October 30th, 2013, 6:32pm

The Central Canterlot Mall was a crowded place. Nebula couldn’t go a few feet without someone bumping into her, and she felt increasingly paranoid that someone might try and pickpocket her. It wasn’t her wallet that had her concerned; she had that zipped up in her messenger bag alongside the lockbox. No, her concern was that someone might pilfer one of the two bottles she kept in easy reach in one of her coat’s inside pockets.

At least Sunset was sticking close enough that she couldn’t lose her in the crowd. It was amazing just how easy it was to lose a redhead wearing a leather jacket in an ocean of colours. That said, getting separated didn’t exactly benefit their objective. More than once, her friend reached back to grab the sleeve of her lab coat and guide her.

It’d taken her more than a week of research, but she thought she understood enough about the mechanics behind Project Re:Build’s technology that she could probably construct the Beat Closer. She wasn’t exactly sure if she wanted to arm any of her friends as of yet, because that meant they’d be putting one or more of them in the line of fire. That was hardly a responsible thing to do, regardless of whether or not they were willing to do so.

Maybe it was because the Build System had been entrusted to her, or the concern that she really was Dr. Satonaka’s daughter—whom she had yet to find the first name for—but Nebula felt obligated to see this thing through. Anyone who got hurt on her watch would weigh on her conscience; it was not their burden to bear. Anyone who did get involved in the actual fighting would have to know what they were getting into.

That didn’t prevent her from making her contingency plans, however. It was part of the reason that she had entrusted that mysterious Fullbottle to Sunset. Given that she was from the same place the magic originated—and had nearly the same levels of Type-M energy that Nebula had Type-II—she seemed the most suited to work with it. Actually, she might have far more than the scanner let on; there were subtle fluctuations that indicated its level was unstable, and something was keeping it suppressed.

“So everything you need to make that thing, you can get at Transmission House?” Sunset asked, fixing Nebula with a questioning look. “Hard to believe you could make something like that with parts from a hobby electronics store.”

“Most of it,” she responded as the pair of them ducked into the named shop. “I’m gonna need to hit a scrapyard and then I need access to a machine shop in order to machine the outer casing.” A smile crossed her face. “Do you think Celestia-san would be upset if I—”

“You’re not breaking into the school to use the metal shop.” Although there was a bit of warning in Sunset’s voice, there was the hint of a smile. “Rarity’s friends with the theatre kids, since she does a lot of business with them. I think they still owe her a favour or two, so maybe their prop guy can help.” With an embarrassed shake of her head, she added on, “He did make the crown for the Fall Formal, which I tried to swap with the Princess’ Element of Magic back in Equestria.”

Nebula gave a shrug, grabbing a basket and moving towards one of the aisles. “There’s no rush,” she responded, pausing in front of a rack that had various parts: capacitors, transistors, resistors and diodes. “If anything, it seems like the whole you-know-what issue has started to slow down lately. It seems like every single time one of those monsters has appeared, it was on a Monday, but it is Wednesday now and there has been no repeat of the pattern.”

As if the universe was listening, one of the demo televisions elsewhere in the store began replaying a news interview from earlier that evening. Specifically, it was an interview with a helicopter pilot working for Canterlogic Securities regarding the Smash last week. She continued shopping, but listened as a familiar voice played over the speakers.

“What were your first thoughts when this self-titled Kamen Rider appeared on the field, Ms. Rose Well,” asked the interviewer, before a clip from the point of view of the helicopter played on-screen, where a black-and-white armoured figure was spotted at the edge of the camera feed, approaching the scene as the helicopter circled the battle.

“First and foremost, my thought was that some civilian wanted to play at being a hero, and was going to get themself killed,” said an amber-skinned woman in a black flight-suit and aviators. Rose adjusted the Canterlogic Securities cap that seemed to hold back messy dark red hair and fixed the reporter with an uneasy look. “I radioed it in, and someone up the chain ordered me to warn them away under threat of being declared hostile. I guess someone thought that Karasu might’ve been to blame for the outage the week before.”

Playback resumed, confirming the warning that the scythe-wielding figure had been warned away and obeyed. “Had you, at this point, seen the video circulating online of Kamen Rider Karasu’s previous fight?” the interviewer asked. “Or was she a complete unknown at that time?”

There was a laugh from the pilot. “I’d probably have welcomed the help if I had,” she admitted as the Burn Smash on screen destroyed the guardians with ease before finally impaling the one that would have destroyed the helicopter had it not been intercepted. “Unfortunately, I think even if I hadn’t made the warning, the ones issuing the orders to the droids would have still marked her as hostile. Regardless, I wouldn’t be alive today if not for her.”

Nebula glanced at Sunset, who seemed to be watching the combat footage closely. There was a critical look about her gaze while she watched Karasu as she soared through the air to redirect and then bisect the Guardian. She returned to her browsing, not really paying further attention to the television screen, even as she heard her own voice saying, “As a Kamen Rider, I have to protect life whenever possible, no matter how valuable the research data might be.”

Moving on to another aisle, she found herself contemplating whether she wanted to go for quality or economy with the soldering iron. The staff at Shady Oaks gave their wards some spending money, although not nearly enough for what she had in mind. That said, she’d been doing odd tasks around the facility to earn some extra cash—just the odd tech support or mechanics jobs that saved the group home owners trips to professionals that would net heavy fees. As a result, she had more than enough to get what she needed for the Beat Closer, but if she went economical, she might be able to purchase enough parts to construct a second Build Driver.

The desire for redundancy ultimately won out, and she added a middle-range soldering iron to her basket. Within a few more moments, she gathered up most of the rest of her needs. However, as she returned to where she’d left Sunset, she found another girl in her place, watching the fight replay in full after the conclusion of the interview. She looked around, and found the redhead in another aisle, pretending to test headphones as she watched this new girl with a look of terror.

Nebula took a good look at the girl. A Crystal Prep uniform—a bordeaux coloured knitted vest, a white blouse, and a purple tartan skirt—stood out the most about her. Purple and magenta-streaked indigo bangs framed her face. Her inquisitive violet eyes, hidden behind a pair of horn rimmed glasses, were fixed on the screen.

Why is Sunset-san so scared, though, she wondered to herself. Is the rivalry between the schools at an extreme level of antagonism, or something?

“Fascinating technology,” the young woman murmured to herself, watching as Kamen Rider Karasu initiated a finisher with the Tempo Reaper. “I wonder what that suit uses as a power source.”

Stepping up beside the stranger, Nebula crossed her arms, basket hooked in one elbow. “Probably whatever is in those bottles on her belt,” she observed, making commentary as though she wasn’t the person on-screen striking down the Burn Smash. “Did you notice how she slotted one into that weapon of hers before it became supercharged?”

If she was put off by a stranger approaching and engaging her in conversation, she didn’t make it apparent. At most, she gave Nebula a questioning look, as if her appearance confused her, before returning her attention to the screen. “If there was such a compact energy source, you would think there would be countless research papers published on it,” she scoffed, “rather than it being used by some superheroine to fight monsters. That kind of compact energy would revolutionise the world.”

Nebula nodded in agreement, but pointed her finger at the screen, where the Kamen Rider had retrieved an empty Fullbottle from a strap hanging at her belt and pointed it at the fallen Smash. “Maybe that is why. A compact power source is all well and good, but if improper containment could turn someone into a literal monster, I could understand them hushing it up.” The girl watched in horror as the monster was replaced with a girl no older than her; she may even have recognised her from school. “For what it is worth, I believe her to be a force for good.”

Onscreen, the blue and yellow-clad heroine carried the unconscious girl towards the oncoming police with extreme care. When the camera got a good look at the police officer who received the victim, the crystal prep student beside Nebula looked a bit more excited. “Shining Armour didn’t say anything about this.”

From behind them came a voice, “That’s because I was ordered not to.” Out of her peripheral vision, she caught sight of the same man who was currently on screen coming to stand behind the girl, touseling her hair. “You have everything you need, Twily?” He seemed to suddenly notice the presence of the other girl, and did a double take. “Nebula?”

Grinning, she gave a slight bow. “Good evening, Shining-kun,” she greeted, trying not to show amusement at the confused expression visible on the face of his on-screen double. “It is good to see you again.”

This was probably the worst possible thing. Intellectually, Sunset Shimmer knew that this was not the Twilight Sparkle that had bested her at the Fall Formal; that mare was definitely back in Equestria for the next three years. Yet standing next to her newest friend was unmistakably a Twilight Sparkle.

When she first arrived in this world, one of the first people she ever met was Principal Celestia. It was at that point that she knew this world held counterparts to ponies or people back home. Since then, she’d run into several familiar faces. Ever since the princess returned to Equestria, she’d feared this day would come—that she might run into the human Twilight.

It was an emotional subject for the Equestrian runaway. Despite all of the positive progress she’d made in turning her life around over the past month, deep down she felt that she wasn’t nearly ready to face her. Sunset hadn’t done nearly enough to prove that she was worthy of this third chance she’d been given, or so she believed. Bitterness over both how she’d been defeated and just how awful she’d been lingered in her heart.

The only bright side was that this Twilight was significantly different from the transformed pony she’d met. It was unmistakable that the girl she was seeing was shorter than the princess, who matched Sunset Shimmer in height; if anything, she seemed closer in stature to Nebula. There was also the matter of glasses, which the pony didn’t seem to need. That last bit might actually make a difference in keeping the two separate emotionally.

Nonetheless, it made the former unicorn uneasy to see Nebula interacting with the human Twilight and the police officer who just happened to be her brother. If the two of them became friends, she’d eventually want to introduce Twilight to the rest of her friends. That would be an absolute disaster, especially if they went anywhere near CHS.

Pretending not to eavesdrop and trying to distract herself, Sunset continued testing out different headphones for noise cancellation abilities. Even if she’d be unable to participate in the musical showcase herself—on top of all the detention she’d been serving over the Fall Formal, she’d been forbidden from participating in clubs and school functions for the remainder of the year—she wanted to practise her electric guitar; her last pair didn’t work the best when plugged into her amp.

Deciding on a pair, Sunset headed to the check-out and made her purchase. Leaving the store towards the mall’s food court, she decided that it would be best if she shot her friend a text message to let her know where she was. She had, after all, given Nebula a ride to the mall.

Hey, I’m gonna wait out in the food court for you. :ShimmerCode

Sorry for ditching you. It’s hard to explain over text, though. :ShimmerCode

girlGenius: No problem.

girlGenius: I wasn’t expecting to meet Shining Armour-san here.

girlGenius: He’s the officer who found me. Nice guy.

girlGenius: Wanted to touch base and see how I was doing. Invited me to dinner next weekend.

girlGenius: HIs sister’s a bit odd, though. Kept staring at me.

For some reason, Sunset wasn’t at all surprised by that last bit. If she was the human counterpart to the pony that Princess Celestia replaced her with, she would likely be highly intelligent and observant. She wouldn’t put it past the human to grow suspicious of Nebula based on the video. There were just far too many hints toward her being Karasu.

It certainly didn’t help that Nebula Moonlight was just that much of a suspicious person to begin with. Her manner of speaking was overly formal, whilst her writing was surprisingly casual. The haircut she wore was closer to a punk style than anything she’d normally associate with the science nerd stereotype. Personality-wise, she seemed to fluctuate between incredibly chill, hyper-fixated, and having just the right degree of insanity required to deal with Pinkie Pie or accept magic so readily.

At that thought, her hand slipped into her jacket pocket to caress the golden Fullbottle held within. At first, Sunset had been wary of Nebula’s suggestion that the bottle contained magic, but after spending time around it, she was definitely getting the sense that it was resonating with her own dormant Equestrian magic. Now, having carried it around on her person for a week, it felt like her magic was buzzing just beneath her skin, ready for use, but having no outlet. So on top of studying the manifestations the others have been exhibiting, I’ve got to figure this out as well.

Rather than lining up and getting a drink from one of the restaurants, Sunset merely took out some change and made her way over to a vending machine. As she did so, she considered her next move. Whilst they might get away with studying some of their magic at the school, Nebula’s Build System stuff, and the Fire Fullbottle weren’t things they should deal with in such a public setting. Not even the Apple family’s farm would make for a good place to test it.

Perhaps it’s best if we use that place, she mused as a pepper soda was dispensed from the machine. I haven’t been there since the formal, but...

Her thought was interrupted by a piercing scream. She looked to one of the upper levels that overlooked the food court. Sunset’s blood went cold as she took in the sight of an armoured figure leaning over the railing, a child clutched in one outstretched hand. Worse, they were laughing as they did so.

“Kamen Rider Karasu, I know you’re here!” came a distorted, but clearly masculine voice. Covered in a blood-red bodysuit, the figure’s armour seemed constructed of burnished bronze piping and plates. The only thing that hinted what his armour might have been designed after was a respirator pipe that hung down to his waist, and two exhaust pipes jutting out of the helmet like a pair of tusks. “Give back the Fullbottles and Driver that unicorn bitch stole, and the kid doesn’t have to die!”

Unicorn...?

There was no sign of Nebula yet, and Sunset had a really bad feeling in her stomach. With the way the child was thrashing around in the man’s grip, it was only a matter of time until the kid fell. “Come on, Karasu!” the man snarled. “There’s no point in hiding! I detected you the moment you stepped into the food court!”

Except he didn’t... He detected me. Her eyes locked on the boy who was moments from being dropped. The kid couldn’t have been more than seven years old. He’s going to die because of me!

Clutched in her hand, the Fire Fullbottle throbbed, filling her with a soothing warmth. It was a feeling that she knew well; it used to be a part of her life for so long—the feeling of magic building up just beneath her horn as a spell took shape. Except, instead of her horn, it was in her hand.

“Fine! This is on you!” the elephant-armoured freak bellowed, releasing the boy. Much like Sunset, everyone else in the food court had been watching the horror play out; when the little boy began to fall, there was a collective scream from the crowd.

As the child fell from the fourth floor, Sunset unconsciously gave the Fullbottle a few good shakes in her pocket and then thrust her free hand forward. Come on, just my telekinesis would be enough! The comforting sight of an opal light sheathing her hand greeted her the moment before a spectral hand caught the boy.

It wasn’t easy. Her personal magic had gone untouched for almost a decade, and going from complete disuse to catching a child somewhere between thirty and forty-five kilograms was no small thing. The strain was immense, and the only thing keeping her from buckling was the willpower to not let the child fall to his death.

I won’t be the reason someone loses their son! She screamed internally, tears misting her eyes. In response to her desire, the bottle thrummed against her touch, causing the magic within her own body to flare in response. The spectral energy slowly shifted from the bright opal she grew up with to a fiery amaranth. All at once, the burden eased, and she was able to lower the child to the floor.

All the while the armoured psychopath was glaring around, trying to find Karasu in the crowd. Sunset could only hope that he couldn’t see the magical corona wrapped around her hand. There were too many people around her for her to make a clean getaway, and she wasn’t about to start teleporting just yet. If he tried attacking, she’d have no choice but to throw up a shield around her and as many people as possible...

A murmur began to fill the crowd as the boy safely reached the ground. It took sunset more than a moment for her to recognise why. Everybody was parting, giving space to an approaching figure on the food-court’s level. At first, she thought it was Nebula already transformed into Karasu. Instead, she saw a young woman in a tracksuit that Sunset was certain she’d seen the amnesiac wearing after gym, wearing nitrile gloves and a paper bag over her head. At her waist was the Build Driver.

There came a message on her phone a moment later. It’d clearly been sent on a timer, because this was absolutely Nebula standing there. Nobody else wore mismatched converse sneakers like that.

girlGenius: Can you grab my bag? It’s in the planter by Picante Subject.

Nebula turned when she reached the centre of the food-court, she saw at least a hundred people part to give her space. It was a pretty awful disguise as it stood, but she didn’t exactly have much of a choice. This was too public a place to just transform willy-nilly. Especially since there were people who knew her around.

As she looked up at the armoured figure, a pang of pain lanced through the side of her head that had been shaved down even before she’d been found. For a split second, she was no longer standing in the middle of the mall’s food court. Instead, she lay in a liquid, trapped in a glass box with various sensors taped to her body. Even as a gas was pumped into the box, she pounded on the side, glaring at the armoured figure.

Then, just like that, she was back in the mall. Gritting her teeth, she pointed directly up at him. “Edgelord-kun, I wish I could say it’s nice to see you again!” she barked in a more adult-sounding voice, letting the words bubble up from within her. He, whoever he really was, took a step back. “It’d still be a lie. I see you’re still abusing science to torture people.” She slotted the Raven and Scythe Fullbottles into the Build Driver.

«Raven!»

«Scythe!»

«Best Match!»

«Are you ready?»

“Science, even mad science, should only ever be used for the betterment of society!” She bellowed, lowering her hand to the crank and turned it several times. “All you’ve done by using Satonaka’s research to create Smash is make people suffer!” Armour appeared in the now-familiar armature around her. “If you want to play mad scientist, I’ll show you how it’s done!” She ducked into a sprinter’s crouch, one hand behind her while the other fist met the floor, and then rose to catch the armour as she shouted, “HENSHIN!”

«The Grim Harbinger! Yabei!»

The armour crashed into place around her. As the steam and feathers dissipated, Karasu held out her left arm and concentrated on conjuring up the rider weapon stored within her Driver. In moments, the long shaft was clutched in her hand. With a smirk behind her visor, she gave the segmented blade a flourish before draping it across her shoulders.

«Tempo Reaper!»

“You’re supposed to be dead, you turncoat bitch!” the Edgelord screamed. From his waist, he withdrew a familiar pistol-shaped device, alongside some sort of bayonet attachment that served to lengthen the barrel. “I knew I should have shot you myself after you didn’t turn into a Smash after five months of nonstop experimentation!” As he slotted the bayonet onto the pistol device, there came an announcement in a male voice.

«Rifle Mode!»

The elephant-armoured enemy immediately took aim, not at her, but into the crowd. “This time, I won’t make the same mistake!” he exclaimed with manic laughter. “I’ll just have to take all that off your corpse!”

«Devil Steam!»

It took Karasu a moment too late to realise that the steam bullets being fired weren’t aimed directly at her. Even as she jumped into the air, twirling the Tempo Reaper in order to intercept the shots, the first two fired struck two random civilians. All at once, they were shrouded in the gaseous substance. “Bah, ruin my fun,” he snarled as the rest of the shots dispersed harmlessly against her blade. Just like with the unicorn-themed individual, he was wreathed in smoke before disappearing. “Don’t think I’ll go easy on you next time.”

As the mist around the two struck civilians dissipated, there were two Smash dazedly looking around. Both were of the Strong Smash body-type, although differing greatly in appearance from the original. One looked like it bore a dark, rocky exterior, rather than any sort of metal plating. The other seemed to suck up all light that touched it, with only the slightest motes of light shining like stars.

Just like that, it was pandemonium. People were screaming, running every which way, and the Kamen Rider was convinced that she was about to witness several individuals getting killed by the Smash before she could act. Off to the entrance of the food court, she could see Shining Armour staring in horror, even as his sister stood behind him, caught up in a moment of fascinated terror. His hand hovered over a holster at his hip.

Before the rocky and dark Strong Smash could lash out, however, a pair of shimmering amaranthine barriers trapped them both. Over by one of the vending machines, she could see Sunset Shimmer crouched down, one glowing hand extended. Upon her forehead stood the phantom image of a horn, and phantom ears glowing in amaranth atop her head.

Gotta keep attention off Sunset, she thought, glancing back towards the part of the food court leading out into the mall, where Shining Armour still stood. “EVERYBODY!” she shouted in an amplified, distorted voice. “I need you all to evacuate the food court in an orderly fashion.” She pointed over toward the blue-haired man. “There is an off-duty police officer over there. He’s going to help you all evacuate safely. Follow whatever instructions he gives you.”

Unsurprisingly, the cop looked unenthused to be having orders handed to him by a vigilante. He was smart enough to recognise, however, that it was necessary; it probably beat out fighting the two transformed civilians. He held his badge in the air, and began giving orders as people migrated in his direction. Good man.

“Whoever it is that has the smash locked down, can you release just the rocky one once the civilians are clear?” she asked Sunset while trying to respect her friend’s anonymity. As if to answer her, a spectral hand appeared in the air before her and gave her a thumbs up. “Great. Warn me if you can’t hold them.”

Rather than stride forward immediately, in order to engage the Smash, she fetched the red Fullbottle bearing the image of a shrimp-like creature. It was a bottle she’d not yet tested, but she got the feeling it might be useful—especially now. With that in mind, she twisted the cap and swapped it in for the Raven Fullbottle. Scythe was similarly replaced with Magnum.

«Shako!»

«Magnum!»

«Are you ready?»

“Cross change!” A grin crept across her face as the red armour snapped into place where once the raven-black had been. Shako was the Neighponese name for the mantis shrimp. They were creatures known for their powerful, fast strikes and hunting prey far larger than them. Off the glass of a nearby information booth, she caught sight of herself and nodded. It was as she thought; she now bore the antennae the first Strong Smash had.

[Insert Start: Burning My Soul]

The last of the civilians save for Sunset, who’d pulled her jacket over her head to hide her features, finally evacuated the food court. Shining Armour still stood at the route into the other parts of the mall. He no longer had his badge held up, and instead had a smart-phone clutched to his ear. “You have until Canterlogic’s Guardians and SWAT show up to do what you need to do, Karasu,” he called out. “Try to keep the property damage to a minimum!” He remained behind, his weapon drawn as he watched the spectacle.

Without any need for instruction, Sunset released the barrier around the first Strong Smash. At the same time, the hemisphere barrier around the other slowly rose out of the ground, transitioning into a sphere floating high above. Lumbering forward, the stony Smash raised its arms as if ready to strike.

Karasu never gave it the chance. With a burst of speed, she darted forward, Tempo Reaper trailing behind her. Much like the first smash she ever fought, she weaved under a heavy blow that would likely have decapitated any normal human and darted past. The scythe blade caught the Smash’s ankles and tripped it up in a shower of sparks, sending it toppling into a nearby table.

Dropping the weapon, she rushed in and started hammering it with punches. Her blows came with startling frequency, as if her entire body was moving as fast as it possibly could. Repeated cracks of the arm-cannon discharged vivid carmine blasts into the toppled Smash’s face. Bits of stone broke off with every punch.

When the Strong Smash had enough sense about it to try and knock her away with a backhand, she retreated away. This gave it enough room to stand back up. In the time it took it to rise back to its feet, however, Karasu had cranked the handle on the Build Driver several times.

«Vortex Attack!»

Drawing back her magnum arm, she felt a large amount of energy building in the cannon. Thrusting the arm forward let out a loud bang as a red sphere the size of the Smash formed in front of her. A lightning-fast follow-up jab from her other arm slammed the energy sphere forward. Engulfed in the energy, the Smash could do nothing but collapse to the ground.

EMTs showed up at the spot where Shining Armour stood just as Karasu drained away the Smash essence. The woman that emerged was in just as bad a state as the others had been, but she looked like she’d live if she got immediate attention. Without prompting, a red barrier formed underneath the victim and ferried her over to the gurney being pushed by the paramedics.

‘This one’s different. I feel magic in it. Be careful.’ The words rapidly formed and disappeared in front of the Kamen Rider. A fair warning, since she had almost no experience with the subject matter. It meant that she couldn’t expect it to behave like the other two Strong Smash she’d faced.

The moment Sunset released the Smash, it dropped to the ground with a thud. To be honest, she was somewhat surprised by how passive it’d been up until being released. If not for the fact that there was a human being trapped inside, the scientist in her would have been interested to study its behaviour. Alas, it was neither the time or the place.

Without warning, the Smash melted into the floor, becoming an indistinct black shape. It reminded her almost of a shadow. Rather than going for Sunset or the Kamen Rider, however, it was heading straight for the police officer and paramedics. It’s like it can sense easier prey...

Thinking quickly, Karasu grabbed the shaft of the Tempo Reaper and threw it like a throwing axe. The weapon spun through the air before finally lodging into the ground blade first, pinning the shadow to the floor a few metres away from the police officer. “Hey!” she shouted, darting after it. “Your fight is with me!”

It was making an attempt to rise up out of its shadow form, but the Smash could only partially manifest, lunging uselessly at Shining armour. He seemed to consider actually firing his handgun at it, but thought better of it as Karasu approached. She kicked off from the ground, snagging the shaft of the scythe in her right hand as she leapt past. In that same movement, she drew her left hand back.

Touching down in front of the off-duty officer, she pirouetted to face the monster. The moment it fully manifested, she threw her punch. Red energy slammed into the smash’s midsection, sending it tumbling backwards, but not harming it in the least. Karasu was not finished, however; her punch transitioned into a slap of the button on the Tempo Reaper.

«Smash Hit!»

She darted forward as the blade glowed white. Catching up with the tumbling Smash, she swept the blade up underneath it, kicking it into the air as white flame erupted across its chest. Another two taps were followed by her readying another vertical slash.

«Million Hit!»

An arrow of white energy lanced out from the blade as she made her follow-up attack. It seemed to punch right through the Smash, but it didn’t seem to have any other effect. The Smash, on the other hand, seemed ready to go on the offensive, managing to stabilise its fall, and drawing its arm back. Gritting her teeth, Nebula hit the button three times.

«Mega Hit!»

Before she could line up her attack, however, the vantablack Smash rocketed down towards her with sudden intensity. Its stubby arm snared her by the face and slammed her into the ground. The resulting impact created a deep crater in the food court’s floor and her weapon dismissed itself. Pain became her entire world.

Everything began to spin as a series of blows hammered her further into the earth. Karasu could taste blood in her mouth, and she desperately hoped that she couldn’t vomit into her helmet or else she might drown. At first, she thought it was simply throwing her around, but that made no sense given that she could still feel the earth against her back.

I must have a concussion.

The Smash raised its arms to bring them down on her head. Silently, Nebula prepared herself for whatever came next. The killing blow never came, however. “NO!” Accompanied by an almost inhuman scream, amaranthine flames swept into the crater taking the Smash with it. It was carried out of Karasu’s field of view. “Get her out of there! I can’t hold it forever!”

A man dressed like a paramedic climbed down into the crater, and the moment he looked at her, he paled. “Be a gentleman and help me up?” Karasu offered, thrusting her hand in the air. “Pretty sure the suit cushioned the worst of it, but damned if I’m not gonna be bruised tomorrow.”

Against his better judgement, the paramedic grabbed her hand and hauled her upright. Her vision swam, and it took her a moment to realise that she’d nearly collapsed until the paramedic propped her up. It took a bit for her to hobble up to the edge of the crater, and a helping hand from Shining Armour for her to get out. “She needs medical attention,” the medic warned as the Kamen Rider staggered around the rim of the crater. “Somehow, though, I doubt she’ll let us help her.”

She didn’t pay the two any mind. She was too busy focused on the walking pillar of flame in the vague shape of a teenage girl. Both hands were thrust in the air, and it took the heroine a moment to realise that she was containing the smash in a fiery sphere at the highest point in the mall above the food court. Flames flickered about her form, occasionally taking the shape of demonic or angelic wings, and there was the flickering shape of a single horn coming from her forehead.

“I can’t hold this form anymore!” a voice completely unlike Sunset’s cried out. “Any longer and I’ll become something I’m not. I can’t let myself become that again...” Her hands dropped to her sides, and she rushed over to the rider. The only reason she was sure it was Sunset was because of the Fire Fullbottle that was subsequently thrust into her hand. Leaning in close, the flame-cloaked young woman whispered, “Only magic can hurt it... I’ll be where we came in... and I’ll grab your bag.”

Without warning, Sunset took off into the mall along the evacuation route. A trail of fiery footprints followed behind her, even as the flames around her extinguished. Nebula paid her friend no further mind. Instead, she glanced from the bottle to the still suspended Smash up in the air. I hope this works, Sunset-chan.

She swapped out the Shako Fullbottle for the Raven, and replaced the Magnum with the Fire. There was a momentary spark from her Build Driver, and for a moment she was worried she fried something. Instead, she watched the silver accents turning gold. An additional moment was spent ensuring no other changes occurred before she cranked it.

«Raven!»

«Fire!»

«Magic Match?»

«Are you ready?»

“Cross change!” The Raven part of the armour formed as usual; instead of a secondary armature to slam into place, though, a gout of flame shot out from the side of the driver to wrap the portions not covered by armour. Power surged through her, and the ache of some of her injuries lessened. A stray reflection showed her to be covered in raven-black armour and patches of living flame, a pair of fiery equine ears atop her head, with a similarly constructed horn jutting out of her forehead.

«Of Blackened Wings and Fiery Desire!»

She wanted nothing more than to reach out and grab that Smash out of the sky, and the magic responded. At the top of her vision, she saw the flaming horn brighten, and suddenly, a fiery hand the size of a Smash rushed forward from the space in front of her, snatching the deadly Smash out of its magical prison. It seemed to respond to her every thought, as though it were an extension of her soul, and moving it closer felt like the most natural thing in the world.

Oh, she could feel the Smash struggle against her magical grasp. It just didn’t have anything near the amount of willpower to break her hold. In fact, it had almost no willpower or mind to speak of. Strange... how do I know what it needs to break my hold? How is it that I can touch its mind?

She shook her head to put aside the thought. No, this would definitely be the time to finish them off. She turned the crank on the Driver several times and then thrust her hand in the air. “Let’s finish this.”

«Magitech Finish!»

Dozens of spears of flame and steely feathers manifested in the air around the Smash. One by one, the projectiles lanced through the air to skewer her target. It began to look less like a walking void and more like a fiery, quilled pincushion. Once the last feather and fire-lance struck, there was an explosion, and the Smash dropped to the ground.

[Insert End]

Kamen Rider Karasu reached for one of the remaining empty Fullbottles at her hip, only to find one manifesting in her hand. She knelt down beside the fallen smash and twisted the cap, even as Shining Armour and the paramedics rushed over.

As the dark essence was sucked up into the Fullbottle, revealing an old man who looked to be on death’s door even before his transformation, there came laughter from above them. Immediately, she knelt down and propped the elderly man up with her Raven half. “Hazard Level 1,” came the distorted voice of the one she’d called Edgelord. There was no other sign of the armoured figure, however. “Subjects in sub-optimal health cannot survive being transformed into a Smash and back.” The man on the ground was glowing a bright yellow light. “The only thing keeping him alive was the transformation, so congratulations, turncoat. You’re a murderess.”

Panic filled her core as the unconscious man began to break up into motes of light. “No, no, no-no-no,” she whimpered. When the paramedics knelt down beside her, she reached out and grabbed one with her flaming hand. The man flinched, but when he found he wasn’t getting burned, he looked at the heroine with wary eyes. “Please, tell me you can do something,” she pleaded. “I... I didn’t know. I never meant to...”

The man’s partner shook her head. “I’m sorry,” the woman said in a soft voice, putting her hand gingerly on Karasu’s shoulder. “I don’t think there’s anything any of us can do.”

Unable to restrain herself, she began to sob and clutched the elderly man against her chest. Over and over again, she chanted, “I’m sorry!” to the man. The other paramedic and Shining Armour tentatively put a hand on the Kamen Rider’s back in support as she grieved her failure. When the last motes of light vanished, and the man was gone, she let out a distorted cry of anguish and slammed her fist into the tile floor, shattering every tile in a several metre radius.

Turning her face to the sky, she cried out, 「When I find you, Edgelord, I’m going to kill you, and then kill you again!」The others recoiled at her sudden shout, especially as she forced herself to her feet. 「I may have been the tool that killed this man, but make no mistake; you were the executioner!」

She staggered away, the energy rush from the Fire Fullbottle fading. The dizziness returned with a vengeance, and she wanted to get out of there. No, I need to get out of here! In her mind’s eye, she pictured the spot she needed to be in her mind, but for the life of her, she couldn’t picture how to get there. If only the magic could—

A pillar of flame enshrouded her body, and when she next blinked, she found herself in the parking garage attached to the mall, right in front of Sunset’s motorbike. It was dark, and in the corner she could see a smashed security camera. More importantly, though, she saw Sunset on the ground against the wall, her face buried in her forearms and knees.

Disengaging the transformation, she staggered over to where Sunset sat, and slowly slid down the wall beside her. “Sunset-chan,” she murmured in a shaky voice. “I... I do not know what happened with your transformation, but between what happened to you, that bastard making me into a killer, and the concussion I have, I do not think either of us should be alone tonight.”

Her friend sat up and looked at her in horror. When the silence made it clear that she was not joking, Sunset put her arm across Nebula’s shoulder and hugged her close. It was only then that they both broke down.

Shining Armour drummed his fingers on the steering wheel to a beat heard only in his heart. He’d have loved to have just turned on the radio to fill the silence as he drove himself and Twily back to their parents’ home. Unfortunately, ever since they’d gotten into the car, his younger sister had that look on her face that told him that she needed absolute silence while she puzzled something out.

He couldn’t exactly blame her. The evening had given them both an awful lot to think about. There had been a lot of useful information gained from observing the interaction between the Kamen Rider and the one that created the two Smash. None of it exactly alleviated his oncoming headache, but it was something.

Firstly, he’d determined that there was indeed someone creating the Smash. The vigilante had referred to the man as Edgelord, although it was likely a nickname created as an insult. Worse, this man could apparently appear or disappear at will and create a Smash at any time. That made the situation leagues more complex, because there would be no establishing a pattern in appearances.

Next, Karasu had a link to this group responsible for the monsters. Given that she’d been straight up accused of having stolen the technology she now used to fight those monsters, alongside someone who’d been referred to as ‘that unicorn bitch’, he suspected that the Kamen Rider was a conscientious objector. It was likely that she’d destroyed all data related to her gear; it’d certainly explain why they were so desperate to get it back.

Most importantly, however, he’d been given a sobering update on the situation with the Smash. Shining had done some checking up on the previous victim, the one that Karasu had personally placed in his hands, and she was suffering from acute amnesia, and couldn’t remember anything after the day preceding her disappearance. Similarly, the hospital had received an escaped convict into their care in a similar state the week before that. Now, not only did they have to worry about trying to pump victims for useful information, but now there was a straight-up risk of killing a victim if the Smash was created from an infirm person.

Is that going to put a hamper on our little heroine’s efforts to save people? He glanced sideways at his sister, who seemed just as deep in thought. Or is this going to push her to try harder?

Though Shining Armour was lucky to have never needed to kill in the line of duty, he’d seen a number of people that he went to the academy with who weren’t so lucky. More than a few of them didn’t take it well at all. It was one thing to witness death, but to cause it was an entirely different thing. It destroyed some people, and just two months ago he’d attended the funeral of a peer who couldn’t handle the guilt.

“Twily, about what happened at the mall,” he began, taking care not to take the accusatory tone with her. Shining knew damn well that Twilight Sparkle was too curious for her own damn good and had likely witnessed the entire fight and recorded it with her phone, even after he’d advised her to evacuate. “If you ever need to talk about what you—”

Twilight shook her head, maybe too quickly. “I know, Shiny,” she responded in a tone just barely audible over the engine. “I’m fine, though... Really. It’s just a lot to take in.” Much to his surprise, she managed a soft laugh. “Do you want to know what gets me, though? Even though I should have all that occupying my mind, all I can think is how I swear I’ve seen that Nebula girl somewhere at Crystal Prep before.”

He raised his eyebrow and motioned for her to continue as he changed lanes and readied to turn onto a residential street. “I know it wasn’t in person, or anything,” she continued, fretting with the bottom of her uniform skirt. “But I could swear I’ve seen her face in a picture somewhere at the school.” When she turned to look at her brother, he could see a genuine interest in helping in her eyes—even if it was more out of a desire to solve a mystery. “You said that girl doesn’t remember anything until about a month ago, so maybe Crystal Prep would be a good place to find some clues. Principal Cinch is incredibly old-fashioned and has a hardcopy of almost everything.”

Author's Note

A few points to touch on. Firstly, Sunset's manifestation here was not an actual transformation. It is touched on more in Chapter 3.5, but the short of it is that she experienced a magic surge that almost pushed her to the threshold of something more.

She's not quite ready to transform into a Kamen Rider yet. Still, now she can at least contribute a bit in a fight. Plus, as a unicorn, being able to use her magic (and simulate a Pony-up) will likely do wonders for her psyche.

We also get our first post-prologue appearance of ~~'Blood Hunter'~~ Edgelord-kun. He's no less sadistic than when we saw him last, but we can see that he isn't entirely bright... or mature. Before, there was a chance to play the police and Karasu against one another, but now, he's revealed some cards I'm sure that Mommy dearest would rather not be played yet.

He also made a huge mistake by putting poor Nebby into the position where she had to kill. Once she's had time to decompress and recover from tonight, you just know she's gonna be out for blood.

We also get our first taste of a new subclass of Smash: Magic-Infused Smash. For reasons unknown, some Smash are created bearing a degree of Equestrian magic. Not only are they incredibly durable versus normal weapons and dangerous, but they possess unusual powers that the basis form would not possess. The Burn Smash did not possess enough magic to classify as Magic-Infused, but just enough that its essence purified into the Fire Fullbottle. Meanwhile, our friend the Dark Strong Smash possessed the ability to become a solid shadow on the floor and attack from that form, though it could not fully reconstitute itself when obstructed (IE pinned to the ground).

Regarding the new Magic Fullbottles. Surprise! Magitech! Although not initially accounted for in the Build Driver Rev. A, the Magic Fullbottles can serve as wildcard matches to any other Fullbottle—Raven/Fire, or Fire/Magnum, for example. Unfortunately, however, use of them by inexperienced users, such as Nebula, will leave the user magically and emotionally exhausted.

Though Hazard levels are touched upon in 3.5, I will introduce this point early: Secondary Hazard levels, which are of course tied to Magic. Although Nebula was capable of transforming for a short time, her (Magic) Hazard Level is techinically below the threshold of being able to transform with he Build Driver. An attempt with two magic bottles at the present time would be right out, for either of them.

Can you guess the secondary implications of Nebby developing a (Magic) Hazard Level?

Finally, we leave off with an interesting exchange between brother and sister and a twist ending! What could Nebula's ties to Crystal Prep possibly be? In that hoard of paperwork and hyper-competitive students, could there really be a clue as to our girl's real identity?