The Island of Illusion:

“Oh face it Princess…” the corrupted Solaris Knight mocked. “You’ve never been fighting for good, not really,” she commented in a mock-sweet tone of voice as the sheer heat her flamed wings began to clear away the mist. “You just want to show off your power, solidify that you’re worthy of being a Princess. Like all those years ago when you had your little tantrum and created me. Still hiding your insecurities. Or have we forgotten this little gem?”

With that, she waved her hand and Sunset was hit with another flashback, back to when she returned to being a Ranger and found herself face to face with a newly revived Goldar himself.

With that, Sunset threw both her Crystal Saber and Phoenix Blade at Goldar like boomerangs and he knocked them away with two swings of his sword. He was then soundly roundhouse kicked in the face by Sunset who rebounded off of him and landed on the ground with a soft thud. Goldar fired some fireballs at Sunset, but she created two rotating hard light shields of rune-inscribed magic and deflected them again and again simply continuing to stride forwards. As she did so, she picked up her weapons off the ground and slashed downwards at Goldar who blocked the blades with his own. He chuckled.

“Guardian angel or not, fancy swordplay and magic won’t be enough to save you,” Goldar said as he whirled around and tried to use his tail to trip up Sunset but she leaped upwards and kicked the baboon-like monster in his chest plate sending him staggering back. Goldar swung again and his blade met Sunset’s own, sparks flying as metal ground up against metal. Sword met sword, again and again, each fighter closing in and drawing back each time they thought they had an opening but each time sword met sword. “Face it, this time you’re out-matched.”

“Oh, but I’m done holding back. Just this once, I’ll let you see my true power. Every time I go into a fight, I have to think, is this the one? Is this the one who’ll let me show off just how powerful I really am and not have to worry about others getting in the way? Well, now I have my answer. This time… I can cut loose and show you just what you’re getting into when you pick a fight with a Princess of Equestria.” Sunset replied, standing firm even in the face of complete and utter power.

“You weren’t protecting your friends back then… You were just making sure everybody around knew you were this all-powerful Princess and that everybody shouldn’t fuck with you, isn’t that right?” the Knight mocked and Sunset staggered.

“N-No… That’s not… not true and you know it!” Sunset stammered out, tears falling down her face. Her hand barely kept a grip on her Phoenix Blade.

“Doesn’t sound like any World of Cardboard speech to me. Hardly, sounds more like somepony who’s trying to just scare everybody. And believe me, you don’t think the populace is scared? There’s five of you, five Alicorn Princesses each with tremendous power,” the Dark Solaris Knight continued, counting them off on her fingers one by one. “And as we already know, at least two can fall to darkness. First it was Luna, then you. And as the public now knows, Princess Celestia can fall to that kind of lust for power. They’re fighting it out right now even as we speak, didn’t you know?” she asked before smirking under her helmet as she saw Sunset take another step back and her eyes widen in shock. “Oh, you didn’t? Shame…”

The Knight shook her head before continuing. “Ask yourself, how much denial do you have to go through before you realize I’m telling the truth? I’m you, you know. I know every part of you. Ask yourself… When will the populace, that little bunch of sheep rebel against their shepherds out of pure fear and dethrone them?”

“That… will never… happen,” Sunset snarled. “Not as long as I-

“Not as long as you’re what?” the Knight asked. “Around? You’ve nearly been killed once by a fearful mob, what’s to say it won’t happen again?”

“Hey, there she is! There’s the human lover who brought destruction on our homes with her curse!” a male voice shouted. Sunset saw a mob in front of her led by a brown pony in a black fedora. The mob wielded various tools and weapons, like hammers, pitchforks, torches, spears and even a few guns.

Sunset’s eyes widened. She knew this might happen sooner or later but she had hoped it wouldn’t come to this.

“Best you get going. I don’t want you to get caught up in the middle of this. This could get ugly,” Sunset told Navi, but Navi shook her head.

“No, I’m not leaving you,” Navi said firmly. “I think these fools need to be taught a lesson.”

“Fine by me,” Sunset sighed and sprinted towards the angry and bigoted mob. She had already decided it would be best not to use her full power for two reasons. One, she’d rather not bring the wrath of Solar Flare down on her head and two, they were just scared. They didn’t know any better and weren’t outright evil like the Orgs or their Master or that hunter Bunglay.

With a quick slice of her Crystal Saber she sliced a snub nosed revolver in half and twisted its user’s arm. There was the distinct crack of bone and the pony screamed out in pain.

“Best you get a brain and get yourself to a hospital. They should heal you right up, and if you have any intelligence left in that damn fool head of yours, I’d suggest you not try this again,” Sunset said in a weary tone of voice, completely tired of all the bigotry and hatred that was directed towards humankind.

“Die, human loving scum!” a voice bellowed behind her. Sunset whirled around to kick the fedora wearing pony in the gut, making him stagger back.

Another pony, one with brown fur and a yellow curly mane tried to attack Sunset by punching her in the side of her skull, but Sunset moved her head forwards at the last minute, causing the fist to meet empty air. She then slammed her knee into the pony’s stomach, dropping them instantly. Another tried to impale her with a pitchfork, but Sunset leaped on top of the improvised weapon before leaping off it and cleaved the head from the tool with one clean stroke. Next, a stallion tried to take a swipe at her with a blazing torch, but Sunset formed a light green pentagram shield in one of her hands and blocked the blow before knocking the pony back with her hard light shield.

“The ponies you care so much about aren’t as loving and accepting as you’d like them to be, face it.” the Solaris Knight said before Sunset had finally had enough and socked her counterpart right in the jaw with a powerful flaming punch.

“Shut up,” Sunset stated simply. “Maybe that’s true, maybe what you’re saying really does have some merit. But even if it is… Things change. Everything evolves and changes, including the opinions of the populace. It’ll probably be slow, like all big changes, but things will change. I can promise you that. And you… You shall never exist again!” she shouted, squeezing her fists tightly.

Even as she did so, she heard a loud screech and saw what looked like to be a folded up bow with a falcon’s head adorning it form in her fist.

“What the…?” Sunset thought before inspecting her new weapon and then with a red glow, she saw an Animal Crystal teleporting into her other free hand. Red, with a small falcon inside it.

The bow unfolded, with the falcon’s ‘wings’ unfurling themselves as Sunset pocketed the new crystal. Sunset drew the weapon’s “arrow” back and fired a piercing beam of energy right through the heart of her double. With a loud scream, the Dark Solaris Knight erupted into flame before exploding into red energy.

“...Good riddance.” Sunset sighed, panting and sweating.

Elsewhere, both Celestia and Solar Flare tumbled out of a portal and into a manmade lake located at a long-abandoned rock quarry in the middle of a pine forest. Large splashes of water erupted as they hit the lake before both a white and then an orange form erupted from it and rocketed skywards, hot steam coming off both of their forms.

Slice and dice, they went, rocketing past each other at high speed, their wings ripping and shredding into their bodies in one very deadly dance.

Celestia soared high above her counterpart and with the aura of a golden flaming Phoenix surrounding her, she came down towards Solar Flare. Then, Celestia sliced her counterpart right down the middle with Feather Edge and a shout of “Heavenly Bifurcation Slash!”

Now normally, that would have finished off anything. But Solar Flare wasn’t just anything, as she laughed as her two halves ended up reuniting with magma filling the gaps.

“Celestia… Celestia…” Solar Flare sighed, as she shook her head, her great black wings keeping her aloft. “When will you get the message? Nothing you can do, not in your current state anyways, will ever hurt me. I’m fire, you’re fire. Simple as that. I just absorb whatever you throw at me, and add that power to my own. Here’s a taste of it…”

Solar Flare fired a beam of pure hot flame at Celestia, hitting her in the chest and sending her crashing into a quarry wall, spiderweb cracks spreading out from where she impacted. Solar Flare could only continue to smirk as Celestia launched herself at her like a bullet and hit her head on, piercing her through the chest with her horn used as a makeshift lance.

Celestia soon found herself bucked away by Solar Flare as the gaping wound in the Solar Tyrant’s chest healed itself. Solar Flare unleashed what could only be described as a flamethrower from her mouth and sent Celestia plummeting towards the ground.

Solar Flare smirked -as like some fallen angel- she floated down to her counterpart’s level. The sun was behind her, casting a shadow on her already darkened and scorched form. Small little flares erupted from whatever part of Solar Flare’s body that wasn’t covered by armor.

As Celestia struggled to pick herself up off the ground, pillars of fire (Created by Solar Flare) erupted from the ground all around her. The sheer heat scorched her wings as one pillar erupted right next to her and Celestia screamed out in pain, looking towards her blackened and charred left wing.

“Give up,” Solar Flare sighed. “You’ve been a good little host, that I’ll admit. But honestly… You’ve gotten too preachy, too rebellious. I actually have to thank Twilight for separating us, now I can finally shut you up myself.,”

Solar Flare’s evil smirk only widened as a thought came to her. “You know, after I’m done with you here… I think I’ll go pay her a visit. Thank her and all that,” she remarked, placing a hand to her chin in thought. Her other hand ignited Daybreaker once again, taking a Tachi like shape. Similar to a katana in form, but longer. “Think about it Celly… the sheer screams of terror she’ll create as I burn her worthless form to ashes. There’s only room for one Alicorn on this planet, and sadly… It’s not her.”

That really did it, as quicker than Solar Flare could think, Celestia rocketed into her and sent her flying to the other end of the quarry before bombarding her with blasts of miniature suns.

“You… You shall not touch my student, nor shall you harm anybody on this planet ever again,” Celestia stated firmly, horn glowing golden as the suns flicked out of existence, one by one. “Your reign’s long since been rendered defunct. You’ve been dethroned. A new era’s coming, and your kind… Ones who rely on bigotry, hatred, manipulation and fear. You’ll never be a part of it.”

“And who’s going to stop me?” Solar Flare laughed as she picked herself off the ground. “You?”

“Yes, me.” Celestia said as her eyes narrowed and she drew Feather Edge once again. It was a short sword, three and a half foot long in blade length, the blade itself a blue color. It had a silver-colored guard, with a hilt of black, yellow, white and red resembling wings in some form.

In an instant, Celestia was on Solar Flare, getting inside her evil counterpart’s swing, striking with lightning fast strokes of her shorter blade, Solar Flare blocking them with her tachi, though the Solar Princess’ close proximity prevented her from using it fully.

She occasionally managed to drive Celestia back with a burst of flames, trying to keep her where she could use her sword properly, but every time Celestia would slip back in close. And then, she’d renew her assault as soon as the flames died down.

The pair's battle rages across the quarry, neither getting the upper hand as they countered each other's moves almost flawlessly, it seemed they would be locked in battle for eternity, a never-ending stalemate...

The Island of Illusion:

Meanwhile, Robert found himself in a fight of his own as he ducked, dodged and weaved to avoid the rapid-fire blows of Theo’s Jungle Tonfas. And every time he tried to score a strike of his own in, Theo masterfully blocked it.

“Look at you… You’re the same as when I took you in and started training you. Arrogant as always,” Theo sighed in disappointment as a powerful chi-infused palm strike sent Robert flying back into a tree. “There’s always someone bigger than you, and yet you take them on like some little pup fighting against the big boys.”

Robert clutched his chest in pain, that hit had landed right where the Barbed Wire Org had raked him with his barbed wire. He struggled to stand, but fell to the ground in pain and let out a scream.

“Spirit’s fading fast from you… Don’t even know why you’re worthy of it,” Theo remarked as he advanced towards Robert. He grabbed a pillar with his hands and ripped it out of the ground before tossing it towards the Orange Ranger who barely crawled out of the way in time. “Foxes are supposed to be tricksters. Creative in a fight. Yet you just charge in without any plans, hoping you’ll win the day and showing off like some arrogant fool. Newsflash for you, Robert, you’re no Captain Marvelous.”

“...Ever heard the phrase “Crazy as a Fox?” Robert asked as he stood back up, wincing in pain as he did so. “Besides, foxes treat life as fun and games. That’s how you claim I treat life, right? Like one big game?”

He was soundly punched in the jaw for his troubles.

“Robert…” a feminine voice trailed through the forest as a very familiar midnight blue Alicorn came into being. “Don’t listen to the guy, he’s not real and you know it.”

“L-Luna…?” Robert blinked out, unsure if the Island was playing games with him some more.

“No… I’m not a trick. This world is like a dream, so it’s quite easy for me to just slip into it and talk to the inhabitants,” Luna replied, before blasting ‘Theo’ away with a magical bolt from her horn. “Now, I admit I probably have no business talking to you as a friend-”

“Oh gee, you think? You broke my heart you know,” Robert snapped before he sighed. “Then again, I suppose I deserved that. God knows I’ve broken how many hearts before I met you. Karma is sort of a bitch isn’t it?”

“Anything I’d say to you right now would probably come off as cruel, if we were to talk about our little relationship. So I come to you not as a friend, or a lover, but as an ally. Think about this Robert. You knew Theo when he was alive. Would he ever say these things to you? A teacher is supposed to encourage his students, not belittle them!”

“But maybe I deserve that…” Robert muttered. Luna soundly slapped him across the face.

“No, not like this. Think about this Robert, you created this nightmare of yours from your own insecurities, so you know it’s not true!” Luna replied before placing her hands squarely on his shoulders and looking him directly in the eyes.

A dawning realization came to Robert as he whirled around to face Theo, who was getting back up.

“Still going to try and fight m-” Theo mocked before he was slammed into a tree by Robert’s Kitsune Spirit.

“Shut up. Just shut your trap for once. You’re not Theo, just a caricature of him. A fairly bad one at that. The real one… He’d accept me as I am, flaws and all. That’s why I wasn’t thrown out of the Pai Zhau. Hell, if Theo was willing to accept Jarrod, who hosted Dai Shi for crying out loud, and Dai Shi’s mistress Camille… Then I know he’d accept me. You are nothing like him,” Robert snarled, before he found a glowing blue orb descending from the skies into his hand. His eyes widened as he found himself with a new Animal Crystal, a light blue one containing a swallow inside it. “Now…” Robert snarled, charging up one of his fists full of chi before striking sending the false Theo flying. “Begone.”

Robert then found himself remorphing back into the Orange Ranger in a flash of light holding both his Kitsune Blaster and a giant blue boomerang. (Presumably the Swallow Zord’s signature weapon) He turned to face a smiling Luna and growled out “Now, where are the others?”

The others, as Robert had asked, were busy dealing with their own inner demons.

“Look at you daughter of mine… How you’ve grown…” Wind Rider said, his voice taking a rare note of kindness before it changed to one of disgust. “And here I actually thought you’d make something of yourself.”

“Shut up. Just shut up…” Lightning Dust snarled, not too far away from reaching her boiling point.

“Mystic Mother above…” Wind Rider sighed, eyeing Lightning’s metal wing as if it were a cancerous tumor. “You even had to get a prosthetic wing just because of how much of a dumbass you were! Reckless! Idiotic! Hot-tempered! Is that what makes for a Wonderbolt in these days?”

“No… No, it’s not…” Lightning Dust admitted. “But you know what, dad?” she asked spitting out the name in disgust.

“What? You’re going to say that you’ve changed?” Lightning’s father asked in disbelief, barely holding back a laugh.

“Exactly, I’ve changed. Maybe not as quickly as I should have, but I’m growing up. There’s bound to be a few missteps along the way, right?” She asked before she glared at her father. “You, however, haven’t changed one bit. I’ve been waiting a very long time to say these words, but you’ve always been out on tour or living it up in Las Pegasus with mares far younger than you like some rockstar so I never could! But here you are…”

“Yeah?” Wind Rider asked. “And what are those words?”

“Buck you. Just buck you and the high horse you rode in on! You’ve always thought you were better than me, that all stallions are better than mares! Well, newsflash for you and your bullshit, don’t know if you’ve heard but some of Equestria’s greatest heroes are mares! And then there are the damn Princesses! Sky never fell for your bullshit, -the little prized possession of yours that he was- so why should I, huh!?!” Lightning snapped and her father took a step back in shock before he tripped. Tripped and fell into a deep chasm that Lightning could have sworn wasn’t there before.

The thing with the Island of Illusion, it might have miscalculated just how much anger Lightning was holding back at her father over the years. It thought she was still a little filly, too afraid to stand up to him. But that evidently wasn’t the case.

Elsewhere, Sunburst was looking at Lightning’s duplicate. She never spoke, but in Sunburst’s mind, she never had to. Her eyes, a mix of disappointment and disgust said it all to him. She stared directly at him, seemingly judging him for what he’d done.

“I… I know… I know I messed up okay?” Sunburst stammered out. “I’m the cause of what happened to you! If I hadn’t interfered, you’d still have that wing! Not… not that prosthetic you’re stuck with!”

And Sunburst continued. “You… You know something Lightning? Sometimes… Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if I’d taken your place. Lost my horn, wouldn’t be that much of a handicap to me now would it? Barely can use the damn thing anyways…”

And then Lightning finally spoke. “Is that really true Sunny?” she asked before she snapped her fingers. Sunburst knew the scene shown, it was from his own memories after all. Tartarus, he wrote the damn thing down for crying out loud!

“With the stealth and bite of a Vampire Bat, Black Vampire Bat Ranger!" I cried out, with more confidence than I had ever yelled it out before.

“Time to make this bell stop its ringing… permanently.” I snarled to myself before I cried “Dino Morpher Blast!” and sent the Org flying with a powerful blast of black light and a head shaped like my Zord’s own following it, perhaps our two power sets mixing together in some way. Then, I focused all my energy into my horn and sent it skywards and then the clouds boiled, as if someone had flicked on a light switch for them. Rolling thunder, upon the rain. And then a powerful bolt of white hot lightning struck the bell cage, blasting it to smithereens and freeing my fiance, who gave me a look of complete and utter shock.

“And another thing, Sunny…” Lightning continued before bringing him into a deep hug, something he knew the real Lightning Dust would never do. She never showed her feelings, not like that anyways. But then she punched him in the gut, something Sunburst knew the real Lightning would do. “Stop blaming yourself! Nothing’s ever your fault, it’s always those damn Orgs we have to blame for the crap we get put through these days, nobody else’s, understand?”

“Yeah… yeah,” Sunburst murmured before Lightning began to fade away. “I do understand…”

Finally, Grape Vine and Vapor faced off, but instead of using weapons, they used words.

“Ya know somethin'?” Grape asked as he kneed Vapor in the gut making her stagger back. “Ah was a fool to entrust ya with mah powers! Mah powers!”

“No… No, I’ve been using them well! Carrying on your legacy!” Vapor whispered back, trying very hard to hold back her tears. Here was somebody she loved, yes, loved, right in front of her yelling at her and calling her a failure. “You asked me to do that, remember? Right before you died?”

“That was a mistake, now that Ah think about it… I should have just died without passing on mah powers, seeing as how yer doing nothin’ good with them!” Grape Vine shouted back.

“I’ve… I’ve been trying as hard as I can! I promise that!” Vapor stammered out.

“Then yer not tryin’ hard enough!” Grape Vine roared. “Look at ya, it took ya Celestia knows how long to track down the two Orgs that killed me, and even then you had to have help to take down one of them! Face it Vapor, you’re a failure as my legacy, and now I’ve come to take my powers back!”

As Grape raised his trident to impale Vapor upon it, he found himself shoved backwards as Luna strode forth from the treeline.

“Halt and shut thy tongue, imposter!” Luna yelled -briefly lapsing into Old English in her anger- as ropes of dark blue magic wrapped and coiled themselves around Grape Vine, tying him to a tree. “Thou shalt not do any further talking, not if I have anything to say about it!”

She then turned to Vapor, and brought the younger mare into a hug. “Vapor… You know perfectly well as I do that’s not the Grape Vine you know, so… why?”

“Because…” Vapor sniffled. “Well, you’re the Princess of Dreams, you’re constantly peering into ponies heads and helping them with their fears so you know perfectly well why!” She shouted.

“You still haven’t forgiven yourself for his death, have you?” Luna inquired, as Vapor sobbed into her shoulder.

“N-No… No, I haven’t…” She sniveled. “I know I should, but…”

“Seeing him die in your arms, and the fact that you loved him is keeping you from moving on, isn’t it?” Luna asked.

“Yeah… and he brought up some good points. I… I should have hunted down both of those Orgs sooner, and avenged his death!”

“You couldn’t have just gone out and found them you know, Orgs are nearly impossible to track. They only let you find them if they want you to, or you just get lucky and stumble on them sadly… If that weren’t the case, I myself would have hunted down a few and removed some of the load from your team.”

“Really?” Vapor asked in surprise, her eyes widening and Luna nodded before she grabbed Vapor by the shoulders, looking at her kindly but in a firm way as well.

“Now you know Grape’s speaking falsely, you know this isn’t him… So stand up and face your fears!” Luna commanded.

“Right…” Vapor muttered as she turned to face Grape before looking at him. “You… You’re not the Grape Vine I grew up with. The one I knew, he would have encouraged me, Tartarus… He did right before he died! You’re nothing but a parody, a satire!” Vapor exclaimed and Grape began to fade away, and stagger back as if each verbal blow was actually a physical one. “...Luna’s right, I’ve been blaming myself for his death for far too long… Now it’s time to stop.”

With that, Grape exploded into a cloud of purple smoke. Vapor, shaking her head sadly as she closed a door to her past forever, looked at Luna who was smiling proudly at her for defeating her inner demons.

Like Robert and Sunset before them, all three Rangers then found themselves with new Animal Crystals. Vapor, a grey, and purple toned Stingray while Sunburst gained an aqua colored -with gold detailings- Peacock and Lightning earned herself a brown Boar.

All the Rangers soon found themselves meeting up on the beach once more.

“Everybody okay?” Vapor asked in concern and the rest of the Rangers nodded. Then, thunder cracked as ugly looking storm clouds rolled in from the distance. A red bolt of lightning descended from the oncoming typhoon as the waves began to pick up and slam themselves against the rocks on the beach in a violent manner. The bolt, as it hit the ground turned into Goldar, and all the Rangers went for their weapons.

“Well… I have to admit, I wasn’t expecting that! I thought you’d be trapped here forever, in this dream!” Goldar chuckled as he went for his sword. “Well, guess I’ll just have to deal with you myself.

“Man, do you ever get tired of talking?” Lightning asked. “Newsflash, this isn’t a real dream!”

Robert nodded in agreement and Goldar laughed again.

“What makes you so sure, hmm?” He asked.

“Well, if this was a real dream… I’d probably find myself being ravished by very sexy mares clad in leather. But we can’t have everything we want, now can we?” Robert quipped, smirking in a cocky manner before Sunburst spoke up.

“In order to get something, you have to give something up. I admit we did have to give up a lot to get where we are Goldar, but that pain… that hurt… It’s a part of us. Made us grow. You just only let us know that. Tell your boss that for us will you?” the Black Ranger added. “ So if I were you, I’d stop talking and shut that mouth of yours before we shut it for you.”

“Go ahead and try!” Goldar boasted.

“You got it…” Lightning Dust smirked.

Then, as one the Rangers, as Goldar stared slack-jawed in horror raised their arms skywards and shouted “Lights of Orion, activate!” and became adorned with the implements of the Orion Armor. They flashed forwards and one by one sliced him across the chest plate and then leaped skywards. As their Crystal Sabers transmuted into Crystal Swords, the Rangers manifested in the shape of giant lion’s paw and sliced Goldar down the middle in five different ways before he fell forwards and exploded in a fireball.

“Okay… Now that he’s done with…” Robert asked as he dusted himself off and looked around the area. “How the Hell do we get out of here?”

Sunset smiled as Luna gestured to the Falcon Summoner and then to the storm cloud filled sky, which was rapidly swirling into a vortex.

“You got in that way, I see no reason why you cannot leave in the same fashion…” Luna trailed off and Sunset nodded before firing the Falcon Summoner and unleashing a ball of red energy into the vortex. Next thing anybody heard was the sound of a loud screech and the flapping of two massive wings...

With Celestia and Solar Flare:

Back at the quarry, Solar Flare and Celestia slid backwards on their hooves, dust and gravel being stirred up. They’d met blades once again, and once again, like before neither had made no headway. That was the trouble with fighting a doppelganger, they knew every move you were going to make ahead of time or how to counter it.

Panting, Celestia looked to the skies as thunder rumbled and a loud screech was heard. Her first thought was the Thunderbird Zord, but that was quickly changed when what emerged from the swirling clouds was most assuredly not the Thunderbird of legend. It was mostly red, with a much larger wingspan. While the Thunderbird Zord was 60 meters from wingtip to wingtip, this one had to be at least 72 meters from wingtip to wingtip, and Celestia was only guessing. It had much larger ‘tail feathers’ as well, and had white chest feathers which led up to the head of a falcon, with a golden beak and two piercing green eyes. It let out two loud screeches of triumph as it flew off into the sky. All five Rangers leaped down from it and landed behind Celestia with a loud thud.

“Sorry we’re late, had to deal with some unfinished business,” Sunset stated, as she looked towards Solar Flare, whose eyes narrowed when she saw Robert.

“You…” She hissed out, and the air seemed to grow even hotter, if that was possible.

“Yes, me,” Robert snarled as his eyes narrowed under his visor and he slammed an armored fist against his palm. “Time for you to die, no ifs, ands, or buts. You’ve lived long enough, time to fix that.”

“And how are you going to stop me, Orange Ranger? With snappy comebacks and flirtatious one-liners?” Solar Flare laughed.

“Oh, I’m not going to be the one to stop you, just going to be helping out… Her, on the other hand… Well, that’s another matter entirely.” Robert trailed off as he pulled out the Solar Cell Morpher and tossed it to Celestia shouting: “Here, catch!”

“No… NO!” Solar Flare screeched out in fury as Celestia caught the Morpher, and in a flash of energy, it’s color changed from a furious violent red to a more calming dark cobalt blue. She pulled out a red and gold ticket and punched it before throwing it.

“Magical Source, Mystic Force!” Celestia yelled as the ticket enlarged itself and covered her, before she emerged with elaborate gold and dark blue armor grafted to her form.

“Out of the Fire and into the Fight! Power of the Sun, Solaris Knight!” Celestia yelled out as her face became covered by a helmet to finish the morph. Her charred wings became a pure, glistening white once more. They expanded to their full length and width, as the armor of the now purified Solaris Knight powers gleamed in the sun. An explosion of pure Morphin’ Grid energy erupted from behind the Princess of the Sun as she stood ready for battle.

Celestia kept up her sword swings, slicing and dicing into Solar Flare as the Rangers used their Lights of Orion boosted weapons to keep Solar Flare constantly on the defensive. Sunset struck with a powerful horizontal slash flinging a wave of golden light towards Solar Flare as Celestia did another Heavenly Bifurcation Slash at the exact same moment.

While Solar Flare was still recovering, Sunburst dived in with his Jungle Fans and dealt out a flurry of devastating slashes.

Each attack from the main ranger team was so quick, so devastating it was impossible for Solar Flare to pay attention to both them and Celestia. So, either she dodged or deflected one attack, but was hit by another Ranger’s strike.

Lightning Dust lashed out with twin whips of golden electricity and Solar Flare, while she was deflecting a strike from Celestia’s sword, suddenly found herself screaming out in pain as the whips raked themselves across her body. Again and again, they struck, and while Solar managed to dodge some of these blows, Celestia got her own hits in with Feather Edge.

Robert pulled out both the Sparrowrang and his Kitsune Blaster. He fired a Kitsune Scattershot and Solar Flare was forced to rocket upwards and fire off flames to cancel out the heat-seeking shots before she was struck over and over by the light blue form of the Sparrowrang.

As she plummeted towards the ground, Vapor and Celestia shared a nod before they used a Leviathan's Rage/Celestial Prism Slash combo and sent Solar Flare crashing into the ground.

“Had enough?” Celestia asked calmly, as Solar Flare struggled to stand, bleeding pure hot magma everywhere.

“Not yet… I won’t fall, not when I’m free at last!”

“Then…” Celestia said sadly, as she shook her head and for a moment, felt brief pity towards her other self. It didn’t have to be this way, they could have lived in harmony, coexisting as one. But Solar Flare decided to take the route of a tyrant who ruled through fear. “...What happens next, is on your head. Rangers?”

All five Rangers nodded, before they became one large fireball of golden energy and rocketed through Solar Flare, leaving a gaping wound in her chest. As the Rangers turned back to look at Solar Flare, a bright, almost blinding flash lit up the area. Next thing they knew, something absolutely colossal and radiating heat towered above them, laughing.

“Sweet Mother Mary and Joseph… Permission to say oh cock?” Robert squeaked out in terror as he looked up towards the now gigantic Solar Flare.

“Don’t worry Robert Williams, I can handle her. I’m not afraid of her… not anymore.” Celestia stated firmly.

She then reached for her Solar Cell Morpher and punched another ticket. A sharp whistle cut through the air like a blade as the Ponyville Express began to move of its own accord away from the station. No engineer, nothing. Its wheels began to turn and it picked up speed as it raced at a surely impossible speed towards the now kaiju sized Solar Flare. Then, a golden spell seal appeared and the Express flew right through it, undergoing a transformation as it grew in size.

What came out was something entirely different than what had gone through.

The massive gold, red and dark blue Zord resembled a steam locomotive of late 19th Century America, measuring a lengthy 200 meters from the front of the locomotive to its final car. The smoke box door consisted of a red center circle with a concentric ring of gold, from which; gold octopus-like arms wrapped around the smokebox to form a blazing sun. The sand dome and steam dome were of the same shade of blue as the locomotive itself, and the blue chimney had a gold ring atop of it.

The gold cow catcher had three bright lights at the leading edges, left, right and centre. The boiler, slightly wider than the smokebox itself, had lights attached to the sides, beneath gold pipes that trailed all the way back to the cab.

The leading bogie consisted of two pairs of gold wheels and the similar gold driving wheels, of which there were also two pairs, were connected to the connecting rod. That rod, itself was connected to the end of the piston rod allowing power to be transmitted through the side rods.

The color scheme of red, blue and gold continued all the way from the tender car to the passenger cars.

Another sharp whistle cut through the air as fire erupted from the ground near the train, and it took to the skies using rails of light to dodge and weave between the flames. As the train barrel rolled skywards high into the atmosphere on that railway of light, the cars began to detach one by one as Celestia pulled a lever towards her.

“Solar Streak Megazord, transformation now!” She yelled out as the train pieces began to shift, move and reattach in a entirely new configuration standing tall and proud.

The now mammoth Megazord took one giant step, and rocks flew up into the air as it strode forwards towards Solar Flare. Letting out small hisses of steam every now and then, the Megazord stared her down. The aqua eyes attached to its turban themed head narrowed, before both it and Solar Flare turned to look as a loud lion’s roar cut through the air.

Various glowing orbs descended from the sky, five to be exact. They each then took a form as a black lion roared as a challenge as it ran forwards. It was followed by a golden jaguar, a gold and medium blue condor, a maroon sawtooth shark and a brown buffalo respectively.

“No… That’s…” Solar Flare whispered in fear. “No, it can’t be! He’s supposed to be extinct!”

As if to answer that, the Black Lion Wild Zord roared again before leaping forwards, and it like the rest of it’s pride became a golden flash of light…

Solar Flare was then forced to reevaluate her opinions on what was extinct very harshly as in front of her stood the Lord of the Wild Zords himself, Animus.

“You dare place your hold upon others like a madman? You dare to think that you have power over others just because you are stronger?” Animus spoke in a booming tone, almost a mix between a roar and a soft tone.

Solar Flare laughed, “Heh, fine talk coming from a god.”

“Even a god remembers that he is nothing without those to remember him,” Looking down at the world below he also added, “And they are nothing without the free will to allow them to step into the light. We gods need to use our power wisely.”

“And that is?” Solar Flare asked with a chuckle.

“To serve as a guide into the light, so they can stand with us. And if not that, surpass us,” Animus said as he clashed blades with Solar Flare, much to Celestia’s pleasure. “Perhaps that will happen one day soon. Perhaps it’s already happened with both me and Celestia. You, however… Know nothing of the burden of being a god. You only care about the power.”

Solar Flare screeched in rage and launched fireball after fireball at Animus, but Celestia stepped in and used the Solar Streak’s massive fists to bat them aside before scoring a powerful punch to Solar Flare’s jaw while Animus sliced Solar Flare across the chest.

The thing was, thanks to the Solar Streak’s colossal size when it dished out damage from its massive fists you could tell. One blow from one of these fists was enough to send Solar Flare staggering back.

“Damn, I wish we could get in there…” Robert muttered. “I’ve still got a few scores to settle with Sunbitch…”

“But… But all of our Wild Zords are damaged from the battle with Thrax, how can we…?” Sunburst trailed off.

Reason being, as if to answer his question, he heard a loud roar and saw the distinct form of the Kitsune Zord rising up from out of the trees. All nine tails waved menacingly and fire snorted from the Fox King’s nostrils.

“For once… Robert-Baka, we’re in agreement. I want to rip and tear her to shreds!” He snarled out and let out another roar. Thunder cracked and lightning flashed in the distance from a towering storm cloud as the Thunderbird Zord emerged from it letting out a loud screech.

“Hey, don’t leave us out of this one…” he remarked as the Phoenix Zord followed him from the rolling clouds, wings ablaze. “After all, Thrax totally humiliated us and I need something to take my anger out on! Nobody shows up the Thunder King at his own game, nobody!”

“Except maybe me…” the Kitsune Zord teased.

“You’re so immature…” the Phoenix Zord admonished. “Focus on the real problem will you two for once? Stop squabbling like little chicks, we’ve got to deal with this madmare now! You both saw how much it took to take down when she was at normal size, you really think two Megazords, even one who’s our Lord will be enough?”

The Vampire Bat Zord and the Leviathan Zord made their own sounds of agreement.

“Ugh… Fine. Let’s just make this quick!” the Kitsune Zord snarled. “Rangers, combine us now!”

All the Rangers shared a nod before they shouted: “Wild Zords, combine!”

With shifting and whirring sounds, the Leviathan Zord split in half and his head and jaw folded open to become feet and the tail split open at the back. The Kitsune Zord’s back legs folded up into his chest and excess metal in his chest detached to form twin katanas and his head folded downwards to become a chest plate as his front legs detached with hisses of steam.

The wings of both the Phoenix and Thunderbird Zords detached as the tail feathers sprouted clawed hands and both Legendary Bird Zords became the arms, the Phoenix sprouting the kanji for fire on her winged shoulder pad and the Thunderbird, the kanji for lightning on his own.

A tusked head popped up from the Kitsune Zord’s neck, and the Vampire Bat Zord, wings detaching as he grafted himself onto the back of the Megazord and his head moved upwards and became the helmet.

“Animaria Guardian Megazord, ready!” All five Orion-powered Rangers shouted as they teleported into the cockpit and put their Crystal Sabers into their respective consoles.

The giant war axe that was used for the finisher formed, with the Bat Zord’s wings becoming the blades. Once it was complete, the Megazord reached for it and marched forwards weapon gripped tightly in hand.

Solar Flare sliced at the massive implement with Daybreaker and the Animaria Guardian Megazord blocked the blow as sparks flew before slicing her across the chest. Solar Flare retaliated and fired a beam of pure hot flame from her horn sending the Megazord stumbling backwards and the War Axe flying from its grip.

“You haven’t told them yet, have you Celly?” Solar Flare mocked as she sliced the Solar Streak across the chest with her sword. “About your real relationship with the Sun?”

“In time… Yes, I will. But not today. First things first, you must be defeated.” Celestia replied and Solar Flare roared in rage before sending a blast of pure hot flame that made the Solar Streak stagger, before it toppled into a mountainside. The mountain shattered into rubble which bounced off the metallic substance that made up Animus and the Animaria Guardian Megazord. Trees toppled like dominos from the sheer force from which the giant of a Megazord hit the now caved in mountainside.

“Have to make this quick,” Sunburst informed as he looked at his console, which was flashing red and beginning to spark. “The Megazord’s Power Levels are already dangerously low as it is from the battle with Thrax. Can’t take too many more hits like that.”

Animus jumped in and socked Solar Flare across the jaw with his right arm before the horns on his head detached. They reattached themselves to the Sawtooth Shark to form a makeshift bow and arrow. Next thing anybody saw, was Animus using this new weapon and firing a golden bolt of energy at the Solar Tyrant hitting her right in the chest, and going clean through and through.

Solar Flare screeched out in rage before she fired a blast of flame from her mouth sending Animus staggering back, as he groaned in pain.

“You alright?” Vapor shouted to the Lord of the Wild Zords.

“I’ll be fine, I’ve taken far worse hits. You should be worrying about yourselves,” Animus warned before he shouted “Look out!” as Solar Flare fired another stream of fire at the Animaria Guardian Megazord.

An explosion erupted all around the Megazord and Solar Flare laughed in triumph as Celestia let out a scream of “No! Sunset!” and stifled a sob as she pulled a lever forwards. Metal creaked and groaned as the Solar Streak began to rise once more. Two compartments on the Megazord’s legs opened up and fired two little steam engines that wrapped themselves around Solar Flare in golden rails of light.

In a rage, Celestia lowered her Megazord’s head and fired a blast of pure hot steam at her dark half. Solar Flare screeched out in pain and broke free from her confinements as pillars of fire erupted all around both Animus and the Solar Streak. Next, she slashed out at both Megazords, doing major damage…

Then, what happened next, nobody had predicted. A blast of pure ice hit Solar Flare and she screamed out in pain. Two loud thuds, footsteps, echoed from where the Animaria Guardian had thought to have been destroyed. It seemed, Solar Flare, in all of her arrogance had forgotten one simple fact. And Animus, and Celestia in their grief had forgotten this fact as well. All three of them hadn’t heard the sound of metal shifting and whirring, along with the sounds of hisses of steam. There stood the Animaria Guardian Megazord, with what looked to be two giant wings folded over its chest, and the Phoenix and Thunderbird Zords replaced by the Polar Bear and Deer Zords, respectively.

Sure enough, the wings folded back to reveal the head of the Kitsune Zord that made up the Megazord’s chest plate, and revealed that the Falcon Zord had attached itself to the back of the Megazord.

“WHAT!?!” Solar Flare roared out in anger before she launched fireball after fireball at the Megazord, only for the Deer Zord’s antlers to glow a familiar opal color. The fireballs were caught within the Zord’s grasp as Sunset smirked from within the cockpit, her horn glowing the exact same shade.

“Nice plan Vapor,” She complimented, and Vapor nodded, thinking back to when they’d used a similar tactic to catch the Gosei Grand Megazord’s missiles. Sunset’s eyes narrowed. “Now, I believe these belong to you Ms. Flare…”

With that, she tossed the fireballs right back at Solar Flare and she staggered back in pain. It seemed, despite all of her resistance against fire, the one thing she couldn’t handle was the sheer scorching heat of her own attacks.

“Rangers, we need your help to finish Solar Flare off. But first, we need you to reattach the Phoenix and Thunderbird Zords, there’s a combined attack only with their help we can pull off.” Animus explained. Sunset and Lightning nodded in understanding before the Polar Bear and Deer Zords detached wit hisses of steam before the Phoenix and Thunderbird Zords replaced them, respectively.

“Now…” Animus began as his ultimatum. “Solar Flare, you have been destroying civilizations, not just humanity’s but your own, keeping them both from reaching their full potential. You could have coexisted with humanity, but instead, you chose to destroy all traces of their existence except those that suited your ideals about them and use that as propaganda towards the masses. Now, you must face judgment for your crimes.”

As the Animaria Guardian Megazord picked up its War Axe once again, Animus’ left arm glowed with a golden light before he slashed Solar Flare across the chest horizontally. Then, the Animaria Guardian Megazord slashed downwards with its axe as both the Rangers and the Lord of the Wild Zords cried out “Crucifix Strike! 100 Beasts Judgement!”

Sure enough, once both slashes were complete, Solar Flare found herself nailed to a giant crucifix of golden energy.

Celestia looked at Solar Flare, trapped against this holy symbol and sighed as she shook her head in sadness once more. She didn’t wish it had to be this way, but Solar Flare had brought this upon herself.

“For the record, I would have saved you anyways…” Celestia thought, as she shut her eyes before saying in a soft tone: “Furnace Blast.”

If she had been able to see it, Celestia would have seen Solar Flare’s eyes widen in shock almost as if she had heard Celestia’s thoughts. But she didn’t have time to think on them, as the Solar Streak’s chest flipped open, and fired a huge blast of flame right towards Solar Flare.

The resulting explosion was so large, so powerful, it sent all three Megazords toppling to the ground. It even went so far as to actually disassembling the Megazords into their component parts and sending them flying in every direction.

The last thing Robert saw before he blacked out amongst the rubble was a gigantic pillar of fire, presumably the last he -Or anybody else for that matter- would ever see of Solar Flare. He managed to let out a mutter of “Good riddance…” before he slipped into unconsciousness.

Footsteps crunched against the gravel as an orange-clad figure approached the fallen form of Solar Flare, who coughed out “Mercy…”

The figure’s helmet vanished in a flash of orange light allowing her to see a familiar brown stubble covered face. The figure knelt down near her, seemingly in a show of compassion.

“Well, all criminals arrested by SPD are allowed some form of mercy, no matter their crimes…” Robert trailed off, reaching for his Judgement Scanner. Solar Flare sighed in relief, before her eyes widened in absolute terror as Robert’s expression turned vindictive as he raised his Kitsune Blaster. “...But it’s a good thing I’m no longer in SPD isn’t it?”

He then fired several shots into her, in cold blood, before turning and walking away from her smoking corpse. Turning and walking away right into Bunglay, who had his anchor hoisted over his shoulder.

“Well…” Bunglay laughed as the memory clone of Robert faded away into golden light. “Let’s see how the Galactic Union Police likes this piece of law breaking hmm? Oh, this is going to be cracking interestin’!”

He then turned to a camera, themed after an insect that had been watching the whole thing and snapped his fingers with the camera folding up into a small cube and dropping to the ground. Bunglay let out a long hearty laugh as he picked up the cube with his claw hand before teleporting away in a flash of blue light.

Author's Notes:

Okay, been a long time coming, but it's finally over for Solar Flare. Now, a few things I want to clarify before I make a rather large announcement. Firstly, why Goldar went down so easily. One, he was taken by surprise, and two, considering his new abilities one would want to make sure he stayed dead this time. Secondly, I didn't just come up with all of the new Animal Crystals out of the blue. All of them were supposed to appear in Wild Force's source material, Gaoranger, but only made it as into the concept art stage. You can see the full list here.

http://powerrangers.wikia.com/wiki/Power_Animals

Now, I want to thank both Eagle-Paladin of Shadows and Alchemystudent for their help here. Eagle, as ever for help with the sword fight scenes. Actually, in the case of Grape VS Vapor, he told to drop the weapons fight and just go with the dialogue, as it worked the way it did. And I have to agree, more emotional impact this way. Now, Alchemystudent. She helped me with getting Animus's dialogue down, making him seem like this Optimus Prime type figure, someone who acts like the Lord of the Wild Zords. So, huge props to her once more. Finally, major thanks to Hawker Hurricane for his help on describing the Solar Streak.

Now, the big announcement. If you already haven't seen it on my latest blog post, I'll repost it here.

Now, major news for Wild Access so pay attention. I'm splitting into two stories. I have to, actually. It feels like a good place to end the first half with the destruction of Solar Flare, so that's what I'm going to do. The second half, and this is my other reason for splitting it into two volumes introduces so many new ideas and has so much going on that it'd become too cluttered if I had all of this in one entire story. So, early next year I think you should expect this:

Solar Flare is dead and buried. Her reign is at an end and the power of the Sun now is allied with the Rangers. However, the job is far from over. Thrax and Retinax's civil war has now kicked into high gear, and the Rangers are only barely keeping their battles from destroying the very world they've worked so hard to defend all winter. Now as Spring sets in, a new terror appears in the return of the White Dino Ranger and his Dragozord. And behind that visor of crimson red is a face all too familiar to one of the Rangers. As the past of Equestria is further uncovered, and the legendary beast hunter Bunglay and his crew sets their sights on the Wild Zords and the Animarium itself, and threats from every side, things might just get a little too wild for the newest Ranger team. They do know one thing though...

It's Morphin Time.

Lastly, if anyone recognizes the name of Galactic Union Police, or more specfically, where it's from, please keep it to yourself. I'd rather you not spoil the readers for what's coming. (And yes, that ending was totally a homage to the final scene of Stranger Things 2.)

Now, I'll be posting the epilogue to this story later in December, I think. But for now, I wish all of you a very happy Thanksgiving.