ll work. Twilight had messaged Sunset, Commander Celestia, and Vice Commander Luna about her plan to make the Maulwurf go away from the shelter. She would hack the audio system of the entire shelter and release a loud feedback that would hurt the Maulwurf’s ears so bad that it would run away. Problem was that it had been strong enough to travel through the rock and sediment around them. Twilight deduced that the center Residential area, with its structure and height, would better amplify the sound waves and penetrate to the outside. The downside to this plan is that it was going to hurt their own ears. “Twi, there’s no way anyone’s going to be able to withstand that much feedback blaring in their ears!” “I know, we’ll have the people inside move to the other three locations, then we’ll set it off,” Twilight explained. The plan was relayed to the rest of the people in the shelter, some were highly skeptical of Twilight’s plan, a plan thought up by a teenager wasn’t exactly an easy sell to a bunch of scared adults. But thankfully, with a mass message to the residents of their shelter via their holoframes and cellphones, instructing them to lesson to a one, “Miss Twilight Sparkle, Special Agent of SMILE ''. The police and SMILE agents that were inside with them were helping with the redirecting of the people into the other three areas, packing them in as best they could. While they were doing this, Twilight was rigging the audio system, once in awhile she had to stop when Sunset messaged her. [This plan of yours is nuts, Sparky.] [Maybe, but it’s better than nothing. By now you should be able to remain transformed for at least one minute. I hope that’s enough time for you to take care of the Maulwurf.] [I’m going to make every second count! I won’t let it get away from me again!] Twilight smiled and wrote, [I know you won’t. ☺] Twilight continued to type against the hard-light screen of her holoframe, putting all her mental power into her work as her family hovered close by. One of the officers walked up to them and spoke softly. “We managed to evac the entire residential area, Supply, Recreation, and Medical are filled to capacity.” “Thank you, let’s move to recreation,” said Twilight. The Sparkle family and the officer swiftly, but calmly, made their way down the long hallway that connected each module of the space. Just then, the hall began to rumble, making the others stop. The rumble got stronger and stronger until they realized with a panic that it was getting closer. That was when they heard the shearing of metal, they looked to their left and watched as the Maulwurf’s talons were digging through the wall and was about to slash right through it at any second. Twilight, thinking quickly, pushed her parents forward, Spike, letting his human disguise fall, used his Dragonoid strength to pull both his parents forward and onto the other side just as the talons cut through the tunnel. Twilight hurriedly ran the other way towards the Residential area and closed the door behind her. The fear and panic was starting to grip her yet again, much like that day when Sunset saved her, the trembling of her hands, the rapid beating of her heart, it felt like she was having a heart attack. Twilight mentally knew that this wasn’t what was happening, it was a panic attack, right down to the cold sweat she was experiencing. She was alone, and the Maulwurf was practically on the other side of that door. Her vision started to blur and Twilight’s legs felt weak, she felt like she was about to pass out, about to die. At that moment, an image of Sunset appeared in her mind, of the flame haired girl looking at her with a confident smile, no worries that she would come through for her. Twilight focused on that, her plan, she had to finish her plan. But now she’d be subject to the feedback the moment she activated it, and the sound could not only bust her eardrums, but possibly rupture her organs and brain. She acted quickly, going into one of the rooms and pulling out the mattress, and then going into another room and pulling out its mattress. She then grabbed as many pillows as she could find and piled her findings onto the floor. With some ingenuity, Twilight was able to fashion herself a little fort, with the mattresses, she made a six walled structure, lined the inside with as many thick pillows as she could find, and used the sixth mattress to close it like a crypt. Twilight used some pillow cases to wrap around her head, pinning her ears back to muffle whatever sound would be coming at them. She had to remove her glasses, but made sure that the button was ready to hit and start the reaction. Twilight’s breaths were erratic, and she was more than sure she’d pass out before this was over. But she had to do it, or else everyone was going to die, including her. Steeling her nerves, Twilight hit the button, dropped the hollowframe and covered her already covered ears. Almost immediately the entire Residential block came alive with the worst sounding feedback imaginable. It was so strong that it made the structure rumble, Twilight gritted her teeth and huddled into a fetal position. The small crypt of mattress and padding that she created was only minimally dampening the sound, the pain was still there, but she needed to endure it, just a bit longer. There was another sound that caught her attention, the sound of a creature crying out in pain. \*****///** Sunset had her StaRaizer on, waiting for Twilight’s plan to go into action. Not a moment later, her holoframe went off and alerted her to the sound wave pulses taking place beneath her feet. Her holoframe was secretly connected to Celestia and Luna’s command center, granting her a sonar image of the Maulwurf’s position. It showed the creature, which was close to the shelter, suddenly shooting straight up and away from the structure. Sunset fist pumped as she watched the monster ascend faster and faster, she was about to shut off her holoframe and transform, but that’s when she saw something that made her heart plummet. “YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME?!” The sonar showed that the Maulwurf stopped about a half mile from the surface and was just holding there. Sunset wanted to throw her holoframe to the ground, it was so close, but still too far for her attacks to reach. The feedback would only last for a minute, and she didn’t have any way of attacking it from the surface. “C’mon, there’s gotta be something! Twilight’s going to die if I don’t!” Sunset begged to anyone, anything that would listen to her. Something must’ve heard her as the StaRaizer device’s sun-star emblem began to glow. Sunset held out her arm, and from the StaRaizer arose two Ultra Coins. Unlike the previous ones, these two had a silver finish on the back, but also had the images of two Ultra Warriors on the front. Sunset took the two coins into her left hand and held them close to her heart as she closed her eyes. “Gaia…Victory…” Sunset opened her eyes and narrowed her gaze. “Alright then, let’s do this!” || ULTRAMAN! || || ULTRAMAN GINGA! || ||SHINE ON! ULTRAWOMAN ASTER!|| A bright beam of light shined straight up into the sky, and from the pillar of light appeared the giant known as Ultrawoman Aster. Unfortunately, as they predicted, an hour of charge time granted only a minute of fight time as her Color Timer was already flashing red. “Then let’s not waste time!” Within the starry nexus, Sunset summoned her Stellugger into her right hand, and in her left, she readied the two Ultra Coins. “Let’s go you guys, lend me your power!” Sunset placed the first coin into the top slot of the Stellugger. \ ULTRAMAN GAIA! // A red Ultraman appeared to her right, it looked similar to Agul, but different. She then placed the second coin into the second slot. \ ULTRAMAN VICTORY // Another Ultraman appeared to her left, this one sported glowing, yellow crystals, one of which was shaped like a “V” on its forehead. The two Ultramen broke down into particles of red and yellow energy that energized the Stellugger in Sunset’s hands. On the outside, the weapon was sparking, releasing arcs of yellow and red lightning as it readied to unleash its power. Aster turned the Stellugger around, putting it into a reverse grip, she then grabbed it with both hands and raised it over her head. “TERRA DESTROYER!!!” Aster dropped to one knee as she stabbed the ground beneath her with that Stellugger. The bladed weapon, upon making contact with the ground, exploded downwards, the electrical energy passing through the ground like a spider’s web as it raced downward. Aster could feel it, she was one with this energy, and what was better, she could sense the presence of her enemy. Aster locked onto the unsuspecting Maulwurf and struck. Down below, the Maulwurf was surrounded by the red and yellow lightning, energizing the rock and sediment around it. The soil and rock began to move around the Maulwurf, surrounding it in a sphere of empowered rock, the creature tried to claw its way out, but its claws were proving useless against this. In a matter of seconds, the energy that empowered the rock coalesced to it and made the rock sphere rise up like a bullet. Aster watched as a giant sphere burst from the ground some five meters from her position. Once in the air, the energy reached critical mass and then exploded in the air, destroying the Maulwurf in a shower of sparks. Ultrawoman Aster sighed in relief, she quickly struck the ground with her weapon and sent a dust cloud up into the air, obscuring her as a flash of light went off inside the cloud, and a few seconds later, she was nowhere to be seen. \*****///** [Canterlot All-Trust Hospital, 8:05 A. M.] Sunset visited Twilight in the hospital, thankfully her quick thinking to muffle the sound saved her any permanent damage to her hearing, there was a ringing in her ears that made it hard for her to hear anyone speaking, but the doctors assured her that that would go away after a few hours. Of course, Sunset almost had her own panic attack when she heard what Twilight did, she had to admit, that was a crazy – if not ballsy – thing Twilight did. And honestly, Sunset was proud of her for taking control of her fear like that. When she arrived at Twilight's room, she saw that Spike was sitting at her bedside, he was writing something onto his holoframe and showed it to Twilight, she chuckled a little and nodded before writing something down and showing it to him. Sunset knocked, alerting him to her presence. Twilight looked in the same direction Spike was and was happy to see Sunset. She was about to say “hi”, but remembered that Twilight wasn’t going to be able to hear her, at least not for a while, Twilight even had bandages wrapped around her ears to help protect her ears as they healed. A sad expression appeared on Sunset’s face as she sat down on Twilight’s left. Sunset took out her holoframe and wrote down, [I’m sorry this happened to you.] Twilight rolled her eyes and wrote, [It’s not your fault, Sunset! Stop blaming yourself! It’s not like you could’ve predicted that that would happen! Just like I couldn’t predict that the Maulwurf was going to attack the tunnel connecting the Recreation to the Residential area, but it did and I did what I had to do. As painful as that was…] Twilight rubbed her ears for emphasis. [I know I just…] Sunset stopped when Twilight grabbed her hand and made Sunset look her in the eyes. The flame haired girl could see it without Twilight needing to speak, yes, she was scared and terrified, but she did not blame her for a second. There was trust in her eyes, trust that she knew that Sunset would prevail over the Space Beast, and that trust was rewarded. Sunset nodded and squeezed her hand in a silent reply that she understood. Just then, something glowed between Twilight and Sunset’s held hand. That light flowed into Twilight and in a matter of seconds her expression changed to one of shock. Spike shot up from his seat and asked, “What the heck is happening?!” When the light faded, they released their hands. Sunset was surprised to see that an Ultra Coin was in her hand, it wasn’t a new one, but one she already owned, Ultraman Cosmos. Twilight started to remove the bandages around her ears, much to Spike’s protests, but when she did, she smiled. “I can hear! The ringing’s gone!” “Seriously?!” Spike asked. “Yep!” Twilight chirped happily. Spike globed onto his mother/big sister and nuzzled her cheek affectionately, while he did that, Sunset looked down at the Ultra Coin in her hand. Did…Did you do that…for me, Cosmos? There was no voice, but a glint of light from the eye of Cosmos was all the answer Sunset needed. Thank you. “Mom, what was that light about?” Spike asked. “Well…let’s just keep that a secret for the time being, alright?” Twilight asked. Spike looked to Twilight and then back to Sunset, and then to the shiny coin in her hand. “Honestly, right now, I don’t care. So long as you’re feeling better, that’s all that really matters!” Sunset smiled happily as she pocketed her Ultra Coin. “So, what did your parents say? Are they…Are they going to take you out of SMILE after this?” “Actually, they changed their minds on that. Apparently the way I handled all that back there made them a little less afraid of letting me stay there, they said that before SMILE there was no way I would’ve implemented such a plan, or been able to do what I did. And I’d have to agree, but I came very close to not coming through,” said Twilight. Sunset reached out and patted Twilight on the shoulder. “But you did, and thanks to you, Aster was able to blow that thing away.” Twilight smiled at Sunset. “Thanks, and because of all that, they want me to stay at SMILE. They think you and that place are a good influence on me.” Sunset chuckled mischievously as she smirked. “Oh if only they knew that I was corrupting their precious daughter, secretly turning her into a delinquent with each passing day! Mwahahaha!” Spike deadpanned. “Please, there’s no way Twilight could pull off that whole ‘bad girl’ look.” For some reason, that seemed to offend Twilight. “And why not?” “Because…well…you’re you,” said Spike innocently. “And because you’re too adorkable,” said Sunset as she pinched Twilight’s cheeks. Twilight swatted Sunset’s hand away and said, “I am NOT adorkable!” Author's Note Before anyone asks, no, the Gaia and Victory coins will not be used for transformations, they're mainly utility coins to power up the Stelluger, much like in Ultraman R/B. Also, this fic is not dead! I was on a role with Witchblade and my ADHD brain lost interest for a minute. But now I'm back and will be making updates to both stories. Stay tuned Ultra fans!
11th Light: Happy Halloween! / Save the Students Ocellus!Applejack wiped her brow, taking a look around the orchard. It had taken a while, but they managed to get most of the harvest done. Of course that was mostly due to Applejack’s super strength, she never questioned how or why she had it, even though the doctors said it was just a genetic mutation. Whatever the case may’ve been, it helped her protect her family, and it helped with harvesting apples. Instead of plucking, all Applejack had to do was give it a good kick, and all the apples would fall down at once. Sometimes that was her only job, hit the trees and let the apples fall, then Big Mac and Apple Bloom would take up the rear and pick up all the ones she had knocked down. When she filled her quota, Applejack would join them in picking up the ones she knocked down. It was hard work, but rewarding, much like her work at SMILE. Applejack sighed in content and then moved on to her next tree. She got into a fighting stance, bouncing on the balls of her feet as she sized up the apple tree. “Okay, Luther, just you and me,” said Applejack. The apple farmer threw a roundhouse kick to the side of the tree, despite the quickness of her attack, she had perfect control as she slowed down her kick just enough to give it a light bump. The moment her boot made contact, something happened. Instead of the tree rattling, a sharp crack formed on the impact site. “W-What the–?!” The bark snapped and exploded, fissuring the tree in half. The tree tipped to the left and came down with a rustling crash to the earth. Applejack gaped as she walked over to the downed tree, she fell to her knees as she looked upon the damage she had caused. Applejack heard the sounds of footsteps rapidly approaching her, when she turned her head Applejack saw her two siblings. Apple Bloom was a twelve year old girl, with apple red hair and a pink bow tied into it. She had lightly tanned skin, much like her big brother and sister, but her eyes were an amber brown color. Big Macintosh had orange-red hair, with emerald green eyes same as his little sister, Applejack. Both siblings looked upon the middle child of the family with worry. “What happened?!” Apple Bloom asked. “Ah…Ah don’t know…?” Applejack turned her attention back to the downed tree. “Ah…Ah kicked it the same way I’ve always had, Ah used the same amount of strength I’ve always used, but…somehow…Ah killed Luther…” Mac walked forward and knelt next to Applejack as he inspected the damage. “Doctor did say ya might get stronger, could be ya just got stronger doing all the farm work.” “But…” Applejack whimpered. Apple Bloom knelt on Applejack’s opposite side. “Don’t worry, Sis, we know ya didn’t mean it. It was an accident.” Big Mac stood up and offered her his hand. “C’mon, we still got work to do.” Applejack smiled and took Big Mac’s hand, she gave it a light squeeze, but upon doing so, several cracking and snapping sounds rang out around them, followed by Big Mac screaming in pain. Applejack released his hand and watched in horror as he fell to the ground, clutching at his left arm. Apple Bloom and Applejack gaped in horror at the sight of Big Mac’s arm, it had become limp, bruises formed all up and down it, along with slight poking as if the bones were broken. “Sis, what did ya do?!” Apple Bloom asked. “Ah…Ah didn’t mean it! Ah swear I wasn’t squeezin’ his hand tight at all!” Apple Bloom rushed to her big brother’s side, worry plastered on her face as she tried to figure out how to help him. Applejack got up and started to reach out towards Big Mac. “Don’t touch him!” Apple Bloom exclaimed as she swatted Applejack’s hand away. However, the moment she did, Apple Bloom’s entire right forearm broke, and now both of Applejack’s siblings were on the ground in pain from broken limbs. Applejack stepped back, but with each step she took, the ground rumbled violently, even when she tried to take smaller steps. When she took another step back, the ground split open beneath her siblings. The middle child of the Apple Family watched in horror as her two siblings were swallowed up by the fissure she had made and were lost to the darkness beneath. And in the darkness, was a purple mist that floated about and growled. \*****///** Fluttershy was panting, fear gripped her as she found herself in a cage. She was not in her human form, but had reverted to her true alien form, which was just as well because if she did turn back, she’d be naked. She tried to remember what she did last, but could not remember. The cage she was in was similar to that of the ones that they used at the Preserve, one used for animals. The bars were most likely made of a special alloy, so there was no way for her to bend the bars with her strength. There was light shining down on her, illuminating only a four foot radius around the cage itself, everything else was shrouded in darkness. Just then, two people emerged from the darkness. One was Commander Celestia holding a manila folder, and the other was a man in a white coat and black helmet. In his hands he held a rod with an electrical barb that sparked. Fluttershy recognized the device, it was a cattle prod. Celestia pulled out a chair and sat down before the cage, and when she did, Fluttershy immediately rushed to the side closest to Celestia and asked, “Commander Celestia, what’s going on, why am I in this cage?!” Celestia nodded to the man. The man turned the staff around and jabbed it into the cage, striking Fluttershy in her left thigh. The Vivirendan yelped as her entire left leg stung with pain. “And here I was buying your little kind and demure act, all that time I wasted trying to help you, and you go and repay me and your friends like this,” said Celestia in a cold tone. Fluttershy bit through the pain as she looked at Celestia. “W-What are you t-talking about?” The guard jabbed the prod at Fluttershy again, hitting her in the stomach and causing the muscles to cramp up. Fluttershy rolled onto the floor of the cage, clutching at her midsection and whimpering as she bit back the tears. “Stop with the innocent act, everyone warned me not to trust Vivirendans, but I felt sorry for you. Well, I won’t anymore.” The guard hit Fluttershy again, and again, and again. Each time Fluttershy convulsed and yelped, each cry was more painful than the last. “A sleeper cell, just as they suspected, I regret taking pity on you and your family, and because of my foolishness, Sunset, and your so-called ‘friends’ are dead,” Celestia accused. Celestia gestured for the guard to stop, she then threw the folder into the cage, hitting Fluttershy in the head and letting the contents spill onto the floor. Fluttershy, weakly, saw that there were photos, images of her friends all killed, killed with claws and fangs. “No…No…I would never…!” “The evidence is as plain as the blood on your hands and mouth.” Fluttershy looked back at her claws, her eyes widened with horror as she saw them stained with blood. “No…No, there wasn’t any blood on my claws! This…This isn’t happening!” “And yet it did, your family will be deported back to your home world, and they’ll do with you as they please. But for right now, I’m going to inflict as much pain as I can before you’re on that ship.” Celestia snapped her fingers and three more guards stepped out of the darkness, all armed with cattle prods. Without a word spoken, all four of the guards began shocking Fluttershy, she felt the pain, but it wasn’t anything compared to the pain in her heart, she had killed her friends, their blood was on her hands. Celestia got up and walked back into the darkness, but when she did, her eyes shifted to yellow slits before disappearing. \*****///** Twilight walked through the halls of SMILE Academy, though for some reason, the warm and welcoming feeling had somehow evaporated, everyone walked around with a cross look on their faces, and even more so when Twilight was near, she seemed to receive the bulk of their ire. “Freakin’ know-it-all.” “Little Miss Perfect.” “Teacher’s pet.” Twilight hugged her books to her chest as she continued to walk down the hall, still hearing the other students berate her as she tried to find safety. Her prayers were answered when Twilight spotted the distinct head of fiery hair. Twilight stopped behind Sunset and said, “Sunset, I’m really glad I’ve found you. Everybody’s acting strange, do you know what’s going on?” Sunset didn’t turn to her. “Sunset?” Again, Sunset didn’t acknowledge her. “Sunset, I’m talking to you. Could you please–” Sunset turned on her heel and backhanded Twilight across the cheek. The young genius was sent sprawling onto the floor. Twilight sat up and felt her cheek, which was hot and stung with pain, but she didn’t register it as much, she was too in shock by the fact that Sunset hit her. She looked up at the girl whom she called friend, and when she did, Twilight saw a look of indifference towards her. “S-Sunset…w-why did you hit me…?” “Because I’m tired of having to look after you, if you want me to keep you around, get up and hit me back!” Sunset stated. “N-No, I-I don’t want to do that! Y-You’re my friend!” Twilight exclaimed. “Oh, so that’s what you thought we were? No, let me correct you.” Sunset knelt beside Twilight. She grabbed Twilight by her shirt and drew her close. “You’re just something I tolerate, you’re useless in a fight, and you haven’t even given me an Ultra Coin. Rarity has, Rainbow, Pinkie, Applejack, hell, even Fluttershy gave me one! But you? Nothing. You’re useless to me as an ally and as anything else.” “No…No, Sunset please, I-I’ll do anything, I’ll try harder, please don’t leave me alone!” Twilight begged. Sunset threw Twilight to the ground as she stood up. Her eyes briefly flashed yellow as she turned her back on Twilight and began to walk away. “No… Sunset please don’t leave me alone! Sunset!” ~*~*~*~ “Sunset! Sunset! Sunset!” The door to Twilight’s bedroom burst open as Sunset Shimmer entered the room, her eyes fell on Twilight as she thrashed back and forth, calling out her name. Sunset hurried to Twilight’s side and grabbed Twilight’s shoulders. “Twilight wake up! It’s me, Sunset, I’m here! Wake up!” Sunset nearly shouted. After a few seconds, Twilight’s eyes finally shot open as she shot up with a start. Twilight finally took notice of Sunset and then scooted back and held up her arms in defense. “D-Don’t hit me, Sunset! I-I promise I’ll be more useful!” Twilight begged. Sunset was caught off guard by those words, so much so that it might as well have been a punch to the face. “Twilight, what…what the hell are you talking about?” “I…I…” Twilight started to regain her senses, her breathing became less erratic as she looked around and saw that she was in her bedroom. The door was wide open and Sunset was sitting at the edge with concern heavy in her eyes. “Sunset…?” “Yeah, it’s me Sparky, what’s wrong?” Twilight didn’t say any words, she simply threw herself at Sunset and hugged her tight. Sunset was taken by surprise at the show of affection, but when she felt how Twilight was shaking, she ignored the awkwardness and hugged her back. “I’m right here, Twilight, don’t be afraid,” Sunset assured. It took a couple of minutes, but eventually, Sunset was able to calm Twilight down. She handed the prodigy some tissues as Twilight wiped her eyes and blew her nose. “Feeling better?” “A little…thank you.” “Okay, soooo…care to tell me what all that was about?” Sunset asked. “I…I had a really bad dream, well, more like a nightmare. I dreamt that everyone in SMILE hated me, and in my dream, you…y-you hit me.” Sunset’s eyes flew wide open. “W-What?! Sparky, I would never do that to you!” “I know, I know…but it happened in the nightmare. You also said I was useless because the rest of our friends were able to summon an Ultra Coin for you, but I haven’t…” Sunset gently placed her hand on Twilight’s shoulder and gave her a serious look. “Twilight, I don’t care if you ever summon an Ultra Coin, you’ve done so much already! Plus, you’re my first real friend, so I’m not letting you off the hook that easily.” Twilight smiled and nodded her understanding. “Sorry.” “Don’t be, you can’t control when you have a nightmare.” Sunset yawned. “And with that, we should get back to bed.” When Sunset stood up to leave, she felt a tug at her pajama shorts. She looked down and saw that Twilight was pinching the hem of her shorts leg. “Sparky, if you wanted to get frisky tonight, all you had to do was ask,” Sunset teased. Twilight seemed to realize what she had just pulled on, and noticed that Sunset’s shorts had fallen just a tad to let her see a bit of her hip. Blushing red, Twilight released her hold. “N-NO! T-That’s not what I want! I…c-can you stay with me tonight? Please?” Sunset smiled and nodded her head. Twilight was still blushing, but smiled appreciatively, she laid back down on the right side of the bed, while Sunset rested on the left, their backs pressed against each other. “Sunset…thank you, and I’m sorry.” “Don’t worry about it Sparky, let’s just go to bed.” Sunset’s lips curled into a coy smile. “And no touching, Sparky, unless you’re planning on taking responsibility.” Twilight’s blush intensified. “Goodnight, Sunset.” Sunset chuckled. “Goodnight, Sparky.” \*****///** [Wednesday, 7:00 A. M.] “Guess you weren’t the only one who had a rough night, Twi,” Sunset commented. Indeed, when all seven girls met up for breakfast in the lunchroom, they saw that Fluttershy and Applejack weren’t doing so hot either. They had dark bags under their eyes, Fluttershy was acting jittery, like a scared puppy. While Applejack was taking extra care in how she handled everything, to how she was holding her fork, and how she was walking when they got there. “What’s up with AJ?” Sunset asked. “She had a bad night,” said Rainbow. “Had a nightmare that she broke her brother and sister’s arms with her strength and then fractured the earth. Babe, I told you, it was only a nightmare! You’re not that strong and you’re always careful.” Applejack put her fork down as she sighed. “Ah…Ah know, but the doctors who found out about my strength told me it’s likely I’ll get stronger as I get older, and even more so when Ah train. Ah…Ah just don’t want to hurt anyone…” Rainbow Dash rubbed small circles on Applejack’s back, trying to sooth her. “You won’t hurt us, AJ.” “I would never hurt any of you, y-you know that, right?” Fluttershy suddenly asked. Twilight blinked. “Yes, we do, Fluttershy.” “Forgive her, she’s…rattled. She had a nightmare about being caged and accused of…ahem…killing us all. Poor thing was crying most of the night,” said Rarity. “We kinda spent the night trying to cheer her up,” said Pinkie. “That’s… strange…I had a nightmare last night, too.” Now the others were getting weirded out. “It could just be a coincidence that we all had nightmares, we at least didn’t have the same nightmare.” “But…” Ocellus spoke up. “They do share a commonality, it was a nightmare of what you’re most afraid of. Unless Twilight's dream was different?” Twilight cupped her hands as she recalled her nightmare, her hands started to shake until Sunset patted her shoulder. “You don’t have to tell them, Sparky,” said Sunset. “No, it’s okay,” said Twilight. “My nightmare…was about everyone in the school shunning me, and also that Sunset…that Sunset saw me as useless…” Applejack shook her head. “Twi, that’s plum crazy talk, ya ain’t ‘useless’! Ya fixed the Phantom Zone Emitter.” “You made the Aster-X blasters and made mods to mine and AJ’s vehicles,” said Rainbow. “And,” Rarity added, “saved hundreds of people from a rampaging, underground Space Beast.” Twilight smiled, “Thank you, everyone.” Sunset bumped Twilight with her shoulder as if to say “I told you so.” Rainbow tapped the table and got everyone’s attention. “Alright, alright, enough of this depressing stuff, although it is the perfect setup considering that Halloween is tomorrow night! You guys ready?!” Rarity crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. “Really, Rainbow, we just got through talking about nightmares, I don’t think the topic of Halloween should be broached right now.” “Well, better now than tomorrow,” said Rainbow. “Anyway, have you guys picked out your costumes?” Pinkie Pie raised her hand. “Oh, oh, I did! I’m going as a werewolf! No offense, Fluttershy.” Fluttershy shook her head. “It’s fine, and besides, I’m staying in anyway.” Rainbow groaned. “Shy, you’re a teenager now! And personally speaking if you went full beast mode, you’d be scarier than anything out there. You don’t even have to dress up as something scary, you can be a…a fairy or something?” “I’ll…I’ll think about it.” Rainbow looked to the rest of her friends, waiting for an answer. “Eh, I didn’t see the appeal a while back, but I’ll give it a shot. I’ve always wanted to dress up like a vampire,” said Sunset. Rainbow cocked an eyebrow and smirked. “Regular or sexy?” “Which kind do you think?” Sunset replied coyly. Applejack sighed. “Shoot, guess I’ll get into the game. I’m a goin’ was one of those forest spirit things. What ‘dya call ‘em again?” “Dryads,” said Fluttershy. “Yeah that.” The school was going to hold a Halloween party for the students to attend, and since the announcement the girls were finalizing their plans. For Ocellus, this would be her first Halloween, for Twilight, it would be her first Halloween with actual friends, and for Sunset, well, she did get into some mischief on Halloween, but this will be the first she’d spent not making trouble. No promises. Once they were done, the girls dispersed to their individual classes. Ocellus, Twilight, and Sunset had the same class so the three of them walked together. Along the way they noticed that maybe the nightmares the three had weren’t isolated. As they walked, they noticed several of their fellow classmates didn’t look so good, some were jittery, scared, or just irritable from a lack of sleep. “Okay, maybe there is something going on?” \*****///** [12:00 P. M., that same day] A tear opened up in the skies above SMILE Academy. The school went into high alert as the Phantom Zone was deployed and the students moved to the shelters. All except for one student as she made it to one of the blind spots of the campus security feed and summoned her StaRaizer and entered the starry nexus. “Grant me the strength of a hero!” || ULTRAMAN! || “Grant me the power of a galaxy!” || ULTRAMAN GINGA! || “Release the light within me!” ||SHINE ON! ULTRAWOMAN ASTER!|| Sunset’s body was wrapped in cosmic energy as her human form was shed away and revealed her alter form, that of Ultrawoman Aster. The energy within her expanded and allowed her to grow higher and higher until she had attained her giant height. Aster jumped and flew into the sky, stopping a few feet away from the tear in space. She felt something ominous on the other side of that tear. It was easily twice the length of Aster’s body, and twice the width, certainly big enough for something to come through. It was dark purple around the edges, and inside the tear was something like mist. What the hell is this? Just then, yellow slit eyes appeared inside the tear, and shortly after, violet lightning shot out of the tear towards Aster. The Ultra warrior quickly took evasive maneuvers, dodging the lightning as it came at her. When the volley ended, Aster fired off multiple Beam Bullets at the tear, each of the Beam Bullets struck the surface of the tear and exploded, but none of them seemed to reach the entity on the other side. The entity fired more lightning at her, but this time Aster created a shield of light to take the brunt of the attack. “Alright, let’s see if you like this!” Aster reached for the crest on her head with her left hand, once she touched it, the crest glowed and produced her Stellugger. Inside the starry nexus, Sunset opened her Coin Keeper and took out the Agul and Gaia Ultra Coins, then placed them into the slots on the Stellugger. || ULTRAMAN GAIA! || || ULTRAMAN AGUL! || Red and blue light swirled around the Stellugger until the converged and turned into a whip-like beam of yellow light. Aster broke away from the entity’s attack and began heading towards it, the entity kept lobbing lightning bolts at her, but Aster used her Stellugger to whip away the lightning bolts one after the other. Once she was in range, Aster raised her Stelluger into the air and thrust it forward. “PHOTON RUPTURE!” The beam of light raced towards the tear in space, and, surprisingly, pierced through it. The entity on the other side was shocked and moved to dodge the attack, but the beam managed to nick the entity, making it growl threateningly at Aster. The Ultrawoman readied to attack again, but stopped when she saw that tear begin to mend itself until it was a small sliver in the sky, the entity’s glowing yellow eyes glared at Aster for a few moments before the sliver closed up. Aster stayed where she was for a little while longer, waiting to see if the entity would appear again. But so far, there was no sign of any distortions. Figuring that was that, Aster released a flash of light and then zipped back down to the Academy. Once the Phantom Zone Emitter was off, the school was taken off of high alert, but was still on rapid deployment status, for now the students were allowed to go back to their classes. Sunset was messaged by Celestia to come and meet in her office. When Sunset arrived at Celestia’s office, she was surprised to see her guardian in the same shape as the other students, Luna seemed alright though. “Rough night?” Sunset asked. “Just a bad dream, kept me up a bit. But enough about me, are you alright?” Celestia asked. “Yeah, I don’t know what that thing was, but it’s definitely coming back. I didn’t give it a finishing blow, but I did injure it, hopefully,” said Sunset. Celestia placed her right hand against her forehead as she sighed in exhaustion. “This is the first time a Space Beast has appeared over the Academy, if our sensors hadn’t picked up on the distortion, it could’ve killed so many of the students and staff…” Luna gave her big sister a sympathetic look. “Tia, don’t be so hard on yourself. We usually see these creatures coming from space and have a lot of time to deploy. And not to mention, the Everfree Forest is supposed to keep us safe from direct attacks from Space Beasts. This one tore a whole in space and just appeared.” “Still, that was too close. For now, we’re keeping our forces on standby just in case it makes an appearance again.” Sunset shrugged. “That’s for the best. I won’t be able to change back for at least three hours, but if something happens I can change back.” “Very well…rest up while you can.” Celestia watched as Sunset nodded and turned to leave, but then she called out, “Sunset!” The fiery redhead stopped and turned around. “Yes?” “Y-You know I don’t think of you as a weapon or anything, right? I-I do care about you, I…I just wanted to let you know that,” said Celestia with a slight pink tint to her cheeks. Sunset’s face was tinted pink too as she felt a bit embarrassed by the affection that Celestia showed. “Y-Yeah, I know…thank you. And, you get some rest too. See ya.” With that exchange, Sunset left the room. Luna looked to her big sister and asked, “Are you alright, sister?” Celestia leaned back in her chair as she sighed again. “I had a nightmare about SMILE using Sunset like a weapon, chaining her and deploying her as they saw fit, no matter how exhausted she was, no matter how many times she protested, they just kept throwing her out into the fray, and I was powerless to stop it…” Luna approached her big sister and took one of Celestia’s hands into her own. “Tia, you and I both know that that will never. While I won’t lie that I have seen Sunset as an asset, I wouldn’t go so far as to treat her in such an inhumane way.” “But the brass know about her, how long will it be until they decide they’d rather control her than trust in her?” Luna leaned down and gave Celestia a hug, something that the older sister reciprocated. Neither of them saw that there was a small shadow with yellow eyes that disappeared. \*****///** [7:00 P. M., Thursday] Ocellus watched as her friends gathered in Pinkie, Rarity, and Fluttershy’s dorm room. It was fun seeing others change their appearance into something other than themselves, she was a Changeling, changing her body and form was a natural part of her life, so she didn’t see much need in participating. As advertised, Sunset did indeed dress up like a vampire. Fake fangs poked down from her upper lip, and she wore a black wig to hide her fiery hair, a black leather jacket, maroon pants that were torn, a low-cut black shirt with fake blood stains on it, and two red dots painted onto the side of her neck. Applejack was made to look like a woodland nymph, complete with fake bark, leaves, and a mixture of green and brown body paint. Pinkie Pie was donned in her werewolf outfit, although it was more like a “wolf-girl” outfit. She had fake wolf ears, fake fangs and claws, a pink fluffy tail, and painted on whiskers. Somehow they managed to get Fluttershy in on it, dressing her up in a fairy outfit, a beautiful green dress and a pair of sparkling fairy wings on her back. Twilight was dressed, as cliché as it might be, as a mad scientist, complete with a lab coat, oversized goggles, and black leather gloves. Her hair was tied up into a bun, but messed up a little to give her a frenzied look as if she hadn’t slept in days, and considering how she felt last night, it wouldn’t be too hard to act. Rarity dressed up as a fairytale princess, with a sparkling tiara and sparkling pink and purple dress that flowed elegantly over her body. And Rainbow Dash dressed like an elven warrior, complete with some fake pointy ears, cape, and a bow and arrow set. Ocellus looked at Rainbow Dash curiously and asked, “What made you choose that costume, Rainbow?” Rainbow smirked as she sidled next to Applejack. “Let’s just say, when we’re all about to turn in, this elf is going to ‘commune’ with nature later tonight.” Applejack blushed and then swatted her girlfriend away. “DASH, c’mon, don’t go airin’ our business like that!” “Oh my…” Fluttershy whispered as she blushed. “Oooooh, kinky,” Pinkie Pie commented. Sunset crossed her arms and smirked. “Seconded.” Rarity rolled her eyes, Twilight blushed, and Ocellus just giggled. Twilight sat next to Ocellus on the couch and asked. “Are you sure you don’t want to come with us? I know Halloween isn’t something you’ve experienced before, unless they have something like that on Hive Prime?” Ocellus shook her head. “Nah, we don’t. But I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to go. With my shapeshifting powers, I could turn into anyone or anything, and I don’t want to cause trouble for anyone at the party.” Rainbow Dash groaned. “Ah, c’mon, Ocellus, Halloween’s all about causing a little trouble! We could prank soooo many people if you were there!” Rarity came up and pinched Rainbow’s cheek. “And that’s why she wants to stay here.” She let go of Rainbow and allowed her chromatic friend to rub her sore cheek. “We’ll respect your decision Ocellus, but the party will be going on for a few hours, feel free to stop by if you change your mind.” The young Changeling smiled. “I’ll think about it, thank you all. Go have fun.” Ocellus watched as her friends left the room and headed to the party at the school’s gym. She kind of wanted to go, but she was scared. Ocellus didn’t tell anyone, being a Changeling, she was able to hide how she really looked that morning, but the truth was, she had a nightmare too. Her worst fear was shown to her, the fear of transforming into a Changeling Queen, and becoming a worse creature than Chrysalis. She saw herself enslaving her people, overthrowing King Thorax, and forcing the rest of her people to become Dark Changelings. Then came the invasion of Earth, enslaving the six of her friends, and battling Aster (Sunset) to the death, and killing her. Ocellus hugged herself, fear gripping her, she didn’t want to become a Changeling Queen, although she knew that it could happen at any time, it could be in a few years, a few months, heck, it could be in the middle of the night. Sometimes she’d wake up, halfway through the night and go to the bathroom to check and see if she made the change. Thankfully, her abilities would never make her look like that, the transformation into a Changeling Queen was distinct, so there was no faking it even with her abilities. “I’m not ready to be a leader…I just…I just want to continue being here, with everyone…” Ocellus spoke to herself. At first, she was sad about being on a strange planet with no one else of her kind around to help her. But then she met Pinkie, Sunset, and Fluttershy, then Applejack and Rainbow, and Rarity and Twilight. They had become her friends, and the days she spent here on Earth, in these classes were some of the best times she had. The incident on Planet Zodio with the Belzeb did open her eyes to how sadistic and cruel Chrysalis was in her pursuit to rule Hive Prime. How long would it be before she set her sights on Earth? Just then a strange sound echoed through the sky, Ocellus rushed to the balcony of the dorm, hearing the sound get louder, like someone was tearing apart fabric. When Ocellus looked up, she noticed that it was indeed fabric tearing, the fabric of space. The tear from yesterday reopened over SMILE Academy, and from that tear, a dark purple mist poured out and hit the school building. The school wasn’t destroyed, but the mist continued to pour out, spreading over everything. The Phantom Zone Emitter had quickly kicked on, someone must’ve given the order to set it off, either that or that someone was acting out of fear. Ocellus looked down as the mist was approaching the dorms, the few students who were outside tried to run away from it, but when they were caught in the mist, they suddenly fell to the ground. Ocellus’ eyes went wide with fear as she dropped her human disguise and changed into her true Changeling form. Her back shell opened and released her translucent salmon colored wings, those same wings flapped rapidly as she was lifted into the air. Ocellus flew up and over the building heading straight for the Everfree Forest. The mist was starting to catch up with her, so Ocellus transformed into a Peregrine Falcon, the bird of prey zoomed across the field, putting considerable distance between Ocellus and the mist. But as if it had a mind of its own, the mist doubled its speed, determined to catch everyone in its grasp, including Ocellus. The young Changeling was sweating as she looked back and saw the sparkling mist getting close to her tail feathers. At the last second, Ocellus passed into the forest, and, strangely enough, the mist stopped. The trees along the perimeter of the school all began to glow, forming a wall as if to contain the mist and stop it from spreading towards the city. Ocellus flew close to the ground, and then shifted back to her true form, landing on her feet before dropping to her knees and panting hard from her exhaustive flying. “H-How i-is this possible?! The forest is supposed to keep Space Beasts from getting this close to the Academy!” “Normally that would be so, on any other night.” They young Changeling gasped, a fog rolled in, and with it, a mysterious woman in a cloak and hood. The jingling of her bracelets made Ocellus flinch with each step she took, and when the mysterious woman stopped, her yellow glowing eyes made her freeze up. “W-Who are you?!” Ocellus asked. The mysterious woman pulled her hood down, her eyes no longer glowing. “That is not important child, what is important is how you will act now.” “W-What do you mean? Do you know what’s happening?!” Ocellus asked. “That is the Tantabus. A creature of the dream realm, normally kept in check by the light,” the mysterious woman used her staff to draw pictures in the fog, and the fog formed a silhouette of the Tantabus. “However, it has been feeding ravenously on the negative energy of nightmares. The more fear its victims feel, the stronger it becomes until…” Ocellus gulped. “Until what?” “Until it enters our world. It can then create waking nightmares, and twist the world into a dreaded place of horror.” Ocellus managed to stand up, she took another look through the trees and saw that the tear was still open, but the mist had retreated back to the tear. “How did it get here? The forest makes it so that no Space Beast can get close to the Academy, that’s the whole reason why SMILE built its base and school in this giant clearing!” The mysterious woman walked until she was standing beside Ocellus. “This is the night of all Hallows Eve. The night when the boundaries between the physical and ethereal planes of existence are blurred together, and beings of a spiritual or magical nature are able to crossover. The Everfree is doing all it can to prevent it from breaking free, but with the weakened boundaries, it will not be easy. With the sleeping victims, it can feed on their fear until it is strong enough to come out.” Ocellus tried to think of something, but remembered the color of the sky. “The Phantom Zone is up! That should keep it from getting anywhere, right?!” The mysterious woman shook her head. “The moment it fully manifests into this world, not even the Phantom Zone can stop it. Look…” Ocellus watched as the same mist poured from the tear, but this time it formed a column. That column then took form, growing arms, legs, a body, and a head with four horns. Yellow eyes shined from the mist, but it seemed the Tantabus was incomplete. It wasn’t completely physical, its body was made of the mist. “Does that mean…?” “There is still time, if the Warrior of Light can awaken within the realm of dreams, she can fight the creature from the inside out. However, time is what she needs, and you need to give it to her.” Ocellus didn’t need the mysterious woman to paint her a picture, she knew exactly what she meant. But, given the circumstances, there wasn’t much of a choice. If she didn’t fight, the creature would attack the Academy, and none of them were in the shelter, they were easy prey. Ocellus balled her hands into fists as she gathered the courage within her to do what needed to be done. The mysterious woman smiled down on Ocellus and said, “You are braver and stronger than you realize young one, do not forget that…” The fog rolled out, and with it, the mysterious woman, as if she was a phantom. Ocellus looked around, but couldn’t find a trace of her. What made this weirder was the fact that her eyes weren’t able to get a read on her DNA. Changeling eyes could read the biological structure of almost any creature, no matter how complex, but when she looked at that woman, it was as if she was being jammed. Whoever she was, she’s right about me needing to buy Sunset time. If she does have the power to beat this thing from the inside out, then I’ll do whatever I can! To that end… Ocellus flared her wings and flew as high into the air as she could. When she was high enough, she wrapped her body in her plasma flames. The flames grew bigger and bigger until they matched the thirty meter height of the monster. When the flames died out, Ocellus had transformed herself into Ultrawoman Aster. I may not be Aster, but at least this thing doesn’t know that! And…well…I feel better fighting like this! Sunset, I’ll do my best! “Aster” entered into an attack stance and charged straight for the Tantabus, she threw a punch which struck the Tantabus in the face. The smoky creature fumbled backwards before planting its foot into the ground and regained its balance. But “Aster” wasn’t about to let it attack, she rushed Tantabus and body slammed into it. The Tantabus could only brace as it took the full impact of her attack. Ocellus needed to get the monster as far from the Academy as possible, any attacks that she or it used could kill the students and faculty. The young Changeling yelled loudly as she continued to push Tantabus to the edge of the forest, but that seemed to be as far as the monster was willing to go as it dug its heels into the earth and stopped their momentum. Ocellus backed away and threw a punch at the monster, but it blocked it and threw one of its own, hitting her right in the stomach. The impact was strong and nearly made Ocellus lose consciousness, but she held on, she had to hold on. \*****///** Sunset walked through a fog, she felt strange, as if she wasn’t where she was meant to be. In the distance she saw someone, two people actually. As she continued to walk, Sunset was able to make out more detail, one had long blonde hair, and the other rainbow-colored hair. “Rainbow, AJ!” Sunset called out as she ran towards them. The two individuals glanced over their shoulders and were about to say something, but the moment that Sunset got near them, they disappeared into the fog, no, more like they turned into the fog. Sunset took a step back in confusion, but then spotted another of her friends, Pinkie Pie. Sunset ran for her, running as fast as she could towards the familiar face. “Pinkie Pie!” When Sunset reached out for her, Pinkie did the same, but when their hands touched, Pinkie vanished into vapor. “W-What’s happening?!” Rarity appeared in the fog, Sunset once again ran towards another of her friends, but like the last time, she disappeared. Sunset was starting to get scared, she was alone, nothing and one around, her friends were disappearing one after the other. Sunset kept looking, she had to find someone, anyone…Twilight. Yes, Twilight would be able to explain what was happening, she had to be in the fog, somewhere. Sunset wandered the endless expanse of the dense fog, until, finally, she spotted Twilight. Sunset dashed with all her might, trying to catch her. Twilight turned around and a smile formed on her face. When Sunset got near her, she wrapped Twilight in her arms and was so glad she didn’t disappear. “Twilight, thank god you’re real!” Sunset exclaimed. “It’s alright, I’m here, I’ll always be here,” said Twilight. “Rarity, Pinkie, Dash, AJ, Fluttershy, they’re just…gone! They slipped through my fingers! But you’re here, and I’ll make sure nothing–!” Just then, Twilight felt as if her legs were taken from her, Sunset looked down to see that Twilight’s feet were slowly vanishing into the fog. Twilight looked into Sunset’s eyes with fear as the vanishing crawled up Twilight’s legs. A panicked expression befell Twilight as she gripped Sunset’s arm in desperation. “Sunset, don’t let me go! I’m scared, please don’t let me disappear!” Twilight begged. Sunset held Twilight tighter. “I won’t, I promise I won’t!” The vanishing continued, going up further, now to her waist. “Make it stop, Sunset! Please make it stop!” Sunset’s eyes shed tears as she knew she was powerless to stop whatever it was that was happening. “I-I don’t know how! I’m sorry!” “Y-You s-said you’d protect me! Protect all of us! Please, do something!” Twilight cried. Sunset felt Twilight becoming lighter as her body continued to disappear. Sunset released Twilight, now seeing that her torso and arms were almost gone, and only her head and neck remained. “I…I trusted you…believed in you…” “NOOOO!” “That’s just how it is, all of it will disappear.” Sunset turned her back and saw…herself. Her form as Ultrawoman Aster stood behind her, her imposing height casting a shadow over Sunset and Twilight. Sunset turned back to Twilight and then watched her completely vanish. “No…” Sunset grasped at the air, as if trying to bring her back. “NO!” She then turned to her other form and shouted. “WHAT DID YOU DO?!!!” “Do not act as if you are blameless. Did you honestly think that we’re a hero? That we’re a guardian? We’re a destroyer, stronger than all these creatures that come to attack the Earth. Because they know the sight of their true ruler when they see it, it’s an alpha predator instinct.” “Shut up! I am a hero! I fight for this world and my friends!” “If that’s true, why did you lay waste to this city?” Aster waved her hand, a gust of wind blew the fog away, blinding Sunset for a moment. When she opened her eyes, she beheld a decimated Canterlot City, and SMILE Academy. The city was on fire and the Academy was in ruins. Gungirs and Goliaths were strewn all over, completely wrecked. The closest ones were the specialized units that were made for Rainbow Dash and Applejack. Both of which were melted from a strong heat attack. At the Academy, several students were laying dead on the campus, either crushed by debris or just lying dead on the ground. Among them were Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rarity, and…Twilight. Out of all of them, Twilight’s expression struck her the worst, there was such a look of utter betrayal, that it pierced Sunset’s heart like a rusted dagger. “You’re a destroyer…Your power is only meant for one thing…destruction…” Sunset fell to her knees as she began to cry, she did all of this, by her own hands she killed so many. She dared to look again, and that’s when she spotted Celestia and Luna, the two women who took her in and decided to give her a chance. “You’re alone…You will always be alone…You are not meant to be close to any creature…” Sunset could feel it, the emptiness was taking her, she didn’t care anymore, she didn’t care what happened to herself, not even death scared her. The shadows cast by the wildfires around Sunset began to creep towards her, and within seconds they formed a pool of darkness that began to swallow her. Sunset sank deeper and deeper into the darkness, feeling its icy tendrils begin to overtake her. At that moment, a bright light shined forth from Sunset’s chest. This light changed to a purple color and burned the shadows to cinders. The light then took the form of an Ultra Coin and turned to face Sunset. The light reignited something in Sunset, her will to live, her will to fight. Sunset shook her head as if waking up from a daze, she reached out and took the coin into her right hand, when she opened it, she saw that it was the coin of Ultraman Orb. “You saved me,” said Sunset. The eyes of Ultraman Orb shined. “No…I get it, you’re power…it comes from bonds.” The coins eyes flashed brighter as if indicating that she was correct. Sunset held the coin close to her heart. “The bonds I share with those girls…they are my strength. They believe in me, and I won’t let them down. Wait…” The flame haired girl looked around, she saw the shadows regrouping and when they did they shot out towards her. Sunset held out the Ultra Coin and the shadows were repelled once again. The shadows revealed yellow glowing eyes, and hissed at Sunset. “You’re the one responsible for this!” The shadows snaked across the ground and jumped into a hole that tore open a few feet away. Sunset ran after it and stopped at the edge of the hole. Down below, she could see multiple spheres, each one was playing something, like a movie, but she recognized some of the people in those spheres as the students of the Academy. “Oh crap…we’re in a dream, the nightmares that the girls had, that thing was causing them!” Sunset tightened her grip around the Ultra Coin. “And I’ll bet you’re the one who tried to attack SMILE earlier yesterday! Okay, there’s no getting away from me now!” Sunset opened her hand and looked at the coin. “Orb, will you give me a hand?” Orb’s Ultra Coin glowed brighter. Sunset held the coin high into the air and said, “Lend me the power of bonds!” The teen girl was wrapped in purple light and then flew down the hole. She was like a comet flying through space, but she was not wandering aimlessly. From the shimmering comet, six beams of light shot out, each one zigzagged across the expanse and found her targets. \*****///** Twilight once again found herself in the school hallway, all the students were gathered around her, giving her incredulous looks, but the one that hurt the most was the one coming from Sunset, her first real friend and she was looking at her with such a look of hate and disappointment that it made her want to disappear. “Don’t give into this, Sparky!” Twilight’s eyes went wide as she looked to Sunset. “What did you say?” “I didn’t say anything to you, but I am thinking a lot of what I’m going to do with you,” said Dream-Sunset. “That’s enough from you!” Suddenly, a bolt of light shot down the hallway and struck Dream-Sunset in the chest, sending her flying into the crowd behind her. Twilight looked over her shoulder and nearly cried in joy. Sunset came walking up, with all the confident swagger Twilight had come to expect from her friend. The real Sunset Shimmer stood beside Twilight and flashed her a grin as she offered a hand to Twilight. The young genius took that hand and let herself get pulled up to her feet. “Sunset, how is this…?” “It’s a dream, Sparky, we’re in the nightmare you had last night!” Sunset looked back at the false Sunset and the crowd. “And that thing is not me!” False Sunset growled as her eyes shined bright yellow. The false Sunset and the crowd melded together into a large sparkling shadow, the shadow bolted to the left, piercing through the lockers as another hole in space opened up. “Where’s it going?!” Twilight asked. “Probably to mess with the rest of our friends, but I’m working on freeing them too! C’mon,” said Sunset as she held out her left hand to Twilight. Twilight grabbed Sunset’s hand without hesitation, and together, they turned into a comet of light that followed after the Tantabus. \*****///** Fluttershy was back in her cage, feeling the sting of the cattle prods as the guards jabbed her with them, all while Commander Celestia just watched with a sneer. Just as another of the guards was ready to jab her, the end of his cattle prod was blasted off by a light bolt. The three other guards’ prods were also blown off, making them back away in shock. Commander Celestia bolted from her chair and looked around. “What’s the meaning of this?!” “The irony of this whole thing, is that Fluttershy’s caged up, but the real monsters are outside the cage!” Fluttershy’s eyes flicked in the direction of the voice, her head daring to perk up as she watched more light bolts fly towards her cage. Each one hit the bars with amazing accuracy, making the top half of the cage slump to the side. From the shadows, Twilight ran out and pushed the top half the rest of the way off. Sunset walked in, standing before Fluttershy and Twilight and acting as their shield. “You’re no monster, Fluttershy,” said Sunset. Twilight helped Fluttershy out of the cage and smiled at her. “You’re the kindest person I’ve ever known, and we’ll always trust in you.” Fluttershy’s eye began to water, tears flowed down her muzzle at the same time a smile broke out. Sunset narrowed her gaze at the Tantabus and said, “I’m going to make you pay for not only using the face of someone who took me in, but also for making Fluttershy cry!” Sunset’s left hand glowed as she fired off several light bolts from it. The Tantabus shifted into its shadowy form and swiftly ran away to its next victim. “Are we…in a dream?” Fluttershy asked. “Yeah, we are, and if we don’t hurry up and get the others it’ll make them sink into darkness too,” said Sunset. Fluttershy nodded as she took Twilight’s hand, and Twilight took Sunset’s. All three changed into a comet of purple light that chased after the Tantabus yet again. \*****///** Applejack stood in the ruins of her family’s farm. Her monster-like strength had destroyed all her family had built up, and just from taking a few steps. Her big brother, her little sister, her grandmother, all of them were swallowed by the earth because of her. Applejack remained as still as could be, trying not to move at all for fear that the smallest, easiest of movements would cause the world around her to shatter even further. “You’re not a catastrophe Applejack.” Applejack watched as Sunset, Twilight, and Fluttershy walked towards her. “No…s-stay back…A-Ah’ll hurt ya if you do! Please, Ah don’t want to lose anyone else!” “You won’t lose us,” said Fluttershy. “This is your strength, your power, you can control it!” Sunset stated. “We believe in you, Applejack, so believe in yourself,” Twilight encouraged. Applejack slowly raised her hand up and made a fist. The action caused a whirlwind to be produced from such a simple action, but Applejack was determined. “This is my strength…! I am in control of it!” Applejack took a step forward, and the world didn’t shake. She took another step and then another, but when she did, the earth beneath her feet began to mend itself. Applejack realized it now, she was in control of her strength. She slammed her right fist into her left palm, and the impact created a whirlwind that washed over everything, making the world of ruin return to one of lush green and peace. “Ah don’t know what’s goin’ on, but Ah’m ready to go!” \*****///** Rainbow Dash was huddled into a corner, her large feathered wings covered her body like a shield as the jeering voices of the other students continued to call her a freak and a half-breed. Without warning, the wall to Rainbow’s left exploded out. Rainbow coughed from the dust, but then watched as Applejack emerged from the hole. “Now since when is the girl that Ah like ever cowered in fear?” Applejack asked. “Applejack?!” Rainbow exclaimed. “Stand up, Dashie, show ‘em how proud ya are of those wings!” Rainbow Dash, emboldened by her girlfriend’s words, stood up and flared out her azure blue wings, striking a confident pose as she smirked. “Thanks, Babe,” said Rainbow. “No problem, Sug, now let’s go, we got some bad guys to bust up!” Rainbow Dash fist pumped and shouted, “Hell’s yeah!” \*****///** Rarity stood before a panel of judges as they looked over her newest creations, all of which looked drab compared to her normally fabulous outfits. The three judges before her all gave her a thumbs down, showing how displeased they were with her work. Rarity’s life’s work was to become a fashion designer, but now those dreams were shattered into dust, what was left for her now that her ambitions and goals all led to nothing? “The Rarity I know would never let this get her down!” Fluttershy strode out onto the stage, her kindly smile mixed with a look of determination. “These were just your ‘fun’ dresses, they’re not your serious stuff, right?” A fire lit in Rarity’s eyes as she heard those words. “Of course, Darling, why ever would I use these horrid things?” Rarity pushed her three creations off the stage and sashayed over to Fluttershy. “If you don’t mind?” “Not at all.” Rarity took Fluttershy’s hand and began to spin her around, a flash of light went off, and when she stopped twirling Fluttershy around, she was donned in a beautiful green, nature themed dress. “This is just something I threw together,” said Rarity. The dark stage lit up with different colored lights, and the faceless crowd became animated, cheering and snapping pictures of her creation. The three judges became one large shadow that left through a hole. Rarity released a shocked gasp and asked, “What in the world is going on?” “We’re in a dream, Rarity! Sunset and the others are waiting for us,” said Fluttershy. Rarity nodded and took Fluttershy’s hand. “Lead the way, Darling!” \*****///** The group had gathered in a sphere of light which was floating in the vastness of the dreamscape, Fluttershy had reappeared with Rarity, but Sunset wasn’t there. “Sunset hasn’t come back yet?” Fluttershy asked. Twilight shook her head. “Not yet, but I’m sure she’ll–!” At that moment, Sunset and Pinkie appeared in the sphere, with Sunset looking frazzled and Pinkie with a big smile on her face. “Are you okay, Sug?” Applejack asked. “Uh…it just left, I didn’t have to do anything,” said Sunset. “Wait, really?! How?” Rainbow asked. “I don’t know, I was just having one of my normal dreams,” said Pinkie. “We are not going to discuss that,” said Sunset with finality. A loud roar echoed through the dreamscape, the sphere of light became translucent, allowing the seven girls to look outside and watch as the Tantabus took form. The creature’s sparkling mist became semi-solid as silver armor wrapped around it, allowing it take a humanoid form. Its hair was wispy, its face was covered in a silver mask with four horns protruding from it. Its yellow eyes narrowed upon seeing the ones who had been interfering with its mission. Behind the Tantabus was a tear in space, and beyond that tear, the girls could see that…Ultrawoman Aster was fighting a similar creature on the other side. The girls looked to Sunset, and she looked to the others. “I swear, I’m the real me!” Sunset stated. The other Aster seemed to notice them and shouted, “It’s me, Ocellus! Listen, the Tantabus is gaining power from all the people who were put to sleep on this side! You have to beat it there before it can get enough power to manifest in the waking world!” As if to prove her point, some of the Tantabus’ essence was streaming into the tear and to the monster on the other side. “How’re we supposed to fight that thing?! We don’t have tanks or jets,” said Rainbow. “Or the Aster-X blasters,” said Pinkie. Twilight thought for a moment before a grin formed on her face, she looked to Sunset and it seemed as if she had the same idea. “We’re in the dream world, and in dreams, anything is possible,” said Twilight. “Got that right, Sparky!” Sunset raised her left arm as the StaRaizer appeared. The Coin Keeper shimmered into existence on her belt and from it flew out six Ultra Coins. Two light silhouettes of Sunset appeared on either side of her as they mimicked her movements in placing their Ultra Coins into the slots of the StaRaizer. “Release the light within me!” “Ignite the fire in my heart!” “Let the waves of my soul quell your rage!” ||SHINE ON! ULTRAWOMAN ASTER!|| ||BURN UP! SOLARIS MAXIMUS!|| ||FLOW AND CRASH! COSMIC WAVE!|| Three pillars of light formed outside of the sphere, one made of fire, another of water, and one of pure light. The pillars shattered, and from them emerged Ultrawoman Aster in both her default, power, and speed forms. Solaris Maximus bumped her fists together as flames erupted from the impact. “I’ll burn you away with the flames of my heart!” Cosmic Wave took a defensive stance as she spoke, “I will wash away all cruelty with serenity!” And finally, Aster assumed her fighting stance as she declared, “My light will overcome the darkness!” All three versions of Aster charged for Tantabus, Aster came in with a punch, but the Tantabus caught it with its right claw. But just as it did that, Solaris Maximus attacked its blind spot with a fiery punch right to the face. The dream creature was sent into a tailspin, but released a burst of its energy to stop it from flying off further. However, when it did that, Cosmic Wave came down with its Aqua Blades and slashed it across the chest, forming an “X” pattern as sparks flew from its body. On the other side, Ocellus was continuing her fight with the ethereal form of Tantabus, but as she fought she noticed that parts of its body were becoming more defined. The essence that was coming from the tear was giving it form the longer this fight dragged out. Back in the dream world, Solaris Maximus and Aster flew high into the air, spun once, and descended towards Tantabus with flying kicks. Aster’s was wrapped in cosmic energy, while Solaris Maximus was coated in flames. “Soul Crusher!” “Asteroid Kick!” Tantabus raised a shield of dark energy, both kicks landed hard against the surface, but Aster and Solaris Maximus refused to stop as they drove their kicks forward. Unbeknownst to Tantabus, Cosmic Wave was floating a few meters behind it. Yellow light formed a bow and drawstring, Cosmic Wave grabbed the drawstring and pulled back, and as she did an arrow of yellow light formed. “Artemis Arrow!” Cosmic Wave released the arrow, sending it flying through the expanse until it struck Tantabus in the back, exploding on impact. The damage was enough to break Tantabus’ concentration, allowing Aster and Solaris Maximus to break through the shield and strike it in the chest with their power kicks. Another explosion went off as Tantabus was sent flying backwards until it stopped itself from going further. The dream monster glared at all three versions of Asters, having had enough of this game. Tantabus roared loudly as the entire dreamscape shook. A web of darkness formed above, connecting the various dream spheres together. The center of that web released a beam of dark energy that bathed over Tantabus and increased its size to the point that it nearly dwarfed the three Ultra beings. “Oh crap…” the three uttered in unison. On the other side, Ocellus watched as the Tantabus she was fighting roared as well, it’s eyes glowing brighter as the essences that it was absorbing sped up dramatically. “Oh no…” Tantabus charged for Ocellus, its speed increased to the point that it was a blur as it got closer. Ocellus fired off several light beams from her hands which missed each time. When the Tantabus was close, it threw a punch that resonated like thunder right into her midsection. Ocellus gasped violently from the attack and was lifted a few feet off the ground. Tantabus jumped back and threw a spinning roundhouse to Ocellus’s left side, sending her flying in the direction of the Academy. Ocellus managed to regain some of her senses as she fired off a beam from her left hand a few feet behind her. The resulting explosion was strong enough to stop her from going further, making her land on her front onto the ground. Ocellus coughed as she got to her knees, her body flickering with her azure plasma flames, indicating that her transformation wasn’t going to last much longer. I…I can’t stop…If I do…everyone’s going to die! Ocellus thought as she rose to her feet. Tantabus narrowed its gaze into slits as if getting an entertaining idea. The dream monster raised its right hand and fired a dark lightning attack straight for the Academy. Ocellus dashed and got into the interception path of the lightning, letting it hit her and explode against her body. The Tantabus continued to assail her with dark lightning again and again, knowing that she would not move from that spot if it meant the school got hit and the people unconscious inside got hurt. “INFERNO SHOOT!” “ASTRONIUM RAY!” “CALIBURN END!” Each form of Aster fired off their signature beam attacks at the giant Tantabus. The three attacks hit the monster dead center, releasing a powerful explosion, but alas, their combined attack didn’t seem to faze the behemoth in the least. “Well, this isn’t good,” said Solaris. “It’s getting stronger with each second, and sending that energy to the real world, we have to cut it off somehow,” said Cosmic. “Ocellus is taking a beating, we can’t let this drag on…” Meanwhile, the girls were watching from the light sphere as their friends continued to fight for them all. “We can’t just stand here and do nothing,” said Twilight. “But what can we do?” Fluttershy asked. “This a dream world right?! That means we just need to think of something strong enough to help Sunset out!” Rainbow stated. “That thing strong enough to fight Aster in her three forms, how are we going to think up anythin’ stronger than that?” AJ asked. Pinkie appeared between the two girls and draped her arms over their shoulders as she said, “Who said we had to think of something individually?” Rarity cocked an eyebrow. “Are you saying…that we think of something together, pull our dream power as it were?” “Yep!” “That sounds awesome, but what exactly?” Rainbow asked. “Ahem.” All eyes fell on Twilight as the genius of their group raised her hand and had a sheepish smile on her face. “I may know something…” \*****///** The Tantabus thrashed its giant arms through the air, sending a wave of dark energy that buffeted the three Ultras, their options were limited and their time was running short, as too was Ocellus’. The trio braced themselves as Tantabus readied to unleash another attack, but was soon stopped by several blasts of energy that pelted it from the front. All three Asters turned around and – had their jaws had the physical capability to drop they would’ve right then and there. An orange tank bearing a golden apple insignia came rolling through the dreamscape and fired one round after the other. And right behind it was a cyan colored fighter jet, its jet flames were an aurora of different colors and it too fired energy rounds from the nose of the plane and rockets. From behind the creature, a fox-like mecha ran towards Tantabus, it’s one tail released a stream of azure flames right at its back, exploding on impact. From high above the monster, another mecha animal appeared, this one was a purple unicorn. The horn of the machine beast glowed with stored energy, and then fired a magenta beam of light right for Tantabus’ head. Tantabus looked up just in time for the beam to strike its face, making it stumble backwards. A horn honked in the distance as a pink semi-truck came rolling in, the sides of the trailer read “Party Buster” with some balloon decorations. The sides of the trailer opened up and produced cannons and missile launchers, all of which fired at the same time and unleashed a barrage on the monster’s right leg. The resulting explosion tripped the dream monster, Tantabus tried to regain balance. However, another mecha appeared, it was human mech, porcelain white, with a red crystal heart in the center of its chest, and metallic purple hair. The human mech crossed its arms over its chest and fired a ruby red beam of light that hit the monster’s right knee and sent it slamming onto the nonexistent ground of the dreamscape. All six of the mechas gathered around the three Asters, making them do double takes at what they were seeing. Hatches popped open and from them emerged their Sunset’s friends, although they were dressed in the craziest looking superhero outfits Sunset had ever seen. “Uh…what’s going on?” Twilight’s suit was violet, with dark navy coloring around the forearms and boots. A golden belt tied around her waist with that had six symbols on it. Her helmet was the same color as her uniform, but had a star pattern for the visor. “The magic of knowledge, Chōwager Violet!” Fluttershy had a similar suit, but the pattern on her visor was that of a butterfly. “Uh-Uh…f-fierce kindness, Ch-Chōwager Yellow!” Rarity struck a pose and announced, “Fabulous generosity, Chōwager White!” Pinkie Pie bounced around and declared, “Hyper laughter, Chōwager Pink!” Rainbow flew around with her wings and stated, “Soaring loyalty, Chōwager Blue!” Applejack slammed her fists together and said, “Honest strength, Chōwager Orange!” “Six friends united against evil! Peacekeeper Sentai: Chōwager!” It was right around this time that explosions went off in the background as a giant logo appeared overhead showing that exact name in Japanese kanji. The Asters looked around again and said in unison, “We repeat…what is going on?!” Twilight rubbed the back of her head in slight embarrassment. “Heh, heh…well, you see, we decided to help you out by fighting together, and the best way I could think of was to impersonate an original Super Sentai team…?” “Okay…” Cosmic spoke, “I’ll follow you there.” Tantabus rose back up, clearly agitated and enraged at having been brought down by such ridiculous outfits and machines. “Alright, Chōwagers, it’s time to do that!” Twilight stated as she jumped back into her mecha, along with others. “Wait, ‘that’? What do you mean by ‘that’?” Aster asked. “Oh you know…GATTAI!” All six mechs flew high into the air and were surrounded by aurora light. Rarity’s mecha held out its arms and legs as the different mechs took position. The wings of Rainbow’s fighter shot off and attached themselves to the white mech’s back. While Rainbow’s fighter reconfigured into an arm, producing five fingers as it slipped over the white mech’s left arm. The orange tank reconfigured itself, producing a hand with five fingers and turning into the right arm that slid over the white mech’s right arm. Next came the yellow fox that transformed into a left leg that went over the white mech’s left leg. The pink truck did the same, forming over the white mech’s right leg. Finally, the violet unicorn fitted itself over the white mech’s head, with the rest of its body forming chest armor for the machine. The wings on its back transformed into metallic bird wings and the metal hair flowed in the power that it generated, at the same time, the new helm-head of the mech’s eyes shined bright as it came to life, the ruby heart at the center shifting to a clear blue color. “Six hearts and souls become one mighty force! Grand Knight Concordia!” The giant super robot struck a pose, throwing its right fist into the air as it’s name appeared overhead in Japanese kanji. The Asters looked to each other. “Should we question this?” “I don’t think so, let’s roll with it.” “Yep, roll with it.” The super robot was now the same size as Tantabus, the dream monster was, to say the least, perplexed by what it was seeing. The super robot cocked its right fist back and took a giant step forward as it threw a power punch right to the Tantabus’ face. The blow resounded like thunder throughout the dreamscape, making the monster stumble a bit, but Tantabus recovered and slashed at the super robot’s chest, causing sparks to fly from its chest armor. “Fluttershy, Pinkie!” Twilight ordered. “Roger!” they responded. Concordia jumped back and as it did, the right leg’s panels opened up and revealed missile launchers, and on the left leg, azure fireballs formed on the left side of the leg. “Foxfire!” “Fireworks Blitz!” The missile launchers fired off several sparkling ordinance while the fireballs flew straight for Tantabus. The fireballs and fireworks struck Tantabus, exploding spectacularly against the giant creature. When they were far enough away, the right and left arms clasped hands as the cannon on the right arm came forward, and the twin guns on the left arm shunted forward. “Let’s go, Sugar Cube,” said Applejack. “You got it, Babe!” Rainbow agreed. “Twin Spiral Cannon!” The cannon barrels glowed bright until both discharged two beams of vermillion and cyan, the two lights combined together into a spiraling beam of power that slammed against Tantabus, exploding and causing more damage to the dream monster. The Tantabus was growing more agitated by the second, the monster roared as several spheres of dark energy formed around it, with a wave of its left claw, the orbs fired several beams of dark light straight for Concordia. The beams struck their target all at once, resulting in a massive explosion that made even the three Ultras have to flee for safety. They feared the worst, however, when the smoke cleared, Concordia was completely undamaged. A shield had been formed before the super robot, clear and sparkling like a diamond. The dream beast roared as it charged for Concordia, and Concordia charged as well. The two behemoths met in the center, grappling as their impact shook the dreamscape. The Asters decided to get in on this action as they flew straight for Tantabus, all three of them firing off their signature beam attacks as they flew over its body, hitting it as much as they could while the monster was otherwise occupied. In the real world, Tantabus was continuing to pelt Ocellus-Aster with more black lightning, but the lightning stopped as it started to look strained. Ocellus-Aster looked up, and watched as her friends were still battling with everything that had on the other side. She began to stand up, her body hurting all over, but she refused to let Tantabus hurt the school and the people inside. “I’m not an Ultra…But I’ll still protect everyone with everything I’ve got!” Just then, Ocellus-Aster went still, her eyes going dim as she slumped forward. A crack formed on the back of fake Aster, this fissure of light grew longer and longer until it ran the length of fake Aster’s back all the way to the back of its head. The fissure was then made bigger as four large, salmon colored, translucent wings sprouted from it. The wings flapped a couple of times as they grew stronger. The cracks continued to grow as now a back protruded from it. In a matter of seconds, the fake Aster shattered completely and revealed a whole new form. What stood now was a Changeling, but vastly different from Ocellus’ original form. She stood as tall as Aster, her carapace was a smooth arctic blue color, with white patches that ran under her forearms, biceps, inner thighs, the back of her calves, and along the front of her chest. Around where her collarbone would be, were now five gemstones that formed a “V” pattern, with the center fifth gem at least twice as big as the other four and located at the center of her chest. Her single head frill was gone, instead now having long, shimmering salmon colored hair. From her forehead her exoskeleton protruded out just a bit, forming a pseudo-crown, her curved horn formed the center, while two others stuck out from under her hair around the sides of her head. A white patch was formed around her mouth, and her eyes sparkled with a greater brilliance than they had before. Tantabus didn’t understand what was happening, but its body was almost complete and when that happened it would be able to complete its mission. Summoning more of its power, Tantabus fired off more black lightning at Ocellus, but the Changeling Queen, waved her right hand in front of her, creating a barrier of blue-green light that blocked the black lightning completely. “Aster, my friends, let’s end this now!” Ocellus declared. On the other side of the tear, the girls all nodded in agreement. All three Asters gathered before Concordia and started to glow blue, red, and white. “Let’s combine our powers together guys!” Aster stated. Solaris, Aster, and Cosmic, transformed into light that shot towards the crystal heart at the center of Concordia. The super robot’s eyes exploded with intense light as its entire body shined with golden light, and its eyes shining a bright white. The horn on the top of Concordia’s head disengaged and grew three times bigger than the machine. Concordia raised its right arm as the horn weapon attached onto its right hand. Tantabus’ body flared up with dark energy, sensing its opponents were about to enter their final attack. At the same time, the real world Tantabus did the same, building up power in preparation to destroy Ocellus and the Academy. Ocellus’s wings glowed as particles of green light became visible in the air. The gemstones on Ocellus’ chest began to glow. In the dreamscape, Concordia flew into the sky and then charged straight for Tantabus as the drill horn spun at a rapid pace, creating an spiraling rainbow that was coming straight for the dream demon. “TEAM ASTER DYNAMIC FINISH!!!” “LUMINOUS SPARK!!!” Ocellus fired a beam of sparkling green energy from the center gemstone that roared with great power for Tantabus. The dream demon fired off a massive volley of black lightning that slammed against her beam, and at the same time, the dreamscape Tantabus released a giant beam of darkness that struck against the spiral rainbow. The attacks on two fronts continued to fight against the evil one before them. All eight of the friends released a powerful battle cry as Ocellus’ Luminous Spark tripled in size and bathed over Tantabus, making it shriek in pain as it was erased from the real world, but the beam continued on, piercing through the spacial tear. At the same time, Team Aster’s drill spun faster as it pierced through the beam of darkness and struck Tantabus dead center in the chest, at that exact moment, Ocellus’ beam hit the back of Tantabus as the two attacks synchronized in the dreamscape. A great explosion took place in the dreamscape as the darkness of the Tantabus was incinerated, along with the dark web that connected it to all the dream spheres. Ocellus cut off her beam attack and covered her eyes as the light from the explosion was blinding, fear gripped her heart as the thought that her attack might’ve killed her friends. However, when the light faded away Ocellus was overjoyed to see that the super robot and Aster were alright, both giving Ocellus a thumbs up. The tear in space finally closed and when it did, Ocellus collapsed onto the ground, landing on her rear as she released a sigh of exhaustion. She took a moment to look over her body, her wings, her carapace, and even the three horns that acted as a crown. “I’m…I’m a Queen now…” \*****///** [Unknown Space…] King Sombra narrowed his gaze as he swiped away the image of the Tantabus’ defeat, growling with indignation that his creature was so easily destroyed. “What’s the matter Sombra? You’re plan not go so well?” Chrysalis mocked. The dark king glared with red glowing eyes at Chrysalis. “The Tantabus shouldn’t have been so easily defeated, especially in the dream world!” “Looks like Aster has some alleys that are strong, and her power seems to extend even into the realm of dreams. But I suppose I must thank you.” Sombra raised an eyebrow in confusion. “And why, pray tell, do you have need to thank me?” Chrysalis chuckled darkly. “Because, now that little grub has finally evolved into a Queen caste. Which means now I can kill her and establish my rule as the one true Queen.” An explosion went off in the distance as fire and lightning raged around where the explosion went off. When the flames died down, a creature stood up with yellowing glowing parts that gave out an alien sound. “And lucky me, Zetton’s ready to play, too.” Author's Note In case you're wondering, I may or may not use "Chowager" in a future sentai story. Still brainstorming that. And for those of you wanting to know, Chowa means "Harmony", and the "ger" is the last part of "ranger". Now for the preview! The time has come for Ocellus to assume her role as the new Queen of the Changelings, and to do this, she and Chrysalis must engage in mortal combat to determine the next queen of Hive Prime. But a powerful foe of the Ultra's makes its appearance and forces Sunset to fight! Will her power be enough to stop the mighty Zetton and Chrysalis? Or will Hive Prime, and possibly Earth, fall victim to the evil of Chrysalis?! Find out in the next episode! 12th Light: Battle on Hive Prime! / Unite the bonds of friendship!
12th Light: Battle on Hive Prime! / Unite the bonds of friendship!Ocellus sighed heavily, she knew this day was coming, she knew, but she still wasn’t mentally prepared for it. When the battle with the Tantabus ended, Sunset and the girls came rushing out of the school to find Ocellus, and it was then that they saw her in her new state. After giving a report to Commander Celestia and Vice Commander Luna, they made a call to Hive Prime to speak with King Thorax. After a lengthy chat, arrangements were made so that Ocellus would return to Hive Prime, in three day’s time she would leave from a SMILE spaceship and be sent to the planet. Two days had passed since that call, and Ocellus didn’t have the energy to go to classes. She mostly spent her time looking out from the balcony of her shared dorm room, watching the students go to and come back from whatever activities they were doing. She assumed her human form, which didn’t change much, she was a bit taller, a little curvier, and her hair was longer, but other than that, she still looked the same. She explained it as a reflection of her new maturity, it was also embarrassing because it also meant that she was technically biologically capable of producing offspring, by the thousands if so needed. Ocellus shuddered, the idea of birthing so many new Changelings made her exoskeleton crawl. Things like that weren’t even on her mind, if anything, they were way into the future as far as she was concerned. Perhaps when she was older, maybe? But that wasn’t the biggest issue at the moment. As of tomorrow, Ocellus would have to battle Chrysalis for the right to rule over the Changeling race. If she lost, Chrysalis would solidify her standing as the one true ruler of the Changelings and covert the remaining Changelings into Dark Changelings. But if Ocellus won, she could convert the Dark Changelings into their Reformed forms, and end the longstanding civil war on their planet. It was all on her, the fate of billions on her tiny shoulders, and she hadn’t even had her first kiss yet. The young Changeling sighed again, slumping onto the railing of the balcony. She heard the door open behind her, but didn’t turn to look. She was sure that it was either Fluttershy, Rarity, or Pinkie Pie returning to get something that they forgot. However, she was surprised when Sunset took the spot next to her and said, “Hey, Celly.” “S-Sunset?! Are you skipping class?” Ocellus asked. Sunset shrugged. “Eh, maybe.” Ocellus put on a wan smile as she looked back out into the distance. “You really shouldn’t skip classes because of me.” “A friend of mine is facing something monumental and is clearly depressed. I can’t think of a better reason to not skip class,” said Sunset. “Still…” “Ocellus, I know you never wanted any of this thrust onto you. And honestly, I get how you feel.” Sunset brought up her left wrist, a flash of light went off and the StaRaizer appeared. “Being Aster means I’m responsible for the lives of every single person on this planet. I don’t know how or why I have this power, whether I wanted it or not. With my lost memories, it kind of feels like someone just slapped this on me.” Ocellus nodded, if there was anyone on the planet who could relate to Ocellus, it was Sunset. The flame haired human may not have to rule over anyone, but she was still responsible for protecting people. “How did you make the decision to fight? To take on that kind of responsibility?” Ocellus asked. Sunset chuckled. “Honestly, up until a few months ago, I didn’t.” Ocellus turned to Sunset with surprise. “Really?!" "Really. It was actually Twilight who helped me figure out what I wanted to be.” Sunset placed her right hand on Ocellus’ shoulder and looked her in the eyes. “I’m not here to tell you what’s right and what’s wrong. At the end of the day, it’s up to you. Honestly, I wish I could fight with you and take her down myself.” “I wish you could too, having you as Aster would definitely scare Chrysalis.” Sunset and Ocellus began to giggle at the idea, and for Sunset, it was a relief to see that Ocellus could giggle or laugh at all. After their little fit, they settled to stare out into the distance again. “Well, you’ll be happy to know that I’ve gotten permission from Celestia to accompany you to Hive Prime,” said Sunset. Ocellus nearly dropped her human disguise when she heard that. “Y-You are?!” “Weellll…not just me.” Sunset turned around and leaned her back against the railing as she pointed back into the room. “They decided to tag along.” Ocellus turned around as well and spotted Twilight, Pinkie, Rainbow, Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy standing in the living room, all of whom had confident smiles on their faces. “We’ve also been given permission to accompany you to Hive Prime, darling,” said Rarity. “B-But how?!” Ocellus asked. Rainbow crossed her arms and said, “Aside from being given Special Agent status, we all thought you could use the moral support.” “Ain’t no way we’re leavin’ a friend to go and face somethin’ this big alone,” said Applejack. “It wasn’t easy to convince my parents, but I managed to persuade them to let me come,” said Twilight with a nervous smile. Fluttershy walked across the room and stood before Ocellus, she then took Ocellus’ hands into her own and said, “We believe in you, Ocellus, and we’ll be there for you. You can do this.” Ocellus’ eyes began to water, tears were shed as she hugged Fluttershy, and Fluttershy returned that hug. After a minute of crying, Ocellus wiped her eyes and looked back at Sunset, “I think I get what you meant.” Sunset nodded. “Thank you, all of you. I’ll fight as hard as I can a-and…I will win!” \*****///** [Saturday, 9:33 A. M., Space: In Transit] The shuttle glided through hyperspace and eventually exited just outside of Hive Prime’s orbit. From space, the planet was green in color, with some patches of water that could be seen here and there. The ship made its final approach and entered the atmosphere of Hive Prime, the friction burned the outer hull, but did no real damage as they entered Hive Prime’s airspace. Two fighters appeared on either side of the shuttle, they were colored white, and had an insectoid look to them, like a dragonfly. The two ships brought the shuttle into the spaceport where a private hangar had been set up for them. Once the shuttle was inside, the doors opened up and Sunset was the first to exit. Down below the stairway was a regiment of forty Changeling guards, all of whom were dressed in white armor, holding a spear weapon that also doubled as a rifle. At the end was King Thorax, he too wore white armor, but trimmed with gold and a purple cape. Next to him was another Changeling, he had a more aggressive look to him, he had three horns like Thorax, but his side horns were more curved. His chitin was a dark cyan color, and his eyes were bright purple. “My name’s Sunset Shimmer, I’m a friend of Ocellus,” she announced. Thorax and the second Changeling walked through the line of forty soldiers and said, “I am King Thorax, and this is Pharynx, my Second-in-Command, and leader of the Changeling Armed Forces.” Pharynx placed his right fist over his chest in salute. Sunset nodded and looked back into the ship. “It’s okay, I think.” The soldiers watched in stunned silence as they saw Ocellus step out of the ship. She was in her true form, when she was giant, her exoskeleton was more angular, appearing more like armor, now it was smoother and laid against her body. The white faceplate was gone, allowing her mouth to be seen. She held her hands out in front, her eyes darting from Thorax and then back to the stairs, clearly embarrassed by the amount of attention she was getting from her fellow Changelings. Sunset led the way down the stairs, followed behind her was Vice Commander Luna, and right behind her was Fluttershy, Twilight, who was carrying a large backpack, Rarity, Pinkie, Applejack, and Rainbow. All of whom were dressed in their school uniforms. Once all nine of them were down on the ground, Thorax and Pharynx walked up and met them halfway. “It’s good to see you returned, Ocellus,” said Thorax. Ocellus bowed and said, “Thank you, my King.” “King Thorax,” Luna bowed as well, “on behalf of SMILE, we wish to be present for this occasion. That being said, Ocellus’ friends wished to be here to offer her moral support.” Pharynx looked upon the assembled girls, appraising them. His gaze fell on Applejack and Rainbow Dash, he knew warriors when he saw them, one of them was half-alien and another was full alien, another four were human, and lastly, his gaze lingered on Sunset. His eyes could see something in her that was…different from the rest of them. It wasn’t threatening, but it was something that he was sure he needed to keep an eye on. “That would be fine, I’m sorry we couldn’t bring your family with you, but I thought it better that it’d just be you to come. Once this is over, you can all come back to Hive Prime,” said Thorax. “Thank you,” said Ocellus. “We’d best be on our way, we don’t want to linger too long. COMPANY, MOVE OUT!” Pharynx ordered. The soldiers all turned to the same direction, the group moved towards the entrance of the hangar, the first ten soldiers went out first, scouting the area and then moved to the stag beetle looking transport. Once they were sure that it wasn’t rigged with explosives, they signaled for the rest to come out. When the group got outside, the SMILE students awed at the city before them. It was built up in large spires, greenery and color were everywhere, it was almost as if the buildings were made from the land itself. After a brief moment of looking at the city, they were directed to head inside the transport, the rest of the soldiers mounted smaller vehicles that sat two at a time, one seat for the driver and another for the gunner. The stag beetle transport rose up and then took off, along with its twenty ship escort. During the ride, Twilight decided to ask, “I-If you don’t mind me asking, how does all this work?” Thorax shook his head. “I don’t mind telling you, but…” his eyes turned to Ocellus. The young Changeling nodded. “It’s alright, they’re going to see it anyway.” Thorax nodded. “It’ll take place in the ceremonial battlegrounds called the ‘Arena'. It’s a rough terrain, formed from the many battles that have taken place there centuries before all of us, where previous Queens have battled. The land deformed and scarred from their powers clashing. It’s the place that all Queen caste Changelings are to go. Two enter, but only one leaves.” Ocellus clenched her hands together. “Is there any way for Ocellus to get some help?” Sunset asked. “No,” Pharynx answered, “it’s a duel, any outside interference would show that the Queen is unworthy of rule, if she can’t defend herself, then why should we protect her? The Queen should always be the last line of defense against any invaders, it is our job as the hive to protect our King and Queen.” Sunset glanced at Ocellus and gave a small shrug, silently saying, “I tried.” Ocellus patted Sunset’s right arm and smiled at her, silently telling her that it was alright. “Has Chrysalis appeared yet?” Vice Commander Luna asked. “She has, she sensed when Ocellus changed, and immediately came back to Hive Prime, she and her Dark Changelings are gathered at the battlegrounds, waiting for Ocellus,” said Thorax. “Are we…Are we heading there now?” Ocellus asked. “Not if you don’t want to. You technically have at least five days reprieve before entering battle, so you have until the day after tomorrow to prepare yourself,” Pharynx stated. Ocellus clenched her hands into fists, she knew what she wanted, the longer she dragged this out, the more worried she’d get, and the more worried she got, the higher the chance that she might do something disgraceful to herself, her friends, and the Changelings who were counting on her. “No, let’s do it,” said Ocellus. Everyone looked at Ocellus with shock. “O-Ocellus, you don’t have to fight Chrysalis right away,” said Fluttershy. “No, I do, if I don’t, I’ll be too scared to actually face her! I want to do it now while I still feel like I have the nerve to do it!” Ocellus looked up at Thorax. “Please, my King, let me fight her now!” Thorax looked to his commander, and brother, Pharynx. While they were both happy to see Ocellus’ enthusiasm to fight and protect her people, they were unsure of her mindset, she looked nervous, as well she should be, but it seemed she was making this decision in haste. “I’m ready to face her, please allow me!” The two male Changelings sighed wryly. “If that is what you wish, then we will do so.” Pharynx walked to the pilots and said, “Change of plans, tell the escorts were heading to the Arena” The pilots looked at Pharynx with mild surprise. “Just do it.” With their own wry nod, the pilots relayed the message to the escorts, the ship changed direction and was then on its way towards the Arena. Pharynx walked to one of the lockers and opened it, inside were breathing apparatuses. “Hive Prime’s atmosphere can support beings like you, but there are some areas where the air isn’t so good, the Arena being one of them. You all will need to wear these. We Changelings can alter our bodies to survive in almost any climate condition,” said Pharynx. “Do we need suits to go with these?” Luna asked. “No, the air won’t hurt your skin or eyes, your lungs are a different story.” \*****///** [Ceremonial battlegrounds: Arena, 10:15 P. M…] The Arena was a jagged, crooked land. The earth rose from the ground like claws trying to grasp at anything that tried to get close, the land itself was black and gray, scarred from the countless battles that had taken place over the centuries. No greenery would grow from this desolate land, to live in this place would be to endure harshness on a daily basis, where the name of the game was survival. Deep in the heart of this wasteland was the Arena, formed due to the fighting that took place there, it served as the place where all the Changeling Queens would begin their battles. Across from the arena was a jagged mountain, you could scarcely call it a palace of a forgotten age of the Changelings. With many holes and catacombs that once served as the primary hive of a long-forgotten generation of Changelings, now it was a ruin. On one side of the giant arena, a swarm of Dark Changelings waited, they hissed and squabbled amongst themselves, only being stopped twice when they began to annoy their Queen. Unlike the Reformed Changelings, these Changelings wore violet armor, all of them looked the same, you couldn’t distinguish male from female like the current Changelings. To be fair, most Changelings before the reform were non-binary, mostly because they could transform into either males or females and recreate the proper equipment to further sell their disguise. It was all to help them feed on the emotional energy of their victims, to make them fall in love or care for them deeply. Chrysalis sat on a makeshift throne on one side of the bowl shaped Arena, her eyes were half-lidded with boredom. She had come to the Arena and waited all day for the past three days for the whelp of a Queen to appear. Part of Chrysalis hoped she didn’t appear, not because she was scared, but because it would show the “Reformed” Changelings just how cowardly their new Queen was, and that there was only one true Queen to follow. Are you certain that the Ultra will appear here? “Trust me, my lord. She came to the rescue of that planet, and to the rescue of that grub. I doubt she’ll let her die that easily, especially with what I have planned.” Do not fail me, Chrysalis. I agreed to give you a seat before me because I see the value of your Changelings, their ability to infiltrate and impersonate will allow us to get closer to the Tree. However, that’s if you can convert the rest of your hive back to what they once were. Your loss of the few Belzeb you had was a great blow to your forces. Chrysalis grimaced. “A minor setback. But once I kill her, all that will be nothing.” Just then, the sound of an approaching ship caught Chrysalis’ attention, causing her to smirk. “And here comes my entertainment.” The transport ship and the escort speeders landed on the far side of the Arena, the hatch opened and from it walked out King Thorax and Commander Pharynx. Next Ocellus walked out, flanked by Sunset and Luna, and right behind them were their friends. Chrysalis got up from her throne and began walking towards them, followed by a contingent of five Dark Changeling guards. The two groups met in the middle, with King Thorax and Commander Pharynx staring down their former Queen with knitted brows, while Chrysalis just smiled cockily at them. “My little Thorax, it’s been a long time. You’ve grown so much and become quite the strapping King caste. Had I known that whiny little thing would become this,” she gestured towards Thorax’s body, “I would’ve made sure to bring you to my chambers.” Thorax huffed, but said no words, not even wanting to dignify her words with a response. “And Pharynx, you disappointed me. You were one of my greatest, and strongest soldier caste, and yet you betrayed your hive.” Pharynx growled at her as he said, “I betrayed no one! Your way would see our race starve to death, Thorax showed us that there was a different way, and we are thriving, and I know that’s just killing you.” Chrysalis narrowed her gaze as her horn lit up, but Thorax put himself between Pharynx and Chrysalis as his two bigger horns glowed in response. The King and Queen stared each other down, the area felt extremely tense, and despite the rebreathers, it felt hard to breathe. After a minute, their horns dimmed and the two backed up. Chrysalis turned her attention to Ocellus, upon which Sunset was quick to shoot an arm out in front of Ocellus to protect her. “So, this is the grub who would be Queen? I’ve certainly seen much fiercer back in the old days, even my predecessor was scarier looking than you.” Ocellus remained silent. “What’s the matter, grub? No words? No witty banter? Come now, you have to give me something, this may be your last chance to give some encouraging or awe-inspiring words, at least before you die,” Chrysalis mocked. “She’ll do her talking on the battlefield,” said Sunset. Chrysalis glared at Sunset, but the human did not flinch. “Watch your tongue, outsider.” “Then try not to stick it out when you hiss,” Sunset countered. Chrysalis hissed, making her forked tongue come out. Her right forearm produced a scythe blade as she made to attack Sunset, but Ocellus quickly moved Sunset out the way and threw her right hand up, her five gemstones glowed as a light shield appeared before her, stopping Chrysalis’ attack before it could land. “Do not harm my friends! Your fight is with me!” Ocellus stated. Chrysalis looked upon Ocellus and chuckled as she retracted her blade and backed away. “Very well, shall we get on with it?” “Yes, let’s.” Chrysalis made a gesture for her guards to leave her, at the same time, Ocellus nodded her head towards Thorax. With that signal given, Thorax and Pharynx directed the group to head back to the ship. “Why do those guys look so much different from you and the others?” Rainbow asked. “Before the reform, we Changelings lived off of the emotional energy of other creatures, the strongest of this was love. In order to syphon as much of this as we could, Changelings evolved so that we had the power to perfectly imitate someone that another creature loves and cares about deeply. Before the change, we didn’t have set genders, which made it easier for Changelings to, ahem, shift their genitalia from male to female on the fly if needed, it also helped their personalities so that they shift from one to the other.” “Damn…” “It’s different now, we share our love with each other, the love of our hive and for other creatures and things. It’s thanks to this that we can thrive and not have to scavenge the universe for sustenance. Chrysalis would have us return to that, which would mean endless wars with different planets as we harvested different planets for their love energy, and result in the loss of many of our hive. Thorax found a way for us to continue living and not have to invade and die,” Pharynx explained. Sunset kept an eye on Chrysalis, something didn’t feel right about this whole thing, aside from the fact that one of her friends was about to enter into mortal combat for the fate of an entire planet. It felt like a setup, Sunset couldn’t explain it but it was making her skin crawl, like there was a hidden danger somewhere that she could sense, but couldn’t pin down. “Sunset, are you okay?” Twilight asked. “Not completely…something’s not right, but I can’t put my finger on it. I might end up having to transform,” said Sunset. “You can’t, if you do, the match will be deemed invalid and Ocellus will lose,” said Twilight. “I know, I know…I just hope I’m being paranoid.” Once both sides were a safe distance away, Ocellus and Chrysalis took a few steps back. Chrysalis’ body glowed with dark green energy, while Ocellus’ body glowed with artic blue energy. In a matter of seconds, both Queens were enveloped in their respective auras as pillars of light shot into the sky. From those pillars, Chrysalis and Ocellus appeared in their giant battle forms. Chrysalis’s body had more jagged armor, like the landscape had melded with her exoskeleton, her mouth had grown into a muzzle, with sharp rows of fangs, and two pincers on each side of her face. Her single horn had grown with her, now pulsing with dark green light. Ocellus’ armor was sleek and knightly, with her white faceplate having formed once again. Her three horns glowed with her arctic blue energy as the two squared off. “Once I’ve killed you, the hive will be mine again,” Chrysalis declared. “I won’t let you continue this civil war or make us return to what we once were! I will stop you,” said Ocellus. The two giant Queens charged and crashed into each other, causing the ground to rumble beneath their feet. Ocellus came in with a right punch, but Chrysalis blocked the attack with her left forearm and swiped upwards with her right claw blade. Sparks flew from Ocellus’ body as she stumbled backwards. Despite the direct hit, Ocellus seemed okay. Ocellus’ crystals glowed as she created a sword construct in her right hand, and on her left forearm she formed a circular construct shield. With her weapons made, Ocellus charged in yet again. Chrysalis swung at Ocellus with her blades, but Ocellus blocked the first strike with her shield, and parried the second with her sword. The New Queen’s horns glowed as her wings flared out, her wings fluttered quickly as green particles gathered to her. Without warning, Ocellus became a blur, zooming around the Arena. She struck Chrysalis in the back, sending sparks flying from the Former Queen, another attack hit Chrysalis in the front three times before backing away. Ocellus continued this blitz attack, making Chrysalis grow frustrated by the swiftness the young Changeling was showing. “ENOUGH!” Chrysalis’ wings flared out as dark green energy gathered to her wings. In less than a second, she too dashed at incredible speeds to match Ocellus. A high-speed battle occurred before the Dark Changelings, Ocellus’ friends, and the Reformed Changeling soldiers. All they could see were black and blue blurs and sparks that would occasionally go off. The blurring streaks eventually stopped as Chrysalis and Ocellus took to the skies. Ocellus flew higher than Chrysalis until she was right above her, her five gemstones glowed as spheres of arctic blue light appeared around the new Queen. “CASCADE!” The six spheres of light shot forth towards Chrysalis at rapid speed, Chrysalis was too late to react as all twelve beams hit her and exploded. Ocellus didn’t let up as she launched multiple Cascade volleys, barraging Chrysalis and forcing the old Queen to back away from her. “DAMN LITTLE GRUB!” Chrysalis roared. The old Changeling Queen’s horn glowed and then fired a column sized beam of dark green light. Ocellus hurriedly moved out of the way as the beam sailed higher into the sky. Chrysalis wasn’t done as she fired the beam again, but this time, Ocellus fired off her Cascade again, trying to hit Chrysalis from around her beam attack. The beam cut through several peaks and caused chunks of debris rock to fall. Ocellus looked back and saw that several of those pieces were heading for her friends and allies. Thinking quickly, Ocellus pointed her next Cascade attack towards the debris and fired, each of her beams struck the falling debris with pinpoint accuracy, destroying them before they could reach her friends. Unfortunately, that gave Chrysalis time to fire another beam attack, this time hitting Ocellus dead on. The beam exploded against Ocellus, sending her into a tailspin. The young Changeling Queen slammed against a spire, making her grunt in pain. Chrysalis flew straight for her, brandishing her sickle blades Ocellus summoned her Cascade attack, but instead of firing at Chrysalis, she blasted the spire behind her, allowing the dust to blow out towards Chrysalis and provide Ocellus with cover. Chrysalis stopped when the dust plume struck her, obstructing her view of Ocellus and stinging her eyes. What came next caught Chrysalis off guard as something barreled into her stomach at high speeds and forced her back down to the ground with a large BOOM! Ocellus rolled on the ground for a few seconds before stopping and springing to her feet, Chrysalis shot up and swiped at the air in front of her, causing a gust of wind that blew the dust away. “You have power, little one, but I have experience!” Ocellus narrowed her gaze as she entered a fighting stance. “SMILE didn’t just teach me how to sharpen my mind…” The young Changeling charged for Chrysalis again. She moved like she was going to the left, but feinted as she came in with an uppercut to Chrysalis’ jaw. “They also showed me how to hone my body!” Ocellus followed up by spinning in midair and throwing a flying roundhouse kick to Chrysalis’ left side. The twin blows sent Chrysalis flying to the opposite of the Arena as she crashed into the wall. Sunset, Twilight, Rarity, Pinkie, Applejack, Rainbow, and Fluttershy all cheered and yelled at Ocellus’ combo move. “Booyah! I taught her that!” Rainbow boasted. Chrysalis tore herself out of the body sized crater and dusted herself off as she strode towards Ocellus. “I dare say this has been the most fun I’ve had in centuries little grub. But there’s something lacking in your attacks, something that probably would make me fight more seriously.” “And that is?” “You have no intent on killing me.” Ocellus’ eyes widened with shock. “Despite how powerful your attacks have been, they’re lacking the proper intent to kill. You may have resolved to fight me, but you haven’t hardened your heart to kill the one being that stands in your way!” Chrysalis accused. Ocellus wavered, it was true, even with all the attacks she had thrown thus far, none of them were initiated with the intent to kill Chrysalis. Chrysalis smirked as she continued. “You were probably naively hoping to overpower me and make me surrender to you, right? Trying to show mercy? Or were you hoping to win this without spilling any blood? Whatever the case may be, you’re never going to become a true Queen if you don’t take down what’s in front of you! ZETTON!” In a flash of yellow light, a being appeared next to Chrysalis. The girls recognized it as the second monster that Aster defeated, but it looked far different from the last time they saw it. Zetton had a more streamlined look, his head was slender, with two jagged, horn-like antennae. Upon its face was a yellow, glowing four-point star pattern. The exoskeleton looked much stronger than it did previously, with two yellow nodes on its chest, and one more on its waist. Its forearms were blade-like, with yellow glowing edges. This was his evolved form, Hyper Zetton Imago. “Zet-ton…!” “W-W-What is that thing doing here?!” “CHRYSALIS!” Thorax yelled. “THIS IS IN VIOLATION OF THE ANCIENT LAWS OF THE CHANGELINGS!” Chrysalis turned to Thorax and looked down on him with a smirk. “I make the laws here, Thorax, from this moment forward!” Sunset clenched her fists and gnashed her teeth, “That’s it!” Sunset broke away from the group and summoned her StaRaizer. || ULTRAMAN! || “Grant me the power of a galaxy!” || ULTRAMAN GINGA! || “Release the light within me!” ||SHINE ON! ULTRAWOMAN ASTER!|| A bright flash of light ignited in the Arena, and within seconds, Ultrawoman Aster now stood next to Ocellus, already in her fighting stance. “My light will overcome the darkness!” “Ah, there you are, I was wondering where you were hiding, Aster! Go on, Zetton, strike down your prey!” “I took him down once, I’ll do it again!” Aster declared. “Oh, did I forget to mention that the Zetton you defeated was one of my Changelings? Of course, that one couldn’t fully imitate the full power of Zetton, but since this is the original, well…” Zetton teleported and then reappeared before Aster. The Ultra warrior managed to release a gasp before a fireball exploded between them and sent the hero flying towards out of the Arena and into a pillar of rock. “SUNSET!” Ocellus yelled as she prepared to assist. But before she could, Chrysalis reached out and yanked on Ocellus’ hair, making her fall to the ground. “Worry about yourself, grub!” \*****///** Aster’s chest hurt, that attack really hurt. But even so, Aster peeled herself off the wall and stood ready to fight. Zetton teleported again and appeared on Aster’s right, the Ultra went for a backhand strike, but Zetton teleported again before her strike could land. Zetton continued to teleport again and again, confusing Aster as to where she should attack. When Zetton finally stopped, Aster dashed towards him and threw a punch, but right before she made contact, Zetton split apart and became two Zettons. Zetton 1 gave a swift kick to Aster’s stomach, followed by Zetton 2 hitting her in the back with both arms, making her slam against the hard ground. Both Zettons merged together, now behind Aster. When she saw that, Aster quickly sprang up and crossed her left arm over her right as energy gathered to the two points. “Astronium Ray!” Aster’s sparkling beam blasted towards Zetton, but the creature didn’t even bother to dodge it. Zetton raised its arms up and created a wormhole between his arms, allowing the Astronium Ray to fly right into it until Aster stopped her attack. Once done, Zetton collapsed the wormhole as the glowing edges of his arms shined brighter and unleashed yellow lightning upon Aster. Explosions erupted around her, along with sparks all over her body. When the explosions reached their apex, Sunset decided to use this to change up her tactics. || ULTRAMAN LEO! || || ULTRAMAN MAX! || ||BURN UP! SOLARIS MAXIMUS!|| From the roaring flames, Aster emerged in her powered form, Solaris Maximus. Before she could land a punch, Zetton immediately began teleporting around the area. “Don’t think that’s going to work on me twice!” Aster’s body began to absorb the flames from the explosions, and then build it up more and more. When Zetton appeared again to strike her, Aster unleashed her attack. “NOVA BURN!” The dome of burning energy erupted in all directions, scorching the spires around her until they crumbled under the strength of her attack. Aster ended her blaze and quickly looked around to see where Zetton had gone, hoping that the blast was big enough and quick enough to destroy him. Alas, her hopes were dashed when Zetton teleported before her and struck her with its right arm, causing sparks to fly from her chest, then teleported again until he was behind her and swiped at her back. “Dammit! Okay, let’s try this!” || ULTRAMAN COSMOS! || || ULTRAMAN AGUL! || ||FLOW AND CRASH! COSMIC WAVE!|| Meanwhile, Ocellus was reengaged with Chrysalis, with the latter fighting with more ferocity than when the battle began. Ocellus could barely keep up with her, focusing more on defense than offense as she brought up a construct shield to defend herself. “WEAK!” Chrysalis’ sickle blade struck Ocellus’ shield. “PATHETIC!” Another strike made Ocellus fallback. “MISERABLE EXCUSE FOR A QUEEN CASTE!” Chrysalis’ two sickle blades glowed with dark green light, and with a single swipe, she unleashed a crescent energy attack in the form of a large “X” that roared towards Ocellus. The young Changeling focused her energy forward and doubled the power of her shield, but it was no use, the “X” attack smashed through her shield and carried her all the way towards one of the spires and exploded right after impacting. Before Ocellus could fall from the spire, Chrysalis zoomed across the way pinned Ocellus against the spire with her clawed hand. “How does it feel, little grub? To know that you’re not only going to let down so many, but that you’ll be responsible for the death of Aster?!” “A-Aster w-won’t lose…!” As she said that, three rock spires broke in half as something blue was tossed straight through them. The blue object flipped around and revealed Aster in her Cosmic Wave form, she dug her heels into the earth as she came to a stop and produced her Aqua Blades. Zetton teleported again and again as Aster slashed through the air of where he was, but failed in landing a single hit against the evolved Space Beast. Zetton, however, was landing several hits as he fired one Dark Fireball attack after the other, causing significant damage to Aster. Chrysalis smirked and then tossed Ocellus in that direction. The young Changeling couldn’t stop as she found herself plowing into Aster and as they skidded across the Arena. The SMILE agents and Reformed Changelings looked on in terror as their New Queen and Ultra hero were now on the ground. Aster’s speed form ended as she returned to her default form, Ocellus managed to get off of her, her own body aching with pain. “We…We can’t give up…Ocellus…!” “I…I know…but she’s so strong…!” “You’re stronger, I…I believe in you!” Aster stated. Both heroes rose to their standing height, Aster reached up to the crest on her head and summoned forth her Stellugger. “Let’s give this everything we got, alright?!” Ocellus nodded and answered, “A-Alright!” Within the starry nexus, Sunset took out the Victory Coin and from her StaRaizer, the Ginga Coin, and placed them into the slots of the Stellugger. || ULTRAMAN GINGA! || || ULTRAMAN VICTORY! || Ocellus flared her wings and began gathering particles of bright green light. On the opposite end, Zetton and Chrysalis were charging up as well. The Changeling Queen’s horn shined with dark green power, while Zetton collected his energy into a large fireball. Once both parties were charged, they initiated their attacks. “GINGA-VICTORY! ULTIMATUM STRASH!!!” “LUMINOUS SPARK!!!” Aster slashed the air with the Stellugger, unleashing a crescent wave of blue and yellow light, at the same time, Ocellus’ beam fired from her central gemstone, the two attacks melded together as the crescent spun at the tip of Ocellus’ beam attack. Zetton discharged his fireball, with Chrysalis firing her dark green energy beam. The beam wrapped around the fireball as both attacks roared across the battlefield and slammed against each other, causing a cacophonous, thundering roar through the Area. The attacks from either side vied for supremacy, pushing back and forth with great struggle. The struggle, however, did not last long as Zetton’s body erupted with an aura made of violet flames. At the same time, the Dark Fireball that it fired ignited with violet flames, and doubled in size. Aster and Ocellus watched in horror as their attack was pushed back more and more with each second, Aster looked to Ocellus and made her choice. The Ultrawoman put herself between Ocellus and the oncoming beam. With her left arm, she created her light shield and took the brunt of the villains’ attack. When the beam struck, a massive explosion took place that obscured Ocellus and Aster. The ground beneath their feet broke apart as Ocellus was tossed to the side while Aster was tossed into the air her body shimmered, appearing as a shooting star and landing somewhere far in the distance. “Sunset…” Twilight began walking. “Sunset…!” Her legs moved faster. “SUNSET!!!” Twilight broke into a sprint as she made her way to one of the speeders from the Reformed Changeling soldiers, which was easy enough as the majority of them were stunned from what they just saw. Twilight got into the pilot’s seat, her brain worked overtime as she deciphered how the instruments worked, and in a few seconds turned on the speeder and immediately took off in the direction that Sunset flew. Zetton was readying himself to give chase, but Chrysalis raised her hand and said, “Don’t bother, if she isn’t dead already, she’ll be dead for sure if she shows her face again. Now then…” Chrysalis walked towards Ocellus, she knelt before the downed Changeling, grabbing a fist full of her hair and pulling her up. Chrysalis brought her sickle blade to Ocellus’ throat, letting it hover mere inches from her. “It’d be so easy to end it here, but that would be too easy,” said Chrysalis. “What are you…going to do…?” Chrysalis smirked as she let the young Changeling fall back to the ground. Unconsciousness finally took hold as Ocellus knocked out, her body reverting back to smaller form. Chrysalis used her giant hand to scoop up her defeated prey and turned to King Thorax. “Let the rest of the hive know that I have won, and that I will end this one’s life, publically. An execution will be held at sunset today. To mark the end of this era, and so that a new dawn will rise on Hive Prime, with me as the undisputed Queen!” The Dark Changelings buzzed loudly as they took to the skies, hissing and snarling as they got closer. “We have to go!” Luna stated. “B-But, Twilight and–!” Rarity stuttered. Luna grabbed Rarity by the arm and said, “We can’t go searching for them! We need to move out, NOW! King Thorax?!” The tri-horned king balled his fists and gave the order. “We’re retreating, all forces head to the transport and speeders and give covering fire as we go!” Without another word spoken, the girls, Luna, King Thorax, and Commander Pharynx returned to the transport while the soldiers opened fire on the swarming Dark Changelings. Once they were in their speeders, the transport rose up and flew off back to the new capital, along with its escort ships. \*****///** [The Battlegrounds, 10:25 P. M…] “SUNSET!!!” Twilight yelled. The teen genius tried to keep her eyes on the sky while also looking downward to see where Sunset had landed. She searched and searched for she didn’t know how long, but soon she saw the signs. Several jagged pillars were broken in a clear line that indicated a path. Twilight followed that path until it eventually ended at a small crater. Not wasting any time, Twilight aimed the speeder downwards, once she was close to the ground Twilight slowed her descent until she was a few feet from where Sunset landed. When she touched down, Twilight practically leapt out of the speeder and ran towards her friend, she stopped and took a moment to look over Sunset’s injuries. She was bruised and cut up, her clothes were nearly in tatters but thankfully weren’t so bad as that they couldn’t preserve her modesty. One thing that she did notice was that Sunset’s breathing was ragged, it was then she realized that her rebreather mask was gone. Twilight decided to not look around for it, as it may’ve been dislodged somewhere along the path she followed miles back. Thinking quickly, Twilight ripped the hem of her shirt until her midriff was showing. Taking the piece of cloth, Twilight wrapped it round Sunset’s mouth and nose to try and at least minimize the amount of particulates in the air that was making it hard for her to breathe. “It’ll be okay, Sunset, I promise! You saved me, so I’ll save you!” Twilight declared. The teen genius carefully hooked her arms under Sunset’s armpits and slowly dragged her towards the speeder. Twilight was nearly out of breath by the time she got Sunset close to the speeder, now she needed to get her into the speeder. It was then that Twilight picked up on the sounds of buzzing. “Oh no…” Twilight didn’t bother to look up, knowing full well that it was the Dark Changelings, no doubt on orders from Chrysalis to find Sunset and kill her. “I won’t let that happen, I won’t let her get you!” Twilight hefted Sunset into the speeder, but when she did, she fell backwards and Sunset’s unconscious body fell on top of her. For some reason, having Sunset pressed this close to her made her feel funny despite the situation. Shaking off that feeling and filing that under “will look into it later”, Twilight hurried to the pilot’s seat and took off yet again. She didn’t really know where she was going, she just needed to put some distance between herself and the patrol that was getting closer. Just then, Twilight spotted a cave up ahead, it might’ve been cliché, but at least it was some cover. Twilight aimed the speeder down going as fast as she could to avoid getting spotted by the patrol. Once she was close to the mouth of the cave, she pulled back on the controls, making the speeder come to a violent and abrupt halt. Thankfully, Sunset was wedged in the seat behind her and wasn’t sent flying, while Twilight’s harness kept her from doing the same, however, her chest begged to differ on whether that was a good thing or not. Thinking of the worst case scenario, Twilight unfastened herself and got into the gunner’s seat where Sunset was, she turned the turret around and aimed it right at the mouth of the cave. Her hands trembled as her index fingers hovered over the triggers, shaking in fear that the Dark Changeling patrol was going to fly in and kill them. The buzzing got louder and Twilight’s shaking got worse, she felt as if she was going to go into a panic attack and pass out right then and there. But then she remembered the Maulwurf incident, and then she looked down to the unconscious girl whom she owed her life to. With a firm resolve, Twilight steadied her hands and readied for a potential fight. Thankfully, the buzzing seemed to dissipate and eventually it was gone. Twilight nearly collapsed when the tension finally left her body, but she knew her work wasn’t done yet, Sunset was still unconscious and she didn’t have a rebreather like Twilight did. The rag was barely doing anything to filter out the particles that were in the air, and there was no way she could take off with the Dark Changelings patrolling the area. “Luckily…I leave prepared,” said Twilight as she unslung her backpack. The first thing she took out was her holoframe, she hooked it up to an air analyzer that could get a better readout of what exactly was in the air that was causing breathing issues. “Okay, nothing that could ignite if a fire was started, that’s a good thing. Although the particulates in the air are bothersome…really bothersome…” Twilight glanced to Sunset. “Provided I don’t move around too much.” With her resolve affirmed, Twilight ripped her uniform skirt and fashioned another rag. She took a deep breath and quickly took off the rebreather and wrapped the rag around her mouth. She removed the rag from Sunset’s face and replaced it with her own rebreather. Once affixed to Sunset’s face, her breathing became less ragged, then it became smooth and even. “You need it more than I do, Sunset…Ocellus needs our help…your help. I just hope you’ll be ready before then,” Twilight whispered. Twilight tried to connect to another holoframe that belonged to her friends, but it was no use. She then moved to the speeder, Twilight found the communications console and began fiddling with the device to try and contact the Reformed Changeling soldiers, or even reach the transport. Unfortunately, all she was getting was static. “Shoot…the cave must be causing interference…” Twilight coughed a little. The young genius opened her backpack and took inventory of her supplies. “Okay…I have about twenty ration bars, a plasma heater, and…two bottled waters…” Twilight looked at the clock on the holoframe and grimaced. “It’s only been twenty minutes since the fight ended…and Ocellus is going to get executed at sunset.” Twilight typed on the holoframe and grimaced more when she realized that sunset would be at five on this planet. “That gives us little more than seven hours…Sunset needs at least three to recharge, but with these injuries…” Twilight sighed as she sat next to Sunset and sighed. “All we can do is wait…” \*****///** [Hive Prime, 1:30 P. M., Capital: New Elleria…] Rainbow Dash was pacing the floor grumbling as she did so, Applejack leaned against the wall with her arms crossed and a single finger tapping on her bicep in frustration. Rarity was sitting next to Fluttershy as she held her hand and rubbed circles on the crying girl’s back. Luna stood stoically as she stared down the large double doors, the group from SMILE was requested to wait in the hallway while Thorax and Pharynx went to work. After the debacle at the Arena, King Thorax and Commander Pharynx immediately convened a war council and informed them of what had occurred during the battle. Many of the Reformed Changelings were shocked to hear that Chrysalis would actually bring outside help to fight with her, to go against their own ancient laws was unheard of. Many on the war council were demanding an immediate strike on the Dark Changelings and Chrysalis in order to save the new Queen, if Chrysalis was not going to abide by the old laws than there was no reason they shouldn’t pull out all the stops to end her and the war once and for all. Thorax understood their frustration, but there was the appearance of Zetton. After witnessing the power that creature had, power enough to fell a member of the Ultras, that wasn’t something to take lightly. With Zetton, Chrysalis could possibly wipe out their forces easily if they weren’t careful. And there was no guarantee that their attack wouldn’t cause Ocellus’ death to come quicker. Too many unknowns, and too many risks to take that could end up with many lives lost. The war council went into recess so that they could come up with some options to attack. Once Thorax and Pharynx were out, Vice Commander Luna hurried to them. “Well?” Luna asked. “We’re getting some plans together to figure out how we’re going to launch a counterattack against Chrysalis,” said Pharynx. “Is there any way you can spare some of your troops? Two of my students are out there! One most certainly injured,” Luna pleaded. Thorax nodded. “We have sent a small team of Recon Changelings to check the area, the speeders have a tracking signal in case they’re stolen or if a soldier is missing in action. If we use too large a group, we run the risk of the Dark Changelings intercepting them before they find those girls, that or we agitate Chrysalis in moving up her timetable.” Pharynx gently placed his hand on Luna's shoulder. “We’ll find those two, especially since that one girl is an Ultra. That one student of yours was quick and brave to steal a speeder and go after her.” Luna rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. “To be honest, Twilight Sparkle was the last person I would’ve suspected to do something like that. I half expected some of my more energetic students to do that.” “Only because I was still in shock! Otherwise I would’ve!” Rainbow stated. “Simmer down, Sug, we know ya would’ve,” said Applejack. Pinkie Pie walked up to Rainbow and gave her a hug as she smiled. “Don’t worry, I know they’ll be okay.” “How do you know?” Fluttershy asked. “Because, it’s Sunset and Twilight, if there’s any two people who would be okay, it would be those two! Just have faith,” said Pinkie. Faith was something that was dwindling fast, but despite that, Pinkie’s words struck a chord with them. They needed to believe in Sunset and in Twilight. \*****///** [Hive Prime, 3:44 P. M., Arena…] The Dark Changelings swarmed around the Arena as they crafted a large platform. Communication and video equipment were brought in, making good on Chrysalis’ threat to make the execution public. While the construction was taking place, and nearly completed, Ocellus was on her knees, tied up with a special resin that was once used to make their hives. Chrysalis sauntered over to the young new Queen and used her clawed right hand to make her look up at her. “Don’t worry little grub, you did put up a decent fight back there. So, I’ll honor that by making this execution as quick and painless as possible.” “Somehow…I doubt that…” Ocellus spoke. “If that was all you were going to do, you would’ve just ended me hours ago. You want me to suffer so that everyone will see and no one will ever question your right to rule again.” Chrysalis let go and smiled wickedly at Ocellus. “Well, damn, you are smart. I was going to let you keep that hope up until I delivered the first painful blow so that I could see your face twist in agony as you realized that it wasn’t going to be quick at all.” Ocellus furrowed her brow as she looked upon the Dark Changeling Queen. “What happened to you?” Chrysalis went silent as she looked Ocellus in the eyes. “What do you mean?” “I’ve studied our history; the Changeling race wasn’t always like this. We were beings of love, we spread peace, now…we spread chaos and syphon love from other living things like parasites!” Chrysalis huffed as she said, “What does a little grub like you know of our people?! Know of the struggles, the pain, and hunger we faced eons ago! We were weak before, I made us stronger! Those that didn’t survive were weak! I was once like you, bright big eyes filled with wonder and hope, but then I learned the ugly truth! The universe is not a kind place, and I’ll be damned if we die like some bugs!” “We are stronger now! We no longer have to starve in this form, we can sustain ourselves, and the burden of generating a new brood of Changelings no longer has to fall solely on the Queen! We can mate now; we can make new Changelings ourselves! You can still be a part of that change!” Ocellus pleaded. Chrysalis narrowed her gaze. “You’ve also become weaker due to this change. You’re no longer the battle-hardened brood I hatched thousands of years ago, most of you have forgotten how to fight. Anyone of you could do battle and survive and I wouldn’t have to worry about any of you! Now…ugh, you make me sick! This form of yours makes me sick!” The Dark Changeling Queen slapped Ocellus across the face, sending her to the ground in a heap. “Once they see how weak they are, they’ll know they’ve made the wrong choice. Our race will be the strongest in the universe. You’ll see…not even your Ultra friend was strong enough to help you, what hope do you have?” Ocellus watched as Chrysalis walked away, now alone, she thought about Chrysalis’ words. Chrysalis was once like her; did that mean she too had fears about taking on the burden of becoming a Queen caste? Did she become this twisted version of herself because she saw no other way of keeping their race safe and strong? Would Ocellus herself become something just like Chrysalis, or worse? I won’t…Chrysalis was alone…I have my friends…I have King Thorax and Pharynx…my Mom, Dad, and my little sisters and brothers. But…Ocellus looked up at the nearly completed stage. I guess that’s a moot point now… \*****///** [Hive Prime, 4:30 P. M., 30 Kilometers from the Arena…] Sunset began to stir from her unconscious state, her vision was blurry for a few seconds before everything came back into focus. There was a damp smell, and it was dark. She felt something over her mouth, when Sunset touched her face, she found that her mouth was covered by the rebreather. Not only that, but her right arm was bandaged up. Sunset sat up slowly and noticed that most of her body had been tended to, cuts had Band-Aids or were wrapped with bandages, there were some bruises but they were healing quickly. The flame haired teen looked around and noticed she was in one of the Changeling soldiers’ speeders. Then her eyes fell on Twilight, she was slumped up against the turret mount. “TWILIGHT!” Sunset called out as she moved closer to her and grabbed her shoulders. “Hey, open your eyes, Sparky! C’mon, wake up!” Twilight stirred awake, her eyes opening slowly. “S-Sunset…you’re awake…” “Yeah I am! What happened! Why are we in a speeder, in a cave?!” “When…When you were hit…I s-stole a speeder…and chased after you. I-I found you…Your mask was gone…so I gave you mine…and flew us into this cave…to avoid the Dark…Dark Changelings…” Sunset shook her head in disbelief as she smiled. “You crazy little nerd girl! I’d congratulate you on jacking a military speeder if you weren’t in the state you’re in!” Twilight smiled under her face rag. “Heh…I…I thought the rag might help…turns out…the particulates in the air…don’t affect you as much as they do me…Perhaps that because you’re an Ultrawoman…or I’m just really out of shape…” “Don’t joke around, Sparky! Stay with me!” Twilight took in a raspy breath. “At least…you’re okay now…y-you can save Ocellus…I was at least…least of use…” “Shut up! You aren’t useless to me! You’re my friend, Twilight Sparkle! Y-You’re my best friend! And my best friend doesn’t get to leave me alone in this godforsaken place!” Sunset stated as she cried. “I’m your…best friend…?” Twilight asked. “Yes.” “I’m, I’m so happy…to hear you say that…” Just then, a bright flash of purple light erupted from within the cave. It washed over Sunset and Twilight, and when it did, Twilight took in a deep breath of air. She coughed for a moment before she was able to catch her breath, but somehow, she was able to breathe again. From her chest, a small sphere of light shot out. This sphere hovered between them before it took the form of a coin. Twilight held out her hands, and when she did, the coin fell into her open palms. The young genius nearly cried tears of joy upon seeing what lay in her hands, it was an Ultra Coin, an Ultra Coin born from herself. Sunset smiled broadly at Twilight, sensing the pride she was feeling in doing something like this for her best friend. Twilight turned to Sunset and presented her with the coin. “Here, Sunset, this is for you,” said Twilight in an elated tone. It was a tone that made Sunset’s heart thump a bit harder for some reason. Regardless, she gladly accepted the coin, and when it was in her hands, the name of the Ultra who was upon it entered her mind and she spoke aloud. “Ultraman…Hikari.” At that moment, Ultraman Orb’s coin appeared next to Hikari’s, the two powers resonated, showing Sunset that like the others, these were meant to be used together. “We need to go back and save Ocellus,” said Sunset. Twilight opened her holoframe and gasped. “If they’re still at the Arena, then we have only ten minutes to get there!” Sunset glanced at the controls. “Let me drive.” \*****///** [Hive Prime, 5:00 P. M., Arena…] The platform had been completed and Ocellus was kneeling at the center of it. Drones flew around the platform as they began broadcasting, the signal reached far and wide, allowing every Changeling on the planet to witness the impending death of the newly evolved Queen. Back at the capital, everyone was already heading back, with Luna, Rainbow, Rarity, Pinkie, Applejack, and Fluttershy watching with bated breath as the events were about to unfold before them. Chrysalis stood tall and proud as she raised her hands to the air and said, “To my Changelings all over Hive Prime. It is time to end this ridiculous civil war set into motion by one, ‘King’ Thorax. The usurper, made you believe that there was another way to live as a Changeling, but I’m here to tell you, there is only ONE way. MY WAY! See here before me is the newest of the Queen caste, one who believed she was strong enough to defeat me, but low and behold, she is as weak as the rest of those of you who call themselves ‘Reformed’!” Chrysalis extended her sickle blade from her forearm and held it against Ocellus’ cheek. “Any last words to say before I fill the air with your screams, little grub?” Ocellus looked up at Chrysalis, but instead of rage or fear, Chrysalis saw something that she never thought any creature would dare show her…pity. “I’m sorry you had to endure a lot on your own,” said Ocellus. Chrysalis bared her fangs and growled with hate in her heart as she raised her blade up, “DON’T YOU DARE PITY ME!!” A bright flash of light took all the Dark Changelings by surprise, the light came from straight ahead, and from that same direction, several Beam Bullets shot through the air and smashed right through the foundation of the platform. Chrysalis flew into the air while Ocellus fell, but before she could fall too far, Ultrawoman Aster came in and caught the young Changeling Queen. Aster skidded to a halt as she dug her feet into the ground, churning up dirt and rock before she stopped. Aster opened up her right hand and looked down at Ocellus, who in turn looked up at her with shock. “Miss me?” “Sunset?! Y-You’re alright!” Ocellus yelled happily. “Can’t keep a hero down.” Aster’s right hand glowed and released an energy pulse that destroyed the resin that was binding Ocellus. “I’m going to fight, get to safety” “No.” Ocellus flew out of her hand and as she did, artic blue energy wrapped around her body as she was once again in her battle form and standing next to Aster. “You won’t face her alone! I won’t let my friend fight my battles!” Aster nodded as she turned around, just in time to watch as Chrysalis entered her battle form, and at the same time, Zetton teleported to her side. “You couldn’t defeat Zetton last time, what makes you think you can beat him this time?” Aster stepped forward and said, “Because I have something new to bring to the table! Something that was given to me by my best friend! So, let’s go!” Within the starry nexus, Sunset opened the Coin Keeper and took out two Ultra coins. “Shine, the power of bonds!” Sunset placed the first coin into the top slot. Upon doing so, an Ultraman with black, red, and silver appeared on her right. || ULTRAMAN ORB! || “Shine, the power of knowledge!” Sunset placed the last coin in the bottom slot, and from it appeared a blue Ultraman. || ULTRAMAN HIKARI! || “The stars are aligned for victory!” Sunset pressed the center sun symbol on her StaRaizer. Nine spheres of light appeared over her, and once they were in alignment, a beam of purple and violet light shined down upon her. Within this light, Sunset entered her third transformation and rose from it. ||CONVERGENCE! PLANET REVIVE!|| The purple light faded and when it did, all were granted the sight of the newest form of Ultrawoman Aster. Aster’s Color Timer had changed, there was a blue circle at the center, with a round blue ring that had bands that made it look like a star was bursting into existence. Her chest armor changed as well, it sported ten studs known as Star Marks, five on one side of her chest, and five on the other. Her shoulders were covered with silver armor that curved like a shark's fin, while each of her fingertips were coated in metal. Her coloring had changed as well, the silver, eight-pointed star pattern was no longer on her hips, but was now at the center of her waist, with the side bands looping around her waist to form a makeshift belt design. Purple dominated the color scheme, along with violet streaks that sparkled like stars in the night sky. Aster’s head design changed, now sporting elf-like ears on the sides of where her horn frills were, her crest reversed so that it was pointing towards the back of her head, a central vertical blue crystal rested in the middle of her forehead, and along both sides were two gold bands for a total of four. This form embodied the power she felt when her feelings were aligned with those of her friends, the bonds they shared resonated within her, bringing her great strength, she could almost feel them all inside with her. Aster assumed a fighting stance and announced, “Witness our unified power!” “ZET-TON!” The alien growled as it discharged its Dark Fireball. Aster quickly got in front of Ocellus, inside the starry nexus, Sunset pressed down on the sun symbol of the StaRaizer twice. ||HERO’S ARMOR!|| Armor plates hovered over Aster for a second before all of them attached themselves to her body just as the Dark Fireball made impact. A large explosion took place before Zetton and Chrysalis, the Dark Changeling Queen smirked, but that smirk was wiped away when she saw the flames fizzle out. Aster was now donned in armor, her entire right forearm was covered in silver armor, with the same shark fin design, but now the tip was gold plated. The StaRaizer on her left forearm had taken on the same color and changed slightly to match the other forearm armor. Most of Aster’s upper body was covered in silver armor, with the center having a gold sun painted on it, and the upper portion of the armor colored purple. Her thighs were covered in this same armor, having a slight curve to the sides of them. Her shins were covered in greaves, with an amethyst crystal at their center, and a gold band running down the middle. The top of her head was covered with a thin layer of armor which went over her eyes, but had a slit, “V” shaped visor that glowed blue. “Did you attack me? I barely felt that.” Zetton released strange noises, possibly irritated by this turn of events and quickly teleported. Ocellus jumped up from behind Aster and attacked Chrysalis. “CASCADE!” A barrage of energy beams fell upon Chrysalis, making her back away quickly as they began to engage. Aster remained where she was, but not for long as she sensed a shift in the spatial energy around her. “Mercury Racer!” Just before Zetton appeared, a silver aura formed around Aster, and in the next second, she became a silver blur that disappeared just as Zetton appeared. The destroyer was caught off guard by this, even more so when he saw that she was now five meters away from him and waving him down. “Yoo-hoo!” “ZET-TON!!!” The insectoid alien teleported again, but just as he did, Aster raced off. What occurred next was a rapid game of tag as Zetton would teleport, and Aster would dash away, again and again Zetton chased after, trying to pin her down, but he was finding out quickly that her speed was outpacing his teleportation. When he appeared again, Aster was right in front of him, something that made him take a step back in shock. “Surprise!” Aster’s fists flared up with red energy as she called out, “Mars Raging Heat!” Aster struck Zetton in the head with a blazing red punch, causing sparks to fly, her second punch struck him in the chest, then in the head again, the shoulder, the stomach, the punches kept coming until they were nothing but a blur of red comets that were barraging Zetton. The Destroyer of Worlds teleported away from the onslaught and unleashed two Dark Fireballs right at her. The empowered Ultra stopped her attack as she flattened her palms into knife hands. Purple light wrapped them as she brought both arms up to form an “X”. “Saturn Sickles!” Aster slashed the air with her hands and launched two crescent blades that boomeranged through the air and slashed through the two Dark Fireballs, causing them to explode in midair. Violet light shined from Aster’s hands as she pointed her left hand at Zetton and called out, “Uranus Collider!” The air around Zetton became distorted, then, in an instant, his entire body was forced straight to the ground as the gravity suddenly tripled in intensity and strength, forcing the Destroyer straight back to the ground. Aster opened her right hand and formed a sphere made of graviton energy, she then slammed that sphere into the ground and launched the real Uranus Collider. The sphere of graviton energy tore the ground apart as it rushed right for Zetton and detonated upon impact, sending Zetton flying right into a jagged rock spire. Aster’s right foot glowed green as she concentrated her energy into it and shouted, “EARTH BRINGER!” The Ultrawoman slammed her foot against the ground, sending a surge of emerald energy through the dirt and rock. The ground rumbled and roared as the surge reached where Zetton was. When it reached the spire, the ground erupted with giant slabs of hardened rock that sandwiched Zetton from the front and back, causing a thundering “BOOM” to echo through the area. While this was going on, Ocellus and Chrysalis were engaged in their battle. Ocellus had gained a new resolve, seeing Sunset alive and stronger than before gave her hope, not just for this battle, but because of what this meant for the future. Suddenly, Ocellus’ exoskeleton began to crack. Lines of green energy flowed through the newly formed grooves in her chitin, and upon her back, her salmon colored wings transformed into sparkling, green energy butterfly wings. Her hair took on a luminescent property, along with her glowing eyes, made Ocellus appear to be a fearsome warrior, no, she was a Warrior Queen. “What… What is this?!” “This is the power you scoffed at! The power of love freely shared! I can feel it now, the love of the Changelings who are wishing for my victory! The love that the Dark Changelings wish to also give freely!” Chrysalis’ eyes widened as she turned to some of the Dark Changelings, “YOU TRAITORS!” Chrysalis’ horn glowed with dark green energy as she prepared to attack, but Ocellus appeared right in front of her, a faint afterimage formed behind her from the speed of her quick movements. Before Chrysalis could react, Ocellus threw an uppercut, slamming it against Chrysalis’ lower jaw and making her beam shoot upwards and away from the Changelings. Ocellus spun in place and hit Chrysalis with an elbow strike to her abdomen. The sudden strike sent Chrysalis flying, but Ocellus wasn’t letting up, she flew straight for her, appearing as a streak of sparkling light. When she was close, Ocellus kicked her straight up in the air, Chrysalis managed to right herself just in time as Ocellus came in with a construct sword, meeting it with her forearm sickle blade. The two Queens began clashing in the sky as the sound of ringing metal resounded in the air above. Chrysalis spared a glance to see how Zetton was doing, and much to her dismay, he wasn’t faring any better, if anything, he was worse off. “DON’T TAKE YOUR EYES OFF YOUR OPPONENT!” Ocellus shouted. Chrysalis paid for that mistake as Ocellus slashed across her chest, sparks flew from her carapace as Chrysalis shrieked in pain. With that opening, Ocellus summoned forth four dozen spheres of light around her as she held up her right hand. “SHINE RAIN!” The spheres fired off beams of light, but each light splintered off and made a new beam of light, and then splintered again, and again, and again. Before Chrysalis knew it, her vision was filled with sparkles of light as they rained down on her and sent her plummeting into the ground as explosions erupted all around her. Meanwhile, Zetton managed to burn down the pillars of rock he was sandwiched between, he sprouted wings as he gathered all his dark energy and summoned forth a giant Dark Fireball, strong enough to reduce the entire area into molten slag and then some. Aster stood her ground, knowing that she wasn't going to run from this attack. Aster widened her stance, she swiped her left hand out in front of her, and four spheres appeared. The far left orb was Jupiter and was yellow, the far right was Saturn was purple, the second from the left was silver Mercury, and the second from the right was arctic blue Pluto. Aster used her right arm to swipe upwards, and created five more spheres. The top sphere was violet Uranus, the very bottom was blue Neptune, second from the top was red Mars, second from the bottom was pink Venus, and at the center was green Earth. Zetton made more of its strange warbling sounds as it launched its Giga Dark Fireball straight at Aster. At the same time, Aster brought both her arms together in a cross formation. “GRAND CROSS STRIUM!!!” The nine spheres swirled together and burst out into a beam of swirling aurora light that roared through the sky. The Grand Cross Strium slammed against the Giga Dark Fireball, Zetton didn’t hold anything back as a violet aura overtook him, causing the color of the fireball to change and double in size. But the beam wasn’t getting pushed back. Aster released a battle cry as his beam doubled in size, nearly swallowing Zetton’s attack. After a brief moment of struggle the Giga Dark Fireball shattered into embers as the Grand Cross Strium continued unobstructed. Zetton was powerless to dodge the oncoming beam as he was swept up into it like a riptide. The beam chipped away at his body, causing multiple cracks until Zetton exploded in the air, filling the sky with thunderous noise and purple flames. Back on the ground, Chrysalis managed to get back up after watching Zetton get blown away by the Ultra. Aster turned her attention to Chrysalis, making the Dark Queen go on guard. The Ultrawoman crossed her arms as her armor disengaged. “Don’t worry, I’m not interfering in this. It’s just you and Ocellus now.” Speaking of whom, Ocellus landed on the far end of the Arena, her five crystals began to glow as she gathered energy for her final attack. Chrysalis did the same, gathering every last scrap of power she had left to fell this young Queen once and for all. “I won’t kill you, Chrysalis!” Ocellus declared. “WHAT DID YOU SAY?!” “I WON’T KILL YOU! That may’ve been the old way, but that’s not MY way!” Chrysalis’ left eye twitched as she roared, “INSOLENT GRUB, DIE!!!” Chrysalis’ beam fired a column sized beam of dark green energy that razed the ground beneath it as it traveled towards Ocellus. “I’ll save you, from yourself! AMORE LUMINOUS SPARK!” The light of Ocellus’ wings, grooves, and eyes changed to a bright pink. That same light filled her gemstones, and from the center gemstone, a huge beam of pink light exploded forth. The two beams met at the center, but their encounter did not last long as Ocellus’ beam overtook Chrysalis’, making it fizzle out as Chrysalis was bathed in the sakura colored Amore Luminous Spark. Chrysalis felt her body being penetrated by this light, every fiber of her body was being filled to the brink, the former Queen of the Changelings released a loud shriek as the beam released a flash of pink light, not an explosion, but a flash. Ocellus stopped her attack and waited to see if it had worked, and when the light faded, Ocellus gave a sigh of relief that it did. She walked over to her foe and said, “Open your eyes, Chrysalis.” Chrysalis tentatively did so, and when she did, she gasped at what she saw. Her carapace was no longer pitch black, but a light gray color, there were no more holes in her arms and legs, they were whole. She saw that her scraggly hair had become luxurious locks of grass green hair, the jagged horn that once adorned her forehead was smooth and curved. Her wings were no longer sharp and jagged, but more like Ocellus’ butterfly-like wings. The eyes of the former Queen weren’t slit anymore, they were round and filled with uncertainty and realization. “Did you…Did you change me?” Chrysalis asked. “I shared my love with you, Chrysalis. You were right about one thing, the old ways got us here. The sun will set on this current era of the Changelings.” Ocellus offered her hand to the former Queen. “So, let’s create a new era, together. Your wisdom, and my beliefs, we can make the Changelings a better people.” Every Dark Changeling watched this, too afraid to move for fear of setting something off. Aster was still on edge, ready to act at a moment’s notice, but inside she was pleading, Please just take her hand, I really don’t want to have to blow you away… Chrysalis sighed heavily as she closed her eyes. “Ocellus…” The young Queen gasped a little, that was the first time Chrysalis had said her name. “I yield…I am no more the Queen of the Changelings.” Upon saying those words, the crown that was atop of Chrysalis’ head began to wither and disappear, and at the same time, Ocellus’ makeshift crown grew two extra horns for a total of five, showing all around that she was now the undisputed Queen of the Changelings. “I have crimes to answer for…and I will accept whatever the punishment may be,” said Chrysalis. Ocellus stepped forward and placed her hand on Chrysalis’ shoulder. “Then as my first act as the new Queen of the Changelings, I hereby order that your punishment is to serve the Changeling people, not as a ruler, but as my Vizier. However, when I’m not around, King Thorax's word is law.” Chrysalis’ eyes seemed to water, although she tried to look away to avoid having the young Queen see her predecessor shed tears. Ocellus gently brought Chrysalis’ face to look at hers and said, “You’ve kept your tears at bay long enough. Shed them now.” With those words, all the strength in Chrysalis’ legs gave out as she fell to her knees and began to cry, Ocellus opened her arms and hugged Chrysalis, bringing the former Queen’s head to rest against her chest. The tears she had held back from every decision she made to ensure the safety and continued survival of their race, all the lives lost in the civil war, dealing with the dark entity. The dark entity… Chrysalis stopped for a moment and looked to Aster. “Ultrawoman Aster, you need to know that there is a force trying to attack Earth and it wants – AAAAAH!!!” Chrysalis cried out in pain as she clutched at her head and backed away from Ocellus. “Chrysalis!” Ocellus called out. The former Queen jerked back and forth as she tried to get her words out, but each attempt only caught in her throat. But then, she went stiff and stood straight up. Her eyes became pitch black and the aura around her changed completely. Aster zoomed across the Arena until she was standing in front of Ocellus, ready to defend her. Ultrawoman Aster…you’ve grown stronger yet again. The voice was deep, hollow, and cold. Whatever this was, it wasn’t Chrysalis, it was using her as a mouthpiece. “Who or what are you?!” Aster demanded. Something seeking the end of light, and a return to the primordial. Where savagery and power ruled over all things, where I ruled once as a king above all things. “What have you done to Chrysalis,” asked Ocellus. Heh, heh…you feel concern for this bug, despite the fact that she nearly killed you. I will grant you this thing back, she is useless to me as she is now. However, I will take with me all the memories of my existence from her. I still need to keep a few secrets…until next time, Aster, but by then, I hope to see you face to face. “And when I do, I’ll kick your ass like every other monster!” With those words exchanged, Chrysalis went limp and fell to the ground, her body reverting back to its regular size. At that time, the Reformed Changeling Army rode in on transport ships, fighters and speeders. They knew the fighting was over, and so did the Dark Changelings as they made no attempt to run or engage in confrontation. Another speeder came flying in, this one belonging to Twilight, Aster looked in her direction and nodded to her, with Twilight doing the same. Aster looked up into the sky and took off, flying into the setting sun. \*****///** [Hive Prime, the following day, 8:02 A. M…] Life changed on Hive Prime that night, the remainder of the Dark Changelings gave up, no longer wishing to fight and instead accepted and shared their love with each other, allowing them to transform into Reformed Changelings, but Ocellus made sure to throw out such things like “reformed” or “dark”, they were now Changelings, all of them. Chrysalis was in the care of the medical team, she had sustained little injuries thanks to Ocellus’ sharing of love, which in turn seemed to heal most of the injuries she had sustained during the initial battle. They weren’t sure of her mental health, especially after the Dark Entity took over Chrysalis’ mind and body for a moment, but only time would tell. Twilight and Sunset were greeted to a bone crushing group hug that nearly put them in the hospital, Vice Commander Luna chewed Twilight out for her hijacking of a military speeder and putting herself in danger. Once she was done chewing her out, Luna praised her for her quick thinking and for saving Sunset’s life. Then Luna did something that no one saw coming, she stood in front of Sunset and then embraced her. “Don’t you ever scare me like that again,” she told her. Sunset had awkwardly returned the hug, but admittedly, she didn’t dislike it since it was the first time that Luna showed any sort of affection for Sunset. That night they all ended up sleeping in the same room, after that near close call it was understandable that they wanted to be near them. Which ended up with Sunset being sandwiched between Twilight and Fluttershy, not that she was complaining of course. That morning, they were all invited to the coronation of the new Queen of the Changelings. It was held in the central palace of New Elleria, Rarity had been complaining that she wished she had made them something special for the occasion, instead of them having to wear their school uniforms. Luna had internally agreed with Rarity, as a representative of SMILE and Earth, she had wished she had packed her formal uniform. Thankfully for Twilight and Sunset, the seamstresses at the palace were able to fix their uniforms since they were ripped and tattered from their ordeal. Now, they stood in the front row as honored guests of the new Queen. King Thorax walked towards the throne where a podium had been set up and turned to look into the room filled with Changelings. “My fellow Changelings, today is a momentous occasion, for now we are in the midst of a new time, a new era. For centuries we have fought a long and arduous civil war with our own brethren, but now that is no more, now we can march forward together, with our new Queen. Queen Ocellus!” Thorax pointed his hand down the long aisle in between the crowd. From the opposite side the double doors opened and out walked Ocellus. She carried herself regally and with poise, she was flanked by royal guards and Commander Pharynx as they walked towards the throne. The soldiers moved to the opposite sides of the throne as Ocellus walked up towards the podium, Thorax bowed to Ocellus, and she bowed to him. Thorax stepped away and allowed the young Queen to take her place. “I told Chrysalis, that when the sun set last night, it would mark the end of an era, and it has. Now the dawn has come and a new one begins, one where we are no longer divided, but are now one people!” The Changelings cheered and the girls joined with them. “The ancient laws dictated that I end Chrysalis’ life to assume the right to rule. But I chose a different way, I chose to share my love with her, and in so doing, I have freed Chrysalis. I’m not asking that you forgive her for what she’s done, that will be up to all of you, but I have. In the end, she was doing what she thought was right to keep us alive, to see that we, her children survived. Now, it is time that we showed her that we can, together, we will reestablish our race, not as beings who take love, but ones who spread it and defend it. I have seen that there is darkness in this universe, but with love, and friends…” Ocellus looked at the assembled seven girls who helped her get to this point in her life. “I know that we will make it through. And thanks to our friends of Earth, I would like to take this time to announce that I would like to establish a strong alliance with Ultrawoman Aster, and assist in the defense of Earth.” Luna’s jaw nearly broke through the floor. “I will extend our hand in friendship to Earth, and from there, other worlds will begin to see that we have changed. I am still young, and I may not know everything I need to, so I ask you all to be patient with me as I learn from King Thorax and Chrysalis, I want to know all I can to make sure I become a better Queen to you, not like the Queens of the past. For our new future, begins now!” A round of applause filled the room, Ocellus blushed a little from the attention, but she still ended up smiling nonetheless. Sunset smiled as she watched this all happen, glad that Ocellus had become stronger, confident that she would be a good leader. As Sunset kept clapping, something strange happened. Scenes flashed before her eyes, replacing many of the features of the insect palace and replacing it with a crystal structure, her school uniform would change from golden armor and then back to her uniform. When she looked up at Ocellus, she was replaced by someone else, a girl in a purple dress, and a woman in a white dress standing next to her. Their faces were covered by shadows, but somehow, this all seemed familiar. The girl in the purple dress turned in Sunset’s direction, what facial features she could make out told Sunset she was concerned. “Sunset…are you alright.?” A hand fell on her shoulder and suddenly Sunset was brought back to the here and now. Her head darted around the room until her eyes fell upon Twilight who was giving her a worried look. “Sunset, are you alright?” Twilight asked again. Sunset looked around the room once again, but this time she seemed to catch the attention of Luna. “Sunset, what’s the matter?” Luna asked. “I…I think I remembered something…something from my past…?”
13th Light: Seeking Answers! / Return to Crusader's Peak!The wind howled and roared around her ears, when she looked down, she was several miles in the air, hanging onto the face of a mountain. Up above her was another person, she could not make out their face, and she could not hear their voice, but when that person looked down, she could read their lips, the person above just said, “C’mon, slowpoke, or I’ll get to the top before you!” Sunset looked up, and at the peak of this mountain was a bright light, a light that took the form of a halo of light. Why was that? What was so significant about that symbol? She wanted to know, she had to know. Sunset pressed on, feeling the roughness of the rock beneath her hands, scraping against her skin, but she did not care, she was going to get to the top, because somehow, someway, she knew that the answers were at the top of this mountain. The person ahead of her smiled at her and began climbing alongside her. It was like a race to this other person, and despite knowing that, Sunset did not feel like they were an enemy, but she was also not sure if she was a friend either. The top was getting closer and closer, the answers she sought had to be up there, she just needed to get to the top. Finally, Sunset reached out and gripped the edge of the peak, she hoisted herself up and then – “Dammit!!!” Sunset awoke with a start, her heart pounding in her chest. Sunset groaned as she swung her legs out from under the blankets and sat on the edge of the bed. She sighed frustratingly as she ran her hands through her long hair. “Again…always right before I get to the top…” Sunset groaned. It had been a month since they returned from Hive Prime, Ocellus was on her way to becoming a great queen, and although she had not been at S.M.I.L.E. for very long, Sunset considered the young Changeling to be a good friend among them. But ever since she had her vision in the palace, upon their return home, she has had that dream off and on for many nights now. It was incredibly aggravating, so much of her life was a blank slate, she had no idea where she came from, why she had these powers, or if she even had a family. Was there anyone looking for her? Was she missed by anyone? “How big of an a-hole did I have to be that no one is looking for me?” Sunset muttered to herself. There was nothing more to do, all Sunset could do was go back to bed, as hard as it would be. All the while, Sunset was unaware that someone was listening to her, someone who was worried for her wellbeing. \*****///** [Wednesday: Lunchroom, 12:03 A.M.…] Sunset looked tired, everyone at the table could tell. It was noticeable at first, but recently it was starting to become noticeable by her friends. “Sunset, Darling, I think this has to be said, but…you look dreadful,” said Rarity. “Gee, Rarity, don’t sugar coat it or anything,” Sunset remarked. “Nicer than what I was going to say,” said Rainbow. “Seriously, though, what’s up? You not sleeping right or something?” Sunset was reluctant to answer, but it seemed Twilight was not of the same mind. “She hasn’t been sleeping well lately.” “Twi!” “Sunset, you’ve been having trouble sleeping this whole month. What kind of a best friend would I be if I don’t say something?” Twilight asked rhetorically. The redhead sighed as she rested her chin in the palm of her left hand. “Guess there’s no getting around it then. Yes, I haven’t been able to sleep well lately. I keep having this damn dream off and on for over a month since we came back.” Sunset reached into her backpack and took out a notebook. She placed it on the table and opened it to reveal a drawing. “Each night that I have the dream, I draw what I see. And each time I have the dream, more detail is shown to me.” The girls crowded closer and looked at the series of drawings, it depicted a tall mountain, almost pillar-like in shape. At first the drawings had no distinguishing features, but as Sunset flipped through the pages, it steadily began to get more detailed. Like she had mentioned, the picture was getting clearer with each subsequent dream. She turned to the final page and showed a much more detailed version of the mountain. There were jagged peaks all around in the background, the mountain that stood like a pillar amongst them all had more jagged features that weren’t prominent in the other drawings, there were two figures on the mountain, one had read and yellow hair that was clearly supposed to be Sunset, and a second person that was not as detailed. And at the top of this mountain, she drew a halo of light. “Ah’ve never seen a mountain range like that ‘round here, or anywhere,” said Applejack. “Same here, but, wow, Sunset, I didn’t know you could draw,” said Pinkie. “Neither did I.” The girls looked at her in confusion. Sunset sighed heavily as she leaned back into her seat. “Look…I only told Twi and Fluttershy this, but…I don’t remember my past. My life is a blank slate to me. I don’t know if I’m even from this planet or if my family is even on this planet! The only ones who have looked after me are the Commanders. This mountain, this dream, my vision back at Hive Prime. I know they’re connected, and it’s equal parts annoying and frustrating that the answer could be right there and I don’t know how to find it!” Fluttershy had remained quiet throughout Sunset’s rant, which was not anything new when regarding the alien girl. But her eyes were fixated on the drawing of the mountain. Something about it seemed familiar to her. After a few seconds, Fluttershy’s eyes widened as she shot up from her seat and exclaimed, “I remember!” The girls all looked at her, startled at her sudden exclamation. “Eep!” Fluttershy squeaked as she blushed from embarrassment. “S-Sorry, I…I just, I think I might know what that is…” Sunset stared at Fluttershy with shock as she bolted from her chair and grabbed the busty, shy girl and shook her like a nanny possessed. “What?! You have?! Where?! When?! Details, Shy! DETAILS!” “S-S-Shaki-n-n-ng t-o-o-o m-mu-ch! P-Pl-lease, s-s-stop!” Sunset quickly released Fluttershy, allowing her to sit back down as the world tried to stop spinning. “S-Sorry, I’m so sorry! I just…” Fluttershy raised her hand in a stopping motion. “It’s okay. Bear in mind, what I do remember comes from a story my grandmother used to tell me when she was alive, but I have no idea how much of it is true.” “Right now, I’ll take anything!” Just before Fluttershy could tell the story, the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch. “Dammit!” Sunset cursed. “Shy, after school, meetup in our dorm room!” \\***/// [Wednesday: Dorm Room 4:05 p.m.] After classes were done, the girls all met up at Sunset and Twilight’s dorm room. All attention was turned to Fluttershy, most of all was Sunset, her eyes were practically sparkling and wide with anticipation, like a puppy that was waiting for a treat. Fluttershy could not help but make the reference in her mind, it helped to ease her anxiety a bit. “Okay…my grandmother told me that there is always a force for good in the universe. And sometimes, this great force would call upon those it deemed worthy, and compel them to climb the tallest mountain of the world this force resided on, a mountain called–” “Crusader’s…Peak…” Sunset finished. The girls all turned to Sunset in shock, and then back to Fluttershy, who was even more shocked than them as that was exactly what she was going to say. “Sunset…?” Twilight asked gingerly. “I…I don’t know…it just…popped into my head…What else is there, Fluttershy?! This might be triggering something!” Sunset stated. “Uh…Um…Well, my grandmother said once they climbed to the top, this great force would bestow upon one or many, great power to fight against the evils of the universe,” Fluttershy finished. “So…wait, what is this ‘great force’?” Rainbow asked. Fluttershy shrugged. “My grandmother referred to it as the ‘Voice of Light’. But it was just regarded as a fairytale, and one that not many Vivirenden actually like. Being a warrior race, most of my people care more about stories of war and glory, not of heroes. But grandmama knew I didn’t like those kinds of stories, so she would tell me that one. In particular, of a hero that climbed the peak and saved the universe from a terrifying end. He was a stalwart fighter, always heading towards the setting sun. His name was–” “Orb…” Sunset took out the coin of that very Ultra. “Ultraman Orb.” “Wait, so does that mean that there are more Ultra people?” Pinkie asked. “Ocellus said that the Belzeb Queen was defeated by a band of Ultra warriors, on Zodio, the creatures there mistook me for another Ultra clad in blue…Wherever Crusader’s Peak is, that’s where I need to start! If it’s not on Earth, then it’s somewhere out there!” Sunset pointed towards the window, more specifically, to space. “If I can find out on what planet this Voice of Light is on, I can go there and maybe start piecing together my past!” Twilight thought about Sunset’s dilemma, finding a planet with a particular geographical feature was going to be difficult, partially because if this planet had gone undiscovered, then there would be no official record of it in the Galactic Planet Catalogue. “We can try looking through the database of discovered planets, cross reference them with your drawing, and maybe we can get close to it at least?” “You can do that?” Rainbow asked. “It won’t be easy, but if I tinker with the programming, I can get it to work, with a possible thirty percent margin for error. It’s not good but not bad either,” said Twilight. “Whatever you can do, Sparky.” \*****///** [Friday: Space Observatory Wing, 2:10 P.M.…] Twilight was determined to help out her friend, she made a copy of Sunset’s drawing and entered it into the S.M.I.L.E. geographic analyzer engine, with that, she was able to cross reference the mountain, known as Crusader’s Peak, to try and locate a planet that might have a similar feature. She doubted that the computer would find the exact planet, but if she could at least get some hits, it would give them a place to start. That was two days ago, and today, the computer in the observatory still had no hits. Twilight tried to speed things along by stealthily diverting computing power from some of the base’s nonessential functions in order to overclock the computer. Twilight did her own search via her tablet, although she doubted that she would find it faster than the computer could, it was at least worth a shot. “You seem to be hard at work, Ms. Sparkle.” “Eek!” Twilight jumped when she heard someone behind her. The young genius turned around and gulped when she noticed who it was. “C-Commander C-Celestia!” The tall woman smiled, a little mischievously, as she looked at the computer. “I was wondering why the observatory was drawing in so much power. You know, diverting computing power from other systems is against school and S.M.I.LE. regulations.” “I…I…I…” “And depending upon the reason why you were doing so, it could land you in detention, or a dismissal from the Academy,” Celestia added. Twilight looked like she was on the brink of a full panic attack, she was just trying to help Sunset, she did not think that it would cause this much trouble. Celestia could see that poor Twilight was about to break down, so she quickly said, “Twilight, relax, it’s okay. It was just a little teasing is all. I didn’t mean to frighten you.” The teen genius took a moment to breathe and release her tension. “Sorry, I really didn’t mean to scare you,” Celestia apologized. “It’s…It’s fine, Commander…” Twilight panted. Celestia pulled up a chair and sat next to Twilight as she asked, “But, seriously, Twilight, what are you researching that you have to pull so much computing power from different systems. While against regulations, I must admit how impressed I am that you managed to do such a thing.” Twilight fidgeted in her seat and began to nervously play with her bang. Commander Celestia Solstice was Sunset’s legal guardian, perhaps she had an idea of what was going on? But Sunset never mentioned that she talked to the Commander about this. And she never did say if she even wanted her to know about what she’s been dreaming. The older woman reached out and gently patted Twilight on her shoulder as she gave her a warm smile. “Twilight, I’m not just a Commander, but I’m also the Principal of this academy. And as such, I’m here for my students, however, whether or not I am able to help is dependent on you telling me what the problem is, if there is any.” Twilight sighed inwardly, Sunset might not like that she talked to the Commander about this, but this search might go a lot faster if more information was obtained from one of the two people who were looking after Sunset. “I don’t know if Sunset has told you anything, but…she’s been having trouble sleeping lately.” Celestia pinched the bridge of her nose as she asked, “Tell me she’s not running herself ragged like what happened when the Phantom Zone Emitter was offline?” Twilight shook her head. “No, not for that reason. She hasn’t been able to sleep because she’s been having this dream, and she thinks it’s connected to her lost memories.” The tri-color haired woman sat up straight when she heard this. “You’re serious? She’s starting to remember her past?” Twilight made a wavy motion with her hand. “Well, she had a vision back on Hive Prime, and ever since we’ve come back, she’s been having this dream about her climbing a mountain. Thanks to Fluttershy, we think we know what the mountain is called, Crusader’s Peak. Sunset drew a picture of the mountain, a very detailed picture, and I fed that into the computer to cross reference every known geographical feature on the discovered planets in the GPC. I drew power from nonessential systems to overclock the computer so it could scan faster. I’m sorry, I just really wanted to help Sunset.” Celestia hummed in contemplation. “……For so long I’ve wanted to help Sunset regain her memories, to grant her some closure or peace. I know she doesn’t say it out loud, but I know it’s frustrating to her that she can’t remember. And it frustrates me that there might be someone out there looking for her, with no way to find her. Or even worse, she was just abandoned because she was different.” The older woman had a look of determination on her face as she added, “I’ll help you in any way I can, Twilight. For now, I’ll overlook this since the systems you took offline don’t impact the Phantom Zone Emitter or our defense or early warning systems, but next time, please ask for permission.” Twilight blushed and replied. “Yes, Ma’am.” \*****///** Sunset once again found herself at the base of the mountain, but now she knew its name, Crusader’s Peak. This mountain was both a symbol of hope and despair for her. Would she be able to find this mountain, and if she did, would she obtain the answers she sought? The dream began as always now, the other person appeared next to her, their face still cast in shadow, the only thing visible to Sunset was their mouth, of which no sound left it. However, even without hearing this person’s voice, she could still make out what they were saying to her. “We’re here, just like we were called. I’m not losing to you, so don’t you dare hold back or give up on me.” Sunset sighed, it did not matter what she responded with, the dream, or memory, was on a loop. Sunset could say, “Cotton candy clouds raining chocolate milk,” and they would just say whatever line was next, unfazed. So, instead of saying anything, Sunset rushed ahead. Instead of saying a word, she was going to focus on climbing Crusader’s Peak as fast as she could, before she woke up, so that she could see what lied over the peak. With determined speed, Sunset climbed the side of the mountain, the ground below her swiftly shrinking with each foot and handhold. She knew that things were accelerating in the dream, because now she was already halfway up when she was only about teen feet off the ground when she started climbing. But that did not matter, she was going to reach the top at all costs. The person beside her kept pace, but Sunset paid them no mind even when they said something. All that mattered was the top of the mountain. The light of the peak was getting brighter, which meant she was getting closer. Sunset was close now, just one more handhold and she would see what lied at the top. As her head began to rise, that’s when– “OH, SON OF A – UGH!” Sunset growled angrily as her eyes flew open. She jumped out of bed and tossed the pillow across the room, angry that she was so close, but it was if her own mind was against her. “I just want to know where I came from! Is that so much to ask?!” Sunset released an exasperated sigh as she sat back down and ran her hands through her hair. She glanced over at her nightstand, looking directly at the Coin Keeper that housed her Ultra Coins. Sunset grabbed it and opened the Coin Keeper, taking out the Ultra Coin that housed the power of Ultraman Orb. “You were there, at some point, you climbed that very same mountain and became an Ultra. I know I’m desperate, hell, I’m talking to a coin for Pete’s sake!” Sunset continued to stare at the image of Ultraman Orb and then said, “Please…I just need a little help…from one Ultra to another…” Sunset held the coin in both her hands, as if praying. Just then, the Ultra Coin began to glow in her hands. The redhead opened her hands, and as she did, the coin flew out of her hands and pierced through the wall as a trail of purple light followed behind it. Sunset bolted from her bed and ran into the living room, throwing open the sliding glass doors and going out onto the balcony. From there she could see the trail of light still shining bright in the sky and heading straight up. “Are you…Are you showing me the way?!” The young amnesiac ran into Twilight’s room and shook the genius awake. “S-S-Sunset, w-w-why a-a-are y-y-you s-s-shaking m-me?!” Twilight asked. “Sparky, go to the balcony and tell me what you can see!” “What?” “Just do it!” Sunset did not wait as she practically dragged Twilight out of bed and brought her to the balcony. Once there, she pointed towards the trail of light and said, “There, do you see?!” Twilight glanced at her friend with confusion. “What am I supposed to see? Cassiopeia? The Libera constellation?” Now it was Sunset’s turn to look confused. “You really can’t see that?” “Sunset, I’m serious, I don’t see anything other than the stars,” said Twilight. Then…am I the only one who can see? The flame haired girl shook her head and had a serious look on her face before she turned towards the direction of the light. “I’m going to go. Earlier, the Orb Ultra Coin glowed and shot through my bedroom wall and headed into space. There’s a light trail that I can see. I think Orb is trying to show me the way to Crusader’s Peak.” Twilight’s eyes widened upon hearing this news. “WHAT?! Sunset, this is a major development! We have to tell Commander Celestia!” “W-What? No, Twi, I have to go! Now! While the trail’s still there!” Sunset argued. “Sunset, you shouldn’t do this alone,” Twilight retorted. “I told Commander Celestia what’s going on with you, and she wants to help. Just give her a chance.” The teen girl looked back and forth between Twilight and the light trail, she wanted so badly to fly off into the sky and follow that light wherever it lead. But at the same time, she knew she could not just simply leave Earth defenseless all of a sudden. Twilight could see the eagerness in Sunset’s eyes, as well as the mounting anxiety that whatever she was seeing would disappear soon. She feared that, too. What if this light trail Sunset was seeing was only temporary? What if in the time they take get everything ready to leave, the trail goes cold, and Sunset loses her one shot at finding some answers because of Twilight’s insistence on getting Celestia? She could not live with herself if she did that to Sunset. “I know it’s a lot to ask, Sunset, but please, trust me. Let Ms. Solstice help you!” Sunset glanced up at the sky again, and with a reluctant groan she yielded to Twilight. “Fine…but the moment I see that light trial fading – I’m sorry – but I’m leaving right then and there. Okay?” “I promise, things will work out.” \*****///** [Saturday: S.M.I.L.E. Controlled Launch Port, Canterlot City. 3:10 A.M.…] “Okay, this was faster than I thought…” Upon contacting Celestia and telling her what had occurred, the commander of Concordia Base moved swiftly, jumping out of bed, and putting in a call to ready a S.M.I.L.E. lightspeed ship. Thankfully, being the commander of the first S.M.I.L.E. base ever made came with a lot of perks, one of those being no one asked that many questions when the commander gave an order. Within less than an hour after their call, Celestia had driven to the dorm and picked up Sunset, however, Twilight was insistent on going with her. After a brief back-and-forth, Twilight went with them. The three women donned their space suits and entered the ship, after getting seated, Celestia pressed some buttons and flipped a few switches, and spoke to the control tower as she went through their check list. Finally, after everything was done, the ship took off, using the magnetic railgun to launch the ship straight into the air without incident. Despite this being her second trip into space, Twilight was still not used to the g-forces that were exerted on her body. Partway through the launch she almost blacked out, but thankfully they managed to break free of Earth’s gravity before that became an issue. Now that they were outside of Earth’s orbit, Celestia placed the vessel into a holding pattern. “Okay, Sunset, which way do we go?” Celestia asked. Sunset unbuckled her harness and went to the window. She glanced around and that’s when she spotted the light trail of the Ultra Coin. “There!” Sunset pointed. “Fly in that direction!” Celestia nodded and turned the ship in the direction that Sunset had showed her. Once she was aligned with the light, Celestia ignited the fusion engines and propelled them forward at incredible speeds. Stars and planets whizzed by them in a matter of minutes as they flew to their unknown destination, Sunset rubbed her left arm as she took the co-pilot’s seat next to Celestia. “Hey…thanks…for doing this. I don’t know if you’re going to get in trouble for this, but…thank you.” Celestia smiled at Sunset as she said, “It’s no trouble at all, Sunset. I’ve lamented the fact that I couldn’t give you any real answers to your past, so, when Twilight told me that you needed help, I didn’t think twice about it.” Sunset chuckled a little. “You really do take being my guardian seriously, huh?” Celestia shrugged. “I guess you could say I’m living a dream by doing so.” “What do you mean?” Sunset asked. “…I’m not able to bare children, Sunset.” Sunset shook her head in shock, and Twilight clasped her hands together. “Seriously?” Celestia nodded. “When I was a cadet like you and Twilight, I was selected for Special Agent status. I flew Gungirs back in the day, and during one Space Beast encounter, I got shot down, and was severely injured.” Celestia took her right hand off the yolk and gently placed it over her stomach. “The damage was…severe…some of my intestines were gone along with other organs. All of which had to be replaced by cybernetic prosthetics. Medical science and technology has come a long way, but the one thing that it can’t do is recreate a uterus. At least not one that can grow a human life.” Twilight decided to chime in. “It’s not all impossible for you to have a child, Commander. There are other methods, adoption, surrogates, they even have incubation tanks. I’m sure with your being the commander of a S.M.I.L.E. base, you’d have plenty of funds to access any of those.” Celestia nodded. “Yes, all of those are viable options, and I do have the financial means to pursue them. But I want to feel it…I want to feel that life growing inside me, to have that connection to my child from the moment it begins to form inside of me. Call me old fashioned, I guess. Besides being a S.M.I.L.E. Commander, being a mother was my other big dream. You can imagine how devastated I was when they told me the news.” Twilight never thought about it until now, her hands unconsciously moved towards her stomach. Having children had never crossed her mind, romance never popped up either even though she was at the age where she could start sifting through potential love interests. “I’m sorry that happened to you.” “It’s in the past, neither of you have anything to be sorry about.” “Wish I was around to make sure that didn’t happen…though.” Sunset added. “Sunset, you were barely born yet. Don’t blame yourself for something that you had no ability to stop. Besides, now I get to take care of many children, watch them grow, stumble, laugh, cry, and I see new faces every year. But I will say that I’ve been happier since I was granted guardianship of you, Sunset. I know I’m not your mother, but I still regard you as my daughter. And as much as Luna will deny it, she sees you as the niece she never had.” Sunset blushed a little, she had no idea that Celestia felt that way about her, or Luna. Perhaps she should open up to them a little more, Luna seemed to regard Sunset with a little more fondness after what happened on Hive Prime. Maybe it was time she did the same for them. “Now that I think about it, what did Vice Commander Luna say when you told her we were going off world?” Sunset asked. Celestia whistled a little tune as she kept her eyes forward. “You didn’t?” Sunset and Twilight asked. \*****///** [Same Day: Concordia Base, 6:00 A.M.…] Luna groggily awakened to the alarm clock blaring. She sat up in her bed, stretching her arms up as the black t-shirt that read, “Gamer Girl 4 Life”, rose just a bit to show off her midriff before she finished her stretch and brought her arms down. After smacking her lips, Luna got out of bed, the baggy t-shirt flowed down stopped halfway down her thighs. She walked into the bathroom and began her morning routine, brushing her teeth, washing her face, brushing her hair, the usual. Afterwards she went back into her room and got out her uniform, which she ironed and placed on a hanger, ready to go. She knew Celestia would be up already, compared to Luna, Celestia was always a morning person, but lost steam during the night, whereas Luna’s internal clock had her more alert at night. After getting dressed, Luna headed into the living room of their home and called out, “Tia, I’m ready! Is breakfast ready, yet?” When she got no response, Luna called out again, “Tia? Tia?! Ugh, sister, what in the world are you doing?” Luna walked into their kitchen and said, “Tia, I swear, you better not be in your underwear, listening to rock music on your headphones, and shaking your ass. That is the last thing I need to see in the morning! Again!” However, once Luna reached the kitchen, she was surprised to find it vacant. There was not even a small hint that her sister had been in there. “Odd…she never sleeps in. Is she sick?” Luna was about to head to her big sister’s room but stopped when she saw a tablet with its kickstand out, sitting on the bar area of the kitchen. Along with the tablet was a note that said, “Play me”. “What in the world?” Luna swiped open the tablet, brought up the video file, and pressed play. [Hi little sis!] “Oh, nothing good ever comes after she says that.” [Now, don’t be mad–] “Too late for that.” [But I got a call from Sunset and Twilight Sparkle tonight, and Sunset might have remembered something from her past. So, we’re taking a S.M.I.L.E. space cruiser and heading out to follow a trail of light that only she can see to find some mysterious planet with a mountain that may hold the answers she’s seeking. So, needless to say, Aster is MIA for today, and you’re in charge of the base and academy! Don’t know how long we’ll be gone, but I doubt it’ll be that long. Do your best, Lulu!] Luna’s left eye twitched. “You headed off to space…in the middle of the night…and you didn’t even tell me………TIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!” \*****///** [Space: In Transit, 10:30 a.m.…] Twilight raised an eyebrow as she looked around and asked, “Did you hear something?” “Kinda in the middle of space, no sound in a vacuum.” Sunset then began stalking towards Twilight, putting on a creepy, menacing face as she said, “And in space…no one can hear you scream, Sparky.” Twilight, on the other hand, had a deadpan expression. “Not doin’ it for ya?” “Not even a little.” “Eh, worth a shot.” Sunset turned around and then asked, “How far have we gone since we left Earth?” Celestia checked the computer and said, “Well, we’re already out of our own solar system. It would be helpful if we could warp to this planet where the mountain is on, but without knowing the coordinates, we’ll just have to follow the trail you can see, Sunset.” Sunset grumbled as she leaned back in her seat. “This place could be in another galaxy…do we even have enough supplies onboard for that long a trip?” Twilight opened her HoloFrame and linked with the ship’s computer. “At best…if we ration the water and food supply, we could maintain this course for about two months max. Since the ship has a warp engine, we can always warp back to Earth once we get to this planet. Wherever it is.” Celestia grimaced. “Two months…that’s a long time to be away from Earth. It’s been quiet for right now, but there’s no telling how long that will last.” Sunset bit on her bottom lip a little. Celestia was right, two months flying through space was too long, and even then, there was no telling if that would be enough time for them to get to their destination, it could be much further than that. Part of her wanted to tell them that if it really did take two months, that they should warp back to Earth, and she’d fly the rest of the way there as Aster. But that would not do either, if a powerful Space Beast arrived, and she was not there to help, so many people might be killed, and it would be her fault. Orb, I need one more miracle from you, please, she thought. “What’s that?” Twilight asked as she looked out the window. Just ahead there was a purple glowing light. Sunset saw that the light trail ended at that sphere of light. “Celestia, slow down, we’re reaching the end.” Celestia did as Sunset asked, cutting the main engines and firing the retros to slow them down. After a minute, they came to a full stop before the glowing sphere of light. The three women looked around, and Twilight ran scans, but there was no sign of a planet anywhere near them. “Why did it stop here?” Celestia asked. “I…I don’t know.” Suddenly, the sphere enlarged within a matter of seconds. That same sphere punched a hole through space, creating another light trail that lead into the newly made wormhole. “I think it wants us to go in,” said Sunset. “Alright then, girls, strap in! And helmets on, we don’t know what’s waiting for us on the other side of that rift,” Celestia ordered. Sunset and Twilight took their seats, and pressed the buttons on their suits’ colors, activating their helmets which constructed around their heads. Once Celestia had her helmet on, she fired the engines again and they flew straight through the wormhole. The tunnel was made of purple light that sparkled and shimmered, Celestia could feel a great force tugging on the ship, as if they were caught in some kind of cosmic version of an undersea current. The ship was tossed up and down and side to side as they followed the path the wormhole took them. After several minutes of rough traveling, the wormhole opened and revealed regular space. “Hold on girls, we’re about to exit!” Sunset and Twilight braced themselves, just as they exited the wormhole, Celestia fired off the retros and brought the ship to halt. The sudden stop jerked them forward, the harness digging into their chests as the momentum of the ship carried them forward. After a few seconds the retros stopped firing, and the ship was finally brought to a stop. Everyone groaned from the sudden stop, and the soreness felt from the harness. “Is…everyone alright,” Celestia asked. “I feel like my chest is a flat as Rainbow Dash’s after that, but otherwise alright,” Sunset commented. “I think I went down a few cup sizes too,” Celestia remarked. “I think I’m going to have an ‘X’ shaped bruise after that,” said Twilight. “Look!” Sunset and Celestia stared out of the window and saw a huge planet in the distance. The planet’s atmosphere was a mixture of different blues, with clouds hovering around. Sunset unbuckled herself from the harness and stepped closer to the window, standing next to Celestia. A deep sense of nostalgia hit her, she definitely knew of this place, this planet, it was so familiar to her. Celestia and Twilight quickly accessed the computer and began scanning the space around them. “I’m not seeing any known constellations, either in our galaxy or any other,” said Celestia. “I’m running this planet through the GPC, but there’s nothing, I’m finding no matches,” said Twilight. “We don’t even know what this planet’s name is.” “O-50.” Celestia and Twilight both looked at Sunset with surprise. “This…This planet is called O-50. I…I know that…w-why do I know that? How do I know that?!” Celestia looked back at the planet with determination. “Perhaps this place is where the answers you need are. But where do we even begin to look for this ‘Crusader’s Peak’?” A bright purple light visible to even Twilight and Celestia zoomed past the ship and headed straight for the planet below. “Follow that light!” Sunset stated. “Strap in!” Sunset sat down in the co-pilot’s seat, and once she had, Celestia went full throttle and chased after the light. She placed the shields to maximum as they entered the atmosphere, never losing track of the light as they passed through the multiple atmospheric layers of O-50. Once they were finally through, they could see vast land below them. The light angled itself and began curving to the right. Celestia angled the ship that way, keeping pace with the floating ball of light as it lead them, hopefully, to the destination that Sunset sought. It took a few minutes, but soon the light began to slow down as they entered a mountain range. As they did, Sunset began to see things. The mountain range was familiar to her, but what was stranger was how the inside of the ship was shifting back and forth between the S.M.I.L.E. cruiser layout, and then to something else that was familiar yet strange to her. The light of the Ultra Coin faded and stopped, prompting Celestia to stop the ship as well. The coin flew towards the ship, phasing through the hull and floated before Sunset. The fiery haired teen took hold of the coin and put it back in the Coin Keeper. “Wait, that’s it?! Where’s the mountain?! I thought it was leading us to Crusader’s Peak?” Twilight asked. “Sunset?” Celestia spoke. Sunset looked at the yolk for the ship and asked, “Can…Can I drive?” Celestia’s first instinct was to say “no”, she knew Sunset could fly as Aster, but she has not logged that many hours in the flight simulators. However, the longer she looked at Sunset, the more she felt that something was resonating with Sunset, something that compelled her to fly this ship. “Okay.” Celestia pressed a few buttons and switched control over to the co-pilot’s side. “You have control, Sunset.” Sunset gripped the yolk, letting whatever instinct that was kicking in dictate her movements. The dials, buttons, and switches were relatively the same as the flashing vision in front of her. And after making the necessary adjustments, Sunset took hold of the reins and flew the ship forward. She lowered their altitude to about two-thousand feet in the air, which seemed odd to both Twilight and Celestia. “Sunset, why are you bringing us lower?” Twilight asked. “Crusader’s Peak…it won’t allow anyone to just simply fly up there who isn’t worthy…” Sunset was speaking these words but was unsure how she knew them. Celestia was carefully watching Sunset as she piloted the ship, taking it slow and steady as she navigated the mountain range. It was all so strange, Sunset had never flown an actual cruiser, and yet, she was doing so with a steady seasoned hand. Sunset continued to navigate the range, images flashed before her, shifting the environment of the ship to a different ship. She glanced to her left and saw the same person she had climbed the mountain with in her dreams. So, whoever that person was, we must’ve known each other. And…we piloted the ship. We came here, to this planet, together. But…this place doesn’t feel like it’s my home…But it does feel important to me. It’s almost calming. After another few minutes of careful piloting, they had arrived. Twilight removed her harness and walked up to the front to join Celestia and Sunset. Twilight and Celestia’s jaws dropped when they saw the tall, spire-like mountain that pierced the clouds, and at the top of this mountain, even from their distance, they could see a halo of light shimmering at the very top. “Is that…?” Celestia whispered. “Crusader’s Peak,” said Sunset. “We’re…We’re here.” [ALERT!] [ALERT!] [ALERT!] Sunset was snapped out of her trance by the warning systems going off. Celestia regained control of the ship and began taking evasive maneuvers as sonic scarlet beams shot towards them. A high-pitched screeching sound could be heard coming from the beams that made all three occupants of the ship cry out in pain from the assault on their eardrums. Another beam shot towards them, but Celestia pulled up and away from the beam attack. However, there was a third beam that hit them from the left just as they dodged the first two. The beam exploded against the shield, knocking them off kilter. Twilight, who was not in her seat began to tumble about the cabin. Sunset quickly unbuckled herself and launched herself at her friend. Before the bespectacled girl could slam into the ceiling, Sunset grabbed ahold of her and put herself between Twilight and the ceiling, letting herself take the blow. Celestia leveled out the ship, and from that, caused the two of them to fall. Sunset once again put herself between Twilight, allowing the redhead to take the impact of landing on the floor. “Sunset! Are you alright?!” Twilight asked. “Sore, but I’m good! What the hell was that?!” Sunset took this chance to get Twilight into her seat. “We’re taking fire!” “From what?!” Suddenly, a pair of red glowing eyes appeared before them. “THAT!” Celestia pulled up as quickly as she could, making Sunset have to hold onto Twilight’s seat as they rapidly ascended to get out of the way of whatever it was. “Okay, that’s it! I’m not letting some Space Beast get between me and my past!” Sunset raised her right arm and materialized the StaRaizer. A bright light enveloped Sunset, and within that light, she was transported to the starry nexus. A comet of light fazed through the hull of the ship and expanded in the air above it. After a moment, the comet dispersed, revealing the Herald of Light, Ultrawoman Aster. Now that she was outside the ship, Aster could see exactly what it was that was attacking the ship. The Space Beast was yellow in color, goldenrod streaks formed intricate patterns on its body, with a long snake-like trunk, its body was covered in scales, frills on the side of its face, and black spines that ran the length of its back. The monster had semi-muscular arms, with long black claws, and on its chest was a red gemstone that pulsed with power. The monster had a long muzzle, with rows of sharp teeth, and piercing, glowing red eyes. Aster gathered energy to her hands and fired off multiple shots of her Beam Bullets at the monster. The yellow scaled creature bobbed and weaved each shot and now shifted its attention towards her. Just as she wanted. Aster flew towards the monster and threw a punch. The yellow monster dodged the attack and struck Aster in the stomach with her tail, swung her around, and threw her straight towards the ground. Aster impacted hard against the face of one of the nearby mountains, causing her to groan, but it was going to take more than that to take her down. That’s when she heard a crackling sound. The Herald of Light looked up just in time to see bolts of lightning raining down on her position. Aster narrowly dodged the lightning bolts as they cut grooves into the face of the mountain with ease, burning through it and boring deep holes that cut down into the ground. “Okay, it’s tougher than it looks! But I’ve got more up my–!” A huge explosion went off near Aster, sending her flying backwards. When Aster regained her balance, she paused and looked at what had attacked her. To her shock, there was another one. This Space Beast resembled the yellow one, but this one’s scales were purple, with streaks of turquoise that formed similarly shaped patterns like the first. Its black spines were more jagged than the first, it also had more muscle than the other, and looked even meaner. This one also had the same piercing red eyes and glowing gemstone on its chest as well. The second monster’s spines glowed as it opened its mouth and released a deluge of purple flames that scorched the land in front of it. “Oh crap! Aurora Shield!” Aster made a circle with her left arm, creating a shield of aurora light just in time for the deluge of flames to slam against it. The Ultra warrior dug her heels into the rock, cutting grooves into it as the sheer force of the flames was enough to push her back. “Okay, one v two, I got this!” Just then, Aster sensed something, but the moment she did it was too late. Aster was suddenly struck from behind by an extremely cold sensation, she managed to glance over her shoulder to see a beam of cryo energy striking her and causing multiple sparks to be let loose from her body. Aster could not maintain the shield any longer due to the second attack, causing both the flames and cryo beam to hit at the same time, releasing a powerful explosion that threw Aster into the distance. The yellow scaled monster intercepted Aster and released more lightning bolts that hit her, causing more sparks to fly from her body, and throwing Aster back down to terra firma. When the smoke cleared, Aster managed to get herself out of the crater and she was now facing, not one, not two, but three Space Beasts. The third one was arctic blue in color, with navy blue streaks that formed similar patterns to the previous two, her spines were curved, she looked less muscular than her partners, probably built for speed rather than power, and she sported the same gemstone and glowing eyes. “Seriously? Three on one?!” “Unlucky for you,” said the yellow scaled monster. “Who the heck are you?!” “Adjya,” the yellow scaled monster spoke. “Not like you deserve to know my name, but it’s Arjora,” spoke the purple scaled monster. “And I’m Souja, nice to meet you!” the blue scaled monster greeted. “What the hell do you three want?! I’m not here to fight you, I just want to go to that mountain!” Aster stated. Adjya smirked as she winded about and said, “We figured that much, little Ultra, and that’s why we won’t let you.” “What are you, some kind of guardians?” “Tch, please, we came here to tear that mountain down,” Arjora corrected. “Yeah, our Master was all like, ‘GO AND BLOW UP THAT MOUNTAIN! OR ELSE!’, totally rude. He could’ve at least said ‘please’ or something.” “So, there you have it, we came here to tear down that precious mountain of yours. But it looks like we get a bonus, our Master will be pleased that we were able to take down the Ultra girl who has been a thorn in his side!” Aster growled in anger and shouted, “I WON’T LET YOU DESTROY THE MOUNTAIN! IF YOU WANT ME, THEN COME AT ME!” A flash of red light emanated from Aster as she entered her power form, she charged straight for the trio, but the only one who met her charge was Arjora. The muscular leviathan grabbled with Aster, their fingers interlocked and squeezing as they tried to bring the other into submission. Aster fired off one of the revolver cylinders on her leg and created a blast of force and pressure that propelled her right leg forward, allowing Aster to knee strike Arjora in the gut. Arjora grunted from the blow, but instead of letting go, she only got angrier and bellowed forth a torrent of flames, bathing the hero in them. “Is that all you’ve got?!” Aster mocked. There was a prideful glint in the leviathan’s eye as its spines glowed brighter. The flames started to glow brighter as well, becoming a full-on plasma blast that burned even hotter than before. Sparks were coming off Aster’s body, and it was becoming increasingly apparent that her high defense was not cutting it at point blank range. “NOVA BURN!” Aster gathered her cosmic and flame energy, igniting her body, and released a powerful explosion around herself. Arjora was sent flying but managed to bring herself to a stop as she raked the land with her claws. She growled indignantly at the, as far as she was concerned, cheap trick. Out of the flames came a blue streak, Aster had switched to her speed form, closing the distance on Arjora as particles of water began to form around both her hands. “Aqua Blades!” Just as Aster was about to bring down both of her water construct swords, Souja slithered quickly towards Arjora, creating blades of ice in her hands as she blocked Aster’s swords. “Hey! I didn’t ask for your help! Souja!” Arjora growled. “Oh, don’t be mad, I just want a turn to play!” Souja then turned her attention to Aster as a sinister grin formed on her muzzle. “So, let’s play, Aster!” Aster broke off from Souja and began fighting her with a flurry of slashes, but each slash was countered by the blue leviathan. She may have sounded a bit ditzy, but that did not mean she was not as dangerous as her partners. Still, Aster kept at it, the air resounding with the ringing sound of their blades’ impact. Souja’s grin widened as she struck Aster’s swords again, but this time, she funneled her cryo energy into her own blades and flash froze Aster’s. The Ultra warrior was caught off guard as her swords were turned to ice, and in the next moment, Souja struck again and shattered them, slashing Aster across the chest in an “X” pattern. The Herald of Light quickly backed away and formed an energy bow in her left hand. “Artemis Arrow!” Aster drew on the light bowstring and fired multiple shots at Souja. The blue leviathan proved to be fast as it took to the air and began weaving and dodging each of Aster’s arrows. Souja’s spines glowed bright blue as she fired icicle missiles. Turning their battle into a shooting match as Aster had to switch between trying to shoot down Souja and intercepting the icicle missiles. Meanwhile, Celestia and Twilight were watching from up above, worried at how the battle was going. “We have to help her,” said Twilight. “Doesn’t the ship have any weapons systems?!” “It does, but at this point we’d only get in the way,” said Celestia. “We don’t have to defeat them, if we can at least make an opening for Sunset to gain the upper hand, then that should be enough, right?! Celestia contemplated Twilight’s suggestion, the odds were not in Sunset’s favor, and she needed some assistance. As Aster kept looking for an opening to counterattack, several bolts of lightning rained down on her position. Aster had no time to dodge as she was struck again by Adjya’s lightning bolts, but this time the damage was bit more severe due to Cosmic Wave’s low defensive power. The yellow leviathan chuckled evilly as she watched from on high as the hero fell back to the ground, smoking from her attack. That’s when all three of the leviathans lined up in a row, their spines glowed a bright scarlet in tandem with their gems. Aster’s body reverted back to her original form, her color timer blinking red from all the damage she had taken. When she spotted the trio about to attack, she quickly gathered what energy she had left into her arms. The leviathan trio inhaled and released a long singing note that transformed into a combined sonic scarlet beam that shrieked towards Aster. “ASTRONIUM RAY!!!” Aster placed her arms together in an L-shaped pattern and fired her Ultra Ray straight up. The two attacks slammed into each other halfway, causing a powerful shockwave that nearly threw the S.M.I.L.E. vessel into the distance. Aster struggled against their combined might, pouring every last ounce of power she had into her attack. But unfortunately, it was not enough, the leviathan trio released a louder note, doubling the size of the beam and overtaking Aster’s Astronium Ray. Thinking quickly, Aster diverted the beam, using it launch herself away just as the beam hit the ground. The resulting explosion created a powerful, buffeting shockwave that tossed her into the air before she came crashing back to the ground. Aster’s transformation ended as she changed back into Sunset Shimmer. The teenage girl groaned painfully as she stood onto her feet, her clothes scuffed, and her forehead bled a little, but she was still standing. Adjya, Arjora, and Souja floated down to the ground before Sunset and stared at her curiously. “Huh, the great Aster is nothing but a little girl,” Adjya mocked. “And Zetton lost to this punk? And in his evolved state? Pathetic,” said Arjora. “But she is cute, do we really have to kill her? I wanna keep her,” whined Souja. “Oh, by all means, go ahead, Souja. Just don’t come crying to me when the Master asks why she’s still alive.” Souja’s expression fell. “Ah, that’s not fair!” “Ugh, you’ll find another playmate, let’s just smoke this chick and get it over with!” Sunset, despite seeing no way out of this, still stared defiantly at the trio. I just wanted answers…and now I’m going to die without getting any…Sunset looked up towards the ship and pressed on the communicator on her space suit. “Celestia, Twi, head back to Earth. Warp there now.” {WHAT?! WE’RE NOT LEAVING YOU!} Twilight shouted. {We have weapons onboard; we’ll attack now and give you time to run!} Celestia suggested. “You both know as well as I do that that’s a stupid plan. You’ll only get killed…Celestia, you have a duty to protect your students, and Twilight is one of them. She has a family that cares about her, and will be devastated if she dies here,” said Sunset. {AND YOU DON’T THINK I WON’T IF YOU DIE?!}Celestia argued. {Please…Please let me try and save you!} Sunset glanced at the trio who were preparing to fire their own individual elemental attacks. “I’m sorry I never bothered to get closer to you, Celestia…Tia.” Just then, a ball of light came careening straight down from the sky and impacted a few feet from where Sunset was standing. A cloud of smoke obscured what the object but was enough of a distraction that it made the leviathan trio pause. Suddenly, a harmonica began playing a strange melody. Sunset suddenly turned her attention back to the leviathans as they were now shrieking in pain as they pressed their hands against their heads, as if the sound was hurting them. Sunset looked back at the smoke cloud, and out from it appeared a man. He was of Asian descent, or at least that’s what he looked like. The man wore a long leather coat, blue jeans, and a black t-shirt. As he emerged, Sunset saw that it was him who was playing the harmonica. “Who…Who are you?” Sunset asked. The man stopped playing the harmonica and answered, “Gai. Kurenai Gai.” “What are you doing here?” Gai stood beside Sunset and pointed to the halo of light floating above the mountain. “The Voice of Light called out to me, it said someone was fighting to protect it and needed help. So, I came here.” “The Voice of Light…it called for help?” Sunset looked up at the halo, and just as she did, the halo released a pulse wave of light. That coalesced over Sunset’s position and poured down on her, bathing the teen in that powerful light. All the fatigue and injuries she sustained from the battle had been healed, and she could feel that her energy had been replenished. When it was over, Sunset whispered, “Thank you.” “Looks like you got a bit of a problem here, huh. Three on one isn’t very fair, so…” Gai reached into his jacket and pulled out a device that was red and silver and had a clear half ring that ran from one end to the next. “Let’s even things up a bit.” “Wait…are…are you Ultraman Orb?!” Gai nodded. “Tch, so what! One or two, we’ll kick both your asses!” Arjora stated. “Let’s find out.” Sunset summoned her StaRaizer, when she did, both she and Gai were transported to a starry nexus. “Ultraman-san.” “Grant me the strength of a hero!” || ULTRAMAN! || || ULTRAMAN! || “Tiga-san.” “Grant me the power of a galaxy!” || ULTRAMAN TIGA! || || ULTRAMAN GINGA! || “Let me borrow the power of your lights!” “Release the light within me!” ||ULTRAMAN ORB: SPACIUM ZEPERION!|| ||SHINE ON! ULTRAWOMAN ASTER!|| Two pillars of light shined forth, rising into the air, and causing the leviathans to turn away from the blinding light. Once it had faded, two heroes of light stood before them, Ultraman Orb and Ultrawoman Aster. “I light the darkness and strike at evil!” “My light will overcome the darkness!” “Let’s go, rookie,” said Orb. “Right behind you!” Aster replied. Both Ultras dashed forward at the same time, Aster leading with a left punch and Orb with a right punch. The two heroes struck Adjya in the face at the same, launching the lead leviathan straight into another mountain a mile away. The other two were taken by surprise by the combined attack, which gave them time for a follow up. Orb and Aster spun on their heels and delivered a powerful double thrust kick to Souja, sending her flying far into the distance as she smacked into the side of a mountain, leaving Arjora alone. “Taro-san!” “Bestow, the strength of the brave!” || ULTRAMAN TARO! || || ULTRAMAN LEO! || “Mebius-san!” “Bestow, the power of the bold!” || ULTRAMAN MEBIUS! || || ULTRAMAN MAX! || “Help me bring the heat!” “Ignite the fire in my heart!” ||ULTRAMAN ORB: BURNMITE!|| ||BURN UP! SOLARIS MAXIMUS!|| Flashes of red went off in front of Arjora, right before she got hit with two powerful punches that sent her skidding backwards. When the light cleared, both Orb and Aster had transformed into their powered forms. “I’m burning crimson red!” “I’ll burn you away with the flames of my heart!” Arjora roared angrily, she charged up her spines and unleashed a torrent of her purple flames at the two heroes. Orb got in front of the attack and let the flames strike him. At first, Arjora thought that he was trying to protect Aster and intensified her flames, believing that she could take him down if he was willing to take the blow head on. However, she was shocked to find out that he was taking no damage at all. In fact, something was wrong. The flames, they were absorbed by Orb. Orb and Aster began advancing on Arjora, with Aster raising her right fist, and spinning the revolver barrel. Arjora hurriedly cancelled the attack, but it was too late, Orb had absorbed enough of the flames, changing their properties to match his own energy. “Break Buster!” “Stobium Counter Zero!” Aster and Orb struck with both of their right fists. The revolver gauntlet released all six of its energy chambers, at the same time, Orb released all the flames he had absorbed. The combined power of the attacks struck Arjora hard, making the monster cough violently from the impact. A powerful explosion took place that sent the monster flying into the air. “INFERNO SHOOT!” “STOBIUM BURST!” Orb generated a huge ball of fire and launched it, while Aster cocked back both of her fists and thrust them forward, blasting out a fiery plasma beam the combined with Orb’s attack. Arjora was helpless to block the attack as the explosion went off in the air and had the leviathan fall back down to the ground in a heap. Now with one down, they had another to deal with. “Jack-san!” “I ask for the gift of kindness!” || ULTRAMAN JACK! || || ULTRAMAN COSMOS! || “Zero-san!” “I ask for the gift of protection!” || ULTRAMAN ZERO! || || ULTRAMAN AGUL! || “Give me something with an edge!” “Let the waves of my soul quell your rage!” ||ULTRAMAN ORB: HURRICANE SLASH!|| ||FLOW AND CRASH! COSMIC WAVE!|| Blue light shined forth from both Ultras. Souja managed to regain her senses and swiftly came back to help Arjora, but when she found her partner down, she fired her cryo beam at the two heroes. Now in their respective speed forms, the two Ultras easily dodged the attack, breaking in different directions and zooming right into the air. “I cut down darkness faster than the speed of light!” “I will wash away all cruelty with serenity!” Souja fired several of her icicle missiles at the Ultras, but unlike last time, she had two targets to attack, which was dividing up how many she could fire at which Ultra. In order to counter this, Orb used the Orb Slugger Shot, firing off his two horns like boomerangs that floated around himself and Aster, smashing every icicle missile that came their way, and for the ones that he missed, Aster used her Artemis Shot to snipe the few strays that came their way, while also landing many of her own shots on Souja which was also damaging and disrupting. The blue leviathan needed a moment to come up with a counter, so she released her cryo energy and created a sphere of diamond hard ice around her body. Orb dove in first, summoning his Orb Slugger Lancer, a long trident weapon with two bladed tips. Orb pulled the lever on the trident three times and pressed on the button below it. “TRIDENT SLASH!” Orb unleashed a flurry of slashes at an extremely fast pace, creating afterimages of himself, making it difficult to tell which slash came next, or which slash already happened. Streaks of light came with each slash, slicing and cutting away at the ice shell, which only made Souja worried. Normally when she used this, hardly anything could break through it, but here this Ultra was chipping away at it like it was nothing. Orb came down with one more powerful slash, cutting a large grove into the ice shell, but he didn’t manage to completely go through it. Souja felt relieved, but that relief was short lived when she saw Orb move out of the way as Aster came in next, her right arm glowing with blue and bright blue light. “CALIBURN END!” Aster thrust her arm forward, creating a huge and long beam blade that roared towards the spot where Orb had been concentrating his attacks. The blade of light struck that spot and pierced the ice shell, stopping just mere inches from Souja’s chest. The blue leviathan gulped but went full panic mode when the blade glowed brighter and brighter until it released a burst of energy that exploded in her face and sent the monster spiraling to the ground in a heap. Bolts of lightning showered the two Ultras, making them have to dodge quickly to avoid getting hit. Adjya had managed to regain her senses, and she looked really ticked off. “And then there was one,” said Aster. “Let’s wrap this up,” said Orb. Within the starry nexus, Gai pulled out his signature card and scanned it into the Orb Ring. || AWAKEN, ORB ORIGIN!|| From the Orb Ring, particles of light shot out that combined together and materialized the Orb Calibur sword. Gai took the sword and pressed down on the trigger once. The sword’s guard lit up in sequence with four different colored symbols, each one representing one of the four elemental forces of nature. Once all four had lit up, the four powers combined, and from it the Ultra attained his true form, that of Orb Origin. “Shine, the power of bonds!” || ULTRAMAN ORB! || “Shine, the power of knowledge!” || ULTRAMAN HIKARI! || “The stars are aligned for victory!” ||CONVERGENCE! PLANET REVIVE!|| “I am Orb! Ultraman Orb!” “Witness our unified power!” Orb, while floating in the air next to Aster, turned to her and said, “By the way, it’s kind of strange to hear my name announced for a transformation.” “I’m sure, even my Color Timer has the same ring as you,” Aster pointed out. “Oh, yeah, you’re right!” “I’M STILL HERE YOU JACKASSES!!!” Adjya roared as she hurled several lighting bolts at them. Aster took the lead on this one as her body began to glow with orange electrical energy. “Jupiter Stormer!” Her body started to unleash her own lighting bolts, striking at the ones that Adjya fired at her. The air came alive with the buzzing sound of electricity and the smell ozone as lightning danced between them. Orb decided to lend a hand, and within the starry nexus, Gai turned the wheel on the Orb Calibur four times, and each time one of the symbols glowed, with the last one stopping on the green symbol for wind. Gai pulled the trigger of the sword, and spun it, activating the power. “Orb Wind Calibur!” Orb swung his sword around, generating powerful emerald gusts of wind, with one more swing of the sword her created a huge tornado that slammed into Adjya and threw her about, the leader of the leviathans growled and used her electrical power to create a powerful discharge that broke her free of the hold, allowing her to ascend to get the high ground so to speak. “Mercury Racer!” Aster flew faster than the eye could see, appearing as a streak of silver light that quickly met Adjya in the air, intercepting her before she could get any further. “Hi there!” “GYA!” Aster came down with a roundhouse kick, striking Adjya in the face as she plummeted straight down into the ground. “Uranus Collider!” Aster cried out as she thrust her right hand towards Adjya’s position. Adjya’s body suddenly grew incredibly heavy, stopping her from moving altogether. While this was going on, Orb landed on the ground a few feet away. Gai turned the wheel on the Orb Calibur three times, the symbol that glowed this time was the one for earth. Gai pulled the trigger and spun the wheel, just as Orb raised his sword and cried out, “Orb Ground Calibur!” as he stabbed the sword into the ground, creating two dual energy waves that traveled along the ground, winding into a circle that was on an intercept course with Adjya. Up above, Aster prepared her next attack. After flattening her right hand, she sliced the space in front of her, creating a rift in dimensional space. “Neptune Wave Crashing!” Out of that rift poured out a huge deluge of glowing, deep blue water that roared like a tsunami down towards Adjya. The yellow leviathan had no way to dodge or defend as the two elemental attacks hit her at the same time, exploding mightily and tossing her into the same area that her two partners were at. Aster flew down and stood beside Orb. “You guys are done, give up while you still can!” “I’d listen to her, this can only end one way for you three,” Orb warned. All three leviathans rose, glaring at the two heroes in defiance and hate. “We’re not going to lose here!” “Failure is not an option!” “We won’t be thrown away again!” The leviathan trio’s spines began to glow red, along with the gemstones on their chests shining brighter. Aster knew what was coming next, but this time she was ready. Aster slashed upwards with her right arm, and in its wake created five different colored spheres, she then swiped her left arm in a horizontal pattern, creating four more spheres of light to form a cross. At the same time, Gai raised the Orb Ring, and thrust the Orb Calibur through the gap in the ring. ||UNLEASH THEPOWEROFORB!|| Gai spun the wheel of the Orb Calibur, making each of the symbols light up and blink before the wheel stopped with all four of them glowing. Gai pulled the trigger and then spun the Orb Calibur’s wheel once more. Ultraman Orb raised the Orb Calibur into the air with his right hand and drew a circle of aurora light with the tip of the blade. Once the ring of aurora light was completed, he thrust the sword’s blade through the center, making the ring collect all its energy and then transferred it into the Orb Calibur. “GRAND CROSS STRIUM!” “ORB SUPREME CALIBUR!” Aster brought her arms together in an L-shaped pattern, making all nine planet spheres combine and fire in the form of a huge aurora colored beam of light. At the same time, Orb pointed the Orb Calibur at the three leviathans and fired his own aurora beam in tandem with Aster. The twin beams roared with great power as the leviathans unleashed their sonic scarlet beam. The attacks met in the center, creating a huge shockwave that caved in the area where the two beams met. The two sides battled it out in the beam struggle, the three leviathans giving it all they had to overcome the two Ultras standing before them. But the Ultras weren’t slacking off either, in fact, they were about to get serious. Aster and Orb released a loud battle cry as they poured more of their power into their beam attacks, making them glow brighter, and double in size as they began to push back against Adjya, Arjora, Souja’s combined beam. The leviathans were now worried, no, they were scared, the only thing holding back their inevitable destruction was their beam attack, but they were quickly running out of power, if they cut it off now, they would surely get swept away in the combined powers of Aster and Orb and be destroyed, but continuing this attack would only delay their death, either way, they were going to die. They could no longer sustain the attack as the blinding light of the two Ultra’s broke through and hit, creating a huge explosion that bellowed upwards and shook the air and ground with its force. When the dust settled, there was not a trace of the three monsters, the invaders had been defeated. \*****///** Now that the battle was over, Sunset and Gai stood before Crusader’s Peak. The ship had landed a couple of feet away, with Celestia and Twilight standing next to Sunset. The older woman hugged Sunset fiercely, almost threatening to never let her go. “Celestia…Celestia…! Can’t breathe!” Sunset chocked. “You can bare it after worrying me so much!” Celestia shot back. “Fair enough…!” After a couple of minutes, Celestia finally released her. Only for Twilight come up and fiercely hug her best friend. “Oop! Okay, not done yet.” “Don’t you ever tell us to leave you behind, ever!” Twilight stated. “I’m sorry…I just wanted to know you guys would at least make it,” said Sunset. “We understand, but that doesn’t make it any easier to even think about doing that…” Twilight sniffled. Gai found the whole thing heartwarming, seeing how strong this young Ultra warrior’s bonds with those who care about her were. “You seem to have a good parent, and a good friend.” Celestia blushed at the compliment and replied, “Oh…well…I-I’m her guardian, not her mother, unfortunately.” Gai shook her head. “Whether you are blood related or not, it’s how you feel and act that counts. From where I stand, you are a mother to her.” “But…I…” “Oh, just take the compliment!……Momma Tia,” said Sunset with a blush. Celestia was practically gushing at being called that, restraining herself from hopping around like a child. “Don’t get used to hearing that in public! I-I’m only going to call you that sometimes, not all the time, okay!” “I don’t care, just hearing you say it once was enough for me!” Twilight giggled at the reaction, but then turned her attention to Gai. “You’re an Ultra, I can’t believe it! Another Ultra is standing here with us! I have so many questions for you, I-I don’t even know where to begin?!” “I do.” Sunset turned to face Gai and asked, “You said the Voice of Light called you here to help defend it. Does that mean this is the place where you became Ultraman Orb?” Gai crossed his arms and nodded. “Yes, many, many years ago, my friend…and rival, Jugglus, climbed Crusader’s Peak. We were summoned by the Voice of Light to undergo the trial to determine if we were worthy of receiving its great power. We climbed to the top, but the power of light chose me instead of my friend. From then on I was Ultraman Orb, hopping around from galaxy to galaxy, universe to universe, defending the helpless and protecting the innocent from the evils that wish to exterminate life and all that is good.” “So, that’s how Fluttershy’s story came about.” A thought just occurred to Sunset. “Wait a minute, Ocellus said that the Belzeb were defeated by a band of Ultra warriors, were you responsible for that?” “I was.” “And Fluttershy said that the story of Orb was something handed down to her from her grandmother, which meant it had to have been handed down from someone just as old or older before her…” Twilight was starting to piece together where Sunset was going with this train of thought, and it worried her. “Gai…tell me, how old are you?” Gai rubbed the back of his head as he thought about that question. After a moment he sighed and said, “I wish I could tell you, it’s been so long that I’ve forgotten my age. But I know it’s more than a hundred years.” The color drained from Sunset’s face as she began to stumble backwards. Thankfully Celestia caught her, but was confused as to why that answer would make Sunset react like that. “I…I don’t understand, Sunset, what’s the matter?” “You…Did you stop aging when you became Orb?” Gai nodded. “No…then…then that means I could be…I could be hundreds of years old!” Sunset spoke in horror. “If that’s true then…anyone and everyone who could’ve remembered me, knew me, is probably dead and gone!” Sunset turned and began crying into Celestia’s chest. The realization struck Celestia now, if this was true, then that meant that Sunset’s parents, friends, or any relatives she might have had were long since dead. There was no hope of finding anyone alive that could link her to her past. Twilight walked over and hugged Sunset from behind, sniffling as she felt her friend’s sadness and trying to offer some comfort to her. Gai felt for the young woman, she came here to get answers, but it seems that the answers were not what she had hoped for. The wanderer looked up at Crusader’s Peak, and with a determined expression he said, “Sunset-chan, let’s climb.” “W-What?” “We’ll climb Crusader’s Peak together.” Sunset broke out of the hug of her guardian and friend and stood before Gai angrily. “What good will that do?! Even if I remember my past, it won’t matter! ‘Cause everyone I know might be dead!” “Might, not is. You’re giving up too early. You’re human, but you’re not from Earth. We are granted longevity from the power of light, and my people age just like normal humans. But who is to say that is the same for your people? You could come from an Earth-like planet that has a people that live much longer lives, but you won’t know that until you start somewhere, and getting to the top of Crusader’s Peak is your first step,” said Gai. Sunset wiped her eyes free from the tears as she looked up at the tall mountain. Is it possible…? Gai gently patted Sunset on the back as he started walking towards the base of Crusader’s Peak. “C’mon, rookie, or you’ll get left behind.” “Hey! I never agreed to go!” “Go, Sunset.” The flame haired girl turned around and saw that Celestia had a serious look about her. “Mr. Kurenai is right, if you don’t do this, you’ll only be haunted by this. Wondering ‘What if he was right?’ Don’t live in regret, Sunset. I’m telling you this as your…ahem…as your mother, climb!” Sunset turned to Twilight, but it seemed she was of the same mind as Celestia. “You need to do this, Sunset. For yourself.” The teen girl sighed heavily, “Fine. Hey! Wait up!” Gai smiled. \*****///** [Crusader’s Peak, 4 hours later…] “Damn I forgot how tall this mountain was!” “Don’t you have amnesia?” “I do! And one of the things that’s coming back to me is how much I disliked climbing this friggin’ tall thing!” Hours had passed since Gai and Sunset started their climb on Crusader’s Peak, and with each mile gained, Sunset’s memories were piecing back together. So far, she was remembering the arduous climb to the top, the buffeting winds that howled around her, threatening to blow her off the side of the mountain. She remembered a loose rock that nearly caused her to fall to her death, which was good because she managed to move around that very same rock. Together, the two heroes climbed, and thanks to their altered physiology, the climb this go around was easier, at least to Gai, Sunset was just remembering how much she hated climbing this mountain. But they were getting closer, they had past the cloud layer and the peak was drawing nearer. The halo of light was bigger now that they were closer to the top, just a few more feet and Sunset might be able to get the answers she sought. However, before they could pass that last bit, she paused. Gai looked to his right and asked, “Sunset-chan, what’s wrong?” “I’ve been having dreams about this place, memories in the form of dreams anyway. And each time I clear that ledge, I wake up.” Sunset looked at Gai worriedly and asked, “What if all of this was a dream? What if I’m still back in my room, and I wake to find out that this whole ordeal was just something my mind fabricated?!” Gai smiled determinedly and said, “Only one way to find out, Sunset-chan. But the only way I’m moving forward is with you. We can let go now, transform, and fly back down. We’ve come farther than I thought you were willing. But this last half has to be your choice.” Sunset looked back up at the peak, just a few more feet, a few more feet separated her from the possible answers she sought. “Okay…thank you, Gai.” Gai merely nodded and followed after Sunset. One hand in front of the other, slow and steady, she was almost there. Sunset’s right hand grabbed ahold of the ledge; this was the moment of truth. Gritting her teeth, Sunset pulled herself up over the ledge, after getting all the way onto the flat surface of the peak, she lied there on her back, panting from the ordeal, eyes shut. Gai came up after her and sat down next to the young lady. Once she had caught her breath, Sunset opened her eyes and found that she was not in her room, this was real, this was not a dream. Sunset stood up and looked above, being this close to the halo of light was awe-inspiring, and very nostalgic. The halo of light appeared around the pupils and irises of Sunset’s eyes, and in a flash her mind was flooded with memories. She remembered flying a spaceship, accompanied by someone, that part was still shrouded in shadows, she knew she was with someone, but still could not remember who they were. Her and this person flew to O-50 together, and together they climbed Crusader’s Peak, summoned by the Voice of Light. They climbed and climbed until, eventually, it was Sunset who reached the top first. There the halo of light released a sphere of glowing light in the middle of the platform, Sunset walked towards it, and placed her hand into it. Upon doing so, the light released a burst of energy, taking the shape of the sun symbol that was on Aster’s chest, and after a moment, it formed around her forearm, creating the StaRaizer bracer. Sunset turned to the person who came with her, she could sense some disappointment that the Voice of Light did not bestow its gift to them, but regardless, they seemed alright that it was her. The person who accompanied her then mouthed the words, “Congratulations, now, let’s head back to Equenta. You don’t want to keep the Princess waiting, Royal Knight Sunset.” Sunset came out of her trance with a gasp, causing Gai to quickly go to her to make sure she didn’t collapse. “Sunset-chan, are you alright?” Gai asked. “I am…I…I know the name of the planet I’m from.” \\**/// [Unknown Space…*] A portal of darkness opened, and from it spilled out Adjya, Arjora, Souja. The three leviathans fumbled about on the floor of the Dark Sanctuary, glowing in their respective colors before finally shrinking to the to a smaller size. The yellow leviathan had transformed into a teen girl, she was fair skinned, with voluptuous curves, and had rose colored eyes. Her hair was curly and big, flowing down her back, it was goldenrod colored, with yellow streaks in it. The second had lean muscle on her body, with her purple hair done up in twin-tails sporting streaks of neon turquoise. The last one had her hair in a ponytail, which was colored bright blue with navy-colored streaks. She her curves matched the first girl, but her, ahem, assets were a bit bigger than the other two. All three of them had rose colored eyes, all three wore the same raggedy tops, all three had the same raggedy looking shorts, all three of them had ruby gemstone necklaces, and all three of them sported a tattoo of their monster form on their right upper arms. “What…What happened?! I thought we died!” Arjora exclaimed. “Obviously, we’re not dead, sister,” Adjya retorted. “Or are we dead and we went to the bad place?” Souja pondered. “Go back to sleep, Souja!” Silence. All three of the girls had a chill go down their spine upon hearing the voice of the dark one. Now that they took a moment to see where it was they were, they realized that they had returned to the Dark Sanctuary, sitting before Lord Tirek and Lord Sombra. All three girls hurriedly got into bowing positions and said, “Greetings, Master!” “Tch, we sent you with a simple mission. Destroy Crusader’s Peak, and you three couldn’t manage to do something as simple as that,” said Tirek. “We’re sorry, Lord Tirek, but Ultrawoman Aster arrived on the planet at the same time we did,” said Adjya. “We would’ve ended her if that stupid second Ultra didn’t show up,” Arjora added. Sombra raised an eyebrow at that. “Second Ultra? Who?” “He said his name was Ultraman Orb,” Souja answered. The dark lord of the realm grumbled indignantly at the mere mention of that Ultra’s name. “Please, forgive us! We can try again once they leave!” Adjya suggested. Do not bother. This only proves to me that the Voice of Light will defend itself in one way or another. There is no point in throwing resources at a target that is this resourceful. Adjya raised an eyebrow and asked, “M-Master, forgive me, but did you know that that might happen?” It was a possibility, if you two failed to destroy it, and no defenses were mounted, I would have had sent Tirek to obliterate the planet. But as it seems, the Voice of Light will not allow itself to be snuffed out. You proved yourselves useful, which was why I used my power to save your lives. “And we’re so grateful–!” However, if you ever stop being useful to me. I will not hesitate to end your lives myself. My full resurrection will not be impeded by incompetence. From ANYONE. Understood? “Yes, Master!” Tirek, Sombra, and the three sisters replied. Once that was out of the way, the three sisters left the Dark Sanctuary and moved to their personal grotto room where they submerged themselves in the water. The moment they did, their bodies began to undergo a rapid regeneration process. “Sis, I don’t like that guy,” said Souja. “Like he cares. It’s the same story no matter where we go…if we’re not useful in some way then we’re thrown away,” said Arjora with hurt in her voice. “Come here you two.” Adjya opened her arms and allowed her two sisters to rest their heads against her left and right shoulders respectively. “I promised you we would always be together, that we would obtain greater power, power enough to assure that no one could look down on us. And I meant it.” “Yeah, but how? That guy’s got even Tirek and Sombra jumping when he says so, and he’s just a disembodied voice!” Arjora pointed out. “And you saw what he did to Chrysalis, the moment she turned on him he put her in a coma!” Adjya held onto them tighter. “I will not let him hurt you, I will not let anyone harm us. Never again.” Author's Note Guess who's back~ Back again~ HA! Seriously, though, yes, Aster has been revived! I'm on a bit of a hiatus from writing a couple of fics for Amphibia and Owl House, both Kamen Rider themed, BTWs, and in the meantime I'll be writing on this fic and another. I'll try and drop another chap this week, hopefully!
14th Light: Friendship In Danger / Fight Together! (Part 1)“So, Sunset’s from some planet called ‘Equenta’?” Luna asked. “Yes, when she climbed the mountain, some more of her memories returned to her, and from them she learned that she was a ‘Royal Knight’ on the planet of Equenta,” Celestia explained. “I see, have you checked through the GPC?” “The first thing I did when we found out. I even checked again once we returned, but there was nothing on this planet.” Celestia sighed sadly. “I’m afraid that…maybe this planet no longer exists.” Luna was sad to hear about what was discovered during her sister’s impromptu space trip. Especially when she learned of Sunset’s possible advanced age and that she may no longer have a home planet anymore. “What of this ‘Gai Kurenai’, where is he?” “He was called to O-50 by the Voice of Light to help Sunset defend it. But after we got everything sorted out there, we all went our separate ways. I’m sure he’s out there, defending other worlds as an Ultraman. Although, he did mention to us that there are more out there, more than we even realize,” said Celestia. “Be nice if some of them were here during the First Incursion. Anyway, I’ll do some digging on my end. I’m getting rather curious as to how S.M.I.L.E. knew about Sunset Shimmer, and her abilities.” Celestia nodded, it was a fact that they had not bothered to inquire about, but with recent information coming to light, perhaps it was worth investigating. “By the way, Luna…” “Yes, dear sister?” “Can you please have mercy on me?!” During her little space adventure with Twilight and Sunset, a mountain of paperwork had been accrued in her absence. Luna did manage to cut down the workload while her sister was away, but let’s face it, sibling rivalries die hard. “Consider it karma for leaving in the middle of the night with only a note!” \*****///** (The Dark Sanctuary…) The dark master of this realm was hard at work, summoning his malevolent energies, and concentrating them into a point in the middle of the throne room. This ball of dark power continued to rage, undulating, alive, and wanting to wreak havoc. Tirek stood with his arms crossed as he waited for his master’s work to be done, meanwhile, Sombra came walking and looked upon the work that was being done. “I hope you’re not wasting the Master’s time and energy by doing this,” said Sombra. “Believe me, it will pay off in the long run,” Tirek assured. The ball of negative energy condensed until it exploded outwards, releasing a wave of dark energy. The three sisters watched from around the corner, unsure of what was happening. When the dark energy dispersed, the only thing remaining was a device. A device that was forged of pure dark power, and only sought those with evil in their hearts. This was the device known as the Dark Ring. It is done. The Dark Ring floated towards Tirek, the device was like a small crumb in his hands, but it was fine, the Dark Ring was not made for him. The centaur turned around and looked towards where the three sisters were, making them flinch. “Enter,” he ordered. From that same hallway, a figure walked by the sisters, clad in black robes and with their hood up, obscuring their face from view. The figure stopped before the giant centaur and bowed before him. “Use the Dark Ring, my disciple, bring chaos and destruction upon the Earth from the inside. They won’t know what hit them!” The Dark Ring floated from Tirek’s hand and hovered before the robed minion. The glow of the Dark Ring illuminated their face only enough for their wicked smile to be seen. \*****///** (S.M.I.L.E. Academy: Wednesday, 9:30 a.m.) “What did you just say?!” Twilight and Sunset were walking through the halls of the academy, on their way to their next class when Sunset told her something that honestly made her head spin. “I just think that you guys should put some distance between me,” said Sunset. “I…I don’t understand, are you saying you don’t want to be friends anymore?!” Twilight asked. Sunset did not want to say that exactly, but essentially, that’s what she wanted to happen. “Look…it’ll be better for you guys and me if we’re not all together.” “Is this because…” Twilight looked about to make sure no one was eavesdropping. “You found out that you’re immortal?” “Longevity, but…” Sunset sighed. “Yeah, it is.” Twilight was still having a tough time understanding Sunset’s reasoning. “I still don’t get it.” “Look, it does neither me nor you guys any good to be friends with me. I’ll outlive you all…I’ll…never get any older than I am now. Hell, I’m probably way older than anyone here! So, I think it’s better to spare us all the headache…and heartache…if we don’t interact with each other as much. Missions and things like that are unavoidable, but the faster you guys forget about me, the easier things will be for all of us in the long run.” Twilight’s grip on her textbooks tightened. “I don’t accept that. I won’t accept that, Sunset Shimmer.” “Sparky…” “Before I met you, I never had any friends! Now I have you, and six other friends whom I adore! And the person responsible for bringing them into my life, for opening my mind up to so many things, is telling me to just forget her as if she never existed?!” Twilight began to sniffle. “Well, sorry, not sorry, I’m not going to forget you!” Twilight ran off, leaving Sunset standing there cursing herself. Of course, Twilight would react like that, how else would she? Asking Twilight to forget about the first real friend she’s made, her best friend, someone who has saved her life, and was saved by that same girl not too long ago. “Ugh!” Sunset smacked the side of a locker, leaving a dent in it. “Well, my strength, speed, stamina, and beam hands make more sense now.” Meanwhile, Twilight kept running down the hallway. Normally she was one to abide by the rules, including the one about not running in the halls, but she was not in the right state of mind to care at the moment. Sunset wanted to break ties with her friends, with her. Twilight felt her heart ache when she heard those words. She wanted to no longer be friends, or a part of her life, or their lives. Just as she turned the corner, she ran into something rather sturdy, making Twilight fall onto her rear. “Whoa there, Twilight, y’all alright?” Twilight looked up and saw the sturdy thing she ran into was in fact Applejack. And standing next to her was her girlfriend, Rainbow. The chromatic haired teen chuckled as she said, “So, the color is pink today.” Twilight was confused for a moment before she looked down and realized that her skirt was up a little and her legs were open. Blushing bright red, Twilight quickly pushed her skirt down and closed her legs, embarrassed to the umpteenth power. AND THAT’S WHY YOU DON’T RUN IN THE HALLS! “AHAHA!” Rainbow laughed. “OMPH!” Applejack lightly elbowed her girlfriend before rolling her eyes at her. The country girl leaned down and offered a hand to her friend. “Ignore her. But what’s got ya runnin’ so fast? Ya look like a chicken runnin’ from a starvin’ fox.” Twilight took Applejack’s hand, and with a swift pull, was brought back up to standing height. Sometimes she forgot about Applejack’s superhuman strength. “I was just upset…” After recovering from the elbow, Rainbow noticed that Twilight had some remnants of tears in her eyes and immediately grew concerned. “Hey, what’s wrong, why are you crying? Did someone mess with you?! Tell us who, and I’ll teach ‘em a lesson!” Twilight shook her head. “No, no one hurt me or did anything. It’s……” Applejack and Rainbow glanced at each other, now they were more worried. “Twi, ya can tell us anythin’. We aren’t just teammates, we’re friends,” said Applejack. “Ya, I may tease and stuff sometimes, but that doesn’t mean I don’t care about you any less. Just talk to us,” Rainbow added. Twilight’s tears were starting up again. “Sunset…doesn’t want to have anything to do with us anymore.” “WHAT?!” The three girls turned to the new voice and saw Pinkie, along with Rarity and Fluttershy walking by. The pink haired girl rushed to Twilight, turned her around, grabbed her by the shoulders, and shook her as she asked, “SHE DOESN’T WANT TO BE FRIENDS ANYMORE?! WHY?!” “S-S-Stop s-s-shaking p-p-please!” Pinkie did as she asked. After regaining her senses, Twilight looked around to make sure that there were no eavesdroppers. She motioned for the girls to move further down the hall, away from the any possible listeners. Although Sunset and Twilight told the girls about what they found out about Crusader’s Peak and Sunset’s possible planet of origin, Sunset had asked her not to tell the girls about her immortality. But, if Sunset was really planning on severing ties with everyone, then they had the right to know. “Sunset asked me not to tell you, but considering what she wants to do, I think you have the right to know.” Twilight sighed; this was not going to be easy. “There’s something else we didn’t tell you about our adventure. The other Ultra we met, who gained his powers from the same place as Sunset, it seems that he stopped aging when he did.” Rarity furrowed her brow and asked, “Wait a minute, you said ‘stopped aging’, as in, he’s immortal?” “I don’t think he’s like a god, more like he won’t age or get old, although I’m sure he’s still subject to death if something bad happens to him.” Fluttershy was slowly putting two and two together as her face morphed to match her realization. “Wait…so that means, Sunset is also ageless?” Twilight simply nodded. “Okay, I’m not seeing how that’s a bad thing,” Rainbow stated. “Seems it be kinda awesome not to have to worry about getting old and slowing down.” Applejack lightly swapped the back of Rainbow’s head. “Think about it, feather brain……It means Sunset’s gonna be here long after we’re all pushin’ up daisies.” “And she’s struggling with that fact. She wants to stop being around us, because she’s afraid of being hurt when the time comes and we’re…you know,” Twilight explained. Silence reigned over the group for a while. It was a heavy thing to consider. Sunset would still be around long after their death, and for them, all six would continue to grow older, while their friend will remain the same age. “Well, that’s dumb,” said Pinkie. Everyone looked at the party girl with confusion. “She doesn’t want to hurt us or herself so she’s pushing away people who care about her. I mean, that just sounds really stupid. I know if I would live forever, I’d want to have as many friends as possible! Being alone forever sounds like it would horrible!” Pinkie stated. Applejack blushed a little and smiled as she wrapped her arm around Rainbow’s waist and brought her girlfriend’s hip close to hers. “Ah’d have to agree with that. Even if Ah was goin’ to live forever, Ah wouldn’t want to be alone. Ah’d rather be with someone for the rest their life, no matter how long that is.” Rainbow blushed as well, feeling embarrassed that Applejack said such a mushy, romantic thing. “Okay, okay, you don’t have to get all mushy on me…” It was taking all her willpower to keep her wings from flaring out to cover her face. “But…yeah…what she said.” “Better to have known love and friendship, than to never have known it all. I don’t think I could bear being alone such a long time like that,” said Rarity. Fluttershy simply nodded. “Then it’s decided! We’re throwing Sunset a party!” “YEAH!” the girls shouted in agreement. Then Twilight took a moment to take in what Pinkie suggested. “Wait, what?” \*****///** (Friday: Academy Rooftop, 3:30 p.m.…) Some answers had been obtained, the biggest one being Sunset’s home planet, at least what she hoped was her home planet. After returning to Earth and informing their friends about what was discovered on O-50, the girls were quick to surround Sunset with hugs and pats on the back and assurances that they would continue to help her, no matter what. Sunset did feel relieved knowing that her friends would stand by her. However, she had Twilight omit the part about being an immortal. That was probably the thing that was proving hard for Sunset to get over the most. If Gai Kurenai was ageless after becoming Ultraman, then that meant that Sunset would never die, at least due to aging, anyway. It brought a whole new prospect onto her life as she went through classes. Constantly asking herself the question, “Does any of this matter?” And really, did it matter? Going to these classes, attending training. Now that she thought about it, was it even a good idea for her to even continue being friends with the girls? This question was rattling in her head repeatedly, even now as she lied on the roof and stared into endless sky. I’ll never grow old…I’ll never change. The girls will grow old…they will change. AJ, RD, Rare, Pinkie, Shy…Sparky. Even Luna and Celestia…they’ll all just…grow old and fade away. And I’ll still be here… Sunset’s heart began to hurt when she thought about this, the first real friends she made since she decided to fight and protect the Earth, no matter how powerful she was, Sunset could not shield her friends from time. They would all eventually grow old and die, and she’d be alone. “What am I going to do…?” “You look bummed out.” Sunset sat up and looked behind her, finding Flash Sentry walking onto the roof from the access door. “Oh, hey, Flash. Kinda having an existential crisis over here.” “Wow, about what?” he asked as walked closer. “Nothing that I can say that would sound sane,” she replied. Flash sat down next to Sunset’s left and said, “You do remember that we fight invading aliens, giant monsters, and that we have a giant superwoman who can fight against said giant monsters. And then there was that Halloween thing last month, soooo…” Sunset hated to admit it, but the guy did have a point. S.M.I.L.E. Academy has faced some crazy things, but that did not mean that she was ready to dump all this onto him. Heck, she still did not like that she dumped half of what she did on the girls, the last thing any of them needed was to do deal with her anxiety. “Just…drop it…okay?” Flash could see that the fiery redhead was not in a talking mood. So, he shrugged and said, “Okay, if that’s what you want. But I’m willing to listen. Mind if I lounge around up here, too?” Sunset sighed as she lied on her back again. “Free country, do what you want.” “Thanks.” Flash lied on his back and stared up into the sky, there were a lot of clouds in the sky and Flash decided to point out, “The clouds are really nice this time of year, huh?” “…I never paid attention to ‘em.” “Too busy to look up?” Sunset rolled her eyes. “No.” I just fly through them a lot, so I don’t exactly care what they look like. “I just…ugh…” Flash grinned a little and said, “I think that one looks like a dragon.” Sunset looked towards where he pointed, she tilted her head a little, only now vaguely seeing the serpentine dragon-like cloud. “Huh, yeah, I guess.” “You’re turn.” “We’re taking turns?” “Yeah, why not?” “Ugh, you’re annoying,” Sunset groaned. The flame haired teen scanned the skies and spotted a cloud that looked vaguely like a unicorn. “There, that one’s a unicorn, I guess.” “Huh? I think it looks like horned horse.” Sunset glanced to her left with confusion plane on her face. “That’s what I said, a unicorn.” “No, it’s a horned horse,” Flash countered. “What’s the difference?! A unicorn and ‘horned horse’ is the same thing!” Sunset argued. Flash raised his finger in a matter-of-fact fashion, “Not true, a unicorn is a mystical, magical creature. Whereas a horned horse is just a horse with a horn mutation.” Sunset chuckled in disbelief. “You’re weird, Sentry.” “No weirder than you are, Shimmer.” “Shut up.” Sunset went back to staring up at the sky, her eyes briefly glancing over at the young man. “Flash…thanks.” “Anytime.” At that moment, Sunset’s HoloFrame sounded off. The flaming redhead took out her HoloFrame from her skirt pocket and saw that she had a message from Twilight. Her first friend had been mostly silent towards her since Wednesday, no doubt upset about what she said. Sunset wanted to make amends, to tell her that it was not as if it was because Twilight was a bad friend. More like you’re a good friend that I don’t want to hurt…more. Sighing, Sunset opened the device and read the message. [Sunset, please come to our dorm as soon as you get this message. We need to talk.] “Guess it’s time to confront this,” said Sunset. “Trouble?” Flash asked as he sat up a bit. “No, just some drama I caused between Sparky and me. It’s my mess to clean up.” “Hmm, alright. Offer still stands, Sunset,” said Flash as he laid back down and looked up at the sky. Sunset got up and walked towards the door and said, “Thanks, again.” \*****///** Sunset stood before the door of her dorm room. On the other side was Twilight, no doubt wanting to have a serious discussion about what she was planning on doing. With a deep sigh, she opened the door, only to find not a single light on inside. “Uh…Twi? Sparky? You in here?” Sunset called out as she entered. “Look, I don’t want to leave things off on a sour note. But I’m doing this for–” “SURPRISE!!!” “AAAH!” *Bachoom!* The lights suddenly clicked on as all six of Sunset’s friends sprang out from the corners and couch. This startled the redhead and made her fire off a light beam from her hand. Thankfully, the light bullet burned its way through the sliding glass door, leaving a hole about six inches wide. When Sunset realized what had happened, she got irritated. “WHAT IN THE BLUE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?! I ALMOST KILLED YOU GUYS!” Sunset yelled. “Told ya a surprise party was not a good idea,” said Rainbow. The light bullet had whizzed by Pinkie’s head, lightly singing her hair a little. “Yeaaaaah…mental note, next time, no surprise parties for the girl who can shoot light beams from her hands. Or for the girl who can turn into an anthropomorphic fox-wolf.” “Most definitely not,” Fluttershy muttered. After getting over the initial shock, Sunset managed to scan the room. There was a banner hanging across the room that read, “You’re Good Friend Sunset Shimmer!”, along with streamers, confetti, a few bottles of cola, a cake, and some pizza. The girls had on party hats, and whistles in their hands. “I repeat, what the hell are you guys doing?” Pinkie stepped forward and said, “Well, Twilight told us about how you’re planning on not being friends anymore, and how you’re going to do a lone wolf thing and cut us all out!” Sunset’s brow furrowed. “Twilight, what the hell?!” “Sunset, please, just listen to us. We don’t want you to just push us away,” said Twilight. “She’s right, Darling, we’re your friends, from now until the end. Be it now or far in the future,” Rarity added. Sunset gritted her teeth as she clenched her fists. “Well maybe I don’t want to see that?! Did you think about how I feel?! Maybe I don’t want to see you guys waste away?! Maybe I don’t want to watch as you all get older, and I stay the same?! Maybe I don’t want to feel the pain of…of…losing you! The answer is I DON’T!” “Sunset…” Fluttershy began. “No!” Sunset cut off Fluttershy. “Just get out! Just…Just leave me alone! From here on out, we’re not friends! We’re not teammates, we’re not anything!” A pregnant silence befell the room. But that silence did not last long. [ALERT!] [ALERT!] The girls’ HoloFrames went off as a Space Beast alert went off. “Ugh, you’ve got to be kidding me?! Right now?! No. You know what, good! I need some stress relief!” “Sunset!” Twilight cried out. Sunset ran to the roof of the dorms, to one of the several hidden blind spots of the campus and quickly summoned her StaRaizer. “Give me the strength of a hero!” || ULTRAMAN! || “Give me the power of a galaxy!” || ULTRAMAN GINGA! || “Release the light within me!” ||SHINE ON! ULTRAWOMAN ASTER!|| Sunset’s body was engulfed in light, a light that shot straight into the air and reformed into that of the Herald of Light, Ultrawoman Aster. The giant of light flew through the skies over Canterlot City, and just in time for the Phantom Zone generator to kick on. Now that everything had been shifted into a clone-like dimension, Aster wasted little time in landing in the middle of the city, cracking the asphalt and shattering some windows upon impact. Aster got into her ready stance and stared down the new Space Beast. “Uh…where’s the monster?” Indeed, there was no monster, in fact, there was not that much destruction that she could see around there. There were a couple of buildings smashed, and some crushed cars, but there were no other signs of a Space Beast attack. “What the heck?” Are the warning systems malfunctioning or something? Far away, atop the roof of a tall building, a lone figure stood and observed Aster. They was situated behind the hero, so Aster did not spot them at all. The figure chuckled sinisterly. “Know nothing Ultra, I’ll make you suffer.” The figure pulled out the Dark Ring with their left hand, and with their right they pulled out two cards with the image of a monster on them. “Bemstar. Gan-Q. Time to come out and play.” ||/BEMSTAR! ||/ ||/ GAN-Q!||/ The figure held up the Dark Ring, and from it two beams of light shined forth from it. One beam of light shot towards the ground and from it appeared a large monster. The monster had a giant eye in the middle of its body, with its lower half having a few more of them. Its arms were long and sharp, and it was colored a rusty red color. This was Gan-Q The second light appeared in the sky, this creature was wide, and had a leathery hide, and an almost tribal ornament around its waist. Around its belly was a metal plate, and at the center of that plate was a red, almost flowery protrusion. It had a curved horn on its head, and a short beak, this monster was Bemstar. Aster suddenly turned around and saw the two monsters, and quickly got on guard. WHAT?! How did they get behind me?! Bemstar channeled energy into its horn and unleashed a blue lightning attack that rained down on Aster from above. The Ultra hero rolled to the left, dodging the lightning as it tore through several buildings and reduced them to rubble. Gan-Q stepped up, releasing a pulse wave of its energy, wrapping it around the rubble as it lifted them up into the air. When Aster stopped rolling, she noticed that the chunks of metal and concrete were floating in the air. Gan-Q sent out another pulse wave, and the debris was thrown directly at Aster. The Herald of Light quickly fired off her Beam Bullets with her hands, blasting several pieces of rubble, but this was just a feint as Bemstar came around and fired its lighting attack. Several sparks exploded from her back, causing the hero to stop her attack. Unfortunately, this allowed Gan-Q’s rubble barrage to strike her several times over. “UGH! Okay, now I’m annoyed!” Aster channeled her energy into her forearms and shouted, “ASTRONIUM RAY!” Aster formed an L-shaped pattern with her arms and fired her Ultra Ray, aiming it straight at Bemstar. The mutated penguin looking monster floated in the air, not even bothering to dodge the attack. The flower-like piece on its chest plate suddenly opened, creating a vacuum effect. The Astronium Ray was drawn to that, sucking it all in and causing zero damage Bemstar. “What the hell?! He’s absorbing my attack?!” Aster swiftly cut off her attack, preventing it from taking in anymore of her power. However, what she did not expect was that Gan-Q was now a few meters away, with a direct line of sight to Aster. The giant eye of the monster glowed, and in the next moment, Aster’s Astronium Ray came blasting straight out of its eye. Aster turned around at the last second and quickly summoned her Aurora Shield. She did not have time to completely power it up, so it only mitigate some of the damage when it hit and exploded. The Ultra Warrior was sent flying into a building, smashing through it, and out the other side, having the entire thing fall before she impacted against another one, leaving a body sized impression in it. “Did…Did I just get hit with my own attack?” Aster glanced at Bemstar, and then back to Gan-Q. “I see, that messed up penguin can absorb my attacks, and that eyeball with legs can shot them back at me. Okay, okay. This is a tag team. So, first things first, take out the air support!” Within the starry nexus, Sunset took out the Cosmos and Agul Coins. However, when she looked at the coins, she saw that they were grayed out. “What is this?” She tried to slot the Ultra Coins into the StaRaizer, but the bracer refused to allow them to be inserted. “I don’t get it?! Why can’t I use the Ultra Coins?!” Bemstar was getting into position to rain down more lightning, but Aster wasn’t about to let this slow her down. “Fine, Plan B then!” Aster tore herself out of the building and flew into the air just in time to miss the lightning as it destroyed the building she had been thrown into. Aster placed both of her hands over her crest, causing the curved crest to glow and from it, Aster produced her Stelluger. She needed to take down Bemstar to stop him from absorbing her energy attacks and having Gan-Q redirect them. So, for the time being, physical attacks would have to work. Aster flew in and slashed Bemstar across its chest, causing the mutated penguin to shriek in pain as sparks flew from its body. Aster then performed a roundhouse kick in midair, striking the monster’s head and sending it hurdling straight down into the ground. Bemstar landed on top of skyscraper, plowing through it, and bringing down the structure around it as it finally made impact with the street below and was immobilized, temporarily, by the debris on top of it. Sunset took a moment to look over her coins, the only ones that were not grayed out were the Ultraman, Ginga, Victory, and Gaia Coins. All the others were grayed out, their shine gone. Sunset still had no idea why this was happening, especially at a time like this, but that was a question for later. For now, she would have to make do with what she had. The young hero took the Ginga Coin and inserted it into the Stelluger. || ULTRAMAN GINGA! || The Stelluger sparked with yellow lightning, calling upon one of the elemental powers of Ultraman Ginga. Aster flew back down to meet Gan-Q, but the eyeball Space Beast threw more rubble at her, trying to stop her. However, the Herald of Light used her powered up Stelluger to slash through the rubble, and once she was in range, she slashed at its midsection, creating a shower of sparks from the monster before stabbing it right below its giant eye. “LIGHTNING STRIKER!” Lightning surged through the Space Beast before inevitably exploding on the spot. However, Aster was not done. Inside the starry nexus, Sunset placed both the Victory and Gaia Coins into the Stelluger. \ ULTRAMAN GAIA! // \ ULTRAMAN VICTORY // “TERRA DESTROYER!” Aster came down with her Stelluger, stabbing it into the earth. The ground shook violently as a surge of energy shot from the Stelluger and broke off large chunks of the ground. Bemstar was starting to get up, but the moment it did, Aster raised her Stelluger and pointed it at Bemstar. The chunks of earth shot towards it, forming a huge cocoon around it, however, before Aster could finish the attack entirely, Bemstar began to absorb the rock pieces. “Great, it can absorb matter, too?! But it’s busy absorbing all the rocks, this is my chance!” Aster ran and then flew as high as she could until she was right behind the monster. Inside the nexus, Sunset replaced the Gaia Coin with the Ginga Coin. || ULTRAMAN GINGA! || \ ULTRAMAN VICTORY // “GINGA-VICTORY ULTIMATUM STRASH!” The Stelluger raged with the energy of the two Ultras, she then slashed the air in front of her, releasing a large crescent blade made of blue and yellow energy. Just like she thought, Bemstar was too busy absorbing his rock cocoon from the front, so it could not see the attack coming from behind. By the time it did realize what was happening, it was too late, Aster’s attack struck it in the back and completely sliced it diagonally. The monster penguin let out a pathetic little whimper before exploding in midair, sending a shower of rocks going everywhere. Aster landed back on the ground, panting from the effort, but satisfied that she was able to take down two monsters even without her other Ultra Coins allowing her to form shift. “Nice going, Aster, but let’s see how you deal with this. Come on out, Segmeger.” ||/SEGMEGER!||/ Out of nowhere, a spiraling column of purple, glowing flames struck her in the right arm. Aster cried out in pain as the flames managed to burn her, but when they stopped, something else was noticeable. Her right was still burning, and there was a purple, glowing burn mark. The hero looked in the direction where the attack came from and saw a third monster. This this thing looked like a dragon and a snake rolled into one. With green scales, and golden, sharper looking scales that acted as armor pieces. This was the beast known as Segmeger. The Space Beast’s spines began to glow, and in the next moment, it fired a beam of blue light from its mouth. Aster dodge rolled out of the way of the attack. When she stopped, she got down on one knee, feeling her body hurting all over, and the pain was starting from her injured arm and spreading through her body. Is this some kind of poison? And where did that one even come from?! Screw it, just take it down! Within the starry nexus, Sunset took out the Ultraman Victory Coin, and replaced it with the Ultraman Coin and inserted them into the weapon. || ULTRAMAN! || || ULTRAMAN GINGA! || Outside of the nexus, lavender and blue light swirled around the Stelluger until they converged and turned into sharpened blade of light. Segmeger blasted another round of purple poison flames, but Aster used her Stelluger to slash through the poisonous flames, parting them down the middle as she charged straight for Segmeger. “ULTRA SEVER!” Aster spun in place and repeatedly slashed the monster again and again, ending with one last slash down the middle of the monster before the light blade vanished. Segmeger gave a little pathetic whimper before the whole monster exploded, unfortunately, that’s what the mysterious figure wanted. The moment that Segmeger exploded, its purple blood was splattered everywhere and began to hiss against the concrete and metal of the buildings, and even melted the cars. A lot of it hit Aster’s body, making the Ultra drop her Stelluger weapon as she grunted in pain from the poison that was seeping into her body. “Just like I planned. You’re so easy, Ultrawoman Aster. Oh, Zetton, Pandon. It’s your turn my little friends,” said the figure as they scanned the cards. ||/ZETTON! ||/ ||/PANDON!||/ Another two lights appeared, one on either side a few meters apart. On her right was Zetton, and on her left was a two headed, red scale and feathered, two-headed bird monster known as Pandon. The two heads of Pandon opened their beaks as they gathered flaming energy into them, at the same time, Zetton gathered more energy, forming his own fireball. Aster’s body was still burning due to the effects of the poison, she was feeling paralyzed to, about the only thing she could feel right now was pain. And it was about to get worse. The two monsters unleashed their charged fireball attacks, and blasted Aster from both sides. The attacks met and caused a huge explosion that erupted around the hero. The searing flames, combined with the poison coursing through her body, it was becoming too much for Aster, something only made worse by the blinking of her Color Timer. The two monsters continued to pummel Aster with more and more fireballs, not giving her a moment to rest or counterattack, and all the while, the figure laughed with evil glee as they enjoyed the show “Heh, heh, that’s it! That’s it! Destroy her! Destroy her! Don’t let a single piece of her remain!” However, as the figure continued, their body noticeably began shrinking. It was slow, at first, but after summoning Zetton and Pandon, it was happening faster. The figure looked at their body and hissed in agitation. “Dammit, this is my limit? Guess I was playing around too much, but at least now I have a good idea of how the Dark Ring operates. So, for now, Aster, I’ll grant you mercy.” The figure swiped the Dark Ring in a horizontal pattern, and immediately after the monsters stopped their attack, and broke down into particles of red light. Disappearing from the battlefield entirely as the figure disappeared with them. Aster was on her knees now, the entire area was a molten crater, her body hissed from the heat, and her cries of agony were still going. She could tell that the battle was over, but she needed to leave, she needed to get out of here before she changed back. Aster mustered all the strength she had left, and jumped into the air, taking off in the direction S.M.I.L.E. Academy. Unfortunately, the damage she suffered, combined with the poisoning, drained the last of her energy, bringing her crashing right into the Everfree Forest. Her body glowed, transitioning from her Ultra form back to her humanoid form. Some of the trees were crushed and uprooted, following a long groove that was cut into the dirt due to her rough landing. However, the forest began to glow, and the damage that was done due to Aster’s landing was undone almost immediately. In the depths of the Everfree, Sunset lied on the ground, her body paralyzed except for the sensation of never-ending pain. She felt like she wanted to just roll over and die, the poison coursing through her veins made even the simple act of breathing painful. Her vision was fading in and out, for a moment all she could see were flashes of bushes, and then she heard the howling. In little time at all, a pack of the wood wolves appeared from the bushes, snarling, smelling a wounded animal. But just before the pack could do anything, a flash of light went off that scared the pack away. Sunset squinted her eyes as she tried to see what it was that made them leave. When the light faded, Sunset swore she recognized this person, the Woman of the Everfree. \*****///** (3 hours later…) The Phantom Zone was still active as several S.M.I.L.E. forces roamed the battlefield. Gungirs flew patrol patterns while the Goliaths did the same by land, all of them searching for the whereabouts of the monsters that had suddenly appeared to fight against Aster. At the same time, Team Aster was in Commander Celestia’s office, with Twilight nearly yelling, “We have to go and find her!” “Twilight, we understand, believe me. We do. But she crash landed in the Everfree Forest. The last time an expedition was sent in there we nearly lost some agents, and one of them was Ms. Apple,” said Celestia. “All the more reason we need to go in there help her,” Applejack spoke up. “Yeah! She helped me save AJ, it’s time we returned the favor!” Rainbow added. “The new Gungir and Goliath’s for them are ready for combat, they can easily navigate the Everfree,” Twilight argued. Luna stepped up and said, “Even if that is so, the Everfree is the one thing preventing a full-scale invasion by the Space Beasts, it’s the only reason why they haven’t descended on us in masse. If we damage the forest too much, then run the risk of jeopardizing the safety and security of the world.” “But…” Luna placed a hand on the teen genius’ shoulder and gave her a sympathetic look. “I know…I feel the same as the Commander. I want to rescue Sunset, but we must do this carefully.” Fluttershy, who had remained quiet during this conversation, stepped forward, saluted, and said, “Ma’am, permission to perform a search for Sunset Shimmer.” “Ms. Shy, we can’t risk a whole–” “No, you misunderstand. I want to do this myself, no team.” “WHAT?!” the girls shouted. “Fluttershy, y-you want to go into the Everfree?! By yourself?!” Rarity asked. “I do.” Fluttershy raised her right hand and partially transformed it. “I’m a Vivirendan. I’m not human. If I go into the Everfree in my bestial form, I can track Sunset down and bring her out. Plus, I can move faster if I’m alone.” “Wow, I’d thought you’d be scared to go in there,” said Pinkie. Fluttershy was shaking a bit. “I am…the Everfree is scary, it’s an unknown even after all the years it’s been here since the First Incursion.” The alien girl clenched her fists as a look of determination formed. “But Sunset would not give up on us, as her friends, we shouldn’t give up on her either! If it was any of us, she’d be the first one out there!” Celestia closed her eyes as she considered Fluttershy’s request. This was not something she should do lightly, Fluttershy did have Special Agent status, which meant that Celestia was within her rights to have Fluttershy go on this mission and allow Fluttershy to do it as she saw fit. The Commander of Concordia base looked up at the young girl and asked, “You may need to indulge in the combative nature of your people in order to survive in there, and I know that’s something you don’t particularly like to do, and that you avoid if at all possible.” Fluttershy nodded. “Knowing that you might need to become a warrior in there, are you sure you want to go alone?” Celestia asked. “I am. I run the risk of…falling prey to my instincts…but that won’t happen!” Fluttershy stated. Celestia got out of her chair and looked the shy girl dead in the eyes. “Then, as Commander of Concordia base, and as the Principal of S.M.I.L.E. Academy, I task you with this mission. Enter the Everfree. Locate Cadet Sunset Shimmer. And bring her back.” Fluttershy stood at attention and saluted. “Yes, Ma’am!” “Rainbow Dash, Applejack Apple, I want you both on standby in your Pegasus Custom and Sleipnir Custom! If those monsters appear again, Sunset will need backup!” “Yes, Ma’am!” “Yes, Ma’am!” “If that is what we’re doing, then, Fluttershy, I’d like you to come by my studio. I’ve made something that will at least provide you with a bit more protection,” said Rarity. Twilight pushed up her glasses and said, “I’m going to work on a strategy to combat those Space Beasts. Pinkie, I’d like your help with this.” “You got it!” Author's Note Next Time: Sunset is saved by the mysterious Woman of the Everfree! And the mysterious invader strikes again! It's time for Team Aster to roll out in full!
15th Light: Friendship In Danger / Fight Together! (Part 2)15th Light: Friendship In Danger / Fight Together! (Part 2) Sunset’s body ached all over, her eyes were still shut, but she could feel something soft underneath her. Which was strange as not too long ago, she felt the rough dirt of the forest floor. Sunset slowly opened her eyes, wow, even her eyelids ached. Slowly, but surely, she managed to open them, and what she saw surprised her. She was not in the middle of the forest anymore, there was a roof over her head, and now that her eyes were open, she could see that she was on a mattress. Slowly, Sunset sat up, feeling woozy upon doing so. She could hear something bubbling, and that’s when she spotted a cauldron a few feet away. She took in more details, it looked as if she was in a hut of some kind. There were shelves that held various glass containers filled with unknown liquids, substances, and other things Sunset could not outright identify. When she turned to her left, she saw someone at a counter, grinding up some plant before bringing it to the cauldron. “You…” Sunset spoke after recognizing the woman. “You’re that woman…from last time.” The woman poured what she had ground up into the cauldron and turned to Sunset. “I am, indeed. I’d advise taking it slow, you are still recovering from the poison. And what I have brewing will help with the aftereffects of riding the poison. I’m sure you want to go back into the fight as soon as possible.” Sunset tried to sit up more, but her body was against it, and she eventually hit the mattress again. “I do…but, who are you? And you live in this forest?” The woman stirred the cauldron as she thought about her answer. “As to what I am. The closest word would be a ‘sage’, and yes, I do live in this forest.” “Okay…are you human?” Sunset asked. “Depends on what your definition of ‘human’ is. Someone who looks like you? Someone who bleeds the same blood? Or someone who walks on two legs?” “Okay, okay, no need to get philosophical on me. Do you at least have a name? I’d like to call you something.” The sage hummed in contemplation for a moment before answering, “The name ‘Zecora’ has appealed to me. You may call me that.” “Alright, Zecora. How do you know I’m Aster, and how are you still alive in this place?” “Those answers in due time, but I think there is a more pertinent question you should be asking yourself,” Zecora remarked. Sunset raised an eyebrow. “Such as?” “Why you could not use your other forms.” Sunset struggled to sit up, and when she did, she said, “Okay, how the hell do you know that?! Were you there?!” Zecora shook her head. “The Everfree speaks to me sometimes, and it sensed some turmoil in you. So, what troubles your heart?” “What do you mean? What does my heart have to do with my powers?” Sunset asked in confusion. Zecora sighed as she stopped her stirring and walked over to the bed, she then smacked Sunset on the head, causing the teen to yelp and fall back onto the mattress. “I see you have yet to learn your lesson, fully.” “OW! I’m still sore from all that fighting! That hurt!” Sunset argued. “I can see it clearly now that you are before me, you wish to shut off your heart to those around you, but what I can’t understand is, why?” Zecora questioned. Sunset turned away from Zecora, “Because…I’ll outlive them! I found out some things about myself, about my past. Becoming an Ultra granted me long life, I won’t die from old age, nor will I ever age! Meanwhile, my friends will all grow old and eventually die in front of me! I…I don’t want to see that…I’d rather remember them as they are now. And I’d rather they forget me.” “You seem to have forgotten something in learning about your past. The true source of your power,” said Zecora as she walked back to the cauldron. “True source?” “Think about it. How did you obtain the Ultra Coins?” Sunset thought about it, she got each of the coins from the girls, Max and Leo she got from Applejack and Rainbow. Cosmos and Agul she received from Fluttershy and Pinkie. And the last two, Orb and Hikari, were from Rarity and Twilight. Apart from Ultraman, Ginga, Victory, and Gaia, all the others came from her…friends… “Aw, crap…” Sunset smacked herself in the forehead, only to regret it a moment later. “OUCH! Ugh!……You’re telling me that my power comes from them? My friends?” Zecora kept her back to Sunset as she stirred. “Is that so strange? Bonds of comradery, of friendship, and of love, few things are stronger in this universe than these things. Why shouldn’t such things be the source of great power?” “But…” “No warrior stands alone, there are always those who back them. Who help them, even if it is not on the battlefield, they are always with them.” Zecora walked over to her counter and got an empty bowl. She then brought it over to the cauldron and poured some of its glowing contents into the bowl itself. The sage walked back to Sunset and presented her with the bowl. “Drink this, it will relieve you of your physical pain, and restore your fighting strength. You should be at full power to transform again, but you will require this to ensure your body can keep up.” Sunset, with the aid of Zecora, was able to sit on the edge of the bed. The teen took the offered bowl, taking a sniff of the glowing liquid. “This is going to taste bad, isn’t it?” Zecora shrugged. Sunset rolled her eyes. “Down the hatch.” \*****///** (A few moments ago…) A S.M.I.L.E. airship flew through the air and stopped just above the Everfree Forest, right at the spot where Aster landed. The door on the side of the ship slid open and revealed Fluttershy. She was wearing a black and silver suit that shined in the lights of the aircraft, it looked like armor, but was flexible like spandex. The shy teen had no weapons, but she did possess a belt that had a tracking device on it. Vice Commander Luna was piloting the craft, and once she got the aircraft stabilized, she said, “You have one hour, Fluttershy. I do not want to leave you in there any longer than is completely necessary. If you cannot find her this time, we’ll try again. I will remain in the sky and extract you, whether you have her or not. That is the condition of this mission.” “I understand.” “Very well, you’re clear to drop.” Fluttershy took a few deep breathes before she let herself fall out of the aircraft. As she fell, Fluttershy tapped into the power of her true Vivirendan form, and right before landing, had completely transformed. She landed perfectly onto the forest floor on all fours, not once showing any pain or discomfort from the impact of her landing. The outfit she was wearing had automatically expanded and shifted, allowing a hole to form for her tails, and stretching to match her new musculature and frame. Fluttershy stood up and found that the suit was still comfortable to wear. If she had not been looking at it, Fluttershy would sworn that she had nothing on. “Rarity, this is amazing! I really need to thank her for this. Now, then.” Fluttershy got down on all fours and sniffed the ground, using her enhanced senses to pick up on any lingering scents. Sunset was here, there was something dangerous here as well. But there’s a third scent…strange. It smells human, but at the same time isn’t. A hybrid like Dashie or Scootaloo? Fluttershy pointed her head in the direction of where the scent was going. “Whoever it is, they took Sunset in that direction.” Suddenly, Fluttershy started hearing growls coming from around her. In a matter of seconds, she was surrounded by a pack of the wood wolves that Rainbow and Applejack warned her about. Fluttershy got back down on all fours and growled at them all, flaring her tails in a showing of aggression. “I don’t want to harm you, but I will if you impede me from finding my friend!” One of the wolves attacked her from behind, but one of Fluttershy’s tails lashed out and whipped the wolf across the face with enough force to send it crashing into a tree. A second came at her from her left, but Fluttershy sped towards it, grabbed it by the throat with her right hand, jumped, and then tossed it into another of its packmates. The Vivirendan performed a somersault in the air before coming down on another and slashed it with her claws, causing green, sap-like blood to come out of it. Another two attacked from behind, but Fluttershy was very aware of her surroundings as she used two of her tails, raising them up, and then bringing them down like a couple of hammers on the heads of the two wolves, smashing them into the ground hard enough to leave an imprint of their heads. Fluttershy turned around, her eyes narrowed as she growled at the pack, making them whimper. “What’s the matter? Are you afraid of me? Good!” Fluttershy’s eyes shined as she used her Stare on the remainder of the wolves. All of them went stark still, their bodies paralyzed. Fluttershy used this opening and went in for the kill, tossing, slashing, and even biting the last of the wolves, and ending up as the victor. However, the ones that were “killed” began to put themselves back together, and after they did, Fluttershy released a loud roar that made them all whimper more. The Vivirendan snorted, she knew this would drag on if she continued to fight, but at least she made her point that she was not to be messed with. With that settled, she ran in the direction of the scent, bounding from tree to tree as she followed the trail. She hoped whatever else was in this forest had not harmed Sunset. They all saw the footage of the battle; she was outnumbered and was hurt by some kind of poison. We need to get her to the medical station as soon as possible, who knows what that monster’s toxins are doing to her! “AUGH!” Fluttershy came to a skidding halt as her ears twitched, picking upon a familiar voice. “SUNSET!” The bestial girl kept running, the sounds of disgust were coming in the same direction of Sunset and the stranger’s scent. The alien teen burst through some bushes and found herself in a clearing, and in that clearing was a large tree that had a hut built into it. Fluttershy would have to contemplate that later, she needed to save Sunset. Wasting little time, she ran straight for the door and kicked it open, getting into attack position as she said, “Sunset, I’m here to save you!” “Augh…God, that tastes terrible,” said Sunset. “Fluttershy?!” “Sunset?” Fluttershy took a moment to read the room. The hut was spacious, and very homey, and Sunset was sitting on a bed with a mysterious woman standing next to her. And Sunset looked alright. “Um…I’m confused.” “Ah, a guest. This is rare,” said Zecora. “Also, continue to drink that. You must finish it, or you won’t be healed completely.” “Ugh…great.” Sunset braced herself and downed the entire contents in one go. “…Oh man…next time, try to make it taste better.” A green glow went off around Sunset for a moment before fading away. And when it did, the pain was gone. All her aches and pains from the battle were gone. “Wow, it works! I feel great!” “You’re welcome,” Zecora replied as she took the bowl and went back to the counter. Fluttershy, while still confused, walked further in, and asked, “Sunset, are you alright?” “Y-Yeah…I am…Why are you here?” Sunset asked. “I came to save you, but…” Fluttershy turned to Zecora. “It looks like you were already saved. Sorry about your door…” Zecora shook her head. “No apologies needed. It can be mended.” Sunset looked away from Fluttershy and said, “You shouldn’t have…” Fluttershy reverted to her human form and looked Sunset in the eyes. “Sunset, you’re not the only one who has to go through this. I’m the same.” Sunset looked directly at Fluttershy with shock. “Wait, you mean, you’ll live forever, too?!” Fluttershy made a wavey motion with her hand. “Vivirendan have long lifespans. Longer than humans. And we age slower once we hit physical maturity. For me, that’ll be on my eighteenth birthday. So, I’ll still age, but very slowly.” “How slowly?” Sunset asked. A sad look appeared on her face. “Slowly enough to see all our friends pass on before me. I’ll still be here for some time longer after that. Provided I keep myself healthy. But otherwise…I’ll pass on sometime in the future. So, you’re not the only one who has to live with the idea of outliving your friends, Sunset. I dread it every day.” Sunset rubbed her left arm and asked, “How do you deal with it?” Fluttershy smiled as she reached out and took both of Sunset’s hands into her own. “Make as many happy memories as you can. Fill your heart and mind with love and happiness. That’s what I’ve decided to do. I know it will hurt, one day, when they’re gone. But I know the memories I’ve made and happiness I’ve shared with our friends, even you, will help me through that dark time to come. But for now, I cherish every day I’m with them, including you, Sunset.” Sunset started to cry, she hated crying, but here she was, crying again. I’m such an idiot… Fluttershy released Sunset’s hands and brought her into a hug. “I’ll still be here to help you through it. But even then, don’t ever let that pain stop you from creating memories with those you care about now, or with new friends in the future. You don’t have to be alone forever, Sunset.” “Thank you…I’m sorry.” The Coin Keeper on Sunset’s hip started to glow, Sunset slowly broke the hug and opened it. When she reached in, she took out the six Ultra Coins that had been grayed out earlier, but the moment she did, the grayness evaporated, returning the color and shine to them. Zecora smiled as she said, “This is the power of your bonds, of your friendships, Sunset Shimmer.” “I get it…I won’t forget again.” {Fluttershy, come in!} “Vice Commander Luna, what’s wrong?” Fluttershy asked as she pressed the tracking button on her belt. {The Space Beasts are back! Have you located Sunset?!} “She has, I’m right here,” Sunset replied. {Sunset! Oh, thank God, you’re alive! What is your condition? Tell me honestly, I am not about to lose you for a third time!} “I’m fine, pick us up. I got a score to settle.” {On my way.} Sunset looked to Zecora and smiled. “Thanks for healing me. Will I see you again?” “If you find yourself needing counsel, simply enter the forest. I will find you,” Zecora remarked. Sunset nodded and ran outside, Fluttershy bowed to Zecora and apologized once more before leaving her hut. After they got outside, a whoosh of air struck them, and that’s when they saw the airship descending. Sunset and Fluttershy quickly boarded the aircraft and closed the door behind them. “Sunset, I’m glad you’re alright! Are you sure you’re okay?” Vice Commander Luna asked. “I am, Auntie,” Sunset replied in a teasing tone. Luna blushed a little, but nonetheless nodded. “I can’t believe you made it to this clearing without assistance.” “Not really, Zecora helped me out,” said Sunset. “Who?” “The woman living in that hut down there.” Luna looked out from her window and said, “I don’t see any hut, Sunset.” Fluttershy and Sunset both gave the commander a confused look. “What are you talking about? It’s right – what?!” Sunset went wide eyed as she looked through the window. “SHY, LOOK!” Fluttershy opened the door of the airship and gasped. The hut and tree were gone. There was nothing aside from grass in the clearing. “What…is something wrong?” Luna asked. Sunset and Fluttershy glanced at each other, a silent understanding passed between them as Fluttershy closed the door. “No, get me halfway to the city, and I’ll do the rest.” Fluttershy placed her hand on Sunset’s shoulder and said, “Not this time, you’re not going in alone.” “What do you mean?” “We’re picking up some help.” \*****///** (Canterlot City: 5 minutes later…) The mysterious figure was standing atop a tall skyscraper, looking down upon the city below. The figure had already summoned three more monsters, one was dinosaur-like in appearance, with dark gray armor scales, a thick body made of muscle, and a long tail that whipped around and smashed through some of the buildings. This creature was known as Golza. The second was avian and flew around the city, appearing as a hybrid between a bird and a dragon, with club-like feet, a large wingspan with leathery membrane wings, red eyes, and a sharp beak. Its name was Melba. The third monster was another hybrid-like monster, it had mantis-like sickles for arms, a long-scaled tail, a large horn upon its head, and glowing yellow eyes. This one was simply known as Super C.O.V. (Cosmic Organism Vanguard). “Where are you, Aster. Surely you don’t intend to hide? How long do you think this little Phantom Zone can last? They can’t keep it on forever, eventually they’ll have to shut it down, and then real havoc begins.” A bright flash of light appeared out of the sky, and from it landed the Herald of Light herself, Ultrawoman Aster. The ground shook beneath her as she made impact, her eyes glowing in the dark of the night as she rose into her fighting stance. “A new group, huh? That’s fine, you’ll all go down the same!” Aster proclaimed. The figure chuckled. “Such bravado, I can’t wait to crush it. Attack!” Melba flew down, preparing to strike Aster, however, did not move an inch from her spot. And that’s when it happened. Several rapid-fire beams of sparkling blue light rained down on Melba, causing several explosions along its body and forcing the avian monster to pull away from Aster before it could attack. Out of the sky a Gungir appeared, but it was twice as big as the normal Gungirs. This one had the custom paint scheme of Rainbow Dash, and was flown by her, codename: Pegasus Custom. The junior ace pilot dogged Melba and fired more of her rapid-fire energy blasts from the nose of her ship. Melba managed to dodge them and counterattacked with its Melbanic Beam, firing its own rapid fire energy blasts at her. While they were in their dog fight, Super C.O.V. charged for Aster, but again, she did not move. Just then, two huge blasts of sparkling blue light struck the monster from the front, sending it flying backwards as the blasts exploded on its chest. The second of the custom vehicles appeared, the Goliath, codenamed: Sleipnir Custom. Applejack shifted into high gear as the treads ground into the pavement and propelled her forward. Super C.O.V. managed to get back up, and once it did, its chest released a few flashes of energy before they coalesced in the large horn on its head, releasing its own huge blast of energy at the Sleipnir. However, when it hit, there was some scuffing, but it was barely anything close to damage. {YEE-HAW! Let’s get ‘em, RD!} {You got it, AJ!} Golza was confused at first by the extra fighters, but then it was punished for taking its eyes off Aster. The Hero of Light dashed straight for it and gave the monster a strong uppercut with her Starry Smasher. Golza backed up, growling in both pain and anger from the hit, it opened its mouth and retaliated with a blast of its Ultrasonic Ray. Aster dodged the first blast, on the second she dove behind a building, letting it take the blast instead of her. She jumped from behind it as soon as it went down and fired off several Beam Bullets from her right hand. Unfortunately, Golza merely absorbed the heat of the explosions once they hit, nullifying the damage. Once it had, it returned the attack in the form of a heat wave that blasted through several buildings before slamming into Aster. Her body released several sparks, but she managed to stay standing. Aster looked to the skies and saw Rainbow in her Pegasus Gungir battling it out with Melba, and Applejack in Sleipnir Goliath against Super C.O.V., so she had to step it up. “Bestow, the strength of the brave!” || ULTRAMAN LEO! || “Bestow, the power of the bold!” || ULTRAMAN MAX! || “Ignite the flames in my heart!” ||BURN UP! SOLARIS MAXIMUS!|| Aster’s body erupted with red light and flames, shifting herself into her powered form, Solaris Maximus. The powered-up hero knocked her knuckles together and charged straight for Golza. The hulking monster did the same and stomped its way to her, the two met in the middle and body slammed against each other, sending debris flying into the air from the shockwave of their slam. Aster cocked back her right fist and punched Golza in the face, firing off one her revolver cylinders and releasing a blast wave that knocked the monster a few feet back. “I’ll burn you away with the flames of my heart!” Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash was getting dogged by Melba, the avian monster was relentless in its pursuit, but it seemed as if it was not about to give up. Rainbow Dash looked down and saw that Aster had shifted to her red form. Rainbow Dash remembered the day Sunset obtained that form from herself and Applejack. If Sunset’s stepping up, then so am I! Throw caution to the wind and cut the sky! Rainbow hit a switch on her console, and immediately the boosters kicked in and propelled the Pegasus higher into the sky until they were now above Melba. Once this was done, she hit a second button, making the screen display the words, [STAND UP: PEGASUS]. The modified Gungir’s body began to shift and open, and in a matter of seconds, the fighter had transformed into a humanoid robot fighter with a glowing visor that shined in the moonlight. The Pegasus flew down, even faster than before, and sped past Melba. The flying beast flew by it as well, but after a moment, both of its wings were cut off, sending it falling towards the ground. The Pegasus turned around and revealed that two blades of light that were extending from the top of its forearms. On the ground, Applejack was getting into a shooting match with Super C.O.V., the two of them exchanging fire. Applejack noticed that her girlfriend and her friend were getting serious as their foes were getting beaten back. Well shoot, Ah ain’t gettin’ left behind! Let’s go, Sleipnir! Applejack hit a button on her console, her HUD displayed the words, [STAND UP: SLEIPNIR]. The Space Beast fired another of its beam attacks and caused a huge explosion to erupt where the Sleipnir Goliath was. The machine was obscured by flames, but just then, two glowing green eyes appeared in the flames, from those flames appeared the Sleipnir, flames lapped over its hulking body as its twin cannons were now shoulder mounted cannons, and it now possessed two huge fists. Those two fists began to glow as energy coated them, once in range, the Sleipnir gave the monster a one-two punch, each hit causing a shockwave of energy to erupt, and to finish it fired off both of its cannons at point blank range, creating a powerful explosion that sent Super C.O.V. crashing through several of the buildings before landing in a heap on the ground. The mysterious figure could not believe their eyes. “Since when do they have machines like that?! Alright, fine, let’s up the ante! Gan-Q! Reicubas!” ||/ GAN-Q!||/ ||/ REICUBAS! ||/ Gan-Q made a reappearance, alongside another new monster. This one looked like a giant crustacean, with a large pincer arm on its right, and a shorter one on its left. It had a long lobster-like tail, and glowing blue eyes. The Space Beast, Reicubas. Aster saw the two new monsters but was in the middle of a grappling match with Golza. Thankfully, that was not the end of their backup. The ground beneath them began to rumble, and out from the middle of the city appeared a sixth monster, but this one was one that Aster was relieved to see. The Terra Beast, Gomora. The saurian monster had someone riding on its shoulder, it was Fluttershy, and in her right hand she held one of the Aster-X blasters. Gomora roared mightily into the air as it made a b-line for Reicubas, body slamming the monster and taking it through several buildings, away from Gan-Q. “WHAT?! I DIDN’T SUMMON THAT!” A S.M.I.L.E. airship dropped out of the sky and came into view of the city. The side door slid open, and standing in a row were Rarity, Twilight, and Pinkie Pie, each one armed with an Aster-X Blaster, and suited up for battle. There were straps hooked onto their combat suits, keeping them from falling out of the airship as Vice Commander Luna flew in and brought them in range of Gan-Q. “FIRE AT WILL, LADIES!” “YES, MA’AM!” Twilight, Rarity, and Pinkie charged up their Aster-X Blasters and fired a triple beam attack at the monster from behind. The three beams hit the back of Gan-Q’s head and caused an explosion on its back to go off, making the giant eyeball monster stumble forward. Gan-Q gave off an angry warbling sound and used its telekinesis to launch some debris at them. Rarity and Pinkie intercepted by firing their Aster-X Blasters, while Luna launched interceptor missiles from underneath the ship, hitting a few that got by them. Twilight took careful aim with her newly modified sights, making even a complete amateur like herself able to hit with pinpoint precision. Once her target had been locked, she fired her next shot straight into the monster’s eye. Unfortunately, that was a mistake, as the beam was absorbed by its eye. Aster saw what happened and had a bad feeling. “That’s it!” Aster broke off their grapple and cocked back her right fist. “BREAK BUSTER!” Aster struck Golza in the gut and fired all six cylinders at once, sending a super powerful wave of energy and force through it that threw the hulking monster into the air. Just in time for Gan-Q to fire back the beam it absorbed, and hit Golza, resulting in an explosion that sent the monster flying into another building. “I ask for the gift of kindness!” || ULTRAMAN COSMOS! || “I ask for the gift of protection!” || ULTRAMAN AGUL! || “Let the waves of my soul quell your rage!” ||FLOW AND CRASH! COSMIC WAVE!|| Aster sped towards Gan-Q and called upon her Aqua Blades, once in range, she slashed at the monster’s giant eye, damaging it, and making the monster have to close it. “I will wash away all cruelty with serenity!” Gomora and Reicubas were going at it claw and pincer, the giant monsters slashed and smashed against each other, throwing their weight around into their attacks as they fought ferociously. Reicubas fired a blast of cold energy from its mouth, but Gomora countered with its Super Oscillatory Wave attack. The two beams struck each other, creating a powerful explosion of steam that blanketed the area around them. It was in that steam that Reicubas took advantage of the situation, charging forward and grabbing Gomora with its large pincer, getting a strangle hold around its neck. Fluttershy, in her bestial form, roared and jumped off Gomora’s shoulder as she charged her Aster-X Blaster. Once she was on the large pincer, she slid down it and fired the weapon straight at its face, she held the trigger down and continued the beam attack as Reicubas’ face was exploding with showers of sparks that eventually made the huge crab monster release Gomora as it tried to swipe at Fluttershy. However, her fast beast reflexes allowed her to easily dodge the attack, firing a few more shots before she jumped high into the air. At that moment, Gomora appeared just in time to catch her with its right claw, holding fast to her as it charged up its three horns and crashed into the crustacean, headfirst. Gomora roared as it enacted it Super Oscillatory Wave: Zero Shoot. A burst of energy passed through the horns and into Reicubas, creating another huge explosion that sent the beast flying onto its back, where it landed and remained motionless. Gomora looked down at Fluttershy, and Fluttershy up at him, and together they released roar of triumph. \*****///** The mysterious figure as getting angrier, she could not let this stand. The figure grabbed their cloak and threw it off, letting it fly off into the wind as her form was revealed. She was teenage girl, with locks of curly blue hair, freckles, and pale red eyes. She wore a combat suit that was black, with some silver armor plates. Overall, the teen would be cute if she was not scowling in rage. “Fine then! You want something done right, then you have to do it yourself!” The teen girl raised the Dark Ring up and released its power, wrapping her in a field of energy that transported her into a version of the starry nexus, but this one was not as bright, it was darker, and had hues of purple that made up what light there was. The teen’s body from the neck down was coated in red light as she pulled out each of the cards that summoned the Space Beasts. “Golza! Melba! Reicubas! Gan-Q! Super C.O.V.!” ||/ GOLZA!||/ ||/ MELBA!||/ ||/ REICUBAS! ||/ ||/ GAN-Q!||/ ||/ SUPER C.O.V.!||/ As she did this, her body started to change, shifting from an older teen into that of a girl of ten years. “Unite and become a great evil!” ||/ FUSION UP!||/ All five defeated monsters transformed into pure energy and shot themselves towards the tallest building. The sphere of dark energy fell off the top of the building as all five monsters’ particles infused themselves into the sphere, and in a matter of seconds, the sphere broke apart and revealed a brand-new monster! ||/ FIVE KING!||/ The new monster landed with a great crashing “THUD!”, sending cars flying into the air along with shattering many windows, and cracking the street. This monster was an amalgamation of all five Space Beasts, it had the pincer of Reicubas for its right arm, its left arm had the giant eye of Gan-Q, its heads were a melding of Golza and Melba, while its torso combined features of both Golza and Super C.O.V. It also possessed the legs of Super C.O.V., the armor-plated skin of Golza, and Melba’s wings and tail. This was the super fusion monster known as Five King. “They fused together?!” “Yes, or to be more specific, I fused them together.” Aster was surprised to hear a voice from this creature, it sounded child-like but distorted. “Are you saying you’re the one who brought them here?!” “Brought them? No. I summoned them! I can summon a lot of different monsters, and fuse some of them together! Like this adorable creature of destruction! I’ve been sent to put an end to you, Aster! And make way for my Master’s return to glory!” The same one that Chrysalis once served, and the same Master of those three leviathans. Guess I made his list, thought Sunset. “Now, if you’ll excuse me. I have to kill you now! Catastrophe Spark!” The different body parts of Five King began to glow, and from each of them a different kind of beam attack was fired off. Three different energy beams and multiple scattering energy bolts flew in Aster’s direction and everywhere else. Gomora took cover behind some buildings, but they only barely gave any protection against the attack. Luna quickly ascended to get them out of harms why, while Rainbow Dash in her Pegasus took evasive maneuvers. Applejack’s Sleipnir brought its arms up and weathered the attack thanks to its thick armor. Aster, still in her speed form, used that speed to quickly evade the attacks the best she could. Meanwhile, the child controlling Five King laughed manically and happily as she unleashed total destruction upon the entire area, blasting away until there was barely anything left standing, and the area was awash in flames. “HAHAAHAHAHAHA!!! So much for the mighty Aster! You can’t stand up to me and the power of the Dark Ring!” “Shine the power of bonds!” || ULTRAMAN ORB! || “Shine, the power of knowledge!” || ULTRAMAN HIKARI! || “The stars are aligned for victory!” ||CONVERGENCE! PLANET REVIVE!|| A bright flash of purple light erupted from the flames and snuffed them all out, revealing Aster in her powered balance form, Planet Revive. Gomora rose with a mighty roar from the rubble as he stomped his way over to Aster, with Fluttershy having retaken her position on his shoulder. {If this brat wants to take it to the next level, then let’s do the same, AJ!} {Gotcha, RD!} {Wait, we haven’t had a chance to test that feature–!} [SEQUENCE INITATED: TITAN STAND] The Sleipnir fired off the boosters in its feet, launching itself into the air as the Pegasus flew over it. The two machines began to open as their various parts interlocked and combined. Once it was over, the new machined stood just a few inches short of Aster’s full height in her original form. The heavy armor and light armor of the Pegasus and Sleipnir melded together, forming a lean looking robotic fighter, with the wings of the Pegasus Gungir releasing jets of energy that looked like feathered wings. The twin cannons were moved to the hips, while gauntlets of Pegasus had combined to form a hilt, from which a large energy sword was brandished. [SEQUENCE COMPLETE: TITAN READY] Twilight sighed in relief that the two machines were able to pull off that addition, she had gotten the idea after the whole Halloween Incident and integrated it into Sleipnir and Pegasus, but they have yet to do a proper test run. {Twilight, you are the GOAT!} Rainbow stated over the comms. {Ah’ll be, this is somethin’ else! Way to go, Twi!} Applejack praised. Aster was amazed as well, but she would voice her opinion on how cool it was later. “Alright! Witness our united power!” Gomora and Fluttershy roared, Rainbow Dash and Applejack released a battle cry, and Aster got into her attack stance before all three of them charged for Five King. “UGH! CATASTROPHE SPARK!” Five King unleashed its destructive barrage at them, but Aster channeled her power into her right foot and came down with a hard stomp. “EARTH BRINGER!” The green energy surged through the earth as multiple walls of reinforced rock jutted forth from the ground out in front of them. The multiple beam attacks slammed into the walls of earthen dirt and rock. Each one exploding with their destruction, but when Five King blew through all of them, Aster was not there. “Mercury Racer!” A streak of silver light struck Five King in the face, and then the gut, and then it received a kick from the back. Five King whipped its tail around, trying to trip up Aster, but she was too fast to have that happen. The Herald of Light jumped up into the air and called out, “JUPITER STORMER!” as several bolts of orange lightning rained down on Five King, creating explosions of sparks that flew out from its body. The Titan robot brought both of its cannons to bear, charging up its energy, at the same time, Gomora gathered power into its horns. Together, Gomora and the Titan fired off their individual beam attacks at Five King. However, Five King raised its left arm and used the eye of Gan-Q to absorb the energy attacks until they stopped. The super monster then took that energy and fired it back at them, causing a huge explosion to go off near them. Gomora turned its back to avoid Fluttershy from getting hit, while the Titan managed take the brunt of the explosion as it put itself in front of Gomora to protect him and Fluttershy. Luna flew in and had the girls fire their Aster-X Blasters, hitting the monster in the back of the head and getting its attention away from their comrades. Five King turned to their direction and called out, “Flash C.O.V. Shot!” as several bolts of energy flew from its chest and stomach and headed towards Luna, Twilight, Rarity, and Pinkie. Luna took evasive maneuvers, and managed to dodge some of them, but one was on a collision course with them. “Neptune Wave Crashing!” A deluge of blue glowing water surrounded the airship, acting as a shield to protect them. Five King saw that it was Aster and unfurled its wings to fly up and meet her. Once Aster was sure the ship was safe, she reopened the dimension and sent a wave of the glowing water straight for Five King. The super monster used its Gan-Q eye to absorb the empowered water and laughed at her. “Are you stupid or something?! I just absorbed their attacks! And now you’re going to just do something like that?!” However, Aster did not stop, in fact, she didn’t seem close to stopping. Something that was worrying the creator of Five King. “H-Hey! What’s going on?! Why aren’t you stopping?!” “This attack opens a portal to a dimension of endless water, I’m only using my power to open that dimension and control the direction of the water, so I’m not really using up that much power doing this. And since it’s an endless ocean dimension, well, figure it out!” Aster landed on the ground, and when she did, Aster waved her hands around, the air around them became chilled as vapor trails of freezing cold followed her movements. “Pluto Ice Razer!” Aster brought her hands together and fired bright blue beam of cryo energy at Five King. When the monster rose, it was immediately struck by the beam, encasing the fusion monster in a block of ice the size of an iceberg. Five King tried to free itself, but the ice was too strong, making any effort to break it futile, and absolute zero cold of the ice made it incredibly difficult for the monster to build up its energy. In fact, it felt as if the ice itself was sapping that energy every it tried to power up. “WHAT?! C’MON! MOVE YOU STUPID THING! THIS IS SO UNFAIR!” The Titan flew down from the sky and floated on Aster’s right to Aster, Gomora came stomping over, with him and Fluttershy taking their place at her left, while the airship got into position above Aster. “EVERYONE! LET’S END THIS!” Aster swiped left arm across her chest, creating four spheres of varying sizes, and then swiped her right arm upwards, creating five additional spheres of different sizes. Fluttershy, Twilight, Pinkie, and Rarity powered up their Aster-X Blasters, the Titan readied its twin cannons, and Gomora charged its horns again. Five King managed to pick itself up from the crater, and that’s when the girl inside eye’s widened with shock. “GRAND CROSS STRIUM!” The spheres combined as Aster formed an L-shaped pattern with her arms and fired a beam of aurora light, the Titan fired its twin hip cannons at full output, shooting twin columns of energy. Gomora opened its mouth and fired its Super Oscillatory Wave beam attack alongside the others, at the same time, the girls fired their Aster-X Blasters, all the beams combined into one huge blast of power that roared straight towards Five King. “Screw this!”The girl within waved the Dark Ring out in front of her and was immediately ejected from the fusion monster as the combined attacks completely obliterated Five King, setting off a massive explosion that leveled half the city in the process. A dark sphere floated high in the air above the city, the girl, whose suit shrunk to the same size as her, stomped angrily against the sphere and growled in rage. “Next time, Aster! Next time I’ll end you!” The sphere took off into the night, leaving Team Aster standing, victorious. \*****///** (Saturday: Dorms, 12:03 p.m.…) After the battle was over last night everyone was excited. The plan that Twilight and Pinkie came up with was a success, and they managed to beat back the summoner of the monsters. Although, any real celebrating was saved for today, as everyone was dead tired after all of that. Sunset had asked if they could still have the party, but no surprises. Something that Pinkie was more than happy to agree to. The girls had gathered in their room, and once they had, Sunset stood up and decided to clear the air. “Hey…listen…I’m sorry for being a jerk to you guys yesterday. I know you wanted to throw this party for me to show how much you guys care about me. And I didn’t really act like a good friend despite what you did…” Twilight stood up and gently placed her hand on Sunset’s shoulder. “We understand Sunset, it’s hard knowing that you’ll outlive us. Honestly, I’m still coming to grips with it myself.” A round of nods was seen from the rest of the girls, it seemed they, too, were struggling with this information. “I’ll admit, knowing that you’re always going to remain young and beautiful forever does irritate me just a bit,” Rarity threw out there. “It’s so unfair.” “Rares, c’mon now,” said Applejack. “Well, some of us work hard to look this fabulous, Darling! Excuse me for wanting to have eternal beauty at the very least! Humph!” Rarity huffed as she crossed her arms. Sunset began to chuckle, which broke into laughter. Rarity could not help but do the same as the others joined in. After a moment, Sunset said, “I don’t know what other surprises lay in store for me, I have a feeling all of this is only the tip of the iceberg, but…even so…I do hope you guys will stay by my side. And I promise, I’ll always have your backs, no matter what happens.” Pinkie bounced up next to Sunset and globed onto her. “Of course, we will, silly! We’re all BFFs! From now until forever!” Sunset began to tear up a little as she replied, “Thanks, Pinkie.” “Group hug!” Pinkie announced. “Wha – wait – hold up!” It was too late as the girls surrounded Sunset and gave her big hug. The bad girl huffed, squirmed, and then surrendered to it. “Fine…just this once.” Sunset let the warmth of the hug envelop her, as she basked in the feeling of having friends. Just then, something flashed within Sunset’s mind. Images of a crystal palace, herself, and a group of girls who were sitting at a table, all of them smiling and laughing, there were seven, not including her, and one of them felt like they were looking directly at Sunset, but not in a threatening way, more like…affectionately. “Sunset? Sunset?!” Twilight called out. “W-What?” “You zoned out, what happened,” the spectacled girl asked. Sunset looked at each of the girls and said, “I think I just saw another of my memories flash before my eyes…And I think I saw my friends from the past…? I…I had friends in the past, too.” Author's Note Next Time: Trouble arises when Commander Abacus Cinch and her Shadowbolt Six arrive at S.M.I.L.E. Academy with Global Defense General Neighsay. And, the mysterious monster summoner returns, but this time to attack the Everfree Forest! Aster will have to tap into a new power in order to bring this foe down, and will she able to keep the secret of Aster with the Shadowbolts around? See it all unfold next time... 16th Light: Trouble Arrives! / Unleash the might of POWER XZEED!
1st Light: Welcome to S. M. I. L. E. / The Hero Rises![Welcome to the Space Monster Interception League of Earth, otherwise known as S. M. I. L. E! First off: congratulations for being selected to join this elite peace keeping force, but your journey has just only begun! As of today, you will be entering SMILE Academy, a place dedicated to not only preparing you for the rigors of fighting in the League, but to also furthering your education, should you feel that during the course of your enrollment you find that SMILE is not for you, you can take all you’ve learned and pursue another career!] [SMILE Academy sports the latest in technology and accommodations, all students are required to stay in the dormitories that are on campus and must abide by the rules set forth: Curfews are enforced, all students are to be back at the dorms no later than 10:00 PM. Dorms are separated, one houses only the girls and the other only the boys. Under NO circumstances are boys allowed in the girl’s dormitories and vice versa. Next it should be noted in case of a monster attack, the Phantom Zone Emitter will be activated, all students – except for those with special assignment or permission – must go to the nearest Phase Space Shelter immediately. SMILE base may be on campus, but you are not allowed to engage in combat operations without the expressed permission of a senior officer or under life or death circumstances. Next –!] “Okay, that’s getting old,” said the girl with fiery hair as she closed the holographic welcome packet. This girl was sitting at the back of a bus that was ferrying a batch of new first year students to the most prestigious school, SMILE Acadmey. The teenager huffed as she looked out the window, seeing the vastness of the so called “Everfree Forest”. It was a strange anomalous forest that grew during, what had come to be known as “The Incursion”, where creatures called Space Beasts had come to attack Earth, it was in fact thanks to this forest that The First Incursion was stopped, creating a barrier that forced the waves of monsters back and threw them across the stars. Since then, SMILE Base and the Academy had been built at the center of the huge forest, there was a large enough clearing that both could be accommodated equally. That very barrier that saved the world had diminished over the years, allowing some monsters to get in and cause havoc, but with SMILE, they were quickly taken down. “Or so the story goes…” said the girl with fiery red and yellow hair. The road leading to the academy was a long bridge that ran from Canterlot City to the Academy and base. Several students filled the bus, all of which were in varying degrees of excitement. From her spot in the back she could spot a few students she could tell she wanted to steer clear of, not that she thought that they weren’t good people, but because she wasn’t in the mood to get chummy with anyone. Suddenly, the bus stopped, making the fiery haired girl look out the window, there seemed to be some car parked on the side of the bridge. From what she was able to see, there was a tall woman with tri-colored hair, pink, beige, and lilac. Her lavender colored eyes conveyed a sisterly aura that would probably make most young teens confide in her, as well as make both genders swoon. “Not me,” she said aloud. The bus stopped and the driver got out to see what the problem was. While the bus driver was talking with her, the fiery haired girl could spot someone else in the car but was having a hard time making out who. After a minute of talking, the older woman seemed happy and went to the back of the car to pull out a suitcase, the driver opened up the cargo area and helped her put the luggage in, from the passenger side, a girl emerged that actually made the redhead pause and pay attention. She was slender, with black rimmed glasses framing her mousy face, and brought attention to her amethyst colored eyes. Her hair – which was done up in a ponytail – was a dark violet color, with a light steak of purple and pink running through it. This girl was wearing the school uniform, a blue blazer with the SMILE emblem over her left breast where her heart was. The redhead made a note of her appearance, the uniforms didn’t allow for much individuality, so the students had come to accessorize a little to give them individuality, either by wearing the uniform a different way or putting on little buttons or making slight – but Academy approved – alterations. Hers was a little more laid back, she let her white shirt hang out instead of tucking it into her skirt, only leaving the middle button of her blazer buttoned, and left her collar open. She let the ribbon hang loose, on her collar she had a pin that was in the shape of a sun, with one have red and the other half a golden-yellow in a sort of yin-yang pattern. Compared to the girl outside, she seemed to follow more to the dress code. “Kinda cute, though,” she commented. The bus driver ushered the girl onto the bus and went back to talk to the woman again, probably wondering if she’d like a ride the Academy. The redhead watched as the new girl began walking down the aisle, most of the students were still being their rowdy selves, with some offering the girl a seat. She politely declined their offers and continued her journey down the aisle until she was at the back of the bus. “H-Hi,” the nerdy girl greeted. “Hey,” the redhead replied. “Um…I’m sure you picked this spot back here to be alone…but…would it be alright if I…sat over here, too?” The redhead glanced up at the girl quizzically. “It’s a free country, sit where you want.” “Right, sorry! I just, you looked like you wanted to be alone, and I didn’t want to intrude or –!” The redhead held up her hand in a stopping gesture. “Just sit down, please.” The nerdy girl smiled awkwardly and sat down in the right seat. She had been clutching a digital tablet the whole time, and once she sat down immediately swiped it open and began reading something. The bus driver concluded his conversation with the woman and continued on their way towards SMILE Academy. After a good five minutes of travel, the redhead asked, “Car trouble?” The nerdy girl snapped her attention from her tablet and to the redhead. “Oh, um, yes. The battery appeared to have died, I must’ve told my sister-in-law several times to get it replaced, even though my calculations indicated that given that her car’s an older model and not incorporating Ziestral power cells, that it would possibly die out halfway before reaching the Academy.” “Uh-huh, guessing you don’t like to be tardy to things, huh?” The nerdy girl shuddered. “That word is like taboo to me, besides, I’ve wanted to get into SMILE Academy ever since I was a little girl!” “Let me guess, you want to save the world from monsters?” the redhead asked. The nerdy girl began to play with her bangs a little. “Well…nothing as grandiose as that…I’m mostly wanting to advance my academic career, and SMILE Academy is the best of the best. Besides, you don’t necessarily have to join the organization, some just go on to further their careers in other fields.” The redhead shrugged. “That’s cool.” “Um, if you don’t mind, what’s your name?” The redhead observed the girl sitting in the opposite seat. She wasn’t here to make friends, and she definitely didn’t see the need to get close to anyone. Still, this girl seemed to be less hyper than the rest of the students, so she didn’t see any harm. “Sunset, my name’s Sunset Shimmer.” “Oh, that’s a pretty name! M-Mine’s Twilight Sparkle, it’s nice to meet you,” said Twilight. Sunset grinned a little. “Same.” \*****///** [S. M. I. L. E. Academy, 9:10 A. M.] The bus finally joined a caravan of several others that were ferrying students, teachers, and SMILE agents. To say that the school and the base were vast would be a huge understatement. The school itself stood like an ivory castle, with tall spires that led to different observatories, a large quad was set at the center, and a statue of the first agent of SMILE, the founder and creator, a woman simply known as Faust. A small staircase led up to the main entrance, where many of the students were filing in, off to the right path stood several buildings which looked like apartments, no doubt the student dorms. To the left were the training fields, some of which both agents and students used. But behind the school was the towering SMILE Base, it was one of many, but this was considered the first and best of them all. The base had domes structures built around it, with a central building that had a flight control tower as well as a scanning equipment meant to detect any anomalous changes in the atmosphere. There was a larger structure behind the domes, one that housed the mobile weapons of SMILE, like their Goliath tanks, carriers, official SMILE urban vehicles, and of course the Gungir fighters that were routinely patrolling the airspace. The main center piece of the entire structure was a large spire that sat in the center of the base and Academy, but it was currently not in use. Sunset slid on her backpack and dragged her rolling suitcase behind her. According the schedule, orientation would be held at 10:30 A. M. so that the students could unpack in the dorm or just walk about after the long bus ride. Sunset walked down the stone pathway up to Dormitory Alpha, once inside, Sunset noted that the commons area was quite large, sporting a few chairs and sofas, as well as tables to sit and eat. Sunset went to the holographic map that was mounted in the middle of the commons area. Many students were crowding around the terminal as they got their room assignments. Sunset pulled out her a device called a “HoloFrame”. With a flick of the wrist the device parted down the middle and extended out a good six inches, the center of the rectangular object created a hard-light screen, displaying various apps and other things. Sunset held the HoloFrame up to the terminal and immediately the device began downloading and registering her. After about a minute, Sunset brought the device closer and tapped a few buttons until the device read, “Room Assignment: Room 326”. Nodding, Sunset walked to the elevator’s, she waited a moment until the crowds died down, she really didn’t like sharing a cramped space with half a dozen people. Thankfully her prayers were answered as one of the elevators opened and Sunset was the only one around, she quickly entered and pressed the button for the third floor. “WAIT!” cried out a familiar voice. Sunset recognized that voice, they may’ve only met just this morning, but it was unmistakable. She briefly contemplated just letting the door close, but then sighed heavily as she pressed the button to keep the doors open. As expected, Twilight Sparkle came stumbling into the elevator, suitcases and all. Sunset hurriedly pressed the button to close the doors to keep anyone else from rushing in, sharing an elevator with one other person was tolerable to six. Twilight was panting as she slumped against the wall, making Sunset chuckle as she said, “If this is going wind you that easily, training is going to be murder.” The nerdy girl blushed in embarrassment. “I-I was never that physically active…mostly studying and science projects and reading…I realize now how poorly that has impacted my stamina and body.” Sunset gave Twilight a once over, looking her up and down. Twilight was slender, small waist, not much up top, but the uniforms didn’t help, they sometimes made a girl appear flat, Sunset had found that to be the case upon donning the uniform herself. Her skin was a slightly pale, showing that while she may have spent most of her time indoors, she had gone outside enough to not appear ghostly. Compared to Sunset’s lightly tanned skin and lean build, she could see why the girl was embarrassed. “Eh, you’re not that bad on the eyes, and some guys actually dig the whole nerdy librarian look.” Twilight blushed again as she fixed her gaze at her shoes. “I-I-I wouldn’t know, I’ve never actually dated anyone…nor am I particularly looking for romance.” “That’s cool, neither am I,” said Sunset. The elevator dinged, the doors sliding open to show a multitude of their fellow students meandering through the halls to find their assigned rooms. Sunset had to admit, this school really spared no expense, the hallway walls were painted sky-blue, with immaculate white doors, and plush, velvety carpet. Sunset opened up her HoloFrame again and began walking as the device gave directions, after a few turns Sunset stopped before her room, but paused when she noticed that Twilight had followed her. “Uh…can I help you?” “Sorry, it’s just…I think that’s my room.” Sunset raised an eyebrow, she quickly snatched Twilight’s HoloFrame out her hands so fast that it took Twilight a minute to register it. The redhead looked at her device and Twilight’s, and sure enough, both had the same room number, which could only mean one thing. Sunset gave the device back to Twilight and said, “Guess we’re roommates.” “Oh, is…is that bad?” Sunset looked at her for a moment, thinking about the question. “I was hoping to be alone, but I guess it doesn’t matter. I call top bunk now or whatever’s closer to the window. Got it?” Twilight shook her head. “Okay then.” Sunset placed her HoloFrame against the pad next to the door and immediately the door unlocked, Twilight followed behind her, putting her HoloFrame against the pad to register that she was also in the room. Once inside, both girls went wide eyed with surprise. It wasn’t so much a dorm room as it was an apartment. The room was spacious, with a large couch at the center, a recliner to the right of that, and a flat screen TV mounted on the wall. There was a wood coffee table below that was set between the chair and sofa, with a fruit basket that read “Welcome!”. The girls walked further inside and spotted a kitchen, it had a small island in the middle, complete with a dish washer, stove, refrigerator, and sink. From the sink there was a flat top bar with stools sitting on the other side, and a small table that could at least seat four comfortably. Further back the girls spotted sliding doors that led to a balcony, which gave an impressive view of the campus, base, and forest. Sunset broke to the right and opened the door, Twilight followed suit to get an idea of what her room would be like. Inside was a queen-sized bed, complete with a desk that was placed into the corner of to the bed’s right side, a closet, and a dresser, with a TV mounted above it. On the left side of the room, was a bathroom. It was a standard one-person bathroom, with a walk-in shower. “Huh, well that’s a bummer, guess no relaxing soaks in a tub, but I can make do with this. They really go all out with this stuff,” said Sunset. “It reflects how much the backers of SMILE are investing in their organization, and the students. I figured it was going to be a cramped room with two beds, but this is something else,” said Twilight. “You got that right.” Once the bedrooms were chosen, Twilight and Sunset went to unpacking their things. Sunset paused as she moved some of her unmentionables away to reveal a sort of bracer. The device was red in color, with an eight-pointed gold star painted on both sides. The top part had a similar sun symbol design, but it was a raised blue crystal that looked as if it could be pushed down. On the top of the star button was a round slot, and at the bottom of the star symbol was another slot. Lying next to it were two coins, one that had the strange image of a warrior of silver and red, and the second had another strange looking warrior with blue crystal armor pieces. “Can’t leave these things lying around.” Sunset placed this bracer on her right forearm, and when she did, a silver belt appeared around her waist. This had a case strapped to it, which Sunset unhooked and opened. She placed both of the coins into the case and hooked it back onto the belt, and immediately as she did so, the bracer and belt vanished into particles of blue and red light. \*****///** [Assembly Hall, 11:45 A. M.] Since they were now officially roommates, Twilight seemed to stick by Sunset as they headed out for the Assembly Hall, Sunset grinned a little, feeling as if Twilight was a lost little puppy following her around. Once they arrived, they saw that the whole auditorium was filled with a deafening roar of people talking over each other. As they took their seats, Sunset once again took notice of the rest of the students filling the seats. Two girls seemed to be getting into an arm-wrestling contest, one was wearing a cowboy hat, and the other had rainbow hair. There was a third who seemed to be refereeing the spectacle, she had bright blue eyes and a bouncy, curly head of pink hair. A little off to the side she spotted two others, the one with violet hair was really done up, having taken every measure to make her uniform show her individuality, adding white frills to the cuffs of the blazer, along with accentuating the hem and collar with gold trim. The girl she was speaking and the girl next to her seemed to just be listening rather than doing any talking, she had long pink hair, a shade lighter than other girl, her teal eyes conveyed understanding, and meekness. Aside from them not very many others stood out to her, there was one other girl with silver hair who was performing some sleight of hand magic, a rather large bulky boy, another boy with blue spikey hair that had a Rock n’ Roller vibe to him, and another girl who had blonde hair, and had wall eyes. The auditorium went silent as a woman took center stage, holographic screens appeared above her, allowing her face to be seen by everyone in attendance. The woman walking up to the see-through podium had long, midnight blue hair, her shimmering aquamarine eyes had a piecing look to them as if peering into your soul. This was accentuated by the woman’s graceful application of black mascara and navy-blue eyeshadow. She wore a SMILE uniform, the left side of the chest bared the crest of SMILE, but her right side displayed her badge, which had four stars on it that indicated her rank. Once at the podium, the woman tapped the mic to make sure it was working and said, “Hello, and welcome to SMILE Academy. I am the Vice Commander, as well as the Dean of Students, Luna Solstice. As the Dean of Students, I also head the Disciplinary Committee, I will remind all students and returning students to adhere to the rules.” Strict as ever, thought Sunset. “Now, here to give you some context on our pristine base and school, allow me to introduce you to the Headmistress and Commander of SMILE Concordia Base, Celestia Solstice.” From the entrance, another woman walked up. Her uniform was all white, barring the gold trim around the shoulders, and around the cuffs, and on her badge, it showed a sun with four stars at the center. Her skin was a beautiful pale color and flawless, her hair was three colors of green, blue, and pink, and her fuchsia eyes shown with a motherly warmth despite her obvious high rank in the organization. Celestia and Luna were both tall women, but Celestia still towered over her by a head. Celestia cleared her throat and said, “Thank you, Vice Commander Luna. Welcome my new students and returning students! I am happy to have you all for another year here at SMILE Academy! Now, I know not all of you are here to join our organization and are here to further your education before moving onto whatever you are aspiring to. Let me be the first one to say this, you needn’t feel pressured nor ashamed for not joining. Defending the Earth is a noble endeavor, but so is chasing after your dreams, whatever they may be.” “Here at the Academy, you’ll learn and grow over the next four years, some who have come here not wanting to join sometimes end up joining right after graduation. That is why you all will be taking some courses in engineering and maintenance, biological science, and astronomy. As well as some basic training courses. SMILE was created to ensure that another event like The First Incursion never happens again, and for the past twenty years, we have been able to repel all manner of Space Beast attacks, as well as covert alien operations.” Celestia took the mic and began walking around, looking up to the faces of the students to connect with each of them. “The future is what you make of it, take what you learn here and apply it in your endeavors, whether it is defending the Earth or achieving your dreams, I only ask that you give it your all!” The students all stood and clapped their hands in a standing ovation, for a moment, Sunset locked eyes with the Commander, Celestia smiled and then walked back to the podium to continue. “Alright, now, I would also like to talk to you all regarding ‘Special Operations’. These are kind of onsite work-study programs where you will be able to work alongside our fellow SMILE agents, whether it is in maintenance, logistical support, civilian evacuation – but only when accompanied by a senior agent, and research and development. Those of you who have been selected for this are to report immediately to your designated stations when the alarm sounds, and yes, you will be given slight leeway in your classes and some assignments, but you are still expected to maintain your grades either way, monster attacks or no monster attacks, understand?!” As one, the entire student body answered, “YES MA’AM!” The rest of the orientation dragged on into the class structure, the rules regarding the dorms, and off campus excursions. Sunset had long tuned out what Celestia was saying, but snuck a glance at her roommate, watching as she gazed upon the Commander, eyes as big as saucers and practically sparkling with admiration and enthusiasm. Sunset had to admit, it was cute in a nerdy way. After everything was done, the students were dismissed to go about the campus or whatever they wished. One of the perks of being a student, was the ability to rent a car from the campus, provided they had passed SMILE’s driving course before entering or during their stay in SMILE, so Sunset decided to head into the city. I’m going to be spending a majority of my time here, might as well go and have some fun away from here. Just then, Sunset stopped when she spotted Vice Commander Luna and Commander Celestia talking with her roommate, she really wasn’t in the mood to talk to Celestia, so she quickly did an about face and – “Sunset Shimmer?” Damn it! Sunset slowly turned around and waved at Celestia, “Heeeeey…Commander…” Celestia rolled her eyes at Sunset’s pitiful greeting. “Oh please, you can call me Auntie Tia, and of course you can call Luna Auntie Lulu!” Luna’s eye twitched. “Please, don’t.” Twilight blinked a few times as she looked between Celestia, Luna, and Sunset. “W-Wait, a-are you related?!” Sunset crossed her arms in front of her chest and said, “Not really, just…on paper. They’re more or less my guardians. Guardians which I remember asking not to talk to me so much around here.” “We’re just making sure that you are acclimating well so far,” said Luna. “I am ‘acclimating’, just fine, thank you.” Sunset quickly grabbed Twilight’s hand and began dragging her away, ignoring the nerdy girl’s blushing embarrassment. “See ya later!” “Uh-Uh, Sunset where are going?! Sunset?!” Both Commanders watched as the two girls left through one of the entrances, Celestia sighed and placed her hands on her hips as she gave Luna a stern glare. “Really, Luna, can you at least try and be a little less…well, there’s another word I’d like to use, but since we’re among our students, I’ll just say: uptight?” Luna rolled her eyes. “Sister, you treat that girl in a much too familial way. Lest you forget what she is and what she can do?” “I haven’t forgotten at all, but perhaps treating her as family will have a more positive impact than treating her differently,” said Celestia. “Agree to disagree, Sister.” \*****///** [Canterlot City, 2:15 P. M.] Sunset had dragged Twilight along with her to the city, in all honesty she was acting instinct rather than thinking it through, but in the end, they found themselves at the Crystal Palace Mall, sitting in the middle of the food court. Upon surveying the area, it seemed that Sunset wasn’t the only student who wanted to get away from the campus for a bit, as there were some students who were still in uniform either walking about the mall or in the food court. There were possibly more, but they may have already switched to their regular civilian clothes. The two girls were sipping on some smoothies that Sunset had bought, the air around them had become silent and awkward. Twilight looked as if she wanted to say something, but Sunset’s slight scowl made her stop before the words could leave her mouth. “Sorry.” “W-What?” “I mean, sorry for dragging you out here…I wasn’t really thinking, and I just acted…Probably scared you a little, huh?” Twilight gave an awkward smile. “Well, maybe not so much ‘scared’ as much as ‘surprised’. Do you not like the commanders?” Sunset released a sigh as she leaned back and looked up at the ceiling. “I don’t know, I don’t hate them…I guess that’s something…it’s complicated.” “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be prying,” said Twilight. “Don’t worry, it’s actually nice to have someone to talk to, I’ve always been a loner…for as much as I can remember, anyway.” That caught Twilight’s attention. “Wait, what do you mean by that?” Sunset thought about it for a moment, she was going to be living in the same dorm with this girl for the foreseeable future, and it couldn’t hurt to have at least one person to trust. “Truth is…I don’t remember much about myself, can’t remember my parents, where I lived, or anything. The last three years I’ve been shipped around until I ended up living with the commanders, and they enrolled me in this school to help me and probably to keep an eye on me. Sorry to say you got stuck with a bit of a problem child as a roommate.” Twilight shook her head. “It’s not your fault you have amnesia, but…can I ask you something?” “Yes.” “Well…I never really had a friend – I’ve always been a bit socially inept…” Sunset raised an eyebrow at Twilight. “Okay, I am socially inept, but I kind of want to change that. I know in order to advance anywhere in life, you need to socialize, make connections, and not just business ones, but ones built on trust,” Twilight explained. “Sounds like you’re talking about friendship.” “Yes that! And…I don’t know if this is too forward of me…but, I’d like it if we could be friends?” Twilight asked nervously. Sunset couldn’t help but chuckle at that wording. “I don’t know…tell you what, make it friends with benefits, and then I’ll agree.” “Oh, I’ve never heard of that kind, but if you want to be friends like that, I wouldn’t mind trying it!” Twilight stated enthusiastically. The redhead spat out her smoothie onto the table. “Are you serious?! Do you even know what that means?!” Twilight blinked. “Oh god, you really are socially inept…” Sunset ran her hand down her face. For a moment, she thought about letting her agree, but she wasn’t that evil. “No, no, we’ll just be friends, not the other one.” “Did I say something wrong?” Twilight asked, nervous that she may have damaged a potential friendship right out of the gate. “It’s…give me your ear.” Twilight leaned forward and allowed Sunset to whisper into her ear, after a few seconds Twilight’s face was burning bright red to the point that steam was practically coming out of her ears. “Sunset Shimmer!” Twilight exclaimed as she pulled back. Sunset laughed at her reaction, making the nerdy girl pout. “Sorry, sorry, but seriously though, I wouldn’t mind. Just letting you know now, I’m a handful.” Twilight cleared her throat, “I’d be lying if I said I probably wasn’t the same way, but others have said otherwise.” She then grabbed her smoothie glass and held it up. “To new friends?” The fiery redhead chuckled and brought up her glass, “New friends.” *tink* Suddenly, an alarm went off from their HoloFrames. Every student in the food court immediately pulled them out and opened them to see what was going on. [Code Red: Imminent Space Beast Attack. If you are receiving this message report to the nearest Phase Space Shelter immediately, SMILE Assault Teams have been dispatched.] “Crap, Twilight we need to – Twilight?” Twilight was beginning to hyperventilate, her pupils shrinking to pinpricks as her body began to shake. Sunset quickly slipped her HoloFrame back into her blazer pocket and went around the table to Twilight. “Twilight, you’re having a panic attack, I need you to focus!” “I…I…can’t breathe!” “Yes, you can, look at me!” Sunset made Twilight look her in the eyes. “We need to leave and head to the shelter, I know you’re scared, but I’m right here!” Twilight kept her focus on Sunset’s eyes, trying to control her breathing and the hammering of her heart. It was strange, but Twilight did feel herself calming down, whenever this happened, the only other people who could get her to calm down was her parents, her big brother, and her sister-in-law/former babysitter. But Sunset, somehow, was having the same effect on her. After a few seconds, Twilight’s breathing steadied itself enough to where she didn’t feel like she was going to pass out. “You with me?” Sunset asked. “Y-Yes,” Twilight stated in weak tone. “Good girl, let’s go!” \*****///** The airspace around Canterlot City was blanketed with SMILE’s specialized aerial fighter jets, code named Gungirs, a nod to the ancient war god of Norse mythology, Odin’s, spear. The aircraft had a blade like design, sporting bow mounted twin photon repeater cannons, and missile launcher that was released from the Bombay panels beneath the aircraft. On the ground, several tank-like vehicles were scrambled and lined up. Each one was colored blue, and was heavily armored, on top of the tanks they sported a large plasma cannon, these powerhouses were code named: Goliaths. Suddenly, a wave of violet light washed over the entire area, a slight distortion in reality occurred, but then it stabilized. After this happened, the sky was no longer its bright blue color, but was now a light purple color. The squadrons watched as a meteor fell from the sky, but once it got closer to the city, it began to slow down until it hovered a few feet from the ground. The flames surrounding this meteor were dark violet, releasing sparkling embers that crackled and popped. The meteor began to show cracks, as if it were made of glass. After a moment the meteor shattered, and from it appeared a giant monster. The beast landed upon the earth with a thunderous BOOM, releasing a screeching cry. Its body was covered in a blue-gray, exoskeletal, armored hide, with gnarled teeth sticking out from its maw. Its arms had several rows of long spikes, and at the end of its right hand was a spiked mace weapon, where its left hand would be, was instead a long-curved metal hook. The monster’s eyes glowed a bright orange as its tail thrashed about. The Goliath tanks immediately fired upon the beast, releasing bursts of plasma energy straight at it. The energized ordinance impacted against the monster and exploded, it didn’t appear to cause it too much damage, but did succeed in grabbing its attention. The monster inhaled and then exhaled a jet a flames that roared down the street and washed over the tanks, thankfully the Goliaths and Gungirs were equipped with energy shielding, however, it wasn’t permanent. The Gungirs broke off into teams of three and nosedived for the monster. The photon cannons fired rapidly on the creature. The flame attack was ceased as the monster used its hook arm to shield itself from the rain of photon bolts. The Gungirs broke off as another three followed up behind them and launched several missiles. Each struck the beast’s head, shoulders, arms, and back, exploding against its armored body. Unfortunately, their attacks seemed to do little more than irritate the behemoth. When the next trio arrived, the horn on the top of the beast’s head began to release a series of bright flashes. The Gungirs that were flying in all began to scatter, but some did not escape, the flashes managed to pierce their eye shielding and temporarily blinded them. Several Gungirs fell out of the sky and crash landed in the city, thankfully their shields weren’t down and saved them from meeting a fiery end. The monster was not done yet as it reared its head back and launched the curved horn on its head. The blade horn sailed like a boomerang, whipping through the air as it hit a few more of the Gungirs and taking them out of the fight. One of the fighter’s broke off from the rest and followed behind the blade-horn, the code name written on the side of this fighter was “Blitz”. When it reattached to the monster’s head, the rogue Gungir released one salvo after the other, continuously firing its photon cannons into the beast’s face. At the same time, one Goliath tank revved up its engine and charged up its plasma cannon. The tank fired a concentrated charged beam blast straight at the monster face, combining into a powerful explosion that made the beast cry out in pain as it stumbled backwards and crashed into some buildings. The rogue Gungir pulled up and rejoined the rest of the squadron, but not before getting an earful from their captain. {Dammit rookie, I told you not to pull any crazy ass stunts like this! This ain’t the simulator!} {Sorry, Captain Spitfire, but if I didn’t that thing was going to keep taking out our fighters! Ma’am!} An audible groan could be heard coming from the other line. {Yeah, you and that tanker did good, but that trick won’t work twice, next time you might get a face full of fire. Your shield’s reading at 30%, hang back with the rest of us. That’s an order Private Dash.} At that moment, a voice with a southern drawl called in and said, {Sorry to interrupt, but that overgrown lizard is gettin’ back up again!} Indeed, the monster was getting back up, and looked none too pleased that it had gotten the equivalent of a sucker punch to the face. The monster inhaled again bellowed out more of its intense flames, bathing the ground and sky indiscriminately in its blazing rage. Many of the structures around it began to explode and crumble under the intensity of the flames forcing the SMILE forces to fall back. \*****///** This is not good, Sunset thought. It had taken a bit for Twilight to find the strength to run, Sunset had hoped the adrenaline would be enough to get her strength back after her panic attack, it was, but not to the degree she was hoping. Nonetheless, Twilight was able to finally get her legs moving the way she wanted to, but her lack of physical activity was showing as her breathing was labored, her muscles crying out in protest of how long the two girls had been running. Both of them had to stop several times while the battle was going, the monster had appeared not too far from the mall, and the nearest shelter was close to the battlefield. Sunset had thought to take the car, but a rogue chunk of debris had fallen right onto the car, caving it in and making it useless. The girls stopped again in an alleyway, catching their breath. Sunset took out her HoloFrame and checked their position, from what she could tell, they were one block away from the shelter. Sunset looked to Twilight, her body slumped up against the wall of the building as her chest heaved, if it was just herself, she could make it easily, but Twilight… “L-Leave…me…Sunset…!” Twilight stated between breaths. “What?!” “You…You’re faster…You’re not as tired…as I am…! At this rate…we’ll…we’ll both die!” Sunset’s brow knit at that. “I am not leaving you to die out here! We’re getting to that shelter if I have to carry you there!” Or…there’s another option… Suddenly, a roar from the monster ceased all thoughts running through their heads. An orange glow grew in intensity from around the corner, and not soon after that flames washed over the buildings, slamming into them like a freight train and causing them to fall over. “TWILIGHT!” Sunset shouted as she dove for her new friend. They both hit the ground just as a large chunk of the building slid down and crashed against the other. Pieces of debris cascaded on both sides, cutting off their escape, and right over that, the flames. Sunset and Twilight coughed as dirt covered them and the dust hung in the air. Twilight took out her cellphone and turned on the light, seeing how they were alive. Miraculously, the building fell in just the right way to allow for a small pocket to form, however, that was not exactly a good thing. It didn’t take long for both girls to feel the heat radiating around them, turning their small refuge into a brick oven. “At…At this rate, we’ll die from heatstroke long before those flames get to us, that’s also factoring in our current physical condition!” The redhead gritted her teeth, there was something she could do, something that she wasn’t sure that Celestia and Luna would like. Just then, she felt Twilight’s arm wrap around hers as she held tight, feeling her body shaking in fear and terror. “Sunset, I’m scared, I don’t want to die…” Screw it! Sunset bent down on one knee and looked Twilight in the eyes. “I need you to make me a promise, right here, right now, Twilight!” “W-What promise?” Twilight asked. “Whatever you see today, you will never speak a word of it to anyone at school! Not your family, not anyone! Do you understand?! Please promise me!” Twilight nodded vigorously and said, “Yes, I promise!” Sunset smiled and patted Twilight on the head, earning her a confused look from the bespectacled girl. She then stood up and held out her right arm, within seconds the entirety of their refuge was engulfed in blinding light, but for Sunset it was different. All around her was a starry nexus, and upon her right arm was the bracer. A silver belt appeared around her waist, and on it was the case from earlier. She opened the case and pulled one coin that had a figure drawn on it and said, “Grant me the strength of a hero!” Sunset placed the coin into the top slot of the bracer. A red essence flew out from this coin and appeared on her right, this being looked similar to the first, but his body was more silver and red. || ULTRAMAN! || Sunset took another coin and said, “Grant me the power of a galaxy!” before placing it into the bottom slot. From that coin a blue essence flew out and appeared next to her in the form of a man, with blue crystals embedded into its body. || ULTRAMAN GINGA! || “Release the light within me!!” Upon saying this Sunset pressed down on the crystal sun in the center of the bracer, causing it to glow bright blue as she thrust her arm into the air. ||SHINE ON! ULTRAWOMAN ASTER!|| The two Ultramen transformed into light and swirled around Sunset until her body absorbed their light, creating a galaxy of swirling stars. From that galaxy, a being rose up, no not rising, growing. From the outside, where the rubble was strewn, and the flames continued to roar, a light shined from the spot that Twilight and Sunset were trapped under, causing the buildings to blow apart. A wave of sparkling, azure light washed over the entire area, extinguishing the flames. The wave eventually slammed into the monster, causing sparks to fly from its body as it was hurled onto its back. All SMILE forces paused to watch as a giant of light appeared, the light that coated that giant began to dissipate and reveal the giant’s true form. This being was female in appearance, its body, arms and legs, were all colored bright red. Along the sides of the giant was an eight-pointed star pattern that was printed on the hips, drawing a silver line going down the outside of her legs and up along her sides, and from the sides they branched onto her midsection to form two wavy lines. The middle bands joined at waist to form a makeshift belt, completing the circuit around her back. Wrapped around her left wrist were a silver bracelet that had an embedded turquoise jewel, the giantess also sported a pair of anklets that also had the turquoise colored jewel in them, while her right arm sported the same bracer as Sunset. Her upper body was covered in a silver armor plate, with intricate sigil markings that run upwards along curved wing-like engravings. At the center of this armor plate was a bright blue, crystal sun, the object was fastened to the armor by a gold metal edging that outlined the star. The giantess’ head was silver colored, her eyes were slightly slanted, and glowed a bright yellow. The plates around her mouth were angled like a “V” and upon either side of her head were sharp, horn-like frills. Upon her head was a blade that started at the forehead and rand down the back of her head, like a helmet plume or a mohawk, and at the center of her forehead blade was a blue oval shaped crystal. “I am…Ultrawoman Aster!” The Ultra Warrior announced as she assumed a fighting stance. After picking itself back up, the beast’s eyes shined as it cried out with another screech, as if challenging the giantess of light. Barabba, that’s your name…I know it for some reason. Aster took off like an Olympic sprinter, charging straight for the creature, she cocked back her right fist and punched Barabba right in the face. The beast reeled from the impact, stumbling backwards, Aster didn’t let up as she got in close and delivered a left hook to the monster’s stomach, making it cry out in pain. Barabba inhaled and bellowed out a stream of flames at Aster, forcing her back a few feet. The flames lapped off her body, causing small sparks to fly off, but Aster held her ground as the flames continued to stream. The Ultra Warrior crouched low and then jumped into the air as the flames continued onward. Aster flipped around in midair and stopped a few feet over the monster’s head, she then descended as she wrapped her right fist in sparkling energy, Barabba looked up at the last second as Aster cried out, “STARRY SMASHER!” Aster slammed her energized fist into the side of the monster’s face, sending it flying several feet as it slammed through several buildings at once. Aster wasn’t about to give the creature a chance to counterattack as she dashed towards it again, energizing her fist again to deliver another powerful blow to it. But before she could do so, Barabba rose up and its blade-horn flashed several times. Aster was unfortunate enough to have her eyes get a full view of the flashing light as she skidded to a halt as spots danced in her vision. Barabba rose up from the rumble and then aimed its hook-claw right at Aster and fired it, a chain materialized as it continued to sail towards Aster. The chain and hook managed to wrap around her neck and Barabba pulled forward, causing Aster to lurch forward and fall onto the ground. Barabba reeled her in quickly, bringing her to his feet as it raised its right arm, and brought down its mace hand onto Aster’s stomach and chest, causing sparks to fly from each impact and making the Ultra Warrior grunt in pain from each strong strike. Aster had to get out of this, but her options were limited, she had to wait for the perfect moment to get out. When Barabba had had its fill with bashing her with its mace, the beast raised its head back as flames began to spill from the sides of its mouth, preparing to unleash another fire attack. Aster took this chance as she swung both her legs back and struck the monster in the gut with both of her feet, making it back away and belch out its flames too early onto a building nearby. However, Barabba still had its chain wrapped around her, giving the monster some leverage over her. The beast’s horn began to glow again and with a flick of its head, launched the bladed boomerang-like weapon at Aster. The Ultrawoman moved to the right and reached out for the weapon just before it passed her by. Aster grabbed Barabba’s weapon and used the weapon to slash at the chain. The weapon cleanly cut through the materialized chain, causing the rest to go completely slack. Barabba roared in either pain or anger as it lost not just one, but two of its offensive weapons. At that time, the sun symbol on her chest began to blink red, and Aster knew she had to end this quickly. Just then, both of her forearms began to glow brightly. The Ultrawoman’s yellow eyes shined as she widened her stance, bent her left arm to a ninety-degree angle, and crossed her left forearm over her right. Energy continued to gather more and more, creating sparkling stars that coalesced into on spot. The name, the name of her strongest attack rang in Aster’s – in Sunset’s – head as she bellowed it out. “ASTRONIUM RAY!!!” A beam of blue light and golden sparkles shot out, tearing up the street and buildings in its wake. The beam struck Barabba with the sound of resounding thunder. The monster roared in pain as the beam continued to deal continuous damage to it, but, after another couple of seconds, the lizard-like monster exploded into a fiery nothingness. Aster quickly ceased her attack, panting as she saw that Barabba had been completely destroyed, no trace remaining of the lizard monster from the stars. Aster turned around and saw that the Goliath tanks were still training their weapons on her but had not fired. The Gungirs in the sky were still flying around, and no doubt ready to attack should she do anything else. Better get going. Aster jumped straight up, taking flight and zooming through the air. One of the Gungir’s, with the code name “Blitz” written on it, flew after Aster. The Gungir fighter managed to get alongside Aster, the pilot looked in Aster’s direction, and as she did, Aster glanced towards the Gungir and gave a little salute before doubling her speed and leaving the fighter in the dust. Aster continued to fly until she vanished from sight. As the pilot of the Gungir brought her fighter into a hover, the voice of their Commander called out, {Space Beast eradication confirmed. Begin recovery of all fallen aircraft and personnel and prepare for Phantom Zone deactivation.} It took a few hours for the Cleanup Crew to collect the wreckage of the down Gungirs, but thankfully there were no casualties. After all the Goliath and Gungirs headed back to their standby positions. The sky changed from its light-purple hue back to a bright blue. As the Phantom Zone dropped, the damage that was done to the buildings was erased. The fires were snuffed out, and all the damaged vehicles were returned to their original positions, as if the battle had never happened.
5th Light: Rescue the hostages! / The Serene Warrior cuts down evil!Sunset had been asked by Fluttershy to help at the local Canterlot Wildlife Preserve. It was here that the Preserve catered to a menagerie of different animals, but they’re specialty mostly consisted of animals that were not native to Earth. Ever since the First Incursion, Earth received assistance from different planets to both battle the Space Beasts that had come, and to rebuild. Part of Earth’s ongoing partnership with the different alien races and planets, was to help in preserving some of their species that were in danger of going extinct. For some of those planets, Earth provided an environment that was close to if not an exact match to the conditions that the alien animals’ habitats. However, this was not a permanent residence, once a new planet had been discovered that could safely serve as a new home, or if the threat to the habitat on their home planet had been dealt with, the animals were to be transported to their old or new home. Fluttershy had been helping at the Preserve since she was a little girl, and had built up quite the reputation for being the local “animal whisperer”, not just for alien animals, but even the Earth based ones. On this particular day, Fluttershy needed help with some of the new arrivals, a creature called a “Pukwudgie”. She had asked some of her friends and others for assistance, but out of those she did ask, only Pinkie Pie was able to volunteer. And somehow, without Sunset knowing it, she had as well. There was just something about Fluttershy that made it hard to say no, as if, if you did, your very soul would feel unimaginable guilt that it would be crushed. So, Sunset made the long drive to the preserve. It was located some miles on the other side of the Everfree Forest. Some had cautioned against it as they were not sure of what the forest was and how welcoming it would be. But the forest’s presence seemed to have a calming effect on not just the Earth based animals, but also the alien ones. With that said, the Preserve was built, and a section of that forest was enclosed. Sunset had driven the three, using one of SMILE’s official vehicles. Fluttershy mainly took public transport to the Preserve and didn’t like to drive much, and Pinkie, well, Sunset didn’t trust Pinkie behind a wheel, call it instinct. The three girls approached the Preserve, it was a large expanse of a facility, stretching over a hundred miles in both directions. The main entrance was a giant, two story gate that read “Welcome to the Preserve”. The gate led to a bridge that went on for about five miles before entering the main hub. The preserve was spilt into sections, and each section housed different animals. For simplicity’s sake, the section that housed mostly alien creatures was dubbed the “Xeno House” and for local animals, the “Terra Residence”. Fluttershy directed Sunset to head towards the Xeno House, Sunset made a left and they were soon taken through a long tunnel before exiting and seeing multiple buildings spread out through the area, each one catering to a specific type of alien animal, one was for aquatic animals, insectoids, reptilians, and mammals. Fluttershy pointed towards the building that was for mammals and Sunset pulled into the parking lot. When they exited the car, Sunset sighed. “I can’t believe I’m spending my Saturday with smelly, alien animals.” “Sorry…” Fluttershy apologized as her gaze turned downcast Sunset cursed inwardly, not realizing she had said that below a whisper. “No, don’t be. I’m just being cranky.” Pinkie Pie appeared next to Sunset and threw her arm over her shoulders. “Don’t worry, Sunset, I’m sure we’ll have fun here! I mean, this place is filled with alien animals! How can that not be fun?!” Sunset rolled her eyes, but she did admit, this could be interesting. Since this was a weekend, the girls had adopted their casual attire, and as per Fluttershy’s instructions, they were to wear something comfortable and airy since they were going to be moving around a lot today. Fluttershy had put on a plain white tank top with brown shorts, and pink and white tennis shoes. Sunset had put on a red t-shirt with flame decals around the sleeves, black, hip hugging shorts, and black running shoes. Pinkie wore a cotton candy pink, sleeveless shirt, and a tri-colored skirt made up of yellow, white, and blue colors. The three made their way to the main entrance, it was there they saw many people, some were their age, but the majority were older. The staff were either dressed like they were about to go out on safari or had white lab coats. Fluttershy led her companions to the front desk and cleared her throat. A young woman with brown hair and freckles looked up and beamed at Fluttershy. “Well, hello Fluttershy! Here to help out with the new arrivals?” “Yes ma’am, I also brought some friends of mine from the Academy to help, if that’s okay?” The receptionist looked at the two girls and smiled at them as well. “Well of course, the more the merrier, we’ll just need to sign them in. Oh, do you have your card dear?” Fluttershy reached into her pocket, fished out her wallet, and took out an ID card from it. The card had Fluttershy’s name on it, along with her picture, and read as “Canterlot Wildlife Preserve: Junior Xeno & Terra Specialist”. “What’s that mean, ‘Junior Xeno & Terra Specialist’?” Pinkie asked. “Oh, that means our young Fluttershy here has been coming to the Preserve for so long, that we presented her with this special card that grants her access to both the Xeno and Terra facilities. But not just because of her attendance, she has displayed excellent knowledge when it comes to the care of the animals that reside here. It may say ‘Junior’, but considering how long she’s volunteered her, it should read ‘Senior’. But, hopefully we’ll see you in a more official capacity when you graduate.” Fluttershy blushed at the kind words of the receptionist. She handed her card to the young woman who scanned it into the system, and then produced two sign in sheets for Sunset and Pinkie. Once they were complete, they were given visitor badges. “Now, be aware, those badges will only grant you limited access to the facility, they’re only good for opening and closing doors in the facility. Only badges like Miss Fluttershy’s here have the access needed to get into the habitats, labs, and storage areas. So, Fluttershy, remember, you’re responsible for your friends so long as they’re here.” “Yes ma’am, I promise, there won’t be any trouble.” The girls made their way down one of the many hallways in the facility, a lot of the workers stopped to greet Fluttershy on their way to whatever assignments they were working on. “Wow, you’re pretty popular here,” said Sunset. Fluttershy fidgeted. “Oh, I-I don’t think of myself that way.” “Don’t see why, considering most of the guys at school seem to think you’re cute.” The light-pink haired girl blushed. “Oh my…” “Shy, you never did tell us, what is a Pukwudgie is,” said Pinkie. “Oh, well, they’re small mammal creature from planet Correlida. Their habitat is being threatened by an atmospheric event that’s harmful to them, in fact, most of the species of that planet are being shipped to this Preserve, as well as a few others on Earth. They’re just one of the ones I’d like your help with, once we’re done, you guys can have a look around if you’d like, or you can head back to the Academy.” The trio eventually arrived at a door that read “Preparation Room”. Fluttershy swiped her card and the door opened, allowing them entry. Once inside, they noticed it was a ladies locker room, complete with showers, and to the far side of the room were some suits, and a little bit further was a door. “Uh, Fluttershy, what’re we doing in here?” Sunset asked. “The Pukwedugies are sensitive to smells, so we’ll have to scrub with a special soap that will coat us in a nonthreatening scent. Leave all your clothes in the locker, and once you’re done drying off, get into the suit.” Sunset walked over to where the suits were contained in a case that was sealed. They looked baggy, and had a helmet with a clear face visor. “Soooo…we’re supposed to wear these things completely nude?” “Ahem…well…yes, any of our clothing could have a variety of scents that could leak out through the suits. They’re designed to prevent that, but it’s best not to take any chances. Oh, and don’t worry, they may look baggy, but they have a button that allows them to shrink and fit your body.” Sunset raised an eyebrow at that. “Form fitting, protective suits. I’m starting to wonder if we’re in one of those ecchi anime things.” “Ah don’t worry about it, Sunset. If we were, the author would go into a detailed explanation of us undressing, washing our bodies, and getting into the suits. At best he’ll cut us off now or else he’d have to give this an ‘M’ rating.” Sunset blinked and then shook her head. “Wait, wha–?” \*****///** Outside the facility, five black SUVs were parked out by the woods. A man with black hair and dressed in a black suit gazed at the Preserve through binoculars, zooming in on one of the habitats in the distance. “That’s our target, the Xeno House.” Another man, who almost looked identical to the first, stood next to him and said, “We got intel that the creature housed entrance to the creature is somewhere in there. Are you sure you want to use her for this mission?” “She’s disposable, and talented. I’d rather walk away with both, but I’ll settle for what’s in there. Bring her to me.” The second man turned around and motioned towards one of the other SUVs, the back passenger side door opened as an alien walked out. His body was white and lumpy, with red dots scattered about that made the lumps look like eyeballs. The alien had fur around its wrists, and wore a black belt with a holster. The alien’s head was rectangular in shape, with two red eyes and at the center of his head was a red glowing crest. Around this alien was a poncho, black in color, with silver markings. The alien reached inside the vehicle and pulled out a young alien girl. She was insectoid in appearance, but humanoid as well, her carapace was an arctic blue color, and was smooth to the touch. She had long ears that were pressed to her skull, which possessed a horn that was twin tipped, and a translucent frill that ran from the top of her head to the back of her neck. The alien girl also had beautiful, translucent red wings, and a tail frill that was of the same color and see-through like her wings. The girl wasn’t bound, nor were her wings, however, she did have a strange metal collar strapped around her neck. The large male alien pointed his gun to the small of her back and pushed her forward, making the insectoid alien move forward. The alien girl looked up with fear at the man who was still looking at the Preserve. Her cyan eyes were pleading, as she said, “Please, let me go, I don’t want to do this…” “That is unfortunate, because you don’t really have a choice.” The man put down the binoculars and took out a device from his pocket. He then pressed the button on the device and immediately after, the collar began to open, revealing red glowing rods. The rods then released red lightning the surged through the young girl’s body, causing her to writhe and scream in pain. The torture continued until she collapsed onto the ground, her legs losing strength as continued to thrash about until the man switched off the device. Collar closed back up, and the pain ceased. The young alien girl took in deep, raspy breathes of air as the pain was subsiding a little. “You were given to me by your Queen with the promise that you would be useful.” “I…I was taken! And she’s not my queen! I…I’m nothing like them!” “Regardless, if you wish to live to see your home again, you will fulfill your obligations to us, or…” The man raised the remote device and the insect girl’s eyes widened with fear. “Now, get to work.” The young insectoid girl walked forward until she was standing at the edge of the tree line. She gave a tentative look to the man, her eyes still pleading for him to let her go. But she only saw coldness in his eyes. Taking a shaky breath, the young alien’s body became engulfed in arctic blue light that swirled around her. The light danced like flames, growing bigger and bigger with each passing second, and then, after a minute, the young alien girl was no longer herself, but something else entirely. The creature stood about forty meters tall, not including its four wings, and twenty meters in length. The primary wings were about thirty meters in length, the secondary about half that, and the wings themselves were a translucent lime-green color. The creature had a mostly blue-green carapace, with a light-blue underbelly color. Its head was long with red oval eyes, and two red antenna. The top of the creature’s abdomen was a darker shade of blue-green and had course hair, and its thorax had a long red stinger. The creature released a shrieking sound before it fluttered its wings and took off with great haste towards the Preserve, at the same time, the SUVs all floored it, following after the insect monster they just unleashed. \*****///** Sunset and Pinkie panted as they slumped up against the locker room wall. “Those things…are…little monsters!” Sunset exclaimed. “They…They could do with an attitude adjustment,” Pinkie panted. Fluttershy removed her helmet and gave her friends an apologetic look. “I’m sorry girls, I didn’t think they’d be that testy.” “‘Testy’? ‘Testy’?! They shot their spines at us! Thank God that these suits are reinforced gradium fibers or else we’d be pincushions! And they want to ‘preserve’ those things? They’re like miniature Space Beasts!” Fluttershy’s brow furrowed ever so slightly. “N-Not all Space Beasts are evil, Sunset.” Sunset stood upright as she made her way to the locker where her clothes were kept. “Tell that to all the ones that came and tried to kill us all in the First Incursion, or the ones after that, or the ones that Aster has taken out.” “I’m just saying…not all of them have to be destroyed, some are just animals,” said Fluttershy. Pinkie Pie finally caught her breath and joined in on the conversation. “I gotta agree with Shy, it’s the same for aliens, not all of them are bad, it’s just like us. Some people are bad and some are good. We can’t judge an entire race on the actions of a few bad apples. And we can’t judge a Space Beast’s species to be all bad just because one or two of them attacked us.” Sunset sighed as she deactivated her suit into its baggy form for removal. “Look, I have yet to meet a ‘good’ Space Beast, and until then, all are bad guys.” Fluttershy puffed up her cheeks as she marched over to Sunset. “Well, what if I showed you one?” “Say what?” Just then, the entire building shook violently, followed by a series of explosions that made Fluttershy yelp in fear. Sunset activated the suit, allowing the form fitting protective gear to form to her body. Another violent shake occurred and Fluttershy lost her footing, Sunset quickly grabbed her and held her close as the shaking continued. Pinkie Pie joined them, but just when she did, the shaking stopped. “What…What was that?” Pinkie Pie asked. Just then, the door to the room burst open, revealing an alien, its body had black and white stripes all over it, and its head was big, and half-moon shaped. The head was black, with the face white, and its eyes were large and magenta. In the alien’s hand was a blaster, and Sunset instinctively put herself between the alien and her teammates. “Oh, so there were people in here too. Come with me.” “Or else…?” Sunset dared to ask. The alien shot the blaster up at the ceiling, making Pinkie and Fluttershy duck. “Or you won’t live through this.” “Can you at least let us change out of these suits first?” Sunset asked. “No, now MOVE!” The trio was moved into the lobby area, where most of the staff had been corralled like cattle, forced to sit down while their captors had blasters pointed at them. Sunset, Fluttershy, and Pinkie were in the back, with the alien who escorted them there walking back to join his crew. “T-That was an Alien Dada, they normally go by numbers, no actual names,” said Pinkie. Her eyes then caught sight of another alien with a poncho, talking to a man in a black suit. “A-And that’s an Alien Nackle!” “How bad is this?” Sunset asked. “Really bad. They aren’t very friendly, they’re practically hitmen for hire!” Alien Nackle walked up to the only human among the group and said, “We’ve secured the building, the Changeling is circling the perimeter as we speak.” “How many are here?” Alien Nackle scoffed in annoyance as he said, “Unfortunately, the little wench didn’t make it to this building in time, and because of that, a lot of the staff here has evacuated, all we have is this lot of ten.” The human narrowed his gaze as he sighed. “Very well, bring her inside and barricade this entrance. It won’t be long before SMILE finds out we’re here, but with some hostages, they’ll be cautious in their actions. Remember our main objective.” Alien Nackle nodded and went outside. After a minute, a large creature came stomping towards the building, and in the next second, that creature shrunk down until it was of more manageable size. Sunset watched as Alien Nackle and the insectoid alien walked in, the latter of the two looked depressed. “Stand over there and keep the hostages in check, if you lose one…” Alien Nackle let that hang in the air. The alien girl didn’t need much more instruction as she walked over to where the hostages were being kept, the guards who were looking after them left to attend other duties, some were already going through the computer terminals. Fluttershy managed to glance at the sad alien girl and gasped. “She’s…She’s a Changeling,” Fluttershy whispered. “A what?” Sunset asked. “They have this incredible ability to take on the form of whatever creature they see, it doesn’t even matter if it’s a different species, sex, or size. Their eyes allow them to scan every small detail of another being, right down to their DNA, it’s almost impossible to tell the difference between them and whatever creature they’re mimicking. But it isn’t perfect, they can’t copy the memories.” Sunset eyed the alien girl, she was keeping an eye on them, and the fact that she was the only one assigned to the task meant she was the most dangerous one in the group. “How tough are they?” “Well…their carapace is strong, but not impenetrable, it also depends on their individual endurance and pain tolerance…why?” “I’m trying to do a threat assessment. Right now, that Alien Nackle and this Changeling are the biggest threats, if I can neutralize them–” “Yeah, I’m going to have to stop you there, Sunset,” Pinkie interrupted. “I don’t think she’s with them, at least not willingly.” Sunset gave her teammate a skeptical look. “And what makes you say that?” “Well, the fact that she has bright colors.” Sunset blinked. “Okay, I’ll bite, why does that matter?” “There’s currently a civil war going happening on their planet, with one faction converting to a race that doesn’t need to be parasitic in order to live, the mark of this change is bright colors on their bodies. The other wishes to stay parasitic and become really tyrannical, their shells are black as night, and they look a lot scarier. They both have that changing power, but I think this one may have been kidnapped.” “Oh my!” Fluttershy exclaimed. “Regardless, we’ll just have to wait and see what happens, we can’t make a move until then.” At least, I can’t anyway. \*****///** [Saturday, 1:00 pm, 3 hours after takeover…] Police and SMILE Agents had swarmed the Preserve, SWAT units along with SMILE’s elite extraterrestrial combat unit, Foxtrot Alpha, or as they were nicknamed, the “Roughnecks”. Unfortunately, the building that they had occupied had an entry way that led to the Everfree Forest and their ability to attack or infiltrate was limited by the access codes granted to certain staffers. Inside, the Alien Dadas were still searching around for something. Sunset had overheard the leader of the group give their demands. They stated that they were here for a creature, and that so long as the SMILE and police maintained their distance, the hostages would remain safe. Sunset didn’t trust this guy, they were definitely looking for something, that much was certain, but their safety was another matter. If and when they found what they were looking for, there was no guarantee that they would let them live. Sunset wished she could fight these guys, with her abilities she could easily overpower them, but that was if she was alone, she couldn’t risk everyone’s safety. Meanwhile, Pinkie had somehow managed to scoot herself closer to the alien girl. She then looked up at the girl and said, “Hi, my name’s Pinkamena Diane Pie. But everyone just calls me Pinkie Pie. What’s your name?” The alien girl fidgeted. “I…I’m not supposed to talk to you…” “I don’t remember that scary man saying that. He just said to guard us, so long as you’re doing that, you’re not breaking the rules right?” Pinkie asked. “Um…I guess not…Well, my name’s Ocellus.” Pinkie Pie smiled. “That’s a pretty name, you’re a Changeling right?” “Y-Yeah, I am…” Pinkie continued to focus on Ocellus’ frown. “You don’t look like you’re liking any of this, are you?” Ocellus furrowed her brow. “No…I hate this! I…I don’t want to be here…!” Pinkie watched as Ocellus unconsciously rubbed the collar around her neck. “Is that thing the reason why you’re doing what that mean man says?” Ocellus nodded. “It attacks my cells, it makes it feel like I’m being ripped apart. I’ll die if he leaves it on too long…I don’t want to die…I don’t want to hurt anyone either…” Ocellus’ eyes began to water a little. “I miss my home, I miss my parents, my brothers and sisters…” Pinkie Pie’s smile grew somber as she placed her hand against Ocellus’. “Hey, hey, it’s okay. Things will work out, I promise.” “You don’t know that…so, please don’t lie to me.” Pinkie Pie shook her head. “I never lie when I make a promise, a Pinkie Promise is never broken, and that’s my solemn oath.” Ocellus managed a small smile, her eyes darted to one of the guards and she quickly spoke. “Please go back with the others, they’ll hurt you if they see you talking to me.” Without a word, Pinkie Pie scooted back to where Sunset and Fluttershy were sitting. Sunset glanced at Pinkie and asked, “What were you doing?” “Just talking to a new friend,” Pinkie answered. “Pinkie, don’t go Stockholm on me now, she’s our captor, not our friend!” Sunset hissed. “She doesn’t want to be here, Sunset! She’s just as much a hostage as we are! Look at her, does she really look like a bad guy?” Sunset gazed at Ocellus, her hard expression softened just a bit when she saw the sad look on the Changeling’s face. Still, she couldn’t just completely put her faith in that, not yet anyway. One of the Alien Dada’s behind the desk exclaimed something in their language, prompting their leader to come over and see what he found. The man’s brow furrowed after seeing what was on the computer. He then pulled out his own blaster and began walking towards the ten hostages. “It seems we have hit a snag in our operation, ladies and gentlemen. In order to get what we came for and be on our merry way, we need someone with level nine clearance.” Fluttershy’s eyes widened upon hearing that, however, other hostages just murmured amongst themselves in confusion. “It also appears that the files as to whom has access are restricted. So, I’m going to ask everyone, who here has level nine access?” the man asked. No one spoke up. “I see, well, here’s how it will go.” The man snapped his fingers and two of the Alien Dadas grabbed the receptionist and brought her to the leader, making her kneel before him as he pressed the barrel of his blaster to her forehead. “If no one speaks up before I count to five, I will execute her. I will then do the same thing to someone else and we will continue until someone eventually says they do. Bare in mind, the longer you draw this out, the more blood is on your hands. One…” Sunset gritted her teeth, she felt the urge to speed towards the leader and break his jaw, but the moment that she made that move, the others would surely open fire on her and the hostages. “Two…” Ocellus looked away, she knew people would get hurt, but she had hoped she didn’t see something like this. “Three…Five.” “WAIT!!!” All eyes fell on the light-pink haired girl who stood up. “I-I have level nine access!” “Fluttershy!” Sunset and Pinkie exclaimed. “I can take you to where you need to go!” The leader removed his blaster from the woman’s head and nodded for his subordinates to put the woman back with the others. Afterwards two others walked towards Fluttershy, taking her by the arms as they brought her before the leader. “You had better not be lying to me. There are worst things than death for you if you are.” Despite how scared she was right now, Fluttershy managed to put on a brave face as she said, “I-I’m not lying. I know exactly why you need that clearance, you want him, don’t you?” The leader smiled wickedly. “Smart girl. Let’s go then, call the ship and have them be ready for transport.” “Um, I don’t think that’ll be very good.” Everyone looked to Pinkie Pie. “You’re going to halve your team to go and do whatever it is you’re going to do, and leave the rest here?” “Girl, you had better shut up and sit down,” Alien Nackle warned. “I’m just saying, you’d have way better leverage with three SMILE students, plus, it would give you more time if you let the rest of these hostages go,” said Pinkie Pie as she winked to Sunset. Sunset smirked and nodded. “She’s right, the three of us are have been granted Special Agent status, which means they won’t go smashing their way in here if they think we’re in danger.” “So, what do you say?” Pinkie asked. The leader looked to the group and then to Fluttershy, running the numbers in his head, not counting Ocellus, this was a team of ten, and if it was down there then he’d need more manpower. “A good argument, very well. We’ll release these hostages, but you three will be staying with us.” \*****///** As was promised, they released the staffers, but kept Sunset, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie. After being informed that they had three of SMILE Academy’s students as hostages, the assault team was quick to stand down. Just as Pinkie said they would. Now with a more manageable hostage size, the captors and three girls were led to a door in the back which led to a subbasement. Fluttershy walked up to a set of lockers that looked old and unused. However, when she opened one of the lockers with the number “203”, it released a panel with a card reader. This was the moment of truth, the other Alien Dadas and Alien Nackle pointed their weapons at Fluttershy, ready to punish her if she lied. Fluttershy took a deep breath and swiped her card, inputting the locker number right after. As soon as she did that, the lockers rattled as they opened inward, revealing a long tunnel. Lights flickered on and showed just how far it went down. Pinkie and Sunset were noticeably confused as to what was going on. The group headed down the lit pathway, going deeper and deeper, at the same time, they noticed the tunnel was getting wider and wider. After about ten minutes of walking, the group stopped when Fluttershy did. There was an entrance to their left, before that, there were several computers and tables setup, as if there was work being done down in the cavern. “Around that corner, he’s there,” said Fluttershy. “Who’s there?” Sunset asked. “The Terra Beast, Gomora,” said the leader. “So, you are after him!” “Heh, heh, of course we are,” said Alien Nackle. “A monster like that that’s able to fight off several Space Beasts on its own, that’s worth something to the right person.” Fluttershy narrowed her gaze. “All you want to do is use him as a weapon!” “We were hired to do a job, we don’t really care what it’s used for, so long as we’re paid. Now, you’re going to tell us how to restrain him. I’m not so stupid as to just walk in there and let that Beast tear us apart.” Fluttershy looked away from the leader. The leader narrowed his gaze and snapped his fingers, and immediately the other Alien Dadas pointed their weapons at Sunset and Pinkie. “You really don’t have any room to negotiate. I have no qualms with throwing one of them to the Beast and seeing what happens to learn what I need to do. It’ll be messy, but we can avoid that.” “……He’ll respond to me. I can make him calm long enough for you…” “Good girl.” Fluttershy walked on ahead and turned the corner. Inside the larger cavern rested a giant Beast, its horns were curved upwards, its body was scaly and brown, with long sharp claws. The ancient Terra Beast, Gomora. The Terra Beast sniffed the air, its giant eyes fluttering open as it caught a familiar scent. It looked forward and saw Fluttershy standing there. “Hello, Gomora.” The giant creature gave a low growl. “I know, it’s not our normal time that we meet up, but…something’s happened…” Gomora tilted its head to the side, a look of concern on its face. “Gomora…around this corner are some really bad people…they’ll kill me and my friends.” Gomora’s eyes narrowed as its body rose higher; a threatening growl echoed in the cave. Alien Nackle grew angry upon hearing this. “That little bitch, she’s going to sic that thing on us! That’s it, I’m killing the redhead!” “Wait!” the leader ordered. “I know you want to protect me, but you can’t, if you do, my friends will be killed! Gomora…you know I wouldn’t ask this of you if it wasn’t important, but please, for my sake and my friends’ sakes, please don’t fight back.” Gomora now caught the scent of the intruders that Fluttershy spoke of, its eyes locked on the spot behind the cave wall. But then, Gomora looked down at the pleading Fluttershy, and its expression softened. “I promise you, it’ll be alright! I’ve never broken a promise to you, isn’t that right?!” Fluttershy pleaded. Gomora thumped its tail against the ground, causing the cave to shake. There was frustration in its eyes, but even still, there was a deep trust that did not waver. Gomora lowered its body back down into a submissive stance. Fluttershy walked up to Gomora’s enormous muzzle and patted him on the lower jaw. “Thank you, and I promise, it’ll all be alright.” The young animal lover turned towards the opening. “It’s fine, he won’t attack.” The leader of the mercenaries, along with his crew, brought Sunset and Pinkie inside. The leader walked up ahead of them and smirked. “Magnificent, our they’ll pat out the nose for this Beast. Set up the collar and have the ship lock onto our coordinates!” Four Alien Dadas ran off towards the Gomora, but as they did, Gomora released a threatening growl that gave them pause. Fluttershy made some cooing noises as she petted Gomora on his muzzle, and within a few seconds the growl subsided. The leader nodded to them and they resumed their work. The Alien Dadas took positions on the right and left sides of the Beast’s neck. They opened up their duffle bags and took out two large black blocks. The Alien Dadas pressed on one of the panels, and the two blocks grew out, angling themselves as they formed a semicircle around Gomora’s neck. The two bars fused into one large block, becoming the top half of a collar. As they set up for the second half, Sunset whispered to Pinkie, “We cannot let them take that thing! We have to stop them!” “I’m with you, and I have a plan.” As before, the guards left the two girls alone, leaving only Ocellus as their sole guard. Pinkie stepped backwards so that she was in earshot of the Changeling. “Ocellus, we’re going to stop them, and set you free.” “Y-You can’t…please, just let them do this so I can go back home,” Ocellus pleaded. “There’s no guarantee that they will let you. Once they have Gomora, they’ll either kill you, or keep you to use for more jobs, bad guys like that don’t keep their word! But I do, and so does Sunset.” Ocellus looked at Pinkie, and then to Sunset. Her eyes then turned towards Gomora, a creature that was soon to wind up in the same horrible situation as herself. No creature should be subjected to this, to be used as a weapon, as a slave. The Changeling looked to Pinkie and nodded. Sunset looked to Pinkie Pie with a little surprise. Gomora had such trust in Fluttershy that it was willing to let itself be captured, and Ocellus was willing to place her faith in Pinkie’s promise that everything would be alright. Maybe she had it all wrong, there were good and bad aliens and Beasts out there, and sometimes you needed just a little faith and trust. Just then, they heard the snapping of the second half of the collar as Gomora released a roar. The device released red lightning that was similar to Ocellus’ collar, but then the Terra Beasts’ eyes shined red. “Perfect, now he’s obedient.” “Sunny, when I give the signal, go in!” Pinkie stated. The cotton candy haired girl reached into her curly, puffy hair and pulled out something. She then tossed it right at the two guards before them, and as soon as she did, a series of mini explosions went off before them, both burning and disorienting them. Sunset sprang into action as she rushed towards the two Alien Dadas, using her enhanced speed to wrench the blaster out of the first one before punching him in the face and sending him sailing to the other side of the cave. With the same speed, she swept the legs of the second, and then elbow dropped onto the alien’s stomach, the result was a blow that made the ground fissure slightly. The other guards finally noticed what was happening and were about to attack, but then Fluttershy pressed the button to her suit, letting it become saggy and loose. The moment she did, she slipped out of the suit and immediately her body transformed. She grew five long tails, yellow fur, and white ivory claws. Her ears morphed into dog-like ears as her legs took on a lupine appearance. “What?!” The leader only managed to get out one word before being punched by Fluttershy, his body went straight down, eating the dirt. Fluttershy jumped up and tailed whipped the two guards that were beside her. Alien Nackle was about to shoot, but Fluttershy’s eyes began to shine as she stared directly at him. The mercenary stopped dead in his tracks, his body became stiff, feeling an oppressive force pushing down on him. A two more guards came to assist, but Pinkie Pie tossed her mini bombs towards them, stopping them before they could attack. That allowed Sunset to rush them, drop kicking the first Alien Dada on the right, and then tossing its weapon straight at the one at the left, nailing him in the face as he went down. One of the guards wasn’t completely unconscious and was about to attack Pinkie Pie, but a swift large orange fist backhanded the guard into the cave wall. Pinkie turned around and saw that Ocellus had saved her. Fluttershy’s keen ears heard the sounds of blaster’s being primed behind her. Without looking, two of her five tails shot out and wrapped themselves around the two mercenaries’ legs. The tails hoisted the two Alien Dadas into the air and threw them towards the cave wall, knocking them out on impact. Sunset finished off two more by delivering a flying kick to its chest, and body slamming the last one. The redhead looked around and nodded with satisfaction that the mercenaries were knocked out or incapacitated. “Uh…Shy, you’re uh…you’re a wolf?” “Vivirendan, the closest Earth animal you can compare me to is a maned wolf, but right now, I need you to knock out Alien Nackle, my Stare won’t last much longer,” said Fluttershy. Sunset was about to do just that, until Fluttershy yelped. The sound of a blaster went off and Sunset watched as Fluttershy fell to her knees, clutching her right arm. The leader of the mercenaries finally revealed his true form, it was another Alien Dada. “That’s enough of that! This is 334, lock onto us and get us out of here! Alien Nackle, give our potential clients a show!” 334 ordered. Alien Nackle took out his own remote device and switched it on. Both Gomora and Ocellus began to wail, Ocellus’ eyes turned red like Gomora’s eyes. “Grow and fight!” Ocellus started to change, and at the same time, Gomora started to rise up. Alien Nackle removed his poncho and then he too began to grow in size. 334 glowed blue, along with the rest of his subordinates, and then they disappeared. The cave began to rumble and shake as the ceiling began to give way to the three gigantifications that were going on at the same time. Sunset tapped into the power of her speed, time seemed to slow down as the debris rained down around her. The redhead dashed towards Fluttershy, grabbing her at the waist as she hauled her over to Pinkie Pie. Sunset hooked her left arm around Pinkie’s waist and sped off once again. The cave continued to collapse behind them, with Sunset trying to outrun it. Faster and faster she ran, hearing the thunderous symphony of rocks falling behind her. The entrance was coming up, and Sunset pooled all her might into diving straight for it. The trio cleared the entrance and made it back into the subbasement just as a huge plume of dust bellowed out from the collapsed tunnel. All three girls coughed and wiped their eyes from the stinging dust in the air. Fluttershy and Pinkie helped Sunset up and took her to the top of the stairs outside and into the hallway. Now in a more fresh air environment, the girls breathed in. Sunset finally recovered as she sat up against the wall. “You two…okay?” “Yeah, A-Okay,” said Pinkie Pie. “Shy, your arm…” Fluttershy looked to her scarred arm, but it already looked halfway healed. “Don’t worry about me, my people heal quickly from wounds, so long as they aren’t too severe.” Sunset sighed in relief and asked, “So, how long did you guys know that I could get us out of there?” Fluttershy and Pinkie looked to each other, and then said in unison, “From the start.” “You looked like you were ready to take them all, but were holding yourself back because of the hostages, and us,” said Fluttershy. “So, I convinced mister Dada back there to let them go and keep us,” said Pinkie. “Once that was done, we just needed to show you that we could fight too, that way you could take them. But, we kinda weren’t expecting super speed and super strength.” Sunset chuckled, these girls read her like a book, and what’s more, they were willing to place their trust in her, even if she was kind of acting like a jerk earlier. “You guys…thanks.” All of sudden, Fluttershy glowed bright blue, and Pinkie glowed a navy blue. That light then separated from their bodies and formed into two round, coin shaped objects. The coins floated towards Sunset who took them into her hands, upon doing so, the light faded from the coins and revealed two new Ultra Coins. Pinkie smiled and said, “You’re her, aren’t you? Ultrawoman Aster?” Sunset nodded. Some explosions went off outside, shaking the building. Fluttershy looked to her friend and teammate and said, “Please, Sunset, you have to help them!” “Don’t worry, I will!” Sunset rushed out a side door, she could see even from her position that Alien Nackle, Gomora, and Ocellus were heading towards the city. Sunset looked about her surroundings, no cameras, and no people. The heroine wasted no time as she summoned her StaRaizer and allowed the starry nexus to expand around her. “Grant me the strength of a hero!” || ULTRAMAN! || “Grant me the power of a galaxy!” || ULTRAMAN GINGA! || “Release the light within me!” ||SHINE ON! ULTRAWOMAN ASTER!|| \*****///** The trio of giants made their way towards the city, almost immediately the sky turned purple. Alien Nackle knew what this meant, but it was of little concern, he was going to show their products’ destructive power, and it would be recorded for their client and potential buyers to see. Alien Nackle looked up and saw that their spaceship was hovering a safe distance in the sky, ready to record the mayhem that was to come. However, a being dropped down from the sky, landing with a great “BOOM” as dirt and rock were thrown up into the air from the impact of her landing. Aster stood to her full height and entered her fighting stance as she stared down the three before her. “Release them from your control and I’ll show you mercy!” Alien Nackle laughed sadistically at the threat. “This is perfect, an Ultra to fight, if they can kill you, we can charge whatever we want! Gomora, Ocellus, kill the Ultra!” Gomora and Ocellus’ eyes shined red. Ocellus flew straight for Aster, her stinger glowed bright red as it began launching blazing red stingers at a rapid fire rate. Aster back flipped away from the attacks as each stinger exploded against the ground upon impact. At the same time, Gomora’s horns glowed as he fired a Super Oscillatory Wave straight at her. The attack came out as an orange and magenta colored flame beam that roared towards Aster. Aster performed one more back flip before stopping, but the moment she did, she quickly fell backwards as Gomora’s wave came flying towards her. The beam flew past her, but struck a building in the distance, causing a massive explosion that leveled a city block in one shot. Aster propped herself up on her elbows as she looked back at the destruction Gomora caused. “Jeez! And that was one attack!” “Pay attention, hero!” Before Aster could react, Alien Nackle came up and kicked Aster in her side, sending her flying before she landed back down on the ground hard. Aster coughed as she rolled about and recovered, getting back to her feet. “Okay, now I’m mad!” Aster’s hands glowed as she powered up. “Astronium–!” Before she could finish her attack, Ocellus appeared in front of Alien Nackle. Dammit… Aster cancelled her attack as the light faded from her arms. While she was distracted, Gomora charged towards her and struck her with his mighty tail, the blow hit Aster in her chest, causing sparks to fly from her body as she was once again sent to the ground, unfortunately, the onslaught didn’t stop. Ocellus flew in and grabbed Aster, flying her up into the sky before she released her and fired several stinger shots at her. More sparks flew from Aster’s body as she was sent into freefall and hit the unforgiving earth hard, leaving an ultra-sized impression of her body on the land. Within the starry nexus, Sunset was growing frustrated with the current flow of the battle. Great…I’m getting blitzed, I have to set Gomora and Ocellus free before SMILE’s Gungirs and Goliaths get her and attack them! Sunset took a breath. Calm down, getting worked up won’t solve this problem. I have to think clearly, I have to be calm. Sunset’s Coin Keeper opened up and the two blue Ultra Coins appeared before her to answer her call. “Alright, help me save these two!” Sunset stood up, and Aster did the same. She took the first Ultra Coin into her left hand and said, “I ask for the gift of kindness!” Sunset placed the coin into the upper slot as light blue essence flew from the Ultra Coin, and to her right appeared a new Ultraman. || ULTRAMAN COSMOS! || “I ask for the gift of protection!” Sunset took the second Ultra Coin and placed it into the bottom slot. Navy blue particles of light flowed from the coin to her left, the essence took on the form of another Ultraman. || ULTRAMAN AGUL! || “Let the waves of my soul quell your rage!” Sunset pressed down on the crystal, once she did, the two Ultras broke down into particles of light and melded with Sunset’s body. A stream of water and sparkling cerulean light flowed upwards as Sunset assumed her new Ultra Form. ||FLOW AND CRASH! COSMIC WAVE!|| Aster’s body was completely engulfed in cerulean energy and water. The two controlled Beasts and Alien Nackle were on edge, not sure how to attack or if they should attack now. When the waters dispersed, Aster had transformed into her newest form. Unlike her Solaris Maximus form, which was bulky and armored, this form was sleek and lean. Her chest still sported the sun color timer, but surrounding it was a four-pointed golden star. Aster’s forearms and lower legs were black in color, the black coloring was outlined with golden edges, and had a deep blue line. On the arms, that line began from the ocean blue hands and stopped at the gold band. On the feet, it encompassed the whole foot and stopped at the gold band. Along the arms and legs, sky-blue and ocean-blue colors mixed and swirled like water against the contrasting silver color of Aster’s body. This pattern continued on her body, stopping around the color timer which looked like the star was splitting a wave. Aster’s head still had her crest, but instead of appearing like a helmet plume, it was reversed to look like a shark’s fin, but she still had the emerald jewel at the center of her forehead. The fin was ocean blue, which covered the top of her head and stopped around her eyes. Aster’s movements had changed as she assumed her fighting stance, it was more fluid, calm, and relaxed, exerting no effort in her movements. But that belayed the strength that she possessed, she was like water, able to flow like a stream and crash like a mighty wave. “I will wash away all cruelty with serenity!” Ocellus swopped in and fired her stinger at Aster. The blue Ultra Warrior became a blur as she dodged the first stinger. Ocellus didn’t know what to make of it so she fired more in rapid succession. Aster exerted no effort as she flowed through each of the stingers, her enhanced speed granted her time and clarity to see the attacks coming. The stingers that were close to hitting her, she merely gave them a gentle nudge to make them hit another stinger that would’ve hit her, causing a chain reaction that made the other stingers explode. Ocellus took to the skies and so did Aster, her speed translated well into her flying speed as she not only kept up with Ocellus, but was out pacing her, getting in front of the Changeling multiple times. “It’s time to free you from your bonds.” Aster brought her hands outstretched before her, and then made and arch. In the wake of the movement a crescent made of blue light appeared before her. Aster grabbed the crescent at the center, making the construct take the form of a bow. The Ultra Warrior created a drawstring as she pulled back and formed an arrow of cerulean light. Ocellus began making quick movements, trying to avoid Aster’s sights, but it was to avail. “Artemis Arrow!” Aster released her arrow, shooting it off like a beam of light. The arrow snaked through the air until it finally hit its mark. The collar around Ocellus’ neck began to crack, and in that moment, it shattered to pieces. The red glow faded from her eyes as she looked about in confusion. “Wha…What happened?! H-How did I get out here?!” “Peace, Ocellus, I just freed you from that collar,” said Aster. Ocellus’s compound eyes widened with awe. “Are…Are you an Ultra – AHHHH!!!!” Suddenly, several laser bolts struck Ocellus from below, sending the Changeling into freefall as she fell to the earth. “OCELLUS!” Aster used her right hand to draw a circle in the sky above her, creating a ring of sparkling sky-blue light. “Healing Halo!” Aster tossed the Healing Halo over Ocellus’ position, and almost immediately, the Halo began to shine down a sky-blue light that ebbed the pain away, the wounds from the attack were starting to close just as quickly. “Tch, just die already!” Alien Nackle cursed as he fired his blaster again. This time, his blasts didn’t hit their mark, as each bolt bounced off against the screen of light that had enveloped Ocellus. “What the?!” “No harm will come to those within the Halo’s light. Now it is time to free your second prisoner!” Aster raised her hands up as particles of water and light gathered to them. With swift motion, two swords made of water and light formed in her hands. “Aqua Blades!” Gomora fired another of his Super Oscillatory Wave blasts. Aster flew down towards the great Terra Beast, weaving around his flame beam like a surfer weaved through a wave. At the last second, Gomora tried to tail whip Aster, but Aster merely performed a flip while still in midair and slashed with both of her blades. She landed gracefully behind Gomora before standing back up. At that moment, the control collar snapped, falling to the ground before the behemoth’s feet. Gomora shook its head, it too was in a state of confusion, looking around the area and trying to figure out where it was. “Damn you, Ultra!” “You still have a chance to surrender, I suggest you take it.” Alien Nackle’s reply came in the form of several blasts from his blaster. A few of which hit Gomora’s back. The Terra Beast roared in slight pain from the attack, but then turned around and glared at the mercenary. Gomora charged for the mercenary, hitting him with a head-butt and throwing him into the air. Aster flew up higher to intercept. Her right arm began to glow with sky-blue and ocean-blue light, that light grew brighter and brighter until it was shining all over Aster’s right forearm. “CALIBURN END!” The blue Ultrawoman thrust her right arm forward, creating a blade of dual blue lights that roared towards Alien Nackle. The blade pierced through the mercenary’s body as the blade shined brighter and released a burst of energy that made Alien Nackle explode into nothingness. The blade of light dissipated and Aster turned her attention up to the spaceship. Inside the spaceship, 334 was not pleased by these results as he said to the pilot, “Get us out of here, so long as we know it’s here, we can come back for it with greater force.” The ship suddenly lurched forward as alarms went off everywhere. “What’s happening?!” 334 demanded. “Our starboard side was hit,” said the pilot. “Was it the Ultra?!” “No, it…it was the Terra Beast!” Indeed, down below, Gomora was charging up for a second strike. The ancient creature fired off its Super Oscillatory Wave straight for the ship, however, its aim was off and the wave only hit the engines. The engines exploded, and with that, the ship began to fall from the sky. It descended faster and faster until it stopped. Much to 334’s displeasure, they were saved from the crash by Aster. The Ultrawoman flew the ship down close to the Preserve entrance, so that SMILE could arrest them. However, Gomora was stomping towards them, enraged for what they had done to him, and for what they had put Fluttershy through was not forgotten. Aster turned around and said, “Gomora, stop! It’s over, they can’t hurt you or Fluttershy anymore!” Gomora roared, its mind dead set on destroying the perpetrators. Aster took a deep breath as she waved her hands around and thrust them towards Gomora as she called out, “Aura Rect.” A wave of blue, sparkling light washed over Gomora. The Beast’s movements ceased as he looked at Aster. “Listen to me, Gomora, you’re a good guy. You helped bring these men to justice. Fluttershy promised you that everything would be okay, and she never breaks her promises to you. And I’m here to tell you, everything is alright.” Gomora’s fierce gaze softened, Aster ceased her Aura Rect and watched as Gomora approached her. She stood her ground, not sure what to expect from the Terra Beast. But what happened next was completely unexpected, Gomora sniffed Aster for a moment, smiled, then opened its mouth and licked Aster’s face. “Um…good boy. Now, um, go back to your home.” Gomora nodded, the Terra Beast took a few steps back and then quickly dug into the ground. His Super Oscillatory Waves did more than allow him to fire beams of fiery energy, they also allowed him to destabilize the dirt and rock so that he could burrow deep down into the earth. Whatever tunnel he dug closed up as soon as his tail sunk down. Aster couldn’t rest yet, a squadron of Gungirs and Goliaths were making their way towards Ocellus. She stayed within the Halo, afraid to come out for fear of getting attacked by the humans’ weapons. Aster flew over to her and raised her hands towards the fighters. “Do not attack her! She’s not our enemy!” The Goliaths cannons lowered upon hearing Aster’s words, and the Gungirs retracted their missiles. Aster dismissed the Healing Halo, causing Ocellus to shake with fear. It wasn’t fear of the Ultra Warrior, no, even among her people, the exploits of the Ultras were legendary as defenders of the universe. Her fear came from the numerous tanks and fighter jets that were around her. The Ultrawoman knelt before the Changeling and said, “A promise between friends is never broken.” Ocellus’ eyes widened further. “Are you…you’re not the one I made the promise to, you’re the other one.” Aster nodded. Aster held out her hand as Ocellus flew up and steadily changed her form until she was her normal self, fitting within the palm of Aster’s head. The Changeling looked up at the Ultra Warrior and cried tears of joy. “Let’s get you some help, and then we’ll get you home.” \*****///** [Sunday, 12:00pm…] Several things happened towards the end of yesterday. First off, the criminals that held the Xeno House hostage were placed in prison, pending extradition for other crimes 334 and his crew had committed beforehand. Gomora had returned to his underground den, using his powers to open up the tunnels that had collapsed earlier and allowing those with access to the Terra Beast to set their equipment back up as well as check on the behemoth, Fluttershy was brought into check on him once she was through being questioned. Of course, a lot of suspicion was placed on Ocellus for her role in attacking the Preserve and the battle with Ultrawoman Aster. But, thanks to Pinkie Pie’s statements, as well as finding more control collars on 334’s ship, she was seen as just as much a hostage as everyone else, cooperation under duress. She was to be sent back to her home world of Hive Prime before the end of the week. After they returned back to the dorms, tears were shed as Twilight hugged Sunset tight after hearing that she was in a hostage situation, and once she was done bear hugging her roommate, she then proceeded to asking numerous questions about her latest transformation. Everyone had agreed through messages that they would convene in Twilight and Sunset’s dorm room the following day to discuss what had happened. “I still can’t believe you’re an alien, so, half or full?” Sunset asked. “Um, full, I’m not like Rainbow.” Rainbow Dash smirked. “You can imagine my surprise when I found out, it felt really good to have another friend who wasn’t exactly all human.” “Did you two know?” Twilight asked as she looked at Pinkie and Rarity. “Well…yes, we did, we have been friends for a long time, so this was known to us,” said Rarity. “We didn’t mean to not tell you guys! It’s just, we wanted to gauge your reaction. Not a lot of people are open to aliens from other planets migrating her, especially…well…” Pinkie stopped and let that hang in the air. Twilight and Sunset looked confused, and the others didn’t see to want to finish that sentence. Fluttershy took a deep breath as she spoke, “I’ll tell them, they should know. A lot of people forget, it wasn’t just Space Beasts that joined in the First Incursion, there were also some alien civilizations that joined in. One of those…was my civilization, the Vivirendan.” Sunset raised and eyebrow, while Twilight stealthily took out a notepad. “My people are war like, and excel in combat and conquering other planets. But, there are some of us who don’t want to engage in such violent acts, some of us just want to live peaceful lives. Such wishes are seen as weakness, and weakness is either met with rehabilitation, or death. My mother and father fled our home world when I was just three years old, and my little brother Zephyr, he was barely a year old.” “When we arrived, my parents immediately surrendered themselves to SMILE, requesting asylum. It was granted, but it was a tentative request. Not many forgot that my people did assist in the attack on Earth, so we were granted asylum, but only under the condition that we would be under surveillance so as to assure we weren’t spies or a potential sleeper cell. That was almost thirteen years ago.” Sunset nodded. “I thought it was taking you a bit when they were questioning you. Was that the reason why?” “Yes, it would be easy for them to assume that I was possibly embedded with those mercenaries to help steal Gomora, but the staff, as well as what you and Pinkie Pie told the agents and police, helped to clear me of any suspicion.” Twilight’s brow furrowed. “That’s ridiculous, to have you under such surveillance for all this time while there are legitimate threats out there!” “Commander Celestia has actually been helping my family with lifting the surveillance and travel restrictions, but its fine, I’ve made friends that don’t care about where I’m from, just who I am. Plus, I don’t think I could leave Gomora alone, he’d get lonely.” “Yeah, we’re going to need to talk about that later. But…” Sunset got up from her seat and walked over to Fluttershy as she knelt in front of her. “I’m sorry for what I said, about labelling all aliens and Space Beasts.” Fluttershy placed her hand on Sunset’s shoulder as she smiled her kindly smile. “It’s alright, because I can see that you’ve changed your mind on that, you just needed to see a different perspective.” Sunset smiled gratefully and stood back up. “Well, I guess I should ask, anyone else an alien or half-alien?” “Nope, one-hundred percent homegrown human,” said Applejack. “Same!” Pinkie Pie chirped. “All natural, darling,” Rarity replied. “I can attest that I am unequivocally, homo sapien,” said Twilight. “Hey, I knew it! Welcome to the club Twi!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. Applejack face palmed. “Not homosexual, homo sapien, it’s the fancy way of sayin she’s human too.” Rainbow’s face burned a crimson red color as she crossed her arms and stated, “I-I knew that!” “Okay, so, seeing as Rarity’s the only one who doesn’t know by now, I guess it’s time I let her in on the secret.” The others nodded, but Rarity looked noticeably confused. “Um, pardon, was there something I was supposed to know?” “Nah, it’s just that at this point, almost everyone here has learned about it because of some life or death circumstance and I’d rather avoid that happening with you.” Sunset turned and looked directly at Rarity. “I’m Ultrawoman Aster.” Silence hung in the air for several seconds, at this point the others were getting worried since there was no visible reaction from the resident fashionista. After almost a minute of silence, Rarity stood up and said, “I KNEW IT!” “Huh?” Sunset stated dumbfounded. “Oh please, darling, it may not be obvious to others, but I do have a fine eye for details. And I pieced it together after these last few instances. The fact that Applejack and Rainbow Dash were saved from the Everfree by Aster, your multiple absences when the Phantom Zone Emitter was down, and of course our recent incident with Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy. I must say, I’m glad to have this confirmed, and it makes much more sense why Commander Celestia said we’d be involved with operations concerning Aster. I assume she and Vice Commander Luna are aware, correct?” Sunset nodded. “Well then, you needn’t worry, I know how to keep a secret. But now I can create official gear centered on your giantess form!” Rarity exclaimed with glee. Sunset looked around as the others shared in a bit of laughter, their smiling faces, the warmth of this moment, it felt…familiar, and nice. \*****///** [Unknown Sector of Space…] Within the shadowy space, three thrones appeared, the center throne had the familiar man with the red horn, but two others flanked his, forming a triangle. The second obsidian throne was larger than the rest, but that was only due because of the size of the one who sat in it. He was a centaur, with a black lower half and silver hooves, his lower body rippled with muscle, much like his upper half. His arms were bright red, with tight muscles and sinew. The centaur had two long, curved horns which pointed up, and a goatee that ran halfway down his body. The Seeker and Devourer of Power, he went by the name of Tirek. The third obsidian throne had a woman sitting in it, but she wasn’t human, more like humanoid. Her body was covered in a thick, jet black carapace, her legs and arms had hollowed out holes, but despite this, she managed to move her arms and clawed hands as if nothing was wrong. On each forearm was a retractable claw-like scythe, her stomach had a light green and teal coloring to it, and was almost translucent. Her wings were jagged and see-through, like a dragonfly’s wings. The insectoid, had glowing green eyes, with black, slit irises. She had hair that was the dual shade of teal and light-green, which parted and flowed down over her chest. Upon her head grew a crown, a symbol of her authority and right to rule. This insectoid woman was known as Queen Chrysalis, the leader of the Dark Changelings. A shadow appeared over the thrones, prompting the trio to look up as a blue glow emitted from the center. The Ultra Warrior has shown her power, now we can proceed to eliminate her. “I should hope so, I had to sacrifice one of my drones to impersonate Zetton, and he was destroyed!” Chrysalis slammed her first against her throne in anger. Tirek scoffed. “Spare us, you have, what? Thousands of drones? And besides, can’t you just make more?” Chrysalis seemed to blush a little at the thought. “Don’t talk as if you know how we reproduce! I just don’t want to use my forces when I’m currently fighting a war right now!” “Then you should’ve kept that brightly colored one, she seemed strong, we could’ve had her impersonate Zetton instead. But you went and let her be sold off to some mercenaries and now she’s out of your reach.” “SHUT YOUR MOUTH SOMBRA!” However…that little one does seem interesting… The shadow pulsed and the three went silent. Regardless, now we can prepare to end her. What is Zetton’s status? “Currently undergoing his metamorphosis,” Sombra answered. “Tch, thinks he’s so tough just because he killed an Ultra once. Allow me to go to Earth and I’ll take care of this Aster!” Tirek proclaimed. Were it that easy I would’ve dispatched you already! The Forest’s power keeps the likes of us from getting close to the planet, so for now, we will send those who can to attack the Forest, or kill the Ultra Warrior before then. How went our other operation? “That went off without a hitch.” The three rulers watched as a young woman appeared in a flash of light, she wore a black robe that obscured her face and body as she knelt before the dark rulers. “I can confirm that the Tree is there. My apologies though, I couldn’t get closer to it.” I didn’t expect you too, what you’ve done gives me more than enough information. It is time we planned our next course of action…
