Power Rangers Crystal Harmony

by SonicSpeedster97

Ch. 1: Shadows over Canterlot

Canterlot City had seen some pretty crazy things over the last few months, most of it centralized around Canterlot High School, but with the end of this latest school year and graduation for the senior class right around the corner, one age of adventure was almost over for the city’s great heroes, though they weren’t actually known as the ones behind it.

Even so, it gave them enough time for Twilight to drag her friends into one more of her countless science projects in the lab she’d set herself up with at the school. “So what exactly is this about, darling?” Rarity asked. “Shouldn’t we be preparing for our finals and graduation?”

“And why do you need our Geodes for this little science project?” Rainbow Dash asked in annoyance; it was bad enough that this experiment was keeping the girls from their typical afterschool band practice – especially since the Rainbooms had been making a killing performing at charity events – but for Twilight to take the girls’ Geode pendants the week prior made it an even more raw deal since it meant she’d taken their superpowers with them.

“Because the Geodes are the focus of the experiment,” Twilight assured as she worked with a small soldering iron.

“You’re not trying to study our magic, are you? Because I’ve already told you how poorly that worked out for me.” Sunset pointed out.

“Believe me; I remember. And thankfully, that’s not what I’m working on.” Twilight smiled as she closed what looked like a silver bracer with a gold disk on the top containing Rainbow Dash’s Geode. “I’m working on a series of containment matrixes to help focus the geodes’ powers.”

“Why would we need that?” Rainbow asked… only to be met by a flurry of raised eyebrows.

“Do you really need us to answer that question?” asked Spike.

That was what helped Rainbow remember the time she’d overloaded her friends’ Geode powers by using her speed more and more often. “Ugh, that was one time.”

“One time over two weeks.” Sunset reminded. “I prefer not to hear people’s thoughts in my head all the time, thanks.”

“Well, if I can get these containment units to function properly, we shouldn’t have to worry about that,” Twilight assured as she handed the first one to Rainbow. “I also added a tracking function similar to the one from my amulet at the Friendship Games.” This earned her some concerned looks, so she quickly headed it off. “Uh, b-but just the tracking; no containment protocols. Believe me, I’ve learned since the Games.” The relief on her friends’ faces helped with that. “I also think that these devices might help us get better control over our power-up forms from Camp Everfree and the Memory Stone incident. Uh, here; let’s try it out.”

Rainbow shrugged and strapped the metal bracer to her left wrist with the disk pointed to her hand, seeing her Geode contained in the center of the disk. “You sure this’ll work?” she asked.

“Well, it is a prototype, but… I’m optimistic.” Twilight shrugged. Rainbow figured that was the best she would get, so she tapped the Geode through the disk but didn’t feel anything. “Oh. Uh, you- you have to spin it. That’s- that’s how it’s activated now.”

Rainbow appeared annoyed already as she gave the disk a quick counterclockwise spin with her thumb… and immediately the device started sparking with red electricity. “Gah, whoa!” Rainbow panicked and quickly tore the device from her wrist, letting it fall to the floor near Fluttershy – who quickly recoiled in fear as the bracer sparked madly until it stopped.

“What’n Sweet Apple’s name was that?” asked Applejack.

“Well… I did say it was a prototype.” Twilight shrugged nervously.

Sunset sighed as she bent down and picked up the bracer, finding it not overly hot but she could definitely smell fused circuitry inside it… as well as the smell of some manner of other scorched material she wasn’t familiar with. “Well, clearly it needs more work.” she pointed out as she handed it to Twilight.

“I know. I just really thought it would work to at least give Rainbow Dash some control over her superspeed.” Twilight shrugged.

“Well, look on the bright side; at least none of your powers went haywire once she spun it.” Spike pointed out.

“Mm, fair point.” Rarity shrugged.

“Why was it red?” asked Pinkie.

“Huh?” the others asked.

“The lightning. It was red.” Pinkie pointed out.

“Is that really such a big deal?” Rainbow asked as she examined her wrist, just to make sure it hadn’t harmed her in any way.

“Well, I should think so.” Rarity realized. “Sunset’s Geode is red, yours is blue. So why would this device shoot off red lightning?”

“Exactly.” Pinkie pointed out.

“Huh. Well, I guess that is a bit weird.” Twilight relented as she opened the tops of all the bracers.

Sunset glanced over her shoulder and appeared surprised; the circuitry inside the bracers looked almost crystalline. “What did you wire these things with?” she asked.

“Well, for our most recent date, Timber and I went spelunking in the crystal cave outside Camp Everfree,” Twilight remembered, blushing a bit as she remembered how she and Timber had officially started dating. “I wanted to see how the other crystals there interacted with my geode, and well… the response was… unusual.”

“Define ‘unusual’, Darling.” Rarity asked.

“Well, the crystals did definitely have traces of Equestrian magic, but… there was also something else. Some other form of energy I’m not familiar with.” Twilight shrugged.

“So that’s why ya built in those detectors.” Applejack surmised.

“Exactly.” Twilight nodded as she examined the crystalline wiring in Rainbow’s bracer. “Anyway, I’m doing what I can to experiment with those crystals to try and determine what exactly this other energy is, but so far – including this crystal wiring thing I’m trying right now – nothing’s really working, and now I’m gonna need new crystal wiring for Rainbow’s transformation sequence programming.” She perked up significantly when she noticed something. “On the plus side, it looks like the energy detector is still perfectly wired up.”

“Might as well test that out now; see if it works better than the transformation sequence.” Sunset shrugged.

“Fine by me.” Rainbow shrugged as she took the bracer again. But then she noticed something; Twilight and Sunset were the only ones not wearing these bracers. “Where are yours?”

“Ran out of materials to make yours.” Twilight shrugged. “And like I said, I’m still only scratching the surface of what these crystals can do.”

“Well, no time like the present to find out.” Applejack shrugged as she and the other girls took their own bracers and strapped them to their left wrists.

“Fair enough. Now the tracking system is activated by the button at the end under the disk.” Twilight instructed. Rainbow shrugged and pressed that almost diamond-colored button and immediately a small screen on the back of the bracer started beeping like a radar screen, showing a strange pink blip… coming from the front of the school.

“Huh. That’s weird.” Rainbow remarked. The others quickly pressed their tracker buttons and followed the signal out front… to the statue plinth.

Pinkie glanced up and couldn’t help but sigh. “It’s just not the same without the Wondercolt statue,” she remarked.

“Yeah, we seriously need to talk to Principal Celestia about letting us put on a show to pay for a new one.” Rainbow agreed.

“How about after we figure out where this energy is coming from?” Sunset suggested.

“That’s the odd thing, isn’t it? It seems to be coming from the portal itself.” Rarity pointed out as she examined the plinth.

“What?” Twilight asked as she looked over Rarity’s shoulder and indeed saw that the energy signature was coming from the plinth. “That’s weird.”

“Maybe it’s the portal’s magic?” Spike suggested.

“No, I don’t think so.” Sunset shrugged and smirked at Twilight. “You remember what the portal’s magic does, don’t you?”

“Believe me, I remember.” Twilight nodded; it would be hard to forget how she- no, Midnight Sparkle – had used the portal’s magic to try and tear this world asunder just to try and attack Equestria out of a lust for power. “That kind of power would probably fry the scanners beyond repair.”

“Well then, what’s this power coming from?” Rainbow asked as she waved her bracer over the plinth.

“I think I know,” Fluttershy noted as she stood on top of the plinth. The others looked and were more than a bit concerned by the size of the crack they saw in the stone.

“Whoa. Where did this come from?” asked Rainbow.

Twilight had a sneaking suspicion she knew. “From me,” she said quietly. “Midnight destroyed the statue. The blast must’ve cracked the plinth somehow.”

“But why would there be magic coming from it?” Rainbow asked… right before another blip appeared on the screen on her bracer; a black blip… followed by a powerful blast of dark energy that shot into the sky from the crack.

“Does that answer your question?” asked Applejack.

“Yeah, and it’s given me a follow-up question; what was that?” asked Rainbow.

“I have a bad feeling we’re gonna find out,” Sunset noted as the black energy shot into the school. “C’mon!” Quickly the Rainbooms raced into the school after the shadow. They saw it hover in the middle of the foyer for a second, so they took the opening to try and dogpile it before anything bad happened. Unfortunately, all that did was tangle the girls up in a big knot on the floor as the shadow flew down the hall… straight toward Vice Principal Luna, who had just rounded the corner. “Look out!”

Luna looked up from her work just in time for the shadow to fly into her head. “Gah!” she cried in pain as she grabbed her head. Whatever was going on, a strange shadowy essence was flowing from her eyes before the shadow shot from her mind, sending Luna to the ground.

The Rainbooms quickly raced to help their teacher as they watched the shadow float to the ground in front of them and reform into a shadowy being with what looked like wings and a unicorn horn holding a large double-bladed sword. Then the shadows disappeared and revealed this being was a woman in an old-fashioned dress… who looked like a dark reflection of Vice Principal Luna.

“Ah… an unusual form… but I should be able to do some good work with it.” The girls were surprised: who or whatever this being was, it even sounded like Vice Principal Luna - if a bit darker in its tone of voice. The being looked over and saw the girls and appeared interested. “Ah, locals. Here to witness the arrival of your new mistress, no doubt.”

“Guess again, ugly.” Rainbow scowled as she suddenly charged, hopeful her actions would trigger her Geode’s powers and activate her super-speed. But it didn’t work and before she could even try to get a hit in, this dark form shot a blast of dark energy from her blade and knocked Rainbow back into her friends’ arms, bowling them all over into the plinth.

“Resistance. Humorous, but futile.” the dark being remarked mirthlessly.

“Who are you?” asked Vice Principal Luna.

“I am Tantabus; a spirit of dreams and child of Nightmare Moon.” the creature scowled. “Equestria has proven too much of a handful for me to try and conquer. But I’ve seen this world has no magic to oppose me, so I shall rule from your dreams and make your world a living nightmare.”

“Keep dreaming.” Rainbow groaned as she stood up, holding her bracer at the ready.

Twilight could clearly see what she was going to do. “Rainbow, no! The circuitry is fused; it might hurt you too badly!”

“This lady’s gotta go down fast, Twilight. And fast is what I do best!” Rainbow smirked and spun the disk on her bracer. Just like before, it sparked madly with red electricity, but this time when she charged, she was moving much faster than before as red energy shot around her.

“What?!” Tantabus yelled before Rainbow tackled her straight into a bank of lockers and stopped short, glowing with red energy.

“Whoa… this never happened before,” she remarked in surprise as the other girls moved to her side.

Sunset couldn’t help but smirk as she looked over at Tantabus. “You’re a bit behind on current events, Tantabus,” she smirked. “This world has had magic for months now, and we know how to use it.”

Tantabus scowled as she looked at Sunset, her eyes lightly glowing… as she peered into Sunset and Twilight’s minds. She smirked as she saw what was locked away within. “Only fairly recently though, right?” she remarked.

That statement left the girls confused until Tantabus shot two bolts of shadowy magic from her blade at Twilight and Sunset’s heads, entering their minds almost immediately. The two girls groaned in pain as Tantabus’ magic coursed through their minds before two large bursts of shadow shot out of their foreheads and landed next to the dark being, condensing into forms the girls all hoped they’d never see again: Sunset’s Demon form from the Fall Formal, and Midnight Sparkle.

“Ah, it’s good to finally be free.” Demon Shimmer smirked.

“You’re telling me.” Midnight agreed.

“This is impossible; we destroyed you,” Sunset said in fear.

“In this world, perhaps.” Tantabus smiled. “But in the world of dreams, their anger and lust for power festered. Until my timely arrival set them free. From now on, you both serve me.”

“I suppose we owe you that much.” Demon Shimmer smirked. “As long as we get Equestria when we’re done with this world.”

“Deal.” Tantabus nodded.

The Rainbooms quickly stepped forward, ready to defend their friends. “You’re not getting Equestria on our watch,” Rainbow assured with strength.

“And what are you going to do to stop us?” Midnight smirked as she raised a blast of magic in her hands.

“At a guess? Something brave yet ultimately foolhardy.” Rarity shrugged but raised her bracer either way along with the others. “Which I will find wholly satisfying.” As one, the girls all spun their bracers’ disks and they all crackled with electricity; Applejack’s was green, Rarity’s was blue, Fluttershy’s was yellow, and Pinkie’s was… well, pink.

Naturally the girls were expecting to either shift into their Crystal Guardian forms or activate their powers, but before anything like that could happen, Midnight fired her blast at the girls, causing a small explosion in the hallway. Twilight, Sunset, and Luna were sent tumbling back by the blast, all frightened for the girls’ sakes, but when the smoke cleared… well, none of them were sure what they were expecting, but it wasn’t this.

Somehow the Rainbooms were contained in brightly colored bodysuits with white neck-guards, gloves, boots, and skirts, and colored helmets with embossed silver mouth plates, pony-like ears with speakers inside, and black visors over their eyes with white decals on the sides;
Rainbow’s had small lightning bolts extending off from the sides,

Applejack’s looked like an apple with silver leaves higher on her head and apple branches on the sides of her helmet,

Rarity’s looked like three diamonds side by side with smaller diamonds on the sides,

Fluttershy’s looked like butterflies,

and Pinkie’s looked like three balloons side by side with streamers and smaller balloons on the sides.

Black stripes trimmed in gold extended down from their shoulders leading into chevrons above their bellies where their symbols appeared in gold, an ornate gold and crystal symbol appearing as the buckles on their silver belts, with bright silver pistol/daggers holstered at their sides.

“What?! Power Rangers?! Impossible!” Tantabus remarked in shock, though Demon Shimmer and Midnight appeared surprised.

“What just happened?” Rarity asked as the girls looked themselves over.

“I don’t know, but I like it. This feels awesome!” Rainbow smirked as she clenched her gloved fist.

“Let’s put it to good use then!” Applejack nodded. The Rainbooms all nodded and quickly posed with strength before they charged these monsters and started fighting; Rainbow fought Tantabus directly and deflected plenty of her sword swings with backhanded attacks, as Applejack and Pinkie fought Demon Shimmer, and Rarity and Fluttershy fought Midnight.

Twilight and Sunset were still in awe of what they were seeing, but they knew that whatever it was, it couldn’t last; the bracers were shorting out as they fought, but these moves they were showing off were incredible; Fluttershy in particular – she barely knew any martial arts but somehow, she was keeping pace with the others and these monsters almost too easily, especially as they watched the monsters get knocked out through the front doors of the school and tumble down the stairs.

(Cut it)

“Had enough?” Rainbow smirked under her helmet, quietly concerned about how much her bracer was sparking.

Demon Shimmer scowled as she tried to stand up and raise a handful of fire at the girls, but Tantabus held her back. “No. We’re still weak from entering the physical world. We have to retreat, for now, to regain our full strength.” she ordered and stood up. “Let me assure you now, Rangers; this is far from over.” With that, she slammed the tip of one of her blades into the ground and the three monsters were suddenly surrounded in shadow before they disappeared.

“Yeah, y’all better run!” Applejack smirked… right before the suits disappeared and returned the girls to their standard outfits, their bracers clearly shorted out as the others quickly came out to join them.

“Are you all right, Vice Principal Luna?” Rarity asked immediately.

“I have a rather impressive headache, but I think I’ll be fine,” Luna assured. “I’m more worried about you girls.”

“So are we.” Sunset agreed as she and Twilight looked at the girls’ bracers. “What was that?”

“I don’t know. But it felt good.” Rainbow smirked. “The question is what caused it?”

“Only one way to answer that. We need to go back to Camp Everfree and get more of those crystals.” Twilight said with conviction.

“Agreed.” Sunset nodded as the group quickly climbed aboard the Rainbooms’ tour bus parked nearby. Applejack took the wheel – thankful she’d gotten her license before all this – and drove the bus fast out of the school parking lot.

Luna watched them drive away, more than a bit worried for her students… but unaware of what would soon come to pass thanks to Tantabus’ meddling.

As they drove, Sunset quickly fished her magic journal out of her backpack and started writing. “Dear Princess Twilight, I think we have another magic problem in Canterlot City, and it sounds like one you’re familiar with. What do you know about a dark being called the Tantabus, or something called the Power Rangers?”

Comments

[Mystic Sunrise]

With seven rangers, hopefully that's all there will be. Going by character tags at least.

[SonicSpeedster97]

11602371
We'll get there.

[nightshroud96]

Will Spike become a Ranger too?
Doesn't seem fair the girls get even more powers but Spike gets nothing and gets left out.

[Wysteria]

Wasn't expecting Rainbow to be the red ranger.