Lunaverse: Galaxy Rangers - The White Raven

by Rixizu

Chapter 23

Lunaverse: Galaxy Rangers - The White Raven
Chapter 23
by Rixizu

Cheerilee surveyed Canterlot Central Park and shook her head. The damage to the once beautiful and scenic park was significant. Concrete streets were torn to shreds, trees were uprooted or destroyed, and the famous fountain in the direct center of the park with a stunning statue of the princess herself was just a heap of rubble. It was a shame. She really enjoyed going to the park as a foal.

The most frustrating part was that she still had no idea where Trixie was. It was clear this was Trixie’s work fighting against the rogue Ranger Night Light. Apparently, she disappeared with a mysterious Ranger in white armor if the reports were correct. Cheerilee wasn’t sure what to make of the White Ranger. Where did she come from? Was she one of the Night Court Rangers?

“Over here.” Raindrops called and Cheerilee turned towards her. She was pointing at something that she couldn’t identify from this distance.

Cheerilee trotted over to where Raindrops was pointing and gasped. It was an old stallion unconscious by the look of it. He looked haggard and exhausted. The old pony looked so bad it was shocking.

“We need to call an ambulance!” Cheerilee cried out.

“Wait.” Raindrops said holding up a hoof. Cheerilee looked at the mare in puzzlement. This old pony needed help.

“Look at him again.” Raindrops growled. “It’s Night Light.”

Cheerilee looked at the old stallion again and realized Raindrops was right. Somehow this was Night Light. Despite being older, this was his face and his cutie mark was the same.

“What the hay happened to him?” Cheerilee asked perplexed.

“A cost of his power I’m afraid.” A regal voice said behind them. Cheerilee turned and found Princess Luna.

“Princess!” Cheerilee said in surprise. She wondered what she meant by “cost of his power”. Is this what happened when one of the Night Court Rangers gets defeated? Could this happen to Greengrass? She really hoped that Trixie wouldn’t jump to wild conclusions and attack Greengrass in some misguided attempt to save the day.

“Greetings Miss Cheerilee and Raindrops.” Princess Luna inclined her head in respect.

“What are you doing here?” Cheerilee asked. Luna gestured to the damage around her. “Oh right," Cheerilee said embarrassed.

“It’s more damage than I would like to see, but I am glad Night Light was finally subdued.” Princess Luna said observing the scene. She sighed. “Though I doubt many will view it that way.”

Cheerilee winced. She knew Trixie wasn’t exactly popular in Canterlot and this wasn’t going to win her any new friends. There were also those weird rumors around the city about Trixie being a mass murdering psychopath.

“Guys. He’s waking up.” Raindrops interrupted.

Night Light’s eyes opened with a panicked expression on his face not sure where he was at the moment. His eyes darted around until they set on the princess and glared at her. The princess glared back at him with a cool expression.

Cheerilee brightened. This would be a good time to gather information and learned what the hay had happened. A voice in her head reminded her that she might be able to learn about any co-conspirators he might have. Trixie’s paranoid rambles echoed in her head accusing her Duke of being behind everything. Cheerilee shook her head. No, that was just silly. Though, it was possible Archduke Fisher might have some connection to Night Light.

“Viceroy Night Light,” Cheerilee said bowing her head in respect, "I…"

“Former Viceroy.” Night Light bit back. Cheerilee took a step back not expecting the level of venom in his voice.

“Night Light.” Cheerilee tried again still trying to stay respectful. “What happened here?”

“What do you think?” Night Light growled. “Your idiot student finally got the better of me.” He glared at Princess Luna.

“Is it true that a White Ranger helped fight you?” Cheerilee asked trying to be patient.

“Truly Miss Cheerilee?” Princess Luna perked up at this.

Night Light cackled at this. He coughed a few times, but he continued with the unnerving laugh. “Oh yes. It was the only reason I lost. Do you really think that moron could ever defeat me? My daughter has become a mighty warrior.”

Cheerilee gapped. “Twilight?”

“Explain.” Princess Luna said coolly.

“I don’t know myself.” Night Light said. “I tried to sacrifice Trixie’s soul so my daughter could have her powers, but somehow she branched out to develop her own powers. Not quite what I intended, but it worked out how I wanted in the end.” He cackled again.

“What?” Cheerilee could not believe he just said that. Did he just freely admit to using dark magic in front of the princess? She could see Raindrops growling under her breath. It looked like the mare wanted to pounce on the former noble right now. She pawed at the ground in irritation. Cheerilee had to put a hoof on her shoulder to calm her.

“And why not admit to everything now?” Night Light said reading her thoughts. “I’m doomed, anyway. I’m proud of what I did. I gave Twilight the future she deserves.”

Still, Twilight a Ranger. That was incredible. Cheerilee smiled. She would like to have that filly on their team. At least something is going their way.

“Fascinating.” Princess Luna said tapping her chin. “The Elements do work in mysterious ways.”

“If that is the case tell me,” Cheerilee said, “who else helped in this plan to frame Trixie and ruin our lives?”

Cheerilee recoiled in horror and revulsion when Night Light spit in her face. “Don’t expect me to do anything to help that buffoon.” He snapped. “I would rather die than lift a hoof to help her.”

“Well…” Cheerilee said startled and wiped the spit off her face with a hoof. Raindrops stepped in front of her protectively glare death at the former noble. She looked about ready to cave his face in, advanced age or not.

Night Light raised his head haughtily and smirked. “I am not some weak old foal you can push around.”

“So, it would seem,” Cheerilee grumbled.

“No doubt my daughter will see for herself what a worthless excuse of a pony your leader is and…” Night Light’s voice just stopped. His mouth moved, but no sound came out of it.

“That is enough out of you Night Light.” Princess Luna said her horn glowing. “You’ve said more than enough.”

Cheerilee thanked the princess under her breath. Why did she ever think it was a good idea to talk that guy?

Night Light glared at Princess Luna, but she ignored him. “I will learn what I can from him. You two still have work to do. I have a feeling this night will not be an uneventful one. Knowing my student, she will not rest or leave a stone unturned until she finds her friend’s killer.”

Cheerilee sighed. She knew all too well how relentless Trixie could be and would probably end up destroying half of Canterlot before this was all over. She just hoped she could find Trixie this time before things started exploding. Worse, Cheerilee also still had no clue where Ditzy and Lyra were.

Cheerilee thanked the princess and left the park with Raindrops and sighed. She had a feeling this would be a long night.

---

Trixie was thankful when she found Lyra snoring in a gutter not far from where she last saw her after that big exchange of super attacks. She looked peaceful wrapped in newspaper like a blanket. Trixie shook her awake and after a few moments Lyra relented and got herself up.

"Bons." Lyra mumbled, "I'm tired. Can't you give me at least five more minutes?" Trixie could see that she Lyra’s mane had become disheveled, and it had leaves, twigs, and other junk tangled within it.

It took a few moments, but Lyra absorbed her surrounds and was wide awake. “Trixie! You’re okay! What happened? Where is Night Light?”

Trixie beamed. “We did it! He’s beaten.”

Lyra stared back wide eyed. “Really?”

“All thanks to our newest member!” Trixie said. “Twilight.”

Twilight rubbed her neck in embarrassment. “Well, kinda. Trixie did most of the fighting.”

Trixie spent the next few minutes explaining what happened. Lyra listened amazed. Despite how tired she looked, Lyra looked energized.

“Welcome to the team!” said Lyra giving Twilight an impromptu hug. “It’s nice to have you, Twilight!”

Twilight gave a small smile and was a little taken aback, she wasn’t expecting such a warm welcome. Trixie wondered if Twilight was a little apprehensive because of what happened a few weeks ago. Corvus’s rampage was still a heavy weight on Twilight’s mind. Twilight seemed unsure how the Ranger’s would accept a former enemy in their ranks. Trixie chuckled to herself. If the other Rangers could accept her of all ponies, they could accept Twilight no problem.

“Okay, so what now?” Lyra asked.

“Now, we find out what exactly happened to Pokey when he visited here.” Trixie proclaimed.

“How do we do that?” Lyra wondered then brightened. “Wait, wasn’t Ditzy and that detective looking around for clues? Maybe they found something!”

Trixie thought about it and nodded. “Good idea. You ask them if they found anything and report back to us.” She didn’t want to show her face to anypony especially a detective. Getting herself arrested on the spot didn’t seem like a good idea.

As they traveled through Canterlot, Trixie was sure to keep in the shadows and avoid being seen as Lyra walked. Twilight used her teleportation to hide on the rooftops. Trixie took advantage of every dark spot she could find moving like a ninja with the skill and grace of a cat. It didn’t take then long to find Ditzy and Detective Whatshisname. Ditzy waved as Lyra approached.

“There you are!” Ditzy said as she approached. “You won’t believe the crazy day I’ve been having!”

“What happened?” Lyra asked tilting her head. Trixie snorted in derision not believing it for a moment.

“All sorts of things happened.” Ditzy opened her mouth to explain, but stopped when she looked in Trixie's direction. “Hey, Trixie! I was so worried about you! I'm glad to see that you’re okay!”

Trixie jumped in surprise and hit the top of the cart she was hiding under. She rubbed her head and climbed out.

“How did you find me?” Trixie asked puzzled.

Ditzy laughed. “Oh, that’s easy Trixie. Your colors don’t exactly hide you very well.”

Trixie looked down at her azure coat and pale blue mane and grumbled in annoyance. “Whatever. I’m saying this now, I’m not letting myself get arrested, and that is that!” She declared.

“I didn’t think you would.” The detective said in a dry tone and sighed. “Might as well let you join the investigation. That way you won’t disappear again and cause trouble.”

Trixie didn’t like the comment, but she decided to let it slide. "Fine. Alright, Ditzy what happened?"

“Did you know that Canterlot has crystal mines under the city?” Ditzy asked.

Trixie nodded. “Sure, why?” It wasn’t that big of a secret. Princess Luna sometimes brought her down there to train.

“Well, evil shapeshifting bug ponies were using them to sneak into the city!” Ditzy declared.

“What.”

“It turns out that they were kidnapping ponies to replace them with impostors so they could take over the city and eventually all of Equestria!” Ditzy explained.

The detective pony nodded. “Damn things have been sneaking under our noses for months. Replaced almost 50 ponies before we caught them. We found the ponies they kidnapped in these crazy cocoon things.”

“What.”

“And I had a huge epic fight with their queen!” Ditzy continued. “She was pretty tough. I almost bit it, but Sleuth’s creative innovation with a skateboard and some duct tape saved the day!”

Sleuth laughed. “Hey, I can’t let you hero types do all the work.”

“What.”

“Oh, and um, she ran off and swore revenge when we beat her. So, watch out for that.” Ditzy laughed. “But hey, what else is new right? Unfortunately, because of that, we weren't able to do much investigating.”

“Okay,” Trixie said still baffled how all that happened in what had to have been only about an hour or so.

“Oh! But we did discover something.” Ditzy said and both Trixie and Lyra perked up at this.

“Pokey was definitely seen in the city about an hour before he was killed,” Ditzy explained. “Nowhere near enough time for him to get on a train and travel to Ponyville.”

“And?” Trixie said eager for more.

“That’s about it.” Ditzy finished.

“What?!”

“Well, it isn’t like we had much time to investigate as I said!” Ditzy said a bit defensive.

“You’re forgetting something I think.” The detective pointed out.

“Oh right!” Ditzy brightened. “A strange light shot into the sky about the time Pokey was murdered.”

“What do you mean?” Lyra asked puzzled.

“We don't really know much more than that,” Ditzy said, “but we do know it was a distinctive gold color.”

Trixie lighted up in understanding. “That’s the color of Pokey’s magic!” She said excited.

Ditzy nodded. “We’re still not exactly sure where it came from though.”

Trixie’s mind raced. Why did her assistant shot magic into the air before he died? To signal for help maybe? If they could pinpoint where that beam came from, finding where Pokey was murdered would be a snap!

“I’ve got an idea!” Twilight said teleporting in startling Trixie and almost giving her a heart attack.

“Oh, hi Twilight!” Ditzy said nonplussed by Twilight unexpected arrival.

“I see!” Lyra said enthusiastic. “You have some amazing spell that can detect where somepony has died!”

“Uh, no,” Twilight said shaking her head.

Sleuth snorted. “If a spell like that existed, don’t you think the Force would use it all the time?”

“Oh,” Lyra said dejected, “I guess that makes sense.”

“My idea was to use this!” Twilight pulled out a spray bottle out of her saddlebags. “C8H7N3O2! Luminol!”

“What now?” Lyra asked confused.

Ditzy lit up in understanding. “I see! That’s a great idea!”

“I like your thinking,” Trixie said. The luminol would find any traces of blood and it was dark enough that those traces should glow in the dark. With luck, they might find the place Pokey was stabbed. “But do you have enough?”

“Oh course!” Twilight said nodding. “I have plenty of it in my lab.”

“A little unorthodox, but it’s a good plan.” Sleuth said.

“Uh, guys.” Lyra butted in. “What exactly is C9T whatever?”

“Does anypony have a map of the city?” Twilight asked.

“Here.” Sleuth pulled out a scroll out of the pocket of his coat and rolled it open on the street. It had a detailed map of all the streets in Canterlot.

“Let’s see, the beam showed up right around here.” Ditzy pointed on the map to a block of streets. “I wasn’t able to get an exact location, but it should be around there.”

“That’s not so bad.” Trixie tapped her chin with a hoof. “We should each take a street and alleyway and see what we can find. Remember spray everywhere. Even if the killer cleaned up, I doubt it was a perfect job with so many ponies around. You might be able to find some blood on a trashcan or something like that.” Ditzy, Sleuth, and Twilight nodded in agreement.

“Guys really, what are you talking about?” Lyra complained. Nopony took much attention to her too excited by this new lead.

Trixie assigned everypony a row of streets to investigate. With the five of them, it seemed to Trixie that it wouldn’t take long to investigate. With a few teleports, Twilight got enough luminol for everypony. They soon left all on their separate ways.

“Guys! What does this chemical do?” Lyra yelled as everypony left. Nopony seemed to hear her. She threw up her legs in frustration. “Fine! I’ll figure it out on my own!”

---

Trixie hummed to herself as she sprayed the walls and streets around her. It was a jaunty tune she had heard a lot over the last few months that was getting popular amongst the younger ponies. She couldn’t remember the name of the song, but the artist was one even she had heard of. Countess Coloratura was the bomb and Trixie mimicked her dance moves as a way to keep herself entertained. Spraying everywhere was a more tedious task than Trixie expected and any distraction from the soul-crushing monotony was welcome. Still, she had to check every nook and cranny regardless of how tedious it was. The killer had to make a mistake somewhere and Trixie was determined to find it. She just wished it involved less tedium.

“Gah!” A pony cried out and Trixie looked up to see who it was. In her distraction, Trixie had accidentally sprayed a pony in the face.

“I am so sorry!” Trixie apologized turning scarlet.

“Well, I never.” The victim was an olive colored mare with a purple mane and she stuck her nose up at Trixie and trotted away at a huff. The stallion that was with her did the same.

“Canterlot ponies.” Trixie rolled her eyes and continued her work.

Trixie growled in frustration as she found another alley clean. Her instincts told her she was on the right track so why was it so hard to find it? Five streets and still nothing. She prayed that her friends had better luck than her. Two more streets went by and so far, still no reaction from the chemical. She turned to move on to the next street when something caught her eye. It was a manhole whose lid wasn’t put back on properly.

“I wonder.” Trixie sprayed around the manhole and recoiled in shock and amazement when she found a trail of blue light. This meant the luminol was reacting to blood! She didn't hesitate to spray at the trail and sure enough, there was more of a reaction. It seemed that she found a large trail of blood that had been cleaned up. The trail led her to an alleyway and eventually to a large glowing pool. This must be where Pokey was stabbed. It must be! There was also blood on one of the walls nearby. Was Pokey thrown against it when he was attacked? After some more intense spraying, she found some bloody hoofprints as well. It must be when Pokey was kicked in the knife wound. She recoiled in disgust and horror at the thought. So much blood. Poor Pokey. Nopony deserved this happening to them.

“So, it seems that after Pokey was attacked, he was dragged into a nearby manhole so his body could be disposed of somewhere else.” Trixie pondered. She trotted back to the manhole and with some effort lifted it off. The smell was horrible as she imagined it to be. She just knew that exploring the sewers would be inevitable. The glamor of a hero's life.

Trixie turned to leave she felt a sharp blow to the back of the head. She collapsed to the ground in pain. There was a wetness on her head and Trixie had trouble fighting unconsciousness. She looked up and found exactly who she thought she would.

“Notary.” Trixie ground out. “The killer always returns to the scene the crime. I knew it was you all along.”

Notary stared down at her with a flat emotionless face like attacking and killing a pony was not much different to her than taking out the trash or doing the laundry. Much Trixie’s surprise, another pony was with her. Vinyl Scratch stood next to Notary with an apprehensive look on her face. Trixie screamed as Notary kicked her in the head again and the whole world went black.

Comments

[the other sans]

Cheerilee gapped
Cheerilee recoiled in horror and revulsion when Night Light spit in her face
Trixie could see that she Lyra’s mane had become disheveled
Why did her assistant shot magic into the air before he died
Trixie turned to leave she felt a sharp blow to the back of the head
“Notary.” Trixie ground out
Much Trixie’s surprise, another pony was with her

1. Gasped.
2. Spat.
3. See.
4. Shoot.
5. Trixie turned to leave but suddenly felt a sharp blow to the back of her head.
6. Growled.
7. Much to Trixie's surprise.