//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: Ranger's Destiny: How It Must End // by TasteDaRainbow //------------------------------// "I guarantee that Soarin and Spitfire will totally be in my team." Rainbow said with a cocky smirk. "And what makes ya so sure 'bout that." Applejack raised an eyebrow while crossing her hands. "Because I'm awesome." Dash replied with a sly grin on her face. The students of Canterlot High were in the gymnasium. All of them were talking about the game that Rainbow Dash had mentioned earlier on the bus. The voices of the students filled the air until Principal Celestia, along with Vice Principal Luna walked up to the stage. Celestia cleared her throat through the microphone to get everyone's attention. As the room went silent, the principal smiled warmly at them. "Good morning students of Canterlot. I believe all of you already know about our game against Crystal Prep." The students remained silent, letting her to continue. "Remember, this is not a Friendship Games. This is just some games that we, Canterlot High and Crystal Prep arranges to increase our friendship and to just have some fun before the Christmas Holiday begin." The students cheer in excitement as they heard the word 'holiday'. "And with that," Luna continued, "We must make teams for each games. And because this is not about winning and losing, we have prepared this pieces of papers." She said while holding a bowl full of papers that have been folded up. "I think I'm not going to like this at all." Rainbow said while crossing her arms. Her eyes focused on the bowl. "Relax Dash, it's only a game." Twilight pat her shoulder gently. "Yeah!" Pinkie half shouted, "Besides, there won't be any trouble again since we have befriended with the students of Crystal Prep. I'm sure everything will be just fine." She pulled a cupcake out of nowhere and shoved it to her mouth. "We have written down the numbers for you to be grouped with your friends. Each of you will only take one paper and regroup with your friends that have the same number as your own." Luna continued. "Ughh... I knew it." Rainbow groaned and mumbled in annoyance while looking up at the ceiling. For her, winning is everything. Her reputation is everything. "Once you are all done, you can-" Before Luna could continue her explanation, the door behind the students burst opened, revealing a soldier and some random guy rolled into the room. "Oh no you don't you shitbird." Daniel said as he ran through the hallway. The sound of footsteps echoing around the hallway as Daniel and the runner ran as fast as their legs could carry them. A lot of sweats trailed down from Daniel's forehead to his chin but he gritted his teeth, narrow his eyes, and continue to run. He felt his lungs were on fire. His body already begged him to stop but he pushed himself more and more. "Daniel?" Chase said through the walkie. "I'm at the back door. Where are you?" "I'm still on his tail! Just come in already and we'll corner him!" He shouted back. They continue to run through the school hallway for like ages. Daniel was still on his tail but his lungs couldn't take it anymore as he was slowing down every second. His vision began to blur and his body felt very tired. He never had drained so much energy before. He saw the terrorist was already far ahead in front of him and turned left. "For fuck sake..." He mumbled while gaining more of his speed. As he made his way to the left, he was caught off guard by the terrorist who attacked him immediately. His enemy grabbed the young private and pushed him right into a double door. The door was unlocked, so both of them burst through the door while rolling into the room. With the terrorist on top of him, he started to punch Daniel's face mercilessly. Daniel raised both of his arms to cover his face. Punches after punches were thrown to his hands. His hands were aching in pain. But he then miraculously found an opening. Daniel grabbed one of the terrorist's arms and punched him in the face with another one, making the terrorist got off from him and crouched beside him. Daniel quickly got up and attacked the terrorist with his knee. The terrorist seemed to notice this as he managed to pull himself out of the way from the deadly attack to his face. He took the advantage to kick to the back of Daniel's knee, making him crouched from the impact. The terrorist grabbed his shoulder but Daniel shoved it off and turned to him quickly, still crouching. Sending a punch to the side of the head, the terrorist blocked it. But was greeted with another punch to his gut and a kick to his chest as he fall backwards while Daniel rolled himself backwards as well. He pushed himself up and sprint towards the helpless terrorist. With a swift kick, his boot hit the head of his enemy; hard enough to make him roll several feet away from him. "Shit..." Daniel said out loud as he put both hands to his knees and panting heavily. His legs though, against him as he sat down with a loud thud. He looked at the terrorist, who was lying on the ground and didn't move. Guess his kick made him unconscious for awhile. Daniel chuckled lightly at the thought. "That should make you sleep for awhile." "Private!" He heard Chase shouted through the hallway. "Chase! I'm over here!" Daniel responded, still didn't notice the students behind him. Hearing his friend responded from a room, Chase quickly ran to him. As he leaned against one of the door, he saw Daniel was sitting and panting with the terrorist not far from him. "You did this?" He asked innocently. Daniel shrugged. "I have to admit, he has the skill of hand to hand combat. But can't win against me." "Fuck you..." Chase replied while approaching the unmoving terrorist. The terrorist still lying on his face, so Chase turned him around so he could see his face. "That should teach him a lesson." "Better be," Daniel replied, "And how the hell could you run with your weapon like that?" He said while pointing at the LMG. Chase looked at the young ranger, then to his gun, the M240. He chuckled. "I'm older than you." He replied with a smirk. "Being old is suck." Daniel groaned as he collapse himself onto the floor. "Ugh... when this will fuckin' end?!" He shouted as he buried his face with his both hands. "Relax Private, we'll definitely catch that bastard when we interrogate this dude over here." Chase said as he looked at the unconscious dude. "Besides, it will be easy for us to... uhh..." His voice trailed off as he saw the people in the room. "Chase?" Daniel asked but he didn't respond. His eyes were just looking at the multicoloured humans that were watching at them. "Chase, ya better not playing games now." Daniel said, still burying his face on his hands. "I'm not kidding this time." Chase replied, still looking at the unique humans. "Look..." He simply said. Daniel sat down and followed his gaze. Just then, his jaw dropped to the ground as he saw what's inside the room. Multicoloured humans. That's what he saw. Is this some kind of new experiment that Mr. President was doing? He could have sworn his heart jumped off from his chest and ran away while screaming like a bitch. "The fuck..." Daniel mumbled to himself. "Umm... Chase... Daniel...?" One of them spoke up. Chase and Daniel were taken aback by that voice. But that voice... it was a female. And they heard it a long time ago. But where? "How do you know us?" Chase asked sternly while slowly taking a few steps back. Daniel though, still sat on the floor with wide eyes. His mind wouldn't let him think just yet. "It's me..." The voice said again. A girl, with fiery hair and orange skin steps forward, revealing herself. "You don't remember me?" She asked again. Daniel blinked before respond. "She's kinda familiar to me." He said as he looked at Chase. "She looked like one of the ponies in Equestria right?" He asked quietly. Chase nodded in agreement. "Definitely." "It's Sunset Shimmer." The girl said. Daniel snapped his fingers as he smiled widely. "Yeah! That's her name... wait... how do you know?" He looked at the girl, who had tears on her eyes. "Because that pony is me." Sunset finally said. "I'm Sunset Shimmer." Daniel quickly stood up and looked at her, his face was still confused and shock at the same time. "But..." He stammered, "H-how could that p-possible?" Sunset pointed her hand to Chase. "You are Private Matthew Chase." Then she pointed to Daniel. "And you are Staff Sergeant Daniel Nicholas. Both of you are from the 1st Battalion 75th Ranger Regiment, United States Army Rangers. Right?" "Well, I'm clearly not a Staff Sergeant. I'm just doin' my duty that Finn gave to me." Daniel replied matter-of-fact. "But you still our Guardian." Sunset replied, slowly walked forward. Both soldiers stared her in shock. This is Sunset? Wasn't she a pony before? And how she could be a human? What the hell is wrong with this world? Heavy silence filled the air once the rangers thought it for a moment. Then, Chase suddenly dropped his M240, making loud noise that everyone in the room jumped because of it. "Argh... I can't believe this is happening again!" He shouted as he leaned against a wall, crossed his arms and let out a sigh. "Why the fuck does this always happening to us? Now we're stuck in another fucking world with no clue of where we are, where the hell is Mustafa and God knows what happened to his army! Now how are we suppose to fucking fight him?!" Daniel let his friend rage quit behind him, his eyes were still staring at Sunset. This is her? Then he noticed the people behind her. He saw some people that strangely familiar to him. Six of them. They were just like the Elements of Harmony. Probably them, he thought as he examine them. Still processing what was happening, he didn't realize that Sunset was already standing in front of him with tears on the corner of her eyes. "The others miss you so much." She said as she suddenly pulled him into a hug. "I miss you so much." She sobs to his shoulder. "We all miss you." Daniel couldn't react as he just stood there, dumbstruck. For real though, this is Sunset? That question repeated dozens of time in his head until his brain wanted nothing than a self destruction. "I..." She began, "I thought I might never see you again. I thought that because of the war that you're fighting back home... you... you..." "I'm not dead... Sunset." Daniel interrupted with a chuckle, realising that she's uncomfortable to say it. His hands then move on their own accord as they started to wrap Sunset and pulled her in a tight embrace. She gasped in surprise and hug him tighter. Daniel saw six multicoloured humans walked up to them. All of them, were familiar to him. The purple one with glasses, must be Twilight Sparkle. But the pony one didn't wear any. The blue and had rainbow hair must be Rainbow Dash. The pink with puffy hair, must be Pinkie Pie. The white one with elegant purple hair is definitely Rarity. The yellow one with pink hair is Fluttershy. And finally, the pony he came to know and love. Applejack. Her Stetson shows all of her country sides. But one thing that made him confused though. Sunset said that they all miss them. Then why didn't the others come and join their hug? Back on Equestria that usually happened. "Hey girls," Daniel said, still hugging Sunset, "Long time no see." The girls even more confused when he said that. They looked at each other, and then back to them. "Uhh... us?" Rainbow asked. "Don't lie to us," Chase said from behind, "You know who we are." "No they don't you silly." Sunset chuckled as she pulled back from the hug. Chase and Daniel had their confused looks again. "But we just save your asses." Chase said with crossed arms. The humans winced at the word. "Ohh," Applejack said, "So yer the ones who saved those ponies from Sombra ain't ya?" "Yeah!" Pinkie exclaimed, "The rangers that saved the entire Equestria!" "Woah, you guys must be proud of yourselves!" Rainbow chimed in. "And awesome." Daniel looked at them. A bit disappointed that he's unable to see his beloved mare again. "Yeah, we are," he replied while looking at the ground, "We lost Finn and Jerry, and lots of rangers because of that." "Oh my..." Fluttershy said while covering her mouth, "We're really sorry to hear that." The others nod solemnly. Celestia cleared her throat as she and Luna walked past the students and stood in front of Daniel. "Mind if I ask what was going on here?" This must be Celestia.. and that is Luna, Daniel thought to himself. He blinked before answer the question. "I'm very sorry for the sudden occurrence Ma'am. But we're here to catch one of Mustafa's terrorists. And I think we got what we wanted." Celestia nodded, still looking at the ranger with stern looks. "I know this must be very important to you. But please bring him with you as fast as possible. I do not want any trouble happen in this school again. There were a lot already." Before Daniel could ask what happened, he gasped in pain as his mind went on the events where he lost Finn and Jerry. To make things worse, they died in front of him. He held his head as he tried to regain his balance. "Daniel!" Sunset's eyes widened and quickly helped him balance himself. His mind flashes, he could saw Finn got shot by the magic. "Kid, you better stop thinking about that." Chase said as he walked over to them. "I don't have any intention to." Daniel stumbled but Sunset and Chase quickly grabbed him before he could fall to the floor. He was breathing heavily and his vision became blurry. His mind flashed again as he saw Jerry was struggling to get the Timberwolf off of him. "What's happening to him?" Twilight asked, her face showed panic, scared and concern. The other student soon closed in behind Sunset's friends as they curious about what happened. Daniel shook his head several times before regaining his composure and was able to stand on his own. "It's just the PTSD," he said calmly as he control his breathing, "Nothing to worry about." "You know you're a bad liar," Sunset said with a frown, "You should take some rest." "It's bad for a young kid like you Private," Chase said as he patted his shoulder, "Like she said. You should take some rest." Just as he said that, his walkie began to shriek as Forbes' voice called out. "Corporal, Private! Where the hell are you? Did you catch him?" Chase sighed as he replied, "Negative Sarge. He manage to got away. But we caught one of his guy." Forbes coughed a little for a moment. "Damn it. All right, Chase can you pick me up?" "What? Me?" "I'm still here in the car and some of the people here tried to help me but they couldn't. And I just notice they were freaking COLOURFUL!! COLOURFUL HUMANS!! What the hell is going on?!" "Sarge, calm down. It seems like we're having that thing again." It took a moment for Forbes to calm himself down as they heard him sigh heavily. Daniel snorted a little, which received a glare from his friend. "Hang tight Sarge, I'm on my way." Chase said as he walked to the door. "Private, take care of him will ya?" "Will do." Daniel nodded as he looked at the still unconscious terrorist. He walked to him and knelt down. "Excuse me, Sir." Principal Celestia spoke up as she walked closer to him. "Please," Daniel said as he stood up, "Don't call me Sir, or Mister, I'm only eighteen years old." The students gasped as he mentioned his age. Daniel looked at them in confusion. "What? You didn't expect a soldier to be this young?" He said, slightly cocky. "Nope." One of them spoke up with a familiar voice to him. Daniel immediately recognised it as Big Mac, Applejack's brother. Daniel decided to change the topic. "So Ma'am," he asked to Celestia, "Is there anything you want to ask?" Before Celestia could ask, the terrorist kicked Daniel's legs in a quick motion. With a loud thud, he was then being strangled by the terrorist who was sitting on top of him in a blink of an eye. Daniel gritted his teeth as his hands tried to break loose the grip. The terrorist smirked at him, tightening the grip to kill him in that moment. Daniel's breathing began to slow down, his vision darkened in each seconds as he loosened his grip. Seeing this, Sunset quickly ran over to her friend. With a powerful kick to the terrorist's head, he stumbled away from Daniel and collapse again to the floor. Daniel breathe heavily as Twilight and her friends wasting no time on holding the terrorist onto the ground. "We'll hold him here." Twilight said as she gestures Sunset to check Daniel. She nod. "You all right?" Sunset asked while kneeling next to him. She brought her hand to his neck and face to make sure that there were no injuries. "I'm... fine..." Daniel said as he sit up. He then stood up and walked over to the terrorist, that was being hold with the students. "Let me take care of him from here." Daniel gestured them to release him. They hesitate at first, but complied nonetheless as they released the terrorist from their grip. The terrorist crouched down while coughing. Shaking his head several times, he looked up, only to see Daniel's face was already inches away from him. The private smirked, seeing the fear on his enemy's eyes. "You're on a highway to hell brother." His right hand reared back and with all of his might, he punched the terrorist right on his chin and kick him on the chest as hard as he could. Knocking him out of his wind. With that, the terrorist fall backwards with his eyes closed. Bastard. "He's tough." Dash whispered to Sunset. "I know." Daniel wiped his mouth and turned back to the students and their principal. "Mind if me and the boys stay here for awhile?"