It had already been a week since Spike was officially inducted into the Harmony Rangers team, but much to the baby dragon’s dismay, there hadn’t been a single attack from Discord during that entire time. He was really looking forward to getting a chance to put his skills to good use, but that would have to wait, apparently. In the meantime, Twilight and the others taught him all he needed to know about being a Ranger. How to effectively use his powers, how to communicate with and pilot his zord, how to call for help in an emergency, and of course, how to fight effectively.
Twilight and Spike were training together underneath the library one morning. They were having a morphed sword fight and both found each other to be about on par with the other.
“You’re not a bad fighter,” Twilight commented as she broke her blade away from Spike’s.
“Aw, you’re just saying that,” Spike replied as he rushed in to strike Twilight again. “You’ve had a lot more experience with this sort of thing than I have.”
Right as Spike said this, Twilight sidestepped Spike’s attack and gave the baby dragon an elbow to the back that knocked him to the floor. “Not by much, though,” Twilight replied. “That’s two points for me.”
“So this last one settles it, huh?” Spike asked as he got up. He then shook himself off and prepared himself for one more fight. “I guess it’s time I actually started trying.”
“Same here,” Twilight replied with a smile under her helmet. “Go!”
Both dragon and pony instantly charged at each other and once again locked blades. Spike tried to break his sword away and punch Twilight with his free hand, but the unicorn managed to dodge this attack. She then tried to strike Spike with her sword, but he flipped out of the way just in time to avoid her attack. Twilight then tried to blast Spike with her magic, but he used his fire powers to block this attack. He then proceeded to grab one of Twilight’s legs with a fire whip and sweep her hooves right out from beneath her, knocking her to the ground and allowing Spike to step over her and aim his sword down at her.
“I do believe that’s game,” Spike said. He then lowered his sword and helped Twilight up off the ground. “Ya know, I seem to recall you telling me at the beginning of this that we weren’t allowed to use magic.”
“Yeah...” Twilight said, demorphing to reveal a sheepish face. “Well, I was just trying to keep you on your toes, that’s all. You never know what kinds of dirty tricks your enemy will pull on you, especially Discord.”
“I guess that’s a fair point,” Spike said, also demorphing. “How about we go get some cupcakes now? I’m sure Pinkie Pie knew we’d be done with our sparring session by now and baked a fresh batch for us.”
“That does sound like something she’d do,” Twilight said, rolling her eyes. “Yeah, let’s go.” The two then made their way out of the library and towards Sugarcube Corner.
Meanwhile on the moon base, Discord was looking down at the two leaving. “All that hard work Trixie and Zecora put into Spike...” Discord said to himself. “And what turned everything upside down in one fell swoop?” Discord was silent for a moment before continuing. “That was an actual question. Somepony was supposed to answer that.” He then turned around only to find that nopony was in the room with him. “Huh... I could have sworn somepony was here when I started talking. Oh well.” Discord then snapped his fingers and teleported out of the room.
In another room, Discord’s minions were idling around. Zecora was working on something that was inevitably going to blow up in her face, Sweetie Belle and Button Mash were just sitting around together (even though Button Mash was a little uneasy after the news Sweetie Belle gave him the week before), Derpy was eating a muffin, and Snowdrop was about to challenge Alan the manticore to a duel that was likely going to get out of hoof and result in Snowdrop destroying Alan. (Yeah, I guess that last bit isn’t quite idling. -_-) Just then, Discord appeared in the center of the room.
“THE MAGIC OF FRIENDSHIP!” he suddenly shouted angrily, startling everypony.
“Come again?” Alan asked.
“That’s the reason Spike sided with the Harmony Rangers at the last second,” Discord explained. “It’s because of the magic of friendship that all of mine and Nightmare Moon’s attacks failed!”
“Wait, I thought it was Twilight nearly killing Spike with the power of the Alicorn Amulet that turned him good,” Derpy said.
“That was Twilight Mercer’s chapter, Derpy,” Rei said from the corner of the room. “His universe might be similar to mine and our timelines might have come very close to each other last week, but they’re separate once again.”
“The whole alternate universes story arc aside,” Discord continued, “it’s because of the friendship that the Harmony Rangers share that we can’t defeat them.”
“And your point is...?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“Pop quiz,” Discord answered. “What’s the only magic more powerful than Friendship?”
“Love,” Button Mash answered.
“Revenge,” Sweetie Belle answered.
“More power,” Snowdrop answered.
“Hatred and rage,” Derpy answered.
“A cunning mind and a plan forged with time,” Zecora replied.
“Brute force,” Alan replied.
“Wrong!” Discord shouted. “All of you are wrong! The answer, of course, is disharmony, the very polar opposite of what the Harmony Rangers represent. And how do you create disharmony among friends like them? Anypony? You drive a wedge between them!”
“That makes sense,” Snowdrop said.
“Which is exactly why Alan is doing this week’s attack,” Discord replied, snapping his fingers and teleporting Alan in front of him.
“Wait, what?” Alan asked in a startled tone.
“Two reasons why,” Discord said to the startled manticore. “First, you claim to be the most powerful being on this base in terms of physical strength. Surely that means you can handle yourself against the Harmony Rangers best out of all of us.”
“Actually, if you recall the third chapter of this season-” Button Mash started, causing everypony to glare at him angrily. “I mean, don’t pay attention to what I have to say. I’m the one who said love could conquer friendship earlier.” He then gave a nervous chuckle before clearing his throat. “Please, continue.”
“As I was saying,” Discord continued, “the second reason I want you for this attack, Alan, is that I want you to carry a special spell with you into battle.” Discord then snapped his fingers and a small ball of light appeared in his paw. He then lowered the ball of light and placed it on Alan’s head, where it proceeded to absorb into the manticore’s body and cause it to briefly flash white. “The spell I just gave you is a manipulation spell. However, I’ve simplified it so that you can use it just by coming in contact with somepony.”
“So how does it work?” Alan asked.
Discord waved his talon around the room to indicate everypony there. “Pick your target.” Once Discord said this, everypony in the room jumped with fear. “A single strike with your claw, and the effects will be near instantaneous.”
Alan smiled a little as he looked around the room, trying to decide who to test Discord’s spell on. He’d get in serious trouble with Discord if he tried it on Zecora, and if he tried it on Derpy or Snowdrop, he’d get in beyond serious trouble with one of them, leaving Sweetie Belle and Button Mash as his only options. Sweetie Belle’s expression instantly turned to one of horror as Alan focused his gaze on her and charged forward.
“NO!” Button Mash shouted as he jumped between Alan and Sweetie Belle just before Alan could hit the young marshmallow. Button Mash had intended to strike Alan away, but instead the manticore slashed Button’s right shoulder with his claw, causing the colt to scream in pain and fall to the floor.
“BUTTON MASH!” Sweetie Belle shouted as she galloped over to catch him. Fortunately, she was able to catch him before he hit the ground.
“A bit excessive, don’t you think?” Derpy asked Alan as the manticore landed from his charge.
“I’m sorry, have we met?” Alan asked Derpy. “Hi, I’m Alan the manticore, the overpowered muscle of this base.”
“You could have at least shown a little restraint,” Sweetie Belle said angrily as she held Button Mash. She then turned back to the colt. “Are you ok, Button Mash?”
Button Mash winced in pain as he turned his head to reply to Sweetie Belle, but he was smiling nonetheless. “I’m more worried about if you’re ok,” he said. In Sweetie Belle’s opinion, purposefully taking that strike from Alan for her was the single most sweetest thing he ever could have done for her.
“I’m fine,” Sweetie Belle replied with a smile. She then looked over at Button Mash’s shoulder. There was an evident claw mark and Sweetie Belle could tell just by looking at it that Button Mash was in harsh pain from it. “Don’t worry, Button Mash. I’ll see what I can do about your shoulder.”
Right as Sweetie Belle said this, however, the claw mark completely disappeared on its own. Feeling the pain instantly vanish, Button Mash got back up on all fours and massaged his shoulder. “Thanks, Sweetie Belle,” he said. “I didn’t know you were that good with magic.”
“I’m not,” Sweetie Belle replied. “It just healed on its own all of a sudden.”
“Well, either way-” Button Mash started. However, he suddenly stopped mid sentence and began staring off into space.
“Button Mash?” Sweetie Belle asked, waving her hoof in front of him. “Are you ok?”
As though to reply with a heavy “no”, Button Mash’s expression instantly turned into what looked like a strained expression before his coat suddenly turned all grey. He then shook his head and looked over at Sweetie Belle with an angry expression.
“What? I don’t get a ‘thank you’?” Button Mash suddenly said in an angry voice. “The least you could do is be a little grateful given the fact that I just saved you from Alan’s attack!”
“Button Mash?!” Sweetie Belle asked in surprise as she took a step back from him. “Are you alright?”
“Of course I’m not alright!” Button Mash shouted. “Look at this shoulder! I took this hit for you and you’re acting like you couldn’t care less!”
Sweetie Belle looked at Button Mash’s shoulder with a confused expression. Aside from being grey, it was perfectly fine. “Uhh...” was all Sweetie Belle could say.
“Ugh! Why am I even still talking to you?” Button Mash shouted as he turned to leave the room. For some reason, however, he was limping whenever he stepped on the leg Alan had struck. Sweetie Belle was left sitting there trying to process what had just happened. Just then, she had a sudden realization. Sweetie Belle quickly morphed, charged forward at Alan, and held her blade up to his throat.
“What have you done to him?” she asked angrily.
“That would be my manipulation spell,” Discord said. “Button Mash has been possessed by the power of disharmony, causing him to act the complete opposite of his usual self. Apparently it also makes the victim not quite in his right mind.”
Without another thought, Sweetie Belle turned her blade to aim at Discord. “Fix him,” she said in an angry yet stern voice.
“I’m afraid I can’t,” Discord said.
Sweetie Belle’s horn instantly began glowing with a rage-fueled spell when Discord said this. “Fix him now, or so help me...”
“No, I mean I seriously can’t,” Discord said. “It’s physically impossible. I’m the spirit of disharmony. I can’t restore harmony to somepony with a snap of my finger. It doesn’t work like that.”
Once Discord said this, Sweetie Belle lowered her blade and demorphed, revealing a very angry expression. “In that case, I’ll just have to fix this myself,” she said as she galloped off in the direction Button Mash went, doing her best to fight back some tears.
“Should I stop her before she does something stupid?” Snowdrop offered.
“No, let her be,” Discord said. “After all, someone did create this mess between the two of them.” Discord then turned his gaze towards Alan.
“I was aiming for Sweetie Belle!” Alan defended. “Button Mash is the one who jumped in the way.”
“I don’t want to hear it,” Discord said. “Just go down to Equestria and put that manipulation spell I gave you to actual use.”
“Yes, Discord,” Alan said with a bow. Discord then teleported the manticore to Ponyville.
At Sugarcube Corner, Twilight and Spike were talking with Pinkie Pie over a half-dozen cupcakes.
“Wow! You really beat her?” Pinkie asked Spike in surprise.
“Yup,” Spike replied with pride. “Of course, I couldn’t have beaten her if she hadn’t been training me in the first place.”
“Well I’m just glad you’re not letting your pride go to your head,” Twilight said. “The seven of us are all one unit, and not one of us can succeed without the others there to back them up.”
“That’s right,” Pinkie said. “Speaking of which, who’s going to eat this seventh cupcake?”
“Huh?” Twilight asked. “But I thought we only ordered six.”
“Did you?” Pinkie asked. “Oh well. More for me.” Pinkie then shrugged and ate the cupcake herself.
“Yeah, I think she’s gone from random to just plain ridiculous,” Spike whispered to Twilight. Right then, the three Rangers’ communicators went off.
“This is Twilight,” Twilight said into her comm.
“Alan’s attacking in the market with a bunch of Putty Ponies!” Applejack’s voice said from the other end.
“Don’t worry, Applejack,” Twilight said. “Pinkie, Spike and I are on our way.” Twilight then disconnected and the three dashed out the door.
At that moment, the three probably forgot that Sugarcube Corner was right next to the market and had to skid to a stop when they saw Alan and the Putty Ponies attacking ponies.
“Ah, if it isn’t the Pink, White, and Gold Harmony Rangers,” Alan said as he turned to face the two ponies and baby dragon. “Have I got a surprise for you this time around.”
“Yeah?” Twilight asked. “Well so do we.”
Before Alan could question what Twilight was talking about, he was hit from behind by a blast of magic energy from Rarity, followed up by three hits from Fluttershy, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash. The four ponies then regrouped with their friends.
“Oh good,” Alan said with a devious smile. “Everypony’s here. This might work out better than I thought it would.”
“For us, maybe,” Rainbow Dash said as she drew her Element of Harmony, followed by her friends drawing their Elements and Spike drawing his Phoenix Gem. “IT’S MORPHIN’ TIME!”
“ELEMENT OF HONESTY!”
“ELEMENT OF KINDNESS!”
“ELEMENT OF LAUGHTER!”
“ELEMENT OF GENEROSITY!”
“ELEMENT OF LOYALTY!”
“ELEMENT OF MAGIC!”
“PHOENIX FLAME, SAMURAI POWER!”
“Harmony Force, Ranger Blue!”
“Harmony Force, Ranger Yellow!”
“Harmony Force, Ranger Pink!”
“Harmony Force, Ranger Black!”
“Harmony Force, Ranger Red!”
“Harmony Force, Ranger White!”
“Harmony Force, Ranger Gold!”
“From all of us together, we fight as one! We protect one another until the battle is done! PONY RANGERS: HARMONY FORCE!” As the seven Rangers finished their roll call, a huge explosion erupted behind them.
“Not for long, you won’t fight as one,” Alan said. “Putties, attack!”
“Let’s go, Rangers!” Rainbow Dash shouted as she and the others drew their weapons and charged into battle.
I’m pretty sure you’re already well-acquainted with how the other Harmony Rangers fight Putty Ponies, so I’m going to save you some time and skip straight to Spike battling his group. Spike charged blade-first at his group of Putty Ponies. Once he got to the lead Putty, he slid underneath it and gave it a powerful strike to its stomach with his sword, knocking the Putty away into one of its allies. Spike then quickly turned around and blasted another advancing Putty with a blast of fire. He then flipped and landed right on the back of another Putty Pony.
“Alright, let’s see how you Putty Ponies ride,” Spike said. As the Putty tried to buck him off, Spike grabbed either of the Putty Pony’s ears and pulled on them as though to try to steer the Putty Pony. Oddly enough, this plan worked as the Putty began spinning around in circles while bucking wildly, knocking several other Putties down. Then, figuring he had dealt enough damage, Spike sent the Putty crashing into another Putty and dismounted with a strangely graceful flip and landed perfectly.
“Not bad for my first run,” Spike said to himself as he surveyed the downed Putties. He must have taken down about a dozen on his own. “Guess I’d better help the others now.”
“I figured those Putties wouldn’t be enough for you,” Alan said as the Harmony Rangers regrouped before him. “Then again, I guess that’s the whole reason I’m here.”
“Yeah it is,” Rainbow Dash said. “We need better punching bags than Putties, after all.”
“Foal! You shall pay for your overconfidence!” Alan shouted. He then gave a mighty roar and charged forward at the Rangers. Applejack was the first to meet his challenge. She managed to hit him with her Harmony Lance once, but despite this, Alan simply gave her one swipe to the shoulder and continued on to the next Ranger without even giving AJ a chance to hit the ground. Alan’s next target was Fluttershy, who did her best to avoid Alan’s attacks and counter with her Harmony Daggers. However, Fluttershy was unable to dodge a strike from his scorpion tail and was knocked off-balance. Though Fluttershy was far from defeated, Alan moved past her similarly to how he did with Applejack and proceeded to attack Rarity. Rarity managed to get a solid hit in with her Harmony Axe, but in exchange, Alan got a clean hit in on her underside, sending her flying and allowing Alan to move on to Pinkie Pie. Though the party pony was hitting Alan with arrows from her Harmony Bow, the attacks barely seemed to faze Alan as he charged forward and gave Pinkie a powerful uppercut with his claw, sending her flying. Alan barely had time to turn around before Rainbow Dash flew up and gave him a powerful high-speed strike with her Harmony Sword, knocking the manticore forward. He then got up to see Rainbow Dash, Twilight, and Spike all standing before him with their blades at the ready.
“What’s your game, Alan?” Twilight asked. “How come you’re barely fighting us?”
“Oh, you’ll see in a moment,” Alan said with an evil smile. He then charged forward at a speed far greater than Twilight or Rainbow Dash had anticipated, allowing him to strike both Rangers with his claws. However, Spike was just barely able to avoid this charge and strike Alan with a blast of fire that actually knocked the manticore to the ground.
“Did you forget about me?” Spike asked as Alan got up.
“Grr...” Alan said, covered in bruises and other evidences of damage. “Looks like I got a little careless trying to complete my mission.”
“And just what is your mission?” Spike asked.
“Wait a moment and you just might find out, little dragon,” Alan said as he indicated the other Harmony Rangers, who all seemed to be frozen in place for some reason.
“What’s wrong with them?” Spike asked. As though to answer his question, all six of the Rangers were instantly demorphed and their coats suddenly turned grey similarly to what happened to Button Mash back on the moon base.
“Oh great,” Applejack said in a sarcastic tone. “I can fight so much better when I lose my powers like this.”
“Hmph, it’s not like you could even fight in the first place,” Fluttershy said in a [female dog]-y voice.
“If you girls aren’t going to use your Elements of Harmony, GIVE THEM TO ME!” Rarity shouted as she galloped up to Fluttershy and tried to take her Element right off her neck.
“I hate the Elements of Harmony!” Pinkie shouted.
“If you girls are just gonna stand around and do nothing, then why am I even still here?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“What are you all doing?” Spike shouted. “Why are you all acting this way?” The baby dragon then turned around and called to Twilight. “Twilight, do something!”
“What’s the point, Spike?” Twilight asked with a sigh. She then hung her head and said, “They’re all like this because of Discord. Now that he’s made them this way, he’s pretty much won.”
“Twilight?” Spike asked.
Alan simply laughed evilly. “Ha! This is turning out much better than Discord expected!”
Overcome with rage, Spike turned around to face Alan. “You’ll pay for this!” Spike shouted as he charged forward.
“Whoops. That’s my cue to leave.” With that, Alan teleported away just before Spike could hit him.
“How can this happen...?” Spike asked as he looked down and nearly teared up under his helmet.
“I guess you just bring out the worst in us, Spike,” Applejack said as she walked by Spike.
“Why do I even need you losers to begin with?” Rainbow Dash asked. “I bet I could have stopped this from happening if you all hadn’t gotten in the way.” With that, she flew off, abandoning the others.
“So long, Rainbow Crash!” Fluttershy called. She then proceeded to laugh loudly at Rainbow Dash.
“And what are you laughing at?” Pinkie shouted angrily at Fluttershy.
“What does she have?” Rarity shouted at Fluttershy. “GIVE IT TO ME!!!!”
“Augh!” Spike shouted. “You’re all being ridiculous! Cut this weird evil act and come back to the library so we can have Princess Celestia try to figure out what’s wrong.”
“There’s no point, Spike,” Twilight said. “Princess Celestia can’t fix this. It’s over. We might as well hand our Elements of Harmony and the keys to Equestria over to Discord.”
Spike simply facepalmed at this and let out a loud, exasperated sigh. He then flipped his communicator on and contacted Princess Celestia. “Princess?” Spike called.
“I’m here, Spike,” Princess Celestia’s voice replied. “What’s going on down there?”
“I’m not entirely sure,” Spike replied. “All the Rangers are acting... weird. Can you teleport us back to the library? Or better yet, can you bring us all to Canterlot so you and Princess Luna can try to figure out what’s wrong with them?”
“I’m on it,” Celestia replied. With that, the baby dragon and the five remaining Rangers were all teleported to Canterlot.
On the moon base, Sweetie Belle was in Button Mash’s room with him trying to bring him back to his old self.
“What the hay is this?” Button Mash asked as he held his Manetendo controler.
“It’s your Manetendo,” Sweetie Belle replied. “You love playing video games, remember?”
Button Mash silently looked at the controler before saying, “I don’t get it. How can somepony like something as stupid as this?”
“Button, that’s just the controller,” Sweetie Belle said. “It controls the game on the TV screen and-”
“Boring,” Button said as he tossed the controler and walked off.
“GAHHHHHH!” Sweetie Belle shouted in frustration. “That’s it! I’m having Discord fix this one way or another and I’m having him do it now!” Sweetie Belle then stormed out of the room.
Sweetie Belle was just outside of the main room when she heard Discord talking with Alan.
“Job well done, Alan,” Discord said. “I would have prefered if you had gotten all seven of them, but just the Elements of Harmony themselves should be sufficient for the time being.”
“Thank you, Discord,” Alan said. “Now what?”
“Now we wait,” Discord replied. “At sundown, the spell will become permanent and the Elements of Harmony will be no more.”
“Permanent?” Sweetie Belle asked quietly so as to not alert Discord and Alan to her presence. “But that would mean... Button Mash would...”
“But why do we need to wait?” Alan asked. “Why can’t we just start our invasion of Equestria now?”
“Because if the spell doesn’t settle properly, it can be easily broken,” Discord replied. “The second you take enough damage in battle, the spell will weaken just enough to possibly release the Harmony Rangers.”
“What?” Sweetie Belle asked. She quickly put her hoof over her mouth and hid before Discord and Alan looked in her direction and found her eavesdropping.
“I could have sworn I heard something,” Alan said.
“It was probably a mouse,” Discord said. “We’ve been getting a lot of those since Derpy destroyed Gilda.”
“How can mice exist on the moon?” Alan asked.
“Space mice,” Rei said from the corner of the room. “They’re an actual thing. Trust me, I’ve watched plenty of Doctor Who to know that just about anything can live in space.”
“Will you get out of here?” Discord shouted at the author. “Can’t you see we’re gloating?”
“I thought you were talking about mice,” Rei replied with a smirk.
While Discord and Rei argued, Sweetie Belle had begun walking back to her room, now knowing what she needed to do if she was ever going to get Button Mash back.
In Canterlot, Princess Luna had just finished restraining Rainbow Dash after her third attempt to flee the command center. Meanwhile, Spike and Princess Celestia were talking.
“Do you know what’s wrong with them, Princess?” Spike asked.
“At a glance, I’d say it’s Discord’s magic,” Celestia replied. “One of his signature spells, too. He’s filled the Rangers with evil and disharmony, causing them all to act the complete opposite of their usual selves.”
“But is there a way to fix it?” Spike asked.
“Would you like my honest answer or the answer that will more likely make you feel better?” Celestia asked.
Before Spike had a chance to reply, an alarm began sounding at the console at the front of the room. Princess Luna instantly galloped over to see what it was.
“It’s a transmission from the lunar base Discord currently resides in,” Luna said.
“That’s strange,” Celestia said. “Discord isn’t the type to call us and gloat.”
“And stranger still,” Spike said as he walked up next to Princess Luna, “why would he send a transmission request rather than just hack our system?”
“We will find out soon enough,” Luna said as she accepted the request. Upon the screen flashed an image of Chaos Ranger Blue with Button Mash standing next to her.
“Hello, Princesses,” Sweetie Belle said. “And hello to you, Spike. Enjoying Discord’s spell?”
“Chaos Blue,” Celestia said. “What do you know about this spell and why are you calling us about it?”
“Oh, I’m just calling to inform you that you’re a little tied for time as far as reversing the spell,” Sweetie Belle said, trying to fake her voice having the same kind of sass Discord has whenever he gloats.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Spike asked.
“It means, you have until sundown to figure out how to reverse the spell,” Sweetie Belle replied. “After that, the spell will become permanent.”
“Yeah, so?” Applejack asked, walking up to the screen.
“Wait... what?” Sweetie Belle asked in surprise.
“Why would we want to reverse the spell?” Fluttershy asked. “What if we like things the way they are now?”
“I hate spells!” Pinkie Pie shouted.
“But... you’re supposed to be figuring out how to reverse this spell,” Sweetie Belle said. “Need I remind you that not only are you Rangers at risk, but so is this sweet, handsome, intelligent- I mean, this innocent little colt is as well?”
“Why am I still here?” Button Mash asked Sweetie Belle.
“I’m right there with you,” Rainbow Dash said to Button Mash.
“Would all of you stop acting so weird?” Spike shouted in frustration. In reply to this, however, Rarity suddenly snuck up behind Spike and tried to steal his Phoenix Gem right off of him.
“MINE!” Rarity shouted as she galloped off with the Gem in her magic.
“Hay!” Spike shouted. “Twilight, please do something! You’re the sensible one on this team.”
“I told you, Spike, it’s hopeless,” Twilight replied. “You heard Chaos Blue. The spell becomes permanent at sundown. Just look at the others. They won’t be of much help.”
“GrrrrAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Spike shouted in frustration. Then, through the use of rage-fueled magic, Spike’s Phoenix Gem disappeared in a flash of flame from Rarity’s magic field and reappeared in Spike’s hand. He then proceeded to morph and unleash a large tornado of fire that circled around the room and began shrinking, causing the other Rangers, including Rainbow Dash, whose restraints were incinerated, to all congregate in front of Spike.
“Listen to me, all of you!” Spike shouted. “I don’t care if Discord has you all under some kind of spell and I don’t care if this spell is making you want to keep it in place somehow. What I do care about is for you all to stop acting so ridiculous and at the very least try to not be so counter-productive in terms of fixing this situation!”
The Rangers were silent as they stared at the baby dragon in shock over his sudden outburst. Then, though everypony saw it coming, Rainbow Dash took her opportunity to ditch the others and fly out the door.
“Could this day get any worse?” Spike shouted as he facepalmed.
“Hmm... you Harmony Rangers are really struggling there, aren’t you?” Sweetie Belle asked. “It’s a shame, really. Then again, even if you were able to fight effectively, I’m sure you wouldn’t be able to defeat Alan and reverse the spell.”
“That’s all we need to do to reverse the spell?” Spike asked. He then excitedly turned around to the others. “Did you all hear that? We can still save you guys!”
“Well that’s a load off my shoulders,” Applejack said sarcastically.
“Yeah, I figured none of you would give a flying feather,” Spike muttered under his breath. “Looks like I’m flying solo this time around.”
“Don’t even bother,” Sweetie Belle continued. “Even if you could beat Alan on your own, he’s not coming back to Equestria until after sundown when he isn’t putting the spell in jeopardy. Unless you Princesses could find a way to forcibly summon him to Ponyville where Spike will be waiting, you’re all out of luck and Harmony in Equestria will officially be dead. Tata.” With that, Sweetie Belle disconnected. “Now time to finish my end of the plan,” she said to herself as she galloped out of the room she was in, dragging Button Mash with her in her magic.
“That was a bit strange,” Spike said as he looked up at the static screen. “Still, that’s a pretty excellent idea.”
“But doesn’t it sound like a trap?” Twilight asked. “She knows you can’t beat Alan on your own. You should ignore her ‘advice’ and stay here.”
“Twilight,” Spike said as he walked up to his best friend, “I am going to say this in the most polite way I can manage at the moment. I am sick and tired of your pessimistic attitude and would very much appreciate it if you would shut the hay up and let the Princesses and I save you guys.” Spike then turned back to Celestia and Luna. “Alright, Princesses, send me to Ponyville and get to work on the spell for forcing Alan from the moon to me.”
“Alright,” Celestia said as she prepared Spike’s teleportation spell. “Best of luck to you, Spike.”
“Same to you two,” Spike said. With that, Celestia teleported the baby dragon back to Ponyville.
Meanwhile on the moon base, Alan was napping in his room. He figured that, if he had to wait until sundown before he saw any more action, he’d nap now and jump right back into the action that night.
However, Sweetie Belle had other plans for the manticore. She snuck into his room as quietly as possible and walked up to where he was sleeping.
“This is what you get for messing with my Button Mash,” she said quietly as she lit up her horn. In a quick flash of light, Sweetie Belle teleported Alan down to Ponyville. An evil smile crossed her lips as she reveled in the thought of what was going to happen to him next.
Meanwhile in Ponyville, Spike was morphed and waiting atop Town Hall for the Princesses to teleport Alan in. He took a moment to glance at the horizon. He guessed it was only about an hour until sundown, and he knew that even the Princesses couldn’t control the passage of time itself, so everypony was pretty tied for time. After another moment, however, Spike looked over to find that Alan was on top of another building fast asleep. The spell the Princesses used must have been stronger than they thought. Alan didn’t even notice that he had been teleported.
Spike quickly flipped his communicator on and contacted the Princesses. “The spell was a success, Princesses,” Spike said. “Alan’s here.”
“What are you talking about, Spike?” Celestia asked. “We haven’t even started the spell. Something else must have summoned him.”
“In that case, cast some sort of spell that will keep him from teleporting back,” Spike said. “We can’t look this gift horse in the mouth and whatever teleported him in might not have done something to keep him here.”
“On it,” Luna replied. With that, Spike disconnected and got ready to attack Alan.
“Alright...” Spike said to himself. ”Gotta time this just right. He’s gonna wake up the second that anti-teleport spell hits him, but he can easily teleport away if I hit him too early.” Spike focused his gaze and readied his sword to blast Alan with fire. In a split second, Alan flashed white, indicating that the anti-teleport spell had worked. As per Spike’s prediction, Alan woke up the second the spell hit him. Spike knew this split second was his one and only chance to get a preemptive strike in on Alan, so the baby dragon blasted the manticore with a wave of fire that Alan was unable to dodge. He was knocked off the building with a small explosion and crashed onto the ground below, causing several nearby ponies to start panicing. (Duh. How else would you react if a building you were standing by suddenly blew up and a manticore fell out of the sky at the same time?)
“Wha-? What the hay is going on?” Alan shouted as he recovered from Spike’s attack. Right then, the Gold Harmony Ranger appeared before him. “I guess I should have seen this coming,” Alan grumbled as he stood to meet his opponent.
“I know about the spell, Alan,” Spike said. “And I also know how to break the spell.”
“Then I’m assuming you also know about what happens at sundown?” Alan asked.
“I’ll make sure you don’t live that long if it means saving my friends,” Spike replied, raising his sword and aiming it Alan.
“And just how do you plan on doing that?” Alan asked. “The six Harmony Rangers can barely defeat me. What makes you so sure that you, a pathetic little baby dragon, even stands a chance against me?”
“Nothing,” Spike replied. “Nothing makes me sure that I can beat you. But if defeating you means saving my friends, then I’ll give this battle my all and then some!” Spike then charged forward at Alan and struck the manticore with his blade. Alan was knocked back a little from this attack, but he quickly recovered and charged back at Spike. He tried to strike the baby dragon with his claw, but Spike blocked this attack with his sword and proceeded to give Alan a flip kick right to the jaw. Spike then leapt back a little and blasted Alan with several blasts of fire. Alan was, for the most part, defenseless against these attacks. However, Alan managed to find an opening to get out of the way of the rest of the barrage and hit Spike with a full-on tackle that the baby dragon was unable to avoid. Spike got knocked back quite a ways and landed flat on his back, but he was able to recover fast enough to avoid a powerful stomp from Alan. Spike then proceeded to give Alan another blast of fire, this time at point-blank range. Alan took heavy damage from this attack and was knocked to the ground.
“Grr!” Alan growled as his body crackled with electricity. “How can this be happening? One moment I’m napping and the next, I’m beaten by a puny little dragon! You’re gonna pay for this, Harmony Gold! YOU’RE GONNA PAY!!!!!!!!!” With that, Alan fell to the ground and exploded. Spike turned around and struck a triumphant pose as the explosion erupted behind him.
In Canterlot, the other Harmony Rangers were still suffering from Discord’s spell. However, once Alan was destroyed, Twilight’s body suddenly began shaking before she flashed a bright purple and the color was restored to her body.
“Twilight?” Princess Celestia asked as she galloped over to her student. “Are you alright?”
“I... think so,” Twilight said. “Not entirely sure what happened to begin with, though.”
“There’s no time to explain,” Princess Luna said. “Spike is in Ponyville and he is going to need your help to finish off Alan.”
“Spike fought Alan alone?” Twilight asked. “But what about the other Harmony Rangers?”
“They, uh...” Celestia said. “They kind of got out of control and we had to lock them all in a broom closet. Discord’s magic. Like Luna said, no time to explain. Just get down there.”
“Got it,” Twilight said. She then teleported away.
Meanwhile on the moon base, Discord saw Alan get destroyed by Spike. “There’s no way the Princesses had enough magical skill to perform a forced teleportation at that range,” he muttered to himself as he snapped his fingers and cast the mega spell on Alan. As he watched the manticore grow, he couldn’t help but wonder if there was something afoot that he didn’t know about that he probably should know about.
“You got lucky last time, little dragon,” Alan roared as he grew to about 30 stories tall. “Let’s see how you fare in round 2!”
“Challenge accepted,” Spike replied. He then held his sword to the sky and shouted, “POWER OF THE PHOENIX! SUMMON PHOENIX ZORD!”
As Spike said this, his sword unleashed a massive tower of flame out of which spawned his Phoenix Zord. Spike then teleported into his zord and charged at Alan with flaming wings spread ready for attack.
“You’re gonna have to do better than that!” Alan shouted as he swatted the Phoenix Zord away with hardly any effort at all, sending Spike crashing towards the ground.
“Not good! Not good!” Spike shouted as he tried to restabilize his zord. Just before he hit the ground, however, he felt something ram his zord from underneath, getting Spike back into the air and restabilized.
“I can’t leave you alone for five minutes without you running off and getting into trouble, huh?” Twilight asked over Spike’s comm. Spike looked to the left of where his zord was to find Twilight’s White Tiger Zord standing alongside the Phoenix Zord, ready to assist Spike in battle.
“Twilight?” Spike asked. “What happened to the spell Discord cast?”
“When you destroyed Alan the first time, I had an opening to break free of the spell,” Twilight explained. “According to the Princesses, though, it doesn’t look like the others were able to free themselves like I did.”
“Well then we’d better free them fast,” Spike said. “It looks like the sun’s going down in about thirty minutes.”
“Thirty minutes is just how long I need to turn your zords to scrap,” Alan shouted. He then charged forward at the two zords, but both were able to jump out of the way of the attack just in time.
“Hay Twilight,” Spike said over comm, “I think I might have an idea for how we can beat him.”
“I’m listening,” Twilight replied.
“This guy’s powerful, and even if we were to use both our Battlezords on him, we might not be able to beat him in time,” Spike said. “So what if we were to combine our zords’ powers like individual zords do to form a Megazord?”
“Do you really think that could work?” Twilight asked.
“I was kind of hoping you’d know,” Spike replied.
“I suppose it’s worth try,” Twilight said. “Since it’s your idea, do you want to take the lead?”
“Alright,” Spike said. “First, form the White Tiger Battlezord. I’ll try my end of the plan from there.”
“You got it,” Twilight said. “WHITE TIGER BATTLEZORD FORMATION SPELL, ACTIVATE!”
“Oh no you don’t!” Alan shouted as he struck Twilight’s zord just before her spell could begin, stopping it completely.
“Hay Ugly!” Spike shouted as he flew his zord right at Alan. “Why don’t you pick on somepony who’s actually fighting?” Alan was caught off-guard from Spike’s charge and knocked backwards. “Try the spell again, Twilight. I’ll keep Alan busy.”
“Ok,” Twilight replied. “Here we go again. WHITE TIGER BATTLEZORD FORMATION SPELL, ACTIVATE!”
Without Alan to interrupt the spell this time, the White Tiger Zord leapt into the air and shifted its from before it came back down as the Whie Tiger Battlezord. Twilight’s zord then drew its blade and charged at Alan with a powerful hit that knocked the manticore away from the Phoenix Zord.
“Alright, what now?” Twilight asked Spike.
“Now, we hope both our zords don’t get obliterated once I try to do this,” Spike replied. He then took a deep breath and slammed a button on his console. “PHOENIX FUSION SPELL, ACTIVATE!”
Instantly, the Phoenix Zord became coated in bright orange flames that were almost bright enough to mock the colors of the sunset in the background. The Phoenix Zord then began flying in circles around the White Tiger Battlezord, eventually causing both to disappear in a massive fiery tornado. Suddenly, the tornado flared and exploded, revealing what looked like the White Tiger Battlezord, except it was flying with flaming wings, it had two streams of fire coming off of each of its shoulders and wrists, and it carried two flaming swords.
“PHOENIX-TIGER MEGAZORD, READY!” Twilight and Spike shouted as their new zord gave a mighty roar.
“Okay, now this is just plain hax,” Alan said in an annoyed tone.
“Ready to beat this guy?” Spike asked Twilight as the two sat next to each other in their zord’s cockpit.
“If it means saving our friends, I’m ready for anything,” Twilight replied. The two then gave a nod to each other and sent their zord charging forward at Alan, both its blades at the ready.
“Your new zord doesn’t scare me!” Alan shouted as he charged back to meet the Rangers halfway.
“Ooh, big mistake,” Twilight said. She then charged a spell and pressed a button on her console. “Flame drill!”
Twilight cast this spell on the zord, and it instantly thrust both its blades forward and began spinning in a corkscrew fashion as the flames coming off its shoulders and wrists launched forward and covered the entire zord in flame.
“Uh-oh,” was all Alan could say as he tried to turn around get out of the way of the attack. It was too late, however, and he was struck head-on by the attack and knocked back by several football fields.
“Flaming missiles!” Spike shouted as he pressed several buttons on his console. Right then, several blasts of fire launched from the flames pouring out of the zord and fired right at Alan, who was only just then getting up from the previous attack. About six missiles of fire hit the manticore at once, knocking him back even further.
“Now let’s finish this guy,” Twilight said. “You ready Spike?”
“Let’s go for it,” Spike replied. Their zord then took to the air high above where Alan was just barely getting up from the last attack.
“Come on,” Alan said. “Can’t we cut a deal or something?”
“Not a chance!” Twilight shouted.
“You messed with harmony, and now you’ll pay the price,” Spike said.
“FIRE OF FRIENDSHIP, FINAL SLASH!” both Spike and Twilight shouted as they slammed a button on their consoles simultaneously. Their zord then gave a mighty roar before it began dive bombing towards Alan, both of its blades ablaze and in striking position.
“No, this isn’t good at all!” Alan shouted as he braced himself for the impact.
“Take this!” Spike shouted as the Megazord was finally within striking distance of Alan. At the last half-second, both of the zord’s blades were brought upwards, hitting Alan with a powerful uppercut slash that sent him flying.
“NOOOOO!” Alan shouted as his body crackled with electricity. “This can’t be happening! This wasn’t according to Discord’s plan at all! And not only that, I’m suddenly weaker than just two Pony Rangers? Why am I never able to catch a break? WHY DOES THIS STORY HATE MEEEEEEEEEE?” With that, Alan fell to the ground and exploded in a brilliant fireball that perfectly complemented the sun as it finished setting in the background.
“We did it!” Spike shouted.
“I just hope we did in time,” Twilight said. “Look. The sun’s already gone down.”
Right as Twilight said this, the sun finished its descent beneath the horizon and the land was slowly bathed in night.
“Only one way to find out,” Spike said. “Let’s get back to Canterlot and check on the others.”
Meanwhile on the moon base, Sweetie Belle was crying into her pillow. The sun was already about down and Button Mash hadn’t turned back to normal. She was sure her plan had failed and that Button Mash was gone forever.
At the same time, however, Button Mash was about to walk out on the crying filly when some strange feeling struck him like a baseball bat. His expression turned to a strained one before his coat went from grey back to its usual brown color. He then shook his head and looked around in confusion. Only adding to his confusion was Sweetie Belle crying on her bed for a reason he couldn’t figure out. “Sweetie Belle?” Button Mash asked as he walked over to the filly. “Sweetie Belle, are you ok?”
Sweetie Belle looked up and saw that Button Mash was standing next to her looking at her with a confused expression. “B-Button Mash?” Sweetie Belle asked. “You’re... back?”
“Uhh, where would I have gone?” Button Mash asked. The colt didn’t get an answer to this question, however. Instead, Sweetie Belle instantly leapt at him and gave him a very tight and painful hug.
“Oh, I’m so glad you’re ok!” Sweetie Belle said as she started crying for a whole different reason than before. “I’m so sorry I let this happen to you! I’m also sorry I tried to blackmail you the way I did. The whole time you were gone, I couldn’t shake the feeling that it was because of that you tried to save me. I promise to forget about what you and Spike talked about last week, but please never do something like what you did with Alan ever again!”
“Um... ok?” Button Mash said, incredibly confused about what Sweetie Belle was talking about. Still, she did mention that she’d forget about telling Snowdrop about what him and Spike talked about last week, so he was fine with that. “Uh, yeah. I’m sorry I did what I did,” Button Mash said after a while. “I just didn’t want you to get hurt, and-”
“It’s ok, Button Mash,” Sweetie Belle said, letting go of him and looking into his eyes. “You’re ok and that’s all that matters to me.” Sweetie Belle then leaned in and kissed Button Mash, which was something that caught the colt completely off-guard.
”I really wish I remembered what I did to make her do this,” Button Mash happily thought to himself.
Meanwhile in Canterlot, all of the Harmony Rangers were gathered in the command center, all of them now fully colored and back to their usual selves.
“Congratulations, you two,” Princess Celestia said to Twilight and Spike. “I never doubted either of you for a second.”
“Thank you, Princess Celestia,” Twilight replied. “I couldn’t have done it without Spike’s creativity with that Phoenix-Tiger Megazord.”
“Well, I did learn from the best,” Spike said.
“Hay... Twilight,” Rainbow Dash said as she and the others walked up to her and Spike. “We wanted to apologize for acting the way we did earlier.”
“No need, Rainbow Dash,” Twilight said. “You were all under Discord’s power. None of you were in your right minds.”
“Alright, she forgives us,” Pinkie said. “Now let’s go CELEBRATE!!!”
“Maybe tomorrow, Pinkie Pie,” Applejack said as she yawned. “I’m about ready to hit the hay.”
“Me too,” Fluttershy said.
“I can’t disagree with that,” Rarity said.
“Eh, it was a pretty eventful day,” Rainbow Dash said. “I’m sure all of us are pretty tired.”
“Sounds good,” Twilight said. “Let’s all get back to Ponyville.”
“Until you are needed once again, Rangers,” Celestia said as she teleported the seven Rangers back to Ponyville.
“Are you not in the least bit curious as to how Alan was teleported to Ponyville, sister?” Princess Luna asked after a while.
“Yes, as a matter of fact I am,” Celestia replied. “Rei would not interfere with the universe in quite that way and there are only so many other creatures in this universe who could could posses such magic, so the only other possibility would be that somepony on Discord’s side brought Alan to Ponyville.”
“Do you think that could mean...?” Princess Luna started.
“It could be,” Celestia said with a nod. “Things are falling into place just as the Doctor said they would.”
Next time...
“Cut me some slack. It’s been two weeks since Discord let us fight the Harmony Rangers.”
“Sounds like what you need is to call one of the Rangers out.”
“Who in Celestia’s name would be low enough to kidnap two foals just to get me to fight them?”
“A dogfight, Pink Ranger. That’s all I ask in exchange for the twins.”
“Looks like we’ll have to speed things up if we’re gonna recover from this.”
“Snowdrop? Could it really be you?”
次回、 「Dogfight」 あ楽しみに！ (Next time: “Dogfight” Enjoy!)