Power Rangers Shadow Force

by Layton13

It's just a Prick

The sun was shining down at Canterlot City on this beautiful early autumn day. Things had quieted down a bit after Gaia had left the city, and for the next two weeks, the Rangers had managed to live a more or less normal life. It had lulled at least her into a false sense of security. And of course, this would happen whe-

Her thoughts were interrupted as a large mace slammed down next to the Pink Ranger, crashing down into the concrete next to her. This definitely would leave a new pothole, that much was clear. “Hey! You know how annoying that is when the bus drives over these? Who do you think you are to make more?” She hissed back at the one swinging the mace around.

A light yellow Changeling, covered in strange spikey fur, four arms, and wings. It’s head looked quite round and with two large eyes as well as two antennas over them that almost looked like eyebrows. In her hands, she held a large mace with spikes all over it. If she was hit with that, there would definitely be trouble.

“Then how about standing still? Then I won’t hit the street anymore, and we will be done here early. Nice and quick. How does that sound?” She smirked, pulling up her weapon once again and playfully swinging it around. In the process, she casually threw over a lamppost that had just stood in the way. “What do you say?”

“I say you got a few screws loose in your ugly bug brain up there,” she threw back at her, jumping backward, just barely avoiding the deadly weapon by mere centimeters. “And stop being such an ass! Destroying the city won’t make me easier to beat. Or do you just suck so bad at aiming that you hit everything besides me?” She added a mocking tone to the last line, much to her own amusement.

“You damn brat! You have no respect for your elders!” It bellowed back at her as the Changeling once again brought down its weapon, right where she had stood just a moment before.

“How much older are we talking, you old hag? Are those hairs getting grey already?” She once again returned, a wide grin on her lips before she dashed forward. The Changeling was just about to lift up her mace as the Ranger jumped upwards and performed a backwords flip, knocking the mace out of her hands. “And that takes care of this. My, you really must be quite old, miss Changeling!”

A low growl escaped the Changelings throat as she stumbled backward, her weapon falling to the ground with a loud thud. “You insulant child! You think only because you got powers that you can dance on everyone's nose? You are just ignorant brats that can’t see the salvation when it stares them in the face!” It took a few steps backward till she managed to catch herself again. But as soon as she did, she dashed straight for the Ranger, fist ready to clock her in the face.

With ease, Sunny jumped backward with a backflip, just barely avoiding the pointy ends of her fur, continuing her gymnastic get away till she was just far enough out of range. “Yeah, almost, but still, too slow. Probably comes with age, you old hag. Maybe ask a younger one of your friends to take us on and give in your resignation. Because you ain’t cutting it anymore!” She continued, holding her hands in front of her helmet for emphasis.

“You little brat! I’ll show you what manners are! Time for your spanking!” The monster growled, grabbing for a lamppost to her side and with one swift pull, yanked it out of the ground, some sparking cables still hanging from it. With a loud scream, she threw it into the air, only to grab it once more, now holding it like an oversized baseball bat.

She ran forward, her new weapon apparently not impending her in any meaningful way. Sunny, in the meantime, had pulled out one of her Coins, but before she could insert it, the Changeling had charged towards her. With a sigh, she followed suit, running straight ahead.

With another loud roar, the Changeling swung her new ‘bat’. The long weapon crashed through several cars, slicing their top half clean off, or at least leaving their glass in shambles but didn’t seem to be slowed down at all. Just mere meters away from her, Sunny finally jumped, turning it into a sidewards somersault, all while inserting the Coin finally into her Morpher.

[G-G-Gun!]

The gun appeared mid-jump, she let a volley of energy burst lose on her opponent, hitting her square in the face. With a pained screech, the monster let go of her oversized weapon, allowing it to clutter to the ground while holding her face. “You!” She growled, her hands still pressed to her face. “I’ve had enough of you! It’s time to crush you worm!” With a low growl, she slammed both her fists together and began to put strain on her muscles

“Oh, scary! What are you gonna do? Show me your muscles and scare me into submission?” She chuckled back. She completely missed that her fur was starting to go stiff, turning into a pelt of razor-sharp needles. Only as they began to swing around, ready to burst, did she jump into action.

Within milliseconds, her body started to move on its own, dashing forward, straight towards a manhole-cover in the street. Jamming her fingers under the concrete, she pulled on the piece of metal. At first, it wouldn’t butch an inch, but with another tuck on it, she finally pried it open and quickly slammed it down in front of her. And that just in time for the fur to explode off of the Changeling and shrapnel all over the place.

From behind her barricade, she could hear metal being pierced, glass shattering, and tires deflating, all at the same time. It almost like when rained came down on an umbrella as the onslaught came down on her, pressing it backward. But she remained steady, and only on stray needle managed to prick her, but besides that, she was fine. “Ha! You missed!” Sunny shouted back before, jumping up, spinning around her own axis and throwing the cover like a Frisby into her chest, throwing the Changeling back.

“How was that? I’d say that was a solid discus throw. I’m sure you won’t get that done nearly as well, given your age,” she snickered back. The Changeling meanwhile was clutching her stomach in pain, hissing at her.

Sunny was about to say something else when the sound of bikes could be heard from a distance. As she turned her head around, she could see a group of four quite familiar motorcycles. The other Rangers were finally arriving. “Hey! Finally, decided to show up? About damn time I’d say! I got a changeling ready for the wrap up here! Just need to finish her off!” She shouted back at them, as they came closer.

However, the little bit of time she had given her opponent had been just enough for the Changeling to push her self back up, and with a grumbling frown on her face, she disappeared in the all too familiar green flames.

“What I see here is that you let a Changeling escape when she was on the ropes,” Sugar returned as coldly as ever, mere seconds after turning off her bike.

“But she… This… That’s not fair!” Sunny burst out, gesturing wildly at the now empty spot on the street. “I had her! You saw that, didn’t you!? They can’t just peace out like that!”

“Apparently they can,” Sugar simply encountered. “You also ran ahead without us. You could have been hurt by her.”

“Pah! As if I would be hurt by an old hag as her. She’s far too slow for that. She only managed to graze me with one of her spikes, and even that’s nothing. Didn’t even hurt that much,” Sunny said, pointing at a small cut in her suit.

“I mean, you said to me we shouldn’t run in without a plan, right?” Red jumped in.

“I had a plan. Outspeed her. And it worked. While you tried to outpower a walking tank! That is the difference between you and me,” Sunny snipped back, tilting her helmet a bit upward and bopping Lemon Zest before walking off. “Anyway, I got something to do and don’t want to be late. Tuduly!”

“What is that supposed to mean!?” Lemon shouted after her, but Sunny simply summoned her own bike and rode off, leaving the rest of her friends behind. “Diva,” Lemon grumbled to herself.

>-------<S>-------<

Meanwhile, a few blocks further away, a woman, roughly in her late forties, was leaning against a wall, breathing heavily. She wore a surprisingly expensive looking dress, her hair was a pale blue, and her skin was a light yellow. “These damn brats! No respect!”

“I’d put it down to the innocents of youth. Not having experienced what we have is what makes it so special and desirable. But in the end, they have to realize that the world just doesn’t work that way,” another voice added with a sigh. “It’s a shame, really.” Thorax stepped into view, arms behind his back, and a warm smile on his lips.

“My Lord!” The woman quickly stammered out and readied herself to bow before Thorax raised his hand, signaling her to stop. “I’m… I’m sorry I couldn’t beat her. She was just too agile.”

“I understand. The important thing is, did you manage to score at least one hit?” He calmly returned, stepping closer as he did so.

“Y-Yes. It seems one of my needles pierced her suit. She must have been infected. It shouldn’t take too long for symptoms to show themselves. And when that happens, they’ll have to come to me. But are you sure this will work, my Lord?” She added with a weak smile.

“It will. I know these girls well enough to know that they won’t just let this happen to one of their friends. They care too much for each other. They will comply if all their options are exhausted,” Thorax returned. “And when that is the case, you’ll be rewarded handsomely in the new world.”

“Thank you, my Lord.”

>-------<S>-------<

“And I tell you, I do not care if she was promised to the Duke of Prancingham! I will take her hearth, and if I have to steal princess Platinum form her father's clutches! I vow this on my mother's grave! I will… I will… What was the text again?“ A young man, dressed in Crystal Prep uniform, a somewhat messy black hair, pale opal complexion, and a pair of massive sunglasses almost shouted over the mostly empty theater.

Next to him, another boy, same uniform, light purple skin, and short, grey hair slammed his hand over his face and shook it. “Your text was: ‘I will save this fair maiden from this wretched fate!’ For the fourth time! I’m beginning to think you aren’t taking this seriously enough, Rising Star! We have the premier in five weeks, and you still struggle with your text at every other sentence! I can’t believe so much acting talent is wasted on someone like you!”

“Oh, come on, End Scene! I still got enough time to figure this stuff out. I tell you, your premiere will be a bomb,” Rising returned, laying his arm around the frustrated director. “Uh… s in, it will be great! Not that it will bomb… You know, right?” Scene just groaned again.

“I thought it was nice,” a petite girl with pale skin and short blue hair, as well as a hair clip in her hair, quietly muttered. She was working on some sort of costume for the play.

“You will be the death of me, you know that Rising Star?” End Scene muttered, ready to burst into another rant when the door suddenly was slammed open. In came a rather exhausted Sunny Flare.

“I’m here! Just five minutes too late!” She burst out while still trying to catch her breath.

The entire population of the theater turned towards her, Rising Star, End Scene, Coco Pommel as well as the second actor on stage, Stunning Act, a Canterlot High student with orange skin and black hair as well as the prop designer, Prop Department, another Canterlot High student with pale white skin and dark blue hair.

“Oh, the princess finally decides to show up for rehearsal. How gracious of you to reward us with your presence,” End Scene returned, glaring at her, before stepping forward, Rising’s arm falling off him as he did so.

“I… I’m really sorry! Traffic was awful! You won’t believe it. It took me way longer than expected to come back from Sugacube Corner. I was trying my best, but-“ She tried to explain.

“Bababa! I don’t wanna hear it! You’re late! You shouldn’t be! That is all that matters right now! I’ll give you a warning, but if you manage to be late again, I might consider giving the role of Princes Platinum to someone more deserving!” He coldly returned. “I’m not letting your tardiness ruin my play!”

“Yes,” she begrudgingly returned, a frown on her lips.

“Well, at least we started with Prince Ruby’s scene, so you only missed out on that. But still, we could have started with your big scene,” he continued.

Sunny nodded in return, wiping a bit of sweat off her forehead as she slumped down next to Coco. She felt exhausted. The short run through the school had really taken the wind out of her sails if she was honest. She needed a moment. “So, how has it been until now?” She asked Coco.

The girl looked at her a bit dumbfounded for a moment, before nodding and awkwardly returning: “Well, Rising Star forgot his line again… But he’s doing better than last time. And when he gets it right, he is really good!” Coco quietly added: “Shame, I didn’t manage to get the role…”

“Oh, you get next year, dear!” Sunny encountered with an exhausted smile.

“Oh… Did I say that out loud?” She squeed out, her head turning red as a tomato. “I’m sorry! You weren’t supposed to hear that!

Sunny just chuckled in return. “Oh, no need to be embarrassed over that. I’d be thinking the same thing if I were in your position. Shining Star is a cutie after all, don’t you think?” Coco’s head turned even redder, looking almost like she wanted to sink into the floor. “Can’t believe I actually get to kiss him,” Sunny added with an excited chuckle.

“Good… For you…” Coco quietly returned.

“I will save this fair maiden from this wretched fate!” It cut through their discussion, as Shining Star made his next attempt.

“Of course, my Lord! I will stand at your side during all of this! Till the bitter end!” Stunning Act returned.

“Excellent! Then this is our vow! A vow for the hearth of a woman!” Rising returned.

“And, end of the scene! Perfect! Absolutely perfect! Now we just need to do this without you forgetting your text again in the middle of it!” End scene shouted, before turning around and continued: “Well, then I think you two earned yourself a bit of a break. Sunny! You are up!”

“Understood!” Sunny returned, jumping up from her chair and almost losing her balance in the process, before catching herself again. Rushing up the stage, she came to a halt right in front of End Scene. “The… The monologue scene, right?”

“Yes. And I hope you got it down. I’m not ready to deal with someone else like Rising here,” he muttered, Rising awkwardly rubbing the back of his head. “Start!”

“Oh, woe to me! Poor princess, caught in this loveless, cruel world! A pawn for my father to use for more and more power. But oh! Why must this fall to me? Why must I be born a noble’s daughter? Trapped in this web of politics and- And…” She suddenly stopped, the words seemingly having fallen out of her head. As she tried to think back on what the line was, the words just became even unclear. “I- I think I forgot the line… End Scene? Can you help me a moment?”

The director just sighed: “I’m surrounded by incompetence,” he grumbled, rubbing his temples before continuing: “Your line was: ‘Trapped in this web of politics and intrigue. Just a woman with no will of her own.’ Now, try it again!”

Sunny nodded before beginning once more: “Oh, woe to me! Poor princess, caught in this loveless, cruel world! A pawn for my father to use for- For… For less… no…” She once again stumbled over her own words, rubbing her temple, trying desperately to remember what he had said.

“That was even worse! You could do that far better at the audition and the other rehearsals! What are you doing? If you aren’t taking this seriously, you can just leave,” he barked back, letting Sunny step back.

“I… I’m sorry… I’ll try again,” she stuttered, before beginning: “Oh, woe to me! Poor princess- Cau- Cau…” Once more, her lines became jumbled, and she fell over her own words. She felt like her head was about to explode, sharp stings running through her entire body every time she tried to focus. At this point, she was holding her head, her face turned into a pained grimace as she desperately tried to recite the line.

“You… You’re ok there, Sunny Flare?” End Scene asked, taking a step closer to her, his annoyance replaced with worry.

“I… I… I’m sorry, I need a moment!” She pressed out before pushing him to the side and stumbling down the steps of the stage. Everyone else just looked stunned after her as she rushed towards the door and out of the room.

Once outside, Sunny managed to duck around a nearby corner before the rest of them stormed out of the door, shouting her name and beginning to scatter. Thankfully, at least for her, they had missed her, behind a small little slot between a bunch of lockers and a small pillar on the edge of the corner.

A few minutes after they had passed, Sunny slipped out of her hiding place, her head still hurting like someone was using a jackhammer on it. Maybe she just needed some water? Yeah, probably just dehydrated, she thought to herself as she tried to find the nearest drinking fountain. She knew one was closeby, but she could for the life of herself, not figure out where it was. Every corner looked strange, new like she never had seen them before.

It must have been ten minutes of headless stumbling through the halls, and she still hadn’t found that damn fountain. She was seriously questioning if she was mistaken about it when she shook her head. She knew, for a fact, that it was close by. And lo and behold, after turning the next corner, it finally came into view. With a satisfied smirk, she stumbled towards it. Supporting herself on it, she leaned forward, ready to drink when her arm suddenly gave in, slipping away.

It felt like someone had hit a temple gong, right against her brain when her head slammed against the metal of the fountain. As her vision started to blur, she could faintly hear from afar a loud: “Sunny!?” Before everything went black.

>-------<S>-------<

It felt like everything was spinning. That was the first thing she noticed when her mind slowly started to form coherent thoughts again. The second thing was the throbbing pain on her forehead. And that pain only grew in intensity, the longer went on.

When she finally managed to let out a groan, another voice quickly followed, jamming into her head like a sharp knife. “Sunny!? Sunny, are you ok?” She knew the voice somewhere, she just couldn’t pinpoint it. But it was unrelenting, quickly following it up with another, just as loud: “Can you hear me?”

With another pained groan, she managed to summon the strength to force her eyelids open, only to be greeted with an overly bright light that made her head spin. It took almost half a minute until her eyes could discern anything beyond rough shapes. Someone was looking down at her, a yellow face and pink hair stared her right in the face.

“Sunny! Oh, my goodness! You are awake! Thank the heavens!” Sour’s voice cut into her head like a drill. “You just collapsed at the drinking fountain! Are you ok?”

“I… Uhhh…” she groaned back, her eyes unfocused. “Don’t… know…”

“You don’t look ok. But the nurse can’t find anything wrong wit-“ Sour was interrupted when her phone rang. “Oh, hello, how may I help you. I got a lot of time right now, not like I’m busy or anything,” she growled back into her cellphone only to suddenly quiet down. “Lemon? Wait, a Changeling in front of the school? And she has done what!? I’ll be right there!” She almost jumped up instantly but was only stopped by Sunny, grabbing her hand.

“I’m… I’m coming as… As well…” She weakly returned, her friend spinning before her eyes.

“Oh, sure, you’ll do great. No, you idiot! You are just gonna hurt yourself! Now, quit complaining and let us handle this!” Shaking off Sunny’s arm, Sour dashed out the door of the infirmary, leaving her behind.

“I’m… I’m not staying… staying out of this!” She weakly hissed after her.

>-------<S>-------<

Just a few minutes later, three of the five Rangers arrived right in front of their school, glaring down the Changeling Sunny had fought before. Her spikey fur had regrown, and she had her arms crossed in front of her. Even though they were unfamiliar with Changeling biology, they were sure she was sporting a shit-eating grin.

A small squad of MRG agents had gathered around the school, beginning to build up barricades around the courtyard. They had also given out orders to clear out the school. Shining Armour had personally come down and was coordinating the whole operation, being quite familiar with this already.

“Excuse us, we need to be there,” Sugarcoat stated, mostly ignoring him.

“I know you need to get through there, but we can’t just let you fight there when there are still a few civilians there. You saw what happened when superheroes fought in a school last time,” Shining returned, crossing his arms. “And we know sadly not enough about you to be sure that you’ll be careful.”

“Sorry, but we have to deal with her fast. You know what she said,” Indigo returned, crossing her arms in annoyance as well.

“What does she mean with that anyway? ‘Come here if you want to see your friend alive. If not, she will die in an hour’. Did she manage to capture your friend? Because she is entirely alone,” he returned.

“That is private,” Sugar simply stated.

“Oh, private, eh? Look, you expect us to just roll out the red carpet for you when you don’t trust us? I know how much you superheroes can do; I’m friends with a few. But you can’t just waltz in here and demand things! I need to trust you all and be sure you aren’t just some girls playing the part of a hero, ok?” Shining huffed back.

“I’m here!” It came from behind them as Sour Sweet came running in, in her suit.

“Oh, thank goodness! So- Green! Where were you?” It came back from Lemon.

“I was with… Pink. She’s… Out cold. Don’t know what, though. You think that’s what the Changeling meant?” She returned, completely ignoring Shining.

“Most likely,” Sugar said.

“So that’s how it is then…” Shining muttered, eyeing the four carefully before sighing. “I’m not going to stop you from saving your friend, am I?”

“Nope!”

“Definitely not.”

“Abso-freaking-lutly!”

“Not in a thousand years!”

All four shouted back in unison.

“Figures. At least promise me that you’ll try to keep her away from the school, ok?” He sighed and offered them a hand.

Before any of the other three could react, Shining’s hand was grabbed by Lemon and shook quite forcefully. “You got our word! We’ll kick some bug-butt and save our friend without too much damage! Now! Get her girls!”

Without any further words, the four jumped over the blockade and landed right in front of the monster. “I don’t like that ‘Without too much damage part’,” he shook his head and began barking orders at his men.

“Well, hello, you useless brats. It’s good to see you. But where is your lovely pink pest? Felling ill?” The Moth Changeling said, with a twisted glee in her voice.

“You know exactly what happened to her, you damn bug! So undo it! You spiky fluffball, or we’ll we kick our ass to next Sunday! We’ll show you to mess with our friends!” Indigo was the first to shout out, pointing at the monster in front of them.

“Well, seems you figured it out. Your Pink friend fell victim to my precious spikes. Which also means she has been infected with my poison. It’s a very fast working one. She’ll be dead in a good hour or so. But you don’t want that, right? Right!” She chuckled, staring at them all.

“You’ll cure that poison this instant, or you will regret ever having crossed us! Because we’ll beat you! No matter what!” Indigo encountered, clenching her fists, ready for a fight.

“Oh, really? You think you can beat me without getting hurt by my spikes? You know how much it took to knock the pink brat off her feet? One, single prick! You think you can really win here without getting hit even once?” She started to laugh, Indigo ready to storm ahead, but Sugar put a hand on her shoulder and shook her head.

“Oh? No attack? Seems you realize it, don’t you? You will get hit! No matter what you try! And in the end, your friend will just die with you following soon! So, how about this, then? Give me your coins, and I’ll give you the antidote!” With a sickening laugh, she pulled out a vile of a colorless substance. “But if you wanna test your luck? Sure! Go for it! We’ll see what happens!”

Indigo growled at the Changeling, balling her hand into a fist and seemingly about to storm at her when her posture deflated: “Are… Are you serious about this? You are really going to cure her?”

“Yellow!?” Lemon burst out, staring at her comrade in utter shock.

“Yes, I am. There is no reason for me to hurt you beyond that. I’d also get a lot of flack from my superior. He seems to have found a liking to you brats. Don’t know why, but I’ll promise you, she’ll be fine. Now, what’s your answer?” She once again asked, the satisfaction in her voice clearly audible.

Indigo looked back at her friends and with a quite: “I’m sorry,” she went for her Shadow Coin.

“Arghhh!” It suddenly cut through the courtyard as the Changeling road up in pain, dropping the vile as smoke came off her shoulder.

“You… You can shove that deal!” It croaked from behind them, and as they turned around, Sunny was leaning against the frame of the school door, gun in hand, and in her suit.

“Su- Pink!” Indigo shouted out in complete disbelieve. “What are you doing here? I thought you were out!”

“I’m… I’m not letting you… Make deals with her! I knew… Knew you’d do something stupid!” She hissed back, pushing herself off the wall and stumbling forward, eyes set on her opponent. “You ain’t beaten… Beaten me yet, hag!”

The Changeling growled, before stomping on the vile. “Fine then! Play it your way! I’ll take great delight in killing you meddling rangers right here! You sure as Tartarus earned it!” She hissed back before pulling out her mace again.

Sunny was the first to act, taking aim and firing a few shots at the Changeling. Sadly, all shots that even came close to her were flicked to the side by her mace, landing instead uneventfully in the dirt. And before Sunny could fire again, she slipped and almost fell over her own two feet; wouldn’t it have been for Indigo catching her.

“Gotcha! Are you sure this is a good idea? You are definitely out of it! You’ll just gonna hurt yourself, and I don’t want this to happen!” She quietly asked, stabilizing her friend.

“If… If I start something, I’m damn well finishing it! You ain’t taking this from me!” She returned, before raising her gun again and unleashing another volley of shots at their opponent. Just like before, the Changeling reflected the energy blats, but one actually hit her, singing her fur a tiny bit. “Gotcha!” Sunny chuckled weakly.

In the meantime, Lemon and Sugar had dashed forward, both summoning her swords and circling around the monster. Both came to a halt behind her, before inserting Coins into the slot on their sword.

[Fi-Fi-Fire!]

[W-W-Wind!]

Both their respective weapons began to be enveloped by their individual elements, one if flames and one by a whirlwind. Sharing a simple look, they crossed the blades, the fire surging to the wind, turning it into a firey wind hose.

With a loud scream, the two Rangers jumped forward, bringing down their weapons on the Changeling. But she wasn’t entirely deaf, having heard the activation sound, she swung around, and her mace slammed against the two blades.

A shockwave ran through the courtyard, letting the gate to the street rattle, while Shining Armor looked over towards them nervously. But, even though she had managed to block the attack, the flames weren’t so easily beaten. Almost as if they were alive, they spread across the mace and quickly towards her body. In seconds, she had been engulfed in them, letting out a pained roar.

Still, she wasn’t willing to lose that quickly. Underneath all the flames, the spikes on her arm began to straighten, and promptly after that, wiggling. Before any of the Rangers had noticed what was happening, a burst of razor-sharp spikes exploded off he underarm. A loud, pained scream later, two Rangers were thrown against the gate, sparks erupting from their suits, and several of the spikes still sticking in them.

“That’ll show you what happens when you mess with your elders, you damn brats! Now you’ll join her in her poison induced stupor! And be happy, you got far more, so it’ll be even faster!” she chuckled, enjoying her handy work when something hit her in the back of the head. With a pained grunt, she spun around, finding both the Yellow and Pink Ranger aiming their blasters at her.

“Insolent brats! You’d think they’ll learn after the first time! But no, they’ll just get worse,” she muttered and raced forwards, knocking shot after shot from them out of the air.

[St-St-Strength!]

It echoed from the side, and the moment she looked over, the sole of a boot greeted her, straight to the face. The impact felt way worse than she had anticipated. Instead of a young girl, it felt like someone had thrown a cannonball into her face. And like to be expected, she was thrown to the side, tumbling.

“Yeah, you really got some tunnel-vision there, you damn bug! But don’t worry, just focus on me and I’ll kick your ass for my friends!” Sour boasted, taking a fighting stance as the Changeling pulled herself back up.

She simply growled, grabbed her mace again, and dashed forward. Sour didn’t seem to react as the mace came down on her; only in the last second, she responded, catching the weapon mid-swing. The monster just stared at her in disbelieve as it tried to jank back her mace. Instead, Green slammed the weapon back into her face, letting her let go of it and stumble backward.

As she was holding her head, she didn’t see the swing of her own weapon coming at all, and the upwards swing knocked her off her feet once more. She landed, with a loud crunch, in one of the trees decorating the walkway towards the school, breaking it clean in half.

Sour wasn’t done just yet, though; with a loud scream, she jumped forward, mace in both hands, swung over her head, and ready to bring it down on her. With a panicked yelp, the Changeling managed to avoid the initial impact, but the following shockwave sent her tumbling over the grass, like a football.

This time, she had time to stand back up before the weapon-wielding Ranger stormed at her once more. Wielding the heavy mace like a baseball bat, Sour dashed towards her, when the Changeling grabbed the upper half of the tree that had been thrown with her, mirroring her movements.

With another loud battle cry, both of them swung their makeshift bats at each other, the tree, unsurprisingly shattering on impact and reduced to a few splinters. What Sour, however, hadn’t expected, after the fragments had cleared a bit, was that the Moth-Changeling was already gone! Mere moments after that realization, she felt a sharp pain in her stomach, accentuated by a few other, sharp jolts around it.

Knocking the air clean out of her, the monster had slammed her fist right into her stomach and thrown her back onto the walkway, the mace flying to the wayside. “Finally! How dare you take the weapon of a lady like that? Unbelievable! You all just got no respect! No respect at all!” She growled, holding her chin, with a death glare at the Green Ranger.

While making the first step towards the, now on the ground laying Ranger, she once again was sniped by one of the Rangers blasters. With an annoyed huff, she spun around towards Pink and Yellow. “Why do you think you two will save the day when your friends already failed so miserably? Especially in your condition, Pink? You believe only because you are stubborn enough, things will just magically work out for you? Your time is numbered in minutes now! Just give up already, and you might live. You’ve got just enough time left till your body just collapses.”

“Screw! Off!” Sunny hissed back, pushing herself of Indigo, trying to stand as firm as possible. “We aren’t going to bow to you, your generals, or your boss! We are going to fight this till the bitter end! Because I know, they,” she pointed at her friends. “Just like me, don’t quit when they started something! We’ll beat you! And then, we’ll beat your entire hive! Green! Now!” She shouted out, letting the Changeling look back.

The Green ranger had pushed herself back up, her entire stance shakily, but she stood. With seemingly all her might, she threw something. Something the Yellow Ranger grabbed with a somersault before punching it into her Morpher.

[Me-Me-Metal!]

Without any further warning, Yellow rushed straight at her, avoiding her panicked punch and slammed straight into her, before sliding across her side and grabbing her arms from behind. The Changeling swung her mass around, but neither her spikes nor her power could get the Ranger off her.

In the meantime, the other Rangers dragged themselves towards her, each inserting a coin into their respective weapon.

[Fi-Fi-Final! Red!]

[Fi-Fi-Final! Blue!]

[Fi-Fi-Final! Pink!]

[Fi-Fi-Final! Green!]

It echoed across the courtyard, the Changeling quickly being enveloped in the dark cloud. The first light was red, slicing her across her chest, quickly followed by a blue one and a green one. Each strike let out a sea of sparks, letting her slump weakly in Indigo’s arms.

Meanwhile, outside the darkness, Sunny had taken position, aiming her gun directly into it. “Time to finish this!” She hissed before pulling the trigger, and an energy bolt zoomed into it, followed by a loud explosion.

Like on cue, a giant version of her grew out of the cloud, letting out a loud roar. The Rangers, still swaying weakly on their feet, quickly activated their specific coins and formed their Megazord.

[He-He-Hellhound!]

[Le-Le-Leviathan!]

[Ro-Ro-Roc!]

[Wy-Wy-Wyvern!]

[Ma-Ma-Manticore!]

“Shadow Star Megazord!”

With the new battleground, in its separate dimension now formed, both contestants dashed forward at each other.

The Changeling once again had regained her mace and swung it at the giant robot. The Rangers quickly pulled up one of their twin blades, knocking the Changeling back before slashing with the other one clean across her chest.

The Changeling roared once more, before swinging the weapon once again. This time, however, they somehow were off and the monster knocking one blade out of their hands. Without any sort of pause, the mace came down once more, straight into their chest, knocking the cockpit around a lot. Indigo looked around, her friends all more or less laying limp in their seats.

“Damn it! Still not gone!?” She shouted out in frustration and tried to block the next incoming attack. The only thing she, however, achieved was hit the handle of the mace in such a way that both weapons fell out of their user's hands.

With a loud screech, the Changeling just swung her fist at them, letting the cockpit shake once more, sparks erupting ut of every console. “Damn it! Damn it! What am I supposed to do? This is supposed to be a five-woman show! Not a one-woman show!” She screamed out, desperately trying to prevent the robot from falling over.

“Try… This!” Sunny managed to croak out before inserting a coin into her console, slumping over again the moment she did that.

[Ch-Ch-Chain!]

The appearance of the Coin managed to stop the next punch of the Changeling before slotting into the Zord. For a moment, she wondered what she was supposed to do, but then it hit her like a brick. “Ok, this is gonna be dumb! But let’s do this!” She shouted before firing a chain at the Changeling. She tried to block, but the metal thing just wrapped itself around her arm.

Once that happened, Indigo just smiled deviously below he helmet. Out of nowhere, the torso of the Megazord began to turn, tugging on the chain and with it, the Changeling. Within moments, the spinning got faster and faster until it at first pulled the Changeling after it and later through the buildings of the city. A circle of destruction and collapsing buildings formed around the Zord before the chain started to glow bright and brighter before-

Boom!

With one last explosion, the Changeling was thrown back into reality, landing beaten and bruised in front of the MRG agents. But before they could move in, to arrest her, Thorax, in his monster form appeared, picked her up and disappeared once more in green flames. Moments later, the Rangers landed on the courtyard.

“You all feel better?” Indigo asked, looking at her friends.

“Yeah… Just widened,” Sunny sighed, leaning on her own knees. The others looked equally exhausted.

“Good job. You definitely kept property damage to a minimum. Even if that tree doesn’t agree with that,” Shining weakly chuckled before returning to a more severe expression. “I assume you aren’t gonna reveal your identity to us, right?”

“No. We saw what happened to Alchemy revealed his. We aren’t interested in sharing his fate of no private life,” Sugarcoat quickly returned, crossing her arms.

“Figures. I knew that was coming. But if you ever need help, with something bigger than you, or because you need something from us, take my card. I’ll do what I can to help you,” he sighed, before handing them a rather plain business card.

Lemon Zest, seemingly with newfound energy, jumped forward and grabbed the card. “Sure! Help is always appreciated! Bye!” And with a handshake from the overly excited girl, they jumped into the air and disappeared.

“Superheroes,” Shining muttered and shook his head.

>-------<S>-------<

A day later, around the same time, Sunny was once again on her way to rehearsal. This time actually on time. Once, she entered End Scene, and everyone else turned around before more or less running up to her.

“You’re ok? You just… Ran off yesterday. You looked… Not well,” he asked, a nervous expression on his face.

“I… I’m fine. Just… A bit stressed. Have been doing a lot of things lately, and it seems it just finally caught up to me. I took a good nap, and now I’m back to mostly normal,” she sighed.

“I… I see. You sure you can do the role, though? Don’t want you to overexert myself. No one would be helped by that. My play would suffer, and you too,” End Scene returned, awkwardly rubbing the back of his head. “Not that I don’t want you anymore. You are a great Princess Platinum!”

“I… Yeah, actually, I wanted to say, I’m giving up the role. With what I have on my plate right now, I don’t think I can commit to it. Sorry to say that,” she added, a somber look on her face. “It’s usually not my style. I don’t like not finishing something I started, but this time? Someone else has to finish it.”

“I… I see… I totally respect your decision… But… that leaves the question… Who’s gonna replace you?” He returned, rubbing the back of his head.

“Oh, how about Coco over there? She was at every rehearsal, after all. And she did wonderfully in the casting, right? I’m sure she’ll do just fine,” Sunny smiled at her.

The girl just turned red again. “M… M… Me!?” She stammered out.

“Yes, her. What do you say?”

“Hmm… Not my first choice, but I can see it. Yes! That can work! Coco, you’re my new princess! Quick, quick! Someone get her a script!” Scene shouted out, Sunny just chuckling and handing Coc her old script.

“Th… Th… Thank you,” she managed to press out while clutching the script to herself.

“No problem, dear. And good luck with the big scene,” she added with a wink before waving everyone goodbye.

Outside the theater, Indigo waited for her. “You know, you didn’t need to do that. No one of us would have kicked up a fuss about it, right?”

“Oh, I know. But they can’t rely on me being there, so I cut it. Until this is over, I got to have different priorities,” she returned with a smile. “One of which is a good milkshake with my friends.”

>-------<S>-------<

A few days later, when one looked up at the night sky in Canterlot City, one could see a strange shooting star racing across it. Some couples enjoyed the last few warm days of autumn before things would cool down again, whishing upon the lucky phenomenon. They didn’t even raise any eyebrows when a loud train whistle echoed through the entire city. They just sent their wishes to the falling star.

What they didn’t know, however, was that if one looked closer, the star turned out to be a strange, bone-white train racing across the sky on golden train tracks. And what even fewer people knew, wherever this train appeared, darkness was soon to follow…

Author's Note:

So, back again and hopefully for good this time!

Also, the last bit of the chapter leads towards a crossover with RuinQueenofOblivion's Power Rangers Fanfic Rails of Reality.

It'll will take place in her story relatively soon. I'm really looking forward to this.

Comments

[Scholarly-Cimmerian]

Sorry it took me a few days to get to this. I really enjoyed reading this! The Changeling in this chapter had a very interesting power/effect to inflict on its target here - given the title and all, I was really curious about what the effect was gonna be. Given the Changeling's grumping about teenagers and elders, I really started to wonder if Sunny was going to start aging rapidly or something like that.

Not bad stuff on the writing front, I did catch one or two typos but they're pretty minor ones. Like "fiery" instead of "firey". I also quite enjoyed the conclusion of this chapter on Sunny's end, it was really nice to see how she finished things with the play and in regard to Coco as well.

[Layton13]

10439609
Well, glad you enjoyed it. It was also very fun to write, same with the next three chapters as well. I really managed to get back into the grove I think, since 14 till 16 are all finished already and I'm working on 17 right now. Let's hope I can keep that up.