Chapter 10: Split Forces

"Tricksy is still alive?"

Billy squeezed his eyes shut as he wondered what to do. If he sent the Rangers to the Changeling Lands, he would be the only one protecting Canterlot from any attack by Night Shade. If he split the Rangers, there was no concrete confirmation that three Rangers could best Tricksy and her monster army – especially if they had differing strengths and abilities. Looking at the Purple and Red Rangers behind him, his thoughts turned to the Ultra Rangers but he shook his head. Weihan had just recruited three new Crystal Rangers and he couldn't be expected to drop everything and cross dimensions. Even with Xonix gone, there were still threats to the planet and three 'rookie' Rangers wouldn't be much help with anything. A part of his mind chose not to recognise that Weihan had pretty much been a rookie Ranger when he had first come onto the scene…but everything had worked out for him in the end.

"I'm going. Princess Celestia needs help."

Nodding at the words of the Purple Ranger, Billy's fingers flew across the control panel as he began looking for a clear landing spot for whoever would go with her. He couldn't help but think about the growing closeness between the Purple Ranger and the Princess of the Day; now that she knew she was immortal, Twilight had become closer to both Princesses – particularly Princess Celestia. Of course, he didn't like thinking about that much as it reminded the Midnight Blue Ranger too much of what he had seen while the Rangers had been under Love Tick's spell. Honestly, he wondered if anything would be able to scrub those images from his mind. The feeling seemed to be mutual, but Billy and Luna wondered whether the feelings Celestia had were true or if it was just a holdover from Shining Light. Time would tell but he had a sinking feeling that free time wouldn't come as readily as it did before.

The battle against Night Shade would probably push them to their limits and they would have to pull out all the stops in order to defeat him. Hell, even against Zedd, only two Megazord configurations had been formed and the Apple Flyer had transformed in an entirely different dimension! The alternate form of the Wolf Shogunzord hadn't been battle tested yet and the full gestalt combination hadn't even been needed against Zedd. In addition, if he really wanted to get right down into the nit-picking details, the other connectors still needed further testing and the converters needed to be pushed to their limits. Anything less and that particular combination would explode in an Equestria shattering kaboom. He was about to contact the other Rangers when four streaks of light entered the Command Tower, forming into the remaining Rangers. Fluttershy nodded at them before lifting her Element Morpher with her front left hoof.

"Tricksy has finally resurfaced and is attacking the Changeling Lands with an army of her own monsters. Princess Celestia was visiting Queen Chrysalis on a diplomatic mission but she is now trapped in the capital that is being swarmed with monsters. We have to figure out who else will be going with Twilight besides Rarity."

The Green Ranger looked up at her name in surprise. There was no real reason why she had to be the one to go but she wasn't going to argue with it. Seeing her confused expression, Billy's expression softened slightly.

"Rarity, with Twilight going, you were the only choice for me to pick. I don't know how many of the monsters Tricksy can make grow but it will be good to have a Warriorzord combination out there. Unfortunately, that means that one of the Warriorzords will be out of action if there is an attack here. I'm not saying that will happen for certain, but it is good to be prepared for anything."

Billy sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. In truth, he was beginning to reconsider his decision to split up the team…and he hadn't even sent anyone out yet. Tricksy was a foe the Rangers had only faced once, but had left a lasting impression on them. It seemed the warped pony actively delighted in seeking out victims for her monsters to kill and, as such, couldn't possibly be roped up by three Rangers. Mentally tossing that plan away, he turned to the Rangers and sighed.

"New plans…all of you are going to the Changeling Lands. Tricksy is a dangerous foe and I am confident you can defeat her monsters without being too affected by them. I highly doubt that there will be an attack in Canterlot but if there is, Princess Luna and I will be here to co-ordinate the counterattack. If things get really ugly, we will call a few of you back to deal with the threat."

"Ah don't mean ta sound like a worrywart, but will you really be all right here? If there's a large attack here and wherever the Princess is, Ah doubt we can come in time. Ah don't want to second guess you but…"

Applejack let the sentence trail off. The Red Ranger knew that calling on the other Rangers was an option but she had her reservations. Weihan would probably have his hands full trying to train the new Rangers how to fight and use their weapons and didn't have the time to be making a dimensional journey. On the other hoof, she knew that he would do everything in his power to ensure that they weren't overwhelmed by whatever enemy was attacking them. It was a sweet thought, but she kind of wished he would just let them be. Tricksy wasn't so much of a serious threat than an annoyance that had somehow created a monster army. With that many monsters, their intelligence factors would plummet…which meant there would be no repeats of the tragedies that surrounded Squeezer.

"I'll be fine, Applejack. I doubt there will be any attacks anyway. Teleporting you all…now."

As Applejack felt the tingling sensation of teleportation cover her body, the alarms in the Command Tower started blaring out. Instinctively, she whirled around to see what the situation was but her vision was swept up in a shower of red sparks. Feeling her hooves touch ground once more, the cowpony opened her eyes to see what could only be described as chaos. Changelings were everywhere defending against strangely mutated crocodiles. All thoughts of the dangers Billy would be facing in Canterlot fled from her mind as she took aim with her Element Blaster on the nearest monster. Digging in her hooves, she sent a thankful prayer up that Billy had managed to complete the subvocalisation protocols and fired several shots. The energy blasts impacted against the armoured scales of the monster and sent it flying away from the Changelings it was menacing.

"Princess Celestia! Are you all right?"

Applejack turned to see Twilight running toward the clearly battered and winded Princess and she allowed herself a slight smile before running towards them. A creature lurched out in front of her and the Red Ranger spun in the dirt, lashing her hind legs out in a powerful buck. Jumping over the stunned monster, she charged her Element Blaster and fired several shots straight down on its head. The energy penetrated the thin skin stretched over its skull and fried its brain to a crisp within seconds. Applejack had barely moved onto the next beast when it exploded into a ball of flames.

"What's happening in Canterlot?"

The Red Ranger could see Twilight talking to the Princess, while the others attempted to beat back the attacking monsters around them. Bucks and blasts weren't going to cut it against this horde and they only had one option. The only problems were that none of the others had come to the same conclusion she had or that the monsters around her were too overwhelming in their numbers for them to slip away. Feeling her hat slip off her head, she stowed it in a secure subspace pocket and ducked a slash from a clawed arm. Channelling her power into her legs, she leapt into the air and bucked the creature in front of her hard. The monster fell back onto the ground, bounced twice and exploded in a puff of smoke. Keeping an eye out for more creatures as they were made aware of their presence, she could just hear Billy's voice over the communicators.

"It's Discord and a new type of foot soldier. I've never seen anything like it…don't come back! Stay where you are! I can deal with this. It's Morphin Time!"

As the sounds of Billy's morph filtered through the communicators, Twilight looked up at Princess Celestia. The regal Alicorn looked like she had been through Hell and back. Several scorch marks dotted the metallic armour and around half of the chain mail covering on her back had been torn away. The only parts of her Battle Armour that didn't seem to be scorched were the helmet and her tail blade. In stark contrast was the Changeling Queen, Chrysalis. The Changeling was heavily injured and there were patches of fur that seemed to be completely burnt away. Her Royal Guard were close to her side and she weakly nodded at the Rangers. Seeing that Twilight needed time to process her thoughts and feelings, she took charge with a simple command.

"It's Morphin Time!"

TBC…