Galaxy Rangers: The Movie - Shocker Crisis!
Chapter 3
by Rixizu
Trixie broke into a panic as Combatponies swarmed after them, their numbers seeming almost endless. Twilight fought them back with skilled kicks and punches. Starlight shot at them with stun beams. Whenever one fell, another took their place. With a powerful shield spell, Twilight pushed the group away and ran into the parking lot.
“I can’t teleport!” Starlight said in a panic.
“Ah, anti-teleportation field,” Trixie said unconcerned. “Classic.”
Starlight glared. “Not helping!”
Strange vehicles greeted them like something out of a sci-fi novel. They were futuristic, four-wheeled, and heavily armored. Twilight ignored these and kept running further. She knocked out enemies with her magic or hooves, but Trixie knew the unicorn couldn’t keep this up forever. Starlight struggled to catch up and wasn’t in great shape.
“Finally!” Twilight said as they approached one of those strange two-wheeled vehicles Cadance had used. She froze as a single mare blocked their path.
“Little filly, little filly.” The strange pony said. “Don’t you want to play?” She laughed and her body changed, transforming into some bat pony creature. Her face turned into something monstrous with large fangs and huge wings that grew from her front legs.
Starlight screamed and hid under her hooves as the bat monster dived at her, missing her by an inch. The creature flew around mocking them and dodged every bolt Starlight fired at her.
“Come on!” Twilight jumped on her vehicle and levitated Trixie behind her. “Hold on tight!”
Despite her weakness, Trixie nodded and did as instructed. Trixie shrieked as the bat monster dived towards her, but a carefully timed barrier spell protected them. The monster collided with the barrier and fell to the ground, stunned. Twilight took advantage of this respite by starting the machine and making sure Trixie had a helmet. No matter the timeline or universe, Twilight believed in safety first.
“Hey, what about me?” Starlight pointed at her head.
“Sorry, I have only one extra helmet,” Twilight replied shamed, “and this bike wasn’t meant for three ponies. Hang on the best you can.”
Starlight had difficulty staying on as Twilight had given Trixie most of the room. Trixie gave Starlight a smug look who glared back. Twilight revved the machine and they drove off. Combatponies weren’t far behind and chased after them with their bikes. The Bat monster rose and joined her comrades. Twilight increased her bike to full speed, almost throwing Starlight off.
“Slow down!” Starlight said.
“Right and let them catch us!” Trixie rolled her eyes. “Do something useful and keep them off us.”
Starlight gritted her teeth but did as instructed throwing stun bolts in random directions unable to aim very well and the bike shuddered beneath her. Though they hit nothing, it gave them some breathing room and their pursuers slowed their pursuit. They drove through dark empty streets, the curfew was well in hoof. It made hiding in traffic impossible, so Twilight took random twists and turns to lose their pursuers. She did an impressive trick by jumping off a ramp over the river that flowed through Ponyville, and several Combatponies sank under it when they tried to copy the maneuver. Twilight knew the town well and used a construction site to make pursuit more difficult, driving up a still unconstructed wall and using it to jump over a chain-link fence. It wasn’t long before they’d lost even the batpony monster after Starlight landed a well-timed stun bolt. After making sure the coast was clear, Twilight parked her bike in a garage. They all sighed in collective relief.
“I am never doing that again!” Starlight almost didn’t survive the trip and her mane stood up frazzled.
“Shame we didn’t lose you,” Trixie said.
“Why you!” Starlight put her muzzle up to Trixie’s helmet.
“Please, no fighting.” Twilight used her magic to separate the fighting mares. Starlight grumbled something but complied.
Twilight’s garage was neat, containing many tools and parts used to maintain the strange vehicle she’d use in their escape. Trixie could tell that Twilight lovingly maintained the machine.
“What’s this thing called, anyway?” Trixie patted the machine. She’d had just enough strength to stand on her hooves.
Twilight pulled off her helmet and stared at Trixie in confusion. This Twilight also wore thick glasses, but they seemed more stylish than Trixie’s Twilight. This version also liked her mane short. “It’s a motorcycle. How can you not know that? They’re very common.”
Trixie sighed. “It’s a long painful story.”
Twilight brightened. “Good, hold it for a moment. I need to write it down!”
Starlight peered outside, narrowing her eyes. “What if they track your bike here?”
Twilight snorted. “Don’t worry; I made sure my bike was unrecognizable.” She used her magic and her bike’s shell tore off, revealing a completely different design. It was silver with gold stripes.
“Neat.” Trixie wobbled and almost lost her hoofing.
“Come inside and I’ll get some painkillers and ice for your bruises. Make yourself at home.” Twilight held Trixie steady and helped her inside the townhouse. Starlight followed behind. Trixie gave an abridged version of her story while Twilight treated her wounds. Twilight listened in utter amazement to learn Trixie was from another timeline. She wrote down every word and only interrupted to ask a question or two.
“So your powers come from the Elements of Harmony?” Twilight asked in utter amazement. “They’re real?”
“Yeah, though I suspect they’ve evolved far beyond what they were before,” Trixie replied.
“Right, somehow giving you a giant robot.” Starlight scowled. “How does that make sense?”
“Shame it’s stuck in another world.” Trixie imagined smashing Cadance’s smug face in with her Ursa Zord.
“Wow, what a discovery!” Twilight scribbled on a parchment. “I need to research this. With these Elements, we could defeat Shocker!”
Trixie frowned. According to Twilight, the Castle of Two Sisters was Shocker’s new headquarters, which meant they’d found the Elements. Did the evil organization know what they had in their possession? Could they find new bearers for the Elements of Harmony? This world needed new heroes. They’d find the Elements, recover the amulet, and make things right. Trixie blushed as her stomach rumbled. She hadn’t eaten all day.
“Oh sorry, I’ll get you something.” Twilight rushed to her tiny kitchen. It gave Trixie time to study Twilight’s place.
Twilight’s townhouse was small but cozy. Books lined shelves, as expected, but there were also newspapers with some framed on the wall. Trixie noticed their author was Twilight herself. She worked for an ORE Journal. They weren’t super amazing stories, but it was impressive they existed at all. Trixie’s Twilight also wanted to become a journalist. Trixie frowned when she noticed they were only local interest stories and nothing about science.
“No stories about science?” Trixie asked.
Twilight blinked, surprised before nodding and placed a plate of dandelion sandwiches before Trixie. “Yeah, I just started my career. I’m mostly a glorified intern. I want to do science stories eventually, but not until I get more experience and I’m not so wet behind my ears.”
“Cool,” Trixie replied as she ate, “I’m impressed.”
“I like science,” Twilight said glowing from Trixie praise, “at least Shocker can’t so easily twist the truth there.” She scowled, full and anger and bitterness.
“What do you mean?” Starlight asked.
“We only print what Shocker wants us to print.” Twilight’s scowl deepened.
So the news is mostly Shocker propaganda? Poor Twilight, it must kill her inside.
Starlight rolled her eyes. “Well, as long as it keeps ponies in line, I suppose it isn’t so bad.”
“What?” Twilight replied, mouth open in shock.
“Isn’t that the media’s job?” Starlight replied. “Otherwise, there’d be anarchy. Ponies should be told what to think.”
“Excuse me.” Twilight fumed and steam blew from her ears. “A newspony should dedicate themselves to the truth!”
“Ignore her,” Trixie said, trying to defuse the situation. Everypony yelling at each other wouldn’t help. She froze as an idea lighted up in her head as she stared at the news articles. “A newspony should dedicate themselves to the truth, right?”
“Yes,” Twilight replied uncertainly, unsure of the gleam in Trixie’s eye.
“I say, we give it to them!” Trixie hated what happened to this world and felt partially responsible. She would bright truth and justice in this world and free it from Shocker’s grasp. It was time for a revolution. It was time to bring these ponies hope.
---
“Run by me, what happened again?” Ditzy asked, her voice ice.
“Well, the mare had a motorcycle and damn she could ride.” Bat Pony replied. “Those things are fast!”
“Ignoring that you can fly and losing them should have been impossible?”
Sweat gathered on Bat Pony’s brow. “My bad?”
“We’re done here.” Ditzy waved a dismissive hoof.
“Please! Give me another chance! I can find them!” Bat Pony cried out as Combatponies dragged her away.
“What a pain. The Great Leader won’t be pleased.” Ditzy sighed. “I leave for five minutes, and this happens.”
“What’s going on?” Cadance asked as she entered, watching the general hubbub around her.
“Trixie escaped,” Ditzy replied, “she had help; a unicorn rescued her. Unfortunately, we couldn’t ID them.” The explosion the unicorn used to break through the prison wall had damaged the cameras.
“I see.” Cadance smiled. “Sound fun. They won’t escape.”
“Good to hear.” Ditzy relaxed. If anypony could capture the Ranger and the traitorous rebel, it was their ultimate assassin.
“Enough talk of work.” Cadance waved a dismissive hoof. “So…”
“So what?”
“Have you asked out Combatpony 2010 yet?” Cadance peered in close eagerly for Ditzy answer.
“No, I don’t think dating a subordinate is appropriate,” Ditzy replied. Cadance was a notorious matchmaker. She always tried setting up ponies and made it her personal mission to improve the love life of everypony in Shocker. Somehow, she always knew the compatibility between ponies.
“Why not?” Cadance asked, disappointed. “You have much in common and your daughter Dinky likes him. I’ve seen the way you look at him. He’s a great guy.”
Ditzy blushed. Dear Shocker, had she been giving covert looks at 2010 and never even noticed? She couldn’t deny some attraction.
“Come on,” Cadance pressed her advantage, “you should take him dancing tonight. Dinky’s old enough to watch over herself.”
“Fine.” Ditzy rolled her eyes. I still don’t think it’s appropriate. Like such a thing would stop Cadance and her incessant matchmaking.
“Yes!” Cadance did a little dance. “You won’t regret this.”
“Right, right.” But Ditzy was smiling.
“Sir!” A Combatpony broke into Ditzy’s private office.
“What is it?” Ditzy replied, annoyed at the intrusion. “This better be good.”
The Combatpony levitated a small leaflet over to Ditzy. Confused, she read it and Candace peered over her shoulder to see what the fuss was about. Ditzy gasped in shock, horror, and then anger.
The leaflet contained anti-Shocker propaganda proclaiming it to be evil and condemning their deeds. The article, written by a pony with the pen name Lux, wrote passionately about how Shocker were cruel oppressors and how the common pony needed to rise to fight against them. It proclaimed Trixie Lulamoon, Red Ursa Ranger, as a brave hero defying Shocker’s evil and told how the mare would defeat the organized by herself. Ditzy crushed the paper in her hooves, enraged.
“Where did you get this?” Ditzy asked, her tone venomous.
“This morning after I woke up.” The Combatpony replied. “It was in my mailbox. Both my neighbors had one too.”
Ditzy cursed. “I don’t know who this Lux pony is, but this has Trixie’s hooves all over it.” The Red Ranger was a troublemaker.
Cadance scowled. “She acts quickly.”
“Commander Cadance, take a troupe of Combatponies and hunt down the traitorous dog who wrote this garbage. Find them and I’m sure Trixie won’t be far behind.”
“You don’t have to tell me twice.” Candace left the room, hurrying towards her motorcycle. Ditzy sighed in relief. They’d underestimated the Ranger, but Shocker didn’t repeat the same mistakes twice.
---
“So, uh, great day huh?” Twilight said. She had no idea why she went along with Trixie’s plan. It seemed crazy to make such blatant defiance of Shocker’s authority, and they wouldn’t rest until they caught the perpetrators. Still, one had to admire Trixie’s guts.
“Great!” Trixie nodded. “Did you see the look on the Shocker goon’s faces when they opened their mailboxes. Priceless. I wish I had a camera.”
“Yeah, and now you’ve hit a beehive with a stick.” Starlight said dryly.
“Exactly!” Trixie beamed.
Does Trixie not get what she’s doing? Isn’t she the least bit scared? They almost killed her before! Twilight thought, exasperated.
“Don’t worry. It’ll be fine.” Trixie waved a dismissive hoof. “I’ll be ready this time.”
Starlight and Trixie exchanged a glance. They gave up and let Trixie believe whatever crazy nonsense she wanted.
“We’re even doing this?” Starlight said. “Regular ponies can’t fight Shocker! This won’t change anything.”
Trixie looked turned serious. “No, if we want to change things, we need to show that Shocker isn’t all-powerful as they like to believe. Regular ponies are more powerful than you think. All they need is a spark.”
These words hit Starlight hard, giving the mare bad memories. Most likely about Trixie overthrowing her. It shocked Twilight to learn about Starlight’s role in the creation of her timeline and the little village she enslaved. She wanted to throw Starlight out into the street, but they needed her. At least Starlight showed shame about her role in Shocker’s victory over this world.
Trixie clapped her hooves together. “First, we need to ruin Shocker’s image of invincibility and these flyers are only the start! I have something bigger planned next!”
“Really?” Twilight forced a smile.
“Something huge!” Trixie extended her hooves. “Grand!” Her smile turned manic. Starlight and Twilight exchanged another glance.
When Twilight freed Trixie, this wasn’t what she expected. Well, to be honest, she wasn’t sure what drove her to save Trixie. It was more of a whim. She saw somepony with the power to defy Shocker and made an insane risk. What happens next, she didn’t know. What was she doing? She was an intern, not some revolutionary. Last week, she hadn’t so much as jaywalked. Yet, Trixie’s energy was infectious, making her believe anything was possible.
“You said Shocker has a device thing that holds all their information?” Trixie asked.
“Yes, it’s called a computer.” Twilight didn’t care for the direction this conversation was going.
“I say we strike their computer center place and take anything on the Elements or the amulet,” Trixie said.
“It won’t be easy,” Twilight said reluctantly, “the security will be tight and a password will protect the data.”
“I’ll leave the computer stuff to you.” Trixie punched her hooves together. “Let me handle the rest.”
“What about Cadance?” Starlight asked.
“I’ll handle her.”
Does Trixie not understand her limits? She was still recovering from her fight with Cadance and didn’t have most of her magic back yet. After losing the failed teleportation spell, Trixie had lost most of her spell casting capability.
Starlight put her face in her hooves. “We are so doomed.”
“Nonsense!” Trixie replied. “It will be the last thing they’d expect!”
“Yes, because it’s so crazy!” Starlight retorted. “How did I get suckered into this?”
“Twilight, make a checklist about this place’s defenses. Anything you can find.” Trixie put a hoof on her shoulder and Twilight brightened.
A checklist would be perfect. In this dark tyrannical world, the beautiful purity of a checklist was indisputable! It brought everything to order and sanity. Fears forgotten, she wrote everything she knew about the Shocker data library facility. A strange thrill overcame her. It was the same one she felt when she first defied Shocker. She didn’t know how to define it. It brightened her heart and told her anything was possible.
“Forget that,” Twilight told herself. “You have too much to plan to care about touchy-feely nonsense.”
---
“Twilight!” A voice said, startling Twilight awake.
“Yes?” Twilight removed her tired face from her desk and levitated a piece of paper from her hair.
Hot Scoops thrust his coffee cup into Twilight’s face. “Coffee. I have a long day ahead of me and I need to stay energized.”
Hot Scoops wrote articles about daily Ponyville life. The pegasus loved covering certain political controversies. Naturally, Shocker wasn’t involved with any of these controversies.
Twilight sighed and walked the whole five hooves distance to the coffee machine behind Hot Scoops’ desk. He could have made his own coffee in less time than it would have taken to wake her up, but he enjoyed lauding his power over her. She made him a black coffee with two sugars and levitated it over, then plopped back into her chair.
“Thanks.” Hot Scoops slipped at his coffee. “We’re not getting much sleep with this Trixie situation.”
Pinkie popped up from her computer screen. “No kidding. Did you hear the latest?”
The pink earth pony was a senior member of ORE Journal. She wrote their famous humorous columns about daily Shockeropolis life. Her articles were the only ones that never got censored when they got sent to the Shocker Truth Appraiser. The mare had a knack for knowing how to avoid Shocker scrutiny. If only Twilight was so lucky. Only a third of her articles ever got approved. Something about Twilight being too truthful.
“No, what?” Twilight asked.
“Somepony saw the infamous Trixie buying a white chocolate latté with chili powder at a Starbucks a few blocks from away here!” Pinkie replied.
“What!?” Twilight rushed over to Pinkie’s computer and read the forum post somepony named Pony4realz had posted. The post even had a blurry picture of Trixie holding a cup of coffee.
“I know, right?” Pinkie rolled her eyes. “Who likes chili powder in their latté?”
That idiot! Is she trying to get caught?! Twilight wanted to strangle the mare.
“Ah, so the Lux articles aren’t a bunch of guff.” Hot Scoops said. “The Ranger has escaped Shocker custody after all. How interesting.”
“I can tell this will be a busy news week.” Pinkie brightened.
“Indeed,” The editor-in-chief of ORE Journal, Da Chief, said. He bristled with excitement, “Pinkie, I want you to interview the pony that gave Trixie her latté.”
Pinkie saluted. “Got it, chief!”
“Hot Scoops, I want you and Twilight to investigate how Trixie escaped the Shockeropolis’s Correctional Facility.”
“Yes, chief.” Twilight and Hot Scoops said together.
“What about this Lux pony?” Twilight asked.
“It’s an interesting piece, but Trixie is more important.” Da Chief replied. “She’s the one that’ll sell papers, not some rabble-rouser. I can feel it.”
Twilight was a little annoyed that her Lux articles got pushed aside so easily. She worked hard on them, darn it. Oh well. Maybe it was for the best. ORE Journal had some of the best reporters in Shockeropolis. It would be disastrous if they uncovered her secret identity. A thrill went down her spine when she thought of it. It both excited and scared her.
“Coming?” Hot Scoops grabbed his coat. Twilight nodded and floated a camera around her neck. Another thrill hit her. She was investigating a crime that she perpetrated which made her grin from ear to ear. She couldn’t help it. If everything went to plan, Trixie and her exploits tonight would again make the front page.