//------------------------------//
// The Inferior Ones (Chaos Rangers part 2) 
// Story: My Little Pony Rangers: Morphin' is Magic 
// by Lance Skyes 
//------------------------------//

	前回、マイ·リトル·ポニーレンジャーズに (Last time, on My Little Pony Rangers...)
“You fillies seek your place in life. I can show you, if you like.”
“All three of our little sisters are missing?”
“There’s nothing worse than a sister’s betrayal.”
“WE ARE THE PONY RANGERS: CHAOS FORCE!”
“Wait. There’s something headed your way...”
“Did you miss me, Dashie?”
そして今、結論 (And now, the conclusion...)

About a million questions were running through Rainbow Dash’s mind as she stood face to face with the foe she thought she was rid of just under a year ago, and even though Twilight was still in the library watching from Rainbow’s helmet cam, at least that many more questions were going through the unicorn’s mind as well. The Chaos Rangers, on the other hoof, weren’t so familiar with this new arrival.
“And just who the hay is this?” Chaos Red asked.
This question caused the cloaked pegasus to turn sharply and give the Chaos Rangers a piercing glare. “You mean Discord never told you about me?” the pony asked. She then indicated the Harmony Rangers. “They all know me so well, I’m amazed you three know nothing of the original evil Pony Ranger.” The pony then sighed and smiled evilly to herself. “I suppose I could just tell you who I am.” The pony then pulled out a small dark green coin with a design of the head of a roaring mechanical dragon on it.
“How did she get that?” Twilight shouted, forgetting that she could be heard right in the ears of the Rangers. “She isn’t supposed to have the Thunder Coin!”
“Allow me to introduce myself,” the pony said to the Chaos Rangers. “My name is Derpy Hooves, the Green Pony Ranger! IT’S MORPHIN’ TIME! ELEMENT OF THUNDER!” In a blinding flash of light, Derpy donned the armor of the Green Ranger, which looked similar to the new armor of the Harmony Rangers, except Derpy’s armor was green (obviously) and she wore a golden chestplate. (Or whatever it would be for a pony. I don’t think it would be a saddle, though.) “Spirit of the dragon! Chaos Force, Ranger Green!”
“I’m seeing things,” Rainbow Dash said to herself. “I have to be seeing things!”
“I wish we were,” Fluttershy replied.
“But I think we all see Derpy alive an’ well,” Applejack continued.
“And not only that, but she has her Ranger powers back,” Rarity said.
“Oh, this is not going to be fun,” Pinkie said.
“This is impossible,” Twilight said. “I-I’m the one who killed her.”
As though she could hear Twilight, Derpy turned sharply to the Rangers. “Ah, yes, you did do that, Twilly,” Derpy said. “That is something I’d love nothing more than to make you pay for, but for the time being, I’m going to enjoy destroying your friends.”
“This can’t be,” Rainbow Dash said, still unable to believe the evidence of her own eyes. “This is a bad dream, that’s all.”
“You shouldn’t be so surprised, Dashie. After all, it was you who saved me.”
“How did I save you?”
“When Twilight ‘killed’ me, I left behind a feather infused with my life force and all my Ranger powers.”
“A feather?” Rainbow Dash asked. “That was the feather I released into the wind so that you would be free from Nightmare’s grasp forever!”
“Yes, and I thank you for doing so.” Then, in a flash of green light, a strange-looking sword appeared in Derpy’s hoof. “But I’m afraid I can’t keep you alive long enough to thank you properly.”
Shaking her initial shock off, Rainbow Dash got up and drew her own sword. “You know what? I think taking you on would be a great idea. It certainly has been a while.”
“Sorry to cut this reunion short,” Chaos Red said, stepping forward. “However, my comrades and I must return to the moon base. I believe Discord would be pleased to see you... Derpy, was it?”
Derpy thought about this for a moment. Would she take the opportunity to strike down her greatest rival right here, right now? Or would she allow her rival’s fear to stir for a time longer, allowing for a more glorious battle in the future? “This is your lucky day, Dashie,” Derpy said, lowering her sword. She then turned to the Chaos Rangers. “Let’s go, foals.”
“We aren’t foals,” Chaos Blue said.
“Silence, Blue,” Chaos Red said. “It would be unwise to disrespect the Green Ranger.” Red then leaned in and whispered to Blue. “It’s more wise to gain her trust and strike her down when she least expects it.” Red then turned to Derpy. “Now then, shall we leave?” The four evil Rangers then teleported away, leaving the Harmony Rangers confused and even a little bit scared.
“You sent all that to the Princesses, right?” Rainbow Dash asked Twilight.
“The battle footage is on its way,” Twilight replied. “You five had better come back to the library to regroup.”
“Good idea.” Rainbow Dash then turned to her fellow Rangers, gave a quick nod, and the five then made their way back to the library in silence.

On the moon base, Discord was both happy and in an outrage over Derpy’s return, and he wasn’t doing a very good job of hiding it from her.
“While Derpy’s return may be a point in our favor,” the draconequus said to Zecora, “her return has also completely outshone my Chaos Rangers!”
While Discord was complaining, Derpy was chatting with the new Chaos Rangers, all three of which refused to de-morph for some reason.
“So,” Derpy said, “how come you three don’t want me to know your identities? We’re all on the same team.”
“Because we don’t trust you,” Chaos Red replied. “And I should know. I represent the Element of Betrayal, after all.”
“Then... do you mind if I guess your identities?”
The three fillies looked at each other before Chaos Red responded. “Sure. You get one guess for each of us.”
“I’ll take one guess for the three of you. You’re the little sisters of the Harmony Rangers, the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Am I correct?”
Chaos Blue gave a slight laugh at Derpy’s guess. “Applebloom and Scootaloo were foals. They refused to accept this power. I’m the only one who agreed to become a Chaos Ranger. I’m just glad I was able to use my magic to erase their memories of Discord’s offer before they left.”
“Really?” Derpy asked, actually rather taken aback. “Then... who are you two?”
“You got one guess for each of us,” Chaos Red said, waving her hoof and obviously smirking under her helmet. She and the others then began trotting off. “Maybe we’ll tell you later... if you prove yourself worthy in our next attack.” And with that, the Chaos Rangers were gone, leaving Derpy more confused than ever.
“I can’t believe they don’t trust me,” Derpy said to herself. She was about to walk off when a cough stopped her. “Forget it, Rei. I’m not saying it.”
“You want this story to get views and likes, don’t you?” Rei asked from behind another computer.
“Fine,” Derpy said. She then sighed and quickly said, “I just don’t know what went wrong. Happy?”
“Very,” Rei replied.

Back in Ponyville, the Harmony Rangers, Twilight, and Spike were gathered around the computer under the library talking with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.
“I’d say this turn of events doesn’t make any sense,” Celestia said, “but knowing Discord, I believe such a comment, particularly that one, is now redundant.”
“That’s the problem, though,” Twilight said. “Derpy said Discord had nothing to do with her return.”
“Even so,” Luna said, “you Rangers cannot let your guard down. You’re obviously up against a force far greater than anything Equestria has seen before.”
“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash said. “We kind of figured that out the day Discord was released from his prison.”
“It’s not just Discord, though,” Princess Celestia said. “It is fairly obvious Derpy has joined Discord in order to achieve her own goal, which I’m sure we can all guess is plain and simple vengeance against the Pony Rangers.”
“And what about those Chaos Rangers?” Rarity asked. “We need to have a plan for the next time they decide to show their muzzles.”
“At this point, I fear that they may possess greater power than you five. Luna, Twilight, and I can do what we can to improve your powers, but for now, I fear the threat may be too great.”
“The threat is too great?” the offended Rainbow Dash asked. She then flew up to the screen right where Celestia’s face was, even though, unbeknownst to the pegasus, she was well out of the view of the camera on her end. “We saved Equestria from Nightmare Moon and countless other threats, and now you decide to say we aren’t strong enough to face this new threat? It’s as though you’ve forgotten who we are over just the past few months. We’re the Pony Rangers: Harmony Force, and we don’t back down from anything.” Rainbow Dash then flew back down to join the rest of the group. “You say what you want, but I for one will be eagerly waiting for those Chaos Rangers to show their muzzles again. Who here is with me?”
The rest of the group kind of looked around without responding for the longest time, but this eventually turned to fairly unsure nods of agreement, causing Celestia to sigh. “Very well,” the alicorn said. “I wish you all luck in your next encounter with the Chaos Rangers.”
“Thanks, Princess,” Rainbow Dash said with pride. With that, Celestia and Luna disconnected. Rainbow Dash waited about five seconds before suddenly turning back to her fellow Rangers with a worried expression. “Does anypony have any idea what we’re supposed to do if those Chaos Rangers attack again?” This resulted in collective facehoofs from everypony else in the room, including Spike. Just then, an alarm went off on Twilight’s computer.
“I don’t know what we’re supposed to do if those Chaos Rangers attack again,” Twilight said, “but we’re gonna have to find out fast. All four of them are attacking near Carousel Boutique.”
“Let’s go, Rangers,” Rainbow Dash said. They were about to leave when Twilight stopped them.
“Rainbow Dash... be careful.”
“We will be, Twilight.” Rainbow Dash then turned and left the room.

Down at Carousel Boutique, Derpy and the Chaos Rangers were attacking every nearby civilian pony with their respective elemental powers. Chaos Red’s was wind, Blue’s water, Yellow’s earth, and Derpy’s lightning.
“Run you foals!” Chaos Red shouted. “Run and scream in terror so that your chaos and misery may feed our master’s power and lure the Harmony Rangers into our trap!” The filly then let out a loud evil laugh. “Oh, I can’t express enough how good it feels to be evil.”
“It gets boring after a while,” Derpy said. “However, this new lightning power I have does put a fun twist on my career.”
“Ugh!” Chaos Blue complained. “When are those Harmony Force Pony Rangers going to get here? I’m bored and we’re running out of civilians to terrorize!” Blue then turned to Carousel Boutique. “Hmm... it’s a gamble, but I wonder...” Blue then charged her hoof with energy and was about to blast the boutique with a tidal wave of magic water when a shout from a distance stopped her.
“HOOVES OFF MY SHOP, YOU FIENDS!” Rarity shouted as she and the other Harmony Rangers galloped onto the scene.
“It’s about time you five showed up,” Chaos Blue said, lowering her hoof. I almost destroyed the very place I live in because of your delay, the filly thought to herself.
“Welcome to our trap, Harmony Rangers,” Chaos Red said, drawing her sword. “At least, I trust you already knew this was a trap, correct?”
“‘Course we did,” Rainbow Dash said, pulling out her Element of Harmony, followed by the others. “Doesn’t mean we didn’t come prepared, though. IT’S MORPHIN’ TIME!”
“ELEMENT OF HONESTY!”
“ELEMENT OF KINDNESS!”
“ELEMENT OF LAUGHTER!”
“ELEMENT OF GENEROSITY!”
“ELEMENT OF LOYALTY!”
“Harmony Force, Ranger Blue!”
“Harmony Force, Ranger Yellow!”
“Harmony Force, Ranger Pink!”
“Harmony Force, Ranger Black!”
“Harmony Force, Ranger Red!”
“From all of us together, we fight as one! We protect one another until the battle is done!” The Harmony Rangers struck a unified pose as an explosion erupted behind them.
“You still rely on cheap pyrotechnics for your entrance?” Derpy asked, shaking her head. “Tsk tsk tsk. I never thought you Harmony Rangers could get any sadder.”
“Never mind the pyrotechnics,” Rainbow Dash said, drawing her sword. “It’s time for action.”
Derpy was about to advance on her old rival, but Chaos Red stopped the green-clad pegasus. “A one-on-one fight was not part of the plan, Derpy,” Red said. “You know what the trap involved.”
“Very well, filly,” Derpy said, knocking Red’s hoof away. She then turned to Rainbow Dash and the other Rangers. “We were originally planning to lure you into a trap from which there is no escape, but I have been forced to promise you up-front that we will not destroy you with said trap.” Derpy then turned to Red and nodded.
“Summon Chaos Zords!” Red shouted, raising her hoof to the sky.
“Yellow Lion Zord!” Chaos Yellow shouted.
“Blue Dolphin Zord!” Chaos Blue shouted.
“Red Falcon Zord!” Chaos Red shouted.
“Green Dragon Zord!” Derpy shouted.
Just then, four massive machines matching the descriptions provided by the Chaos Rangers stampeded towards the battlefield.
“New zords?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Could this day get any worse?”
“Yes, yes it could,” Chaos Red said, obviously smiling. “Let’s go, Chaos Rangers!” She, Blue, and Yellow then all teleported into their zords.
“For the last time!” Derpy shouted. “I don’t take orders from a foal!” Then, quickly realizing that nopony was listening to her complaint, Derpy teleported into her own zord.
“Do they really think they’re the only ones with zords?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Twilight, summon the zords.”
“On their way,” Twilight replied.
Just then, the Dino Zords (only two of which were actually dinosaurs, might I be allowed to interject) came stampeding onto the battlefield. “Thanks, Twilight. Let’s go, Rangers.” The five Harmony Rangers then teleported into their respective zords. “Form Harmony Megazord!”
“Flash Formation Spell, go!”
In ten seconds flat, the Harmony Megazord stood tall and ready to take on the four Chaos Zords.
“Do you really think this will be that easy?” Chaos Red asked. “Let’s show these posers what a real Megazord looks like. Form Chaos Megazord!”
The Chaos Zords (excluding the Dragonzord) then charged forward. The Lion Zord stood up on its hind legs and its head tilted to its left to form what looked like a body with legs and one arm. The Dolphin Zord then jumped up and became the right arm of the Chaos Megazord. The Falcon Zord then flew up, shifted its form to look like a head in a helmet, and became the head of the Chaos Megazord. The completed Chaos Megazord then drew a sword that looked strangely similar in design to that of a snake and pointed it right at the Harmony Megazord. “Chaos Megazord, ready!” the Chaos Rangers shouted in unison.
“They have their own Megazord?” Rainbow Dash shouted.
“And that isn’t all, Dashie,” Derpy said. “Hay, Twilly, you might want to pay attention to this next scene. Dragon-Battlezord, form!”
“Did she just say what I think she said?” Twilight asked in a panic, even though she was sure the Harmony Rangers were the only ones to hear her panic.
Much to Twilight’s despair, the Dragonzord began glowing bright green and released three green blasts of light, all three of which came back around and rejoined the light that was the Dragonzord. When the light faded, before the Harmony Rangers stood the Dragon-Battlezord.
“This can’t be!” Twilight shouted, nearly overloading the Harmony Ranger’s comms. “I’m the only one who can perform that spell!”
“Maybe you were, Twilly,” Derpy said, her Battlezord drawing its spear. “However, you’re no longer the Green Pony Ranger. I’m the Green Ranger once again, and I adopted every power you developed for me.”
“That doesn’t matter,” Rainbow Dash said. “Come on, Rangers. We need to take these Chaos Rangers down!” The Harmony Rangers then sent the Megazord forward at full sprint, but the Chaos Rangers stood ready and entirely unintimidated.
“Take this!” Rarity shouted, bringing the Power Sword down upon the Chaos Megazord. However, the Chaos Rangers moved their sword to block the attack, leaving the Harmony Rangers open to a powerful attack from Derpy’s spear.
“They’re double-teamin’ us?” Applejack asked. “That’s low even fo’ these ponies.”
“It is still four against five,” Chaos Red replied, chuckling to herself.
“Twilight,” Rainbow Dash said, “is there any way for us to split the Power Sword in order to be able to defend against both of them?”
“Not unless Derpy’s willing to combine the Dragonzord with the Harmony Megazord,” Twilight replied.
Just as Twilight said this, the Chaos Rangers ran up and struck the Harmony Megazord with a full-force slash, causing the Harmony Megazord to stumble and nearly fall over.
“There’s no way they can be this strong,” Rarity said, checking the status of the Megazord. “Our shields are already down to thirty percent power.”
“We need to go on the offensive!” Rainbow Dash shouted, slamming her hoof on her control panel. “I refuse to let these four beat us. Harmony Rangers, charge!”
The Harmony Megazord charged with its sword forward, ready to attack with all the energy the Rangers had remaining. They got to the Dragon-Battlezord and moved to strike Derpy’s zord, but Derpy was faster on the draw and moved out of the way just in time to leave the Harmony Rangers off-balance and allow the Chaos Rangers to attack.
“Time to end this!” Derpy shouted. “Dragon’s Fire!” The Dragon-Battlezord then opened its mouth and breathed a powerful fire that completely enveloped the Harmony Megazord and sent it flying across the battlefield.
“We can’t get up!” Applejack shouted. “We’re out of power!”
“Draw some reserve power!” Rainbow Dash shouted.
“We can’t,” Rarity said. “Everything’s fried!”
“They’re too strong for us, aren’t they?” Fluttershy asked. “We’re finished, aren’t we?”
“No!” Rainbow Dash shouted. “It can’t end here! Not like this!”
“Too bad, Dashie,” Derpy said, moving her Dragon-Battlezord until it had one foot on the downed Harmony Megazord. Derpy then lowered her spear and aimed it right at the head of the Harmony Megazord. “I’ve waited too long for this moment...” Derpy said with an evil smile reserved for psychopaths and characters from Creepypastas. (Notable exceptions being Slender Man and Eyeless Jack.) She then raised her spear and prepared to bring it down upon the Harmony Rangers.
However, just before the spear impacted, it was blocked by the Chaos Rangers’ own blade. “What is the meaning of this?” Derpy angrily asked.
“I understand how much you want to bring down the Harmony Rangers,” Chaos Red said, “but if we wish to fulfill Discord’s plan, we need to keep them alive.” The Chaos Megazord then turned to look down at the downed Harmony Megazord. “As pathetic as they are, we need them alive for the time being.”
“Fine,” Derpy grumbled. “You got lucky this time, Dashie. Next time the Chaos Rangers might not be here to save yours and your friends’ plots.” Then, the Dragon-Battlezord and the Chaos Megazord teleported out of sight.
“You see?” Rainbow Dash said with a nervous chuckle. “I told you we were going to make it.”

Later at the library, the Harmony Rangers were gathered once again, only this time after a defeat worse that the one that morning.
“It sure is lucky you five survived,” Twilight said.
“Ordinarily, I’d say luck had nothing to do with it,” Rainbow Dash said. “But this time, I guess even I have to swallow my pride and admit we got our flanks handed to us on a silver platter.”
“You Rangers can’t let this defeat hang over you too badly,” Celestia said. “It was because you rushed into battle woefully unprepared that you almost met your downfall, and the same can only happen if you lose confidence... just as long as you don’t get cocky.”
“I understand that now, Princess,” Rainbow Dash said. “But now, one question remains. What are we going to do if those four show up again? Obviously they have us beat in every respect.”
“Sadly, we are afraid there’s not much we can do,” Luna said. “All we can ask thou to do is to do thine best in the next battle. Call upon power sources thou hast never tapped before, and hope it will be enough to defeat thine enemies.”
“I’m not sure that will be much help,” Rainbow Dash said. “But I guess it’s all we’ve got.”

On the moon base, the Chaos Rangers and Derpy were talking once again.
“Well,” Chaos Red said to Derpy, “I must admit I never expected you to fight with such fire in your heart, Derpy Hooves.”
“Does that mean we trust her now?” Chaos Yellow asked.
“I believe it does,” Red replied.
“Good,” Yellow said, moving her hooves to remove her helmet. “Now I can take this stupid thing off.” However, as Yellow’s helmet came off, her voice became slightly deeper mid-sentence. When she had completely removed her helmet, it was revealed that Yellow was actually a brownish colt with an orange mane and similarly-colored eyes. “Somepony remind me again why I have to pretend to be a filly.”
“Oh, bear with it, Button Mash,” Sweetie Belle said, removing her blue helmet. “If you pretend to be a filly, then we can trick the Harmony Rangers into thinking we’re their little sisters and have them turn on Applebloom, Scootaloo, and that clone of me I created to take my place in Ponyville while I’m here.” Sweetie Belle then trotted up to Button Mash and affectionately rested her head upon his shoulder. “Besides, you’d do it for me, right?”
Button Mash rolled his eyes and sighed. “Yes, Sweetie Belle. I’d do just about anything for you.” He then smiled and rested his head upon her’s.
“Ahem,” Chaos Red said. “If you two would quit it with your romance for five minutes, maybe we could get the next phase of our plan going.”
“I guess that’s true,” Button Mash said. “Hay, wait a minute. I don’t think anypony here knows who you are, Red.”
“Yeah,” Derpy added. “Who exactly is the lead filly of this group?”
“I’d... rather not take my helmet off,” Red said.
“Why not?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“Because... I need it to see. I’m literally blind without the Ranger powers Discord gave to me.”
“Can’t we at least know your face, though?” Derpy asked.
“Fine. If you want to know that badly...” Red then removed her helmet and revealed a face that looked familiar to nopony there. Her face was a pale blue, her mane was pure white, and her eyes resembled her soul. Empty.
“I think I’ve heard about you,” Sweetie Belle said. “You’re that filly who created snowflakes. Uh... Snowdrop?”
Had she been able to see, Snowdrop probably would have turned sharply and gave Sweetie Belle a sharper glare. However, her expression simply changed to an evil glare without her head moving at all. “Snowdrop was a pathetic little filly who had little to no future ahead of her,” she said angrily. “But Discord pulled her out of her timeline, gave her the ability to see, and turned that pathetic little filly into me, Chaos Ranger Red.” Snowdrop then put her helmet back on and blinked a few times to get re-accustomed to being able to see once again. She then turned to Sweetie Belle. “And I expect to be addressed as such.” Snowdrop then turned to Derpy. “And as for you, my helmet is sealed with a magical lock, so I’m the only pony who can remove it. That means don’t get any ideas of pulling me out of command of this herd in any way whatsoever. Got that, Derpy?”
“Yeah, sure, whatever,” Derpy said with a sigh. “Now then, since we’re all on the same team, we might as well take some time to become friends or something. This moon base has a pretty good muffin bar. We can chat over some muffins.”
Snowdrop, Sweetie Belle, and Button Mash glared angrily at Derpy for a moment, but then Snowdrop said, “Actually, I kind of like muffins.”
“Yeah, me too,” Sweetie Belle agreed.
“Sure,” Button Mash said.
“Great,” Derpy said. She then led the fillies to the room in which the muffin bar was located.

In what appeared to be a bedroom, Rei the pegasus finished typing the last line of his story and yawned loudly. “Man,” the colt said to himself, “what time is it?” He checked the clock on his laptop and found that it was already 4 in the morning. “Wow. I should probably get to bed.” Rei was about to shut his laptop down and go to bed when his friend Slen wandered by Rei’s room.
“Did you seriously stay up all night on that story again?” the unicorn colt asked, trotting over to his friend.
“Yeah, I kinda did,” Rei replied as Slen read the last few lines of the story.
“Wait a second,” Slen suddenly said. “Did you seriously make Snowdrop an antagonist in this story? Dude, that’s like the last thing you want to do in a story. Take a beloved character from an episode/animation that caused severe feels and turn her into a villain? That’s just plain wrong!”
“How bad could it be?” Rei asked. “Besides, I have a decent plot line set up for this change in the cast.”
“How can making a character as lovable as Snowdrop evil have a decent plot line?” Slen asked.
“Well, I’d include Sweetie Belle’s struggle with betraying her fellow Cutie Mark Crusaders,” Rei said. “As well, with Button Mash as a fellow Chaos Ranger, I can incorporate the romance between him and Sweetie Belle. The part with Snowdrop was just because I couldn’t think of anypony to fill the role of the Red Chaos Ranger, so I felt like trolling my readers.” 
“Alright, fine,” Slen said. He then turned and trotted out of the room.
“Hm,” Rei said to himself once his friend was gone. “What was he even doing awake this late at night?”

Next time...
“I’m back, Gilda. You just have to deal with it.”
“Zecora, why don’t you go attack Ponyville for a change?”
“Don’t worry. My plan can work without Derpy or Gilda, so I will allow them their little quarrel.”
“At least we stand a fighting chance against you.”
“As it turns out, Discord has his own plans for you.”
“We’re going to beat you three this time. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my- OW!”
次回、　「Rivals」　あ楽しみに！ (Next time: “Rivals” Enjoy!)