“Sounds rough. I wish I could help you, but I have no idea how to get there,” said Casey. He and Starlight were chatting through the tablets again, and Starlight was telling of the current dilemma.
“It’s fine. According to Cole, the red ranger, there are eleven more Wild Zords we haven’t even seen yet,” Starlight replied.
Casey nodded. Something outside Starlight’s window caught his eye. It was Rainbow Dash practicing her tricks. “Hey, just out of curiosity, have you told Rainbow that you have a way to communicate with me?”
“Um, no. Why do you ask?” Starlight responded, sounding confused.
“I just can’t help but feel bad for her,” Casey said.
“Why’s that?”
“Didn’t you say she had a thing for the Red Dino Ranger?”
Starlight thought a bit before responding. “I think I see where you’re going with this. You feel bad that I can contact you, but Rainbow can’t contact him?”
“Yeah,” Casey said. He then thought of an idea. “Hey, what was his name again? The Red Dino Ranger?”
“Um, his name was Connor. Why?”
“Do you know where I can find him?”
“I’d start in Reefside if anywhere. Where are you going with this?”
“You’ll see,” Casey said, writing something down on a piece of paper. “Have Rainbow here next time we talk. I gotta go do something real quick. Talk to you tomorrow?”
“Um, sure. Bye,” Starlight said, turning off her side of the tablet.
Casey turned off his side, grabbed a coat, and walked toward the exit of the school. On the way, he ran into Jared.
“Hey man. Where are you going?” Jared asked.
“Oh, um, I’m, uh, going to Reefside to meet someone. It’s kind of a long story. Speaking of which, can you take over my classes for today and tomorrow?” Casey asked.
“Sure, man, no problem,” Jared responded.
“Thanks,” Casey said, walking out the door.
Unknown to Casey, he was being watched by two of his old adversaries.
“He’s on the move. This could make things even easier,” said one.
“You go after him. I’ll go to Equestria and get the gem we’ll need,” said the other.
With that, one teleported away as the other swiftly followed after Casey.
Meanwhile
Connor was in a rather sad mood. Even though it had been two months since he’d been to Equestria, he still wasn’t over Rainbow Dash. In fact, he hadn’t even left Reefside since the whole incident.
‘No powers, no zords...and no Rainbow Dash,’ Connor thought to himself. Sure, he was human, and she...wasn’t, but why would that matter? He never felt these feelings for any human, so who cared? His friends understood. Even if they didn’t, Connor didn’t care what anyone else thought.
On his way out of the restaurant he was in, Connor heard a car pull up. He also saw someone who looked to be at his age get out and walk up to him.
“Are you Connor McKnight?” he asked.
Connor was confused. “Um, yeah. Who are you?”
“I’m Casey, Casey Rhodes. Jungle Fury, Red Ranger. I also know that you’re the Red Dino Ranger,” the young man replied.
“Oh, uh, nice to meet you, I guess,” Connor replied.
“I have something I think you’ll like if you come with me,” Casey offered.
“Um, why me?”
“Trust me, I have a feeling you’re gonna love it.”
“Fine, I’ve got nothing better to do,” Connor said skeptically.
Connor got into Casey’s car, and the two drove off. They drove for a while, until they pulled up to what looked like a school.
“Dude, why are we here?” Connor asked.
“Trust me, you’ll see,” Casey assured.
Connor rolled his eyes as he and Casey got out of the car. As soon as they did, they were both attacked. Connor looked up to see a golden, two-legged turtle.
“Is this your little ‘surprise’?” Connor asked sarcastically.
Casey paid him no mind as he got back to his feet. “Snapper? What are you doing here?”
“Nothing much. Just doing what I do best: cause trouble,” the monster replied.
Casey moved a little closer to Connor. “Sorry about this, man. I didn’t even know he was still alive. Can you still morph? I don’t think we’re getting out of this without a fight,” he said.
“Um, no, I can’t morph. But I can still fight,” Connor responded.
“Alright, let’s do it,” Casey said. With that, he and Connor charged to fight with Snapper.
They were both having a really hard time. Connor tried to attack from the back, but Snapper saw that coming. Snapper turned around and hit Connor in the gut. Casey struck, but Snapper blocked it and knocked Casey back. Connor tried again to attack, and Casey even joined him, but Snapper was to fast to hit.
“Enough playing around,” Casey said as he pulled out his red sunglasses. He put them on and pressed the little button, shouting, “Jungle Beast! Spirit Unleashed!” Casey morphed into the Red Jungle Ranger.
Snapper went after Casey after knocking Connor down, and the two went at it. Casey was able to hit a lot harder, but Snapper was still able to counter. Snapper found an opening and struck, sending Casey flying. Snapper then wasted no time using his Rinsin Power to kick Casey while he was down. Casey demorphed. Connor tried one more time to attack Snapper, but Snapper just grabbed onto his neck and picked Casey up by the neck as well.
“How ironic. I was just gonna grab one of you, but now I have two red rangers,” Snapper bellowed.
“You’re not gonna get away with this, Snapper,” Casey said weakly.
“You’re so pathetic. Luckily for you, I need your strength to help me with something,” Snapper replied. With that, he used his power to teleport away.
Meanwhile
Rainbow Dash was flying through the sky as fast as she could. She was determined to pull off this trick. There was absolutely nothing that could stop her.
She curved to fly toward the ground and folded her wings in. Once the ground seemed close, she quickly turned her body and opened up her wings. She flew back toward the sky, doing several flips in the process.
When she landed on the ground, she heard clapping. She looked around to see where it was coming from and almost fainted when she saw who it was.
“Connor! What are you doing here?” Rainbow yelled excitedly.
“Well I couldn’t leave my best friend for long, now could I?” Connor responded.
Rainbow’s cheeks flushed bright red. “R-Really? I-I’m your...best friend?” she managed to stammer out.
“ Of course. Why? Was there something you wanted to tell me about that?” Connor smirked.
Rainbow opened her mouth to say ‘yes,’ but stopped herself, thinking of an idea. “Actually...I was kind of thinking...”
“Yeah?”
“Maybe we could be a little more...than friends?” Rainbow asked sheepishly.
There was an eerie silence. Rainbow looked to the ground and squinted hard, hoping Connor would say yes, or do something that meant yes. Instead, she just heard laughing.
Rainbow looked up and saw Connor laughing hard. His face was red from how hard he was laughing. “What’s...what’s so funny?” she asked.
“Seriously? We’re not even the same species. You really thought I would have feelings for you?” Connor said.
“Um, but...but w-what about the...the kiss? From r-right..right before you left?” Rainbow said, a tear forming in her eye.
“That was just a moment of weakness. I would never love really a pony,” Connor said, still laughing.
“Why? Why are you making fun of me? I thought we were friends,” Rainbow said, her voice a bit shaky and tears beginning to flow.
“Because love is for losers. Like you,” Connor said, pointing at Rainbow.
Rainbow squinted in pain. She then heard more voices surrounding her, laughing at her. She looked around to see the other Dino Rangers, as well as her own friends. They were all saying things like, “You’re lame,” or, “Humans can’t love ponies.”
Rainbow tried to fly away, but her wings wouldn’t open up. She tried harder to open them up before resulting to running away. When she tried to get out of the circle of those laughing at her, she was just pushed back into the middle and teased some more.
“No. This isn’t happening. You’re my friends. You wouldn’t make fun of me like this. This has to be a dream,” Rainbow said to herself.
“Indeed this is. However, I must say, there are not many nightmares to tend to during the day, young Rainbow Dash,” said a new voice that drained out all the laughter.
Rainbow looked up and saw a black and blue alicorn descending toward her.
“P-Princess Luna?” Rainbow said.
“There is no need for this worry, Rainbow Dash. You were right: your friends do not make fun of you for loving a human,” Luna responded.
Rainbow took a deep breath and sighed. She looked back at Connor and saw him frozen, but still with a look of laughter. “But why? Why am I having these nightmares now instead of when Connor left?”
“Many dreams come as warnings. Perhaps this is one of those instances,” Luna suggested.
“What should I do about this? Should I tell the others?” Rainbow asked.
“That is not my choice to make. What you do when you awake is your own decision,” Luna said.
“Alright. I think I should probably wake up now. Thanks for the help, Princess Luna,” Rainbow said. With that, Rainbow opened her eyes, and she was in her own bed. She sat up and heard Princess Shayla singing. “Best alarm clock ever,” Rainbow said to herself.
She got up and flew out over Ponyville. She looked down and thought of Princess Luna’s words. ‘Maybe I should tell the others,’ she thought to herself. She looked toward Twilight’s castle and saw Starlight walking out of it. ‘Or maybe I should talk to Starlight about it first. After all, she did have a similar fling with Casey.’
Rainbow flew up to Starlight. “Hey, Starlight, do you mind if I ask you a question?”
“Ask away. I’ve got nothing but time,” Starlight replied.
Rainbow looked around to make sure nopony else was watching. “Did you ever feel like you were doing something wrong when you were with Casey?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean like...did you ever feel like you thought other ponies would judge you for falling in love with a...you know, a...human,” Rainbow said sheepishly.
Starlight chuckled a little in response. “Not at all. What’s going on?” Rainbow didn’t answer her. “It has something to do with Connor, doesn’t it?”
“Yeah, kind of.”
“Come on, I was on my way to Sugarcube Corner. You can tell me about it on the way,” Starlight offered.
The two of them made their way through town as Rainbow told Starlight about her nightmare. Starlight quickly understood what Rainbow meant earlier.
“Yeah, no. We wouldn’t make fun of you for loving Connor. And I know for a fact that Connor wouldn’t do something like that to you,” Starlight said.
“Really? You think so?” Rainbow asked.
“I know so,” Starlight replied with another chuckle.
Rainbow chuckled as well and looked to the streets of Ponyville. What she saw wasn’t something she expected. There was a swarm of Rinshi attacking the citizens. Starlight looked as well and went wide-eyed.
“Rinshi? What are they doing here?” Starlight asked.
“I don’t know, but it can’t be good,” replied Rainbow. “You go get the rangers; I’ll do what I can here.”
Starlight nodded and teleported away. Rainbow flew above the Rinshi and dove into the middle, taking many of the Rinshi down. The Rinshi tried to strike back, but Rainbow was too fast. She zipped through the group that was trying to attack her.
“Wild Access!” Rainbow heard the rangers say. The six of them jumped in to fight the Rinshi as Twilight and the others came up to Rainbow.
“What are they even doing here?” Twilight asked.
“Yeah, the Overlords were defeated, so there’s no reason for ‘em to be attackin’,” added Applejack.
“I have no idea, but we should probably help them. And remember, magic doesn’t work,” Rainbow replied, motioning toward the Wild Rangers.
She and the others went into battle alongside the rangers. Twilight was having a bit more trouble than before since she wasn’t able to use her magic. Luckily, her flight gave her a distinct advantage. Applejack’s strength proved to more than enough to be able to take the Rinshi down. She simply bucked and they went down. Cole and the others weren’t having very much trouble. They had experience fighting enemies like this, even if there was no sign of them in Equestria.
Cole used his lion puncher to easily punch down any Rinshi that got near him. They seemed to have a really high balance, so defeating them wasn’t very hard. Taylor used her eagle saber to slash down the Rinshi. Save for a few spears, the Rinshi didn’t have any weapons, leaving them open to her attacks. Max used his shark fins to keep a steady defense while staying on the attack. All he really had to do was keep his weapons close and block any incoming attacks. Danny used his axe the send as many Rinshi flying as he could. Rinshi were a lot stronger than he thought, but that didn’t really matter. Alyssa’s baton was enough to bring down any and all incoming attacks from the Rinshi. The baton may not have seemed like a sufficient weapon, but it served well enough. Merik used the long reach of his sword to jab the Rinshi down without having to get too close. He was also able to use his blaster to keep his distance.
“Where did these things even come from?” yelled Twilight, still fighting.
“I have no idea. I just looked in the street and they were here,” Rainbow replied.
“Where ever they came from, it can’t be good,” said Applejack.
Before anyone could respond, a huge bolt of lightning shot up from the ground, taking out the rest of the Rinshi and hitting the rangers and ponies in the process.
“I have a feeling we’re about to find out where those Rinshi came from,” said Cole.
In the lightning’s place, there were now two more Power Rangers, both wearing red suits. One had red and white triangle patterns, and the other had red and black stripe patterns.
“Connor? Casey? What are you guys doing here?” Twilight asked with excitement. All she got in response were a few growls from the two rangers. They also shifted positions to look like they were ready to fight.
“Guys? What’s wrong?” Rainbow asked, a bit confused. In response, Connor pulled out his tyrannostaff and Casey pulled out his sharks sabers. They both got into fighting stances.
“What are you doing? It’s us; your friends,” Starlight pleaded.
“I don’t think they can hear you. And I don’t think we can avoid a fight with them,” Merik said.
“What are you talking about? They would never attack us,” said Rainbow.
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” said Taylor, pointing at Connor and Casey. Sure enough, they were charging at them, ready for a fight.
“I don’t think we have a choice,” said Cole.
“I don’t believe it,” said Twilight.
“I’m sorry, but we’re gonna have to fight them. All we can do is hope that’s not really them,” Merik said.
With that, the six Wild Rangers charged into battle with the Red Dino Ranger and the Red Jungle Ranger.