AN: A bit of this chapter deals with some rather…icky/interesting stuff. This story will soon become as dark and unsettling as The Ultra Crystals. It can and will go downhill from here…

Chapter 38: Broken

She was bored out of her mind.

After completing yet another lap of the Command Tower, she was seriously contemplating jumping out of one of the windows. From the magic tremor she had felt through her body a few seconds ago, she knew that her sister, Spike and Billy had left to go to Deinos Terra Firma. The energy disturbance had been constantly analysed by the scanners but the results had come up as inconclusive. Levitating the most recent printout of the results, she chewed her lower lip as her eyes scanned the findings. The majority of the energy seemed to come directly from the Elements of Harmony but the readings matched the Elements before they were merged with the Zeo Crystals; meaning the source of the energy had been in direct contact with the Elements in the past.

The only thing or pony she knew that had any direct contact had been Discord but it wasn't likely that he would go back to his prison willingly. She had an inkling her sister knew of something else but whatever it was; she was keeping it tightly held to her chest. Dropping the printout, she shook her head slightly. She had volunteered to stay in the Command Tower as going to see another place of imprisonment would be reopening a healed wound. From the scant conversations she had with her sister on the subject of Discord, she knew that there were no windows of any kind in his prison. No natural light would breach the walls of the Tomb…unlike her own prison on the Moon.

The evil of Nightmare Moon had been fully extinguished by the Elements of Harmony, but the resentfulness still remained strong. Long talks with her sister had allowed most of the remaining emotion to vanish as she heard of the suffering and constant loneliness her elder sister had endured. The small part that hadn't vanished was used as energy to help Billy in the creation of the Ranger powers. The idea of other dimensions was fascinating to her and made her very glad that Nightmare Moon had only been fixated on Celestia. Thinking of her actions as Nightmare Moon made her shudder as she recalled exactly what the twisted alicorn had wanted to do to her. Sisterly love was one thing but to want to do that was entirely another. The lonely nights on the Moon hadn't helped much either.

Although he hadn't wanted to spend too much time on the subject, Billy had given the strange and sickening desire a name: incest, wanting to mate or have intimate relations with a family member. She hadn't told her sister about that aspect as she didn't want to lie that those feelings had vanished. They hadn't but she was trying to keep them suppressed as to not sully the relationship; after all, there was not real reason that they would spill out anyway. Well, unless there was a monster that projected dreams but talks with Billy had revealed that it was only a problem if the monster ate or destroyed the dreams.

As she sighed yet again, her eyes drifted up to the tube where Dimitria would have been normally. The Inquiran had been meditating since the Ultra Rangers had left the dimension and had not responded to any calls of her name. She would reappear when the time was right but Luna wished she knew what the Interdimensional being did. Turning away from the tube, she yelped in surprise as the alarms started wailing. Quickly remembering what Billy had shown; she silenced the alarms and turned to the viewing screen to see what the creature looked like. After accidentally cycling through some rather…risqué…locations, she finally found what the monster was up to. The monster had emerged from the Everfree Forest very close to the home of the Yellow Ranger and the timid Pegasus was doing her best to fight the reptilian beast. Lifting a hoof to call the other Rangers, she blinked in amazement as five other coloured beams flew to the scene – revealing the remaining Rangers. Shaking her head and suppressing a light chuckle, she activated the scanners to record energy readings coming from the monster.

"Rangers, be careful. This monster is incredibly powerful. Up close fighting is discouraged so you will have to use your weapons."

She saw the Purple Ranger nod once before the six Rangers summoned their personal cannons. Seeing the improved flank cannons in use was incredibly amazing. Whatever the Ultra Rangers had done was truly magnificent as it had connected the Rangers with their Zords closer than any other Ranger team in Billy's dimension. Icy blasts impacted and froze against the exposed scales of the reptilian beast while spears of rock dented its armour. Narrowing her eyes at the familiar design, she used her magic to enhance and magnify the image of the armour. As she thought, it was a discarded breast-plate of the Nightmare Colts: Nightmare Moon's bodyguards.

One of her first acts as Nightmare Moon was to foalnap seven young colts, magically age them and train them to be her loyal bodyguards. As proof of their devotion, the seven had created lustrous armour of bronze and silver and hoof-crafted the decorations that adorned the armour. Upon her banishment by her sister, the colts had died attacking Celestia's Royal Guards and their armour had been scattered around the Everfree Forest. Shaking her mind away from the thoughts of the past, she noticed a slight beeping noise coming from one of the consoles. Trotting over, she pressed a button and a screen snapped up in front of her.

She blinked in surprise as the familiar face of the Orange Ranger appeared. He seemed to be in some sort of chamber that housed a long table and a very similar tube…that seemed to have a long-haired person inside it. Behind him, she could see the Purple Ranger as well as ten other figures that she guessed were the other Ultra Rangers. Seeing her shock, the Orange Ranger inclined his head and spoke in a regal and respectful tone.

"Princess Luna, I apologise for this…impromptu call. Is everything all right?"

Internally wincing as a large explosion rang behind her, her eyes widened a fraction as she heard Applejack yell out Discord's name. Discord was in the battle as well and the Red Ranger was battling him one on one. Her heart tightened at the thought but she forced herself to relax. The Blue Ranger would fight side-by-side with her loved one and hopefully they would realise how incredibly obvious they were being. Remembering that she had the Rangers on the other side of the screen, she shook her head and chewed her lower lip.

"The Rangers are in battle with one of Zedd's monsters. My sister and Spike have taken a small complement of guards to investigate an energy disturbance in Deinos Terra Firma. I will show you a live image of the battle and patch you through to them."

At the nod of the Orange Ranger, she cantered to the scanner station and manipulated the image so it would show on the Communications Station screen. Trotting back, she looked at the image just in time to see the Pink Ranger seemingly wave at her. Smiling back, she closed her eyes and wondered if anypony, human or higher power would truly be able to understand the inner workings of Pinkie Pie. She opened her mouth to inform the Rangers that their friends were watching when a powerful tremor ran through her body.

Leaning heavily against a nearby console, she tried to pinpoint where the feeling was coming from; not even blinking as one of the other Ultra Rangers expressed shock at the monster's appearance or the other shouts from the fighting Rangers. Breathing heavily as the tremor subsided, she suddenly felt a jolt of fear from her sister. Her heart sunk as her worst fears were realised.

It had begun…

TBC…