Equestria Girls: Kamen Rider Karasu

October 31st, 2013

It struck her as a rather bizarre sight. In her time pretending to date Flash Sentry, things had never progressed to the point that involved physical intimacy or shared nudity that often showed up in the various media available in this world. She’d been perfectly content in the knowledge that she’d likely never be in the position to see someone in a state of prolonged undress in the comfort of her own home... and yet here she was—or rather, here Nebula was.

After their encounter at the mall yesterday, especially after they’d both cried it out, she’d come to the decision that Nebula's assessment had been correct. Neither of them should have been alone, but it was especially true of the girl that had been slammed head first into the ground so hard that it created a crater. She’d seemed particularly punch-drunk after being helped out of the crater, but when Sunset heard the broken tone in her friend’s voice when she spoke of having taken a life, that had settled it.

Sunset’s apartment was something she financed with bits she brought through when she first came into the world, so she had no issues of parental permission for having friends over. The group home for Nebula seemed kind of hands-off, and didn’t even press the amnesiac when she called to let them know she was crashing at a friend’s place for a few days. Did they even care so long as they got money from the State to care for her?

The result had been the Kamen Rider crashing on her couch, passing out in the middle of changing out of the track suit. Shorts and a sports bra weren’t exactly what she’d call appropriate guest attire; with the nasty bruising around her abdomen where the Smash had repeatedly struck her, Sunset couldn’t exactly blame her friend for not trying to put on another shirt. Especially when she was so out of it after the fact.

She’d spent most of the night watching over her friend. Strangely enough, however, her friend wasn’t exhibiting many of the symptoms of concussion. Between the fever, full-body ache, dehydration, and increased appetite, she’d have said that Nebula was suffering from magical exhaustion. In the days immediately following her purge by the Rainbow of Light, she’d found herself in a similar state.

The idea wouldn’t have even occurred to her if she hadn’t seen the footage someone had posted online that very night. It’d been taken from one floor up, but it’d captured the transformation involving the Raven and Fire Fullbottles. The presence of the fiery horn and ears reminded the former unicorn of the way that Rarity and Princess Twilight both had transformed when imbued with the power of the Element of Magic. She wondered idly if there’d have been an extended ponytail if the Build System had allowed it.

Still, that wasn’t all that the footage revealed. It wasn’t just that Nebula had been imbued with the power of the Fire Fullbottle’s magic; she’d actively wielded magic in its most basic form—the incredibly wasteful, intent-based ‘brute force’ magic most often used instinctively by foals during surges. And she teleported with it, too! No wonder she’s tired.

If she had any remaining symptoms of concussion, they’d been so mild that the magical exhaustion masked them. It’d been enough to convince Sunset that she was safe to let rest overnight on the couch. That was, of course, after leaving a bottle of water and the acetaminophen atop the coffee table within easy reach.

For her part, the former unicorn did not sleep at all that night. Every time she began to drift off, she found herself back in the mall, reliving the moment her magic surged and she almost lost control. It was enough to jolt her wide awake every single time.

For the first time in years, Sunset Shimmer was beginning to feel like her old self. There was a reason that she had been the personal apprentice to the Princess of the Sun; her magic was at a level seldom seen in unicorns for centuries at a time. Even as a foal, her mentor had been hammering in just the sort of damage she could do without proper control.

Not only was she strong, though; she’d been one of the most learned magi of her era. She possessed archmagus-level certifications in both transmutation and evocation magic at just fourteen, and was able to teach it as well. She’d been in the process of earning one in artifice before the appearance of Mi Amore Cadenza drove her focus entirely into the realm of Ascension.

With the Fire Fullbottle clutched in her hand, she felt as though she could access every ounce of that long-dormant power. It was invigorating, but the more sense she got of her own power, the more she realised just how much she’d taken for granted, and how much more aware of the control she had to keep. The strength of her magic coupled with knowledge gained during her time in the human world created the potential for great destruction; strictly speaking, she could likely level three city blocks in a single casting.

Much to her surprise, though, her magic seemed to be causing the black Smash harm. It was sparking occasionally from the prolonged contact with the barrier spell she was using to contain the creature. More than that, though, she could feel magic within it, trying to fight against her grip.

The moment Karasu drained the essence from the Smash she was fighting, Sunset used a modified barrier spell to escort the poor woman that’d been forcibly transformed over to the police. She even took the time to cast a quick sending to warn the Kamen Rider to keep on her hooves toes. The moment she let down the containment spell, she paused to get her bearings and see how her friend handled the creature.

At first, the Rider seemed to be handling the monster with the same level of ease she’d conquered the first one with, but she quickly noticed something important. In every video that Sunset saw of the fights involving Smash, the body would give off sparks when hit with a damaging blow. Although Karasu was hitting it hard and fast, knocking it around like it didn’t weigh enough to crack the floor tiles when it moved, it seemed to be taking the blows like mosquito bites—annoying but mostly harmless.

With a sudden flare of magical power, the midnight-black monster hurled itself down toward the ground, driving her friend head first into the ground. She waited with bated breath to see her friend knock the creature off of her, but that moment never came. Instead the Smash lived up to the moniker, beginning to rain heavy blows down upon her new friend... and she wasn’t fighting back.

Fear of loss and rage at the creature daring to harm something that belonged to her flared in her chest, and the Fire Fullbottle pulsed violently in response. The sudden, violent emotion loosened her control over her magical power enough that she could feel a surge coming on. Once a surge starts, My Little Sun, Princess Celestia’s words echoed in her head, there are but two options: suppress the magic at the source, or direct it so that the magic acts with purpose.

Magical flames began to leap from her body as she rose to her feet. The power was too much for her to contain or suppress at this point, so she let it form a protective flame-cloak around her body as she formulated the spell needed to save her friend. A moment later, she channelled all of that rage and fear into a wall of flame that surged forward from her hands.

The mass of flames swept into the crater throwing sparks high into the air. When she then redirected the flames upward, the Smash was carried with it. The moment she had it high in the air, she reshaped the spell to create a prison of solid flames around the monster. All the while, her magic sparked and surged around her.

Faintly, at the border of her consciousness, she could feel the familiar sensation of wings beginning to take form. It began as a tingle in her back, but a glance over her shoulder showed them trying to manifest in the flames. One moment, she was there containing a Smash, and the next she saw herself in the air in front of Canterlot High, throwing a massive ball of flame at the pony princess who ruine—

She tamped down on the thought and directed as much energy as she could manage into the barrier. “Get her out of there!” Sunset cried out in that same voice she possessed as a demon. “I can’t hold this forever!”

Sometimes, however, she would transition into that half-asleep state and it was different. In those moments, it always turned into a nightmare where she regained that demonic form, and instead of merely saving Karasu, she turned on her, and then the police officer and paramedics that’d been there to help her friend.

As a result, she was ready to call in sick by the time the sun rose. Of course, she understood why she had that surge and those waking nightmares. It was the same reason she knew she wasn’t ready to face the princess; there hadn’t been enough time for her to really begin getting over what happened, never mind making it up to everyone for what she’d done. The mere thought of power or great responsibility terrified her.

What caught Sunset off guard the most was after she’d showered and gotten a cup of coffee. She’d come out into the living room to check on Nebula, only to find her friend wide awake and upright, looking at her phone. In the morning sunlight, the bruises around the girl’s still exposed midsection had turned a greenish colour, almost seeming luminescent atop her jet-coloured skin. But that’s five days worth of healing in a single night...

“Good morning, Sunset-chan,” came Nebula’s tired greeting. It came out more like a groan, but there was a self-assured smirk on her face—the same way Rainbow got when she tried to challenge Pinkie to an eating contest that time, and called it ‘Worth it,’ despite the loss and stomach ache. “Did you get any rest?”

The former unicorn shook her head. “I was going to call in sick, and suggest you do the same,” she admitted. “There’s kind of a lot about yesterday to unpack, and school isn’t the place to do so.”

Nebula nodded and pushed herself to one side of the couch so that Sunset could take a seat as well. “No kidding,” came Nebula’s agreement. “I... don’t remember much, but seeing him stirred some things loose, and I feel... I dunno, more like myself. More comfortable?”

Silently, she wondered if her friend realised that her manner of speaking had changed. Just yesterday before that whole mess started, she’d been noting how stiff and overly formal and clinical it made her sound. Now she almost sounded like any of the other girls.

“Speaking of,” she tapped something on her phone and then passed it over to Sunset, making sure to point out a sensor on the back. On the screen, there looked to be three graphs labelled Type-I, Type-II, and Type-M. “Can you press this against my forearm and tell me what you see?”

The moment the sensor touched Nebula’s skin, the Type-II and Type-M graphs began to fluctuate wildly for a second. It eventually settled into two similar waveforms, the later of which she recognised to be magic. “You register on the Type-II and Type-M charts.” The longer she held it there, numbers began to appear. “One reads 3.2154, whilst the latter reads 2.3565. What are these numbers?”

Nebula gently took back the phone, pressed a button and looked at it. “Huh, Type-II is up zero point zero one from when I measured it last week.” Her brow furrowed as she looked at the second measurement. “I didn’t even measure on the Type-M last week, so I’m rather impressed to go up two whole points... I have magic... and whatever it was the Nebula Gas did to me.” Glancing down at her bruises, her eyebrow shot up. “And apparently it’s helping me heal faster than I should.”

Turning back to Sunset, she fixed her friend with an even look. “I take it there were videos of what happened last night circulating online?” When she nodded, Nebula continued. “I dunno if anyone caught it, but the Edgelord mentioned something. Hazard Levels.”

Sighing, Nebula brought her knees up to her chest and set the phone down to hug her legs. “In its most basic breakdown, a Hazard Level determines how likely a lifeform is to withstand the effects of Nebula Gas.” She held up her pinky finger, and explained. “At Hazard Level 1—which encompasses the sick, weak, elderly, or infirm—an entity effectively dies the moment it transforms them into Smash, and when purged of Nebula Gas, the strain is too much and their body breaks down into energy.”

The girl then put her pinkie down and extended her ring finger. “At Hazard Level 2—which is most average people—exposure to Nebula Gas immediately transforms a person into a Smash, and can be transformed back without too much risk.” She stared at her friend with a worried look in her eyes.“The strain puts them in a feverish state, and they typically cannot recall anything immediately leading up to it.”

Sunset thought she was starting to get the picture, although not entirely. The device read zero on the value labelled Type-I, and yet that wasn’t at all touched upon. Does that mean that exposure to that type would kill her? Or is it an immunity?

“Hazard Level 2.1 and higher is where things get interesting, at least from a detached point of view,” Nebula explained. “It’s at this level that people exposed resist transforming into a Smash and suffer no physiological effects of Nebula Gas.”

Finally, she put the pinky finger back up. “At Hazard Level 3, a person can utilise the Build Driver Rev. A or Transteam System and transform.” She glanced at the bag leaned up against the coffee table holding all her stuff. “What I find interesting is that I have a Hazard Level above 2.1 where magic is concerned when I was at zero last week.”

Sunset considered that as she took the phone and took a reading of herself. If magic at all behaved like the mutagenic gas derived from it, would it have transformed her friend into another Smash like the weird one yesterday? Or would it have been closer to that of a demon like Sunset had become when exposed? For that matter, had using the Fire Fullbottle really been enough to grant Nebula magic, and would she transform like Rainbow Dash if she got really into something?

The only chart that showed an energy waveform was Type-M, but as she held it against her arm, she saw two Hazard Levels. Under Type-I, it read 2.1001, while Type-M measured out at 2.9062. I wonder how it measures up in comparison to a Standard Equestrian Thaum. What she wouldn’t give for access to a thaumometer, right then.

She passed the phone back to her friend so that she could look. “So what you’re saying is that if my magic was zero point one higher in this ‘Hazard Level’, I could theoretically use your Driver to transform?”

Nebula stood and walked around the coffee table, where she began to pace. “Hard to say. With two magic bottles?” She tapped the side of her chin a few times. “Maybe. It seemed like you were having problems regulating power with just one and it’s possible two would be too much to start out with. I certainly started getting overwhelmed.”

She turned to her friend, chewing on her lip as she considered something. “I honestly don’t know what would happen if you tried with either of the other Fullbottles, and I’m not keen to run a risky test on you like that.”

The two followed through with their plan to skive off class for the day. Instead of staying at Sunset’s place, however, the two ended up going for a walk in Sunset’s neighbourhood. It was a chill October morning, and long past the time most people went to school or work, so it was pretty empty save for the occasional passing car. The relative peace made it pretty easy to converse as they went.

“So, there was something I wanted to mention earlier, before we got distracted,” Sunset started. “I think I mentioned before that ponies in Equestria tend to have counterparts in this world.” Taking advantage of the absence of people on the sidewalk to walk backwards as she spoke to her friend.

Nebula thought she understood where this was going. Her friend had been watching her interaction with Shining Armour’s younger sister with a degree of what seemed to be fear. “Is this about Twilight-san?”

Sunset nodded, managing to look quite guilty as she looked away. “Twilight Sparkle, at least in my world, is the pony that replaced me as Princess Celestia’s personal student.” She crossed her arms and sighed. “Twilight’s also the princess whose crown I stole—the princess who defeated me.”

Of all the things the amnesiac thought she might hear, this wasn’t anywhere close. She’d expected bad history of course, such as someone she used to bully, but that? No wonder the former unicorn had been spooked. It had to bring up so many different emotions, and not being prepared for that, it would certainly risk emotional overload. “Ah,” was all she could say. “I haven’t actually accepted Shining Armour-san’s invitation yet; should I turn them down or say something’s come up?”

When her friend stopped and grabbed her by her shoulders, Nebula nearly tripped. “No! Nothing like that.” Sunset looked uncomfortable, but resigned. “Just... Princess Twilight blundered into this world and still managed to systematically destroy everything I built for myself here in just two days. What could the human Twilight do if she stumbled across the existence of magic?” The image of the detonation of a hydrogen bomb detonating played out before Nebula’s eyes. “Just... be careful around her.”

“Alright,” she responded. The two returned to silence for the remainder of the trip.

Maybe a few blocks down from the duplex unit Sunset rented, there was what looked to be an abandoned indoor hockey rink. The building itself seemed in good shape, although the land around it was fenced in and in disrepair. Nebula followed close behind her friend as the redhead led her around the back, where there was a gap in the fence. From there, Sunset picked her way along a worn path until they reached a fire exit alongside a garage style door.

Opening the door without any sort of resistance, the young woman reached just inside and grabbed a lantern. At first glance, it was an antique oil lantern, but instead of opening it and igniting a wick, she pressed a button, and the lamp began to brightly glow. Once Nebula blinked away the spots of the LED array, she looked around.

Every inch of the polycarbonate rink barriers was covered in street art, even the barrier that would normally open to admit a zamboni. At the centre of the rink sat a tarp-covered sofa, some patio furniture, and a few easels atop tarps. Though Nebula thought each piece was from a different artist, it slowly occurred to her that it was actually a progression of a singular style.

“Welcome to my home away from home,” she explained, moving over to where an easel sat, a sheet over whatever painting had been left there. “It’s where I come to unwind, or practise my art—” Removing the sheet, the former unicorn’s face flushed. “—and apparently stroke my ego when I was a megalomaniac.”

On the canvas was a vaguely equine creature in Sunset’s colour palette. Nebula assumed it to be a self portrait, not of what she’d been, but what she’d desired to become. The painting depicted a winged unicorn—an alicorn, the scientist’s memory so helpfully supplied—posing regally with her wings spread, clad in a silver peytral, crown, and some sort of extended hoof covering. There was a haughty expression on the mare’s face that screamed, ‘I’m your better!’

“It’s how I imagined I’d look after achieving Ascension,” Sunset explained upon noticing her curious expression. “It’s pretty accurate to how Equestrian ponies look, though.” She let out a disgusted snort before shaking her head in an almost equine fashion. “I didn’t bring you here just to show off my art, though.”

She moved back over to the sofa, pulled the Fire Fullbottle from her jacket pocket and gave it a shake. After a moment, a phantom pair of equine ears appeared atop her head, accompanied by the horn shape. Holding out her hand, a mote of light appeared, rapidly growing before she finally threw it into the air to illuminate the whole arena with amaranth light. “This is probably the best place we can work on any of this Rider stuff.” She grinned and then threw the bottle over to Nebula. The pseudo-transformation gave out a moment later. “Nobody but me ever comes here, and you don’t have to worry about trespassing. Believe it or not, I own this lot.”

That got a look of surprise from Nebula. “So why the show of coming through the fence?” she asked. Against her better judgement, she gave the bottle a few shakes. Electric blue light coalesced atop her head to form ears and a horn. She glanced around for a moment before reaching towards a can of spray paint that lay forgotten near a large depiction of the two-toned sun her friend often wore. “Why not go in the front?”

Sunset shrugged as she watched a flickering blue glow encompass the can. “Nostalgia, maybe?” she remarked, smiling as the human girl intuited her way through telekinesis. The can shakily lifted a foot off the floor, only to tumble when Nebula tried to bring it to her. “I spent my first winter here, before I got my finances all set up with the gold bits I brought with me from Equestria. Despite how bad things seemed, I never failed to feel safe here. Since then, I’ve gone through a lot of effort to make sure people keep away.”

The former unicorn paused, as though she’d only just realised something. “With access to my magic, I could probably create a deterrent field, but I’d have to find something to anchor the spell to.” A thoughtful expression on her face, she turned and looked around the rink. “All said, though, we could have worse places for a hideout.”

After making and failing a few more attempts at levitating the bottle over, Nebula sent the Fire Fullbottle back Sunset’s way. Why was it so much easier when I was in my rider form? Hmm. She pulled her phone out and saw a few messages in the group chat she’d been pulled into with the others, giving her well-wishes.

PieMaster: OMG, sorry ur missing Halloween Day @ school!

PieMaster: I’ll throw make-up party 4 u 2 l8r.

DiamondDarling: My goodness, I hope you’re both doing alright.

DiamondDarling: That business yesterday looked particularly nasty.

2Fast4U: That was so awesome!

Appletini: Jus’ give the word an’ I’ll bring some vittles by after school.

FluffyBunni: Feel better soon.

Thanks girls. Will do. :girlGenius

ShimmerCode: At least we have something productive to do on our off day.

Her eye drifted from the screen to the bottle slot, she felt something stirring inside of her. Resonating with the sense of scientific curiosity, she felt an unfamiliar tingle building in her chest. From her lab coat pocket, she withdrew the Pony Fullbottle, and started walking away from the furniture and easels. Something deep inside her wanted out. Why not let it?

«Build Change!»

She slotted the bottle into the phone, which let out a startling jingle, and when it started trembling in her hands, she threw it into the air. Not a moment too soon, as it turned out; impossibly, the phone began to unfold to a larger size than made sense. In response to her mounting excitement, the nascent magic burst free of its restraints. As the phone slowly grew into the form of an off-road motorcycle, her ears migrated to the top of her head and a jet-grey spike of a horn jutted out from her forehead. Lacking a long enough mane of hair, a shock of platinum hairs pushed out the back of her track pants instead.

「Oh, I love this!」 she squealed, not really cognisant of the fact of something swishing beneath her lab coat as she darted over to the bike. 「An XR 230? How did they ever compact this baby down?」 It was definitely a custom, and the touch-screen of the phone sat between the handlebars. The body was the white and charcoal of the Raven and Scythe Fullbottles, and over top of the headlight, there was a decorative gear. In lieu of the rear fender, was a giant version of the Pony Fullbottle. Running her hands down the length of the chassis, she gave her friend a beaming grin. “Ne, Sunset-chan. Get a look at this.”

The moment Nebula turned to face her, she heard the click a smartphone made upon taking a picture. Seemingly content at having documented her friend’s transformation, Sunset came over, just in time for her friend to press a button on the display, causing a helmet to appear atop the seat. “So you’ve got a bike now. The question becomes, can you drive it?

“Research Log: Project Unity. Audio Log #3. Timestamp: 31 October, 2013, 5:30pm. Location: Sunset’s Rink Hideout.”

“Wait, you’re calling this Project unity? Why?”

“I mean, the Build System is a unification of both technology and magic. Plus, I’m still planning on helping you study this whole Equestrian magic thing, especially now that I’m wrapped up in it. Besides, it made sense at the time.”

[The sound of plastic being sat upon can be heard on the recording.]

“Anyway, where was I? Oh! Right. I’m joined by my friend, Sunset Shimmer-san. There’s a lot of things gathered over the last twenty-four hours. Where do you think we should start?”

“Well, for one we ran into an old enemy of yours. I know you called him Edgelord, but I refuse to believe that’s his name. He let a lot of information slip. He seemed involved in Smash research, and indicated that he had been experimenting on you for months before trying to have you disposed of. He also mentioned ‘that unicorn bitch’ having stolen the Build Driver and the Fullbottles now in your possession.”

[A chuckle can be heard, followed by the sound of someone cracking open two soda cans.]

“Yeah, he’s definitely talking about the person that gave me the stuff and then recorded that first fight. Their armour looked vaguely unicorn inspired.”

[Someone slurps loudly from their beverage.]

“They were the one that took that first Strong Smash victim—an escaped convict—to the hospital. After the fight with the Burn Smash, they got me away from the police. Based on the suit designs and the gear they’re both equipped with, I think it’s safe to say that’s the Transteam System they are using, and they are just as capable of creating Smash as Edgelord-kun. May have even engineered that entire situation and not just taken advantage...”

“Speaking of Smash, I feel like I should point out that there seems to be a subvariety not mentioned in that document you translated for me this afternoon. Some Smash seem to be infused with more Equestrian magic than Nebula Gas, and it makes them far tougher than the previous ones you’ve defeated. That dark infused one was kicking your ass until you used the Fire Fullbottle. Fighting magic with magic may become the rule, although you didn’t seem to have as much issue with the Burn Smash. It’s a shame we only have one magic bottle right now.”

“That Fullbottle... I can only theorise what happened with it, but in my body I now hold both the Type-II energy, as well as Type-M energy, or Equestrian magic. I assume that the bottle acted as an infusion to allow me to wield the fire magic granted by using it with the Build Driver. Regardless, it has had a few interesting effects. Firstly, most of my injuries from yesterday have healed at an accelerated rate.”

“Actually, can we stop to check on that right now? Your bruises looked like they were already days old this morning.”

[On the recording comes the sound of the phone being set down alongside an empty soda can. Soon after, the rustling of cloth can be heard.]

“It’s like I thought. Your bruises are almost completely gone... and you have a tail.”

“Why do I have a tail, Sunset-chan? Rainbow just got longer hair!”

“I don’t know! How could I? Maybe it’s an incompatible hairstyle? Anyway! How could you not notice this yourself sooner? You’ve been transformed for hours! Not even Rainbow transformed that long.”

“Hmm, maybe it’s because I never came down from the rush I get from my passion for research? Lemme try something.”

[Nebula can be heard breathing slow, deep breaths for over a minute on the recording. At the end of her breathing exercise, a slight static tinkle registers.]

“Fascinating. We can mark down passion as a potential cause... Wait. Transformation... that released a lot of Type-M energy when it happened with Rainbow, and the Smash essence bottles reacted... Quick, bring over my bag.”

[The sound of a zipper can be heard, followed by a click and a gasp.]

[Manic laughter can be heard, followed by another static tinkle.]

“I don’t believe it. Why did you transform again?”

“Does it matter? This makes things so much easier! Now we both have a magic bottle on us... But is this... Void or Darkness, I wonder? The other is definitely Meteor, though. What do you think, Sunset-chan. Should I test it with the Shako Fullbottle now, or wait for the Edgelord to make his next move?”

“I... I need to go lie down. Let’s go back to my apartment.”

[Both parties can be heard letting out a yawn.]

“You’re probably right.This is Nebula Moonlight, Project Unity Lead, signing off.”