//------------------------------// // The sun will never stop rising // Story: Legends of the past: A Power Rangers Story // by TheHardie-Boy //------------------------------// Sunset walked slowly into the cafeteria, her hood drawn. She had no intention of socializing today, or any day for that matter. She didn’t want to believe it, but Goldar had successfully discouraged her. She had no reason to believe her friendships didn’t start on anything but lies. She took a seat and began to eat lunch in silence. When someone tried to join her, she shot them a death stare. They immediately backed off. Twilight looked over at her friend. “What's going on with her?” “Ah’m not sure. She’s been actin’ different ever since she fought Goldar,” responded Applejack. “You girls don’t think she lost, and that made her lose her confidence?” Fluttershy squeaked out. “No way. Sunset’s way stronger than that. Something else had to have happened,” said Rainbow. “I still think we should go talk to her. After all, we’re her friends, and I know just how to cheer her up,” said Pinkie, beginning to pull something out of her pocket. Rarity quickly stopped Pinkie. “Mr. Oliver said that she took a few hard hits and that we should give her some time, and we’re going to do just that.” “Well, we’re going to the base to train after school. Why don’t we ask her then?” asked Rainbow. Twilight looked over at Sunset again and frowned. She wanted to help, but she knew Sunset wasn’t in the mood to talk. All she could do was look back at her other friends. “I don’t know. If she wants to talk about it, she will. But if she doesn’t, we have no right to intrude. Let’s just go to the base and see what happens.” The girls agreed, and they all made their way to their next classes. Meanwhile “Please, big brother. I’ve been practicing a lot, and you promised me I could take over the world with you,” Sprocket begged. “But I just don’t want you to get too hurt. We spent our entire childhood arguing who gets to rule the Machine Empire, and we’re just now beginning to act like real brothers to each other. I’m not gonna lose you now,” Gasket responded. The two brothers were arguing whether or not Sprocket should get to join Gasket in Earth’s conquest. “But what does it matter? Sure, there are other rangers out there, but they won’t know about the invasion long enough to stop us. You said it yourself,” Sprocket said. Gasket sighed. He knew he wasn’t gonna convince his brother not to come with him. “Alright. After Goldar goes to Equestria, you can help me take over the earth. But on one condition.” “Name it,” Sprocket said excitedly. “You let Archerina set you up on a date with that warrior she talked about before,” Gasket teased. “No way! I’m not going on a date with a Trubian. Please, big brother, just let me do this with you,” Sprocket pleaded again. “Fine. I can’t say no to my little brother. Now all we need to do is wait for Goldar to destroy Tommy and those Harmony Rangers,” Gasket said. “Their era was short,” Sprocket joked. Later The girls were at the base, training like they usually did. Twilight and Rainbow were sparring with each other, and Sunset was letting loose on a punching bag. Twilight ducked under a kick that Rainbow sent her way, following with a sweep of the leg that put Rainbow on the ground. “You’re really starting to get the hang of this,” complimented Rainbow. “Thanks. I honestly didn’t know if I’d ever get used to fighting with morphing,” Twilight admitted. Rainbow and Twilight looked over to Sunset, who was still beating up the punching bag. She was beginning to leave holes in the sides of it. “That poor punching bag,” Rainbow joked. “I know what I said earlier, but I’m starting to think we should talk to her,” Twilight said. Sunset planted one more punch into the bag and stopped. “If I wanted to talk, I would,” she said aggressively. She took a deep breath and continued. “I’m fine, really. You don’t need to worry about me turning back into an evil demon or anything.” “Woah, what? Where did that come from?” Twilight asked. “Yeah, sense when are you worried about turning evil again? That’s Twilight’s thing,” added Rainbow. Twilight glared at Rainbow. “Seriously? Do you have to right now?” “I’m just trying to lighten the mood here.” Twilight took a deep breath and turned back to Sunset. “What is going on? We’re your friends, we want to help you. But we can’t if you don’t talk to us.” Sunset simply closed her eyes and shook her head in disgust. She turned to leave, saying only, “Yeah right.” Twilight and Rainbow looked back at each other. “Think we should ask Mr. Oliver what’s going on?” Rainbow asked. “Yeah, that’s probably our best bet,” responded Twilight. As if on cue, Tommy walked into the dojo, joined by the others. “Hey, girls. Is Sunset here?” Tommy asked. “We actually wanted to talk to you about that,” Twilight responded. “What’s going on?” Rarity asked with a concerned tone. “She, um...Rainbow, if you could?” Twilight said. “She thinks she’s gonna turn back into a demon,” Rainbow said bluntly. “What? That’s insane,” said Applejack. “Why would she think that?” asked Fluttershy. “We don’t know. She’s been acting like that ever since she squared off with Goldar,” responded Twilight. “You think that has something to do with it?” Pinkie asked. “Actually, it might,” Tommy answered. “Please, come with me. I think I should tell you something.” The six girls followed Tommy into the main room of the base and each took a seat. Tommy pulled up his own chair and sat in front of the girls. “When Sunset fought with Goldar, he tried to get into her head. He told her things, using his twisted sense of logic...” Tommy took a breath before continuing. “He told her that her friendships were based off the orders of Twilight, the one from Equestria. He said that the only reason you became friends with her was because you were following orders. I managed to get him to back off, but it was too late. His words were already taking affect on Sunset.” “So that’s why she’s been avoiding us. She thinks we’re not true friends,” Twilight said. “But that’s crazy. Sure, we had kind of a rough past with Sunset, but that’s all it is, the past. We all moved past that a long time ago,” Rainbow countered. “Rainbow, put yerself in her shoes. She thinks the only reason we became friends with her is because Princess Twilight told us to,” Applejack responded. “She thinks that we didn’t really want to be her friends. After all we’ve been through together, I can imagine that would have quite the effect,” Rarity added. “But why would Sunset even believe Goldar?” Fluttershy asked. “Goldar is surprisingly persuasive. He played a similar trick on me, and it almost worked,” Tommy explained. The girls gave him confused looks. “What do you mean he did a similar thing to you?” Rarity asked. Tommy went wide-eyed. “That’s right. I never told you how I became a ranger. I guess now’s as good a time as ever.” Tommy explained to the girls how Rita Repulsa captured him and turned him into her puppet. He told of how he sent Zordon to another dimension, and how he nearly destroyed his friends and assisted with world domination. “If it weren’t for Jason not giving up on me, we probably wouldn’t be sitting here right now,” Tommy said. The six girls took a moment to think this whole thing over, until Pinkie sprung up from her chair. “I have an idea!” Pinkie exclaimed. “This oughta be good,” Applejack whispered. “Maybe Mr. Oliver could tell Sunset what he just told us, and she can get her confidence back,” Pinkie said. “I can see where you’re coming from, but that wouldn’t really solve the problem Sunset’s having,” said Rainbow. “I think we should try it. It’s not like any of us has a better idea,” said Applejack. “I’ll try it, but I can’t guarantee it would work,” said Tommy. “We should probably leave, in that case,” said Twilight. Just then, the alarm went off, signaling there was another attack. “What do you know? An attack that actually kind of helps us,” joked Rainbow. “You girls go. I’ll talk to Sunset,” Tommy instructed. The girls teleported out of the base and to the attack. Tommy pulled up his communicator and attempted to contact Sunset. “Sunset, you there?” Tommy got no response. “Sunset?” Still nothing. “C’mon, I just wanna talk. You’re not in trouble or anything.” Tommy was about to give up when he heard Sunset respond. “At the base, or somewhere else?” Sunset asked through her communicator. “The base is fine. I’ll make this quick; I know you’re not in a good mood. Don’t worry, the others aren’t here,” Tommy responded. A few seconds later, Sunset arrived at the base. She wore a half angry, half depressed ok on her face. “Come, take a seat. There’s something I think you should see,” Tommy offered. Meanwhile The girls arrived at the scene to see the golden-armored monkey that attacked Sunset. “Took you long enough. I was starting to think you were just gonna let me have this world,” Goldar taunted. “That’s never gonna happen,” Applejack said. “You hurt our friend, so we’re gonna make you pay,” Pinkie shouted. Goldar simply laughed in response. “You don’t really expect to beat me without your leader, do you?” “I guess we’re gonna find out,” said Twilight. “It’s Morphin’ Time!” The six girls morphed as Goldar charged. Rainbow drew her blaster and opened fire, but the shots didn’t even faze Goldar. Pinkie lunged at Goldar with her staff, but he simply shoved it aside and struck her with his sword. Applejack swung her axe at Goldar, and Rarity attacked with her daggers. Goldar ducked under the axe and blocked the daggers. He followed it up with a kick to Applejack’s stomach and a slash at Rarity from his sword. Twilight swiped her wand at Goldar, who just grabbed onto it and held it in the air, leaving Twilight open to attack. Fluttershy launched Rainbow at Goldar with her shield and went in for an attack of her own. Goldar swept Twilight off her feet and countered Rainbow’s attack. He then kicked Fluttershy’s shield out of the way and slashed her several times before Twilight tried to fight back. Goldar ducked under Twilight’s attack, slashing her in the process. Rainbow, Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie surrounded Goldar on four different sides, but Goldar unfolded his wing and swept them all down. Meanwhile “Long live Empress Rita!” shouted the Green Ranger as he entered the cockpit of the Megazord. The other five rangers attacked him, but he was too fast. The head of the Megazord began to explode as the rangers fell out of it, followed by the Green Ranger. The rangers charged at the Green Ranger, but he held his ground. He slashed anyone that came near him. Eventually, he fired his power at the rangers from his shield. “Think you’re so strong? Take me on!” the Red Ranger challenged. The Green and Red Ranger fought, equally matched at first, but the Green Ranger quickly gained the upper hand. He swept the Red Ranger into the air and threw him down the cliff. “To the end of the Power Rangers!” the Green Ranger shouted in triumph. Sunset looked away from the monitor and at Tommy. “What does this have to do with me?” “You’ll see. These are the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers, the first team of rangers on Earth,” Tommy explained. Sunset widened her eyes in amazement. “Weren’t you a part of this team?” “I was, but not quite yet,” Tommy answered. “Now watch. This part’s important.” Sunset turned her attention back toward the monitor. “While he was trapped here, his DNA was monitored by the Command Center’s scanners,” said Alpha 5. “That’s great. Let’s put it on screen and find out who this guy is,” said Billy, the former Blue Ranger. “Doing so now. Observe the viewing globe, rangers,” instructed Alpha. The five rangers gathered around the viewing globe as it began to show a blurry outline of the unmorphed Green Ranger. The picture slowly came into focus and showed a face that was all too familiar to the rangers. “No way,” said Kimberly, the Pink Ranger. “Tommy’s the Green Ranger,” said Jason, the Red Ranger. The monitor shut off, and Sunset looked at Tommy, who nodded as if to answer her unspoken question. “You were-“ “Evil. Yeah. Rita Repulsa used me as her puppet, and I nearly destroyed my friends. I nearly helped her conquer Earth. If it weren’t for Jason, we wouldn’t be here right now,” said Tommy. Sunset looked at the black monitor and then back at Tommy. “Why did you show me this?” “Don’t you see? You and I have the same backstory, save for a few details. This is what I meant when I said I saw myself in you. I moved past my mistakes, and I know you can too,” Tommy assured. “But...but what if Goldar was right? What if my friends really did only become my friends because someone told them to?” “Let me answer that by asking this: what would Goldar know about friendship?” Sunset looked down at her morpher. She looked back to Tommy, but sighed. “I-I don’t know. I’m sorry, I just need some more time to think this over.” “That’s fine. Take all the time you need,” Tommy responded. Sunset teleported out of the base, leaving Tommy alone. Tommy turned the monitor back on to see the others were taking a beating from Goldar. “Dino Thunder! Power Up!” Tommy morphed and teleported into action. Meanwhile Sunset landed at the front of the school. She sighed and took a seat in the front steps. It wasn’t long before she heard a familiar voice. “Hey, Sunset, long-time-no-see,” said Flash Sentry. Sunset turned. “Oh hey, yeah.” Flash took a seat beside her. “What’s been going on with you lately?” “What are you talking about?” “You’ve been acting...different. Why?” Sunset took a deep breath. “Why did you become my friend?” “You’re gonna have to be a little more specific.” “I mean, after what happened at the Fall Formal, I didn’t think you’d want to see me ever again.” Flash widened his eyes in surprise. “Oh, um...” “It’s because Twilight told you to, isn’t it?” Sunset accused, cutting Flash off. “I’m not gonna lie, I was pretty upset after all that. But that didn’t mean I stopped caring about you.” Sunset looked Flash in the eye. “What...what does that mean exactly?” “It means that even though...what happened happened, I always had a spot in my heart for you,” Flash admitted, blushing. “What?! I mean, what about Princess Twilight?” Sunset asked, trying not to sound surprised or excited. “Okay, yes. I had a thing for her. But I never really forgot about you. I-I was an idiot then, I...uh-“ Flash was cut off. “Are you saying that you never got over me?” Sunset asked, struggling not to sound excited. “Well, we never did officially break up,” Flash said, his face beet red. Meanwhile “Big brother! The Red Ranger’s getting her confidence back! We have to attack her now!” Sprocket yelled at his brother. “I hear you loud and clear, little brother. Clank, send the puttycogs to attack the Red Ranger!” Gasket shouted. “Right away, your majesty,” said Clank. Meanwhile “What are you saying?” Sunset teased. “What do you think I’m saying?” Flash teased back. “I don’t know. Why don’t you scoot a little closer and tell me?” Sunset said, her face turning red as well. “Alright then,” said Flash, scooting a bit closer to Sunset. The two leaned in closer to each other. They could feel the heat of each other as their lips were about to meet. Before they could kiss, a swarm of puttycogs appeared before them, making them both get up and start backing away. The puttycogs slowly approached them as Sunset began to reach for her morpher. She looked over at Flash and realized she couldn’t morph in front of him. She resulted in simply punching one of the puttycogs, causing it fall down the stairs. Sunset and Flash ran up to the top of the stairs, closely followed by the puttycogs. Flash tried to get the doors to the school open, but they wouldn’t budge. The two of them were cornered. “What are these things?” Flash asked. Sunset looked at Flash and recognized the fear in his eyes. She clenched her fist and stepped forward. She then proceeded to fight the puttycogs, unmorphed. They were a bit tougher since she didn’t have her ranger power, but she didn’t let that stop her. She kicked one down and punched another. Flash looked in surprise at Sunset, who was still fighting. It wasn’t until he saw her wrist that he figured everything out. She was a Power Ranger. Sunset took down the last puttycog, and Flash approached. “That was amazing! I can’t believe you’re a Power Ranger!” Flash said in excitement. “Wha-how did you know?” Sunset asked in shock. “I saw your morpher. Don’t worry, I won’t tell a soul,” Flash promised. Sunset’s face flushed again with embarrassment. Her morpher beeped, signaling her friends needed her. “I gotta go,” she told Flash. “No problem,” Flash said, waving goodbye. “Oh, and um...thanks,” Sunset said before running out of view. Flash was confused. “For what?” he yelled, getting no response. Once she was out of Flash’s view, Sunset spoke into her morpher. “What’s going on?” “We’re getting pummeled here, Sunset. We need you!” Twilight said on the other end. Sunset took a deep breath. “I’ll be right there. Just hold on.” Meanwhile Goldar hadn’t taken a single hit, and his opponents were almost down for the count. “And to think you were chosen by Tommy Oliver himself. I almost feel bad for destroying you,” said Goldar. He then shot a red lighting beam out of his eyes, hitting all five of the rangers. “Not!” Goldar ducked under a surprise attack from Tommy, hitting Tommy with his sword in the process. Tommy landed between Goldar and the rangers, who were all down as well. “I seem to remember you being stronger, Tommy. I told you, you’re an old man,” Goldar taunted. “I may be old, but I still have a few tricks up my sleeve,” said Tommy, drawing his Bracheostaff. He spun a disk on it and aimed the tip at Goldar. A few lightning bolts hit Goldar, pushing him back. Goldar struck back by shooting flames out his mouth, hitting Tommy and causing him to demorph. “Earth’s doom is at hand, and Equestria won’t be far behind,” Goldar said. “I wouldn’t be too sure about that, Goldar,” shouted a new voice. Goldar was attacked from behind and hit the ground. He turned to see the Red Ranger had returned. “So, you didn’t get enough last time,” Goldar challenged. “You’re never gonna bring me down, Goldar. I’ll always be there to stop you!” Sunset yelled back. “We’ll just see about that!” Goldar yelled, spreading his wings and flying at Sunset. Twilight took the opportunity to run up to Tommy, who was still on the ground. “Mr. Oliver, are you alright?” Twilight asked her teacher. “I’m fine, Twilight, but I need to get back to the base,” Tommy responded. With that, he teleported away. Goldar swung his sword at Sunset, but she managed to dodge it and kick Goldar in the back. Goldar swung his sword again, but Sunset ducked under it and slashed Goldar with her own sword. Goldar jumped and tried to kick Sunset, but she caught him and threw him back into the air. She then jumped after him, slashing him in midair. “I seem to have underestimated you. No matter, let’s see you match this one. Cyclopsis!” Goldar challenged. A giant, white robot appeared, causing the girls to stumble back. Goldar turned into a fiery ball and flew up into the robot. The robot looked down and fired a red laser, sending the girls flying. “Girls, I finally managed to contact the Thunderzords. They’re on their way now!” Tommy radioed to the girls. Sure enough, six more giant robots were running toward the scene. Among them were a green lion, a yellow griffin, a pink firebird, a blue unicorn, a red dragon, and a white tiger. “These aren’t actually color coded, so I’ll just say who gets what. Pinkie, you’ll pilot the pink firebirdzord. Fluttershy, you get the yellow griffinzord. Rarity, you’ll control the blue unicornzord. applejack, you’ll use the green lionzord. Rainbow, you’ll be piloting the red dragonzord. Sunset, you get my old White Tigerzord.” “What about Twilight?” asked Fluttershy. “Don’t worry. I have something special for her,” Tommy responded. Twilight shrugged, and the girls jumped into their zords. Cyclopsis fired another laser that bounced from zord to zord. “Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rainbow, you five can combine into the Thunder Megazord. Sunset, you can use the Tiger Zord’s battle mode to fight on your own,” Tommy said. “Sounds like a plan, Mr. Oliver. You hear that, girls?” Rainbow asked. “Loud and clear,” said Applejack. “Goldar doesn’t stand a chance now!” Pinkie exclaimed. “Alright then. Let’s bring em’ together,” Rainbow instructed. The arms and legs detached from the lionzord as the griffin and unicorn folded up. The dragonzord changed into a humanoid figure and landed its legs into the tops of the unicorn and griffin. The firebirdzord flew up and folded itself around the waist of the dragonzord. The arms of the lionzord covered the arms of the dragonzord, with the head of the lionzord acting as a helmet. The Thunder Megazord was now ready for battle. “I’ll try the battle mode,” said Sunset. With that, the Tigerzord folded in its legs and unfolded to grow arms and legs. A head came out the top, signifying that the Tigerzord’s battle mode was ready. Both contraptions drew swords as Cyclopsis drew two wrist blades. Cyclopsis charged and delivered a few shot to the Megazords. The Tigerzord blocked a shot with its sword, and the Thunder Megazord landed a shot of its own. Cyclopsis fired its fist at the rangers, causing them to stumble back. The Tigerzord fired a few fireballs out of its mouth as the Thunder Megazord went in for another shot. Cyclopsis tried to fight back, but the attacks of the Thunder Megazord were all but unknown. All it could do was take the incoming shots from both Megazords. “System overloading. Must retreat,” said the control voice of Cyclopsis. “You rangers got lucky. I’ll be back to finish what I started,” said Goldar. With that, Cyclopsis glowed before disappearing. Later “I’m really sorry about all that, girls,” Sunset said. “Don’t feel bad. Mr. Oliver told us what happened. We would’ve thought the same thing if we were in your place,” Rainbow said. “And we didn’t become friends with ya’ just because Princess Twilight told us to,” Applejack said. “Yeah, we would’ve done that anyway,” Rarity added. “Really?” Sunset asked. “For sure,” said Fluttershy. “Oh, you guys are the best,” said Sunset. With that, the four of them pulled into a group hug. After it ended, they began to walk away. “Oh, you girls go ahead, I’ll catch up,” called Sunset. Tommy walked up to Sunset. “I’m proud of you. It’s never easy to overcome what you did,” he told her. “Thanks, Mr. Oliver. But, really quick, I need to tell you something,” Sunset said. “Flash Sentry kinda found out I was a ranger. He swore he wouldn’t tell anyone, but I tough I should tell you anyhow.” “I’ll have to have a talk with him, but everything should be fine as long as he keeps his word,” Tommy responded. The two of them began to walk away when they heard the statue portal become active. They both looked over to see what was happening, and four human males passed through the portal. They spoke a few words before starting to walk away when Tommy recognized three of them. “Connor? Trent? Casey?” Tommy asked. Sunset simply wore a shocked look on her face. The four humans turned to see the two of them standing there. “Okay, maybe we should’ve waited until nighttime to come back,” said one of the humans. “Ya’ think?” Said another.