//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: Birth of a Team // Story: Zodiac Rangers: Defenders of Equestria // by BlackWarGreymon //------------------------------// Presented by myself and fellow author Under_The_Vaile with help by Sonic Rainboom Dash Zodiac Rangers: Defenders of Equestria Chapter 1: Birth of a Team Twilight’s ship sped through hyperspace on its way to the exit point that would put them near the planet of Equis, home to Twilight’s nation of Equestria. Sunset was up on the bridge at the moment watching the view screen as the multitude of stars whizzed by at high speed. She turned her head as she heard the door to the bridge open and Twilight came trotting on in with a tired smile on her face. Twilight was wearing her own hoof made royal regalia that was different then Celestia and Luna’s, though more in line with normal clothes than fancy wear. Her regala consisted of a light purple button up shirt, with her cutie mark sewn on the barrel. A pair of silver horseshoes adorned her hooves, enchanted to keep from wearing out and keeping the wearer comfortable over long distances.  Her right foreleg had a strange sleeve cup attached to it for easy access to her morpher, while her left had a picture of the world she was leaving, along with the five friends she made during her time as the mystic mother. And to complete her ‘regala’ was a wireless gamers headset, with built in bluetooth microphone, which she was currently using to chat with their friends back on earth, after finding out the the games consoles they installed still had internet. Sunset Shimmer was currently dressed in a version of the same clothes that she had worn back in high school, when she first came through the mirror. The biggest differences being that her shirt was a more fiery orange with a yellow sun motif on the front and her jean jacket still on over her shirt but stitched with the symbols belonging to the other 6 mystic rangers on the sleeves. She still wore the shorts she usually did but they had her cutie mark stitched on the leg of one of the pants. And she currently had her own headphones on at the moment that were connected to the ship at large. As she had grown up she had found that she had an affinity for all things mechanical and so had put her intellect to work fixing things around the ship and improving on some of the systems. That’s how they’d been able to install the game consoles into the ship in the first place. Sunset waved at Twilight, “Princess, you really should give it a rest. You’ve been talking non-stop for the past 3 hours. I’m sure our friends have things that they need to do in real life and not in the virtual world.” She folded her arms while smirking as she said this last part. “Huh? Oh! Sunset,” Twilight exclaimed, having been startled by the pony she had been looking for, “I didn’t expect to find you on the bridge. And that was just xander wanting to know how to beat the final boss of the zombie game he likes so much, you know, that ‘resident evil 4’ game. Also, you don’t have to call me princess, just Twilight is fine.” she said as she removed her headset and placed it in the storage pouch of her saddlebags. “Anyway, i’m glad i found you here instead of looking for you, as i need your morpher.” Sunset looked puzzled at Twilight’s request but nodded as her hand moved to the holster attached to the belt on her jean shorts. She withdrew her morpher which was a phone just like all the other standard morphers of the Mystic Force and tossed it to her, “Why do you need it Twilight? Did you just need to check the energy settings again or something?” Sunset asked. Twilight brought the morpher to her in her magic looking at it intensely, before using her magic to completely disassemble it, while at the same time changing its shape to be more comfortable being wielded by hooves. After nodding her head, she reconstructed the morpher, testing that it worked the way she wanted, before handing it back to Sunset, all of which took less than 5 seconds. Upon Sunset’s hand touching the morpher, a bright flash filled the bridge, before dimming back down. Where before was a human girl roughly 19 in age, now stood a mare with a yellow-orange coat, aqua marine eyes, horn, and surprisingly enough, a pair of wings. Sunset let out a startled cry as she looked at herself while gripping the morpher in one of her hooves. “What just happened? Twilight what did you do?” Sunset cried in surprise. She looked herself over quickly to see what had happened and quickly noted the wings on her back along with the fact that she somehow still maintained her shirt from her clothes along with the jean jacket all sized for a pony now. She blinked as she looked back up at Twilight as her ears flattened. Her expression one of shock as she asked bewildered, “Twilight, what did you do to my morpher? Why am I suddenly a pony again and not just my previous old unicorn self but an alicorn? This doesn’t make any sense!” Twilight giggled as she put a hoof up to her muzzle, “It’s alright Sunset. All I did was reconstruct the morpher and add in a spell that would allow you to return to your pony self as long as you have the morpher on you. You’ll revert back to your human self if the morpher leaves your person but sadly there’s nothing I can really do about that.” Sunset calmed down a bit at this bit of an explanation but frowned as she replied, “But why am I an alicorn? You still haven’t explained that to me. As far as I know I wasn’t born an Alicorn so something had to change since I left Equestria the first time.” She didn’t mention the mirror and never had told Twilight about that as she did not like thinking about her past as a bully and miscreant. Twilight smiled softly in reply, “Sunset, I’m over a thousand years old, magic is my specialty. After all, I am the princess of Magic, and I did create the Mystic Force morphers after modeling them after my own with some improvements. So I know all about the mirror that brought you to this world. I know you’ve been trying to keep it a secret from me but I could sense that thing’s magic even from so far away. I knew the exact moment when you arrived and have kept an eye on you ever since. You are the only other pony to come from equestria to Earth after all. I didn’t know what you were like so I kept an eye on you from a distance. I came to know your past after careful observation and study. And I am so proud of you for being able to overcome the fears and difficulties you faced.” Sunset looked surprised at this and blinked a few times before realizing that tears were streaming down her face. She reached a hoof up to them before turning to Twilight with a grief stricken look as she cried softly, “I didn’t want to think of my past Twilight. It was hard enough working through it the first time. I may have overcome it but that doesn’t mean I like to think about it. So please don’t mention my past again for a while.” Twilight just smiled in response, “But Sunset, don’t you see, when you and Nick rescued Wolf Knight, you managed to do something no one could do, not even nick,” she said as she lifted Sunset’s head with a hoof, “You awoke your true self when you overcame your past. Yes, sometimes it’s easy to look back at all your past deed and see all the negatives, but a truly courageous heart can see those same deeds as a reminder, not on how not to act, but on how far they’ve come.” Sunset still had tears streaming down her cheeks as she looked up at Twilight. A sad expression still on her face, “But i’m not courageous. When I was fighting alongside our friends, I was only ever doing it because it needed to be done. I’m sorry Twilight but I’m nothing but a coward. I bullied others because I was afraid that I would never have control over my situation and because of my own insecurities. I thought I needed control over others to have true power but that just made me a coward all the more. I don’t even remember what it's like to truly have a family anymore.” Twilight just pulled Sunset into a hug, still smiling, “If you truly were a coward, than the morpher never would have respond to you Sunset. Yes, you worked with the others and did it when it needed to be done, but a coward would just run, even if the alternative was a worse outcome. You stayed to fight, even when presented many opportunities to run. That is what courage is, doing what’s right, even if all you want to do is run.” Sunset buried her face in Twilight’s shoulder as her height was bigger now than her old unicorn self. She continued to cry softly for a while before finally saying, “Thank you Twilight. No one’s ever said that about me before. Thank you for reaching out to me in friendship and pulling me back from the edge of despair.” She went back to crying softly and as Sunset cried, Twilight’s horn glowed as she silently used a spell that would allow her to look further into Sunset’s past to see if there were any other problems that would need to be solved. Watching Sunset’s past in her head, Twilight sighed softly in sadness as she saw how Sunset had grown up as a orphan filly after her mother had died in childbirth and her father couldn’t take care of her. She been placed in an orphanage and from there she started studying magic as she grew older and caught the attention of Celestia who took her on as a personal student. The biggest difference between this universe and the one we all know and love is that since Celestia already had a son of her own albeit sealed away at the time, Celestia just couldn’t find it within her to actually act like a good teacher should. She stayed rather distant and cold all the time so Sunset grew up trying all she could in order to get Celestia’s attention and make Celestia proud of her. Celestia was proud of her accomplishments at times but for the most part she maintained her aloofness and when she finally did show Sunset good old Starswirl’s mirror well you can probably guess what happened. She saw her potential future as an alicorn and figured it was her true destiny but of course it wasn’t and she grew arrogant. She stood up to Celestia and demanded that she be given the knowledge on how to become an Alicorn but of course Celestia refused. And soon enough Celestia cast Sunset shimmer out and Sunset left through the mirror. Thus her life as a human had started. Twilight reached out towards the stars with her mind and called on them to help her fuel a spell that would allow her to change the past. Even if it was only changing it by a little bit. As the power of the stars filled her she softly glowed while Sunset continued to cry into her shoulder with closed eyes. Twilight quickly arranged a spell that she had buried deep in her memory and carefully yet quickly made modifications and corrections to it. Her horn glowed with a magenta light as she mentally corrected different spots of the magical equation before finally unleashing the spell. After the spell was unleashed, it worked through the instructions given to it. The spell ended up creating a shadow clone of Twilight in the past right after Sunset was first given to the orphanage. And the clone ended up quickly establishing itself a small house and job in a remote village before going to the orphanage and adopting Sunset Shimmer. So the clone ended up raising Sunset for 8 years with love and closeness before it disappeared thanks to a mysterious “illness”. Sunset ended up going to Celestia’s School for gifted unicorns right before her mother passed away and the rest was history. She still ended up being Celestia’s student  and going through most of the same things although Celestia was a lot more aloof and Sunset had good happy memories of the mother that passed away. In the present the new memories filled Sunset’s head but unfortunately for her caused a bit of an overload. This overload caused her to pass out while still leaning against Twilight’s shoulder as Twilight held her. Twilight smiled softly at what she had accomplished and carried the young alicorn to her room on the ship. Thus the rest of the trip passed in comfortable silence as Twilight watched over her young daughter. ------ On the planet of Equus, in the nation of Equestria, right in the village of Ponyville, a new team of heroes was busy with their current day to day lives. This group of young heroes had already received power transfers from the former Elemental Rangers that still fought back against enemies if they were really needed. The new group of heroes could only tap into a small fraction of the powers they received. It was enough to enhance their physical abilities enough to where they were about one third stronger than regular members of their respective races. They were also granted a few abilities of the spirit animals that they embodied. When the strange new enemies, that had started attacking a couple of months ago, appeared they would dress up in their own homemade costumes which disguised their features so they couldn’t be recognized. The group when then travel from their respective places of work and join up in the area where the enemy had appeared. Now the enemy itself was rather strange as when they first appeared they looked like large blobs of ink that could move around on the ground. But when they started attacking the locals or fighting the rangers they would seep up from the ground and taking on forms of different pony races with weapons in hoof in order to terrorize and possibly kill the inhabitants of the village. Thankfully they had not succeeded in actually killing any of the villagers yet although they had seriously injured a few. These new enemies had been dubbed the Shadowlings as they tended to hide in the shadows before attacking, came from a shadowy dimension, and could take on a shadowy form of any pony race. On the day that Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer had finally left earth on their way back to Equus, our heroes were going about their normal routines. Although what constituted as normal for several of them was not normal for the villagers or other ponies. Currently the gentle giant of an earth pony, known as Steel Strength, who rivaled Big Mac in size, was currently finishing up his job at a construction site in town. He had just finished using a bulldozer to flatten a piece of a building that needed to be torn down and rebuilt. He was outside the construction area just clocking out when he heard a call from one of his fellow team members. His ears twitched as he turned to see his pegasus friend Glitter Berry. He waved back as he called out, “Hello Glitter Berry! What brings you by to see me today?” He was rather happy to see his friend right after he was finishing up work. Glitter Berry smiles, “Not much, just wanting to see how the big nut cracker is doing.” Steel Strength laughed at the joke, “Oh really? And how's it feeling just being one big piece of glittering fruit?” Coming up with jokes was not one of Steel’s best attributes or skills. He quickly turned back to the time clock and punched out before turning to face Glitter Berry again. “So how is the weather job with your sister, you crazy mare?” Steel knew Glitter Berry had a younger sister named Dazzling Berry that she worked in the weather team with. “So far she hasn’t caused any accidents so I’m thinking of taking her to see one of the upcoming wonderbolt shows.” Said Glitter as he chuckles at the joke Steel made. Steel just grinned as he started to walk along one of the multiple roads in the town towards the crystal castle that had appeared 10 years back. This castle had become the Harmony Ranger’s base and consequently its where the team usually met up to hang out. Steel said happily, “Well I’m sure she’ll enjoy that. You haven’t taken her to see one of those in forever. How’s the rest of the family doing?” “Oh their doing great, my mother actually recovered from surgery yesterday.” Glitter says with a happy face. Steel’s grin became wider as he continued to walk alongside Glitter towards the castle, “That’s great Glitter. Before you know it she’ll be making those paintings you love so much. Then i’m sure you’re family will be able to make enough money to get that new house your all so interested in.” He continued to grin happily. Although he was surprised that Glitter had yet to ask about his own parents and his younger brother. “Which reminds me how is your family doing? Last I heard there was an event you all went to.” Said Glitter quickly. Steel’s grin slipped and became a more somber smile, “Yeah. We went to see the annual rolling derby. It was great. Young Rock n Roll was ecstatic to watch the event with Mom and Dad.” He went silent as he remembered what had happened a few days after the event, “Things are a bit hard for the family at the moment though.” He remained silent as they continued to walk towards the castle. Glitter looks at Steel with a sad expression, “If you don’t want to talk about it then I understand.” Steel’s expression changed to one of sorrow and pain, “Its not that I don’t want to talk about it. Its just really painful. My mother ended up passing away a few days later from a heart attack. The doctor and nurses couldn’t do anything to help her. Rock is taking it even harder then I am. We just had the funeral a few days ago.” A few tears rolled down his face as he mentioned the funeral. “You and your family have my condolences. I know this may seem insensitive but we all have to face death's door at some point. Though I bet she is looking over you all still to this day.” Glitter said to hopefully cheer up his closest friend. Steel smiled the tiniest bit, “Thanks Glitter. That means a lot.” They had finally arrived at the castle and it was time to enter where they would receive training from one of the Harmony rangers. Most likely it would be Rainbow Dash again as she was the one who trained with them hoof to hoof most often. So together Steel and Glitter both entered the castle. --------- In another part of the town the royal guard known as Blazing Fire had just gotten off duty. She was unusual in the fact that she was a rare type of pony known as a thestral, also known as a bat pony to the younger generation. It was unusual in the fact that she was a royal guard when most thestrals were generally part of Princess Luna’s Night Guards. But she had wanted to be able to move around in the day more successfully then her kin normally did. So she had applied for the day guard and had been accepted. And so far she had proven herself to be rather adept at her job. She was currently heading for the Ponyville Day Spa for a much needed rest. She entered the spa a few moments after getting off shift at the local guard station a few streets down. She took off her helmet after entering the waiting room. One of the owners of the spa cheerfully greeted from behind the receptionists desk. From what she could see it might be lotus. As the pony mare across from her had a blue coat and pink mane. Then again she never could keep the two straight. Lotus looked up from the desk and smiled cheerfully and asked in her accent, “How may I help you today miss Fire?” Fire smiled happily as she said, “Oh just the usual treatment please Lotus. I need it after the day I’ve had.” Lotus nodded with a smile, “Of Course miss Fire. Please right this way to the steam room. And as always leave your armor outside please.” Fire nodded and shrugged herself out of her armor which she left in a bin in another room before following Lotus to the steam room where she knew she’d meet up with her friend Tourmaline who worked at the spa. She entered the steam room a moment later and layed down on a bench. She peered through the steam to see Tourmaline standing in the middle of the room with a bucket of water and a ladle, “Hey Tourmaline, how’s it hanging?” Tourmaline goes to do his work, “just the same old routine.” Fire sighed as she lay on the bench and let the steam start doing its work, “Oh come on Tourmaline. Don’t you ever shake things up. It seems like you're always doing the same old thing time and again. Doesn’t that ever get boring?” “You know how I am Fire. I just do what is needed and head off to take care of other business.” Tourmaline said nonshalontly. Fire giggled a bit, “Yes I know. You never will change.” She got off of the bench she was on and padded over to Tourmaline before softly kissing him on the lips with a soft look in her eyes, “And I wouldn’t have you any other way.” Tourmaline looks at Fire after steaming up the room with a smile, “I know my little flame.” With that he kisses her on the lips the same way she did. Fire giggled as she moved back to her bench and resumed her place as she replied, “So how’s your big brother doing? The last thing you told me was that he was a successful lawyer. Any change since then?” Tourmaline shakes his head, “There hasn’t been any change since then.” Fire sighed as she rolled her eyes, “Of course there hasn’t. Your brother is just as stubborn as you if not more so. I haven’t even been able to see my sister since the last fight we had against the Shadowlings. She disappeared right after before I could talk with her.” Fire frowned, “Ever since they’ve appeared it seems like i’ve just grown farther and farther apart from my sister. Does she hate me now or something?” A tear welled up in the corner of one eye. “What do you think Tour?” She looked at him with those soft sad eyes of hers hoping he’d have some sort of encouraging answer to her woes. “I know she still cares for you. Heck there were times when she couldn’t see you that she comes to me to see how you are doing.” Tourmaline said with a smile knowing that she needs closure. Fire’s frown slowly turned into a small smile as she replied gratefully, “Thanks Tourmaline. Its just been hard not being around her for so long. The longest time in the past we were ever gone from each other was a couple of hours. Now we’re lucky if we get 5 minutes together. But yeah i’m sure she still cares for me. Oh I just remembered. Mom wanted me to tell you that your invited to dinner tomorrow night.” She looked up at him eagerly as she said this. Tourmaline nods his head, “thanks for the info Fire.” Fire smiled softly, “Your welcome. Where’s Miss Rarity? She said she was going to continue our instruction today while both of us were here. Where do you think she is?” “She probably has some orders that just came in.” Says Tourmaline as he did a fresh batch of steam. Fire sighed, “Yeah. Well I guess i’ll just enjoy being in here in your wonderful company.” She smiled softly as she relaxed even deeper, “But after you get off work she should head to the castle. I don’t think miss Applejack was happy about us being late last time.” She looked at him with a bit of a fearful look at this last statement. She was scared of the orange earth pony who was so much stronger than her. “Don’t worry I’ve told my bosses that you and I needs to start heading to the castle at a specific time.” Tourmaline said to reassure his loved one. Fire nodded and slowly relaxed until she had completely fallen asleep from the warmth of the steam and the presence of her colt friend. -------- On the other side of town next to the Everfree forest a young Black Ops Night Guard was currently hiding up in a tree in some thick foliage. She was in a tree that grew right beside the old Elemental ranger Fluttershy. She was here on duty to watch over Fluttershy because there was suspected threat to take her out. She had been watching over Fluttershy for a week now and still nothing had happened. But the good thing for her was the fact that she got to see her friend Sugar Sweet the unicorn mare a little more often than she normally did. The sucky part for her was that she couldn’t actually reveal herself to Sugar Sweet in order to talk with her unless Sugar spotted her and initiated the conversation. She watched her friend working alongside the older butter yellow pegasus mare we all know and love. Fluttershy was much older than Sugar Sweet but loved to serve as a mentor for the unicorn mare. She was currently showing Sugar Sweet how to care for a sick cat. The Night Guard continued to watch them both. The night guard’s name was Silent Phantom because she was almost always silent and forever flitting around like a phantom. She sighed quietly to herself wishing something would happen. She blinked in surprise though when she saw Sugar turn around and look right at her hiding spot and then call her name. Phantom sighed as she realized she’d been noticed and came down from the tree and slowly trotted over to Sugar as Fluttershy watched on surprised. Phantom looked at Sugar for a moment before replying softly, “Hi Sugar. How’s it going with the veterinarian lessons?” She went silent immediately after asking the question. “You should know since you’ve been watching over us for a week or so.” Sugar said with a giggle. Phantom’s eyes widened just the tiniest bit as she looked at Sugar in surprise. It took her a moment to gather her thoughts and think through her next words before asking, “How? How did you know it was me?” Sugar giggles, “did you honestly forget that one of my traits is to sense everyponies emotions?” Phantom blushed the tiniest bit underneath her dark blue fur as she scratched the top of her head. She remained silent as she thought of the next words to say before replying softly, “Yes. I did. Its been awhile since you’ve actually shown that you can do that. Why show it again all of a sudden and not keep it a secret?” “You know how I get when I don’t help others with their emotions.” Sugar said smiling. Phantom nodded after a moment as a small frown slipped onto her face, “Sugar I actually need your help sorting through my emotions. Will you help me please?” “It’s about your sister isn't it?” Sugar asked with sorrow. Phantom sighed sadly before nodding, “Yes. I miss being with her but I have to complete all the assignments given to me by the higher ups. I believe she thinks I want to avoid her or not spend time with her at all. I don’t know what do do Sugar and I also don’t know what to feel.” Sugar nods, “Why not leave her some letters for her to find to know how you feel.” Phantom sat down for a moment to think it through as she put a hoof up to her chin thoughtfully. Finally she nodded to Sugar, “That could work. I just hope she understands what I”m trying to convey through the letters. So has Fluttershy taught you any new medical techniques for when we’re in the field?” Sugar secretly points a hoof back to Fluttershy with a smug smile. Phantom couldn’t help but frown in confusion at what Sugar was trying to get at. She looked back at Fluttershy who was currently still working on the wounded cat. Phantom scratched her head before saying with a frown, “I guess I’ll take that as a yes.” Sugar laughs and flops onto the ground, “For somepony who is a spic ops you aren’t entirely observant.” Phantom blinked as the irritating light of the sun continued to light into her over sensitive eyes. She frowned in annoyance as she looked down at Sugar as she rubbed her eyes a bit. Her wings ruffled in irritation as she thought out her next words to say. Finally she replied by saying, “Har har har. Yeah laugh it up at the bat pony. You know that I don’t do well in sunlight. Its hard enough to stay awake during the day. So what is it that i’m not seeing?” “Well you did look over us so you tell me what you saw today and I’ll see if I need to correct anything.” Sugar said as she calmed down from her giggle fit. Phantom sighed and looked over towards Fluttershy again as her vision became blurry around the edges to to irritation from the sun. She narrowed her eyes and replied, “All I see is Miss Fluttershy working on that sick cat. She’s giving it medicine of some kind and that’s about all I can see.” Sugar nods and replies in a dead serious tone, “Well that’s only half of it for earlier today we took care of a timberwolf that got to close.” Phantom had to rub her eyes with her hooves again to help relieve the irritation momentarily as she squinted and made out the remains of a Timberwolf that were stacked up near the edge of the cottage. She saw how the wood was broken up in many places before she was finally forced to close her eyes. She opened them a moment later as she refocused on Sugar, “Looks like you both took care of it pretty well. Do you have anything that could help my eyes? Ever since my special lenses broke last week in that attack its been a struggle to see during the day.” Sugar’s eyes went wide as she seems to remember something. “I completely forgot! Here I got this while at the hospital for you,” Sugar said in a very apologetic manner. Phantom looked down towards Sugar’s hooves to see the object being offered to her. But what she saw was only a blurry looking box. She frowned in thought and gently took the box from Sugar before opening it to see a small case that held lenses made for a bat pony’s eyes. She blinked in surprise and carefully opened the case to see the special blue lenses inside that had been specially treated to help a bat pony see during the day without the sun causing irritation. She reached into the case and pulled out the lenses before carefully inserting them into her eyes and then blinking to get used to the feeling of them. After a few moments she could finally see Sugar clearly and she smiled happily which was rather rare for her, “Thanks Sugar. This helps a lot. I thought i’d have to wait another 2 weeks before my lenses were finally available.” Sugar blushes as she puts one hoof over the other, “Well I saw parts of your lenses on the ground so I got the doctors to make a new set for you and I just got them today.” Phantom continued to smile happily as she closed the case with the ointment inside and then set it in her compact saddlebags on her sides. Phantom happily replied, “Thanks Sugar. I don’t know what I’d do without you.” She leaned in and gave Sugar a gentle yet strong hug to show her appreciation. Sugar blush deepens as she shaklee hugs back with a smile of her own. Phantom drew back after the hug and studied Sugar for a moment and noted the blush with some confusion. She thought about it for a moment as the thoughts of it just being a blush of embarrassment crossing her mind and other reasons too. She frowned for a moment before smiling again as she looked at Sugar and spoke softly, “Sugar I had always assumed that you were sweet on Steel Strength but that’s not the case is it?” “Well he is big sweet and kind but I see him as a brother I didn’t have and I know he sees me as the Little sister he always wanted.” Sugar said as she still blushes. Phantom nodded as part of her suspicions were confirmed and she thought for a moment about whether she should proceed with her next words or not. Finally she decided to go ahead and asked Sugar softly, “So is the one you’re really sweet on actually me?” Sugar blushes deeper as she nods. All of Phantom’s suspicions were confirmed at that admission and she frowned in thought. She never had thought about romance before as her job and sister had always been her whole world before. She rubbed her chin in thought as she thought about the implications and then finally focused on her a bit and spoke happily and softly. She knew that Sugar would never expect this from her in a million years, “I see. Well I’d be happy to be your marefriend.” Sugar smiles happily, “Thank you, You have no idea how long I waited for something like that.” Phantom continued to smile happily as she leaned in gently and gave Sugar a soft kiss on the lips before drawing back, “Well we should probably be getting to the castle with miss Fluttershy.” Sugar nods as she fights to control her blushes while following Fluttershy to the castle. So both Phantom and Sugar traveled to the castle right behind Fluttershy who watched them with a knowing look every now and then. ------- Once they were all gathered at the castle, the leader of the Harmony Rangers came forwards. The leader was a pinkish unicorn mare with a purple mane and tail which had light blue stripes running through them. This was the unicorn we all know as Starlight except of course she was much older. Well up into her 40s now but still fit enough to fight when it came to it. She looked out over the assembled Harmony Rangers and the new generation. A businesslike look schooled her features as she started to speak, “Thank you all for gathering here today. Before we get started with training for the day I have an announcement to make. We have a very special guest who is finally returning home after a long time away. She disappeared some 30 years ago and has finally managed to find a way home. She should be arriving in a few hours. Does anyone here know who this mare is?” Blazing Fire lifted her hoof into the air and waved it. Starlight nodded to her, “Yes miss Fire?” Blazing Fire asked in curiosity, “Is it that old pop sensation Sapphire Shores?” Starlight sighed at the question, “No Miss Fire its not. And Sapphire Shores only disappeared 10 years ago not 30. I think you need to reread a few history books.” She turned her gaze to Sugar Sweet, “Miss Sweet. Do you have any guess as to who our guest is?” Sugar nods, “Is it Princess Twilight for she is one of the recorded ponies that went missing.” Starlight nodded and gave a small smile for a moment before her business face returned, “That would be correct Miss Sweet. Princess Twilight will be returning to us in a couple of hours with her own personal student in tow. The reason why we know Twilight Sparkle is a princess is through the grace of Princess Celestia who let us now through that letter. When Princess Twilight finally arrives you each will finally be receiving your own new morphers. So does anyone have any questions?” Steel Strength raised a hoof as he asked, “Who’s this student of Princess Twilight’s?” Starlight replied, “Her student is another unicorn that went missing some 50 years before her. A unicorn by the name of Sunset Shimmer who was also a former protege of Princess Celestia. Anything else?” Phantom spoke up, “Are Princess Twilight and Sunset Shimmer both rangers like yourself Miss Starlight?” Starlight nodded, “That is correct. Although they are part of a different team from ours. They were part of a team known as the Mystic Force rangers from a planet known as Earth which is both similar and different to our own planet of Equus. Anyone else?” She looked around the room to see if anyone else had any questions. When Starlight saw that no one else had any questions, she nodded and said, “You’re all dismissed for now. Get on with your training.” So the group scattered with several of the harmony rangers moving around with different pairs of the Zodiac Rangers in order to give them personal training. --------- A couple of hours later a speck of light appeared in the sky far above as Twilight’s ship finally appeared in the atmosphere. Sunset Shimmer was still sleeping because of a magically induced slumber courtesy of Twilight. Twilight made sure the ship’s stealth fields activated as she went further down as she didn’t want to alarm anyone. She set her ship down right behind the Crystal Castle she saw and waited for a moment as her ship’s computer connected with the main mother computer of the castle. After a moment the ground sunk underneath her ship as it was slowly lowered into a hanger deep underground. Docking clamps grabbed hold of the sides of the ship as it moved it into position and finally it stopped with a thump. Twilight quickly moved from the bridge to the airlock door of the ship and moved into the airlock. The door closed behind her and the airlock filled with the atmosphere of her old home planet. She breathed it in with a sigh of relief and the outer door opened to reveal Starlight accompanied by the other Harmony Rangers and the Zodiac Rangers. She smiled softly at them all and regally exited the air lock as her tail and mane fluttered in their non existent breeze. Her eyes lighted on Sugar Sweet and she asked in a regal motherly tone, “And what’s your name miss?” “My name is Sugar Sweet, and it’s a pleasure to meet you Princess Twilight.” Sugar said as she bows. Twilight nods her head at Sugar’s bow as her crown shifted on her head a bit. She hadn’t had to wear it for a long time. It was actually her old morpher which was in the shape of a crown with her starburst cutie mark as a gem set right in the middle of it. She smiled softly, “And its a pleasure to meet you as well Miss Sweet.” She turned to the other rangers and asked each of them their names. Steel Strength bowed low as he said kindly, “My name is Steel Strength your highness.” Blazing Fire gave Twilight a bow and then salute as was due a princess as she said, “My name’s Blazing Fire, royal guard, your highness.” Phantom was silent for a moment before bowing  and replying in her soft voice, “Silent Phantom at your service your majesty.” And that left only the last two rangers of the Zodiac rangers to make their introductions. Glitter Berry bows, “My name is Glitter Berry your majesty.” Tourmaline bows as well though do to his nature his tone stayed neutral, “I am Tourmaline your highness.” Twilight nodded to each of them in turn with that motherly smile of hers as she replied, “It's a pleasure to meet you all. Please rise.” and they all did so as she turned to Starlight and held a brief hushed conversation with them and the rest of her old friends before she turned back to the new rangers. In that brief hushed conversation she’d greeted each of her old friends happily and Starlight who had led them. Now she was serious as she looked back at the new rangers. Her smile slipped to that of a serious type of smile as she walked forwards and stopped in front of Silent Phantom. Twilight’s horn glowed softly as she muttered and concentrated on an intrinsic and very specialized spell. The same one she’d developed so long ago that had created the Mystic Force Ranger’s morphers. She continued to mutter the spell before she completed it and the spell flew from the tip of her horn as a ball of white light. It grew bigger as it hovered over everyone and the morphers took shape. Each morpher was individually themed with the different zodiac animal each ranger embodied. The morphers exited the ball of light and floated down into Twilight’s magical grip. She then looked down at Silent Phantom and gently moved one of the morphers in her grip on over to Phantom who took it with a gentle grip. Phantom looked down at the morpher to see that it was themed after a cobra’s head. The hood rising back as curves on the top of the morpher and two gleaming buttons serving as the cobra’s eyes. Two more long curved buttons served as the cobra’s fangs as its jaws gaped wide. The color of the morpher was black. Phantom turned it over to see that it was designed to fasten to her foreleg and stay there comfortably so she did so. The morpher was the size of her hoof and she had no problems attaching it. Twilight smiled gently at her before leaning in to whisper, “As the team leader it's your responsibility to look after all your teammates. To make sure that none of them are hurting and that they are happy. You are the pillar of strength for the team and without you the team would fall apart. Make sure that you always think of your teammates before yourself and you’ll go far.” Phantom nodded a moment later as she whispered, “Thank you Princess Twilight.” Twilight carefully moved on over to the next ranger which just so happened to be Sugar Sweet. She nudged one of the morphers right on over to Sugar Sweet. This morpher looked just like a Rabbit’s head. With the nose of the rabbit being a button as well as the beady eyes of the rabbit also being buttons. Two ears curved from the top of the morpher which seemed like they had some hidden function as well. The color of the morpher was yellow. Twilight nodded after Sugar took the morpher and then leaned in to whisper a question, “Do you mind if this old mare gives you some advice?” Sugar whispers back, “I don’t mind princess.” Twilight’s motherly smile returned, “Continue to look after your teammates as you already are but try to be just a bit more perceptive of their feelings. Don’t let one individual keep you from your responsibility to the team as a whole. But at the same time hold tight to your loved one and cherish her.” She gave a knowing look between her and Phantom. “For she is the one truly meant for you. It's just a feeling I have but I’m usually right about these things. She will need you quite a lot in the future. And without you she might just well break.” Sugar nods firmly, “I may be kind and sweet but I do know when to be tight.” she then gives a sweet smile, “But thanks for saying that.” Twilight nodded as she stood back up to her full height. She then moved on over to the next ranger which was Steel Strength. She looked down with a smile as the highly nervous stallion who was grinding his hoof into the ground in circles. He met her gaze and shivered in fear and nervousness for a moment as Twilight’s magic pushed his own morpher over to him. He gently takes the morpher from her magic with a tentative hoof. He examines it closely to see that its themed to look like an Ox. The horns of the ox extend from the top of the morpher to look fierce and strong. The ox’s eyes serving as buttons that he can press down. And the fierce expression of the ox showing its teeth with several of the able to be pressed in. The overall color of the morpher was blue. He quietly attached it to his foreleg before looking up at Twilight who leaned her head down to whisper to him. He asked nervously, “Um what is it Princess Twilight?” Twilight giggled as she replied, “Nothing that you need to fear or worry over Steel Strength. I simply wanted to say that I admire your strong yet gentle nature. It will serve the team well. Please protect them as best you can and let your kindness shine. That will serve you better than any weapon.” She raised her head as Steel nodded his head several times rapidly. Twilight then moved to the next ranger which so happened to be the trickster pegasus Glitter Berry. She smiled in a knowing manner as she looked down at Glitter. She moved his morpher over to him which was designed to look like a Monkey’s head. The eyes of the monkey glinting mischievously as they also served as buttons. The nose of the monkey was also a button and it had a grin showing with one more of its teeth serving as a button. The whole thing was colored brown just like a regular Monkey as well. She smiled as she softly asked him, “Your the prankster and jokester of the team aren’t you?” Glitter gives a mischievous smile, “You know I am and be sure to watch your back.” He then tilts forward and whispers, “Even Miss Pinkie is watching her own back.” He returns with a giggle. Twilight giggled lightly at his reply before saying her own piece, “Just make sure that your pranks and jokes don’t go to far. A prank or joke at the wrong time can cause bad feelings to emanate from the team and break apart the cohesion and camaraderie you’ve formed. Jokes and Pranks at the right time can strengthen the team as you lighten their spirits. Promise me that you’ll make sure you never go to far with your joking or pranking.” “Don’t worry about that your highness I always check to see what jokes are good and which are bad at certain times already. Besides I like to be the one to raise moral of others.” He said with a respectful bow. Twilight nodded with that motherly smile as she raised herself up again and went to the next to last ranger which was Blazing Fire. She looked Fire over for a moment before her smile widened. She moved Fire’s morpher over to her which was themed to look like a dragon’s head. The eyes of the dragon gleaming and serving as buttons along with two large fangs in its open gaping mouth. The whole thing was colored red as two white horns extended from the head and top of the morpher making it look fearsome. Fire latched the morpher into place eagerly. Twilight then smiled as she whispered, “You Miss Fire are special. After all you carry the spirit of the fiery dragon within you. Just as I carry the spirit of the phoenix within myself. Let that fire of yours burn bright for yourself and the whole team. Your fire of justice will sweep away all enemies before you and protect your teammates as a whole. But be careful not to let the fire burn to high or hot or you’ll burn your teammates as well.” Fire nodded her head solemnly, “I promise Princess Twilight. I won’t let you down.” She then grinned happily at the morpher. Twilight chuckled before raising her head up again and moving to the last of the rangers. The special pony that was a Kirin. She moved his morpher over to him which was shaped like a ram’s head. The horns of the ram curling up on top of the head and over the edge of the morpher. The eyes of the ram serving as the buttons along with its nose. The whole thing was colored green and Twilight moved it over to him and watched him take it before she said, “Yours is a special role among the team. You are the defender. The one who shields his teammates from all harm. Yet I sense that whenever one of your teammates is injured you blame yourself. Tell me why that is please?” Tourmaline nods, “It’s because I know I could of had done better at defending others. This mentality makes me train when I have the spare time.” Twilight nodded slowly at Tourmaline’s reply, “That does make sense. Yet there is something else I sense.” She studied him closely for a moment and then looked over Fire and a knowing look crossed her face before she asked, “And how do you feel whenever Fire is injured? Does your heart beat hard in your chest? Afraid that you will lose her?” Tourmaline doesn’t say anything but gives Twilight a direct look in the eye. Behind his own eyes is that of the well of undying determination. Twilight’s eyes widen a bit in surprise at the determination she saw deep within him. But after a moment she nodded as she said, “So you’ll do anything to protect her. That’s good. But don’t let it keep you from your duty to your teammates. She may be dear to you but your duty lies with the team and not any one individual. Never let your love for her keep you from your duty. But at the same time I wish you and her a long and happy life together. Know that you have my blessing for your devotion to her.” Tourmaline nods with a bow, “Thank you your highness.” Twilight smiled softly as she returned to full height and turned to them all, “Each of you is a wonderful pony and I know you’ll go far as a team. As long as you remember your duty to each other and the team as a whole. So I now pronounce you Defenders of Equestria. I welcome you as the Zodiac Rangers!” The six of them cheered as they put their hooves together while standing in a circle. They raised them to the sky in a cheer as they shouted, “Go Zodiac Rangers!” And thus the new team was born, joined together by mutual bonds and trust. And with Twilight Sparkles and the other Harmony Rangers to help support them, they would do their best to defend the realm against the darkness that now threatened it.