L.O.V.E vs. H.A.T.E #2
"It's All Greek to Twilight"
In an unknown location, amidst some ruins, the evil god Cronus was mulling over his recent woes.
"How is it that I, the mighty god of time, have failed to vanquish a group of mere mortals?" he asked, "it seems no matter what I throw at them, those accursed teenagers always find a way to survive! There must be something that can stop them."
"Perhaps I can be of assistance," a voice from nearby said.
"What? Who's there?" Cronus asked, willing one of his scythes into his hand "Athena, is that you? How'd you find me?"
Cronus looked on as the source of the voice emerged from the shadows. It was a four legged animal with black skin, a jagged horn, evil green eyes and spindly legs filled with holes; long turquoise hair fell from its head.
"Who, or what, are you?" he asked.
"I'm someone who has a proposition for you," Chrysalis replied "one that will help rid you of your enemies. Are you interested?"
"And just why are you so willing to help me out? What do you gain from it?"
"That can wait; do you want to hear what I have to say, or not?"
Cronus pondered a few seconds, then smiled "perhaps we can do business, if you can deliver what you say."
"Oh I assure you, when I'm finished, those teen shall trouble you no further."
As this nefarious deal was being brokered, a car was making its' way to New Olympia, a small obscure city in Canada. Few people knew the denizens of the car were on a mission, and even fewer still would know precisely who they were.
"Oh, this is so unpleasant!" Rarity whined from the backseat she shared with Pinkie Pie "I cannot believe that you use these horrid things to get around!"
"Sorry but they weren't really thinking about how to accommodate ponies when they built this," Ben explained from the driver's seat.
"I should say not!" Rarity replied angrily "these seats, while quite soft admittedly, are difficult to sit on; and do not get me started on the speed!"
"Aw, I think it's super neato," Pinkie replied.
"Oh, how I envy Twilight & Rainbow," Rarity said dramatically "their wings mean they can soar gracefully through the sky and not have to be trapped in this accursed vehicle."
"If it helps, we'll be reaching our destination soon," Spider-Man told her.
"Oh I suppose I can stick it out," Rarity said "but I simply cannot wait to stretch my legs; all four of them."
Meanwhile, above the commotion, Twilight Sparkle & Rainbow Dash were flying, trying to keep up with their allies below.
"Man, this is some awesome scenery, huh Twi?" Rainbow asked, before noticing the princess seemed distracted "uh Twilight, you okay?"
"Oh, sorry Rainbow," Twilight apologized "my mind was on something else."
"So what else is new?"
Twilight frowned upon hearing that "anyway, I was worried about this Cronus guy. We weren't able to find any information on him; all I know is, that if Chrysalis wants to recruit him, he must be dangerous."
"Relax, we can handle him," Rainbow said confidentially "in case you haven't noticed, we have new allies now, with like, amazing powers!"
"I know," an unsure Twilight replied "and yet, I still have this feeling that even they might not be enough."
"Look, just don't think about that, okay?" Rainbow told her "why don't you try focusing on all this neat scenery?"
"It is rather gorgeous," Twilight said, admiring the city from the air.
"There ya go," Rainbow told her "oh yeah, um, how are we gonna get around the city anyway? A couple of ponies like us should stick out like a sore hoof."
"Not to worry, I have it all taken care of," Twilight replied, smirking confidentially.
A few moments later….
"A little mask?" Rainbow said, holding the grey mask that Twilight had just handed her "uh, how about something that will hide the rest of me besides my face."
"Actually, It's called an "ID Mask"; Mr. Max gave them to me," Twilight explained "when you activate it, it can make you look like whomever you want."
"Oooh, let me try!" Pinkie said happily, and activated the mask, transforming into Twilight "hey it works! Look Twilight, I'm you! 'blah blah blah, books, blah blah blah studying, blah blah blah, Star Swirl the Bearded, blah blah…'" Pinkie said, imitating Twilight badly.
"Ha ha, very funny," Twilight replied, "first off, I don't talk about Star Swirl the Bearded that much, even if he is the greatest pony wizard to have ever lived. Secondly, I was hoping we could use the masks to assume human disguises, allowing us to blend in with the locals."
"I'm not sure darling," Rarity said nervously "trade in my gorgeous pony form for an unattractive human one?"
"Hey, I've transformed into one magically, I know what it's like," Twilight told her "and anyway, the mask only projects the image of a different form, you'll still be yourself underneath. At least, that's how it was explained to me."
"Might be cool I guess," Rainbow said "and if keeps people from looking at us, I guess we can try it."
"Then lets do it," Twilight said, and each pony activated their ID Mask; soon, instead of four ponies, four human girls with odd skin tones stood in their place.
"A mirror, somepony hand me a mirror!" Rarity shouted. Pinkie pulled one from her hair and handed it to her. "Oh my goodness!" Rarity exclaimed "even as a human I look gorgeous!"
"Not bad, although I'm not sure I can get used to these, what are they called again?"
"Fingers," Twilight explained.
"Yeah; I guess they're better than hooves for picking up stuff, but it still feels weird," Rainbow continued.
"Okay, now that we're done with that, can we get started?" Ben asked.
"Agreed, we need to find Chrysalis and stop her from making a deal with this Cronus person," Twilight said "oh, but where should we start looking?"
"Knowing bad guys, as I do, they'll probably launch an attack on the city," Ben said "I say we wait until they do, then wrap em up."
"Then I guess we wait," Twilight said.
"In that case darling, do you think we could head into town for just a bit to do some shopping?" Rarity asked "this new body of mine needs some new clothes."
"Um Rarity, it's not real; it's just an illusion caused by magic… I think," Twilight told her.
"Oh pooh."
After what seemed like several minutes, our heroes were no closer to locating the villains.
"Is anypony besides me bored?" Rainbow asked.
"I'm sorry you're bored Rainbow Dash, but there's nothing we can do," Twilight explained "until Chrysalis or her forces make a move, our hooves are tied."
"I don't say this very often, but I almost hope they do attack something," Ben said "I'm looking for some action."
"You might get your wish," Spidey told him "my spidey sense is tingling, and it seems to be coming from around here."
"There's not much here, except for that park," Randy noted.
"Then that's probably where the trouble is," Spidey told him "let's check it out."
In the New Olympia park, a group consisting of Lord Hater, Dr. Octopus and Tiger Claw had ambushed a group of teens that had been relaxing there. Thankfully for them, these were no ordinary teens.
"Who in the heck are these guys, and what is their problem with us?" Neil asked, as he ducked to avoid a lightning blast from Lord Hater.
"I'm not sure," Jay said, "they don't look like any mythical creatures."
"Maybe Cronus is outsourcing," Herry suggested jokingly.
"Well whoever they are, they obviously singled us out," Jay replied "and that can't be good."
"In case anyone hasn't noticed, there's only three of them and six of us," Archie pointed out "okay, counting Neil."
"Hey, I'm important!" Neil replied indignantly.
"Archie's right; we've got the numbers advantage, I say we use it," Atlanta noted.
"Okay, but be careful of the four-armed guy, he could be trouble," Jay told the others.
Archie & Atlanta then decided to tag team Doc Ock.
"What do they call you, 'Doctor Octopus'?" Atlanta asked jokingly.
"I see my reputation proceeds me."
"Really? I was just joking," Atlanta said "I mean, I guess there's not much else they could call you, what with the four arms and everything."
"Scoff all you want, but you won't be so cocky when I'm finished with you," Ock said, and shot out one of his arms, but the girl surprised him by easily dodging it.
"Is that seriously the best you can do?" Atlanta asked him "cause if it is, this is gonna be over really fast."
Ock grunted in anger and shot off two more of his arms, but she avoided them with her superspeed. Another tentacle shot at her, but she rolled to avoid it and used her wrist-mounted crossbow to fire a few energy bolts at him.
"Aaah!" Ock yelled, sending his metal arms to his goggles; taking advantage of the momentary distraction, Archie released his Hephaestus Whip and wrapped it around one of the other tentacles, easily slicing it in half.
"What? That's impossible!" Ock said, bewildered "no one has ever been able to destroy one of my tentacles like that!"
"Just lucky I guess," Archie said "now, I suggest you surrender unless you want to find yourself with three more missing limbs."
In another part of the park, Jay was using his sword to avoid Tiger Claw's.
"I am impressed, you have proven to be a worthy opponent," the feline mercenary replied "unfortunately for you, I have more than one trick up my sleeves," he added, reaching into his holster to pull out his freeze ray.
"Oh no you don't!" Theresa said, and used her nunchucks to knock the weapon to the ground. Then, she flipped and kicked the villain in the face, knocking him to the ground.
"Nice work," Jay commented.
"Hey, you didn't think I was going to let you have all the fun," Theresa replied.
At that moment, the L.O.V.E members had arrived nearby, and were surprised to find the group of teens had easily handled the H.A.T.E forces.
"Looks like we were too late," Spidey commented "someone took care of the bad guys for us."
"That group of teens most likely," Twilight said "hmm, I wonder how they were able to do so."
"Who cares? One of them is still standing, and I want a crack at him!" Rainbow said, rushing towards the area.
"Rainbow, wait! Come back here!" Twilight yelled.
By the kids, Herry had pounded the ground, knocking down Lord Hater and then grabbed the skull-faced villain by his robe.
"Okay buddy, start talking," he said "where did you come from and what did Cronus want with you?"
"Aww man, is the fun over already?" Rainbow asked, causing all the teens to look at her.
"Who are you?" Jay asked.
"Name's Rainbow Dash," she replied "but I'm more concerned about how you managed to take down these guys. Do you have superpowers or something?"
"I don't see how that's any of your business," Atlanta told her.
Taking advantage of the distraction, Hater zapped Herry with his electricity, then slipped from the strong teen's grasp.
"Hater rules!" he said, as he ran off towards the woods.
"After him!" Jay ordered.
"No worries, I got this," Rainbow said cockily and began running after Hater. However, both his allies had also recovered and Doc Ock used one of his remaining tentacles to knock her against a tree.
Seeing this, the teens raced after the villains, but Tiger Claw produced a handheld device from his belt; "we shall meet again, and next time, things will be different," he said, before throwing it down, emitting a cloud of smoke.
When the smoke cleared, the villains had disappeared.
"Oh man, they got away!" Atlanta said angrily.
"You heard them, they said they'd meet us again," Jay told her "right now, we need to make sure that girl is okay."
"Um, Jay, you might want to see this," Neil said, gesturing nearby.
The teen headed over to where he was gesturing and were surprised. For, in front of the tree where the girl had been sent, a blue furred Pegasus with a rainbow mane and odd symbol on her hip, was rubbing her head with one of her forelegs.
"Ooh man, that guys packs a punch," Rainbow said, unaware she had reverted to her true form, before noticing the teens looking at her "um, what?"
Next time: The kids take their new allies back to Olympus High and the two groups find themselves sharing similarities that allow them to bond.