The Animarium:

The Soul Bird cooed mournfully as it looked over the five fallen forms of the Wild Zords that made up the Animaria Guardian. While they weren’t destroyed, not yet at least, it would take all of her power just to get them back up to even a small portion of their original fighting strength.

Glowing a jade green color, the tiny (At least by Zord standards) eagle-like bird began to sing her song as the Rangers watched. In a way, it was almost like Fawkes from the Harry Potter books Robert mused, crying tears that would heal the sick or wounded. Except instead of tears, it was with a song.

“You know…” Sunset began, her voice shaky. “Even if I know the Phoenix is still alive, it’s going to be… different without her chiming in my head every once in awhile, trying to offer helpful advice where she can,”

Robert put a hand on her shoulder. “She’s alive, and that’s the main thing. Plus, she and the others went out fighting, finally dethroning a tyrant. But she’ll be back, one day. Phoenixes rise up from their ashes, as the old legend goes. And this one… This one is no different,”

Sunset smiled at him as she grasped his hand tightly. “But you get what I mean right? Having a helpful partner and friend in your head, just on call whenever you need them? When they’re gone… it’s like a part of you is missing…”

“Well, not sure I could go that far in my case, considering the Kitsune was just an annoying old grump who only chimed in as you put it whenever he felt like it just to get his bee under my bonnet and screw with me for whatever reason that made sense only to him,” Robert muttered. “But yeah, I see what you mean. It is a comforting thought, just to have something to talk to in private, whenever you needed it…”

“And what’s worse,” Vapor chimed in. “Thrax… He’s not going to be giving up. I suspect we’ve just made him madder than ever, escaping that damn island of his.”

“Hey Vapor, you alright?” Lightning asked, looking at her sister. “You seem a bit shaken up still. Sure that illusion of Grape didn’t get to you more than you thought it did?”

“No, I’m fine…” Vapor replied. “For the first time in what feels like… forever I guess, it feels like a great weight’s been lifted off my shoulders. Grape’s been dead, for a long time now. It’s only now I’ve been able to put that behind me. I actually have to thank Thrax and Goldar, in a way, I suppose. Without that Island of theirs they cooked up, I don’t know if I ever would have been able to move on.”

“You would sis, trust me. It would have taken time, but you would have eventually. Island or no island.” Lightning said, laying a supportive hand on Vapor’s shoulder. The white mare smiled and pulled out Grape’s old guitar.

“Yeah, I’ll remember Grape in my own way, the way he would have liked, through his music. I was working on an old song he’d found a while back, if anyone wants to hear it.”

Everyone nodded as Vapor sat down on a rock and began to strum her guitar in a gentle fashion and sing in a soft tone of voice.

“Some hope for the future
Some wait for the call
To say that the days ahead
Will be the best of all

“We will build bridges
Up to the sky
Heavenly lights surrounding
You and I

“From out of the darkness
Our future will come
If we leave the past behind
We'll fly beyond the sun.”

The Deer Zord, almost as if on command, began to bob his head back and forth to the song, and sing along in his own voice. Meanwhile, Robert bowed and kissed Shayla’s hand (Much to her flusterment, and Sunset’s annoyance. Lightning just snickered in the background and muttered “Never change…” to herself) and asked her for a dance.

Right then and there, an idea came to Jindrax’s mind as he saw Shayla and Robert swaying back and forth to the music. With all the confidence in the world, he turned to his old friend and fellow Duke Org, Toxica.

“Care for a dance, milady?” He asked, almost like a gentleman. His only answer was a bop on the head from Toxica’s staff.

“In your dreams!” she shouted, and huffed, while crossing her arms. But then she sighed upon seeing Jindax’s disappointed look and groaned.

“Uurggh, fine…” She muttered before offering a hand.

“Great, you won’t regret this!” Jindrax stated excitedly.

“...I already am…” Toxica muttered in self-disgust as Jundrax pulled her into a tango.

“We'll be together
Sharing the load
Watching in wonder as our lives unfold
Hope for the future

“It's coming soon enough
How much can we achieve?
Hope for the future
It will belong to us

“If we believe
If we believe

“Hope shines brightest in the dark
When nothing's ever seen
Lighting undiscovered places
No one’s ever been

“Some hope for the future
Some wait for the call
To say that our destiny
Will be the best of all…”

As Vapor continued to sing “Hope for the Future”, Sunburst cast a glance towards the high cliff where the Red Lion Zord rested, and watched as it let a roar. In his mind, it was almost as if he was challenging Thrax -Or anybody else for that matter- to throw whatever they had at them. Because they’d face it head-on.

His theory was only confirmed as the King of the Skies -as that’s what the only apt moniker for the Falcon Zord could be- let out a screech and flew overhead as it soared over the island raising a battle cry amongst the Wild Zords. He gripped his hidden away Growl Phone in his suit pocket tightly, and smirked.

“Thrax, be warned… We’re coming for you next,” the Black Vampire Bat Ranger stated. “Sure, you’ve got your armies of monsters… But us… We’ve got an army of our own. Not just the Wild Zords, but the populace of Equus. Everybody’s counting on us to stop you, and rest assured… You will be stopped. That I promise you.”

As the song ended, Shayla blinked in surprise. For just a brief moment, she could have sworn she’d seen the original Wild Force Rangers in the new team’s places. Taylor, Max, Danny, Alyssa, and Cole.

She blinked away a tear and smiled wistfully. They really were like her old friends, in some ways, weren’t they? They never gave up, and they never backed down. And most importantly of all, they were devoted to protecting the Earth, and all of its inhabitants. With that, she really did have some hope for the future of both Man and Ponykind.

Mirinoi:

Far, far away, deep in space in a lost galaxy rested a green heavily forested world, where nature and technology lived in harmony. Once the crash site of the ill-fated colony ship Terra Venture, this planet had blossomed in the three thousand years since then, and had become home to the hub of all things good in the Galaxy: The Galactic Union Police and headquarters for the armored heroes, the Space Sheriffs. They ranged from the original, Gavan, all the way up to their newest and most high tech recruit, Space Sheriff Estevan.

Or as he was better known, the Zyuman Bud from the planet ZyuEarth. An anthropomorphic red feathered eagle, Bud had been recruited from ZyuEarth’s personal guard as a young man when the Galactic Union Police had seen his abilities and devotion to justice.

Right now, the middle-aged Zyuman rested in his treehouse home, tucked away deep in Mirinoi’s forests. It was his private sanctuary, his place of peace and quiet from the high rising skylines of the larger cities. Here, he felt closer to home, back to nature. He needed this time to relax, especially now. Recently, he’d just returned to the planet after dealing with a powerful Megabeast on the planet Hercuron with the powerful Sharinger Tank.

All around him, wood carvings of animals rested on various shelves. One of the more notable was that of an eagle. It was mostly painted red, but had yellow, blue, green and white lines decorating it. Nearby sat a pair of bongo drums, mostly for decoration but sometimes for amusement and entertaining the rare guest in Bud’s humble abode.

Bud’s tail feathers shot straight up when he detected someone behind him, and readied himself to change forms. Thankfully, there was no need when he turned and saw his partner and mentor, Retsu Ichijouji AKA Space Sheriff Gavan. Dressed in a brown leather jacket as always, the original space sheriff may have been getting on in years, but he could still deliver judgment to the galaxy’s most dangerous criminals.

“I assume you’ve seen the latest reports, right?” Retsu asked, and Bud nodded as he pulled out a small metal cube, and pressed a button. A holographic display showed the entire scene of Robert shooting a downed Solar Flare in cold blood.

“Not that I’m mourning her death or anything, considering her crimes, but…” Retsu sighed. “I wasn’t even aware the Power Rangers existed anymore. I thought with the end of Time Force…”

“Yes,” Bud replied. “It was a great loss to the galaxy when we heard of the destruction of Time Force, they were some of the best the Galaxy ever produced. But I have to ask, why are we even going after this guy? I’d say he did the galaxy a favor, really, by ridding the planet of Princess Celestia or as we know her… Solar Flare.”

Retsu sighed as he pulled up a chair and sat down. “I don’t like it either, but murder’s murder no matter how you slice it or dress it up. He has to face judgment for his crimes. Even Power Rangers aren’t exempt from the law.”

“Even if who they killed was a monster? That’s what they’ve been doing for generations right?” Bud asked.

“Yeah…” Retsu admitted. “I don’t like it myself, something’s fishy about all of this, especially when we consider this was sent to us by Bunglay himself. That alone is grounds for suspicion. But the top brass wants us to bring this guy in.”

His friend gave him a look. The top brass had been acting awfully odd as of late. Giving strange orders, bringing prisoners without any warning and saying nothing about their crimes before they shipped them off to some unknown planet. Everyone knew what it was, but wouldn’t dare say it out of simple fear. Corruption, plain and simple, and it went all the way to the top. There had even been rumors that the Space Sheriff idea, at least in its current format, was on the way out. Neither Bud nor Retsu were a fan of this new regime they’d been forced to deal with, but until they had proved something else was going on they were forced to deal with them.

“Yeah, well maybe we should be looking at them instead…” Bud trailed off. “There’s something more to all of this, and we both know it.”

Retsu nodded in agreement. “Yeah, there’s something more going on here. But all the same, for the time being, we follow orders, and then we do the detective work once this guy’s brought in. We’ll find the truth, don’t worry.” he said, laying a reassuring hand on his friend’s shoulder.

“If you say so…” Bud trailed off. As they walked out of the house, they saw a giant circular saucer (Not too far removed from a classic UFO or the Enterprise’s saucer section) hovering above their heads.

“That’s our ride,” Retsu said before he turned back to Bud. “Ready?”

Sharing a nod, they both shouted in unison: “Electroplate!” and silver and gold armor, respectively, grafted themselves to their bodies in the blink of an eye. Next thing they knew, they found themselves floating upwards into the saucer thanks to a blue beam with the only trace of Bud’s presence left behind being a few red feathers...

Canterlot Castle:

Celestia paced back and forth in front of a mirror, doing some final adjustments to her mane and smoothing out her pine green colored dress, meant to reflect the passing of winter to spring. She’d already heard the first signs a few days before, the songbirds arriving from the warmer parts of Equestria and tweeting their various melodies.

It brought a sense of comfort to Celestia in a way now that winter was finally over. The cold frost was finally starting to lift itself up from Equestria and be replaced with a soothing warmth. As she tied her aurora like mane into a ponytail the best she could, Celestia smiled. Winter wasn’t the only thing that was gone, Solar Flare was finally removed as well. And unlike winter, she wouldn’t be coming back to stay.

Of course, even as Celestia put on a golden necklace and her crown, she sighed to herself. Gone Solar Flare may be in the physical sense, but that didn’t mean she still didn’t linger on in Celestia’s mind.

Every now and then, Celestia although she swore it was a trick of the light or her own mind playing upon her fears, swore she saw Solar Flare’s reflection in the floor, a nicely polished vase or even a mirror.

Demons it seemed, could be vanquished, but in a sense, they never truly left you. And then there was that thing Solar Flare said in their final showdown.

She had taunted Celestia about how her ponies didn’t know the entire truth about her relationship with the sun, and that was true. Anybody with a smart enough mind could easily tell that Celestia was only using complicated illusion spells to raise the sun, and Luna was doing so with the moon. Celestia had long suspected some had figured it out years before, but they kept their silence in fear of speaking out against their ruler and hushed up, or they were afraid if this information were released that Equestria would erupt into a full-scale riot.

If the latter was true, Celestia honestly thanked them for keeping their silence. Equestria would devolve into rioting and mass Discord levels of chaos if Celestia chose to divulge neither she or Luna raised Equestria’s heavenly bodies. Sure, they drew their powers from them, but they never had the power to raise the sun or moon.

As Celestia looked in the mirror, Solar Flare’s expression appeared, and the Solar Invictus took a step back in fear as her doppelganger looked at her with a hateful expression.

“Oh Celly, you can’t be rid of me forever,” it seemed to say. “I’ll always be there, right by your side. Whenever you’re feeling your lowest, whenever you’re mad at something, or whenever you just want to break down and cry… I’ll be back to play. Don’t think you can escape me forever. Nor what’s coming. The Devil… He’s a-comin’, coming to collect. And he wants you. The only thing that makes me unhappy about all of this is that I’ll be unable to be there with you and watch you burn. Hmm, I wonder how your putrid soul will taste to him, hmm?”

But Celestia stood firm.

“I wonder how your soul will taste, Solar Flare?” She stated, and her dark half said nothing more on the matter. As she faded away, Celestia looked towards the sun, blazing bright high in the midday sky and then down towards Canterlot.

“I’ll tell them… I’ll tell them in time. But just not today…” She thought to herself before doing some final adjustments to her hair, putting the thoughts of her lie out of her mind for the moment. Right now she had other matters to attend to, and worry about. Like the Winter Ball later this evening and the delegates from the other nations for instance.

As Celestia walked from the room, she failed to hear a radio flick on, seemingly of it’s own accord, and play this song…

“Every breath you take and every move you make
Every bond you break, every step you take, I'll be watching you
Every single day and every word you say
Every game you play, every night you stay, I'll be watching you

“Oh, can't you see you belong to me
How my poor heart aches with every step you take
Every move you make, every vow you break
Every smile you fake, every claim you stake, I'll be watching you…”

The Winter Ball:

Night fell on Canterlot, and the Castle was a hub of activity, abuzz with excitement. The Royal and Night Guards, dressed in ceremonial armor (Not that different from their regular Roman Centurion style armor, but with added sashes) stood at attention as delegates from all over the world flocked in through the castle gates, either flying in or pulling up in chariots.

Twilight, clad in a midnight blue dress patterned with stars sighed in relief as she saw the Dragon Lord’s daughter fly in, a scepter tipped with a blood red ruby gripped tightly in her claws and covered in armor. Twilight swore she saw a gold gem hanging around Ember’s neck, but brushed it off as her imagination. The young dragoness greeted her with a gruff “Hello.” before moving on into the halls, Twilight watching her every step of the way.

She wiped the sweat from her brow. Maybe this night wouldn’t be so bad after all. Ember would probably be tough to befriend, but the risk of the Princess going completely Solar Flare and burning everybody to ashes and starting wars with other countries was now out the window.

Luna, in a pure black glittering strapless dress, walked up and put a hand on her shoulder.

“Relax Twilight, it’s not going to happen,” she said reassuringly. “...Though, if you so desire, you probably can “Improve relations” as they say nowadays with the Dragon Kingdom of Zandar if you so desire…” She said with an almost impish smile and walked off, her horseshoe clad hooves clacking against the castle floor. Twilight barely managed to sputter out a response.

“I wasn’t… Not planning on… Oh for Mystic Mother’s sakes!” she stammered out and Luna laughed.

“Sure, whatever you say! But if that weren’t true, why were you “checking out” as I believe the term goes your fellow Princess?”

“I’m in a very happy relationship with Flash Sentry, thank you very much!” Twilight shouted, and Luna only laughed harder as Twilight let out a small growl of frustration. Sunset chuckled as she walked up, in a pink colored pleated dress.

“Relax Twi, Luna’s done that to me as well a few times. She just likes to get other ponies goats. ...Think she even annoys her own sister that way now that I think of it.” Sunset remarked.

“...Then why am I not amused?” Twilight muttered with Sunset patting her sister figure on the shoulder in sympathy. Changing the subject, she smiled. “Speaking of love interests, where’s Robert?”

“I… I don’t know actually. He said he’d be along shortly, but he didn’t say how he was…” Sunset trailed off before she slapped a palm to her face and groaned as she heard a very familiar roar. Sure enough, there was Robert’s Mustang, pulling up to the castle blaring a very familiar song.

“An' I don't really care
If ya think I'm strange
I ain't gonna change
An' I'm never gonna care
'Bout my bad reputation!” the speakers shouted as if in celebration, almost as loud as the car itself.

“He does like to make an entrance, doesn’t he?” Twilight deadpanned, as Robert, dressed in a white tuxedo climbed out of the car and tossed his keys to Galaxy Swirls, who looked offended.

“Want those back by the end of the night, okay?” Robert asked cheerfully as he shut off the music from his phone.

“I’m not your personal valet, you dick!” the Bat-Pony snapped before walking off grumbling.

“Well, at least he’s not wearing that Goddamn suit with the rainbow theming he wore on our first date this time around…” Sunset thought to herself. “Keep wearing actual tasteful clothing, and he might actually look like less of an idiot at times. ...Oh who am I kidding, he’ll always be a little ostentatious.” she thought halfheartedly with an affectionate sigh.

Twilight then leaned over to her.

“Remind me, why are you two dating again?” She whispered.

“Sometimes I wonder about that myself,” Sunset replied. “But his heart’s in the right place… Sometimes. And he’s loyal to a fault, so that’s a plus,”

“Even if he is a somewhat self-absorbed show-off?” Twilight asked her in return.

“Yes, even if he is somewhat of a narcissistic personality type at times. ...And a bit of a dick.” she admitted as Robert walked up.

“Princess Twilight,” he said in a respectful tone actually bowing to her much to Twilight’s shock before asking for Sunset’s hand. “Milady, may I escort you to the ballroom?”

Sunset smiled as she linked arms with Robert. “Be my guest.”

And so they walked through Canterlot Castle. When they’d walked through the hallways, Sunset and Robert had both noted a new stained glass window depicting, in great detail, the defeat of Solar Flare. It had shown not only all six Rangers involved in the ordeal, but their Megazords along with Animus charging towards the massive Solar Tyrant.

Sunset had noted the stained glass window depicting humanity’s fall had yet to be shattered, or taken down in any way, but she knew exactly why. As Celestia herself had explained to her: “Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it in some fashion. And so that, disgusting as it is, must stay, to remind not just me of my greatest failure. My greatest shame. But to remind Equestria as well. Anytime they look up at that window, they will be forever reminded of the time we could have made peace with a species, but did not and instead let our own anger and fear get the better of us. Do you understand Sunset?”

She had, and fully agreed with Celestia’s reasonings on the matter.

Robert and Sunset then found themselves walking hand in hand into a huge crowded ballroom, filled with not only dignitaries, but various other important ponies like the Wonderbolts, the Elements of Harmony and various other famous ponies from across Equestria. In a corner of the room, a orchestra consisting of ponies like Octavia Melody and Lyra Heartstrings led by Fluttershy was playing various pieces, the current selection being the Nutcracker Suite by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Ponies twirled and spun to the music with their significant others.

“Would you like to dance?” Sunset asked and suddenly Robert looked quite embarrassed with himself.

“Uh… Yeah, that’s the thing. I don’t know how to dance, actually…”

Sunset held back a laugh.

“Wait, you’re seriously telling me in all your years of romancing women, you never learned how to dance?”

“Got me there,” Robert admitted with a sheepish grin.

“Well,” Sunset chuckled as she used her hands to place Robert’s arms around her waist. She then wrapped her own arms around his neck. “Neither do I actually as I never found the time to learn, but I suppose we can figure it out together… Right?”

Robert chuckled as they swayed to the music. “Just to warn you, I do have two left feet.”

Sunset laughed again.

At a table filled with a long line of delicious, high-class foods and snacks along with various drinks including wine, Sunburst sighed as he watched ponies like Soarin’ talk with the upper crust of society like Lord Fancy Pants or Lady Swan Song.

“Man…” Sunburst muttered as he shook his head. Navi rested on the table nearby. “I don’t even know what I’m doing here… I’m just a simple High School science teacher,”

“Dude,” Lightning Dust said as she put a supporting hand on his shoulder. Sunburst noted she was wearing a dress and had her mane done nicely for this event, this being probably one of the only times Lightning would allow herself to look like this. “You’re a simple High School science teacher at the freaking Winter Gala, one of the most prestigious events of the year! So get out there, and have some fun!”

“Yeah… Yeah, I guess you’re right…” Sunburst said before heading off into the crowd to hopefully find Galaxy Swirls. Then Vapor let out a gasp.

“Hey, wait, isn’t that…?” She asked as the Charcoal Grill Org and a Tenga, along with Hell Fire dressed in their best chef’s uniforms brought in a tray of various meats. As soon as Ember saw some roasted turkey, she grabbed a leg and bit down on it.

“Hmm, good stuff…” the dragoness said.

“Wait, what are you doing here?” Sunburst asked in surprise.

“My own restaurant that you, Vapor and Hell Fire here got me the confidence to start up, it’s been doing pretty well actually. So when I heard extra food would be needed for the Winter Ball, I gave Hell Fire here a call and we teamed up for the task!” the Org stated, with the Tenga nodding along.

“Wow… time flies…” Sunburst murmured as he saw various other dignitaries like Dainn Peacefulheart (Who, a few minutes earlier, had been dancing with his old teacher Celestia) and the current leader of New Roam dig into the new foods. Vapor chuckled, before looking towards the crowd. At one point she swore she saw a very familiar looking black unicorn pony with golden eyes in the crowd, but before she could talk to him, he slipped out of sight.

Back with Sunset and Robert, they were slowly figuring out how to dance to the music.

“So, what now?” Sunset asked. “Our main Zords gone, and Thrax is still out there, along with Bunglay and Retinax.”

“We’ll figure things out, as we go along. We’ll just face things as Rangers always have… together.” Robert said.

“Yeah, together…” Sunset trailed off before kissing him.

The End

Author's Notes:

...must sadly come to an end, like this story. But, you know the Rangers will be back, they always are. Now, I've got a lot of thanks to give out, first of all to you guys, my loyal readers. Seriously, without your support, this story would have gone unnoticed, and I really want to thank you guys for keeping it alive and well. So... Thanks to all of you.

Now, my proofreaders and the various people who've helped me in some capacity throughout this story. Black-Knight, Ponyjosiah13, the Villain in Glasses, Eagle-Paladin of Shadows, Alchemystudent, JoeyJambo122, and CaioCola along with anybody else I may have forgotten. You know who you are. You guys are awesome, you know that right?

Now, you're going to have to wait a few months till I get started on the sequel, but rest assured... I will be making quite the show for you to sit back and enjoy. But until then, have a very happy Christmas. Now... Hit it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KHYCyRqJzs