Lunaverse: Galaxy Rangers - The Rangers Nevermore?

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Epilogue

Chapter 1

Lunaverse: Galaxy Rangers - The Rangers Nevermore?
Chapter 1
by Rixizu

Twilight Sparkle flew off of her seat and crashed into the ground in front of her. Her thick black trim glasses flew off and hit a nearby seat with a clang. Twilight groaned in pain and reached around with a hoof to look for her glasses almost blind without them. In few seconds, she found them and used her magic to put them back on her face.

“What the hay just happened?” Twilight asked. She had been enjoying a much-needed nap when the train she was on suddenly stopped. Several other ponies also found themselves picking themselves off from the ground.

Twilight was about to leave her seat to figure out what is going on but stopped when she saw a pegasus in a black suit and hat with gold trim enter the cabin. "Don't worry folks, some cows were crossing the tracks and we had to make an emergency stop. We should be starting back up in few minutes."

Twilight poked her head out her window and sure enough, a bunch of cows were crossing the tracking looking both embarrassed and apologetic to what looked like an engineer. Everypony in the cabin relaxed visibly. The train was going to Ponyville, a town infamous for monster attacks. No doubt that was the first thing that came to their mind when the train stopped unexpectedly. It only took five minutes for the train to start up again and get back on its way.

After a few moments consideration Twilight decided to go over the checklist she made for when she got to Ponyville just in case she'd missed anything. It was unlikely, but she had some time to kill and she didn't feel sleepy anymore. She was on an important mission after all. It wouldn’t do to miss something on her checklist. It was at least another three hours until she got to her destination. She looked it over at least two times and nodded in satisfaction at its completeness.

Ever since she was little, Twilight had dedicated herself to knowledge. She took every class in Princess Luna’s School of Magic and got the highest marks, but that wasn’t enough for her. Not even close. After finishing school, she decided to travel all around Equestria seeing and learning everything she could, she’d been everywhere around the land from Las Pegasus in the west to Manehattan in the east. Then one day, she heard of them. They were the most amazing and spectacular thing she had ever heard of.

About two months ago on the Longest Night during the festival, Corona, the deranged alicorn that used to be Princess Luna’s sister returned after a thousand-year imprisonment. She turned out to be just as bad and powerful as the legends suggested. Corona beat her sister, kidnapped some ponies, and almost destroyed Canterlot. She seemed unstoppable, but then they appeared and beat her. Not permanently, but they beat her badly. They were called the Galaxy Rangers.

These heroes appeared out of nowhere shortly after Corona’s release and had strange and reportedly amazing powers. Twilight’s pen pal from Ponyville attested to that. And they continued to beat Corona back. She sent many monsters after them and they beat them every single time. Twilight wanted to see these heroes for herself. So, she dropped her studies and took a train all the way from Vanhoover. She wanted to study them and learn how their powers worked. If she did that, maybe she could find a way to replicate them and beat the monstrous Corona for good. She also thought of all the advances this knowledge could bring to ponykind. Twilight was giddy just thinking about it and hugged her checklist in glee and giggled. She could barely keep herself still with all the anticipation. She decided to check her checklist again. It didn’t hurt to be extra thorough.

Twilight trotted off the train with a grin on her face. She was pulling her traveling bag packed to the brim with supplies along behind her with her magic. She’d left in a hurry, so she’d had to pack light. It pained her that she only had 30 books in her pack, but she had to make do. She finally arrived in Ponyville. It was a small town really only known for its farming community and its location near the Everfree Forest. Twilight looked around the town to make a better assessment of it. It didn’t seem like much to her. It was quaint and homely, but that was about it. Not really the town you would expect to home a group of superheroes.

First on Twilight’s list was a trip to the hotel to unpack, set up her equipment, and then to the library. She suspected that it might have some books that could help her. The Galaxy Rangers showed up right here in Ponyville on the Longest Night. Twilight wanted to research if there was any connection between the Galaxy Rangers, the Everfree Forest, and the Longest Night. This was all pure speculation, but it was a starting theory at least.

On her way to the hotel, Twilight spotted something strange. Three earth pony mares were hiding behind a flower stand that housed a variety of different flowers. These ponies looked terrified. Twilight decided to investigate. She trotted up to them.

“Excuse me.” Twilight tried to say, but the three mares screamed and hung on to a nearby lamppost. They shivered in pure terror and grabbed on to the post with all their might.

This left Twilight in an awkward position and she wasn’t sure what to do. “Um, I’m not going to hurt you.”

The three mares looked down, saw Twilight, and sighed in relief. They slid down the pole and got back on the ground.

A mare with a pale magenta coat and lime mane sighed in relief. “It’s just a pony.”

“Just a pony?” Twilight asked confused.

"We thought you might be a monster." Another one of the mares explained. This one had a raspberry coat with a light amber mane.

“A monster?” Twilight looked around as she asked this. Was there a monster around? This actually got her excited. She might see the Galaxy Rangers in action!

"It’s almost midday!” The magenta colored mare explained in a way that in reality explained nothing.

Twilight looked up and sure enough, the sun was in the position that said it was about 11:50 or so. In her excitement, she almost missed that it was almost noon. Not that she cared about the old superstition that Corona attacked ponies if they wandered out during midday. That was just for foals, after all, to prevent them from spending too much time in the sun.

“So?’ Twilight said raising an eyebrow.

“ This is usually the time Corona sends out one of her monsters !” The last pony in the group exclaimed. She had a pale-yellow coat with a raspberry mane.

"Really?" Twilight said not in fear but excitement. She looked around town and noticed something she didn't see before. All the windows in town were closed and shuttered and the streets were completely empty. If she looked closely, however, she could see ponies hiding. Some were hiding behind windows, boxes, carts, carriages, and whatever they could find. Strangely, some were wearing hazmat suits.

“Do you get one every day?” Twilight asked trying her best to hide her excitement.

The three mares shook her head. “Not every day, but often enough!” The raspberry coated mare explained looking around nervously. Twilight almost beamed at this. This was perfect. This would give her plenty of opportunities to study both the Galaxy Rangers and the monsters.

All four mares jumped when they heard a scream. “There it is.” A voice yelled. The group turned and saw it. It was the most bizarre thing Twilight had ever seen and it was walking down a nearby street. It looked like something resembling a carrot, but this one had hooves and walked around on them. It had eyes on what would usually be the top of the carrot. It had a mohawk made of carrots with a black collar that had carrots instead of metal spikes. Twilight noticed that it had spiked bracelets as well on its hooves also made of carrots.

“It’s time to root this party!” The strange creature yelled. It pulled out a guitar out of seemingly nowhere that looked like it was made of carved carrots somehow and started strumming the strings. This created a giant shockwave and Twilight covered her ears in pain trying to shield herself from the loud and painful noise. Windows broke from the high-pitched sound. The creature continued rocking out creating a nonsensical and off-tone tune. Twilight thought her head would explode. The pain was almost unbearable and Twilight collapsed to the ground. The pain just got worse and worse and Twilight just laid there completely helpless. The monster, on the other hoof, seemed oblivious to this and continued playing jumping up and down in excitement while bobbing its head back of forth.

Suddenly it just stopped. Twilight ears rang, but the pain was subsiding. Twilight looked up to see the creature on the ground in pain. It looked up angrily and Twilight turned her head to see what it was looking at. There was something standing on a roof. Twilight’s heart stopped. It was the Galaxy Rangers.

They were dressed in what looked like some sort of armor. They were each a different color; red, blue, green, black, yellow, and pink. The suit was mostly one color, but it had a white vest on it. On this vest was what looked like a constellation of bright white stars that shined brightly. Each one had a different constellation on their suit. The Red Ranger had the constellation of the Ursa Major, Blue had Cygnus, Green had Libra, Black had Hercules, Yellow had Scorpio, and Pink had Sagittarius. Their helmets had a black visor with a yellow star around it. On their hooves were white boots that also had a yellow star on the front. The Blue and Red Rangers were unicorns and they had a horn on their helmet. Black and Pink were pegasi with strange metal wings that were almost skeletal and were wider and sharper than normal pegasus wings. Lastly, Green and Yellow appeared to be earth ponies. There was something feminine about the design of the suits. Their muzzles and body type suggested they were all female. The last thing Twilight noticed was a belt around their torso with some strange gold and black device on it.

The Blue Ranger was holding a bow in an aura of blue magic that matched her color and it looked like the monster was glaring at the pony. It yelled something, but Twilight couldn’t hear what it was saying with her ear still ringing from the earlier attack. Twilight didn’t really care about that; she was too focused on watching the Galaxy Rangers filled with pure amazement.
Blue shot an arrow made of brilliant golden energy at the monster. The monster used his guitar to block it. The Galaxy Rangers jumped down to the ground and landed right in front of the monster.

They struck a pose sticking their hooves forward ready for battle. The monster readied its guitar and hit its strings, a sound wave appeared directed at the Rangers. Yellow jumped in front of the wave and blocked it with a shield that appeared out of nowhere. The attack was absorbed into the shield and disappeared only to be redirected back from the front of the shield a moment later. Sparks erupted from the monsters and flew back grabbing its chest in pain. A second later, it got up, although with a little difficulty.
The Rangers took advantage of this and charged in to attack. Red pressed a button on her belt and a sword appeared in her hooves. She swung it at the monster and sparks appeared when it contacted. Pink and Black also pressed a button and a staff appeared in Pink’s hooves and a hammer in Black’s.

Pink swung her staff, but the monster was able to duck just in time and the weapon hit Red right in the face who was moving behind the monster. Red was sent flying into a nearby cart crashing into it. Pink's body language showed she was horrified and stood there stunned and received a blow in the chest from a swing of the monster's guitar for her trouble and went flying back. Black was also stunned by what happened to Red, but quickly got her bearings back and swung her hammer at the monster from above. The monster tried to use its guitar to block the attack. It was blocked, but the creature was sent back a few steps. Green also moved for an attack but didn't summon her weapon like the others. She struck the creature with her hooves and it recoiled in pain at the blows. It was too stunned to block or dodge Black's hammer and it dropped its guitar before it could block the blow. It howled as the powerful blow hit it right in the chest and it collapsed to the ground. Black and Green moved aside with Black pulling Pink away from the monster much to Twilight's confusion.

The reason became apparent quickly as Blue pressed a button on her belt again and her energy gathered around the bow and went into the string. Blue, for some reason, took the bow in her hooves and stood up on her hind legs and pulled the bow back.

“Omega Arrow Crusher!” Blue yelled and let go of the string. An arrow all the colors of the rainbow was released and struck the prone monster trying to get up. Blue turned around and started trotting away from the creature. The monster exploded in a giant fireball. When the smoke cleared, all that was left were pieces of carrot.

All the ponies watching cheered stomped their hooves or whooped. Twilight stomped her hooves in approval. This was more than she ever imagined. She had never seen such power in her life. She had to study it!

Red got up from the cart and dusted herself off and the other Ranges ran to see if she was alright. Twilight rushed in. She had a million questions to ask. First, she had to examine the belts. However, before she or any other ponies could get close, the Rangers teleported away. They just disappeared in a beam of light into the sky and were gone. Twilight stood there stunned.

“Yeah, they always do that.” The magenta colored mare said. “They never give you enough time to get an autograph.” The mare gave a sigh.

"Oh well." Twilight thought. "I'll just have to figure out who they are." Twilight suppressed her excitement. First, she decided to change her plans a bit and do interviews and learn what she could from the townsfolk. She already had a good cover story planned.

“It’s awful!” A voice said behind Twilight.

“It’s horrible!” Another said.

“What?! Another monster?!” Twilight exclaimed.

“This pot of lilacs just got knocked over!” The pale-yellow coat yelled dramatically. She pointed to a potted flower that had been knocked over and was now lying sideways on the ground. A little bit of its dirt was falling out of it onto the ground. The three collapsed to the ground and it looked like they just passed out.

“The horror! The horror!” The raspberry coated mare exclaimed.

Twilight watched in bewilderment as the three mares twitched on the ground. “I really need to get going! Good luck with...whatever you are doing!” Twilight left the scene confused about what just happened.

Corona watched on her crystal ball as the ponies known by the mortals as the Galaxy Rangers shot down her newest creation. She gave a snort of irritation. Not that she was surprised by the failure, but that it did so little to its enemies. They had grown so powerful. Corona doubted ten of her monsters at once could best them now. Every encounter seemed to make them even more powerful. Corona resisted the urge to smash everything in sight out frustration.

The Queen of the Sun was sitting in the study of her castle. It was well furnished with a rich red couch and matching chairs. In front of the couch was a table with a crystal ball on it. The room had bookshelves of old books and tomes. Some of them forbidden and full of knowledge best forgotten to time, but Corona liked to keep that knowledge nearby just in case. The walls had pictures of long gone friends, lovers, and of her and her sister as fillies.

No, that would help nothing. Corona thought as it would destroy her favorite furniture. She would just need to think of a better way. Still, she did get some pleasure out of ruining that orange maned Ranger's prized carrot. It seemed she planned on entering it in a fair and had grown an impressively sized carrot with her earth pony magic. Not anymore, though, it had been destroyed by the very one that grew it. Even if it didn't win, transforming it into a monster was an amusing sight.

Corona stepped off from her setting position from a large comfortable pillow and started pacing around the room. She needed some way to make her creations stronger since her current method wasn’t working. Infusing an object with the power of a star beast wasn’t enough. Perhaps using an animal would make it more powerful? It was a gamble though and she hadn’t attempted it yet for three reasons. One, the will of the creature might interfere with the magic Corona used to control and subdue it. The power of the star beast might amplify that will. Two, in her studies of this spell, she had never seen a case of it used on an animal or somepony. She had no idea what the result might be. And three, it was a cruel thing to do to any creature.

Corona spent the next ten minutes pacing and debating the issue in her head. She was desperate and she needed an edge. As cruel as it would be, if it worked the sacrifice of one creature won’t be so bad. After all, getting her incompetent and misguided sister off the throne and defeating her Rangers would be worth it.

“Spike!” Corona yelled. The baby dragon dutifully entered and bowed respectively.

"Yes, my Queen," Spike said with some quaver in his voice.

“Your Queen desires a two-layer chocolate fudge cake with chocolate ganache frosting! Make it post haste!” Corona ordered.
Spike bowed again. "Yes, sir! My Queen majesty sir!" He left to do as he was ordered.

Corona decided to think it over a snack. She briefly thought of using Spike as a test subject since he proved quite useful as muscle when she aged him back on the Longest Night to attack Trixie and her friends before they became the Rangers but dismissed it quickly. He was too valuable to waste. No one made a two-layer chocolate fudge cake with chocolate ganache frosting like he could. His culinary skills were excellent and Corona would be a complete foal to sacrifice him. He was also very good at keeping her little hidden castle on the moon tidy. No, she would keep him and his delicious cake close for centuries to come.

It didn’t take long for Spike to bring the dessert of perfection and set it on the table. Corona nodded to Spike. “You may go.” Spike nodded again and left the room with haste. Sadly, the baby dragon was always skittish around her. A behavior she would have to fix.

Corona dove her face into the cake and moaned in pleasure. She licked her lips and did another dive into the cake. She decided she would have to make a sacrifice. A pony seemed preferable since their natural magic would make the star beast magic even stronger. As soon as she finished she would contact her spy in Equestria to find a suitable candidate. The time for games was over.

Chapter 2

Lunaverse: Galaxy Rangers - The Rangers Nevermore?
Chapter 2
by Rixizu

Trixie watched her friend sigh again. After the battle, Carrot Top had become pretty glum so Ditzy suggested they go to Sugarcube Corner to cheer her up. Not surprising after Corona turned her prized carrot into a hideous monster. She had been spending several months growing the thing using earth pony magic or whatever to make it as big as at least twice the size of a pony. Trixie still had no idea how Carrot Top managed that one. Earth ponies are weird. Carrot Top wanted to enter it in the state farming contest in Dodge City and hopefully, win something, but it looked like all those prizes would most likely go to the Apple Trust, again. It wasn't surprising that she was in such a dire mood. The prize money she might have won would have helped out a lot.

“Here you go CT.” An energetic Pinkie Pie said setting a chocolate parfait in front of the depressed mare. “Don’t worry about the cost, it’s on the house!”

Carrot Top gave a small smile. "Thanks, Pinkie."

“No problemo CT. I’m always here to give an encouraging hoof!” Pinkie exclaimed.

“I have to say Pinkie. I really like the new look you gave Sugercube Corner.” Cheerilee gestured around her. After the bakery got damaged during their fight with a compass monster, Pinkie somehow convinced the Cakes to expand and renovate it into something completely new and unique. It was now some bizarre hybrid between a bakery, a youth center, and a dojo. A move that seemed to work surprisingly well. The place was packed with ponies particularly foals that were playing on the various activities the youth center provided. There was an indoor pool, billiard and hoofball tables, a climbing wall, and comfortable couches for the youth to sit and chat on. Cheerilee seemed particularly happy with the change.

Ditzy’s daughter Dinky was currently playing on the rather large climbing wall built into the far-left wall. Feeling Trixie's gaze on her, the foal waved a hoof at her. The motion almost caused her to lose her grip causing Ditzy to tense before relaxing again as the child leaned back into the wall. Not that she was in any danger with the safety gear attached to her, but Ditzy unnecessarily worried about her daughter sometimes.

“It’s an... interesting choice,” Trixie admitted.

“Ah shucks thanks.” Pinkie beamed. “Though it wasn’t my idea.” Trixie blinked and the rest of her friends seemed just as surprised.

“So it was Ms. Cake’s idea?” Ditzy threw out.

“Nope!” Pinkie beamed. “It was Rarity’s idea!”

The entire group looked startled particularly Cheerilee. “Rarity?” Cheerilee parroted.

“Well of course darling.” Rarity said trotting up to their table seemingly summoned by the use of her name.

“Why?” Trixie asked eyebrows raised.

“You see Ms. Lulamoon. I just thought Ponyville needed a place for foals gather, have fun, and stay out of trouble. It keeps the foals off the streets and provides a positive place for them to gather and have fun!" Rarity explained.

Cheerilee looked gob smacked. “That’s very thoughtful of you.”

Trixie groaned. “It’s Trixie please.” She put extra emphasis on the word Trixie.

“I couldn’t do that darling. That would be rude.” Rarity said politely. “You are the princess’s student after all.”

“No, really I’m fine with…” Trixie tried to say, but Rarity interrupted her.

“I personally think the dojo is one of the best touches.” Rarity continued. Trixie ground her teeth. She always did this. The fashionista insisted on ignoring her request to not call her by her very hated last name. Trixie was already plotting her revenge.

“You like martial arts?” Raindrops asked surprised.

"Naturally darling. Its beauty and grace, its dedication inner peace and pony empowerment have a certain allure to me. Though I don't have the time I wish to continue it. I did take a few classes when I was younger."
Trixie snorted and found that thought absurd. She spotted Carrot Top’s almost finished parfait and got an evil idea.

Pinkie got excited. “You should join classes again Rarity! Master Snowflake is starting classes in a few days!”

Pinkie pointed towards a giant muscular white pegasus with a blond mohawk dressed in a gi. “Yeah!” He cried out hurting Trixie’s ears a little.

“I’ll think about it darling, but I really must be off I have…” Rarity screamed and looked down. She saw that she just stepped in some ice cream. “My hooficure!” Rarity shook her hoof to get it as clean as she could and ran off.

Trixie resisted laughing. She took a piece of Carrot Top’s parfait and made it invisible just waiting for the perfect opportunity to make Rarity step in it. “Serves her right!” Trixie thought.

Trixie’s friends glared at her. “What?” She said innocently.

“Anyway Trixie, the usual?” Pinkie interjected.

Trixie nodded and Pinkie pulled a taffy and lettuce flavored cupcake out of seemly nowhere making Trixie blink. She was watching the party pony closely and she had no idea where Pinkie got the cupcake.
Pinkie got out a notebook. “So, what can I get you?”

"A blueberry muffin would be nice," Ditzy answered.

"A strawberry cupcake," Cheerilee said.

“Nothing for me thanks.” Raindrop gave out.

“Three more chocolate parfaits thanks.” Carrot Top said. Trixie saw that she already finished the previous one.

“Gotcha!” Pinkie said and she left the group.

“Are you ok Carrot Top?” Cheerilee asked. “You are taking the loss of your prized Carrot harder than I thought.”

“I’m fine.” Carrot Top said and sighed. “It’s just frustrating to put in all that work, only for Corona to ruin it!” She put her chin on the table. “I work hard, don’t I? Why must everything I do fizzle out into nothing?”

Everypony at the table nodded. “Don’t I deserve to have something nice happen to me for once? To not have my dreams stomped on at every turn?!” Carrot Top growled in frustration.

An awkward silence followed and Trixie wasn’t sure what to say. This wasn’t a subject she felt comfortable getting into.

"I'm sure Pokey can get you a form that will cover your losses through a government grant," Trixie said in her best cheerful tone. She knew that Ponyville had monster attack protection and it wasn't difficult to get compensation if you filled out the right form especially with the Corona crisis. Princess Luna was adamant with helping Corona's victims. She bet some bureaucratic ponies were in a corner weeping somewhere over the constant damages were done to Ponyville these days.

“That isn’t the point Trixie.” Carrot Top said evenly.

"I think what she is trying to say that it is the principle of the thing," Cheerilee said diplomatically.

“Exactly!” Carrot Top exclaimed. Trixie winced. She knew it must be difficult to be constantly under the Apple Trust’s shadow.

“I doubt she’ll be sending monsters against us much longer.” Raindrops mussed. “The one she sent today, barring a few accidents, didn’t last very long.” She snorted. “What the hay is the point if they get crushed in minutes.”

Ditzy looked apologetic at the word accident. Trixie sighed. Ditzy would insist on apologizing again for what happened even though Trixie already accepted the apology at least five times by now.

“I have been thinking about that.” Cheerilee started and this got everypony’s attention. “To be frank, our teamwork stinks.”
Everypony looked a bit sheepish. Cheerilee continued. “The monsters seem easy now, but I doubt that will last. We can’t afford to become complacent. That Corona is a crafty one.”

“So you think things might get worse?” Raindrops asked. She looked at the dojo. “I could teach you how to fight. We could all take martial art classes together.” Raindrops looked excited. She had a bit of a passion for the martial arts. She was a black belt in Iron Hoof style apparently.

Cheerilee clapped her hooves together. “That’s an excellent idea. That would be a perfect way to improve our skills.”

Cheerilee took on a thoughtful look. “And we could do some exercises to improve our teamwork.”

Trixie’s eyes widened. That sounded like a horrible idea. “No, no, no!” Trixie protested.

Cheerilee raised an eyebrow. “And why not?”

Trixie hated this idea. It would be so much hard work and it would mean she would have to get all sweaty. She hated sweatiness. Her mind raced for a proper excuse to get out of this.

“Be-cause...Where would we find the time?” Trixie argued. “We all have very busy schedules. I myself, am way too busy with practicing for future magic shows and my duties as the Night Court representative of Ponyville!” This wasn’t a complete lie. Despite all the paperwork, her assistant Pokey was able to help her do most of it in little time. Her duties were actually depressingly light. But they didn’t need to know that.
Ditzy thought a moment. “Well, actually. I think it would be a great idea!” Ditzy stood up. “We are protecting the world. If that means I need to squeeze in some time for training, then so be it!”

“I would be okay with it.” Carrot Top agreed. “I’m not that busy that I can’t spend an hour or two training.”

"I'm game," Lyra said. "Besides. Some of us could need the exercise." She looked at Trixie.

"I know it will be hard at first," Cheerilee said soothingly. "But trust me, it will be worth it."

Trixie looked back and forth between her friends. This was looking bad. She needed to think of something.

"Trixie," Cheerilee said evenly. "I know you don't like this, but it's for the good of the team."

“Not if we are too exhausted to fight!” Trixie was sure she was on to something.

“Trixie. We are doing this so we don’t get exhausted in fights.” Raindrops said bluntly.

"We are strong enough as it is," Trixie grumbled.

Ditzy thought about it. “Huh, I guess that’s true.”

Trixie saw her chance. “See! No need for any training at all! Nothing Corona has thrown at us has come even close to winning anymore!”

Corona had sent many monsters after them, but little by little they became easier to manage. Trixie didn't see any reason at all to train at this point. Plus, she knew that they would force her to eat ‘health' food and stop drinking her sweet sweet bourbon. Unacceptable losses in Trixie's opinion.

“For now anyway.” Carrot Top pointed out.

Trixie waved a hoof. “Even if they do get stronger, we can handle it. Trust me. We have the power of friendship!”

Raindrops sighed. “If you don’t want to train, fine.” Trixie gave a triumphant grin. She ate the rest of her cupcake in celebration. “But I plan on going to the dojo every day.”

“Go ahead. I won’t stop you.” Trixie said.

Raindrops sighed. “Our fearless leader.”

“I heard that!” Trixie protested.

“I know.” Raindrops turned to the rest of the group. “Let’s schedule a time in the afternoon that we can all meet together.”

Twilight held up a notebook planning on writing everything she heard. “So, what can you tell me about the Galaxy Rangers. Ms. Bon-Bon?”

"Them?" A grayish coated maned earth pony said. "In one word. Awesome. They've kept the town safe and save the world at least a hundred times. The coolest, though, is the Blue Ranger."

“Oh, and why is that?” Twilight said not looking away from her notebook. She gave Bon-Bon brief glances while talking to her.

“Did you see the way she destroyed that monster?” Bon-Bon swooned. “She so fearless and never gives up. And the grace and style! You can also tell she’s like probably the sexiest mare in existence under there. She’s the perfect mare!”

“I see…” Twilight said hesitantly. “And… who do you think might be under the mask?”

Bon-Bon body language completely changed. She suddenly became guarded. “I don’t know. She’s probably around I guess.”

“Have you seen anything that might tell who she is?” Twilight asked.

"No," Bon-Bon said flatly, "now if you excuse me, I have candy to sell."

“Thanks for your time!” Twilight gave a gracious bow of her head.

Great, I just happen to run into some creepy weirdo. Twilight thought and shuddered.

“Them? The whole town would be doomed if it wasn’t for them.” An arctic blue coated pegasus said. “They’re the best! I’m actually part of the Galaxy Ranger’s fan club.”

“They have a fan club?” Twilight asked a bit surprised.

“Well sure. It was started by a pony named Rainbow Dash.” The mare explained. “An awesome club with awesome members for the most awesome heroes in all of Equestria as she put it.”

“I see.” Twilight made sure to get this down. “But you have to be wondering who the Galaxy Rangers are. Who do you think they are? Maybe you might have seen something?”

The mare suddenly became icy and gave Twilight an uncomfortable stare. “Dunno. Don’t really care really.” She flew off after this.

“What is for exactly?” The white unicorn filly said. “Are you with some paper?”

“That’s right.” Twilight lied. “I’m trying to learn as much as I can about the Galaxy Rangers.”

“Oh cool! Does this mean I am going to be mentioned in the paper?” The filly asked eagerly.

Twilight waggled her eyebrow and gave a conspiratorial look. “If I get a good quote.” The filly beamed with energy.

“What do you want to know?” The filly asked barely controlling her excitement

“Have you seen anything about the Galaxy Ranger that might, I don’t know, tell me more about who they are?” Twilight said.

The filly suddenly became cold. “Excuse me. I think I just remember that I have tons of homework to do. Bye.” She left in a hurry not looking back for an instant.

“Wait! I’ll treat… Dang it!” Twilight cursed. She hoped at least a filly would be more receptive to her questions. Twilight looked down and sighed. She spotted a bench and sat on it dejected. This was ridiculous. She couldn’t get any clues from anypony. They became hostile when probed about the Ranger’s identities. Especially the fan club, Twilight felt she barely made it out there alive. She sighed again. She should have guessed. Town heroes and a strange mare want to know their secret identities. They must assume she's some Night Court agent or something wishing to take their power for some noble.

She sat there thinking when something caught her eye. It was the strangest building she had ever seen. It was a house that was decorated like a gingerbread house and, if Twilight didn't know any better, looked real. It was shaped like a house but had a giant growth coming from its right side. It didn’t quite match the gingerbread look of the rest of the house. She saw a sign that said, “Sugercube Corner: Bakery/Youth Center”.

Twilight felt her stomach rumble. She hadn’t eaten anything all day besides those peanuts on the train. “What the heck.” She thought. She was hungry and need a treat right now. She trotted towards the building.

The interior clashed just as much as the outside. It had a strange mix of classic and modern styles. Twilight entered trying to absorb her surroundings as much as she could. She sat on a random table. While gazing at the mix match style, she was brought out of her thoughts by a voice.

Twilight jumped at the sudden high pitched voice. "Oh my gosh! You must be new! After all, I know everypony, and I mean everypony in Ponyville!" Twilight was suddenly face to face at an uncomfortable distance to a pink earth pony with a just as pink mane. She had a wide grin of her face. "Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie! Welcome to Sugarcube Corner! The best stop in Equestria for all your treat and youth centering needs! I would throw you a welcoming party, but, well, the party store got nachoed by a monster, and now the whole building isn't safe!"

Twilight blinked. “What?”

“Some monsters, right? So, rude! Now I can’t get the party supplies I need for all my parties! And ordering from outside sources if sooooo expensive! How is a girl supposed to throw a party around here! Now I’ve missed 8 birthday parties, 2 bachelor parties, 8 wedding showers, and 18 welcoming no I mean 19 welcoming parties! It’s enough to make a pony go batty! And I don’t mean being transformed in batpony through a freaky magical spell accident kinda way!”

The pink pony was speaking so fast Twilight barely understood what was being said. She just nodded agreeing with whatever she was being told.

“So, what can I get ya?!” The pony Twilight thought might have been named Gimme Pie said.

“I’ll have a cupcake?” Twilight said hesitantly.

“Sure thing!” Pie rushed out of sight.

Twilight sighed. “That was by far the stran…” She thought before Pie appeared again with a cupcake on a small round plate.

“Here you go!” Pie said with a wide smile on her face. Twilight screamed in alarm at the sudden appearance

"T-thanks," Twilight said after getting her senses back.

“No problemo. Tell me if you need anything!” Pie rushed in the back again.

Twilight grabbed the cupcake in her magic and took a bite. It was good. Fantastic even. Twilight quickly gave it another bite.
Twilight was about to finish her cupcake when she noticed some ponies exiting the bakery, youth center, or whatever it was. She normally won’t have given them a second glance, but she noticed something strange about them. They were dressed in the same colors as the Galaxy Rangers.

The most noticeable one was the unicorn in the garish red cap and hat covered in yellow stars. She looked familiar, but Twilight couldn't place her. Next to her was a purple earth pony with a green jacket with a white t-shirt. It had ‘I'm a teacher to save time let's just assume that I know everything' written on it. After them was a gray pegasus followed by a similarly colored unicorn filly. The pegasus had a long pink scarf which dragged on the ground. Flying out above them was a jasmine coated pegasus with a black and white plaid shirt. After her came out a mint colored unicorn with a blue hoodie. Last of the group was a yellow earth pony with yellow coveralls that looked well-worn from hard work and were stained with dirt. It was a strange sight.

Twilight watched them perplexed. A thought hit her. Could they be the Galaxy Rangers? Six friends and they just happen to be wearing the colors of the Rangers? They were also the exact same tribes as they were. Two earth ponies, two pegasi, and two unicorns. No, that was just silly, right? It was just a coincidence.

“Say, who was the one in the red cape?” Twilight asked curiously.

“Oh! That’s Trixie Lulamoon!” Pinkie replied happily.

Twilight suddenly remembered where she saw the face before. It was Trixie Lulamoon student of the princess herself. She wasn’t particularly interested in court business, but even she’d heard about Trixie being banished after a bizarre incident at some ice palace.

“But don’t let her hear you use her last name. She’s gets super upset for some reason. It’s a shame. I think it’s a rather pretty name. If I was her, I’d use Lulamoon all the time! But that’s just me. I would go by Pinkamena Diane Pie if I could, but that’s just a mouthful! So, I usually go by Pinkie! Pinks if you're a good friend. I actually had an old coltfriend that liked to call me PP! I always thought it was silly myself! That would only make ponies confuse me with pancreatic polypeptide and we can’t have that! He was cute, so I let him do it. Shame about him having to move to Stalliongrad. We sorta lost touch after that. Don’t you just hate when that happens?” Pinkie looked at Twilight expectantly.

“Err, yes?” Twilight said hesitantly.

"I feel sorry for Trixie," Pinkie said sadly, "she probably left like a million friends when she moved here from Canterlot."

"When did she move here?" Twilight asked curiously. Her details of the student's banishment were vague.

“After the Longest Night Celebration!” Pinkie explained. “She was actually the one sent here to help with the festival and become Ponyville’s representative for the Night Court.”

Something in Twilight’s head clicked. It was awfully convenient that she came here the exact same time as the Galaxy Rangers appeared.

“Are the rest of her friends locals?” Twilight asked.

“Yep, well no, all except Lyra! She actually came with Trixie before the Longest Night.” Pinkie said.

"And moved here afterward?" Twilight guessed.

Pinkie nodded. “She actually moved here after going to school in Canterlot for a few years so she could live with and make the moves on…”

Twilight drowned her out and started thinking. Awfully convenient indeed. Maybe after Corona escaped, Trixie and her friends gained the power of the Galaxy Rangers and moved here so they would all stay together. What better cover than as a worthless exiled has-been student of the princess working as representative of a small no-name town! Very clever playing the part of the fool to hide her true identity. She wondered if the princess gave them these powers and made up this identity to protect her. The princess's cunning was well known after all. Maybe the ice palace incident was all a setup!

Twilight shook her head. These were all baseless theories with no evidence to support them. She would research and study Trixie first to see if there was any credence to her theory.

“And that is why you should never use fish paste as an antiseptic!” Pinkie finished and Twilight blinked not sure what to say to that.

"So what's with the interest in Trixie?" Pinkie asked curiously.

“No reason.” Twilight lied, but in a way, that didn’t sound particularly convincing.

“Oh! I get it!” Pinkie proclaimed. “She’s tickles your fancy so to speak.” She waggled her eyes suggestively.

“What? She does not!” Twilight proclaimed.

"Dangit," Pinkie said disappointed and sighed, "that ship seemed so likely too!"

Twilight was completely lost. She decided to finish her cupcake so she could get going. She saw a stallion she interviewed earlier enter, the thought of the time she's wasted earlier made her even more annoyed and munched at her cupcake with vigor.

“So why it everypony is so secretive of the Galaxy Rangers?” Twilight asked grumbling. “Nopony seems interesting in learning who they are at all. I don’t get it. If there was a hero in my hometown, I’d like to know who they are.”

"They're scared Twilight," Pinkie said in a quiet voice.

Twilight eyes widened. “Scared?”

Pinkie gave a sad smile. “Yes, they're scared to lose them. Everypony is so worried the Night Court might try something to take them away. You know how they are. They’d want to have the Galaxy Ranger’s power for themselves. They’d, I don’t know, kidnap one of them so they could have an edge for something. Where does that leave Ponyville? What will protect Ponyville from the baddies? Those Night Court jerks don’t give a toss about Ponyville.”

Pinkie gestured around the building. "We've been lucky so far, but the whole town has been seriously damaged several times. Ponies are scared that something worse might happen."

Pinkie paused for thought. “If they knew the Ranger’s identities, they’d go after their families and love ones to get at them or threaten to ruin their lives. They’d tear the team apart for sure. Move them somewhere else to have them right where they want them. Just to get their hooves on their power for Luna knows what. Corona would send a monster in Ponyville and destroy the whole town.”

Twilight looked downcast. “I see.”

“And besides, who cares who the Galaxy Rangers are?” Pinkie smiled suddenly bright again. “They’re a symbol! A symbol of hope for Ponyville and everypony else. And that makes them worth protecting.”

Twilight felt silly. Pinkie was right. Maybe it was for the best that she didn’t know. The thought of the Night Court nobles tearing the team apart just for their own gain sickened her. She felt she wanted to protect the Galaxy Rangers. She didn’t need to know their identities to study them anyway. She would just study their powers and how they worked when they fought. Maybe even get an interview.

"Thanks, Pinkie. You gave me a lot to think about." Twilight said gratefully.

“That’s what I’m here for!” Pinkie said happily and winked. “I’m not just a pretty face.”

“How much for the cupcake?” Twilight asked getting up.

"Nothing," Pinkie said, "after all, you didn't get a welcoming party! Oh! Please tell me you are going to be in town long. I can at least give you a ‘Have a nice stay in Ponyville' party.

“I don’t know. I have a lot of studying to do, so it will be at least a few weeks.” Twilight explained.

“Great! That’s perfect!” Pinkie noticed somepony calling her. “Oh shoot! Need to go! Have a nice stay.” She zipped off to an annoyed stallion who had been sitting there unattended for some time.

Twilight exited Sugarcube Corner and headed for the Library. She wanted to see if there was any hint to the strange magical powers the Galaxy Ranger have. Maybe some local lore might give her a clue?

Trixie’s friends left her one by one to whatever their daily business was. The only one left was Lyra whose house was on that way to Trixie’s. Lyra was apparently practicing a new piece of music for something that the musician was keeping secret. No matter how much Trixie pried, Lyra kept it close to her heart. Trixie briefly wondered if it had something to do with some anniversary that was coming up in a few weeks. They were almost up to Trixie’s house when Lyra’s marefriend Bon-Bon trotted up to them.

"Hey, Lyra! And Trixie." Bon-Bon said.

“Bonnie!” Lyra pulled Bon-Bon into a deep hug and rubbed her nose against Lyra’s in a bunny kiss.

“How is my snooky wookums doing?” Bon-Bon said after letting go of the hug. Trixie did her best not to gag. Tried.

"Pretty good," Lyra replied, "my little sugar drop."

The two lovers just stared into each other’s eyes unmoving while holding hooves. And they stayed the way. For at least two minutes. They then started whispering sweet nothings to each other still not moving.

"I love you, Bonnie," Lyra whispered.

"Not as much as I love you my little sugar drop," Bon-Bon said back.

Trixie had enough. She was going to get out of here right now. She already hit the amount of lovey doovyness she could take. Princess Luna should really have this type of affection banned in public. Yes, she knew they were in love. But this was too much. Were every newly united couple like this? Apparently, they had been separated for some time. It’s gotten so bad that most of Lyra’s friends made it a point to avoid her when she was around Bon-Bon. Not that Lyra noticed this.

Trixie slowly backed away. In her gut, she knew making any sudden movements would spell her doom. Luckily she was able to make some distance safely. She sighed in relief and started trotting away.

“Do you know what Gianduja is Lyra?” Bon-Bon asked.

"No, can't say that I do," Lyra replied.

"Good. I've been trying to make them and I've saved you the best batch I've made." Bon-Bon explained.

“Oh! You shouldn’t have!” Lyra protested, but it was halfhearted.

“Anything for the best marefriend in Equestria.”

“Have I told you how much I love you?”

“Not for some time.”

"I love you, Bonnie."

“As I love you Lyra.”

Trixie saw the two were bunny kissing again. She decided to increase her pace.

“My day has been pretty dull. Well, there was a monster attack, but you know how they are.” Lyra said.

“Mine has been pretty much the same except for one thing.” Trixie stopped as Bon-Bon said this interested.

“There was this strange mare that asked me questions about the Galaxy Ranger.” Bon-Bon continued. “Seemed very interested learning who they are. You should be careful Ly...”

Trixie’s eyes widened and she turned towards the couple. “Who was she?!” Trixie demanded. Lyra glared at her for the interruption, but she was ignored.

"I don't know," Bon-Bon sounded unsure, "Twilight Sparkle I think? She said she was a reporter for a paper in Canterlot.
Trixie repeated the name several times trying to recall where she heard that name before. She eyes widened to the size of dinner plates.

“What?” Lyra asked uneasily clearly afraid of what the answer might be.

“I know her!” Trixie proclaimed. “She was a top student at Luna’s School of Magic! Got the highest marks in all her classes! The princess herself presented her diploma when she graduated.”

"Wow," Lyra said impressed, "she must have become quite the journalist.”

Trixie snorted. “Somepony like that would never take that profession.”

Bon-Bon blinked. “What? Why not?”

“Not only was she a genius at magic, but she’s also the daughter of Night Light one of the nobles of the Night Court. A Viceroy no less. There is no way with power and connections like that she would become a mere journalist.” Trixie explained. Lyra and Bon-Bon didn’t seem convinced, but Trixie continued anyway. “This means the Night Court is finally coming after the Galaxy Rangers!”

“How do you figure that?” Lyra asked perplexed.

“Simple. The journalist bit is an obvious lie, so where does that leave us?” Trixie said. “She obviously here on behest of her father as a ploy to get one the Rangers! Think of what they could mean for a member of the Night Court. Their providence and land would be safe from Corona and they could use that as a bargaining chip. It could be used as leverage against the other members! Corona’s attacking your land with a monster? Well, I suppose I could have a Ranger fight it for you if you help me pass this measure.”

“That’s horrible!” Lyra proclaimed. “The Rangers are here to help everypony!”

“Yes, but they won’t see it that way. We would only be a tool for their use.” Trixie explained. Both Lyra and Bon-Bon looked disgusted.

"Wait, but we don't know that for sure," Bon-Bon said, "she could really be just a journalist looking for a story."

Trixie thought it was cute to see somepony so young and naive. “Trust me. She’s up to something and I’m going to find out what it is.”

"Ok," Lyra said reluctantly, "just call us if you need help."

Trixie smirked. “Don’t worry. This happens to be my specialty.” She paused. “Actually, there is something I need for you to do.”

Trixie carefully trotted across the hallway. She, naturally, had her invisibility spell up. She couldn’t afford to be seen. She walked up to Twilight Sparkle’s hotel room. She looked both ways again to see if the coast was clear and used the spare key she borrowed to open it. This was break and entering, but she needed to confirm something. Things were far too serious and dangerous now.

Trixie closed the door behind her carefully. She let go of a breath she was unintentionally holding. Trixie dropped her invisibility and used detect magic. This spell would help her discover and magical traps that were hidden in the room. She knew that Twilight Sparkle was a top-level unicorn mage and most likely a Night Court spy. No doubt the room had all sorts of deadly and cunning booby traps. Trixie frowned when she discovered none.

“Odd.” Trixie thought frowning. “Did she just not have the time to put them up? Are the traps not magical in nature? Or were they not used because they would attract attention?”

This was a problem with fighting a Night Court spy, you never knew what they had up their sleeves. Trixie was determined, however, and was not going to let that stop her protecting her friends.

The room was simply furnished. It had a bed, a dresser, a kitchen, a table, and a bathroom with not much else. It was a cheap room and nothing more. Trixie found that the table was already in use. It had papers on it. They were written in some language Trixie had never seen before. It consisted of some strange scribbles. They also had small very poorly drawn pictures of the Galaxy Rangers with little notes around them. Trixie furrowed her brow. She tried hard to make sense of these notes but gave up. She noticed Twilight Sparkle's traveling bag under the table and used her magic to open it. She stuck her nose in it to get a better look. Suddenly there was a knock and Trixie jumped and hit her head on the table. She groaned in pain and rubbed her head with a hoof.

“Trixie! Are you there?” Lyra said. Trixie opened the door as she could and threw Lyra in with her magic.

Lyra arms flailed around while in midair and she crashed into the bed. “Ow! What in the hay are you doing?!” She demanded.

“Me! What are you doing here?!” Trixie shot back. “Are you trying to get us caught?! You were supposed to be tailing Twilight Sparkle!”

“I did! She’s at the library!” Lyra explained.

“And you didn’t stay there because?” Trixie asked eyebrow raised.

“It was boring!” Lyra proclaimed. “All she did was study! It didn’t look like she was going anywhere for a while, seriously it is frightening how that pony can throw herself into her studies and become oblivious to everything around her, so I came to check up on you. I still can’t believe you actually convinced me into doing this! Whatever. Let’s just get this over with.”

Trixie facehoofed. “Fine. Help me figure out what she is planning.” Trixie pulled out one of Twilight’s notes. “Do you have any idea what language this is? I don’t have a clue.”

Lyra considered it. “Maybe it’s shorthoof? Someponies like to use it to take notes.”

"Clever," Trixie admitted. Twilight Sparkle used it to protect her notes from nosy interlopers. This would be a little harder than she thought. She decided to just check Twilight’s bag for now.

Trixie dumped all of its contents on the floor. She belonging were mostly books, papers, letters, and scrolls. There were also some scientific devices that Trixie couldn’t make heads or tails of. The books were mostly scientific or magical, but there were also several volumes of something called ‘Mobile Suit Gunpony Wing’. Lyra helped Trixie look through the numerous scrolls and letters, if a bit begrudgingly. This breach in privacy irked her. Many of the scrolls were mostly notes again with the same unreadable language, so Trixie let Lyra deal with those while she looked through the letters. She found one that looked like it was still in the process of being written and one look at it make Trixie drop it in horror. This was bad. Very very bad.

Lyra saw Trixie shock and looked concerned. “What is it?”

“Things have taken a turn for the worse.” Trixie proclaimed. “Twilight Sparkle is a spy for Duke Greengrass!”

Author's Note

Note: Snowflake is Lunaverse's name for Bulk Biceps.

Chapter 3

Lunaverse: Galaxy Rangers - The Rangers Nevermore?
Chapter 3
by Rixizu

“No no no no no!” Trixie chanted terrified pacing back and forth.

"What is going on? Who is Greengrass?" Lyra asked.

"Only the most dangerous and ambitious noble in the court!" Trixie proclaimed. "I should have guessed he was behind this!"

Lyra took the letter with her magic and read it. She blinked after reading it. "Uh, Trixie. All this says is "Dear Duke Greengrass". That doesn't really prove she's a spy or anything."

Trixie sighed and rubbed her head. "Oh, course it does! The Duke has spies and contacts everywhere. He has hooves all around Equestria. He doesn't contact anypony unless it is to his advantage or they work for him. Would this Twilight Sparkle really just write a letter for him for no reason?"

“I don’t know. It could be for his birthday or it’s a love letter?” Lyra suggested.

Trixie snorted. She looked over the letters and eyes widened when she spotted a connection between some of them. “Look at this! There are at least 6 letters here with a return address from Ponyville!”

Trixie opened one and read it narrowing her eyes.

Dear Twi,

How is Hoofington? Oh, you must tell me what it is like. I’ve heard it is such a beautiful city. I am doing fine and not much has changed. Though the constant monster attacks have made me terrified to even go outside! Oh, dear. How can Corona be so inconsiderate?

Thank you ever so much for liking my story ‘Fallen Angel’. I didn’t think it turned out all that well myself, but your compliments and encouragements make me happy! I have another one in the works. I still haven’t thought of a name for it yet. If you have a suggestion, I would love to hear it. It is going to be a shipping fic between Four Winnings and Grimm. This one is going to have a little more action in it. If that is ok with you of course. I just thought it would be fun to try writing them. I have three chapters written already and should have it finished soon. Hope to talk to you soon.

Your friend,

"Sounds like a normal letter to me," Lyra said perplexed.

"And that is exactly what Twilight Sparkle wants you to think!" Trixie proclaimed.

Trixie started looking through Twilight’s things again and found a notebook that had ‘Fallen Angel’ by f' on its cover and below the title was a well-drawn sketch of two very effeminate stallions in each other's hooves. She skimmed through it. Lyra came up from behind and watched her.

"What?" Lyra asked. "Is there something up with this story?"

Trixie sat the notebook down. “I think I know what’s going on.” She coughed. “The letter and story seem normal, but they are actually a secret code.”

Lyra blinked. “What?”

"Code," Trixie explained, "carefully hidden messages that can be read by using a key."

“Like what?” Lyra wondered.

Trixie sighed. “It’s impossible to say. It could literally be anything. It could be, for example, every 50th word or maybe it is read by using a complex mathematical equation. Without the key, it’s impossible to decipher the real message.”

Lyra took the notebook in her magic and started reading through it. “But, why would this even be in code in the first place?”

Trixie beamed. “Simple. This f is really Twilight Sparkle’s Ponyville contact. f reports their info to Twilight who then reports back to Greengrass!”

Lyra continued to look through the notebook. “Using this… boy love ship fic?”

“I have to give it to Greengrass. Nopony would ever expect that.” Trixie said in begrudging admiration.

Lyra mulled this information over. “This still sounds a little farfetched.”

"Think about it." Trixie closed to eyes and thought of all the clues she had so far. "Could it really just be a coincidence that Twilight Sparkle just happens to contact the Duke at the exact time she investigates the Galaxy Rangers? That she just happens to use code in her notes making them unreadable to anypony besides her? That she just so happens to have a pen pal in Ponyville? A pen pal that refuses to use her real name? And she just happens to pose as an oh so innocent reporter? Look at all of this, does it look like anything a normal reporter would have?”

“Lyra, I know the Night Court and I know the Duke. In my experience, there is no such thing as coincidence. Trust me.”

"Ok," Lyra said hesitantly, "Twilight Sparkle does seem at least little suspicious."

“I know exactly how to prove it. Find out if Twilight Sparkle is a member of the Newspaper Guild.” Trixie started to put back everything as she found it satisfied that she had everything she needed. Twilight needed to be a member of the guild or no reputable paper would ever publish her writings.

“Good plan.” Lyra complimented. “I’ll take the first train to Canterlot then…”

Trixie smirked. “No need. I already got Pokey to do it. He should have the results by the time I get home.”

“Good thinking.”

Trixie smirked. “Like I said. This is my specialty.”

Everything was put back to where it was before Trixie entered the room and the two left after Trixie made them invisible. The key was returned back with the rest of the spare keys and they left Twilight’s hotel.

Trixie spent the rest of the trip to ponder who f was. The return address of the letters was a P.O. Box in the Ponyville post office making it difficult to tell who exactly it belongs to. Ditzy would know, but Trixie doubted that she would help her citing some nonsense about protecting the privacy of her customers. Trixie thought through all the ponies she knew that had a name that started with f. It suddenly hit her. It was so obvious. It was Flitter! Thinking about it, she saw that pegasus around her house a little too often. She was a pegasi, so it would be easy for her to spy on Trixie without her noticing. She could do it by a roof or cloud and Trixie would never even know!

In fact, there was Flitter right now. The mare saw Trixie look at her and she waved to them from the street. Lyra waved back and Trixie did her best fake smile and waved as well. Trixie watched as Flitter joined her sister Cloud Chaser and walked into a Sugarcube Corner chatting to each other. Flitter laughed at a joke at something her sister said. Trixie thought about telling Lyra her suspicions but decided against it. It could tip their hoof and it would be better if Trixie kept this to herself for now.

The two arrived at Trixie's house and thankfully he trusty assistant, Pokey Pierce, was there to greet her. "Hey, Pokey! So, what did you find?” Trixie asked eager for the answer.

“It turns out your paranoid ravings were right this time.” Pokey quipped. “There is no record at all of a Midnight Sparkler being a member of the Newspaper Guild.”

“Pokey!” Trixie exclaimed and groaned. “It was Twilight Sparkle! Twilight Sparkle!” She made sure to say the name slowly so he could properly understand it.

"I know," Pokey replied.

Trixie blinked. “What?”

“I was just messing with you.” Pokey grinned. “Yes, you’re right. Twilight isn’t a member of the guild.”

Trixie groaned. This was a serious situation!

"You were right. I'm sorry I doubted you, Trixie." Lyra said. "You grew up in the Night Court. I should have trusted your judgment."

"I suppose sometimes the pony in the padded room with a straitjacket is right," Pokey interjected and Trixie glared at him.

“So what now?” Lyra asked trying to prevent a fight between these two.

"Easy, we scare her out of town," Trixie replied after she stopped glaring at Pokey.

“How do we do that?” Lyra asked.

"I already have the perfect plan," Trixie said mischievously.

"I don't know about this," Lyra said for the third time.

Trixie sighed. “Trust me. This will work.” They were looking at the brilliant monster costume that she made. The plan was simple. They were going to scare Twilight Sparkle out town. Trixie was quite adept at costume making and even the most hardened Night Court agent would drop dead in fright at the sight of it. It was a metal monstrosity with a buzzsaw on the top of its head with two more buzzsaw at the end of each arm. It also had buzzsaws coming out of it shoulders as well. Trixie decided to make it bipedal as well so both her and Lyra would have to wear the thing with Trixie standing on Lyra’s shoulders. It was super awkward and difficult to move around but Trixie liked the look of it.

Trixie wished she could just use an illusion, but she didn’t want to risk Twilight seeing through the facade with her magic. She was an agent of Greengrass. No doubt she was trained for that and it seemed likely those ugly ridiculous thick glasses of hers had a spell on them that allowed the spy to see through illusions.

“One problem. How does it feed itself?” Lyra asked.

“What?” Trixie asked stunned.

“You can’t grab anything with buzzsaws at the end of your hooves. It’s also way too tall, so it would have to bend down and over to get anything placed on a table. That would be really annoying and inconvenient. Its mouth is also a little too small to really grab anything.”

"It doesn't matter," Trixie said exasperated.

"Ponies will think of that when they look at it," Lyra explained.

"No, they won't," Trixie argued back.

“I would.” Lyra shot back. “I would feel sorry for it.”

"It doesn't matter," Trixie repeated again.

“Fine, but don’t blame me when Twilight points this out when we ‘attack’ her.”

Trixie facehoofed. “Let’s just get this over with.”

Why did she think this was a good idea again? Trixie underestimated just how hot the suit would get and was practically soaked with her own sweat. Lyra wasn't faring any better and was complaining the entire trip. Trixie did her best to ignore it and Lyra's whining, and focused on her invisibility spell she was using to hide them while they tracked down Twilight Sparkle. It was difficult and somehow made the situation even more uncomfortable. Lyra said she left her at the library so that was where they were lumbering towards. Moving was awkward and it was hard to see through the small slits for eyeholes, to say the least, but they were moving at a steady pace.

After a tortuous 15 minutes, they arrived at their destination. Trixie grinned in triumph when she spotted Twilight’s purple mane through the window. “There she is! Ready?”

Lyra grunted. “I guess. Let’s get this over with.”

Trixie almost giggled in excitement. They slowly went towards the door and Lyra opened the door with her magic. It was difficult trying to duck their way in, but they somehow made it in without toppling over. Unfortunately, Lyra slammed the door behind them and Trixie glared at her.

“Oops," Lyra said sheepishly. They were still invisible, but no doubt Twilight Sparkle would be alerted by the sound. Surprisingly, this turned out not to be the case. She was sitting on the floor surrounded by books in high haphazard towers. Trixie noticed with alarm that one of the books in the pile was ‘Elements of Harmony, A Reference Guide’. Twilight’s attention was focused completely on the book she was reading.

Trixie grinned. “Perfect.”

They moved behind Twilight and there was no way she could hear them with the sound dampening spell Trixie was using. This was the best spot to scare her. Trixie dropped her invisibility spell.

“Ready?” Trixie asked and Lyra nodded.

“Rawr!” Trixie roared at the top of her lungs. ...Nothing. Twilight didn’t move or do anything like she didn’t even hear it at all. She kept reading her book like nothing happened.

“Rawr!” Trixie tried again making it as loud as she could. Nothing. Nothing at all. Twilight still didn’t react.

“Rawr! I’m a scary monster here to eat you!” Trixie yelled waving her arms for emphasis. Still no response. She wondered what the hay is going on. Was she deaf?

"Try again," Lyra said lighting her horn, "this will amplify your voice."

“Rawr! I’m death incarnate here to kill you!” Trixie tried once again. Her voice boomed all over the library. It was almost deafening. Still no response.

“You have got to be kidding me!” Trixie cried in frustration. Lyra looked speechless.

“So... what now?” Lyra asked.

Trixie grinned. This would work for sure. “Rawr! Meet your doom Twilight Sparkle for I am going to feast on your soul!” Trixie used her magic to erupt fireworks around her as she said this. Still nothing. Still reading that stupid book like they weren’t even there. Trixie growled in frustration.

“What is this racket about?” An elderly voice said from a distance. An elderly unicorn mare with a mane of pure white and light blue coat entered the room from the library’s back room. Trixie quickly turned herself invisible.

“Twilight are you throwing a party in here are something?” The old mare asked. Twilight gave no response. She sighed and slowly trotted up to the younger mare. She tapped Twilight on the shoulder.

“Ahhh!” Twilight screamed. Trixie facehoofed, or at least tried to. It was difficult with the buzzsaws for hooves. Twilight brightened at the sight of the elderly mare. “Oh, it’s you Knowledge Broker.”

“What in hay is going on here? Were you shooting off fireworks?” Broker asked annoyed.

Twilight blinked. “Fireworks? No. It’s just me reading these books. Nothing else happened besides that.”

“I could have sworn…” Broker said before screaming. Trixie picked this exact time to make herself visible.

Twilight turned and yelped in fright as well. Trixie did her best to look menacing. Twilight looked around the library, then outside to the ponies walking around town, and lastly to Knowledge Broker who was cowering in fear. She gritted her teeth. Suddenly she disappeared in a flash. Trixie and Lyra blinked in sudden confusion. Twilight then appeared right in front of them. She grabbed the thing she thought was a monster with a hoof. Her horn glowed again and they were gone.

Ditzy was humming to herself. It was a nice day and she was enjoying a walk with her daughter Dinky. She planned on enjoying this a little too rare day off. Dinky was skipping behind her completely carefree and Ditzy chuckled at her antics. She noticed by the position of the sun that it was almost dusk and dinner time. It, unfortunately, wasn’t going to be anything special, just leftover pizza. Ditzy was about to say that it was about time they got back home when she heard somepony crying for help.

Ditzy rushed towards the voice determined to do what she could to help. Dinky did her best to follow. Ponies were panicking around her trying to get away. Ditzy ignored them for the moment.

“Everypony you need to get out of here and to safety!” A purple unicorn cried out running back and forth.

Ditzy stopped in front of her. “What is going on?”

“One of Corona’s monster is here. You need to get to safety. Now. It’s out of town and disoriented by my teleportation spell, but only for a moment!” The unicorn explained. “It’s not going to be happy!” She left them to warn other ponies.

“Mommy?” Dinky hugged her mother’s leg in fear.

"Shhhh," Ditzy said trying to soothe her daughter stroking the filly's head, "it's going to be okay."

Dinky didn’t say anything but just nodded comforted a little by these words.

"Honey, I need you to go to Mr. Pokey's house," Ditzy said. It was the closest place of safety.

Dinky looked alarmed. “Mommy?!”

"I need you to get to safety and that is the best place for you to go," Ditzy explained.

“B-but!” Dinky stuttered.

“I’ll be fine. I need to stay behind and help warn ponies.” Ditzy lied. She hated doing this, but she needed to stop that monster. Now.

Dinky eventually gave a hesitant nod and ran off to safety. Ditzy gave a reassuring wave and the filly was gone. Ditzy flew away and found a safe place to transform free from prying eyes. There was an empty alley behind a nearby building.

"It's morphing time!" Ditzy pulled out her morpher and thrust it in front of her. "Sagittarius!"

Ditzy felt her armor form around her and mentally prepared herself for battle. She was a little confused why Corona would suddenly break her habit of summoning monsters during midday, but that really didn’t matter at the moment. When she was fully transformed, she pressed a button on her morpher to summon her staff. She rushed out and quickly found her quarry. It was monstrous thing. Completely metal with buzzsaws for hooves. She felt a twinge of pity for it. How in the Equestria did it feed itself? It was stumbling around disoriented and was heading towards town. It froze when it spotted her.

“I’m not going to let you take another step forward!” Ditzy proclaimed pointing a hoof at the monster. “You are not going to hurt a single pony! I won’t let you!”

“Wait? What? I...!” The creature tried to say, but Ditzy ignored it and continued on.

“These ponies, this town are under my protection!” Ditzy cried out. She thought of her friends, her neighbors, Dinky… There was no way she would let this monster hurt a single hair on any of them. “As Princess Luna as my witness, I will fight you to my last breath! Prepare yourself!”

Suddenly, the creature just vanished. Ditzy blinked. She looked around and it was nowhere in sight. She realized instantly that the thing just turned invisible. A nice trick, but one she had seen a thousand times thanks to her friend Trixie. It won’t escape her that easily. She scanned the area making sure to stay patient and keep her eyes open. Ditzy smirked. Being invisible is all well and good, but it doesn’t hide your presence completely. Her suit amplified her cutie mark’s ability to sense air currents and it wasn’t hard to detect where the monster was through its movements.

Ditzy pressed a button on her belt. She whirled her staff over her head. It became a blur and energy gathered and sparked around it. Ditzy unleashed the energy and threw it toward where she knew the monster was and summoned a mini tornado in the shape of an arrow. It sucked the creature in and quickly lost its invisibility. It was thrown high into the air by the spinning vortex.

Ditzy turned around and slammed her staff on the ground. “Gales of Destruction!” The creature exploded. Ditzy couldn’t help a satisfied smirk. This went easier than she expected.

Ditzy quickly found a safe place to untransform and did so. She trotted towards Pokey’s house. Luckily, her daughter wasn’t too far from the fight scene and hugged her tight when she spotted her mother.

Dinky cried and buried her face into Ditzy coat. She responded by stroking her daughter's head. “There, there. It’s okay. It’s all over.”

“I was so scared! I-I thought…” Dinky started, but was pulled into a hug and was kissed on the forehead.

“The monster is gone. The Galaxy Rangers kicked its butt and saved us all.” Ditzy said comfortingly.

“Really?” Dinky asked.

Ditzy nodded. “Oh course! Good always beats evil!”

"Thank goodness," Dinky said quietly.

The two walked in silence back home. Dinky never strayed too far from her mother.

“Say mommy?” Dinky asked.

"What is it, honey?" Ditzy replied.

“Do you think I could be a Galaxy Ranger when I grow up?” Dinky asked.

Ditzy thought on this. “Maybe.” She stifled a laugh. “In this world anything is possible.”

Dinky seemed pleased at that and started running around seemingly pretending to be a Ranger herself. Her past fears previously forgotten much to Ditzy's relief. Really, though, who would have guessed that her life would turn out like this?

Trixie limped slowly but steadily moving towards the outskirts of town which was apparently where Twilight was currently hanging out according to some random ponies. Trixie’s body was covered in bandages and she needed a walking stick, but she was determined to protect her friends.

Trixie was alone now. Lyra just gave up and went home concluding that ‘This isn’t worth it!’ and ‘She probably isn’t even a spy anyway!”. It was disheartening and a little annoying, but understandable. Trixie hoped beyond hope that Bon-Bon never learns of this mishap.

Trixie spotted her quarry and dove into a bush. She winced in pain but did her best to ignore it. Twilight was messing with some strange box like contraption with antennae at the end and was waving it around enthusiastically. She wrote into a notebook taking in the device's findings. Trixie had no idea what she was doing then realized this was the location that she confronted Ditzy earlier. Twilight was doing science and Trixie had no clue what that even meant. She concluded that it was, in fact, a bad thing and needed to be stopped.

Trixie was at a bit of a loss about what to do, Twilight would not scare easily and threats would not deter her at all. Maybe blackmail? That might work, but she was dealing with a powerful and cunning adversary and it was hard to tell how she would react to that. What she really needed to do is convince the mare that investigating the Galaxy Rangers was not worth it, but she was on Greengrass's payroll. Trixie wondered if she could bribe her into giving false information. Trixie gave up that idea. She couldn't pay more than Greengrass and he would not hire someone so easily tempted.

Trixie thought she might have an idea when she was suddenly and unexpectedly pulled from her hiding spot and into the air. Trixie waved her hooves frantically not sure what was going on.

“There you are!” Pinkie declared and sat Trixie thankfully gently on the ground. “I’ve been looking all over for you!”

“How did you find me?!” Trixie demanded. She was invisible and kept completely still this time so there was no way Pinkie should have found her.

“I’m a three-time world champion of Hide and Seek duh!" Pinkie rolled her eyes. "No offense Trixie, but you're a little out of your league."

“What?” That was all Trixie could say.

"Turning invisible isn't that great a trick really," Pinkie explained. "You won't believe how many unicorns think that actually works."

Trixie was indignant that something like a ‘Hide and Seek World Championship’ could ever exist. She just threw up her hooves. “Fine! Whatever. What do you want Pinkie?”

“Hey! Twilight! Over here!” Pinkie waved her hooves. Twilight saw them and walked over much to Trixie’s horror.

"Oh hey, Pinkie!" Twilight said waving.

“There’s somepony I want you to meet!” Pinkie pushed Trixie forward. “This is Trixie!”

“Oh hello! It’s nice to meet you!” Twilight said politely. “I’ve heard so much about you.”

Trixie gritted her teeth and glared at the pink menace. “Hello.” It almost sounded polite. “Pinkie, may I talk to you for a second.”

“Sure thing Trix!” Pinkie grinned.

Trixie pulled Pinkie aside. “What do you think you are doing?” She demanded.

“Making you a new friend duh!” Pinkie said like it was the most obvious thing ever.

“Why?” Trixie asked trying her hardest not completely flip out.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Pinkie asked. “You’re a unicorn. She’s a unicorn. You both like magic. You have like a gazillion things in common! It’s a perfect match!”

“Look. I appreciate the sentiment but…” Trixie started, but Pinkie interrupted her.

"Oh, you're just being a grumpy pants," Pinkie said, "give it try! I know you'll be besties in moments!"

"Well look at the time! I have to get going! I’ll leave you two to it!” Pinkie suddenly announced loudly before dashing off before Trixie could protest. The two stood there in silence for a long while.

“So... Do you like books?” Twilight asked awkwardly.

"Yes, for the most part," Trixie said simply which was more or less true.

Twilight brightened at this. “Have you read ‘Quark’s Quirky Quest of Quantum’?”

“No.”

“You should. It’s a great book about current theories and findings in Quantum Physics, a field that has only been recently discovered!” Twilight explained with enthusiasm.

"I'll pick it up if I ever get the time," Trixie said dryly. By her tone, she hoped she made it clear that she won't read that book even if you put a crossbow to her head.

Another period of awkward silence followed. Twilight started to fidget. Trixie just stared at her coldly.

“So, uh, do like reading about animals?” Twilight tried again. “I found this really interesting book about mollusks while looking through the lib…”

“Let’s just cut this charade already.” Trixie interrupted.

“What?” Twilight asked bewildered.

“I know exactly who you are!” Trixie declared. Twilight’s ear folded and she drooped physically.

“I see. I thought as much.” Twilight said in a quiet voice. “I’m not surprised you hate me, not after what I did.”

Trixie growled. “I’m glad to see we are on the page.”

“Trixie. I’m sorry.” Twilight was actually started to tear up and this made Trixie blink. She was a little surprised that an agent of Greengrass would break so easily.

Trixie snorted. “Do you really think I would forgive you that easily? After everything you’ve done?”

It was Twilight’s turn to blink. “I know what I did was bad, but isn’t this just a bit of extreme reaction for just a stolen library book?”

Chapter 4

Lunaverse: Galaxy Rangers - The Rangers Nevermore?
Chapter 4
by Rixizu

Trixie blinked a few times and stared at Twilight in confusion. “Come again?”

Twilight took on a solemn tone and explained herself. “When I heard your name it sparked a memory. A shameful one I had completely forgotten. We have met before. A long time ago.”

Twilight paused to collect her thoughts. “Back when I was a foal I was always very curious.” She chuckled. “I suppose that’s never changed. Anyway, I was walking through the park when I spotted a filly setting on a bench reading a book. It looked like she was enjoying it. Suddenly she got up and left leaving the book behind her. Curious, I trotted up to it and read the title. It was one I have never read before. I forget the title sadly. I picked it up and started reading it. I became completely immersed in the book and before I knew it I was walking my way home with it.”

Twilight’s ears seemed to droop even more. “I spent all night reading it. I had completely forgotten it belonged to somepony else. When I realized this, I had no idea how I would find her and return it. I noticed it was a library book, so the next day I secretly snuck it back into the castle library. Much to my shame.”

"That filly was you, Trixie. You were loving that book and I selfishly stole it from you. You didn't even get to finish it!" Twilight looked Trixie directly in the eyes. "Do you think you could ever forgive me?"

Trixie started at Twilight. She had no idea what the mare was talking about. She didn’t have a single memory of this. “No! That isn’t why I’m mad at you at all!”

Twilight blinked. “T-then what is this all about?”

“You’re a spy of Duke Greengrass obviously!” Trixie almost shouted.

Twilight stared at Trixie bewildered for a few seconds before breaking out into laughter. “That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard! You think I’m a spy Trixie? How did in Equestria did you ever get that idea?”

Trixie was a bit stunned. This was not the reaction she was expecting. She was expecting her to get defensive or angry and say something like, “You can’t prove that I’m really an agent for the Duke and I was sent here to spy on Galaxy Rangers to learn their secrets and weaknesses so Greengrass can exploit them!”

“Hmm. She’s a better actor than I expected.” Trixie thought. “That was almost convincing.”

“Okay, tell me this then. Why did you have a letter addressed to Greengrass in your bag?” Trixie smirked.

“Let’s see you get out of this one.” Trixie thought.

“You looked through my things?!” Twilight said mortified. Her face turned a shade of pink much to Trixie’s confusion.

"Yes, and I found some interesting things," Trixie responded, "like that letter. If you're innocent, why are you in contact with Greengrass? He doesn't contact anypony for no reason."

“Because his birthday is coming up. That’s it.” Twilight said after getting her wits back there was an edge to it.

Trixie laughed. She had Twilight trapped now. “Ha! You expect me to believe that? The Duke’s birthday is in almost two months!”

"Exactly," Twilight said simply.

“Wha?” That was all Trixie could say.

“This is a little last minute for me, but things are so hectic lately I almost forgot about it!”

“Two months. It makes no sense for you to do it this early!” Trixie proclaimed.

"I think it is good to be prepared. That way I can just send it at the right time with it all done and not worry about it." Twilight explained.

Trixie was baffled by this but decided to move on to her next point. "Fine, why Greengrass? You're telling me you just like to send random nobles birthday letters?"

“I wouldn’t send one to that prick if I had any choice in matter believe me.” Twilight had a look of disgust on her face. “He’s a distant cousin of mine. I may not like him, but it would be rude not to give him anything.”

Trixie’s jaw dropped. She didn’t know this. “O-kay then. Why did you lie about being a journalist?” Trixie asked. “I asked my assistant to find out if anypony named Twilight Sparkle was a member of the journalist guild. There isn’t any.”

Twilight hung her head. “Okay, you got me. I lied about that. I just wanted to ask ponies about the Galaxy Rangers, so I used me being a journalist as a way to get info. Plus, I thought it would be good training.”
Trixie raised her eyebrow. “Training?”

"For when I really become a journalist," Twilight explained cheerfully.

It was Trixie’s turn to laugh. “Yeah right. That’s a good one. Your father is a Night Court noble. Like you would lower yourself to a position like that!”

Twilight’s face turned to one of intense fury. The glare Trixie got was enough to make her back up a step. “Oh, and what makes you think you know what’s best for my life?!” Twilight demanded. She actually got into Trixie’s face.

“Well, um, you know being the daughter of a viceroy there is just so much you could do with your life!” Trixie backpedaled. “Surely a pony of your education and background would want to do more with your life than that!”

Twilight glare intensified and Trixie started to sweat. Twilight then sighed and looked dejected. “Figures, you’re just like my dad. All that matters are my rank and status.” She turned bitter. “Never what I want.”

Trixie realized that maybe she blundered into a touchy subject for the mare. It suddenly became very awkward. The sudden silence between the two emphasized that. Trixie couldn’t help her burning curiosity and decided to ask a question she probably best unasked.

“So, why do you want to be a journalist instead of say a member of the Night Court?” Trixie asked already preparing for the worse, but she had to ask it. It made no sense to her at all.

"So I don't end up like you obviously," Twilight answered.

“What?!” Trixie cried out indignantly.

“I like the truth. I like learning how the world works. I used to take apart clocks as a foal just to see how they tick. That is my passion. Finding the truth. I learned long ago that there is no truth in the Night Court. It has nothing for me. I thought it would be more fun to travel the world, meet new ponies, and uncover the truths of this world. There is just so much to learn, to discover.” Twilight gave a chuckle. “Actually, I’ve always wanted to start my own magazine. One that uncovers the scientific truths of the world and reports new scientific discoveries.”

“Doesn’t that sound so much better than living in fear of being backstabbed by some other noble and constantly lying and cheating to get what you want?” Twilight asked.

Trixie was a bit surprised. She never thought about journalism that way. She knew the truth could easily be twisted to whatever a pony wanted. Greengrass has done it hundreds of times, but Twilight seemed like the type of pony that would stubbornly dig up the truth regardless of the dangers and consequences. Trixie hated to admit it, but she completely misjudged the mare.

"That doesn't sound so bad," Trixie admitted, "and your father really doesn't approve?"

“Oh course not!” Twilight said full of bitterness. “He’d rather have me become the next Greengrass!”

Trixie really needed to stop asking these questions. She swallowed. “Look. I’m sorry about breaking into your things. It was...dumb of me. I got this idea in my head, and… maybe I should have thought it out a bit more.”

Twilight’s face softened. “It’s alright. I know it must be tough always having to look behind your back.” She extended a hoof. “Friends?”

Trixie hesitated for a moment before grabbing the hoof and giving it a shake. “Friends.”

"Good. I hope this teaches you a valuable lesson about not breaking into another pony's things and the importance of respecting a pony's boundaries and not jumping to conclusions." Twilight said in a tone that was a little too self-righteous for Trixie's liking.

After a little more chatter, the two departed for home. Trixie was glad to have a new ally. She was relieved to learn that Twilight never intended to learn the Galaxy Rangers identities and instead was more interested in learning how their powers worked. That might actually be useful because Trixie didn’t have a clue about that one and just saying magic wasn’t a satisfactory answer.

Trixie rubbed her face. She just wanted to get to bed and forget this miserable day ever happened. She ignored the pain in her body and limped home.

Twilight gave her notes a third read through. The residual magic left over by Pink's attack was interesting, but it didn't give her as much data as she liked. It was definitely powerful magic. She hardly believed the levels of residual magic left over from that one attack. She cursed herself for not being there when the attack was used. She didn't think her pocket magic detector would be able to handle that level of magic, though. She would have to order a better one in the morning.

Twilight wondered what could generate that level of power. It seemed unbelievable. She guessed her theory of it being the Elements of Harmony was probably correct. They did defeat Corona once before after all. She couldn't think of anything else it could be. Besides, Ponyville was next to the ruins of the Castle of the Two Sisters, the last place they were used by the princess herself. How did they get back here, though? Weren't they on display in a museum in Canterlot? Curious.

“Um, help please!” A mare’s voice cried out. Twilight spotted a pegasus mare with a pale grayish opal mane and a pale grayish persian blue coat with a pink bow on the top struggling with a bunch of packages on her back. It looked like they were about to fall. Twilight instantly rushed to her aid and grabbed them with her magic. “Thanks, you’re a lifesaver!”

“No problem. Always glad to help!” Twilight replied happily.

“Ugh, I have no idea what my sister even wants with all this stuff.” The mare complained. “She always orders stuff we don’t even need! I really should ban those mail order catalogs from the house! I’m Flitter by the way.”

“Twilight. Nice to meet you!”

"Sorry to be a bother, but do you think you could help me put them in the house?" Flitter asked a bit embarrassed.

“It isn’t a problem at all!” Twilight chirped.

The two trotted up to a small yellow townhouse with windows that had black frames. The windows had flower pots in front of them. Flitter opened the door with a key and two went inside. Twilight levitated the boxes behind her. It was furnished nicely but was a little messy. Books, papers, cans, and other various things littered the floor here and there.

Flitter rolled her eyes. “It’s my sister. She never cleans up after herself.” She closed the door behind her. “Put them right here.” She pointed towards a spot near the door and Twilight stacked the boxes neatly 3 by 2.

Twilight giggled. “Just like my brother. He’s hopeless.”

“Would you like some coffee? Or something else to drink?” Flitter asked.

“Coffee sounds great! Black. I’m going to have a late-night study session anyway.” Twilight said nodding.

"Sure. Be right back! Sit wherever you like." Flitter went into the back area towards what was presumably the kitchen. Twilight sat on a nearby brown couch. It only took a few minutes for Flitter to come back with a tray on her back with two coffee cups on it and a bowl of sugar cubes with a spoon next to it. She put it on a small glass coffee table in front of the couch.

Twilight grabbed a cup with her magic. “Thank you!” She sipped it. It was good. Nice and strong just like how Twilight liked it.

Flitter grabbed a few sugar cubes and put them in her cup. She took a spoon from the tray in her mouth and started stirring.

Twilight looked around. “Nice place you have here. Do you live here alone with your sister?”

Flitter stopped stirring and shook her head. “No, we have another roommate living here. Her name is Sweetcream Scoops.”

Flitter examined Twilight. “Say, aren’t you the one that was warning everypony about that monster earlier?”

Twilight nodded emphatically. “That’s right. It gave me quite a scare when it suddenly popped up in the library.”

Flitter tilted her head. “Huh, but I thought it appeared near Sweet Apple Acres?”

"When it appeared in the library, I teleported it there so it had less chance of hurting somepony and it would be easier to warn and evacuate ponies," Twilight explained.

Flitter looked astonished. “That’s amazing! Where in Equestria did you learn to do that?”

Twilight blushed. "Oh, in an old tome that I found a few years ago in a yard sale. It's a hard spell, but the fact it's so challenging makes it fun!"

Flitter nodded. “I see. I was right to choose you.” She grinned.

“What are you…” Twilight suddenly felt weak and sleepy. She could barely keep herself standing up.

Twilight looked at her coffee cup in sudden realization. “Drugs?!” She needed to get out of here! She lit her horn to teleport out, but suddenly felt a sharp pain in her horn. Out of nowhere Flitter suddenly closed the gap between the two of them and struck Twilight right on the top of her horn. The pain was deafening and she collapsed to the ground.

"Can't have you do that. Nice try, though." Flitter mocked.

Twilight felt her consciousness fading and everything went black.

Twilight awoke with her head throbbing. Everything was blurry. Twilight tried to get up but found herself unable to move. The ground felt very cold and made her shiver. Her sight gradually returned to her and she looked around. She was in a large room that looked like a cathedral. The room was lit by nothing but candles. The lighting was too bad for her to see the ceiling. It was nothing but pitch blackness. She could see something like runes on the ground in the shape of a circle. Next to it was a large silver orb on a richly decorated pedestal.

Twilight tried to move again. She heard something rattle. It seemed like her body was bound completely by chains. She tried to use her magic. Nothing happened. She could feel her magic, but her horn didn’t react to any attempts to use her spells. She was trapped.

“Say, have you heard that it’s possible for a pony to survive 200 milliamps of electricity?” Flitter’s voice startled Twilight. A gauntlet sparking with electricity was suddenly thrust in front of Twilight’s face. She backed away in terror the best she could.

Flitter’s grinning face appeared in front of Twilight. “Do you want to find out?” Twilight quickly shook her head. “Good. Don’t try anything. I know you're restrained, but I’m not taking any chances.”

“W-why are you doing this?” Twilight stammered.

Flitter just shrugged. “It pays the bills. Now shut up. The boss lady will be here soon.”

Twilight did as she was instructed. Flitter made sure to keep her shock gauntlet close and seemed to be daring Twilight to try something. She didn’t. Flitter had a mocking smile. In few moments, she heard hoof steps. She turned towards the sound and it was coming from a stone staircase. It sounded like multiple ponies were coming down it. Twilight froze when she saw the figure that emerged.

“Is this is the pony I asked for?” Corona, the Queen of the Sun asked coming in front of Twilight and examining her closely. Behind her was a purple baby dragon that was watching the scene apprehensively.

“Yep. I think you will be impressed.” Flitter replied. “She’s got magic skills I have never seen! Even that layabout Trixie can’t compare I think.”

Corona paused for thought and her horn started to glow a gold color. “Yes. I can feel it. A pony with a magical talent like this is very rare. She will be perfect.”

"You heard that?" Flitter said happily. "The boss lady thinks you're perfect!" Corona twitched in annoyance at being called that but said nothing.

“Perfect for what?” Twilight asked already dreading the answer.

"You will be the first pony to become one with a star beast and become a champion of the sun," Corona explained.

Twilight stared in horror. Star breasts were the very stars in the sky. Even the sun was one. Not much was known about them. Even the princess able to move them across the sky at will knew very little about them. They were very very old. Older than even the planet. They were alive, but it was not clear if they had sapience or not. Lately, the stars have been disappearing. This was attributed to Corona and her monsters. Somehow she was using them and their power to create monsters. Twilight gulped. And now she wanted to put one in her?

"Interesting cutie mark," Corona commented, "a star burst surrounded by five smaller stars." She smirked. "This will work nicely. I sense you already have a connection to the stars. The union should be a simple thing. Move her to the circle."

“Sure thing boss lady!” Flitter threw her shock gauntlet off and grabbed Twilight rather roughly and threw her into the circle. Twilight winced in pain when she hit the ground.

Corona walked up to a small balcony that overlooked the circle. Her horn glowed brightly. On the ceiling, stars appeared and suddenly started glittering. It would be pretty if Twilight wasn’t so terrified.

“Hmm. Instead of one star beast, I think I will grant you six instead. It would be rather fitting I think.” Corona said. The circle of runes started glowing around Twilight.

“You’ll never get away with this!” Twilight cried out defiantly. “The Rangers will stop you!” Twilight struggled against her bonds.

Corona sighed. “You paint me a villain like all of my sister’s subjects. Poisoned by her lies as you are. I just want best for all. I don’t even want the Galaxy Rangers dead.”

Twilight stopped struggling and blinked in surprised. “Wha?”

“No, I don’t want them dead. In fact, I think they will be our salvation.” Corona explained. “The Elements of Harmony granted them power that my sister and I have never seen.” She suddenly looked uncomfortable. “There has to be a reason. I worry there might be a crisis in the future and that is why the Galaxy Rangers were born. That is why they will only be subdued until I can convince them to turn to my side or by other methods.”

“Oh, so that’s why you haven’t used more drastic measures. Gotcha.” Flitter chimed in.

The ruins became brighter and six stars on the ceiling started to glow green and crackled with energy. Even without her horn, Twilight felt the intense magic in the room. It pulsed oppressively and it became hard to breathe. It was like nothing she had ever felt before. The stars shined even brighter and suddenly flew out and into Twilight. She gasped and collapsed to the ground and her body started jerking and contorting uncontrollably.

Pain. That was the only thing Twilight could feel. Her whole body burned with such intensity that she went blind. She screamed. She screamed until her voice became raspy. She would have given anything, done anything if it meant the pain would stop. Her whole body started glowing a black aura that actually seemed to be absorbing the light around her. Her eyes widened when she saw that her front hooves were growing feathers. Her screaming intensified. The black energy around her started seeping out of Twilight and into the orb next to the circle of runes.

"Welcome, my new servant. I dub thee Corvus, the raven.”

Chapter 5

Lunaverse: Galaxy Rangers - The Rangers Nevermore?
Chapter 5
by Rixizu

It was a peaceful morning in Ponyville. So far the day was pretty uneventful. Trixie trotted up to the entrance of Lyra and Bon-Bon's house and knocked. Lyra let her in and greeted by the rest of her friends. Ditzy and Carrot Top were running late but should be along shortly. Bon-Bon was giving out sandwiches and Trixie took one. It was a plain store bought a dandelion sandwich, apparently, Bon-Bon was too busy to cook this morning, but Trixie took it anyway. Trixie's body still ached from yesterday, but she did her best to hide it. She took off the bandages a bit prematurely to not alarm her friends. Lyra was not so lucky, however.

“What happened to your eye Lyra?!” Ditzy proclaimed in alarm when she entered the house. Lyra was sporting an eyepatch over her right eye.

“Well...um...you see I slipped in the bathtub and hit my eye!” Lyra blurted out.

“You poor thing.” Ditzy cooed. “You need to be more careful!”

“Right right…” Lyra said dejectedly. She gave a Trixie a quick glare that went unnoticed by everypony else.

“Anyway!” Trixie said trying her best to change the subject. “Do you think Corona will send a monster today? We smashed the last one pretty easily.”

“Probably. Apparently, she starting to send monster at times other than midday.” Ditzy said.

“What?” Cheerilee asked in alarm. Lyra and Trixie did their best to act surprised.

“You have got to be kidding me!” Raindrop growled.

Ditzy tapped her chin. “She sent one at about seven or so. Luckily I was able to beat it without much trouble.”

“Good...job.” Trixie complemented.

“Nice.” Raindrops said smiling.

"That's going to be a problem. If she stops sending them at midday then we will never be able to predict when they will come." Cheerilee said troubled.

“I thought about that. How about we do patrols?” Ditzy suggested.

“Good idea.” Cheerilee nodded.

“I have my route so I can be all over the place most of the day no problem.” Ditzy gave out not bothered at all by the extra work.

“And I can watch from the sky while doing the weather.” Raindrops said nodding.

"I can watch around too I guess," Lyra said hesitantly.

"What we really need is somepony to do an evening patrol," Cheerilee said, "I suggest we do it in shifts. Trixie first."

“What?” Trixie said outraged. “Why me?”

"I just thought that since you aren't training that you can pull your weight for the team some other way," Cheerilee explained.

Trixie growled in frustration. "Fine!" Hopefully, after a few days of no monster attacks, this whole patrol nonsense will get called off. There was a knock on the door and Carrot Top entered looking a little flustered.

"Hey, guys!" Carrot Top greeted. "You aren't going to believe this!"

“What?” Cheerilee asked apprehensively. Soon Carrot Top had everypony’s attention.

"According to Zecora, six stars disappeared last night!" Carrot Top announced. She was unable to hide the worry in her voice. Zecora was a tentative ally of theirs. During their Longest Night adventure, she betrayed Trixie and her friends and pretended to join Corona against them, but really it was a trick to stop the mad alicorn. Zecora lured Corona to them so the power of the Elements could be released. She reasoning that only extreme danger could cause them to activate. When Corona was injured by the Rangers, she gave Corona a potion that poisoned her magic making her almost defenseless. Unfortunately, it didn't stop her from escaping and she foalnapped Zecora's friends Spike. Now nopony knew where the two were. Trixie did not trust the zebra one bit not finding somepony that betrayed both sides particularly trustworthy. She could be useful sometimes, however.

“What? You’re serious?” Trixie asked alarmed.

Carrot Top nodded. "Right around nine. She showed me her star charts and sure enough, six stars were suddenly gone!"

“Six stars?” Lyra repeated.

“Wonderful.” Raindrops snarked.

Cheerilee tapped her chin with a hoof. “What could it mean? Is she going to send six monsters against us or one super monster?”

“Zecora thinks it will just be one.” Carrot Top said. “I agree with her.”

Trixie’s friends looked a little worried. Trixie herself felt the same way, not that she was going to show it. “Ha! So, what! We can beat this thing too. The Galaxy Ranger can vanquish any foe!" She boasted and flourished her cape dramatically. As leader, Trixie could show she had no doubt or fear. This is where Trixie’s persona as the Great and Powerful Trixie came in use. Her confidence would bolster the rest of her friends.

Trixie’s friends smiled at her antics. It seemed to calm them down. “Right.” Lyra agreed. She looked at a nearby clock. “Five minutes until midday. Ready to transform?”

"Seems as good as time as any," Ditzy confirmed.

“Good luck!” Bon-Bon gave Lyra a kiss on the cheek.

"Right! It's morphing time!" Trixie shouted. She pulled out her morpher and thrust it in front of her. The rest of her followed suit and got into formation. "Ursa!"

“Cygnus!” Lyra shouted.

“Hercules!” Raindrops said in a determined tone.

“Libra!” Cheerilee said with purpose.

“Sagittarius!” Ditzy gave a serious look.

“Scorpio!” Carrot Top said lastly.

In an instant, their armor appeared around them. It didn’t take long for them to hear the screams and shouts of alarm. “Let’s go!” Trixie cast an invisibility spell on all of them, the suit boasting her magic making seemingly impossible spellwork easy. Trixie would have never been able to handle this complicated spell on her own. They rushed outside.

It didn't take them long to find their target. Trixie was taken aback by its appearance. It didn't look like the usual monster. It was in the shape of a pony but was bipedal and stood up on its back legs. It had black feathers covering its body. They were pitch black but looked greasy and gleamed in the light. Instead of front hooves it had giant wings that spanned almost the size of its body. It had a head like a pony's, but it was covered with a bird shaped mask. The mask's beak looked sharp and menacing. Through its eye holes Trixie could see giant violet eyes. Its mane hung from the back of its head and was a dark purple color. A long sharp horn protruded from the top of the mask. The thing looked vaguely female so Trixie assumed it was a she.

Currently, the thing was scanning the town square coldly. Ponies ran and hid wanting to stay out of its path. Trixie and the other Rangers took position behind the monster and Trixie created an illusion of them teleporting from the sky in a rainbow colored light. She made them appear when the light hit the ground in a spectacle of light and colors. She loved these dramatic entrances.

The group posed in their battle stances as the monster turned to look at them. She didn't do anything but stare at them tilting her head. A wave of uneasiness went over the group. A good minute passed without the creature actually doing anything. Trixie decided to make the first movie. She summoned her sword and charged in for the attack. The rest of her friends summoned their weapons as well, except Cheerilee, and followed behind her. Raindrops and Ditzy took to the air.

Trixie swung her sword furiously, but her target vanished in a flash of light. She stopping in place and blinked when her attack met nothing but empty air. Trixie’s unexpected stop made Lyra and Carrot Top crash into her.

“Hey!” Lyra complained. “What are you doing?”

"She's gone!" Trixie looked around frantically. The rest of her friends joined the search.

“There she is!” Raindrops yelled pointing. The creature was a block away watching them.

Suddenly the monster was gone again. She appeared in the middle of the group and spun around in a circle. Black feathers flew from her wings and stuck the Rangers sparks flying. They collapsed in pain and Ditzy and Raindrops fell from the sky. Recovering Raindrops charged with her ax, but the thing just disappeared again.

The monster appeared behind them and shot more feathers from her wings and the Rangers flew to the ground in a shower of sparks. Lyra got up and shot an arrow, but she just teleported away again.

“You have got to be kidding me!” Lyra cursed under her breath. The creature appeared again in front of them just standing there watching.

“Don’t worry. I got an idea.” Ditzy pressed a button on her morpher. She summoned a mini tornado and shot it at the creature. She teleported away, but Ditzy quickly used her staff to swing the tornado right where she appeared. Ditzy kept at it several times destroying some nearby carts in the process, but eventually lost to exhaustion and collapsed stopping her attack.

“Well...shoot. I’m out of ideas. “Ditzy wheezed.

“We have to stop her teleporting!” Carrot Top surmised.

"Well, magic expert any idea?" Lyra asked turning to Trixie. The rest of the group did the same.

“Damage her horn?” Trixie suggested. Like a pony, it lit up whenever the creature used her magic.

“Okay, but how do we do that?” Carrot Top asked.

Trixie had an idea. “Cover me. I’ll keep her distracted. If we press her hard, we’ll hit her eventually.”

“Sorry girls.” Ditzy sat the ground. “I can’t do anything. I used up too much energy.”

“Okay, you sit here and recuperate.” Trixie nodded. “We’ll handle it from here.”

Trixie charged sword raised in her magic. The monster prepared for the attack. Suddenly six Red Rangers were attacking her. She blinked in surprise. An illusion swung at the thing, but she teleported away again. She appeared a few hooves away but was bombarded by more Trixie illusions. She kept teleporting away, but the illusion Trixies kept pressing her. The rest of the Rangers joined the attack. Lyra shot arrows repeatedly almost striking the monster several times. Cheerilee punched, Raindrops swung, and Carrot Top prepared to deflect any attacks.

It didn't take long for the thing to look tired and exhausted. She growled in anger and flew up into the air and unleashed a barrage of feathers. She disappeared and reappeared in a circle showering the entire area with feathers. Luckily most of Trixie's illusions took the hits fading away like they never existed at all. Carrot Top rushed forward shield at the ready and protected her friends from most of the attacks. The feathers only lightly grazed them.

The creature stopped her attacks and appeared a block away panting completely exhausted. This was the opportunity Trixie was waiting for. She pressed a button on her morpher and unleashed her ultimate attack. She dropped her invisibility to save energy and swung right at the creature's head with all her power. The monster's eyes widened in alarm. Trixie's sword glowed with power and erupted in flame. The blow missed the horn but hit right dead center on the mask.

“Searing Blade!” Trixie yelled.

The blade exploded and the creature went flying and crashed into a nearby empty stand. Trixie panted. She prayed the thing was defeated. She couldn’t keep this up much longer.

The creature got up rage filling her eyes. Her mask was scorched and cracked. It broke to pieces and fell off her face. Trixie froze and gasped in shock when she saw the creature’s face.

“Twilight Sparkle?” Trixie said stunned.

"You are dead!” Twilight snarled. She vanished and appeared right in front of Trixie. She unleashed a flurry of feathers point blank and Trixie flew several hooves back and collapsed to the ground. She unmorphed and just laid there unmoving.

“Trixie!” Her friends cried out.

Raindrops snarled and charged with abandoned. Twilight just teleported behind her and slashed Raindrops with her wings. “Gah!” Raindrops unmorphed and fell to the ground.

Twilight stood above Raindrops coldly and teleported away when an arrow flew at her. Lyra unmorphed and twitched on the ground when Twilight appeared next to her and slashed her too.

Cheerilee, Ditzy, and Carrot Top took a defensive formation back to back. They scanned the area around them when Twilight disappeared again. Ditzy backed away startled when Twilight appeared in front of her face to face. After getting her wits back, she swung at the monster with her staff. It dodged nimbly and stuck Ditzy in the torso with a wing. Ditzy collapsed and demorphed.

Cheerilee tried to strike Twilight from her blind spot with a hoof and stuck her mark hitting Twilight on the back of the neck. Twilight flew forward towards the ground but teleported before hitting it. Twilight appeared behind Cheerilee and Carrot Top and struck both of them with her wings in a spinning motion. They collapsed to the ground and unmorphed.

Trixie looked around them and saw the townsfolk watching them in horror and terror. Dinky was crying and yelling out her mother’s name. Bon-Bon looked terrified and frozen with fear. Twilight hovered above them with an icy expression on her face. She looked ready to strike to finish them off but a voice stopped her.

“That is enough. Good work Corvus my servant.” Corona said appearing in the sky with a brilliant glowing white aura around her. She landed with grace. This was the second time Trixie had ever seen the Tyrant Sun in all her glory. She seemed just as vibrant and powerful as the first time Trixie saw her back on the Longest Night. It reminded Trixie of the terror and dread she felt from before and she couldn’t stop her trembling.

Twilight, or rather Corvus stared at Corona. There was something in her eyes. Haughtiness? Anger? Trixie ignored Corvus for the moment and turned to Corona.

“What did you do to her?!” Trixie demanded.

“I gave her new life. She is one of my knights now. Perfect in every way.” Corona replied walking up to Trixie. She stared down at Trixie triumphant. “A gift I will extend to you as well.”

“What?” Trixie replied baffled.

“Equestria needs you Trixie Lulamoon.” Corona smiled in a motherly way. “It needs the Rangers. Even I can’t deny this.”

“I thought…” Trixie tried to say, but Corona interrupted her.

“You thought I was your enemy? That I wanted you destroyed? Not so.” Corona explained. “I wish to be nopony’s enemy. I just want my rightful spot as Equestria’s queen. To bring prosperity to all.”

Corona bent down and looked Trixie eye to eye. "I want to you help me, Trixie. You and the rest of the Rangers. A crisis is coming. I can feel it. We need to work together to stop it."

“What crisis? What are you talking about?’ Trixie asked confused.

“I don’t know, but I have this feeling. This dread in the pit of my stomach. The Elements gave you power that my sister and I never had. The Elements are ancient and mysterious. They always give the exact amount of power needed to overcome a crisis. This unexpected increase in power? It couldn’t be for me. I am mighty, but not all powerful. There are some beings out there that even I fear.”

“The Elements are preparing you for something, and I intend to help you overcome it.” Corona gave the warmest smile Trixie had ever seen. It was surreal and bizarre on Corona’s face. “Join forces with me Trixie Lulamoon, and we can make Equestria into the bright and wonderful paradise it deserves to be. “

Trixie spit into Corona’s face. “Never!”

Corona's face turned from motherly to one of pure terrible fury. "How dare you! I am the Sun! The very thing that brings life and light to all! You dare spurn me?!" She ranted. Her whole body started radiating such heat that the ground underneath her started melting. Trixie closed her eyes praying that her death would be quick cursing herself for doing something so monumentally stupid. After a few minutes, Trixie slowly opened her eyes. Corona luckily wasn't throwing fire at her and melting her face off. Corona was visibly trying to control herself.

"You do not know what you are rejecting," Corona said. There was still a hint of anger in her voice. "I can offer you anything you want. Do you want land, titles, money? Done."

“No!” Trixie said defiantly if a bit shakily. “I am loyal to only Princess Luna!”

Corona snorted. “Admirable, but foalish. Very well. I just have to do this the hard way.”

Trixie gulped. “What do you mean by that?”

“You will serve me. You will all serve me whether you want me to or not.” Corona smirked.

Trixie did not like the sound of that one bit. She looked around frantically for a way out. The rest of the Rangers were sprawled across the ground equally helpless.

"You will not escape," Corona said triumphantly, "You will be mine Trixie Lulamoon."

Chapter 6

Lunaverse: Galaxy Rangers - The Rangers Nevermore?
Chapter 6
by Rixizu

"Think think!” Trixie cursed her inability to find a way out of her predicament. She would be a slave forever if she didn’t do something.

Corona seemed amused at Trixie’s efforts. She activated her horn. “Forgive me Trixie Lulamoon, but this must be done for the good of all.”

Suddenly a white figure rushed in front of Trixie and she gaped at its identity. It was Rarity.

“I can’t allow you to do that darling.” Rarity said in defiance. She gave Trixie a wink when she caught Trixie staring. “If you want to get to her you have to get through me as well dear.”

Another pony that Trixie didn’t know did the same as Rarity. “M-me too!” Soon several more ponies rushed to Trixie’s aid including Dinky and several other foals. Dinky growled and did her best to be menacing. The townsfolk started shouting at Corona. Some ponies actually threw trash at the Tyrant Sun.

“Leave her alone!”

“Get out of here! You ain’t wanted!”

“Princess Luna forever!”

“Boo! Get lost you monster!”

“You suck Corona!”

Corona erupted in anger and she gave out a roar that made everypony cover their ears in pain. “You foals! Why can’t you understand what I am trying to do? I’m not the bad guy! I just want to make Equestria a better place!”

Trixie gave a weak laugh. “Ha! They all see you for what you truly are Corona!” Trixie coughed and sputtered when she felt Corona grab her with telekinesis by the throat and lifted her in the air. Trixie couldn’t breathe. Everypony else gasped.

“I will not be made a foal of Trixie Lulamoon.” Corona said coldly. “I will make you understand this. You and everypony else. Don’t worry however. I won’t kill you, but you will wish that I did.”

Trixie gargled under the strain of Corona’s magical grasp. Breathing was impossible. Trixie pawed uselessly at her throat. Everything starting going black. Corona let go of her magic and Trixie fell roughly to the ground.

“Trixie!” Raindrops cried out while trying to crawl towards her.

“Foals!” Corona eyed everypony that gathered in front of Trixie. “Do you wish to defy me now?” The group of ponies backed away in fear.

Raindrops crawled up to Trixie. “Are you okay?”

“I’ll be fine.” Trixie said weakly and tried her best to get back on her hooves.

Corona threw small flames at the crowd of ponies and they scrambled for safety. Nopony was hurt thankfully. While watching to see if the ponies that protected her got to safety, Trixie noticed that something strange about Twilight Sparkle now known as Corvus. She had a strained look on her face like she was fighting something. Trixie guessed that Corvus might be struggling to overcoming the spell Corona was using to control her.

If they could free Corvus from Corona’s control they might have a chance. Trixie was weak, but not enough that she couldn’t cast a simple detect magic spell. Trixie saw it, she saw the connection Corona was using to keep Corvus under control. There was a red string running from Corvus to Corona connected at the head. The string looked strained and thin. Corvus’s fighting back, Corona’s use of magic, her outbursts of anger, and her slipping concentration made the spell weak. Perhaps it was weak enough for Trixie to break it.

Trixie closed her eyes and thought. It might be a bad idea to free the creature. It might just go on a rampage, but Twilight Sparkle might still be in there.

“What are you doing?!” Demanded Corona suddenly paying her attention back at Trixie.

Trixie decided to risk it. Trixie cast a spell at Corvus that dispelled magic and the Corona’s control broke completely. Normally this wouldn't have worked since Trixie wasn’t anywhere near powerful enough to affect Corona’s magic, but Corvus's will was putting so much strain on the spell that even Trixie could break it.

Corona’s eyes widened. “Foal! What have you done!” Her horn started glowing, but Corvus interrupted her with a barrage of feathers.

“Never again!” Corvus cried out. Corona dove out of the way of the attack. Corvus suddenly teleport in front of Corona and swung her wings right at Corona’s torso. Corona created a shield and backed away barely avoiding getting hit. The shield broke from another barrage of feathers, but Corona moved out of range of the attack. Corona counterattacked with a wave of fire that Corvus teleported away from.

Trixie took advantage of the distraction and she ran with Raindrops away from the two. The rest of the other Rangers did the same and they moved to regroup somewhere safe.

Corvus threw a cart at Corona and it exploded in flames and dissipated safely around her. Corvus teleported away from a fireball and barely avoided another one when another one was thrown at the exact place Corvus appeared to. She teleported again to avoid more fireballs, but Corona seemed to know exactly where the creature would reappear. Trixie guessed Corona’s alicorn senses allowed her track Corvus’s movements while teleporting.

Corvus gritted her teeth and used her magic to deflect the fireball with telekinesis seemly realizing the futility to teleporting against her opponent. The fireball was redirected to the right and a nearby stand erupted in flames. This wasn’t the only fire accidentally started by Corona. Other stands, carts, and some foliage were also burning. When Corona noticed that some fire was spreading towards a house, she used her magic to put out all the fire she started. Corona started panting.

Trixie noticed just how much weaker Corona looked from when she encountered Trixie earlier. Drastically so in fact. She looked weary and not just from the fight. It looked like she had been up for days. Her coat was discolored and she looked dangerously thin. The change in appearance startled Trixie. She suddenly realized the reason for the startling change. Corona’s magnificent appearance was just an illusion to impress them all. In reality she was still really weak from Zecora’s poisoning of her magic. It didn’t look like she could fight on for much longer.

A blow from Corvus’s wing sent Corona flying through a house into a fountain. Corona struggled to her hooves. This was not what Trixie had in mind when she freed Corvus. The two were supposed to hopefully beat each other. A wing to the head sent Corona flying again right into a store front for clothes and several mannequins fell on her.

Corvus smirked and created a fireball of her own and threw it at the prone Corona. The whole store exploded in flames. Corona emerged surrounded by a barrier with several other shocked ponies around her. They ran when the Corona killed the flames and shield. Corona collapsed to one knee panting heavily.

Corona growled. “This isn’t over creature.” She teleported away and vanished completely.

Corvus laughed and horrifyingly started sending fireballs in random directions. Ponies ran to safety as several buildings were set on fire. Bon-Bon who had been watching the fight from the sidelines screamed in pain as she was nearly burned by an incoming fireball that she only barely avoided. Part of her coat was signed off, but otherwise seemed okay and ran to safety.

Trixie put her hooves in her face. “What have I done?”

Trixie sat in Bon-Bon’s living room staring at a now cold cup of tea in complete silence. The rest of the Rangers except Carrot Top were there as well chatting around her. Trixie wasn’t listening lost in her own thoughts.

It was raining hard now thanks to an impromptu rainstorm created by weather ponies. Thankfully Corvus had stopped bombarding the town with fire, and all the fires had gone out. Right now, Corvus was occupying herself by chasing around Rainbow Dash who boldly challenged her to a race. Rainbow’s speed impressed the creature and enjoyed the challenge that Dash presented. Who knew how long that would keep the monster’s attention and the group was discussing a plan. Carrot Top went to get Zecora hoping she could help them come up with something. Carrot Top and Zecora had become friends over the last couple of months and Carrot was apprenticing under her.

Trixie eyed Bon-Bon and sighed for the hundredth time. Part of Bon-Bon's coat was burned off, but otherwise, she seemed to be in one piece. It looked like she might have a few faint scars from the fire, but her coat would grow over it. She was probably in a bit of pain but refused to show it on her face. Trixie hadn't really said a word to anypony since entering. She wasn't sure she wanted to talk to anypony for a while. Trixie wanted to apologize to both Lyra and Bon-Bon, but nothing came out of her mouth. Trixie had no idea how to face either of them

"Hey, Trixie!" Lyra cried out.

"Hmm," Trixie said noncommittally.

“Trixie!” Lyra almost screamed. This had Trixie’s attention and she turned towards Lyra finally.

“Yes?” Trixie asked.

“Are you okay? You’ve been quiet. It’s not like you.” Lyra gave a concerned look. The rest of Trixie’s friends gave a similar look.

“I’m fine.” Trixie turned away.

“I see.” Lyra sighed.

"I didn't think Trixie would take this so hard," Ditzy whispered.

"Just give her some space." Raindrops replied. "She'll be back to her annoying self in no time." Everypony else gave a hesitant nod.

Trixie took a sip of her tea. It was okay. It needed something. Trixie got up and left for the kitchen.

Trixie rummaged through the cabinets. She set aside various spices, herbs, and other things getting a little annoyed at not finding what she was looking for. She was sure Lyra and Bon-Bon had some. In a few moments, Trixie found what she was looking for. She grabbed the bottle of soy sauce in her magic and closed the cabinet doors.

“Aha! Perfect.” Trixie proclaimed in victory and grabbed the bottle with her hooves.

“There you are!” Bon-Bon said as she entered the kitchen. “You’ve been gone so long we were starting to get worried.”

“I found what I was looking for.” Trixie held up the bottle. Bon-Bon lifted an eyebrow but didn’t say anything.

Trixie was about to leave the room, but Bon-Bon grabbed her with a hoof.

"Wait," Bon-Bon said.

“Um, if this is about…” Trixie started to say, but Bon-Bon lifted a hoof and interrupted her.

“Lyra told me what happened.” Bon-Bon gave a solemn look. “I just wanted to say that it isn’t your fault.”

“Of course it is!” Trixie cried out. “You almost got seriously hurt because of me!”

“But I didn’t.” Bon-Bon pointed out.

“It doesn’t matter!” Trixie turned her back. “It was stupid of me to just unleash that thing. I should have just let Corona capture us and come up with a better plan.”

"You made a tough judgment call." Bon-Bon shook her head. "You did the best you could under the circumstances. It happens. You have no idea if letting Corona capture you would've been better. It might have made things worse."

“It isn’t that simple!” Trixie felt tears coming. “If something happened to you...I don’t think I could ever face Lyra again.”

“Trixie…”

“She would hate me forever for sure.” Trixie sniffed.

Bon-Bon put a comforting hoof on Trixie's back. "Lyra would never hate you. She loves you, Trixie. “

“W-what?” Trixie wasn’t sure how to respond to that.

“Of course she does.” Bon-Bon turned Trixie around and smiled. “You’re like a sister to her. She really cares about you.”

“Really?”

Bon-Bon nodded. “Really. Trust me. Lyra will always forgive you. You’re family after all.”

Trixie stayed silent processing this. She had no idea Lyra felt so strongly about her. Their friendship might run a lot deeper than she thought. Trixie started to feel a little silly.

“We don’t always get along, but we’re family too.” Bon-Bon gave Trixie a tight hug and Trixie returned it a moment later.

Bon-Bon released Trixie. "Now no more sulking. You have a job to do. Zecora just arrived and everypony is ready to make a plan.

"Thanks, Bon-Bon. I needed that." Trixie walked towards the door.

"Just one thing," Bon-Bon said and Trixie stopped.

“Yes?”

“Don’t run around in a monster costume again. That was a really dumb idea.” Bon-Bon gave a look that Trixie knew meant that Bon-Bon would tear out her heart and eat it if she attempted anything like that again. Trixie quickly nodded and left the room.

When Trixie entered the living room around found everypony there plus Zecora reclining on a couch. She had on tan saddlebags with her cutie mark on it. Ditzy had stitched it for her apparently.

Trixie got back to her seat and put the bottle of soy sauce on the coffee table. She opened the bottle and poured a generous portion into her tea. She stirred it with a spoon and took a sip.

"Divine." Trixie purred. It was still cold, but she preferred her tea that way. Zecora watched her in wide-eyed bewilderment. Ditzy did her best not to gag. The rest of her friends did a better job of hiding their reaction and stayed almost completely stoic.

Trixie put her cup down and turned towards Zecora. "Hello, Zecora. We need your help. Somehow Corona has…"

“My dear friend Carrot Top has informed me of your troubles.” Zecora interrupted. “Corona has created a fearsome foe that has given you quite a few struggles.”

Trixie coughed. She should have guessed that. It saved time and unnecessary explanations. “What should we do about it?”

“She’s so strong!” Lyra complained. “And she teleports all over the place, how the hay can we deal with that?! Our best efforts did nothing!”

“We can’t just wait for us to get our full power back.” Ditzy looked out the window. Outside there was a building that was a victim of a fireball. “We can’t let that thing run around any longer.”

“But what can we do?” Lyra asked frustrated.

“We have to pin her down somehow.” Raindrops suggested.

“And how do we do that?” Lyra crossed her front legs. “She’ll just teleport away if we try anything!”

“Simple. We just poison her magic like what Zecora did to Corona.” Trixie said. “Then she won’t have enough power to teleport. It has to take a lot of energy.”

Zecora shook her head. “That won’t work. The potion has a peculiar unwieldy quirk,”

"Zecora's right. When Corona was poisoned, it didn't make her lose magic, it made it difficult for Corona to regain her magic." Carrot Top explained. "And the potion has to be drunk. That won't be easy."

“Oh.” That was all Trixie could say.

“Hey it could work.” Raindrops threw out. “But we are too weak right now to push her into complete exhaustion. “

"We could use a magic suppressor on her to stop her magic completely," Trixie suggested. Usually, it was a ring on the horn, Trixie had heard of hoofcuffs that do the same thing as well. "...But we would have to put it on her, and I have no idea where we would find one on such short notice."

“Like what if we, I don’t know, make it so that teleporting would be far too difficult for her to do?” Trixie was just spitballing now.

Carrot Top and Zecora looked at each other and brightened. “I think you have it!” Carrot Top proclaimed standing up.

“I believe you have come up with a solution! This crisis will be able to finally have a resolution!” Zecora started rummaging through her saddlebags. She pulled out a book with hoof written notes. Trixie couldn’t read any of it. It was written in what Trixie presumed to be Zebra. She pointed towards a page. It had several diagrams of monsters growing.

“Wait wait. What do you want to do?” Lyra asked lost.

"We make Corvus huge and fight her with our Zords!” Carrot Top beamed.

"What," Lyra said flatly.

“Um, won’t we just have a giant teleporting monster to deal with?” Ditzy asked,

It seemed absurd. Normally they tried to beat Corona’s monsters before she had a chance to make them giant, wanting to save the town from unnecessary damage naturally. How would they even pull off a spell like this anyway?

"At that size, Teleporting will be so difficult that it would be nearly impossible," Zecora explained, "beating her will suddenly be quite plausible."

Trixie blinked. “What do you mean?” Right now, she really wished she put more research in how teleporting works.

"It's like this." Carrot Top cleared her throat. "The growth spell increased their size, but it, not their magic pool, that's impossible. This gives them a lot smaller pool to work from."

Trixie thought about this and came to a sudden realization. “Ah! And there is no way she could teleport that much mass easily.” Trixie didn’t know much about teleportation, but she did know that the spell became much harder the more mass you added to the teleportation spell. Trying to teleport more than one pony was incredibly difficult. Trying to teleport yourself when you weigh over a hundred thousand tons would be something not even Princess Luna could do. It would cost far too much magic to perform the spell. Corvus might have the power of six star beasts, but that didn’t make her magic infinite.

“Oh, of course.” Raindrops said. “She’s too big to teleport around. And even if she could, it would deplete her magic very quickly!”

Trixie nodded. “Basically yes.”

“And we will be fighting with our Zords who aren’t as beaten down as we are!” Raindrops stomped a hoof.

“Nice bonus!” Ditzy cheered.

“But can Zecora pull this spell off?” Trixie asked.

Zecora nodded. “Replicating the mad alicorn’s spell shouldn’t be difficult. It will be a little inelegant.”

“It is a bit… experimental, but it should work.” Zecora coughed. “It won’t last long, only about 15 minutes, but this is mostly guesswork.”

“It’s a plan and it’s better than fighting her in this condition.” Trixie proclaimed. Her brow furrowed. “I hope we can get the ingredients in time.” Zebra magic was a type of alchemy that could bend reality to the caster's wishes. Who knows what rare and hard to get ingredients the spell needed.

“Actually Trixie, Zecora already brought all her spell ingredients with her.” Carrot Top opened the back door and sure enough behind it was a cart full of a head dizzying number of bottles, ingredients, and other things Trixie couldn’t identify.

"Good," Trixie said after a moment. That was convenient. She was afraid they would have to run around town while desperately trying to find the ingredients they needed.

"Carrot Top made sure I brought everything I could," Zecora said smiling, "I'm glad I listened to her or else have to run back home again in all likelihood."

“Glad to see you’re on top of everything.” Trixie also smiled glad they finally had a plan of sorts.

Carrot Top grinned widely. “That is why they call me Carrot Top after all!” Everypony including Zecora groaned. Carrot Top looked offended. “Hey! That was funny!”

“How long will the potion take?” Trixie looked outside and saw a terrified Rainbow Dash dodging lightning blasts from Corvus’s horn.

Zecora thought a moment. “I need only five minutes to create the potion. I will work so quickly it will look like I’m in fast motion.”

Trixie nodded. “Get going.”

“Wait!” Ditzy cried out. “How are we going to get Corvus to even drink the thing?” Trixie tensed. She was so excited she forgot about that little detail.

"Do not fear for it is spread through smoke," Zecora reassured, "one breath is all it needs for the spell to be awoke." Ditzy and Trixie sighed in relief. That was a bit more manageable.

They had a plan. Trixie sipped more of her tea trying to relax. It hit her how much faith she was putting in Zecora. Somepony she initially didn't want to trust. The zebra could ruin everything so easily. Paranoia crept into her thoughts. Trixie shook her head. Jumping at shadows and doubting everything got her nowhere. The last time she let her paranoia get the better of her, she got exploded. No, she decided she would let Zecora prove herself. Luna often said that trust is something that should be earned. Trixie decided from now on she would keep her eyes out for enemies, but won't let herself succumb to fear or distrust ponies on sight. Fear destroys and prevents friendships. She wanted to be Zecora's friend.

Chapter 7

Lunaverse: Galaxy Rangers - The Rangers Nevermore?
Chapter 7
by Rixizu

Trixie watched as Zecora put an ingredient into the cauldron. The zebra had set up shop in Bon-Bon’s kitchen. She was stirring the pot that was on an oven burner with a wooden spoon. The pot’s contents were boiling. Trixie peered inside. It was some strange green concoction that smelled vaguely of cinnamon.

“Is it finished yet?” Trixie asked impatiently. All this waiting was making her nervous.

Zecora trotted behind Trixie and suddenly pulled a hair from her tail. Trixie yelped in pain. Zecora threw the hair into the pot. The strange liquid turned blue for some reason.

"It is now finished," Zecora said with finality, "now we put an end the this Corvus business."

Trixie rubbed her backside. “Ow! You could have warned me!”

Zecora just gave an annoying smile. She used a ladle to put the cauldron’s contents into a glass bottle.

“Okay, so what’s the plan about using this to get Corvus big?” Lyra asked.

“Leave it to me!” Bon-Bon declared startling everypony.

“B-but what?” Lyra blurted out.

“Bon! You can’t do that!” Ditzy argued. “It’s too dangerous.”

“Yeah, you should really leave this to us!” Raindrops agreed.

Bon-Bon shook her head. “No. It would waste time. You only have 15 minutes, more or less right? You need to be ready to strike with your Zords when Corvus becomes giant.”

“It’s too dangerous!” Lyra shouted in alarm.

"I'll be fine," Bon-Bon said confidently, "trust me. This will work."

“B-but….” Lyra ears drooped.

Bon-Bon grabbed Lyra’s cheek. “It’s going to be okay. I got this. You need to trust me.”

“Bon-Bon, this is not going to work. What are you even going to do? You have no illusions or magic. You can’t even fly!” Trixie argued quite sensibly in her opinion.

“I’ll get by.” Bon-Bon shot back.

Trixie opened her mouth, but Lyra spoke before she could say anything. "Fine," Lyra said in a small voice, "just be...careful okay."

Bon-Bon hugged Lyra. “Always.”

Trixie groaned. “Fine.”

Bon-Bon looked out the window. “Get your Zords ready. I think Rainbow is getting tired.”

Trixie could see a panting Rainbow Dash trying to fly away from Corvus who threw whatever she could get her magic on at Rainbow while laughing.

Trixie and the rest of the Rangers nodded. Bon-Bon gave Lyra a quick goodbye kiss. “It’s morphing ti-” Trixie was about to say before a tiny high pitched voice stopped her.

“What a second!” Dinky yelled out.

“Dinky?!” Ditzy said in surprise. Dinky was supposed to be with Pokey and the other ponies evaluating the town.

“Can I help too?” Dinky was almost bouncing off the ground.

“What are you even going here?” Ditzy asked trotting up to her daughter and giving a disapproving glare.

"I just thought you might need my help," Ditzy replied happily, "I know! I'll help Bons with the potion!"

“No!” The whole group shouted as one.

“Why not?” Dinky asked.

“Because. You’re just a filly! You’ll just get in the way!” Trixie said.

"No, I won't!" Dinky argued back crossing her front legs.

"Yes, you will," Trixie said as a slowly and clearly as she could.

"No, I won't!" Ditzy argued again.

"Yes, you will!" Trixie was starting to lose her patience.

“Yeah. You should just leave this to the grownups.” Raindrop threw in.

Dinky groaned. “You always say that.”

"Honey, please. This is super dangerous." Ditzy got eye to eye with her daughter. "You need to be somewhere safe. Mommy can't do her job if you here in danger."

Dinky considered this. "B-but I just want to help you guys! Everypony and zebra get to do something cool and I don't…"

"You're only a filly Muffin," Ditzy said not unkindly, "you need to trust on this."

“I-I just don’t want to be left out of the loop!” Dinky looked down solemnly. “I was the only one that didn’t know your secret! Bon-Bon knew about! Even Pokey knew about it before I did! How fair is that?”

“I’m sorry honey.” Ditzy stroked her daughter's head. “I didn’t know it would hurt you so much not telling you. Can you ever forgive me?” Dinky nodded.

“Good.” Ditzy got up. “Can you be a good filly and watch over Zecora for me?”

Dinky nodded emphatically. “You bet I can!”

"I would very much enjoy taking her as company," Zecora said smiling, "no doubt she will know the best places for us to be already."

“Now are we ready?’ Trixie asked tightly. Dinky nodded and moved next to Zecora.

“Finally. It’s morphing time!” Trixie shouted thrusting forth her morpher. The rest of the Rangers did the same.

“Ursa!”

“Cygnus!”

“Hercules!”

“Libra!”

“Sagittarius!”

“Scorpio!”

Dinky watched in stunned wide-eyed amazement. Trixie pressed the last button on her morpher and the rest of the Rangers did the same. They vanished in a flash.

“What happened to them?” Dinky asked looked back and forth. They were just gone. “Um. mom. Trixie?”

Bon-Bon pointed up. “They’re up there.”

Dinky looked up. “Really?”

Bon-Bon nodded. “They have a secret platform that orbits the planet. They launch their Zords from space.”

"That is so cool," Dinky said amazed.

Bon-Bon stretched and cracked her neck. “About time to do my part.”

“You’re really doing it?” Dinky asked worriedly.

“I’ll be fine.” Bon-Bon gave a wink. “I’m used to this sort of thing.”

Ditzy gave a confused look. “O-okay.”

"She will do well this I promise you," Zecora said, "now it is time we withdrew.”

Dinky nodded. She hated to admit it, but she had to let the grownups do their thing.

Trixie was comfortably seated in the cockpit of her Zords. It was full of dials and switches that surrounded Trixie. It was advanced ancient technology that she couldn’t make heads or tails of. It was a little tight with all the panels, but it was roomy enough to move around. In front of her was a steering wheel. It was something like a ship’s, but it was cut in half. The cockpit was made of a light blue metal. According to Zecora and Cheerilee, it was made of a metal they have never seen before. It might not even exist on their planet. Trixie knew most of the dials’ functions. She spent many a day learning what they did. She enjoyed piloting her Zord and often practiced in secret in the Everfree.

Trixie watched the monitor from her Zord. It was zoomed in on Ponyville. It was a surprisingly clear picture and she pressed a switched to zoom in even further and used a joystick to move the camera around to get a better view. She found what she was looking for and winced when Rainbow Dash crashed into a house.

Trixie heard Raindrops grunt over the comm. “This is not good…” Trixie knew Raindrops didn’t like the rainbow maned pony. Rainbow often slacked off on her duties as Weather Manager making Raindrops take up the slack, but Raindrops seemed both concerned and horrified.

“Oh no…” Ditzy said worriedly.

“Come on Bonnie.” Lyra prayed. “Don’t be late…”

Trixie tensed when Rainbow didn’t come out. She started to fidget as Corvus landed from the sky and trotted towards the fallen pegasus. Suddenly the monster turned behind her. There she was. Bon-Bon was pointing towards Corvus with a hoof. She was wearing Zecora’s saddlebags for some reason. Trixie was stunned at the confident look Lyra’s marefriend was wearing. She didn’t look scared or even worried at all.

Bon-Bon said something that Trixie couldn’t hear because her Zoid could only pick up picture, but she was certain Bon-Bon said something like “Over here ugly.”

Corvus launched a fireball at Bon-Bon but she just adeptly flipped out of the way. Trixie’s jaw dropped. Bon-Bon dodged some more fireballs with grace and fluidity. Bon-Bon said something that was sure to be mocking. Corvus smirked and teleported. There was a flash and suddenly seven Corvus’s appeared surrounding Bon-Bon.

“Ponyfeathers!” Trixie cursed. Corvus learned how to use her spell somehow. Trixie praised and cursed Twilight for being clever enough to do that. They circled around her like a predator slowly stalking their prey.

“We need to launch right now!” Lyra proclaimed.

“No! We need to stick to the plan!” Cheerilee admonished.

"She's going to get hurt!" Lyra cried out almost in a complete panic.

"Trust her," Cheerilee said gently, "she can do it." Lyra didn't respond.

Bon-Bon, however, didn't seem worried at all. Trixie thought she was mad. Bon-Bon watched her opponents carefully. They charged as one. Suddenly Bon-Bon pulled something out of her saddlebags. In a blink of an eye, she suddenly had two bottles of what looked like hot sauce in her hooves. She spun around in a circle and sprayed the hot sauce right into each one of the Corvus's eyes. It went through all of them except one.

Corvus wing arms covered her eyes and she screamed in pain. All the illusionary versions of Corvus dissipated in an instant. Bon-Bon took advantage of her disabled opponent and grabbed Zecora’s potion from her saddlebags and threw it into the monster’s face. Gray smoke surrounded the thing and Bon-Bon quickly backed away. She then quickly made a b line for the building Rainbow Dash crashed into with all the determination and speed she could muster.

“Let’s go!” Trixie proclaimed. She pressed a large red button in front of her.

10
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Let’s Launch!

Everything around Trixie started to shift and she felt the sensation of her Zord falling. She turned the view to the outside and there were stars everywhere. She was surrounded by space and underneath her was the Earth in all its beauty. Trixie had seen pictures of it many times, but nothing could prepare her for actually seeing it in person. It took Trixie breath away. It was the most beautiful thing Trixie had ever seen. She didn't think she would ever get used to this, nor did she want to. Trixie felt herself speed up. The heat of reentry covered her monitor in a bright glowing red.

“Raindrops before we do this, I just want to say something.” Trixie cleared her throat.

“What is it?” Raindrops asked over the comm.

“When this is all over... I want to join your martial arts class.” Trixie said.

“Impostor!” Lyra cried out. “I know Trixie, and there is no way she would say anything like that!”

“What have you done with Trixie Lulamoon?!” Ditzy demanded outraged.

“Who are you?!” Raindrops said in a growl.

“Ha. Ha. Ha.” Trixie said dryly.

Raindrops laughed. “Sure, I would love to have you join us.”

“The more the merrier!” Ditzy chirped.

“It would have been lonely without you I think.” Carrot Top said.

“We will start at eight tomorrow morning.” Raindrops said. Trixie gave a choking guttural sound already regretting her decision. The rest of her friends laughed and Trixie eventually joined them.

Trixie laid back and closed her eyes. She couldn’t believe how stupid she was to think that everything would just always go her way and she won’t actually have to work. She wanted to get stronger. She had to if she wanted to protect her friends. There was no time for half measures anymore. She just hoped it was enough.

“Don’t worry Twilight. I’m coming to save you.” Trixie thought.

Trixie saw the ground coming up fast specifically Ponyville. She braced for impact. The monitor gave the time for impact. The Zords landed in a cloud of dust. They landed in an empty quarry in the outskirts of Ponyville.

Trixie's Zord rose from the crater. It was a fearsome beast to withhold. Her Ursa Zord was a metallic red bear with silver highlights. It roared fearsomely as it got ready for battle. Lyra's Zord rose next. Its wings spread gracefully. It was a blue beautiful and serene swan with a pure black beak. Raindrop's Zord jumped out ready for action. It was a black beetle with powerful two prong horns with blades at the end. Cheerilee's Zord climbed out. It was a green metal pony in each of its hooves were two long scales that were connected by a chain that draped over its body. One scale was blue and other was red. Ditzy's Zord was a strange one. It was pink and had the lower body of a pony, but from it, torso was a strange female figure. The figure stood up straight from its legs and had digits instead of hooves for its tops appendages. It carried a bow on its back. Carrot Top's was a bit more straightforward as it was just a golden scorpion with a dangerous and sharp looking stinger.

“Ready to combine?” Trixie asked.

“Got it!” The rest of the Rangers cried out.

Trixie flipped open the panel in front of her and under it was a single large button. She slammed it with a hoof.

“Combine!” Trixie threw out her hoof as she said this.

The six Zords flew into the air. Raindrop’s Zord folding in and turned into a right front leg. Its head becoming the bottom of the hoof. Cheerilee’s Zord became the left front hoof. The body separated in half and joined with the paw of Trixie's Zord and the chain of the scales wrapped around the leg and the scales themselves became the bottom of the hoof. Ditzy and Carrot Top’s Zords became the back legs. Their heads also appeared on the bottom of the hoof. Lyra’s Zord’s wings folded and the legs and head folded into the body. It floated in the middle of the front and back legs. Trixie’s Zord floated in front of Lyra’s. It spread its arms and legs and the newly created limbs flew over them combining into new limbs. Lyra’s Zord flew behind Trixie’s and joined with its back. The new Zord fell from the sky to the ground on all fours. The bear head finally opened up and split in half to reveal a pony head. It had silver horns that curled back behind its head.

Trixie's seat lowered into a new wide open room and combined with the floor. It was a silver room with red lights that glowed brightly. A new console appeared in front of Trixie with a new larger steering wheel. Buttons and dials surrounded it. Trixie looked back. There were her friends seated behind her. Their seats formed a wide V behind her. The Megazord was complete.

Trixie grinned. “Let’s finish this.” The other rangers cheered behind her. Trixie piloted the Megazord towards town.

Carrot Top checked a pocket watch. “If our calculations are correct, she should be our size in about 20 seconds. Give or take.” The potion had a timer that gave them enough time to both land and transform. Sure enough, in a few seconds, a figure grew to gigantic portions. Corvus was stood taller than their Megazord by almost a head. She was still rubbing her eyes in pain from the hot sauce. She put a hoof forward and crushed a house.

“Let’s get her out of town quickly!” Ditzy said emphatically. They could not fight in town. So the Megazord rushed in front of the stunned monster and threw it as hard as it could with both hooves towards the Everfree. It crashed into the forest with a thunderous thud.

Corvus rose a few seconds later. Her eyes were red and she gave them a murderous look. She looked around confused for a moment. They took advantage this and delivered an upper punch right in a jaw. Sparks erupted from the impact and she received another blow to the face. She staggered back. Her horn glowed but fizzled out. She gave another confused look.

“Ha! What’s the matter? Can’t teleport anymore?” Trixie taunted.

“We can do this!” Ditzy cheered.

They moved in for another punch, but Corvus dodged and leaped back agilely. She stood there a moment thinking. She unleashed a flurry of feather and the Megazord stumbled back, but rushed through the attack and delivered a punch to the face.

“Time?” Trixie asked not leaving her focus away from the battle.

“11 minutes!” Carrot Top shouted.

“Let’s use a missile attack!” Raindrops said. “Give her a taste of her own medicine!”

"You don't have to tell me twice," Trixie smirked.

The Megazord pointed its right hoof forward and shot several missiles from a hidden barrel right into Corvus’s stomach. She screamed in pain collapsed to one knee.

“Ha! What you think of that?” Ditzy thrust out a hoof. Raindrops smacked her hooves together and gave a small laugh.

“Let’s finish this thing….” Cheerilee was about to say before gasping. Corvus suddenly disappeared. Trixie cursed. She completely forgot about showing Corvus her invisibility spell earlier. It seems she does have at least have enough magic to use that spell.

“You have got to be kidding me.” Carrot Top growled.

“It’s always something!” Raindrops threw up her hooves.

“Where did you go?” Trixie said under her breath. The Megazord looked right and left. They were surrounded by trees, but none of them were disturbed. Suddenly Trixie had it, but it was too late and the Megazord was pelted with feathers from the air and flew backward in sparks and fell on top of at least twenty trees.

The Megazord shot missiles in the direction the feathers came from but hit nothing but empty air. It was hit from beyond from a volley of more feathers and stumbled forward. Again, it shot missiles to no effect.

“Uh, any suggestions?” Trixie asked.

Corvus suddenly appeared from their right and slashed the Megazord with a wing. Trixie almost was thrown from her seat.

“7 minutes!” Carrot Top cried out.

“We aren’t going to make it!” Ditzy said sadly.

“No! We are!” Trixie gritted her teeth. She minded raced on what they could do. She looked down at the crevice they created. “I have an idea!” The Megazord pointed its barrel towards the ground.

"Um, so what are we doing exactly?" Cheerilee asked not getting what Trixie was doing.

"Creating some smoke," Trixie said. She waited a few moments. She had to time this just right. Using her gut to predict the attack. "Now!"

The Megazord shot down at the ground near its legs and created an explosion of dust. Trixie could see a figure outlined in smoke. The Megazord smashed it front legs together and they sparked with electricity and connected the right hoof into Corvus’s gut and there was an explosion of sparks and energy. The Megazord smashed its left hoof into Corvus’s head. She fell to the ground in a heap dazed.

“Three minutes!” Carrot Top cried out.

“Let’s finish this!” Trixie declared.

“Ready!” The rest of her friends answered.

The Megazord reached behind and grabbed both wings with a hoof. They morphed into swords. It wielded one in each hoof. They started crackling with energy and turned dark red.

“Big Bang Strike!” The Ranger cried together. The Megazord put the swords together and slashed them outwards together as one unleashing a furious shockwave of dark red energy. It stuck Corvus like a freight train and she went flying into the air. She crashed into the ground not stopping until her momentum halted. Half of her body was covered in trees and dirt. Trixie noticed there were cracks all over her body including a visible one on her horn.

“15 minutes are up.” Carrot Top said breaking the silence. Sure enough Corvus body started to glow and she started shrinking until they couldn’t see her anymore.

“Did we get her?” Raindrop asked.

"Only one way to find out," Trixie replied. She adjusted their Megazord's camera but found nothing but dust and debris. She was too small to see or find.

"I don't think she's finished," Lyra said sighing, "let's take a look."

They dropped from the Megazord’s bottom and watched as it flew back into the sky. As it started back for space, it split back into the individual Zords and quickly disappeared back to the space platform to recharge, worn out from the fight.

Trixie scanned her surroundings for any trace of Corvus. The rest of the Rangers were trailing behind her. All she could see was ruined trees and upheaved earth. It struck Trixie the magnitude of the crater they were standing in. It seemed so small inside their Megazord, but in person, the scale was almost unimaginable. It felt like they were like ants climbing through a gigantic tube.

The whole group stayed on high alert. Trixie knew Corvus was critically injured and her horn was damaged, but they were not taking their chances this time. They made sure to summon their weapons, well everypony except Cheerilee of course, and had them at the ready. They were at least a little recovered from their last battle, but far from a hundred percent.

They traveled through the crater in silence too antsy and focused on the task of finding Corvus to say anything. When they got to the end of the crater, there she was. She was standing high on top of it looking down on them. She looked weak and dead tired, but determined. She had pure murder and hate in her eyes. There were small cracks all over her body with green light emitting from them. Her horn looked even more damaged than Trixie remembered. It had a V-shaped crack in the middle of it. Trixie was sure that there was no way she could cast anything with that thing.

“I’ll slaughter you all!” Corvus screamed in a crazed and feral way. Spittle came from her mouth as she said this.

The Rangers took battle positions and prepared themselves for anything. Corvus jumped down and landed with grace in front of them. She rushed at her enemies with complete abandon. Trixie didn't expect her to move as fast as she did. She barely avoided one of Corvus's wings taking off her head. Corvus spun in a circle and went for Ditzy's head next. Ditzy was also caught off guard by her speed, but luckily Carrot Top saved her with her shield and the attack bounced off.

Raindrops used this as an opportunity to attack and landed a hardy blow to a crack on Corvus’s shoulder. She screamed in pain. The crack expanded more green light emanated from it. Corvus retaliated with a kick to Raindrop’s gut. She went flying and landed roughly.

Cheerilee and Ditzy responded together with an attack of their own. Cheerilee threw punches at Corvus’s head while Ditzy took a strike at Corvus’s body with her staff. Corvus nimbly dodged Cheerilee’s strikes and blocked Ditzy with her wings.

Corvus pushed Ditzy back and she was momentarily unbalanced. Corvus jumped back and unleashed a flurry of feathers. Both Ditzy and Cheerilee were hit by the attack and flew backward and landed on the ground writhing. Corvus threw more feathers, but they were thankfully blocked by Carrot Top.

Lyra and Trixie took position behind Carrot Top. Lyra took her bow in her magic and shot several arrows at Corvus, but they were dodged easily.

“Um, plan?” Lyra asked desperately. “We are still too weak to fight her! Trixie?”

Suddenly four Trixies appeared in a flash of smoke and charged Corvus. The Trixies attacked her head on with their swords. Two of them moved in at blinding speeds and Corvus tried to dodge but they moved so fast she couldn't. Corvus changed her tactics and decided to just move through them instead. They were just illusions just as Corvus thought. Corvus attacked the slowest moving one coming in from the right with a wing, but it was an illusion as well and it went right through. The last Trixie stuck a powerful blow to Corvus's side. She stumbled back and Lyra shot an arrow right into her. Corvus flew backward sparks flying from her wound. She did a backflip and landed on her hooves in a crouch.

Lyra shot more arrows at Corvus, but she just nimbly dodged them again. Lyra growled in frustration. Corvus prowled around them waiting for them to make the next move.

Trixie watched Corvus wearily not planning on doing anything for the moment. Unbeknownst to the monster, she was, in fact, walking right next to Cheerilee. Trixie saw her twitch on the ground but did nothing to show that she saw this. Corvus circled in front of Cheerilee.

Cheerilee took this moment to strike. She jumped into the air and pressed a button on her morpher in a single motion. A whip was summoned into her hooves and she grabbed Corvus with it. It wrapped around the creature tightly and she struggled to get free.

“Now you’re actually using that thing?” Trixie quipped.

“Just shut up and finish her off.” Cheerilee shot back. “I don’t know how long I can hold her.”

Trixie and Lyra got in position and nodded. They pressed the button on their morpher to activate their super attack. Trixie charged forward with her sword trailing behind her in her magic. Right as Trixie was about to swing Lyra shot an arrow at Trixie’s sword. It was absorbed and Trixie’s weapon glowed a purple aura. Cheerilee desummoned her whip right as the attack was about to strike and jumped away. Trixie swung her sword right into Corvus’s chest.

“Bane of Evil!” Lyra and Trixie cried out in unison.

The blow erupted in a burst of purple magic and Corvus flew right into a wall of dirt behind her. She dropped to the ground unmoving.

Lyra panted in exhaustion. “Did we get her?”

“No. I don’t think so.” Trixie said when she saw Corvus struggle to her hooves. She almost stood up before collapsing again. From her expression, it looked like she was completely spent. She gritted her teeth. Her horn glowed and she vanished.

"Where did she go!" Lyra said in a panic. Trixie looked around frantically. She thought teleporting with a damaged horn was impossible.

Corvus appeared in a flash in front of Lyra. Corvus slashed with a wing before Lyra could do anything and hit her straight in the chest. Corvus hit Trixie with her other wing. The two rangers collapsed to the ground. Trixie felt her powers failing. She would unmorph soon if she didn't do something. Cheerilee tried to come to their aid but was shot down by Corvus's feathers.

Corvus stood over them triumphantly and was about to strike a finishing blow on Trixie when she suddenly stopped and winced in pain. She grabbed her horn with a wing. Corvus's horn was almost completely full of cracks. It suddenly fell to pieces and Corvus fell to her knees and screamed. It looked like she was in an insurmountable amount of pain. Teleporting with a such a damaged horn put so much strain on it that it just failed and broke. Trixie knew a small crack in a horn would cause some serious pain, this, this was insurmountable.

Trixie wobbled as she stood up and grabbed her sword with a hoof. She dove at Corvus right in the middle of her chest at a particularly large crack. She pushed as hard as she could but she didn’t have enough strength. Trixie felt herself give into exhaustion and started falling. Only for a pony to come up behind her and prop her up. It was Carrot Top and she started pushing with Trixie. Trixie redoubled her efforts and refused to give up.

Trixie felt another pony behind her and they also helped push the sword. It was Ditzy. Behind her helmet, Trixie knew Ditzy was smiling. Raindrops and Lyra joined them. Finally, Cheerilee limped to them and grabbed the collection of hooves trying to deliver the final blow.

The Rangers all roared together in unison and gave one final push. Trixie knew together they could do this. The sword implanted deeply in Corvus and she screamed. Her whole body sparked with electricity. Trixie desummoned her sword.

The Ranger laughed, cried, and jostled each other as they trotted away from Corvus. Out of pure joy that this was finally over. More energy shot from Corvus’s body. She fell to the ground and erupted into a gigantic fireball. Trixie sighed in relief.

Trixie and the rest of her friends unmorphed. Trixie almost collapsed again, but her friends stopped her. She gave a faint smile. Trixie felt like she wanted to sleep an entire week straight. No doubt the rest of the Rangers felt the same.

Trixie sighed in relief when Twilight Sparkle emerged from the smoke. She looked a little beat up and her glasses were cracked, but otherwise, she looked pretty much unharmed. Her horn looked undamaged thankfully. Trixie sat on the ground in too much pain and exhaustion to really do much else.

Twilight opened her eyes and propped herself up. She looked dazed and confused. She looked at Trixie and her friends with wide eyes. She frantically looked around at the damage around her. She looked at Ponyville while being far away, it was clear it had been damaged even from this distance. Twilight's face turned to horror and panic as it seemed she started remembering what happened. Her horn started glowing.

“Wait! No! It isn’t your fault!” Trixie cried out, but Twilight didn’t listen and teleported away.

“Twilight…” Trixie looked down dejectedly. She hoped her new friend would be okay.

Epilogue

Lunaverse: Galaxy Rangers - The Rangers Nevermore?
Epilogue
by Rixizu

Twilight Sparkle trotted through town surveying all the damage in Ponyville. She couldn’t see an undamaged home anywhere due to Corvus’s wild attacks. At best, some homes just had a few holes through them, at worst they were completely burned down. Twilight could see ponies were getting back to their homes, cleaning, or just trying to get their lives back in order. Nopony paid Twilight too much attention too focused on their tasks.

Twilight’s ears drooped. It was worse than she feared. Holding back her tears was impossible.

Twilight eventually found herself at a bridge. She stared at the water for a long while. She had no idea what she would do now or how she would ever forgive herself. She wondered if Corona would come back for her and make Twilight hers again.

Twilight got up on the railing. Maybe it would be better this way. Easier perhaps. At least the pain would end.

Twilight jumped when she heard a pony scream. She turned around and saw a white unicorn with a purple mane freaking out.

“Dear, your mane!” The unicorn proclaimed dramatically. Twilight looked at her confused. Sure, her mane was messy after everything, but... Twilight suddenly felt herself being pulled by a blue aura.

“This cannot do. There is no way we can have you going around looking like that!” The unicorn said. “We are going to have to get you fixed up in a jiffy!”

Twilight tried to stop herself being pulled by holding on to the railing with all her strength, but she was too weak and exhausted. She soon found herself being carried by this strange unicorn.

Twilight was seated on a chair at what looked like a boutique. She was now all cleaned up and her mane was back in pristine condition. Her host, who called herself Rarity, served her some tea. It was good and tasted of apple.

Rarity sat down and got herself comfortable. She placed the tea kettle on a nearby coffee table. “Now Darling, would you like to talk about it? I know for a fact you were doing more than admiring the water.”

Twilight looked away and stay silent.

“I know it can be tough.” Rarity said kindly. “But things are never hopeless.”

Twilight gave a bitter laugh. “You saw what happened to Ponyville. It’s my fault!”

Rarity stayed silent for a few moments. “Dear, do you really believe that? Isn’t somepony else to blame for what happened?”

“It doesn’t matter!” Twilight almost yelled. “I’m the one that did it! Monster or not!”

Twilight scowled. “That thing...she enjoyed hurting ponies and destroying everything around her. What if that’s me? Only the dark part of me ready to get out?”

“Do you feel guilty over what happened?” Rarity asked.

"Of course I do!" Twilight stood up.

“Then you aren’t that monster.” Rarity gave a soft smile.

“What?” Twilight asked baffled.

“That creature enjoyed destroying everything without remorse, but you’re different. You feel guilt and shame over what happened.” Rarity explained. “That proves that you are something different. You have a heart darling.”

"It doesn't matter," Twilight said quietly almost inaudibly.

“I think it does.” Rarity looked Twilight right in the eye. “You are letting your grief speak for you. I’m not saying this will be easy, but you can get through this.”

Rarity put a comforting hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “You are a strong smart wonderful beautiful mare. I can tell. But you have something else as well. Friends. Ponies that love and care about you. Isn’t there somepony in your life that would be devastated if something happened to you?”

Twilight stayed silent for a long time. “Shining… Mom…”

Rarity smiled. “See. But, you can’t just do it for them. You have to do it for yourself too. Do you really want to end it all? Isn’t there something you want to live for?”

“But the guilt...the pain…” Twilight tried to say, but Rarity held up a hoof.

“As I said, it will be hard, but in time it will be easier. Especially with the ponies that you care about behind you.”

Twilight thought about this and took another sip of her tea. Right now, it was the best thing she had ever tasted. “You might be right.” Twilight finally said.

Rarity gave another warm smile. “You’re stronger than you know. That is what I always say.”

Rarity gave Twilight a tight hug. Twilight didn’t resist and returned it. She had tears in her eyes. “There there. Everything will be okay. I promise.”

Twilight sniffed. "Thanks, Rarity."

Rarity showed Twilight to the door. “Now remember, if you ever want to talk, I’m right here.”

Twilight nodded. “I will Rarity thanks. You are a good friend.”

Rarity gave a wide smile. “You could say it is my special talent to find hope in the darkness.”

Twilight looked around the Ponyville. “I’ll make amends for this somehow. I have to no matter what!” She said with determination. There was a fire in her eyes. It seemed she had hope again. The light in her had not gone out yet.

Twilight waved Rarity goodbye. There was a faint smile on her face. Rarity returned it and went back to her house.

"I know you will Twilight." Rarity said to herself closing the door behind her. Her eyes glinted strangely in the light. "You must. Trixie and her friends are going to need you, sister."

Author's Note

Sequel! The Galaxy Rangers return in 'The White Raven'. Duke Greengrass, Archduke Fisher, and Viceroy Night Light seek to destroy the Galaxy Rangers and frame them for a crimes they didn't commit! They also create their own Rangers called the Planet Rangers! Things look bad and the Rangers are cornered, but an unexpected pony comes to their rescue.