//------------------------------//
// Of Rangers and Mecha 
// Story: Equestria: A Flux Tale 
// by Star Sage 
//------------------------------//

(Again, since I'm not sure how many of you watched Power Rangers, in this case, specifically the Mystic Force incarnation, here's the morphing sequence
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6crSieA-Qs4
This show...well plot holes abound, but I personally still liked it, and the ending is exactly what Wild Forces should have been, but wasn't.
And also, hopefully last time, here's a Veritech, which also pops up in this chapter, and will again, if I have anything to say about it. It’s basically a transforming mecha, and here’s all three of its modes, first fighter, then Guardian(That part where it's a jet with arms and legs), and finally the robot form, called Battloid.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlHZZXXqp24
For those wanting still shots, here’s some from Robotech.com
http://www.robotech.com/infopedia/mecha/viewmecha.php?id=5
)

"Okay, I got the perfect suit to wear. Celestia should like this one," you say, and hold out your hand putting your pointer and middle fingers out together, you focus again, and this time, there's a flash as the item is generated, a golden playing card, which you hold between your two fingers.

"Magical Source! Mystic Force!" you shout, and throw the card in front of you, the thing spinning in the air, and growing bigger, until it was as large as you were. Of course, since the ponies were much bigger, they hadn't seen the card, but could see it now as it shined in front of you, then flipped around behind like a cartoon boomerang, standing straight up behind you as you tried to stand straight yourself, and it moved forward, covering your body with its glow. Instantly, you are wearing a fancy suit of armor, with little bits sticking out, all shining golden, but obviously completely unusable in a real battle, as the bits wouldn't stick together properly, and would just get in your way.

Before anypony can note that, however, another flash of light happens, and the armor thins out, becoming almost skintight against you, and feeling lighter even than the sword had, which was against your expectation as you'd figured armor, even magically made armor, would still be heavy. Soon, the golden hue starts to fade, and blue becomes a prominent secondary color, while behind you, the armor suddenly grows a flowing golden cape with red inner lining, fluttering in the air behind you, despite a lack of wind to make it do such a thing.

"Power of the Sun!" you cry, and hold your hand in the air, clenching a fist, and suddenly it seems like the sun itself dims, and you become a glowing radiance in Ponyville, standing just above the grass, while going into a fighting pose.

"Solaris Knight!" you finish, and then punch out, like they would on the show, and posing again, this time like you were ready for anything. Around you, light slowly returned to the sky, and every pair of eyes in the town was turned on your little form, making you smirk beneath the helmet you were wearing, your eyes moving even as your head stayed perfectly straight, hoping you looked as badass as you felt.

"Even better. You're maintaining individual pieces of a greater whole. I don't know anypony who can do that!" says the Professor, stepping closer, and you decide to walk towards him. Of course, this is complicated by the fact that the first step you take, sends you flying into the air.

"Woah!" you shout, as you sail over DawnChaser's head, looking like you’re going to land in the grass, but as you come to the peak of your arc, before anypony can grab you for your own safety, you tuck yourself into a ball, flipping end over end several times, and then uncurling as you get closer, landing lightly on your hand, and then pushing off with a hand spring, before finally coming to a stop with both feet on the ground, and once again in a fighting stance, this time your head whipping around, as the ponies gathered, look at you, and then start clapping, obviously impressed with that display.

"How the hay did you just do that?" asked Vinyl, looking down at you and coming closer. Not really having an answer yourself, you pull at you cape, trying to get it to unsnarl a bit from behind you, and then jump again, this one a little more controlled, landing lightly on her back.

"I did it by being a Power Ranger...holy monkey balls, I'm a Power Ranger!" you say, suddenly realizing you are. The suit was giving you all the abilities of one, and for a moment, you wonder if you could find a monster to fight, then decide it's not worth it, and leap off of Vinyl's back, before slamming your fists together again.

"Form Blazing Sword!" you command, and once again, you are soon holding the bladed weapon, which, now with the agility boost of the arm, seems to be a blur in your hand as you leap at the rock you'd thrown it at, and slice it clean in two, landing just past it, before turning, and snapping your fingers, just as the thing explodes with almost ten times the force of the blade of grass. This time, you don't even feel it through the armor, and if you weren't aware of hundreds of eyes on you, you would have gone all fan boy and squealy at the moment. Instead, you just turn back, and then wave.

"Absolutely fascinating. You can maintain two solid forms at once. Hmm, perhaps we can try for something bigger? A vehicle perhaps?" asks DawnChaser, while scratching down more notes, and you look up at him, considering for a moment what to make. This would probably require more of your store of magic, but you had to admit, being a ranger really made you want to summon a zord. But Zords were, apart from megazords for the most part, non-humanoind, and right now, you really wanted to be bigger, staring up at the Professor.

"Okay. I think I know just the one!" you tell him.

"Power down!" you shot, and the Solaris Knight armor vanishes, leaving you in the clothing you'd been in before. That was one worry off your mind, and you'd been wondering what happened to your old clothes when you morphed. Still, it wasn't a big worry, and for the moment, your problem was focus. You needed to make something complex this time, not just a sword or a suit, but a full blown mechanoid, so closing your eyes, you reach inside yourself again, this time trying to grab as much of the glowing star of magic inside you as you can, before letting it loose, envisioning what you wanted, and trying to make it real.

You step away from everyone, and jam the sword you're holding into the ground, still holding the hilt as you concentrate. The star inside you shudders as the power flows out of it, and looking down at your hands you can see the lines of energy going from inside of you, into the sword, which glows brightly again. Then the glow slowly 'leaks' away, starting to become a pool of radiance on the ground, which causes all the ponies to back up again as it expands, soon growing until it’s a small lake to you, while the sword has changed, its grip now a handle, with the pool of light sort of flowing around it. Suddenly the pool jumps up, and you are covered in a dome of light that outshines the sun once again, everypony gasping.

The dome pulses with power, continuing to expand for a moment, before it seems to deflate like a balloon, falling inward. Inside, you can feel the shape, of the dome, same as you could feel magic before, and concentrating, you focus on the form you want. The wings, the tail, the engines, all the little bits from the show. Interestingly, as you think, you can feel the magic helping. The internal parts of the fighter form as the dome takes on the shape you want, and each bit fits together, probably just like it did in the show, the little things, the inertial dampener, the missile systems, everything is being filled in automatically, like the magic wanted to take this shape, and soon enough, the glowing down sheds the outer layer of light, and you're sitting in the cockpit of a Veritech fighter.

"Hmm, intriguing. What kind of vehicle is this?" asks the Professor, as he steps forward, drawing more in his notebook. Sitting back, you just keep your head swiveling around, staring at all the stuff around you. It's just kind of incredible. You made this. Well, magic made it, but you made it real, you brought it into existence, a real Veritech fighter. The Blazing Sword is now the control stick, with several buttons on it. The levers on the found are controls for the various modes of the fighter, and there's even a mic on the dashboard, which you press so you can talk.

"This is called a Veritech. It's a jet fighter. If you'll back up a bit Professor, I'll launch, and show you what I can do," you tell him, and DawnChaser complies, taking several steps backwards from the unknown thing, the quill still flying over the book. In fact, you notice he's doing two at once, which is a pretty good trick. But you've got a better one, and smirk as you push a button, and hear the roar of the engines, the powerful cry for the sky that comes from any jet. The Veritech isn't any jet though, and rather than do the whole runway thing, you point push another button, and several small jets spring from below, lifting you off the ground, as your landing gear retracts back into the body. Then, with a push of a pedal at your feet, you rocket forward, your body pressed into the seat by the g-forces.

"Ac-acti-activate G-Diffusers," you say, your arm fighting forward, and then pushing another button, and the force pushing you back eases up slowly, as the antigravity pods inside the Veritech spin to power, and then come fully online. Looking out of the cockpit, you suddenly find yourself about to crash into Ponyville city hall, and pull hard on the stick, which causes the fighter to pull an almost ninety degree turn away from the ground, and start moving up into the sky. Looking behind you, you see the ground just fall away, as you gain several thousand feet in seconds, your dials telling you you're going up at almost 1500 meters a second, that's mach four or thereabouts, and you haven't even hit the after burners or anything yet.

"Woahoo!" you say, as you cut the power to the engines for a moment, and pull a turn that would tear a normal fighter apart, as you spin around, and activate them again, suddenly plummeting downward, back towards Ponyville, the ground rushing up to meet you. You can see the crowd gathered down, and your computer starts beeping, and you see lock on reticules appear over several of the gathered ponies. Thinking that's probably not a good idea, you concentrate for a moment, and feel the magic shift and move a bit, as the missiles and gun shift from battle, to training mode, becoming powder shots that would just color a target for the missiles, and some light stings for the gun. Just as you reach the ground, you pull up again, and find yourself skimming along the grass, which doesn't burn, but instead leaves waves of it pressed down as you pass, before you finally return to the crowd and pull of a stop that seems impossible for the speed you'd been going on.

"Incredible," was all the Professor said, as he got closer, and continued to scribble something, now having five books with quills all going at lightning speeds as he puts down theories and numbers, "Absolutely fantastic. This vehicle must be faster than any pony I've ever seen."

"Hey! Nopony, and no metal can, is faster than the Dash!" complains Rainbow Dash, hoping up out of the crowd and coming closer to where you're hovering off the ground, about level with DawnChaser's head. Interestingly, it is only now that you note that the Veritech is about the same size as the ponies around you, which will make the secondary modes at least somewhat useful. Rainbow Dash seems unimpressed though, and lands in front of you.

"You just haven't seen me in action yet, Professor. I could fly circles around this thing," she boasts, and the Professor seems to consider this a moment, three of the quills pausing, as one hovers over and starts tapping his lip.

"You're right, I haven't, and that would be an excellent next test. Would you be up for a little flying competition in this...Very-Tech, thing you've created?" he asks, and you look to find Dash obviously confident of you either being too scared to do it, or just in her own superiority. She is pretty fast too. Mach 10 was what some guy had said created her Sonic Rainboom, but at the same time, she also had maneuverability, changing direction at angles that were insane. But you're in the most advanced jet ever built. Powered by Protoculture, almost the same as having a small sun. This would really put it to the test, but Dash was competitive, and you had to admit, so were you. This could be dangerous. But think of the glory if you could beat her.... Finally, after a moment of thought, you nod

"I'll take you to school," you tell her, and turn your Veritech around, pointing again towards city hall. Dash, taking her mark beside you, smirk, and chuckles, obviously expecting an easy victory, despite showing how fast the thing was already. That showed either delusion, or a lot of confidence, and knowing her from the show, you know she's actually capable of backing it up.

"Okay, first one too-" the Professor begins, but before he can really finish, Dash takes off like a shot, and within a heartbeat, you take off after her. The speed is incredible, as the buildings of Ponyville zip by you, and you dodge, juke, and roll around them, leaving sharp contrails in the air behind, while Dash flies just ahead, thanks to starting sooner, and is leaving a rainbow after image behind her. It was actually kind of fun, and you can still feel the movements of the veritech through the g-diffuser system that makes down a constant for you, despite the ground and outside world doing flips and whirls outside your cockpit.

The pair of you are blurs to the crowd, as you both pull a u-turn around city hall, and fly back, your wings buzzing just over Vinyl and Octavia's heads as you pass over them, and then pull up, causing Dash to do the same. Where your drift is more rounded, becoming an arc, Rainbow show's her speed and agility, with numerous sharp changes in how she's flying, her trail becoming a jagged rainbow as she passes you, just barely missing your fighter, before flying upward at a speed that leaves you in her dust.

"You think you've won?!" you shout over your speakers, and hit the thrust bar beside you all the way forward, your jets screaming in protest or joy, it's hard to tell, as you rocket forward, the system keeping you from being squashed to jelly only barely able to hold back the G-forces as you catch up to Dash, leaving her spinning behind you as you continue upward. She quickly shakes off, and even as she vanishes behind, you can see her face getting mad. She hates losing, and isn't about to be beaten by you, not like yesterday in the library, and so she takes off, flying faster than even you are, as the mach cone forms around her body. The jets are already pushed to the limit, but you try to milk some more out of them, turning down the G-diffuser to get a few more meters per second from your fighter, as Dash's speed catches up, and then passes your own, the mach cone suddenly breaking, and a blast of light coming from her as she passes you, leaving you awash in rainbow colored glory.

Your veritech shudders as the light fades, and you have to blink against it, surprised by how much she'd really wanted to win. That was a Sonic Rainboom, it had to be, you remember it from the show, but really being there, feeling the vibrations as it tore through the air, it was like nothing you'd ever felt before. It was at least 20% cooler than it was on the show, and you give Dash a salute, adjusting the G-diffuser back to normal, and then toning down the jets a bit. She really is faster than a veritech, something no biological being should be, but there it was. Taking a much gentler slope, you follow the rainbow trail upwards into the heavens, finding it to remain just as bright after Rainbow Dash past, almost like a solid light construct.

Of course, when that light suddenly ends, you look around, wondering what happened, and then realize something that makes you swear. You hadn't thought about it before, but you and Dash had been flying straight upward, and while your fighter had an air tight cockpit and was rated for spaceflight, Dash didn't have that protection. You'd never thought about it on the show, but pegasi probably had a high flight ceiling, considering they trained high up in the clouds. However, high ceiling, didn't mean space worthy, and turning towards your instruments, you flick the radar on, and desperately search it, begging it to ping, and then smiling as you find something solid floating nearby. Well, not floating exactly, as it was falling back towards the planet below.

Turning your jet, you spare only a single glance for the scene below you. It's Equestria, the world of the show. It's a sphere, an orb, floating in the heavens. You hadn't thought to hard about it, but considering the Princesses moved the sun and moon, it had been a curiosity. Still, looking at it below, it really is a lovely little world, and you would probably tear up a bit, but don't have the time now. Instead you punch your jets, and fly towards where Dash is, her head pointed towards the ground as she plummets out of the sky, her body building up speed as it falls, and quickly approaching terminal velocity.

Of course, getting to her, you wonder for a moment what to do about it. There's no cable or other sort of attachment on the veritech, so there doesn't seem to be any way to grab the pegasus. Then you face palm, remembering just what a veritech is, and reach down towards the three controls near the bottom of your cockpit marked F, G, and finally, B, for the transformations of the veritech. Right now the F is the one pulled down, so you grab the B lever, and pull that one instead. Instantly you feel the fighter shift and transform, the noise of it reaching your ears as scraping metal through the cockpit that makes you wish you could cover your ears. You try to stay focused though, and look at Dash, seemingly so peaceful, until the cockpit is covered by the transformation, and you're now starting a bank of monitors.

They're blank one moment, but then spring to life the next, showing the same scene as before, but at a different sort of angle, and looking around, you find the controls have shifted a bit. Now instead of a stick, there are two gloves at your sides, and pedal below for the legs, so sticking your arms into the gloves, you begin to move the veritech like it was just an extension of your body, reaching out gently to grab Dash, and then curl your arms around her, before firing the jets on your feet. Not hard, as she doesn't have a g-diffuser in her body, and would be torn apart if you tried to just stop, but instead you do a stuttering fire, reducing the speed the two of you are falling at, as you descend through the atmosphere towards the planet below.