The Keys To Victory

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 3

Chapter 1

It's the day after Winter Wishday, and the ponies of Maretime Bay are packing up their decorations, recycling wreaths, boxing lights, and seasonal drinks are taken off menus in every café, restaurant, and food cart. Meanwhile in the Crystal Brighthouse, Sunny Starscout is rummaging through a box in storage. "Oh, where is it? Where could it be?"

"Hey, Sunny." Enter Zipp Storm, crown princess of Zephyr Heights and aspiring private eye. "What're you looking for?"

"The other day, I thought I saw a certain book in my dad's research materials." Sunny explained as she removes an unrelated book. "He used to read it to me, telling stories about creatures ponies used to mingle with."

"What was it called?" Zipp asked.

"I forgot what, but seeing it again made me curious." Sunny puts down a splintered, fork-shaped staff. "Dragons, maybe."

"A book like that'd totally help us understand Sparky!" Zipp perked up as she comes to Sunny's side.

"I found it!" Sunny takes from the box a dusty purple book; its illustration and title replaced by a crumbling picture of vague animalistic shapes. She opens the book, and is met by a foreword. "To the School of Friendship: thank you for being the best the lands beyond Equestria has to offer."

"School of Friendship? There was a school in ancient Equestria that taught just friendship?" Zipp questioned.

"I think it sounds like a lovely school." Sunny smiled before flicking through the book, stopping at the first image she stumbles upon: a fairy-like pony with lacy wings and thin legs. "Breezies: the rarest, tiniest, most adorable creatures in all of Equestria." Sunny read the subtitle. "I've heard of them in all sorts of fairy tales! They're as real as the ancient ponies!"

"I've heard of them, too. It's said that they carry pollen from all over Equestria to their home deep in western Equestria." Zipp corroborated.

"I wonder what other adorable creatures lived with ponies." Sunny was ecstatic when her hoof touched the edge of the page to see the next chapter, but her wide smile suddenly turned into a fearful grimace.

"What in Equestria is that thing?!" Zipp jumped in surprise at the next entry: a hideous, insectoid pony-shaped creature with sharp mandibles and holes strewn across their body.

"Changelings: shapeshifting creatures from hostile lands beyond. Surprisingly friendly and welcoming to ponies." Sunny read unsurely. "Doesn't look like it."

"Pre-Thorax?" Zipp read the subtitle beneath the text. On the next page they flip to, the Changeling illustrated and captioned "Post-Thorax" lacks their fearsome image, looking more ladybug-like with vibrant colours and less orifices.

"It says here, Thorax is their first benevolent ruler after the tyrannical Chrysalis, and were all changed from love-sucking vampires to friendly lovebugs." Sunny read the next passages.

"Shapeshifting? Makes me wonder if there are Changelings among us. You could be a Changeling. I could be a changeling. Bot-Y McBakertons could be a Changeling." Zipp pondered, turning her head to the inactive baking robot in the corner.

"Zipp, if I were a Changeling, I'd tell you." Sunny giggled before flicking through tens of pages.

"Are you looking for a specific creature?" Zipp wondered.

"There was one that stood out to me: the Orthinians." Sunny then lands on a page depicting anthropomorphic birds much larger than ponies. "The Orthinians. First contact with them was when the Guardians of Friendship were captured by Orthinian pirates during one of their many adventures, later befriending them like they always do."

Zipp flips to the next page, seeing sketches of pirate ships flying through clouds, propelled by massive balloons. "They had airships! So cool!"

"Ancient Equestrians used airships, too, but they were never as cool as the ones from Orthinia. They were real pirate ships, with cannons and planks and all the cool pirate stuff!" Sunny got so excited talking about it, she started trotting in place. "I could only imagine how exciting a life like that could be: living so high in the clouds, adventure at every mountain peak, and all the sword-fighting against pillaging scallywags!"

"Sounds dangerous, but when has danger ever been boring?" Zipp shrugged.

Sunny flips through the rest of the book, but something felt odd. Where there should be passages on passages instead are torn paper frills in the book's spine. She flips through back and forth, even checking the index on what's missing. "Almost a third of the book's missing! Even the dragon chapter!"

"Time does that to old books, especially if they're from ancient times." Zipp commented, just as disappointed. "When we get the chance, I'll check the Zephyr Heights archives. I'm sure we have an intact copy."

Suddenly, Izzy Moonbow frantically rushes into the room, panting and sweating. "Sunny! Zipp! You gotta see this!" she blabbered anxiously. "A ship! It's… it's flying in the sky!"

The ponies rush outside to the front yard, joining the concerned Hitch Trailblazer and Pipp Petals pointing her pretty pink phone to the sky. "Izzy said there's a floating ship! Where is it?" Sunny asked them.

"Up there." Hitch hoofs her a pair of binoculars.

Sunny puts the binoculars to her eyes and scans the sky, so far seeing nothing but clouds. "I can't see it."

"It was spotted a few hours ago. I didn't believe it at first, but when the clouds parted, there it was!" Hitch explained.

"I heard those rumours, and, well, you all know how much I looove rumours! They're potential content waiting to happen." Pipp added.

"We saw it here just now! Keep your eyes peeled like a potato." Izzy told Sunny.

Sunny glues her eyes to the binoculars, soon picking up a blurry red shape behind a cloud. Her mouth was agape when she sees the unmistakable bow of a red galleon parting clouds with a sword-shaped figurehead. "A… a ship! A pirate ship!"

Zipp takes the binoculars, and was surprised to see it too. "An airship like in that book…"

"What book?" Hitch asked curiously.

"We read a book that mentioned a race of bird people called Orthinians that lived with ancient ponies. Maybe they've come to visit us!" Sunny giddily answered.

Zipp looks back at the ship again, and sees a plume of smoke trailing from the vessel's aft, and red sails torn to shreds; remains fluttering in the wind. "Or they're in danger and are about to crash!"

"We have to evacuate the coastal district!" Hitch hurried off towards town with a megaphone. "Attention, everypony! There's a flying ship about to crash!"

"C'mon, Pipp. Let's help!" Zipp hurried her sister.

"But I gotta record this!"

"You're an influencer, so influence everyone to run from the crashing sky ship!" Zipp drags Pipp along, following not far behind Hitch and Sparky.

"Izzy, let's combine our magic to minimize the crash! When it's close enough, we'll grab it out of the sky and set it down somewhere." Sunny suggested.

"Aye-aye!" Izzy saluted affirmatively.

Sunny takes a deep breath, then magic aura bursts from her body, granting her a unicorn horn and Pegasus wings. She and Izzy point their horns at the incoming red ship, sparkles flying off their horn tips, followed by magical aura beaming towards the descending ship, shooting their magic at the blade-shaped figurehead. They concentrate to grip the ship, but they severely underestimated its weight, struggling to lift it with their combined power. "Can't… hold… on!" Sunny strained as her face reddens from the effort.

"It's… too… heavy!" Izzy grits her teeth as she uses more magic than ever before.

Both tried their hardest to lift the ship, and with the rest of their strength they toss it to their right, away from the Crystal Brighthouse. Sunny and Izzy watch as the ship hurtles into the land between the Crystal Brighthouse and the town, digging a trench as deep as its hull, stopping a foot or two shy of the Community Garden of Magic. They stare in awe at the ship, relieved it didn't hit anything or anyone, just when their three friends, plus a crying Sparky on Hitch's back, return.

"Sunny, Izzy, are you okay?" Pipp asked them.

"We're fine, Pipp. We managed to redirect it." Sunny assured, panting tiredly.

"You *PANT* wouldn't believe *PANT* how heavy it is!" Izzy exhaled even harder than Sunny, due to her lesser magical strength. "I gotta hit the gym!"

"What was a pirate ship doing in the sky?" Pipp wondered.

"Like Zipp said before: in ancient times, ponies and Orthinians used airships for air travel. This might be one of them." Sunny explained.

"It looks like the ship's balloon is gone. No wonder it was sent crashing down." Zipp noted the ship's condition.

"Nice job slowing it down, you two. If you hadn't done anything, we'd have to move into another lighthouse." Hitch thanked as he puts a pacifier in Sparky's mouth, silencing and calming him down.

"Let's go inside, see if anyone's home." Zipp suggested.

"If there are any survivors. They'll need medical help." Hitch added as he trots towards the ship.

Climbing the deck, they descend a stairwell to the dark lower decks where once-rustic décor is reduced to a wreck; a wooden dining setting crushed to splinters, and a leather couch split open, cotton filling spilling like clouds. "Hellooo! Anypony or anycreature here? We're here to help!" Sunny announced their entrance.

"There must've been an epic battle! If not a couple scallywags or more sword-fighting like in the movies, what else could've caused this?" Zipp noted as she trots around the room.

Izzy zips all over the room, nosily inspecting every nook and cranny when she finds behind the mast column a small wooden treasure chest beside a fallen leather chair. "Yarr! Treasure!"

"Izzy, it's not nice to peek into things that aren't yours. That could belong to the crew." Sunny advised.

"Not even a little peep?"

"Where's the light switch?" Pipp wondered, holding up her recording phone whilst feeling the walls. Her hoof feels a click, and the room is illuminated by fluorescent lights on the ceiling.

Seeing much clearer now, they notice at the other end of the room, mounted above stairs leading deeper into the ship, a cracked monitor sandwiched between two servers, controlled by a standing console in front of said stairs. "I don't recall pirates using computers as advanced as these." Hitch noted.

"Can we be even sure this is even from Orthinia?" Zipp turns to Sunny.

"A lot has changed in Equestria. Maybe they have, too." Sunny shrugged.

"Maybe there's something in here that could clue us in on what went down." Zipp trots to the console and starts pushing buttons, hoping to activate the system.

"You sure you wanna do that? We don't wanna deal with whatever security systems this place has." Hitch cautioned her.

"I think I know what I'm doing." Zipp confidently responded when the console's radar turns on. "Yes!" The rest of the computers come to life, and the main monitor boots up, displaying a strange jolly roger featuring a stylized skull and crossed cutlasses visible for split seconds between static. "Now let's see if I can't…" Zipp types at the console, just when static sound floods their ears.

The sheer volume causes the ponies to cover their ears, and Sparky to drop his pacifier and add his own cries to the noise. "Zipp, what'd you do?! Shut it off!" Pipp demanded.

"I didn't do anything!" Zipp shouted when the immense screech ceased.

They turn to the monitor when it started shifting from the flickering screensaver to a flickering, low-resolution video, similarly distorted by static and data corruption. Whatever was visible in the picture are polished wood floors and yellow wallpaper of the very room the ponies are standing in, and a figure obscured by corruption and static is in focus. "Ahoy! Can ya hear me? Can ya see me?" asked a gruff voice, distorted by audio crackle. "Me name's Cap'n—" the message was interrupted by static. "-If yer seein' this message…" the figure announced before a crispy exhale. "That mean me crew'n I are gone. *STATIC* Got us."

"They didn't make it…" Sunny muttered solemnly, drooping her ears in mourning.

"That don't mean tha end o' this fine vessel! If ye found me ship, then that means there's still hope!" continued the pirate, sounding more confident. "Once, it was tha duty of me crew ta *STATIC* help *STATIC*, an' protect *STATIC* home! Now, it's yer turn!"

Then, the treasure chest Izzy found started to shake and clank, just before five gilded flip phones pop out and fly into the ponies' hooves. "Phones?" Zipp raised her eyebrow.

"I haven't had phones like these since I was a filly." Pipp noted with a similar confused look.

"That there's a *STATIC* it's what we use ta *STATIC* get powered up!" the more video advances, the more it corrupts and glitches. "All ya need ta do is open it up, take—" following this was a long static, longer than the short bursts before. "An' boom! A shiny new suit fer kickin' behind!"

"Did he say shiny new suits?" Pipp looked at her friends in confusion.

Again, the treasure chest besides Izzy rattles. "Duck!" Izzy slams herself to the floor when five multicoloured lights zip from the trunk and into the ponies' hooves.

A green light lands atop Izzy's hoof, which dissipates to reveal a figurine of a muscular bipedal creature with a black butterfly-shaped marking on its face. "A doll?"

To Zipp, a blue light gently drifts onto her wing to reveal a similar trinket. She examines it closely, finding a key pattern at the back. "Dolls with keys?"

Pipp too receives a pink figurine in her hoof; its facial marking resembling a heart. "Aw, these are totes cute! But I still dunno what they are."

Hitch is granted a figurine as yellow as his coat, which Sparky almost puts in his mouth. "No, Sparky, it's not for you." Hitch re-takes the trinket, his confused eyes locked on it. "I guess it's for me."

Finally, a red light orbits around Sunny before resting atop her new phone as a red figurine. "This must be new magic we've never seen before!" Sunny realized before turning to the screen.

"I trust ye can do yer best with me powers. Only tha most noblest o' hearts can wield 'em."

"We won't let you down, captain!" Sunny saluted to the screen.

"And please… take care of the bird, will ya? Cap'n out." And with that, the message ends, rather violently as the screen explodes.

"We've got an entire pirate ship!" Izzy celebrated. "Bit of a fixer-upper, but nothing good-ol' unicycling can fix!"

"The captain mentioned someone defeated his crew. They might still be around to finish the job." Hitch added.

"It's up to us to avenge him, then." Sunny declared before looking at the mysterious phone and trinket given to her. "If only we knew how."

"I'll try to restore the databanks. Maybe then—" Zipp suggested when the boat rocks from an explosion outside.

They rush outside to find ponies fleeing from the Houvre, red lasers flying out windows and doors, and the east wing just blew up. “We’re under attack!” Hitch screamed before they rush into the building. As fleeing ponies pass them by, the team notices something is wrong with the exhibits. Many of the still life and landscape art remained intact, but the ones with ponies on them, their subjects are replaced by tall, bipedal, flat-faced creatures alien to ponykind.

“What happened to the art? Did somepony replace them?” Izzy worriedly looked back-and-forth at the halls.

“What are they?” Pipp added.

Wanting some explanation, Zipp picks out a random pony from the fleeing crowd with her wing. “Hey, Rufus, right? What happened here? What did you see?”

"R-r-r-robots!"

"Robots?"

They're all thrown back into focus when a single laser blasts the ground, allowing Rufus to continue fleeing. From the smoke and dust, square lights approach the ponies, moving like soldiers in an army before revealing themselves as silver bipedal robots; heads like glowing computer screens and armed with plug-tipped staves. They stand in attention and split formation, making way for a pair of glowing green eyes within the smoke.

"Get ready, everypony. We don't know what we're up against." Sunny advised her team as they get into a defensive position.

The green blips steps closer to the edge of the smoke; each step a quake shaking the ground beneath, whittling at the ponies' confidence. What emerges is a bipedal robot of similar design to its minions that it towers over, only with bulkier armour; copper gears embedded in every plate, and a massive cylindrical head vaguely resembling one of the creatures depicted in the replaced paintings, painted beige with green dreadlock-shaped cables, covered with a metal beanie, a light-up smile, and ivy-green eyes peering at the ponies. "'Sup, man! I'm new in town, so I decided to drop by and meet the neighbours, man!" the robot greeted them with a friendly laid-back manner betraying its menacing construction.

"Do you greet all your neighbours by blowing up everything you see?" Pipp confronts the robot.

"As sheriff of Maretime Bay, I won't let anything threaten our home. Especially not robot invaders." Hitch stepped forward.

"Same goes for us!" Izzy skipped beside Hitch.

"Maretime Bay's a home to all, but not those who won't play nice with others." Zipp declared.

"I don't know who you are, or what you want, but this is your only warning: turn around or else." Sunny threatened.

"Or what, man? You're just little ponies, man."

"Or we'll use these!" Izzy flashes her new phone into the robot's face. The moment the light hits the golden plating, the minions are taken aback.

Their leader clenches its fist and slightly closes its shutter-eyelids, as if sneering. "Guess my job isn't done yet, man." The robot spoke with a less-jovial, more serious tone. "Attack, man!"

The minions swing their plug-staves at the ponies, but they scramble out of the way; Hitch taking extra care to get Sparky to safety by curling his body around the baby dragon. Zipp was the first to throw hooves at the minions' faces, knocking out their keyboard-teeth. Izzy charges the minions horn-first, repelling them with her levitation magic like they were opposite magnetic charges, throwing them into surrounding brickwork. Despite not being a fighter, Pipp did her best to combat the robots by flying above their heads to goad them into bumping into each other.

Hitch, meanwhile, is dodging the minions' attacks in an effort to get Sparky to a safe place when he trips and knocks the side of a trash bin from which his old deputy Sprout stumbles out of. "Hey, get your own hiding place!" Sprout growled.

"Sprout, great to see ya! Can you do me a favour and take Sparky as far away from danger as possible?" Hitch hurriedly hands Sparky to Sprout before galloping back into the fray.

"Hey, what—?!" Sprout shouted back before a plug-staff flies past his face and embeds into a wall, crackling with electricity. "Okay, green baby, let's go somewhere safe!" Sprout immediately picks up the slack and escapes.

Still wanting to figure out the phones, Sunny opens her new phone, seeing the standard cell phone layout and a wallpaper of two swords. "He said open it up, and take something. Take what? Maybe if I punch in numbers…"

When a minion comes up behind her, Hitch bucks it through a window. "Sunny, focus on the fight!"

"If we can figure these things out, we might have a better chance!" Sunny responded, slamming her hooves on the numpad, but getting no output.

"We're doing fine on our own! Nothing can beat our—!" Hitch confidently declared before Pipp crashes into him. "Ow."

The leader steps up towards Hitch and dusts off his claws. "Whaddya know, man? Pigs really do fly in this world, man!"

"Hey, that's my sister you're talking about!" Zipp screamed as she throttles towards the robot leader like a missile. The robot leader catches her by the muzzle and smashes her down into the pavement.

"Stay down, girl, man."

"What the heck does 'man' even mean?!" Zipp growls as she struggles to free herself from the robot's grip.

As the leader forces her down, Izzy swats him away with an undressed Wishday tree, pinning it against the giftshop. "No, you stay down!"

The tree violently explodes into flaming splinters, and the robot leader emerges covered in fire, which it simply wipes off as if it was mud on clothes. "That all you got, man? I've trimmed bushes hardier than that, man."

"Sunny, did you find how to unlock the phones' powers yet? I don't think we can take on laser vision!" Izzy asked her.

"Nothing! The furthest I got was opening some snake game!" Sunny answered, showing her a simple game of a black, pixelated snake chasing pixellated dots.

"Unlock…?" Zipp mumbled as she looks at the key behind her figurine. She opens her gilded phone and finds instead of a direction pad is a key slot. From there, everything clicks into place. "Those figurines from the chest, they're the literal key to the phones!" Zipp demonstrated by flipping the figure's legs onto the upper body, transforming it into a large key.

The rest of her friends turn their figurines into keys, amazed at this feature. "And then they go in here…" Sunny figured out as she gazes at the keyhole.

"Oh no, you don't, man!" the robot leader shouted as he sprints towards the heroes.

"Let's not waste time! Let's go, everypony!" Sunny declared before everypony lines up in the robot's path; keys extended to their foe. They open their phones and insert the keys, unfolding the screen into a Jolly Roger and unleashing colourful, magical crosses that slice through the robot minions and trip the leader over before flying back towards the ponies. "Ah!" Pipp squeaked when everyone ducks and the crosses hit them, covering them in multicoloured lights.

Instantaneously, tight black spandex suits manifest on their bodies marked with the stylized Jolly Roger on the chest and flank, followed by jackets matching their keys’ colours, golden sashes with rectangular buckles, and finally colour-matching helmets resembling those on the figurine-keys, sculpted to resemble pirate hats marked with their Jolly Roger. Sunny was the first to notice this wardrobe change, feeling her smooth, hard helmet and pulling on her jacket collar. “Whaaa…?!”

"Shiny suits! Just like the computer pirate said!" Izzy hops in place giddily, now wearing a green jacket and helmet.

With her powder compact, Pipp looks at herself and inspects the smallest details of her pretty pink jacket. "Oooh, is that real gold trim? Whoever these pirates were, they had it good!"

"Hm. Snazzy and practical. Just how I like it." Hitch pops his yellow collar and pats the top of his helmet.

"This has gotta be some form of magic we don't know yet! When we survive this battle, I'll need to pop these things open!" Zipp looked at her blue self in amazement.

The minions and their leader recover from the flash, and stare at the ponies in disbelief. "I thought I destroyed those powers, man! Now these ponies have them, man? Aw, man!"

"I seriously don't know what you're doing here, but we won't stand by and let you do whatever you're doing! With these powers, we'll avenge the pirates and carry on their mission of protecting our home!" Sunset Shimmer declared to the robots in defiance.

At that moment, red-gripped cutlasses manifest before the ponies. "Real pirate swords! Awesome!" Izzy cheered as she telekinetically grabs her sword.

"Yeah, I can work with this." Zipp said as she grabs hers with her wing feathers.

"Everypony, chaaarge!" Sunny rallies her friends as they take their new powers into battle against the machines.

As they gallop towards their foes, a bird-shaped shadow watches the brawl with glowing yellow eyes from atop a marble statue bathed in dust and smoke. "Amateurs."

To be continued…

Chapter 2

Hitch swings his blade at three robots, only for them to easily cage the sword within their staves’ prongs before driving it into the ground, allowing them to dogpile him. He struggles for a moment, but with newfound strength, he carries the entire bot-pile on his back and bucks them into a wall. “Where’d all this juice come from? I gained more strength than I did working out for six months!”

Sunny also tries to cut down as many robots as she could, but struggled to keep balanced while fighting on three hooves. Then, hearing a subtle change in the wind behind her, she cocks her head to the left as an aura-coated blade zooms past her from behind. “Super reflexes and super strength! These suits give us superpowers! If I wasn’t wearing this, goodbye head!” She sighed in relief when Izzy comes up to her.

“You mean like this?” Izzy asked as the flying blade cleanly bisects a robot’s head.

“Uh, yeah, like that.” Sunny stuttered, freaked out by Izzy’s accuracy.

Pipp bats her sword at the robots aimlessly; grazing them at most when she does hit and pathetically cuts down a precious piece of art when she doesn’t. “How do I use this thing?! I never took fencing classes!”

Then Zipp flies in with her blade strapped to her wings and twirls, chopping up the robot squad like a blender. “Consider this your first lesson, sis. Just thread your remiges through the grip.”

“What’s a rem- Zipp, watch out!” Pipp points to robots leaping up behind her sister.

In the blink of an eye, Zipp takes her sister’s sword, straps it to her other wing, and spins herself up, dicing three robots like a blender. “Just like that.”

The robots stop charging them and begin to defensively wall-up before their leader, charging up their staves and blasting electricity at the ponies. “Hit the deck!” Sunny shouted before they all hide behind statues and pillars, holding their breath as arcs narrowly blast the floors and walls around them.

“Anypony got ideas on how to get outta this?” Zipp asked her friends.

“Check your pockets or belts! Maybe the pirates have more tricks up their sleeves.” Sunny suggested as she feels up her new suit.

As Izzy rummaged through her arsenal, she finds a red stick marked with a silver Jolly Roger and a funnel at the end. “Ooh, I wonder what this does!” she levitates it over her shoulder, pointing towards the robots. Her magic pulls on every facet of the stick before pulling a trigger which causes a laser to blast from the funnel and strike the robots, creating an opening in the firing squad.

Everypony was awestruck at what they saw when Izzy pulls back the stick to show everypony. “Izzy…” Sunny stuttered. “That’s a—”

“A laser! I have a laser!” Izzy bounced in place giddily at this discovery. “Wait ‘til Sprout sees this!”

“I think he’d rather not.” Hitch gulped.

“If she has a laser, then we all do!” Sunny realized as she takes out her own laser blaster, followed by the rest of the team.

“Izzy, how’d you use this?” Hitch asked her as he fumbles it in his hooves.

“There’s a tiny little lever thing down here that makes the laser!” Izzy answered.

“I’m starting to think these weapons aren’t made with pony-ergonomics in mind. Our hooves can barely fit!” Pipp noted.

“Don’t worry, just leave it to me!” Izzy said before taking everyone’s blasters from their holsters and jumping back into the line of fire. “Hey, idiot boxes! Eat laser!” forming all five blasters in a circle, she spins them up to spraying blue bolts in rapid succession, hitting both the robots, cancelling their electric attacks, but unfortunately some stray blasts destroy nearby artworks.

“Izzy, don’t be so careless!” Sunny screamed.

“You’re breaking more things than the robots did!” Hitch added.

Barely hearing her friends behind her, Izzy stops and turns around to them. “What was that?” she lent her ear to them, turning away from the army.

Seeing an opening, a group of robot pile into a phalanx formation using their own number as shields. They charge immediately to blindside Izzy.

“Izzy! Watch out!” Zipp shouted, pointing behind her friend.

“Huh?” Izzy turns around to blast the phalanx, but were too late when they crash into her, swallowing her into the box. “Grr… move it! Move- ow! Aaah!” Inside, they cram her tightly with their legs kicking and wrapping her in before prodding her with high-intensity zaps from their staves.

The other ponies listen as their friend screams and yelps with every zap from within the pile of robots, each horrid sound accompanied by a quick flash of yellow light. “Oh my gosh! I can’t take it anymore!” Pipp whimpered.

“Get away from Izzy!” Sunny screamed before emerging from the team’s hiding place to charge towards the phalanx.

“Don’t worry, Izzy! We’re coming!” Hitch shouts before galloping towards the robots.

The two earth ponies wind up their hindlegs and kick a hole in the shell, sending robots flying. As the robots catch air, the pegasi chop them to bits. When they find Izzy surging with electricity, Sunny and Hitch pry the staves out of the robots’ hands before using their own weapons to zap them.

“Thanks, you two.” Izzy thanked them as Sunny helps her up.

“Fire, man!” shouted the robot leader before his army resumes the surge attack on the ponies.

Izzy quickly builds a wall made of the robots they busted up to protect her friends and herself from incoming surges. When the surges land, the wall thankfully protected them, although with each jolt a robot in the wall is briefly jumpstarted before dying down. “Why don’t we give these guys a taste of their own medicine?” Izzy smugly suggested to her friends as the glittery aura keeping the wall together intensifies.

With a massive blast of magic, Izzy rockets the wall towards the army, and the robots could do nothing but uselessly zap it. “Whoa, look at the time, man! I gotta dash, man!” the robot leader then scurries off, narrowly escaping Izzy’s wrath when the wall strikes his army and explodes into robot parts.

“Oh, no you don’t!” Sunny dashes after the leader, hopping atop the heads of the surviving robots just to reach him, even bucking one when it tries to grab her. Just when she was about to close in, she bumps into Posey. “Posey, what are you doing here?! I thought you evacuated!”

“Who are you? Why are you messing up my art gallery?!” Posey screamed. “If I don’t get answers, I’m calling the sheriff!”

“Posey, it’s me: Su—” then, the robot leader grabs Posey by the neck and lifts her up high.

“Aw, score, man! She looks soft, man! I wonder if she can survive a squish test, man!” the robot leader taunted as he puts his other hand on Posey’s scalp, ready to squash her.

“Let her go, robot!” Sunny demanded as she brandishes her laser blaster.

“How about you step aside, or I’ll do something you’ll regret, man.”

“Do what it says! Do what it says! I can’t go out like this!” Posey panicked.

“I won’t let you get hurt, Posey! I’m putting my weapons down.” Sunny backs away, lowering both blade and blaster onto the floor. “Now, let her go.”

“Sure thing, man. Go long, man!” the robot leader then tosses far behind Sunny like a baseball, throttling her with all his strength.

“Posey!” Sunny screamed to the terrified Posey before hearing a high-pitched whistle behind her. To her horror, the robot leader’s eyes radiate green light before shooting a beam at Posey, right as she is caught by a red curtain that shrouds her when she falls to the floor.

Just as they finished off whatever brawl they were in, the rest of Sunny’s friends witness this horrifying development and gather at Posey’s cloaked body. “Is… is she okay?” Pipp whimpered.

“Smell ya later, man!” the robot leader taunted before disappearing into a hole in the wall, followed by what’s left of his army.

In her frustration, Zipp takes off her helmet and throws it at the robots, only to miss and hit a vase. The rest of the team remove their helmets and stare at the fallen velvet curtain. “Hitch, whatever happens, call somepony for Posey.” Sunny requested to the sheriff solemnly.

“The hospital or the morgue?” Hitch gulped, fearing the worst.

Izzy magically throws the curtains off Posey, and they were all shocked at what was underneath. Instead of a yellow mare lying unconscious, it was… some strange yellow creature unfamiliar to ponykind. Its body was larger than even two ponies; slender legs and a set of upper limbs terminating in five digits, an alien appendage to ponies, and a flat-faced head closely resembling Posey in that it has her long, tied-up pink mane. The creature is also wearing not only Posey’s flower necklace, but also a pink boho dress with frilly trim and her Cutie Mark on the skirt’s bottom left.

“Uh, uh, w-what is that?!” Pipp panicked.

“Where’s Posey?!” Zipp added

After Sunny laid eyes on this alien creature, she looks back to the altered portraits, recognizing the creature as kin to the subjects of the paintings. “That robot didn’t vandalize the art, it changed them with its beam! This is Posey!” she realized.

Izzy curiously lifts Posey’s let upper limb, wiggling it to let the terminating digits flop around to her amusement. “This is a weird-looking hoof. It’s got thin thingies!”

“I think they’re called hands. Other creatures like Orthinians and Minotaurs had them.” Sunny explained.

“Minotaurs were real?” Pipp raised her eyebrow.

“Hey, everypony! I’m back!” announced Sprout as he trots in with Sparky on his back. “As you can see, your scaly green baby is safe and sound, thanks to me.” He greeted them as he presents the baby dragon to them. “Nice digs, by the way. Where’d you get them?” he admires their suits for a moment just when the altered Posey groggily wakes up.

“What the… what in Equestria happ…?” Posey sits up with her hand on her head, then realizes she has a hand, then raises her other; eyes dilating in shock.

“Aaah!” Sprout screams at Posey at the top of his lungs.

“Aaah!” Posey, too, screams back at Sprout before raising her fingers to her face.

“Aaah!” Sprout screams at her fingers.

“Aaah!” Posey screams back as her fingers wiggle around.

“AAAH!” with one more huff, they both scream at each other’s’ faces at the same time before they both faint onto the floor.

Sparky leaps off Sprout’s body and waddles back into Hitch’s loving embrace. “What… what even is she now?” Hitch wondered as he stares at Posey while comforting Sparky.

“A human.” answered a scratchy, high-pitched voice behind the team. Turning around, they find a bird’s shadow flap towards them before perching atop a vacant pedestal, revealing itself as a brass robot parrot with golden trim and yellow orbs for eyes.

“Ah! Another robot!” Izzy squeaked before firing her blaster, only for the bird to quickly zip from where it stood. “Hey, hey! I’m not with them!” the robot squawked as it dodges her blasts.

“Wait, I think it’s telling the truth! Look at its collar!” Sunny points to the robot parrot’s neck, where the ship’s unique Jolly Roger is pressed onto a gold circle. “You must be the bird the captain mentioned!”

“Well, you don’t see any other pirate birds around, do ya?” The Bird perches back onto the pedestal once Izzy holsters her blaster. “As far as I know, I’m the last member of that ship you trespassed in.”

“Thank hoofness, somepony- I mean, someone who knows what’s going on.” Zipp wipes her brow in relief.

“Before I can explain, we need to get them medical attention.” The Bird advised as it turns its head to the now-human Posey and the unconscious Sprout.

At the hospital, doctors tend to Posey’s unconscious body on a bed too small for her new frame; legs and arms hanging off the edges. “How is she, doctor?” Sunny asked one of the attending physicians.

“She’s stable… I think. Her anatomy is vastly different from ponies, but we’re able to adapt our equipment to it as best we could. It seems like she’s in complete shock from whatever transformed her into… this.” The doctor informed them.

“And Sprout?” Hitch eyes his friend lying on the bed beside Posey.

“He’s also in shock, but plain emotional shock. He’ll wake up soon, but we can’t say the same for Posey.”

“Thank you, doctor. We’ll try to find a way to reverse her condition.” Sunny assured.

“I hope you do. This is way beyond our field of knowledge.” The doctor sighed as the ponies leave the room, and into the hallway.

“What a mess we got ourselves into.” Hitch sighed.

“We handled a giant robo-pony, out-of-control plants, and unifying ponykind, but fighting an entire robot army? That’s waaay past our skillset!” Sunny groaned.

“Let’s find that robot bird. It said it’ll explain everything after we take Posey to the hospital.” Zipp said before their superpowered flip phones ring simultaneously.

Hitch tries to find his, but notices Sparky chewing on it and takes it from his mouth.

They all pick up, and receive a call from The Bird. “How is the victim?”

“She’s fine, just sleeping for a while.” Hitch answered.

“You owe us an explanation, or rather, several.” Zipp demanded.

“First off: what is she? You called her a human, but I’ve never heard of such a creature.” Sunny asked.

“And where were you when the ship crashed? The captain mentioned a bird, but you weren’t there.” Zipp added.

“And why do sky pirates put their superpowers in phones, really old flip phones?” Pipp wondered.

“Come to the ship. I’ll explain everything there, everything you need to know, at least.” The Bird answered before dropping the call.

“The sooner we finish this, the sooner we can turn Posey normal again.” Sunny told her friends before they trot away.

Unaware to them, somepony is spying them from the shadows, or rather within a laundry cart: Misty; minion of the dark Alicorn Opaline. “Opaline, did you get all that?” she whispers into her spying amulet.

“Indeed.” Answered Opaline’s eager voice emanating from the amulet.

At the ship, the ponies and Sparky climb from the top deck to see that The Bird is picking up the furniture back in their places with strength betraying its small size, from an overturned sofa to a fallen cabinet. “Woah, he’s strong for a little bird.” Hitch commented on The Bird pushing the sofa against the wall.

“Ahoy, birdie!” Izzy announced their arrival.

“Please don’t call me birdie.” The Bird sighed as it perches atop the treasure chest beside the mast column. “Take a seat. This is gonna be a lot to take in.”

The ponies gather around The Bird, sitting on the couch and armchairs in the corner. “Let’s introduce ourselves. My name is Sunny Starscout. I’m a humble smoothie vendor born and raised here in Maretime Bay.” Sunny extended her hoof to The Bird.

“Don’t sell yourself short, Miss New Alicorn.” Zipp chuckled at her humbleness. “I’m Zipp, princess of Zephyr Heights and amateur private investigator.”

“And I’m her sister Pipp: the number one influencer in Equestria. My ats are—”

“I’m Izzy, master unicycler! Give me trash, and I’ll turn it into treasure!”

“Sheriff Hitch Trailblazer, at your service.” Then he presents Sparky to The Bird. “And this is Sparky Sparkeroni, my little dragon buddy.”

“Do you have a name?” Sunny asked The Bird.

“That’s not important. All you need to know about me is that I’m not a pet, I’m this ship’s first mate and navigator. You will respect me as such.” The Bird commanded them with a tone to match.

“How did a ship like this end up here?” Hitch asked.

“And what’s a human? That creature that Posey turned into? Why and how could that robot do that to her?” Zipp added.

“This ship was crewed by brave sailors who travel from planet-to-planet, helping people, fighting bad guys, and correcting injustices.” The Bird began to explain.

“So, they’re superheroes? Oh, I’ve always wanted to be a superhero!” Hitch twitches giddily in his seat.

“Among the planets that reached their protection was a world called Earth populated by humans: a form of evolved primate with similar cultures to you ponies, minus all the magic.”

“Primates? You’re telling us the robot turned Posey into a monkey?” Zipp said in disbelief.

“I’d more equate them to chimps.”

“But why? I don’t get it.”

“That robot is a World; a super soldier from the Tojitendo Dynasty of Kikaitopia: a world where robots are dominant. Tojitendo have the technology to compartmentalize worlds to empower their army, giving them abilities based on conceptual constants present in those respective worlds.” The Bird explained.

“The what Dynasty of huh-Topia? Constants?” Izzy repeated, trying to understand what The Bird’s saying.

The Bird lets out an impatient, annoyed groan. “If they capture a world where mushrooms are the main thing there, then the robot will have mushroom powers.” The Bird elaborated in a bored tone.

“Oooh, sounds delish!” Izzy’s eyes sparkled at such a thought.

“You mean we’re looking at a robot alien invasion? Like Trotformers kinda robot alien invasion?!” Pipp asked in shock.

“Relax, their empire was defeated years ago. The World you fought was a rogue hold-out. Without orders, it’s doing what it’s doing because it was programmed to do so.” The Bird assured.

“If your team was experienced as you say they were, how did Human World defeat them?” Sunny inquired.

Upon hearing that, The Bird didn’t answer first, just lower its head slightly. “We thought we were prepared against a World. We fought scallywags bigger and badder more times than a human has fingers, but we didn’t know what this world would do to us.” The Bird’s tone growing more solemn. “The moment we entered Equestria, the crew turned into ponies aside from me. They tried fighting the World as ponies, but they flopped hard just like you did. Because of that, they easily blew us out of the sky.” Then, he produces a scorched eyepatch from behind him, holding it with his beak. “As far as I know, I’m the only survivor.”

“I’m sorry what happened to your team.” Izzy shared her grief.

“We promise we’ll carry on their duty in their stead.” Sunny declared proudly.

“Since there’s five of you, discounting your scaly baby, I need the silver phone back.” The Bird extended its metal wings to them.

“There’s a silver phone? We only found five.” Hitch questioned as he presents his own phone.

“It’s all we found when the ship crashed. You mean there’s more?” Sunny added.

“There were six phones; one silver with a big display. You didn’t see it?”

“Nope!” Izzy answered with her usual idle smile.

“Oh, this is bad!” The Bird panicked. “We’re going out there to find that phone! If someone unsavoury finds it, who knows what they’ll do with it!”

At Opaline’s castle, she and Misty review the recording of the heroes’ conversation at the hospital through a magical screen in the centre of the throne room, rewinding just after they trot away into the hall. “Humans. I’ve only heard of such beings from Twilight Sparkle’s secret texts. She described them as beings not naturally adept in magic, but can be in the right circumstances. When they are, their prowess can rival, or even exceed that of ponies!” Opaline said with an air of curiosity. “If I can get my hands on that walking, talking machine that turns ponies into humans and then empower them, I can raise an army to take what’s mine!”

“And you want me to find it?” Misty asked meekly.

“Of course! Get to it, before those powered ponies do!” Opaline demanded.

“That won’t be necessary.” Said a gruff, Spanish-accented voice from behind Opaline.

“Who dares infiltrate my castle?!” Opaline growls as she ignites her horn.

Emerging from the dark corners of the room is a tall, imposing creature standing on two feet, clad in leathery red-and-black armour decorated with gold skulls, wearing a red beak-mask and a bicorne-like helmet; red eyes peering towards Opaline. It wasn’t like the humans they saw before, more like a large, predatory bird. “I mean ya no harm, yer excellency.”

“Your excellency? I’m starting to tolerate you.” Opaline smirked, impressed at this creature’s demeanour. “Who are you, and what do you want from me?” she asked sternly, still unimpressed by the stranger’s menacing getup.

“My name needs no introducing to a fine mare such as yourself. I approach ye with a proposition. I want them phones those little ponies found themselves with, an’ fer that I need yer help.”

“I don’t care much for doing dirty work, and I don’t believe Misty is capable of such a task.” Opaline scowled.

“Oh, I believe she can with this. Sally, bring him in.” the pirate side-steps out of the way of the door to reveal a grey monkey wearing jagged armour and navy pantaloons escorting into the room the same robot that attacked the Houvre.

“Woah, nice digs, man.” The robot amusingly looks around the arcane tower’s interior, impressed by her magical trinkets. Then, it turns its attention to a crystal ball on the other side of the room. “Woah, a crystal ball, man! My neighbour had a crystal ball, man!” it proceeds to amuse itself by waving its hands over the crystal ball.

“I see, so you were responsible for sending this machine to terrify the ponies. If I had a minion half as menacing, I’d use them any chance I’d get.” Opaline smirked before side-eying Misty with an unimpressed look.

“For yer services, I offer this magnificent contraption: Human World! Not only is it a formidable opponent with its army of Kudakks, but as you might’ve seen in his demonstration, he can transmute ponies, and pony-adjacent things, into humans in the blink of an eye!” the pirate pitched the robot’s functions like a salesman.

“Hmmm…” Opaline hummed in thought, rubbing her chin with the back of her hoof. “I—”

“But wait! There’s more!” the pirate blurted as soon as Opaline’s breath left her lungs. “I’ll loan ya yer very own transformation cell phone! Perfect fer fightin’ them pirates everypony’s talkin’ ‘bout!”

Waddling towards Opaline, Sally presents a gilded bar-type cell phone which the alicorn telekinetically grabs and examines it. “You had power like theirs already? Why not use it yourself?” Opaline asked.

“Why do it yerself when ye can make someone else do it?” the pirate chuckled.

Further impressed by his philosophy, Opaline chuckles along with him. “I think this is the beginning of a beautiful…” she struggled to find the right words for this situation.

“Friendship?” Misty suggested.

“Partnership.” Opaline coldly corrected before holding her hoof to the pirate.

“Then we have a deal.” The pirate takes Opaline’s hoof and gives it a few gentle shakes.

After the friendly exchange, Opaline glances at Misty, still frightened by this development. “Why don’t you give me an in-pony demonstration? Just to make sure he’s not broken.”

“It’d be me pleasure.” The pirate said before kicking Human World’s butt towards Misty.

“Alright, man! I got the idea, man.” Human World grumbled before laying eyes on Misty; his green glow intensifying.

“Wait! Wait! I need to emotionally prepare for this! You saw what he did to Posey!” Misty pleaded to everyone else in the room, just before being restrained by Opaline’s magic.

“Is that any way to treat a new friend?” Opaline mockingly suggested to Misty before forcing her to look straight into the robot’s eyes. “Now say hi.”

Misty breaks into a sweat as her heart pounds, staring at the robot before nothing but a bright green flash fills her eyes.

To be continued…

Chapter 4

“You had more keys?” Sunny asked The Bird as the new key rests in her hoof.

“What does it do? Give us a new suit?” Zipp also asked.

“The Ranger Keys hold the power of heroes past and future. By using them, you wield their powers as your own.” The Bird explained. “For example, this one grants the power of dinosaurs, as do its compatriots.”

“Woah… an entire genealogy of heroes in our hooves…” Hitch basked in the Ranger Key’s presence, as does Sparky.

“How many have you been keeping from us? Where were these before when we needed them?!” Zipp interrogated in frustration.

“As part of an ‘all hands lost’ contingency, I disconnected the relay point between more than a hundred keys and your suits to prevent the full extent of these powers from being misused.” The Bird explained.

“Why didn’t you reconnect when we picked them up?!” Zipp asked, getting more exasperated.

“I needed to make sure you knew what you were getting into before I reconnected them.” The Bird explained.

“They really would’ve come in handy just now.” Pipp groaned.

“If it weren’t for this contingency, we probably wouldn’t have survived Miss Silver’s attack.” Sunny defended the decision.

“No kidding.” The Bird nodded. “The Ranger Keys Silver wields are of heroes more powerful alone than five united. We were lucky that our Silver never turned his back on us.”

“We need a plan to get the phone back before we beat Human World.” Zipp declared.

“I got one: beat the shine outta Miss Silver!” Izzy viciously suggested.

“No, Izz. She must be some poor pony Human World forced to serve him. I know we can free her of his control without hurting her… somehow…” Sunny postulated.

“Let’s not waste more time! Training is a go!” Hitch declared.

The team build an obstacle course in the abandoned Canterlogic factory floor with net climbs, stair ramps, dummies, and balance beams among others. “There we go: one academy-standard obstacle course.” Hitch exhaled as he and Sparky wipe sweat off their brows.

“Where’s the swinging logs? The goo vat? The hoops?!” Izzy whined.

“Those aren’t academy-standard… and sound extremely unsafe.” Hitch cringed at such a build.

“May I have everypony’s attention?” The Bird called to them atop a console.

“Go to The Bird, Sparky. I’ll come to you when we’re done.” Hitch told Sparky, who waddles to The Bird’s side.

“Before we start, I must warn you that the powers you are about to use are technology and powers well beyond your own magical world’s knowledge. Be careful and you’re your time. Without further ado, It’s—"

“Go, go, Power ponies!” Sunny shouted before transforming. “Red Pony!”

“Skirates, set sail!” Zipp shouted before transforming. “Sky Blue!”

“Oooh! Are we picking superhero catchphrases? I got one! Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of fun!” Izzy shouts before transforming. “Green Pony!

“Wait, I got one, too! Captain Force, let’s go!” Hitch shouted before transforming. “Captain Yellow!

“Eh, might as well.” Pipp shrugged acceptedly. “The Power of Pink!” Pipp transforms, posing with fluffy wings flicked outwards like a swan.

“Your roll calls are fantastic, everypony! But we gotta streamline it as a group.” Sunny suggested.

“Ahem.” The Bird clears its throats for the ponies to refocus.

The golden buckles on their sashes flip open to produce keys of diamond-chested heroes in each ponies’ respective colours, except for Izzy, who gets a black key. “Black? Don’t they have a Green guy?” Izzy asked The Bird.

“More or less, but there’s always a Red.” The Bird answered.

The ponies insert the keys in their phones, shooting lightning bolt-shaped emblems above their heads before merging with them, transforming them into heroes with white diamonds on their chests and unique animalistic helmets with mouthplates sculpted like lips.

Pipp looks at herself with her phone’s selfie mode. “Huh? What am I? Some dragon-bird?”

“Hitch, your helmet’s a cat!” Zipp pointed.

“And yours is… I dunno what it is.” Hitch awkwardly points to Zipp’s helmet.

“Oooh! Can we breathe fire because we have lips?” Izzy roars at a dummy, expecting fire to spew out, but nothing happened.

“They’re just as powerful as your base forms, but unlike your base powerset, they have powerful weapons unique to each member. Go try ‘em out.” The Bird answered.

Everypony’s battle saddles pull out their weapons and brandish them before their faces. Pipp has a bow-and-arrow, Izzy gains a massive battleaxe, Hitch twirls around twin daggers, Zipp wields a two-headed trident, and Sunny extends a sword with baroque patterns along its flat side.

“Cool…” Sunny runs her hoof along the sword’s length before flicking it at a dummy, shooting an energy slash that cleaves it. “Even cooler!”

“I wanna try!” Izzy hops onto the stair ramp and swings her axe haphazardly before getting it stuck in the railing. She tries prying it out before a portion of the axe slides down to the bottom-end of the grip, causing a laser to shoot and obliterate another dummy. “It’s a laser, too?!” she pulls it out of the railing before aiming the laser-end to the other dummies, turning them to ash one-by-one.

“These weapons are dual-function!” Zipp realized before splitting her trident into twin sais. “Mine has a ninja mode!”

“Hmm… then maybe…” inspired by Zipp’s attempt, Hitch tries to join his daggers, but find no connection points. He shrugs before throwing them at two dummies between the eyes.

Pipp flies to higher ground above a climbing wall before slowly nocking an arrow, aiming for a dummy. “Steady… steady…” she whispered to herself before Izzy sneaks up behind.

“You got a bow! Ranged buddies!” Izzy blurted to Pipp’s surprise, causing her to let go of the arrow, exploding the dummy on impact.

“Izzy, you made me lose concentration!” Pipp nudged her friend.

“Don’t worry, my battle saddles are one-hundred-percent accurate no matter what!”

“One-hundred-percent?” Pipp repeated.

“With a five-percent margin of error.” Izzy added nervously.

“Well, this wasn’t too bad. We didn’t blow up.” Sunny sheathes her weapon.

“This is just the start. As years went on, heroes got more and more powerful facing greater risks; my team being the near-ultimate culmination of these powers.” The Bird continued. “Onto the next generation of dino-heroes!”

The ponies’ belts deploy Ranger Keys similar in theme to the previous, but with golden footprint emblems on their chests, and Izzy and Pipp are given Black and White keys.

“For this team, along with enhanced weaponry, they have power-ups that bring you to another level of battle!”

“Power-ups on top of power-ups?! Count me in!” Izzy excitedly inserts her Black Ranger Key, unleashing a golden claw insignia that transforms her into a hero with gold diamond patterns along her limbs, and a helmet with a short mohawk-crest and a jagged-edged visor lined with gold teeth. “Roooaaar!” the helmet distends the visor as if it were an actual maw.

“Cool! The last ones didn’t do that!” Sunny admired Izzy’s roaring helmet before the others followed. Sunny, Hitch, and Zipp transform into colour-matching heroes with white diamonds along their legs, and Pipp into a white hero with black diamonds along her legs and a very menacing jagged red visor.

“To power up, you just have to bring out your inner dinosaur, show the enemy you’ve got guts! Dino-Guts!” The Bird encouraged them.

“You heard The Bird! Let’s roar!” Sunny rallied her friends.

“Roooaaar!” They let out their loudest roars, causing spikes to sprout from the diamonds on their arms, while Hitch gained draconic wings under his battle saddle.

“Hitch, you have wings!” Zipp pointed.

“Cool! Now I’m a real dragon dad!” Hitch cheered as Sparky claps from a safe distance.

The Bird pulls a lever, activating robotic assembly arms to move the dummies around and deploy Pegasi dummies swinging from the ceiling. “Moving targets! This is better than the academy!” Hitch exclaimed before spreading his wings to engage the flying dummies. He chases down the dummies on their set track and instinctively screams, unleashing a sonic screech that causes them to implode. “I never knew flying could be so fun!” he cheered before a blue dash outpaces him.

“Welcome to my world, sheriff!” Zipp teased before snipping a dummy’s cable with her spikes.

Everypony slashes dummies to pieces with their bony spikes like butter, and Izzy had the idea to throw herself at the dummies and curl into a spike ball, impaling upwards of six dummies onto her body. Out of all of them, Sunny was the fastest in this form, speeding circles around the course. “Whew! That was intense Let’s take a break before moving to the next!” Sunny powers down before her friends and takes a cocoa thermos from her satchel she put aside.

Hitch lands and powers down before a very excited Sparky jumping and clapping for his dad. “Didja see me, Sparky? I was flying like a dragon!”

“More like a Pegasus foal.” Zipp teased as she powers down. “If you’d like lessons, W.I.N.G.S. is still open to new inductees.”

“I’ll take you up on that offer.” Hitch giggled.

Pouring out cocoa for everypony, Sunny sits down beside The Bird’s console. “Well, what do you think now? Are we ready, or are we ready?” she asked confidently.

“Not too bad. My team were fast learners, too. They had to be when the universe they lived in was that dangerous.” The Bird admitted. “Hey… sorry if I came off as harsh. I don’t trust easily, not after what I’ve been through in my adventures. I always thought to keep things as little as names to myself.”

“I understand. When we united ponykind after moons and moons of animosity, it still months for trust to form. Gaining trust can be slow, and doesn’t happen overnight, but it’ll get there. I hope we’ll earn your trust, too.” Sunny responded to The Bird, sounding as kind and sincere as always. “You haven’t told us your name. Do you trust us enough for us to hear it?”

The Bird opened its mouth hesitantly with a few awkward jitters. “I guess… now’s a good a time as any. My… name is—”

“Everypony! Look at this!” Pipp called her friends as she waves her smartphone. They gather around Pipp to watch a news broadcast from Zephyr Heights of motocross-riding and roller-skating Kudakks tearing up the streets as Human World fires volleys of arrows at Pegasi, turning them human.

“They’ve hit Zephyr Heights!” Zipp exclaimed.

“Motorcycles? Skates? Arrows? Where are they getting this stuff?!” Hitch clutched his head.

The footage ends when Miss Silver zipped towards the camera on roller skates and impales it, cutting the feed.

“Training’s over, ponies! We’re back in action.” Sunny declared.

“The Mare Stream’ll get us there quick!” Izzy suggested.

“Actually, I have a better idea…” The Bird rubs its wings in anticipation.

At the Royal Palace, guards evacuate citizens into the grand foyer as Human World’s forces rampage in the city below. “Move! Move! We’ll hold ‘em off!” Zoom shouted to the citizens, fanning her wings towards the palace doors.

“Cloudpuff! Where are you?!” Queen Haven shouted.

“Something’s approaching!” another guard alerted everypony. Zoom looks into the distance to see a young green man wearing Romanesque banded armour covered in burns shambling towards them carrying a white fluffball.

“It’s me… Thunder!” the man waved his arm as he approaches the door before collapsing from exhaustion.

“Thunder! Oh, what did he do to you, partner?” Zoom cried at Thunder’s side as he falls asleep. Squeezing from under him, Cloudpuff skitters to Queen Haven’s side.

“Oh, Cloudpuff! I’m so glad you’re… oh, oh no…” she looks at his side to find his wings missing. “Cloudpuff! Where are your wings?! What did he do to you?!” she cried, hugging the unconcerned Cloudpuff tight to her chest.

Human World arrives, skating on bedazzled roller skates and wearing a blue skating helmet with yellow horseshoe decals. “Nice pad, man! You having a party, man? I love parties, man!” Human World approaches the palace as the guards close the doors behind everypony. When the doors lock shut, Human World snaps his fingers to summon Kudakks in medieval archery gear. “Fire, man!” the Kudakks launch their arrows into the doors, electrifying it. “Again, man! Fi—" then, a shadow casts over him from the side.

The Kudakks lower their bows, looking to a massive blade cutting through the clouds, signalling the arrival of the red sky ship flying as if the air was the ocean. The ponies in the palace watch in awe at such a sight, regaining a fragment of hope they needed. The ship fires its cannons at the Kudakks and Human World, knocking them off the platform down to the city. The Kudakks were crushed on impact, while Human World just barely survived as he landed in a fountain.

Swinging from the sky ship on grappling hooks, the five ponies leap into action. “Didn’t think we’d be here on time, did ya?” Sunny taunted, raising a smug eyebrow.

“You… you ponies, man… You Rangers, man!” Human World grumbled as he stands up. “I’ve had it up to here with you… you Pony Rangers, man!”

“Pony Rangers… I like the sound of that” Sunny rubbed her chin before taking out her transformation phone. “Get ready, everypony! Just like we practiced on the way!”

“Ready!” they thrust forward their transformation phones and insert their Ranger Keys, engulfing them in light and unleashing energy crosses towards Human World, who expertly dodges each one before they swing back to merge with the ponies.

“Red Sun!” Sunny flicks her collar.

“Yellow Blazer!” Hitch tips his helmet upwards.

“Green Bow!” Izzy hopped in place.

“Blue Storm!” Zipp spins with wings outstretched.

“Pink Petals!” Pipp fans out her wings.

“Go, go, Pony Rangers!” they shouted as fireworks go off behind them.

From the Skyship aft, The Bird and Sparky watch the events unfolding in anticipation. “They’re really re-branding everything, huh?” The Bird commented judgementally. “As long as they live through this, they can call themselves whatever.”

“Aren’t you missing a member, man?” Human World points at the heroes.

Miss Silver skates in from behind with her blaster extended, jumping and kicking the side of Sunny’s head before landing at Human World’s side, twirling its blaster into trident mode.

“Miss Silver!” Sunny shouted as she picks back up her blaster. “I don’t know what Human World did to make you do this, but I promise you, we’ll help you break free!”

Without another word, motocross-Kudakks arrive to encircle the Pony Rangers. “Like the upgrades, man? It’s thanks to something called the ‘infinite potential of humanity,’ man. I guess that means I can do and make all sorts of stuff, man.”

“Won’t be infinite when we toss you into the scrap heap!” Izzy shouted.

The Pony Rangers engage these Kudakks, slashing and shooting as they practiced. Taking advantage of their air superiority, Zipp and Pipp shoot Kudakks from above while dodging plug-tipped arrows. Izzy picks up an intact motorcycle and revs its engines, participating in vehicular robo-slaughter as she blasts and runs over Kudakks while popping wheelies. Hitch stomps on the ground and summons hungry carnivorous plants bursting through pavement to grab the biking Kudakks and consume them. Sunny fights through the Kudakks towards Human World, only to be intercepted by Miss Silver swinging her trident onto her head, but is blocked by Sunny crossing her blaster and saber before parrying.

“Please, listen to us!” Sunny pleaded to Miss Silver. “What did Human World do? Threaten your family? Promise to turn you back? Whatever it is, we can help instead of him!”

Miss Silver wordlessly refuses by blasting Sunny, who dodges each shot with her enhanced agility. The rest of Sunny’s friends come to her side to face off against Miss Silver. “We might not be as ready as the heroes before us were, or even the heroes before then… but we still have the courage and will to fight on as they did!” Sunny declared.

The Pony Rangers take random Ranger Keys from their sashes and insert them into their phones before emblems of all sorts merge with the ponies. Sunny transforms into the first dino hero; Hitch a yellow-black suit with an “S.P.D.” badge and sirens on the side of his H-visor helmet; Izzy a gold-trim cape and a helmet with a bull-shaped visor; Zipp a blue-silver riding suit, a “GB” badge, and a helmet with small headlights and blue sunglasses-shaped visor; and Pipp a suit with a diagonal yellow zig-zag pattern on her chest, and a ceratopsian helmet with a visor covering her face and a silver mouthplate on her muzzle.

“What, man?!” Human World shrieked in surprise before turning to Miss Silver. “Hey, how come you can’t do that, man?! Turn into another Ranger, man!”

Miss Silver presses a button on her golden belt to deploy a Ranger Key, but no matter how many times she mashes the button, it wouldn’t come out. Human World slaps her back as he comes to her side.

“If you ain’t gonna work alone, I might as well join you, man.” Human World grumbled as he readies his bow.

“Ponies, let’s make this winter legendary!” Sunny declared, brandishing her winged sword.

Sunny locks her blade with Miss Silver’s trident as they engage in a swordfight. As their blades clash a shower of sparks with every hit, Hitch blasts Miss Silver’s open side with a needle-thin blaster, who endures the blasts before a white robot dog bearing the same badge as Hitch jumps out of nowhere and chomps on her neck, distracting her enough for Sunny to charge her blade and throw her backwards.

“Where’d that robot dog come from?” Sunny wondered.

“Dunno, but I think it’s on our side.” Hitch suggested as the dog comes to his side and sits to be petted. “Aren’t you, little guy? Aren’t you~!”

Miss Silver stands and fires at Sunny, who swings her sword to launch an energy crescent to cut through the blaster bolts towards Miss Silver, only to be batted into a billboard, cleaving it in half.

Sunny looks at Miss Silver preparing to attack when her collar short-circuits, briefly causing her to jolt. “Huh? Wha—” Miss Silver muttered before the collar again sparks, and she returns to duty.

“Hitch! The collar! Aim for the collar!” Sunny commanded.

“Ten-four!” Hitch saluted. Miss Silver flings her trident at Hitch, who extends a white “S.P.D.” radio from his belt. “S.W.A.T. Mode!” he opens the radio like a police badge, granting him black body armour and a massive rifle blaster. He charges up the blaster and fires a massive yellow energy ball, throwing the trident off-course and precisely striking Miss Silver’s collar, destroying it while leaving her unharmed.

Miss Silver falls to her knees and powers her down to reveal herself as Misty, who appeared to have just woken up. “Huh? Where am I?” Misty groaned as she awakens and clutches her head.

“Misty? You were Miss Silver the entire time?” Hitch said in surprise.

Misty widens her eyes as she realizes what happened, surprised to find herself in Zephyr Heights. “Sunny! It’s not what it looks like!” Misty blabbers in a panic before Sunny suddenly hugs her.

“Don’t worry, Misty. The robot can’t control you anymore, you’re safe.” Sunny assured Misty, who slowly embraces her. “Everyone’s evacuated to the palace. Can you walk?”

Misty stands up, although difficult to keep herself balanced since her skinny legs are shivering from this sudden weight shift and the cold. “Uh, yeah, I think I can.”

“Please, make your way there safely.” Sunny requested. “Oh, that fancy-looking gold phone you have; could you return it to us?”

That was the one thing Misty remembers from this ordeal, meekly removing from her pocket the sixth phone. “Is this it?” she feigned ignorance as she hesitantly hands it to Sunny.

“Thank you, Misty. We’ll take it from here.” Sunny assured her before Misty flees.

Human World shoots arrows at the Pegasi circling above like vultures, taking shots from Zipp and Pipp firing lasers from a camera-shaped blaster and a yellow-and-black double-barrelled blaster shaped like a dinosaur head. Frustrated, Human World throws a wrecked motorcycle at Zipp, who pulls out a pair of binoculars that flip out into a sword, slicing it in half. “Seriously? Throwing stuff? For an advanced robot from another world, you sure are thinking primitive!” Zipp mocked him.

“Yeah, like, don’t you have a beam that can take our wings away, or something?” Pipp added salt to the wound, amping up the sassiness in her tone.

“Why don’t I—” Suddenly, a white rocket with green flames strikes Human World’s abdomen, throttling him through five skyscrapers before pinning him against the Z.B.S. Headquarters.

Dazed, he looks up to see Izzy riding the rocket like a motorcycle. “Like my new ride? Came with the suit, and this wand!” Izzy presents a wand with an M-shaped crest tipped with a bull-shaped crystal.

Human World tries to blast his humanizing beam, but she casually summons a mirror to reflect it back into his eyes to blind him. “I can’t see, man! I can’t see, man!” Human World cries as he thrashes around.

Izzy backs up, letting Human World fall nearly a hundred stories into the ground. The Pony Rangers gather around the crater he made, pointing their weapons at him before he suddenly gets up and his eyes surge with green energy. “Say goodbye to your front legs!” He threatened the Pony Rangers as they back away.

Human World fires his humanizing beam, parting away snowfall in its path towards the Pony Rangers. Sunny gets in his way and instinctively triggers her Alicorn powers, creating a magical shield that holds back the beam before it dies down, leaving Human World burnt-out and exhausted; steam and smoke seeping from between his armour plating. “After a long day, this finally ends here.” Sunny declared, just when a miniature of the sky ship drops from the sky.

“Consider this my final lesson: Battlizers!” The Bird squawked as he flies overhead. “You’ll be given the greatest power this set can offer: a suit of armour that can turn the greatest of enemies into a pile of ash with one Final Strike!”

“A finishing move like in video games!” Izzy shouted giddily.

Sunny takes the miniature and flips out a key from the keel before inserting it into her phone, creating a hologram of the Jolly Roger that bursts and merges with the Pony Rangers, returning them to base form and granting them special weapons; a rack of blades on Hitch’s hind-left leg, twin cannons mounted on Izzy’s front-left leg, a five-bladed claw on Zipp’s front-right leg, quadruple cannons on Pipp’s right leg, and for Sunny a massive chestpiece modelled after the sky ship’s bow.

Her friends admire the shiny new digs, gazing at the gold plating on their boots. “Oh, seriously, I still can’t believe these heroes can have such super drip!” Pipp affectionately rubs the shiny polish on her cannons.

“Let’s finish this!” Sunny declared as she charges up the cannons on her armour, as do her friends.

“Pony Rangers! Final Strike!”

“Wait, man! We can talk about this, man!” Human World pleaded.

“Fire!” they unleash a volley of cannonballs and energy blades at Human World, destroying him from sheer overkill of force.

The moment he’s destroyed, ponies he turned human revert back to their pony selves and rejoice with their friends and families, even Cloudpuff regained his wings.

Before the heroes could celebrate, the ground quakes as a massive shadow loom over everypony, looking up to find a giant black robot dinosaur with a barcode scanner head stomping into the city.

“What?! Where’d that come from?!” Izzy pointed.

The giant stomps where Human World once stood, blowing away the heroes from the shockwave. Energy surges throughout its body, transforming its head into that of Human World. “Yeh-heh-heyeah, man! Ready player two, man!” giant Human World cackled before unleashing a surge of green energy throughout the city.

To be continued…

Chapter 5

As the giant Human World stomps around Zephyr Heights his mere existence transforms pony imagery into human versions; Amplify ads become Spotify, Ponysonic becomes Panasonic, and Wishentine indents on billboards depict humans enjoying the winter; all of which are quickly bulldozed when the robot slaps them away. “Like kicking sandcastles, man!”

“How are we gonna fight something that big?!” Pipp panicked before the sky ship hovers above them, firing lasers from its retro-thrusters at the giant.

“Everypony, to the ship!” Sunny commanded the Pony Rangers to shoot grappling hooks from their swords towards their ship.

Inside the ship’s common room, The Bird meets the Pony Rangers with Sparky following below him. “A Kudaitest?! How’d he sneak one here?!” The Bird squawked at the sight of the giant.

“A Kudaitest?” Sunny repeated.

“When a World soldier is destroyed, the world they held is passed onto a Kudaitest as a backup, transforming it into a Great World and amplifying its powers tenfold!” The Bird explained.

“No kidding! It’s turning every pony picture into humans just by being here!” Hitch pointed to an ad of a human chilling with headphones.

“That’s not the worst thing. Look!” Pipp directed everypony’s attention to Great Human World’s path towards the Royal Palace.

“We can’t fight it with pulse cannons and lasers. You have to transform the ship.” The Bird declared.

“This thing’s a giant robot, too?! Is there anything you pirates don’t have?!” Izzy exclaimed, overwhelmed by the surprises she’s been through today.

The Bird guides them into a control room containing a single helm and a monitor displaying the bow-end view of the ship. “Seriously, is this it? One ship wheel?” Pipp furrowed her brows at the sparse cockpit.

“I expected something like in cartoons where they had a chair, joysticks, and a hundred buttons.” Hitch looks at the Jolly Roger insignia mounted on a mast column behind the helm.

“How do we activate robot mode? Do we turn the wheel in a specific pattern like a safe?” Izzy wondered.

Sunny looks at the helm to find an keyhole in the axle. She takes her Ranger Key and inserts it into the helm, triggering four other helms to pop out beside the main helm, each coloured like every other member of her team. “Huh, pretty straightforward.”

“We get wheels, too? Alright!” Hitch hops into his helm with Sparky in his lap.

Izzy, Zipp, and Pipp hop onto their helms and grab the handles, spinning them to give them a try. “Let’s take this thing for a ride!” Zipp inserts her key into her helm, pulling her into the floor.

“Where’d Zipp go?” Pipp wondered.

“Beats me, but I’m following her!” Izzy inserts her key into the helm before Pipp does, too.

“Here goes nothing…” Hitch pulls his key from his sash. “See you on the flipside, Sunny.” He saluted to his friend before taking himself and Sparky down into the floor.

“Where’d they go?” Sunny asked The Bird.

“You’ll see…” The Bird chuckled in anticipation.

As Great Human World wrestles against the sky ship’s bow-mounted blade, the deck opens like a treasure chest, emanating a golden glow within. He looks inside and is decked in the chin by a huge yellow treasure-chest-shaped semi-truck emerging from it. “Yeee haaaw!” Hitch and Sparky whooped as the truck lands on a street corner, dwarfing the surrounding apartments. “Now this is a rig!” Hitch spins his helm to the right, opening the truck’s trailer to deploy a flying pink submarine that flies towards Great Human World.

“A flying submarine? This is as weird as everything I’ve seen today, but just as hy~y~ype!” Pipp circles around Great Human World’s head, baiting him to catch her before deploying a green race car to jump out and knock its golden front wings into Great Human World’s face before falling on his foot.

“Ow, man! Stop throwing your toys at me, man!” Great Human World growled as he grips his throbbing foot.

“Woo! These vehicles are mega-sized!” Izzy cheered as she spins donuts in front of Great Human World before driving down an corner.

“I ain’t finished with you, man!” Great Human World pursues Izzy’s car through the city, crashing into the many walkways connecting the skyscrapers without a single scratch.

Izzy’s car opens a hatch to deploy a massive blue jet with a black bicorne-shaped turret that shoots Great Human World’s face before he tries shielding himself with his arms. “More like super-mega-sized! Woohoo!” Zipp cackled.

While the giant was blinded, Izzy and Hitch back up their vehicles into Great Human World’s feet, carrying the giant through the streets while he thrashes out of control. “Watch your step!” Sunny boosts the sky ship into Great Human World, pushing him off the mountain the city sat on, throwing him hundreds of miles down.

On the pleasant meadow below, Great Human World’s impact causes a shockwave for miles, narrowly missing a lonely, but beautiful pink tree far beyond the mountain. As he gets up, the sky ship and the machines float down from the clouds to face him “Everypony, let’s combine!” Sunny commanded.

“Oh no you don’t, man!” Human World charges them before Izzy fires a missile from the front end of her race car, pinning him against the mountainside.

“Right!” the five ponies and Sparky turn the keys in their helms, triggering a great transformation.

The sky ship’s aft wings and solar sails flatten and fold away towards the back to form a tail, and the machines transform into mechanisms that are unmistakably equine legs joining the main body. The bow-end splits and swivels over the front legs to form bladed shoulder-mounted cannons, revealing a silver pony head depicting a green-eyed, stoic-faced stallion wearing a red bandana. The mecha-pony takes the turret on its jet leg and puts it on its head like a hat before it rears upright; kicking its front legs as a show of aggression.

Inside the cockpit, everypony pops out of the floor and join Sunny’s sides. “Combination Complete!”

“Wait a minute!” The Bird suddenly interjected. “Why is it pony-shaped?!”

“It must be getting used to its new pilots.” Sunny giggled.

“We need to name it! Let’s call it Ponicus Maximus!” Izzy raises her hoof.

“How does Mega Ponybot sound?” Pipp added.

“What about Captain King?” Hitch suggested.

“What say you, Sunny?” Zipp asked Sunny.

The cockpit rattles and shakes as Great Human World curls its arm around the mecha-pony’s neck while they were discussing. “Get ready for a legendary noogie, man!” Great Human World digs his fist into the mecha’s forehead, rubbing with the speed of a drill.

“Save naming for later. Fire hat cannons!” Sunny rolls the helm to the right, triggering the turret cannons on the mecha-pony’s hat to blast Great Human World’s fist before swinging its head downwards to flip him on his back. The mecha-pony repeatedly stomps on Great Human World’s body; each hit accompanied by a blast from the weapons stuck on the hooves.

After enduring a few hits, Great Human World throws off the mecha-pony away onto its side. “Now, hold still, man…” he produces a massive bow to shoot triple arrows at the mecha-pony.

“Chaaarge!” Sunny commanded the vessel to gallop towards Great Human World, deflecting the arrows with massive swords on its flexible shoulder-launchers before winding back to slash Great Human World, only him to take a huge leap and land on the mecha-pony’s back.

“Giddyup, man!” Great Human World chokes the mecha-pony with his bowstring around its neck, wrangling it like a cowboy.

“Ugh! As if we need more problems on our back!” Pipp wildly spins her helm left and right, controlling the mecha-pony to thrash around. Seeing this isn’t working, she turns the key in her helm, causing the mecha-pony’s back to open and deploy a massive cannon that pushes Great Human World off.

“A mega cannon?! Now we’re talking!” Izzy cheered.

“More like a super mega cannon!” Zipp spins her helm, controlling the mecha-pony to gallop circles around Great Human World, shooting cannonballs into his chest so fast he can barely react.

“Let’s make this scallywag walk the plank, mateys!” Sunny commanded as she turns her key in the helm again.

“Pony Rangers! Final Strike!” The Pony Rangers shouted as the mecha-pony’s legs open up to reveal cannonballs feeding into the cannon on its back, charging with their different colours. “Fire!”

The cannon shoots a single, huge cannonball at Great Human World just as he stands up, blowing a hole right through its chest. “So… not… cool…” as his green eyes dim, his legs give in and he collapses. “…Man…” as soon as his head hits the ground, his body bursts into a great fiery explosion as the mecha-pony dramatically turns away.

“Now that was a win! A super mega win!” Sunny cheered as everypony celebrates their victory.

“Let’s go back and show off our new mech to everypony! It can be our new hero thing!” Pipp suggested with an excited squeak. “Mom is so gonna freak!”

As they celebrate, Hitch and Sparky spot a red shape approaching the crater that was Great Human World. “Everypony, look…” he zooms on the target, finding The Pirate sliding down the crater wall.

“No…” The Bird shuddered in fear and disbelief. “All this makes sense now… Human World, Compliance Collars, the Kudaitest… it was all him.”

“Who is he?” Sunny asked.

“The worst pirate in the cosmos, a blood-red ravager who leaves death in his wake, a con from the stars…” The Bird responded as The Pirate picks up a black gear-shaped device, turning to the Pony Rangers to simply wave. “…Silas Racha.”

Silas flicks the gear from his thumb like a coin, shooting it miles into the air where it stops and revolves at unimaginable speeds, generating a blue wireframe model of a Kudaitest, sucking in the remains of Great Human World to create a massive Kudaitest nearly twice as big, armed with an unrendered polygon blade on its right arm and a wireframe head with comparably simpler geometry than the original, bearing a slitted eye. “Yeaaah, man! Third time’s the charm, man!”

“A New Kudaitest?!” Sunny shouted in exasperation.

“Juuust when we thought it was over.” Hitch sighed.

“We can take it easy!” Izzy confidently declared. “We’ll use our can—” before she could finish her sentence, the ground shakes as a tall office building bursts under them, carrying them to higher ground.

More buildings burst from the ground; skyscrapers, a distant suburb surrounding a single school, a single mall behind the New Kudaitest, even roads weaving between these new landmarks. As these buildings materialize, New Kudaitest’s wireframe head renders orange-yellow fur, shiny green eyes, twitching pony ears, and a smiling muzzle to resemble a pony, finishing off when green ribbons burst from the back of its head, curling like dreadlocks. “Round three, man!”

“It… it made an entire city?!” Pipp exclaimed in surprise as she looks at a toothpaste billboard depicting a smiling human man.

“Without anything to transform into a human for miles, it made an entire human city!” Zipp realized.

New Human World thrusts its blade forward, rendering a rocky spike powered by seven crystals; purple, pink, orange, blue, white, and yellow, orbiting a central red crystal. “Why don’t you ponies get a taste of your own medicine, man?” New Human World slaps the pink crystal, launching a gingerbread man that blows up the building the mecha-pony stood upon, levelling it and the mecha-pony to the ground.

“Was that a cookie?!” Hitch wondered as he picks himself off the floor.

“It exploded on us!” Izzy panicked.

“Reload the cannon!” Sunny commanded as the mecha-pony stands and charges its back-mounted cannon.

New Human World’s blue crystal shines before the cannon rapid-fires, but misses as he becomes but a blur weaving up and down the streets. “Gotta go fast, man!”

“How’s he this fast?! We can’t keep up!” Pipp whined before New Human World dashes to their side and punches them clean through four skyscrapers, passing an apartment that Silas silently sat atop, before tripping onto a mall.

“Oh… so that’s what it feels like…” Izzy groaned dizzily.

As Sunny picks herself up with her friends, the systems detect six objects hovering above, looking up to see six skyscrapers covered in purple sparkles. “…Magic…?”

The skyscrapers are released from their magical grasp, falling down towards the prone mecha-pony. “Pulse cannons! Fire!” Zipp activates the shoulder-cannons to destroy the incoming buildings before they could impale the mecha-pony, showering it with shattered glass and rebar.

“He magic’d six skyscrapers! Six!” Izzy exclaimed. “We could barely magic the ship with Sunny and me!”

“Again! Fire cannons!” Sunny shouted before the shoulder and back cannons fire on New Human World.

The white crystal on New Human World’s blade shines, producing a wall of diamond-shaped prisms protecting him from the blasts. “Don’t you know, man? Diamonds are unbreakable, man!” New Human World taunted before the wall’s facets invert horizontally and slide towards the mecha-pony.

“Evasive manoeuvres!” Zipp shouted for everypony to throw their wheels to the right, dodging the diamond shields that slice clean through office buildings behind them.

As they touch down, Hitch spots a flock of birds diving towards them. “Hey, get outta here! It’s not safe!” Hitch shouted.

“Get them, man! They got crackers in the kitchen, man!” New Human World commanded the flock as the yellow crystal shines. The birds seep into every crevice on the mecha-pony; pigeons infest the kitchen, woodpeckers peck the floorboards, and seagulls cram themselves into the cockpit, pecking the Pony Rangers.

“Yow! He- Ow! -Can communicate with animals, too?! Ow!” Sunny groans while being pecked.

“Kenneth?! How could you do this to me?!” Hitch cried to a can-hatted seagull as he curls up around Sparky to protect him.

Suddenly, they feel a great shift as New Human World lifts the mecha-pony on one hand; its orange crystal glowing. “Wow, you’re lighter than I thought, man!” New Human World laughs before throttling them at the tallest skyscraper topped with a golden knight piece. The mecha-pony smashes into the upper floors as the flock evacuate en-masse before hitting the ground, pinned by the falling knight piece from the collapsing roof.

“Reboot! Reboot!” Sunny groaned as she tries to get the mecha to stand up, but couldn’t budge under the knight piece. The Pony Rangers also try to pull the mecha-pony out, but struggle against their own helms jamming as New Human World stand before them, brandishing his blade.

“They say history repeats itself, man. Just like I defeated the Rangers before you, I do to you, man.” New Human World raises his blade high in the air.

“Everypony…” Sunny whimpers as she looks at her friends’ hopeless faces and The Bird’s depressed state. “I love you… I love you all…” she cried before New Human World plunges his blade into the mecha-pony’s head as everypony closes their eyes as they brace for impact.

As the blade plunges, the central red crystal embedded within shines bright.

When Sunny opens her eyes, she finds herself in a white void, removing her helmet to find the air still, but pleasant.

“Don’t worry, you’re safe.”

Sunny turns around, finding an older yellow woman with red-yellow wavy hair, wearing a leather jacket over an orange shirt and a pair of jeans.

“Who are you? Am I…? W-where’s my friends?” Sunny asked the human.

“They’re safe. I just needed a minute to talk to you.” The woman told her.

“About… what?” Sunny asked the woman.

“It looks bad out there, doesn’t it?” the woman said.

“It… it does.” Sunny lowered her head with a tired sigh. “It was… sudden. It was one thing to unite all of ponykind together, but something else to fight an entire robot army.”

“Hey, think about how far you’ve gotten! You fought killer robots, freed a pony from his control, and destroyed a mega robot in one day!” the woman hyped Sunny up, gaining a smile from the little pony. “I know what it’s like to handle such great challenges… but I wasn’t alone. I didn’t know it at the time, but I had more friends than I knew to helped me. It just got easier the more of them I find.”

These words somehow made sense to Sunny, but was at the same time, confusing. “More friends than I knew…?” she repeated. “What’s your name?”

“Sunset Shimmer. Pleased to meet you.”

“I’m Sunny Starscout.” Sunny smiled. “Hey, we share the same initials.”

“Didn’t anyone tell you ‘hey’ is for horses?” Sunset giggled.

“You’re trapped here, aren’t you? I can save you from—" she Sunny interrupted when Sunset pets her.

“Don’t worry. I’ll take care of things in here. Now… it’s time for you to meet some new friends…” Sunset answered before everything goes dark.

“Gosei Great Megazord!”

Sunny opens her eyes again and finds the monitor displaying a giant pony-shaped silhouette backing away from the mecha-pony as it throws off what is unmistakably New Human World with draconic wings.

“We’re alive! Aliiive!” Izzy squealed in relief.

“Is that another ponybot?” Hitch wondered as the lighting readjusts, revealing before them a mecha-pony with a red winged helmet, metal dragon wings, and hooves resembling different animals; shark, bird, snake, and tiger.

New Human World was knocked back a couple streets away, shielded by a diamond shield absorbing the blow. “No, man! You’re supposed to be dead, man! There was a fire and everything, man!”

“As if a little fire ever stopped us!” responded a young mare’s voice from the new mecha-pony.

“We’ve fought aliens, mutants, mutant aliens…” counted a mellow stallion’s voice.

“Usurped several evil space empires… and for nearly ten years!” continued a brash mare’s voice.

“And you think making us small horses and setting our ship on fire will stop us?” scoffed a boastful stallion.

“We’ve been through worse, and then some!” declared a rather neutral-sounding stallion.

“That be our power as heroes!” shouted a familiar-sounding pirate.

“That voice…” Zipp widens her eyes in realization.

“That be tha power… of Super Ultra Megaforce!” a collection of voices declared as the monitor switches to feed from a different cockpit; white walls, heavenly décor, and five futuristic controls operated by five pony heroes with ornate crests on their chests; red, blue, black, yellow, and pink, with an additional green member holding onto the red hero’s back.

“Troy, you’re alive! It’s a Christmas miracle!” The Bird cheered.

“We’re glad you’re alive too, Tensou.” Said the pink hero.

“We… we thought you were dead! How’d you survive?!” Izzy told the heroes.

“It be a tale too long ta tell now.” the red hero shrugged.

“It takes a lot to beat us Power Rangers.” Pink hero said.

“Power Rangers?” Hitch repeated. “Huh, we weren’t too far off.”

“I see the Legendary Megazord took a liking to Equestria already like Gosei Great.” The blue hero noted.

“Legendary Megazord…? Got a nice ring to it.” Zipp noted.

“Why don’t we retire that ol’ steamer together?” Troy suggested as their mecha-pony bucks the knight piece off the other.

“Let’s.” Sunny nodded before galloping towards New Human World. The Megazords gallop side-by-side down the street, nodding to each other before Gosei Great Megazord flies high, and Legendary Megazord unfolds its blades.

New Human World projects a diamond prism around him, protecting him from Legendary Megazord’s slashes. “Ha, try getting through this, man!”

Gosei Great Megazord descends from the sky with a red blade bigger than itself, connecting its tip with the diamond shield’s pointed roof and spinning like a drill. “Don’t you know? The culet is the weakest part of the diamond!” The blue hero sassed before shattering the shield and lopping off New Human World’s right ear.

“Ow, man! You’ll regret that, ma—!" New Human World raises its blade when Legendary Megazord runs between his legs from behind and slashes his knees.

“What’s the use of super-speed if you couldn’t see that coming?” Pipp taunted.

Immobilized, New Human World spins his waist, shooting explosive candy canes and gingerbread cookies, trying to hit at least one mecha in this radius.

“Big mistake! You’re dealing with a Friday Night Food Fight champ!” Izzy controls Legendary Megazord to catch a candy cane around its hoof before swinging it back towards New Human World, impacting a fruitcake that sets off a chain reaction, covering him in sugary soot.

“Yeah, now that’s the Super Ultra Mega way to fight!” the pink hero cheered.

“Anyone tell you Super Ultra Megaforce is a lame name, man?” New Human World huffed burnt caramel from his systems.

“All the time.” Troy nodded. “But bein’ a hero ain’t about what ya call yerselves…”

“It’s about the fight you fight, and how well you do it!” the green hero continued.

“And Pony Rangers by any other name is just as sweet!” Sunny concluded.

New Human World growls and extends his hands, but jitters and short-circuiting as otherworldly auras phase from his body, matching the colours of his crystals. “Get back in there, man! Everything you are and have is mine, man!”

Sunny barely recognizes these shapes, but felt something familiar as the red aura reaches to give a thumbs-up. “This is our moment! Let’s finish this!”

“I’d like to see how you do your Starburst!” the black hero cheered for the Pony Rangers.

“Starburst? Now that’s a finisher name if I ever heard one!” Izzy agreed.

“Victory Charge Activate!” Super Ultra Megaforce pulls out card depicting Gosei Great Megazord wielding a flaming sword to slide into golden tiki-shaped scanners in their consoles.

The Pony Rangers once more turn their keys, deploying the cannons. “Final Strike! Super Mega Starburst!”

While New Human World’s mind is wracked with conflicting magic auras, a line of massive spectral cards snake into his body before Legendary Megazord fires a charged cannonball into New Human World following this path, embedding an armed cannonball into his body before Gosei Great Megazord slashes through.

“And that is what we call in this line o’ work…” Troy dusts off his white hooves as New Human World’s upper body slides off his legs.

“A Super Ultra Mega Win!” the heroes shouted simultaneously atop the backdrop of New Human World bursting into flames.

The heroes meet on the ground, powering down from their suits. Among Super Ultra Megaforce’s number was a grey earth Pegasus with a combed back blonde mane wearing a shiny silver jacket, a green Pegasus with a black perm brandishing a velvety-green blazer, a pink unicorn with flowing brown hair dressed in a pink fluffy parka, a yellow earth mare with shorter blonde mane garbing a short-cut reefer jacket, a bespectacled blue unicorn with curly brown mane clothed in a jacket with too many zippers, and last is Troy: a red earth stallion showing off a red frock coat, a black tricorne with his Jolly Roger, and a fierce look complimented by a moustache and goatee. “So, this be tha team that took up our reins. Not bad fer yer first day.” Troy greeted them before The Bird perches on his back.

“You wouldn’t believe what I had to go through to whip them into shape!”

“Oh, but they came through, didn’t they, Tensou?”

“Tensou, is that your name?” Izzy asked.

“Tensou Four, ta be formal.” Troy answered before turning to Tensou 4. “Didn’t I tell ya tha first thing ya do when ye meet people is ta introduce yerself?”

“Speaking of introductions, I’m Sunny Starscout. It’s an honour to meet awesome superheroes like you.”

“Captain Troy Burrows, at yer service.” Troy tips his hat.

“I’m Hitch Trailblazer, sheriff of Maretime Bay.” Hitch introduces himself to the yellow Pegasus with Sparky. “This is my deputy-in-training Sparky Sparkeroni.”

“Gia Holling, co-owner of Dynamic Charge Gym.”

“With me: Jake Holling; default toughest guy around.” The green stallion squeezed in, flexing his front leg.

“Isabella of the Moonbows, or Izzy for short! Charmed.” Izzy curtsied.

“You must be this master strategist I heard about.” Zipp approaches the blue unicorn. “Princess Zephyrina Storm, or Zipp if we wanna cut formalities.”

“Professor Noah Carver, but you can call me Noah.” The unicorn shook her hoof.

“I’m Pipp Petals.” Pipp introduces herself to the pink unicorn. “I’m a part-time stylist, part-time influencer, and all-time princess!”

“Wow, a real princess! I rarely get to meet real princesses!” the pink hero jumped for joy. “I’m Emma, and I’m a nature photographer.”

“No way! We can totally follow each other! How’s about an inter-dimensional collab?”

“Hey, any of you seen a cellphone with a big gold anchor on it?” the grey stallion stepped up.

“You must be Silver. Here, we got it off a brainwashed pony Human World turned against us.” Sunny extended the phone to him.

“Oh, thanks! Gosei Morphers are great, but they don’t have the same kick from Legendary Morphers.” The grey pony pockets the phone, relieved. “Name’s Orion, just Orion: a normal everyday freeter.”

“Here’s the rest of your phones. I bet you need them more than us.” Sunny and her friends hoof over their Legendary Morphers to the Power Rangers.

“We have enough on our plate. Superhero biz is too much.” Pipp said.

“But I’m not opposed to doing this again!” Hitch interjected.

“Again, I can’t thank ye ponies enough fer holdin’ tha line fer us.” Troy thanked them.

“And I can’t thank you enough for stepping in. If you didn’t, magic in Equestria would’ve disappeared again.” Sunny responded in kind. “What’s gonna happen with Earth now that Human World is destroyed?”

The black gear from Human World shoots from under the snow high into the air, spinning in place to absorb the city created by New Human World before cracking and bursting into a cloud of blue and green aura, beaming into the sky as column of light, parting a hole in the winter clouds. Everypony was in awe at this spectacle, taking in the boreal wonder before them. After the light dims, nothing was left but the humble snowy field they stood upon.

“It goes home.” Troy answered Sunny as he joins her side.

“Bye, Sunset Shimmer. Hope to see you again.” Sunny waved to the hole in the clouds.

As they take in this blissful atmosphere, they’re interrupted by a slow clap coming up behind them. “Aw, what a touching scene.”

They all turn around to see Silas and Sally hanging off his back, standing tall before them. “Silas! I shoulda know it be ye behind this plot.” Troy growled.

“Hi, Sally! Are you eating well?” Emma waved to the monkey.

“Well, it was worth a shot ta try ta get yer Morphers.” Silas casually shrugged. “Better luck next time.” He waves before disappearing in a red flash.

“You’re gonna pay for making me cute and cuddly!” Gia roared.

“But Gia, you already are cute and cuddly.” Jake flirted before she playfully shoves him.

“Let’s hurry! We can catch him if we rev the Transportal Drive now!” Noah hurried his team before grappling into the ship, as do his friends.

Troy was last to leave as he received the eyepatch from Tensou 4 as the former Pony Rangers approach him. “Will we see you again?” Sunny asked them.

Troy turns around, showing off his eyepatch on his left eye. “As an old friend told me: The world is round, and the Multiverse loops just the same. We’ll run into each other eventually.” Troy smiled before reeling himself and Tensou 4 into the ship.

“Later, ponies. May the power protect you!” Tensou 4 shouted back to them.

The ship and Gosei Great Megazord, shoot into the sky, disappearing into the horizon as starry glints. “It’s really over?” Hitch sighed in relief before everypony falls on the snow to relax after an entire day of fighting, laughing it out together.

“Look at the snow.” Pipp stares up at the snowfall. “We fought so much today; we forgot how beautiful it was.”

“This is incredible.” Zipp muttered. “I still can’t believe we took down that robot twice.”

“I didn’t think we were coming back.” Izzy told Sunny.

“I knew we would.” Sunny replied.

“What happens now?” Hitch wondered, turning to Sunny.

Sunny stands up and looks to the sky with hope. “We go home.”

At Opaline’s Dark Castle, Misty barges into the throne room tired and reverted to a unicorn. “Misty!” Opaline shrieked. “Get off the floor! What took you so long?!”

“I’m sorry, Opaline. They… Sunny and Hitch beat me and took the phone Mister Pirate gave me.” Misty panted. “While I was running away, I turned back into a unicorn for a few seconds, and then—"

“Ugh, I knew I shouldn’t’ve trusted that pirate. I knew his promises were lofty, yet I fell for his forked tongue.” Opaline growled.

“Are we gonna do something about him? He offered…” Misty took a deep breath. “He offered an army and left us with nothing.”

“No.” Opaline simply barked back. “That oaf barely lifted a finger, yet I could still sense great power from within him. It’s best not to pursue him, for both our sakes.”

“So… what now?” Misty asked as she pours herself a warm glass of water.

Opaline approaches a drawer where she sorts through unsorted sheets of paper, pulling out several that cover information on dragons, matching the same font and writing style as the book Sunny and Zipp were reading this morning. “We pick up where we left off.”

Meanwhile somewhere dark and dank, whirs and clicks prattle as a machine comes to life. A screen lights itself, displaying an insignia of a winged blue shield decorated with a lightning bolt, accompanied by the hums of the fans cooling its drives. “Earth energy detected. Sentry booting up…” announced a deep, robotic voice from the computer. “Connecting to local wireless…” on its massive screen, images of recent events from magic’s return to Human World’s attacks spring up, from news stills to photographs. “Resuming parameters: Infiltrate the populace, Investigate the restoration of magic, Instigate… my return.” the computer boomed its commands.

THE END

Chapter 3

In the Crystal Brighthouse kitchenette, the team returned tired from an excursion outside to take a hot cocoa break. “We spent hours digging in the snow, and all we brought in was that arcade machine.” Sunny groaned as she pours cocoa into her mug.

“The Bird’s awfully adamant about keeping it. What’s so important about it?” Zipp turned to The Bird hugging a blue-and-white arcade cabinet with an ornate golden façade.

“This is a repair project I was working on. I’m glad it survived the crash.” The Bird explained as he caringly nuzzles the arcade cabinet.

“Can’t you track that phone? You’ve gotta have an app for that!” Pipp shouted to The Bird. “And if you’re with super-mega-advanced space pirates, why flip phones? Couldn’t they have less buttons and more screen?”

“It’s not too bad!” Izzy wagged her hoof. “Unlike the phones we have, I can do this with these!” she floats her transformation phone in front of Pipp and flicks it open and shut.

“There were plans for upgrades, but daily plundering moved the date up, up, and away.” The Bird sighed.

“On the topic of training, I was thinking we use old Canterlogic as an obstacle course again. There’s lots of space, and it’s a good controlled environment to test our weapons.” Zipp suggested.

“I can get course equipment from the department. It’ll just be like at the academy!” Hitch beamed with a nostalgic look.

“There’s a sheriff academy?” Zipp raised an eyebrow.

“Well, the academy was just me and Sprout, but it was still the best year of my life!” Hitch elaborated before he and Sparky drink their cocoa.

Sunny listens to the conversation, swirling her mug as The Bird watches silently. “Did you want one? Or do robots drink hot oil instead?”

“My crew used to get together like this all the time… They were more than friends. They were family, the only ones I knew.” The Bird murmured longingly from such a memory.

“I know how it feels to suddenly lose somepony important. I lost my dad years ago, and felt like losing an entire family.” Sunny told her story solemnly before looking at her friends. “Then I found a new family, and everything felt right. I hope we can be that family to you.”

“Why don’t you talk about your friends? I’d love to know the kinda superhero-pirates they were.” Hitch inquired.

“Well, let’s start with Yellow.” The Bird eyes Hitch’s key. “She’s a real tough cookie. If she ever starts a fight, she intends to end it. She’s especially dangerous when she gets her hands on two sabers.”

“She? I’m surprised at how well the suit fits me.” Hitch raised an eyebrow.

“As for Blue…” The Bird looked at Zipp holding up her recovered key. “He had the most smarts in our group; technical and strategic. Not bad with a sword… or five.”

“Five swords?! Is that what hands can do?!” Zipp said in surprise.

“Only a master swordsman like him can pull off that stunt.” The Bird corrected.

“What about this guy? What was she like? Or he.” Izzy excitedly orbits her Green Key around The Bird.

“Boy that kid was a goofball, but he had his moments. Most of them are him slipping on a banana peel then accidentally chopping a whole squad of robots into scrap.” The Bird chuckled. “Despite that, he wears that goofiness on his sleeve.”

“Ah, the ancient art of slapstick. Only the silliest ponies could dream of mastering such an art.” Izzy commented with an amused tone.

“Pink, you could say, was as pretty as a princess, but was a true swashbuckler. She’s a crack shot, and could calculate the trajectory of a ricochet with just a glance.” The Bird continued. “She’s sorta like a ‘big sister,’ always taking care of us and clearing up any squabbles.”

“Sounds like Pink fits Zipp more than me.” Pipp giggled as she glances at Zipp. “But I won’t let that stop me from wearing her colours with pri~i~ide!” she suddenly harmonizes to cheer everyone up.

“And our captain…” The Bird turns to Sunny. “He always puts on a brave face whenever danger approaches… Last I saw him, he was wearing the same devilish smile he always does before… before…” The Bird sounded like it was starting to tear up, and Sunny could only pat its back to comfort it.

“If we’re gonna avenge them, we need to find a way to use their weapons. They’re practically useless on us!” Hitch reminded everyone.

As Izzy listens, she eyes Zipp and Pipp holding their mugs with their wings like they did their weapons, then had a thought. “I got an idea! Did anypony notice how well Zipp and Pipp held them compared to us?” she asked as Zipp and Pipp look at their own wings.

“Huh, you’re right. They’re surprisingly tactile.” Hitch noted as he closely examines Zipp’s wings to her embarrassment.

“I can unicycle gear that can hold our weapons like they do!” Izzy exclaimed her eureka moment.

“Sounds like a good idea as any!” Sunny brings out her weapons and slides them over to Izzy, followed by the rest of her friends one-by-one.

“Gimme a moment, and I’ll have these things ponied-up lickety-split!” Izzy chuckled in excitement before jumping into her workshop corner.

Suddenly, the ground quakes as flashes of yellow floods the windows. Everypony but Izzy goes outside to see their city under siege again; explosions booming on every street and lightning striking from the ground towards the sky. “I guess we’re skipping training.” Zipp rolled her eyes.

“Let’s go kick some tin, everypony!” Sunny rallies her friends.

“What about our weapons?” Hitch wondered.

“We’ll send your weapons when they’re ready. You just kick tailpipe!” The Bird commanded.

Fearing the upcoming battle, Hitch leaves Sparky with The Bird. “Stay here, Sparky. I’ll be back soon.” He assured Sparky before running off.

Sparky whines and whimpers as he tries reaching Hitch, but The Bird closes the door on him.

The four trots down Mane Street, finding things aren’t quite how they left it; the streetcar is much bigger than before, the buildings appearing subtly taller, even half-set decorations in have been changed. “Look at this place. It’s huge!” Sunny commented at the now-towering buildings.

“Even the decorations changed. What even is a Merry Christmas?” Pipp pointed to a passing festive banner.

“Human World must’ve changed the town to fit humans. If I had to guess, Merry Christmas must be a human holiday like Wishday.” Hitch postulated.

“If Posey’s current size is anything to go by, they must need bigger everything!” Zipp agreed.

A guitar riff fills the air, announcing the arrival of Human World holding a steampunk guitar and Kudakks dressed like retro pop rockers with outrageous wigs and neon livery.

“’Sup, man? Like what I did to the place, man?” Human World taunted before playing off a rift.

“Did he always have a guitar?” Pipp wondered.

“You! You’re gonna pay for what you did to Maretime Bay!” Zipp pointed at him.

“Nobody messes with ponykind on our watch!” Zipp shouted.

“This is your last chance to leave Equestria and free that world inside of you. If not, we’ll have to do it ourselves!” Sunny commanded.

“I was given a job, and I’m gonna finish it, man.” Human World taunted them.

“Go, go, Power Ponies!” Sunny rallied her friends before they line up and insert the keys into their phones, transforming them into their superhero suits with a great flash. She grinds her hoof on the pavement before galloping at the Kudakks at top speed, knocking them down like bowling pins.

“Power Ponies? Is that what we’re calling ourselves?” Hitch wondered before two Kudakks rush him with a bench, intending to clothesline him. He swiftly slides under the bench and hooks the back of his hoof between the planks, grabbing it and tripping the Kudakks aside. “Respect public property!” he scolded them before putting the bench down.

Spreading her wings, Zipp takes to the sky and loops around to gain momentum before crashing onto a Kudakk squad, leaving a crater on impact. “That name’s taken. I checked.” Zipp shrugged before taking on Kudakks jumping into the crater, bucking each one that gets near her like a pit fighter. “I was thinking we should call ourselves the Skirates!”

When a Kudakk charges at Pipp, she clamps her wings on its plug-spear to flip it off the edge. “Save it, ponies! This isn’t an pitch meeting!” she shouts to her friends before dodging Human World swinging his guitar like an axe.

“Why don’t I show you some of my greatest hits, man?!”

Using her performance skills, Pipp flips, somersaults, and glides away from Human World’s attack before hovering mere feet above him. “It’s nice to have wings, isn’t it? I never have to complain about reaching the top shelf!” she taunted.

“But what’ll you do without ‘em, man?” Human World threatened as his green eyes builds energy up before a red dash bulldozes the bunch: Sunny herself. “I got your flank, Pipp!” she waved to Pipp, who responds in kind before flying away.

Before Sunny could move another inch, a golden trident suddenly throttles into ground before her. Taking a closer look, the trident’s head is adorned with their unique alien Jolly Roger. “Huh?!” the moment Sunny turns to the direction it came from; a silver boot kicks her into a brick wall.

In that moment, her friends stop and look at Sunny embedded within the wall. “Sunny!” Hitch shouted anxiously.

When Sunny falls off the Sunny-shaped indent in the wall, she slowly gets up to see a human-shaped silhouette strutting towards her. Her eyes adjust to find a human wearing a silver jacket like her friends’ with the addition of a miniskirt, a high-tech collar, and a gold-tinted visor. “Who… who are you?”

“This is my new friend, Mis- uh… uh…” Human World fumbles his introduction, as if about to let something slip. “Mis… Miss Silver, yeah, man! She’s gonna help me take those phones off your hooves, man!”

“She looks like us!” Pipp pointed.

“We’re too late. Human World found the sixth phone!” Zipp realized.

“And yours are next, man!” Human World cackled before Miss Silver thrusts her trident at Sunny, who rolls away before it strikes the wall.

Sunny rejoins her friends as Miss Silver twirls her trident like a baton before throwing it in the air, collapsing it into a blaster with an extended barrel. Miss Silver rapid-fires blue lasers at them with enough force to knock them off their hooves. Processing the terrifying attack, Sunny lifts her head to find Miss Silver and Human World standing above them, pointing their blasters and guitar at them.

“Nighty-night, my little ponies… man.” Human World chuckled as Miss Silver charges her blaster.

Sunny could do nothing but stare down the barrel before Human World is suddenly pulled away from behind and a metal boxing glove slam Miss Silver through a window, and an even bigger shadow casts over the ponies. “Hey, ponies! Like my new ride?” Izzy’s voice greets them with a confident twang.

Everypony looks up to find Izzy suited-up and riding a mecha made from the arcade machine armed with big red boxing gloves. “Thanks for the save, Izz.” Sunny thanked her before being helped up.

“I see you unicycled that bird’s arcade machine.” Zipp noted.

“That’s not the only thing I unicycled!” Izzy then straps on everypony gilded saddles with robotic arms holding their weapons. “Ta-daaa! Introducing battle saddles for all your battling needs!”

The moment the battle saddle connects to their suits, a new targeting system aids them in moving their weaponry, locking onto wherever they looked, and in the sisters’ case, providing further augmentation to their wings in addition to better weapon grip. “Thanks, Izzy. This’ll really turn the tide for us!” Hitch thanked her as he twirls his blaster.

As they glee over their upgraded weapons, the villains get up with an army of Kudakks behind them. “Why don’t we test them out? We’ve got a couple targets over there.” Zipp suggested as she flicks her sword.

Preparing for the battle, Sunny re-adjusts her collar. “Ponies… let’s make this flashy!” The ponies charge at the army over the stomps left by Izzy’s arcade-bot, slashing the first Kudakks at the front.

“Zipp, let’s swap!” Hitch raises his sword to Zipp, who just cut a Kudakk clean in half on the other side of the crowd.

“Feel free to root, toot, and shoot, sheriff!” Zipp throws her blaster at Hitch, who flings his sword over the Kudakks. Both catch the weapons from one another and resume blasting and shooting through Kudakks.

Izzy directly takes on Human World, throwing punches as he blocks each punch with his guitar. After a couple punches that nearly crack the guitar, Human World ducks under the next punch and weaves around Izzy to swing his guitar into her, but underestimated her mech’s speed as it grabs his guitar’s neck and slams it into his face. “Ow, man! I just got that thing, man!”

“It wasn’t easy for me, either! With a splash of blue, it’d totally be my style!” Izzy mourned the guitar as a Kudakk climbs the mech from behind. “Hey, this is a one-seater!” Izzy growled before the Kudakk shoves its hand to her visor. They slap-fight atop the mech while it goes out of control, bulldozing down Human World before Izzy controls the situation by shooting her opponent in the head and tossing it onto Human World just as he got up.

“Izzy, help!” Izzy glances over to Pipp trying to fly away, but a chain of Kudakks pull her downwards. No matter how fast her wings flutter, she can’t escape the army’s pull.

“Gotcha!” Izzy shouted before shooting the topmost link in the head, releasing Pipp and causing the chain to collapse. “Here, take this!” Izzy flings her blaster at Pipp, who drops her sword to catch it.

Using her altitude to her advantage, Pipp shoots at the Kudakks from above before they can react.

As Sunny duels Miss Silver, her opponent proved to be more of a challenge compared to a typical Kudakk; thrusting and swinging faster than Sunny can react, even with the battle saddle. Sunny points her blaster at Miss Silver, who simply swats it away. Left with a single blade, Sunny desperately rolls and jumps away from Miss Silver’s attacks. It was when she finds Pipp’s discarded blade does she cross them in time to block another thrust, weaving her blade between the prongs. Using the full strength of the battle saddle, Sunny flings the trident to the side before twisting around to buck Miss Silver’s chest.

Miss Silver stumbles backwards before tripping over the fallen Human World as he tries getting up again. With their Kudakks defeated, the ponies stand over him and Miss Silver. “I’ll ask this one more time: reverse what you’ve done, Human World.” Sunny demanded at sword-point.

Suddenly, Sparky comes waddling towards them, babbling worriedly.

“Sparky! You’re supposed to stay home!” Hitch shouted, scared for his life.

“Oh look: an innocent bystander, man!” Human World points at Sparky, commanding Miss Silver to fire at him.

“No!” Hitch runs towards Sparky, racing against the laser beam before jumping into its path a foot shy of Sparky. As smoke bellows from his destroyed battle saddle, Sparky comes to his side, attempting to wake him up.

“Hitch, get up!” Zipp cried as the rest of the team gather around his fallen body.

“Hitch, please, speak to me!” Sunny whimpered as she puts her hooves on his chest.

“Don’t go into the light!” Izzy cried, shaking his body as hard as she could.

As Hitch is shaken like a maraca, he sputters as he comes to. “Huh? Is… is Sparky okay?” Hitch mumbled before Sparky jumps into his embrace, causing the battle saddle to fall off. “Looks like the saddle took a hit for me.”

As the team comforts Hitch, Human World flees with Miss Silver slung over his shoulder. “Smell ya later, man!”

“They’re got away again!” Zipp shouted as the villains disappear into the snowfall.

“Don’t worry about him. Let’s see if anypony around here is okay.” Sunny suggested. Then, she hears foals whimpering nearby. “Did everypony hear that?” she follows the noise to a humble grocer with the door ajar. “Hello? Is anypony here?” Sunny called to whomever as she and her friends enters. Inside, it appeared the shoppers left in a hurry, evidenced by filled shopping baskets and carts scattered around, and products are spilled across the floor. Sunny and her friends enter and hear a thump under a cashier counter.

Hitch goes under the cashier and his eyes are blinded by a barcode scanner. “Aaah! My eyes!”

The rest of the team come to the counter and find young Seashell leaned against a shadowy lump and Peach Fizz wielding a barcode scanner. “Oh, it’s just you two!” Pipp greeted them.

“Go away! Go away!” Peach Fizz points the scanner at their faces before Pipp takes off her helmet.

“Pippsqueaks, it’s just me; Pipp!”

“Pipp! You’re here to rescue us!” Seashell squeaked in relief.

“Where’s Glory? She’s always with you, isn’t she?” taking off her helmet, Zipp asked as the shadowy lump stirs.

“What’re you’re hiding?” Sunny takes a closer look at the shifting lump and swears she saw a familiar shade of aqua. She sticks her hoof to the lump and rolls it over, revealing a now-human Glory wearing a navy parka cowering before her.

“Oh no…” Pipp puts her hooves to her muzzle in shock.

“It got you, didn’t it?” Hitch asked solemnly.

“I didn’t see it coming! I was playing with my friends, and then I… I became this!” Glory broke into tears before wiping her face with her hands; the sight of which terrified her.

“Let’s take her to the hospital. There’s somepony else being treated for this transformation.” Sunny advised the fillies.

At Maretime Bay hospital, the team and Sparky trot through the ward to find humans in differing forms of grief. They recognize most of the humans as ponies they knew; Windy became a tall woman wearing a scoutmaster uniform, Jazz is rocking back and forth on her bed wearing a pink sweater whilst Rocky comforts her, and Onyx is lying down with her usual melancholy, wearing a black turtleneck and jeans. “I can’t believe Human World could do this in this short of a time.” Sunny turns her head back and forth at each room.

“I can’t imagine what they’re going through. It must be so terrifying.” Pipp muttered.

“Let’s check on Posey. Hopefully she’s awake.” Izzy suggested as they come across Posey’s room. The moment they enter, they see Posey awake and sticking her hand at a houseplant as a doctor watches, straining as she stretches her hand forward.

“Hi, Posey. How are you doing?” Sunny greets her.

“How do you think I’m doing?! My gallery is ruined, I get knocked out by a robot, then I wake up three feet taller with weird hooves—” Posey complained as she wiggles her fingers. “And now I can’t do magic!”

“You can’t do magic?” Sunny repeated.

“We were conducting a test just now. She’s trying to manipulate this philodendron, but nothing worked.” A doctor informed them. “This is consistent with tests on former Pegasi and unicorns: they’re missing wings, unicorns can’t levitate objects; every bit of magic was squeezed out of them. They don’t even have Cutie Marks!”

“Posey… I’m so sorry…” Izzy extended her condolences.

“Whatever…” Posey sighed. “I just wanna be—”

“What happened back there?!” The Bird suddenly flew into the room through a window.

“Aaah! Robot attack!” the doctor screamed as he ran out the door.

“Wait, don’t leave me!” Posey cried as she extends her hand to the escaping doctor. “Get it away! Get it away!” Posey flutters her arms at The Bird before Izzy grabs it, bringing it to her side.

“Don’t worry, this lil guy’s on our side.” Izzy assured.

“Excuse me, I need a sit-rep!” The Bird growled.

“We found the sixth phone, but…” Zipp scratched her neck.

“Human World found a minion to use it: a human.” Sunny explained.

“She had a big trident that turns into a blaster, and nearly destroyed us if Izzy didn’t jump in with her new mech!” Hitch interjected.

“What do we do? I could barely keep up with her even with the battle saddle. I had to escape her through a fluke!” Sunny asked The Bird.

The Bird sighs. “I didn’t wanna do this so soon, but if we wanna go anywhere, I need to take you to the next level.” The Bird told them with a hint of hesitance.

“Next level?” Sunny raised an eyebrow.

The Bird opens its chest compartment to produce another red figurine-key like Sunny’s, but with a white diamond on the chest and a helmet themed after some draconic creature.

Returning to Opaline’s Dark Castle, Human World unloads Miss Silver on the throne room floor on her back like luggage before a frustrated Opaline. “What happened?! I expected five phones and human slaves, but you returned with nothing!” Opaline scolded Human World. She trots to Miss Silver and takes from her pocket her transformation phone, flipping open the screen to remove a silver figurine-key. Upon the key’s removal, Miss Silver’s suit disappears to reveal a humanized Misty wearing a baggy blue shirt with sleeves too long for her arms, shorts too short for the weather, and the high-tech collar remained around her neck while maintaining a listless, blank look. “Even with your so-called ‘compliance collar’ and ‘Ranger Key,’ she’s still useless!”

“Those ponies caught us off-guard, man! The unicorn rolled up in a mech and punched me, man!” Human World explained before Opaline magically throttles him against the trunk of the tree winding throughout the castle.

“What’s wrong with you?! Did that pirate make you so incomprehensibly incompetent to fool me?!” Opaline roared before pulling Human World outright and stretching his limbs out like he was pinned against a cross. “I expected more from you, but you’re nothing but a defective product!”

“Hold that review, your excellency.” halted a familiar voice as the alien pirate emerges from a shadowy corner; his pet monkey hanging off his back.

“You!” Opaline growled as she releases Human World, causing him to faceplant. “Your soldier ran from a battle he should’ve won, and Misty was no more useful than without your fancy gadgets!”

“Patience, Opaline. He might look incompetent, but I can assure you… he is evolving.” The pirate softly assured. “Human World’s special power isn’t just turning ponies human, but manifesting the infinite potential of humanity!”

“I can, man?” Human World asked as he gets up, clueless as Opaline.

“For example, have you wondered where he got that guitar? Did it, perhaps, appeared out of thin air?”

“Is that what he can do? Make guitars?” Opaline asked sarcastically.

“That, and more!” The pirate answered gleefully. “As we speak, he’s evolvin’ before yer very eyes! Who knows what his next power’ll be?”

When he finishes his sentence, Human World suddenly gains extra few inches in height. Everyone looks at his feet to find roller skates on his soles. “Roller skates. How terrifying.” Opaline rolls her eyes. “If you don’t mind, I’d like you to free Misty and take Human World with you. Our deal is off.”

Suddenly, Human World pulls out a steampunk bow and three arrows which he aims over Opaline. She ducks out of his way as he shoots the arrows at a shelf on the other end of the room, perfectly shattering three empty potion bottles. “Huh, I’ve never done that before, man.”

“What did ya say about our deal?” The pirate asked Opaline smugly.

“Could we transfer this… ‘infinite potential’ into Misty?” Opaline eyes Misty lying on the ground, silently staring at the ceiling with no thoughts of her own.

To be continued…