Spada always hated the cold, went against every natural instinct he had to go to some cold climate and just live out the rest of his life there. There was a reason he preferred the underground cities over the frozen overworld. The sheer feel of the biting, howling, slashing winds against his carapace and chitlin felt wrong in every sheer way.

Changelings, back in their early days were jungle-borne creatures. They’d grown and evolved in the depths of dark, rainy, sweaty forests far beyond Equestria’s known borders and far off any known map’s borders even. There were no jungles now of course, nor would there ever be again, save for artificially created climates inside the cities or onboard the colony ships. But every Changeling, even those born long after the sun was but a memory, longed for those lands and Spada was no exception. Oh sure, if the old texts were correct, these jungles were not for the faint of heart, you had to fight to survive against whatever wanted you as it’s next meal, but that’s how Changelings, in their original form at least learned to be the top predator. Running and hiding, sticking to the shadows and draining love dry from any being unlucky enough to be caught in their mandibles. He could only guess some of this of course, as even long before he was born, Queen Chrysalis had sought it fit to destroy most of the texts relating to Changeling origins and it was only with the combined efforts of Twilight Sparkle and Thorax that what little remained was saved.

From what he remembered in old diaries, usually gained via sneaking into Stardust’s private quarters under the disguise of a guard (Security was rather lax in detecting Changelings, Spada had found) it wasn’t an easy task to say the least. Take for example one entry by Twilight.

“Hot. Wet. Hellish. Acid Rain. The chaos lands are all that stand between us, and what Thorax’s texts refer to as the Hivemother-Land. The jungles of old where the very first Changelings hatched from their eggs. Of course, standing between us and those jungles, isn’t just foul weather conditions. Pits of boiling hot lava, with very few spots of safe drinking water nestled inside caves where acid rain can’t contaminate it. Of course, that’s not the worst of it at times. No, that title would belong to the chaos spawn. Foul beings, indescribable in words. I can barely spare a glance at them without going mad. They’re constantly shifting between various monstrous forms, and the rare times they’re not in a that state, they like their creator are in some sort of chimera-like state.

“Green skinned with a hide tougher than even the strongest of leathers, and covered in boils. Thank Faust Thorax seems to have this sixth sense, if you will calling out to him, leading us through this blackened and charred wasteland. I swear, by the time we get through this pit and get a definitive marker set up so that ponies can create a teleportation link between wherever the mother-hive is and Canterlot along with Thorax’s hive, I’ll probably never feel clean again by the way this journey’s going. This foul pit, it has a way of getting to you. Time seems to stand still when you can’t see Celestia’s sun no thanks to the constant cloud cover. As I sit here, in a cave, I do long for home, and for the comforts of my wife’s wings. ...Shit, I have to move. The chaos spawn, they’ve spotted us. Time to run and hopefully fight to see the next day. Or at least the next hour…”

Spade shuddered at the descriptions he found therein, but somehow, in some way, he probably would have welcomed the challenge. New land to explore, and possibly a new culture to bring his culinary skills to. Sure, Discord himself had noted: “You can’t reason with them. Or at least I can’t. Fact is I've never known anyone who did.” However, going into that Chaos Lands like they did, Twilight and Thorax had unknowingly laid the seeds for the future. In fact, their mission back then, it wasn’t that far removed from one of the main missions of Project Horizons, as it was beginning to be called. Seek out new cultures, understand them and perhaps make new allies along the way. No, that wasn’t right. Hopefully make new allies along the way. Go where no Equus resident had gone before, cheesy as it sounded. And Spada intended to be at the forefront of this mission, wherever it led.

Food connected everyone, it was a universal language. The fact of the matter was, even if you couldn’t speak someone else’s tongue, you could win their hearts and minds through their stomachs. That’s what Spada intended to do, find new cultures, and find new dishes to serve throughout the galaxy. Might have been a challenge sure, but again, he welcomed it. It probably would have surprised nobody then, that Spada was a descendant of Pharynx, the famous (Or infamous, depending on your perspective) warrior-king of the Changeling hives of old. Spada, he wanted to see the galaxy, and for it to taste Equestria’s many delights. Small wonder then, he accepted the prospect of being Chameleon Green. It made perfect sense in his mind. Chameleons, and Changelings, they shared a sort of kinship in that both could easily blend into their environment and nobody would ever find them for hours unless they chose to show themselves before then. A Shinobi Chef, odd combo some might have thought, but it worked for him. After all, Spade mused, he was already a cook and most didn’t think of Changelings becoming chefs. But for him, it was a necessity.

Life was harsh growing up in the under-cities, he was just a simple drone amongst many other changelings in his family, with no hive leader. So he rose to the challenge of caring for everyone else in his hive, small as it was. No, his family. He took to cooking, even at a very young age because there was simply very little else to do. He had to, cook for his siblings or let them starve. Sometime later, he didn’t quite know when, but when he was on the verges of becoming a young adult, it hit him. That was what he’d do. Become a master chef like Saffron Masala, Gustave Le Grand, Hellfire, and all the rest! That was his dream, let everyone taste his cooking and what he had on offer. And now his client list, if he had his way, would extend to the whole galaxy and beyond.

Of course, Spada was so lost in thought about his future plans that he didn’t really have the ability to pay attention to where he was walking, namely in this case one very large crystal stalagmite. Mind you, when he smashed into it nose first, he did finally pay attention.

“Oh, oh!” Spada groaned out in pain, rubbing his busted, bleeding nose. “For the hivemother’s sakes! Third time this week, and to add insult to embarrassment and injury, crystal… I’d never thought I’d find something that hurt worse than walking into a solid wall!” he exclaimed, his normally yellow chitlin turning a bright tomato red.

“You need to keep your eyes front and center, on the present least for the time being I say,” a massive voice rumbled as a dark pink-feathered parrot with silver eyes looked down at Spada. Around her neck was a thick black crystal of some sort hanging via a string. Her thermal suit did her quite a few favors, as like all the others it was rather form-fitting and therefore emphasized the bird woman's figure. “Not to the stars, confusing as it sounds.”

Spada sighed to himself. Commander Fågel Bredsida, or Taurus Black as she was also known was one of the only Equus residents he could never quite get a read on. She was rather guarded, kept her emotions and played them close to her chest. ...Her very nice chest, Spada was forced to admit. For a parrot anyways. Not that he was interested in that sort of thing.

“You seem to enjoy going out of your way to get under my carapace, don’t you?” Spada remarked, giving Fågel a flat look.

“Perhaps,” Fågel admitted, a trace of a smile reaching her beak. “But you need to keep your eyes on the road ahead, and not the one you have yet to reach.” she trailed off, before kneeling down to his level and wiping some of the blood off his nose and then booping it. Spada flushed red again.

“Oi, slowpokes!” Coldcast’s voice called from somewhere up ahead. “You two comin’ or what? I’d really not rather half to explain to Princess Flurry why we lost two of her best pilots in a cave while we were off on some wild goose chase! Unless… you two lovebirds have something else in mind, in which case don’t let moi hold you up!” he cackled, and Spada flushed red for a third time and tried to sputter something out in return. He failed, but points for trying at least.

“Apologies for my half-brother,” Fågel sighed, rubbing her forehead with a claw. “He’s hardly what you’d call… intelligent in some aspects. Griffon really should put more faith in Stripped Gear really. He’s never steered us wrong before.”

“...Trust me,” Spada sighed. “You learn to deal.”

Princess Flurry Heart, to say she was having a good day was liking saying Discord was good for your mental health in the long term. First Contact with an alien species, didn’t go as well as she would have liked.

As her hooves hit the metal grating of the catwalk below her, which was the only thing keeping her from falling hoof first into a river of lava, she sighed to herself as she clutched the new and frankly rather mysterious Kyutama that had been recovered from the ship’s wreckage. She’d always known or at least suspected that the Kyutamas, they’d had some non-Equestria nature in terms of their origin, and this only confirmed it.

Snapping her fingers, a stream of data appeared alongside her, and solidified into a holographic version of her late godmother, Princess Celestia.

“Troubles, my dear?” Her godmother asked. No, the Celesti-AI, that’s all it was. Flurry Heart had to remind herself not for the first time in the last couple of hundred years. This was just a crude copy of her beloved relation, nothing more. Made of streams of data and code, and given her memories. “You know I’m always here to talk if you so wish.”

“Thanks, but no thanks…” Flurry muttered.

“Listen, I may not be your actual godmother, as you seem quite keen to remind me on numerous occasions, but I’m crafted from the same cloth as it were.” the Celesti-AI stated.

“No, you’re not! You’re… You’re just code, a little thing made to reassure the current generation of Equus’ residents that in some way, their ruler is with them. Same with Auntie Twilight!” Flurry shouted, fighting back a sob. Having to look at this… thing every day, it hurt her. Knowing that if her real godmother hadn’t been so foolish to believe she could hold back the sun, she might have been with her today, along with her mother and her aunt and Princess Luna as well!

“Oh Flurry…” the Celesti-AI whispered, a small tear dripping from one of her eyes. Flurry blinked a bit, AIs couldn’t have emotions, could they? They certainly couldn’t cry if that was the case! No, she told herself, it was just another aspect of realism that had been added to the programming, another piece of coding designed to simulate an actual pony. And that’s all the Celesti-AI was, just another simulation. And in Flurry’s mind, some sick joke the fates had played on her. Here was Celestia, along with Auntie Twilight, walking around and yet at the same time… they weren’t. “I can’t pretend to understand or possibly imagine what it must be like for you, seeing someone with your late godmother’s appearance and memories walking around this city, -To say nothing of Twilight- so I won’t try. But let me be understood, this isn’t the end of this little conversation. Far from it. Now, I can only presume you called me because you need a little help. Is that right, My Little Pony?”

Sighing, Flurry tossed her the Scorpius Kyutama. “Here, see what you can make of this.”

As Flurry walked, she passed a group of ponies in lab coats at a console muttering to themselves under their breath. She only barely caught what they were saying, namely something about a massive heat signature burrowing deep beneath them.

“Oh, this is indeed intriguing,” the Celesti-AI mused, with a raised eyebrow. She recognized it instantly for what it was, and to say she was surprised was an understatement. “And here I thought the only Legend Kyutama on Equus aside from Draco, were the Cerberus, Aquila, Dorado, Taurus, Lupus, and Chameleon ones.”

“They are,” Flurry replied, nodding her head in confirmation to the Celesti-AI’s statement. “And yet this turns up in the wreckage of an alien crash site…”

“Grasped in the hands of some robot, who had the ability to turn his ship into some sort of massive metal fighting machine, not unlike your Voyagers,” the Celesti-AI commented in return. “So I heard. The resemblance is uncanny,”

“No, it’s scary actually,” Flurry replied, with a shake of her head. “Your old self, the original Celestia, both she and Luna knew the Draco Kyutama came from somewhere beyond this planet didn’t they?”

She’d now gone onto another catwalk, and this one was high above a hanger bay, where below sat a vaguely half-dome themed ship, named after her late father Shining Armor. It was to be one of the many, many colony ships that were to ferry the last residents of Equus to whatever New Eden they happened to find. Equipped with the latest in defense technology with only the ship known as the Orion -The fleet’s flagship, along with Prince Stardust’s personal command center- surpassing it, it was hoped it could resist anything thrown at it.

Near it, ponies worked night and day to both repair and maintain the Voyagers. Currently, they worked hard on the Bull Voyager, which could only be described as some massive tracked tank with a bull’s head fitted to the front to act as some sort of battering ram if needed. Nearby rested the Wolf and Eagle Voyagers, still being worked on after their last battle with the scorpion walker. The Eagle Voyager, in particular, was having its atmospheric controls and energy shielding fixed after they had taken major damage from one of the scorpion walker’s final attacks. In theory, the Eagle Voyager was supposed to act as a scout, and be able to fly ahead even in the most caustic of atmospheric conditions and still kept its respective Paladin alive to report back on what lay beneath.

For a moment, just for a moment, Flurry gazed at these machines in wonder. They were the best of the best, flown by Equestria’s brightest minds and their most skilled pilots. She actually envied them in some ways, they didn’t have the restrictions of being stuck on some massive colony ship half the time so they could see what lay ahead of them. And what’s more, they could take the fight to an enemy if they were allowed, instead of just waiting back and defending a colony ship like the Shining Armor and the Orion were intended to do. All the while, the Celesti-AI continued on.

“Well, we didn’t. But we had suspicions, my sister and I,” the Celesti-AI corrected her. “Late one night over Canterlot, there was this meteor shower. We thought nothing of it at the time, why should we have? Showers like this, they’d been going on before we were out of our mother’s womb. But the very next morning, Fizzlepop Berrytwist of Twilight’s personal guard showed up, Draco Kyutama in hand. Our top scientists worked for hours on end to try and discern what it was or where it even came from, and yet we could find nothing. Only an inscription embedded in the base.”

“An inscription?” Flurry asked, as she stopped in her tracks and crossed her arms. “What’d it say?”

“Well, if I recall correctly, it went: “When the universe falls into evil clutches and its people shed tears, the Kyutama will choose nine saviors, the Kyurangers, who will save the universe.” or something close to that,” the Celesti-AI replied. “Never thought anything of it at the time even if it befuddled scientists for ages, but now with the appearance of this “Jark Matter” or whatever they choose to call themselves…”

“Yes, it does bear looking into doesn’t it?” Flurry mused, placing a hand under her chin in thought.

“Unfortunately, I can’t help you anymore on this particular aspect. It’s beyond my realm of knowledge. However, you might want to check in with Stripped Gear, he’s the one who seems to know the most about these Kyutamas and all, given he created the other Legend Kyutama and the Skill Ones as well, simply by working backwards from the technology of the Draco Kyutama,” the Celesti-AI advised.

“Sadly, I can’t just go off and ask him right now. Him, along with the rest of the Paladins went off to investigate some strange energy signature in what used to be the Ghastly Gorge,” Flurry replied. “Didn’t say much about it, just up and left.”

“Well, there is one other pony you might try asking,”the Celesti-AI hummed to herself before handing the Scorpius Kyutama back to Flurry. “Namely, ‘my’ son, Prince Stardust.”

“Yeah, I just might do that…” she mused. “Thank you, Celestia,” she stated, before running off towards the Prince’s place of residence. It was only a few minutes later that Flurry realized she’d referred to the Celesti-AI by what she did.

Grumbling to herself for her little slip-up, she eventually found herself in Stardust’s quarters. The Prince’s personal quarters really hadn’t changed much from the last time she saw them. Wall to wall bookshelves, with holographic maps of various star formations, nebulas and nearby planetoids projected from emitters on the walls. The room had been darkened to make these projects as visible as was humanly possible. It was filling the room to such an extent that it was really quite frankly rather overwhelming.

Flurry sighed to herself, and her horn glowed a very light gamboge yellow color before it flicked all the emitters off, and turned the lights in the room back on. The Princess groaned to herself, the least her fellow Royal could do was be considerate enough to let her walk around his quarters without much incident. Namely, her not tripping over some armchair or something and breaking a leg. Sure, she and Stripped were about the only visitors he got on a somewhat semi-regular basis, but the least he could do was be considerate to them, right?

Eventually, the door to the Prince’s bedroom opened and Stardust himself stepped out. For a brief moment, Flurry caught glimpse of what looked to be a tank full of some green liquid in the corner of his room. Whatever was inside, she couldn’t exactly discern due to the fact that the liquid itself was so thick. Not that it mattered anyways, considering the doors to the room shut soon after Stardust entered Flurry’s field of vision.

“Ah, Flurry!” Stardust greeted, and took her hand and kissed it. “Always such a pleasure to see your face.”

Stardust was every bit Twilight’s son, that much was for certain. He bore the same general lavender coat color, and had a dark purple mane -nearly translucent- that seemed to flow with a life of its own and was filled with what looked to be stars. Probably something he inherited from his aunt Luna, Flurry often suspected. He always exuded class, thanks to the fancy gold-buttoned, epauletted uniforms he was always clad in, and the dragon-headed cane he walked with.

“Sadly, wish I had the time, or desire for small talk,” Flurry replied, all business. She tossed the Scorpius Kyutama to him. “So, what do you make of this?”

“Stripped Gear’s latest creation?” Stardust guessed. “No, he would have told me if he’d made another Legend Kyutama, wouldn’t he? And yet…”

“That’s exactly what this is,” Flurry finished. “I presume you’ve heard of the wreckage we found out near one of the Vaults?” she inquired.

“Yes… first contact with an alien race and they try and destroy us. Not what I would have wanted, really…” Stardust mused, rubbing his chin. “Gah, bet if they had a listen to this new track by Count Leon they might have been more receptive.”

He snapped his fingers, and from the speakers, a short little ditty began to play.

“Ranger, Ranger
Kyu-Kyuranger
Oh, Kyuranger
3! 2, 1! OKyu!

“Good morning, Mr. Sun, Mr. Fireball
You're so bright, I just can't get enough!
High-high-high tension! Go, go, with a high touch!
And those sparkling lucky, lucky Kyutama
3! 2, 1! OKyu!” a male voice sung as Stardust did a little dance, swinging his cane around without a care in the world, before Flurry knocked him flat with a punch, and shut off the music with her own finger-snap.

“Be serious, for Faust’s sake!” Flurry snapped, and held the dragon-tipped cane to Stardust’s face. “Your Aunt Luna used this to become the first Kyuranger, and buy Equestria some time, and here you are treating this thing like a mere trinket and dancing with it like you’re Flashfire’s too many greats-grandmother Trixie Lulamoon on stage! And this whole First Contact thing, not something to joke about!” she exclaimed, getting the mental image that if Stardust had met this robot, he would have brought out a synthesizer and played Axel F on it as a greeting, dancing while doing so.

“Sorry,” Stardust apologized, though Flurry got the distinct feeling he didn’t really mean it. “It is admittedly odd though, an alien having possession of a Kyutama,”

“Which is exactly why I came to you,” Flurry replied. “You know more about the Kyutamas than anyone aside from Stripped Gear and as I can’t exactly get into contact with him, I thought I’d come to you for help on this. Just a little bit of history on the legend of the Draco Kyutama and the nine saviors would help. Small things,”

“Yes, well, unfortunately, I don’t know anything about it. You’d have to ask Celestia, or rather her AI recreation,” Stardust replied sounding about as fond of it as Flurry did. “She’s got the memories, after all, right?”

“I did, and she directed me to you. Said you’d know more,” Flurry replied.

Stardust frowned for a brief moment. “Ah well, every program has its glitches right? When Stripped Gear gets back, I’ll confer with him on working on her. Best to check Auntie Twilight’s AI as well, now that I think of it,” he replied in a dismissive tone.

Flurry didn’t quite know why, but she felt her magic crackle a bit and got the distinct urge to punch Stardust for referring to the AI versions of her aunt and her godmother as glitched. However, before she could do so, the entire city rumbled, and both Stardust and Flurry had to grab onto something before they fell to the floor.

“Commander Ares!” Stardust barked. “What was that?”

“Don’t know sir, but it’s origin point just came from somewhere outside the Crystal Empire. Hacking into the nearest vault entrance exterior camera to have a little look-see… I’ll transfer it to your quarters.”

With that, a holographic emitter brought up a scene from outside Vault T-245’s entrance doors. A massive purple and silver tower with two spinning gear-like rings, drilling deep within to the planet’s surface. Near it, were various little humanoid aliens wearing stark black suits with either purple or lime green trimmings, and silver helmets to hide their faces. The tower, or more likely their ship hummed and pulsated every half-second or so.

“Sir!” Commander Ares shouted. “Planetary Geothermal levels, they’re dropping! Whatever that thing is, it’s sucking us dry!”

With that, both Flurry and Stardust’s eyes widened.

Meanwhile, in the city’s labs, a light flickered on and a head began to move, observing the various scientists working it over.

“Fascinating,” the Scorpius Drone thought to itself. “They think they killed me. Quite arrogant little lifeforms, really.”

He noted a nearby screen showing the Moraimar, as it was called, beginning to suck the planet dry of all of its energy. It’d take a few days, considering the size of the planet but he could wait. Nothing the locals could do to stop Dark Matter anyways. He chuckled as he watched the various scientists go into a panic over this new ship and debate amongst themselves on how to stop it. This only solidified his theory.

“Now,” the Scorpius Drone thought. “Time to set about relocating the rest of my body…”

If he was capable of smiling, he would have.

Far away, unaware of what was going on, the Paladins of Equus were deep within the formerly known Ghastly Gorge’s caverns. Once housing Quarray Eels, ponies or any other type of being had been far too afraid to explore what lay within and discover the caverns’ secrets. Until now, that is.

“By the Hivemother…” Spada whispered as he, directly in front of him gazed at a truly awesome sight. Embedded deep within the crystalline structures was a massive purple dragon, clutching what could only be described as a massive purple orb in its front claws, gilded gold.

“Okay, was someone watching too much Draken Orb Z when they built this, because correct me if I’m wrong, but that thing looks a little too much like Shenlong for my liking…” Coldcast trailed off.

“I highly doubt that Shenlong was the main inspiration for whoever or whatever created this,” Jabari deadpanned. “Pretty sure Draken Orb Z wasn’t around when these were all just caverns over tens of thousands of years ago via my last counting. Hell, it’s only thanks to erosion we’re able to explore these places now, and even then we had to wait for the eels to die off to even get this far into the cave…” he whispered, as he ran a hand up the crimson red cavern walls, just trying to see if there was any way to break past the crystal and free the truly magnificent beast within.

“Anyone got a pickaxe or somethin’?” Jabari asked, and Coldcast burst out laughing.

“I highly doubt a pickaxe is what is going to smash through those walls!” he cackled, clutching his sides in mirth until he let out a yelp when Spada hit him atop the head with a stirring spoon.

“Don’t mock someone’s kitchen!” he barked out.

“But… but this isn’t even a kitchen!” Coldcast muttered to himself.

“It is to them,” Spada replied, pointing to Stripped Gear and Jabari, who were inserting Skill versions of their Legend Kyutamas into their gauntlets. “I have my kitchens, they have their laboratories. Both are about getting messy, creating experiments to bedazzle others!” he proclaimed, his eyes seemingly sparkling in wonder.

“Dorado/Aquila!” the zorse/unicorn pair shouted, and holographic manifestations of their respective Voyagers began chipping away at the crystal to free the dragon inside.

“Hmm, a Draco Kyutama, and now a Draco Voyager… I wonder,” Stripped murmured to himself theories beginning to form in his mind, before everyone jumped a little at the sound of a loud explosion from behind them.

“Well, worry no longer!” Lupus snarled, bringing out what looked to be twin sickles of purple energy. “Because you won’t live long enough to see the fruits of your labors. I really have to thank you for leading me here, it’s been ages since the Draco Voyager’s been seen. Let me show you my gratitude…” he smirked the golden orbs that passed for eyes narrowing.

“Who do you think you are?” Coldcast snarled, reaching for his Kyutama.

“Lupus, Karō of the Pegasus System and your new overlord.” the wolf creature smirked, and Coldcast let out a growl and slammed his Kyutama into his gauntlet.

“So, you think you owe claim to the name Lupus?” he asked. “Let’s see about that, shall we? Star Change, Lupus!”

With a flash of blue light, a roar of rage, and with his claw weapon in hand, Coldcast charged into battle...

Author's Notes:

Okyu! (Sorry, couldn't resist using Xiao's pun.) So, at first I did think a yak or minotaur would fit the idea for Taurus Black, but then I figured it'd be too obvious of a choice and I thought, why not have a member of Captain Celaeno's species take that role instead? Change things up a bit? I mean, it's not like I'm already taking great liberties with the source material anyways.

Also yes, that was the ending theme to Kyurangers (If not translated into English) Stardust did a little dance too. I'm not sorry. Nor am I for the shameless Dragon Ball Z joke. Because really, tell me this isn't a reference to Shenlong?

I find it funny that my fellow Ranger writer Shadowmane's villains are all wolves, and here I debut a high-ranking wolf villain. Agh, anyways. Plenty of foreshadowing here. Some subtle, others... not so much. As ever, comments, thoughts, and critique are welcomed.