Kamen Rider Harmony! Chronicles of the Crystal Warby TekketsuChaptersChapter 1: A whole new worldChapter 2: Aranus ToxicosisChapter 3: First Henshin! The Steel-clad Human Form!Chapter 1: A whole new world“Ok, let me get this straight…” I said, bringing one hand up to my face. “You somehow managed to pick up transmissions from another world on your grandmother’s old radio,” “Yup.” she nodded. “You spoke back and forth with the person on the other si-” “Pony, actually.” “Person on the other side, who instructed you on how to build those.” I pointed to a pair of small devices on the desk, each the size of a small tablet. “And now you want my help in traveling to this other world- which by the way is from a little girl cartoon.” “That’s the gist of it, yeah.” She gave a shrug, the awkward smile never leaving her face. “Jess, what the hell.” “I’m glad you asked!” She stood from her chair and strode over to the desk. She picked up one of the devices. “At first I thought someone was playing a prank on me, cuz you know I used to be a pretty diehard fan of MLP, but these babies right here are proof that that world exists.” She pressed the device to the front of her waist and a yellow belt extended from either side of it, securing it to her body. When the belt latched itself in the back, the buckle proclaimed in a synthesized voice, “[Duo Harmony Driver]!” I stared at the Driver blankly. “No, no Jess.” I said. “I’m the Tokusatsu fan, you’re the pony fan.” “Exactly. Lyra was super confused why I was so dead-set on making the devices belts, but I knew you’d be in if I catered it to your interests as well as mine.” “Okay, well that doesn’t explain how that proves anything.” Jess gave a smirk and flipped one of the small levers on the Driver’s side, causing a stylized image of a horn to appear in front of it. “[Unicorn Mode]!” She held out a hand towards me, and it as well as the chair I was sitting in lit up with a light-blue glow. She quickly moved her hand up, and I had to grab onto the armrests as the chair suddenly levitated into the air! My impromptu flight ended with my face about an inch away from the ceiling as the chair came to a stop and floated perfectly in place. “How’s that for proof?” “I-it’s good.” I said, shaking. “Please let me down.” The glow around the chair dissipated, and the chair fell. I tumbled onto the floor, and laid face-down on the carpet for a few moments. “You good?” “M’finn.” I pushed myself off the floor and looked up at her. “You’re crazy.” I deadpanned. “Would you have it any other way? Here,” She helped me up. “Put this on and we’ll be off.” I took the other Driver and examined it. It was rather simple in design, just a rounded rectangle with a glass dome in the center. The left side was raised, while the right had a groove where it looked like something could be attached. Each side had three small levers that sat almost flush with the casing. Finally, on top was a slot that looked like it would line up with the glass dome. I grabbed the Driver by the front of the casing and equipped it, eliciting the same announcement of the device’s name. “Face towards me, and on my count, flip the rear lever on the left.” Jess instructed. “On three… two… One!” We both flipped the levers at the same time, and a beam of light shone from both glass domes, meeting in the middle to form into a sphere of swirling blue and purple energy. “Yes! Yes, this is actually working!” Jess had a look of pure, unadulterated excitement. It was a look I’d rarely seen from her since our high school days. Seeing her like this again… it gave me a weird sort of feeling in my chest. The beams of light thinned until they dissipated, but the sphere remained. It slowly split off thousands of smaller specks of light, looking like a miniature galaxy. “So what now?” I asked. “Well, we’ve just created a one-time portal to Equestria…” She said, moving over to my side of the room. “I think we go through it now.” “Yeah, no.” I turned away from the portal. “I helped you make your portal into a silly cartoon world, but I am not- woah!” Jess grabbed me by the wrist and ran into the portal, dragging me along. Inside the portal was a long tube of energy, and a sudden shift in gravity so we fell towards the other end. I can neither confirm nor deny that I screamed like a little girl inside the portal. We reached the other end of the tube and were deposited in a heap on the ground. Despite being the first one through the portal, Jess managed to land on top of me… and suffice to say she hasn’t been that skinny, borderline-anorexic girl I knew in High school for a while. “Jess…” I choked out. “Crushing… me.” “I landed right on your Driver, so I’d say we’re even.” She said, rolling off of me and rubbing her lower back. I sat up and took a few large breaths while observing our surroundings. We had been dropped into a snowy wasteland, somewhere near the mountains. Purplish-brown rocks jutted up from the snow all around, looking like the teeth of a great and terrible beast lurking just below the surface. This area had clearly been a battlefield, though how long ago was uncertain. Pieces of metal and cloth littered the ground, most half-buried in snow along with the remains of swords and spears. High above, dark clouds covered the sky, letting in only the barest rays of sunlight. “Where are we?” “Huh?” Jess looked up from the snow. “I’m not sure. I expected we’d be spat out at one of the major population centers. Ponyville, Canterlot, maybe one of the horse-pun-counterpart-cities, maybe even the Crystal Empire.” “Over here!” Came a voice from over a hill. Both of us instantly looked in that direction. “The magic spike was over here!” Moments later a pony, covered horn to hoof in warm-looking cloth crested the hill. She scanned over the area, before her eyes locked onto us. Then, a large group of ponies in armor, carrying spears followed her lead. “He-” Jess began, but an intensely cold glare from the bundled mare quieted her. “Lieutenant, these creatures were the cause of the spike. Apprehend them for my research.” She said to one of the armored ponies. And then they began to close in. [[Kamen Rider Harmony]] (I’m not going to inflate my word count with a written-out anime-style opening sequence, so just listen to the music I would have used and imagine it yourself) Jess and I walked in silence, between two of the armored ponies. Both of our hands had been bound with chains made of magic, each leading back to the horn of one of our escorts. Up ahead what looked like a camp was slowly coming into view. I slowed my pace slightly to walk next to Jess. “Why are we cooperating again? And… not letting them know we’re intelligent beings and not some random creatures?” I whispered to her. She hesitated for a good minute before responding. “Because there’s something seriously wrong going on.” She said, finally. “I’m a bit fuzzy on voices, but I’m fairly sure that scientist mare in all the warm clothes is Twilight.” I looked ahead at said mare. She was levitating a notebook in front of her as she walked, jotting down what looked like chicken scratch at this distance in it with something halfways between a quill and a pen. She had on a pair of saddlebags, which proudly displayed a symbol of a purple comet. “Twilight? Like, main character, right?” “Yeah. Unless those saddlebags are on loan from a friend, that’s not what her Cutie Mark is supposed to be.” “Every time you say that word I throw up in my mouth a little.” “What, Cutie Mark?” “Ye-eughs…” I said with an exaggerated gag. “Quiet back there!” One of our escorts commanded. We both shut up, and didn’t risk talking again until the group had reached the camp. The camp consisted of a multitude of small brown tents arranged in a large rectangle, with a log building at one end and a larger tent at the other. Several more armored guardsponies milled about, but for the most part the residents were unarmored and bundled up like Twilight. A pair of ponies, standing around a fire pit, stood out for being in black and dark-blue uniforms rather than armor or warm bundles of cloth. One had tan fur and a two-colored mane of blue and pink, and the other… “Hey is that…” Jess started. “It is! Hey! Hey Lyra!” Jess held up her bound hands and waved them as one, getting the attention of the bluish-green mare. “Jess?!” She exclaimed, then galloped over to us. “Guards! Let those two go!” "Lyra, what are you doing?" Twilight stuck out a hoof, stopping her from going any further. "These two are important research materials." “They are most certainly not research materials! That,” She pointed a hoof at Jess. “Is Jessica Cruz, the Human I have been speaking with for the last two Lunar Cycles. I don’t know who that is with her, but I’m sure she’s just as important.” “Uh, excuse me, I’m male.” I said. “Oh! I’m so sorry.” She gave an apologetic bow. “I’ve only ever spoken to female Humans before.” “What is going on over here?” The other uniformed mare asked, trotting over. “Special Operative Sweetie Drops,” Twilight greeted. “Your… partner here is attempting to commandeer valu-” Sweetie Drops held a forehoof up to Twilight’s muzzle, silencing her. Seeing one of the Equestrian’s hooves not wrapped in cloth, nor a foot deep in snow, made me realize just how different Equestrians were from Earth equines. Her forehoof was less of a hand than a hoof, but still less of a hoof than a hoof. So it was less of an entire hoof that she silenced the disgruntled scientist with, and more a single finger. “I would prefer to hear the situation from my loyal, trusted partner first.” She turned to Lyra. “Lyra?” “These are Humans, Jessica Cruz and her plus one, couriering the results of a three-lunar-cycle scientific collaboration. Presumably, Twilight and her excursonary team discovered them en route, and returned to camp with them in irons.” She turned back to Twilight. “Anything to add, miss Sparkle?” Twilight was absolutely fuming. Literally, there was steam rising off her horn. “Nothing.” She growled out, her left eye twitching madly. She gestured at the guards, who dispelled the magic-chains binding me and Jess, then stomped off into the camp, taking the guards with her. Sweetie Drops watched this over her shoulder with a sigh. “I am sorry for our lead researcher’s behavior, she’s been rather stressed lately.” “Heh, usually it’s me you’re apologizing to others about.” Lyra said with a grin. “C’mon, let’s head back to me and Bonbon’s tent and we can look over those Drivers.” So the four of us headed into the camp, towards one of the smaller tents. As we walked, I got to talking with Sweetie Drops… or is it Bonbon? “So,” I started, “Back there, you called Lyra your ‘loyal, trusted partner’. Are the two of you… y’know…” “Dating?” She said flatly. “No. We’re just best friends– Best friends ever since we were fillies, but despite what somepony’s dad thinks, we are not marefriends. Besides,” She stops walking, and glances through the opening of the large, military-looking tent, blushing. “I have my eyes on a different prize.” Curious of who -or possibly what- she was staring at, I bent down to be on her eye level (which wasn’t very far, since most ponies I’ve seen so far are only about a foot and a half shorter than me) and looked into the tent. Inside the tent, propping himself over a table, was a tan unicorn stallion with a wavy brown mane. He was wearing a red cape that obscured his Cutie Mark (euugh), and a hemet similar to the ones the guards were wearing was sitting on the table beside him. I have absolutely no idea what ponies consider “handsome”, so I can only assume he is good-looking by their standards. “So what about you? Is that Jess-human your marefriend? Hmm?” Bonbon wiggled her eyebrows at me. I looked down at the snow. “No.” I said solemnly. “Jess and I tried it, but that ended disastrously. Thankfully the two of us were mature enough to maintain our friendship despite the breakup.” “Well it sounds like you just need another chance at it.” She turned and started walking towards where Lyra and Jess went again. I quickly started following. “Besides, you two’ll be spending a lot of time together from now on.” “I don’t know…” “Trust me. I’ve seen time and time again over the past two years that relationships forged while fighting side-by-side are some of the strongest.” We came to a tent that was just tall enough for me to stand next to and not be looking over it. I stepped to the side and let Bonbon enter before me (ladies first after all), but then she stopped halfway through the flap. “Huh? What’s wrong?” I bent over and stuck my head through the flap, and I too froze. Jessica was laying on the ground inside the tent, and had blood dripping from her eyes and nose, with Lyra standing over her. Lyra turned and stared directly at me, a blank look of utter terror and worry on her face. “Help.” Chapter 2: Aranus Toxicosis“What the hell happened here?!” I pushed past Bonbon into the tent and knelt next to Jess’ body. I propped her head up and pressed two fingers to the side of her neck. She wasn’t breathing, but thankfully she still has a pulse. “I don’t know! We were going to look over her Driver, but as soon as she took it off, blood spurted from her eyes and she fell over!” My gaze drifted over to Jess’ waist, where the Driver was indeed not present. “Took it off…” I muttered. “Yeah that makes sense. Where is it?” “Here.” Lyra levitated the Driver over to me with her magic, and as I grabbed it from her my hand was briefly enveloped in a stabbing pain where the magic touched me. I slapped the driver onto Jess’ waist and it once more secured itself to her. After a few tense moments, she sat up and gasped for breath. “Trevor- I… what?” She said between frantic breaths. “Shh, sh sh sh… Don’t move around too much.” I put a comforting hand on her shoulder. Finally snapping out of her shock, Bonbon came over. “I can help.” She walked behind Jess and placed a furry ear to her back. “Try to breathe normally.” Jess, still shaking from what was probably a near-death experience, did her best to comply. After listening to her breathing, Bonbon came back around to Jess’ front and looked into her eyes with a magnifying glass pulled from one of the many pockets in her uniform. “Wow, you know medical stuff?” Jess asked. “As an agent of the EUP you sort of need to be everything: soldier, spy, field medic. You’re stable now, but what could have caused… that?” “Arcanus Toxicosis.” I said. “Arceus-whatnow?” Both Jess and Lyra asked at the same time. “Jinx.” Lyra was quick to amend with. “Arcanus Toxicosis.” I repeated, ignoring the annoyed look Bonbon and Jess were fixing Lyra with. “It’s a term I just cobbled together. Basically, Jessica had an adverse reaction to the Magic in the atmosphere. The Drivers are mitigating the damage, but only when worn.” “Why couldn’t it have been like the stories where Humans are immune to magic…” Jess muttered. “So she’s allergic to Magic? That shouldn’t be possible; Magic’s everywhere!” Lyra exclaimed. “Not where we come from.” I shook my head. “You come from a magicless world?! Jess, why didn’t you tell me?” “I sorta thought you already knew.” Jess scratched the back of her neck, grinning sheepishly. Bonbon facehooved. “Well, it shouldn’t be a problem unless either of us takes off our Drivers. Hey by the way,” I looked at Jess. “I don’t think I ever got the full story as to what we needed the Drivers for originally.” “I can answer that.” Lyra spoke up. “So, we -Equestria- are sort of at war with the Crystal Empire. We’ve been at a stalemate for at least a year, and I had this great idea on how to put an end to the war.” Lyra wandered around in her little section of the tent, gesturing with her hooves as she explained. “You see, there’s this story I found while doing research in the Canterlot Archives, about a magic weapon from the time of the Two Sisters. Turns out it’s real, but nopony has the ability to wield it, due to some pure of heart stuff. Being at war sorta negates pureness of heart. And then I had the idea to create a device to allow somepony to wield it regardless!” She spread her hooves in a “ta-da” gesture. I gave her a blank stare. “I think you stopped a little short there, Lyra.” Bonbon said, poking her in the side. “Oh, right! I had all these ideas for how to build such a device, but Equestrian technology isn’t quite there yet. While I was researching, I also came across mention of a Human that came to Equestria in the distant past. When she returned to her own world, she left behind the machine that became the basis of our modern radios. And by a stroke of insane luck, I managed to get ahold of that machine. I used it to contact Jess, and the rest is history.” “As serviceable an infodump as any other.” I said, shrugging. I stood and walked towards the door. “Now that the current mini-crisis is over, I’m going to go fulfill my lifelong dream of being a Kamen Rider.” “That… isn’t possible yet.” Jess said before I could push through the door flap. I turned around so fast I half expected to break my own neck with the whiplash. “HUH?!?” [[Kamen Rider Harmony]] We have moved locations, out to one of the fire pits near the “cafeteria” tent on the other side of the camp. Lyra went inside to grab something to eat, but while she’s gone, Trevor is sitting on a log looking dejected, and Sweetie Drops is staring at me… studying me almost. Though she looked almost apprehensive, with a little curiosity mixed in. “Jessica,” She finally said. “I believe we’ve been left on a cliffhanger long enough.” “Yeah,” I sighed. “I guess we could make this an expository chapter. The Rider System is incomplete; That’s why Trevor’s dream of becoming a Kamen Rider isn’t possible yet. Though that’s a problem for more than just him.” My hands drifted up to rest on the Driver. “The Duo Harmony Drivers are like a lock with no key; The systems that will allow the wearer to wield the Elem- I mean the ancient magic weapon, are fully functional and should work properly, but are locked within the Rider System, which lacks a power source.” “And I take it there’s no way to bypass the Rider System? “No, there is, but due to me and Trevor’s Arcanus Toxicosis, doing so isn’t viable.” “Well, what do you need to construct a “key”?” I thought about that for a moment. A “key” I might have made back on Earth would have required rare or exotic materials I wouldn’t have had the funds to obtain, but here in Equestria I could probably supplant them all with Magic. “I’m not sure off the top of my head. I’ll have to talk to Lyra about magical counterparts to the materials I need.” “Did I hear somepony say my name?” Turning around I saw Lyra returning to the group holding a quartet of black plastic containers in her magic. She floated one, as well as a set of utensils to me as she passed to sit next to Trevor. “I remember you telling me Humans are meat-eaters, so I had the chef dig out some of the gryphon rations. That’s what took me so long.” I ripped off the top of the container and was surprised to find an entire steak, of some kind, and a baked potato. Seeing that Lyra had forgotten to grab a knife for me, I switched the Driver to “Unicorn Mode” -briefly getting some passerbys’ attention with the Driver’s vocalization- and concentrated. After a few moments, and ignoring the slightly painful tingling running up my spine, I managed to form a rudimentary kitchen knife out of magic. “I’m surprised you ponies know how to prepare a steak,” Trevor commented, attempting to tear his apart with two forks. “Last I checked, equines don’t particularly like meat.” “We mostly keep it in stock for the non-equine members of the army, like Gryphons.” Lyra explained, before shoving Trevor’s potato into her mouth, ignoring his protests. Chewing then swallowing it, she turned to me. “Anyways, Jess, you were talking about me?” I nodded. “After we finish here we need to discuss making an ignition key for the Drivers.” “Key? You mean something like this?” She reached into a pocket and brought out what looked like a slip of paper -though half of it was made of blue crystal. It looked about the right size to fit in the Driver’s top slot. “I made this prototype when I was drafting up the blueprints to send you.” Trevor reached around her and snatched it out of her magic grasp, much to her surprise. Turnabout’s fair play, I guess. “So this is our Henshin Trinket? Kinda lame.” “Hey!” Before Lyra could yell at him any further, the sound of bells rang throughout the camp. “That isn’t good…” Sweetie said. Author's Note These first two chapters were a bit of a slog to write since they're all just setup and explanations. I might go back and rewrite these two at some point. All the rest should be easier, from now on. Chapter 3: First Henshin! The Steel-clad Human Form!“That isn’t good…” Bonbon said. Around us, the soldiers who had been eating were rushing to put back on their armor and galloping towards the north side of the camp. “That bell means we’re being attacked.” “Finally!” I shouted eagerly, shooting up to my feet. Maybe a little too eagerly based on the others’ looks. “I mean, oh no what a disaster.” Jess’ look of surprise quickly turned into a cheeky grin. “You certainly changed your tune.” “Well, I’d hate to be in ponyland regularly, but ponyland at war? Ponyland at war and I’ve got the power to do something about it?” I said, waving what I’ll refer to as a “ticket” in front of me. “No offense to current company.” “Some taken.” Bonbon said flatly. Nodding, I turned around and ran towards wherever the rest of the soldiers were heading. “Wait!” Lyra called out. I didn’t stop. “That’s just a prototype!” “Rule of cool, Lyra!” I called back. “Just gotta make this flashy!” Lyra started galloping after me, and due to her superior number of legs, quickly caught up. I ignored her though, more focused on what had just come into view: the enemy. The Crystal Empire’s soldiers did not look all too different from ours -though that could just be because all ponies in armor look alike to me. Their armor was all colored black and had significantly more spikes, but I think the biggest difference was the full, face-obscuring helmets each one wore. Also, frankly, they had better weaponry. The Crystal soldiers carried no spears or swords, but their helmets each had a winged crest on the forehead that fired out a beam of sickly green magic that seemed to immediately incapacitate any pony it struck. I saw a few of our Unicorn soldiers put up forcefields, but most cracked after blocking just one laser. Watching the battle, I could feel my heartbeat throughout my entire body. A deep pounding in my chest that I couldn’t quite attribute to any one emotion. “How exactly are you at a stalemate with these guys?” I asked. “The lasers are new.” Lyra answered, sounding worried. “Sombra must be getting as impatient as we are.” As I looked over the newly formed battlefield, I noticed a few of the crystal soldiers were lagging behind the line they had attacked in, and were levitating unconscious soldiers onto carts. “What are those guys doing?” I wondered aloud. If Lyra was going to answer that as well, she didn’t have the chance to. The line had gotten close enough to the camp that where we were was now within their firing range. Lyra stepped in front of me and put up a shield to block an errant laser. “Every soldier we lose just adds to the Empire’s forces. Sombra does… something to ponies that makes them completely loyal to him.” I could feel my teeth grit inside my mouth, and let my hands curl into tight fists. I could accept something as dark as war mixed with that sunshine and rainbows world Jess described to me once… but I draw a line at brainwashing. “Lyra.” I raised a hand and gently set it on her head. “Let me handle this.” “Trevor?” I started walking again, and Lyra dispelled her shield before I could walk through it. I continued until I stepped on top of a large snowbank and could properly look down on the enemy. I took a deep breath, and then roared. “HEY CRYSTAL EMPIRE!” Every pony on both sides stopped, and looked at me. A group of crystal soldiers broke off from the line and galloped towards me. “Let it be known… I AM TAKING YOU DOWN!” I jammed the ticket into the slot on top of the Driver. “[Initialize!]” “[Human Mode]” The hemeted ponies fired their lasers. A button that was previously flush with the side of the Driver popped out. I slammed it back in. “Henshin!” With a guitar riff and a sound like grinding gears, the Driver spat out three balls of multicolored light, which blocked the lasers. The balls of light then spun around me, forming armor panels floating in the air. Then the armor compressed onto me, and with a feeling like being dunked into a warm, viscous liquid, some kind of undersuit formed between them and my body. “[Full-SteelSuperiority!BusterMan!]” Steam shot out from between the various segments of armor, melting some of the snow around me. But the process wasn’t quite done yet. The three balls of light returned to right in front of me, and each changed to their own color and formed some kind of symbol. One was red and looked like a lightning bolt, another was blue and was made of three circles with lines coming down off each, and the final one was an almost-white and was three diamonds. The three symbols stayed for a moment, before swirling into each other and creating a new symbol; One I knew well: a red symbol that one might be able to call a flower, made of three triangles and a diamond. This symbol split in two copies of itself then moved to rest at either side of my hips. I brought up my hands and looked down at myself. My armor looked incomplete almost, with asymmetrical plates, some of which were missing to show off some pretty neat mechanical greeble. Everything was a uniform gunmetal, save for a few glowing blue orbs like the one in the Driver. “Steel Superiority, eh? I’m getting some serious Roidmude vibes from this design. Well, Lyra did say it was a prototype.” I muttered. “And with that symbol, there’s only one thing I can possibly call myself.” I looked back up and saw that the three leading crystal soldiers had gotten close, though I had to wonder why they stopped shooting lasers at me. I raised one foot. “I am Kamen Rider Tekketsu!” I slammed my foot back onto the ground, sending out a shockwave that rippled throughout the entire battlefield, knocking the crystal soldiers away. Despite the stabbing pain creeping up my leg from doing that, I smirked under my helmet. Stupid AT. Out of the extended peripheral vision the helmet’s HUD gave me, I could see a lot of the pony soldiers snap out of their surprise at my intro, and charge into the halted enemy line with renewed vigor. In the other direction, I could see the kidnapping soldiers turning their cart around and starting to run. “Oh no you don’t!” I started towards them, but before I could take even five steps from the spot I transformed in, a rope wrapped around one of my wrists. Looking back, one of the Crystal soldiers I knocked over was back up, and was casting a familiar restraining spell from his helmet’s emblem. Seconds later, a second rope was around my other wrist. “I don’t have time for this!” I growled, wrapping my hands around the two ropes. I dug a boot into the dirt and twisted my upper body. I could hear the hissing of pistons, and feel as a few armor panels shifted in anticipation of my next move. Then, like a spring suddenly and explosively uncoiling, I spun. Both crystal soldiers were ripped away from the ground, and the centrifugal force was great enough that it lifted me about a foot off the ground! Still spinning, I brought both arms together and twisted my entire body, and slammed them down. Dirt and snow flew everywhere from the impact, as well as a few sizable shards of the two ponies’ armor. I climbed back to my feet and tore the magically conjured ropes from my wrists. The prickly feeling had now enveloped my entire right leg, and a band just above my waist too. I’m not the most experienced with sessions of long, drawn-out pain, but I have a pretty good idea what I’m able to take. “Running out of time… gotta stop that wagon.” So, I ran. A couple crystal soldiers tried to jump in my way, but I just plowed right through them. As I slowly gained on the cart, my HUD began to light up with various mathematics I didn’t have the piece of mind to decipher, before showing a “lock-on” on the cart, and a word. I smirked. “I like the sound of that.” Still running, I reached down and pulled the Ticket out of the driver, then quickly put it back in. “Hissatsu!” “[Hissatsu! Buster!]” I planted both feet onto the ground, then jumped, my momentum carrying me up and far over the cart. Once I reached the apex of my leap, at what had to be at least 10 meters off the ground, several large vents opened on the back of my armor and forced me straight down. I impacted the ground directly between the two crystal soldiers pulling the cart, shattering it and sending pony bodies flying in all directions. The ground rippled like the waves of the sea. “[Epoch Finish!]” Epic indeed, Driver. Wait, that sounded like a different voice than usual? I didn’t have time to contemplate that at all, as pain suddenly overtook my entire body! I fell forward and rolled onto my back writhing, and I could feel something warm running down the center of my face. It hurt worse than death, but I managed to pull the Ticket from the Driver. A few agonizing seconds later, the armor disappeared, as well as the pain. I reached up and wiped my face with a hand. Blood, naturally. I sat up, breathing heavily, and took a few careful moments to let everything just… wear off. After that, I turned around and saw one of the Crystal soldiers’ helmets laying a few feet away. I leaned and reached over to grab it, managing to get ahold of the wings of the crest. But, as I dragged the helmet back over to me… something slid out of it. [[Kamen Rider Harmony]] I sat in the snow just outside the bounds of the camp. I had been watching Trevor fight, until he jumped into the sky and plunged down out of sight. “Looks like he’s having fun,” I muttered to myself. “But the battle as a whole is winding down.” Lasers and magic bolts were no longer flying. Whatever it was those Crystal Soldiers were casting with must have had a limited charge, because whenever one stopped firing they would fall back and join the team picking up unconscious guardsponies. Now though, enough of them had stopped fighting that the army was starting to fall back collectively. Doesn’t look like they’ll be leaving with their prize though, since Trevor just Rider Kicked their wagon. I heard a pony walking up behind me. I didn’t need to turn around to know it was Sweetie Drops. “This “Rider System” is pretty impressive. Your friend Trevor managed to scare off the entire army.” “I don’t think Trevor’s assault was the only factor in their retreat. They were already-” “AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!” “Some mare’s in trouble!” I yelled, leaping to my feet. I started running in the direction the scream came from, and could hear Sweetie Drops’ hooves pounding against the snow as she followed. As I approached I could see shattered bits of wood and steel laying in the snow, and large potholes where it looks like some of the debris was launched deep into a snowdrift. Finally I could see Trevor sitting in the bulk of the wreckage, his back turned to us. “Trevor? Did you just scream?” “Jessica…” His voice was quivering. He flung himself around to face me, tears flowing from his eyes like waterfalls, and held something up right in my face. “I KILLED HIM!” He wailed. It was the severed head of a crystal pony. Author's Note Man this chapter did not want to be finished. I had the first half of it written out by the time I posted chapter 2, but only worked on the rest of it since. Maybe I just suck at writing fight scenes, idk. I wanted the bit after the POV switch to be longer, but that just wasn't going well. I experimented with colored text with the Driver, but I might switch around what color goes where.
Chapter 1: A whole new world“Ok, let me get this straight…” I said, bringing one hand up to my face. “You somehow managed to pick up transmissions from another world on your grandmother’s old radio,” “Yup.” she nodded. “You spoke back and forth with the person on the other si-” “Pony, actually.” “Person on the other side, who instructed you on how to build those.” I pointed to a pair of small devices on the desk, each the size of a small tablet. “And now you want my help in traveling to this other world- which by the way is from a little girl cartoon.” “That’s the gist of it, yeah.” She gave a shrug, the awkward smile never leaving her face. “Jess, what the hell.” “I’m glad you asked!” She stood from her chair and strode over to the desk. She picked up one of the devices. “At first I thought someone was playing a prank on me, cuz you know I used to be a pretty diehard fan of MLP, but these babies right here are proof that that world exists.” She pressed the device to the front of her waist and a yellow belt extended from either side of it, securing it to her body. When the belt latched itself in the back, the buckle proclaimed in a synthesized voice, “[Duo Harmony Driver]!” I stared at the Driver blankly. “No, no Jess.” I said. “I’m the Tokusatsu fan, you’re the pony fan.” “Exactly. Lyra was super confused why I was so dead-set on making the devices belts, but I knew you’d be in if I catered it to your interests as well as mine.” “Okay, well that doesn’t explain how that proves anything.” Jess gave a smirk and flipped one of the small levers on the Driver’s side, causing a stylized image of a horn to appear in front of it. “[Unicorn Mode]!” She held out a hand towards me, and it as well as the chair I was sitting in lit up with a light-blue glow. She quickly moved her hand up, and I had to grab onto the armrests as the chair suddenly levitated into the air! My impromptu flight ended with my face about an inch away from the ceiling as the chair came to a stop and floated perfectly in place. “How’s that for proof?” “I-it’s good.” I said, shaking. “Please let me down.” The glow around the chair dissipated, and the chair fell. I tumbled onto the floor, and laid face-down on the carpet for a few moments. “You good?” “M’finn.” I pushed myself off the floor and looked up at her. “You’re crazy.” I deadpanned. “Would you have it any other way? Here,” She helped me up. “Put this on and we’ll be off.” I took the other Driver and examined it. It was rather simple in design, just a rounded rectangle with a glass dome in the center. The left side was raised, while the right had a groove where it looked like something could be attached. Each side had three small levers that sat almost flush with the casing. Finally, on top was a slot that looked like it would line up with the glass dome. I grabbed the Driver by the front of the casing and equipped it, eliciting the same announcement of the device’s name. “Face towards me, and on my count, flip the rear lever on the left.” Jess instructed. “On three… two… One!” We both flipped the levers at the same time, and a beam of light shone from both glass domes, meeting in the middle to form into a sphere of swirling blue and purple energy. “Yes! Yes, this is actually working!” Jess had a look of pure, unadulterated excitement. It was a look I’d rarely seen from her since our high school days. Seeing her like this again… it gave me a weird sort of feeling in my chest. The beams of light thinned until they dissipated, but the sphere remained. It slowly split off thousands of smaller specks of light, looking like a miniature galaxy. “So what now?” I asked. “Well, we’ve just created a one-time portal to Equestria…” She said, moving over to my side of the room. “I think we go through it now.” “Yeah, no.” I turned away from the portal. “I helped you make your portal into a silly cartoon world, but I am not- woah!” Jess grabbed me by the wrist and ran into the portal, dragging me along. Inside the portal was a long tube of energy, and a sudden shift in gravity so we fell towards the other end. I can neither confirm nor deny that I screamed like a little girl inside the portal. We reached the other end of the tube and were deposited in a heap on the ground. Despite being the first one through the portal, Jess managed to land on top of me… and suffice to say she hasn’t been that skinny, borderline-anorexic girl I knew in High school for a while. “Jess…” I choked out. “Crushing… me.” “I landed right on your Driver, so I’d say we’re even.” She said, rolling off of me and rubbing her lower back. I sat up and took a few large breaths while observing our surroundings. We had been dropped into a snowy wasteland, somewhere near the mountains. Purplish-brown rocks jutted up from the snow all around, looking like the teeth of a great and terrible beast lurking just below the surface. This area had clearly been a battlefield, though how long ago was uncertain. Pieces of metal and cloth littered the ground, most half-buried in snow along with the remains of swords and spears. High above, dark clouds covered the sky, letting in only the barest rays of sunlight. “Where are we?” “Huh?” Jess looked up from the snow. “I’m not sure. I expected we’d be spat out at one of the major population centers. Ponyville, Canterlot, maybe one of the horse-pun-counterpart-cities, maybe even the Crystal Empire.” “Over here!” Came a voice from over a hill. Both of us instantly looked in that direction. “The magic spike was over here!” Moments later a pony, covered horn to hoof in warm-looking cloth crested the hill. She scanned over the area, before her eyes locked onto us. Then, a large group of ponies in armor, carrying spears followed her lead. “He-” Jess began, but an intensely cold glare from the bundled mare quieted her. “Lieutenant, these creatures were the cause of the spike. Apprehend them for my research.” She said to one of the armored ponies. And then they began to close in. [[Kamen Rider Harmony]] (I’m not going to inflate my word count with a written-out anime-style opening sequence, so just listen to the music I would have used and imagine it yourself) Jess and I walked in silence, between two of the armored ponies. Both of our hands had been bound with chains made of magic, each leading back to the horn of one of our escorts. Up ahead what looked like a camp was slowly coming into view. I slowed my pace slightly to walk next to Jess. “Why are we cooperating again? And… not letting them know we’re intelligent beings and not some random creatures?” I whispered to her. She hesitated for a good minute before responding. “Because there’s something seriously wrong going on.” She said, finally. “I’m a bit fuzzy on voices, but I’m fairly sure that scientist mare in all the warm clothes is Twilight.” I looked ahead at said mare. She was levitating a notebook in front of her as she walked, jotting down what looked like chicken scratch at this distance in it with something halfways between a quill and a pen. She had on a pair of saddlebags, which proudly displayed a symbol of a purple comet. “Twilight? Like, main character, right?” “Yeah. Unless those saddlebags are on loan from a friend, that’s not what her Cutie Mark is supposed to be.” “Every time you say that word I throw up in my mouth a little.” “What, Cutie Mark?” “Ye-eughs…” I said with an exaggerated gag. “Quiet back there!” One of our escorts commanded. We both shut up, and didn’t risk talking again until the group had reached the camp. The camp consisted of a multitude of small brown tents arranged in a large rectangle, with a log building at one end and a larger tent at the other. Several more armored guardsponies milled about, but for the most part the residents were unarmored and bundled up like Twilight. A pair of ponies, standing around a fire pit, stood out for being in black and dark-blue uniforms rather than armor or warm bundles of cloth. One had tan fur and a two-colored mane of blue and pink, and the other… “Hey is that…” Jess started. “It is! Hey! Hey Lyra!” Jess held up her bound hands and waved them as one, getting the attention of the bluish-green mare. “Jess?!” She exclaimed, then galloped over to us. “Guards! Let those two go!” "Lyra, what are you doing?" Twilight stuck out a hoof, stopping her from going any further. "These two are important research materials." “They are most certainly not research materials! That,” She pointed a hoof at Jess. “Is Jessica Cruz, the Human I have been speaking with for the last two Lunar Cycles. I don’t know who that is with her, but I’m sure she’s just as important.” “Uh, excuse me, I’m male.” I said. “Oh! I’m so sorry.” She gave an apologetic bow. “I’ve only ever spoken to female Humans before.” “What is going on over here?” The other uniformed mare asked, trotting over. “Special Operative Sweetie Drops,” Twilight greeted. “Your… partner here is attempting to commandeer valu-” Sweetie Drops held a forehoof up to Twilight’s muzzle, silencing her. Seeing one of the Equestrian’s hooves not wrapped in cloth, nor a foot deep in snow, made me realize just how different Equestrians were from Earth equines. Her forehoof was less of a hand than a hoof, but still less of a hoof than a hoof. So it was less of an entire hoof that she silenced the disgruntled scientist with, and more a single finger. “I would prefer to hear the situation from my loyal, trusted partner first.” She turned to Lyra. “Lyra?” “These are Humans, Jessica Cruz and her plus one, couriering the results of a three-lunar-cycle scientific collaboration. Presumably, Twilight and her excursonary team discovered them en route, and returned to camp with them in irons.” She turned back to Twilight. “Anything to add, miss Sparkle?” Twilight was absolutely fuming. Literally, there was steam rising off her horn. “Nothing.” She growled out, her left eye twitching madly. She gestured at the guards, who dispelled the magic-chains binding me and Jess, then stomped off into the camp, taking the guards with her. Sweetie Drops watched this over her shoulder with a sigh. “I am sorry for our lead researcher’s behavior, she’s been rather stressed lately.” “Heh, usually it’s me you’re apologizing to others about.” Lyra said with a grin. “C’mon, let’s head back to me and Bonbon’s tent and we can look over those Drivers.” So the four of us headed into the camp, towards one of the smaller tents. As we walked, I got to talking with Sweetie Drops… or is it Bonbon? “So,” I started, “Back there, you called Lyra your ‘loyal, trusted partner’. Are the two of you… y’know…” “Dating?” She said flatly. “No. We’re just best friends– Best friends ever since we were fillies, but despite what somepony’s dad thinks, we are not marefriends. Besides,” She stops walking, and glances through the opening of the large, military-looking tent, blushing. “I have my eyes on a different prize.” Curious of who -or possibly what- she was staring at, I bent down to be on her eye level (which wasn’t very far, since most ponies I’ve seen so far are only about a foot and a half shorter than me) and looked into the tent. Inside the tent, propping himself over a table, was a tan unicorn stallion with a wavy brown mane. He was wearing a red cape that obscured his Cutie Mark (euugh), and a hemet similar to the ones the guards were wearing was sitting on the table beside him. I have absolutely no idea what ponies consider “handsome”, so I can only assume he is good-looking by their standards. “So what about you? Is that Jess-human your marefriend? Hmm?” Bonbon wiggled her eyebrows at me. I looked down at the snow. “No.” I said solemnly. “Jess and I tried it, but that ended disastrously. Thankfully the two of us were mature enough to maintain our friendship despite the breakup.” “Well it sounds like you just need another chance at it.” She turned and started walking towards where Lyra and Jess went again. I quickly started following. “Besides, you two’ll be spending a lot of time together from now on.” “I don’t know…” “Trust me. I’ve seen time and time again over the past two years that relationships forged while fighting side-by-side are some of the strongest.” We came to a tent that was just tall enough for me to stand next to and not be looking over it. I stepped to the side and let Bonbon enter before me (ladies first after all), but then she stopped halfway through the flap. “Huh? What’s wrong?” I bent over and stuck my head through the flap, and I too froze. Jessica was laying on the ground inside the tent, and had blood dripping from her eyes and nose, with Lyra standing over her. Lyra turned and stared directly at me, a blank look of utter terror and worry on her face. “Help.”
Chapter 2: Aranus Toxicosis“What the hell happened here?!” I pushed past Bonbon into the tent and knelt next to Jess’ body. I propped her head up and pressed two fingers to the side of her neck. She wasn’t breathing, but thankfully she still has a pulse. “I don’t know! We were going to look over her Driver, but as soon as she took it off, blood spurted from her eyes and she fell over!” My gaze drifted over to Jess’ waist, where the Driver was indeed not present. “Took it off…” I muttered. “Yeah that makes sense. Where is it?” “Here.” Lyra levitated the Driver over to me with her magic, and as I grabbed it from her my hand was briefly enveloped in a stabbing pain where the magic touched me. I slapped the driver onto Jess’ waist and it once more secured itself to her. After a few tense moments, she sat up and gasped for breath. “Trevor- I… what?” She said between frantic breaths. “Shh, sh sh sh… Don’t move around too much.” I put a comforting hand on her shoulder. Finally snapping out of her shock, Bonbon came over. “I can help.” She walked behind Jess and placed a furry ear to her back. “Try to breathe normally.” Jess, still shaking from what was probably a near-death experience, did her best to comply. After listening to her breathing, Bonbon came back around to Jess’ front and looked into her eyes with a magnifying glass pulled from one of the many pockets in her uniform. “Wow, you know medical stuff?” Jess asked. “As an agent of the EUP you sort of need to be everything: soldier, spy, field medic. You’re stable now, but what could have caused… that?” “Arcanus Toxicosis.” I said. “Arceus-whatnow?” Both Jess and Lyra asked at the same time. “Jinx.” Lyra was quick to amend with. “Arcanus Toxicosis.” I repeated, ignoring the annoyed look Bonbon and Jess were fixing Lyra with. “It’s a term I just cobbled together. Basically, Jessica had an adverse reaction to the Magic in the atmosphere. The Drivers are mitigating the damage, but only when worn.” “Why couldn’t it have been like the stories where Humans are immune to magic…” Jess muttered. “So she’s allergic to Magic? That shouldn’t be possible; Magic’s everywhere!” Lyra exclaimed. “Not where we come from.” I shook my head. “You come from a magicless world?! Jess, why didn’t you tell me?” “I sorta thought you already knew.” Jess scratched the back of her neck, grinning sheepishly. Bonbon facehooved. “Well, it shouldn’t be a problem unless either of us takes off our Drivers. Hey by the way,” I looked at Jess. “I don’t think I ever got the full story as to what we needed the Drivers for originally.” “I can answer that.” Lyra spoke up. “So, we -Equestria- are sort of at war with the Crystal Empire. We’ve been at a stalemate for at least a year, and I had this great idea on how to put an end to the war.” Lyra wandered around in her little section of the tent, gesturing with her hooves as she explained. “You see, there’s this story I found while doing research in the Canterlot Archives, about a magic weapon from the time of the Two Sisters. Turns out it’s real, but nopony has the ability to wield it, due to some pure of heart stuff. Being at war sorta negates pureness of heart. And then I had the idea to create a device to allow somepony to wield it regardless!” She spread her hooves in a “ta-da” gesture. I gave her a blank stare. “I think you stopped a little short there, Lyra.” Bonbon said, poking her in the side. “Oh, right! I had all these ideas for how to build such a device, but Equestrian technology isn’t quite there yet. While I was researching, I also came across mention of a Human that came to Equestria in the distant past. When she returned to her own world, she left behind the machine that became the basis of our modern radios. And by a stroke of insane luck, I managed to get ahold of that machine. I used it to contact Jess, and the rest is history.” “As serviceable an infodump as any other.” I said, shrugging. I stood and walked towards the door. “Now that the current mini-crisis is over, I’m going to go fulfill my lifelong dream of being a Kamen Rider.” “That… isn’t possible yet.” Jess said before I could push through the door flap. I turned around so fast I half expected to break my own neck with the whiplash. “HUH?!?” [[Kamen Rider Harmony]] We have moved locations, out to one of the fire pits near the “cafeteria” tent on the other side of the camp. Lyra went inside to grab something to eat, but while she’s gone, Trevor is sitting on a log looking dejected, and Sweetie Drops is staring at me… studying me almost. Though she looked almost apprehensive, with a little curiosity mixed in. “Jessica,” She finally said. “I believe we’ve been left on a cliffhanger long enough.” “Yeah,” I sighed. “I guess we could make this an expository chapter. The Rider System is incomplete; That’s why Trevor’s dream of becoming a Kamen Rider isn’t possible yet. Though that’s a problem for more than just him.” My hands drifted up to rest on the Driver. “The Duo Harmony Drivers are like a lock with no key; The systems that will allow the wearer to wield the Elem- I mean the ancient magic weapon, are fully functional and should work properly, but are locked within the Rider System, which lacks a power source.” “And I take it there’s no way to bypass the Rider System? “No, there is, but due to me and Trevor’s Arcanus Toxicosis, doing so isn’t viable.” “Well, what do you need to construct a “key”?” I thought about that for a moment. A “key” I might have made back on Earth would have required rare or exotic materials I wouldn’t have had the funds to obtain, but here in Equestria I could probably supplant them all with Magic. “I’m not sure off the top of my head. I’ll have to talk to Lyra about magical counterparts to the materials I need.” “Did I hear somepony say my name?” Turning around I saw Lyra returning to the group holding a quartet of black plastic containers in her magic. She floated one, as well as a set of utensils to me as she passed to sit next to Trevor. “I remember you telling me Humans are meat-eaters, so I had the chef dig out some of the gryphon rations. That’s what took me so long.” I ripped off the top of the container and was surprised to find an entire steak, of some kind, and a baked potato. Seeing that Lyra had forgotten to grab a knife for me, I switched the Driver to “Unicorn Mode” -briefly getting some passerbys’ attention with the Driver’s vocalization- and concentrated. After a few moments, and ignoring the slightly painful tingling running up my spine, I managed to form a rudimentary kitchen knife out of magic. “I’m surprised you ponies know how to prepare a steak,” Trevor commented, attempting to tear his apart with two forks. “Last I checked, equines don’t particularly like meat.” “We mostly keep it in stock for the non-equine members of the army, like Gryphons.” Lyra explained, before shoving Trevor’s potato into her mouth, ignoring his protests. Chewing then swallowing it, she turned to me. “Anyways, Jess, you were talking about me?” I nodded. “After we finish here we need to discuss making an ignition key for the Drivers.” “Key? You mean something like this?” She reached into a pocket and brought out what looked like a slip of paper -though half of it was made of blue crystal. It looked about the right size to fit in the Driver’s top slot. “I made this prototype when I was drafting up the blueprints to send you.” Trevor reached around her and snatched it out of her magic grasp, much to her surprise. Turnabout’s fair play, I guess. “So this is our Henshin Trinket? Kinda lame.” “Hey!” Before Lyra could yell at him any further, the sound of bells rang throughout the camp. “That isn’t good…” Sweetie said. Author's Note These first two chapters were a bit of a slog to write since they're all just setup and explanations. I might go back and rewrite these two at some point. All the rest should be easier, from now on.
Chapter 3: First Henshin! The Steel-clad Human Form!“That isn’t good…” Bonbon said. Around us, the soldiers who had been eating were rushing to put back on their armor and galloping towards the north side of the camp. “That bell means we’re being attacked.” “Finally!” I shouted eagerly, shooting up to my feet. Maybe a little too eagerly based on the others’ looks. “I mean, oh no what a disaster.” Jess’ look of surprise quickly turned into a cheeky grin. “You certainly changed your tune.” “Well, I’d hate to be in ponyland regularly, but ponyland at war? Ponyland at war and I’ve got the power to do something about it?” I said, waving what I’ll refer to as a “ticket” in front of me. “No offense to current company.” “Some taken.” Bonbon said flatly. Nodding, I turned around and ran towards wherever the rest of the soldiers were heading. “Wait!” Lyra called out. I didn’t stop. “That’s just a prototype!” “Rule of cool, Lyra!” I called back. “Just gotta make this flashy!” Lyra started galloping after me, and due to her superior number of legs, quickly caught up. I ignored her though, more focused on what had just come into view: the enemy. The Crystal Empire’s soldiers did not look all too different from ours -though that could just be because all ponies in armor look alike to me. Their armor was all colored black and had significantly more spikes, but I think the biggest difference was the full, face-obscuring helmets each one wore. Also, frankly, they had better weaponry. The Crystal soldiers carried no spears or swords, but their helmets each had a winged crest on the forehead that fired out a beam of sickly green magic that seemed to immediately incapacitate any pony it struck. I saw a few of our Unicorn soldiers put up forcefields, but most cracked after blocking just one laser. Watching the battle, I could feel my heartbeat throughout my entire body. A deep pounding in my chest that I couldn’t quite attribute to any one emotion. “How exactly are you at a stalemate with these guys?” I asked. “The lasers are new.” Lyra answered, sounding worried. “Sombra must be getting as impatient as we are.” As I looked over the newly formed battlefield, I noticed a few of the crystal soldiers were lagging behind the line they had attacked in, and were levitating unconscious soldiers onto carts. “What are those guys doing?” I wondered aloud. If Lyra was going to answer that as well, she didn’t have the chance to. The line had gotten close enough to the camp that where we were was now within their firing range. Lyra stepped in front of me and put up a shield to block an errant laser. “Every soldier we lose just adds to the Empire’s forces. Sombra does… something to ponies that makes them completely loyal to him.” I could feel my teeth grit inside my mouth, and let my hands curl into tight fists. I could accept something as dark as war mixed with that sunshine and rainbows world Jess described to me once… but I draw a line at brainwashing. “Lyra.” I raised a hand and gently set it on her head. “Let me handle this.” “Trevor?” I started walking again, and Lyra dispelled her shield before I could walk through it. I continued until I stepped on top of a large snowbank and could properly look down on the enemy. I took a deep breath, and then roared. “HEY CRYSTAL EMPIRE!” Every pony on both sides stopped, and looked at me. A group of crystal soldiers broke off from the line and galloped towards me. “Let it be known… I AM TAKING YOU DOWN!” I jammed the ticket into the slot on top of the Driver. “[Initialize!]” “[Human Mode]” The hemeted ponies fired their lasers. A button that was previously flush with the side of the Driver popped out. I slammed it back in. “Henshin!” With a guitar riff and a sound like grinding gears, the Driver spat out three balls of multicolored light, which blocked the lasers. The balls of light then spun around me, forming armor panels floating in the air. Then the armor compressed onto me, and with a feeling like being dunked into a warm, viscous liquid, some kind of undersuit formed between them and my body. “[Full-SteelSuperiority!BusterMan!]” Steam shot out from between the various segments of armor, melting some of the snow around me. But the process wasn’t quite done yet. The three balls of light returned to right in front of me, and each changed to their own color and formed some kind of symbol. One was red and looked like a lightning bolt, another was blue and was made of three circles with lines coming down off each, and the final one was an almost-white and was three diamonds. The three symbols stayed for a moment, before swirling into each other and creating a new symbol; One I knew well: a red symbol that one might be able to call a flower, made of three triangles and a diamond. This symbol split in two copies of itself then moved to rest at either side of my hips. I brought up my hands and looked down at myself. My armor looked incomplete almost, with asymmetrical plates, some of which were missing to show off some pretty neat mechanical greeble. Everything was a uniform gunmetal, save for a few glowing blue orbs like the one in the Driver. “Steel Superiority, eh? I’m getting some serious Roidmude vibes from this design. Well, Lyra did say it was a prototype.” I muttered. “And with that symbol, there’s only one thing I can possibly call myself.” I looked back up and saw that the three leading crystal soldiers had gotten close, though I had to wonder why they stopped shooting lasers at me. I raised one foot. “I am Kamen Rider Tekketsu!” I slammed my foot back onto the ground, sending out a shockwave that rippled throughout the entire battlefield, knocking the crystal soldiers away. Despite the stabbing pain creeping up my leg from doing that, I smirked under my helmet. Stupid AT. Out of the extended peripheral vision the helmet’s HUD gave me, I could see a lot of the pony soldiers snap out of their surprise at my intro, and charge into the halted enemy line with renewed vigor. In the other direction, I could see the kidnapping soldiers turning their cart around and starting to run. “Oh no you don’t!” I started towards them, but before I could take even five steps from the spot I transformed in, a rope wrapped around one of my wrists. Looking back, one of the Crystal soldiers I knocked over was back up, and was casting a familiar restraining spell from his helmet’s emblem. Seconds later, a second rope was around my other wrist. “I don’t have time for this!” I growled, wrapping my hands around the two ropes. I dug a boot into the dirt and twisted my upper body. I could hear the hissing of pistons, and feel as a few armor panels shifted in anticipation of my next move. Then, like a spring suddenly and explosively uncoiling, I spun. Both crystal soldiers were ripped away from the ground, and the centrifugal force was great enough that it lifted me about a foot off the ground! Still spinning, I brought both arms together and twisted my entire body, and slammed them down. Dirt and snow flew everywhere from the impact, as well as a few sizable shards of the two ponies’ armor. I climbed back to my feet and tore the magically conjured ropes from my wrists. The prickly feeling had now enveloped my entire right leg, and a band just above my waist too. I’m not the most experienced with sessions of long, drawn-out pain, but I have a pretty good idea what I’m able to take. “Running out of time… gotta stop that wagon.” So, I ran. A couple crystal soldiers tried to jump in my way, but I just plowed right through them. As I slowly gained on the cart, my HUD began to light up with various mathematics I didn’t have the piece of mind to decipher, before showing a “lock-on” on the cart, and a word. I smirked. “I like the sound of that.” Still running, I reached down and pulled the Ticket out of the driver, then quickly put it back in. “Hissatsu!” “[Hissatsu! Buster!]” I planted both feet onto the ground, then jumped, my momentum carrying me up and far over the cart. Once I reached the apex of my leap, at what had to be at least 10 meters off the ground, several large vents opened on the back of my armor and forced me straight down. I impacted the ground directly between the two crystal soldiers pulling the cart, shattering it and sending pony bodies flying in all directions. The ground rippled like the waves of the sea. “[Epoch Finish!]” Epic indeed, Driver. Wait, that sounded like a different voice than usual? I didn’t have time to contemplate that at all, as pain suddenly overtook my entire body! I fell forward and rolled onto my back writhing, and I could feel something warm running down the center of my face. It hurt worse than death, but I managed to pull the Ticket from the Driver. A few agonizing seconds later, the armor disappeared, as well as the pain. I reached up and wiped my face with a hand. Blood, naturally. I sat up, breathing heavily, and took a few careful moments to let everything just… wear off. After that, I turned around and saw one of the Crystal soldiers’ helmets laying a few feet away. I leaned and reached over to grab it, managing to get ahold of the wings of the crest. But, as I dragged the helmet back over to me… something slid out of it. [[Kamen Rider Harmony]] I sat in the snow just outside the bounds of the camp. I had been watching Trevor fight, until he jumped into the sky and plunged down out of sight. “Looks like he’s having fun,” I muttered to myself. “But the battle as a whole is winding down.” Lasers and magic bolts were no longer flying. Whatever it was those Crystal Soldiers were casting with must have had a limited charge, because whenever one stopped firing they would fall back and join the team picking up unconscious guardsponies. Now though, enough of them had stopped fighting that the army was starting to fall back collectively. Doesn’t look like they’ll be leaving with their prize though, since Trevor just Rider Kicked their wagon. I heard a pony walking up behind me. I didn’t need to turn around to know it was Sweetie Drops. “This “Rider System” is pretty impressive. Your friend Trevor managed to scare off the entire army.” “I don’t think Trevor’s assault was the only factor in their retreat. They were already-” “AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!” “Some mare’s in trouble!” I yelled, leaping to my feet. I started running in the direction the scream came from, and could hear Sweetie Drops’ hooves pounding against the snow as she followed. As I approached I could see shattered bits of wood and steel laying in the snow, and large potholes where it looks like some of the debris was launched deep into a snowdrift. Finally I could see Trevor sitting in the bulk of the wreckage, his back turned to us. “Trevor? Did you just scream?” “Jessica…” His voice was quivering. He flung himself around to face me, tears flowing from his eyes like waterfalls, and held something up right in my face. “I KILLED HIM!” He wailed. It was the severed head of a crystal pony. Author's Note Man this chapter did not want to be finished. I had the first half of it written out by the time I posted chapter 2, but only worked on the rest of it since. Maybe I just suck at writing fight scenes, idk. I wanted the bit after the POV switch to be longer, but that just wasn't going well. I experimented with colored text with the Driver, but I might switch around what color goes where.
