//------------------------------// // Prologue: Part 1 // Story: Zodiac Rangers: Defenders of Equestria // by BlackWarGreymon //------------------------------// (Presented by me and Sonic Rainboom Dash) Zodiac Rangers Prologue Part 1: The Broken Spell Equestria. Land of peace and ponies. For over a thousand years, peace has reined in Equestria, thanks in part to the celestial sisters. The Eldest moved the sun and brought for the light and warmth her subjects needed, while the younger brought out the moon and stars when the time of rest was upon the world. For centuries, these to Sisters maintained harmony in Equestria, defending it from those who sought to take their place. Sadly, peace can only last for so long, as it did when a monster known as Tirek appeared. He stole the magic of the Celestial sisters and forced the ponies of Equestria to kneel before him as their lord. Beaten, but not broken, the younger sister came upon a mare shrouded in darkness, offering her the power to regain what had been taken. With a hesitant nod, the youngest felt her magic return, along with strange devices the mare said would aid her in the coming battle. After leaving to help her sister and ponies, the youngest set her sights of Tirek, unaware that forces were at play to make sure that Equestria would never fall to darkness, so long as the light of hope burned bright. Over the years, after the fall of Tirek, the youngest fell into a depression and fell under the influence of a wicked mare of darkness, Nightmare Moon, and came close to destroying her sister and country under a shroud of eternal night. The eldest, weakened by the long battle, used the lands most sacred treasures, the element morphers, and was forced to banish the youngest to the moon, leaving her to rule alone. 1000 years passed from the time that the younger sister was banished, and the older sister ruled over her country in peace during all this time. But such was the anguish that the elder sister felt that the flame of hope was slowly dying down to a flicker of its former glory. The elder missed the younger and planned all through the years to come up with a way to restore her younger sister to her former self. But no matter what plan she tried nothing worked and so the flame was almost completely extinguished. Even her connection to the elemental morphers was broken because she lost the hope and light she’d carried inside. There were only two things that kept her from completely losing her hope. The two things that let her keep hope was her own son and the daughter of her younger sister, her niece. Her son and niece were both born 300 years before her younger sister’s banishment. And after the younger sister was banished her niece turned away from Celestia in anger and anguish because of the pain that was inflicted on her at her mother’s banishment. But even if she had been angry at her aunt, she was angrier at herself for not seeing the signs, nor having the courage to confront her own mother. The eldest’s son was also in a similar state of anguish, for he saw how much pain his mother was in after the deed was done, for he knew that banishment was not what she was trying to do. And so, both son and niece sequestered themselves away and placed a spell that would make them sleep for as long as the youngest was banished. Then one day 10 years before her younger sister’s banishment would end, there a arose a group of young fillies destined to help save Equestria as long as the fire of hope burned in their hearts. Celestia saw the inner fire of each mare from a distance and indirectly helped to nurture these flames as her own flame of hope burned just a bit brighter then it had in centuries. One of these fillies just so happened to live in the great capital city of Canterlot and so she was able to directly influence this little filly. She saw her great magical prowess and took her underneath her wing and taught her all she could about magic and many other subjects. But the most important thing she taught the young filly was friendship and encouraged her to go out and seek friends of her own. And Celestia was the one who inadvertently introduced her to the other 5 fillies she had seen from a distance. And so it was that this young purple filly grew up alongside the 5 other fillies she made friends with as she became the de facto leader of their group. Sadly over time, the filly slowly slipped into studying and saying she no longer had time to make friends because it would keep her from her books, that by the time the banishment was a day away from ending, the filly, now mare in her own right, had secluded herself to her studies. Desperation made Celestia send her student to a small town out of the way, hoping one final time that she would make some friends and learn that studying was not all she needed, while protecting her from the battle with her sister. The mare went around town going about the duties assigned to her by Celestia, focusing only on those duties and brushing aside the attempts of the mares she met who tried to be friendly to her not only because she was new to town but because they recognized her from their childhood. The mare recognized them as well but had grown so far distant from them that she brushed them aside rather coldly as she played the aloof scholar. Then came the appearance of Celestia’s younger sister at the time of the elder sister’s national holiday celebrating the sun. The mare was present but watched in horror as she saw her mentor fight against the younger sister with great ferocity even as she was commanded to go and find the great objects of yore. The mare had only taken a few steps toward the door when a cold feeling started to flow over her. Looking where it was coming from, her eyes shrunk to mere pinpricks when the true creature that was doing this appeared. Nightmare Moon, The Manipulator. Fear clouded the young mare’s mind, along with five others, and they bolted out the door and into the deadly Everfree Forest. Though Celestia had intended on having the mare find the elemental morphers, she knew they were not in the Everfree, and so her spark of Hope faded to naught but embers unaware of Fate and destiny playing their cards. For unknown to Celestia, the elemental morphers had been moved from their spot deep in the treasure vault of Canterlot castle back to her old castle in the everfree by a mischievous phoenix only a couple of years prior to her sister’s release. So the mares traveled through the forest towards the castle overcome many trials that proved their worth and elements. And thus they came to Celestia’s old castle which had fallen into great disrepair. It was here that they ended up encountering Princess Luna, the younger sister, and the one who controlled her, Nightmare Moon. The young purple mare faced off with Nightmare Moon and Princess Luna hoping to spare her old friends any grief or pain. But her old friends stood resolute behind her till she was teleported with the two great alicorns to a different part of the castle. The mare cast about her in desperation and saw the pedestal which held the stone globes bearing each elements crest on it. The five elemental morphers, Equestria’s greatest defence, stood ready, waiting for the day their powers would be needed again. Rushing up to the pedestal, the mare dodged the beams sent at her by Nightmare Moon, and the controlled Luna. grabbing the morphers, the mare had been about to take them back down to her friends when a stray beam hit her hind leg, causing them to tumble to the very entrance of the room. Too far for her hooves to reach, and too dazed to use her magic to grab them, the mare just waited for her end, apologizing to her friends even if they weren’t there. But as both Nightmare Moon and Princess Luna charged their horns the morphers were grabbed by her friends who quickly used them to change into strange armored forms she’d never seen before. And together the other 5 mares managed to unleash attacks from strange devices that caused both Nightmare Moon and Princess Luna to divert their attention to the new armored forms. The young mare watched in growing horror as the armored figures of her friends fought against Nightmare Moon and Luna with their new power. Her horror grew because even if her friends had new power they were still being overwhelmed by the great beings before her. She desperately wanted to help them but she didn’t know how. She knew her magic alone would not be enough to make a difference. Suddenly, a tiny spark lit in her eyes as she recalled an odd prophecy in a old book she once read. “When the five combine, a spark shall reveal the sixth, and the dark shall tremble.” seeing her friends fighting not just for Equestria’s sake, but for her as well made that tiny spark erupt into a blazing inferno, a blinding light flashing before the eyes of everypony. When the ponies looked over, their eyes widened, as the mare that had been close to death's door, was now standing without any struggle, holding what looked like a purple amethyst star gem. But what caught their attention was not the fact that she was standing, but the wings flaring from her side. And then, she started moving. The gem glowed with a fierce light and transformed into some sort of device that to us looks like an old flip cell phone. She flicked its top open by her side and a smaller thinner part moved up from the middle of the top of the cell phone to indicate the want. She pressed 1, 2, 3 in rapid succession as she stood before the group on her hind legs. She then brought her left foreleg up in front of her with the hoof towards the sky and brought the hoof with the morpher across the other and said, “Galwit Source Mystic Force!” She pointed the tip of the morpher up at the sky as a voice called out, “Ancient Mysto Ranger!” and out of the spell circle that formed in the sky a phoenix of fire appeared. It swooped down and flew to hover behind her. She held her forelegs out and it merged with her and her armored suit appeared. It consisted of a red suit with a small skirt built into it at the waist with black stripes running from black boot cuffs up to the chest of the suit. These black stripes connected with another black stripe that formed a v shape on the chest that went all the way to the shoulders. Gold trim outlined the black v stripe on the chest and the gloves of the suit were red with gold cuffs that kept them connected with the suit. A red cape flowed out behind her while it was connected to the back of her suit. Finally she jumped up into the air and passed through the spell circle in the air and as she did so her helmet formed. It started on one side of her face and moved to the other till her helmet was fully there. The image of a phoenix served as the visor for her helmet. She struck a pose as she said, “Fearsome as Fire.” And did another pose as she said, “Red Phoenix Ranger!” One could now see a gold belt around the waist of the suit that was connected by a golden belt buckle with the mystic force’s logo on it. And she had flaming wings erupting from the back of her suit underneath the cape. Furthermore her tail hung out the back of the suit encompassed by a red mesh of some sort that would keep it from hindering her movements. The others, plus Nightmare Moon, stood in shock at the fact that there had been a sixth element morpher, something the legends never stated. Luna, on the other hoof, looked at the mare the held the phoenix morpher with a small bit of renewed hope. Hope that she’ll be free of the control of the Nightmare. And yet somehow she knew, that by the end of this battle, the outcome would be unexpected. The battle between the mare, Nightmare Moon, and Luna was fierce and long. The other 5 mares were forced to watch exhausted as the battle dragged on without the mare in the red suit showing any signs of tiring. It was like the whole of magic itself was empowering her. Eventually, the other five got their second wind and joined the battle, quickly breaking Nightmare Moon’s hold over Luna, though unfortunately having to knock her out to achieve the effect. The mare in red maneuvered herself between the other five and materialized a large sword with phoenix wings acting as the cross-guard. The handle was a black leather finish with gold diamond trim going down the center, ending in a phoenix talon hilt. For the blade itself, up the full length of the blade was mystic runes as well as multiple starbursts. When the sword full materialized, it triggered all the other weapons to appear as well, floating around the sword in a awe inspiring display of power. With a final flash, the weapons transformed into a strange weapon made out of all the others, with the sword being the core of the cannon. “Harmony Blaster ready. Fire!” The mare said, firing a beam of rainbow towards Nightmare Moon, only for a shield to form around her at the last second and teleport her away as a blinding light filled the room. When the other five’s eyesight returned, they stared in shock to see that Nightmare Moon was gone, but so was their old friend; only a single feather remained from where she had been standing. It was a red colored feather that was tipped with the bright orange of fire above the red. The group looked for her for a while but could not find her and eventually returned to the site to talk with Princess Luna who was back under her own control again. And Princess Celestia had been released from her prison in the sun with Nightmare Moon having disappeared. So it was that the kingdom gained new protectors that would defend it against all threats. The group of five mares worked together throughout the years eventually being lead by a new team leader whose name was Starlight Glimmer after they ended up showing her the falseness of her ways. And so it was that the children who had locked themselves away finally emerged from their deep sleep still the same age they had been when they locked themselves away. In other words they were still as young as they were before seeming to be a very young colt and filly. Celestia and Luna had been overjoyed with the return of the family, but only Luna’s happiness had been genuine. For Celestia had lost another student in her long life, though this time, it wasn’t due to neglect, but sacrifice. She had spent years searching for any trace of her student, hoping that she had been safe and sound, but no trace was ever found. She never gave up hope however, even when others had tried telling her to move on, that someday, somehow, she would see both her students again, and finally tell them the truth that plagued her for so long. --------- Over on earth 1000 years in the past a magical portal opened up which deposited a strange pony mare. This mare was the one who had disappeared from Equestria after the battle with Nightmare Moon. Her name was Twilight Sparkle and it was she who created the ancient Mystic Force rangers to fight against a foe that wanted to steal all magic for itself and use it to conquer the world. This foe was sealed away deep underground after many fierce battles but it came with a great cost. Several of those ancient rangers fell with one of them being captured and turned to the side of evil at the cost of his memories. Before forming this ancient team and fighting the war against evil Twilight Sparkle had ended up learning how to disguise herself as one of the inhabitants called humans. And it was after the battle that she went on to guard the source of all magic by herself and ended up being called the Mystic Mother as she continued to use her innate magic to disguise herself.  And it was 970 years after Twilight Sparkle first appeared on earth that a new team of Mystic Rangers would be called upon. --------- A young man named Nick had rolled into the town of Briarwood for the first time on his motorcycle that he ended up hearing a cry for help. He followed the source of the cry and ended up coming across a girl in an alley being accosted by a thug. This girl was Sunset Shimmer, who had traveled to the town of Briarwood after having traveled through a magic mirror some time before. She had gone through high school in a daze and had finally learned the error of her bullying ways as she sought for some form of control and power. All it took was a group of 5 girls to show and tell her the way. So she had graduated and decided to go on a personal journey to figure more out about herself and had stopped in Briarwood. She had been walking along the streets when a thug had pushed her into an alleyway and started to lay into her with his fists after she refused to give up her wallet and cell phone to him. And that’s what led Nick to her who ended up taking out the bandit and calling the police. Afterwards he led Sunset Shimmer away from the area and walked with her to a store he felt was probably safe where she would be able to call someone about what had happened to her. Unbeknownst to the two, and old lady had been watching the action as it played out, having been ready to intervene with a few well placed spells. When she saw the young man on the motorcycle stop and render aid to someone he clearly never saw before, the old lady silently nodded her head and whispered to herself, “‘he’s the one i’ve been searching for. The girl as well.’ she then lifted her hand and pulled out two old phones, one a bright red and the other a deep green, ‘they shall be the key to saving this world… and mine’ and with a silent breath, the old lady vanished.