//------------------------------//
// Dragon's Greed (Phoenix Ranger part 1) 
// Story: My Little Pony Rangers: Morphin' is Magic 
// by Lance Skyes 
//------------------------------//

	It had been roughly a week since Discord’s last attack. Most of the Harmony Rangers dismissed this delay as him simply hiding somewhere to try to recover, following the defeat of Trixie. Twilight, however, wasn’t so sure about that. It was true that it was a full week’s delay before the previous attack but that was so Trixie could find the Alicorn Amulet. Twilight wasn’t sure what Discord had up his sleeve this time but she had the nagging feeling that this next attack was going to be big.
Pinkie Pie was feeling about the same way as well. She was the only one who saw Zecora doing whatever it was she was doing in the old castle in the Everfree Forest, after all. At the time, though, Pinkie was concerned for the trap Zecora laid out for her friends, so she wasn’t able to do much of anything about whatever Zecora was doing. And with the victory the Rangers got, it completely slipped Pinkie’s mind to tell the others about Zecora and her deeds. Then again, there wasn’t any evident evil being done at the time, so Pinkie sort of shrugged it off.
All six of the Harmony Rangers were gathered in the library that morning. Twilight said that Princess Luna wanted to talk to them about what she found when studying the Alicorn Amulet that Twilight retrieved from Trixie a week ago.
“We have some interesting news regarding the Alicorn Amulet Trixie used in her battle a week ago,” Luna said to the Rangers.
“Good news, right?” Twilight asked.
“More or less,” Luna replied.
“Before you tell us, I have one question,” Pinkie Pie said. “How come you’re telling us and not Princess Celestia?”
“Because Luna is best princess, filly,” Rei said from the corner of the room.
Both Twilight and Luna replied to Rei’s comment at the same time.
“Colt please, I’d make a better princess and we all know it,” Twilight said.
“Thank you kindly, dear author,” Luna said.
“That still doesn’t answer my question,” Pinkie said.
“Because I haven’t given Luna a speaking role in several chapters,” Rei said to Pinkie.
“Also our sister was preoccupied with another task,” Luna continued. “As we were saying, the Alicorn Amulet, according to our tests, was apparently once an Element of Harmony. However, at one point in its history, it must have fallen to an evil entity powerful enough to turn a source of Harmony as pure as an Element dark. We do not know the identity of the entity, but we do know that it was far more ancient than Discord.”
“So what does that mean for us?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Are we going to have to contend with a third final boss once Discord’s finished?”
“No,” Luna replied. “Whatever this entity is, it was either destroyed or banished from Equestria many millennia ago. What it does means for thou, however, is that you are capable of calling upon its power in a dire emergency.”
“How dire are we talking about here?” Twilight asked.
“Let’s just say that if thou were to use it,” Luna replied, “thine soul may never fully recover from the corruption of the Alicorn Amulet. Thou shalt always have a stain of darkness within thou. Thine Elements of Harmony would keep thou safe from becoming entirely corrupted, but thou will always have a mark of evil within thou.”
(“Okay, that’s getting a little annoying,” Rei said to himself. “Maybe I should give her normal speech after this chapter.”)
“So to answer my question,” Twilight said, “the situation would have to be so dire, one of us would have to give up their purity to use the Amulet’s power.” Luna nodded in reply. Twilight said the next sentence with a hint of worry in her voice. “In that case, let’s just hope we never encounter such a situation.”
“We will keep the Alicorn Amulet on-hoof in case thou needs it,” Luna said. “After all, better safe than sorry.”
“I’m afraid I have to agree with you, Princess,” Rainbow Dash said. She then turned to her fellow Rangers. “In any case, let’s remember that there’s usually about a week’s delay between Discord’s attacks. We should get back to the surface and get ready for whatever he throws at us.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Applejack said.
“I’ll stay here and keep an eye on things,” Twilight said. “I’ll be up there to join you as soon as I spot any sign of trouble.”
“You know I can help with that, right?” Spike said from the other side of the room.
“Oh, right,” Twilight said. “Yeah, you can help too. Keep an eye on the southern side of Ponyville while I handle the north.”
“So you want me to keep an eye on the abandoned warehouse district?” Spike asked.
“And the southern part of town,” Twilight said.
“Which is mostly the abandoned warehouse district,” Spike replied.
“Oh,” Twilight said with slight embarrassment. “Well... if it means that much to you, you can monitor the northern part of town.”
“Thanks... I guess?” Spike said.
“Yeah...” Rainbow Dash said. “We’re gonna head out now. You two finish up with whatever it is you eggheads are doing.” With that, the other five Rangers trotted out of the building.
“Spike...” Twilight said. “Is there something you want to talk about?”
“No,” Spike quickly replied. “There’s nothing.”
“Are you sure?” Twilight asked. “If you need anything-”
“I’m fine,” Spike interrupted. “Just... don’t worry about me.”
Twilight thought about Spike’s reply. Something was up with him and she knew it. He didn’t seem like he was in the mood to talk about it at the moment, though, so she decided to get back to her own console and give Spike some space.

Meanwhile on the moon, Discord had assembled the Chaos Rangers to give them a final recap on their plan.
“Remind me again why we’re a distraction once again,” Derpy complained after Discord was finished.
“Because you four are perfect as a distraction,” Discord said. “The Harmony Rangers see you as a massive threat, so all six of them will be there to fight you. That will give you the time Zecora needs to complete her end of the plan.”
“For the second chapter in a row?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“Trust me, my little ponies,” Discord said. “Once Zecora gets her plan finished, the fate of the Harmony Rangers and all of Equestria will be sealed!”
“Everything is in place for my plan to start,” Zecora said as she walked into the room. “Are you four ready to do your part?”
“Yeah, I guess,” Button Mash said.
“You don’t seem too excited about this,” Snowdrop said. “Something the matter?”
“No,” Button Mash quickly said. “I’m just upset about being the distraction once again. I’m pretty sure everypony else is, too.”
Snowdrop looked at Button Mash skeptically. (Well he couldn’t tell what her expression was because of her helmet, but he figured her expression was skeptical.) “You do have a point,” the young pegasus finally said. She then turned to Discord. “Once this plan fails, can we go back to being the primary attack?”
“Of course,” Discord replied.
“You do realize that I’m still in the room, right?” Zecora asked. “You should not discredit me so soon after my whole plight.”
“Oh for Nightmare’s sake!” Discord shouted. “Just get down to Equestria and get to work on your plan already! I’m tired of all this talking!” With a snap of his fingers, all five equines were teleported down to Equestria.

About a minute later, Twilight was galloping at top speed towards the town market to meet up with the other Harmony Rangers and fight the Chaos Rangers. “Twilight!” Rainbow Dash called from Twilight’s comm.
“I’m almost there, Rainbow Dash,” Twilight replied. “Just hold on a little longer.”
“How much longer?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Oh, about a second,” Rainbow Dash heard Twilight say. But it didn’t come from her comm. It was coming from behind her.
“I was wondering when you’d get here, Twi,” Applejack said.
“Yeah, sorry I’m late,” Twilight said to the others.
“Hay Twilight,” Pinkie said, “how come you didn’t just teleport here?”
Twilight honestly didn’t have a response to what Pinkie asked. “I’m not sure,” Twilight finally replied. “I was talking with Spike before I left and I guess the subject of the matter made me forget that I had magic.”
“Well let’s not worry about that right now,” Rainbow Dash said. “We need to stop those Chaos Rangers.”
“Right,” Twilight replied. The six ponies then galloped out from the building behind which they were hiding and faced the Chaos Rangers, who were attacking the market some fifteen feet away. “Chaos Rangers!”
“What?” Derpy shouted as she turned around, giving a young colt a chance to run away from her. “You six weren’t supposed to show up for another three lines!”
“Really?” Rainbow Dash asked. She then pulled out a notepad and flipped through the pages. She then read the writing on it carefully. “Let’s see... ‘Chaos Rangers attack, Twilight forgets her magic, Chaos Rangers gloat...’ Oh! Our bad.” Rainbow Dash then threw the script away and pulled out her Element of Harmony. “Ah, what’s the harm in a little improv? IT’S MORPHIN’ TIME!”
“ELEMENT OF HONESTY!”
“ELEMENT OF KINDNESS!”
“ELEMENT OF LAUGHTER!”
“ELEMENT OF GENEROSITY!”
“ELEMENT OF LOYALTY!”
“ELEMENT OF MAGIC!”
“Harmony Force, Ranger Blue!”
“Harmony Force, Ranger Yellow!”
“Harmony Force, Ranger Pink!”
“Harmony Force, Ranger Black!”
“Harmony Force, Ranger Red!”
“Harmony Force, Ranger White!”
“From all of us together, we fight as one! We protect one another until the battle is done! PONY RANGERS: HARMONY FORCE!” The six Rangers struck a unified pose as an explosion erupted behind them.
“All six of them are fighting together this time,” Snowdrop said to herself. “Good. Zecora’s plan just might work for once.” She then raised her hoof to the sky. “Putty Ponies, assemble!” In several flashes of light, about a dozen Putty Ponies appeared between both teams of Rangers.
“Bring it on,” Rainbow Dash shouted. The six Harmony Rangers then charged forward and engaged in hoof-to-hoof combat with the Putty Ponies.

Meanwhile back at the library, Spike watched the battle taking place via the monitor at the front of the room. He gave a heavy sigh and said to himself, “Man, I really wish I could be out there with them.”
“Perhaps you can, little dragon,” a strange sounding voice said from behind Spike. Spike turned around just in time to see Zecora’s hoof strike him in the face and knock him against the far wall. He tried to get up and make a beeline for the comm system to contact the Harmony Rangers, but before he even had a chance, Zecora teleported in front of him, grabbed him, and teleported both of them out of the library.

The Harmony Rangers were finished with the Putty Ponies in about five minutes. Once the last Putty fell, all six of them turned their attention to the Chaos Rangers. “Done hiding behind your hoof soldiers?” Rainbow Dash asked.
Derpy was about to reply when her own communicator went off. “We are,” Derpy started. “However, we’re going to have to push this little play date to another time. Discord wants us back at our base.”
“So y’all are runnin’ away with your tails between your legs?” Applejack asked.
“For the time being, we’ll have to admit so,” Snowdrop said. “But when next we meet, that encounter shall be your last. Just you wait.” With that, the four evil Rangers teleported away.
“I wonder what that was all about,” Twilight said to the others.
“I’m not sure,” Rainbow Dash replied. “Maybe Spike saw something we didn’t during that battle.”

The Harmony Rangers returned to the library to find that Spike wasn’t sitting in his chair and in his place was a small note. Rainbow Dash galloped over to the note and read it. As she read it, however, a look of horror came across her face. “Girls, I think Spike did see something we didn’t during that battle!” She then handed the note to the others. They all gasped in horror as they read it:


Dearest Harmony Rangers,
During your battle with the Chaos Rangers, I snuck into this library and kidnapped your precious baby dragon Spike. Do not fret, you will see him again... when you join him in Discord’s dungeon.
Sincerely, Zecora.
P.S.: Did you know that I don’t have to rhyme when I write? How awesome is that?


“She... she took Spike?” Twilight asked, doing her best not to cry. “How could I have let this happen? I should have stayed here with him!”
“It’s alright, Twilight,” Rarity said, putting her hoof on Twilight’s shoulder.
“Yeah,” Pinkie added. “We’ll find a way to save Spike.”
“You’re right,” Twilight said. “He’s our friend, and we can’t give up on him over one little kidnapping.” Twilight then turned to the others with a serious expression on her face. “Whatever it takes, we’re going to get Spike back!”

Spike slowly opened his eyes as he regained consciousness. He was aware that he was in a lying position, so his first instinct was to stand up and look around. When he noticed his surroundings, he saw that he was in a large room made mostly of steel. It was also strangely cold, but that didn’t seem like a problem for Spike since he was a dragon and all.
“You’ll have to forgive me for how Zecora... retrieved you,” a strange voice said from behind Spike. The baby dragon turned around to find himself face to face with Discord himself. “I never meant for any harm to befall you,” the draconequus continued. “I meant to treat you with the utmost-”
“Gah!” Spike suddenly shouted. “What the flying feathers are you!?”
“...respect,” Discord finished with a sigh. “Allow me to introduce myself. I am Discord, spirit of chaos and disharmony.”
“Oh, you’re the guy the Harmony Rangers are fighting,” Spike said with realization in his voice. The two stood in awkward silence before Spike began screaming and ran away in the opposite direction. Discord just sighed and snapped his fingers, teleporting Spike back in front of him.
“Are you done yet?” Discord asked. “Because I kind of wanted to talk-”
Spike instantly began screaming and running once again. Once again, Discord snapped his fingers and teleported Spike back to him.
“Look, Spike,” Discord said, slightly annoyed, “I brought you here because I wanted to talk to you.”
Spike skeptically raised an eyebrow, but Discord was just thankful that the young drake didn’t try to run again. “Talk about what?” Spike nervously asked.
“Talk about your friends,” Discord replied. “I’ve been watching you lately, and I’m starting to notice a pattern with those six.”
“A pattern?” Spike asked. “You mean a pattern as in ‘you launch an attack and they stop it’?” Spike said that last sentence with a smirk on his face.
“Fine, two patterns,” Discord said. “The second being how they’ve been treating you lately.”
Spike was silent for a moment, his smirk vanishing in an instant. He looked down and said, “Well... they have been kind of neglecting me lately.”
”Bullseye,” Discord thought as he mentally chuckled to himself. ”I’ve got him right where I want him.”
“Spike,” Discord said out loud, “I’m going to let you in on a little secret.” Discord snapped his fingers and in a flash of light, both he and Spike were sitting in large fancy chairs facing each other. “There’s a lot of villains out there other than me, and almost 90% of them would rather see their world be blown to Oblivion. However, I’m not one of those villains. Believe me when I say that I’m only trying to help. I’m trying to make Equestria a better place.”
“By plunging the whole world into chaos?” Spike asked.
“By making the world more fun,” Discord corrected. “However, I’ve had to take a break from that recently, and do you know why? Because of your friends. Not because they’ve beaten my minions on countless occasions, but because they’ve been horrible friends to you.”
“But why would you care so much about me?” Spike asked. “I’m a lot smarter than I look and I know you’re trying to manipulate me.”
“Oh, I know how smart you are,” Discord said. “I also know you’d never agree to become an evil Ranger and turn on your friends. But tell me something, Spike: are those six really your friends?” Discord then snapped his fingers and a screen appeared before him and Spike. On the screen were the six Harmony Rangers... and they seemed to be throwing a party.
“Yeah! Spike’s gone!” Rainbow Dash shouted
“I’m so glad he’s out of my mane!” Twilight said. “Now I can actually get some work done!”
“The weak link of our team is finally broken!” Rarity said.
“Now maybe we can actually get to saving Equestria,” Fluttershy said.
“Who wants another round of cupcakes?” Pinkie asked, walking into the room holding a tray of cupcakes. All of the other ponies instantly grabbed a cupcake. Pinkie then raised hers into the air. “To Spike,” she toasted. “May he never get in our way ever again!”
“Hear hear!” the others said. They all then ate their cupcakes and resumed partying.
“No!” Spike shouted. “This isn’t happening! I know it! This is... this is some sort of trick!”
“Okay, so maybe it’s a bit of an exaggeration,” Discord admitted, snapping his fingers and causing the screen to disappear. “But the fact of the matter is that some of what they said was true. They did think that you were the weak link and they would have preferred to have you out of their manes.” Spike looked down and thought about this for a moment. Could it be true? Is that really what his friends thought about him?
“But...” Spike started to say. “But it’s not like them. They value their friendships.”
“With each other, maybe,” Discord said. “But what about with you?” As Spike thought about this, Discord snapped his fingers and the Phoenix Gem appeared in his hand. “Which brings me back to my original point. I want to help you, Spike. You want to be on par with them, and this...” Discord held the Phoenix Gem in front of Spike, “...just might be able to help.” Spike looked at the Gem suspiciously. So much so, in fact, that Discord half-expected Spike to start sniffing it like a dog would. “Well, Spike... do you accept this offer?”

Back at the library, Twilight was furiously working with both her console and her magic to try to come up with a spell to teleport Spike back there with them.
“So if I trace Zecora’s magic signature... compensate for Spike’s small size... carry the two... no, that’s no good...”
While Twilight worked, Rainbow Dash stood in the back of the room nervously. The others had left to keep an eye on Ponyville, but Dash insisted on staying to try to help Twilight.
“Are you sure there’s nothing I can do?” Rainbow asked Twilight.
“I’m sorry, Rainbow Dash,” Twilight replied, not even looking up from her work. “I’m afraid you’d be more useful being on the surface keeping an eye out for trouble with the others.”
“Okay,” Rainbow Dash said. “But if you need anything...”
Rainbow Dash was interrupted when an alarm started blaring on Twilight’s console. “Great,” Twilight said to herself as she checked the alarm. “This is exactly what I needed.” Twilight then began galloping out of the room.
“An attack?” Rainbow Dash asked, following Twilight.
“You bet,” Twilight replied. “Great timing, too. I need to vent some anger, and few dozen Putty Ponies or a couple Chaos Rangers might make the perfect punching bags today.”
“You’re really ticked about Zecora taking Spike, huh?” Rainbow Dash asked as the two left the library and made their way to Carousel Boutique where the attack was taking place.
“Oh, ‘ticked’ doesn’t even begin to cover it,” Twilight replied with a hint of anger unlike anything Rainbow Dash ever heard from Twilight before.

At Carousel Boutique, Rarity and Applejack were already on-scene, unmorphed and battling a group of a dozen Putty Ponies as the Chaos Rangers looked on.
“I sure hope the others get here soon,” Rarity said as she used her magic to throw two Putties into another group of three.
“Me too,” Applejack replied as she bucked another Putty into a group of four others. “I’m not sure we can hold out much longer like this.”
“Hold your horses, AJ,” Rainbow Dash shouted as she and Twilight galloped onto the scene, followed closely by Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy.
“In the nick of time,” Applejack said as she and Rarity finished the last of the Putties and galloped over to join their friends.
“I was wondering when you six would show up,” Snowdrop said as the six Harmony Rangers pulled out their Elements of Harmony.
“IT’S MORPHIN’ TIME!” Rainbow Dash shouted.
“ELEMENT OF HONESTY!”
“ELEMENT OF KINDNESS!”
“ELEMENT OF LAUGHTER!”
“ELEMENT OF GENEROSITY!”
“ELEMENT OF LOYALTY!”
“ELEMENT OF MAGIC!”
“Harmony Force, Ranger Blue!”
“Harmony Force, Ranger Yellow!”
“Harmony Force, Ranger Pink!”
“Harmony Force, Ranger Black!”
“Harmony Force, Ranger Red!”
“Harmony Force, Ranger White!”
“From all of us together, we fight as-” The Rangers were suddenly cut off when a blast of fire struck them and knocked them all back in a large explosion.
“What the hay was that?” Rainbow Dash shouted. “Who would attack us while we’re doing our catch phrase?”
“That would be me,” a young male voice said from the roof of the boutique. The Harmony Rangers couldn’t quite make out its form because it seemed to be glowing with a blinding light.
“Who are you?” Twilight shouted.
“Oh, nopony special,” the figure said. He then jumped down to the ground and landed perfectly on two legs. “In fact, I’m not even a pony.”
“What the hay?” Rainbow Dash shouted as she finally got a good look at the figure. It was a small bipedal creature with two hands in one of which he held a sword. He looked like a Ranger, only he wasn’t a pony and his armor was gold. “How could Discord have a dragon on his side?”
“I don’t know,” Twilight replied. “The only dragon Princess Celestia knows of for miles around is-” Twilight stopped suddenly when she came to a horrible realization. “Spike... is that you?”
The Gold Pony Ranger was silent before responding. “Like you would care, Twilight,” Spike finally said. “You wouldn’t pay any attention to me or take me seriously at all as Spike, so I became something you’ll have no choice but to take seriously.” Spike then slashed at the air with his sword several times, leaving behind trails of fire as he slashed. Spike slashed until the trails of fire left what looked like the design of an eight-point star. “Fury of the Phoenix! Chaos Force, Ranger Gold!” Spike then gave one more slash, causing the star to begin spinning and charging right at the Harmony Rangers. Before the Harmony Rangers even had a chance to defend, the flames shifted into what looked like a phoenix flying right at them. The six Rangers drew their weapons and tried to defend, but the massive phoenix charged right through their defense and knocked the Harmony Rangers back in a fiery explosion, demorphing all of them.
“Darnit, Spike!” Derpy complained. “You weren’t supposed to demorph them right away!”
“Sorry, Derpy,” Spike said. “It’s not like I’ve had much practice with my powers like you four.”
“I suppose that’s a fair point,” Derpy said.
Meanwhile, the Harmony Rangers were struggling to get up. “How can this be?” Twilight asked. “How can Discord have turned Spike so evil and given him so much power all so fast?”
“It’s rather simple, actually,” Spike said, walking over to the downed ponies holding his sword so that it was resting on his shoulder. “You six have been neglecting me for months now. Do you think I haven’t noticed?”
“What?” Twilight asked. “I’ll admit we didn’t pay as much attention to you as we did to each other, but we never-”
“SILENCE!” Spike shouted as he stabbed his sword into the ground in front of Twilight’s face. “I’m tired of being a useless secondary character who does nothing when the action starts. It’s time for my revenge.” Spike paused for a moment, then began chuckling to himself. “I guess you aren’t up to it today, though.” He then withdrew his sword and made it disappear in a burst of flame. “Later today--tomorrow, more likely--I’ll come back, and I’ll expect an actual battle.” He then began walking back to his team of Rangers. “Let’s get going. The Harmony Rangers aren’t at their best, so they aren’t worth my time.” With that, the five evil Rangers teleported away, leaving the Harmony Rangers to struggle back to their hooves and carry their tarnished pride and shattered trust in Spike back to the library with them.

On the moon, Discord was congratulating Spike on a job well done.
“Excellent job, young Spike,” Discord complemented. “I must say, you have exceeded my expectations.”
“Thank you, Discord,” Spike replied with a bow. “But I’m just getting started. In the next attack, I’ll finish the Harmony Rangers once and for all.”
“Good plan,” Discord said. “I appreciate your commitment to my cause.”
“Actually, Discord, there’s one thing you should probably know,” Spike said. “My loyalties don’t entirely lie with you. I’m only here to make my old ‘friends’ pay for how they ignored me. I’ll get rid of them for you, but I don’t stand by you.”
Discord thought about this for a moment before finally replying, “Very well. I think I can agree with that. Now get going. You need to get ready for your next attack.”
“Okay,” Spike replied with another bow. He then turned and walked off.

Back at the library, the Harmony Rangers were talking with both the Princesses about what had happened.
“This is a dire situation indeed,” Princess Celestia said when the Harmony Rangers finished their story. “Discord has pulled a powerful low blow. He’s holding Spike with one of the strongest powers he has at his disposal: Spike’s own jealousy.”
“Wait,” Twilight said. “Are you saying it’s because of us that Spike’s turned evil?”
“I’m afraid so,” Celestia replied.
“If we may make a suggestion,” Princess Luna said. Her horn began glowing and into the library teleported the Alicorn Amulet. Luna lowered it until it landed in Twilight’s hoof.
“The Alicorn Amulet?” Twilight asked. “You don’t mean...?”
“We are afraid we do,” Luna replied. “Spike is held by a magic stronger than even Discord could conjure on his own. We fear this may be the only way to save him.”
“But are you sure it will even work?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“I could combine the Alicorn Amulet’s power with my Element of Harmony,” Twilight said. “But as Princess Luna said earlier today, it’s incredibly risky and the consequences will last for the rest of my life.” Twilight looked down and stared the Amulet in the eye. “I’m not entirely sure I’d even do it for Spike. Still, he’s become a danger to Equestria, and it’s my- er, our job to keep Equestria safe. So now the question is... would I be willing to go as far as risking Spike’s life and tainting my own in order to save Equestria?” Twilight paused for the longest time, then closed her eyes and took a deep breath before making her decision.

To be continued...

Next time...
Actually, I’m not going to give any teasers for the next chapter. You wanna know why? Because Twilight could possibly choose either to use the Alicorn Amulet or not. Both outcomes could happen, and both will lead to a different canon after this season. Do you want to see one, the other, or both? It’s up to you, my little ponies my dear readers...
次回、　「Turning Point」　あ楽しみに！ (Next time: “Turning Point [Phoenix Ranger part 2]” Enjoy!)