//------------------------------//
// The Mare in the Moon (Rewrite) 
// Story: My Little Pony Rangers: Enter the Nightmare 
// by Lance Skyes 
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	Fifteen centuries ago, Equestria was a land of chaos and misery brought upon by the villainous Discord, god of chaos and disharmony. However, using the power of the Elements of Harmony, to alicorn sisters stood up to the villain. Princess Celestia, guardian of the sun, and Princess Luna, guardian of the moon. They combined their magic powers as well as the powers contained within the Elements of Harmony to seal Discord in stone and bring peace to the land of Equestria.
The two sisters ruled Equestria together for five centuries since. Princess Celestia used her power to raise the sun during the day while Princess Luna used her power to raise the moon during the night. However, over time, Princess Luna began to grow resentful as ponies frolicked and played during her sister’s day, but shunned and slept through her beautiful night. One fateful night, Luna refused to lower the moon, completely ignoring Celestia’s pleas. The darkness within Luna’s heart created by this decision quickly grew and transformed the alicorn, turning her into the powerful and dangerous villain, Nightmare Moon. The two sisters were turned against each other by this darkness and engaged in a great duel of magic. However, Nightmare’s power proved to be almost too much for Celestia to handle, but the alicorn of the sun couldn’t risk hurting her little sister as she knew the young alicorn was still inside that entity of darkness and hatred. Celestia was forced to end the duel by using the Elements of Harmony to seal Nightmare Moon within the moon. However, Celestia was not left unscathed. Nightmare had just enough time to put a curse on Celestia, sealing her within a time warp. Celestia knew the spell would not hold Nightmare forever if she was sealed within the time warp, so she waited for a thousand years, watching over Equestria as best she could while trying to find ponies suitable for weilding the Elements of Harmony when Nightmare returned...

Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Applejack were sitting around in Sugarcube Corner, enjoying Pinkie Pie’s third party this week. “This is truly a party to behold,” Rarity commented.
“I reckon this is Pinkie’s best party this month,” Applejack added.
“It’s... nice,” Fluttershy commented. Just then, Pinkie Pie trotted over.
“Having fun, girls?” Pinkie asked.
“Of course we are,” Rainbow Dash said. “This party is certainly better than the last one. You really topped yourself, this time.”
“Thanks for the compliment, Dashie,” Pinkie said, “but I wouldn’t say I topped myself.”
“I would,” Applejack said, indicating for Pinkie to look up. Somehow, Pinkie got whipped cream all over her mane.
“Heh,” Pinkie chuckled nervously as the others did their best to keep from laughing out loud. “I have been pretty busy having nopony to help me with these parties. I think the work is finally starting to catch up to me.”

Meanwhile, on the moon, there was a gold-colored hatch with a glowing red gem on it. Suddenly, the gem began blinking rapidly before the hatch completely exploded, kicking up a cloud of dust. When the dust cleared, standing next to the now open hatch was a dark alicorn with blueish armor, a flowing mane and tail that resembled the night sky, and a crescent moon cutie mark. “Ah!” the alicorn shouted. “After 1000 years I’m free! It’s time to plunge Equestria into eternal night! But not without my minions. Come out my faithful servants! The seal has worn off!”
Just then, the minions of Nightmare Moon began crawling out of the hatch one by one. First was a blue unicorn with a cyan and white mane named Trixie. After Trixie was a griffon named Gilda. Following Gilda was a zebra with gold rings around her hooves named Zecora. Finally, a nameless manticore climbed out.
“At long last, we are finally out,” Zecora said. “Now our plans will succeed without a doubt.”
“My only question is why we weren’t able to succeed in the first place,” Trixie said, fixing her mane with her magic.
“It was that pony, Princess Celestia,” Nightmare replied. “She used the Elements of Harmony to seal us within the moon. However, she was weak. She cared too much for her sister, Princess Luna, and was unable to finish me. Thanks to that weakness, I was able to seal her in a time warp so she can’t stop us this time.”
“Wait, aren’t you Princess Luna?” Gilda asked.
Nightmare quickly turned around and glared at Gilda. “I am Nightmare Moon, lord of night and darkness. Princess Luna is nothing more than a weak little foal. Got that?” Gilda quickly nodded in reply. “Good. Now, let us return to the moon base. But first...” Before Nightmare continued, she began charging her horn with magic energy. “...let’s put a scare into the ponies down there in Equestria. Let’s let them know that their queen of the night has returned!” Nightmare the fired a huge ball of magic energy from the tip of her horn straight towards Equestria, causing an earthquake.

Back in Equestria, somewhere in the royal city of Canterlot, there was a baby dragon named Spike running around the computer room he was in, panicking over the earthquake that was rocking the entire world. “It’s a major earthquake!” Spike shouted, running around. “I knew it was coming! We’re all doomed!”
Just then, the head of an alicorn with a white coat that had a slight pink hue to it (almost unnoticeable) and a rainbow mane appeared in a large tube at the front of the room. “Calm down, Spike,” the alicorn said. “It’s Nightmare Moon. She’s broken my seal and is attacking Equestria.”
“How is that supposed to calm me down?”
“I never said I was trying to help you calm down, but that doesn’t matter. We need to do something. Teleport to us five highly skilled and over emotional ponies.”
“No! Anything but teenagers!”
“We have no choice, Spike. Just bring them to us.”
“Fine,” the young dragon replied, pressing a button on his console.

Back at Sugarcube Corner, panicked ponies were galloping all over the place because of the earthquake. Earth ponies and unicorns ran this way and that, many bumping into each other, while pegasi did their best to fly out of the building while avoiding falling debris. Pinkie and her friends were doing their best to beat the crowds of panicked ponies, but they weren’t having that much luck for a while. Eventually, they made it out of the building, only to become frozen by some invisible force.
“What the hay is goin’ on?” Applejack asked, doing her best to move.
“I can’t move my wings!” Rainbow Dash shouted. Suddenly, the five ponies turned into pillars of light of their respective colors. Rainbow Dash’s was red, Fluttershy’s yellow, Pinkie’s pink, Applejack’s blue, and Rarity’s black. (I know those aren’t all their “respective colors” but you get the idea.) The five pillars of colored light went airborne and began flying straight towards the highest tower of the royal city of Canterlot on the side of a mountain several miles from Ponyville.
In the center of a darkened room with several computers in it, the five pillars of light came to a stop and the ponies they held collapsed onto the floor. “Where are we?” Rarity asked. “And who’s responsible for bringing us here? They’re going to pay for messing my mane up with that landing!”
“That would be me,” Princess Celestia said, appearing in her time warp and startling the five ponies. “Allow me to introduce myself. I’m-”
“Princess Celestia,” Applejack interrupted. “Ancient guardian and ruler of Equestria, as well as the pony in charge of raising the sun and moon every day, presumed deceased about a millennium ago after combat with the evil Nightmare Moon.” The other four ponies looked at Applejack with confused expressions. “What? I read.”
Celestia was silent for a moment with her own confused expression before continuing. “Ahem, yes, almost all of that is correct. As you can see, I am alive and well.”
Just then, Spike the baby dragon walked out from behind one of the consoles. “And my name’s Spike,” he said, “the dragon in charge of keeping an eye on this base.”
“Th- th- that’s a dragon!” Fluttershy squealed with fear.
“Yeah, I just said that,” Spike commented.
“Oh, he’s adorable!” Rarity said. Spike silently responded with a “one of those days” expression.
“If you’re all done getting acquainted with the admittedly cute baby dragon,” Celestia said, “there’s a very serious reason I summoned you five here.” The five ponies turned away from Spike and faced Celestia. Spike walked off back to the console he was working on before. “Equestria is in great peril-”
“That much was obvious,” Rainbow Dash interrupted.
“-and our only hope is you five.”
“Hold on a second,” Pinkie said, holding her hoof up. She pulled a glass of water out of nowhere, took a big drink, and spit it all out quickly... all over a startled and already slightly annoyed Spike.
“Yes,” Princess Celestia continued. “It is up to you five to defend Equestria against the evil Nightmare Moon and her army of evil Putty Ponies. Spike, give them their Elements of Harmony.”
“Elements of Harmony?” Rarity asked. “Where have I heard that before?” Just then, five flashes of light colored similarly to the pillars of light from before radiated from each pony’s neck. When the lights died down, each pony found a strange necklace around their necks adorned with jewels of differing colors and shapes. Applejack’s had an orange apple, Fluttershy’s had a pink butterfly, Pinkie’s had a blue balloon, Rarity’s a purple diamond, and Rainbow Dash’s a red lightning bolt. “Now I know where I’ve heard of these before,” Rarity said excitedly. “Girls, what we have around our necks are the most famous and beautiful fashion accessories in history!” Rarity then squealed with joy, causing the other four to just roll their eyes.
“As I was saying,” Celestia said, “using these Elements of Harmony, you will gain access to the to the power of the Morphin’ Grid, a great power that will allow you to become legendary warriors known as the Pony Rangers.”
“Morphin’ Grid? Pony Rangers?” Applejack asked, completely unconvinced that what Celestia was saying was true. “I may be the one who knew about you in the first place, Princess, but, to be honest, I think you’re just spoutin’ a bunch of hooey.”
“Applejack,” Rainbow Dash said, “I don’t know about you, but I don’t call teleports, Elements of Harmony, and baby dragons ‘hooey’.”
“If I may continue without interruptions!” Celestia shouted impatiently. The five ponies quickly got silent and looked back at Celestia. “Better. Now, as Pony Rangers, you will have access to incredible fighting abilities as well as powerful machines called zords that you can call upon when a situation gets too big for you to handle on your own.”
“Is that supposed to imply-” Pinkie started.
“SILENCE! I have a lot of patience, but it’s never a good thing when it runs out. Honestly, Spike, could you at least have gotten five ponies who knew how to listen?” Celestia then turned back to the five ponies. “Now then, I will list off your powers. Applejack, your natural strength and integrity makes you a skilled combatant. You will become the Blue Ranger and command the Element of Honesty, as well as the Triceratops zord.” A bright blue light emitted from Applejack’s Element, engulfing her whole body and giving her blue full body armor with a black visor on the face. “Fluttershy, caring and quiet, but willing to do what needs to be done to protect those who cannot protect themselves. You will become the Yellow Ranger and command the Element of Kindness, as well as the Sabre-Tooth Tiger zord.” The same thing that happened to Applejack happend to Fluttershy, except it was a yellow light that emitted from her Element and her armor was yellow as well. “Pinkie Pie, optimistic and, while just plain random, always there to help when help is needed most. You will become the Pink Ranger and command the Element of Laughter, as well as the Pterodactyl zord.” Pinkie’s armor was pink, only slightly darker than the normal color of her coat. “Rarity, while not exactly a fan of getting your hooves dirty, you have the charity to give anything that may be needed at the drop of a hat. You will become the Black Ranger and command the Element of Generosity, as well as the Mastodon zord.” Rarity’s armor was a deep black, completely contrasting her white coat. “And Rainbow Dash, fearless and devoted, you will become the Red Ranger, leader of the Rangers, and command the the Element of Loyalty, as well as the Tyrannozord.” Rainbow Dash’s armor was a bright red that truly said ‘leader’. “When you are in danger, wear your Elements of Harmony and call them out by name to gain the power held within the Morphin’ Grid. With the power of the Elements of Harmony and the power of the zords in your hooves, you will protect Equestria from evil as a powerful team known to one and all as the Pony Rangers.”
The newly formed team of Pony Rangers stood around in silence, unmorphed, for the longest time before anypony moved, spoke, or probably even breathed. After a while, Applejack began walking out of the room. “Applejack,” Rainbow Dash called. “Where are you going?”
“I’m gettin’ off the looney express,” Applejack replied. “I already told y’all, the Princess here is spoutin’ a bunch of hooey. Personally, I’m not gonna believe a word of it.”
“Maybe Applejack’s right,” Fluttershy said. “What we need to do is get back to Ponyville and help out with recovery after that earthquake.”
“You can leave if you want to,” Celestia said, “but you will be as helpless as all the other ponies down there against Nightmare’s forces.”
Not even taking another second to think about it, Applejack trotted out of the room, followed closely by Fluttershy. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie exchanged glances for a moment before following suit. However, Rarity was still standing in the room, admiring her Element of Harmony. “Rarity!” the others called in unison. Hearing the other four, Rarity quickly snapped back to reality and galloped off to join the others.
“Those five were Equestria’s last hope,” Spike said to Celestia once the ponies left.
“They still are, Spike,” Celestia replied. “Once they know what they’re up against, they’ll do what needs to be done to save Equestria.”

Meanwhile, on the moon, Nightmare Moon and her four minions had quickly settled back into their old lunar base. “Ah,” Gilda said, sniffing the air, “it’s good to be back.”
“Don’t get too comfortable,” Nightmare said, looking out upon Equestria. “We still have a job to do: destroy Celestia and conquer Equestria.” Nightmare then turned to Zecora, who was hard at work at a strange furnace-like machine, molding lumps of clay and placing them into press molds shaped like ponies. “Are those Putty Ponies ready yet, Zecora?”
“These Putties will take some time,” Zecora said, not really looking up from her work. “However, there is some news that may be worth your eye.” Zecora indicated the screen at the far end of the room. On the screen were the Pony Rangers walking away from Canterlot.
“Who are these five mares?” Nightmare asked, genuinely interested.
“They are Celestia’s new Pony Rangers, and they could pose a particular danger.”
“Pony Rangers?” the manticore asked, walking into the room. “Pfft. They don’t look that tough.”
“You should not underestimate the Elements of Harmony,” Trixie said in the corner of the room, seeming to come out of meditation. “They were the very power that sealed Lord Nightmare and the four of us here on the moon. They could make short work of you, manticore, unless you have some hoof soldiers with you. Namely, Zecora’s Putty Ponies.”
“In that case, hurry up with the Putty Ponies, Zecora,” manticore said impatiently. “I wanna get down there and destroy some Equestrians.”
“I’ve already finished the Putties for your initial attack,” Zecora started, “but for a few minutes longer, I’d like you to hang back. I’m making a dozen more to take down those five. They surely won’t be able to survive.”
“Aw, but I wanted a chance to fight them!”
“Quit your complaining, manticore,” Nightmare said. “If we get the drop on them, our plans will fall into place faster and Equestria will be ours sooner.”
“The last of the Putty Ponies are now ready,” Zecora said. “This plan will work, you shall soon see.”

Meanwhile, back on Equestria, Applejack and the others were walking away from the base of the mountain that Canterlot rested upon and towards Ponyville. “I’m not so sure we should have trotted away like that, AJ,” Rainbow Dash said. “That all seemed pretty legit.”
“‘Legit’ my hoof,” Applejack replied. “It was obviously some kind of prank.”
“Then how do you explain the teleport thingy?” Pinkie asked.
“And the Elements of Harmony?” Rarity added.
“Clearly that was all just the work of a skilled unicorn with way too much time on her hooves. The only way I’d believe what the dead princess was saying would be if we were suddenly attacked by this Nightmare Moon or some of her so-called Putty Ponies.” Right when Applejack said this, the five ponies suddenly found themselves surrounded by greyish ponies with odd masks who could only be the above-mentioned Putty Ponies.
“Believe what Celestia said yet?” Rainbow Dash asked.
Applejack took a big nervous gulp before replying. “Yeah, I believe what she said now.”
“In that case, it’s time to take it to these Putty Phonies.” With that, the five ponies charged right at several different groups of Putties.
Applejack galloped at top speed towards a pair of Putties, ducking at the last second to split-buck the two to little effect. The Putties took advantage of Applejack being off balance, grabbed her hind legs, and threw her into a nearby rock.
Pinkie Pie was faced with about three Putty Ponies. “Hmm,” she said to herself. “How am I going to do this...? Aha!” The party pony then reached behind her back and pulled out a cake that said “Hooray! Friends!” The Putties exchanged glances for a moment before one trotted up and smashed Pinkie’s face into the cake. When Pinkie lifted her face back up, the cake now said “イェーイ！トモダチ！” (“I~ēi! tomodachi!” I think that [very] roughly translates from Japanese to “Hooray! Friends!”) “How the hay is that even possible?” While Pinkie stood there thinking about how that happened, another Putty took the opportunity and bucked Pinkie away, causing her to slam into the same rock Applejack hit and fall on the downed farm filly. “Cake?” Pinkie asked Applejack, holding up the smashed desert.
Rarity tried to use her magic to combat the advancing Putty Ponies, but every spell she knew from levitation to gem-finding had little effect on the Putties. “Fine,” she said. “We’ll do this the hard way.” Rarity then began galloping towards one Putty, leaping into the air at the last second and giving it a flying kick to the face, knocking it hard to the ground. This attack took care of one Putty, but she had about four others sneak up on her and throw her into the rock that Pinkie and AJ had already been thrown into. However, just before Rarity hit the ground, (which would have actually been her other two beaten friends) she used her magic to conjure a large lounge couch for her to land on, which appeared right on top of Pinkie and AJ. When Rarity landed, this very nearly crushed the party pony and farm filly. “What? You didn’t expect me to land on the ground and get dirty, did you?”
Rainbow Dash was surrounded by about five Putty Ponies, but this didn’t lower her confidence any. “Come at me, bro,” she said to the Putties. As though upon command, two of the Putty Ponies charged the prismatic pegasus. Rainbow Dash was ready for their charge, however, and easily ducked and bucked them both back. However, the other three jumped her from behind, catching her by surprise. Rainbow Dash tried to fight them, but two of them had grabbed her by the wings and the third gave her one strong buck to the stomach. (Now that’s what I call fighting dirty.) After the third Putty bucked Rainbow Dash, the two that had her wings forcefully threw her into the rock where the other three had met a similar fate. However, when Rainbow Dash hit the rock, it cracked a little and quickly split in half after Rainbow Dash landed next to Rarity on the unicorn’s sofa. (Or is it more of a bed? It seems large enough to be a bed, but its actual shape makes it look like a sofa, so it kind of throws me off.)
Several Putty Ponies were closing in on Fluttershy. Not being much of a fighter unless there was an immediate danger to an innocent creature, she let out a very quiet plea for help from her friends. However, when she looked over to where the rock used to be, she found all four of her friends totally pwned by the Putty Ponies. If these Putty Ponies were strong enough to take down all four of them, what chance did Fluttershy have? “Wait a second,” Fluttershy suddenly said to herself. For only a moment, she had forgotten that she was the weilder of one of the greatest weapons in Equestrian history: The Stare. Quickly, she turned around and used The Stare on the group of advancing Putties. However, they seemed entirely unaffected by Fluttershy’s wrath and continued advancing. Realizing that her greatest weapon wasn’t working, the shy pegasus let out a small squeal and flew over to duck behind the pile of her downed friends.
“Nothing’s working against these things,” Rainbow Dash said. “Even Fluttershy’s Stare is useless!”
“Wait a second,” Applejack said, pulling out the Element of Harmony she was given before. “Princess Celestia told us that these Elements of Harmony would give us power. I say we try ‘em out and see if it’s enough power to save our flanks from these things.”
“Sounds like a good idea, Applejack,” Rainbow Dash said, pulling out her Element of Harmony. The other three ponies quickly followed suit. “Ready, everypony? IT’S MORPHIN’ TIME!”
“HONESTY!” Applejack shouted.
“KINDNESS!” Fluttershy shouted.
“LAUGHTER!” was Pinkie’s shout.
“GENEROSITY!” was Rarity’s shout.
“LOYALTY!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed.
After each pony listed off their Element of Harmony, a bright light emitted from each gem and engulfed their bodies, similarly to what happened the first time around in Canterlot. The light slowly dressed them in their Ranger armor, leaving their heads uncovered until the rest of their bodies were armored. In a flash of light, their helmets appeared on their heads, their visors being absent for a second, revealing their eyes, before the black visors lowered, making their faces, as well as the rest of their bodies, completely covered and armored. Their manes and tails didn’t come through the suits, but they did conform to Rainbow Dash’s and Fluttershy’s wings, as well as Rarity’s horn.
“Now let’s do this,” Rainbow Dash said. “Pony Rangers: Harmony Force, roll call!”
“Harmony Force, Ranger Blue!” Applejack shouted, bucking the air behind her before taking an offensive forward stance.
“Harmony Force, Ranger Yellow!” Fluttershy shouted, flying into the air and hovering a few inches off the ground, taking on a stance that was mostly defensive.
“Harmony Force, Ranger Pink!” Pinkie shouted, bouncing into the air excitedly and landing on all fours into a perfect offensive stance.
“Harmony Force, Ranger Black!” Rarity shouted, flipping her head around as though to flip her mane, glancing at the Putties with a sideways glance for a second, and then lowering her head to aim her horn at them as though it were some type of weapon.
“Harmony Force, Ranger Red!” Rainbow Dash shouted, flying up and doing a couple of loop-de-loops before coming back to the ground and hovering just inches above it in an offensive stance.
“From all of us together,” they all said in unison. “we fight as one! We protect one another until the battle is done! PONY RANGERS: HARMONY FORCE!”

Back in Canterlot, Spike was bouncing around with joy. “They’ve done it!” he shouted. “They’ve finally morphed! Oh, hay, looks like those Putties that attacked them are retreating. Oh, hang on, never mind. The Rangers just beat the clay out of them.”
“That’s excellent news, Spike,” Celestia said. “Now that they have finally claimed their powers, teleport them to Ponyville. Nightmare’s manticore is attacking with a larger number of Putty Ponies.”
“Will do, Princess.” Spike then pressed another button on his console, teleporting the Pony Rangers to Ponyville.

On the moon base, Nightmare Moon was angrily watching the Pony Rangers easily beat the stuffing out of every single one of her Putty Ponies that were attacking Ponyville. The Rangers were outnumbered at least five to one and they were still kicking flank.
“This is unacceptable!” Nightmare shouted. “I knew the Elements of Harmony were powerful, but this is a power I’ve never seen before! It’s as though these five ponies strengthen the Elements with a hidden power of their own!”
“The manticore is in terrible danger,” Zecora said. “If unprepared, he can be beaten by one Ranger! Lord Nightmare, if I may suggest a change in plans, perhaps the manticore will stand a chance.”
“I was just thinking the same thing,” Nightmare said. She then began charging her horn with magic and walked out to the observation deck. “Power of the moon, make my manticore grow!” Nightmare then fired a massive ball of blueish magic down towards Equestria.

Back in Ponyville, the Pony Rangers had already defeated the Putty Ponies and were about to take on the manticore. “Come on,” the manticore said. “I’ll take you all on myself if I have to.” Just then, he was blasted by the ball of magic that Nightmare had just fired towards Equestria.
“What the hay was that?” Rainbow Dash asked. Just then, the manticore grew to about 30 stories tall. “Sorry I asked. How are we supposed to fight this guy now?” As though to answer Dash’s question, the Rangers’ communicators began going off.
“Rangers,” Spike called from the other end of their communicators. “Remember the zords Celestia mentioned earlier? Now’s a good chance to summon them. Like Celestia said, and I quote, ‘You can call upon them when a situation gets too big for you to handle.’”
“Oh,” Pinkie said. “Now I see what she did there.”
“How do we call them?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Simply raise your hoof to the sky and shout ‘We need dinozord power, now!’” Spike said.
“Really? That’s all we need to do?” Rainbow Dash looked back to the other Rangers, who all just shrugged. “All right. I’ll give it a shot.” Dash then raised her hoof to the sky and shouted, “We need dinozord power, now!”
Right as Rainbow Dash said this, a noise that sounded like a steel stampede was heard from off in the distance. The Rangers turned around to find that five massive machines were headed straight towards Ponyville. There was a blue triceratops that was coming in on a set of wheels rather than stomping, a yellow sabre-tooth tiger that was leaping and showing off its acrobatic skills, a black mastodon that was moving quickly despite its stubby legs and massive size, a pink pterodactyl soaring high above the others, and a red tyrannosaur who was running at the head of the group.
“Those are our zords?” Applejack asked. “They’re huge!”
“Yeah they’re huge,” Rainbow Dash said. “Huge and awesome!”
“Don’t forget, Rangers,” Spike said from their communicators, “you need to enter your zords and pilot them to combat the manticore. Combine your powers and the zords to form the Megazord and defeat this powerful foe.”
“Okay, Spike,” Rainbow Dash said. “Let’s go, everypony!” In five flashes of multi-colored light, the five Rangers teleported into the cockpits of their respective zords. “Everypony in their zords?”
“Blue Ranger, ready for action,” Applejack said from her triceratops zord.
“Yellow Ranger, prepared for battle,” Fluttershy said from her sabre-tooth tiger zord.
“Pink Ranger, soaring high,” Pinkie said from her pterodactyl zord.
“Black Ranger, hoping this cockpit has been cleaned recently,” Rarity said from her mastodon zord. “I mean, rearing for action.”
“Red Ranger, rushing into the fray,” Rainbow Dash said. Once all five of the Rangers finished their roll call, the five zords came to a stop in front of the manticore. “All right, manticore, get ready to face the power of the Elements of Harmony.”
“My master, Nightmare Moon, says I underestimate you ponies,” the manticore said. “All I see is a bunch of walking piles of scrap metal and paint.”
“Yeah, Nightmare’s right on this one,” Rainbow Dash said. “We need Megazord power, now!”
Right as Rainbow Dash said this, the tyrannozord, triceratops, sabre-tooth, and mastodon began charging forward. The sabre-tooth and triceratops rushed in front of the tyrannozord, tucking in their legs and backing into the knees of the kneeling tyrannozord. The mastodon zord’s head broke off from the rest of its body and came up behind the tyrannozord, connecting to its back and aiming its tusks, which had machine guns at the tips, forward. The rest of the mastodon’s body came up in front of the tyrannozord and formed the chestplate. The result was a massive tank-like machine that was about the size of the manticore.
“This is the Megazord?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Doesn’t look as awesome as I had imagined it, but if it kicks flank, let’s go for it!” Dash then moved her control sticks forward, indicating for Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy to do the same on their control panels.
Upon the command of its pilots, the tank zord began moving forward, firing its machine guns at the manticore. The attack was making contact, but it wasn’t dealing significant damage. “Ha,” the manticore laughed, blocking the bullets with his paw. “You really think that pathetic machine has a chance against me?” The manticore then used his other paw to strike the tank zord, sending it flying and landing on its side.
“Well that didn’t work,” Applejack said.
“I don’t understand,” Rainbow Dash said. “I thought the Megazord would have enough power to defeat this guy. Why isn’t it working?”
“Because you left me out,” Pinkie said over the zord’s comm system. Just then, the pterodactyl zord flew by and struck the manticore, catching him off guard and knocking him onto his side.
“Oh, right,” Rainbow Dash said. “Sorry about that Pinkie. Let’s try that again. We need Megazord power, now!” Rainbow Dash then slammed her hoof on a button on her control panel.
”Megazord sequence initiated, said a robotic voice from the zords. The tank zord then began moving into a standing position. The triceratops and sabre-tooth zords formed the legs of the Megazord and the tusks of the mastodon’s tusks formed the arms. The machine guns rotated to reveal hands. (You’re welcome, Lyra.) The pterodactyl zord then flew towards the front of the standing humanoid zord, tucked in its head and wings, and formed the chestplate for the Megazord. Upon the pterodactyl zord attaching to the Megazord, the head of the tyrannozord tucked in behind the pterodactyl zord, revealing a humanoid head with horns on either side.
“Megazord ready for action!” the five Pony Rangers said in unison.
“It doesn’t matter how tall you Ranger babies stack your blocks,” the manticore said. “I’ll just keep knocking you down!” The manticore then charged at the Megazord. However, Rarity moved the mastodon’s tusk/Megazord’s arm to strike the manticore and knock him backwards.
“Ha!” Rarity laughed. “Take that, you ruffian!”
“Good shot, Rarity,” Applejack commented. The farm filly then turned to Fluttershy. “Now it’s our turn. Ready, Fluttershy?”
“Ready,” the shy pegasus replied. The Megazord then ran up to the manticore, who was just getting up and recovering, and drop kicked the evil minion right in the face.
“Excellent work, everypony,” Celestia said over the Megazord’s comm. “Now it is time for you to summon your greatest weapon. The Power Sword.”
“Will do, Princess,” Rainbow Dash said. The prismatic pegasus then slammed another button on her control panel, shouting, “We need the Power Sword, now!” Just then, the sky opened up and a huge double-edge sword descended from the heavens and impaled itself in the ground right in front of the Megazord. The Rangers then drew the Sword out of the ground and aimed it at the manticore.
“I wasn’t prepared for this,” the manticore said. “It’s your lucky day, ponies. I’m going to retreat now, but when next we meet, you’ll be sorry you ever even became Pony Rangers. That’s a promise!” The manticore then teleported away, leaving the Pony Rangers victorious.
“My little ponies,” Rainbow Dash said amid the celebration, “victory is ours.”
“Hay!” Pinkie said. “We should throw a party to celebrate our first win as Pony Rangers! Whaddaya say?”
“You party will have to wait,” Princess Celestia said over the comm. “I’d like to see you back in Canterlot real quick.”

Back on the moon base, Nightmare was scolding the manticore for his retreat. “You truly disappointed me,” Nightmare said. “You went down there with unbelievable confidence, but when faced with actual combat, you ran away like a two-week-old kitten faced with a full-grown german shepherd.”
“Wow,” Trixie said to Gilda as the two and Zecora watched Nightmare scold the manticore. “Nightmare’s really letting him have it, isn’t she?”
“I apologize, Lord Nightmare Moon,” the manticore said. “I’m sorry and fairly embarrassed to say that the Elements of Harmony had more power than I was prepared for.”
“I understand that,” Nightmare said. “I had known that you were outmatched the whole time. However, you did manage to obtain very valuable information.”
“Valuable information?” the manticore asked as Nightmare walked past him. “What kind of valuable information.”
Nightmare just turned her head slightly, paced her hoof to her mouth, and smiled a very creepy smile that belongs solely on the faces of ponies who belong in the loony bin as she made a “Shhh” sound. “It’s a secret...” Nightmare then maniacally laughed as she walked out of the room.

Back in Canterlot, the Pony Rangers were standing in the center of the computer room in front of Celestia. “Congratulations on your first victory as Pony Rangers,” the imprisoned alicorn said. “However, I fear that while you may have won this battle, the war is still to come. Nightmare will continue to send her minions towards Ponyville to draw you out and destroy you so that she can be rid of the Elements of Harmony and plunge Equestria into eternal night. The battle between good and evil needs to come to a conclusion, and the fate of Equestria now rests in the hooves of you five, as well as any other friends you may make through your journey.”
“In that case,” Rainbow Dash said, stepping forward. “You can count on us to protect Equestria until Nightmare falls.”
“One more thing, Rangers. If you wish to continue to keep your Ranger powers and protect Equestria, you must follow the Ranger Code.”
“The Ranger Code?” Applejack asked.
“A set of three simple rules that must be followed by all living beings who gain the power of the Morphin’ Grid and wish to keep it. This code is followed by another group of warriors who call themselves the Power Rangers, but they live in an alternate universe, so don’t go thinking you can find them and ask them for help. Now then, I will tell you the rules of the Ranger Code. First: you must never escalate a battle unless you need to. To unleash unneeded wrath upon enemies who don’t deserve it would prove that you are no better than they are. Second: you must never use your Ranger powers for dark intentions or personal gain. These powers are a sacred gift bestowed upon only those with a pure heart who are worthy of wielding them. Finally: you must strive to keep your identities a secret at all times. If anypony close to you were to discover who you were, it could put their lives, as well as yours, in jeopardy. Follow these simple rules and your powers will continue to grow as the threat to Equestria does. Do you understand?”
“I can live with those rules,” Pinkie said.
“Sounds good,” Fluttershy added.
“Yee-haw!” Applejack shouted.
“You can count on us, Princess,” Rainbow Dash said.
“Hmm...” Rarity said. “I dunno, girls. My mane gets tangled in that helmet whenever I morph.” The other four, as well as Spike and Celestia, just looked at Rarity with expressions of disbelief. “Just kidding,” Rarity finally said with a laugh. “I’m totally on-board with this.”
“Then best of luck to you Rangers,” Celestia said. “Until you are needed in action again, you may return to Ponyville.”
“We’ll be ready when that moment comes, Princess,” Rainbow Dash said. The others then nodded in agreement. The five then galloped out of the room towards the train station.

A few hours later, the five ponies were back in Sugarcube Corner. Pinkie Pie was throwing a party to continue the first one and to celebrate the Pony Rangers. (Of course the Rangers were in attendance, but nopony knew because the five were un-morphed.) “I still don’t know how Pinkie can organize parties so quickly,” Applejack said.
“On the bright side, she did hire some help for this one,” Rainbow Dash said, seeing Pinkie and two other ponies serve cupcakes and stuff. One of the ponies was a brown stallion by the name of Time Turner. The other was Derpy Hooves, who kept dropping tray after tray.
“I still can’t get over everything that happened today,” Rarity said. “Sure I’ve always wanted to visit Canterlot, but I never knew Princess Celestia was still around, let alone the Elements of Harmony.”
Just then, Rarity’s sister, Sweetie Belle, was trotting by. She didn’t do anything to indicate that she was there, but she did hear what Rarity said. “Why is Rarity talking about Princess Celestia and the Elements of Harmony?” the marshmallow filly asked herself. She tried to shrug it off and trot away, but she found herself unable to stop thinking about it...