• Published 21st Sep 2016
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Lunaverse: Galaxy Rangers - The White Raven - Rixizu



The second Galaxy Rangers story. Duke Greengrass and Archduke Fisher create their own Rangers to take the Galaxy Rangers down.

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Chapter 4

Lunaverse: Galaxy Rangers - The White Raven
Chapter 4
by Rixizu

“You want to buy my farm?” Carrot Top repeated shocked.

Applejack nodded. “Ah promise to give ya a good deal Sugarcube.”

“Well...um…” Carrot Top mumbled not sure what to say.

“No way!” Trixie got in front of Carrot Top defiantly.

“This don’t concern ya!” Applejack glared at Trixie.

“The heck it doesn’t!” Trixie crossed her hooves and glared back. “Why do you even want this farm anyway?”

“It’s a shame bout the house being gone and irrigation system needin’ to be replaced, but it's good land.” Applejack explained. “And ah would like to hire ya to run it, so not much would really change.”

Carrot Top blinked. “Really?”

“Sure. Ah need a carrot expert and what pony would be a better choice?” Applejack smiled.

“Ha! Sounds too good to be true!” Trixie snorted.

“Trixie. Shut up.” Carrot Top said startling Trixie.

“W-wha?” Trixie was baffled.

Carrot Top closed her eyes. “It’s my life, and I need to be the one to choose.” Applejack nodded in approval and Trixie glared at her.

Carrot Top spent the next few minutes thinking about it in silence. Eventually, she nodded as if coming to a conclusion. “I’m sorry Applejack, but I can’t accept your offer. This farm has been in my family for generations...and there is no way I could ever sell it.” Carrot Top smiled. “I’ll find my own way to save the farm.”

Applejack nodded. She didn’t look angry or even disappointed at the refusal. “Ah thought as much.” Applejack gave a smile that looked like one of approval. “Truthfully, ah would have thought less of ya if ya did.”

Carrot Top tilted her head not really understanding what she was hearing.

“Ya family put their blood and sweat into this land.” Applejack tilted her hat over her head. “It would be a shame for it to fall into the hooves of another.”

“Ya a farmer, and we weather through anything. Whether it be rain, sleet, plague, or disaster.” Applejack continued. “We will fight to the last breath.”

Carrot Top nodded in understanding.

“So don’t ya give up ya hear!” Applejack gave a warm smile. “Ah’ll be rooting for ya!”

Trixie was a bit flabbergasted by this. She wondered if it was the creed of farmers to be as ridiculously stubborn as possible.

“Sides, knowing your grandma Golden Harvest, she’d probably come back from the grave and yell at us.” Applejack gave a laugh, but there was a hint of nervousness to it.

Carrot Top laughed back, but she also seemed a little nervous. “No kidding.”

Trixie raised an eyebrow. “You act as if that could actually happen.”

Carrot Top laughed. “The way she was, it almost seems like it's possible.”

Applejack nodded. “That old coot would always find a way to completely throw ya off and she was the most stubborn pony ah ever met.”

That has to be saying something coming from you. Trixie thought.

“She’d always find a way to be a complete pain in the rear.” Applejack groaned.

“My mom has told me so many stories about her.” Carrot Top said nostalgically

“The Apples still curse her name to this day.” Applejack nodded.

Trixie raised a hoof. “Hold on a moment. What are you talking about?”

Applejack started looking frustrated as if remembering some rather annoying memories. “She’d always find a way to be a complete pain in the neck.”

Carrot Top looked towards Trixie. “She was a major rival to the Apples back in the day.”

Trixie blinked. “Huh? This small farm?”

"She'd always find a dirty trick to mess up our business," Applejack explained, "ya remember the tradition of only Apples selling goods on the Longest Night?"

Trixie nodded. How could she forget? Applejack nearly got an aneurysm when Carrot Top went against it.

Applejack threw up her hooves. “She’d completely ignore it and sold her wares every year outside of the festival grounds. Oh, and to make it better, she’d sell them at such a low price us Apples barely made anything!”

“But, um, how did she make any money that way?” Trixie asked confused. When Carrot Top did it, it was because she was hard pressed for money.

“I don’t think she cared.” Carrot Top explained. “She never cared about money.”

“Ah.” That was all Trixie could say. With that history, no wonder the Apples were so hostile about Carrot Top selling her wares.

Applejack groaned. “She’d always resort to the most underhooved tricks to undermine our business. Ah remember this one time when ah was a filly. Ah was at our stand with granny selling apples during a rather busy day as usual. Outta nowhere a rat came out of our stand scaring away customers. Then your granny had the nerve to call our goods unsanitary and announced a sudden sale on carrots stealing most of our customers that day. We confronted her course, but she just said it weren’t her fault we can’t keep varmints out of our stand.”

“Oh and let’s not forget she had the nerve, the nerve to constantly insult our apples!” Applejack was pretty mad now. “Because we grow other products, she said we lost roots and our apples suck now! That’s ridiculous, our apples are better than ever!”

“She seems quite the character…” Trixie said. It seemed just thinking about Carrot Top’s grandmother could set an Apple off. Something she would have to keep in mind. It also surprised her just how different Golden Harvest was from her granddaughter.

Carrot Top sighed. “She wasn’t so bad. She always helped ponies in need, but she seemed to care more about that than her own business.”

Applejack snorted. “It’s nice to help ponies, but the mare had no business sense.”

“Sounds familiar....” Carrot Top said crestfallen.

“Hey now.” Applejack admonished. “Ah don’t agree with what ya grandma did, but she was a good pony at heart. Ya have the same blood flowing through your veins. She never gave up and neither will you.”

Carrot Top gave a small smile and nodded. “Thanks. Though sometimes I wish I was more like my grandma. She would make a speeding train move out of her way.”

“Now ah hear ya been asking around if some nearby farms might have some spare tools and equipment. Hmm… We might have something yah could use.” Applejack mused. “Ah will see what I can come up with.”

Carrot Top perked up. “Really?”

“Sure, but ah am at a bit of a loss on what to do bout your irrigation system.” Applejack’s ear drooped. “It looks like the whole system will need to be replaced, and pest control will be needed to get rid of these varmints. A loan don’t look like something ya could easily afford.”

“Leave that to me!” Trixie proclaimed. “We will just have another charity show! I already have a million ideas.”

“But, how could that cover everything?” Carrot Top asked.

“Okay, the house might have to wait, but the irrigation system won’t be too hard I think.” Trixie flared her cape dramatic. “With the new act I have planned, it should be a huge success!”

“Ah! Ah bet there is stuff we could donate for it. Granny and ah got tons to things we don’t need anymore.” Applejack mused.

“Like a silent auction?” Carrot Top asked.

"Sure, and I bet we could find plenty of other ponies willing to donate something for it," Trixie said smirking, "we can do this. Just one step at a time."

Carrot gave a real genuine smile. There was hope in her eyes. “This could work.”

---

Greengrass watched as Vinyl did somersaults and flips in her new form. She had taken to this new power quite well and enjoyed finally being able to walk and move around normally again after losing her leg as a filly. Greengrass smiled. He had a hunch that becoming a Ranger would restore her ability to walk, at least in this form. It was one of the reasons he invited her in the first place. It felt like a proper repayment for all her loyal service over the years.

Fisher was not happy at this turn of events. “You get out of that suit right now!”

Vinyl stopped and looked at Fisher. “And why is that?”

“You don’t have proper clearance to even have the morpher!” Fisher argued.

Vinyl unmorphed, but she didn’t motion to give her morpher back. She limped over next to Greengrass. Her leg was back to normal. She gave him an appreciative smile and he nodded back. Vinyl turned towards Fisher and grinned. “But, I thought the gem only accepted one master. Even if I wanted to, there is no way the gem will give its power to anypony else.”

"She's right," Solitaire confirmed, "the gem will only work for her now."

Fisher glared at Solitaire who just shrugged. He gritted his teeth and stomped towards Greengrass. “You planned this, didn’t you?!”

Greengrass gave an innocent look. “I never ordered her to do anything. She acted completely on her own.”

Fisher growled. “I bet.”

“Come on Fishy. It’s not so bad.” Vinyl said. “You have a cool and capable pony on your side now.”

“What did you call me?!” Fisher yelled furiously.

The two started arguing and Solitaire just sighed. Greengrass pondered this turn of events. He was surprised how easily Vinyl was able to claim the gem. He wondered if it was Vinyl’s determination and willingness to fight that allowed her to take the gem. She wasn’t ordered to take it, she wanted the power on her own. Maybe that was the difference?

Could I take this power too? Greengrass thought. Could it just be that easy? He had thought about what it would be like to have the power that the Rangers had. The thought of having it pleased him greatly.

Greengrass trotted up to one of the room. The chart on the wall said that this morpher had the Gaia Gem, also called the Earth Gem. He stared at the morpher through the observation window. He felt something, he didn’t know what. Is it calling me too? Nopony was watching at the moment, so he entered without saying a word. He grabbed the morpher and unhooked it from the various cables it was connected to. Did he really want this? It would change his life forever. He closed his eyes.

“Nice Greens, are you going to try it too?” Vinyl said when she spotted what he was doing.

“What?! No! Get away from that!” Fisher yelled.

Greengrass grinned. Since when was he one to back away from a challenge? “It’s morphing time.” He thrust the morpher forward and felt himself being enveloped my light. There was no pain. In a moment, the light was gone and Greengrass looked himself over in a nearby mirror, he saw that his body was covered in red armor like Vinyl's but his didn't have wings on the helmet. Instead, his helmet had a crown made of flowers and branches. On the forehead was a circle bisected into four parts by a cross, the symbol of the Earth. "Earth."

Greengrass felt powerful like he could do anything. He felt it, his connection to the Earth. Being an earth pony, he had a small connection to the planet and his special talent was gardening and weeding so it was only natural. But it was nothing like this. He could feel everything and everypony around him. He knew exactly where every living thing was in at least a five-mile radius. It felt like he was one with the Earth. He felt like he was truly alive for the first time.

"So, how about you reveal yourself shadow," Greengrass said pointing towards a shadow on the wall. This shadow had life, he could feel it.

The shadow snorted. “So you were actually able to spot me, interesting.” The shadow morphed into a pony.

“What? You?!” Fisher cried out. All the other ponies in the room started at the unexpected appearance of this new pony.

Greengrass unmorphed. “Surprised to see you here Viceroy Night Light.”

“I’ve found your work to be very interesting.” Night Light said. “In fact, I think I could help you.”

Greengrass raised an eyebrow. “Really?”

“Truthfully, I wanted to learn if you were actually able to accomplish my goal before I approached you, but I am almost certain you have the power I need.” Night Light explained.

“And what is that?” Fisher fumed.

“To bring down Trixie and the Galaxy Rangers.” Night Light smirked. “I already have a plan that will make them crumble.”

---


Trixie heard a knock on her front door. She used her magic to open it. “Come in.” She said to whoever was at the door.

Trixie was at her desk hard at work planning out her next magic show. She was feverishly writing down various ideas in a notebook. Any ideas she hated were torn out and thrown in the trash bin which was overflowing with crumpled paper.

"Hey Trixie, it's me," Lyra said at the door. She came in and Bon-Bon was next to her. "And my completely normal, not strange in any way marefriend Bon-Bon!"

Trixie rolled her eyes. Lyra apparently wanted it to make it very clear that her Bonnie was not a spy and was a completely normal pony. Trixie could hear Bon-Bon groan in exasperation.

“So, what’s up?” Trixie asked. She suddenly got an idea and quickly wrote it down in her notebook.

"Ditzy told me that you're planning a charity show," Lyra said.

Trixie waved a hoof. “Something to that effect.”

“And you were going to have a silent auction.” Lyra continued. “I was wondering if it would be alright if we donated something. Bonnie and our parents have all sorts things they don’t need anymore.”

Trixie pulled out a form and thrust it in front of Lyra. “Fill out this. Write down the name, description, price value, etc. And I will have Pokey pick them up in a few days.”

"Oh, okay," Lyra said surprised by the sudden and curt answer.

“If that’s everything you have to excuse me, I’m very busy.” Trixie went back to her notebook and tore out an idea that she suddenly hated and threw it in the trash bin. It rolled off the top and fell to the floor.

"I see you are hard at work," Lyra said awkwardly.

“Indeed.” Trixie nodded. “These charity shows require a lot of work and planning. I plan for this one to be even grander than the last one!” She smirked.

Bon-Bon smiled. “I’m sure Carrot Top appreciates the help.”

Lyra trotted up to Trixie’s desk and peered at the notebook Trixie was working on. She whinnied when she read it. “You plan on escaping an exploding building?!”

Trixie waved a hoof. “Maybe. I am thinking about escaping it while chained up in a water tank, but I probably won’t. It’s a little too bland for me.” Suddenly Trixie perked up. “I got it! What if the tank had piranhas?! No, wait. I am not going to explode some poor fish just for a trick. I got it! What if escaping with the piranhas is part of the trick?!” Trixie started scratching down her idea in the notebook eagerly.

Lyra and Bon-Bon looked at each other. Bon-Bon shrugged. “You have to admit she never does anything small.”

Lyra put her head in her hooves. “She’s going to get herself killed.”

Lyra and Bon-Bon perked up when they heard the door open. Pokey walked into the office with at least seven boxes in his magic. He sat them down in a pile and they gave a heavy thump when they landed. Pokey panted in exertion. He wiped off the sweat on his forehead. “Here are all the nick nacks that the Apples said they would donate.”

Trixie looked up from her notes. "Good." She picked up several letters off her deck. "I need you to go to the post office to mail these off. After that, I need you to go to weather control and talk with Rainbow Dash about renting some clouds for Carrot Top until her irrigation system is fixed. Oh, and get me a muffin from Sugarcube Corner. The usual."

"Yes, master," Pokey said sourly before going out the door.

"Poor guy," Lyra commented.

"It's a good thing I didn't tell him about eight or nine boxes of things the Cakes plan to donate when he gets there," Trixie said playfully.

---


Greengrass listened to Night Light's plan and he was impressed. It would actually work with his quite nicely. Fisher was hostile at first but seemed interested by the end. It's only a plan someone in charge of the REMM could come up with and execute. The REMM dealt with distributing and organizing disaster relief. They were ones behind the Corona's disaster relief and the ones keeping Ponyville in one piece after all the monster attacks.

Fisher gave the plan some thought before nodding. “Fine. I like your plan and it will be the final nail in Lulamoon’s coffin. You Greengrass?”

"I am not opposed to it," Greengrass said simply.

“Dude, welcome to the team!” Vinyl greeted. Night Light nodded not offended by the odd address.

Night Light trotted towards a room with a morpher and peered inside. “You are sure these things have the power to actually defeat the Rangers? They might not come quietly.”

Fisher smirked. “Believe me they do.”

“Our magic detectors have picked up that the Planetary Gems contain six times the magic the Elements of Harmony have. The Elements of Harmony being what gives the Galaxy Rangers their power.” Solitaire explained.

Greengrass caught the look on Night Light’s face when he stared at the morpher. I wonder. He thought. Could it be? Maybe that is why he found himself here too?

“I have to wonder. Maybe you are another pony that can wield a morpher.” Greengrass finally said out loud.

Night Light stared at Greengrass. “I find it odd you would allow a rival to have this kind of power.”

Fisher narrowed his eyes but said nothing. Vinyl watched with interest.

Greengrass shrugged. “What I want doesn’t matter. The gems choose the one that wields them. If it is you, so be it.” The thought of someone like Night Light having this power didn’t actually bother him. He would be a good little colt and do whatever the Princess said. Besides, it was his vast political power that made him dangerous anyway.

Night Light turned towards the morpher. Greengrass could see the longing in his eyes again. “How about it Archduke Fisher?”

“Very well. If he can.” Fisher smirked. It seemed he came to the same conclusion Greengrass did. “He might be a good candidate and is a skilled spell caster like his daughter.”

Night Light countenance became dark at the mention of his missing daughter Twilight Sparkle. Ever since the Corvus incident, Miss Sparkle disappeared off the face of the map. From what Greengrass understood, she did give her parents a letter that stated she was okay, but that was the only contact she made with them. The stress of the whole ordeal was obvious on Night Light’s face. It looked like he hadn’t slept much the entire month. No doubt this was the source of Night Light’s hatred of Trixie and blamed her for everything that happened. Night Light would also probably relish the idea of having the power to take down Corona himself. He was being very predictable. Just how Greengrass liked it.

Night Light went inside and picked up the morpher. Everypony in the room watched closely what would happen next. “It’s morphing time!”

Night Light’s body was enveloped by light. Now he too was draped in armor. His was blue. Around the top of the helmet was what looked like a headband made of olive branches. On the forehead of his helmet was the symbol of Jupiter. His whole body radiated power that made the air feel thin and hard to breathe. “Jupiter.”

Night Light unmorphed. He looked awestruck. “That...was incredible.” He smirked. “You were right. The Rangers will fall to our hooves. This I don’t doubt.”

Fisher trotted past Night Light to another one of the morphers. “This has to mean I am one of the chosen as well.” He closed the door behind him and locked it.

“Um, sir?” One the scientist said hesitantly.

Fisher grabbed the morpher and thrust it forward. “It’s morphing time!” There was an explosion of light and Fisher was shot backward into a wall. The force of the blast cracked the wall into the shape of a small crater. Fisher fell to the ground in a heap.

“Sir!” The scientist tried frantically to open the door.

“No! No!” Fisher cried out. He struggled to his hooves. He grabbed the morpher again. “It’s morphing time!”

Fisher was once again thrown back this time with even more force. Fisher screamed in pain. He got up and with a weak hoof picked up the morpher. The scientists were trying to pry open the door with magic, but it wasn’t budging. It was futile because the whole room was designed to resist magic to protect the ponies outside.

“It’s morphing time!” Fisher crashed into the wall again. Blood dripped down it. Broken pieces of stone could be seen in Fisher’s back. It looked like his back was torn raw. Fisher pulled his body across the floor.

“No! I will have the power of a god!” Fisher cried out refusing to give up.

“No! You are going to kill yourself!” One of the scientists yelled frantically. Solitaire just watched the scene curiously not even moving from her spot to help her boss.

“It’s morphing time!” Fisher cried out with all his strength when he finally reached the morpher. There was an explosion of light. Fisher was now standing up covered in black armor. It was more armor like than the rest of the Rangers whose power was granted by the Planetary Gems. His helmet looked like a crested helmet that you might see an old centurion wear. There was the symbol of Mars in the middle of the helmet. “Mars.”

Fisher unmorphed and open the door. He laughed. “Ha! Just as I thought! I am one of the chosen.” He collapsed and scientists rushed to get an ambulance.