“So, how did you like your new superpowers?” Pinkamena asked.

After Pinkamena and Vinyl had rescued Treehugger and Shaundi respectively, the ship had to move fast once again to rescue the latest pair of captives from the Zin.

Shaundi was found naked and drenched in goo like the rest of the captured victims while mercilessly blasting living and dead Zin and clearly projecting her personal issues upon them.

Treehugger was not a happy pony while sober. Since the Zin destroyed her entire stash of Loa Dust, she had nothing to get high on. Adding the fact that there were lingering feelings about her torments from her prison simulation, she was ready to blast every alien that even looked at her wrong.

Once Pinkamena had found the now sober pony, she offered a packet of Dust from the stash in her mane. However, Treehugger refused the offering because she was going to need it for something important later, something that she had been putting off for years.

Something that she had found the courage to do thanks to the events in the simulation.

After the rescues, Pinkamena wanted to see how her DJ friend felt about her new powers.

“The powers were an awesome bonus, but what I really loved was the cyberpunk outfit that came with it. I am so rubbing the outfit in Tavi’s face when we rescue her.”

Pinkamena shook her head in amusement. “Only you would find the fashion statement cooler than superpowers.”

Vinyl’s grin widened. “I’ve been wanting to try cyberpunk ever since I saw it on those Deckers when I first came to Steelport.”

“It’s a shame you never joined my gang when you arrived,” said Matt. “You would have fit in quite well with us.”

Vinyl shrugged, “Maybe, but I think I made the right choice when I joined the Saints. Us being where we are now only vindicated my choice.”

Matt nodded sagely, “Right, I’d be dead or worse if it weren’t for the Saints.”

“Anyway, mind if I try my hoof at hacking the simulation?”

“Well, I guess that would be alright.”

With that, Vinyl lit her horn and started interacting with the screen that Matt was using. While she returned the Imagined As Edges stores to their original state as Image As Designed stores, she decided to add her own personal touch to the Planet Zin stores that had already been hacked and reconfigured them into clothing stores called “Planet Cyber,” stores that sold cyberpunk clothing.

“You know that not everyone is as interested in the fashion as you are,” Matt commented.

“I know, the stores still sell the same clothing as before. Only difference is that cyberpunk clothes are discounted,” Vinyl said with a cheeky grin.

“And just like that you’re my favorite pony out of you lot.”

During the downtime between tasks, the growing number of Saints on the ship were having their own conversations with each other.

Shaundi was furious that the Earth was destroyed. After she learned that bit of news and the way the Saints were using it to locate Zinyak’s throne room, she started thinking of a way for the Saints to start tearing up the simulation.

At the same time, the alternate version of Shaundi from back in Stilwater had connected with the ship’s computer and had overheard the news. Not wanting to be as useless as her present self believed her to be, she also started making plans to disrupt the simulation.

The strangest thing however, was when Pinkamena discovered a change in Treehugger’s behavior. She was performing meditations and bathing herself with a determined expression on her face. Pinkamena had seen enough movies about that kind of behavior to know that the mare was preparing herself for some sort of ritual. What that ritual was she wasn’t sure.

For now, it was time for some more tasks. Kinzie wanted to open another gateway in Stanfield, CID had one last set of tasks which included stabilizing one of her rifts, Matt wanted more data on how the simulation worked, Shaundi wanted to see some violence in the simulation and the other Shaundi wanted to prove her usefulness with her own set of tasks.

With only a few devices that the Saints could use to enter the simulation, they were limited on how many people could help in the simulation. Playa, Pinkamena and Vinyl would help with the tasks. The last entry device was to be used by Johnny because he was tired of waiting for something to happen so he figured that he would start causing trouble in the simulation now that his avatar was powered up.

Before they entered the simulation though, Pinkamena had a question for Kinzie, “When are we going to free my sisters?”

“Zinyak has a tighter lock on their simulation than any of our friends. There’s an encryption on their simulation that changes too fast for any cypher to be usable for long enough to get in there. I’ve tried to isolate the algorithm behind the shifting code but even that seems to be changing. The only one that I know who could manipulate the security data to the simulation long enough to produce a valid cypher that can get you in there would be…”

“Moondancer…” Pinkamena finished.

“Until then, we have to focus on saving the others first,” Kinzie concluded.

Pinkamena nodded then headed into the simulation.

Once back in Virtual Steelport, the Saints set forth to their individual tasks.

Vinyl handled Kinzie’s latest list of stores to hack. She was tasked with hacking five stores throughout Stanfield. After the first store, an Image as Designed in Burns Hill, the difficulty of the store security systems increased from four by four puzzles to five by five puzzles. However, while the DJ was known to be lazy a lot of the time through the account of Octavia, she was still quite intelligent. The puzzles set before her were hardly a challenge for the DJ.

The last task on Kinzie’s list was another virus upload, in Salander this time.

Vinyl combined the technology of the Bounce Rifle and incorporated it into her Dubstep Gun. Once she was finished, the enemies that showed up were in for a nasty surprise.

When enemies gathered together in large numbers, Vinyl unleashed her modified weapon. The musical waves impacted against the denizens of the system and from them came echoes of the sounds that hit them. Those echoes pulsed from the victims and hit enemies near them which caused them to generate echoes which reverberated, ultimately destroying Vinyl’s enemies.

This continued until the virus upload was complete.

With Kinzie’s list complete, it was time to move on to Past Shaundi’s list.

The first task on Pinkamena’s list was a tricky one. The task involved one of CID’s rifts being stabilized by using her horn to throw logic bombs at targets on firewall towers. CID informed her that the more efficient her performance, the better her score would be.

Once the activity started, she saw three targets ahead of her with lights that were alternating between red and yellow. The towers were also launching bombs at her.

Pinkamena knew that she was in for a challenge.

Using her Telekinesis, Pinkamena was able to grab the bombs and hurl them back at the appropriate targets. Watching Rarity use her magic had given the madmare an understanding of how Unicorn Telekinesis worked and how to grab multiple targets.

With that knowledge, Pinkamena was able to grab multiple bombs at once and hurl them back at their proper targets before the colors shifted.

Once she was done with one set, she moved on to the next which was done the same way, even with the number of targets and bombs increasing.

The last set had a lot of targets and her position was being bombarded by bombs. It took all of Pinkamena’s concentration to avoid having the bombs blow up in her face while matching bombs with targets.

Once the last set was finished, Pinkamena was mentally exhausted. She needed a break before the next activity.

After CID ejected Pinkamena from the rift, the madmare took a few minutes to rest her mind before she was ready to move on to the next activity.

Thankfully, it was another Zin patrol which was in the Port Pryor neighborhood. The Zin only saw a pink blur before they were wiped out.

With that brief moment of fun taken care of, Pinkamena headed for the next mentally taxing activity as she had to take part in another episode of Professor Genki’s Mind Over Murder.

However, compared to the rift, Pinkamena had less trouble with her latest telekinetic activity as she simply threw a bunch of people, vehicles and heads all at once through the proper rings.

While she had to do the same thing in six different areas, there was still the satisfaction of watching unfortunate mascots fly over the horizon.

While she was having her fun, Pinkamena heard some interesting information from Zach and Bobby about a race of warriors from decades ago being led by someone called “The King.” Whoever the figure was had given Zinyak a hard time that the alien overlord severed their consciousness and placed it in a simulation while the body withered and expired. Some part of her thought that the information might be worth knowing for later.

Pinkamena soon finished the episode with time to spare and had also finished the last task on CID’s list.

She had one more list to finish before she was done though.

Vinyl felt quite charged after she had finished Shaundi’s list.

She first tested out her Super Sprint with a simple race through Downtown Steelport. Next, she tested her Dubstep Gun with reverb against a Zin patrol which was followed by a rift stabilizing by racing around and collecting data packets. She treated that activity like a fun little game.

Once she was finished hacking an Image as Designed in Bridgeport, she was finished with the list and headed back to the ship.

Pinkamena had a lot of fun doing Present Shaundi’s list.

She started by heading to the airport in Northeastern Steelport and blew up everything in sight, then she took part in another fight club match. This time she was up against the Ronin enforcer, Jyunichi. The samurai ended up getting stabbed by his own swords after Pinkamena telekinetically ripped them from his hands and followed up by setting him on fire with her Blast.

She went to Sunset Park where she located a rogue program named Zintrojan. The program ended up impaled by spears and swords by a pony wearing ancient Greek armor before it was sliced to pieces by her Vorpal Blade.

After clearing out another Zin patrol in the same area, Pinkamena headed to Salander in Stanfield where she skillfully raced through the area and taxed the system.

With the last list done, Pinkamena returned to the ship.

Once on the ship, everyone reported the completion of their tasks. Playa had stabilized a platforming rift, wiped out a patrol in Yearwood and raced around in New Baranec. Johnny decided to be bold by shutting down a Hotspot in Rosen Oaks before playing King of the Hill in Yearwood while a virus was being uploaded.

In the same area, he also cleared out a Zin patrol and blew stuff up with a tank.

The last thing he did was take out a Zin patrol in Burns Hill where he had the pleasure of murdering a Warden.

Johnny still had more that he wanted to do but was taking a break while he let the others have their fun.

The Saints received a lot of rewards for their efforts in disrupting the simulation. Kinzie opened a second gateway in Stanfield, their Telekinesis powers had an option to make the affected discharge electricity, something that Vinyl would put to good use. Playa got a set of Matt’s old Decker clothes. The simulated murderbots were analyzed enough to reproduce a laser minigun. The Stomp ability was given an option to invert gravity and leave enemies hanging helplessly in midair. Finally, Johnny found a strange alien weapon that could deploy black holes to suck people in, a weapon that Vinyl took for herself for use in modifying her Dubstep Gun.

“Pinkamena? Can I get you and Vinyl to help me with something?” Treehugger asked.

Originally, Pinkamena’s next plan for the simulation was to rescue Pierce and Gilda from their simulations. While there had been considerations to have Pinkamena and Vinyl each rescue one of their friends, CID didn’t have the capacity to handle more than two cyphers at a time. With that in mind, the plan was now to have Playa and Johnny rescue one of their friends while Pinkamena brought one of her’s along to save one of her friends.

The current plan was put on hold as soon as Treehugger made a request.

“What is it?” Pinkamena asked.

“I’d like for Kinzie, Matt and Vinyl to help set up a simulation similar to the one I was imprisoned in. The savannah environment that Zebricans live in is the best place for me to conduct my ritual to become a Voodoo Priestess. I need to commune with the Loa I have chosen and become a vessel for her will and power.

“While I am communing with my Loa, I need you and Vinyl to protect me in case Zinyak tries to disrupt the ritual.”

Pinkamena knew that this was important for the mare given how serious Treehugger looked. However, she had to ask to be sure of her resolve, “Are you sure? You know you don’t have to do this. We could always just give you superpowers in the simulation.”

Treehugger shook her head. “I’m sure, this day has been put off for far too long.”

With that, the three hackers got to work in designing a savannah environment similar to the one in Zebrica. It didn’t take long for the three to finish the design.

Pinkamena, Vinyl and Treehugger stepped onto their respective platforms and entered the simulation. Almost immediately the three of them were pulled into Treehugger’s simulation.

The three ponies looked around the savannah environment. All they could see were tall trees that grew in isolation from other trees, tall golden grass and mountains in the distance.

The only distinct landmark in the area was a stone formation that looked to be an excellent place for an altar.

Pinkamena pulled out the bag of Loa Dust from her mane and gave it to Treehugger. The green mare found a stick nearby and picked it up. Around the altar, she drew a number of symbols that Pinkamena didn’t recognize around the altar. She figured that they were Zebrican in origin.

Once the circle was complete, Treehugger jumped atop the stone altar and sat upon it. She took one last breath to calm herself before she began. She spoke in the Zebrican language that she had been taught during her time in the Zebra country. Her gesture indicated that she was making a plea to the higher powers of the Zebra. After a few minutes, she heard a faint voice. Once she heard that she opened the bag of Dust and poured the contents into an indentation in the rock before she pulled out a match from her mane. She swiped the match against the rock which lit the tiny wooden stick and set the dust on fire.

The fumes from the burning dust rose to Treehugger’s muzzle. She breathed the fumes in deeply before she entered into a trance.

Pinkamena had a feeling that their part of the task was about to begin. Especially when a familiar voice made his presence known.

“My apologies for the tardiness, but I had a small issue come up. I can see that you are attempting something interesting. It would be quite rude to interrupt such an important day for your friend, but I am in a foul mood so forgive me for my rude behavior.”

That was when numerous Zin portals opened up around the area which was followed by a large number of Zin troops dropping from them.

The two mares had maniacal grins on their faces as they engaged the waves of Zin troops.

Vinyl had modified her Dubstep Gun again to have a setting that when a blast hit an enemy, they would collapse into a singularity and draw in more enemies.

Whenever a group of enemies got pulled together, Pinkamena would move in and smash them with her Knightmare. Those who were at the point of impact were splattered around the crater made by the hobby horse while the rest were flung in all directions.

One group that pulled together got a taste of Vinyl’s Electric Telekinesis as the group was horribly electrocuted.

More portals opened around the altar area and the area soon became surrounded by Zin soldiers. This became frustrating to the duo as they struggled to defend Treehugger from the relentless onslaught.

Minutes passed and the two were slowly becoming overwhelmed as they felt like they were dealing with the entire Zin Empire.

Suddenly, the area around them felt as if they had just been hit by waves of heat from the merciless sun. They felt the strongest waves of heat hit their backs. The Zin around the duo looked stunned by what they were seeing. Without taking their eyes off their opponents, the two mares looked behind them so see what the Zin were looking at.

They saw Treehugger, in the form that Pinkamena once saw her as in Stilwater. Her coat was jet black while her mane and tail were crimson. The only difference from her past version however, were the crimson stripes that adorned her body.

The mare held her head up and opened her eyes to show scarlet orbs.

And then she spoke, “My Loa, these are the followers of the world destroyer. The path to vengeance shall begin with them.”

The Zin took a step back but that didn’t help them as Treehugger beckoned her friends inside the ritual circle. Once Pinkamena and Vinyl were inside, Treehugger unleashed a deadly wave of flames that radiated outward from the circle and set the landscape around her on fire while incinerating the Zin and the portals.

Now that they were alone, relatively, Pinkamena asked a question, “So, how did your meeting with Zarinette go?”

Treehugger smiled, “She was quite furious about what Zinyak did to her counterpart’s world and that the destruction of that world came far too prematurely in regard to the plans that were in place by the Creator. The Creator knew about the connection between Zarinette and myself so he tasked her with finding a way to deal with the guy who’s been going around and messing with his plans. This ritual was a long time coming so now Zarinette’s plans can finally be put into motion now that I’ve become her priestess.”

“And what are those plans exactly?” Pinkamena asked with a raised eyebrow.

Treehugger shrugged, “She didn’t say, only that we just need to keep doing what we’ve been doing.”

Pinkamena sighed, “Okay by me, I guess.”

With the matter settled, Pinkamena, Vinyl and Treehugger were pulled out of the simulation.

Since Treehugger needed more time to recover after the ritual, Pinkamena and Vinyl returned to their original plan of heading into Gilda’s simulation and rescuing her while Playa and Johnny rescued Pierce.

Inside the simulation, the four gathered at The Broken Shillelagh with CID. Just like before, she received the cyphers from Kinzie and opened the gateways into the prison simulations. Playa and Johnny entered Pierce’s simulation while Pinkamena and Vinyl entered Gilda’s

The equine duo found themselves high in the mountains which, according to the maps of Equestria, was around where Griffonstone was located. Pinkamena had a feeling that Gilda’s nightmare related to the city.

According to what they learned in Equus History class, Griffonstone and the Griffon towns in the area were in a state of decline since the last of the Griffon monarchy died decades ago and had no heir to take over.

Since then, the nobles had squandered their resources in making their claims to the throne. Unfortunately, too much of those resources had been spent trying to discredit the other Griffon houses that the nobility had put themselves into a state of poverty along with the common folk. The squandered money ended up falling into the hooves of the Equestrians in exchange for their assistance in smearing their rivals. This ultimately put the houses in debt to Equestria.

When the nobles had realized their mistake, it was already too late. With the national economy of Griffonia in shambles, fears rose within the populace that there would come a time when Equestria would move in and annex the nation while the less agreeable Griffons would be enslaved.

The nation might have fallen into that state were it not for Princess Celestia’s benevolence in allowing the Griffons to keep their pride intact and not acting on those fears. However, that benevolence did nothing to dispel the fears of Griffonia because their way of life hinged on the whims of one Alicorn ruler.

If Gilda shared in the fears of her people, Pinkamena had a very good idea of what to expect when she and Vinyl reached Griffonstone.

The madmare looked up to confirm her suspicions and found what she was looking for. A squadron of Pegasi guards were flying in a “V” pattern around the Griffon capitol.

The duo walked up to the entrance and saw that it was guarded by Equestrian guards. The guards noticed the mares, “Halt! This city behind us is part of the newest province of Equestria under the domain of Her Excellency, Duchess Rainbow Dash.

Pinkamena barely resisted the urge to facehoof. “Pinkie, why is it that your friends have to be such pains in the flank?”

“It’s not my fault for trying to be friends with Gilda but she kept turning me down because she wanted to take Dashie away from us.”

“It’s obvious that Gilda has some political insecurities about her country being deeply indebted to Equestria that would lead her to having trust issues with Ponies. Dash probably put a lot of effort into trying to get Gilda to trust her only for all that effort to be wasted because of that prank-themed party.

“This simulation probably has to do with those political insecurities combined with Gilda’s feelings about Dash betraying her.”

“I have a question, Mena. How did you earn Gilda’s trust? If she hates ponies so much then how did you get through to her?”

“Loyalty is earned through actions, though sometimes a little shock and awe is needed to get the ball rolling. I showed that I wasn’t all talk when I butchered those Ronin, but I also showed that I can be a nice mare when I had those gloves made for her. I let her be as she wanted while I set reasonable boundaries. I let her get her anger and frustrations out of her system in a way that benefited the Saints. Her loyalty comes from me letting her be her...within reason.”

“State your business,” one of the guards ordered.

Pinkamena knew that they needed to find Gilda fast before Zinyak decided to act. They needed to find Gilda before the operation became complicated.

The best course of action would be to talk to Rainbow Dash and hope she led them to Gilda.

“We have official business with the Duchess, let us pass,” Pinkamena said with an authoritative tone.

The two guards looked at each other before one of them called a third guard to head to the manor to confirm the madmare’s claims. The guard returned fifteen minutes later to relay the Duchess’ words. The other two guards frowned at the two of them. “The Duchess isn’t seeing anyone today. Turn away or we will arrest you.”

“Time for Plan B then,” Vinyl said as she raised one hoof then stomped, creating a shockwave that sent the guards flying into the air before she grabbed each one in her Telekinesis and hurled them off the mountain.

“Wait, how do you have powers outside of the Steelport simulation?” Pinkamena asked.

“Turned my avatar into an anchor point to link the two simulations. Me being here means you can do the same,” Vinyl explained.

“You really should tell me the important things before we enter simulations. We wouldn’t have had to waste time talking to those losers.”

“I thought you were just practicing your diplomatic skills,” Vinyl quipped.

Pinkamena rolled her eyes as the two walked into Griffonstone. The madmare grumbled as she only just now realized that she still had her horn. She figured that she was getting used to the appendage if she hadn’t noticed the extra weight until now.

The guards noticed the commotion and came rushing toward the entrance. The guards gathered close to each other and that proved to be a big mistake as Pinkamena pulled out her Singularity Gun and pulled the guards into a black hole while Vinyl used the reverb function of her Dubstep Gun to destroy the group in one blast.

Without waiting for another group of guards to show up, Pinkamena and Vinyl raced for the place that had the heaviest protection which turned out to be a manor built from Equestrian architecture.

Having no time to deal with simulated guards, the duo brutally tore through the guards outside the entrance before Pinkamena bashed the door off its hinges with her Knightmare.

After killing more guards while exploring the building, Pinkamena and Vinyl found Gilda. The two suppressed a giggle when they saw that she was wearing a maid uniform. Given Gilda’s pride, they knew that Gilda was likely miserable while being subservient to the Equestrians.

“Hey Gilda, time to get out of here,” Pinkamena called out.

“I can’t leave. The Duchess demands that I clean this place,” Gilda responded in monotone.

“Gilda you don’t have to do that. This is just a simulation, a fake world.”

“Must clean for the Duchess.”

“That’s right, my servant,” came the voice of Rainbow Dash from behind the two mares. The two turned around to find the prismatic-maned pegasus in a fancy dress of teal, white and gold. Her mane was tied in a bun while she had garnet earrings hanging from her ears. “You know what happened last time you tried to defy me.” She frowned as she saw the intruders. “You two shall be charged with treason against the Crown of Equestria for your invasion of my duchy. Guards! Arrest them!”

It was then that a large number of guards entered the foyer with spears.

Seeing the guards gave Pinkamena an idea on how to deal with this mess and snap Gilda out of her trance-like state. The madmare’s smile grew to maniacal levels. “Hey Vinyl, think you can increase the blood effect to maximum?”

Vinyl lit her horn for a moment before the glow disappeared. “Done.”

Pinkamena pulled out her Vorpal Blade and a cleaver that was made from the same material as the Vorpal Blade. It was then that the madmare began to giggle before she charged into the group of guards. The giggling turned to laughter then to maniacal laughter as guard after guard was butchered. The blood sprayed all over the foyer.

Pinkamena ran upstairs and into the different rooms of the house while making sure the guards knew where she was so she could lure them into a trap in order to coat the rooms throughout the mansion in blood.

Gilda took a moment to look at the area around her. The moment she noticed that the house had turned into a bloody scene from a horror movie, frustration set in. That frustration reawakened her spirit and allowed fury to set in.

With a furious roar, she threw down her washrag. “THAT IT! I QUIT!” she screamed.

Gilda suddenly remembered where she was before she turned to face Rainbow Dash with a murderous look in her eyes.

“You think you can take me, G? I’ll make you--”

That was when a book hit her face.

Rainbow removed the book from her face before she looked at the cover. The title read, “Rocket to Insanity.” The Duchess had a confused look on her face.

That moment was all Pinkamena needed before she suddenly appeared in Dash’s face while maintaining her maniacal smile. Dash’s response was too slow as Pinkamena delivered an uppercut to her chin that ripped her head off and sent it flying with her spine through the ceiling and high into the sky.

Gilda’s eyes widened as she saw what happened. “Tell me that I didn’t do anything to piss her off. I’d prefer to keep my head attached,” she inquired to Vinyl.

Satisfied with her work, Pinkamena’s smile was toned down to a friendlier look. “That’s done. So Gilda, you ready to get out of here?”

“Y-yeah, the further away from this place the better.”

“Good, because in a few seconds, you’re about to be fighting a bunch of aliens while we fight our way to you.”

“Wait, what?”

Gilda’s vision blacked out.

Author's Note

That's 4 of 6 of Pinkamena's crew rescued and 2 who have been empowered through a Loyalty Mission.

Voodoo Priestess Treehugger:
Superpower element: Fire
Blast: Unleashes a large fireball that splashes over a wide range.
Telekinesis(Yes, she has a horn): Ignites anyone or anything held in her Telekinesis.
Stomp: Unleashes a wave of fire in all directions.
Buff(locked): Burning ammunition and sets nearby enemies on fire.
Spectral abilities available.