Cheerilee led her students on a field trip through the Canterlot Statue Gardens as a way to kick off the new school year. Most of the students were having a decent time. (Or at least the best time you could possibly have when you’re in a garden full of statues and you’re a foal with a pretty short attention span who just got off of his or her summer vacation.) However, there were three little fillies in the back of the class who had too much on their minds to even pretend they were having a good time. After all, the Cutie Mark Crusaders did go the entire summer knowing that their sisters were the Pony Rangers. However, they were unable to do anything but think about it since they were all at summer camp the whole time. In fact, they had only gotten back from camp the other day and hardly saw their sisters at all since then.
“We seriously need to talk to them,” Applebloom said to her fellow Crusaders. “I’m sure they’ll be able to explain at least a few things if we just ask.”
“I know,” Sweetie Belle said. “But they kind of have to be in the same room as us for more than three seconds for us to even talk to them.”
“I wonder why they would be in such a rush all the time, anyway,” Scootaloo added. “I mean, if they already defeated Nightmare Moon...”
The young pegasus was quickly cut off when a wave of screaming fillies and colts galloped past them. “What the hay is goin’ on?” Applebloom asked. When she looked over to where the ponies were running from, she saw a small group of Nightmare Moon’s Putty Ponies galloping through the garden, looking through statue after statue as though to find for one in particular.
“Come on, girls,” Scootaloo said. “We need to get out of here!”
“Hang on, Scootaloo,” Sweetie Belle said. “Maybe we can see the Pony Rangers if we hang out here for a little longer.” Just then, two Putty Ponies noticed the Crusaders and began galloping towards them.
“Either that, or we’ll be put in mortal peril!” Applebloom shouted. Just as the two Putties were about to pounce, they were knocked back by a red flying blur.
“Whoa,” Scootaloo said. “Was that...” Scootaloo trailed off as the pony who saved the fillies landed in front of them. It looked like the Red Pony Ranger, except her armor looked somewhat different from what the Crusaders remember. Instead of a full red bodysuit, around her midsection was white diamond shapes, her hooves were covered with white “gloves” (for lack of a better term), and her visor better resembled the mouth of her Tyrannozord. (Basically, the Rangers’ armor in season 2 more closely resembles their counterparts from Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers.)
“Are you three okay?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“We’re fine,” Scootaloo said. “Thanks Rai...nger Red who we totally don’t know the identity of. *squee*”
“This is no place for fillies. You could seriously get hurt if you stay here. Get going!” The three fillies nodded in reply and began galloping off to join the rest of their class, who was already well away from where the Putties had attacked. Rainbow Dash took some time to look back to make sure Scootaloo got to safety before turning back to the attacking Putty Ponies. “All right, Putties. I don’t know why you keep coming back if Nightmare’s finished, but I’m not going to complain. It just means I don’t have to stop fighting you guys. Now come at me, bro.”
About seven Putties charged at Rainbow Dash, but three of them stayed behind and continued looking through the statues. Rainbow Dash ignored the three Putties who stayed behind and charged back at the other seven. Dash flew right at one Putty, knocking it straight back and possibly breaking one of its legs. Dash then grabbed the Putty she had knocked down by its leg (probably the one that was likely broken) and threw it into two other Putties. She then back flipped and landed perfectly on another Putty’s back. “Hay, pal, now would be a good time for you to get ready to get bucked hard.” In response to what Rainbow Dash said, the Putty attempted to buck Dash off of it. Rainbow Dash was knocked off, but she perfectly backflipped and bucked the Putty down from the air. “Heh. I tried to warn you.” Two other Putties tried to sneak up on Rainbow Dash after she landed, but the prismatic pegasus was difficult to take by surprise. She planted her left fore hoof firmly on the ground and performed a perfect tornado buck to knock the two Putties away. Dash then stood back on all fours and dusted herself off before turning to the last remaining Putty. The Putty’s legs were shaking like leaves and, though they never talked, Rainbow Dash could have sworn that the Putty was whimpering a little. “What’s the matter? It’s not like we haven’t totally owned you guys before. Hmm, then again, I suppose you’ve never been totally owned by a single one of us before.” While Rainbow Dash was distracted by her own talking, the Putty snuck off to help the other three Putties who stayed behind earlier. “I mean, sure, Twilight took out like 40 of you on her own a few months ago, but she’s a bit more powerful than any of us individually. I guess the new armor Twilight and Rarity designed for us does improve our powers. Still, I suppose that’s no reason to- hay, where’d you go? I still haven’t beaten the clay out of you.” Rainbow Dash looked around just in time to see four Putty Ponies gathered around a single statue. It certainly didn’t look like an ordinary statue, though. It was a statue of... several different animals. Or at least that was the best description Rainbow Dash could come up with. “Hay, hooves off the statue! Terrorizing ponies is one thing, but vandalism is something totally different!” Rainbow Dash charged at the Putties, but she wasn’t fast enough to get to them before they teleported away with the statue. “Huh. I wonder what that was all about.” Rainbow Dash thought about it for a moment before shrugging and taking off back towards Canterlot Castle.
Meanwhile, Scootaloo and the others had seen the whole thing from behind another statue. “Wow,” Scootaloo said. “Rainbow Dash really is awesome. She just drove all of those Putty Ponies away single-hoofedly.”
“I guess that was pretty cool,” Applebloom commented. “But we still need to get back and meet up with the rest of the class. Ms. Cheerilee will start to get worried.” The other two nodded in reply and the three fillies began galloping away to try to catch up to their class.
Moments later, Rainbow Dash had finally made it to the computer room in Canterlot Castle where Twilight was waiting. “Good to see you back, Dash,” Twilight said as Rainbow Dash landed in the center of the room.
“Good to be back,” the prismatic pegasus replied, removing her helmet. As she took her helmet off, she flipped her head back to loosen up her rainbow-colored mane and remove just about any trace of helmet hair. (Not that there was any there in the first place.) “Are the others here yet?”
“Not yet. They took the train. Pretty lucky you were assigned to Canterlot weather duty today, too. Who knows what those Putties would have done if you weren’t nearby.”
“Well I didn’t quite stop them, I don’t think.” Rainbow Dash flew over to where Twilight was standing (not being able to trot while holding her helmet in one hoof) and looked at what Twilight was working on. “Whatcha working on?”
“I’m working on upgrading the Thunder Coin as I’ve upgraded the Elements of Harmony. The five of you already have more power than I do, now, so I need to work on getting myself back up to par.” Twilight continued working for a moment before suddenly stopping. “What exactly do you mean ‘You didn’t quite stop them, you don’t think?’”
“A few of the Putties made off with one of the statues in the Royal Garden.”
“Which statue?” a panicked sounding Princess Celestia asked, walking into the room.
“Princess!” a startled Twilight suddenly shouted, quickly bowing. “I’m sorry, I didn’t expect you to be here yet. Rainbow Dash had just finished stopping another Putty attack and was reporting a stolen statue.”
“I know. I heard that part of the conversation. I was asking which statue the Putties made off with.”
“I’m not entirely sure what it was a statue of,” Rainbow Dash said. “It was pretty hard to describe, but it looked like it had a deer antler, a goat leg, a bat wing, and a snake tail.”
Celestia gasped with horror when she heard what Rainbow Dash had said. “What’s the ETA of the train the Rangers are on?”
Twilight looked at the screen on her console to check on the status of the train. “The train just arrived and the Rangers are making their way through the city,” Twilight said. “Their ETA is... about three minutes.”
“Okay. I’ll go get Princess Luna. Twilight, you summon Spike. All of us need to be here when I give this news.” Celestia then galloped out of the room to summon her younger sister while Twilight used the comm system to contact Spike, who she guessed was still in bed.
Meanwhile on the lunar base where Nightmare’s four old minions remained, four Putty Ponies teleported into the center of the main room with the statue they had stolen moments before. Just then, two equine creatures, a blue unicorn and a zebra decorated with gold rings, trotted into the room. “The Great and Powerful Trixie supposes she doesn’t give your Putty Ponies enough credit, Zecora,” Trixie said to her zebra companion.
“It’s true, they are usually a mess,” Zecora replied. “But there are some occasions where they achieve success.”
“Now, then, the Great and Powerful Trixie has only two questions for you, Zecora. First, what exactly is that a statue of? Second, why is the Great and Powerful Trixie here with you and not enjoying her midday spa bath?”
“The answer to your first question would cause Celestia to flee at the mere mention. This is the sealed villain, Discord, spirit of chaos. When it comes to evil, there is no better boss. As for what you are doing here, Trixie my dear, you will use your magic to break him free so that he may destroy the Elements of Harmony.”
“The Great and Powerful Trixie likes your way of thinking. Stand back and watch my magic at work.” Zecora did as she was told with a nod and took a couple of steps back. Trixie took a deep breath and began charging her horn with energy. “The magic essence of evil has been entrusted within me for these past few months...”
“No it wasn’t,” Gilda shouted from the other room.
“The Great and Powerful Trixie demands silence!” Trixie then turned back to the statue of Discord and resumed her spell. “...and now, I use that very energy to resurrect the spirit of chaos and disharmony so that he may once again lay waste to Equestria and destroy those who became the demise of Nightmare Moon!” Trixie’s horn then flared and fired a blast of energy towards the statue, knocking the magician back right into Zecora. They both got up quickly to find that Trixie’s spell was a success and that the stone was cracking in several areas. “Yes,” Trixie said to herself, mentally giving herself a pat on the back. She then proceeded to give Zecora a brohoof to congratulate the zebra for her part of the plan.
Meanwhile, back at Canterlot, Celestia and her younger sister, Luna (Who had undergone a significant change in her physical appearance since the Gala. Instead of being a filly, she looked a little more grown up, her coat was darker, and her mane resembled that of Nightmare Moon once again.), were briefing the six Pony Rangers on the situation the alicorn sisters were afraid was unfolding. “I believe Nightmare’s old minions plan to resurrect one of our oldest foes,” Celestia said.
“Well who is it?” Applejack asked.
“His name is Discord,” Luna continued, “and he is a being of pure chaos. Long before the time of Nightmare Moon, Discord ruled Equestria in a state of eternal unrest and unhappiness.”
“Luna and I rose up against him, but our powers alone weren’t enough to stop him. For a time, we were sure we had lost the battle against Discord. However, when we discovered the Elements of Harmony, we found that their magic gave us a fighting chance against him. We were able to combine their power with ours and seal Discord in stone, but we knew the seal would not last forever, so we had to incorporate an... outside force.”
“Outside force?” Twilight asked. “What kind of force?”
“The miasma,” Luna replied. “The very entity that created Nightmare Moon by possessing my body.”
“But why would you have used the miasma?” Applejack asked. “Isn’t it, I dunno, EVIL?”
“At the time, it wasn’t such a bad idea,” Celestia said. “The miasma was not always an entity of evil. At first, it was a being we created to maintain a more permanent seal on Discord. However, over time, its power began waning, possibly due to exposure to Discord’s leaking energy.”
“In an effort to keep the miasma’s power alive,” Luna continued, “I tried to merge with it to strengthen its power. However, in addition to decreasing the miasma’s power, Discord’s energy corrupted the miasma, turning it evil.”
“And when you merged with it,” Rainbow Dash said, “it corrupted you as well, turning you into Nightmare Moon.”
“Yes,” Celestia said. “However, the miasma was still maintaining the seal on Discord, so we couldn’t have destroyed it. With this in mind, Luna reached out to me from the veil of shadow the miasma had drawn and told me to do something very difficult. She asked me to use the Elements of Harmony to seal her and the miasma within the moon, protecting Equestria from any harm she could do as Nightmare Moon while still keeping the miasma’s power intact and the seal on Discord alive.”
“But with Nightmare gone and the miasma destroyed...” Twilight said, “that means Discord can return and wreak havoc on Equestria!”
“Not if you six can stop him,” Luna said. The Rangers replied with a collective “Huh?”
“You six are the wielders of the Elements of Harmony now,” Celestia explained. “Therefore, it is up to you six, as Pony Rangers, to use your powers to defeat Discord and save Equestria once again.”
The six Rangers looked at each other for a moment, as though talking amongst themselves to decide whether or not to take on the task. After a while, Twilight turned to Celestia. “Princess Celestia, where do we begin?”
Just then, several alarms went off at the main computer. “There’s something going on in Ponyville!” Spike shouted. “It might be Discord.”
“You were asking where to begin, Twilight?” Celestia asked. “The answer would be in Ponyville right now.”
“Alright,” Twilight said. She then turned to the other Rangers. “Everypony ready?”
The others replied with collective shouts of “All right!” and “Let’s do this!” and one particularly quiet “Yay...”
“Good luck my little Pony Rangers,” Celestia said. “The fate of Equestria rests in your hooves.”
“We won’t let you down, Princess,” Twilight said. “Now let’s go, Rangers!” Twilight then teleported herself and the other five Rangers to Ponyville.
“Are you sure they’ll be able to defeat Discord, my sister?” Luna asked Celestia once the Rangers were gone.
“I cannot honestly say yes,” Celestia replied. “You know as well as I do that Discord is a powerful foe. If they are to have any chance against him, they will have to show more power than they did at the Gala.”
Meanwhile, the Rangers finally landed in Ponyville to find that it was just about cleared out somehow. “There’s nopony here,” Twilight said. “That doesn’t make any sense.”
Suddenly, the six Rangers heard some kind of low, evil laugh seeming to come from nowhere. “Oh, my dear Twilight Sparkle,” the voice said, “what fun is there in making sense?”
“Who’s there?” Rainbow Dash shouted. “Show yourself and fight!”
“Oh come now, Pony Rangers. We could just as easily fight right now, but what’s the fun in that? Where’s that sense of adventure I’ve heard so much about, Rainbow Dash?”
“I’m assumin’ you’re this Discord guy we’re lookin’ for,” Applejack said.
“Well that’s certainly no lie, honest Applejack.”
“So you know who we all are,” Rainbow Dash said. “What do you say we skip formalities and get to the part where we totally kick your flank and throw you back in your stone prison?”
“Ugh, I honestly expected you Rangers to be more fun than this. Fine, I had three whole chapters planned out before our battle, but I suppose I could just throw that whole script away and cut right to the chase!” Just then, a flash of yellowish light appeared before the Pony Rangers. It was small at first, but it started growing quickly until it became at least as large as a full-grown stallion. After a while, it flared and a large and strange-looking creature appeared. (I’m going to be lazy and not describe what Discord looks like. After all, I’m sure he’s pretty well imprinted in all of our minds by now.) The villain stood tall and let out a loud, thunderous evil laugh.
“What the hay is that thing?” Rainbow Dash shouted.
“Is it not obvious, Pony Rangers? I’m Discord, the spirit of chaos and disharmony, once the ruler of Equestria, and today the one who will finally end you and your Elements of Harmony!”
“We’ll see about that.” Rainbow Dash then pulled out her Element of Harmony, followed by her fellow Rangers. “IT’S MORPHIN’ TIME!”
“ELEMENT OF HONESTY!”
“ELEMENT OF KINDNESS!”
“ELEMENT OF LAUGHTER!”
“ELEMENT OF GENEROSITY!”
“ELEMENT OF LOYALTY!”
“ELEMENT OF THUNDER!”
“Harmony Force, Ranger Blue!”
“Harmony Force, Ranger Yellow!”
“Harmony Force, Ranger Pink!”
“Harmony Force, Ranger Black!”
“Harmony Force, Ranger Red!”
“Harmony Force, Ranger Green!”
“From all of us together, we fight as one! We protect one another until the battle is done! WE ARE THE PONY RANGERS: HARMONY FORCE!”
The six Rangers stood about fifteen feet away from Discord. Both parties were sizing each other up and staring each other down.
“Are you ponies going to just stand there all day?” Discord asked after a while. “Or are we going to get this over with? I kind of have a world to plunge into eternal chaos.”
“Oh, we’re going to get this over with, all right,” Rainbow Dash said. “Rangers, attack!” The six Rangers then charged right at Discord, who didn’t seem even slightly phased by the fact that the very ponies who defeated Nightmare Moon were coming after him. In fact, an evil smile crept across his face as the ponies charged at him.
The first Ranger to get to Discord was Rainbow Dash. Dash charged hoof-first, aiming to start the battle with a strong strike right to Discord’s face. However, in almost a blur, Discord moved his paw to block the pegasus’s attack and quickly follow up with a jab to the stomach with his talon, sending Dash flying into a nearby building.
Applejack ducked to avoid Rainbow Dash and leapt at Discord to give a strong two-legged buck to his chest. However, Discord sidestepped and quickly turned to strike the farm filly in the side, knocking her to the ground.
Rarity charged head-first at Discord, swerving left and right to dodge his blasts of magic. After she reached her adversary, Rarity leapt up at Discord, charging a powerful blast of magic she was planning on firing at point-blank range. However, Discord teleported out of the way just barely before Rarity’s attack made contact, causing the blast to hit Fluttershy, who was trying to attack Discord from behind.
Pinkie did her weird bouncing thingy towards Discord and leapt right at him, quickly unleashing several strikes with her hooves. However, Discord blocked each strike with ease, eventually spinning and smacking Pinkie away with his tail.
“You ponies aren’t even a challenge,” Discord said. “I honestly expected more from Celestia’s precious Pony Rangers.” As Discord was saying this, Twilight tried to come up behind him to strike him with her magic. However, Discord quickly turned and grabbed Twilight by her foreleg with his paw. “Ah, the Green Pony Ranger, Twilight Sparkle. I hear you are the strongest of the Rangers.”
“You heard right,” Twilight said. “Care for some proof?” Twilight then fired a blast of magic right into Discord’s face. However, this barely seemed to damage him at all.
“Oh, yes, very much power. I think I actually felt that, in fact.” Discord then began raising his talon hand. “You know, I’ve heard from a very reliable source that your power is stolen. Mind if I... take it back?” Then, in hardly a blink of an eye, Discord thrust his talon forward right inside Twilight’s chest. The sudden shock as well as the powerful magic focused within Discord’s hand caused Twilight to begin screaming in agony as it felt like Discord was sucking the very life force out of her body.
“What is he doing?” Rainbow Dash shouted, quickly getting up and seeing that her friend was in a dangerous situation. “GET YOUR CLAWS OFF OF HER, YOU MONSTER!” Not even thinking of what she was doing, Rainbow Dash began flying at full speed towards Discord, managing to tackle him from behind and causing him to drop Twilight. As Discord fell forward, Rainbow Dash quickly maneuvered to catch Twilight before she hit the ground. The unicorn was de-morphed and seemed to be barely breathing. After doing her best to shake Twilight awake to little success, Dash quickly turned to the other Rangers. “Rangers, we need to fall back! Twilight’s down and Discord’s too strong for us to take on without her!” Rainbow Dash held Twilight in one of her hooves and activated her comm with her other hoof. “Princess Celestia, are you there?”
“I’m here, Rainbow Dash,” Celestia replied from the other line. “And I see your predicament. I’m going to teleport you six back to Canterlot right now.” In six different colored flashes of light, the ponies were teleported out of Ponyville and back towards Canterlot.
Just as the Rangers teleported away, Discord got up and dusted himself off. “I honestly don’t believe this,” he said to himself. “The Pony Rangers have turned tail and run? YES! I HAVE WON!” Discord then let out an evil laugh before turning back towards the town behind him, now completely defenseless. “Now then, it’s time to improve this one-horse down.” Discord then raised his talon and charged it with magic.
To be continued...
Next time...
“Twilight! We were all so worried!”
“Discord must have stolen my Ranger powers. That would explain why I can’t summon the Thunder Coin.”
“Things have literally gone SNAFU since your defeat at Discord’s hands.”
“I may not be able to help you as a Ranger anymore, but I can still offer you these.”
“Ugh. Not you five again.”
“DRAW, WEAPONS OF HARMONY!”
次回、 「Ranger Down」 あ楽しみに！ [Next time: “Ranger Down (The Rangers Return part 2)” Enjoy!]