Lunaverse: Galaxy Rangers - The White Raven
Chapter 21
by Rixizu
Trixie stared in horror as Night Light approached Lyra, sword in his aura. Lyra, for her part, took a defensive stance. Trixie struggled at her bonds. As long as she had this stupid goop on her, she was useless. Trixie growled in frustration. She could see that she was actually starting to crack the cement under her, but no matter much she pushed herself, the goop still held in place.
Lyra jumped back and unleashed a barrage of arrows at Night Light. He teleported away with no difficulty, but hitting him wasn’t her intention. She ran towards the pile of books from earlier and picked one up with her magic. It appeared to be the one Twilight used to learn the spell holding Trixie. She skimmed the pages. Night Light shot a lightning bolt at her when he saw what she was doing and Lyra avoided the bolt by jumping to the right. Night Light teleported and appeared behind Lyra. He shot a fireball at Lyra almost point blank, she wasn’t able to avoid the ball of flame in time and was blown across the street into a cart. It cracked in two and Lyra struggled to her hooves. She audibly gasped when she saw the book she was trying to read was burnt to cinders.
“Nice try.” Night Light mocked. “Thought you could find a countermeasure to the spell my daughter hit Lulamoon with? Too bad.”
Trixie was sure the musician was grinding her teeth behind her mask right now. Lyra pawed at the ground in annoyance.
Night Light teleported again and Lyra was forced to defended herself from a barrage of sword strikes from the air. Lyra did her best to use her bow to defend against them. Caught up in his attacks Night Light got too close and Lyra delivered a surprise kick to the face.
Lyra used the distraction to shoot an arrow at Trixie. Trixie screamed in horror as the projectile hit her straight on in the chest and cried out in pain.
“What was that for?!” Trixie yelled.
“Oops, I was sure that would knock you free,” Lyra said sheepishly.
“Well, it didn’t.” Trixie bit back. In fact, it didn’t even move her. All it did was hurt. Night Light watched them in amusement and laughing to himself. Trixie just glared at him.
“As amusing as this is, it’s time to end this.” Night Light said and Trixie tensed. Lyra for her part watched Night Light carefully. She followed his movements as he circled her.
“Agreed,” Lyra said nodding, “I’m getting real tired of your crap.”
“Lyra!” Trixie said in a panic. This was really bad.
“Relax, I got this,” Lyra said. This did not comfort Trixie one little bit.
Seconds passed like hours and Trixie felt herself sweat in her armor. The two combatants did nothing but stare each other down not making a move until the other did something. Then, they moved. Lyra sprang forward with such grace and speed that caught Trixie off guard. It caught Night Light off guard too, but he soon moved forward to join her and pressed a button on his morpher as he charged. Electricity sparked and gathered around his sword ready to unleash at a moment’s notice.
“Wrath of the King!” He threw the torrent of electricity down at Lyra. It hit her dead on. She screamed in pain as Night Light’s ultimate attack bombarded her with energy. Somehow though she dug her hooves into the ground. With a howl, she ran forward and pushed her bow through the torrent and pointed it right at Night Light’s chest.
“Omega Arrow Crusher!” Lyra fired a burst of rainbow colored energy into Night Light’s chest. He screamed and shot into the distance. The former viceroy hit the ground, but he didn’t stop, instead, his momentum kept him bouncing. He crashed into carts and trees, but even that didn’t stop him. Eventually, he hit a wall of a building a few blocks away and disappeared inside.
The intense energy and lightning scorched Lyra’s armor black. She just stood there like a statue for a few moments before falling to her knees. She unmorphed and collapsed unceremoniously to the ground.
“Lyra!” Trixie cried out.
"I'm fine," Lyra said in a weak voice that almost impossible to hear and gave out a small, almost inaudible laugh. "Finally got him. I don't think he’s finished though. I…I'll leave it up to you Trix…" She stopped speaking. Trixie feared the worst, but the moving of Lyra's chest up and down alleviating her fears.
Trixie sighed in relief, but only for a moment. Lyra was right. Night Light was probably still out there. And she was still stuck. How was she going to get out of this? Did this spell have a duration limit? She really didn’t want to still be here when Night Light got back. She turned towards Twilight who was still asleep on the ground.
“Twilight!” Trixie screamed praying this would wake the mare up.
“Twilight!” Trixie tried again.
“Twilight damn you wake up! I need you right now!” Still nothing, but Trixie would not be deterred. She screamed her head off. Still nothing.
“This is so stupid!” Trixie cried in frustration. She would kick the sleeping pony if it was possible to move at the moment.
Trixie closed her eyes. It was all over. She was stuck and there was nothing to help her this time. Night Light could be back any minute few moments later she was proved right. The evil ranger stumbled out of the building and limped his way towards her. It seemed that Lyra had hurt him pretty bad. He almost lost his balance for a moment, but he soon straightened up. Much to Trixie’s surprise, he unmorphed. For a long moment, he examined his morpher much to Trixie’s confusion and made a face. Then, Trixie saw it and gaped. A large crack was visible in the gem on his morpher. Trixie grinned. If it could be damaged that badly, then they had a chance to destroy them.
Night Light walked up to her and smirked. “I bet you thought your pathetic little friend actually defeated me for a moment there.”
Trixie sighed with genuine weariness in her voice. “No, not really. It’s never that easy.” She looked the former noble in the eyes and was a little surprised at Night Light’s haggard and exhausted appearance. It was like he hadn’t slept in days. It looked liked it took an effort just for him to stand up straight. Did their fight really take that much out of him? Even after her worst fights, she never looked that bad.
Night Light examined the goop around Trixie. “My daughter does nice work. Even I’m surprised she could conjure a spell able to hold even a Ranger.” He gave Trixie a smug smile that said volumes of how much better he thought of his daughter’s magical skills over Trixie’s.
"Yeah, yeah," Trixie said dejectedly.
Night Light’s face became serious and thoughtful. He looked at his morpher and back at Twilight. He paced back and forth mumbling to himself. “This might be a good opportunity for her.”
“What are you talking about?” Trixie didn’t like the look Night Light was giving her.
“If ancient ponies were able to perform it, why not me too? And I do share my daughter’s gift for learning new spells.” Night Light walked up to his daughter and pulled out the prototype morpher that she made. “Aha, so she did bring it with her, just as I thought. Are you familiar with how the planetary gems were made?”
Trixie felt herself starting to sweat. “Uh, well. Not really.” She lied not wanting to give him any ideas.
The smile Night Light gave her made her blood go cold. “They were made by sacrificing ponies, but who’s to say that the ritual can’t be replicated today?”
“Y-you can’t be serious.” Trixie spluttered.
“Why not?” Night Light said. “Finally, my daughter will have her rightful place. And, of course, there is the added bonus of having you out of the way.”
“If it doesn’t work,” Night Light shrugged, “it will at least make Twilight even more powerful.”
Night Light teleported away. This didn't make Trixie feel any better. If the former noble was good as his daughter at learning spells then there was no way this could end well for her at all. She prayed that somepony would come and rescue her. Somepony had to hear all those fireworks go off, right?
It didn't take long for Night Light to return with a book of his own. The book looked old and well-worn from use. Trixie really hoped the cover wasn’t the leather it seemed to be. She tried to read the title, but it was too faded to read. The book looked centuries old. He also had a bag of what looked like chalk.
“I can’t say I know exactly how the ancient ponies did it, but.” Night Light gave an unpleasant grin. “I think I can improvise. If Twilight can invent new spells, why not me too? My powers should be able to bridge the gap.”
Night Light opened the book in his hooves to a page and started reading. He grinned and nodded to himself.
“What the heck is that?” Trixie asked dread in her voice gesturing to the book.
Night Light peered up from his book. “This? Something I acquired over the years. I live to collect knowledge, even if someponies might consider it taboo.”
Night Light pulled out a piece of chalk and drew a circle around Trixie and what appeared to be ruins of some kind inside it. Night Light started muttering to himself and consulted the book several times. He also made a circle around Twilight was well. For some reason, he put Twilight’s morpher in her hooves.
“Yes, that should do the trick.” Night Light said cheerfully. “It’s actually quite simple. It’s a modified power transfer spell. Only much more powerful. One powerful enough to take your life as well.”
“You don’t have to do this!” Trixie said frantic and felt herself starting to panic.
“You should feel honored.” Night Light said. “Giving your life so somepony worthier can take your place.” Night Light breathed out. “Finally, the world has the true Element of Magic. It’s morphing time! Jupiter!” Night Light transformed. Trixie was still unsure why he unmorphed in the first place. To save energy maybe? To smile smugly at her? His horn glowed a strange purple color that wasn’t the natural color of his magic.
Trixie struggled with everything she had against her bonds. The ground under her cracked from the force of her struggling. This was not the way she was going to go! No way! Much to her amazement, the goop was actually breaking a little.
“No.” Night Light stopped what he was doing and shot a stunning bolt at Trixie. She screamed and felt her body go limp. “That’s better.” His horn started glowing purple again. The two circles glowed a sickly red color. There was something wrong about it. Trixie couldn’t place it, but this was against nature itself somehow.
Trixie screamed. Her body… the pain was. The pain was indescribable. It was like she was being torn limb from limb. Like her body was unraveling at the seams. She screamed until her voice went raw, but even that didn’t stop her cries of pain. She has dimly aware of collapsing to the ground. The spell that Twilight used on her was gone, but Trixie found herself in so much pain that moving even a little was impossible. She welcomed the blackness that soon approached her.
---
Twilight found herself floating in absolute darkness. It was calm and soothing somehow. She knew that there was something she needed to do but for the life of her couldn’t think what it was. Twilight closed her eyes and just relaxed whatever it was could wait.
Her eyes opened when she heard screaming. Who was that? It sounded familiar. Wait, she knew who that was. It was Trixie, and she was in pain. Oh no, Trixie needed to help! She was about to attempt to force herself awake when a strange almost painful warmth filled her entire body. It was like her blood was boiling.
What was going on? Trixie’s screaming was getting worse. Wait, was whatever was happening to Trixie related to her? Yes, somehow that seemed right. There was something else as well. Twilight felt herself becoming stronger. It was like her magic was being supercharged somehow. She started to panic when Trixie’s screaming became even worse. It seemed to her that the power that filled her seemed to increase in relation to Trixie’s pain. No, it couldn’t be. Was Trixie’s power being drained into her? How?
Father. Twilight growled the thought. She couldn’t believe it. What he was doing was abhorrent. It went against the laws of magic and everything she believed in. If he continued with this insanity, it would kill Trixie. But that what he wanted, after all, wasn't it?
Twilight screamed and flailed. She had to do something to wake up and stop this. She winced as the pain became worse, but ignored it. Trixie didn’t have long. Twilight screamed her heart out. Kicked herself. Kicked herself hard. She mentally forced herself to wake up. Nothing. Despite everything, she was still trapped in this darkness. Trixie… was going to die.
She didn’t even attempt to stop the tears and sobbed into her hooves. While she didn’t know Trixie long, Twilight thought of her as a friend. Trixie would die and it was all her fault for not being strong enough. For not being able to stop her father. If only she could have done something differently. If only she had been able to talk her father down. Trixie was going to die and there was nothing she could do about it.
Twilight cried. Cried until there was nothing left to cry. All that was left was the pain and shame. As usual, she was a complete screw-up. Twilight thought bitterly. Never able to deliver when it really counted. Rarity was wrong. Her life was worthless after all. She curled up into a ball and just floated there in the darkness.
A strange thought hit her. If her father succeeded, Trixie would die and that would make her the new Element of Magic. She would not only have to power to stop her father but Corona and any other threat to Equestria as well.
She could see herself clad in red armor leading the other Galaxy Rangers in battle against Corona sword in hoof. The other Rangers would accept her as a leader and a friend. Maybe she could be even a better leader than Trixie. She could become the hero she always dreamed of being.
No. No. No, she couldn’t be the Element of Magic. She didn’t deserve it or earn it. Trixie fought long and hard with blood, sweat, and tears to become the Ursa Ranger. The Elements of Harmony chose her to be their leader. Twilight knew that they would not choose wrong. She couldn’t, and won’t accept the role. It was not hers to take.
Twilight felt a new resolve and her horn glowed. She forced the magic out of her. It hurt. It was worse than anything she had ever felt before in her life, but Twilight didn’t care. This power wasn’t hers to take and she would be damned before she would accept any of it. Twilight would give this power back even if it killed her. She sent the power back the same way it came through the link between her and Trixie. The power that was coming her way was forced back even harder, but Twilight pushed back twice as hard as that which was being thrown at her. She would not let Trixie die!
Amidst all of this, Twilight felt something in her chest. Warmth. Not the burning heat of the magic being pushed into her, but a gentle and comforting warmth like a fireplace on a cold winter day. It made her smile. In the back of her mind, she felt something that felt like approval. Who? What? It made little sense, but she was certain that she made the right choice.
Trixie wasn’t going to die. The thought was certain and clear in her mind. She knew what she had to do. Her horn lit and the entire realm of darkness shone a blazing blinding light.
Twilight opened her eyes. Somehow, she was standing, but that meant little for the moment. She looked around. Whatever happened was a real mess. It looked like a shockwave hit the area. Benches, trees, and streetlamps were torn asunder. Not a single piece of glass was left unbroken. Her father stared at her with obvious surprise prone the ground. Much to her relief, it looked like Trixie was still breathing. The Ranger was on her side and covered with trash that was blown on her from the shockwave, but otherwise seemed just unconscious.
Twilight looked at her father with disdain who was struggling to his hooves after being smashed into a metal fence He almost cost Trixie her life and she could never stand by that. She stared at him right in the visor. Twilight gripped the morpher that was in her hooves so tight it hurt.
“This has gone on far enough father.” Twilight spat the last word.
Twilight did a battle pose. Somehow, she knew exactly what she needed to do. “It’s morphing time!” She thrust the morpher out in front of her. “Corvus!”
There was flash around her body and there it was her armor. She found a piece of broken glass and peered into it. Her armor was all white. The metal plating of her armor resembled feathers. They were long and jagged. Her helmet resembled her old one except instead of a beak, this one had a black visor that covered her whole face. It had the constellation of Corvus in white stars on the front.
Twilight turned away and stared at her father. She pressed a button on her morpher and summoned two guns to her hooves. They were long and white and resembled the beak of a bird. Much to Twilight’s amusement, they looked like futuristic weapons from a sci-fi movie. She pointed them at her father. “One way or another, this is going to end Night Light. Your sins have finally caught up with you”