Zodiac Rangers: Defenders of Equestria

Chapters

Prologue: Part 1
Prologue: Part 2
Chapter 1: Birth of a Team
Chapter 2: Black Knight's Attack

Prologue: Part 1

(Presented by me and Sonic Rainboom Dash)

Zodiac Rangers Prologue

Part 1: The Broken Spell

Equestria. Land of peace and ponies. For over a thousand years, peace has reined in Equestria, thanks in part to the celestial sisters. The Eldest moved the sun and brought for the light and warmth her subjects needed, while the younger brought out the moon and stars when the time of rest was upon the world. For centuries, these to Sisters maintained harmony in Equestria, defending it from those who sought to take their place.

Sadly, peace can only last for so long, as it did when a monster known as Tirek appeared. He stole the magic of the Celestial sisters and forced the ponies of Equestria to kneel before him as their lord. Beaten, but not broken, the younger sister came upon a mare shrouded in darkness, offering her the power to regain what had been taken. With a hesitant nod, the youngest felt her magic return, along with strange devices the mare said would aid her in the coming battle. After leaving to help her sister and ponies, the youngest set her sights of Tirek, unaware that forces were at play to make sure that Equestria would never fall to darkness, so long as the light of hope burned bright.

Over the years, after the fall of Tirek, the youngest fell into a depression and fell under the influence of a wicked mare of darkness, Nightmare Moon, and came close to destroying her sister and country under a shroud of eternal night. The eldest, weakened by the long battle, used the lands most sacred treasures, the element morphers, and was forced to banish the youngest to the moon, leaving her to rule alone.

1000 years passed from the time that the younger sister was banished, and the older sister ruled over her country in peace during all this time. But such was the anguish that the elder sister felt that the flame of hope was slowly dying down to a flicker of its former glory. The elder missed the younger and planned all through the years to come up with a way to restore her younger sister to her former self. But no matter what plan she tried nothing worked and so the flame was almost completely extinguished. Even her connection to the elemental morphers was broken because she lost the hope and light she’d carried inside. There were only two things that kept her from completely losing her hope. The two things that let her keep hope was her own son and the daughter of her younger sister, her niece. Her son and niece were both born 300 years before her younger sister’s banishment. And after the younger sister was banished her niece turned away from Celestia in anger and anguish because of the pain that was inflicted on her at her mother’s banishment. But even if she had been angry at her aunt, she was angrier at herself for not seeing the signs, nor having the courage to confront her own mother. The eldest’s son was also in a similar state of anguish, for he saw how much pain his mother was in after the deed was done, for he knew that banishment was not what she was trying to do. And so, both son and niece sequestered themselves away and placed a spell that would make them sleep for as long as the youngest was banished.

Then one day 10 years before her younger sister’s banishment would end, there a arose a group of young fillies destined to help save Equestria as long as the fire of hope burned in their hearts. Celestia saw the inner fire of each mare from a distance and indirectly helped to nurture these flames as her own flame of hope burned just a bit brighter then it had in centuries. One of these fillies just so happened to live in the great capital city of Canterlot and so she was able to directly influence this little filly. She saw her great magical prowess and took her underneath her wing and taught her all she could about magic and many other subjects. But the most important thing she taught the young filly was friendship and encouraged her to go out and seek friends of her own.

And Celestia was the one who inadvertently introduced her to the other 5 fillies she had seen from a distance. And so it was that this young purple filly grew up alongside the 5 other fillies she made friends with as she became the de facto leader of their group. Sadly over time, the filly slowly slipped into studying and saying she no longer had time to make friends because it would keep her from her books, that by the time the banishment was a day away from ending, the filly, now mare in her own right, had secluded herself to her studies.

Desperation made Celestia send her student to a small town out of the way, hoping one final time that she would make some friends and learn that studying was not all she needed, while protecting her from the battle with her sister. The mare went around town going about the duties assigned to her by Celestia, focusing only on those duties and brushing aside the attempts of the mares she met who tried to be friendly to her not only because she was new to town but because they recognized her from their childhood. The mare recognized them as well but had grown so far distant from them that she brushed them aside rather coldly as she played the aloof scholar.

Then came the appearance of Celestia’s younger sister at the time of the elder sister’s national holiday celebrating the sun. The mare was present but watched in horror as she saw her mentor fight against the younger sister with great ferocity even as she was commanded to go and find the great objects of yore. The mare had only taken a few steps toward the door when a cold feeling started to flow over her. Looking where it was coming from, her eyes shrunk to mere pinpricks when the true creature that was doing this appeared. Nightmare Moon, The Manipulator. Fear clouded the young mare’s mind, along with five others, and they bolted out the door and into the deadly Everfree Forest. Though Celestia had intended on having the mare find the elemental morphers, she knew they were not in the Everfree, and so her spark of Hope faded to naught but embers unaware of Fate and destiny playing their cards.

For unknown to Celestia, the elemental morphers had been moved from their spot deep in the treasure vault of Canterlot castle back to her old castle in the everfree by a mischievous phoenix only a couple of years prior to her sister’s release. So the mares traveled through the forest towards the castle overcome many trials that proved their worth and elements. And thus they came to Celestia’s old castle which had fallen into great disrepair. It was here that they ended up encountering Princess Luna, the younger sister, and the one who controlled her, Nightmare Moon.

The young purple mare faced off with Nightmare Moon and Princess Luna hoping to spare her old friends any grief or pain. But her old friends stood resolute behind her till she was teleported with the two great alicorns to a different part of the castle. The mare cast about her in desperation and saw the pedestal which held the stone globes bearing each elements crest on it. The five elemental morphers, Equestria’s greatest defence, stood ready, waiting for the day their powers would be needed again. Rushing up to the pedestal, the mare dodged the beams sent at her by Nightmare Moon, and the controlled Luna. grabbing the morphers, the mare had been about to take them back down to her friends when a stray beam hit her hind leg, causing them to tumble to the very entrance of the room. Too far for her hooves to reach, and too dazed to use her magic to grab them, the mare just waited for her end, apologizing to her friends even if they weren’t there.

But as both Nightmare Moon and Princess Luna charged their horns the morphers were grabbed by her friends who quickly used them to change into strange armored forms she’d never seen before. And together the other 5 mares managed to unleash attacks from strange devices that caused both Nightmare Moon and Princess Luna to divert their attention to the new armored forms. The young mare watched in growing horror as the armored figures of her friends fought against Nightmare Moon and Luna with their new power. Her horror grew because even if her friends had new power they were still being overwhelmed by the great beings before her. She desperately wanted to help them but she didn’t know how. She knew her magic alone would not be enough to make a difference. Suddenly, a tiny spark lit in her eyes as she recalled an odd prophecy in a old book she once read. “When the five combine, a spark shall reveal the sixth, and the dark shall tremble.” seeing her friends fighting not just for Equestria’s sake, but for her as well made that tiny spark erupt into a blazing inferno, a blinding light flashing before the eyes of everypony. When the ponies looked over, their eyes widened, as the mare that had been close to death's door, was now standing without any struggle, holding what looked like a purple amethyst star gem. But what caught their attention was not the fact that she was standing, but the wings flaring from her side. And then, she started moving.

The gem glowed with a fierce light and transformed into some sort of device that to us looks like an old flip cell phone. She flicked its top open by her side and a smaller thinner part moved up from the middle of the top of the cell phone to indicate the want. She pressed 1, 2, 3 in rapid succession as she stood before the group on her hind legs. She then brought her left foreleg up in front of her with the hoof towards the sky and brought the hoof with the morpher across the other and said, “Galwit Source Mystic Force!” She pointed the tip of the morpher up at the sky as a voice called out, “Ancient Mysto Ranger!” and out of the spell circle that formed in the sky a phoenix of fire appeared. It swooped down and flew to hover behind her. She held her forelegs out and it merged with her and her armored suit appeared. It consisted of a red suit with a small skirt built into it at the waist with black stripes running from black boot cuffs up to the chest of the suit. These black stripes connected with another black stripe that formed a v shape on the chest that went all the way to the shoulders. Gold trim outlined the black v stripe on the chest and the gloves of the suit were red with gold cuffs that kept them connected with the suit. A red cape flowed out behind her while it was connected to the back of her suit. Finally she jumped up into the air and passed through the spell circle in the air and as she did so her helmet formed. It started on one side of her face and moved to the other till her helmet was fully there. The image of a phoenix served as the visor for her helmet. She struck a pose as she said, “Fearsome as Fire.” And did another pose as she said, “Red Phoenix Ranger!” One could now see a gold belt around the waist of the suit that was connected by a golden belt buckle with the mystic force’s logo on it. And she had flaming wings erupting from the back of her suit underneath the cape. Furthermore her tail hung out the back of the suit encompassed by a red mesh of some sort that would keep it from hindering her movements.

The others, plus Nightmare Moon, stood in shock at the fact that there had been a sixth element morpher, something the legends never stated. Luna, on the other hoof, looked at the mare the held the phoenix morpher with a small bit of renewed hope. Hope that she’ll be free of the control of the Nightmare. And yet somehow she knew, that by the end of this battle, the outcome would be unexpected.

The battle between the mare, Nightmare Moon, and Luna was fierce and long. The other 5 mares were forced to watch exhausted as the battle dragged on without the mare in the red suit showing any signs of tiring. It was like the whole of magic itself was empowering her. Eventually, the other five got their second wind and joined the battle, quickly breaking Nightmare Moon’s hold over Luna, though unfortunately having to knock her out to achieve the effect. The mare in red maneuvered herself between the other five and materialized a large sword with phoenix wings acting as the cross-guard. The handle was a black leather finish with gold diamond trim going down the center, ending in a phoenix talon hilt. For the blade itself, up the full length of the blade was mystic runes as well as multiple starbursts. When the sword full materialized, it triggered all the other weapons to appear as well, floating around the sword in a awe inspiring display of power. With a final flash, the weapons transformed into a strange weapon made out of all the others, with the sword being the core of the cannon.

“Harmony Blaster ready. Fire!” The mare said, firing a beam of rainbow towards Nightmare Moon, only for a shield to form around her at the last second and teleport her away as a blinding light filled the room. When the other five’s eyesight returned, they stared in shock to see that Nightmare Moon was gone, but so was their old friend; only a single feather remained from where she had been standing. It was a red colored feather that was tipped with the bright orange of fire above the red. The group looked for her for a while but could not find her and eventually returned to the site to talk with Princess Luna who was back under her own control again. And Princess Celestia had been released from her prison in the sun with Nightmare Moon having disappeared. So it was that the kingdom gained new protectors that would defend it against all threats.

The group of five mares worked together throughout the years eventually being lead by a new team leader whose name was Starlight Glimmer after they ended up showing her the falseness of her ways. And so it was that the children who had locked themselves away finally emerged from their deep sleep still the same age they had been when they locked themselves away. In other words they were still as young as they were before seeming to be a very young colt and filly. Celestia and Luna had been overjoyed with the return of the family, but only Luna’s happiness had been genuine. For Celestia had lost another student in her long life, though this time, it wasn’t due to neglect, but sacrifice. She had spent years searching for any trace of her student, hoping that she had been safe and sound, but no trace was ever found. She never gave up hope however, even when others had tried telling her to move on, that someday, somehow, she would see both her students again, and finally tell them the truth that plagued her for so long.

Over on earth 1000 years in the past a magical portal opened up which deposited a strange pony mare. This mare was the one who had disappeared from Equestria after the battle with Nightmare Moon. Her name was Twilight Sparkle and it was she who created the ancient Mystic Force rangers to fight against a foe that wanted to steal all magic for itself and use it to conquer the world. This foe was sealed away deep underground after many fierce battles but it came with a great cost. Several of those ancient rangers fell with one of them being captured and turned to the side of evil at the cost of his memories. Before forming this ancient team and fighting the war against evil Twilight Sparkle had ended up learning how to disguise herself as one of the inhabitants called humans. And it was after the battle that she went on to guard the source of all magic by herself and ended up being called the Mystic Mother as she continued to use her innate magic to disguise herself. And it was 970 years after Twilight Sparkle first appeared on earth that a new team of Mystic Rangers would be called upon.

A young man named Nick had rolled into the town of Briarwood for the first time on his motorcycle that he ended up hearing a cry for help. He followed the source of the cry and ended up coming across a girl in an alley being accosted by a thug.

This girl was Sunset Shimmer, who had traveled to the town of Briarwood after having traveled through a magic mirror some time before. She had gone through high school in a daze and had finally learned the error of her bullying ways as she sought for some form of control and power. All it took was a group of 5 girls to show and tell her the way. So she had graduated and decided to go on a personal journey to figure more out about herself and had stopped in Briarwood.

She had been walking along the streets when a thug had pushed her into an alleyway and started to lay into her with his fists after she refused to give up her wallet and cell phone to him. And that’s what led Nick to her who ended up taking out the bandit and calling the police.

Afterwards he led Sunset Shimmer away from the area and walked with her to a store he felt was probably safe where she would be able to call someone about what had happened to her. Unbeknownst to the two, and old lady had been watching the action as it played out, having been ready to intervene with a few well placed spells. When she saw the young man on the motorcycle stop and render aid to someone he clearly never saw before, the old lady silently nodded her head and whispered to herself, “‘he’s the one i’ve been searching for. The girl as well.’ she then lifted her hand and pulled out two old phones, one a bright red and the other a deep green, ‘they shall be the key to saving this world… and mine’ and with a silent breath, the old lady vanished.

Prologue: Part 2

(Presented by me and Sonic Rainboom Dash)

Zodiac Rangers Chapter 1

Prologue Part 2: The Spell Breaker

And so it was that Nick and Sunset Shimmer ended up joining with the other young adults of the store and forming the new generation of Mystic Force Power Rangers. They all went through many trials and hardships as they faced up against the great evil that had been sealed so long ago. They came together not only as individuals but also as a team as they continued to fight against the evil. And eventually they conquered this evil but at the price of most of the world’s magic being used to vanquish the enemy. Only a tiny amount of the magical source of the world remained so that magic didn’t completely die as the world needed magic in order to live. It would slowly regenerate over time. The rangers had met with the Mystic Mother who protected the magical source as its guardian. But she had perished in the fighting against the great evil in the final battle as she channeled magic to the rangers. At least it seemed to all that she had perished.

In reality the Mystic Mother had been Twilight Sparkle in disguise. She had simply used her magic to cast an illusion over herself to appear to them all as a really old woman of their species. And she had faked dying so they wouldn’t be sad when she left to go back to her own world. For she had finally found a way to get back to her own world. For only a few weeks before the final battle, her mentor, Princess Celestia, had found a way to contact her.

Celestia had been able to form a special magical container using her magic and set a special small journal within the container that was completely blank save for a message that Celestia had written on the first couple of pages addressed to Twilight. She had then used a modified version of the dragonfire spell that she had used to send messages to Twilight in the past through spike on the container. This one was designed to send it directly to her wherever she was but doing so cost Celestia far more power than she had anticipated as she was almost completely drained of magic for a couple of days from just that simple spell. She almost thought it wouldn’t work as for over 30 years, her hope of finding Twilight had waned. Because of this, combined with her desperation to find Twilight, Celestia poured so much magic in her spell that her spell reached through the vastness of space in an instant.

Twilight was very surprised as she was reclining on the throne she had made for herself when her horn lit up and the container appeared in a flash of greenish flame that she recognized from so long ago. The container floated down to the ground softly as she blinked at it in surprise. She used her magic to pry off the lid of the container and opened it up to retrieve the small journal that was within it. And it was by opening the first couple of pages that she saw the letter from Celestia addressed to her which caused her to break down crying as she read it. And it was through this letter that she found out that she was still missed back home. She found out that the journal was magical and linked to another one back in equestria which would allow her to communicate with Celestia by writing in the pages of the book. So she communicated back and forth with Celestia for a good couple of days finding out all the news back home.

The first thing she was shocked to find out was that only 30 years had passed in Equestria when she had been on Earth for over 1000 years. Over those long years, her magic had grown to the point the she could reach out to the vast stars themselves and actually commune with them. Her form had also changed over time, where before she had been a chubby bookworm, now she could give even Celestia a run for the most beautiful pony in Equestria. Her leg had extended to twice her normal length, while her mane and tail shimmered and flowed in a non-existent breeze, looking like the very galaxies were part of her. The one thing that hadn’t changed, and most likely never will, was her love of all things literature. Except magazines, those things can burn for all she cared. She also did not care anything for the mechanical devices known as Nooks, Ipads, or other ebook readers. They could also burn for all she cared as physical paper books were always the best. Though she did once try and make something similar to a mobile library, it was never going to she the light of day again for the same reason she disliked the phone contraptions. They didn’t work with her hooves, and her illusions were just that, perfect illusions, but never physical.

The second thing she had been shocked to learn was that her friends had given up their morphing powers to a new generation of rangers, labeling them as the zodiac rangers.

This new generation of ponies were Sugar Sweet, Blazing Fire, Silent Phantom, Glitter Berry, Tourmaline, and Steel Strength. The unfortunate thing was that even though they had been given the morphing powers, they were still unable to use them as they had no device or magic that could trigger the powers. So this new generation of supposed protectors could only fight as their regular old selves and that was about it. They donned costumes to hide their identities, as the powers they were given increased their natural strength, gave them inpony abilities, and even let then become one with the animal they represented. The difference between the real rangers and the new gen was the fact that the powers were only a fraction of what it could be with morphers. Sure they became stronger than they had been before, but only as far as to the max normal training could reach, whereas the morphers amplified that ability ten-fold.

Sadly, it seemed that even if she wanted to return, she couldn’t leave the people here to suffer from the evil bent on taking over, so she had requested that she finish what she had started a thousand years ago. Celestia gave her permission to do so and so she had helped the Mystic Rangers finish off the great evil that wanted to take over. And as a result she was able to fake her death as the Mystic Mother. So she was now free and able to go about things as she pleased. She took the opportunity to ensure that the mystical source of the earth would recover even if it was slowly. She knew she wouldn’t have to create any new morphers for Earth because there always seemed to be some other great power that created new morphers. She had taken to calling this great power the morphing grid.

She had scoured the planet with her magic and had managed to find a spaceship that would be able to finally take her home to her planet. The only thing that remained to do would be taking the girl Sunset Shimmer with her as she knew that Sunset was truly a pony like herself. The difficulty lay with trying to convince Sunset to come back with her to Equestria as she could sense bitterness towards the kingdom and especially Celestia within the girl. Surprisingly, just asking Sunset, who was both shocked and pleased that a princess from her world was not only the one behind making the morphers that let her feel like she finally earned her forgiveness after the whole fiasco during her time at the high school, but was wanting her to be her student.
So Sunset agreed to be Twilight’s student and Twilight was happy that she was finally able to take on the active roll of teacher. When Twilight revealed herself to Sunset to talk with her and ask her those questions, she also had to reveal herself to the rest of the Mystic Rangers. However, even after showing herself to the rest of the rangers they weren’t surprised. After all the stuff they had seen during the battle against the great evil it simply didn’t phase them. Although the girls of the team were more than happy to hug her like little girls and brush her mane. She had a long talk with all of them minus Nick, who had gone off on a very long road trip with his mother and father. They agreed to go with her to the spaceship and help her fix it back up. Eventually they came across the wreckage of one of the ships that had invaded years past. In fact it happened to be the very same space ship that some of the earliest rangers used, the Astro Rangers and eventually the Galactic Rangers. When working on making it operational again, Twilight was relieved when she spied the next set coordinates on the ships computer, indicating what planet to protect next, was pointing straight at Equestria.

When the Mystic Rangers first discovered the broken down old wreck, it was in large pieces as if something had sliced into it multiple times. The bridge section was half a mile away from the rest of the wreck as if something had dragged it there. The inside was a mass of wires and panels that still shot out sparks every now and then. The rounded wings of the spaceship were disconnected from the main body of the ship. One on either side of the main hull section and broken into smaller pieces that were in the same state as the bridge section. And there were old metal crates here and there that still contained broken or rotted out supplies that had been in the ship. The vents on the front of the ship were completely shredded and bent out of shape. And the engines for the ship were either completely missing or in pieces judging from the wreck.

After the Mystic Rangers fixed it back up with the help of carefully applied magic via Twilight. After the ship was fixed up it looked somewhat different then it had before. For one instead of the ship being colored blue it was a bright purple with cyan in place of where the gray of the ship had showed before. And the ship was much sleeker and more streamlined then it had been before. The wings were no longer the rounded wings of the old ship, but new with a phoenix style, with red and orange being the most prominent color. And the engine was just one large block reminiscent of the Millennium Falcon from Star Wars. Twilight had rather enjoyed the Star Wars movies despite telling herself that human movies and tv weren’t all that worth it. Though she did wish she could join the crew on Star Trek occasionally. And Le Forge was definitely worth watching the show for.

Once the ship was completely fixed up, they were able to get the ship to take off back into the sky by activating the autopilot feature of the ship. But they only did that after making sure they had all of the supplies and other things they needed for the trip and stay at Equestria. So the ship finally took off into the sky and then into space itself where it hung in the void for a moment before finally engaging its hyperdrive and jumping into hyperspace towards Equestria, leaving behind the Rangers to keep their world safe. Twilight knew that if there were now rangers before the new generation would appear, then the morphing grid would start losing power. So with a heavy heart, Twilight and Sunset bid farewell to their friends on earth.

Chapter 1: Birth of a Team

Presented by myself and fellow author Under_The_Vaile with help by Sonic Rainboom Dash

Zodiac Rangers: Defenders of Equestria

Chapter 1: Birth of a Team

Twilight’s ship sped through hyperspace on its way to the exit point that would put them near the planet of Equis, home to Twilight’s nation of Equestria. Sunset was up on the bridge at the moment watching the view screen as the multitude of stars whizzed by at high speed. She turned her head as she heard the door to the bridge open and Twilight came trotting on in with a tired smile on her face. Twilight was wearing her own hoof made royal regalia that was different then Celestia and Luna’s, though more in line with normal clothes than fancy wear. Her regala consisted of a light purple button up shirt, with her cutie mark sewn on the barrel. A pair of silver horseshoes adorned her hooves, enchanted to keep from wearing out and keeping the wearer comfortable over long distances. Her right foreleg had a strange sleeve cup attached to it for easy access to her morpher, while her left had a picture of the world she was leaving, along with the five friends she made during her time as the mystic mother. And to complete her ‘regala’ was a wireless gamers headset, with built in bluetooth microphone, which she was currently using to chat with their friends back on earth, after finding out the the games consoles they installed still had internet.

Sunset Shimmer was currently dressed in a version of the same clothes that she had worn back in high school, when she first came through the mirror. The biggest differences being that her shirt was a more fiery orange with a yellow sun motif on the front and her jean jacket still on over her shirt but stitched with the symbols belonging to the other 6 mystic rangers on the sleeves. She still wore the shorts she usually did but they had her cutie mark stitched on the leg of one of the pants. And she currently had her own headphones on at the moment that were connected to the ship at large. As she had grown up she had found that she had an affinity for all things mechanical and so had put her intellect to work fixing things around the ship and improving on some of the systems. That’s how they’d been able to install the game consoles into the ship in the first place.
Sunset waved at Twilight, “Princess, you really should give it a rest. You’ve been talking non-stop for the past 3 hours. I’m sure our friends have things that they need to do in real life and not in the virtual world.” She folded her arms while smirking as she said this last part.

“Huh? Oh! Sunset,” Twilight exclaimed, having been startled by the pony she had been looking for, “I didn’t expect to find you on the bridge. And that was just xander wanting to know how to beat the final boss of the zombie game he likes so much, you know, that ‘resident evil 4’ game. Also, you don’t have to call me princess, just Twilight is fine.” she said as she removed her headset and placed it in the storage pouch of her saddlebags. “Anyway, i’m glad i found you here instead of looking for you, as i need your morpher.”

Sunset looked puzzled at Twilight’s request but nodded as her hand moved to the holster attached to the belt on her jean shorts. She withdrew her morpher which was a phone just like all the other standard morphers of the Mystic Force and tossed it to her, “Why do you need it Twilight? Did you just need to check the energy settings again or something?” Sunset asked.

Twilight brought the morpher to her in her magic looking at it intensely, before using her magic to completely disassemble it, while at the same time changing its shape to be more comfortable being wielded by hooves. After nodding her head, she reconstructed the morpher, testing that it worked the way she wanted, before handing it back to Sunset, all of which took less than 5 seconds. Upon Sunset’s hand touching the morpher, a bright flash filled the bridge, before dimming back down. Where before was a human girl roughly 19 in age, now stood a mare with a yellow-orange coat, aqua marine eyes, horn, and surprisingly enough, a pair of wings.

Sunset let out a startled cry as she looked at herself while gripping the morpher in one of her hooves. “What just happened? Twilight what did you do?” Sunset cried in surprise. She looked herself over quickly to see what had happened and quickly noted the wings on her back along with the fact that she somehow still maintained her shirt from her clothes along with the jean jacket all sized for a pony now. She blinked as she looked back up at Twilight as her ears flattened. Her expression one of shock as she asked bewildered, “Twilight, what did you do to my morpher? Why am I suddenly a pony again and not just my previous old unicorn self but an alicorn? This doesn’t make any sense!”

Twilight giggled as she put a hoof up to her muzzle, “It’s alright Sunset. All I did was reconstruct the morpher and add in a spell that would allow you to return to your pony self as long as you have the morpher on you. You’ll revert back to your human self if the morpher leaves your person but sadly there’s nothing I can really do about that.”

Sunset calmed down a bit at this bit of an explanation but frowned as she replied, “But why am I an alicorn? You still haven’t explained that to me. As far as I know I wasn’t born an Alicorn so something had to change since I left Equestria the first time.” She didn’t mention the mirror and never had told Twilight about that as she did not like thinking about her past as a bully and miscreant.

Twilight smiled softly in reply, “Sunset, I’m over a thousand years old, magic is my specialty. After all, I am the princess of Magic, and I did create the Mystic Force morphers after modeling them after my own with some improvements. So I know all about the mirror that brought you to this world. I know you’ve been trying to keep it a secret from me but I could sense that thing’s magic even from so far away. I knew the exact moment when you arrived and have kept an eye on you ever since. You are the only other pony to come from equestria to Earth after all. I didn’t know what you were like so I kept an eye on you from a distance. I came to know your past after careful observation and study. And I am so proud of you for being able to overcome the fears and difficulties you faced.”

Sunset looked surprised at this and blinked a few times before realizing that tears were streaming down her face. She reached a hoof up to them before turning to Twilight with a grief stricken look as she cried softly, “I didn’t want to think of my past Twilight. It was hard enough working through it the first time. I may have overcome it but that doesn’t mean I like to think about it. So please don’t mention my past again for a while.”

Twilight just smiled in response, “But Sunset, don’t you see, when you and Nick rescued Wolf Knight, you managed to do something no one could do, not even nick,” she said as she lifted Sunset’s head with a hoof, “You awoke your true self when you overcame your past. Yes, sometimes it’s easy to look back at all your past deed and see all the negatives, but a truly courageous heart can see those same deeds as a reminder, not on how not to act, but on how far they’ve come.”

Sunset still had tears streaming down her cheeks as she looked up at Twilight. A sad expression still on her face, “But i’m not courageous. When I was fighting alongside our friends, I was only ever doing it because it needed to be done. I’m sorry Twilight but I’m nothing but a coward. I bullied others because I was afraid that I would never have control over my situation and because of my own insecurities. I thought I needed control over others to have true power but that just made me a coward all the more. I don’t even remember what it's like to truly have a family anymore.”

Twilight just pulled Sunset into a hug, still smiling, “If you truly were a coward, than the morpher never would have respond to you Sunset. Yes, you worked with the others and did it when it needed to be done, but a coward would just run, even if the alternative was a worse outcome. You stayed to fight, even when presented many opportunities to run. That is what courage is, doing what’s right, even if all you want to do is run.”

Sunset buried her face in Twilight’s shoulder as her height was bigger now than her old unicorn self. She continued to cry softly for a while before finally saying, “Thank you Twilight. No one’s ever said that about me before. Thank you for reaching out to me in friendship and pulling me back from the edge of despair.” She went back to crying softly and as Sunset cried, Twilight’s horn glowed as she silently used a spell that would allow her to look further into Sunset’s past to see if there were any other problems that would need to be solved. Watching Sunset’s past in her head, Twilight sighed softly in sadness as she saw how Sunset had grown up as a orphan filly after her mother had died in childbirth and her father couldn’t take care of her. She been placed in an orphanage and from there she started studying magic as she grew older and caught the attention of Celestia who took her on as a personal student.

The biggest difference between this universe and the one we all know and love is that since Celestia already had a son of her own albeit sealed away at the time, Celestia just couldn’t find it within her to actually act like a good teacher should. She stayed rather distant and cold all the time so Sunset grew up trying all she could in order to get Celestia’s attention and make Celestia proud of her. Celestia was proud of her accomplishments at times but for the most part she maintained her aloofness and when she finally did show Sunset good old Starswirl’s mirror well you can probably guess what happened. She saw her potential future as an alicorn and figured it was her true destiny but of course it wasn’t and she grew arrogant. She stood up to Celestia and demanded that she be given the knowledge on how to become an Alicorn but of course Celestia refused. And soon enough Celestia cast Sunset shimmer out and Sunset left through the mirror. Thus her life as a human had started.

Twilight reached out towards the stars with her mind and called on them to help her fuel a spell that would allow her to change the past. Even if it was only changing it by a little bit. As the power of the stars filled her she softly glowed while Sunset continued to cry into her shoulder with closed eyes. Twilight quickly arranged a spell that she had buried deep in her memory and carefully yet quickly made modifications and corrections to it. Her horn glowed with a magenta light as she mentally corrected different spots of the magical equation before finally unleashing the spell.

After the spell was unleashed, it worked through the instructions given to it. The spell ended up creating a shadow clone of Twilight in the past right after Sunset was first given to the orphanage. And the clone ended up quickly establishing itself a small house and job in a remote village before going to the orphanage and adopting Sunset Shimmer. So the clone ended up raising Sunset for 8 years with love and closeness before it disappeared thanks to a mysterious “illness”. Sunset ended up going to Celestia’s School for gifted unicorns right before her mother passed away and the rest was history. She still ended up being Celestia’s student and going through most of the same things although Celestia was a lot more aloof and Sunset had good happy memories of the mother that passed away.

In the present the new memories filled Sunset’s head but unfortunately for her caused a bit of an overload. This overload caused her to pass out while still leaning against Twilight’s shoulder as Twilight held her. Twilight smiled softly at what she had accomplished and carried the young alicorn to her room on the ship. Thus the rest of the trip passed in comfortable silence as Twilight watched over her young daughter.

On the planet of Equus, in the nation of Equestria, right in the village of Ponyville, a new team of heroes was busy with their current day to day lives. This group of young heroes had already received power transfers from the former Elemental Rangers that still fought back against enemies if they were really needed. The new group of heroes could only tap into a small fraction of the powers they received. It was enough to enhance their physical abilities enough to where they were about one third stronger than regular members of their respective races. They were also granted a few abilities of the spirit animals that they embodied. When the strange new enemies, that had started attacking a couple of months ago, appeared they would dress up in their own homemade costumes which disguised their features so they couldn’t be recognized. The group when then travel from their respective places of work and join up in the area where the enemy had appeared.

Now the enemy itself was rather strange as when they first appeared they looked like large blobs of ink that could move around on the ground. But when they started attacking the locals or fighting the rangers they would seep up from the ground and taking on forms of different pony races with weapons in hoof in order to terrorize and possibly kill the inhabitants of the village. Thankfully they had not succeeded in actually killing any of the villagers yet although they had seriously injured a few. These new enemies had been dubbed the Shadowlings as they tended to hide in the shadows before attacking, came from a shadowy dimension, and could take on a shadowy form of any pony race.

On the day that Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer had finally left earth on their way back to Equus, our heroes were going about their normal routines. Although what constituted as normal for several of them was not normal for the villagers or other ponies. Currently the gentle giant of an earth pony, known as Steel Strength, who rivaled Big Mac in size, was currently finishing up his job at a construction site in town. He had just finished using a bulldozer to flatten a piece of a building that needed to be torn down and rebuilt. He was outside the construction area just clocking out when he heard a call from one of his fellow team members. His ears twitched as he turned to see his pegasus friend Glitter Berry.

He waved back as he called out, “Hello Glitter Berry! What brings you by to see me today?” He was rather happy to see his friend right after he was finishing up work.

Glitter Berry smiles, “Not much, just wanting to see how the big nut cracker is doing.”

Steel Strength laughed at the joke, “Oh really? And how's it feeling just being one big piece of glittering fruit?” Coming up with jokes was not one of Steel’s best attributes or skills. He quickly turned back to the time clock and punched out before turning to face Glitter Berry again. “So how is the weather job with your sister, you crazy mare?” Steel knew Glitter Berry had a younger sister named Dazzling Berry that she worked in the weather team with.

“So far she hasn’t caused any accidents so I’m thinking of taking her to see one of the upcoming wonderbolt shows.” Said Glitter as he chuckles at the joke Steel made.

Steel just grinned as he started to walk along one of the multiple roads in the town towards the crystal castle that had appeared 10 years back. This castle had become the Harmony Ranger’s base and consequently its where the team usually met up to hang out. Steel said happily, “Well I’m sure she’ll enjoy that. You haven’t taken her to see one of those in forever. How’s the rest of the family doing?”

“Oh their doing great, my mother actually recovered from surgery yesterday.” Glitter says with a happy face.

Steel’s grin became wider as he continued to walk alongside Glitter towards the castle, “That’s great Glitter. Before you know it she’ll be making those paintings you love so much. Then i’m sure you’re family will be able to make enough money to get that new house your all so interested in.” He continued to grin happily. Although he was surprised that Glitter had yet to ask about his own parents and his younger brother.

“Which reminds me how is your family doing? Last I heard there was an event you all went to.” Said Glitter quickly.

Steel’s grin slipped and became a more somber smile, “Yeah. We went to see the annual rolling derby. It was great. Young Rock n Roll was ecstatic to watch the event with Mom and Dad.” He went silent as he remembered what had happened a few days after the event, “Things are a bit hard for the family at the moment though.” He remained silent as they continued to walk towards the castle.

Glitter looks at Steel with a sad expression, “If you don’t want to talk about it then I understand.”

Steel’s expression changed to one of sorrow and pain, “Its not that I don’t want to talk about it. Its just really painful. My mother ended up passing away a few days later from a heart attack. The doctor and nurses couldn’t do anything to help her. Rock is taking it even harder then I am. We just had the funeral a few days ago.” A few tears rolled down his face as he mentioned the funeral.

“You and your family have my condolences. I know this may seem insensitive but we all have to face death's door at some point. Though I bet she is looking over you all still to this day.” Glitter said to hopefully cheer up his closest friend.

Steel smiled the tiniest bit, “Thanks Glitter. That means a lot.” They had finally arrived at the castle and it was time to enter where they would receive training from one of the Harmony rangers. Most likely it would be Rainbow Dash again as she was the one who trained with them hoof to hoof most often. So together Steel and Glitter both entered the castle.

In another part of the town the royal guard known as Blazing Fire had just gotten off duty. She was unusual in the fact that she was a rare type of pony known as a thestral, also known as a bat pony to the younger generation. It was unusual in the fact that she was a royal guard when most thestrals were generally part of Princess Luna’s Night Guards. But she had wanted to be able to move around in the day more successfully then her kin normally did. So she had applied for the day guard and had been accepted. And so far she had proven herself to be rather adept at her job. She was currently heading for the Ponyville Day Spa for a much needed rest.

She entered the spa a few moments after getting off shift at the local guard station a few streets down. She took off her helmet after entering the waiting room. One of the owners of the spa cheerfully greeted from behind the receptionists desk. From what she could see it might be lotus. As the pony mare across from her had a blue coat and pink mane. Then again she never could keep the two straight.

Lotus looked up from the desk and smiled cheerfully and asked in her accent, “How may I help you today miss Fire?”

Fire smiled happily as she said, “Oh just the usual treatment please Lotus. I need it after the day I’ve had.”

Lotus nodded with a smile, “Of Course miss Fire. Please right this way to the steam room. And as always leave your armor outside please.”

Fire nodded and shrugged herself out of her armor which she left in a bin in another room before following Lotus to the steam room where she knew she’d meet up with her friend Tourmaline who worked at the spa. She entered the steam room a moment later and layed down on a bench. She peered through the steam to see Tourmaline standing in the middle of the room with a bucket of water and a ladle, “Hey Tourmaline, how’s it hanging?”

Tourmaline goes to do his work, “just the same old routine.”

Fire sighed as she lay on the bench and let the steam start doing its work, “Oh come on Tourmaline. Don’t you ever shake things up. It seems like you're always doing the same old thing time and again. Doesn’t that ever get boring?”

“You know how I am Fire. I just do what is needed and head off to take care of other business.” Tourmaline said nonshalontly.

Fire giggled a bit, “Yes I know. You never will change.” She got off of the bench she was on and padded over to Tourmaline before softly kissing him on the lips with a soft look in her eyes, “And I wouldn’t have you any other way.”

Tourmaline looks at Fire after steaming up the room with a smile, “I know my little flame.” With that he kisses her on the lips the same way she did.

Fire giggled as she moved back to her bench and resumed her place as she replied, “So how’s your big brother doing? The last thing you told me was that he was a successful lawyer. Any change since then?”

Tourmaline shakes his head, “There hasn’t been any change since then.”

Fire sighed as she rolled her eyes, “Of course there hasn’t. Your brother is just as stubborn as you if not more so. I haven’t even been able to see my sister since the last fight we had against the Shadowlings. She disappeared right after before I could talk with her.” Fire frowned, “Ever since they’ve appeared it seems like i’ve just grown farther and farther apart from my sister. Does she hate me now or something?” A tear welled up in the corner of one eye. “What do you think Tour?” She looked at him with those soft sad eyes of hers hoping he’d have some sort of encouraging answer to her woes.

“I know she still cares for you. Heck there were times when she couldn’t see you that she comes to me to see how you are doing.” Tourmaline said with a smile knowing that she needs closure.

Fire’s frown slowly turned into a small smile as she replied gratefully, “Thanks Tourmaline. Its just been hard not being around her for so long. The longest time in the past we were ever gone from each other was a couple of hours. Now we’re lucky if we get 5 minutes together. But yeah i’m sure she still cares for me. Oh I just remembered. Mom wanted me to tell you that your invited to dinner tomorrow night.” She looked up at him eagerly as she said this.

Tourmaline nods his head, “thanks for the info Fire.”

Fire smiled softly, “Your welcome. Where’s Miss Rarity? She said she was going to continue our instruction today while both of us were here. Where do you think she is?”

“She probably has some orders that just came in.” Says Tourmaline as he did a fresh batch of steam.

Fire sighed, “Yeah. Well I guess i’ll just enjoy being in here in your wonderful company.” She smiled softly as she relaxed even deeper, “But after you get off work she should head to the castle. I don’t think miss Applejack was happy about us being late last time.” She looked at him with a bit of a fearful look at this last statement. She was scared of the orange earth pony who was so much stronger than her.

“Don’t worry I’ve told my bosses that you and I needs to start heading to the castle at a specific time.” Tourmaline said to reassure his loved one.

Fire nodded and slowly relaxed until she had completely fallen asleep from the warmth of the steam and the presence of her colt friend.

On the other side of town next to the Everfree forest a young Black Ops Night Guard was currently hiding up in a tree in some thick foliage. She was in a tree that grew right beside the old Elemental ranger Fluttershy. She was here on duty to watch over Fluttershy because there was suspected threat to take her out. She had been watching over Fluttershy for a week now and still nothing had happened. But the good thing for her was the fact that she got to see her friend Sugar Sweet the unicorn mare a little more often than she normally did. The sucky part for her was that she couldn’t actually reveal herself to Sugar Sweet in order to talk with her unless Sugar spotted her and initiated the conversation.

She watched her friend working alongside the older butter yellow pegasus mare we all know and love. Fluttershy was much older than Sugar Sweet but loved to serve as a mentor for the unicorn mare. She was currently showing Sugar Sweet how to care for a sick cat. The Night Guard continued to watch them both. The night guard’s name was Silent Phantom because she was almost always silent and forever flitting around like a phantom. She sighed quietly to herself wishing something would happen. She blinked in surprise though when she saw Sugar turn around and look right at her hiding spot and then call her name. Phantom sighed as she realized she’d been noticed and came down from the tree and slowly trotted over to Sugar as Fluttershy watched on surprised.

Phantom looked at Sugar for a moment before replying softly, “Hi Sugar. How’s it going with the veterinarian lessons?” She went silent immediately after asking the question.

“You should know since you’ve been watching over us for a week or so.” Sugar said with a giggle.

Phantom’s eyes widened just the tiniest bit as she looked at Sugar in surprise. It took her a moment to gather her thoughts and think through her next words before asking, “How? How did you know it was me?”

Sugar giggles, “did you honestly forget that one of my traits is to sense everyponies emotions?”

Phantom blushed the tiniest bit underneath her dark blue fur as she scratched the top of her head. She remained silent as she thought of the next words to say before replying softly, “Yes. I did. Its been awhile since you’ve actually shown that you can do that. Why show it again all of a sudden and not keep it a secret?”

“You know how I get when I don’t help others with their emotions.” Sugar said smiling.

Phantom nodded after a moment as a small frown slipped onto her face, “Sugar I actually need your help sorting through my emotions. Will you help me please?”

“It’s about your sister isn't it?” Sugar asked with sorrow.

Phantom sighed sadly before nodding, “Yes. I miss being with her but I have to complete all the assignments given to me by the higher ups. I believe she thinks I want to avoid her or not spend time with her at all. I don’t know what do do Sugar and I also don’t know what to feel.”

Sugar nods, “Why not leave her some letters for her to find to know how you feel.”

Phantom sat down for a moment to think it through as she put a hoof up to her chin thoughtfully. Finally she nodded to Sugar, “That could work. I just hope she understands what I”m trying to convey through the letters. So has Fluttershy taught you any new medical techniques for when we’re in the field?”

Sugar secretly points a hoof back to Fluttershy with a smug smile.

Phantom couldn’t help but frown in confusion at what Sugar was trying to get at. She looked back at Fluttershy who was currently still working on the wounded cat. Phantom scratched her head before saying with a frown, “I guess I’ll take that as a yes.”

Sugar laughs and flops onto the ground, “For somepony who is a spic ops you aren’t entirely observant.”

Phantom blinked as the irritating light of the sun continued to light into her over sensitive eyes. She frowned in annoyance as she looked down at Sugar as she rubbed her eyes a bit. Her wings ruffled in irritation as she thought out her next words to say. Finally she replied by saying, “Har har har. Yeah laugh it up at the bat pony. You know that I don’t do well in sunlight. Its hard enough to stay awake during the day. So what is it that i’m not seeing?”

“Well you did look over us so you tell me what you saw today and I’ll see if I need to correct anything.” Sugar said as she calmed down from her giggle fit.

Phantom sighed and looked over towards Fluttershy again as her vision became blurry around the edges to to irritation from the sun. She narrowed her eyes and replied, “All I see is Miss Fluttershy working on that sick cat. She’s giving it medicine of some kind and that’s about all I can see.”

Sugar nods and replies in a dead serious tone, “Well that’s only half of it for earlier today we took care of a timberwolf that got to close.”

Phantom had to rub her eyes with her hooves again to help relieve the irritation momentarily as she squinted and made out the remains of a Timberwolf that were stacked up near the edge of the cottage. She saw how the wood was broken up in many places before she was finally forced to close her eyes. She opened them a moment later as she refocused on Sugar, “Looks like you both took care of it pretty well. Do you have anything that could help my eyes? Ever since my special lenses broke last week in that attack its been a struggle to see during the day.”

Sugar’s eyes went wide as she seems to remember something. “I completely forgot! Here I got this while at the hospital for you,” Sugar said in a very apologetic manner.

Phantom looked down towards Sugar’s hooves to see the object being offered to her. But what she saw was only a blurry looking box. She frowned in thought and gently took the box from Sugar before opening it to see a small case that held lenses made for a bat pony’s eyes. She blinked in surprise and carefully opened the case to see the special blue lenses inside that had been specially treated to help a bat pony see during the day without the sun causing irritation. She reached into the case and pulled out the lenses before carefully inserting them into her eyes and then blinking to get used to the feeling of them. After a few moments she could finally see Sugar clearly and she smiled happily which was rather rare for her, “Thanks Sugar. This helps a lot. I thought i’d have to wait another 2 weeks before my lenses were finally available.”

Sugar blushes as she puts one hoof over the other, “Well I saw parts of your lenses on the ground so I got the doctors to make a new set for you and I just got them today.”

Phantom continued to smile happily as she closed the case with the ointment inside and then set it in her compact saddlebags on her sides. Phantom happily replied, “Thanks Sugar. I don’t know what I’d do without you.” She leaned in and gave Sugar a gentle yet strong hug to show her appreciation.

Sugar blush deepens as she shaklee hugs back with a smile of her own.

Phantom drew back after the hug and studied Sugar for a moment and noted the blush with some confusion. She thought about it for a moment as the thoughts of it just being a blush of embarrassment crossing her mind and other reasons too. She frowned for a moment before smiling again as she looked at Sugar and spoke softly, “Sugar I had always assumed that you were sweet on Steel Strength but that’s not the case is it?”

“Well he is big sweet and kind but I see him as a brother I didn’t have and I know he sees me as the Little sister he always wanted.” Sugar said as she still blushes.

Phantom nodded as part of her suspicions were confirmed and she thought for a moment about whether she should proceed with her next words or not. Finally she decided to go ahead and asked Sugar softly, “So is the one you’re really sweet on actually me?”

Sugar blushes deeper as she nods.

All of Phantom’s suspicions were confirmed at that admission and she frowned in thought. She never had thought about romance before as her job and sister had always been her whole world before. She rubbed her chin in thought as she thought about the implications and then finally focused on her a bit and spoke happily and softly. She knew that Sugar would never expect this from her in a million years, “I see. Well I’d be happy to be your marefriend.”

Sugar smiles happily, “Thank you, You have no idea how long I waited for something like that.”

Phantom continued to smile happily as she leaned in gently and gave Sugar a soft kiss on the lips before drawing back, “Well we should probably be getting to the castle with miss Fluttershy.”

Sugar nods as she fights to control her blushes while following Fluttershy to the castle.

So both Phantom and Sugar traveled to the castle right behind Fluttershy who watched them with a knowing look every now and then.

Once they were all gathered at the castle, the leader of the Harmony Rangers came forwards. The leader was a pinkish unicorn mare with a purple mane and tail which had light blue stripes running through them. This was the unicorn we all know as Starlight except of course she was much older. Well up into her 40s now but still fit enough to fight when it came to it. She looked out over the assembled Harmony Rangers and the new generation.

A businesslike look schooled her features as she started to speak, “Thank you all for gathering here today. Before we get started with training for the day I have an announcement to make. We have a very special guest who is finally returning home after a long time away. She disappeared some 30 years ago and has finally managed to find a way home. She should be arriving in a few hours. Does anyone here know who this mare is?”

Blazing Fire lifted her hoof into the air and waved it. Starlight nodded to her, “Yes miss Fire?”

Blazing Fire asked in curiosity, “Is it that old pop sensation Sapphire Shores?”

Starlight sighed at the question, “No Miss Fire its not. And Sapphire Shores only disappeared 10 years ago not 30. I think you need to reread a few history books.” She turned her gaze to Sugar Sweet, “Miss Sweet. Do you have any guess as to who our guest is?”

Sugar nods, “Is it Princess Twilight for she is one of the recorded ponies that went missing.”

Starlight nodded and gave a small smile for a moment before her business face returned, “That would be correct Miss Sweet. Princess Twilight will be returning to us in a couple of hours with her own personal student in tow. The reason why we know Twilight Sparkle is a princess is through the grace of Princess Celestia who let us now through that letter. When Princess Twilight finally arrives you each will finally be receiving your own new morphers. So does anyone have any questions?”

Steel Strength raised a hoof as he asked, “Who’s this student of Princess Twilight’s?”

Starlight replied, “Her student is another unicorn that went missing some 50 years before her. A unicorn by the name of Sunset Shimmer who was also a former protege of Princess Celestia. Anything else?”

Phantom spoke up, “Are Princess Twilight and Sunset Shimmer both rangers like yourself Miss Starlight?”

Starlight nodded, “That is correct. Although they are part of a different team from ours. They were part of a team known as the Mystic Force rangers from a planet known as Earth which is both similar and different to our own planet of Equus. Anyone else?” She looked around the room to see if anyone else had any questions. When Starlight saw that no one else had any questions, she nodded and said, “You’re all dismissed for now. Get on with your training.” So the group scattered with several of the harmony rangers moving around with different pairs of the Zodiac Rangers in order to give them personal training.

A couple of hours later a speck of light appeared in the sky far above as Twilight’s ship finally appeared in the atmosphere. Sunset Shimmer was still sleeping because of a magically induced slumber courtesy of Twilight. Twilight made sure the ship’s stealth fields activated as she went further down as she didn’t want to alarm anyone. She set her ship down right behind the Crystal Castle she saw and waited for a moment as her ship’s computer connected with the main mother computer of the castle. After a moment the ground sunk underneath her ship as it was slowly lowered into a hanger deep underground. Docking clamps grabbed hold of the sides of the ship as it moved it into position and finally it stopped with a thump.

Twilight quickly moved from the bridge to the airlock door of the ship and moved into the airlock. The door closed behind her and the airlock filled with the atmosphere of her old home planet. She breathed it in with a sigh of relief and the outer door opened to reveal Starlight accompanied by the other Harmony Rangers and the Zodiac Rangers. She smiled softly at them all and regally exited the air lock as her tail and mane fluttered in their non existent breeze. Her eyes lighted on Sugar Sweet and she asked in a regal motherly tone, “And what’s your name miss?”

“My name is Sugar Sweet, and it’s a pleasure to meet you Princess Twilight.” Sugar said as she bows.

Twilight nods her head at Sugar’s bow as her crown shifted on her head a bit. She hadn’t had to wear it for a long time. It was actually her old morpher which was in the shape of a crown with her starburst cutie mark as a gem set right in the middle of it. She smiled softly, “And its a pleasure to meet you as well Miss Sweet.” She turned to the other rangers and asked each of them their names.

Steel Strength bowed low as he said kindly, “My name is Steel Strength your highness.”

Blazing Fire gave Twilight a bow and then salute as was due a princess as she said, “My name’s Blazing Fire, royal guard, your highness.”

Phantom was silent for a moment before bowing and replying in her soft voice, “Silent Phantom at your service your majesty.” And that left only the last two rangers of the Zodiac rangers to make their introductions.

Glitter Berry bows, “My name is Glitter Berry your majesty.”

Tourmaline bows as well though do to his nature his tone stayed neutral, “I am Tourmaline your highness.”

Twilight nodded to each of them in turn with that motherly smile of hers as she replied, “It's a pleasure to meet you all. Please rise.” and they all did so as she turned to Starlight and held a brief hushed conversation with them and the rest of her old friends before she turned back to the new rangers. In that brief hushed conversation she’d greeted each of her old friends happily and Starlight who had led them. Now she was serious as she looked back at the new rangers. Her smile slipped to that of a serious type of smile as she walked forwards and stopped in front of Silent Phantom.

Twilight’s horn glowed softly as she muttered and concentrated on an intrinsic and very specialized spell. The same one she’d developed so long ago that had created the Mystic Force Ranger’s morphers. She continued to mutter the spell before she completed it and the spell flew from the tip of her horn as a ball of white light. It grew bigger as it hovered over everyone and the morphers took shape. Each morpher was individually themed with the different zodiac animal each ranger embodied. The morphers exited the ball of light and floated down into Twilight’s magical grip.

She then looked down at Silent Phantom and gently moved one of the morphers in her grip on over to Phantom who took it with a gentle grip. Phantom looked down at the morpher to see that it was themed after a cobra’s head. The hood rising back as curves on the top of the morpher and two gleaming buttons serving as the cobra’s eyes. Two more long curved buttons served as the cobra’s fangs as its jaws gaped wide. The color of the morpher was black. Phantom turned it over to see that it was designed to fasten to her foreleg and stay there comfortably so she did so. The morpher was the size of her hoof and she had no problems attaching it.

Twilight smiled gently at her before leaning in to whisper, “As the team leader it's your responsibility to look after all your teammates. To make sure that none of them are hurting and that they are happy. You are the pillar of strength for the team and without you the team would fall apart. Make sure that you always think of your teammates before yourself and you’ll go far.” Phantom nodded a moment later as she whispered, “Thank you Princess Twilight.”

Twilight carefully moved on over to the next ranger which just so happened to be Sugar Sweet. She nudged one of the morphers right on over to Sugar Sweet. This morpher looked just like a Rabbit’s head. With the nose of the rabbit being a button as well as the beady eyes of the rabbit also being buttons. Two ears curved from the top of the morpher which seemed like they had some hidden function as well. The color of the morpher was yellow. Twilight nodded after Sugar took the morpher and then leaned in to whisper a question, “Do you mind if this old mare gives you some advice?”

Sugar whispers back, “I don’t mind princess.”

Twilight’s motherly smile returned, “Continue to look after your teammates as you already are but try to be just a bit more perceptive of their feelings. Don’t let one individual keep you from your responsibility to the team as a whole. But at the same time hold tight to your loved one and cherish her.” She gave a knowing look between her and Phantom. “For she is the one truly meant for you. It's just a feeling I have but I’m usually right about these things. She will need you quite a lot in the future. And without you she might just well break.”

Sugar nods firmly, “I may be kind and sweet but I do know when to be tight.” she then gives a sweet smile, “But thanks for saying that.”

Twilight nodded as she stood back up to her full height. She then moved on over to the next ranger which was Steel Strength. She looked down with a smile as the highly nervous stallion who was grinding his hoof into the ground in circles. He met her gaze and shivered in fear and nervousness for a moment as Twilight’s magic pushed his own morpher over to him.

He gently takes the morpher from her magic with a tentative hoof. He examines it closely to see that its themed to look like an Ox. The horns of the ox extend from the top of the morpher to look fierce and strong. The ox’s eyes serving as buttons that he can press down. And the fierce expression of the ox showing its teeth with several of the able to be pressed in. The overall color of the morpher was blue. He quietly attached it to his foreleg before looking up at Twilight who leaned her head down to whisper to him.

He asked nervously, “Um what is it Princess Twilight?”

Twilight giggled as she replied, “Nothing that you need to fear or worry over Steel Strength. I simply wanted to say that I admire your strong yet gentle nature. It will serve the team well. Please protect them as best you can and let your kindness shine. That will serve you better than any weapon.” She raised her head as Steel nodded his head several times rapidly.

Twilight then moved to the next ranger which so happened to be the trickster pegasus Glitter Berry. She smiled in a knowing manner as she looked down at Glitter. She moved his morpher over to him which was designed to look like a Monkey’s head. The eyes of the monkey glinting mischievously as they also served as buttons. The nose of the monkey was also a button and it had a grin showing with one more of its teeth serving as a button. The whole thing was colored brown just like a regular Monkey as well.

She smiled as she softly asked him, “Your the prankster and jokester of the team aren’t you?”

Glitter gives a mischievous smile, “You know I am and be sure to watch your back.” He then tilts forward and whispers, “Even Miss Pinkie is watching her own back.” He returns with a giggle.

Twilight giggled lightly at his reply before saying her own piece, “Just make sure that your pranks and jokes don’t go to far. A prank or joke at the wrong time can cause bad feelings to emanate from the team and break apart the cohesion and camaraderie you’ve formed. Jokes and Pranks at the right time can strengthen the team as you lighten their spirits. Promise me that you’ll make sure you never go to far with your joking or pranking.”

“Don’t worry about that your highness I always check to see what jokes are good and which are bad at certain times already. Besides I like to be the one to raise moral of others.” He said with a respectful bow.

Twilight nodded with that motherly smile as she raised herself up again and went to the next to last ranger which was Blazing Fire. She looked Fire over for a moment before her smile widened. She moved Fire’s morpher over to her which was themed to look like a dragon’s head. The eyes of the dragon gleaming and serving as buttons along with two large fangs in its open gaping mouth. The whole thing was colored red as two white horns extended from the head and top of the morpher making it look fearsome. Fire latched the morpher into place eagerly.

Twilight then smiled as she whispered, “You Miss Fire are special. After all you carry the spirit of the fiery dragon within you. Just as I carry the spirit of the phoenix within myself. Let that fire of yours burn bright for yourself and the whole team. Your fire of justice will sweep away all enemies before you and protect your teammates as a whole. But be careful not to let the fire burn to high or hot or you’ll burn your teammates as well.”

Fire nodded her head solemnly, “I promise Princess Twilight. I won’t let you down.” She then grinned happily at the morpher.

Twilight chuckled before raising her head up again and moving to the last of the rangers. The special pony that was a Kirin. She moved his morpher over to him which was shaped like a ram’s head. The horns of the ram curling up on top of the head and over the edge of the morpher. The eyes of the ram serving as the buttons along with its nose. The whole thing was colored green and Twilight moved it over to him and watched him take it before she said, “Yours is a special role among the team. You are the defender. The one who shields his teammates from all harm. Yet I sense that whenever one of your teammates is injured you blame yourself. Tell me why that is please?”

Tourmaline nods, “It’s because I know I could of had done better at defending others. This mentality makes me train when I have the spare time.”

Twilight nodded slowly at Tourmaline’s reply, “That does make sense. Yet there is something else I sense.” She studied him closely for a moment and then looked over Fire and a knowing look crossed her face before she asked, “And how do you feel whenever Fire is injured? Does your heart beat hard in your chest? Afraid that you will lose her?”

Tourmaline doesn’t say anything but gives Twilight a direct look in the eye. Behind his own eyes is that of the well of undying determination.

Twilight’s eyes widen a bit in surprise at the determination she saw deep within him. But after a moment she nodded as she said, “So you’ll do anything to protect her. That’s good. But don’t let it keep you from your duty to your teammates. She may be dear to you but your duty lies with the team and not any one individual. Never let your love for her keep you from your duty. But at the same time I wish you and her a long and happy life together. Know that you have my blessing for your devotion to her.”

Tourmaline nods with a bow, “Thank you your highness.”

Twilight smiled softly as she returned to full height and turned to them all, “Each of you is a wonderful pony and I know you’ll go far as a team. As long as you remember your duty to each other and the team as a whole. So I now pronounce you Defenders of Equestria. I welcome you as the Zodiac Rangers!”

The six of them cheered as they put their hooves together while standing in a circle. They raised them to the sky in a cheer as they shouted, “Go Zodiac Rangers!” And thus the new team was born, joined together by mutual bonds and trust. And with Twilight Sparkles and the other Harmony Rangers to help support them, they would do their best to defend the realm against the darkness that now threatened it.

Author's Note

Hey everyone. This took a bit to do but I'm happy with it. Here you get to see into the lives of the six new rangers and see them receive their morphers. I'm very proud of myself and my fellow author Under_The_Vaile. It took us time to work this out but it turned out well. I wouldn't have been able to do it without him. Go ahead and leave comments on who you think wrote for which character and I'll tell you if your right or wrong. Also credit goes to Sonic Rainboom Dash for helping out with the beginning of this chapter.

Chapter 2: Black Knight's Attack

(Presented by me with help from Under_The_Vaile and Sonic Rainboom Dash)

Zodiac Rangers: Defenders of Equestria

Chapter 2: Black Knight's Attack

It was the day after the Zodiac Rangers had finally received their morphers and they were all out during their own respective things although they were all in pairs with each other. They had concluded the previous day with training under the watchful eye of the Harmony Rangers and Princess Twilight Sparkle. They had improved each in their own way during that day but they had yet to actually use their new morphers. They also sadly had been unable to actually meet Sunset Shimmer as she had been asleep the whole time.

Now Blazing Fire was on duty, walking along a patrol route with Tourmaline by her side. For some reason the previous day he had started to stay by her side for longer periods of time and seemed reluctant to part from her side. Fire briefly glanced at him before finally speaking to break the silence, “You’ve changed Tourmaline. Before, the only times we were together is when we went on dates or at the Spa. Now here you are in your off time following me around when I’m on duty. So the question is what has changed about you?”

Tourmaline replies, “I just have a bad feeling that something will happen, and so we need to be sure to watch each others backs incase if one of us gets taken.”

Fire nodded as she continued to walk along and peered around the area to make sure everything was as it should be. After a moment of looking around she was satisfied and continued to speak, “Oh? Do you think the shadowlings might try to take one of us captive or something?” She seemed unsure about that.

Tourmaline nods, “Its what I feel for I’ve noticed a pattern of where and when that attack and they seem to lead us away from something else.”

Fire frowned as they continued to walk and asked hesitantly, “Do you have a guess as to when and where they will attack next? Any place in particular?”

“The when happens during the day and they attack in areas that has a few shops that sells stuff related to sleep chemicals.” Tourmaline says with a calculated guess.

Fire mulled over the information as she looked around again and started to walk towards an area she knew had stores that sold stuff related to that, “So you think they are planning to use the stuff to kidnap ponies?”

Tourmaline nods, “More than likely though I don’t know who would want that unless… they use dreams as energy.”

Fire frowned as she looked at Tourmaline for a moment, “Dreams as energy? The only being I can think of that used dreams as energy was Nightmare Moon. And there hasn’t been any sign of her ever since Princess Luna was freed. You think she’s finally showing herself again?” She was glad that Princess Luna and Celestia were ruling the country and she was worried about Nightmare Moon returning, “Do you think the Shadowlings could be gathering the ingredients for Nightmare Moon?”

“That is the direction I see this leading down to.” he said with certainty.

Fire frowned as she looked at the stores before glancing to him again, “Think we should stick around this area for a while just in case the Shadowlings appear? We could stop them right when they appear.”

“That might work if we manage to stop them but what's to stop them from doing the same with the other towns and cities.” Tourmaline said worried.

Fire frowned in worry, “I don’t know. The Harmony Rangers could step in if they need to but their powers have weakened dramatically ever since they did the power transfer to us. Still I think it would be best if we stuck around at least for a little bit in case they show up. Right?”

Tourmaline nods and simply stays with his loved one and watches for anything out of the ordinary.

A burst of magic was a sign that something big was about to happen and the trouble alarm was proof enough to warrant Blaze and Tourmaline into action.

In another part of the town Steel Strength was sitting on the ground as he looked up and watched his friend work the weather. Sometimes it was a pain being landbound when his friend worked up in the air. He waited for his friend to finish his current job and swoop down to talk with him. Steel grinned when Glitter Berry came flying down, “Hey man. How’s the job going?”

Glitter lands besides Steel, “Not much other than getting a new weather schedule to keep track of.”

Steel rolled his eyes at Glitter, “Dude you really should get a more interesting job. It's got to be boring just pushing clouds around all day. Why not work at a restaurant or another store? I’m sure the pay would be better than what your getting now working for the weather team.”

Glitter does a fake gasp, “You wound me Steel. You know how much I love the air blowing in my face.” He finished his little joke with a giggle.

Steel chuckled at the joke before he replied in a companionable tone, “Well I guess I never will convince you to leave the weather team. So what do you think of Princess Twilight? She sure is interesting. It looks like she’s been through quite a lot on that other planet.”

Glitter nods, “I have to agree with you there. Though it doesn't surprise me that she had to have been through something. What strikes me as odd, though, is the fact that I don’t recall there ever being a Princess Twilight before she went missing. Not to mention that I recall hearing about a mare who looked similar to our princess went missing around the same time.” He pondered.

Steel rolled his eyes as he replied, “Come on man are you seriously telling me that you forgot what Miss Starlight told us yesterday? She told us that Princess Twilight is that mare that went missing back then.” Steel’s eyes widened in realization, “Wait, that would mean that Princess Twilight is a living legend. None of the ponies that have gone missing lately have ever been found, yet Princess Twilight did! How?! And now that i think of it, How did she get to that other planet and how’d she get back?!”

Glitter nodded as the realizations started kicking in. “Not to mention, her pupil, Sunset Shimmer. How did she find her? From the way Blazing Fire acted when she heard Sunset’s name, she had to have been about nineteen when she went missing, before the actual ponynappings.”

Steel had to take a moment to calm down from his self induced panic. After taking in several deep breaths and letting them out he looked back up at the hovering Glitter, “I don’t know. There are to many unanswered questions at the moment. I suppose we could just ask Princess Twilight herself. She’d answer our questions right?”

Before they could formulate a plan, they felt a huge surge of magic come from the Castle, as well as the alarm warning of an attack.

Silent Phantom was once again doing her job of watching over Fluttershy as she watched from a different observation tree near the cottage. She knew that Sugar Sweet would be able to locate her easily just by her emotions alone. Phantom sighed as she looked out over the cottage and its grounds at all of the animals. She did her best not to disturb them as she had seen what they could do to ponies that ticked them off. Especially that little demon rabbit called, ironically, Angel, who was Fluttershy’s pet. Phantom shivered as she recalled the last time she had crossed the little demon rabbit.

She shook her head as a flashback started to form in her mind’s eye because she needed to stay focused on her mission. She looked around and nodded to herself after seeing that Fluttershy was still tending to her animals with Sugar Sweet’s help. She sighed to herself because babysitting like this was one of the most boring jobs ever. Especially when nothing exciting ever happened around this area.

“Hi!” A bubbly voice shouted behind Phantom, startling her off the branch she was sitting on, “Whatcha doing over here Mrs. guard?” the other menace that Phantom had to deal with at times said.

While Silent Phantom didn’t dislike Pinkie, she really wished that she didn’t have the same ability that Sugar did.

“Aw, don’t be like that. I’m sure Sugar wouldn’t mind if her ability and mine were the same.” Pinkie said after somehow reading her mind. A thought that always terrified her.

What Pinkie had done by scaring Phantom like that, was cause her to not only fall out of the tree but draw her wing blades as well. So she was hovering in the air currently in a defensive position with deadly wing blades at the ready. She had even hissed in fear and anger at being surprised like that. After finally realizing that it was Pinkie she quickly resheathed her wing blades after giving Pinkie an annoyed glare, “Miss Pie please don’t sneak up on me... like… that.”

“Ooh! do these really cut the air you fly in?!” Pinkie interrupted, grabbing the blades without any concern at all, inspecting each and every inch, unaware that her motions were causing her mane to brush the tips of her very ticklish sides.

Phantom ended up falling to the ground out of the air about a foot as she started laughing uncontrollably because of Pinkie’s mane. She rolled around on the ground and out of the way of Pinkie’s mane before finally catching her breath. She stayed still for a moment with her eyes closed as she tried to keep her cool. Her annoyance with Miss Pinkie Pie was slowly rising even if Pinkie Pie was a mentor towards her and the others. She slowly reopened an eye and looked at Pinkie for a moment before finally saying, “Yes Miss Pie. Now may I please have my wing blades back?”

“Hey Phantom! Who are you talking to?” Sugar’s shout caused Phantom to turn her head to see a confused and smirking Sugar.

About to reply Phantom looked back over to Miss Pie, only for her eyes to bug out when only the tree she had fallen from to be the only thing in sight. Silent grumbled under her breath as she went back to observing. “Stupid Pink Ninja. She’s a freaking menace is what she is. Sensei should take training seriously.”

Phantom looked back down at Sugar silently for a moment as she thought about what to say. Finally she sighed and said softly, “I was talking to Miss Pie before she disappeared Sugar.” Of course she knew Sugar wouldn’t be able to even hear her at this distance as she just put her head on her hooves and silently watched them again.

It wasn’t long before a burst of magic from the castle was felt, along with the alarm that indicated trouble started ringing.

Earlier

Starlight was sitting on her seat at the circular table in the middle of one the castle’s many rooms, after being converted from what must have been a storage room. She tapped at the holomap that was produced by the high-tech table before her. She moved it around now and again in a frustrated and bored manner. The table may be great and all but it could only do so much. It had a warning system built into it to tell her when an attack by an enemy was going on and the general area of where the attack was at but never the exact location and number of the enemies. She looked up from looking at a map of the city of Canterlot as Twilight Sparkle entered the room along with her pupil Sunset Shimmer.

She nodded her head to the both of them as she said calmly, “Good day Princess Twilight and Sunset Shimmer. What brings you to see me today?”

Twilight sighed as she was once again called a Princess. She really didn’t like being labeled as one, as many stories she read had the princess always be captured and rescued by an all-around bland character. If she wanted to fall for someone who rescued her, then they would have to have a more than just a winning smile and charm.

“Starlight, was it?” Twilight asked, wanting to get the awkwardness out of the way first. After seeing Starlight nod, Twilight continued. “While i’m don’t mind being called a princess, I would much rather be treated as just another pony. I’ve had to put up with many people trying to kiss my flank as a way to get in my graces.” she said, before turning to Sunset who couldn’t suppress her giggles fast enough, “and you missy, are so going to get it when I can find a way to get back at you for spilling that fact to our friends.”

Starlight rolled her eyes at the two of them as she replied in her calm voice, “As you wish Prin-- er, Twilight.” She then shrugged before looking back at the holomap in frustration again. She was not in the mood to deal with nonsense right now so her voice became clipped and short, “So as I said. What brings you to see me today?”

“Ah, Right,” Twilight nodded sheepishly, “I don’t suppose you’d mind giving Sunset and me a tour of the castle, as this is the first time in the last thousand years i’ve ever stepped foot, er, hoof, in an Equestrian castle again.” she asked, holding her poker face as carefully as she could, hoping her nervousness wasn’t bleeding through.

Starlight sighed and tapped the edge of the table as she stood up from her seat and turned to Twilight, “Yes I can. Its best that we get you used to the area so you know where to find things and can help out just in case the new rangers get themselves into deep trouble and we need to step in. Right this way please.” She motioned with her head to follow her and walked towards another door. She asked in her business voice, “Is there anything other than a tour that you needed to talk with me about?”

As they walked, Twilight’s expression went from that of an outsider returning home, to one of seriousness. “There has been something bugging me ever since i got back.” Twilight said as they finished touring a kitchen, somewhat sluggish after grabbing a bite or ten of hayburgers, “where did this castle come from? The last time i had been on Equestrian soil, this crystal castle was not here before, not to mention the amount of magic needed to infuse the crystal with in the first place would be staggering even for an alicorn.”

Starlight led them out of the kitchen and started to talk in a teacher’s voice as they walked down the hall, “The castle came into being after the other Harmony Rangers and I defeated King Sombra, former emperor of the Crystal Empire. We were in pitched battle against him but unfortunately we just didn’t have the power needed to overcome him and we were forced to retreat. He drove us all the way into the Everfree forest to the Tree of Harmony where we finally discovered the keys to open up a crystal box which contained power within it that let us defeat Sombra. The box contained equipment called battlizers which helped us to fight off Sombra and then eventually defeat him. After the fight our battlizers disappeared and returned to the chest which then took off into the air before landing in the ground where an old library had been. Afterwards it grew into the crystal tree and this castle that you see,” Starlight finished as they turn a corner with a locked door that thwarted all efforts to open. “This door here, as well as one in the basement has remained locked ever since this castle grew. But for now that is a mystery we will hopefully solve one day. Anyway, that concludes the tour princess.”

Starlight waited for a response from Twilight after her tour on something, but no response came. Confused, she turned around and her face turned from confusion to concern as Princess Twilight was just staring at the door. Before she could speak, Twilight started moving, as if in a trance, towards the door. Upon touching a hoof to it, a bright flash filled the hallway, while also triggering the automated distress signal the table in the room they started from was set to send when high levels of magic was felt in an area. When it cleared, Starlight’s jaw dropped at the sight of the locked door no longer locked, but also having a large version of Twilight’s cutie mark emblazoned across it.

Starlight frowned but rolled her eyes as she looked at Twilight and replied in a clipped tone, “I’ll leave you to deal with the door Miss Sparkle. It is very apparent that it is only for you. I have to shut off the alarm and reassure the Zodiac and Harmony Rangers that nothing is wrong.” She turned and quickly trotted off back towards the small room with the command table and left Twilight by the door alongside Sunset Shimmer.

Sunset looked up at Twilight nervously and said, “So what do you think is behind their Princ----er Twilight?” She still didn’t feel that comfortable calling the older alicorn Mother.

“The zords and watchcenter.” Twilight said in an echoey voice. Upon opening the door, three things were apparent that this room was just waiting for Twilight. The first was the throne with her cutie mark emblazoned on the back. The second was the table in the center, showing the entirety of Equestria, along with some of the bordering nations. But the third thing that truly spelt that this room was Twilight’s, Was the artificial baby dragon standing by the table holding a sign that read, “Welcome Home, mom!”

The alarm abruptly shut off in the distance as Starlight could be heard faintly yelling into a microphone at the Harmony Rangers and the Zodiac Rangers who she could tell were heading towards the castle in a hurry. Sunset raised an eyebrow back in that direction before turning back to look at the crystal baby dragon with her other eyebrow raised. It took a moment but finally she she spoke in bewilderment, “What... the buck?”

Twilight herself was too stunned by what she was seeing to scold Sunset, but not stunned enough to prevent her to slap the back of Sunset’s head like the leader of that one show she liked, NCIS. “S-Spike? B-but how?” Twilight asked, before galloping over to the crystal dragon, pulling him into a tight hug.

Sunset had let out a yelp of pain and rubbed the back of her head with a hoof while muttering, “Ow what the buck was that for?” She moved closer to Twilight before stopping as she looked around in wonderment before one of her wings sprung open on her causing her to flip onto her side at the sudden movement. She started to curse up a storm using some colorful language that normally only pony sailors would dare use and it definitely got the attention of Twilight.

“---as soon as I get these wings under control, I’m going to find the pony who said that the Princesses had it easy and buck him right in the, MMPH!” she ranted before finding an entire bathrooms worth of soap lodged in her mouth. Looking around for who did that, Sunset’s eyes fell on Twilight’s, who in turn just narrowed her eyes further. Sunset wisely decided to close her wings, surprisingly easy when properly motivated, and, like a scolded puppy, walked over to Twilight with her head held low, ears pinned back, and tail tucked between her legs. When Sunset reached Twilight’s side, she mumbled “Sorry.” and stayed quiet.

Sunset kept her head lowered for a bit longer before asking in a meek voice, “Um who exactly is that with the banner anyway Twilight? It seems like he recognizes you and you him.”

Before Twilight could reply, Starlight and both the Harmony and Zodiac rangers rushed into the room. “Twilight!” Rainbow Dash shouted, her Wonderbolts jersey glistening with sweat. Once again, before she could get a word out, she was met with a flying tackle, plus pony pile by the rest of her friends, who looked like they hadn’t aged a day.

Though they met yesterday, for most of her friends, the fact just hadn’t sunk in that the friend they thought had sacrificed herself, had in fact returned.

Sunset had luckily avoided the pony pile but it had caused a knee jerk reaction in her due to having been startled one to many times by monsters popping out of nowhere. She had pulled her morpher off the holster on her foreleg and held it at the ready to morph just in case it was needed. She appeared to be very on edge as she looked around and then finally calm down as she set the morpher back into its holster before her anger boiled over again.

“What the buck were you all thinking just- mmph!” once again a bar of soap found its way into sunset’s mouth, though this time by the pink pony smothering Twilight’s face.
Sunset backed up and spat the bar of soap out of her mouth as she glared at the pink pony as her rage boiled higher, “And just who do you think you are? You can’t just go around doing that you blasted bloody twit.” It was rather apparent that Sunset had picked up some curse words from Earth during her tenure there.

“Sunset Shimmer,” A voice cut in to her rant that made the rage evaporate instantly, and her blood freeze as she slowly turned her head to the one who spoke. Twilight was glaring at her from under the pink pony, which by all right’s should have been hilarious, yet Twilight made it look terrifying. “I’m sure I wasn’t hearing you fall back into that attitude you had back in the beginning? Was I? Because if you were then you might just find yourself on ‘The Rack.” Twilight finished with a subtle wink to Pinkie, who had been whispering to Twilight her sneaky prank.

Sunset Shimmer looked at Twilight in fear for a moment before she finally pulled herself together as she looked up at her with a neutral expression. She lowered her eyes for a moment before raising them and finally replying, “Maybe you did and maybe you didn’t. Who’s to say for sure.” With that she turned around and started walking towards the door having had enough of everyone for the moment. Once she was at the door she turned her head back to the still glaring Twilight for a moment even as Sunset’s expression remained neutral. Sunset spoke up again in a curt tone, “I’ll be in my room practicing if you need me Mother.” With that she flipped her wings out in a gesture for a moment somehow doing it without thinking about it before walking out of the room.

At least, that was her plan, however before she could even get two steps out of the room, she was dragged over to Twilight who flipped her over and started raining the worst torture ever devised. And sunset was sure the pony that had invented such torture had met his end to it. Twilight started tickling every single one of her ticklish spots, including some that were new, like under the pits of her new wings. It only got worse when Twilight added her wings to the mix. “So, what were you saying about being a bully again? Hmm?” Twilight said smugly, raising an eyebrow waiting for a response between the laughter.

As this was all going on Silent Phantom was watching from the doorway but now she just snorted as she sighed and made a silent gesture with her wings to her sister to communicate to her that she thought all this was just a load of malarkey. Her sister acknowledged the feeling with her own affirmative wing gesture. Phantom then turned with a sigh and started leaving the area not caring about what was going on anymore. She was more exasperated than anything. Fire followed close behind her as she realized she’d finally have some time to talk with her sister after such a long time apart.

Meanwhile Sunset replied between bouts of laughter, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m not a bully. You heard wrong. You heard wrong.”

Twilight relented as she brought Sunset into a hug and smiled as the realization that she was finally home sunk in. “I’m glad we made it home.” she said.

“Me too, mom. Me too.” Sunset said, to the complete and utter shock to the ponies in the room.

Steel Strength was in awe of the fact that the other new alicorn Sunset was actually Twilight’s daughter even though they really looked nothing alike. Steel frowned but after a moment shrugged as he figured it wasn’t worth the effort to try and question why that was. He turned to his friends and quietly whispered, “I think I’m going to go and just leave them to sort through their feelings. I feel a bit like an intruder at the moment.” With that he too turned and left the area.

Sadly, as the saying goes, all good things must come to an end, as the very next moment the alarm started going off, this time indicating a real emergency instead of the false alarm from earlier. However, before the rangers could leave for the map room, the table that had been largely ignored by the ponies lit up, showing not only where the attack was, but also show a creature that looked like a weird shadowy Pegasus with horns on its head. It was covered in a blue silvery armor that was on the forelegs and chest. With a black plate covering on its back, stomach and hind legs. Its red eyes glared out at them from the table as it laughed while holding a flaming longsword in its grip while it stood on its hind legs. The place it was attacking was close to the barnyard bargains superstore, before the screen that was being projected zoomed in on three fillies. One was an earth pony, with a light yellow coat and an apple read mane and tail. In her mane was a large pink bow. The second pony was a unicorn. She had an eggshell white coat, with a curly pink and purple mane and tail. Finally the last filly was a pegasus pony, holding the remains of a scooter while trying to protect her friends. She had a light orange coat, with a purple mane and tail. One of her wings was also in a cast, having sprained it yesterday trying to once again fly.

As the alarm went off one could heard a loud yell from somewhere in the castle that came from Fire. She was cursing the alarm and the enemy for stopping her from actually having a talk with her sister. The two rapidly appeared with Steel in the room and saw the monster. Their expressions hardened and Phantom nodded to her team, “Come on. We need to get out there now.” She jumped out a window nearby without waiting for a reply with her sister right behind her as they headed right for the scene of the attack. The rest of the team were close behind as the exited through a smaller door in the hallway nearby to a balcony low to the ground that they jumped off of with easy on their own way to the scene of the attack. Sunset Shimmer followed behind them rather quickly just in case she was needed to help these new rangers.

The monster’s name was Black Knight and he laughed as he got closer to the three fillies, “You three will make wonderful additions to the master’s collection.” He held his longsword out in front of him menacingly as he prepared to knock the fillies out and kidnap them. Now as we all know these fillies constitute what is known as the Cutie Mark Crusaders. But there several main differences between these Crusaders and the ones we all know and love.

First off is the fact that Applebloom, the young earth pony filly, was actually the daughter of Applejack and not Applejack’s parents. Applejack had ended up marrying another stallion some time ago but he had sadly passed away in an accident shortly after young Applebloom was born. The second is that Sweetie Belle, the unicorn filly previously mentioned was the daughter of Rarity. Now i know this sounds like a stretch but Rarity did manage to find herself a good well to do stallion that treated her like the Lady she was. He too had passed away but a few years after Sweetie Belle had been born. And the last main difference of course is that Scootaloo, the orange pegasus filly, was not Rainbow Dash’s honorary sister. Rainbow Dash was simply a hero to the orange filly who had heard of and seen a few of Rainbow Dash’s heroic exploits as both a wonderbolt and a Harmony Ranger. She wanted to grow up to be a Ranger in her own right and hoped that in the future there would be some kind of school for that. Other than that she was sadly nothing more than an orphan who lived in the Ponyville orphanage hoping that someone would eventually adopt her.

As it was at the moment the Zodiac Rangers simply didn’t have enough speed or time to make it there before something bad could happen. So the Black Night swung downwards with his black spiked longsword that emanated darkness. It bit deep into the remains of the scooter that Scootaloo was currently holding up in front of her to try and protect herself or her friends. Black Night growled in irritation as his sword pulled the remains of the wooden scooter away from the filly only to realize that it was firmly lodged in the wreckage. Scootaloo glared up at him even as tears poured down her cheeks. She kept her wings spread out in a protective manner in front of her friends as she kept them back up against the wall on the side of the building.

Black Knight growled at the mess of wood on his sword and swung it around with great force until the wood finally dislodged at the sword cut through it. Annoyingly enough for him, the fire on his sword was really only for show which is why the wood had not caught on fire and burned to ash despite it looking like a flaming longsword. He laughed to himself and then turned back to the young fillies who had given him so much trouble. He looked down through his helmet right down at the orange filly who was the boldest of them all and had given him the most trouble, “Hopefully the master will let me punish you for giving me such a hard time.” He reached down with a gauntleted hoof again only to have to quickly bring his sword up in a parrying maneuver as he was forced to stand on his hind legs to use the sword more effectively.

There standing in front of him in a defensive posture while growling was a black unicorn with a red mane and tail. A red cutie mark of a scythe was on his flanks with a couple of musical notes in the background. The unicorn was growled at him, “Stay away from these fillies monster. If you try to go after them again you’ll have to come through me first.” The unicorn’s horn glowed brightly as it tightened its grip on the weapon that Black Night had been forced to parry. The Black Knight finally got a good look at said weapon and growled as he saw it was a huge scythe shaped to look just like Death’s scythe Thanatos.

The Black Knight twirled his longsword in his grip for a moment as he glared at the unicorn, “You’ll pay for your interference unicorn. This is not your business so you should leave before I have to get nasty.”

The unicorn growled, “The name’s Night Shade and I refuse. I’ll protect these fillies with everything I have. Now quit yapping and actually fight you cowardly monster.” He held his scythe at the ready in his magic as he twirled it in the air once and then brought it in front of him in a defensive position.

The Black Knight growled as he replied, “Don’t say I didn’t warn ya unicorn.” He then charged in as his form glowed a bit and a shield appeared on his left foreleg after he switched his longsword to his right hoof. He stayed in the upright bipedal position even as he charged forwards. From there he brought his sword down straight while growling. Night Shade expertly blocked the strike by spinning the scythe just enough so the curved blade came into direct contact with the blade while pushing it off to the side. He then followed this up with a full rotation only to have the scythe blade clang right off of the monster’s shield.

The Black Knight laughed even more as the blade clanged off his shield before he moved in with a series of fast swipes using the long sword. Night Shade had to keep up the rotation of his scythe at a higher speed in order to parry or block all of the swipes that the Black Knight launched at him. He could hear the fillies whimpering behind him in fear as they latched onto each other and tried to make themselves smaller as the watched the fight between the two.

Night Shade scowled and stepped forwards as he decided it was time to take the offensive. He kept up the rotation speed up of the scythe so it was a deadly windmill of flashing steel. The hum from the spinning scythe could be heard as it move in closer to the monster. The Black Knight growled in anger as he held up his shield in front of him and his body jerked and shifted as the scythe repeatedly clanged off his shield even as it scratched and dented said shield. Finally he tilted his shield and lashed out with his foreleg and shoved the spinning scythe to the side.

Night Shade stumbled to the side as his magically held scythe was shoved away from the monster. The pull and tug on his magic caused him to stagger and gave the monster and opening to exploit. The Black Knight rushed in and swung with his shield which connected with the side of Night Shade’s head causing him to freeze in place as his eyes rolled up into the back of his head and he slumped to the ground unconscious. The Black Knight followed this up by grasping the longsword with both of its hooves by the hilt of the blade and pointing the blade point down towards Night Shade in order to finish him off even as the fillies cried out in fear and begged him not too.

Sweetie Belle cried out, “Leave him alone please. We’ll go with you just don’t kill him please.”

Applebloom yelled in fear, “Please don’t. We’ll all come with ya. Just please don’t kill the poor stallion.”

It was Scootaloo alone who said nothing and simply glared at the Black Knight. Her good wing fluttered with a buzz as she stayed in front of her friends. The Black Knight paused as he looked over at them with a malicious smile, “Oh is that so. Well I guess I have a choice to make. Oh I wonder which one I should choose. Oh I know. How about this one.” He continued with the downward thrust only to have the scythe from before come spinning into view and knock his thrust to the side to bury point deep into the ground causing him to growl in anger. How was it possible that his strike had been deflected while the Stallion was unconscious. As he looked around he received his answer.

There approaching at high speed was a group of other ponies and in the middle of the pack was a light amber unicorn who’s horn was glowing. A furious fire burned in her eyes as she glared at the monster. Her horn stopped glowing as she let go of the scythe she was nowhere near proficient at using. She was lucky that her spinning of the scythe had been enough to protect its own. The rest of the ponies ran up and took up a stance in front of the fillies and a few even moved up near him, causing him to back up in surprise, and stand in front of the unconscious stallion.

One of them who appeared to be the leaders stepped forwards ahead of the line. It was a thestral mare whoe glared up at him in anger even as he said in confusion and anger, “What’s all this? Where did you all come from? Get out of my way or your going to regret it.”

The thestral mare hissed back as she spread her wings and her fangs showed, “As if. You’re the one who should back off while he has the chance. This is your only warning to retreat and go back to your scummy master.”

The Black Knight was angered as he roared back, “How dare you try to use my own lines back at me. You’re going to learn first hand why you don’t cross the Black Knight. Shadowlings assemble.” And with a wave of his sword a large amount of small blobs appeared all around him. They looked like living, moving puddles of ink for a moment before each individual puddle coalesced on itself and formed into different shadowy versions of different ponies. The standard type of shadowling seemed to be composed of a non-descript earth pony stallion with no real distinguishing features. All these shadow stallions carried short swords in their mouths as they glared at the group of ponies before them.

The Black Knight looked around at all his minions and laughed darkly, “Hahaha. Do you truly think you can stand before me now. Bow down and I might just spare you!”

The ponies all glared at him in defiance before the still hissing thestral mare looked back at her fellow ponies for a moment before looking forwards again back at him. She hissed out, “Ready guys?”

All of the ponies called back simultaneously minus the amber unicorn who was right next to the fillies, “Ready!”

The thestral mare hissed, “Zodiac Power! Morph On!” and she slammed her right hoof on the left eye of the cobra her morpher stylized. A smooth male voice called out, “Morph on! Standby!” A catchy little tune played out that had the mare standing on her hind legs and twirling around twice clockwise before doing a backflip before she slammed her hoof down on the right eye of her morpher. At the same time she called out, “Unleash the beast!” The male voice called out loudly, “Complete! Armor On!”

A black void seemed to appear around the mare as a symbol of a black cobra appeared in front of her glowing. She stood on her hind legs as this happened and the symbol moved over her. The hood of the symbol encompassed her shoulders and forelegs and the face of the cobra ecompased her chest and barrel while the neck and lower fangs encompassed her hind legs. A black suit formed around her body with the forelegs and shoulders of the suit being stylized with a snake’s scales even as white gloves appeared around her hooves and conformed to them. The scaling began at the cuffs of the gloves and moved to her shoulders. The chest of her suit had the face of the cobra with the eyes glaring from the chest of the suit and the fangs opened and bared on the stomach. A small cape appeared on the back of the suit which flared out behind the mare in an intimidating way. The lower part of the suit had the scaled snake look again as it started from the cuffs of the white boots around her hind hooves and lower leg up to a belt around the middle of the suit which had a belt buckle that looked like a small image of all the chinese zodiac beasts growling outwards at the opponent. There was also a small skirt that extended from the belt downwards to just above the knees of her hind legs.

Finally the morpher on her left foreleg had come loose of its holster and floated in front of her head before facing Black Knight’s direction and then moving backwards even as it glowed and turned into a another cobra symbol. The symbol moved back over the mare’s head and the helmet finally appeared. The visor was black and was shaped to look like the outline of the cobra’s head even as two glass cobra’s eyes were on top above the visor. There was a small flexible covering of the mare’s ears so she could move them around at will while still having them protected. A fine, light flexible metal covering extended out over the mail’s tail from the back of the suit to also allow plenty of movement there while also protecting it. The mare’s mane also extended out of the back of the helmet again covered in the same flexible metal mesh that the ears were covered in and it was all colored black. The morpher reappeared in its holster on her foreleg over top of the glove and part of the suit.

The mare finally struck a pose while still on her hind legs. Her rear legs spread apart a distance and her hooves brought up before her as she looked at the Black Knight sideway with her forelegs facing each other in front of her chest, “With the silent stealth of the cobra! Zodiac Black Ranger!” The mare, who was Silent Phantom stood ready for combat before the Black Knight.

The others followed her lead and slammed the first eye button on each of their respective morphers with their right hooves. As they did this, they called out, “Zodiac Power! Morph On!”. The male voice spoke up from their morphers, “Morph On! Standby!” The catchy tune then played for them as they copied their leader’s dance and after finishing their backflip they slammed their right hooves on the second eye buttons while calling out, “Unleash the Beast!” The male voice spoke up again from their morphers while saying, “Complete! Armor On!”

Their morphs went just the same as their leaders with key differences that helped them to stand apart from their leader. The first and obvious difference was the armors’ colors and animal shapes. Each was themed with the animal their morpher represented with the head of said animal imprinted on the chests of their suits and barrels and the overall symbol of the zodiac rangers showing as a silver belt buckle across their suits to connect the lower portion with the top. And of course each of their suits was colored according to the color of their morphers. The helmets visors’ were each themed with the outline of the beast they represented and the animal’s eyes appeared as crystals right above said visors. And last but not least they each had a small cape attached to the back of their suit that was inspired by the Mystic Force rangers suits courtesy of Twilight. It would seem she just couldn’t kick the habit of the capes for some reason although Silent Phantom was rather annoyed by it. Each of the mares also had the small skirt that moved down from the belt to just above the knees of their hind legs when they stood up bipedally.

Blazing Fire took up a position next to her sister and struck one pose as she started to speak, “With the inner fire of the Dragon! Zodiac Red Ranger!” She struck an intimidating bipedal pose as she finished her chant.

Steel Strength took up his position on Silent Phantom’s other side as he struck his own pose on all fours, “With the strength of the Ox! Zodiac Blue Ranger!” He also took his own bipedal pose in an ox like stance as he finished his chant.

Next up was Sugar Sweet who took up position next to Blazing Fire as she took a pose on all fours, “With the swiftness of the rabbit! Zodiac Yellow Ranger!” She finished up her chant with a cute bipedal bunny like pose.

The next to last to take his position was Tourmaline who took up a position beside Steel Strength while he posed on all fours, “With the iron defense of the Ram! Zodiac Green Ranger!” He finished up his chant with a bipedal pose that was defensive.

The last of the rangers to take their place was Glitter Berry who took up position beside Tourmaline while posing on all fours, “With the agility of the monkey! Zodiac Brown Ranger! “ He finished up his chant with a bipedal monkey like pose.

Together they all put their right fore legs to their chests while standing bipedally and holding their left forelegs straight out in front of them as they chanted, “Beasts of the Zodiac! Champions of Equus! We Are the Zodiac Rangers!” as they finished their chant and got ready for battle, explosions of the color their armor was went off in the distance behind the zodiac rangers. Everypony in the vicinity semi jumped in surprise when the explosions occurred, but otherwise went back to what they were doing, namly watching the Zodiac Rangers beat the tar out of the monster they were facing.

Sunset could only watch them as they finished their first morph. Sadly for Sunset, she was unable to morph herself as her morpher was powerless at the moment. Twilight had been forced to use most of the latent power in Sunset’s morpher in order to help herself construct the new Zodiac Morphers. With time Sunset’s morpher would regain its power but for now it was nothing more than a broken old cell phone like device that was keeping her a pony. Still she was pretty formidable in her regular true form especially now that she herself was an alicorn. She’d be able to use her combat skills to hopefully fight off any enemies that came near her and the fillies. One of the only things she couldn’t do in her new alicorn form was fly as she still hadn’t learned how.

The Black Knight growled as he looked at the rangers and held his sword out in front of him menacingly as his shield stayed on his forearm, “Let’s see if you have what it takes to beat me and my underlings.” He looked around at all the shadowlings around him and then made a forward motion with his sword while yelling, “Attack! Kill them all!” The shadowlings all galloped forwards towards the rangers and the fillies.

Silent Phantom yelled out, “Let’s get them team!” She then rushed forwards towards the enemy and broke into their offensive line as she threw a forward punch with her foreleg and caught one of the shadowlings in the chest sending him flying into two of his comrades. She ducked under a swinging punch from one of the other shadowlings that came at her only to start lashing out with her own punch towards it. The Shadowling saw this and brought its short sword up to guard but she retracted her hoof as she quickly and silently jabbed hard with her other hoof underneath its guard into its chest and sent it flying back just like the first into its own group of comrades.

The rest of the team spange into action when Silent started her charge, the others fighting in various ways. Fire was fighting like a dragon, aggressive, dominant, and with blows that would topple even hundred year old redwoods in a single hit. Steel fought with the strength of the ox bulling his way through his enemies and tossing them to the side with his strikes. Tourmaline fought more defensively as he waited for his opponents to lash out at him and then catching hold of them before throwing them or retaliating with his own punch or kick as he kept them in a hold. Sugar Sweet’s attack pattern was both brutal and efficient, she would dodge with fluidity and then retaliate with lightning fast punches and kicks, before moving to her next target before the first could even feel the attack. Glitter Berry on the other hoof caused the enemies to attack themselves with his quick feet and slight of hoof tactics.

The Black Knight growled in anger as he saw his minions get systematically destroyed by the rangers as the continued to fight his small army. He growled and bypassed the fighting rangers and his minions as he made his way over to Sunset and the fillies. He growled at Sunset, “Out of my way girly and let me at those fillies or your going to regret it.”

Sunset just smirked as she lit up her horn. “Not on your life creep. You look like something the cat dragged in then used as her personal litter box.” She said as she formed a blade of fire from her magic, though unstable due to not yet being used to the additional power her transformation into an alicorn brought.

The Black Knight just laughed at her as he replied, “You actually think that thing can stop me? What a laugh!” He moved closer and swung his sword at her and had it clang against her own magically conjured sword. He grinned as he expertly locked the hilt of the fiery sword with the hilt of his own and moved in closer. He saw Sunset’s eyes widen in surprise as she backed up a bit, but it was already too late for her as he moved in and swung his shield arm. The shield came flying around and hit her hard in the side of the head. The impact knocked her out and caused her morpher to go flying, though before she lost consciousness, she spoke only two words. “Sorry….mom.”

With her morpher no longer in contact with Sunset, she quickly returned back to her human form, though with the clothes she had been wearing tattered and torn. Black Knight was confused when the alicorn in front of him turned into some kind of hairless minotaur, but shrugged it off as he decided to end her before she could become another thorn in his side. Hefting his sword, Black Knight Swung down hard, intending to bring a trophy back to his master, before something stopped the swing in its tracks.

“What?!” he shouted in surprise, seeing another alicorn, this one looking about as old as the celestial sisters, stopping his sword with nothing but her bare hoof. Try as he might, Black Knight could not even budge his sword from the alicorn’s grip. “Who do you think you are to stand in my way girly!” he shouted, still struggling to move his sword.

Just as he was about to swing his shield, he froze. Not because of a spell the alicorn cast, but because of her gaze. For Black Knight, he had seen some truly terrifying creatures that would make even the most hardened warrior flee in terror, heck even his master was terrifying, but this mare made Black Knight want to run home and hide under his pillow with a nightlight on.

“You. Hurt. My. DAUGHTER!!” Twilight Said calmly, though with each word spoken, her mane and tail started to smoke, while her coat went for a lavender, to a bleached bone white. When her mane and tail caught fire, that’s when Black Knight realized, for the first time, that he was not going to win.

The Black Knight backed up a moment truly terrified before he shook his head and growled, “I will not go back to my master empty handed. Out of my way you stupid mare or pay with your life.” He twirled his sword for a moment before lashing out quickly with it in a sideswipe. At the same time his shield moved downwards and clipped the still unconscious Sunset Shimmer in her side and sent her flying to smash into the side of the building next to the fillies thus further injuring her as blood ran from a wound on her head.

As soon as that happened however, To the Black Knight, it looked as if time had stopped, for if this mare in front of him scared him more than his master did just by hurting her daughter, than now he may as well just run while he still has a chance. ‘Forget the fillies, I’m getting out of here!’ he thought, as he looked for his chance to escape.

Phantom was busy lashing out with another quick strike to the chest of yet another shadowling she glanced around to see where the Black Knight was and cried out in surprise to the rest of her teammates, “He got behind us.” She ducked another swing behind her and lashed out with a quick kick which demolished the shadowling behind her before yelling, “Sugar Sweet with me!” She dashed forwards towards the Black Knight even as she heard Sugar Sweet respond with, “Affirmative.” Sugar fluidily ducked a punch from an shadowling before lashing out with a powerful kick from one of her hind legs taking off the shadowling’s head and making it dissipate into shadow smoke before following Phantom.

The Black Knight heard the commotion behind him and backed up away from the smouldering Twilight and started to turn towards the rangers that were coming his way. He was completely unaware of the true danger of doing so as he presented his side to the angry mother alicorn.

Twilight didn’t even blink when she appeared right next to The Black Knight’s side and landed a punch, that not only destroyed the sword and shield in a single hit, but obliterated a large portion of his armor. Sadly, for the Black Knight, the moment Twilight struck, The Ranger’s pounced. ‘I don’t believe it. I failed my master.’ he thought, as he started getting hit with punches, kicks, and other various attacks, all the while looking for a chance to escape.

Phantom was the first to reach him of the rangers and she landed a good quick punch to his chest which was uncovered now since he lost his armor. The Black Knight let out a small grunt in pain but lashed out with his own kick which Phantom barely ducked as Sugar moved in. Sugar jumped into the air and landed a good leaping side kick to his right side before she landed on the ground and watched him stagger back. The Black Knight roared in pain as he lashed out towards her with a fist only to have her duck and she set her forelegs out in front of her just in time to catch his rapid kick which followed.

This gave Phantom the opportunity to rush in and land a series of 4 punches to his chest and stomach as she growled, “Stay away from Sugar you monster!” The punches had quite a lot of force behind him and further forced him back as he cried out in pain. He started to cough up blackish blood as he managed to break Sugar’s grip on him. He then lashed out with a quick kick which connected with Phantom’s side sending her flying through the air to land on the ground with a cry of pain. She was still conscious but just that one blow had enough force behind it to do major damage to her and one could see a gash in her suit which showed a wound in her side which had her breathing quickly and hard.

This pissed Sugar off who launched her own series of rapid fire kicks at the monster who backed out of her reach as quickly as he could. Sugar lost herself to her anger and left a large enough opening for the Black Knight to exploit. He lashed out with two punches of his own. One to her chest and the other to her stomach as she was knocked into the air a bit. The second punch sent her flying through the air to land rolling on the ground and coming to a stop next to Phantom. Only Sugar was unconscious as she finally came to a stop.

Steel Strength saw his teammates go down and finished bulling through his remaining patch of shadowlings with his head down before stopping and turning to look at the Black Knight. He turned and saw Tourmaline finish off his own patch of Shadowlings with a set of defensive punches before turning and nodding to him. Together they both rushed towards the Black Knight even as Glitter Berry finished off his own patch of shadowlings by having the remaining ones cut into each other with their short swords. He rushed to join his team mates even as Blazing Fire turned to see her sister on the ground injured and bleeding. She cried out in fury and with the power of the dragon behind her finished of her patch of Shadowlings to join her teammates.

Black Knight was rather overwhelmed with the 4 rangers coming his way and backed up. He looked around for an escape room and completely froze when he saw the angry alicorn mother was near him again still with great rage in her eyes. Because he froze up the rangers were able to catch up to him with Fire in the lead. She growled, “You’ll pay for hurting my sister.” She lashed out with a hoof as she yelled, “Fire Dragon Claw!” The punch came in like a dragon’s claw and smashed into his chest sliding down it like a claw and sending him flying even as the hoof was engulfed in flames. He smashed into the side of another building with a roar of pain even as the other rangers moved forwards.

Black Knight had mere seconds before the rangers would be upon him, but for once he was glad he had his escape chance. The building he crashed into stored fireworks and other explosive equipment, to which he lit the fuses with what little magic he had left and chucked his helmet out of the ensuing explosion, making the angry alicorn and the ranger teams think he was destroyed.

He quietly slipped away into the shadows outside of the building and back to the dimension where his mysterious master awaited him. Phantom meanwhile was still on the ground nursing her injured side while at the same time trying to drag herself over to the unconscious Sugar. Her teammates quickly arrived back over to her and got both her and Sugar to the local hospital after their morphers deactivated their powers and suits. The nurses ended up having to take them into a secure room where they could start using their healing magic without interruption. Thankfully their injuries weren’t to bad but they’d still have to rest for the remainder of the day and most of the next morning before they would be allowed to leave.

Sunset Shimmer’s injuries were worse but the nurses and doctor of the hospital were able to work on her much easier after Twilight slipped Sunset’s morpher back into its holster. They ended up having to take Sunset into the surgery room in order to operate on her because of some serious internal injuries. Twilight would not be happy with the results of the surgery after they finished with Sunset. They eventually did finish and the doctor handed Twilight the list of her injuries and that most of them were fixed now but that there was one where they’d ended up having to use a spell that would slowly regrow an organ for Sunset. Sunset was moved to the ICU of the hospital where she could be watched closely. Her only visitor would be Twilight.

The fillies themselves were thankfully alright despite the attack and were taken back to their respective places. Applejack and Rarity were both glad that their daughters were safe and unharmed. And the whole orphanage was in awe at Scootaloo and very proud of her. The rest of the rangers ended up heading back to the castle to start a grueling training session after how badly they ended up botching this first fight. Fire herself was beating on herself rather hard for failing her sister and letting her get so injured. She was worried for her unaware that her sister would be just fine in the end. So passed their first real fight as Rangers.

At the Orphanage, one orange pegasus was eyeing the remains of her scooter with sadness, as it had been the last thing her birth mother had given her before she passed, Scootaloo was only four at the time, and her father had died a year before she was born. She would have kept wallowing in her saddened state had not a gentle knock occured on the door.

The matron of the orphanage, Tailwind, a pegasus with the same kindness as Fluttershy, opened the door. “Scootaloo, you have a visitor.” Tailwind said as she opened the door to reveal her visitor. Scootaloo’s eyes widened as her visitor was none other than Princess Sparkle. Scootaloo, who had been miserable from the loss of her scooter, practically jumped at the chance that a princess was visiting her.

“Princess! W-What are you d-doing here? Not that i don’t want you here.” Scootaloo stammered, berating herself for not acting cool around the princess.

Twilight had to stifle a giggle at the filly’s enthusiasm before holding a hoof up to settle the little ball of fur. “It’s quite alright, but the reason i'm here is because i wanted to gift you three things for protecting your friends, even if it was dangerous. The third is optional, though you would be more than welcome.” with that said, Twilight lit her horn up and aimed it at Scootaloo’s scooter, where with widened eyes, scoots watched it begin to reform itself, while also seeming to change from wood, to some kind-of metal alloy. Once the repair was complete, Scootaloo gingerly stepped on it, while at the same time thinking this was just a dream. When it didn’t break, Scootaloo leapt over to the Princess and hugged her, before blushing and making an attempt to stay cool.

“Hehe, It’s alright. Coolness needs to be worked on, as not everypony has it. Now the second and third gift are a pair, the first being asking if you wanted to be able stay with me at the castle, and receive training to better protect what you care about? You can decline and I won’t push, but know that you’ll always be welcome.” Twilight said as she held out her hoof with a strange watch in it. It was none other than a copy of the good old Mighty Morphin Power Rangers wrist communicator. Remade by Twilight so that its frequency was tuned into the command console back at the Crystal Castle so that Scootaloo could call if she needed something or just wanted to talk.

However, twilight had programmed in a hidden program that would only activate if scootaloo accepted receiving training. The first being that it would allow her to activate a shield that would be impervious to all manner of attack, even from below, for 20 seconds, with a minute recharge timer, while the second would give scootaloo her own morph. Not as powerful as a true ranger, but enough that she spar with an un-empowered adult pegasus, as in terms of strength, unicorns were harder to beat thanks to their versatility, pegasi were built for speed, and earth ponies made up for their lack of ability with sheer strength.

Scootaloo looked at the watch for a moment and slowly took it before looking back up at Twilight with a frown of uncertainty. She looked back down at the watch as her good wing buzzed while she thought. Finally she looked back up at Twilight in a serious manner as she replied, “Thank you Princess Twilight for repairing my scooter and for this gift but I don’t feel I’m ready for any training yet. I still have some stuff that I need to work on first. And while It would be cool to live at the castle I just don’t feel comfortable with it. I have friends here at the orphanage I care about and I don’t want to leave them just yet.”

If Scootaloo thought Twilight would be bummed that she was turning down living with her, than her eyes went cross-eyed when she decided to bend down and kiss her forehead in a motherly fashion, before replying. “Hehe, don’t worry about it Scootaloo, but please keep the watch, it will protect you, by letting you get in contact with my friends or the Rangers, and will teleport you to the castle in a dire situation.”

Scootaloo looked up at her with big surprised eyes for a moment before looking back down at the watch. She slipped it onto her foreleg before looking back up at Twilight solemnly and nodding. “Yes Princess Twilight. Thank you.” with that, Scootaloo once again broke her own coolness code and threw herself into hugging Princess Twilight, and for once not caring how ‘uncool’ it looked.

Author's Note

Hey guys. I hope you like this chapter. It took a long time but I feel it was personally worth it. A lot went into make this chapter just right. And I couldn't have done it without help from my two fellow authors. Now just a disclaimer but I don't own anything here except my original power ranger teams and Ocs. The Night Shade OC is not mine. That belongs to my friend ShadowWolf. So I don't have own him or have any credit for him. So with that I hope you enjoyed the chapter and I'd love to see any comments you have.