Chapter 21: Traitorous Thoughts

At least one of those Rangers was injured.

Tricksy galloped through the tall grass as the echoes of the explosion rang in her ears. Even though the monster had been destroyed hours ago, it seemed her atrophied remnants of her conscience had stirred to life with the destruction of the majority of the monster army she had spent so long building up. Sighing in frustration, she rolled her eyes at the sentimental thoughts brought up and clutched her wand tighter. The crescent moon on the end seemed to sparkle in the dim light and she growled softly as a ripple of pain wracked her mind. In hindsight, it had been a rather idiotic idea to pull all of the remaining monsters into the void inside her wand, but it was the only thing that had come to mind. She didn't realise that said mind would be the only thing that would be able to keep all three hundred remaining monsters at bay…but that was what life was all about sometimes. At least the 'final' monster had managed to grievously wound the Purple Ranger.

Stumbling over a hidden branch, she swiped at her eyes with the back of her hand and looked up at the darkening sky. There was something in the air that called to her and made her yearn for the 'old' days when she was just a 'simple' travelling magician. Or the days much further back than that when she was living in the homeless shelter and had Flim and Flam to keep her insides warm. Well, those two and the rest of the homeless stallions had kept her warm. She allowed a smile to creep over her snout as she recalled the countless mornings of waking up in the middle of a sticky pool on the floor and how good it felt to have various liquids leaking out of her. All that had changed when she had received what she was now calling 'divine' intervention that saved her from the festering mess her reputation would have become. She had been briefly possessed by the True Master and been used by him to create a new body for herself. In those few seconds of pain and madness, their minds had touched and she was finally able to see that there was a bigger picture out there.

Equestria needed to change for the better. The True Master could change everything and she gladly allowed him to do anything he wanted to her to achieve that goal. Whether it was slapping her around, using her body in twisted and vile experiments or ploughing her mind for information about the world, she would allow Lord Zedd anything he needed for his goal of world conquest. Unfortunately, those thrice-cursed Rangers would always get in their way and had even called in for Interdimensional help. They had that help in the last battle as well and that had ended with Zedd being destroyed or fatally injured. Her clones that she had summoned had actually been prototypes of the monsters she had attacked with, but they had been extremely unstable. They had served their purposes though and she had escaped with her life. Initiating a blind teleport, she had materialised in a cave of sorts that was home to a family group of Ursa Majors. A quick destruction spell had ensured the creatures wouldn't be bothering anyone ever again, but the energy drain had knocked her out for a very long time.

A noise overhead caused her to crane her head up at the sky. High above her were two figures and, for a brief moment, she thought she had been caught by the Changelings. Her mind was ready to release the creatures she had stored in her wand at a moment's notice and she made sure her claws and teeth were as clean as possible, in case she had to fight her way out. As the two figures landed the sun dipped below the horizon and the moon appeared seconds later, bathing the area around her in an eerie luminescence. Steeling herself for a fight, she slowly dropped her arms as her eyes grew accustomed to the moonlight. They were both bipeds, but one looked like a humanoid pony and the other was a humanoid Griffon…and there were only two beings in existence that had bodies like that. Taking a chance, she opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off by the rich voice that came from the biped pony.

"Tricksy. I have searched for you a very long time."

She nodded once and opened her mouth; forcing her voice into the scratchy mess it had been all those years ago. The thought had crossed her mind that he had seen her attacking the Rangers and knew she could speak 'normally', but didn't want to risk anything.

"Discord? Has Master summoned me?"

Discord sneered at Tricksy and rolled his eyes.

"Stop talking like a brain-dead moron. I know you've recovered a capacity to speak normally, so use it."

Tricksy growled under her breath, before nodding slightly. Either as a side-effect of all the mental traumas inflicted by her Master or all those strange lasers that the Rangers had blasted at her, she had found out that she no longer had to think as hard as before when speaking. This allowed her to speak normally, though her luxurious voice was barely a shadow of its former self. Looking at the humanoid Griffon, her eyes narrowed as she caught sight of a suspicious wetness in her eyes. If she didn't know any better, she would have said they were unshed tears…but her Master had apparently purged any excess emotion from her mind. However, she didn't know where the Griffon had been in the past two years and if she were to be in close contact with her family, well, some of the old feelings and emotions would surely come to the fore.

"Gilda…you look well for someone who was encased in ice."

Gilda nodded back and stretched her arms up above her head. The time spent flying had been great for her muscles, but she was now feeling some of the effects of not having moved in a very long time. Not to mention, her eyes kept watering due to the wind blowing into her eyes. Her helmet – visor attached – had been left somewhere in the cave she had left and she didn't want to go back there ever again. She had resigned herself to creating another one wherever the 'new base' Discord kept mentioning was, but she wasn't going to get her hopes up that it would be the same level of mystic tech as the last one. Looking at the slight strain on Tricksy's face, she silently hoped that whatever army that she was holding back didn't accidentally slip out to wreak havoc.

On the other hand, if it did…well, she had a lot of frustrations to work out.

"Yeah, well, long story there. You look better and you speak normally now. I can actually understand you."

Discord rolled his eyes yet again and thought about his next words. They would need to be told who the new Master was…but he doubted they would be impressed with his credentials. After all, they had been on the receiving end of the attacks of the Ultra Rangers and wouldn't take it lightly that their new Master was their arch-enemy. Amnesia or not, there would be things that couldn't be said around Night Shade. Any mention of Lord Zedd was one and the things the Trotters had said they would do to him if he ever slipped up…well, that was too horrible to even think about for too long. Try as he might to avoid it, he knew they had to be briefed about him, what to say and of the surprising discovery he had made in his Dark Crystal. Of course, the latter would have to be told in the most secure of confidences and behind as many barrier spells as the Dark Crystal could possibly conjure up. If only there was a way to capture one of the Ultra Rangers and pump his or her mind for information…

"My Master has instructed me to find you. However, the Master has changed."

Gilda nodded as Tricksy laughed and opened her mouth to speak, the reptilian pony hot on her 'heels'.

"New guy, right? I heard some of my family talking about the attacks. I'll serve anyone who lets me fight."

"Who is the new guy anyway? Someone from the past or something from the Master's dimension?"

Discord rubbed the back of his neck nervously before speaking. He would be facing a great amount of future ridicule for being a servant of his former servant but, more disconcertingly, he was beginning to see that being a servant of a greater power was his role in Equestria all along. Possibly, it had always been his lot in life to serve a higher power, although he wasn't going to spruik his services to the two Princesses anytime soon.

"Night Shade. Formerly my right-hoof pony but he's…"

He looked around and strained his senses. They were too exposed and his 'new recruits', as they were, needed to rest from their 'ordeals'. An attack had been planned for the next week and seven little days would be all the rest they could afford to have. Tricksy would also need to be trained in battle as she had reached a level of stability to actively engage the Rangers. Plus, he sensed that she had a few scores to settle with one Ranger in particular…even though her last monster had pretty much mauled the Ranger in question.

"Well, it's not safe to talk about that here. We'll discuss it when we get back and you're debriefed."

Two nods gave him the answer he was looking for and he internally sighed in relief. As Gilda bent over to allow Tricksy to climb onto her back, he spread his wings and leapt into the sky. The moon hung over the lands, shining its brilliance down on the earth and he looked down to his chest and the blood that was still splashed on it. Attacking the 'famed' Gustave Le Grande had been interesting and he certainly hadn't expected spun sugar to be used in that way…but it had been a rewarding experience as well. Despite his mini skirmish with the Orange Ranger, his skills were exceedingly rusty and with Goldar nothing more than flecks of ash on the ground, he would need a good sparring partner. Well, a sparring partner that wasn't Dark Hoof or even Psychocorn.

As Gilda wobbly took to the skies, he chewed on his lower lip. Seven days was not a lot of time for a humanoid Griffon to regain full use of her muscles or even to teach a reptilian creature the basics of combat. At most, it would be only enough time for him to dive one micron deeper into the vast world of Power introduced by the Dark Crystal and strengthen his hold on it. It would also allow him to discover the vague scratching sensation at the back of his mind and ponder on why it felt something was returning to him. On the other hoof, they would need to train up to fight the Rangers.

He would let them rest…for now.

TBC…