Equiforce

by Crack-Fic Casey

Introductions

And in other news, today America's foremost space exploration group NASADA once again came under fire for the numerous setbacks and delays related to the moon base project. Since its beginning in early 2002, the project has been met with issues, such as schedule delays and mismanagement of funds. The director of NASADA recently issued a statement addressing the many accusations of incompetence, in which he promised that the issues were, quote, "Being thoroughly investigated," and that no one in their company had "any intentions of giving up on the dream to colonize space," end quote. Ever since the defeat of the Alliance, countries around the world have been attempting to get a foothold in space, to be ready for the next full-scale invasion. While a few minor incursions have been repelled, none were on the same scale as Invasion Day. There have even been several invaders like Lothar that slipped through our defenses and were able to wreak havoc before being thwarted by—

"Diane?"

Diane paused the video on her phone. "In my room!"

"Are you almost ready?"

"Almost!" she called back down. The girl sighed. With a longing glance at her phone, she acknowledged that she really didn't have time to finish the video and pocketed the device. She stood up and stretched her arms, sore from having sat for so long. Diane paused in mid-stretch; she could hear her mother coming down the stairs. Diane sighed again. Here we go.

Her mother, Roxanne Jones, opened the door and frowned at the mess. "You've been packing for an hour! I thought you said you were almost done?"

"I am almost done!" the younger girl retorted. "Just let me find my shoes, and we're good." She reached behind her bed, looking for her elusive sneakers.

Roxanne moved a little closer into the room. She was still dressed up for her meeting with Principal Caplan and the school board that morning. She wore a very nice purple vest and a heavy knee-length skirt. Her dark hair was pinned back into a bun, with a few strands hanging on either side of her face. She wore thick glasses that kept slipping down her nose, requiring her to push them back up.

Diane had often thought about how her own appearance contradicted her mother's. It wasn’t just they looked different, it was how they carried themselves. Roxanne always looked together and professional, even when things were falling apart. Diane felt like she couldn't look properly 'together' even on her best day.

Diane also knew that her mother knew she was lying about being okay, but that didn’t matter. She wouldn’t bring it up. Indeed, Roxanne just nodded and leaned against the wall. “Great. Angel Grove isn’t that far away, but we need to leave soon if we’re going to get there on time.”

Diane rolled her eyes. “Yaaaaaaaaaaaaay,” she muttered as flatly as possible. Roxanne didn’t hear, but Diane didn’t expect her to. Her mother wasn't very good at hearing things. Or paying attention to things. Or-

Diane consciously stopped her train of thought. Her mother was very good and did the best she could. She and her father were amazing parents, and the two of them didn't need any more stress to deal with.

Well, I guess it isn't them anymore, is it?

Diane finally gave up looking underneath the bed and moved on to search the closet. Roxanne still stood in the door, watching her daughter. “Diane…” she started, but her voice trailed off. Diane turned and looked at her mother directly for the first time. It wasn’t like her to stop in the middle of a sentence like that; Roxanne always thought very carefully before she spoke. “Diane,” she started again, “are you okay with moving?”

Diane sucked in a breath. “Yeah,” she squeaked, before clearing her throat. “ ‘course I am. I mean, there's no reason not to be okay, and...”

Roxanne put a hand on her shoulder. That was also weird; she hadn’t been touchy-feely for a while. “Diane,” she said again, making direct eye contact, “If for some reason you don’t want to move, just tell me.”

Diane chewed on her lip. “Weeeeeell,” she drug the word out as much as possible, “to be honest—”

A ringing cell phone interrupted them. Roxanne glanced at the offending device for a moment. “That’s work.” She hesitated a moment, clearly torn between her job and her daughter.

Roxanne went to turn it off, but Diane stopped her. “It’s all right,” she said. “We can talk later if you want.” Roxanne nodded gratefully and answered the device as she walked back out the door. Diane sighed and flopped back on her bed.

They needed Roxanne to have this job. Now that her dad was—

dead.

... now that her dad was gone, they had trouble paying for the house. The librarian job in nearby Angel Grove had been the closest one Roxanne had been able to find. It still meant moving, but it wasn't like she was moving to Japan or something. It was just…

—Dad died. He's dead because people die, and what's stopping that from happening to anyone else? This isn't like on TV. Things don't always work out, and people might not forgive me if I screw up, and what if my teachers don't like me, or—

Diane frowned. This wasn’t going to get her anywhere. Maybe the school would be terrible, maybe not, but worrying about it wouldn't change anything. She nodded to herself. Right! I’m done thinking about it.

Leaping off of her bed in a smooth motion, she moved a box aside to finally find her sneakers. Tying them up carefully, she grabbed her favorite pink hoodie out of the top of the box she’d moved and regarded herself in the mirror.

The girl she saw wasn’t perfect. She wore a very crumpled pink and white top and faded jeans, her hair was a pitiful mess, and it seemed like there was something missing from her. Like there was something she was supposed to be doing but couldn’t. She looked utterly terrible.

Diane closed her eyes, breathing in and out. After a few moments, she looked into the mirror again.

The girl she saw wasn’t perfect, but so what? She had this great pink hoodie and a cool white scarf, her hair was a terrific shade of red and perhaps she looked rather messy, who cares? There were more important things for her to do than worry about how she looked. She had friends to make!

Diane’s expression wavered a little. That wasn’t exactly who she was, but it was who she wanted to be. She was tired of being afraid to talk to people and of hiding at home. Her father had always said that if you didn’t like something, you shouldn’t complain about it. You step up and fix it, no matter how hard it is. Diane was tired of feeling sad and alone all the time, so she was going to make some friends.

With the skill of an artist, she carefully painted a smile on her face. It wasn’t that she was trying to hide the pain; Diane simply thought that since the pain wouldn't disappear because she was frowning at it, why not try and be happy?

---

Rainbow Dash trotted back and forth in the quiet room.

Each hoof-beat echoed around the chamber. During her time in the royal guard, her inability to hold still on command had been repeatedly reprimanded. She couldn't help it; whenever she was nervous she needed to get up and move about. And lately, things in her life had become very, very nerve-wracking.

Rainbow Dash was a trainee for the Royal Guard, one of the best. It had been her dream ever since she was able to properly dream about things; and not only had she pulled it off, she'd done better than she'd imagined. She'd cleared the written exam, every physical test and not only had she passed, she was one of the highest scoring applicants in the history of the Guard. As much as she wanted to take credit, it wasn't entirely due to her natural glory. While that had obviously been an important factor, an equally important piece was her best friend Twilight Sparkle.

Twilight was the apprentice of Guardian Luna, and the smartest pony Rainbow Dash knew. Twilight had helped her learn to study, come up with an exercise regimen to help her go faster, and had ironically enough been the one to keep her from having a nervous breakdown during the test itself. When Rainbow had tried to thank her, she'd waved the Pegasus off. "Don't worry about it," she'd insisted. "You've done plenty more for me over the years."

Rainbow smiled at the memory. Things had seemed so hopeful them. She'd felt like they could take on the world together. That hadn't lasted.

Not just because Guard training showed her how much more she had to improve. But because of what that meant. Between Twilight's studies and her new rotation, the two mares had started to drift apart. Twilight had started to throw herself more and more into her studies, and Rainbow got her to get out of Luna's Library less and less. There had been about a month between visits when Twilight had burst into the barracks, half-out of her mind. She'd asked for help, the Guards had attacked them, and Rainbow unhesitatingly did what came naturally. She saved her friend. It wasn't until later that she'd realized what she'd lost.

No. She thought firmly. I haven’t lost anything yet. Once Sparky and I figure out how to fix Luna, I can just go back. I'll bet they’ll even have to reward me with something. I wonder if I can squeeze some kind of medal out of this…

“Will you please stop that?”

Rainbow’s face fell. There was still one storm cloud in the sky: Starlight Glimmer.

Starlight Glimmer was a lavender Unicorn. Rainbow knew she was lavender because she’d called Twilight lavender one time and the mare had conducted a three-hour lecture about the color wheel to prove her wrong. Twilight was a lilac, and Starlight was a really, really, boring lavender. Everything about her was uninteresting, from her job as Archivist to her passion for restoring books and memorizing spells. It was like she'd crafted her whole personality to be dull and uninteresting, so naturally Twilight acted like the two of them were best friends.

Honestly, if she didn't act so smug all the time, I might not completely hate her. Aloud, she answered, “And what, exactly, am I stopping?” She was very good at communicating annoyance through sheer tone; the word 'exactly' in particular felt like it was blunt instrument being swung at Starlight’s head.

The lavender Unicorn carried on reading from her spellbook, unaffected. “Stop pacing. It's really annoying. Didn't the Guard train you how to sit still?”

Rainbow rolled her eyes but did as she was asked. She rested on a bench along one side of Twilight's castle/lair and idly began to tap out a rhythm with her forehoof. “Sorry. I guess we can’t all be as, ‘professional’ as you.” She gave the word ‘professional' a very sarcastic wrench, using it to bludgeon the other pony.

The other mare flicked her ears in annoyance. “I'm starting to get the impression that you don't like me very much.”

"I wonder why."

Starlight finally turned to face her. "Well, I do wonder why. Why don't you trust me?"

Rainbow lashed her tail irritably. “Well for starters, why are you even here?”

Starlight rolled her eyes. “I told you, I—”

“Sparky asked you to tutor her. She asked for a spell, something went wrong, and now Sparky’s on the run,” Rainbow stated.“That’s great and all, but why are you here? I only showed up because she's my best friend.”

And if I’d thought for a second…

Rainbow took the traitorous thought and shoved it down deep where she couldn’t hear it. “But you,” she continued, “you followed us. You haven’t been friends with Twilight since you were a filly. You barely know her. You could have just told the Queen what you knew and gone back home. You even thought Sparky had used the spell on purpose when you showed up. So why. Are. You. Here?” To punctuate each sentence she poked the Unicorn in the barrel. Starlight backed away from the aggressive Pegasus, Rainbow following her until Starlight's flank was against a wall.

Starlight avoided Dash’s gaze, her ears lying flat against her head. “Because this is my fault,” she whispered. “Twilight asked me to help her impress Luna. It's my fault that all of this happened.”

Rainbow narrowed her eyes as the other mare shifted uncomfortably. Under the first hoof, that sounded really noble, but on the second… there was something wrong here. Rainbow hadn’t been able to figure out what, but she was sure Starlight was lying about something.I’ve just gotta push until I come up with something.

“How did you even get a book on Dark Magic, anyway,” she pressed on. “Shouldn’t those books be locked up somewhere or something?”

Starlight glared at the guardsmare-in-training. “I'm one of the queen's Archivist's. Of course, I'm allowed to have books like that. I just assumed Twilight was allowed to as well, seeing as she was Luna's apprentice."

Rainbow met her gaze evenly. “You’re hiding something,” she replied in a cold tone. “And I’m gonna find out what.”

Starlight scoffed. “You are the single, most paranoid pony I have ever met.”

“Yeah, and you're a liar, so I guess we all have to live with each other's screw-ups.”

Starlight was getting well and truly angry now. Rainbow withheld her smirk; if she got angry enough, Starlight might give something away. And messing with her is fun.

“What about you? You were in the Royal Guard, why would you drop that for your friend?”

Rainbow scoffed. “Because she’s my friend! Duh.”

“Well, she’s my friend too! And I want to make sure she’s taken care of. How do I know you’re not just waiting for the right moment to turn us in without being arrested?”

“Hey! I’d never do that to my friends!” Rainbow carefully restrained herself from grabbing the mare and dunking her in the nearest pond. “You—”

“Enough.”

The voice thrummed with power, making both mares shudder from fear. They turned to look at their boss, the most feared Unicorn in all of Equestria: Twilight Sparkle.

The mare, as mentioned before, was a dark shade of lilac with a dark mane streaked with hot pink. Her eyes literally burned with power, to the point where her iris had a permanent glow. Her Mark, a six-pointed star, also shone bright enough to be seen in the reasonably well-lit room. She positively thrummed with energy. At the moment she was number one on Equestria’s most wanted list and was considered to be a highly unbalanced, extremely dangerous threat to society that should not be approached without backup under any circumstances.

It was a good thing whoever had issued that order couldn’t see Twilight now. The mare’s coat was stained with oil, her oversized goggles were slipping down her muzzle, and having attracted her friend's attention, she smiled sheepishly instead of continuing to boom theatrically. The only part of her appearance that was the least bit intimidating was the softly glowing network of scars that covered the left half of her face. She wore her hair low in an attempt to hide them. “Sorry,” she said, a bit embarrassed. “I wish you two wouldn’t fight; it makes it hard to concentrate on my work.”

The two henchponies exchanged glances. Whatever disagreements they had in the past, they unfailingly allied over keeping Twilight Sparkle happy.

Rainbow didn’t know a lot about magic, but after Twilight had calmed down enough to explain things, she’d described the whole spell. And then she’d gone back and repeated everything again without speaking in scientific gibberish.

‘May-Shadows-Sap-Your-Strength’ was a high-level spell that absorbed magical energy and transfused it onto or into whatever object the caster chose. It could reinforce objects, bypass and kill most charms and curses, and increase the user's reserve of magic. It was very difficult to cast correctly, and very few Unicorns even had a Mark that would let them use it. Sparky had gone on and on about it to her. Rainbow had never seen her so excited.

Rainbow still wasn’t sure what had gone wrong during the casting; Twilight had trouble talking about it. What she did know was that Twilight had Luna’s power as well as her own inside her body. A Unicorn's body wasn’t able to contain the raw power of an Alicorn. Short term, that meant that any time Twilight used magic she might kill herself entirely by accident. Long term, the lilac colored Unicorn only had a few months to live before the magic incinerated her. And that wasn’t even the worst part.

Sparky hadn’t said anything about an overabundance of magic affecting a pony's mind, but ever since that night, she’d been acting funny. Her mood could swing from ecstatic to depressed in a moment, her memory was spotty, and she’d lose her temper over little things. Rainbow had tried to bring it up, but every time she did Twilight would get angry or brush her off.

Right now, the best thing she could do was to stay here and keep Twilight from doing anything stupid. That meant being kind to Starlight Glimmer. “Sorry,” she groaned to the pristine Unicorn. “I shouldn’t have yelled at you.”

Starlight nodded her head. “Me too,” she said in tones you’d swear was sincere. “And I’m sorry for bothering you too,” she said to the mad scientist, who had already walked back into her lab. “I didn’t mean to interrupt your work, Sparky, just—”

“Don’t call me that.”

The words were quiet and cold. Twilight's back was to Starlight but she could see her shoulders tense up, and several pieces of magical equipment began to shudder and shake. Cracks spiraled across the glass windows set high in the walls of the lab, and a magic sensor overloaded in a flurry of sparks. Starlight’s eyes widened when she realized her mistake.

“Right,” she said smoothly, holding down her terror with all four hooves. “Sorry. Won’t happen again.”

Twilight smiled. “Thaaaaank you,” she sang out as she pranced back towards the lab. Some of the more sensitive equipment was on fire, but she didn’t appear to care. Rainbow tried not to let her worry show; Twilight complained a little when she called her Sparky, but she’d never reacted like that before to anything. Some days she was normal, but other times she acted…

Well, like that.

Rainbow was starting to wonder if they would have to turn themselves in so that Twilight could get her mind looked at. Jail would be better than going mad.

The mad scientist in question shifted some of the magical equipment around the lab, clearing a space for them to stand. The burnt out pieces were carefully packed away into boxes, while the still functioning ones were simply moved to the side. "Okay, so according to Starlight and my research, we need to find ancient artifacts called the Elements of Harmony. We can use their connection to the Tree of Harmony to restore Luna's magic."

Rainbow considered questioning how exactly that was supposed to work, but decided against it. She didn't want to look dumb next to Starlight. "So, where are they?"

Twilight grinned. "I'm so glad you asked," she said in tones many associated with someone who was a devout zealot in a major religion. "You see, centuries ago, the Royal Sisters aided the great wizard Starswirl the Bearded—"

Oh by the mages, not this guy again.

"—in wielding the Elements of Harmony to create a mighty fortress called the Dream Castle. It was hidden in the Nothing, the space between the Realms. It was meant to be an impenetrable vault for dangerous magical artifacts, as well as a place for him to study their effects and powers. He created the Crystal Mirror to travel between the two, but an accident threw him into Realms unknown. Without Starswirl, Celestia and Luna couldn't get into the castle, and after enough time had passed, they were forced to declare him dead."

Rainbow nodded slowly. "Okay, but how does this help us?"

"Because I found him!" Twilight shouted in the kind of jubilation only found in the truly obsessed. Rainbow and Starlight both took a step back, wary. Twilight magic surged again, but miraculously nothing was broken. "After centuries of looking, I'm the one that figured out where Starswirl the Bearded is! Isn’t this amazing?"

"That's great, Sparky," Rainbow said in a calming voice, "but you need to slow down a little. How can Starswirl still be alive?"

"Because he's Starswirl," Twilight said dismissively. "He must have found a way to cheat death. I mean, Starswirl dying? As if."

Starlight looked a little worried as well. "Do we need to move so fast? With a little more preparation, we can—"

"Don't you two morons get it!" Twilight snapped. "We're standing on the threshold of the greatest discovery of all time! This is no time for caution! This is a time for action!"

Her words echoed through the chamber, accompanied by several bolts of magical energy. Rainbow dove back towards the door, carrying Starlight with her. They were seconds ahead of the burning field. The stone itself was unharmed, but neither of the mares was sure what it would have done to them.

An absence of noise followed. Rainbow's breathing slowed, and she cautiously peeked her head around the corner. Twilight stood in the center of the destroyed laboratory, looking horrified. Rainbow thought she saw tears in her eyes, but it could have been a trick of the light. "Rainbow! Oh by the stars, are you okay? Did I hurt you?" Twilight demanded, racing over. Rainbow nearly reared back at the invasion of her personal space but suppressed instinct. I need to be patient with Twilight. She’s not herself.

Slowly, Starlight moved from behind the wall and looked at the two mares. "...I'm fine too," she said quietly.

Satisfied that Rainbow was unharmed, Twilight returned to apologizing. "I am so sorry! I don't know what happened! You were just trying to help, and I was... I just..."

Dash closed her eyes and steeled herself for what came next. Carefully, she reached over and pulled Twilight into a hug. "You're going to be okay, Sparky," she said as compassionately as she could. She was in no way sure of her ability to be compassionate, but Twilight nodded, so that was a good thing. "I mean it! Everything's going to be fine. We just need to be careful, okay?"

Twilight relaxed a little. She sniffled, and Rainbow noticed how thin and cold the young mare felt. "You're right," Twilight said, drawing herself back. "Thanks."

"Heh," Rainbow said awkwardly. "Well, ya know... anytime."

Starlight cleared her throat. "If I may; Twilight, why do you think you found Starswirl?"

"I have Luna's magic," Twilight replied. "Thanks to that, I also have parts of her memories. I used my boosted magic and modern detection spells to look for Starswirl's magic signature, and I found it!"

"Twilight," Dash said gingerly. "Are you sure..."

"Of course I'm sure!" Twilight snapped. Guilt followed a second later. "I'm sorry! But I was so sure I found..." she let out a defeated sigh. "It can't be Starswirl the Bearded. He's been dead. But I did find somepony with magic that Feels just like his. Maybe a parallel version of Starswirl, or a descendant? Anyway, it'll get us into the Dream Castle. All we have to do is convince them to help us!"

"We don't have a lot of time," Starlight observed. "What if they don't want to help?"

"It's not like we can force them to help." Rainbow shot back in irritation.

Twilight's ears flicked. "Well..."

Rainbow fixed her longtime friend with a stare. "You're not serious."

"I need to take a pony’s magic out of their body and mix it with my own. It's an incredibly painful and potentially fatal process. What's more, from what I can tell this Realm isn't populated by ponies. I only found one magical signature strong enough to be a living pon- person. They might be hostile."

"That's not gonna change if we foalnap one of them!" Rainbow stared at Twilight. “You do realize that you could kill somepony, right?” she asked the unicorn. “Even if it’s not a pony, that's still a very bad thing!"
"We don't have a choice!" Starlight snapped. Both Rainbow and Twilight shot her twin looks of disapproval. She winced. "Sorry! But we really don't have time to be gentle. I'm stunned the Royal Guard hasn't found us yet. The longer we stay here, the more likely it is that we'll be caught."

"Starlight's right," Twilight insisted. "We don't have enough time to find a better way."

Rainbow frowned. Under the first hoof, she was a member of the Royal Guard. She didn't hurt innocent ponies. But under the second, Twilight was right. They simply didn't have enough time. She sighed. "Fine. We go in, we get out, as quickly as possible. Nopony gets hurt. Are you sure you can do this without killing anypony?"

Twilight nodded. "I wouldn't suggest it if I thought there wasn't a chance."

Rainbow nodded. "Then let's do this.

---

Diane was looking at her new home with mixed feelings. The house looked… utterly bizarre. It sat on a tall, steep hill that wasn’t a lot longer than the house. The driveway was only about ten feet long, but it was at such a steep angle that you could almost mistake it for a wall. The house itself looked a bit like a child who had instructions for a lego house got the pages in the wrong order, gave up part of the way through and just finished as best as he knew how.

It was three stories tall, and not very long across. It was arranged in rectangular blocks, each smaller than the last. The bottom was the largest, and the third was just big enough for a maybe a room and bathroom. Dead center was an honest-to-goodness turret, proudly standing and daring anyone to say it was out of place.

Roxanne chuckled nervously. “Yep, that’s it!” Her voice was not suited to faking emotion; despite her attempts at sounding optimistic, it was clear she was worried. “It looks just as… interesting as did it when I was little!”

Diane said nothing. She didn’t think there was enough sarcasm in the world to deal with this. Besides, I’m happy now. “Well… who wouldn’t want to live in a combination of a castle and an ordinary apartment! It just makes so much sense.” Inwardly, she winced. Too close to sarcasm. Stay positive. Think of bubblegum. Bubblegum is happiness… actually, do I still have bubblegum?

Diane began rooting through her backpack as she and her mother entered the house. It was somehow large and cramped at the same time. Despite the complete lack of furniture, the room made Diane instinctively want to duck her head to keep it from knocking on the ceiling. She knew intellectually there was plenty of space, but despite that, it felt like the room was created to give its occupants claustrophobia. If the whole house was like this, she would be miserable-

Oh, I do still have bubble gum! Diane regarded the piece for a moment, not sure how old it was, before deciding she didn’t care. She popped it into her mouth and chewed with gusto. It helped a little.

Roxanne looked much, much less happy. She entered the room, moving so carefully that you’d think she was sneaking through a prison. Her face was a solid mask, betraying no emotion as she entered her childhood home.

Diane frowned. “I thought you said you liked living here?”

Roxanne jumped. “I did! I will, I just…” She reached out and leaned against the wall for support. “I haven’t been here in a long time."

Diane nodded. “Bubblegum?”

Roxanne looked down at the offered piece. “How long have you had that in your backpack?”

“Who cares?”

Roxanne smiled but shook her head. “No, thanks, I think I’d like to keep my teeth.”

Diane rolled her eyes and popped the second stick into her mouth as well. “So,” she began,”I’ll just start putting my things in the top room, then?”

Roxanne waved her along. “Knock yourself out. I’ll just... be a minute.”

Diane paused for a moment, before accepting that and heading upstairs. She had stuff she avoided talking about; it was only fair that she let her mother have her own space.

Her new room was actually a lot better than her old one. It was in the top of the tower and with the way the building was structured, she basically had the whole floor to herself. There was her room, a tiny bathroom, a vaguely pointless hallway, a walk-in closet, and the stairs in the tower itself. Even if the rest of the move was a disaster, her new room was one thing she could think of as an improvement.

She began dropping her clothes in the walk-in closet, and her more personal things like her art supplies and party favors in the bedroom. Diane planned to move everything up to her room before she began moving things into place, but she stopped and rooted through her boxes for one thing she had to put up before anything.

Diane carefully pinned the vintage poster of the Space Power Rangers team to her wall. It showed the five heroes standing over some rubble, taking a break from clearing it away in the wake of The Invasion. She and her dad were Power Ranger fanatics, but this poster was extra special because it was made from a picture he’d taken himself. He’d been there when he was about her age, the day the Earth faced its most dire threat. Diane had heard him tell the story a hundred times.

It was a day unlike any other, he’d start. The Earth's darkest hour. The rest of the galaxy had surrendered to the Alliance. Titanic ships bore down on us all across the globe. The Power Rangers had disappeared. As far as we knew, we were on our own.

Diane loved to listen to him tell the story like this. She made him tell it every time she could. Sometimes he even did voices and added sound effects.

But this was the Earth. And humans don’t give up without a fight!

No matter how tired he was of telling the story (And as she got older she knew he must have gotten very tired of telling it) he was always so excited for this part. So proud of what they’d done.

The leader of the Alliance of Evil, Astronoma, threatened to destroy the Earth if we didn't turn the Power Rangers in. She said that they'd abandoned us, that they were cowards who fled from battle. We knew better. This was Angel Grove. You know what we called certain doom? Saturday. We weren't gonna cave into the demands of some interstellar terrorist.

When Astronoma called for the Power Rangers to come forwards, everyone there stepped up. We charged the monsters en mass. Every single person there was willing to put their life on the line for the Rangers because the Rangers had done the same for us time and again. They'd never asked for thanks. They'd never asked for a reward. They just stood up for us, against whatever monsters the universe could throw at them. It was about time for us to do the same.

We bought the Rangers enough time to destroy their fleet and save the universe. Why I even saved one from a robot that tried to attack from behind. She thanked me for it by letting me get a picture of the team when they took a break from helping clear out some of the rubble.

That picture had gone on to be one of the most famous images of the Power Rangers. She suspected that the 'shooting a robot' bit wasn’t quite true; it tended to change every time her Dad told it. At one point he decapitated it with a signpost. She didn’t care. It was her dad telling a story, and what did it matter if some of it was a little exaggerated?

That day had been a beginning for many people. The Power Rangers had been everywhere. Certainly, monster attacks were common as well, but for everything terrible that tried to destroy the Earth, Rangers rose up to defend it. Public opinions were mixed; while some appreciated the Rangers efforts to defend them, others were angry at the destruction and mayhem that followed. Some of the teams dealt with this by hiding, coming out only when forced. Others were fully public and run by the government. One team had actually became mercenaries. But that was nearly ten years ago. The last team, one based out of Ocean Bluff, had simply disappeared without fanfare. In the years that followed, no new monsters emerged. People started to wonder if they would ever come back. Some even hoped that they wouldn't.

For as long as Diane could remember, she’d idolized the Power Rangers. Formerly normal people being given a chance to become something bigger. To make a difference that they couldn’t have before. To see wonders and fight horrors and be a part of a greater and more beautiful world than they could have ever been a part of before. To save people.

To make sure no one died.

Diane’s cheeks were wet all of the sudden. She wasn’t sure why.

“Diane?”

Diane jumped and spun around, nearly losing her balance. She wiped her eyes furiously with the back of her hand and leaned over the staircase banister to look at her mom. “Yeah?”

“Just checking to see where you were. How's it coming?”

“Fine, I guess,” Diane replied as she glanced at the poster. “I've got everything I need.”

Comments

[Crack-Fic Casey]

Whenever I have Diane lie, I swap out my Pinkie Pie voice for a David Tennant voice.

I can't even begin to describe how much this chapter changed. This chapter was the first thing I wrote for this story, back before I even had a name for this story. Originally, this was a crossover with Kamen Rider, and Fluttershy was the main character. Diane was an orphan that was going to live with Fluttershy (her human name was Grace) and her wacky uncle Danny Hassett (Discord). Diane was the POV character, but wasn't intended to be the hero of the story. The only thing that stayed the same was this description here:

With the skill of an artist, she carefully painted a smile on her face. It wasn’t that she was trying to hide the pain; Diane simply thought that since the pain wouldn't disappear because she was frowning at it, why not try and be happy?

I'm really proud of how that one turned out.

In the first draft, the bad guys were Twilight, Rarity, and Applejack. Twilight wasn't being driven mad by magic, she was just a mad scientist.

Dark magic isn't a kind of magic, its a slang term for dangerous magic. Some kinds of magic are exclusively dark, but certain individuals are permitted to study certain kinds in the hopes of producing a positive result. A good example are the therapy spells that were originally derived from brainwashing spells.

The Mirror wasn't moved to Canterlot because 1) to anyone who isn't the most powerful Unicorn in the Realm, it was untouchable, and 2) keeping a large number of powerful magical artifacts in close proximity to one another can mess them up. Like the way you screw a computer up with a magnet, except instead of losing data something explodes when you try and use it.

Diane and Roxanne's house is a real house. I live a few blocks away from it. I wasn't even lying about the turret.

I really hope Diane reminiscing about her dad and the Power Rangers worked out; it didn't quite sit right with me.

As far as the Power Rangers continuity is concerned: Everything that happened in the shows up to Jungle Fury happened. I'm pretty sure that the new show's don't even have continuity anymore, and RPM was set in the future.