//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 // Story: Lunaverse: Galaxy Rangers - The White Raven // by Rixizu //------------------------------// Lunaverse: Galaxy Rangers - The White Raven Chapter 5 by Rixizu Trixie tossed another rejected idea from her notebook into the trash can with her magic. She had a bit of a magician's block and was having trouble coming up with ideas. She actually had plenty of them, but none of the ones she had now were of her liking. She sat back on the bench and just relaxed. She thought being outdoors might help her block, but it was to no avail. Still, the fresh air was nice and the music was fantastic. Trixie looked over to her friend Lyra as she was playing her lyre on a nearby bench. Lyra had a hat in front of her. It already had a few bits in it. Playing on the street was one of the ways she made money when not performing in a concert. Some musicians might find the situation demeaning, but Lyra seemed to love it. She was surrounded by admirers and they seemed to be loving her music. They clapped and stomped their hooves when Lyra finished a song. "Go! Lyra!” Raindrops cheered. She just happened to be in the area and stopped by to listen to her friend. Trixie closed her eyes and just let herself soak in the music. It was an energetic piece that reminded one of the waves of the ocean. Suddenly she had an idea and frantically entered it in her notebook. I wonder if anypony has escaped the belly of a shark before? I can definitely use that one! As she finished, Trixie spotted something odd. There amongst the crowd was a pony that was clearly sleeping on a bench. She was a white unicorn with an electric blue mane. She had sunglasses on that were resting above her eyes. One of her back legs was prosthetic. The crowd applauded again, but the mystery mare kept on sleeping. How can she sleep through Lyra's performance? Trixie thought. It didn’t take long for Lyra to notice the mare too and she stopped playing. She trotted up to the sleeping mare and started poking her on the shoulder. “Um, Miss?” Lyra said concerned. The mare awoke and gave a big yawn. "Sorry about that. That boring elevator music puts me to sleep every time." The mare pulled out a cigarette and lit it with a spell. She inhaled and puffed out some smoke making Lyra cough. “R-really?” Lyra’s eye twitched. Raindrops gasped. “Is that DJ-Pon3?” Everypony turned towards the mare cried out in surprise and alarm. Trixie had heard of her but knew little about her. Apparently, she created a type of music called dubtrot that was becoming popular amongst young ponies. “Oh my gosh. It is DJ-Pon3!” A pony cried out. The DJ was swarmed by ponies. Raindrops practically had stars in her eyes. Trixie had no idea the mare was this famous. "Um, excuse me." Lyra tried to say but was drowned out by the excitable ponies around her. DJ-Pon3 raised a hoof and everypony stopped whatever they were doing and listened intently. DJ-Pon3 put her glasses over her eyes. "Now if you want real music listen to this." She stomped a hoof and a cart was suddenly pulled in the park nearly hitting some ponies. Its harness was attached to a light opalish gray unicorn stallion with dark gray mane. DJ-Pon3 stomped her hoof again and the cart transformed into what could best be called a DJ platform. It had multiple giant speakers, flashing lights, and turntables. DJ-Pon3 jumped behind the turntable. She put on some headphone that had her cutie mark on it which was a note. That was unexpected. Trixie thought. Where the hay did she get that? “Let’s rock this…” Whatever the DJ was going to say was drowned out by the blaring music. DJ-Pon3 bobbed her head to the beat. It was really loud and incoherent, but the ponies in the audience loved it. Raindrops seemed particularly into it. Some ponies started dancing. The song ended and the whole audience seemed pumped for more. "I'm going to have a party at Sugercube Corner if anypony is interested," DJ-Pon3 smirked, "I am going to bring the whole place down!" DJ-Pon3 waved towards the stallion and he started pulled the cart/DJ platform/whatever it was out of the park. The whole audience followed her. Raindrops whooped and did a flip in the air. “Wha-what? I wasn’t done playing!” Lyra shouted, but everypony either ignored and didn’t hear her. Soon everypony in the park except Trixie and Lyra were gone. Lyra’s jaw dropped. “Well. That was something.” Trixie said dryly. Lyra sputtered out a few incoherent words. “Wha-what? Hey! Wait a minute! They never got a chance to tip me!” The musician was furious now. Her hat was pretty empty of bits. “Ugh, I was trying to save some bits to get something nice for Bonnie!” Lyra growled. Oh that’s right. They have some undefined anniversary coming up. Trixie remembered. For some reason that escaped Trixie, Lyra was being close-lipped about it. Lyra stomped a hoof to the ground several times. She growled and started cursing. “Real music? What a bunch of malarkey! It’s just empty dribble! It has no soul or heart! Isn’t that right Trixie?” Lyra turned towards Trixie expectantly. Trixie just shrugged. “I guess?” Lyra turned smug. “Ha! I bet in ten years nopony will even know who DJ-Pon3 even is! My music is classic and everlasting. Her music is just a stupid fad!” She started laughing to herself. Trixie gave out a sigh. Oh, brother. Somepony is jealous. “Raindrops that traitor! How could she?!” Lyra ranted. She stopped a hoof. “How could she choose her music over mine?!” It’s called having your own tastes. What Trixie said out loud was. "I'm sure she didn't mean it. She just got caught up in the moment." Trixie didn't want this to turn into a friendship-destroying misunderstanding. She would have to talk to Raindrops about this before this exploded into a complete mess. Lyra snorted. “Some friend.” Trixie sighed. Poor Raindrops. All she wanted to do was listen to her favorite DJ. A thought struck Trixie. That whole scene was odd. Did the DJ steal Lyra’s audience on purpose? What was she even doing here? Didn’t she perform mostly in Canterlot? Something about this wasn’t right. Trixie narrowed her eyes. She had a bad feeling about that pony. --- Sugarcube Corner was packed with ponies. Lyra reluctantly followed in behind Trixie. Ponies were dancing, having fun, and generally having a good time. DJ-Pon3 was behind some turntables bobbing her head as usual. Trixie scanned the room. Raindrops was hitting the dance floor. Her dancing wasn’t the best, but she was having fun. Trixie was a bit surprised to see this side of her, but she remembered how much Raindrops liked to keep to herself. She also found Ditzy sitting at a table with a glass of punch. She waved at friends and they trotted up to her. "Nice party huh?" Ditzy yelled barely understood over the blaring music. Lyra just snorted derisively. Ditzy tilted her head at the response. "What's with her?" “What?” Trixie yelled back. “I said, what’s up with her?” Ditzy repeated a bit louder. “Oh! She’s just sulking because she can’t draw crowds like this.” Trixie explained. “I so could!” Lyra shot back. “I get better a crowd than this when I perform at Canterlot!” Trixie rolled her eyes. Lyra glared at her. "I see," Ditzy said after a moment. She was about to say something when she spotted Cheerilee and waved at her. “What the occasion?” Cheerilee asked. Ditzy shrugged. “DJ-Pon3 is here?” Lyra grunted. “Ugh, don’t tell me you like her too?” Cheerilee nodded in understanding. “I should get some dancing in. I so rarely get to do it. There are quite a few nice-looking stallions in here.” She looked around and found a stallion she particularly liked. “See you guys later.” “I’m glad somepony is getting something out of this stupid party.” Lyra’s mood suddenly brightened as if getting an idea. “Trixie you should join her and have some fun.” She suggested. "No thanks! Not really my thing!” Trixie responded. She felt herself being pushed by Ditzy. “Hey stop it!” “Come on. Give it a try!” Ditzy said, Trixie was now on the dance floor and acting like a confused lost puppy. She straightened herself. She decided to just go with it and started awkwardly moving to the beat. Soon Trixie found herself enjoying it and found dancing and the music wasn’t so bad. “Would you like to dance?” A voice shouted hurting Trixie’s ears. It was Master Snowflake. He was a master of the Dojo in Sugarcube Corner and was training Trixie in martial arts specifically judo. He looked hopefully towards Trixie. He was rubbing his hooves together nervously. Trixie looked the giant, muscular white pegasus up and down. He was an odd dance partner to be sure. Trixie just shrugged. “Sure, love to.” And the two danced the night away. Trixie lost herself in the music and dancing. It was like all her recent troubles and stress just melted away. All her problems could just wait for tomorrow. It was just her and this stallion. Trixie completely forgot she was here to investigate DJ-Pon3. --- Trixie waved at Snowflake as she left Sugarcube Corner. She yawned. It was getting late and she had training and another early meeting with the mayor. She was kind of glad that the party didn’t have any alcohol. She didn’t want to face all that with a hangover. Trixie gave another yawn and went towards home. About halfway home Trixie stopped. She felt eyes on her. For the last mile, she had the distant feeling somepony was following her. She pretended not to notice. She noticed an alley to her right. She smirked and went inside. The alley was almost pitch black. Perfect. She went to the darkest part of the alley and turned invisible. She jumped up and used her back legs to hold herself up on the walls. The alley walls were close enough for her to do this. She pulled out her sword that she had hidden in her cape. Transforming would cause too much of a commotion. Trixie waited patiently. It didn’t take too long for a figure to come into the alley. Trixie readied herself. She jumped down right behind the figure and pointed the sword towards the mystery pony’s neck. “Why are you following me?” Trixie asked making sure her quarry knew the threat in her voice. "Tri-Trixie? I-It's me Lyra." Lyra's voice shook. "Oh," Trixie said simply and made her sword disappear with a twirl of her hoof, "sorry. You shouldn't sneak up on a pony like that." Lyra nodded. She still looked shaken up by what happened. "Really Lyra? Why didn't you yell for me? Oh, and you need to train harder. I shouldn't have been able to get the jump on you so easily." Trixie admonished. “Trixie!” Ditzy stomped up towards Trixie. “What the hay are you doing?!” Raindrops followed in the air behind her with a scowl on her face. Trixie rubbed the back of her neck. “I, um, thought you were somepony else and well with the Night Court trying to make the moves on us...” “Oh.” Ditzy chuckled. “I guess we should have seen this coming. Let’s not do this again.” “You think they might try something again so soon?” Raindrops flew in and hovered above Ditzy. Trixie tapped her chin. “Maybe, but I am not taking any chances." She didn't want any thugs trying to get the jump on her. She thought it might be possible that Vicereine Puissance might try to get revenge on her. Even with her powers, she wasn't invincible. "Why were you guys following me?” “Well...um...We just wanted to know how your date went.” Lyra said after finally getting her composure back. Trixie groaned. "It was not a date." Her friend chuckled and Trixie rolled her eyes. Of course, they wanted to chat and gossip about this. "We just had fun night together...that's it." She found that Snowdrops was a surprisingly good dancer. "I see you two had a lot of fun together," Ditzy said grinning. “We actually have a surprising number of things in common," Trixie said, "did you know he wants to be a Wonderbolt?" Raindrops dropped to the ground. “What really?” She said surprised. “You wouldn’t think such a big guy would aspire to that.” Trixie grinned. “Pretty cool huh?” It reminded her of her own situation with the Night Court. She liked his never give up attitude. “Why bother? It isn’t like he could ever make it.” Lyra asked confused. She shrunk when Ditzy and Trixie glared at her. “Maybe you guys should I don’t know… hang out again sometime.” Ditzy suggested innocently. Trixie sighed. "We were planning to hang out again on Saturday after I perform the show. We plan to go to Berry Punch's bar for a few drinks." Trixie glared defiantly. "But it isn't a date." Her friends giggled and Trixie just rolled her eyes. Can a mare have a male friend without ponies thinking that there is something romantic between the two of them? Trixie thought derisively. “What a minute. Where is Cheerilee?” Trixie looked around and didn’t see the teacher anywhere. Ditzy thought about it. “I don’t know. I wasn’t really paying attention to her.” “I know. It was kind of a bad scene.” Raindrops explained. “The stallion she danced with tried to grab her flank. She didn’t take it well and both of them had to be thrown out.” “Gee.” Trixie had no idea how that mare had such bad luck with stallions. Ditzy rubbed the back of her neck. “I have no idea how, out of all the ponies there, she…” Whatever she was about to say was lost. She gasped and pointed. At the end of the alley was a figure. It was hard to make out in the darkness, but it was clearly a pony in what looked like Ranger armor. Trixie gritted her teeth and reached for her morpher. “Who are you?” The mysterious Ranger pushed a button on their morpher and a crossbow appeared in their hooves and pointed it right at the three of them. "You better transform right away, or I will start this party without you.” The new Ranger said. The voice was feminine and little raspy sounding. Raindrops and Ditzy came to attention right away and pulled out their morphers. Trixie thrust her morpher forward. “It’s morphing time! Ursa!” Trixie's red armor appeared around her. "Cygnus!” Lyra shouted and became the Blue Ranger. "Hercules!” Raindrop became the Black Ranger. “Sagittarius!” And finally Ditzy became the Pink Ranger. In the flash of light, they transformed. Unfortunately, the narrow alleyway didn't give them much room to move around. Not wanting to be cornered and trapped they rushed out of the alleyway and thankfully the mysterious Ranger didn't attack. Out of the alleyway, they were able to get a better look at their opponent. Her armor was pink and looked to be very different from their armor. On the forehead was what looked to be the symbol of mercury. She was also a unicorn. Ditzy gasped when she got a better look. “Another Pink Ranger?” “Who are you?” Trixie demanded. “Are you friend or foe?” Instead of answering, the Pink Ranger shot arrows at them with her crossbow. They barely dodged them in time. "Fine," Trixie growled, "we will just make you tell us!" She summoned her sword and took a fighting stance. Raindrops, Ditzy, and Lyra did the same. Ditzy took to the air. The Pink Ranger snorted when she saw Lyra’s weapon. “A bow really? How passé.” Lyra growled and shot several arrows at her. Only for the Pink Ranger to shoot them out of the air with her crossbow. Trixie and Raindrops used this as a distraction to attack the Pink Ranger from both sides. Ditzy readied her staff for an attack from the air. Raindrops swung her ax, only to hit open air. Her target just vanished. Trixie stopped her attack and searched around. She was surprised to find the Pink Ranger several hooves away. The Pink Ranger unleashed a volley of crossbow bolts at them. They appeared at the top of her weapon as bolts of pure pink energy. Raindrops was able to avoid them, but Trixie wasn’t so lucky and was hit in the shoulder. She grunted in pain. Lyra shouted in fury and shot more arrows at the mysterious ranger. Again, the arrows were just shot out of the air. “That’s it? Really?” The Pink Ranger mocked. Ditzy dived bombed the Pink Ranger her staff going right for the head, only to hit the ground. The pavement was cracked by the attack. Ditzy did a double take. “Wha-what?” “You missed.” The Pink Ranger pointed her crossbow right at Ditzy’s head and shot her point-blank. Ditzy screamed and flew to the ground sparks flying from her helmet. Trixie used her magic to summon five different Trixies. They charged with Raindrops behind them. Much to both Raindrops and Trixie astonishment, the Pink Ranger vanished in a blur and appeared right behind them. She shot all five Trixies and Raindrops from behind. Raindrops growled in pain. Thankfully, all five Trixies were an illusion and Trixie, while invisible, swung her sword from the Pink Ranger’s right side at her torso. Trixie scored a hit, but only momentarily. The second the blow hit, the Pink Ranger vanished and Trixie only got a glancing blow. The Pink Ranger appeared a few hooves away and sprayed the area with bolts and Trixie was hit by at least five or six of them. She howled in pain and struggled to stay on her hooves. Lyra shot several arrows, but the Pink Ranger just dodged around them with little difficulty. Trixie started to breathe heavily. It can’t be. She’s so fast. The Pink Ranger laughed in amusement. "Is that really all you have?" She vanished again in a pink blur and was gone. Trixie slammed a hoof into the ground in frustration. “This isn’t over!” She shouted. Ditzy and Raindrops unmorphed and ran to check up on Trixie. “Are you okay?” Ditzy asked. Trixie unmorphed and nodded. “Yeah.” Lyra growled in frustration. “Who the hay was that?!” “I don’t get it. How can there be another Pink Ranger?” Ditzy tilted her head. “I have a bad feeling about this.” Trixie narrowed her eyes.