Sunset Shimmer’s Home:

Robert smiled as he looked at the absolutely beautiful mare beside him, snuggled up into his side, her head resting on his shoulder and clutching his arm tightly. At sometime during the movie, the two had fallen asleep right then and there on the couch. Perhaps it was weariness from everything that had been going on as of late, or it was simply because of how content they were.

Robert honestly didn’t know. He smiled as Sunset murmured his name in her sleep and snuggled into his side some more. Being careful not to disturb the mare beside him, he softly kissed her forehead.

“Screw the SPD rules about interpersonal relationships between teammates, not like I was ever a good cop anyways nor am I a member of SPD anymore anyhow,” Robert thought to himself before he sighed as he looked at the clock on the wall. It was way past noon. As much as he would have loved to stay in this position forever, both of them had jobs to do. Sunset, her Princess duties, and Robert, his work at Rarity’s Boutique.

He snorted briefly, wondering if the fashionista was freaking out about one of her employees being late for work and nowhere to be found. He knew that she was a bit of a drama queen from Sunset and his own interactions with her and idly wondered if him being late was in her own words: “The. Worst. Possible. Thing!”

Tilting Sunset’s head to meet his own, he kissed her on the lips and whispered: “Hey beautiful, time to wake up.”

Sunset’s eyes fluttered open and she groaned at the wake-up call.

“...Couldn’t you have just let me sleep a bit longer? I was having the nicest dream…” Sunset mumbled as she got up off the couch and performed a few arm stretches before cracking her knuckles.

“Really, what about?” Robert asked. Sunset sighed sadly.

“The days before all this crap happened, or what could have been. Celestia was just my mother and not a split personality case… I wasn’t swamped with Princess duties, no Orgs running about, and we all thought humans were the worst the world had to offer,” Sunset sighed before quickly realizing what she said and shot Robert an embarrassed look. “No offense.’

Robert chuckled wryly. “None taken Sunset-Chan, there are all times I think we wish we could just turn back time and make life go back to normal, I suspect.”

“Sadly, I think when I became a Power Ranger,” Sunset replied, taking her Phoenix and Elephant animal crystals out of her pocket and clutching them tightly. “Normal kinda flew out the window.”

“Speaking of normal, how’d you think our teammates are going to react when they find out about… Well, us?” Robert asked awkwardly, not really knowing how to phrase their relationship (Which was probably perfectly understandable considering he’d never had a long-term one in his life) and Sunset snorted.

“Lightning, jaw drop. Vapor, squeeing I suspect. Sunburst… Flushing red as a tomato and trying very hard to avoid the topic of sex. Galaxy, exact opposite,” Sunset said, listing off all of the suspected reactions on her fingers. “Daring, she’s not the romantic type from what I can gather so I doubt she would care. Same with Zen-Aku. But Shining’s the one you should worry about.”

“Why’s that?” Robert asked.

“Well, he always thought of me as an adoptive little sister considering how much time I spent around his actual sister, so… You should probably expect the overprotective big brother speech soon as he finds out,”

“Gee… Glad you’re so concerned about my safety from a guy who fights with a sword that can turn into a shotgun and has a giant bull that can stomp me flat at his beck and call,” Robert deadpanned before a thought struck him and he looked incredibly worried. “What about your mother?”

“Oh…” Sunset trailed off, having forgotten, or at the very least trying not to think about Celestia/Solar Flare.

“Oh? I don’t like the sound of that oh.” Robert replied.

“Celestia… Well, to be honest, it’s probably either going to be happy for me or give you the speech about what would happen to you if you break my heart and then sending you to the moon for 1,000 years,” Sunset laughed nervously before sighing. “I don’t think I need to tell you what Solar Flare’s reaction would be.”

“Go ballistic and burn me to a crisp?” Robert offered helpfully in a joking tone, trying to lighten the mood before he noticed Sunset’s reaction. The red and gold maned mare was looking at the floor, and not at him.

“Yeah, pretty much.” Sunset sighed sadly. Robert laid a hand upon his marefriend’s shoulder in support.

“Don’t worry, we’ll get your mother back. Twilight’s working on a plan, remember?” Robert reminded her and Sunset sighed sadly again.

“Yeah, I know...It’s… It’s just…” Sunset trailed off, trying as hard as she could to get the proper words out. “It’s just I’m tired of knowing my adoptive mother inhabits the same body as a bigoted genocidal maniac Tartarus-bent on wiping everything that isn’t a pony off Equus. I… I just want it all to end.”

“And don’t worry, it will. Someday, we just gotta hope.”

“Yeah…” Sunset murmured before trying her best to perk up. “Listen, I need to take a shower, I stink,”

As Sunset headed off towards the bathroom, she turned her head back to Robert and shouted “No peeking, alright? May be dating now, but that still doesn’t mean I’m comfortable about you less seeing me in the nude, okay?”

“Yeah, can’t make promises on that,” Robert teased. Sunset gave him a death glare and Robert wilted under it as she sighed.

“Just get breakfast started, okay?”

As Sunset walked off, humming a cheery little tune to herself under her breath (Something along the lines of the “I used to wonder what friendship could be, until you all shared it’s magic with me… Big adventure! Tons of fun…” and so forth.) Robert muttered the word “Prudish mare...” to himself under his breath and huffed, before crossing his arms. His eyes then turned to a small cardboard box in the room, and what was inside it caught his eyes.

“Wolf, elephant and phoenix plushies? Really?” He laughed.

“S-SHUT UP!” Sunset stammered out.

Sunset sighed in pleasure as she felt the warm waters wash over her body before she heard a very familiar voice in her head.

“So, you and Robert huh? You know, for some reason I was always thinking you’d end up with Twilight.” the Phoenix Zord mused to herself.

“Great, so not even my own Zord’s going to leave me alone with my love life.” the Princess of Empathy deadpanned.

“No offense, but with all the time you and Twilight spend together, you can’t blame me for thinking that you were gay.”

“Fair point.” Sunset admitted, unable to refute that.

“Plus, didn’t Robert bug you at first with all of his come-ons? And I mean the really bad, obvious ones to get you in bed with him?” the Zord remarked.

“Okay, yes, I’ll admit he irritated the Tartarus out of me with all of those remarks, plus there’s something about sex that turns me off, don’t know what it is yet, but it just does. B-But that’s besides the point,” Sunset stated with a small stutter in her voice really not comfortable discussing her sex life or love life in general really. “It’s Robert’s other qualities I admire. His stubbornness, and his loyalty to his friends. Plus I admit his nerdiness about Super Sentai and Neighponiese culture in general is kinda cute in its own way.”

“Whichever you chose… But for the record, I was still aiming for you and Twilight. Oh well, at least now she can be with Rainbow…” the Phoenix trailed off.

“She’s taken with somepony else, Lightning Dust I believe.”

The Phoenix mentally groaned, now she’d never hear the end of it from that damn Thunderbird.

The Animarium:

Meanwhile, on the Animarium, Princess Shayla gracefully danced, holding her dress with her hands as she went into a twirl all the while humming the age old song of Animaria to herself before she frowned. Things had been too quiet as of late. There’d been no Org Attacks in Ponyville or anywhere else for that matter ever since the incident with the Faucet Org. Suddenly, she heard the sound of rustling leaves and footsteps from behind her, not evening needing to turn as she knew who they belonged to already.

“Something on your mind, Princess?” Zen-Aku asked.

“Yes…” Shayla frowned. “It’s been too quiet, no activity from Thrax at all. It’s almost as if he’s…”

“Biding his time, planning for something big,” Zen-Aku finished for her. “If I were a foolish or younger Duke Org than I am, I would say you should be relieved that nothing seems to be going on.”

“Yes, but that’s just the thing isn’t it?” Princess Shayla asked as she paced back and forth, holding a finger to her chin in thought. “There’s never anything not going on with him, isn’t there? You feel it too don’t you Zen-Aku? The chill down the back of your spine, the feeling that something’s very wrong in the world?”

“Yes, I do,” the Duke Org confirmed with a nod. “That feeling… I’ve been getting it more often than I’d like. It’s Thrax, it’s always him… And yet, there’s something else as well. Someone else.”

“Solar Flare?” Shayla questioned, in a worried tone of voice. Zen-Aku shook his head no.

“No, not her. If it was her, we’d both know. We’d both be sure of it. It’s someone else, someone not quite as powerful as Thrax or Solar Flare.” He commented.

“Bunglay, possibly?” Shayla wondered aloud, remembering the Rangers’ descriptions of the space pirate/poacher.

“Maybe,” Zen-Aku considered. “But if it were Bunglay, how would we know? He’s not an Org, so I can’t tell what he’s thinking and the fountain wouldn’t tell us anything if he was on Earth.”

“Then who?” Princess Shayla asked as she peered into the viewing fountain’s sacred waters hoping, searching for a possible answer. Right about then, the waters erupted into a tall plume sending Shayla flying backwards and into Zen-Aku’s arms. A look of absolute terror found its way to Shayla’s face.

“No… Last time this happened, it was the Master Org…” Shayla thought before she rushed back over to the fountain and looked in. What she saw was an army of both Putrids and Tengas led by various Orgs and monsters of varying descriptions marching on the massive riverside city known as Fillydelphia in what used to be known as Pennsylvania.

The Putrids, led by Retinax and Helicos. The Tengas were led by Goldar along with another monster. This creature resembled a giant rooster made of pure magma in some ways, with demonic red and black wings, a red sash around his waist and a sharp looking blood red sword. Shayla in an instant placed her hands on her necklace. “Rangers, you’re needed,”

Next she turned to Zen-Aku. “Get the word out to Daring Do, Galaxy Swirls, and Shining Armor. I sense they might be needed.”

“At once,” Zen-Aku said with a bow before vanishing in a flash of shadow. Then, a holographic figure, one of a blue armored warrior with a pirate’s hat and tentacles covering his face appeared before Shayla from the fountain’s waters.

“Bunglay…” Shayla hissed. “What is it you want this time?”

“Oh, the same as ever. Just give up your Orange Ranger, and I’ll let this planet be. I’ll leave it in peace, no harm done. Savvy?” He asked.

“That’s not going to happen, not if me or the Wild Zords or anybody else have anything to say about it,” Shayla stated firmly and Bunglay only laughed.

“Your choice Princess, your choice…” He chuckled in a morbid fashion and began to fade away but not before leaving this one last message. “But let it be known, whatever happens from here on in is on your head…”

Meanwhile, each and every of the “Auxiliary Rangers” getting the message via Zen-Aku teleported to the city center of Fillydelphia. Daring was dressed in her usual attire, while Galaxy and Shining were covered head to hoof in full Crystal and Night Guard armor. Shining, in particular, had a long flowing cape to mark his status as the Prince of the Crystal Empire.

Already, they found themselves in the middle of mass chaos. Ponies scattered every which way as both Org and Monster waged war on each other. Tengas ripped apart Putrids with their talons and swords and pulled them open as Putrids fired their bazookas at Tenga hoards reducing them to just masses of feathers.

A traffic light themed Org launched a red beam of light at a truly ghoulish monster wearing a grey long coat, but he rolled out of the way before chuckling: “Sorry we’re not seeing eye to eye here!” before opening up his coat to reveal a mass of muscle and hundreds of eyes that fired one beam each and blasted the Stoplight Org backwards.

Nearby, Goldar and Retinax fought axe to blade. Metal met metal again and again as sparks flew. Retinax swung at Goldar and the baboon like monster twisted the axe blade with his own sword before kicking Retinax backwards in the chest.

In another part of the square, the rooster themed monster charged up his crimson colored “Hook Blade” for lack of a better term and sliced it in an X formation crying out “Doom Slash!”. That single slash was responsible for utterly destroying a squad of Putrids that had taken out a Murder of Tenga Warriors just moments before.

“Ce se întâmplă aici Tartarus ...?” Galaxy muttered in Romanian as he pulled out Blood Moon and his Dino Morpher and got ready for action with Daring doing the same with her own Morpher and whip. The Thestral was partially in awe at the carnage and partially in shock at seeing what was supposed to be two allied creatures (Retinax and Goldar) kicking each other’s asses.

“Por la Madre Mística, esto es…” Daring murmured to herself. “Aren’t they supposed to be on the same side?”

“Looks like things have changed,” Shining noted as he drew the Magna Blade. “From the looks of it, I’d say we have a full on Org Civil War.”

“Ei bine, timpul pentru a curăța orașul.” Galaxy smirked before he and Daring cried “Unleash the Power!” and fired their Dino Morphers skywards. Shining, on the other hand, flicked his wrists and his bracers flashed into existence.

“Magna Power!” He shouted as he threw the Magna Blade skywards and pressed the two bracers together like a lock and a key.

“Now…” Daring growled out as she drew her sword. “Let’s do this.”

Ponyville:

Back in Maine, the main five Rangers had arrived at the site of Bunglay’s summons, the warehouse district. Shouting out their Morphing Calls as they teleported down, the energy unleashed from the transformation knocked back some X-Borgs and rendered them into scrap metal with powerful explosions.

Bruisers unleashed laser blast after laser blast and the Rangers rolled to the side to avoid the shots before Sunburst and Robert called out “Call to the Beast Inside, Free the Kitsune/Owl!” and unleashed their inner animal spirits. With several flashes of yellow that was far too quick for any visible form to be made out, the Owl ripped through the Bruiser squad. Next, the Kitsune spirit grabbed itself by the tail and rolled towards the squad at high speed bowling them down and finishing the job.

“So, you came calling just as expected,” Bunglay chuckled. “I do so like it when my quarries offer themselves up to me.”

“Yeah, sorry… Going to have to decline that off-” Robert began before Bunglay rushed forwards and slashed him across the chest with his anchor weapon drawing blood before going through his memories once more and then kicking him backwards into some metal barrels.

“Robert!” Sunset shouted. Lightning, Vapor, and Sunburst all shared a look. There was a definite change in tone from Sunset’s shout of concern. It was more concerned than normal, almost as if…

“No, couldn’t be…” Sunburst thought to himself. Whatever thoughts they had next on Sunset and Robert were immediately cast aside when they saw what forms were taking shape in clouds of black smoke. Robert, as he clutched his chest in pain to stop the blood flow, had his eyes widen in pure horror when he saw two of the forms. One was dressed exactly like his old SPD Green uniform, except in bright yellow and the other was a combination of teal blue and black with a dog themed helmet and the number 100 stamped on his chest.

“No… No, he wouldn’t dare…” Robert whispered before his eyes narrowed. Yeah, Bunglay would.

“Robert, who are they?” Vapor asked nervously, looking at the two SPD Rangers, and more specifically the dog themed one’s katana sword resting in its sheath.

“Z” Delgado, and… and my old commander, Commander Cruger.” Robert swallowed nervously. Everyone’s eyes then averted to the collars with Bunglay’s symbol of a skull and crossbones against a black flag around their necks.

“This time… This time I planned ahead,” Bunglay laughed darkly. “These fellows I’ve brought back, if they even think about disobeying me they’re going to be in for quite the nasty surprise…”

And then there was the other Rangers. Cassie Chan, the pink In Space Ranger. Cestros, the Blue Ranger of Aquitar. Adam Park, the Green Turbo Ranger. Hunter Bradley, the Crimson Thunder Ranger. And last but not least, was a robotic warrior with a glowing red visor, silver armor and a lion themed head as his chest-plate. This was Robo Knight, the ally to the Power Rangers Megaforce. But it was the non-Ranger or Ranger ally that caught everyone’s attention the most. Themed after a tiger, half of his body armor gold and half white with a tiger’s head on his chest and overflowing with power stood the late Phantom Beast General known as Whiger. If Robert was scared before, he was downright terrified now.

“Permission to say oh cock?” the Orange Ranger muttered to himself, his voice coming out as more of a squeak as Bunglay and his undead crew advanced, drawing their weapons with the Rangers doing the same…

Fillydelphia:

Quite quickly, Retinax’s blade found itself drawn to Shining’s own as the Rangers joined the fray. The local Royal Guards, led by Steel Sentry dealt with the Tenga and Putrid hoards as best as they could, keeping them away from civilians leaving the Rangers to their work dealing with the two clashing sides. Steel met steel as the two rival warriors clashed again and again.

“Alright, what’s going on here? Last I checked you and Golden Boy over there worked together.” Shining questioned.

“Well, let’s just say I’m tired of being pushed aside for inferior lifeforms…” Retinax growled as he swung downwards and Shining rolled to the left and blasted him with the Magna Blade’s Riot Blaster mode.

“Oh, so power play then? Should have figured with you and your ego.” Shining taunted before he fired several more times and Retinax deflected the shots with his axe before Shining fired his shotgun with a powerful Galactic Shot sending the Org General staggering backwards.

Retinax snarled as soon as he recovered and used the time given while Shining reloaded to kick the Magna Defender in the face, sending his weapon flying from his hands.

Shining was down, but not out and he scored a powerful right cross to Retinax’s face. Shining then found himself rolling out of the way to avoid a downward axe strike. He quickly set about retrieving his weapon and switching it to blade mode with a few twists and scored a slash across the chest to Retinax.

Or he would have had Goldar not interfered by coming out of seemingly nowhere and blocking the blade strike with his own.

“Don’t interfere, this traitor needs to be taught a lesson!” Goldar snarled before kicking Shining in the jaw sending him staggering back.

“Fine then… I’ll take both of you on if I have to…” Shining growled, gripping his sword before rejoining the now three-way fight...

Nearby, Daring was taking on Helicos deflecting her shuriken with sword slashes before the rooster themed monster raised his sword and called out “Doom Blast!”

An eye on his blade opened and the tip of his weapon glowed before they both fired red streams of energy at Daring who reacted fast and grabbed her whip before pulling the “See Monster” for lack of a better name towards her allowing it to take the blast. Nearby, Galaxy swung his scythe in a Blood Moon Slash sending an arc of red energy towards a one eyed Org themed after a giant tire.

“Well, that’s one problem dealt with…” Daring thought to herself as the rooster themed monster and Helicos shared a look.

“Enemy of my enemy?” Doomwing asked, in a high pitched maniacal tone and Helicos nodded.

“Yeah, not the pegasus I want dead, but she’ll do for now.” Helicos agreed before she and Doomwing fired off their respective attacks. Daring’s eyes widened before she sliced the shurikens out of the air but was knocked backwards by a Doom Blast as both villains laughed.

“My my…” Doomwing chuckled as Daring picked herself back up off the ground. “Thrax warned me about you color-coded fools, and how strong you are… But I guess he was exaggerating. Name’s Doomwing, Thrax’s newest General.”

Doomwing launched himself forwards, fist glowing with energy shouting “Doom Strike!” and punched Daring backwards sending her flying into the side of a building cracking the wall spider-web style. With another Doom Slash, Daring was sent flying inside the building. Galaxy, seeing what was happening sliced two more monsters (The Knasty Knight and the Terror Toad) across the chest with a Blood Moon Strike destroying them before teleporting in a flash of gray energy to Daring’s side and helped her up.

“How cute, guess the psychopath has a heart after all…” Helicos cackled as she and Doomwing stepped in.

“You two are just walking cliches, you know that right?” Daring growled as she took Galaxy’s Dino Saber. “And I’m a writer by trade… So I know a thing or two about cliches.”

“Yes… Well, don’t count your chickens before they hatch. Still haven’t defeated me yet.” Doomwing boasted. Daring raised an eyebrow under her helmet.

“Want to bet on that, chico gallo? Double Aqua Slash!” Daring shouted as she spun the Dino Sabers in her hands before the attack was launched.

Daring swung both blades and sent two aqua colored arcs of energy towards the twosome. Doomwing tried to block the attack with his blade but to no avail. Both he and Helicos were sent flying backwards.

“How dare you?” Doomwing screeched. “Who do you think you are?”

“Like I said, walking cliche,” Daring laughed. “Now, to answer your question… Ankylosaurus… Power Ranger Aqua! Now, do us all a favor and stop squawking like a whiny griffon chick. Giving me a headache.”

With that Daring tossed Galaxy’s Dino Saber back to him before tossing the Dino Blaze Charger to him as well.

“Here, see what you can do with this…” Daring smirked. Galaxy returned it.

“Oh, intenționez să doamna Do…” Galaxy chuckled darkly before firing. A Pachycephalosaurus’s head along with one of an Allosaurus’s circled both Doomwing and Helicos in a blaze of white hot flame. Doomwing hissed and teleported away in a flash of flame with Helicos taking the hint and doing so as well.

“Cocosul ... prăjit.” Galaxy commented as he rested Blood Moon on his shoulder.

Meanwhile, Shining was just barely holding off Goldar and Retinax’s combined strength. Like Doomwing and Helicos, the two had put aside their fight for a common foe. He figured he could take one or the other, but both at once was another matter entirely. Both fighters scored slashes across the chest and then kicked him to the ground. Smirking, Retinax held his blade to Shining’s neck while Goldar charged up his chest beam.

“And so… the legacy of the Magna Defender ends here…” Retinax laughed. “Guess I was right all along, you ain’t worth sh-”

“Get away from my subjects!” An angry voice called before it yelled “Celestial Break!” and slashed Goldar across the chest vertically and a thrown golden lance knocked Retinax’s axe out of his hands. Shining’s eyes widened as he turned his head to see the owner of the voice. Slowly striding forwards was Princess Celestia, clad in full Royal Regalia and sword in hand, wings fully extended and horn alight with a golden glow as her majestic mane flowed in the wind.

“So, the tyrant returns…” Goldar chuckled.

“No… Not today,” Celestia snarled, and yet there was no trace of menace in her tone. It was just that of a mother, looking after her children. Shining managed a weak smile. Celestia was back at last. “Solar Flare’s just going to have to sit back and watch as I defend my kingdom. My kingdom, not hers,”

“Solar Flare, Celestia… It doesn’t make a difference to either of us. You’ll still fall all the same.” Retinax chuckled as he and Goldar readied their weapons.

“Arrogance is the downfall of all warriors. You’ll learn that eventually. If I don’t teach that to you, someone will. But for now, get out of my kingdom and never return. Now, what I think you two need is a lesson in manners,”

Goldar struck first, firing his chest beam and Celestia held up her sword to absorb the blast and send it right back at Thrax’s right-hand man. She then scored several powerful slashes across the chest to the monster before turning to Retinax and striking him several times as well.

Goldar sent a Prism Slash towards Celestia and she swung her sword in the exact same manner before calling out “Celestial Prism Slash!” and sent her own version towards Goldar’s attack, the two triangle shaped attacks spiraling towards each other (One white, one gold) before they met in the middle canceling each other out.

Goldar’s giant cutlass like weapon met Celestia’s own blade and sparks flew. Behind them, Retinax tried to slash Celestia from behind but was met by Shining’s blade.

“Your fight’s still with me Retinax, not her!” Shining stated before twisting his blade, wrenching Retinax’s axe from its user’s grip and bringing his sword back around in a spin, slashing the eye-themed General across the chest. The Org retaliated by firing a lime green energy beam from one of his eyes knocking Shining out of his Magna Defender form and making him stagger back.

Retinax growled as he clutched his chest. Far too many blows had been taken, nerves and tendons cut. He needed time to rest, heal himself for his next bout.

“Another day Armor, another day…” the Org growled as he teleported off.

Celestia, meanwhile, pushed Goldar back with a grunt, knocking his weapon aside and assaulting him with a flurry of lightning fast slashes, opening weeping cuts in the monster's chest. Goldar managed a counter strike, swinging up from below to throw the solar alicorn off balance and subjecting her to a series of rapid jabs, giving her wounds to match his own. Celestia quickly recovered and puts Goldar back on the defensive with a feint towards his face with the pommel of her sword. He threw his arm up to block it and she seized the opportunity to swing her blade around in a devastating butterfly motion, cutting off his arm at the shoulder.

Goldar snarled and clutched his wound with his remaining claw, letting his sword drop to the ground with a resounding clanging sound.

“This… This is far from over, you remember that Princess.” He growled before using his old teleporting away in a flash of flame tactic taking his sword with him. Celestia sighed as she helped Shining up. The battle for Fillydelphia was over for now, but the Org Civil War was far from over...

Back in Ponyville, Sunset and company stood in front of Robert as a magical adhesive was applied to stem the blood flow seeping from his wound.

“Stay back Robert, we can handle them.” Lightning stated as she pulled out her whips. Under Z and Commander Cruger’s helmets, their eyes widened at the name. So that’s what had happened to him after he vanished 3,000 years ago…

“Really Lightning-Bitch?” Robert asked as he stood up off the ground, grasping his Crystal Saber. “Let you make a show of things without me? Besides, if Bunglay wants a fight… Congrats, he just bloody earned himself one for this. Bringing back my boss and one of my teammates from the dead… I’m not just mad, I’m beyond that. I’m pissed.”

“Not just that… These other heroes, they deserve to be left in peace,” Vapor snarled as she pulled out her Leviathan Trident. “Let’s do this.”

“Okay then… Asuka Langley Soryu,” Robert asked (Looking towards Lightning) as Sunset supported him. “Take the ninja duo.”

“Gladly, I love ninjas, this should be awesome.” Lightning laughed.

“I’ll handle Robo Knight and Cassie,” Sunset stated, pulling out her Phoenix Blade.

“Me, I’ll take the green one I guess…” Vapor trailed off.

“Guess that means we get to handle your old boss, Z and whoever the tiger monster is.”

Robert groaned as that did leave him and Sunburst with the two most dangerous of the past heroes along with a Phantom Beast General to boot. Their only hopes were to knock Z and the Commander back to their senses.

“His name’s Whiger, and just like us… He’s got an animal spirit, in his case the White Tiger. Trouble is, he, along with Adam, Cassie, Cestro and Hunter… I never met any of them at my time during SPD or anywhere else. Hell, Whiger died before I was a student at the Pai Zhau.” Robert informed, and Sunset’s eyes closed sadly as a horrific realization came to the Bat Ranger.

“Meaning…” Sunburst whispered and Sunset confirmed his fears with a nod.

“Yeah, we gotta put them in the ground. They’re just puppets now, mindless and won’t hesitate to kill us without a second thought. Best thing we can do for them is put them back in the ground where they belong.” She said sadly.

“Then…” Robert said sadly as his strength returned and he pulled out his Kitsune Blaster. “Let’s do this.”

Vapor, at once grabbed Adam by the shoulders and teleported him away to a warehouse where the two could fight safely. At once, Vapor was kicked away by the fallen Green Ranger before Adam pulled out his Turbo Thunder Cannon and fired two powerful blasts at her. Vapor rolled to the left and pulled out her Crystal Saber as Adam pulled out his Turbo Blade.

“Great, why’d I get the one with a big gun?” Vapor thought to herself as she blocked the swings of the short sword type weapon with either her wrists or Saber. Sparks flew as the Saber ground its metal against the Turbo Blade’s own before Vapor kicked Adam in the chest making him stagger back. She then threw her Trident at the Ranger hoping to take him out but he flipped to the left and kicked some barrels towards her which she quickly sliced in half one after the other with her Crystal Saber.

She then inserted the Deer Crystal into her Saber and it turned into the grapple like Deer Clutcher. She lunged forwards before pinning Adam to the chest before letting him loose and throwing him into a collection of wooden crates.

Adam quickly recovered and pulled out a large rifle like weapon and fired a beam of energy at Vapor and she rolled out of the way before grabbing her Trident and pulling it out of the spot of the wall where it was impaled.

Adam lunged again with his sword and Vapor blocked it with her trident before swinging it low like a bo staff and knocking the Green Turbo Ranger to the ground by his legs. Adam then grabbed Vapor by the legs before flipping upwards and behind her. Vapor reacted fast and kicked Adam squarely in the chest sending him flying backwards into a wall shattering his helmet.

“I’m sorry…” Vapor whispered to both herself and Adam before with a few quick slices of her Crystal Saber, the ex-Ranger was put to rest. As he faded away into gold dust, Adam mouthed “Thank you, and may the Power protect you all.”

Vapor, a tear dripping down her face at being forced to kill a fellow Ranger, even if it was only to put him back to his final resting place snarled. Bunglay was going to pay for this, she thought, as she teleported back to the others in hopes of aiding them.

With Bunglay:

Meanwhile, with the Legendary Beast Hunter, he’d just received a transmission from his ship.

“Captain, something’s coming! I don’t know what it is, but it’s something I think you should take a look at!” a voice, belonging to one of the Armada’s repurposed Royal Guards said, its voice crackling over the radio.

“Aye… I suppose this hunt can be saved for a later date. Those fools should be worn out by the end of this, and then I’ll deal with them. My prize can wait a little longer. Hell, after this maybe I’ll start capturing the Wild Zords and their Princess…” Bunglay laughed to himself. “Now there’s something worth hunting.”

With that, Bunglay beamed back up to his ship in a pillar of blue light...

Lightning, meanwhile was fending off both Cestro and Hunter as they attacked again and again in blue and crimson flashes of light. She, like her adoptive sister, had wisely chosen to take this battle somewhere else, namely to a nearby train yard.

“Strike that, I really hate ninjas…” Lightning muttered to herself as she inserted her Giraffe Crystal into her Saber and it became the Sword of Pardolis and she swung widely, the long gold beam of energy catching both Hunter and Cestro off guard and sending them flying backwards.

Hunter as he flew backwards pulled out his special weapon, the Horn Blaster (Themed after a Rhino Beetle, like Hunter’s helmet design) and fired off a burst of energy at Lightning. The mare spun to the left to dodge it before pulling out one of her Lightning Whips and yanking it out of Hunter’s hands and into her own as she tossed her own weapons aside.

She fired but Hunter pulled out his Thunder Staff and changed it into an octagon shaped energy shield. Cestro took his chance and changed into a flash of light and sliced Lightning across the chest a few times with a few quick slashes of his sword and kicked the Horn Blaster out her hands. Lightning rolled to the left and picked up the Sword of Pardolis and the battle progressed inside an empty train car as blade met blade again and again. Alien Space Ninja VS Anthro pegasus pony, possibly one of the more unusual fights in Power Ranger history, but certainly no less awe-inspiring.

Lightning kicked Cestro in the chest before slicing a powerful blow that felled him. Hunter came from behind with a punch as the blue Alien Ranger faded away and Lightning whirled around to intercept his blow with a hoof before striking Hunter across the chest defeating him as well.

“Now… Onto Bunglay himself.” Lightning growled before teleporting off.

Near Lightning’s location in the train yard, Sunset faced off against Robo Knight and Cassie. Sunset held off Robo Knight’s sword with her Phoenix Blade, using her Crystal Saber as a tanto blade before kicking the mechanical warrior in the chest. Sunset then rolled to the left to avoid a blast from Cassie’s Satellite Stunner. Sunset fired a magical beam at her, but Cassie launched another series of energy waves and canceled out the beam.

Robo Knight then took advantage of the distraction and sliced at Sunset’s shoulder, drawing blood and making her scream out in pain as she dropped her Phoenix Blade and clutched her arm to stem the blood flow.

Closing up the wound with her magic, Sunset threw her Animal Crystal causing it to change into her personal Savage Cycle as Cassie flew at her on her Galaxy Glider. The two sped past each other at high speed before they both circled around for another pass. Cassie, while flying towards Sunset fired her Satellite Stunner once again and Sunset used a piece of plywood laying on a small crate as a makeshift ramp and fired her Savage Cycle’s lasers.

To Sunset’s shock, Cassie did a barrel roll, all the while staying on her jet-board and kicked Sunset off her Savage Cycle making her go into a tumble rolling on the ground. Robo Knight slowly strode towards her, his metal feet clanking against the ground as he readied his personal pistol in its Vulcan Cannon mode.

Sunset’s eyes widened and she muttered “Oh boy…” as the warrior advanced. Suddenly, both Vapor and Lightning teleported in and kicked Robo Knight in the chest making him stagger back and drop his weapon.

Cassie fired her Satellite Stunner again this time making a high pitched sound that made both Vapor and Lightning cover their ears. Sunset, however, reached for her Phoenix Blade, but Robo Knight was evidently quick on the rebound and stabbed her in the hand. Sunset let out another scream of pain. Vapor’s eyes widened, and she snarled before throwing her Trident at Robo Knight sending him flying backwards and impaling him through the chest to a train car.

Lightning then lashed out at Cassie with her whips again and again, keeping her off guard long enough for Vapor to deal the final blow and stop the zombie Pink Space Ranger for good.

“I got you Sunset,” Vapor said as she helped her teammate up while Lightning pulled the sword out of Sunset’s hands and quickly set about bandaging it. “Anything broken?”

“Just my stride,” Sunset grimaced before turning to her friends. “The others?”

“Done and dealt with,” Lightning confirmed with a nod. “Sunburst and Robert’s Rangers and that Whiger guy should be all that’s left. Let’s hope they’re having better luck than we did.”

With Robert and Sunburst, the two had very quickly found themselves overmatched against Z, Cruger, and Whiger. Both Sunburst and Robert unleashed their animal spirits upon Whiger in hopes of forcing him back, but the Phantom Beast General was not so easily beaten.

“Spirit of the White Tiger!”

With that roar, he unleashed the mist-like form of the White Tiger of the West, (Xī Fāng Bái Hǔ) and ripped both the Kitsune and Owl spirits to shreds with powerful claw strikes. Robert fired off a Kitsune Scatter Blast skywards, hoping to hit all three targets at once and do some damage, but then had to dodge a sword swing from his Commander’s Shadow Saber.

Nearby, Sunburst had rolled to the left and then ran along a wall to avoid Z’s shots from her sidearm and pulled out his Jungle Fans and leaped down towards Z and dealt out two powerful slashes. Next thing he knew, he was grabbed from behind and tossed by an exact copy of Z. A clone, possessing all of her powers and abilities.

“Crap!” Robert swore silently to himself as he dodged another swing from Cruger’s Shadow Saber and then a powerful Rinzin infused swing of Whiger’s claw. A blast of pure Rinzin energy knocked Robert back and he demorphed as he hit the ground with a thud. “I forgot about Z’s genetic ability!”

As the two Zs advanced towards Sunburst, weapons drawn, the Black Ranger thought fast.

“L-Listen, I-I don’t know y-you, but I’m a f-friend of a friend!” Sunburst stuttered out, really hoping this would work. “I’m friends with your teammate, s-so that means we can be friends, Ms. Delgado… Right?”

Z blinked inside her helmet.

“I… I’m sorry, I can’t fight it! Bunglay’s hold is just too strong!” Z cried out in pain.

“No, it’s not!” Sunburst pleaded. “You’re a Power Ranger, just like me. Never give up!”

Suddenly, something registered inside the yellow SPD Ranger.

“Never give up… That’s what my father always used to say…” She thought to herself and as the chains began to break, Z suddenly became wracked with pain as Bunglay’s collar charged her full of amp after amp of electricity. Suddenly, something in Commander Cruger awoke as well.

“Z!” He shouted and ripped off his collar ignoring the high voltage and with his bare paws before doing the same to Z’s as they both demorphed.

“You two alright?” Robert asked as he helped his Commander up.

“I’m fine… Just peachy in fact. Never been better.” Z deadpanned. Robert chuckled to himself. Yeah, she was fine. That was the Z he knew.

“Thanks… Commander.” Robert said and Z’s eyes widened. That was definitely new. She barely remembered Robert showing respect to anyone barring the Commander so hearing that tone in his voice came as a shock.

“No, thank your teammate. I needed something to remind me of who I was and Z was it.”

“Gee, glad it took you seeing me in pain to do that DC.” Z deadpanned.

“Wait, your commander’s a Diamond Dog?” Sunburst asked in shock as he looked upon the blue scaled dog like creature that Robert called his boss.

“What’s a Diamond Dog?” Cruger asked in bewilderment, eyebrow raised. Robert let a hand find its way to his face and sighed. Z stared at Robert upon seeing his civilian attire.

“Wait… are you wearing pink?” She laughed. “Syd’s just going to love this!”

“For your information, it’s maroon and I was on a date last night. Turned out very well for your information.” Robert snapped before quickly changing subjects.

“So, who’d you get as my replacement after I… vanished for lack of a better word?” He inquired. Both Z and Cruger shared a look of embarrassment that Robert knew all too well. He’d only seen that look on the Commander’s face while he talked about a particular SPD member. Robert groaned.

“Not the layabout… You got him back?”

“No one else would sign up, said the position was cursed or something,” Z remarked. Right about then, all four Rangers rolled to the left as Whiger launched his Animal Spirit back at them only to be cut down by Cruger’s Shadow Saber in a powerful downwards slash.

“Oh right… Forgot about you.” Z muttered and all three SPD Rangers shared a nod.

“SPD Emergency!”

“Legendary Wild Access!”

Z quickly changed into her SWAT mode and fired powerful blasts from her Delta Enforcer at Whiger but he just retaliated with Rinzin blasts of his own. Z leaped to a wall and rebounded off of it and fired more shots as both Sunburst and the Shadow Ranger sliced Whiger across the chest with their respective weapons. Robert then fired a Kyuubi Seibai Blast at the Phantom Beast General as the coup de grâce.

Amazingly, that still wasn’t enough to down the Phantom Beast General.

“Time to show him what we’ve got…” Robert chuckled before once more, he and Sunburst unleashed their animal spirits and they struck Whiger in flashes of orange and yellow light before Robert dealt out a powerful chi-infused swipe of his suit’s inbuilt claws with Sunburst doing the same. Whiger staggered back but still wasn’t defeated.

“My turn,” Cruger growled. He pulled out his Shadow Saber and it sharpened itself before he ran forwards hot blue flames on either side of him and dealt several powerful rapid-fire slashes across Whiger’s chest before he even had a chance to react. With this, Whiger finally fell and went up in a powerful explosion as Cruger turned his back and stated: “You’ve been judged.”

Right about then, the rest of the Rangers teleported in just in time to see Cruger finish off Whiger.

“It’s done?” Lightning asked.

“Yeah, it’s done,” Sunburst confirmed.

“So that’s your teammates huh Robert?” Z asked. “Well, interesting color choices to say the least.”

Just then, a frighteningly familiar sound of metallic clanking against the ground was heard and all the Rangers turned to see Robo Knight slowly walking up to them. He pulled Vapor’s Leviathan Trident out of his chest and tossed it aside with a metal clang.

“I thought you finished him off!” Sunset yelled in shock.

“So did I…” Vapor murmured.

“Oh yeah? Looks like he’s back for round two… Like the bloody T-1000!”

Next, Robert’s eyes widened in horror as he took out the Knight Brothers Card and inserted it into his Robo Morpher. Far away in a glacier in the North Pole, two lion heads, one red and the other blue broke free of their frosty imprisonment and rocketed towards Ponyville. On their way, they scanned a zeppelin and a cruise ship, before becoming fully fledged Zords. One resembled a rocket, the other a battle cruiser.

Next, Robo Knight himself leaped into the air and his arms and legs folded up into his body as he became a lion’s head himself, black with a silver mane. He scanned a long disused mining dump truck and it too became a giant black and silver twelve wheeled colossus of a Zord with two gold claws at the front.

“Oh boy…” Robert muttered as the Sky Lion Mechazord’s wings folded up into its body. Part of the Lion Mechazord detached to reveal two ports for the Sea and Sky Lions to attach to as legs. The entire construct moved upwards leaving the chassis behind as the Sea and Sky lions’ heads folded forwards to become feet. The part of the Lion Mechazord that had detached earlier became a chest-plate and the chassis split apart to become two arms. Robo Knight again changed forms and his body parts shifted and moved around and a blue face with glowing red eyes was revealed.

“Gosei Grand Megazord, ready!” Robo Knight informed.
“Yeah… I think this is where we step out and leave things to you guys.” Z stated as she took a step back.

“I hate to do this to a fellow guardian of the Earth, but… He has to be stopped.” Sunset whispered.

“Wild Zords, descend!” The Wild Force Rangers called, and as ever the Legendary Beasts of Animaria, joined by the Elephant Zord ran down from the sky and combined as the Rangers leaped inside the cockpit.

“Animaria Guardian Megazord, Sword and Shield Mode!”

And so, the battle began. The Gosei Grand Megazord dealt out powerful punches to the Animaria Guardian but each blow was blocked with the Elephant Shield. So, instead, a powerful uppercut was dealt sending the Animaria Guardian staggering back.

“You gotta be kidding me, how strong is this thing!?!” Lightning yelled out in disbelief.

“Strong enough,” Robert grunted out.

“Firing Missiles!” Robo Knight proclaimed as the hubcaps on his Megazord opened up and launched a barrage of missiles at its fellow Megazord. Sunset reacted… Fast.

“Cyclone Spin!” She yelled and the Animaria Guardian spun around in a circle like a whirling tornado and sent the missiles flying every which way but was then punched again by the Gosei Grand knocking it out of its defense.

“Pachyderm Crusher!” Sunset ordered and brought the Elephant’s sword down on the Gosei Grand’s shoulder, or she tried to anyways as amazingly, the sword was caught by the Megazord’s tremendous strength. Next, it fired another barrage of missiles, this time point blank sending the Elephant Shield and Sword flying from the Animaria Guardian’s grip and knocking the Phoenix Zord out of the combination as well. The now dismembered Megazord crashed to the ground, the sound echoing for miles as it crushed an abandoned warehouse beneath it.

“Power Levels, they’re red lining!” Sunburst shouted in alarm.

“We’ve… We’ve got to get back up!” Vapor grunted out.

“Come on Rangers, hang in there!” Commander Cruger whispered. Then, all eyes turned to the Everfree. A familiar call was heard, and the distinct green and gold form of the Deer Zord came galloping out of the wilderness.

“Alright, now we’re talking…” Sunset muttered to herself before shouting: “Vapor!”

The Purple Ranger nodded and swapped her Leviathan Crystal out for the Deer Crystal and the Deer transformed and attached itself to the Animaria Guardian Megazord as it picked itself off the ground.

“Clutcher Mode!” The Rangers called out. More missiles came right at them, but this time Sunset had a plan and focused all of her energy towards the Deer Zord. A magical bubble was created between the two antlers and caught the missiles, before tossing them right back at the Gosei Grand. It staggered back, but still wasn’t defeated.

“We… We need more power!” Robert yelled out as the cockpit began to spark and catch aflame. Just then, two bears, one black and one white pounced on the Gosei Grand before leaping off of it and landing next to the Animaria Guardian Megazord. Next, the Polar Bear launched a blast of ice at the Gosei Grand, while the Black Bear did the same with fire. At the same time, two crystals found themselves in Lightning and Vapor’s hands.

“Guess we know what we need to do now…” Vapor murmured and Lightning nodded. Both the Thunderbird and Deer Zords detached as the Black Bear and Polar Bear’s backs moved upwards to become shoulder pauldrons while the front halves moved forwards just a little. The Polar Bear became the left shoulder, and the Black Bear the right. Two powerful cannons sprouted from their mouths.

“Bear Blasters, fire!” All of the Rangers shouted. Two powerful energy beams fired and punched twin holes in the Gosei Grand’s chest, and it staggered forwards before falling and going down in a fireball. Sunset closed her eyes in sorrow.

“I’m sorry Robo Knight… You were a Guardian of the Earth once, like us… But you had to be stopped.” She whispered as both Commander Cruger and Z saluted the fallen hero. Commander Cruger picked up the Knight’s sword and implanted it in the ground as the sun set behind him.

“You deserved your rest, but were disturbed like all of us… Now, sleep peacefully.” He whispered.

Meanwhile, high above Equus, unseen by all but Bunglay’s ship, a golden orb rocketed towards the planet. It had been away for far too long, and now it was time to return...

Author's Notes:

Okay... Never thought I'd be able to top the last Bunglay chapter, but somehow... I did. (I still have a hankering for a 10,000 word Zen-Aku focused chapter. Dunno if I can pull that off, but...) Anyways, here's your In Space, Turbo, Alien Rangers, Megaforce and Ninja Storm tributes. Plus, I finally got the Bear Brothers in this story, which I've been trying to pull off for a while now. Anyways, next month will probably only have one update, as I'm going back to school to study for my GED tests. But as a little preview...

"Lights of Orion, Activate!"

(Also, huge thanks to Eagle-Paladin of Shadows for the Celestia/Goldar swordfight scene.