//------------------------------//
// Scarred 
// Story: Equestria Rangers 
// by Shadowmane PX-41 
//------------------------------//

Each of the Rangers groaned as they were laid on a set of beds. The walls were dimly lit a pale shade of malachite. Small ripples ran up the walls as otherworldly hums from the machinery began to sound. Small streams of light energy were trickling down from the white roof and landing where the Rainbooms had suffered the most painful injuries. Deep gashes and claw marks were slowly being cauterized, and the blood that was once pouring out was beginning to stop.

"We're very lucky that they're even alive after that battle." Elaris despaired as she checked on the console outside of the med bay. "If Mar'Zek causes things to bleed, they often die in seconds. I've seen it many times before. Even when some of the strongest warriors in the universe fought against him, he still cleaved the ground by their feet red with a single swing of his claws."

"How long do you think Sunset and the others will be out of action?" Twilight asked, gently placing the tips of her fingers against the one-way window. "They've not just got Mar'Zek and the Wolfpack to fight, but they have school as well. We can't just have them miss out on days."

"Hard to say. Most of the devices on this ship were rattled, knocked entirely out of place, or destroyed beyond repair when I was shot down." Elaris turned away and sat down, propping herself against the mirror. "It could take seconds, days, or at the very most... years."

"Years?!" Twilight's eyes immediately widened, and a toothy frown formed on her face. "But we need them back now! The Wolfpack's just going to cause more and more chaos unless we get them back in the field!"

"Yes. But I doubt that Mar'Zek will want to make another large-scale attack like that after the way he dispatched the Rangers like that." Elaris tapped her hand to her chin. "Mar'Zek hates when things just surrender, or when the fight is very uneven. And it's that hatred that drives him to fight harder, faster, and with even less than no quarter to give to his opponent."

"Still, he said that he would send his crew to keep an eye on us, to see if the girls get better and better as Power Rangers. That's proof that we're not out of the woods yet." Twilight's eyes were still fixated on the rest of the Rainbooms, watching as their wounds were beginning to be sealed up by the light. "He's just going to keep using the world as a punching bag, over and over again. He'll hurt people, he'll capture or kill them, it'll be pandemonium..."

"That's one of Mar'Zek's oldest tricks in the book. The pressure points. That's how he bullies and torments the strong, by preying on the weak and catching them off guard. No matter how strong the race is, he always finds a way to choke the life and resistance out of them." Elaris shuddered, stood up, and looked at the Rainbooms once again. "The tactics of a tyrant leader..."

As the air around both Twilight and Elaris grew cold, they both turned back to the Rainbooms, still watching their motionless bodies be coated in the healing rays of light. None of them let out a single whimper or breath as they felt the damage begin to restore. Instead, they just sat there, like bodies in a morgue. The only difference was that they weren't dead. Yet.

"Is there any way that we can speed up the process?" Twilight asked, shattering the silence again.

"There is, but I'll need the ship to be fixed up some more. And I'm not sure whether or not this planet has the parts I need to complete the repairs." Elaris turned towards the corridor, where she saw more sparks fly out of her busted pipes and wires. "I'll need some strong metal to fix up the damaged hulls and walls, and some wires to act as temporary conduits until I can make it back to my home and get it properly repaired. As for the screen, I don't suppose you have glass on this planet, would you?"

"Oh, we've got glass. Plenty of it, in fact." Twilight perked up for the first time since they regrouped at the ship. "As for all the other stuff, I'm sure that I could get some of it for you." She walked off towards the ship's exit. "Do you want a full glass screen, or just bits and pieces? In fact, why don't you just contact me through the ship's communications bridge?"

"Well, I would love to try and keep in contact, but the ship's almost completely dry of energy. It took all of it for the girls to be teleported back here after that fight with Mar'Zek, and even after the reboot, only a few areas of it are fully powered up." She heard yet another spray of electric globes shoot out and flicker around before colliding with the floor of the ship. "I can activate the cloaking device at this much strain, but nothing else."

"Then we'll just have to do that. After all, we can't let the Wolfpack or anyone else find this ship. It'll just add to the already high list of problems we've got at the moment." Twilight just gave a soft nod and walked out, prompting Elaris to follow after her. She watched as the alien girl pressed a small, concealed button by the door's entrance, before they both climbed out together.

When both Elaris and Twilight left the ship, they turned back and watched as it briefly began to glow a quick shade of saturated rainbow colours before it vanished, leaving nothing but blue skies, trees, grass, and the ship's entrance in its' wake. The door began to close, and the ship vanished entirely from the public eye, the cloaking device now in full effect.

"Alright. Now let's go." Twilight pulled out her phone and fiddled with the buttons, before a map of the world opened up for her. She put a pin on the map where she and Elaris were standing. "That should keep us from getting lost."

"Quite advanced technology. I like it." Elaris gave a smile as she watched Twilight put the phone away. "Now, let's get moving. We never know when the Wolfpack could strike again."

"Wait! Before we do, do you have a disguise?" Twilight asked, looking at Elaris's pale skin tone and otherworldly garb. "If people think you're an alien, they might call the authorities. And then who knows what could happen?"

"You're right. One second." Elaris was about to lift her hands up over her head, when she stopped briefly. "Uh, can you look away? It's not nice to watch a girl getting changed, after all."

"Oh yeah. Sorry about that." Twilight just gave a sheepish chuckle and turned away from Elaris.

Elaris continued to raise her hands over her head, and as she brought them down, a white and blue ring formed over her head and followed her down. As it did, her body and clothes transformed drastically. As the ring passed through her, it gave her golden bangs, cream-coloured skin, and an aquamarine and amethyst skirt. She also wore a set of plain, navy blue trousers with emerald shoes, which had little gemstones encrusted in the buckles.

"So. How do I look?" Elaris asked as she watched Twilight turn back around as the ring vanished at her feet.

As Twilight turned back to the transformed Elaris, her eyes widened at the sight. There was almost no trace of her old body now, as her new form stood in its' place. "Whoa... You look like a totally different person now!"

Elaris just chuckled. "Do you like it? I fashioned this look myself."

"Yeah. I do. You look very nice like this." Twilight nodded, her face lighting up more and more now. "And I bet the others would like it too once they get better."

"I'm sure that they would. But let's not dwell on that for now." Elaris began to walk off, her hands by her side. "We've got to fix the ship up. The faster the better. The sooner that the Rangers get back into action, the sooner we can put an end to Mar'Zek's heinous plans to take the crystals from them."

"Mmhmm." Twilight nodded and followed after Elaris as she walked off down the hill and towards the city of Canterlot. "So, what do you want first? The metal, the wires, or the glass?"

"The metal is the highest priority. The ship's already torn and mangled enough as it is. Where's your nearest foundry?"

"Follow me, Elaris." Twilight quickly overtook her and started to jog, leaving Elaris to follow behind her. Together, the two girls found themselves running to Canterlot, with the metal on their minds as they left nothing but footprints in the grass behind them; ones that quickly straightened back up.





Up on the Wolfpack Flagship, Mar'Zek entered a large room with an army of holographic training dummies appearing before him. Drawing his sword, it crackled with black and purple energy as he lowered it to his side. Tightening the grip on his blade, he watched as the illusion army dashed for him, weapons like swords and spears flailing in the air as they did so.

With a single swing of his blade, Mar'Zek dashed straight through the army of training dummies, re-appearing on the other side of them in a flash. Turning his back, he watched as a series of explosions rang out as the fakes either disappeared or were launched skyward. And the ones that did were subject to another frenzy of swings and slashes, similar to what he performed when dispatching the Rainbooms. For the ones that he missed, he threw his sword away, watching as it buried itself into the body of another, then grabbed it with an energy whip protruding out of his gauntlet and swung the sword and victim around, like an elongated morningstar. The attack cleaved through every last one of the remaining doubles, leaving nothing in his wake as he pulled the sword out of the last dummy and crushed its' head with his free claw.

"I don't stay my hand. So why do they? What do they have to gain from holding back except suffering and torment?" He asked himself as he sheathed the sword. "It doesn't help their cause or give them any sense of a flaw. What is their plan?"

Grunting, he just watched as another army appeared before him. Shaking the thoughts off, he drew his sword again and performed a heavy horizontal slash. A thick shockwave of energy hit the first set of soldiers, cutting straight through their bodies and rending their chests from their legs. A similar, vertical slash then followed, opening a large hole on each side of the slash, pulling the rest of the army together before he dashed forward once more, cutting the rest of them down in the blink of an eye.

"They have all the power in the world, yet they choose not to unleash it all against me? Against Mar'Zek? Leader of the Wolfpack?! WHY?!" He howled so loudly, that every other wolf in the ship could hear him. "It makes no sense! It's an affront to the prophecy of the Perfect Ones! They tarnish it with their weakness and I will not stand for it!"

"Mar'Zek. Calm yourself down. For the love of the stars in the cosmos..." Vi'Al walked through the door and into the training room. "All of this yelling is causing a number of problems with my experiments. Y'know, data on the Perfect Ones is rarer than every planet in every galaxy aligning themselves at the same time. Do you know how long it takes for every single one of those planets to align?"

Mar'Zek turned to Vi'Al and just let out a weary sigh, putting his blade back in the holder again. "I apologise for the disturbance, Vi'Al. I'm just confused, frustrated, and a bit let down. Why are the Power Rangers so weak and fleshy? I was able to dispatch them with merely a thought. Surely, it shouldn't be this easy."

"Exactly. Which only means that there is still time for us to waste for them to show their true colours." Vi'Al walked inside and went towards a console, playing around with the settings on it. He changed the arena to show a laboratory, with more targets materialising around or behind the equipment. "Plus, you've been in that training room for almost a whole day. You can't expect to let the other wolves in the Wolfpack go rusty now, can you?"

"Nngh... You're right there, Vi'Al." Mar'Zek stomped out of the simulation and watched as Vi'Al entered, to prepare himself for his battle training. "This is just my way of venting all of my anger after being lead astray. Needless to say that it will hopefully be the last time I ever have to let loose like that in this room while we're here on Earth."

"Oh, trust me, my captain, this planet is going to be a rather interesting expedition for all of us." Vi'Al sniggered as he drew a small, curly dagger from his pocket and swung it, elongating it into a sword. "After all, we're graced with the Perfect Ones. So what if they're not perfect as they say they are? We can still hunt them down and call it a day once they're all powered up."

"True, but in the meantime, they are weak. Fleshy. Surviving on pure miracles and beginner's luck." Mar'Zek just stood back and watched as Vi'Al rushed in and slit the neck of one of the holograms, before tossing the sword through another one's head and teleporting to it to pull it out. "Preda'Tor and Ahn'Taier's guards were down, and they paid the price for their lack of attention. Still, they have proven to me that these foolish teenagers need time to grow. And when that time comes and I finally get an actual fight out of them, victory will be all the more sweeter..."

"Well, that's why you have me on the crew, to keep track of their power, and whether or not they will be able to live up to the legend they supposedly carry." Vi'Al pointed the tip of his sword and drew scribbles in the air. Swinging the blade, he sent the lines he had drawn all across the room, cutting through everything that they touched. Just like his captain before, the attacking projections were all chopped to pieces by the slivers and shattered before vanishing.

"At the very least, they will be well-rested the next time we face each other. My blade already made sure of that." He watched the room transform back to the empty training hall. "If I wanted to, Soul Decimator would have caused their bodies to disintegrate into particles before dissipating in the column of destruction I left. But... let's just say that for once in my life, I was feeling...—" He choked on his own words "—merciful."

"Now there's something new. Mercy out of you, my captain." Vi'Al lifted a brow at the wolf captain. "Are you sure that you're not going to let it weaken you? After all, letting your enemies go free could give them time to study you, and learn how you fight. In desperation, many species' fight or flight kicks in, and when it does, they can do some pretty extraordinary things."

"I hold technology from more than a thousand galaxies. I've amassed an army that dwarfs any and all other races." He slammed his foot against the ground. "Nothing is stronger than the Wolfpack, Vi'Al. And if something is, then we cut it down and remind it of its' rightful place in the world. The strong have always preyed on the weak, but the weak are pathetic; incapable of providing the strong with a satisfying battle."

He bore his fangs, which gleamed in the light of the neon strips around the room as he paced around Vi'Al. "Now the strongest cull the strong, so that their rule is unchallenged. And all the while, they adore the thrill of the fight. For when the strongest and the strong collide, nothing short of a spectacle can be seen for miles around, as mountains crumble and tectonic plates are ripped apart at the seams. For in truth, the Wolfpack do not hunt for treasure or riches, or anything like a normal band of pirates." He grabbed the hilt of his blade again. "No. We fight because we love to fight the strong; to show them that in truth, they are lying to themselves about their reputations and building themselves up so we can tear them down again. It is a never-ending hunt for us, and one that always keeps adding more and more prey for us to sink our teeth into..." He drew the blade yet again, the sound of it leaving the scabbard echoing throughout. Raising it skyward, he proclaimed loudly, "And we. Are. FAMISHED!"