Egypt: Somnambula: The Get On Inn

Lightning was antsy, that much was certain. There she was, sitting around in a hotel while her sister was off in Dr. Caballeron’s clutches being taken to Mystic Mother-only-knew-where. As the seconds began to grow into minutes, she couldn’t help but twitch and fidget slightly, trying in desperation to think of a plan to get her back.

“Alright Daring, fess up,” Lightning puffed smoke out of her nose in an irritated tone, both of her wings flaring out in anger. “What’s this shared history between you and the Doc?”

“Well, it’s… complicated.” Daring replied in a vague tone, twisting her hand around in a spiral as she did so.

“Listen, I don’t have time to beat around the bush here! What was he to you, your lover or something? Give me an answer or by Celestia I’ll...!” Lightning snapped and threw her arms down on the wooden table in front of her, causing Daring to chuckle bitterly.

“Please, if it was only that… No, it was something else entirely…” she trailed off sadly, her ears drooping down along her shoulders..

Lightning gaped for a few moments, before she found the power of speech once more. “Father figure?”

“Close enough, I suppose. Mentor-student relationship. Practically taught me everything I know.” She took a deep breath and looked up towards the ceiling and watched the fan blades turn in circles above her. “It started, I suppose, fifteen years ago in what was once Peru. There we were, tracking down rumors of this fertility idol…”

South America: Fifteen Years Ago:

It was deep in the Peruvian jungles, a hot and sweaty summer day in the Amazon Rainforest—Though to be perfectly honest, it wasn’t like any other day in that section of the world was any different. Birds chirped in the treetops, as bugs of various description crawled over the ground and various selections of plantlife. Even in the shade of the trees and leaves above, the sunlight beat down upon the land like a powerful pyromancy spell.

Boots clomped and squelched through the muddied grounds. One stallion, brown-furred with a black mane and stubble just beginning to barely show on his face, was followed by a much younger Daring Do. Barely fifteen years of age, she’d even at that young age, had showed a love for adventure. Even though her body was beginning to wear down in the harsh conditions, her mind was still eager to find the treasures within the forest.

“Not much farther now, I should think…” Caballeron commented, holding up an old and tattered map in his hands and checking it, along with his compass to make sure he was going in the right direction. “I told you we’d get there before noon, didn’t I?”

“Yeah, you said that, but last I checked my watch… It’s 12:30 and I haven’t seen hide nor hair of any ancient ruins.” Daring deadpanned as she pulled out a fob watch and checked it. “Trees, trees, and more trees. That’s all I’ve seen so far, Doctor. Not my fault we got lost in that town, and the idiotas there gave us some bad directions and sent us in the exact opposite direction of the temple…” Daring muttered to herself as she swatted away a mosquito from her face, only to be met with at least two more. “Mystic Mother above, like the bugs just keep on getting bigger the further we go into the jungle…” she muttered to herself in distaste.

“Eh,” Caballeron laughed nervously. “Trust me on this, mi querida hija, we’ll be there soon. Promise you on that.”

“Promises, promises…” Daring folded her arms. “That’s all you’ve been saying on this trip, and they’ve turned up fruitless,”

“Ah Daring, you’re so young and impetuous,” Caballeron replied, as he took off his adopted daughter’s pith helmet—Which was slightly too big for her, so it fell in her face slightly—and ruffled her mane affectionately. “When you’ve been in this business as long as I have, you learn not everything always goes according to plan. Patience is a virtue of being an adventurer. What, did you think the lost city of Neighlantis was discovered by a band of curious fools?” he asked.

“Okay, got me there…” Daring admitted, not wanting to question fact. “So, remind me of the legends surrounding this idol you want so badly and put in the natural history museum back in Equestria?”

“Okay. Long ago, there was this… Goddess, if you believe the legends. Chihopotex, her name was.” Caballeron brushed some hair out of his face as the two of them finally came out of the mud and back onto solid ground. “Made of well… some sort of goo or maybe something else. Legends really aren’t clear on that aspect, as you’d expect with this sorta thing. She was a demon of sexual lust, and some people worshipped her as a being that would bring them good luck in… Oh, how do I put this…?” he trailed off.

“Better luck in doing the horizontal mambo?” Daring deadpanned.

“Yes, that…” Caballeron’s cheeks flushed red for a moment. “However, others feared her, and so they locked her away in this idol, never to be seen again. Put her away in a temple, deep in the jungle so she’d never be found. The people around these parts, they still worship her, you must understand. So, I suspect that’s why they sent us in the entirely wrong direction. Keep us away from finding it, they want this all to themselves.”

“Can’t say I blame them, if some of them can’t get it up and this goddess really is a fertility one. Well... if she ever existed, that is,” Daring could feel the air around her getting more and more humid just talking about the goddess of lust.

“Who’s to say she didn’t? No evidence pointing to the contrary.” Caballeron applied some hydrating mist to himself and Daring as they both continued walking forwards. “However, our job as archaeologists and historians is to prove what’s fact and what is false. Never forget that.” He gently tapped Daring’s forehead with a finger.

“Yes, exactly. We’re here to find the idol, not to worry about what’s real and what’s not,” Daring replied, as her eyes trailed off into the depths of the jungle, where she swore she saw shadows moving in the bushes. Her hand went to her pistol while her other went for her whip. Just in case there were any predators following them. “So, let’s get moving, shall we?” Her confidence had been knocked slightly. But even if Caballeron had picked up on it, he declined to comment on it.

Eventually, they arrived at an old temple built into a hillside, with large bricks laying all around them, possible evidence of other structures long destroyed beyond repair. Screaming, gaping faces had been carved into the walls, and skulls mounted on wooden poles were above the temple entrance, which was mostly covered by foliage. The inside of the temple would have been pitch black if not for the little cracks in the ceiling above where the sun slipped through them. And even if it were to be covered up, then there were small braziers hanging from the walls that either of them could have used a torch to light.

“Wow, they really didn’t want anyone coming to call, did they?” Daring joked lightly before she pulled out a canteen and drank it dry, almost surprised that she’d used it all that fast. “Okay. If we take this idol, we’d better not end in a boulder run like the last temple we raided…” She deadpanned. “Seriously. What’s with all the boulder traps in temples these days? So overused, if not effective, I admit…”

“If there is another one, we’ll just have to run faster,” Caballeron said simply as he cut away the foliage with a machete and stepped into the welcoming darkness of the temple entrance. “Besides, what are you worried about? You have wings. You can just zip out.” he questioned.

“Yeah, but what about you?” Daring asked in concern. She and Caballeron had picked up some old bones, wrapped leaves around them and created makeshift torches with their ingenuity and lighted them with the braziers’ flames. “All you have are your own two hooves! Plus, enclosed spaces like temple corridors… Really not good for flying. Number of things I could crash into. Not to mention all the dead ends and booby traps along the way...” she trailed off.

“I’ll be fine," Caballeron gave her a brave smirk. “I’ve been doing this long enough to teach you, right? If I can last this long, I can last a few more decades.” He smiled. “Now stop your worrying. We have an idol to find.”

Daring nodded as she stepped forward into the darkness. She waved her torch around, and let out a small shriek as she saw a spider dangling down from the passage at the end of the entrance.

“Spiders… Why’d it have to be spiders…?” she asked herself, with a small shudder.

“Relax. This one’s a harmless breed,” Caballeron said as he let the spider climb up his finger. “Wouldn’t hurt a fly… Well, okay, maybe a fly but not you.”

Daring still shuddered all the same, but continued onwards. Suddenly, she heard a click and was pulled backwards Caballeron as darts flew out of one of the faces in the wall. With how fast she was yanked away, the darts barely missed her skin and she could feel the feathers at the back tickle her slightly.

“Mercury tipped darts. Very deadly…” Caballeron pulled them out, dropped them to the floor, and rubbed his temples. “Daring, how many times do I have to remind you that—”

“That we always check for traps? Yeah yeah, I got that…” Daring cursed herself for her own foolishness. That was an amateur move she’d just pulled, not inspecting the ground beneath her hooves for pads like that. She was lucky Caballeron had been there to save her. If he wasn’t...

A good thirty minutes passed, and soon they reached the temple center. In the middle of the room, illuminated by sunlight was a plinth with a golden idol atop it. Both Daring and her mentor smiled. At last, they’d found it.

Problem was, it couldn’t have been that easy… could it?

“Okay, so now what?” Daring asked. “Can’t just simply walk up and take it. For all we know, could drop a rock on our head as soon as the idol is removed…”

“Hmm…” Caballeron inspected the idol from every side, trying to see if there was some specific trick to it. It couldn’t have been that easy to find an idol in a temple like this. He had raided much bigger and much more elaborate ones than this. “What to do…”

As he gazed on the idol with a sense of reverence, something new seemed to fill his eyes. Daring didn’t take notice, but hints of greed were beginning to fill Caballeron’s soul. There was an old legend, a curse was said to have been put on the idol to anyone who dared gaze on it. Anyone who tried taking it for themselves, was said to gain a heart of stone, and have their minds filled with nothing but greed and a lust for gold or anything else shiny. The Crow’s Curse, it was called.

“Couldn’t we just do that trick we always do with the bag full of pebbles?” Daring asked as she motioned towards her pocket. “I’m sure it’d work this time…”

“No, I’d think the creators behind this booby-trapped idol would be smarter than that…” Caballeron murmured as he continued to inspect the idol. “I mean, everyone else seems to be smart enough to think ahead of someone replacing their ancient relic with something of equal weight,”

Caballeron felt more and more greedy thoughts build up inside of him as he examined the idol. The more that he gazed down at its’ magnificent perfection, the more he began to think about the reward he would get for taking it. Eventually, his greed overtook him, and with one quick swipe, Caballeron took and pocketed the statue, activating the mechanism on the plinth.

All of a sudden, the entire cavern began to rumble. Small plumes of dust began to rise as pebbles tumbled from the ceiling. Both of the explorers looked up and saw rocks begin to tumble around them, crashing one after another into the ground. If they didn’t react in time, then they would be buried underneath them, and lost to time like the temple itself.

“Caballeron, what the hell are you doing?” a fearful voice shouted as rocks fell all around it’s owner.

“What I should have done in the first place, take this idol for myself! Good-bye, Daring Do!” Caballeron cackled, a mad gleam in his eyes as he made a break for it. Rocks, meanwhile, continued to fall all around Daring.

Daring felt all kinds of emotions as the rocks continued to fall around her. Betrayal, fear, sorrow, and loneliness all came together as the slabs of stone collapsed and blocked most of her ways out...

Present Time: The Get On Inn

“Barely made it out alive. And Caballeron,” Daring snarled out. “He got away with the idol, and presumably sold it on the black market. I’ve yet to recover it…” she whispered in shame. Not just for herself, but forgetting about the Crow’s Curse. She knew about it, and yet she didn’t warn Caballeron about it! For her, it was her greatest failure. Well, until now that is. An innocent life had been put in danger, all because of her feud with her former mentor.

“Daring… You didn’t know what was going to happen…” Lightning could see all of the discord in her fellow Rang-No, her friend’s heart, and reached out to touch the pegasus’s shoulder. Like Vapor, she’d seen Daring’s vulnerable side today, and it was starting to get to her as well. “Caballeron was being cursed by that Crow’s Curse shit! You couldn’t have done anything about it...

“But I should have!” Daring shouted. “I should have warned…” If there was any sense of maturity in her voice, it was gone. Replaced with trembling lips and tears in her eyes. It was like Daring was that fifteen-year-old girl again, alone and afraid.“It’s… It’s all my fault. My fault…” she sniffled.

“Well, that was then. This is now! You have a chance to fix this mistake!” Lightning growled, before she soundly punched Daring across the face. “Now, mare up. We’ll stop Caballeron, and get my sister back, and if possible… Break that curse!”

“Thanks, Lightning…” Daring rubbed her face; more specifically, the part where she had been punched. “Thanks for bringing me back to my senses. Now, let’s get your sister back!”

“No problem! That’s what we Rangers do! ” Just as she watched Daring extend her wings, ready to take flight, Lightning raised a finger towards her. “Wait… I have to know. Where exactly did you find your Energem?” she asked, glancing at the aqua jewel hanging around Daring’s neck. She sighed to herself.

“Okay, I suppose you have a right to know, Ranger to Ranger…” Daring began.

It was at a dig site in Montana just a few short months ago, right before Retinax’s attack on the Crystal Empire. That’s where it happened. Shovels and pickaxes clicked away at the rock all around me, with ponies hoping to find even the smallest hint of dinosaur fossils.

Only thing we’d found, and this possibly hinted at a larger discovery was a raptor’s claw in the nearby hills. I’d told my colleagues: “Six-inch retractable claw, like a razor, on the middle toe. You think he’s like a T-Rex in visual acuity, in that he won’t go after you if you don’t move a muscle. You stare at him…and he just stares right back. But, that’s where you’re wrong. No, he’s a pack hunter. The attack comes not from the front, but from the side, by the other raptors, using these claws to just rip you to ribbons.

A harsh wind blew in from the east, kicking up sand in my face. I stumbled over a rock, blinded by the sand, and fell into a pit.

Groaning out in pain, and wiping away blood from my lip, I found that one of my legs couldn’t move. Been broken in the fall.

“Well, isn’t that just lovely…?” I muttered to myself. Suddenly, I saw something poking out of a rock. White, and reptilian in nature. I lurched forwards, curiosity overtaking common sense. My eyes widened when I saw it. A dinosaur fossil, an Ankylosaurus if I was correct. I smiled, a stroke of luck at last! I’d been at this site for weeks, and funding was starting to run low without any proof of any dinosaurs at all. We’d been starting to think the whole area had been picked clean by earlier explorers.

“But what caught my eye the most was a sparkling, aqua gem. It was one of those out of place artifacts, or a piece of OOPArt as we like to call it, no reason to be there at all. If I hadn’t known better, I’d say somepony placed it as a joke.

“I reached out towards it, curiosity still getting the better of me, and then as soon as I touched it, I felt a dramatic influx of power overtake my body. In my mind’s eye, I saw this image. A red and blue feathered bird-man, hard as it was to believe, holding a staff talking to ten different dinosaurs, that ankylosaurus amongst them.

“He held up ten different gems, my aqua colored one amongst them. The others included gold, gray, purple, green, red and blue just to name a few. They shot towards a dinosaur, seemingly deeming them worthy of receiving their power. Each dinosaur that received a gem, it glowed with a flash of light.

“I only caught a glimpse of the bird-man’s face, and heard a name, Torin, I think it was, being called out before I blacked out.

“I was found… Oh, I don’t know how long it was later, but my fellow diggers awoke me, worrying over me and congratulating me on my find. An ambulance had been called in, just to take me to the nearest hospital, but the image I had just seen weighed heavily on my mind for hours afterwards…”

“Huh, interesting history lesson,” Lightning admitted. “But now, I’d say we have more important things to do, right?”

“Yeah…” Daring said, as she and Lightning shared a smirk.

“It’s Morphin Time!” the two shouted out before bringing out their respective morphers. Lightning’s Growl Phone, and Daring’s Dino Morpher. “Legendary Wild Access!/Unleash the Power!”

Washington: Turtle Cove:

It was on a barren coastline, only things around for miles were Retinax, and his minions. He’d set up a little test of Trixie’s newfound power, just to see if all the trouble he’d gone through in acquiring the White Dino Gem was worth it.

Retinax smirked, as he watched Trixie, with an emotionless expression on her face and an equally emotionless tone in her voice say “White Ranger: Dino Power.” and morphed into the White Dino Ranger with a flash of light. Saying nothing, she drew her Drago Sword.

Doomwing smirked, and drew his dark red “Hook Blade”, for lack of a better term.

“Begin!” Retinax commanded as nearby, sitting on a boulder, Zen-Aku observed silently. His own blade rested on his shoulder. If he had any thoughts to say on this matter, he wasn’t planning on voicing them.

Trixie darted in low, slashing at Doomwing’s thigh. Catching the monster by surprise, she flipped her blade in her hand, bringing it up across his chest. Ignoring his howl of rage, she hopped backward, holding her blade underhanded.

“Come on, surely you can do better…” Trixie taunted, some of her voice distorted by the sheer power of the Alicorn Amulet around her neck. “I’ve never even held a blade before, what’s your excuse?”

Doomwing screeched in rage, and swinging his blade, he sent an X-Shaped arc of energy towards Trixie. Trixie raised her blade to block it, and then, as sparks flew off the metal, she swung it around and blasted the arc back towards Doomwing. Darting in again, Trixie knocked aside his sword arm, digging her blade into his armpit.

Doomwing let out a screech of pain, but he then snarled. “Lucky blow. Let’s see how you stand up to this! Doom Strike!” he yelled out, and threw a powerful right cross laced with crimson energy hitting Trixie in the side of her helmet.

Turning with the blow, Trixie spun in midair and then drew a series of golden energy arrows in midair, and sent them towards Doomwing. Each found a home in Doomwing’s body, exploding on impact. Landing on her hooves, Trixie chuckled, resting her blade on her shoulder.

“So, what are you going to do now?” she asked, in a bored tone of voice. “Seriously, I’m actually amazed that you haven’t fallen already to my power.”

The rooster-like monster meanwhile, staggered back and growled as he clutched his shoulder in pain with one talon, using his other free hand to grip his blade tightly.

“Don’t count your chickens before they hatch, girlie. You’re still new at this, still testing out your powers,” he replied. “Meanwhile, I’ve been at this for a very long time…”

“But I learn fast,” Trixie replied simply, still no sign of emotion in her tone. Well, perhaps smug satisfaction really.

Next thing Doomwing knew, he was hit by a white blur again and again, before Trixie reappeared on a rock nearby. For the first time in the fight, Zen-Aku showed a reaction, eyes visibly widening.

“She’s… She’s as fast as I am!” he thought, more than a hint of fear in his tone. “I didn’t think that was possible!”

“Are we done here?” Trixie asked, making a show of inspecting her blade. “I think it’s obvious I’m the superior warrior. We’d just be wasting time continuing this little exercise, don’t you agree?”

Zen-Aku turned to Retinax, as he watched Doomwing stagger to his feet. His eyes narrowed, snippets of his old personality seeping through the cracks of the spell he’d been placed under.

“That’s enough!” He barked. “Doomwing’s defeated, there’s no need for any more of this!”

Retinax threw back his head and laughed long and hard at the Duke Org’s naivete.

“Oh, but I think there is! You see, there’s still one more little thing I want to confirm…” he replied, stepping down towards Trixie and drawing his axe. “You see, I’m not entirely sure our new friend here has shown her full potential in all areas of being a Ranger. Sure, she can stand up to one of Thrax’s wannabe generals, but… Let’s see how she handles a real Org!”

Trixie actually smirked under her helmet.

“You sure you want to go? After all, what I’ve just demonstrated should be more than enough…” she trailed off.

“Oh yes, show me your full power!” Retinax laughed.

“Very well,” Trixie said, before her suit glowed with a golden light and spikes jutted out from every inch of her costume -Complete with two jagged black blades coming from her gloves- as she went into Super Dino Mode.

Finally, Zen-Aku had enough, a combination of the spell placed on him urging him to protect his “Master” and his real personality breaking through. He stepped in-between the twosome, and held out his blade.

“If you want to fight someone, fight me,” he stated, but Retinax shook his head as he heard a familiar screech in the background, and through the mists, saw a giant winged reptilian form.

“No, I won’t have one of my best warriors wasted,” he decided. “I have a different idea in mind. I think… Hmm, Trixie, show us you can command your Megazord.”

“That I can do.” Trixie stated, bowing to him. Her morpher changed, from a white Tupuxuara to a maroon Stegosaurus’s head.

A roar was heard from somewhere in the mists, and giant feet crashed against the ground as the Stegozord lurched out of the misty hills, golden back plating shifting and tail swinging back and forth as it approached.

“Now… DinoStegoZord formation!” Trixie commanded.

The Dragozord flew down out of the misty skies, and latched onto the Stegozord’s back as Trixie jumped inside its cockpit. Both of the Zords’ eyes flashed, and they emitted roars as the Dragozord flew upwards, Stegozord still attached to it. It did several midair spins before the Dragozord split apart into several pieces. Wings became legs, and the arms of the Dragozord became that of the new Megazord. What was left -The main body of the Dragozord- became a powerful lance-like weapon, and the Stegozord’s head opened up to reveal the Megazord’s face.

The new combination roared in fury, as the Stegozord’s tail whipped back and forth with the hands of the Megazord becoming talons as thunder cracked in the background and lightning bolts flashed.

As the rain began to pour down, a purple-clad feminine figure holding what seemed to be a katana observed the situation and then teleported off...

Author's Notes:

Okay, first off, huge thanks to Shagohad12 and Shadowmane for help with writing Daring's first -and last- adventure with Caballeron, breathing more life into the world around them and making the Doctor seem like a likeable dude and plausible mentor for Daring.

Now, I admit, I borrowed this idea from Yukito and one of her stories so credit where it's due but made a few of my own changes. For example, the curse. Originally I thought about Caballeron just falling into greed naturally, but I then thought it'd be a more interesting twist if he was cursed.

Also, figured it best to show how Daring got her Energem, just to add more to her story. (Take note of Zenowing's counterpart being the one to hand out the Energems instead of Keeper in this timeline.)

Finally, big news for us PR fans... Our next Ranger team might have just been revealed. In two words: "Let's Morphin!"

https://www.powerrangersnow.com/power-rangers-beast-morphers-revealed/

Finally, if any of you want to guess who the purple-clad figure was at the end of the chapter, (And if you're on my Discord, please don't spoil the surprise) please offer guesses. Comments, speculation, and thoughts are always appreciated.

Next time: Chase!