The morning following the battle between Pinkie Pie and Snowdrop, a heavy sense of urgency seemed to descend upon both Canterlot and the moon base. First in Canterlot, Princesses Celestia and Luna were hard at work trying to figure out a spell to break Snowdrop free from Discord’s magic. Of course, unbeknownst to them, Snowdrop was working on plans of her own. The night prior, the filly had already set in motion her endgame plan. The plan that could possibly spell the end of the Harmony Rangers.
Of course, Snowdrop couldn’t execute her plan under the eyes of the Princesses, especially since, without her Ranger powers, the filly could never know for sure whether or not they were actually watching her. Therefore, it was up to Sweetie Belle to get to work on the plan.
On the moon base, Sweetie Belle had gathered Button Mash, Derpy, and Zecora to brief them on Snowdrop’s plan.
“Alright, everypony and zebra,” Sweetie Belle said as she walked by the others like she was a drill sergeant briefing her troops, walking down the line in front of the three while they all stood side to side at attention. “Since Snowdrop is in Canterlot keeping the Princesses busy, she’s placed me in command for this operation.”
“Um, I have a question,” Button Mash said with his hoof raised. “Actually, two. First, how come we’re all lined up like this?”
“I don’t know, actually,” Sweetie Belle said. “It just felt appropriate for what we’re doing today. And your second question?”
“My second question is, what exactly are we doing today?”
Sweetie Belle just gave a slight chuckle at this. “Let me start by quoting Snowdrop when she told me what the plan was. ‘It’s time for our endgame.’”
The ringing of a school bell. When heard in the afternoon, it’s one of the most holy sounds in a colt’s or filly’s life. Young ponies poured out of the schoolhouse like an excited flood. At the back of the crowd, the Cutie Mark Crusaders (with a clone of Sweetie Belle instead of the real pony) were cantering out at a fairly slow pace, each hanging their heads slightly in sadness.
“Well that test could have gone better,” Applebloom said to her fellow Crusaders. “I don’t think I got a single answer right.”
“At least there’s doubt in your case,” Scootaloo said. “Even I know the quadratic formula has nothing to do with the founding of Equestria.”
“Let’s look on the bright side, girls,” Sweetie Clone said. “Today was Friday. We have the weekend to look forward to.”
“That’s true,” Applebloom said. “What’s everypony got planned?”
“Rainbow Dash says she has a surprise for me when I get home,” Scootaloo said. “But she said she wanted me to get back as fast as possible because she’s so excited about it, so I’d better get going. See ya around, girls.”
“Bye,” Applebloom and Sweetie Belle said as Scootaloo flew off.
“What about you, Sweetie Belle?” Applebloom asked.
“Oh, nothing much,” Sweetie Belle replied. “Rarity needed my help with an important order for a client from Canterlot. What about you?”
“Well-” Applebloom started. However, she stopped when a familiar colt cantered over to where the two fillies were.
“Hey Sweetie Belle,” the colt said. Both fillies looked over to see that it was Button Mash who had approached them.
“Hello, Button Mash,” Sweetie Belle said.
“Hay, Button,” Applebloom said. “I haven’t seen you around very much lately.”
“Yeah, but I’ll get to that in a minute,” Button replied. He then turned to Sweetie Belle. “First, your sister wanted me to tell you something, Sweetie Belle.”
“What is it?” Sweetie Belle asked.
Button Mash cleared his throat before saying, “She wanted you to pick up the sea blue ribbon on your way home.”
The second Sweetie Belle heard this whole sentence, her expression changed suddenly. Her pupils narrowed and her ears perked up, but only for a second. Her expression then turned back to normal, then she turned to Applebloom. “I need to go,” was all the young marshmallow said before she galloped off.
“What was all that about?” Applebloom asked Button Mash.
“I’m not sure,” Button Mash replied. “But before we go into all that, I need to talk to you about something. I’ll walk with you to your house while I’m telling you.”
“Um, alright,” Applebloom replied. The two then began walking. “So what do ya need to talk to me about, anyway?”
“Well...” Button Mash started. “How much do you know about the Pony Rangers?”
Scootaloo had begun walking back to hers and Rainbow Dash’s house after making her way to Cloudsdale by wing. She could fly, but not too far or for too long. The filly wasn’t walking for long, however, before a voice from behind her stopped her.
“Scootaloo,” the voice said. Scootaloo looked behind her, but there wasn’t anypony making their presence particularly known.
“Hello?” Scootaloo called. “Is somepony there?”
“Just me,” the voice replied. Then, out from behind an odd cloud formation stepped the source of the voice, Derpy Hooves.
“Ah!” Scootaloo shouted. “It’s you, isn’t it? The evil Green Pony Ranger!”
“How do you know that?” Derpy asked.
“Wait, I was right?” Scootaloo asked. “I just assumed because you had disappeared from Cloudsdale after Twilight Sparkle became the Green Ranger and after she lost her powers and you regained them, you were around Cloudsdale again.” Then, forgetting for a moment that her life was on the line at the moment, Scootaloo puffed her cheeks and said, “Now why couldn’t I be this smart during that test today?”
“Hmm, you are a smart kid, Scootaloo,” Derpy said with an evil smile.
“Smart enough to know how to deal with you!” the filly shouted. She then grabbed up a tuft of cloud and threw it in Derpy’s face before taking off at top speed to get Rainbow Dash. However, this plan didn’t work out quite as Scootaloo had planned, as Derpy had recovered from the cloud to the face faster than the filly expected and grabbed Scootaloo out of the sky and brought her down to the clouds below.
“I knew this shortcut through this remote part of Cloudsdale was a bad idea,” Scootaloo said to herself as she struggled under Derpy’s grip.
“Listen, Scootaloo, I’m not here to hurt you,” Derpy said to the struggling filly.
“You’re making that very evident with the way you’ve got me pinned to this cloud,” Scootaloo replied sarcastically.
“Look, I’m going to be honest with you,” Derpy continued. “I just want to talk to you about your sister, Rainbow Dash.”
“What do you want with her?” Scootaloo asked. “I mean, obviously you’re trying to destroy her and all, but why are you after me?”
“Because you’re a good kid, Scootaloo,” Derpy replied. “And I don’t want to see that ruined by the threat to Equestria your sister poses.”
Those last words hit Scootaloo’s ears like a lead brick. “What did you say?” the filly asked.
Down in Ponyville, Rarity was just putting the finishing touches on the second of about six dresses she needed done by tomorrow evening. “Oh, I’m never going to get this finished if Sweetie Belle doesn’t hurry home,” Rarity complained.
“What about me?” Spike asked from the corner of the room.
“Oh right,” Rarity said. She had completely forgotten that he had come by and offered to help her out. She really didn’t have anything within range of his talents for him to do and she didn’t want to hurt his feelings. “You can, uh... Can you run down to the market and pick up some navy blue wool for me?” Of course she didn’t need navy blue wool. Sweetie Belle had picked some up for her just yesterday. Still, Spike seemed so desperate to help Rarity. Besides, better safe than sorry, Rarity always said.
“Consider it done,” Spike said. He then dashed out of the boutique at top speed, right past Sweetie Belle.
“Oh, Sweetie Belle, you’re finally here!” Rarity said. She then ran up and hugged her little sister.
“Hello, Rarity,” Sweetie Belle said. “I-”
“No time for talk, Sweetie,” Rarity said, quickly breaking the hug. “I’m really behind with these dresses and I’m going to need your help if I’m going to get them done on time.”
“Actually-” Sweetie Belle started.
“Your dresses are the least of your concerns,” Sweetie Belle suddenly said.
Rarity gasped in horror. “Sweetie Belle! What a thing to-” Rarity stopped mid sentence when she turned around to find two Sweetie Belles standing in the doorway.
“So you’re tellin’ me that Applejack’s been lyin’ to me this whole time?” Applebloom asked Button Mash as they neared Sweet Apple Acres. Button Mash simply nodded in the affirmative. “But how do you even know this sorta thing?”
“I couldn’t tell you that,” Button Mash replied as she shook his head. “If I were to expose my source, I could put his life in jeopardy. But you have to believe me. I don’t want anything bad happening to you.”
“But what about Sweetie Belle?” Applebloom asked. “I thought you were her coltfriend or somethin’. Shouldn’t you be tellin’ her this, first?”
“I already told her, actually,” Button Mash replied. He then pulled out a small brown coin and placed it in Applebloom’s hoof “Just remember what I told you. I trust you’ll do the right thing.” With one last glance, Button Mash turned around and made his way back to Ponyville. On his way, however, he stopped behind a tree and activated his communicator. “Trap Yellow is set,” he said into his comm.
“Just remember everything I told you,” Derpy said to Scootaloo as she gave the filly a coin not dissimilar to the one Button Mash had given Applebloom.
“I just can’t believe this...” Scootaloo said as she shook her head. “All this time, I knew she was a Ranger, but I had no idea what their real goal was.”
“Well now you do,” Derpy said. “Now go. Do the right thing for Equestria.” With a reluctant nod, Scootaloo flew off towards her house. Derpy then activated her comm. “Trap Green is set.”
“B-but I don’t understand,” Rarity said as she stared in horror at the two Sweetie Belles standing before her. “How can there be two of you?”
“That one’s pretty easy,” the Sweetie Belle on the left said. “One of us is fake, and I’ll give you a hint as to which one.” That Sweetie Belle then raised her hoof and presented her wrist as a blue light swirled around it, causing her Chaos Morpher to appear.
“No...” Rarity said as she took a step back. “This can't be...”
“I’ve waited too long to tell you this, big sis,” Sweetie Belle said. “IT’S MORPHIN’ TIME! ELEMENT OF GREED!”
Before Rarity’s eyes, the sweet and adorable little sister she once knew disappeared in a flash of blue light. In her place stood the Blue Chaos Ranger.
“Oceanic grace of the dolphin, Chaos Force, Ranger Blue,” Sweetie Belle said as she drew her sword. “And as for which of the two of us is fake...” She then struck the other Sweetie Belle with her sword, causing the other filly to pixelate and fizzle before completely evaporating.
“T-this can’t be happening!” Rarity shouted.
With an evil grin under her helmet, Sweetie Belle brought her comm up to her mouth and said, “Trap Blue is set.”
At the library, Twilight was sitting in the basement, keeping a close eye on her console in case the Princesses called requesting her assistance. Of course, she was studying at the same time. If she even had a second of downtime in her day, she was going to spend it learning every little thing she could that might give her and the Rangers an edge. However, she set her book down when she sensed something... strange. Like that chill one gets when they’re being watched. Instinctively, Twilight turned around and cast a quick scanning spell on the room to search for any intruders. However, her spell didn’t detect any intruders, so, with a sigh, Twilight turned around to return to her studies.
However, the unicorn stopped suddenly when she saw an all-too-familiar black and white face staring back at her. Twilight didn’t even have time to react before Zecora gave Twilight a powerful punch to her jaw followed by an orange dust that caused Twilight to collapse to the floor, completely paralyzed.
Zecora simply laughed at how pathetic Twilight seemed at this moment. The White Harmony Ranger caught off-guard and defeated in under ten seconds. She had even used such elementary magic to defend herself. Shaking her pride off for a moment, Zecora grabbed Twilight and threw her into a closet not too far from where the unicorn had been sitting. Zecora then activated her comm.
“Trap Black is set,” she said. Then, feeling her OCD kick in, she added, “Has the rest of our plan been met?”
Snowdrop found an opportunity to steal away from the Princesses for just a brief moment so she could check the status of her plan. Sure enough, Derpy, Button Mash, and Zecora had all indicated that their traps were set.
With an evil smile, Snowdrop put her morpher back on her wrist for the first time since yesterday evening. “Trap Red is set,” the filly said into her comm. “Everypony, return to secondary positions. This day’s just getting started.”
Button Mash cantered through Ponyville at a slow pace, not exactly excited to meet everypony else at their agreed meeting point. What he had done was wrong, everything he’s been doing was wrong, and he knew that since the beginning. At first, he was just blindly following Sweetie Belle out of puppy love, but now even that had begun to lose its taste. Sweetie Belle wasn’t the same filly Button knew before they became Rangers. The problem now was if he were to leave the Chaos Rangers, Snowdrop would destroy him, and not through the instantaneous Dalek method, but closer to the slow and painful Cupcakes method.
”No, even she isn’t that crazy, right?” Button Mash thought to himself as he cantered. ”Right?”
The colt’s train of thought was interrupted when his communicator went off. He quickly looked around to find that he had managed to walk his way into a fairly remote part of Ponyville before answering his comm.
“This is Button Mash,” the colt said.
“Button Mash,” Sweetie Belle’s voice said from the other end. “All the traps are set. The plan can begin.”
“Ok,” Button Mash replied.
“But one more thing,” Sweetie Belle continued. “There was an issue with Trap Black. Harmony Gold wasn’t at the library when Zecora attacked. You’re going to have to track him down and deal with him yourself.”
“Wait, do you mean...?” Button Mash started. The colt knew that part of Zecora’s end of the plan was to destroy Spike right in front of Twilight’s eyes to break her fighting spirit, but if Zecora failed to do that, then Sweetie Belle had just ordered the colt to destroy Spike himself.
“That won’t be a problem, will it?” Sweetie Belle asked. “You fought Harmony Gold just yesterday. Surely you won’t have a problem with finishing the job today.”
“I, uh...” Button started to say, but the colt was at a loss for an excuse to get him out of destroying his best friend.
“Oh, you won’t?” Sweetie Belle said. “Well that’s okay. I certainly don’t have an issue with that. Snowdrop, on the other hoof...”
Button Mash instantly froze in terror. He thought Sweetie Belle was going to forget about telling Snowdrop how he and Spike had become friends. ”Aw man,” Button thought to himself. ”Maybe I should have broken up with Sweetie Belle and got with that Babs Seed kid when I had the chance.”
With a sigh, Button Mash replied, “Consider Spike done for.”
“Good,” Sweetie Belle said. “I’ll await the results of your mission.” With that, the filly disconnected.
Now Button was in the worst predicament in his whole life. On the one hoof, he could maintain the sacred bonds of friendship he shares with Spike while at the same time risking his life, or he could stay alive and keep the filly of his dreams while destroying his friend. Possibly the hardest decision of the colt’s life, but within moments of contemplation, Button Mash finally figured out what he had to do.
Sweetie Belle disconnected her comm and turned back to Rarity, who was still frozen in shock. Her little sister was one of the very ponies who had made repeated attempts to kill her and her friends over the past few months. “Now then,” Sweetie Belle said, “where were we?”
“I-I can’t...” Rarity tried to say. However she was at a loss for words. Except for one: “Why? Why did you become an evil Ranger?”
“Why?” Sweetie Belle repeated. “Why!? I’ll tell you why! It’s because of the way you and the other Harmony Rangers have treated me and the other Crusaders in the past. Ever since Nightmare Moon came around and you guys became Pony Rangers, you’ve been pretty much neglecting us. Once Discord offered to help us, however, I was the only one who was willing to do anything about it. Applebloom and Scootaloo were foals to not accept his invitation.” After saying this, Sweetie Belle chuckled to herself a little. “Well... they were foals. Today, that will change. I assume you know Chaos Red’s identity already?”
“A filly from Princess Luna’s past,” Rarity replied. “She won’t be on your side for long, though. As we speak, the Princesses are working on a spell to free her.”
Sweetie Belle simply chuckled at this. “Maybe that’s what you believe. It may be true that the Princesses can break the curse that’s kept Snowdrop under Discord’s power, but they won’t have enough time.”
“I’ll make sure that’s wrong,” Rarity said. She then pulled out her Element of Harmony and activated her comm. Before she could say anything, however, Sweetie Belle blasted the Element right out of Rarity’s hoof with a blast of magic.
“Tsk tsk tsk,” Sweetie Belle said as she shook her head. “I thought you were smarter than that, big sis. Even by the standards I’d usually expect from you.” The filly then raised her sword. “You want to save your friends? Then fight me.”
“No,” Rarity said. “I won’t fight you, Sweetie Belle. You’re my sister, and I care very much for you.”
“Aw, now isn’t that-” Sweetie Belle started.
“However,” Rarity interrupted. “You’re not Sweetie Belle now. Not while you’re wearing that Ranger armor. Even I know you’re Chaos Ranger Blue, a threat to Equestria. You’ve put hundreds of ponies in peril with that sword, and here today, I’m going to put a stop to that no matter who’s under that helmet!” Rarity then pulled out her Element of Harmony. “IT’S MORPHIN’ TIME! ELEMENT OF GENEROSITY!”
Sweetie Belle smiled under her helmet as Rarity morphed before her. “Finally,” the filly said quietly.
“Element of Generosity!” Rarity shouted as she drew her Harmony Axe. “Harmony Force, Ranger Black!” Rarity then aimed her Axe at Sweetie Belle. ”No,” she had to tell herself. ”That’s no longer Sweetie Belle. That’s Chaos Blue, and it’s my duty to stop her in order to save Equestria.”
Both unicorns stood about 15 feet from each other with their weapons aimed at each other.
“Well, sis?” Sweetie Belle asked teasingly. “Are you going to make a move?”
“YOU’RE NO LONGER MY SISTER!” Rarity shouted as she charged forward with her Axe ready.
Sweetie Belle smiled under her helmet once again as she moved her sword to block Rarity’s attack. However, this left the filly open to a flip kick from Rarity that knocked her into the far wall.
“Lucky shot,” Sweetie Belle said as she got up. “I suppose I underestimated you.”
“That’s a mistake you’ll regret soon enough,” Rarity said as she charged forward again.
In another part of Ponyville, Spike was on his way back to Carousel Boutique with the ribbons Rarity sent him to get. He didn’t get very far, however, before an odd sight caught his eye. Something that looked kind of like two ponies ducking into a dark alley. But that wasn't the weirdest thing. The weirdest thing was that they seemed featureless. It took another moment for it to click that the ponies in the alley were Putty Ponies! They didn't seem to be posing any immediate threat, though. That was what truly caught his attention. He didn't figure it was call for contacting any of the others, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to try and investigate. He looked around and noticed that for the first time in ages, he was in a rather crowded area of Ponyville, so he couldn't just waltz into a dark alley holding a bag of ribbons without attracting at least some attention. So he kind of kept walking down the street with a slight slant in his path towards the alley. Then, once he decided that nopony was noticing him, he dropped the bag and bolted into the alley, looking around for any sign of the Putty Ponies.
”This is weird,” Spike thought to himself. ”If those Putty Ponies were in here, they couldn't have gotten away without-”
“Teleportation,” Spike finished out loud while slapping his forehead with his claw. Whatever those Putty Ponies were here for, they probably already got it done and teleported away the second they noticed that Spike noticed them. “Well this was embarrassing.”
“But not entirely pointless,” a strange voice said from behind Spike. Spike barely had time to turn around before he was met with a hoof to the face which knocked the baby dragon back further into the alley, where he found himself quickly pinned by the two Putty Ponies from before.
“What's going on?” Spike shouted as he struggled beneath the Putty Ponies.
“Isn't it obvious, little dragon?” the voice from before asked. “You've walked right into a trap.” The source of the voice then stepped into Spike's view, and to the baby dragon's horror, the source of the voice turned out to be the Yellow Chaos Ranger.
“B-Button Mash?” Spike asked. “How could you? I thought we were friends.”
“We were,” Button Mash said coldly. Unbeknownst to Spike, though, Button Mash had tears on his face that were hidden by his helmet, which was the sole reason why Button was morphed at that time at all. “But those days are over. Snowdrop’s endgame has begun, the age of the Harmony Rangers is over, and that requires all of you to be eliminated.” Button Mash then materialized his sword and aimed it at Spike.
“And here I thought you were different from the others,” Spike said. “I thought you had remorse somewhere in you, but you're no better than any of your comrades.”
Not saying a word, Button Mash raised his sword. As he watched Spike brace himself for the attack, Button couldn't help but break character just long enough to utter the words “I'm sorry” before bringing his sword down upon his friend...
Back in Cloudsdale, Scootaloo had made her way back to her house where Rainbow Dash was waiting for her.
“Finally, you're here!” Rainbow Dash said excitedly as the filly walked in the door. “What took you so long? I've been waiting for half an hour!”
“Oh, I, uh...” Scootaloo started, not looking into Rainbow Dash's eyes. “I had to talk to somepony on my way home. It was something... important.”
“Uh-huh,” Rainbow Dash said. “Anyway, I've got a surprise for you.” She said the sentence after 'anyway' in a sing-song voice.
“Um, can it wait?” Scootaloo asked. “I need to talk to you about something.”
“What could be more important than the surprise I have under my wing?” Rainbow Dash asked as she flashed two rectangular strips of paper from behind her wing.
“The Pony Rangers,” Scootaloo replied.
Hearing those words come out of Scootaloo's mouth surprised Rainbow Dash so much, she gasped loudly, sweat instantly started forming on her forehead, and her wings flew out into full extension, causing the paper to fall to the floor. “Uh, w-why would you want to talk about the Pony Rangers?” Rainbow Dash asked nervously as she tried to pick the paper back up.
“Well, somepony talked to me about them,” Scootaloo said. “And I wasn't sure whether or not I should believe what they told me, so I decided that maybe you'd be able to help me.”
“Applebloom, Ah've got no idea what yer talkin' 'bout,” Applejack told her little sister as the two had a similar conversation to the one Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash were having.
“But my friend told me you'd know at least somethin' about 'em,” Applebloom replied.
“And who exactly is this friend of yer's?”
“Button Mash, Sweetie Belle's coltfriend. But that's not important right now. What is important is this thing Ah'm about to tell you.”
“Well what would that be?”
“I know you're a Pony Ranger,” both fillies said to their sisters at the same moment in time.
Meanwhile at Carousel Boutique, Sweetie Belle and Rarity were still having their duel, but it was quickly becoming evident that Sweetie Belle was gaining the upper-hoof over her sister.
“Give up, sis,” Sweetie Belle said as she struck Rarity with her sword and sent her flying into the wall. “You aren't going to win this battle.”
“I told you...” Rarity said as she got up. “Don't. Call. Me. Your. SISTER!” Rarity then charged back at Sweetie Belle. However, Sweetie was expecting this exact maneuver from Rarity and waited until Rarity was just close enough before Sweetie fired a blast of magic that she was sure Rarity wouldn't be able to dodge. Just then, however, Rarity did something Sweetie Belle didn't see coming. Rarity teleported out of the way and reappeared behind Sweetie Belle.
“No way!” Sweetie Belle shouted, her voice cracking in surprise. “How did you-?”
“You really didn't think Twilight would train me in magic with you and the other Chaos Rangers around?” Rarity asked. Then, taking advantage of Sweetie Belle's stunned state, Rarity struck the evil filly with her Harmony Axe with all her might, sending her flying into the far wall with great force, creating a significant crack in the wall and demorphing Sweetie Belle.
“Not good...” Sweetie Belle said as she tried to get up. However, the filly was stopped when Rarity ran up and pinned Sweetie Belle against the wall.
“I was really hoping it would never come to this,” Rarity said. “But you've forced my hoof, Sweetie Belle. With how dangerous you are, I've got no choice but to destroy you.”
As Rarity began charging her horn with a blast of energy that would finish Sweetie Belle once and for all, the filly desperately racked her brain for a way out of this situation. Several times she passed one particular idea, but she would refuse to follow through with it and continue searching for another idea. Demorphing her decreased her magical energy, so teleportation or a counter spell of some type were out of the question. Her morpher would be drained of energy as well for at least another five minutes if not more, so she couldn't re-morph or teleport back to the moon base. And even if she could call for backup, they wouldn't get there in time, even if she summoned Putty Ponies. Finally, Sweetie Belle surrendered and went with the last desperate plan she had avoided previously.
“R-Rarity, please...” Sweetie Belle said desperately. Rarity looked up just long enough to see Sweetie Belle with tears and terror in her eyes. “Please don't do this. I'm your sister, remember?”
“Nice try, Sweetie Belle,” Rarity said. “Your innocent and helpless little filly act might have worked in the past, but it won't save you this time.”
“Think of all the good times we've shared together,” Sweetie continued. “Think of all the times we've helped each other out in the past, all the times we've worked together. You couldn't just throw all of that away.”
Rarity did her best to hold strong and remember how much of a threat Sweetie Belle was, but despite her best efforts, she couldn't help but remember the sweet and innocent little filly who was hidden behind the helmet Discord made. With a sigh, Rarity canceled her spell and let Sweetie Belle go. “I'm sorry, Sweetie Belle,” Rarity said.
“No, I'm sorry,” Sweetie Belle replied. “Sorry you fell for my performance!” Without warning, Sweetie Belle bucked Rarity with a force far greater than an ordinary filly could buck, catching Rarity off-guard and knocking her to the ground. Sweetie Belle then grabbed Rarity with her magic and slammed her against the wall hard, managing to deal enough damage to de-morph her. Sweetie then walked over and stood on top of the now helpless Rarity. “Oh, that was beautiful!” Sweetie said. “I could win an Oscar in the future.”
“But Sweetie Belle...” Rarity said. “Why?”
“Because Discord has a plan for a new Equestria,” Sweetie Belle said with an evil smile. “And you and your friends are kind of in the way.” She then used her magic to summon a small brown coin.
“What is that?” Rarity asked.
“You'll see in a second,” Sweetie Belle said. She then placed the coin on Rarity's chest, and instantly the coin began glowing...
Back in Cloudsdale, Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash were sitting down in their living room.
“I guess my first question is how long you've known my friends and I were Pony Rangers,” Rainbow Dash said to her sister.
“Since the night of the Grand Galloping Gala,” Scootaloo replied. “We watched your whole fight with Nightmare Moon from beginning to end.”
“You shouldn't have done that,” Rainbow Dash said. “You could have gotten caught in the crossfire.”
“But we didn't, Scootaloo said.
“And that was luck,” Rainbow Dash nearly shouted. She did manage to stop herself from shouting, though it was evident that she was about to. “I'm sorry. It's just...”
“Rainbow Dash,” Scootaloo said after a moment's pause. “There might be something else that happened at the Gala that you and the other Rangers might have missed.”
“What could that be?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Well... that pony I talked to earlier—and she was at the Gala also—told me that when Nightmare Moon was destroyed, some of her evil energy survived and hid itself within you Rangers, possibly turning you evil.”
“The Harmony Rangers? Evil?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Now wait just a-”
“Hold on, there's more,” Scootaloo continued. “The pony also told me that the real reason Discord was attacking and sending his minions down to Equestria to fight you guys was so that they could try to extract some of the evil energy within you guys. But they tried to keep up a charade that they were the evil ones and you guys were good to try to keep Nightmare's energy fairly suppressed so you wouldn't go totally evil and wind up destroying Equestria.”
“Scootaloo, who told you all of this?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Somepony I know,” Scootaloo replied.
“Who told you this?” Rainbow repeated.
“She's not important,” Scootaloo persisted
“Who told you this?” Rainbow repeated one more time, only this time louder.
'It was Derpy!” Scootaloo shouted. “Derpy's the one who told me. She told me the story, she provided the evidence, she even gave me a copy of the last chapter of last season so I could re-read it for myself.” Scootaloo then pulled out a packet of papers and handed it to Rainbow Dash, who proceeded to read through the whole thing.
“This isn't how it happened...” Rainbow Dash said to herself as she read. “This copy is edited, but how?”
“And there's one more thing,” Scootaloo said. “Discord has been managing to cleanse you of a significant amount of Nightmare's energy, but he's come up with a plan to rid you of that energy completely once and for all.”
“Scootaloo, look,” Rainbow Dash said as she threw the chapter away, “you can't believe what Derpy says, no matter how convincing she may be.”
“But if it's true, that would put Equestria in greater danger than what you think Discord could cause,” Scootaloo replied. “You also wouldn't even know for sure whether or not it was true because the dark energy hides itself from you.”
“That's enough, Scootaloo,” Rainbow Dash said. “I'd understand if after learning that my friends and I were Pony Rangers, you'd question just about everything you knew, but that's no reason to believe everything everypony tells you, especially if it's from a villain like Derpy.”
“But who's the real villain here?” Scootaloo asked. “That's the real question. The one who you say is a villain or the one who could be corrupted by dark magic without even realizing it?”
“Scootaloo-” Rainbow Dash started.
“If you knew of a threat to Equestria that you and your friends could stop but you weren't sure of it, would you or would you not at least investigate it?” Scootaloo interrupted.
“If the report were from a sensible source, we would,” Rainbow Dash replied.
“And if it weren't but the threat were imminent?” Scootaloo asked. “Like 'could-destroy-Equestria-tomorrow' imminent?”
Rainbow Dash was silent for a moment. In truth, if any threat were that immediate, she'd investigate it even if it could easily be a trap. Still, it was straight from the horse's mouth, namely Derpy's. She couldn't believe what Derpy had to say for a second.
“I'm sorry, Scootaloo,” Rainbow Dash finally said. “But I just can't believe what you're saying if it's from Derpy.”
“Well then I'm sorry too,” Scootaloo said. She then pulled out the coin Derpy gave her and thrust it right onto Rainbow Dash's chest.
“Ah!” Rainbow Dash shouted in surprise as she recoiled from the sudden impact. She quickly tried to remove the coin, but it was stuck to her somehow. “What is this?”
“It's a teleporter coin,” Scootaloo said. “You'll be teleported to Discord's moon base where he'll use his power to remove Nightmare's dark energy from you.”
“The moon base?” Rainbow Dash asked. Just then, the coin on her chest began glowing brightly and suddenly produced chains of energy that began to bind Rainbow's body. “Scootaloo! What have you done?”
“I'm sorry, Rainbow Dash,” Scootaloo said. “It's for your own good.”
“You don't understand!” Rainbow Dash said. “Derpy lied to you!”
And in a flash of light, Rainbow Dash was gone, leaving only Scootaloo alone in the empty living room.
In Canterlot, Snowdrop was being filled in on the progress of her plan by Sweetie Belle.
“The four Harmony Rangers are on the moon base,” Sweetie Belle said over Snowdrop's comm.
“And what of Harmony Gold?” Snowdrop asked.
“Button Mash has yet to report back to me, but I have no reason to believe any other status other than... dispatched.”
“Good,” Snowdrop said with a smile. “Proceed to phase Epsilon.”
“You got it,” Sweetie said. She then disconnected.
“At last,” Snowdrop said to herself with an evil smile. “Now I can drop this blasted charade.”
Meanwhile in another portion of Canterlot, Celestia and Luna were almost finished with their spell for freeing Snowdrop from Discord's control. They had made quite a lot of progress and almost perfected the spell, so all that was really left to do was create a medium through which to transmit the spell.
“What should we use as the medium, sister?” Luna asked her older sister. “Shall we use a coin?”
“No,” Celestia said. “That's too cliché. We should use something no one would expect us to use.”
After a moment of thought, Luna finally suggested, “Shall we use a jewel of some type?”
“Perfect,” Celestia said. “I'm sure we can-”
Before Celestia could finish, a member of the royal guard ran into the room. “Your Highnesses!” he shouted. “I apologize for interrupting you, but there is a dire situation going on that you must come help with!”
“What's going on?” Celestia inquired.
“You must see for yourself,” the guard replied.
In one hall of the castle, there was a significantly loud ruckus (or rackus, depending on how you look at it) going on. There was an intruder in the castle, and despite the number of guards dispatched to deal with it (which was over half the castle's guard by this point), most of the guards had already been defeated.
And in the middle of the whole thing was none other than Snowdrop in her Ranger form, one-hitting most of the guards that tried to stop her and two-hitting the rest, all without even using her sword or wind powers. In fact, after the 80th guard she took down, she started to get bored and tried fighting without even using her wings.
“Can't one of you be bothered to at least try to give me a slight challenge?” Snowdrop taunted as she flipped a guard over her shoulder and fluidly transitioned to bucking another one.
It was about this time that the Princesses made their way into the hall. Luna gasped the second she saw what was going on. “Oh no, Snowdrop!” she said. “Discord's hold on her must have been re-established.”
Celestia turned to the guard who led the two to the hall. “Gather up the rest of the healthy guards and have them all help escort the injured out of here,” she commanded. “Luna and I will take care of this.”
“Yes, Your Highness,” the guard replied. He then ran off.
“Luna, you go finish the spell,” Celestia said as she turned to her sister. “I'll keep Snowdrop busy.”
“Please don't hurt her, Tia,” Luna said.
“She'll be ok, Luna,” Celestia reassured the Princess of the Night. “Now go. We can't save her until you finish the spell.”
“Alright,” Luna said. She then ran back to the room where they were previously working.
“I was wondering when you'd show up, Celestia,” Snowdrop said as Celestia approached the filly. “Where's Princess Luna?”
“She'll be along,” Celestia said. “I'm here to make sure you leave the rest of my guard be.”
“You don't have to ask me twice,” Snowdrop replied. “Now that you're here, I no longer plan on bothering with those weaklings. But, uh, if I may make a suggestion, get some more competent guards.”
“My guard is competent enough,” Celestia said. “They don't need to battle the likes of you, though. That's where I come in.”
“Then bring it on,” Snowdrop said.
Needless to say, Sun-Butt proceeded to get her sun-butt kicked.
Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash slowly regained consciousness after an odd blackout that she assumed was a semi-intentional side-effect of the teleporter coin that Scootaloo used on her. With a groan, she sat up from laying on her back and rubbed the back of her head.
“Uhnnn...” she said. As her vision came back, she noticed that where she was was fairly dark. “Where am I?”
“Rainbow Dash?” a familiar voice asked. “Rainbow, is that you?”
“Twilight?” Rainbow Dash asked in reply as she recognized the voice. She then heard hoofsteps and assumed that was Twilight coming towards her.
“Rainbow Dash, it's so good to see you again,” Twilight said as she finally came within view of Rainbow. (Which was just within hoof's reach with how dark it was.)
“Same to you, Twilight,” Rainbow said. “Where are we?”
“I'm going to assume some type of prison,” Twilight replied. “The question is 'where?'”
“We're on the moon,” a voice with a heavy accent answered. Twilight and Rainbow Dash turned to find Applejack walking up towards them.
“Applejack? You're here too?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Ah am,” AJ replied. “Lemme guess, you were sent here by Scootaloo.”
“How'd you know?” Rainbow asked.
“Applebloom did the same thing,” AJ replied.
“She knew you were a Pony Ranger?”
“Yes.”
“She told you somepony told her something she wanted to talk to you about?”
“Yup.”
“We're corrupted by Nightmare's dark magic?”
“Right.”
“Discord's trying to save us?”
“Eeyup.”
“Gave you an edited copy of chapter 14 of last season?”
“That's five.”
“Sent us here to get fully cleansed?”
“Got it.”
“Starting to get the feeling that this was an organized thing, half of the Harmony Rangers are up here on the moon, and Equestria's just about boned now?”
“Yeah,” all three of the ponies in front of Rainbow Dash said.
“Wait, Rarity?” Twilight asked as she turned to where she heard the third voice. “Your sister sent you here too?”
“Yes, but I'm afraid under different circumstances,” Rarity replied. “As it turns out-”
“As it turns out,” a familiar voice interrupted as a nearby door flew open, letting in a stream of surprisingly bright light, “Sweetie Belle, winner of best filly, best marshmallow, best Cutie Mark Crusader, and sister of the second-worst pony of the Mane 6... is a Chaos Ranger. Surprise, to those of you who haven't figured it out yet.” Laughing to herself, Sweetie Belle proceeded forward into the room, stopping just short of a magical barrier that separated her from the others.
“You know most of what you said isn't true, right?” Twilight asked.
“You're gonna pay for this, Sweetie Belle!” Rainbow Dash shouted as she flew head-first towards the evil filly, only to slam face-first into the aforementioned barrier.
“Tsk tsk tsk,” Sweetie Belle said. “When will you ponies learn? By the way, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, how'd you like that little twist I put in our master plan? You know, the one where your own sisters betray you and send you here themselves?”
“What's the point of this, Sweetie Belle?” Twilight asked. “Why imprison us here?”
“Well, since you insist, I suppose I could tell you,” Sweetie Belle said. “There's not much you'd be able to do about it anyway. Half of this plan is to break up the Harmony Rangers, and since driving a wedge between you all has failed in the past, we'll simply break you one by one. You four are stuck up here, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy, while being two of your better fighters, have no chance of stopping all four Chaos Rangers alone-”
“We've still got Spike,” Twilight interrupted.
“Is that my cue?” a slightly unfamiliar colt asked as he walked in.
“Ah, Button Mash,” Sweetie Belle said. “I trust you have what I asked you to bring?”
“Wasn't easy,” Button Mash replied, pulling something into the room. “But here he is.” With a grunt, Button Mash hurled his load into the room, causing the Harmony Rangers, Twilight in particular, to gasp in horror, while Sweetie Belle simply smiled evilly.
For what lay before them all was a lifeless Spike.
“S-Spike?” Twilight asked. “N-no, this c-can't be-”
“Hate to break it to you, Twilight,” Sweetie Belle said, “but it kinda can be. Wait a second... I don't hate it at all.”
Meanwhile, Twilight could only stare at Spike's dead body, starting to tear up heavily. However, through some unknown force, Twilight managed to look up at Button Mash. If she wasn't overcome with rage at that moment, she might have noticed the twinge of regret in Button's eye.
But that's not what happened. Instead, rage allowed the following scene to play out:
“YOU MONSTER!” Twilight shouted as she lunged at Button Mash, only to be stopped by the barrier. This didn't stop her, however, as she kept throwing herself into the barrier, possibly hoping to eventually break it, all the while sobbing and crying loudly while shouting curses at Button Mash that probably shouldn't be written.
“Twilight, stop!” Rainbow Dash shouted as she ran up to restrain Twilight and stop her from hurting herself lunging into the barrier again.
“Let me go!” Twilight shouted. “He needs to pay for this!”
“I think our work here is done,” Sweetie Belle said. “Come on, Button Mash. Let's finish our plan. And take Spike with you. We've got no more need for him, so we'll just launch his body into space.”
“Alright,” Button Mash said. “You rendezvous with Snowdrop and Derpy. I'll take care of Spike and catch up with you.”
“Very well,” Sweetie Belle said. She then walked out of the room. Button Mash paused for a moment before hoisting Spike onto his shoulder and walking out of the room himself.
But before he left, he turned to the Harmony Rangers and said, “I want you to know that I really didn't want to kill him. He was a good friend of mine, but my hoof was forced. I'm sorry.”
“Keep your apologies,” Twilight said with venom in her voice. “You're going to burn in Tartarus if I have to throw you in myself.”
“Snowdrop's plan to break you ponies seems to have worked well,” Button Mash said. “Once more, I'm sorry.” And with that, he left the room, shutting the door behind him and cutting off the rest of the light in the room.
“Don't worry, Twilight,” Applejack said. “We'll find a way to get out of here and help the rest of our friends.”
“But how can we get Spike back?” Twilight asked, once more starting to cry softly.
Back in Canterlot, Princess Luna was rushing at top speed to where Celestia was left to keep Snowdrop busy while Luna finished the spell needed to free Snowdrop. When she got there, though, she found that Celestia had already been defeated. But that wasn't the worst part. The worst part was that it looked like Snowdrop had defeated Celestia a while ago and had been waiting for Luna to show up.
“About time, Luna,” Snowdrop said. “By the way, your sister isn't that good a fighter. When she regains consciousness, tell her to lay off the cake.” Snowdrop then picked up Celestia and tossed her at Luna, who caught her sister with her magic and set her down gently by the entrance. “I just hope you prove to be at least a little more of a challenge.”
“Snowdrop, please try to resist Discord's hold,” Luna said. “I cannot battle you alone.”
“You poor deluded foal,” Snowdrop said. “There is no more Snowdrop. There is only Chaos Ranger Red, the only pony who should have existed all along.”
“Then you leave me no choice,” Luna said. “I will fight you, and I free you by force.”
'You'll free me, will you?” Snowdrop asked. “Let's see if you can back up your words. Come at me, Luna.”
“Then I shall,” Luna replied. ”I hope I managed to finish the spell,” she thought to herself as she looked down to the red gem on her horseshoe that replaced her regular blue one. ”I promise to save you, Snowdrop.”
“Let's begin!” Snowdrop shouted as she charged forward at Princess Luna, not even bothering to draw her sword. Luna was without hesitation in her defense, though. Right as Snowdrop tried to attack Luna with a punch, Luna used her magic to summon a shield that defended her from the attack. She then proceeded to push the shield forward in order to strike Snowdrop backwards. This attack didn't even faze Snowdrop, though, as she recovered quickly from the attack, landing on all fours only a few feet away from Luna.
“I suggest you do not underestimate me,” Luna said. “Even without the dark magic of Nightmare Moon, I still have magic that can rival that of my sister.”
“Do you now?” Snowdrop asked. “Well then, let's test that, shall we?” Snowdrop then summoned her sword and flew towards Luna. However, Luna instantly took to the air to avoid Snowdrop's attack. “Don't think you can get away that easily,” Snowdrop said as she took off after Luna. Luna seemed to be retreating from Snowdrop for a few seconds before, without warning, Luna teleported behind Snowdrop and fired a blast of magic at the filly from behind. Snowdrop was just barely able to react to this attack by firing a gust of wind to try to cancel out Luna's attack. Fortunately for Snowdrop, her plan managed to work. Unfortunately for her, this allowed Luna time to teleport behind Snowdrop and give her a powerful buck right to the ground. Snowdrop took the full force of this attack, but she was able to land on the ground on all-fours and rebounded back upwards at Luna. Luna was unprepared for this and was unable to defend herself against a sword strike from Snowdrop. Luna fell a little, but she was able to restablize herself and maintain altitude.
”Snowdrop is powerful when she gets serious,” Luna thought to herself. ”I'm going to have to use the spell as soon as possible.”
“Are you finished, Luna?” Snowdrop asked. “Or do you need a little more encouragement?” Without waiting for a reply, Snowdrop fired another blast of wind at Luna. With few other options, Luna cast yet another shield to defend against the attack and launched it at Snowdrop. Snowdrop was able to destroy this attack with her sword, but in defending against that, she was unable to notice Luna flying towards her with her hoof charged with magic power.
”Let's hope this works,” Luna thought to herself as she charged her gem with the energy needed to cast her spell. With that, Luna gave Snowdrop a powerful uppercut that the filly was unable to defend against. Upon the hit, Snowdrop instantly began falling out of the sky towards the ground. Luna quickly flew down to catch Snowdrop just before he hit the ground.
“Snowdrop, are you ok?” Luna asked the filly Snowdrop was silent for a few moments. “I hope I didn't overpower the spell...”
“Don't worry,” Snowdrop suddenly said, quickly striking Luna in the face, freeing herself from Luna's grasp, and reversing their position so that she was standing over Luna with her sword aimed at the princess. “I doubt you overpowered the spell.”
“But it can't be,” Luna said. “How could you have resisted the spell when it was charged with alicorn magic?”
“Maybe your power just wasn't strong enough,” Snowdrop said. She then raised her sword to deliver the final blow. “You had your chance, Luna, but now you're finished.”
Luna closed her eyes and braced herself for the hit. ”How could this have happened?” Luna thought to herself. ”Celestia and I mapped out every possible outcome and modified the spell for every possible counter. There's no way Discord's magic could have been better than our spell.”
“Goodbye, Princess Luna,” Snowdrop said. “And don't worry, Celestia will be joining you shortly.”
Though it was only a few seconds, to Luna, it felt like an eternity before she realized that Snowdrop's sword hadn't come down yet. Luna opened her eyes and saw that Snowdrop seemed frozen with her sword in the air. “Snowdrop?” Luna asked. “Are you ok?”
As an answer to her question, Snowdrop dropped her sword and stepped back as the sword clattered to the ground next to her.
“P-Princess Luna?” Snowdrop asked. “Is that you?”
On the moon base, Button Mash was carrying the lifeless Spike towards the air lock room so that he could fire the dead dragon into space. However, that wasn't what he was there for. He was there so that nopony else on the base could see what he was about to do.
“I'm sorry about this, Spike,” Button said as he gently set the dragon down. “Let me make up for the mistakes I've made as a Chaos Ranger.” Button Mash then pulled out the coin that was used in his morpher and placed it on Spike's chest. The coin then began glowing yellow and flowing energy into Spike. Suddenly, Spike opened his eyes, sat up quickly, and took in a huge breath.
“Wha-?” Spike asked with a stunned look in his eyes. “Wh-where am I?”
“Shh,” Button Mash said. “I'll explain everything, but you have to stay quiet or somepony will hear you.”
“Alright,” Spike said, still panting. “I guess my first question is: what the hay is even going on?”
To be continued...
Next time...
“It was all part of a ruse.”
“Spike? You're alive?”
“I think I'm free for now, but the spell isn't complete.”
“Where the hay are the others?”
“You'll pay for betraying us, Button Mash.”
“I won't let my perfect plan fall apart like this!”
次回、 「Redemption」 あ楽しみに！ [Next time: “Redemption (Endgame part 2)” Enjoy!]