A sharp steam whistle cut through the mountainsides as a train rumbled down the tracks, a pillar of white smoke rising high into the sky, pine trees brushing past as the Ponyville Express rattled down the rails towards its destination. The magnificent P-4a class 4-6-2 Pacific type once known as the Boston and Maine 3713 continued cutting through the snow covered rails with its cow catcher, giant wheels and pistons churning and turning. In the distance, the magnificent city of Canterlot and its exquisite buildings could be seen as the sun slowly began to dip below the horizon and into the cover of night.

Inside one of the carriages, both Vapor Trail and Lightning Dust got themselves acquainted with the fact that for the first time in ages, they’d be seeing Canterlot again for the first time in months. You see, the city’s stadium was the site of their next show with the Wonderbolts and Spitfire had gone to no expense to make sure that her entire team was comfortable in getting to their destination. Personally, both Lightning and her sister were glad for the break, as fighting off the Orgs and Bunglay was starting to wear on them. This was just what they needed, a change of pace. Princess Shayla herself had recommended it, Shining and the rest of the Auxiliary Rangers could take care of any issues that might arise for the time being.

Lightning chuckled, something told her Robert would have loved to see the airshow that the Wonderbolts were going to put on if what Sunset had told her was correct, (She still refused to believe both Vapor and Sunburst’s insistences that the two were dating, it went against every grain or Robert’s character for him to be in any sort of steady relationship. He hadn’t earned that nickname she gave him without good reason) but apparently he wouldn’t be able to make it as Rarity had a huge influx of orders to deal with back in Ponyville in relation to the upcoming gala. It was an all hands on deck situation, so Robert for the next few days would be considerably occupied.

Nearby, Vapor murmured to herself as the clickety-clack of the rails clattering beneath her carriage soothed her off into her sleep. Lightning frankly, was amazed. About half of the team was up and about and as ever, had started their night with a bang. Some of the younger members, like Fire Streak and such had somehow snuck a stash of beer onto the train past the conductor and were already partying the night away. Right now, Lightning had sworn she had seen her brother leading a conga line through the other passenger cars, annoying pretty much everypony else.

“Idiots, aren’t they?” An older silver maned pegasus dressed in the Wonderbolts standard flight suit remarked. Lightning nodded, Silver Zoom, being one of the oldest serving Wonderbolts and having a career that stretched back nearly 23 years, almost as much as her father, generally was thought of as the team’s granddad. “All wake up with a hangover in the morning, and have nopony but to blame except themselves, really.”

“I still don’t see the appeal of getting drunk and doing… well that.” Angel Wings remarked, as she gestured to Fleetfoot making out heavily with a another pegasus, blueish gray in color with a sun-yellow mane hands wandering everywhere on both parties touching and squeezing everything they could. Lightning had long forgotten the name of him, honestly. Not like she kept track of each and every member of her team’s names. She and Silver Zoom sighed before groaning in disgust (With Angel Wings flushing in embarrassment and turning her head) as Fleetfoot giggled and pulled her partner away all the while letting him unzip her flight-suit.

“...Just what I needed to see tonight… Not.” Lightning sighed and fell back in her seat thanking the Mystic Mother that eventually, the joke would be on all of these morons when they woke up with the hangovers.

“Hey, shouldn’t Soarin’ and Spitfire be breaking this party up anytime soon?” Angel asked, twisting part of her mane absentmindedly.

“Sadly… Think Spitfire’s already gone to bed along with Soarin’,” Silver Zoom replied with a sigh, rubbing his temples. “I think they’ve both realized that dealing with some of these fools is just a one-way ticket to a headache. Good on them, I may be following suit soon enough.”

“Hey, what’s going on around here?” Rainbow groaned, rubbing her tired eyes as she stepped into the carriage, wearing nothing but a pure white sleep shirt that just barely covered her sensitive areas. Angel blushed on seeing the attire. “Heard music. Sounded like… Samba?”

“What do you think?” Lightning drawled. “Fire Streak and Fleetfoot broke out the beer… Again. I swear… Every time…” She grumbled.

“Ah,” Rainbow commented. “Well, in that case, I’m going back to bed.”

She turned back towards her room on the carriage, with Lightning’s eyes finding it impossible not to help themselves but to follow her flank movements before mentally smacking herself in the face.

“Oh, stop it Lightning, you know what Rainbow said to you about you and her having a relationship. It’s frankly impossible and you know it.”

With that, Lightning thought back…

“We can't be together Lightning. I'm sorry. Our relationship... It'd be toxic. We're like oil and water, we go together, but we don't mix. We'd wind up killing each other before we ever had sex with one another.”

Lightning’s thoughts found themselves zapped back to the present.

“Yeah, she’s absolutely right. Far too right.” Lightning grumbled to herself.

“You like her, don’t you?” Silver Zoom commented, having noticed Lightning’s eyes beginning to wander.

“Yeah, but I… We…” Lightning stammered before Silver placed a finger over her lips.

“Save it. Whatever excuses you’ve made for yourself, stow that. Kid, I’ve been around the block before, know how these things work,” Silver said sagely. “Best you work up the courage to deal with this little issue before she… slips away like a feather in the wind.”

At this, Silver Zoom’s eyes wandered to the windows, as if he was thinking of times long since past. Lightning groaned in annoyance, as much as she’d love to follow her mentor’s advice, (And discover all of his secrets) she honestly doubted Rainbow would listen to anything she’d have to say. Frankly, Rainbow was just too stubborn. Once she’d had her mind set on something, that was the end of it.

Lightning sighed to herself as she fluffed up a pillow lying on the seat beside her, and put on some earbuds to drown out the music before groaning to herself. She’d sleep on it, and hopefully, she’d feel better in the morning. She chuckled as a grin came to her face. Least she wouldn’t be waking up with a hangover like half of her team, her sometimes idiotic brother included.

Canterlot:

With two sharp whistles and a huff of steam, the Ponyville Express pulled away from the station heading back towards the small town. As the train pulled away, Lightning noted a little red headed filly, half-laughing and half-crying as her mother wished her sister (Who happened to be wearing a purple cloak and hat covered in stars) well on her journey back to Ponyville. Lightning sighed as she remembered her own little sister in Silver Spoon. She’d begged to come along for the Wonderbolts show, but sadly her father had to take her along on a business trip to Las Pegasus. Lightning flashed back to the last time she’d spent any real amount of time with her adopted sister.

Ponyville: Hoofer Steps’ Dancing School

Lightning smiled as she watched Silver do delicate spins and twirls as she and the rest of her class were instructed by the Russian-borne pony Hoofer Steps. Lightning chuckled, ask her a month ago if she’d be at a dancing school for ballet, she’d have called you either a drunkard or crazy. Maybe both. But watching Silver now go through the motions, she could, at the very least, respect ballet if not perform it. The balance and poise required for some of those movements… Tartarus, Lightning doubted even she could do those!

“Good, good!” Hoofer praised. “Just like that!”

“Lightning, did you see that?” Silver asked excitedly, looking towards her sister, who was leaning up against a wall in a relaxed posture.

“Keep it up kid, you'll be a star one day! I just know it!” Lightning shouted, ignoring the weird looks she was getting from the rest of the ponies there. She rolled her eyes. So what if she, a tomboy, showed interest in ballet? Screw what others thought about her. She’d long given up caring what others thought about her and her life choices.

“Well, somebody’s changed,” the Thunderbird Zord commented in a cheerful tone. Oddly, Lightning couldn't find any way to disagree with him.

“Yeah, well we've all changed. Sunburst isn't as much of a coward as he was and a Tartarus of a lot more assertive,” Lightning replied. “Robert’s not 100% of an egotistical dick, and I'm not 100% of a bitch. Eh, maybe like 50%. Okay, 65% at worst,”

“Yeah, you've all become quite a team,” the Thunderbird complimented. “But there’s one thing you all probably… No, you need to consider. What if one of you dies in combat? Vapor’s predecessor did!” He questioned. Lightning snarled. The Thunderbird raised an eyebrow, mistaking Lightning’s anger at his remark for anger at thinking her arrogant and his cold hard logic for him being simply callous. “Are you really that arrogant to think that there won’t be any chance that you won’t die in battle? Correct me if I’m wrong but both you and Sunset nearly have.”

“It’s not that! If you're going to bring Grape up, at least have the decency to name him!” She growled back at her Zord.

“I'm sorry, but us Wild Zords… We don't think like you ponies. We deal with loss in our own ways. Best not to think of those we’ve lost… Not personally. Far too painful, we can’t allow ourselves to get attached to our partners, no matter what that damned Phoenix may think. We’re far older than you, seen the rise and fall of civilizations. You can only imagine the faces we've seen lost to the void. Now do you understand?”

Lightning never answered.

“Lightning, you alright?” Silver asked, upon seeing her big sister’s smile fade.

“Yeah… Yeah, I’m fine.” She lied.

Now:

Lightning, brushing away the memories, cracked her knuckles as she and Vapor did a few arm stretches.

The platform, with a wrought iron sign reading “Royal Canterlot Station” above it in bright gold lettering bustled with ponies of every size and description. The scraping of luggage trunks came from all around the two Wonderbolts-In-Training as ponies chattered about various things and others looked nervously about possibly missing their trains. Nearby, both Fire Streak and Sky Stinger were holding their heads in pain, with Silver Zoom sitting nearby on a bench next to his luggage shaking his head.

“I tried to tell them…” He muttered to himself. Spitfire looked furious at the offending ponies and from the looks of it, was about to blow her top and either lecture them or ask everypony to do some push-ups right then and there. Nearby, Rainbow had forced herself to bite her lip to keep herself from laughing her ass off. As for Fleetfoot and her “partner”, they’d been discovered in the baggage car, fast asleep and devoid of any of their clothes by Soarin’, much to his embarrassment.

“I swear… One of these days…” Soarin’ had muttered. “Fleets, you’re going to run out of stallions to buck,”

Fleetfoot’s only reply was to cheekily remark “Well, guess I’ll have to start on the mares then won’t I Clipper? Plenty of ‘em to go around.”

Cue obligatory facepalm from Soarin’ and a mutter of “Why do I even bother?”

As Vapor and Lightning left their teammates behind, seeing as how the show wasn’t until tomorrow afternoon anyways, they were met outside the station by Sunburst.

“S-Sunburst, what are you doing here?” Vapor stuttered out in surprise. “Thought you were in Ponyville teaching classes.”

“Field trip to the local museum,” He explained. “Written Script, the history teacher, wanted me to help chaperone the kids… But… I… I…” Sunburst stammered out, trying to look anywhere but at them.

“You what?” Lightning asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I lost them at the station…” He muttered in embarrassment and Lightning busted out laughing before Vapor smacked her on the back of the head.

She hissed out: “Be nice! You saw what that platform was like, I was surprised I didn’t lose you in all of that!”

“I-I’m sorry, but it’s just hilarious! Sunburst losing his entire class and fellow teacher!” Lightning cackled. Vapor sighed and rubbed her temples.

“Not my fault! That platform’s always busy, and the station’s so big!” Sunburst exclaimed, trying to defend himself. Before Lightning could laugh any harder at his misfortune, a scream cut through the air like a knife. All three Rangers shared a look.

“Come on!” Lightning shouted as they ran for it…

Meanwhile, in a classroom on the other side of the city, a gray furred pony with a pure white mane wearing a nice tan sweater with a lab-coat over that was writing up a complicated equation on his blackboard with a piece of chalk, never noticing a pink mist surround one of those school mock skeletons and turn into a Org, resembling a real life walking skeleton, devoid of flesh and organs and its hands ending in long sharp looking talons.

“Just got wind of an Org in your location, been evading me for years like a coward. Doesn’t even want to fight,” Thrax’s voice told the Pony Body Specimen Org, his voice calm and collected as always, though if you listened closely you could detect a touch of anger. “Either you convince him to join us… Or destroy him. I can’t have traitors in my army, not a single one. Just one warning, if you fail me… I’ll destroy you if the Rangers don’t do it first.” He hissed out.

The Org nodded in understanding, before detaching himself from the hook that held him up and walking off. The pony professor turned around and adjusted his glasses. He could have sworn there was a fake skeleton in here last he checked. His eyes widened once he saw the hook dangling, he hadn’t been seeing things!

Rapidly, the teacher went for the phone and dialed the emergency number.

“Hello? Is this the Royal Guard? I’d like to report a theft of my pony skeleton mock-up. No, I’m not kidding…”

Restaurant Row:

The three Rangers followed the sound of the screams to the nearby Restaurant Row, a long street full of Equestria’s finest dining establishments, including but not limited to the Tasty Treat and Tartarus's Kitchen. If Sunburst remembered right, every time of year on this exact date, a food festival was held by Canterlot’s best chefs to promote their styles of cooking that brought in ponies from miles around. Surprisingly, ponies were running the opposite direction away from the festival, instead of towards it.

The three Rangers quickly found out exactly why this was the case. In the middle of the street eating food from one of the stalls was an Org, three horned and looked to be made entirely out of broiling black charcoal with a grill over his green eyes. In one hand, a giant spatula, and the other a steel prong befitting of his charcoal grill theme.

“Hmm, could use a little more flavor… Definitely not up to Hell Fire’s standards. It’s actually quite raw. Oh, he wouldn’t like that. Be shouting and screaming by now,” the Org commented as he chowed down on some fried fish before turning to the stall set up by the owners of the Tasty Treat, promoting their signature spiced palak paneer and gajar ka halwa.

“Hold it right there Org!” Lightning shouted as she brushed past the fleeing ponies and kicked him in the face making him stagger back. She slashed out with her Crystal Saber and the Org used his spatula implement to catch the blade before forcing it away from him.

“Wait, wait, wait. Stop! I don’t want to fight you!” the Charcoal Grill Org pleaded as Lightning swung around and tried to slash at him again, but her blade was caught by the Org’s prong weapon. “I… I honestly don’t have any interest in hurting ponies!”

“Oh yeah? Then why were they running from you?” Lightning asked as sparks flew from the metal grinding up against each other.

“W-Well, look at me! You’d run too, wouldn’t you?”

“No, I’d do my duty as a Guardian of the Earth and take you down.” Lightning growled. Suddenly, Vapor and Sunburst pulled her back.

“What the Tartarus are you two doing?” She bellowed out in shock.

“Let’s… Let’s just hear him out okay?” Vapor asked. “As far as I could see, he wasn’t doing anything really terrible, aside from stealing food.”

“And the only reason I did that, was because I wanted to learn how to become a great chef and cook food for the ponies of Canterlot! But every time I try to get food honestly, ponies just run and hide! Nopony wants to hear my side of things!” The Charcoal Grill Org argued, and Vapor and Sunburst shared a look of surprise.

“Really? That’s all?” Vapor asked in surprise. “Well... In that case…”

Lightning’s head whipped around to face her sister in shock.

“Wait, are you two seriously siding with this Org?” She exclaimed, her jaw dropping in stark disbelief.

“F-For the time being, yes,” Sunburst put in. “Like Vapor said, he really hasn’t done anything wrong… Well, aside from the food stealing. Hasn’t destroyed anything, killed anypony.”

“That we’ve seen…” Lightning stated, narrowing her eyes.

“And besides, there have been good Orgs before, haven’t there? Zen-Aku, remember?” Vapor added. “He saved my life, quite a few times actually!”

“And need I remind you that the only reason Zen-Aku is a good Org, if there’s such a thing, was that when he possessed Merrick, some of Merrick’s traits rubbed off on him!” Lightning reminded the two. “Go on, help that damn Org for all I care, but don’t you come crying to me when he betrays you all and starts burning Canterlot to the ground!”

With that, Lightning stormed off in a huff.

“I’m sorry about causing this sort of trouble between you and your friend.” the Charcoal Grill Org apologized.

“Sister, actually, “ Vapor corrected. “Lightning’s always been the stubborn sort, she’ll come around… eventually.” she replied before mentally adding “I hope.”

“Wait, you mentioned Hell Fire, right? The guy who always shouts “IT’S BUCCCKKKKING RAAAAWWW!” over the radio on his series where he reviews struggling restaurants, isn’t he?” Vapor asked in surprise, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah, that’s the one. I want to learn from him, become a great chef like I told you guys… Been living in Canterlot the past twenty years, disguised as an ordinary pony like you guys, with nopony the wiser. Practicing my cooking skills, and when Hell Fire came on the air, that’s when I found my true calling. I wanted to serve under him, become a Master Chef!” the Org explained, a star somehow showing up in his single eye before his tone lowered. “Finally got brave enough to reveal my true form, but the thing was… I never realized how scared ponies would be of me. Those other Orgs… They’ve ruined any chances I had at becoming a well-respected chef…”

“Well…” Sunburst stated, placing a hand on the Org’s shoulder. “We’ll just have to fix that, won’t we? I actually lived in Canterlot for a brief time, and I did eat at Tartarus’s Kitchen once or twice so I do know where it is.”

“But what makes you think Hell Fire will let you guys and me in to see him? Org, remember?” the Org asked sadly.

Vapor and Sunburst shared a smile before morphing.

“Oh, guess that would do it, wouldn’t it?”

Soon, the two Rangers with the Charcoal Grill Org (Thankfully in disguise) in tow made their way to Tartarus’s Kitchen. Inside, they were greeted by a rustic interior style, with the exposed brickwork and hardwood flooring giving off that feel. As soon as the waiters, dressed in nice red tuxedos saw the Purple and Black Rangers, they parted and allowed them access to the kitchen, where Hell Fire was already hard at work cooking up steak. He’d heard the hoof-steps, but still had his back to them, working hard on his steak.

“Listen, if this is about that damn bitch Zesty Gourmand criticizing my work and telling me it’s not up to her bucked up three-star rating, just show her the bloody door and tell her to be off with her,” Hell Fire snapped, in his usual Scoltland accent.”I don’t need her whinging today, or any other day really. Gives three-star ratings, when all I want to do is shove those stars up her bloody arsehole. I swear, those critiques she gives... “

“Er, we’re not with Zesty, actually we’ve got someone who wants to learn from you.” Vapor stated nervously, backing away from the pony’s rant, and Hell Fire, an orange furred pony with a blond mane and a set of wrinkles between his horn and deep green eyes befitting that of a pony who was in his fifties finally turned to face them.

“Power Rangers… Well, of all the things I expected to see today showing up in my restaurant, this was about the last thing on my list,” Hell Fire admitted. Anyways, which of you wants to learn how to cook from me? Should warn you ahead of time, I don’t take any shit from my students, not one bit, you hear?”

“Well… Actually, it’s me.” the Org stated, revealing his true form in a flash of fire knowing that his idol probably wouldn’t want him to lie about his true form.

“Okay… I freely admit that was even lower on my list,” Hell Fire muttered to himself before adjusting his uniform. “So, you want to learn how to be a professional chef do you? Well, prepare yourself. I don’t care if you’re an Org or not. I’ll teach you anyways. But, I don’t hold back if you do something stupid, and I don’t blow smoke up anypony’s arse. One stupid thing from you, and you’re out on your arse understand?”

The Charcoal Grill Org nodded and Hell Fire cracked his knuckles.

“Well then, let’s get to work shall we?”

Elsewhere in the city, Lightning found herself sitting atop a roof, her legs dangling over the edge and both of her wings folded up.

“Can’t believe it… Vapor and Sunburst… Helping a damn Org!” the Aqua Ranger grumbled to herself.

“Seems very noble of them, if you ask me.” The Thunderbird Zord commented mentally. “After all, there are always outliers in any organization. Black sheep, if you will. Zen-Aku and his two fellow Duke Orgs are good examples of the type… Albeit under special circumstances.”

“Yeah, and that’s the thing… “ Lightning replied. “Zen-Aku… I just don’t know what his game is… For all I know he could be lying about his reasons for helping us. Could be biding his time to give Thrax, or any of our other enemies the location of the Animarium.”

“And yet he’s saved your asses and filled in for Sunset when she was out of commission for a time.” The Thunderbird put in.

“Earning our trust.” Lightning told him.

“Listen, if Animus or whoever brought him back to life trusts him, so do I. But we’re getting off topic here. I knew about that Charcoal Grill Org, so did the rest of the Wild Zords. He’s been in Equestria for twenty years now, hasn’t caused a single problem,” the Thunderbird continued. “I’d say that’s enough to warrant some degree of trust, don’t you?”

Tartarus’s Kitchen:

“Okay, first off, the thing you need to know about your kitchen here in Restaurant Row. Do not, and I repeat, do not let anypony tell you that your food should be like anypony else’s. Seriously, that is the first step to failure,” Hell Fire explained. “I mean, literally, half of the food around here is horse shit. There’s a reason why most of the cooks I love, like Jam Olives or Anpony Bourdain, have their restaurants in Manehatten, Trottingham or Ponyville or wherever. I can safely say the only good gourmet restaurant around here aside from mine is the Tasty Treat,”

“I can attest to that, had one of my first dates with my fiance there. Coriander is quite the cook. Knows how to whip up a good curry.”

“Really?” Hell Fire asked in surprise. “One of your first dates with your fiance? She’s probably very lucky to get a superhero as a future husband.”

“H-He, actually.” Sunburst stuttered out, slightly scared of correcting the fiery tempered unicorn as he’d heard of his reputation.

“Oh,” Hell Fire replied, flushing in embarrassment. “But you’ve got a point. The curry, lovely. But the Spice Noodle Soup, that’s something to die for. Tender, delicious, exotic, and created with love, and most importantly… It’s not bucking raw! That’s what food should be like, something your heart should desire, want, need to eat.”

He then turned to the Charcoal Grill Org.

“Should be writing this down, by the way, useful reminders,”

If it was possible for an Org to flush red, the Charcoal Grill Org would have. Of course, right about then, the Pony Body Specimen Org along with a hoard of Tengas burst in.

“You’re coming with me!” the new Org snarled. “Thrax wants you in his army, and he’s not taking no for an answer!”

“Well… So much for the peace and quiet...” Vapor murmured as she drew her Trident and Sunburst his Shadow Hatchets. But as it turned out, neither of them had no reason to be worried.

“Now hold up right there, this is a class and I’m teaching! Considering what you seem to be based on, you should know that nopony interrupts the teacher, got that?” Hell Fire snapped as his glare turned icy. If it was possible for Hell to freeze over, that glare might have done the job quite nicely. “So, do us all a favor you walking piles of shit and SIT YOUR BLOODY ARSES DOWN!” He roared, and amazingly, the Pony Body Specimen Org along with the Tengas all pulled up chairs.

“Now, second lesson. Bad ingredients, and poor hygiene. Absolutely ruin your restaurant, perhaps before it even has a chance to get started. I don’t like having to say “THIS COULD KILL SOMEPONY!” to any cook, especially one worth his or her salt, even if they’re too shit for brained to notice it for themselves, the donkeys.” Hell Fire explained, and at this point, even the Tengas were listening intently and jotting down notes on notepads that they’d pulled out of… somewhere.

“Third point, be honest up front and center. You’re representing a product customers are digging bits out of their wallets for. Got that? Let me tell you a story, last year I had to tear into some wankers because they said their soup was completely safe for their customers when all I saw was something that looked like a dangerous potion about to blow up in their faces. Needless to say, I got the strong urge to pour that soup over the pillocks’ bucking heads and see what happened,”

“So… You’re saying if I cook something bad, at least have the decency to admit it?” the Charcoal Grill Org asked and his teacher nodded.

“Pretty much,” Hell Fire remarked. “If I walk into your restaurant and the food is mind-blowingly bad, I want you to say to me these exact words. “Dear Mystic Mother, for what you are about to receive may Mystic Mother almighty not kill you with food poisoning.” Of course, then I’ll probably have to tear into you and tell you that you’ve learned nothing, but this is just warnings in advance. You’ve spent twenty years around Canterlot right, trying various foods?”

The Charcoal Grill Org nodded.

“Then cook, show me what you’ve picked up!” Hell Fire commanded. “Then I’ll consider taking you on as my student and keep you from turning your kitchen into a nightmare.”

It was then the Pony Body Specimen Org had finally had enough.

“Alright, class dismissed!” He roared. “This Org isn’t doing any cooking, at least not for the ponies! Only cooking he’s doing is for the Master Org! Tengas, seize him!”

The Tengas quickly dropped whatever they were doing and tried to hoard the Charcoal Grill Org but he opened up his faceplate and blasted them with hot balls of molten magma reducing some to cinders.

Hell Fire threw a karate chop at one Tenga downing it before socking another across the beak with a right cross. Sunburst grabbed a frying pan and hit another atop the head with a shout of “Clean up your act!”

Clutching his head in pain, the Tenga muttered “Okay.” before he slipped into unconsciousness. Vapor grabbed the Pony Body Specimen Org by the chest and tackled him through a side door smashing it into splinters and the two tumbled out into the alleyway.

Sunburst turned to Hell Fire and said “Sorry, we’ll foot you the bill for that one.” before running after Vapor into the street as she held off the Org’s slashes with his claws with her Trident before she jabbed at him multiple times.

Sadly, the trouble with your opponent being a walking skeleton was that it was very easy to miss vital areas as Vapor was quickly finding out. The Pony Body Specimen Org headbutted her making Vapor stagger back before grabbing Vapor’s Trident by the shaft and thrusting the dull end backwards into her gut before he slashed her across the chest several times with his talons.

Vapor clutched her chest in pain before Sunburst leaped over her using her shoulders as jump-off points and slashed downwards with his Jungle Fans finally scoring a blow on the Org. Now he was the one staggering backwards.

Sunburst scored several more potentially devastating slashes but he and Vapor then had to roll out of the way as the Pony Body Specimen Org launched small bones like darts at machine gun like speed. The Charcoal Grill Org reappeared and fired several balls of magma at him but none seemed to do any real damage.

“Ha, you can thank all the calcium I drink for that! Strong bones!” the Pony Body Specimen Org laughed slashing the Charcoal Grill Org across the chest several times. He shoved him aside and then the Pony Body Specimen Org advanced towards Vapor, Sunburst supporting her. A shout rang from the other side of the street.

“You, get away from my sister!” Lightning shouted going right into her Lights of Orion mode before she scored a powerful lightning encased slash across the Pony Body Specimen Org’s chest with her claw gauntlet and then did a devastating butterfly maneuver with her Crystal Sword cutting off one of his arms. She turned to the Charcoal Grill Org and nodded at him.

“You, step aside. We can take it from here,” Lightning smiled at him. “Just get to safety, okay? Learn to cook, alright? Maybe we’ll meet again sometime, you serving me some good fried fish.”

“L-Lightning?” Vapor stammered out in shock, mustering up her strength and going into her own Orion Mode as well as Sunburst. “Why?”

“Let’s just say a certain bird-brain knocked some sense into me, that’s all,” Lightning explained cryptically. “Now, hit him with everything you got!”

Lightning’s, as well as Vapor’s and Sunburst’s gauntlets along with their armbands and belts, glowed golden before the gauntlets each fired an energy beam at the Pony Body Specimen Org punching holes through his ribs and he went up in a shower of sparks before exploding leaving nothing but a pile of scorched plastic behind.

Back at the Nexus, Thrax sighed to himself. That one, he wasn’t even worth the trouble. Groaning as he sat down on his throne, he clutched his head in pain. Now he knew how his mother felt…

Later that day, Lightning and Vapor were walking back to their hotel for the night, after helping Sunburst reunite with Written Script and his class and providing him a map of the city for future reference so something like that never happened again. The moon shown down on the two as they walked through the streetlight lined cobblestone streets of Canterlot. Ponies were already shutting their windows and flicking off lights for the night.

“You know, I’m proud of you sis,” Vapor said happily as she threw an arm around Lightning. “Never thought in a million years you’d be helping that Org out.”

“Yeah, well don’t expect me to be going out of my way and helping any others aside from perhaps, and that’s a very small perhaps, Zen-Aku out okay?” Lightning muttered. Vapor chuckled, her sister might have been a little rough around the edges, but she had a heart underneath all that. You just had to look hard enough to see it.

“Speaking of that Org, think he’ll do alright? Make a name for himself?” Vapor asked. Lightning could only shrug.

“Who knows, I saw him and that Tenga Sunburst hit on the head with a frying pan seem quite eager to start their own restaurant after what Hell Fire taught them. He seemed quite impressed with that Org's cooking ability. So, maybe, they just might. Mystic Mother knows they’d certainly improve the quality of Canterlot’s food,” Lightning remarked with a short laugh. “I’ve had the misfortune of eating at one of the restaurants Zesty gave her three-star review, and I have to agree with Hell. That food was horse shit, think I wanted to crawl up in a hole and die after eating it.”

Vapor laughed at that remark all the way to the hotel.

Chuckling, Thrax rewatched the final portions of the fight through his viewing orb. So, the Rangers could access the Lights of Orion individually, without all five needing to be present. So, the Pony Body Specimen Org wasn’t a complete failure after all. It had provided some new insight into their newly acquired abilities, although just how far those abilities extended was still an open question. He knew the Lost Galaxy Rangers could access the Lights of Orion for a boost in their Megazord’s power levels, though if the same extended to the Wild Force Power Set was unknown.

Whatever the case may have been, Thrax had planned ahead. He knew the Lights were going to return soon, and he knew there would be a good chance that the Rangers would retrieve them.

His thoughts turned to his former general Retinax. That traitor, even now was probably out and about searching for a new Duke Org to fight the Rangers with now that Helicos had been destroyed. Bunglay was probably searching for the Animarium to fuel his continuous hunt of exotic creatures. If he captured the Wild Zords that the Rangers drew their powers from, good for him. It would be one less obstacle in his master plan of ruling this planet, and then the galaxies beyond it.

As for the Rangers themselves, in a few days, It would return. The Island of Illusion. Thrax chuckled as he put his hands to his chin. He’d absolutely love to see how the Rangers dealt with their worst fears and insecurities brought to life...

Author's Notes:

Okay, so I know this chapter came out much earlier than any of you was expecting, but to be honest with the huge workload I have ahead of me this month with my other stories, I figured it best to get this chapter out of the way first. Now, interesting fact about the Orgs featured in this chapter. They were in Wild Force's original source material, Gaoranger, but never actually made it into the Power Rangers adaption. Also, there's some interesting truth in television as TV Tropes calls it with ballet here. To quote: "Because of the pressure to sculpt a 'Balanchine body', the promise of a short career, racism and sexism (sometimes to the extreme), and intense training, being a ballerina is not some princesslike girly sport. Dancers will perform sick and hurt, often on bleeding feet." Anyways, after the last two intense chapters, I thought a nice humor filled breather chapter would be a good idea, and the next two chapters will be breather ones as well before the Island of Illusion shows up again, and I promise you... That will be quite a show. Next month, I'll be doing something a little bit special. Think pink.