AN: Different paths taken for Xonix and Twinlobe here. Then again, the dimension Zedd is from is the 'core' PR universe… Enjoy!

Edit 3: Not sure what happened either...it can't be just me having to do all this...

Chapter 21: Differences

Rewinding the footage, he growled softly.

Wherever the two new Rangers had come from, they had destroyed Parascythe in less than ten minutes. The power they possessed was incredible and matched the intensity of his own Dark Ultra Crystal…which meant that those Rangers came from the same place as it. He felt an uneasiness settle over him at that thought. Lord Zedd tapped his chin in deep thought and looked around him. Gilda was leaning on one of the walls and admiring her new looks for the billionth time. Discord was hunched over a screen and was weaving what little magic he had left on the former Red Ranger. Tricksy had forgotten his mind rape of her and was hovering around his feet like a demented dog.

It would be foolish to think that these Rangers didn't have their Zords with them. Even if he made a monster grow, the damned ponies would summon their Zords to do battle with it. Rewatching the finisher the Purple Ranger had pulled off, he growled yet again. With that amount of Power he wouldn't be surprised if they had methods to destroy giant monsters without a Zord as one of the Overdrive Rangers had. Attacking again so soon would throw them off track and would allow him to analyse the strength of the mysterious Rangers. If he created a dimensional monster, he could easily send the Rangers back to their own dimension. Either that or they would be forced to wander the dimensions endlessly.

No, that would be detrimental to his hold over his followers if he were to help the Rangers in any way. He was still smarting from helping the Zeo Rangers escape the Machine Empire all those years ago; so helping the two misplaced Rangers would be utterly humiliating. Switching off the recording, he looked outside the cavern and chuckled at the thick column of smoke coming from the direction of Ponyville. The white Princess would be forced to construct monster shelters in that small town as well as in the capital of Canterlot. That sign would inform the populace that the monster attacks were now a part of daily life and would lead to civil unrest.

Of course, there was still the off chance that the citizens of Equestria would see the monster shelters as a necessary evil due to the constant attacks and would boost Celestia's popularity tenfold. Self-defence classes would start popping up and the cycle of destruction and violence would start anew. That was the best option in his opinion as it would allow Discord to slip through the cracks and pose as a wandering magician…and that would be the undoing of the residents of Ponyville. The only problem with that plan was the wandering magician shtick had been tried before with Tricksy and had resulted in an Ursa Minor attack. And Discord had said that that trick had been used before by him a few years before his imprisonment.

Growling softly to himself, he called up the screen again to rewatch the monster battle. The movements of the two Rangers were fluid and strangely elegant and Zedd found himself thinking of life back on his home planet of Aisalar and his older brother Prince Xonix. He had always had grand dreams for the future and had expressed great delight when the family fortune-teller had proclaimed that he would be the greatest Overlord in the Universe. His brother had thrown himself into training and making himself stronger and had even taken to reading some of the forbidden texts in the archives. Reading them would condemn any other native to death but as Xonix was the heir to his father's throne…the steps taken had been slightly too extreme. Xonix was stripped of his title, rank and privileges and was placed under house arrest. His father had fought greatly for his prized son but eventually had to bow to pressure from the public and give the title of Prince to Zedd.

And then the plague had hit.

Aisalar had been hit with a devastating off-world illness that had killed almost everyone. Xonix and his father had hung on the longest but succumbed to the disease. Zedd had managed to flee the planet in he early stages as he had been charged by the Healers to find the only thing capable of destroying the plague: the Zeo Crystal. That mission had ended in failure as he was forced to endure the agonising pain of having his skin stripped from his body and most of his skull removed. He had been found by an Anishan crime overlord that called himself Twinlobe and had 'volunteered' the young prince as a test subject for an extremely dangerous experiment. He had agreed to it but had not expected the injection of molten Zycordian silver directly into his body.

The Zycordian silver had reacted with the energy in his body and had formed long strips of metallic armour that held his internal organs mostly in check and had moulded into a fearsome-looking helmet that had exposed his brain to the outside. The Zycordian silver had even wrapped around his ceremonial staff and transformed it into a mighty weapon that could transform into a snake with just a thought. Zedd had learnt about the devastation of Aisalar in convalescence and had received his father's last message soon after. Breaking free of the Anishan had been a difficult task but thanks to the amplified magic in his body, he left his captors as smears on the walls. Stealing a small shuttle, he had wandered the galaxies for a long while before beginning his reign as Lord Zedd.

Which began the path that led him here: in a different dimension battling Rangers from other dimensions. He sighed as he watched the image of the Orange Ranger pull out his weapon and chuckled as he was flung into a building. He would build up his forces slowly and attack when they least expected.

And he would destroy them…personally.

TBC…