Disclaimer: By now, you should know who belongs to who. Pinkie is the main character 'cause she wouldn't stop poking me.

Enjoy!

Chapter 15: Dark Wings

Pinkie Pie hummed happily to herself as she bounced down the Main Street of Ponyville. Everything was being built up stronger and more fortified, thanks to the Princess sending down her best architects and builders. Gummy was nestled safely in her mane and the sun was shining. It was a great, spectacular and awesome day and it was a good thing the dispute with Ponyville's Pegasus chariots was over so the builders could go home.

The pink pony paused precariously in her prance and puzzled over the problem of Ponyville's powered protectors. Well, it wasn't so much of a puzzle as she was the Pink Ranger, but she had to be puzzled to keep up appearances and pick up the rumours floating around the pony populace. She knew that the griffons were migrating from Draconis for their annual pilgrimage to their mating grounds and that there had been one griffon that had been cast from the main group. According to her sources, the griffon was seen orbiting one mountain in the Everfree Forest, as if it were guarding it from intruders.

She chewed on her lower lip as she thought about the griffons. Come to think of it, she hadn't seen many griffons around Ponyville since the incident with Gilda a while ago. The last one she had seen who wasn't Gilda had been from Gilda's family group with an official Letter of Apology to herself, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy.

She shook her head to expel those thought from her mind and thought about the days that had passed since the debut of the Zord. Billy had connected all of them to their Zords and had explained the basic functions to them including the combinations that could be done. She had never ever seen Rainbow Dash and Applejack turn those colours before but everything seemed to be fine. Plus, it confirmed something that she had noticed a while ago. And then Billy had shown them his backup form – something that had to do with an animal that lived inside your spirit or something. Whatever it was, the explanation had upset Fluttershy until Billy explained that the animal wasn't alive, but was a manifestation of Morphin Energy.

That had gone over her head, but everypony else seemed to understand.

He had also said the powers would change, grow and evolve over time and adapt to their own fighting styles. Twilight, Applejack and Rarity had stayed behind to learn more about the Morphin Grid and what the Zords could do. From what she had heard, the only pony who could keep up with the technobabble was Twilight.

All in all, it had been a pretty quiet couple of days until early in the morning, when her Pinkie Sense had gone off. Three knee tremblers, an eye cross and a flutter in her nether regions had sent her on high alert. She couldn't remember when she had such a strong combo before – even the doozy a while back hadn't been so powerful in its intensity. She just wished it would happen soon as it would lessen everypony's nerves around her.

Location Unknown

"Go to Ponyville with a squad of Centaurs. Bring Gryffon with you."

"Understood, master."

Ponyville

Pinkie Pie blinked. For a moment, she felt as if the focus had cut away from her and had gone somewhere else. Her ears picked up on the faint sounds of wings in the distance and she unconsciously summoned her Element Morpher to her, not noticing everypony suddenly bowing in reverence. Her eyes scanned the skies nervously as her Pinkie Sense went off again, sending the ponies around her galloping for cover. In the span of a few seconds, the Main Street was empty of all ponies except Pinkie. Allowing Gummy to jump into a nearby barrel, the pink Earth pony stood her ground and waited warily. She had a feeling she didn't have to wait long.

In a violent updraft of wind coupled with a bight flash, two creatures appeared in front of her. One was most definitely a monster and she looked at it first. It looked like a griffon that had been buried underground for at least a hundred years. Patches of skin and muscle were sheared off to expose the white bone that gleamed in the morning sun. The claws were broken and chipped and some of the sockets were leaking dust. The most striking feature of the monster was its eyes – or its lack thereof. Tiny pinpricks of red in sunken and hollowed eye sockets were the only indication it could see at all. Raising itself on its hind legs, the creature screeched into the air and Pinkie had to cover her ears with her hooves.

"Well, look what we got here. The pink prankster all ripe for the picking."

The familiar voice washed over Pinkie's head as she felt her jaw drop open. Standing in front of her, next to the monster, was a griffon she had not seen in a long while. The only things that were different were the silver spikes that were on her tail and the black and silver half helmet with its blood red visor that sat neatly on her feathered head. She could see the beady eyes widen as her friends teleported in behind her already morphed, having been alerted to the situation by Dimitria.

She saw Rainbow Dash stiffen in surprise as she laid eyes on the griffon that had spoke. Silently, she drew on the power as Billy had taught them and felt the energy of the Element of Laughter wash over her as the magically enhanced armour settled into place. Even in her morphed state, she didn't feel confident to face down the griffon that was leering down at her. Her randomly flicking eyes caused the menu system in her helmet to seize up…just as she heard Rainbow Dash practically spit out the name of their new foe.

"Gilda."

TBC…

Author's Note

Gilda returns. At this point, she is only slightly brainwashed.