All the light things that had happened earlier in the Kamen Riders careers was going to come to a screeching halt. Daybreaker had started training Cadence and Shining Armor into being Kamen Riders.

Cadence became Kamen Rider Crystal Blade. Her costume was a dull crystal blue with the same black leather jacket that was underneath the armor. Resting by her right side was a bow and on her left side was a quiver of arrows. The helmet was a deep crystal blue with a gold band around the face plate. Around the top of the front hoofboots was a thin, faded pink band while around top of the rear hoofboots was a faded glass brown band.

Her movements were clumsy at first, as Cadence hadn't been in any form of armor before and her use of weapons was even more clumsy. She kept tripping and falling over while trying to aim, only to have the arrow go through a window or get stuck in a pillow cushion or stuck in a block of cheese.

“Cadence, take a breath and focus your center of balance,” Daybreaker said. “Being a Kamen Rider isn't as easy as I make it out to be. I did the same things as you before I got to be skilled.”

Kamen Rider Crystal Blade nodded, then stopped and after finding her stance, she was able to maneuver with more of a balance and grace then before. Her aim was still a little scattered and she kept treating the bow as a spear.

“You want the bow a leg's length away from you, as it's easier to control,” Daybreaker said.

Kamen Rider Crystal Blade nodded again and put the advice into use. She found an almost instantaneous return, able to not only control the bow, but to listen in on the situation happening to her left while she focused on the target in front of her.

On her left, Shining Armor was being trained. His Kamen Rider suit was the same as his Royal Guard's armor, without the gold trim, and in it's place, a faded bronze. The face plate was trimmed with a dull silverish red color. He carried a sword and a small dagger.

His movements were much more catlike and silent, which was no surprise seeing as he's a Captain of the Royal Guard. The armor didn't even slow him down and his aim was more precise, having trained with swords his entire life.

“Impressive,” Coco Crusoe said. “Very.”

“He's been a guard his whole life,” Silver Scrip pointed out.

“Oh,” Coco said, feeling a bit stupid.

Kamen Rider Crystal Shields chuckled.

“Not every pony knows that fact,” he told Coco Crusoe and Silver Script.

“I see,” came the reply.

Kamen Rider Crystal Shields nodded and continued his training. Daybreaker, glancing over, saw something that gave her pause. Kamen Rider Crystal Shields was altering each move as the training dummies came up. He made each move count as he changed direction for the location of each dummy.

“Such skill,” muttered Cold Front.

“No need to be bitter,” Winterlight Star said.

“And why not?” Cold Front demanded. “Look at his skills!”

“Remember, he was in the guard,” Winterlight pointed out.

Cold Front grunted.

“We're a team,” Daybreaker said. “While he is strong, he still has weaknesses that you can cover.”

Cold Front raised a brow.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“Each Kamen Rider has strengths and weaknesses. We all have to play to each others strengths and cover each others weaknesses. Kamen Rider Crystal Shields is not only a combat oriented Kamen Rider, but a defense based Rider. However, he does have a weakness, his left and right flanks, which are exposed to direct attacks. When defending, he's a sitting duck.”

“So we cover his exposed sides with our skills?” Cold Front asked.

“Yes. We are a literal Team Fortress,” Daybreaker said, smiling.

“Should we start cross training?” asked Comet Tail.

“That isn't a bad idea,” Kamen Rider Crystal Shield said. “Learn each others strengths and weaknesses to combat more effectively.”

The others agreed. Daybreaker showed them down to the training room and after they had morphed, they set up for a simulated battle. The monster that was selected was a tree monster brought to life from a dead tree.

“Ready?” Kamen Rider Crystal Blade asked.

A resounding “YES” filled the air. Kamen Rider Crystal Shield placed up a shield in time to deflect a thorn whip from the whip and that gave Kamen Rider Ixa time to ready his weapon and fire two rounds, which the monster deflected.

“You have got to be kidding!” he groaned, readying another round.

“They'll deflect as many attacks as they can,” Kamen Rider Recluse Archer. “Monsters aren't as stupid as the common pony makes them out to be.”

“Great,” came a reply.

Kamen Rider Knight and Kamen Rider Ghost readied their weapons and fired off several blasts, which managed to not only stun it, but weaken it enough to allow Kamen Rider Crystal Blade to fire the finishing blow. As they finished off that monster, another appeared. This monster was an old stuffed bunny brought to life.

“If this is a simulation, I look forward to stomping whatever Chrysalis brings our way,” Kamen Rider Dark Slasher said, drawing her sword and slashing hard at the monster.

The monster responded by knocking her backward. Kamen Rider Recluse Archer fired an arrow behind the flying Rider. The arrow burst into a spider web, which caught Kamen Rider Dark Slasher and rolled her gently to the ground.

“Thanks,” Kamen Rider Dark Slasher replied, jumping back into the battle.

This time, the finishing blow was dealt by Kamen Rider Kaixa. As that monster went down, a load of grunt monsters came up and started attacking.

“Divide and Conquer!” Kamen Rider Killer yelled.

The team divided and each of the eighteen Rider took down 5 grunt monsters each before they turned to help their ally to the left. As they finished, the team demorphed and the simulation shut down.

“That....was....exhilarating,” panted Strawberry Cream.

“It...was,” Shining Armor said, struggling for breath.

“This is what we may face,” Daybreaker told them. “This isn't your Power Ponies or whatever the fancy newfangled superhero thing is this week.”

“Agreed,” Sunny Smiles said.

“Right, now take a break, grab something cold to drink and come back,” Daybreaker told them. “We maybe needed at any moment.”

They hurried off and each downed several glasses of ice water, sufficiently cooling them and giving them a renewed energy. As they came back into the main room, two guards came in to make a report saying that nothing new had been going on.

“Thank you,” Daybreaker said, sending them on their way.

The group relaxed for a few milliseconds before another guard came in.

“A report,” he said. “A Moth looking creature has appeared.”

“And what is it doing?” Daybreaker asked.

“It's looking for specific ponies,” The guard said. “Something about creating a “Shadow Rider” team....”

“Enough,” Daybreaker said. “Go and bet inspected for any signs of injury.”

The guard hurried away, a slight limp in his gait.

“What's a “Shadow Rider”?” Cadence asked.

“Evil versions of us,” Daybreaker said.

“Weaker?” asked a hopeful Golden Glory.

“Stronger,” Daybreaker replied, crushing Golden Glory's hope.

“I see,” Shining Armor said.

“However, something about the guard's tone and actions doesn't add up,” Cold Front pointed out. “Notice, he didn't limp hurrying in, he wasn't short of breath or in any way excited, let alone showing signs of being attacked.”

“He could have gotten out without being targeted and kept his composure and have the limp affect him after the report,” Silverlight Star pointed out.

“Then why was he smiling?” Cold Front countered.

“That's a good point,” Cadence said.

They tried to make sense of what was going on with the guard.

“You don't think he's working for the enemy,” Bright Bulb suggested.

“He could be,” Parasol said.

“If I trust him, he wouldn't betray the trust,” Daybreaker pointed out.

“Maybe he knows more than he's letting on,” Silver Script suggested.

“True,” Sunny Smiles agreed.

Another guard hurried in.

“I have another report,” the guard panted.

“Please tell,” Daybreaker said.

“We've gotten in reports of another monster attacking Maretropolis,” the guard reported.

“Do you know what the monster is?” Daybreaker asked.

“No,” the guard replied. “There's no further information, as those who have seen it have disappeared.”

“That is troubling,” Daybreaker said.

As he left, a large cloud plume showed itself from Van Hoover. Daybreaker and her team rolled out.

“Leave us hope that we don't run into any more mysteries,” Kamen Rider Ghost said.

The others agreed and continued on. Soon, they arrived, just in time to witness the monster being destroyed. They looked over to see two groups of Kamen Riders standing there, looking over the town before disappearing.

“STOP!” Kamen Rider Recluse Archer shouted.

They didn't. Kamen Rider Tiger tackled one of the retreating Riders and pinned the Rider down.

“Who are you?” Kamen Rider Tiger growled.

“That's confidential information,” the pinned Kamen Rider said, knocking Kamen Rider Tiger away.

Jumping up, the two engaged in battle. The unknown Rider threw the first punch. Kamen Rider Tiger dodged and swept the hooves out from under the Rider, which turned that into a spinning kick. Kamen Rider Tiger used that to turn it against the attacker.

“Good show,” the mysterious Rider said, in a taunting manner.

Kamen Rider Tiger merely growled and pounced. The mysterious Rider dodged and jumped into the shadows, disappearing from sight.

“Nuts,” Kamen Rider Tiger hissed.

Returning to the team, he gave a full report to them.

“This is most intriguing,” Kamen Rider Recluse Archer said.

“If only we could catch one of them,” Kamen Rider Ixa said. “Then we could get information out of them.”

“Only after getting around the “Confidential” information that they spout,” Kamen Rider Tiger said.

The others agreed. However that would be more difficult than first thought.