Back at the Command Center, while the Ponies and their allies had been fighting against Ivan Ooze's Oozemen, things were starting to seem grim.
"Alpha, my sensors tell me the Rangers were too late. Ivan is on his way here." Zordon said grimly.
"Don't worry." Alpha reassured his leader confidently, "Except for Twilight and her friends, nobody enters the Command Center without a Power Coin."
However, the sound of beeping caught the robot's attention and he looked towards the entrance of the chamber. If he had a heart, Alpha's would have stopped at what he saw. Seeping through the cracks of the door were trails of purple transparent slime.
"Well... almost nobody!" Alpha added, his voice now full of fear.
A look of concern grew on Zordon's face as the purple slime took form into Ivan Ooze, who chuckled evilly as he walked forward.
"Gee, pretty fancy-schmancy." Ivan commented as he looked around the Command Center, "I guess if you invest your money well over 60 centuries, you can buy something pretty nice."
"Hi-YAH!!" Alpha exclaimed, karate-chopping the purple creature in the abdomen, earning a burp and glare from the latter, "... uh-oh."
Ivan gave an amused chuckle before he zapped the robot on the top of his head with the tip of his finger, leaving him spinning and speaking gibberish while his head was twisted backwards.
"You haven't changed, Ooze," Zordon lectured Ivan, glaring at him, "You're still picking on creatures smaller than yourself!"
"Ah, put a sock in it, Z." Ivan said rudely as he walked into the center, "10 minutes out of the egg and I'm listening to one of your lectures." The purple being then glared at Zordon as he continued, "You locked me into your stuffy hyperlock chamber and tossed me away in the depths like yesterday's trash. You any idea what it's like to be locked up in a rotten egg for 6,000 years? It's boring! Not to mention I've had a Charley horse since the Renaissance."
"You won't get away with this, Ooze!" Zordon said angrily.
"You robbed me of my prime!" Ivan snarled, "I was the supreme ruler of the most foul empire in the universe! And now, it's time to pay the piper."
From out of nowhere, he pulled out a pipe flute and played a couple notes. Suddenly, he turned to look at a nearby tube and shot purple lightning at it. This in turn caused sparks to fly from the tube and elicit a laugh from the dastardly villain.
"Oh, the things that I have missed! The Black Plague!" He shouted, turning to another tube. Once again, he shot purple lightning at the tube, creating another shower of broken glass and sparks.
"The Spanish Inquisition!"
He shot lightning at another tube. This time, the tube that was affected toppled over like a tree that had been chopped down and smashed into the railing, bending the tube in half.
"The Brady Bunch Reunion!"
Then he shot purple lightning everywhere else in the Command Center as he began laughing maniacally. Eventually, Zordon was zapped as well.
"Alpha..." Zordon groaned weakly as he faded a bit while being zapped.
Paying no heed to Zordon, Ivan kept laughing maniacally as he zapped and destroyed every console, sending sparks and explosions everywhere.
Back with the Ponies and their friends, they carefully walked through the mostly dark building, keeping an eye out for any Oozemen while keeping their guard up. It was as though they were expecting the goons to hop out from a pillar at every turn.
"This place gives me the creeps." Adam commented.
"I heard that." Aisha replied, staying cautious.
"Oooh... I'm scared." Fluttershy whimpered fearfully.
"Don't worry, Fluttershy. As long as we're together, we'll be fine." Rainbow assured her yellow pegasus friend.
"HYAH!" Billy shouted as he took a fighting stance while near a pillar. He looked around to find nothing before resuming walking with the others as he said, "I've got a bad feelin' about this place."
"Ain't gonna lie, kind of reminds me of the Everfree Forest the first time we went to look for the Elements of Harmony." Applejack added, not feeling any less uneasy as she looked for a sign of purple.
As the heroes kept walking, none of them noticed an Oozeman peeking out from the floor while looking at them before ducking back down.
"Did you ever have the feeling you were being watched?" Nyx asked cautiously as she looked around.
"Yep! In fact there are folks reading this story right now!" Pinkie exclaimed happily as she looked to the screen. "Hey Brian, hey Caramel! Hey Maud, Marble, Limestone, mom, dad, princesses, and everyone else reading this!"
"Pinkie! Shh!" Twilight snapped, "Now's not the time to be random! You might alert those purple creatures!"
"Sorry, Twilight." Pinkie apologized sheepishly.
As they walked further in, a screech got their attention and the two groups struck battle-ready poses. However, no creatures came their way, much to their relief and disappointment.
"Anybody see anything?" Kimberly asked nervously.
"Not yet, Kimberly." Rarity replied nervously.
"We need some light." Tommy suggested.
"I got this," Twilight said, lighting up her horn as it illuminated their surroundings.
"Activating Power Beam." Aisha spoke as the "eyes" on her helmet transformed into headlights that turned on, further illuminating the way.
Then the Rangers and the Ponies resumed their careful trek through the dark area, looking for the Oozemen. Speaking of which, unknown to the two groups, another Oozeman was spying on them from a pillar before scooting back with a grunt. Then, as they advanced further, through an area with different platforms, a third Oozeman got off one and scurried off.
"Those things must be really good at hiding, I can barely hear their footsteps," Pinkie remarked.
"I'll handle this. Activating Power Sonar." Adam said, and then, supersonic audio receivers popped out of the sides of his helmet. With that done, the heroes kept advancing through the dark building. About a minute and a half later, so far, they still haven't seen or heard the hiding Oozemen.
"They gotta be around here somewhere," Rainbow said, looking around.
"Activating Power Scope." Rocky spoke, and the "Tyrannosaurus mouth" area of his visor transformed into a modified one with a scope that had a red long slit.
"Talk to me, Rock." Tommy said, "What do you got?"
"The readings are all over the place." The Red Ranger said while looking around, "I don't know what these purple creeps are made of but I can't lock 'em down."
"Okay, let's stay alert." Rarity suggested, looking about cautiously.
As the two teams kept going, none of them noticed the shadow of an Oozeman come up near them and get in a fighting stance.
Just then, Spike looked to his right to see movement. "Look!"
At that same moment, a beeping sound was heard as Rocky looked in the same direction as Spike, pointing to it. "Over there!"
From his point of view, the shadow of an Oozeman ran from behind one pillar to another.
Tommy raised his hand as he shouted, "Let's power up!"
"Right!" The other Rangers and the Power Ponies said in unison.
Suddenly, at that very moment, the Oozemen came out of hiding and charged at the two groups.
"Here they come!" Aisha cried.
"Get ready!" Twilight exclaimed.
"Power Ponies, ATTACK!!!" Ben shouted.
Twilight blasted an approaching Oozeman with her magic while Tommy kicked another so hard in the head, it caused the goon to flip and fall.
Kimberly got near another Oozeman and began kicking him multiple times as she shouted, "You boys make me sick, sick, sick!"
On the final "sick", she kicked the goon hard enough to send him into the ceiling with the sound of a bell dinging before falling to the floor with a splat.
Billy was punched by an Oozeman, but he quickly recovered before kicking him across the face two times, then kicked him in the face two times to the sound of a doorbell, causing the purple creature to backflip before falling to the floor.
"Anybody home?" Pinkie asked with a giggle.
She then tapped a nearby Oozeman on the shoulder, but as soon as he turned to see who tapped him, Pinkie zipped away. With the goon's back turned, she tapped him on the other shoulder and zipped away before he could look. With him distracted, Pinkie zipped in and threw a pie in his face. The pink pony laughed at what she did before zipping off.
Nearby, Tommy was literally sent through a wall as he went tumbling. He quickly jumped back to his feet as soon as an Oozeman hopped through the broken wall after him. The White Ranger kicked him down before seeing two more Oozemen coming at him. He kicked the second one down, but then, despite blocking a kick from the third Oozeman, he got knocked down by another kick.
As the purple creature got near him afterwards, he got kicked in the face with a bell clanging sound as Tommy shouted, "Back off!"
Just as Tommy hopped to his feet, Twilight noticed an Oozeman hop down near him. "Tommy, look out!" She cried out.
Luckily, the White Ranger saw that coming as he said while spinning towards the Oozeman, "Have a nice flight!"
Then he kicked him upwards to the platform he hopped from, crashing into some stuff. At that precise moment, two more Oozemen ran from out of the shadows near a wood fence. But before they could reach the White Ranger, he spun into the air.
"Later, dudes!" Tommy called before landing on a higher platform.
Twilight then appeared out of thin air before the bewildered creatures. "Hello there!"
The two Oozemen yelled out in shock and startlement from seeing this. However, knowing they had a new target, they charged at the lilac alicorn.
"Freeze Ray!" Twilight shouted, and she launched a beam of ice at the two Oozemen.
And the instant the ice beam hit the two, they were each trapped in a block of ice. Smirking, Twilight bucked the blocks, shattering them and their trapped goons to pieces on impact.
"Nice one, Twilight!" Tommy cheered, giving her a thumbs up.
"Thanks, Tommy!" Twilight responded, smiling proudly.
At that moment, another Oozeman hopped down behind Tommy. The latter karate-chopped the goon in the face and then grabbed his arm before punching him in the abdomen four times. Tommy ducked just in time to avoid receiving a punch in the head, then leaped and performed a spinning kick on the ooze creature's back, sending him flying into a pillar and exploding upon impact.
"Three down!" remarked Twilight confidently.
Meanwhile, Rocky kicked a charging Oozeman in the head, sending him tumbling to Spike. The young dragon leapt up and kicked the goon in the chest, sending him rolling over to Nyx.
"Take that!" Nyx shouted as she punched the purple goon, sending him tumbling into a shadow of her that kicked it back to her. She kicked the Oozeman back to the shadow, and the process repeated until the latter grew and it and the black foal both kicked the Oozeman, sending it flying to another pillar, making it explode on impact.
"Yeah!" Nyx cheered before she and the shadow gave each other a high hoof.
Rocky kicked another Oozeman to Aisha, who punched the same goon in the head and again in the abdomen before kicking him twice, sending him spinning. The Yellow Ranger then backflipped over to the purple creature and kicked him so hard in the chest, it sent him flying right into some nearby scaffolding. Upon impact, the Oozeman exploded into the purple ooze he was made of.
"It's gonna be one messy night!" Aisha declared, striking a battle-ready pose.
"I'd hate to be the guy who has to clean it up." Spike commented.
"That's for sure." Nyx remarked.
"Nyx, Spike, look out!" Phobos shouted as another Oozeman came at the two. The black foal disappeared into a shadow quickly before the purple creature could get her.
Spike yelped as he leapt up and flapped his wings, avoiding getting tackled himself. He then stopped flapping his wings and did a drop-kick on the goon's head, leaving the latter very dizzy.
"You're a purple booger!" Spike shouted before he whipped it with his tail briefly becoming enlarged upon hitting the Oozeman, sending it flying into a wall, exploding into the purple ooze he was made of upon impact.
"The new and improved Humdrum rocks!" Spike declared confidently as he flexed his muscles while his tail shrank back.
Rocky and Adam flipped from a higher level in the construction zone. They turned to look up in time to see three more Oozemen jump down and chase after them before literally backing them into a corner.
“Up and over?” Adam asked Rocky.
“Let’s do it!” The Red Ranger replied.
The two Rangers then charged toward the slimy goons and leaped over them. Upon landing, Rocky jumped and kicked two of the Oozemen in the face, sending them tumbling before punching another one that charged at him.
What followed was Rocky and Adam dealing a couple kicks to any Oozemen that didn't go down easily, but did after their kicks.
“Rocky, behind you!” Adam shouted while pointing behind the Red Ranger. The Black Ranger saw another Oozeman hopping up onto a half-built column. Rocky turned to see him, then looked back to Adam, who charged in the direction of the purple goon and flipped towards him just after Rocky got down while doing the splits.
"GOING AIRBORNE!!" Shouted the Black Ranger before delivering an air kick to the Oozeman, sending him falling off the column.
One of the fallen Oozemen stood up, barely recovering as Rocky remarked, "These guys don't know when to quit!" He pointed towards Adam as he asked him, "Double whammy?"
"You're on!" Adam replied.
The two rangers immediately charged toward the Oozeman, who looked at both of them with grunts of concern. He could manage an “Uh-oh” before both Rocky and Adam kicked his head in, causing his eyes to bulge out before he crumbled to the ground.
"HA HA HA! He's a cartoon!" Rainbow laughed upon seeing that just now.
"Rainbow, watch it!" Rarity cried.
“Huh?” Rainbow asked, spinning around.
As it turns out, an Oozeman was lunging towards her. Rainbow didn’t have much more time to react before she was tackled by the purple goon. However, she managed to punch him in the face with her right forehoof and then bucked him in the chest, sending him flying a couple feet. The rainbow-maned pegasus took hold of the lightning bolt pendant on her necklace with her teeth as she smirked.
"Eat this, you mutant grape!" Rainbow shouted.
All of a sudden, her pendant glowed and a tornado appeared out of thin air. The small force of nature made its way to the Oozeman before picking him up and spinning him around until he was launched into a crane. Upon impact, the goon exploded into purple slime.
"You just got Zapped!" Rainbow said with confidence.
Rarity smiled at Rainbow’s victory, but the sound of grunting got the fashion pony’s attention. She turned around and yelped as she barely dodged a punch from an Oozeman before noticing there was another one and ran away with the two giving chase. Before long, she found herself in a dead end and she knew the purple goons would catch up to her.
“Oh, if only I had something to distr-.” She spoke before realizing something, “Wait. Maybe I can!”
Soon, the Oozemen had caught up to the unicorn’s location, but much to their confusion, they found multiple versions of Rarity waiting for them. Unknown to any of them, the fashionista pony had conjured up mirrors and her reflection was in all of them.
“Looking for somepony?” The Raritys asked.
The Oozemen looked around in confusion, not sure which one was the real Rarity. Then one of them punched at one of the Raritys, only to end up shattering a mirror.
“Seven years bad luck!” The remaining Raritys teased.
Confused, the other Oozeman swiped at another Rarity, only to shatter that mirror. Both of the goons looked confused, only for confusion to give way to surprise when one of the “reflections” moved from their spot with a smirk.
“What’s the matter, disillusioned by illusions?” The violet-maned mare asked, taking the remaining mirrors and morphing them into a giant fly swatter.
The two creatures gave out “Uh-ohs” before Rarity used her giant fly swatter and brought it down on the pair, squishing them into slime.
"Ha! Squashed like two purple bugs." Rarity said proudly.
With Applejack and Fluttershy, the two were facing off with their own batch of Oozemen. Fluttershy was accidentally tripping a couple while Applejack bucked a few into each other.
"Come on, Fluttershy!" Applejack said to Fluttershy, "Ya gotta get mad and fight 'em!"
“H- honestly, I’m more afraid than mad!” Fluttershy admitted, flying over a goon and kicking them.
"But if you don't do anything, Ivan will win."
Fluttershy's eyes widened at hearing this as she began to get mad, growling, "That.....big....dumb....MEANIE!!!!"
The Oozemen that Fluttershy was “fighting” stopped and looked both confused and concerned.
Fluttershy then started yelling as her voice grew deeper, "You purple creatures think you could take over the world with that Ooze jerk?! THINK AGAIN, YOU DISGUSTING SLIMEBAGS!!!" As Fluttershy yelled that, her anger kept building and veins started to bulge on her head and neck, her eyes burned red, and she began to grow to the approximate weight and bulk of a small elephant, her bodysuit badly ripped from the sudden growth with her lacy scarf snapped.
Seeing this transformation, the Oozemen's eyes practically bulged out of their heads. They let out screams of terror and made a break for it. However, using her lasso, Applejack caught them both and chucked them into Fluttershy.
With a roar, Fluttershy grabbed the Oozemen and started slamming them on the ground until they both exploded into purple goo when she slammed them on the ground once more.
"Way to, er... go, Fluttershy!" Applejack cheered, a bit uneasy from Fluttershy's rage.
"Huh?" Fluttershy asked before noticing what she did and smiled sheepishly, tapping her front hooves together.
Meanwhile, Billy was going hand-to-hand against an Oozeman of his own. The purple goon blocked any attacks and grabbed the Blue Ranger by the arm before throwing him over the ledge. Instead of plummeting to the ground, though, Billy went spinning towards a pillar on the lower level as he shouted before colliding with the pillar.
"Billy!" Fluttershy cried in concern upon seeing that happen.
The Blue Ranger glared up at the Oozeman as he spoke, "That does it. STEGA STINGER!!"
At that, he whipped out a small blue device. Two yellow strings shot from the tip and extended to wrap around a pipe just over the Oozeman. At first, Applejack and Fluttershy thought he was going to yank the pipe down onto the purple goon, but then the strings began retracting, pulling Billy effortlessly up to the ledge he was thrown from.
"Did ya miss me?" He asked the slimy creature.
Then the Blue Ranger punched the Oozeman in the chest and tossed him off the platform.
Down and down he fell before hitting a grating in the floor below, exploding into runny slime on impact.
"Hoo-wee! That was a neat trick, Billy!" Applejack remarked.
Nearby, Aisha kicked an Oozeman to the ground before hopping on the platform behind her. Kimberly twirled in just in time to see another Oozeman charging her way.
"PTERODACTYL THUNDER WHIP!" She shouted, whipping out what looked like a whip hilt.
At Kimberly’s call, a whip coil shot out of the handle and struck the charging Oozeman in the chest, knocking him down.
“Have a nice trip!” She shouted, whipping the whip just behind her at another Oozeman before the whip coiled around his leg. All it took for the Pink Ranger was a pull of the whip to send the goon spinning in the air before landing with a thud.
“See ya next Fall!” She exclaimed, whipping another charging goon so hard, it sent him flying off the platform and falling face-first on the makeshift wood stairs.
Then Kimberly turned to see yet another goon charging at her before she extended her whip coil again towards it as she said, "Buh-bye!"
After the Oozeman was struck in the chest and knocked down to the floor, the whip went back into the handle as the Pink Ranger said in a cool tone, "Gotta love it."
Phobos was bounding from one Oozeman to another as each attempted to grab or stomp him. He hopped over one of the goons and shoved him away after leaping away.
"Tag! You're it!" The moon dragon teased.
The Oozeman growled in annoyance at this. At that moment, Nyx was seen flying backwards and crashed into a pillar, a sickening crunch being heard afterwards.
"AAAH!! My wings!" Nyx cried in pain.
"Nyx!" Phobos shouted before he shot a beam of moonlight from his tail at the black alicorn foal, causing her to glow. Then after a brief moment, her wings look good as new.
Smiling in approval, Nyx glanced at Phobos as she said, "That's better. Thanks, Phobos."
"Anytime, Nyx!" Phobos said with a wink.
His smile disappeared as he and Nyx looked up to see themselves surrounded by the Oozemen that were chasing him earlier.
"Uh-oh!" Nyx and Phobos said in unison and concern.
Just then, the dragon smirked to the filly. "What do you say I take two and you take two?"
"You're on!" Nyx replied confidently with a nod.
Then the two fought off the Oozemen that surrounded them. Phobos leaped to an Oozeman and kicked him into his companion. Nyx bucked the goon and zapped another one with magic from her horn. Phobos himself shot two of his own goons with an energy blast. Soon, the dragon and his foal friend whacked the goons off a ledge and to the ground below, where they exploded into slime upon impact.
"We're unstoppable!" Nyx cheered.
"No one messes with Nyx and Phobos!" Phobos added boldly.
Meanwhile, with Tommy, he was fighting another Oozeman on a nearby ledge. The former gave the latter a few punches to the chest before tripping him with a low kick. After finishing with that adversary, the White Ranger looked down to see another one of the purple goons charge up and with a battle cry, he flew down and repeatedly kicked him in the chest.
"Tommy, I'm open!" Ben exclaimed from nearby.
Then Tommy kicked him towards the brown stallion. As soon as the slimy creature flew near him, Ben leaped in the air with a spin and bucked the goon into a pillar. Upon hitting the pillar, the Oozeman exploded into purple goo.
"Another one bites the dust!" Ben said with a smirk.
Back with Aisha, she dodged an Oozeman's punch, punched him back, and tossed him over, but then she was kicked in the chest twice by another Oozeman, and then it and another one kicked her together, sending her flying backwards into a wall
Soon, the three Oozemen charged towards the downed Yellow Ranger.
"Hold on, Aisha!" Billy exclaimed, swinging in with the Stega Stinger.
Then once near them, he stamped on six Oozemen's heads one by one as he said, "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6!" As he did that, the bonking sounds were heard in difrerent pitches, enough to sound like "Go go Power Rangers".
Nearby, Spike noticed the commotion and flew over to Aisha while Billy backflipped over to her.
“You okay, Aisha?” Spike asked in concern.
"These guys are tough." Aisha remarked.
"Let's finish these purple parasites!" Billy said.
"You said it!" Aisha agreed.
Spike, Billy, and Aisha flipped backwards in the air with cries before landing on the platform behind them. Kimberly, Adam, Rocky, and the remaining Power Ponies all did midair flips with cries while landing near the three as Fluttershy reverted back to normal size, her outfit still tattered. They were soon joined by Tommy, who flipped through the air with his own cry before landing with the two groups. Almost immediately, the remaining six Oozemen charged over in their direction.
“I want you guys to meet Saba!” The White Ranger exclaimed, bringing out a sword that resembled a scimitar. The tip of its hilt resembled what looked like a tiger.
Then he swoosh his sword around a bit before thrust-launching it forward with a cry. The charging Oozemen stopped dead in their tracks as the sword, Saba, literally flew circles around them. Then, the sword flipped up in the air towards a large metal container being held by the rope of a crane. Saba stopped just where the hook and the rope met and shot lasers from his eyes, breaking the rope and allowing the container to fall towards the remaining Oozemen like a giant, heavy bomb.
"Uh-oh!" The Oozemen shouted in unison.
That was all the goons had to say before they were crushed by the container into the slime they were created from.
“Yeah!” The heroes cheered, striking poses of victory.
"Now let's go find Ivan." Tommy said with determination.
“And kick him back into the sewer he crawled out of!” Rainbow added, sharing Tommy’s determination.
But then, the Rangers started emitting electricity, much to their confusion.
Twilight looked concerned, “Guys? What’s wrong?”
Hardly any of them had noticed Saba disappear into thin air as the electricity traveled up the Rangers’ bodies.
"Hey, what's happening?" Kimberly asked, just as concerned as Twilight.
"We're losing power." replied Billy.
One by one, Kimberly, Adam, Rocky, Billy, Aisha, and Tommy’s ranger suits disappeared, leaving them back in their outfits.
"What's going on?" Kimberly asked in confusion.
“Alpha? Come in!” Billy spoke into his communicator.
The only thing he got in reply was static, much to the concern of the Rangers and the Power Ponies.
After a brief second of silence, Aisha spoke up. “Something’s wrong.”
“You don’t think…?” Fluttershy began, the worry evident in her voice as she thought of a worst-case scenario.
"Oh, I hope nothing bad happened to Zordon and Alpha..." Nyx said in concern.
"We better get back." Tommy sighed, "Let's go, guys."
“Let’s try teleportin’ like last time!” Applejack suggested.
Rocky shook his head after pressing a button on his communicator. “No good. Teleportation is down, too.”
"Guess we'll have to go to the Command Center the old-fashioned way." Phobos said.
“Maybe, or Twilight could teleport us there herself.” Spike offered.
“I’m not sure about that,” The lilac Alicorn replied nervously, “The most ponie- er, people I teleported was just two, including myself.”
“We gotta try.” Rainbow insisted.
After weighing her options for a few seconds, Twilight nodded. “Okay, huddle in close.”
"I'll help you with that spell, Mommy." Nyx said.
"So will I." Ben added.
At the lilac alicorn’s suggestion, everyone huddled close to her. Immediately, Twilight and Nyx fired up their horns at the same time Ben focused before the two groups disappeared with a flash and a bang, leaving behind the slimy aftermath of their battle.
Moments later, they reappeared just outside of the Command Center. Seeing they all made it in one piece, Twilight smiled.
“Hey, it worked!” She exclaimed, smiling to Ben and Nyx, “Thanks for the help!”
"Anytime, Twiley." Ben said with a wink.
Applejack looked up to see smoke billowing from the top of the Command Center and a look of worry came over her.
“That can’t be good…” She commented aloud.
"Let's go inside." Tommy said. Twilight and her friends quickly powered down, reverting back to their normal looks. With that done, the Rangers and ponies headed inside, but walked cautiously because a majority of the place looked more dark and foreboding than when they were there not long ago. Out of any of them, Spike and Fluttershy looked the most nervous, assuming Ivan Ooze could pop out from behind a corner and scare them.
Soon, they got up to the doors to the Command Center that were covered with ooze, much to their concern.
"Oh, no. Ooze." Billy said in worry.
“Let’s get it open.” Tommy spoke.
“I’ll help.” Applejack offered.
“Me too.” Rainbow added.
With that, the two mares each moved to one door with Billy and Adam. The two slowly moved the doors open, which took some effort for them, even if they were strong. When the doors were almost fully open, some sparks came down up close, startling the heroes as Kimberly, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rarity, Spike, and Nyx to quickly scream. The two groups slowly walked in, observing their surroundings with shock and worry. It was as though the Command Center had been hit by a bomb.
"Look at this place." Tommy commented in disbelief.
"I can't believe it." Adam said in shock.
"What happened here?" Aisha asked in worry.
“I got a feeling it starts with an “I” and ends with “Ooze.”” Twilight replied in worry.
"I have the same feeling, Twilight." Ben remarked.
"So do I." Nyx agreed.
"Oh no!" Kimberly said in worry upon looking ahead.
"What?" Rainbow asked the Pink Ranger in concern before she gasped in horror as she looked at where she was glancing.
The two rushed over to Zordon’s time warp, or what was left of it at least. Taking notice, the others rushed over with Rainbow and Kimberly.
"Zordon!" Adam cried.
"What's happening to him?" Aisha asked worriedly.
“Is he…?? Oh, no…” Fluttershy gasped, placing a hoof to her mouth upon approaching the remains of the time warp.
"Outside of his time warp, he's dying." Billy stated sadly, "He needs power."
What lay in the center of the time warp remains was Zordon; now a pale-skinned bald being in silver robes. All he could do was look weakly at the Rangers and Equestrians.
“Rangers…” He spoke weakly.
"Zordon..." Pinkie said in concern and worry.
"Thank goodness you are safe." Zordon said weakly.
“Come on, we gotta get you back inside.” Tommy insisted.
"I'm afraid that is impossible." Zordon could barely breathe as he explained sadly, "The power has been destroyed. It is gone. The Zords, the weapons, all of it. The Power Rangers are no more. Ivan Ooze has won."
Twilight and her friends couldn’t bring themselves to say anything in response. Seeing Zordon reduced to this form and hopelessness left the Equestrians feeling just as hopeless as he was.
"We're losing him." Billy said in worry.
"Zordon, you can't leave us!" Kimberly cried desperately, "Ever since you came into our lives, you've been like a father to us all."
The former inter-dimensional being only looked to them weakly. “You… must be strong.”
"Oh, this is terrible!" Nyx cried, "What'll we do now?"
The two groups looked between each other with looks of concern and heartache, as if they hoped one or the other had a solution on what could be done.
"Rangers!"
At hearing the familiar robotic voice, they turned to see…
“Alpha.” Twilight spoke, approaching the robot in question with the others, “Are you all right?”
"I'll be fine," The badly damaged robot replied, "There may be a power that can save Zordon."
“Power?” Rainbow asked, looking curious.
“What power?” Adam asked.
"It is on the distant planet of Phaedos." Alpha explained, "It's very dangerous. All who have tried for it have perished."
“”Perished?” That doesn’t sound very reassuring…” Fluttershy quietly commented.
"But we have to try, Alpha." Rocky insisted.
The only Ranger who didn't approach Alpha at the moment was Kimberly, who was focusing on the barely conscious Zordon with concern and worry. Applejack took notice of this and couldn’t help but look very sympathetic for Kimberly and worried herself. Because the cowmare knew how it felt to lose someone she always looked up to.
Alpha explained to the others, "Zordon's life force will not last long. You won't have much time."
"How can we get it?" Tommy asked.
As he headed up to a damaged but still functional console, Alpha replied, "Maybe if I can download the last plasmatic morphing gem into the transport core, I might have just enough power to get you there. But there won't be any left to get you back."
“None left to get us back?” Spike spoke in concern.
“Twilight, you can get us back, right?” Pinkie spoke to the lilac Alicorn, who was looking in Kimberly and Zordon’s direction.
Twilight looked to the party pony. “I could, but I’m pretty sure that’d take a lot of energy going practically across the galaxy. Plus, it’d be too risky.”
“So how do we get back?” Rocky inquired.
“We have to hope that the power’s there,” Kimberly replied, getting everyone’s attention as she approached them, “Zordon’s life depends on it.”
After working on the controls, Alpha turned back to the Rangers and the Equestrians.
"Are you ready?" He asked.
Twilight nodded, “I’m ready.”
Then the heroes stood together in line as Tommy said to his teammates, "We may not have our powers, but we're still the Power Rangers."
Twilight and her friends smiled at hearing that Tommy and the other Rangers were still optimistic, despite everything that had happened.
"Remember, Rangers, Zordon doesn't have much time." Alpha informed the heroes.
Then he pressed some of the buttons on the console he was at. For a moment, the Rangers and Equestrians shimmered briefly before returning to their physical forms, with Fluttershy's Saddle Rager outfit looking just like new, as if it never got tattered in the first place. Despite that, Twilight and her friends were at first worried that the teleportation didn’t work. However, Alpha pressed a few more buttons and the heroes transformed into colorful beams of light before teleporting out of the Command Center and off to Phaedos. But then, just after that happened, the lights in the Command Center went out.
"Oh, no! Ay yi yi yi yi!" Alpha cried in horror before looking at his master, "Please hold on, Zordon!"