Welcome to the Jungle: A Power Rangers Story

by TheHardie-Boy

A new low

Starlight had slept in. She didn’t do this very often, but she didn’t feel like doing anything that day. When she did finally get up, she walked into the map room. Twilight was in there, chatting with RJ. RJ was siting in his “chair”. Starlight didn’t really get the importance of it, but Casey told her it wasn’t a big deal. She went into the kitchen to see if Spike needed help with breakfast. On the way, she ran into Casey.

“Oh hey. I was just on my way to the kitchen,” she said, blushing.

“Oh cool. Um, I was wondering, did you maybe wanna, I don’t know, like hang out or something?” Casey asked.

“Sure, I’d love to. I gotta do a few things here, first. I’ll see you later,” she responded. On the way out, she took a deep breath and brushed Casey’s leg with her tail. She heard Casey shiver a little and shivered as well. She didn’t know why she was still so nervous. Casey did like her. Then again, she had never really had feelings for anyone that wasn’t a pony.

She entered the kitchen and was surprised to see Spike wasn’t there. It looked like he was in the middle of making something, but he stopped in the middle of it for some reason. She walked over to the counter to investigate. There was a bowl full of pancake mix with a spoon in it. It looked like it was only half stirred.

She turned and noticed that the window was open. She thought Spike preferred to keep that window closed. She looked out and saw nothing out of the ordinary.

“Hey Starlight,” said Spike. Starlight jumped at the sudden voice. She turned and saw Spike wearing his apron and baking hat.

“Don’t do that! You scared me,” Starlight said.

“Oh sorry. One would think you’d be used to surprises, considering how much you’ve been hanging around Pinkie,” Spike said, sarcastically.

“Just out of curiosity, why did you leave the window open?” Starlight asked.

“It just got a little hot. What’s it to you?” Spike asked.

“Nothing,” Starlight said, noticing the attitude in his voice. “What’s going on with you? Did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning?”

“I’m fine. I’m probably just hungry.”

“If you say so,” Starlight said, exiting the kitchen.

“Hey Starlight, wait. I’m sorry. I want to show you something,” Spike called.

Starlight turned to see what Spike was talking about. She didn’t see anything. “You have to come in here. It’s really big,” Spike told her.

Starlight walked back in as the door slammed shut behind her. She looked at Spike and saw a green glow in his eyes. She gasped and tried to teleport away, but Spike glowed and changed into her worst enemy: Queen Chrysalis. Queen Chrysalis shot a sticky substance at Starlight, covering her hooves and horn. Starlight was trapped.

“You’re never gonna get away with this,” Starlight said.

“How can you say that, if you don’t know what I’m up to?” Chrysalis replied.

Starlight opened her mouth to call for help, but Chrysalis shot the substance over her mouth and prevented her from making nothing more than whimpering noises.

“Oh hush now, I’m not going to hurt you. Physically, that is,” Chrysalis said with a sly grin. She teleported the two of them to what looked like a dungeon cell. “Ironic. This dungeon belongs to Twilight, but I’m the first one to get any use out of it.”

Chrysalis glued Starlight to the wall with her hooves spread out in four diagonal directions. She then took off the residue on Starlight’s mouth.

“Let me go!” Starlight yelled.

“It’s no use yelling. No one can hear you,” Chrysalis said, changing her appearance to match Starlight’s. “Not even your beloved red ranger.”

“You leave him alone. I swear, if you hurt him-“ Starlight was cut off by Chrysalis covering her mouth once again.

“Don’t worry. I won’t hurt him. I only intend to make you pay for taking my kingdom from me,” Chrysalis said.

Starlight struggled and tried to escape, but the residue wasn’t giving at all. “You’re wasting your strength. Not that you’ll need it. One more thing before I go: you get a front row seat of the show.”

With that, Chrysalis made a screen appear in front of Starlight that showed Casey. Chrysalis teleported away and into the frame with Casey. Starlight tried to yell through the residue to warn Casey, but it was no use. She could only watch as Chrysalis approached him.

---

---

‘Starlight’ walked up to Casey. “Hey. I’ve finished everything I need to. You wanna hang out now?” she asked.

“Sure, sounds good,” Casey said with a smile. The two walked out of the castle and toward the nearby waterfall. Casey couldn’t help but admire the beauty of it all. The smell in the air, the noise of the water, the sight of the pool below, it all felt great to him.

“Can you swim?” Casey asked.

“Yeah. Can you?” ‘Starlight’ replied.

“You bet,” Casey said. The two of them jumped into the pool and swam around together for a while. Casey couldn’t help but notice that ‘Starlight’ was acting a bit different than before. She was nervous around Casey, but now she seemed more confident than he did. Even his instincts were telling him that something was wrong. He decided to ignore it though. After all, he had never had a crush on something that was not human. He liked Starlight, and he couldn’t think of anyone else he had these feelings for.

Eventually, the two of them got out of the pool and laid down on the grass, side by side. Casey looked into ‘Starlight’s’ eyes. Her beautiful green eyes. Casey felt a little confused. He thought Starlight had lavender eyes to match her mane. Before he could say anything, ‘Starlight’ looked over at him and smiled. Her smile reassured him.

She moved a little closer to him and brushed her tail against his leg. He felt a tingle in his chest. ‘Starlight’ leaned in a little closer and sat up. She leaned over him as Casey rolled onto his side. The two shared a passionate kiss. ‘Starlight’ let go and went in for another and another. Casey couldn’t help but feel something different. Before, Starlight had just held the kiss. Now she was trying to make out with him. Even if he did like her, he didn’t feel like she was the type of mare who would want to do that. He pulled away.

“What’s wrong?” ‘Starlight’ asked.

“Nothing. It’s just...I didn’t really want to move that fast. I mean, a kiss is fine, but I didn’t want to make out,” Casey responded.

“Oh sorry,” ‘Starlight’ responded. She then got an idea. “I guess, it’s just that I started worrying about you leaving again. I just didn’t want a repeat of what happened with Sunburst.”

“Who’s Sunburst?”

“He was my first friend. Like I said, as a filly I had trouble making friends. But there was always Sunburst. We were best friends. Eventually I started to develop feelings for him, but he got his cutie mark and moved away before I could tell him.”

“Oh, I ha no idea. I had trouble making friends too. It wasn’t even until I became a ranger that I felt like I had any real friends.”

The two of them shared another kiss. This time, ‘Starlight’ held. Casey felt better about the situation.

---

---

Starlight felt terrible. She had no choice but to watch Chrysalis play Casey and pretend to be her. She felt a mix of anger and sadness. There was nothing she could do. Casey had fallen for Chrysalis’s trick, hook line and sinker. She began to cry, as a knot in her stomach tightened. She tried to look away, but she couldn’t move her head. Even if she could, she knew what was happening. She now knew what Chrysalis had meant when she said she wouldn’t hurt her physically. She was taking what she loved the most. She could only hope that Casey or one of her friends would see through Chrysalis’s trick.

She watched as Chrysalis kissed Casey and run her fake tail up and down his body. She couldn’t take much more of this.

“I love you,” Starlight heard Chrysalis say.

To her luck, she saw Casey put a confused look on his face. But the dread she felt before returned when she saw Casey smile and say, “I love you too.” Starlight’s heart was shattered. The tears ran down her body like the waterfall Casey and Chrysalis were at. And the worst part was that Casey really had those feelings for Starlight, but he was expressing them to a bug.

---

---

Casey wasn’t sure what to do. This was definitely not Starlight. He knew she liked him, but she didn’t have the courage to say it. At least, not that clear. Starlight would’ve stuttered and blushed through the whole thing. But this...being just said it like it she was saying hi. Casey decided to play along. “I love you too,” he said. The being went in for another kiss, but Casey put his hand on her mane and he held her on his chest. She just lay there while he thought of a plan.

Casey looked around, pretending to be looking for something. The being looked up.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“My panther instincts are going crazy. Something must be coming,” Casey responded as he got to his feet.

“How close is it?” the being asked as she got to her hooves as well.

Casey’s heart dropped. There was no way this was the same Starlight he had fallen in love with. This was an imposter.

“Standing right next to me!” Casey shouted as he jumped away from her. “Who are you? What have you done with Starlight?”

“Casey, what are you taking about? It’s me, Starlight Glimmer,” the imposter pleaded.

“Then why didn’t you correct me when I said my PANTHER instincts were active when the real Starlight knows my animal spirit is a tiger?” Casey shouted.

Inside the castle, Twilight heard what was going on. She and RJ got to a window and saw what was going on.

The imposter gave a devilish laugh as she started to glow green. She was completely covered in a green light, which Twilight recognized instantly. In the place of the light was none other than Queen Chrysalis.

“Queen Chrysalis,” Twilight said to herself.

“Who’s that?” RJ asked.

“The former changeling queen, and Starlight’s nemesis,” Twilight explained.

The two of them joined Casey and faced Chrysalis. “What have you done with Starlight, Chrysalis?” Twilight yelled.

Chrysalis chuckled. “Oh, she’s close. So close it’s stupid that you don’t know,” she said.

Casey was angrier than he had ever been before. “You let her go or I’m gonna-“

“What? Destroy me? Go right ahead. Then you’ll never find her,” Chrysalis boasted.

Casey’s aura was burning with rage. RJ noticed this and felt the need to step in. “Don’t you baddies ever learn? There’s no winning for you. Even if you’re so close, you always lose.”

“Big talk. But can you back it up with some real skill?” Chrysalis challenged. She then began to glow again. This time, she turned into a two-legged warrioress with black armor and a blade.

“I assume you want to take this one on your own?” RJ asked Casey.

Casey calmed down enough to answer. “Yeah, thanks. I’ll tell you if I need help.”

“Casey, be careful. Chrysalis can literally take any form she wants to,” Twilight warned.

“I’ll be fine, Twilight. Didn’t you hear RJ? Evil never wins,” Casey said, pulling out his sunglasses. He morphed and began to fight with Chrysalis. The two were evenly matched. Chrysalis had been preparing for this for a long time. Originally, she meant for this to be for Starlight Glimmer, but Casey was doing just fine. Casey felt his rage empower his actions. He would never forgive Chrysalis for pretending to be Starlight. He would do whatever it took to save Starlight and get even with Chrysalis. He swung at her with his blades, but she countered it perfectly.

Chrysalis fired a magical attack at him point blank. Casey thought he was done for, but the blast did absolutely nothing to affect Casey. Casey then remembered what RJ said before; magic didn’t affect Pai Zhua Masters. Casey threw an uppercut at Chrysalis as she was trying to figure out what happened. Casey took advantage of the situation by repeatedly kicking Chrysalis. He backed her into a wall and pinned her against it.

---

---

Starlight was too heart broken to look at the screen anymore. Her eyes were shut as hard as she could. She had given up trying to escape. She felt her forehooves becoming numb from hanging on the wall. She was breathing quickly.

“Maybe this is how I go out: watching Casey fall for Chrysalis,” she thought to herself. She supposed there were worse ways to go, but she couldn’t think of any. Nothing seemed to compare with the pain she was feeling right now. “Casey told me to focus on the present and not worry about the future. Then I shouldn’t worry about the others.i should just accept that this is happening.”

Accepting her fate, Starlight opened her eyes to face the screen. Her eyes widened, and her heart rejoined itself when she saw what was going on. Chrysalis was no longer pretending to be her. Casey had seen through her lies. He was now beating her down. She tried to cheer, but it came out in the form of moans and whimpers. She no longer cared that she was glued to the wall. All that mattered to her was that she get to Casey and help him.

---

---

Casey held his hand to Chrysalis’s throat. “Tell me where she is, now,” he ordered.

Chrysalis just gave a choked laugh. “You’re pathetic. You really think you two can be together. You’re not even from the same dimension,” she said.

Casey tightened his grip on her throat. She just continued to laugh. “Go ahead, I already have my revenge on Starlight Glimmer.”

“Casey, stop! It’s not gonna help anything!” Twilight yelled.

“Yeah man! You’re a Power Ranger! You don’t kill!” RJ said.

Casey realized they were right. He loosened his grip, but didn’t let go of Chrysalis completely. He felt himself begin to cry in defeat. Chrysalis continued to laugh.

“You’re weak,” she said. “Even when you’ve already lost, you give up.”

Casey got an idea. He couldn’t destroy Chrysalis, but he knew how to make her talk. He let Chrysalis go and powered down. Chrysalis was confused. A few seconds ago, Casey had the intent to kill her. Now he was pretending it was just a prank gone wrong. She teleported away before he could change his mind.

---

---

Chrysalis returned to where she was keeping Starlight. Starlight tried to yell, but the glue was holding up.

“You little welp! You think you’ve won? I still have you here, and I’ll never let you go,” Chrysalis said.

Starlight glared at Chrysalis. Chrysalis noticed the tears on the ground. “So, it seems my plan has worked. I told you I wouldn’t hurt yo physically. Tell me, how does it feel to have your love ripped away from you?” Starlight gave a few muffled shrieks as Chrysalis laughed.

Chrysalis stopped as she heard footsteps. She panicked. She turned into Starlight again and release her from the wall just as Casey, RJ, and Twilight came into view. She and Starlight stood and faced them.

It took Casey almost no time to figure out that one of them was Chrysalis. He just didn’t know which one.

The room was filled with an eerie silence. No one moved or said a thing. The only thing that could be heard was the sound of the passing wind. Twilight broke the silence. “Whichever one of you is Chrysalis, reveal yourself now and your punishment will only be banishment.”

“Guys, it’s me. I’m the real Starlight. She’s a fake,” one of the Starlights said.

“No, I’m the real Starlight. Chrysalis is trying to fool you,” said the other.

Casey tried to look at their eyes, but the room was too dark to see the colors of them. “I have an idea. I’ll ask you something only the real Starlight would know,” he suggested.

“Sounds good,” said one Starlight.

“Go ahead,” said the other.

“What is the name of the evil spirit the Jungle Rangers fought on Earth?”

“Dai Shi,” the two said in unison.

Casey glanced at RJ. He had no idea how Chrysalis would know that. “Both of you are correct. Next question: what was the name of the bully he possessed?”

“Jared,” they both said again.

Casey was unsure what to do. Then he got an idea. “How old am I?”

“Twenty-seven,” said one Starlight.

Casey, Twilight, and RJ looked at the other, who hung her head. “I-I don’t know,” she sighed in defeat.

Casey looked at the one that answered. He charged his animal spirit and fired, revealing Chrysalis. Twilight was shocked. Chrysalis had not only answered correctly, but Casey revealed it was Chrysalis. Starlight was in shock as well as Chrysalis stood up.

“You may have defeated me now, but I will have my final revenge,” she said, teleporting away before Twilight could catch her in a spell.

Casey kneeled down to face Starlight. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I-I...I just need to be alone right now,” Starlight responded, teleporting away as well.

RJ put a hand on Casey’s shoulder as Casey hung his head in shame. RJ couldn’t help but feel bad for his former teammate.

“How did you figure out which one was Chrysalis?” Twilight asked.

“I never told Starlight how old I was. I figured that if Chrysalis knew the answer to the first two questions, she’d know that as well,” Casey explained.

“I gotta go. I’ll see you guys later,” Casey said as he walked out the door.

“Wow, I can’t believe that Chrysalis could do so much psychological damage,” RJ told Twilight.

“Yeah. I’m surprised she stooped this low. She’s done horrible things before, but this tops it all,” Twilight responded.

“Should we go check on them?” RJ asked.

“Later. Right now, they just need time to process this whole thing.”

The two of them heard a couple of groans coming from another nearby cell. They looked to find Spike hung up on the wall. The two of them freed Spike and left the dungeon.

Later

Starlight was sitting out on the balcony. This was the same spot Casey had first kissed her. She forced her memories with Casey through her mind before she planned to erase them. She had the spell ready and everything; she just wanted to feel the love one last time before she forgot it all.

“Starlight? Are you in there?” Starlight heard Twilight say and the other side of the door.

“Yeah, I’m here,” she responded after a minute.

Twilight came in. “How are you doing?”

“I feel like someone ripped my heart out and chewed it into a thousand tiny pieces,” she responded.

“Hey, I get it. Don’t feel bad. Casey didn’t know what was happening. He figured it out best he could.”

“I know, but...even after he saw what Chrysalis could do, he still didn’t trust me enough until he tested me.”

“What Casey did was what anypony would’ve done in that situation. Sure, it seems a little cliche, but it worked.”

“You don’t understand. You didn’t see what I saw.”

“What do you mean?”

“When Chrysalis captured me, she showed me what she was doing. She took my place with Casey. She made him think she was me. He told her he loved her. They even...they even kissed.”

Twilight wasn’t sure what to say. She didn’t know if she should try to defend Casey or relate to Starlight. She saw a tear run down Starlight’s cheek. She embraced Starlight in a deep hug, which Starlight returned.

“You weren’t the only one affected you know. Casey thought he was talking to you. He has those feeling for you. He even went so far as to nearly killing Chrysalis for what she did.”

Starlight took a breath. She didn’t consider what Chrysalis did to Casey.

Before she could respond, there was a knock at the door. It was RJ. He motioned for Twilight to come over. “I’ll be right back,” she said, getting up.

She walked out the door to see RJ and Casey. “Do you think Starlight’s ready to see Casey?” RJ asked.

“Yeah. I just talked to her, and I think I managed to calm her down,” Twilight replied.

“Alright, Casey. It’s all yours. Good luck,” said RJ.

Casey entered the room. He looked back and saw Twilight and RJ watching. Casey rolled his eyes and closed the door behind him. He finally turned to face Starlight.

“Hey,” was all he could manage to say.

“Hey,” she deadpanned back.

“Can...Can we talk?” Casey asked.

Starlight took a deep breath before responding. “Sure.”

Casey took a seat beside her. He looked out on the horizon. It was silent between the two.

Casey broke the silence. “I-I’m really, really sorry for what happened.”

“Why? You didn’t know what was happening,” Starlight responded.

“Because I should have. Because my instincts were telling me something was wrong, and I ignored them. Because I noticed your eyes were different and ignored that too. Because I felt it was strange that you wanted to make out instead of enjoy the moment and ignored that feeling too. Because I should have been able to figure out what was happening, and I didn’t.” Casey began to cry. “I’m really sorry. I shouldn’t have fallen for Chrysalis’s game, and I did. I just want you to forgive me. I’m so so sorry.” Casey leaned on Starlight and buried his head in her mane. “I’m sorry.”

Starlight let a tear fall down her cheek. She moved her hoof to Casey’s shoulder. The two of them joined in a full on hug. The two cried on each other until Starlight pulled away and looked Casey in the eye.

“Of course I forgive you. I just thought I would remain down there forever. I only focused on myself. I didn’t think of how much you were hurting. I just want to move past this and forgot it ever happened.”

“There’s just one more thing I want to say about this whole thing,” Casey said. “When I told Chrysalis I loved her, I had it figured out by then, I was just playing along with her until I could figure out what to do. But I want you to know, that if I were saying that to you, I would have meant every word. I love you, and I will always love you.”

Starlight’s heart was beating faster than she could register. “I love you too,” she said, hugging him again.

The two of them stayed their. They didn’t want to let go. Casey even saw Twilight peeking in on them again. He didn’t care. All he cared about in that moment was the mare in his arms. He loved her, and he didn’t care who knew.

Author's Note:

Hey guys,
I warned you. If you didn’t like the romance, I don’t care. This is my story, and I will do what I want with it. Please don’t leave comments complaining about this being a Power Rangers story, but this chapter didn’t have Power Rangers. It’s my story. If you did like it, leave a comment telling me what I did well. If you’re just gonna complain about the romance, I’ll delete the comment, so don’t bother.

Yours truly,
Donnnnnnn