AN: And here we go! Rangers of Equestria season 2 arrives with a bang…but later chapters will come only after I finish The Ultra Crystals and move onto Powers Unleashed. Enjoy!

Rangers of Equestria: Comes the Night

Chapter 1: Tempus Fugit

Two years was actually a very short amount of time.

Twilight Sparkle walked the streets of Ponyville, looking around at the reinforced buildings around her. Although it had clashed with the former open plan design, a medium-height wall had been built around the small town and the guards were changed every couple of days. If they had nothing else to do, the Rangers would take turns guarding their home and were constantly on the lookout for any new dangers to come. After the first few months, Discord hadn't shown up on the radar anywhere and Billy had finally stopped the weekly training sessions. Since learning of their immortality, the danger factor had been steadily increasing up to the point where they had to beg Billy to come at them with all his force. The Midnight Blue Ranger had responded by whipping up a few simulations based on combat data that had been exchanged with the Ultra Rangers. They ranged from hordes of grunts to strange mirrored monsters and even a slightly toned down version of their last battle with Xonix.

Speaking of the enemy of the Ultra Rangers, they had said that he was either lying low or had gone into another one of the Power Comas. The last time she had spoken to the Orange Ranger, he had said that it wasn't something they had to worry about and the Overlord would pop up sooner or later. Although, with almost two years having gone by; it seemed the Ultra Rangers were looking to place their Rangering days behind them. They had finished up with their final exams and would be going their separate ways to whatever path they found themselves on. She didn't really know much about that stuff anyway and allowed it to leave her mind. Turning to other matters, it seemed Dimitria had left more information than previously thought and it raised some questions about how dedicated she had been to Zedd's cause. Billy had walled himself off from the world for a few months before bringing them all in to the Command Tower to share what he had found.

What had been found left them shivering at night for weeks. Plans involving necrotic arts, armies of the undead and surreal monsters that would have stalked them in their sleep; they were plans that would have destroyed the Rangers for sure. Why Zedd had shelved them was anyone's guess, thought Billy had his suspicions that they had been placed on hold with the claiming of the Dark Rangers. What was interesting to note were the complicated and convoluted restraining methods that had been researched; almost as if those beings were never to be used against the general populace. Destroying them also wasn't an option as Zedd's research had found that their very presence was integral to the way Equestria worked. She didn't know why, but she had a strange feeling that Discord would want to get his claws into what they had found out. Stopping in her tracks, the inactive Ranger looked around at her surroundings curiously. There was a feeling running down her spine, something that screamed to her instincts that she was being watched. Shaking her head, she continued on her walk.

Shining Armour and Princess Cadence had been married a few weeks after the threat level was decreased. It had been a sight to see Billy in his unicorn form once more but everything had gone over pretty smoothly. Well, except for Queen Chrysalis interrupting the wedding with dire news that a faction of rogue Changelings was barrelling towards Canterlot with the intent of feeding off everypony. The Queen of the Changelings had scoffed at the very thought of the Equestrian Rangers, thinking them to be a strangely detailed rumour, but had vowed to protect the newlywed couple while the Bearers ran to get the Elements of Harmony. Needless to say, she had been struck dumb as seven ponies lined up and changed into the rumoured Equestrian Rangers. Faced with the sight of the seven Equestrian Rangers lined up outside Canterlot, the rogue faction had done what any normal, self-respecting faction would have done.

They fled.

Of course, they didn't get far. Once they had reached a reasonable distance, Spike had roped them with the Capture Sphere in the Dragon Jet. They would be spending the next five hundred years imprisoned under the ruins of the Tomb of Discord. After the wedding had officially finished, Princess Celestia had taken a shell-shocked Chrysalis to the Main Tower to debrief her friend…and possibly splash cold water on her. Another stunned party had been Twilight's new sister-in-law, Cadence. She smiled as she recalled the explanations that had to take place, including a video recap of their adventures so far. All things considered, Princess Cadence had taken it pretty well and wasn't asking any more questions. Shining Armour had been of some help, but even her brother had been floored at the sight of the gigantic Harmonyzords.

She paused in her step again and scanned the buildings around her. There was a definite feeling in the air that something wasn't right and she ducked into a side alley. Lifting her front left leg up, she nosed aside the covering fur over her communicator. Relying on the Element Morphers for communication wasn't always a good idea in a crowded situation and the appearance of her Element Morpher would cause undue panic. At least, she hoped it would be undue panic. Images of the first attack on Ponyville swam through her mind and she shook her head to clear it. The last thing she needed to do was to freak out over imaginary monsters and attacks.

"Billy, are you there?"

After a short moment, the voice of Billy crackled over the line. He seemed slightly out of breath and she realised that he was probably in the middle of one of the training sessions. Out of the seven Ranger, only Billy and Applejack trained themselves on a regular basis with Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy coming a close third and fourth respectively.

"Twilight? There's no unusual activity, if that's what you're asking. Everything seems clear…wait…these readings don't make sense."

Twilight furrowed her brow and instinctively summoned the Dragonfire Gem to replace her communicator. Through trial and error, she had discovered that she could morph directly into the Dragonfire Ranger without having to go through the 'normal' Ranger form first. It certainly cut down on the time spent messing about with various calls but it left her somewhat disorientated and stumbling as the changes in her body caught up with her. Mentally, she checked off where each Ranger would more than likely be. Pinkie was at Sugarcube Corner, Applejack and Rainbow Dash were guarding at the walls, Fluttershy was helping Nurse Redheart and Rarity was trying to rope Spike into being a model for her yet again. Sounds similar to scrunching paper came over the frequency and Twilight frowned lightly as a strange scent wafted past her nose.

Describing it later, she said it was a sickly sweet smell – like burning caramel – intermixed with something akin to freshly cut grass. Behind her, she could hear the confused murmurings of the crowd as they odour drifted over them. Instantly, she glanced in the direction of Sugarcube Corner; expecting Pinkie to be disposing of a failed caramel and grass flour cake…yet the normally chaotic building was quiet. Billy's voice issued from the frequency again but seemed slightly distracted.

"Twilight, get out of there. Something's coming and I don't know what –"

The communication cut off with an audible snap as her nose twitched. For the first time in two years, she felt the familiar Ranger instincts creeping up on her. She flicked her ears irritably as she detected the air charging up and she waited for whatever it was to begin. Stretching out with her senses, she could almost hear the crackle of an opening portal and the unintelligible burble of Z Centaurs.

An explosion engulfed the alley behind her as she whirled around. Panic whipped the crowd into frenzy and they stampeded everywhere with only the thought of saving their lives in their minds. Balls of fire and light exploded everywhere as ponies of all shapes and sized were thrown back violently in the sudden attack. Leaping through the flames, Twilight raised the Dragonfire Gem to the air and clenched her jaw. It was very clear that the years of peace had come to an abrupt end…

And war was upon them once more.

TBC…