Pharynx, even as he felt his body begin to freeze up, little by little with the ice slowly creeping up to his face to meet him, and his breathing began to slow swore he saw the Skill version of the Chameleon Kyutama began to glow a sharp silver. He thought it must have been a hallucination from the lack of oxygen, but he swore he saw a ghostly silver snake began to appear in front of him.

“So… This is what fate delivered me to, eh?” The snake-like entity slithered and approached Pharynx. “You are in real danger, I sense. There is no mistaking it.”

“Yeah, well considering I’m about to die from lack of oxygen and I’m probably talking to a hallucination caused by it…” Pharynx deadpanned, defiant to the last.

“You are not going to die. The spirits of the stars will not allow it, so long as you and your kind have a purpose.” The snake-deity touched his chest. “If anything, this Lupus is overstepping himself, and upsetting the divine course which we have mapped out. So, what is your greatest desire?”

“W-What do you think?” Pharynx coughed out. “If you’re watching all of us, then you know what I want. To become a Ranger, a Paladin just like everyone else.”

“Ah. Aligning yourself with the forces of good. A wise choice, young one,” the ghost said. “And just what we need at a time when evil is tipping the scales beyond repair.” It tapped his heart, causing a brief glimpse of light to appear. “But you had better hurry. Your Doctor friend is about to meet Lupus’s claws, and no doubt he will continue to hound the rest of the Paladins as well.”

“Believe me, Lupus is going to get what’s coming to him, and then some.” Pharynx snarled, as the spirit of the Ophiuchus constellation coiled around him, before vanishing into a now completed Ophiuchus Legend Kyutama as Pharynx’s body began to glow a sharp silver.

“Say the Change!” his gauntlet proclaimed, and with a trembling hand Pharynx pressed down on his Kyutama and set it in the device.

“Star Change, Ophiuchus!”

“Screw fate, and screw destiny, the world needs me now. Sure, victory’s not certain, but when has it ever been? And besides, isn't the smallest chance of victory enough of a reason for anyone, even an age-old Changeling such as I to keep on fighting? The world needs us. The world -No, the galaxy- needs the Power Rangers.” Pharynx thought to himself, pushing himself forwards through the vacuum of space as his body began to glow with a silver light as six glossy dragonfly-like wings opened up from his back, with the light nearly becoming blinding in intensity. His focus, his eyes were only trained on one singular thing ahead. The Doctor, and Lupus. He had some unfinished business to take care off.

Back aboard Lupus’ ship, things were going… quite badly. “Well, this was rather anticlimactic,” Lupus mused, pointing the Doctor’s own crossbow at him. “Funny, been chasing you up and around the galaxies for the past few years now, killing anyone you ever got close to, and now… here it all ends. With me, pointing your own weapon at you and about to blow your head off. And to think, you and the bug were so close to succeeding…”

Suddenly, a silver orb of light smacked Lupus in the chest, sending him flying backwards with the crossbow clattering to the floor. The light faded away as the Doctor removed his hand from his eyes, to reveal a silver-clad figure, with scale designs on his costume, and a red and blue scythe strapped to his back.

“Miss me?” a familiar voice asked, as the new Ranger turned to look at the Doctor, revealing his visor to be styled after a King Cobra poised to strike. “The Warrior Star, Ophiuchus Silver!” Pharynx shouted, as he drew his scythe and advanced towards Lupus, who was struggling to pick himself up off the floor. Spinning the scythe in his hands, Pharynx couldn’t resist a little smirk. “Now, I’m going to make you my little bitch.”

Placing his Kyutama in the scythe’s slot, making it shout: “Galaxy!” he swung the scythe and sent a silver slash of light towards Lupus and then grabbed the crossbow off the floor and powered this weapon up as well, sending a shot of gold energy at the Karō.

“Ophiuchus Impact!” Pharynx shouted as the strikes hit, ripping the Pegasus armor apart with a sound like glass shattering.

“What… No, that’s impossible!” Lupus roared, as the Pegasus Kyutama clattered to the ground, smoking. The Doctor smiled as he picked himself back up off the floor and went back to work on deactivating the cannons. He looked at Lupus, and then at the newest Ranger.

“The universe is big. It's vast and complicated and ridiculous. And sometimes, very rarely, impossible things just happen and we call them miracles,” he remarked. “You want to shut up now, before you make an even bigger fool of yourself?”

“You… you are just a Madman in a box!” Lupus roared and charged towards the Doctor, before Pharynx simply knocked him to the floor with another energy blast from the crossbow.

The Doctor sighed. “Guess not…” he muttered before clearing his throat. “Lupus, something you really ought to know. Believe me, there’s something you’d better understand about me ‘cause it’s important, and one day your life may depend on it: I am definitely a Madman with a box!” the Doctor crowed, before the controls to the cannons sparked, and he smiled at Pharynx. “Like I said. I'm the Doctor. I'm a Time Lord. I'm from the planet Gallifrey in the constellation of Kasterborous. I'm nine hundred and three years old, and I'm the man who's gonna save your lives and all the lives of the people on the planet below. You got a problem with that?”

Looking at the crossbow, Pharynx sighed to himself. “So uncivilized,” he muttered before tossing it aside and raising his Kyuchanger and activating the comms feature. He demorphed, wings folded back against his body and now spouting even larger red antlers to mark his new status as the hive King of the Changelings.

“This is Ophiuchus Silver and Libra Gold to the Paladins below. Got one simple command for you. Give ‘em Hell.”

Equus:

Flurry stood alone, in a field of wheat that seemed to go on for miles with a clear blue sky, sun shining down on her white-furred form as she just sat. Just sat there and talked. The sky occasionally flickered and instead of a sky, showed a huge metal ceiling instead. Of course, this whole place had to be an illusion, there’d been no place like this on Equus for centuries.

A soft wind blew through the field, gently brushing the wheat stalks as something rumbled above. Lupus’ ships, bombarding the planet. Flurry sighed, she figured Lupus would have a back-up plan just in case those cannons were to be disabled. Music played softly in the background, from a conjured radio.

“When I step around, I hear the sound
c-clip a clopping' up and down the street
the shuffling' of hooves, it surely proves
that I'll see you 'fore the day's complete

What is this wonderful feeling in my head?
Had it before I got up and outta bed
Just wanna wear a smile and come find you for a while…”

She wondered, was this what death felt like? Was this what death felt like for her aunts and her mother when it came, when Equus burned and screamed and cried out for mercy? Quiet, and serene, with them at peace accepting the end of the world? She supposed she’d never really know, to be honest.

Not that she minded death, she’d failed as a leader in so many ways already. She’d failed to predict that others were out there, in the skies high above the planet who had darker intentions. Maybe searching for a new home was a fool’s venture. After all, if what Lupus’ transmission had said was true, there really was no point. The galaxies were Dark Matter’s now.

Idly tossing the Scorpius Kyutama in her hand, she chuckled to herself sadly. “Look at us, we barely make a dent in their forces, and they strike back with a vengeance,” she mused. “I’m not my godmother or hell even my mom Princess Cadance, far from it. She’d have already made a plan to stop this, stop all of this. Probably befriend them all, and convince them to break free of their chains.

Levitating a cup of tea to her mouth in an aura of gold magic, she took a sip from it, and idly hugged a small yellow and green snail plushie to herself as she sat on the blanket. It was old, and beaten, but it was one of the few things she still had to remember the old world by.

“Oh…” Celestia’s voice said sadly, running a gentle hand through Flurry’s mane. “This should never have been your burden. None of this. We should be there for you, helping you through this…”

“B-But you’re not, are you!” Flurry choked out. “You’re… You’re just bits and streams and lines of date and coding, given my aunt’s memories!”

“But for better, or for worse, I am the Princess of the Sun, Celestia Invictus.” the Celesti-AI stated. “Sure, my title’s just for show now, something for me to boast or brag about if I was so inclined as there is no sun for me to raise or lower, but that’s just semantics now isn’t it? I am Princess Celestia, just as my wife’s AI is Princess Twilight Sparkle. You may not believe it, and you may never believe it,” the AI said, walking around Flurry with her dress ruffling slightly in the breeze. “May think me as fake as that sun, that breeze, and this field but I’m here for you, and I always will be.” she said, sitting down next to Flurry. “Now, what would a real Princess of Equestria do? Sit down and have tea in a generated paradise while her planet was under attack, or do something about it?” Celestia asked, offering the Scorpius Kyutama to Flurry.

“But I’m not a real Princess of Equestria! Hell, Equestria doesn’t exist anymore! It’s gone, burnt to ashes!” Flurry sniffled. The Celesti-AI gave her a look, as if to ask if she really believed in that sort of crap. It was the same look she gave her whenever she told the AI she was just bits of data and coding cocked up by Equestria’s brightest minds.

The Celesti-AI sighed, and gently shook her head. “Oh, you do have a lot to learn don’t you? Equestria is not a place. It never was. This could be Equestria, this room right here. Equestria is where our people stand. Even now, right now, those people need your help. So, get to it, Flurry Heart, daughter of the Princess of Love, and now Paladin of the Stars.”

She gently waved her hand over Flurry’s wrist, and a Kyuchanger styled gold and white appeared. Flurry’s eyes widened. “How…?”

“Well, a girl’s still got to have some secrets right?” The Celesti-AI winked, before vanishing. Flurry’s eyes narrowed in affirmation. She knew what she had to do, and slammed her Kyutama into the gauntlet.

“Say the Change!”

“Star Change: Scorpius!” Flurry shouted, and felt her whole body -As it began to glow a bright orange color- begin to be filled with a brand new energy, warm and comforting like her aunt’s embrace and filled with power beyond imagination. Even as she felt it, she thought to herself: “I swear Celestia, AI or not, -who’s to say with magic involved after all- I will make you proud. I’m one of the last of your lineage, and I will live up to your expectations of me. No, the people’s expectations of me. I am a Princess of Equestria, I protect the light and it’s people. I protect order, and I will protect the Galaxy. Now, as Flashfire likes to say, Dark Matter, it’s time to test your luck!”

As her wings unfolded, and Flurry rocketed upwards with a loud sonic boom through the cavern ceiling blaze with a burning light and a scorpion’s stinger beginning to materialize on her still forming costume she smiled. She hoped that Dark Matter was wishing on stars for luck, because they’d need it. It was time to take back her planet.

Flurry, even as she breached the atmosphere in a ball of fire incernating some of the Dark Matter starfighters by the sheer heat waves blasting off her alone, found a control console along with everything else that came with it forming around her in streams of date and code. On the computer screen in front of her read the words: “Scorpion Voyager Online”.

All around her, Flurry could see chaos. Laser shots flying every which way, and saucer-shaped craft swarming around her like trillions of angry wasps, with the Rangers right in the middle of all of this chaos as Lupus’s flagship loomed over the planet ominously. Flurry swore she saw a silver flash of light near the ship, but brushed it off as just her imagination.

“Uh guys,” Stripped Gear’s voice crackled from over the radio, and Flurry looked left to see the Swordfish Voyager destroying starfighters with seeker missiles. “Not sure if you’re getting this, but I’ve just gotten a new reading. Similar to that drone that Dark Matter sent down to kill us, but different.”

“Tu es sûr de ne plus boire? C'est impossible ... n'est ce pas?” Flashfire asked in complete and utter disbelief.

“No, I’m sure I’m quite sober, and from the looks of it I’d say it’s very possible.” Stripped Gear replied, with a presumed roll of his eyes. “I mean, I’m seeing a giant orange scorpion so…”

“Question is,” Coldcast asked as his Voyager bit down on one of the saucer-shaped craft and tossed it into another, the two colliding in a fireball. “Who’s the pilot, for Celestia’s sake?”

“Shape up Paladins,” Flurry barked over the comms. “Just because there’s a new addition to your ranks, doesn’t mean you should fall all over yourselves and act like a bunch of foals trying to figure out who it is. Got more important matters to deal with anyhow.”

“W-Wait, Princess Flurry?” Flashfire shouted in shock. “Is that you? How did you…? Actually, I’m not even going to bother to ask. Just grateful you’re here, madame. Welcome to the biggest scene of chaos et désordre Equus has ever seen since Discord came into being. Not sure what it is, but having you on our side now with Kyuranger powers, it brings a certain… je ne sais quoi to the team.”

“What, you trying to sweet-talk her or something?” Jabari teased, his Voyager’s wings slicing a fighter craft in two. “Because seriously man, I really think she’s way out of your league. Just sayin’.”

“Like I said, just like foals now that I’m here with powers…” Flurry thought to herself with a roll of her eyes.

“Just shut up…” Flashfire muttered. “Okay, Princess, the plan is to get inside that ship, and shut it down and pull Lord Pharynx, or should I say Ophiuchus Silver out alongside his new friend.”

“Well, that explains the silver flash…” Flurry mused. “Okay, but we’ll need some breathing room first. Way too many ships to even attempt that right now,” she noted.

“Quite,” Flashfire noted. “Okyu then! Time to serve these guys a second helping of pa-”

“Hey, food metaphors?” Spada barked up. “That’s my thing. My thing, you hear?”

“As I was saying, or trying to anyways,” Flashfire continued, completely ignoring him. “Team, form up on me. Time for a new combo! Séquence de transformation Megazord, en ligne!”

Nobody needed to understand Prench to catch his meaning there.

“Wondering when you’d give the order…” Jabari smirked.

“Ah, ah, hello!” the Doctor’s voice piped up, the sounds of blades clashing in the background. “This is the Doctor AKA Libra Gold speaking. Main cannons of Lupus’ ship are offline, thought you’d like to know that. No planet busting for him, although I am detecting something moving towards your home base. Just to inform.”

“I’ll get the base defenses online, and the Royal Guard alerted,” Flurry replied, sending a message down to the planet and to Stardust and his personal Praetorian Guard to ready themselves for battle. “Anything else, Golden Boy?”

“Yeah, got a little present for you. Sending you my Voyager along with Pharynx’ for your big mecha via remote control.”

Sure enough, a golden ship that looked like a set of scales was flying towards them. It was accompanied by a silver craft that looked like a snake’s head.

“That’ll do.” Flurry shrugged, as she pressed the transformation button on her console.

“Shooting Star Megazord transformation sequence primed,” the Celesti-AI informed, as the other Rangers leapt out of the hold and summoned their own Voyagers. “Combination sequence ready.”

“Let’s rocket.” Flashfire remarked -He was growing to like that phrase- as he saw the Wolf and Eagle Voyagers flying below him, before the back halves tilted upwards with the Cerberus Voyager linking up with them complete with small hisses of steam. The Scale Voyager connected to the Megazord’s right arm port forming what looked to be a pair of giant buzzsaws, and the Snake Voyager, the left. The Swordfish Voyager replaced one of the heads of the Cerberus, the left one specifically, forming some sort of massive shoulder cannon, and the Scorpion Voyager replaced the right head to form another shoulder cannon. Finally, the central head on the Cerberus had its jaw fold down, revealing a mouthplate covered face, with two stoic yellow eyes staring the oncoming hordes down.

“Shooting Star Megazord online.” the Celesti-AI informed as the combination completed itself and all six Rangers joined each other in the main cockpit.

“Let me remind you guys of who you’re dealing with,” Flashfire said, as weapons primed themselves. “The Beast Star, Cerberus Seagreen!”
“The Howling Star, Lupus Blue!”
“The Shinobi Star, Chameleon Green!”
“The Sword Star, Dorado Yellow!”
“The Winged Star, Aquila Pink!”
“The Poison Star, Scorpius Orange!”
“The Trick-Star! Libra Gold!” the Doctor’s voice called in over the comms, with two more soon to follow.
“The Warrior Star, Ophiuchus Silver!”
“The Armored Star, Taurus Black! Nine Stars, shining in the Heavens! Space Squadron, Kyuranger!”

“Now, let our friendship take on the universe!” Flashfire shouted, as the Megazord swung the Scale Voyager’s arm like some giant yoyo, ripping and tearing into swaths of ships, while the Snake Voyager opened up its jaws and fired a green cutting beam of energy, taking out at least a hundred more. The Swordfish and Scorpion Voyagers finished the job with shots of their own, selecting targets and then firing powerful single shots of energy.

“Now for you…” Flashfire smirked, disengaging the Megazord combination, and pointing his ship right towards Lupus’ personal Moraimarz practically surfing the massive fireballs left behind by the combined explosions of the fighter craft.

“Maintenant, j'ai envie de faire un peu de bruit. Donnez à ces gars quelque chose à retenir par nous.”

“...Pretty sure they’ll remember us already,” Jabari stated flatly before letting out a resigned sigh. “But dispatching the beat and it’ll be shouting. Trust me, you’ll love this piece,” he smirked, picking something from his personal playlist. “Oh, and Coldcast? I do listen to Radio 2 every once in a while.”

“That’ll do,” he smirked beginning to nod his head to the beat.

During all this chaos, nobody noticed, but one singular craft did manage to make it out, and headed down to the planet below. “I’m going to need you guys to back me up. Cannons are offline for the time, yes, but they could easily get repaired if we don’t do something about them now. Coldcast, Jabari, you trust me?” Flashfire asked.

“Always, grand frère.” Coldcast nodded.

“Course I do.”

“Good, give me covering fire. Those cannons, they’re mine. Rest of you, go give this ‘Doctor’ and Lord Pharynx a hand. Sorry Princess, you may be the leader of the free world and all that, but out here, I’m in charge.”

“Quite,” Flurry agreed. “Wouldn’t have it any other way. I knew I made the right choice in selecting you.”

Flurry wished him good luck as she watched the three Voyagers rocket towards the Moraimarz. Flashfire soon found himself in what looked to be a long metal trench running along the sides of the ship, towers attempting to shoot him and his friends down.

“Okay, okay…” Flashfire reassured himself. “Just like canyon runs back home. Only in space, and getting shot at.” he muttered, as the walls got ever narrower, with Coldcast and Jabari forced to form up behind him, leaving them very easy targets. Up ahead, the two main cannons of the Moraimarz loomed over them ominously.

“Getting very little wiggle room here…” Jabari murmured. “Projecting and running a few models now, seeing if we can make it out of this… well, alive. Seeing our chances.”

“Turn off those models, never give me the odds,” Flashfire stated. “Feeling a bit lucky today, actually. How ‘bout you guys?”

“Luck is an arbitrary concept. It has no meaning, or no scientific proof,” Jabari sniffed. He heard a small growl from Coldcast over the comms and backed up a little. “But I’ll believe in you, just this once.”

“Good,” Flashfire said in response before checking the schematics of the trench. “Okay, it’ll narrow up, but think of this like a grease trap in a sink. Soon, we’ll have this wide open area in front of us like a bowl that’s right up under the exhaust port of the cannons. That’s our opening. I’ll fire something up into those cannons, but Jabari, you create a window for Pharynx and the Doctor to get the Hell out of there okay?” he ordered. “‘Cause this boom, it’s gonna be a big one. If I’m right, might just blow up the whole ship. Or at least half of it. Or at least a massive hole in the side of it. Honestly, I don’t know what’ll happen. Alien fuel sources, rather unpredictable.”

“Lovely…” Jabari deadpanned. “Just want to let you know, if we die doing this? My family will have lawyers ready to sue the asses off your family.”

“Keenly noted, cadet.” Flashfire swallowed nervously.

Back on the planet below, Stardust was in a Hell of a lot of trouble. For one thing, one massive Deathworm, even larger than the one that had menaced the Shooting Star Megazord in the caverns a few nights before had currently erupted from the grounds of the city, and was smashing everything in sight. The city was ablaze, and the Praetorian and Royal Guards were barely containing the chaos, ushering civilians to safety and firing upon the creature with pulse rifles. Mind you, it was all for naught but a valiant effort all the same.

“Seems even if Lupus went by any small chance,” Stardust mused as he slammed the Draco Kyutama into his cane and raised it skywards. “He wasn’t going to let us off lightly. Like a child, this one, won’t just let us have a victory. No, he rage-quits, saying screw you guys. Saying, if I can’t win, neither can you!” he mused, before slamming the cane back down and shouting: “Star Change! Eye of the Dragon!”

As he was coated in a form-fitting purple body suit, he mused to himself: “The Path of the Dragon is a long and harsh one, but a glorious one in the end. If I don't do it, who will? Someone must carry on my aunt’s legacy as the first Kyuranger, Draco Violet, so why not I?”

Lighting his horn, he created a rotating shield of runes to block the energy blasts from the Deathworm’s central eye. The shield shattered, and Stardust was sent flying back, unfurling his wings and sending blasts of energy like snakes towards the Deathworm.

Nearby, unseen by anyone in all the chaos was this squid fellow making his way to the lab, shooting down anyone who tried to stop him with an old hunting rifle style weapon. He sighed in distaste as soon as he saw the dismembered state of the Scorpius Drone, and it’s Dark Kyuchanger which had been pulled apart at the seams.

“And to think,” Sir Ikargen mused. “You were once one of our best.”

He heard the sounds of hoofsteps running up from behind him, and turned to shoot, only to find two arm blades sticking out of the two red-clad guards’ chests. Ikargen smirked a little, as he saw the Drone’s central eye light up briefly and the blades fall to the ground and retract into the arms. Picking up the head, he smiled once more. “Looks like you’re not out of the fight yet. Dr. Anton built you well… As for your Kyuchanger, it’s no big loss as we have many more. Your Kyutama, we’ll recover it, all in good time. But I’ve been here too long already, risked too much.” he thought, grabbing the head and teleporting out in a flash of blue light with a snap of his fingers.

Back with Stardust, he called out to his fellow Rangers. “I need your assistance. A Deathworm, it’s breached the city limits!” he called out telepathically. “I… I don’t know how to stop it!”

“Relax, soon as we finish up here, we’ll come down to give you an assist. Remember, we’ve always got your back Prince.” Coldcast told him, before he found a blue lightning bolt symbol adorning his chest orb. Five other rangers, they found similar items as well.

“Loyalty,” Coldcast whispered.

“Kindness.” Flashfire mused.

“Generosity,” Spade smirked, knowing the old legend.

“Laughter!” the Doctor shouted, not really knowing why.

“Honesty…” Pharynx trailed off, not believing his own eyes even as he dueled Lupus, sword to scythe in the hanger bay keeping match with his every swing. The Chameleon Voyager was right behind him.

“And Magic,” Flurry finished. “I… I never thought we’d see them again. The Tree, i-it burned to the ground…”

“Like I said Flurry, you still have much to learn. The Magic of Friendship, it’ll always exist. Flashfire, he believed that,” the Celesti-AI lectured. “After all, why do you think he said your friendship would take on the universe? If there’s ever to be one constant in this universe, and amongst the residents of Equus, it’s that particular brand of magic will never die. Twilight knew this, that’s why she started that school so long ago.”

“Aww stop it, you’re going to make me blush!” the Twilight-AI said sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head with a hand.

Soon, the six elements found themselves gathering in front of Stardust, and placing themselves in his rune shield, before blasting the Deathworm with a rainbow stream of light. As it let out a horrific screech, the Deathworm began burning alive, before it was nothing but a pile of ash on the floor.

Back up in space, Flashfire was beginning to rethink his grease trap idea. The tower gunners had gotten their eye in, and as tightly bunched together as they were, the three Voyagers made great targets.

“Break off formation, take out those towers,” Flashfire commanded, and Jabari and Coldcast flew upwards and began taking out as many enemy artillery towers as they could.

“Any time now…” Pharynx chimed in.

“Relax, got this one in the bag, lining up my target. Sure, may not be the biggest target in the world, bit more than two meters but that’s about the size of a Crystal Fox back on Equus right? Used to hunt those for target practice. Just a slight tip though, you may want to get out of there. Fast.”

“You are a fool,” Lupus snarled. “You don’t even have the slightest hope of standing against Dark Matter. They will come for you, destroy anything and everything you’ve ever known. Go on, you and your friends can take up my offer, I’ll show you leniency even now,” Lupus said in an affable manner. “You can become Paladins, but just ones of the Dark Matter Empire.”

“Sorry, but I think I’ll have to pass on that remark,” Flashfire said as he entered the bowl area, and lined up his sights. Coldcast shot past him in a blur of blue motion, and blasted open a hole in the Moraimarz’s plating before he leaped out and kicked Lupus in the face.

“Coldcast,” Pharynx remarked.

“Lord Pharynx. Doctor,” Coldcast replied curtly. “Get to the Chameleon Voyager, I’ve still got a score to settle with this guy,” he said, placing the Boötes Kyutama into his gauntlet and in a blur of motion was scoring kicks and punches across the face faster than Lupus could blink. Finally, the torment ended, with Lupus flying back into some barrels.

“9.9 seconds, that was the time until your despair,” Coldcast smirked, noting Lupus bleeding from his prior wounds from his duel against Pharynx and coughing up blood from the mouth. “Also, that’s not coincidentally enough, the time it should have taken for Commander Flashfire to have taken out your planet buster cannons. So, uh, love to stay and chat, but… nos vemos, hombre.” Coldcast saluted, as explosions began to erupt all around him. Breaking into a sprint, the threesome headed for the Voyagers as the place exploded and collapsed all around them.

“DARK MATTER FOREVER!” Lupus roared before he was caught up in a fiery explosion. Next thing anyone on the planet below saw, was this massive flagship lightning up the skies like a supernova for just one minute, and then nine ships flying away from it.

“Échec et mat.” Flashfire commented.

A few days later, it was finally time to leave Equus forever. Hovering above the Galaxy Garrison Headquarters were the colony ships, with residents slowly filing into their respective assigned ships one by one.

Coldcast took one last look at the icy horizon stretching out in front of him, and sighed to himself in reminisce.

“Never thought I’d be sad to leave this icy old dump behind…” Coldcast muttered to himself, adjusting his jacket. It was dark blue, for the most part, with a light blue collar and armbands with a silver star on the back. The other Rangers wore similar jackets adorned in their own colors.

“Remember it not as it is now,” the Twilight-AI advised in a comforting tone with a hand on his shoulder. “But as it was in times long since past. It’ll always still be your home.”

“Y-Yeah…” Coldcast sniffled. “Yeah, I will. It’s just… this place, crappy as it’s been has been my home for years and now…”

“I know you feel man. We all do mi hermano.” Jabari said. “And I'll be here for you. We all will. Not the only one who’s going through the same thing. Remember that.”

Nearby, some young changeling grubs were chattering excitedly over Pharynx and his new shiny thick gossamer wings and tall crimson antlers. Currently, the new king was rocking a young one to sleep in his arms while wearing a chef’s apron reading “Kiss the Cook” of all things. He looked decidedly ridiculous. Apparently, he’d been helping Spada who nearby, was chopping up fish amongst other goodies and throwing it into little cold storage containers that were being loaded onto the ships.

One ship, in particular, stood out. It was Flurry’s ship, the Shining Armor named, of course, after her late father.

Outfitted with anything and everything one could imagine, it truly was a ship befitting of a Princess. Stepping into the Bridge, she felt a sense of awe and wonder even as Equus residents saluted and one shouted: “Captain on deck!”

Then she saw it, the captain’s chair. Sleek, polished a fine silver color and fitted with red velvet, it was truly bespoke. On either side sat two chairs for her most royal attendants. One for Flashfire, the other for the Captain of her Royal Guard.

Flurry smiled as she adjusted herself in her chair -her chair- and pressed a button off to the side, bringing up a holographic version of Princess Luna.

“So, where would you like to go, niece of mine?” Luna had to ask, and Flurry looked at the endless horizon in front of her and smiled.

“Ask me, Luna,” Princess Flurry requested. “What do you see?”

“I see… stars?” Luna replied quizzically, an eyebrow raised.

“Exactly, hundreds upon hundreds of star systems, each holding a possible Dark Matter colony for us to take down, and there’s the possibility out there as well that there’s a new home for us as well. So you know what I think?” Flurry asked, and just pointed to a random star system.

“Yes?” Luna asked.

“Hmm, I think somewhere… out in that direction. Engage.” she said, as the screen in front of her became a blur of light. Next stop? Everywhere.

Author's Notes:

Okay, so you have your nine saviors, and Equestria is now nothing but a memory. From here on out, it's the rest of the galaxy with worlds beyond your imagination.

Now, on the chapter. I admit, I easily could have ended it when Stardust went Draco Violet, but no. No, I said, Lupus had to be dealt with. Also, Layton, I took your advice, as you may note, and added in a Luna-AI made just for dealing with ship-related matters. Like the other two, she's got her original self's memories, but it's only now that she's been brought online.

As ever, comments, thoughts, and critique are welcomed.