“Oooh, more players to the party,” Madako cackled as she raised her gun and watched the top hat-clad man walk into the room. “You guys are so screwed now!”

Flashfire observed the man, with his plague doctor mask. He carried himself with an aura of refinement, but something about him… Flashfire would not be so proud to not admit he was more than a bit nervous just looking at him. He looked towards Shadios, and noticed the monster -despite having no visible face to speak of- seemed to be rather worried as well. Flashfire wasn’t sure if that was a good or a bad thing.

“Damnit, of all times not to have the ability to perform some sort of teleportation spell…” he thought to himself. “The octopus was right, we waltzed right into a trap without knowing it! Fantastique…”

“So, I’m going to go out on a limb here and say you two know each other?” the Doctor asked having observed the same things Flashfire had. “Because really… You two do seem like old chums, mates really!” he chirped. “Did you two use to get together and play DnD or something? ...Oh, is that what this is, a game night after you kill us kinda thing?”

The man in the plague doctor mask shot a look at the Doctor as he leaned a little on his cane. “Don’t presume to know what brings me to your world, I have no desire to play this… peculiar game you speak of.”

“...Now would be a very good time to leave,” Fågel murmured as Invaders and Crows swarmed around the foursome. “Let these two fight it out. Clearly, they have some issues to resolve. Besides, the crossfire? Might just destroy this communications hub. Job done for us really, sabotage complete.”

“Yeah, I don’t think they’d let us leave,” Flashfire muttered. “Besides, if we take control over this station we can relay our own messages to the rest of Eriedrone’s quadrant. Might even inspire an uprising or two!”

“Since when did you take up this hero shtick?” Fågel asked. “Our job is to protect the colony ships as they find a new home!”

“Yeah, so that’s the way it started, yes,” Flashfire muttered. “But my ideals changed soon as these idiots started threatening my people. My people. Besides, we’d never get any peace as long as Dark Matter rules the galaxy. So, they have to go.”

“You jelly brains done talking amongst yourselves on how you’d like to die?” Madako asked. “Invaders, get them!” she barked, and the grunts pointed their laser rifles at the Rangers.

“Yes… Before you do all that,” the plague doctor masked man stated. “I’d like to call a halt to these proceedings. There are things that must be… discussed.”

“Bah! Discussion time’s over, my Lord wants me to kill any who interfere in Dark Matter’s operations!” Madako shouted, firing her weapon at the man. “And that means you!”

The masked man dodged the attack and steadied himself back up. “It’s treason then, and the Shadow Line does not tolerate traitors,” he said as he tapped his cane on the ground twice and swirling darkness appeared around him as humanoid figures dressed in black with white faces and black hats pulled over them appeared holding axes and tommy guns. “Crows, open fire!”

Fågel and Coldcast took to dealing with the Crows while Flashfire and the Doctor dealt with the Invaders, Flashfire using the Scutum Kyutama to throw up a shield to block their laser fire.

“Aren’t you a unicorn?” the Doctor asked, using his crossbow like an axe to thin out the forces. “Can’t you do magic?”

“Well… Yes…. No! Look, it’s a bit of sore point with me! We’ll talk about this later okay?” Flashfire stated using the Ursa Major Kyutama to enlarge himself to the size of a small giant and thin out the herd as it were smacking and kicking away Invader and Crow alike.

“You’re a unicorn who can’t do magic? Well, there’s irony for you…” the Doctor muttered.

“And you’re a Doctor who doesn’t heal people, so touche!” Flashfire said before he let out a yelp as Madako pulled out a cat-o-nine tails and pulled him down to the floor with a loud crash. She chuckled and took the Ursa Major Kyutama from his grasp.

“Think I’ll be taking this one, it’ll go along great with the others we have!” she laughed doing a little skip pocketing the Kyutama before firing her weapon at Coldcast who just barely blocked the shots with Flashfire’s sword. Coldcast yelped as he just barely ducked to avoid a thrown top hat, which would have cleaved his head clean off. The hat whirled towards Shadios who grabbed it with a massive claw before tossing it back towards the masked man.

“You always were a poor throw Baron!” Shadios mocked. “Now get off my base!”

“You’re nothing more than an upstart,” the Baron said as he gripped his cane tight and drew out a sword that swirled with dark energy. “You abandoned your duty to the Emperor and our Empire, and for that, you will suffer.”

“Anyone else get the feeling we got in the middle of something we shouldn’t have gotten in the middle of?” Fågel deadpanned, manhandling -or rather womanhandling- Madako before tossing her into a nearby console.

“...About par for the course for us really... “ Flashfire murmured engaging the Serpens Kyutama and sending a swarm of spectral snakes towards this so-called Baron. Shadios had already fled and it seemed Madako was taking the same route. Sure, Kyurangers she could handle but Kyurangers and a new face who she didn’t know a thing about? She figured it was wiser to flee. She had a prize she could take back to Don Armage anyways.

The Baron spun his cane sword around and slashed through the spectral snakes as if they were nothing. “You’re going to have to try harder than that,” he said with a growl as he pointed his sword at them. “You’re fortunate that I have bigger things to deal with here than you right now, I will deal with you once the traitor is eliminated.”

“Look, maybe we can strike a deal,” Flashfire said putting away his Kyutama. “See uh… Shadios is sort of an inconvenience for us. We sorta want him gone as well.”

The Doctor slapped his hand to his face. “...Oh, and here we go, making deals with the villains. I can’t tell you how many possible ways this could go wrong…”

Flashfire ignored him. He was a pragmatic sort, and he could definitely take advantage of this situation really. Here he had someone who wanted Shadios gone just as much as he did, and he could -with a bit of effort- turn this sort of chaos to his advantage. Considering he didn’t know if backup was coming, he needed an edge.

“You would strike a deal with the Empire of the Shadow Line?” The Baron asked as he glanced at Flashfire. For a moment he looked like he was thinking about it before sheathing his cane sword and took out an old looking pocket watch that he opened up and looked at with a frown. “Shadios betrayed the Grand Design, and I only have so much time left I can remain in this world right now.”

“How so?” the Doctor asked out of curiosity. He wasn’t pleased with the whole idea, but he could see the advantages. If Nero was on a time limit that Shadios had somehow worked around… Well, that did solve two problems. One, it gave them a possible clue on how to beat Shadios and secondly it meant Nero couldn’t stay forever.

“Your reality is toxic to my kind, as it is to Shadios,” he answered as he closed his pocket watch. This was a potential opportunity for him, all he needed to do was buy time. “Shadios must have figured out a way around this. Very well, I will send what support I can to deal with Shadios as well. He likely has a device on his body that serves as a personal life support device, if you take that out, he will have four hours before the universe kills him.”

“Nice to know. However… Given what we’ve seen so far I think you’re more than enough,” Flashfire commented. Personally, he’d like to keep as many of these Shadow Line guys out of this as possible. On one hand, he knew the dangers of allying himself with this guy, but on the other Nero seemed like the type to keep his word. “So, I assume we have a deal then?”

“We have a deal, I will need to return to my base of operations to avoid my own death, however,” Nero said as he nodded a little. He reached into his pocket and took out a strange looking device and tossed it to Flashfire. “That’s a communication device, I’ll get in touch with you once I can return.”

With that, a sound like a train’s whistle filled the air before a black blur rushed by and Nero was gone.

“You’re not serious about this whole enterprise are you?” the Doctor asked, Fågel nodding along with him as the foursome walked through the hallways. “That guy… Seriously, he’s hardly the trustworthy sort. Call me paranoid, but I’ve just got a bad vibe from him just standing even near him, and you’re allying yourself with him?”

“Course I don’t trust him, I trust him about as far as I can throw him which believe you me isn’t very far,” Flashfire replied. “But right now… We don’t have much of a choice do we?” Flashfire asked. “Think about it, do you see any help coming? Not saying we’ve been abandoned -hardly!- I’m just saying we might not get help for a really long while. We need an edge over Shadios, and a guy who can hide in the shadows indefinitely is a definite problem don’t you agree Doctor?”

“Yes, but you’re essentially making a deal with the Devil,” the Doctor said with a frown. “He likely has an ulterior agenda. Who’s to say when he fled, he didn’t go off somewhere to work on whatever that may be?”

“I have more respect for a man who lets me know where he stands, even if he's wrong, than the one who comes up like an angel and is nothing but a devil,” Flashfire refuted. “The Baron is the man in this scenario, and you are the Devil. Since you’ve come onboard this crew, I’ve never been able to trust you properly. You’ve always had something to hide. Yes, you claim to be a Time Lord, but I have seen nothing that demonstrates this and you claim to have defeated Don Armage in the past -and while he seems to acknowledge this- you have said very little of what transpired back then. For all we know, you may be in part responsible for letting Armage rise to power. Or you may be a liar. I do not know. For all I know, you may be a mole, a trickster sent in here to invade our ranks and report back to Armage on our actions. We have seen our fair share of trouble since you came onboard after all.” Flashfire stated.

“Woah, woah…” Coldcast stated eyes widening slightly. “You’re not seriously suggesting what I think you are… Are you? Those acts of trouble, just random coincidence or us actually engaging Dark Matter and them retaliating in some way.”

“Maybe, maybe not. I don’t know,” Flashfire said. “That’s just the thing, I really do not know a damned thing about you Doctor and that’s what makes me very distrusting of you right now…”

“Fair enough. And I trust you, for the simple reason of what you said. You at least let me know where you stand, unlike that Nero chap,” the Doctor replied before he held up a hand for the foursome to stop. “And if it makes you feel any better…”

Flashfire, Fågel, and Coldcast peeked their heads from behind a corner out to see a large group of Strongindavers guarding their Voyagers. They quickly hid before they could be seen by the group.

“...It’s not like any of us are going anywhere fast are we?” the Doctor finished. “So, whether you like it or not until we get out of out latest fix… you’re stuck with me.”

“Joy,” Flashfire muttered quickly using the Perseus Kyutama to allow everyone to blend into the environment as a squadron of Strongindavers marched past cudgels in hand. The effect, while it only lasted a short time did allow them enough time to quickly get away before they could be discovered.

“...It’s only a matter of time before they find us, you know,” the Doctor commented. “We can’t spend our time running and hiding forever. And that’s presuming that Baron keeps his word. That device he handed you, may be just a fancy piece of junk.”

“...Well, not like we have much choice do we?” Fågel commented. “I mean, Shaidos… He’s pure shadow and we can’t force him out of that state. Unless of course, someone were to attack him with magic…” she said looking towards Flashfire.

“Yes, how is it you can’t exactly perform magic,” the Doctor inquired. “I thought that all of you Equestrians could do that?”

Flashfire’s eyes narrowed. The way he worded that, it sounded like the Doctor had run into an Equestrian before. Long before he met up with any of them. How that was possible he wasn’t quite sure yet. But all the same, he explained. “Much as I hate to talk while there’s every possibility that we’re in a situation where the walls literally have ears… I suppose I owe a few of you an explanation…”

“You don’t have to tell them if you don’t want to…” Coldcast said to his older brother in a reassuring tone. “It’s your secret to keep.”

“Not when it starts endangering my team, it isn’t,” Flashfire said. “...Okay, basically my problem is… I have a genetic disorder. Comes from one side of the family, the Glimmer side to be accurate. Skips every few generations or so, and I got lucky enough for it not to skip mine. It’s a mutation in the nerve cells of the horn. As you know, In unicorns, the horn contains a higher number of blood and special nerve cells than any other part of the body. Sure, yes other parts of the body have magic but to be precise It's just the horn is the part that has the most magic. That’s why Stripped Gear, despite being a robot can perform spells. And in my case, the mutation kept the nerve cells from developing enough for me to perform any real magic. You might as well chop off my horn and turn me into an Earth Pony for all the good I can do with spellwork…” Flashfire whispered before the Doctor embraced him in a hug. A thick, bear-like hug really. Sorta a glomp really.

“I’m sorry… I really am,” the Doctor whispered after releasing him. “...I… I never knew. If I did, I wouldn’t have-”

“Please, I don’t want any pity thrown my way. I’ve learned to deal with my lot in life, and that’s that.” Flashfire stated, awkwardly shuffling his hooves before adjusting his jacket. “Now come on, best we get moving before we’re found…”

With that, they set off again. Meanwhile, up in space Stripped was traveling towards the communications outpost in his Voyager, the newly created Sun and Moon Kyutama in hand. “Are you sure you’ll be okay?” Pharynx asked over the comms. Princess Celestia had been kind enough to inform him of the state she had found Stripped Gear in. “I know you don’t like pity, but I am very concerned with you as a friend. You’re in an existential crisis right now, and while I may be cold to a fault I am very concerned with you going out onto the battlefield in the state you are in.”

Stripped sighed. While he was glad both Pharynx and Celestia were concerned about his welfare, he could take care of himself. And right now… Well, he had bigger worries than his own psyche. “Go bother your own subjects, your own hive Pharynx. Existential crisis… Yes, it’s true I’m in the middle of that and no normal person would let me out onto the battlefield we do not have much choice do we?” he refuted.

“As ship’s consular, I’m taking you under advisement and I will be keeping an eye on you,” Pharynx stated. “I do not like the idea of someone in your state of mind going out onto-”

“Again, I hear what you’re saying but right now there are bigger problems at hand. We haven’t heard back from Flashfire and his team and that is a worry. And right now, I’ve got the only ship who can get to them fast enough with this new Kyutama and possibly save them.”

“And what if they are no longer able to be saved?” Pharynx asked. “I don’t like thinking about it as much as you do, but you have to consider the possibility that Dark Matter may have killed them by now.”

“Then if that’s the case, I’ll not just complete the mission in their place, but avenge them. Stripped Gear out,” he said in reply cutting off the communications link. He saw the asteroid out his view port, this massive jagged rock bigger than all the rest. He also saw two cannons popping into view, rocks moving out of the way to reveal them. Stripped Gear began to get multiple warning lights, saying that they had locked onto him. He chuckled. So, that was the way they wanted to play it was it? Pressing a button on his center console, the Voyager became like a gold comet and scythed through the cannons with a powerful cutting motion before turning around and heading towards the hanger bay. A squadron of Strongindavers rushed up to meet him, rocket launchers in hand before Stripped engaged the autopilot and let them have it with a set of torpedos. Then, the floor below his seat opened up and Stripped Gear jumped down into the hanger and engaged his Dorado Impact sending a series of yellow energy blades towards the remaining soldiers taking them down.

Grasping the Sun/Moon Kyutama tightly in his hands, Stripped broke off into a sprint down the hallways cutting down any foot soldiers who opposed him with his sword.

To his surprise however, shadows in front of him moved and twisted before punching him squarely in the face and reshaped themselves into the form of Shadios.

“Well now, so there’s a fifth Equestrian rat in my maze…” the former Shadow Line soldier chuckled darkly. He created a massive claw poised to strike, and Stripped braced for death…

However, the next thing Shaidos knew was a shockwave of pure energy sending him flying back. Stripped looked up and saw the Doctor, sonic pointed directly at the creature.

“Now do you trust me?” he asked Flashfire.

“Maybe a little,” Flashfire remarked drawing his blade and together he and Stripped began forcing Shaidos back into the main communications room. “Et nous voilà à nouveau. Comme un rond point, cette…” he muttered just as the device the Baron had given him beeped.

“Everything is ready on my end, what’s the situation?” the Baron asked as everyone morphed.

“We have engaged Shaidos,” Flashfire said, even as the being turned into shadow once more. “Attempting to deal with him, although your help would not go unappreciated.”

“Who, my help?” Stripped asked with a small smile. “So glad you asked! Here, catch! The latest example of my brilliance, comin’ at you!” he said tossing the Sun/Moon Kyutama like a fastball and it landed squarely in Flashfire’s Kyuchanger.

“Solar Mode!”

Suddenly, Flashfire felt a burning heat envelop him before his cape burned away, and a blazing light emitted from his helmet making Shaidos scream in pain as he reformed into a more solid shape. Sun-like ornaments were now jutting out of Flashfire’s helmet.

“Shining Star! Solar Cerberus Seagreen!” Flashfire called and he smirked as Shaidos staggered backwards.

“The light… it burns!” he screamed. “Turn it off!”

“Yeah, that’s the power of Celestia’s sun for you!” Stripped shouted before leveling his blade at Shaidos and doing a little snap of his fingers. “Now, as Flashfire would say… I believe it’s time to test your luck!”

A loud train whistle cut through the air and the Baron appeared once more wisely standing behind Flashfire. “Luck has nothing to do with it, I think. Just pure and simple science. We Shadow Line members spurn the light. Shadios, you’ve made your final mistake, and we’re here to make sure you pay for it.”

He threw his hat once more, and knocked Shaidos to the ground and just as the Shadow Line member was recovering, the Baron recovered his hat and fired a large blast of pure dark matter towards Shaidos.

Amazingly, the creature was still standing.

“That is… interesting. It seems he has absorbed enough Tenebraean Energy to withstand attacks of even my caliber,” the Baron observed. “He will take quite a lot of power to-”

Just as he stated this, it seemed the Doctor’s suit gained a new surge of power from the light the Solar Kyutama’s power created. Glowing a nearly blinding white, the Doctor surged forwards and barraged Shaidos with a powerful series of punches before picking him up, and tossing him towards Coldcast who had pulled out a sword and was charging up an attack.

“Okay, so gold -and presumably silver as well- is affected by powerful heat and light as scientific laws would dictate,” Flashfire observed. “Now, what would happen if I threw magic into the equation?” he thought and switched modes flipping the Kyutama upside down completely revealing a new port.

“Lunar Mode.”

Now instead of a sun, Flashfire bore a crescent moon sticking out of his helmet.

“The Moody Star, Lunar Cerberus Seagreen.” Flashfire stated, noting Coldcast’s suit was the one powering up.

“That mask on his chest,” the Baron stated gesturing to it with his cane. “That’s where Shaidos is storing his Tenebraean Gathering system. Destroy it!”

He along with Coldcast leaped forwards with blades in hand and struck the monster across the chest, Shaidos letting out a sharp scream of pain.

“Goodnight mush
And goodnight to the old lady whispering “hush”
Goodnight stars
Goodnight air
Goodnight noises everywhere…” the Baron stated as Shaidos staggered forwards before falling and exploding.

Suddenly black energy rushed outwards of the creature’s fallen form and flew out through the hanger bay and began reforming into this massive black figure that began blotting out the stars behind him. Rushing to their Voyagers, the Rangers took off and began firing lasers at the reforming creature.

“Power levels… they’re skyrocketing on this guy! I don’t know what’s going to happen as soon as he reforms completely!” Stripped shouted as his sensors went haywire. “And to be honest, I’d rather not be the one to find out!”

“Well, you know the drill by now ladies and gents. Megazord time. Activating Shooting Star Megazord combination sequence,” Flashfire commanded as he saw the Wolf and Bull Voyagers running below him, before the back halves tilted upwards. The Cerberus Voyager linked up with them complete with small hisses of steam. The Libra Voyager connected to the Megazord’s right arm port forming what looked to be a pair of giant buzzsaws, and the Swordfish Voyager, the left giving the mecha a massive blade. Finally, the central head on the Cerberus had its jaw fold down, revealing a mouthplate covered face, with two stoic yellow eyes staring the three massive shadow being down. “Alright then, let’s dance.”

The Baron, for his part simply observed the situation.

“Rangers, such, curious beings…” he said as he leaned on his cane and stroked his chin thoughtfully for a moment. Above him, the two massive beings went sword to claw. “Perhaps they may yet be a problem for us though. Especially this bunch...”

“Sorry we’re not seeing eye to eye here!” Shaidos shouted, throwing open his coat and revealing a huge number of eyes -uncountable really- that fired laser beam after laser beam at the Rangers. The Megazord shook from the barrage, alarms ringing throughout the cockpit and lights flashing red.

“Alright, that’s it…” Flashfire stated as he made the Megazord strike the monster across the chest. “Through playing around. Let’s finish this!”

The Megazord surged forwards even as Shadios fired eye-laser after eye-laser at it or threw asteroids at it. Slicing through the lobbed rocks or using the Scutum Kyutama to create a shield to block the lasers, the Megazord charged up its saber and sliced clean through and through Shadios. Behind the mecha, Shaidos went up in a purple explosion of Tenebraean Energy. Flashfire however, paid this no mind and leaped down towards the Baron with sword drawn.

“And now for you,” Flashfire stated, Coldcast having followed him just in case his older brother did something stupid. Usually it was the other way around, but in this case, Flashfire had a stressful week so there was no telling what he might do. “See, did you really think I’d be letting you go free? Sorry, not in this case. Needless to say, I can’t trust you as far as I can throw you. Whatever you got up to in this universe while you were gone… I’m rendering it moot. And I’m relieving you of your head.”

“Really? You think it’s going to be that simple,” Nero said as he leaned on his cane. “I am not some rank and file creature like you’ve fought before. I am one of the Court of Shadows, tasked to carry out the Emperor’s Grand Design.”

Flashfire knew not these titles, but he did know Nero probably wasn’t just boasting. And yet, he had to be stopped. “Say I let you go, what then? What damage will you do to this universe?” Flashfire asked resting his sword on his shoulder. “What would happen if I lay down and did nothing?”

“We are here because we need Tenebraean Energy,” Nero said as he eyed the two Rangers for a moment and then looked back up at the Megazord. “Had the traitor continued to draw on the needed energy then your universe would have been destroyed.”

“And you’re so different?” Flashfire asked pointing his sword at him. “You can hide from the devil, but he'll always find you. That went for Shaidos, but it goes for you as well. I am not the devil in this situation, but you are. You saying you need Tenebraean Energy, or in other words dark matter which happens to be the very stuff this universe or any other is made of… That confirmed the theory I’d been nursing since we first met you. You are just like Don Armage and his Karōs, no matter what words you use to disguise yourselves. And you must be stopped where you stand.”

“There are things you do not understand,” Nero said as he pulled his hat down over his eyes for a moment. “The Grand Design must be carried out regardless of the cost. There is no alternative.”

“And if that cost is destroying universes?” Coldcast asked, the young griffon flaring his wings in anger. He gripped his astral claw tightly in his paw. “Dude, you sound just like Armage. Trying to justify your own sick actions upon the universe even if there is no justification. The ends never, and I mean never should have to justify the means!”

“You think it’s that simple? If you were in our position then you would understand,” Nero said. “You saw what happened with Shadios, you know what happens to traitors in the Shadow Line. You say the ends should never justify the means, but sometimes they have to.”

“And never once have you ever thought of thinking for yourself, instead of obeying your Emperor's grand design? No, you’re too cowardly to do so… And instead you just want to hop from universe to universe destroying it. Time to set you straight…” Coldcast stated cracking his knuckles before slamming the Loyalty Kyutama into his gauntlet and firing a blast of rainbow-tinted lightning at Nero, who dodged and threw his hat at the griffon. Coldcast dodged once more, and slammed his claw into the ground sending two powerful slashes of energy towards Nero. Nero leaped backwards as he caught his hat once more but was blindsided by Flashfire who had sent a hoard of pink butterflies towards him.

Flashfire then sent a Regulus Impact towards Nero who could only catch it with his hands. “The hardest choices require the strongest wills,” he stated, sending a wave of dark energy towards Flashfire and Coldcast flooring them. He then threw up a bubble of dark energy around them all to prevent the other three Rangers from interfering. Grabbing the demorphed Rangers by the throats, he summoned his Kuliner. “Maybe what happens next will make you think wisely on your choices from now on. If you somehow manage to return to which you call home… Think on my words.”

The next thing Flashfire and Coldcast knew was being rushed through the walls of various worlds before being thrown headlong into a field of grass next to a lake. Across the lake sat a temple with a lion statue in the center. Behind them, Nero. “I bid you the best of wishes Rangers, and I hope you succeed on your quest of saving your universe from Dark Matter’s evil.”

With that, he summoned his Kuliner again and took off to only Celestia knew where. As for Flashfire and Coldcast, they were left wondering where they were, and how exactly they could return to where they came.

“Well, at least I’m not alone this time in being lost…” Flashfire murmured before his eyes widened as he saw a man with black hair -accompanied by this blue dog creature- walk up.

“You’re exactly right, you’re not alone…” the man smiled. “Name’s Lucky, what’s yours?”

Author's Notes:

Yes. He's here. The Super Star himself, along with Garu in tow! Well, suppose it's only fitting the adapted Rangers meet their source material right? Just for fun really. Anyways, huge thank you to RuinQueenofOblivion for co-writing this chapter for me, and more precisely doing Baron Nero right.

Normally I'm trying to do these chapters by myself here, but it wouldn't feel like a Rails of Reality crossover without her input. And believe you me, she really shined here, along with teaching me a few things about her Shadow Line that I found very interesting. My only worry is she doesn't remove them or her Rangers too far away from the Source Material in such a way that it barely resembles ToQgers.

Anyways, enough of my fretting. As ever, comments, thoughts, and critique are welcomed. And no, saying "No, not Lucky!" does not count as critique.