Somewhere in Ponyville:

Sirens blared across Ponyville as a cloud of billowing black smoke rose high into the air from the west side of the small town as orange and red flames lit up and licked at the moonlit sky. Now, your first assumption might be and probably is, Thrax or Bunglay, trying to draw out a certain group of multicolored heroes into a fight with one of them. Well, you’d be wrong. Not in this case actually. What today was… Was just another night on the job for the hardworking stallions and mares of the Ponyville Fire Department. The call had come in at about 3:00 in the morning, when everypony was sound asleep in their beds. It had otherwise been a calm and tranquil night really. But of course, as soon as the first sign of flames appeared in the sky and smoke began to rise, that tranquility was shattered like glass. One stallion coming home from a late night bar crawl possibly, rushed to a callbox and pulled the switch, sending a signal all the way to the Ponyville Fire Station.

Everypony there jumped up from their beds, or dropped whatever they were doing and rushed to their vehicles. Coats and helmets were pulled on. Boots were stepped into and breathing equipment was grabbed. Everypony loaded themselves up into a bright red chariot and doors opened as the sirens began to blare. It was a Three Alarm fire, and multiple engine companies were coming all across Ponyville along with various ladder companies, and 3 battalion chiefs among others.

As soon as the wagons carrying the brave stallions and mares who laid down their life for Ponyville night and day arrived on the scene, everypony set to work. A black furred stallion, helmet on his head and visor over his muzzle began directing everypony. A bright, almost sunkissed mane lay under that helmet.

“Get those hoses hooked up!” His voice boomed as smoke belched out a window of one of the apartments caught in the blaze. His eyes widened as he heard somepony shouting for help, before he turned to a fellow firefighter.

“Red, can you handle things from here? I’m going in there.” Chief Rescue Sunstreak said in a tone that left no room for argument as the medical chariots arrived on scene, lights flashing. Nearby, another pony was pulling out a red box and opening it up, extending the antennae attached to the box itself. She pulled out the telephone and began dialing the number to Ponyville Hospital, knowing that they would be receiving ponies in desperate need of medical care. She only hoped Nurse Redheart and her team were up to the task tonight.

“Not alone you’re not, not if I have anything to say about it.” A voice remarked as another stallion, sandy colored in fur wearing the same black and yellow coat as everypony else, with rather enormous wings walked up to Sunstreak. The stallion in question found his eyes widening.

“Ailan, you’re supposed to be manning the pumper trucks!” Rescue shouted in concern.

“Way I see it, this is a two stallion job,” Ailan replied as he put on a oxygen tank and breathing apparatus. “Who knows how many ponies live in that building? One stallion alone isn’t going to be able to get them all out.”

“Got a point Chief,” “Red” remarked. “I can take things over with the pumpers. You and Ailan, you got work to do.”

Rescue nodded before he pulled out his axe. With a mighty swing the burly stallion chopped down the front door to the apartment block, the two pieces clattering to the front of the doorstep. The two stallions shared a nod.

“Let’s go.” Sunstreak stated before the two ponies charged in rushing up stairwells shouting and hoping they’d get a response. Nearby, another chariot with a very long ladder and bucket rolled up. A unicorn stallion levitated a gurney into the top of the bucket as the ladder arm raised itself upwards and extended its boom to a nearby window where Alian gladly took the gurney and unfolded it. Sunstreak kicked down a door and Ailan rushed inside and came back out carrying another pony. He carefully placed him on the gurney and put a breathing mask over his muzzle. He shared a silent nod with Sunstreak as if to say “You go on ahead, I can take things over from here.”

Sunstreak nodded as Ailan rushed the gurney back to the window and waiting ladder arm and bucket. Meanwhile, the Chief continued running through building shouting. He heard what sounded like coughing.

“Hello, is there anypony in here?”

A muffled voice shouted “In here! Help, please!” and coughed from the smoke. Sunstreak’s eyes widened as he kicked down the wooden door and rushed inwards. He kept low to the ground before through the smoke, his eyes spotted a figure. Laying prone to the ground was a young Earth Pony filly, pure blue in coat color with a even darker blue mane. Sunstreak’s arms wrapped around the filly.

“I got you, don’t worry.” Sunstreak said in a warm and comforting voice, almost like a father would.

“I’m scared…” The filly whispered before letting out a small cough as Sunstreak put a breathing mask over her face.

“You know what, I’m going to let you in on a little secret,” Sunstreak said and the filly looked up at him. “I’m scared too, just as I’m scared every time the call goes out. I’m worried for my men, and I’m worried for the ponies who live in this building. But I promise you, nopony’s going to die tonight, not on my watch.”

He then looked at the filly. “What’s your name, kiddo?”

The filly managed to whisper out “A-Archer.”

Sunstreak smiled under his helmet.

“Well Archer, you don’t have to be scared. I’m getting you out of here, and that’s a promise.”

“P-Pinkie Promise?” Archer asked in fear. Sunstreak nodded.

“Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” He said and Archer smiled. Sunstreak nodded gruffly before he ran out of the room and down a corridor just as a jet of flame forced him and Archer to duck low to avoid it.

“What the buck…?” Sunstreak wondered to himself, knowing that couldn’t have been natural. He turned and looked back, and through the smoke he could have sworn he saw a red dragon like figure holding some sort of sharp pronged staff in his claws. Another jet of flame came his and Archer’s way and Sunstreak shouted “Move it!” even as it rushed towards them.

The Animarium:

Early that next morning, on the floating paradise in the sky that was home to the Guardians of the Earth, the Rangers trained. It had been Vapor’s idea really. She remembered their last battle against Goldar, and how Sunset had only shown up in the nick of time to bail them out.

The eyes on his torso-plate lit up before he unleashed a blast of pure purple-orange energy at the Rangers knocking them right out of their Ranger forms. Goldar chuckled as he strode forwards and pulled out his sword, his armored tail flicking back and forth in anticipation.

“Your colors may be different than any Power Ranger team I’ve seen, but you’re still just the same as every other… Pathetic.” Goldar remarked as Robert and company picked themselves up off the ground and went for their morphers.

“Legendary Wi-”

They never even got a chance to finish their morphing sequence before Goldar blasted them with balls of fire. He chuckled as he continued to walk forwards. His sword glowed and he swung it in a triangular formation and yelled out “Prism Slash!” and sent the triangle-shaped attack spiraling towards the Rangers as a final blow but before it could even reach them a gold feathered wing shielded the Rangers. Robert looked up and blinked as he saw a mare with a red and yellow streaked mane-style. His eyes widened.

“No… It can’t be.”

“You… Get the Tartarus away from my team.” Sunset Shimmer snarled out.

So, it was Vapor’s idea to put the team through some hard training. No one had been expecting it. To put things in perspective, it was Vapor Trail, one of the less confident members of the team to put it lightly had asked for everyone to be put through Ranger Boot Camp as it were while Sunset and Daring were away looking for the artifact that would separate the tyrannical Solar Flare and Princess Celestia. So, shock was the only possible result, and quite a bit of shock actually. But when she explained her reasoning, Robert, knowing that he was the most experienced on the team and yet he as well had gotten his arse soundly handed to him on a platter by Goldar readily agreed. So it began.

Currently right now, the team was in the middle of a light sparring match. Lightning against Vapor, and Robert against Sunburst. Crystal Saber clanged against Crystal Saber and hoof and fist met hoof and fist. Nearby, Princess Shayla and Navi watched.

“Vapor was right, this was exactly what the team needed.” Robert admitted as he blocked a blow from Sunburst with relative ease.

“C’mon Sun, put a bit more force into it! The Orgs won’t hold back, so neither should you!” Robert encouraged and soundly earned a kick to the stomach for his troubles that sent him flying back into a tree. Navi held up a sign with one of her wings with the words “Go dad!” written on it.

“Suppose I asked for that.” Robert grumbled mentally as he picked himself up off the ground.

“Still can’t believe you actually have a talent for stitching,” Sunburst commented as the twosome continued their spar. Robert launched his Kitsune Spirit towards Sunburst, but the older unicorn managed to muster enough magic to blast it out of existence.

“We all have our hidden depths I suppose,” Robert remarked. “Still, Rarity knowing I can stitch together outfits may have earned me room and board, but it does have its downsides. I’ve been working overboard putting together mock costumes. Seems spandex has become very popular as of late.”

“Gee, wonder why?” Sunburst snarked as he locked blades with Robert, who was in shock.

“Wow, did Sunburst just snark at me? Usually I’m the one delivering the deadpan remarks around here. Still, good thing I suppose. Means he’s getting more confident in himself. I was beginning to think some liquid courage was in order with this guy.” Robert thought to himself.

“Still, gets the cheques cashed, and I no longer have to spend time up here like a freeloader,” Robert remarked.

“I was honestly expecting you to take up housing with Fluttershy, the two of you get along so well, if the letters you are exchanging back and forth are any indication,” Sunburst commented lightly.

“Yeah, gotta thank Spike and Princess Twilight for that,” Robert murmured to himself, notably calling Twilight by her royal title for the first time that Sunburst could remember. “But let’s face it, an unmarried mare and me sharing the same household is probably a bad idea for so many reasons.”

“I dunno, you could do with a marefriend, given your bad experience with Luna,” Sunburst commented, surprising Robert with both his boldness and that he knew about that little fact in general.

“Please, can we not bring that up?” Robert groaned out in exasperation. “Still, I suppose I do owe her and her sister a debt of gratitude for starting to release all of humanity’s old recordings of TV and music and the like to the public, amongst other things. Fluttershy seems quite taken with “All Creatures Great and Small”. Makes great radio drama from what I hear.”

Nearby, Vapor and Lightning had taken out their respective weapons and sparred with them. Lightning, her whips, and Vapor, her Trident. Lightning lashed out with the whips, keeping Vapor at bay, but the white furred mare used her Trident like a bo staff and tripped her fellow Wonderbolt up knocking her to the grass. Shayla winced.

“Getting a bit out of hand here isn’t it?” The Princess thought to herself in concern as the fighting became more and more aggressive, far exceeding that was needed for a simple spar.

Lightning growled as she used her whips to pull Vapor’s weapon away from her before punching her adoptive sister in the face. Navi used one of her wings to shield her eyes and murmured “Ooh, that’s gotta hurt…” to herself. The little mechanical parrot winced at each blow dealt out by the twosome, Vapor constantly using more defensive measures to fend off Lightning’s more aggressive attacks.

“Lightning, calm down! This isn’t a real battle, just a spar!” Vapor shouted as she wiped the blood away from her mouth, more than a little worried about Lightning’s newfound aggressiveness.

“I’ve… I’ve got to be the best! It’s the only way I’ll earn my dad’s respect!” Lightning shouted as she swung at Vapor, but Robert caught the punch.

“Alright, that’s enough. Take five, Lightning.” Robert warned. He was greeted with a snarl of rage and possibly a bit of disgust towards him from Lightning, who teleported away in an aqua flash of light to who-knows-where. Vapor sighed and punched a tree in frustration as she thought “Damn you Wind Rider, damn you.” hanging her head in sadness.

Ponyville:

Lightning sighed as she teleported into some bushes in the middle of Ponyville Park, taking a quick look around to make sure nopony had seen her. She gritted her teeth and ground them against each other as she zipped up her jacket to protect herself from the cold.

“Can’t believe I’m saying this, but that Foxy Man-Whore’s right. So was Vapor. They were right, I was going too far,” Lightning thought. “But… But I want to be the best at everything or at least something I do. The only way my father will ever stop thinking me as the runt of the litter, so to speak.”

Lightning’s gaze wandered to a teenage filly, gray in coloring with a silver mane tied in a braided ponytail. She wore glasses and kicked a soccer ball back and forth on a field. On the other end of the field was a stallion, dressed in a nice suit serving as the goalie. Lightning let herself have a wistful smile as the young filly scored a goal.

“That’s… That’s the kind of relationship I’d like to have with my father,” Lightning thought as a tear dripped from her eye before she wiped it away. No, she was a tough mare, couldn’t afford to let anypony see her cry. It was right about then, she noticed something. The goalie and the stallion who she thought was the filly’s father looked way too old to be that. Lightning’s breath stopped for a moment, no, it couldn’t what she was thinking.

“Lightning, you’re probably overthinking things. Maybe that stallion is her father, and he just adopted the kid.” She mused before her hopes were soundly shattered by the stallion clapping and saying “Good show, young miss!”

Lightning’s jaw dropped. This filly’s father couldn’t even afford to spend time out with his kid, and let his butler of all ponies do it instead? Now, she may not have been a mother, but even she could tell that was no way to raise a kid. Lightning’s fists tightened.

“Some dad. Leaves his butler do all the parenthood and crap, and he himself does nothing and just rolls in his money,” Lightning growled. “That father… if I ever lay eyes on him better have a damn good excuse as to why he doesn’t raise his filly himself!”

Lightning then had another thought and took a few calming breaths.

“Maybe you’re wrong about this. Maybe this is a rare case with this girl. Maybe her father is around more than you think he is,”

But she then saw the filly’s forlorn expression as the butler clapped and cheered. Lightning let out an audible growl. She knew that expression all too well, it was one she often wore herself as a child.

“Okay, there goes that thought.” Lightning thought as she saw the filly walking off, the butler not even taking notice as he packed the soccer gear into the back of a chariot. Lightning ran after the filly finding her sniffling to herself near a very large fountain. Lightning sat down beside her as she laid a hand upon the filly’s shoulder.

“Hey, can’t be all that bad,” She said reassuringly even as she thought to herself “Gah, Lightning! Why are you even doing this? She’s just some random kid, shouldn’t even concern you!”

“Name’s Lightning Dust, future Wonderbolt. What’s yours?” Lightning asked and the filly wiped away her tears and sniffled again.

“S-Silver Spoon,” the filly answered. “Why should you even care?”

“Saw you playing with your dad, didn’t look happy. Thought I might be able to cheer you up in some way, or at least offer some sort of advice.” Lightning replied, playing dumb for the time being just to see if her suspicions would be confirmed.

Silver scoffed.

“Please, like he’s my dad. You did notice his age right? Guy’s just my butler,” Silver said. “Dad… Well, if you can call him that, he’s always away on these business trips of his. Guy loves making money more than he loves me, his own daughter for crying out loud!”

Silver then noticed Lightning’s expression.

“What, something wrong?”

“Kid… Believe it or not, I know exactly how you feel.” Lightning answered.

“What, don’t tell me you have a rich dad like I do?” Silver responded sarcastically.

“Surprisingly enough, I do. Wind Rider is his name,” Lightning answered and when she noticed Silver’s eyes widen she nodded. “Yeah, that one. Trust me kiddo, don’t believe everything you read in the papers. Guy may put up a nice front for the public, but with his own family he’s… Well, he’s one shitty father. No other way to put it really.”

“You’re joking…” Silver Spoon trailed off in disbelief. But somehow, looking at Lightning’s expression and the angry tone in which she spoke whenever her father was brought up made her start to believe her.

“Wish I was kiddo,” Lightning responded, shaking her head sadly. “Sadly, I’m not. I was born into a rather large family. The runt of the litter. Dad always said his first born, and my oldest brother, Sky Stinger would be the one to carry on his legacy. Never even gave a thought to me. Eventually, mom had enough of him and left us to fend for ourselves. Mind you, dear old “Dad” couldn’t care less about me, so there was this other family along with a friend of theirs who always took care of me.”

“What about your older brother?” Silver asked, not really wanting to know but curiosity was getting the better of her.

“He hated dad just as much as I did. While the rest of my brothers and sisters always looked up and idolized him, Sky Stinger was the only one in the family to give a damn about me.”

“...Wish I had an older brother like him, or any family at all besides dad really.” Silver Spoon muttered to herself before she heard her butler calling for her.

“Madam Spoon! Where are you?” The voice called. Silver sighed to herself.

“Oh, that’s Jeeves. Best I get going,” Silver said as she trudged off but not before giving one last look to Lightning. “Hope to see you around.”

After Silver had left, Lightning whispered “...Yeah, me too.”

Later that day: The Animarium:

Eventually, Lightning returned to train some more on the Animarium. Right now she was facing a gauntlet, so to speak. She’d already made her way through a makeshift sniper alley and was now facing another challenge. In front of her were several swinging logs, swinging back and forth. The test was simple, just make it through and you were done.

“Ready?” Vapor asked, holding a stopwatch in her hands. Lightning nodded and Vapor blew a whistle, not that far removed from how their Captain blew her own during Wonderbolts training. Lightning ran for it, and headed right for the swinging logs, determination etched on her face and sweat rolling down her muzzle. As she ran towards the logs, however, something or rather somepony nagged at her from the back of her mind.

“...Wish I had an older brother like him, or any family at all besides dad really.” Silver Spoon muttered to herself before she heard her butler calling for her.

Lightning lost her focus and whispered out “Silver.” just long enough for one of the logs to hit her and sent her toppling to the ground. Robert rushed over to her in concern, trying to help her up.

“Hey, you alright? Seemed like something was bothering you for a moment.” He asked and Lightning glared at him even as she clutched her side in pain and blood dripped from her mouth.

“Shut up!” Lightning snapped. “What do you know?”

“Nothing at all, evidently,” Robert muttered.

“Got that right, dumb-ass.” Lightning said sourly. With that, she walked off to find Princess Shayla, ignoring both Vapor and Robert yelling after her. Navi whimpered out “Oh, this isn’t good, not good at all.” as she shook her head.

That night, the same draconic like figure Rescue Sunstreak had met last night stood atop the Ponyville Clocktower. He chuckled to himself.

“That fool Bunglay didn’t know how large of a mistake he made when he made his first undead puppets. He opened the door, the one between this world and the next. It was only a matter of time before someone stepped through it,”

Chuckling, the figure implanted his staff into the rooftop, his dragon wings giving him a truly ominous presence indeed.

“Now, to finish what my mother began.” Olympius thought to himself with a chuckle and turned his gaze towards a mansion. He smirked. That looked like a good place to start.

Ponyville Firehouse:

Meanwhile, Rescue was cleaning off some of the various equipment used by the PVFD in their line of work.

“You know, you’ve been at that for a while,” A voice said from behind him as two burly arms wrapped themselves around Rescue. “Pretty sure all the equipment’s been clean and shined, so tell me, what’s really bothering you?”

Rescue sighed to himself. Ailan could see right through him as always. Sometimes he hated being married to him. Could be a real pain in the flank at times.

“During that last fire, thought I saw something.” Rescue commented, not sure if his husband would think him crazy or not.

“Sure the fire and smoke didn’t get to you?” Ailan began to laugh before it faded away once he saw the look on Rescue’s face. “...Wait, you’re not joking are you?”

“Wish I was. Looked like a… figure of some sort. Held some type of fancy staff. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say it was a demon from Tartarus.”

“Could be one of those Orgs we’ve been hearing about on the radio that those Power Rangers are fighting.” Ailan theorized.

“Mystic Mother above, I hope not. Got enough trouble with regular fires to put out without Orgs starting to take up a career in arson on the side.” Rescue muttered. Just then, the call went out. Four-Alarm fire, right at the Spoon manner. Rescue dropped his demeanor of worry in an instant and was suddenly all business.

“Alright everypony, suit up! This one’s going to be a big one, so whatever you’re doing, for the time being, stow it!” He boomed. “Ponyville needs us, double time now men!”

The fire station doors opened, and with a whine, the sirens blared on the chariots as they trundled off towards the rapidly rising cloud of smoke. They hadn’t been the only ones to notice this cloud, however. High in the sky, taking a ride atop her Zord to clear her head was Lightning. Her eyes widened when she saw the flames.

“Get me down there!” She ordered, and the Thunderbird went into a dive letting out a screech as a war cry. Lightning held on for dear life. She didn’t know why, but something about this whole thing made her more worried than usual.
As Lightning and the brave men and women of the PVFD reached the blaze, they both found themselves in the midst of absolute chaos. And in the middle of it all, using fireballs to blow up any pumpers trying to deliver water to quench the blaze was Olympius laughing as he did so. He looked almost exactly the same as he did when he was alive for the first time. Wearing his lava red and gold armor, his chest plate bore the head of a dragon emblazoned on it with a slot where a red star should have been but wasn’t. His wings looked absolutely Hellish in the middle of the inferno.

“Hold it right there Org!” Sunstreak yelled. Even as he did so, he wondered: “What are you thinking Sunstreak, this is crazy. You’re a firefighter, not a superhero!”

The “Org” laughed as he implanted his staff which had a sword at each end, in the ground knocking everypony back with a shockwave.

“Oh, you must be mistaken. Those sad fools don’t even begin to measure up to my power. I’m Olympius, son of Queen Bansheera and Prince to all demonkind,” The Prince laughed and snapped his fingers. Appearing from the ground were various bat-like creatures. “Batlings, destroy them!”

Just then, very large thunderbolts came down from the sky and scorched the bat-like foot soldiers into cinders. The Thunderbolt Zord screeched again as it flew overhead and Lightning leaped off it and landed on the ground with a thud.

“Honestly, I don’t care who you are. Prince or no Prince, you’re going down just the same.” Lightning boasted and pulled out her Crystal Saber and inserted the Giraffe Crystal. She swung the beam like blade but Olympius blocked it every time with his staff and then flew forwards and kicked Lightning back into a chariot.

“Oh, you Rangers are all just the same,” Olympius chuckled as he grabbed Lightning by the throat holding her up to face level. “Pathetic, arrogant and worthless. Mind you, you seem to be more arrogant than most.”

Just then, several shots hit the Prince and caused him to drop Lightning. He yelled out “Who dares?” and turned his head to the sound of metal banging against metal. He looked to his left and saw Robert, out of costume, knocking his Kitsune Blaster against a street lamp.

“Figures, you lot never know when to quit, do you?” The Orange Ranger muttered as flames crackled in the background.

“And who do you think you are?” Olympius asked, laughing.

“Do I really have to answer that question, Baka-Prince?” Robert asked sarcastically. Lightning looked towards him in shock, disbelief etched on her every feature. Robert, even after all she’d said against him, actually coming to help her? “Rule one of being a Power Ranger: never leave a man, or in this case mare, behind. Mess with one of us, you mess with all of us.”

He gestured for Sunstreak and company to get to work. “All of you lot, get everypony out of that building, do it! Me and Lightning can handle this guy!”

Just then, Lightning heard a familiar voice shouting out for her. Her eyes widened as she thought “Silver!”

“I’m going in there.” She said and both Rescue and Robert looked at her as if she was crazy.

“You nuts or something, you’re not even trained to handle that kind of heat!” Rescue shouted.

“Hey, crazy is my middle name,” Lightning stated in a tone that left no room for argument and looked at them both, daring them to challenge her. “Besides, there’s a friend of mine in there, and I’m going to help her like it or not.”

Rescue nodded gruffly. He could understand Lightning’s reasoning, crazy and reckless as she was and he couldn’t argue with it.

Robert sighed before he smirked. “Okay then, you go on ahead. Besides, always wanted to face a Demon Prince by myself. Should be fun, give me quite the challenge. Sa… Hade ni ikuze!”

With that, both Robert and Lightning shouted “Legendary Wild Access!” and morphed. Then, Robert fired shots off at Olympius as Lightning and Rescue charged into the blaze. The fire was all around them, but Lightning kept one thing in her mind. Silver’s voice. That was all she cared about. Any time a beam fell down from the ceiling right on their heads, Lightning slashed it in two. A door? She just kicked it down, all the while shouting Silver’s name. Eventually, she reached Silver’s room atop the second floor. Silver wasn’t moving at all and Rescue checked her.

“She’s okay, just unconscious from smoke inhalation,” He stated. “But we need to get her out of here fast.”

Right about then, flames blocked their way out.

“Okay, so that way’s a bust. Any ideas?” Rescue asked. Lightning smirked as she saw looked towards a window.

“Yeah, just one. Grab Silver.” Lightning ordered as Rescue picked her up in her arms. They then shared a nod and ran for the window, smashing through the glass and landing on a safety net just as the room became consumed with flame.

Rescue handed off Silver to the medics as they arrived on the scene while Lightning turned her attention to Robert. He was going blade to blade with the Prince, but every time he went in for a strike, it was blocked or countered. Olympius then kicked Robert in the stomach and went in for the kill, aiming his staff at Robert’s chest.

“You fool, you really think you could stand up against my power?” He asked but was then hit with a full blast of water before two whips grabbed him by the chest and he was promptly thrown into a wall with a shout of “Get over here!”

“Who dares?” the Prince asked again and Lightning smirked as she stood, whips drawn while Rescue held up a hose which dripped water.

“Uh, that would be us.” the Aqua Ranger commented as Robert stood back up, his uniform somewhat scorched and burned in several places but otherwise he looked fairly okay.

“You alright Lightning-Bitch?” Robert asked, but this time it wasn’t in a tone of derision. Now, it seemed almost respectful. Well, as about as respectful as calling somepony a bitch could get anyways.

“Yeah, what about you, Foxy Man-Whore?” Lightning asked, no derision in her tone as well.

“I’ll live,” Robert said simply before he growled out “Him, on the other hand… Well now, that’s a different story. It’s Judgement Time!”

Robert pulled out his SPD Morpher and let it scan the demon Prince as he read off the charges.

“Olympius, you are charged with counts of Arson, Destruction of Property, Terrorism, and Manslaughter,”

Sure enough, the scanner read guilty. Robert tossed his Kitsune Blaster to Lightning and nodded at her. “Would you do the honors?”

Lightning smirked as she inserted her Crystal Saber, now with the Thunderbird Crystal in it, in the slot on the weapon. With a shout of “Thunderbird Judgement Blast!”, she fired the weapon and unleashed a blast of lightning manifesting in a giant bird’s head which chomped down on Olympius covering him in electric surges. He groaned out in pain and loosened his grip on his staff as he fell down before exploding. Lightning smirked under her helmet as she gave a thumbs-down.

“Piece of…” Lightning began to say before she trailed off as dark blood red energy gathered and soon, the demon Prince stood at titan size. “...Cake.”

She then shouted “Wild Zords, descend!” as she pointed her Crystal Saber skywards, quickly swapping out her Thunderbird Crystal for the Coyote one as both Zords answered the call on the Animarium. Robert meanwhile thought to himself.

“Okay, how did Sunset do this? Oh yeah, I remember…” He thought before thrusting an arm skywards as he shouted: “I need Red Dragon Thunderzord Power, now!”

The skies boiled over as the form of the mighty beast appeared from the clouds and thunder cracked as it blew fire at Olympius who countered with some of his own. The Red Dragon then roared before it lunged forwards with one of its claws and took a swipe at him doing damage. The Coyote Zord, brown in color and with the symbol of a cactus on both of its hind legs pounced forwards but was only knocked away. It hit the ground with a thud and whimpered a little as it shook its head and used its claws to pick itself back up.

“Olympius, your nightmare days are over!” Robert shouted as the Thunderbird let out a screech of “Yippie-ki-yay, motherfucker!” and launched a ball of lightning from his mouth at the demon. Olympius staggered back in pain but took a swing at both Zords with his staff. The Red Dragon and the Thunderbird both ascended to the heavens above as the Coyote Zord launched its tail like a boomerang at Olympius and it spun around him like a whirlwind doing damage but the demon Prince then breathed fire at the Zord.

“You are all… Irrelevant,” He boasted. “It’s that simple really. Keep your attacks coming, try and stop me if you may but you will all fall in the end.”

The Thunderbird sighed at the Prince’s boasting.

“He’s worse than Lightning and Robert combined, I swear,” He muttered to himself. Both Rangers in question tried not to look offended. “Anyway to shut this guy up for good?” he asked as he flew left and right to avoid flaming blasts of energy. Lightning then remembered something.

Vapor leaped on top of the Zord just as it head-butted the Turbine Org sending it staggering back. She pointed her Crystal Saber at the Org and the Leviathan Zord’s mouth opened and charged up a purple beam of energy.
“MEGA ROAR!” Vapor shouted, and both she and her Zord fired twin purple beams of energy at the Turbine Org sending him flying back into a mountain splitting it in half.

“Yeah, got an idea.” Lightning said as she leaped atop the Thunderbird’s crested head and pointed her Crystal Saber at Olympius.

“MEGA ROAR!” She shouted, just as Vapor did, and just like before, a beam shot out of Lightning’s Saber as the Thunderbird fired his own beam of energy. The Coyote and Red Dragon joined in and fired their own brown and red beams of energy entwining with the aqua beam of the Thunderbird and all three hit the demon Prince at full force, punching a hole right through his chest. Olympius gaped in disbelief as he staggered forwards.

“You… You have done the impossible! You have triumphed over the mighty Prince Olympius! But be rest assured, my death will be avenged a thousand-fold!” the Prince said as his final boast before he fell forwards and exploded once more in a large fireball. All three Zords let out cries of triumph at the victory, but Lightning’s mind was elsewhere.

“What about Silver?”

Ponyville Hospital:

The soft beeping of machines was what Silver awoke to as she opened her eyes the next morning. As her vision cleared, she saw a figure sitting beside her in a chair. She blinked in disbelief as Nurse Redheart smiled.

“She’s been sitting here all night. Didn’t even sleep just out of how concerned she was for you.” The nurse said before walking off and leaving the two be. Silver then remembered Lightning’s voice shouting for her, amongst the flames and ash.

“You… You were there?” Silver whispered in disbelief, and Lightning nodded wearily.

“Yeah kiddo, I was there. Saw the fire, and I knew I just couldn’t stand by. Not just as a Wonderbolt, but as a friend. And if you’ll have me, an adoptive sister as well.”

“R-Really?” Silver asked, unable to believe her own ears.

“Well, I figure if that jerk Rainbow Dash has her own surrogate sister, why can’t I?” Lightning joked and achieved the desired effect with Silver giggling. “Besides, you and I are far too much alike for me to just leave you be.”

Silver then pulled Lightning into a hug, sobbing out “Thank you.”

Lightning smiled, and as she turned her head to the doorway, just out of pure instinct, she saw a man and a woman. The woman had blond hair and wore a pink paramedic’s uniform with a red and black jacket over that while the man wore that of a fireman’s attire. Both nodded at Lightning and gave her a thumbs up before fading away but not before leaving behind a gold badge that read two words: Lightspeed Rescue.

Author's Notes:

Okay, first off, I'd like to thank Rescue Sunstreak for graciously allowing me permission to use his ponysona. Now, while Alian didn't come with that, you really can't have one without the other so I'm borrowing him for the chapter. Like with his husband, I credit Rescue for his creation. Anyways, hopefully, this chapter achieved three things. It made Lightning more likable, was a fitting tribute to Lightspeed Rescue and showed off that Power Rangers aren't the only heroes around. The men and women who lay down their lives for us, charging into a burning blaze, they're the real heroes in my mind. Anyways, next time, another tribute this time to Power Rangers Jungle Fury.