Author's Note

Kye: "Sorry for the long wait. I had to do a few checks before releasing it."

Journal #4

After the fight comes to an end, they take a moment of rest, especially Arther and the dog woman; who have been moving around to keep the Kuro’s from surrounding their teammates and to stay a distance away from the others, otherwise they would have been dogpiled to death.

The dog girl is a bit miffed as she looks at the direction the monster ran, annoyed that it had gotten away. Taking her attention away from her ire to examine her new sword and outfit but more on her clothes. It looks alright but she didn’t think some of her assets curves sort of sticks out a bit.

"Not bad… I guess." She mutters quietly before looking around to then see Arther who’s taking one last glance around before de-morphing out of his suit with weapons in tow. Seeing this, she thought about how to get herself back to normal only for her new outfit and sword to vanish and revert back to her normal clothes.

"Are you feeling okay after that, kid?" Matthew asks as he walks up to the dog girl.

She looks at him and then frowns at the "kid" part. "I’m alright, and can you stop calling me kid." She says this in a serious tone at the end.

"I would. But I don’t really have any other name to call you to get your attention." Matthew calmly points this out as he taps the end of his pistol on his shoulder.

"Then ask me for my name instead of expecting me to just give it out like candy." She lets out a huff before reluctantly introducing herself. "My name is Kaccy."

"Well then Kaccy, it’s a pleasure to meet you. You can call me Matthew."

At this time, Twilight spoke up, stopping anyone's chance at any further conversation. "Okay, I have so many questions and need answers!"

"Don’t we all, miss. The first from me being, "Why exactly was that monster after you" and the young boy you were protecting?" Matthew asked.

She takes a glance around, realizing that this isn’t a good place to talk. "I think it’s best we go to my place to talk about this." Twilight suggests as Spike had walked out of the tavern and is standing right beside her.

"And I should trust you why?" Matthew asks with an eyebrow raised under his helmet.

"Because none of you clearly like that monster, a-and, I think I’m the only one who knows the most about him." Spike said while also taking a glance at Matthews' suit. "Besides, if you want the best chance of taking him down before he can harm anyone else, it makes sense to be near me. He came after me once, so he’ll likely be after me again."

"So what, we act as your personal bodyguards… What do we get out of this?" Matthew asks, looking between both Spike and Twilight.

Arther places a single hand on his shoulder from behind him, leaning forward to look at him. “Nah gettin' kicked out be a possibility. But then again, they could 'ave the authorities arrest us out o' suspicion. We be strangers aft all.” He says before lightly pat Matthews back with the same hand once before stepping aside from him. “I’ll cooperate wit' ye, as long as ye don’t ask riddles that might shut me mouth out o' personal privacy.”

Arther looks at Matthew and asks. “Well, wha'’s yer choice?”

“Frankly… I don’t like the idea of doing something for nothing.” Matthew responded before pinching the bridge of his nose, letting out a short sigh. “But as much as I hate to say it, the kid is right. He’ll be targeted again and I doubt anyone beyond us can do anything about it when he is.”

Twilight sighs in relief before gesturing for them to follow her. “Then let's go! Before anymore interruptions occur.” Spike and the mare begin to leave as Arther follow along. Matthew at first didn’t move, shaking his head before looking at Kaccy to find that she was nowhere to be seen. Seconds after, he slowly catches up with the group.

Twilight’s group had managed to get to the Golden Oak Library, gesturing to the treehouse and telling them that this is her and Spike’s home. Arther just whistles at this while Matthew for the most part remains silent as they go inside. As they come in, they see the space having lots of bookshelves filled with books. In the back, there seems to be more rooms but they didn’t get to know since they’re led to the chairs around a wooden table which did have a bit of books still there.

Arther went to sit at a chair near the bookshelf, Spike sat where he could see the door, and Matthew remained a distance away from them on the other side of the room, his eyes looking between both Spike and Arther.

Twilight however has gone to the back room and then comes out with many scrolls, books and a bit of writing tools carried in her arms and levitation. Walking up to the table, she placed the items on the table before sitting beside Spike. Stretching her arms for a bit, then quickly organizing the stuff she brought with the help of her magic. “So, who will start first?” Twilight asks everyone as she organizes.

“You don’t get something for nothing.” Matthew said, looking at Twilight. “I’m only here to make sure if that monster comes after you he won’t be able to get the kid easily.”

After a moment later, seeing that no one would start asking, Spike nervously decides to do it. Looking at Arther, he asks. “How exactly do you transform… I know in my comics the rangers had a coin they used but how about you guys?”

Arther thought about this for a sec before pulling out a folded rectangular-ish black device. Flipping the top fold, and then takes out his red super megaforce key(in unfolded position to show the ranger design) and shows both to the drake and Twilight. “Wit' these, the Mobirate Morpher 'n Ranger keys.”

Spike froze at seeing the key, before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a red key of his own. “You mean like this one?”

With the key in display in the drakes claws, Arther's calm demeanor changes once he sees it. “Wha'! That’s a Legendary Ranger Key!” He says in surprise.

Twilight interrupts him. “No, it's one of his toys.”

“I don’t know… it looks pretty close to my key in size.” Matthew points out. “Do you remember where you got that from Kiddo?”

“Well, I found it in a charity shop. They sold it with four others in a section labeled ‘kids toys’;” Spike admitted. “I thought that’s what it was. A rare, limited edition, collectible toy from the comics.. that they priced wrong and hadn’t looked into.”

“I know it's the real deal!” Arther reassures everyone hastily. “Me treasure instincts are kickin' in 'n it’s tellin' me that THAT be the real Legendary Ranger Key!”

“These are… real pieces of Ranger equipment,” Spike asked, looking at the key he holds. “As in… these are usable by you guys!”

“Exactly!” Arther says happily but then calms down. “Sorry, let’s get back t' the questionin', afore we get side-tracked.” He suggests in a calmer tone.

“They're just toys.” Twilight muttered under her breath, shaking her head before recomposing herself. “Anyway. Would you mind telling us what exactly you two are?”

“You’ll need to be more specific?” Matthew asks for clarification while looking out of the window.

Twilight sighs in annoyance. “What are you? Are you both some kind of Minotaur or an unknown creature from inside the Everfree?”

“Neither o' those ma’am. We’re called human 'n we’re nah from around here but we can’t go further into detail, please understand.” Arther says, shooting down both theoretical guesses.

“Houmon, homan, hoo-man.. Human…” Twilight asked while writing things down with the quill on a rollable paper, quickly and accurately writing everything that’s said in the conversation, even noting how the newcomers act and handle the situation. “Can you tell me anything more about your species?”

“Besides wha' ye can see, nah much. Besides us bein' somewhat considered as omnivores, thar’s nah much t' say.” Arther says.

“That means you eat almost anything right?” Spike asked, looking at both Matthew and Arther. “Does that include gemstones like me?”

“Uh no. I reckon that’s a dragon thing.” Arther debunks the drakes' thoughts then adds before they think of it. “'n nah grass either.”

“What about hay?” Twilight asks, looking at Arther with her quill just off the paper.

Arther scratches his head at this. “I don’t reckon so, I’m nah well knowledgeable about that.”

“Okay… so where exactly did you come from if not from here?” Twilight asked, “I mean considering the fact this is only a small island where you can’t have come from that far away.”

“I can’t say fer 'im;” Arther points at Matthew for a moment. “But I was on me ship when I docked three days ago 'n got on land 'n found meself in this town durin' those days.”

“So you have a boat… but can’t tell us where you sailed from to get here? Is there something you're hiding?” Twilight asked her with one eye raised looking at Arther skeptical.

Arther clears his throat a bit before speaking but not pirate speak. “Let me ask you, if you encounter some strangers that you have no idea who they are or their motivations, would you really tell them everything and get yourself being backstabbed later on with them knowing the knowledge or would you rather keep certain things to yourself until you can truly trust them that they wouldn’t flap their lips to the whole world to know?” He asks in a calm tone only to get a moment of no response. Both Twilight and Spike's eyes cast to the ground, neither unable or unwilling to respond to Arther’s statement.

“So you can speak like a normal human being.” Matthew said, moving up to the group.

“Pirate is my main accent, English is a requirement.” Arther gave a small explanation.

“So the language you both speak is called English?” Twilight mutters to herself, taking this as an opportunity to change the topic. Her hands and magic writing it down. “Strange. It sounds identical to Equish. Must be why I can understand you both; even though it's clear we are nothing alike. I wonder if there are any other similarities I am yet to see?”

“Well considering that these keys of yours are like ours there must be some kind of link.” Matthew admitted picking up the key Spike had put on the table, before his head began to throb. Wincing from pain, his free hand pressed against his head as he let out a pain groan.

“Hey, you okay?” Arther asked in concern with plain English.

“I-I’m not sure…” Matthew responds through his pain, strange images flashing in front of his eyes that looked to be some kind of event, but looked to be of two mixed sets. One of a group of people in suits like that of the key he had found standing in a line moving in some kind of pattern, the other being a blurred figure on a fishing boat out at sea, with an older man beside him, their hand on the blurred figure's shoulder.

After a couple more moments of flashing images, it began to settle down. Matthew’s vision started to clear and return to normal while taking a single slow, shaky breath. “I’m okay. I think I’m good.”

“You sure? Not losing your head right?” Arther asks to be sure.

“Apart from seeing strange flashing images as soon as I touched that key. I’m fine..” Matthew responds but then pauses, looking back at the key in his hand with a confused look on his face. “Wait… that's strange.”

“What's strange?” Twilight asked her quill against the paper again.

“The strange images I saw… I think half of them had the figure on this key in them. Well, that one and four other figures in similar suits.”

“Can you describe what you saw?” Twilight asked with an almost excited tone in her voice.

“Five figures… or was it six? Stood in a line before moving their bodies to make them look like they were spiraling out behind the red one. I think I saw them in one case fighting that monster that was attacking us here. But that makes no sense.”

“Do you remember anything about the monster?” Spike asked.

“I think; to them; he was known as Saber Shadow?” Matthew responds. “Beyond that nothing, we don’t already know.”

“And you didn’t tell us all this before now why?” Twilight asked, raising her eyebrow in confusion at Matthew.

“I didn’t know it till now… after touching that key.” Matthew responded.

“So… that key held the information regarding this Shadow Saber monster?” Spike responded looking at Matthew, before turning his head towards Arther. “And you said you use the keys to fight; correct?”

“That’s correct.” Arther says, returning to his pirate accent.

“So… could it be safe to assume that the keys hold some semblance of either the past experiences of the former rangers or is part of the ranger's power themselves.”

“Spike! I already said that your keys are just toys, they wouldn’t hold anything like that!” Twilight argued.

“But upon touching them I did get a feeling of something more and saw what I did… and not until I had contact with the key itself,” Matthew points out. “And even Arther said he could somehow tell they were real.”

“Let me see the key?” Arther asks for the key with one hand out.

“If you're sure.” Matthew responded by handing the key over to Arther without hesitation.

Arther looks it over, muttering a few things like; “It feels jus' right.” then; “Givin' off a sense…” before giving it a sniff before staring at it in thought in total silence, as though he’s trying to pull answers out of the object. “... Yupe. 'tis the real deal 'n nah some plastic toy.” He finally says to everyone.

“Once again. Just because you think they are real does not make them real.” Twilight response. “There is no physical proof that it is more than a plastic toy.”

“So… theoretically. If someone used that and transformed you’d accept that the keys are real?” Spike asked.

“If I saw it happen and actually made one of them change to look like something else. I don’t think there would be much room for me to doubt it.” Twilight says but then adds. “But as I said. It is just a toy. And would not work.”

“Miss, ye know the phrase; “Don’t judge a book by its cover.”?'' Arther says to Twilight before turning his head towards Matthew and gives the key in his hand a short flick. “Ahoy Matt, show 'em wha' I mean.” With a flick, he flings the key to Matthew who catches it.

“I can see what you mean.” Matthew responds, holding his morpher in his free hand, before shouting; “Gokai Change!” going through the standard motions like he normally did to transform. However the name it shouted out was different, the name “ToQger” being heard instead.

Once he had finished transforming, he was covered by a full-body red suit, the only accent being a red and white cross on the chest that led from a circle with the number 1 on over his heart. The helmet looked to have polished metallic train rails over the visor. Above that was what looked to be a small train lamp just above it and a large black circle with the number 1 inside it.

Twilight just looks at Matthew in stun silence, seemingly trying to process what she saw.

“Ye believe us now?” Arther spoke up a minute later, snapping her back to reality.

“Y-Yeah… but how… that thing has been in his room for so long! Why did nothing I have ever sense that there was power like this inside them? It makes no sense!”

Arther lets out a yawn, stretching his arms over his head. “As much as I wants t' answer yer riddles more, I be tired.” He says as he starts to stand up. “Why don’t we continue some other time?”

“But there is so much more I need to know! How does that suit work?! What can it do?! How many keys are there?! Where are they?! How many do you have?!” Twilight began to say frantically, listing off her thoughts out loud.

“Don’t know. Helps us be more durable. Nah sure how many keys are thar. I don’t know but I 'ave a hunch. 'n I 'ave six.. Actually five 'cause someone else has one o' 'em now.” Arther answers in the same pace as Twilight in a calm fashion.

“For that last question… only one.” Matthew responds. “I don’t think I can keep this one.”

“No you can… just sign a comic book in return!” Spike quickly shouted out enthusiastically.

“Okay then.. I have two keys… You better get a comic in question out though.” Matthew said.

“R-Right!” Spike responded as he quickly ran off up a nearby set of stairs.

“Okay then, Twilight, have you seen any other keys like these anywhere else?” Matthew asked, looking at the mare.

“No. Though this isn't the first time I have heard of a ranger team. Just had no idea this whole thing.. was real.” Twilight seems lost in thought slightly.

“Would you mind elaborating on that… What do you know of other teams?” Matthew asked with a curious look in his eyes.

“Just one. In the royal library, there's a story about a team of heroes in colors like you described that used strange magic to defeat monsters. Since none of them were unicorns I thought it was just a tall tale. but likely it was a real story since rangers are real.” She sighs. “Guess Spike was right.”

“I just need to check. Can you confirm any other details about that story?” Matthew asked with a curious look in his eye, as he caught sight of Spike looking down at them from the floor above.

“The only other thing I can remember is that the green ranger was a minotaur. It was a long time ago and I thought it was fiction so I only skimmed it.” Twilight responded.

“Wait, there was some other kind of story that may have been related to rangers, and you never told me!” Spike shouted from above them quickly running down the stairs with an eager look in his eyes. “I want to know everything!”

“Well Spike, since I now have proof rangers are real. I’ll simply borrow the book from the royal library the next time we head to Canterlot.” Twilight gulped. “Though, I don't exactly remember a whole lot of it as I said.”

“So… you're telling me you read the fairytale relating to Nightmare Moon thousands of times cover to cover… but completely ignored another story because it seems unrealistic?” Spike pointed out, raising his eyebrow in confusion.

“Spike, the Nightmare Moon fairytale popped up during a research session. I read the ranger book out of boredom, it never came up in my studies.” Twilight glared a little. “Not exactly the same correlation.”

“Can we; like, hurry up? Not to be rude but I’m tired and want to go back to my ship to get some rest.” Arther asks as politely as he could.

“Awfully eager to leave the kid at risk aren’t you.” Matthew responded with a smirk before returning his attention to Spike as he canceled the transformation. “So do you have the book you wanted me to sign?”

“Y-Yeah. It’s this one.” Spike replies with a shake of his head, placing the comic book on the table as he reaches for a nearby quill to sign the book.

Matthew looks at the front page only to freeze to see a figure in a bright green suit, the figure almost matching what Twilight had described before looking at Arther. “Arther… do the figures on the front of this look familiar to you?” Curious on what he’s talking about, Arther walks back over and looks at the comic cover.

“Oh. If my memory be correct, that's from Mystic Force Rangers.. I reckon thar counterpart was uh… Magikaiger? Or somethin' like that.” He says, scratching his head to remember the Japanese version of the show name.

“It’s strange… I feel like I should have known that form instantly, but instead it’s like a distant thought. Almost everything I think I should know has been a blurry mess for me since I arrived here both that and my past.”

“Maybe some kind of traumatic event occurred to you and you're repressing it. Maybe a bit too far?” Twilight suggests, before pausing in thought. “But why would you forget the image and name of a comic book character?”

“Or maybe it's nothing to do with the ranger itself… I mean you said you got blurred images of two different things when you touched the key I gave you. Could that have something to do with it?” Spike suggests.

“I really don’t know.” Matthew responds with a shake of his head.

Arther looks at Spike and asks a question. “Do ye only needs Matthew t' sign or both o' us?”

“Well… if a full team did sign it… I suppose it would be nice.” Spike thought out, tapping his chin. “Would you be willing to?”

Arther did a hand gesture of ‘slow down’. “Blimey thar! Slow down thar! He 'n I are nah part o' the same crew. I’m, we both turn into the same ranger! 'n, I don’t even 'ave me owns crew! I’m the only one in me crew.” He explains.

“Well if you're the same ranger… wouldn’t it make sense you work together?” Spike pointed out. “Besides; from what I saw, you both seem to work well together as a team.”

Arther sighs at that. “Look, as much as it sounds nice, 'n aye we did fight mighty well together, but we aren’t in the same crew.. Reckon o' it as two teams workin' together.” He tries to explain.

“Hell, I’m not in any crew… or part of anything… I think?” Matthew responds with a hint of doubt clear in his voice. “In fact… I think I’m pretty much alone.”

“See. So ye still wants both o' our signatures knowin' we aren’t in the same crew?” Arther asks once more.

“You're both Power Rangers, that's close enough for me!” Spike replies with a gleeful smile on his face.

Hearing this, Arther opens the page to the back of the front cover and writes his name in graceful cursive signature with a little quote below it in normal text saying; “Never give up, there’s always a Power Ranger inside us all!” before moving it to Matthew.

Matthew just chuckled before moving to write on the comic but then paused, his mind going blank for a moment before simply signing using what he thought was his signature; even that being uncertain in his head before returning the comic back to Spike. “Hope you enjoy it.” Spike simply nodded his head in agreement before sprinting off back up the stairs in glee.

“And now he’s going to try and frame the thing.” Twilight says with a chuckle.

“I assume this happens often?” Matthew asked, looking at her curiously.

“Every time a new comic or toy comes out… especially the replica… what does he call them… Mophers.” Twilight responds. “I’ll try to keep an eye on him and keep him away from any monsters that appear.”

“Hopefully it's just Saber Shadow and those Kuros that should cause you any problem.” Matthew calmly says. “And hopefully someone will handle him before anything bad happens.”

Not wanting to get too into the conversation anymore out of battle exhaustion, Arther speaks up. “Well, gotta go.” Arther said as he leaves this time, closing the door as he steps out.

“Stay with him, make sure you look after the kid.” Matthew responds before leaving the building, leaving Twilight alone who sighs and looks at everything she learned today.

At the opposite side of Promo Town from where Matthew was. The monster, Saber Shadow, who had been terrorizing the citizens, sat on top of a nearby roof. He’s been looking down at the creatures forced to fight, but the scene was unable to put him in a better mood.

“Why are there those things here?! Why were they protecting the coward?! And how Dare they dishonorably fight me in a group instead of alone and use dirty tricks!” The monster shouted angrily only to see one pony in the crowd try to run away.

“Another coward.” The monster muttered in annoyance. “Kuro. deal with it!” Getting a salute from the Kuro, it ran towards the fleeing pony before shooting it. The pony barely gets far before dropping dead on the floor and then being dragged back towards the fighting.

“If I see that cowardly dragon again. I will kill him and anyone else with him before they see me. Especially that mutt, unicorn and those creatures.” He then began to pace forward and back on the roof. “But how do I deal with them, and how do I lure them out?”

He continued pacing for a couple of minutes before looking at the creatures fighting below. A smirk formed on his face. “I could use my toys to deal with them for me, but I need to be able to affect a lot more first.” He added before walking away.

“Kuro. Find me a location with a lot of contestants at once. We have a long night ahead.” The monster says with a grin, all the Kuros saluting him before running off. “And I am going to enjoy every moment of their suffering.”

Saber Shadow continued this multiple times, getting his strength out of fear of his “toys”.

On his sixth batch, he flipped a coin and it hit the ground and affected another group of ponies as a shiver ran down the monster's back. “Now that feels much better. I feel like I could take on those annoying Rangers now!”

Looking at the dueling ponies below him, if he can express it; he would have a sadistic grin on his face watching the entire area filled with fighting ponies. “Just a few more like this and I can force the entire town to follow my orders at all times. I can have them drag that coward and that unicorn to my feet and do as I please with them.”

The monster starts to turn away to look for more victims before hearing a noise from the fighting below him. Turning back to the scene and sees two colored figures running into the fray.

They were both covered in suits however it was very different to that of the Rangers he had faced before, these having two coloured full bodysuits one yellow and the other blue, both looking almost identical. Their entire bodies were covered in a tight form fitting suit that gave the option of them being some kind of spy, though the yellow has longer ends of the upper suit as a skirt. A black gadget shoulder holster around their shoulders from their back, a black belt around the waist with a flat; metallic gray buckle with their icon and matching colored boots. The yellow helmet is engraved to look like a rabbit's head while the blue one has a gorilla and both have lit headlights as eyes.

“There's more of them!” Shadow Saber shouted in anger as he saw the rangers knocking the weapons the ponies were holding from their grasp and knocking them to the floor. “I don’t want to deal with any more of them right now.”

So the monster ran off again, the Ranger's glance along the runaway before the yellow ranger speaks up. “So he’s the one who’s doing this?”

“Seems that way.” The blue figure responds. “We should deal with this lot first and make sure they’re safe before going after him.”

“But do we even know why they are all fighting each other?”

“I would hope our contact here would be able to explain it. It’s just a matter of finding her.”

“Do you even know where she is?” The yellow figure asked as she restrained one of the ponies that had been fighting.

“I think she owns a sweet shop in the town. I have the address for it once we finish with this.”

“Fine. After this is sorted, we find the contact and learn everything.”

“Agreed.” The blue ranger responded as they continued restraining each of the fighting ponies.