Equestria: Six Billion years ago…

“Have to say Dash, this is crazy, even by your standards…” one Spitfire Magnus remarked to one Rainbow Dash, the latter being dressed in an orange space suit with a small badge pinned to it, depicting both Celestia and Luna. “Not saying I don’t support it, but still this is pretty much something else…”

“Hey, if someone’s got the right stuff as it were,” Rainbow Dash remarked, the two walking on a metal catwalk, grating clanking beneath their hooves. “It’s most likely to be me. I’ve been training for months to do this, and I’m hyped as all hell for this!”

In one of her hands, she held her helmet. Spitfire looked to her left, and she saw a massive crawler carrying a pure white space shuttle nose pointed skywards to a launch pad. It was a massive miracle of both magic and science that this had been pulled off really. But somehow, with the modern-day geniuses of Starlight Glimmer and Twilight Sparkle combined with the old time mage abilities of the legendary Starswirl the Bearded this amazing feat had been pulled off.

Spitfire was still trying to wrap her head around it, really. By their side was Flurry smiling supportively at Dash.

“Hey, give her some credit Spitsy. Like Rainbow said, if anyone’s going to do this, it’s her!” Flurry remarked cheerfully, giving Rainbow a pat on the shoulder. Over the radio, Twilight could be heard speaking.

“..that age-old ponykind thirst for excellence and knowledge. I say, every step up the ladder of science. I say each and every adventurous reach into space from the moment we first gazed our eyes to the stars in our telescopes. All of our combined modern technologies, magicks and imaginations... Faust above, even the wars that we've fought, have provided us the tools to finally step onto the final frontier.

“Through all the chaos that is our history through all of the wrongs and the discord, through all of the pain and suffering through all of our times there is one thing that has nourished our souls, that sense of grand adventure!

“The dreams of an entire planet, not just ponykind but griffon, zebra, changeling, yak and dragonkind are focused tonight on that brave soul and the mare I’d be proud to call my friend -Twilight’s voice cracked a little at this point as she fought back tears- traveling into the heavens. Godspeed!”

A chorus of cheers greeted Rainbow as she stepped out for the crowd to see, and she waved to the roaring and cheering thunderous applause.

“Thank you, thank you all. Now don’t think I’ll be forgetting you guys, just a simple trip round the moon and back. But space? Well, it’s about to become a little bit more awesome now!” Rainbow shouted, flipping the peace sign. As the crowd roared ever harder, Flurry looked towards Spitfire, who if she didn’t know better seemed to be crying.

“A-Are you alright?” Flurry asked.

“Y-Yeah, I’m fine. It’s just my finest Bolt’s gone above and beyond what I, no anypony expected of her and now she’s about to touch the heavens if even for the briefest of moments,” Spitfire whispered, with a small sniffle. “So if anyone’s got a right to cry, I’d say it’s me.”

“Hey, look at the bright side. You managed to hold back the flood this long didn’t you?” Flurry said, patting the retired Wonderbolt captain on the shoulder. “...Unlike Rainbow’s parents.” she teased, and Spitfire laughed. She’d practically seen both Bow Hothoof and Windy weeping into a bucket last time she saw them.

Rainbow smirked as she got inside the capsule, and seat belts strapped her into her pilot’s seat forcing her backwards into her chair.

“Hey Gallus, is it supposed to feel this tight?” Rainbow asked over the radio.

“Yeah, yeah! It’s fine, completely fine!” the griffon and current Element of Loyalty bearer remarked. “You’ll be able to unbuckle yourself when you hit the no-grav zone. Fly freely about to your heart’s content. But for now, I’d say you strap yourself in and buckle up and enjoy the ride!” he commented over the radio in reply. “Like Twilight said, Godspeed ma’am.”

“Don’t call me ma’am, makes me feel so old!” Rainbow joked, and Gallus laughed.

"Okay, checking ignition sequences. Priming up dynotherms now. Mega Thrusters should be free to go any second now. Everyone, sound off!”

Retro, go flight. Booster, you are go flight.” Smolder shouted.

“Ecos, go flight,” Sandbar confirmed. “Trajectory. Go flight.”

“FlDO,” one Gilda Gruff added, with a little smirk that seemed to say ‘Go Dash’. “Go flight.”

“EVA go flight.” another unknown pony, possibly Starlight added.

“EQUUS Phoenix, you are go for flight. Starting up ignition sequences now.” Twilight stated over the radio. “Any last minute words Rainbow?”

She’d soon be regretting that poor choice of words.

“Yeah, just one. Let’s rocket, and create a new legend!” Rainbow shouted, gripping her flightsticks tightly, before pressing a button above her, and music began to play.

“I like to dream, yes, yes
Right between the sound machine
On a cloud of sound I drift in the night
Any place it goes is right
Goes far, flies near
To the stars away from here...

“Well, you don't know what
We can find
Why don't you come with me little girl
On a magic carpet ride…”

“3, 2, 1, we have liftoff!” Twilight and Gallus shouted in thunderous cheer and soon the crowd was to join them as they saw the Phoenix, brazen to take Equus into a new age lift off into the night sky firing jets of flame from it’s boosters.

Suddenly, on Gallus’s computer screen an alert popped up, and Gallus’s eyes widened in alarm. “Twilight, get over here now!”

Twilight’s eyes were soon to widen as well.

“Rainbow, you’ve got an leak in the fuel cells. Abort! Abort! For Faust’s sake, just abort!”

But it was far too late, for as soon as the Phoenix began to fade from vision a bright light lit up the night sky…

“RAINBOW!” Flurry shouted in fear, jumping out of bed as she threw the covers off of her. Soon, the doors to her quarters opened and Flashfire ran in Astral Blaster in hand as he heard Flurry’s sound of fear.

“Flurry, you alright?” he asked in concern, seeing the now sniveling mare. He quickly pulled the covers up over her, and wrapped an arm around her.

“No… No, I’m not alright. Just… memories. Of a time long since past, and something that never should have happened,” Flurry replied, her voice a tear-stricken whisper. “All the calculations were made, everything was accounted for, but…” she began to mumble to herself like she had so many times before. This wasn’t just a one-time night terror. No, she’d had this memory before, and she knew she would have it again, having long viewed it as one of her greatest failures.

Flashfire handed her a cup of hot Earl Grey tea, and just let the hours pass by slowly as he held Flurry in his arms. The newest mission could wait, right now his Princess needed his help.

Morning eventually came, and Flurry was treated to a sight. Voyagers were already prepped under Coldcast’s suggestion, and Flurry could see why as the jewel in front of them? It was exactly what they’d been searching for ever since they left their old home.

“...A new Eden.” she breathed out. The Doctor, however, didn’t look so sure, and every alarm bell in his mind was going off even as the Corvus Kyutama he gripped in his hands ever so tightly glowed and pulsated with power.

Personally, Flashfire didn’t exactly see why the Doctor was so concerned, so terrified of them coming to this world really. Feeling the grass in his fingers, he smiled as he took a bite out of a Zap Apple plucked from a nearby tree. He didn’t quite know how an alien world had Zap Apples, but he wasn’t complaining really. Not as good as the grapes and wine back home, but it had its charms he supposed.

“Still, wouldn’t hurt to be cautious I suppose. Just jumping headlong into a situation without knowing what’s going on would be folly,” Flashfire mused to himself as he pulled his pistol out of its holster and scanned the area, his eyes darting from left to right.

“Guys, you seeing anything? Anything at all?” Flashfire asked. “The Doctor warned us about coming to this planet for a reason. I want to know why. Also, keep an eye out for that crashed ship. Maybe, and I’m probably reaching here, the Doctor’s warning and the ship crash-landing are connected in some way.”

There was no response, just static crackling and an eerie groaning sound coming from Flashfire’s commlink.

“Okay, odd…” he murmured, as he tapped his Kyuchanger once or twice. “Might be some atmospheric interference. Best to get Jabari on the horn, have his Eagle Voyager scan the skies.”

Jabari’s personal Voyager, it had been designed to fly in the most dangerous of atmospheres, ones too toxic for normal breathing, or too covered in gases for safe flight. It had been decked out with sensors, and long-range scanning devices to give a complete picture of the area around it.

“Jabari? You there?” Flashfire asked. “Sound off if you can hear me!”

Once again, there came no answer.

“J-Jabari?” Flashfire asked nervously. “Please tell me you’re there!”

He engaged the Pyxis Kyutama, hoping for it to work it’s magic and point in the direction of Jabari or anyone else for that matter but no such luck. All it was doing was just making a golden arrow spin around wildly.

“Okay, magnetic interference?” Flashfire wondered aloud, knowing that there were certain types of rocks and metals that could make any type of compass go haywire. Perhaps even one that was powered by the cosmos itself. Popping the Kyutama out of his gauntlet, Flashfire groaned. “Going to have to do this the old fashioned way I suppose… These hooves were made for walking I guess.”

Grabbing a stick up off the ground, he used it as a cane much like a hiker would do as he began to walk into a nearby forest shouting his team’s name all the while. Despite the forest being widespread and endless, his voice didn’t echo off of any of the trees, and the footsteps that he took seemed very floaty, as if he was walking on clouds. As he picked up the pace and even started to run, he noticed that the horizon wasn’t coming closer to him at all. If anything, it was like he was entirely stuck in place, running on the spot, even though the entrance got farther and farther away from him.

“What the…?” Flashfire muttered as he looked up all around him, trying to find the sun. “Feels like I’m going in circles here.”

Out of caution, the unicorn quickly morphed with a whisper of: “Star Change.” But as he did so, he realized that his suit wasn’t coming to him. In fact, his Kyutama seemed to have lost all of its’ energy when he tried to use it.

All it did in fact, was make a low beeping, humming sound.

“Okay… Now, this is just getting odd.” Reaching for his Astral Blade he’d been carrying around on his back, he drew it as a low growl came from somewhere behind him. Or was it above? He couldn’t really be sure. Twirling the sword in his hands, he steadied the blade. No fear, no fear. That’s what he was telling himself, keep calm under pressure and the situation would resolve itself.

He took more and more steps. And this time, the exit not only came towards him but seemed to stretch and contort in such a way that the very fabric of reality tore itself up once he got far enough, bringing him into a completely different environment.

All around him was a darkened and almost totally destroyed version of the Shining Armor’s bridge.

“What the fu…” he trailed off, still gripping his blade.

“You did this,” A single voice echoed through his head. “All of this. All of those senseless killings? They came back to bite you in the ass.”

“Senseless?” Flashfire asked to the voice. “They were monsters, warlords, conquerors! So whoever you are, won’t you kindly just shut it?”

“You haven’t told them yet,” the voice whispered, sounding like it was right next to him, and then it wasn’t. “About your little secret? Oh, Flashfire Lulamoon, you’ve got more secrets than the galaxies have stars, and you won’t let anyone in on one. single. one.” the voice chuckled darkly. “Maybe it’s because… Oh, isn’t this funny, the great Flashfire Lulamoon is afraid of what his team would think of him if they knew?”

“SHUT UP!” Flashfire roared, swinging his blade widely. “You don’t know a single thing about me, not one you understand?”

“Murderer. Killer. Savage. All the words to describe Kyurangers such as yourself, and those abhorrent people you consider your friends,” the voice continued as he blindly swung at the air, hot tears streaming down Flashfire’s face. He’d never felt so alone, so helpless in all his life. He’d always had his friends to be there by his side, and now? “You are no hero, and your fleet is not a beacon of hope and justice. It is only a sign that, when you defeat Don Armage, you will only serve to carry on his warmonger history. Accept that fact, and give up this unhealthy life. Only then will you be able to repent.”

With that, the world darkened all around him. Meanwhile, Coldcast had found himself sliding down a crater, finding a blackened and charred ship into the impact area, long since beyond the point of repair. His boots crunched the stone beneath him, and one claw gripped an Astral Claw tightly. Never hurt to be too careful.

“Okay, this is Coldcast. If anyone’s reading this hermanos, well I think it’s safe to say that any hope of salvaging this ship, and saving whoever was inside is long gone. Beacon must have been broadcasting for who knows how long. Strange though, with this much damage, you’d have thought…”

No response came, only static crackling and a weird groaning noise. Coldcast’s fur and feathers raised on instinct, a cold shiver coming over him. Something was wrong, and he knew it.

“Anyone read?” Coldcast asked, only to receive more static. He groaned. “Great, going to have to fly a bit higher, hopefully find a better transmission point,” he muttered. Extending his wings, the griffon flew to the highest peak he could find in the nearby area, and tried broadcasting again.

“This is Coldcast of the Shining Armor, does anyone copy? I repeat, does anyone copy?”

Nothing but a crackling noise. He repeated the same thing over and over again, but ended up with the same result.

“You gotta be kiddin’ me…” Coldcast muttered as he looked at his Kyuchanger. “Fine time for you to crap out on me now. I thought you were built to last!”

“I’m disappointed, Coldcast. I really am,” Flashfire’s voice appeared, as did he, stepping out of the mists. “Look what happened to us. To you.”

“H-Hermano?” Coldcast whispered as he took a good hard look at Flashfire, something seemed wrong about him. The way he stood, the look in his eyes.

“Don’t call me your putain grand frère!” He dashed to his side, threw him to the ground and stomped on his back violently. “You killed all the other Kyurangers with this stupid plan of yours! They’re dead because of you and your shit!” The rage in his eyes was pure and untapped, almost catching on fire with how passionate he felt. “So now, I’m going to kill you!”

He grabbed Coldcast by the throat, and held him over a ledge. Below, were jagged icy spikes.

“Look familiar Coldcast? Remind you of anywhere?” Flashfire asked mockingly. “Reminds me of home, doesn’t it? What it became…”

Coldcast snarled, and kicked Flashfire in the stomach making him stagger and Coldcast hovered over the spikes and back on top of the mountain peak.

“Grand frère, w-what’s happened to you?” Coldcast whispered.

“I know exactly what’s happened to me. I’ve seen the truth,” He hissed out, before giving him a one-handed chokehold, grip tightening with each second. Coldcast coughed a little. “The truth that we’re not Kyurangers, that we’re not heroes, and you dragged us all into this stupid little game of yours. I never should have adopted you, just left you in the systems to rot!”

Coldcast kicked his brother in the shin, and just barely held off furious sword strikes with his own blade. He ducked and swung low, striking Flashfire in the chest before a punch caught him off guard making Coldcast stagger. Flashfire threw another, but this one was blocked by Coldcast’s blade.

“R-remember these moves, that duel-viper beheading strike? You taught me them, r-remember?” Coldcast asked, his voice shaky. “N-None of what you’re saying grand frère, none of it’s true! N-None of it! I didn’t drag us off on this mission, it was Flurry’s idea and yours for that matter to help save whoever was on this planet,” Coldcast pleaded, fighting back tears, even as a blow from Flashfire’s sword knocked him to the ground. Flashfire ground his hoof into Coldcast’s chest, and even as the griffon tried to reach for his Kyutama he knocked off the ledge with a swing from his blade.

“Element of Loyalty? You have no loyalty to begin with! You left your team behind, you rushed into battle without thinking, and you aren’t completely on board with the team’s decisions!” Flashfire howled. “You are not fit to bear the sigil of Rainbow Dash. Nor are you fit to even be called her successor! You don’t deserve what you hold. And you certainly don’t deserve to hold anything anymore!”

He raised his blade before bringing it down, and all went black.

Somewhere else, Flurry found herself wandering through a field, mountains behind her, with her Scorpion Voyager parked in the safety of a grove of trees.

“Mom, you would have loved it here. By Faust, I just know it…” Flurry whispered, briefly seeing her younger self -clutching her Whammy- and her mom running through the fields, before collapsing in a fit of giggles.

The grass stood proudly in the field, swaying to and fro in the gentle breezes, flicking morning dew lightly around it. Butterflies would flitter down and land on nearby flowers for brief instances, before going off on their merry ways. The mountains in the distance were topped with snow and stood on the horizon, acting as a makeshift cradle to hold everything else behind them in safety, and the houses nearby were all immaculately built, as if they were Equestrian houses of old, inhabited by ponies that Flurry once knew and loved.

“I wonder,” Flurry thought, her mind once more briefly lapsing into memories of the distant past. “Rainbow, would this have been what you might have found in your space explorations?”

“3, 2 1, liftoff!”

“Space, it’s about to get a little bit more awesome you guys!”

“Rainbow, you’ve a leak in your fuel tank. Abort, abort!”

KABOOM!

Flurry shut her eyes in remembrance, remembering the great fireball that had covered the skies that day. Rainbow was supposed to bring Equestria into a new age, like a Phoenix rising from the ashes but instead all she ended up becoming was ashes herself.

She fought back a tear, she couldn’t get caught up in her memories now. She had a ship to find, and a crew to rescue. Holding up her Kyuchanger, she spoke into it. “Any luck out there? Flashfire, Coldcast? What’s your status. Jabari, King Pharynx, what about you?”

She tapped the Kyuchanger, hoping for some sort of response. When none came, she decided for a different channel instead, and contacted the ship.

“Flurry to the Shining Armor, something’s gone wrong. Can’t get ahold of anyone. I suspect Dark Matter interference. Please respond. Over.” she stated, a chill beginning to run up her spine knowing something was deeply wrong here.

Much like the others, nothing but silence. Silence as the world around her began to change. It went to her old room in the Crystal Empire, back when she was a baby. Nothing but her old crib and her toys, as her old weapons and gear vanished, and her clothes turned back into regal robes, complete with crown and silver necklace. Oddly, there wasn’t the telltale sound of guard hoofsteps and metal armor clanking. Flurry, at once knew something was wrong. She just couldn’t place her finger onto what.

“Do you remember this? Your innocence?” Cadence asked as she stepped into the room. “Before the time when our planet burned out?”

“Yes, of course, I do. But what are you doing here, your AI still isn’t finished being uploaded into the matrix, and I know for a fact I’m definitely not on the ship. So please do explain, what’s going on around here?” Flurry questioned, the tip of her horn beginning to glow a light gold.

“Matrix? There is no matrix. You’re home. You don’t need to do anything anymore,” Cadence just came over and gave her a hug. “You don’t have to be living in such a harsh, desolate world, Flurry. You can stay here, with us. Everything will go back to normal in no time.”

“Yeah, you raised me, taught me everything you knew and that included passing on protecting those closest to you. And right now, there’s a crew that I love and protect that needs my help. So mom, if that’s who you really are, I have to go.”

“Why, your friends are all here too, Flurry.” Cadence showed Flurry out the door, to see the rest of her team alive and healthy, giving her happy smiles. “No more worrying about them, okay? You’ve got one life to live, and it should be a happy one.”

“I’m actually quite happy as I am mom,” Flurry stated, waving her hand and making the ‘team’ vanish. “Very happy. So stop screwing with me, who are you?”

“Your mother. And one who did not raise you this way.” Cadence’s demeanor vanished as she lit up her horn and coated Flurry in a spell, causing her to get smaller and smaller, as well as shorter at the same time. “You are not stubborn. You are accepting. Accept me, and accept that this is the world you want and will have,” She glared. “Your friends have become too much of a bad influence on you. Especially that Flashfire pony. What do you even see in him?” She asked. “I’ll raise you from scratch all over again to prevent those kinds of mistakes from ever happening again if I have to. You like being a foal again, don’t you?”

Flurry was having none of that. “No, you’re not my mother. I should have suspected something was wrong ever since I stepped foot on this planet,” she stated, shaking her head. “And for the record, being a foal was lousy. Always having to cry whenever I wanted attention, having you put me up in pretty little dresses. Faust, half of those I’d rather burn than be seen in public with.”

“Then DIE!” The illusion vanished, and a thing that could only be described as a great black mass with only a vague resemblance to her mother impaled Flurry with a pure black energy rod. “I hate you, Princess Flurry Heart of Equestria. I’ve hated you from the moment I saw you. I should have killed you when I had the chance to, but me simply being your mother always kept on holding me back.” It said, leaning in closer to her face. “You are scum. You are so perfect, so unflawed, so arrogant to your weaknesses that you have become the worst ranger on your team because of it. Well now, I think it’s time you got a wake-up call to how pathetic of a character you really are! You’re not the daughter Cadence wanted, just a caricature. And a really bad one at that.”

“W-Weaknesses?” Flurry whispered. “No, no. That’s not true. You know so much about me, don’t you? Then you should know why I’m so closed off, I never want to lose anyone important to me again. I’ve billions of years old, I’ve lost so much, Rainbow just being the first. Then dad went, and then several lovers I’ve taken over the centuries. And then finally you when you and Luna, and Twilight and Celestia died trying to stave off the sun from scorching Equus to a crisp! So, tell me, do you blame me?”

The thing ignored her, and shifted into a darker coated version of Flashfire, seemed to be a popular get-up these days. “Ohh, lovers. Now there’s something interesting. Flashfire, you know he’s sweet on you right? Why’d you think he came running to your rescue after he heard you scream from that nightmare of yours earlier this morning?”

“F-Flashfire… loving me?” Flurry whispered, for the moment forgetting the mention of how the thing seemed to know about her nightmare when by all rights it shouldn’t have. The thing morphed back into Cadence.

“That’s right, he’s very sweet on you. Your own personal knight in shining armor. And yet you, the daughter of the Princess of love spun him, and keep him at arm’s length!” it laughed.

“We’re professionals, colleagues. Nothing more. Is there anything wrong with that?” Flurry asked.

“How can an Alicorn possibly be in love with someone who isn’t immortal?” The monster asked, driving the rod further and further into Flurry’s body. “How could you possibly love someone who will die before you even reach middle age? Face it, your own coldness, that’ll drive everyone away from you eventually.”

With that, Flurry’s world went dark.

Somewhere else, Pharynx was searching the rocky mountain passes for Coldcast, having heard his transmission and stepped into a cave and lit up a fire with the Ara Kyutama just to keep himself warm. Changelings hated the cold, after all, being insectoid in nature. He was amazed he’d lasted as long in this blizzard as he had. His wings were nearly frozen over, and ice was beginning to form on the tips of his antlers.

Suddenly, a howling wind rushed inside the darkened cave and blew out the small fire Pharynx had made for himself.

“Great… Just great,” he muttered and tried to use the Ara Kyutama once more. But this time, nothing happened and just like Flashfire’s Cerberus Kyutama before it, the Ara Kyutama only made a low humming sound. “...What the…? Alright, Stripped. Please tell me your little creations don’t glitch out after so many uses…” he muttered to himself, before blinking as he saw the whole cavern had changed in front of him.

Changeling corpses; thousands of them littered the area. The drones had been stripped of all their flesh and bone, leaving nothing but the brittle hides they wore behind. Helms had been scattered and crushed, and torn wings also adorned the slaughtering grounds. The bodies of his brother, Thorax, and his former queen, Chrysalis were also visible, and their faces had been stomped into the ground, crushed beyond recognition.

“T-Thorax?” Pharynx asked in shock, rushing over to his brother, who was missing one of his distinctive antlers. In the back of his mind, he knew this couldn’t be him as he knew his brother had died long ago but all the same, he’d wanted to see him ever since he’d woken up from his cold sleep. “W-Who did this to you? Who did this to our hive?”

“The same being who will destroy the Kyurangers, and any other threats to my reign.” A deep rumbling voice boomed out, followed by an armoured figure with an oversized sickle sword. “I am Don Armage. And I am the last thing you will ever see.”

“Yeah, I doubt that. Star Change!” Pharynx snarled, rising to his feet in a vengeance filled fury with a flash of silver light as he morphed.

He leapt towards Don Armage, both swords meeting each other and clashing with each other, blow for blow. Each of Don’s attacks had a black contrail around them, while Pharynx’s were notably faster than usual leaving behind glimmers of silver light.

Blades rang out in the hellish landscape, as Armage and Pharynx clashed, with the Changeling King striking with an almost frightening fury as he managed to draw blood. Pharynx then managed to land a hard right hook to Armage’s ghoulish face, not even thinking about the possibility of how or why Armage could be here when Armage from what the Doctor had explained didn’t likely see them as any sort of threat at the moment. He just wanted blood, and vengeance for his hive and for his brother.

“May not have been the best big brother in the world Thor,” Pharynx stated as he managed to cleave Don Armage’s weapon in half. “But I always tried to look out for you, just hope you understood that.”

Suddenly, Pharynx was blasted backwards by a powerful blast of wind from Don Armage, who was now using a massive gunbai, or a Japanese war fan. The wind was soon accompanied by flames, turning the cyclonic winds into a searing tornado. Armage laughed all the while.

“You changelings… You like heat, don’t you? Is this enough for you, little snake?” Armage asked, before driving his sword into the ground. It began to turn red, as flames began to spring up from it. A wall of fire surrounded the two, boxing Pharynx in. “Look at you, your loyalty to your hive and yet you couldn’t even protect them from me! How do you expect to protect the galaxy, if you couldn’t protect your family? You’re no King, you’re hardly even worth being called as such! Your brother would be sooooo ashamed of you…” Armage laughed. With that, he impaled Pharynx with a long black rod as the Changeling King began to lose consciousness. “Been fun talking to you, but I’ve got places to go and a universe to keep in balance.”

With that, Pharynx fell to his chest and blacked out completely.

Sadly, the last hope for rescue of the other Kyurangers was dealing with his own problems. Jabari, he’d managed to hit some thick fog flying in, and was now currently sitting in a wrecked Voyager. He’d long figured out something was interfering with communications, but what exactly?

“Okay, think here,” Jabari mused to himself. “What do you remember happening? Well, aside from the obvious fog that seemed to spring up out of nowhere? It was almost as if the planet itself was reacting to our presence. But no, that’s silly. Hardly scientific even! Still…”

He thought back to some old myths, ones he’d long dismissed as hardly worth his time. Myths of varying Zebra tribes.

One legend of one tribe that persisted held the belief that the stars were the eyes of the dead, while a similar tribe held steadfast to the idea that they were the spirits of those unwilling to be born. Some members of this group believed that they were the souls of those so long dead that they were no longer ancestor spirits.

On the other hand, Zecora’s parent tribe (And Jabari’s as well for that matter) pictured the stars as hanging from the solid dome of the sky by cords. There was a myth of a being so vast, and so intelligent dangling these stars, hoping some foolish young tribesman or tribesmare would leap out to touch them, only to be sucked into this great black void. He’d long ago dismissed this belief as old rubbish, Jabari had, but maybe there was some truth to it. After all, space was vast enough, and it had been said to have given birth to Discord so who knows what else persisted out there?

He vaguely remembered his grandmother speaking of this being, the one who dangled the stars like lures hoping to catch an unwary zebra as someone who fed on the despair of lost souls. He brought your hopes up with a brilliant white light -like say, a star- of some sort and then as soon as you reached this star you traveled into a world so dark you’d never return. Jabari’s heart started to pump faster, and he began to sweat as he slowly begun to realize just how much trouble he was in.

Calling for any of his teammates on the comms, he received no answer. With a grunt of frustration, he summoned a Kyutama from his belt buckle and slammed into a section of his control console. The Kyutama was mostly orange and depicted a pump drawing on the powers of the Antlia constellation.

Jabari smiled and turned the systems on as the whole interior of the cockpit began to glow with an orange hue. The tank began to glow back to life and regain its’ neon lights, though they had been changed to the colour of the Kyutama itself, and was more radiant than usual. The Eagle Voyager let out a screech, and its wings began to burn with a flaming fury, far more intense than the norm.

“Oh yes!” Jabari smirked, as he slammed the control console with a hand in triumph before his eyes narrowed. “Alright then Kukata Tamaa, let’s see you try and get one over on me!”

As the Eagle Voyager took flight once more, Jabari’s thoughts raced. He knew he wouldn’t be able to save his fellow Rangers, at least not directly, but he knew he could at least try and get a message to them. Placing the Capricornus Kyutama into his gauntlet, he spoke into it.

“Listen, I don’t know if any of you all can hear me, but listen up. Whatever you’re seeing, it’s not real. It’s a fake, a veil created by a monster from my tribe’s myths. Calls himself Kukata Tamaa, literally meaning ‘Despair’. That’s what he’s making you do, toying with your minds and making you see your worst nightmares come to life. That’s what he does, before he devours your very being! So if any of you can hear me for the love of Faust, fight back!”

Jabari wasn’t sure if anyone heard him or not, but someone did. Flurry to be exact, who was still pinned to the wall by the mock version of her mother.

“Okay, I accept the fact that maybe not letting anyone in held me back, not just as a pony but as a Ranger. That what you want, you happy now? I’ve been so afraid, for so long that I’d lose someone so close to me, I never wanted to let anyone in again. But now, just looking at you, who literally feeds off the hopelessness of others… well, time for that to change. I realize now, that I was wrong. My friends you see? They’ve been the ones giving me hope to continue on this mad quest of ours. And guess what? Our hope and our friendship will take on the universe and that includes YOU!” Flurry roared, prying the rod out of her chest as the whole world around her returned to normal, and she stood facing off against a pure midnight-black figure in a field. With a sheer blast of energy from her palm with wings spread wide, she forced the figure back.

Suddenly, a glowing orb landed in her hand, and she looked at the new dark-red Kyutama which seemed to depict a helmet of some sort. Also, instead of the usual numeric codes a Kyutama normally bore, this one simply read ‘KR’ in rainbow letters.

Shrugging, Flurry slammed the Kyutama into her morpher, making it proclaim: “Wizard, please~!”

Flurry blinked, that was a new one. But she could definitely feel the power flowing through this Kyutama. She fired after giving the Kyutama a gentle push, and a rift opened in the sky above. Out of the rift, a young man sprang. This one was different to the ones in the mirror world she had seen. This one’s skin wasn’t quite as colorful, a simple pale tan rather than the veritable rainbow she had seen then. His auburn hair was neck length, with the bangs sweeping across his forehead. Oddly, he wore a giant hand as his belt buckle. Straightening out his black jacket that was worn over a light red shirt, he took in the scene in front of him. Strangely, he didn’t seem to be all too surprised by this summoning.

“So, I presume you’re the one who’s been causing all of this despair?” the man asked in a deadpan tone looking at Kukata Tamaa. “Generally, creatures who look like you, well they never mean good intent for anyone,” Adjusting a black ring on his hand, his gaze turned to Flurry. “Young miss, you look like you could use some hope.”

“I already found my hope, but an assist would be nice. Name’s Flurry Heart. Yours?” Flurry asked.

“Souma Haruto,” the young man answered, moving his black ring to his belt buckle. “The Last Hope.”

“Driver On!” the belt called out, turning silver and the hand growing more than twice its normal size. Smirking, Haruto flipped a switch on his belt, changing the direction the hand was pointing. A jingle started to play from the device and it chanted, “Shabadoobie touch to henshin~”

Slipping a red ring onto his other hand Haruto added, “But right now, you can call me, Wizard.”

Moving his hand down, he placed the red ring over the belt. “Flame, please!” Throwing his arm out to the side, a red magic circle sprang out, symbols that Flurry couldn’t identify filling it. The magic circle started to move, passing over Haruto while his belt chanted, “Heat, heat, heat, heat!”

Getting the memo, Flurry slammed her Kyutama into her morpher.

“Say the Change!” it declared as Haruto’s own transformation finished.

“Scorpius!” Flurry shouted, looking at Haruto. He was standing in armor, a red helmet seemingly made of jewels covering his face. The visor had no traditional eye portion, instead having silver brackets divide it into antennae, forehead, eye and mouth portions. A black coat that went down to his ankles covered his torso and parted at the chest to reveal more of the jewel-like material beneath it. On either side of the coat flaps were three red squares made of the same material.

“Wow, flashy,” Flurry remarked as Haruto took in the orange Ranger’s costume and general motif.

“Huh, so the powers of the constellations aren’t limited to villains anymore?” Haruto mused. “Gentaro would be excited to hear that. Though then again, it doesn’t take much to excite him.” he remarked in a deadpan tone.

“I’ll ask about him later, right now I think it’s time to shut this guy up.” Flurry said, surging forwards, fist drawn back. Despair just threw up a shield made up of this black globulus substance that seemed to absorb the punches, before sending a powerful spout of the stuff right back at the Orange Ranger.

Meanwhile, the other Rangers were recovering from the depths of their own despair, and Pharynx had managed to pin ‘Armage’ up against a wall with his antlers before delivering a powerful punch that utterly destroyed the fake. His eyes widened, Pharynx now taking in the empty cavern.

“So, they were never there…” he whispered, before letting out a growl. Flashfire meanwhile, had found Coldcast and was dueling his copy blade to blade before with a simple strike beheaded the doppelganger with the body turning into sand. Coldcast raced up to embrace his big brother, letting the tears flow as Flashfire whispered calming words to him.

Back with Flurry, Haruto nodded and switched out the black ring for an orange one and flipping the switch on his belt again. “Upachi magic! Touch to go!~” It sang out, Haruto waving the ring over his buckle. “Connect, please!” A smaller rune circle formed beside his head and he reached into it. From it, he pulled out a large silver gun with a hand design similar to his belt on its side. Throwing his arm out, he fired multiple, large silver bullets out of it. The bullets flew, curving in their arc to slip past the monster’s shield.

Flurry smirked, before she dashed forwards taking advantage of the monster’s surprise and sent him skywards with a supersonic punch that created a miniature Sonic Rainboom in the process. Kukata Tamaa was then sliced through the middle by one very fast Eagle Voyager glowing with orange and purple flames, jawblade in its beak before Jabari leaped out of it to drop kick his old monster from under the bed in the face.

“Who… who the hell do you think you are you brat?” Kukata Tamaa asked, coughing up some sort of black goo. Flurry looked green at this.

“Jabari Swift, Aquila Pink! Also, the man who managed to figure you out,” Jabari declared with a small smirk, pointing directly at the old myth. “You’re old, Tamaa. Washed up. Just the boogeyman from someone’s closet. And I’ll be all too happy to shut the doors on you. Star Change!” he shouted, morphing into his own Ranger form and drawing twin Astral Blasters.

“So, someone’s taking after Tsukasa?” Haruto remarked, as he and Jabari fired on Tamaa. “Good on you, pink is a good color for a hero.”

“Just shut up gem-boy, and help me kick this old myth’s ass,” Jabari grumbled, still none too pleased with the color he got handed.

Pulling the thumb on his gun, its barrel flipped upward and a blade sprang out. “You can call me, Wizard. And keep firing while the young miss and I go in.”

Jabari nodded and kept up the suppressing fire, although he elected not to tell Wizard that Flurry was pushing six billion by this point so she hardly could be called ‘young’ in any sense. Tamaa fired a stream of black goo at Jabari, who simply flew backwards extending twin amber wings as he did so and continuing his firing at the creature all the while.

Haruto slapped his red ring onto the hand of his sword, red flames suddenly swirling around the blade. “Flame slash strike!” the weapon called out, Haruto sending the flames flying and burning away an oncoming stream of goo before it could hit Flurry. Flurry nodded gratefully, before impaling the monster with a stinger tail, and hurling him skywards before teleporting above him and axe-kicking him back towards the ground. This was where a series of flashes of light intercepted the creature as Pharynx, Coldcast, and Flashfire finally arrived on the scene.

“Sorry for how late we are Princess,” Flashfire stated, looking at the creature with more than a trace of anger. “Had business of our own to attend to.”

“He got to you too huh?” Flurry sighed, and all three nodded as they drew their weapons. “Meet Wizard, he’ll be lending an assist for this battle.”

“Battle? Didn’t know there was going to be one,” Pharynx growled. “Only just us wiping this guy up off the ground after we reduce him to a greasy smear.”

“Good point, shall we finish this?” Haruto asked. “It’s time for the finale.”

Replacing the red ring on his hand for another that was more ornate, he flipped the hand on his belt and hovered the new piece of jewelry over it. “Flame Dragon!” Haruto spread his arms out to the side, a red magic circle forming behind him. All the while, the five Kyurangers lined up their shots. A dragon made entirely of flame rocketed out of the circle, circling the young man while his belt shouted, “Burn, burn, burn, burn, burn!”

The dragon roared, flying into his back and his armor changed. His coat was entirely red, with silver shoulder pads that had red gems in their centers. On his chest it looked like the eyes and top of a dragon’s head were poking out, surveying the battlefield. The antennae on his helmet had been replaced with long horns and there was a red jewel at the center of his forehead.

“All-Star Crash!” the Rangers shouted as they fired their Kyuchangers at the monster, with Haruto leaping up into the air to perform a flying side kick, his boot encased in flame. All attacks met, and the monster exploded sending hoards of black goo everywhere.

“Échec et mat,” Flashfire stated, as he gave a thumbs-down motion. Haruto chuckled and canceled his transformation.

“Checkmate? Odd choice, but to each his own I suppose,” Haruto commented, as he began to glow gold and fade away. “Oh, it seems it’s time to take my leave. But before I go… Here, catch!” he said to Flurry, tossing an orange-toned ring to her. “Something to remember me by, and so that you’ll never lose hope even when times get dark.”

With that, he fully faded away. High above on a clifftop, stood Sir Ikargen, his face lined with pure rage. He didn’t think the Rangers would have an ink-ling of a chance on this planet. Growling, he lined up his rifle and fired.

BANG!

Author's Notes:

Okay, huge thanks to both Shadowmane and Thunderclap for co-writing a lot of the scenes for me, and generally busting their backs to make this chapter come together. But now, it's showtime...