//------------------------------// // 5: Ranger White // Story: Power Rangers: Sky Strike // by The Bricklayer //------------------------------// “So, you were saying?” Cozy Glow said with an innocent smile as she watched the now united team destroy the Bug Mother. She was only half paying attention really, as on another viewing globe was this episode of She-Ra Princesses of Power. She had to love Catra really, such a perfect villain. Unlike that nasty-wasty Adora, who turned her back on the Hoard. “...About how the mother could never be defeated?” “They got lucky,” Radiguet snarled quietly. “Clearly, these Rangers are starting to become more than just simple pests, eh boss?” Gray remarked lighting up a smoke. “I suggested before that we treat them as the threat that they are. Power Rangers have had a track record in destroying tyrants. Remember Lord Draven? He was one of us, until he got it in his head that all the dimensions were his to conquer and we had to toss him out. The Rangers destroyed him, against all odds.” “Yes, but not these Rangers. These, I assumed, would still be new to their fancy suits and new to their abilities,” Radiguet replied. “That they would take time to become thorns in my side. That we could defeat them easily.” “Well gee golly, it’s not like newbies haven’t gotten lucky before!” Cozy Glow said tossing a recent paper in front of Radiguet. On it was a story of six mares cleansing the legendary Mare in the Moon of her evil and returning Celestia’s sister to her. “Never bet against the underdog, my parents always said.” “Such a disappointing loss,” Gray reminisced, holding up a glass of wine in memoriam. “Nightmare Moon was quite the villain. Making the night last forever? A spectacular goal if I do say so myself. She was an inspiration to the forces of darkness. I had planned on inviting all my friends to her new kingdom.” “I didn’t know you had friends,” Cozy said, turning to stare at the robot. “There’s a lot you don’t know about me, young miss,” Gray replied. “But alas, my plans for a nightclub in a kingdom of evil have been thwarted. Such a loss.” “A nightclub?” Radiguet said. “That was your ultimate dream?” “Not all of us forgo appreciating the finer things in life,” Gray replied. “Yes, we can conquer the world, but we should be able to have fun after we’re done doing that.” Cozy Glow never had really understood why the robot even understood the concept of hedonic pleasure. And she wasn’t sure if she really wanted to. “I vote for a rethink,” she piped up. “Clearly, striking at the Rangers right now is a terrible idea. We need to weaken them, and I suggest-” “You’re a child,” Gray refuted. “The only reason you’re still here and not out on your knees is because you’ve amused me and Lord Radiguet thus far. That’ll soon probably change.” “So I’m just a sweet little filly to you huh?” Cozy Glow said, pulling a face. “But golly, would a sweet little filly have any dreams of conquering the world?” “I say we let her speak!” Radiguet cackled. “Just for a laugh! So kiddy, what is your evil plan?” “Well, the Rangers draw their strength for the people that they protect right?” Cozy said getting up out of her chair, and plunging her hand into a cocoon of the bug mother’s children. “Remove that strength, and they’ll just give up! We cause mass chaos! The Rangers will be so busy dealing with this, they can’t stop you, My Lord!” “I hate to say it boss, but… That’s actually a pretty good idea,” Gray replied. “It’s quite logical.” Radiguet grumbled something under his breath. “Yeah, well even a blind man strikes out once in a while!” Radiguet was really beginning to think that part of the manual which spoke of having a five-year-old child around. This Cozy Glow was really starting to get on his nerves. Oh well, he just had to follow this one plan of hers, humor her, and then he could toss her out on her rear. All the same though, if the Rangers caught wind of something going on, it’d be game over. No good plan went to waste after all. So, true to form he sent out some Reversers to cause some trouble. Distract the rangers while Cozy planted a dimensional bug on… well, whatever she wanted to plant it on. He didn’t care, it could have been a garden hose or a rubber ducky for all he knew. Something childish and stupid. While the Rangers trashed more of his minions, -Radiguet watching the black one sweeping his minions away with a wall of wind from his sword- Cozy tiptoed into a bank vault on another viewing orb. Using a spell seal created by yours truly, she busted open a locker and placed the bug on what had to be the world’s largest diamond. Well, at least it’d be hard to destroy when the bug matured. So she had that going for her monster. A diamond monster, well okay then. It’d be a real shining example of failure on her part. Or who knows, maybe she’d dazzle the Rangers with their defeat. Right now though, it didn’t look like this train was going to be stopped any time soon, given how easily the multicolored nuisances were at slicing up poor defenseless bugs.  He turned his attention back to the first viewing orb and watched the battle with a hint of boredom. Maybe he should send down a few lightning strikes just to spice things up.  Nah. He’d let them rest on the laurels of their latest victory, grow fat with pride, and then when they eventually slipped up? That was when he’d strike. “Winged Victory Final Slash!” the rangers called out as they charged up their blades, before striking with a multicolored slash of energy striking down the small army of Reversers. An explosion, as ever, was soon to follow. Oh well, another day then. And what was with the constant explosions anyways? This wasn’t a TV show! Vapor groaned as she flopped down on the couch, her new apartment just barely looking ‘lived in’. A few Wonderbolts posters here and there, some comics lying scattered about the floor. But mostly boxes still wrapped up in packing tape. Yeah, she’d get to those later.  Celestia, she never imagined becoming a superhero would entail all this! Still, she could see the logic. It was quicker to get to the site of the battle if she lived in Ponyville, which was basically in the middle of everything.  Poor Robert though, he had to pack up his whole job and get reassigned to a civilization he barely knew. Even now he was standing out in the hot sun on his shift guarding Sunset Shimmer. Why did Sunset even need a guard anyways? What’d she even do? Oh, was this a Princess Celestia’s Personal Student type of thing? Seemed kind of pointless, given if she was Celestia’s personal student, she could probably defend herself quite well! Vapor tossed another glance to the unpacked boxes. Yeah, no, just staying in here reminded her of all the work she still had to do. Ugh, she needed to take a walk and clear her head. She’d tackle this problem later. What was that about procrastinators uniting?  Vapor smiled as she strode out into the sun, the warmth raining down on her feathers and she extended her wings in spite of herself to catch some rays.  “You seem to be fitting in well,” Autumn commented as the two went on their now daily jog, one little lap around the town. “See, see I was worried that you’d feel a bit out of place really. Having to pack up from the only life you’ve ever known and then…” “Are we sure we’re not talking about someone else now?” Vapor asked, the two running up a hillside, unsurprisingly the muscled kirin mare easily outpacing the wonderbolt in training. Hey, she was made for flying fast, not running fast. “Cause I’m pretty sure I’m fitting in, no real regrets here.” “What no, pshaw! Nonsense!” Autumn said a little too quickly. “You’re projecting! I’m happy as can be! See, I feel like I want to sing~! You ponies do plenty of that right, or is that just a rumor I’ve been hearing? C-Cause I heard from a mare who knows a mare that someone did a little ditty about how it was great to be a baker not too long ago…” “Yep, that’s Equestria for you,” Vapor said, the two taking a brief break to catch their breath. The hill they were on overlooked Ponyville, the small country town not seeming so small from up here. “See, and nobody knows why, but there’s this thing about breaking into song and dance. Everybody’s going to join in, and the music comes from… somewhere. I don’t know where, so I’ll just say a wizard’s doing it. Maybe Starswirl. He probably enchanted the land long ago. Yeah, that makes sense right?”  “Oh, I thought it was just a kirin thing…” Autumn muttered to herself, sitting down on a bench. Vapor had laid her bottle of water aside for the moment and was sporting a look of concern at the farmer’s tone. She laid a pale hand on her friend’s shoulder. “Hey, you sure you’re alright?” Vapor asked, sitting beside her. “Whenever you speak about your people, you’re…” “It’s nothing you should be concerned about, alright?” Autumn said a bit too quickly, said a bit too snappishly for Vapor to believe her.  “If you say so…” the pegasus relented, for now anyways. “But this isn’t the end of this, you understand?” Autumn very quickly changed the subject. “So, how you likin’ your new powers?” “I mean, they’re not bad, and like holy crap I have ABS. Like, I’ve never been pudgy, Wonderbolt in training and all that, but I’ve always had this swimmer’s build. Like Rainbow Dash and all of them, right? But woke up this morning, and looked myself in the mirror, and I. had. Abs. Like, seriously toned. Okay, so yeah I’m fighting an insane conqueror, but I look good! Wow!” Vapor babbled. “One question though, is it really strictly necessary to scream out ‘wings rise!’ when morphing? Or is that something we have to do? I sound like a dork.” “You are a dork,” Autumn pointed out.  “I know, I know! But another thing! When we morph, is it just me or do you notice the six-foot tall high fireball behind us sometimes?” Vapor continued to babble. “Breathe Vapor,” Autumn said, oh the irony. “Because I thought it was just me, but seriously!” Vapor finally stopped her ramblings. Her ears perked up at conversations coming from the streets below, something exciting was going on! Grabbing her near Amazonian partner by the shoulder, she shouted: “Come on!” as she dragged her off. “Uh, Vapes,” Autumn tried to protest. “You do realize some of us aren’t in as big of a rush as you. I like to take things slow, it comes with the territory you know. Whatever this is, it can wait!” “No no, you don’t understand!” Vapor said, pointing ahead of them. “Look ahead, look directly ahead! That’s the freakin’ Siren’s Allure, one of the purest diamonds in the world. They rarely take it out of the bank!” “Uh-huh,” Autumn said, not really sure why she should care. “I’m not one for fancy things, Vapes. Just give me a flannel shirt and some jeans, and I’ll be happy. That’s the height of fashion for me.” “Come on, at least fake that excitement, eh?” Vapor asked. “I thought every mare loved diamonds! They’re your best friend right?” “That’s just a stereotype, and you know it! See this?” Autumn said gesturing to herself. “These clothes I’ve got, that’s all I need.” Vapor grumbled something under her breath about how near Amazonian farmer goddesses didn’t need much to make themselves look good. Autumn caught it. “Oh my, are we jealous?” Autumn teased, booping her friend on the nose. “Shut up…” Vapor muttered, punching her friend in the arm. “Okay, I’ll admit it’s pretty,” Autumn said as she gently brushed aside the many gaggling mares trying to get a peek at the gemstone through the shop window. “But can you imagine wearing that thing?” “I know, right…?” Vapor replied dreamily. Autumn gave her a look. “You’ll fall right on over just trying to wear it!” Autumn replied, giving her a reality check. “But what a great falling over it’d be…” Vapor replied. Then, screams filled the air, and they weren’t ones of excitement. Reversers popped themselves out of the woodwork, smashing up stalls and slicing through shop windows.  The crowd scattered, and both Vapor and Autumn shared a look. “Just one day out, just one… is that all I can ask?” Vapor grumbled, flicking her wrist and summoning her Morpher. Autumn didn’t even bother to change to ranger form, pummeling a Reverser with her fist and sending it flying. Vapor blinked seeing this, muttering: “Wow, I do need to work out…” before letting out a yelp as one of the insectoid creatures slashed at her with its sword. Flying backward to avoid the strike, -her Morpher falling off in the process- she kicked herself off a brick wall and crashed into the mook with a flying tackle.  Kicking some dust and dirt into another Reverser’s face, she flipped it over her shoulder. Autumn meanwhile lifted another of the mooks skywards before bringing it down over her knee in a sickening crack. Vapor couldn’t help but wince at the action. She herself grabbed a Reverser and spanked it several times, shouting: “Clean up your act!” The mook whimpered and sobbed, letting out a soft: “Okay!” before scampering off. Vapor nodded to herself, before whirling around to roundhouse kick another mook in the face. Vapor ran behind a stall and began pelting another Reverser with fruit, before kicking a crate into its face. Another two ran up before Vapor slammed twin haymakers into their faces. Autumn nearby was wrestling another mook into the ground, shouting: “Commander Gray ain’t gonna help you, ol Lord Radiguet ain’t gonna help you, no monster he ain’t gonna help you!” Flipping backwards onto a roof, she pulled out her Ranger form’s laser pistol, shooting down several of the minions. With another war cry, she leaped back down into the fray, a flurry of motion as she clobbered the minions grabbing several and slamming them into a wall.  Vapor meanwhile grabbed another Reverser rushing towards her, and with a flick of the wrist, he was down. As the minions swarmed around the two mares, Vapor shared a look with Autumn. “Hey, what you say we take this up a notch?” Vapor said, flicking her wrist to summon her Morpher once more. “I’ve about had it with these clowns!” “Agreed!” Autumn said. “Playtime’s over! Take off, wings rise! Owl Ranger Power!” “That catchphrase is still horrible, but…” Vapor muttered before shouting her proclamation: “Take off, wings rise! Swan Ranger Power!” With an explosion, they were morphed. “See, just like that!” Vapor said pointing to the scorched earth beneath their hooves. “Just like that! That’s what I’m talking about!” Autumn ignored her, just pummeling a mook with her Bird Buster.  Then, lightning bolts floored the both of them as what looked to be a fusion of a clown and a diamond walked up, a little dimensional bug skittering inside it. “I’ll smash and bash you rangers, and pay you cash!” “Hey, no clowning around!” Autumn barked out as she and Vapor ran towards the creature, blades drawn. It drew a staff of its own and blocked the blades as sparks flew. As Vapor defended against the onslaught, Autumn took a running jump off a wall and slashed into its armor with a heavy glowing golden strike. The Diamond Beast only whirled around with its staff, striking Autumn in the stomach.  Vapor shouted: “Get off her!” and kicked it in the side. The Diamond Beast let out a low growl, only for Autumn to take a jump off Vapor and fire a few shots into its armor. “I don’t know Vapor, you think we should cash in on this monster?” Both were knocked back by lightning bolts from the monster, who could only say: “I normally do my shopping with my cards, but today I’m just using cash. I want to make a change!” Both Rangers groaned at the incredibly lame pun. Vapor dealt out several slashes to the monster, and Autumn leaped in her fist drawn back in a powerful right cross. Sending the monster staggering, the diamond-themed monster headbutted her as soon as it recovered its wits. “You know, soon as you die, I’m converting your ashes into diamonds. That is…” “Oh, don’t say it!” Vapor moaned. “...a lot of pressure!” the Diamond Beast crowed slamming the tip of its staff into the earth, and it shook with both rangers toppling over.  “Hey, we’re the only ones allowed to make puns! We’re the superheroes, not you!” “And superheroes are supposed to fight villains right?” said the Diamond Beast. Vapor and Autumn both gave him a flat look. “Um… yes?” Autumn replied not sure where this was leading. “Then how can you be busy fighting me, if you’re too busy fighting amongst yourselves?” the monster called zapping Autumn with this strange red beam. Vapor didn’t know what it was going to do, but right then, the other Rangers showed up. “Sorry we took so long,” Sunset said. “But we had to buy some diamond guitars, make some real hard rock! Now, let’s crush this rhinestone!” “Agreed,” Vapor nodded. “He zapped Autumn with something, not sure what!” “We’ll figure it out later,” Shining said as the five rangers charged their swords with glowing energy. “For now… Winged Victory Final Slash!” Five arcs of energy were sent towards the monster, but Gray leaped in front of the beams and tanked the blow. “Apologies, but I can’t have you doing that. Come along, Diamond Beast. We’ve got work to do.” And with that, they were gone in a flash of light. Vapor swore, even as the Rangers demorphed. “So what was that all about?” Sunset had to wonder. “...I don’t know, but something tells me we’re going to find out…” murmured Robert. “So, doesn’t seem to be anything actually physically wrong with her,” Sunset commented, her horn glowing as she ran every scanning spell she could think up on Autumn. “If something was supposed to happen, it’s obvious it’s not an immediate effect. Probably some sort of delayed reaction. My best guess is keeping an eye on her, watching what happens.” So Vapor did.  “So, what’d you think that was all about?” Vapor had to ask as she and Autumn walked home. “Like, what was the Reverse Empire hoping to even accomplish?” “I dunno, make this unstoppable monster?” Autumn pondered. “My sword barely even scratched him! And I’m me!” she ranted, flexing her muscles just for good measure. “Yeah, yeah, we get it,” Vapor teased. “You’re a musclehead.” “Mhmm, and proud of it,” Autumn said before smelling her sleeves. “Ooof, yeah I think it’s time for a change of clothes. Like, I need a whole new set. Starting to stink like a pig in heat.” “...okay, chalk up one for images I didn’t need today,” Vapor muttered before taking a whiff and wrinkling her nose. “But yeah, I see what you mean. By Celestia, you stink! Tell you what, I’ll go back to my house, won’t even be five minutes, and I’ll bring you a spare change of clothes while you head off to the laundromat, okay?” “That’ll take too long, and besides, I’m a mare right?” Autumn said grabbing Vapor by the arm. “No, I’m going to buy a whole new set of clothes.” “Wait, I’m sorry, but did you say you were going to buy a new set of clothes?” Vapor piped up. “You’re not going deaf on me, yes I said I was going to buy a new change of clothes!” Autumn replied. “Oh, I heard you, but you’re… well, you! You live off worn-out jeans and sweaty t-shirts!” Vapor balked. “What, I’m not allowed to feel like a mare from time to time?” Autumn asked, hand on hips.  “Fair enough…” Vapor muttered. When they got to Rarity’s boutique, however, that’s where things got… weird. Vapor had to balk as Autumn put down orders for several new sets of clothing. Rarity, for her part, was over the moon. “Ooooh, never fitted for a kirin before!” Rarity giggled, even as she continued her measurements. “Oh, don’t you worry dear. As it happens, rustic happens to be ‘in’ this year. Suddenly, it’s very very cool to look like a farmhand. Oh, now if only I could get Applejack in here…” Vapor had to snort. “Yeah, fat chance of that happening.” “A mare can dream, can’t she?” Rarity said, measuring Autumn’s stomach. “But no, she just likes her old hand me downs. So trust me, having you in here is like a dream come true! Normally, ponies… er, kirins like you couldn’t even begin to care about fashion!” “We’re all mares here right?” Autumn said with a little girlish giggle. Vapor raised an eyebrow at that, okay now that was really odd.  “Er, Autumn, is there something I don’t know about? Or a someone? You tryin’ to impress someone on the side or something?” Vapor asked in a concerned tone. “Because this really isn’t you.” “There’s a lot you don’t know about me,” Autumn said and Vapor could only nod. “Apparently so…” she agreed and began to wonder if she should be really worried. Maybe this was all some sort of weird fever dream, because really! “Oh, I have to agree with Vapor Trail,” Rarity said. “Nobody ever buys this much clothing from me unless they’re trying to impress someone. Okay, so who is it? Who’s the lucky stallion? Or mare, I don’t judge.” “...is everything romance with you?” Autumn asked in an exhausted tone of voice. “Uh-huh!” Rarity agreed. “Now that should be it, come back later this week! I’ll send you the bill in the mail.” Life went on, such as it did. The next day, nothing much seemed to be going on with Autumn either. The rest of Ponyville however, now that was a different story. Vapor woke up, had her daily run, and walked right into what could only be described as mass chaos. She’d walked into the local grocery, and saw ole Miss Granny Smith haggling with the cashier for a lot of money. Soon, Granny began smacking the poor cashier over the head with her bag and ran off with the cash cackling like a loon. “Okay then…” Vapor said taking a few steps right back out of the store, only for her eyes to widen as similar scenes began repeating themselves all around her. Bulk Biceps was threatening poor Roseluck for her cash, only for Roseluck to turn around and rob him of his bits. “...yep, this is all a bad dream Vapor. You’ll wake up in a few minutes and then everything will be right back to normal.” “Give me your money little girl!” Granny Smith said, hitting Vapor over the head with her bag.  “What the hell?” Vapor said breaking into a sprint as she hid in an alleyway. Then, a bird flew down from the sky and stole her bits from her pocket. “...Seriously? Even the birds are obsessed with money!” “Please please let this all be some dream I’m having from eating one too many tuna sandwiches before I went to bed last night!” Vapor thought frantically. “Because I’m so not ready to handle this kind of crazy!” Eventually, she managed to run smack dab into Autumn Blaze. “Oh thank Celestia, Autumn!” Vapor shouted, wiping her brow in relief before she took notice of what exactly her friend was wearing. Gone was the flannel shirt and cut off jeans, and in its place was a rather expensive looking purple tracksuit.  “So, like my new clothes?” Autumn said, as ponies gathered. “You wouldn’t be alone…” “....bwuh,” Vapor said temporarily at a loss for words. Eventually, she managed to find the gift of speech again. “Autumn, your new clothes from Rarity haven’t even been made yet!” “But I couldn’t wait!” Autumn said. “So I went out and bought a new tracksuit, first thing!” “This whole town’s gone crazy…” Vapor muttered as the two started up their daily run.  “Can I confess?” Autumn started. “I hate bills, and no matter how many cabbages I grow out in the fields, they keep on piling up!” “That’s what bills do, yeah,” Vapor agreed, taking a sip from her water bottle. “Your point?” “Money! Lucre! Bread! Di Nero! Smackeroos! Bits! Scratch! Do-re-mi! Moolah! Stash! Simoleons! It's the bane of my existence, right?” Autumn continued to complain as their route took them into the park.  “Pretty sure it’s the bane of everyone’s existence,” Vapor agreed wearily. Something was definitely off here, and given how the rest of the town was behaving, Vapor couldn’t help but worry. “Hey Autumn is it just me or has the whole town gone… a wee bit nutty?” “How’d you figure?” Autumn panted out, beads of sweat rolling down her face. “Well, earlier today I saw Roseluck -Roseluck!- smacking Bulk Biceps around!” “Maybe it’s a slap slap kiss type of thing,” Autumn shrugged. “I mean, that’s generally how it works right? Slap, slap, then kiss each other until you need to breathe? Ponies are weird!” “I’m a pony!” Vapor balked. “And Roseluck then stole Bulk’s bits! You don’t think something’s gone wrong here?” “Maybe it’s a foreplay type thing, I dunno. Romance is weird…” Autumn shrugged, taking a breather. Vapor wanted to scream. In any event, again Autumn surprised her by going jewelry shopping. For both of them, actually. When questioned, Autumn only had this to say. “Hey, you look good, you feel good, am I right?”  “I dunno…” Vapor said looking over some of the jewelry. “This stuff looks awfully expensive…” “You said it yourself right, diamonds are a mare’s best friend!” Autumn said holding up a nice necklace. “And if worse comes to worst, I can sell it all back. Who knows, maybe I’ll get more money for it!” Vapor’s jaw dropped. Okay, something was definitely wrong here. “Uh, Autumn, you sure you don’t need to sit down? You don’t look so hot…” Vapor said slowly. “I’m a kirin, I’m always hot. You know I can turn into an angry flaming rage monster right?” Autumn said in reply, seemingly misunderstanding the question even as the shopkeeper took a few understandable steps back. Autumn held up two pairs of earrings encrusted with gems. “Now, what do you think? Emerald, or ruby?” From their castle, Radiguet, Gray, and Cozy all watched the show laughing up a storm. “I can’t believe it! You even got one of the rangers with your new monster!” Radiguet cackled. “This is too perfect! I take back every bad thing I ever said about you!” “You said bad things about me?” Cozy said, faking a little lip quiver and turning on the puppy dog eyes. “Well, no, I…” Radiguet stammered trying to save face as Gray facepalmed.  Vapor meanwhile, had to talk her friend out of buying the more expensive sets. “Just think of your bills!” she babbled. “Your expenses are going to go through the roof!” “Don’t worry, I’ll have enough money to pay them off somehow!” Autumn nodded before holding out a hand. “Loan me a bit or two?” Vapor facepalmed, this was fruitless. Okay, that did it, she had to get Sunset or someone. Only they could reverse this! So she beat feet to where she knew Sunset lived, this nice gold-domed structure that stood out amongst the rest of the village’s quaint victorian village stylings. Even if she was under house arrest, Sunset was gifted only the best from her teacher. “Sunset?” Vapor asked warily, not really sure what she’d find as she entered the house. “It’s Autumn, she’s become obsessed with money! I think it had something to do with that beam that diamond monster hit her with!” However… “I’m going to be rich!” Sunset cried, rubbing off some lottery tickets. Vapor gaped, no not her as well! “...not you too…” Vapor whispered, tears stinging her eyes. Laughter filled the air as from out of nowhere appeared the Diamond Beast.  “Hahaha, this is all too rich! All of Ponyville is obsessed with getting rich!” the monster punned, which Vapor was in no mood for. “Even some of you guys! Oh, I cannot believe I just saw Shining Armor giving away his marefriend’s jewelry for cash, and now this! The great Sunset Shimmer playing the lottery in hopes of striking it gold!” “I knew it…” Vapor seethed before she wrenched Sunset into the picture by pulling her arm. “See, look! That’s what did this to you, and to Autumn and to Shining and to everyone else! Now help me fight this guy!” “I will if you pay me, how much are you asking for?” Sunset asked and Vapor facepalmed as the monster cackled up a storm. “This is too rich!” the Diamond Beast howled. “Or rather, they’re not rich enough!” Vapor slammed a fist into his face. “Yeah, well, there’s still one Ranger you forgot about. Me!” “What’s to know? There’s only one of you!” the Diamond Beast laughed. “One Ranger hardly makes a team!” Vapor flicked her wrist, and morphed with a cry of: “Take off, wings rise! Swan Ranger Power!” and as her costume wrapped itself around her, Vapor drew her sword. “Yeah, well, I’m the Ranger you should be worried about.” “We’ll see!” said the monster. “Let’s not write checks your body can’t cash!” “And another thing!” Vapor said as their battle spilled out onto the streets, scoring several increasingly violent sword slashes. “I’m so tired of the cash puns!” “What, are you starved for them?” the Diamond Beast laughed, and Vapor let out an enraged scream surging forwards. The beast grabbed her by the wrist and tossed her into some dumpsters. Vapor dusted herself off, and let out a yelp as the creature hurled itself at her. She jumped back, flapping her wings and sent him flying with a blast of wind. As the Beast recovered, Vapor went for her sidearm, but the creature spun his staff deflecting the multitude of shots. “Okay then… Feather Dance!” Vapor cried, sending a series of swan’s feathers at her opponent from her suit’s inbuilt glider wings.  “What’s that supposed to do, make me sneeze? Mama always told me to bring a hank-” the Beast started before Vapor snapped her fingers and sent him flying as all the feathers exploded.  “Mama said knock you out!” Vapor chuckled at her own dumb joke, before the battle began again. However, it was clear she was outmatched due to just how strong the Diamond Beast’s attacks really were. Each hit made her stagger, and she was barely standing even as her other teammates joined her. “Okay, fine! I’ll pay you guys millions of bits if you just help me defeat this moron!” Vapor called, her tone one of exasperation.  Her team morphed, and then came the roll call. “With the reach of a Falcon! Power Ranger Red!” Sunset said, still with lotto tickets in hand. “With the speed of a swallow! Power Ranger Blue!” said Shining, clutching wads of bills. “With the strength of an owl! Power Ranger Yellow!” said Autumn, eyeing a piece of jewelry laying forgotten. “With the swiftness of a condor! Power Ranger Black!” Robert shouted before giggling like a fool as he ran his fingers through his bits. “With the grace of a swan. Power Ranger White…” sighed Vapor at her ‘team’. together they took on the creature, slashing away at his diamond exterior. Sunset landed a powerful Burning Reign attack, before following it up with a Falconic Break slash. Breaking away, she let both Black and Blue surge forwards both scoring slashes across the chest. Yellow roundhouse kicked the monster.  Vapor and Shining tag-teamed it, leaping left and right respectively to blast it with their sidearms.  Sunset rolled out of the way of the creature’s staff and blasted it with her own laser pistol. Then, the Diamond Beast got an idea. “Hey, I’ll pay you you double what she’s paying you if you just leave me alone!” he cried, and sure enough, the team dropped their weapons and just began relaxing on the ground. Vapor’s jaw dropped for what had to be the fifth time today before she was smacked across the face by the Diamond Beast’s staff. She staggered back, with the beast punching her in the stomach again and again and again. “Autumn…” she whispered, sounding close to tears as the creature pummeled her. And just like that, something snapped inside Autumn as small flickers ignited into an inferno. With a war cry, the Yellow Ranger barreled towards the Beast slamming a powerful right cross into his face. The Beast went flying back, smashing into a nearby fountain. Small embers licked at Autumn’s costume, but she took several sharp breaths and regained her composure. Helping Vapor up, she asked: “Shall we take him together then?” “Of course…” Vapor sniffled, before hugging her. “I’m so glad you’re back.” “Save the hugs for later,” Autumn smiled under her helmet, before cracking her knuckles. “Let’s finish this guy.” “Yeah, lets!” Vapor agreed as they drew their weapons. Vapor her sword, and Autumn her gauntlet.  “So, on a scale of one to ten, how much of an idiot was I?” Autumn asked smashing through Reversers, not caring about them, and heading right for the source. Vapor sucked in a breath. “...Oh, that bad?” Vapor held back the creature’s staff with her sword, allowing Autumn to go in for a Bird Buster punch. Her fist glowed with yellow energy even as it slammed into the Diamond Beast’s stomach, making the monster stagger. Autumn grabbed his fallen weapon, breaking it in half over her knee.  Vapor scored a powerful slash with her weapon, before elbowing the monster in the face.  Sunset struck, scoring a flame infused slash as well, before leaping backward and calling out: “Striker Cannon!” A dune buggy smashed through the bushes and transformed into a massive cannon, that like before, that only all five could hold. “5, 4, 3, 2, 1! Fire!” With a loud ‘thunk’ and an earthshaking sound, the weapon fired and its beam bulldozed right through the Diamond Beast, cracking its armor.  “And because I’m just that mad and want to finish you off myself…” Autumn said leaping forwards and re-equipping her gauntlet. Drawing back her fist, she called out: “Bird Buster!”  The monster reeled, stumbling backward before it shattered completely, going up in a rather large explosion. “This flight is over!” Sunset called, but it was too soon to call it, as the bug that gave the creature life still survived. It glowed with an eerie light, biting onto the monsters remains before the creature reformed and grew to the size of a small skyscraper. “...You gotta be kidding me!” Autumn said. “Nobody told me they could do that! Seriously, nobody!” “Actually, it’s kinda a regular thing…” Robert drawled. “Why do you think housing prices in Angel Grove are so low?” “Please tell me you’ve got some finished Zords for us Shining…”  “Rangers, Heartford just called,” Starswirl’s aged voice crackled over the comms. “He says your remaining ‘zords’ are done. He gave us what’s called a command code, all you have to say is Scramble Wings. Curious phrase, but who am I to argue?” “Well, you heard him Rangers!” Shining barked as their left wrists gained a new bracer, which flipped open to reveal a device to speak into. “Summon Zords, now scramble wings!” Then supersonic shrieks split the air. From out of nowhere rocketed five jets, each themed after a bird of some sort. With flashes of multicolored light, the Rangers teleported into their cockpits even as the Diamond Beast shot lightning bolts at them from his hand. The jets broke formation, scattering to the winds before Black and Blue came around for another pass. The condor zord fired a series of lasers at the monster, before the swallow zord came zooming by, slashing into the monster with its wings.  “Locking on target…” Shining said as onboard targeting systems tracked the monster, before he flipped open a button on his joystick, pressing down on it. With a shriek, a missile whistled through the air, and toppled the monster into a mountainside sending trees flying like toothpicks. The monster, as it struggled to regain its balance, sent a series of lightning bolts into the sky. Ionizing the air, storm clouds began to form and thunder roared. Then from out of the broiling clouds swooped in the swan zord, firing a missile of its own.  The monster rolled, and the mountainside exploded before he thrust his hand and the swan zord had to roll to the left to avoid an energy blast. Then, rising out of the timberlands was the owl zord, a massive boulder clutched in this claw machine-like grabber claw. Autumn, from inside the cockpit pressed a button and down came the boulder atop the Diamond Beast’s foot. Hopping like mad and in furious pain, the creature stained the air blue with its swears. In swooped the falcon zord, peppering the monster with lasers even as the skies broke open. Swooping back up into the clouds, the falcon zord sent out a signal for the others to converge on its location, even as the zords wings retracted into its body. Condor and swan’s wings folded up into their bodies even as their tail fins turned 180 degrees before their cockpits moved upwards. Owl and swallow had parts detach and their cockpits folded up into their bodies before all five jet zords converged and from out of the dark clouds came this truly massive craft.  “WHAT!? It can’t be!” “It can, it is! Phoenix Flier, ready!” Sunset shouted, the massive craft going into a roll even as the Dimensional Beast fired energy blasts like mad intent on striking it from the sky. The craft shot upwards, spinning round and round and a whirlwind began ripping into the Diamond Beast’s armor. Then from out of the howling winds came the Flier, a flaming aura appearing all around it before it sliced straight through the beast, knocking it to the ground. “Megazord mode, began transformation now!” Sunset said, taking a little chip from her Morpher with the others following suit. On little screens came up five images of birds, before another button was pressed on each console initiating the transformation sequence. Sunset was thrown back into her seat even as the zords decoupled, and flew ever higher. The falcon zord’s cockpit retracted into its body, even as black and white changed into legs. Masses of metal clanged together, a head popping out of the whole structure even as blue and yellow shifted to arms. A golden sword appeared, complimenting the massive golden bird -wings raised- detailed on the megazord’s chest. “Sky Strike Megazord, ready!” The rangers called as the massive mecha marched forwards, slashing at the Diamond Beast, who blocked the strikes with his staff before dealing out vicious blows of his own. The beast swung his staff low, hoping to cut the megazord off at the legs, before it simply leaped upwards. Coming back down, it scored a hard punch to the face, the Diamond Beast staggering. The Megazord strode forwards, even as the beast tossed energy blasts at it. It scored several vicious strikes, before the Diamond Beast made it stagger with a point-blank energy blast.  Next, the monster gathered lightning in his hands before he tossed it as a giant ball. The megazord toppled to the ground, the earth shaking and quaking. As it struggled to pull itself back up, the diamond beast hit it with his staff again and again laughing: “How do you like me now?” So the megazord reached out, and pulled itself up and over the Diamond Beast actually managing to flip behind it. Retrieving its fallen sword, the Megazord lunged. The Diamond Beast whirled around just in time and caught the blow with his staff before their weapons met again and again, sparks flying. The Diamond Beast went for a disarming maneuver, twisting the mecha’s arm with his own weapon before elbowing the massive mecha in the face making it stagger. Firing another energy blast at the mecha, the monster watched as it stumbled back into the remains of a mountain. However, the Rangers were soon to regain their bearings and marched forwards blocking energy blasts with their mecha’s sword before scoring several vicious slashes. Then, the megazord leaped upwards before slashing downwards, making the Diamond Beast stagger. But it was quick on the recovery, tossing another energy blast that nearly toppled the megazord. A lightning bolt ripped through the sky, and the Diamond Beast caught it with his staff, and redirected it towards the Megazord. “Quickly!” Sunset ordered before Autumn nodded, using her controls to quickly make the megazord slash through the oncoming lightning bolt. The megazord charged forwards, sword pointed forwards like a lance. Impaling the monster, the megazord pulled the sword away before going for a sideways slash. Elbowing the monster in the face, the Diamond Beast staggered. The Megazord stood firm, its sword glowing white-hot with energy. “Now, for a Blazing Final Strike!” the Rangers called out before with one powerful swing, down went the Diamond Beast with only a few final words to say. “I thought I was going to be a glittering gem, but I guess I’m only just a lump of coal!” The monster cried, before down it went in a massive fireball even as cheers rose up from the now back to normal Ponyville.  “Power Rangers… victory is ours!” Sunset said as the Megazord stood in the sun. “Well, I’m an idiot. Go on, you can go ahead and say it,” Autumn said as she slumped down against a wall. “I became… well, you know what I became.” “Relax dearie,” Rarity said. “Nobody’s going to hold it against you!” “But I spent so much money!” Autumn whined. “So did everyone else, and well, refunds are a thing!” Rarity pointed out before handing Autumn’s finished clothes to her. To her surprise, they were nothing more but slightly fancier jeans and flannel shirts. “As for me? They’re free of charge. Consider this a future investment.” Autumn sniffed a shirt, and her eyes widened as she hugged it close. “And they even smell like a pigsty!”