Pinkie Note: Usual stuff. He doesn’t own any licensed or trademarked or copyrighted property. And he should really invest in better locks. He’s being chewed out by his boss, so he can’t write more today. Oh well. Enjoy, everypony!

Chapter 6: Rangers of the Elements

When the last of the teleportation sparkles faded from her vision, Twilight Sparkle found herself back in Ponyville. Hearing a small gasp behind her, she glanced back…only to feel her jaw drop. Her friends were clad in the same sparkling material as she had seen Billy wear previously. Their heads were clad in helmets with a representation of their Cutie Mark as the visor. Each of them had their Element necklaces incorporated into the armour and in Twilight’s case she could see that her Element crystal was in the middle of her helmet. She noted that Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash had their wings free, but they were protected by a sturdy layer of armour – as was Rarity’s horn. She also noticed that their manes and tails were free, but their tails were sheathed in some sort of metal.

Hearing a low growl behind her, she whirled around and her eyes widened. It was the monster they had seen before, but it looked different. Its torso was now covered in bony armour, the head encased in a streamlined helmet and grasped in a scaly fist was a thin blade. Twilight didn’t want to know what it would be like to be stabbed and didn’t think any of the others wanted to know either. Snorting in anger, she pawed at the ground and lowered her head. As if in reaction to the movement she felt a rush of magic to her horn which, in turn, reacted with her Element Crystal. In the back of her mind, she could sense the others doing the same – even Pinkie – although she couldn’t explain how she knew. As they were about to charge, they stopped short as the same joyous voice erupted from the monster.

“What? Ponies in fancy costumes won’t stop me! I claim this here planet in the glorious name of Lord Zedd!”

Lonely Mountain

Billy’s head jerked up sharply as the monster revealed his maker. Truthfully, he knew Zedd was in Equestria, but had thought that the entity would wait for a while before revealing his identity in a grand flourish. On the other hand, Edward Steel had informed him that the entity would be playing by its own set of rules. Shaking himself out of the past, he stepped to a console and tapped a few buttons.

“Rangers, I am configuring your Element Crystals to serve as your default blasters. This will take about five minutes. Hang on until then.”

Ponyville

Hearing Billy’s announcement, Pinkie Pie nodded even though he couldn’t see her. Or maybe he could with a camera or maybe with a camera that was upgraded lots. She was confused with all the information she could see on the inside of her visor because for some reason, she knew it all. Seeing as they were still in a frozen standoff, the used her eyes to scroll through the possible options. Laughter Blaster was her Element Crystal Ranger Blaster…or something like that and according to Billy, it would be out of action for a few minutes. She faintly heard Twilight’s battle cry and stepped aside lightly to let Applejack through before resuming her search.

Smile Slicer had something to do with her tail, but she didn’t know what since her tail was covered in some sort of metal that wasn’t metal. She ducked as Fluttershy was blasted back and dismissed the Smile Slicer. Selecting another item, she saw something called the Boomer Blaster, which seemed to be a component of a bigger Pegasus-themed combination weapon. The text was a bit too small, but she squinted in an attempt to read it…jumping away from an energy blast from the monster. Also dismissing that option, she rolled to one side as Applejack and Twilight crashed together in a heap, their suits smoking. Scrolling down more, she saw an option called Pie Fling which intrigued her. Flicking her eyes over the text, she nodded to herself and looked up at what was going on.

Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were flying around the monster and were dive bombing it with tail swipes, Rarity was helping Twilight and Applejack up and was charging her horn for something. The creature was being hit from all directions and randomly firing its lasers pretty inefficiently. Pinkie could see if the creature thought about the target and adjusted its power output; it could destroy the group in one shot. Shaking her head to clear her mind, she bounced toward the monster and ducked as Rarity used her magic to fling a giant boulder at it. Jumping up, she bounced on the rock and dived straight down at the monster…accidentally activating the Smile Slicer. In a muted pink flash, the metallic covering on her tail had morphed into something similar to Gummy’s tail – spiky and sharpish on one side with a soft underside…but it was metal, so there would be no soft side. Why did she think she needed to take a break so it would be easier on the readers? And why would they be readers anyway?

Dismissing the thought, she used her momentum to somersault through the air. She hoped that the spiky side of her tail would hit the monster and do something to it…but if it didn’t. Oh well, live and learn. Either by sheer luck or coincidence, the spikes on her tail connected with the bony plates on the chest with a loud crunch. Pulling her tail away from the creature, Pinkie grimaced as she surveyed the damage.

The front of the armour had a jagged hole in it and some of the bony shards were driven inward. Frothy yellow liquid dribbled out of the cuts which smelled like old, rotting fish. Pinkie gagged and regrouped with the others, making sure she deselected the Smile Slicer. As they watched the injured monster try to slowly extract the bone shards from its chest, Billy’s voice crackled in their helmets.

“Girls, the Element Blasters have been configured. The command for a single shot is ‘Fire’. For a charged shot, the command is ‘Charge and fire’. Aim for the weakest spot and it will increase the damage.”

Twilight snorted heartily in response and glanced up at the sky. Thick clouds of smoke were still obscuring the sky, but dusk was rapidly approaching. They had to wrap this up quickly and begin the cleanup operations, though she knew they would take much longer than usual. Scrolling through the weapon menus in her helmet, she selected the Magic Shot and felt her Element crystal grow warm. At once, the display in her helmet changed to a strange cross circle image that seemed to be directed by her eyes. Swallowing hard, she aimed the cross image at the monster and shouted out one word.

“Fire!”

A star shaped bolt of purple energy erupted from her Element Crystal and struck the monster’s head and shattering its helmet. As it roared in pain, she shared a look with her friends and nodded once. Well, she nodded at her friends but sharing looks were kind of hard when looking out from an opaque visor. Rolling her eyes, she aimed her cross circle image thing at the wound on the monsters chest and vocalised the deathblow.

“Charge…”

Five other voices followed. Applejack’s confidence, Rarity’s determination, Rainbow’s fierceness, Fluttershy’s courage and Pinkie’s…utter randomness. One by one, their Element Crystals crackled with power and magic, slowly charging up the fatal discharges.

“And…FIRE!”

Unknown Location

Zedd snapped off his vision in anger. He had to make his creature grow. Holding out his good hand, he summoned the classis growth grenade to him…only to have it disintegrate within seconds. Snarling in rage, he pointed his staff towards the battle and muttered the ages-old spell under his breath. All he got was a brief burst of sparks…and nothing. He roared in rage – until a voice broke his enraged screaming.

“Lord Zedd...energy is dependant on empire. Only two of us. Not much energy. Must grow and punish first.”

He looked away from the mouth of the cavern and focused on the twisted mass in front of him that had once been a unicorn. Faintly, he heard the explosion that signified the death of Pirhantishead and nodded sagely. He motioned for the former unicorn to keep going.

“Ally awaits on Deinos Terra Firma. Third continent far from here. Once legend but is true. Discord will come again.”

Zedd stroked his chin with his good hand and sat on his obsidian throne. There were always other ways to make monsters grow and if his new minion was correct…well, that was one way to rebuild his empire. Stepping out into the light, he revelled in what his merge had done to the washed up unicorn. Tentatively balancing on two misshapen legs, the azure pony stared at its bony hands in a mixture of delight and revulsion. Shuddering as if recalling some horrible memory, it reached up and clutched at the tatters of a purple cloak studded with stars. The unicorn looked up at Zedd with an insane glint in her eyes and an unsteady voice.

“Yes, Zedd must make them pay. Pay for what they do to Tricksy!”

TBC…

Author's Note

One of the first real battles. Where everything is still relatively innocent.

And this is when I rewatched Boast Busters and thought of Trixie being the perfect pony for Zedd's assistant. Of course, she had to be...changed, but it was a change that needed to happen for Zedd to take physical form. Due to the physical and mental nature of the merging, Tricksy sees Zedd as an abusive lover of sorts. Her devotion to him slowly grows while her body shifts and changes to accommodate her slowly awakening powers.

Element Blasters, Tail Blades and the Boomer Blaster introduced, as well as the HUD menu system I introduced in The Ultra Crystals. Also introduced is the notion that Zedd's powers are dependant on the number of followers he has which kinda fell to the wayside once more.

And hey, Discord. But not as you know him.