“Trixie, are you okay?” A voice above Trixie said. Through blurry eyes, she had difficulty discerning who was speaking to her.
“Yep. Just give me a few minutes,” Trixie said through a strained voice. Her entire body hurt everywhere, but such was the life of a Ranger. With a shaky hoof, she pushed herself up.
“Who are you?” Trixie asked the wizened mare hovering over her when her vision cleared. In a flash, The Ranger realized whom she was speaking to. Her heart broke when she saw her friend’s aged form. Seeing how much her friend had lost hurt. “It’s you Ditzy, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, a fine mess we’ve stumbled into, huh?” Ditzy replied.
Trixie searched around, trying to discern where they were. Closer examination revealed they were still on the castle grounds, devastated by Nightmare Moon’s attack. Both mares jumped as a massive figure loomed over them. The creature snorted, and rancid, hot breath striking them both.
“Yikes. She’s even more terrifying up close.” Trixie said, not knowing what else to say in her terror. A single bite would gobble up both defenseless Rangers. Luna wasn’t suddenly a cannibal now, right?
Or is it still considered cannibalism? Nightmare Moon is technically a dragon now. Damn it, Trixie focus! She shook her head sharply. You hang around Twilight too much.
Despite everything, Trixie put on a brave face. She sure as heck wouldn’t face her end, cowering in fear.
“Well, come on, gobble us up! Ditzy might be aged meat, but I bet she’s still good.” Trixie said, straightening in defiance.
“You’ve won, end us.” Ditzy let out a breath. “Just leave Dinky alone. She has no part in this.”
“What shall I do with you? Turn you stone? Rip you into pieces? You’re helpless against my might.” Nightmare Moon’s mouth extended to reveal countless jagged teeth. Despite her monstrous strength, Trixie detected something in the dragon’s massive eyes. Was that hesitation? Did part of her equinity still remain?
A snort from Nightmare Moon almost threw Trixie off her hooves. The dragon stood to her full height. “No, I must destroy you, Trixie Lulamoon. Even if I turned you to stone, you’d never learn your lesson, even after a thousand years. You would always continue to defy me. Forgive me, my former student, but I promise your end will be quick.” The massive maw of Nightmare Moon opened, and energy gathered around her mouth.
“Trixie, I’m sorry for the trouble I caused,” Ditzy said, grabbing hold of her friend’s hoof. “But I’m still proud to be your friend. You forgave me when you shouldn’t have. I was being stupid.”
Trixie’s face extended into a smile. “Hey, none of this self-pity crap. You were fighting to protect your daughter. Okay, in retrospect it was a bad idea, and you really shouldn’t accept evil gems from bad guys, but I understand. None of us are angry at you. We just wanted our friend back.”
The grip on Trixie’s hoof tightened. For somepony of such advanced years, Ditzy was surprisingly strong. “Thanks.”
“It’s not over yet!” Somepony said, tossing a strange metal cylinder towards Trixie, landing a couple of hooves away.
“Spike?” Trixie blinked. What was Corona’s butler doing here? She examined the strange device in her hooves. “What the heck is this thing?” Was it a weapon?
The dragon hesitated. “I’m not sure. Just friendship it or something!”
“What?!” What kind of advice was that? Not that it mattered, Nightmare Moon had finished charging her breath attack and shot energy beams towards her helpless foes.
Before the energy beam struck the Rangers, a figure appeared before them, protecting them with their body.
“It isn’t over yet!” Raindrops said. She screamed as her body took the full brunt of the attack. The pegasus gasped as she lost her transformation and dropped to the ground, her lungs heaving.
“Raindrop, you foal!” Trixie said, tears in her eyes.
“Can’t let anything happen to you.” Raindrops replied, and with considerable effort, pulled herself towards her friends.
Trixie turned her attention towards whatever Spike had thrown at her and shook it. “Stupid thing! How do you work?”
“Do? You’ll do nothing but die.” Nightmare Moon replied and opened her mouth for another breath attack. She recoiled as several energy bolts flew into her face.
“Leave our friends alone!” Twilight jumped in front of her friend and unleashed more bolts from her guns.
“Yeah, we aren’t giving up yet!” Lyra stood on two hooves and unleashed arrow after arrow into the alicorn dragon.
A deep growl escaped Nightmare Moon’s maw. “Stubborn.”
“Get away from them!” Cheerilee appeared from nowhere. Her whip drove Nightmare Moon back as it struck the dragon between the eyes.
“You haven’t won yet!” Carrot Top jumped from behind, smacking the back of Nightmare Moon’s head with her shield, causing her to stumble.
Trixie could only smirk in amusement. “We really are too stupid to give up, aren’t we?” She turned her attention to her former mentor turned monster. “That’s right, we are stubborn. If we’re going to die, it’s going to be together!”
“Can you still fight?” Trixie ran towards the fallen Raindrops, pulling her ally to her hooves. The Hercules Ranger didn’t have the strength to stand on her own.
“Always. It’s morphing time, Hercules!”
“Just come and get us! It’s morphing time, Ursa!”
“We’re going to win this! It’s morphing time, Sagittarius!”
Nightmare Moon snarled. While annoyed, the Ranger’s attack hadn’t seemed to do much damage. “Still, you fight! Still! Still! Die, all of you! Die! Die!” In a single bound, the alicorn dragon flew well beyond the Rangers’ reach. She opened her mouth, and energy gathered within it. Much to Trixie’s dread, the magical energy kept increasing beyond anything she’d used before. A pit in Trixie’s stomach formed when she realized what would happen. If Nightmare Moon unleashed this next breath attack, it would devastate the entirety of Canterlot and perhaps even further than that. Could her full strength destroy all of Equestria?
Trixie cursed. They could call their Zords, but there wouldn’t be time to stop Nightmare Moon’s attack. She looked at the weapon in her hooves and gave Spike a questioning look. “Well?”
The dragon threw up his claws. “I don’t know, Cadence gave it to me! Do something! Or we’re all going to die!”
Cadance? Something snapped in place in Trixie’s head. “Right, this must be the secret weapon Bon-Bon brought. She said we’re meant to use it together.”
Without pause, Lyra grabbed hold of the cannon and helped Trixie point it towards the dragon. “If it’s from Bonnie, then I trust her! Let’s kick Nightmare Moon’s flank!”
“Okay, but I don’t know how it works.”
Ditzy was the next to put her hoof on the weapon. “We’ll figure it out. Nightmare Moon doesn’t know who she’s messing with!”
“Right! We haven’t lost yet!” Raindrops placed her hoof on the cannon next. Trixie wasn’t sure why, but somehow her friend’s gathering together was giving the weapon power. It wasn’t anything visible, but something Trixie sensed deep in her heart.
“What a fascinating weapon,” Cheerilee said, joining her friends. “I look forward to seeing what it can do.”
“Kick flank, that’s what.” Carrot Top replied. “Nightmare Moon doesn’t stand a chance.”
Twilight peered over Trixie, studying the controls of the cannon. She was the last Ranger to place her hoof on the weapon. “Was there an instruction booklet for this? Shame we don’t have time to look through it.” She sounded genuinely disappointed by this.
“I’m not sure.” Trixie examined the panel with the keyslots. What did it mean? The answer seemed on the tip of the Ranger’s tongue.
“Guys!” Spike’s voice cracked in panic. Above, Nightmare Moon had gathered the destructive energy she needed, pointing her beam right towards her hated enemies.
Then everything clicked together. Trixie understood what they needed to do. She pulled the morpher from her belt and pressed a button that hadn’t worked before. The device opened and formed into a key. Without hesitation, the Ursa Ranger slipped it into the cannon’s top slot.
“Die!” Nightmare Moon breathed death down towards the Rangers and the helpless Canterlot. The Rangers didn’t panic, however. Instead, the determination to protect what they loved the most only grew stronger. As they inserted each key, the constellations’ glow on the cannon grew stronger. It emitted a powerful hum, and the Rangers sensed the power behind their ultimate weapon. They could win!
Each Ranger grabbed hold of each other and the cannon, keeping it steady. The power within the weapon grew by the moment, and Trixie’s mouth extended into a lopsided smile. Nightmare Moon’s breath weapon was only a couple hooves away from striking them, but they didn’t care.
“Galaxy Buster!”
A rainbow-colored light shot from the cannon’s tip, containing the Ranger’s hopes, dreams, and love. The two beams collided, energy splashing everywhere. Moments later, their beamed ripped Nightmare Moon power to pieces. It didn’t stand a chance against the Galaxy Ranger’s combined might and dissipated into nothingness. The beam continued forward, heading towards the source of all their grief.
“Impossible! What trickery is this?!” Nightmare Moon’s voice said, tinged with fear. She tried to change into smoke to avoid the attack, but her breath weapon had left her drained and too tired to perform the spell.
The alicorn dragon screamed as the beam smashed into her chest. She tried fighting against the current, but it was in vain. Moments later, an explosion boomed above Canterlot.
“Yeah!” The Rangers celebrated, pumping their hooves in excitement.
Trixie was more melancholy about having to defeat her mentor and mother figure, then she noticed a glint in the sky and a figure crashed down towards them. The ground shook as a massive body crashed into it. It seemed Nightmare Moon had survived. Thank goodness.
“Damn you, Rangers!” Nightmare Moon was still in her dragon form and struggled to lift her head.
“It’s over, Nightmare Moon. You’ve lost.” Trixie said.
“Never! It can’t be! I refuse to allow that to happen! I am the Queen of the Eternal Night! I can’t lose!” The dragon’s eyes glowed, and a small vial appeared, floating above her in a cobalt aura.
Wait a minute. Isn’t that similar to the potion Chrysalis used? Luna was behind the Changeling invasion?
Nightmare Moon opened her massive maw, swallowing the vial whole. Cobalt energy encompassed her body, casting a spell alongside her transformation. The dragon’s body expanded, towering well above even the castle. But her transformation didn’t stop there, growing even further. Her dragon body changed too, becoming more serpent-like. Soon, Nightmare Moon didn’t just tower over the castle. Her body grew to eclipse even the moon. Dear Luna, how large had Nightmare Moon become? She’d become a monstrous serpent capable of wrapping her entire body around the planet. Nightmare Moon’s body crushed miles upon miles of countryside as she landed on it, filling the sky with her black scales.
“Holy Luna, that’s huge!” Lyra said, astonished.
“Can we even hurt her?” Raindrops asked.
“We’re about to find out” Trixie pulled her morpher from their Galaxy Cannon. It didn’t matter how huge her body had become. The Rangers weren’t out of this fight either.
“Finally, it’s time for me to join the battle too!” Twilight pulled out a bell.
Trixie blinked. “Huh?”
Cheerilee bounced on her hooves in excitement. “I’ve been waiting for this!”
The Corvus Ranger’s hoof extended, and she played a jaunty piece on her instruments, dancing along with it. “Thunderbird, give me your power! Come, Guardian Beast ThunderRaven Zord!”
Dark clouds formed into the sky, shooting lightning in every direction. The air shook as thunder boomed from the sheer power of the thunderclaps. From the clouds emerged a figure flapping its mighty wings towards them. It was a great mechanical beast in the shape of a raven painted a stark white color. It cawed, and lightning shot from its mechanical beak.
“When did this happen?” Trixie said in astonishment.
“It’s so cool!” Lyra said, admiring their new ally. The other Ranger also offered their praise.
Behind the Corvus Ranger’s helmet, Trixie heard Twilight smirk behind it. “You haven’t seen anything yet!” With a single bound, she jumped towards her new Zord and teleported into it.
Not to be outdone, Trixie pressed a button on her morpher and teleported to her Zord’s cockpit in space. From their space-bound launching pad, she got a better look at Nightmare Moon’s new monstrous form. Dear Luna, she’d been more on the nose than she’d expected. Nightmare Moon was almost bigger than the entire planet. Worse, the serpent dragon spotted their launch platform, heading right towards it, fangs extended to swallow it whole.
“Oh crap!” Trixie hurried her Zord’s launch sequence. Over the comm, she heard her fellow Rangers doing the same.
“I don’t think we can make it!” Cheerilee said. “According to my instruments, we have about thirty seconds until she arrives!”
Trixie’s heart almost stopped as Nightmare Moon’s massive jaws easily eclipsed their entire launch platform. Her maw opened wider, eager to swallow her enemies whole. Had Luna entirely abandoned her equinity? In Luna’s massive eyes, Trixie saw the mind of an animal. The giant monster howled in pain as laser bolts collided with her head, knocking her off course.
“Don’t worry. I’ll hold her off.” Twilight said over the comm unit. Laser cannons on her Zord’s wings fired as she strafed past her opponent’s colossal head, drawing Nightmare Moon’s attention and ire.
Nightmare Moon opened her mouth and a beam shot out, devastating everything in its path. It collided with a section of the moon, leaving a long, terrible scar across its surface. With some fancy flying, Twilight avoided the beam, but only barely. She headed towards the massive monster, and her Zord transformed. Its beak opened up wide, then folded back, revealing a head. Its wings folded inward, becoming two arms while its torso rotated around, revealing two bottom hooves that extended outwards. Parts of its head opened up to create a helmet with two feathers extending from its sides. Its body shone with white energy, becoming almost like the sun.
“Guardian Beast ThunderRaven Zord: Battle Mode!” The Zord extended its front hoof, a blade appeared within it, formed from one of its feathers. The Battle Zord landed on Nightmare Moon’s massive body, and the great serpent howled in pain as Twilight slashed the surface of her scales with her blade.
Trixie pumped a hoof. “Very nice. Let’s join her.” With a few taps of her control council, she finished the launch sequence.
“Right!” The other Rangers replied.
Let’s Launch! The Zords separated from their platform and used boosters to fly towards Nightmare Moon.
“Combine!”
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 scales combined with the side of the hoof on both sides. 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. The Galaxy Megazord was complete. It used its rocket boosters to fly towards their foe.
“Yep, that’s a big one.” Lyra said. The monstrous serpent filled their entire viewscreen.
“How do we fight this thing?” Raindrop turned to address their leader. Twilight’s Zord continued to slash away at the monstrous beast, but only seemed to annoy the creature.
“We’ll hit it with everything we’ve got and go from there,” Trixie replied. Their Megazord’s right hoof opened, shooting a barrage of missiles into Nightmare Moon’s flank. Their explosions only seemed to bounce harmlessly off her scales.
With surprising speed, Nightmare Moon’s head whipped towards them. Her maw opened and energy gathered within. Their Megazord spun out of control, and damage alarms rang as they took a straight-on blast from the serpent’s breath weapon. The force of the blow threw Trixie from her seat. The alarm systems rang louder as Nightmare Moon whipped her tail at them, sending them careening across space.
“Is everyone okay?” Trixie asked, pulling herself back into her seat.
“This isn’t good,” Cheerilee said, tapping at her control panel. “We can’t afford another hit like that.”
“Ponyfeathers!” Carrot Top said. “Incoming!” Nightmare Moon’s massive maw appeared before them, eager to gobble up their Megazord whole.
“Hold on!” Trixie grabbed hold of her steering wheel, spinning it left. They boosted away, just avoiding Nightmare Moon’s razor-sharp teeth. Their Zord retaliated by summoning their two swords, slashing into the serpent’s snout. They ran across her body, peppering her scales with missiles. Despite this, they didn’t appear to do much damage. Nightmare Moon whipped her body violently around to throw them off, but the Megazord held on for dear life. Their grip couldn’t last, however, and they hurled into space. The dragon serpent opened her mouth for another breath attack. Her head jerked as a beam shot the Nightmare Moon’s head away.
“I’m coming!” Twilight had returned her Zord to its bird form and was blasting lasers into the great serpent’s side to keep her distracted.
“Twilight, we can’t seem to hurt her, any ideas?” Trixie asked through the comm.
“Give me a sec, I have an idea!” After flying away from a snap attack from Nightmare Moon, her Zord transformed again. Its body shifted again, forming a different, more angular head. Its right hoof opened up to reveal a massive cannon and used its other arm to support its weight.
“Blaster mode!” This form was pure black, blending against the backdrop of space and almost becoming invisible. Nightmare Moon looked around, confused, unsure where her prey had disappeared to.
The Galaxy Megazord used this distraction to fly blade first towards Nightmare Moon’s left eye. She howled in pain as the sword stabbed into her cornea. The great beast turned her ire towards the Rangers, and a snort from her enormous nostrils threw them several hundred hooves away, out of control. While the Galaxy Megazord tried to right itself, the dragon serpent opened its massive maw for another breath attack.
“Prepare yourself!” Trixie yelled, trying to keep hold of her chair. They couldn’t afford another hit from Nightmare Moon’s breath weapon. She tried and failed to push against the steering wheel to correct their course. Trixie’s heart almost beat out of her chest as the beam fired, heading right towards them.
No! There isn’t enough time! The screen filled with white as the beam approached.
Out of nowhere, a black figure appeared before them. It was Twilight. Her beam arm fired right into the breath weapon. Much to Trixie’s astonishment, it tore through the beam, tearing it in two and causing both halves to fly past the Galaxy Megazord harmlessly.
“That was too close,” Twilight said.
“That was pretty cool. Thanks, Twi.” Trixie replied.
“Darn it, I meant that for Nightmare Moon,” Twilight said. “I can’t do many of those. It eats up too much energy.”
Cheerilee tapped her chin. “I don’t think it’s enough, anyway. It will probably only sear her skin.”
Lyra threw up her hooves. “What now?”
“Guys, I have an idea,” Ditzy said, interrupting their conversion. “It’s a little crazy though.”
“I like crazy. Shoot,” Trixie replied.
“We go inside Nightmare Moon and destroy the Planetary Shards from within,” Ditzy said. “I know she absorbed their magic, but they still might be there.”
“It’s a long shot,” Trixie said after some hesitation.
Lyra made a face of disgust. “Great. We get to swim through her stomach and whatever gunk she’s eaten the last few days.”
Raindrops shook her head. “The life of a Ranger.”
“I say we try it,” Twilight said through their comm. “I’m detecting slight signals of something within her body.”
“If it means saving Luna, I’ll do anything!” Trixie said, already flying their Megazord towards Nightmare Moon. “Get ready, everypony.”
“Okay, I’ll distract her and give you a chance to sneak inside,” Twilight said.
I just hope we don’t get blasted to pieces by her breath weapon before entering her stomach.
In one seamless motion, Twilight’s Zord returned to its bird form. It zipped around Nightmare Moon’s head, firing a barrage of laser bolts. The great beast whipped her head around, trying to rip apart the annoying target. Her snaps were lightning-quick, leaving little room to dodge. She didn’t make it easy for Trixie’s team either, whipping her claws around randomly to destroy the Galaxy Megazord. Her fangs extended, trying to crush Twilight’s Zord to pieces. While not precise strikes, they were quick and difficult to avoid.
“Ugh, she isn’t making this easy,” Lyra said as their Zord barreled away from almost being crushed.
“I don’t think we can sneak inside.” Carrot smashed her hooves together. “Let’s knock her out instead!”
Cheerilee stroked a quizzical chin. “What, like stun her first? A strong enough concussion might work.”
Trixie nodded. “And we won’t have to worry about her breath weapon! You got that, Twi?”
“Loud and clear!” Twilight replied. “On my mark, we’ll launch a coordinated attack. Hold nothing back!”
“Got it!”
The Galaxy Megazord fused its two blades together, getting ready for their ultimate attack. The two Zords flew in opposite directions to confuse the great serpent. Nightmare Moon snarled and opened her mouth to unleash another devastating beam attack. Instead of flying away to avoid it, the Zords headed straight towards Nightmare Moon, weaving around the beam of energy. The Galaxy Megazord rocked as the beam gave it a glancing blow, but they stayed on course. Nightmare Moon panted, momentarily exhausted from using her breath weapon. The Rangers used this slight gap to strike, attacking as one.
“Big Bang Strike!” Power gathered around their combined swords, unleashing a furious shockwave of dark red energy, striking right into Nightmare Moon’s head.
Twilight’s Zord returned to its battle form, and it swung its blade around in a flourish. Dazzling white energy gathered between its twin forked sword, and a larger blade of electrical energy almost the size of the ThunderRaven Zord appeared within it.
“Thundering Clash!” Twilight yelled, slashing Nightmare Moon across the head.
The great serpent howled in pain, thrown backward from the impact of the two special attacks. For several moments, she remained silent, and Trixie worried they might have killed her former mentor.
Reading Trixie’s mind, Cheerilee spoke up. “Don’t worry, Trixie. We’re reading life signs. She’s only unconscious.”
“Tough old bird. I can’t believe she survived that.” Lyra said.
Trixie smirked. “Are you surprised? Luna is basically unkillable. Let’s find a way inside.”
The two Zord flew towards the great serpent’s massive maw, finding it slightly ajar, giving enough room for both Zords to sneak inside.
“Ready everypony?” Trixie said, spinning her steering wheel towards the black pit in Nightmare Moon’s mouth. “Prepare for anything. We don’t know what we’ll find inside.”
“Roger!”
The two Zords entered inside, ready to face whatever awaited them. Despite Nightmare Moon being defeated, Trixie couldn’t help but have a terrible sense of foreboding.