Equestria Rangers

by Shadowmane PX-41

Bending the Rules

Mar'Zek watched as Siel'Viz executed Livewire over and over again on a recorded screen. Every single time he replayed it, he let out a low and gravelly snarl. His claws rapped endlessly against the edges of his throne and the other wolves paid him absolutely no mind, for fear that saying anything would have them slaughtered on the spot.

"To think, he was staging a mutiny on me..." He finally cut through the silence. "Me. The leader of the Wolfpack. The one who sits at the apex of all life. A part of me wanted to see him try, but that would have meant the Rangers would have been eviscerated in the process. It seems he has forgotten the Wolfpack way of honour."

"Traitors are eliminated immediately. That's one of the biggest rules in the book." Vi'Al pressed his claw tips together. "A shame, really. I wanted to try and implement Nimbian DNA into some of the Hounds. Now I fear that I will never have that chance again. That being said, a peon like him definitely had no place in our ranks if this was his true code of conduct."

"The Rangers are progressing nicely, but do you ever consider that maybe we're going a bit too easy on them?" Siel'Viz asked from the other side of the throne. "I mean, all you're throwing at them are the lackeys lower down your food chain. If they were to face some of the more elite threats we have, they'd crumble instantly."

"At the same time, we're molding them into the ultimate weapons of mass destruction. So that way, when we eventually throw down on that fated day, it shall be a fight for all of the universe to remember." Mar'Zek stood up. "The stars will shake and shudder, as the cosmos rip apart by the sheer gigatons of force we exert. Now that will be a fight I adore; win or lose."

"Not that you have any intention of losing, I take it?" Vi'Al interjected with a raised claw.

"Oh, no. Those Rangers will fall before me, as have everyone else since my father's passing. And whether or not they finally cave in and become Wolfpack Wolves themselves, or become devoured in the wake we leave, I will still come out of it satisfied either way." He finally stood up from the throne. "Now, if you'll excuse me. I need to have a chat with my prisoners."

"Captain, I really think that you should stop interacting with those wolves. They've already caused enough damage as it is to your empire and what you've made." Vi'Al laid a claw on Mar'Zek's shoulders. "Be happy with the Wolfpack Wolves you have that remain loyal to you; don't just bet on traitors who use skulduggery as a means of enjoyment."

"If Livewire was able to plan his revolt with the power he has, it would only lead the other warriors in my unit to plan for themselves as well. I must remind them of who stands at the apex." He pulled Vi'Al's claw off. "And if I must resort to the wolves who nearly killed me to get my point across, then so be it."

"I still think we should have executed them when we had the chance, not leave them in the brig to rot and fester." Siel'Viz turned her back to the captain. "You're taking an awfully big risk by doing this, you know that."

"Yes, Siel'Viz. Yes I am. But this is the first planet we've been to where there have been deaths within our ranks. They will be drawn by that." Mar'Zek stomped out of the bridge and down the corridors. "They might still want me dead, they might have wanted to atone for their crimes. Regardless, they will want the Power Rangers dead."

---

Back in the brig, Mar'Zek stood before the titanic chains in the dark and dingy void of empty cells and silence. He laid his hands across the rails and looked down into the darkness that the chains were dipping into. Moments later, he clapped his hands together so loud that it echoed throughout the chamber, filling the silence intermittently. A response to his action came, as the chains started to rise; fishing out what looked like giant pods from the depths. They ascended more and more, until the prison bars revealed themselves, shrouded with a radiant glow of red from the inside. The colour was then immediately blotted out as five shadows emerged and stomped up towards their tiny windows.

"Recall your crimes. Prisoners." Mar'Zek boomed, folding his arms before the cages.

"Attempted assassination of Captain Mar'Zek, leader of the Wolfpack." The center cage spoke in a large, boastful, booming voice.

"Mutiny aboard the Alpha Slayer flagship." The cage to the right of that one spoke, in a more refined, lady-like accent.

"Unlawful conduct within the Wolfpack." A third spoke, with a male voice. It had a level of sophistication to it, as if he had been through multiple elocution schools in his life.

"Gave misleading information." The fourth spoke. A male that time with a deeper voice than the others.

"And finally, mental instability." The fifth and final cage spoke, laughing maniacally to himself under his breath, before he erupted into a fit of hysterics. "Not that insanity is a bad thing, now is it? We all need a bit of fight-fight, a bit of hurty-hurt, and a taste for blood!"

"Silence!" Mar'Zek boomed out, thrusting his arm to the cages. An energy blast accompanied it, causing all five of the cages to rock and shudder, knocking the wolves inside to the floor. "As captain of the Wolfpack, I should throw you all into the nearest sun as soon as possible and be done with you. However, there are some targets down on earth that have long since attracted my attention." He fiddled around with the devices on his wrist, creating an image of the Rainbooms before the prisoner wolves. "They are the Perfect Ones that the Harmonites prophesised would be champions of the crystals. However, they prefer to call themselves the Power Rangers."

"Ah yes. I've heard tales from the wolves on high that these Power Rangers have been quite a nuisance for the Wolfpack." The boastful cage spoke, flexing his fingers. "In fact, judging from the tone of your voice, it sounds like you are getting desperate in trying to defeat them, captain."

"A sign of weakness is a wolf who cannot follow through with his plans for conquest. Mayhaps it's time that you step down and bequeath the leadership role to us instead." The regal-voiced one spoke. "Those foolish peons stand no chance against my powers."

"I would sooner devour every Suugwroth in existence than give you the helm of the Wolfpack Empire after what you pulled" Mar'Zek snarled at her. "However, one of the others, Livewire tried to stage another mutiny down on earth. I personally sent Siel'Viz down there to eradicate him once he decided to break away." He turned his back to them. "If the crew of this era believe that a mutiny is possible with enough power, then they will use that as a basis to overthrow me. So, I am considering releasing you out onto the Rangers as a show of force, when the time is right, of course."

"The ace in the hole trick? Weak, weak, weak! I hate it when hurty-dolls are put down like that!" The manic wolf slashed and crashed against his bars vigorously, but it still didn't break. "Just beat them down now and throw us the corpses! We've not eaten in ages and we're going to starve! Do you know how hard it is for me to play with my toys when I'm on an empty stomach?!"

"Be lucky that I'm not sparring against you right now, you deluded oaf!" Mar'Zek leapt at the cage and thrust his sword towards the wolf inside, pressing him against the walls.

"The master... He's angry. Please, please don't be angry with me master. I live for the hunt..." The prisoner cowered before the bench inside, before frantically swinging his arms and legs around while mumbling gibberish to himself.

"In any case, the Power Rangers have drawn blood. And that alone proves that they are a worthy challenge for the Wolfpack." Mar'Zek nimbly leapt back onto the edge of the platform, eyes locked with the other inmates. "When your time comes, my wolves, you will remind them of their mortality, how far away from the mountaintop they truly are." He then walked off away from the cages and clicked his fingers, causing the cages to lower into the abyss once more. "Prepare yourself to smell fresh air once more."

"Oh we will, 'captain'," they all said in unity as the cages disappeared into the void below.

---

"So... This Siel'Viz." Elaris watched the footage of Livewire's execution for herself, taking notice of every single slice and strike left on the Nimbian's body before it all came crumbling to pieces. "She seems like a higher calibre of Wolfpack wolf than the ones you've been facing so far, girls. If I had to take a guess, I would say she's one of Mar'Zek's inner circle; one of his right-hand agents."

"So basically, what you're saying is that she's super-tough. Got it." Rainbow Dash flexed her fingers out as the screen faded away. "Eh. I'm sure I could take her on with my speed. She wouldn't even know what hit her."

"She didn't seem to do much, but that could be a ploy, making us believe that she's one note..." Rarity scratched her chin, a myriad of thoughts running through her mind. "Not to mention, if she is second-in-command or somewhere around that level, we'd stand no chance if we were to duel her on the battlefield."

"In any case, we'd best get the Forge up and running. That Thunder Chip I installed barely came out in time with how much you were being pummelled out there. Even then, I didn't have enough time to properly modify it to its' fullest potential." Elaris clambered off of her chair.

"Elaris, wait. Before you go, there's still an issue that we need to resolve." Sunset grabbed onto Elaris's shoulder. "The town's power station and telephone lines were completely destroyed by Livewire. Without them, the whole city has no power or communication. Everything's gonna fall apart if we can't get things all fixed up."

"That's the sad truth of a large-scale attack like this, Sunset Shimmer. The larger something is, the more anguish people feel when it crumbles. In addition, it takes more and more time to rebuild a mountain than it does a piece of dinnerware." Elaris picked Sunset's hand off, turning to face her rangers. "I can't rebuild the town as it is on my own and my ship can't be of much use either. There's still so many parts that need repairs before I can be of any help outside of relaying information or building new gear for you."

"But... what'll we do? How will the people cope without their power and technology?" Fluttershy weakly lifted a finger. "It's like we've all been taken back in time to a tech-less world."

"Yeah. Hi-tech gizmos and fancy-schmancy machines have completely overtaken the planet! Without them, we'll all turn into mindless gorillas, doing things by actually doing them instead of using stuff to do it for us!" Pinkie wailed, clutching her temples vigorously, as the other Rangers just gave her stares. "What? Not that there's anything wrong with that. Just saying."

"Fluttershy's right, though. The human race has integrated so well with technology that cutting it out puts another roadblock between us and the Wolfpack. With no proper way to talk to each other, we'll have no clue when a Wolfpack agent will show up unless we're all at Elaris's ship all the time." Twilight stepped forward, pushing her glasses closer to her eyes.

"Some honourable wolves they are, huh?" Sunset deadpanned and folded her arms. "What they call honour is nothing more than cowardice; twisting the rules of the game for their own benefit. This Mar'Zek of all people should know that if he wants a fair fight with us."

"Sunset, what did you expect from a EVIL MASTERMIND OF A SPACE PIRATE ARMY?" Pinkie Pie asked, her eyes popping out her head as she pressed them against Sunset's. "Have you ever seen a movie or a cartoon where the bad guy plays by the rules and acts fairly to the competition? Or read a book where the bad guy isn't actually the bad guy because of their consequences and the harsh conditions they're in?" She paused briefly. "Okay, maybe you have, but Mar'Zek's nothing like those guys and gals!"

"Definitely not. That guy's ruffled every feather in the chicken coop with this Wolfpack hullaballoo." Applejack just lowered her hat. "Ah honestly couldn't care what everyone else thinks of me after this. They can call me a murderer until the cows come home, but what we're doing is the right thing."

"Applejack is right. Friendship is a powerful thing indeed, but these Wolfpack wolves are far beyond any sense of redemption." Rarity nodded. "We can't just fire off rainbow-lasers at everything and expect to work out. Sometimes, we need to get a bit more physical with our message." And she held out her twin swords for effect, posing as if they were a pair of scissors.

"Plus, we've beaten the other wolves and shown nothing but joy in it, so what's the harm in knocking a few more down for the count?" Rainbow Dash grinned.

"You're making it sound like you all enjoy killing the Wolfpack..." Sunset's mouth started to drift open as a bizarre feeling overwhelmed her stomach. Her hands grew cold and the breaths she took were thinner than ever. Even as she held her own sword in one of her hands, it trembled and shook along with her legs. "Look, I know that they've not done some good things, but... are we really no better than them if we kill for the sake of killing? And when we know that we can kill and are capable of killing, can we stop ourselves from dropping the sword on them? Or do we keep on doing it, believing that we're untouchable, surviving more because of the fact that we've killed people?"

Everyone in the room just blinked, before Pinkie said, "Wow. That's deep, Sunset."

"It's not for the sake of killing, but rather to keep the world safe. The meaning of death is completely different for every scenario, Sunset Shimmer." Elaris's hair drooped down her shoulders as she tenderly patted Sunset on the chest. "There are people who will kill blindly, without goals or ambitions. Some do it to drive home their points in political warfare while others fight en masse to protect their worlds come war. But you girls? You fight for the sake of protecting the weak from threat like the Wolfpack. Whether or not you like it is out of the question when they come crashing down."

"Still, the whole thing makes me sick to my stomach. We're responding to their killings with more killings. What's stopping us from completely taking control of the Wolfpack for our own when Mar'Zek is killed?" Sunset's eyes twitched as a lump formed in her neck. "I... I... I need to go!" And without a single word, she barrelled out of the ship as fast as she could.

"Sunset! Wait!" The other Rainbooms called after her, but not a single one gave chase, as she was already out of their line of sight. As her footsteps stopped echoing, the others began to think more about what she had said, letting the words fester in their minds.

---

Back in the bridge of the Alpha Slayer, Siel'Viz and Vi'Al were talking to each other in the absence of Captain Mar'Zek.

"What do you make of these rangers, now that they've been through all these fights?" Vi'Al posed the question to Siel'Viz, clipboard firmly in hand.

"They're not gonna cut it." Siel'Viz scoffed. "Pink? She's much too childish. Orange? Far too stubborn and slow. Blue? She's much too reckless and open to attacks. Yellow? Strong for sure, but too timid to fight to her fullest. White? Well, despite her swordplay, she's only good for offense. Red, though? Given time, she might be useful. However, that means nothing when she commands a group of callow children against an army of wolves." She let out a sigh and played back the videos of the Rangers' fights. "Still, I'm kinda glad that Mar'Zek broke them in instead of me. If I had the chance, I would've put an end to them right there."

"I'm glad that he stepped in as well, for if you had done so, it would've been a violation of the Wolfpack law. And you'd have been executed instead of Livewire." Vi'Al stared at each of the screens as closely as he could. "Yet at the same time, if you had died, then the other Wolfpack wolves would still be alive. But then Mar'Zek would've been without one of his most powerful agents. The amount of constants and variable for every decision is quite tantalising, isn't it? To take one path, closing the others out, never knowing what could have been. Every step that we make is a veritable gold mine for science. Every fight they get into, every opportunity we have to study their strength, all the tactics that we form in the hopes of fighting back, it all gives me goosebumps."

"If you love them so much, why don't you fight the Rangers next?" Siel'Viz teased, flashing a sadistic grin at him. "I'm sure they'd love to try fighting back as you bore them with all your talk about spacial displacement and molecular distortion, or whatever science mumbo-jumbo you like to go on about."

"Harrumph! I'll have you know that science is used in EVERYTHING. Even when you waste your breath against a wolf of heightened intelligence such as I, you are technically contorting the particles of the air around you while using kinetic force to move your lips up and down." He scolded and turned his back to her. "But, in any case, my technology would be wasted on the Rangers. Not to mention, again, it would be a mercy killing if they were to face me. I know everything that there is to know about science. With the right tool, I could turn them into water or completely evaporate all of the blood within their bodies without a single thought whatsoever. No. I need to know that they are ready to fight science itself before I go down there."

"I know that. They just need a little incentive to toughen up, that's all. Another of the Captain's agents should do the trick just well." Siel'Viz turned and left the room. "We've still got plenty more tricks up our sleeves to give the Rangers a run for their money..."

Comments

[The Bricklayer]

"I mean, all you're throwing at them are the lackeys lower down your food chain. If they were to face some of the more elite threats we have, they'd crumble instantly."

"At the same time, we're molding them into the ultimate weapons of mass destruction. So that way, when we eventually throw down on that fated day, it shall be a fight for all of the universe to remember."

Hmmm, someone's taking a page out of Daguza's book it seems. Man wanted to bring about the ulitmate darkness, turn every other human on Earth into a violence-loving maniac like him, even the lead hero of the series. Daguza just laughed his ass off even as he died, declaring Yusuke would become as evil as he was. He was wrong, but still... shivers

"You're making it sound like you all enjoy killing the Wolfpack..." Sunset's mouth started to drift open as a bizarre feeling overwhelmed her stomach. Her hands grew cold and the breaths she took were thinner than ever. Even as she held her own sword in one of her hands, it trembled and shook along with her legs. "Look, I know that they've not done some good things, but... are we really no better than them if we kill for the sake of killing? And when we know that we can kill and are capable of killing, can we stop ourselves from dropping the sword on them? Or do we keep on doing it, believing that we're untouchable, surviving more because of the fact that we've killed people?"

Everyone in the room just blinked, before Pinkie said, "Wow. That's deep, Sunset."

"It's not for the sake of killing, but rather to keep the world safe. The meaning of death is completely different for every scenario, Sunset Shimmer." Elaris's hair drooped down her shoulders as she tenderly patted Sunset on the chest. "There are people who will kill blindly, without goals or ambitions. Some do it to drive home their points in political warfare while others fight en masse to protect their worlds come war. But you girls? You fight for the sake of protecting the weak from threat like the Wolfpack. Whether or not you like it is out of the question when they come crashing down."

"Still, the whole thing makes me sick to my stomach. We're responding to their killings with more killings.

Yeah, definitely getting flashbacks to Kamen Rider Kuuga now. Which isn't itself in a bad thing. Let me explain. The overall theme of that show is that if violence is a necessary tool for fighting violence, how and when will it be enough to stop? You see what I mean here?

[badninja]

I think Sunset had a point in this chapter. She comes from a far more peaceful people who resort to violence only as a last resort and killing something is a Godzilla Threshold. I do feel sorry for the scientist as Sunset who is a magical prodigy and Sci-Twi who blended magic and technology are going to give him fits.

[Layton13]

It seems he has forgotten the Wolfpack way of honour.

Sure, honor.

But this is the first planet we've been to where there have been deaths within our ranks.

Ok, I think this rather ridiculous. One would assume some would get themselves killed in some way, but none?

"Sunset, what did you expect from a EVIL MASTERMIND OF A SPACE PIRATE ARMY?"

Ah, Pinkie, never change.

"Look, I know that they've not done some good things, but... are we really no better than them if we kill for the sake of killing? And when we know that we can kill and are capable of killing, can we stop ourselves from dropping the sword on them? Or do we keep on doing it, believing that we're untouchable, surviving more because of the fact that we've killed people?"

You are preventing them from killing, there is a difference.