My Brave Pony Starfleet Magic: Season VI

Chapters

Episode 2: Escape from Starfleet: Part 2
Episode 3: Rotten Dregs
Episode 4: Two Wrongs make a Fight
Episode 5: Treed
Episode 6: Haunted, Hatred, & Horridness
Episode 7: Send in the Clones
Episode 8: Into the Light of Darkness
Episode 9: Color You Surprised
Episode 10: Founders Day-Saster
Episode 11: Glue for Three
Episode 12: How to catch Trouble
Episode 13: Age of Ages
Episode 15: The Buds and the Trees
Episode 15: Magical Mishap
Episode 17: For whom the wedding bells tolls
Episode 18: Part 3: The Bride and Gloom
Episode 19: Part 4: The Truth and Freedom
Episode 20: Final Part: Strange Things Happen
Episode 21: Power Life Line
Episode 22: This Little Piggy went to a better place
Episode 23: The Ties That Unbind Us
Episode 24: A Royal Duel to the Death: Part 1
Episode 25: A Royal Duel to the Death: Part 2
Final Episode: A Royal Duel to the Death: Final Part
Prologue
Episode 1: Escape from Starfleet: Part 1
Episode 16: Part 1: Rough Engagements

Episode 2: Escape from Starfleet: Part 2

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Episode 3: Rotten Dregs

Author's Note

It feels hard and strange not to have some big main antagonist running the show, making it harder to get some needed padding to reach the required word limits. *Sighs*

Episode 3: Rotten Dregs

EPISODE THREE

A week had passed since the prisoners were released, and the hunt for them was still happening, and little-by-little, thanks to Starfleet working much harder than ever, the prisoners were being returned to their cells.

So far, about fifty villains had been captured… leaving only thousands to go!

Fortunately, not many casualties or damages had occurred yet with Starfleet constantly on alert all across the cosmos, and already several monsters attacked United Equestria, but were defeated and imprisoned.

Even still, life continued, although two were not exactly having the best of times; Shining Armor and Princess Cadance.

Ever since their son, Amando, was stillborn, the result of Shining Armor being brainwashed and out of control, the couple had been trying desperately for months to have another child, but nothing they tried worked; Cadance just couldn’t seem to get pregnant again.

They finally saw the court physician and underwent extremely thorough tests to see if they were doing anything wrong, and then when the results came in, it was not good…

Several days ago, the doctor saw the couple in his private office in the Crystal Palace. He could tell they were anxious to hear the results. “So, how about it?” asked Shining Armor “Why hasn’t Cadance gotten pregnant?”

His wife elbowed him to soften his anxiety, though she herself couldn’t wait much longer herself, but she noticed the doctor had a queer expression on his face. “What is it, Doctor?” she asked, and she began to feel her insides churning with worry “Is it bad news?”

The Doctor rubbed his face trying to find words. “The results of the test have been gone over many times, and no mistakes were made…” he paused.

“Well…” Shining Armor said.

The doctor sighed and said, “There is no easy way to tell you two this, so I’ll just be blunt.”

The couple didn’t like the sound of his concern and voice, and finally he said to them, “Princess Cadance, Shining Armor… I am very sorry…” he paused again, “…You will never have any more children.”

At that very moment, it felt as if both their hearts and had been slashed by a burning knife.

According to the results, when the large column fell on Cadance, it did far more damage to her internal reproductive system, leaving her barren.

As for her husband; when Shining Armor was brainwashed by the Insectos and transformed into Saber, the unnatural transformation damaged his own reproductive system. His sperm was dead and beyond hope of proper reproduction. Even if Cadance were not barren, he wouldn’t be able to get her pregnant even if he tried for a million years!

Their dreams of being parents were completely crushed, and with them went a part of their wills.

Now it was more heartbreaking than ever to peek into the nursery they had setup. Everything they saw, the cradle, the rocking chair, mobile, baby toys.

Cadance always shed a few tears whenever she passed by it, but Shining Armor felt worse, knowing it was he who caused the accident which caused the stillbirth; though he was told constantly it wasn’t his fault as he was brainwashed.

He would often retreat to the dojo and try to train his troubles away, other times he just wanted to be alone with his thoughts.

Lightning and Starla came, along with Krysta that day to personally collect help Cadance go over reports from the Starfleet soldiers from the empire.

While they worked, they all chatted and had a good time. “Oh, we want to show you something.” Starla said, and she held out a photograph she and Lightning had gotten in the mail from New Horn Kong; a picture of their friend Cookie Dough, his wife Khanna Ling and their new baby son only a few weeks old.

A cute little blue space-alicorn, but he had his mother’s Asian-like eyes. “Oh, that’s so sweet.” Cadance cooed “What’s his name?”

“They said they named him Chop Stick, though I find that an odd name.” said Lightning “Once he gets old enough he’ll have to be assigned an ID-surname, since he won’t have a Cuite-Mark and all that.”

“So, even if a Space Pony has a child with an Equestrian…?” Cadance asked, and Lightning and Starla nodded. “It’s just how it goes.” Starla said.

“Well, he’s still cute.” Cadance said, and she gazed ever more deeply at the photo, and her facial expression began to look sad, which reminded the friends… as they had heard the news in the letters they wrote and shared only with them and with their royal majesties as well, even Princess Luna was made aware of the situation.

“Oh, Cadance…” cried Krysta “We’re so sorry, in all the excitement we didn’t think about that.”

Cadance wiped her tears and smiled bravely, “It’s alright…” she said “I’m trying to be as brave as I can about it. I know nothing I can say or do will change things.”

Lightning hardly knew what to say at all, he remembered how horrible it was when he saw the accident before his eyes, and it still pained him that he wasn’t able to totally save Cadance from getting hurt, though he did help to save her life.

“How’s Shining Armor?” he asked.

“Not very well.” replied Cadance “He hasn’t been eating much lately or sleeping too well, and when he trains in the dojo he slips up because he can’t seem to focus.” She sighed softly as her sadness began to show again “I don’t think I can blame him…” she was quivering, but couldn’t hold it in and softly let out her emotion.

“Oh, Cadance…” Starla cried as she walked over and hugged her softly, Krysta and Lightning joined her, and they hated that she was all upset like this, which made Lightning think of Shining Armor and felt maybe he needed someone to talk to as well.

He asked the girls to look after Cadance while he headed to the dojo.

There he found Shining Armor fighting with one of the practice-dummies. He tried charge and jump kick at it, but he slipped at the last few feet, obviously not concentrated, and he fell flat on the floor.

He angrily pounded the floor, but Lightning came over and offered his hand to help him up. They talked it over and Shining Armor explained his problems, “And every time I try I keep seeing Amando and Twilight, and I just… freeze up.”

Lightning shook his head in dismay.

Shining Armor then reached behind him and pulled out his enchanted Insecto-mask; the key to his transformation into Saber. “This…” he said while gazing grimly at it “This thing feels like more of a curse than a gift to me, and I almost wish I didn’t have it, knowing it caused Cadance’s accident. How can I really use it to make good?”

Lightning patted his friend’s back and said; “I may not know what it’s like to lose a child, but you know that I know what it feels like to lose those you love.” he referred again to how he lost his home planet, Harmonious.

“I don’t get how you can stand it.” Shining Armor said.

“Well, it does bother me badly from time-to-time, and there’s nothing I can do to change that.” said Lightning “But I know there are others counting on me now; they’re counting on all of us.”

He offered to train with him and maybe try and help him get his act together.

The two trained well… meditating, slow and steady moves and poses, and some warm up exercises, Shining Armor seemed to do okay there, but when it came time to spar, he began to slip again.

“Come on, you can do it!” Lightning said, while holding out a guard-plate on his arm for Shining Armor to kick.

Shining Armor charged, and rushed with all his might, but again, at the last second, he had another frightful vision of his sister and his son, causing him to miss the shot and fall again.

Lightning sighed in dismay, and helped his friend off the floor again. “It’s no good, Lightning, I’m too soft.”

“No, you’re not; you just have to stay more focussed that’s all. Now, come on, try again.”

So, Shining Armor tried it again, and this time he managed to make it all the way to Lightning, but he hardly kicked him with any force at all, he was still holding himself back.

Lightning wasn’t sure what else to do. If this kept up, Shining Armor would be next to useless in battle if he couldn’t concentrate. After all, having powers was one thing, but having the nerves to use it right was quite another.

Suddenly, the alarms sounded outside, and Krysta appeared along with the girls. “What’s going on?” Lightning asked.

“There’s a monster loose in the Crystal Village.” said Starla “The evacuation is already underway.”

“We better get out there.” Lightning said.

“I’ll go with you.” said Cadance, and she pulled out her magic Ninja Medallion. Shining Armor wanted to come along too, but the others advised against it, even Cadance though it best he remain behind due to his troubles.

“But, wait…” cried Shining Armor, but the others wouldn’t wait and Krysta teleported them all outside, leaving him on his own to sulk.

And he gazed again at his mask, still unsure of himself.

While outside, the streets were already cleared. All the civilians had either rushed inside and were now shielded by the barriers, or those who didn’t make it were escorted by the gaurds away from the danger area.

Lightning and Starla had already donned their super suits, and Cadance transformed into her Silent Ninja form.

“Alien readings are strong here.” Lightning said “Keep your eyes peeled.”

Suddenly, a loud cackling sound was heard, and they could see the creature stand up on a house roof. Her skin was burgundy, and her long, nasty hair was black with red streaks, and she wore a skin-tight outfight, with colors of rusted green and grey.

“It’s been some time, Starfleet.” she hissed “My name is Corrossa. I was sent to prison a-hundred years ago, and now you are going to pay for it!”

As gross as she was, Lightning and Starla scanned her with their visors. “She has the power to make things rot and corrode with her Doom Decay attack.” said Lightning “She may not look very strong, but she’s very slick and fast.”

Corrossa then leapt down from the roof and began to attack the fighters. The three ponies charged at her, punching and kicking.

All though Corrossa had been locked up for so long, she still managed to put up a good fight, and she punched and kicked the fighters away. Even Cadance, with her Ninja speed found it hard to keep up and got hit as well.

“You okay, Cadance?” Lightning asked. Since Cadance could not speak while transformed, she gave him a thumb up.

“None of you will be fine soon!” snarled Corrossa. “Says you!” snarled Krysta, and using her super strength, threw a huge rock at her, but she caught the rock in her hands, and her eyes began to glow, “DOOM DECAY!” she fire a beam at the rock reducing it to dust in her hands, much to everyone’s shock.

“PULSAR LASER!” Starla unleashed her beam at Corrossa, but surprisely, she held out her hands intercepting it, and rotted it away to nothing.

“Galloping Galaxies!” cried Lightning, he scanned her with his visor again and deduced hitting her with a small blast of the uniforce wouldn’t work either.

Corrossa snickered and said, “And it can be done just as easy on all of you.”

She lunged forth, and the friends scattered causing her to miss and grab a tree, rotting it… trunk, limbs, foliage, everything, much to everyone’s horror.

“Whatever you do, don’t let her grab you!” cried Starla.

Corrossa growled, and then she lunged at Lightning and Starla, forcing them to dodge, and Cadance, using her Ninja skills, burst through the ground, punching Corrossa hard in the chest and sent her rolling along the ground, yet the monster snickered.

That’s when Cadance gazed at her hand to realize a small bit of her glove had rotted.

“This isn’t going to work.” Lightning said “We can’t attack her physically without risk.”

“That’s the least of your worries.” hissed Corrossa “I don’t even need to hit you directly to make it work.” With that, her eyes glowed and so did her long hair, and her hair began to move like tentacles, “ROTTING TO THE CORE!”

With that, the tentacles dove into the ground, anchoring Corrossa in place, and she sent waves of glowing rot and decay like cracking ice.

“Look out!” shouted Lightning, and he and Starla flew up high, and Krysta warped Cadance to a spot of the way, while everything in the path of the waves rot and decayed around them; benches, lampposts, stands, trees; the barriers stopped the rot from entered the buildings and would hold it out for some time.

Shining Armor saw the whole thing from the palace, and he was growing more frustrated than ever, not just from seeing all the damage, but knowing his friends were in danger, coupled with his intense traumas were really starting to hurt him.

He even began to have horrible visions of them all losing the fight and being destroyed, and the blame pitied on him for not doing anything about it.

While down below, the friends felt as long as they stayed high up in midair, the rot wouldn’t get to them, but much to their surprise, Corrossa was able to make her hair tentacles burst through the ground and try to grab them, forcing the flyers to swerve and Cadance to leap from one place to another. “You can’t escape me for long!” she taunted at them “I’m going to enjoy making you all rot; the same way I rotted in a cell for a-hundred years thanks to the soldiers before you!”

The tentacles continued to lunge at them, and the rot in the ground was spreading.

“This isn’t working!” cried Starla.

“I need a chance to power up the uniforce!” Lightning said “According to the database, she won’t be able to rot that.”

Cadance leapt over onto an un-rotted lamppost and made gestures to them explaining an idea. “Right, Cadance…” said Krysta, and she said to Lightning “We’ll try and distract her, you power up.”

“Okay, but please, be very careful, all of you!”

He gave Starla a deep kiss on her cheek for luck and she pecked him back. Then Lightning up, up, way up and out of sight.

“Aw, flying away like a coward.” Corrossa mocked. The girls were not pleased and lunged forth, swerving and avoiding the tentacles.

“STAR SHOWER!” Starla unleashed her star clusters, but Corrossa snickered and used her tentacles to skilfully bash, swipe and intercept each one sparing her from damage.

Cadance then threw her Ninja Shurikens, actually splitting a couple of the tentacles and hitting Corrossa where she was anchored. “You’ll pay for that!” Corrossa thundered.

“How’s this for pay?” Starla said as she armed her bow, “STARLIGHT ARROW!”

“Oh, you don’t!” snarled Corrossa, and she readied her tentacles to intercept.

“Oh, yes I do!” shouted Starla, and her bow and her horn began to glow, and she used her hidden skill to control where her arrow went by the motion of her hands and fingers. The arrow flew round corners, up, down, left, right, in circles with Corrossa putting up a valiant effort to strike it.

Suddenly, the arrow dove straight at her, and she raised her tentacles to get at it, but Krysta conjured up one of her two-way portals. The arrow went through one hole, and out the other… which struck the creature hard, gashing the side her face.

“Direct hit!” cried Starla.

Corrossa then grinned, and Krysta saw two tentacles rise up behind the girls. “Look out!” Krysta shouted, but Starla already got ensnared, while Cadance was forced to jump out of the way and she fell onto the rotting ground.

Their suits immediately started to rot, and it wouldn’t be long before the decay reached their bodies and would really harm them.

“No!!” Shining Armor cried.

Corrossa laughed, “I’ve got you both now. It won’t take long to rot your suits away, and then you’ll be next.”

Krysta was totally powerless to fight her alone, and there was no sign of Lightning.

Shining Armor hated to see his wife and Starla getting hurt, and he finally began to overcome his nerves and grabbed his mask. “Hang on, girls!” and he leapt through the shield right off the terrace.

The girls could start to feel their suits wearing out and the rot starting to get at their energies. “Cadance! Starla!” cried Krysta.

“You’re rotting to the core ladies!” shouted Corrossa “And soon you’re entire planet will follow you. You’ll all be one big rotten heap…!”

Suddenly, “D’agrh…!” she felt something very strong slash at her hair from behind, cutting off from her tentacles.

It was Shining Armor, or rather Saber, the Insecto General, armed with his sword in his humanoid hands, and his four tentacles holding his shurikens.

With her hair split, the tentacles fell and the rotting ceased, and just in time or the girls would had been really hurt. “You two okay?” Saber asked.

Starla nodded, and Saber helped his wife up, and though he couldn’t see her face, he could tell she was smiling at him, but Corrossa was enraged and she got to her feet, “You may have cut off my tentacles, but you haven’t rotted me down yet!”

Saber angrily glared at her, feeling his determination peaking. Again, however, he began to think about Twilight and Amando, but he didn’t freeze-up this time. “For my loved ones!” he snarled, and he lunged forth.

“Bring it!” shouted Corrossa, and the two brawled. Saber slashed his sword and Corrossa slickly dodged it, “DOOM DECAY!”

“STRIDENT SHOCKWAVE!”

The two forces collided, resulting in an explosion, and Saber leapt through the smoke, wielding his sickle on a chain, and bound Corrossa’s hands by the wrist.

“You think this can stop me? I’ll just rot my way through it!”

“…But not quickly enough!” Saber said pointed up to the sky.

“Huh?”

“…UNIFORCE!!” Lightning came soaring down, unleashing his supped-up power, hitting the creature full force, and she screamed as the force consumed her and severely weakened her as promised.

The team stood all together in a group.

“You rotten wretches…!” Corrossa whined.

Lightning scoffed at her, and then said to Saber “Will you do the honors?”

“Gladly…” Saber answered, and he set his sword to capture, then held the blade up high and powered it up with his Strident Shockwave; this was his new finisher move recently perfected; “STRIDENT SWORD SHOCKER!”

He brought his blade down with a huge vertical slice, sending the shockwaves straight at the creature, hitting her with full force.

“I’M ROTTING AWAY!!” she screamed, and she exploded and was imprisoned in a sphere.

The team sighed in relief that it was over. “Well, there’s another one of them down.” Starla said, “Yeah, but this isn’t over by the longest of longshots.” said Krysta.

Cadance and Saber de-transformed, and Cadance praised her husband for helping them out, “But how did you overcome your nerves?” she asked.

“Well, I guess... like Lightning said, I can’t change what’s been done but I can help others. I couldn’t bear to see you guys getting hurt, especially not you, Cadance.”

His wife smiled lovingly at him, and Krysta felt tears coming to her eyes, while Lightning and Starla smiled proudly. Lightning spoke proudly to his friend, “Maybe you should focus on that from now on. Remember, there are many who count on us, and while there may be times you’ll get distracted by your missing your loved ones, remember that you’re fighting for them.”

“He’s right, my love.” said Cadance “I miss Twilight very much, and the loss of our child hurts me more than you can imagine, but I know that avenging them won’t bring them back, but I can fight in memory of them, and for their honors.”

Shining Armor knew this wouldn’t be an easy road, but he promised to try. “Thank you… all of you.”

Everyone smiled, and then they went off so Starla and Cadance could make repairs to their suits.

A couple of days passed, and as more monsters were being apprehended and taken to prison, Shining Armor made good on his promise and tried not to let his sadness slow him down, and after a little training and a few more battles he was fighting at the top of his game again.

Still, there were times when he and Cadance would take moments to remember their loved ones, and they would share a cry or two, but they promised to be okay for everyone’s sake as the war continued.

(Promo)

In our next episode; while on a fieldtrip, the Cutiemark Crusaders are frightened at the foot of a small mountain near a village, and a new student comes to their school, but doesn’t seem very friendly, and prefers to bully the other students.

Things then grow more mysterious as the girls spot a pony slinking around in the darkness, and possibly up to no good.

How will the crusaders deal with all these mysterious happenings?

Don’t miss the next exciting episode of “Starfleet Magic!”

(Next Episode: “Two Wrongs make a Fight”)

Episode 4: Two Wrongs make a Fight

EPISODE FOUR

Late one night, Applebloom woke up, unable to sleep and decided to get a cup of milk from the kitchen.

On her way downstairs, she began to hear soft clanging noises coming from the garbage cans outside the house. “Not the raccoons again?” she groaned. She remembered her sister telling her if ever raccoons or small wild animals got into the garbage, they were be shooed off instead of the family having to wake up to see their garbage thrown all over the place.

Having done this many times before, she grabbed a broom and a flashlight, and walked outside to the garbage cans, only to see it wasn’t a small animal, but someone, most likely a pony, dressed in black rags and wearing thick dark goggles going through the trash and taking bits of discarded food.

“Hey, you!” shouted Applebloom.

The stranger turned to gaze at her, and he immediately dropped all the food he took and ran off into the darkness. “Hey!” Applebloom shouted and she tried to chase after him, but he was too fast and slick for her to keep up, and she almost ended up running into the forest on the grounds.

“Hello…?” Applebloom called as she flashed her light around, but whoever that stranger was, he was long gone.

Applebloom then heard the sound of footsteps coming towards her, and the shine of a flashlight. It was Applejack, having returned from her assigned nightly duties. “What are you doing out here, Applebloom? It’s after midnight, and you have a school field-trip tomorrow.”

“I was chasing, I think it was a thief.” replied Applebloom “He was pokin’ through our trash and… I guess I scared him off.”

Applejack had heard this before; it was not the first time this had happened. Weeks before the prisoners escaped, reports had been coming in of sightings of a mysterious stranger poking through dumpsters and garbage cans, but no one ever got a good look at the stranger as he always seemed to vanish in the wink of an eye.

Applejack even saw the unusual footprints the stranger had left, but unfortunately, they didn’t match any style of footwear she knew of, nor could her scanners detect anything unusual about them.

With nothing to go on, and no great harm done, Applejack escorted her little sister back to the house, but the both of them were still wondering about who it was.

From on a tree limb, the stranger watched the two ponies walk off, and he panting in anger and outrage, but more weakness as he felt his stomach in hunger.

Then he just slipped off into the night.

The next morning…

*Mykan’s POV*

My name is Mykan Stevens, and I… I am the first human ever living here in United Equestria.

I had been living here in this world for about half a year and in all that time I have discovered so many incredible things, learned so much about the magical worlds around me, and even made friends with many strange and unusual creatures, not just ponies.

As an auxiliary member of Starfleet, I wasn’t allowed to enter battles as much as the ponies that were could, but I was permitted to help out in any way that I could when, and if, it was necessary. Armed with the gifts I had received from their royal majesties; my enchanted cape so I could fly, my teleportation device on my belt, and two main weapons--The Shield of Righteous Courage, and the Sword of Pure Soul-- I felt that nothing could stop me.

Today, however, as a part-time school teacher of the human world, the students, Cheerilee and I were going on a field trip, a trip to New White Tail Woods to go on a nature hike.

Since it was too far to walk, and teleportation was only to be used in times of extreme peril; Two large air-balloon baskets were ready, and many Pegasi from New Cloudsdale were going to be flying them, so it would only take ten or fifteen minutes to get there from New Ponyville.

Though today wasn’t my day to teach, I was going along to learn first-hand more about United Equestria itself.

*POV Ends*

The Cutie Mark Crusaders were very excited to be going.

“I can’t wait to go!” cried Sweetie Belle. “Me neither, I feel like a brave soldier venturing into the unknown.” added Scootaloo.

“I’m all up for new adventures.” said DD.

“And to think, this’ll be our first ever trip since we got our cutiemarks…” said Applebloom, and she and the others compared the marks on the front of their clothes, which matched the marks on their flanks, though DD’s mark was really just a tattoo she had gotten, as she was a Space Alicorn and couldn’t get a Cutie Mark.

“Oh, knock it off already!” sneered Diamond Tiara, “We already know you got your cutiemarks. It’s not like it makes you any more important than ever.” added Silver Spoon.

The girls’ features hardened, and Sweetie Belle said “We’ve got more than just these marks…”

“Yeah, we’ve got a strong bond of friendship.” added Applebloom.

Scootalloo nodded and said, “And if that’s not important enough to you, then that’s your problem, like everything else wrong with you.”

Many of the other students listening reacted in awe, and Diamond and Silver felt shocked having been told such a thing, and before either of them could express any protest, DD spoke first, “You’ve been pulling the same in-your-face act since day one, Diamond. It’s old and it’s tired! I mean look at all of us, we’ve all gotten a bit better over all this time, and some of us even found new ways to go about our lives… but you two. You’re still the same pathetic losers who like to torment others just feel important. You’re just sad.”

Now the students were cheering for the crusaders and laughing at Diamond and Silver, making the two feeling like bursting into tears of humiliation and running off.

Cheerilee then called out to everyone. “Okay, children, it’s almost time for us to leave, but before we do I’d like to introduce you to our new student.”

A dark blue unicorn with a beige mane stood beside her. He looked about the same age as the girls, but he had no cutiemark as was evidenced that his clothes were blank, and he didn’t look very happy either as evidenced by his scowling face.

“Everyone, this is Biffy Box. Biffy, these are your new classmates, and hopefully soon-to-be friends.”

“Sure…” Biff said in a soft gruff tone, much to Cheerilee’s confusion. “Okay, well, we better get going. Group-A, come with me in one basket, and Group-B, go with Mr. Stevens in the other.”

The students boarded the baskets in file. Mykan’s basket carried the crusaders, Diamond, Silver, and the new pony Biff, while Cheerilee carrier the rest of the class, and soon, the Pegasi lifted the baskets off the ground and they were all on their way, soaring over New Ponyville.

Biff sat by himself in the corner, not making any eye contact with any of the other kids, just kept up that same look of mean gruffness.

“I think maybe we oughta’ show a bit of friendship to the fella.” said Applebloom. The other girls agreed, and carefully made their ways over to the lonesome pony.

“Hi…” said Sweetie Belle “I’m Sweetie Belle, this is Scootaloo, Applebloom and Daphne Dill.”

“That’s nice, now back off!” Biff snapped, “You mess with me, I’ll deck you!”

The girls felt their friendless fading already. “Um, we we’re just trying to be nice.” said Scootaloo.

“Look…!” Biff sneered “I had to deal with enough losers at my old school, and now I have to deal with a bunch of wimps like you.”

“Excuse me…?” DD sneered. “You’re excused.” Biff said, and he gave her a small shove, rocking the basket.

“Hey, settle down back there!” Mykan called out, unaware of the situation.

Not wanting to cause more trouble, the girls decided to leave Biff alone, now thinking of him very rude, while Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon chuckled softly at the crusaders.

They too approached Biff and tried to befriend him, expressing their own distaste for “Wanabe losers.” As they worded it, but Biff expressed the same rudeness to them too, “Nice Tiara, what are you; princess of the geeks.”

Diamond felt shocked and really sore, “One: No one talks to me that way, and two…”

“Wow, you can count up to two.” Biff cut in, and then he gazed at Silver Spoon, “How about you, four-eyes, what can you count to, three?”

The girls could see this would be no friendship and left Biff alone in the corner.

In a short while, the class reached its destination, in the village just near New White Tail Woods. It was one of those new places that had appeared since United Equestria was formed and much wider than Equestria of old. The same thing applied to the small mountains that surrounded the area.

“Single file please...” Mykan said as he and the students climbed out of the basket.

As the students calmly stepped out, Biff standing at the very back of the line pulled on DD’s tail, causing her to trip and bump into all the other students and they all fell over.

He laughed at them softly, but the girls were not pleased and were about to protest when Mykan cleared his throat telling them all to stop fooling around, still unaware of what was going on.

The girls were really starting to get riled up by Biff’s antics, but Biff just stuck his tongue out at them.

*Mykan’s POV*

Soon, the whole class had huddled together at the entrance to the forest, and Cheerile called everyone’s attention. “Now, the pathways have been clearly marked. So everyone, pick a partner in groups of two. Stay close together at all times, and no wandering beyond the pathways. We’ll all meet back here in one hour for lunch.”

I nodded and reinstructed the class “Remember, we are just visitors here to study up on how nature works. Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints. However, if you wish you can find a special treasure to bring back with you, make sure you ask one of us first if it’s okay, and if you do happen to get lost, you each have been given a whistle to let the rest of us know where you are.”

The children understood and began to pair up. Naturally, Applebloom and Sweetie paired up and so did DD and Scootaloo, as well as Snips with Snails and Diamond and Silver.

The rest all paired up with others, and even I myself paired up with Cheerilee. Finally, Biff was forced to be paired up with Pipsqueak since there was no one left, and Biff was looking at him in a threatening way, which I did happen to notice this time.

Still, we all walked into the woods together, keeping to the paths and seeing a whole bunch of things in the way.

I myself was fascinated by the foliage, mushroom species and other things that were similar to all the things on my home planet, Earth. “This is all incredible.” I said as I looked at a simple fern plant “I remember studying about these in my old science class. In a way, it’s almost as if I never left Earth.”

“I’m so glad you’re enjoying this, Mykan.” said Cheeriliee “I often wonder what Earth is like, but if you say it’s all the same.”

I chuckled and said “Maybe one day you’ll get a chance to see it.”

*POV Ends*

As the hike continued, many of the students began to find simple little treasures to take back with them; Pine Cones, birch-wood.

Suddenly, Sweetie Belle found something very unusual in the forest; a piece of black ragged fabric. “What’s this doing here in the woods?” she wondered to the others.

“What kind of fabric is it?” asked Scootaloo, “I don’t know…” said Sweetie “But I bet Rarity will if I show it to her. I’m going to take it home with me.”

Applebloom asked to look at the fabric more closely, “I think I’ve seen this somewhere before, but I can’t quite make it out.”

Suddenly, the girls could hear the sound of arguing. It was Biff squabbling with Pipsqueak over a simple pine cone that Pipsqueak had already found and claimed, and Biff was trying to take it for himself.

“Give it to me!” Biff demanded.

“No, I found it!” protested Pipsqueak.

Biff’s horn glowed and he used a tiny bit of magic to push Pip away, and he fell in a mud puddle.

Biff laughed at him, but the girls had seen everything and DD, having had more than enough, grabbed Biff’s arm, using her Space Alicorn strength, and grabbed the pinecone saying “Just because you’re bigger than him, doesn’t mean you get to pick on him.”

The others helped Pip up, but Biff was really getting angry, and used his magic to shock DD to letting him go. “You know, I didn’t like you before, and now I can see you need to be taught a lesson.”

He stood ready for a fight, but DD shook her head in dismay, not wanting to fight and she and the others began to walk away.

“What you scared of me? Chickens…!” Biff mocked, and he began to flap and cluck to taunt at them. “If we’re chicken, why are you flapping and clucking?” Scootaloo teased, and Biff felt his face turning red with rage.

He then noticed Sweetie Belle had left her knapsack on the ground and got the idea to get revenge on the girls already. “Hey, losers!” he called.

“Hey, my knapsack!” cried Sweetie, and she and the others watched as Biff levitated it with his magic and sent the pack up and soaring over, deep to the other side of the woods near a small mountain. “No! My fabric is in there!” cried Sweetie.

The others were outraged, “What is wrong with you, boy!” snarled Applebloom “Why are you being so mean to us?”

“Because I like to…! So there.” said Biff “It how to get through life, my pop says, you gotta be tough and show people whose boss.”

Then he began to sing a song about being tough…

When I was growing up, my father showed to me
How to get what you want and how all things must be
This world is a one where the strong are meant to rise,
So seek out the weak and cut them down to size
And so I take up pride in making ponies cry,
And a laugh at them so hard it brings a tear to my eye.

You’ll never get through life so far if you act like geek,
So be tough and get real rough and find some misery to wreak
So pick on people, make ‘em squirm as proper and you should
Yes, a bully’s life is gold and it makes you feel so good.

The girls couldn’t believe how disgusting that song sounded the way it praised and encouraged bullying.

I like to pull off pranks, and I love to call you names,
I would rather be your foe than join in any nerdish games
Why work for something hard that would take a real long time
When I can snatch it off you and then push you in the slime
If I see someone different I don’t like it at all,
So I tease and pick and poke and watch cry and whine and bawl.

Yes, a bully’s life is gold and it makes you feel so good.

*Mykan’s POV*

His song ended, and then he heard the sound of soft sarcastic clapping from behind him; it was from me and Cheerilee, “That was a very interesting son, Biff.” Cheerilee said “But I’m afraid we don’t tolerate bullies in our class.”

“What, I didn’t do anything.” Biff said trying to act innocent.

“Biff, don’t make it worse by lying.” I said to him “We heard what was happening from way back, and we just saw you throw Sweetie Belle’s bag deep into the woods.”

“Um, Ms. Cheerilee, Mr. Stevens…” said Pip “…That’s not all he did.” And he and the girls explained what had been going on all day, and after what we had just seen and the song we heard, Cheerlie and I were highly convinced we had a problem child on our hands.

Cheerilee grabbed him by the arm and began to pull him along out of the woods, “I think you and I need to have a serious talk young colt!”

While she dealt with him, I offered to escort the girls deep into the woods to look for Sweetie Belle’s knapsack.

“Stay close with me, girls.” I said as I lead them deep into the forest. We emerged outside, and there was the mountain trail straight ahead, and a path leading to the village just past it.

“There’s my knapsack!” cried Sweetie and she rushed to take it and check through it. Sure enough, nothing was damaged and she still had the fabric she had found, but strangely, there on the ground where he pack had been, she found another piece of fabric just like the one she had found.

Even I was astonished by the pieces and asked if I could look at them both. I took out my magnifying glass from my own knapsack, “Strange, they’re both the exact same color and yet, different fabrics. This one is cotton and this one is silk.”

I even noted that they two pieces had bits and threads of other fabrics on them, but it didn’t make much sense, but before the girls and I could examine things any closer, our stomachs gave a soft growl, and we could hear the town clock chiming it was twelve noon.

“It’s lunchtime.” said Scootaloo.

“Whew, I could sure go for a bite after everything that’s happened.” said DD.

Since the village was in plain sight, just along the trail of the mountain, we all decided to just walk around the way back to where the group meet us.

“Come along, girls.” I said, and we started to walk along the trail, when suddenly… everything went darker around us, as a booming haunting voiced called out…

“WHO NEARS MY MOUNTAIN?!!”

The girls and I froze in our tracks as cold winds surrounded us.

“IF YOU VALUE YOUR LIVES… LEAVE NOW AND NEVER RETURN!!” the voice thundered, as bolts of Lightning seemed to erupt from the mountainside.

“Quickly, girls…!” I shouted, and the girls all held onto me close as I activated my teleporter, and we vanished!

We reappeared on the far side of the forest, where Cheerilee and the rest of the class were. They were all very surprised that we teleported in. “What happened?” Cheerliee asked.

The girls rambled all at once about what happened, “One at a time, please!” cried Cheerilee. Then I decided to tell her about what happened in private.

*POV Ends*

“What in the hootin’ nanny was that all about back there?” Applebloom wondered to the girls.

“I don’t know, and I don’t think I want to know.” said Sweetie.

“Aw, what’s the matter? Have a little scare in the woods?” Diamond taunted, “You’d think they met a lion, a tiger or an Ursamajor.” added Silver.

The girls’ features hardened and the glared angrily at the two, “Trust us…” sneered DD “If you were there you’d be scared too.”

The two ponies did look scared, much to the crusaders confusion, but the sound of angry puffing made them realize Biff was standing right behind them, and he was steamed.

Diamond and Silver cowardly ran off, and Biff spoke threateningly to the girls, “Thanks to you creeps, Ms. Cheerlie gave me a week of detention when we get back to school.”

“Hey, don’t blame us.” said Scootaloo, “You’re the one who was acting like a big bully.”

Biff gnashed his teeth and looked really ready for a fight, but Cheerilee and Mykan were coming back. “This isn’t over, you dweebs.” Biff said, and he went off, not wanting to get caught.

Sweetie grumbled, “Why that rotten, little…!”

“Never mind him.” said DD, “Let’s have lunch.”

As the girls ate, they couldn’t help but gaze at the mountain on the other side of the village and the forest. From where they sat it seemed rather normal and calm, but what they had went through earlier they would not forget, and all four of them wondered very deeply what it was that drove them away.

Little did they realize that they were being watched from afar by a stranger hiding in shadows, looking at them through binoculars and snarling angrily!

(Promo)

In our next episode; Fluttershy’s friend, Treehugger is in search of a mate, and she happens to set her eyes on Buddy Rose, but takes things a bit too strongly. Not as strongly as when an unknown creature attacks the forest and even puts Treehugger in danger.

Can our save the forest and Treehugger from certain doom?

Don’t miss the next exciting episode of “Starfleet Magic!”

(Next Episode: “Treed”)

Episode 5: Treed

Author's Note

-Tree Hugger Appears in Season 5 of MLP, but I only allowed the canon upwards of the First Equestria Girls movie. So Tree Hugger has been reintroduced and revised a little as she never originally appeared in my canon

-I have watched "Make New Friends but Keep Discord" several times to get an idea of Tree Hugger's character, and there's not a lot to go on, plus she CAN act this way too (How I portray her)

-I only use the show's reference. No online books, no wiki's, ect, ect... Only what's in the show counts. (With few exceptions, and this is not one of them)

Episode 5: Treed

EPISODE FIVE

Starfleet continued on their pitiless mission to round up the prisoners. All across space on many different planets, whenever a monster attacked Starfleet was there apprehend it.

Even on United Equestria, Lightning and friends, and other Starfleet soldiers fought valiantly resulting in the capture of many criminals.

(Picture it like this)

By this point, an entire cell-block on Conva was full of its captive once more… just one cell-block.

Buddy Rose and Applejack felt exhausted as they returned home to the farm.

Granny Smith nearly jumped out of her skin. “Mercy me, you two look like you’d done been through a hurricane in a storm.”

“That would be understatement.” groaned Buddy Rose, “I never knew crime could spawn such an invasion.” added Applejack.

Granny poured them each a cup of a special new cider she had whipped up. “Try this; it’ll make you feel better.”

The two ponies just took the drinks, and gulped them right now, and suddenly, they gasped and screamed. It felt as if they had just eaten fire.

“That’s my special chill-cider.” Granny said to Big Mac, “Apples, sugar, and a heap’a curry powder; perks ya right up.”

Buddy Rose and Applejack felt more than perked up as they doused their tongues in the kitchen sink.

(Skip to 3:17 and picture it like that)

Big Mac and Applebloom couldn’t help but laugh at how funny the two looked. “Thanks, we feel great now.” Applejack grumbled in a sour tone.

Just then, DD came inside with a letter in her hand. “This just came for you cuz, from Planet Herboss.”

Buddy’s heart gave a leap and he practically snatched the letter from her with excitement. “It’s from Lilly Bud.”

“Ain’t that your mare friend?” asked Applebloom.

Buddy blushed, and he read the letter out loud since everyone else wanted to hear.

“Dear Buddy Rose: The mission was a success. We rounded up all the monsters and sent them back to Conva.”

“Aw, that’s wonderful news.” said Granny.

“Eeyup.” added Big Mac.

Suddenly, Buddy Rose’s enthusiasm faded into sadness and the others sensed something wrong.

Buddy continued to read the letter, “I have bad news though, and I know this is really going to hurt you as hurts me just to write this.”

Right next to the line was a little stain, probably caused by a tear…

“…I have been reassigned; I am headed out to a faraway planet on the other side of the galaxy to begin negotiations for mutual Starfleet relationships. It’s much farther away than ever, and if the negotiations and I will be staying there for a very long time, probably even the rest of my career.”

Two more tear stains were on the next line.

“Buddy, you and I have something very special and I will always treasure it, but what I’m trying to say is… I really don’t think a relationship between us is possible, especially at such an extra-long distance.

I know this probably hurts you, I myself am crying now as I write these words, hence the stains you will see. I will never forget you, or the special times we had.

My first love: Lilly Bud.”

The others all felt heartbroken. Applebloom and DD felt outraged, and as for Buddy Rose, he seemed a mixture of sadness and shocked, but a small amount of strength still showed on his face.

“You okay, Buddy?” Big Mac asked.

Buddy nodded and smiled sadly “Yeah, I’m okay.” He told everyone that he and Lilly Bud were actually both thinking of breaking up even if she hadn’t been reassigned and he sort of expected this would happen.

Now the others felt worse for him than ever.

“Don’t worry, I’m okay.” he assured them, and all the rest of that day he proved to be truthful. He did his chores, tended to his garden, even found time to play with Applebloom and DD.

That night, he tucked DD into bed like the father-figure he was to her.

“Buddy…?”

“Yeah…?”

“I was just wondering… will you ever find a special someone to love?”

Her cousin chuckled, “I thought I already had one, right here.” he referred to her.

DD giggled, “I mean, don’t you ever want to settle down one day and maybe… find a wife?”

“Is this about my breakup with Lilly?”

DD nodded.

Buddy Rose explained to her again why they broke up, “It’s not we don’t like each other, we’re far too busy and too far away to make things really work. I mean look at me; I have my Starfleet duties, my farm chores, and taking care of you is a big responsibility.

I guess… I just haven’t really found the right one for me.”

DD began to get that look in her eyes only a Cutiemark Crusader would. “I know what you’re thinking.” Buddy said “Don’t you be aiming to play matchmaker.”

“I wasn’t…” DD sniggered “I just wanted to see your reaction.”

Her cousin chuckled and pecked her on the head before tucking her in neatly and turning out the light, “I love you, DD.”

“I love you too.” DD said through a yawn and she drifted off to sleep.

As Buddy walked to his own room, he looked over the railing downstairs, and began to realize just how big the house was just for him and DD, and the more he thought about it, “Maybe DD’s right; maybe it would be nice to have a mare’s touch around here... someday.”

Very early the next morning, about an hour after sunrise in a clearing near a small forest, Tree Hugger, a hippie pony with a calm demeanour was giving a free Yoga Class to several ponies.

Fluttershy and Rhymey were regulars at the group, as Fluttershy and Tree had been friends for a while, and today, they invited Lightning and Starla to participate in the class too, to help them unwind and relax a bit after all the stress the battles had been doing on them.

Her voice was very smooth and soothing, like a relaxed angel, but coupled with a sort of 60s way.

“Now, soak up that sweet breathe of life. In… and Out…”

The ponies all breathed like she told them to.

“Feel the vibe, nice and slow as your head flows from one side to the next. Then into your arms and you touch the sky.”

The ponies did all sorts of poses, exercises, and they felt as light and as calm and cool as Tree felt, and by the time class was over, Fluttershy and friends helped gather her Yoga mats.

“That was wonderful, Tree Hugger.” Starla said, “I haven’t felt so relaxed in a really long time.” added Lightning.

“Tree Hugger does more than just that…” said Fluttershy “She’s an environmentalist, a botanist, an aroma therapist, and she even works well with animals, even rare creatures. She also wrote a few books about gardening, finding inner peace, and all kinds of stuff.”

“What can I say? It’s a totally bodacious talent.” said Tree, but then she looked a little sad.

“Are you alright?” asked Fluttershy.

“If there’s anything that we do,
Tell us and we’ll help you.” said Rhymey.

Tree sighed and said, “I just have this one big bummer that clashes my charaka. I’m looking for someone to intertwine my heart with, take me on the lifelong journey of matrimonial bliss.”

The others could tell that she was saying she wanted a husband.

“Oh, you poor thing.” said Fluttershy as she comforted her friend “You still haven’t found someone yet?”

Tree shook her head, “Don’t get me wrong, you’re all a groovy bunch of buds, but it just can’t top my passion, my burning desire for that special one.”

By this point, all the others felt sympathetic for her, but were willing to help her in any way they could, and Tree felt glad.

Starla and Lightning had to go and finish reviewing more reports, while Rhymey and Fluttershy invited Tree Hugger to their place for breakfast before they headed on patrol. “Like, awesome.” Tree said.

“It’s what friends do…” said Fluttershy, and Rhymey nodded in agreement.

Soon the friends were nearing the cottage, but along the way they found the path was all littered with banana peels, half eaten sandwiches, empty soda cups.

The friends were outraged. There was clearly a “No Littering” warning notice posted in the area, and a fine to pay if anyone was caught.

“There’s garbage everywhere!
Who would do this? Who would dare?” grumbled Rhymey.

They suddenly heard the distinct sound of laughing. The friends looked on ahead and saw three naughty Earth ponies sitting in a tree, chatting and laughing, while dropping their garbage everywhere, which only made the friends even angrier.

(Like this)

Suddenly, Buddy Rose came along with a cart of vegetables picked form his garden he was taking into town to sell, and he saw the littering too, and he called out to the ponies “Hey! Cut that out! There’s no littering allowed here!”

The three ponies looked at him, and chuckled and then threw more garbage, even spilling their sodas down the tree’s trunk.

“We’ll stop now.” One of the ponies called “We’re all out of stuff.”

His friends chuckled with him, but Buddy Rose was not amused, and he marched right up to the tree, and gave it a huge kick, making it quiver and all three of the naughty ponies fell out and landed in the mud puddle below.

Covered in mud, and outraged, the ponies wanted to fight back, but suddenly realized who they were dealing with, “Colonel Buddy Rose?!”

“That’s right!” Buddy sneered “Now you’re going to clean this whole place up, and I catch you doing this again, you’ll be arrested and pay double the fine!”

The ponies were forced to comply and nervously cleaned up all the mess quicker than they made it and then they ran off past the other friends.

Fluttershy and Rhymey glared angrily as the ponies ran off, but Tree Hugger, she kept on gazing at Buddy Rose, and watched him approached the tree, and he actually spoke to it…

“Sorry, I had to do that to you.” then, he used his special botany magic to get the soda stains out of the tree so it wouldn’t be poisoned.

Tree Hugger began to feel strange inside as she gazed at him more deeply than ever.

Then Buddy came over to the others with his cart. “That was wonderful, Buddy Rose, but you didn’t have to be so hard.” said Fluttershy.

“I can’t help it. When I see good plant life and nature in danger, it just riles me up. Thankfully the tree isn’t hurt now that I cleaned it up.”

“Oh, Buddy Rose, this is my friend, Tree Hugger, and Tree Hugger… this is Buddy Rose.”

“THE Tree Hugger…?” Buddy Rose asked in near disbelief “Wow, I don’t believe it.”

Tree smiled at him blushing softly, but Fluttershy was astonished “You already know her?”

“Well, only by reputation.” replied Buddy.

Rhymey nodded and explained…

“He has read her books on gardening facts,
And he buys her fertilizer in little packs.
And when it comes to the yoga stuff,
He’s a fan there too… no bluff.”

Now Tree Hugger really blushed, “You got some wicked tastes, dude, and I heard loads of rad stuff about you too.”

It was no secret she knew Buddy Rose by reputation as well, it was how most of the inhabitants knew of Starfleet ponies by.

She knew he was expert gardener, tree surgeon and ecologist, as well as astronaut and high ranked Starfleet fighter.

Buddy Rose could barely contain his excitement; never thinking her would ever meet her in person. “I wish I could stay longer, but I have to get these veggies to town. See you guys some time.”

Then he walked off with his cart, and Tree Hugger watched as he went along, and realized he was strong too, the fact he was able to move such a huge heavy cart by himself.

“Tree Hugger, are you okay?” asked Fluttershy.

No response.

Rhymey waved his hand in front of her eyes and snapped his fingers.

“Is something wrong with you?
Say something, please do.”

That’s when she snapped out of her trance, “My chakra’s gone through the roof. I’ve gotta’ check this out.” And then she ran off to catch up with Buddy Rose.

Fluttershy and Rhymey got the message. “I think she has a crush on Buddy Rose.”

Her husband nodded and suggested,

“Perhaps they could give it a try or two
It seems like an okay thing to do.”

Both of them were aware of Buddy Rose and Lilly Bud’s breakup, and after what they had just seen and heard, Buddy and Tree seemed to share many common interests. Maybe they would be a good couple.

So, they decided to skip breakfast at their cottage, leaving the mats there to get them later, and flew back towards town.

Once in town, Buddy Rose sold his cart of veggies to the vendors in the market, and got a handsome pay, which he needed to get more fertilizer and new tools for Applejack.

He filled his cart half full of large sacks of fertilizer, enough to cover his area of the farm; some of the packs were Tree Hugger’s brand.

Then he proceeded to get some tools; shovels, rakes, hoes.

“Um, you don’t want to buy those ones.” someone said.

Buddy turned and saw Tree Hugger near him. He was surprised, and almost speechless. “I thought you were with Rhymey and Fluttershy, and… what do you mean? These are kind of tools Applejack asked me to get.”

“Take a closer look, it’s broken, and totally not worth the purchase.”

Even the vendor was shocked to hear that. “Broken? But I just got them in today and they’re in perfect shape.”

He picked up a hoe, and the metal part slipped right off.

Buddy Rose then looked at the shovel he had almost bought and could see it was missing a screw that held the digger in place, and it, too, slipped right off.

“I don’t understand.” said the vendor “I ordered these fresh. Well, there’s going to be one big lawsuit in this. Thank you so much. Oh, and Colonel, when I get my new inventory in, you’ll get a free deal for this.”

Then he went off to file his complaint, and Buddy Rose was astonished. Thankfully he didn’t purchase the tools yet and take them back to the farm.

“How did you know?” he asked Tree Hugger. “It’s a little thing I have, I can either dig the vibes or I can’t, and something was bumming about these tools. That’s why I usually don’t buy them and rely on other ways to garden.”

Buddy Rose had no choice but to return home without the tools, or at least find another vendor. For now, he needed to get the fertilizer home. “I don’t how to thank you enough. You helped me avoid what would’ve been a disaster, and now I can get a free discount too.”

Tree Hugger felt a little nervous, but was more than convinced now than ever she had found her match, and remained calm and said, “…There is something really deep you could do for me.”

“Well, great just name what you want.” he then noticed she was staring at him very straight and told him, “The only thing I want… is you.”

“Huh…?” Buddy felt totally struck, and he began to feel very nervous inside. “You want what?”

“I’ve seen and know enough. You and I would be, like, totally perfect together, like two vibrations of the same harmonic tune.” she sighed softly feeling the atmosphere around her, but this was only freaking Buddy out, “I think I’m going to go now.”

He began to walk off leaving her behind, but as her turned to look forward, there she was right in front of him.

He tried to walk another, but there she was again right in front of him. “What’s got you going flat?” she asked him “You’re like, not trying to avoid me, are you?”

Buddy Rose knew Tree Hugger only by reputation, but now he was starting to see her in a whole new light, and it was really starting to scare him, but he knew one way to get away from her for sure.

He jumped up really high and flew off.

“Man, what a bummer.” Tree said to herself. She really didn’t’ seem too disappointed, after all there was one place he could be going, back to the farm, and she also had a perfect ticket to drop by.

When Buddy got back to the farm, he splashed some water on his face from one of the barrels by the barn. “That was freaky.” he said to himself again “I thought Tree Hugger was supposed to be all cool, calm and collected.”

“Hey, BR…!” Applejack said right behind him, making him jump, and she jumped in shock. “Wow, what’s go you so riled up?”

“It’s a weird story.”

“Well, while you’re tellin’ me it, did ya get the fertilizer and the tools. We need ‘em.”

Buddy gasped and smacked his forehead. He was in such a freaked out rush that he had forgotten the wagon behind at the market.

“Oh, boy…!” Applejack sighed, “Well, come on. Let’s go and get it together.”

Buddy felt embarrassed and foolish, but he flew off with her.

The two decided to fly over the small forest, which was the quickest way to town, and on the way, Buddy Rose told Applejack about Tree Hugger, “… Wow, no wonder you were so uptight. I’ve heard of bein’ dragged in, but that’s takin’ it a little too soon.”

“I don’t get it…” Buddy said “Why would she want to marry me right off the bat. She only knows me by reputation, not personally enough. For that, I don’t even know her that well.”

As much as Applejack thought it was cute and a little funny, even she knew it was no small thing to rush into marriage, especially seeing as Buddy had only recently broken up with another.

Right now, the main thing was getting that fertilizer, but when the two had gotten back to the market, the wagon was nowhere to be seen where Buddy had left it, but luckily there were tracks showing that someone had pulled the wagon… back into the forest towards the farm.

They followed the tracks, and about halfway through the forest, they saw the wagon. Appraoching it from behind, it looked as if it were moving all on its own, but the two knew better than that.

“Freeze…!” Buddy shouted, and just like that, the wagon stopped. “Stay where you are, I’m coming round.”

He motioned for Applejack to keep him covered as he crept round to the front of the huge wagon, and then…

“Hey.” Tree Hugger said, making Buddy jump and fall down onto his tail, and began to back away from her. “You left your wagon behind, and I thought… it’d be wicked heavy if I brought it back for you.”

“Well, that is awful nice.” said Applejack.

“Um… yeah… real, nice.” said Buddy.

Tree Hugger thought it cute the way he seemed nervous. “You seriously need to chill out. Let yourself go, ya know? I can help you with that.”

Applejack was beginning to understand more why Buddy was so freaked out.

Buddy Rose finally got to his feet, trying to find ways to tell her he wasn’t really interested, yet when he opened his mouth, a loud and ferocious roar was heard.

He quickly covered his mouth in shock, and the girls gawked at him with wide eyes. “Somethin’ tells me that wasn’t you, right?” said Applejack, and Buddy nodded.

Then, out from the bushes rushed a large, fearsome creature; it had a lion’s head, but a humanoid body with four huge arms, and powerful legs.

“Whoa, dude! What is that?” cried Tree Hugger.

“I… am your worst nightmare!” the creature growled, and he roared again and pounced for the friends. Buddy Rose grabbed Tree Hugger and leapt out of the way, causing the creature to crash into wagon, shattered in to pieces and spilling the sacks in a huge pile, but undamaged.

“Get out of here, now!” Buddy said to Tree, “Ya better do as he says, girl.” added Applejack, “Things are about to get ugly.”

Heeding their advice, Tree Hugger began to run through the forest, but the creature leapt forth and slashed at several trees with his huge claws, knowing them down and blocking her path.

“Sorry, but it’s about Brunch time.” he growled.

Tree could hardly keep herself calm anymore, but she was really outraged at what the creature had just done. “You slashed those treats! Way uncool!”

Buddy Rose was also outraged and felt his temper peak, “Starfleet Magic!!”, and he transformed. “Come on, Applejack, transform!”

“Right!” cried applejack, “Harmony Hour, Friendship Power!”

Once transformed, Applejack quickly lassoed and yanked Tree Hugger out of the way as the monster struck again, and missed.

“Alright, let’s see what the story is on this one.” Buddy said as he scanned the creature with his visor, but the readings turned out: "Creature Type: Unknown. No Available Data."

“What?” snapped Buddy “No data?”

Applejack heard that, and scanned the creature herself, but the results were the same. “If there ain’t no data, then that means this guy’s not originally from the prison. He’s a new one for the books.”

Buddy clenched his fists and sneered at the creature, “Who are you, and why have you come to United Equestria?”

The creature growled and replied to him, “I am called Leogun. Where I come from is of no consequence, but I am here to seek food! I have been wandering the cosmos for a long time, strengthening my power, defeating every foe who dares to challenge me to prove I am the strongest, and I require sustenance to maintain my strength.”

He didn’t have to go on for the ponies to understand he was a carnivorous cannibal come to eat creatures of United Equestria.

“I give you this one chance.” sneered Buddy “Leave United Equestria immediately, or prepare to feel the consequences for your actions.”

Leogun’s eyes blazed with fury and he roared.

“Oh, boy…! This can’t be good.” said Applejack. With no place for Tree Hugger to run, Applejack told her to stay low and out of the way while she went to help her friend.

“You’ve been warned, big guy!” Applejack sneered, “…Get ready for a world a’hurtin’!”

Leogun laughed and then clenched his four huge fists, “Perhaps I could do with one more fight before I eat.”

“Be careful,” Buddy said to Applejack “I scanned his strength; it’s very high.”

Applejack nodded, and the two ponies stood ready for battle.

Leogun lunged forth, and the two ponies leapt out of the way, only to then get punched by two of his huge fists, sending them slamming hard into trees, knocking them over.

“LEAF SWARM!” Buddy unleashed his razor leafs, but Leogun held out all four of his arms in front like a shield, and the leaves did him no harm.”

“My turn…!” Leogun growled and he leapt up high, “HUNTER POUNCE!” and crashed right over Buddy, but Applejack lassoed Leogun, and gave the rope a huge yank, sending him crashing down, giving Buddy the chance to leap up and punch the beast hard in his face, sanding him skidding along the ground and crushing a few shrubs.

“We’ve got to get him out of the forest before he smashes the whole place down!” cried Buddy.

“But we can’t lead him back to town, and the farm’s out of the question too.” said Applejack

Leogun got up, rubbing his sore face. He was more infuriated than hurt and roared softly as he got up, and realizing that harming the forest brought pain to the ponies gave him the idea, “FIST OF THE ROARING BEAST!” Clashing his four fists all together, he sent a shockwave of power soaring at more trees, blasting them to bits, much to the ponies’ horrors.

“Man, this is seriously bumming me out!” cried Tree Hugger.

Applejack and Buddy were infuriated and both lunged at Leogun, and he knocked them away hard.

“I think I’ve toyed with you enough.” Leogun growled, and he liked his fangs and declared, “Brunch is served!”

He was about to attack, when suddenly, Tree Hugger stepped in front of the ponies.

“Tree Hugger!” cried Budddy.

“What are you doin’, get back!” snapped Applejack.

“No, stay…” said Legogun “I love a triple decker sandwich.”

(1:02)

“Whoa, chill out big boy.” said Tree “Seems to me like you could use some calming auditory therapy. I know I always feel really at peace when I’m being bathed in positive vibes.”

Leogun was most confused, but not as confused as Applejack and Buddy. “What is she talkin’ about?” Applejack asked.

Leogun was not amused and roared angrily. Buddy and Applejack got up and were ready to lung in and get Tree out of the way, but Tree just got down on the ground crossing her legs. “Maybe a little Sonic Bliss will help calm his need and greed.”

…And with that, she began to sing in a rather bizarre but calming manner, like being in a trance

Leogun, still not getting it, had taken enough. “It’s time for the main course!” He clashed his fists together, “FIST OF THE ROARING BEAST!” but strangely, only a few simple shocks emitted, but nothing really happened.

“Huh…?! What is this?” snarled Leogun.

Tree Hugger continued to sing, and the creature began to feel very strange as he clenched his ears and his head groaning and groping. “Stop…! What are you doing to me?!”

Buddy and Applejack scanned him, “Check it out;” cried Buddy, “His strength is actually decreasing.”

“It’s like her hummin’ is actually affectin’ him.” added Applejack.

“Let go, beast dude.” cried Tree Hugger “Just let yourself bliss out.” and she continued to sing causing Leogun to feel weaker, more relaxed, and even losing his appetite. “This… can’t be… happening!” he cried.

“There, I think that’ll do.” Said Tree, and then she gazed at the others “Well, go on, like, leash him.”

“Uh… right…” said Buddy, and he got out his whip and powered up his finisher, “WHIPLASH STRIKE!”

Tree Hugger shut her eyes tight, though she knew the creature had to be disciplined, she preferred not to watch. She heard the strike, the creature roaring followed by the sound of an explosion.

“Um… you can look now.” said Applejack.

Tree opened her eyes and saw Buddy Rose holding a capture sphere with Leogun inside it.

She thought he looked so handsome standing there and powered down his suit. She gazed at him with twinkling eyes and rosy cheeks, and Applejack could tell this was only going to get crazy again.

Suddenly, Rhymey and Fluttershy, as well as Lightning and Starla came flying in.

“Are you guys alright?” Lightning called, “The alarms didn’t sound…” added Starla “But when we heard the roaring and the explosions and we rushed right over.” added Starla.

Fluttershy gasped at the state of the forest. Trees knocked down, bushes crushed, scorched grass. “What happened here?” she cried.

Buddy Rose handed Rhymey the sphere with Leogun inside, which told the friends everything.

“I don’t recognize this one.”
He’s not from the prison.” said Rhymey.

Lightning examined the creature, and agreed with Rhymey. “Oh, great, now it seems we’ve got even more creatures attacking us.” he groaned.

“Oh, no!” groaned Starla “We’re already strapped with all this extra duty, and now this, too.”

“We’ve got to inform their majesties.
They must know of these new hostilities.” Rhymey suggested.

The others agreed, and Lightning and Starla planned to leave at once. “What about the forest?” Lightning asked to Buddy Rose.

Buddy examined all the fallen trees and crushed shrubs, “I’ve seen worse, but I’m sure I can fix these ones up. Those that I can’t, we’ll just plant new ones.”

Fluttershy sighed in relief that things were going to be okay.

After Lightning and Starla left, Buddy Rose used his special botany magic to reattach and heal the fallen trees plant life, and the others worked with him to clean up the mess made and bring the fallen sacks of fertilizer to the farm.

On the way, Fluttershy and Rhymey were astonished to hear that it was Tree Hugger who helped capture the monster with her singing.

“Oh, it just made perfect karma sense; a little soft vibes to soothe the savage.” Tree said “It was a total peaceout.”

“I have never heard of anything so magical.” said Fluttserhy “I wish I was there to see it. Do you think you could come over sometime and help us with the animals?”

“I am so there.” said Tree, and she began to walk off with her friends, but she stopped a moment and gave Buddy Rose a flirtatious wink, making him feel a bit nervous again, and she said “And don’t think I’ve, like, given up on you. Maybe I did come on a little strong, but I’ll work on that. Peace, man.”

Now even Fluttershy and Rhymey were starting to realize how serious things were getting, and they left with her.

“I think you got yourself a stalker.” Applejack said to Buddy Rose.

Buddy agreed, “But still, she did help us, and…” he paused “That was pretty brave of her, what she did and all.”

His lips actually curled into a tiny smile, but still, he knew now he’d have to keep a sharp eye out for Tree Hugger since it was clear she wasn’t going to give up on him.

(Promo)

In our next episode: the strange pony strike again, frightening many others, and the mystery of him starts to capture everyone’s attention. Meanwhile, Rarity, Spike and the Spanish Twins venture into the village by the haunted mountain and end up getting a dose of unfriendly ponies that make them feel most unwelcome.

What is the deal with this strange pony, and what is the problem with village ponies?

Don’t miss the next exciting episode of “Starfleet Magic!”

(Next Episode: “Haunting, Hatred, and Horridness”)

Episode 6: Haunted, Hatred, & Horridness

EPISODE SIX

It was just about nightfall, and Dyno and Myte had come out of their mine with a trolley of jewels they had dug up along the tracks.

“Bueno; what a haul.” said Dyno “This ought to do well for the towns and villages.”

“Oh, that reminds me…” said Myte, and he held out a newspaper clipping showing a couple of shops. “I hear we can get some new mining equipment in New White Tail Village.”

“Ah, muy exelente. We could some new stuff.” Dyno said as he held up an old drill that was on the verge of breaking, and Myte felt he could use a new pick and shovel.

The parked the cart at the end of the tracks, and Myte went to big dumpster alongside of the mine to throw out some of the old and battered equipment, but the second he turned the corner, he saw a stranger poking around the dumpsters and gathering discarded food from it.

“You there!” shouted Myte, and the stranger looked up through his ragged clothes and turned to dash off. “Stop!” shouted Myte, and he zipped right in front of the stranger, cutting him off.

The stranger turned and dashed another way, but Myte cut him off again, and again, and again! The stranger was starting to lose his patience.

“It’s okay; I don’t want to hurt you.” Myte said, but the stranger didn’t trust him at all and reached into his rags, and slammed a dash of powder on the ground, making a huge puffy cloud, surprising Myte long enough to make another getaway.

Dyno heard the commotion and rushed over. “Myte! Myte!” he called. He arrived just as the last of the smoke settled, and his brother coughing and waving the smog away.

Dyno rushed to his brother’s side, “Myte, ¿Lo que pasó aquí? *What Happened Here?* Are you alright?”

“Si, estoy bién. *Yes, I’m fine*” replied Myte, and he told his brother what happened, “I think it must’ve been that stranger everyone keeps seeing at night.”

Dyno looked at the garbage, and all he could find taken were just scraps of food. Other than that, nothing else was touched. “And to think, I almost had him!” said Myte.

There wasn’t much to go on. The stranger left the same kind of unusual footprints, unable to be positively identified. No fingerprints, he didn’t even speak. Not even the specks of powder he used could help them figure who he was or where had run off too.

“If he’s in the area, maybe we better go looking for him.” Dyno suggested.

“Yeah, but where could he have gone by now?” said Myte.

The only clue they had was to follow the footprints in the ground, which lead all the way to the road, away from the mine towards the village; but mysteriously the trail just ended right at the edge of the road.

“He couldn’t have flown off. He doesn’t have wings.” said Dyno.

“There’s only one other answer,” suggested Myte “He must’ve teleported away; ah, but wait… he was just an Earth Pony, and if he could teleport he would’ve done so right away instead of hitting me with that smoke and running off.”

Now the twins were both concerned.

Meanwhile…

Rarity had only married Spike two months ago, and she was really starting to get the hang of being a wife as she prepared dinner, and asked Spike a number of grueling questions…about his chores around the house.

“Did you sweep the floor?”

“Yes dear.”

“Did you get the mail?”

“Yes dear.”

“Did you fold the laundry?”

“Yes dear.”

“Oh, I love you, Spikey Wikey.”

“I love you too, Rarity. Remember that.”

Opalescence made a small hacking sound and then turned the other way as she fell asleep on top of the refrigerator.

They gazed deeply into each other’s eyes, “Spike?”

“Yes, Rarity…?”

“Would you… please take the garbage out?”

She handed him the smelly bucket, which pretty much was bad to the smell. “Ugh! Sure. Right away...” Spike said, and he left quickly not wanting the smell to stench up the house.

As Rarity went back to making dinner, she felt like the luckiest pony on the planet for having Spike as her husband. Even though it was a little awkward, a pony being married to a dragon, their love was real and she didn’t regret it.

Spike was very good around the house, helping with chores without fuss, and being there for her when she needed him. At times he would be a little over-protective of her and go a little over the top, but in the end she still loved he and he loved her.

They even remembered the special song Spike had written for her before his growth spurt and be became an adult. He had put it on and Holographic Music Imager that she still kept.

Rarity sighed heavenly as the song ended.

While outside, Spike had dumped the garbage into the trashcans. “Yuck!” he groaned “Who’d have thought married life meant so much of this?”

On his way back, he stopped and noticed his memorial rock for Twilight, and decided to go over and speak to her, “I miss you so much, Twilight, and I never stop thinking about you, but I know you’re always here with me.”

He reached down and softly caressed the stone, right near the poor drawing of Twilight’s face he had made, and he sighed softly.

Suddenly, his nose perked up, and with his dragon sense of smell he began to smell something unusual; something mustier than the garbage itself, followed by the sound of rustling in the trash.

He poked his head round the house and saw a stranger poking through the garbage, taking bits of food. As gross as Spike thought that, he realized this was probably that stranger form reports, but rather than call at him like everyone else did, Spike silently crept round through the shrubs near the house.

Finally he was right behind the stranger and he got a good look at it; a black Earth Pony dressed in ragged clothing and black goggles. He was practically scarfing down little bits of food like a desperate creature, much to Spike’s disgust and confusion.

He waited for a moment, and then leapt out of the bushes, tackling the pony to the ground hard. The pony screamed and fussed, kicking over the garbage cans.

The sound of the crashing made Rarity jump, “What was that?” and she looked through the window and saw Spike wrestling some pony outside, and she assumed the worst!

“Spike?!” she cried, and she dashed outside in a heartbeat, and did a flying kick knocking her husband clear off the stranger, and seeing his chance the stranger made his getaway. “Wait!” Rarity called out, but the stranger had already gone.

“Oh!” Spike groaned as he got up, and he sneered “Rarity, why did you do that?!”

His wife turned and sneered at him, “I should be asking you the same thing. Whatever do you think you were doing, attacking an innocent pony like that?”

Spike got the drift of things, “Well… I think that I was wrestling with the night stranger.”

Rarity suddenly froze up and shouted “What?!”

“Yeah, in fact… that was the night stranger, and you just let him get away.”

Rarity felt her insides shaking, and she smacked her head in sheer stupidity, “What have I DONE?!!” she cried. “Oh, Spike, I am ever so sorry. Can you ever forgive me?”

As much as Spike didn’t like being kicked around, literally especially by friends… or family. He smiled lovingly at her. “You didn’t know, so I’ll overlook it.”

Rarity felt a little better and kissed her husband on his face, but she still felt pretty bad for letting the stranger get away, and there were no footprints to follow.

As Spike and Rarity ate their dinner, Spike still felt a little bad for having almost have caught the stranger. Rarity apologized again, and he forgave her yet again, “Still… there’s something about that pony that seemed familiar.”

“Familiar, how?” asked Rarity. “I can’t tell for sure.” said Spike “It’s like I’ve seen him somewhere before, but where?”

Rarity then noticed something stuck to Spike’s clothes; a small shred of fabric from the stranger’s rags; exactly identical to the pieces that Sweetie Belle had found and showed her from her fieldtrip; a mixture of several fabrics in one. She had never seen anything like it.

“Didn’t Sweetie Belle say she found her pieces around that village near New White Tail Woods?” asked Spike.

Rarity didn’t respond, but she was starting to see a small connection. “Spike, we are going on a trip tomorrow.”

She donned a fedora from out of nowhere, and looked serious like Shadow Spade. Spike knew there was no talking her out of it now; not when she put the hat on.

The very next morning, after breakfast, Spike and Rarity were on their way, soaring over New Povyville, and Rarity even donned her trench coat for the investigation. She even brought along a miniature tape-recorder, and was recording everything she could find and say… like in a detective story.

“My hubby and I were on our way, no telling what we’d find when we got there, but one thing was certain: I was up for the challenge!”

Spike rolled his eyes as they continued to fly, and they held hands and did a speed-boost forward!

This helped them reach the village in less than ten seconds, and they set down at the foot of the area, near the village entry way, just near the woods.

“Aha!” Rarity cried as she gazed down at the ground and picked up a single pink ribbon. “Our first clue already; another piece of fabric.” She stopped when she realized how cute it looked.

“Um, Rarity…” Spike said, but his wife continued to admire the ribbon. “Oh, whoever would lose such a thing? Why it’s positively gorgeous. It could go to a gown, or even a cute handbag, or even--”

“…Your hat.” Spike said, and he pointed to her head, “That’s the ribbon for your hat, Rarity.”

Rarity took off her hat, and it was indeed her ribbon, obvious it had fallen off from the landing. Rarity felt a little sheepish. Nevertheless, the two walked into the village.

No sooner had they stepped in did a lot of ponies, minotaurs, even a couple of griffons took one look at them and turned away very rudely.

“What’s eating them?” Spike wondered, Rarity couldn’t figure it either. She was more focussed on the mystery at hand anyway and she decided the first step was to question others, except she got distracted by what she saw in the window of a small clothing store.

“Oh, my; Spike would you look at this.”

Spike noticed she was staring at a simple dress in the window. It wasn’t really anything different from what Rarity would ever make. “What about it?” he asked.

“What about it?!” cried Rarity “Look at that outrageous price! How could something so elegant be for such a low price as that? Surely it should be worth at least a-thousand more bits.”

She decided to go inside and have a word with the manager of the store. “But wait, I thought we were gathering clues?” Spike called to her.

“We can do that as well, but I must see to this… this fashion crisis.”

Spike sighed and followed her into the store, but just like outside, the many ponies gawked at the two with mean and rude looking expressions.

Rarity began to feel a little uncomfortable, and things were about to get worse when she reached the front desk where the manager had her face buried in a magazine.

“Excuse me…” Rarity said “Might I have a word with you about the display in the window?”

The mare didn’t even look up from her magazine and said “Yeah, sorry, I don’t speak English.”

Spike and Rarity both thought that sounded ridiculous, as well as a lie, “But you just did speak English.”

“Oh, did I say English? I meant I don’t speak Loser!”

Now the two felt struck. “That wasn’t very nice.” said Rarity “I was merely wishing to inquire about the price of that dress in the window.”

The mare finally put down her magazine and looked Rarity deep in the eyes, “Take the hint, and get out of my store!”

Many of the customers and store workers applauded the mare, but Rarity and Spike were outraged.

“How rude…!” Rarity grumbled “Well, I can tell when we’re not wanted. Come on, Spike.”

“Humph!” Spike scoffed at the other ponies as he followed his wife out the store, but on his way out he accidently bumped into a stallion, “I’m terribly sorry.”

“Yeah, you oughta be.” growled the stallion, “You bump into me next time, I’ll bump you to the moon, ya freak.”

Spike’s features hardened, “I was just apologizing.”

“Get out of my face, or you’ll really be sorry.” snarled the stallion.

Spike looked almost ready for a Spike, but he knew well that Starfleet members were not permitted to start fights over petty things. “Fine, if that’s how you want to be.”

He caught up with Rarity grumbling “Who does he think he is?”

Rarity wasn’t too thrilled the way she had been treated either, but simply felt that, “Perhaps those two ponies were having a bad day, just look around.”

Spike noticed all the other ponies and creatures were being nicer to each other, so maybe she was right. However, a mare came up to Rarity, “Get out the way!” she snarled as she shoved Rarity away from the door to the shop.

“Oof…!” groaned Rarity “Whatever was that all about?”

“I don’t know, but I’m starting to hate this place.” Spike said.

Suddenly, they heard the sound of people arguing, and they spotted Dyno and Myte being thrown out of a hardware store and told never to come back.

“You can expect a report about this!” Dyno called to the rude creatures. “What’s their problem, anyway?” Myte wondered.

Then they saw Spike and Rarity and were glad to see some friendly faces, but they did ask why Rarity was wearing her detective costume.

“We came to gather clues about that strange pony, the one that sneaks around at night and goes through garbage.” said Spike.

“Ah, so you ran into him too.” said Dyno, “We bumped into him just last night, but that’s not why we’re here, we just wanted to get new tools for our mine, but everyone’s been treating us very badly.

The gang looked around and noticed that everyone was being nice to each other, but those who passed by them didn’t seem to care, or gave them a grouchy sneer.

That’s when Spike looked and saw something on a wall, “Hey, look at this.”

Along the walls were graffiti paintings and posters, all of which were bad remarks towards Starfleet. They said things like…

“Star-Freaks”

“Burn Starfleet, Burn!”

“Bring back Equestria of Old”

That’s when a small colt came up to them. He was an Earth pony, brown coat, tan mane, and his cutiemark was a picture of a lips speaking strongly and proudly. His name was Lippy Mouth, and unlike most creatures of the village, he actually was polite to them. “It’s horrible, isn’t it?” he said “Most everyone in this village has a bad thing for Starfleet, or practically all of United Equestria. So whenever anyone from Starfleet or anyone loyal to them comes here, they often get the cold shoulder, and are treated like pests.”

The gang were even more outraged than ever, “That hardly seems fair.” said Dyno, “Si, why do they hate us so much?”

Lippy explained that the creatures of the village never once liked Starfleet, blaming them for the destruction of Equestria of old, and then forming United Equestria with all their new technologies and martial laws. Some were even peeved that Space alicorns were naturally stronger than Equestrians.

“I don’t think you have to go on, we get the message.” said Spike.

Lippy nodded and sighed, “Very few of us, including me, don’t think that way of Starfleet, and we actually like it. That only makes the others regard us as bad. They pick on us, treat us unfairly, even my own mother doesn’t like it how I don’t side with her and the rest of the town, especially since she’s the mayor here.”

The gang had heard enough, such things were horrid enough, but unfortunately they did not violate the law, at least non-too-severely that called for action.

“LIPPY SYNC!!” someone shouted. It was his mother, Mayor Windy Bag-- that was her actual name. She was a beige Earth pony with long blonde mane, and dressed in a red work suit, but she did not seem very friendly in the least, even her cutiemark, a picture of red hot winds indicated she was full of hot air.

“Get away from those, creeps!” she demanded as she yanked her son away. “What have I told you about comingling with slime like this?”

Rarity felt the most struck, “Excuse me, but how dare you refer to us as slime!”

Windy Bag looked crosser than ever, “I don’t know what lies you’ve been feeding my son, but for your sake you had better get out of my town, now!”

Spike stepped forth, “You’re in no position to give orders to us. If anything, we could haul you in for threatening an officer.”

“All the more reason for you to leave and take all your tyranny with you!” sneered Windy, “Starfleet is not welcome here, and we have enough to deal with at it is without having to deal with mules like you pushing us around.”

The boys all gasped, and Rarity had that blazing flare in her eyes for having been called that word again…!

“Oh, it is on!” she growled, and she would have started a huge fight, but the Twins and Spike held her back. “Let me go! Let me at her!” Rarity shouted as she fussed.

“Whoa, whoa, detenerlo *Stop*!” cried Dyno, “Rarity, no starting fights, remember?” added Myte.

Rarity barely managed to calm down, and Windy laughed at her, “Wow, if that’s all it takes to get you riled up, imagine what will get you out of this world completely.”

Then she walked off dragging her son by the ear, threatening to have a long talk with him when they got home.

“Ooh!!” growled Rarity “I have never been so insulted in my life!”

“Maybe we should just go.” Spike suggested.

The twins agreed, but Rarity refused, insisting that they came to get clues about the stranger.

“But how are we going to get any?” asked Dyno, “Si, everywhere we look there’s someone with a macho grudge against us. Where should we even start looking?”

Before anyone could say anything, the sounds of screams were heard as several ponies came rushing into the village coming from the area of the mountain near the woods, and from atop the mountain, bolts of lightning and dark energy waves were emitting from the peak.

The gang decided to investigate the scene and flew off, landing just near the foot of the mountain, the lightning strikes grew more violent, followed by the sound of a voice hollering, “Stay away! Stay Away!! STAY… AWAY!!!”

The bolts began to zap straight at them, just barely missing them and knocking them off their feet. “Let’s split!” cried Spike, Rarity agreed with him, but the twins stood where they, feeling there was something strange about the lightning bolts.

“Boys, get out of there!” cried Rarity, but the twins stood where they were… as a pain of bolts struck them square on, and… nothing happened!

The boys didn’t burn, get thrown back. The bolts just passed right through them.

“They’re just illusions.” said Dyno. “Someone is trying to scare us off with cheap magic tricks.” added Myte.

The voice hollered out again, “Leave my mountain, and never return, or face CERTAIN DOOM!!”

The twins, Spike and Rarity were now convinced that all this was just a setup by someone, probably who lived at the top of the mountain.

They all flew up, up, and up and were able to get a good look at the mountain peak and could see the mountain was emitting from an old and decrepit mansion. They tried to fly in close to get a better look, when suddenly as they got near the house; they were stopped by a force-field.

“Whoever’s in there, he must be sworn to keep people out.” said Dyno.

“Si, but who is he, and why is doing this?” asked Myte.

Suddenly, a large flaming monster, actually made of real flames rose from the mountain peak and roared right at the gang, actually frightening them all away, and they flew as far away from town as they could.

While inside the house, that same strange figure snickered from within the darkness.

The gang stopped at the foot of New Ponyville to catch their breath. “Exactly… what… was that all about?” Spike panted.

Nobody said a thing, too out of breath and a bit nervous to say.

Rarity then reached for her pocket recorder, wanting to record that their mission was a bust, only to find out it had been recording all the time; she had forgotten to switch it off from her last recording.

She played the tape back and realized everything that was said or heard since their arrival in the village was all there on her tape, including the loud voice they had heard telling them to stay away.

Their eyes all lit up with sparkling hope. “We better get this to Lightning.” suggested Spike.

Soon, the friends were at Lightning and Starla’s and presented them with the tape, and they listened to it a few times.

“Sounds like you guys had quite the little adventure.” said Starla.

“More like a misadventure.” said Spike, he and the others were still rather peeved, not that they were scared off, but by how badly they were treated. Rarity especially hadn’t forgotten that awful Mayor Windy Bag.

Lightning understood how they felt, having had his share of bad treatment during visits, “Well, whatever their opinions about us may be, they’ve not broken the law, at least not severely for us to act, but I can’t say much the same about what you claim you saw on that mountain. We may have a real criminal on our hands here.”

He took out Rarity’s tape, “I’ll send this to New Canterlot at once. The master computer system will identify the strange voice on it, and we can try to find a match and unmask this night stranger. Maybe even figure out his motives.”

Spike still felt something about that he caught was strictly familiar, if he could only put his finger on it.

“Never mind that now, Spike.” said Starla“At least now we can try to find out who he is for sure.”

The twins agreed, “But, even still it could take a while.” said Dyno. Myte agreed, “There are loads of voices to match up with this planet; some creature even may have the same vocal sound.”

“Well, regardless, it shouldn’t take too long.” Lightning said “We’ll figure out who it is. We will.”

“But what shall we do about the citizens in New White Tail village?” asked Rarity “Their behaviour is most baffling and horribly horrible.”

“You heard what was said, Rarity.” said Starla “Unless they actually do something of extreme violation of the law, for now we just leave them alone.”

“Starla’s right.” said Lightning, “They’re just ponies and creatures full of hot air. They’re no big threat to us or to anyone.”

The others hoped Lightning was right, for in United Equestria, or anywhere else… who knew what secrets were kept.

Meanwhile, Mayor Windy Bag had shut her son in his room, “You can come out again when you learn the difference between right and stupid!” she scolded before slamming the door leaving poor little Lippy on his own.

He never wanted to tell anyone in person, but he was starting to hate his mother and wished he could do something about her bossiness and the way she treated others.

As for his mother, she went downstairs, from the apartment into the town-hall, and found a single letter on her desk, a red parchment with a lightning bolt on it.

She opened it rather hastily and read what it said, and she smiled wickedly, “I almost have what I need to make things right again.”

She looked through her drawer and pulled out a map, a map of Equestria of Old, which was no use now. “Don’t worry every-pony. Things will be normal again.”

(Promo)

In our next episode: Lightning comes up with an idea for Cadance and Shining Armor to solve their child problems, but it is

dangerous complicated and things may not go so well, especially when a monster attacks New Canterlot, making clones of everyone so it’s hard to tell whom is who.

Can our heroes outwit their evil counterparts, and what does Lightning have planned for Cadance and Shining Armor?

Don’t miss the next exciting episode of “Starfleet Magic!”

(Next Episode: “Send in the Clones!”

Episode 7: Send in the Clones

EPISODE SEVEN

One evening…

About twenty escaped prisoners and several new monsters had teamed up to attack United Equestria all at once, and were targeting New Canterlot Palace, figuring if they took out the main ops of Starfleet, the rest would fall.

Lightning, all twelve of his friends, even Cadance and Shining Armor visiting from the New Crystal Empire were also there lending a hand in the battle.

Right now, the two forces were staring each other down after a huge brawl; it looked as if it was time for the final move. The monsters all charged forth, while all the fighters remained where they were, not making a move, though some were sweating nervously.

“NOW, KRYSTA…!!” shouted Lightning, and that’s when Krysta and a large army of her fairies appeared and conjured a powerful warping portal, which the monsters gasped at, but ran right into it.

“Got ‘em!” cried Krysta.

The portal they had conjured sent the monsters hurdling along a dimensional pathway, clear across space, and emerging on Conva, into cells in the prison.

Colonel Cerise Wonder was there to greet them, mocking at them from outside the cells, “Welcome everyone, tonight’s menu is Justice Soup, served ice-cold. Order now, it takes twenty, maybe two-hundred years to simmer.”

The monsters were not amused.

A guard approached Cerise, saluted and said “That’s another fifty prisoners hauled in this week, Colonel.”

Cerise nodded, but she seemed far from relieved or delighted. As it stood, the prison was still practically deserted. It had been nearly two weeks since the prisoners had escaped, and though new prisoners were coming in, little-by-little thanks to Starfleet’s constant hunting for them, at this rate she was worried that it would take probably a-hundred years or so to gather at least half of them all back, and who knew what fretful dangers those monsters were causing.

“I can’t even begin to imagine how tiresome this must be for everyone on the force.” Cerise said to herself.

Indeed, all the fighters felt exhausted as they came into the palace. Goldwin came along with a tray of drinks, “These are from the court physician. They’ll help you feel better.”

“Thank goodness…” groaned Rainbow, and as she reached for her drink, her back cracked softly, “Ooh! I’ve got cramps in places I didn’t even know I had.”

“Well, bottom’s up.” Artie said, and he and the others sipped their drinks. They tasted very strong, Rarity almost gagged! “Eww, pardon my saying, but I don’t take kindly to this taste.”

Many of the others looked grimly at her. “It’s an elixir, not a milkshake.” said Applejack.

Pinkie Pie licked her lips, “Mmm, tasty, is there any more?”

The others all gawked at her in shock.

“What? I like it.”

“I’m… not even going to comment on that.” said Buddy Rose. Then he stretched out, “I do feel a bit better though.”

All the others felt their aches and pains going away as the elixir kicked in, but they were still plenty sleepy after such a battle against so many monsters.

Even Krysta came in feeling a little bushed. “How are the other fairies, Krysta?” Lightning asked. “Oh, they’re fine. They just need a rest, which is what I feel I could use.”

That’s when Princess Luna came into the hall to greet everyone, and everyone bowed to her and she bowed back. “I have a special announcement to make on behalf of my sister and brother-in-law; you are all welcome to spend the night here in the palace.

Everyone’s expressions were all the same, thankful, honored, Rarity felt like groveling at the princess’ feet, but Spike held her back, shaking his head telling her not to.

“Um, where are they’re majesties anyway?” asked Starla.

“Alas, that is the main reason I am here.” replied Luna, “They have been working rather vigorously without much rest. I had finally managed to suggest they adjourn to bed, and really hope they rest well.”

The others began to understand, what with the prisoners still being loose and having to keep up with all the regular work and duties and other problems.

“I insisted that they rest, I can handle the duties for a while.” Luna said “Now get some rest, you have all worked and fought hard yourselves, and don’t worry, I’ll be standing watch. Now, I bid you all goodnight.”

Then she walked off leaving the others to adjourn to their respected reserved bed chambers, and Goldwin headed back to his pedestal, removed his magic mask, turning back into a statue.

Pinkie stretched and yawned, “I am so sleepy; I think I’ll sleep like a baby tonight.”

The Spanish Twins wuickly covered her mouth, and the others looked concerned, but Pinkie had already said the word “Baby”, and everyone turned to Shining Armor and Cadance. The two of them sighed and rolled their eyes, “It’s okay,” said Shining Armor “You don’t have to be so sensitive around us.”

“But we thought, maybe…” Dyno said, and Myte finished the sentence “… you’d feel upset.”

“We understand your concern for us, and we appreciate it,” said Cadance “But really, you don’t need to go overboard about this. We’re okay. Really, we are.”

“Come on, let’s hit the hay, I’m beat.” said Shining Armor, “Goodnight, guys.”

Everyone bid them goodnight and watched the couple walk off to their chambers, but Lightning and Starla caught sight of Cadance’s eyes, and they could see the soft showing of tears.

Some of the others noticed it too.

“Poor Cadance…” said Fluttershy, “She says she’s okay but I can tell she’s still upset about this whole thing.”

“I wish there was something that could be done,
Not just for them, but rather for everyone.” said Rhymey.

Alas, no one had a clue of what could be done in a situation like this. So, they all decided to adjourn to bed.

Starla gazed up at the stars in the sky through her mini-telescope. Usually it helped her forget about worrying, but this was one of those few times it didn’t.

Lightning held her close, feeling just as bad as she did and wishing there was something that could be done.

“Maybe they could adopt a child.” Krysta suggested and she pulled out a very tiny picture of herself with her husband, King Topaz, and their adopted son, Prince Twink, “Twink may not be my real child, but I love him just the same.”

“It’s… not really a bad idea, Krysta.” Lightning said “It would help a little, but Shining Armor and Cadance were hoping to have a proper child of their own.”

“Besides…” Starla cut in “The tradition of the Crystal Empire, old or new, is still the same: Cadance was adopted by Celestia as a niece, and Shining is related by marriage. According to the laws of the land, the next crystaling child must be of proper birth from the parents.”

Krysta began to realize the full seriousness of everything and it only made her and the others feel worse, but they could not undo what had been done, not even with time travel magic, then they would run the risk of altering the future in a bad way; probably make things ten times as worse for everyone!

“Come on, let’s gets some sleep.” said Lightning.

Krysta slept softly in her miniature bed on the table, and Starla was asleep as well, but Lightning lay awake besides her, still pondering over what to do.

He turned his head and gazed at the moon and stars outside, and he shut his eyes softly praying to the spirits, “Mom, Dad… Twilight; Please, just give a little help. I can’t stand Shining Armor and Cadance being like this. If there’s anything that could be done for them… what is it?”

He suddenly drifted off to sleep.

While outside, one of the pony guards at the gates let out a yawn. “When is my replacement coming?” he groaned “My shift ended an hour ago, even a guard needs sleep.”

Another pony guard showed up ready to take his place.

“Where have you been?!” the first guard practically snarled. He quickly apologized for yelling, and the other guard understood. “Go on and get some rest, I can handle things here.”

The other guard complied and went off, leaving his college at the gate. The second he was gone, the guard looked around to make sure he wasn’t being watched, and he signaled for someone to enter into the palace.

Through the trees near the palace, a monstrous figure snickered from within the shadows, and next to him, a guard was tied to a tree and gagged. He struggled and fussed, but the creature glared pitifully at him, “Struggle if you will, nothing can stop me now.” then he gazed round behind him where a large group of creatures stood in the shadows, “Are you already…?”

The creatures nodded, and the monster snickered sinisterly, “Phase one begins!”

The guard at the gate checked around again, and then deactivate the shields at the entrance was so the creatures would not be scanned as they entered the palace and went into hiding.

Lightning found himself standing in a strange place wondering where he was. All around him he could see beautiful meadows, trees, clear waters, blue skies. “What is this place? I feel like I should know it.”

Suddenly, he looked on ahead and he could see none other than his master, Grand Ruler Celesto, working on something very important. This already told Lightning that this was Unicornicopia, and from the lack of towns, cities, as well as no sign of other creatures, it was the early days, centuries ago.

The planet had just been cleaned up and made suitable for life, and Lightning was curious to see what Grand Ruler was doing.

“Master…” Lightning called to him “Master over here!”

Grand Ruler didn’t even look up, which began to make Lightning wonder if he could even see or hear him, however, he got a good look at what Grand Ruler was doing: trying to artificially create one of the very first ponies of the Space Alicorn race, and from the looks of how frustrated Grand Ruler seemed, Lightning could tell this was not a first attempt, since he knew from the stories than many first attempts at it failed.

“Galloping Galaxies!” cried Lightning “Somehow, I’ve gone back in time a-thousand years, but what is all this for?”

No one could answer him of course, but that was nothing compared to what he was about to witness.

Grand Ruler had successful managed to create the body of a baby alicorn from bits of DNA from blot spots stained on his armor, and a few threads of hair from Celestia’s mane and tail that were on him.

Grand Ruler gazed down at the body very nervously, “Oh, it’s been so lonely being all by myself since I came to this place. Please, please work!”

His golden horns began to glow, and he softly let out a ray of magic onto the body of the child.

Several minutes past and nothing happened; it was a very stressful thing to be seeing. Then, suddenly, the baby began to stir, and it awoke and began to cry softly like a real newborn child.

A delighted and overly-excited Grand Ruler picked up the child with tears of happiness flowing down his face, “I did it… I did it!” he cried softly, and he held the child up high and shouted, “…IT’S ALIVE!!!”

Lightning felt just as giddy as his mentor did, and before long, miraculously, he saw them all; the first one-hundred baby alicorns, and Grand Ruler tending to their every need like a proud and caring father, not even minding that so many children demanded so much attention. He was too happy to care.

Now the space alicorn race had begun, and soon it would expand into the proud race Lightning knew and was a part of.

Suddenly, Lightning began to realize this was it. This was the sign, the answer he had been looking for.

…He woke up, it was already past sunrise, and cried out “That’s it!” startling Starla and Krysta, waking them up in a shock. “Lightning…!” Krysta groaned.

“What was that for?” Starla said as she rubbed her eyes, but her husband held her shoulders and looked deep into her eyes saying, “I think I know what can be done.”

Meanwhile, Captain Shaina, up and about was walking down the corridors to the main control ops room. The two guards at the gate saluted to her. “Good morning, Captain.” said one guard “What is your purpose for being here?”

“I have been sent to inspect the reactor control unit.”

The two guards gasped in near shock, “But, I thought you needed authorization from their majesties, and a scientific escort from the labs?” asked the other guard.

Shaina gave both guards a straight look. “This is a matter of emergency; I’ve had no time for the procedures. Now let me through. This is an order!”

The guards wanted to question her again, but Shaina looked ready to give them both a lot of trouble if they failed to comply. So the guards let her through.”

Once inside the control ops, all the technicians and other ponies were at their stations and manning the controls and systems of the palace.

Some of the ponies questioned why she was there, but she gave them all a straight look, telling them not to. So the ponies kept to their work.

Once Shaina was convinced no one was watching, she made her way over to an unmanned console, which controlled the reactor units of the palace controls, practically the heart of all the power systems.

The pony was supposed to man it had not reported for shift yet.

Shaina then fiddled with the controls, and removed a few power cells from the reactor; vital cells that were not to be removed as they were the way she had, and she stored them within a glass tube, and she left without even leaving any traces of her deed.

The moment she had gone, the reactor temperature had risen slightly, but when the pony who manned the unit came for her shift, she noted that, and a small rise in temperature was nothing to fret about.

Lightning had already gathered up the others and explained to them his idea; Cadance and Shining Armor could have an artificially created child, made from extracted part of their own DNA, “Don’t you see, it would almost be like having a real biological child of their own, and it wouldn’t really violate the laws of the land.”

The others thought it over and realized perhaps it would be a suitable idea, but first they required approval from their royal majesties about this.

“Not a chance!” Grand Ruler said with stern firmness. Even Celestia agreed with him and looked grimly at the ponies for their suggestion, “Do you have any idea what you’re asking?!”

Lightning didn’t like very much how they were behaving, and he could tell from the looks in their eyes they hadn’t slept very well last night, obviously still so uptight about all the worry and chores and alert of attacks.

“Can’t you at least give it some thought?” Lightning asked.

“Lightning, what you suggest is not only dangerous but it’s virtually impractical.” Grand Ruler said.

The ponies were confused.

“How is it dangerous?” Spike asked “I thought you could make artificial ponies? Isn’t that how the Space Alicorn race started?”

“Yes, it is.” replied Grand Ruler “But it was different back then. I already had the DNA samples I needed to make the procedure feasible with magic, but even then I had many failed attempts at creating a child. I was barely able to figure it out the first time.”

Before anyone could ask, Celestia explained the problem already. She hated to break confidentiality, but it was necessary to make things clear. It turned that Shining Armor and Cadance’s medical files revealed that their reproductive facilities were not only so badly damaged, “…If we were to extract the necessary DNA from their samples to make this work, it could be very fatal for them. They may not even survive such a procedure.”

Everyone gasped at such horrible thoughts.

“I can’t believe we didn’t think of that!” cried Rainbow.

“Oh, we can’t just ask them to risk their lives.” said Buddy Rose.

“Even if the procedure worked, and a baby was made, they may not live to take care of it!” added Artie.

“You see…” Grand Ruler said “The risks are simply too great. This conversation is finished. We have much to do.”

Lightning felt awful, more so for not thinking it through enough and seeing as there was no discussing it further, he apologized and he and walked out of the throne room.

“I still think it was a cool idea.” said Pinkie, and the others soft voiced their approvals as well. Lightning appreciated them, but that didn’t change a thing. Their majesties had spoken, and there was no questioning them this time.

After they had gone, Princess Luna had heard everything, and did not take liking to the attitude that was given. She confronted the two. “Sister, Brother-in-law, may have a word with you both?”

Celestia rolled her eyes and said firmly “Princess Luna, please don’t start with us. We’ve made our decision.”

Her husband nodded firmly, and he let out a huge yawn as did Celestia, much to Luna’s pity, “You are both very tired.”

“We are not tired; we’re frustrated!” said Grand Ruler “With all that’s happening already we simply cannot take any risks like this. It could cost Cadance and Shining Armor their lives.”

“Definitely or only possibly…?” Luna asked.

Grand Ruler hesitated and shrugged, “Well… I supposed yes, it’s only possibly they wouldn’t survive, but on the other hand they could.”

“Please, no more!” cried Celestia, “I’m just not willing to take that risk.”

Luna decided to spare the two any lectures or trying to convince them, but she did suggest they think it over. “I can understand you are weary and frustrated, but perhaps you should consider everything before making any firm decisions.”

She left the two to think about it, and just the thought of it frustrated them deeply. How could they ask their niece and nephew to put their lives on the line? That was only the tip of the matters, supposing the procedure would fail and no baby would be created and the still died?

It hurt so much to think about that Celestia began to cry softly. She was so tired, so frustrated and worried. Her husband held her close, feeling the same as she did. “Celesto, I don’t think I could bear it if things went wrong.”

“I know…” he said to her as he “Shining Armor and Cadance mean as much to me as they do to you. I couldn’t bear to lose either of them either.”

Still, they couldn’t ignore that everything from success or failure was all just possibilities; nothing more than a mere guess; a chance. They really needed to think it over hard.

Suddenly, the temperature inside the palace was beginning to rise, and it was felt by everyone. Investigations were carried, out and it turned out that the reactor was starting to race and be overcharged.

Lightning was warned of this, and the guards and technicians explained to him that Captain Shaina was last seen inspecting the reactor unit before the technician reported for her shift.

Lightning marched straight to the training dojo where Shaina was training her new recruits to the royal guard army, and demanded to speak to her at once.

“Captain, do feel the temperature rising?”

“Well, yes sir, I do.”

“You do? Captain, the reactor is starting to race; it’s almost in the yellow zone. Now I want to know what you did to the unit.”

Shaina looked confused and asked, “What I did to the unit? I haven’t been anywhere near the control ops. I’m not permitted inside without written authority or scientific escort.”

Now Lightning felt confused, “But the guards said that you entered the control ops, in a matter of emergency one hour ago.”

“One hour ago...?” said Shaina, then she called for one of the new recruits to come forth. “Kindly inform the commander where I have been since the crack of dawn?”

“Sir, she has been here training us recruits.” the pony answered.

Lightning began to feel worried, “You can swear that you never went anywhere near the ops?”

“I can swear it.” Shaina answered, she was starting to feel a little annoyed, but more concerned. “Alright, I apologize. Forget what I said.” Lightning said, and he ran off, leaving Shaina confused.

Meanwhile, the reactor was getting worse and the palace systems were beginning to crash. Professor Brain was summoned to the main ops immediately to inspect the situation. “Sabotage!” he cried “Someone has removed the cells from the main unit, and unless they are replaced within the next hour, the reactor will overload, which in turn will destroy the entire palace!”

The technicians all gasped in fear, but the professor assured them there was nothing to worry about. “I have ordered up a set of replacement cells for the unit, they should be here in moments.”

Suddenly, one of the technicians burst into the room with distressful news.

“What?!” cried Brain “The entire store room was cleared out?!”

“I’m afraid so, sir.” said the technician “The guards had told me Commander Lightning Dawn had ordered it to be cleaned out.”

The Professor felt confused, “Lightning would do no such thing, at least not without informing me. Oh, dear… if cannot replace the missing cells in time, I’m afraid we will all be in great danger.”

Now the technicians were frightened once again. “Couldn’t we just make new replacement cells?” one of them suggested, “I only wish we could,” Brain said, “But I’m afraid that those cells are highly concentrated forms of energy. It would take days to make just one. There just isn’t time.”

Lightning was walking through the palace, carrying a large bag over his shoulder, most likely full of important things from the palace storeroom, including the cells for the reactor unit.

Goldwin came rushing up to him. “Lightning, where are you going with all that?” he asked.

“Why do you want to want to know?” Lightning asked, almost in a grouchy tone. “Well, the guards said you took the reactor cells from the storeroom, and we need them to fix the reactor.” said Goldwin.

Lightning then quickly whirled around and pulled off Goldwin’s mask, changing him back into a statue. Then he left the mask on the floor and ran off before anyone else would see him.

He made it outside, but the others spotted him from in the courtyard. “Lightning…!” Starla called as she and the others raced after him. Lightning spotted them and began to put on speed.

“He’s trying to lose us!” said Artie.

“I don’t get it, why would Lightning take the reactor cells?” Pinkie wondered.

Suddenly, a second Lightning came swooping in, crashing into the other Lightning. The two ponies crashed down on the ground dropping the sack to the side.

“Huh?” cried Spike as he looked between the two ponies “There’s two of them?”

The others were beginning to realize what was going on, and they all landed in field where the two Lightning’s stood glaring each other down.

“Why don’t you admit your true identity?” one of then sneered, “Me, what about you?” protested the other.

“One of them is an imposter!” cried Rarity “…But which one?”

“Never mind that now,” said Applejack “We should get the cells back to the palace.”

“Oh, I don’t think so…” said a gruff voice. Everyone turned round and saw a strange creature; he resembled a humanoid creature wearing a large steel box for armor, and a visor across his face. He was holding the sack and mocking them.

“Duplicit!” snapped Starla.

“You know this guy?” asked Rainbow.

“Si, we know him. Read about him in the archives.” said Dyno, and Myte continued to explanation, “Five-Hundred years ago, he attacked Unicornicopia and tried to take it over, using the power to duplicate perfect copies of other creatures, making it hard to tell whom was who.”

Duplicit snickered, “Well, I always knew I’d be renowned one day, just as you’ll all soon be for having locked me up for half a millennium!”

He explained how he had sent his clones into the palace, deactivating the security fields so they wouldn’t get caught, and now that he had the power cells, and the reactor was overloading everything was falling into place. “Unless your palace friends want to blow themselves up, they’d better shut down every power source in the palace, but then what will there be to stop me from getting inside and taking over?”

The friends had all heard enough, and decided it was time for action. “Let’s go!” one of the Lightning’s shouted. “Yeah, let’s go!” repeated the other.

With that, everyone transformed…

“STARFLEET MAGIC!!”

“HARMONY HOUR, FRIENDSHIP POWER!”

“Dragon Power!”

Everyone was transformed, including the two Lightning Dawns. However, the visors were able to scan the difference and they could already tell who the real Lightning was; the clones only looked like the originals, but their vital signs were different.

The real Lightning joined his friends and said “Give it up, both of you! We’ve got you outnumbered greatly.” But Duplicty and the Lightning Clone laughed. “Not for long…” hissed Duplicit. He then scanned all the other friends with his visor, and out from his box-body emerged clones of each and every one of them.

The friends all gawked in outrage and their copies glared back, sniggered and looking pumped up ready for a fight.

“Told you, I’m good.” said Duplicit, “Unfortunately, I can only clone those that I scan, and only make one clone of each at a time. But don’t take my word for it… TAKE THEIRS!!”

With that, the clones rushed forth roaring and screaming.

“Everyone, pick a partner and dance!” said Lightning, and he and his friends charged after their respective clone.

What a battle it was! Each friend and their respective clone seemed equally matched in almost every way. Each clone knew the fighting style of their original counterpart, making it easy to determine what moves they would use.

Even their weapons and magic attacks were the same.

The two Starlas fired constant arrows at one-another, the two Buddy Roses got their whips tangled, Artie, Rhymey and their clones had a real battle off with staves and swords, Spike did the same with his clone too. The Spanish twins and their clones really heated things up with their fire attacks, nearly burning up a small part of the field.

The two Raritys’ fists collided with one another. “Oh! You broke my nail!” cried one of them, “You broke mine as well!” whined the other.

“You call those nails?!”

“Shut up and fight, Mule!”

The real Rarity flared up in outraged and charged at her clone with such fury!

The two Applejacks got each other’s ropes tangled; the two Pinkie Pies kept exchanging punches and kicks.

The two Fluttershy’s looked ready to fight. “Actually, I prefer a staring contest!” said the real Fluttershy, “Fine by me.” said her clone, and the two foolishly stared each other down with their deepest most frightful scare, neither one of the budging!

As for the two Rainbow Dash; they flew up high and charged at each other so fast, roaring like angry warriors, and collided into one another in huge Sonic Rainboom that shook the skies.

The two Rainbows however didn’t seem too hurt. “That the best you got?” shouted one “Ha, I haven’t begun to fight!” snarled the other.

As the battle continued, the palace was in worse danger than ever as the crashing systems and the overloading reactor began to take their toll, creating sparks, small explosions and Earthquakes.

Professor Brain found Goldwin with his mask off in the hallway. He placed it back on his face and recited the magic words…

“Powers of life, now begin
awaken the magic from within!”

…and Goldwin was brought back to life, “What happened?” he asked, and he noticed the lights flickering and the alarms sounding, “What’s going on?”

“I’m afraid it’s serious; quite serious.” replied Brain “I have no choice: I must shut down every system in the palace!”

“What?!” cried Goldwin “But if you do that, our defenses will be weakened badly.”

Another small shower of sparks erupted from the celling as a few wires fell out, “And if I do not, the palace will explode from the overload!” cried Brain “I just have no choice!”

Soon, the palace was completely shut down; all the systems and mechanical defenses were totally powerless.

“Oh, no; the palace…!” Lightning cried. Duplicit snickered and said “Looks like your friends have all but given up. Now is the perfect time for me and my clones to invade! COME ON OUT!!”

At the sound of his shouting, and whole squad of pony guards, which he had cloned from around the palace, marched forth.

“No!” cried Starla “We can’t let them get in!”

The fighters tried to rush in to defend the palace, but their evil clones held them back, wanting to continue the fight, refusing to let them go anywhere.

Lightning’s clone gave him a huge punch sending him skidding across the ground, and all the other clones blasted the others sanding them all skidding and rolling into a huge pile.

With the clone still blocking them down, Duplicit and his gang of guards marched forth towards the palace. “At last!” he hissed wickedly “After all these ages, I finally will crush Starfleet, and then roam on to rule the galaxy!”

Lightning clenched his fists as he got up, “I won’t let this happen!” and he concentrated hard making the energy flow through him and he changed into his Enticorn form, much to the enemies’ horror.

“The rumors are true!” cried Duplicit “Lightning can become an… Enticorn! I can’t clone that!”

Lightning Clone seemed just as nervous, he wasn’t able to change into Enticorn as he was only a cheap copy, and the powers he had were not quite the same as the original.

“I should’ve thought of this before.” Lightning said “Just because you look like us doesn’t mean you are our exact equal in every way.” and his body flared up more and more as he prepared for his attack.

“I can still take you!” shouted the Lightning Clone, and he rushed forth, but Lightning punch him hard, sending up way up high, and then he unleashed his fury, “ULTRA UNIFORCE!!”

The attack his the Lightning Clone, blowing him to dust in the skies much to the clones’ horror but to the friends delight.

This gave the Equestrian ponies another idea, and the five of them stood together and concentrated until their cutiemark energy began to show and they shouted, “VALKYRIA!!” transforming into the Valkyries of Harmony.

Just as before, their clones did not possess this specific type of power as it was far too unusual to copy, so they could not become Valkyries.

“Let’s bind ‘em!” said Applejack, and combining their swords together, they unleashed their binding beams to ensnare the remaining clones of themselves and their friends.

“We got them, now let’s finish them!” cried Rarity.

The friends all agreed, and combined their finisher attacks together.

Starla: “GALACTIC PROJECTILE!”

Buddy Rose: “WHIPLASH STRIKE!”

Artie: “SUPER STAFF SPIN!”

Rhymey: “THRASH SLASH!”

Dyno & Myte: “BOOM-BOOM FLARE!!”

Spike: “DRAGON KNIGHT SABER… IGNITE!”

Valkyries: “HARMONY BLAST!!”

The clones never stood a chance and were blown into ash!

Duplicit was furious, and then all the friends stood together with Lightning at the head of the group. “It’s over Duplicit…” he sneered at him “Make it easier and give up while you can.”

“Forget it!” shouted Duplicit, “Not when I’m this close to getting my revenge!” with that, he scanned the friends and created more clones of them, but unfortunately like before they only came out as regular ponies and could not become Enticorns or Valkyries.

“We gave you the chance to quit,
But I guess now there’s nothing for it.” said Rhymey.

Duplicit laughed at them, and motioned that he and his forces were standing directly near the palace, which concerned the others deeply. “Attack us if you will,” Duplicit said “But if you do, the result of your blasts may hit your precious palace as well. You wouldn’t want that would you?”

“He’s right!” cried Buddy Rose “If we shoot now, we could damage the palace.”

“What do we do? WHAT DO WE DO?!!” cried Pinkie.

Lightning was really frustrated, until he looked up and saw a small shimmering in the windows from the tower above. The shimmering seemed be flashing in morse code, which he read and understood.

“Prepare to fire.” Lightning said.

Everyone gawked at him in such shock.

“But Lightning…” cried Starla, “No buts, Starla. Do as I say.”

“But we’ll hit the palace!” cried Rarity.

“I’m aware of that, now stop deviating and prepare to shoot!” shouted Lightning.

The others still had no idea what he was thinking, until the saw him crossing his fingers on his hands, which was one of Starfleet’s many secret signals meaning: Everything was going to be fine and to just do it.

With that in mind, Lightning loaned them a small bit of power to recharge their weapons.

“You can’t, you wouldn’t!” cried Duplicit.

“Try us.” hissed Lightning, and all the others stood poised and ready.

Duplicit was losing his patience, “We’ll take you on! Let’s get ‘em clones!”

The clones all hollered and began to rush forth.

“Ready, guys?” asked Lightning and his friends all gave him a nod, “Ready, and FIRE!!”

(Skip to 0:22)

The team unleashed their power, in a blazing bombardment of blasts and fire power, hitting the monster and all his clones square on.

The resulting explosions were very big and massive that they all combined into one huge blast! Yet, when the smoke cleared, the clones were all gone; Duplicit was captured in a sphere, but the palace was completely unharmed and was shielded by a barrier.

This barrier was conjured by the three supreme majesties, and with a little help from Cadance and Shining Armor.

“Of course!” cried Dyno “Only the normal systems were shut down.”

“…But that didn’t include magical resources.” added Myte.

Lightning and the others de-transformed, and the barrier was dissolved as the five royal ponies walked out.

Grand Ruler picked up the sphere with Duplicit inside, “With him captured any other clones he has roaming about vanished; pitiful creature.”

The others all agreed, for someone having to rely on clones to do all the work for him meant that that he was probably a lousy fighter, hence why he was so easy to bring down without having to fight much.

“How did you all know to come here?” asked Fluttershy.

That’s when Krysta popped up, “I saw what was happening, and when the palace systems shut down, I knew there’d be trouble.”

“Well, it’s a good thing you did.” Celestia said, and then she noticed the bag on the ground, Duplicit had dropped it during the surge, but nothing was damage. She levitated it with her magic and handed it to her sister, “Take to the main ops at once.”

“Yes sister.” Luna complied, and she went off with the bag containing the power cells, and soon the palace systems would be back to normal.

Shining Armor then cleared his throat, “Cadance and I also have an announcement to make.”

The others all gazed at them with much curiosity, and Cadance said “We’ve decided… to try the cloning idea.”

Their majesties felt as if they had swallowed flies, and the others all gawked in astonishment. The couple expected these reactions but reconfirmed “We want to go through with this.” said Shining Armor.

Cadance explained that Princess Luna had spoken to them about Lightning’s idea of an artificial child, “We realize there are risks, but we’ve made up our minds. We want to do it.”

Her aunt and uncle’s feature changed to a deep concern and worry. “There’s no point in arguing.” Shining Armor said “We’re willing to take the risk.”

Still unsure of taking the risk, but realizing there was just no stopping it now, their majesties reluctantly approved. “I just hope we don’t regret what we’ve decided.” said Celestia.

“We hope so too.” Cadance said, but she said it to herself, but pretty much everyone was thinking the same thing.

Still, one thing they all did bear in mind was the possibility of things not going so bad and a new baby would be born, or rather created.

Only time would tell.

(Promo)

In our next episode, while volunteering with Dr. Penny Sillon on a small medical tour, the Cutiemark Crusaders discover a secret passage which leads them face-to-face with the strange pony. Meanwhile, Lightning and friends finally have a lead and discover the true identity of the stranger.

Who is the strange pony and how will he handle the Crusaders trespassing on his lands?

Don’t miss the next exciting episode of “Starfleet Magic!”

(Next Episode: “Into the Light of Darkness!”)

Episode 8: Into the Light of Darkness

EPISODE EIGHT

Today was the day Cheeriliee and Mykan’s school had their special volunteer day; when the students would volunteer around New Ponyville and help adult ponies in their jobs, and usually it was decided by grades what position they would have.

The Cutiemark Crusaders were miraculously all tied at the same good grade level, at the top of the class. So they all got to share the same job and would be working with Dr. Penny Sillon, whom was delighted and didn’t mind as she needed some extra help that day anyway.

The doctor had come to the schoolhouse earlier that day for another reason, not just to pick up the girls for their workday, but to administer simple Flu shots to the class. Even Cheerilee and Mykan were to have their shots, though the two of them were not exactly fond of needles.

Still, they and their students had them, and so did the girls, but Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon hated needles most of all and attempted to hide out of sight.

“A typical reaction,” Penny said “I’ve dealt with this before.”

Biffy Box, still as the naughty bullying pony he always was, tattled, “They’re over there, behind the curtains.

Diamond and Silver poked round from behind the curtains, “Hey!” Diamond snarled, “You little Tattletale!” added Silver.

Biff just stuck out his tongue and blew them a raspberry.

“That’s quite enough!” snapped Cheerilee.

Diamond and Silver were forced to get their shots, and as expected they both threw such a fuss, wailing and crying in pain. “Girls… I haven’t done anything yet.” Penny said. The girls felt embarrassed, but finally got injection.

“OUCH!!” cried Diamond.

“AYE!!” wailed Silver.

The crusaders sighed, and Biff laughed at the girls and mocked “What’s the matter, babies can’t stand a wittle needle?” he laughed some more. The girls were not impressed, and neither was Mykan, “Biffy Box, it’s no laughing matter.” he said.

“And besides, it’s your turn.” said Penny.

Hearing those words made Biff freeze up on the spot and he wailed “No way! You’re not sticking me with that!”

“Now, Biffy, it’s important to have your shots.” said Cheerliee “You don’t want to get sick, do you?”

Biff still refused to cooperate and threw such a fit, throwing the desks and chairs, anything to not get his shot.

“Biffy Box, stop this right now!” Mykan shouted.

Biffy then dashed for the door, but the Crusaders blocked his way. “Hey, get out of my way!” he yelled at them and he tried to throw a chair at them, but Sweetie Belle and DD used their magic to levitate the chair, stopping it in midair.

“Come on, Biffy. Ya gotta do what ya gotta do.” said Applebloom.

Biff still refused and tried to rush his way past, but Cheerilee and Mykan had taken enough and took him aside scolding him for his behaviour. “I think perhaps you better stay here with us today, Mr. Box.” said Cheeriliee. Mykan nodded in agreement.

Biff had caused a lot of trouble ever since he first came. Apart from his recent bad attitude, he been caught stealing other student’s lunches, putting glue and water on the seats, trying to cheat on tests by looking over shoulders and all sorts of typical bullying.

Finally, the teachers had had their fill and wrote to Biffy’s father to meet with them that day and talk about Biffy’s behaviour.

“Ahem!” Mykan said to all the other students “Now that all of you have had your injections, Ms. Cheeriliee and I all hope you have a fun day. Tomorrow we shall go around and discuss anything special you may have learned.”

The students cheered and all ran outside to await the arrival of their adult escorts.

Penny decided to not give Biff his injection, knowing it was not proper unprofessional of her to enforce, and she figured it be best if Biffy learned the hard way the importance of medicine.

“Well, come along girls.” She said to the Crusaders, and the girls followed her outside, but took a moment back to look at Biffy. They felt real sorry for him, but Biff stuck his tongue out at them. His teachers were not amused!

The girls ignored it, and when they had gotten outside, Penny gave them all cute little nurse-caps, “With these, I hereby dub you four as my official deputy nurses for the day.”

The girls liked the way their caps looked on them. “So what are we up today?” asked Scootaloo.

Penny then motioned to the air-taxi she had hired to take them to New White Tail Village, “I have to give some injections to the school there, and I thought you girls could help me show the children there that it’s no so scary or bad to get a shot.”

The girls suddenly looked a little frightened, and Penny knew why, she had been hearing tales of the rude people in the village, not to mention the dangers emitting from the mountain near the woods.

“Don’t worry girls, we won’t be going anywhere near the mountain.” Penny assured them, and she also pulled out a signed order that she and the girls were to be treated with respect and fairness. No pony or other creature in the village was permitted to give them a rough time, or at least deny them entry or permission to dine at the café’s for their lunch, things like that.

“Well, if you’re sure…” said Sweetie.

Soon, they were on their way, and the made it to their destination in only a few minutes.

As expected, many of the ponies and creatures who knew the girls were supporters of Starfleet, and Penny and DD were space alicorns, they were given snorts and the cold shoulder. Some even wanted to run them out of town, but Penny showed them her signed order, and seeing as she was here to give the school children their injections, she was given no trouble.

Then they made it to the school where the children were already lined up and ready for their injections. The teacher didn’t seem too thrilled that they were there and kept given them bad looks, but the children all seemed nicer.

Some didn’t seem too scared at all to get their shots, but others were quivering and nervous, and they wanted to run.

“I don’t want to get my shot!”

“It’s going to hurt!”

The crusaders could see this was very serious. “Girls, I think we need to give them the Brave Song.” suggested DD.

The girls all agreed, and began to sing to the students a special song they used to help themselves feel less afraid about things, while Penny gave each student their injection.

[AppleBloom]

If there’s something that you’re really scared to do

[Sweetie Belle]

Like getting a shot or going into dark places too.

[Scootaloo]

Well here’s some advice that will help you out a lot

[DD]

If you know what’s really there, you’ll see just how scary it’s not

[All]

So don’t be afraid, and you will see
Don’t be afraid, believe you me
If you conquer all your fears,
You’ll see how just cool life can be.

Don’t be afraid, it’s all in your head
Don’t be a afraid, put that fear to bed
It’s time dry those fearful tears
You can be so big and brave instead!

As the girls sang and danced, the students got into the beat, and it made it so much easier for Penny to give them their injections. The Students were getting so into the song they hardly felt even a sting from the needle.

[AppleBloom]

Now what often scares you is things you don’t understand

[Sweetie Belle]

But we know a secret that will make life seem so grand

[Scootaloo]

If you ask questions and talk with those whom you love

[DD]

You can find out more… and soon there’s nothing so be scared of

[All]

So don’t be afraid, and you will see
Don’t be afraid, believe you me
If you conquer all your fears,
You’ll see how just cool life can be.

Don’t be afraid, it’s all in your head
Don’t be a afraid, put that fear to bed
It’s time dry those fearful tears
You can be so big and brave instead!

You can be so big and brave instead!

The students were really enjoying singing and dancing, until the teacher shouted at them to get back into class, “I think you’ve had enough of those ponies and their ways for one day.” she sneered.

Penny and the girls were outraged at her tone of voice, and the students were all disappointed and marched glumly back inside their schoolhouse.

“Thank you very much,” Lippy Sync said to Penny “I don’t think I’m scared to get my shots anymore.”

Penny smiled at him, but the teacher ordered him inside or she would keep him after school.

Then as soon as he walked inside, the teacher snorted at the girls and Penny before slamming the door shut.

“Humph!” grunted Scootaloo “A simple thank you too hard to ask?”

“She’s even grouchier than Rarity is when she misplaces her sewing threads.” added Sweetie Belle.

Penny, although outraged by the teacher’s attitude, decided to treat her little helpers to lunch.

At the Café, the Minotaur Manager, Burly Joe, gave them no trouble at all, as he was one of few in the village whom had nothing against Starfleet and their supporters, which earned him disdain of his workers and many of his customers whom were against.

“I’m sorry, it happens.” said Joe “You’d think some around here would learn to get over themselves.”

“Well, thank you very much.” Penny said as she paid for the food. She and the girls decided to eat outside, away from scorning creatures, almost like having a picnic.

“I’m very proud of you girls; the way you helped the other students be brave...” Penny said. The girls smiled proudly, and Applebloom said “It’s what we do. We help others.”

“Yeah,” added Sweetie as she stroked the picture of her cutiemark on her blouse, “It’s what we got these for.”

The others all patted the pictures on their clothes, “Even though mine’s not a real one, it still means the same.” said DD.

Then the girls put their hands together and did their cheer, “THE CUTIEMARK CRUSADERS!!”

They did their special jump, and when they hit the ground, BOOM, the sound of a loud explosion came, and that fiery monsters appeared at the peak of the haunted mountain, followed by screaming as several ponies came running into the village from near the mountain, obviously frightened.

Then, suddenly, four ponies came in carrying a passed out griffon. “Help, we need medical help here!”

Penny saw this as her calling. “Let’s go, girls.”

The crusaders bolted upright and followed her.

The poor griffon wasn’t physically hurt at all, but definitely in a state of shock.

Penny came rushing in and asked what the story was, but already she got skepticism from all the ponies that mistrusted her. “What’s the story on this?” Penny demanded “Look, I want to help.”

Another moment of silence followed, and one of the ponies spoke up, “he was hanging out with us, and then we passed by the mountain and he starting shaking and he fell over.”

The others ponies still remained skeptical, but Penny had seen these sorts of symptoms before. “Girls, my bag.” said Penny. The girls handed her medical bag, and she got straight to work. “He’s having a small seizure. Quick, turn him on his side, and keep well back, let it run its course.”

As everyone stepped back and Penny continued to examine the patient the girls got separated from her by the backing crowds.

A small gust of wind began to blow, and it blew the girl’s caps off their heads. “Our caps!” cried Scootaloo, “We gotta get ‘em!” added Applebloom, and she and Scootaloo ran off after the caps. “Wait!” called DD “We shouldn’t run off!”

“Too late now.” said Sweetie, and she dash off to catch up with the others. DD wanted to at least make sure Penny would know where they were, but lost her within the crowds and feeling since they were just catching the caps and that wasn’t too bad, she ran off with her friends.

The caps blew on and on, and were too far off for Sweetie or DD to hit them with their magic to hold them still. “Stop…!” Sweetie at the caps, and sure enough the caps stopped near a tree, very close to the foot of the haunted mountain. One of the caps got snagged on a thick branch.

The girls were ever so relieved to get their caps back, but when Applebloom reached for her cap on the branch, the branch shifted like a level, and the girls suddenly found themselves bathed in a soft light.

“What’s going on?” cried Scootaloo, and before either one of them could say anything or even shout out, the girls had vanished.

They found themselves surrounded by swirling colors of light, a powerful transport vortex, and then reappeared in a very dark and spooky room. Very little of the room was illuminated.

“What was that?” asked Scootaloo.

“Where are we?” added Sweetie.

Applebloom sniffed the air and covered her nose “Eww, and what in tarnation is that smell?” The others smelled it too and were just as grossed out, but the number one questioned they wanted to know was where they were.

Sweetie and DD used their horns to add more light. “I think we’re in somebody’s house.”

“Who in their right mind would want live in an old dump like this?” wondered Scootaloo.

“Let’s look around a bit.” suggested Sweetie. “You sure that’s a good idea?” asked Applebloom “It ain’t polite to snoop around someone’s home.”

“Well we can’t stay here either.” said DD “We have to figure out where we are and get back to Dr. Penny.”

So the girls set off through the dark house. It was dark because the windows were all boarded up, or covered with very thick curtains. The house looked very old and big, almost like a mansion, but very unity as well.

Piles of dust gathered in corners, cobwebs on old bits of beat up furniture, and that awful smell continued to grow stronger as they crept forth. “What is making that smell?” groaned Sweetie. Then suddenly she stepped in something squishy. She looked down and noticed she had stepped on a half-eaten sandwich next to an empty cup of coffee. “Eww!” she groaned as she shook the mess from her shoe.

Then she and the others noticed bits of foods and drinks scattered about; bags of takeout, discarded sandwiches and milkshakes, Scootaloo recognized the end piece of a burger she had eaten a couple of days ago.

The girls suddenly got a good idea whose house they were in, and they got their ultimate answer when they heard doors slamming open, and there he was; the strange black pony, dressed in his rags and wearing his black goggles, and he looked infuriated as he gazed at the fillies. “What are you doing here?!” he sneered in a hissing voice as he slowly crept forth.

The girls were so frightened they could hardly speak, and quivered with fear as he approached them, but suddenly he tripped on a food bag and fell over, flat on the floor.

“Run!” cried DD and the girls all ran past the stranger and through the doors he came through running deeper into the house. The stranger growled as he looked round behind them, and he immediately gave chase, running into what was obviously the main foyer of the very large mansion, and he ran into another room.

The girls were hiding behind the large drapes of a covered window, and while they would have felt relieved to have outwitted the stranger, what they were seeing made them speechless. They gazed out the window and realized they were in a mansion atop the Haunted Mountain.

“I’d still like to know how in tarnation we got up here?” asked Applebloom.

“Well, one thing’s for sure, we can’t go down that way.” said Scootaloo.

“Shhh, quiet!” cried DD “He’ll hear us.”

“AHA!!” the stranger shouted, knowing where they were, and he began to charge forth.

“Run!” cried Sweetie and the girls made it out causing the strange to crash into the drapes and getting tangled in them.

“Quick, up the stairs!” suggested Scootaloo.

Up the stairs they bounded, and just ran to the end of the hallway into a huge room. Panting heavily, their littles hearts beating with fear, the girls looked around and realized, as Applebloom pointed out, “Oh, no! I think we’re in his bedroom!”

The bedroom was just as dark and as spooky as the rest of the house, the furniture was all beat-up and worn, and more bags and boxes of discarded foods taking from other creature’s trashcans, making the girls feel more concerned than sick.

“How can someone live like this?” groaned Scootaloo. “Who would ever want to?” added DD.

Sweetie and Applebloom then noticed some more stuff in the corner of the room; an old desk, rusted and beat-up sewing machines, shredding remains of fabrics and measurements. Beside the desk were old-style pony mannequins and fitting dummies, back when ponies didn’t have human-like bodies; also old and beaten-up.

“Wow, this place looks worse than when Rarity has a fit because she can’t come up with any ideas.” said Sweetie, “Hey; this guy’s must’ve been a fashion designer too.”

Applebloom then noticed on the wall old magazine clippings from several years back. “I was just in pony preschool when this came out.” she said.

She opened one of the magazines and out fell a picture, of the black pony, and an older unicorn mare standing next to him; most likely his mother, whom was the actual fashion designer.

“Hey, does it say what his name is?” asked DD, “I can’t tell. The writtin’s all burry.” replied Applebloom, “But ya know what, he looks almost like… I know him from somewhere.”

The girls all took a good look at the pony and realized he did look familiar. “Come to think of it, his voice sounds familiar also.”

The girls thought this all to be really peculiar, but suddenly they heard footsteps racing towards the bedroom doors and the pony burst right in. He glared at the girls furiously and the girls all huddled together against the wall, “How dare you intrude on my solitude!” the stranger sneered.

The girls stayed huddled as the backed against the wall as he got closer and closer, too scared to speak or ask him anything, and they began to scoot along the walls.

“Stop!” the strange cried, but the girls didn’t stop scooting, “No, go no further! No!”

Suddenly, the girls walked into a large mirror on the wall, and Sweetie Belle’s arm hit a candle-holder on the wall, shifting it like a switch, and the girls fell magically through the glass of the mirror and were gone.

“A’RGH!!!” shouted the stranger, and he continued to roar and shout in frustration, almost going into a huge fit!

The girls found themselves back in the village once again, almost in exactly the same spot they were before their caps blew away. All of them seemed pretty scared and shocked. “That was all real, wasn’t it?” said Scootaloo, and the others all agreed.

“We were really up there.” Sweetie said as she pointed up at the mountain.

The girls didn’t know what they were feeling-- a mixture of emotions-- concerned, afraid, astonished, but also very curious to a great many things; who that pony was, why he lived way up on the mountain, why was he living in such a mess, why he was slinking around at night stealing food from other creatures’ garbage, but most importantly: why did he seem so familiar to them despite they had never met him before?

Dr. Penny came up them, having finally finished her work, “I’m sorry, girls, I didn’t mean to take so long, but I finally got that griffon better again, but I couldn’t tell if he was grateful or not.”

The girls hardly responded and were still deep in thought of what happened.

“Girls…?”

They finally snapped out of their trance. “Oh, Dr. Penny…” said DD.

“Hey, what happened to your caps?” Penny asked.

The girls had nearly forgotten about them. “They blew off our heads.” said Applebloom. They looked back towards the distance where the caps were last seen, but they were gone; most likely blown away.

“We’re sorry, Dr. Penny.” said Scootaloo.

Penny just smiled, “…It’s okay, girls.” then she heard the town clock chime three. “Oh, my, I lost track of the time. We better get you girls home.”

The girl wanted to tell Penny about what happened, but were hardly sure if they understood it all too much themselves, and were still pretty scared about it.

On the way back home, the girls decided to keep what they had learned to themselves until they were absolutely sure about what they saw and experienced.

*Mykan’s POV*

Meanwhile, at School, Biffy Box’s father, Big Chump; a big burly unicorn pony, blue like his son, with a wrestlers champion belt as a cuitemark was giving me Cheerilee a rough time ever since he had arrived to talk about his son.

“So, you guys think it’s funny to give my boy low grades and keep him after school so much, huh?” he sounded more like he was trying to make a threat.

Cheerilee went over a long list of the naughty things Biff had done to terrorize and bully the other students, “To be frank, if your son does not start to show improvement and respect, I’m afraid we will have to expel him.”

Chump rolled his eyes, “Surprise-Surprise, he’s not good enough for you so you kick him out.”

“Pardon me…” I said “But I don’t think you’ve been listening to a word we’ve been saying.”

“Sure I have; you’re a bunch of wimpy lazy teachers who can’t handle one student so you decide to dump him.”

“Hey, good one, pop.” said Biff, and his father smirked at him, but Cheerilee and I were more infuriated than ever. It became obvious to us that Chump was just as bad as his son and no improvement or agreements were insight. “Well then, I’m afraid we have no choice.” said Cheerliee, and she stamped a paper on her desk “I’m sorry, Biffy Box, but I’m afraid you’re expelled.”

Biffy didn’t seem to mind at all, but his father was really ticked, “You expel my son just for being a boy? What, can no one have a little bit of fun anymore?”

I sighed and said, “Mr. Chump, we have tried to be patient with you and you’re son, and while this may look unprofessional in my job, I’m not going to standby and keep quiet about it…

Your son is a juvenile, disrespectful delinquent, and we refuse to allow him to terrorize our students and give us a hard time!!”

I panted heavily having gotten all that off my chest, and Cheerilie though she agreed with me, thought I went a bit overboard. Safe to say, Biffy and Chump were outraged at what I had just said, but Cheerilee insisting they leave at once.

Chump looked ready for a big fight, “I wouldn’t try anything.” I warned him “As an auxiliary Starfleet member I can arrest you on charges.”

Realizing his spot, Chump and Biffy decided to leave. “This isn’t over.” Chump said, and his son blew us both a raspberry, then they headed out the door.

No sooner had they arrived did Lightning, Starla and Krysta come into the school, having just past the two gruff ponies. “I take it there were problems?” Lightning asked.

Cheerilee and I gave him a straight look. “I’ve never met such ponies before.” said Cheerilee “I’ve also never had to expel anyone before.”

“It had to be done.” I said, “If they don’t wish to see reason, by all means they don’t belong here. Anyway, what brings you guys here?”

“We came here to see you, Mykan.” said Starla.

“Me?”

“Yeah,” said Krysta “We found out something you may find a little strange, and we decided to share it with you first.”

Cheerilee and I gawked at one another, and Lightning opened a briefcase he had bought with them. Inside was a small computer unit.

He explained about the voice Rarity had recorded from New White Tail Village, by the Haunted Mountain, “Well, we finally found a match for the voice, and… just look and listen.”

He typed into the controls and the voice began to play in a normal tone, and I was instantly astonished, “That… that sounds like me?”

“There’s more…” Starla said as she used the controls and showed everyone the name of the creature it belonged to; “Mykan Stevens”

Cheerliee gawked at the name, and I… I was a near loss of words and feelings, “I… but… how can this be? That can’t be me!”

“We know it isn’t you.” said Lightning “Mykan, do you remember when you first arrived here, and how I showed you that every human in your world has a pony, or other type of creature of them living here in this world?

…Well, it seems we just found yours.”

I felt so strange, overwhelmed with astonishment and shock that I had to sit down. “You’re telling me, that guy is like me, but he’s not me?”

“Well, sort of.” said Krysta “We know that ponies and other creatures here have human or other animal counterparts of them in your world, and vice-versa, but the thing is… they don’t have all of the exact same things in common.”

She had a point; we all thought back to and compared humans to their ponies.

Here in United Equestria, Celestia was Queen of the entire planet, but her human counterpart was merely a High School Principal. That wasn’t really the same.

Grand Ruler Celesto in United Equestria was also Co-ruler of United Equestria, commander-in-chief of Starfleet, and an extremely powerful being, while his human counterpart, Celesto Grandruler, was a retired astronaut, and wealthy businessman. Again, they had some similarities, but not totally the same.

Lightning even remembered the brief moment when he met his own human counterpart. Lightning himself was a Commander and brave fighter, while his counterpart, also a brave explorer and ally of justice, but a mere high school teacher. Very similar in many ways, but they were still not totally the same.

“Some creatures have many similarities with their human counterparts, or vice-versa and some don’t.” Lightning said. He even pulled up a file of my pony self, recorded from our last trip to the human world.

As a human I was just about 19 years old, peach colored skin, short brown hair, and 5 feet 10 inches tall, yet as a pony, I was an Earth Pony, my coat color was black and my mane and were dark brown; a very heavy difference right there.

In my world, I was a science prodigy, and former astronaut; not to mention the very first human to ever explore United Equestria, and now, in United Equestria I was a school teacher and an axillary Starfleet member. Yet, it seemed my pony counterpart was no kind creature, living isolated on a mountain top and scaring people away; extremely different.

A moment of silence followed. We now knew I had a pony counterpart, and where he came from, and we also knew from what happened that he and I were different in many ways. “But, why is he doing all this? Frightening people away from the mountain?” I asked.

“That we don’t know yet,” said Starla “But we’re starting to feel that he may be hostile. We just have no real proof yet.”

Lightning nodded “If all he’s doing is scaring others away and not actually hurting them or making plans to, that’s not breaking the law, but… we’re more concerned about his motives than his actions.”

“Well, couldn’t you confront him?” suggested Cheerliee “Maybe talk with him, ask about his reasons?”

Krysta shook her head “From the way he’s acting, I don’t think he’d be interested in any of that. Whatever reason he has for keeping people away from his mountain it must be something big.”

“Well, at least we now have a small lead of the mystery.” Lightning said “But, just the same, it could be dangerous. I’m going to order that no one goes near that mountain without written authority from officials.”

Everyone complied with the idea, but still, to me this was both incredible and somewhat frightening.

So much that I didn’t sleep very well that night. My mind was a boggle of questions regarding my pony counterpart, and despite the warnings and Lightning’s order, I couldn’t help but think what I would give to meet the guy face-to-face… just once.

*POV Ends*

Mykan wasn’t the only one who couldn’t sleep…

Each of the Cutiemark Crusaders, though they still got home safely, and on time and went about their normal days, they still hadn’t told anyone about their adventure and discoveries that day, and the number one thing they were all thinking of that kept awake: what was that pony thinking or up to now?

Back at the mountain, Mykan was lying on his bed, feeling exhausted and frustrated, and his stomach growled in hunger as he hadn’t eaten yet, but he was too concerned of something else to care.

“Those girls!” he said to himself, “They’ve discovered my secret. What if they tell others? What if more find out? They could come back!”

He flopped down onto his bed not know what else to think, feel or do!

(Promo)

In our next episode: Cadance and Shining Armor prepare for the procedure that can create a child for them, or ultimately destroy them.

Meanwhile, Artie is having a bit of trouble with one of his creations, and his friends grow concerned of him, but not as concerned when United Equestria suddenly begins to lose its color and the inhabitants are placed in terrible danger from it.

Can our friends overcome their fears and troubles and gain the color in their lives back?

Don’t miss the next exciting episode of “Starfleet Magic!”

(Next Episode: “Color You Surprised”)

Episode 9: Color You Surprised

EPISODE NINE

A week had passed since Lightning put the order into effect, and everyone did as was said and stayed away from White Tail Mountain, knowing of the dangers involved. However, the news about Mykan Stevens, the pony, was circulated between Starfleet personal and not released to the public for fear of causing panic and misunderstanding; what if people wrongfully accused the human Mykan Stevens?

Further investigations would have to be carried out, and the night patrols were ordered to keep a sharper eye out after dark if Pony Mykan went poking through garbage cans again. Unfortunately there were not too many soldiers available to cover large areas as Starfleet had to be alert in case more of the escaped prisoners attacked.

Aside from all that, life still continued, and as nervous as the inhabitants of United Equestria were regarding the situations, their faith in Starfleet remained unshaken, and they continued to go about their lives.

At the Royal Palace in New Canterlot, Cadance and Shining Armor had spent days going through medical examines to determine whether or not they could survive the procedure to create an artificial baby.

Dr. Penny herself had been summoned to supervise the examinations, and when all was done, the results revealed it was still highly risky for Shining Armor and Cadance to go through the procedure, but regardless how much everyone tried to talk them out of it, the two insisted on going ahead.

“Are you both sure about this?” Celestia asked again, “I just hate to think of what would happen if… if you…”

“We understand how you feel.” said Shining Armor. His wife nodded and said “But, this isn’t just for us. If we’re going to maintain the proper tradition for the New Crystal Empire, we need to have a biological child, and this is the only way.”

Grand Ruler was ever so nervous. Nearly every shred of his insides were telling him to call it off and not let them, but this was one of those times when he knew he just couldn’t.

“Well, you two better get ready then.” he said “We’ll begin the procedure immediately. The sooner the better…”

The couple bowed to their aunt and uncle and went off to change into hospital gowns.

“Celesto, I’ve never been so worried before.” Celestia said. “But I have…” her husband said “I remember when you went into surgery, when you were very ill, and I nearly lost you. Now it’s happening again, but we must be brave for Shining Armor and Cadance. They have asked for this, and there is really nothing much we can do to stop them.”

Celestia felt deeply moved what she had just heard, but she still held his hand tightly for comfort.

Outside the palace, a stranger appeared on the very peak of the tallest tower, the one where Princess Luna stood on the terrace for her duties in watching the night, and he placed a medium-sized jewel directly on the tip of the tower’s flag post.

The creature snickered, and waved his hand over the jewel. The jeweled began to glow, “It won’t be long now.” the creature hissed, and then he fled.

Meanwhile…

Lightning, Starla, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie had just rounded up a few more prisoners that had tried to attack the planet and were now at the Cakes’ café for a well-earned milkshake and rest break.

“Well, I guess we showed them.” Lightning said.

“Totally!” cried Pinkie, and she began to hop around punching and kicking the air like a crazy pony, “Hiya, hey! Take that you monster!”

Even Rainbow Dash was psyched for another brawl, “Just let those prisoners come at me, I’ll Rainboom them so hard they’ll practically run back to their cells.”

Lightning and Starla gawked at the girls awkwardly, “Well, at least they’re in good spirit.” said Starla.

Lightning nodded, but then they heard someone practically shout “I said I want another!”

The friends turned and saw Artie sitting a few tables behind and with a ton of empty milkshake glasses on his table, and Cupcake suggesting “Artie, don’t you think you’ve had enough?”

“I’ll tell you when I’ve had enough!” Artie sneered, and he gave her his money, “Milkshake… please!!”

Cupcake didn’t wish to argue, seeing how upset Artie seemed, and was back in a heartbeat with three more milkshakes. Artie could only sigh as he drank.

“What’s up with him?” Rainbow wondered.

Pinkie Pie didn’t like it to see one of her friends down in the chops for whatever reason. “I think it’s time for a good friend to step in.”

“Uh, wait, Pinkie…” Lightning said, but Pinkie had already bounced her way over to Artie. “Why so glum, chum?” she asked.

Artie sighed, “It’s horrible, Pinkie. Some of the creatures who come to my gallery have been complaining about not seeing anything new lately, and they’re right. It’s time I made some new paintings or sculptures for my displays… except… for the first time; I cannot think of anything to make.”

Pinkie gasped in shock, and the others heard what was said and could hardly believe their ears. Artie was usually bustling with inspiration, and he had never had a case of creative-block like this before, but this was not why he was drowning in milkshakes.

“I remember a long time ago, when I was living on my home planet Monotane, just when I was starting to get into art, my grandfather taught me a cute song to help me if ever I got stuck… but I don’t remember it. I’ve been so busy and stressed out by the attacks, the excessive patrols, and other things, my mind just went blank.”

The others understood. Artie had plenty memories of his grandfather, being the only relative who ever showed him kindness over his greedy and obnoxious parents, and not remembering the song was obviously reminding him of how much he missed him.

“All I know is the song is about Color…” said Artie “But, I don’t remember what else. Think of Color...? Dream of Color…? Color with Color...? Oh!”

His friends hated seeing him so down and frustrated. “You’ve just been working too hard.” said Starla, “Yeah, I’m sure it’ll come back to you.” added Rainbow.

“In the meantime, let’s see a smile.” Pinkie said as she pulled Artie’s face so he smiled, but the second she let go it twisted back to its downer state, much to her dismay. “This is going to be harder than I thought.”

Back at the palace, Cadance and Shining Armor were already under the anesthetic and the procedure was underway. Dr. Penny supervised in the extraction.

It was a really long struggle due to Cadance and Shining Armor being so fragile and the doctors took extreme caution not to botch anything. A single mistake would possibly kill either patient.

“Keep it steady.” Penny instructed as the extraction continued. “…Pulse?”

The monitor pony checked the controls, “Pulses normal, breathing on both of them steady.”

Grand Ruler and Celestia watched from the operating theater seats above. Both of them sweating nervously, and Celestia gripped her husband’s hand a little too tight. “Celestia… please!” he groaned.

She let him go, “Sorry.”

Princess Luna, also with them, cautioned her sister, “Stay strong, have faith in the doctors.”

Suddenly, the heart monitors began to go crazy. “Dr. Sillon!” cried one of the assistants. “Decrease voltage, quick!” snapped Penny.

Their majesties began to panic silently, but they calmed down when the monitors and the doctors calmed down.

Penny then held up two glass vials, each containing the extracted materials from Cadance and Shining Armor. The two were alright, but still fairly weak and needed time to rest and wake up.

They were transferred to a quiet room, both still sleeping very peacefully. Even Penny herself was ever so relieved, “That’s as close as I ever want to cut it.”

Their majesties gave her their commendations, and Penny was grateful, but this was only the first step. Even with the material gathered from Shining Armor and Cadance, the question still remained: Could a child actually be created?

“I’ve had the vials sent straight to the labs,” Grand Ruler said “With the instructions I have given, Professor Brain and his workers will do whatever they can, but it’s all in the hands of fate now.”

Suddenly, they all heard Captain Shaina enter the room, “Pardon me…” she said “But, Dr. Sillon may I see you a minute?”

Penny and the others turned round, and what they saw when they looked at her made them gasp. “Captain Shaina?!” cried Celestia. It was her, but she had lost all her color. He coat, her mane, her clothes, even her lance all were a dull shade of gray, and behind her, several of the palace guards and staff were all in the same condition. Now, everyone was really concerned.

Meanwhile, Artie’s gallery was closed that day, but he allowed his friends in to take a walk with him and look at some of his and other masterpieces sent in by others.

“Oh, look at this! Look at that!” Pinkie squeaked as she pointed at every single painting and sculpture she spotted. Some she didn’t even understand.

Rainbow liked the painting of the Wonderbolts, but was surprised to see the name signed under it, “Spitfire painted this?” she asked in disbelief. “Of course she did,” said Artie “Art is for everyone, even those who don’t seem like it, and besides she has a life outside the Wonderbolts, even if you don’t see it, it is there.”

As the friends continued to look around, they were enamoured by the many art displays. Pinkie Pie took a liking to one of the sculptures of a pony posing as a thinker, and tried to pose herself in the same position, only to fall down flat. “I’m good.” she said.

Lightning and Starla were gazing at some of the paintings of space sent in by other ponies, but Starla criticised some of them. “This constellation should be over here, and this star-system is missing a moon, and this purple comet should be a tad bit more up.”

Lightning whispered to Artie, “Meet my wife, the astronomy queen.”

“Just as long as she doesn’t say those things to the one who painted that...” Artie teased.

The boys giggled, but then Artie began to ponder, “Now why can’t I remember that song? Was it Talk of Color? Sing of Color? No, no…”

“Poor, Artie.” Lightning said, “There’s got to be some way to help him out.” added Starla.

“Maybe I could give him a big party, to cheer him up.” Suggested Pinkie, followed by a throwing of confetti and her tooting a noise-maker. “Uh… Not a bad idea Pinkie, but not a good one either.” said Rainbow.

Poor Pinkie, he part hat flopped forth, “Oh, well. It was worth a try.”

Suddenly, they all heard Artie scream from down the hall. They all rushed up to him, and saw him gawking and pointing in horrors at some of the paintings on the wall.

“What the?!” cried Rainbow.

Pinkie rubbed her eyes, and even put drops in them and took out a pair of glasses she did not really wear to see if she was looking clearly. “Um, didn’t those paintings used to have color?”

“They did…” said Lightning “I saw these paintings myself.”

Artie was at a near loss for words, and he picked the paintings-- a picture of a simple meadow of flowers-- off the wall to examine them more closely, but he couldn’t tell anything different at first. The painting used to have so many colors, but now it was just a dull shade of gray. “This is so not how a painting should look.”

“Um… guys…” Rainbow said.

“What is it?” Lightning asked, but he and the others could see; more paintings along the wall were losing their color; just fading away into shades of gray. Even the walls were starting to look gray, and the floors.

Starla then leapt up high and looked out one of the high windows, and she gasped, “Lightning! You better look at this!”

Lightning flew up to his wife and looked out the windows dome in the ceiling, “Galloping Galaxies! All of New Ponyville is turning gray!”

The streets were turning gray, all the planets were slowly losing their color, and even the sky itself went from bright blue to dull gray. Then, the ponies themselves began to lose their color, and began freaking out, and even Lightning and the others lost their colors.

“AAAAHH…!! Look at me!!” cried Pinkie, and she bounced around panicking like crazy “I’m not pink anymore! I have to be pink! I’M PINKIE PIE!!”

Rainbow picked her ears, “Uh, yeah… I think we got that.”

Actually, she too felt just as freaked out, and suddenly they all could feel a shadow looming over them. They looked up through the dome and saw someone nasty looking gazing down at them.

He was a simple human shaped creature with dark navy blue skin, orange eyes, and wearing a multicolored trench coat, and judging by the fact that he was still in color told the others he was responsible.

“All the color on this planet now belongs to me, Spectrum!”

Pinkie and Rainbow gawked at one another with weird expressions, “Spectrum…?” they both said, “What kind of name is that?” Rainbow asked.

Spectrum merely scoffed, not caring much about that, not that it mattered that everyone already knew he was up to no good, and they all transformed.

“STARFLEET MAGIC!!”

“HARMONY HOUR, FRIENDSHIP POWER!!”

Lightning tried to scan Spectrum with his visor, but there was known data on him. “He’s not originally from the prison.”

Spectrum then motioned with his finger for them to follow him, and he leapt off the roof. “After him…!” shouted Lightning, and he and his team sped through the open windows and followed the creature into a clearing where everything was just as gray.

All the ponies were panting and felt a little tired after that short chase. “What’s happening?” asked Starla.

“I feel like I just ran a million miles.” added Artie.

Starla scanned with her visor, “Our energy meters! They’re dropping slowly!”

Pinkie felt her legs wobbling as her strength decreased, and Rainbow practically helped her up.

Spectrum snickered, “You see, I didn’t just steal your color, I’m taking actual energy, from you and from the planet itself, and thanks to the power of my absorption crystal, all that energy is transferred to me.”

All around the ponies could see the color faded faster and the gray becoming worse. “Why you crazy fiend!” snapped Artie “Why would you do such a thing?”

“Because I require sustenance!” snarled Spectrum, “We all have to feed somehow, but it’s not just about food. All this has given me power beyond imagination. I’ve traveled across space a long time, feeding off all the color I could find. Many tried to deny me, all met with a painful doom!”

Starla felt her mane stiffening in rage, “From what you say, you’re nothing but a space terrorist!”

“Call me what you will…” hissed Spectrum “I’ve had my share of destroying planets after stealing their energy and color, and this one should be a snap. Of course, I do like a fight once in a while.”

He stood ready for battle, and the others stood ready too, despite their fading energies, they rushed into battle, but spectrum, taking advantage of their weakening status, zipped out of the way, and then he lunged back towards them shouting “SPECTRUM PUNCH!” and his fists glowed the multi-colors of the rainbow.

KAPOW!! An explosive blast on impact, which sent all the ponies crashing down, and the attack felt really powerful to them.

“That guy really packs a punch.” groaned Rainbow. “It’s not him, it’s us…” said Artie “The more energy that drains, he gets stronger and we get weaker.”

“Duh!” hissed Spectrum “I’m sure anyone could have figured that out.” And he lunged forth to continue the fight.

The ponies sent a flurry of punches and kicks at him, and Spectrum hardly raised his defenses, not having to due to the differences in strengths.

Rainbow tried her Sonic Rainbow, but Spectrum just caught her in his hands, halting her in midflight and causing her to flop down on the ground.

“STAR SHOWER!”

“PAINT BOMB!”

Even Artie and Starla’s attacks didn’t seem to do too much damage, and Pinkie Pie gave him a huge punch to the gut; no damage at all, “Uh, oh!” she peeped.

“Pitiful…” Spectrum muttered, and then one-by-one he punched, kicked, and bashed all the others out of his way, until it was just he and Lightning.

Lightning was a little stronger than the others, despite his energy failing, and his fists began to glow with the uniforce. “Let’s make this interesting.” he said.

“Fine by me…” hissed Spectrum, and his fists were glowing with rainbow-color. The two went at one another, throwing their fists and kicking like crazy, but Lightning’s strength was diminishing slowly, and while he did manage to give Spectrum a good blow in the chest, “Oh, yeah!” growled Spectrum, and he leapt up high…

“He can fly too?!” cried Lightning.

“I told you, the energy I get is pretty strong.” Spectrum called, and he flapped his trench coat open. The insides were glowing with a white light as he shouted, “WHITE LIGHTNING!”

Powerful lightning streaks shot out from the coat and hit Lightning super hard, knocking him onto his back.

The others ran up to him, “Lightning! Are you okay?” cried Starla. “Yeah, barely, but that last hit really damaged me.”

“Speak for yourself.” said Rainbow, her visor indicated energy levels dropping faster. “Our suits can’t handle that much more.”

Spectrum laughed as he landed down on the ground closing his trench coat, “What, giving up already?” he mocked “I’m not surprised, thanks to my absorption crystal, my power keeps growing. Soon, you and you’re planet will be so weak, it won’t take much effort to finish you. Perhaps I’ll just leave you to wallow in defeat.”

With that, he flew off.

“No…!” snapped Lightning “We’ve got to go after him.”

Pinkie flapped her wings as hard as she could, “I don’t know about you guys, but I can barely feel any lift.” She managed to get a few feet off the ground before flopping down hard on her tail.

“Ah, man! This really stinks!” groaned Rainbow “Me, Rainbow Dash, losing her lift?! WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?!!”

Starla felt annoyed, but suggested “Let’s power down, and save what energy we have.”

Everyone agreed and powered their suits down. “If we can’t fly, at least we still have some power to pursue on foot.” said Artie

“But, that’ll just use up our energy even more.” said Lightning, “Even if we caught up with him we’d be too weak to fight.”

Starla then spotted the nearby lamppost with one of the emergency red-alert boxes on it. She struggled to make her way over, and opened it up.

“What are you doing?” asked Pinkie.

“Calling for reinforcements.” replied Starla, and she punched in the correct number-code and activated the alarm.

This particular siren alarm alerted any fighters in the area of the situation; a monster was loose and it was to be tracked and intercepted.

“Good thinking, Starla.” said Lightning “If many fighters stop move up to him, they can slow him down and we can catch up with him. Maybe we can outnumber him. Let’s go!”

The ponies ran off to find spectrum…

While all over the planet, things were getting worse by the minute. More and more color was fading into gray as energy was being absorbed, and many ponies and other creatures were collapsing in the streets.

At the royal palace in New Canterlot, it was chaos! Many ponies had already fainted and those that hadn’t were fading fast, ready to drop. The sickbay was full, but the doctors and nurses were all collapsing as well. Even Dr. Penny was getting woozy.

Grand Ruler, Celestia seemed to be among the only ones still up and about as their deity strengths kept them up, but they too were feeling the drain and their colors were fading fast.

Worse than ever, Cadance and Shining Armor; their heart monitors were going crazy as the energy drain seemed to affect them badly after the procedure.

“They’re… dying…!” cried Penny “They need… E…en…energy!” That’s when she finally collapsed from exhaustion.”

“No!” cried Grand Ruler.

Poor Cadance and Shining Armor were growing steadily worse, along with everyone and everything. As worried as their majesties were, they did not want to lose their niece and nephew.

“Let’s try giving them a little of our energy to help them.” suggested Celestia. Her husband agreed, and the softly began to magically transfer a small bit of their fading energies to the couple, stabilizing them slightly.

“That won’t last long.” said Grand Ruler “We’ve got to find out what’s causing this!”

“Where is Princess Luna?”

“She said she would head up to the high terrace, and try to locate the trouble through her telescope. I hope she’s alright.”

Princess Luna, though a deity like her sister and brother-in-law, she too was feeling weakened from the strain, and couldn’t teleport her way onto to the terrace, and had to take the secret shortcuts through the tower, and in her condition, climbing those flights of stairs was like climbing a steep mountain.

She felt very weary upon reaching the terrace, but not ready to keel over yet. She managed to reach telescope, and looked out. All over New Canterlot, the gray was spreading and weakening everyone and everything.

“What is all this?!” she wondered in frustration. She then set the telescope’s view-mode on New Ponyville to check the damage there, and the very first thing she saw was a whole swarm of Starfleet fighters and allies fighting with Spectrum, and the fighters were losing miserably…

Lightning’s team had caught up with the many other fighters, who got the message and tried to stop Spectrum, but even outnumbering the creature didn’t help, with the drain still in effect and Spectrum growing stronger, he had the upper hand.

Spectrum, still in color, proved to be gaining power every moment as more color faded from the surrounding areas.

“SPECTRUM PUNCH!”

POW!! So many ponies were knocked over.

“WHITE LIGHTNING!”

BOOM!! Lightning and friends, and more fighters, were knocked all over the place by the explosions.

The ponies felt almost too weak to get up onto their feet. “This… is… crazy!” groaned Rainbow, “We can’t… let him… WIN!!” added Pinkie, but at that split moment, she flopped onto the ground, having completely exhausted herself.

Spectrum laughed, “Face it, Starfleet… your time is running short. Soon my absorption crystal will give me all the power I need to wipe out this planet.”

Lightning struggled with all he could and managed to get to his knees, but Spectrum bashed him over again.

“Lightning!” cried Starla.

“This cannot be happening!” groaned Artie.

Princess Luna didn’t like how this was going at all, and wished there was something she could do.

Suddenly, a small shimmer caught the corner of her eye. “What was that?” She looked behind her and could see something shining atop the tower’s flag post.

Even her weakened state she managed to, shakily, fly her way up and spotted an odd looking crystal glowing with all the colors of the rainbow. It didn’t her much to realize what it was and that it had to be stopped.

The crystal wasn’t protected by anything, so she picked it up in her hand and smashed it hard against the tower, shattering it to bits.

At the same moment: Spectrum was charging forth ready to finish the job, when suddenly he gasped and stopped dead in his tracks, much to the ponies’ confusion.

“What is this?!” cried Spectrum, and that’s when streams of white light began to emit from him, “Oh, no! No, it’s can’t be! My absorption crystal…!”

The white lights seeped into the grounds of the planet. “Look!” cried Rainbow “The color, it’s coming back!” added Artie.

Very slowly but surely, all the world around them began to get it’s color back, and the ponies were starting to see their own colors returning and their energy only slightly increased, but not nearly enough for them to really stand up and fight back yet.

As for Spectrum; with the destruction of his crystal, he had lost a great deal of his power too. He could no longer destroy the planet. However, he still felt some power flowing through him, “It seems that I still have enough power to finish all of you anyway.”

Lightning and the others sneered at him, but still didn’t have nearly enough strength to fight back… not equally divided anyway.

“Commander Lightning!” one of the soldiers said, “My comrades and I will transfer what little energy we can spare to you and your friends. You can finish this monster.”

The many other weakened comrades agreed, as did Lightning’s friends. “Do it.” Lightning said.

The soldiers all tapped their energizers on their armor, and sent whatever bit of energy they could spare to Lightning and his friends, fully reenergizing them and their powers, and automatically transforming their super suits on again.

“Yeah, that’s more like it!” said Starla.

“Wow, I feel totally reenergized.” said Artie.

Pinkie and Rainbow gave each other a bro-bop of the hips.

Lightning then glared at Spectrum, “Let’s see how well you do in a fair fight.”

Spectrum growled and flexed his fists.

“Go!” shouted Lightning, and he and the others charged forth, and Spectrum charged at them. Flurries of punches and kicks were sent, and Spectrum still seemed to be as strong as he claimed and still punched and kicked them away, but the ponies continue to fight back.

“Have a taste of my SPECTRUM PUNCH!” and he leapt up super high ready to crash down with his fists glowing brightly.

“Oh, no you don’t. Not this time!” snapped Pinkie, and she flew in and grabbed him tightly, holding his arms at his side. “What are you doing? Let me go!”

“Ah, relax. I’m just going to take you for a little SPIN!” and with that, Pinkie began to whirl round and around, making Spectrum dizzy, and then she threw him far, back to the wide open clearing where there were not creatures or houses nearby.

The ponies all followed him, and Spectrum was furious. “Nice shot, but now it’s my turn!” he thundered as he opened his trench coat, “WHITE LIGHTNING!”

Lightning and Starla gazed and nodded at one another and their horns began to glow brightly.

“UNIFORCE!”

“PULSAR LASER!”

The two blasts from them intercepted the lightning, blasting straight back at him, knocking Spectrum higher up into the air than ever. “Get him, Rainbow!” Lightning called up.

Rainbow soared in and caught Spectrum, and then she shot straight at the ground with him in her grip. “You want color, you got it! SONIC RAINBOOM!”

Spectrum screamed as he watched the ground get zooming close…

KAPOW!! A powerful, colorful explosion….!

Rainbow landed safely with the others, while Spectrum got wearily up and felt tipsy, but even in his grogginess, he was enamoured by the trails of colorful smoke Rainbow had made. “Color..! Wonderful color!! I WANT IT!! GIVE IT TO ME!!”

With that, he opened his trench coat and began to absorb the colors in the air, which would reenergize him, but Artie stood with his staff ready.

(Skip to 1:16)

“Ready?” Lightning asked.

“Do it!” Artie answered, and the others all held him up and threw him like a missile straight for Spectrum. “SUPER STAFF SPIN!” and he began to whirl his staff furiously.

“Huh?” Spectrum cried as he looked behind him just in time to get struck hard. “It’s… a black… future for me!” he groaned as he keeled over, exploded, and was imprisoned in a sphere.

The ponies cheered for joy, and were ever so relieved.

More and more of the color was slowly fading back into the world around them, and that meant all the ponies and other creatures would be back on their feet in almost no time. Thankfully not a lot of damage had been done, and apart from basic battle injures, everything was going to be A-Okay.

Princess Luna saw everything through the telescope, and she was very relieved and even more relieved when her sister and brother-in-law joined her on the terrace with more good news.

“They are alright?” Luna asked.

“Yes, Shining Armor and Cadance awoke once the colors were restored.” Grand Ruler said, “Just the same…” added Celestia “They almost didn’t make it. What caused all this?”

Luna agreed to explain everything she had witnessed and done…

She even sent a quick letter to Lightning telling him how she found the absorption crystal and destroyed it.

“Well that explains it.” Lightning said, “If she hadn’t done that, we’d have been toast.” added Starla.

“Thankfully we weren’t.” said Artie, “These guys are getting tougher, and it’s getting harder to watch out for them.”

Pinkie Pie paid no attention and enjoyed teasing at Spectrum inside the sphere. “Hey, hello in there… BLAAAAH!”

Rainbow snatched the sphere from her, “I think maybe we better get him into custody. This guy’s way too crazy and deadly to be out and about.”

Lightning took the sphere from her, “Well, actually this one stands a chance for a trial. He was just looking for sustenance, but he let too much power go to his head. There might be help for him.”

“That’s good.” said Pinkie “Can you imagine all the color being stolen in the galaxy like that?”

Artie’s eyes suddenly widened. “What did you say, Pinkie Pie?”

Pinkie looked confused, “I said… Can you imagine all the color--”

Artie smiled the biggest smile he had smiled all day, “That’s it!” he shouted, and he hugged Pinkie tightly going “Oh, thank you! Thank you, Pinkie!”

The others were confused, as was Pinkie, but she felt a little strangled.

“What, what is it?” asked Lightning.

“I remember now; my grandfather’s song!” and he began to sing it…

The song, combined with all that happened from the battle; Artie’s inspiration was flaming, and he quickly rushed home…

(Montage as he sings)

Over the next few days, he began to make new paintings and sculptors as he sang the song.

By the time he was done, he had put his new creations on display in his gallery. The pieces were two-toned, half of one side of each piece was in color and their other halves were just in gray, as was inspired by the song and the battle; A perfect way to help inspire the need of color.

The song ended as Artie presented the works to his admirers and guests, and as expected, everyone applauded and commended his work. Some even found the song to be very catchy.

Lightning and the others were in the crowd as well, and applauded to Artie’s work. Pinkie blew a noise maker and cheered for joy, but all Artie could do was deeply think to himself; thinking of his grandfather’s spirit and thanking him for the inspiration.

(Promo)

In our next episode; it’s Starfleet Founders Day and United Equestria’s Birthday, and Tree Hugger wishes to be Buddy Rose’s date to the festivites in an attempt to woo him again.

Meanwhile, the Cutiemark Crusaders are still shaken from their encounter with Pony Mykan Stevens, and suddenly find themselves confronting him again, finally earning them suspicion from the adults, especially from Mayor Windy Bag, whom goes deeper into her secret plot.

How will the girls deal with Pony Mykan this time, and what sinister plot is Windy bag up to?

Don’t miss the next exciting episode of “Starfleet Magic!”

(Next Episode: “Founders Day-Saster”)

Episode 10: Founders Day-Saster

EPISODE TEN

Lippy Sync was in his room drawing, one of his favorite pastimes, what with his mother being so busy, not to mention pushy and nasty. His favorite things to draw were of Starfleet; he admired the brave fighters so much and hated that his mother and other citizens in the village were so against them.

His mother of course knew nothing about them, as he kept all his drawings hidden in a book which he kept in a secret place; a loose baseboard in the floor in his room.

“LIPPY!!” his mother shouted. Lippy quickly hid his drawings and his book away and quickly pretended to be studying for school just as his grouchy mother came in, “Yes, mom?”

“Dinner, now…!” and she left, slamming the door.

Poor Lippy couldn’t understand his mother and why she had this need to get in everyone faces.

Nevertheless he made it to the table where his brother, Biffy Box and his father Big Chump were already there, and eating rudely. “Well, well, the little prince showed up.” his father teased.

“I was studying.” Lippy said.

Biffy sneered at him “That’s what I love about being out of school; No homework, no studying, No tests, and no geeks!” that last slur he hinted at his little brother, whom did not take it well. “Stop teasing me!”

“Enough!” snarled Big Chump, “I like to enjoy my dinner without the drama.”

“Quiet all of you!” Windy shouted, and her family hushed down “I’ve got a big project coming up, and the sooner I get it done the happier we’ll all be!”

Lippy felt curious; ever since his mother had begun this project of hers, he had been wondering what it was about, but every time he tried to ask his mother would throw such a fit and scold him, and so he decided not to bother with it.

After dinner, Windy Bag was back to work in her office, in town hall, downstairs, and she was extremely furious about the next day; United Equestria’s birthday as well as it being Starfleet’s Founders Day too, and there would be a big celebration held in all the major cities and villages, except for hers that is, it was her right to not allow it if she wished. She was not violating the law, or anyone else who did not wish to celebrate or attend, but what really infuriated her about it was how many more ponies and creatures were actually planning on celebrating.

“Idiots!” she grumbled “Absolute stupidity! How can these people celebrate something so dumb?”

Just then, there was a knock at the door. “ENTER!” she shouted, and one of her secretaries came in with another letter for her, and then she left as ordered so Windy Bag could study the letter in person.

She read it, and grinned wickedly. “It won’t be too long now.” and then she looked back at her old map of Equestria of old. Whatever she was planning had something related to it, but whatever it was it was only going to mean trouble for the supportive United Equestrians.

*Mykan’s POV*

The next day, the big celebration was held in New Canterlot, while other villages were celebrating in their own way.

The streets were all decked up like a giant block party in every district. School was candled for the day, but some still had to work, especially many Starfleet officers were still patrolling to watch out for enemy attack, but they kept the spirit of the day in their hearts as well.

This was United Equestria’s fourth birthday since it was created after The Great War; when Equestria and Unicornicopia were destroyed and United Equestria was created form their remains.

Ironically, it was also the same day as Starfleet’s Founders Day; one-thousand and fifty-five years since it was first established and begun their pledge to rid the universe of evil and injustice.

Ironically still, in two more day it would be the wedding anniversary of Grand Ruler Celesto and Queen Celestia, but even to their majesties that was just a minor thing compared to the events now.

I sat with the Mane five and with spike at a special round table, reserved for the top officers. They invited me as a special guest for my first time. “This is all too amazing…” I said “And strange, on my planet there have been holidays or celebrations of the same type, but they were never both or all held on the same day.”

“Aw, that’s a shame.” said Pinkie “If it was my birthday every day, not only would I celebrate, but I’d get to celebrate all the other holidays as well.” and she began to imagine all the other holidays mixed with her birthday; Hearths Warming, Hearts and Hooves, Thanksgiving, Winter Wrap up… “Wait, that last one’s not really a holiday.”

The rest of us rolled our eyes.

“Hey, where are Lightning and the others?” I asked.

“Oh, they’re getting ready for the hymn.” answered Applejack “Before we can get down to partyin’ we need to take a few moments to remember the braveness of Starfleet, and honor all those before them.”

“Oh, I get it…” I said “Like a sort of Remembrance Day honoring.”

The others nodded, and Fluttershy seemed excited, “This is their first year of actually performing the hymn. Only the top ranking and best officers have the privilege of that.”

“We’re all just First-Class Majors, so that leaves us out.” said Rainbow.

Rarity sipped her tea, “But we still get all this luxurious V.I.P treatment for the feasts. Oh, I should have brought something more suitable to wear than my dress-uniform. Oh, but then again it is regulation.”

“Yadda-Yadda-Ya…” I muttered.

Rarity and I still had a bit of love-hate friendship between the two of us. There were times in which we bickered, and other times that we didn’t, but we got along… in an okay way, but it did annoy me the way she complained about fashion all the time.

The only one of us who seemed to be totally silent was Spike. He had a very deep look of sadness on his face, but before anyone could question why the royal fanfare sounded from the palace gate, and their royal majesties were announced by Captain Shaina, “Grand Ruler Celesto, Queen Celestia, and Princess Luna; Co-Rulers of United Equestria.”

Their majesties came out through the gates of the palace and walked across the drawbridge. The public cheered and shouted with joy.

Grand Ruler raised his hands, and the crowds hushed, and he and his family gave their opening speech. He went first, “On this auspicious occasion, we are gathered here today, not only to honor the anniversary of Starfleet, but to celebrate the birth of United Equestria; our home, our world, and our union.”

Celestia then stepped forth, “Speaking on behalf of Equestia. As you all know, our world was attacked by emissaries we were not able to defeat alone. Had it not been for the aid of Starfleet, and the Space Ponies, our lives would have been surely lost along with our entire world. The price we had paid was staggering, just as the Space Ponies had felt when their own home world, the planet Unicornicopia was destroyed.”

Hearing that made several ponies feel a little downhearted, and the Equestrians felt sorry for them.

Princess Luna stepped forth, “Our efforts to save our home-world were in vain, but our lives were spared the destruction, and before long our new world was born, and our new lives began. Not to mention we all got these rather interesting new bodies.”

Pretty much all the ponies gathered liked their humanoid bodies; they made their lives so much easier than before-- now able to perform menial tasks with their hands instead of their mouths or magic. This would help get a lot more done a lot more efficiently, especially for those who couldn’t do magic.

Grand Ruler took over again, “As we look out on our world and the wonderful alliance that has been forged, we want you all to know that we appreciate the mutual peace among you all, and that we will do all we can in future against invaders and war-mongers. However, as is the custom and very prudent to Starfleet, we should pay our respects to the many Starfleet fighters of the past, and those whom we have lost in recent times; those who have fought valiantly to defend us all, and to give us all the chance to continue the fight against evil.”

With that, their majesties took their special seats at the head table, and directed everyone’s attention to the stage set where Lightning and all his friends in their dress uniforms and their hates and berets stood at microphones, ready to sing a hymn that had been sung as a memorial to the officers of the past since Starfleet’s earliest days.

And as they sang, images of the past were magically shown behind them, showing the earliest days of Starfleet up to the present, and how they had come such a long way and suffered a lot in their struggle against evil.

[Lightning]

A long time ago this very day
In a world that rose to fight off evil’s way
Though stiffened with a fear upon their face
We fought valiantly through outer space.

We saw what evil was and what it done

[Buddy Rose]

It wrecked the lives of nearly everyone
Their sadness brought the word onto our race

[Artie]

The peace began to fade from outer space.

[Starla]

They armed their weapons, and we armed ours

[Rhymey]

Within our hearts we wished to even scores
With roaring, piercing shrieks and battle cries

[Starla]

We soared to arms like stars across the skies.

Our leaders, though gallant, were enraged too.

[Dyno]

We lost so many fighters whom we knew

[Myte]

And saddened with our loses and our fear

[Starla]

We sang a hymn to honor those held dear.

Silence falls, what’s done is done

[Others]

We’ll never cease until the battle’s won!

[ALL]

For us, for them, of many a good race…

[Starla]

To restore the justice peace to outer space

Fluttershy had tears in her eyes, “Oh, that’s so sad.” she cried.

Rarity dabbed her eyes softly, “Who knew such a powerful race could be so… sensitive?”

The others all hung their heads low, but felt just as bad, and Spike seemed even sadder, which clued everyone in that he was really thinking of Twilight, and how he wished she were here now.

The song continued…

[ALL]

And in the end the war was won, but much was lost
We saved the world but paid a hefty cost
To evil’s bane, we throw this at their face…

[Lightning]

That we’ll never cease to defend outer space!

[Starla]

Silence falls, what’s done is done

[Others]

We’ll never cease until the battle’s won!

[ALL]

For us, for them, of many a good race…

[Buddy Rose]

And we, the soldiers, stand

[Starla]

To defend of all the land

[Lightning]

For the friends and fighters grand

[ALL]

…In Ou----Ou---- Outer Space!!

Sleep in heavenly peace.

The song ended, and the soldiers on stage saluted, as well as all the soldiers in the crowds. Grand Ruler saluted bravely, and a small tear fell from his eye as he remembered all those were lost over the centuries.

Celestia could hardly hold her tears back, remembering all the guards she had lost in the battles she had fought, as well as missing Twilight Sparkle and wishing she was there.

Her sister passed her a hankie.

The crowd still applauded and gave honor to Starfleet, respecting and understanding their suffering even more.

With the sadness then over, it was time to set it all aside and party to celebrate United Equestria’s birthday, and with that the streets were all bustling with games, feasts, laughter and talking and people just mixing so people.

*POV Ends*

Up in the palace, Goldwin could only watch from the windows as he couldn’t go outside, or his magic mask would cease to function and he’d turn back into a statue, but he wasn’t alone. Canadnce and Shining Armor, also invited to the festivities had decided to stay inside and keep him company.

“Are you guys sure you want to stay here?” he asked for umpteenth time.

“Well, as fun as it would be to go down there, we just can’t leave you by yourself.” said Shining Armor.

Cadance agreed, “Besides, today’s about spending time with friends, and you’re a special friend to us too, Goldwin.”

Goldwin felt flattered. “I guess there’s more gold in your hearts than there is on me.”

Down in the streets near the palace, the festivities were a smash.

Lightning and Starla had gone to chat with their majesties, a little quality time, while Rainbow Dash had entered flying races in the events. As fast as she was, she beat all the Equestrian ponies, but she didn’t stand a chance against the space ponies. “I guess I need a little more training.”

Artie had set up a stand where he was selling small paintings and sculptures; some made by him, and some by others.

Pinkie Pie was playing with many of the little children; playing Follow-The-Leader, and making them leapt up high and throw confetti while blowing noisemakers.

Applejack was playing games with other kids, and showing them how to bob for apples. “Now, that y’all know how, give it a shot.”

The others all stood together, when Krysta and her family appeared, apologizing for being late and they were tending to a few things before they could come.

“Mother, Dad, can I go play with the children?” asked Twink.

“Have fun…” said King Topaz.

“But don’t wander outside the village.” Krysta cautioned him.

They watched the little fairy fly off, and Spike sighed “I remember Twilight and I playing like that when I was his age.” he said, and he sighed.

“Oh, Spike…” Rarity said, but her husband then smiled bravely, “I’m okay, I don’t want to spend all day moping either.”

His wife smiled and pecked him deeply on the cheek.

“We all could use the fun.” said Dyno, “Si, after all the overtime we’ve been putting in rounding up the prisoners and other monsters.” added Myte.

Suddenly, Buddy Rose looked up, and he freaked out and ducked down behind a bush.

“Buddy Rose?” asked Fluttershy “What are you doing?”

“Shhh!” he cried “It’s Tree Hugger! Please don’t tell her where I am!”

He ducked down again just as Tree Hugger, “Hey, what is up.”

“Oh, Hi Tree Hugger.” said Fluttershy.

“Say, have you guys like, seen Buddy Rose anywhere.”

The couple hated to lie to her, but Rhymey said,

“Buddy Rose, oh, no. I’ve not him here.
Have you seen him, Fluttershy dear?”

“Um… I… no I haven’t.”

Tree Hugger sighed, “Bummer, he looked so good up there singing that song. It just sent waves of vibration into my soul, and I figured of asking him to sit with me.”

They could tell that she was trying to attempt to woo Buddy Rose again.

“If we see him we’ll let you know.” said Spike. The others all agreed.

“Well, catch ya later then.” Tree said and she headed off.

Buddy poked his head up, “Is she gone?”

The others rolled their eyes, “Really, Buddy Rose. I can’t believe you. A girl like that is deeply in love with you and you won’t give her a chance.”

Buddy Rose got up, brushing the leaves and twigs from his clothes, “I can’t help it. She’s freaking me out.”

He explained that for weeks ever since Tree Hugger declared she wanted him, she had been stalking him non-stop. When he went into town, there she was, wanting to go along with him. Whenever he had free time, she would invite him out, or even back to her place.

“Even when I’m at home, I get a letter from her every day saying she either thinks of me, or that her love hasn’t died… and worst; she’s not giving up.”

Even Fluttershy and Rhymey began to realize that maybe Tree was going a tad overboard with her obsession.

“Why not make it easier…?” suggested Spike “Just tell her you’re not really into her that way.”

The others, even Buddy gasped at that thought. “Spike, I do love you, but have you no shame?!” scolded Rarity, and she motioned him to look out at Tree Hugger, “Just look at that poor pony; telling her that would crush her!”

Rarity knew this because of her obsession with being crushed in the past by those she crushed on but didn’t like her back.

“Poor Tree Hugger…” said Fluttershy, “All she wants is to get married.”

Buddy still didn’t get it, “I get that she likes me, but why is she so obsessed and in such a. She still doesn’t know me enough in person, and I don’t even know her that well.”

Fluttershy and Rhymey gawked at one another, and feeling it wasn’t really an invasion of privacy and they made no promises, Rhymey said to him…

“There is something you need to know,
a small sad tale of Tree Hugger’s woe.”

His horn glowed and he showed up an image of memories from a time Tree Hugger was visiting him and Fluttershy, and Tree Hugger explained that she had a dream, a dream of marrying someone she truly loved, but also so she wouldn’t feel so alone anymore. Her parents died in mountain climbing accident when she was young. She had no siblings.

She lived in a foster home and learned to find inner peace to quell her sadness with her hippie style, and eventually proceeded to teaching yoga and all her other famous traits so she could live on her own. She made lots of friends, including Rhymey and Fluttershy, but even with all her fame and excitement, she still lived alone in her treehouse within New Pnoyville, and she longed for companionship… in love.

“You guys are totally bodacious, and I really feel you both, but… I’m afraid I need more than just the vibes of friendship. I have to find my soulmate. I don’t know how much longer I can stand to be a solo!

But I am willing to give my life to the guy I love.”

Rhymey stopped the images and made the illusion vanish.

“What have shown is all very real,
Maybe now you know how Tree Hugger does feel.”

Fluttershy nodded, confirming it was real.

Buddy felt deeply moved, and very sorry for Tree Hugger, and he looked at her from across and saw her sitting with some other hippie ponies. Though she looked happy and was having a good time, from what he had just heard he could even see the small hint of sadness in her eyes.

“That poor pony.” cried Rarity “She seems so happy. Who would have guessed?”

Buddy Rose remained silent and deep within his thoughts, pondering over what to do.

*Mykan’s POV*

Meanwhile, the Cutiemark Crusaders were all present at the parties too, but all that day they hadn’t played much, or eaten too much, and just continued to act as strange and as concerned as ever.

Applejack, Rainbow and I could tell something was up. “Okay, girls… let’s have it.” I said.

“Huh? What do you mean?” asked Applebloom. “Don’t you be playin’ cat’s got your tongue.” said Applejack, “You girls have been up to somethin’ and we wanna know what.”

“And don’t even think about trying to old innocent looks with us.” said Rainbow “We know you girls. It shows in your eyes, now tell us.”

The girls exchanged looks of concern and acted a little shy, but ultimately they decided to finally tell how they ended up in the mansion on top of the White Tail Mountain and were nearly cornered by that nasty pony.

“Then we just ended up back in the village.” said Sweetie Belle “But we haven’t felt the same ever since. It was so scary.”

Applejack, Rainbow and I felt very shocked, not just that the girls knew about a way to get into the mansion but they didn’t tell anyone about this.

“Girls, why didn’t you tell us before?!” scolded Rainbow.

“Hey, hey, easy RD.” said Applejack “They were scared, and who could blame ‘em.”

“We’ve got to tell Lightning.” I said.

The others, even the girls agreed, but suddenly Twin came along chasing a butterfly that had taken one of his berries. “Hey, come back here!” he shouted as he chased the little bug outside the villiage.

“Twink…!” Krysta called as she chased after him. The others and I decided to go after them too.

The butterfly stopped on a large rock at the foot of the village, but it got away. Twink tried to chase after it, but Rainbow snatched his little wings between her fingers, “Whoa there, little fella. That’s as far as you go.”

“But he took my berry!” cried Twink, and he began to sulk. His mother was not very pleased with him. “I think you and I are going to have a long talk with your father when we get home, young fairy.”

“Aw, mom…!”

“Now, Twink…” Rainbow said as she sat down on the rock, pressing it down like a switch, and she and Twink vanished right in front of us.

“What the--!” cried Applejack.

“What happened? Where did they go?” I asked.

The girls all gawked with concern at one another, “This is just like what happened to us.” Said Scootaloo, “We know where she’s gone.”

She gazed at the other crusaders, and they nodded back at her, and before Applejack or I could react, the girls all pressed the rock and they vanished too.

“Girls…!” I shouted.

Seeing the magic a second time told Krysta what it was, “It’s some kind of instant-transport-portal.”

“I think we figured that.” said Applejack “But where did they all go?”

I gave her a small look, and she and Krysta agreed; we were going to follow them. Krysta rested on my shoulder, and Applejack and I both pressed on the stone, teleporting away.

We appeared in a dark foyer of a dark and filthy house. “Man! What a ride!” I said, “You okay, girls?”

The girls nodded, “So this is the mansion where that Mykan Pony lives?” asked Applejack, and she stepped on a half-eaten sandwich, “Eh!”

Suddenly, “Shh, listen!” said Krysta “Do you hear that?”

We could all hear the soft sounds of footsteps in the next room, getting closer, and closer.

I placed my hand over my sword, ready for anything.

“Hey, hey, it’s just us.” Rainbow said as she came out with the girls and Twink.

“Twink!” cried Krysta.

“Mommy…!”

The two little fairies flew at each other and hugged, but the reunion was shattered when someone called out “Who’s there?!”

We all jumped.

“It’s him!” cried Sweetie Belle “It’s the night stranger, and he sounds real mad.”

I felt a mixture of concern yet curious; this was him-- my pony counterpart-- I probably wouldn’t get another chance to see him or talk to him in person, but hearing him riving and thrashing about as he came on his way.

“We’ve got to get out of here.” cried DD.

“Right…” I said, and everyone huddled in towards me as I prepared my teleporter, but it didn’t work. I tapped it three times, and it didn’t even flicker. “It’s not working!” I tried it several more times. It wasn’t broken nor out of power, but it just didn’t work!

“Krysta, you try.” said Rainbow.

Krysta tried, but her teleporting powers didn’t work either. “What’s going on?” she cried.

“It must be the force-field around the house.” suggested Applejack “Whatever it is, it’s blockin’ all teleportation powers from getting’ us out.”

The crusaders then remembered, “There’s still one way out.” said Scootaloo “We have to get upstairs.”

Suddenly, there he was, at the top of the stairs. My mouth hung wide open at the very sight of him, but he was glared furiously at all of us through his dark goggles, and he looked dramatically thin, even for some ponies; very malnourished, but there was no mistaking it. This was the Mykan Stevens from this world.

He was glaring more at the crusaders than us others, “You four again!” he sneered “I feared you would be back.”

“Look, we don’t want any trouble.” said Applebloom “We came here by accident and we--” she stopped when my pony counterpart roared furiously like a beast. The poor girls, even Twink and Krysta hid behind Applejack and Rainbow, quivering in fear.

“Whoa, you seriously need to chill.” sneered Rainbow.

The Mykan Pony shakily walked down the stairs quivering in fury, “This is my house!” he growled softly “You are not welcome here. NO ONE ELSE IS WELCOME HERE!!”

His loud shouting seemed to vibrate the walls and rafters, causing dust to fall and spiders and rats to scatter about, frightening the crusaders even more.

I finally found my courage and stepped at the foot of the stairs, “Mykan, calm down.” I said to him “We’re not going to hurt you. We just want to talk.”

“Did he just call him Mykan?” asked DD.

The other girls were just as confused, but then realize that my voice was the same as the ponies.

Mykan looked at me strangely, “Who are you? You’re no pony.”

“Relax…” I said to him “My name is Mykan Stevens.”

“WHAT…?!”

“Look, I know this is hard to believe, I find it difficult myself, but I am an alternate version of you from another world.”

“He’s Mr. Steven’s pony counterpart?” Sweetie asked softly. Applejack and Rainbow nodded, confirming it was true.

The crusaders were amazed to hear that. “I thought he sounded familiar.” said Applebloom.

Mykan only quivered more angrily than ever, “I don’t believe you! I don’t believe anyone! JUST LEAVE ME ALONE IN PEACE!!”

He was raving so hard, that he actually pulled on the banister, breaking it off, and fell over the side onto the floor.

“Come on, now’s our chance!” cried Scootaloo, and she and the crusaders began to rush upstairs.

“Wait, we should really take him with us.” said Rainbow, but seeing my pony-self fuss about in such a furious tantrum as he struggled to get up, “Never mind!”

We all agreed it was better to get the children to safety first. So we all rushed up the stairs, but I stopped a moment and gazed back down at my pony-self, still rigged with curiosity about his issues, and I pretty much hated to see him, practically suffering.

“Come on, Mykan!” Krysta called to me snapping me out of my trance, and I ran after the others.

“In here…” DD called as she and the crusaders led us into the bedroom. Applejack’s sticky boot caught something lying on the floor.

The girls remembered the candle holder on the wall and the large mirror near it. “What are you doing?” I asked.

“Trust us.” said Applebloom, and she pulled on the holder which activated the mirror. “It’s another transport portal.” said Krysta.

“LET’S GO!!” shouted the crusaders, and they practically yanked us all by our arms into the portal.

*POV Ends*

Pony Mykan finally made it to his feet, but just sagged to his knees clasping his head in woe, frustration, and shame. Now even more had discovered the ways to get into his home, which he felt now placed him in even greater danger than before.

*Mykan’s POV*

We appeared outside, not at our original location but rather outside at the foot of the haunted mountain by New White Tail Woods, near the village.

“Is everyone alright?” asked Applejack.

Everyone was fine, but I took a moment to gaze back up at the mountain, still feeling so strange having met my actual pony counterpart, but frightened and baffled by his psychotic attitude as well.

The crusaders were just as relieved to be out, but also as amazed to find out that that pony was my counterpart. “I don’t get it?” said Scootaloo “If he’s supposed to be you, why is he so… so… freaky?”

“It’s a complicated thing for you to understand.” I said “Right now we should really get back to New Canterlot.”

The others agreed, and now that we were out of the house, outside the force-field, my teleporter and Krysta’s magic were working again and we teleported away.

*POV Ends*

Little did they all realize that they had been seen and heard, by a pony out on a casual stroll through the woods. He had seen them materialize and heard their every word, and he looked up at the mountain through the trees. “I must tell Mayor Windy Bag.”

So he did, and Windy Bag was most intrigued, “You’re sure about this?”

“I’m positive; I heard them in their exact words.”

“Thank you, you may go now.”

The pony left as he was told, and Windy Bag looked out her office window at the mountain in the distance. “So, that’s where you’ve been hiding all this time.” she began to twiddle her fingers while thinking sinisterly, “Looks like I’ll be able to get two things I want now. Goodbye to Starfleet, and something else I am owed!”

*Mykan’s POV*

The second we got back to New Canterlot, we informed Lightning of everything we had been through.

“So that’s how you get into the house.” he said and he and Starla practically demanded that we show them the portal we found by the rock. However, the rock wouldn’t press down anymore, and the portal was scanned for, but there were no energy readings.

“Are you sure this is the spot?” asked Starla.

“Positive.” said DD “I don’t get it, it was here.”

The other concurred, and this lead us to believe only one thing, “Somehow, Mykan must’ve de-spelled it, or moved it to another location.” suggested Rainbow.

I felt a small shiver crawl down my spine.

“You okay?” Krysta asked me, “I’m fine…” I answered “It’s just saying my own name like that makes me feel a bit awkward.”

The others sort of understood my feelings, it was hard for them to shake it off themselves.

Just then, Applebloom noticed "Hey, sis, what's that on your boot?"

Applejack looked down and saw a small torn paper stuck to her boot, from the old ketchup of the sandwich she stepped on in the house. She tore it off and looked at it, "This looks like it's from a magazine."

Lightning took it, and while the picture was blurry from age fading, and covering a little ketchup from the sandwhich, he could defiantly make out one of the two ponies in the picture. "Hey, that looks like Mykan at a younger age." Starla said.

The crusaders recognized the picture as well as the same one they had seen before. "We think that other pony in the picture is related to him." said Sweetie.

"Maybe... his mother?" added Scootaloo.

Lightning decided to take the scrap for further analysis, "Regardless of all this, I'm still leaving the order not to go near the mountain in effect. From now on, if any of you see or hear of anything that could help us get back up there, you tell me at once, okay?”

Everyone agreed.

Meanwhile, Spike and Rarity met up with Fluttershy and Rhymey, and they were just standing there with shocked expressions on their faces, “What’s up with you two?” asked Spike.

Rhymey and Fluttershy didn’t answer, but they both pointed straight ahead, and Spike and Rarity froze on the spot, “Is Buddy Rose, actually talking with Tree Hugger?” Rarity asked “Somebody pinch me!”

No one pinched her, and nobody had to. Buddy Rose was actually standing on a siding with Tree Hugger, and actually talking with her as they both looked out over the wide open spaces beyond the village.

“That’s why I’ve been avoiding you. You’ve just been coming on a little too strong, and it’s been creeping me out.”

Tree looked down a bit.

“I’m not trying to hurt you or anything.”

“Nah, I can totally dig it…” said Tree “Maybe I have been a bit too obsessive, I can see why you’d be a bit put off.”

Buddy Rose sighed in relief, “Tree Hugger, Fluttershy and Rhymey told me everything, about your folks and your wish and all that.”

Tree gawked at him with slight shock.

“Just tell me; why would you pick me? You hardly know anything personal about me.”

Tree closed her eyes, and her tail gave a small flick, “Because, I’ve met a lot different creatures, but Fluttershy and Rhymey have told me a lot about you.”

“Huh?”

“I how you lost your parents and your sister, and yet you struggle to stay cool and calm about it to look after your cousin, and when I saw you teach those meanies a lesson to respect the vibe of nature. I could feel the aura around me flowing, and your charka on the same level as mine; like two separate waterfalls flowing into the same stream of life.”

Buddy Rose had never heard such deepness, such honesty.

“I know way more about you than you think, and I know you are totally the one for me.”

She hugged him from behind, making him feel very nervous, “Um… hey…”

“I’ll try to lower the obsession a skosh or two, but I am so not giving up. I'm going do all I can to prove myself until you marry me.

I’m speaking from the heart and the soul. It doesn’t get groovier than that.”

Buddy felt his temperature rising fast.

She let him go, “Just think about it, ‘K? I’ll catch you on the flipside.” then she walked off leaving Buddy feeling very warm and nervous as he watched her walk off until she had gone off with her hippie friends.

Buddy Rose felt his head as he turned back to gaze out at the wide open spaces… and his lips curled into a soft smile.

The others saw that, and all four of them began to think maybe he was starting to see the brighter side of this, but only time would tell.

(Promo)

In our next episode; during a battle, Rarity, Applejack and Mykan accidently become glued together at their hands, forcing them to remain stuck together and having to endure one another’s company, causing hilarious yet dramatic problems between the three. Things only worsen still when another escaped prisoner attacks.

Can the trio overcome their differences and help deal with impending crisis?

Don’t miss the next exciting episode of “Starfleet Magic!”

(Next Episode: “Glue for Three”)

Episode 11: Glue for Three

EPISODE ELEVEN

*Mykan’s POV*

It was an ordinary mid-afternoon in New Canterlot, and all the ponies and other creatures were going about their day.

I had just flown in after teaching my class in New Ponyville that day. I stretched out and a sniffed the sweet afternoon air, and sighed “Ahh… nothing like a sunny afternoon after work.”

Suddenly the warning alarm sounded; there was immediate danger heading for the area. Many of the ponies immediately began to run for homes and buildings before the barriers activated.

I helped some of the citizens into shelters, including one pony who was hauling a big wagon with a huge barrel marked “SUPER INDUSTRIAL GLUE” in giant letters on it. He had to leave the wagon where it was and get to safety.

I stayed outside to survey the area and make sure no one was stuck outside; the streets were clean of all the citizens, and suddenly a big fly-like monster came rushing into the village. He was a rather burly looking insect creature with greenish skin and big red eyes just like that of a fly, and over his shoulder he held a large sack of stolen goods.

He was being chased by Lightning, Krysta, Starla, Applejack, Rarity and Spike; all transformed and wearing their super suits.

“Get him!” shouted Lightning!

“Remind me who we’re chasing again?” asked Krysta, and Starla replied “He calls himself “The Bugalar”, and just as his name is played on, he’s a dreaded burglar. Three-hundred years ago, he robbed seven first national banks on many planets. He looted valuables from museums and even stole from people in the streets before he was captured.”

Rarity felt disgusted, “All those robberies?! Why that’s positively wretched!”

“To think of all those jewels…” said Spike and his mouth began to water, “…All those tasty jewels!”

Applejack rolled her eyes, “Let’s rope him first. Then we can eat.” with that, she readied her rope and lassoed the sack of stolen goods away from Bugalar. “YE-HAW! That’s the catch.”

Bugalar skidded to a dead halt in midair, and he glared furiously at the team, “You dare steal from me?! No one steals from The Bugalar!”

He flexed his four arms and charged forth, when suddenly he got zapped from behind. The ponies turned and saw me standing there with my shield and sword. “I always did love bug hunting when I was in the scouts.” I said smugly.

The others thought that was witty, but Bugalar was not amused, “You think I can’t take you all on…?!”

The fight was on, and even though he was outnumbered, Buglar, with his four arms, managed to punch each of us fighters away each time we got near him, but we still fought back, and Starla and Lightning punched him hard, together, sending him hurdling through the air and crashing down hard.

“Oh yeah!” shouted Bugalar, “Now try this; PARISITE WHEEZE!” and from his huge mouth he wheezed a large swarm of miniature insects that flew all around us fighters, getting in our way and diving straight at us form all ends like real pests.

Everyone waved about trying to shoo the bugs off, but Rarity could only scream in terror as she hated bugs, especially the way they zoomed all around her. “Get them off me!” she cried!”

“Oh, sure, you can annoy them to death!” I snarled at her as I continued to bat off the bugs.

Bugalar found it hilarious the way we were all behaving and decided to make his getaway while he could.

“Hey, he’s getting away!” cried Starla.

“That does it!” Spike growled, and he drew in a huge breath, “DRAGON BREATH!” and he breathed a huge wave of fire, killing most of the tiny insects.

“Good shot, Spike!” said Lightning.

The rest of us were relieved to be rid of the bugs. “Hey, there he goes!” snapped Applejack, and she chased after Bugalar. “Hey, wait up!” I called as I chased after her.

I caught up with her, and then held out my sword, blasting Bugalar so he fell to the ground again. “Now, I’m really steamed!” he thundered and he began to fight us both.

The other’s caught up to where we were, and noticed the glue wagon in the area. “Hey, guys, Look out!” Lightning called.

Bugalar then punched Applejack hard, and sent her slamming into the wagon, breaking the huge barrel wide open and spilling glue everywhere.

“Oh, my goodness! Applejack!” cried Rarity and she dashed over, but was careful not to step on any of the gooey puddles on the way.

“Ha!” laughed Bugalar “That’s one down. Who’s next?”

“You are!” snarled Lightning, “Do it, Starla.”

His wife nodded and armed her bow, “GALACTIC PROJECTILE!” Her finisher hit the evil insect hard, and he fell over, exploded and was imprisoned in a sphere.

The team cheered, but then I saw poor Applejack near the remains of the barrel. Her suit had powered down, and strangely she didn’t seem to be covered in glue. I came along to help her up, extending my left hand to her right hand, while Rarity grabbed Applejack’s left hand with her right. “Are you alright?” Rarity asked.

“Just a little bruised, I’ve had worse. Thanks for helpin’ me up you two.”

Suddenly, we found we couldn’t let go of her hands. “Applejack…” I said “Let go of us.”

“What?” snapped Applejack, and she then found herself being pulled hard by me and Rarity as we tried to let go of her.

“Please! I’m glad we could help, but release me!” said Rarity.

“Stop it, both of you, you’re stretching me!” cried Applejack. That’s when we all realized there was glue on Applejack’s hands, and worse… right down where we were standing was a small label from the barrel which read: “Guaranteed never to come unstuck, not even with magic.”

…and the three of us gazed down at our stuck hands with extremely shocked expressions! The others didn’t like this much either.

With the emergency over, Lightning gave Krysta the sphere containing Bugalar, charging her to take it to the palace to see that it got sent to Conva and Bugalar locked up again in prison.

As for the glue that was lying all around, it couldn’t come unstuck, even with magic as the label had warned. So, before she left, Krysta instructed her nearby fairies to teleport all the glued and gooey objects--all the patches of grass, and the trees and lampposts-- just pull them all out of the ground and teleport them to the waste dump. Replacing the now vacant patches of grass and trees and other things would be easy.

Then, Lightning compensated the pony hauler with a cheque for a large sum of money for spilling the glue and wrecking his wagon. “Well, thanks a bundle, but I still wish you hadn’t broke my wagon and spilt my glue.” he said.

“I know…” Lightning said “Again, we’re very sorry.”

The pony took it well.

“Um, excuse me…” I complained “But aren’t you forgetting about us?”

Starla tried with all the magic she could to melt the glue, Rarity helped, but in the end it was no use. The glue was magic-resistant, just like the label warned. “It’s no good, it won’t work.” Starla said.

“Gee, you guys really are stuck.” said Spike. The girls and I were not amused.

The pony observed our stuck hands and could see the bits of glue holding us together. “Well, the glue may be magic resistant, but my company does make a special potion that can get you unstuck. The problem is, it’ll take three whole days to make.”

“THREE DAYS?!” the three of us shouted!

“Well, yeah…” replied the pony “The ingredients have to be mixed and set and simmered just right. It’s a hard process.”

“And you don’t keep an emergency quantity of this in reserve?” Starla asked. “Well… to be honest, this is the first time this has ever happened. Why do you think we warn people about our glue?” He pointed at several other warning labels from the shattered barrel.

“Oh, great…!” grumbled Applejack “We’re gonna be stuck like this for the next three sunrises!”

“Of all the worst things that could happen, this is THE… WORST… POSSIBLE THING!!” cried Rarity.

“Ugh!” I grumbled “I’m going to have to spend the next three days listening to her whine!”

Rarity then gawked at me angrily “Ah! I take extreme offense to that, sir.”

“Whatever!” I sneered.

“Ugh! Will you two knock it off!” snapped Applejack “I don’t like this anymore than you two, but it ain’t gonna change nothin’. We’re stuck like this and we’re gonna have to make the best of things.”

Rarity and I knew she was right, but even Lightning and the others all felt the same way, “I don’t think this will be easy.” Spike said.

At around dinner time, the three of us were forced to eat out at the same restaurant. Luckily we chose one that had something for everyone.

All of us ordered sandwiches and fries, feeling they would be easier to eat. I was able to eat with just my one free hand, and Rarity used her free hand as well as her telekinetic magic to eat as well, but poor, Applejack; she was able to drink her milkshake through a straw, but she had to eat her food just by biting at it directly, the way ponies used to eat before they became human-shapped.

“Really, Applejack…!” Rarity snorted “If we’re going to be stuck together you could at least show better table manners.”

“Well excuse me for havin’ both my hands stuck down. So unless you want to feed me yourself, you got no choice.”

I felt my patience already dwindling. “Here, I’ll help you, Applejack.” I said as I helped feed her fries and bits of her sandwich.

“Thanks a bundle, Mykan.” she said to me “At least someone understands.”

“Well it’s better than listening to you two quibble!” I said, but I said it to myself not wanting to make things worse.

After dinner we all needed to use the rest room, except I needed to use the men’s room, I couldn’t go into the ladies’ room with the girls, nor could they come with me into the men’s room, and we couldn’t all fit into one cubicle anyway.

“Come with me, I’ve got an idea.” I said, and with that, I pulled the girls along… outside the village into a clearing where no one could see us. “Mykan, whatever are you doing?” Rarity asked.

“I think I get it; Good thinkin’ boy …” said Applejack, and with that, we both took turns evacuating behind a large bush-- looking away from one another to respect privacy-- much to Rarity outmost disgust. She couldn’t even find any words to say and nearly puked. “Not only is that horribly repulsive, but you don’t actually expect me to do THAT?”

Applejack poked her up and sneered “Well you ain’t got much of another choice. You can’t hold it in all night. So just do it and get it over with!”

Rarity knew she was right and she really did have to go, but she felt very nervous and skeptical about it “I can’t… I just can’t do it! What will others say of me if they find out? My reputation! My business! I’ll be ruined!”

“I’ll ruin you if you don’t stop that whining!” I threatened her.

“Ah!” Rarity sneered and she looked away, sulking, not that it mattered. Applejack and I were done as we stood up, and we both nodded at one another and yanked Rarity behind the bush. “Well, I never!” growled Rarity. “Look, just do it already!” Applejack sneered “We won’t even look at you.”

Licked, Rarity began to undo her pants, “Well!” she sneered at me and Applejack, telling us to look away “You had better not be peeking…”

“We’re not!” I snarled.

Feeling satisfied, Rarity let loose, and made huge flatulence sounds which freaked me and Applejack out, and Rarity of course, not wanting us to see what she had done, used her magic to vaporize the mess away, but the smell was still there. “Who-wee!” cried Applejack “What in tarnation did you eat?”

Rarity felt ashamed already, “If either of you utter a single sound about this…”

“Oh, go hork up a haystack!” I snapped at her. Rarity felt like exploding in a fit of rage at such an insult and she grumbled “If it weren’t for the present circumstances, perhaps I would rather than put up with this!”

Applejack could only sigh, “It’s gonna be a long night.”

We all agreed to stay at Carousel Boutique; it was the only place with room to spare for the three of us, and we all slept downstairs in sleeping bags on the floor by the fireplace. At least it was warm.

Rarity was snoring, not very loud, but it still annoyed me and Applejack more since she was closer than I was to Rarity, but the both of us were far too tired to try and argue.

Sure enough, we managed to get a little sleep.

Spike came into the kitchen the next morning, and stretched out, “Good morning everyone.” he said, but all three of us gawked at him with sneering glares.

“Whoa, I am outta here…” here said, and he quickly dashed out the door.

We all sat down to breakfast, and again, I had to help feed Applejack since Rarity was being so uncooperative.

Suddenly, I dropped my spoon, and when I bent down to pick it up, I tugged on Applejack causing her to tug on Rarity making her spill orange juice down her clothes. “Ah! Look what you made me do!” she thundered. “Hey, it wasn’t my fault!” snapped Applejack. “I was just getting my spoon, sorry.” I said.

The girls glared at me angrily. Applejack understood a little more, but Rarity’s eyes were blazing like volcanos “Just two more days, just two more days.” she said softly.

“Um, technically yesterday wasn’t a full day,” I pointed out “So we’re still looking at like a full three days.”

Applejack sulked and let her head rest on the table, “Oh, joy!”

Rarity had to breathe into a paper-bag to keep herself from losing it, but all our troubles were only beginning.

Applejack and I were both unable to go about our own businesses-- Applejack couldn’t do farm work without the use of her hands, and there was no way I could bring the girls to school with me like this-- which meant the only feasible thing we could all do was help Rarity with her work.

“Well, at least it’ll kill time.” Applejack said to me, but we soon both found ourselves not enjoying it at all.

With her left hand free and with her magic, Rarity was still able to do her own work without much difficulty-- using the sewing machine, folding fabrics, tying ribbons and other things she was good at. “Well, at least this much hasn’t changed.” she said to herself.

Unfortunately, Applejack still couldn’t do much but just sit in the middle and was almost bored to sleep, as for me; Rarity was making me try to cut up all the fabrics along the lines she had drawn so she could sew them.

Of all the courses I had taken in my prodigy years on Earth, and all the fields I was good in… Fashion was definitely not among them, but at least Applejack was able to help me keep it still so I could cut it, by both of us laying our glued hands on the fabric.

“Be careful!” Rarity said practically scorning me, “That fabric is a very expensive original; it came all the way from New Manehattan!”

“I’m doing my best!” I grouched at her.

Applejack didn’t know how much more of this she could take. Rarity and I were arguing and grouching at one another more than she and Rarity ever did! She also had a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach that she only got when something really bad was bound to happen!

As if it were bad enough working on the clothes, when the store opened up, Applejack and I had to manage things with Rarity.

Though many ponies gawked at us three and the way we were holding hands.

“We’re stuck together.” Applejack kept telling them, but that only made the ponies laugh at us more, so much they lost their spark to shop and left.

“Will you kindly stop chasing off my customers?!” Rarity sneered.

“I wasn’t tryin’ to chase ‘em off!” Applejack protested.

Some ponies did shop, and they lined up by the checkout, and they were starting to grow impatient from lack of service and were ringing the desk bell demanding for help.

Rarity was really starting to lose her cool, “Come on!” she snapped, pulling on me and Applejack, dragging us along, unfortunately, on the way to the checkout, Rarity walked one way around a display, and I walked round the other way, which made Applejack crash right into the display, knocking mannequins and piles of clothes all over the place.

“My display!” cried Rarity, “Applejack, look what you’ve done!”

“It ain’t my fault, you two pulled me this way!”

“Well, why didn’t you say something?” I asked, rather sharply.

“I would if you’d given me a chance!”

Rarity felt more concerned about her ruined display, “Look at this mess!” she cried “It will take me ages to reset all this!”

Our bickering got more and more heated up that the last of the customers abandoned their shopping and dashed out the door, leaving the store all but deserted, and more clothes had been thrown about when the customers left.

Rarity’s face turned beet-red, and steam shot through her ears like a burning kettle, but as she opened her mouth to say anything, I quickly jumped in, “Don’t you go blaming this on us!”

“And just whom should I blame? You both have been rather uncouth and annoying, not to mention horribly demanding.”

“Pah!” I scoffed “We’ve been annoying and demanding? Look who’s talking? Do you have any idea how vain and shallow you are?”

Rarity double gasped!

“You called me… shallow?!” she practically screamed.

“…Shallow as a puddle!” I replied.

Rarity never felt so hurt in her life! Tears began to build in her eyes, but they immediately went away as she lashed, “How dare you say that to me you… you… BULL!!”

I gasped equally as hurt and outraged, “You… I…. BULL?!! Why you little…!”

“Why you big…!!”

Applejack lost whatever remained of her patience and sanity, and just yanked on our arms flipping us both and herself flat on the floor; SPLAT!!

All three of us lay flat on our backs panting in frustration and fury. “I… have… had it!!” shouted It Applejack “When we get outta’ this mess, I don’t think I ever care so see either one of ya again!”

“Humph!” Rarity grunted “Well that’s just fine by me!”

I simply turned away, not saying a thing to either of them!

That’s when Spike finally came in from his outing, “I’m home, what did I miss?” he called out, but he saw the mess the store was it, and the three of us giving him that same snarling glare, but then we looked away from each other. “Okay, I’ll step out again.”

The girls and I didn’t speak to each other for the rest of the day, and as if that weren’t bad enough, the girls kept their wings flapped over each other’s faces from the sides like walls, so we couldn’t even look at one another.

That night, we were in our sleeping bags by the fire again. We weren’t looking at one another, but we were all wide awake, feeling a bit remorseful for yelling at one another, but not one of us was willing to break the ice.

Yet, each of us seemed to think…

Rarity: “Am I really that shallow? I do complain a lot but… shallow?”

Me: “I guess I do have a bit of a temper like a bull. What am I going to do?”

Applejack: “What was I thinkin’, flippin’ us all on the floor like that?”

We didn’t know what to say or even if we wanted to speak. So we continued to ignore one another.

The next morning, we got through breakfast peaceably, but even Spike didn’t wish to speak to any of us, not even his own wife, “You can stop looking at me like that.” he said to her, rather all of us “This is your problem to work out, not mine.”

Then he excused himself from the table, leaving the three of us still being silent.

We all did the dishes, together; I washed, and Rarity used her magic and her left hand to dry and put them away. Applejack couldn’t do anything of course. After that we did our best to help clean up the shop from the big mess that was left from the other day.

We still said not a thing to one another, nor did the girls lower their wings.

The shop was cleaned up, but all we felt like doing was just sitting on the pedestal stool where Rarity’s models would stand. We just sat there, still as the mannequins still not knowing what to say or do.

*POV Ends*

Meanwhile, Spike was sitting alone on a bench a few blocks away, and he was feeling a little depressed over this whole situation as well. What was going to his friends now? Such things like that would wreck his family life as well.

“All this because of a little glue.” he said softly to himself “What else could go wrong?”

Suddenly his nose gave a little twitch and he smelled something unusual yet familiar, and as he turned round he saw a huge monster; an anthropomorphic werewolf wearing combat gear, he roared at Spike and lunged at him. Spike rolled out of the way causing the monster to hit the ground.

Many of the ponies passing by saw the creature and began to run away in panic. “Quick, sound the alarms!” Spike hollered to anyone who could hear him.

The creature shouted out loud and pounded his huge fists ready for more! “I am Major Wolf Were! I only live to fight and to crush my enemies. I was put in jail fifty years ago by Starfleet, and now you shall be the first to feel my wrath!”

Spike saw this was going to be trouble, and he quickly transformed; “Dragon Power!”

He then lunged straight at the monster, but Wolf swerved and then lunged back towards him shouting, “WOLF KICK!” and giving him a huge kick to the chest, sending him skidding along the ground.

Spike got back up, and he drew out his sword, “Is that all you’ve got?”

Wolf snarled and extended his huge claws “Try me lizard brain!”

The two lunged at one another, Wolf actually parried Spike’s sword with his claws, and swiped at him hard. Sparks flew everywhere and Spike was sent rolling along the ground again! “This is tougher than I thought. I need backup!” he cried.

“SHARP CLAW!” Wolf shouted as he lunged forth, swiping his glowing claws at Spike, but Spike dodged causing Wolf to strike the ground resulting in a small explosion.

Finally, the alarms sounded.

*Mykan’s POV*

Back at the shop, the girls and I were started out of our trance by the sound of the alarms, and the girls finally lowered their wings. We all rushed to the door and saw the stampede of civilians running past the shop.

“Hey, what’s going on?” I called out to anyone who might be listening. One of the ponies stopped and cried “There’s a monster in the park. The Dragon Knight is fighting it alone!”

“Spike?!” cried Rarity “Oh, my goodness!”

“Well let’s shake a leg!” shouted Applejack.

“Here we go…!” I said and I activated my teleporter to get us to the park faster.

We arrived on the scene to see Spike battling with Wolf.

He swung his sword strong, but Wolf caught it in on claw, and then gave Spike a good swat with the other, sending him crashing hard into a bench, breaking it to bits.

“Spike!” cried Rarity as we call ran up to him.

“You alright?” asked Applejack.

“Yeah, I think…” groaned Spike.

Wolf stomped on the ground and let out a huge howl, and he snarled, “Who wants to go next?”

Despite being stuck together, the girls and I agreed to call a truce, or at least try to. Thankfully the girls could still transform-- Applejack used the back of her hand to press her energizer.

I grabbed my sword with my right hand and shouted, “Let’s go!”

The girls agreed, but as we charged forth we tripped on each other’s feet.

Spike slapped his helmet in dismay, while Wolf laughed hysterically, “I’ve fought against so many before, and that’s the silliest move I’ve ever seen.”

The three of us were not amused. We tried to get up, but fell all over each other again. “Hey, watch it!” I sneered.

“I was!” shouted Rarity.

“Ah, cram it, and let’s at least stand!” growled Applejack.

We finally managed to get up, but no sooner were we finally up on our feet did Wolf grab from behind his back a huge rocket launcher like weapon, “WOLF SHOT CANNON!”

“Watch out!” shouted Spike, but Wolf already fire his gun launching a huge energy ball at us, resulting a huge explosion that sent all four of us sailing through the air and crashing to the ground.

“Lucky for me I wore my armor vest.” I groaned.

As for Wolf, his gun was only good for one shot at a time, and then it had to recharge, which would not take long. “I don’t even need my gun to finish you wimps off.” and he prepared to lunge at us again.

“Here he comes!” cried Rarity, she tried to fly up and I tried to run the opposite away, which tugged Applejack’s arms, “Hey!” she shouted in pain, and we all fell down again.

“Ugh! You guys…!” growled Spike, “You’ve got to start pulling it together!”

All three of us knew he was right, and immediately we came up with one idea and quietly whispered to one another.

“Here I come…!” shouted Wolf, and he lunged straight at us.

“Now…!” shouted Applejack, and the three of us bolted upright without any problem. Rarity and I even grabbed hold of Applejack’s arms with our free hands and swung her back and then hard forward! Applejack gave Wolf a good kick in the face and sent him skidding along the ground.

The angry wolf growled as he held his sore face, but he was more furious than hurt. “So, you can fight me after all! I don’t know if I should like OR HATE THAT!!”

The three of us, and Spike just stared him down, and Wolf got up, growling angrily and lunged into attack us.

“Up…!” Rarity shouted, and the girls and I leapt up high, while Spike dodged causing Wolf to miss us and hit the ground.

Rarity and I then nodded at one another, and her horn and my sword glowed as we fired magical blasts at him, one-after-another.

Wolf skilfully dodged each and every blow. “Ha! Missed me! Missed me again... Oh, so close!”

We stopped shooting and all three of us smirked at him, much to his confusion. It was all just a distraction…

“DRAGON FLAMEWHEEL!” Spike came rolling in, bashing him hard up, up, into the air right towards the girls and me.

We all nodded at one another, and swerved to the right so he soared right past us, still going higher and higher.

“Oh, yeah?!” he snarled, and he grabbed his gun, “Well try this! WOLF SHOT CANNON!”

“We can’t try and dodge it, someone else could get hurt far away.” said Applejack.

“I got an idea.” I said as I sheathed my sword.

“What are you doing?” Rarity asked.

“Trust me!”

Wolf then fired his shot straight at us, but I pulled on the girls twisting us round so only I would take the hit. At once I shouted, “Shield of Righteous Courage!” and my magic shield appeared on my free arm, and I held it out, absorbing the shot and sent it firing back at Wolf.

“Oh, no…!” Wolf cried, and he got hit hard by his own power and was sent crashing down, down, down to the ground!

“YEE-HAW! Way to shoot ‘em boy!” Applejack said.

“Wonderful!” added Rarity.

I nodded thankfully at the girls and then called down to Spike, “Get him…!”

“Huh?!” Wolf cried as he looked down and saw Spike holding his flaming sword, “DRAGON KNIGHT SABER… IGNITE!”

He slashed hard, sending the burning power straight up at Wolf. Wolf roared and growled as the power consumed him, “I’m heading for the brig…!” then he exploded and reappeared shrunk down and imprisoned in a sphere.

“We did it!” cried Spike, and the rest of us cheered for joy.

Soon, all four of us reported to Lightning and Starla to present our catch. “Well done, everyone.” Lightning said, then he gazed at me, Rarity and Applejack, “But I am rather amazed you three managed to fight well despite being stuck together.”

The three of us felt a little awkward, “Well, actually, it helped us to realize just how bad we’ve been towards one another.” Rarity said.

“Eeyup, we should’ve spent more time workin’ together instead of bein’ at each other’s throats.”

I nodded and gazed at the girls, “I’m… I’m sorry, girls, for being such a hardhead.”

“I, too, am just as sorry.” said Rarity.

“So am I…” added Applejack.

Spike was very happy to see us make up, so were Lightning and Starla. “Well, what are you guys going to do about it now?” Starla asked.

The answer was obvious…

From that moment on, we began to listen to each other better, and talked things over before acting.

When I dropped my fork or spoon, I warned the girls I was going to bend over.

When Rarity wanted to walk one way, she made sure we could all go the same direction without colliding into anything.

The only chores we did were easier ones that wouldn’t result in messing anything up or making horrible mistakes.

Even at bedtime we tried to be more considerate. Though Rarity continued to snore and she denied this, Applejack and I just wore earmuffs instead.

Then, the morning after the next, the glue pony came to the shop with the special potion his company made. One little spray on each of our hands, the glue dissolved, and… we were all free.

“Ahh…!” Applejack sighed as she wiggled her fingers “I never felt so good.”

“Amen to that.” I said as I cracked the knuckles on my left hand “I’ll never think the same about glue again!”

Rarity was relieved to be free as well, but then she gazed at me and Applejack, and all three of us felt the same. “I guess we better get goin’. I got work to do on the farm.” said Applejack. “Yeah…” I agreed “I missed a lot of school.”

“Well… um…” Rarity said as she searched for her words “I suppose we learned a little from this incident. Um, I mean if this should ever happen again.”

“Well, we are different beings.” I said “We just have to learn to tolerate each other better.”

“Eeyup.” was Applejack could say. Then she headed out the door and flew back towards the farmlands, and I used my teleporter and headed home to New Canterlot to catch up on my work.

*POV Ends*

Rarity stood where she was, silent and still. Spike came over to his wife and placed his hand on her shoulder, and she placed her free right hand over his, and smiled softly, remembering all she had learned and experienced the past few days.

Even after going their separate ways, Mykan and Applejack gazed at their hands, and both felt the same.

(Promo)

In our next episode; the case of Pony Mykan Stevens begins to unfold as bits of his past are discovered. Meanwhile, The Cutiemark Crusaders come up with a plan to befriend the shaken pony by offering him food scraps, which gives Mayor Windy Bag a sneaky idea of her own to use against the poor pony, which goes horrible wrong when DD winds up in the hospital after getting caught in the middle.

What is the trouble with Pony Mykan Stevens, and will DD be alright?

Don’t miss the next exciting episode of “Starfleet Magic!”

(Next Episode: "How to Catch Trouble")

Episode 12: How to catch Trouble

EPISODE TWELVE

One morning at New Canterlot Palace, Cadance and Shining Armor were summoned by their aunt and uncle.

They were being escorted to the laboratory eager to find out why they were summoned, and their majesties let Professor Brain explain and unveil their surprise.

“It was not very easy, but after a few days of hard work thanks to the sophisticated equipment, everything was satisfactory… most satisfactory.”

“What was?” asked Shining Armor.

The Professor pressed a switch on the console, a light shone behind them, and up from benath the floor raised a large tube filled with pink liquid, a very sophisticated piece of equipment, and there inside the tube was a tiny baby Alicorn.

Cadance and Shining Armor froze at what they saw, but inside their bodies began to feel warm and easy. “Is that…? Could it be…?” Cadance asked.

“Yes, Princess… that is your child.” replied Brain.

Shining Armor’s eyes flooded with tears at the sight of his child, and right before he could ask, “…It’s a girl.” Grand Ruler said.

“A girl…” Shining Armor peeped softly.

Now Cadance’s eyes were brimming with tears of joy. “Just look at her…” she cried softly as she gazed at her daughter through the glass of the tube; her cute light pink coat and her mane with colors of purple and blue. “But, why is she an alicorn?” Cadance asked.

“We all talked it over…” Celestia said “And we all agreed that it was probably for the best. After all, in all of the Crystal Empire’s history, even in Equestria of Old, there has never been a baby alicorn before.”

Cadance and Shining Armor really had no complaints, and honestly didn’t know how they would ever be able to repay everyone. The baby looked absolutely perfect, it even had a belly-button, despite it was artificially created.

“We wasted no efforts this time…” Grand Ruler said “We perfected the child in every way we could so that it’s almost as if you actually had it yourself, Cadance.”

As much as Cadance and Shining Armor were so happy, they were told by the professor, “I’m afraid the child still needs more time.” And he explained that the baby had just been created and produced, but it needed to gain life energy and strength; hence the tube and the equipment. There was nothing at the moment to do except wait for the baby to awaken.

“When will that be?” asked Shining Armor. “I’m afraid I haven’t the exact precision on that…” remarked Brain “It could be days, week… a month at the very most, but no longer. Nevertheless, everything should be just fine.”

Cadance’s heart skipped a beat, “Should…?”

“Yes, Cadance…” Grand Ruler said, and he hated what he was about to say next, but it had to be known. “We must constantly watch this tube and maintain the controls of the life support. If anything goes horribly wrong, it may be very fatal for the child.”

Hearing that word “Fatal” made the couple’s stomachs churn. Already they had lost their baby boy, Amando. If they lost their new baby girl before she even woke up...!

“Now, now… let’s not think about that.” said Celestia “We’re going get through this, and we’ve already arranged for round-the-clock watches.”

The couple felt a little better, but even still, from past experiences they knew no one was perfect, not even their aunt and uncle, but they promised to be brave and strong for their new daughter.

Meanwhile, Lightning Starla and Krysta were in the archives, looking over old files from Equestria of old to help them solve the mystery of the pony Mykan Stevens.

They, too, had heard the news about the new baby. “What do you think they’ll name her?” Krysta asked. “Hard to say…” said Starla “But whatever they choose, I’m sure it’ll be sweet.”

Their girl talk was interrupted when Lightning called them over to the table where he sat, “I think I’ve found something.”

The girls walked over, and saw Lightning had pulled out a file with a picture of a dark green unicorn. She had blue eyes, her mane was a light yellow, and her Cutie Mark was that of a sewing needle and a skirt.

Her name was right above the page: “Sephia Stevens.”

“Stevens…” said Krysta, “That’s Mykan’s last name.”

“That’s not all…” Lightning said, and he held that little scrap of magazine clipping he had brought, the very one that Applejack had unintentionally brought back from the mountain mansion. He held up to the file picture; they were both identical.

“She really is, Mykan’s mother.” Starla said.

“She was…” Lightning said, and he pointed to a small sentence in the file from a new clipping: Equestria Daily: “Sephia Stevens killed in prison riot.”

The girls were very surprised, and before they could even ask, Lightning read the story from the files of reports.

Sephia Stevens was a former fashion designer and seamstress. Once voted the best seamstress in all of Canterlot and maker of many fine ball gowns, wedding dresses, and fashionable formal wear. Her husband, whom had led such a private and secretive life, had died in an accident years prior.

On the eve of the Grand Galloping Gala, she had sold a dress to a duchess from Manehatten, whom had requested it specially made by Sephia. When the duchess wore the gown to the gala, it had fallen apart at the seams during her grand entrance, publicly humiliating her and making her the laughingstock of the night.

Outraged by this humiliation, the duchess pressed charges on Sepiha for sabotage and setting her up for the scandal. Though Sephia pleaded innocent, she could not prove her story and was sentenced to forty years in prison by the court of Manehatten.

No letter of appeal was written to Princess Celestia, and Sephia was brutally beaten to death in a huge prison riot.

Sephia was reported to have had a son, Mykan, whom was due to be put into foster care on the arrest of his mother, but he had run away before this was carried out, and was never seen again. His last known location was at his mother's mansion, accumulated from years of fame and good fortune. When Canterlot officials had attempted to foreclose and sell off the mansion, it had magically disappeared with young Mykan still inside it.

No one had ever seen or known what happened to the house or the young Mykan Stevens ever since.

“That was seven years ago; about three years before The Great War...” Lightning said.

Starla and Krysta didn’t know what to think or feel other than such horridness, and confusion. “Now we know where the mansion and Mykan are, atop the haunted mountain in New White Tail Village.” said Starla.

“But that doesn’t explain other things…” said Krysta “Why is he up there? Why is he chasing people off? Why would he sneak around at nigh stealing food from other people’s garbage?”

The three thought it over, and it all boiled down to one thing; “It could be a result of a deep psychotic depression.” said Lightning “I mean… he lost his mother. I know how it feels.”

“So do I…” said Starla, she didn’t go any further, as it pained her and Lightning to be reminded of their past tragedies of losing their families.

“So, what do we do now?” asked Krysta. A long moment of silence followed, the friends knew that Mykan needed help and he simply could not go on the way he was living, but the only way to even try to help him was to try reasoning with him. After, depressed and seemingly violent, he had made no such attempt to harm anyone nor had he done anything severely illegal, so they couldn’t arrest him, charge him or even take him in for official interrogations.

“I guess we’ll just have to wait and see if we can find some way to reason with him.” said Lightning.

Later that day, in New Ponyville it was a great day to be at school, and the children were all eating their lunches outside.

Naturally, the Crusaders all sat and ate together, but they didn’t seem very hungry. For the past several days they had been thinking about the same thing; Pony Mykan Stevens, and how he seemed so agitated, like he was in extreme pain.

“He’s probably super starved.” suggested Applebloom. “Maybe… He looked really pale and thin. I remember when I didn’t eat breakfast, I was pretty grumpy.” added Sweetie Belle.

The girls each took a few nibbles from their lunches, but still thinking of Pony Mykan, and how he got his fill by stealing rotten and discarded foods from garbage cans, which made them feel a little sick to their stomachs.

Across from where they were sitting, Snails and Snips were opening their lunch boxes. “what did you bring?” asked Snails.

“I got a chicken-salad sandwich. What’choo got?”

“I got a chicken-salad sandwich too.”

“Hey, wanna trade?”

“Sure.”

The girls thought it a little silly the boys trading the exact same sandwich, but more a nice gesture between friends.

That’s when, seeing the act and looking at their lunches, the girls all happened upon the same idea. “Maybe we can help Mykan a bit…” said Scootaloo “We could leave him some scraps of food, or even make whole balanced meals for him to take. Who knows, maybe it would even… show him we don’t want to hurt him?”

A brief silence followed, but was broken by the sound of Biffy Box laughing at them, much to their annoyance, “Long time no see, geek girls.”

“What are you doing here?” DD asked, rather harshly “Weren’t you expelled?”

“I’m just going about helping my Pop with errands, and that includes here at this dump.”

His father was former wrestler, but now just a meager a delivery pony, and even though he and the school teachers were not on good terms, he was still obligated to his duties to make deliveries all over, and had come to give Cheerilee a package of new notebooks she had ordered.

“Let’s go, Biff…” he called to him.

“Later losers…” Biff sneered at the girls. The crusaders stuck their tongues at him, but he just walked off with his father.

As Biffy and his father walked off, he spoke silently to his dad saying “I heard the girls talking, and they gave me a great idea that mom will like.”

When the two ponies got home and told Windy Bag was Biffy had heard the crusaders saying about their plans for Mykan Stevens. “What?!” snapped Windy “Feed him? Are you out of your mind?”

“But, mom I thought you could use this to draw him out in the open.”

His mother looked like she was ready to burst in rage, “That is crazy… that is nuts… that is…!” she paused and then smirked, “…The best I idea I’ve ever had.”

Chump liked it when his wife got that look in her eyes, but Biff didn’t understand.

That evening, after dinner, each of the crusaders went into their respective kitchens while no one was watching, and gathered a few bits of things. Crackers, cheese wedges, fruit and a little bit of bread, and placed them in paper bags which they marked, “For you Mykan.”

It was their hope that Mykan would see the bags and accept the gifts.

Applebloom, however, got caught snooping in the kitchen by her sister. “You’re starvin’ again?” Applejack asked “But you just had supper.”

“Oh, um… well… I guess… I just have enough to eat.” Applebloom said, trying to be innocent, but naturally her sister gave her a straight look. “All right, Applebloom, what are you up to now?”

Applebloom tried to cover her act, but of course given her and the crusaders reputations, her sister didn’t budge, and she was forced to explain her idea…

“…That’s pretty much it. We reckon maybe he’ll soften up a bit, and at least he’ll have somethin’ decent to eat.”

Applejack, though thinking that was a kind gesture, didn’t exactly agree to it.

“But sis…” cried Applebloom.

“No buts, Applebloom.” her sister said “I know you wanna help, and that’s mighty sweet, but Mykan’s under suspicion. You might be aidin’ and helpin’ a criminal, and that’s a serious offense.”

“Maybe not…” Buddy Rose said as he came into the house with DD. Big Mac let them in. DD told Applebloom, “He caught me. I had to tell.”

“What do you mean “Maybe not?” asked Applejack, and Buddy explained “Well, in the first place: the girls are too young to be convicted in such manners. Starfleet code forbids it. Second: We do need more information regarding Mykan, and he hasn’t been totally classified as a criminal, and the only way we could learn is to confront him… try to reason with him.”

“That’s what I said…” said DD.

Applejack couldn’t believe what she was hearing, but she couldn’t actually argue much with it. “How about you, Big Mac… Are you up for this too?”

“Eeyup.” her brother replied “I just can’t let that poor boy starve like that, and like B.R said, it’ll help y’all learn more.”

Applejack decided to go along with the idea.

Applebloom and DD slapped each other a high-five.

Soon, two small meals were made and kept in two brown paper marks with “For Mykan” marked on them. Buddy Rose and Applejack placed the bags outside near the garbage cans.

“And now, we wait…” Buddy Said.

“Eeyup.” added Big Mac, and Applejack nodded.

That night, in White Tail Village, Lippy Sync was doing his homework in his room, when he looked out the window and saw his mother walking to the end of the street. Her hands were gloved and she held a paper bag with a label marked “For Mykan.”

Then, she stopped, and ducked down behind the large shrubs in front of the town-hall so no one would see her. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small vial of green powder, which Lippy recognized and flipped through his chemistry book; it was a type of poison, odorless, tasteless, dissolved instantly on contact with foods and liquids, and when ingested would cause extreme illness to the taker, even instant death if enough was taken in at once.

Lippy watched in horror as his mother laced bits of food form the bag with the poison and then slipped the bag near the garbage. “No…” Lippy cried softly, realizing what his mother was up too, but why would she want to do such a horrible thing? What would it accomplish?

After his mother headed back, he thought of going down there and getting rid of that booby-trap before something really bad happened, but as he stepped out of his room, he almost ran right into his big father.

“And where do you think you’re going?” he asked rather gruffly at him “Don’t you have homework to finish?”

“Well yes, but I…”

“Then you march yourself right back in there and finish it!” snarled Chump. Lippy hated it when his father yelled at him like that. He tried desperately to explain. “NOW!!” his father yelled!

His son dashed back inside his roof in a heartbeat and was panting heavily in fear, but not wanting to suffer punishment from his family, he tried his best to put it out of his mind.

But well after his bedtime, he was tossing and turning, positively rigged with guilt and worry of that poison food outside. He was starting to regret his actions about not doing anything about it earlier, and felt like sneaking outside to get the food before Mykan got it, but when he looked out his window, he could see the bag was no longer there by the trashcans.

“Oh, no…!” Lippy cried under his breath “…I’m too late!”

Down in her office, Windy Bag, up late and working like the Mayor she was, also looked out the window and noticed the bag of food was gone. She snickered and felt her trap was set in motion. “One bite out of that food, and that freak will hardly have any strength to keep his eyes open, let alone deprive me from what I want!

Meanwhile, I have other things to attend to.”

She walked over to the calendar on her wall. In the dead center, a date was circled in bright red and labeled, “The Big Day!” and it was only six days away. A Day Windy Bag had something really huge planned for then.

Meanwhile, Applebloom and DD’s food bags remained where they were by the trash. The girls were already sent to bed by the adults, as they did have school in the morning.

The girls were wide awake though, and watching from their respective bedroom windows. DD had to use binoculars to see…

Applejack and Buddy Rose were maintaining watch, hiding behind a huge haystack, hoping to spot Mykan and confront him close. Big Mac was with them for extra support, even though this was Starfleet business.

“Anything yet?” Buddy whispered.

“Nope.” said Big Mac.

“Shh, wait, listen…” said Applejack.

The team listened and could hear footsteps, and the soft sounds of groans. Suddenly, they could see him coming round the corner of the barn. He looked in pretty bad shape. The blackness of his coat was a little pale making it seemed less dark, even in the night, and Applejack swore he looked a tad bit thinner.

This was most likely due to his malnourishment, and unhealthy way of living overly sheltered.

“Hey, look in his hand.” whispered Buddy Rose, and they all could see Mykan was holding another paper bag marked “For Mykan.” And figured it from Sweetie Belle or Scootaloo, as they had the same ideas, but the bag seemed full as if he hadn’t eaten from it.

He made his way over to the trashcans, and he spotted two more bags of food, identical to the one he was holding, but he scoffed at them, and even threw the one he was holding by the others and opted for the garbage food instead; half eaten sandwiches, left over chicken legs, fruit peelings. It sickened the ponies to watch him scarf it down like that. Applejack almost threw up.

“Come on, now’s our chance.” said Buddy Rose.

“Eeyup.” said Big Mac.”

They all waited a couple of moments and then jumped out from behind the haystack, pointing heir flashlights at Mykan, frightening him softly. “You again…” he hissed angrily “Why can’t you just let me be!”

“I don’t think you should be sayin’ that.” said Applejack “You’re the one who keeps sneaking around stealin’ from people’s trash.”

Buddy Rose put his hand out telling her to stop and that she wasn’t helping and he confronted the snarling pony. “Mykan, we don’t want to hurt you. We want to help you.”

Mykan growled angrily and sneered “Help? You want to help me? I’ve heard that before.” His voice began to sound more tearful than angry “…No one ever helped me, and I don’t want anyone to help me!”

“How can you say that?” said Big Mac, and he pointed to the bags of food explaining what the girls had done “They just wanna help you out. We all do… and you’re treatin’ us like we’re the bad guys here.”

“Big Mac, take it easy.” said Buddy Rose. Then he spoke to Mykan calmly not wanting to make things worse “Mykan, won’t you tell us what troubles you?”

“Ha!” snapped Mykan “You wouldn’t understand even if I told you, and you certainly wouldn’t care!”

“Try us…” said Applejack.

Mykan was growing more irritable, and he reached into the pockets of his rags for that smoke powder, but Buddy Rose used his magic to hold his arm down. “Don’t do it…” he said to him “We want to help you.”

“Please… just leave me alone!” cried Mykan.

“Not until you tell us what’s up with you.” said Applejack “Are you afraid of somethin’… or someone.”

“I’m not afraid of anything! I’m not interested in any help from anyone. No one can help me now, just like… no one helped me before. Not even Celestia!”

The three friends felt concerned at those words; what did Celestia have to do with his troubles?

“It’s none of your concern now!” snapped Mykan.

“Everything that concerns a citizen’s well-being is our concern.” said Buddy Rose “Now, for the last time, tell us what your problem is.”

Mykan then noticed the full bright moon peeking through the clouds in the night sky, and he smirked wickedly and stood perfectly where he was, much to the others’ confusion.

Suddenly the moonlight shone directly on his thick black goggles, almost like a perfect reflection of the glare right at Buddy’s eyes, distracting him and breaking his concentration, releasing Mykan from telekinetic aura.

“Buddy!” cried Applejack.

“See ya!” Mykan said, and he threw more smoke powder to the ground.

POW!! There was a thick puff of smoke distracting the others and allowing him to make his getaway. “Dag’nabit!” snapped Big Mac “That kid’s slicker than I imaged.”

Applejack and Buddy Rose could hardly believe they had been outsmarted, and worse, Mykan left without the three bags of food proving conclusively he had no intention of cooperating with anyone, or even accepting anyone’s offer to help.

“That boy’s more agitated than a hog with his snout caught in a knothole.” said Applejack.

“Well, it wasn’t a total loss.” said Buddy Rose, “We did get more information…”

Applejack agreed, but didn’t know what to make of Celestia and Helping. The gang decided that, with Mykan already probably miles away so they couldn’t chase him, and it was already late. They decided to head to bed.

Applejack took all three bags of food inside with her, feeling it best not to waste good food.

As for Applebloom and DD, they had heard and seen everything.

The next day, they met up with Sweetie and Scootaloo at school before the first bell rang, and talked about the other night. They even brought the third bag of food to give back to them, only to discover?

“You didn’t leave this bag out?” asked Applebloom.

“Rarity caught me, and she wasn’t keen on the idea. So I couldn’t do it.” said Sweetie. “I totally forgot…” said Scootaloo “I was busy studying for the spelling test we’re supposed to have this morning.”

The girls were all confused now? The bag and the label on it were exactly the same, and inside were the same kind of food scraps. DD pulled out a big red apple and took a bite out of it. “Well, shame to let good food go waste.” she said.

Suddenly, the bell rang and it was time for class. DD quickly finished her apple and tossed the core into the trash as she headed into the school.

“All right, everyone. Settle down.” Cheerilee said “I hope you’re all ready for the spelling test today.”

Many of the students groaned in dismay, but Cheerilee got up and passed out a small stack of test papers telling each pony to pass one down, but when she got to DD, she noticed she was making a funny face and holding her stomach. “Are you alright?” she asked.

DD clenched her stomach hard and groaned.

“I bet she’s trying to play hooky.” teased Diamond Tiara.

“I’m not…” cried DD “It hurts… I… I…!” then she collapsed out of her seat and onto the floor. “DD…! DD!!” cried Cheerilee!

All the students, even Diamond felt concerned.

School was canceled for the rest of the day due to the incident, and Cheerliee felt deeply concerned.

DD was rushed to the hospital immediately, and Buddy Rose was informed at once.

Dr. Penny had already examined DD and prepared the operating room for an emergency procedure.

“You’re sure?” Buddy asked. “I’m positive. She’s been poisoned.” said Penny, “I scanned her and I detected a toxic substance in her digestive system, probably from something she ate. I must operate at once!”

Buddy felt his insides running cold, the thought of his little cousin being in such danger.

“Penny…” Buddy said “Please, just be careful with DD. She’s all I’ve got.”

Penny could tell he was very concerned, and she assured him “I’ve done this many times. She’ll be okay… I promise.”

With not much to do, Buddy was forced to stay outside the operating room in the waiting area.

As he sat, the pain of worry and concern for his cousin ate away at him to the verge of tears. He was supposed to be responsible for DD, and when things like this happened… it really shook him up, having lost his parents and his older sister, and DD losing her folks as well. He couldn’t bear it if he lost someone else.

“Please… please be okay, DD!” he kept saying softly to himself, “If anything happens to you… I’ll never forgive myself!”

A few hours later, Penny came out from the operating room smiling and informed him “…She’ll be alright.”

Buddy was ever so relieved that he almost fell flat on the floor. “Thank the stars!” he cried as he wiped the tears from his eyes.

Penny could only understand how he felt too well, but she couldn’t help but giggle.

DD was transferred to a room of her own to remain in the hospital until the next morning. After that, she was ordered by Penny to stay in bed for a whole week and take special medication so she could recover.

The other crusaders and Applejack, even Cheerilee came to visit, having canceled school the rest of the day. “Oh, DD, thank goodness you’re alright!” she cried.

“You sure gave us quite a scare!” added Applebloom.

DD laughed weakly. She spoke so softly, “Not as scared as me-- thought I was goner.”

“Please don’t talk like that…” cried Sweetie Belle “I don’t know how we’d feel if you’d… if you’d…”

“Hey, now, take it easy.” Applejack said to her “I guess we all feel the same for ya, DD.”

Scootaloo clenched her fists “I swear, when we find out who poisoned you, we’ll make them pay.”

The other girls agreed with her, but Applejack and Cheerilee thought the girls were getting a little too far ahead of themselves. “I think you’d best leave that to the professionals, girls.” said Cheerilee.

“Yeah, we’ll look into all this. We’ll find what happened.” added Applejack. Then she gazed at DD, “You just work on gettin’ better.”

DD smiled.

Just then, Dr. Penny came in with some news. “DD, we found what made you sick…” she held up the bag of food that the girls took from school. “That apple you ate from this bag was laced with a powerful poison. All the food in here is no good.”

Everyone felt shocked at such an idea, and Applejack and Buddy remembered the bag that Mykan had left behind when they had cornered him the other night.

“Mykan… tried to poison me?” DD asked in disbelief.

“Now why would he wanna do that?” asked Applebloom.

“Now, wait just a minute…” said Buddy Rose “We can’t be certain that even Mykan knew that the food was poison. The bag was left out and for him to take, but not from any of you girls?”

The crusaders shook their heads innocently, and this only meant that there was now even more mysteries about Pony Mykan Stevens to crack.

Penny cleared her throat and said, “Okay, I hate to do this to all, but you’re all going to have to leave. DD’s had a serious operation and needs to rest.” She then cast a look at Buddy Rose meaning that included him, but she assured him that he could take DD home first thing in the morning.

One-by-one all the others gave DD their blessings that she was okay, and urged her to get well soon before leaving, but Buddy Rose took one last minute to hug his little cousin softly. He almost felt like crying. “I’m so glad you’re okay. I don’t know what I’d do without you, DD.”

A tear rolled down DD’s face as she hugged him softly.

Penny dabbed her eyes with a hankie, but then she told Buddy that he really needed to leave. So he did, but as he left the hospital he promised himself and DD one thing…

“…I’ll find who did this to you, DD… and when I do, they are going to rue the day!”

(Promo)

In our next episode: Spike begins to have fearful thoughts of his marriage due to he and Rarity having different lifespans, which prompts him to spend as much time as he possibly can with her, much to her annoyance. Things are suddenly reversed when a monster begins to steal youth from other creatures to gain power and Spike is hit hard causing him to age to the point of near-death.

Can Spike overcome his issues, and how can our heroes stop this monster’s attempt to age the populace to nothingness?

Don’t miss the next exciting episode of “Starfleet Magic!”

(Next episode: “Age of Aging”)

Episode 13: Age of Ages

EPISODE THIRTEEN

Dyno and Myte were busy in their mine, having struck a whole new mother-load of precious metals and jewelry, and Rarity and Spike were there helping, as Rarity had requested to get a new hoard of diamonds and jewels she needed to make great new clothes with at her shop.

“I never thought I’d see the day when you would get this dirty.” Dyno said to Rarity, noting how dusty and filthy she looked from the digging.

“Well, one cannot expect the gems will dig themselves up.” said Rarity “That… and it will be good to help me brush up on a little strength training for future fights.”

She gazed at a large boulder and narrowed her eyes at it, spat into her hands. Then she leapt up high hollering loudly as she came crashing down on the boulder and gave a huge jab with her fist, breaking the rock into a mound of pebbles and spilling more jewels out in another pile.

“Ho…! Be still my heart.” Spike said. His wife smirked at him, but then she gasped, “Oh… I’ve broken three nails.” she whined.

The men sighed, “Some things just don’t change.” Myte grumbled as he leaned against a post, which snapped almost instantly, “Uh, oh…!”

At once, the area began to quiver as small rocks began to fall. “Avalanche!” cried Spike.

“Vamos…! Run!” shouted Dyno, and the friends all dashed out of the way just as a mountain of rocks came falling down, burying the mountain of jewels with it, but the rest of the mine was okay.

Thankfully, no one was hurt, but the jewels were all buried deep under that mountain of rocks and rubble. “Oh, no!” cried Spike “All those jewels, they were so delicious too I could practically taste them!”

A typical dragon reaction!

“Thank goodness everyone is alright.” said Rarity, and the twins examined the broken post and found it was rotted right through. “We had clearly told the crew to fix it!” sneered Dyno. “Si, the whole mine could cave in with dangers like this!” added Myte.

Rarity and spike were non-too-pleased either.

The friends left the mine, as the twins had to talk with their mining crews. “Sorry, we couldn’t get you the jewels today, Rarity.” said Dyno. Myte nodded and added “It’s gonna take us a bit to support the section and then clean out that cave-in.”

“The important thing is that we are safe.” said Rarity “Although this does put my own projects on hold for a while.”

Spike put his hand on his wife’s shoulder “It’ll be okay, hon… come on, I’ll take you to dinner.”

His wife smiled, and the twins loved seeing the couple so happy.

Soon, Spike and Rarity had arrived at one of their favorite restaurants in New Ponyville, and spike was as gentlemanly as always; pulling the seat out for Rarity, making sure it and the utensils were clean, and when Rarity’s water glass had specks in it from a pour dishwashing, Spike practically demanded they bring his wife a clean glass.

“Spike, I do appreciate your… desire… to help me, but really you needn’t go to this much trouble.”

“Hey, nothing’s too good for my wife.” Spike said, and Rarity smiled at him.

After dinner, they place was having a small dance night; formal dancing of course. “Shall we, milady?” Spike asked while tenderly extending his hand. Rarity acted bashful as she accepted, and they went over to the dance floor.

It was a good thing Rarity taught Spike how to dance, because he used to be so bad at it. He would step on her feet, his tail would hit the other dancers, or he would fall over Rarity and she’d fall over the next set of dancers creating a domino effect.

As they danced, Spike couldn’t help but overhear several other couples talking.

“Promise me one thing. We grew up together… let’s grow old together.”

“That’s a promise.”

Another dancing couple were two very elderly ponies doing a slow waltz.

“I haven’t felt this way in fifty years, or was it sixty?”

“I don’t know, but let’s enjoy what time we have left.”

Even a third couple-- the male seemed to be at least two decades older than his much younger wife.

“You sure you didn’t marry me because of my money?”

“Oh, don’t be silly. I love you, even if you were four times my age.”

Spike and Rarity enjoyed seeing how happy all the other couples were, not even minding that they were the only pony and dragon couple there; then again, they and their marriage was well renowned over the entire planet.

…but the fame meant little to them, and they just focussed on their own lives. Rarity rested her head on Spike’s shoulder, and he held her close and they enjoyed the soft moments.

That night, they settled into their bed-- which was actually made of two separate beds with different firmness of cushion and their own set of covers-- and they bid each other a warm goodnight. Before turning out the light and falling asleep.

Later that night, Spike had a terrible dream…!

He woke up one morning, and the morning sun shone through the window. He stretched out and yawned. Then he reached over saying, “Good morning, Rarity.”

Then she turned to face him, and he gasped softly. She looked so old, wrinkled, and pale, her purple mane and tale were now white as she was, and her voice was different as well. “Who said that?” she asked as she felt around “I’ll my glasses first.”

She put her glasses on and took a good look at him, “Oh, Spikey… I remember. We’ve been married about seventy years now.”

Spike’s blood churned “Say what?! Seventy years?”

“That’s right… or what is eighty years?”

Spike practically jumped out of bed, and grabbed the calendar looking at it, and indeed the date showed it was at least seventy years later. “What’s going on?” he thought to himself “How could all that time have passed so quickly? Rarity’s grown so… old… and gray, and I’ve hardly changed.”

Spike knew that dragons had a much longer lifespan than most creatures; able to live for hundreds of years, or even thousands, but normal ponies like Rarity weren’t like that at all. This was the one unfortunate thing he hadn’t contemplated on since marrying her.

“Um… Rarity…?” he asked to her.

No Response!

“Rarity…?”

No Response!

He moved in closer, and noticed she wasn’t moving. She didn’t blink her eyes once. He moved in closer still and found she wasn’t even breathing. He frightfully put his ear against her chest but couldn’t hear her heart-beating.

“Rarity! RARITY…!!”

In a strange twist, he found himself at Rarity’s funeral. All the other ponies were there, and they too had grown very old and feeble.

Their royal majesties were there, but being Deity Alicorns and unaffected by aging, they looked the same as always, but Spike, he felt his heart breaking to pieces knowing that his wife was dead. “How… why?!” he sobbed.

“It was just her time, sonny.” said an elderly Lightning.

“Look at the brightside…” said an elderly Starla “You’re single again, and very young. You may as well find yourself somebody new.”

The more Spike heard this, the more he found himself spinning all around.

The next thing he saw, Carousel boutique was sold and being demolished, as the place was owned by Rarity, but now she was gone and had forgotten to leave a will, leaving Spike with no home, no spouse, and hardly any options of what to do next.

“NO!! NO…!! I DON’T WANT TO BE ALONE!!”

He woke up in a frightful gasp.

Rarity woke up when she heard him, “Spike! What is it?”

Spike was ever so relieved that it was all just a dream and that Rarity was young and beautiful as ever, despite wearing her bed curlers.

“Did you have a bad dream?” Rarity asked. Her husband felt those nerves getting at him again, and he had to ask, “Rarity?”

“Yes…?”

He tried to find the right words, but he couldn’t, and his head was spinning with concern, worry, but eventually he wore himself out and fell right back to sleep, much to Rarity confusion. Whatever dream he had was obviously an unpleasant one, but she decided to let go of whatever it was, and turned to go back to sleep.

The next morning when Spike woke up he found Rarity still sleeping peacefully next to him. He could see the calendar from where he was due to his great dragon sight, and it was simply just the next day of the same week of the same month and year. He was relieved to see that, but that nightmare he had was a real eye-opener to him as he gazed down at his wife.

Of course there was nothing he could really do about the whole aging and lifespan thing, at least none that he knew of, and in his silent panicking he decided as he thought to himself, “I’m going to make every moment I have last as long as it will with you, Rarity.”

When Rarity woke up, she stretched out, and the first thing she saw was Spike still in bed with her. “Good morning.” she said warmly to him.

“Good morning, my love.”

They shared a soft kiss, and Rarity got up to go and open the window letting the fresh morning breeze in. To Spike, she was like a goddess bathing in the sunlight.

Then, Rarity headed off for the bathroom for her morning routine and beatifications, which usually took half an hour. Of course, Spike couldn’t really go in with her, but he did wait right outside the door, staying as close to her as he could.

When she came out, she was dressed in her bathrobe and looked as beautiful as she always did, but was shocked to see Spike standing outside the door. “Spike, why didn’t you just use the downstairs bathroom?” she asked.

“Um…I uh…”

That’s when his stomach growled softly, and Rarity’s too. “Ooh… Breakfast time.” she said as she toddled off to the kitchen.

All through breakfast things were quiet, and Spike helped Rarity with the dishes of course. “Thanks for helping me…” she cooed as she tickled his chin.

Spike felt very relieved, and was starting to forget his worrying, and all the rest of that day he followed Rarity everywhere, keeping her well within his sights.

On their patrol rounds, shopping in the market, during lunch, doing chores around the house and helping Rarity with her sewing, making dinner and doing the dishes again.

It really had been a nice day. “You were certainly helpful today, Spike.”

Her husband smiled, “I’d… do anything for you Rarity. Even grow old for you.”

She looked confused. That seemed a very unusual thing to say, but she kissed him goodnight, and they both went to sleep.

The next day, however, Spike just wouldn’t seem to let Rarity have so much as five minutes all alone…!

When she asked Spike to take out the trash, “Can we do it together?” he almost sounded rather insistent.

When Rarity was simply reading a magazine on the sofa, he was there. “Don’t you have anything else to do?”

“No, not really… I just want to be with you.”

As flattered as she felt, Rarity began to sense something strange in Spike, which only got worse as the day continued. He constantly followed her around, stayed outside the bathroom when she went in. When she did the dishes alone, he stayed in the kitchen and kept his eyes on her every second.

“Um, Spike, darling… although I enjoy all this attention…” she said to him, trying to pick her words carefully, “But… well… I… I don’t think we have to do absolutely everything together. I wouldn’t mind a little privacy to myself.”

Spike wasn’t sure how to take it. He understood it, but it sent a small shiver up his spine as he was reminded of his nightmare. He even saw Rarity seem to age before his eyes.

“What’s the matter?” Rarity asked, but her voice seemed to have aged to him as well. He snapped himself out of his trance and saw she was young again… or rather never changed at all.

In an act of panic, he suddenly clung to her almost like a child not wanting to let their parent go.

“Spike! What are you doing?”

“I can’t lose you! I won’t lose you!” he cried. This began to frighten Rarity. She had never seen him act like this before.

She wretched away and began backing away from him like he was some kind of freak. “Spike, please… stop this! Whatever is wrong with you?”

“Rarity…! RARITY…!!”

Rarity couldn’t help but scream as if she were looking at a zombie and ran out of the house like a speeding comet.

Poor Spike finally realized, “What am I doing?! Rarity…!”

He had to find her and explain himself. So he dashed out the door, but instead of finding Rarity, he saw someone rather unusual. An elderly humanoid-like alien, with pale pink skin, pointy ears, white hair, and wearing a rather ragged robe.

She took one look at Spike and smirked wickedly, and she pulled out a kind of ray gun and blasted him before he could do anything.

Rarity had dashed to Lightning and Starla’s place, and told them everything. “And he kept on saying that he didn’t want to lose me. He’s been acting strange since yesterday.”

Lightning and Starla were concerned about this. “Well, he could be concerned about you being killed in action…” said Lightning “But then again, he knows you’re capable of taking care of yourself.”

“Well it has to be something serious.” suggested Starla “Have you asked him what it is?”

Rarity opened her mouth to speak, but realized “I did ask him, but he never actually answered me. It was almost as if he were too upset to even try.”

Lightning had heard enough and decided they go and confront him about this, not just for Rarity’s and Spike’s sake. “Starfleet Code: Seven Dash-Thirteen Mark 4: All Starfleet member must be sound both physically and mentally… we can’t let Spike over develop whatever’s bothering him, or it may affect his fighting stamina.”

Rarity dreaded at such a thought, but agreed to confront her husband. He really needed help with whatever troubled him… but the second the friends were about to head through the door, someone knocked ever so softly.

Lightning opened the door and he gasped; “Galloping Galaxies! Spike…?”

It was him, and he looked so old, frail and could barely stand up. His scaled were all dried and shedding, his face was droopy and wrinkled, all his colors were very pale, and his voice was very raspy and soft, “…He… Help… M…E-E-E!”

Rarity gasped at the sight of him, and she fainted.

“Oh, my…!” Starla cried a she scooped Rarity up, and Spike collapsed into Lightning’s arms.

Soon, Spike was lying down on the sofa, and Starla helped Rarity come to her senses, but the poor dear was on the verge of tears at the sight of Spike in his condition. “Oh, Spike…” she sobbed “Whatever happened to you?”

“Eh…?” said Spike “You’ll have to speak up… my hearing isn’t quite what it used to be.”

Hearing this made Rarity burst into tears, all which landed on his face.

“Hey, is it raining…?”

Starla excused herself from the two and joined Lightning at the computer. “Well…?” she asked. “There’s no doubt about it. He’s aged hundreds, maybe thousands of years.”

Starla gazed back at Spike, “I knew dragons aged differently, but this can’t be anything natural. Something must’ve happened to him.”

“That’s exactly what I intend to find out.” said Lightning, but he soon found Spike was found to be far too feeble and incoherent in his condition to be of any help.

“Spike, what… happened… to you?” Lightning asked for the umpteenth time, but poor Spike responded “Eh…? How do you do…? How do you do what?”

“Ugh! It’s no use.” Lightning said “We’re not going to get much from him.”

Starla agreed, and both she and Lightning looked very worried, and Rarity felt the same-- fearing that if something wasn’t done quickly, then Spike would probably die of old age. “Oh, Spike…!” cried Rarity “If anything happens to you, I don’t know what I’ll do.”

“You’ll throw into the blue?” Spike asked, misinterpreting what she said again.

Suddenly, there was a loud knock at the door. Lightning answered it, and saw many pony couples standing together all begging him for help, and he could see why. Several of the ponies were all in the same condition Spike was, even little children; all looked so old and frail.

“Quiet… QUIET, PLEASE!!” Lightning shouted. Then he spoke calmly, “Please… tell me what happened?”

It turned out that each and every pony had the same story to tell...

“This stranger just came out of nowhere…”

“She pointed this strange gun at us…”

“My husband/wife/son/daughter got hit and…!”

Lightning thought this was starting to sound like something he had read about before. He ran inside, grabbed a book of many villains from Starfleet’s past and found a page he was looking for. He showed the citizens the page and asked, “This stranger, did she look like this?”

The ciztens looked at the picture of the stranger, but old and frail.

“Yes, that’s her…”

“Only, she looked much younger when we saw her.”

Lightning had heard enough, and told everyone to quickly return to their homes, declaring an emergency red-alert in all of New-Ponyville. He even sounded the alarm to alert everyone else in the entire town to get to their homes quickly.

Lightning then explained to Starla and Rarity what was going on; about the stranger. “Her name is Affra, and she was imprisoned over eight-hundred years ago.”

“Eight-hundred?!” cried Rarity “She must be an extremely long-lived creature.”

“Not really…” said Lightning, and he showed the girls a page of Affra when she was younger, and very beautiful. “In her youth, Affra was a very charming creature, but only on the outside. She was as mad as you can possibly be, and rather shallow. Her biggest fear was growing old and losing her stunning beauty. So she struggled to find the secrets of eternal youth, which lead to the creation of her weapon; The Youthinizer… one blast from it and it steals the youthfulness from whomever it hits which she then transfers to herself, leaving her victims withered and frail.”

The girls felt so repulsed and angered. “That is just… sick!” snarled Starla.

“So, she did this to my Spikey Wikey…?!” Rarity said “Please tell me there’s a way to reverse this…?”

“There is…” said Lightning “When Affra was captured; her youthinzer was confiscated and used in reverse to return stolen youth to the most recent victims. Unfortunately, the many she had stolen youth from in the past had already passed away as a result of her actions. So, she merely kept the youth and rode it out while imprisoned all those centuries. It was hoped she would get over this fear of aging. Obviously… she hasn’t.”

Now the girls were worried, “So if we don’t get that weapon back and restore Spike’s youth…” said Starla…

“He’ll… die!” cried Rarity, and she felt like fainting again.

“Apple Pie?” asked Spike “I’m afraid my teeth don’t do sweets so well.”

Rarity volunteered to stay and look after him, while Lightning and Starla decided to track down Affra, and from the looks of Spike’s condition, he wouldn’t have too long to live as well as all the other ponies that got zapped.

“Let’s go!” shouted Lightning, and he and Starla dashed out the door and flew off, leaving Rarity on her own to gaze grimly down at Spike. “Spike, please, you must be strong. I cannot bear the thought of losing you.”

“Blue suede shoe?” said Spike “Oh, didn’t know you liked rock music.”

Rarity shook her head in dismay.

“Makes me remember the time I was afraid of my wife growing old and leaving me without her. I was so scared, why I just clung to her like a piece of lint to a sweater.”

Hearing this, Rarity finally realized what was bothering Spike, and now finally realizing the horrible facts, she herself now felt more disturbed than ever.

Lightning and Starla, transformed, soared over New Ponyville and used their visors to scout around for alien readings. “Affra’s got to be around here somewhere.” said Lightning.

Starla’s visor began to detect abnormal activity. “I’ve got a lock!”

The two flew away to the edge of town and could see powerful rays, obviously the youthinizer, shooting about. “Be careful…” Lightning cautioned “Whatever happens, don’t let those rays hit you.”

His wife nodded.

Though most of the ponies had evacuated safely indoors when the alarms sounded, several hadn’t made in time before the barriers rose. The Starfleet field officers attempted to escort them to a safe distance away from the danger area, but Affra saw this as a chance to steal more youth.

As beautiful as she seemed in her youthful looks, she was very frightening after everyone had seen what she did to two ponies-- zapping them and turning them old.

Now she was stepping towards a gaggle of ponies and officers intending to blast them as well. “It’ll be less painful if you hold still.” she hissed “At least your youth will be going to a better cause in keeping me beautiful.”

The field officers stood bravely in front to protect the civilians, but they had no idea how to fight her if they got zapped by the youthinizer. They were just field officers anyway, they weren’t used to fighting monsters like Lightning and others were.

“Now, who’s first?” asked Affra.

“You are!” shouted Lightning as he and Starla dropped in. Lightning motioned for the field officers to get the civilians and victims to a safer place while he and Starla dealt with Affra.

“End of the line for you, you old bag!” sneered Starla. Affra felt most offended, “How dare you!” she growled “I may have lived over eight centuries, but I would not consider myself old! Especially since I have this!” she held up the youthinizer “With this, I shall preserve my youth and my glamorous beauty for ages to come!”

She then fluttered her eyes, flicked her long hair; acting like she was in some fashion show. “Just look at me…” she said particularly at Lightning “Don’t you just melt at the sight of me?”

Lightning, unmoved by her shallowness let her have it straight forward, “Actually, you make me sick!”

Affra gasped in horror.

“The fact that you steal other creatures’ youth and leaving them to die only makes you even worse!” snarled Lightning.

“ACK!!” cried Affra “This can’t be! When I was only a-hundred year old, men swooned at the very sight of me!”

Lightning and Starla both felt awkward seeing her act like this. “She’s even worse than when Rarity has her tantrums.” said Starla.

Affra’s features hardened into sheer fury, “Well then, I guess I’ll have to show you better respect!” and she armed the gun and fired, but the ponies jumped out of the way.

“We’ve got to get the youthinizer away from her!” Lightning hollered to Starla, and she called to him “Leave that to me!” and she got out her bow and aimed at Affra’s arm, “STARLIGHT ARROW!”

The arrowed soared right at her, but Affra smirked and simply let it hit her, much to the ponies’ shock. “Are you surprised?” Affra teased “I always feared of things that would potentially damage my beautiful skin. So I strengthened myself to take the hits, even all those ages I spent locked up in my cell, I still continued to charge up my physical strength, which all withered away as I grew older, but now that I have my youth back, I’m as strong as I am beautiful!”

After pocketing her gun within her robe, she leapt up high so swiftly and punched Lightning hard in the face, and sent him crashing into Starla. The two fell towards the ground but landed on their feet.

“Let’s get her!” shouted Lightning, and he and Starla rushed into combat, two against one. Throwing their punches and kicks furiously, but Affra was a lot swifter than they thought with all that youth in her as she dodged their attacks, and gave one flick of her long hair actually batting them both across the ground.

Affra laughed at the two and remarked “What’s wrong, getting old?”

“Okay, I’m really starting to lose it here!” Starla growled, and she thought of trying her finisher move, but Lightning cautioned her, “No, don’t! You might damage the youthinizer! Then we’ll never be able to save Spike.”

“Oh…!” groaned Starla.

Affra found this amusing, “Well, aren’t you in a tough spot… but I’m not!” and she lunged forth, and the two ponies dodged again, but that’s when Affra pulled a fast one, and got out her gun and pointed it straight at Lightning.

“Lightning, Look out!” screamed Starla, but the blast already fired and was heading straight for him, but just as it seemed it was going to hit him…

“…BOOM-BOOM FIREBALLS!!”

A barrage of fireballs came in and intercepted the rays, allowing the Spanish Twins to come in and get Lightning out of harm’s way. “Mind if we drop in?” they asked together

“Good timing, guys.” said Lightning.

Starla was ever so relieved, but Affra was annoyed. “You got lucky there, but you youngins are only prolonging the inevitable.”

“Yeah, kinda like how you are!” scoffed Starla.

Affra growled, and the four ponies glared her down. “We can’t get at her… not like this.” Lightning said “As long as she’s got the youthinzier we can’t even try a huge attack.”

“Unless…” Starla said softly “…Unless there’s a way we can get her to zap her own self with it.”

“Leave that to us.” said Dyno.

“Si, we got an idea.” added Myte, as he patted at his pocket and his brother patted at his own pocket.

“It’s been fun, but I’m not getting any younger here!” Affra sneered, and she lunged forth to attack them again, and the ponies all scattered. Lightning went for the gun, but Affra bashed away. Then Starla tried for it, and got kicked hard, Dyno tried, and got thrown hard into Myte… the twins were down.

“Well now…” said Affra “Since you’re both down I may as well hit you two first.”

She approached the twins and pointed her gun at them, “Say goodbye…”

But right at the last second, the twins pulled out two large diamonds from their pockets--which they had dug up earlier that day and kept in their pockets when the alarms sounded-- and tossed them in the way of the blast. The rays hit the diamonds and got reflected right back at Affra… she screamed as the shot hit her, stripping her of all the youth she had stolen and reverting to her natural elderly state.

The gun went soaring in the air when she threw after getting hit, but Starla leapt up high and caught it. “I got it!”

“Good job, honey!” said Lightning.

Affra was horrified as she gazed down at her pale hands, and felt her dried and withering skin. “No! Not again! I logned to be so beautiful” she groaned “…I’m getting too old for this!” and suddenly, she just collapsed.

Lightning walked over and scanned her with his visor, “…She’s dead; natural causes.”

Everyone fell silent and somewhat horrified, but it there wasn’t really anything they could do. “Pitiful creature…” Starla said softly “I really sorry for her. She just couldn’t accept the natural; things in life.”

Lightning stood tall and saluted, then Starla saluted, and so did the twins.

They turned over Affra’s body the hospital morgue, and the officials would take care of things and give her a proper burial.

Meanwhile, with the youthinizer in hand, the team used it to restore all the stolen youth to all the victims. Soon, all the ponies were back to their proper age and strength.

Finally, Spike’s youth was saved for last since he had a lot of youth to be returned to him. Centuries of precious dragon youth!

Spike softly began to awaken, and he felt a little groggy, “What… what happened?” he groaned.

“Spike, are you alright?” cried Rarity.

“Yeah, I think so. Oh, wait… I remember what happened… I got attacked, and I felt like I was hundreds of years old, and I couldn’t hear well.”

Rarity practically jumped on him, throwing her arms round his neck and wept, “Oh, Spike… I was so worried; I thought you wouldn’t make it!”

“Rarity…” Spike peeped, and then he held his wife tightly. The others all thought it so beautiful…

“Spike, I know now…” Rarity said “I know why you’ve been so clingy to me.”

“Clingy…?” Spike asked, but then he suddenly remembered his nightmare and his attitude, “Oh… that…!”

He finally came clean to the others of his issues of his and Rarity’s lifespans. “Oh, my…!” said Lightning, “When you guys got hitched, in all the excitement, we never once thought of that.”

They knew just as well that dragons had a much longer life span than ponies did, so while Rarity could live with Spike for the rest of her life… that would leave Spike with centuries ahead of him.

…All that assuming they didn’t get killed in action while in the service.

Now that Rarity understood Spike’s worry, it made her feel just as uncomfortable as he did.

“What about the youthinizer…?” suggested Rarity “I could use it to keep young and well and… Oh, what am I saying? That’s more than out of the question.”

The others agreed. “The youthininzer’s already been destroyed anyway.” said Dyno, and Myte added “Starfleet code says, any weapon as dangerous as that must be destroyed at once. If anyone else got hold of it and abused it…!”

He didn’t have to say much more, Rarity and Spike agreed it was for the best, not to mention stealing other people’s youth was just plain wrong! Still, it didn’t solve their dilemma, and even the others had no idea how to tackle this situation.

That night, Spike and Rarity were at home and in bed, but they were both wide awake, still worrying about their problem. “I’m sorry for the way I acted, Rarity.”

“I know why you did, and believe me, Spike, I almost feel the same way.”

“I guess… we don’t really need to worry about it right now.” Rarity said “I mean… we do have lots and lots of time, before…well… you get the idea.”

“Whatever happens… one thing won’t change, Rarity.” Spike said to her, and then he turned and gazed deeply into her eyes “…I’ll always love you, and no one else can take that.”

Rarity smiled lovingly at him, and they turned out the lights, slipped under the covers and…

…It was a pretty unforgettable night.

(Promo)

In our next episode: As the case on Pony Mykan Stevens continues, Buddy Rose is still stressed out by what happened to DD that he begins to lose focus on his lifestyle. So Tree Hugger decides to help him find inner peace, or is this just another attempt for her to get closer to him?

Don’t miss the next exciting episode of “Starfleet Magic!”

(Next Episode: “The Buds and the Trees”)

Author's Note

Author's Potential Idea:

The only logical idea I can seem to make for Rarity is she has an accident, and her body is all broken up, and to save her life parts of DRAGON are put in her, so she's a HALF Pony HALF Dragon (I call it... a DRAGONY) But, it would physically destroy Rarity's character, and she wouldn't take it too well (At first)

Episode 15: The Buds and the Trees

EPISODE FOURTEEN

Poor DD… it had been several days since she was poisoned by the mystery lunch bag, and she had spent nearly all that time in bed, except to get up and go to the bathroom, or when she wanted just a small sniff of fresh air from bedroom window.

She missed being outside, going to school, playing with her friends. She even missed doing her chores in the garden and the farm.

Worst of all, she had rested so much, that it became hard sometimes to stay asleep and she was getting really bored.

There was a knock at her door, “Come in…”

Buddy Rose came in with a tray of food for her lunch. “DD, what are you doing up?”

She just gave him a straight look, “How much longer do I have to be like this? I feel fine.”

“You may think you feel fine, but you remember what Dr. Penny said; you still need another couple of days rest. You don’t seem to realize what bad shape you’re in.”

DD sighed irritably, but sat back on her bed to take her lunch. “I’ve read all my books. I’ve done all my homework assignments. I’ve even drawn and colored so much that all my crayons are numbed down to the tips.”

Buddy Rose patted her softly, “But at least you’re getting well, and that’s important.”

DD smiled at him, liking how he was showing how much he cared for her.

He smiled down at her, “Hey, I have to go. I have training today. Try to get some rest, I’ll check on you when I get back.”

“I’ll try.”

He pecked her softly on her head before leaving her on her own.

As he shut her door, he still felt that lingering worry about her. He hadn’t quite felt the same ever since the day she was poisoned or had her operation.

…This was heavily hinted during training that day.

Normally, while running through a simple obstacle course was a piece of cake, he tripped over a hurdle, didn’t jump far enough over a chasm, and badly missed his old record by a longshot.

When it came to target practice, he missed ten shots out of a-hundred, when he normal didn’t miss a single target.

Then it came to sparring. Rhymey was paired with Fluttershy, Lightning brawled with Starla, and Buddy was paired with Applejack.

Lightning usually held back on his speed and strength to give Starla a chance, but his wife insisted he come at her full-force! She was determined to land at least one good hit on him, without being given any handicaps, as way of improving her own strength and speed, and while it did help there, she still wasn’t able to land a single hit as Lightning was able to dodge and block her every attack.

Finally, he caught her hands and stepped on her feet so she couldn’t move. She tried to blast him with her horn, but he ducked his head down and thrust straight at her gut, stopping at the last few centimetres!

“Got’cha!” he said “You’d have been sent clear across the land right here.”

Starla panted heavily and fell into his arms feeling a little bushed; Lightning actually thought she looked kind of hot, and he leaned down and kissed her deeply… though usually it was no time or place to be affectionate.

Fluttershy and Rhymey were brushing up on their swordsmanship; her Valkyrie sword against his Ward Sword, or rather just props of them as it would be too dangerous to use the real ones.

Their blades clashed and parried, Fluttershy was doing wonderfully.

“I am impressed, Fluttershy.
You’re becoming quite slick and sly.” Rhymey said to her.

“That’s nothing, watch this…” Fluttershy said, and she skillfully switched from her left hand to her right, as she was right-handed and fenced better; a skill she had learned from Rhymey.

Her husband was impressed and they kept on dueling, in the end, Fluttershy knocked Rhymey sword out of his hand… almost too easily as she noticed. “You let me with that one, didn’t you?” she asked, and gave him a soft stare.

Feeling akward, Rhymey rubbed the back of his head and sighed…

“I must confess…
The answer is yes.”
I thought if I held back for you,
Maybe let you win a round or two…”

She only glared at him and sneered “I don’t really like it when people do this to me…” but then she softened and rubbed her cheek against his cooing “But I love it when you’re honest with me.”

Rhymey smiled softly, but the moment was interrupted by the sound of a loud crash. The others all looked and saw something the almost refused to believe!

“Did Applejack just flip Buddy Rose?” Starla asked in shock!

Buddy Rose was flat on his back, and Applejack didn’t seem enthusiastic, “Yeah, I flipped him, for the third time… Cuz his head ain’t in the game, again!”

The others all knew this was not a good thing. They were well aware what was worrying him.

“Buddy, we know you’re worried about DD.” said Lightning.

“Does it really show?” Buddy asked.

“Um, Eeyup…” said Applejack “Why just the other day… y’all should’ve seen him.”

She told everyone how Buddy tried to do his simple chores round the farm the other day. While plowing the fields with his bare hands--going through the ground faster than the plows did-- he went a little too far and made a trail straight through the barn and the henhouse. Then he overwatered his own garden, tried to milk the hens, and fed pigswill to the cows.

Buddy held his head in shame, “I am so embarrassed!” he groaned “I’m a Lieutenant Colonel, and I’m letting one little problem eat me alive.”

Fluttershy comforted him, “You may be a Colonel, but you’re also a guardian and caregiver.”

“She’s right…” added Lightning “It’s natural and understandable that you’d be worried about DD this way. I know this, Grand Ruler used to worry about me a lot, despite his confidence in me.”

“My dad was the same.” said Starla “I mean, he was pushy and overbearing, but I can’t ignore he was concerned.”

“I have lots of animals that I take care of and worry about.” said Fluttershy.

Rhyme nodded and added,

“Being the youngest in a family big as mine,
Mother always worried if I would be fine.”

Buddy thought it touching that they all understood a little, and even applejack was a little more sympathetic with him, and reflected the time she went over the top when it came to Applebloom’s safety…

“…I guess I did go a tad too far.”

The others gave her a weird look. “Well, I won’t be doing that… for sure.” said Buddy “I have to get back and check on DD. Penny kept telling me to keep her updated on her condition.”

He wasn’t making an excuse, Applejack vouched for him, but she and the others were still concerned about him. “He just ain’t gonna calm down, is he?” said Applejack. The others concurred.

“He’s still desperate to find who poisoned DD and make them pay.” said Starla, “But we haven’t gotten any closer. All we know is, it wasn’t Mykan Stevens… the pony of course.

She and Lightning explained that they and their teams had analysed the confiscated bag of poisoned foods. Mykan’s fingerprints were on the bag, as well as Applejack’s and DD’s only because they handled the bag too.

“Mykan couldn’t be the one who poisoned the food…” said Lightning “His fingerprints weren’t found on anything found in the bag. Which suggests only one thing: That poison food, wherever it came from, was intended for him.”

The others cringe in concern.

“Someone must be after the guy.
But who are they, and why?” said Rhymey.

“Unfortunately, we don’t know that.” said Starla “whoever did this covered their tracks well. We can’t find any fingerprints, traceable sources, or anything to give us a lead.”

The others sighed, “Well, I guess we’re back to square one with that again, but what can we do about B.R. I don’t want him getting’ any worse.”

“I think I have an idea how to get him to relax a bit.” said Fluttershy. The others all wondered curiously what she had in mind.

Meanwhile, Buddy had already checked on DD the second he got home, and she was sleeping peacefully… or so he saw, DD was just laying down wide awake with her back turned to him, unable to get much rest from oversleeping, but she didn’t want Buddy to go crazy with worry again.

Without much else to do, Buddy Rose went back to his gardening, trying to keep himself together, and he ended up digging a deep hole instead a small one for his new plants.

He sighed softly, “I am falling apart.”

He looked up at DD’s bedroom, and again he was agitated as to why he was so worried about her--the thought of losing his only living relative, and how it reminded him of the death of his family-- and he began to sing about it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time\_continue=113&v=j82PHVI1TC8

What did I ever do to have things come to this?
Losing all of people I love and whom I miss
Now that it’s just you and me, you’re my only family
I couldn’t bear it if I lost you too.

When you’re with me by my side,
I feel cool and calm inside
But it pains me when you’re ill
I don’t think I’d have the will,
If anything really bad happened to you

He remembered the day he found out his aunt and uncle died, and how he took DD into his home, promising to raise her like his own, as well as all the great times they had, and he wanted to make sure they would have many more great times to come.

I will not let any bad guys, sickness, or some cruel twist of fate
Take you away from me and wreck family state
Cuz, I couldn’t bear if I lost you too.

…Not if anything real bad happened to you.

The song ended, and Fluttershy and Rhymey came alone “Hi, Buddy Rose…” said Fluttershy

“Hi guy…” said Rhymey.

He looked up, “Hey, you two.” but then he saw Tree Hugger was with them. “Oh, no…!” he peeped.

She fluttered her eyes at him, “Like hey, these guys tells me your charisma is all out of sync, and your harmonic vibes are totally going flat.”

Buddy raised an eyebrow; he didn’t understand until Fluttershy answered “We told her you were upset and worried over DD, and she’s come to help you.”

Tree Hugger nodded and held out her arms soaking in the sunlight and soft breeze, “When I’m through with you, you’ll be as cool and calm as a magic manifestation.”

Buddy wasn’t sure what to make of it, and felt his doubts. Maybe she was just trying to swoop in and woo him into marrying her again!

Rhymey said…

“She really wants to help you unwind.
It will help give you some peace at mind.”

Buddy knew he couldn’t refuse any offers to calm down, and seeing the earnest intentions of his friends and Tree Hugger, “Okay, I’ll try.”

“…Righteous.” said Tree, and she and the others walked past him, and her long threads passed by his face in the breeze. They, or rather she, smelled so nice to him like soft dew in a rain forest on a warm dawn before the day; a smell he really liked.

He was starting to feel that little spark in him glowing again… actually starting to feel for her!

Soon, the three friends were sitting in a quiet area under a big oak tree in the fields. Each of them sitting on Yoga mats, with their legs crossed, and Tree Hugger brought her boom-box to play beautiful music, from one of her own tracks, for the session.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time\_continue=102&v=KevbhpCWXSQ

As they all relaxed, Tree Hugger coached them along in a soft and soothing voice…

“Okay, imagine dipping your feet into a shallow hot-spring. Now, take it in…” she breathed in softly along with the other, “…and just let it go right and slow.”

They all breathed out.

“Now, imagine tiny little holes in your feet, and the warm soothing water is soaking into your body.

“Now imagine your entire body is covered in volcanoes, and they’re all erupting, spewing hot lava onto you.”

Normally, some people would question Tree Hugger for being a little weird, but Fluttershy and Rhymey being her good friends, and Buddy Rose knowing her reputation just did as they were told.

Suddenly, Buddy felt very light as if someone had rubbed his back out with an eraser, and he felt like he was floating like a balloon on a sea of warm air. He floated past ponies rowing in a stream, griffons nesting on a hilltop, even dragons smoking hookahs and blowing peace signs in the smoke.

He found it all so unusually relaxing and peaceful he couldn’t even speak or think to himself… until what came next; the sun rose over the horizon of a field of flowers, and rising with the sun was Tree Hugger… and what a sight she was! Her mane fluttered in the wind as flower petals blew softly past her in streams on the breeze, and she stretched out her arms letting little birdies land on her.

Try as he did, Buddy just couldn’t seem to look past her, especially when she gazed right at him, fluttering her eyes… making his heart melt even more than it already had, thought he was shocked at this feeling as well.

“Is this really happening to me?” he thought silently “Am I really falling for her?”

He closed his eyes, and saw brightness rather than the usual blackness.

Suddenly, he could hear someone calling his name in the distance.

“Buddy Rose…? Buddy Rose…?”

It was Fluttershy, softly patting his face. That’s when Buddy woke up to realize he was lying flat on his back, and that it was almost dark too. “Wha… what happened?” he asked. He tried to get up, but he felt so heavy like he had rocks inside his body.

Both girls helped him upright, “I think maybe you like chilled a skosh too much.” said Tree Hugger.

“Well, I… do feel a bit lighter.” Buddy said, only to fall flat on his back again. “Um… mind helping me up again?”

The friends helped him up again, and Rhymey asked…

“Do you feel okay?
Not bad in anyway?”

“I guess so. I don’t feel as worried as I did before.” Then suddenly remembered DD, “Oh… I have to get her dinner ready.” and he quickly rushed for his house leaving the friends under the tree.

“Well, at least he’s not twitching.” said Tree Hugger. She kept watching him run off in the distance, and blushed softly as she sank into one of her heavenly dazes again.

Fluttershy and Rhymey felt sorry for Tree Hugger, not that they were going to pressure Buddy Rose into anything, but she did want her friend to be happy.

The friends decided to pack up and would escort Tree Hugger home.

Meanwhile, DD was tossing and turning in bed apart from having missed her dinner she was just too restless from all the excessive sleeping. “Ugh! It’s no good, I can’t sleep.” she said to herself, and her stomach gave a small growl. “I guess I better get some food. I’m sure it’ll be okay.”

She hopped out of bed, and passed by her bedroom window on her way to the door. Suddenly, she stopped and went back to the window when she spotted something happening across the way over at Applejack’s place…!

She saw Pony Mykan Stevens sneaking towards the garbage cans again!

She frantically raced downstairs and called out for Buddy Rose.

“DD… What are you doing out of bed again?”

“It’s Mykan…” DD panted “He’s… at Applejack’s!”

“What?!” snapped Buddy Rose, and he looked out the window himself and could see the pony going through the garbage.

Realizing this was another chance for him to try and talk to the troubled pony and maybe get more clues for the case, he quickly shut off the stove and dropped all his utensils before leaping straight out of the window, and dashing across the fields, passing Fluttershy, Rhymey and Tree Hugger!

“Like, what was that?” asked Tree Hugger.

Fluttershy had that sick feeling in her stomach something dreadful was about to happen.

Mykan was scrounging through the garbage for more food, when suddenly he could hear Buddy Rose calling to him, “Mykan!”

Mykan saw him coming and began to flee, but of course with his superior speed, Buddy Rose cornered him. “Hold it!” he shouted at him.

Mykan, already more than fed up enough with the authorities trying to get at him this much, came more than prepared this time, and smiled at Buddy Rose and suddenly keeled over.

“What?” Buddy looked at the fallen body and found the enchanted block of wood inside, “A puppet double!”

While he was distracted from the trick, the real Mykan had emerged from hiding and already loaded a bag full of discarded food from the garbage, and jumped and fled through his secret warp portal on the doors to the cellar... which the others saw!

Rhymey and Fluttershy looked at one another and nodded, planning to head in. Then they urged Tree Hugger to lay low…

“You stay here,
Things’ll get strange I fear.” said Rhymey.

Fluttershy stood bravely proclaiming “This is official Starfleet business.”

Buddy rose came back just in time to see his friends disappear into the portal. “Hey…! Guys wait up!” and he dashed right in through the portal with them. While Tree Hugger watched… and while it was tempting to follow them in, she knew she wasn’t supposed to interfere with Starfleet business.

…that and she realized another thing she could do to help.

Meanwhile, the others found themselves inside the mansion atop the Haunted Mountain in New White Tail Village.

This was their first time ever being there, and the first sight of the place made Fluttershy start to quiver-- it was dark, creepy, the mountain winds howled outside making the shutters bang against the windows-- “Maybe… this wasn’t such a good idea.” she whimpered.

Rhymey held his wife’s hand to comfort her, and he and Buddy Rose made their horns glow to cast a little light into the place. Now they had to find Mykan.

“Would you look at this place?” Buddy Rose said contemplating the messes all over “I knew Applejack told me it was like this, but I had no idea it was this serious.”

Rhymey stepped on a half-eaten sandwich and gagged…

“Garbage, webs and dust, a half full soda cup…
It would take a long time to clean all this up.”

Fluttershy was less disgusted by the messes and more concerned about the entire state of the house altogether. “This is so awful, and he’s lived like this all these years…?”

As the friends trekked about, they suddenly came into the den where there was a fire in the fire place, and near the fireplace were chemical items and special props and things used as special effects for theatre shows… or rather the only design there was that of the flaming monster seen and described by witnesses who were frightened away from the mountain.

“So this is how it’s done…” Buddy said as he examined the evidence “All this stuff mixed together and goes in the fireplace, then up and out through chimney where the flare monster is shown, but the barrier around the mansion keeps it from getting out any further and causing damage or harm.”

The others were amazed.

“All these tricks and traps, there can be no doubt
He’s gone to incredible lengths to keep others out.” said Rhymey.

“Yes…!” Mykan sneered as he stomped in behind them. The others turned to face him, Fluttershy trembled in fear at the sight of the dishevelled pony as he growled “…people like you for one! I warn you, I frighten you, and still you can’t take a hint and just leave me be!”

Buddy Rose stepped forth and said very firmly, “We do it because we want to help you!”

“Ha!” sneered Mykan “And I told you before… I DON’T WANT YOUR HELP!!” His angry shout seemed to shake the whole house “No one helped me before when I needed it… not even Celestia!”

“What do you mean?” asked Fluttershy “Celestia would’ve helped you. She always helped everyone as best she could.”

“LIES!!” shouted Mykan “She could have helped me, but she didn’t… and now it’s way too late. Nothing she, her husband, or anyone or any of you can do!”

He was sinking in his deep state of depression once again, almost as if he were about to breaking out crying hysterically, or storm off on a vile wrecking rampage.

He did neither, fortunately. Instead, his features hardened again, “Then again, I learned the only person you can truly look out for is yourself.”

“That’s a horrible thing to say,
How can you live thinking that way?!” snapped Rhymey.

Mykan looked as if he was going to blow like a volcano. He had reached such a critical point in his psychosis that he hardly could hold back and began to tell his story.

“My father was a scientist, he did all these wonderful experiments, but he died when I was only three in a terrible lab explosion. My mother and I were just heart broken, but my father left us in his will and gave us the deed to his fabulous estate… the very mansion in which we stand now.”

The others ponies were amazed to hear and realize this.

“My mother never loved another man, but as saddened as she was she did her best to be brave and raise me. To keep us both going, and in memory of my father, she focussed all her attention in her fashion profession, eventually rising to the fame she had.

I was her little assistant, and I enjoyed helping her make new clothes, managing our many boutiques. My mother even took time to show me how to make magical spells and incantations, so even though I was an Earth Pony, I would always have a little magic by my side.

Then, that awful duchess came to us, and demanded my mother design the gown for the Grand Galloping Gala. I watched my mother work hard non-stop, day and night. I helped with little assistance I could give, and my mother was grateful.

But then… she came back! The duchess, demanding her dress and only paid half of her promised price and just ran off, and that was a night my life was about to change for the worst!”

Mykan stopped and clenched his fists angrily. His whole body was shaking with complete outrage and fury. “That duchess! My mother constantly tried to warn her, the dress wasn’t finished yet and still needed more stitching done, but she just didn’t listen! She just snorted and left, wore that gown to the gala and it fell apart!

The duchess was so outraged that she had my mother arrested on those false charges! My mother tried to plead, but she couldn’t prove her innocence. So she was sentenced to jail.

I was the only one who could prove my mother’s innocence, but the impossible authorities wouldn’t listen to me. I was just a little pony. They thought I was crazy! It was then I know only Princess Celestia would be willing to help, known for her reputation to understand and help those who came to her. So I wrote her a letter to help appeal to my mother’s case…!

…But I never got a response!”

The other ponies were shocked to hear that as they exclaimed “…SHE DIDN’T ANSWER YOU?!”

“That can’t be true…” rhymed Rhymey. “Celestia always checked every single letter she ever got.” added Fluttershy “I’m sure she would have responded.”

“Well she didn’t!” snapped Mykan “I sent several letters to her, again, and again, and not once did I hear from her royal highness!”

His sadness began to show again, “Then I heard… my mother was beaten to death in a prison riot!

…She could have been saved… IF ONLY SOMEONE HAD BOTHERED TO LISTEN AND HELP ME…!!!”

The house rattled again, and small bits of dust fell from the ceiling.

Fluttershy was speechless, and did not believe this for a second, neither did the boys. Though they hadn’t known Celestia as long as Fluttershy had, but they had grown to love and respect her just as much as their queen and as a friend, and they knew she would never ignore something of such extreme importance!

Mykan then continued saying, “After my mother was pronounced dead, they tried to put me up in a foster home, but I fled, and it was a good thing I had… brokers and estate agents were working hard to buy and sell the mansion where I lived with my mother… the very one my father had left us… the one memory and keepsake I had left of them both!

I would allow no one else to take it from me, so using the magic my mother had taught me, I relocated the mansion all around and used this tricks to scare people away, and slinking around at night savaging for whatever I could find! I especially enjoy returning to the farm as it throws out more scraps of food than most places I go!

Even when Equestria was destroyed in The Great War, and United Equestria was formed, the mansion was safely returned, so I relocated to this mountain where I could be alone, and no one could disturb me so long as I continued to frighten them away!

I no longer trusted anyone, and I don’t wish to ever again!”

His last sentence was aimed heavily at the others, and they were totally speechless, having never heard a tale so tragic and yet so confusing as well-- the part where Celestia did not acknowledge his pleas!

“You poor thing…” Fluttershy said trying to approach him to comfort him, but Mykan inched away as if she were some monster!

“Mykan, please…” said Buddy “Don’t do this to yourself.”

Mykan continued to back away from them all, still not willing to open up to them and their offers to help, and while they couldn’t see, he reached behind him, and grabbed a small flask of powder off the table behind him, and in a quick swift, he threw the flask at them…

POOF!! A huge cloud of smoke!

The friends couldn’t see, and they were coughing and wheezing as the smoke cleared, and that’s when they realized… “Hey, we’re back on the farm.” said Buddy Rose. “That powder he threw must’ve transported us here.” added Fluttershy.

Rhymey inspected the cellar doors, but all he could feel was the hard wood.

“Sorry to say,
The portal’s gone away.”

The friends didn’t feel quite so bad about it. After all, from what they had just heard from Mykan they now understood things stronger than ever, but unfortunately they were still unable to help the poor pony, and now they could perfectly see why he would rebuke them!

Fluttershy, despite being subjected to Mykan’s attitude felt really sorry and badly for him. “I wish there was some way we could try and make him see we just want to help him.”

Still, she knew this wasn’t over with, because now they all had new things to consider; like why Celestia had ignored a desperate plea for help, even if it was years back.

The friends agreed to look into this more much later.

Suddenly, Buddy Rose remembered “DD! I still haven’t made dinner for her yet!”

Before the others could say a thing, he had dashed straight for his house across the way.

Fluttershy and Rhymey then noticed Tree Hugger was gone, along with all her things as well, and thinking she he had probably gone home, the couple raced to Buddy’s house to see if things were okay, but when they got to the house… they found Buddy Rose standing gawking at something, and they saw…

…DD was sitting at the dining room table eating a bowl of noodle soup with herbs, a small tuna-fish sandwich with cheese and garlic powder sided with carrot sticks, and for desert she had a little cup of homemade banana-pudding with chocolate sauce.

“DD, how did you do all this?” Buddy asked.

“I didn’t make this…” replied DD and she pointed through the kitchen door. The friends looked inside and saw Tree Hugger, wearing an apron and cooking over the hot stove. She turned and said, “Whoa… time to chow down.”

She had prepared a wonderful supper for everyone, soup, salad, sandwiches and vegetable entrées… it really was a beautiful sight.

Rhymey and Fluttershy encouraged Buddy Rose to try the food, “Tree Hugger really is a great cook.” Fluttershy said.

“The food she makes is so delightful,
You’ll want to take in every single bite-full.” added Rhymey.

Buddy Rose gazed down at his food, and took just one spoonful of his soup, and it was as if sensational warmth had sped all through his body, “This is… incredible!” he cried, and he began to take in much of the wonderful feast.

“Glad you like it.” Tree Hugger said, giving him a flirtatious glare, which made him feel a little nervous. “Um… so, I want to thank you for helping with DD.”

“No probs… I totally can dig kids. They’re like as easy as a soft cool aura that irons out the depths of the persona. I feel them and they feel me.”

DD smiled at her thankfully, even though she almost had no idea of what she said at all but assumed it was a compliment towards her.

“By the way…” she said “Ms. Tree Hugger also cleaned up the house a little.”

“She did?” asked Buddy, and when he turned to look behind him, he saw the house was practically shimmering. The floor boards were so polished he could see his reflection in them, and the soothing fresh smell like warm steam, “I’ve never seen the place so spotless.” he exclaimed “DD and I can barely keep the whole place clean ourselves.”

“It’s true… we can’t.” said DD “Kind of what happens when you live and work on a farm. It’s very hard to keep the place shining.”

Even Fluttershy and Rhymey were amazed. Neither one of them had seen this side of Tree Hugger before. “You really didn’t have to do all this.” Buddy said. “Hey, it was the least I could do.”

But Buddy Rose sensed an ulterior motive, and it was a plain one for all the others to guess, except for DD. “What’s going on?” she thought to herself “Ms. Tree Hugger keeps gazing back at Buddy and he acts… hey! Wait a minute. I think I see what this is now.”

After dinner, Buddy Rose sent DD back up to bed, despite her protests, but she couldn’t argue and left the adults to clear the table.

Tree Hugger insisted on doing the work herself and even offered to do the dishes as well, but Buddy Rose insisted that’s he had already done more than enough that day-- making him feel better, looking after DD and even cleaning his house, “I can handle the rest now. I need to start getting back on track.”

“We should get going anyway. We need to check on the animals.” said Fluttershy. Rhymey agreed, and again the couple offered to escort Tree Hugger home.

Tree Hugger complied and decided to go as well, as she did have other things to do. She took one last moment to turn back and lovingly wink at Buddy, “See ya.”

Buddy blushed and felt nervous, but he didn’t stop looking at her until she had left and the door closed. Then he took a bit to gaze around at his spotless home, the leftovers on the table from the delicious dinner, and remembered how she looked after DD after his constant forgetfulness, and he said to himself, “…She really is amazing.”

And on the way home, Rhymey and Fluttershy couldn’t help but question Tree Hugger about her attitude and her good housekeeping they had just witnessed. Tree Hugger admitted; “Ever since I knew I wanted to get married, ever since I made the commitment, I trained myself for it; cooking, cleaning, all the wifely virtues. I like totally want to be ready for my day, when I tie the knot. I’m going to make sure I can handle what comes with it.”

The couple realized she was trying to prove her worth to Buddy Rose with her skills, showing her determination and desire to marry him.

Fluttershy and Rhymey thought that was ever so brave and sweet, and they didn’t know much of what to say, but they did hope that things would work out fine… for everyone, while all Tree Hugger could do was look up at the starry night sky and see Buddy’s face, and smile in a loving daze.

(Promo)

In our next episode: Pinkie Pie gives Trixie a strange flower given to her by a stranger claiming to be a friend, but it turns out to be a poisonous trap that puts Trixie in real danger, and Pinkie feels so incredibly guilty that she vows to make things right, only for that stranger and a monster to interfere and make things more harder for her than ever.

Will Pinkie be able to right her mistake, and will Trixie recover okay?

Don’t Miss the next exciting episode of “Starfleet Magic!”

(Next Episode: “Magical Mishap!”)

Episode 15: Magical Mishap

EPISODE FIFTEEN

“Let’s go!” shouted Lightning as he and his team-- Starla, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash-- faced off against a huge skeletal-monster dressed like a gladiator escaped from the prison.

“I’ll break your bones!” snarled the creature as he charged forth holding his spear ready for the kill.

“STAR SHOWER!” Starla shouted, and she unleashed her cluster of stars at the creature. The monster just kept on running straight through the cluster of stars, as they didn’t seem to damage him much, but did slow him down…!

“Here I go!” Pinkie cried as she leapt up high right onto the spear, and sprung off of it in a backflip, kicking the monster hard in the face.

“My turn now!” said Rainbow, and she flew way up high and came crashing down hard, “SONIC RAINBOOM!”

KAPOW!! What a shot! What a colorful explosion… and what a mess too! Rainbow’s attack left the creature all smashed to pieces and his bones lay scattered all about. “Ha-Ha!” Rainbow cheered “Now who’s laughing?”

She got her answer as the head of the creature laughed wickedly, rising magically up off the ground and gathering all his bones together reforming his body. “That’d be me… punk!” he sneered.

Rainbow couldn’t believe it and backed away from the snarling skeleton-guy.

“Rainbow, move, quick...!” Lightning shouted. Rainbow looked round and saw Lightning was all powered up for a big blast, and she quickly jump way up high.

“UNIFORCE!” Lightning unleashed a small waved of his power, hitting the creature hard and sent him soaring back, back like a projectile.

“Now Krysta…!” Lightning hollered, and Krysta appeared right in the path of the creature coming straight at her, and she quickly used her powers to conjure a portal. The creature crashed right through it and was sent off to planet Conva, landing in a jail cell.

“GOAL…!!” Krysta cheered, and the others joined her in their victory. Especially Pinkie, she leapt for joy throwing confetti all over. “How many does that make, Lightning?”

“Well according to my last calculations…” Lightning said, and he paused a moment and did some counting on his fingers “That should be just a little under thirty percent of all the prisoners.”

Pinkie and Rainbow gasped, “THIRTY PERCENT?!” she exclaimed in disbelief. “You mean after all this time we’ve hardly gotten so far yet?” Rainbow asked.

“I’m afraid not, Rainbow.” replied Lightning.

Starla nodded and added that they had been receiving reports from many of the Starfleet forces for outer space, “they’ve been working hard to round up many of the criminals too, and some of the criminals have even reported to have died of old age, but that still leaves a lot of them left.”

Rainbow and Pinkie felt worse than ever, and felt it would be a very long time before all would be declared safe again.

“We know how you two feel.” said Krysta “We don’t feel any different, but we have to keep up the pace, even if it means tracking those criminals all over.”

Pinkie Pie looked way up into the sky and said “It’s a BIG galaxy though.”

The others joined her looking up at the sky and Lightning lamented “Yes, Pinkie… it is.”

Soon afterwards, Lightning and Starla had returned home to catch up on some work, such was their life being such high ranking officers! Rainbow also wanted to go and perfect her aerial moves in the field for future battles.

So Pinkie Pie decided to kick back and head into town on her own. “Now, what should I do today?” she wondered to herself “I could bake a huge cake, or go play with the children, or maybe…” she stopped when she passed by a lamppost with a poster on it saying Abra Kadabra and his assistant Trixie would be performing a magic show in town that day in under an hour.

Pinkie’s eyes glistened with delight and she bounced up and down with excitement going, “Oh, I love Abra’s magic shows. I love ‘em! I love ‘em! I love ‘em!

Hey, maybe I’ll even get to see them before the show starts.”

Just then, a seemingly elder unicorn stallion, wearing a simple brown beggar’s cloak and hold a cane came up to her and asked. “Excuse me, my dear. I could not help but overhear you are headed to Abra Kadabra’s performance.”

“That’s right.” Pinkie said “I know them both very well. We’re really good friends.”

“You are…?” asked the pony “Very interesting.”

“Oh, well, I guess it’s a talent.” Pinkie said “I’m Major Pinkie Pie, and when I’m not on duty, I’m out making so many new friends that I just can’t get enough of it.”

The pony scratched his chin, almost acting smug, and then he held out a small box to Pinkie and said “If you would, would you kindly give this to Abra and Trixie. I would give it to them myself, but I am afraid I have much to do today and cannot attend the show.”

Pinkie took the box and gave it a little shake wondering what was inside.

“Please… do not do that!” cried the pony “It is a very expensive gift for two dear friends of mine, Abra and Trixie.”

When Pinkie heard him say that he was a friend… that was all she needed to hear. “In that case, you can count on me.” she said, and she saluted with pride saying “Major Pinkie Pie… at your service… um… uh… Oh, what’s your name?”

“Oh, how rude of me… my name is Kazam: Ala Kazam.”

“Okay, I’ll give this to them right away.” said Pinkie “Nice meeting you.”

As she bounced on her way, Ala snickered softly.

In town-square, Abra’s traveling caravan was all set up, and many ponies were already gathered egear for the show to begin. Some of the male ponies were even hoping to get a glance at Trixie.

“She’s so beautiful!”

“She’s come a long way.”

Other mares were hoping to see Abra.

“He’s so handsome!”

“Does he have a mare-friend?”

“I know it’s not Trixie.”

Meanwhile, Trixie was in her dressing-van applying the last of her makeup, a little powder, a little eye-liner. “Lookin’ pretty good.” she said to herself. She used to ogle at her reflection endlessly and boats to others of how pretty she looked before any performances, which badly cut into her stage timing, but since her apprenticeship with Abra, people hardly remembered her old ways at all.

She really had come a long way since her first redemption.

Just then, there was a knock at her door. “Yes…?”

“Hi!” Pinkie called as she came in.

“Pinkie Pie…!”

“Trixie…!”

The girls shared a friendly hug. They chatted a minute catching up on old times, and Pinkie gave Trixie the gift.

Trixie opened the box, and inside was a large purple flower, a kind of rose, on a long stem. “Oh, wow! It’s so beautiful.” said Trixie as she took the flower. At the same time, Abra came in to call her ready for the show.

Trixie held out the flower, “Hey, Abra… look what Pinkie gave me…” and she proceeded to sniff it.

Abra took one glimpse of the flower and shouted, “Trixie…! No, don’t!!” but Trixie had already sniffed the flower, and immediately began to feel woozy and began to pass out. “Trixie…!” Abra cried as he caught her in his arms and the rose fell to the floor.

Pinkie felt horrified “What’s happened?” she cried as she helped Abra place Trixie flat on the sofa. Abra turned back to face the fallen rose, which he knew all too well from his studies of magic and illusions. “The Nightshade Rose!” he picked it up “They used to exist on The Dark Planet where Lord Titan was imprisoned. Pinkie Pie, where did you get this?”

Pinkie told him about Ala Kazam whom had given her the box with the flower, “He said he was an old friend of yours and it was a gift.”

Abra’s features hardened, “Ala Kazam…!” he looked as if he was in a deep angered trance “You have been most badly deceived, Pinkie Pie. Ala Kazam is no friend of mine. He is one of my fearsome rivals; my deadly enemy!”

Pinkie gasped, “But, he seemed so kind and friendly.”

“Things are not always what they seem, Pinkie.”

Pinkie felt really awful, and dumb for not obeying the basic Starfleet ways: Always beware strangers bearing gifts, and scan the item first as it could be deadly.

Abra explained the he and Ala Kazam had been rivals since United Equestria was formed and the space ponies came to live amongst the Equestrians. He was once a proud illusionist, but rather shady and seemed to care more about power and profit than the joy of entertaining and making people happy.

When Abra outranked him in the class of world-known magicians, due to his kind nature and astonishing bedazzlements, Ala lost many admirers and fans and eventually became washed up. Though Abra politely offered to help him, Ala refused and instead vowed to get even with him one day!

“This cursed rose is his way of revenge.” Abra said, throwing the rose to the ground and zapping it with his wand. Sadly, doing this did not help Trixie as she lay on the sofa in a deep sleep. “What’s happened to her?” cried Pinkie.

“One sniff of the Nightshade Rose casts a deadly curse upon its victim. Trixie is merely unconscious now, but the longer she remains under this spell, the worse it will get. She will begin to grow very ill, and eventually… she may very well perish!”

Pinkie was on the verge of tears, feeling so ashamed. “It’s all my fault!” she said tearfully “Trixie…!”

Abra had no choice but to cancel the show. He hated to disappoint the gathered crowds, who were anxious to see the show, but he simply refused to perform without Trixie, plus he wasn’t in the mood and his first priority was to help his assistant get better.

The crowds were disappointed, but many were more than understanding when they heard Trixie had fallen ill, and they all got full refunds for their tickets.

While Pinkie Pie looked after Trixie, still feeling regretful for what happened, Abra searched through his books, anything he had about the Nightshade Rose, and hoped to find a cure.

“There is a cure!” he cried out.

Pinkie zipped right at him, and bounced anxiously crying “What is it! What is it! What is it?!”

“There is a potion that can be mixed to counteract the curse of the rose.” He looked over the list of ingredients “Oh, dear. I have all but one vital part of the potion needed; the crushed petals of the Golden Sunflower.”

“The Golden Sunflower…?”

“It is a magical flower, grown only in far depths of New Everfree Forest. Its petals contain the essence similar to that of the warm light of dawn. Without this flower, I cannot complete the potion.”

Pinkie clenched her fists tight, “Then I’ll go get it!”

“What?”

“I have to. It was my fault Trixie is in danger, so I have to fix this. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

“But Pinkie, wait…!” but Abra was too late, Pinkie had already dashed out the door. “Oh, the poor thing…!”

As Pinkie soared off, she was being watched but someone from the shrubs-- Ala Kazam! “I won’t let that meddlesome pony interfere with my plan.” he sneered, and he looked behind me “…I have a new job for you! Are you ready?”

…A large hulking creature growled softly, but nodded in acknowledgement.

Pinkie flew as fast her wings could ever go, and she was at New Everfree in seconds and began to search frantically… from the air. “Wait!” she said suddenly, “I’ll never find the flowers from up here.”

So she soared back to the entrance of the forest and decided to venture in on foot add while the forest seemed just as frightful as ever, Pinkie didn’t seem to mind at all. She had to do this, for Trixie!

She reached into her pocket, pulled out a headband, and drew a few marks on her face with the mud on the ground, “Alright, it’s go-time!”

All around the forest, Pinkie looked high and low, here and there, all around. She found jagged rocks, fallen logs, and she heard a lot of strange sounds, but no a sign of the flower she was looking for. Still, her determination remained unfazed, so she kept on looking…

…and she still didn’t find the flower, and she was starting to feel a little tired, abut more upset. “Oh, this isn’t getting me anywhere.” She said to herself, and she then she shouted way out loud “…WHERE ARE YOU GOLDEN SUNFLOWER?!!”

Her voice echoed all through the forest making flocks of birds fly and other creatures look up in fright.

Then, who should approach her but Zecora…

“What has caused you to make such a shout?
What is all of dis even supposed to be about?” she asked.

Pinkie explained her situation, “I’ve got to find that flower, or Trixie will be in real danger. I just gotta find it! Do you know where it is? Oh, please say you do? SAY YOU DO!!”

Zecora straightened her hair that got ruffled in Pinkie’s shouting.

“Da golden flower, I know where it is
I can take you there in a quick whiz.
But dere is somethin’ you must know
To get da flower won’t be easy so…”

Pinkie, overcome with anxiety to get that flower and help Trixie was as impatient as ever and demanded “Please… Just take me to the flower! I’ll worry about everything else later.”

Zecora tried and tried to warn Pinkie, but Pinkie insisted they start going and that time was running out. Zecora saw no alternative but to take Pinkie along through the forest.

Through the brush and thickets they walked, and Pinkie was growing more impatient and desperate to get that sunflower.

Finally, they arrived in a secret clearing deep within the forest, only to find nothing was there. No trees, no rocks, not even a single leaf… and defiantly no flower. “What is this?!” Pinkie shouted “I thought you said you knew where the flower was?!”

“And I do…” said Zecora…

“Da flower dat you seek can be found only around here
However, it is hidden in a place dat you cannot see as clear.
Dere are only a few can open up da way…
Those who know da secret words, which I shall now say…”

She cleared her throat, hummed deeply for a moment and recited a strange chant…

“Ferrasam… Lintak… Omasis… Weverno… E’atony… Rofmeck!”

The winds began to blow softly as the ground glowed bright, much to Pinkie’s astonishment. Suddenly, there was a great glow that came from the ground, so bright, that Pinkie had to block her eyes.

When she looked again, there it was… the Golden Sunflower, and it was just as gold and as beautiful as the picture in Abra’s book: It looked just a like a regular sunflower, but its center was bright yellow and its petals glistened with a golden glowing.

“Wow!” Pinkie cried “It’s so pretty. I’ve got to get it back to Trixie now!”

“No, wait…!” cried Zecora, but Pinkie already reached to pluck the flower… but the flower did not budge, not even an inch. Pinkie pulled and grunted… then she panted wearily. The flower just wouldn’t come out… almost as if it didn’t want to be picked. Even its petals wouldn’t come off… the part which Pinkie needed the most.

“I tried to warn you about dis flower.
It is gifted with a truly magical power.” said Zecora.

Through her rhymes, she explained how the magic flower was sought by many for its golden petals --as they were gold and valuable enough, but its magical properties were worth even more- The flower did not like to be picked by those of greed or those who were brash. Only if the flower judged you to be pure, and your thoughts as golden as its petals would it allow you to pluck it, and a new flower would grow instantly.

“But I really need the flower!” cried Pinkie “If I don’t get it, I can’t help Trixie get better.”

“Dat may be your intentions true,
But da flower… I don’t think it believes you.
You acted rather rashly,
And you behaved so brashly.”

Pinkie thought back, and finally realized how impatient she had been behaving, especially towards Zecora when she tried to warn her about this.

Pinkie sagged to the ground and hung her head in shame, “I'm… so sorry. I was just so desperate to save Trixie. It’s my fault she ended up cursed.”

Zecora put her hand on Pinkie’s shoulders to comfort her, but suddenly the winds softly picked up, and she looked concerned.

“What, what is it?” asked Pinkie.

“Da spirits sense somthin’ near,
Somethin’ evil and nasty I fear.”

Pinkie looked all around, “I don’t see anything.” and then… there was a loud growling sound as a huge monster leapt out from the brambles and brush.

The ladies shrieked at the very sight of it; this creature was a plant type, more than twice their sizes, covered in vines with thorns, and a large man-eating pod for a head.

The pod opened wide revealing sharp thorns and a large eye on a tentacle in the center which glared at the ladies, but stared directly at the flower with a nasty gaze. The creature couldn’t speak, but it didn’t have to for Pinkie to guess it was here to cause trouble.

“Protect the flower…!” cried Pinkie “…I’ll handle this thing!”

Zecora agreed and resealed the flower away, while Pinkie transformed, “Harmony Hour, Friendship Power!”

Once transformed, she scanned the creature with her visor. “Hmm, no data…! He’s a new one. I’ll call him Pod.” She scanned the creature further, and the signs showed it had extraordinary strength, and plant-based attacks, but also… the creature was under the effects of hypnosis.

“This should be easy.” Pinkie said, and she cracked her knuckles ready for action. She charged forth roaring like a fierce warrior, but Pod launched two strong vines snaring her by the wrists and flung her to the side into a tree. “Okay, maybe not…” Pinkie said as she rubbed her head.

She leapt out of the tree and charged at Pod again, skillfully evading the vines Pod sent at her. “Here I come, ready or not!” Pinkie shouted, and she leapt up for a flying kick, but Pod suddenly opened his huge pod-like head and fired a barrage of thorns at her. Sparks flew and Pinkie fell to the ground.

Still, Pinkie refused to give up knowing she had to protect the flower.

Pod then glared and growled at Pinkie stomping towards her. Poor Pinkie scooted away inch by inch. Zecora could only watch in fear… even if she didn’t have to protect the flower, she was no fighter and couldn’t help Pinkie.

As she saw Pinkie backed up against a tree and Pod right in front of her, and the snarling creature looked ready for the kill, when suddenly…!

WHAMM!! Rainbow soared in and kicked the creature hard sending it rolling along the ground.

“You okay?” Rainbow asked as she helped Pinkie up “I was passing overhead and I saw the danger.”

“I’m fine… most excellent timing.”

The girls stood together ready to brawl as Pod got up and snarled at them.

As the battled continued, Zecora knew as well the creature was under hypnosis which led her to believe there was more to this than met the eye. So she focussed very deeply trying to connect to the creature’s inner soul.

The girls attempted to rush the creature, but got snared by the vines, and were whirled like lassos then slammed hard on the ground.

The girls felt dizzy with stars swirling round their heads. “Okay! That’s it! Now I’m mad!” snarled Rainbow. “Me too!” added Pinkie, and they teamed up together for a double flying kick, and bashed the creature hard sending it skidding along the ground.

“Alright!” shouted Pinkie.

“Now, let’s get him!” said Rainbow.

“No, wait…!” shouted Zecora, and the girls skidded to a halt to listen to what she had to say…

“Dat monster may seem brash and bold,
But he is bein’ mind controlled.
I looked at his spirit from deep within,
Perhaps it’d better if you un-brainwashed him.”

The girls hesitated for a moment, but keeping in mind that the creature was under hypnosis meant it was probably just following orders from some unknown source. “I say we try.” said Pinkie. Rainbow nodded, and they both concentrated hard until their cutiemarks began to shine.

“VALKYRIA…!!” they both shouted and donned their Valkyrie outfits, just as Pod rose up and began to charge at them.

Rainbow and Pinkie held out their swords and joined together concentrating the magic of their elements, “HARMONY BEAM!!”

The ray of light shone from their blades directly onto the creature. The creature roared and growled, and a strange glow of yellow light, the hypnosis, seemed to seep right out of him and shatter to bits.

“I think that did it...” said Rainbow.

The creature then looked confused, almost like a little lost dog. It didn’t even seem half as fierce anymore, nor willing to fight.

“Well this sure is different.” said Pinkie.

Unfortunately, the creature still could not speak normally, and the ponies had no idea how to communicate with it, but now that it wasn’t hypnotized anymore, Zecora was able to use her spiritual connections to look deep within the creature’s mind again…

…Then she smiled softly.

“He doesn’t seem to remember too much, see
But he does wish to go home to his family.”

“Aw, the poor guy…” cried Pinkie. Even Rainbow couldn’t help but feel sensitive, as well as amazed that a big snarling creature like that could be so docile.

Suddenly, the Golden Sunflower appeared again, and Zecora hadn’t even said the magic words. The flower was now glowing brighter than ever, towards Pinkie, almost as if it were calling to her.

Zecora realized…

“Da flower seems to recognize your good deed,
It now believes that you are not a creature of greed.”
You fought to protect it, and your actions now are pure
For da sweet kindness you are showing dis creature.
Now it will let you take it in peace,
To help your poor friend and set your mind at ease.”

Pinkie approached the flower, and plucked it softly… right from the ground, and just as promised a second golden flower grew instantly in place of the other one, and sealed itself away again.

Pinkie’s eyes flooded with tears of happiness when normally she’d be jumping all around and shrieking with joy. It took her a few moments to snap to her senses. “I’ve got to get this to Trixie right away.” she said, and then she took off leaving Rainbow and Zecora to deal with the docile creature.

“Come on, we’ll get you home soon.” Rainbow said, and though she was not arresting the creature, she used a simple capture spell form her energizer to harmlessly encase the creature in a sphere to make him easier to take with her to get it help.

“See ya, Zecora.” And then she flew off leaving Zecora to sigh and feel relieved that everything was fine.

Pinkie reached the magic caravans in moments with the flower in hand. “Hang on, Trixie, I’m coming.” she called, but as she ran up towards Trixie’s van… a small ray of light zapped at the flower in her hand destroying it to ashes. “AAAHH!!” Pinkie screamed, “Oh, no! Oh, no, no, no…!!”

“Oh, yes…” hissed a familiar voice. Pinkie looked up and saw HIM!! “…Ala Kazam!”

Ala snickered wickedly “That’s as far as you go now, you meddlesome pony!” That’s when he pulled off his cloak, a slick magician’s change, and revealed his true self…!

Ala Kazam: A tan colored unicorn with a long mustache and wearing a purple robe with a black cape, a wizard’s hat, and holding a staff in his hand. His cutiemark was that of black stars indicating his evil magic.

Pinkie’s features hardened as she glared the evil magician down, “I’ll get it was YOU that hypnotized that monster!”

“You catch on very quickly, for one who fell for my tricks before.” hissed Ala, and he admitted to hypnotizing that creature when he saw it had the Nightshade Rose, which he figured would be perfect to get his vengeance on Abra Kadabra. “I wasn’t about to let you stop me, yet you defeated my creature and set him free. I’ll have to carry out my vengeance myself now, but first… you shall pay for having interfered with me!”

The two ponies looked ready to brawl, but suddenly…

POOF!! Abra appeared in a puff of smoke.

“Abra!” cried Pinkie.

“Abra!” growled Ala.

Abra glared angrily at his foe and sneered “Ala Kazam, it is YOU who shall pay for interfering!”

Ala laughed wickedly, “I’ve been waiting for this for a long time!”

Abra then gazed at Pinkie, “I will handle this, Magician-to-Magician!”

Pinkie reluctantly stood aside and the two magicians stood staring each other down like cowboys ready for the fast draw.

Abra waved his wand once saying, “Remember the first rule of magic: Things are not always what they seem.” Then, in a magical glow, there were three Abra.

“See if you can guess…” said one.

“Which of us is your true target.” said another.

“Choose wisely!” said all three.

This only made Ala Kazam laugh even more, “I have seen this trick of yours before…” and he waved his staff and zapped all three Abra’s at once, destroying them all.

“No!!” cried Pinkie.

Ala then turned to face her “That’s one down and now for you little fool!”

“It is YOU who are the fool, Ala!” shouted Abra.

Ala turned and saw him. “You…!” and he fired a magical blast from his staff. “NOW…!!” Abra shouted as he took off his hat and held it out front so the blast went into the hat, and Trixie appeared in a magical flash, and removed her wizard hat. The magical blast came right out of it and hit Ala hard knocking his staff away and himself to the ground.

“Trixe…!” cried Pinke “You’re all better…?!”

Trixie turned and winked at her “I’ve never felt so good before.”

Ala tried to reach for his staff, but someone stepped onto his hand, Lightning, and he was with Starla; both of them looking down at the fallen magician and Lightning said, “And now for the finale... I and my lovely assistant will place this magician under arrest!”

Ala knew he was beaten, knowing he could never hope to outmatch Starfleet, and had no choice but to go quietly.

"How did you guys do that?" Pinkie asked, but Abra and Trixie smiled smugly and Abra reminded her, "Pinkie... a good magician never reveals their secrets."

After Ala was turned over to the authorities, Pinkie could still hardly believe Trixie was all better, “But how?” she asked “I didn’t get the flower to you, and Abra said he didn’t have it.”

Abra chuckled, “I was trying to tell you, just because I didn’t have didn’t mean others didn’t. I merely contacted the hospital, and they did have the necessary ingredients to make the potion. Then, after a single spray Trixie was all fine again.”

Trixie nodded, and Pinkie felt really silly. “So… I went through all that trouble for nothing?!”

“No, not for nothing.” said Starla “Rainbow told us how you tried so hard to get the flower, and how you battled that Pod creature.”

Lightning nodded, “So while maybe you didn’t help Trixie, you did help us catch a dangerous crook, and saved that Pod creature at the same time too. Now the creature’s been sent back to its home-world on Herboss, the Jungle planet, where it won’t be kidnapped or brainwashed again… and it’s all thanks to you. Well done, Pinkie Pie.”

Trixie then approached her and said “And... thanks for at least trying to help me. That really means a lot to me.”

Pinkie smiled warmly and blushed.

That night, Abra and Trixie did their performance, and they invited Pinkie to come on stage to assist in an act… the sawing a pony in half trick.

The trick went wonderfully, and in the end Pinkie to a well-deserved bow, not just for her assistance, but for making a huge difference and having good intentions that day.

(Promo)

In our next episode: Princess Avyanna returns with a scheme to get Starfleet on her terms and human Mykan Stevens to the altar, a plot that could very well involve the safety of the entire galaxy. Meanwhile, Mayor Windy Bag is finally ready to unleash her ultimate scheme on United Equestria and Pony Mykan Stevens.

What will United Equestria do about these treacherous plots?

Don’t miss the next exciting episode of “Starfleet Magic!”

(Next episode: “Part 1: Rough Engagements!”)

Episode 17: For whom the wedding bells tolls

“Previously on Starfleet Magic…”

Princess Avaynna had returned armed with a powerful tractor beam, which she had used to capture a large amount of escaped prisoners and threatened to unleash the army on United Equestria, unless Mykan Stevens would agree to become her husband. Meanwhile, Lippy Sync discovers the mutiny his wicked mother, Mayor Windy Bag, is plotting against the planet, but how can either situation be dealt with now?

EPISODE SEVENTEEN

(Play this music)

Pony Mykan Stevens raced across the fields with the angry mob on his tail. It was really him, not a puppet clone, as he was in desperate need of food and had to try and fetch it himself!

“You won’t get away this time!” shouted Windy Bag as she and her mob continued to chase him down, and she ordered the mob to spread out and try to corner him.

Poor Mykan was finding it really hard to escape, as he was weak from starvation as well as his years of bad eating and malnourishment. “I’ve… got to… get home again!” he groaned softly, and he held his aching stomach as he gurgling painfully.

He continued to run straight for a clearing, but a small gaggle of the mob blocked him off forcing him to turn back and try to sneak into an alley, only to find it also was blocked off. Everywhere he ran he was stopped by more of the mob, even when he tried to take to the rooftops there were more mobsters.

One of the mobsters grabbed onto his tattered rags, but Mykan broke free and leapt down to the ground. He barely managed to keep his balance in his weary condition, but things only got way worse as he realized he was completely surrounded with no place to run, and he couldn’t use his smoke powder this time, there were just too many ponies surrounding him, and he was nearly totally exhausted and starving that he finally collapsed in the road.

In the midst of things, he had dropped a small pouch from within his rags.

Windy Bag walked right up to him and glared at him fiercely, “I have a little score to settle with you!”

Mykan finally passed out.

Lippy saw everything from the window, saw the mob taking poor Mykan into bondage, and many more of them were headed towards town-hall. “I have to get out of here!” he cried, and he ran out of the room in such a hurry he almost bumped into the wall near the door.

Windy Bag came into her office feeling very content. “How lucky can I be?” she said to herself “Not only am I going to fix the world, I’m finally going to get what should rightfully be mine; the great fortune on the mansion of Sephia Stevens.”

Suddenly, she gazed at her desk and noticed her letter was still there, but not the way when she left it… turned upside down and tilted instead of being straight and right side up.

…Someone had been reading her letters, but whom?

She had no time to worry about that now, especially seeing as she had enough to prepare for.

Meanwhile, Tree Hugger had sent the girls to bed after a good evening with them, doing yoga, having snacks, she even helped them brainstorm ideas for their diorama project; even though she had no idea what Planet Earth was supposed to look like.

Still, as she checked on the girls and saw them sleeping like angels, it really gave her a good feeling deep down; almost like a mother putting her children to bed.

She began to imagine the crusaders like her own children, and then her husband, Buddy Rose, would stand behind her and take her softly into his arms, giving her an even greater feeling.

She sighed softly, still wishing she could find a way to get Buddy to realize how much she wanted him.

She went downstairs, and began to worry about Buddy Rose. He was very late in coming home, and that’s when a letter magically appeared on the coffee table addressed to her from Buddy Rose.

“What is this…?” she wondered as she sat down to read the letter.

Tree Hugger…

How are things going with the girls? I hope they’re all having a great time with you and I hope you’re having fun with them.

Listen, I know this may seem on such short notice, but something really big has come up and neither Applejack nor I will be able to come home. I can’t say why as it’s strictly circulated to Starfleet personal. So, I’m asking… would you mind staying with the girls a little longer?

I know it’s short notice, but both Applejack and I wouldn’t be requesting this if we weren’t desperate and in need.

If you agree, can you use the reply function of this magic letter and send it back to us at once?

Love…Yours Truly: Buddy Rose.

PS: Just ignore that little cross-out.

Tree Hugger couldn’t help but giggle at the way the letter ended, but she took the crossed-out “Love” as a great sign.

She wrote her reply…

Hey, Handsome…

It’s totally cool. I can handle the girls longer, and we are having a great time.

You don’t have to worry about us, just take care of yourself.

In all seriousness… if anything was to happen to you, I seriously wouldn’t know how to like get over it, but I have faith in you and in all your friends.

All my love to you: XXX-- Tree Hugger.

She activated the return command on the letter and sent it back before stretching down on the sofa in a loving daze.

*Mykan’s POV*

After the gathering, their majesties called an immediate emergency meeting to discuss what was to be done about Avyanna’s ultimatum.

“I still can’t believe she actually wants me.” I joked “I guess I haven’t lost my touch.”

None of the others found what I said very amusing, nevertheless Grand Ruler stated “Mykan, I think it’s already more than agreeable among us all that we have no intention of you surrendering to the Kallanians.”

Everyone nodded in a unanimous agreement.

“Even if I were to give myself up, I doubt Avyanna would keep her word anyway. I’ve dealt with her before, and she’s pretty sneaky.”

Celestia agreed with me, “We anticipate this as well. However, we cannot ignore the impeding threat of all those monsters Avyanna has captured either. If she does so, all those creatures unleashed will do unthinkable but certain damage.”

Fluttershy shuddered fearfully at such scary thoughts. Rhymey held her hand softly trying to calm her.

Pinkie suddenly put her hand up going, “Ooh-Ooh-ooh, I have an idea! I have an idea.” Then she took a huge breath and rambled very fast of her idea, “We could just sneak onboard the mothership, and capture all the monsters ourselves, and while we’re there we could find their tractor beam and maybe put it out of commission. So the aliens will have nothing to threaten us with anymore and you won’t have to marry the princess, Mykan.”

Every one of us in the room gawked awkwardly at her, for her fast talking. “I’m afraid it’s not that simple, Pinkie.” Lightning said “That ship is two miles wide, and it’s a newer model than the one we destroyed back then. No, without an up-to-date blueprint we wouldn’t have a chance of finding anything in time.”

It was really starting to look bleak for everything. The Kallanium II was also impervious to x-ray, or scanning just as the aliens were, whichever that was had yet to be unfurled as well.

Suddenly, Artie had thought of something, “I think I know of a way to get what we need.”

He explained his idea to everyone, and although everyone was skeptical about the whole ordeal, “It’s a longshot… but it may be just the breakthrough we need.” said Grand Ruler.

With that settled we all began to make up a mission plan, and it involved lots of risks and very tight timing.

*POV Ends*

Early the next day, Pony Mykan Stevens hadn’t eaten a thing all night, and he was very weak and weary, but he could hear someone calling to him, slowly snapping him out of his weariness.

“Wake up, Mykan. No, you’re not dead.”

Mykan finally found strength enough to find he was tied firmly to a chair in a small and empty shed, and saw Windy Bag and her husband staring at him.

“You…” he growled softly at Windy Bag.

“You remember me, I see.” Windy asked.

“How could I forget? You were one of those brokers who wanted to pawn my family’s mansion and collect the money it was worth; the single greediest, most despicable one of them all!”

“Hey!” snarled Chump as he grabbed his ropes “Don’t you talk about my wife that way!”

Windy gestured for him to let him go and then spoke deeply to Mykan. “I’ll get right to the point. I want your mansion, but its way up there on the mountain. So, you’re going to get it down here, and then you’re going to give it to me!”

“…Never!” Mykan snarled “I hid my house to protect the memory of my mother and father. I’ll never let a snake like you have it!”

Chump wanted nothing more than to lunge at the weak pony and beat him to the ground, but again, his wife held him back.

“Let’s get one thing straight, Stevens… I want your house, and I will have it, and you will give it to me! But I don’t have time to deal with you now. I’ll leave you here to think about it over, and if you want to survive, I suggest you comply. It’ll make your life so much better.”

Then she and Chimp left the poor starving pony in the shed, and locked the door up good, keeping the key in her pocket. “I just don’t get why they always want to do things the hard way.”

As she and Chump walked off, Lippy was walking to school, a bit slower than usual as he couldn’t seem to take his mind off of what he had discovered the other night. All he could picture was so many bad things happening… and all this because of his mother’s, and everyone else’s miserable attitudes and ridiculous resentments.

Unfortunately, he was still struggling with himself and his fears over what he could do, or even if he should get involved anyway, still fearing of his mother… or the whole town unleashing their wrath on him if he so much as dared.

If only something would give him a sign…!

Just then, his foot hit something soft in the ground. He looked down and saw a small pouch by his foot, very light and full of some kind of powder. Through his studies, Lippy concluded it was a special kind of teleportation powder, if used just right it would take him anywhere in the whole town, or maybe clear across the country.

He heard the school bell ringing and didn’t want to be late or his nasty teacher would be furious with him… more than ever. So he stowed the pouch in his knapsack not wanting to tell anyone about it, and would study into it later.

Back at the palace, Krysta and her husband, Topaz had rounded up a large swarm of their best warping fairies for the mission that. “Very good…” said Topaz, “Now we needn’t explain the importance of this mission. Missing a single step can very mean danger to the whole galaxy.”

The fairies felt nervous with all that pressure on their shoulders, but they bowed in agreement.

Then Krysta had to prepare for her side-mission.

*Mykan’s POV*

Later that day…

Krysta flew off to find me, Artie and Lightning, planning to take us on a trip to the planet Xandra, home of the Starfleet Mental Institutions, where there lied the key to Artie’s plan. Lightning was going along to supervise and they both advised me to come along, which I agreed to.

“Well, you said you have no intention of surrendering me, at least for the moment.” I said. “If Avyanna wants me, she’s going to have to come and find me.”

Starla shrugged, “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were running scared… with cold feet.” she teased.

“Cute.” I said smugly.

Starla then pecked Lightning deeply to wish him luck, “Just don’t take too long. We don’t trust Avyanna to accept our counter-terms.”

Lightning pecked his wife back and said “At least if it fails, this scheme of ours stands a better chance.”

I shuddered softly at the thought of having to carrying that part of the plan out. “You okay?” asked Artie.

“Yeah, I’m alright.” I said.

“Come on, we better hurry.” said Krysta.

With that, we prepared to shove of, teleporting from the other side of the planet so as not to be spotted by the Kallanians from space.

Soon, we were zooming across the cosmos on a dimensional pathway, which I found most enjoyable like a fun slide ride, “WHOO-HOO-HOO… ALL RIGHT…!!” I exclaimed. The boys and Krysta couldn’t help but chuckle at me.

*POV Ends*

Meanwhile, Lippy’s school was on a lunchbreak, and the children were all playing in the playground, while Lippy sat by himself and was examining the pouch of powder he had found.

Naturally, being in a school like his, those who favored Starfleet were often teased and bullied a lot by those whom detested the force, and Lippy looked up, and saw three big burly ponies looking at him.

“Well, well… Lippy Sync.” said the leader, “What’cha got there?” he made a grab for the punch but Lippy backed away. “Leave me alone!” he snapped.

The three bullies were livid. “What did you just say to me?” the leader asked in a threatening tone, and Lippy started to feel his nerves shaking “I-I-I said…”

The three bullies started to stomp towards him, socking their fists into their hands ready for trouble. “That’s what I thought…” said the leader, and he made another grab for the pouch, but Lippy ran for it causing the bully to fall to the ground.

Lippy ran for it!

“Get him!” shouted the leader, and he and his goons began to chase after the poor little pony. Some of the other students helped as they were afraid of the bullies, and others also being Starfleet detesters found it too entertaining to do anything but watch.

Lippy raced behind the building, but he knew the bullies would be after him, and of course going to his teacher about it wouldn’t help matters at all as his teacher was just as bad as those ponies.

Desperate for a way out he suddenly realized what he could try as he gazed down at the pouch. “It’s risky, but it’s better than being here.”

The three bullies, thinking they had Lippy cornered, planned to jump out at him from around the corner. Yet when they actually jumped out for him…!

“Where’d he go?”

“I was sure he was here!”

“Split up and look for the runt.”

One dash of that powder transported Lippy straight to the mansion on top the mountain. “Wow! What a ride!” he exclaimed.

He took a while to look around the dark and spooky mansion, and he felt his knees quaking. He also found it hard to believe this is where the Pony Mykan Stevens had been living.

…he knew of his mother’s overly obsession with the mansion, as he was only three years old when the entire incident happened, but he remembered it well, how his mother acted so greedy and ruthless to get the house, back when they lived in Canterlot on Equestria of Old, and well before she became Mayor of White Tail Villiage.

He even remembered how he once thought he had caught his mother talking with the mail-pony, not just once, but on separate occasions… even handing him large amounts of cash.

He was starting to put it all together, and he fell to his knees in shame. “Mom… how could you!” he groaned, and now she had that poor pony locked up in the shed, and torturing him by letting him starve.

For the first time in his life, he had completely forgotten fear and felt his determination peak at its finest. “No, I’m not going to be afraid anymore. Someone has to put a stop to this… and as their supreme majesties as my witnesses, I WILL BE THAT SOMEONE!!”

That’s what he wanted to do… except he was trapped in the mansion, on top of the mountain. He couldn’t just leave and climb down, he’d never make it, and the powder he used only teleported him to the mansion itself. Even with his study of magic, he didn’t know too much about it and how it worked.

He also had no idea of Mykan’s secret exits and hidden resources of power.

Worse than that, he remembered his mother’s plan of mutiny was going to take place that night, and it was already after midday!

“Oh, no…! What am I going to do? How am I going to get out of here?”

Meanwhile… the council had gathered at the royal palace, and Avyanna had sent another holo-image of herself to make contact. “Where is Mykan Stevens?” she asked rather sharply.

Grand Ruler cleared his throat, “I’m afraid he has chosen to decline your invitation, Princess.”

Avyanna seemed non-to-pleased, “It was hardly an invitation. It was a direct ultimatum.”

“Princess, try to understand…” said Celestia “Mykan comes from a different world; he isn’t like many of the creatures you’ve known. He wouldn’t make you a very good spouse.”

Princess Luna stepped forth “However, if you are willing to agree, we will be more than willing to aid you in seeking out another potential candidate whom you could take by your side.”

As was expected, Avyanna immediately rejected the offer, “I will settle for no less than what I have demanded. I want Mykan Stevens.”

Mantaining his cool, Grand Ruler gave it to her calmly but plainly, “Princess, I regret to inform you that we have no intention of handing Mykan over to you.”

Avyanna glared at him furiously, and spoke calmly but firmly, “Then you leave me no choice.” With that, her image vanished… followed by the alarms going off.

Pinkie raced to the window and looked out. “Monsters…!” she cried “There’s one! Ooh, there’s another! There’s two more!”

One-by-one, several monsters were being beamed down to the planet via the tractor beam from the mothership.

About ten different creatures were sent down, but that was it. “Where’s the rest of them?” asked Dyno. “I don’t know, but we better get down there.” said Myte.

“Right, let’s go!” shouted Starla, and she and her team headed out the windows. Cadance and Shining Armor went with them while their Aunt and Uncle raised the barriers.

“Perhaps we should adjourn to help them as well?” suggest Princess Luna.

“Yes, we shall.” said Grand Ruler, and he and his family rushed out the window as well.

Meanwhile, Avyanna and Mayne were watching the battle from their monitors. “You only sent a dozen creatures.” said Mayne.

“I am perfectly capable of counting, Mayne.” she snapped at him “I am merely giving them a taste of what is yet to come… when I unleash the entire army upon their planet. With their best fighters already exhausted, they won’t have anything left to fight off the rest with.”

Mayne sighed softly, but he couldn’t help but ask “And what if the force was suddenly give into your demands and hand over Mykan Stevens?”

Avyanna gave him a straight look “Then the attack will be called off. Once we leave here, and return to Kallan with Mykan, once we are wed… we can always send the army back here. Mykan need not know that United Equestria had been destroyed.”

Mayne smiled, “You are very clever your highness, it sometimes frightens me.”

She took that as a compliment.

*Mykan’s POV*

The others and I had already arrived at the institution on Xandra, and were being escorted by one of the doctors down the hallways. It was rather creepy passing all the rooms of all the psychos and crazed creatures.

Some were role playing with themselves, others were pounding on their doors demanding to be released as they claimed to be sane. The worst of them all was Ace Ray. I had been told stories about him, and he looked just as bad as ever, still refusing to get help.

The second he saw us coming he rived and thrashed about “YOU!!!” he shouted “YOU FREAKS!!! YOU PUT ME IN HERE!!! I’LL GET YOU… I GET EVERYONE WHO SO MUCH AS EVEN SMILES AT STARFLEET!!!”

He was detained by the medical staff and sedated.

“Just ignore him, gentlemen” the doctor said, and he continued to lead us all the way to a room in the back.

Once inside, one of the patients was laying strapped to a table. He was a dwarf type humanoid with a long shaggy beard, and red rimmed eyes due to lack of sleep. He seemed to be very twitchy too.

“We got your letter last night, Colonel.” the doctor said to Artie “We got him here following your instructions, but we wanted to wait for your arrival before we began.”

Artie was grateful, but the rest of us wanted details.

“It all started on Unicornicopia, when I was in the academy.” he explained, “While I was on a break and painting a landscape in the yard, I noticed someone rustling about in the bushes. His name was Lavix, and he looked as if he had been on the run for some time. He was dishevelled, weak, exhausted. He looked as if he hadn’t slept for months.

I tried to approach him and ask what was wrong, but all he did was grab me and cry, “Help me! They’re after me! I don’t want them to find me!”

I notified my superiors and Lavis was taken in, and it turned out he was a defector, and an old contracting engineer for vehicles, including starships. Unfortunately, we had no idea where he came from as the data wasn’t available to us then, and our mind reading devices hadn’t been perfected yet.”

Poor Lavix twitched on his bed “I don’t want to go back! You can’t make me! Please don’t go back!”

The rest of us could pretty much guess that he was brought to the asylum in hopes of making him better with treatment, which obviously wasn’t working.

“And what does this have to do with things again?” I asked.

Artie then pointed to a marking on Lavix’s hand: A black rhombus with a white serpent around it. “That’s the mark of the Kallanium Empire.” said Lightning

“PLEASE, KEEP THEM AWAY FROM ME!!” cried Lavix! Just the mention of the empire made him fuss and cry in pain. The doctor and his nurse calmed him down.

“The poor guy.” said Krysta “Whatever happened to him must’ve been really bad.”

After Lavix had calmed down, Artie approached him. “Lavix… do you remember me?”

Lavix gazed up Artie, but shook his head softly “All I remember is… being tortured, threatened, and harmed by my former comrades. I can’t go back there! Don’t let them take me.”

“Calm down, we aren’t going to hurt you. We just need something from you, it won’t hurt at all. Just relax…”

Artie then motioned to the doctor to begin, and a mind probing device was aimed at Lavix’s head and switched on. “What’s that!” cried Lavix “What’s happening to me?”

“It’s alright, just relax.” said the nurse.

Lightning Krysta and I gawked at one another wondering what was going to come out from all this.

*POV Ends*

Meanwhile, the battle was rough. The monsters sent were much stronger and more dangerous than most others, and the team had to fight harder than ever.

“GALACTIC PROJECTILE!”

“WHIPLASH STRIKE!”

“THRASH SLASH!”

“BOOM-BOOM FLARE!!”

Several monsters were knocked out and imprisoned.

Cadance, as the Silent Ninja, focussed her powers and send a ground shockwave knocking two more monsters of their feet. Then, Shining Armor, or rather Saber, held his sword up high, “STRIDENT SABER SHOCK!”

Zapping the beasts hard, they exploded and were imprisoned.

Six monsters down, and only four to go. Five of the six Valkyries of Harmony combined their swords together and bound the remaining beasts in a bundle, allowed the three royal alicorns to combine their powers and imprison the beasts.

“Is everyone alright?” Grand Ruler called out, though a little tired everyone was alright, but that’s when Avyanna sent another holo-message. “You have had but a sample of the power I possess. Unless Mykan Stevens is delivered to me by sundown, I will unleash the entire army upon your planet!”

Before anyone could say anything, the image had vanished. “I don’t think she’s kidding.” said Rainbow.

“What was your first guess?” Spike said.

Starla gazed up at the sky hoping for Lightning and the others to return soon!

Grand Ruler was infuriated by the Princess’ threat, and what he would give to have her clapped into irons and tossed into solitary confinement. He was so furious he socked his fist right through the ground.

His wife and sister-in-law calmed him down. “Easy, my love…” said Celestia “We’ll think of something.”

“Yes, we can think of something…” her husband said “But time…! That’s the one thing we haven’t much of.”

“It isn’t over yet.” said Luna “Once Lightning returns, if Artie’s plan is successful, we might have a chance.”

*Mykan’s POV*

When the others and I finally got back, we all headed straight for the labs and analyzed the information Artie had obtained from Lavix’s mind.

Everyone gazed at the computer screens. “Perfect!” cried Artie “An exact layout of a Kallanian star cruiser. I figured Lavix had the information.”

Everyone gazed in awe at the layouts.

“I’ve never seen anything like It.” said Fluttershy.

“A ship so massive in size,
Just looking at this hurts my eyes.” said Rhymey.

Rarity felt almost like fainting, “Why even the royal palace… all the palaces on the planet don’t compare to this.”

Putting all the exclamations aside, this was vital information needed. “We should be able to find the prisoners with ease in the holding areas.” said Lightning, “But unfortunately, the tractor beam they used is so new its power-source could be anywhere.”

Grand Ruler looked at the prints, “Well… if only we could isolate its power signals, we could come up with a few possible locations, but the ship still remains immune to our scanning. We still have no way of knowing where to look.”

“And we don’t have time to keep doddling like this…” said Celestia “The Princess is expecting Mykan to be on her ship within the hour.”

Everyone gazed at me with deep concern, and even I could see no other alternative. “Well then… if you’ll contact the princess. I’m ready.”

Soon afterwards, once Avyanna had gotten the message. I stepped outside, dressed in my finest clothes, and stripped my weapons, my cape and teleporter, as was requested by the Princess.

Everyone wished me good luck, especially their majesties. “Mykan, believe us, we didn’t want it to come to this.” Grand Ruler said, but I simply smirked and said “Hey, millions of lives on the line… it’s understandable.”

Then I looked ahead at the beam of light. “Well… here comes the groom.” Then I stepped forth into the light, and was beamed way up, up, up into the sky, out into space, heading straight for the mothership.

To Be Continued...!

(Promo)

In our next episode: Human Mykan finds himself fighting not only to escape his forced marriage, but for his life and the sake of all of United Equestria as well. Meanwhile, Lippy finally manages to get help from the Cutiemark Crusaders and Tree Hugger, only for them to wind up as hostages alongside of Pony Mykan in Windy Bag’s wicked clasp as she reveals her sinister plot for the planet.

Can Mykan escape from the dangers that surround him, and what is Windy Bag’s sinister plot?

Don’t miss the next exciting episode of “Starfleet Magic!”

(Next Episode: “Part 3: The Bride and Gloom!”)

Episode 18: Part 3: The Bride and Gloom

“Previously on Starfleet Magic…!”

Mayor Windy Bag had apprehended Pony Mykan Stevens demanding he surrender his family’s mansion to her. His refusal left him locked up and starving to death within a small shed. Unbeknownst to all, Lippy Sync found a pouch powder that transported him to the mansion himself where he now lies trapped and unable to warn anyone of his mother’s impending treachery!

Meanwhile, after numerous failed attempts to reason with Princess Avyanna, Human Mykan Stevens has no alternative but to surrender to her marriage proposal, but does he have a plan in mind?

EPISODE EIGHTEEN

It was midafternoon, and schools were out, but all day long Lippy’s teacher had been grouching to all her students, “Where is Lippy Sync?! I’m waiting!” but not one of the other students had seen him since lunch. Not even the three bullies who chased him.

Windy Bag was informed about Lippy’s absence, but being herself as usually, she did not think it too important that her own son was lost. “I’m too close to my dream come true to really worry about him now. We can always look for him later.”

She then asked her staff about her prisoner, Mykan Stevens. “He still refuses to cooperate, and his health is not looking very good.”

Chump was starting to lose his patience, “Come on, hon… let me at him! I’ll make him fess up!”

As much as his wife would’ve loved to see that, she shook her head, “No, Chump. In his condition you may kill him. We don’t want that… yet. He’ll fess up… I know he will.”

Poor Mykan was still bound to the chair in the shed, still unable to get himself out due to his weak strength from his hunger, and he was beginning to think that for the first time it was totally hopeless.

No one could help him; rather no one would help him just like no one would help him before to save his mother’s life, and now here he was, haunted by his life, his memories...and singing a dark song in his mind about it.

As much as the song would have given him strength, his hunger slowed him down, and he was still ultimately stuck, but he did suddenly remember something, “My trans-portal, I left it open!” he cried to himself. “What if someone discovers it...?”

Poor Lippy was still trapped in the mansion atop the mountain. He searched every single room he could find for anything to help him make contact with the outside world, but all he found were messes of foods, dust piles, cobwebs and melted candles.

He couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for Mykan, having to live like this for so long! “I’ve just got to get out of here and try to help him!” Lippy said to himself “And I’ve got to stop my mom too!”

He eventually stumbled into Mykan’s bedroom, where the large mirror was as well as photos and magazine clippings of his mother, Sephia, and some old sewing equipment and rags. “I don’t get this.” Lippy said and he leaned on the candle holder on the wall, shifting it and he fell to the floor, not seeing the mirror flash behind him.

“What was that all about?” he groaned, still not realizing what he had done.

Meanwhile…

With the chores all done, and already having had lunch a while ago, Tree Hugger spent the whole afternoon playing with the girls, and also treating them to some yoga, and relaxing sports… like Catch.

This particular catch game wasn’t played normally. Instead of just pitching a ball and catching it, Tree Hugger had one of those large inflatable balls used for exercising. She explained to the girls, “Okay, now you just roll the ball along to each other, do three slow pushups on it, and then roll it to the next player. Ya dig?”

The girls understood, though the found the rule bizarre it was quite fun. “Wow, this actually does feel relaxing.” said Sweetie Belle. “Yeah, and we’re getting’ a good workout too.” added Applebloom.

As the girls continued to pass the ball around, Scootaloo gave it a little too hard a roll, “Oops!” and sent the ball rolling down the hill. “Whoa, a little too hard with the force there.” said Tree Hugger.

“Sorry…” said Scootaloo. “Come on, let’s go get it.” cried DD, and the five ponies chased the silly ball down the hill.

The ball rolled and rolled heading for Applebloom’s house near the cellar doors. It hit the doors… and vanished… much to the girl’s surprise.

“Um… what just like, happened?” asked Tree Hugger. The girls however knew that it was one of Pony Mykan’s trans-portals. “But, I thought he only came out during the night?” asked Scootaloo.

The girls waited, but no one came out, nor was the ball thrown back out again. “Well, we have to get it back.” said Sweetie Belle.

As much as Tree Hugger still didn’t know what was going on, as foal-sitter she wasn’t about to let the girls just rush in there. “It’s cool, girls. I’m mean, it’s just a ball, I can, like, can get another.”

But the girls wouldn’t hear of it. “No, Ms. Tree Hugger. We’re gonna to get it back.” said Applebloom. “Yeah, we know how this works. We can be back in just a pinch.”

Tree Hugger narrowed her eyes at the girls giving them a glare that she was putting her foot down. “Sorry girls. Normally this against my groove, but I’m still saying…” she stopped right in mid-sentence and her eyes widened.

“Uh… Ms. Tree Hugger, you okay?” asked DD. Tree Hugger held up her hand telling her to hush. “I… I hear something.”

The girls listened, and suddenly they could hear too-- some voice through the portal. “Oh, I need help! I can’t get out of here on my own!” The soft sound of crying was heard.

“That don’t sound like Mykan to me.” said Applebloom. “It sounds like a kid…” added Scootaloo.

Tree Hugger, despite what she had just said, couldn’t stand the sound of kid crying, and she moved in closer, and closer, but not watching where she was stepping, she tripped on a small rock in the ground and fell into the portal.

“MS. TREE HUGGER…!!” cried the girls. Despite remembering the kinds of trouble they got into in the past, and knowing Applejack and Buddy Rose wouldn’t approve of this at all, they all agreed… “CUTIEMARK CRUSADERS TO THE RESCUE!!” …and they all jumped into the portal together.

Once inside the mansion, the girls ran right into Tree Hugger. She was just standing in the middle of the room unable to believe where she was. “Okay, this is starting to freak me out.” she cried “Where like are we?”

“It’s a long and hard story…” said Scootaloo, but she and the others wanted to follow the sound of the crying more, which seemed to be coming form the next room.

DD held Tree Hugger’s hand pulling her along, and in the next room they saw a little pony curled up on a sofa, crying softly.

The girls felt their hearts aching to see such a thing, but then Sweetie Belle stepped on a creaky floorboard…

The little pony turned on the sofa afraid, but the girls recognized him as Lippy Sync from when they visited his school, and he recognized them, “Cutiemark Crusaders…? It can’t be.”

Tree hugger approached the little guy, and handed him a tissue she had on her. “Here, dry up.”

“What’s going?” DD asked “How did you get up here?”

Lippy sat them down for a long explanation.

*Mykan’s POV*

It was midafternoon already by the time I had gotten onto the Kallanium II. I was escorted at once to Avyanna’s chambers by Mayne and the honor guard.

The Princess was in front of her mirror and making herself look pretty, wearing one of her fine silver gowns when we entered.

“Greetings, Princess.”

She turned and gazed deeply at me, and all at once I was nearly over captivated by her stunning beauty. “Hello, Mr. Stevens. You’re looking rather dashing.”

“Not as dashing as you, of course.”

She giggled and felt a little bashful. I couldn’t help but feel she looked so cute like that. She then ordered her servants and guards away, and Myane as well.

“He was searched upon entry.” Mayne said “He has been revealed to be carrying no weapons or secret devices.”

“I am quite aware of that, Mayne.” said Avyanna “Now, please leave us!”

Mayne bowed and left the room closing the doors behind him. “I see he hasn’t changed a bit.” I joked. “Yes, tragic really…” said Avyanna. She then casually sauntered up towards me, “But enough about him. We should concentrate on more important things.” She gazed deeply into my eyes, and naturally I played along, but it was hard to stay that focussed as she was rather stunning. “I’m… very glad you decided to accept my proposal.”

“Well, you do have a habit of making offers people can’t refuse.”

She smiled most lovingly at me.

“Tell me, um when are we going to… you know.”

“You’re anxious I see.” she said “Unfortunately we cannot be joined just yet. The law of my world requires that, as royalty, we go through the contractual requirements.”

“Oh? And just what are they…?”

“Right now, we are in phase one, which is the most enjoyable…” her voice was growing softer as she moved in closer and closer to me, curling her arms softly around my neck. “We spend time together, like a wedded couple should. We will partake of the refreshments I have ordered. We will talk… dance… and… get to know each other much deeply.”

Her face was just inches away from mine. He breath smelled like sweet roses with a hint of vanilla scent.

“That sounds an awful lot like dating to me.”

“Dating?” she asked. “I believe that is courtship ritual from your world.”

“It is, but it’s pretty much the same anywhere.” I said “Boy meets girl… boy likes girl… boy asks girl out. They go to dinner, maybe a movie, dancing, stroll through the park.”

“And… then…?”

Our faces were slowly moving closer and closer, my voice got ever softer as I spoke “Then, if guy is really lucky. Girl agrees to date him again… and again… and before long…”

Our lips met. Her grip around me tightened softly as she pulled me in closer to take in more. Deep down, a part of me was enjoying this, but that was the smallest part of me while the rest was all saying deeply to the spirit of my girlfriend, “Forgive me, Michelle, but believe me I’m doing this for good reason.”

While she was enraptured in me and not looking, I reached into my pocket and felt something very small inside, about the size of a pea, and I softly pitched it onto the floor, beneath Avyanna’s bed… a tiny little capsule.

Earlier, and unbeknownst to the aliens…

…Krysta and Topaz’s fairy swarm they had gathered were shrunk down using Dr. Penny’s famous Shrinking Machine from the New Ponyville hospital. Thanks to Penny being able to work on some of the bugs on the device, the fairies were really, really shrunk.

Though the capsule didn’t look like it, it was small enough to be the size of a pea, but the inside was enchanted to fit the entire shrinking swarm inside. By doing this, the fairies as the capsule were much too small to be detected so the aliens wouldn’t suspect much of anything.

Now that the capsule was thrown, the fairies would break free, enter the ventilation ducts, and begin to search the massive ship for the monster army and any information regarding the whereabouts of the tractor beam controls.

That was all that I could do for now, the rest was up to them. “Good luck, little guys.” I thought softly.

“Are you alright?” Avyanna asked. “I’m fine, thanks.”

She smiled and kissed me again, only we were interrupted by a knock at the door which angered her. “Enter!” she shouted. It was Mayne and the servants “The refreshments you ordered, your highness.” Mayne said.

“Place them over there on the table and then leave us!” Avyanna sneered softly “And do not disturb me again!”

The servants placed the food and drinks on the table and then left, and Mayne shot me a straight look before leaving himself.

“I wonder… is he jealous of me?”

“Why would he be? He is but my humble servant, and nothing more. He could never hope to capture my affections… not the way you have.”

She kissed me again, more deeply and passionately than before. Then we decided to partake in the food and drinks. Platters of steak, pork and chicken, cut into bitesize strips. Carrot sticks, cucumber spears, strawberries and cream and grapes with honey for dipping, small bread balls and a butter dish, and a tall pitcher of cool apple cider.

“You’ll find that I have good taste in such cuisines.”

I smiled teasingly at her, “Well, at least we have something in common already.”

We took a glass of cider and clinked cups, “To us… the soon-to-be newlyweds.” I said.

“To the most handsomest, and clever-minded creature I have ever known.” she said, flattering me. We drank the cider, it tasted cool and refreshing. “Tell me, is that why you chose me as your husband?”

She gazed deeply into my eyes “Well, apart from your… astounding good looks... you managed to thwart a takeover, and… resulted in the destruction of the Kallanium I. It astounded me that someone such as yourself could be so clever and resourceful.”

I took that as a compliment.

“Princess, may I ask… what happens in the remaining phases?”

“Well… normally we would have to wait until the next morning to move on to the next step, but as princess I am permitted to make the exceptions and move the timing. Tonight at sundown begins phase two: You will prove your worthiness to me in front of my council by competing against my strongest warrior in a fight to the death.”

I suddenly felt a little numbness in my stomach and a chill go up my spine, “To the death? Um… that sounds… a little extreme.”

“Oh, I have my complete faith that you will no doubt be the winner.” said Avyanna. I still felt my stomach churning a bit, though it was hard not to expect things like this when dealing the creatures of this world… that much I learned.

“Of course, when you succeed, at midnight the final phase shall commence: the wedding itself.” She held up a small box “At which point you will be given this…” she opened the box to reveal a bronze band that was for my head.

“Why, Princess… it’s lovely.” I said, keeping up my act. “I figured you would feel that way.” said Avyanna “And I should tell you, once it is fitted round your head, it will attach itself to your skin, meaning you will not be able to remove it.”

“So, with this band, I shall pledge my eternal devotion as your loyal, loving and obedient husband.”

She chuckled softly and reached over caressing my face “Very loyal, and very loving.”

She replaced the band in its box and kept it out of sight, “However, there is more to the obedient part that you mentioned.”

“Oh?”

“Yes… you see the band has one other function. Should you do anything that displeases me; the technological power of the band will send powerful electromagnetic pulses into your brain… consequently killing you within five seconds.”

“Hmm…” I simply said, though deep down I was freaking “Well, now that that’s all clear… let’s eat.”

She smiled at me and we sat down to the wonderful meal, which I was starting to fear would be my last unless the fairies pulled through.

*POV Ends*

A gang of security guards form town hall, very loyal to Windy Bag, had gotten off shift and were on their way into town to get an early dinner in preparation for that night.

“I can hardly wait for the mayor’s plot tonight.” said one. “Yeah, finally, things can get back to normal around here.” added another. “Hey, who’s buying tonight?” asked the third. “I am…” said the first one, but as he held his wallet up, some of his change spilled out. “My money…!”

One of the coins rolled along down the road. One of them ponies chased it as it stopped near the base of the brick wall fence, but as he skidded to a halt, he hit the wall and his hand seemed to pass right through it.

“Huh?”

His friends saw this phenomenon and rushed up to him.

“What is it?”

“I don’t know.”

The pony put his hand through again, and it seemed harmless enough, so he stuck his whole head through, and when he came back out again, he smirked wickedly at his friends “You guys gotta see this.”

His friends stuck their heads through and realized where the wall was leading them too.

The crusaders and Tree Hugger were shocked when Lippy finished telling them what he knew.

“That’s crazy!” cried Applebloom “Are you sure about this?”

“I’m positive! Everything I just said I discovered for myself.” said Lippy.

“Whoa, so not cool. Even my chakras can’t forgive and forget this.” said Tree Hugger.

“Don’t worry, Lippy. We’ll get help right away.” said DD.

Lippy felt like crying again. This was the first time in a long time anyone was being super nice to him.

The girls planned to get back to the farm and send an emergency signal to Starfleet to alert them of the impending danger. “Come on, let’s go!” said Sweetie.

Tree Hugger however saw that Lippy was still to shaken and upset from everything was happening and offered to stay with him for a while. “You girls, like, obviously know what you’re doing. You got my trust.” she told them.

The girls didn’t know what to say, but now was not the time for flattery. They quickly ran upstairs for the master bedroom where the exit portal was.

Tree Hugger held Lippy tightly and cradled him. “It’s okay. Just let all the fears flow out of you and chill out.” she said in a soothing voice. Lippy held onto her, still feeling a bit scared, but being warmly embraced like this, which he had been missing all those years form his mother’s neglect… it felt really nice.

Unfortunately, as the girls entered the bedroom, the first thing they saw was three big burly ponies dressed in black suits and thick shades.

“Hey, look fellas!” one of the shouted.

The girls turned to run, but were grabbed by their tails and fell to the ground. “Let us go!” shouted Scootaloo. “You’ll be sorry!” added Applebloom.

The three goons only chuckle and lifted the girls off the floor holding them upside-down by their tails. “So there’s more of you, huh? Hey the mayor will like this. You two guys take these four back through portal, I’ll check around to see if there’s any more.”

The girls screamed for help, but the two other goons gave them soft clunks to their heads knocking them out.

Tree Hugger and Lippy heard the noise, and assumed there was trouble. Lippy wanted to scream, but Tree Hugger covered his mouth. That’s when she heard the sound of heavy footsteps coming her way, and she whispered to Lippy “Don’t move an inch and don’t make a sound.”

Then she just closed her eyes and kept them shut as she went into a deep silent trance.

That’s when the goon came into the room. He looked all over the place, and despite that anyone would clearly and see Tree Hugger and Lippy as plain as day and night, the goon just looked all around as if he couldn’t notice them.

He left shortly after, heading back for the master bedroom and left through the portal.

Tree Hugger awoke, and let go of Lippy. He was astonished, “He… he just looked right past us as if he couldn’t see us.”

“All I do in a moment like that is think of white paper.” said Tree Hugger “It not only clears my thoughts, but it clears my body so much, I feel as light and as see-through like the air around me. Invisibility: It’s an old meditation trick.”

As much as Lippy wanted to learn more, “The girls!” he cried “He got the girls!”

“I know… bummer.” Said Tree Hugger “What are we gonna like, do. If we go out there, they may rope us. Ya know… and my invisibility trick only works if you hold still.”

However, she suddenly heard the sound of a bird chirping coming from outside the mansion. She and Lippy rushed to the window, pulled the curtains open and saw a snow finch bird perched on the rock near the house, which gave Tree Hugger an idea.

“Duh, why didn’t I think of this like before?” she said. She headed straight out the front door, it was cold and windy on the mountain peak, but it didn’t seem to bother much. She got as close to the little bird as she could without touching the force-field she was told was around the mansion.

Then she got down on the ground and went into one of her deep trances, humming softly. Lippy watched and saw as if Tree had caught the bird’s attention, like it was attracted to her.

“The animals just, like, feel my groove, and come to me, you know”

Lippy still found it astonishing, but even more so as he watched Tree Hugger tell the bird to send a message to Fluttershy and Rhymey, whom were most likely still at New Canterlot Palace. The birdy actually agreed and flew off. “Peace out, little dude.” Tree Hugger called to it “I just hope I, like, did it right.”

*Mykan’s POV*

Sundown had come sooner than I had expected, and all I seemed to be doing was carrying out first phase requirements with the princess. We talked a bit, but we seemed to spend more time making out… much to my disgust deep down. It was getting really hard to keep up the act.

“Is something wrong, dear?” she asked me.

“Great, she’s already calling me ‘dear’.” I thought to myself. “Just one last thing that concerns me: After we’re married, and we return to Kallan. Well… I don’t know much about ruling an empire. I just hope I can be the perfect example of a monarch you want me to be.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that.” said Avyanna “You just let me rule the kingdom. All you have to do… is exactly what you’re doing now.” She leaned in to kiss me again, when suddenly there was a low humming sound like an alarm going off.

“What’s that?”

“It’s time… Phase Two will begin now.”

My insides immediately went numb with worry. Phase two meant the fight to the death.

“Come along then.” she said as she dragged me along.

Before long, I was dressed in battle gear: A simple undershirt, a solid belt and leather pants, heavy boots, and manacles around my wrists and arms which flexed my muscles a bit.

Many servants and honor guard had gathered as spectators.

“The arena is ready.” said Mayne.

“Very good, Mayne…” said Avyanna “Explain to him what is expected.”

Mayne nodded and led me to the sliding door which opened. Inside was a small arena, with various weapons lining the wall as well as a huge muscular man, and he looked pretty mean and gruff and anxious for a fight.

“This is Varak… our greatest and strongest warrior.” Mayne explained “Using the weapons within the arena you will do battle. The battle ends when one of you is killed.”

I gulped softly.

“You see, Mykan…” Avyanna said to me “As a princess, no matter how symbolic, I must be won in order to be wed. Though you and Varak are not evenly matched in strength, I have seen you in battle, and you tend to use your wits, which is why I have no doubts you will win. Of course, if you lose… you will die.”

That was non-too-reassuring to me.

“Let the challenge commence!” Mayne announced, and he motioned me to step into the arena. I had no choice but to do so, and all the witnesses would view the battle through from the monitors.

Varak grabbed a sword and shield off the walls, and glared pitifully at me. “I know not what the princess sees in you, Earthman, but I give you this one chance… surrender now, and things will be less difficult.”

“Sorry…” I said as I grabbed a shield and sword of my own “I didn’t spend six months training at the NASA Space institution for nothing. I’m no coward.”

With that, we stood ready and the battle began!

Our swords clashed, and we raised our shields to counter blows. Of course, even with my Nasa training and strength, Varak clearly had the advantage over me. One clash of his sword against my shield sent me back a bit, but I maintained my stance for more.

Varak charged at me and I spin-jumped, but Varak turn and knocked my sword out of my hand, sending it hurdling into the wall where it got stuck, leaving me with only my shield, but Varak came at me and knocked it away as well leaving me totally unarmed, and me cornered against the wall.

“You should have surrendered while you had the chance.” Varak said to me, and he roared as he charged at me, but right at the last second I ducked down causing him to jab his sword into the wall.

Then I bolted up hard and head-butt him hard in the chest, harming him only slightly, but that felt more like hitting my head on a rock. “Oh…! Bad idea…! Very, very bad…” I groaned.

Varak threw down his shield and grabbed a huge axe off the wall. “Oh, boy…!” I cried. Though there was an identical axe still on the wall for me, there was no way I could lift up something that huge!

Varak swung the axe as if it weight next to nothing to him, and I frightfully swerved and dodged each swing. Varak then took a huge swing and I just managed to swerve, and the axe was right into the floor, giving me the change to give Varak a good kick to the side.

Varak roared and turned to grab me by the neck and pinning me to the floor, much to the shock of spectators.

“You are weak…!” Varak sneered at me “I shall now claim victory thanks to my muscle and strength.”

“Yeah… that’s what you think, big guy!” I groaned in my choked voice “Except… you’re not using your brains!” With that, I fought dirty and kicked him right in his stomach on a perfect pressure point!

“G’ARGH!!” He got off me holding his stomach, which gave me the time to tackle him to the ground, grabbing a sword out of the wall and holding it right at his neck.

The spectators watched in astonishment.

“How did he do that?”

“Varak is larger than he is!”

“He must strike now!”

Varak could hardly believe this was happening to him. “Go ahead, finish me. I have no regrets.”

I gazed down at him, but of course my good nature would always come through. I looked up so the spectators would see me. “I won’t kill him!” I called out “…I WILL NOT KILL HIM!!”

Avyanna was more than convinced. “Well, I believe it is obvious from what we are seeing that Mykan Stevens is the winner.”

Mayne was non-too-pleased as he protested, “Princess, according to the law: There is no winner until one of them lies dead.”

Avyanna gave him a straight look, “Mayne, why I keep you is beyond me at times. You can see for yourself Mykan could have killed Varak right there regardless of his refusal. Therefore, the spirit of the law has been fulfilled.”

Mayne couldn’t think of a thing to say.

“That’s what I thought.” said Avyanna, “The wedding ceremony shall commence at midnight.”

Mayne clenched his fists in frustration, and from within the arena, I didn’t like what was going on either, and wondered what was taking the fairies so long. Time was running out!

*POV Ends*

Meanwhile, the crusaders were waking up from their knockout and found themselves tied to chairs in the shed. “Ohh! What hit me!” groaned Applebloom.

“Where are we?” asked Sweetie.

“You’re in a lot of trouble.” someone said. The girls looked up, and saw her looking at them. “You’re Mayor Windy Bag!” sneered Scootaloo.

“Yes!” Windy snarled “But then again, I suppose I ought to show a little courtesy, since tonight is the night of triumph.”

“We know what you’re up to!” sneered DD “You’re planning to use a giant ray-gun machine to affect all the ponies and creatures on the planet.”

Windy couldn’t believe what she had just heard. “How do you know that?”

“Well… you just told us right here, confirming” said DD. Windy felt very silly and outraged.

“We got it from your son!” said Scootaloo.

“You lie!” sneered Windy Bag “Lippy would know better than to go against his own mother!”

“After what he told us…” said Applebloom “If he was me, I’d have ya boxed and shipped off a long time ago!”

Windy was really starting to lose her temper.

“Some mother you are!” growled Sweetie Belle “What kind of mother is a violent criminal who care more for her own selfish goals than her own son?!”

“ENOUGH!!” Windy screamed. “I’ve had enough with all this! I’m trying to make the world a better place for all of us, without all the Starfleet, and brainwashing and stupidity, and I can see the sooner, the better!”

She panted heavily trying to catch her breath, and explained that her plan was finally ready to go.

“I’ve always hated Starfleet. They come and destroy our world! They takeover, they put all these laws into effect and they gloat saying how much superior they are compared to us Equestrians! The worst of it is… MANY CREATURES ARE BRAINWASHED INTO ACTUALLY GOING ALONG WITH IT!!”

She caught her breath again, and the girls were starting to quiver in fear.

“Well, my patience has worn thin, and I am going to put an end to all this stupidity for good! For the past four years since United Equestria was formed, I embezzled money that I needed to build the large ray-gun under this village. Now, thanks to Kallanians and the deal I made with them when they first tried to come here, they provided me with extra equipment I needed to enchance my project.

Once this ray is fired all across the planet, it’s specially programmed beam will undo all the brainwashing on all the Equestrians and the truth will finally come out: Starfleet is pathetic and doesn’t deserve to be here. Together, we Equestrians will from a revolution that’ll get those creeps out of here and show them who’s really superior! There will be Liberty. There will be Freedom, and the truth will come out!!”

Hearing all this rambling, the girls officially could see Windy Bag was completely insane and blinded to the truth by her rage and greed!

DD couldn’t help but chuckle.

“What are you laughing at?” growled Windy.

“Just how ridiculous you sound.” replied DD “You actually think this plan of yours will work? It’s already failed. You won’t get people to join your side!”

Outraged, Windy smacked her upside the face, the other girls gasped; DD wasn’t hurt but outraged more. “Let that be a lesson to you…” sneered Windy “…You can’t hide from the truth!”

She then left the shed and locked the door tight, but before she left she yelled to the girls “When I come back… I’ll deal with you trouble makers!”

Then she was gone, and though the girls already could see her plan was a flop, they were still very worried.

“We’ve got to get out of here and warn the others about this witch!” said Sweetie Belle.

“Yeah, but how…” grumbled Scootaloo as she struggle to break free, but the ropes were tied up good and strong, and even DD and Sweetie couldn’t concentrate their magic on the knots of the ropes as they were behind them where they couldn’t make eye contact.

“Girls… I think we’re really stuck now.” cried Applebloom. The girls were inclined to agree. What were they going to do? What COULD they do?

To Be Continued…!

(Promo)

In our next episode: Pony Mykan and the Crusaders attempt to thwart Windy Bag once and for all, but they soon discover things are easier said than done when Windy Bag’s followers attack.

What is the ultimate fate for all involved and United Equestria as well?

Don’t miss the next exciting episode of “Starfleet Magic!”

(Next Episode: “Part 4: The Truth and Freedom”)

Episode 19: Part 4: The Truth and Freedom

“Previously on Starfleet Magic…!”

The Cutiemark Crusaders found their way back to Pony Mykan’s mansion where they found Lippy Sync and learned of the horrible treachery his mother was about to unleash on United Equestria, but before they could alert the authorities they were captured and imprisoned by the crazed Mayor. Meanwhile, after barely succeeded in defeating the strongest Kallanian warrior, human Mykan’s arranged marriage to Princess Avayanna is just around the corner!

EPISODE NINETEEN

Windy Bag had gathered everyone in New White Tail village, at least those whom were supportive of her in hating Starfleet. Every pony, griffin and Minotaur whom lived in the village were gathered at the edge of town, and those that were not loyal stayed home, much to their annoyance, but Windy Bag felt assured they would soon see the light along with the rest of the planet!

The ray gun began to rise from the ground; a large satellite-dish like gun mounted on a generator the size of a small school-house.

The crowd gawked in awe at the sight of the machine, and then applauded for Windy Bag. They hardly even cared that she embezzled money to build it, as they felt it would be all worth it when her plan worked.

“My friends…” Windy Bag announced “Finally, after all this time, all this waiting and planning; things are finally going to go right, and the truth will come out! Once I switch on this beautiful weapon I have built, and it powers up enough… it will cast a powerful wave across our planet that will undo all the brainwashing, and all the idiocy that Starfleet has put into the minds of the Equestrians that they slave drive.

Once that is done, they will join us in a revolution, a rebellion to get every space pony out of this world and we can go back to doing things the way we did before!

…They will fool us no more! The truth will come out! The innocent will be avenged!”

The crowds went wild with cheers and applause, and finally Windy Bag switched the weapon on, but unfortunately it would take a little while to reach full power. All the crowd could do now was wait and admire the machine.

“By the way…” Windy asked Chump “Are the goons about ready to march in and take the mansion?”

Her husband nodded and gave her a thumb-up, and Windy smiled wickedly, almost unable to contain the urge to drool over the wonderful fortune that would soon be hers.

Meanwhile, the goons were near town hall, assembled and ready to infiltrate the mansion by using the trans-portal in the wall. Just five big burly Earth Ponies, four of them listening as their leader gave them instruction.

“Now remember… we’re goin’ up there, and we’re not leaving until that place is cleaned out of everything in it so it’s right for sale! You guys got it?”

The goons all shouted for joy, ready for action, but first they all needed to do a few warmups and get their gear together to infiltrate the mansion with.

While in the shed, the crusaders heard everything. “We can’t let them get away with this?” cried Applebloom, the others agreed, but were still unable to free themselves from the ropes.

Suddenly, Sweetie Belle could hear the soft sound of a faint groan coming from the other end of the shed. She looked up, and just as the street lights outside lit up, the light shone through the window of the shed revealing who else was there.

“Mykan?” cried Sweetie. The others look up and saw him, and Mykan, very wearily looked up at them. He was not exactly thrilled to see them. “You girls again!” he grumbled “Even here, you find me! I can’t even get captured and avoid you pests!”

The girls didn’t take kindly to his attitude towards them. “Hey, we came to help you.” snapped Scootaloo. “And in case you didn’t hear, those goons outside are going to do something bad to your mansion!”

Hearing this only aggravated the weak and starving pony, but there was still hardly anything he could do. “For years I’ve protected my family’s house. I wanted to protect the memory of my mother and father… and it’s all because no one helped me! Not even Celestia! No matter how many letters I sent her, she never replied to me and refused to help save my mother from jail! So I don’t trust anyone; especially a bunch of meddling fillies!”

Now the girls were really starting to feel angry, but before they could protest, “Shh, listen!” cried DD.

The goons had returned, and from the sound of it, they were heavily armed; flashlights and headlights, as well as crowbars, axes, as well as small vacuums to get all the dust and cobwebs.

“Alright, let’s get in there and bust the place up.” The leading goon said, and his men snickered wickedly. Then they all headed for the portal.

“No!” cried DD “Lippy and Ms. Tree Hugger are still up there!”

The other girls felt worrying sweat run down their heads, while Mykan hardly seemed concern either from lack of interest or his pain from weariness.

The portal led the goons into the mansion’s den from. They switched on their lights, and their first impressions of the place were not too thrilling.

“Look at this dump.”

“That freak show’s been pilfering garbage for years.”

“Come on, let’s case this joint.”

The ponies walked forth into the next room, but one of them tripped over a thick black cord in the doorway. He fell, and all the others fell over top of him.

“Hey!”

“What’s the big idea?!”

“Sorry, I… I tripped on this wire.”

The others saw it, and couldn’t understand what a wire was doing in the doorway. “Well, be more careful and use your lights.”

They walked into the main foyer of the house which was just as messy and full of old beaten up furniture. “Okay, let’s get busy.” One of the goons said, and they all split up, covering different sections of the house…

…Unaware that the house had been rigging with makeshift booby traps, made by Lippy and with help from Tree Hugger.

Ever since the Crusaders had been caught, the two of them feared the goons would be back. Unfortunately it was against Tree Hugger’s nature to do such things and cause pain to others, even if it was necessary.

“Sorry, I like can’t do it. It’s not in my charisma, ya know. But I can help you a little…”

So, using her skills in rope-making she used bits of fabrics and sewing threads from within the mansion and gave them all to Lippy, whom used his knowledge and studies of physics, mass and other things to construct the traps all over the mansion.

The two kept well out of sight and watched as the goons walked all over the place not suspecting a thing.

One of the goons kicked a door down and walked into the fireplace room, and he started his vacuum to get the dust that he stirred up, and as he vacuumed he took a liking to the candle holders and fancy boxes on the desks, the metals they were made of, gold and silver. Being a greedy pony he decided to confiscate them.

As he grabbed on candle holder, picking it up, he yanked on a rope that was tied to it.

“Huh?” The good didn’t realize he had just set off another trap. Once the rope was pulled, it spring-launched a large chair on wheels sending it rolling along the room right into the pony and knocking him back into the wall, knocking him out cold!

Two more Goons were upstairs, and came to a fork in the hallway.

“I’ll take this side, you take the other.”

His partner nodded and they split up.

One of the goons walked down the hall, and suddenly he got stuck. His shoes had steeped in a puddle of something very sticky like glue that had been dumped on the floor. He then tried getting out of his shoes only tot hen get his socks stuck to the floor as well. After removing his socks, he made it to a clear part of the floor but as he stepped forth… he stepped a whole bunch of sewing needles spread about.

“YEOW… AY… OHH…!!” He stumbled and leapt about and finally fell backwards onto the glue. Now he was really stuck.

His friend reached the other end of the hallway, and came to a door. He tried to pries it open with his crowbar several times, only to realize the door wasn’t even locked. So he turned the knob, and opened the door… but he didn’t see the doorknob on the other side had a rope tied to it. Once pulled on, the rope pulled open a net hanging over the door with solid blocks of wood and fallen bricks and stones in it, let them loose onto the goon, knocking him out cold.

Another one of the goons kept hearing the loud noises and wondered what was going on in this house as he walked around in dizzy circles, looking high and low, here and there. Finally, he stepped on a floorboard, that sprung him way up, up, up… and crashing head first through the ceiling, leaving him stuck!

Meanwhile, the last goon was not fooled so easily and got out his axe. Very carefully he treaded through the house, and tapping the floor boards as he walked looking for more traps. He found more ropes on the way.

On in a doorway that would have tripped him up again, but he simple hacked it with his axe.

There was another rope that he cut and which flung a door wide open that could have hit him.

“This is too easy.” he chuckled to himself. Finally, he reached the door that was marked, ‘Master Bedroom’ and figuring he had scored an easy win; he marched right inside, only to reveal he had walked into a large closet.

The door suddenly slammed behind him. “Hey!” he shouted, and he pounded at the door, but it just wouldn’t open.

…Lippy and Tree Hugger had slammed the door and wedged it shut with strong stoppers in the bottom. “Now we got’cha…!” Lippy called.

“That’s what you think, you little creep!” shouted the goon and he began to hack at the door with his axe, much to the ponies horrors, and he stuck his head through the hole he made going “Heeeeere’s trouble!”

The two ponies held each other and shrieked as the goon continued to hack his way through the door, but his axe suddenly got stuck. He pulled and yanked on the handle with all his might, finally yanking it too hard pulling it clear off and clunking himself in the head, and he fell to the floor unconscious.

With all five goons subdued, Lippy and Tree Hugger felt more relieved, but Tree Hugger was getting worried about everything else. “I hope my message reached Fluttershy.” she muttered to herself.

Windy Bag’s ray was half charged already. It wouldn’t be long before it fired.

Meanwhile…

Their majesties had returned from making the sun set, and Princess Luna was about ready to take her night watch, but really all the ponies and friends had been on standby for a long time, ever since Mykan had gone up to the mothership, and many of them were starting to grow irritable.

“Six solid hours!” groaned Rainbow Dash “I can’t take this anymore! I just can’t!”

“Steady, Rainbow.” said Lightning “There isn’t much we can do right now. Avyanna could still unleash all those monsters on us.”

“Lightning is right…” said Grand Ruler “I realize how frustrating this must be, but we cannot afford to let our guard down.”

Starla felt more worried about Mykan, “I can’t even begin to imagine what he must be going through already.” Lightning placed a comforting hand on his wife’s shoulders.

“Do you think maybe his plan’s worked out yet?” asked Spike. No one said anything, not knowing what to say or even think.

Suddenly a little bird, a Snow Finch, landed on the windowsill. “Oh, my!” cried Fluttershy as she dashed over to help the little bird. He looked as if he had flown a long, long way… which he had.

“I thought birds like that stayed near mountains?” asked Applejack.

“Wait…” said Fluttershy as the bird began to chirp into her ear. “Yes… go on…”

Suddenly, Fluttershy gasped.

“What? What did he say?
Tell us without delay!” cried Rhymey.

“It’s the Cutiemark Crusaders…!”

Everyone, preferably Applejack, Buddy Rose, Rarity… even Rainbow, gasped in shock.

“What’s happenin’? Are they okay?” cried Applejack.

The bird chirped again and Fluttershy translated “He says they’re in big trouble, they’ve been locked up in a shed in New White Tail Village.”

“New White Tail Village?” snapped Rarity “Whatever are they doing there?”

The bird continued to chirp and told Fluttershy everything, including Mayor Windy Bag’s plan, “What… and Tree Hugger’s with them too?”

Buddy Rose’s heart gave a sickening lurch, “…Tree Hugger!” he cried “Are you sure?”

“I’m positive…” said Fluttershy, and the bird chirped again “He says Tree Hugger gave the message.”

The alarms went off, and Captain Shaina burst into the room. “Your majesties, terrible news!” she said while panting “Patrols have alerted an unidentified object in Sector Three!”

“Sector three? That’s New White Tail Village!” cried Dyno. “Dios Mio! They must’ve seen the super weapon the birdy saw!” added Myte.

Many of the ponies turned to face their majesties, even Celestia expressed her concern and said to her husband, “Celesto… we must act!”

Grand Ruler agreed, and he was willing to even let his wife go herself. “I want you to take half the team to village, the rest of us will stay here on standby should there be trouble from the Kallanians.”

Celestia greed and promised “I will not let you down.”

“I know you will not. I have faith in you.”

Meanwhile, the girls were still trying hard to untie themselves. “Hey, I’ve got an idea.” said Sweetie Belle “Remember what Ms. Tree Hugger taught us in yoga…?”

“How is yoga gonna help us get outta’ here?” asked Applebloom.

“Just trust me on this…” said Sweetie “Okay, find your center…” the others did as they were told, except for Mykan who, was so weak from hunger he could hardly lift his head.

“Okay, deep breath in…” said Sweetie, and she and the others all took in huge breaths, “And let it go slow…”

They repeated these breathing turns over and over several times. “Now, find your center and take in the air…” as the girls sucked it in slowly, their arms and bodies seemed to loosen up like becoming strings of cooked spaghetti, enabling them to slip their arms past the ropes to freedom.

“It worked!” cried DD “Let’s get these knots loose!”

With their arms now free, the girls were barely able to reach the knots on their ropes behind their chairs, and they were soon free. “Golly! It feels so good to be out of there.” said Applebloom.

“But… how to we get out of here? We’re still locked in!” cried Scootaloo.

While she, Sweetie and Applebloom worked on the door, DD excused herself to untie Mykan. Once he was untied he fell out of his chair and flat on the floor, still weak and sore from lack of nourishment.

“Take it easy, it’ll be alright.” DD said as she helped him up a bit.

“Why… are you doing this?” he hissed softly “I told you I didn’t want to be helped!”

“Well, too bad! That’s what we crusaders are known for, and we’re going to help you out of here too!”

Mykan was growing annoyed and very miserable “I told you, there’s no point now! They’ve got my house, and even if I got out of here… what then?”

The girls all pushed on the door together, kicking and punching it. Applebloom gave it a good old-fashioned bucking, but the door barely budged. “It’s no good, we can’t open it up.” said Sweetie. “We have to keep trying.” said Scootaloo.

So they continued to push at the door, and still it didn’t budge!

DD lost all her patience and removed Mykan’s dark goggles, exposing his pale, tiresome eyes. “A’rgh!” he groaned. It had been so long since he had taken them off, and even at night the slight brightness felt bad to him “What are you doing?!” he snarled.

“Opening your eyes…!” DD said deeply at him. “We’ve been trying to help you for a long time now, but all you do is push us away like we’re the enemy.”

“How can I trust anyone?” growled Mykan “When I asked for help, no one gave it to me! Not even Celestia. I sent all those letters and she ignored me!”

“She didn’t ignore your letters, she never got them!” DD finally said, which made Mykan pause for a brief moment. “What did you say…?”

“She never got your letters.” She explained to Mykan what she had been told from Lippy, of how his mother had bribed the mail pony and intercepted every letter he ever sent to Celestia.

Mykan was in deep shock, “What?”

“It’s true! She wanted to claim your mansion so badly, but she knew if your mother got out of jail she wouldn’t get it. So she did her best to make sure she stayed in prison.”

“WHAT?!” snarled Mykan.

“It’s true…” DD said “She did it all! She stopped you from trying to save your mother.”

At once, Mykan no longer felt any pain from his hunger, or any weariness as his entire body was now flooding with a seething rage!

He bolted up right, roaring like a lion, and ran straight at the door-- the crusaders jumped out of his way-- and he crashed straight through it as if to him it was made of paper.

Looking of in the direction of where light was shining from the giant ray-gun, he knew that was where he had to go… ready to break Windy Bag limb-from-limb.

“Whoa, I think he’s really gonna do it!” cried Applebloom, and even she and the girls knew this was too much and they had to try and stop him.

Meanwhile, Windy Bag’s ray-gun had fully powered-up. “YES!!” she screamed “IT IS TIME!!”

The crowd cheered ever so loud with joy and excitement and Windy Bag activated the firing controls, “LET THE TRUTH BE SHOWN!!”

With that, the gun unleashed its powerful rays in a wave of light that spread all across the planet, hitting everything in sight.

“What’s that?!” cried Scootaloo. She and the girls ducked as the light hit them… and many creatures all across the planet could see the light heading their way, and were enveloped by the brightness before they could do a thing!

When the light had ceased, Windy smiled the biggest smile she had ever smiled “I’VE DONE IT!! I’VE FINALLY DONE IT!!” she squealed, but the crowds did not cheer much to her confusion.

She turned round and there stood Queen Celestia and her team-- Buddy Rose, Applejack, Rarity, Spike, Rainbow Dash, Rhymey and Fluttershy-- all glaring at her. “Sorry to burst your bubble, Windy Bag…” Celestia said “But I’m afraid you’ve really done nothing at all.”

“What?!” snarled Windy Bag. She realized that Celestia was still on the side of Starfleet, and even Fluttershy was still standing next to Rhymey. “This can’t be! You should’ve been cleansed of all the brainwashing!”

Applejack rolled her eyes “Wake up, lady! No one was ever brainwashed… well except for you that is; brainwashed by your delusions and stupidity!”

Windy Bag and the crowds could not believe this, and if they had seen all over the planet they would have fainted in shock. Not a single Equestrian creature-- neither Pony, nor Griffon, Dragon, and all the rest of them-- were acting like she hoped they would be. They weren’t hating Starfleet, they weren’t turning against the Space Ponies. They were all just acting like nothing had happened at all.

“Starfleet never brainwashed anyone, Windy Bag.” sneered Fluttershy, and she looped her arms around Rhymey showing that her feelings for him were genuine, out of her own accord!

“This… this is insane!” cried Windy Bag “I’ve got to be dreaming! The truth needs to come out!”

“The truth is that you’re a whacked-out nutcase!” snarled Rainbow.

Windy Bag finally snapped—having finally lost whatever was left of her sanity-- and motioned to the crowds “GET THEM!!!”

The mob, equally as insane as she was, rushed forth, and the ponies had no choice but to put up a fight! “Take it easy…” Celestia cautioned the fighters “We don’t want to hurt them very badly.”

Everyone agreed and stood their ground.

Try as they did, armed with all their pitchforks, brooks, torches and other weapons, the villagers didn’t have a chance, especially not against Celestia. She used her powerful magic to freeze many of the villagers in their place.

The other alicorns, including Rarity used their magic to trap more of the villagers in dome barriers.

Applejack simply roped those who came at her with her rope. “YEE-HAW!! Round ‘em up, girl!”

Many villagers attempted to rush Spike, but one burst of his Dragon Fire made them all cower and run like babies. “Wimps…!” Spike scoffed.

Rainbow and Fluttershy merely walked casually along as many villagers tried to rush them and hit them with their weapons, only for the weapons to break to pieces upon hitting the girls’ super solid bodies. The girls didn’t even have to raise a fist either. When a villager tried to punch them… CLANG… it was like hitting a steel wall.

Rainbow could only yawn “Wow, I am so bored.”

Fluttershy hated that all the villagers were hurting themselves like this, but when she tried to reach out and be nice with them, she only got more scoffing and more who tried to attack her, and failed.

In the midst of the fighting, some of the villagers carelessly threw their torches into the shrubbery, causing the plants to catch a blaze and putting the homes and buildings in danger!

Windy Bag could not believe this was happening, and it only got worse as she saw more Starfleet officers coming in to aid in the fight and round up all the criminals and put out the fires. “I’m not beat yet!” she sneered, and she began to work at the machine.

“What are you doing?” asked Chump.

“This baby’s got a double function. Now I can turn it into a death-ray!”

Chump and Biffy were shocked at what they heard. “Did you say death ray?”

“Yes!!” shouted Windy “If we can’t get rid of Starfleet, we’ll get rid of everything! I’ll have Liberty, or I’ll have Death!”

Even her family thought this was going a bit too far. “Honey, don’t!” shouted Chump as he tried to stop her, but she pushed him away. “Death is the better solution!” Windy snarled “It’s better than living in a world corrupted by all these Space atrocities!”

“Mom, Don’t!” shouted Biffy, but he saw his mother raising the control box, ready fire… when suddenly, a rock hit her hand and she dropped the box!

It was the Crusaders, and Lippy! “No, Mom…! Enough is enough!” he snarled.

“Lippy!” shouted his mother “What do you think you’re doing?”

“Something I should’ve done… a long time ago: STANDING UP TO YOU AND YOUR STUPIDITY!!”

Windy screeched and lunged for him, but the Crusaders jumped on her, tackling her to the ground and actually began to beat her!

“This is for poisoning me!” shouted DD as she gave her good punch to the face.

Chump a Biffy, though still shocked ay Windy’s actions, did not want to see her getting beat on and they rushed in, knocking the crusaders aside and fighting them all.

Tree Hugger tried to intervene, but got punched hard in the face by Chump and she was knocked to the ground.

Buddy Rose saw this! “…TREE HUGGER!! GIRLS!!” and he rushed over, passing all the villagers and knocked the two ponies away from the girls, knocking them clean out cold!

The girls, badly bruised, ran over to him and hugged him warmly. “What about Ms. Tree Hugger?” cried Sweetie.

Tree Hugger got up, rubbing her cheek “Like ouch, man!” she groaned. At least she was okay, but Winjdy bag had already grabbed the control box and activated the death-ray to fire. “GOODBYE!!” she shouted.

“NO!!” shouted Celestia as she saw the ray about to fire, but even she couldn’t get to it in time, and she didn’t have too! The ray began to power down and wouldn’t fire.

“What?” snapped Windy. She pounded the controls to make the gun fire, but it still wouldn’t. Then she found out why…

Lippy had snuck round to the machine, having studied its blueprints in the office at town hall, and sabotaged the machine. “Game’s up, mom!” he snarled, and then he actually kicked her in the leg… something he had always wanted to do.

“I’ll kill you! I kill you, you little brat!” she snarled as she gave chase. He son ran for cover, but Mykan leapt down right in her way, glaring at her with his burning eyes. “Murderer!” he sneered.

“You!” cried Windy. She tried to rush him, but Mykan actually shoved her hard into machine. He then grabbed her and threw her hard!

Then he picked up an axe he saw on the ground, seemingly ready for the kill! “This… is for MY MOTHER!!” and he swung the axe… hitting the machine.

“Mykan!” cried Buddy Rose.

“This… is for The Cutiemark Crusaders!” he struck the machine again; knocking it’s platting off and exposing its internal wires. “No!! STOP!!” cried Windy Bag. She tried to rush him, but he kicked her hard.

“This is for Starfleet!”

WHAMM!

“Mykan, don’t!” cried Buddy Rose, but Mykan took another swing shouting “This is for United Equestria!”

WHAMM!!

The machine was starting to rumble and spark. “IT’S GONNA BLOW!!” shouted Buddy Rose “RUN!!”

Everyone, Even the villagers began to run for it!

Windy Bag, overcome with outrage tried to grab the axe and pull it out of Mykan’s hands screaming “I’LL SMASH YOU TO PIECES… SO HELP ME!!”

Struggling against her Mykan glared her deep in the eyes, dropping the axe, and grabbing Windy by the collar! “And this… this is for you!”

“NO!!"

“...Something you’ve always wanted: THE TRUTH AND FREEDOM!!”

“NOOOOO…!!!”

With such powerful force, Mykan slammed Windy into machine so hard that the machine went berserk, and began to fall to pieces, and it exploded in a huge flash, sending a small shockwave across the sector, making everyone fall over and causing a ton of collateral damages to the nearby homes and buildings.

What a mess it was, but as everyone got back to their feet, one-by-one, all the villagers whom went along with Windy Bag and were part of the attack were arrested and taken into custody… including the children!

Rarity was panting angrily as she hauled in her load of prisoners. “Honey, take it easy. It’ll be fine.” said Spike, but his wife glared at him and shouted “Fine…? FINE?! Look at me, I’m a mess!” and she as too. Her mane and her tail were all tangled and ruffled about from the shockwave, and she had dirt on her face from falling in the mud.

Applejack couldn’t help but chuckle “Look at it this way, it just means a job well done.” The others, even Celestia, couldn’t help but snicker. Rarity was not amused.

Windy Bag, though she was closer to the explosion than anyone, miraculously survived the blast and the shock-wave. She was in such a mess; her mane and tail were ruffled, her suit was all tattered, she was bruised badly from being beaten up. She was alive though, but as she tried to crawl away to safety, Buddy Rose came in and apprehended her. “You wanted the truth, well here it is: You’re under arrest!”

His horn glowed and he cuffed her hands together at the wrists with a light-band

Windy Bag was so outraged, but she saw all her followers were apprehended, even the ones she sent up to the mansion: She had literally no way out of this one, and nothing she could say would make a difference.

“Mykan!” cried DD. Everyone turned, and saw the Crusaders huddled around poor Mykan. He was close to the explosion as well, but he looked worse than Windy Bag did. He just lay on the ground barely breathing. He looked as if he had been bombarded by a swarm of meteors.

Celestia approached the girls and the fallen pony, “We’ve got to get him to the hospital, quickly!” she cried, and the others all agreed. The Crusaders went along as well to get a little treatment for the bruises they sustained in battle. Tree Hugger was alright, her face wasn’t too swollen. A little icepack helped it, but the friends were waiting seemingly a long time for the doctors to come out and deliver the news.

The Crusaders told the queen the issue with Mykan and his mother, and Celestia was deeply shocked, “His letters were intercepted?!” she asked in disbelief.

“It’s true, your majesty.” replied Lippy “I saw it as much myself a long time ago. My mother did it all.”

Celestia felt outraged at Windy Bag for doing such a thing, and she felt even worse for Mykan. That’s when Dr. Penny came out, with a very sad expression on her face. “Is he okay, Doctor?” asked Sweetie Belle “Please say he’s alright…?”

Penny hung her head low “His internal injuries were much too severe, and that coupled with his malnourishment and the traumatic stress, his immune-system is completely destroyed.”

The girls didn’t like the sound of that at all, even though they didn’t understand the complicated words. “Will he… will he live?” cried Applebloom. Tears were brimming in her eyes, the other girls too, but as much as it hurt her to do so, Penny shook her head and said “...He’s already gone.”

Everyone felt their bloods run cold. The girls fell to their knees and cried softly. “Oh, girls…!” Buddy Rose cried as he held them tightly, and Tree Hugger joined them. She felt so bummed out; even she couldn’t find any inner-peace therapy for this!

Celestia felt equally as heart-broken, and she was now more than determined to make Windy Bag rue the day she committed such crimes!

“He did want you girls to have this.” Penny said as she handed the crusaders a little letter. “In his last minutes he asked we write this and give it to you.”

The girls read the letter…

Dear Little Ponies, I never really got your names…

By the time you read this, it means I’ve already gone, but I did not wish to leave without this being said.

I wish to apologize whole-heartily to you, and everyone else whom I was harsh to. Only too late did I realize you were only trying to help me, and you really did help me.

I had been such a fool, all that time I had been misled by the criminal acts of someone else, and I let it control me. But thanks to your help and the helps of others, my mother has been avenged, and I will now join her and my father.

As I depart now, I wish to compensate you girls for having helped me the most. My mansion is now yours to use. Do as you wish with it.

…All my thanks to you girls: Mykan Stevens!

The girls were totally speechless, as were all the others.

The girls smiled while crying. They would never forget Mykan for this, and neither would all of United Equestria.

Still, things were not all well yet. The other Mykan Stevens was still in danger, as well as the rest of the planet.

To Be Continued…!

(Promo)

In our next episode: Mykan’s wedding to Princess Avyanna begins but when Mykan flees from the altar things begin to heat up as he is confronted by a swarm of escaped monsters, which lead shim to the discovery of the tractor beam and Avyanna plans to carry out her ultimate plan to conquer United Equestria.

How can Mykan possibly save himself from the impending devastations?

Don’t miss the next exciting episode of “Starfleet Magic!”

(Next Episode: “Final Part: Strange Things Happen”)

Episode 20: Final Part: Strange Things Happen

“Previously on Starfleet Magic…!”

After capturing the Cutiemark Crusaders, Windy Bag revealed her plan to use a powerful ray in hopes of convincing all the people of United Equestria to turn against Starfleet, which failed miserably. In an act of insanity, Windy launched a full rebellion aginast the fighters, only to wind up defeated by her son and Pony Mykan Stevens who lost his life in the process. However, while all this is happening, Human Mykan Stevens is about to be wed to the Kallanian Princess.

EPISODE TWENTY

All the damages caused by Windy Bag’s antics were being cleaned up and repaired, but until they were complete, New White Tail Village was closed off to everyone. Even the innocent beings that had nothing to do with the plot and were rather supportive of Starfleet had to go stay with friends, or their summer cottages, and those that had no place to go stayed in Starfleet’s emergency shelters, which was like a large underground hotel where they could stay until all was fixed.

“We understand.” they would say.

“We’re just thankful you helped put an end to the nonsense before something really bad happened.”

As for those whom were arrested, they were kept in detention until the world high trial would begin, but things were already looking gloomy for most of them. However most of them were even given the choice between prison, or rehabilitation and community service.

Their children of the village, being too young for such prosecution or proceedings, they were immediately sentenced to rehabilitation courses; to help them learn the actual the truth about Starfleet, be more appreciative and realize things were not as bad as they claimed.

Arrangements were also being made with foster homes for the children, since it looked as if many of the adults would in jail for quite some time, especially Lippy’s entire family as they were the brains behind all this, but Lippy didn’t mind a bit and was looking forward to starting anew, with a loving and nurturing family that he could be proud to be part of.

Still, the big trial could not be held yet, not with the Kallanian’s at large and their threat still in effect.

Avyanna was in her chambers preparing herself for the wedding ceremony, casually humming the wedding march theme as she applied her makeup. She liked the look of her reflection…

“Mirror, Mirror on the wall
Who’s the prettiest ruler of all?” she teased to herself.

There was a knock at her door, making her features go sour. “Enter!”

Mayne entered to say “The preparations are complete, your highness. The wedding ceremony is ready to proceed.”

“Good, and while the ceremony is taking place, have the monsters ready to disembark. United Equestria shall now rue the day they ever stood up to me.”

Mayne bowed and left the room.

*Mykan’s POV*

I was kept under close detainment and heavy guard as I prepped for the wedding ceremony. I was wearing a white outfit with short sleeves, a golden belt and small red cape that only reached as far as the end of my back.

The unsuspecting aliens still knew nothing about what I had done, but so far I had not seen or heard a thing from any of the fairies I had unleashed. I was beginning to think maybe they didn’t make it; all those monsters after all.

Suddenly, the door to my chambers burst open and in came Mayne. “It is time.” he said sharply at me. I could sense the jealousy he was feeling and I just had to goad at him. “How does it feel, Mayne; seeing the princess married off to someone else, or the entire Kallanian Empire fall into the hands of an Earthling?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Mayne said “I am but a humble servant to the princess. I have no such desires.”

“Really, you could’ve fooled me. Come on, Mayne, it’s the empire you want. You could just take it.”

Maybe snickered softly at me “I prefer to wait for what is really yet to come: Your execution.” With that said, he led me out of the room and down the halls. Along the way, I noticed many monsters marching down the hallway heading for another area, most likely the room where the tractor-beam was with all its control.

I was sure now that the fairies had failed, however as I continued to be escorted down the hall I noticed one or two of the fairies hiding up along the huge ventilation shafts, and they gave me a thumb up saying everything would be okay, and to just play it cool.

As confused as I was, because of the monsters I saw, I had to trust them and played it cool.

The wedding ceremony was held in the princess’ very bed chamber, all the guests were the servants, a few guards, and even Varak was there.

I was positioned at the end of the room, and Mayne got the headband Avyanna promised I would have for my wedding band, the one that had the power to kill me if I acted badly.

“Let us begin!” Mayne announced. At his words, the guests all parted, huddling on either side of the red carpet that was spread from where I stood all the way to the door.

There was no music and nothing too fancy going on as the doors opened wide, and there she was, dressed a lovely blue gown with white streaks around the skirt. Half of her long brown hair was piled up high on her head, the rest was French breaded into four long threads that playfully draped down in front of her, and she wore a lovely white lily on the side.

“Whoa…” I couldn’t help but say under my breath as I watched her walk down the aisle, along the red carpet. The many guests bowed to her as she passed them, and she then was standing with me at the other end. “Mmm… you look marvellous, Mykan.” she said to me. I couldn’t help but smile at her, “Thanks, so do you.”

She fluttered her eyes at me, but neither she nor anyone else, except me, noticed the two fairies I spotted earlier creeping into the room.

Mayne cleared his throat, as he being Avyanna’s minister and right-hand would be conducting the ceremony. “Those who are about be joined… prepare yourselves. We shall commence with phase three.” he then faced me, holding the band in his hand. “Mykan Stevens, for having singled out by the royal council of Kallan, and for having proved your worthiness in battle, you shall be joined with Princess Avyanna in the bonds of matrimony… forever.”

“Talk about shotgun weddings.” I joked.

Mayne then raised the band preparing to place it on my head. “With this band, you will swear your loyalty, your affections, and your eternal devotion tot to the princess. Dare you reject this which is being given to you…?”

Just as the band was about to be fastened around my head, one of the two fairies switched off the lights making it totally dark in the room, and then both fairies used their magic to sneakily teleport me outside into the hallway.

Another one of the friends showed up, towing a ray gun she had taken from the armory for me to use. “I like you guys, but you sure came close.” I said as we dashed down the halls. While back inside, the aliens got the lights back on. “Go after him!” Mayne shouted, and everyone rushed out of the room.

Avyanna was most frustrated and growled softly as she pulled up part of her dress and joining the chase.

The alarms sounded and guards rushed to arms, running all down the hallway. Of course being in a big ship like that many of the guards ran down other hallways than the one I was running through, and any guards that came my way, I just stunned them with one blast from my gun, and the little fairies protected me with their own magic-- intercepting the rays as they came at me.

…they were trained very specially for speed.

“This way…!” one of the fairies said to me.

I followed the fairies down the hallways, stunning more guards along the way. I found we were heading down the hallway I saw the monsters marching down.

“After we found them…” one of the fairies said “…We figured it best to wait until they led us to the tractor beam’s location. Then we sprung our trap on them: We knocked out the guards and apprehended all the beasts.”

“Well that explains a lot.” I said “So you got them all?”

“Yes, most of our team has all the monsters. They are waiting for us near the hangar-bay.”

“Good, now let’s put that tractor beam out of action and get out of here!” I said.

I rushed down the hall with the fairies, and soon we infiltrated the room where the tractor beam and its controls rested. “It’s incredible...” I murmured as I admired the scene.

The weapon was a large central turbine mechanism that was straight into the wall powering up a huge cannon where the beam came out from beneath she ship. The turbine seemed to be powered by a combination of circuitry and energy generated by the pulse-light beams. How the rest of it worked was a mystery.

The control console that worked it seemed pretty straight forward as well, but I didn’t wish to run the risk of blasting it with my gun for fear of starting a chain-reaction that would blow up the whole ship.

“Stand back, it’s about to get wild!” I said to the fairies, and I began to smash the controls, pulling out wires and damaging circuitry, causing the lights to flicker a bit!

“He’s in there!” someone shouted from outside the door. “He’s messing with the weapon!”

Two of the fairies rushed to the door and set up a small barrier to prevent the guards getting in, but it wouldn’t hold for long. “Hurry… Keep going!” the last fairy said to me, and I continued to smash the controls and pulling out bits and pieces to the console and the turbine.

The turbine began to lose power and sparked a lot, but not dangerously, and it began to fall to pieces. Before long I had made a huge pile of junk on the floor. “Okay, do it!” I said to the fairies. The fairies nodded and used their warping powers to transport the junk pile, via two way portal, into the ship’s massive incinerator --knowing where it was from the blueprints we read-- destroying them for good and leaving the tractor beam itself hopelessly beyond repair.

Just in time as well, the barrier at the door was starting to weaken. “Okay, to the hangar bay!” I shouted, and we teleported away in time as the guards flooded in.

Since the fairies could neither warp me nor themselves back to United Equestria-- as Dimensional Pathways could only connect to planets and moons, but not vehicles-- and with the tractor beam out of action, we’d have to take one of the shuttle-wingers from the hanger.

The second we appeared in the hangar-bay however, we found Avyanna and her many guards, as well as Mayne and Varak standing there waiting for us, and all the many fairies held imprisoned within a large barrier sphere, and a second sphere beside theirs containing many prison spheres that held the massive army of monsters they had captured.

“I’d advise you to throw down your weapon, Mykan.” Avyanna said. With no alternative and being vastly outnumbered, I dropped my gun to the floor, and the fairies discarded their wands.

“It’s a real pitty it’s come to this.” said Avyanna “We could have made such a good couple, and you could have had so much.”

“Well, I guess I had cold feet.” I said, but the aliens were not amused. “I must admit your plot was very clever. It’s a pity you won’t make it back to tell the tale.”

Two of the guards took me, and another clasped the other three fairies and tossed them into the barrier with the others.

However, Varak looked at me with pity, and I gazed at him. This made him remember our battle and how I wouldn’t kill him.

In a swift move he grabbed Avyanna, holding her hostage by the neck. “What are you doing?!” she snarled at him “Release me!”

The guards all turned their attention to her and pointed their guns at Varak. “No, don’t!” shouted Mayne “You may hit the princess.”

I gazed pitifully at Avyanna, and she gazed back at me finally seeing what this was about.

“Don’t feel too downhearted, “I said to her “There may be other times, other chances…”

Frustrated, but realizing she was beaten once again, “Let him go.”

“Princess?” snapped Mayne.

“I said let him go!” sneered Avyanna. Obeying her orders, the guards dropped all their weapons, and released the fairies and the prison-spheres of monsters.

I approached Avyanna with a final message for her from Grand Ruler Celesto and Queen Celestia. “By word of their royal majesties: You have six hours to get your ship out of Starfleet Territories and never return, or face the consequences, and your diplomatic immunity won’t help you if you choose otherwise. So for your sake I suggest you go.”

She didn’t seem very angry with me, but rather impressed and she agreed to leave without fuss. “You were quite right; there will be other times, other chances. You may go.”

Not wanting to waste more time I headed for the shuttlecraft, which the fairies had already stocked with all the spheres, and they themselves all fit together in the rear cockpit, but I stopped a moment at Varak, and I nodded at him, “Thank you.”

Varak gazed sharply at me and said “I owed you a life. We are even now.” He turned away and said nothing more.

With that, I took one last gaze over at the princess, and soon I was on my way, and Avyanna made no attempts to shoot at me or retaliate. I could tell what she was thinking while she gazed at me; still believing that one day I would be hers, which I felt would not be likely.

As I headed back down to United Equestria, I watched as the Kallanium II turned round and soared off into space as was ordered.

When I got back to the planet, there was a great reception waiting for me. Crowds were cheering for me, and many spectators had signs and banners saying things like…

“WELCOME BACK, MYKAN.”

“HAIL TO THE HERO!”

Pinkie Pie went crazy throwing endless amounts of confetti, and the Wonderbolts saluted by soaring across the sky making multicolored vapour trails.

As I exited the shuttle with the fairies, the royal council approached. We were pleased to turn over all the monsters to their possession so they could send back to the prison where they belonged.

“Well done, Mykan, very well done.” Grand Ruler said “You took a very calculated risk, and I must say things couldn’t have possibly been cut any closer. Nevertheless, thanks to you and your allies the Kallanian’s are gone, their tractor beam weapon is destroyed, and the monsters are apprehended.”

Celestia approached me carrying a cushion with a golden medal of the Starfleet insignia and a bright star at the bottom of it. “In recognition for your bravery resourcefulness in thwarting off the enemies, we award you with the golden insignia as a symbol and token of our appreciation and respect. Do you accept?”

I loved the look of that medal, but I gazed up at the queen and nodded proudly, and Princess Luna took the medal and pinned it onto my outfit, and she pecked my cheeks.

“Heh, shucks folks, I’m speechless.” I joked.

Everyone else shared a laugh, and in the midst of things, Lightning nodded over at me with pride, and I nodded back at him.

Though there was cause to celebrate, now was not the time. There was still much to do.

*POV Ends*

A week later, the world high trial commenced to decide Windy Bag’s fate for her flagrant acts of war. Her alliance with the Kallanians that nearly destroyed the whole planet, and as well as the following charges…

-Embezzlement of money and taxes.
-Fraud and Extortion
-Interception of important mail
-Kidnapping
-Child Abuse
-Attempted Murder, including to Queen Celestia
-Homicidal/Genocidal Acts
-Disregard and Destruction for People and Property

Everyone all felt that this would be a definite open-and-shut case! It was plain from the start to see that Windy Bag and her followers were horrid criminals and terrorists who resorted to treason and treachery to eliminate those who disagreed with them, and concerned with increasing their own images and obtaining rule!

This was all further proven by the fact that Windy was willing to kill her own fellow Equestrians, including The Queen, when she could not convince them to side with her resentment towards Starfleet!

Still, as Windy Bag demanded justice and it was only fair to do so despite the facts as the Chairman Pony of the Supreme Panel of Judges stated, “We shall quietly observe the evidence, we shall question witnesses and hear their stories, but mind you all we must keep facts in mind of the results of these charges. One pony is dead… many others were injured and left temporarily without their homes. This case is no doubt among the most serious there shall ever be of.”

The judges sighed in boredom, as did most on the council and those who, had gathered. Even their majesties felt this trial was somewhat pointless, but agreed to it. “The trial is now open.” Grand Ruler said.

Indeed the case was open-and-shut! Windy Bag was asked to take the stand and declare the reasons for her actions, and she sat in the special chair linked to the memory machine that would detect if she attempted to lie.

Already she was found guilty of all the crimes she was charged with, and the memory machine provided with ample and accurate portrayals of her misdeeds! Among them all was the poison food bag which she intended for Pony Mykan Stevens to take, but it was DD who ended up accidently ingesting the food and getting sick.

This greatly angered Buddy Rose and DD, but easily the entire courtroom was outraged by such actions!

Called to testify were none other than The Cutiemark Crusaders, Tree Hugger, and Lippy Sync, and their testimonies as well as their memories shown on the machine confirmed Windy’s treachery.

In her final statement, Windy had this to say.

“I did what I did because I do not approve of how this world is! We were all doing very well until Starfleet came and took over. Now look at us! We are forced into martial law by these overlords; we are treated as inferiors and slaves! All I demanded and fought for was for our Liberty and our Freedom, so that all involved could see Starfleet for what it really is!”

Lightning stood up and declared; “I believe I speak on behalf of everyone here and across the planet in saying… What you fought for was neither Liberty nor Freedom, but rather acts of terrorism, insanity, all based around bigotry and prejudice behaviour.”

Starla stood and added her piece. "There already is enough Liberty in United Equestria, and we fight for justice and freedom... but you... the fact that you refuse to realize this and coupled with what you've done; all I feel for you is sorry!"

Everyone applauded the two for what they had said, even the Equestrian ponies, much to Windy Bag’s annoyance and disgust.

Grand Ruler then stood and called to the Judges, “Will the Panel need to deliberate?”

“We see no need. We have decided on our verdict.” said the Chairman.

“You may proceed.” said Celestia. Everyone in the court stood waiting to final word from the Chairman. “It is the ruling of the supreme world high court of United Equestria that the defendant, Mayor Windy Bag, is found GUILTY of all charges, and is sentenced to prison and hard labor FOR LIFE!!”

Windy Bag was outraged as were all those who sided with her. Still, having aided her and proven to be equally as guilty as she, they were still given the choice between jail for a long time, not for life, or the rehabilitation program and community service. Many chose prison, as they were too stubborn to admit, accept, or be shown that maybe they were wrong.

…While everyone else in the entire courtroom cheered and applauded as Windy Bag was taken away. Handshakes and hugs were shared, and the crusaders cheered and cheered for joy.

Tree Hugger remained calm and cool, but she was just as happy that all was well… almost everything. Apart from it being tragic that Pony Mykan had died… she gazed through the crowd at Buddy Rose as he was shaking hands with the council and accepting congratulatory words. After all this time he still didn’t seem to be willing to accept her.

She decided to step out for a breath of air to help clear her mind, but Buddy Rose saw her leave the courtroom.

He suddenly felt Applejack give him a small nudge. “Go on…” she said “Go get her, boy.”

Buddy stammered but there was nothing he could possibly say that would convince anyone otherwise. Even he knew that he cared for Tree Hugger now.

“You’ll make her really happy.” said Artie.

Rhymey nodded and said…

“Let this be a new beginning for you.
And not just you, but Tree Hugger too.”

Everyone nodded at him, telling him to go for it, and Buddy wasted no time and headed straight for the doors.

Tree Hugger had already left the Supreme Hall of Justice, and was heading down the path feeling a little more down.

“Tree Hugger…!” Buddy called to her.

She stopped and saw him running up to her. “Whoa, like, what’s up?” she asked. Panting, Buddy Rose said “I… I have to tell you something.”

“Ah, it’s cool, you don’t have to.” Tree said, and she turned to leave, but he grabbed her hand stopping. “No… wait. I want to say this.” He paused and looked her deep in the eyes, “…You win.”

Tree raised any eyebrow in confusion “I win…? What…?”

Not taking his eyes off hers Buddy said, “When I was little, my grandmother used to tell me “In life, strange things happen. We never know where they’re going to hit us, but when they do your life just may change for the better.”

Tree Hugger blinked twice with wide eyes “Um… I’m still not catching it.”

Buddy Rose sighed “Well… let me put it you this way.” He said, holding her by her hips, and bringing his lips to hers, much to her surprise. Yet, she closed her eyes and kissed him back.

When they separated, her eyes were tinkling softly and her cheeks went pink. “Whoa…” that was all she could say, but Buddy had plenty to say to her. “Tree Hugger… something strange has happened to me: You.

-You’re great with kids
-Your housekeeping skills are outstanding
-You’ve got a knack with animals, nature and farming
-You can help people feel better with inner peace

You even know me better than I thought you did, and I’ve seen a lot in you now. You’re more like me than I ever imagined, and I really like that.”

“So… does that like… mean…?” she asked him, her eyes twinkling in anticipation and her heart beating really fast.

He smiled ever so lovingly at her and said, “Tree Hugger… you win. Let’s get married.”

Tears of happiness leaked down her cheek, but all she could murmur was “…Far-out.”, and she pulled him into another kiss.

Unfortunately, the moment was interrupted the sound of their friends cheering for them as they came up to them.

“Oh, Tree Hugger…!” Fluttershy cried as she hugged her friend “I’m so happy for you!”

Buddy Rose received a ton of hugs and handshakes, and another nudge from Applejack, “Way to go cowboy.”

Buddy smiled.

Pinkie bounced with glee and asked impatiently “When is it? When’s the big day.”

Buddy Rose and Tree Hugger looked at each other and both said, “Tomorrow.”

Everyone froze with shock.

“What?!” snapped Rarity “Tomorrow?! But you… this simply isn’t! You can’t get married tomorrow!”

“There’s no dress, no catering, no arrangements…” added Starla. Even Lightning was shocked by this and said “There’s no way you can pull all that off.”

Tree Hugger chuckled and said “Like, clam down everyone…” and she gazed back at Buddy Rose “Strange Things can happen after all.”

He nodded at her, and they shared another kiss…

…The very next day, they were sharing their wedding kiss at the altar at New Ponyville Town hall, which was miraculously decked up and everything.

Everyone began to applaud to the newlyweds, Rarity wiped her eyes. Applejack could hardly hold it in and begun to blubber like a little filly. “It’s just so darn beautiful!” she sobbed.

“Eeyup…” Big Mac cried.

Though this was all so lovely, Lightning asked Fluttershy “How did all this happen so quickly again?”

“Oh, it’s simple…” Fluttershy replied and she told the others what Tree Hugger had told her…

Ever since she decided she wanted to get married, Tree Hugger had been planning her own wedding for a while. She already had her many hippie friends on her guest list as well as her other friends as well. She made a special booking with town hall that would be decked and ready any time she needed with all the ponies helping. Mayor Mare even performed the ceremony. Tree Hugger also had catering prepared and kept frozen ever since. Mostly vegetarian dishes, but she allowed the Cakes to add some of their fine confectioning as well, which was easy and quick to fix.

She even had her wedding dress made and kept it well fitted. It was long and silky with beautiful white flowers decked around the hem at the waist. The dress had long tulle sleeves that sparkled like dewdrops. Her veil was long and just as sparkling running all the way to the floor and was held in place on her head by a band of white roses.

It was also natural that Fluttershy would be one of her bridesmaids, and any other things --the best stallion, ring bearer, flower fillies-- they would be dealt with easily, and they were.

Rhymey was Best Stallion, the crusaders were flower fillies, and Lippy Sync was the ring bearer.

Other than those…Tree Hugger had practically everything ready in-waiting. All she needed was a Groom, and now she had one. Everything was going just fine… except when Mayor Mare gasped when he realized “…The rings!”

Buddy Rose and his bride gasped softly.

“Oh, the rings!” cried Tree Hugger.

Buddy looked behind him, “…Lippy, the rings.”

“Oops… sorry.” said Lippy and he handed the rings to Rhymey who passed them to the groom. Buddy and Tree smiled at little Lippy who felt a little shy, but he turned to face his new foster family sitting in the front row; his foster folks whom were loving and caring and glad to have him in their lives, and his new younger foster sister whom was playful and funny and wonderful to share with, and they smiled proudly at him.

The bride and groom then gave each other the rings and shared another kiss for everyone, and the cheering never ceased.

*Mykan’s POV*

I was very happy for Buddy Rose, and Tree Hugger too, but I was applauding a little slower, and I felt a little bit down.

“Are you alright, Mykan?” asked Celestia.

I looked up at her and smiled sadly, “I’ll be okay.” Then I turned back to see the happy couple being showered by flower petals and confetti. “It’s just… well, seeing them there. I used to dream that, one day, that would be me and Michelle.”

Their majesties felt really bad for me. “Oh, Mykan… we’re ever so sorry.” said Grand Ruler. “In all the excitement, we failed to think of that.” added Luna.

I took in a small breath to clear my head, “Hey, it’s okay. Nothing I can do can change that anyway. It’s also why I didn’t want to marry Avyanna. She’s hot and all that, but she’s really not my type. Besides, she was involved with Titan, and he killed Michelle. So, in a way, Avyanna is just as responsible for that.”

Their majesties didn’t say a thing, what could they say anyway, but they admired my bravery.

With that, we all adjourned to celebrate the new marriage in joy and fun.

(Promo)

In our next episode: United Equestria is swarmed by three Power Hungry monsters that literally eat sources of energy and power, putting the power sources and inhabitants United Equestria in extreme danger, and just at the time when Cadance and Shining Armor’s child is ready to fully come to life.

How can our heroes possible defeat such power hungry power fiends?

Don’t miss the next exciting episode of “Starfleet Magic!”

(Next Episode: “Power Life Line”)

Author's Note

*Figures most inconsiderate people are peeved that I shipped Buddy Rose and Tree Hugger*

*Blows on my finger as if it were a revolver*

Episode 21: Power Life Line

EPISODE TWENTY-ONE

A few weeks had passed, and during that time, many monsters attacked and Starfleet was there to fend them off and re-capture them. It was an exhausting duty, Fifty percent of the prisoners had been returned to their cells, but that still left a long way to go before United Equestria, or practically the entire galaxy could rest a little easier.

Three monsters, escaped from the prison, managed to slip past United Equestria’s scouting and make it to the planet’s surface.

They all resembled large anthropomorphic insect-like creatures. Each a different color: Red, Yellow and Blue.

Red resembled that of a cockroach, with long antenna and huge pincers on his face.

Yellow was that of a Yellow Jacket, and his stinger was frightening to look at.

And Blue resembled a leach, and his huge face was really scary, lined with rows of sharp-pointed teeth. He was the only one of the three incapable of flight, but he was very skilled at climbing and jumping really high.

“Wow! What a trip, but we made it.” said Red.

Yellow stretched out his four arms and fluttered his wings. “Ah, after being locked up for three-hundred years it feels good to stretch out my wings.”

“Yeah!” added Blue, “I say we get back at Starfleet right now…” he stopped when he began to feel a little peckish “But first we ought to get so grub first.”

“No problem…” said Red “We’ll first get our fill, and then fill Starfleet with the agony of defeat!”

The three bugs shared a wicked laugh.

Meanwhile… while not on duty, the ponies still had their regular lives to lead, but also took time to help with the restoration of New White Tail Village.

The buildings and the surrounding area were soon repaired, and the good citizens could return. Many new creatures from all over United Equestria considered moving to the now unoccupied houses as most of their residence would be in jail for quite some time, and the children were all in foster homes while attending rehabilitation.

Even a new mayor would soon be elected to hopefully lead the village to a better age without all the hatred and grouchiness there was under Windy Bag’s reign.

Lightning made and received all the reports and he and Starla, along with Krysta, delivered them to New Canterlot Palace personally. “Everything is bang on schedule…” Lightning said “The village should be fully populated and back in business in less than a week.”

“Ah, that’s wonderful news.” Grand Ruler said “Makes me glad that most others can see the good productivity we can all provide.”

His wife agreed and she said “Especially considering what else is about to happen…” she was referring to the impending birth of Shining Armor and Cadance’s baby. The artificial child in the labs…

The three friends felt excited and happy about this event. “Um… do they still come and look at the baby?” Krysta

Celestia giggled and motioned them to follow her to the labs, and once there, they could see Shining Armor and Cadance, once again, staring up at their baby girl in her tube. They looked a bit like Rarity did when she stared at something lovely in a window of a shop.

The others peeked from the doorway of the lab and couldn’t help but giggle softly. Professor Brain said to them “I have seen my share of excitement and enamour, but really, they should realize this is a sophisticated laboratory, and not a maternity ward!”

“Oh, cut ‘em a break, Professor.” said Lightning

“Yeah, this is really exciting for them.” added Starla.

The couple turned to face the friends and agreed. “Other than the seriousness of the dangers at hand, it’s all we ever think about.” said Shining Armor.

Cadance didn’t respond as she had slipped off into one of her dreamy dazes; about having the baby. Feeding it, changing, rocking it to sleep, teaching it how to walk and talk.

She blushed softly and giggled.

“Well…” Celestia said “Why don’t you all go out for a little bit. I have some business to talk with Professor Brain.”

The friends agreed and all headed out, but Cadance and Shining Armor couldn’t help but turn back to gawk at their baby in her tube from where they stood. “Come on, you two.” Krysta said as Lightning and Starla yanked the couple along.

Once they were gone, Celestia and the professor spoke in extreme privacy. “Professor, I need to talk to you about… you-know-what. Do you think it will work?”

“I’m afraid I still haven’t completed my computations.” replied Brain “You and his majesty, as well as your sister need to give me more time if your plot is to succeed.”

Celestia felt nervous.

As the friends walked out into the palace courtyard, it seemed all the couple wanted to talk about was their new baby.

“Have you guys decided on a name yet?” Lightning asked. The couple shook their heads, “As soon as we find out what she’s really like and how special she really is, then we’ll decide.” said Shining Armor.

Krysta felt confused, “What’s she’s really like? What do you mean?”

“Krysta, the baby is an alicorn…” Starla said “According to Equestrian history, there’s never been a baby crystal pony whom was born an alicorn before. Remember, alicorns were very scarce on Equestria of Old.”

“Oh, right…” said Krysta.

“Still…” Cadance said “Alicorn or not, I just want it to be born and healthy, and I’ll love care for it anyway.”

Her husband cleared his throat in a gesture.

“Oh, I’m sorry my love. WE… will love and care for it.”

“That’s better.”

The friends chuckled.

Meanwhile, all the ponies and other creatures were going about their lives, unaware of the danger at hand.

The three bugs had split up around New Canterlot, each of them seeking food, but not the normal everyday kind of food that most creatures ate. These three insects were, quite literally, hungry for power.

Red crept along a vacant street until he saw wires on posts going down the road. “Ah, my favorite, cable power!” he hissed as he snapped his pincers, “Lunchtime…!”

He fluttered his wings and flew up to the wires, snipping them with his pincers…

Subsequently… making the power cease in many shops and homes in the village-- all the lights and electronic systems just ceased, much to the ponies surprise.

Rarity and Spike happened to be shopping there as well. “The lights!” cried Spike.

“What’s happening?” asked Rarity “I’m simply must know how much to pay for these new fabrics.”

The cashier tried and tried, but she couldn’t make the register work without power. “I’m sorry, but I can’t scan the prices. I’ll have to do it by hand."

The severed wired sparked sparks of electricity, which Red began to absorb, almost like ingestion.

Yellow, keeping out the sights of the gaurds, found a fence with a warning that read: “Danger: 10,000 volt electric fence”

“Oh, ho…jackpot!” he hissed, and he fluttered right up to the cables of the fence, and snatched them with his arms. The electricity just pulsated through him, jolting through him and up to his antenna. “Yes… YES… MORE!!” he shouted.

One of the solar powered trains was on route to New Canterlot station, when suddenly it began to go slower and slower. “Hey, what’s goin’ on?” The engineer snapped as he pounded at the controls but couldn’t seem to increase speed.

His assistant checked the power meters, “Something’s draining the solar power from the batteries.”

The train suddenly came to a total standstill, just one mile from reaching the station, much to the passengers’ confusion and inconvenience!

Not anyone saw that it was Blue, under the carriage of the train, and he had sucked the batteries dry. “Mmm, tasty!” he hissed.

He leapt off and dashed through the tall grass in the fields unnoticed by everyone.

Luckily, the Spanish twins were on patrol and they saw everything, and they got down behind the train and began to push it forward. “Ay’ Ay’ Ay’, this is heavy.” groaned Dyno. “What do you think caused this?” asked Dyno.

These reports and more by the minute were sent immediately to the authorities and to the palace. The receptionists were up to their necks in incoming complaints and reports.

“Several more homes have lost power.”

“The train-station has been completely shut-down.”

“Hospitals are using axillary power, but it won’t last.”

This worried their majesties severely, and they had summoned Lightning and the others at once.

“What’s going on?” Lightning asked. “Reports are flooding in that power is going out all over New Canterlot, and this is no coincidence.” replied Grand Ruler.

“How can we be sure?” asked Starla.

Celestia showed pictures taken by the Starfleet patrols, of severed wires, damaged electrical fences, even the solar-panels on the trains had not a spark of energy in them. “It’s safe to say this is sabotage.” Celestia said, “There’s more reports coming in by the minute, but we haven’t got any footage on what happened.”

The friends observed the photos carefully, and studied the marks on the severed wires. “I bet I know who’s behind this…” said Krysta “It’s the Bug-a-Watts!”

“The Bug-a-watts…?” Cadance and Shining Armor asked. “Who are they?” asked Starla

“I remember studying those creeps.” said Lightning.

The Bug-A-Watts: Three power-hungry insect-like creatures. They didn’t know where they originally came from, but they were deadly nonetheless. “These three creeps couldn’t actually feed on electrical power, solar power, and anything of an energy source.” Lightning said “They absorb that power not just for sustenance, but they use it to gain strength and power to dominate other races.”

Krysta nodded and remembered her studies with Lightning “According to history, Starfleet battled these bugs three hundred years ago, but it was a really close match. These bugs were so strong; it took at least ten soldiers to conquer them.”

“How did they beat them?” asked Starla.

“That is still a mystery.” Lightning said “According to the history banks, the insects were taken in by other soldiers. However, each and every soldier that fought the bugs lost their lives. Not one of them lived to explain how. So their weaknesses were never given.”

This concerned everyone deeply. It also meant that they could not shield any of the buildings, as the barriers were composed of energy that the Bug-A-Watts could tap into, which would grant them untold power!

Suddenly, the alarms went off followed by an announcement over the palace intercom. “Warning: Extreme Danger! Three suspected fugitives reported near the location of New Canterlot Power Plant!”

Everyone stiffened in deeper concern. “If they get near the power-plant, they could shut down all the power in all of New Canterlot!” cried Celestia.

Cadance and Shining Armor felt shivers run down their spine, obviously worried if the power outage was to reach the palace. Even the lab would get affected, and that included their baby’s life-support tube.

“Oh, please don’t worry about that…” their uncle assured them “If the power goes out in the palace we’ll use emergency power to keep things running.”

The couple felt more relieved.

“Come on, let’s go!” Lightning said. He, Starla and Krysta headed for the window, and Shining armor and Cadance decided to follow.

“I just hope they don’t meet the same fate my soldiers did centuries ago.” Grand Ruler said. His wife held his hands to help strengthen his faith. “Meanwhile, we need to talk… about you-know-what.”

Her husband sighed softly, but agreed. “I really don’t like it though, it’s so drastic.”

“Neither do I, but we may have no choice.”

Meanwhile, the Bug-A-Watts all met up, looked and felt a lot stronger and more buff having had a good fill, but were ready for a main course, which was why they were near the power plant.

The guards all stood ready to fend off the invaders, but unfortunately they didn’t realize the Bugs’ special power… to eat power!

Armed with their ray-guns, and the unicorns and alicorns horns glowing, “Alright troops, attack!” shouted the leader, and the ponies opened fire on the bugs, to which the bugs only just stood and took in every hit, absorbing the power of each blast.

Red snickered wickedly, “Now it’s our turn!”

All three bugs unleashed a swarm of power at the ponies…

“PINCER PULSE!” Red unleashed a powerful pulse ball from his pincers.

“STING SHOT!” Yellow aimed his huge stinger and fired multiple missile-like projectiles.

“ECTOPLASMA!” Blue took in a huge breath and spewed out a long trail of burning plasma from his mouth.

The results were highly explosive, and all the ponies were blown all over the place, some even crashed into the wall and were knocked out cold. Others had no idea what to do since shooting wasn’t working.

Some tried to attack the bugs themselves only to get punches and kicked away hard. “This is too easy.” Red mocked.

The guards were starting to fret and some were scooting away backward. Yellow couldn’t resist and made his antenna jolt a small spark, frightening some of them.

“Okay, let’s bust this plant open and chow down.” said Red.

“Allow me…” said Blue, “ECTOPLASMA!”

He fired his shot at the solid gates leading into the power plant, actually damaging them so they opened automatically. “Come on, boys, let’s eat.” Said Yellow with excitement,

But as they moved forth, Lightning and Starla, both transformed, along with Cadance as the Ninja and Shining Armor as Saber, landed down right in their way. Lightning called to the bugs, “The only thing you’ll be eating is jail-time.”

Starla added a small pun to the threat, “Order now, because it takes about a hundred years to prepare and serve.”

The Ninja and Saber looked ready to fight, but the Bugs only sighed, “They always swoop in at mealtime.” sighed Red.

“Eh, whatever.” hissed Blue “They haven’t got a chance against us anyway.”

The three bugs looked ready to brawl, so did the fighters. “Remember…” Lightning cautioned the others “Whatever you do, don’t blast with any forms of energy. It’ll only make them stronger, and their attacks are already high enough.”

“Right, we’ll have to fight them physically.” said Saber. Cadance nodded in acknowledgement.

With that, the four fighters dashed into battle, and Bugs charged at them as well.

Lightning aimed a strong punch at Red, but he rasied two of his four arms blocking the attack, with his other two arms, punched him hard in the chest and face, sending him crashing backward.

“Lightning!” cried Starla, then she got head-butt hard by Blue, and Yellow blasted Saber hard with his Sting Shot attack. “And you call yourself an insect…?” Yellow teased him. He then looked ready to deliver the kill, but Saber swiftly slashed at him with his sword, knocking him down.

“I’d call myself smarter than you!” sneered Saber.

Yellow was infuriated and lunged for him again.

Meanwhile, Blue dove at Cadance, and she zipped one way, then another. All around the place using her stealth speed. “Stand still!” shouted Blue “It’ll hurt less, I promise; ECTOPLASMA!”

KAPOW! It really looked as if Cadance had gotten hit, but she surprised the bad bug by dropping down right in front of him, after dodging the blast, and punched him hard in his face!

As for Red, Lightning and Starla teamed up on him. Lightning and Red had a flurry of fists and kicks flying, eventually punching each other hard, which gave Starla the chance to come in and kick Red hard in his gut, and sent him skidding along the ground.

His teammates joined ran over to him and helped him up, and the four fighters stood looking ready for more. “Looks like you bug-boys lack actual fighting skills.” said Lightning “I suspected that since you rely so heavily on the power you observe, you fail to consider other fields.”

The bugs were outraged.

“This isn’t working well.” cried Yellow.

“Really, what was your first guess?” snapped Blue.

Red was frustrated, “We need more power, but we can’t get into the power planet with these freaks in our antenna!”

“Make it easier on yourselves and come quietly!” sneered Starla. The others all agreed with her.

Suddenly, fire balls rained down from above, all around the bugs. Everyone looked up and saw the Spanish Twins, as well as Spike and Rarity soaring into the scene.

“BOOM-BOOM FIREBALLS!”

“DRAGON FLAMES!”

Spike and the Twins launched more fire down at the bugs. “Back you insects!” Rarity shouted as she fired magical blasts from her horn.

“GUYS, NO…!! STOP…!!” Lightning shouted, but it was too late. The bugs had all been hit from all sides and were lost in a cloud of smoke left over from the blasting.

The attackers swooped down and landed near their friends. “Are you guys alright?” Spike asked. “We saw the trouble and we rushed right over.” added Rarity.

Before anyone could saw anything, the bugs roared from behind, and as the smoke cleared, there they stood; their muscles, even their sizes had doubled, and their voices had deepened as well. “Ah, this feels marvelous!” said Red.

“I haven’t felt this great in centuries.” added Yellow.

All Blue could do was snarl and laugh most wickedly.

“¿Que es esto?-- *What is this?*” cried Dyno. “We hit them square on! They should be on the ground!” added Myte.

“Wait… let me guess…” said Spike “…They can absorb power?”

The others nodded frightfully, while the bugs snarled and glared at the team with a lust for battle!

“Oh, dear; we just made them even stronger!” cried Rarity.

“Oh, you’ve done a lot more than just that…” hissed Red.

“You see, we have one other move that we couldn’t use before because we were still weak in power…” said Yellow.

“…But, now, thanks to you, we have what we need to take this battle to the next level.” added Blue.

“Next level?” asked Starla “What are you talking about?”

The bugs simply snickered and their bodies began to glow. “What are they doing?” asked Saber. “I think they’re… Merging!” cried Lightning.

There was a bright flash that made everyone shield their eyes, and when they looked again, the three insects had indeed become one large creature; Red for his body, blue for his legs, yellow for his four arms. His head was black, with four antenna and two large pincers, and he wore bronze armor!

His voice also seemed to be a combination of that of the three bugs.

“We have become… TRI-BUG!” they shouted, “Our powers, as well as our bodies have combined. This is force we rarely use, but keep ready if need-be.”

The ponies tried to scan the creature with their visors, but could find no available data as none had ever been recorded. “Not good! This is not good!” whimpered Spike.

The others agreed, but still were not willing to back down. “Your bodies may have changed, but our determination hasn’t!” sneered Lightning “You were defeated once before, and when we’re through with you you’ll wish you had remained in prison!”

Tri-bug snickered and said “Actually, when we are through, you shall be wishing you were already destroyed!”

They flexed their huge muscles, and snarled as they lunged forth shouting, “PILEDRIVER POUND!” The fighters all scattered and Tri-bug pounded the ground hard making everything shake softly.

“Wow! When they said they were strong, they weren’t kidding!” cried Saber.

Tri-bug turned round, “You haven’t seen anything yet.” they held their four arms together; all four and their pincers glowed in the three different colors.

“Look out!” cried Starla.

“TRI SHOCKWAVE!!”

A powerful multi-colored beam fired. The fighters knew they couldn’t try to dodge it for fear of something unprotected getting hit.

The blast seemingly hit them, resulting in such an explosion that shook the entire area.

The tremors seemed to spread all around and even hit the royal palace. Everything was shaking, and things were starting to fall from the walls, and statues were tipping over. “What’s going on?” cried Celestia. “That’s the second quake that’s hit us.” said Grand Ruler.

Goldwin was trying to see through his telescope at the problem, but the tremors made it hard to keep still, and as he fell over backwards, his mask got stuck on the eyepiece and came off as he fell, and Goldwin turned back into a golden statue.

The shaking stopped, but everyone feared that more would come, and their majesties felt very worried, not just for the safety of the fighters battling the monsters, but if the tremors kept up, the power lines would shake apart and cause malfunctions to everything in the palace.

In the laboratories, Professor Brain and his team of experts were frightfully trying to keep things from going berserk from the tremors. They secured all breakable items and made so nothing would fall over.

“I just hope nothing else goes wrong!” Brain said to himself, but one of his assistants rushed up to him crying “Professor! Professor Brain… there’s a problem sir.”

“Oh, no…!” Brain muttered, “What is it?”

“It’s the child, sir. Her medical telemeters have risen to critical levels from the stress.”

Brain’s blood ran cold and he and all the scientists went straight to work trying to stabilize the child’s condition. If anything worse were to happen…

Meanwhile, the smoke from the blast had cleared, but the fighters were all safe and well thank to Lightning using the uniforce to shield them all in a barrier. He felt a little woozy from taking such a huge shot like that.

“You’re quite resourceful...” hissed Tri-Bug.

“You should see us at full-power.” Lightning teased.

Tri-Bug glared at the fighters and they glared back, and they all lunged into action. Try as they did, the fighters put up a valiant effort, punching and kicking hard, but Tri-Bug proved to be as ruthless as he was bigger and stronger. He skillfully dodged all their attacks and hit them all back hard, making sparks fly, literally.

“That does it!” snarled Spike, and he took in a huge breath to unleash fire. “Spike, don’t!” Rarity cried, jumping on him tackling him to the ground so the flames shot straight up into the sky. “Oh… right... I forgot.” Spike said sheepishly.

The others were not pleased with that blunder he just pulled.

“Shame, we really could have used that bite to eat.” said Tri-Bug “Guess we’ll have to settle for the lot of you!”

The team all shuddered at such a thought.

Tri-Bug then leapt up high again, “PILEDRIVER POUND!”

“Not this time…” Lightning said, and he called to the others “…NOW!!” and at his word, everyone dashed directly underneath the huge creature and all leapt up high kicking them hard in the gut, cancelling out their attack and sending the creature soaring up high, and causing him to crash down hard.

“Just as you three combined your powers together…” said Dyno “…We thought we’d all try the same thing.” added Myte.

The others all nodded in agreement, but Tri-Bug was not amused. “We need more power, more energy!” they snarled, and they realized the power plant gate was nearly unguarded, and the others didn’t even seem to budge.

Tri-Bug didn’t seem to care and made their way to the busted gate, smashing it wide open, and seeing all the wonderful generators, turbines and massive flowing sources of power just waiting to be devoured. “Snack time!” they hissed eagerly.

Still, the team did not move, and just stood with goofy expressions on their faces. They then watched as the foolish creature attempted to enter the plant, but only came back out again. “What?!” they snarled. They tried again, but just ended up where they were, outside the door again. “What is this?!...” the creature demanded to know.

That’s when Krysta popped up, “That’d be us!” she said as several of her fairies popped up alongside their queen. It turned out, Lightning anticipated the creature would still try and sneak into the power plant during the battle, and before arriving on the scene he had instructed Krysta and her team to construct a portal to the keep the creature out.

“I’d been observing you guys…” Lightning said “You seem to be able to snack on electricity, fire, and other types of power and energy, but this particular kind isn’t the kind you can actually absorb.”

Tri-Bug was furious.

“You guys may be strong, but you’re not really very smart.” Starla mocked, enraging the creature further. “Your insolence will cost you dearly!” they said, and they stood where they were charging up all the power they could.

“Everyone listen… I’ve got an idea.” said Lightning. He quickly explained his ideas to the others. “What?” snapped Rarity “Are you sure that’s a good idea?” asked Spike “What if you’re wrong, what it backfires.”

“I just have a hunch.” Lightning said “And it may be our only chance.”

The others didn’t know what else to say, except “You frighten me sometimes, Lightning Dawn!” Saber said. Nevertheless everyone stood together just as Tri-Bug seemed ready to fire.

“TRI-SHOCKWAVE!!”

The powerful blast was much larger that then previous one, but Lightning leapt up high and powered up into his Enticorn form.

“Now guys!!” he shouted. At his word, the others all transferred a load of their power into him making him glow brighter than ever, and he stared forth at the oncoming blast of power.

“ULTRA-UNIFORCE!!” and he unleashed his power at the blast, hitting it hard and sending it right back to its sender. “AH… NO…!!” Tri-Bug cried as the blast headed straight back at them “THIS CAN’T BE HAPPENING AGAIN…!!”

The blast got closer and closer and struck the creature hard, resulting in a huge explosion that once again shook the whole area, and rattled the nearby powerlines.

This stress carried along the lines causing major malfunctions, and temporary blackouts, including at the palace!

“Oh, no!” cried Celestia.

“I was afraid of this!” said Grand Ruler, and then he called out “Activate emergency generators!” The lights came back on in an instant, but Professor Brain came out to their majesties with a very grim look on his face.

“Professor, what is it?” asked Celestia. “Is something wrong?” added Grand Ruler.

Brain looked as if he were about to shed a tear, “I have no idea of how to explain this…”

Their majesties felt their stomachs churn.

While back at the danger zone, the smoke had cleared from the blast, and Lightning, in his normal form, felt pooped as he lay on the ground panting softly.

“Lightning…!” Starla cried as she and the others dashed over to him. “I’m alright, just a little tired.” he said to them.

Tri-Bug, on the other hand, had split up into the three original insects, Red, Yellow, and Blue, and they all lay flat on the ground, too exhausted to even speak.

Lightning whistled for the other Starfleet officers nearby to apprehend the criminals and take them into custody while they were still weak, and repair crews immediately got to work to repair all damages done.

The fighters all powered down their suits, and Cadance, able to speak again, asked “Lightning, how did you do that?”

“It was a hunch…” Lightning said, and he explained how even though what he studied didn’t revealed the information on the Bugs’ weaknesses, it did however reveal that the Starfleet fighters that had lost their lives, were reported having died rather from lack of energy than their injuries.

“They looked as if their powers had been completely tapped out. My hunch was, they used whatever was left of their own energy to turn Tri-Bug’s energy back at them, and Tri-Bug was over-whelmed by such a huge burst of power that they couldn’t handle it and had a blowout.

…The fighters didn’t survive due to being extremely weak and blowing out their energy to beat the bugs. So in a way, they did provide the missing information that we needed.”

The others all smiled proudly and were relieved that the bugs were gone. However, Princess Luna, rather a holographic image of herself appeared before the team. She looked rather sad, but informed everyone to return to the palace immediately.

“What’s wrong?” asked Shining Armor. “Did something happen?” asked Cadance.

Their aunt looked as if she was going to cry, “It is very tragic…” she said, which worried the couple and the others.

“Krysta…!” Lightning called to her. “I’m on it…” Krysta said, and she teleported everyone back to the palace.

Upon their arrival, they were told to most devastating of news. “The baby?” cried Cadance. Tears were flooding in her eyes. “Are… are you sure?” asked Shining Armor.

Their majesties sadly informed it was true. “The stress of the quakes caused the child to go in cardiac arrest.” said Grand Ruler “And when the power was temporarily shut down…” he stopped, unable to go any further as his insides were aching with grief.

Celestia was quivering trying to keep her tears from falling.

“No…” peeped Cadance “No… not again!” and she ran off to the sickbay where she was told the baby was. “Cadance!” cried Shining Armor.

All the others stood where they were, frozen with shock, hurt, and grief. “This can’t be happening!” cried Rarity as she squeezed Spike’s claw, and he squeezed her hand back feeling just as sore.

“Lightning…” Starla cried, but her husband stood where he was, begging and pleading to every star, spirit-- that all this was not happening…

…But it was!

Cadance was sobbing like no tomorrow! Shining Armor felt exactly as she did and was crying with her as he held her tight.

First they lost their son, then they found out they couldn’t naturally have any more children, and now this; their last chance to have a real child of their own… dashed, and there was no way they could repeat the procedure as their reproductive systems had hardly anything left.

All the others were there to comfort the broken-hearted couple, but really what was there to say or do, all of them felt the same, and even Rarity was heart-broken and crying hysterically.

Lightning was the only one not present, as he felt so ashamed, so hurt, and so lost for Cadance and Shining Armor. What could he possibly say to them?

He was in the sickbay with the court physician.

The baby’s body was wrapped in blankets, but very much dead. “We tried everything we could…” the doctor said “But we couldn’t even try magic or the electrodes as they would harm the child worse.”

Lightning nodded at him and said “It isn’t your fault…”

The doctor left him alone with the child’s body. Lightning honestly could not bear this as he looked down at the lifeless baby pony.

Starla and Krysta excused themselves from the group and came down to the sickbay. They did not like how Lightning looked; so sad, and so hurt.

They came up to him, and Starla put a comforting hand on husband’s shoulder. Lightning gazed sadly at his wife and asked “How are they up there?”

Starla shook her head, “They’re both hysterical, and I can’t blame theme.” Tears were flowing down her face as she gazed at the baby.

Krysta gripped her wand tightly as tiny tears fell from her little eyes. “It’s not fair!” she cried softly “We were so careful this time… but it wasn’t enough. Poor Cadance and Shining Armor…!”

All three of them felt the same way, especially Lightning, and yet he still was not willing to let this happen. He softly touched the baby’s little head. She didn’t feel very cold at all. He then opened the blankest and put his ear to her little chest.

“What are you doing?” asked Starla.

Lightning gazed back at her and Krysta, “…I wonder.”

The girls had no idea what he was thinking, until they saw him as he softly began to stroke the baby’s chest, and then stop and press on it with his finger. One-two, One-two!

He stopped, and listened hard if the baby was breathing, and when he heard nothing he went right back to stroking and pressing.

The girls thought it was really hopeless, yet neither of them seemed willing to tell him to give it up, and so… Lightning kept on stroking and pressing.

Suddenly, he heard a very faint moan escape the baby’s throat, and the body gave a small twitch. Lightning’s eyes widened and the girls’ mouths hung open in surprise.

The baby began to wiggle about, and her eyes sprung open. She looked up at the others and he little lips curled into a small sleepy smile.

Lightning’s smiled the biggest smile he ever had, and Starla and Krysta cried with joy!

Lightning dashed right to the door and shouted with all his might “…IT’S ALIVE!!!! THE BABY IS ALIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVE!!!!!!!!!!” his voice seemed to be heard even from outside!

The court physician was the first to run back. “Oh…!” he cried when he saw the baby was moving and fully alive, “My heavens! It’s a miracle beyond words can say!”

Two palace staff ponies came to the sickbay having heard Lightning’s shout, and the doctor passed them the child demanding they bring it to Cadance and Shining Armor! The servants did as was told.

“Commander…” the doctor said “It wouldn’t surprise me if it would be impossible for anyone to ever repay you for what you’ve done.”

Lightning smiled softly, and the doctor ran off to excitedly tell anyone he could find about the news. While Lightning turned and gazed at Starla, and she smiled most lovingly at him and ran into his arms, and Krysta cheered as she excitedly flipped around in midair.

“You did it…” Starla sobbed happily to Lightning as she held him tight. Lightning began to cry himself, but he couldn’t wait to know how Cadance and Shining Armor would be feeling.

Indeed, the couple was very happy, to tears and cries of joy as Cadance held their daughter in her arms.

Rarity began to cry, and Spike held her close as he too cried with joy.

“Ay’ Ay’ Ay’!” cried Dyno “It’s so magical.”

“Si… the most beautiful thing I’ve seen in a long time.” added Myte.

Celestia and Princess Luna wiped their eyes with hankies, and even Grand Ruler himself couldn’t help but shed a tear of joy.

The room fell silent when Lightning and the others came in. Cadance and Shining Armor gazed at him with such love and thanks; Cadance passed the baby to Luna and then leapt over, colliding into Lightning. “Lightning, thank you so much…!” she sobbed, and she planted several kisses on his face.

Shining Armor wrapped his arms round him in the group hug, “I don’t think we’ll ever be able to repay you for this!” he cried.

Lightning shook his head, “You don’t have to… I’m just so glad it worked out in the end. Let’s just be happy it did.”

Everyone smiled in complete agreement, even the baby seemed to smile.

(Promo)

In our next episode: Applebloom is forced to recollect the time she tried to save a beloved hog from the farm, a time that almost drove her and her family and friends apart for good.

How serious were these events?

Don’t miss the next exciting episode of “Starfleet Magic!”

(Next Episode: “This Little Piggie went to a better place”)

Episode 22: This Little Piggy went to a better place

EPISODE TWENTY-TWO

Ever since the wedding, Tree Hugger moved in with Buddy Rose and DD. Their house was bigger, and Buddy couldn’t just leave New Sweet Apple Acres, or his garden.

After moving in and rearranging things a little, the place looked a little different-- a combination of the old and the new. Tree Hugger had scented candles, hippie bead curtains along doorways, yoga mats spread out in the corner of the living room, and a large beanbag near the sofa were she would often sit.

Still, the place was perfect for a couple just starting out, and as for Tree Hugger… she couldn’t be happier, and took her place as a wife with pride and joy. She helped around the house and the farm while still attending to her hippie rallies with her friends, and being a yoga instructor, as well as selling more of her books, fertilizer and animal food.

Buddy Rose, he felt more wonderful than ever before. DD felt ever excited now that Tree Hugger was her cousin-in-law. They often spent time together, and did early morning yoga on weekends with Applebloom, and sometimes Applejack and Buddy Rose joined them. It was almost as if she had a new mother-figure in her life, and every moment was worth it.

As someone prepared dinner in the kitchen, DD poked her head in and asked, “We do we eat, I’m starving?”

Buddy Rose smiled as he held the casserole in the hot pan with oven-mitts and replied, “Just as soon as Tree Hugger gets home.”

That’s when the door opened and she walked right in. “Like, hey…” she called out.

“Hi Ms. Tree Hugger...” DD said.

“Whoa, no need for the formals, remember. I’m like your family now.”

DD giggled, “I was just teasing.” And she hugged her softly, and then went off to wash up for dinner.

Tree Hugger then got up and walked to the kitchen where her husband stood playfully looking at her. “And I though you wouldn’t make It.” he said teasingly, and his expression turned to surprise when she held out a bouquet of flowers to him. “Oh, they’re lovely.”

“I thought they’d totally look cute if we planted them in the garden.” Tree Hugger said. “Radical…” said Buddy “Well then, why don’t we plant them tomorrow… together.”

They gazed deeply into each other’s eyes, and their faces slowly moved towards one another. Then in a swift move, Tree Hugger grabbed him, dipped him back and kissed him deeply.

Buddy Rose took a moment to sigh heavenly “Ah, me…!” before his wife pulled him into another kiss.

DD, as she passed by the kitchen, being a child of course, was grossed out when she saw them, to which the couple chuckled to.

Early the next morning, the family was out in the open grassy fields for some morning yoga. Applejack and her siblings joined them as well. They all sat on mats, sat comfortably and quietly and followed Tree Hugger’s every instruction.

“Now everyone just let go and bliss out to the sonic vibes” she said in a soothing voice, and then she began to sing that very trance-like song she sang long ago...

Her voice combined with the music playing from her boom-box, the ponies all began to feel warm and soothed from within, as if they were floating on air.

… All of them felt relaxed, except one!

Tree Hugger suddenly stopped and moaned as if she were in pain, snapped everyone out of their trances. She nearly keeled over, but Buddy Rose caught her. “Honey, what is it?” he asked.

“You alright there?” added Applejack.

Tree Hugger felt dizzy and answered “Someone’s chakra is, like, way out of sync with mine. It totally threw me off.” She then gazed directly at Applebloom, and Applebloom didn’t look like her usual chipper self.

“Are you okay, Appleblom?” asked DD.

“Yeah, I’m fine. That’s me… never felt better.” Applebloom said, but she seemed to be on the verge of tears. The others, except Tree Hugger immediately caught on to what was bothering her…!

Applejack whispered, “Oh, boy, she’s thinkin’ of him again.”

“Eeyup.” Said Big Mac, “Poor little thing. She hasn’t been much the same since.”

“Um, what’s all the secrecy about?” asked Tree Hugger.

Applebloom wiped her eyes, “It’s just that it’s been six months since Norm passed on.”

“Norm?”

“Norman… he was one of the hogs.” said Applejack “We sent him off to the big place…” she didn’t have the nerve to say the works, which was on another planet for fear of making Applebloom want to cry.

“It’s alright…” Applebloom surprisingly said “It doesn’t hurt me as much these days… not… too much!”

She tried to hold her tears back, but it was no good, and she began to cry. Her brother and sister hugged her tightly.

DD almost felt like crying too, but she held in bravely.

Tree Hugger hated seeing Applebloom upset. “This is totally starting to bum me out.” she said.

After a short while, Applebloom calmed down, and her siblings allowed her to be excused from the chores that day if she wasn’t up to it. “It’s okay, I can work.” she said, sounding braver and more chipper.

So, everyone got to work that day, and everything went fine, but Tree Hugger was still bothered by Applebloom’s sadness, but knowing it wouldn’t be right to ask Applebloom herself, so she asked the others when the girls ran off to play after lunch, once the chores were done.

“So, like… what was it with Applebloom and this Norm? We’re they… close?”

“Like a dog loves a hambone.” replied Applejack.

Buddy Rose and Big Mac nodded and they all began to tell her the story.

When Applebloom was very little, about three years old, her favorite animal on the entire farm had to be Norman, the hog. He was about the same size as her for his age, but she loved him more like a pet than livestock, even among the many pigs they raised on the farm.

Norm had a wife named Rosie, and they had six piglets together, but Norm seemed to enjoy his time with Applebloom as well.

They spent lots of time together; running in the fields, eating lunch, Applebloom’s most favorite pastime with him was wallowing in the mud, much to Granny Smith’s horror and Applejack and Big Mac would rush to give her a bath.

When Applebloom started going to school, Norm would wait patiently for her to return, and they would continue having fun and enjoying life.

When The Great War struck, Applebloom was horrified that the evil Super Nightmare Moon ruthlessly had animals slaughtered and made into food for her and her followers, among them were Norm’s Rosie, and their young.

She nearly would have gotten to Norm too had Starfleet not showed up at the last moment and waged an attack against the evil creatures, obliterating them for good, and when Equestria was doomed to explode, all the creatures were evacuated safely, including Norm.

Sadly, Norm’s life would never be the same again. Even after United Equestria was formed, Norm still grieved over the loss of his family. They could never be restored, and Applebloom continued to remain by him as much as she could to comfort him and keep him going.

Norm found his feet again and he and Applebloom still remained close, but there soon came a time when Norm himself had seen better days. His eyesight was failing, his hearing wasn’t so good, and he got tired very easily.

Six months ago from the present day… it was wintertime, snow covered the ground, icicles formed on the roofs, and the Cutiemark Crusaders were all about having fun in the snow; making snow angels, snow-ponies, tobogganing, and even making forts and getting into a small snowball fight.

Old Norm saw them from his pen by the barn. He was a little too old to be playing about like that anymore, but seeing the children play brought a smile to his face.

The girls continued to throw snowballs around, two-against-two: Applebloom and Sweetie Belle against Scootaloo and DD.

Applebloom got the snowballs ready to throw. So did Sweetie, and she even used her magic to help levitate more balls to throw.

“Ready…?” said Applebloom, “Aim…” added Sweetie Belle.

“FIRE…!!” the other two shouted, and barrage of snowballs went flying all over the place until the girls ran out of ammo and needed to make more.

Except…!

“Girls…!” Buddy Rose called. The girls peeked up over the forts and saw both he and Applejack with their faces covered in snow from their snowballs. The girls felt nervous and very uneasy.

“Um… sorry?” said DD. “We didn’t mean it.” added Scootaloo.

The adults didn’t seem to buy it and rubbed the snow from their faces. “Girls, if you’re gonna be throwin’ snowballs around…” said Applejack …”Ya better do it RIGHT!!” Then she and Buddy began to throw their own barrage of snowballs at the girls, promting another fun battle to start up.

“Come on, let’s get ‘em!” cried Sweetie.

The girls had loads of fun trying to pin down the adults, especially since the adults didn’t have a fort of their own, but they did have one special secret weapon. “…BIG MAC!” called Applejack.

The girls stopped and gazed up the slope of the hill where they saw two very large snowballs and Big Mac standing behind them and glaring wickedly down at the girls.

The girls freaked out and quickly dashed out of their forts just as Big Mac sent the huge balls rolling down and crashing into the forts, collapsing them into two piles of snow, softly burying the girls.

“STIIII-RIKE!” Big Mac chuckled.

Applejack and Buddy Rose slapped each other a high-five. The girls poked their heads up through the snow. They were unamused at first, but they burst out laughing, and the adults laughed too.

While all Old Norm could do was watch from his pen and smile.

“Come on, girls. Let’s go get some hot chocolate.” called Buddy Rose.

The girls cheered, and Big Mac slid down the hill.

As they all passed by the barn, Applebloom stopped by the pigsty to give Norm a good pat on his head. “After we’re done, I’ll come out here and play with ya, ‘K?”

Norm smiled and snorted once, and all the others thought it was a sweet sight.

That’s when Applebloom went into a musical memorial montage in her mind…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time\_continue=13&v=Jb3TFUHVLdU

As she sang, she remembered all the many wonderful times she and Norm had together, especially playing in the mud.

At the end of the song, Applebloom actually pecked him on his head before running inside with the others, and Norm felt very happy.

All were unaware of the danger at hand…!

Hiding nearby and peeping through binoculars, three bad ponies-- one Earth, one Pegasus, and one Unicorn-- were looking at all the livestock that seemed just right for picking.

“Look at all that, you guys.” said the Earth Pony “Those sheep ought to being a few good prices for their skins.”

“Ha, I’d rather take the cows.” said the Pegasus “We could sell every drop of milk they give, and when we’re through… they’ll make great hamburgers!”

“And don’t forget them hogs.” said the Unicorn “A good pot-roast would be nice.” Then he spotted Norm, “Hey… that big one looks tender!”

The three nasty ponies waited until all the ponies had gone inside before preparing for their big move.

The friends all enjoyed their drinks, Granny Smith even got out a plate of cookies for the girls, “It just ain’t hot cocoa without a biscuit for dippin’.” she said sweetly.

“Eeyup.” Said Big Mac as he eagerly grabbed a cookie and dipped it in his cocoa. “Yummy!”

Everyone had two cookies each, but Applebloom decided, “I think I’ll save this extra one for Norm.”

“Ya might wanna watch it there.” said Granny “Norm’s not as young as he used to be. Sugar ain’t too good for his gut these days.” that’s when she took a big bite out of her own cookie, much to everyone thinking she had just contradicted herself “What? I ain’t no hog. A little sugar doesn’t hurt me.”

The others all sighed.

Suddenly, the sounds of bells were ringing loudly from outside. It was the farm’s own special alarm system warning that poachers were on the land!

“The livestock!” cried Applejack.

“Norm!” shrieked Applebloom.

“Let’s move!” shouted Buddy Rose, and he and the adults dashed for the door. The girl wanted to come too, but Applejack wouldn’t hear of it “You girls stay right here! We don’t need more casualties.”

Even Granny smith put her foot down and promised to watch the girls while Applejack ran off.

Applebloom panicked and ran to the nearest window, but she could only see half the side of the barn where the sheep were. Norm’s sty was on the other side, but she did see two bad ponies, an Earth, and a Pegasus, with four wild dogs harassing the livestock in attempt to drive them out and into captivity.

“Please be okay, Norm!” Applebloom silently said to herself.

“Look there!” cried Sweetie Belle. They all watched as the adults dashed up to the bad ponies and their dogs, chasing them off the lands. Big Mac rounded up all the wild-dogs and trapped them, while Applejack and Buddy Rose chased the bad ponies off over the hills.

It really looked like all was going to be well, but suddenly Big Mac was knocked unconscious by a third bad pony, a Unicorn.

“Oh, no!” cried Applebloom, “Them other guys were just a decoy!”

“Look!” cried Scootaloo! “He’s freeing the dogs!” added DD, and before long the unicorn began to attack and steal as many of the livestock as he could.

Granny Smith wouldn’t have it, and grabbed her shotgun. “Come on, Besty! We got work to do!” she said as she cocked the gun.

She dashed out the door ready to fight, only for a ton of snow to fall on her, pinning her down!

“Granny!” cried Applebloom!

“Let’s help her!” said Sweetie, and she DD and Scootaloo helped to dig her out, but Applebloom, she couldn’t bear this! The livestock was in danger and Applejack and Buddy Rose were nowhere to be scene, and there was no time for all the other farmers to make it out to help her because of the snow, but hearing the animals cry out and seeing what danger they were in… Applebloom was filled with a deep fit of rage and took off for the barn!

“APPLEBLOOM…!!” the others all shouted.

The bad unicorn and his dogs were ruthlessly harming the animals into cooperating, rushing them into bags that he would load on a wagon to make his getaway. “Get in there!” he shouted “Move it before I make mincemeat out of you!”

The sheep and the cows all wailed as the dogs scared and bit them as they growled and snarled.

Suddenly, just as the unicorn was about to make his getaway… Applebloom came rushing in, screeching in a fit, and rammed right into him, tackling him to the ground and began to ram numerous punches into his face.

The others saw her from the house and could not believe what was happening!

The dogs all dashed up ready to maul her to bits, but Applebloom turned and snarled like a raging monster, actually frightening them to run!

The unicorn, powerless to defend himself, cried and squealed for mercy, but Applebloom continued ram at him, until Buddy Rose and Applejack returned, and Applejack pulled her sister off. “Applebloom… stop! Take it easy… easy now!”

Applebloom panted and huffed, but then she began to feel scared, and nearly burst into tears, unable to believe what she had just done.

The unicorn lay on the ground, bruised, bleeding and whimpering in tears of fear and pain. “On your feet!” shouted Buddy Rose as he helped the pony up and then promptly arrested him. “You and your buddies are going to have some time to think about what you’ve done!”

The unicorn saw that Applejack and Buddy Rose had already apprehended his friends, and lassoed all their dogs.

The trio knew they were beat, and all because of one meddling little pony.

Big Mac started to come too after his knockout. “Uhn… where am I?” he groaned as he rubbed his sore head, but as soon as he saw the wagon and the mess the farm was in-- fences were busted. Haystacks were smashed and lay scattered about, and the animals were missing-- it all came back to him.

As the friends worked to release all the captured animals, Applebloom was still shaken by the whole ordeal. She had never been so angry in her life that just exploded.

“Shh… it’s okay. You’ll be alright.” Applejack said as she comforted her sister. Though she warned her before not to go out, and she could have been killed, even Applejack and the others couldn’t deny that Applebloom helped save the farm.

Still, the proud was not to last. As the animals were being unloaded from captivity, several of the cows and sheep were injured from the dogs. A few scraps and bites on some, while others had a broken leg or two, but not very serious, however… of all the animals, one was very badly injured.

“…Norm!” cried Big Mac!

Hearing that name quickly gave Applebloom’s stomach a nasty turn. “Norm...?!” she cried, and she turned round to see her dear friend didn’t look so good. His two hide legs were twisted, and he had a deep scratch wound on his side.

He didn’t seem very lively, and this brought tears to Applebloom’s eyes!

The rest of that day was very busy. Many of the fellow farmers had heard of the poachers attempt to steal livestock, and they all came over to help pitch in and repair the damages to the fences and the barn.

Lightning and Starla had also come when they heard the news of the captured poachers. They were relieved that Buddy Rose and applejack helped to catch them, as they had been wanted for some time, but they felt really bad for the animals, especially Norm.

Lightning was also surprised to hear of what Applebloom had done. “She took a big risk going out there like that.”

“Tell me about it…” said Applejack “I never saw nothin’ like it.”

“She’s got the Apple Instinct.” said Granny Smith. She was all wrapped up on a warm robe and sniffling, as she caught a cold from being buried in the snow, and she sneezed, but then said, “When the cattle is a cryin’, no doubt a true Apple will rise to make things right.”

“Eeyup.” said Big Mac “But I just hope them critters don’t got it too bad.”

Starla looked around, “Where are the girls anyway?”

“They’re in the barn helping with the animals.” answered Buddy Rose “I hope everything’s okay.”

When Fluttershy heard of the poor animals, she and Rhymey wasted no time in coming over to help treat them.

Fluttershy, with her Vet-Care kit examined and treated all the animals, Rhymey and the girls helped her. Soon, the animals were bandaged and given special medications for their wounds and told by Fluttershy, “Now I want you all to get a good rest. You’ll be up and well again soon. You’ll see.”

The animals mooed and baaed at her in thanks, but while the girls were relieved to hear that, all of them, especially Applebloom were more concerned about Norm. He didn’t even so much as grunt, or even flinch. He just lay where he was, sound asleep, but he didn’t seem much like he was sleeping.

“Is he gonna be okay?” Applebloom asked, for the umpteenth time.

Fluttershy didn’t know if she could answer that, but Rhymey said…

“We don’t really know if he’ll be okay,
It’s really too early to even say.”

“Rhymey’s right…” said Fluttershy “We’ll come again each day and check on him, and even bring Dr. Penny along… but… but…”

“But what?” asked Scootaloo.

“Girls… normally I try to be optimistic about this, but… Norm suffered some pretty deep wounds. I hate to say it, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.”

She felt very ashamed of herself for saying that, even though it was fact. Sad to say, Applebloom felt really cold inside her.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure he’ll be fine.” said DD. The other girls nodded in agreement, and Applebloom promised to stay strong, as she walked over and pet Norm saying, “You’re gonna be just fine, ya hear?” and Norm actually smiled in his sleep.

But as the days went by, while the other animals showed to be healing nicely, Norm’s condition hadn’t improved at all. Even though Applebloom spent hour after hour tending to him; bringing him nice warm slops, warm blankets, and keeping him company.

Fluttershy returned with Dr. Penny for one final examination before making any recommendations.

Applebloom’s heart was tied in knots, and her spine was shivering with worry as Fluttershy and Penny examined the poor pig. “How is he?” she asked with worry in her voice.

Fluttershy turned and looked sadly at her and said “…Not too good, Applebloom. We’ve tried everything we can.”

Tears started flowing down Applebloom’s face “But… he’s gettin’ better… ain’t he? I mean…the other animals are fine.”

Penny sighed softly. This was a part of her job she really didn’t enjoy, but she had to say it…

“Applebloom, the other animals are younger and their injuries weren’t too severe, but… Norm… he’s very old, and when you get hurt like he does at such an age, it can be very serious.

…I don’t think Norm’s going to get better Applebloom, and… I know this will hurt but, I’m going to have to make a recommendation for your family to sell him off to--” she stopped, she didn’t have the heart to finish.

Fluttershy held her hands to her mouth in shock and sadness, but her feelings paled to the sickening feelings that had just sliced Applebloom’s heart. “No!” she cried tearfully, “You can’t! They wouldn’t! There’s gotta be somethin’ we can do!”

Seeing how upset Applebloom was only made it harder for Penny, and she felt her own heart breaking as it reminded her of the situation with her grandmother, and how she didn’t make it.

“I’m sorry, Applebloom. I really am… but sometimes in life, we just can’t control things.”

Applebloom was sobbing uncontrollably now “You can save him!” she wept. “Oh, you poor thing!” cried Fluttershy, and she felt like crying too, and held the poor little pony, while sadly went off to talk to the rest of the family.

Applebloom could hardly think straight. “They can’t sell Norm. I won’t let them!” cried Applebloom.

“Oh, Applebloom…!” cried Fluttershy “Believe me, I know how you feel.”

Applebloom then angrily wrenched away from her. “Then why did you let Dr. Penny make the decision?! How come you’re not tryin’ to help Norm get well again?”

It was in vain that Fluttershy tried to reason with Applebloom that while she understood how she felt, there really wasn’t much else they could do. “Norm is in a lot of pain already, Applebloom. Keeping him alive won’t help him.”

Stubborn, Applebloom refused to listen and took off in a tearful huff!

Fluttershy had no idea what to do about this.

Applebloom had run off to the Cutiemark Crusaders’ Clubhouse where the others promised to meet her once they told her of her problem.

“That’s awful!” cried Sweeite Belle.

“That’s terrible!” added Scootaloo.

“Oh, Applebloom!” said DD.

“Well, I’m not gonna let it happen!” cried Applebloom, “I won’t let ‘em sell Norm to some sausage factory. Who’s with me?”

She expected that the girls would jump right out and say they were in, but the silence never broke, and the girls said nothing.

“Well, who’s with me?!” shouted Applebloom.

“Um… Applebloom…” said Sweetie, “We’re not quite sure how to say this…” added Scootaloo.

Applebloom couldn’t believe what she was about to hear, “You won’t help me?”

“It’s not that we don’t want to…” said DD “It’s just… from what you told us, there doesn’t seem to be much of a point.”

Applebloom felt her rage boiling and her heart aching. “I can’t believe you said that!” she thundered. “I’m tryin’ to save the life of my friend, and you’re not willin’ to help?! I thought helpin’ is what we Crusaders stood for?!!”

The girls were starting to lose their patience with her, but tried to remain civil.

“All we’re saying is that Norm’s in really bad shape.” said Scootaloo. “Even if we could get him away from the farm, I don’t think it will make a difference.” added Sweetie, but Applebloom’s cheeks burned red with rage. She knew what they were trying to say… that they, too, had given up on Norm, and they were just going to stand by and either let him be sold or just die!

Applebloom was so enraged that she just took off, not saying a thing to the others.

“Applebloom!” called DD!

The girls honestly didn’t know what they were going to do. “Should we tell the adults?” suggested Sweetie. “No… then she’d be more steamed.” said Scootaloo, “And besides, Crusaders don’t tattle on others.”

“Yeah, but… Applebloom, she’s really down hard on this.” said DD “We’ve got to at least try and help her… don’t we?”

The girls still didn’t have any of how to make Applebloom see reason, after the irrational way she had just behaved; though it was understandable as well!

The adults knew nothing of what Applebloom was planning, but she didn’t talk to any of them for the rest of the day, and sulked miserably in her room until long into the night.

Applejack left a tray of food outside her sister’s room hoping she would at least eat dinner. She knocked at the door, “Hey, Applebloom…”

No response!

“Look, I left some food out here for ya. Please eat.”

She then left, planning to return later and hoping that the tray of food would be gone, but what she didn’t know was that Applebloom was not in her room…!

…She had cleverly snuck out the window, and skillfully climbed down the strong trellis on the side of the house. She got out a small pulled it into the barn where the animals were all sleeping, and she stopped outside of Norm’s stall.

Norm was sleeping very peacefully, even in his condition.

“If no one’ll help me, then I’ll just get you outta’ here myself.” Applebloom said softly “I won’t let ‘em sell ya, Norm. I’ll take ya someplace safe, and then… I don’t know how… but I’ll make ya all better!”

That’s what she wanted to do, except Norm was a little too big and heavy for her to move by herself, and even still in his condition she worried about hurting him even more, but she wasn’t willing to give up.

About an hour later, it began to snow hard outside.

Applejack went upstairs to check on her sister again and found the tray of food still where she placed it. Not a morsel had been touched! Applejack was so worried she was losing her patience. “Okay, Applebloom… I’m comin’ in there.” She warned her, but the second she walked in, much to her horror, her sister was nowhere to be found and her window was wide open. “Oh, no! Not again!” she cried.

She gazed out the window, and noticed the unmistakable foot prints along the roof-hood, and down below in the snow. The wagon was missing from beside the barn, and she could see more footprints and tracks leading far away.

Panacking, Applejack flew out the window and into the barn. All the animals were accounted for, except for Norm. His stall stood empty, except for the magical lifter panel-- a piece of technology used for loading heavy things onto wagons for those who didn’t have the strength.

“Applebloom!!” cried Applejack, and her cry awoke the animals and they all squawked, mooed and bleated in grumpiness.

Applejack raced outside and called out, “APPLEBLOOM!!!”

Applebloom had already trekked across the farm and was now pulling the wagon through the woodlands. The load was really heavy for a little pony her size. She was used to pulling small and lighter wagons, but regardless she wasn’t willing to give up.

“Gotta… keep goin’!” she groaned over and over, but she was really getting tired. It was freezing cold and snowing harder. Applebloom began to shiver, but luckily she knew of a place nearby where she could stop and rest, and keep Norm out of the cold.

Applejack, Big Mac and Buddy Rose were already on the trail, but the falling snow had covered the tracks.

Buddy Rose and applejack searched from the air, while Big Mac searched on the ground. They covered the entire farm area, and all met up around the middle. “Any sign of her?” Applejack asked.

“Nope.” replied Big Mac “and it’s snowin’ harder than ever.”

“She could freeze out on a night like this.” said Buddy Rose, but hearing that made Applejack feel really down, Big Mac too. “Don’t worry, we’ll find her.” Buddy Rose said, and he doubled clicked on his energizer which activated his visor. Applejack then activated hers, and the trio kept on searching.

Applebloom knew of a small rock mound deep within the woods and set up a little camp. She parked the wagon behind the rock and sat down next to it, out of the wind, and utilizing her scout-training, she made a fire, and she used the clean snow to make little cupcakes to eat, which made her mouth go numb!

Even with all this, it was still pretty cold. “Sure wish I brought some extra blankets!” she whimpered, but all the blankets were wrapped around Norm as she felt he needed them more.

“Don’t worry, Norm. I’ll do all that I can to help ya.” she said to him, and at that moment, Norm actually responded to her. “…You’ve already done more than enough for me.”

Applebloom was a little surprised, but of course most animals on the farm were able to speak, but they usually preferred not to or didn’t have to be understood.

“You’re awake!” cried Applebloom.

Norm smiled weakly at her, “You and I have been very close over the years, Applebloom. I treasure ‘em more than a golden bucket’o swill.”

Applebloom smiled “And we can still have more good times…” she said to him “Just you wait. You’ll be fine.”

Norm sighed softly. “Applebloom, I appreciate what you’re tryin’ to do and all that, but…” he paused “…I know this is gonna hurt more than a spider being caught in nettles but… I want you to stop all this.”

Applebloom was shocked that he would say such a thing. “Just give up! I can’t just give up! I don’t wanna lose ya! No, I want ya to get better again.”

Norm expected she would act like this, and he felt she needed to hear what he had to say.

“Applebloom… listen to me, and pay attention, it’s important…

I know this may be hard on ya, I myself wouldn’t feel any different, but… try to think about me and how I feel…” he referred to his broken hind legs and his side wound, “I can barely move around without it hurtin’, it’s even hard to sleep at night or even eat.”

Tears were brimming in Applebloom’s eyes. She really didn’t want to hear this. “Don’t talk like that! I’m gonna try and get ya help!”

Norm sighed, “Even if you could, it wouldn’t make much of a difference.”

Applebloom felt as if she had lost all feelings inside her.

“Applebloom, I’ve lived a long and fulfillin’ life. I have so many wonderful memories, with you and with everyone I’ve ever known… but…I’m really old, I miss my Roise and our young, and well… my grand pappy told me this once: “There’s no point in stayin’ alive… if ya ain’t gonna be very lively.”

The more Applebloom thought about it, she began to realize that he was right. Even if Norm was well again, he couldn’t run about, play games like he used to. Spending all your days just standing around and being unable to socialize, and share in joy or even have any fun was just too much for anyone!

“Don’t get me wrong, Applebloom.” Norm said “You’re the best friend I ever had. Nothin’ will ever replace it or make me forget it, and I’ll always remember everything you’ve ever done for me.”

Applebloom’s tears were falling earnestly, falling to the ground and turning into small drops of ice on her face. “Oh, Norm… I just don’t want ya to go. I’d miss ya too much.”

Norm felt his own tears falling now “It’ll be okay…” he said softly to her “As long as you remember, and as long there is love… from your friends, from you family, and those who care about you as well… you’ll be just fine.

…I love ya, kid.”

“I love ya too.” Applebloom said, and she hugged her friend softly.

Then, all went silent!

“Norm?”

No response!

“Norm?!”

Still no response!

Norm was no longer moving, and he wasn’t breathing either. Applebloom put her head to his heart, but she couldn’t hear a thing.

She fell to her knees, and her tears continued to fall and/or freeze to her face. “No… Norm…!” she sobbed.

“Applebloom…!” someone called.

It was Applejack, tracking her sister’s vital signs with her visor, and she saw the bonfire below. “Hey, I found her!”

Buddy Rose flew up to her, and the two of them touched down together, and saw the terrible sight before their eyes; a heartbroken Applebloom near a lifeless pig.

Buddy Rose scanned Norm’s vital signs with his visor, but sadly shook his head.

“Come on, Applebloom. Let’s go home.” Applejack said.

“Okay…” cried Applebloom, but she broke down and wept miserably. Applejack held her tightly letting her cry, and Buddy Rose hung his head low.

A few days later, it turned out that the adults were never planning to sell Norm to any sausage factory. They knew how much Applebloom loved him, even in death, and they wouldn’t do that to her.

Instead, they held a nice little funeral for Norm and buried him near a tree at the edge of the farm. A tree that he and Applebloom loved to lay under and take naps.

Each of them offered their piece and their farewells to him, even Buddy Rose, the other crusaders, but Applebloom was still very heartbroken. Nothing she could say or do would bring Norm back no matter how much she wanted it.

She grieved over it for a while, but it did some good to help her get that sadness out of her, and what was really beautiful was how she made up with her friends, and together they helped her to get back to her old playful self again.

The rest was pretty much history.

Tree Hugger was nearly speechless by what she had been told. “That is majorly heavy stuff.”

“Eeyup.” said Big Mac, and he and the others turned to watch Applebloom and DD playing in the fields. “Sure is nice knowing it doesn’t bother her as much anymore, but she never forgot Norm.”

“None of us did, or ever will.” said Applejack.

“It may be sad to lose a friend, but at least Applebloom it was important to think of others, and not just what she wanted.” said Buddy Rose “Though it was brave and noble of what she tried to do for him, in the end… it was better for her to let go, as she learned… as long as there is love, and as long as she remembers, she’ll be just fine.”

He felt his wife holding his hand as they and the others watched the girls play which warmed their hearts, and they saw Applebloom stop a moment and look up at the sky. No doubt she was saying hi to Norm in her heart, and she felt that wherever he was… he was happy too!

(Promo)

In our Next Episode: Lightning and his friends become concerned as their majesties seem to be acting rather distant and cold towards one another, and things go from bad to worse when many other ponies, best of friends, start to turn cold towards one-another as the result of a monster’s wicked curse.

Can peace be restored among all the bickering in United Equestria?

Don’t miss the next exciting episode of “Starfleet Magic!”

(Next Episode: “Ties that Unbind!”)

Author's Note

MLP really doesn't teach how to come to terms with things like Death, and TANKS FOR THE MEMORIES isn't it either

Episode 23: The Ties That Unbind Us

EPISODE TWENTY-THREE

Hardly any monsters had attacked United Equestria recently. Some assumed it was because they got the message, that they couldn’t beat Starfleet, while others were convinced it was just the calm before the big storm; by which a really big battle was to follow. It always happened.

Still, everyone took advantage of the nice weather and enjoyed outdoor activity, even the Starfleet members enjoyed what little time off they ever got to spend with friends or each other.

Pinkie Pie was very happy to see all the love and friendless going around. Everywhere she looked she saw not a sad face, and many getting along with one another.

The Cakes’ were happily, and even romantically helping one another run the bakeshop and café, while Pumpkin and Pound played happily together, passing a ball back and forth.

The Cutie mark Crusaders were also helping out a great deal. The mansion that pony Mykan Stevens had left them, had since been brought down from the mountain and set up as a wear-house to store goods and things for other business, which the crusaders agreed to as it meant they could now help out more than ever. Of course, being too young to get into serious business like that, the grown-ups of Starfleet would deal with all the serious profits and stuff, as well as the bills and land rent, but the girls were entitled to small shares of the profits… which was put away for college funds, or in DD’s case her funding to attend Starfleet Academy. Still, it was a very helpful and noble thing they were doing.

Why even two friendly spiders making a web outside the shop were helping each other spin until it was whole. The two seemed to be very close, even romantic-like.

“Aww… that’s so sweet.” cooed Pinkie.

“Shesh! You think you never saw it before.” grumbled Rainbow Dash. Poor thing looked as bored as she sounded.

“Uh, oh… someone woke up on the wrong side of the rainbow.” Pinkie teased “Come on, Dash. Turn that frown into happy-town.” she pulled on Rainbow’s mouth to make her smile, but it just flopped to boredom again. “Yeah, look, I love all this peace and quiet as much as the next person, but… COME ON!! When are we going to see some action around here?”

Artie came along, taking a break from his duties and his artworks. “That’s what comes from being strictly a creature of action. We’ll see some action soon, but in the meantime, a little break never hurt anyone. Besides, look at all the happiness around, it’s like being a in a living painting.”

Then he broke into a song that was once sung on Unicornicopia to contemplate the happiness…

Artie began to sing, and Pinkie sang with him, eventually, Rainbow found the fun and joy and began to sing and dance with her friends, and everyone else who joined in the song.

More of their friends joined in, practically half of New Ponyville joined in, but the only ones not present were Lightning, Starla and Krysta.

They were in New Canterlot, catching up on some work and helping train new recruits.

Their day was going quite smooth… until a horrible sight caught their eyes…!

Grand Ruler Celesto… Queen Celestia… both of them walked down the same hallway, but both of them were scowling angrily, and not even looking at one another. Finally, they reached a junction, took one look at each other, and then scoffed before walked down opposite ways.

“Um… oooo-kay…” said Krysta.

“I’ve never seen them behave like that.” said Lightning.

“They must’ve had one bad argument.” said Starla “Even they aren’t perfect. They’ve had disagreements before.”

“Well, yeah, but they’ve still never behaved like this before.” said Lightning “Usually they just calmly and civilly talk things out and reach an agreement.”

The friends decided to try and speak with their majesties; Lightning spoke with Grand Ruler, and Starla took the queen, but as it turned out, neither one of them was willing to discuss it.

“These are strictly our private affairs, and I wish not to discuss it.” Grand Ruler said.

“But your majesty…” Starla said to Celestia, “No buts!” Celestia said sharply. “Celesto is my husband, and that makes this our own issue, and I ask you not to meddle with our private affairs.”

The girls agreed not to discuss it further, and Celestia walked off huffier than ever.

“Well, that went well.” said Krysta, but really the both of them were deeply concerned.

…Even more so when Lightning told them he hadn’t had any luck with Grand Ruler. “He just ordered us all to return to New Ponyville, and not mention this to anyone. He sounded rather threatening.”

The trio reluctantly decided to head back.

Meanwhile, the happiness seemed endless in New Ponyville. Many were helping others, and sharing things too, unaware that they were being watched…!

A pair of sinister eyes peeked through the shadows of the shrubs, gazing at two ponies having tea and chatting friendly with one-another.

Then out from the shrubs, the creature held a long human-like arm, covered in fur, and extended long steel claws from her hand. “Sorry to cut this happiness short…” she hissed, and then right before her eyes she could see a long magical line, resembling the friendship and happiness the ponies felt towards one another. Her claws began to magically glow and she slashed at the line severing it…!

At once, the ponies felt strange, but then as they gazed at one another they broke out into a heated fight.

“I don’t know why I agreed to tea with you!” one of them snarled. “Why am I even talking to a blowhard like you anyway?!” growled the other. The two ponies scoffed at each other and walked away, while the creature in the shrubs snickered almost in a cat-like sound, and then she sprinted off to cause more trouble.

Pinkie Pie came bouncing along with Rainbow fluttering alongside her while Artie preferred to walk. Suddenly, Pinkie froze and held her aching knee “Uh, oh… there goes my Pinkie Senses” she cried.

“What’s wrong?” asked Artie.

“You know, her Pinkie Senses.” replied Rainbow “Whenever Pinkie fells funny, strange things happen… literally, strange things!”

Pinkie’s knee was aching, “That means something scary is about to happen!” she whimpered, and then her tail began to twitch!

“Twitcha Twitch! Twitcha Twitch!” she whimpered, “That’s means something’ going to fall too!” she bounced around in panic!

Rainbow and Artie exchanged concerned looks, but as they looked around they could see nothing unusual anywhere. “You see anything?” asked Artie.

“No, not even any clouds. What could possibly fall and be scary?” Rainbow wondered

Those invisible lines connecting their friendship could only be seen by the cat-like creature hiding behind a tree as she extended her glowing claw and slashed at the lines.

At once, Rainbow and Artie immediately turned hostile on one another. “What are you looking at Rainbow Crash?”

“Just you, Bristle Brack!”

“Oh, you wanna go?”

“You bet I wanna go!”

They growled at one another, and then scoffed and turned away, much to Pinkie’s confusion “Um, are you guys okay?”

“Who needs her anyway?” Artie snubbed “As long as I have you, Pinkie Pie.”

“Pft! Yeah right!” sneered Rainbow “Pinkie’s my friend!” and the two of them began to pull on her, even stretching her like an elastic.

“She’s my friend!” growled Rainbow.

“No, she’s mine!” protested Artie “She’s been a better friend than you ever have!”

Now Pinkie was really scared, just like her senses predicted, and she wretched out of their grips. “Okay, as much as I like this-- Wait… no I don’t!” then she screamed and dashed away before the creature could slash her line as well.

“Rats!” she hissed, again like a cat. “You won’t get away from me that easy.”

As Pinkie flew along wondering what was going on with her friends, what she saw before her churned her blood!

Ponies everywhere were no longer happy, but rather angry and hostile with one another, even some of her best friends were quarrelling or acting cold with one-another.

Dyno and Myte were fighting over who got to use the shovel, and were arguing with each other in Spanish.

Applejack was quarrelling with Buddy Rose.

“People like my flowers way more than your silly apples!” snarled Buddy.

“Too bad you’re the only one who thinks that!” snapped Applejack.

Why even Rarity and Spike were arguing as they pulled on a piece of fabric covered in jewels they both seemed to want; Rarity wanted to make an outfit, while Spike wanted to eat the jewels.

“Let go of this! You wretched beast!” snarled Rarity.

“How about you let go, you old ugly mule!”

Rarity’s head throbbed, and her face went red. She let out a thunderous roar! “I don’t know WHY in the universe I ever married you, Spike!!”

Fluttershy and Rhymey were nowhere to be seen, as they had gone home to feed lunch to the animals, and it was all the better they weren’t present…! All the noise, all the arguments, Pinkie’s head was rattling like crazy, but her tail gave that twitch again, hinting it was all the love and friendship that was falling, and badly! “WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?!!” cried Pinkie.

The creature finally stepped out of hiding and hissed “…Conquering your planet; that’s what it means.”

Pinkie turned round and saw the cat-like woman step out. She didn’t look like a creature from the prison. She was humanoid, and wore a dark blue leotard, but her arms and legs were furry. She had car like fangs and ears on her human head, and yes… she even had a tail.

“Who or what are you?” Pinkie asked.

“The name is Kitty Snip. With my keen senses I can see the ties that bind people by affection, friendship and harmony. It sickens me so, so I use my enchanted silver claws and…” she slashed at a tree, cutting it down in one swipe “…Get it?”

Pinkie’s features hardened worse than ever “I get it now… YOU did all this!”

Kitty, typically, licked her hand while snickering, “Genius, isn’t it? It’s ironic… I can easily over-dominate this planet, and everyone else is too busy to care or even notice. They’re too busy arguing with each other.”

Indeed, she was right. The fighting was getting worse and worse. Those whom were the best of friends were now like heated enemies. Romantic couples were thinking of breaking off, and married couples were thinking of divorce. Even little children were beginning to fight physically with one another, while all their parents did was fight with one another.

Fortunately, unaffected ponies and officers saw all this and begun to deal with the fighting, but Pinkie realize this monster had to be contained before things could get back to normal.

“Harmony Hour, Friendship Power!”

Once transformed, Pinkie wasted no time and leapt right into action, but Kitty sidestepped out of the way causing her to crash.

“Feel fortunate my snipping doesn’t work while you’re standing alone.” Kitty said “I’ll just have to crush you the old fashioned way.” She extended her claws and hissed violently while Pinkie snuffed like the horse she was and kicked back the dirt. “Bring it!”

The two leapt at each other, biting and clawing, and punching and kicking. Unfortunately for Pinkie, Kitty was very swift and quick on her feet like the cat she was, and she slashed at Pinkie hard casing sparks to fly all over, and Pinkie’s armor was horribly scratched, much to her horror.

Kitty licked her claws and remarked “You’ve got to sharp if you want to be swift.”

Pinkie wasn’t hurt much, and got back on her feet, but what she wouldn’t give for her friends to come and help her, and suddenly, right then and there… they all dropped in, fully transformed, minus Lightning, Starla, Rhymey and Fluttershy.

Even while under a spell, they still seemed willing to fight.

“Leave this one to me…” said Spike as he held his dragon sword.

“Hey, who said you get to go first?!” complained Rainbow.

“I’ll take the first shot!” snapped Dyno. “Espera un minuto aquí! *Wait a minute here!*” growled Myte “You and I have to do it together, or our power is cut in half.”

“Who said I needed you?”

“Hey, you can’t talk to him like that!” snarled Applejack.

“Look who’s talking!” jeered Rarity.

All the friends were arguing more with each other than concentrating. Pinkie tried hopelessly to get them all to calm down, but Kitty was rather enjoying this. “This is more fun than watching a performance on stage.”

Then she could see Pinkie Pie’s friendship tie, as she was near her friends, just ready for her to slash at it.

She readied her claws for the slash, when suddenly... CLANG!! Her claws came into contact with Rhymey’s sword. He stood there grinning at her, and then Fluttershy touched down, and she looked awfully angry. “How dare you do this to our friends!” she sneered.

“We shall break you from all ends!” rhymed Rhymey.

“Ha!” snapped Kitty “The only thing breaking will be your friendship-ties.” she could see them both glowing and tried to slash at it, but Fluttershy leapt up high taking her chain with her, out of range.

Pinkie thought that a cool move, “As long as we don’t come near each other, she can’t slash the ties.”

Kitty growled, and then began to do battle with Rhymey, her claws against his sword, but again she proved to be swift and managed to hit him a few times.

“Easy pickings!” hissed Kitty, and she dashed forth to claw at him again.

“DRILL QUILL!” Rhymey unleashed his barrage of sharp quill feathers, which pelted at Kitty slowing her down just a little. “You think that’ll stop me? The cat always gets the bird!” Kitty snarled, and she furiously swiped her claws at all the feathers wiping her path clear…

But as she came out of the barrage, Rhymey leapt up high, revealing Fluttershy right behind him and she gave Kitty a good fist to the face, sending her sailing towards Pinkie who gave her a good kick to the chest that sent her skidding across the ground.

She got up rubbed her face and growling angrily. “That may be the first time anyone has successfully landed a blow on me.”

The ponies, standing away from one another, knew this couldn’t go on like this, what with all the arguing ponies and all the village acting

Fluttershy scanned Kitty with her visor, and determined the magical energy surrounding her claws, the same kind of energy that was emitting from all the others, whom were still bickering with one another.

“We have to try and destroy her claws.” Fluttershy called to the others “Maybe that’ll break the spell.”

Rhymey scanned the claws, and tried to detect what kind of metal they were and how strong they were.

“That’s easier said than done,
They’re made of a solid metal, and a strong one.”

Kitty snickered “That’s the least of your worries!” and she leapt up high. The others tried to spot her, but it was as if she had vanished into thin air.

“Where did she go?” asked Fluttershy.

“I don’t know.” rhymed Rhymey.

Pinkie remained silent and still, except for moving her eyes round. Suddenly, her tail gave that same twitch. “Heads up!” she shouted, and right then did Kitty leap down to swipe at her.

Pinkie zipped out of the way, and Fluttershy dashed up to attack, but got kicked hard in the chest. Furious, about his wife being struck, Rhymey attacked, but Kitty swiftly knocked his sword away, and swung round bashing him with her tail and sent him crashed into the girls.

The trio now sat close to each other and Kitty saw this perfect chance to snip their lines. “A cat always lands on her feet, a pity you’re about to land like your friends did-- against one another, and I’ll be one step closer to conquering this world with ease!”

She lunged up to slash at the friendship-lines and possibly the friends too, when Lightning came soaring in and kicked her hard and sent her crashing onto a bench, breaking it to pieces.

As she got up Starla came soaring in, “STAR SHOWER!” and pelted her with her stars to keep her distracted.

“You guys okay?” she then called to the others.

“We’re okay, but that was sure close.” said Fluttershy.

“We just got into town when we heard of trouble…” said Lightning, and then he could see for himself what the trouble was; all the friends were still squabbling with one another.

Pinkie explained the situation and pointed at Kitty, “And SHE’S responsible for this!”

Kitty snickered and said, “And I’m about to be responsible for your destruction!” She held out her claws, which Lightning and Starla scanned and realized what the others had been trying to do.

“I think I have an idea…” Lightning whispered to the others, preferably at Pinkie and Fluttershy. The girls and their cutie marks on their armor. “Oh, of course!” said Fluttershy.

“Why didn’t we think of that before?” added Pinkie.

“We will distract her as best we can do,
The rest will be up to the two of you.” said Rhymey.

Everyone called “BREAK!!” and the space ponies leapt back into action.

As Kitty stared the three ponies down, she rubbed her claws together, “Time for me to but the snip on your friendship lines.”

She lunged at them, and they scattered.

“STARLIGHT ARROW!”

Starla launched a single arrow at Kitty, and she evaded it, but Starla’s horn glowed as did her arrow and she began to guide it around like a homing missile with her finger. This forced Kitty to swerve and dodge the arrow more and more, until finally she slashed at it with her claws.

Then Rhymey leapt in and battled her in a fencing fight; his sword against her claws. He managed to strike her once, but then she struck him twice, forcing Lightning and Starla to leap in do combat battle.

While Kitty was distracted, Fluttershy and Pinkie concentrated hard until their cutie marks began to shine, and they shouted… “VALKYRIA!!” and donned their Valkyrie of Harmony forms.

“Do you think this will really work?” asked Pinkie. “I hope so.” said Fluttershy. They then joined their swords together and concentrated hard on their elements-- Laughter and Kindness—and fired a magical blast at their bickering friends.

The magic was good enough to mend their ties and break the spell, snapping them back to their senses.

“What were we doing?!” Artie cried in shame.

“Acting like complete and total idiots.” said Rainbow.

The friends all apologized; Spike hugged Rarity warmly. “I love you, Rarity.”

“I love you, Spikey-Wikey.”

Fluttershy and Pinkie smiled wat one another with delight.

“Okay y’all, we can all makeup later…” said Applejack “We got a baddie to bag!”

The others all agreed.

Kitty swung hard with her claws and hit the three space ponies hard, and sent them rolling along the ground.

“…Looks like slow-and-steady doesn’t win the battle after all!” Kitty sneered “I think I’ve wasted enough time with you vermin. The cat always catches her mice!”

The three space ponies looked up, but were grinning cheekily. “There’s just one problem…” Lightning said, and he motioned to all the others whom stood glaring at her, “…It looks like your way outnumbered now.”

Kitty couldn’t believe her eyes, “No! This can’t be. My spell is irreversible!”

“Ha! I guess you underestimated the power of friendship.” snapped Pinkie. Fluttershy nodded, “When it comes to friendship, even when it’s broken, there’s still a chance it can be repaired and made-up.”

The others all stood together in a huge group, but Kitty was not impressed! “You’re all slicker than I thought, but I am slicker still!!”

She charged forth to cut everyone’s lines again and put them all back under the spell, but the fighters all scattered about so she missed, and one-by-one hey attacked her mercilessly to weaken her.

Poor Kitty, she tried her hardest to evade all the attacks, but as she was outnumbered, there were fewer places for her to escape to.

Then, as she swerved round a bend, she saw Lightning with the uniforce charged up. “Take this…!” he shouted and fired a small wave of power. Kitty put up her claws to try and defend herself, but her claws were brutally shattered under the mighty force.

“No!!” she shouted.

“Now, guys…!” Lightning shouted, and everyone blasted her with their finishers, and Kitty exploded-- shrunk down to size and imprisoned in a sphere.

Of course, with her claws destroyed and Kitty herself imprisoned, her spell had broken and all the citizens in New Ponyville snapped back to their senses.

All of them realized what they had been doing and how badly they were acting. Apologies and make-ups were immediately carried out.

The team was very happy to see this happening, though, Lightning and Starla still seemed a little bummed, and they told their friends about Grand Ruler Celesto and Queen Celestia.

“Really…?” Pinkie asked in disbelief.

“Whoa!” exclaimed Spike.

“That is simply dreadful!” cried Rarity.

“They won’t say why they’re so mad?” asked Fluttershy.

Lightning shook his head. “They also told us not to interfere with their personal affairs. I’m really worried about them.”

“Well, maybe Kitty got to them too…” suggested Rainbow “Maybe she slashed at their friendship ties and they were bickering over nothing.”

But Lightning and Starla completely disagreed, “They are Deity Alicorns…” said Starla “Their ties are much too strong to be broken by such simple tricks.”

“Besides…” Artie cut in “…Kitty was here in New Ponyville, and I dubt even with her speed she could get to New Canterlot and back that easily.”

A long moment of silence befell on everyone. This meant that their majesties really did have a fight, and really were steamed with one another. “Well, who knows…” said Rainbow “Maybe it’ll all just blow over, and they’ll make up for it and things will be okay?”

Everyone else wanted to try and believe that until Krysta showed up, and she looked pretty downhearted and worried.

“Krysta, what’s wrong?” Lightning asked.

Krysta wasn’t sure how to word it, so she just was blunt and said that, after she dropped Lightning and Starla off, she wanted to check back up on their majesties, and she found really struck her hard. “They were yelling at each other. It was a really heated argument, but I have no idea of what started it all or what it was even about… and then…” she paused and tears were forming in her eyes, almost like a frightened child, “…Grand Ruler… he… he… struck the queen across her face!”

Everyone gasped really hard and loudly…

…and Rarity fainted into Spike’s arms.

“I… I…I can’t believe it!” cried Buddy Rose.

The twins were equally as shocked, “I didn’t think he ever could!” said Dyno. “Do you think… they may… get a divorce?” asked Myte, but saying that only made everyone’s stomach’s turn very badly, especially Lightning’s. “No!” he said firmly “I don’t believe that will happen! It can’t! It won’t!”

…but for the first time in a long time, the more and more he tried to deny all this, the more he found it harder to face.

Only time would tell just how far things would go...

…but back at the palace, things were not improved as Celestia lay flat on her bed in tears and weeping very miserably. The left side of her face was red and bruised form where her husband had hit her.

Princess Luna came in when she heard, and sat next to her sobbing sister, trying to comfort her…

…while Grand Ruler, feeling extremely remorseful for striking his wife, was all alone on the highest terrace of the palace feeling ashamed and wondering how things came to this. He gripped the rulings tightly with his head hanging low… and his own tears splashed against the floor.

He honestly didn’t know how things could ever be made up for, and he didn’t even want to begin to think how the public would react to this!

Hopefully, the news would not leak out!

(Promo)

In our next episode: Their majesties squabble not only seems to have reached the public’s attention, but escalates into a one-on-one manhunt as the Queen and Grand Ruler try to eliminate one another, and Lightning is caught alone in the middle between the two warring ones trying to bring some sense of peace to the couple.

Will Lightning be able to quell the anger and hostilities of their majesties?

Don’t miss the next exciting episode of “Starfleet Magic!”

(Next Episode: “A Royal Duel to the Death: Part 1”)

Episode 24: A Royal Duel to the Death: Part 1

EPISODE TWENTY-FOUR

Several days had passed since their majesties had their heated argument. Whatever it was which started the whole mess was still anybody’s guess, but that wasn’t the worst of things…!

News of the argument had reached the public. It was on the front page of practically every newspaper and magazine, and one of the pictures on headline was that of Grand Ruler Celesto just having struck Queen Celestia across her face.

“This is absurd!”

“There has to be a mistake.”

Ponies and other creatures tried desperately to deny what they heard of and read, but things only worsened as they story also read: “Discussions for royal divorce have been confirmed!”

Citizens and officers were really starting to fall into a panic and worry. Many did not wish for the royal family to breakup, many others were trying to investigate as to what started all this and figure a way to stop it, but there was just no evidence, and their majesties… any time someone tried to inquire what happened, they stubbornly and furiously refused any comment.

Even the royal staffs were growing especially worried when they seemed to hear or walk in on their majesties arguing and yelling with one another, even starting to pose potential threats towards one another.

“I ruled this kingdom for a-thousand years before you ever came back into my life!” Celestia snarled.

“Ha! I used to think you were strong and able, but now I see just how weak you really are!” protested Grand Ruler “I could destroy you easily if I was given the chance!”

Enraged, Celestia raised her hand and slapped her husband clear across his face, the same way he had done to her. Grand Ruler looked her dead in the eyes with such fury, “You’ve made many mistakes, Celestia… but I swear, that was you final, gravest of errors, and you will regret it!”

Celestia remained unfazed and the two of them now felt extreme infuriation towards one another.

Princess Luna was extremely worried about all this, and sent a message to Lightning in a letter, telling him he was to come to the palace at once, however… she told him to come totally alone, even Krysta would not be allowed to warp him... and the entire letter was written in her brother-in-law’s handwriting and signed it with his signature!

When Lightning got it, he was with all his friends.

Lightning, not knowing whom really sent the letter, angrily clutched the letter in his hands, “Why in the name of the universe is this happening?!” he shouted. The others all winced as if he were addressing them for a confession. “I… I’m sorry.” he said in a calm voice.

Starla placed a comforting hand on his back, “It’s okay, and you’re really worried about this. We all are.”

Some of the others nodded, and Rarity, being overdramatic as ever, cried out “Of all the worst things that could happen… this is…”

“… The… worst… possible thing! We get it!” Applejack cut in. Rarity turned the other way and huffed “Well you don’t have to be like that.”

“Ugh, knock it off!” snapped Lightning “The last thing we need right now is even more drama.”

“What I’d like to know is how did all this leak to the public.” said Buddy Rose. Everyone then turned to face Pinkie. “Hey, don’t look at me.” she said innocently. “I know I may have let out a few secrets before, but this is a huge one!”

Although everyone was still skeptical, “I believe her…” said Artie “But what are going to do? The whole planet is socially falling to pieces.”

“Well, I better get to the palace then.” said Lightning “Hopefully I can try to get to the bottom of this.”

He tenderly pecked Starla on her cheek, leaving her in charge of the team while he was gone, and she pecked him back wishing him luck. Then he was off, up into the air and speed-boosted away like a striking comet.

“I still don’t get why his majesty told me not to transport him myself.” said Krysta.

“I’m more wondering why he didn’t summon all of us.” added Spike.

No one had any ideas.

“Oh, I really hope their majesties don’t get a divorce.” cried Fluttershy.

Rhymey picked up one of the magazines and re-read the part about the confirmed divorce rumors. When he got really nervous he would spout rhymes in many consecutive sentences!

“No matter what the people have said,
No matter what is written or read,
I do not want that marriage to be dead!
Oh, just thinking of such a thing hurts my head!
This is just something too big to dread!!”

Fluttershy calmed him down. “Take it easy, dear.”

Rhymey caught his breath and relaxed, but still everyone felt droopy in the chops over all this, they hardly even felt like attending their own activities and it was hard to concentrate on patrols.

“All we need now is a call of danger to come.” said Rainbow, and at that precise moment, the alarms went off and citizens began to panic as monsters appeared in the village.

“Well, I guess we got it now.” said Dyno, “We better get to work.” added Myte.

Starla nodded and shouted, “Let’s go!” and they all dashed into action.

Meanwhile, thanks to his super speed, Lightning had arrived at the palace in New Canterlot very quickly. He was escorted into the waiting room by Captain Shaina. “I don’t why his majesty sent you here, but I will notify him of your arrival.”

“Thanks.” Lightning said to her, and he watched her go off before having a seat.

Lightning sat and he waited, and waited… and… waited…!

A while later he was beginning to grow irritable. Two solid hours had passed, as Grand Ruler hadn’t so much as passed on a message that he was late in coming. “I can’t take this anymore!” Lightning groaned to himself as he stood up to stretch his legs. His tail seemed a little flat and sticky from sitting on it for so long.

Goldwin passed along the waiting room.

“Goldwin…! Hey…” Lightning called “Do you what’s keeping Grand Ruler so long?”

Goldwin was confused, “Why? Was he supposed to see you?”

Lightning felt his patience thinning, but he spoke calmly, “Well, he sent for me, and I’ve been waiting here for a long time.”

“I’ll go see if I can find him.” Goldwin said, and he left leaving Lightning to wait again. He waited… and waited… and… he… waited!!

…Until finally, from being so bored, he had fallen asleep, and he slept until late into the night.

That’s when things began to get really, really strange…!

Grand Ruler Celesto walked all around the palace only to find the entire place completely deserted. The royal guards were not at their posts, the palace staff members were nowhere to be found, not even in their bedchambers. Even the laboratory and sickbay were empty. Worse, all the lights were out leaving only the night-lights giving soft glows across the halls.

He checked the nursery, but even Castor and Leilani were nowhere to be found. Princess Luna was missing, and Goldwin, he was gone too, which was very perplexing as he could not leave the palace or he would turn back into a statue.

“What is all this?” Grand Ruler wondered. Things only got even more mysterious as he looked out the window and could see the village in the distance; not a single house was lit, and there wasn’t a soul to be seen. It was as if everyone had just up and gone!

Grand Ruler had taken enough of this, and his three golden horns began to glow as he announced as if speaking on an intercom. “Attention! Attention! If there is anyone here in this palace, report to me at once!”

He got no response. So he repeated his message, only to then hear the sound of a door slamming shut at the end of the hallway behind him, and the faint sound of someone running! “Who slammed that door?” he shouted “Answer me!”

When no one responded, he stomped over the door to practically kick it open, but the door would not budge, as it had been sealed with a powerful spell. “Open this door!” he shouted to whoever was out there “Open it!”

No response!

“OPEN IT!!”

He then tried to undo the spell with his own magic, only for his surprise, his horns didn’t glow brightly enough and he couldn’t give off enough magic. “What’s happening to my powers?” he wondered.

Still, that didn’t leave his brute strength out, and he punched the doors hard, shattering them to pieces, and he stared down the long hallway ahead of him.

He was more than convinced he was not alone and that someone was plotting against him, and he was starting to have a sickening feeling he knew whom it was… there was only one other creature with the kind of power he knew was at foot.

As he trekked along searching for the suspect, he walked past the waiting room, when he stopped a looked inside. There, he saw none other than Lightning, fast asleep across the benches.

A very disgraceful thing for an officer to be asleep and in such a place!

He walked over and loudly cleared his throat, which surprised Lightning and he nearly fell off the bench. “Oh! Oh, Master… it’s you, and about time too!”

As he got up off the bench and stretched he was practically appalled by how dark and late it was, not to mention horribly quiet.

“Lightning Dawn, what, in the name of the known universe, are you doing here?” Grand Ruler asked.

Lightning straightened his uniform and answered “I’ve been waiting for you as ordered.”

“For me… as ordered?” asked Grand Ruler. Now Lightning was feeling confused, “Well, yes, sire. You sent me a letter telling me to come here this afternoon, and I got here…” he checked the big clock on the wall, which was still working, “…exactly seven whole hours, and I fell asleep here waiting, and begging your pardon but what kept you?”

“Lightning… I sent you no such letter.”

Lightning froze on the spot. “You didn’t…?”

Grand Ruler shook his head. Lightning showed him the letter and was silently outraged that his handwriting and signature had been forged. Yet, it was done so perfectly, had he not known better, he, too, wouldn’t have fallen for the trick.

Lightning was starting to feel concerned, “Master, what’s going on here?”

“I’d like to know that myself, though I may have an idea.” said Grand Ruler “Tell me, have you seen anyone here at all before you fell asleep?”

“Well, just Goldwin, Captain Shaina and the palace staff as they walked by.”

“How about the Queen; did you happen to see her at any time?”

“Queen Celestia…? No, I haven’t seen her. Why?”

Grand Ruler’s features hardened and he clenched his fist, destroying the letter in his grip. “So, it is just as I thought.” he thought to himself “…I will not let this happen!”

Lightning had no idea what he was thinking, but then he noticed “Sire… your mane!”

“Huh?” Grand Ruler looked in a mirror that was on the wall, and sure enough the magical images of outer-space in his mane were fading softly. Not only that, but his magical cape wasn’t fluttering as high nor twinkling as brightly as it used to, and this only happened if one of two things was happening, either he was in a very low down mood and his confidence were low… and that was not the case, which only meant, “…My power… it’s weakening.”

Lightning’s insides were starting to quiver with fear. The way this was happening, all coupled with the forged letter and the, now, deserted palace, “…I think we better get out of here.”

“Yes… yes, you’re right.”

Grand Ruler tried to teleport them both out of the palace, but despite still having enough power to do so, the spell did not function properly and the two of them remained where they were.

“What’s happening?” asked Lightning.

“I don’t know. I can’t warp us out of here.”

He tried two more times, but failed, and the stars in his mane got a little fainter, and his cape lost a little more of its lift and sparkle.

“We’ll have to get out of here the old fashioned way.” Lightning suggested. His former mentor agreed, “First I’m going to take a look around and see if there’s anyone else about. It’s dangerous for them to stay here.”

Despite the obvious facts the entire palace was all but deserted, Grand Ruler went off before Lightning could even protest. He tried to go after him, only to find he had already vanished out of sight.

“Galloping Galaxies…!” Lightning groaned as he took off his hat and wiped his brow. “What else could happen?” He suddenly got his answer when someone dropped down from behind him.

He turned round and saw none other than Queen Celestia, wearing her old warrior outfit--armored grey vest with her cutie mark painted on the front, and golden-shoulder pads, arm-plates, golden skirt, long grey boots on her legs, and a short red cape in back.

She looked sternly, almost threateningly at Lightning and asked “What are you doing here?”

“I… I was tricked into coming here.” replied Lightning. Celestia believed him, but her features remained unchanged. “You are here by yourself?” she asked. “No, your highness, Grand Ruler was just here.”

Celestia’s features hardened worse, and her eyes flashed red. She held Lightning by the shoulders, somewhat forcefully, “Where is he? Do you know?”

Lightning felt a little nervous. “N-N-No… he was here, but he ran off, but his power is getting weak.”

Her eyes flashed redder than ever, much to Lightning’s already growing worry, “Uh… your majesty, are you alright?”

“I will be… after I destroy Celesto.”

Lightning’s gave a nasty turn at those words “…Destroy…Grand Ruler?!”

“That’s right. I’ve got to find him and destroy him… and you’re going to help me.”

“What?!” snapped Lightning.

“Keep it quiet!” snapped Celestia.

“Pardon me, but I’ll do such thing.”

Celestia glared at him threateningly “So, you’ve sided with him, have you?”

Lightning shook his head, “No, no… I don’t get this. You want to destroy him… but, why?”

“Believe me, I didn’t want it to come to this, but now I have no choice.” said Celestia.

Lightning began to wonder if this had anything to do with all the arguments the couple had been having. Perhaps it had heated so much, that and coupled with the two striking each other--

Lightning tried and tried to make the queen see reason. “Look, whatever you two are fighting about-- please, can’t we all just sit down and talk this over? Maybe we can work it all out.”

“There’s nothing to talk about.” said Celestia “I know what I have to do. I’ve cast the spell that’s weakening him.”

Hearing that made Lightning’s features stiffen “You… you’re behind all this?”

“That’s right. It’s the only chance I have. Now I have to find Celesto and kill him while I can before he kills me, and I want you to help me.”

“No! I won’t, you hear me!” Lightning snapped “I won’t be a part of this. There’s no need to kill each other. He doesn’t want to kill you!”

Celestia did not take kindly to his attitude, but rather than waste time and lecture him on all that she realized she was on her own with this. “Fine then… I’ll find him myself!”

She tried to run off but Lightning grabbed her by the tail. “No! I won’t let you do this!”

“You can’t try and stop me!” growled Celestia, and she fired a hard blast from her horn right at his armor knocking him away from her, allowing her to escape.

Lightning groaned as he sat back upright. He was more outraged than hurt, but when he looked at his armor he saw that his energizer had been hit square on and was damaged. “Oh, no!” he grumbled. Now he couldn’t transform or access his super-gear, and now Celestia had gotten away and was going to kill his former mentor.

He had to find Grand Ruler and fast before the queen got to him! The problem was he didn’t know where his majesty could be in this huge, empty palace.

However, he suddenly heard someone call to him, “Psst… Lightning…”

It was his former mentor, still safe, but his mane was looking dimmer and his cape was hardly fluttering now.

“Master, thank goodness your safe. I’ve got to get you out of here.”

“Was that Celestia you were speaking to?”

“Yes, it was. Look, sire, I’ve got to get you out of here.”

“Where did she go?” Grand Ruler asked, practically in a demanding voice. “She ran off. Look, she’s gone mad. She’s out to destroy you. I’ve got to get you out of here.”

Before Grand Ruler could say anything, the two of them heard Celestia’s voice. She was using her magic to announce all throughout the palace. “Celesto… Celesto, I know can hear me. Now answer me… unless you’re afraid.”

Lightning shook his head telling his majesty not to, but Grand Ruler, still having more than half his power left, answered anyway. “Yes, I can hear you.”

“Good, I want you to know… I’ve cast a spell on the palace. It’s slowly draining your power, but it doesn’t affect mine at all. Soon you’ll be too weak to even stand.”

Grand Ruler chuckled softly “You’d think I wasn’t aware of that already.”

“After all the pain and suffering you put me through… I’m going to find you, and I’m going to destroy you! You won’ be able to escape this time!”

Lightning was livid at such words “Pain and Suffering?”… “What are you talking about?” he asked, but Celestia refused to answer. “Celestia…” Grand Ruler called “Celestia, where are you?”

His wife did not answer, which only meant that she had ceased the magic and was well on her way to find them and destroy Grand Ruler.

“Master… for the last time…” Lightning said “We’ve got to get out of here, now!”

Grand Ruler finally agreed, “Come on, out the windows.”

The two ponies leapt straight at the nearest windows to fly off into the night, only to be thrown back by a strong force-field! “I was afraid of that.” Grand Ruler said “Celestia’s trying to keep us locked in here. She really wants me dead and wants the honor of doing it herself.”

He tried to dispel the magic with his own, but to no avail with his power growing weaker.

“Let me try.” offered Lightning. Grand Ruler stepped well back as Lightning powered himself up. “UNIFORCE!” he fired his power straight at the barrier, the results were explosive!

POW!! Not a very big explosion…

…But big enough for Celestia to notice it from where she stood outside on one of the many terraces. “So there you are!” she grumbled, and she flew straight off.

The smoke had cleared, the window and bits of the wall had been demolished, but the barrier still remained. “I don’t believe it!” cried Lightning “I’ll try again…”

“Save your strength,” said Grand Ruler “If it didn’t work then, it won’t work now. The best chance is to find Celestia. She created this, she can break it. I’ve got to find her.”

“What, are you crazy?” snapped Lightning. Grand Ruler glared at him sternly for speaking like that to him “Begging your pardon, but she’s out to get you!”

Grand Ruler began to look a little woozy, the result of his power dwindling.

“Master!” cried Lightning.

“I’m… alright.” Grand Ruler wearily replied, and then he stood straight and tall as if he could really keep going. “There’s no choice, I’ve got to find Celestia.”

“But--”

“No buts, Lightning Dawn! I’ve made my decision we’ll leave at that!” snapped Grand Ruler, and off he went out of the room and down the hall. Lightning tried to protest, but had already lost him as he dashed around the bend.

Lightning honestly didn’t know how much more of this he could take. All the stubbornness, hostilities… it was making his headache! Now he had to try and find his majesty before her majesty did!

Grand Ruler treaded cautiously down the hallway, trying to keep his eyes and his senses well going for anything.

Suddenly, he heard a soft crash, and turned swiftly and holding out his arms ready to shoot… but no one was there, yet he remained unconvinced that he was totally alone.

As he turned another corner, IT HAPPENED!!

Celestia tackled him hard to the ground and tried to strangle him! She seemed surprisingly stronger than him, only because of her spell draining his power away giving her a serious fighting chance. However, despite his magic power draining, Grand Ruler still had plenty of physical power left, and managed to pries her hands off his neck and flipped her up over and off him, landing flat on her back!

Celestia bolted upright, growling at him like a cougar, and she lunged right at him. The two engaged in a struggle, but Grand Ruler hardly seemed to want to make any kill-moves while his wife continued to pour on her rage and strength.

Naturally of course, Grand Ruler had to at least defend himself, and punched her hard in the chest sending her crashing into the wall, knocking over a table, a vase, and the curtains down on top of her.

Infuriated, Celestia fired a blast from her horn, straight through the curtains and hitting her husband’s leg hard.

Grand Ruler shouted in pain as he fell down clutching his gashed leg.

Just as Celestia stood upright and ready to shoot for the kill, “No! Stop…!” Lightning intervened and began to wrestle with his queen, which gave Grand Ruler a chance to get away, by fluttering with his wings as he couldn’t walk well.

Celestia, broke free from Lightning’s grip and shoved him hard, and when she saw Grand Ruler had gone, she dashed off in search of him to finish him off!

Lightning got back up and felt angry for letting Celestia get away, having seen she had shot Grand Ruler. Now he had to find him and help him. In his weakened state and with his powers draining, he didn’t even want to begin to think how worse it could get if Celestia found him first!

He wandered down the hall with hardly any clue where his master had gone. His energizer was still damaged so he couldn’t activate his visor to scan for the magic essence, and he couldn’t just call out for his mentor or he’d alert Celestia’s attention!

Suddenly, he spotted a speck of sparkling blood on the floor in the hallway. No doubt it was Grand Ruler’s blood as he was a deity alicorn, and their blood type sparkled.

“He was just here.” Lightning said to himself “Okay, Lightning, remember your training.”

Carefully calculating where he spotted the speck and feeling the carpet and the walls for the warmth of body heat. Sure enough, he spotted another speck of blood on the floor… and another… and another… until he looked on ahead and gasped…! There, up ahead, Grand Ruler was lying on the floor unconscious.

Was he too late already?

Fortunately, when he examined the body, he was relieved Grand Ruler was still alive, but still very weak from the power drain, and the gash on his leg.

Lightning had to move fast before Celestia found them and finished the job!

To Be Continued…!

(Promo)

In our next episode: Lightning’s friends soon discover more and more monsters attacking the planet than they can capture them all. Meanwhile, the Death Hunt at the palace continues as Grand Ruler and Celestia refuse to give in nor listen to Lightning’s objections.

Will Lightning have to ultimately choose sides, and how long can his friends hold up under the onslaught?

Don’t miss the next exciting episode of “Starfleet Magic!”

(Next Episode: “Royal Duel to the Death: Part 2!”)

Episode 25: A Royal Duel to the Death: Part 2

“Previously on Starfleet Mavgic…!”

Word of the Royal Argument reached the ears of the public where it was discovered things were heated up between Grand Ruler Celesto and Queen Celestia, and they even planned a divorce. Then, Lightning Dawn, tricked into coming to the royal palace in New Canterlot had stumbled into a regular death hunt, as Queen Celestia ruthlessly was in attempt to murder her husband and had gone to such extreme lengths such as weakening his power and trapping he and Lightning within the palace!

EPISODE TWENTY-FIVE

The fighters had been busy all afternoon fighting swarms of monsters that kept popping up all over the place in a regular ambush. Not a single Starfleet fighting on the planet was not called to arms and was then fighting for the safety of the world and the galaxy!

Krysta and her fairies, already realizing the seriousness of this onslaught teleported all civilians in the villages and towns to the Safe Planets where they would have to stay until further notice, but with plenty of supplies, ideal living conditions and extra Starfleet forces to watch over them.

So at least they were safe…

Still… it was really late at night now, and many, many monsters had been defeated and apprehended, but more and more monsters kept coming out all over the place. The Starfleet fighters were growing exhausted.

Even Lightning’s friends were starting to lose their steam.

“All together now!” shouted Starla as she led the unit to powering up their finishers.

The Valkyries of Harmony then all banded together and used their powers to bind a huge swarm of monsters tightly together in one place. “Get ‘em, you guys!” shouted Rainbow.

The Space Ponies and Spike all powered up and fired their finishers. A huge explosion followed, and when the smoke cleared, all the monsters were encased in spheres.

The fighters were all panting by this point. “We… can’t… keep this up… much longer.” said Dyno. “Si…” panted Myte “I wish Lightning was here to help us.”

All the others were worried about Lightning. He hadn’t even written a letter or sent a message explaining his delay.

“If I know Lightning, he’s probably caught up in all the battles too.” said Krysta. “You could be right…” said Starla “…I just hope he’s okay.”

“Uh, guys…” Rainbow called “…More monsters!!”

Sure enough, as many monsters as they had captured, and a few more had appeared, much to the team’s annoyance.

“We can’t keep going like this much longer. Our powers will run out.” said Fluttershy.

The others agreed, after all this time, their powers were at half. “We can’t just give up either…” said Buddy Rose.

“He’s right.” agreed Starla. Then, as acting commander in Lightning’s absence she suggested, “Everyone, just keep going as best as you can. Try not to overexert yourself. Save as much power as you can!”

Everyone agreed leapt back into battle!

Meanwhile, back at the Royal Palace in New Canterlot, Celestia was still searching the palace for her husband so she could finish him off for good. “You can’t hide from me forever.” She said to herself. “You’re going to have to face me sooner or later.”

Lightning carried Grand Ruler all the way to the sickbay. Though the place was deserted of all the medical staff, the supplies and equipment were still present, but with the main power to the palace still out, most of the equipment was useless, but Lightning remembered his medical studies and first-aid training.

He set to work with ordinary swabs, painless rubbing alcohol and an energy transferor, to give his mentor some extra power from himself.

He removed Grand Ruler’s boot, and rolled up the leg of his pants to inspect the wound more closely. He cleaned it up, bandaged it carefully, and then strapped the transferor to golden horn, and the other end to his master’s center horn.

Grand Ruler finally began to awaken. “Lightning…?” he said in a groggily voice “What’s going on? What are you doing?”

“Shh… just take it easy.” Lightning said “I’m fixing you up, and I’ve giving you some of my power to hold you out.”

Grand Ruler began to feel less woozy, and noted the bandage on his leg. It still hurt a bit and needed time to heal, which would have been faster if his power had been full.

“Celestia… she did this!” he grumbled, and he moved to get up, but Lightning urged him to calm down. “Look, we’ve got to stop playing games like this.” he said to him “I’ve got to get you out of this palace right now!”

“You can’t get us out of here-- the barrier, remember?”

“Look, there had to be a way to bring it down, or at least send a message for help.”

Grand Ruler shook his head, “It won’t work. Just as the barrier keeps us in, it also keeps letters and messages from going out. No, the only way to stop it is to get Celestia!”

With that, he yanked the transferor off of him and got back onto his feet. His leg still ached a bit, but he still put his boot back on.

It was in vain that Lightning to argue with him and make him relax. “Don’t try to talk me out of it. I can still fight, and if that’s the only way out of this, so be it.”

Lightning honestly didn’t know how much more of this he could take. “All this over a simple little argument, which you still won’t tell what for!”

Grand Ruler was more concerned with finding a way to defend himself than Lightning’s constant nagging. “The armory…” he said “I’ve got to arm myself. Then maybe I’ll have a better chance.”

Before Lightning could protest, once again, his mentor had left. “Master, wait…!” Lightning called as he raced after him.

As the two ponies ran down the hall, Celestia spotted them, and she had a good idea where they were headed and took a secret route.

Meanwhile, the Valkyries tied up more monsters, and the space ponies and Spike activated their finishers to capture them all into spheres.

“Is… is everyone… alright?” panted Starla, but that was a rather silly thing to ask when it was obvious that all of the fighters were totally exhausted, and their suits were running low on power. “This is it.” groaned Artie “One more hit and we’ll de-energize!”

Pinkie Pie suddenly gasped, and in a goofy stammering, she motioned to the others.

Rhymey looked behind her and gasped…

“Oh…
…No!”

Everyone didn’t even need to look, though they did anyway. “Oh, my…” Rarity groaned, “This cannot be happening!”

“We need back up!” said Rainbow.

“You got it!” called a voice. Rainbow and the others looked up and saw Spitfire leading a squad of the Wonderbolts.

“Don’t forget us.” called another voice. It was shining armor, or rather Saber, and with him was Cadance in her Ninja form, come to help the team more.

“Alright!” cried Starla “This should even the odds a little.”

“We hope…” said Spike.

The Wonderbolts all came together overhead and Spitfire blew her whistle, “Okay, Wonderbolts, SICK ‘EM!!” she shouted, and at her command the Wonderbolts all saluted and soared down to attack the many monsters.

Saber leapt into action to help them, fighting several monsters at once. With his sword in one hand, his chain and sickle in another, and two free arms, he was a ruthless fighter, knocking every creature away.

Cadance, before helping the fighters out, gave Starla and the team special strengthening potions to give them extra power so they could fight longer.

The potion tasted rather nasty, as was expected, but it worked! “Ah, that’s the stuff.” said Appljack. “I feel like I could move a-hundred wagons o’apples.”

“Okay, let’s go!” shouted Starla and the mega brawl continued, but with all the many monsters constantly soaring in, things were not exactly looking up.

Back at the palace, Lightning finally caught up with his majesty. “I remember passing by the armory, and it was still full of weapons and resources.” Grand Ruler said.

“If only the main power was back online, too.” Lightning said, but he said it to himself.

Finally, the armory was just ahead, but as the two ponies entered, they found a horrible sight. The place was in ruins! All the armors, weapons and other things were banged up and damaged, and they saw why. “Celestia!” shouted Grand Ruler.

She had beaten them to the armory by taking the secret passage ways, and had just finished destroying the last of the resources and turned to face her husband and furiously began to shoot at him.

Grand Ruler swerved and dodged each hit, but didn’t actually make any attempt to shoot back at her, mostly due to his power dwindling again. Lightning had hardly given him enough strength to last too long.

“Master, run!” shouted Lightning, and his mentor dashed out the door. Celestia tried to chase him, but Lightning held her up. “No! I won’t let you do this!” he cried.

“Get out of my way!” snarled Celestia, and she used her powerful telekinesis to fling him off to the side allowing her to escape and pursue Grand Ruler.

Lightning growled angrily as he got up. He had lost his hat in the struggle and his cape got caught in the mess of shattered armor and weapons, forcing him to unclip and leave it behind. Then he ran off to find their majesties before something dreadful happened!

Grand Ruler dashed as fast as he could with his sore leg, then decided to fly which would make him got faster, but Celestia caught up with him-- having taken other bends and corners to ambush him-- and they began to brawl hard, punching and kicking one another, though Celestia seemed to have the upperhand with her husband in his weakening condition.

She even reached out and shredded his magical cape; the very one she had made for him as a token of her love for him one-thousand years ago.

Grand Ruler tried to land a hit but couldn’t seem to move as swiftly as he used to and he suffered a brutal beaten.

Lightning came running in, following the sounds of brawling, and he arrived on the scene just in time to see Celestia holding her husband by his throat, and she fired a huge blast at him, send him soaring down the hall followed by a huge explosion that took out half the hallway.

“NO!!!” cried Lightning.

Celestia stood where she was, nearly petrified and horrified by what she had just done, despite her intentions.

“YOU…!!” Lightning shouted. Celestia snapped out of her trance, and seeing how furious Lightning was, she ran for her life, but Lightning sped up and caught up with her, tackling her to the ground. “You monster!” he yelled.

Celestia struggled with all her might, but Lightning actually lifted her up and slammed her back hard into the wall thundering, “You destroyed him! YOU DESTROYED HIM!!”

“You dare attack me, Lightning Dawn…!” she snarled at him, only for Lightning to actually strike her across the face, shutting her up. “Why did you do that…?!” Lightning growled at her. He glared at her dead in the eyes with fury sweat drizzling down his face. “You didn’t have to destroy him! We could have found some way to work all this out, but No… No, you just had to go for the kill, didn’t you? DIDN’T YOU?!!”

Celestia felt her insides shivering the way he was speaking to her. Never had she seen him this infurated. “…I had to do it. Don’t you understand?!”

“All I understand was he was your husband… he loved you… and you destroyed him, and I hope THEY THROW THE BOOK AT YOU!!!”

“It was self-defence!”

Lightning was totally livid! “Self-Defence…? SELF-DEFENCE?!!” he screeched “He was weakening! He was injured! HE had hardly anything to defend himself with, and you just ambushed him!!”

“I’m the Queen!” snapped Celestia “They can’t convict me!”

In response, Lightning grabbed her crown and threw it hard. “They’re going to try. Oh, boy, they are going to try, and I’m going to do everything in my power to help them! As of right now, under the supreme order and code of Starfleet, I AM IN CHARGE OF THIS PLANET!!”

Trying to calm down, and seeing Celestia was now weakened after all that had happened. Lightning dragged her along into waiting room nearby. Then he used the Uniforce to seal off the entire section with a barrier. Even Celestia herself had no way to escape it.

“You’ll stay here as my prisoner until I figure out what to do with you!”

He went away leaving Celestia trapped in the waiting room. Tears of guilt and regret were falling down her cheeks as she fell to her knees.

As for Lightning, he had gone out towards the damaged hallway. There was no doubt what he had seen, and done gave him a nasty set of shocks. It was bad enough to have seen his mentor get blown up like that, but he had just arrested his queen and declared himself in charge of the entire planet.

What a mess he had gotten into!

Speaking of mess…

The fighters were starting to grow tired again, and they had run out of reenergizing potions. To make more would take too much time that they didn’t have.

“How many more monsters can there possibly be?!” cried Fluttershy, and that was when another swarm of creatures came soaring in. “Ya had to ask.” grumbled Applejack.

“What do we do now?” asked Artie, “We each have only a little power left.”

The swarm of monsters were growing in vast numbers. Almost as if every creature from the prison was targeting United Equestria at once. Spike took note of this and realized with all these monsters gathered in one place, it meant the evil and darkness was growing out of hand.

“Wait…!” he suddenly said “That’s it!”

“Spike, what is it, dear?” said Rarity.

“Everyone listen…” Spike called “Transfer any available power you have to me!”

“WHAT?!” everyone shouted. “Spike, are you crazy?” snapped Buddy Rose, but Spike only shot him, practically everyone a clever grin, which made them all realize what he was thinking.

“Let’s do it, everyone…” said Starla, and she along with all the others transferred whatever bit of power they could spare. Some of the other Starfleet fighters heard and offered some of their power too.

This caused their suits to de-energize, but Spike’s power began to peak and shine. “Okay, concentrate!” Spike said as he looked deep down inside him. Thinking about his friends, his loved ones, and how much he wanted to vanquish the evil beasts tormenting them and his home-world.

His dragon heart pulsed heart, and his eyes glowed with a white light. Right there, he transformed in front of everyone, and the monsters all turned their attention to where the light was coming from…!

The sky was illuminated with a bright light, and there he was…!

“The Majestic Dragon…!” Rarity said under her breath!

Spike extended his huge wings and let out a mighty roar, frightening the monsters below.

“Animals…” Spike thundered at them in his majestic voice “Return to the darkness from whence you came or suffer the consequences!”

Many of the monsters, despite the obvious facts, would not go down without a fight and banded together to fight Spike all at once, combining their powers into a massive hyper beam of energy.

“SPIKE!!” cried Rarity.

“FLAMES OF LIGHT!” Spike fired his power at the beam sending it back to all the monsters. KAPOW!! A huge explosion that shook the ground knocking everyone off their feet!

“Hey, Spike, watch it!” Cadance called up to him

“Sorry.” Spike called back, innocently. Nevertheless, he continued to go against all the monsters which gave all the fighters a chance to rest, but would it be enough to hold them all at bay? That was what everyone was thinking!

Back at the palace, Lightning, after having a few moments to himself to regather his strength, though it still hurt him a lot for what was happening. He realized he should inform the people of what was going on.

However, the barrier was still intact around the entire palace. He would have to go back to Celestia and demand she dispel it, but as he walked back down the hall, he heard a small crash. “Who’s there?” he called out.

He walked on ahead, “Who is it? Show yourself!”

He heard another clanking sound from behind him, prompting him to turn swiftly, but he still saw no one.

Then, he turned round again, almost in a panic.

“Easy, Lightning…”

Lightning could hardly believe his eyes. “M… Ma… Master…?! You’re alive, but how I thought…?”

He had scars and bruises all over him, dents in his armor, and spots of dirt all over his suit underneath, and he even had lost of his boots, but he was alive and very much alive.

“I’m not that easy to get rid of. I barely survived that attack.” he said “Where is Celestia? Where is she?”

Lightning, despite not getting an effective answer to how his mentor survived, told him what had happened and how Celestia was sealed up in the waiting room.

“That’s all I needed to know.” Grand Ruler said and he began to walk off for the waiting room. “No, wait…!” cried Lightning, but Grand Ruler wouldn’t wait, much to Lightning’s extreme frustration.

“What do I have to do to get through to him?” he wondered.

However, upon arriving at the waiting room, Lightning’s Uniforce barrier was still intact, but Celestia was nowhere to be seen in the room anywhere. “Impossible!” cried Lightning “How could she have gotten out? I sealed the whole area.”

“Well somehow, she’s escaped!” Grand Ruler said “That means she’ll be coming for me again!”

Lightning didn’t like the sound in his voice “Wait a minute! You’re not still actually thinking of fighting her?”

“Lightning, what choice do I have? She won’t see reason, and she won’t stop until she’s destroyed me! Either way… this ends now!”

His three golden horns glowed, and he actually made a hole in the barrier, since his Uniforce powers were stronger than Lightning’s. Then he shoved Lightning hard into the room.

“Hey!” Lightning shouted, and he turned back to see Grand Ruler reinforcing the Uniforce barrier with his own power, making it ten times as stronger. “What are you doing? Let me out?!!”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t let you interfere again.” Grand Ruler said, and then he ran off to find his wife and finish her off.

Poor Lightning pounded on the barrier, only for it to shock him and thrown him back hard into the wall. Lightning then tried to blast the wall with his own power, but his Uniforce, as it stood, against Grand Ruler’s Uniforce had hardly any effect!

Furiously outraged, Lightning drove his fists hard into the floor making two huge holes, but just as he made it so, the barrier prevented tunneling as well.

Suddenly, he heard a loud explosion coming from outside. He ran to the windows and looked out. There, he could see their majesties outside, and brawling fiercely in midair.

This of course meant the barrier was dispelled, but Lightning could hardly believe what he was watching; the way their majesties were crashing into one another, punching, kicking and blasting, they even roared at one another like two fierce dragons!

Celestia punched Grand Ruler hard in the face, and he Grand Ruler kicked her back in the side. She bit his arm, and he slashed at her leg.

The two deities fired strong blasts at one another sending each other crashing into walls of the palace, yet neither one of them was willing to give in.

“You knew this was coming Celesto!” Celestia called to him.

“Deep down, I had…” he called back to her “I have no alternative.”

“…Neither do I!”

“I WILL DESTROY YOU!!” they both shouted, and their brawl continued, much to the extreme horrors of Lightning!

All the monsters, still refusing to give in after a furious struggle, combined their powers again and fired the huge dark hyper beam at Spike, and he countered it with his light flames.

Another huge explosion and all the monsters fell to the ground, completely exhausted, which gave all the fighters a chance to use whatever power they had left to imprison them. Unfortunately, that last capture left them all panting and groaning.

“I think… I’m going… to faint!” groaned Rarity and she did collapse, but hadn’t fainted.

“I barely have enough strength to pick a flower.” said Buddy Rose.

All the fighters felt the same, even Spike barely had enough lift left and his glow was fading, meaning he was about to de-transform, but as exhausted as he was, he looked up, and his jaw hung wide open at what he saw.

“Spike?” cried Rarity “What is it?”

Everyone else looked up, and their expressions became the same as his. “No…” cried Starla, “It can’t be!” said Shining Armor. “Oh, no… tell me this isn’t happening?!” whimpered Cadance.

…but it was!

In the skies, arriving from space in so many groups on so many dimensional pathways was entire armada of many different monsters, almost all of them were originally from the prison-- dragons, demons, mutants, witches, wizards, orgs, fiends, zombies, humanoid-creatures, and various others-- the rest of which were new monsters allying with the prisoners.

No doubt they had all come to seek their revenge on United Equestria, now that Starfleet’s resources and power levels were extremely low!

This really looked like it was it for everyone!

To Be Continued…!

(Promo)

In our final episode: Having had enough of the harsh brawling, Lightning finally decides to face their majesties himself, but things still don’t look too brightly for United Equestria with the armada of monsters coming in for the kill.

What is the ultimate fate for their majesties, and all of United Equestria?

Don’t miss the next exciting episode of “Starfleet Magic!”

(Final Episode: A Royal Duel to the Death: Final Part”)

Final Episode: A Royal Duel to the Death: Final Part

“Previously on Starfleet Magic…!”

Their majesties continued with their brawl to the death, and it looked as if it was lights out for Grand Ruler Celesto, but he had in fact survived only then to trap Lightning while he and Queen Celestia engaged in a super fight to the death. Meanwhile, United Equestria has been surrounded by swarms of monsters from all corners of the galaxy, and the fighters have all but depleted the last of their powers!

FINAL EPISODE

Celestia and Grand Ruler continued to brutally beat on one another. Their outfits looked all beaten and tattered, and they both had bloody wounds, bruises and scrapes all over. Yet, still they refused to back down.

“I will not give in!” shouted Grand Ruler.

“Nor will I!” growled Celestia.

They fired huge blasts of power straight at each other, hitting their respective targets and making huge explosions.

“NO!!” Lightning shouted. All was quiet for a few moments, but their majesties emerged from the smoke cloud, snarling at each other, they went at it again!

Lightning angrily pounded at the barrier, and he actually stood there taking the shocking energies. He could hardly any pain though. The anger and frustration he was feeling right now was overwhelming him! He couldn’t take another moment of this. All night, their stubborn majesties refused to listen to him, and were causing so much damage and destruction.

“I… will… not… let this… happen anymore!!” Lightning shouted. His temper, now completely lost, something inside him pulsed, and in a blinding golden flash, he changed into his Enticorn form.

Unfortunately, as was discovered long ago, Lightning’s emotions also determined the attitude and power of this form, and anger was the most dangerous! It made him go completely berserk, almost totally beyond control… enough so that he’d attack his friends!!

Lightning let out a loud roar, and jabbed his glowing arms straight through the Uniforce barrier, as if it were made of plain glass, shattering into magical dust.

Their majesties stopped in midair and turned to face the window.

KAPOW!! Lightning burst through the wall in an explosion, eyeing at their majesties and roaring at them with his body glowing furiously.

Despite the frightening appearance of him, their majesties hardly seemed too terrified. “You stay back, Lightning Dawn!” thundered Grand Ruler, but Lightning was already levitating towards the two, snarling and glaring at them fiercely.

“Lightning, I warn you: Don’t do this!” shouted Celestia, but Lightning got closer and closer still, and fired two blasts at them both, hitting them hard in their arms.

Despite their hatred towards one another, they could see they would have to put their own fight on hold and duke it out with Lightning, in hopes he would calm down enough and de-transform.

“Monsters…!” Lightning thundered at them “SAVAGES!!”

Their majesties stood ready to fight, and lunged at him to punch and kick him, but Lightning swiftly zipped out of the way causing them to miss, and he then appeared right behind them, and gave them huge punches, sending them both crashing through many walls of the palace…

Through one set of walls, then another set of walls, far, far into the fields where they crashed and skidded along the ground.

Lightning caught up to them in a spilt second and he looked ready to dish out more punishment!

They’re majesties were not willing to let him get away with this, combining their powers together, they blasted at Lightning hard. The angry Enticorn held out his arms and intercepted the blast. The force pushed him back and his feet, making drag marks on the ground.

The blasts died out, but Lightning hardly seemed too fazed by the attack, but he was infuriated and charged up his power more heavily than ever and he lunged forth and punched the two hard across their faces.

Infuriated, their majesties dove at him, furiously punching and kicking, but Lightning skillfully and swiftly evaded their every strike, and he grabbed them both by their tails. He yanked them in, punched them hard, then kicking them way of high, sent them slamming back to the ground, and mercilessly fired multiple small shots at them.

He really was out of control!

Their majesties, bloody, bruises and horribly weak from everything that had happened, had no idea what to do, but suddenly, they and Lightning got shot by many powerful blasts from above.

They and Lightning looked up, and were shocked by what they saw…

As impossible as it was to believe, space was literally crowded with so many large dimensional pathways, all of which had rows and rows of countless monsters, ready to mount an all-out attack on United Equestria.

All the fighters had hardly any power left. Even Spike had de-transformed back into his regular state. “This is so not good!” he groaned to himself.

Pinkie had never seen so many before and actually tried to count them all, and ended up rolling her eyes and pointing all over making herself dizzy until she fell over. “There’s a lot… a whole lot!” she said wearily.

“I’ve never seen so many monsters before!
And every second there’s more and more.” whimpered Rhymey.

“What are we going to do?” cried Fluttershy “We have hardly enough power to roast a marshmallow, let alone all this!”

Even Starla was at a loss of options, “Lightning, where are you…?!” she cried softly to herself.

Suddenly, just as everything seemed a total loss, all the ponies, other fighters, and Spike began to glow.

“What’s happening?” asked Rainbow.

“Hey, my power’s coming back!” cried Dyno. “Mine too!” added Myte.

“Mine too…” said Artie.

Even spike was starting to glow brightly and majestically as before, though he couldn’t understand what was happening, “I’d say we’re back in business.”

The others all agreed.

“Well, what are we waiting for?” said Starla “Everyone Ready…!”

Everyone stood together, even the many other Starfleet fighters stood all ready to go! “Let’s do it!” shouted Starla, and everyone activated their transformations.

“STARFLEET MAGIC!!”

“HARMONY HOUR, FRIENDSHIP POWER!!”

“Dragon Power!”

Cadance raised her Ninja Medallion, and Shining Armor donned his Saber Mask!

One everyone was transformed, “Okay people… it’s a whole new game.” Starla called to everyone. She wasn’t pretending to be like Lightning, she really meant it. “Everyone focus your powers together, and keep those monsters from reaching the planet!”

Everyone saluted and did as she told them. So many ponies and other fighters joined together, combining their magic and weapons to produce powerful hyper beams to blast at the monsters and send them all flying backwards along the paths.

“It’s working!” cried Rarity.

“But, we can’t do this forever!” said Buddy Rose.

Suddenly, the skies lit up brighter than ever. “What now?” asked Rainbow Dash. She and everyone else looked up and saw a bright wave of light going across the skies, hitting the rows of monsters and making them all vanish.

Slowly, but surely row after row of the monsters vanished and the vast armada grew smaller and smaller until not a creature was seen in the sky.

“What just happened?” asked Pinkie.

Everyone was just as confused, and that was when a large shining object, like a comet, soared across the skies of New Ponyville, heading for New Canterlot.

“Quick, let’s follow it!” shouted Starla, and she, her unit cashed off after the light. Cadance and Shining Armor had to de-transform so Cadance could fly and carry her husband on her back, and they followed their friends.

So many more monsters were still swarming above New Canterlot.

Lightning charged up as much as he could. “Monsters… BEGONE!!” he thundered “ULTRA-UNIFORCE!!” and he fired his blast straight up to obliterate a row of monsters, but his blast got intercepted by another super powerful blasts that seemingly came out of nowhere!

“What…?!”

Even their majesties were confused, until suddenly a shining object appeared in the sky, floating in the dead center of everything.

That was when Starla and the others were arriving on the scene… “There it is…!” shouted Dyno. “But what is it?” asked Myte.

The glowing object then transformed, revealing, to everyone’s surprise, “GRAND CELESTIAL RULER?!?!”

“What the Huh…?!” cried Rainbow as she looked back and forth between The Ruler in the air and their majesties on the ground.

Everyone else felt as baffled as she did, until The Ruler raised their scepter and blasted their majesties on the ground, destroying them and revealing the enchanted blocks.

“They were puppet clones!” cried Spike.

This meant that The Ruler was the real deal, and they looked up at the vast armada of monsters, and raised their scepter high calling to the creatures, “Let justice be served! Now we send you back from whence you came!”

The scepter glowed brightly, and unleashed those magical waves, and as like before, the creatures were struck and began to vanish in blinding streaks…

…All of them were teleported straight to the planet Conva, into their jail cells. The complex was now just as full as it used to be, much to the delight of the staff and guards.

Lightning, astonished by what he had seen and no longer feeling infuriated, managed to regain control of himself, and he powered down to his normal state. He felt rather exhausted, but still astonished and confused.

“Lightning…!” Starla called to him.

He turned and saw his wife and all his friends approaching him. “Starla…!”

His wife collided into him and he wrapped his arms around her tightly. “Are you alright? What happened?” Starla asked. “I’d like to know that myself.” said Lightning.

With all the monsters gone, The Ruler de-transformed back into their majesties; the real ones. They both were smiling very proudly at all the team. “Ninety-five percent of all the prisoners have now been returned to their cells.” Grand Ruler said “Our scouts inform us that the remaining ones are well under wraps. Well done, everyone.”

“Thanks to all your efforts and help, our operation never would have succeeded.” added Celestia.

“Operation…?” asked Lightning “Will someone please tell WHAT operation?”

Their majesties explained…

A few weeks ago, they had received word from other Starfleet posts that large amounts of the prisoners were reported gathering in large groups, which could only mean that all the remaining monsters were planning an all-out attack on United Equestria at once.

Their majesties had anticipated this for some time as well, and had been secretly training hard and working on mastering a super massive spell that would return all the prisoners back to their cells. Only recently had it been completed, but they still needed a way to lure all the monsters to the planet at once.

They believed that if the monsters felt that Starfleet’s defenses were dwindling, they would all launch their attack.

“So, you’re not having a huge argument, and you’re not going to get a divorce?” Fluttershy asked.

“Of course not…” replied Celestia “That was all just a ruse we made up to help with our plan. When you all thought that we were fighting with one another, it made the monsters believe the planet was vulnerable.”

Her husband nodded “After all, when you constantly asked us what we were fighting for, we just couldn’t answer you because in truth, there was no argument. Even if we were having one, we would never allow it to become so incredibly heated to the point of fighting each other.”

They two of them held each other close deeply. “We love each other very much, and we would never want it to come to that.” said Celestia.

“So, all this time… all that fighting and arguing…?” Lightning asked “They were just puppets of yourselves?”

Their majesties nodded and explained how they had secretly teamed up with Professor Brain, to make super puppets-- a puppet clone almost identically close to the real thing. The puppets were not only enchanted to carry out tasks, but their majesties actually transfused their actual bloods and fractions of their actual powers into the puppets to make them seem more realistic.

Even during the palace brawls. Whenever their puppets were seemingly killed, or sealed up in such a manner they couldn’t escape, their real majesties would relinquish those puppets and replace them with fresh ones in order to maintain the illusion.

The others all felt a mixture of relief, and outraged. “You made us all believe you were at each other’s throats, and set all this up in a huge ruse?” Applejack asked in an annoyed tone.

“We realize how stressful this was for all of you.” said Grand Ruler but believe us it was done for the safety of all involved, and we took steps to insure it wouldn’t get out of hand. We had already ordered a planetary wide evacuation to ensure that civilians would not be harmed.”

Celestia nodded and added “While our puppets had taken our places, we remained in hiding keeping watch over all the planet, we were prepared to help you out just as we needed all of you to help us out.”

Starla then remembered; “So it was you that restored our powers in the battle.”

Their majesties nodded, and Grand Ruler said “In order for our capture spell to work, we needed all of you to be at full power, but when several other monsters attacked the planet themselves before the main fleet came in, and many fighters were already fighting on the scene and draining their strengths, we were forced to change our plan.”

“We had no choice but to wait until you all had nearly depleted your powers.” added Celestia “We then restored your strengths to full, knowing that would all team up to unleash those powerful waves, which we used in combination with our own magic to vanquish the beasts.”

“And the reason you wanted me to be in the palace…?” Lightning said.

“Was to make the monsters believed that you had gone, Lightning.” replied Grand Ruler. “It was all part of our plot to re-capture nearly all the prisoners… and it worked, thanks to all of you.” added Celestia.

Lightning’s features hardened, as did Starla’s and everyone else’s. All of them were glaring angrily at their majesties for putting them through such a ruse-- making them think they were fighting.

“Um… we know it was frustrating.” Celestia said.

The others began to stomp towards their majesties, still glaring at them.

“We had no choice.” whimpered Grand Ruler “It was either that or we never could have captured them all.”

The team still stomped towards them. Some of them even snuffed like the angry horses they were.

Their majesties began to back-step nervously away from the team, and then tripped over one another, falling onto their backs. The team glared down at them and looked ready to dish out some payback…

“Good plan…” Lightning said with a smirk and then offered his hand to Grand Ruler, and Starla offered hers to Celestia saying “You sure had us all going.”

Everyone else nodded and some added their own compliments to the plan.

“If there’s anything we can do to make up for the fear we put you all through…” Grand Ruler asked.

“We’ll call it even… if you clean up the mess that was made.” Lightning said, gesturing the palace, which was badly banged up-- holes in the walls, the hall ways were dilapidated, even the fields around the area were damaged.

Celestia chuckled “We’ll get straight to it.” Then she and her husband walked off hand-in-hand to set to work.

Rariy sighed in such huge relief “I never, in all my born years, ever thought it would end up like this.” she sighed.

“Those two sure make up some crazy plans.” added Spike.

“Eeyup.” said Applejack “I’m just glad it’s all over.”

“I second that.” said Buddy Rose.

Suddenly, they heard what sounded like an argument between their majesties… a real one.

“What do you mean it was your idea?” thundered Celestia “I did half the work on it!”

“You had the easy part of the job!” protested Grand Ruler “I’ve been doing these things long before our marriage.”

“Oh, so you’re saying you were happier doing it alone?”

“That’s a lot coming from you!”

“Ay’ Ay’ Ay! Not again!” the twins groaned.

“It’s real,
...I feel.” said Rhymey.

Everyone marched forth in attempt to stop the quarrel, but their majesties suddenly turned and smirked at everyone, “Got’cha!”

The others all felt very stupid, but more annoyed!

Their majesites couldn’t help but laugh.

“Let’s go home!” Lightning sighed. “I’m right behind you, dear.” said Starla

“I’m going home to bed.” grumbled Artie.

“Best idea I’ve heard all night.” added Rainbow.

“I’m too tired to even celebrate.” said Pinkie “Really, I am.”

“And we’ve got a baby to look after.” said Shining Armor “Come on, Cadance.”

After everyone had left, their majesties looked up at their royal palace. “Well, we’ve got plenty of work ahead of us.” said Grand Ruler.

Celestia agreed, but when she noticed how full and bright the moon was, “Maybe… we could start with a five minute break? We are alone after all.”

Her husband smiled and embraced her saying “Let’s make it ten…” and he kissed his wife deeply, and she wrapped her arms around his neck pulling him closer.

When Lightning and Starla got home, they immediately prepared for bed. “What a night!” Lightning groaned “And I still have to get my energizer repaired, fill out the reports…”

His wife shook her head and she quickly turned out the lights, and then grabbed him by the shoulders pinning down onto the bed. “What you need is to calm down.” she said in a soft, seductive voice, and she lowered her lips onto his.

“There’s just so much to do…” Lightning said. Starla only responded by kissing him again, more deeply than before. “Later…” Lightning said, and he surrendered the love that was his wife, and they really went at it!

A few weeks later, after all the damages were fixed, and all was made clear about the ruse. Things finally went back to a good fashion of normal. Though many of the civilians were shocked and somewhat appalled by the scheme their majesties had done, but seeing how it helped to capture all the monsters again, they decided it best to let it go.

Especially considering a great event was about to be held at the New Crystal Empire, to celebrate the newborn child and its Crystaling, which called upon the power of the Crystal Heart and all the Crystal Ponies to enrich the child with the greatness bestowed upon each of them.

Naturally the friends were invited too as extra special guests.

“I can’t believe this is happening!” cried Pinkie.

“Oh, it’s so exciting, I could just scream for joy!” cried Fluttershy, only for her to let out an innocent little “…Yay”

Rhymey, Artie and Buddy Rose chuckled.

“Hey look, it’s starting” cried Rainbow Dash.

Grand Ruler Celesto… Queen Celestia… Princess Luna… all three of them stood near the Crystal heart ready to energize it to conduct the Crystaling. They still needed a fourth pony, and it was unanimously agreed that Lightning have that position, as part of the makeup for putting him through the worst of the ruse-- dealing with those blood-thirsty puppets.

Despite that he was not a royal alicorn as the tradition usually required, nor could he perform normal magic, it was agreed that a little dose of the Uniforce from him would suffice just as well.

“It is time…” said Grand Ruler “Let us begin.” All the others agreed, and channeled their powers into the Crystal Heart. The heart began to glow, and up on the terrace, the proud parents pecked their daughter’s little cheeks before combining their own powers to fully seal the deal!

A bright flash of magical light seemed to evenolpe the entire kingdom, and all the Crystal Ponies, even the Equestrian had donned their Crystaling glows… even the space alicorns were glowing, as they were born from Equestrian DNA, and their bodies though powerful and stronger than that of normal ponies, they were capable of receiving the gift for a short while.

“Wow!” cried Starla.

“So this is what it feels like.” said Lightning.

Grand Ruler himself had always wondered what it would feel like to don a Crystaling glow, “…Well it certainly feels different.” he joked. His wife and sister-in-law giggled.

The only one of course who didn’t feel the glowing was Mykan Stevens, as he was human. “Man, some guys have all the fun…” he joked, but he was delighted as well as astonished by what he was witnessing.

After the glowing had ceased, all the ponies, still in their Crystaling Forms gazed up and saw that the baby had also donned the power, making the ceremony a success.

Fireworks, cheers and immense joy thundered all over the land.

“EVERYBODY PARTY!!” shouted Pinkie, and that’s just what they all did. There was food, drinks, singing, dancing, and all the usual happiness going about.

While all this joy was going on, Lightning and Starla excused themselves as they were brought before Cadance and Shining Armor. The three supreme alicorns were there, and so were Shining Armor’s parents, Twilight Velvet and Night Light and the little baby was in her cradle shaking her rattle.

“Lightning…” Cadance said “We thought it best to give you this…”

Shining Armor held out a small pillow with a golden medal in the shape of the Crystal Heart. “We know you said you didn’t want to be thanked… but, well… please take it, with our blessing and thanks to you.”

Lightning smiled and accepted the medal with honor, pinning it to his uniform.

“Words cannot begin to describe what you have done, Lightning.” Grand Ruler said “You have spared the kingdom from what would have been another horrifying disaster from which none would ever be exempt from.”

“But more importantly…” added Celestia “You helped give Cadance and Shining Armor the chance they’ve always wanted, and I’m sure if the baby knew she’d feel the same.”

Everyone then gazed at the little bundle, and she just acted cute and innocent as if nothing had happened, and everyone seemed to huddle around her. Velvet held her granddaughter while Velvet shook her rattle at her.

They both were grateful for what Lightning had done, but decided to spare him anymore thanks… which Lightning found a relief.

“I only wish Twilight could be here too.” Velvet said.

Everyone felt the same way, and Cadance even wished Fratello was there too, but even more so, she wished her son, Amando were still alive. Both she and Shining Armor felt a little bad that the baby would never know her aunt, uncle, or even her brother… as well as being an only child all her life as they could have any more children for good!

Still, life went on, and everyone agreed it was time for joy, not sadness. Though they would never forget the three ponies they all missed dearly.

“Say…” said Velvet “Don’t you think it’s time we named this little bundle?”

“Yeah, we can’t just keep calling her ‘The Baby’” added Night.

Shining Armor said to his wife, “You tell them…”

Cadance smiled and said “We talked it over, and we thought ‘Flurry Heart’.”

Everyone gazed down at the baby and thought it a lovely name and Flurry Heart smiled and cooed at the mention of it.

“Middle name; Lightning…” Shining Armor said, surprising Lightning. Cadance and Shining Armor shagged smugly, but Lightning though it a sweet gesture as he gazed down at the child and softly stroked her little head, “You don’t understand a thing that’s happening, do you?” he asked playfully.

The baby just cooed and giggled. Everyone thought it was so sweet.

“Well, I guess all we do now is wait for our baby to come.” Starla said to Lightning.

Hearing those words made Lightning freeze up, and his heart skipped a beat. He slowly turned round and gawked at his wife, “…Our baby?”

His wife smiled at him and touched her stomach. “It’s our turn now.”

Everyone’s expressions burst with excitement “That’s awesome! Alright!” cried Shining Armor. “Congratulations.” added Cadance. “Oh, that’s simply wonderful!” cried Celestia.

Grand Ruler could only smile proudly at his former apprentice, whom was so overwhelmed with excitement; he fell over on his back, but instead of passing out he laughed a goofy laugh with tears of happiness in his eyes “A baby…” he cried in a chuckling voice “I’m going to be father!”

He continued to laugh and cry with joy. The others couldn’t help but laugh at him, or rather with him, but all Starla could do was smile lovingly down at her husband.

MY BRAVE PONY
STARLFEET MAGIC SEASON VI

Author's Note

I can't make season 7 until MLP's season 7 is completed and I've seen all the eps to further my research on what to try

I also have to do Power Rangers super Starfleet first

Prologue

PROLOGUE

Starfleet: the most powerful fighting force in the known Dimensional Universe, dedicating to ridding the worlds of evil and injustice alike, and protecting and helping the weak and innocent.

The brave ponies and all their wonderful allies; training hard and armed with powerful weapons, technologies and forces beyond imagination, continue on their quest to stop evil in its tracks. Everyone now and then, running across a powerful greater evil than most common villains, and fighting even harder to prevent cataclysms and disasters from which many wouldn’t be exempt from.

Even now, Commander Lightning Dawn and his many friends were returning from deep space from a mission rounding up many criminals--powerful multi-colored skinned humanoids wearing armor and carrying weapons-- whom were antagonizing innocent creatures of the planet Mangola; a planet of lush meadows and friendly, anthropomorphic creatures, much like they were.

The team had now apprehended the villains --capturing and imprisoning them in a concealed box of capture spheres-- and were now at the Royal Palace in New Canterlot to show their royal majesties and deliver their reports.

“I’m so glad we were able to save those innocent Mangolaians.” said Fluttershy.

Her husband, Rhymey agreed and said

“The fight was long and the battle was rough,
But I guess we showed them who was tough.”

“Yeah!” said Rainbow Dash and she began to fly about imitating scenes from the battle; punching, kicking and shouting.

“Okay, pipe it down, Rainbow…” Lightning said “We have to look professional now.”

The others all agreed, and put on their serious faces. Pinkie Pie clenched herself stiff and huffed and puffed going “Right, serious… SERIOUS!! Serious.”

Everyone just ignored her, and soon they were announced and let into the throne room where Grand Ruler Celesto and Queen Celestia were waiting.

The team bowed, to their majesties and their majesties bowed back. Then Lightning gazed up and them both smiling bravely and said “Mission accomplished; we did it.”

“You got them…?” Grand Ruler asked anxiously.

Starla Shine stepped forth and handed the case to the Queen. Celestia opened the case and she and her husband examined all ten aliens accounted for. “Well, done, everyone, well done indeed.” she commended “We trust you also have the evidence?”

“We do…” Starla answered and handed Grand Ruler a file of reports from eye-witnesses, lie-detections, evidence given, even an accidental confession from one of the aliens himself.

“There can be no mistake…” said Buddy Rose “They are guilty as charged.”

“I see…” said Grand Ruler “Not too many casualties I hope…?”

“A few, Commandante…” said Dyno, and he and Myte handed their majesties their own survey report. “The battle was long and rough…” said Myte “Many of the homes were flattered… Ay’ Ay’ Ay’!”

The team continued to explain that at least the innocent Mangolians were saved from the dangers, evacuated just in time, and the Starfleet Refugee teams were already working to restore their homes and caring for the victims until the homes were fully restored. It would take no more than a week.

“I see, and a fine story it makes.” said Grand Ruler. With all the evidence and stuff against the captured aliens, there was no need for them stand trial; having already being caught red-handed proven guilty of terrorizing innocent beings, causing willful damage and destruction, thievery and attempted genocide, the Starfleet Code allowed Their majesties to sentence the villains immediately to prison… for a very, very long time!

“I’ll hand these over to the guards, and have them take it to planet Conva.” said Celestia.

Her husband nodded, “And as for you all…” he said to the team “I think a small bonus in your pay in order, as well as more measurement during off duty hours.”

Celestia nodded in agreement.

“Well, golly gee… thanks a bundle.” said Applejack.

Rarity on the other hand marched right up to his majesty and began groveling at his boots and Celestia’s dress.

“Your majesties is so kind…” and she actual began to kiss their majesties hands multiple times going “Thank you… oh, thank you! Thank You!”

Their majesties felt a little awkward.

Spike couldn’t help but chuckle at how his wife was behaving, “That’s my Rarity.” He said softly. The others thought it was a bit strange though.

“Come on, let’s get back home.” said Artie “I’ve got some paintings to finish.”

“Well we got some chores to do at the farm.” said Applejack, and Buddy Rose agreed.

Rhymey and Fluttershy had to check on the animals, while all the rest just wanted to get home and relax a bit before their next patrols.

“Hey, Krysta…” Lightning called out, and his fairy friend appeared at once. “Queen Krystalline’s warp company, at your service.” she teased. The others chuckled, and soon they all teleported away leaving their majesties to tend to their own duties.

“Now, where we’re we…?” Celestia teased. “Well, if I remember correctly…” her husband said, “I was about to give you a foot rub.”

His wife giggled and extended her boot to him for him remove and start rubbing her elegant feet, when suddenly they heard a soft cry, “MAMA… PAPA…!!” Little Castor and Leilani had awakened from their nap and needed tending to.

The parents sighed, and decided to hold their plans as they went off to tend to their children.

Still, other than that, United Equestria continued to go on as always, but as peaceful as things seemed to go… there was always danger and misfortune lurking in the shadows, waiting to strike, and plunge the world into war. Perhaps right even in the midst of their own world.

(Intro has this music)

MY BRAVE PONY
STARLFEET MAGIC SEASON VI

Episode 1: Escape from Starfleet: Part 1

Author's Note

Yes, Brass is a strawman, inspired by and behaving exactly like somebody who was very rude to me about my Starfleet verse and my characters.

Preferring an entire galaxy of so many innocent beings, including the Equestrians he supports, to be killed just so they don't have to put up with what HE THINKS Starfleet is

That is Pathetic, and shameful and extremely scorn-worthy!

Episode 1: Escape from Starfleet: Part 1

EPISODE ONE

It had almost been a year since the tragic death of Twilight Sparkle; she was deeply remembered and missed by many, especially by her friends; more specially, Lightning and Spike.

Still, United Equestria continued, Space Ponies and normal Equestrians got along well with each other, even other creatures got along well; though the Equestrian powers were inferior in strength to that of a space pony, the spirit, heart and soul remained the same; as strong as ever.

Space Ponies helped Equestrian, and vice versa, making them become closer than even and continuing the beautiful alliance that began almost five years ago when United Equestria was formed after both Equestria and Unicornicopia were destroyed in the Great War.

However, not entirely everyone was pleased with the changes; there were still some who acted very irrationally, insensitively, arrogant, and above all just plain rude and obnoxious…

…among them was a technician pony named Brass Bolt, a grey Earth Pony with brown mane, and a toolbox as his cutiemark. He was always very rude and snooty whenever he went into public.

“Space Ponies; they’re pathetic.” he grumbled to his co-workers with him at the coffee-shop, but his friends, sighed in dismay that he was going off at it again.

His co-workers were; Piper, a Pegasi. Her coat color was brown, her mane was red, and her cutie-mark was a pipe and a wrench, and next to her was Grind Gear, a unicorn. His coat color was orange, his mane was green, and his cutie-mark was that of gears and bolts.

“Don’t start this again, Brass.” groaned Grind “We’ve got a big job to do today and we don’t need your sourpuss attitude getting in the way of things.”

Brass’ features hardened, and he groaned. “Look, I hate Starfleet, okay? I hate the way they are, I hate the way they act, and I hate what they’ve done to us.”

Piper smacked her head in dismay, “Oh, no, here it comes.”

Brass went on with a rant of his distaste to Starfleet.

“They come to our world, lead their enemies to us, and if that wasn’t bad enough they turned us from normal ponies into these human shaped weirdos! Oh, and to add insult to injury, they treat us all like we’re inferior and enslave us with their martial laws, and when trouble comes they just fight and kill, and they arrest creatures with no good reason…

…They’re nothing but a bunch of silly, overbearing tyrannical dictators! Why can’t you guys see that? Why can’t anyone see that?”

Piper and Grind expressed looks of disdain, and Piper bluntly said “Uh… because you’re wrong, not to mention completely judgmental.”

Grind nodded strictly, and many ponies nearby who heard Brass shouting so loud and rudely agreed with the others, and one by one they each ranted back to the naughty pony…

“Starfleet never lead their enemies to us, they came by themselves.”

“I like my humanoid body, now I can do more than I could as a regular pony.”

Even a couple of space ponies jumped in the argument.

“Space Ponies ARE stronger than you Equestrians, but we don’t treat you like slaves, and we don’t bluntly rub in your faces.”

Many space ponies and many more Equestrians agreed and applauded to that. Starfleet was only trying to maintain better order and help keep the galaxy safer, and not a single one was sympathetic to Brass for his rudeness.

“What’s going on here?” Lightning called as he and Starla landed in the area, having heard all the commotion, but one look at Brass told them enough. “He’s at it again…” Starla whispered.

Both she and Lightning had heard many things about Brass and those like him dissing Starfleet for unjust reasons and false recollections.

Brass got right up and looked the Commander and Colonel right in the face and sneered, “Someday, the truth is going to come out, and then people will see you freaks for what you really are, and I hope a big revolution is started.”

“You mind your manners, Mister!” Lightning said calmly but deeply, “We’ve told you enough times already, we’re not the horrible ones here.”

Starla held her husband’s arm telling him to cool it before things got unnecessarily out of hand. The two then went off to get a table, and Brass noticed many other ponies staring grimly at him. “What are you all looking at?” he grumbled.

The other ponies went back to ignoring him, but Brass was grumpier than ever. “Who does that jerk think he is talking to me like that?”

“He… is Commander Lightning Dawn.” said Piper, “And he had every right to put you in your place, Brass. If it were just me, I would’ve pushed you in the mud for being such a jerk.” said Grind.

“Oh, yeah, you wanna go?!” snarled Brass.

“Both of you stop it!” snapped Piper “You can settle this after work, now let’s go. I’d like to be paid.”

Brass gazed gruffly and Grind, “I’ll cripple you later.” Then he walked off in a huge, leaving his co-workers in dismay. What were they going to do with him?

Lightning and Starla saw and heard the whole thing from their table. “I’m worried about him.” Lightning said.

“Oh, honey, he’s just full of hot air.” Starla said “Besides, what harm can he possibly do?” but even she felt the bad example in what she had just said, remembering Ace Ray and all the trouble he caused.

Much later on, Brass had joined all his co-workers on a journey to Conva, a prison planet owned by Starfleet, housing many facilities and complexes full of outlaws and vile beasts gathered from every corner of the galaxy for breaking laws and causing trouble.

Many of the creatures had been locked up for many centuries for their very serious crimes, while others were being transported in.

Still, Brass and his team were taking directions from their fore-mare; a light grey Space Alicorn named Dyna Shard. She had a yellow mane, and wore white armor vest over her clothes, and her ID-code printed on her armor was UI4X. “Okay, listen up…” she called out to the workers “The main facility is indeed of system upgrades, plumbing repairs, and rewiring. That is what we’re here for. I want you all to go in there and make magic for me, but stay together at all times and no wandering off.”

Many of workers agreed, but some were still sour, especially Brass. He hated that his new boss was one of the Space Ponies, which made him hate the entire Starfleet race even more.

As he walked through the prisons, he saw many ferocious creatures pounding and banging at their cells only to be stopped by the magic force-fields keeping them sealed in, and keeping their powers drained so they couldn’t even try to escape.

(0:23)

“QUIET!!” a guard shouted as he walked along the cell-bock, “KEEP IT DOWN, ALL OF YOU OR YOU WON’T BE FED TONIGHT!!! I MEAN IT!!”

Several more prisoners were being marched in after a hard day’s labour, as part of their sentence. One of the creatures attacked the guards and tried to make his escape.

“Oh, no you don’t!!” someone shouted, followed by a small blast of Uniforce, knocking the alien unconscious.

It was the warden; Cerise Wonder, whom had long since been promoted to Colonel. She was a space alicorn, whom greatly resembled princess Cadance-- same color, same mane style, even same voice-- but Cerise had a golden horn like Lightning had.

The guards saluted, and were grateful she showed up, and she gazed pitifully at the prisoners, “You see that?” she said threateningly as she motioned to the unconscious convict, “Anyone else who tries will get it worse! GOT IT?!”

Though Brass knew the other aliens prisoners, he still felt the way the Starfleet ponies were behaving was worse.

Suddenly, “Hey, keep it movin’, bucko.” a co-worker said shoving him along in the line. Brass was now madder than ever…

As he and he co-workers worked along he tried to repeat his rants to the newcomers hoping to get them on his side and see Starfleet for how he saw them, but they all just laughed at him.

“Are you crazy?”

“Get back to work.”

More and more ponies laughed at him or scolded him, and Brass found himself completely alone, running through a hallway of laughs and mockery, and at the end of the tunnel was Lightning.

“See what I mean?” he mocked at Brass “Starfleet rules and Equestrians drool.”

A bunch of Equestrians behind him repeated the same thing as if they were entranced, much to Brass’ chagrin and outrage.

Of course, this was all just happening in his mind, it wasn’t real, but he had officially pushed off the edge. “Somehow, I’ve got to make everyone see Starfleet are nothing but a bunch of tyrants!” he growled to himself, “…but how?”

He then heard voices, and he realized he was very close to the main security ops, where inside, two pony guards were monitoring the stations and controls.

All the monitors were blank due to the rewiring still being tended to; as such, every security camera in the entire prison was not functioning, neither were any of the alarm systems.

“It’s no good;” one of the guards said “Until the repairs are finished we can’t monitor a thing.”

His partner sighed, “Oh, well, at least the main power source is still working; we can keep the prisoners at bay, or from leaving this planet.”

Hearing this made Brass come up with a very nasty idea of how to get back at Starfleet and maybe make them look bad so other would hate them, but first he needed to get the two guards out of that room.

Still, the two guards decided to go off and get a coffee, so they got up and left the room.

Brass had to duck behind a corner to avoid being seen, and heard the guards leave the ops and lock the door tight. No one could get in without clarification.

As soon as they were gone, Brass snuck to the door, and since he wouldn’t be able to open it normally without clarification, using his small tools he opened the control-box and, using his technician skills, he fiddled with the wires so the door would open.

If the alarms had been working, they would have gone off because of his hacking, but he was now inside and unnoticed by all, and since he was wearing work-gloves, he didn’t leave fingerprints.

All of Brass’ workers were still doing their jobs, when Piper looked around, “Where’s Brass Bolt?”

“I thought he was with you.” said Grind.

Dyna heard this, and she wasn’t very pleased after she explicitly told everyone not to wander off. “Those of you on break, go and find him, the rest of you keep working. We have to finish this job.”

Heeding their fore-mare’s advice the ponies continued working while others went off to find Brass, even questioning guards along the way if they had seen him, which began to stir up suspicion, and a big search had begun.

Meanwhile, Brass gazed at all the controls and consoles before him, and he thought deeply of his idea. “Maybe if something were to go wrong… maybe if a few prisoners were to suddenly escape, Starfleet would get the blame, and then I could try to convince people to see my truth about Starfleet being bad.”

Anyone who had just heard him would label him as a mad-pony not thinking straight; most likely due to his being consumed by his ignorance, hatred and lust for what he believed was justice!

The only problem was, though he was good with simple wiring and tightening, and though the control box outside was easy, he had absolute no idea how the controls worked, or what they did.

He didn’t dare break them open, for fear of really doing something wrong. Still not thinking straight due to his bad obsession, he foolishly thought of pressing just one little button; what harm would it do?

So he pushed one large green button, and nothing really happened, just a yellow button began to flash. Still being foolish, he pushed that one two, causing a big red button to flash over a console with a above it saying: “Prison Cellblocks”

He grinned very naughty. “This is it…” he hissed softly “This is what I’m looking for. Now all I have to do is release just one or two… nah, better make it five.”

Unfortunately, every switch he hit did nothing, as if the controls were locked. Only the big red button in the center of the console was flashing. “I’ll bet this unlocks it…” Brass said, and he pressed it right away.

In the cellblocks, the guards were still doing their rounds, when suddenly the shields around the cells deactivated, one-after-another!

The angry prisoners bust through their cells roaring and screeching loudly.

“What the…!” cried a guard, and before he knew it he and his fellow guards were fighting off all the escaping convicts.

“JAILBREAK!!” another guard screamed as more and more and more monsters escaped from their cells.

Cerise heard the commotion and raced to the scene, “SOUND THE ALARMS!!!” She shouted.

“We can’t, the systems are still down!” called a guard.

Before long an extreme prison riot had broken out, as pretty much every single creature in the entire complex escaped and began to fight their way through.

The worker ponies panicked and fled for their lives, before they got hurt…

…While Cerise called out the entire army in the complex to come and detain the prisoners. The soldiers only equalled to less than half of the hundreds of prisoners, but fortunately for the soldiers, the prisoners were still very weak, some had even grown very old from being locked up for such a really long time, and when they saw Cerise powering up her golden horn they knew they were in trouble.

“You’re not getting away that easy!” Cerise shouted, “UNIFORCE!!” Unleashing her power, she knocked many of the prisoners out cold, and trapped many of them back in their cells using the Uniforce energy as barriers.

The guards fought back valiantly, also knocking more prisoners unconscious and trapping them in magical seals.

Realizing they hadn’t much a chance at the moment, a vast number of the prisoners decided to flee while they could, knowing they couldn’t all be pursued or recaptured at once.

As a result, many of the prisoners had already begun to flee from the complex, and rather waste their time taking over just Conva; they fled out through many portals, heading deep into space--one end to the other, and because the main circuit had been blown, the portal could not automatically shift them all back to Conva.

Cerise dashed out of the complex, and her blood was running stone cold as she witnessed the last of the great army of prisoners flee into space. Even she was powerless to bring them back!

(1:51)

“Oh, No-o-o-o…!” she whimpered.

The guards were equally as shocked and frightened as were the workers. This was a disaster to top all disasters!

As for Brass, he was fully aware of what he had just done, and he was by far the most nervous of all. He only intended to release a few prisoners, not all of them!

He was really falling into a panic, until he realized that Starfleet was in a tough spot now, and would really be likely to be blamed and hated for what happened, so in a really insane way maybe things weren’t as bad after all.

Suddenly, he could hear the sound of footsteps outside. “I have to get out of here!” he cried softly, and he dashed of the room without being seen, and since the security cameras were still down, he didn’t get caught.

Thinking he had ultimately gotten away with his crime, he even injured himself slightly-- banged his head to make a wound, and used his own work-knife to give himself a few small cuts to make it look as if he had been injured in the chaos.

He groped and drooped his way outside to rejoin his work team.

“Brass!” cried Piper, “What happened to you?” asked Grind.

Faking being traumatized, Brass lied and said “I was just taking a small break, and suddenly I heard a big noise, and then I was surrounded by all these creeps and they almost got me. I thought I was a goner!”

His fib fooled his co-workers, and they all decided to take him back to United Equestria along with all the other injured workers and soldiers.

Still, everyone was wondering the same thing; how did all the prisoners escape?

But one thing was certain; there was going to be trouble… and lots of it!

To Be Continued…!

(Promo)

In our next episode; the first of the escaped prisoners attack United Equestria, fighting each of the ponies in separate areas, and soon Brass finds himself owning up to his mistake.

Can the ponies fend off against so many monsters on their own, and what will become of the all the other escaped prisoners?

Don’t miss the next exciting episode of “Starfleet Magic!”

(Next Episode: “Escape From Starfleet: Part 2”)

Episode 16: Part 1: Rough Engagements

EPISODE SIXTEEN

Princess Avyanna of the planet Kallan-- a world beyond the Starfleet jurisdictional regions of dimensional space: very beautiful on the outside, yet devious and cunning on the inside. Months ago she had teamed up with Starfleet’s deadly enemy, Lord Titan, in attempt to take over United Equestria.

That plan was foiled by Starfleet with the help of Mykan Stevens, whom she had grown quite a sense of affection for, despite her defeat and humiliation, her diplomatic immunity protected her from prosecution for her crimes.

Now, with her new ship, the Kallanium II, and her new crew, she was making a return trip to United Equestria, much to the chagrin of her right-hand man, Mayne.

He walked down the halls of the huge ship until he reached the royal bedroom. The guards let him pass and he knocked at the door.

“Enter!” Avyanna called. Mayne entered as ordered, and there he saw the princess relaxing in her favorite chair admiring her reflection in a small mirror. “Begging your pardon, your highness, but we are approaching our destination.”

“Good.” said Avyanna “Once we are within perfect range you know what to do.”

Mayne understood, “I still do not understand your intentions. The United Equestrian Council has labeled you under suspicion for your past crimes.”

Avyanna’s features hardened and she nearly slammed down her mirror, almost breaking it, “My past crimes? Your tongue is slipping again, Mayne. I ought to remove it the next I hear such words.”

Mayne cleared his throat, “I apologize, Princess.”

Avyanna scoffed “Also, need I remind you that it was YOU who botched our plans. You do remember that, don’t you?”

Mayne hated being reminded of how he ordered the invasion attack against Avyanna’s instructions, which gave Starfleet the chance to fight back due to Mykan Stevens sabotaging the fleet.

“That’s what I thought…” said Avyanna “Now for the last time: You know what to do once we are in range of the planet.”

“Yes, I understand.”

After he left, Avyanna continued to gaze at her reflection, but she was thinking of something else entirely which involved someone else!

*Mykan’s POV*

School had finished for another and all the children were leaving. “Remember, you Earth landscape dioramas are due on Monday.” I called to the children “I have great expectations form all of you.”

The children filed out and rushed on for their homes, but the crusaders seemed the happiest now that DD was back in school. “It was pretty grim around here without ya.” said Applebloom.

“I know what you mean…” said DD “I just couldn’t stand being in bed any longer. I was going to go crazy!”

“Well, you’re back now,” said Swetie Belle “That means we can all work on our project together.”

“We’ll have the best in the class.” added Scootaloo, and the four of them did their club cheer, “THE CUTIEMARK CRUSADERS…!!”

Cheerilee and I watched as the girls walked off. It really did our hearts good to see them so happy being all together again, but even more so that DD was back and feeling well again.

“Well, that’s another week well-done.” Cheerilee said.

I nodded and shared a hug with her, “See you on Monday.”

Cheerilee smiled at me and she headed off for home herself as she lived in New Ponyville, and I activated my teleporter, and warped to New Canterlot.

*POV Ends*

Meanwhile, Cadance and Shining Armor were visiting the laboratory at New Canterlot Palace once again, during their visit with their aunt and uncle. They were checking in on the status of their artificial baby, still in her tube. Both of them still eager for the day when she could come out and they could take her home and really start their new lives as a family.

“How much longer will it be, Professor?” Cadance asked.

“It is rather difficult to say at this point.” said Brain “But I would estimate no longer than a week. Unless of course…er… something disastrous was to occur, but we shan’t let that happen.”

“I sure hope not.” said Shining Armor, but he said it to himself. He and his wife were still driving themselves crazy with worry if their baby would be alright.

Still, that didn’t mean they didn’t have time to prepare for their upcoming parenthood by helping their aunt and uncle take care of Castor and Leilani, especially during these times when their mother and father were very busy with reports and conferences and other things to concern the whereabouts of the remaining prisoners.

Their majesties soon came back along with Lightning and Starla whom attended the meetings with them.

“Mama… Papa!” they both cried for joy.

“Oh, there you are.” Celestia cooed and she scooped up her little son. “Come here you…” Grand Ruler said as he held their daughter.

Lightning and Starla thought it was so adorable to see the kids and their parents, it almost gave them the idea to maybe start a family of their own, but they both agreed that were more than not yet ready, what with their duties, they’re busy schedules.

“You should’ve seen them; they were practically wrestling one another.” Shining Armor said.

“Thank you both for watching them.” said Celestia.

“It’s our pleasure.” said Cadance. She gazed at her two little cousins, so young at two and a half years. Now she really couldn’t wait for her baby to be ready, but everyone could see she had that hint of worry she was trying to hide.

“Don’t worry, Cadance…” Lightning said, and before he could say another word-- “I know, I know… you won’t let anything happen.” Then she smiled at him, at everyone actually.

Suddenly, the alarms sounded, frightening the children.

“What’s going on now?” Grand Ruler asked.

Starla raced to the window, and she could see for herself. “It’s Mykan! He’s fighting against four monsters.”

“What? Alone...?” Lightning cried as he raced to the window and he could see for himself; poor Mykan was faced against four monsters. Even with his weapons on hand, he wouldn’t have a chance against them all on his own as he was a human, and not as strong as they all were.

“Let’s go!” Lightning said.

“We’re coming too.” Said Shining Armor, and he and his wife followed the others out the window.

*Myakn’s POV*

I had just teleported near my house when these four monsters surrounded me and forced me to flee for help.

One creature was a huge eagle creature, another was a big and burly troll, one was that like a huge lion, and the final was a centaur type creature. All four of them were glaring at me, snarling…!

I had already sounded the alarms, but I was still on my own, with my shield and sword ready, I didn’t think I’d be able to handle all four of these hulking creeps myself.

The eagle creature opened his huge beak and fired a huge beam at me, which I blocked with my shield, absorbing the blast and firing it back at the creatures. There was a small explosion and some sparks, but those brutes only seemed angrier now.

“Oh, boy…! Not good!” I murmured.

The centaur and the troll both leapt up high, and pounded the ground, shaking everything, and I fell off my feet, dropping my sword to the ground. I tried to reach for it, but the lion kicked it away, and the then tried to pounce on me, but I rolled out of the way, and called to my sword…!

“Sword of Pure Soul…!”

Responding to my voice and our bond, the sword flew back into my grip, only for me to realize I was surrounded by all four monsters with no place to run.

Of course, being smarter than they were altogether, I didn’t have to run… All I had to do was jump up right at the last second as they all lunged at me. With my cape I soared up high, leaving them to smash into one another.

“Whoa! That was way too close.”

As the monsters looked up at me and prepared to shoot at me from below, Lightning and the others came along-- Lightning and Starla in their super suits, Cadance as the Silent Ninja, and Shining Armor as Saber.

“Get ‘em!” shouted Lightning, and the four fighters rushed into battle and made quick work of the brutes, knocking them all into a huge pile and ready to imprison them in spheres. “Okay, ready… take aim!” shouted Lightning.

The others all charged up and prepared to fire, but before Lightning could even give the command, the monsters were suddenly hit by a huge beam of light from the skies.

“Huh?” cried Lightning.

“What is that?” asked Starla.

The monsters suddenly vanished and the light soared back up, up, up into the sky.

“Okay, what’s going on here?” Saber asked.

Cadance shook her head and held out her hands in the “I don’t know” gesture.

Putting that aside, Starla rushed over to me, “Are you alright?”

“Great timing, but I could’ve handled them myself you know.” I teased. The others put their arms to their hips giving me a playful glare.

“Look, maybe you should come to palace and tell us all what happened.” said Lightning.

I agreed, and before long I was explaining to their majesties everything that had happened. “If these guys hadn’t shown up I don’t know what would’ve happened, but I can’t tell you much more about that beam of light we saw.”

“Nor can we…” said Grand Ruler “We saw it as well, but our scans can’t seem to decipher what it is, but judging from what you have told us, it appears to be some sort of tractor beam; a type of which we have never seen before with tremendous amounts of power.”

Celestia agreed, “But we still don’t know where it came from, and who sent it.”

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door to the meeting room. “Enter…” Grand Ruler called. It was Princess Luna and Goldwin. “Begging your pardon everyone, but we, Goldwin and I, believe we have found the source of that beam.”

Everyone seemed anxious, and Goldwin explained, “I was looking at the clouds through my telescope when I saw the beam of light come down from the sky. I quickly told Princess Luna, and she notified the royal observatory.”

He handed their majesties a picture of a shot from space. No doubt, what they saw in that picture made their bloods churn, “That’s a Kallanium starship.” said Grand Ruler.

Everyone felt their spines have shivers at the mention of that word, Kallinum.

“It can’t be…” said Cadance.

“Not her again?” added Shining Armor.

“Yes, it is true.” said a familiar voice, and that’s when a holographic image of the princess appeared before their majesties. “Greetings, Grand Ruler Celesto… Greetings, Queen Celestia.”

“Princess Avyanna.” said Grand Ruler.

“How unexpected to see you again.” added Celestia.

Avyanna ignored the hint of cynicism in their voices and got straight to the point. “How did you like the demonstration of my latest weapon? It took us many months to manufacture and perfect. I trust you are no doubt astounded by its efficiency.”

“Naturally…” Grand Ruler answered “However, this recent action of yours raises several other questions, which we would like straight and simple answers to.”

The princess looked smug, “And I intend to give you those answers… in person. You shall arrange a reception for me after sundown, and you will be sure to invite not only your best officers… but Mykan Stevens as well.”

A soft silence followed, and hearing her wishes I walked over to their majesties, near the hologram. “I’m honored, Princess.” I said acting sly. Avyanna gazed deeply at me. “Why hello, Mr. Stevens.” She said in a soothing tone “It’s been quite a while, and you still look handsome.”

“You haven’t changed either.” I replied.

“I would advise you to be present tonight. Much depends upon it… more than you realize.”

With that, the image vanished.

*POV ends*

Up on her ship, Avyanna felt very content with what she had just done while Mayne still seemed skeptical. “What do you think you’re doing?” he asked rather sharply “By going directly to the enemies and threatening them you will raise much suspicion of our plot!”

Avyanna’s features hardened “You worry too much, Mayne. There won’t be much that they can do, especially seeing as there is another plot in our making. You do remember our deal with our partner, don’t you…?”

“Yes… I do remember.”

*Mykan’s POV*

Everyone in the meeting room did not like this one bit; all of us sensed Avyanna was up to something sneaky. “She’s going to try and extort us.” Grand Ruler said. “If only we could scan her mind and find out what she is truly up to.”

“Darling, we can’t.” said Celestia “You know as well as I do that she’s discovered ways to block out our detections, and besides, under the terms of her diplomatic immunity we cannot effectively prosecute her.”

“As much as it pains me to say…” said Lightning “Though we’ve tangled with her before, and we may not be able to trust her, we’re just going to have to let her down her.”

Grand Ruler agreed reluctantly and assigned Lightning and Starla to round up the rest of their team, “We’ll have everything ready by the time you return.” He said to them, and then he turned to me, “And Mykan…”

“…I’ll be there, your majesty.” I said. “If you’ll all excuse me, I better go home and get ready.”

Then I activated my teleporter and I vanished.

*POV Ends*

The others all exchanged looks of deep concern regarding the banquet that evening.

Meanwhile, in New White Tail Village, Mayor Windy Bag had received a strange looking letter which she read in private. It came complete with a small set of instructions, and she grinned wickedly. “This is it…” she snickered “Tomorrow night the truth will come out and Justice will be served.”

“Um, mother…” Lippy asked as he came into her office “What are you talking about?”

His mother sneered at him, “I thought I told you never to come in here when I want privacy!”

“I’m sorry, but I had to bring you this permission slip to go on a class field trip to sign. I asked Dad and he told me to scram. Um… will you sign it please?”

His mother growled down at him, but she signed the paper anyway and then demanded he get out! Poor Lippy ran from the room quickly before she would throw something at him.

“What is up with her?” Lippy thought “I’ve seen her angry and cunning before but never like this. I’ll bet it’s got something to do with that letter she’s got.”

He hadn’t felt the same ever since he saw her go out with that poisoned food, and he read in the news how it was Colonel Buddy Rose’s little cousin that got poisoned, but still his mother could not be identified as the guilty one… not without him coming forth and squealing on her.

Still, his overly-developed fear of what his mother and father would do to him if he so much as tried plagued him. He spent many sleepless nights wondering how bad it could be.

-Locked up in his room and have the key thrown away
-Yelling and screaming and deprived of meals.
-The worst of all: a beating to end all beatings.

…and he had his share of threats and beating before in his abusive family.

He was suddenly snapped out of his trance when his bullying brother Biffy Box came by and elbowed him in the chest, “Move it, runt!”

Poor Lippy, he really didn’t know how much more abuse he could take, and all over something as ridiculous as he and others being supportive of Starfleet.

Meanwhile, Buddy Rose and Applejack were preparing for the banquet that evening at the palace. Normally they’d be all up for it, but the fact that a potential threat was in store worried them, however, they also had to worry about Applebloom and DD.

Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were coming over too, for a permitted sleepover, but Big Mac and Granny Smith were already miles out of town on an old-fashioned pie-delivery. Though it would’ve been faster to use the instant transports, Granny Smith couldn’t object to the old time ways.

This meant they had to get a foal-sitter, and since all the officers were attending the gathering that left only one whom they both could trust at such short notice to keep an eye on the girls…!

“Ya really think Tree Hugger can handle the girls?” Applejack asked Buddy Rose, but Buddy seemed to be lost in his own thoughts.

“Bud…? Hey!”

He snapped out of his trance, “Oh, sure… the uh, Trees need, um… sidewalk… picking… applesauce.”

Applejack raised an eyebrow, “That wasn’t even a sentence. You got somethin’ on your mind… or rather someone…?”

“Yeah… Ms. Tree Hugger.” DD teased.

“What?” snapped Buddy “No, no… I… I wasn’t thing about her. I’m just… worried about tonight, that’s all.”

The girls were not convinced, “Ah, shucks, let it go.” said Applebloom “He’s professional officer, he hasn’t got time to think of some amazin’ pony with beautiful blue eyes.”

“Applebloom, her eyes are purple.” said Buddy, “Uh… I mean… A’rgh!”

The girls and Applejack all laughed at him, and Buddy sighed, “Okay, I admit it… I was creeped out by her at first, what with her clingy obsessions and all that but… oh…” he paused as he went into a heavenly gaze “…She’s just so amazing, in all that I’ve seen from her so far.

She’s great with kids, she’s peaceful, gentle and caring, and she’s very helpful to those who need it.”

He sighed heavenly again, and the girls thought it was so sweet. “Dang it, boy, why don’t ya just take up on her marriage offer then?” said Applejack, and the girls nodded with extreme enthusiasm.

“I just don’t know if I should…” said Buddy “I mean, my life in Starfleet is a pretty dangerous one, and even then would it even work out? I mean just jumping straight into marriage is still pretty scary to me.”

The girls felt pity for him and before either Applebloom or DD could say a thing, “Don’t do it, girls.” Buddy said “I know that look in your eyes, but please… for once, just stay out of this. This is something I have to decide for myself.”

“He’s right, girls.” said Applejack “Don’t you be sayin’ anythin’ to Tree Hugger now.”

The girls promised not to, but this was going to be hard on them and their friends; helping others was what the crusaders did.

There was a knock at the door; it was Tree Hugger along with Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle. The girls didn’t their usually greeting by showing off their cutiemarks on their clothes, while DD’s was just a picture.

But naturally, Tree Hugger gazed at Buddy Rose and how handsome he seemed in his formal dress uniform. Her gazing at him made him blush softly and he rubbed the back of his head nervously, making her giggle softly.

Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo thought it cute and wanted to make a witty tease, but Applejack gave them the signs not to say a thing.

“Um… thanks for looking after the girls for us.” Buddy said to Tree Hugger. “Hey, like no probs. We’ll have a radical time, huh kids?”

The girls looked excited, all of them knowing how cool and fun she was in her own way.

“Well, we better get on goin’.” said Applecjack. She and Buddy headed out the door, but Buddy took another moment to look back at Tree Hugger until he was outside and out of view. “Come on, boy… get your head in the game.” said Applejack.

Buddy snapped to his senses and cleared his throat, “Major… may I remind you how to speak to your superior!”

Applejack rolled her eyes, “Sorry… sir…”

The two of them then flapped their wings and took off into the sky, “Prepare for speed-boost.” said Buddy. “YEE-HAW!! New Canterlot, here we come.” cried Applejack.

Then in a huge flash, they zoomed across the skies like speeding comets.

“Okay, like let’s get down to some serious buis here…” said Tree Hugger, and she held up a couple of tubs of ice-cream she had brought, “Which flavor do you girls like?”

The girls could see this was going to be a really fun night.

*Mykan’s POV*

I attended the gathering that night as was requested, and dressed in my formal wear. All the ponies and others requested to be there had attended as well, including Lightning and all his friends. All the ladies had come in formal gowns, but still wore their officer insignias.

Many leaders from the regions around United Equestria had also attended as requested, including Cadance and Shining Armor.

As much as everyone would have been more delighted to attend, it was easy to see that they all felt the same way as I did, suspicious of the Princess and wondering what she was up to. Unfortunately, scanning her mind was impossible with any known spell or device they possessed as she and her honor guard were all mysteriously impervious to the probing, plus it wouldn’t be good manners to treat their… guest.

Still, the evening went fine, there was a sit-down dinner, and some entertainment-- Goldwin and the royal palace dancers where performing a sort of Space Disco Ballet which they had all spent weeks choreographing and coming up with all the amazing tricks and moves.

Apart from it all, the princess seemed to be enjoying herself; however she seemed to take many moments to glance way over at me down the long row of tables. I couldn’t help but stare back at her.

The others were growing rather suspicious of the way she was looking at me, and exchanging concern.

“Do you see her?”

“She keeps looking at him.”

“What is she up to?”

“You don’t think that she’s…?”

Seeing that look in the princess’ eyes, Rarity could see for herself, “That is definitely an unmistakable expression of a lust for love.”

The dance show had ended, and everyone applauded to the dancers. Then, it was time for the guest of honor to make her speech. Avyanna stood and everyone else quieted down as she spoke.

“For the food and the entertainment, we are truly grateful, but now to business.”

The room fell totally silent as all attention was fixated on her.

“We possess a new form of technology that may very well even surpass anything you of Starfleet have ever developed yet, and we have been putting it to good use.”

She motioned for her guards to activate the holo-imagers, which showed a very large gathering of many monsters detained on the Kallinum II, which many realized were all escapees from the prison, and such a large number of hundreds of creatures, had to have added to about twenty percent of the lot.

“We have heard of your little… problem involving your escaped prisoners… but as you can see, a great many of them now lie detained on my ship. I now have an assembled army which I can use to my advantage against those who oppose me, and our new tractor beam allows me to send them wherever I please whenever I wish.”

Many stomachs in the room began to turn, even my own. The sight of all those creatures, and such a vast amount!

“Our tractor-beam is also capable of beaming anyone aboard with or without warning. You have no known resistance to it, you have no idea how it works. Consequently speaking; with this technology, I have the power to capture and imprison whole countries within seconds before anything can be done about it.

However, the reason I have not made any attempt to do so is because I have a proposal for you. A very small and simple request…”

A moment silence followed, and many were starting to feel nervous wondering what she was about to demand.

“As ruler of the planet Kallan, I desire and feel it would be most productive and symbolic to have a co-ruler by my side… as my husband, and according to the laws of our world, I will only wed the most… desirable and genetically sound man available.”

I felt my heart skip a beat as I could finally see where this was possibly heading. Deep down, my insides were hoping, praying that this was all just some nightmare, but it was all as real as it got, and it was about to get even worse.

“I have found such a man here on your planet. If you turn him over to me willingly, perhaps I will consider a fair trade and transfer all the prisoners I have capture to you prison. If however you decline… and I will forced to take swift action and send my army to destroy your world sector-by-sector, planet-by-planet.”

She then turned to gaze at me again. “That man of course… is Mykan Stevens!”

There was a long moment of the guests exchanging looks and silent remarks of deep concern, but all I could do was gaze at the princess smiling weakly at her, while my insides were somewhat flattered, but more outraged.

“You have until noon tomorrow to decide. That shall be all. Good night.” And with that, she signaled for her ship to beam herself and her guards aboard, but not before glancing over at me one last time.

Then they were gone, leaving everyone disturbed, and some were panicking over what was to be done or what could even be done.

*POV Ends*

Meanwhile, it was getting late, and Windy Bag was holding a small conference in her office, with many store manager and officials of New White Tail Village, even Lippy’s grouchy teacher, and her husband, Chump, was there.

“You all know why I have gathered you here. Tomorrow evening will dawn a day of revolution, a day when the truth finally comes out, and those Starfleet pigs will finally be shown for the freaks they are!”

There was a great exchange of comments and admiration at such a thought among the attendants, and each one voiced their own opinions.

“The way those space ponies act like they’re so much better than Equestrians. It sickens me!”

“And the way they inflict all these martial laws into our lives and telling us what to do, that’s just overkill.”

“Not nearly as overkill as what they do to all those monsters they capture. Just lock them up and throw away the key, or even just up and murder them without giving them a chance of redemption or even a fair trial…!”

“What really peeves me is how so many Equestrians actually act okay with this. Even Princess Twilight Sparkle, may she rest in peace, was drawn into their brainwashing idiocy! Now she’s gone, and yet her friends still choose to be like those racist overlords!”

Windy Bag slammed on her desk and declared, “Well… that’s all about to change! Make sur eyou gather up all those loyal to our cause in this village. Tomorrow night… things will finally get back to normal around here!”

All the attendants cheered and hollered…

…What they didn’t realize was that the meeting was so loud; the sounds of their voices had been traveling through the air-vents in the building, all which lead straight up to Lippy’s bedroom, and he heard everything that was said as he lay in bed, quivering in fear.

“She’s planning a… revolution!” he cried softly to himself. Although he still had no idea of how it was going to be done, he was already too wound up to sleep well.

Suddenly he could hear someone yelling, “It’s Mykan Stevens! He’s out there!”

“Get him!” shouted Windy Bag, and from the sounds of things, she and her entire group of attendees left the office carelessly, not even turning off the lights or locking the door.

Lippy knew how reckless and careless his mother was at times, and seeing this as possibly the only chance he’d ever get he got out of bed and planned to sneak down into the Mayor’s Office through the house.

He managed to make it out of his room, but whom should he run into than his brother Biff. “He squirt… where’re you going?” he asked gruffly. “Um… t-t-to the b-b-bathroom.” Lippy lied nervously. His brother fell for the bluff and went back to his own room and to bed, leaving Lippy to continue on his spying.

He made it downstairs, and went found the door to the Mayor’s Office unlocked, and as he expected, the whole place was deserted and the lights were on. Not a single security guard was there… very careless indeed. What was even more careless was his mother leaving the letter she had received and blue prints of what she was up to.

“Oh no…This… this can’t be!”

To Be Continued…!

(Promo)

In our next episode: Starfleet must make the choice to either surrender Mykan to the Kallanians or face the wrath of Avyanna. Meanwhile, Windy Bag’s planned mutiny continues as she finally comes to face-to-face with Mykan Stevens and prepares to unleash her treachery upon United Equestria, when her son attempt to intervene.

One way or the other, is United Equestria doomed to certain disaster?

Don’t miss the next exciting episode of “Starfleet Magic!”

(Next Episode: “Part 2: For Whom the Wedding Bells Toll”)