“Th...Tha...THANE!!!” Thane suddenly woke up to the sound of his cousin yelling his name, but something was wrong with his voice, it was...robotic. He opened his eye to see four robots standing around him, each with a arm cannon on their left arm, and a head in the middle of their chest. One bot a blue paintjob, another yellow, sleeker design, the third was a purple ranger, with a blocky design, and the final looked like a tank. That last one was taller than any of the others, as well as more armored, with a silver and purple paintjob. He was over twice the size of the others.

“Ok... “ Thane started, noticing his own voice was also sounding robotic. “What the hell happened to us? Nathan?” He asked, looking at each of the robots

The largest robot stepped forward, “Right here cus.”

“Nathan...why are you dressed like that?”

“Look at yourself cus…” Thane blinked then looked down at his body. He was surprised to see his body was made of a jet black metal, and even more surprised to find his head in the middle of his torso. It was also jet black, and unlike the other robots, he had two hands.

“What exactly happened Nate?” Thane asked while looking to himself.

“I don’t know exactly what happened, but I’m pretty sure we’ll get a flashback any second now…”

“How does that work?” Nathan just shrugged his shoulders and everything went white.

“Tolja…”

The silver and purple sports car shot down the street towards city hall, where this years Comic-Con was being held. When the car slid into the parking space the group of friends opened their doors and held their stomachs.

A girl in a purple hoodie rested her arm on the door frame. “Jesus Nathan, do you have to drive so fast?”

The tall boy in a grey and purple jacket merely chuckled. “Hey, I got us here in one piece didn’t I?”

The oldest of the group glared at Nathan, “Don’t ever do that again.” He groaned, keeping his stomach down.

Nathan chuckled again, “We’ll see cus.” Two others stumbled out of the car, a female teen with a yellow sports jacket and a younger teen with a blue sweater.

The group exited the car, slamming their doors. They headed to the back of the car and opened up the trunk. Inside was five cases, each containing a costume. “Heres mine…” Nathan said, pulling out a case with a silver and purple stripe out.

Nathan moved away, allowing the oldest to grab his case, a pure black case without a stripe on it. “Here’s yours Zane.” He said to the young teen in the blue sweater, taking out a case with a blue stripe on it.

The younger teen smiled shyly at his older brother, “T-thanks Thane.” He said, taking the case from his brother. The three moved away from the area leaving the girls behind.

Nathan tossed his keys back to them. “When you girls are done putting on your makeup, we’ll be over at the entrance.” The girls glared at him before grabbing their bags. Krystal, the one in the purple hoodie grabbed the door of the trunk and was about to slam it shut. “You slam that door and crack the glass it’s comin out of your purse Krystal!”

The group entered the building in their matching Galactic Ranger costumes. “I can’t believe we forgot the arm cannons.” Krystal moaned through her mask.

Nathan shook his head. “I offered to take us back to get them but Nooooooooo.”

Thane turned to his cousin. “It’s because you’re such a dangerous driver.”

Nathan smirked. “Then why is it I’m the only one of us that has a driver's licence?”

Everyone stopped except for Katie and Nathan. “Why is he the only one with a licence?”

Silence befell the group as they all stared at the now humming Nathan. They all looked at each other in question, they shook their heads and continued on. After walking around and stopping at some stalls, Zane spotted something out of the corner of his eye. “Guys, that guy over there is selling arm cannon props.”

The group stopped and looked to where the youngest member of the group was pointing. Sure enough, there was a stall with a black cloth with a tall thin man standing behind it, he was eyeing the group. Nathan felt off about something. “Something about that guy seems...familiar.”

Krystal patted him on the back and started walking towards the stall with the rest of the group. Nathan still felt unsure but followed. When they reached the table the man smiled. “Hello, what can I do for you today?”

Thane stepped forward. “How much for the arm cannons?”

The man chuckled. “They’re free of charge.”

Zane stepped forward. “Really?”

Nathan watched the man carefully as he gave them their props. Except that there wasn’t a cannon for Thane. “Oh dear, it appears that I’m one short, here, have this shield generator instead.”

Thane put on the glove that matched his costumes design. “Thanks, what is your name by the way?”

The man stood tall and bowed. “I am known by many names, but most call me…” He looked up to face Nathan’s suspicious glare. “...The Merchant.”

A look of fear punched Nathan in the face as he remembered the man. “Oh shi…” At that second, a bright light enveloped the group, what they heard was the laughter of the Merchant.

Thane’s eyesight returned, he looked to see the silver and purple ranger punching the stone wall. “How could I have forgotten that guy, after all of the displaced I’ve read?”

Thane got to his metallic feet. “Wait, you know what’s going on?”

Nathan made one last blow to the way, causing the room to shake. “What’s going on is that that God damn Merchant sent us to another world. I should have remembered!”

He adjusted his arm cannon to be aimed at a rock and a small blast shot from it, leaving a small crater in the floor. Thane looked to his cousins cannon. “That thing works?”

Nathan just looked at his cannon and sighed. “Yep, even this works…”

Thane got up and placed his hand on Nathan's shoulder. “Do you know what's happened?”

Nathan faced the group, each of them giving him a confused look. “I know what’s going on but you’re not gonna like it. Right now, we are not on our world, we’ve been sent here by that damned merchant, when we took those props we basically threw our lives away.”

Everyone stepped a bit closer. “How do you know this Nathan?”

Nathan shook his eye. “I can’t tell you that, it will only cause problems.”

Thane was about to say something else but was interrupted by a door opening. “The princess will speak to you now.”

Nathan straightened himself and faced the figure in the doorway. “Ok, we will be right out.”

The figure nodded and exited the cave like room. The group looked to Nathan as if expecting him to explain. “Ok guys, when we go out here, don’t ask any questions, don’t say anything and don’t touch anything, I’ll do the talking.”

The group was surprised at how serious Nathan was acting, he wasn’t his usual hyperactive self. “And why should we let you do the talking?”

Nathan just turned away and began walking towards the exit. “Because right now your lives might depend on it, I don’t know what version of this world we were sent to, so just trust me, I know what to do here.”

The group looked at each other unsure but followed him, all debating whether or not any of this was real. Nathan looked back at the group and sighed. 'I need to figure out where we are in the timeline, then I can plan our next move. Like it or not we're stuck here.'

He took a quick look around, making sure to take in key details. It didn't look anything like the Canterlot castle. 'Wait a minute." He looked out a window and saw a forest of thorns. 'This is before Nightmare Moons banishment.'

Over one thousand years later

A young Twilight Sparkle ran through the castle halls, Celestia hot on her heels. They were currently playing a game of tag as a break from studying, plus Celestia loved playing with the filly as it was in her instincts to be as motherly as possible towards her. "Catch me if you can princess!" Twilight made a sharp turn in an unfamiliar hallway, a hallway Celestia knew all too well.

"Wait, Twilight, watch out for the steps!" Her warning reached Twilight all too late and she fell down a long flight of stair, leading her into the underground portion of the castle. Twilight used her magic to stop herself from hitting the floor at the bottom.

Twilight shook her head and looked around at the dark hallway.

"Twilight! Are you alright?!"

"I'm fine princess!" Twilight shouted up to her mentor. She looked back to the hallway, she spotted a candle nearby and lit it with her magic, sending a warm glow over the green stone walls. "It looks like nopony's been down here in years."

"Because nopony has." Twilight turned to see Celestia walking towards her with a serious look on her face. She cast a spell and multiple candles in the hallway lit up. "This was one of the first hallways ever built in the castle, and it houses some of Equestrias greatest warriors." Twilight watched as Celestia walked down the hall and to a large stone door that had the symbol of a Phoenix engraved on it. "The warriors were put to rest long ago, after the banishment of a great evil, they had no reason to remain active during this time of peace. So they went to sleep, waiting for the day they would be needed again." Celestia leaned down to Twilight. "Do you want to see them?"

Twilight nodded and Celestia opened the door. They were greeted by a cloud of dust as they walked into the chamber. Along the walls sat four capsules, each a different colour and covered in webs and dust. Twilight walked over to a capsule and wiped away the dust, revealing the sleeping body of a galactic ranger. "What are they?"

"They are the galactic rangers, a group of living machines that were sent here from another world. This ranger is the leader of the group, Thane." Celestia then pointed to the next capsule. "In there is the teams medic, Zane." She moved over to the opposite wall and wiped the dust off the glass. "These are the two female officers, Katie and Krystal. Katie is the sniper and Krystal is their technical support."

Twilight looked around the room confused. "Shouldn't there be a weapons specialist in the team?"

"I see you've been reading up on the military protocols and methods." Twilight eagerly nodded. "You are right, there is a weapons specialist, but he would not fit into this chamber or a capsule." Celestia exited the room and Twilight followed. They reached a much larger door and entered the room. Twilight could hear breathing in the dark room and began to become scared. "It's alright, that's just him sleeping. I'll wake him up to introduce you."

Celestia cast a spell and the room became illuminated, revealing a huge sleeping ranger, over twice the size of the others and heavily armoured.

Celestia walked up to it and tapped it's leg in a pattern. Suddenly the breathing stopped and the eye of the robot glowed purple. This ranger, unlike the others, had two colours on his armour, silver and purple. He sat up and looked down at Celestia.

"Oh, hello Tia, is something attacking Equestria?" He held out his hand and Celestia climbed onto it as if it were a platform. He brought her to eye level, unintentionally lifting Twilight in the process.

"No Nathan, a certain little filly stumbled upon these chambers and I thought I'd introduce you." Nathan looked at her with his huge eye then noticed Twilight hiding behind her legs.

"Ah, so the little element has been born. Don't be afraid Twilight Sparkle, I will not hurt you."

"How do you know my name?" Twilight stepped forward, walking until she was right at his eye.

"That I can not say, but I will tell you this. You are destined for great things Twilight, great things indeed."

"How could you know that, there are no spells for seeing the future, unless the world you came from had the technology for that, but it would be impossible to sustain that much information without going mentally insane, but it could be because of your circuitry or maybe some kind of foreign magic or force that gave you psychokinetic abilities."

Nathan just looked at her. "You're a wordy wee thing aren't ya?"

"Well I do love to read."

He nodded and looked to Celestia. "So, it's been a thousand years since I was last awake?"

"Almost, you haven't missed much."

"Ah, well, I appreciate you coming down to visit me. If you ever want to talk Twilight, you know where to find me." Twilight smiled and he set them back on the ground. As Twilight walked out of the door Celestia stopped and turned to the giant robot.

"You used to be so immature around me Nathan, apart from our meeting of course. Tell me, what's changed?"

Nathan sighed and lay his back against the wall. "A thousand years of solitude does things to a guy, I'm still the Nathan you know, I just know when I need to be serious." Celestia nodded and began to walk out. "By the way, happy birthday."

Celestia stopped in her tracks and looked back to see Nathan had went back to sleep. She smiled and left him at peace.

Author's Notes:

[youtube=

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Character profiles can be found in this blog post.