Canterlot Castle:

Celestia took a deep breath and sighed as she paced around her personal quarters back and forth. She’d gone over this speech many times in her head and no matter how many times she went over it, she still felt nervous. But Celestia steeled herself, she knew she had to make this speech. She’d spent far too long in putting this off and letting the misanthropy and bigotry in her kingdom fester and grow like a weed until it had finally led up to this. Her own daughter, in the hospital under emergency care in the ICU and there was a very good chance she’d never wake up.

That man, that mysterious Doctor was right as always. She didn’t know when or where he came from or anything about him, but she did know he was a man who had seen everything dark and frightening that the universe could pull from its depths. And yet through it all, he’d still come out sane and never wavered. He even confronted her in her own throne room and call her out for everything she’d done.

“What gave you the right to exterminate humanity? You're no god, you don't decide who lives and who dies! I went there once, tried to change the timeline for what I thought was better out of a moment of sheer arrogance and look what happened! I only made things worse! And I don't care what humanity did to piss you off!” The Doctor snarled out, his voice a tone of pure absolute fury. “You don't have the right to judge. No one does. You killed off an entire species just because of one arsehole,” He continued before his voice became slightly more sympathetic. Slightly. “He raped you, fine, I get that and I feel sorry for you, as no one should have to go through that, but what you did... It's... It's just... I have no words.” He whispered to himself.

“Who are you Doctor, to judge me in my own court? In my own Kingdom?” Celestia responded arrogantly.

“Whatever you've got planned next for cementing your power and driving humanity’s good name through the mud, forget all about it. I'm the Doctor. I'm 920 years old. I'm from the planet Gallifrey in the constellation of Kasterborous. I am The Oncoming Storm, The Predator, the Bringer of Darkness and you are just an arrogant horse pretending she knows everything. You’re no god. I’ve seen plenty of those, and I’ve brought them all down. Merde, I even brought down the inspiration for the Devil himself!”

Celestia only laughed. “What are you going to do, scan me with your sonic probe? It’s completely harmless.”

“Well, that’s what I like about it. Oh, yes. Harmless is just the word. That's why I like it! Doesn't kill, doesn't wound, doesn't maim. But as I was saying… Don't challenge me, Celestia!” The Doctor replied with a snarl in his tone, not even bothering to use her full title. “'Cos I'm not the kind of man you want to piss off. I could bring down your government with a few simple words, secrets unspoken for thousands of years. You want to test me?” He asked and Celestia laughed, her mane and eyes going completely orange like the fires of the sun itself.

“HUMANITY WAS AN ABOMINATION, AND IT DESERVED WHAT IT GOT!”

The Doctor only smirked.

“Oh, you know nothing of any human, and that will be your downfall. Sometime, someday, Solar Flare, some human will catch you off-guard so badly that they will strike you down. I’d like to say it’s your other half that’ll do it, but for the time being, she’s too far gone.” The Doctor said sadly before he walked right out of the room. Solar Flare was so stunned by his boldness that she didn’t even order her guards to apprehend him.

Now:

Celestia stepped out onto the balcony and tested the microphone by tapping it before swallowing hard. All of Equestria was hanging on her breath, and hopefully if she got through to them, she could start making the changes she should have made long ago.

“This… This is the hardest speech I’ve ever had to make. I’m guilty, we’re all guilty of the sin of Wrath. We were too frightened of humanity, too frightened of a small group to not even consider what good points they may have had before we exterminated them,”

Unknown to her, Equestria wasn’t the only one who was listening. Sunburst had Navi tap into the broadcast and now Robert, Lightning Dust and Princess Shayla were listening in as well on the Animarium. Robert was too shocked for words, his jaw hanging wide open. Was… Was Celestia actually owning up to her crimes or was he imagining things?

“I hoarded away any information about humanity I could find, and let you all believe that they were bastards of the highest order. I gave you propaganda, and let it fester for over 2,000 years which is 2,000 years too many. There’s several famous quotes by humanity I’d like to make now. The first comes from a man named James Allen. “As in the rankest soil the most beautiful flowers are grown, so in the dark soil of poverty the choicest flowers of humanity have developed and bloomed.”,”

In the Crystal Empire, laying in bed together Cadence and Shining Armor listened intently as Celestia confessed to every crime she had committed over the past 2,000 years.

“Mystic Mother above…” Cadence whispered. Here was her aunt, devoid of all arrogance and actually speaking in a tone of great sadness and shame. The only time she’d ever heard Princess Celestia speak like this was when she had to banish her sister to the moon after completely ignoring how jealous Luna was getting of her popularity amongst everypony and leading to the rise of Luna’s own dark half. At the time, she was simply ignored and cast aside by the populace, her duties as the Princess of the Night overlooked.

“The second comes from a truly great man, one who rose up against all odds to deliver a speech on his race. “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream ... I have a dream that one day in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers,”

Now Robert was truly stunned. Navi actually fell out of his hands landing on the stone floor with a small squawk of shock, little cartoon-like parrots circling her head. Here was Princess Genocide actually quoting one of the greatest men to ever live. Now, Robert was severely questioning if she should be called that anymore and if Sunset was right about her split personality just by the sheer remorse in her tone. No one ever truly evil ever spoke with any sort of shame about their actions.

“Sunset… If you ever wake up I owe you an apology. And… And I think I owe Celestia one as well,” Robert mused to himself. “Mein Gott, I miss the days when I was just a simple cop and everything was black and white.”

“If Celestia is right, despite all of Robert’s flaws he does have, he may not be out to rape anypony.” Lightning Dust thought, “I may not like him, but now it might only just because he’s a flirt and, to be honest… He… He reminds me far too much of my own father. I… I need to think about this some more.”

“His name was Martin Luther King Junior, and only a few years after he made this speech, he was assassinated by those who did not believe in his dream and actively fought against it,” Celestia continued, faltering slightly as a noticeable tear ran down her face as she knew what part of the speech she had just gotten to. “Similarly, my daughter, Sunset Shimmer was attacked in the streets all because she chose to associate herself with the last human, Robert Williams. I fear one day that because of what I’ve done, she will not be the last. So please, I beg of you, to all of you, that you will heed my words and warnings and just think of humanity not as a species of hate, but of a species of dreamers and those who wanted to reach for the stars and see what lay out there. How I plan to start to implement this action of change is to start releasing copies of everything humanity dreamed up, for good or ill and let you make up your own minds as to what they were really like in their time. Now, as a truly great man once said… Allons-Y!”

And in his home, sitting on the couch with his wife and two daughters the Doctor smiled. Celestia it seemed, had finally learned her lesson.

As soon as Celestia was done with her speech, she walked away from the microphone and let what she had said to all of Equestria sink in. Two Royal Guards, and two Night Guards, all of which were of the pegasi species followed her.

One of the Night Guards, Galaxy’s personal second in command, a dark blue-furred pony named Star Hunter with the constellation of Orion as his Cutie Mark emblazoned on his shoulder pads looked directly at her.

“That was a brave thing you did. Speaking up like that, it must have taken a lot of courage.”

“Courage? Yes, Star Hunter, yes it did,” Celestia replied as she took him aside. “But you remember what happens when we die right?”

“Y-Yes,” Star Hunter faltered. “We have to carry all of those we’ve wronged in some way upon our backs up a mountain don’t we?”

“Yes, now imagine just for a moment, the weight I’ll have to carry. That’s… That’s my prison, something I’ll always know that’ll be waiting for me when I finally pass over. My only sense of satisfaction is that my other half will have to carry the load as well.” Celestia said and all of the guards walked off but then Celestia pulled the two Royal Guards aside and her eyes went completely orange, burning like the sun itself.

“Forget all of what I just said, do you hear me?” Solar Flare growled out, the air in the room becoming uncharacteristically warm. “I want Robert brought to me, tell this to all of your fellow guards. There’s now a bounty on his head, 100,000 Bits for whoever brings him in.”

“B-But you just said…” One of the guards stammered out and Solar Flare created a ball of fire in her hands and threw it at a statue of the legendary pegasus Flash Magnus rendering it to ashes at once. She growled out “I lied, I do that. Now unless you want to be next, get moving!”

The two guards, completely terrified ran out of the room to spread the word as Celestia took control once again.

“Oh please Celly-Belly, did you really think you could keep me out forever?” Solar Flare smirked.

“No, I knew I wouldn’t,” Celestia admitted before she smirked. “But I do have one small sense of satisfaction. That Hubris of yours, the Doctor was right… It will be your downfall. Maybe it won’t be Robert Williams who strikes you down, maybe it will. But I do know this, it’ll happen someday soon and I will be there to see it when it does happen.”

“Please.” Solar Flare scoffed. “My pawns are already in place. You can’t stop me now from getting what I want, and that is the total eradication of humanity and evidence that it ever existed.”

“And that’s your fatal flaw.” Celestia rebuted, not even bothering to acknowledge Solar Flare by her name. “Chess. It's a useful mental exercise. And through the years, many thinkers have been fascinated by it. But I don't enjoy playing. Do you know why not? Because it was a game that was born during a brutal age when life counted for little and everyone believed that some people were worth more than others. Kings and pawns. I don't think that any being is worth more than another being. Life isn’t a game, not to me. Real beings aren't pieces. And you can't assign more value to some of them than to others. Not to me. Not to anyone. Ponies, my Little Ponies are not a thing that you can sacrifice. The lesson is that anypony who looks on the world as if it was a game of chess, deserves to lose. And that’s what’s going to happen to you.”

Astoundingly, Solar Flare couldn’t think up a response to that. Celestia smirked, hopefully that would shut her up for a while.

The Animarium:

“So… That’s what’s been going on and what you’ve been up to.” Sky said as he and Robert took a walk through one of the many tree-covered paths on the Animarium. There was a screeching sound as the Falcon Zord flew overhead flapping his mighty wings and soaring off into the cloud cover that constantly hid the floating paradise in the sky from prying eyes.

“...Now that’s a big Zord,” Sky muttered as soon as he recovered from his shock. “Bet you’d love to have control over that.”

“Hardly, you don’t control the Wild Zords as I’ve learned. You just give them orders and they do their own thing and figure out how to fight the Org of the day for themselves,” The former SPD Green explained to Sky. “Mind you, I so do wish I had a method of keeping the Kitsune Zord under control. That thing is worse than I am with arrogance, believe it or not. Wonder if I can find a whip large enough to tame it?” Robert deadpanned.

Sky stared at him with an expression of disbelief, unsure if he was joking or not.

“...Anyways,” Sky stated after clearing his throat. “What happened to SPD?”

Robert looked uncertain.

“Honestly, I’m not sure. The happiest solution I can come up with is that it was absorbed into Time Force when they came along if the timeline’s still correct. But, after what you heard Princess Ge-” Robert stated before correcting himself, unsure if Celestia actually deserved the mocking title he’d given her anymore. “Sorry, Celestia said, there are some very frightening possibilities I’d rather not think about.”

“It’s possible they’re still around. SPD is… Sorry, was as I’m still getting used to these new tenses (Robert muttered “You and me both mate.”) an intergalactic organization. They could still be around, and might have just quarantined Earth.” Sky speculated but Robert shot that theory down at once.

“Doubtful. SPD’s a galactic protection agency. If they were still around, they’d have arrested Princess Celestia a long time ago on charges of genocide.” He pointed out.

“Right…” Sky trailed off before changing the subject. “So, on Bunglay. We figured out that he has to go through memories of whomever he picks as a target to resurrect fallen Rangers and Monsters. If he went through what you read in SPD files, they’d just be puppets without conscience. So, that begs the question, how’d you meet Lauren and Merrick?”

“I can answer that.” Lauren’s voice said from behind him as she walked out of the treelines making both Sky and Robert jump with Robert thinking “Samurai? She’s more like a bleeding ninja!”

“I, along with Merrick as my traveling companion, with him under the excuse of going wherever the wind takes him, came to the Pai Zhau a month after Master Xandred’s defeat to come and train under the local master, Casey.” The Red Samurai Ranger explained.

“Yeah, I remember…” Robert trailed off.

Pai Zhau Academy: 2013: One Month before the coming of the Imperial Armada’s first attacks…

“Good, good!” Casey said as Robert, amongst other students like Jarrod and Camille went through their stances. Each student was clad in a blue Chinese style gi, with Casey and his fellow Rangers being the sole exceptions. They wore gis in their respective colors of red, blue and yellow. Robert chuckled to himself, he found it quite unusual to see a former member of Dai-Shi’s clan amongst them. But he couldn’t argue Camille’s spirit came in handy during the final battle if what he heard was correct in taking down the Phantom Beast general Scorch alongside Jarrod’s Lion Spirit.

After Robert and the rest of his class went through a few more stances and kung fu moves, Casey struck a gong to let everyone know the class was over for the time being and together everyone bowed in unison. Robert was tossed a towel by Lily and just as he was about to wipe the sweat off his face the great wooden doors of the academy opened and in stepped a blond haired woman, early twenties if Robert had to guess dressed in a grey kimono and dark hakama pants with a kendo sword strapped to her hip. Behind her was a goateed man with black hair with silver streaks in it (Somehow, Robert got the feeling that it wasn’t dyed in any form) wearing a simple T-shirt and jeans combo. Robert turned his head to Jarrod and Camille, who both looked uneasy.

“Something wrong?” He asked.

“It’s… It’s nothing.” Jarrod replied with a slight falter in his voice making Robert know he was lying.

“Alright, out with it. You both sense something I can’t, so spit it out!” Robert snapped and Camille looked around nervously before leaning in.

“It’s… It’s just there’s an aura of darkness following that man. Something out of our vision, something that shouldn’t be in this world but is,” She answered. “I can’t make out what it is, but I can tell you it embodies a dark spirit… Something almost wolfish.”

“So, what can I do for a fellow Red?” Casey asked, stepping forwards to shake the unknown woman’s hand as whispers began to break out amongst the class. Two Red Rangers meeting in one place? “Lauren Shiba, the Red Samurai Ranger. I’ve heard so much about you and your brother’s team.”

“Likewise, Jayden told me about what you and your team pulled off by sealing away Dai-Shi. Saw what he looked like on the news, the guy could give Orochi a run for his money in terms of sheer creepiness.”

Casey quirked an eyebrow.

“Orochi?” He asked inquisitively, not familiar with Japanese legends.

“Eight headed, eight-tailed dragon demon,” Merrick stated making Casey wince at the resemblance. “I’d tell you the full legend, but Japanese myths always wind up giving you a headache if you think about them too hard. They’re worse than the Greek myths at times.”

Jarrod leaned over to Camille and muttered “No, actually I think the Greek and Norse myths are still the most headache inducing. To say nothing of ancient Egypt’s.” and she chuckled in response.

“Ah. So, what are you here for?” Casey asked.

“Well, I was hoping to pick up a few pointers on fighting from the Master of the Tiger Spirit,” Lauren explained. “A spar would do me some good anyways, I haven’t had any action since the battle with Xandred.”

“So be it, but I am warning you ahead of time about what you’re getting into. Challenge a Pai Zhau Master, and you might regret it.” Casey said, taking a stance. Lauren likewise pulled out her sword.

“You should watch yourself as well, cub. Accepting a Samurai’s challenge is quite brave. You may have the spirit of the Tiger, but the heart of a Lion inside you as well.” Lauren remarked in a cheerful manner as both fighters stared each other down and circled each other. Merrick on the other hand, simply leaned up against a wall and observed.

“Okay, who wants to place bets? I’m betting on Casey.” Robert asked and Theo gave him a look.

“Really?” He asked in annoyance.

“Oh come on Theo, lighten up. This should be fun to watch!” Lily exclaimed giddily. “You gotta admit, seeing two Red Rangers fight might be interesting.”

Theo sighed. “Alright, twenty-five bucks and a free Jungle Karma pizza to whoever wins this bet. Whoever loses, has to hand out towels AND wash them for the rest of the month. I’m going for Casey.”

“Place me down for Samurai Girl.” Another student said and Lily nodded. “Same here, women can kick as much ass as men can so that’s why I’m voting in Lauren’s favor.”

“I’ll go along with that.” Camille stated while Jarrod simply rolled his eyes and muttered: “You guys are idiots.”

“So, who won?” Sky asked, interested at the prospect of two fellow Reds fighting each other in a spar.

“I’drathernotsay,” Robert said a little too quickly for Sky’s liking.

“I did,” Lauren answered with a smirk. “Fox-Boy here lost the bet quite badly.”

“My only consolation was that Theo lost as well. I held that over his head for weeks on end.” Robert smirked before everyone's heads turned to see the Phoenix Zord on top of the central mountain. It was letting out a mournful keening cry, as it sensed her friend and partner’s connection to the living world was growing weaker by the moment. The Zord’s soft green eyes were closed, almost as if she was crying.

Lauren sighed as she began to fade. “If I had the time left… Or the fact that this would go against the Samurai Code, I would go and find the ponies who did this to your friend and strike them down personally. Rangers together and all that,”

“I don’t have much longer before I have to return to Yomi-no-Kuni, but Robert, Sky…” Lauren said with a smile, a tear dripping down her face. “It was nice to meet you both and see that the legacy of the Power Rangers will still live on even in the darkest of times.”

Then, as she faded away once more, this time for good both Robert and Sky gave her a salute of respect. Elsewhere on the Animarium, Zen-Aku quietly played his flute dagger to himself as he thought.

“Why should we trust you with our Animal Crystals?” The Alligator Zord growled out with the Hammerhead giving the Duke Org a dirty look. They had long memories and still hadn’t forgotten how Zen-Aku misused them all those thousands of years ago along with their fellow Wild Zords.

“You corrupted us, made us fight against our brothers and sisters.” The Hammerhead put in. Oddly, the Wolf Zord stayed silent and both of the other two looked at him.

“Why aren’t you having a say?” The Alligator asked, giving Zen-Aku another dirty look. “He used you as well, and yet you haven’t said a word at all. I would think you most of all, being Merrick’s signature Zord would have something to say against this corruption of nature.”

“He shouldn’t even be alive!” The Hammerhead put in. “Why Animus brought him back… That makes me severely question his judgment, Lord of the Wild Zords or not. I also distinctly recall him taking the other Zords away from the Rangers as a test, and look what happened!”

“Yes…” The Alligator snarled, his voice growing angrier in tone as he remembered. “They were nearly killed by the Toy Org in the process and left to fend for themselves.”

It was then the Wolf finally spoke, his voice calm and collected. It was a distinct contrast against his fellow Zords’ furious tones.

“Be that as it may, Animus gave them back their Zords and he even came back to fight in the final battle against the second Master Org, even giving up his life in the process,” the Wolf Zord pointed out, and both the Hammerhead and Alligator were forced to acknowledge that grumbling to themselves. “Merrick told me that if the Orgs were ever to rise again long after his life was over, he made me promise I’d swear my loyalty to Zen-Aku and continue my duties defending the Earth.”

“When you put it like that…” The Hammerhead trailed off.

“Agreed. Merrick was our friend, and if we broke a promise like that what does that say about us?”

With that, all three Wild Zords’ Crystals floated down to Zen-Aku and landed in his palm as he gripped them tightly and let out a small “Thank you, my friends.”

In the present day, Zen-Aku put down his flute and gripped the crystals in his palm. “I promise, I won’t let you down.”

The Main Temple:

Merrick leaned up against one of the many statues in the main temple with Princess Shayla sitting on the edge of the fountain, an awkward silence filling the air. She looked like she had always done, will always look. Beautiful, immortal, and untouchable. The world could become corrupted by every Org in the world, she would be beautiful. She could be violated, her body torn, and she would be beautiful. Not him though, he was tainted. Looking down at his hands, he thought he could see the black arms of Zen-Aku staring back at him frowning, he turned away, “Maybe I should leave.” he whispered to himself.

“Each day when the sun rises, I hurry from my sleep,
I can't wait to greet you with my song.
You are every kind of flower, every animal I meet,
You are nature full of grace and majesty.”

He turned his head and smiled at her song, “That was...nice.”

“Do you remember when we sang that song together? For the sake of the Deer Zord?” asked Shayla, sighing.

Merrick nodded, smiling a little, “I kind of remember when you tried to sing it with the Time Force Rangers more.”

Shayla laughed, leaning against the fountain, “And Eric, drunk off his gourd, began to make fun of it. He said I sang like a dying giraffe. Then Taylor joined in!!!”

“They got together you know,” Merrick said with a shake of his head. “It was a wild wedding.”

Shayla sighed, running her finger through the water of the fountain. Her face was reflected back at her showing the tears that begun to form in her eyes, “I wanted a wild wedding. All of our friends to be there.”

“Shayla, I,” Merrick began. Every excuse he had in his head died in his throat as he saw her turn and look at him. There were so many excuses he want to say, so much he could try and explain about his wandering, and yet, there she was, looking hurt.

“I will protect you Princess.”

“...I’m sorry.”

“Sorry?! SORRY?!” Shayla cried. “You sacrificed yourself to become Zen-Aku, that I could deal with. It hurt, but at least I knew you could still come back. But then you went off after leaving me behind, traveling the world for who knows how long. Do you know what happened while you were gone? Invasions! Genocide! Murder! And I watched! I watched while I slept, dreaming and realizing that this world was in trouble without me!!!”

Merrick shook his head, and frowned, “I was corrupted Shayla. It just...we couldn’t...it would never had worked. You are a princess and I am a-”

“Knight, who said something that I had never heard before,” Shayla shuddered and turned her head to cry, “You protect me. The others, they would serve me, they would help me, but you said...protect. You saw me as a human, a person. You have no idea what that meant to me, and how precious that idea was.”

“Shayla, I had too. It was to atone for my sins,” Merrick said.

Shayla slammed her hand against the water, making it spray around them, “Think I don’t feel guilty about the things that I have done? I kept the Wild Force Zords here when they should’ve helped a small boy from losing his parents. I kept the location of this island away while the entire planet was invaded. And worst yet, I actually thought that Animus was a loving god.”

Merrick sighed and looked away, “I needed time away. MY sins were just too great.”

“I would’ve shouldered the burden with you,” Shayla said, letting the tears roll down her cheeks. Then she looked up, and whispered softly, “Did you think of me?”

“Every time I looked to the sky,” Merrick said. “I thought, ‘how much longer until I can see her again.’”

“Are you going to leave now too?” Shayla said, turning away.

“From your skies the snow gently falls to the earth,
From your trees the birds nest and play.
From your oceans the fish school and travel the world,”

Merrick sang slowly, walking up to Shayla and sitting down. Taking her chin, he turned her to him and looked into her eyes.

“Oh, nature, please don't ever go away.
Each day when the sun rises, I hurry from my sleep,
I can't wait to greet you with my song.”

“Not this time,” Merrick said, leaning in and kissing her softly, “I don’t want to let you suffer through anymore burdens alone again. I want to be by your side, always. That is...if you forgive me for leaving you.”

Shayla broke the kiss, and looked away for a few moments. There was a part of her that told her to slap him, to hurt him for leaving her. However, she had 3000 years to be mad, a long time for even immortals. Now, it was time to embrace something precious for all of humanity. Slowly, she looked into his eyes and sang.

“You are every kind of flower, every animal I meet,
Merrick, you are grace and majesty”

Then she kissed him, letting her lips press softly against his. When they broke the kiss, Merrick slid a ring on her finger, “I’ll protect you.” And with that, he kissed her again.

With that final gesture, Merrick faded away out of existence and the Wolf and Deer Zords watched and gave out mournful cries as one of their dearest friends left this world once more, and this time for good. In their respective spots on Earth that Animus had told them to guard, the Buffalo, Black Lion, Condor, Sawtooth and Jaguar Zords bowed their heads in remembrance of the Howling Wolf as they too felt his passing and Zen-Aku let out a howl and thought “You shall never be forgotten, my old friend.”

Elsewhere Sky was the last of the resurrected Rangers still in the living world. Unlike Lauren and Merrick before him, he had yet to fade away. He and Robert sat atop the Red Lion’s cliff, watching the various Wild Zords interact with each other. The Black Bison stampeded alongside the Antelope with the White Tiger chasing after it. High above them, the Swallow flew around eagerly trying to outpace them but was seemingly distracted by his fellow airborne Wild Zords and tried challenging them repeatedly to races.

“It’s beautiful up here, you know that right? If this was what Heaven is like, I think this is where I’d like to go when I die.” Robert remarked, causing Sky to give him a look.

“Bit morbid coming from you, Robert,” Sky remarked before he thought of something. “Come to think of it, I haven’t heard you crack a joke or show off once today. Can’t believe I’m saying this, but it just feels… wrong.”

“Well, maybe I’ve been forced to grow up like we all have to do. This world is a harsh place. I have seen so much death, so much suffering. But in time I learned that beneath it there is still a seed of hope, and good people willing to dedicate their lives to make that hope bloom.” Robert remarked further shocking Sky.

“Quite poetic of you.” Sky said before he narrowed his eyes. “Alright, now I know something’s up. You’re not making any jokes, you haven’t flirted with any women or mares here and then there was what you were like on the battlefield today. So there’s something wrong with you. Whatever it is, deal with it. Stow your shit Robert, and get back to the SPD Officer I know you are.”

Robert looked down.

“Honestly, I think we both know what’s wrong with me. You heard Princess Celestia right, about that adopted daughter of hers? She’s my Red, so knowing she’s in the hospital and there’s nothing I can do for her…”

Sky’s face gained a look of recognition.

“Ah, so that’s what it is. You’re in love. Never thought I’d see it, but you’re in love with her,” Sky laughed, amused at the prospect of Robert finally falling in love.

“I… I honestly don’t know, and if that’s true this would actually be my second case of falling for a mare,” Robert confessed, leaving Sky completely speechless. “There was this one named Artemis, she pushed all my right buttons. Snarky, funny, and can pull off foxy like maneuvers that would do Inari himself proud. Spent one night together, then she pulled my love ‘em and leave ‘em tactic on me.”

Sky winced.

“Well, if there’s one thing I do know about this new you, and the old one as well, you’ll get back in the saddle again… So to speak. I do also know that you won’t stop until whoever did this is behind bars… And quite bloody.” Sky smirked and Robert actually laughed as Sky began to fade away.

“Amazing, I actually got you to crack a joke. That’s one helluva way for you to go out in my opinion.” Robert said as he gave Sky, for the first time in his life an actual salute as he faded away and both smiled at each other. However, Robert’s smile was soon to fade as he thought on Sky’s words.

“Honestly… I don’t know if I can…” Robert thought sadly before he let out a snarl and his fists tightened. “But I do know one thing, I can catch who did this. Sky was right, as always. I’m an SPD Officer, and I can’t forget that. I think it’s time me and Suri continued our little “Talk”.

With that, Robert teleported away in a flash of orange light...

(To Be Continued…)

Author's Notes:

Welp, looks like Robert's about to do something incredibly stupid. Raise your hand if this surprises you at all. Anyways, a huge thanks to Alchemystudent for writing the Shayla/Merrick scene, as when I tried my hand at it, all I got was a "Meh" version of the scene, but she came up with something truly astounding. So give her a huge round of applause and please, do go check out her works.