Chapter One Hundred Six: Musings

All things considered, it could have gone better.

Xonix paced the main cockpit and rolled his eyes as more debris bounced off the top of his flagship. For the foreseeable future, they would be sending monsters from the ruins of their Fortress…until Twinlobe and Yit managed to design and construct a stronger Fortress that couldn’t be demolished as easily. Well, ruins were such a strong word and it didn’t fit with what the Rangers had done. They had left the structure of the Fortress more or less intact while the inside was relatively clean with the possible exception of the Monster Labs and Main Computer Area.

In fact, the only area of the Fortress that had been thoroughly trashed was the external defences. They could be rebuilt but the plans and placement would have to be kept under tight wraps. Still, the damage wasn’t anything to be scoffed at. Three out of five particle cannons had been destroyed and the fourth looked like it would explode at any second. All of the Gatling laser emplacements had been shredded as had the anti-air guns. The fusion rocket launchers and their protected factories had been turned into slag and the sonic emitters had somehow been turned into microwave emitters. They could be reconfigured either into weapons or into microwave ovens. Everything else was a complete and utter train wreck, to borrow the human phrase.

A loud rumble made him look up and he shook his head in frustration as the fourth particle cannon finally exploded, sending chunks of moon rock raining down on the flagship. His brother had asked him to stay at the Moon Palace until the new Fortress was complete and he was thinking about taking him up on his offer. He didn’t know why, but something inside his gut told him that his brother wouldn’t be around for much longer…which was insane. Zedd was the cockroach of the Royal Family; no matter how many assassins were sent after him, he always emerged mostly unscathed.

“Master, news from the front!”

Xonix shook himself out of his musings at Twinlobe’s voice and tried to remember which ‘front’ it referred to. The attack on the Aowei system was one such front, but Jabarkas was en route there to finish up the…negotiations regarding their complete and utter surrender. Another more likely front would be Muitlet as the natives had finally completed their War Robot and that had made giant monsters a less effective target. Shrugging his shoulders, he nodded to let Twinlobe open the communications channel. The face that met him was a rather surprising one – Dark Spectre. The self-titled Monarch of Evil stared at Xonix and spoke in his iconic rumble.

“Xonix, word has it that your Fortress was destroyed and you are fleeing Earth. What is your motive now? The Rangers you were chasing have lost two of their number and you run like a coward!”

Xonix ground his teeth together and opened his mouth to retort when Dark Spectre’s words sunk in. Closing his mouth with a click, he stretched out his tendrils of magic to feel for the Rangers. He could feel eleven Rangers; yet two of those Rangers seemed to have slightly weaker Power Sources compared with the other Ultra Rangers. They were still stronger than the Turbo Rangers that had cropped up and, as such, would have to be dealt with in due time. Lightly brushing their Power Signatures, he swallowed in apprehension as a strangely familiar energy washed over him. Turning away from Dark Spectre, he searched his mind to pinpoint the energy.

No…it couldn’t possibly be. A multiversal energy source that he was very familiar with…as he had temporarily been entranced by the creature that had been imprisoned by their magic many years ago.

Flashback

Xonix growled and flicked his tail in annoyance at the messenger pony in front of him. He had to be in this form until he found out a way to escape the dimension he had been flung into by one of Rita’s wayward spells. He had been in the M-51 Galaxy at the final request of Master Vile before the purification had taken place. For a warrior prince to baby-sit a spoiled brat like Rita was beneath him…yet it was a request from a family friend. A reflected dimensional spell later and he had found himself here in the world of Equestria…wherever that was. He had stealthily seen the inhabitants and had changed himself into a pitch black unicorn with a yellow and white streaked mane and tail. An image of a shrouded moon had appeared near his butt…something that puzzled him immensely.

The name Night Shade had been given to him by one of the many guard-ponies of the ruling Monarch: Princess Celestia. With a name that exuded evil, he had been shunned from everypony around him…except one. He was a curiously bipedal winged unicorn, an alicorn as they were called, and his name hinted at a sinister future: Discord. To Xonix, his plan to overthrow Celestia was extremely shaky and full of holes; which made it all the more surprising when it had actually succeeded.

For the past three months, Discord had been unleashing his unique chaos magic on those around him. Celestia had fled into the Everfree Forest to one of her outposts and was no concern to Discord. Xonix knew it was a bad idea to allow her freedom but the alicorn would hear nothing of it; taking the mentality of ‘out of sight, out of mind’ a bit too far. Still, it didn’t concern Xonix that much either as he was the head of the Eyes of Discord and one of his most trusted advisors…second only to Shining Light who was hiding something. Delving into Canterlot’s vast archives and magic vials, the displaced warrior had come across a mention of the Elements of Harmony: six magic crystals that held the most powerful magic in all of Equestria. There were even small vials that contained samples of siphoned magic…as he had found out when he had accidentally shattered the vials of Honesty and Loyalty magic.

He groaned out loud as he read the message one more time. After three months of full access to the Canterlot archives, Discord was packing up his operation and moving to the barren wasteland of Deinos Terra Firma; home of the Zebras. Snorting in disgust, he reached up to adjust the Circlet of Discord around his head; changing his front hooves back into fingers and claws. Deinos Terra Firma was an accident waiting to happen…he just knew it

End Flashback

As it turned out, he was correct in his assumptions. Shining Light had gone missing during the move and had shown up less than three months later leading an army with Celestia. He had been promoted to Discord’s bodyguard and had been in the chamber when Celestia had unleashed the full power of the Elements of Harmony at Discord. The magic had reacted with his own and had flung him back to Master Vile’s dwelling within seconds of his original departure. Rita had reacted in amazement that her dimensional spell had seemingly turned him into a unicorn but she had the incident wiped from her memory with a simple mind spell. Of course, Rito had seen him in his unicorn state, but the poor child was already transformed into a skeletal state with a completely free (and insane) mind.

“I know that energy…I will deal with them in due time.”

Turning off the communication screen before Dark Spectre could react, he growled under his breath as his old black unicorn horn appeared on his reptilian head. Ignoring the looks of Twinlobe and Yit, he began plotting out an attack that would surpass the Conquest of Canterlot...

And even surpass Celestia’s invasion…

TBC…

Author's Note

Xonix reveals that he has been to Equestria before...

Mainly written because Discord couldn't have corralled a lot of ponies together without help and since Night Shade was one of his first successes, he had the confidence and ability refinement to succeed. Of course, he didn't know Xonix was just playing along...