Through an uncharted jungle in the morning, a tan pegasus pony, with a discolored rainbow mane, looking a lot like Rainbow Dash, but wearing a safari hat and suit...Daring Do, to be exact, was scouring the area for any trouble that came her way. She trekked through the tropical jungle, the wet heat sapped her energy and slowed her every step. If only she could escape this oppressive atmosphere and fly up into the cool blue sky.
But her recent escape from her mortal enemy, Ahuizotl in the jungle had injured her wing and she was grounded for a few days, which might as well be a few months or a few years! Fortunately, she was pretty much used to it because she has such experience in her past adventures.
The mosquitoes buzzed loudly. The macaws cried from the high trees. Yet all of these distracting noises were not enough to cover the sound of the predators following her every step. The tan pegasus’ ears pivoted about, twitching as they tried to track the soft footfalls of her would-be stalkers. So far, it was quiet. Like they say in the movies, too quiet. She was wondering where her enemy might be, despite defeating him not too long ago.
"Ugh!" She said, wiping the sweat that was easily dripping off her forehead. "It's bad enough that I evaded Ahuizotl, and got my wing hurt in the progress...but this heat is intense, and I'm not sure how I can be cool again and fly." She scanned the area for her enemy's cat troops to see if they were tailing her. So far, no sound or sight of them.
She sighed in relief once that was taken care of, but now she had to figure out where she was. She started to take a brisk walk through the forest, and enjoy the scenery. She continued to trek, until she came to a stop, as she approached a mountainous area with trees on it. It looked a little normal as far as the eye could see. One thing about it looked off: It appeared to be divided through the middle. Daring was a little unsure about all this, as she saw what was in front of her.
"Hmm..." She wondered out loud. "There must be a reason why that mountain appears to be divided here. What would it possibly mean?" As she examined it, she thought of all the outcomes of why it looked divided down the middle. She wondered why it was like that as she decided to take a closer look.
In Ponyville, a blue unicorn with a crescent-shaped silver mane...namely, the Great and Powerful Trixie had just wrapped up her latest magic show, and was just finishing to put a few things into her caravan. It was a little tough at first, but she tried and finally managed to fit her items in it.
"There!" She said confidently, as she closed it all up. "Now, to get ready for Trixie's next show!" She was about to head for her next show, and then thought about her friend, Starlight. "Trixie's show isn't for a few hours, actually." She thought quietly. "Perhaps, maybe I could go see Starlight, and see what new magic tricks we could practice today." A smirk came on her face, and decided that it wouldn't hurt to see her friend for a little bit.
She trotted over to Twilight's castle of Friendship, and made her way inside. She figured her assistant would be over ecstatic to see her again, and decide to catch up with a little tea, as well.
"Starlight!" She called out, excited. "The Great & Powerful Trixie is here to see you, and practice some new spells!" She leaned over to see if her friend would respond. So far, silence. Trixie was confused. She usually heard Starlight coming up to see her.
"Maybe, I'd better check to see if she's here." She thought to herself, empathetically.
But, as she checked the various libraries, they were all empty. Trixie couldn’t help but feel like something was… off. She checked the kitchen as she passed; empty. She knocked on Starlight’s bedroom, with no response. She pushed the door open.
Empty. Where had Starlight gone? She was feeling distinctly uneasy.
She walked to the Cutie Map, and quickly cast a spell on the map. She saw Starlight's cutie mark, but it was out of range in Equestria, and appeared to be in a different sphere.
She felt her Cutie Mark respond to the magic of the Map. It was calling her.
The symbol spread out and started circling the entire map. It circled out of the map, and onto a different map-like manifestation of Earth on a sphere.
She then realized she heard of the portal the Mane Six, and Starlight used to get to a world outside of Equestria, which was also where another group of heroes was. She had been there before, and was even present when some representatives from that world helped team with her and everyone to destroy Tirek, Chrysalis, Grogar, the Avatar versions of Blaze and Roxy and Bell-Tron. She then wondered if Starlight was there. She decided to check, and went out of the castle and to the portal close by. That would tell her.
She went to the portal, and mustered her strength to go through it. She swirled, and was on her way to her destination.
The Mane Six, Spike, Starlight Glimmer and Cozy Glow were just arriving at Grid Battleforce, as they went in. Earlier in the morning, they had gotten a letter saying that their presence was needed and that they had to be there. They were unsure what the reason was, but they went to find out.
They were a little tired from early in the morning, since they had to get up to go. But, luckily they would see their friends. Applejack yawned, waking up. “Mornin’, Rarity.” She said, tired.
“Good morning, Applejack.” Rarity said, feeling just as tired as her friend.
“Has anyone heard from the rangers recently about all this?” Twilight asked.
“Nuh-Uh!” The rest all answered, as they were tired.
“I don't see what’s so important that we had to come here this early.” Rainbow Dash said, as she yawned. “Celestia hasn't even raised the sun yet!”
“I hope everything's okay.” Starlight said with worry. “It’s just that something could be terribly wrong!”
“Don’t you think you’re being a little paranoid?” Spike asked.
“But, why else would the Commander send us a message in such a hurry?” Starlight asked, more worried.
“Good point.” Fluttershy said. “She knows better than to make us worry.”
They met in the lab, and saw the rangers, Betty Burke and Commander Shaw already in there. Rainbow Dash was still feeling a little sleepy, as she bumped into something. “Ahhhhh!” She and the thing both screamed in shock. Rainbow finally saw Devon right in front of her.
“Oh, Hi, Rainbow Dash!” Devon said, a little chipper today. He was recoiling from his shock.
“Sorry about that, Devon.” Rainbow said, apologetic. “We were pretty sleepy, and we had to come early.”
“You guys okay?” Ravi asked as he saw them enter.
“You guys look like you haven’t slept a wink last night.” Zoey said, concerned.
“Well, I don't think that would’ve been a problem if the Commander hadn’t sent us an urgent message.” Twilight answered groggily.
“I apologize for disturbing your beauty sleep.” Commander Shaw said, calmly. “But, I’m glad you could come. The general said that he has an important announcement for all of us.”
“Why would he want us in such a hurry?” Rarity asked confused.
“I don’t know, Rarity.” Nate said. “But, it might be important.”
“Ooh! Ooh! Maybe, it’s a brand-new weapon to add on to our arsenal of powerful weapons!” Pinkie Pie piped up excitedly.
“That’s exactly why I called you all here.” General Burke said, as he came in the lab. “Hi, kids.” He said, as he saw Ben and Betty.
“Hi, Dad.” Ben said, in a civil manner.
“Hey, Dad.” Betty said as she waved at him.
“General Burke?” Starlight asked. “What are you doing here? What’s wrong? What happened?”
“That’s just it.” He said to them. “Nothing's wrong! Everything's perfect!”
Everyone was just confused as soon as they heard that. “Did y'all call us down here just to tell us that?” Applejack asked, in shock.
“With all due respect, General, you might want to save your urgent summons for matters that are a bit more... well, urgent!” Rarity said in agreement.
General Burke chuckled for a second. “Well, there is more to it.” He said to them. “The Mayor and I have been working on a top-secret project. And today, you get to see it in action.”
He scanned the entrance for the guest. “Hmmm...The Mayor seems to be running a bit late.” He said. “But, maybe I can give you a little sneak peek.” He got out an HD Video Camera from his pocket. “...if I can remember how this thing works.” He went to one of the workers in the lab. “Here. Plug this in.”
“What top-secret project?” Devon asked.
“I have no idea.” Commander Shaw said, unsure as well.
“We’re just as stumped as you are.” Rainbow added.
The worker plugged the camera in, and on the screen showed the General in the training room. “Is this thing on?" He asked. He then saw that the camera was recording."Oh, Red light." He said in relief. "Okay kids, Strut your stuff!”
Ben and Betty were shocked, as they were seeing the video of their dad showing them their training. "Dad!" He said, nervously as he and his sister ran up to him. "Wrong video!"
"Turn it off!" Betty said, getting embarrassed.
"Yeah, yeah. I'll fast-forward to the good stuff!" General Burke said as he tried to skip to the best stuff. Ben and Betty both tried to block the video from the heroes. Devon, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Spike all shared a little chuckle as they saw it. And Twilight and Ravi even giggle snorted a little too.
The video of them making utter fools of themselves kept playing. "How do you stop this thing?!" Ben asked in worry.
"Hey, practice makes perfect." Cozy said as the others except the commander nodded.
Just then, the video even showed the general, trying to make a fool out of himself. "Whoa! That's me!" He said in shock as he saw himself in the video. He got to the camera, and yanked it from the computer, making the video not shown on the screen.
The rangers and ponies finished their moment of funniness as he turned to them. "I'm afraid this video camera has got some bugs in it." He handed the camera to Betty.
"Uh, yeah!" Betty said, nervously as she left the lab. "I'll fix it. No worry."
"General Burke..." Twilight said, as she finished up her laughter moment. "What is this top-secret project?"
“Ah, Yes. Thank you for asking, Twilight.” He said, as he went to them. “That would be...The Beast-X King Zord!”
Everyone gasped in amazement and shock as soon as they heard that. “Uh, did you say Zord?” Nate asked, to make sure.
“You’re kidding, right?’ Ravi asked as well.
“The Beast-X King Zord?!” Cozy said in realization. “That’s the Zord I piloted when I was saving my friends from Evox!”
“Of course!” Starlight said in shock as well. “We used that Zord when we were fighting BellTron, Chrysalis, Tirek and Grogar.”
“I agree with Starlight.” Twilight added as well. “We used that Zord twice! When we were fighting Evox...both in Equestria, and the Cyber Dimension!” She turned to Fluttershy. “Weren’t you going to use that Zord earlier this week?”
“We were, but the Zord had a few bugs in the system.” Fluttershy admitted to her friend.
“That’s correct.” General Burke said. “It’s a top notch piece of technology with lion DNA. We just worked out the bugs from the system, so we could get it working again. The plan is to build lots of them to protect the global network of Morph-X towers.”
The others gasped. “Wait...did you say mass-produce?” Twilight asked.
“Yes, I did say that.” He said. “We want to have multiples while the rangers, and you are stopping the Storm King from going after our Morph-X.” The other ponies and rangers didn’t think that sounded right, as they started taking amongst themselves. Cozy especially got nervous as she thought that meant the Zord wouldn’t be used as the most powerful weapon, and would be used as a troop vehicle.
Commander Shaw walked up to him. “You built a Zord without notifying Grid Battleforce?” She asked angrily.
Rainbow even flew to him solemnly. “And you had plans to mass produce the Zord that Cozy Glow, herself was using when we fought Evox?!” She asked, feeling the same emotion as the commander was. “If you do that, then the Zord wouldn’t be a special piece in the Power Ranger’s arsenal of hi-tech weaponry. Did you ever think about that?”
“Well, no...” he admitted. “ I didn’t think about that. But, the rangers and Elements of Harmony bearers are too busy keeping their worlds safe. I assure you that this operation won’t disturb your work one teensy bit. We even have our own designer.”
“Hold on!” Pinkie asked, in seriousness. “You have a designer for this Zord?”
“We sure do!” General Burke said to her. “And, she used to work here.”
“She?” Zoey, Rarity, Applejack, and Twilight all asked.
“Used to work here?” Starlight asked. “Does anyone know someone else who used to work here?”
“Not that I know of...” Nate said, confused. “Why?”
“What about Cole?” Spike asked. “I mean, he did hand a virus-laced puppet.”
“Don’t remind me, Spike.” Steel said, bluntly. “That was a mistake. He got rehired, once that was cleared up.”
“Cole still works here.” Fluttershy said. “Other than that, we don’t know off the top of our heads who else used to be here for that matter.” Starlight, and the others continued wondered who else used to work here.
“Don’t worry.” General Burke said to them. “You all may be familiar with her.” At that moment, the door opened. “And, here she is now with the mayor.”
They all turned to see Devon’s dad, Mayor Daniels enter the lab with the designer for the new Zord. Her hair was in two pigtails...one on either side of her head, and she was carrying a folder in her hand, and was equipped with a lion-styled variant of the Beast-X Morpher on her wrist.
Neither of the Mane Six or Starlight knew who she was, as they never seen or met her before. The rangers were surprised as they knew her, and Cozy was further shocked, as she too knew her well. She helped her deploy the Zord in the final battle against Evox.
“Hey, Dad.” Devon said to him, as he noticed the assistant designer next to him. “Megan?”
“Megan?” Cozy asked in surprise.
“Hi...Everyone.” Megan said nervously to the rangers and Mane Six, before she saw Cozy Glow. “Cozy?!” She was surprised to see her. “This is quite a surprise!”
Nate and Zoey exchanged looks of shock and horror, wondering why she was here. “No way!” Zoey said in shock.
Nate couldn’t believe it as well, as he knew what happened the last time Megan was here. “Why would you hire her?” He asked a little defensive. “She blackmailed Zoey.”
“Wait...Nate, you know her?” Rainbow asked in shock.
“You could say that.” Nate said, as he gritted his teeth.
“Easy, Nate.” Mayor Daniels said calmly to him. “Megan mentioned that there was some ‘bad blood’ between you. But, she submitted her amazing design. Her knowledge and experience make her the right person for this top-secret assignment. She’s done a great job.”
“No kidding, she did a great job.” Cozy whispered to Starlight. “Personally, I’d choose her as my Zord designer if she had plans for more weaponry.”
“Ditto.” Starlight whispered back. “She hasn’t done anything bad so far yet, so it may turn out well.”
Megan walked up to Nate, ready to apologize to him, while Nate, himself was still feeling on edge for what she did to his friend in the past. “I know that what I did to you guys was wrong, and I truly didn’t mean for this to happen.” She said calmly. “...but, when the mayor told me about the project, all I wanted to do was help.” Nate, and Zoey were still a little on edge about what happened, and Twilight and the others could tell something was wrong.
Twilight walked up to her friend. “Nate, it’s going to be okay.” She said, calmly. “The way I view her, she hasn’t done anything wrong.” She smiled at him.
“Yeah, easy for you to say.” Nate said a little defensive, gritting his teeth. “I don’t see her blackmailing you because of one flipping mistake!”
Twilight gasped as she moved back a few steps in shock. Fluttershy was surprised at him acting this way. “Nate Silva! Such language!” She turned to him, almost wanting to give him the stare.
“What’s your problem?” Rainbow asked, confused. “What did she ever do to Devon, Ravi, Ben and Steel?”
“Well, you may have a point, Dash.” Devon said, coming to Rainbow’s side with Ravi, Steel and Ben coming up and nodding in agreement with what the wonderbolt said.
The General came over to Megan. “Let’s show them...or rather reintroduce Cozy to how the Zord works.” He said to them. Megan nodded, as she came to the Center of the room to present the zord demonstration.
“As you all can see, Cozy Glow here knows how the Zord works along with Starlight Glimmer, since they have both used the Zord fighting Evox previously.” She pointed to the alicorn filly, and Twilight’s star pupil as she said that. Cozy nodded as she flew over to Megan to witness the demonstration.
“Cozy used the Zord with Megan’s help?” Nate whispered to Zoey in shock. “I don’t believe this!”
“I know.” Zoey added. “I’m just as surprised as you are.”
Megan stuck out her arm, showing the Beast-X King Morpher for all to see “This Beast-X King Morpher/Activator summons the Zord.” She said to them. “For the purposes of the demonstration, I will control it from my tablet.” The others were interested as she got her tablet ready.
“Now, I’ll just bring up the cameras...” she tapped a few buttons, showing a mountainous forest on the cameras. “This is Pine Ridge Woods. It’s just outside of Coral Harbor.”
Twilight and the others were surprised at the breathtaking view of the woods, and were excited to see it for themselves. "Land sakes, Twi!" Applejack whispered to her in excitement. "I don't belive I've ever seen anything like it before!"
"I would agree!" Rarity said, taking in the view. "It looks simply divine!"
"Yeah!" Dash agreed. "It even makes A.K. Yearling's forest look like a shed!"
"Are you all ready?" Megan asked everyone. They all nodded as Megan got the morpher key ready to summon it. “Deploy Beast-X King Zord!” She said as she inserted the key, bringing the Zord to life.
In Pine Ridge Woods, Daring Do was just examining the mountain, when she saw it split open. She was shocked to see a blue, and black lion zord come out of the rock. "What is that?" She wondered. "I've never seen anything like this before!" It reminded her of Ahuizotl's feline minions whom she fought before, but she had never seen or heard of anything like the Beast-X King Zord, as she watched the zord spring to life and outside.
The Zord was deployed out into the open, and the others were amazed at this, especially Cozy, since she had piloted the zord before, and everyone was now witnessing its full beauty.
"Whoa!" Steel said in amazement. "You guys seeing this? It really is a lion zord!"
"That is so cool!" Spike said as he whooped in excitement, watching the zord in action.
"Awesome!" Rainbow piped up.
"Alright!" Starlight said as well.
"Yay!" Fluttershy cheered. Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie, Ben, and Twilight all cheered as well upon seeing the zord as it posed before the heroes in total victory.
Meanwhile, in those same woods, Robo-Blaze, and Roxy and Tempest Shadow heard the roar, and saw the brand-new Zord in front of them. “That’s one heck of a Zord.” Robo-Blaze said in amazement. “I hope the rangers don’t miss it.”
“But, as we all know, Lions are meant to be wild!” Tempest said as she took the dart, and got ready to throw it. “Let’s give those rangers and ponies something truly wild they’ll never forget!” She threw the dart at the Zord spot-on, as it illuminated in purple energy as it’s eyes turned purple as well.
Back at Grid Battleforce, the heroes and Megan were all watching the Beast-X King Zord. However, Nate caught sight of the glow that affected said Zord. “Wait...” he said, as he walked up to Megan. “What’s that glow?”
Megan took notice and saw what Nate was talking about. “That’s weird.” She said. She hit the controls on her tablet, but nothing happened.
“What’s going on, Megan?” Spike asked.
“I commanded the Zord to stand down, but it isn’t responding.” She said, as she saw the Zord about to fire at the trees. “I don’t know what’s happening!”
Everyone was shocked as they saw this. “Whoa!” Devon said in shock. “Did you tell it to do that?”
“No!” Megan said, as she tried to control it, but the system glitched. “There’s like some sort of malware, but the Zord it totally out of control!”
“Maybe that glow on the Zord was...” Nate turned to Megan. “Did you install a firewall against viruses?” He asked her.
Megan was surprised. “Well, I was going to. But...” she started.
“You didn’t!” He said, gritting his teeth. “It’s the Storm King! He’s taking control of that Zord with the virus!”
Everyone gasped in shock, as they know knew why the Zord had went bad, however Megan didn’t know that happened and Cozy was on the same boat as her.
“That Storm King has got the zord in his grasp!” Rarity shrieked in shock.
“Yeah!” Pinkie said.
“And, it’s even bigger than Evox’s or Steel’s own ego!” Applejack replied in fright, pointing to the wreckage that the Zord was creating.
“Guys, I think we’ve got ourselves a big problem!” Rainbow Dash said in horror, as she and the others watched this unfold. They had to get to the call to action, and they had to act now!