My Brave Pony Starfleet Magic: Season VII

by DakariKingMykan

Rating: everyone
Tags: Princess Luna, Original Character, Mystery, Science Fiction, Adventure, Princess Celestia, Anthro, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Alternate Universe
Length: 131622

The Ponies face an evil treasure hunter and evil Bat creatures

1: Sienna: an intergalactic treasure hunter and space plunderer has come to United Equestria seeking a hidden power which she plans to use to conquer the universe, which prompts the ponies to seek out this treasure by hunting for clues left by Celestia and Luna's mother.

2: Applejack's family, or rather all ponies are threatened by a swarm of Vampire Fruitbat Hybrids that plan to turn all ponies into Bat hybrid creatures in an act of settling an old score.

3: An old pony guard who once served Queen Galaxia is found frozen form long ago. He is revived, but has a very hard time adjusting to the new times and surroundings.

4: Applejack and her family are feeling a bit down missing their folks, Pear Butter and Bright Mac, until a bit surprise comes to them

5: Lightning and Starla's baby is born.

Published 2018-01-27 06:00:07 UTC
Last updated 2018-06-24 02:28:04 UTC

Intro: Sienna

PROLOGUE

Somewhere, far, far away in a Dimensional Galaxy, there was a planet that lived in peace and prosperity. It was a race of humanoid creatures, with different colored skins, pointed ears. All of which lived in bliss and riches thanks to the many valuable ores dug from their planet, which helped them to live comforting lives and the poor and homeless were practically non-existent.

This planet had not yet been discovered or visited by Starfleet, and as such it was nowhere near Starfleet’s jurisdiction.

Then, one day, trouble happened!!

Alien creatures came to the planet and began to rob the people of all their goods and riches, and anyone who dared to stand up to them paid a horrible price.

One of these creatures was a tall and rather muscular humanoid creature. He had green skin, short red hair, and was wearing black battle armor over a grey jump suit. He was threatening a family with a powerful sword. “Give me all your riches, now!” he demanded.

“Never!” the father shouted, and he threw a chair at the creature, but the man just slashed it to bits with his sword. “Big mistake!” and he poised his blade out and fired a huge blast of burning energy from its tip, striking the father hard, and killing him instantly!

“No!!” the mother screamed.

“Daddy!” her little son cried.

They burst into tears as they huddled around their dead loved one, while the evil man threatened them both, “If you don’t wish to suffer a worse fate, hand over your riches…NOW!!”

The mother and son had no choice, and surrendered every bit of gold, every jewel, or priceless artifact they had to the man.

The man snickered, and then whistled loudly at the door to the house. A swarm of black creatures wearing golden vests and wearing silvery masks over their seemingly faceless faces crept forth. “Raiders, take this stuff!”

The Raiders complied and took all the treasures away, and the man snickered pitifully at the mother and child and left their home.

Outside the man had a whole swarm of Raiders “What are you all standing here for! This planet is loaded with goodies. Let’s take it all!”

The army complied, but even still, the man wasn’t satisfied.

He reached down to his belt and grabbed what appeared to be oversized diamonds. He clutched two, one in each of his hands, and the diamonds enlarged. “I summon you!” he thundered and threw the diamonds out, and in bursts of light, evil and fierce looking monsters appeared.

“Jema-Nites!” the man called to the monsters, “Grab everything you can get your claws on. If anyone tries to defend… show no mercy!”

The monsters growled in compliance, and ran off.

The man snickered softly, “Sienna will be pleased!”

Before long, there was panic and massive hysteria all over the planet as banks were emptied, mines were raided, and every house on the planet was robbed of any and all riches leaving the people poor and practically starving, and those who tried to stand up to the evil ones were destroyed.

The evil creatures, they’re mission complete, teleported off the planet back to their headquarters.

Within the planet’s orbit there was a monstrous spaceship, coated in solid blue alloy, and armed with powerful lasers.

The Captain of the ship looked out through the viewport and down at the miserable planet. “We’ve taken all that this planet has to offer,” she hissed. “Extend to them my usual gratitude.”

With that, the ship fired powerful lasers at the planet, causing massive explosions and destruction below, perhaps even destroying many of the inhabitants.

With that done, the ship flew off into space. Its powerful alloy protected it from the dimensional warping energies that would teleport it.

The evil man had returned, and came onto the bridge passing a bunch of Raiders that were at the controls. “That was far too easy, Captain.” he said.

Sienna turned to face him. She was a tall woman with tan colored skin. Her long silvery hair was done up in a huge and curly ponytail. She wore a black suit, a silvery skirt, with blood red and black armor, complete with shoulder pads, chest plate arm guards and knee plates. She wore tall black boots, a golden colored cape that ran down to her kneecaps. And across her eyes she wore a shiny golden mask. On her belt she carried a sword in a sheath, and a ray-gun in a holster.

“Well done, Slash!” she said to the man “But you’re right; that was too easy. All this plundering is chunk change now. The ultimate treasure I want it still out there.”

The doors to the bridge opened. In came a little boy, with tan colored skin and dark blue hair dressed in in a dark purple suit with a black cape, and he was followed by a lady-- she was a red skinned humanoid alien with shoulder length brown hair. She was all dressed in a grey monk’s robe, holding a crystal ball in her hand.

“Hi Sis!” the little boy called to Sienna as he skipped over to her.

“Mako…!” chirped Sienna and she bent down and hugged her little brother. “I did it, Sienna.” said Mako, and he held out a strange looking pendant-- it looked to be a fragment of a severed alicorn horn.

Sienna looked up at the lady, “Omnisha, is this true.”

Omnisha nodded as she waved her hand over her crystal-ball, “Your brother gave me the item. I have analyzed it and my readings confirm your theory, Captain.”

Sienna grinned wickedly. She patted Mako on his head, and took the pendant from him and fit it round her neck. “Then that means the greatest treasure is within my grasp!” she snickered softly. “Prepare for deep space warp… We’re going to United Equestria!”

“You heard the captain!” Slash sneered at the Raiders, “Set course and get us there!”

The Raiders complied, and the ship blasted through space.

MY BRAVE PONY
STARFLEET MAGIC SEASON VII

Author's Note

Updates will be very slow and in between because I'm working on Teen Titan Idol for Youtube

Episode 1: The Hunter's Prey: Part 1

Author's Note

-Wow! 16 dislikes off the bat and the story's barely begun. You people are getting more pathetic and hopeless every season... lighten up!

-The vids that I've inputted are just to give basic idealisms as if you were really watching on TV. I don't need to put them every single ep

Episode 1: The Hunter's Prey: Part 1

EPISODE ONE

It had been nearly seven whole months since Starla Shine had announced to Lightning Dawn that she was pregnant with their first child, and the time seemed to fly by rather quickly.

Now it was early springtime, and today, in an open field in New Ponyville, Lightning, and his entire unit were all gathered to face against Starla.

The team stood all transformed in their super suits. “Um… remind me why we’re doing this again?” asked Rainbow Dash. “I already explained this…” said Lightning “We need to test her out to see if she’ll be alright in battle.”

Starla stood ready, and strangely she didn’t look anywhere near as a mare of seven months pregnant would be. Her belly was not any bigger than it normally was for her size.

“Krysta, do you have the traps all set up?” asked Lightning, and Krysta hovered near him, “My fairies are all standing by.” And she waved her wand signaling to the other fairies, and they signaled to their queen.

“I’m ready.” Starla called.

The team looked ready too. “Okay, Buddy Rose, Applejack… you’re up first.” said Lightning.

Applejack and Buddy saluted, and their charged right at Starla, and began to punch and kick at her, but Starla swerved and ducked their every hit and began to punch and kick them back, and her friends blocked her attacks and swerved and dodged.

Lightning scanned the battle with his visor. Power levels and speed were simple and calm. “Come on, don’t hold back!” he called out.

“Put some pepper on it!” demanded Pinkie. She was acting like she was watching a real wrestling match.

“Hi-ya!” Starla shouted as she kicked Applejack hard in the chest knocking her over, but for Buddy to sneak up from behind to punch at her. Starla just zipped out of the way making him miss. “Where’d you go?” he grumbled, and he got his answer when Starla appeared right above him, coming slamming down, but Buddy zipped off causing her to miss and strike the ground hard making small craters where she punched.

“Okay, Rainbow, Artie. Get in there!” said Lightning.

Rainbow and Artie saluted and dashed forth.

“SONIC RAINBOOM!”Rainbow shouted as she zoomed straight at Starla to crash into her, but Starla leapt, up, up and out of the way, and she looked straight off where Rainbow was heading for,“PULSAR LASER!”and she fired her beam straight at Rainbow, but Artie leapt in and deflected the blast with his Super Staff.

Artie then zipped over quickly and bashed Starla hard in the back, only for her to twirl in mid-air and kick him hard in the side, sending him soaring off.

“PAINT BOMB!”he launched his explosive goop straight at her, hitting her hard and making small explosion rupture.

“So far so good.” said Lightning, “Now let’s try weapon combat.” he snapped his fingers signaling for Rhymey and Fluttershy to leap in.

Rhymey and Fluttershy nodded at one another.

“WARD SWORD!”Rhymey shouted as he got out his sword.

“Valkyria!” Fluttershy transformed into The Valkyrie of Kindness, and got out her sword and shield. “I’m ready!” she said acting uncharacteristically brave.

She and her husband sprint forth to attack Starla…

Lightning signaled for Krysta, and Krysta signaled for her fairies to start with the traps set up.

The fairies had created small portals in the ground like trap holes for the fighters to step in, and others were in mid-air all around the field for the fairies to shoot small beams of light and throw large stones like projectiles.

Rhymey and Fluttershy flew above the trap holes, swerved out of the way of the stones and batted the magic beams away with their swords as they flew at Starla.

Both them swung their swords right at them but,“STAR BOW!”Starla quickly got out her bow. Since it was made of super strong alloys, it could easily stand up to the two blades.

The fighters engaged in a struggle, and suddenly, more magical beams and stones were thrown at them all, forcing them to fly off in different directions.

Rhymey called to Fluttershy,

“Don’t lose sight of her
You go below, I’ll go above her.”

His wife nodded, and they split up, coming at Starla from above and below. All the weapons clashed like crazy as Starla parried and dodged the swords swiftly, at the same time, she and the others avoided the fairies traps with ease.

“Right, bring in the fire!” said Lightning.

Spike as The Dragon Knight stood with The Spanish Twins: Dyno and Myte.

“I love this part.” chuckled Spike“DRAGON FLARE!”

“Ready, Bro?” asked Dyno.

“Si, let’s go.” said Myte.

Ignoring that the two of them had just made a rhyme, they joined their hands together and shouted,“BOOM-BOOM FIREBALLS!”

The flames shot at the fighters forcing them to sprint and dodge more swiftly than ever as they all continued to fight.

“Now, bring in the artillery!” said Lightning, and Pinkie Pie brought in her huge party cannon, but instead of being armed with confetti, it was armed with powerful dirt bombs. “This goes against my every better moral.” she complained. Nevertheless she fired her cannon, launching the dirt bombs the clouded things up.

“My turn…” Rarity said as she fired magical blasts from her horn.

The fighters all dodged and averted the blasts as best they could, but they did get hit several times, even Starla did. So she aimed her bow through the settling dust,“STARLIGHT ARROW!”and fired straight over at Lightning and the others, which they dodged.

The arrow hit a rock, blowing it into bits of gravel.

“ENOUGH!!” Lightning shouted, and everyone stopped right on the spot, and Krysta ordered her fairies to cease the traps. All the little fairies popped out from the portals.

The ponies and Spike all powered down their suits, but Starla remained in her super suit.

Lightning smiled as he approached Starla and he powered down his suit. “Wonderful, I think you’ll be just fine.”

His wife smiled at him, and the others were all happy and excited as well. “Great job everyone.” Lightning said “We all better get home now. The test is over.”

“I’m just glad it worked out.” said Buddy.

“Eeyup, this could be a big breakthrough for all fighters on the force.” agreed Applejack.

Rainbow hovered up high in the sky, “Well, I don’t know about you all, but I’m going for a fly to celebrate. WHAAA-HOOOO!!” and she was off.

The friends all chuckled.

“Well, we better go.” said Dyno. “Si,” agreed Myte “We’re on the verge of breaking through a new mine full of gems.”

“Mind if we tag along?” asked Spike. “Oh, yes…” added Rarity “I’m in desperate need for more jewels for my new line of Springtime Formal gowns.”

I’m off…” said Artie “I have a few art projects to finish for a couple of my buyers.”

“We better go to.” Fluttershy said to Rhymey.

Her husband nodded,

“The animals need to be feed lunch,
And then off to my café for a poetry bunch.”

Pinkie looked inside her cannon-- literally stuffing her big head inside-- “HELP… I’M STUCK!!” she cried.

Buddy and Applejack grabbed her by the legs, counted to three, and gave a huge tug, yanking Pinkie out of the cannon, and sending all three of them crashing on the ground. “You all right, Sugar-Cube?” asked Applejack.

Pinkie’s face was all filthy with dirt and soot, “I’m fine, but now I have to clean out my cannon and fix it so it’s a party-cannon again.”

With that, she picked up her huge cannon and flew off home.

“That Pinkie Pie…” sighed Applejack.

Buddy chuckled, “We better get back to farm. I promised Tree Hugger and DD I’d plant some flowers with them.”

Applejack agreed, “We also got springtime crop to plant.”

Then they flew away for New Sweet Apple Acres.

Krysta rounded up all her fairies, “Well done troops, return to regular duties.”

The fairies bowed to their queen, and they headed off. Some went back to Planet Luminous, while others headed to their posts around United Equestria. It was their assignment to help ponies and others get to safety in times of danger if they failed to make it indoors and be protected by the barriers.

Krysta stayed behind with Lightning and Starla, “Home, Lightning?”

“Home, Krysta. If you don’t mind…”

Krysta smirked and warped all three of them back to Lightning and Starla’s house. “Thanks, Krysta.” said Starla.

“Hey, it’s what I’m here for.” said Krysta “I have head back to Luminous, but I’ll be back soon.”

Then she teleported away, and Lightning and Starla went inside. Once inside, Starla stopped right on the spot, and her eyes went out. Lightning picked her up and placed her inside a special capsule that she came in.

“Well, that went just fine.” Lightning said, and he turned round to look at the sofa, where the real Starla sat, holding a video game like controller and wearing a special visor over her face. She lifted it off and smiled at her husband, “I think it worked very well.”

Her husband smiled and sat down on the sofa next to her. He then casually placed his hand over her swollen, pregnant belly. “How are you feeling?”

“I feel fat, I feel restless, but I don’t feel too bored anymore thanks to that droid.”

Lightning agreed, “Well, it’ll make your maternity leave a little more exciting. I’ll be sure to add that to the report to give Professor Brain.”

“I already did,” said Starla “He should be reading it now.”

Indeed he was, Professor Brain was reading the letter out loud to their majesties, Grand Ruler Celesto and Queen Celestia.

He quoted “…The test was a success, and we deem this droid and its potential to be satisfactory… most satisfactory.”

Their majesties giggled softly at the irony that Lightning and Starla added Brain’s saying to their letter, but then they got serious. “Your invention is a great success, Professor.” said Grand Ruler, “And just in time, Starla was getting restless.” added Celestia.

Starla Shine had been on official maternity leave from her Starfleet duties, and now she was in a critical stage of her pregnancy and was ordered to avoid stress and overly-exertive activities. This was also a cripple for the Starfleet frontlines, as Starla was one of Starfleet’s best fighters and her skills and resources were needed.

Starla, being strictly an action-pony, grew easily bored of doing nothing but sitting around and doing simple stuff all day and missing out on the excitement. So Professor Brain had used his resources to construct a remote-controlled droid in Starla’s image. He spent months perfecting it, and now, not only did it mean Starla could still help out and be part of the action, but it was also a big breakthrough.

“With these configurations, I can design an entire fleet of droids for officers on disability.” said Brain.

Their majesties, although thrilled with the idea, were just as cautious of it as well. “Be careful, Professor.” said Grand Ruler “We don’t want our officers thinking they can actually be replaced or done out of a job, and we also don’t want indulge laziness and indolence either.”

“But of course, Sire.” agreed Brain “Now if you will excuse me, I have much to do.”

Then he went off, and no sooner had he left did a shiny white ball bounce through, followed by three year old Prince Castor. “I got it! It’s mine!” he squealed. His twin sister, Princess Leilani rushed into the room, “Hey! Come back here!” she thundered as she chased her brother.

Cast caught the ball and tried to flutter his way up into the air, only to tumble flat onto his back, and Leilani tried to use magic to get the ball back from her brother, only to make a small spark out of her horn that knocked her down onto her tail. “Ugh…!”

“Children…!” snapped Celestia. Her son and daughter sighed softly at the sound of her voice.“Yes, Mother…”they both said sounding low. Celestia stood and said in a scolding voice, “What have I told you two about flying or using magic?”

The children sighed and said at the same time,“Not until we’re older and trained well.”

“That’s right.” said their mother “You could have broken something, or hurt yourselves. So don’t let us catch you doing it again.”

“But mom…!” groaned Castor,

“This isn’t fair.” whined Leilani.

Their father stood and reasoned with them, “Children, we’ve gone through this before; you’re both still very young and flying and using magic takes skill and patience. We will help you when the time is right, but you need to take it easy.”

The children just sulked. They felt their parents were not being fair. Their parents could only sigh, but keep well in mind that they were very little, but they had to do all they could to make them understand the seriousness of things.

Soon, Goldwin came into the throne room. “Pardon me, your majesties; you’re wanted in the observatories. It’s important.”

Their majesties gawked at one another, and they asked Goldwin to please look after the children while they investigated.

“Can’t we come too?” asked Castor.

“I’m sorry, children, but this is grown up stuff.” said Celestia. She and her husband went off, leaving the kids in Goldwin’s care.

“Aw, gee…” said Leilani.

“It’ll be all right, kids. Don’t worry.” said Goldwin “Hey, let’s go play with your ball on the terrace.”

“Yeah!!”the kids cried excitedly.

When their majesties got to the observatory room, Princess Luna was supervising the ponies scouting. “What’s happening?” asked Celestia.

“Sister… Brother-in-Law…” said Luna “Our outposts on other planets have reported sighting of an unidentified craft appearing in space, and nearing our intergalactic borders.”

One of the operators looked up, “Can’t seem to detect it on radar, but the telescopic readings show it’s out there, and heading this way.”

Grand Ruler didn’t like the sound of this, “Send word to the outposts. Launch space patrol to intercept and question.”

“Already done.” replied Luna “They should have visual by now.”

The Starfleet squad was traveling along a dimensional pathway, and also wearing their specially designed space-suits which would allow them to safely fly off the path and into space without worry of being teleported.

“I see it!” cried one of the ponies, as he and his other four comrades observed the large and strange looking spacecraft.

On board, Sienna could see them on the monitors, “Oh, and what have we here?” she wondered.

She suddenly got her answer as the ponies got closer and closer, and the captain-- a golden yellow space alicorn with a short yellow mane-- called out on a megaphone. “This is a Starfleet Patrol. You are about to enter a restricted area without clearance. Deviate from your course, identify yourself and state your purpose of being here.”

The ship did not stop, and onboard Slash scoffed, “Starfleet…? I’ve heard stories of them, but I didn’t actually think they were real.”

“Please respond!” the patrol captain yelled again “If you do not obey my instructions will be forced to take drastic actions.”

Sienna still refused to respond or alter course.

Mako was feeling a little worried, “They won’t try to hurt us, will they?” he asked. Sienna patted her brother’s head, “Let them try.”

The patrol captain was growing impatient, “This is your final warning! Turn back or we will be forced to disable your craft!”

Still the ship did not stop, and the captain sighed, “Guess they’re asking for it.” and he signaled for his troops to take up positions at different angles around the ship.

“I give you one last chance!” the captain shouted, still hoping those inside would listen, but they didn’t. “Alright troops. Fire low-power blasts.”

The alicorns did as they were told and shot magical beams of magic from their hands at the ship as a warning, but when the blasts actually hit the ship’s coating, the blasts bounced right off and deflected back towards the ponies themselves.

“Did you see that?” cried a pony.

“I saw it.” replied the captain. He tried to scan the ship with his visor, but he couldn’t make out the coating. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”

Inside, Sienna snickered; “My turn…” and she snapped her fingers ordering the raiders to fire lasers.

The cannons were poised.

“It’s going to fire!” shouted a pony.

“Retreat…!” shouted the captain, but the lasers already fired like crazy in many directions. The ponies zipped and swerved swiftly to avoid being hit by the beams.

Suddenly, one of the ponies-- a light purpled Space alicorn with a long pink mane-- zigged when she should have zagged, and her helmet was shot and shattered, and her face had been grazed by the beam as it passed her, just by a few inches… or it would have blown up her head.

She screamed as she held her exposed face in pain, “IT BURNS!! IT BURNS!!”

“Sephy…!” shouted the captain “Quick, get her on the pathway!” but it was too late. Now that she was exposed to space, the teleportation energies got her before her team could get her to a pathway.

“MAGNUS…!!” Sephy shrieked… and then she vanished and was gone… teleported to who knew where in the galaxy or the entire universe, but most likely she would never be coming back!

“NO…!!!” shouted the captain.

The remaining troops were devastated, but not nearly as devastated as the captain was, almost at the verge of tears. “Sephy…!” he sobbed softly “… Sephy!”

Much as he and the others were distraught of their lost comrade, they had no choice but snap out of it and retreat to warn United Equestria of the hostile craft approaching.

Sienna and her crew saw them fly off.

“Well, so much for them.” said Omnisha.

Sienna didn’t seem to care so much that she had most likely just killed a pony. “If they want to get tough with me, I can get tough too.” she hissed. “Nothing shall stop me from getting that treasure!”

Mako liked the sound of that, “Well is so rich and powerful, no one will stand in our way.”

Sienna held her brother close to her, “No joke, Mako. Your big sis will be invincible, and the universe will be ours. I’ll be able to get you anything you want and more. After everything we’ve been through, we’re entitled to it anyway.”

Mako nodded.

Slash didn’t say anything, but just softly tapped the tip of his sword, raring to get his game on.

Back at the royal palace, Grand Ruler had received report that the ship was headed straight for United Equestria, and also the loss of one of the fighters… how she vanished into space!

Lieutenant Sephy Dancer,ID-Code: VK6Y.

She and the patrol captain,Magnus Majik,ID-Code: UJ5X, were engaged to be married.

Grand Ruler angrily pounded the console deeply upset by this!

Celestia and Luna were equally upset by the loss. “Celesto… what do we do now?” Celestia asked. Her husband looked up fiercely and said softly but firmly “Prepare for interception!”

An air-raid siren sounded in every town, every village, all across the planet. Everyone who heard it dropped whatever it was they were doing and a worldwide announcement was made by Celestia, via, using her magic to transmit her royal voice.

“Attention! Attention to all! Hostile alien vessel is approaching this planet. Repeat: There is a hostile alien spacecraft approaching this planet.

All Starfleet personal: Standby for battle-stations.

All civilians: Proceed to their homes or nearest shelter.”

All civilians began to race for their homes, schools, or shopping mall… anywhere that they could get inside. Some were even forced to go into a total stranger’s home, but other Starfleet officers and royal guards on duty went inside with them to ensure that no funny business or domestic disturbances would occur. In times of emergency, everyone was to behave accordingly!

Many other Starfleet fighters began to take up their positions, ready for anything.

Grand Ruler then ordered Lightning’s team to come to the palace in New Canterlot at once, should the attack start there first, but Lightning stayed behind to look after Starla. Emergency or not, she couldn’t go in her condition.

“Figures…” groaned Krysta “I step out for a hot minute, only to come back and trouble’s coming.”

“Never mind that.” said Lightning “Take Starla’s droid to the palace with you, we’ll keep in touch through it.”

Krysta agreed.

Starla got on her control helmet which allowed her to see, hear and speak through the droid.

“Ready, honey?” asked Lightning.

“I’m ready.” said both Starla and her droid at the same time. Lightning and Krysta both felt a little stunned seeing both Starlas do that. Nevertheless, Krysta warped away with Starla’s droid in tow.

Lightning then sat down next to his wife on the sofa, and activated his battle-visor. By tuning into the frequency wavelengths to the control helmet, he could see exactly what she saw through her screens.

Krysta and the Starla-droid arrived at the front of the royal palace where the rest of the team had already arrived thanks to some of Krysta’s other fairy soldiers.

Grand Ruler, Celestia and Luna were all there to greet them at the drawbridge of the palace. “Good, you’re all here.” said Grand Ruler.

“Well, not all of us.” said Pinkie “Lightning’s not really here.”

“It’s okay, Pinkie.” said Starla “He’s right here with me, he can see everything.”

Lightning could not answer them as he had no way to talk through the drone, but he could still see everything. “Strange…” he said “It’s like I’m actually there in New Canterlot.”

Suddenly, the sky grew dark as a big object passed over the path of the sunlight.

“That must be the spaceship.” said Buddy.

Rarity shuddered, “Oh, my it’s rather homely looking.”

Spike held his wife’s hand calming her, and everyone stood ready.

Suddenly, a whole swarm of Raiders appeared… teleported down from the alien ship. Then appeared Slash, Omnisha, Mako… and finally, the captain herself.

Everyone felt soft chills run down their spies as they glared at her.

Sienna snickered, “Now it… begins.”

To Be Continued…

(Promo)

In our next episode: Sienna confesses to her crimes and demands that the ponies surrender to her demands of what she came for, but when the ponies refuse and are unable to, things get really rough as the villains show just how powerful and skillful they are.

What does Sienna want from the ponies, and will the ponies be able to stand up against her and her evil crew?

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

(Next Episode: “The Hunter’s Prey: Part 2”

Episode 2: The Hunter's Prey: Part 2

“Previously on Stafleet Magic…”

The ponies had finished testing Starla’s new droid to make certain it was fit for action and just in time for when Sienna, a wicked galactic treasure hunter came to United Equestria, with nothing short but of a look of trouble to all.

EPISODE TWO

Everyone glared at her with sickening feelings inside of them.

At home, Starla held Lightning’s hand firmly, and he softly squeezed her hand back. “Are you scanning them?” Lightning whispered to Starla. His wife merely squeezed his hand once for “Yes” rather than speaking out loud through the droid.

The readouts showed these creatures, whoever they were could not be identified in the database, yet the other scans revealed them to be very strong in attack, defense, and had high speed as well.

As for the Raiders, they were artificial non-living creatures that could be destroyed.

Grand Ruler stepped forth, “I am Grand Ruler Celesto; Commander-in-Chief of Starfleet and co-ruler of this planet.

My wife: Queen Celestia.

My sister-in-law: Princess Luna.”

The alien captain scoffed softly, “Well, don’t you sound important.”

The majesties looked livid, and the team felt insulted for their majesties. “Why you…!” Rainbow grumbled softly, but Artie held her back.

Slash and Omnisha snickered.

“Who are you?” asked Celestia.

The captain stood tall and proud, “I’m Sienna; Intergalactic Treasure Hunter Extraordinaire.

I work for no one in particular; I’m just out for myself and my crew.

I specialize in rare and valuable items, and for nearly two-hundred years my crew and I have dedicated our lives to pillage the galaxy of its valuables.”

“In other words, you’re nothing but a band of thieving space pirates.” jeered Buddy.

Slash threateningly pointed his sword at him, “I’d watch what I say if I were you. We can get very nasty.”

Sienna held up her hand, telling him to hush!

“What is it that you want here?” asked Luna.

Sienna sighed irritably, “I just told you, I’m a Treasure Hunter. “Trea-sure… Hunt-er” But anyway, there’s something here on this planet that I seek…

…I wantThe Elements of Chaos.”

The three royal ones all stiffened, while the rest of the team all looked confused. “The Elements of Chaos?” asked Fluttershy. “What in the hoot is she talkin’ about?” added Applejack.

“It is but a myth.” said Celestia “Just as The Elements of Harmony were forged from The Light of Purity, the left over dark energy created their evil counter parts.”

“But as was said, it is merely a myth, for no such objects exist.” said Luna.

“Wrong…!” snapped Sienna “It is no myth. The Elements of Chaos are real, and they are hidden somewhere here on this planet.”

“And just how do you know of this,
And that your mind isn’t a miss?” asked Rhymey.

Sienna reached in from under her armor, “…Because I havethis.”And she held up the pendant of the severed alicorn horn she wore round her neck.

Celestia took one look at that pendant, and gasped! Her eyes widened greatly. “That… it can’t be…!”

“Celestia!” cried Grand Ruler. “Sister… what is it?” asked Luna. She didn’t know who the horn belonged to, neither did Grand Ruler, but they were still both surprised that Sienna had such a thing.

“What is it?” asked Dyno. “Please tell us.” said Myte.

Celestia felt her insides quaking with disbelief, but there was no denying it, “That is a piece of horn of… of…” she paused, “…Queen Galaxia… my mother!”

Luna gasped in shock.

“What?” snapped Grand Ruler, and all the team stood puzzled and shocked out of their minds.

“But… but that is impossible!” cried Luna “I was told Mother had died while I was but an infant!”

Celestia almost felt tears coming to her eyes, for she was only no more than two years old when she last saw her mother over one-thousand years ago, and she remembered her mother’s appearance anywhere.

Sienna explained, “I found this a while back while we were raiding another planet, and everyone knows how rare and valuable the horn of a unicorn or alicorn is.”

Omnisha then stepped forth waving her hand over her crystal-ball, “I have the ability look into souls, and see into the past present and imminent future, with the help of special items, and this horn fragment confirms the story.”

Sinnea then touched the horn piece to the crystal-ball. A ray of light then shone from the ball showing a still image of Queen Galaxia, and what a sight she was to behold

She looked like a much larger version of Celestia. Her coat was white that faded into soft brown at the edges. Her mane and tail were two-toned-- peach at the starting halves, and purple at the ends-- which shimmered with glittering sparkles.

The team was just speechless! What a goddess!

“Oh, my…!” Celesto said so softly. This was the very first time he had ever seen any image of his mother-in-law, as well as Luna seeing her mother for the very first time as was too young to remember her face, but Celestia… her tears were falling now, but she didn’t cry. Her anger was starting to catch up feeling all this was an insult to her mother, “You are lying…! I don’t believe you!”

“But it’s true…” sneered Omnisha “See for yourself.” and surely enough the images shown Galaxia creating the Elements of Harmony from The Light of Purity-- a cosmic force induced through sunlight and combined with the energy the six pure elements…

Magic, Generosity, Kindness, Laughter, Loyalty and Honesty… but just as was promised, the Elements of Chaos were created by accident from the leftover, unused dark energy. Each one representing the exact opposite of the forces of harmony…

Normality, Selfishness, Hatred, Sadness, Treachery, and Deceit…!

There was a great burst from The Elements of Chaos as something dreadful seemed to occur…

…but those were all the images that could be viewed from the horn piece, like only holding one piece of a jigsaw puzzle.

Lightning and Starla saw everything through the droid’s eyes, “Galloping Galaxies!” cried Lightning. “It’s almost unreal!” said Starla.

Sienna and her team heard that, “Oh, it’s as real as real can be.” said Slash “With those elements in our possession, we’ll become invincible, and no one in the entire universe will stand up to us.

Sienna nodded and she glared at Celestia, “You are Glaaxia’s eldest daughter. Therefore, I believe you know where the elements are hidden.”

“That’s right!” snapped Mako “Now hand them over and make it snappy!”

Celestia clenched her fists tightly “I don’t know where these elements are hidden, and even if I did I would never hand them over to the likes of you!”

Sienna was starting to lose patience, “You’re lying.”

“No, Captain… she isn’t.” said Omnisha. She was using her power to read Celestia’s mind, “She really doesn’t know where they are. We will get nothing from her.”

Sienna growled.

Lightning had seen enough and felt this would get really ugly. “I’ve got to get over there!” he said as he removed his visor. “I’ll have some guards come here to look after you.”

Starla, more than understanding, agreed, and they pecked each other goodbye.

As Lightning headed out the door, he instructed two guards, “Watch over my wife, and don’t let anything happen to her.”

“Yes sir!”replied the guards.

Lightning nodded, and then flew up into the sky, and rocketed off for New Canterlot.

Back at the palace ground Sienna’s patience had run out.

“Well, I guess that means we go to Plan B after all!” hissed Slash.

“What’s Plan-B?” asked Grand Ruler.

Sienna glared at him deeply, “Since you cannot give us The Elements of Chaos, I’ll simply have to seek them out myself, even if it means breaking this planet up… bit-by-bit!”

Starla-droid stepped forth, “We’ve heard enough out of you!” she thundered. The team all agreed, and then Grand Ruler whistled loudly for guards and other fighters to come forth.

Sienna and her team were completely surrounded.

“I give you this one, chance!” sneered Grand Ruler “Surrender, or face the consequences!”

Sienna bent down to her brother, “I want you to go back to the ship. This is going to get dangerous.”

“Okay Sis.” and Mako and a few of the raiders teleported off and was gone.

This gave away that she was going to get rough, so the friends all agreed, and transformed.

“STARFLEET MAGIC!!”

“HARMONY HOUR, FRIENDSHIP POWER!!”

“Dragon Power!”

Celestia and Luna touched the cutiemark symbols on the fronts of their garbs, and changed into their warrior outfits.

“ATTACK!!” shouted Grand Ruler and all the fighters rushed forth, but the second they did, Sienna, and her two minions leapt upward.

“Whoa! She’s fast!” exclaimed Rainbow.

“Where did she go?” asked Artie, and that’s when a swarm of laser blasts fired at them from above. Sparks explosions flew everywhere.

“Up there!” cried Spike, pointed up a tall, tall tree where the three villains stood. Sienna blew onto the tip of her ray-gun, “You don’t rob the galaxy of its riches without being a skilled fighter. You should’ve known that.” She the signaled for the Raiders to attack, and her army rushed forth.

The Equestrians and the other Starfleet fighters agreed to take down the raiders, while the space ponies and their majesties attacked Sienna and her crew.

“Let’s party!” shouted Pinkie, and she leapt up and over, stomping on the head of the Raiders.

“Coming through!” hollered Rainbow and she flew right through a gaggle of them, knocking them down like a bail of bowling pins

Krysta flew along, and though she was small, being as strong as three-thousand times her own weight, she flew straight at the evil creatures with the strength of a rhino.

SMASH!!

BOOT!!

POW!!

She even managed to outwit several more as they charged at her at once. Due to her small size, she was able to easily avoid them as they all jumped at her and ended up smashing into each other.

“Don’t you know a small fairy always wins against a gaggle of big blundering bozos?” she teased.

“These guys aren’t nearly so tough.” said Spike as he slashed the creatures down with his sword.

The remaining Raiders decided to step up their game, and held out swords and small pirate cannons.

“Uh, oh…!” cried Fluttershy, “I think you spoke too soon!” added Applejack.

The Gun Raiders fired shots from their cannons, forcing the fighters to leap up high into air and flutter, this helped to distract them and the others so that the other fighters below could rush in and attack.

The other Starfleet fighters knocked the swords and guns away from the Raiders, and the fighters with horns blasted the evil creatures with beams of magic, hitting the Raiders hard and vaporizing them into black dust.

“Blast ‘em!” shouted Buddy, and, multiple shots from all their horns were fired, but Sienna and Slash repelled and deflected every blast with their swords.

“Now try this…!” shouted Slash and he unleashed a rain of blasts from the tip of his blade.

The Twins held their hands together,“BOOM-BOOM ROCKETS!!”and unleashed their rockets to intercept some of the blasts and make big clouds of smoke.

“Where are they?” grumbled Sienna.

Omnisha shut her eyes tightly, placing her hand over her crystal ball, “Get ready to jump…

…NOW!!” and the trio jumped away a split second before a whole salvo of magical blasts hit them. The tree was roasted to bits, but the villains were safe.

“I don’t believe this,
Every shot was a miss!” growled Rhymey.

Omnisha snickered, “No, duh! I told you, I can see into the imminent future. I can tell every move you’ll make before you make it!”

The team all growled in frustration, “Now what do you say we step this up a little.” said Slash, “Captain… may I?”

“You may.” agreed Sienna.

Slash nodded and pulled off one of those gem-capsules from his belt.

“What is he doing?” wondered Luna.

“Jema-Nite Crusher, I summon you!” Slash declared as he threw the capsule, and unleashed a huge hulking monster, three times the size of the ponies. Its skin was all shiny, almost like real diamonds and gems, but its muscles were huge and pulsating.

“What is that?!” cried Celestia.

“A Jema-Nite!” said Grand Ruler “I’ve seen these before in my travels through space; they’re artificially created creatures, forged from gems and infused with deadly magic to bring them to life. They may not look like much, but they really are strong and tough.”

“Isn’t that nice; you all got your Jema-Nite lesson for the day.” mocked Sienna.

The team felt annoyed with her sneering, and the three royal alicorns tried to blast her again, but just like before, Omnisha predicted this allowing the trio to zip out of the way to safety.

“Where’d they go?” snapped Grand Ruler.

“Never mind that now.” said Luna, and she hinted at the monster which was snarling and growling at everyone.

At home, Starla cracked her knuckles and held her droid’s controller. “It’s go time!”

Her droid stood poised and ready, and the other space ponies stood near her.

The monster roared and charged at them all. It was surprisingly fast for a big bulky creature. It aimed a strong punch at the ponies, and they all jumped up over it and then Starla sprinted back and kicked it hard in the chest sending it skidding backward a bit.

“LEAF SWARM!”

“DRILL QUILL!”

Buddy and Rhymey unleashed a barrage of razor-leafs and sharp quills at the creature, stunning it softly, but hardly doing much damage.

“We need stronger attacks!” shouted Buddy.

The others all agreed, and they got out their weapons.

“STAR BOW”

“VINE WHIP”

“SUPER STAFF”

“WARD SWORD”

Dyno and Myte didn’t have any handheld weapons, and still felt no need for any as their fire powers were good enough.

The ponies all charged forth, but were suddenly intercepted by powerful blasts that hit them from above. It was Sienna and her crewmates, standing up on a rooftop. “Did you forget about us?” Sienna teased.

The ponies growled, but the three royal alicorns fluttered up to where the villains. “But we didn’t!” sneered Grand Ruler.

“Ha!” snapped Sienna “You think we’re scared of you? Remember, we have the advantage.”

Omnisha snickered as she rubbed her Crystal Ball, “I’ll be able to determine anything you try.”

Grand Ruler looked at the ladies, and they each blinked once at him, and stood their grounds.

“Let’s get ‘em!” thundered Slash, and he and his comrades leap forth, attacking and striking the ponies hard and their majesties made no attempt to raise any defenses or move. They just stood there taking the punishment as sparks flew all over them with each hit.

The Equestrians were still fighting with the Raiders, and Pinkie looked up “No! We’ve got help them!”

Rainbow tried to fly up to help their majesties, but she was ambushed by more Raiders that gang up on her and held her down.

Rarity tried to use her magic to telekinetically hold each raider in place, but the Raiders armor blocked out such powers; they couldn’t be held down that easily.

“That does it!” snarled Spike, and smoke was seeping through his nostrils and his mouth. “Stand back!” he shouted, and his friends managed to clear the way as Spike glared at the gaggle of raiders,“DRAGON FLARE!”and he unleashed a huge wave of fire roasting the Raiders to ashes and clearing the way.

“YEE-HAW..! Great one, Spike.” hollered Applejack.

“Oh, no!” cried Fluttershy, and she pointed up to the rooftop where the three royal alicorns lay flat after enduring so much punishment from the villain trio.

“No!” groaned Rarity.

The space ponies could see from the corner of their eye, but they were far too busy dealing with the monster to show much concern yet.

Starla pounded her controls at home…

“STARLIGHT ARROW”and her droid launched a powerful arrow at Crusher, but the monster just stuck out his huge arms and blocked the around in his huge hands.

“A’RGH!” growled Starla.

The monster than slammed his huge hands into the ground making it shake, and knocking everyone off their feet.

“Let’s try and hit him from behind.” said Artie.

“Right!” agreed Starla “Team division!”

She, Buddy and Artie stayed up front.

“Hands together!” shouted Buddy as he flicked his whip and lassoed the monster’s huge arms together. “Go, guys!”

Starla and Artie leapt up high.

“STAR SHOWER”

“PAINT BOMB”

The two attacks collided in the monster’s front, hardly damaging him, but it gave the other three ponies their chance to come in from behind.

“Ready?” asked Dyno.

“Let’s fire up.” replied Myte.

“BOOM-BOOM FIREBALLS”

The flames struck the creature hard in its back, and gave Rhymey the chance to leap in with his sword. He cut, slashed and thrashed at the monster hard making showers of sparks fly.

“If they never learn,
They’ll feel the burn!” Rhymey teased.

The villains saw this, and Slash couldn’t believe his eyes. “Not many are able to stand up to our forces.”

“Never mind that.” hissed Sienna, and she moved in towards the royal alicorns, still lying flat on the roof. She then reached for her sword ready to finish them off as her first victims of her hunt.

Suddenly, the alicorns bolted upright onto their feet, smirking cockily at the villains.

“What?!” snapped Sienna.

“Impossible!” growled Slash.

Celestia snickered “You didn’t think you could beat us that easily, did you?”

Grand Ruler snuffed “We let you attack us on purpose, and now we’ve studied you. The sound of your breathing will give away your own moves to us.”

“I think you’re bluffing!” sneered Slash, and he lunged forth to attack while calling back to Omnisha “What are they going to do?” Unfortunately, reading breath was much faster than mindreading, and Omnisha couldn’t predict in time what would happen.

Slash thrust his sword at Grand Ruler, and he grabbed the blade, clasping it between his hands safely, and allowing Celestia and Luna to punch and kick him hard and send him hurling into Sienna, knocking her down. “Get off me!” she bellowed.

The three alicorns then charged at the villains, but zipped off at the last second.

“Two can play at this game!” sneered Sienna, and she zipped as well, traveling at the same speed as the ponies. Slash and Omnisha did the same, making it three for three.

“Where are you?” Slash growled as he search and sprinted all around in his rush, when suddenly, “Here I am…” called Luna. Slash sprinted right at her to slash her, but all he slashed at was this air…! Luna had sprinted out of the way just in time, and Celestia came and kicked him hard in the side.

“Got’cha!” she teased, but then she zapped at by Sienna’s ray-gun, “Now I’ve got you!” she hollered, and she charged right for her, only for Grand Ruler zip in front of her and punch her hard in the gut sending her crashing into Omnisha, and causing her to drop her Crystal Ball off the roof and down to the ground.

“My crystal ball!” she cried. “I’ve got to get it!” and she was about to leap off the roof, when suddenly,“UNIFORCE!!”a blast of the might power struck the crystal-ball and shattered it to nothingness, much to Omnisha’s horror.

“Lightning!” cried Grand Ruler.

All the other friends saw him and smiled, glad he made it.

“I always did love sneak-up attacks.” Lightning said with a smirk.

Starla-Droid smiled at him, as his wife was smiling at him form back home. “I think it’s time we crushed this crusher!”

The others all agreed, and everyone allowed Starla to have the honor, to test out her droid’s finisher.

“Engaging finisher move!” said Starla, and she rapidity and rapidly pressed a single button on her controller to build up the energy for the droid’s attack,“GALACTIC PROJECTILE!”

The attack was fired, and struck Crusher hard. The monster roared and screeched as it sparked and flared up before falling over and exploding into a pile of dust, and all that was left behind was its capsule, resting on the dust, which then shattered into bits with the monster’s destruction.

“My Jema-Nite!” cried Slash, but the loss of his monster was the least of his worries…!

The three villains were cornered, surrounded on the roof by their majesties and Lightning.

While up on Sienna’s ship, Mako saw everything on the monitors. “No! Sis!” he cried “Quick! Activate the transport beam!”

The Raiders agreed and quickly dashed for their consoles.

Grand Ruler and the others prepared to capture the villains, declaring “You are under arrest for terrorism, genocide, and murder of a Starfleet officer!”

Then, just as they all shot their powers, a beam of light shot down from above, encircling the villains and shielding them from the powers.

“What?!” snapped Grand Ruler.

“A transport beam!” cried Celestia.

Lightning punched, kicked and zapped at the light, but that light was more like a tube of energy-- a force-field-- and attacking it was no use. It was almost like trying to punch through a strange alloy.

The villains got up snickering as they were carried off, back up to the ship. “Know this, Starfleet:” thundered Sienna “You’ve made rather a bad enemy of me today, but I’ll be back to strike again and I will not rest until The Elements of Chaos are mine!!”

Pinkie could only childishly blow a raspberry at her, but Sienna and her comrades were gone.

Lightning clenched his fists angrily, “I guess we all know what this means.” And everyone else agreed; the planet was plunged into another war against a new enemy.

When the villains got back to the ship, Sienna hugged her little brother, “Good thinking, Mako. You saved us all form what could’ve been a horrible fate.”

“Hey, I couldn’t bear if I lost you Sienna.” said Mako. He really meant it, the way he looked at his sister almost tearfully. “Ever since our parents died… you were… all I had!”

Sienna felt a little sore inside remembering all that as well, and she hugged her brother again tightly.

Slash merely scoffed, “Sorry to break up the mush, Captain, but what are we supposed to do now? These creeps aren’t like other forces that stood up to us before.”

Omnisha was just as furious over the loss of her crystal ball. “It was a new model too.” She grumbled as she polished up an old one she hadn’t uses in decades, “This old one will have to do, but it has less power than my other one did. I won’t be able to predict imminent events now. All I can do sense if whether or not we’re closer to finding The Elements.”

Sienna pondered deeply and deduced, “Perhaps it would be nice to have some worthy adversaries to clash with.”

Her crew agreed with her. So far, in their many raids and treasure hunts throughout the cosmos, most races they fought or stole from were weak and spineless, and those that did put up fights didn’t last very long and always met with defeat shortly after.

“Yes…” hissed Sienna “We’ve lost today, but we learned from this, and we’ll use this to help in the hunt for The Elements of Chaos.”

She looked out the windows of the ship and down at the planet, “They’re hidden down there somewhere, and I won’t rest until I find them!”

She snickered softly and wickedly.

(Promo)

In our next episode: While making a special delivery from the farms, The Cutie Mark Crusaders discover a mysterious cavern and end up inadvertently unleash evil bat-like creatures whom threaten to infect all of United Equestria, and transform all ponies into evil bat-like hybrids.

Is United Equestria doomed to fall victim to these evil creatures, and what do they want from ponies?

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

(Next Episode: “Going Batty”)

Episode 3: Going Batty

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

Episode 4: Northern Fights

EPISODE FOUR

One night, Starla was star-gazing through her telescope to help with her star-maps.

Lightning was away attending a service on another planet, the planet where Captain Magnus and his team had manned the Starfleet outpost there, and they were having a little service funeral for the loss of Lieutenant Sephy.

Starla didn’t go with him, because she was in no condition for space-flight, and she didn’t send her droid with him either as it was best to conserve its power only for battles and duty.

Krysta was keeping her company and helping look after her upon Lightning’s request.

Starla then spotted Sienna’s ship way out beyond the distance of the moon, and her features hardened. “Every time I look at that ship or even think of it, it really boils me.”

“I know how you feel.” said Krysta “It makes me wonder just how many horrible things those creeps have done to so many.”

Suddenly, the door the house opened and Lightning came in. “I’m home.” he called softly.

“Hi, hon…” said Starla.

“Hi Lightning.” added Krysta.

Lightning then tapped his energizer donning changing from his commander’s uniform to his casual wear. Then he kissed his wife tenderly. She looked up at him lovingly,

“Thanks for staying her, Krysta.” Lightning said.

Krysta smiled and nodded, “What are friends for.”

Starla then asked, “How was the service?”

“It was quiet.” replied Lightning “Captain Magnus is pretty down about this. Personally, I can’t blame him. I offered him time off if he wanted, but he promised to be brave and continue his duties.“Sephy would want me to.”he told me.”

The girls felt that was brave and noble, but at the same time they felt really bad for Magnus. Krysta felt more livid at Sienna than ever. “I ought to blow up her ship and vaporize the remains!”

“Easy, Krysta…” said Starla “Much as many of us share your outrage; destroying Sienna won’t bring Sephy back.”

“Besides, it won’t be that easy anyway.” Lightning cut in, and he held out a file he brought home with him. “I went over reports from Magnus’ unit; that ship’s coating is composed of a highly unique alloy; unlike anything we’ve ever known before. Laser-fire and magic blasts just deflect right off of it. An exterior assault would be useless.

We’re going to do all we can to try to get at those creeps, but for now we need to be on-guard for any assaults that Sienna may throw at us.”

The girls agreed, and they and Lightning wondered what Sienna was up to now.

Onboard Sienna’s massive ship, Slash was complaining “Why don’t we just use the lasers and blast that planet to bits?”

“Use your head, Slash!” sneered Sienna “If we do that, we might destroy The Elements of Chaos.

Slash growled, and Omnisha felt more outraged than ever for now having her powers severely limited since losing her good crystal-ball and switching to her old one, “Even I can’t tell how we expect to find The Elements.” she grumbled “We have no map, no clues, and even that twat, Celestia doesn’t know where they rest.”

Sienna sat in her chair in the center of the bridge and looked mad enough to shoot down The Raiders, but Mako calmed her. “Take it easy, Sis. We’ll find them; we always find what we want.”

Sienna calmed herself and smiled at her brother, “You’re right, Mako. We will find them, and we will eliminate anyone that dares to get in our way.”

*Mykan’s POV*

On a mountain in The New Frozen North, I was all bundled up in warm clothes and winter-wear, and climbing the side of a mountain with Professor Brain.

He was on one of his One-Day expeditions. Today he was looking for crystaling ice for one of his experiments, and I was invited to participate with him. I was eager to find a few ores and stuff myself to continue my own research and observations of United Equestria.

Thanks to my teleporter, we were able to set up out campsite easily, and the professor didn’t do half bad for a pony his age.

“Again, I can’t thank you enough for letting me come with you, Professor.” I said to him

“Oh, really, think nothing of it, Mykan.” replied Brain “I should have thought a chap of the scientific world like you would leap at the chance.”

“Well, you’re right about that.” I said “The more I study about this world it’ll make it all the better, so maybe one day humans from my world and ponies from this world can co-exist together.

Anyway, let’s get started.”

“Oh, yes, of course.” said Brain. He checked the map and his list of notes, “Ah, satisfactory; most satisfactory. The, eh… formation I believe is somewhere near the mountaintop.”

With that settled, we flew off for the top of the mountain. The weather was cold, but rather clear without much of a snowfall, and on the way up the mountain I could see The New Crystal Empire in the distance.

I remembered there was some big event going on there, about Cadance and Shining Armor donating royal crown jewels to the museum…

…but now was not the time for me to think about that.

*POV Ends*

At the Crystal Palace, Lightning and Starla’s Droid had been assigned to help Cadance and Shining Armor with their jewel moving, but also to give them a chance to visit with them and with Flurry Heart.

Krysta stayed at home to keep Starla herself company, and on Lightning’s request.

Cadance and Shining Armor had often let Lightning and Starla help watch over the eight-month old infant to help them prepare for the arrival of their own baby.

Flurry Heart still wore the anti-magic manacle around her horn so she couldn’t accidently cast any magic, and her wings still had the magic patch which blocked any lift so she wouldn’t be able to fly either. These were all careful precautions to help keep the child out of trouble or causing any.

Lightning had just helped change Flurry’s diaper, and he had gotten quite skilled at it by this point-- throwing out the used diaper, powdering and wiping the private spots with a cloth, and putting on the fresh diaper.”

“Aw, there ya go, wittle Flurry.” Lightning cooed at her, and the baby giggled and grabbed his finger playfully.

Cadance smiled, “Thank you, Lightning.” she said, pretending to be her daughter’s voice.

Starla and Shining Armor sighed heavenly at the happy sight. “You guys are going to be great parents.” said Shining Armor.

“Well, not for a few more weeks at least.” said Starla, “Even then I still won’t be able to get back into action.”

“Speaking of action…” said Cadance “How’s the research going into The Elements of Chaos?”

“Not very well.” replied Lightning “We’ve had all our best Equestrian Historians looking into the ancient histories, but they haven’t been able to find a thing. There’s no record of The Elements anywhere.”

Starla nodded and said, “We can’t even try scanning for their energies with our equipment. We don’t know what kind of energy to seek out or if it’s even detectible; a search would be useless.”

The friends all sighed. They all knew that the longer The Elements of Chaos could not be uncovered, the more it meant the planet would suffer from Sienna’s wrath.

Still, this didn’t stop normal life from continuing.

Cadance and Shining Armor showed their friends the set of jewels they were going to donate to the village museum.

“Wow…!”they exclaimed softly.

There were all kinds of jewels, scepters, necklaces, and even an old crown that belonged to Cadance when she was smaller, after she had just been coordinated as a princess, but the crown was too small for her head now, and definitely too big for Flurry’s little head.

“Hmm, I wonder…” Cadance said, and she took the crown and placed on the droid’s head. It was a perfect fit. Then she held up a small jewel-encrusted mirror. “What do you think, Starla?”

Starla really liked how the crowned looked, but she could only answer, “I think it would look much better on my actual head than my droid’s.”

The others all chuckled, but Lightning gawked at the droid lovingly saying, “I think it would look just as beautiful on you too.”

The droid smiled…

…and back at home, Starla blushed-- naturally her droid couldn’t do that.

Cadance took the crown back, and Lightning spotted something unusual. A black jeweled pendant. “What’s this?”

“Ooh, careful with that one.” said Shining Armor “That’s an heirloom that’s been passed down in my family for many generations.

It’s handed down from mother to daughter, and Twilight was going to accept it too.” he stopped, and began to look a little sad, remembering his late sister. The others all felt the same, still missing Twilight dearly; a typical moment of sadness and remembrance they all had from time-to-time, to show how much they all really loved Twilight and remembered her well.

Flurry just casually sucked on her rattle, innocently not understanding a thing.

Once the moment of sadness passed for the adults, Cadance said, “We’re donating it to the museum as a memorial for Twilight.”

Lightning and Starla felt that was sweet.

With all that settled, it was time to load up the crates and sacks and prepare for the small journey through town so that everyone who lived there could see the great event happening.

Little did any of them realize that they were being watched through Omnisha’s crystal-ball. The villains all seemed mesmerized by the sight of the black jewel.

“Could that be an Element of Chaos?” asked Sienna.

“It is difficult to say.” replied Omnisha “I cannot detect any power surges from it, at least not from here.”

Mako was confused, “But I thought The Elements were supposed to be hidden on the planet.”

Sienna loved how her brother seemed so innocent when it came to seeking treasures. “It’s possible, Mako, that they could have resurfaced. A-thousand years is a long time.”

Slash stepped forth, “Captain Sienna, may I--”

“Yes…” Sienna cut in, “Go down there and investigate this, and if Starfleet interferes, you know what to do.”

“Yes, Captain.” replied Slash and he walked off clutching his sword, “That jewel is as good as confiscated.”

*Mykan’s POV*

The Professor and I were chopping away at the mountainside near the top. It was almost difficult to determine what was a precious stone or just chunks of ice, but nothing that could deceive us and our scientific reasoning-- ice broke easily and wasn’t as shiny.

We had already gathered a large bag of solid rock obtained from deep digging. Brain felt most satisfied, “I believe that shall do…” he said “We should head back to our camp setup.”

“Right, I’ll pack up the tools.” I said.

Brain nodded and fluttered his wings, heading back to camp with the bag of stones we had excavated.

As I gathered up all the digging tools, one of the picks was lodged deep in the ice. I pulled and pulled groaning, “Come on… I got’cha!” Then in one swift yank, I pulled the pick free, unearthing several rocks of ice as well… and falling on my bottom as well. “Ohh…!” I groaned.

Then, I looked back at the spot where I pulled out the pick and saw something unusual buried deep within the ice.

“What the…?”

I looked closer, and began to brush away the wall of snow that covered the icy wall revealing more and more of what was buried within the solid layers of ice.

I just stood there for a few moments gawking at what I had just discovered, and then I turned and shouted down the mountain, “PROFESSOR…!! GET UP HERE FAST!!”

My voice seemed to echo all along the entire mountain area!

*POV Ends*

Meanwhile…

The entire Crystal town was cheering and calling out as the royal carriage passed through town on its way to the nearby museum.

Cadance and Shining Armor rode in the carriage with Flurry Heart, while Lightning and Starla’s droid headed the guard escorts.

With so many eyes fixated on the coach, any petty attempts to try and rob it would be foolish.

Once they reached the museum, the royal couple were greeted by the museum curators and asked to please give a speech to the crowds before the jewels would be unloaded.

Cadance and Shining Armor took the stand while Lightning looked after Flurry.

“This donation is out of the kindness of our hearts.” Cadance announced, “We hope that you will all enjoy the displays of the crown jewels, and especially this...” she held up a single see-through box showing the black jewel, which the crowds awed at.

“This jewel…” Shining Armor said “Has great sentimental value to my family, and I wish for all of you to have a chance to see and enjoy it as well.”

He didn’t announce the ties to Twilight about the jewel to the crowd, not wanting to make everyone feel sad at such a proud moment.

However, Slash was hiding nearby around the corner where no one could see him. Behind him stood a whole swarm of armed Raiders, “Get ready to move out.” he instructed to them. The Raiders all nodded in compliance.

“I need to distract the guards to lure them away from the jewels, and I have just the thing.” he reached down to his belt and pulled off a jema-ite capsule.

When the crowds started to cheer loudly as the jewels were being hauled into the museum… that was his chance…!

“Jema-Nite Barox, I summon you!”

He threw the capsule unleashing the creature. It looked rather like a fiendish blue beast, with yellow gems like claws and fangs, and it growled fiercely. “Go!” commanded Slash.

The crates and sacks of jewels were nearly all loaded into the museum. Shining Armor and Cadance saved the black jewel for last as it was that special to them.

“Please take extra care of this.” said Cadance to the movers.

Shining Armor could barely contain himself, “If anything happens to that jewel, I could just… scream.”

That’s when other ponies in the crowd really did scream, and Lightning and Starla saw why. “A Jema-Nite!” cried Lightning.

Starla gasped at home.

“What is it?” asked Krysta.

“I’m scanning it now.” said Starla, and the readout from her droid’s visor showed that Barox wasn’t high on defense, but what it lacked there it made up for in speed, stealth and strength! Its claws were strong enough to slice through steel, and could launch its crystal-nails like missiles that could explode on impact.

“Well, that’s good to know… I think.” said Lightning.

He handed Flurry Heart back to Cadance, “Get her somewhere safe.”

“Right…!” Cadance agreed, and she dashed off holding the baby in her arms, leaving the jewel in its casing on the podium.

The monster was already running amuck, and Shining Armor ordered some of the guards to help get the civilians to safety.

The guards rushed in to help the civilians.

Lightning saw this as his chance to transform.

“Starfleet Magic!”

Shining Armor decided to help out too and got out his insect-mask, “Mask of Saber!” clapping it onto his face and transforming into General Saber. “Let’s take this creep!” he snarled.

“Right… Go!” shouted Lightning, and he and his comrades leapt over to Barox.

“Rock and roll, baby…!” Starla said as she pounded on the remote-control, making her droid rush forth.

“Go get ‘em!” cheered Krysta. Much as she wanted to fly off and join the fight herself, she stayed with Starla as she was told to.

Lightning rushed forth to punch the evil creature, but Barox zipped off and then tried to come in by surprise to slash him from the side, but Lightning zipped off, landing behind him and kicked the monster hard in the back.

Barox growled angrily and stuck out his claws, firing his gem missile.

“Look out!” cried Starla, and the team all dodged just in time avoiding the explosions.

“I think it’s time we got serious.” said Saber, and he got out his sword and his sickle-and-chain.

“STAR BOW”shouted Starla.

“Go!” said Lightning.

While he and the others fought the monsters, the civilians were already escorted to safety by the guards, leaving the area empty and more wide open; exactly what Slash had been waiting for. “Go, Raiders!” he commanded.

The Raiders began to flood out from around the bend, and began to move towards the museum steps where the jewel was.

Cadance had just finished securing Flurry in the royal carriage and instructed the last of the guards to watch over her, when she turned round and saw the evil creatures. “Raiders!” she cried out.

The others turned and saw the Raiders heading for the jewel.

“My family’s jewel…!” Saber cried, but in his distraction, Barox slashed at him hard making sparks fly.

“Saber!” cried Lightning, and he angrily turned to face the monster just as it came at him swinging its claws, which Lightning caught in his arms, engaging in a huge struggle.

The Raiders were moving closer towards the jewel, and there were hardly any guards left to take them on.

“STARLIGHT ARROW”shouted Starla, and she fired her arrows at the Raiders, striking a few of them hard, but many more of them were left.

“Starla, go take them. We’ll handle this creep.” said Lightning.

Starla nodded and rushed forth, sheathing her bow. “Alright, you big brutes…!” she thundered as furiously began to punch, kick and flip the creeps about.

Cadance decided to help out too and got out her Ninja Medalion pendant. “Go, Go Ninja!” and in a bright flash of light, she became The Silent Ninja, and leapt in to help Starla take out the Raiders.

“Thanks a bunch.” Starla called to her, and Cadance, unable to answer vocally, simply gave her a high-thumb.

As the ladies continued to battle with the Raiders, Slash leapt out from the shadows, laughing wickedly as he sprinted over to the jewel.

“Look… Slash!!” shouted Lightning.

“He’s got the jewel!” cried Saber.

Slash held the case in his hand and prepared to slash it with his sword to break it open.

“Get him!” shouted Lightning, but he and Saber were held back by the monster, which fired his missiles at them again, striking them hard and knocking them over.

While Starla and Cadance managed to knock out the last of the Raiders, and charged at Slash, he simply fired beams from his sword, knocking them both back hard and they crashed along the ground.

“So much for them!” he jeered, and then he slashed the casing open to inspect the jewel more closely. He was excited at first, but as he looked at it more closely, he was able to angrily deduce, “Hey! This isn’t an Element of Chaos, it’s just a jewel!” his outrage suddenly faded, “No matter, I’m certain Sienna wouldn’t mind my taking it anyway.”

Hearing that made Saber and Cadance’s bloods rage,

“Oh, no you don’t!” snarled Saber, and he and Cadance lunged at him hard, forcing him to dodge their strikes with the jewel still in his hand, but he was still able to wield his sword in his other hand…!

He and Saber clashed weapons, swiftly, and Cadance punched and kicked at him, while Saber was still able to dodge them easily, and he slashed at Cadance hard, knocking her away.

“Cadance!” cried her husband, and then he was slashed hard too and sent skidding.

Starla and Lightning were both cornered by Barox and couldn’t get through it to get at Slash.

Slash could only laugh cockily as he held up the jewel, “Too bad, runts…!” but suddenly, someone swopped in by surprise and snatched the jewel from him, Mykan Stevens…!

*Mykan’s POV*

I floated up high thanks to my magic cape and taunted the nasty villain, “Tough luck, and pal!”

Slash was furious, “Why you impudent little…!” he leapt to hack at me, but suspecting he would, I already activated my teleporter, warp off just in time and causing Slash to miss and land back on the ground.

“What? Where’d he go?”

“Up here, Blade Boy…!” I called to him from the museum rooftop.

Slash growled and would have jumped for me again when the fighters came rushing in!

“PULSAR LASER”shouted Starla, and Cadance thrust her glowing fists forth creating her Ninja Shockwave.

KAPOW!! A big explosion, and while it missed Slash by several feet, the force of the blasts knocked him over. “I’m outta here!” he shouted, and he teleported back to Sienna’s ship.

With Slash gone, I motioned to the fighters, “Thanks guys…!”

Lightning nodded up and me, and then he turned to face Barox, “Now to put this creep on dust!”

The monster lunged forth, and Lightning zipped out of the way.

“STAR SHOWER”Starla hollered, unleashing her rai on stars all over the creature.

Barox roared and growled angrily, and then fired his gem missiles, but Saber dropped in and whirled his sickle swiftly in circles like a shield, blocking every blast.

Cadance and Lightning then rushed Barox from behind, and the creatures turned and tried to counter attack; slashing his claws from above, only for the two ponies to swerve and causing the creature to sink his huge claws into the ground, trapping him in place.

“Get him Lightning!” Starla called to him.

“Right!” her husband agreed, and he charged up as much of his power as he could,“UNIFORCE!!”and Saber helped him,"STRIDENT SHOCKWAVE"

He blasted the monster hard, blowing it into crystalized dust, and its crystal capsule fell to the ground and shattered away.

I leapt on the roof all giddy with joy cheering, “Yeah! Alright! Woo-hoo…!”

*POV Ends*

When Slash got back to Sienna, she wasn’t exactly too mad with him, but she was frustrated “So that wasn’t an Element of Chaos?”

“No, Captain, it was just an ordinary treasure.” replied Slash “I tried to bring it back to you, and--”

“Spare me the details.” snapped Sienna “We’re going to keep looking for those elements-- clear?”

Slash nodded “Yes, Captain. Crystal…”

After Slash had excused himself, Mako walked up to his sister, almost nervously. He hated it when she was upset like this, and often got scared when she acted low and hissing like that, but when Sienna looked down at him, her scowl faded into a slight and loving grin and she scooted over in her seat letting him climb up alongside her and snuggled into her arms, and she embraced him warmly…

…Much to Omnisha’s disgust.

“Oh, brother…!” she groaned softly. It was such an insult to her to see a big bad treasure hunter like Sienna getting all cuddly like that, but she knew that Sienna cared for Mako deeply, and wouldn’t dare protest.

*Mykan’s POV*

I handed Shining Armor the jewel back, and he was ever so grateful I saved it for him. “Mykan, I don’t know how to thank you enough.” he said to me.

I just smiled and shook my head, “Forget it. You guys already got Slash off my back. I couldn’t have done that myself.”

“How come you’re here anyway?” asked Lightning “We’re you supposed to be with Professor Brain in the mountains?”

Lightning suddenly reminded me of why I came to the Empire in such a hurry.

“You found a frozen body?!” Starla asked in astonishment.

I nodded, and invited them to come to the mountain to see for themselves.

Cadance and Shining Armor stayed to take care of Flurry Heart, as well as load the last of their jewels into the museum.

With that, Lightning and Starla stood close to me, and then I teleported us all back to the mountaintop where Professor Brain had spent the entire time examining the body.

Starla and Lightning could hardly believe their eyes.

It was the body of a normal four-legged pony; a greyish middle-aged unicorn with a white mustache, mane and tail. He wasn’t elderly. He was dressed in an old ancient knight’s garb and armor. His cutie mark was that of sword embedded in a castle like tower. He even carried a small sack on his back, which seemed to be bulging, indicating contents.

Lightning was more fascinated by his head, “He’s got a rare golden horn!” he exclaimed softly. All of us gazed in awe at that.

“You two have really stumbled onto something big here.” said Starla.

Brain and I were inclined to agree, and as we examined the body through the ice Professor Brain deduced, “Judging by his ancient-styled, and the… er… design of this clothing, I would estimate he had been frozen some over one-thousand years ago.”

“A thousand years?” Lightning pondered. He didn’t think he could believe it, ever since The Great War five years go, and when Equestria was destroyed and United Equestria was formed.

How the ice and the body remained in tack or was restored was a real mystery, but nothing really to think about now.

“Do you think he’s… still alive in all that?” I asked.

A long moment of silence followed, and Starla scanned through the ice at the body with her visor.

“Well…?” said Lightning.

Starla continued to scan, “…I don’t believe it!” she murmured “I’m getting vital signs; extremely weak, but… they’re there.”

“Good heavens…!” cried Brain.

Lightning had heard enough, “We must get this to New Canterlot at once!”

Everyone agreed, and with that, Lightning began to use the uniforce in very small streams to heat and melt the ice away.

“Steady on there, Lightning.” said Brain “His bones may be extremely fragile from being encased for so long.”

Keeping this in mind, Lightning merely cut through the ice so that the body could be removed safely from the mountainside.

Then I teleported the ice block and the gang to New Canterlot…

Once there, the lab ponies went positively ballistic with astonishment, and even their royal majesties were astounded.

The rest of the ice was melted away, and the body was placed in a tube of green liquid, which would help restore all vitals and hopefully revive the pony back to life again.

There was nothing much they could all do now but wait and hope for him to awaken.

“And to think, he was frozen all these ages.” said Grand Ruler.

“Yeah, but who exactly is he?” I asked.

Celestia observed the pony’s knight clothes, “There’s no mistaking it. He is an ancient Equestrian Guard. I recognize these garbs and armor anywhere from our ancient history books.”

Luna agreed, and added “Perhaps… he was a guard in the service of our mother?”

Everyone felt incredibly astonished, and Celestia… she felt a little strange inside.

Still, whatever or whoever all this was or meant, it would all have to wait for another time… at least until the pony woke up.

(Promo)

In our next episode: The Batlings strike again, turning more innocent ponies into bat like hybrids, and when Fluttershy tries to appeal to the bat’s gentleness, she, too gets infected, forcing her friends and Rhymey to battle her.

How can will the ponies be able to deal with the Batlings, and will Fluttershy be doomed to remain as their slave?

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

(Next Episode: “Flutterbat Alter-Nate”)

Author's Note

"Don't think you're in the clear, Cadance... you'll still get tortured."

Episode 5: Flutterbat Alter-Nate

EPISODE FIVE

Count Nightwing and his evil Batlings were still loose in New Ponyville, ever since they had been released from their prison.

Whenever a pony walked by, unsuspectedly, the bats would suddenly emerge from out of nowhere and bite them, turning them into pony-bat hybrids, and causing Starfleet to rush into action to heal them again.

Three pony civilians were infected this time; one Unicorn, one Pegasus, and a Space Alicorn-- having each been bitten by Nightwing and his bats earlier.

As a result, the three hybrids were going about and causing a panic to all the citizens around.

“You cannot escape us!” hissed the unicorn.

“This world belongs to us bats now.” added the Pegasus.

“Here we come!” shouted the Space Alicorn, and she and the others rushed forth, attacking more civilians, biting their necks and turning them into hybrids just like them.

By this point, there were now ten different pony-bat hybrids running amuck by the time Starfleet jumped into action.

Lightning, Starla’s droid, Artie, Rhymey, Fluttershy, Rarity and Spike all came in to the scene, all transformed.

“This is the fifth attack this week!” said Artie.

“Regardless, we have to save these ponies before they become worse.” said Fluttershy.

Lightning agreed, “Let’s go!”

The hybrids rushed forth to attack, but Spike took in a huge breath, “DRAGON FLARE” firing his flames at the ponies to hold them back.

“Careful, Spike.” cried Fluttershy “We don’t want to hurt them.”

“I wasn’t trying to.” protested Spike.

“Never mind that now.” snapped Artie, “We’ve got to hold those ponies down so we can heal them.”

“Right!” snapped Rarity “Come Fluttershy, we must transform into our Valkyria forms.”

Fluttershy only half heard her, as she really didn’t like the idea of fighting fellow ponies, even if they were under an evil spell.

“Fluttershy!” Rarity called, finally snapping her out of her trance, “Oh, sorry.”

The two stood together and shouted together,“VALKYRIA”, transforming into the Valkyries of Generosity and Kindness.

The infected ponies all snarled and hissed as they charged forth.

“STAR SHOWER”shouted Starla, and she bombarded the ponies with her rain of stars to stall them into stopping in their tracks.

Rhymey and Artie nodded at one-another, and used their magic to force all the ponies together into one big group.

“Time to get under wraps!” said Lightning, and he unleashed a wave of uniforce around the ponies, binding them all in a huge glowing band.

“Rarity, Fluttershy,
Let your magic fly.” Rhymey called to the Valkyries.

Rarity and Fluttershy drew out their magical swords, and set them to “Heal”. Then, joining the tips of the blades together, the magic began to glow as the girls shouted,“HARMONY BEAM”and unleashed the magic at the infected ponies, blasting the evil out of their bodies and reverting them all back to normal.

The ponies and Spike all cheered for joy at their success.

The ponies, all unharmed, awoke to their senses, hardly remembering much or even being bitten by the bats.

Suddenly, Nightwing appeared, or rather a holo-image of himself used from the magic of his amulet. “Starfleet…!” he thundered “While I may not know much of you, it is clear to me now that you are more than mere nuisance that intend to eradicate!”

The civilian ponies were all trembling at the sight of the evil creature, but the brave team stood together, glaring at him, and Lightning spoke, “Then why not show yourself and we’ll settle this for good.”

Nightwing looked livid, “I will not forget this, Starfleet!” he growled, “You will never stop me. I will continue to infect more ponies until once again the land is ruled by the bats as it was before!”

Rhymey scoffed,

“You can threaten us and all that,
But you’ll never succeed, you awful bat!”

The others all nodded fiercely in agreement, and with that the image of Nightwing vanished.

The civilians were all frightened out of their minds to realize what their land was suffering from now. “Please, nobody panic.” said Lightning “It’s not going to help things, and we’re going to do all we can to put an end to this plague.”

The ponies fears faded off just a little, knowing Starfleet would fight, and they did save them, but they were all still very worried on when and where the bats would strike next.

“Was anyone scanning the holo-magic?” asked Lightning. Starla, Artie and Rhymey nodded. They had been scanning the magic used hoping to trace a source of where to find Nightwing himself, but unfortunately, “The magic is identifiable, but we can’t trace it to its source.” said Starla.

Lightning sighed, “That’s just swell.”

Ever since being released from their prison, with the aid of Nightwing’s amulet, The Batlings had established a new dark cavern hideout. Wherever it was, thanks to Nightwing’s magic, it was hidden well so the ponies wouldn’t be able find it through simple searches or tech.

Still, the bats were not pleased that their victims had been healed once again because of Starfleet’s interference.

“A’RGH!” groaned Shade “How are we expected to conquer the land when those meddlers keep countering our every attempt?!”

“Quite simple, really.” hissed Nightwing.

Ebany turned to her count and asked, “You have a plan, my lord?”

Nightwing glared at her as if he had been insulted, but he spoke calmly, “Not only have I… but it’s been progressing ever since our escape.”

He softly touched his amulet, which was glowing softly, and he explained to his minions, “When I discovered this ancient item, long before we were sealed, I discovered its incredible ability to absorb energy obtained… and that, my followers, is how we will conquer this world.”

Ebany and Shade were still confused, and Nightwing explained,

“Whenever we infect those whom we bite, not only do we slowly turn them into one of us, but the amount of evil energy from the transformation amplifies my power, making me stronger than ever before.”

“Ah, I see now…” hissed Ebany “The more that we infect with our bite, the more power we can absorb.”

“And the more power we absorb…” cut in Shade “The easier it will be for us to infect the entire land, and even Starfleet will be helpless to stop us.”

Nightwing hissed deeply, “Precisely… Our plan continues.” He snickered nastily as his eyes glowed brightly in red.

After dropping Starla’s droid off at home, Lightning and the real Starla accompanied their friends to Rhymey’s café for a muffin and a shake.

Starla felt so relieved to finally be out of the house for the first time in a while, she almost guzzled her shake down the wrong pipe. “Easy, honey,” said Lightning “Remember what the doctor said; nice and soft.”

“Sorry, I just can’t help it.” said his wife “At least you get to go outside, even if it is for duty.”

“On the contrary…” said Rarity “I doubt very much than anyone will be wishing to go outside as much, what with those filthy, nasty flying rodents out there.” She shuddered in disgust “Ooh, just thinking of that gives me a nasty turn.”

“Um… actually, batsaren’trodents.” said Fluttershy.

Rarity didn’t seem to care much about the accuracy; the fact remained that with the bats roaming about and unable to be detected. All of New Ponvyville was now in even greater danger.

Ever since the bats had been released, photographs were taken of the paintings from that old cave and given to Artie for his expert analysis.

“How goes the research?” asked Lightning.

Artie reached into his art case that he brought with him, and pulled of the photos, and pastel replicas he had made of the paintings on small sheets of paper.

“Wow, wicked pics.” said Spike.

“Thanks,” replied Artie, but then he got on with his explanation, “We were right about these pictures telling a story-- how Count Nightwing tried to conquer Ponyville.”

He pointed to each picture, one-by-one “It depicts that after the bats were driven from their feeding ground, the bats tried mercilessly to reclaim their land but were ultimately driven off by the pony settlers.

However, Nightwing their leader, refused to give up; eventually finding the magic amulet he now wields and using its power to become stronger.”

The pictures then stopped, there were no more. “That’s all there is.” said Artie “Obviously; Nightwing and his goons were sealed up after that, but there’s no other painting to tell who sealed them up or how.”

The others all thought this amazing, and frightening at the same time.

“And obviously they haven’t changed at all
They are determined to takeover and make ponies fall.” said Rhymey.

“Well… it is understandable.” said Fluttershy “They were driven from their home, and I know I’d be upset if I were driven out of my homeland.”

“Does that mean you don’t like living in New Ponyville anymore?” asked Spike.

“Oh, no… No, no, no, I love it, but… well; I just can’t help but feel a little sorry for the bats.”

The others all thought it sweet of her, and in a way she was right, but Lightning cleared his throat, “Regardless of this, Nightwing’s actions are inexcusable, and it’s clear now that he intends to take over more than just the old bat grounds.

He said it himself: he plans to take over the entire planet and turn everyone into batlings. We cannot allow this.”

The others all agreed, even Fluttershy.

“The question still does remain,
What do we do about that batty pain?” asked Rhymey.

“At any time they could attack,
And will we be ready for fight back?”

Fluttershy thought it over, and though she felt maybe it wasn’t a good idea, “Maybe I can try…” she said “They’re still bats after all, and I’m good with animals. Maybe-- just maybe-- I could try talking to them.”

The others were met with a mixture of hesitations, not knowing if it was or wasn’t a good idea at all.

“Normally the enemies we face aren’t into being reasoned with.” said Starla “But she does have a good point.”

Even Lightning agreed, though he had his doubts, “Okay, Fluttershy, we’ll give you this chance.”

Fluttershy smiled.

“Um, I hate to rain parades here,” said Spike “But exactly how are we going to even find The Batlings? They come and go as they please.”

“Well… we’ll have to draw them out.” suggested Artie “Set a trap for them to get them in the open.”

“I think I know just the way.” said Fluttershy.

The others all wondered what she had in mind, and she didn’t show it until they got back to her and Rhymey’s place where she set out a few bushels of apples and oranges she had in stock for her other animals. “They’re Vampire Fruit Bats after all, so maybe they won’t be able to resist a snack of fruit.”

Many of her animal friends, including Angel, looked at the delicious fruit. Some of the bears were drooling, and Fluttershy couldn’t resist the cute little looks they gave her. “Alright, you can each have a piece, but that’s all. We need this fruit for bait.”

Angel smiled sweetly as he and his friends helped themselves, leaving plenty of fruit left.

Rhymey walked over to his wife and pecked her lovingly on the cheek, making her blush. “What was that for?” she asked shyly.

Rhymey chuckled and said,

“I just love the gentle and nice things you do,
It’s my way of showing it… and that I love you.”

The others all sighed at the couple, but suddenly Starla gasped and clutched her stomach, “Ooh, easy…”

Lightning almost leapt out of his uniform, “You okay?” he asked. “I’m fine.” replied his wife but “I think someone’s telling me to go home and rest.”

Lightning chuckled, and escorted her home, but promising to return in a bit, “You guys get the trap ready and standby.”

The others all agreed, though Rarity tried to protest, “What, I too?” she asked.

“Yes, you too.” said Artie “We all agreed on this idea, and we don’t want to take chances.”

Rarity knew she had to comply, but she was still disgusted by the fact they would be dealing with bats, and not just ordinary ones, but rather demonic hybrids, which to her felt ten times as worse.

Spike held his wife’s hand, “Don’t worry, I won’t let them get you.” he said honestly “If they lay so much as one scale on you, I’ll roast them to cinders.”

Rarity felt flattered and fluttered her eyes playfully at him.

Artie thought it was cute all three couples were showing so much care, but he reminded them, “Can we set the trap now?”

The others complied, and figuring the best place to set the trap was away from the house, in a clearing down the path where no one was around.

They set the fruit in one big spot and then took up hiding places in shrubs and behind trees.

Soon, Lightning returned and saw nothing had happened.

“I wish they’d hurry.” groaned Rarity, and she brushed a bunch of leaves out of her mane. “I can’t stand hiding amongst this messy foliage.”

“Shh…! Look…” said Fluttershy.

Everyone watched in anticipation, but it turned out to be just a load of insects, birds and other land-creatures coming after the fruit.

“They’re eating our bait!” cried Spike.

“Stop them!” snapped Lightning, and he and the others dashed out. “Wait…!” cried Fluttershy, but already her friends began to shoo away at the animals and the bugs. They didn’t attack them, just swung at them and yelled out…

“Beat it!”

“Get out of here!”

“Do as we say!
Go away!”

Most of the animals and bugs dashed off, but some of the gophers and prairie-dogs began to make off with one of the bushels of apples.

“Wait!” Fluttershy called and she chased the naughty critters down the hill. “Please come back!” she called to them “You shouldn’t take things that don’t belong to you.”

She chased those little sneaks all the way down the hill, near the entrance to a small forest.

The critters looked up and shrieked! Then they burrowed away leaving the apples behind for Fluttershy to take, but she suddenly saw what scared them…

…Nightwing and his two followers.

“I thought we smelled the sweet fragrance of fruit.” hissed Shade.

Ebany snickered while Fluttershy trembled softly, almost forgetting that she wanted to trap the creatures in the first place, “I-I-I…” she stammered “I… wanted to… t-t-talk with you all.”

The bats just glared at her, and Fluttershy was already beginning to see that perhaps there just was no reasoning with such evil and powerful monsters.

Fluttershy tried to zip away, but Nightwing used his hypnosis to hold her in place, “Stay where you are.” he hissed. Fluttershy was so scared she could hardly bring herself to use her super strength to break free as Nightwing approached her. “We wish to thank you personally for bringing us this fruit.”

He approached her and extended his fangs, going for her neck…!

…and Fluttershy SCREAMED…!!!

He shriek echoed all over the area, and Rhymey’s head perked up,

“That cry…!
…Fluttershy!!” and he zipped off in a heartbeat to find his wife.

“Rhymey!” called Lightning, and he chased on after him, with others trailing behind.

By the time Rhymey and the others got to the forest edge, they found the bushel, but the apples inside were all sucked dry and were badly rotted and shriveled up.

“They were here!” said Spike.

Then, they heard a rustling in the brushes of the woods, and out came Fluttershy, but she looked rather pale, and she extended her bat-like wings and hissed at everyone.

“Oh, no…
It isn’t so!” cried Rhymey.

“Fluttershy!” added Rarity.

Fluttersht held out a single fresh apple in her hand, and crushed it like it was a grape, and she looked as if she intended to do the same to the others.

“Fluttershy, don’t,
You can’t, you won’t.” Rhymey said to her trying to reach out to her.

“It’s no use.” hissed Ebany, “She’s one of us now, and soon the rest of you will be.”

The team looked up and saw the evil creatures standing in the treetops.

“The foolish pony,” said Nightwing “Thinking she could reason with us…? We don’t make bargains, we give no mercy, and we certainly don’t wish for a mere restitution in our pursuit for conquest and vengeance!”

Rhymey was infuriated for what they had done to his dear Fluttershy, and the others felt just as angry.

“I think they mean to cause us trouble.” said Shade.

Nightwing snickered, “Then so be it.

…ATTACK!!”

The bats leapt down from the tree, landing near Fluttershy, and all four creatures were snarling and hissing nastily.

“Let’s go!” shouted Lighting. The others agreed and transformed.

First: Lightning, Artie and Rhymey,“STARFLEET MAGIC!!”

Then: Rarity, “Harmony Hour, Friendship Power!”

Finally: Spike, “Dragon Power!”

“Get them!” shouted Lightning, and he and his team rushed forth, but before they could get near the villains, all four of them had zipped back and off into the darkness of the woods.

“They’re trying to lose us!” snapped Artie.

Lightning then used his visor to try scan for them, but it was no use; he couldn’t detect the villains because of their shielding themselves, but he was able to locate Fluttershy’s signal, “I got the source of her Starfleet suit; she’s somewhere up ahead.”

Rhymey could detect his wife’s DNA too, and rushed off into the woods.

“Wait!” called Rarity. She was growing tired of all this chasing already, but just as she and the others dashed off to catch up with Rhymey, they were all ambushed by Nightwing and his goons.

“Going somewhere?” Nightwing taunted.

The two forces began to battle like crazy.

Artie cornered Shade, punching and kicking at him, but Shade seemed to be moving a lot faster than normal. “Hold still, will ya?!” Artie growled.

Shade then grabbed Artie’s wrists holding them together, and they two figures held still, “Like this…?” Shade hissed, and he attempted to flip Artie over, but just he pulled him over, Artie pulled a fast one and kicked him hard in the gut. “Yeah… like that!”

Shade got back to his feet, more outraged than hurt, and he snickered “You think you’re so confident? We’ve only just begun.”

He rushed forth to tackle him…

…While at the same time, Ebany and Rarity were both racing up the path and glaring each other down.

“You repulsive, ugly creatures…!” Rarity growled, “You will pay for having hurt my friend, Fluttershy!”

“Repulsive…? Ugly…?” sneered Ebany “Have you looked in a mirror lately, Mule!”

Hearing THAT WORD… Rarity’s eyes flared like volcanos, “AAAAAAAAAAAAARGH…!!” she screamed and tackled the nasty batling deep into the thickets and brambles.

The foliage rumbled and shook all over as anyone could hear the sound of beating and pummeling and Rarity going super crazy,

“Take that you… and this… and have some this too!!”

Suddenly there was a flash of light, as Ebany used her hypnosis to stun Rarity and then knock her out into the open, rolling along the ground.

Ebany then burst from the bushes and sneered “Now it’s my turn!”

She was ready to pummel Rarity into dust when Spike landed down in front of his wife and held out his sword, “I said I wouldn’t let you creeps hurt her, and I keep my promises!”

“Spike…” Rarity murmured.

“How touching!” hissed Ebany “The noble knight defending his damsel.”

Rarity felt insulted and bolted upright, “I am no damsel. Come, Spike!” and she rushed into battle again leaving Spike feeling rather stunned, for a moment, but then he too rushed into help his wife.

He swung and her with his sword, but didn’t dare use any fire attacks for fear of setting the whole forest ablaze…!

He managed to strike her had making Sparks fly, and Rarity then punched her hard in the face knocking her over, “That was for calling me a Mule and a Damsel!”

She then nodded at Spike, and he nodded back at her.

Lightning went at Nightwing, punching and kicking furiously at him, but the evil creature swiftly dodged his every attack, and then backed him up against a tree and pinned him down hard. “Don’t struggle…” he taunted “It’ll only make it hurt all the more.”

He prepared to bite him, only for Lightning actually push him back with his strength, and give him a small but good zap of the uniforce at close range knocking back several paces. “Never underestimate your opponent, Count.”

Nightwing growled softly, but then he snickered, “For once, I agree… and I think it’s time I stepped up this game a bit.”

His amulet began to glow brightly, and he and his minions all glowed brightly with it.

“Whoa!” cried Artie as he scanned them all “Their power levels, they’re rising!”

The bats all laughed wickedly as they felt the strengths increase softly, but the glowing suddenly stopped as they did not wish to use up too much energyand not have any left for their real project!

“That’s all the power we need now.” hissed Nightwing “Now, the real fun begins.”

He and his minions began dashed for each of the heroes, but quickly zipping out of the way and flying in furious speedy circles around them.

“I can hardly keep track of them!” cried Spike.

Suddenly he got rammed from behind by Shade, while Rarity was attacked by Ebany, and Nightwing himself struck Artie and Lightning hard with one ram!

Suddenly, Ebany emerged from the speeding, and landed on Rarity intending to bite her. “No!!” snapped Spike and he zipped over quickly to punch her, but Ebany zipped off again, and Spike missed and nearly punched his own wife.

“Spike!!” cried Rarity.

Spike felt so ashamed.

Shade then jumped out of the speeding to lunge at Lightning, “Look out!” cried Artie.

Lightning turned and kicked, but Shade zipped off and instead tacked him hard from behind and pinned him to the ground ready to bite him.

Artie zipped over to tackle him, but Shade zipped off causing Artie to leap over Lightning and crash on the ground.

“What’s wrong?” hissed Nightwing, “Can’t keep with our newfound speed?”

The heroes all growled angrily.

“I wonder how your other friends are handling things.” said Nightwing.

“Rhymey!” cried Lightning.

“Fluttershy!” added Rarity.

Rhymey had gone deep into the woods, following the scanning from his visor, and the signal from Fluttershy’s suit was still loud and strong.

Rhymey heard a soft cracking of twigs and turned swiftly, but he saw no one.

Then he heard something whizzing past, but he turned round and just missed it!

Suddenly, a large shadow loomed over him. He slowly turned round, and there hissing at him was Fluttershy, looking more batty than ever, and she tackled at him, and their hands met in a strength struggle.

Rhymey did all he could to prevent Fluttershy from biting him, and he tried to reach out to her again.

“Fluttershy, I know you’re in there,
You wouldn’t bite me, you wouldn’t dare!”

Fluttershy’s wicked eyes glowed brightly with red and she hissed at him and began to pour on more strength, actually pushing Rhymey back a bit.

She then then tried to punch him, but he swerved and back flipped away from her.

She lunged at him, and he leapt up, up, high through trees and into the sky, and she followed up there, and far from through with him.

Rhymey felt he would never forgive himself, but he had no other choice…

“I must fight,
With all my might,
It’s the only way to put things right.”

Fluttershy rushed forth to punch him, but he countered with his own fist, holding back as much of his strength as he could, not wishing to hurt her, but at least defend himself.

The two of them went crazy, punching and kicking swiftly at one another.

Rhyemy then zipped behind Fluttershy and held her in a neck lock to try and subdue her, but he didn’t dare choke her too hard, still not wanting to really hurt her.

He then looped his legs around hers so she couldn’t try to kick about either.

Fluttershy struggled and fussed about trying to break free.

“Fluttershy, regain your will.
You know that you are not evil!”

Hearing his words and looking down at Rhymey’s left hand, Fluttershy could see his wedding ring, as well her own on her own hand as well.

She began to think back to all their romantic moments-- the many walks and flights they had, how he was so kind to her the way he helped around the house and cared for the animals, writing her poems and songs.

She screeched in confusion and dizziness.

Rhymey let her go and watched as she held her head growling and struggling. She really looked every bit of a struggling creature in pain, and it pained Rhymey to see her like this, but this was his own chance to try and save her while she was out of it.

“WARD SWORD”

Gripping his sword tightly, he set it to “Heal” and readied himself, but almost lost focus by the aching guilt that was spreading through him. He almost shed tears behind his visor, but he had to do this!

“THRASH SLASH”His sword glowed brightly, and he slashed hard, sending the streaks of energy at Fluttershy, hitting her!

Fluttershy screeched as her body glowed brightly in shocking streaks of light.

KAPOW!! The evil energy was dispelled in midair!

Down below, the explosion caught the sight of the villains and the heroes and they stopped in their battlinging and looked up. They saw Fluttershy plummeting down out of the smoke, but Rhymey swooped down and caught her.

“He did it!” cried Rarity “He’s healed Fluttershy!”

The Batlings were furious, and looked ready for more. “Enough!” shouted Nightwing, and he used his magic to pull Ebany and Shade towards him.

“But, sire…!” cried Shade

Nightwing ignored him, “We’ll meet again, Starfleet!”

Before any of the fighters could do anything, Nightwing unleashed a bright magical flash to blind them all for a split second, allowing himself and his goons to get away.

Lightning growled angrily, but there was no sense in dreading it now.

With that done, the gang raced out of the forest from whence they came in, and found Rhymey, in his casualwear, and cradling Fluttershy his arms. The attack from his finisher had knocked her unconscious.

He gently looked down at his wife and softly caressed her forehead with his hand.

She gave a soft moan, and her eyes peeked open, much to everyone’s delight.

“Oh…!” groaned Fluttershy “What… happened to me?”

Rhymey just smiled brightly and held her close.

Fluttershy couldn’t help but use her returning strength to embrace him back.

Rarity and Spime stood close together holding each other, ogling the cuteness, while Lightning and Artie stood proudly.

When the bats had retreated to their hide out, Ebany and Shade were whining and complaining. “Retreat!” snarled Ebany “We almost had them!”

“If we had just continued battling…” snapped Shade, but then Nightwing cut in “Had we continued we would have been defeated for sure!”

The others fell silent.

“We may have gotten stronger, but it is not nearly strong enough!” said Nightwing “They were still able to keep up with us and put a valiant effort. If I hadn’t suggested we retreat, we’d bat-bits by now!”

The minions gasped in shock, and Nightwing saw he got through to them.

“We need to gather more power to strengthen ourselves, as well as prepare for ultimate takeover. I suggest you both keep this in mind.”

With that, he walked off into the darkness of the lair.

“We should know better than to question him.” said Shade.

Ebany agreed, “He leads us well, like he always has since the day he initiated us into his clan and gave us these bodies.”

The two minions felt they owed more respect to their master than they had shown so far.

Fluttershy was slowly gaining her strength back, but she needed a good rest. So Rhymey carried all the way home, and their friends joined them before setting off themselves.

“It looks like the events today can be viewed in retrospect.” said Lightning “Count Nightwing and Batlings wish not to be reasoned with, and will never give up their lust for revenge and takeover. Let us take note of this for the long fight ahead.”

Everyone agreed.

“I better get home.” said Artie, and he motioned at Fluttershy and Rhymey “They just gave me an idea for a new painting. I’ll call it “At the Edge of the Forest with You.”

Rhymey and Fluttershy felt flattered.

“The next time those awful creatures ever show themselves, we’ll be more than ready.” said Rarity.

“We hope.” Spike said to himself, and then he and his wife went off together, and Lighting and Artie flew off too, leaving Rhymey and Fluttershy alone.

Rhymey gazed at his wife deeply, still feeling very sore with himself for striking her, even though even she herself agreed it was the right thing to do.

“If anything bad ever happened to you,
I just don’t know what I would do.”

Fluttershy still thought it so lovely he was showing how much he cared, and she held his hand to her cheek. “Thank you for saving me…” she whispered, and she looked up deeply into his eyes.

They shared a deep and loving kiss as they just stood outside their house, making all the animals peeking at them shed a few tears.

(Promo)

In our next episode: The Frozen Pony awakens and finds it difficult to understand and realize things in this strange new world, but he reveals new and vital information of The Elements of Chaos, which leads Sienna to wanting to understand these secrets for herself, and leads her next attack directly on New Canterlot!

How will our new friend adjust to the new world around him, and what are these secrets he holds?

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

(Next Episode: “Night of a Dawning”)

Author's Note

*Sighs* Teen Titan Idol opens next week so I really need to work on my vids, and I won't able to finish by the time FIM Season 8 airs

So, unless you DON'T WANT spoilers... observe this blog, https://www.fimfiction.net/blog/798914/starfleet-magic-season-7-spoilers

It will show you what I have planned so you won't think I got inspired by Season 8 While it starts while I'm still busy

Episode 6: Night of a Dawning

EPISODE SIX

One evening before sundown, Dyno and Myte had just hauled out a few carts overflowing with newly unearthed jewels and ore from one of their mines…

…When Sienna’s forces attacked!

Slash, Omnisha, and their newest Jema-Nite; Raptor: a dinosaur like creature resembling part a T-Rex and with spines like a stegosaurus.

The creature growled, and Slash fingered the tip of his blade, snickering as Dyno and Myte stood to defend their finds.

“You’re standing between us and a great haul.” hissed Slash, “Now, get out of our way!”

“No way, Jose!” sneered Dyno, “We worked hard to unearth all this for the country!” added Myte.

Slash and Omnisha scoffed, both of them believing the real reason The Twins were protecting the load was because of an Element of Chaos hidden in their findings, but they wouldn’t know for sure until Omnisha got close enough to examine them.

Omnisha whispered to Slash, “You deal with these twats, I’ll examine the jewels.”

Slash agreed, “Okay, Raptor, let’s rumble!”

Raptor growled and flailed ferociously.

The Twins nodded at one another, and they transformed, “Starfleet Magic!!”

“Attack!” shouted Slash, and his monster stomped forth growling at the twins. The twins leapt up high and kicked the huge beast hard sending it back several paces.

“Nobody is messing with out load!” growled Dyno.

“How cute…” sneered Slash, and he leapt forth attacking the twins mercilessly.

The twins dodged and swerved, and then tried to attack him from different sides, but Slash managed to block and avoid their attacks.

With the twins distracted, Omnisha was free to move towards the carts of treasure.

“Dyno, the jewels!” cried Myte.

“Blast her!” shouted Dyno.

The boys fired magical blasts from their horns-- they didn’t have to be in contact with each other for their small attacks-- but Omnisha swerved, “I don’t need to be all-seeing to avoid such pitiful attacks.” she taunted, and then she blasted at them with shots form her crystal ball, sending them both skidding along the ground.

The twins got up to their feet to try and charge her, but Slash and Raptor blocked their way. “I’m not through with you two yet.” Slash hissed.

The Twins growled angrily, and then joined their hands together…

“BOOM-BOOM FIREBALLS”

Slash only snickered as the fireballs came at him and his monster.

Raptor stepped forth and demonstrated its special ability by opening its huge mouth, and actually absorbing the flames, and then spitting them back out again with double the power, forcing the twins to dodge.

“That was close!” said Dyno.

Myte, agreed, “Maybe we should have scanned this creep first.”

Raptor huffed out a trail of smoke from its mouth, and stomped its huge feet ready for more.

The twins and the monster began to duke it out, and while the twins were distracted, Slash moved over to the carts where Omnisha was still looking over the treasures. “Well…?” he asked rather impatiently.

Omnisha looked up in outrage, “Nothing!” she grumbled.

“A’RGH!!” growled Slash “All these jewels, beautiful and glittering, but once again… not a single Element of Chaos in sight! What a waste of time!”

“At least we have all this treasure to take back with us!” said Omnisha, “Sienna should find that appealing.”

Slash agreed, and then grabbed Raptor’s crystal-capsule off his belt, “Raptor, Return!” he called. At once, a beam of light shot out from the capsule, hitting the monster, and magically returning it inside.

“Our load!” cried Dyno.

“Ourload you mean.” hissed Omnisha, and she tauntingly blew the twins a kiss, before she and Slash vanished along with the carts and the treasures.

“Ay…A’RGH!!” groaned Myte, and he angrily pounded the ground, “After all that work we spent to dig those up too.”

Dyno comforted his brother,“Tómalo con calma *Take it easy*,Myte. We can always dig up more, and besides at least we’re safe and not more damage was done.”

Myte calmed himself,“Tienes razón*You’re right*.Just the same, we better report to Lightning.”

By the time the sun had gone completely down, and the stars were shining, Lightning was in bed and reading the report from the twins, and he sighed softly.

“How bad is it?” Starla asked.

“Well, with all those jewels and ores stolen, it means the clients who ordered them will be set back a few weeks; nothing really that bad, but I still feel bad for the boys… they didn’t deserve to have their hard work ruined.”

Starla felt just as upset as well and clenched her fists, but Lightning urged her to calm down and to think of the baby. “Come on, let’s get some sleep.”

His wife smiled and pecked him lovingly as they sniggered down in their bed together.

While on Sienna’s ship, even villains knew when it was time for bed, except for Slash and Omnisha whom were both told by Sienna to stand watch on the bridge while she put Mako to bed.

Slash was really annoyed and groaned and complained, “We did all the work, we bring in a huge haul of gems, and what thanks do we get…?”

“For once, I agree with you…” said Omnisha “That little brat’s got Sienna wrapped around his little finger.”

Meanwhile, Sienna tucked Mako into his bed. Though they were siblings, it almost looked like a mother putting her child to bed.

“Sienna…?”

“Yes, Mako…?”

“Do you think I’ll ever make a great Treasure Hunter like you?”

His sister smiled, “I’m sure you will, especially with me to help you, just like I’ve always been there for you. But who knows… when I get The Elements of Chaos, we may not need to hunt for treasure anymore.”

Mako prospered at the thought of so much power, and ruling the universe by his sister’s side.

He then let out a huge yawn, and snuggled into his bed.

Sienna tucked him in warmly and pecked his head, and as she left her brother’s room and walked back down the hall, she thought to herself,“I promise you, Mako. I’ll always be there for you. You’re all I have.”

She remembered a time, long, long ago, when they were much younger and living in an orphanage on another planet, since their parents died.

Little Mako was sobbing miserably,“I’m so scared, Sienna! Mommy and Daddy are gone! I don’t want to live here!”

Sienna hugged her brother tightly, trying to be brave for him,“It’ll be okay, Mako. I’m still here with you, and I always will be. We’ll get through this together.”

Eventually, the two settled into their lives at the orphanage, and spent loads of time together.

One day, in the sandbox…

“Look, Sienna, I made a spaceship.”

“Hey, that’s pretty neat, Mako. It looks so real.”

“Someday…”said Mako“I wanna fly in a real spaceship, and fly through space to see new planets.”

“Hey… I like that.” said Sienna “I’m sure if we dream hard about it, it’ll come true.”

Sienna snapped back into reality, but still thinking to herself,“And it HAS come true, but there’s still much to be done.”

Elsewhere, many ponies were going home and to bed, even the Starfleet units were switching shifts so the night patrols were now on duty.

Even at New Canterlot Palace it was getting to be bedtime for some.

Celestia and Grand Ruler were helping their children get ready for bed. “Here you go,” said Grand Ruler, “All comfy and warm now.”

Castor and Leilani had both outgrown their cribs and now slept in proper beds, big beds with four-posters, and their beds stood close together with a small nightstand in between. This way they could be close together and not feel separated from one another.

…But, just like most children tended to be, they weren’t all that keen about bedtime.

Castor let out a huge yawn as he battled to stay awake, “But we’re not sleepy.” he whined softly. “Oh, yes you are…” Celestia cooed.

“No… not… sleep…” groaned Leilani. She nearly drifted off, “We’re thirsty.”

Grand Ruler chuckled, “Yes, Children…” and motioned over as Aunt Luna came over carrying a large tray with a pitcher of cold water and the children’s favorite cups to set on the nightstand.

The children had their drinks, and then snuggled down softly.

“Sleep tight.” Their father said as he bent over and pecked their little heads, and their mother did the same.

“Goodnight, Father,” said Leilani.

“Goodnight, Mother.” said Castor.

“Goodnight, my darlings.” Celestia whispered.

The adults left the room, turning out the lights so the little nightlights came on.

Luna smiled lovingly, “It is such a beautiful sight to see them sleep softly.”

Celestia agreed, but her sadness started to show, “I wonder… if this is how Mother when she had us.”

The two sisters remained silent, and Grand Ruler felt really sorry for them. Though he also knew what it felt like to lose your parents, at least he got to know his for a good time, while Celestia and Luna barely knew Queen Galaxia at all.

At least he could be there to comfort his own family.

“Come on…” he said to his wife, “Maybe we should get to be ourselves. We’ve had a hard day.”

Celestia agreed, and Luna prepared to take her night-watch. So they all bid other goodnight and went on their ways.

First thing on Luna’s agenda was checking up on the laboratory and see if Professor Brain was alright.

It had already been a week since the frozen pony was discovered and brought to the lab, and he was still resting in his tube of liquid.

“How comes it, Professor?” asked Luna.

“Not much change yet, your highness.” replied Brain “We did, however uncover these…” he motioned over to the work bench where the knight’s sack had laid resting, and before it laid two objects.

One of which was a simple pony knight’s helmet, it was ancient design, and didn’t seem to match that of the frozen knight’s armor as it was bronze in color.

The second object seemed to a fragment of a map, forged in a thin plate of gold, and with words written in Ancient Equestrian Scriptures.

The Starfleet database already translated the text, which Luna read out loud as she observed the fragment…

“Know ye who read this, who dare to take upon themselves to uncover that which has been sealed away, with the map and items of--”

The text had stopped due to the fragment’s end, “Items of what?” asked Luna.

“I’m afraid I have no clue myself…” said Brain.

Much as Luna wished to stay and learn more, she needed to take up her post and watch over the night. So she excused herself and left the professor to his work.

Much later that night, The Professor was still up and working; he was one of those overly excitable ponies that once he got started on something really exciting, he would hardly stop, not even to sleep.

He was looking at the knight in the tube, anxiously hoping for him to awaken so he could learn more about the two items, as well as the era in which he came from.

Suddenly, the knight began to stir in the tube.

“Oh…!” chirped Brain and he checked the health-monitors. The heart was picking up, and the pony was starting to breathe more deeply through the respirator on his face. “He’s starting to awaken!

HE’S STARTING TO AWAKEN!!”

His crew of night workers all rushed over to witness the knight’s stirring, “Well don’t just lollygag.” said Brain “Drain the tube, get him to sickbay! Alert their majesties!”

Early the next morning, all three of their majesties were in the sickbay, Lightning and Starla’s Droid were there too, as well as Krysta, having been informed of the news.

The knight was still asleep, but very much fully alive.

The doors to the room opened wide, “Hey!” Goldwin called…

“Shhh…! Take easy.” said Celestia.

“Sorry,” replied Goldwin “But Mykan’s here too.”

*Mykan’s POV*

I walked into the room, having arrived at the palace earlier. I bowed to their majesties, “I got your message. Thanks for inviting me.”

“Well, after all, you discovered him frozen in the mountain.” said Grand Ruler “I thought it fair you be here to witness this.”

Krysta could barely contain herself, “This is so exciting!” she chirped softly.

“Hey… I think he’s waking up.” said Lightning.

The court physician told everyone to stand back as he and his nurses stood by ready in case of any trouble, as the pony opened his eyes and groaned softly as he regained his senses.

His vision was still a little blurry, but the first thing he could see clearly was Celestia.

“Queen… Galaxia…?”

Celestia felt a little shiver inside hearing her mother’s name again.

“My mission…!” the pony said, and soon his vision cleared up and he looked all around him, “Where… where am I?”

“Just relax…” said the doctor, “You’ve been through a lot.”

The pony was shocked to see all the humanoid ponies, as well as Krysta, a fairy, and me myself, a human.

“What is all this?” he asked “The last thing I remember was I was on my mission, and… I don’t remember much after that.”

Starla whispered to the others, “He must’ve suffered extreme brain-trauma after being frozen for so long.”

“I’ve heard of this…” I said “It’s only temporary, it should clear up, but the best we can do now is just take it easy with him.”

Celestia approached the pony, and he took a good look at her, “You are… not Galaxia.”

“No, I am Celestia; daughter of Galaxia. This is my younger sister; Princess Luna, and my husband; Grand Ruler Celesto.”

The pony was somewhat astonished, but shocked as well. He knew Galaxia had two young daughters, but not only did they look much grown up, but had humanoid bodies, and as for Grand Ruler… seeing his three golden horns, he couldn’t help but stare.

“What is your name?” asked Grand Ruler, “Do you remember?”

The pony touched his head softly, “Yes… I remember…

I am Captain Shadow Coat, of Queen Galaxia’s forces…

But please, I must know, what is happening to me?”

Lightning stepped forth, “You were found encased in solid ice within the northern mountains. According to our analysis, you’ve been frozen for well over a millennium.”

Shadow looked more shocked than ever, which was to be expected. He lay back down in bed staring blinding at the ceiling high above, “A-thousand years…!” he softly muttered.

Everyone felt pity on him, especially me, I understood how I felt the first time I woke up in United Equestria, and my life was forever changed.

*POV Ends*

Little did anyone realize, was a Raider was spying on them all from very far away, with a special telescope allowing it to see right into the palace, and it could read lips too, and it caught on to everything said.

In almost no time at all, the Raider returned to the ship and informed Sienna though its strange language what it had learned.

“That will be all.” Sienna said.

The Raider bowed, and returned to its station.

“So, this pony has some connection to Queen Galaxia of the past.”

“Hey, this is great.” cried Mako “Maybe we can use him to find out where The Elements of Chaos are.”

“No, duh, Captain Obvious!” sneered Slash “You’d think we all didn’t realize that?”

Mako looked ready to burst into a tantrum, but Sienna a shot from her gun just barely missing Slash by a few inches and hit the wall. “Insult my brother in front of me again, and you won’t be around to do a third time!” she threatened.

Slash gulped softly.

Mako blew him a raspberry.

Omnisha couldn’t help but snicker at Slash.

Sienna then cleared her throat, “We’re going down to investigate, and by “Us”, I mean Omnisha and myself.”

“What?!” snapped Slash “But Captain, I--”

“Quiet, you!” sneered Sienna. She pointed her sword at him threateningly, and then took the capsule containing his Raptor monster, “You need to learn to have more respect for your crewmates and superiors.”

She then looked over at Mako, putting him in charge of the ship as well as Slash, “He’s all yours.”

Mako smiled, and Slash growled in shudder.

“Have fun…” Omnisha teased, and the ladies went off, and Mako snickered, much to Slash’ horror.

*Mykan’s POV*

Back at the palace, while Shadow was resting, the group all huddled together discussing what was to be done with Shadow.

“He may have information regarding his helmet and map piece.” said Luna, “So he will obviously be of great value to us. We cannot let him leave the palace.”

Celestia and Grand Ruler agreed, but while the others felt inclined to agree as well, it still felt almost like keeping Shadow as a prisoner.

“Well, it’s not like we can actually let him go out there either.” said Krysta.

“You’re right, Krysta.” said Lightning “He doesn’t realize how much the world has changed since he’s been frozen. Until we can acclimatize him somehow, in our society he’d be useless. He wouldn’t know where to go or what to do, or even how things work.”

“Well, then…” said Grand Ruler “I guess it’s up to all of us then; to acclimatize Shadow to our ways of life, and help form him into a model citizen.”

Suddenly, the alarms sounded, and the noise bothered Shadow a lot “What is that?!” he groaned as he covered his ears with his hooves.

“It’s our red alert!” said Starla “There’s danger a-foot!”

Shadow, feeling his royal guard instincts returning was willing to leap out of bed and assist in action, but the medical staff wouldn’t hear it, “Oh, no you don’t!” said the doctor, “You’ve just barely come out of a long recovery.”

Shadow felt rather insulted, but suddenly realizing he did feel rather weak still, he climbed back into bed.

“We better raise the shields.” said Celestia. Her husband agreed.

“Lightning and the rest of us nodded and headed outside, flying through the windows.

No sooner had we left the palace, did the barriers activate around the palace and all the homes in the village too, and we made our descent, Lightning transformed…

“Starfleet Magic!”

We touched down, and saw a while hoard of Raiders on the loose at the foot of the palace.

I drew out my sword and shield, “Let’s take these creeps!”

“Right, spread out!” shouted Lightning.

Lightning leapt over one Raider, and punched another hard in its chest, and trip-kicked another.

Three Raiders then aimed their guns at him ready to fire, but before they could, Krysta sped right past them, snatching each gun from their hands. “It’s not nice to point guns at people.” she taunted.

Starla’s Droid activated its bow, “Good thing this isn’t a gun.“STARLIGHT ARROW”

She fired her shot which went clean through the three Raiders, striking them all down!

As for me, I was duking it out with other Raiders who came at me with their swords, but I even though I wasn’t a super-trained Starfleet fighter, I handled them pretty well; using my shield to defend against their attacks, and my sword to parry their blades and strike them all down.

“Good thing I studied up a little fencing in my spare-time.” I gloated.

The others couldn’t help but chuckle at me, but suddenly they heard the sound of clapping. We all looked up and saw Sienna standing on atop a tall tree, “Bravo, a gallant performance.”

All of us growled at the very sight of her.

*POV Ends*

While up in the palace…

…While keeping the shields stable, their majesties all stayed with Shadow, and Grand Ruler used his magic to cast a glowing image of the battle for them all to see.

“Who is that creature?” asked Shadow.

Grand Ruler replied, “That is Sienna; a ruthless intergalactic treasure hunter.”

Celestia nodded, “She has come to our world seeking a treasure known as The Elements of Chaos, which were hidden by my mother centuries ago.”

Shadow blinked once, “Elements of Chaos?”

“Yes…” said Luna “We know not where they are hidden, but we do know that Sienna desires them, and we cannot allow this.”

“Elements of Chaos…” Shadow muttered to himself, and he was suddenly starting to feel some of his memories returning.

What he and the others didn’t realize was Omnisha was nearby; with all the guards distracted and standing at their posts, and the rest guarding the perimeters, she managed to creep along the walls below the sickbay window. By doing this, she would get close enough to Shadow for her crystal-ball to gather information from his mind as it slowly became clear.

With no one spotting her, she waved her hand over the ball and concentrated, “By the stars of time, and the cosmic forces of old and new, unlock the thoughts of my victim and grant me the information I seek.

…Oooommmmmmmm!”

Her body began to glow softly, along with her crystal ball.

Shadow felt nothing at all as his memories became clearer.

Sienna snickered as she glared at the group, “You all don’t seem so thrilled to see me.”

“That’s an understatement.” grumbled Krysta.

“I don’t know what you’re up to,” sneered Lightning “But you’ve made a big mistake in coming here.”

The rest of us agreed with him, but Sienna only snickered and she thought silently,“That’s what they think. Even if I don’t beat them here, I’ll have succeeded in getting what I really came for. That’s what being a clever hunter is all about.”

*Mykan’s POV*

She looked down at the group and grabbed the capsule she took from Slash, “Well then, let’s get down to business.

Jema-Nite Raptor; stand by for battle!”

She unleashed the same monster that Dyno and Myte had faced before, and it roared at us.

“Whoa!” I cried “That is one rough looking dino!”

Starla scanned it with her visor, “Not only is it fast and strong, its special ability lets it absorb energy attacks in its mouth and spits them back out again at double the power.”

“Huh! We’ve faced monsters like this before.” said Lightning “But there’s still Sienna, she could make things worse.”

"We've should split them up..." suggested Krysta, "That way they can't gang up on us."

“and I've got just the idea...” I said, and I rushed forth.

“Mykan…!” Starla shouted at me.

“Hey, you big ugly brute…! Over here… come and get me!”

Even Sienna was shocked by this, “What’s that fool doing?”

The monster roared and began to stomp straight for me, which forced me to fly through the air and make it chase me. “Come on, that’s a good monster…!”

*POV Ends*

“He’s leading the monster off!” cried Krysta.

“I’ll go follow him.” said Lightning “You two stay deal with Sienna, but if things get rough, then teleport out of here.”

The girls agreed, “Be careful out there.” said Starla.

Her husband nodded, and sprinted off.

“Oh, no you don’t!” Sienna snarled as she drew out her sword and leapt from the tree to try and catch up with him, “Oh, yes he does!” snarled Krysta and she used her powers to conjured a small warp portal before Sienna. “Oh, no!” she shouted.

“Ah, yeah!” chirped Krysta “Next-stop, Prison!”

Sienna couldn’t stop herself in midair, and she didn’t have to! As she got closer and closer to the portal, she reached into her belt and pulled out a small ring and quickly put it on her finger, which shrouded her body in a magical glow.

“What’s she doing?!” cried Krysta.

Starla scanned the magic, “No! That’s an anti-teleportation spell!”

Sienna crashed into the portal, but didn’t go through it as the magic around her shattered the portal away and she then landed on the ground and cackled maliciously. “Sorry, but it’ll take more than a cheap stunt like that to capture me!”

The girls were outraged, and Sienna held up her hand, “I’ve plundered many treasures throughout the galaxy, and some of them not just for their values, but for special powers and abilities they can grant as well.

As long as I have this ring on, no teleportation magic or portal will work on me!”

Starla’s droid clenched its fists, “That doesn’t make you safe from battle! Let’s go, Krysta!”

“Yeah…!”

While they battled it out…

*Mykan’s POV*

I lead the Raptor monster out of the village and into the open fields, away from any homes, and Lightning had already caught up with me.

“Great thinking, Mykan…”

“Thanks.” I said “Now let’s roast this reptile!”

Lightning agreed.

Suddenly, from out of the sky, Dyno and Myte dropped in.

“Hola Muchachos.” said Dyno, “We were passing by on patrol when we heard the alarms.” added Myte.

They took one look at the Raptor and their features hardened. They had been waiting to get even with this beast for costing them their shipment of treasures.

The monster growled and charged straight at us all.

“Take this!” shouted Lightning, and he launched a bit of the uniforce at the creature, wrapping its mouth shut in a tight bind.

“That got him!” Lightning gloated, but his gloat was short-lived as Raptor actually managed to stretch the bindings off him, as that bit of uniforce wasn’t all that strong.

Raptor roared and stomped forth, swinging its huge claws and spiked tail at us, that we all leapt up high in the air to avoid the attacks, but even there we weren’t as safe…!

Raptor couldn’t fly, and he didn’t have to! He could just leapt right up high in the air to swipe at us again.

“Oh sure, he just has to be a good jumper as well!” groaned Dyno.

“Well, whatever happens, don’t shoot into his mouth!” said Myte.

That gave Lightning and idea, “No, shoot in his mouth! Everything you’ve got!”

“Que?!” snapped the twins.

“Lightning, are you nuts?!” I added “He’ll just reflect the shot back at us.”

Lightning nodded and motioned at my shield, and the rest of us caught on with his plan.

“You got it!” I said, and I flew up higher out of sight leaving the ponies to do battle and wait for the signal.

Lightning went in, and kicked the beast hard in the head knocking it over on its side, but the monster got right up again, swinging its tail at him, and he back flipped hard.

The Twins grabbed Raptor by his huge tail and actually managed to pick it up and whirl it round and around and throw it across the field hard.

Raptor got up and roared furiously…

“I think he’s mad enough.” said Dyno.

“Let’s do it then.” said Myte.

Lightning landed down right by them, “Charge it up boys!”

The Twins agreed, and joined hands, and powered up.

“BOOM-BOOM FLARE”

The fire attack blasted straight at the monster, and as expected, Raptor opened its huge jaws and absorbed all that fire.

“Here it comes…!” said Lightning.

Raptor opened its huge mouth and unleashed the fearsome blames back out again, and doubled in power.

Lightning shouted out, “NOW, MYKAN!!”

Flying overhead, I swung my arm back,“SHIELD OF RIGHTEOUS-COURAGE!!”and I threw my shield downward, throwing it right in the path of the blast, intercepting it, and the magic of my enchanted shield reflected the immensely powerful fire attack right back at Raptor, which engulfed the monster’s entire body within its flames.

The monster, unable to absorb the already supercharged blast, exploded in a big blast, we all had to shield our eyes from the brightness!

*POV Ends*

The explosion was bright enough to be seen all the way by the foot of the palace where Starla’s droid and Krysta had been battling Sienna all that time.

“No…! The Raptor!” cried Sienna. She looked down for Raptor’s capsule, only to find it had shattered, meaning the monster was destroyed.

“You’re next, Sienna!” said Starla “I may not be able to teleport you, but I can still capture you!”

Sienna scoffed, but then she looked way over past Starla and Krysta and could see Omnisha giving her the signal that she got the information required.

Sienna snickered, “You want to catch me… you’ll have to wait until next time.” She quickly removed the ring from her finger, and before the girls could react, she slashed her sword at the ground, making a huge flash of sparks so bright they had to look away, which gave her the chance to escape… laughing wickedly!

“She’s gone!” cried Krysta.

At home, The Real Starla angrily pounded the sofa, “That Sienna’s so full of tricks.”

She then thought deeply, “Strange… Sienna didn’t seem too concerned about her monster being destroyed, and she just left when the fight was getting interesting.

Then why go to cause much trouble and battle us?

What was she really after?”

Back on the ship, Mako called out for Slash, “Where’s my ice-drink, Slave!”

Slash, came out, holding a single drink on a tray, and passed it Mako, “Here you are… sir.” He grumbled.

Mako took on sip of his drink, and then spit it out right all over Slash’s armor! “Idiot…! I said bring me an ice drink, not a drink WITH ice in it! Take it away and do your job right!”

Slash’s ears were steaming, but he knew he couldn’t protest.

Soon, Sienna and Omnisha came in onto the bridge.

“We’re back.” said Sienna.

“Hey, sis…” called Mako.

“Finally…!” Slash groaned, “Captain Sienna… I--”

“Not now, Slash.”

Slash tried to protest, wishing to be released from his torture, but to no avail. Fortunately for him, Mako seemed to be too distracted to order him around anymore.

“Did you get the information?” Mako asked.

“Of course we did…” replied Omnisha. She held out her crystal ball “Those fools were too preoccupied to notice a thing. Now, whatever information they have obtained from their frozen friend is ours to use as well.”

The ball glowed brightly and everyone huddled around to view the information.

Sienna snickered softly, “Finally, I’m one step closer to fulfilling my greatest desire.”

*Mykan’s POV*

The other fighters had all regrouped and returned to the palace to freshen up in the sickbay, whereas Shadow Coat sat upright in bed, “I remember…” he said, and he requested the map fragment and the helmet be brought to him.

“These were entrusted to me but her majesty, Queen Galaxia…!”

Celestia and Luna both felt a bit uneasy hearing of their mother again, but they along with everyone else listened to what Shadow had to say…

“Over a millennium ago, cosmic forces invaded our blissful world, erupting into a fierce war of power and darkness.

Her majesty, Queen Galaxia had never known such incredible and devious powers before, and even she herself along with her entire legion of followers and I by her side, were unable to fend them off alone.

It was then; the Queen had decided to enhance us using the powers from The Light of Purity, and from this light… The Elements of Harmony were created, each one a representation of pure energy and forces of light.

However, what none were prepared for was from out of the unused shadow energy came The Elements of Chaos.”

“We get all that…” said Lightning “These are the evil incarnations to The Elements of Harmony.”

Shadow nodded, “Correct… but there was much more…

These Chaos Elements; individually they possessed extraordinary powers, enough to enhance the wickedness of the very fiends that came to conquer our world, but with all this evil energy combined… IT… was born…

…a mighty evil beast, with the combined forces of chaos, and the evil strengths of the creatures that attacked us, which became after known as… The Chaos Guardian!”

By this time, everyone’s eyes were fixated with astonishment, horror, and much more curiosity.

“Talk about an error in creation.” muttered Krysta.

Shadow continued with his story…

“This powerful beast would only head the orders of those connected with the very chaos itself; controlling each of the elements and the force they represented.

Our queen and her forces fought valiantly, but against such powers, The Chaos Guardian seemed virtually unstoppable!”

Shadow recalled how he saw the battle between the Queen and the Guardian take way up into the sky, where in the midst of the struggle, the Guardian severed Galaxia’s horn…!

That fragment was knocked high up into space where it obviously was teleported off by the warping energies of dimensional space itself-- which would obviously be discovered by Sienna in the distant future.

“As royal guards, my men were duty-bound to get the young Princesses, Celestia-- at age two, and Luna an infant having recently been born-- away from the danger as was instructed to us by their mother.”

Celestia and Luna were both heart struck upon learning of this. At such young ages, it was no wonder they never remembered such events!

Shadow continued…

“Galaxia was already severely weakened, having used up much of her power to create the Elements of Harmony, and battle the chaos before the Guardian had appeared.

Now, with that and her horn severed, her magic was depleting rapidly, but our queen was still not beaten.

Using all she could muster from her dwindling strength, Galaxia knew the only way she could to stop the Guardian... and tapped into the power of the Elements of Harmony, using their mighty power, she broke the guardian down, back into the six Elements of Chaos, and then concealed those evil items within an enchanted chest!

With The Guardian gone, the light began to return to our world, but still… The Elements of Chaos; far too dangerous to remain in the open, and we were unable to destroy them. Our queen had a plan…!”

“Until we are able to uncover a method to obliterate these wicked items from existence, they must be sealed away so that evil forces may not absorb their powers and unleash the dreadful beast again.

I know of such a place…”

“Queen Galaxia had planned to seal them within an Ancient Temple that only she knew of, and had a map to show the way…

However, not wishing for more information to be uncovered, she did not tell us the location of this temple. Instead, she had entrusted me and three other of my men with broken fragments of an ancient map, and four odd items.

We were not to question the motives of our queen, but were merely instructed to take these items and burry them away.

My search for a hiding place led me to the Frozen North. Here I intended to burry my map fragment and my item within the mountain itself, but before I could there was a powerful avalanche which buried me.”

…The rest was history!

“My stars…!” Grand Ruler murmured. The rest of us all felt just as astounded as he did.

“That is all I know.” said Shadow “I can tell you no more.”

I walked over and observed the map fragment, “So this baby’s just one part of four that make a full map that can lead us to the temple where the elements are hidden.”

Shadow nodded, “Yes it is, but I have no idea where the remaining three pieces are, and even still, I have no clue of what the knight’s helmet is for. Each of my men was given a part of the map that held different bit of information, but not one of us had a complete a full picture.”

As everyone huddled forth and gazed down at the two items, the path ahead was clear: to find the remaining map fragments and items the knights were given.

…But it would be a long road ahead.

(Promo)

In our next episode: Applebloom is revealed to have become extremely overprotective of Applejack, always sticking by her side and becoming overly concerned with her safety.

Meanwhile, Count Nightwing and his Batlings unleash their latest plot to gather more power with the aid of small bats and more victims.

Why is Applebloom so overly obsessed with her sister’s safety, and how will Nightwing’s plan go forth?

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

(Next Episode: “My little Sissy”)

Episode 7: My Little Sissy

EPISODE SEVEN

One night, Applebloom was tossing and turning in bed having a nightmare!

The skies above the farmlands were shrouded with dark clouds, and cold winds blowing across the fields.

“Hello…!” Applebloom called out as she wandered through the spooky fields, “This ain’t funny! Somebody answer me!”

Suddenly, she stopped, and she could see Applejack off in the distance.

“Hey, Sis…” she called out as she raced over to her, but as she got closer, Applejack turned round, and she seemed rather creepy-looking.

“What the…” cried Applebloom, and her big sister gave a huge hiss, revealing she had been turned into a Batling again. “No, sis…!”

She then heard the sinister sounds of evil laughter, and Count Nightwing appeared along with Shade and Ebany, “Your sister is with us again.” Nightwing hissed, “And this time, no one has the power to bring her out of it, so say goodbye to your flesh and blood!”

Applejack began to fly off to join a whole load of bat-hybrids, much to Applebloom’s horror. “No! Applejack, come back! Don’t leave me!”

“Oh, she’s not the only one…” said Shade, and he motioned over to Big Mac and Granny Smith, whom had also been infected.

“No!” cried Applebloom.

“Yes…!” hissed Ebany, “And guess who else we’d like to add to the flock?”

With that, a whole flock of bats sneered and glared at Applebloom, ready to take her into the clan.

They charged right at her, and Applebloom had no place to go, and nothing she could do… except wake up…

…And that’s just what happened as she snapped wide

“Applebloom!” called Applejack as she came into her sister’s room with Big Mac, and he looked weary-eyed. “You alright…? You were yellin’ in your sleep?” he said groggily.

Applebloom rubbed her eyes, “I was havin’ a nightmare. I’m okay now.”

Her siblings sighed softly, “You take it easy, Applebloom. We don’t want anything happenin’ to you.” said Applejack.

“Eeyup.” agreed Big Mac, and he and Applejack left Applebloom quietly sitting in her bed, and she felt pretty disturbed by her nightmare.

“I’m not gonna let anythin’ happen to my family!”

Meanwhile, in Nightwing’s dark lair, he was conjuring up a special spell, by unleashing some of his breath into a large flask.

He snickered wickedly, “Excellent, with my enchanted breath, we can introduce a whole new way of infected the ponies.

One whiff of my magical vampire breath will immediately trigger the mutations.”

His minions were most intrigued, “But Sire…” asked Shade “How do you intend to carry the scent of your breath along the way?”

Nightwing snickered, “Patience… everything will be revealed in due time.”

Ebany liked the sound of this, “I look to seeing it, my lord; especially if it means well to our conquest.”

Nightwing nodded, “I assure you, Ebany, it will.”

The morning, when the rooster crowed, Applejack stretched out and yawned, “Good Mornin’ sunshine!” she called as she fit her hat on her head and hopped out of bed, only to feel the floor was weird beneath her feet.

“Huh?”

Instead of hardwood flooring, her room had inflatable mattresses all over the place.

“Hey, sis…” Applebloom called as she opened the door to her room “You alright? I heard you wake up.”

“Uh… yeah…” replied Applejack “Um… you wouldn’t happen to know why all these blow ups are all over my floor, do ya?”

“Sure, I put ‘em there. Wouldn’t want ya to step on anythin’ sharp.”

Applejack was most confused, and as she made her way to her bedroom door to step out into the hall, “Just a sec…” said Applebloom, and she quickly slapped onto her sister’s bare feet a pair of shoes with sponges tied to the bottoms.

“Applebloom, what’s got into you?”

“Oh, nothin’ really.” said Applebloom, “Just lookin’ out for ya, that’s all.” Then she sprinted off, leaving her sister more confused than ever.

Then, when she got downstairs, she noticed all the furniture and the upholstery were all coated in plastic and pillows.

Even Granny Smith was strapped into her rocking chair with a safety belt, much to her confusion.

And even in the kitchen, Big Mac couldn’t seem to cook breakfast because the stove couldn’t start. Reason being: Applebloom cut off the main power supply. “Wouldn’t want my big bro burnin’ himself. We can just eat plain old breakfast cereal instead.”

“Um… Eeyup… I guess…?”

“Okay, Applebloom, What is all this about?” asked Applejack.

Applebloom played innocent, “What do you mean? Can’t a fully look out for the safety of her family?”

Applejack began to have her suspicion this was all connected with Applebloom’s nightmare. “If there’s somethin’ botherin’ you, just tell us. Then maybe we can try and help you.”

“Nothing’s wrong with me, nothing at all.” Applebloom snapped, but this only confirmed everyone’s suspicions.

Unfortunately, Applejack didn’t have much time to stick around to hear it. Much as she wanted to, she had training duty that day-- as a Starfleet officer, and one of the best, it was her assignment that day to help Rainbow Dash, Lightning, Buddy and Starla train new recruits at the academy in New Cloudsdale.

She stepped out the front door, ready to fly off…

“Wait a minute, sis!” cried Applebloom, and she swiftly dashed in circles around Applejack, putting on kneepads, elbow-pads, water wings, a lifejacket and life preserver, as well as a huge crash helmet.

“There ya go, all safe now.”

Applejack growled softly, “Applebloom…!”

Her little sister just smiled goofily.

Applejack struggled to spread out her wings, and even still it was hard for her to flutter with all the padding she had on. “I can’t fly like this!”

“You don’t need to.” said Applebloom, and she whistled loudly calling forth the Pegasus air-taxi she had hired to take her to New Cloudsdale.

“Okay, someone’s goin’ a little nutty here.” Applejack said to herself, and while she tried to protest to Applebloom again, her sister ushered her into the taxi “Go on, now… and make sure you come home safely.”

She then signaled for the two pegasi to take off with Applejack in tow.

“But Applebloom…!!” Applejack called as the taxi headed off into the sky.

As the taxi flew out of sight, Applebloom felt very worried, already feeling her sister was in huge danger, but she reminded herself to check on Granny and Mac.

The taxi was not able to fly as fast as Applejack could with her Starfleet speed, and Applejack tried and tried to shake all the paddings loose from herself, but they were so big and bulky it was hard to even wiggle.

This meant that she was very late.

Lightning and the others were there at New Cloudsdale-port waiting for her. “What is keeping her?!” Lightning grumbled impatiently “Classes should’ve begun half an hour ago.”

“Easy honey,” said Starla “Though I am kind of worried myself. This isn’t like, Applejack to be late.”

“Maybe I should’ve left with her together instead of coming here since dawn.” said Buddy.

Easily, Rainbow Dash was the most annoyed. She was eager to train the new cadets and show off her moves and how to attack and fend off enemies. “If Applejack doesn’t show up in the next thirty seconds, I’M GOING TO LOSE IT!!”

Just then, Applejack’s taxi finally arrived at the port, and Applejack fell out of the coach seat, still in all her paddings.

Rainbow couldn’t help but burst out in hysterical laughter at the sight of Applejack and how silly she looked in all that gear. “Someone’s taken too many precautions today.” she laughed.

Applejack was far from amused, and much as the others thought she looked silly, they resisted the urge to laugh at her and helped her up and out of all that gear.

“Hoo…!” Applejack sighed as she stretched out “That’s much better. I need to brush up more on my escape maneuvers.”

She explained to everyone about Applebloom, “She’s turned into a safety monster! I’d hate to think of what she’s doin’ with Granny and Big Mac now.”

Indeed, Applebloom was going out of her mind!

As Big Mac tried to do his chores on the farm, but everywhere he went, Applebloom was there and up to her crazy stunts.

As Big Mac tried to buck apples down from the trees, he found all the trees were covered paddings, and big nets up above so the apples couldn’t fall.

Then Applebloom popped up out of nowhere and placed a crash helmet on her brother’s head.

Big Mac tried to plow the fields with the old pulling plow, but he suddenly felt the plow come loose, and it had…! Applebloom had cut the harnesses loose and reattached them to her own so she herself would do the plowing.

Then she placed a helmet on Mac’s head again.

Even Granny Smith; all she was doing was knitting in her chair like she usually did, when Applebloom came in and put big boxing gloves over Granny’s hands so she wouldn’t prick herself with the needles, but unfortunately it made it difficult for her to knit due to the gloves being so big and awkward.

Even for Granny Smith, Applebloom put a helmet on her head.

The other ponies all thought that sounded serious.

“Sounds like she’s suffering from some sort of anxiety.” said Buddy “I’ve seen this before, and I think know what’s wrong with her.”

Lightning cleared his throat, “I’m sorry to interrupt, but we’re a bit behind schedule here.”

“He’s right…” said Starla “I know how you feel about your sister, Applejack, but this can wait.”

Applejack knew they were right. It wasn’t like Applebloom was hurting anyone or someone was dying, and it most indeed could wait until later. Right now, their duties had to come first.

Later that day, all Big Mac wanted to do was sit down to a nice quiet lunch; a big Dagwood sandwich and a huge chocolate milkshake he made himself.

“Whoa! Careful, Big Mac!” cried Applebloom as she came in and snatched the lunch away. “Wouldn’t want you to choke on this or get a brain-freeze.”

Before her brother could protest, and had replaced his lunch with a simple bowl of broth with nothing in it, and an ordinary glass of warm apple juice. “Eat hearty, bro.” and she went off.

Mac was really getting frustrated, especially now with the loss of his lunch.

Granny Smith was outside for her casual stroll, and she took one sniff of the air, “Ahh… Magnolias!” she sighed.

A little butterfly came fluttering along and landed on her finger, “Well, hiya there…” said Granny to the little critter.

She reached up to stroke the butterfly’s soft wings when Applebloom popped up and scared the butterfly away, “And stay away!” she scorned to it.

“What in the name of hog’s feet!” cried Granny “What’cha tryin’ to do, give me a heart attack?!”

“Nope, just lookin’ out for ya; wouldn’t want that big bug to bite you.”

Granny was really growing concerned for her granddaughter’s behaviour, especially since she knew fully well that butterfliesdidn’t bite.

However, Applebloom’s actions did not go unnoticed; Tree Hugger and DD were working in the garden while Buddy was away, and they had been watching Applebloom all morning.

“I think someone’s chakra’s way unbalanced today.” said Tree Hugger.

DD agreed, “I bet I know what’s got her so riled up…” and she decided to go over and talk to her friend.

She walked across the path towards the Apple’s home.

“Hey, Applebloom…”

“Oh, hiya, DD…”

DD hesitated a bit trying to find the words to say, “Um… is everything okay?”

“Ah, sure… everything’s fine. My family’s safe, and I got nothin’ to fear.” said Applebloom, “But I do wish Applejack would hurry up and come home.”

DD could already tell what was wrong with Applebloom by the sound of her voice. “You know, Applebloom, you don’t need to go so over-the-top.

You can’t just protect your family from every single little thing there is.”

Applebloom tried to deny her friend, “I don’t get what you’re talkin’ about.”

“I think you do…” said DD.

By this point, Applebloom was quivering, still trying to hide her true feelings, but to no avail.

“Is it because Applejack was bitten by the bats?”

Applebloom winced, and tears formed in her eyes, confirming everything. “Ever since that day, I haven’t felt the same…

I could’ve lost my sister!

I was just a baby when my folks died! I don’t wanna lose anyone else I love!”

Her tears were falling sincerely now.

“You think I don’t know how you feel?” asked DD, and she decided to tell her a story…

Later that day, until about sundown, many ponies all around New Ponyville were all getting ready to go home to supper and get ready for bed, unaware of the imminent danger about to befall them…

Nightwing and his goons were hiding in the nearby forest, and hanging from the many tree limbs were swarms of ordinary bats, all of which were under Nightwing’s hypnotic control.

“It’s time…” Nightwing said, and he raised his amulet to wake the bats up and send them out, “Go, my children… serve me well, and fight for our cause.”

The bats began to fly out through the forest in large groups; each one of them was infected with Nightwing’s cursed breath which they would release on the village as they flew past.

“Wonderful…” said Shade “This is far easier than just biting individual ponies one-at-at-time.”

Ebany snickered, “And soon, all of New Ponyville will be placed under our control.”

Nightwing nodded, “Even if Starfleet detects the trouble… by then it will be too late to stop it.”

And indeed, the swarm of bats had already flown clear into the village, much to the sudden horrors of all the ponies.

“What’s going on?”

“We’re being invaded!”

Many of the ponies began to rush indoors, but many more were still outside when it began as the bat released the spores of breath all over the place.

“What’s that smell?”

“I feel… strange…!”

The warning alarm sounded and the automatic air purification units activated at the lampposts, cleansing the air, but it was already too late as the ponies were already starting to mutate. Even the Starfleet sentries in the area began to transform into Batlings themselves.

The bats even soared over New Sweet Apple Acres. “What’s goin’ on?” asked Applebloom.

“Whoa!” cried Tree Hugger “I’m feelin’ major vibrations in my neck… and that only happens when trouble’s coming!”

“Let’s head inside, quick!” yelled DD.

The trio, along with all the other ponies began to race for their homes, but it was too late; the scent of the vampire breath had already leaked down, and everyone smelled it… including Applebloom, and she, too, began to mutate.

Nightwing could only laugh maliciously as the entire village began to transform.

While all that, because of Applejack’s late arrival, training schedules had to be changed and reorganized. So, Lightning and his team worked later than originally intended, but now they were on their way back…

…And as they were so very far from New Ponyville and up in the skies, they never heard the alarms.

“Man, that was awesome.” said Rainbow “Those cadets really showed potential, especially the flyers… thanks to my Wonderbolt coaching.”

“Well…” said Lightning “I guess apart from our little delay, we had a successful session. I think we can head home in peace.”

Applejack stopped dead in her tracks, suddenly remembering Applebloom and the way she had been behaving. She felt almost discouraged to go home and be subjected to her sister’s overly obsessive care.

“Come on…” said Buddy “We’ll both go back and see if we can sort Applebloom out.”

Applejack sighed, but smiled, “Alright, I’m game.”

As they all neared New Ponyville…

“Wait! Stop!” cried Starla, and suddenly everyone could hear through the droid.

“That sounds like the atmosphere alarm.” said Rainbow.

“It just came on…” said Starla, and she scanned the area below through her droid’s visor.

“What’s goin’ on?” asked Applejack.

Starla continued to scan, “There’s definitely some kind of substance in the air.” The readout finally came in “…It’s bat breath?”

“Bat Breath?” asked Buddy.

“Wait…!” snapped Starla “I’m scanning strong hints of magic in it as well. It’s a powerful mutagen; it affects anyone that inhales it!”

The real Starla would be okay, because she was inside where it was safer to breathe, Lightning clenched his fists. He didn’t have to guess twice to figure who was behind all this!

“Respirators on…” he said “…We’re going in!”

The others agreed, and activated their masks, but Starla’s droid didn’t need one... it was a droid, it didn’t breathe!

It was almost completely dark by the second the fighters, all transformed, landed in town, and the whole place seemed all but deserted. Hardly any of the homes had their lights on inside.

“Where is everyone?” asked Buddy.

“Something’s not right here.” said Rainbow.

Suddenly, there was the sound of laughing, and everyone looked up onto a rooftop and saw Nightwing and his minions staring down at them all.

“Welcome…” Nightwing hissed “…To the opening night of Bat-Town!”

“What are you talking about?” asked Rainbow “This is New Ponyville, and always will be.”

“Not anymore…” said Shade.

“…And here’s why…” added Ebany, and she and Shade began to chirp like the bats they were. The ultra-sonic sound was unbearable to the ponies and they covered their ears, but that was the least of their problems…

When the chirping stopped, the fighters turned round, and there stood practically half of all the citizens of New Ponyville, all turned into bat-hybrids.

“Well, what do you think of my bat army?” taunted Nightwing.

The army of Batlings hissed and snarled at the fighters, and among them were a few familiar looking faces, much to Applejack and Buddy’s horrors.

“Applebloom… Big Mac… Granny?!” cried Applejack.

“Tree Hugger…! DD… No!” cried Buddy, but indeed, all their relatives had been affected as well, along with a huge swarm of other ponies, including Starfleet sentries that came to the frontline.

“Whoa! We are way outnumbered here!” grumbled Rainbow.

“Gee, what was your first clue?” said Starla.

Nightwing cackled wickedly, “Those breathing masks may protect you from my magic breath, but I very much doubt they’ll save you from my army. There’s already far more bats than you could possibly heal at once.”

Lightning growled as he clenched his fists, “He’s right. We’ve faced the Batlings before, but never this many at once. Even if we could try to heal some of them at once, I’m sure their comrades would bail them out!”

Nightwing snickered “Make it easier on yourselves and surrender peaceably, and together we shall all reign dominance over this land, just as me and my people did so long ago!”

“Never!” shouted Buddy “We might be outnumbered but we’ve faced bigger armies than this before…”

“He’s right…” agreed Lightning “Sometimes, Count Nightwing, you’ll find that bigger numbers doesn’t guarantee you victory… not when dealing with Starfleet.”

“Oh well…” snapped Nightwing, and he raised his amulet high, “Seize them, my army!”

The bat army charged forth…

Buddy and Starla nodded at one another…

“STAR SHOWER”

“LEAF SWARM”

The barrage of leaves and stars shrouded at the army stunning them softly, allowing Lightning to leap up high and trap a good amount of batlings within Uniforce domes.

“Hey! You can’t do that!” snarled Ebany.

“Sure he can…” teased Rainbow “Just like I can do THIS…!” and with that, she sped right towards the Bat Lords, forcing them to zip up and out of the way.

“Oh, no you don’t!” sneered Rainbow, and she charged up after them, preferably at Nightwing to get his Amulet; feeling that if she could get it from him, she could reverse the curse on all the other ponies, “Give me that…!”

Nightwing swerved and dodged her every lunge at him, and he kicked her hard and down to the ground.

“RD…!” cried Applejack.

Rainbow wasn’t hurt, but Nightwing taunted her, “Silly pony, have you forgotten that my power increases with each and every victim I infect?”

The fighters all winced and realized the army had boosted his strength immensely.

“Yes, take a good look…” hissed Shade “For soon every creature on this entire planet will be one of us.”

Ebany nodded, “Then you can all experience what it feels like to have your lands taken from you, and your lives changed forever.”

“Trust us we already know how that feels.” said Lightning, “Some of us even more than you know…” He shut his eyes tight and put a hand over his heart remembering his home planet.

He quickly snapped himself back into reality, and began to power himself up, enveloped in the uniforce, but he didn’t go Enticorn as he couldn’t risk hurting all the civilians.

“What’s this?!” snapped Nightwing.

“Ha!” scoffed Lightning “We fighters also get stronger all the time, Nightwing.”

Shade and Ebany hissed and prepared to defend their count, but Nightwing called them off, “This I must see for myself.” he said as he prepared to face Lightning one-on-one.

“I’ll deal with him…” Lightning said to his friends, “The rest of you try to help the civilians.”

The others agreed, and Lightning flew up into the sky where Nightwing was waiting for him. “Ready when you are, chump.”

Nightwing snickered, “Let’s go…” and he swiftly zipped forward to attack him, punching him hard in the face, “Take that!”

Despite being hit directly, Lightning didn’t feel much pain, and countered by kicking Nightwing hard in his gut.

The two of them both flew back hard, Lightning rubbing his face and Nightwing holding his stomach. Neither of them was really hurt…

“Impressive.” hissed Nightwing “Perhaps I underestimated you… your power is unlike that of other creatures I’ve absorbed from. I must have it to achieve my goal!”

Lightning growled, not willing to let him succeed.

While they continued to brawl up above, the others still had the army of civilians as well as Shade and Ebany to deal with.

“Coming at you!” shouted Shade.

“Let’s go!” added Ebany.

Behind them rushed a whole swarm of the batlings of New Ponyville, including applejack and Buddy’s relatives.

“Come on, y’all… snap out of it.” said Applejack, but the bats charged right at her and began to attack, even though none of them were skilled fighters like she was. Even Granny Smith was fighting fiercely; her old age didn’t seem to slow her down a bit thanks to the Bat DNA inside her… though her dentures still fell out.

Unable to bring herself to fight her own family, Applejack was forced to serve and doge their every attack.

“Applejack, you can’t just keep dodging!” Buddy called to her “You’ve got to try and detain them. It’s the only way to hold them back!”

He demonstrated his own courage by using his telekinesis to levitate a whole load of ponies up high, including Tree Hugger and DD, his own family. At least he wasn’t trying to hurt them.

“You better do as he says.” said Starla.

Applejack reluctantly agreed, and grabbed her rope, just as her family charged at her again. “Time to rope me some rustlers.” she said, and skillfully lassoed all three of them together, and bound them tightly.

“YE-HAW…! Now, I got’cha!” but her gloating was short-lived was Shade grabbed her from behind. “And now I’ve got you!” he hissed in her ear.

Ebany landed near them and prepared to bite her and turn her into a bat, again.

“Oh, no you don’t…!” sneered Starla, and she leapt over and kicked the two bats in the side, sending them skidding along the road.

“Thanks a bundle.” said Applejack.

Starla smiled at her.

“Uh… guys…” Rainbow called out “I think things are about to get even uglier.”

There were still many batlings, and now the frontline Starfleet sentries stood ready to fight.

“Oh boy…” said Buddy.

Ebany and Shade snickered as the got up, eager to watch the fight.

While way up high, Nightwing and Lightning had been brawling hard; punching and kicking furiously, and hitting each other several times.

“Now, try this…!” thundered Nightwing as he unleashed a wave of powerful magic from his amulet.

“HIYA…!” Lightning shouted as he unleashed a strong blast of the uniforce, striking the magic and sending it back towards Nightwing, forcing him to zip way up higher, avoiding the explosion.

He glared at Lightning, and Lightning glared at him with his capture blaster, “FIRE…!” and he blasted at the evil battling trying to capture him, but the amulet protected Nightwing from the power and deflected the blast way up into the darkening night sky.

KAPOW!! A big explosion…

“Nice try, but all for naught…!” hissed Nightwing.

Outraged, Lightning made his gun disappear, “This isn’t over yet!”

“We actually agree on something!” growled Nightwing, but just as he was about to unleash his next attack, the brightness of the full moon began shine down on everyone!

Nightwing suddenly gasped, and clutched his head, “No… not now!” he groaned.

Shade and Ebany began to act the same way, and at the same time, all the infected ponies began to groan and shriek as the mutation seemed to be wearing off!

“What’s happening?” asked Buddy.

Before any of the other fighters could ask or say anything, all the infected ponies had reverted back to their normal selves, while the Bat Lords were groaning and moaning almost painfully.

“Let’s… get out of here!” growled Shade.

“Hurry!” cried Ebany.

Nightwing reluctantly agreed, “Until… next time… Starfleet…!” and managed to activate his amulet to teleport himself and his minions away.

“Hey!” Lightning shouted, but the bat lords were already gone, much to his outrage, and confusion at the same time. “What was with them?” he wondered “They were doing so well, and then suddenly they just looked so weak.”

The bat lords had reappeared in a dark forest clearing, but the moonlight still shone down on them from above, and the three of them began to grow weaker and weaker.

“No…!! This can’t be happening!” cried Nightwing.

Next, either he wasn’t thinking clearly, or it was part of his plan, he took his amulet and tossed it far into the darkness planning to get it back later.

Suddenly, in a bright flash of light, he and his two minions had transformed. All three of them were concealed by the darkness of the forest, but each of them seemed to take on the form of three Earth Ponies.

All three of them seemed to speak in southern accents like Applejack, yet all three of them seemed lost and confused, unable to remember the events that just occurred.

“What happened?” asked one of the males.

“How are we free? We sealed ourselves up!” said the other male “And what the hay are we doin’ in this here forest.”

The female felt worried, “I bet my soul that those batty varmints have been up to their old tricks again. We can’t let ‘em terrorize the ponies anymore!”

The first male agreed, “We’ve gotta try and seal ourselves up again! It’s the only way.” But then he noticed, “Hey, where’s the amulet?”

The other two didn’t know.

Suddenly, thick clouds began to cover the moon…!

At the same time, the three ponies gasped and clutched their heads. They moaned and groaned as they felt themselves losing control again, and they transformed back into the three bat lords.

Nightwing growled, and he raised his hand to magically raise the amulet from where he threw it and grasped it. “I will never allow those fools to silence me!”

Shade and Ebany agreed.

Now the three of them were more determined than ever to complete their plans and take over United Equestria.

Meanwhile, the vampire breath had worn off in the air, and the civilians were all returned to normal, but they hadn’t a single recollection of what happened.

Many of them were being escorted home by the sentries while others who lived nearby went home by themselves. The only ones left were Buddy and Applejack’s respective relatives.

“What’s happened?” asked DD.

“Like… one minute I was at the garden,” said Tree Hugger.

Buddy smiled and hugged his wife and his cousin softly, “I’m so glad you two are safe.”

As confused as the girls were, they hugged him back.

“Dag nabit!” groaned Granny Smith “How late is it? And what are doin’ a-way out here?”

“Look…” cried Big Mac, and that’s when Applejack and the others came over.

“Are you all okay?” asked Starla.

Applebloom rubbed her head, “I think so… but what happened?”

Applejack had tears in her eyes and she embraced her sister, “Oh, Applebloom…! Don’t you go scarin’ me like again!”

Applebloom was confused, so were Granny and Mac when Applejack hugged them dearly.

The others all smiled, and Rainbow wiped a tear from here eye, “I just love these sentiment moments.”

Lightning and the others escorted the two families back to New Apple Acres, and told them what had happened!

“I can’t believe them vat varmints got us!” snarled Granny “When I get my hands on them, I’ll just--”

“Uh, easy there, Granny…” said Lightning “Don’t go throwing yourself out of whack.”

“Yeah, best to leave the fighting to us.” said Starla.

Suddenly, Applejack remembered, and asked to Applebloom “Is this what you were all worried about and why you did all those crazy things for?”

Her sister nodded, “I was real scared when you got bit the first time, and I was worried I’d lose you again. We lost Ma and Pa long ago, and I didn’t wanna lose anyone else I loved!

I’m real sorry I was bein’ a pain… to all of you.”

Her family couldn’t hold it against her, and came together in a group hug.

Buddy knelt down to Applebloom, “I know exactly how you must feel. This happened to me and DD too.”

“I know…” replied Applebloom, “DD told me everything.”

Buddy looked at DD, and she nodded at him, and then she told everyone the same story she had told Applebloom earlier that day…

“Years ago, back on Unicornicopia, when Buddy took me in after the death of my parents, I was really grateful, but at the same time, worried. Buddy was the only blood relative I had.

It also didn’t help that he was a Starfleet fighter, and he was always putting himself in danger, and getting hurt, especially when Titan was breaking free.

I used to get so scared because I didn’t want to lose him too, I did the exact same things Applebloom did.”

Buddy sighed, “I still remember it all… You padded by boots, you plastic-wrapped everything, you even bundled me up in safety gear whenever I was about to leave the house… even if it was just to go to the market to get some milk.”

The others all thought that funny, but embarrassing as well.

DD went on explaining…

“Buddy and I talked about it, and he told me…

“I know you’re worried about me, but you can’t keep doing all this. I’m an officer and I need to be loyal to my duties.”

He then made special arrangements, that if something would ever happen to him, I’d be put up with one of his friends, and they would look after me.

So, even though I would always be okay if anything happened, I still felt really scared and worried, but I knew I couldn’t stop Buddy from living his life.

So, whenever he went into battle, or if I was just feeling overly concerned, I played a special game.

I would take a deck of cards, and I would flick them into a hat across from my bed, and I kept telling myself that if I made more cards go into the hat than I would miss, Buddy would come home safely to me.

Of course, with my magic I had a pretty good shot.”

She demonstrated by levitating a small clump of dirt, and she skillfully flung it into the air and sent it all the way over into a nearby pond.

“But then one day, Unicornicopia was in big trouble. Titan’s minions sent their army of thousands of foot soldiers to attack.”

Lightning, Starla, and Buddy remembered that well, “All of us weren’t there though.” said Lightning “We all headed to The Dark Planet for a showdown with the minions. For only with their defeat could the army be stopped.”

Starla clenched her fists, “Walking straight into Titan’s domain like that, hardly anything could’ve been scarier.”

Buddy nodded in agreement.

“How many cards did you shoot, DD?” asked Applebloom.

“None.” replied DD “I was so nervous with all the danger outside, I forgot to do it. The hours of danger seemed to last forever, and Buddy was away from a long time… I didn’t flick a single card.

And you know what happened…?”

Applebloom shook her head, and Buddy answered her, “The battle was over, and I came home just fine.”

He then hugged DD softly, and everyone awed at the two, especially Applebloom.

Applejack then said to her sister “It’s sweet of you to want to look out for us Applebloom, but it’s our job to worry about you. Not the other way around.”

Big Mac nodded “You can’t keep babying us over every single thing, but you can be there to help us when we really need you. That’s what’s it’s all about.”

Applebloom smiled, having found a bit of new confidence in her. “Can you just promise me one thing?”

Everyone listened…

“Can you beat those bats for what they did to all of us?”

Everyone smiled and agreed to keep that promise.

Just the same, they were all rather concerned; Nightwing was definitely getting stronger and more devious than ever, and who knew was vile scheme he would try next.

All they could do was be on the lookout and fight him another day!

(Promo)

In our next episode: Lightning and Starla’s baby is well on its way, and everyone is so excited, but none as excited as Pinkie Pie, as she constantly pesters the couple wanting to give full support and help.

When Sienna attacks their home, demanding the map fragment and legendary item Starfleet has, it could be a close call for all involved.

Will Sienna succeed in her hunt, and will Lightning and Starla’s foal arrive safely

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

(Next Episode: “It’s Coming, Baby!”)

Episode 8: Come on, Baby

Author's Note

URGH!!! (Not Counting these author's note) even with all the shaving, this episode is 808 too long. (My word processor counted different than the Chapter Word counter)

I'll have to make either the next chapter or another one 800 words shorter to compensate the proper balance.

STICK TO THE WORD LIMIT

Episode 8: Come on, Baby

EPISODE EIGHT

Starla and Lightning’s foal was due to arrive at any day, and already they had received many gifts from friends and fellow officers, especially at the Baby Shower where Starla received loads of gifts for the baby from friends all over…

So, pretty much everything was all set up in the nursery. All that was needed now was for the baby to come along.

One afternoon, there was a ring at Lightning and Starla’s place.

Krysta, whom was visiting, flew out through an open window. “Wow.” she said as she gawked at what appeared to be a very large present, wrapped with a bow, and addressed “To Col. Starla Shine.”

“Hey, Starla…!” Krysta called into house, “Come here.”

Starla groggily came to the door, having been disturbed from her nap when the doorbell rang. She looked at the present strangely, “What’s this for? It’s not my birthday.”

Suddenly, the box began to rumble when no one had even touched it. POOF!! It burst wide open as Pinkie Pie leapt out, dressed in a maid’s outfit and followed by a shower of confetti.

“Hey there!” she shouted out.

Starla and Krysta were shaken softly by the surprise, and Starla clutched her belly, “Ooh…!” she groaned softly. Krysta felt worried, but Starla motioned that she was alright.

“Pinkie, what is all this?” Starla asked.

Pinkie giggled “I’m your new housemaid and helper!”

“…My what?” asked Starla.

Pinkie giggled again, “Starla you’re about to become a mommy, and I want to be here to help you with all the housework, and chores, and most importantly: I’ll be here to help you safely through the big moment when that little foal comes out of you.”

Starla and Krysta blinked once and looked to each other, and then back to Pinkie, and Krysta said, “Yeah, uh… I’m sure Starla doesn’t need all that, but it is sweet to offer.”

Pinkie shook her head, “Well, actually it is sweet; that’s why I thought of it, but trust me… all I want is Starla to have her baby safely.”

“Um, Pinkie,” said Starla “I’m sure that’s Lightning’s job.”

“Oh…?” said Pinkie “And just where is he, huh, where is he?”

At that exactly moment, Lightning dropped in, back from patrol, “I’m home.” And then he gawked at Pinkie “What are you wearing that for?”

“I’m here to help you guys.” replied Pinkie.

Starla filled in the rest, “She thinks we’ll need help when the baby comes.”

Before Lightning could ask, Pinkie reminded them all “Don’t you remember what happened with Cadance’s baby?”

The others all looked down and blue, remembering that horrible time. Especially, Lightning.

“Thanks for bringing THAT up.” grumbled Krysta.

Pinkie nodded, “It happened then, but it’s not going to happen now. I want to help you guys with everything there is and to make sure that that baby comes safely into the world.

Now, if you’ll excuse me...” and she walked past Starla and into their house to set to work.

“Well, at least she’s being thoughtful.” said Krysta.

Lightning and Starla felt this was going to go a little far.

Meanwhile, Sienna was contemplating over the search for the Elements of Chaos, and she was more flustered than ever.

“So now it requires us to find pieces of a map and these legendary items to unlock the location. This is incredibly outrageous!”

Mako was a little frightened by his sister’s tone, “But sis, at least now we know what we have to look for, and once we find the map and the items, we can find The Elements.”

“It’s not that simple!” sneered Slash “We still have to them, and they could be anywhere, and besides that; Starfleet still has one piece of the map and one of the legendary items.

Getting it from them won’t be easy, unless we make them hand it over!”

Sienna’s eyes suddenly lit up, “Exactly! And nothing persuades better than a little ultimatum.”

Mako leapt with excitement, “I love it when we use ultimatums!”

Sienna just snickered wickedly.

Later on, the house sparkled like crazy. Pinkie Pie wasted no effort in doing all the housework that day for her friends.

“Wow.” Lightning said as he looked down at the floor, “I can almost see myself.”

Starla was impressed, “I knew Pinkie was serious when she said she wanted to help, but I didn’t think she was THIS serious.”

“Where is she now?” asked Krysta.

“In the kitchen cooking up a “special” dinner for us.” replied Starla.

“…Dinnertime!” Pinkie hollered.

The trio went to the kitchen, and what a beautiful spread it was across the table; like a real banquet. Lightning’s place at the table had roast beef, mashed potatoes, and plenty of seasonal vegetables, while Starla’s place had salad, soup, and some bread and cheese.

“Tonight’s menu: For the big strong father-to-be; a whole-hearty protein meat feast, and for the mommy; we have a low-fat nutritious culmination for a healthy baby.”

Lightning and Starla were speechless. “When did you learn to cook like this?” Lightning asked.

“Are you kidding?” replied Pinkie “I bake stuff all the time, and sometimes I had to look after the cake twins. So I just learned how.”

Starla sat down at her seat, “You know we could’ve just used the food-synthesiser. It would’ve saved you much trouble and work.”

Pinkie shook her head, “Uh-uhn… Mrs. Cake always tells me “You can never beat home-style cooking; especially when you’re having a baby.

…So, dig in.”

The friends all sat down, and Lightning took one bite of his roast, and his eyes twinkled.

Starla felt the same when she took one sip of her soup.

Krysta helped herself to tiny little bits of each meal, and she quivered with delight at the taste and cried, “This is incredible!”

“Fantastic!” agreed Starla.

“It’s almost like Cookie Dough’s cooking.” said Lightning.

Pinkie smiled with pride and folded her arms. Then she sat down to help herself to her own cooking.

After the sumptuous supper, all the dishes had not a morsel left to spare. “Pinkie, you ought to open a restaurant.” said Lightning.

Pinkie smiled proudly, but then… Starla gave a small gasp and her stomach growled for everyone to her.

Pinkie bolted upright, “IT’S TIME!!” she shrieked, “IT’S TIME!! IT’S TIME!!”

“Calm down, Pinkie!” said Lightning, “Yeah, my stomach always growls like that when I’ve overeaten.” added Starla. She poked her tummy and it gave another gurgle. “I’ve always been a heavy eater, even before I was pregnant.”

Pinkie sighed heavily, “Don’t you scare me like that! I thought the baby was really coming.”

The trio sighed. “Pinkie, the baby will come when it’s ready to. You don’t have to worry like this.” said Lightning.

The girls agreed, but Pinkie insisted, “I said I was going to help you through this, and I’m going to.”

The trio all exchanged annoyed looks at one-another.

Later, that night, Starla was already in bed and breathing steadily but deeply to help the baby breathe.

Krysta inspected the luggage at the end of the room that was ready for the moment Starla had to go to the hospital. “I think you’re going to be just fine.” she said.

Starla smiled, “I wish I could say the same for, Pinkie.”

Indeed, Pinkie was outside, patrolling the house itself-- flying in circles all around it, and then she stopped and reversed direction, even though Lightning had protested she go home.

She wasn’t hurting anyone anyway.

“Well I think it’s sweet that she’s showing that she cares.” said Krysta.

“Good, why you take her Luminous with you.” joked Starla.

Krysta giggled, “Speaking of which, I better get back. I’ll come back and check up on you in the morning… if you want me to that is.”

Starla sighed playfully, “Well, you’re welcome to come, even if Pinkie’s still here.”

Krysta then warped herself away, back to her home planet and left Starla to continue her breathing exercise.

While downstairs, Lightning was finishing up looking over reports like he did every night. It was part of his job as commander, and he was used to it-- going to bed late, and getting up early.

He looked out the wind and saw Pinkie was still on patrol, and rather than argue with her, he was sure she’d eventually grow tired and head on home.

Just the same, he felt it understood how she felt. He felt nervous and excited at the same time about the baby coming.

As he sat on the sofa, he began to sink deeply into his thoughts, as music played in his mind.

“I can’t believe it; I’m going to be a father, with a baby of my own. I wonder what it’ll be.

…Maybe, it’ll be a boy; a son for me and Starla.”

Then he began to sing in his thoughts and at the same time, imagining his life as a father and doing things with his baby.

I wonder what it’ll be like; that little bundle of joy
I bet he’ll be the sweetest ever boy.

…My son!

My little colt will be quite the handsome guy, like I
My little colt will be cuddly and sweet that would make you sigh
He'll need love and care, that’s why I’ll be there,
…to tend to his every need
And he’ll wiggle about so happy…
…and won’t be brainwashed by greed!
No he won’t ever succumb to slimy grimy greed!

Lightning smiled at thought,“Someday, that little guy will grow big and strong. I wonder what he could be in future.”

Maybe he’ll be a big famer, like Applejack, yes, just like her
Write up poems like Rhymey, or be an artist like my pal Artie.
Or join Starfleet to fight bad guys, and sail across the starry skies,
And he’ll become a great big hero… he’ll be number one!

YES!!!

That would whole lot of fun…
…for my son!

Then Lightning thought,“…But wait! What if Starla has a daughter? That would be nice too. I’d have two lovely ladies in my life.”

My little filly will be pretty and cute and sweet, as can be
My little filly will be lovely and shine just like her Mommy
She will look up at us, and not make a fuss
And she’ll smile warm and bright
And she won’t be afraid of the dark of the night!

No, she won’t be afraid of the dreadful dark at night

Lightning smiled,“And when she grows up…”

She could join with Starfleet too,
She’d do all the things her mom and I do
Fight for peace and justice in space
And spread the word to most any place
She'll stand up to all the evil, and be brave with all her might
She'll lock up all the baddies so they are no more, and she’ll only stand up for what’s right
Yes, she’ll only stand up for what’s right…

…in the world.
…My girl!

As the song began to draw to a close, Lightning realized the baby still wasn’t born yet,“Well, whatever it may be… a boy or a girl… there’s one thing I do know…”

That baby will be needing someone,
a father to raise it, see,
and that little pony’s dad is gonna be me.

Me…

…Be… ME-EE-EE-EE-EE…!

He smiled heavenly, “Oh, well.”

Suddenly, there the sound of an evil laugh coming from the sky.

Pinkie stopped dead in her tracks, and looked up, along with many other ponies disturbed by the sound.

Sienna appeared in the sky as a large holographic image, thanks to a little help from Omnisha’s psychic powers.

“Now, hear this, Starfleet. This is an ultimatum.” she sneered.

Lightning and Pinkie glared angrily up at the sky, and Starla gripped her bed covers tight trying not to get stressed out.

Sienna issued her threat…

“I know you have part of a mystic map, and one of the legendary items. So here’s the thing…

You will turn over both those treasures to me, by sundown, tomorrow night! And believe me, Refusal is not an option!”

She snapped her fingers, and the images changed, showing not one, not two, but five super strong Jemma-Nites. Each monster seemed rather unusual in shape-- each one representing a different part of a body.

-Two Legs

-Two Arms

-One Massive head

Each one able to function on its own and be its own special monster; but as anyone could guess, and just as the images demonstrated, these individual pieces were able to combine to form one massive beast!

“Behold… Ex-Limber!” said Sienna “I don’t usually use this monster unless it’s a special occasion, and believe me… it’s just as powerful and as dangerous as it looks!”

The next images shown were of Ex-Limber brutally attacking races of other planets Sienna had pillaged. Many fought back… all were destroyed at the hands of that murderous beast!

Lightning’s anger was spiking.

Pinkie narrowed her eyes.

Starla gripped the sheets even tighter as she felt her own anger rising, but then rubbed her stomach softly.

Sienna reappeared in the sky, “You see it, Starfleet. You bring me those items, tomorrow night at sundown in New Ponyville Square…

…Or I’m coming down there with Ex-Limber, and we’ll make it New Ponyville Flats!”

With that, the images vanished.

Lightning stomped his foot, and called out the window, “Pinkie. Looks like I do need more help than I thought. Go round up the others and bring them here.”

“But what about Starla?” asked Pinkie “…I said I wouldn’t leave you guys if the baby came.”

“I can look after my own wife, thank you very much. Now I gave you an order, so snap to it, Major!”

“Sir, yes sir!” cried Pinkie, and she sprinted off like a bullet thanks to her Starfleet speed.

Lightning sighed, but he was more concerned with Sienna’s threat as he looked up in the sky, spotting her ship as it appeared as a large bright star going along the darkness!

Onboard, Sienna felt quite pleased with the threat she had just made, even her crewmates complimented her.

“Nicely well done, Captain.” said Omnisha.

“Yes!” agreed Slash “By now, all those ponies must be quaking in fear that their homeland is about to be obliterated by one of our best monsters!”

Sienna nodded, “I think it pays to make them wait, let them fret about it for a while.

Of course, either way, whether they give us treasures or not… Tomorrow night promises to be quite an evening for all of us.”

Soon, every last member of Lightning’s unit were gathered at his place. Some of them were a little sleepy, having just gone to bed by the time they were summoned.

Rarity let out a huge yawn, “Can’t a lady get her beauty sleep anymore?”

“Easy, honey.” said Spike “You know we’re supposed to come when we’re told.”

“Exactly right, Spike.” said Lightning “Now you’ve all been briefed, and some of you actually heard Sienna’s threat.”

Fluttershy shuddered nervously, “I’m still haunted by the sound of her voice.

Rhymey clenched his fists,

“We won’t give her the treasures, that’s true,
But I’m sure we all know what Sienna will do.”

The others agreed, Sienna would most likely still attack New Ponyville.

“But why start with New Ponyville?” wondered Rainbow, “Sienna knows the treasures are safe and secure in New Canterlot.”

“It’s the way she operates.” said Artie “We’ve faced many like her before, and they all think alike, but Sienna’s not quite like the rest of them.”

Lightning agreed, “I’ve made a commission: This entire town is to be evacuated and sent to Refuge Planets in view of Sienna’s threat. Only officers and sentries will be allowed anywhere near here.

Once the evacuation is complete, shifts will be made round the clock, which means you’ll all have your own turns for shifts.”

The others all agreed.

Pinkie then snapped a sweat-band over her brow, and cracked her knuckles, “Hi… ya… WAAA! And don’t worry about your baby, Starla, I’ll be here to watch over you every minute… every second… every mila-second!”

The others were all wide-eyed at her wildness, and Lightning and Starla quickly said to them all“Don’t ask.”

Soon, despite it being late at night, the alarm was sounded, not that it really woke up or disturbed anybody as Sienna’s threat had already shaken up many of the citizens.

The announcements were made, and the citizens were told to evacuate immediately.

Krysta’s fairy soldiers created many portals for the citizens to lineup by and walk through to be warped off into space for the Refuge Planets.

Sienna and her forces could see the whole thing from their ship.

“Look there!” cried Slash “The ponies and other creatures are fleeing. Let’s blast them!”

The Raiders all complied and prepared the lasers for firing.

“No!!” shouted Sienna, “Let them go!”

“What? But Captain…!”

“Let… them… go!” growled Sienna “I’m not interested in those cowards, unless they have any valuables, which even I can tell they don’t.”

“Yeah.” said Mako “All that matters to us is the map and the item, as well as the ultimatum. Right, Sienna?”

Sienna smiled and patted her brother’s head, “Right you are, Mako. You’ll make a great treasure hunter someday.”

Mako stuck out his tongue rudely at Slash, irking him, while Omnisha snickered.

As promised, after the evacuation, the night patrol sentries did their job patrolling the area, while Lightning and his unit of front-liners each took turns so others could get some sleep and stay in shape for the oncoming threat.

Dyno and Myte passed each other on their rounds.

“All is well, bro?” asked Dyno.

“Si, it’s all quiet; too quiet even.” replied Myte.

Daylight then broke out, and Applejack and Buddy dropped in.

“Okay, guys, we’ll take over watch.” said Buddy.

“Anythin’ we should know?” asked Applejack.

The Twins shook their head, “Uh… but have any of you seen Pinkie Pie?” asked Dyno.

“Last time I saw her, she was still around Lightning and Starla’s place.” said Myte.

Indeed, Pinkie was still outside patrolling the house.

Krysta arrived, as promised she would. She, too, had heard about the emergency.

“Hey, Pinkie, are you up already?” she asked.

Pinkie turned to show her sleepy eyes, “Actually, I’mstillup; gotta maintain patrol.”

She reached behind her and pulled out a bottle of her special Starfleet Pep-Pills. She popped one in her mouth and swallowed it, and soon she felt wide awake again. “Ahh…! That’s better.

Daylight, and all’s well!”

Starla opened the window from her bedroom, and looked out groggily groaning, “Pinkie Pie…!”

Seeing her there and how strange she looked, Pinkie jumped to the conclusion again, “It’s Time! It’s Time!”

“It’s… not time!” said Starla “Your hollering woke me up.”

Pinkie felt sorry, “Well, at least now you won’t have the baby in your sleep.”

“Ugh!!” groaned Starla, and she went back inside, not bothering to close the window.

Krysta sighed and flew up through the window and into the bedroom. Starla was already in bed, while Lightning was preparing for his next round of duty.

“She just won’t give up.” said Krysta.

Lightning shook his head, “I’ve tried everything, but I can’t abuse my authority and order her away, and besides, she pretty much is patrolling this nearby area.”

Starla let out a huge yawn, “I’m a tired, pregnant pony, and I don’t know how much more of this I can take.”

Lightning and Krysta felt it was just a mood swing talking. They were informed that mares couldn’t always control their emotions while pregnant.

Lightning pecked his wife on the cheek. “Try to catch up your sleep, Star.” Then he turned to Krysta “Keep an eye on her for me, will you?”

Krysta nodded.

Then he leapt out the window and flew off on his patrol, much to Pinkie’s annoyance. “How can he just fly off when Starla could give birth anytime?”

Nevertheless, she continued on her patrol.

All through that day, she just kept pacing back and forth, patroling the house. Every now and then she would peek through the window to make sure Starla was okay and to watch out if the baby was on the way.

Krysta took take of Starla, even though she was small, she had her magic to do some of the housework, and activate the food synthizier for meals.

Then Pinkie would just poke her head through the door or a window, or even down the chimney and repeatedly ask, “Is it time yet? Is it time yet? Is it time yet?”

“NO!!” Starla and Krysta would respond.

As Pinkie continued her patrol she began to feel weary again, especially due to not eating breakfast, and her pep-pills couldn’t keep her going forever.

So, she popped another one, and ate one of per emergency protein pills, which supply her with the same nutrient equivalence of a meal, but even that was not really too good. Nutrients were one thing, but without the solid bulk of real food, the pill would only do so much.

When Lightning came home for lunch, he brought Rarity, Spike, Rhymey and Fluttershy with him, as they finished their patrols.

Spike looked out the window as Pinkie passed by, “Gotta hand it to her. She’s pretty dedicated.”

“Well, I for one will not let her starve out there.” said Rarity, and she prepared a little dish of food from the feast and left it outside the front door. “Here you are, Pinkie. You should at least eat.”

Pinkie decided to take a few moments and snack.

“Poor Pinkie.” said Fluttershy.

“What about me?” said Starla “I’m the one having a baby here, and being constantly pestered by Pinkie’s oversealous attitude.”

Lightning sighed, “We’ve tried to tell her over and over: we’re perfectly prepared and ready for this birth when it happens.”

Rhymey cleared his throat,

“Just the same, we all better keep our groove,
In another few hours, Sienna will make her move.”

Everyone kept their eyes well on the time as patrols continued until long into sundown.

The Starfleet sentries were posted all around New Ponyville, while Lightning and his entire unit were all transformed, and standing in the town square. Even Pinkie and Starla’s droid were there.

“I really think I should stay to help Starla out.” Pinkie protested.

“I’m perfectly fine, Pinkie.” Starla said through her droid, “The sentries are guarding the house, so if I go into labor they’ll help me.”

Pinkie was about to protest, but Applejack put her hand over her mouth, “Please, just don’t say it.”

Suddenly, there was a bright beam of light that shot down from the sky and hit the ground. Sienna appeared, along with Slash, Omnisha, Mako, and a whole load of Raiders.

The fighters all stood tall and ready.

“Good evening.” hissed Sienna.

The fighters just glared sternly at her, while Sienna’s team snickered sinisterly.

“So, what’s it going to be?” Sienna asked “Are you going to hand over those treasures, or do I hand myself to your town… and crush it like an egg!”

Lightning stepped forth, and held out the very map fragment, and the knight helmet that Sienna wanted. “These are what you want.”

He threw them out so they landed near Sienna’s feet. She picked them up, “Figured, you’d see things my way.”

Suddenly, loud footsteps were heard, rumbling the ground.

“What’s happening?” cried Rainbow.

“I think we’re being double-crossed.” sneered Artie.

Indeed, five powerful Jemma-Nites came marching from around corners and into the square.

-Two legs

-Two Arms

-The large head

“I thought we had a deal, Sienna!” snarled Starla, “You said you wouldn’t attack our town.”

“Oh, sure… I agreedI wouldn’t.”teased Sienna “But I never said my Ex-Limber wouldn’t.”

Slash laughed “One of the first things you should know, Starfleet: Never trust your enemy!”

“Let’s get ‘em!” thundered Lightning, but before he and the others could even make a move, Sienna and her team were captures in their beam of light and the ponies couldn’t get to them.

“Aw… too slow.” teased Omnisha “I don’t even have to be psychic to see that you’re all in for a world of hurt now.”

Sienna blew them all a mocking kiss, “Ciao, and thanks for the gifts.”

Then the aliens vanished, gone back to their spaceship, but the monsters and Raiders were still there and raring to battle.

“Looks like we’ve got plenty of work cut out for us now.” cried Spike.

Lightning was prepared for this, and he whistled loudly for the sentries to come forth, and at his command, many of the sentries came rushing around the bends or dropping in from the skies to brawl with the Raiders to keep them back.

“That’ll deal with them, now let’s trash those monsters!”

The others all agreed, and they all split up into groups and began to attack each body part.

The two large hands prepared to clap together.

“Jump!” shouted Buddy, and he and his team leapt up high as the massive hands collided together, making a massive shockwave that still hit them all in midflight and caused them all to crash down hard.

“Any more bright ideas?” asked Rainbow.

The two large hands floated way up high and clenched into fists to slam down.

“Yeah… DODGE!” shouted Artie.

Everyone rolled out of the way just in time.

“That does it!” snarled Buddy,“VINE WHIP”He griped his whip tight, and lassoed the two arms together. “Got ‘cha! Get ‘em guys!”

Artie leapt forth,“COLOR KICK”and he booted the two arms way up high, and Rainbow soared straight at them in a Rainbow Streak, bashing them hard and sending them crashing down.

The two large legs stomped along, and they aimed a strong kick.

“This is how we used to buck our apple trees.” said Applejack, and she got down on all fours, sprung up on her arms and kicked the two feet hard just as they kicked her. Both forces seemed equal.

“DRAGON FLAME-WHEEL!”shouted Spike, and he curled up in flames and rolled out hard into the two legs, bashing into them hard, straight for Rarity, and she stopped them with her telekinesis.

She growled and sent them sailing up into the sky, where the Twins were waiting for them.

They joined hands their hands together,“BOOM-BOOM ROCKETS!”

Their rockets struck the two legs hard and down they went, crashing on the ground.

The twins slapped each other a high-five.

The head was much larger than the four limbs. In fact, it was twice the size of a single pony, and it had the power to spew powerful pulse-blasts from its massive mouth.

“Look out!” shouted Lightning, and he and the others all dodged and scattered about as the blasts were fired and exploded on the ground.

More pulses were fired, “Take this!” shouted Lightning and he blasted the pulses with small blasts of the uniforce, detonating them in midair.

The monster opened his mouth to fire again, right at Pinkie and Fluttershy. They nodded at each other and quickly zipped out of the way allowing Starla and Rhymey to attack.

“STARLIGHT ARROW”

“DRILL QUILL”

The arrow and the quills straight into the monster’s huge mouth, creating a small rupture inside, and causing the head to crash down hard on the ground.

“Ha! These guys aren’t so tough.” Pinkie gloated, but suddenly, the head and the four limbs began to glow.

“Uh, oh…! What’s happening now?” cried Fluttershy.

She got her answer as the body parts combined together and magically formed one huge monster: Ex-Limber.

That hulking beast was the size of a house, and his limbs and his head were much large than before. “Whoa!” cried Starla as she scanned the monster’s power, “The levels are off the charts.”

Lightning scanned the creature as well, and the readout said that its power could wipe out the entire town in one thunderous shot.

“Alright…” Lightning called to the others, “We suspected this would happen. Prepare for group formation!”

The team agreed.

Ex-Limber stopped its huge feet, and began to powerful for its huge attack. Its huge arms were glowing softly, but it would take a moment for the power to reach full.

This gave the Equestrian ponies the perfect chance they needed. They all stood together,“VALKYRIA!!”and changed into five of the Valkyries of Harmony.

No sooner had the girls transformed did Ex-Limber finish powering up and was ready to blast, but as it readied to fire, the Valkyries combined their swords and unleashed the Harmonic Binds to hold the monster in place!

“This ought’a hold him back for a bit.” said Applejack.

“It’s all you, guys!” called Rainbow.

Lightning and the Space Ponies nodded.

“Group Formation, Go!” shouted Lightning.

“RIGHT!!”the others Space Ponies called.

Side-by-Side they all stood, hand-in-hand, with Lightning in the center, and they all began to power up, transferring all their magic and strength into the center.

“Here, take some of my power too.” said Spike. He held out his sword and transferred some of his dragon energy into the power.

The Valkyries gave them all an extra boost by channeling their own powers from The Elements of Harmony infused inside them.

“FIRE!!” shouted Lightning, and he thrust his arms forth, sending a powerful blast at the monster.

It looked as if it would really hit, when suddenly, POW!! Ex-Limber managed to fire his super-charge out through his mouth.

The two forces collided hard into each other and seemed to be equal in strength.

“Oh, no… you… don’t!” growled Lightning and he poured on just a little more juice, making him flash between his normal shape and his Enticorn Form. He didn’t dare go fully Enticorn, for fear of damaging the town, but it was just the power he needed, combined with everyone else…!

“NOW!!” he thundered, and forced Ex-Limber’s blast back at it, hitting the creature hard and actually blasting it up off the ground and way up into the sky.

KAPOW!! A huge explosion that lit up the skies that many in the neighboring towns and villages could see from afar…

The Sentries all cheered for joy, as did all the fighters, and Lightning looked up into the sky, “You lose again, Sienna!”

Slash was livid, “I don’t believe it! Those fools actually beat Ex-Limber!” He pounded the console angrily, “Well, at least we managed to get the treasures we wanted.”

That’s what he thought, but Sienna suddenly shouted, “WHAT?!”

The entire bridge went silent, “They’re fakes?!”

“I’m afraid so,” replied Omnisha “These are not the true items we demanded, they’ve been forged. They don’t even emit any magical energy.”

“And you didn’t detect this sooner?!” sneered Mako “We could’ve saved ourselves all this trouble and humiliation.”

Sienna quivered with outrage, and looked at the planet down below. “Starfleet are unlike any adversaries we’ve ever had. I suppose I should commend them for their resourcefulness.

They may have beaten Ex-Limber, but it was only one of our stronger Jema-Nites.

We will learn, we will strengthen ourselves, and we shall strike again!”

Mako began to sense his sister’s voice sounded much deeper and more sinister than usual, but didn’t question her.

Meanwhile, it was dark at night, but not too late for the citizens to return home. All of them were grateful to Starfleet for saving their hometown.

Even still, everyone just went home and straight to bed, so the town was still all quiet, but much more lit up.

With the danger all over, the fighters decided to head home too.

“Think Sienna found out about our trick?” asked Dyno. “I hope so…” chuckled Myte “I would’ve loved to see the look on her face of those fake treasures you and I made from ordinary rock and metal.”

The twins laughed and headed off.

Fluttershy and Rhymey shared a yawn.

“We are glad we won the fight,
Now we must bid you goodnight.” said Rhymey

“See you all tomorrow.” added Fluttershy.

After the left, Pinkie Pie protested “Wait, how can everyone just go home like this?”

“Pinkie Pie, we’re all bushed.” said Artie.

“Yeah, I could use a little shut eye myself.” agreed Rainbow.

“Eeyup.” said Applejack “Night all.”

“Ciao.” said Buddy.

As the friends kept heading on home, Pinkie whined, “But Starla’s baby…”

“Oh, Pinkie, not that again!” groaned Lightning.

“Let’s go before we have to hear about it...” said Starla, and she and Lightning ran off.

“Hey, at least I’m showing I care!”

“Eh… Pinkie, darling…” Rarity said, trying to talk some sense into her, “I’m sure that deep down, Lightning and Starla are grateful for your… your… eh… overly enforced caring.”

“But… maybe, you should just ease off a bit.” said Spike “There was danger, but we all handled it fine.”

Unfortunately, Pinkie had already gone off, back to Lightning and Starla’s to maintain her patrol, much to Rarity and Spike’s dismay.

Pinkie was already on patrol, all through the night, “They may not care, but I sure do.” she said to herself. “I promised them a safe delivery, and I’m not going back on it.”

She let out a huge yawn. Her weariness from the battle, as well as overdoing herself the past couple of days was finally catching up to her, and she couldn’t keep taking her pep-pills; taking too many was unhealthy.

She still felt too determined to give up and just kept right on going.

But by sunrise, she had completely given in, and she just collapsed outside under a window. She was completely out of it, and she couldn’t hear Lighting and Starla chattering about inside.

“Are you okay?” Lightning called “Can you make it!”

“I’m… I’m trying!”

“The meds are here, I’ll get your luggage. Remember, in and out… slow!”

Starla was breathing carefully.

Krysta frantically fluttered outside, “Pinkie! Pinkie it’s time! It’s really time!” she cried “Lightning and Starla are going to hospital now!”

Pinkie didn’t even flinch.

“Pinkie!” snapped Krysta “Pinkie, wake up! It’s really time…!”

Still, Pinkie didn’t move.

“Poor thing…” Krysta said, and she felt the least she could do was warp Pinkie inside the house, into the baby’s room where it was nice and quiet, setting her down on the sofa, and levitate a blanket onto her. Then she headed off to help Lightning and Starla, while Pinkie slept so peaceably.

One morning, a couple of days later, the sun shone brightly into the room, and Pinkie was completely covered up on the sofa, when she finally began to stir and poked herself through the blanket. She let out a huge yawn and rubbed her eyes, “Must’ve dozed off.”

As she sat upright on the, she heard what sounded like a tiny little coo coming from the crib nect to the sofa.

She climbed up onto her feet and looked into the crib. There, she saw a tiny baby humanoid alicorn. It had a soft white coat, two beautiful blue beady eyes, a blonde yellow mane, and a cute little matching tiny tail poking out of its fuzzy blue jammies. The baby had around its horn an anti-magic manacle and a special anti-lift patch on its wings too, to prevent it from using magic or flying dangerously.

“What the…?” Pinkie snapped softly “Where did you come from?”

The baby turned towards the sound of her voice, and looked up at her with a funny expression.

At that moment, Lightning came into the nursery, “Oh, Pinkie; you’re finally awake. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” replied Pinkie “But… um… That thing in the crib… that wouldn’t happen to be what I think is, is it?”

“It sure is…” Lightning said, his face was beaming as he soft stroked the baby’s tummy. “Pinkie Pie… I’d like you to meet my son:“Shining Light Dawn.”

The baby just let out a tiny yawn and a coo.

“Starla and I named him after a combination of both our names. We just brought him home last night.”

Pinkie blinked once, “Wait a minute. Are you saying I slept through the whole thing?”

“You sure did…” replied Lightning “Krysta tried and tried to wake you up when we left for the hospital, but… you were out like a light.

…You know you’ve been asleep for almostthree whole days!”

Pinkie’s eyes bulged really wide! “No wonder I feel so refreshed.” then she looked disappointed. “I can’t believe it. I guess you really didn’t need my help after all.

I’m sorry for all the pestering I did.”

Lightning patted her back, “You were only trying to show you care.”

He looked down at Shining, and grinned most livingly.

“What are you grinning about?” asked Pinkie.

Lightning sighed as he scooped his son up his arms, “Just look at this little guy.” He softly held the baby close to him and then sat down in the rocking chair, “I never believed I’d ever have children.

When Planet Harmonious was destroyed and I was wandered through space, I thought I’d die young. Never thought I’d ever be able to pull myself out of the shadows and live again.

Now, all that logic’s been proven more than wrong; I have a good life-- despite all the danger—I fight for a noble cause, I have all the friends a guy could ever dream of… and now, me, Starla and Shining here… we’re a family.

I’ve never felt so happy in such a long time.”

Pinkie loved it when others smiled; it made her feel better over missing the birth. “Well, at least I can still be there for you guys.” she said “Someone’s going to have to teach Shining here how to throw parties, how to smile a big grin, and how to make new friends, and all that stuff.”

Lightning agreed, “You know, I think you’ll make a great mother someday.”

Pinkie smiled at that idea, “Maybe.”

Starla came into the room with a bottle of baby formula in her hand, “Hey, Pinkie. Glad you’re up.”

“Thanks.” said Pinkie “Glad to see you’re looking better.”

Starla touched her flat stomach, “I feel better too, and it feels great to be in my uniform again, but I’m still on maternity leave.”

She playfully held the bottle over her little son, “It’s time for someone’s baa-baa.”

Lightning snickered softly, and then asked Pinkie, “Would you like to feed him?”

“Sure.”

Lightning got up from the chair and let Pinkie sit in it before he softly passed her the baby.

Starla passed her the bottle, and Pinkie held it to Shining’s little face, “Come on… Come on.”

The baby began to suck on the nip. “Aww… he’s so adorable.” said Pinkie.

“He really is…” agreed Starla, as she softly stroked her son’s fuzzy mane.

Lightning smiled lovingly.

As the baby continued to drink from the bottle, Pinkie spoke to him softly as soft music began to play, “You know, Shining, you may be brand new to us all, but you don’t have to worry, we’ll all be here to help guide you… especially me.”

Then she began to sing, while imaging all the wonderful things to show to Shining.

You’re just a little pony,
and there’s much that you don’t know,
But I’ll be here to show you things,
…to help you learn and grow

I’ll show you the sun, and how to feel warm
I’ll show you the moon, and how to be norm
And how to eat cake, and how to make pies
I’ll show you a flower; I’ll show you your eyes

I’ll show you the world, and teach you to play,
We can sing songs, and party all day
I’ll help keep you safe when danger does call,
When it comes to you… I’ll give it my all

And if you are sad, and don’t know what to do
I’ll be there when you need me, I’ll always help you

I’ll show you the world, so you’ll understand
How to smile when you’re down, and to make things feel grand
There’s so much to see, and there’s so much to do
I want to share all of it… share it with you

I’ll… show… you…

…The world.

The song ended, and the baby stopped drinking and let out a small burp, which the adults couldn’t help but laugh softly at.

(Promo)

In our next episode: Lightning and Starla take their new baby on an outing with Cadance and Shining Armor’s child Flurry Heart, while unbeknownst to them that Count Nightwing has now set his sight on the infants to do his evil bidding.

As if that weren’t enough, Nightwing and his goons make an astonishing discovery of their own that Starfleet desperately needs.

Will the babies be protected from the evil Bats, and just what discovery has Nightwing made?

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

(Next Episode: “Baby Bat Boos”)

Episode 9: Baby Batty Boos

Author's Note

Torture time for Cadance...

Heh-Heh-Heh!!

Episode 9: Baby Batty Boos

EPISODE NINE

In the Bat Lord’s dark lair, Shade and Ebany were sharpening their claws to keep them in good shape for the next attack.

“Ahh… perfect.” Shade hissed. “Starfleet will in for a world of hurt should interfere with us again.” added Ebany.

The two of them slashed ay the wall actually shattering some of the rock down, andsomething unusualfell out from behind the rocks; a piece of a flat golden plate.

“What is this?” wondered Ebany as he examined the object; which unbeknownst to him was part of the magic map that Starfleet sought.

The plate seemed to have unusual carvings and a strange text that he couldn’t understand, but what he did notice was a carving that seemed to resemble Count Nightwing’s magic amulet!

“Shade…! Ebany” Nightwing suddenly thundered, making them jump “What are you two doing?”

“Sire!” yelped Shade.

Nightwing saw the plate in Ebany’s hands, and used his magic to yank it from her and into his hands so he could look at it more closely.

He couldn’t read the Ancient Equestrian text either, but he did recognize the carving of four items, including his own amulet.

“Where did you find this?” he asked his minion.

“It came out from the wall.” answered Shade, “It must have been buried there for centuries.”

“Look!” Ebany suddenly cried…

…The map piece and the amulet were both glowing softly as they came close together, forcing Nightwing to toss the map piece to the ground. “I don’t know what this means, but we have no time to concern about it now.

We need to gather more power to ensure our dominance over the ponies.”

Ebany stepped forth, “And I believe I have such an idea, Sire, and perhaps it will help us reach our goal faster.”

“Well, say it already!” grumbled Shade.

Ebany glared angrily at him, but explained, “We should take a different approach. Rather than attacking many victims at once, we can attack certain victims that emit vast amounts of pure energy we can convert for ourselves.”

“Hmm… very interesting.” hissed Nightwing.

Shade’s ears perked up, “Yet another grand idea. Instead of sending our newly captured victims to do battle with Starfleet, why not simply bring them here to our lair. The longer they remain under our control, the power we can get from them.”

Nightwing grinned sinisterly “…And we’ll be able to reach our goal much quicker, and Starfleet will be powerless to delay us this time.”

He activated his amulet showing him images around New Ponyville, “All we need now are the perfect subjects.”

It didn’t take him long to find what he wanted. “Mothers and children… they exhibit vast amounts of pure energy thanks to their loving bonds.

And I think I know where we can start and whom we can start with.”

A week had passed since Shining Light was born, and Lightning and Starla brought him to the hospital for his weekly examination, as instructed by Dr. Penny Sillion.

Penny waved her fingers before the baby, and he followed her wherever she pointed. “Aw, he’s got the cutest little reflexes I’ve ever seen.” said Penny, and she softly touched the baby’s nose and he cooed softly as he reached up and played with Penny’s hands.

Starla and Lightning loved it how their little son looked so happy and cooing.

“Here you go…” Penny cooed as she handed the baby a little squeaky ball for being a good patient. Starla picked up her son and playfully waved his hands for him, “Thank you Dr. Penny.”

Penny couldn’t help herself and pecked the baby’s little cheek. “I love babies. It makes my job all the more worthwhile. Glad to see you two are coming along nicely too. Is he keeping you awake at nights?”

“Not really…” said Lightning “What’s worrying us more is whether or not we’ll be good parents.”

“Hmm!” said Penny “I’ve lost count of how many parents I’ve delivered their first-borns too, and all they always have that same thought on their mind; Will they be good parents?”

“Well, maybe…” said Starla, “It’s just, my mom and dad couldn’t be there for me, neither could Lightning’s. These are things our parents should’ve helped us with.”

Penny couldn’t argue with that, but she did have some profound advice, “Trust me, it’ll just come to you naturally. All the parents I’ve ever treated found this special gift. The minute they held their baby, all the scary stuff seemed to go away.

I know you two will be great parents.”

Lightning took a look at his son, sleeping in Starla’s arms. He looked so peaceful, and Lightning smiled, “I think you’re right, Penny.”

Penny winked at them, “…Trust your doctor.”

As the family left the hospital, with Shining safely tucked up in his pram. Lightning and Starla stopped a minute at the doors, and looked all around at every angle.

“All seems clear.” said Lightning “No sign of Sienna or Nightwing.” He still felt very frustrated that the bats were still out there; still safe from detection, and immune to capture by the power of the amulet.

“Just the same,” said Starla “Let’s go cautiously. There’s no telling what sort of schemes scoundrels like them are up to.

As they walked along, a lot of ponies stopped to wave at them as they passed, congratulating the couple for their new baby.

Others passing by also stopped to look at Shining directly and compliment how cute he looked.

The baby cooed and giggled without much of a care in the world.

Lightning and Starla felt like celebrities, but they didn’t let it go to their heads.

“Look… there’s Shining Armor and Cadance.” said Lighting.

“I forgot they were in town making donations to the orphan’s homes.” said Starla.

The royal couple had brought baby Flurry Heart with them, and Shining Armor looked up, “Well, look whose here.”

The friends all exchanged hugs and congratulatory speeches.

“Is this Shining Light?” asked Cadance.

“Yes, isn’t he precious?” cooed Starla.

Shining Armor patted Lightning on the back, “Welcome to fatherhood.”

Lightning chuckled and rubbed the back of his head, “So, any advice you can give?”

Before Shining could even answer, both Flurry and Shining Light let out huge farts soiling their diapers, much to the grownups’ disgust.

“Yeah…” said Shining and he clipped a clothes peg over his nostrils, “Always have one of these handy.”

Lightning sighed as he held his nostrils shut himself.

The mothers changed the babies and tossed the used diapers out. Starla loved the smell of her baby after a diaper change. “Mmm… who’s a clean foal, huh?” she cooed as she tickled her son’s belly.

“Hey, don’t forget us.” said Cadance as she held her daughter in her arms.

The two babies looked at one another and waved at each other.

“I think Flurry wants to play with Shining.” said Shining Armor.

Lightning agreed, “Let’s all head to the park. We’ve all got time, and it’s a beautiful day.”

And a beautiful day it was, many ponies were walking through the park. Pinkie Pie was with the Cake family on a picnic, and Fluttershy and Rhymey were helping some birds fix up their nests.

The two families sat at a picnic table away from all the hollering and wildness and let the babies interact with each other on a blanket on the table. Flurry, at seven-and-a-half months old, was sitting by herself with her mom and dad watching her, but Shining Light was much too young and tiny to sit freely, and sat strapped in his baby buggy.

It was still adorable watching them play, Flurry shook her rattle and Shining giggled. Flurry even played peek-a-boo with Shining too, “Boo…” she cooed. Shining giggled.

“Aw… this is so cute I can hardly stand it.” chirped Starla.

“They almost look like a brother and sister playing.” said Lightning.

Cadance and Shining Armor agreed, but it brought a hint of sadness to them as well, as it reminded them of their tragic losses.

Fratello and Twilight were both dead, Cadance’s baby son was stillborn, and she would never be able to have any more children, so Flurry Heart would never have any siblings.

Lightning Starla realized this as well, “Oh, I’m so sorry.” Lightning said “In all the happiness and cuteness, I guess we didn’t really think of that.”

“It’s all right.” said Shining Armor, “We can’t change the past, and we should really just concentrate more on these two. Twilight and Fratello would want that.”

His wife agreed and softly ran her fingers through Flurry’s mane, “After all that’s happened, I’m really glad we have Flurry. She’s so little and so innocent.”

Starla thought it was so beautiful the way Cadance bonded with her little filly, and she felt she could be the same way with Shining. “A mother’s love…” she sighed as she softly caressed her son’s little face.

She was really starting to feel the love flow through her, and it felt so warm and comforting.

Lightning and Shining Armor smiled at one another the way their wives and kids seem to be bonding.

But this happiness and warmth was about to be short-lived…!

As Pinkie and the Cakes were sitting down to lunch, Pinkie took one bite of her sandwich, but then she quivered and wobbled rather uncontrollably.

“Uh, oh…it’s her Pinkie sense!” cried Pound.

“Something’s going to fall!” said Pumpkin, “No wait, or a door is going to open? No… it’s…”

“It means a big doozy is coming!” cried Pinkie.

Cupcake and Carrot Cake both gasped, being very superstitious of Pinkie’s accuracy with her senses.

They weren’t the only ones, Fluttershy had just finished fixing a bird’s nest, when the mother bird began to tweet and flap like crazy, “Oh, no!” she cried “Birds only act like this if they feel something’s wrong.”

Suddenly, the little bird got snatched by Shade as he came swopping in. Fluttershy jumped out of the tree and fell into Rhymey’s arms.

The little bird squawked and wailed in Shade’s clutch, “Lunch time…!” hissed Shade, and everyone nearby watched in horror as he popped the whole bird into his mouth and chomped it down in one gulp.

No one was more horribly as upset as Fluttershy, so livid and hurt that tears came to her eyes, “You… killed a mother bird!”

Shade just belched, and few feathers came fluttering out of his mouth, “And a tasty one too; now how about the main course?!”

Ebany then appeared right in the middle of the park, near so many pony families, including The Cakes, frightening them all into a panic.

“Stay where you are!” thundered Ebany, and she unleashed a wave of her hypnosis on the civilians, freezing them all on the spot.

“Trouble!” snapped Shining Armor.

Lightning told the wives, “Get the babies out of here, and keep them safe.”

The wives agreed and prepared to run off with their kids, while Lightning and Shining Armor nodded at one another.

The others all agreed now was the time to transform.

“STARFLEET MAGIC”

“HARMONY HOUR, FRIENDSHIP POWER”

“Mask of Saber”

All the fighters rushed into battle, “You leave those ponies alone!” Lightning shouted to the bats.

Ebany zipped up out of the way before she was tackled, and Shade leapt out of the tree, kicking Rhymey and Fluttershy hard, and pinned them to the ground.

“His power is so great,
It must have increased in rate!” growled Rhymey.

Shade snickered, “Very good…” then he flexed his sharp claws, “Now guess what these are?”

Fluttershy and Rhymey couldn’t break free from brute force. So, before Shade could slash at them, Rhymey blasted a beam of magic from his horn straight at Shade, blasting him clear off and hitting the tree.

“Way to go, Rhymey!” cried Fluttershy.

Her husband smirked.

Ebany glared at the Cake family, particularly at Cupcake and the twins, and poor Carrot Cake was still trapped in place by the hypnosis.

Pinkie Pie stepped in front of the family, “Stop right there!” she thundered, “You put one finger on this family, and I’ll…”

“Go ahead… make my day!” hissed Ebany.

They both glared deeply at each other, like cowgirls ready for the quick-draw.

Ebanny then tried to hypnotize and paralyze Pinkie on the spot, but she zipped out of the way, and punched Ebany hard in the face, breaking her hypnosis on everyone.

“Everyone…! Get out here, now!” shouted Lighting.

The civilians all agreed, but just as they ran for the park exit, Nightwing himself appeared in a bright flash, causing everyone to stop dead in the tracks, “Leaving so soon?” Nightwing hissed “I wouldn’t hear of it.”

Cadance and Starla were in the back of the crowd with their kids in their prams. They didn’t like this one bit!

The many fathers and husbands of all the families stepped forth to protect their wives and kids, but Nightwing chuckled as he shook his head, “Brave… but foolish!” and he raised his amulet, and in a bright glow, he levitated all the stallions up and tossed them all aside into the shrubs, and a few others into the fountain.

The wives and children all tried to run the other way, but saw Shade and Ebany standing guard, and ready to strike any of them who dared make a move!

Lightning and his teammates all dashed onto the scene, “Nightwing!” thundered Lightning “What do you think you’re doing?”

Nightwing snickered, “I’m here to take these mothers and their children. Their vast amounts of pure energy from the bonds they have are essential to me and my conquest for takeover.”

Saber growled angrily “You dare attack innocent mothers and their children? You sicken me greatly, Nightwing!”

“That goes for us too!” said Starla.

The crowds parted, revealing she and Cadance had both transformed.

Lightning smiled at his wife, “Glad to see you back in uniform, Starla.”

His wife nodded, “It’s been a while, but with my droid left at home, I have no choice.”

Ninja Cadance nodded proudly at her, and she stood by Starla’s side to help her defend the families, as well as their own babies.

“How cute…” hissed Ebany “Now let’s fight!”

“Yeah!” snarled Shade.

The children all hid behind their mothers, frightened out of their minds.

“Go!” shouted Lightning, and he and the others charged forth at Shade and Ebany, driving them away from the civilians.

“WARD SWORD”

Rhymey waved his sword and struck a pose as the blade shimmered in the sunlight, and as for Fluttershy, she grabbed small metal lamppost, pulling it out of the ground and wielded it like a spear “I hope I can pay for that damage.” she peeped.

“Ha! You’ll pay with your lives!” growled Shade, and he flexed his sharp strong claws.

“One against two,
We can take you!” said Rhymey.

Shade growled and lunged forth, swiping at the fighters with his claws, while Rhyme and Fluttershy parried him off with their weapons.

Meanwhile, Lightning and Saber were chasing Ebany as she dashed down the field.

Lightning fired a few Uniforce pulse at her, which she dodged skillfully, and then she skidded to a halt and dashed back towards the fighters, lunging at them hard, but the two fighters zipped out of the way.

“Where’d they go?” Ebany hissed.

“Surprise!” shouted Saber, as he ensnared the evil Bat Lord in his sickle and chain. This allowed Lightning to leap up high and punch her hard, knocking her clear across the field.

Meanwhile, Nightwing raised his amulet at the mothers and children, “You are all mine!” he thundered as he unleashed magical light to infect them and turn them all into bats.

“…No, you don’t!” snapped Starla, and she used her magic to raise a wall of sparkling light to deflect the magic away, much to Nightwings annoyance.

However, the light began to fade off, and it soon vanished completely. “Oh, no!” cried Starla “I was afraid this. I haven’t been training in a while since I was pregnant! I’m a little out of practice!”

Hearing this made Nightwing snicker, “That’s really too bad.” and he vanished in a zip!

The civilians were all worried as they looked around?”

“Where he is?”

“Where’d he go?”

Starla and Cadance looked around, and suddenly, Starla’s visor detected toxic-vapours rising up from the ground. “He’s under the ground!” she shouted “Run!!”

The mothers began to run off with their children, but none of them were prepared for the real trap! The vapors were just a distraction as, without warning, tiny pin-sized shots of magic shot out up out of the ground and struck the necks of the mothers and their kids.
Cadance looked fretful!

“Oh, no!” cried Starla.

Cadance suddenly saw two glows shimmer in the ground, as two more shots prepared to fire at herself and Starla. She quickly shoved Starla out of the way, avoiding the shots… only for Flurry Heart and Shining Light to get struck on their little necks instead.

“No!!” cried Starla.

The other fighters heard her scream and saw the civilians all mutating into batlings.

“Oh, no!” shouted Lightning.

“Oh, my!” cried Fluttershy.

Shade and Ebany snickered, and used this moment to strike the fighters hard; making sparks fly and knocking them all about.

Nightwing burst up from out of the ground laughing, “Too bad, Starfleet! Now these mothers and their children will be coming with me back to my lair. As well as harnessing their energies to increase my power, I will also use them to hunt more victims to join my army.”

The children and their mothers, even the two babies fluttered up, hissing at everyone!

“Flurry!” cried Saber.

“No, Shining!” cried Lightning as he saw his baby son hissing at him from afar.

Both he and Saber felt their bloods broiling inside.

The mothers felt the same way, but suddenly, Pinkie Pie dropped down from the sky and looked extremely furious “You would harm innocent little babies as well as mothers and their kids?!” she growled “…YOU JUST CROSSED A LINE!!”

She wasn’t acting cocky at all, she really meant it.

“Valkyria!” and she transformed into the Valkyrie of Laughter.

The batlings hissed and lunged at her.

“No!” snapped Nightwing “Not this time…” and he raised his amulet to order his newly created minions to return to the lair, but suddenly his Amulet began to glow mysteriously, along with something else glowing beneath his armor.

“What?!” he snarled.

“What’s that?” asked Fluttershy.

“I don’t know,
But let’s go!” snapped Rhymey.

The others agreed, while Nightwing was distracted to try to heal the victims.

“Think again!” sneered Shade and he tackled Fluttershy and Rhymey down again.

Lightning and saber dashed forth to help the civilians, preferably their respective children.

“Hang on, Shining…!” called Lightning.

“Daddy’s coming, Flurry!” cried Saber.

“Oh, no you don’t!” snapped Ebany, but before she could even try to halt them, Saber turned round,“STRIDENT SHCOKWAVE”and blasted her hard, knocking her off her feet.

This allowed the fathers to make it all the way over to where their wives and Pinkie stood, as well as all the affected ponies.

“Lightning…” said Saber “You go try to deal with Nightwing. We can handle all this!”

“Right!” agreed Lightning, and he dashed off towards Nightwing himself.

Nightwing reached into his armor, and pulled out the map fragment; both it and his amulet were glowing while in close contact with each other. “Enough of this!” thundered Nightwing, and he threw the fragment off into the shrubs.

Then, the second he turned back,

BAM!! Lightning socked him right in the face, and then tackled him to the ground.

“Count!” cried Shade, and suddenly he was kicked hard in the gut by Fluttershy allowing Rhymey to slash at his arm with his sword, making a big explosion and a huge gash on Shade’s arm.

A few drops of Shade’s blood leaked onto the ground.

“Fluttershy, you go help the rest,
I’ll stay here and deal with this pest.” said Rhymey.

Fluttershy agreed and she flew off, “Valkyria!” transforming into the Valkyrie of Kindness on the way.

Suddenly, many of the affected children flew up, and swarmed her. She couldn’t help but shudder and whimper in fear, but then her own mother-like instincts kicked in. As an animal caretaker, she had a strong bond with animals like a mother to a child, “I can’t stand what those nasty bats have done to you all, and I’ll help get better!”

She held out her sword ready to heal them, but suddenly she was rushed by Ebany, causing her sword to go flying, and crash deep into a tree.

“Oh, no!” cried Fluttershy.

“Ha! You’re not trying that old trick this time!” hissed Ebany.

At the same time, Nightwing kicked Lightning off of him, and he laughed “My strength has already increased immensely thanks to my new batlings.”

The mothers and children hissed nastily.

“This mother-child-bond has done more wonders than I first believed, and I shall use it and more to conquer this planet, and make it my own world!”

Lightning clenched his fists, “Not if I can help it!” and he lunged forth and brawled with Nightwing again, desperate to defeat him, or at least try to get his amulet from him.

Ebany had Fluttershy pinned to the ground. “I think it’s time you joined our forces once again!” she hissed, and she prepared to bite her.

Much as Fluttershy was scared. She took another gander over at the infected children, which sparked her courage again, “No… I… WON’T!!” she shouted, and her eyes glowed brightly, blinding Ebany softly enough for Fluttershy to shove her off.

She then raised her hand, using her Valkyrie magic to call her sword back into her hand.

Pinkie then joined her by her side, “Need a hand?”

“Thank you.”

The two Valkyries stood and touched their swords together,“HARMONY BEAM!!”

The powerful light, unleashed from their swords headed straight for Ebany and the children.

“Ah!” Ebany cried as she quickly dashed out of the way as the children were all hit, restoring them all to normal.

“Now it’s our turn!” said Starla.

Ninja Cadance and Saber stood by her sides, ready to heal the mothers and remaining children.

Starla armed her bow and set it to “Heal”“GALACTIC PROJECTILE”

Her shot went straight through one victim to the next, all in a row, healing them all in a row… but the brightness of the light flashing frightened one of the infected babies off, unnoticed by anyone.

“Argh!” growled Starla “If I wasn’t so out-of-training I could’ve healed more!”

“Don’t worry, we can take it.” said Saber.

His wife nodded in agreement.

Saber held his sword, and set it to “Heal” and powered up the blade with his shockwave, and Cadance’s fists were glowing with her mystical Ninja powers.

The batlings all rushed forth, and the two fighters unleashed their might, enveloping the mothers and remaining children and reversing the curse on them, including Shining Light and the Cakes.

Starla dashed over to her little crying baby and scooped him up holding him close “Oh…! Oh, Shining! Ohh…! No, no… it’s okay now.”

While all that was happening, Rhymey battled with Shade hard, and managed to slash at him hard with his sword, knocking him down.

“Shade…! I’m coming!” cried Ebany, but as she got closer, Rhmey swiftly turned round,“THRASH SLASH!”

KAPOW!! The attack was so strong that in knocked Ebany back, and a few specks of her blood splattered on Rhymey’s sword. Unfortunately, Rhymey’s sword was set on “Capture” rather than destroy, and as the bats were immune to capture thanks to Nightwing’s power boosts, Ebany merely fell flat on the ground, but nothing else!

Lightning was far too busy battling Nightwing to notice.

Nightwing fired a huge magical blast at Lightning, and he countered it with uniforce, “I think it’s time I humbled you out Nightwing!” Lightning called to him, and he fired the uniforce back at him hard.

“No!!” cried Nightwing “I will not let you beat me!!”

Lightning let out a roar and forced his power at him hard while night wing struggled all he could to force it back.

Suddenly, as the blast got nearer and nearer, Lightning began to see something within the waves of the power. “What is that?” Lightning wondered to himself.

He was seeing what looked the shadow of another presence-- that of another pony coming from Nightwing himself.

Seeing this made him stop at once, and the power vanished.

“Lightning!” cried Starla.

“What did you stop for?” called Saber.

The others were all shocked as well, but Nightwing laughed, “What’s wrong; didn’t have the courage to complete your attack and finish me?”

Lightning stood where he was, almost paralyzed with confusion, he tried to scan Nightwing with his visor, but he still remained immune to it. “Who are you?”

Nightwing snickered, but he noticed one little batling still under his spell…

“…Flurry Heart!” cried Saber!

Cadance gasped silently.

It was Flurry, and she was clutching something in her claws. Something she dug out from the shrubs when she fled from the healing magic.

“Is that…?” Fluttershy peeped.

There was no questioning it “It’s a piece of the mystic map!” cried Fluttershy.

Hearing this made Nightwing snicker, “Oh, you desire it as well? It must me more important than I thought.”

Flurry fluttered right by him and landed on his arm, and gave him the map piece.

“Flurry!” cried Lightning. He tried to dash over and take her, but Nightwing knocked him back hard.

Seeing how desperate Lightning was to get Flurry and the map piece, he thought this a perfect moment to leave. “Thanks for the sweet prizes.” he taunted, “Come, Shade… Ebany…!”

He fired a magical blast at his two minions causing them to vanish from sight, and then he himself disappeared as his evil laugh echoed along the wind.

“FLURRY!!!!” shouted Lightning.

Fluttershy and Pinkie dropped their swords and fell to their knees with tears in their eyes.

Rhymey held a hand over his mouth, whimpering in shock and heartbreak!

Cadance and Shining Armor both de-transformed, and they were both shaking with heartache and upset! “He took… our… baby?!” sobbed Cadance, and she began to hyperventilate hysterically, until she fainted.

“Cadance!” cried Shining Armor as he quickly caught her in his arms, but his insides were aching.

As for Lightning, he angrily pounded the ground, in extreme shame with himself for letting Nightwing get away with the baby and the map piece.

Starla, worried and upset as she was, ran over to her husband with the baby in hand, “Lightning…”

Lightning just lay flat on the ground in shame and upset, “She’s a baby! Just a baby!” he cried softly.

All the civilians had awakened form their knockout, even the fathers awoke, and not one of them had an idea of what was happening.

“Where’d the bats go?” asked Cupcake.

“I have no idea.” replied Carrot Cake.

Pumpkin and Pound looked all around and shook their heads.

Still, the poor fighters were all in deep woe and worry over Flurry Heart.

While the bats had retreated to their lair and tended to their injuries, “I can’t believe how close they came to beating us!” growled Shade. He touched one of his cuts that Rhymey gave him, “Ay!”

Ebnay winced as she tended to her own wounds, “At least we didn’t walk away completely empty handed this time.”

Nightwing snickered as he patted little Flurry Heart’s bat head as she hung upside down from the cave ceiling, “I would have to agree with you. We may have but only one victim with us, but being the daughter of the Royal Princess Cadance, this child will be our greatest asset in the continuing struggle.

The longer she remains with us, and under my spell, the more energy we can increase our powers with, until it will be time to unleash out greatest threat.”

Flurry Bat yawned and went to sleep, while Nightwing observed the map piece, “As for this, we’ll find out more about it in time. Meanwhile, we have much to do…

…Much chaos to bring.”

He laughed deeply.

(Promo)

In our next episode: Starfleet struggles in their hardest efforts to locate Flurry Heart, while at the same time dealing with the shameful emotions of losing her.

Meanwhile, Sienna decides to give Mako a chance and accompany her on her latest hunt to test a new form of Jemma-Nite re-enforced for greater strength.

Can Starfleet overcome their distraught, and will they be able to fend off against Sienna’s new Super Jemma-Nite?

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

(Next Episode: “Enforcement of Efforts”)

Episode 10: Enforcement of Efforts

EPISODE TEN

One early morning, the daily papers were thrown at porches, and large stacks dropped off at newsstands with the front page saying“Royal Crystal Baby Kidnapped!”

Anyone who read the story felt shocked and horrible for Cadance and Shining Armor. They wanted to help find Flurry Heart, but after reading that the baby was captured by Count Nightwing the civilians were badly discouraged as it meant looking for danger itself, and even still, it was a very large planet. No one had a clue of where to start looking.

This sort of situation was best left in the hands of Starfleet and the pony police.

Sad to say, both Cadance and Shining Armor were crushed! It hard for them to stay strong and not sink into depression as it wouldn’t help matters.

All their friends were equally as grieving as they were.

Rarity could hardly keep up with her sewing for her customers, and ended up pricking her fingers several times.

“Ow!” she groaned, but really she couldn’t fell all that much pain form tiny needles, mostly due to her super strength, but also she was too upset about Flurry Heart to care.

“Rarity…” Spike said as he approached his wife.

“That poor little child…!” Rarity sobbed.

Spike held her tightly, while trying to keep his own emotions brave and strong.

The Wonderbolts were searching high and low, with Rainbow Dash accompanying them with her Starfleet tech. She tried scanning around for Flurry’s DNA, vital signs, anything they had of hers on record. “Ugh! It’s no good.” she groaned “I just can’t detect them. Nightwing must be still blocking us with his amulet.”

Captain Spitfire was undeterred, “Then we’ll just have to keep searching; every area, behind every tree, under every rock.”

The other Wonderbolts felt a dismay, but Major Rainbow Dash stomped her foot, “What’s the matter, you guys got two left feet or something? When Spitfire or I give you an order you SNAP TO IT! NOW JUMP, ON THE DOUBLE!!”

“YES MA’AM!!”replied The Wonderbolts, and they continued their search.

“Hey, well done…” said Spitfire.

Rainbow nodded proudly, and then she continued to search.

Meanwhile, Starla was just as upset as the rest, but she had to be strong for her own baby as well. “Come on, honey… open up…” she cooed as she fed Shining Light a spoon full of carrot-flavored baby food, and the baby ate it up and splattered all over him. “Oh, shining!” Starla grumbled as she wiped the baby’s face with a cloth.

Her son wasn’t the only one being hard on his food; Lightning hadn’t touched a morsel of his breakfast.

“Eat your food, honey. It’s getting cold.”

Lightning sighed, “I’m just not hungry, I can’t stop thinking about so many things; Flurry Heart is one of them.

She wasright there,and I couldn’t help her.” He sighed and held his head in disgust, “Worse than that: I let Cadance and Shining Armor down again.”

Starla felt pity for Lightning, “It wasn’t your fault. Cadance even sent you that letter saying she doesn’t blame you.”

Lightning looked at the letter on the table next to him, which he already read. As comforting as it was, he still didn’t feel too much better, “It’s just that…” he paused “Cadance already one baby because I couldn’t save her, and not only that, she couldn’t have any more children after that.

We were barely able to clone Flurry Heart into reality, and now she’s in the hands of those Bats.”

He looked deeply inside of him trying to choose his next words carefully, “I just can’t stand this happening to Cadance all over again. I know she and Shining Armor can’t either.”

His wife smiled, loving the way he was showing how much he cared, “In the meantime, you have a baby too, you know, and he needs his father to be brave for him too.”

Lightning looked at he son, and Shining looked up at him and smiled his little gummy mouth at him. He just had to smiled back and pated his son’s little head. “You don’t understand a thing at all, do you?”

The baby just cooed.

Meanwhile, Sienna and her crew going over their vast array of Jemma-Nites they had in their collection which they had created over the centuries.

“Perhaps this one will do us wonders.” Slash suggested.

“If by wonders, you mean flop.” mocked Ominsha “I say this one will do a way better job.”

Slash growled, “You think you’re so smart just because you got that overgrown football in your hand.”

“Oh, let’s see that sword of yours try mind-reading!”

“ENOUGH!!!” shouted Sienna.

Her two minions quivered softly.

“We’re supposed to be choosing a Jemma-Nite, not insults for each other! How do you expect us to conquer the universe like this?”

Slash and Omnisha were ashamed, but just then Mako came into the room going “I’ve got it! I’ve got it…!”

“Slow down, Mako.” said Sienna “What have you got?”

“This ought to be good.” muttered Slash

Mako explained anyway, “Maybe instead of using these, we should make a whole new kind of Jemma-Nite; even stronger and more super than ever.”

“And just what do you suggest we create our new Jemma-Nite with?” asked Omnisha.

Jemma-Nites were creatures created by melding jewels, ores, and precious metals, infused with life energies and magical forces obtained from enchanted treasures.

“Why not use a few chunks from the ship’s hull?” said Mako “After all, it’s magical resistant, and Starfleet already tried to attack at it once before.”

Sienna bent down, took his brother by the shoulders, “Mako… I like the way you think!”

Her brother smiled.

“And…” Sienna continued, “I’ll even let you come with me when we create our new monster.”

Mako’s eyes lit up, while Omnisha and Slash were wide-eyed in shock.

“Really, sis?” chirped Mako. His sister nodded, “You might as well get some experience if you want to be a great treasure hunter someday.”

“But Captain…” Slash tried to protest.

“You be quiet!” snapped Sienna, “Get to work, both of you. Start gathering the materials we need. We’re going to create a monster unlike any other!

So great, they’ll have to give into our demands, and surrender their treasures, including the secrets to The Elements of Chaos!”

“Better yet…” suggested Mako “We can blackmail them into finding The Elements for us, and spare us all the work.”

Sienna stroked her brother’s head, “Like I said, I like the way you think.”

Slash had already had his fill of this!“That little brat is really starting to annoy me!”then he got an idea, which Omnisha could sense, and he knew it.“You say one word…”Slash thought so only she could hear him,“…And I’ll have your head at the end of my sword!”

Despite Omnisha’s better instincts, she was actually rather interested in how his little idea would play out.

So the villains got to work;

Over the next few days, they chipped off bits of the alloy coating of the ship, and using extremely high temperatures to melt it down into a liquid and then infusing it with the crystal dust that would be poured into molds to make the form of a creature.

“Excellent…” hissed Sienna “Prepare for the final stage: Life-Infusion!”

The body, still in its mold, was moved into a big machine, and the energies were infused into the body.

Sienna couldn’t help but laugh maliciously at the sight of all the flashing and rumbling of the machinery.

Finally, all was done, and out of the machine came a new crystal-capsule, but unlike the other capsules, this one, instead of being pale white, was bluer in color, indicating the super strength contained within.

“Mako…” Sienna said offering him the honor of unleashing the creature for all to see.

Mako eagerly, but softly took the capsule, and threw it out unleashing the unnamed Jemma-Nite.

“Wow!” exclaimed Mako.

Sienna snickered in excitement while the others all gawked in awe at the sight of the new monster…

It was a strong knight-type creature; strong and muscular, and coated with armor as powerful as the alloy covering the ship, including a strong helmet with ox horns. The creature wielded a huge diamond-bladed sword.

The creature growled deeply and raised his sword ready to strike, but Mako quickly called him back into his capsule; the only bit of magic that the anti-magic armor couldn’t deflect.

“I think I’ll call him Orgoth!” Mako said.

Sienna approached her brother and patted his back, “Let’s go. The hunt begins.” and she went off holding her brother’s hand, and told Slash and Omnisha “You two stay here and monitor the fight.”

“Yes, Captain!”the others replied.

As soon as Sienna left with Mako and the Raiders, Slash grinned wickedly and muttered “That Jemma-Nite may be strong, but it hasone fatal flawinfused in it.”

“I still think you’re taking this a bit too far.” said Omnisha “I may not like that brat Mako as much as you, but is it worth taking it to this?”

Slash scoffed, “The Captain fawns too much over that kid. If his plan fails, she may not think as highly of him anymore, and perhaps she can concentrate more on leading us.”

Omnisha was still very skeptical of Slash’s attitude, but she refused to back out.

Meanwhile, over the past few days, patrols on the lookout for Flurry still hadn’t come up with much.

Of course, despite Flurry Heart being found being very important, everyone did have others things to do rather than occupy themselves with just one problem.

Lightning was out on duty-- doing his patrol, going over reports, and keeping the peace and calmness with civilians.

As for Starla, she and her friends were sparring in the field. Starla had decided to start exercising and training again to boost her strength back to full. She had done her normal routines-- lifting extremely heavy weight, working on her speed by racing around the planet and through obstacle courses, target shooting to strengthen her reflexes, and strengthening her magic as well.

Now she was sparring with Rainbow Dash.

Shining Light was on the sidelines, fast asleep in his little buggy, while under the watch of Spike, Rarity and Krysta; all them already having sparred with Starla earlier, and just keeping an eye on him.

Starla and Rainbow punched and kicked at one another, and even raced around in the air. Finally, Starla managed to grab Rainbow by the tail, and gave her a huge yank, sending her plummeting to the ground below.

Rainbow stopped herself at the last few inches. “Sweet!” she cried “Great move, Starla.”

Starla gave her a thumb-up, and then fluttered back down to the ground, and flexed her muscles out, “YEAH…!!” she hollered as she picked up a huge solid rock and shattered it to gravel in her bare hands. “I’m back, baby!”

“Way to go, Starla.” said Krysta.

Shining Light just slept peacefully in his buggy, not knowing what was happening. “Wow! Even I could never sleep this heavily.” said Spike.

Rarity could only giggle softly, but still… looking down at the sleeping baby only made her wish Flurry Heart was found even more. “Ooh!” she grumbled, “When I find the rotten creatures that took her I’ll… I’ll…!”

“Easy, Rarity.” said Rainbow.

Starla damped herself with a wet tower, “We all feel the same as you do, Rarity, and we’re doing all that we can to try to find her, but just the same we have to keep a sharp eye out for other dangers too.”

Krysta nodded, and then gawked up ahead, “Dangers like them?!” she snapped, and pointed over at a whole hoard of Raiders popping up all over the field.

The friends all rose up to their feet, and the noise woke up little Shining, and he began to cry. “Oh!” groaned Starla as she picked her son up. She wanted to get her baby home and away from the danger like a good mother would, but her duty as a frontline soldier also bound her to stay and fight as well.

“I’ll take him home for you, Starla.” said Krysta “And I’ll keep an eye on him too.”

Starla nodded thankfully “Tell the sentries nearby, on my orders to stand guard.”

Krysta agreed, and Starla pecked her little son’s head, “Don’t worry, honey; Mama’s going to be just fine.”

As soon as Krysta left with the baby safely in tow, the friends transformed.

“Starfleet Magic!”

“HARMONY HOUR, FRIENDSHIP POWER!!”

“Dragon Power!”

The fighters all rushed in to action! Starla punched and kicked every Raider out of her way, and then fired a few magical shots from her horn to blast more of the down, “Feels great to have my A-Game back.”

“Coming through…!” Rainbow hollered as she zoomed straight through a whole swarm of Raiders, knocking them all down hard.

Rarity then found herself surrounded by many of the Cannon Raiders, and they all prepared to open fire on her, but Rarity waited to the last second and leapt up high causing the Raiders to shoot each other, and blasting themselves into ashes.

Spike, with his sword, fought against several of the Blade Raiders at once, parrying their every attack and then slashing at them hard making sparks fly.

“Whose next!” he thundered, but suddenly a whole load of burning rays were shot at him and all the others, hitting them hard and knock them all over.

“What the…!” snapped Starla, and she gawked up ahead and saw Sienna and Mako.

Mako held a blast-cannon, “How was that?” he asked. His sister grinned and patted his head “Good shooting, Mako.”

Rainbow stood growling, “Why you little…!”

“Uh-Uh-Uh…” snapped Sienna “It’s only his first time… and quite possiblyour last confrontation. Unless of course you make it easier and surrender to us now.”

“Why you wretched creature!” sneered Rarity.

“We’ll never surrender to the likes of you, Sienna.” added Starla “You can send all the Jemma-Nites you have, and that won’t change a thing!”

Sienna snickered, “Why send so many? All we need is one.” and she motioned to Mako, which her brother was all giddy about.

He held up the new capsules, which Spike noted, “That capsule, it’s a different color.”

Mako snickered and threw the capsule shouting, “Super Jemma-Nite Orgoth… I choose you!”

“SUPER JEMMA-NITE?!!”the fighters exclaimed. Then they saw as the light faded, the huge hulking monster. It roared gruffly and gripped its strong blade.

Starla tried to scan it with her visor, but the scan couldn’t penetrate. “Nothing!” she cried “I’m blocked out.”

Sienna laughed, “Don’t waste your power. This is a new form of Jemma-Nite we created; you’ll never realize just how powerful it really is!”

Mako nodded, “Orgoth, Attack!”

Orgoth roared, and stomped his way forth, the fighters could feel the vibrations along the ground, telling them that it was really strong even without scanning him.

“I wonder…” said Starla, and she charged up her horn,“PULSAR LASER”Her blast flew straight at the hulking monster, only collide into his armor and deflect right off of it, straight back at the fighters,

“Look out!” cried Rarity, and everyone leapt up high avoiding the blast. KAPOW! The blast hit the ground and caused a small explosion!

“I don’t believe it!” growled Starla.

“Oh, believe it!” taunted Sienna “This Super Jemma-Nite is infused with the same alloy that coats my ship. All your attacks will be useless, but his won’t be.”

Mako snickered, “And if you all think your safe up there in air, you got another thing coming! Do it, Orgoth!”

Orgoth growled and raised his huge sword, the tip of the blade was glowing, and he slashed at the air unleashing powerful shocking waves bound for the fighters.

“Scatter!” shouted Starla, and the fighters all flew about in opposite directions.

“Oh, is THAT your best?” hissed Sienna, and she pulled out her sword and her ray-gun, while Mako armed his cannon, “I was hoping we’d get to do this.”

“…Fire at will, Mako.”

The villains and Orgoth fired mercilessly forcing the fighters to dodge all about.

Starla swatted one of the blasts away from her, and Spike blocked another shot with his strong cape.

“You can’t escape us!” shouted Mako, “Get them, Orgoth!”

Orgorth growled and slashed his blade again, sending more shockwaves, one of which hit Rainbow. She didn’t fall out of the sky and kept her balance, but she was steamed!

“That does it!”

She glared right at the monster below.

“Rainbow, Don’t…!” shouted Starla “We don’t know how strong that thing is in strength!”

“I don’t care!” growled Rainbow, and she charged straight for Orgoth,“SONIC RAINBOOM!!”

“Rainbow…!” Starla called to her, but Rainbow was already diving straight at Orgoth.

Sienna and Mako snickered wickedly, eagerly waiting for what was about to happen next, “Let her have it, Orgoth.” Mako hollered.

Rainbow got in closer, and closer, just as Orgoth raised its huge blade to intercept her, but just as Rainbow was about to collide, and Orgoth brought its arm down to slash her with his sword.

Something came swooping in, grabbing Rainbow and pulling her out of the way!

CRASH!! Orgoth slammed his blade hard on the ground making a huge explosion, and the very ground shook for miles, knocking Sienna and Mako off their feet.

“RAINBOW DASH…!!” Rarity cried, fearing she got hit by the explosion.

Spike and Starla gawked in horror, but then, from out of the smoke, Lightning emerged holding Rainbow in his arms, which gave them all a huge sigh of relief.

“Good thing I got here just in time.” Lightning called.

Rainbow could only gaze down at the huge crater Orgoth had made with that single attack. “Whoa!” she groaned “I almost dashed straight into that! I would’ve totally been destroyed!”

Even Sienna and Mako were nearly flipped out by what their monster had just done.

“Whoa! That’s a lot of power!” cried Mako.

“We made him far better than we thought.” agreed Sienna

Onboard Sienna’s ship, Slash and Omnisha had been observing the fight on the monitors.

“I don’t think I’ve seen such a strong monster battle in decades, since we plundered the Western Quadrant of the galaxy.” said Omnisha.

Slash didn’t really care for all that. He just stood there, snickering, “I think now’s a good time to activatemy little surprise.”

He recounted earlier, during the construction of Orgoth,“While no one was watching, I added a small orb into the body of the creature. This orb can be activated by the flick of a switch, and when that is done, it will send out a power surge within the Jemma-Nite, causing it to run amuck, and attack anything in its sight.

Despite the risks of Sienna being in the way I know she’ll be fine. It is well-worth it to make her brother’s plan flop. Then maybe she’ll stop spoiling that brat and start acting like a true leader again!

And who knows; if the monster still destroys our enemies, it makes all the more worthwhile.”

Omnisha was still rather skeptical about all this and fearing she still should have acted on it earlier, but Slash gawked at her, reminding her of his threat. So she was forced to remain quiet.

Slash then wandering up to the console, “It’s time…” he said, and he flicked the master-switch to “ON”

He snickered sinisterly as he watched the monitors.

Down in the battle zone, Orgoth’s eyes began to glow a bright red as the power surge began to activate within, but nobody noticed, as they were all busy contemplating.

“There must be a way to take out that big hulk!” said Rarity.

“But how can we?” asked Spike “All our energy attacks will just bounce right off of it, and attacking it directly is foolish.”

Lightning already had an idea, “It’s risky, but it just may work.”

Suddenly, before he could even explain his idea to the others, Orgoth let out a mighty roar that seemed to blast strong winds across the field.

“What’s with that creep?” wondered Rainbow.

Orgoth then grabbed its sword slammed the ground hard making a small explosion.

“Orgoth, what are you doing?!” shouted Sienna.

The monster then turned to face her and Mako and began to stomp his way towards them, “Orgoth, I command you to stop!” shouted Mako, but the monster just kept coming.

The fighters were most confused, “Why is it attacking them?” asked Spike.

“Sienna, what do I do?!” cried Mako.

“Recall him, quickly!” snapped Sienna.

Mako quickly grabbed Orgoth’s capsule, “Return, Orgoth!” and the return beam fired from the capsule and hit the monster, but had no effect whatsoever. “It’s not working!” cried Mako “I can’t recall him!”

Sienna couldn’t understand this, but she saw Orgoth approaching them, and raising its huge sword to strike them. “LOOK OUT MAKO!” Sienna screamed as she tackled her brother out of the way, just barely missing the strike herself.

“SIS!!” cried Mako.

“I’m okay.” panted Sienna.

Poor Mako, all his courage was all but depleted. He burst into tears, “Sienna I’m scared!”

Sienna agreed, and held her brother tight, “Let’s get out of here!”

The two villains vanished, back to their ship, while their monster continued to run amuck.

“He’s heading for the town!” cried Lightning “Come on! We can’t let him in there!”

“Shining…!” Starla murmured, worrying about her baby.

The sentries at the entrance to town saw the monster coming and sounded the alarms, warning everybody of approaching the danger.

At once, everyone rushed inside and the barriers rose.

All the same while, little Shining Light was crying and wailing, not just because of the loud noises, but he wanted his mother and father.

“Oh… oh, don’t cry, Shining!” Krysta said as she tried to comfort him. She used her magic to levitate him up and rocked him softly back and forth. The baby stopped crying a little.

“There you go, nice… nice…” Krysta cooed as she set Shining down in his playpen.

Shining then looked up at Krysta, and he reached up and grabbed the tiny fairy. “UGH!!” Krysta groaned “What are you-- Let me go!”

Poor Krysta had quite forgotten about babies and their tendency to grab things.

Shining shook Krysta softly in his hand making Krysta feel nauseous. “I… hope… Lightning and Starla… get back soon!”

Shining then stopped and gawked down at her with a funny look in his eyes.

“Oh, no…!” groaned Krysta.

Shining brought her closer and closer to his face, but Krysta, managing to free her wand, levitated Shining’s teddy bear before his eyes, and he let her go and hugged his bear instead.

“Whew!” Krysta groaned, only for Shining to drop the bear right on top of her, “B’OHHH!!

…I can’t take this!”

Many of the sentries stood by the town perimeter and prepared to open fire on the approaching monster.

“NO… DON’T…!!” Lightning tried to shout to them, but the sentries already opened fire, shooting magical blasts and rays from guns, only for each and every attack to bounce off of Orgoth and head straight back at them.

The sentries all scattered and dodged about as the blasts struck all over the village perimeter; blasting lampposts, destroying stands, roasting the trees and blowing holes in the ground, but at least the homes and buildings were protected by the barriers.

Starla groaned as she rubbed her face in frustration, “How are we supposed to stop that thing?” she asked.

“Leave it to me.” Lightning said, and he sped on a head straight for the rampaging monster.

“Lightning…!” Starla called to him.

“What are you doing?!” added Rainbow.

Rarity fainted overdramatically in midair, and Spike caught her in his arms, but just the same worrying about Lightning.

Orgoth slashed down a couple of trees, smashed down a few huge boulders with its huge fists. Now it was just a few feet away from entering the town where it would no doubt cause loads of damage…

…When suddenly, small blasts of uniforce blasted around the monster, rather that hitting it directly.

Orgoth turned and saw Lightning glaring at him fiercely, “Okay, big boy; time to rumble!”

Orgoth roared and slashed his blade, blasting his airwaves at Lightning.

Lightning rushed forth, swerving away from each shot, and went straight for the monster.

“Lightning, don’t!” called Spike, but Lightning, instead of punching Orgoth, zipped out of the way, and suddenly jumped on the monster’s back, and clutched it hard.

The monster was wild and crazy; riving and thrashing about to shake Lightning off.

“Oh, my goodness!!” cried Rarity.

Even Rainbow thought this was too wild a stunt, even for her! “What the heck is he thinking?!”

“Come on, Lightning!” said Starla.

Lightning held on with all his might as the monster got wilder and fought with such fierceness. “Come on…! Come on, ya big lug!!” Lightning taunted.

Finally, he felt himself losing his grip, and he was forced to let go as the monster swung its huge fist at him.

Lightning zipped round to the front of the creature.

Orgoth was really looking steamed, and swung its sword hard straight at him. Lightning waited until the last split second and hit the dirt hard causing Orgoth to miss and to strike himself right across the chest plate, making a small explosion.

“Lightning…!” Starla screamed.

Spike looked on ahead, “Hey, he’s all right!”

Surely enough Lightning was fine and headed straight for the group. “It worked!!” he cried.

“What worked?” asked Rarity.

Lightning pointed down at the clearing smoke. There stood Orgoth, and one its chest plate was a huge breach, which the others gawked in awe at.

Lightning nodded and explained, “I figured that since our attacks wouldn’t hope to beat it, I faked the most out and made it attack itself. Since its sword is made of the material as its coating, it was the perfect plan!”

Orgoth roared angrily and, still able to fight, slashed its blade, sending more air blasts at the team. “Scatter!” shouted Lightning, and everyone sprinted off just missing the blasts. “Aim for the breach!” Lightning called to the others.

Rarity and Rainbow nodded, and charged forth.

Rainbow dove straight in at Orgoth.

The monster saw her and prepared to intercept like before.

“Oh, no you don’t!” shouted Rarity, and she fired beams from her horn, hitting the breach, and really weakening the creature, allowing Rainbow to charge forth and kick hard with feet…

CRASH!! A huge rainbow colored explosion followed as Orgoth was sent flying across the field and dropping its sword along the way.

“A’RGH!” Rainbow groaned as she rubbed her aching feet, “Despite the weakening, that guy’s still pretty tough.”

“Not for long.” said Lightning, as he stood by Starla and Spike, “Now it’s our turn. Give it all you’ve got!”

The others agreed and powered up their finishers.

“DRAGON KNIGHT SABER… IGNITE!”

Spike slashed his flaming sword, directly at the breach. The attack worked as Orgoth began to flare up and spark like crazy.

“My turn!” said Starla“GALACTIC PROJECTILE!”

POW!! Her arrow was launched, crashing into the breach hard, and finally Lightning was up.“UNIFORCE”

The power of the attacks consumed Orgoth in a great blaze that disintegrated the creature’s gem-like body, leaving behind only a few fragments of armor and its huge sword.

The team could do nothing but cheer and holler with joy.

While on the enemy’s ship, Sienna and Mako made it onto the bridge, and Sienna angrily shoved the Raiders out of her way. Mako angrily kicked the walls whining, “It’s not fair! It’s Not Fair!! That was such a good monster!”

Slash snickered softly at the way Mako was behaving, and now he was hoping Sienna would scorn him for this failure, but much to his dismay, Sienna was sympathetic and soft with Mako.

“Don’t despair, Mako. It was still and excellent plan. You’ve given us a lot to think about. We’ll just have to work harder to figure out what went wrong.”

Mako looked up at his sister and smiled happily, while Slash clenched his fists angrily, but was being careful not to give himself away.

Instead he just walked off in a huff, passing Omnisha along the way. “He better watch himself.” she said to herself in thought.

“Hey!” snapped Sienna as she observed the console. She noticed a master switch for a berserker-gem was left “ON” and she knew fully well that this was not an accident.

“Somebody set us up.” she hissed.

“What?” Mako couldn’t believe what he just heard “Who would do that? They nearly destroyed us too.”

Sienna clenched her fists, “I don’t know, Mako, but when I find out who did, they’ll wish they had never been born.”

Omnisha felt a little shiver run down her spine.

Meanwhile, the damages down to the town perimeter weren’t that serious and wouldn’t long for the maintenance crews to repair.

The team all went home to Lightning and Starla’s, with Orgoth’s discarded sword and bits of armor in tow.

“Krysta…?” Lightning called out softly.

The friends all saw Shining asleep in his playpen and he was clutching her in his little hands, holding her close.

“Aww…” Starla cooed.

“Help me!” Krysta groaned quietly.

The others couldn’t help but chuckle, and Shining began to awaken. He smiled as his mother scooped him up in her arms and smothered him softly.

Lightning patted his son’s little head, which Rarity and Spike felt was touching.

Krysta stretched out and shook herself vigorously, “I don’t think I’m cut out for this babysitting stuff. More like the baby will sit on me.”

“Thanks a bunch, still Krysta.” Said Lightning “I’ll make other arrangements for future situations.”

Rainbow inspected all the weapons confiscated from the battle. “What are we going to do with all this?”

“We’re going to send it to Professor Brain.” replied Lightning “If we can analyze this alloy and tech, we may be able to use it for ourselves. We’ll be one step closer to bringing Sienna down for good using her own resources.”

“Awesome!” said Spike, “But how long will it take?”

“Hard to say.” said Lightning “But the sooner we send them off the better.” he paused and picked up the huge sword in his hand, “We’re about to take a huge step, people; a very huge step.”

(Promo)

In our next episode: While the search for Flurry Heart and the Bat Lords continue, Applejack tells her friends the story about her parents and how all the legacy came to be.

But when The Bats finally attack again, a shocking surprise is in store for not only Applejack, but everyone else as well.

What surprise is it that awaits everyone?

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

(Next Episode: “Tragic Tall Tales… to Reality!”)

Author's Note

Don't even start with me about Starla/Lightning and Shining.

They are Starfleet officers and their DUTY comes first, especially considering that while the DO wish to lookout for their baby, if they don't help to drive the danger away, EVERYONE can get killed INCLUDING their son. I'm not saying the baby isn't important, but I am saying they must answer the GREATER NEED

("The needs of the MANY outweigh the needs of the FEW")

Besides, either way I'm sure my haters will bitch about it.

-Starla leaves the field to look after Shining "Wow! She's deserting her Starfleet post"

-Starla stays to fight and leaves her baby in good care of others, "Wow! she's really a neglectful mother"

It is an impasse. Case Closed

Episode 11: Tragic Tall Tales... To Reality

Author's Note

UGH!! Even with all my shaving the actual wort count is 1100 words too high... now I'm gonna have to make a chapter with fewer words to maintain the balance!

Episode 11: Tragic Tall Tales... To Reality

EPISODE ELEVEN

Tree Hugger, Apple Bloom and DD were at the market fetching groceries for their respected families, and they were just getting ready to check out.

“Ah, shucks!” said Applebloom “I forgot the apple butter. Applejack said we were runnin’ out and we won’t be able to make some more ‘til our next apple pick.”

“No problem,” said DD “I can hurry back and get a jar.”

“Well, like don’t take too long.” said Tree Hugger.

“Back in a flash.” said DD, and she zipped back into the market and found what she was looking for almost instantly; a jar of“Granny Smith’s Old Fashioned Apple Butter.”It even had a picture of Granny’s face on the label.

“Good old, Granny Smith.” said DD.

Just as she was about to leave, right next to the apple butter shelf was another shelf of jars just like the one she had, but they weren’t filled with apple butter. “What’s this?” she wondered.

The vendor explained, “This here is a jar of“Grand Pear’s Old Fashioned Pear Butter.”

“Pear Butter?” asked DD.

The vendor nodded, “It’s pretty good stuff.” and she motioned at the picture of the stallion on the label “That Grand Pear sure knew what he was doing.

Pity he’s not still around. I heard he was murdered.”

DD shuddered at the thought of a pony being murdered. The picture of Grand Pear on the jar looked rather young, in his prime.

Still, “I think I will try some.” and she took a jar with her.

As the girls all headed back to New Sweet Apple Acres, they passed by Fluttershy’s, and saw her sitting on her porch looking really down-hearted.

“Whoa, what’s with the blue notes, Flutter-Bud?” said Tree Hugger.

Fluttershy looked up sadly, “Oh, hi, Tree Hugger. Hi girls.

…I’m just worried about Rhymey. He’s been working hard in the cellar for days.”

She explained that ever Flurry Heart was taken by Nightwing, a few days ago, Rhymey felt extremely upset about it. However, his Ward Sword was covered in a few specks of Ebany’s blood, plus a few specks of Shade’s blood he had found stained on the grass.

“He’s been in the cellar all this time trying to analyze the contents of the blood, so we might be able to track the Bats and find Flurry Heart.

…But he’s been at it almost non-stop.”

Applebloom and DD peered through the cellar windows, and surely enough, Rhymey was in a corner of the cellar where all the lab equipment was established for at-home experiments; a thing many Starfleet Officers had in the home, and all Starfleet Officers had some good education in chemistry and sciences.

Rhymey looked a little frazzled, but he was working really hard analyzing the blood specks from his sword and the grass threads.

“I’ve never seen him work this hard before.” said Fluttershy “I’m worried he’ll over-exert himself, but… I know why he’s doing it.”

Tree Hugger felt sorry for Fluttershy,

“Maybe you should make him some herbal tea.
It always helps to cool and calm me.”

Fluttershy gawked at her softly, “You just spoke in rhyme.”

Tree Hugger giggled, “Sorry.”

Fluttershy smiled softly, but decided to take her friend up on her advice and went to fix her husband some tea.

With that settled, the girls all went on their way home again.

Soon afterwards, Fluttershy went downstairs, followed by Angel, carrying a tray of tea cups and a pot of freshly made herbal tea.

“Um… Rhymey…” Fluttershy called softly to him, but Rhymey turned round with a shocked expression on his face.

It almost frightened her…

“Please don’t be afraid,
But there’s big discovery I’ve made.”

His wife looked curious, but at the same time feeling what Rhymey had discovered sounded serious!

Elsewhere, there was more going on; ever since Flurry’s abduction, Starfleet had still been working to find any leads of tracking the Bats so they could rescue the infant princess, and hopefully put an end to Count Nightwing’s evil, as well and take the part of the Mystic Map he had with him which they desperately needed.

Lightning, Artie and the Spanish twins were investigating the cavern where the Bats had been sealed, hoping to find more clues.

Artie viewed the paintings on the wall, and was still flustered that they just ended. “It’s no good.” he said “All it tells us is the history of the Bats, how they were driven from their home, but nothing else beyond the point where Nightwing found his amulet.

It still doesn’t say how Nightwing became what he is now, or how he and his goons were sealed up.”

Lightning sighed, “Well that won’t help us.” then he called to the back of the cave where dyno and Myte were examining the rock formation where the bats came out of. “How about you guys? Find anything?”

“Nothing much,” said Dyno “But the geological structure of this rock formation, it looks manmade.”

Lightning and Artie gawked at once another, “You mean it was carved by hand, and not out of nature?” asked Artie.

“Si…” relied Myte “We know our geology well, and our guess is, this sealing was done by some mucho macho magic.”

The men felt it was starting to make a little more sense, but Lightning still contemplated, “But who would have the power to seal up Nightwing and his goons… especially considering the power of that amulet?”

As he paced about, he suddenly spotted something shiny wedged in between a few rocks by his feet.

“Find something, Lightning?” asked Artie.

Lightning picked up what appeared to be a dusty and scratched golden heart-shaped locket pendant, with the apple-shaped mark. “This must belong to the Apple family.” said Lightning.

He then opened the locket and looked inside at two small pictures of two Earth Ponies. They were original Earth Ponies, non-humanoid.

One was a mare with a pale gamboge coat, a long curly bright gamboge mane, and her Cutie Mark was that of a jar of fruit butter.

The other pony was a stallion-- most likely the husband of the mare. His coat was a pale and light grayish-olive color, and his mane was brilliant red in color. His cutie mark was that of a bitten apple, and he wore a hat identical to Applejack’s in every detail.

“Hey, I don’t recognize those ponies?” said Dyno.

Myte agreed, “I never even saw them after United Equestria was formed. Never saw them enslaved by the monsters in The Great War either.”

Lightning snapped the locket shut and stowed it. “I think I’ll take this to Applejack. Maybe she can answer.”

“Go ahead, we’ll keep working here.” said Artie. The twins agreed, and Lightning went off.

Meanwhile, it was nearly sundown.

Tree Hugger and the girls got home, and were sorting the groceries at Applejack’s.

“Here ya go, sis… everythin’ you wanted.” said Applebloom

Applejack chuckled and patted her sister’s head, “Hey, atta’ girl, Applebloom.”

Applebloom smiled.

Buddy Rose rummaged around for some groceries he had asked. “Hey, what’s this?” he asked as he held up the jar of pear butter.

Applejack gasped at the very sight of the jar, and looked as if she had seen a ghost. “You bought pear butter?!” she cried.

“Hey, chill out, girl.” said Tree Hugger “Like what’s the vibes turning bad for?”

Applejack raised her eyebrow, “Huh?”

“She asked “What’s the matter?” said Buddy.

Applejack quickly panicked “Just get that outta’ here before Granny Smith sees it…”

“See what?” asked Granny as she came in, and she took one look at the jar, “Oh…” she spoke so softly as she walked up to Buddy and softly took the jar from him, and tears came to her eyes. Then she just walked off not saying anything.

“What was that about?” asked DD.

“I’ve never seen Granny behave like that before.” said Applebloom.

Applejack sighed and hung her head low, and looked about ready to cry herself.

“Okay, I’m starting to feel mega bummed here with all these sad vibes.” said Tree Hugger.

Before anyone could question Applejack, Lightning knocked at the open door and let himself in.

“Oh, my…” he said as he noticed many of the glum faces, “If this is a bad time I can come back later.”

“Nah, it’s okay.” Applejack said trying to forget this gloom, “What brings you here?”

He showed her the locket he had found making Applejack gasp again, “Where did you find that?”

“…In the cave where The Bat Lords were sealed.”

Applejack couldn’t keep her tears from falling now, especially when he looked at the two pictures inside.

“Applejack…?” cried Applebloom, “What’s the matter, sis?”

Applejack never looked so flustered, so distraught.

“So, you DO know those two ponies.” said Lightning.

Applejack nodded, “They’re my parents.”

“Say what now?!” cried Applebloom.

Applejack nodded, and the others all gawked with odd expressions on their faces.

This was a real eye-opener for everyone. While Applejack claimed the ponies in the pictures were her parents, there was a single picture of either one of them anywhere else in the whole house…

…and there was a reason because of that.

Applejack led everyone up to the attic where she found and old box containing more photos of her folks, which had been kept safely stored all that time.

“Why do you keep them boxed up here?” asked Buddy.

Applejack answered “You see, Granny just doesn’t like lookin’ at ‘em much, ever since…” she couldn’t say the last words, and didn’t have to.

“Well that certainly explains why I’ve never seen any pictures of them before.” said Applebloom, and she sounded rather angry, “I can’t believe Granny’s been keepin’ me from lookin’ at all these pictures my entire life. I never even knew what Ma and Pa looked like!”

Applejack knew her sister had every right to be angry, but still, “Applebloom, there’s somethin’ you need to know. We didn’t want you to find out, but… I think it’s time.”

Everyone huddled around as Applejack told a small story that Granny Smith had told her and Big Mac before…

A long time ago, there was another farmland right next to Sweet Apple Acres, which belonged to a family of ponies known as “The Pears.”

Grand Pear, the lead farmer and head of the Pear Family was always at odds with Young Granny Smith; the two of them often insulting one-another, getting in each other’s faces, which spouted a heated feud between Apples and Pears. Rotten rivals to the core, every last one of them…

There were however two ponies that seemed to get along well, Granny’s eldest son, Bright Macintosh, and Grand Pear’s daughter, Pear Butter.

“Pear Butter?!” cried Applebloom “But I thought our mom’s name was "Buttercup?”

“That’s what I thought too.” said Applejack “But it turned out that was just a nickname Daddy gave to Ma.

Fact is, Applebloom, our mom was a Pear.”

Applebloom gasped the biggest gasp she had ever gasped, and the others felt astonished and shocked to learn this secret.

“So, you’re half Pear.” said DD.

“Eeyup.” replied Applejack “Believe me I was just as shocked when I learned this.”

She continued with the story…

You couldn’t deny that Bright Mac and Pear were in love, from the time they were little to as they grew up.

Bright Mac always seemed to get distracted seeing Pear Butter, and when she turned to flutter her eyes at him, he would lose so much sight that he’d stumble about, bump into trees, and even crash right through the fence.

Unfortunately, both Granny and Grand Pear thought this silly, and prompted to drive them apart.

“No daughter of mine is going to make goo-goo eyes at an Apple.”

“The day my son has a thing for a Pear is the day hens give milk.”

It seemed really hard for Pear and Bright to get to see one another, but there was one pony from the Apple’s side that actually had heart as well as a head…

Seeder Breeze, Bright Mac’s younger brother, and Granny Smith’s youngest son…

Despite being an Apple, he didn’t seem to care much for the feud, as he wasn’t even born when it all happened, but he and Bright Mac were quite a pair… despite being Apples.

Bright Mac taught Seeder what it meant to have heart, and to care about the finer things, and Seeder… he grew to respect and care for his brother like an idol. Wanting to follow in his footsteps and be the best Apple there could be.

Even when he was just learning and he made mistakes, Seeder remained loyal and faithful to his family, especially to Bright Mac.

“Easy there, Seeder.” Bright Mac would say “You don’t wanna go bustin’ yourself now.”

“No, B,M.” said Seeder, “You’ve always done much for me, now I wanna do much for you. I’d even die for you if I had to.”

Bright Mac felt really touched by Seeder’s words, much as he hoped he would never die. “There is somethin’ you can do for me though.”

“What’s that?”

Seeder agreed to do some of Bright Mac’s chores so that Bright Mac could find some time to have secret rendezvous with Pear Butter, and that was how the two grew closer and closer together.

So close, that Pear Butter made up a song for Bright Mac…

Granny Smith and Grand Pear were still at each other’s throats, and they began to sense that something was going on between their kids, and eventually… Seeder was caught doing Bright Mac’s chores by Granny.

Both the brothers were declined sorely.

“So you’ve been seeing that good-for-nothing Pear Spawn behind my back!” Granny thundered to Bright Mac. “She’s not good-for-nothin’, Ma!” snapped Bright Mac.

“Ha!” snorted Granny “All them Pear’s is nothin’. They were born nothin’, they’ll die nothin’, and I’ll be gal-darned if my son gets mixed up with the likes of them!”

She put her hoof down warning Bright Mac “You’re not to be seein’ that Pear Butter ever again or even set hoof off these lands! Ya hear?!”

Bright Mac was crushed and furious, that he just ran up to his room, slamming the door.

“Um… don’t ya think you were a bit hars, Ma?” asked Seeder.

“Now don’t you be startin’ with me!” sneered Granny “You’ve been helpin’ your brother deceive me behind my back. What, are you in love with one of them Pear’s too?”

Seeder’s features hardened, and normally it wasn’t in his best judgment to talk back, but he had to stand up for what he felt was right. “I’m not in love with no Pears, but I’m not in hate with them like the way you are!”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Ma… Bright Mac and Buttercup are in love, and they wanna be happy, and what are you tryin’ to do: Control our lives, tell us what’s right and wrong just because you don’t approve of somethin’ or some silly feud between you and Grand Pear over little differences?!”

Granny felt stunned, as if her son’s barking made something click inside of her.

“I think you do some serious thinkin’.” Seeder said to her “…About what’s best for others, not just yourself. The way I see things; both Apples and Pears are special in their own ways. I hope you can see that too, not just for me… but for Bright Mac too.”

Granny did do a lot of thinking.

Meanwhile, Grand Pear had done some thinking himself…

“We’re movin’?!!” cried Pear Butter.

“Yes, to Vanhoover.” said Grand Pear “It’s for the best. It’s got acres and acres of land for us to farm with, and best of all, we’ll be rid of them worthless Apples, especially that Bright Mac. I won’t have you bein’ brainwashed by that Rotten Apple a moment longer!”

Pear Butter was devastated, and she secretly felt her father was more interested in getting away from the Apples and keeping her and Bright Mac separated than the family business.

Pear Butter went straight to Bright Mac and told him the bad news. “I love you, but… I gotta stay with my family.” she sobbed.

Bright Mac felt his heart begin to crumple, “No! I won’t have it. I can’t be apart from you!

…I got an idea.”

Then, on the night before the Pears moved, Bright Mac asked Pear Butter to meet him at the edge of Sweet Apple Acres.

There, the whole place was decorated with lovely white streamers with apple and pear clips along the trees, and patterns of apple and pear bushels and wagons making a long walkway, almost like a makeshift wedding hall. Mayor Mare was presiding at the end of the aisle, along with Seeder as a witness.

Pear Butter was on the verge of happy tears. “Is this what I think it is?” she asked.

Bright Mac nodded, “I don’t know what we’ll do, but I’m sure of US. So sure, that I’d marry you tonight.”

Pear accepted, and so the secret wedding began. Bright Mac and Pear Butter even had their own special way to seal their vows-- by planting an apple seed and a pear seed in front of each other.

“I know pronounce you husband and wife.” Mayor Mare declared, but just as the newlyweds were about to share their wedding kiss, Grand Pear and Granny Smith inferred.

“What is goin’ on here?!” thundered Granny.

“Pear Butter, what do you think you’re doin’!” snarled Grand Pear “Your supposed to be packing, and then we’re shovin’ off.”

Bright Mac and Pear Butter just stood close to each other, “Me and Buttercup are in love. That’s what!” said Bright Mac.

“And we just got married,” added Pear Butter “Legally and assured.”

Mayor Mare nodded, and so did Seeder.

“WHAT…?!”snarled Granny and Grand.

Much as Granny wanted to flip out of her mind, she remembered what Seeder had told her, and seeing the couple together finally made her realize just how happy they were.

But Grand Pear didn’t feel the same. “This is nonsense!” he growled “You’re coming home with me, and we’re movin’! You need to stick with your family!”

Pear Butter felt scared and upset, “But… the Apples are my family now too.”

Grand Pear was really starting to lose his cool, “Are you saying… that you’d rather be an Apple, than a Pear!”

As much as it hurt her deeply inside, Pear sneered at her father, “Yes… Yes, sir… I am!”

Granny stood beside her new daughter-in-law, actually accepting her into the family. “You see, Grand Pear.” she said “Sometimes we gotta’ think of others, not just ourselves, especially over some silly feud.”

Granny then turned and nodded at Seeder, and he nodded back, even Mayor Mare agreed with the lovely sentiment…

…But Grand Pear, he was not willing to let this happen. “I ain’t losing my daughter to the likes OF YOU APPLES!!” he thundered, and in a bust of insanity, he rushed forth and tackled Bright Mac hard to the ground, and began to punch him over and over in his face.

“Daddy, No!!” cried Pear.

“Gee off my, Son!” thundered Granny as she charged forth, and Pear Butter helped her trying to pull her father off her husband, “Leave him alone!”

Grand Pear, too furious to care, back-hoofed them both hard in their faces, pushing them over, and then proceeded to strangle Bright Mac hard, and poor Bright Mac was unable to break loose and felt himself choking.

Seeder couldn’t bear to watch this, and felt his own raging going past the breakpoint. He then grabbed a large wagon full of pears next to him, and began to rush straight at Grand Pear screeching his little head off “GET OFF MY BROTHER!!!”

Grand Pear looked up just in time to see Seeder shoving the wagon straight at him… WHAMM!!! Grand Pear was shoved clear off of Bright Mac, still riding on the wagon at full speed downhill.

He looked behind, and saw a huge tree coming up fast, “AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH…!!!”

WHAMM!!

WHAMM!!

WHAAAAAAAAAM!!!

“DAD!!!!” screamed Pear Butter.

Everyone rushed down to Grand Pear. The wagon was in pieces, and the pears were all scattered about, and Grand Pear lay perfectly still… very dead from the impact that crushed his bones and damaged his insides.

Pear Butter was devastated, but easily… Seeder was completely struck with himself, “I… I didn’t… mean to…” he sobbed “He was the one who…”

His brother comforted him “It’s all right, Seeder. You were just tryin’ to help.” though he himself was equally as devastated by Grand Pear’s death, even if he brought it on himself for trying to kill him and hurting his wife and mother.

The other ponies were all in absolute shock by this, even Tree Hugger was wide-eyed, “Whoa… just whoa.” she cried softly.

“Uncle Seeder killed Grandpa Grand Pear.” said Applebloom.

Applejack nodded regretfully, “He didn’t mean to, and he didn’t get charged. He was only trying to save Pa.

Even Ma forgave him for it, much as she was devastated, she knew he was only tryin’ to help.”

Lightning rubbed his eyes in shock. Even he knew the laws wouldn’t be able to punish Seeder for his actions. “What happened after that?”

Applejack continued to explain, “The Pears moved, but without Grand Pear they fell on hard times. They vowed never to forgive us Apples for takin’ his life despite the facts.

Ma and Pa lived happily; soon they had Big Mac, and then me.

We were like the perfect family, though Uncle Seeder. He was often haunted by his killing Grand Pear, even though the rest of the family tried their darnest to help him let it go.

Then one day, a few weeks after Applebloom was born, when I was ten years old…

Uncle Seeder went out on a simple apple delivery, but he never came back. We all went lookin’ for him, and we found the wagon was in pieces and the fruit had been brutalized, but no sign of Seeder anywhere.

Worse than that, Ma and Pa never came back either. All I could find was Pa’s hat.

We all could only assume the worst; they’d been done in by some wild animals, which explained the state of the wagon, the damaged fruits and just the hat left behind.”

Applejack softly tipped her hat, and Applebloom had tears in her eyes and cuddled up to her sister. Now it hurt her all the more that she never knew their parents, and that they were seemingly killed, as well as her uncle.

“I’m sorry, Applebloom.” Applejack sobbed as she held her sister tightly “We thought it best you didn’t know.”

“Never mind…” cried Applebloom.

DD felt upset too, and it made her miss her own parents, and she cuddled up to Buddy who held her tight. “That’s why you didn’t want Granny to see the pear butter.” he said softly “Too many bad memories.”

“It’s all my fault.” said DD “I was the one who got the pear butter.”

Applejack shook her head at her, “It ain’t your fault, DD. You didn’t know.”

Lightning could only feel pity fire everyone, as he knew what it felt to lose his parents too, but then… as he looked down into the box of photos, his eyes fell upon one old faded picture of Applejack’s parents and her Uncle Seeder.

He gawked down at the picture, preferably at Seeder. “Hey…” he said to himself. Though the picture was blurry, he felt he had seen that pony somewhere before, and most recently.

“Hey!” said Applejack as she inspected her mother’s old locket, “You said you found this in the cave The Bats were in?”

“Yes, why?” but suddenly he happened upon the same thought Applejack was getting, “I’m bettin’ it was Nightwing who did my folks in!”

Everyone thought that was definite possibility due to the locket being found in the cave, and the fruit from the carts being smashed and rotted the day Applejack found it all.

Suddenly, the farm alarms outside went off, followed by Big Mac hollering “Bat Alert! Bat Alert! They’re after the crops again!”

“Let’s go!” said Applejack, and she dashed for the stairs, and the others followed her through the house, and past Granny Smith who was fast asleep and snoring in her rocker still clutching the pear butter jar. She hadn’t even heard the alarms.

As the dashed into the field, Lightning fired a small flare of Uniforce into the sky as a signal beacon, warning friends or other officers who saw it of the danger.

The sun had nearly set by the time the gang made it into the orchards, where they witnessed Nightwing, Shade, and Ebany feeding on the apples-- sucking them completely dry and leaving them rotted to the core.

“Drop them apples!” shouted Applebloom.

The Bat lords turned and saw the gang standing together, “Well, you took your sweet time.” said Shade, “So we decided to help ourselves to a little snack.” hissed Ebany, and she took a huge bite out of an apple and tossed the peel near the Applejack’s feet, enraging her.

“Where’s Flurry Heart?” Lightning demanded.

Nightwing snickered, “The little infant that you want is safely stowed in my lair, where her mother-child bond has been supplying me with vast amounts of power.

But I shouldn’t about her, and worry on the present situation. I’m here to test my new powers and fulfil the foremost of my conquests; I’m finally going to take back these lands!”

“You wish, ya overgrown night-flyer!” sneered Applebloom.

Tree Hugger stepped in, “Take easy, there. I think it’s time, you me and the D… am-scrayed.”

Buddy agreed, “Take them along, will you Big Mac?”

“Eeyup. I’ll watch over ‘em. If y’all need help, just holler.”

“Good luck, guys.” said DD.

As soon as they were gone, the three fighters transformed.

“STARFLEET MAGIC”

“Harmony Hour, Friendship Power”

The three Bat Lords stood where they were.

“I wouldn’t be so smug if I were you.” said Buddy,“LEAF SWARM”

His razor leaves bombarded straight at the villains, and they just stood where they were, taking every single hit but hardly even flinching or getting scratched.

“No way!” cried Buddy.

Nightwing snickered “I warned you…” and he swiftly raised his hand, unleashing a bright shockwave that threw all the fighters back hard, as well as knocking over many of the apple trees and destroying the crops.

“No!!” cried Buddy. He really hated it when someone abused nature and knocked over trees like that, but it was Applejack who was madder than he was. “As if messin’ my family weren’t bad enough, now you smash down our prized apple trees?! THAT’S CROSSIN’ A LINE!!” She got out her rope, and cracked it hard like a whip, “…It’s roundup time!”

“I’m with you.” said Buddy“VINE WHIP”

Shade and Ebany snarled and hissed. Then suddenly, they zipped off, and appeared behind Buddy and Applejack so quickly the ponies didn’t have a chance to react.

POW!! They were punched hard and sent flying way up high, and the two bats followed them, sprinting upward and bashing them both hard again.

Applejack and Buddy straightened themselves out in midflight, and then swiftly lassoed the two bats, and Buddy fired a few magical blasts from his horn, hitting the bats and making sparks fly, but hardly doing much damage.

“I don’t believe this.” cried Buddy.

The Bats snickered and actually broke free from their bindings. “You just never learn do you?” hissed Shade, and he rushed forth, knocking the two ponies back with one thunderous punch.

Ebany then fired two small beams of power from her eyes, hitting them hard and sending them plummeting to the ground.

“They’re way strong now.” said Buddy.

“I don’t… think we can… take ‘em alone.” groaned Applejack.

They would have called Lightning to help them, but he was already busy battling with Nightwing himself.

The two were brawling hard, but Nightwing proved to be just as stronger as ever.

Lightning managed to punch him hard in the face, only causing slight damage, but Nightwing punched him back, and kicked him hard in the chest, sending him crashing into the others. In all the chaos, Applejack lost her parents’ locket, which sailed off from her possession and landed near Ebany’s feet, and it fell open.

“What’s this?” she wondered.

Shade waltzed over to her and examined the pictures in the locket. “Ah, yes; Bright Macintosh and Pear Butter.”

Applejack winced, “So, I was right… you did my folks in?!”

All three Bat Lords didn’t, they just snickered and hissed, and to Applejack that felt like a confession, and she just snapped and let out a huge roar of fury.

“Applejack…!” shouted Lightning, but she was already rushing recklessly for the Bats, only for Nightwing to blast her hard back into the others and sent them all crashing into another tree, snapping the trunk.

“Those two were just the beginning. Soon the entire Apple Family will be just like they were, for driving us bats off our lands, and ruining our very ways of life!”

Before he could say or do anything else…

“Hold it right there!” shouted a voice.

The Bats and the trio turned and saw the most of the team. Starla had sent her droid because she had just put Shining Light to bed at home and needed to watch out for him.

“Where’s Rhymey and Fluttershy?” asked Lightning.

“They must not have seen the beacon.” said Rainbow “I can dash back and get them.”

Lightning agreed, “Do that.”

Rainbow saluted and zoomed off while the rest of the team grouped together.

Nightwing scoffed, “Even with all of you together, you won’t stop us!”

“Well, we’ll just see about that, won’t we!” sneered Stalra.

Lightning agreed, “Attack!”

The team rushed forth, while the Bats leapt up high in the air for more space to fight, and the team jumped up after them.

“STAR SHOWER”

“LEAF SWARM”

“PAINT BOMB”

“BOOM-BOOM ROCKETS”

The Bats were forced to scatter and split up as all the massive barrage of attacks came at them from all angles.

“HEEEEEEEEEE-YAAAA!” Pinkie shouted as she came soaring in for a big kick, but Shade swerved out of the way.

Pinkie then turned her head and winked at him, “Got’cha.”

That’s when Rarity fired magical blasts form her horn at him, hitting him hard, not damaging him, but stunning him enough for the girls, and Buddy to leap in and attack Shade from multiple angles, increasing damage with each strike.

“I’m coming, Shade!” cried Ebany, but before she could take off, Artie, and the Spanish Twins stopped her.“PAINT SLUDGE”Artie shouted, and magically formed colorful goop, flinging it straight at Ebany’s helmet visor, blinding her.

“Oh, yeah!” snarled Ebany “You forget, we bats have excellent sonar!” and using her super bay hearing, she could figure out where the boys were by the sound of the wind as they moved along, and still managed to punch and kick them hard.

“Well we can fight just as sneaky too, Chica!” said Dyno.

“Andale!” shouted Myte.

The two twins rushed in, and the fight seemed virtually equal. Ebany still managed to sense their moves and dodge, and attacking them both hard.

“Take this!” shouted Artie, and he pitched his staff at her like a javelin. Ebnay dodged, but Artie sneakily used the staff’s return-power to make it come back to him, striking her hard from behind. “Get her, guys!” Artie called!

The twins then rushed in and punched and kicked Ebany all over and sent her crashing to the ground.

Nightwing himself, however, wasn’t so easy, and he had four fighters battling him.

Starla’s droid charged at him, and he grabbed her by the arm and threw her off.

At home, Starla grunted softly, but tried her best to keep voice down so not to wake up the baby. “Come on you big lug, hold still!” she groaned as she hammered on the controls.

BAM!! Applejack was punched hard and sent crashing to the ground.

Lightning leapt in, and he punched and kicked furiously, but Nightwing managed to skillfully dodge them, then he grabbed Lightning by the tail, whirled him round and around, and threw him far off.

“DRAGON FLAME-WHEEL”

Spike curled himself up in his flames and bombed forth.

Nightwing shielded himself with his cape and intercepted Spike. Then in a might flap, he flung him right off and sent him tumbling backwards in midair.

Nightwing laughed, “When are you all going to realize I’m too strong now?! Nothing you dish out can stop me!”

Applejack more enraged than ever, bolted upright and charged straight at him, colliding straight into him in a fist-lock.

She kicked her leg, but Nightwing blocked with his knee, hardly feeling a thing.

“You seem overly vexed.” Nightwing taunted. Applejack growled right in his face, “You killed my parents, and I’ll bet you killed my uncle too…

…AND I’LL DESTROY YOU FOR IT!!”

Nightwing hissed, and grabbed her in a neck-lock, “Perhaps you should rejoin our group, maybe that will teach you better respect!”

“No, Applejack!” cried Buddy. He tried to rush up to help her, but Shade grabbed him by the tail, “Going down!” he sneered, and whirled him round and around, bashing Pinkie and Rarity, knocking them over.

Artie and the Twins tried to rush over and help her, but Ebany, after rubbing the goop off her visor, used her paralysis power to hold them all steady.

“Whoa!” cried Artie.

“I can’t move!” said Dyno.

“Her magic… it’s stronger!” added Myte.

Ebany snickered wickedly.

Lightning and his team rushed up to get at Nightwing, “Uh-uh-uh…” Nightwing hissed at them, “You wouldn’t want anything worse to happen to your friend now, would you?”

Still choking in her neck-lock, Applejack called to the others, “Get him! Blow this Bat creep out!”

“But Applejack…” cried Lightning.

“DO IT!!” she shouted “Get this brute for what he did to my family!”

“Oh, Applejack!” said Starla.

Suddenly, the full-moon was raised into the dark night sky, and it’s light shone down on the orchard.

The Bats all gasped and began to feel strange.

Shade stopped fighting with the ponies, Ebany’s paralysis magic ceased, and Nightwing dropped Applejack, and she fell into Spike’s arms. “Nice catch.” she said

“Yeah, but what’s with them?” wondered Spike.

“This is just like before,” said Lightning. He remembered when the Bats used their breath to infect most of New Ponyville, and then suddenly this happened.

Then he looked up in the sky and realized, “It’s the light of the full moon! Something about must be causing them to grow weaker.”

All three Bat Lords were clutching their heads and groaning in pain.

“UGH!! NOT AGAIN!!” thundered Nightwing, “I’m outta’ here!” and he took off as fast as he could before he got any weaker.

“Wait for us, Count!” shouted Shade.

“We’re outta here!” cried Ebany, and they both took off after him.

“Oh, no you don’t!” shouted Applejack, and she leapt out of Spike’s arms and dashed forth.

“Let’s go!” said Lightning.

Everyone agreed, now was the perfect time to blast the Bats once and for all while they were weak.

“STARLIGHT ARROW”

“BOOM BOOM ROCKETS”

Starla and the Twins attacks struck Shade and Ebany hard, but Nightwing still managed to dodge the attacks and attempted to escape and hide deep in the orchard.

As for Applejack, she stood before the downed Shade and Ebany, and she looked ready for the kill! “You two… you’re goin’ down!” she growled.

The poor Bats could barely find any strength to stand up now with the moonlight shining on them full blast.

Suddenly, before Applejack could strike them, she was grabbed and bound by powerful binds of light.

“What? It’s the light of harmony.” cried Rarity. “The Light of Harmony?” snapped Pinkie, and they both looked up and saw Rainbow and Fluttershy, in Valkyrie mode, using their swords to hold Applejack down.

“What are you doing?!” thundered Lightning.

“Stopping Applejack from making a huge mistake.” said Rainbow.

Rhymey then landed before Applejack.

“Let me go!” shouted Applejack, “I’ve gotta get ‘em! They killed my parents!”

Rhymey shook his head and cried,

“No,
It isn’t so!”

Then, both Shade and Ebany glowed brightly, and transformed in a huge flash before everyone’s eyes into none other than Bright Macintosh and his wife, Pear Butter.

Applejack gasped hard, “They… they ARE my parents.”

All the others were just as astonished, and Rainbow and Fluttershy saw this to let Applejack loose.

Applejack shakily but calmly approached her parents. They physically appeared exactly the same age they did when they disappeared on that day ten years ago, they almost appeared to be the same age as Applejack herself, maybe just a few years off. Strangely, they had humanoid bodies as well, which was most likely because of the mutation from the bats. They were also still wearing their bat armor too.

Bright and Pear wearily came to their senses as Applejack looked down at them.

“Ma… Daddy…?”

Her folks looked up, and despite her physical appearance being different to them, they’d recognize their daughter anywhere.

“Applejack.” said Bright Mac.

“Oh, AJ…” cried Pear.

Tears flooded in Applejack’s eyes, fogging her visor underneath. “You’re alive!” and she embraced her parents and wept. They hugged her back and wept just as well.

Rarity eyes flooded with tears of her own “I can’t believe-- this is so beautiful.”

Pinkie was already blubbering.

As for the others, they were also touched by the moment, and just as shocked as well, “We almost destroyed them!” said Artie.

“Wait…” said Starla and she looked at Rhymey, Rainbow and Fluttershy “How did you guys know who they were?”

“Fluttershy and Rhymey cane explain.” said Rainbow.

Fluttershy let Rhymey do all the talking, since it was his discovery.

“The last time when all of us fought,
I took home the specks of blood I got

For day I studied and scanned them well,
And what I came up with, I will tell.

There was Pony DNA in the samples, see,
And the data matched it with Applejack’s family.

The computer revealed the identity of these two,
That is how I and Fluttershy knew.”

Fluttershy nodded, “When Rainbow told us about the battle, we rushed here right away, hoping to get here before you destroyed them.”

Applejack felt slightly sick to her stomach, “I could never kill my parents! Never!” she embraced them again, and they hugged her back.

Then, Bright Mac noticed, “Wait! Where’s Seeder Breeze? Where’s my brother?”

“Uncle Seeder…? He’s alive too?” asked Applejack.

The others all suddenly began to realize, as Lightning voiced, “If her parents were shade and Ebany all this time… then that means…!”

He began to compare the images of the picture of Seeder Breeze; to the image he saw when he nearly destroyed Nightwing in the last battle.

Suddenly, everyone could hear some screaming from somewhere in the orchard.

“What’s that?” cried Pinkie.

“It’s Seeder!” cried Pear. She and Bright Mac recognized his voice anywhere. Even Applejack was stunned to hear it.

Then, Seeder Breeze wearing Nightwing’s outfit and cape limped out from the darkness, clutching his head and groaning in fury and pain.

“That’s him! The guys from Applejack’s family picture.” said Buddy.

“Uncle Seeder Breeze!” cried Applejack.

Seeder, still clutching his head warned everyone, “He’s… comin’… back! I can’t fight him!!”

“Bro!” cried Bright Mac.

Just then, Seeder’s eyes began to glow, and he spoke in Nightwing’s evil voice, “You… can’t… hold me… back! I AM YOU!!”

Seeder then glowed brightly in a flash, and at the same time, Bright and Pear gasped and clutched their own heads.

“Ma, Pa!” cried Applejack, but her father gave her a huge shove, “Get away from us!”

Applejack then watched in horror as the three ponies changed back into the Bat Lords, but all three of them were still looking weak and still struggling to fight the control in the moonlight.

Nightwing sneered at Applejack “This is not the end… we’ll be back!” then, he activated the amulet, making a huge flash of bright light, stunning everyone allowing he and his batlings to retreat, and his evil laugh faded in the breeze.

When all was clear, Applejack fell to her knees, “NO!!!” she shouted as she pounded the ground hard with her fists, and she burst into tears and sobbed softly.

All that time, her parents and uncle were alive, and now revealed to be the Bat Lords themselves, and now they escaped again, just when she got them all back.

Buddy approached the sobbing mare, “Applejack…?” but really, there was nothing to say to her now.

With the bats gone again, Lightning suggested “We better get Applejack home; she needs a rest after all that.”

Everyone agreed, and Buddy helped Applejack back to her feet, then he would return to the fields and hopefully be able to fix the damaged trees.

“What are we going to tell the rest of her family?” asked Starla.

“What else but the truth.” said Lightning “…I just hope they can handle it.”

As everyone headed back to Applejack’s place, Spike then noticed something shimmering on the ground where the bats were before they retreated.

“Spike?” said Rarity.

Her husband walked up to where the shimmering came from, and he noticed a tiny purple jewel lying on the ground, with an Apple Logo on it. “Seeder Breeze must’ve dropped this before he became Nightwing again.”

Rarity examined the gem “I know this is… We must tell Lightning.” and the two of them hurried off, but whatever secrets were about to be unfolded would have to wait for a while.

(Promo)

In our next episode: Captain Shadow is struggling to cope with in his new life, but doesn’t seem to be able to fit in or get along well with many.

Meanwhile, following an attack on New Canterlot, Mako is separated from his team and is badly injured. Sienna also discovers Slash’s treachery and dismisses him.

How can Shadow fit in with the world around him, and what is the fate for Slash and Mako?

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

(Next Episode: “Having a fit-in”)

Episode 12: Having a fit-in

EPISODE TWELVE

Many weeks had passed since Captain Shadow Coat was revived from being frozen, and helped everyone to realize the quest for map fragments and legendary items.

He was also granted magical surgery to conform his body into humanoid to help adapt to the world around him. It felt strange at first and hard to get used to, but once he got the hang of it, Shadow thought it magnificent. He even felt several years younger for a pony his age.

Of course… apart from Celestia and Celesto, there weren’t exactly any ponies his age at all. A-thousand years was a long time to be frozen, and naturally as was talked about, he was having a hard time fitting in with the world as it existed.

He was too old to join the knight guild, especially considering how advanced and high tech it was now, and there was no place he could go in the world as it was now, until he was fully re-educated and adjusted.

It was a very long process however, and during the past weeks he had been privately tutored and subjected to small study periods in the royal library. Though he knew the lessons were meant to be helpful learning all that had changed, all the histories, all the technologies and laws as they were now… it was very hard for him to absorb and understand so much.

He got out of bed one morning, and looked out the window at the glistening sights of New Canterlot below. Then again, just looking around his bedroom was more than breathtaking for him; all the gadgets and new comforts and oddities,

There was a knock at his door, “Enter…” he called.

Captain Shaina came in, “You’re already awake, I see.”

“I still have my old instinct; late to bed, early to rise. Reminds me of the time we fought the great dragon beast. We didn’t turn in for five straight days and we…”

Shaina cut him off, “Uh… while I’m sure that’s a great story to hear, I came to tell you, that your scheduled adjustment course today has been cancelled. I am needed to train new knights in the army, and their majesties have special conferences to attend. We thought it’d be best if you had a day off.”

Shadow didn’t know whether to feel grateful or ecstatic, “After all the studying and cramming I’ve been doing. Those must be the sweetest words I’ve ever heard.”

Shaina smiled, “Well, feel free to go about as you please. I must go, I have cadets to train.”

“Um… Captain...” Shadow called “Perhaps, I could help train them with you? After all, I am a knight myself and I do know a few trades of old-fashion style combat.”

“Thank you, but I don’t believe that will be necessary.” said Shaina, and she left, leaving Shadow feeling rather down. This was not first time he had been rejected any of his advice or interrupted in his historical legacies of Equestria of Old.

Still, he knew everyone was busy, and perhaps his old style methods really didn’t fit in… but would it kill anyone to hear him out?

Meanwhile, Sienna was working on a new project with one of her own Jemma-Nites. “Just look at it Mako.” she said “Rather than create whole new Jemma-Nites, your idea inspired me to power up the ones we already have with bits of alloy from the ship’s hull. Perhaps it will serve us just as well.”

Mako loved watching the Jemma-Nites being upgraded-- all the flashing lights and the transformations-- “By the way…” he asked “Any leads on who sabotaged us the last time?”

“Nothing, yet… but we were definitely sabotaged.” replied Sienna. Then she called out, “SLASH… OMNISHA…!!”

Her crewmates entered the creation-chamber almost at once. “Captain.” said Slash.

“My newest Jemma-Nite is nearly ready. We’re all going to mount an attack on New Canterlot.”

Omnisha’s features stiffened, “Attack New Canterlot? Pardon my questioning, Captain, but we’ve had so much difficulties attack that place than any other.”

Sienna ignored her concerns, “I’m well aware of that, but this time it’s going to be different. We’re all going to attack this time.” She glanced down at Mako implying she wished for him to join the attack again.

Mako was delighted, and jumped for joy, “Wee! I’m going on another hunt!”

“Oh, joy.” Slash grumbled, but Sienna noticed his disapproval. “Is there a problem, Slash?”

Slash decided to let it out, “Forgive me, Captain, but your brother is young and inexperienced. If we are to raid New Canterlot successfully, we cannot be held back.”

Mako felt angry, “Are you saying that’s all I am to you; just dead-weight, a third-wheel?”

“A true treasure hunter has strength and stealth, but these only come in time with experience!”

Before Mako could protest, Sienna cut in, “Mako is coming, and that is final! What finer way for him to gain the experience by actually doing it! Besides, with all of us together and the new Jemma-Nite, we should be able to force the ponies to hand over the treasures.

I can’t wait forever to get those Elements of Chaos!!” she stopped and panted heavily after throwing her voice like that, almost frightening Mako. “Sorry about that, but I am getting a little impatient.”

Mako was still growing concerned. Sienna had been showing bad signs of desperately wanting the Elements ever since their arrival, leading almost to an obsession!

“Please excuse me a moment.” said Sienna, and she went off to cool her head, “Wait up, Sis.” Mako called and he hurried on after her.

Slash clenched his sword angrily.

“What, going to try to humiliate him again?” Omnisha taunted “I wouldn’t be surprised if, by now, Sienna knew of your treachery to get at Mako.”

“I fear no one.” Slash sneered “And keep your voice down, you want maybe someone to overhear you.”

“Then why are you shouting as well?”

Slash growled, and then he and Omnisha left the chamber… unaware, that a Raider that had been maintaining the computer systems overheard what they had said…!

Meanwhile, Lightning and Starla arrived at the palace, with Shining Light, as they couldn’t find anyone to babysit on short-notice. Krysta had transported them as she was invited to the conference as well.

“Oh, Starla, he’s so adorable.” Celestia said as she gazed the baby.

Shining reached up and grabbed her finger in his tiny hands.

Grand Ruler held Castor and Leilani up to look at the baby, “You see, Children; this is what you two used to look like.”

“He’s so cute.” said Castor.

“Can we play with him?” asked Leilani.

“Not just yet.” said Starla “He needs to have his nap first.”

“And speaking of naps…” Celestia said as she eyed her own children.

“Oh, no…!” groaned Castor.

“We don’t want to take a nap!” whined Leilani.

“Too bad.” their father said “You two get awfully cranky in the day when you don’t have your naps.”

The children sighed as they father carried them along. Lightning couldn’t help but chuckle, “Those kids, and to think little Shining will be their age one day.”

As soon as they were gone, Captain Shadow came into the now empty throne room, having just taken yet another walk around the palace, by himself, and feeling rather bored.

Goldwin, whom was looking out the window at the clouds with his telescope, looked up and saw him, “Hi, Captain Shadow.”

“Oh, hello, Mr. Goldwin…”

“It’s just “Goldwin” sir.”

Shadow approached the window, “Cloud gazing again?”

“Yes. It’s one of my favorite pastimes when I don’t have any chores or duties to do.”

Shadow nodded rather softly, “In my day, we always had our chores to keep us busy. One after another, and back then we didn’t have all these remarkable bits of equipment to get it all done fast for us.”

“Gee…” Goldwin said “That must’ve been hard; having nothing to do but work all day.”

“Oh, we were used to it.” said Shadow “Some of us even loved our work so much, we were too busy to complain.”

Goldwin suddenly began to feel a bit sweaty under his mask, and while carefully reached his fingers underneath to wipe a little of sweat away, Shadow turned round to face him, accidently bumping the telescope, spinning in into Goldwin’s arm, startling him and making him jump, which made him accidently jerk his mask off…

ZAP!! He turned back into a statue again.

“Oh!” cried Shadow, having been told about Goldwin and his mask, “Oh, I’m so sorry.” and he reached down and picked the mask up and placed it back on Goldwin’s face. “Now then, what was that magic spell to bring him back to life…?”

Sadly, he couldn’t remember, “Oh, blast it! Why can’t I do anything right around here?!” he groaned. With no one else around to help him, he had no choice but to leave Goldwin as he was, but he did leave a note for anyone who would come by and see him.

“It was my fault this happened. I couldn’t remember the magic words.

I am very sorry Mr. Goldwin.

Cptn. Shadow Coat.”

Meanwhile, the conference was going about in the briefing room, where they were discussing the situation at hand.

“And that’s just it…” said Lightning “Thanks to this jewel we obtained, we may finally be on the verge of bringing down the Bats.”

“That’s wonderful news.” said Celestia “But there is still the matter of Sienna.”

Everyone agreed that would be a difficult task ahead, especially with Sienna making stronger Jemma-Nites.

“We can’t let her find the Elements of Chaos.” said Starla.

“If only we have more of that magical map, we could find them and get to them before she does.” said Krysta.

“Well, that’s where we’ve had a breakthrough.” said Grand Ruler “Perhaps, you can fill that in Lightning.”

Lightning agreed, and right before him lay the map fragment that Shadow Coat had, and the knight’s helmet. “Observe…” and he carefully moved the two objects closer together. At once, the two objects began to glow softly, as if the mystical powers infused within were resonating to the presence of the one another.

“We can use this to try and detect the location of the remaining items and map fragments. Professor Brain is already working to fine-tune our visor scanning to this magical frequency.”

The rest of the meeting was pretty much spoken for, “We’ll distribute the function to our scouts at once.” said Grand Ruler “Should they locate the remaining treasures they are to send confided messages. We can’t take any chances that Sienna may find out as well.

That’ll be all.”

As everyone got up and headed for the door, the second Lightning opened the door there was Shadow Coat, just about to knock at the door. “Oh…” he said.

“Um… can we help you?” asked Starla.

Shadow hesitated, “I… I thought maybe if you needed any help with the conference, regarding the treasures…”

“The conference has ended, Shadow.” said Celestia.

“Oh…” said Shadow. There was a slight hint of grimace in his voice “Well… if anyone needs any help with anything…?”

The others all thought it over, “No, not that we can think of.” said Lightning.

Shadow felt more depressed than ever deep down, but did his best not to let it show, “Well, never mind then.” he said kindly, and then walked off.

The others watched as he walked down the hall and disappeared around a corner. “Poor guy,” said Starla “He’s really not having a good day, is he?”

Grand Ruler sighed, “He’s just not fitting in too well with us. Remember, he’s not from out of town or another planet, but another time all together, but I know what he must be feeling.”

Celestia felt pity for Shadow.

As Shadow walked along the corridors, listening to nothing but the sound of his own footsteps, Castor and Leilani had woken from their nap, and peeked outside their bedroom door at him.

Normally, they weren’t supposed to leave their room from their nap until their parents or Aunt Luna came to get them, as it wasn’t always a good thing for them to wander around the palace, being so young…

…But they saw how lonely Shadow looked. So they leapt out of their room and chased after him.

“Hey…” Castor called “Captain Shadow Coat, wait up.”

“Oh, hello, Your-Highnesses…”

“You can just call us by our names.” said Leilani. Both she and her brother smiled sweetly up at him.

“You looked a little lonely.” said Castor, “Oh, just a little.” replied Shadow “It seems everywhere I go I can’t help out, and everyone’s bored with hearing my stories.”

“We like your stories.” said Leilani.

“Really…?” Shadow said with a slight smile on his face “Well, that’s nice… I suppose. Ah, but still, it doesn’t help me all that much. I just don’t think I can really make it here.”

“You have it easy.” said Castor “Just look at us; we’re so little. We can’t go many places; we can’t even do magic or fly yet.”

Shadow couldn’t stand to see two little children being hard on themselves. “I used to think that way when I was your age, but I was always told never to feel like I was completely useless. You’ll soon discover that there’s more that you can do… all in due time.”

The children smiled thankfully for that boost of confidence…

…But suddenly, Captain Shaina came marching down the hall in a bad mood with two cadets she had been training that day, both of which did very poorly.

“Useless! Both of you!” she scolded them, “How do you ever expect to make it out there in the battlefield if you can’t keep up with the training.”

The cadets really felt their spirits being crushed, and tried to say that they were sorry.

“Sorry isn’t good enough!” spat Shaina “If you’re going to be royal guards, you’d better straighten up and fly right.”

The children didn’t like the way Shaina was shouting, and they felt a little scared, and Shadow didn’t like it either. “There’s no need to shout!” he snapped at her “In my days this was no way to whip your troops into shape.”

The cadets, though still a bit sore for Shaina’s snapping, assured him, “It’s a test of patience and courage, sir. We knights have to learn to deal with our emotions.”

Shaina agreed, “But regardless of this, your displays today were terrible. I’m considering further actions for you both to toughen you up so that maybe next time you’ll do better. Dismissed…!”

The cadets saluted and went off, but Shadow was not really at ease. “I’d like to request that I may offer up my assistance in your training courses.”

“I’m sorry but that’s impossible, and not of my authority.” replied Shaina. Then she turned to leave down the hallway, but Shadow was not through with her, “It seems to me that maybe you could use some advice from old-style training.”

“Perhaps, but I keep telling you… I don’t have the authority to make such exceptions in the schedule.”

“Yes, but I…”

“No buts!” snapped Shaina.

The children winced at the sound of her voice, and nearly felt like bursting into tears of fright.

“Captain Shadow Coat…” Shaina said firmly but softly, “I have tried to be patient, but I cannot keep taking the time to explain to you how things work around here. I have work to do, and troops to train. So I strongly suggest you leave ME to train MY troops in MY own way!”

Finally fed up and outraged with her attitude, Shadow glared at her deeply, “I was training rookies and fighting world wars… while your great-grandmother’s Great-Great-Grandmother wasn’t even born yet! I think you’d realize that I was just trying to offer some help!!”

Resisting the urge to cause an even bigger issue, he stormed off growling, “I’ll leave you to your duties “Captain” Shaina!”

Then he was gone, and Shaina huffed, and then noticed the children staring fearfully at her, “What are you-two looking at? Come to think of it… why are you out of your room without your parents?”

The children did not answer, too afraid and too upset with how she had talked to Shadow. They ran away from her.

“Wait…!” Shaina called, finally realizing what a pain she had been, but the children were already gone leaving her all alone in the hall and feeling very ashamed and remorseful. She even pulled her helmet visor down over her eyes, which she usually did outside of battle whenever she felt this way.

Suddenly, the alarms sounded and there was an announcement over the palace intercom. “Warning: Alien attack in progress! All hands report to Level-One Battle stations!”

Hearing this, she dashed off to gather her guards.

While down below, by the foot of the palace, Sienna and her team had already landed with a swarm of Raiders and were frightening the citizens all away.

“That’s right, run!” shouted Mako and he began to fire his ray-gun at random places, making small explosions and showers of sparks, frightening the civilians even more.

“Easy now, Mako; don’t get carried away.” said Sienna “Remember, we’re only trying to get Starfleet’s attention.”

“Here they come!” cried Slash, and surely enough royal knights rushed to the front gate while others took their places on the battlements, while the Starfleet sentries dashed in from around corners and dropped in from the sky. Finally, Lightning and Starla dropped down at the head of the army with Krysta by them.

“Like moths to the flame.” hissed Omnisha.

“What do you want here?” Lightning demanded “...Not that we already don’t know anyway…” added Starla.

“If you already know,” said Sienna “Then hand over the treasures fast, or else!”

“We choose “Else!” sneered Krysta.

“Wrong answer!” snarled Mako, and suddenly there was a large glow of light in the sky.

“What’s that?” wondered Lightning as he and everyone looked up and saw a spell-caster looking Jemma-Nite, dressed much like a wizard. Coated with not too much of the special armor, but glowing brightly and wearing two beautiful enchantment-rings on its fingers

“Behold,” said Sienna “…The Jemma-Nite- Transferation!”

Lightning tried to scan it with his visor, but the armor still blocked him off. What concerned him more was the fact that the creature was just floating in midair, hardly moving or even preparing to fight. It was just floating!

“Careful!” he instructed to the army “We don’t know what that monster is capable of.”

The soldiers all agreed, while the villains snickered, “Attack!” Sienna shouted, and the Raiders all growled and charged forth with their weapons ready.

“Go!” shouted Lightning, and the sentries all rushed forth to attack the swarm.

At first the battle seemed to go find for Starfleet, as Lightning, Starla and the sentries knocked those evil creeps to the ground.

“We’ve got ‘em on the ropes!” hollered Lightning.

Sienna snickered, and gazed up at her Jemma-Nite, signaling the monster to do its thing. Transferator’s eyes then glowed brightly, and the Raiders began to glow as well.

“Huh?” cried Starla as her visor gave off warning that the Raiders’ strength was suddenly increasing.

POW!! She got punched hard and rolled along the ground.

“Starla!” cried Lightning.

“Are you all right?” asked Krysta.

“They’re getting stronger!” said Starla, and she was proven right as the Raiders were starting to fight more ruthlessly than ever, actually striking the sentries back hard, and causing some damage.

“Surprise, Starfleet!” hissed Sienna “Tranferator’s special ability; its two rings allow it to harness the energy around it and give that power to me and my forces, making us strong than ever.”

Sienna and her team began to glow as well.

Slash snickered and he leapt up high, “Take this!” and he fired many magical blasts form his sword making big explosions everywhere, knocking many fighters off their feet.

“My turn!” sneered Omnisha, and she fired magical blasts from her crystal-ball.

“Oh, no you don’t!” hollered Krysta and she waved her wand to conjure her reversal portals to absorb the blasts and send them right back at the villains, knocking out more the Raiders.

Sienna didn’t seem too worried, and called up to her monster, “More power, Transferator!”

The monster complied and transferred more energy to the villains. “Whoa! This is incredible!” said Mako “I feel like I could lift a whole mountain.”

Sienna nodded at her brother and then drew her sword, “Let’s get ‘em!”

The villains all hollered as they rushed forth, plowing their way through the sentries.

“Ha!” shouted Slash as he struck a sentry hard injuring his arm.

“Here!” snapped Omnisha as she fired a magical blast that Krysta couldn’t absorb in time “Look out!” she shouted, but the blast already hit and there was a huge explosion knocking more of the sentries around and injuring them.

The villains were now getting closer to the palace.

“Stop them!” shouted Lightning, “Don’t let them in!” added Starla.

The knights all stood their ground as the villains approached.

Sienna fired her ray gun, but the unicorn and alicorn knights conjured small barriers to block the shots.

“Here I come!” shouted Slash as he leapt up the trees to jump his way over the walls, only for Lightning to intercept him; tackling him hard. “You’re not getting in there!” he growled.

As the two continued to fall, Slash elbowed Lightning hard in the chest and then swiftly turned and slashed at him with his sword making sparks fly.

“Lightning!” cried Starla, and Krysta rushed over to help him, only for Omnisha to fire her blasts all around them “You should focus more on the present than the future, or rather worry about it anyway… since you won’t be here in future!”

Starla bolted onto her feet, while Krysta slipped off to help Lightning herself.

“Uh-Uh-Uhn…!” Mako called as he fired his cannon at her, just missing her “Rats! I missed!”

“Just keep trying, Mako. You’ll get it.” said Sienna, and she called up to the monster to give more power, which it did making the villains even stronger than ever.

The Raiders were really getting rough, and the sentries and knights were pouring on all they had to keep them out of the palace.

From a lone window, Shadow Coat saw everything. Much as seeing the battle took him back to his glory days, he couldn’t believe this was all happening-- enemies of such power and cunning!

“What I give to go out there and lend my services!” he said to himself, but he knew he was too old for combat, as well as being out of practice with his magic and such.

Still, he felt just awful just standing at the window and doing nothing to help! What could he do?

Sienna’s forces were getting closer and closer to getting into the palace. Almost all the Raiders were beaten but just barely, and Sienna and her crew were battling more fiercely than ever.

Lightning and Slash both swung strong punches, hitting one another hard and knocking each other away.

“Take this!” shouted Omnisha, and she unleashed more blasts at Starla.

“PULSAR LASER”Starla intercepted the blasts with her own power, blowing them out.

Sienna and Mako stood side-by-side, “Just like a showed you…” said Sienna “Ready…?”

“Ready!”

“FIRE…!!” They fired their ray guns like crazy hitting many of the fighters hard and even frightening some of the guards on the battlements, but they still remained at their posts to defend.

“Ugh!!” groaned Lightning as he held his aching arm, and then he realized, “We have to destroy that Jemma-Nite and stop it giving these creeps more power!”

“Right…!” Starla agreed, and she armed her bow to shoot the monster out of the air.

“STARLIGHT ARROW”The arrow shot straight at the monster, only to explode softly before making contact. “What?” snapped Starla.

Sienna laughed “Silly pony! Transferator not only use energy to give to us, but also to shield itself. The shield protects it from any possible attacks and gives it more power to give to us!”

Surely enough, the monster glowed and transferred more power for the villains, making them stronger than ever. “Whoa!” cried Lightning as he scanned their strengths with his visor “The levels are going crazy!”

The villains all snickered, “I haven’t felt this strong in decades!” said Slash.

“The future’s looking brighter now.” joked Omnisha.

“Let’s get ‘em!” said Mako.

“Yeah!” agreed Sienna, but before she could order the attack, Lightning, Starla and the fighters started to glow as well.

“What’s this?!” snapped Sienna.

“They… they’re getting stronger too from an energy surge.” cried Slash.

Lightning bolted up onto his feet feeling stronger and better than ever. “But how…”

“Look!” cried Krysta, as she pointed up at their royal majesties-- Celestia and Grand Ruler were fluttering high above, holding hands and a casting a spell to re-energize everyone using their own magic and energy. “You didn’t think you were the only ones that could transfer power, did you?” Grand Ruler sneered at Sienna.

The villains growled angrily.

Suddenly, their majesties stopped glowing. “That’s all we can give you.” Celestia called “We can’t give you too much more or we’ll become too vulnerable.”

Their majesties landed on the ground, “But that doesn’t mean we won’t help.” said Grand Ruler “We’ll hold these creeps back, while you try and shut out that monster.”

Lightning nodded, and he Starla and Krysta flew up at the monster.

“Stop them!” shouted Sienna.

Her crew and the remaining Raiders aimed to attack, but their majesties, aided by the knights and sentries fired magical blasts, hitting them all and distracting them.

Mako dropped his ray gun that skidded way over into the shrubs. “My gun…! I’ve got to get it!” and he just ran off.

“Mako!” called his sister, but Mako had already jumped into the shrubs. She would have rushed in after him, but was ambushed by the sentries and forced to defend herself. “Slash! Go help Mako!”

Much as Slash resented the task, he complied and attacked his way through the swarm of fighters. “Kid… come here!”

“I’ve gotta get my gun!”

“GET OVER HERE!!”

But Mako refused, and whole load of fighters suddenly surrounded Slash and he had no choice but to fight. “More Power, Transferator!”

The Jemma-Nite complied and gave him and his comrades another boost.

“Stand back!” Grand Ruller called to the knight and sentries. As soon as they backed off from the remaining Raiders, Celestia then used her magic to bind them all together, and her husband gave a huge blast from his horns blowing them all into ash. “So much for them!” said Grand Ruler.

Still many of the knights and sentries were hurt and needed help. “I’ve got to help them!” said Celestia. “Right, I’ll keep you covered.” said Grand Ruler.

Omnisha prepared to blast the sentries and Celestia helping the invalids.

While Lightning, Starla and Krysta were already preparing to attack Transferer’s barrier. Lightning was able to scan it with his visor, “It’s not too lethal to touch. Maybe we can attack it physically.”

“I’ll try first…” said Krysta, and she used her magic to levitate a huge boulder off the ground and dropped it right onto the barrier. The boulder shattered into gravel. “No good. It’s still too powerful!” groaned Krysta.

“Can’t you try teleporting the monster out of here?” asked Starla.

“Not a chance.” replied Lightning. He was scanning the properties of the barrier, “It’s resistant to all teleportation.”

Transferer’s eyes opened wide as it saw the fighters near it, and prepared to fire energy blasts at them all. “Look out!” shouted Starla.

The monster fired its beams, and the fighters all swerved and dodged about.

A few of the shots headed right for the palace, but the unicorn knights conjured up more barrier sheets to deflect them.

Sienna fought against Grand Ruler and his troops. “I’ll get you yet, Sienna!!” Grand Ruler shouted as he fought mercilessly.

“Not… if I… get you… first!” thundered Sienna. She swung her sword, but Grand Ruler actually caught it in his hand without getting hurt, and he kicked her hard in the gut, knocking her down.

“Sentries, seize her!”

The sentries all threw powerful chains, and magical binds around her, holding her in place.

“Captain!” cried Slash, but in his distraction, more sentries jumped on him, tackling him to the ground, ensnaring him too.

“Hold on…!” cried Omnisha as she raced to help her comrades, but she herself was ambushed by the royal knights.

Mako peeked up from the bushes, unnoticed by all “SIS!!” he cried. The soldiers and sentries were too busy to notice him, or hear him over all the noises.

“Transferer…!” shouted Sienna “More power!”

The monster began to transfer more power to the villains, but all three of them were bound down by the army, and it wasn’t enough to help them break free. “You’re not escaping; not this time!” sneered Grand Ruler.

As the monster continued to transfer more power to villains, despite the ineffectiveness, Starla noticed, “It’s not shooting at us.”

“It obviously can’t transfer power and defend itself at the same time.” said Krysta.

Lightning nodded, “Right, and I think I know how we can disarm the barrier. If we can’t break through it ourselves, we’ll overload it!

Attack it as hard as you can!”

Mako couldn’t believe this was happening, but suddenly he spotted his ray gun near the bottom of the bush he was hiding. “Ah, ha!” he chirped, but as he picked it up. The gun had been damaged when it was knocked into the bush, and began to spark and jolt, “Oh, no…!!” cried Mako.

His ray gun was powered by miniature atomic-capsules installed within the gun to make it work. Despite being small, those capsules, when exposed or the gun was damaged, had enough compacted energy for a real blast!

“Whoa!” Mako yelped, just tossing the gun away right into the open, spilling the jolting capsules out!

“What?” snapped Grand Ruler, and he took one split look at those jolting capsules, “LOOK OOOOOOOOOUT!!!”

KAPOW!! The capsules exploded in great big bursts!

The force of the explosions sent Grand Ruler and all the ponies flying off in many directions. Many hit the walls and passed out, while others were sent soaring through their air, clear across the hills.

Lightning, Starla, Krysta, and even the monster were knocked out of the sky-- crashed hard to the ground.

Inside the palace, the resulting tremor shook everything, and everyone fell off their feet, even Celestia who was helping to tend to the invalids, and even Shadow Coat fell over from his spot at the window.

In the midst of the chaos, Sienna and the villains were released, and hit the ground avoiding the blasts, “MAKO…!!” cried Sienna, but she could see her brother hanging on for dear life to the brambles of the bushes and the explosive force was blowing hard at him like a strong gale.

“SIENNA…!!” Mako called to her, and finally he lost his grip and was thrown high into the air and carried away, clear across the planet.

Slash and Omnisha were completely shocked.

Sienna was frozen stiff in shock for a few moments, and finally… “NOOOOOO------!!” she screamed! Tears fell out from her mask “Mako…!” she sobbed, falling to her knees in despair “Mako…!”

“Captain…!” cried Omnisha as she and Slash rushed over to comfort her. “We better get her back to the ship.” said Slash.

The villains vanished and were gone, just as all the ponies began to come to after the explosions.

“Galloping Galaxies…! What a bang!” said Lightning. He helped Starla up gently, and Krysta shook the dirt off of herself.

“Oh… my stars…!” Grand Ruler groaned while he rubbed his head.

All the rest of the sentries and knights came to as well. Some were hurt and needed serious medical attention, but they were very lucky that they would live.

“Hey…! Where’d the villains go?” cried Krysta.

Starla grunted, “Ugh! They must’ve fled during the explosions.”

Lightning felt most upset. They actually had them that time and they gave them the slip, again!

Suddenly, there was a soft glow that appeared from within the settling dust. It was Transferator, still alive after the crash, and still glowing in its barrier, but not as brightly.

“The barrier’s weaker now.” said Starla.

“Now’s our chance.” said Lightning “If we blast at it, we can overload it…”

“I’m with you!” said Grand Ruler as he joined them.

Lightning’s golden horn glowed, so did Grand Ruler’s three horns. Starla got out her bow and charged up her finisher, and Krysta’s wand was glowing brightly.

“UNIFORCE”

“TEN-FOLD… UNIFORCE”

“GALACTIC PROJECTILE”

Krysta didn’t have to yell out her attack, so she just when “HIYA!!” as she fired a huge beam from her wand.

The four strong attacks struck the barrier hard. The barrier was already unstable from the crash, and those powerful attacked completely shattered it in a huge explosion that nearly knocked all four fighters back.

Shadow Coat saw everything from the window, “Oh, my... such power!” he cried. He had never seen anything like it before, especially the Uniforce.

He had been taught about his own Golden horn and how it meant he had the power, but unlike Lightning or Grand Ruler, he had never used the power before, not even in his own days, and he couldn’t tap into it at will.

“Did they do it?” he wondered.

The fighters were all exhausted, from the battle, being hit by the force of the explosion, and using huge bursts of their power; Grand Ruler especially from having given a large portion of his own energy to all the fighters.

He was panting heavily, but was he looked up “What?” He couldn’t believe his eyes; the monster was still standing. A little battered and roughed up from the attack, but not defeated!

“I don’t believe it!” said Lightning.

“We need to hit him again!” added Starla.

Alas, all of them were very weak now, and the other sentries and knights were all tending to the invalids, and they, too, were just as exhausted.

Shadow Coat saw his friends were in trouble, sparking his old knightly courage and determination. “No, they can’t lose… they won’t… I won’t let it!” he thundered…!

His golden horn began to glow, as his determination and will to help peaked.

“Huh?” said Lightning as he looked up at the palace window, “Shadow Coat!”

“That glow…” said Starla.

“…The Uniforce awakens within him.” Grand Ruler murmured.

Shadow Coat had never felt anything like this before, but he felt that nothing would stop him now as he stood on the sill of the window and glared directly at the monster, “These may not be my lands, but as a knight I will gladly protect my friends!

…UNIFORCE!!”

His blast was not nearly as powerful as Lightning’s or Grand ruler’s, but still strong as it streamed along… hitting the Jemma-Nite hard, and destroying in an explosion.

“He did it!” cried Krysta.

The others were all proud and astonished, but as they looked back up to the window, Shadow looked weary, and he fell forth, out of the window.

Grand Ruler managed to rush over just in time and catch him in his arms.

“Is he alright?” cried Starla.

“What’s happened to him?” asked Krysta.

“The Uniforce…” replied Lightning “Remember, it exhausts you if you can’t control it properly.”

Shadow Coat, though passed out just needed a rest. “Let’s get him inside.” said Grand Ruler.

Meanwhile, Sienna furiously shouted out “SLASH…!!”

Slash came onto the bridge in a heartbeat, “You called, Captain?” but he could already tell that Sienna was furious as she glared at him gnashing her teeth. “You were supposed to watch over Mako, weren’t you?!!”

“Yes, I was, but the fighters--”

“I don’t want to hear excuses!” snapped Sienna “Because of you, my little brother is lost out there somewhere! He may be hurt…! HE MAY EVEN HAVE BEEN DESTROYED!!”

The Raiders all shuddered fearfully by her shouting.

Slash would not keep it inside any longer, “Your brother is inexperienced, and it was you who decided to bring him along. The fault cannot all be with me, and forgive my saying this, but I shall not keep it any longer to myself…

You spend far too much time spoiling that child, that you neglect your leading duties of us!”

Sienna looked ready to explode, “So… this is why you sabotaged our last attack? Because Mako made you feel insecure?!”

“What…?! I would never do such a thing!” protested Slash, but one of the Raider stood by Sienna, “He heard everything you said, Slash. I know now it was YOU that made our Orgoth go beserk in attempt to get Mako to fail…

...Nearly destroying me and my brother as well!”

Omnisha was actually shaking in her robes, “Ooh, this isn’t going to end good!”

Slash nervously tried to stand up for himself, “But Captain, I--”

“I’M THROUGH WITH YOU SLASH!!!” growled Sienna and she swiftly turned and slashed at him with her sword, destroying his com-link with the ship and knocking him hard into the wall.

Then she threateningly pointed her ray gun at him, “GET OFF MY SHIP, AND DON’T EVER COME BACK!!!”

Slash felt horrified and tried to beg for forgiveness, but The Raiders scooped him up and carried him off, and before he knew it… he was placed in a hollow missile, and ejected from the ship right back down to the planet!

Sienna was still infuriated, and Omnisha was most concerned, “Forgive me, Captain, but don’t you think you were a little hard on him?”

Sienna glared at her angrily, “Be thankful that I still require SOME help here, Omnisha, or I’d have stuffed you into that missile with him for not having not telling me of this in the first place!”

Omnisha gulped softly, “Y-Y-Yes, Captain. You have every right to be enraged.”

Sienna nodded and sat down in her chair, ordering everyone out of the bridge so she could be alone awhile and try to get herself together.

Omnisha and all the Raiders cleared out.

Sienna felt so hot after her outburst that she removed her mask, placing it on the arm of her chair, he back was facing the view… she couldn’t hold it in anymore. She bowed her head, burying her face in her gloves, and wept softly.

All she could think of was her dear brother, and think of all the time they had, all the games they played, working hard to travel the galaxy and steal riches, and how she would hug him warmly and keep him safe with her.

Down below, Mako had crashed into New Everfree Forest. The force of the explosion had sent him very far, and carried him a great distance on the wind.

He looked in a very bad way as he just lay flat on the ground. He was bruised and bleeding a little, and he was all alone, unarmed, with no way of contacting the ship.

Surely he would have died right there on the ground, or worse eaten by some wild animals… had someone not come along through the forest, found the poor boy and carried him off.

Later that night, at New Canterlot Palace, all the invalids were doing much better after a long rest and treatment.

Shadow Coat himself had had a good long rest himself after saving everyone by helping to destroy the Jemma-Nite.

…But he was nowhere to be found in the hospital, having left after awakening.

Even though he was proud having helped out, he still felt a little down inside and missing his own era, and there was only one place he felt he could go to hopefully ease his woes.

The Virtual Chamber: A room in the palace where anyone could enter a fantasy world programed into the database. It would almost feel like being in exactly that place and actually able to touch it as if it were really there.

He stopped before the computer console by the big doors, “Now, let me see if I know how to do this.” he said to himself.

As unfamiliar as he was with most of the modern tech, he was able to work the computer and programed his location…

“Equetsria… 1,000 years ago.”that was as clear as he could put it, and the program was accepted.

The big doors to the chamber opened wide and there before his very eyes…!

It was just as he remembered it. Plain lands, with tiny villages, no fancy technologies and gizmos, and he stepped right through standing on the battlements of an old-fashioned stone castle that once belonged to Queen Galaxia.

He could actually feel the rocks, still hard to believe that it was all computerized… but it looked so real and felt the same to him.

There were no pony images around him as he didn’t program any, but everywhere he looked brought back so many memories.

He felt a good sense of relief, but at the same time more disheartened than ever.

He then looked up at the central tower of the castle, and remembered where Galaxia used to stand there and give her speeches when addressing the knights and her subjects.

How he could still hear her voice now. “Blessed art thou, Galaxia.” he said to no one in particular.

Grand Ruler then entered the scene through the doors, “I hope I’m not interrupting. When you were reported missing from the sickbay I figured you’d be here.”

“Not at all…” said Shadow “I could actually do with some company.”

Grand Ruler proudly stepped forth, “I wanted to thank you personally… for what you did today.”

Shadow smiled with pride, “It was a knightly thing to do, and I must say… the Uniforce certainly is incredible. I never dreamed I could possess such a power. I felt it nearly destroyed me.”

His majesty took pity on him, “You’re just not used to it, and… pardon my saying, but at your age it’s probably best you refrain from using it again.”

Shadow understood completely, and then went back to enjoying the view.

His majesty admired the sights and feelings as well, “I remember this all too well myself. This is where you served your knighthood?”

“One of them…” replied Shadow “I originally dwelled on the East of Equestria. That’s where I was born and raised, and after some time I was transferred to Galaxia’s personal regiment. That’s the one I think of most and could never forget. Many long decades of many battles fought all for queen, country, and fellow countrymen and women.”

Grand Ruler nodded, “I’ll never when I became captain of Celestia’s royal-guard. It wasn’t just an honor; it was a gift, that she saw much within me and gave me the kindness and friendship that I craved.

I would work hard, and train the knights well. Of course the lack of technologies did make it a little harder to get through the basic days.

In every measurable sense my Starfleet is far superior, but, much as I don’t really regret how things turned out that much, there are times when I can’t help but stop and wish to relive my glory days, and return here to recapture what I lost.”

Shadow smiled warmly, “You can’t deny what’s in your heart, and what you long for most but can never have again.”

A moment of silence followed as the men admired the view, and Grand Ruler curiously asked, “Tell me… what do feel about United Equestria as it is now?”

“It’s a fine world, great beings, and your Starfleet is very impressive too.” replied Shadow, then he hesitated, “But… well, I can’t deny--

When I was here in this era, I could tell you what the day would bring just by the feel of the wind in my mane and the ground beneath my hooves as I walked.

In your era… well… I just feel like I’m only in the way.”

“That’s not true, you know. You’ve helped us more than you think, but… I do agree with you. You were frozen for a thousand years. That’s a very long time.”

Shadow agreed.

“We can continue your studies…” said Grand Ruler “With a little more time and adaption, you could--”

Shadow interrupted him, “You are too kind, your majesty, but I think it’s time we faced the facts. I’m not a young colt just starting out. I can’t just learn all these centuries of history and stuff all at once.

No, there comes a time when a pony finds he’s just past his prime, too old for change. He knows there’s no point in trying anymore.

Don’t get me wrong; you’re all wonderful beings and you’ve done so much for me, but I just don’t belong in your world. I belong here in this one. This was my home. This is where I had a life and a purpose.”

He took one last look at the scenery around him, and then he sighed heavily, “But who am I kidding? This isn’t real. It’s all just one big magical computer fantasy!

And look at me…! I’m just hiding in it like some cowardly old codger!”

He got up and marched for the big doors to leave the chamber, “Well, no more of this. It’s time I acted my age and accepted my place.”

Celestia came up to the chamber doors, and he bowed to her as he passed. Then he was gone and Celesita walked into the chamber, “Sounds like you two had quite a chat.”

Her husband nodded, and then she joined him by his side to enjoy the virtual view around them, remembering all of Equestria of old herself.

“I just wish there was something we could do for him so he could feel more like he fits in with us.” said Grand Ruler, “I know how he feels too well…”

He held his wife close as music began to play and they gazed all around them, thinking of the old days…

Thinking back again, to Equestria of Old
Remembering the many things we had
No technologies so bright, all the wars we had to fight
But we had friends to make us glad

Going all about, Equestria of Old we’d do
So many things I’d love to share with you
To be with those I know, and much to show
All the many sights and sound, to take me where I’m bound…

Would you come with us to Equestria of Old
Would you leave the world as you know it behind?
With miles and miles to roam, and a place you can call home
Dreaming beneath a starry sky…

…Just you and I!

Suddenly, the simulation, and the song gave Celestia a grand idea, “I think I know just how Shadow Coat can fit in now.”

Grand Ruler was most curious.

A couple of days later, Shadow Coat was teaching the royal knights in their educational classes about Equestria of Old and the kind of Knighthood he and his old comrades used to have. The cadets all seemed very intrigued, and Shadow Coat looked as happy as he had ever been.

“Well what do you know.” said Lightning “Guess he’s found a way to fit in after all without having to change himself all that much.”

“Queen Celestia sure comes up with great ideas for everyone.” agreed Starla.

Soon the class was dismissed, and many of the cadets couldn’t wait to hear more stories and histories about the olden days. Some of them even took notes of everything Shadow has said to help them improve in their own knight training.

Shadow smiled proudly, to no one in particular as he gazed round the empty room.

His moment was interrupted by a knock at the open door.

“May I come in?” asked Captain Shaina.

“Of course... I don’t have any more classes today, but I wish I did.”

Shaina cleared, “I came down to congratulate you, as well as apologize for snapping at you the other day.”

The two shook hands and made up well.

“I accept your apology, and give you my own as well. I was being a little too impractical, but I can’t deny that you run a fine army. I myself still have much to learn about this world around me, but… at least it’s nice to know I can be useful again.”

“I never really considered you useless otherwise, not after all the other things you’ve done. I guess it shows that everyone can help out in their own ways regardless of what they know or can do.”

Shadow agreed, “Well said, Captain.”

She smiled at him, “Thank you, Captain.”

(Promo)

In our next episode: The battle against Bats is about to begin, and it starts with viewing the haunting tale of how Applejack’s relatives were cursed by Nightwing in the first place.

Meanwhile, Nightwing plans to unleash his greatest and deadliest attempt to conquer United Equestria, and using the cursed Flurry Heart to carry out his plot.

Is Starfleet truly ready to take on this oncoming plight?

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

(Next Episode: “Part 1: Batting for Bats”)

Author's Note

THAT DOES IT!!! I'VE HAD IT!!

NEXT CHAPTER WILL BE NO MORE THAN 4000 WORDS LONG... end of discussion!

Episode 13: Part 1: Batting for Bats

EPISODE THRITEEN

In the last battle against Count Nightwing and his Batlings, they were revealed be Applejack’s parents, Bright Macintosh and Pear Butter, while her uncle, Seeder Breeze, was revealed to be Nightwing himself.

The Bats managed to escape again, but Seeder had dropped behind a small jewel, which actually contained magical images of memories from Seeder himself which revealed how it all happened, and just what Nightwing was planning.

Lightning was showing the images to the entire team, as well as Applejack’s family one final time.

The images revealed how it all began, ten years ago long before The Great War and before United Equestria was formed.

Big Mac was fifteen years old, Applejack was ten, and Applebloom was just a tiny little foal playing in her pram as her mother walked her along the grass while her father, uncle, and big brother were plowing up the garden.

Granny Smith was reading the pie-wagon to make the annual pie-delivery into Ponyville. She wasn’t too old not to make the trip, but she suffering from a bit of a cold.

“Meh… Ma… Ma… CHOOO!!”

“Whoa, whoa… easy there, Ma!” said Bright Mac as he dashed up to his elderly mother, “I don’t think you should makin’ any deliveries.”

“Horse feathers, boy.” said Granny “Why there ain’t been nothin’ that kept me from sellin’ our apple pies in town, and I… I… AAA-CHOO!!”

Seeder had heard enough “Ma, the only delivery you need to make is yourself straight to bed, and don’t you be arguin’ with us.”

Granny would have protested, but she felt a little light-headed and complied with her sons “Dag-Nabit. I hate it when you two are right.”

Bright Mac and Seeder rolled their eyes, but soon Granny was up in bed and sleeping softly.

“Well, someone’s gotta make this shipment.” said Bight Mac. He would have volunteered himself, but baby Applebloom began to cry from her pram.

“Honey…” Pear Butter called “I think Applebloom wants you to hold her. You know she loves it when you do.”

Bright Mac couldn’t resist the call of his daughter, and so Seeder stepped up to the wagon, “I got this one, bro, go on.”

Bright Mac gave his brother a soft, friendly nudge “Thanks.” and then walked over to his family, and he rocked the baby in his arms calming her.

Seeder smiled at how beautiful it looked, “It’s a real pretty sight, eh, Big Mac?”

“Eeyup.” replied Big Mac.

“I don’t think there’s any family as happy as us.”

“Nope…”

Of course, Seeder was just trying to cover up his deep feelings of shame and upset. The memories of how he killed Grand Pear still haunted him every single day.

His sadness didn’t go unnoticed as Applejack saw him slowly pulling out with the wagon. She excused herself from her folks and little sister and cantered up to Seeder.

“Hey… Uncle Seeder, wait up.”

“Applejack…?”

His little niece jumped right to the point. She knew of the history of her mother and father, as did Big Mac, having been told the story before. “Are you still upset about Grandpa Grand Pear?”

Seeder chuckled, “You can read me like words in a spider’s web.”

“That happened so long ago, and you didn’t mean to do it. Can’t you just let it go?”

Seeder smiled at his niece and patted her head, “Applejack, you’re a mighty fine girl, ya know that. But you’re still just a youngin’, and I’m gonna tell ya somethin’ I think will help you understand.

The past may be gone, but them memories stay right up here in my head, and they won’t be goin’ nowhere. Memories can’t just disappear because you want ‘em too.

I know that I didn’t mean to kill Grand Pear, and everyone else knows it too, but that doesn’t stop me from feelin’ real bad about it. It’s somethin’ I just have to live with.

But know this, honey. I love you dearly, your brother, your baby sis, your mama and pa, and Granny Smith… I would never want anything bad to ever happen. I’d gladly die for y’all.”

Applejack didn’t like it when her Uncle said that, despite knowing how sweet it meant, and she hugged him deeply, and he hugged her back. “Be careful out there, Unc…”

“You got it, sweet-one.”

Then he was gone, pulling the wagon along the road, heading into Ponyville.

His delivery was smooth, and he delivered many pies, but that afternoon while he was sitting for a rest and having his lunch near a hill, almost exactly like the Crusaders did, a naughty crow came out of nowhere, swooped in and stole his lunch bag.

“Hey!” Seeder shouted and he chased after the naughty bird! “Come back here, you feathered varmint!”

He cashed and chased that crow, until finally, the crow dropped the lunch bag, and it bounced and rolled along, through a small hole in in the side of another hill.

Seeder, still wishing to retrieve his bag, ran right inside the cave without much thought. He found his lunch bag, but then suddenly a large rock came down over the entrance of the hill!

“No!!” Seeder shouted as he rushed for the entrance, but it was too late, and he was sealed inside the dark cave.

It was so dark he couldn’t see anything at all, but he could still feel the rock and tried with all his Earth Pony might to push and kick at it hoping to dislodge it.

That’s when a deep, elderly voice called to him form inside the cave, “You are strong… but even the combined strength of a-hundred Earth Ponies could not move that rock.”

“Who said that?” Seeder called out, and then in an instance, the cave magically lit up with torches along the walls. What a sight to behold! The first thing he saw was the many paintings along the wall of the cave…

Seeder wasn’t too good at understanding such things, but he couldn’t help but notice the familiarity of some of the pictures. “That looks like Ma.” he said softly, “And these all look like bats.”

“Indeed they are.” replied the voice.

“Who are you? Where are you?!” thundered Seeder.

“Observe, Seeder Breeze.”

A soft glow came from high above, and there, Seeder could see a rather large, but elderly Vampire Fruit Bat hanging upside-down on a stalactite, and around his neck was a large diamond-like amulet, where the glow was coming from.

“Whoa!” groaned Seeder, “I gotta lie off of them apple pies for a while.”

“I assure you, you are not dreaming, Seeder Breeze.” The bat was indeed speaking to him, but his lips weren’t moving. It was the magic of the amulet the bat used to allow Seeder to hear his thoughts.

“I am called Nightwing, and I have been waiting for someone to help me.”

“Help you?” asked Seeder.

Night explained the long story, of how when Granny Smith and the other Earth Pony settlers and pioneers, decades ago came to these lands that were home to the Vampire Fruit Bats, and how the Bats were driven from their home.

“I remember Ma tellin’ me the stories,” said Seeder “But that’s all I thought they were, just stories.”

“I assure you, it was as real as real can be!” growled Nightwing “For many decades, I and my clan were struggling to survive. After being driven from our lands, food was hard to come by, so we resorted to common thievery-- sneaking into farms and markets by night to consume our fill.

Many of us tried and tried to drive you ponies away and reclaim our land, but none were successful.”

Seeder almost felt sorry for the bat, but keeping in mind he and his kind were sworn enemies of his family and friends, the sympathy didn’t last.

Nightwing continued with his story

“Then, fortune began to smile my way. I had discovered this magical amulet lodged beneath a tree that was struck down in a lightning storm.

This amulet has granted me incredible powers and abilities, enough to allow me to finally exact vengeance upon the ponies, and reclaim what was taken from us bats…

…But there is still one thing left I require, and that is where YOU come in.”

Seeder already was feeling suspicious and nervous enough, “What do you want with me?”

“As I have said, I now have the power to carry out mission, but the decades have worn me down. My body is old and is growing frail. It will no longer serve me well for my conquest, and therefore I require a replacement body.”

Seeder got the idea right away.

“I suppose I could have chosen better…” said Nightwing “But seeing as I am desperate, you shall do just as well.

…There is no escape!”

Before Seeder could even try to protest, Nightwings eyes glowed brightly, and he paralyzed the poor pony where he was. “Hey!” Seeder groaned “I… I can’t… move!”

The evil bat then began to hum deeply, stroking his wings over the amulet, transforming his body and spirit into dark waves of energy, and fused himself into Seeder’s body.

Seeder SCREAMED as he began to transform into the evil Bat Hybrid, which made him human-like. Now he was able to stand straight and tall on two feet. His front legs were now arms and sprouted vicious claws… the works!

Nightwing, now in control of Seeder’s body laughed wickedly. “I am renewed! I’ve never felt so big and strong before!

Now, after all these decades… I will have my revenge!

The reign and terror of Count Nightwing… now begins!!”

As Nightwing spent the while learning to control his new body, back at the farms, the Apple Family was growing worried.

It was already sundown, and Seeder was way late. Bright Mac was standing at the window and looking out with worry.

His wife walked up to him…

“This ain’t like him, Buttercup. Seeder’s never been late for anythin’, especially when dinner’s around his favorites. There’s somethin’ wrong, I can feel it.”

Pear Butter felt her husband was telling the truth, knowing how close he was with his brother, when something was wrong he could feel it like a sixth sense.

“Maybe we should go out and find him.” she suggested.

Bright Mac agreed.

Applejack couldn’t help but overhear, “Ma… Pa…?” She wanted to join the search herself, but her folks wouldn’t hear of it. “I think you better stay behind.” said Pear “Someone needs to help your brother take care of Granny and your baby sis.”

Granny Smith was rocking in her chair, sound asleep, and baby Applebloom was in her baby swing in the middle of the living room, cooing and shaking her rattle in her mouth, while Big Mac played peek-a-boo with her.

Applejack, realizing the importance of things agreed to stay behind, pleasing her parents, “Don’t worry, hon…” said her father, and he gave her his hat for luck, despite that it was a few sizes too big for her at her age, “We’ll be back soon.”

“Daddy promise?” cooed Applejack.

Her father winked at her “Daddy promise.”

Pear bent down and pecked her daughter’s head, and then she and Bright Mac went off.

Applejack lifted her father’s up off her eyes, as she watched her parents head off down the road. “Do you think they’ll be fine, bro?” she asked Big Mac, and her brother could only respond with, “Eeyup.”

Bright Mac and Pear Butter followed the path and found Seeder’s wagon, which still had many cold pies left in it. “I figured somethin’ was wrong.” said Bright Mac “Seeder wouldn’t just slack off and leave a wagon unattended.”

His wife agreed, “But where is he…?”

Suddenly, there was a cool breeze that went by, and Bright Mac began to get another peculilar feeling. “Uh… Buttercup…? Ever you get the feelin’ you’re… bein’… watched?”

Before his wife could answer, Nightwing dropped in. The two ponies screamed in fright, and Nightwing paralyzed them both with his wicked magic.

“My first victims!” he hissed “If I’m going to takeover, I’m going to need some assistance to help me.”

He moved in closer towards Pear Butter first, and then sank his fangs into her neck making her scream!

“BUTTERCUP!!” cried Bright Mac, and then quick as a flash, Nightwing bit him on the too.

The mutation began almost instantly, and Nightwing used the power of his amulet to awaken hsis new minions and grant them their own powers. “Arise, my allies…”

The two new batlings looked up…

“I am Shade, your humble servant.”

“I am Ebany. I live only to serve you, my count.”

Nightwing snickered, “The first step has been taken, and before long, this world will belong to the Bats once again.”

The three bats shared an evil laugh, but suddenly they all began to feel weak and strange.

It had already gone dark, and the full-moon was rising into the skies.

The bats growled and groaned as they clutched their heads. “What is this?!” shouted Nightwing, “I am… losing… con… trol…!”

“We must… seek… shelter from the light!” shouted Shade.

“But where…?” cried Ebany.

“Follow me!” said Nightwing, and he quickly led his minions all the way to his cave where they were shielded from the moonlight. However, they all still had been weakened severely, and the spirits of the ponies we restarting to regain control of themselves, like a tug-of-war!

“See… See… Seeder?” cried Bright Mac.

“What is goin’ on?!” shouted Pear Butter.

Seeder struggled with all his might and grabbed the Amulet around his neck, “I can’t explain… I gotta try and… stop this…!!”

Nightwing began to fight for control, “No, you fool! I occupy your body now! I am in control!”

“In… your… NIGHTMARES!!” shouted Seeder and he managed to fight for control, but he knew it wouldn’t last. Bight Mac and Pear weren’t fairing any better.

All three of them realized how dangerous these creatures were, and the refused to allow them to control their bodies to cause trouble! However, as neither one of them could figure out a way to gain full control of their bodies, nor did Seeder know too much about magic, he did hope one thing would work.

“Come on…!” he called to the others, and they all sat on a rock in the far back of the cave.

“What are you doing?” thundered Nightwing.

“Puttin’ your plans on hold, that’s what!”

He knew that if the amulet was able to seal up the cave, maybe it could be used to seal the three of them up so the bats couldn’t hurt anyone. Much as it was painful, and all three of them realized how hard this would be on the family, they were prepared to do it to keep the family and the land safe.

“NO!!!” shouted Nightwing, but Seeder had already activated the amulet, magically sealing himself and the other two into the rock in the forms of dark light, and as a finishing touch, all that remained was magical stone carved into the shape of a bat, magically appeared and placed over the stone to keep the trio sealed away!

That was the last of the normal memories Seeder had given in the magical images. The rest was all history.

Applejack and her family were simply astonished, shocked, and deeply saddened, especially Applebloom. “So that’s how it all happened.” she cried softly

Applejack hugged her tight. “I remember… Ma, Pa and Uncle Seeder never came back. All that was found was a smashed pie wagon, and bits of blood stained about. We could only assume the worst!”

Big Mac hung his head low, and Granny Smith was just stunned, “I can’t believe… my son, sealed himself, his brother, and Pear Butter away like that?!”

Lightning urged her to calm down, even though he understood her upset that they just abandoned the family like that, “They did it because they knew they were a danger and they couldn’t risk hurting anyone.”

The ponies had never heard of such a noble act and one so heartbreaking too. Pinkie Pie blubbered and blew her nose loudly in a hankie. “I’m sorry; I just get so emotional at things like this.”

Her friends comforted her, because now it was time to get serious.

“So, what do us again?” asked Krysta.

Lightning reactivated the crystal, “Seeder managed to seal in some secrets from Nightwing’s mind.”

The crystal then showed images of a volcano, somewhere in the Dragon Lands south. “Hey, I recognize that.” said Spike “I saw it when I went on my Dragon Quest, when I hung out with other dragons. That’s Mount Flaris.”

“It’s also the bats’ secret hideout.” said Starla “That’s where they’re keeping Flurry Heart, and also where they plan to unleash their ultimate plot to takeover.”

The crystal showed images based on Nightwing’s plot, taken from his mind…

With the immense amount of power and energy he had gathered by infecting other ponies to increase his strength, Nightwing planned to curse the volcano to erupt. Lava would spew out, into the pits of the land, but that wasn’t the real problem…The real problem was the volcanic ash and smoke! Nightwing planned to enchant it, by combining his wicked powers with Flurry Heart’s magic sleeping within her. The ash would spread for miles, and anyone, pony, dragon, or any creature caught under it would turn into batlings! Even the light of the full-moon would not be able to weaken the magic this time, as it was much stronger than ever.

Seeing the images of the ash spreading made Rarity shudder in disgust, “So revolting!” she groaned “We simply cannot allow him to do this!”

Lightning agreed, and explained the plan one more time. “We’ll get everyone evacuated from the towns and villages nearby. Krysta, that’s your job.”

Krysta nodded, “I’ll round up every fairy we’ve got who can help.”

“Um…” Fluttershy interjected “Sorry to interrupt, but… um… well… wouldn’t it be smarter to just move everyone to another planet?”

Much as everyone agreed with her idea, it simply could not be done. “We can’t take any chances.” said Dyno “Si, with Sienna up there, she could open fire and blast everyone to space dust.”

“Their right.” said Lightning “Our best chance is to keep everyone safe by keeping them away from the ash, if and when the volcano erupts.”

“Well it won’t erupt!” said Rainbow, and she socked her fist into her hand “Not if we have anything to say of it!”

All the ponies agreed with great courage and determination, ready to go out there and put an end to Nightwing’s plot… only, Applejack seemed a bit uneasy about this, “It means I’ll have to fight my parents and my uncle too.”

The rest of her family hated the idea of that too.

“Applejack…” said Starla.

“I know, I know,” Applejack cut in “It’s gotta be done, and I will give my all. It’s the only way to try and save them.”

Applebloom raised her hand to ask, “Um… you can save them, can’t you?”

Buddy Rose approached her and told her straight up, “We’re going to try, but it won’t be easy, especially on your uncle.”

“He’s right.” said Artie “Your parents were only bitten, so we should be able to heal them, but your uncle is a different story. He was never bitten by the bats, he has Nightwing’s actual spirit inside of him, and that won’t be as easy to heal.”

Rhymey agreed,

“Nightwing has been inside your uncle for so long
That evil creature has grown very, very strong.
But we shall do our very best,
To try and put the evil to rest.”

Applebloom only felt a perfect balance of hope and worry, so did the rest of her family, but DD comforted them, Applebloom especially.

“They can do it, try to be brave… for your folks.”

“I’ll try.”

“And so will I.” added Big Mac.

“Darn tootin’!” agreed Granny Smith, “My boys never gave up on me, and while I gave up on them once, I ain’t about to do it again!”

“Alright…” said Lightning “This won’t be easy, but we can do this. We’ve got to, for the sake of all ponies and creatures alike.”

Meanwhile, in his secret lair in Mount Flaris, Count Nightwing was still outraged that Seeder Breeze had managed to slip information of his plot to Starfleet. Still, he didn’t seem too concerned.

“My plan may have been leaked, but I doubt very much those fools can stop me now.” He then gazed over at little Flurry Heart, who was hanging upside down on a stalactite, and she hissed happily at him, meaning she was itching to go with the plan.

Nightwing snickered, and spoke within him to Seeder’s faded spirit, “Your efforts have been wasted.”

Deep inside of him, the two spiritual forces began to sing a song, describing their desire for control…!

[Seeder Breeze]

Trapped by a monster,
Darkness is rising
How could this happen,
to my friends, and to me?

I hope for a miracle
Some ray of hope,
May peace once again shine,
Just as peace… must be…!

[Nightwing]

Do you really think…
That such hope can be found,
Sorry to say, but it isn’t true

Soon this planet will be mine,
The bats will all reign,
And it’s all and only thanks to you.

[Seeder Breeze]

You haven’t won yet, light may still yet shine
I won’t give in to the dark and fear

[Nightwing]

You cannot stop me, your body is mine!
Long as you live I will still be here

[Seeder Breeze]

You are insane and a nightmare too
One that that I hope to awaken soon
Sooner or later you’ll be cast right into doom

[Nightwing]

You don’t frighten me, my lad
All have tried and all will fail
My power shall not ever fade away

I will affect all ponies,
And make them cry and wail
And naught will ever have much of a say

[Seeder Breeze]

Soon you will perish along with your nightmares
All you have caused will be undone

[Nightwing]

Nothing can stop me or my pure nightmares
I have this battle and war won

[Seeder Breeze]

You may control my body inside me,
but way down within my spirit’s deep,
After I’m through I shall beat you, you big creep!

[Nightwing]

Silence…! You speak nonsense…!

[Seeder Breeze]

No!!

[Nightwing]

I’m stronger, better and that is that!

[Seeder Breeze]

No!!

[Nightwing]

Soon… and forever after
This world as you know it will only belong to us BAAAAA-AAAAATS…!!

[Seeder Breeze]

I won’t let you!

I want you out!
Give back my life!

[Nightwing]

You are mine!
Your brother and his wife!

[Seeder Breeze]

There is one way!
I’ll take you down!

[Nightwing]

There is no way,
You stupid clown!

[Seeder Breeze]

Your time is up!
It’s time to fall!

[Nightwing]

I’ll cast you down,
Make you stall!

[Seeder Breeze]

No… You won’t!

[Nightwing]

Yes… I will!!

[Seeder Breeze]

Curse you, Nightwing!
You awful sleaze

[Nightwing]

Time to go away… Seeder Breeze!

[Seeder Breeze]

No… you can’t…!!
NOOOOOOOOO…!!!

Nightwing, still in full control, panted softly as he sat on the rocks.

Shade and Ebany had been observing him.

“He’s got an identity crisis, alright.” said Shade.

“Poor Count.” Enbany sighed.

Nightwing clutched his amulet tight and sneered deeply, “I will not fall! I’ve come too far to lose it all now.

By sundown, this planet will be mine!!”

To Be Continued…!

(Promo)

In our next episode: The battle against the bats begins and it seemingly is anyone’s fight especially when Cadance and Shining Armor join the battle, but Nightwing refuses to give in without resorting to dirty tricks, by using Flurry Heart as an assurance!

Can Starfleet rescue Flurry Heart and save Applejack’s relatives, or will United Equestria fall under the bats’ dreadful curse?

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

(Next Episode: “Part 2: That Smarts... You out”)

Episode 14: Part 2: That Smarts... You Out!

“Previously on Starfleet Magic…”

The ponies observe the memories Seeder Breeze had left behind, showing the story of how Nightwing came to power, and also revealed his plan to conquer United Equestria. With time running out, the team formulated a plan; the final showdown with the Bats was nearing!

EPISODE FOURTEEN

On the night before the big attack against the bats,

Poor Cadance! Ever since Flurry Heart’s abduction a week ago, she had spent all the nights sleepless and in despair, and she would usually be found in the nursery looming over her daughters empty crib, ready to cry her heart out.

She was notified by her Aunt and Uncle that Lightning and his team were planning an attack on Nightwing, now knowing where his hideout was. However, they kept the exact location secret from her, knowing she’d likely rush into action, and she was needed much more to help in the big evacuation that was due to take place the next morning.

Still, none of this helped her grief.

Shining Armor felt equally as hurt, and while he did manage to get some sleep, he still looked baggy eyed worry of his daughter, but more for his wife.

“Cadance…” said as he embraced her softly “Look, I know your upset, but you really need to sleep.”

His wife shook her head sadly, “How can I sleep when my little baby is out there in the clutches of that evil creep, Nightwing?”

“I know that, I feel the same as you, maybe worse, but you can’t keep hurting yourself like this. I don’t want you to become sleep deprived. Please… try to sleep, for me?”

Cadance couldn’t actually feel her weariness catching up on her, and soon she was sleeping ever so peacefully in bed. Her husband decided to catch up on his sleep as well.

As Cadance slept so deeply, she began to have a dream…

She was standing in the Dream Realm, the place where Twilight and Celestia had their little chat before Twilight became an alicorn.

“This place…” said Cadance “Why am I here?”

Then, there was a soft glow of light in the distance, and right before her appeared the spirit of a familiar young pony. “Hello Mother.” he said to her, “It is I, Amando.”

Cadance could hardly believe it, her son whom had died from stillbirth a long time ago. “Amando!” she cried with tears coming to her face “It’s really you.”

Her son’s spirit smiled at her, “Your emotions are healthy, but you must listen to what I have to say.

You have the power to save Flurry Heart from the clutches of your enemy.”

Cadance blinked once with anxiety, “How? Please tell me…”

“Do you remember when the Insecto Armada invaded your world?”

Cadance couldn’t forget that! The time she was pregnant with Amando, and Shining Armor was brainwashed by the Insectos and turned into Saber, the Insecto Warrior. When Shining Armor attacked the Crystal Palace, Cadance had her accident causing the baby to be stillborn. After recovering from the traumatizing shocks and sadness, Amando gave her a special power used to save Shining Armor…

“Ah… “The Mother-Child Bond!” cried Cadance “Of course…! If anything can snap Flurry out of the curse, it can!”

Amando smiled at her, and then he began to fade away.

“No! Wait!” cried Cadance “Don’t leave me yet!”

“I have told you what was needed. I must go. Farewell, Mother.”

The entire scene began to fade into white as Cadance felt herself fading away, “Amando…!!”

Then she awoke and snapped up right in bed. Shining Armor was so deeply asleep he didn’t feel her motions and just continued to sleep, even snorting softly.

Cadance held her head, wondering if it was all just a dream because she was so tired and upset, but given her past messages, visions and experiences… she felt it was real.

“The Mother-Child Bond…” she said to herself “It just may work.”

The evacuation began almost at once. No alarms were sounded, and no mega loud announcement was made as Starfleet did not wish to alert Nightwing’s attention.

Instead every family and every creature was given a letter sent from New Canterlot Palace explaining the situation and how everyone was to cooperate.

Krysta and her fairies had many portals set up, and all ponies and creatures in New Ponyville and all other towns and villages within five-hundred miles of the Dragon Lands.

The creatures all filed in lines, instructed and guided by the sentries to march through the portals one at a time, instantly being transported further up North, where shelters were prepared in a series of immense caves deep under the ground. If, in the unlikely event the volcanic ash would make it across the lands, the creatures would be safe for some time.

The lasts to leave from Ponyville were the rest of Applejack’s and Buddy Rose’s families.

“Don’t worry, Applebloom.” said Applejack “We’re gonna do everything that we can.”

“I know…” said Applebloom “It’s just I never knew Ma and Pa before, and if you save them… what after that?”

“We’ll worry about that when we get to it.” said Big Mac, and then he lead her into the portal with Granny Smith.

Buddy hugged DD, “Please be careful out there.” she said to him. Buddy patted his little cousin’s head, “I haven’t let you down yet, have I?”

She smiled at him and promised to be brave, and then Buddy hugged Tree Hugger, “Take care of her for me, will you?”

His wife smiled sadly at him, “You just take of yourself out there.” And she kissed him softly, but deeply in front of everyone. DD was a little grossed out due to being young, but the others thought it so sweet!

Starla then placed her hand on Lightning’s shoulder, ready to leave with the baby in her arms, but would use her droid to participate in the fight. “Good luck.” she said to him.

They shared a soft kiss. Lightning smiled at his wife, and then bent down and pecked his little son on his head, “…You be good for Mommy now.”

Then all the family members went through the last portal and Krysta made the portal vanish. “Well, that’s that. At least they’re all safe now.”

The ponies all agreed.

“It’s time.” Lightning said “Let’s go!”

The others were ready, and everyone huddled together, and Krysta used her power to teleport everyone off to the Dragon Lands, far to the south side of the planet.

Meanwhile, way up north, still far enough from The New Frozen North so it wasn’t too cold, all the settlers were welcomed into the refuge caverns. Starla was part of the head orginazation, keeping everyone calm and peaceful, and helping her were Cadance, Shining Armor, and even Mykan, who had come from New Canterlot.

*Mykan’s POV*

“We appreciate your help you guys.” Starla said.

I smiled at her, “Well, it sure is a change from just doing my research and teaching my classes.”

I couldn’t but be awed and enamoured by baby Shining Light. I couldn’t help but tickle his little nose making his sneeze softly. “Aw… bless you, little guy.” I cooed.

Starla giggled and used a tissue to wipe the baby’s nose.

Cadance couldn’t help but smile at the loveliness of mother and child, which made her shed a small tear in sadness as well.

Starla noted this, “Oh, Cadance don’t worry.” she said “Lightning and the others will succeed, I know they will.”

Cadance wanted to agree, and she did, “But… I really I could be there too. She’s my baby, and I wish I could be there to save her myself. I don’t get why Celesto and Celestia wouldn’t give me this info.”

“Because we’re needed more here.” said Shining Armor “We need to help look after all these ponies and other creatures. Besides, we know you’d just dash off into action.”

Cadance sighed sadly, and we all felt bad for her, knowing how the worrying was eating away at her, “Cadance, I’m sorry, but orders are orders.” said Starla.

She then handed Shining Light to me asking me to look after him while she went to power up her droid and send it off.

I felt a bit awkward about this, since I had never actually babysat before, but Shining Armor and Cadance offered their assistance to me during their free moments… especially when the little guy soiled his diaper.

“Poof…!” I groaned “Who’d think a little baby could make a stink that big; even if it is a pony…”

“At least this is all we have to deal with.” said Shining Armor “I’d hate to see the big stink Lightning and the others are getting into, wherever they’re going.”

Even I didn’t know where Lightning and the gang were going. “Besides, if I knew where they were going I’d probably follow them into battle, even though I know better not to unless asked or ordered.”

*POV Ends*

Hearing Mykan say the word “Follow” and seeing Starla sitting with her control-gear on, ready to send her droid off… Cadance got an idea.

“I… um… better go check on the refugees.” she said excusing herself from her husband and Mykan.

“Okay, honey.” said Shining Armor.

Cadance quietly slipped over to where Starla was sitting, and Starla, not noticing a thing because of her control-visor, already charged up her droid. “Right… there we go.” She said allowed, “Next Stop: Mount Flaris in the Dragon Lands.”

Hearing this, Cadance slipped off to the entry point of the caves, running straight into the guards at the big doors.

“Princess Cadance, where are you going?”

“Your orders were to help care for the refugees.”

“I… um… need to fetch some more diapers for Shining Light, respected by Colonel Starla Shine.”

Her fib fooled the guards and they let her pass.

Cadance headed straight up the long tunnel entry until she was back outside, and then she flew off heading south.

Meanwhile, the Dragon Lands were seemingly deserted. The dragons and other creatures had most-likely received the order of evacuation, and actually complied.

Lightning and his team, already transformed, and already met up with Starla’s droid.

Rarity stepped in something gushy, “Ugh!” she groaned “Please don’t tell me that’s--”

Spike actually bent down and sniffed the stuff; “Nope, it’s just warm mud.” he lied not wishing to tell his wife what it really was, fearing she’d scream in disgust and give them all away.

“Look!” cried Fluttershy as she pointed in the distance at Mount Flaris. There was smoke coming from its mouth, but it didn’t look ready to erupt yet. The ponies all scanned the seismic activity with their visors, and all was calm as well.

From deep within the mountain, Shade and Ebany were spying through the crack in the hollow upper areas. “They’re here.” said Shade.

“I can see that for myself, you know.” hissed Ebany. “We’ve got to tell the count.”

“No need…” Nightwing called to them, “I knew they would come. What finer time to engage my plan so that I may punish them all myself? They shall be the firsts to suffer the cursed power of my volcanic ash cloud.”

He then held out his arm, calling Flurry Heart to him. The little baby batling fluttered over onto her master’s arm. “It is time, my child.”

Flurry Heart hissed in and cute evil laughter, much to her master’s delight.

Nightwing, with his one free hand, raised his amulet. Both the amulet and Flurry’s horn began to glow brightly. At once, the two began to send out showers of sparkling, magic into the rocks, reaching the core of the volcano.

It had cost his amulet a great sum of all its power, and its light was starting to fade slightly, but that made no different to Nightwing.

The volcano began to come to life with a soft shaking, and the heat began to intensify. Nightwing laughed wickedly. “The volcano will blow within moments, spreading my cursed ash all over and transform everyone into bats!

Finally! We bat wills rule over this planet once again, and ponies will be no more!” He continued to laugh wickedly, but was suddenly interrupted by Shade asking “My lord, what of our little friends out there?”

Nightwing glared down at his two minions, “Go and soften them up. I will join you presently. Take this extra boost of power from me… you’ll need it.”

With that, his amulet glowed and two strong beams of magic struck his minions!

Outside, the fighters could suddenly feel the ground shaking beneath their feet. Nobody had to activate their scanners, especially not the Spanish twins, they were the expert geologists and they could tell what was happening!

“Ay’ Ay’ Ay’! I don’t like the feel of this.” said Dyno. Myte agreed, “That volcano’s getting ready to blow.”

“You’re correct, Starfleet!” shouted a voice, and everyone looked ahead and saw Shade and Ebany ahead of them.

“Ma’… Pa!” cried Applejack.

Ebany laughed at her, “Your parents are no more! We occupy their bodies, and they are nothing more than faded spirits contained within us.”

Applejack clenched her fists and gnashed her teeth trying to contain herself.

Shade laughed at her, “I think we’ve struck a nerve in the girl. No matter, soon you’ll all be one of us, and the same will be said for every creature on this planet.”

“Not if we have anything to say of it!” said Rainbow.

“We came here to stop you and your master, and that’s just what we’ll do.” added Artie.

Ebany snickered and taunted “That’s so pretty I think I’ll cry!”

“Do the math!” Pinkie sneered at them, “There’s… um… uh…” she quickly counted all the members of her team “…There’s fourteen of us, and only two of you.”

“Do we look intimidated to you?”

Applejack was still finding it hard to keep herself focussed. “Are you all right?” asked Starla.

“Yeah, I know we have to fight them now. I’ll do all I can.”

“Good girl…” said Lightning “…Now, let’s go!”

The fighters all shouted, and rushed forth like a charging army, and many of them began to fire their attacks at the devious duo.

Lightning fired several uniforce pulses, Rarity fired a few beams form her horn, and Krysta shot a beam out from her wand, while the other space ponies unleashed their attacks.

“STAR SHOWER”

“LEAF SWARM”

“PAINT BOMB”

“DRILL QUILL”

“BOOM-BOOM ROCKETS”

The two batlings just stood where they were as the massive barrage of attacks struck them resulting in many small explosions and smoke.

“We got ‘em!” cried Spike, but he suddenly at those words as the bats rushed through the smoke and simply bashed right through all the fighters, striking them all hard and knocking them down like bowling pins.

“Uhn…! What the heck was that?!” sneered Pinkie.

“That was us, just getting’ plowed down by a couple of supped up sneaks!” said Applejack.

“They’re definitely stronger than before,
They survived our barrage, plowed us to the floor.” said Rhymey.

“It’s no wonder they were so confident by us outnumbering them.” added Lightning “Nightwing must’ve boosted their fighting powers.”

Shade snickered, “Very good! If only you could fight as well as you could guess the obvious.”

Ebany simply hissed at the fighters, and Applejack gawked at the two villains with still some bit of sadness coursing through her, but her anger was stronger. “I want MY PARENTS BACK!!” she shouted, and she rushed forth.

“Applejack…!” Buddy called.

“Come on!” shouted Starla and the team charged forth after Applejack, and straight at the bats.

The two bats sprinted off in opposite directions.

“Spread out!” shouted Lightning and everyone sprinted off to try and surround the area.

Some of the ponies caught up with Ebany, and lunged for her, yet she skillfully dodged and countered their every strike.

Still, she was outnumbered, and Rhymey managed to slash at her hard with his sword, dealing her some damage, but she swiftly swiped at him with her claws, sending him rolling along the ground.

“Rhymey!” cried Fluttershy as she and the others rushed over to him.

Ebany hissed at the gang and lunged for them again. “Into the air!” shouted Rainbow, and everyone leapt up high. Ebany of course followed them, “You think you can escape into the skies? How amusing!” she mocked.

“This chick’s really starting to bother me!” growled Artie.

“Let’s take her down!” added Buddy.

Spike and Rarity agreed.

The rest of the team were already fighting with Shade in the skies; soaring in to strike him from many angles. Thanks to shade’s power up, he managed dodge many of the attacks and hit the fighters back, while the fighters managed to catch him off guard a few times and strike him back just as well.

Even Applejack flew in hard and kicked Shade down to the ground, “Sorry Dad.” she softly said to herself.

“Keep going.” said Lightning “If we weaken them enough, we’ll have a better chance of healing them.”

Shade got onto his feet snickering, “You talk a lot of nonsense. You really you can stop us?” That’s when the ground began to shake more violently than ever as the smoke coming from Mount Flaris grew darker and thicker.

“It’s getting ready to blow!” cried Rarity.

“You’re correct,” called Nightwing, and he suddenly appeared on the scene, in flight. His cape was completely closed over him.

The fighters all glared furiously at him; Applejack a bit more concerned for her uncle. Even looking into the evil bat lord’s mask, she could almost see her uncle crying out for help to be set free!

POW!! The volcano gave huge burst as lava began to spew out of it, but in just a few small streams, but the black sparkling ash began to spew from the mouth and hurdle into the air.

“No!!” cried Krysta.

“Yes!” laughed Nightwing “My magical ash will slowly cover the lands, bit-by-bit, turning all the creatures it touches into batlings.”

“Your plan won’t work!” said Krysta “We already evacuated all the ponies and creatures nearby where your ash can’t get to them.”

Nightwing only snickered, “I said… it affects ALL CREATURES… including those YOU COULDN’T help!”

Everyone gasped hard, especially Fluttershy…! She could see it exactly as it was beginning to happen.

As the black smoke headed for New Ponville and many other villages nearby, all the many birds in the sky that got close it instantly mutated into Bats. Lizards that were silently and casual basking in the sun on rocks looked up as the sky grew dark, and they mutated into bats too. Why even the tiny little insects and bugs were mutated by the power of the smoke!

“Oh! Those poor creatures!” cried Fluttershy.

Rhymey hated seeing his wife so upset, and was just as worried for the animals as well. He glared right up at nightwing shouting,

“You sick, twisted bat…!
How can you do a thing like that?!
What have those creatures even done to you?
Why affect them with your evil magic too?!”

“Because…” thundered Nightwing “This will ensure my complete and total dominance of the world! Every creature will be a bat! Everyone will be under my rule…

…And THIS… is exactly what this world deserves after taking my lands away from me and my kind!”

Applejack stepped forth and shouted up to him “We’re not to blame completely!”

Nightwing gawked at her, and Applejack continued, “Sure, my ancestors and their friends came to claim these lands, but you know what… if they had actually KNOWN the land was your home, maybe some arrangements could’ve been made!

Maybe instead of always fightin’ one-another, y’all could’ve co-existed together, lived in peace, and maybe have been friends!”

The fighters were all awed and inspired by her speech.

“But no… that wasn’t good enough!” Applejack shouted “You and your bats had to be angry, you had to attack and try to drive starvin’, and strivin’ settlers off!

I can admit that the ponies comin’ to your lands weren’t all that nice if it meant drivin’ creatures from their home, but you brought the exile upon yourself as well for your nasty ways!

And if that weren’t bad enough, you chose to possess my uncle, and my parents as part of your sick, twisted notions to takeover! In the end YOU AIN’T NOTHING BUT A MONSTEROUS LITTLE CRITTER THAT OUGHT TO BE PUT OUT TO PASTURE!!”

Nightwing simply scoffed, “If you expected me to feel moved by your speech… you couldn’t be more mistaken! This world is mine, and that’s that… GET OVER IT!! YOUR TIME IS THROGUH, PONIES!!”

Even Lightning had heard enough of all this! “Let’s get him!”

The others all agreed, but just before any of them could even prepare to attack, “Uh-uh-uh…” Nightwing hissed as he opened his cape, revealing Flurry Heart, strapped in a small buggy.

“Flurry Heart!” cried Lightning.

The baby snickered wickedly, and stuck out her bat tongue at the team.

“Flurry Heart!” cried Pinkie Pie “What are you doing with her?” she shouted at Nightwing.

“Just another little assurance to keep you all at bay.” replied Nightwing, “You can try and come at me with everything you’ve got, but you wouldn’t want risk harming an innocent little infant now, would you?”

The team hesitated. Even though they knew the seriousness of the situation if they didn’t act, not one of them could bring it upon themselves to even think of hurting little Flurry. Cadance would never forgive them! They would never even forgive themselves!

Shade and Ebany snickered.

“Cowards…!” Shade sneered “Looks like we have the upper-hand now. You can’t attack us, but we can still attack you!”

“Then again, we don’t even have to…” said Ebany, and she pointed up at the black smog that was coming closer and closer, and would soon mutate the fighters themselves into bats.

“You see...” hissed Nightwing “That fool, Seeder Breeze, may have been able to show you PARTS of my plan, but nothing that I couldn’t easily overcome.

You’ve been outwitted Starfleet! This is the end of the line for you, and the beginning of my time as supreme ruler of this planet!”

The smog was getting closer and closer still, and there was no place for the team to run or fly to. This really looked to be it for them!

“Do it!” Lightning said to the others, and all other alicorns huddled together and combined their magic together.

“What’s this?!” snapped Nightwing, and there before his eyes, the ponies had conjured a large, thin, yet powerful sheet of magic, like a glowing plate in the skies, preventing the smog from mutating them, much to the Bat’s chagrin.

“You didn’t think we didn’t plan ahead either?” said Lightning “We may not have been able to think ahead on ALL your sudden changes in plan, but Starfleet never gives up! We will break your curse, and we will save Flurry Heart!”

Nightwing and his minions growled angrily.

Lightning then softly nudged Starla’s droid and whispered to her, “Remember what we planned. Get ready to move in.”

“Got’cha.” Starla whispered back.

“I’m with her too.” said Krysta, and both she and Starla looked over at the spewing volcano. Their plan was to sneak Starla’s droid over there, and destroy the volcano from within to stop the ash from spewing out. It was the only choice since the volcano was bound to be broiling hot, and Starla’s droid was the only thing that could withstand the heat and the cursed smog.

As for the bats, the fighters all knew that Ngihtwing wouldn’t dare try to hurt Flurry Heart himself, as he needed her to keep up the spell on the volcano.

“We have no choice.” Lightning whispered to the team “We’ve got to try and stall them, so we have to fight.”

The other reluctantly agreed. “Flurry Heart might get hurt, but we have no choice.” said Buddy.

They agreed it best to use brute force, and none of their magic attacks, so at least Flurry would stand a better chance.

“We have to get her away from Nightwing, and then try to heal her.” said Spike.

“Yes, and Applejack’s parents and Uncle too…” agreed Rarity.

“We better do it fast.” said Dyno, “Si! That barrier up there won’t last forever.” agreed Myte.

The team stood ready.

“So, you still wish to fight?” growled Nightwing “I admire your bravery, but scoff at your foolishness!” then he shouted to his minions, “ATTACK!!”

Shade and Ebany roared and charged forth.

“Go!” shouted Lightning.

To Be Continued…!

(Promo)

In our next episode: With time running out, the ponies manage to successfully to keep the evil bats at bay, but the planet becomes more and more infected by the minute.

Can the ponies successfully save Applejack’s relatives, and all of United Equestria.

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

(Next Episode: “Final Part: “Brother’s Grim”)

Episode 15: Final Part: Brother's Grim

“Previously on Starfleet Magic…”

As Lightning and his friends headed off into battle to beat Nightwing… Princess Cadance, defying orders to watch over the evacuated refugees, set off into the danger area in hopes of rescuing Flurry Heart. Meanwhile, Nightwing unleashed his cursed smog over the lands from the volcano, which slowly began to infect everything it touched, with both teams growing exhausted, it was anyone’s battle!

EPISODE FIFTEEN

At the refuge shelter…

*Mykan’s POV*

More and more refugees were being evacuated into the immense caves due to the impending black smoke covering over the villages and still advancing.

Grand Ruler Celeso, Queen Celestia and Princess Luna had evacuated all of New Canterlot and surrounding areas as best they could.

“We weren’t able to get everyone in time.” Celestia regretted to inform “The smog has infected more birds and others creatures that have gotten to many civilians and mutated them.”

Princess Luna sighed “We were not prepared for this. Our only hope that now remains is that Nightwing will fall, and his curse will be undone.”

I hated to hear those words and felt really worried about those who didn’t make it, and those who were still outside. “Can I help in any way?” I offered.

“No, no, Mykan…” said Grand Ruler “It’s getting to be too dangerous to go out there with that smog spreading. We’re doing the best we can to save anyone who’s left, but as Princess Luna said… the rest is up to Lightning and the others now. We have to have to believe and hope that they will succeed.”

Suddenly, Shining Armor rushed up to us all with an extreme look of worry on his face. “Shining Armor, where’s Cadance?” asked Celestia.

“That’s what I’m worrying about.” replied her nephew-in-law “We’ve checked all over, and Cadance isn’t here.”

“What?” snapped Grand ruler “What in the universe do you mean “She’s not here?” She was given strict orders to help take care of the refugees.”

“I know, but we’ve checked all over and we can’t find her.”

The three supreme alicorns looked very annoyed, feeling it obvious what had happened. “She must have gone to seek out Flurry Heart.” said Luna.

“But how…?” asked Celestia “She was never told the location!”

“That’s what I thought too.” I said “How could she know where to go?”

*POV Ends*

Starla still sat in her chair still controlling her droid, not hearing a thing as she much to enraptured in the ongoing battle. “Come on! Come on!” she groaned as she hammered the controls.

The bats were proving to be merciless fighters, punching and kicking the fighters down, but the fighters still managed to get a few openings and attack the evil bats right back again.

POW!! Shade was punched hard in the face!

BOOT!! Ebany was kicked hard in the side!

Nightwing himself battled as well, and he was faring far better; blocking their every attack with Flurry still strapped tightly to him. “Shoot them, my pet!” Nightwing snapped at her, and Flurry complied by blasting small blasts of magic at the fighters, making sparks and explosions fly.

“OOH!! I can’t believe this!” groaned Rarity.

“Keep fighting!” said Spike.

“Now, take this!!” shouted Nightwing, and he and his minions huddled together, and using the amulet’s power they combined their magic to shoot a huge beam of energy at the team.

“No you don’t…!” thundered Lightning, and his golden horn began to glow, and he conjured up a huge shield plate of uniforce to intercept the blast as hard as he could.

“Krysta, Starla, go, now!” Lightning hollered. The girls nodded, and Krysta teleported the droid off.

At that split second, the bats stopped firing their magic.

“Oh, no…!” Nightwing growled as he noted that the amulet was glowing even weaker than ever.

Lightning cast away his barrier, panting softly.

“Are you all right?” asked Fluttershy

“Just a little tuckered, that was a lot of power. I’m okay.”

The barrier over head was starting to flicker slightly, indicating it was starting to wear off. The fighters were running out of time, especially with the smog spreading over the planet even more, and turning more creatures into bats.

Many ponies tried to run for the hills as fast they could, others ran for the nearest shelters only to run into the infected animals, and to be either chased, or got bitten and mutated.

Krysta warped Starla’s droid just outside the base of the spewing volcano. “I can’t get any closer. The heat’s already getting to me.”

“Leave it to me, Krysta.” said Starla, and then she turned and looked at the volcano. She scanned through the stone with her visor. There was no more lava flowing in inner cave, but the smog was everywhere. Still, it was safe to get inside, but as she was unable to see any way in, she decided to just make one.

“PULSAR LASER”

KAPOW!! She blew a huge hole in the hollow rock, which unfortunately let more smog out, but she activated her visors infrared-vision and fluttered on inside.

Unfortunately, she hadn’t gone unnoticed, but he didn’t wish to let anything on so as not to alert the fighters.

“Charge!” shouted Lightning, and the fighters all lunged forth.

Rhymey and Spike drew out their swords, and Artie got out his staff. Shade leapt in and parried their weapons with his claws. “You really… should… give up!” he growled at them.

“Never!” growled Artie and he bashed him hard in the chest, allowing Spike and Rhymey to dash by and slash him, making sparks fly.

Ebany battled Buddy, Pinkie and Applejack. She slashed at Pinkie over and over, while Pinkie skipped casually and merrily backwards, taunting her…

“Whoops!

Missed me!

Oh, so close!”

Ebany roared in fury, and tried to rush her, but Applejack and Buddy lassoed her-- Applejack with her rope, and Buddy with his whip.

“Hold her tight!” shouted Buddy.

“Don’t let her go!” agreed Applejack.

Ebany growled and fussed to try and break loose, “You two can’t hold me down!” and she fired a blast of energy from her eyes shooting the two down, and she broke free.

Buddy and Applejack got back onto their feet, and regrouped with Pinkie, “I won’t give up!” Applejack said to herself “I will get my parents back!”

The rest of the team-- Lightning, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow and The Twins-- fought against Nightwing, still being careful not to hit him or Flurry with any magical attacks, but Nightwing continued to block them off and Flurry heart continued to zap them with her own magic.

Suddenly, he found himself surrounded by the fighters.

“End of the line for you, bucko.” said Dyno. “Make it easier and give up!” added Myte.

“Ha!” scoffed Nightwing “I could, but it won’t matter anyway. Your barrier is depleting, and your planet will soon be totally under my control. There’s not much more you CAN do.”

Rainbow’s face turned red with rage, and she roared as she charged forth, and the others rushed in as well to tackle Nightwing all at once.

CRASH!! They all collided and began to go wild, punching and kicking, but as the smoke cleared, “WAIT!!” shouted Rarity, and everyone stopped, realizing that Nightwing had gone.

“Where’d he go?” asked Fluttershy.

Inside the volcano, Starla’s droid, able to survive the immense heat, arrived near the crater of the volcano.

Back at the shelter, Starla spoke softly to herself, “It’s time to shut this place down for good.” she said as she armed her bow, “If I can cause the volcano to overload, it’ll destroy itself, and the smog will stop.”

She was about to unleash her attack, when suddenly the lights in her helmet visor flash red.

“ERROR!!”

“ERROR!!”

“What?!” snapped Starla, and she hammered on the controls, “I can’t move the droid!”

Then, she could hear the sound of evil laughter.

It was Nightwing! He had crept away from the battle and over the volcano. His own inner strength and power allowed him to take the intense heat, and he and Flurry Heart combined their magic together to ensnare the droid and holding it in place with powerful, magical binds.

“Nice try, but as I have implied: No one is going to stop me and my curse!”

Starla tried and tried, hammering on her controls, but bindings were too strong.

Nightwing gazed at the amulet, and it was really starting to go out. A few more bursts of magic would make it completely go dead! For the moment, he planned to keep Starla’s droid under tight wraps, and destroy it later when he had more power.

“I wonder how your friends are faring outside?” he taunted Starla “By this time, the barrier you set up is nearly depleted!”

He was right. Outside, the barrier was fading fast.

“Nice try, Starfleet…” hissed Shade “You lasted longer than we expected.”

“Too bad it was all FOR NAUGHT!!” yelled Ebany.

The Space ponies, looking rather beat but not defeated, all stood together, and Lightning clenched his fists tight. “You’re wrong.” he said with a small smirk, “It wasn’t for nothing. Nothing Starfleet ever fights for is for nothing.”

The bats growled, but really they both looked equally as exhausted as the fighters were.

Suddenly, a bight glow of light flashed behind the space ponies, and they all parted away to reveal the Equestrians now as the Valkyries of Harmony. All five of them glowing brightly with their swords ready, and Applejack stood at the head of the team.

“I want my folks back, and I want ‘em back… NOW!!”

The bats could see they meant business, and would have made a run for it behind them, but Spike was there!

“DRAGON FLARE”He blasted a huge wall of fire, making the bats wince. They’re eyes were blinded and they were stumbling all about.

“Now girls!” shouted Lightning.

The Valkyries joined their swords together and shouted, “HARMONY BEAM!!” focussing all the power of their elements and blasting the bat hard, enveloping them in the light.

The bats screamed and yelled, and like magic, the evil energy left their bodies.

The bats transformed back into Bright Mac and Pear Butter. They collapsed to the ground, and the Valkyries ran up to them, “Ma…! Pa!” cried Applejack.

As for the evil energies of shade and Ebany, “Get them!” shouted Lightning, and he and the others powered up their finishers.

“UNIFORCE”

“WHIPLASH STRIKE”

“SUPER STAFF SPIN”

“THRASH SLASH”

“BOOM-BOOM FLARE”

“DRAGON KNIGHT SABER… IGNITE!!”

Those powerful attacks struck the dark energy waves, blasting them into nothingness and they would never harm anyone again.

As for Bright Mac and Pear Butter, they slowly began to awaken. The both of them felt as if a heard of cows had trampled all over them.

“What in the world…?” groaned Bright Mac.

Pear Butter looked up and the first thing she could see was, “Ap… Applejack…?”

Tears were rolling down Applejack’s face, “It’s okay, Ma. You’re free now. We blasted that magic out of you and Pa for good.”

“No kiddin’?” asked her father, and though he felt extremely weak. He realized he was fully normal again, though still humanoid, his bat armor was all gone, and he couldn’t feel the presence of the evil within him anymore.

Applejack couldn’t help herself, and threw her armors around her folks, and wept, and her folks, though still weak, hugged her back.

It was a most beautiful sight for all the others to see. Rarity wiped her eyes with her cape.

“Wait…!” Bright Mac cried, “Where’s Seeder Breeze? Where’s my brother?!”

Lightning finally realized the volcano hadn’t stopped spewing smog. “Starla…!” he called. It became obvious to everyone that Nightwing had retreated to the volcano and stalled the droid.

Everyone looked up in the sky. The barrier was nearly finished, and after the long and hard battle, the ponies hadn’t much power left to reenergize it.

“That barrier’s going to shatter any second!” said Buddy.

Rhymey shuddered,

“The barrier cannot do that,
If it does, we’ll all become a bat!”

Everyone shuddered at the idea, especially Applejack’s folks. “No! I don’t wanna turn into that ugly critter again!” cried Pear Butter.

Inside the volcano, Nightwing saw everything, as outraged as he was that his minions had been completely redeemed, with the light barrier ready to collapse it didn’t matter that much to him.

“You see, my dear.” he hissed at Starla’s drone “You can never destroy my dreams, but my dreams can destroy you!”

He reached over and held the droid’s face, “Time to face the end!”

Starla growled, but still couldn’t break her droid free from the bindings.

…But suddenly…!

KAPOW!! The wall burst wide open, rocks burst all over, and there stood Cadance, using her crystal magic to protect herself from the heat and smog.

“What?!” snapped Nightwing.

Starla could see through the eyes of her droid.

“Cadance! I see Cadance!” Starla cried.

Their majesties and Shining Armor dashed over to her. “Cadance? She’s in there?” cried Shining Armor.

Grand Ruler cast a little magic upon Starla’s control helmet, creating a hollow sparling sheet like a screen in midair, so everyone could see what she was seeing.

“You!” growled Nightwing.

Cadance glared at him furiously and said deeply and sternly, “Give me back my baby!!”

Nightwing gnashed his teeth, and he stroked Flurry Heart’s head, and looked down at his fading amulet, “You want her so bad… you’ll have to take her from me.”

The two figures narrowed their eyes at one another, and fired big streams of magical energy. The two forces collided at midway and were seemingly equal.

Of course, Nightwing was still badly fatigued from the battle and overusing his magic so much, and Cadance was ready to use her special-weapon!

She shut her eyes and concentrated deeply, “Let the love for my child, and the bond we have shine bright.”

“What’s going?!” cried Nightwing as Cadance’s body glowed brighter than ever, and her magic became stronger and pushed back against his own, “No!! NOOOOO…!!!”

The light struck both him and Flurry Heart, knocking them both to the floor as the light enveloped the volcano, making it quake violently.

Everyone outside could see the light glowing from the volcano and the ground shaking. “What in the universe is going on in there?!” groaned Lightning.

“Hey!” Starla cried “I’m regaining control of my droid.” The magic spell that bound her droid was wearing off, but the power level was starting to run low and needed recharging.

The others all watched with anxiety, and they were not the only ones. Their watching of the battle attracted the attention of many of the refugees, whom were anxious to know of the situation and how things were going.

Applejack’s family were gathered at the front, seeing as it was their relative involved.

The light had faded out. Cadance was panting hard, feeling a little pooped out. Starla droid was free, and the two of them could hear the sound of a baby cry. “Flurry…!” cried Starla, and both she and Cadance could see the little infant, lying on the ground completely normal.

Cadance quickly scooped her baby up, casting a crystal shielding over her to protect her from the heat, but she felt like crying too as she held her daughter close and planting kisses all over her little head. “Oh, Flurry… baby… darling…!” she wept.

Shining Armor saw the whole thing and felt like crying himself, “She’s all right!”

Celestia and Luna had tears in their eyes, and Grand Ruler sighed softly muttering “Bless the stars.”

Although Cadance still defied orders and deserted her post, they were beginning to think it best that they overlook any scolding as they were happy that Flurry Heart was saved!

Suddenly, there was a stirring over in a pile of rocks, followed by a soft groan. Cadance and Starla watched as Nightwing made his way back up over the pile, only it wasn’t him… but rather Seeder Breeze. He was still wearing Nightwings armor and cape, but his head was normal, thanks to the magic Cadance had used that had connected with his heart.

“Seeder Breeze…” cried Starla “Are you okay, are you all normal now?”

Seeder panted softly as he stood, “No… Nightwing’s still inside me, I can feel him, but I can fight the control now.”

Suddenly, the volcano began to go crazy, and was shaking violently.

The friends outside could all feel the tremors, and Dyno and Myte scanned the seismic-activity. “Ay’… Madre de estrellas! *Mother of stars!* whatever happened over there has triggered a huge chain-reaction!

“How bad is it?” asked Fluttershy

“Very bad!” said Myte “There’s going be a huge eruption so huge it’ll blast that mountain to rubble!”

The team all gasped in shock and worry. “WE’VE GOT TO GET OUT OF HERE!!” cried Pinkie, and her shouting echoed in everyone’s ear.

“But where are we supposed to go?” asked Artie “Half the planet’s covered in smoke and there’s a ton of infected creatures out there. We’d be walking into a trap.”

“I don’t think it matters!” Krysta said as she looked up, the barrier was already starting to vanish and the smog was creeping in through the crack. “When that barrier goes down, we’re going down… or… something like that.”

Bright Mac looked over at the volcano, “Seeder!” his wife and daughter felt equally as worried.

The shaking continued, and boulders began to fall inside the cave as gas pockets began to erupt and the heat was intensifying.

Flurry Heart was scared and cried loudly in Cadance’s arms.

Worse than that, the ground crumpled beneath the trio’s feet, and they plunged deeper into the cavern. Cadance managed to soften her landing by fluttering her wings, but a few rocks fell on Starla’s droid, shorting it out and shutting its systems down due to lack of power.

“No!” cried Starla “I’ve lost all power.”

With her droid out-of-action, Grand Ruler’s image screen went out as well.

“Cadance…! Flurry Heart!” cried Shining Armor, and he began to panic “What’s happening to them?! Someone get them out of there!”

Princess Luna tried to calm him, but she like her sister and brother-in-law were just as worried.

Inside the violent volcano, the trio was okay, despite Starla’s droid lying flat, but the rocks had blocked off the ceiling, and it was far too dangerous to try to plow through them, and the volcano was becoming more active by the second.

“There’s got to be a way out of here!” cried Cadance.

Seeder knew of one way as he looked down at his amulet. It had hardly any magic left it in, not enough to warp everyone out. Then again, he already knew what he had to do!

“Princess, please take this…” he said handing her the fragment of the Mystic Map that Nightwing had found. “Take this too.” and he handed her the amulet.

Cadance was astounded, but confused, “What are you doing?” and before she knew it, Seeder quickly waved his hand over the amulet to trigger it off and in a flash, Cadance, Flurry and Starla’s droid were magically warped outside.

“Look!” cried Spike “It’s Cadance.”

“And she has Flurry Heart!” added Rarity.

The gang rushed over to their friends, delighted that they were safe, and that Flurry was saved thanks to Cadance.

“Cadance, what are you doing here?” Lightning scolded, but seeing Flurry was okay and all that, “Oh, never mind.”

“What happened to Nightwing?” asked Rainbow.

Before Cadance could answer…

“Bright Mac… Pear Butter… can you hear me?” Seeder called to them. He was using the last of his dying bat powers to communicate with them, though everyone could actually hear him.

“Seeder!” cried Bright Mac “Where are ya?”

“I’m still inside the volcano.”

Everyone’s blood turned cold.

“What are you waitin’ for?! Get the heck outta there!” cried Pear Butter.

“I can’t.” replied Seeder “The amulet’s all outta’ power, and besides I gave it to the princess.”

Cadance held up the, now, powerless amulet, and the fragment of the map.

“We’ll come in and get you out!” said Applejack.

“There’s no point.” replied her uncle “Your powers are all weak too from all that fightin’. I’m way avalanched in. There ain’t no way you’ll get to me in time, and besides…” he paused feeling a bit sore with himself for what he was about to say knowing it would upset the others, “…I’ve… I’ve decided to ride this one out.”

As expected, everyone gasped hard, “No! No you can’t do that!” cried Bright Mac.

Before anyone else could protest, “Listen to me…” Seeder cut in “I still have Nightwing’s evil spirit inside of me. I may be fightin’ his control now, but I can already feelin him strugglin’ to take over again.

As long as that critter, varmint’s around, the planet ain’t safe. Look at all the damage that’s been done already.”

The others couldn’t argue with that.

“That’s why I gotta do this.” said Seeder “If I go down, then Nightwing goes down with me, and all his evil will be purged away.”

“Of course…” said Lightning, “Like destroying the head vampire; get him, and all of the curse will be lifted.” Even still, “But no… it doesn’t have to be like this!”

“He’s right!” cried Pear Butter “Seeder, don’t try to be the big guy! We can work somethin’ else out.”

“Come on, bro. There’s gotta be another way.” added Bright Mac.

“There isn’t!” snarled Seeder, “Try to understand, it’s more than just breakin’ the curse. Because of me, that evil critter caused our family much pain.

He took over my body, and made me infect you two. Then we sealed ourselves up knowing we were dangerous, but that still left the family without us for ten long years.

I know it wasn’t my fault, but, ever since I killed Grand Pear, even though I didn’t mean to, I never lived it down, and I certainly could never live myself and all this on top of it. No sir!

I know it’s hard, but I gotta do this, and it’s for the best.”

Bright Mac’s tears were streaking down his face as his felt his heart hurting with sorrow, “Seeder…” he sobbed “I don’t want you to die! Don’t do this to me!!”

He could almost feel his brother’s dying spirit right there before him, putting his hand on his shoulder. “Hey… it’s all right.” Seeder said with a sad smile, “After all these years, you all can be a family again, and that’s another reason I’m doin’ this.

Remember, I’d do anything for you, Bright Mac… even die for you.”

Bright Mac, his wife, their daughter all felt their hearts being crushed, and finally, Seeder’s power died out, and he couldn’t say anymore to them.

He just stood there in the volcano, and felt the end was coming as the heat intensified, and lava was starting to leak through.

At that moment, Nightwing began to struggle for control of his body again, “You can’t do this to me!” he thundered “I will not let you destroy me!”

Seeder regained control, and snickered “Sorry pal… this time, I’M callin’ the shots.”

The lava began to cascade in as the floor and walls erupted, consuming Seeder’s body, “…AAAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOHHH!!”

Nightwing’s evil essence was incinerated in the inferno… and…

…KABLAM!!!

The entire mountain exploded in a huge blast that rocked the lands hard, and knocked all the friends hard off their feet in the trembling.

The magic barrier shattered, but with Nightwing’s demise the evil smog vanished; faded off into thin air, and all the affected creatures instantly transformed back to normal.

Finally, the sun shined all over once more, and it was safe for everyone to venture outside, but all was silent and still at the battle sight.

Mount Flaris was gone, blasted into rubble as The Twins promised. All the lava from the volcano flowed into the pits and pools for the dragons to play in upon their return to their lands.

The whole gang was simply heartbroken and downtrodden with grief.

Fluttershy began to weep, and Rhymey held her tightly trying to control himself as well.

Rarity was so upset by what she had just seen; such an act of nobility, and yet a heart breaking sacrifice, she fainted into Spike’s arms, and she wasn’t being overdramatic this time like her usual melodramas.

Easily, the ones more hurt and upset were Applejack and her folks. Applejack and her mother began to cry softly.

As for Bright Mac, he fell down on all fours, with his face pointing at the ground and his tears falling hard against the rocks by his fingers. His body shook with aching and burning as he spoke softly “Seeder… Don’t do this! Don’t leave me again…!

…SEEDER BREEEEEEEEEEEEEEZE!!!”

Cadance held her little baby tight, fighting her own anguish. She knew how it felt to watch your brother give his life for a noble cause!

Lightning sighed, “Let’s go home.”

Everyone agreed, there was just no point in hanging around any longer.

The next morning, after Princess Luna brought on the full moon to cleanse any possible leftover of the evil, the sentries made an inspection that there were no more bats and no traces of the smog anywhere, all the refugees were permitted to return home.

Of course, the first thing to do was get the Apple Family re-acquainted with one-another. You can bet that Big Mac was overjoyed to see his folks again.

Pear Butter nearly cried her heart out as she hugged Big Mac, “Oh, son… I can’t believe how much you’ve grown.”

“E… EE… Eeyup!” sobbed Big Mac “Oh, Ma, I missed you so much!”

Granny Smith was way overjoyed as she held Bright Mac close, “I can’t believe it!” she cried “I got my boy back! You ever go worryin’ me like that again… I’ll… I’ll… I’ll paddle you ‘till you’re all pink and red!”

“Oh, Ma…!” sobbed Bright Mac as he hugged his elderly mother, “Hearin’ you say that… I feel so bright!”

Of course, Applebloom was a bit shy and skeptical to approach the couple. She never actually got to know her parents, and they felt a little strange too seeing how big she was now.

“Applebloom, it’s okay.” said Bright Mac as he knelt down by her.

Pear Butter looked deeply in her daughters eyes, “Come on, honey… we can do this.”

Applebloom quivered nervously as her tears fell, but she managed to push herself forward, “Mama…! Daddy…!” she sobbed as she embraced her parents, and they embraced her.

It was so touching to see a family reunited after so many years; it also brought a little upset to some, Namely, Lightning, Starla, Buddy, Tree Hugger and even DD. It made them miss all their folks very much, but they wouldn’t be able to come back, not ever.

And of course, there was still a little grieving for the family when they were told how Seeder Breeze gave his life to save the world.

Granny was just heart broken and nearly went into a hypertensive shock, “My son… dead?!”

Everyone helped to calm her down, not wishing her to suffer a heart attack or anything. The last thing anyone wanted was for another family member to go!

“I can’t believe it…” cried Big Mac, even Applebloom felt just as bad, though she never got to know her uncle much, and now she never would.

The right thing anyone felt they could do was hold a little service in memory of Seeder. They planted a baby apple tree in the orchards in New Sweet Apple Acres, and put right near it a rock with a small plaque on it which read:

“This tree is planted here in the memory of Seeder Breeze,
Who gave his life for his loved ones and saved the world.”

The Apple Family would try to cope with, and now all they wanted to do was get back together and catch up on lost times.

(Promo)

In our next episode: the ponies discover where another part of the Mystic Map lies in New Horn Kong, while a disgraced Slash also hears of this and makes plans to redeem himself to Sienna.

Meanwhile, Mako begins to awaken under the care of Zecora, and suddenly opens up to them about how Sienna and he came to power.

Will Starfleet succeed in obtaining the map, and what is Mako and Sienna’s origin?

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

(Next Episode: “Truth be Bold”)

Author's Note

Well, well... it's mother's day

-Cadance get's her brat back
-Applejack get's her folks back

...I'll leave this at no comment

Episode 16: Truth be Bold

EPISODE SIXTEEN

Sienna had spent the past week, since Mako disappeared, sitting by herself to gather her thoughts, or she could spend time training to loosen her rage at the incompetence of her subordinates.

She even took some of her rage on the Raiders; slashing them with her sword, shooting them with her ray gun, or just plain wrestling them to the floor.

Omnisha never felt so relieved to not being in the field with her. “She’s out of control! This cannot go on.”

Sienna threw her head way up high screaming, “MAKO-------!!!”

Mako, had been unconscious ever since blasting himself across United Equestria, and now he was finally starting to awaken, though he still felt very woozy.

He found himself lying in a warm bed of thick furry blankets inside of a hut, and his uniform was hanging on a clothesline, washed, but still damaged. “Oh…!” he groaned as he rubbed his head, “Where am I? What’s happened to me? The last thing I remember, my ray gun went kaphlooey and blew me clean into the sky.

…But, what am I doing here?”

Just then, a humanoid zebra dressed in burlap robes came into the hut and answered in rhyme,

“You are here because I brought you inside,
Had I not come along and I fear you would have died.”

Mako couldn’t believe this; a pony, or rather had saved him?! He would have protested, but his head still felt weary.

“Now, now, you just lay back and get some good rest,
I will fix you some hot soup and give it some healing zest.”

Mako just lay back in his bed, still unable to believe all this, but he was much too weary to question right now, and he fell back asleep.

Meanwhile, somewhere deep within another forest, with what equipment he still had, Slash had set up a little camp for himself where he spent the last week sleeping in the wilderness, training hard, but also furiously raging over his exile!

“All these decades of loyalty and hardship to serve Sienna, and my reward is exile because of that little brat Mako…?!” he thundered to himself. He let out of fierce growl and took a huge swing with his sword breaking a huge rock into pebbles.

He calmed himself and began to think, “Somehow, I must prove my honor to Sienna and she’ll let back to the ship.

…But how?”

He suddenly heard the sounds of a gong bonging. He made his way to the edge of the forest and used his mini telescope to see deep into town.

When Sienna had ejected him from her ship, she simply sent him to a random place on the planet; New Horn Kong, and the gong he just heard was coming from a restaurant nearby;“The Cook-Lings Inn”

This place was run and managed by Cookie Dough, his wife Khana Ling. The two had opened their doors wide at the sound of the gong; Khana carried her ten month old baby son, Chopstick, in a buggy she wore.

She addressed the public nearby in Chinese,“Lái ba, lái ba. Chī nǐ de tiánchōng, bìng yǒu yīgè qiú!”Then her husband repeated what she said in English…

“Come one, come all
Eat your fill and have a ball!”

This was their traditional chant to alert people that their joint was now open, and of course, being world renowned for their exquisite cuisine, the place was flooding with hungry and eager customers.

“Huh!” scoffed Slash “Only fools give money to be served. Real fighters take what they desire without pay.”

He was about to run off when he suddenly noticed, Cookie Dough holding up a small, thin item wrapped almost poorly in brown paper and tied with string. “What’s that?

He then noticed Khana and Cookie conversing, and being able to read lips, he spelled out what they were saying.

“I’ve got this safe and sound. Did you send the letter to Lightning?”

Khana nodded “I hope he will be arriving soon. He and his friends have been looking for this.”

Then they went into their restaurant to cater to their customers, while Slash began to ponder, “Could it be…?

I’ll have to investigate more closely.”

Meanwhile…

Lightning and Krysta were at New Canterlot Palace meeting with their majesties.

“We now have two pieces of Mystic Map and two of the legendary items.” said Grand Ruler “Now only two fragments and two items remain.”

The powerless amulet and the knight’s helmet were put aside as everyone studied the new map fragment. It did not connect to the piece they had, but it did have carved images of the four items…

The helmet being one, and the amulet was another. The two remaining items carved into the gold seemed to resemble a Shield, and simple round ball, but exactly what kind it was, no one could say.

As for the Ancient Equestrian text on the new fragment read from translation…

“…Creatures of Four differences, with four blades of difference shall reveal the entrance to the Temple of Mystery.”

It stopped, as there was no more text.

Krysta sighed “Another dead-end. We KNOW we’re looking for a temple, but we want to know WHERE it is.”

Lightning calmed her, “Easy, Krysta, we’ll find it. We’ll have to keep finding the rest of the map.”

Celestia agreed, “And we’ve already located one, which is why we called you here, Lightning.” Then she raised her hand and made a letter magically appeared.

Lightning read the letter, from Cookie and Khanna, saying that they were questioned by Starfleet Scouts that had detected the energies from a fragment of the map emitting from Cookie and Khana’s home in New Horn Kong, and requesting Lightning to personally come and get it himself.

“But why didn’t the scouts just report this by telepathic message?” asked Krysta.

“Remember, Krysta, we’re trying to keep low about this so Sienna doesn’t get wise to us. Telepathic and Audio messages can he overheard or intercepted; Letters can’t be so easily, especially if it was sent by friends instead of soldiers.”

Grand Ruler nodded in agreement. “Anyways… you have your mission, Lightning. Your team will consist of you, Starla’s droid, Krysta, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash, in case you should run into trouble.”

Lightning stood and saluted, and then he and Krysta teleported off.

Celestia looked down at the map pieces and items, and began to think about her mother again.

“Are you all right, darling?” Grand Ruler asked.

His wife shook herself out of her blues, “Yes, I’m fine dear.”

Grand Ruler softly placed his hand warmly over hers, and she held him tightly.

Meanwhile, Mako had just finished his helping of soup, and some special tea Zecora made to help his weariness. He felt physically better, but was still confused more than ever.

“Why would you help me?” he asked “You’re a United Equestrian. Aren’t we supposed to be enemies?”

Zecora merely smirked at him and said…

“While that is true, you are aligned with the enemy
I saw that you were hurt and needed help especially

While may say that I could be out of my mind,
My favorite motto is to never leave someone behind.”

Mako felt touched by such a heartfelt speech, almost as if it were for the first time.

Just then, there was a knock at the door, Spike and Rarity came in. “Hello, Zecora…” Rarity said cheerfully. “Sorry to waltz in like this, but I require your--” she stopped and she and Spike gasped when they saw…

“Mako…?!” snapped Spike. He and Rarity looked ready for a fight.

“No!!” snapped Zecroa,

“You attitude is understandable, but please do not fight
This poor boy was found injured, and I helped to put him right.”

Rarity approached Zecora calmly, “Um, Zecora… darling…” she giggled nervously, “Um… not quite sure you’ve noticed but, HE… IS… THE… ENEMY…!!”

Her shouting made the walls rattle, but Mako held up his hands “I am unarmed. I have no intentions to fight.”

Spike growled softly and glared suspiciously at him. “How do we know this isn’t some kind of trick?”

Mako assured him it wasn’t “Look, I still don’t get why you’d all be kind to me. All I want is go back to my sister, Sienna.” He began to cry softly showing his completely honesty, “…I’ve never been away from her, not even for a minute, and I’m scared…!”

Seeing his tears brought pain to their hearts. Spike and Rarity knew fully well that they should at least have brought him in for questioning, and maybe use him to help get back at Sienna’s forces, but seeing how frightened he was, they weren’t certain they could.

“Why would you think no one would ever show you kindness?” Rarity asked.

“Despite the obviousness…” Spike muttered, earning him an elbowing from his wife.

Mako didn’t seem willing to tell, as he still harbored skepticism and somewhat opposition of the United Equestrians, “I’ve seen this act before… you pretend to be nice, and then you show your true colors and beat me!”

The way he was behaving now, it was as if there was more to his and Sienna’s evil motivations than ever, as opposed to just being power hungry.

Rarity approached him in effort to reach out to him, but he backed away.

Rarity spoke calmly to him, “Darling, I can respect if you wish not to tell, but you know that we are Starfleet officers, and it is our job to deal with evil beings. So you may as well explain to us your troubles and make it easier for us and yourself.”

Mako was still unsure…

Until Zecora said to him,

“Keeping secrets locked away can lead to harm, my youth
But sometimes it can clear the air… if you do tell the truth.”

Mako struggled with his inner-conscience, but finally he gave in, and told them his story…

*Mako’s POV*

Sienna and I were orphaned when I was no more than twenty years old; that’s pretty young for the people of our race. Our parents were returning home from a space expedition, but there was a terrible malfunction, and the ship crashed and burst into flames. There were no survivors.

Sienna and I had no other relatives, so we were sent to an orphanage. I’ll never forget the day we arrived!

“I’m so scared, Sienna! Mommy and Daddy are gone! I don’t want to live here!”

Sienna hugged metightly, trying to be brave for us both,“It’ll be okay, Mako. I’m still here with you, and I always will be. We’ll get through this together.”

The people who ran the orphanage were really nice, but some of the kids we grew up with weren’t. They loved to pick on me because I was small, and no one stood up for me… except Sienna.

“You leave my brother alone, you creeps, or we’ll see how loud you cry!”

Sienna often got into trouble for beating the bullies up, but when the owners of the orphanage found out about the bullies, they got into even bigger trouble, but… Sienna was there for me. She was the one person I felt I could trust on the entire planet.

“You’re all I have, Mako. I don’t want to lose you too.”

Sienna and I were completely inseparable. She looked out for me like a mother caring for a child.

“Look, Sienna, I made a spaceship.”

“Hey, that’s pretty neat, Mako. It looks so real.”

“Someday… I wanna fly in a real spaceship, and fly through space to see new planets.”

“Hey… I like that. I’m sure if we dream hard about it, it’ll come true.”

Who’d have thought one day we’d get our chance.

The orphanage was attacked by hostile thieves from outer space that looted treasure for profit and glory, and they kidnapped many orphans to serve as hostages. Sienna and I were among the poor victims.

We orphans were treated as slaves, and forced to work on the alien spaceship. We worked long and agonizing hours with hardly any rest, and little feedings. Sometimes the aliens would beat us silly, even if we did nothing wrong just for amusement.

They picked on me the most because I was the smallest and easily scared, and as usual… my sister stood up for me, often taking the beatings meant for me, doing extra chores for me so I could sleep.

She looked as if she would die one her feet, but she insisted it was okay,“Just… catch up… on your sleep, Mako. I can keep working.”

As time passed, the orphans began to die from being overworked, underfed, or succumbing from injuries inflicted, until only Sienna and I were left, and Sienna finally couldn’t take it anymore!

Years of painful losses, and abuse, she turned on our alien overlords, stealing their weapons and destroyed them in extreme rage.

I had never seen her behave in such a way, it was almost frightening, but we were free from slavery, and with that, Sienna took control of the ship, and she and I were now the owners of all the treasure onboard.

“This universe has taken much from us, Mako…! It took away our parents! It pushed us around and abused us, and now… I’d say it’s time for payback!”

Naturally, I felt the same way as she, and that’s when we began traveling all over, plundering treasures and valuables. They stole from us, now we were stealing from them!

As the decades passed, we grew stronger as our armies formed and used our resources to create Jemma-Nites and Raiders.

Then, Sienna discovered the fragment of Galaxia’s horn which revealed to us the Elements of Chaos, and the power they would give! It became our grandest and most desperate quest to find those elements, and with their mighty power, we’ll be the strongest in the universe!

*POV Ends*

Mako was panting heavily with a wicked and power-hungry grin on his face!

The others were all struck with mixtures of disgust, but also of understanding, and rather shock.

“It sounds to me like you guys were consumed by greed and hatred.” said Spike “That’s no way to go about, believe me I know!”

“As do I…” added Rarity.

Spike remembered how he let himself grow into that horrible dragon beast that kidnapped Rarity and stole many things.

Rarity remembered how she found the magic collar that turned everything she touched into gold, including Spike!

Zecora agreed with both of them,

“Those who often let greed become their master,
It can only steer them one way: down the path of disaster!”

Mako felt his anger spiking, “They deserve it; all of them, after everything they took from us… we have every right to do this to them!”

Even Rarity was starting to lose her cool, “Forgive my tone, but have you any idea how insane and ridiculous you sound?! You’re blaming an entire galaxy of innocent creatures for things that happened to you.”

“Huh?”

“Bad things happened to you, I can see that now and you have my sympathy for that, however, you’ve been attacking and tormenting so many other planets and races of people and beings that had nothing to do with it, and obviously never knew of your hardships.”

Mako fell silent in shock, as if he had been awakened to the reality of things for the first time in a long time.

“Believe us… we know how it feels.” said Spike “We’ve had our fair shares of tragedy and hardship, but you don’t see us blaming and needlessly attacking other races out of petty revenge.

We fight to PREVENT things like this, which is why we fight you and your sister’s forces.”

Mako honestly didn’t know what to say!

Meanwhile, Lightning and his team already arrived in New Horn Kong, and were taking a moment to get reacquainted with their friends.

Pinkie Pie was playing with little Chopstick.

“Where’s Pinkie Pie…?

…Here I am!

Where’s Pinkie Pie…?

…Here I am!”

The baby cooed and giggled.

Everyone thought it was so sweet, but Lightning cleared his throat, “Major Pinkie Pie, we’re here on official business.”

Pinkie felt sheepish.

“Anyways, do you have it?” Starla asked through her droid. Cookie nodded and he held up the small package “Here, but don’t open it.”

Starla took the package and used her X-ray scanning to reveal the Map Fragment inside. It had no text on it, but it did have more carvings of the landmasses. “This is definitely what we’ve been looking for.” Starla said, and she took a few snapshots of the map inside.

“How did you guys get it?” asked Rainbow.

Khana explained, “My great grand-mother used to work hard as a wood carver. She would spend her time making statues and seals carved from the wood from trees cut down for firewood.

One day, as she was walking through the forest, she came across a most unusual tree, which gave a mysterious glow. Ever so curious, my great-grandmother drilled through the tree with her tools, and discovered the golden plate.

She had never seen anything like it before, and realizing she had found something special, she came to a new passion to carve in stone to make trinkets and pendants.

She became well renowned in Horn Kong, but the golden plate which inspired her to all this, remained her most sacred treasure, handed down in our family.”

Everyone felt that was a deep story and Cookie held his wife close and said to the others “If you guys need this to end the war, it’s yours.”

Suddenly, there was a loud crash as the front doors and parts of the wall burst wide open, frightening everyone.

Slash entered the restaurant snickering as he held his sword, “Correction: it’s mine!” his hissed.

“Slash!” growled Lightning.

Many of the patrons in the restaurant headed for the other exists at the sides, “Stay where you are, all of you!” Slash thundered and he snapped his fingers…

At once, large crystal-like swords slammed down outside like fences blocking the ways out and surrounding the entire restaurant in a magical barrier, preventing anyone from leaving.

Then, right before Slash came his Jemma-Nite, Fencer; a Jemma-Nite that resembled a Fencer, wearing garbs and crystal armor, and wielding two powerful, glowing swords. These swords were not only powerful weapons, but combined with Fencer’s ability, they served as generators projecting the energy barrier that kept everyone trapped in, and all else out!

The civilians were all frightened more than ever, and worse, Starla’s droid began to jerk about softly. “Starla… what’s wrong?” asked Lightning.

The droid’s voice skipped and scrambled, “Barrier… cut… power link… losing… control.”

Then the droid went completely offline and flopped onto the ground, “Starla!” cried Lightning.

Back at home, Starla’s controls were completely locked out, and she groaned out loud “Ugh! I don’t believe it!” she groaned. “That barrier cut me off from my droid. I won’t be able to help the others.”

Suddenly, Shining Light began to cry from his room. Starla realized she had woken him up from his nap with her shouting.

So, she had no choice but to abandon her controls on the sofa, and tend to her baby.

Slash snickered, “That’s one pest down, and unless you want more to fall, you’ll hand over that map fragment to me!”

“Krysta, can’t you warp us out here?” asked Rainbow.

Krysta shook her head, “I can’t! Just as the barrier keeps us in, it also keeps us from warping out!”

Lightning and the girls knew they couldn’t risk battling inside the restaurant for fearing of causing unthinkable damage as well as hurting the civilians.

Pinkie then got an idea as she saw some small baking trays, and package wrapping just like the map’s wrapping in the droid’s hands.

“You have ten seconds…” sneered Slash “Ten seconds before I rampage through this dump and take the map anyway. Either way I win.”

Lightning growled softly, glaring at the evil villain and his monster.

Pinkie Pie suddenly stepped out, holding a wrapped package, “Okay! We surrender.” and she held up the package, “Here! Take the map piece!”

The others all gasped and winced in shock,

“Pinkie Pie, what are you doing?!” snapped Rainbow.

Slash was surprised to see this himself, and began to have his suspicions, “Now… throw it this way.”

“Pinkie…!” snapped Lightning, but Pinkie already tossed Slash the package and he caught it in his hands.

Despite the package was the same size as the one he had observed, he still had his doubts and put a small slit through the wrapping revealing it was a small baking tray, and before he could react, Pinkie zipped forth and head-butt slash hard in the chest, sending him out the door, and stopping just inches before the barrier outside.

“Good shot, Pinkie!” praised Lightning, “Now, let’s move!”

Quickly, he transformed,

“Starfleet Magic!”

…and Pinkie and Rainbow…

“HARMONY HOUR, FRIENDSHIP POWER!!”

They dashed outside, with Krysta staying inside to watch over the civilians.

Outside, thanks to the barrier, there wasn’t all that much room to move around, but Slash got up to his feet and found himself confronted by the trio of ponies, but he didn’t seem a bit worried “This is going to be fun.” and he called for his monster, “Fencer!”

The Jemma-nite glared at the trio.

“You two get the monster, I’ll deal with Slash.” said Lightning.

The girl agreed, and the fight was on.

Lightning went straight for Slash and swung his fist at him, but Slash dodged and then attempted to hit Lightning with his sword, only, for Lightning to bump his other arm into Slash’s arm, blocking him.

The two then began to engage in a fury of attacks, blocking and countering one another.

Lightning got slashed, and sparks flew, but then Slash got punched and kicked.

“You’ve been training a bit.” Lightning said.

“A true treasure hunter must always stay prepared!” hissed Slash, “And once I defeat you, I can prove myself loyalty to Sienna again.”

“Not if I beat you first!”

As the two continued to brawl, the girls charged straight at the monster; jump-kicking straight for it!

Fencer held up its two glowing swords like shields shocking the girls on contact and flinging them back hard.

“Oh, you wanna play tough, huh?!” growled Rainbow. She rushed in again, and though she held no weapon, she swerved, dodged and evaded the monster’s every strike and slash.

“Get him, Pinkie!”

Pinkie nodded and came rushing in hollering madly, and she tripped the monster up and then she and Rainbow jump-kicked again, slamming Fencer hard, backwards, near the restaurant doors.

“Yahoo! Now we got’cha!” shouted Pinkie, and she rushed to attack again.

“Pinkie, wait!” shouted Rainbow, but Pinkie already tackled the monster hard, and the two of them rolled right back into the restaurant…!

Lightning looked up when he saw the crash. “Pinkie, get out of there!” he called, but in his distraction, Slash kicked him hard, sending him crashing hard into Rainbow, and the two of them crashed inside too, forcing the patrons to scatter about.

Khana and Cookie looked up from behind the counter by the kitchen.

Fencer knocked Pinkie off and sent her slamming into a table, crushing it on impact.

Slash entered the restaurant, frightening everyone again, “All that fuss, just to end up back in here again!”

Lightning was outraged, but concerned as well as he thought deeply,“If only there was more room outside, and no civilians in here we could really fighting strong!”

Khana couldn’t bear to see all this anymore, not wanting her friends and customers to get hurt anymore from those wicked beings. Then she saw the wrapped map fragment still in the hands of Starla’s dead droid.

“We must give it to him.” she said to Cookie Dough.

“What?!” snapped Cookie, “Honey, we can’t do that!”

“But we must, it may be the only way to stop all this chaos, and perhaps it will be possible for our friends to retrieve it somehow?”

Cookie honestly didn’t know what to think; he had seen monsters like Slash before, and most of the time, even after they get what they demanded they would still terrorize everyone, just for the fun of it…

…On the other hand, it was possible that this would be one of those few times it wouldn’t be such, and his wife had a point of protecting the others.

“I hope I’m not going to regret this…!” Cookie said to himself.

Fencer stood with its swords glowing and ready to cause a load of destruction, and Lightning and the fighters couldn’t fight back, not wanting to risk safety of the civilians.

“This is your last chance!” growled Slash “Surrender the map piece, or you’ll all be in pieces!”

Lightning and his team glared furiously at the evil villains, but suddenly heard Cookie Dough call to Slash, “Here, take it!” and he tossed the map piece to Slash.

“What are you doing?!” snapped Krysta.

Slash caught the piece, and broke open the wrapping revealing that it was the real deal! He snickered wickedly, “It seems that some of your kind has brains.”

Lightning looked over his should, in shock at Cookie Dough and what he had just done. However, Slash then reached for Fencer’s capsule and returned the monster inside, which also dispelled the barrier around the restaurant, and the next thing Slash knew, a teleportation device appeared before him; beamed down from Sienna’s ship.

This was exactly what he was hoping for. “I’ve gotten all that I need here, as much as I could finish you off now, my Captain has summoned me back. So until next time…!” He laughed and activated his teleporting, vanishing back to the alien ship.

“What just happened?” Pinkie asked in confusion.

“He totally just ran off like that, WITH the map piece!” Rainbow grumbled, and she looked angrily over at Cookie Dough, but it was Lightning who approached him, still looking rather stern.

Cookie and Khana felt rather nervous! As Commander, Lightning had the authority to authorize punishment on those who interfered in Starfleet affairs, as well as endangering others and giving in to the enemy!

Lightning, however, didn’t scold them, and smiled softly, “You were only trying to look out for everyone, even if it meant giving the enemy what they wanted. Of course, that doesn’t change the fact that Slash could have still attacked us anyway, and the fact that now we’ll have to work hard to get the map fragment from him…

…Given your acts, and how things turned out… you are forgiven.”

Much as Rainbow still felt a bit outraged, Pinkie placed her hand on her shoulder telling her to ease up.

Khana and Cookie felt relieved and forced soft smiled, yet they still felt a bit regretful having to give into the enemy. “Will you be able to get the treasure back?” Khana asked.

“We’ll try our best…” said Krysta “But it won’t be easy.”

The others agreed, but for now all they could do was head back to New Ponyville and report to their Majesties.

Lightning signed Cookie and Khana a small cheque to pay for all the small damages done inside the restaurant.

Meanwhile, Sienna walked down the corridors with Omnisha cautioning her, “Captain, are you certain it’s a good idea to allow Slash back? Because of him, your brother is still lost.”

Sienna halted in her tracks clenching her fist to supress the pain. “Perhaps, but Slash has successfully obtained a piece of the map to help us find the Elements of Chaos. That is quite essential to us.

Plus, letting the ponies live is perfect. We’ll let them uncover the remaining fragments and legendary items. It will save us the trouble of searching ourselves, and when the time is right… we’ll TAKE THEM from them!”

Omnisha couldn’t argue, but she was feeling concerned of Sienna now. She seemed to be focussing more on finding the Elements than her own brother.

“Oh, great… Now I’m starting to soften up and worry about that kid.” She grumbled to herself.

As for Mako, he was still in shock of realization. “I don’t know what to do now.” he said.

Spike and Rarity gazed at one another, realizing they had no choice up to now, “I think you better come with us.” said Spike.

Mako felt worried until Rarity comforted him, “We’re not going to arrest you, but we will have to keep close, because… we may have an idea how to end all this fighting between our respective sides.”

Mako was still unsure of going, but… after a few moments of though, he took Rarity’s hand agreeing to go with her and Spike.

Zecora nodded proudly at him,

“You have taken your first step in ending this war,
Perhaps soon there shall be peace between us and more.”

“Peace…”Mako thought softly to himself, something he hadn’t thought of in a very long time.“Maybe that would be better than just ruling the world.”

(Promo)

In our next episode: As Applejack’s folks become reacquainted with their new surroundings and new lives, the team hone in on yet another one of the legendary items, but also discuss an ultimatum for Sienna.

Who will get the legendary item first, and will Sienna honor the ultimatum?

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

(Next Episode: “Let’s make a REAL Deal”)

Episode 17: Let's Make a REAL deal.

EPISODE SEVENTEEN

Sienna had been ogling the map fragment ever since Slash returned to the ship. Seeing her reflection in the gold made her evil grin wider.

“An excellent catch.” she hissed “But still, this one piece isn’t enough! We must obtain the remaining pieces as well as the legendary key items!”

“I assure you, Captain, the treasures are as good as yours.” said Slash, but Omnisha scoffed at him, “And I suppose you know where they are hidden and how to pinpoint their locations? As I recall, that map piece wasjust handed to you.”

Slash growled as he felt his anger rising, “Don’t push me, psycho! At least I actually got one.”

“Yeah, and like the captain said; it doesn’t do us too much good without the rest of it.”

“Why you…!!” but before he continued, he and Omnisha noticed Sienna was gone.

She had already left the bridge to get away from their constant bickering, but also she walked down the corridors of the ship until she reached Mako’s room, which had been unoccupied for a week now since he was blasted away!

Those horrible images still plagued her; remembering the explosion and her brother flying off into the sky.

She still didn’t know where he was, still couldn’t detect him. She didn’t even know if he was even still alive!

Just the thought of it twisted her emotions of sadness and rage, “I will find you, Mako.” she said to herself “And if I can’t… if you’re really gone… Starfleet will pay this! I will make the entire universe pay!

First we lost our parents, and now…!” she stopped! The memories were so painful it gave her a headache and heartache!

“Mako…” she cried softly

Meanwhile…

*Mykan’s POV*

On a beautiful day at School, Applebloom had invited her parents to speak to the class, especially due to the assignment being “The Best Thing that happened to me this year.” Where, students gave oral reports of just that.

Applebloom, Bright Mac and Pear Butter each took turns describing things; about how the parents were taken over by the Bats and all that transpired.

“I never thought somethin’ like this could happen to me,” said Applebloom, “But I got my folks back, and we plan to do a lot of catchin’ up. I don’t reckon anythin’ better could happen to me this year.”

The class applauded, as did Cheerilee and myself.

“That was wonderful, Applebloom.” said Cheerilee “And again, I thank you, Bright Mac and Pear Butter. I’m so happy for you both… and just the same, we’re all very sorry for the loss of Seeder Breeze.”

Bright Mac nodded sadly, “Ah, thanks, I appreciate it, but just the same, me and Buttercup are still getting’ used to everythin’.”

His wife agreed, “Yep, we’ve been away so long… it seems nearly everything has changed.”

I stepped up to the couple, “You know, you’re more than welcome to stay a little longer if you wish. I’m going to give a lecture today on the Human Psychologies of my world.”

The couple were thankful, but refused, “We should getting’ back to the farm. Still loads of chores to do.” said Bright Mac.

Pear Butter pecked her daughter on the head, in front of everyone, “Have a good day, honey.”

Applebloom blushed, and as the parents left, Diamond Tiara scoffed and mocked, “Have a good day, honey…! Seriously, she’s not a little filly.”

Strangely, Silver Spoon didn’t laugh or think what she said at all was funny or nice, “Cut her a break. She got her folks back. I think that’s wonderful.”

Diamond Tiara-- either she just didn’t understand, or was too stuck up to care-- sat shocked and puzzled at her friend, and then I cleared my throat at them, “Ladies… pay attention please.”

*POV Ends*

As Mykan continued with his lecture, Applebloom took notes of everything he said, and took a moment to look at a picture she had drawn of her whole family, including her parents, in a big heart shaped border.

When the couple got back to New Sweet Apple Acres, they were greeted by Applejack. “How’d it go?”

“It was smoother than apple butter on light toast.” replied her father “Now come here and give your daddy a hug, hon.”

Applejack did just that, and then she hugged her mother too.

Buddy Rose came along, admiring the beautiful sights, “You guys are really trying to make up for lost times, eh?”

The trio smiled softly.

“Still,” said Buddy, “Given that you two haven’t aged in ten years, you all look more like siblings than parents and child.”

He had a point. Applejack looked so much like her mother in height and almost in age, but Pear was still a little older than she was, but only by a few years.

“Ah, well… I’m happy for you anyway.”

“Much obliged, Colonel.” said Bright Mac.

“Please… just “Buddy.”

“Well, alright…” said Pear “But still, look at all that’s changed; Humanoid bodies. The farm’s bigger. More and new equipment…”

Bright Mac then ogled his daughter’s wings, “And Applejack… you’re a pegasi, not to mention a military major.”

“Oh, that’s nothin’…” said Applejack “Watch this! Ready, Bud…?”

Buddy saluted and he walked over to a huge boulder, more than three times his size, and demonstrated his strength by lifted it up with just one hand as if it were light as a feather.

Bright and Pear gawked in astonishment, and they watched as Buddy threw the huge boulder way up high into the air, “Go!” he called to Applejack. She nodded and flew up high into their aiming her fist straight at the boulder; smashing it into tiny bits that sprinkled into the air…

…Making her parents feeling like fainting in shock, but in actuality they couldn’t be more proud of their daughter.

They wanted to ask more about Starfleet, but Krysta appeared at Lightning’s orders, “Sorry to interrupt family time, but Lightning’s called you guys over. We’re making up a plan for our next move.”

Applejack gazed at her folks, “Sorry Ma, Pa… duty calls.”

“We’ll be back soon.” added Buddy, and they flew off with Krysta.

Bright and Pear watched until the friends were out of sight. “You think it’s okay of us lettin’ her rush off into action like that?” asked Pear.

“Now, now…” replied her husband “We’ve already seen what she’s capable of, and it helped save us both. We should give her all the support she needs.”

Pear smiled, and then the two went back to tending the farm… if they could understand the new equipment…!

Meanwhile, the entire team arrived at Lightning and Starla’s place. Mako was also present, in the custody of Rarity and Spike.

“I’ve spoken with their majesties…” Lightning said, and then he looked at Mako, “We cannot overlook all the crimes and assaults you and your sister have committed against us, and it’s vital that we end this war between our two sides.”

Poor little Mako hung his head low, “Yes, sir… I understand.”

“Head up, kiddo.” said Krysta “Look at the commander when he talks to you.”

“Krysta…” Starla said telling her to stop and go easy on Mako.

Lightning cleared his throat, “However, in retrospect from the story you told to Spike and Rarity, it is possible to take advantage of the situation.

Mako, we’d like to use you as an ultimatum to get your sister to cease her hostilities.”

Mako understood all that, “Will she be arrested?”

All the others hesitated to answer and Artie finally spoke up, “I’m afraid so. We have our orders, and she still must answer for all she’s done.”

Mako felt his heart skip a beat, “But then she’ll never surrender, and I don’t want my sister to be locked up! She’ll be angry at me!”

“Mako…” Fluttershy said trying to calm him, but Mako winced away from her. “I won’t turn against my sister! Not after all she’s done for me!!”

“Mako…!” said Fluttershy “I know it seems hard, but you’re not really turning against her; think of it as morehelping her.”

Rhymey agreed and said to Mako…

“You’ve already begun to see the error of yer ways,
Maybe you can convince Sienna to see the error of her ways.”

Mako had already thought of that, and he really wasn’t sure. Knowing how before he got lost Sienna had been showing signs of ill-temper, and lust for the Elements of Chaos; a regular obsession in finding them, and knowing how hard she worked to get herself and Mako where they were today…

…Even the others anticipated by this point that perhaps reasoning with Sienna through ultimatum would be harder than they thought.

“Well, what do we do now?” asked Pinkie.

“We try it anyway.” replied Starla.

“Que?” asked Dyno.

“What do you mean “We try it anyway?” added Myte.

“Exactly what it means.” said Lightning “There’s the possibility Sienna will take Mako back and not back down, but even still, Mako will have a chance to at least try and convince her.”

Mako agreed to this, “But, how will we get Sienna’s attention? I can’t contact the ship and neither can you.”

Lightning motioned for Rainbow Dash to deliver her report, and Rainbow slapped a small newspaper clipping down on the table, showing a small item in a display casing at a museum in New Cloudsdale; an old shield with a polished surface that bared the crest of Galaxia, that used to belong to an ancient knight that was excavated long ago from fossil sights.

“Is that what I think it is?” asked Spike.

“Sure is…” replied Rainbow “This shield just arrived at the museum a week ago after going all over the planet, from one museum to another, and the readouts are positive; it’s one of the legendary items.”

Lightning typed into the holographic computer images of the Mystic Map that had the four items carved on it, such as the shield. “We’re going to get that shield before Sienna finds out about it, and once it’s secured we’ll draw her out.”

“There’s just one thing…” Rainbow said “The museum curator won’t let it out for any less than… ten-million bits.”

“What?!” snapped Rarity “Ten million?! Why that’s extortion, blackmail, simply outrageous!”

“No it isn’t.” said Starla “It’s the conducting of business. The curator may be greedy, but his actions are legal enough. That shield may be the key to our quest, but it’s still a rare and valuable artifact. We can’t simply order it to be removed from the museum, it would lose profits, and it wouldn’t make Starfleet look good either.”

Lightning agreed, “So, we need to come up with ten million bits.”

Pinkie did some quick writing on paper, “This here, and that there… um… maybe we could… no, no, no…?”

“You have a plan Pinkie?” asked Buddy.

“Huh? Oh, no… I was just drawing a picture of me rolling in all that money if I had it.”

The ponies all sighed in dismay, “That still don’t help us raise the money.” said Applejack “why I’d have to harvest at least…” she paused and calculated, “One-million pounds of apples every day for the rest of the year to get that high.”

“You won’t have to, chica.” said Dyno “We can help you a little.”

“Si…” agreed Myte “We struck some rare jewels and ore from our mines; we can donate it to help pay the bill.”

“That’s excellent, boys. Well done…” said Lightning “Alright, once we have that shield, we’ve got to get Sienna’s attention, and I know just the site where we can alert her,” he paused and looked at all the pegasi “And you girls… you’re going to give her the message.”

Rainbow, Pinkie, Applejack and Fluttershy agreed

Soon afterwards, the Raiders detected abnormal activity on the planet below. “What is it?” Sienna asked. The Raiders let her at the monitor, viewing an image of the skies over and empty field outside New Ponyville…

The four Pegasi were moving the clouds around to spell out a message direct at Sienna!

“If you wish to have Mako, returned to you safely, come to these fields in one hour and surrender your map fragment.

--Starfleet!”

Sienna’s rage broiled as she growled and angrily pounded the controls, shutting down the monitors!

She was panting softly, and her crewmates saw the message too. “This time those cretins have crossed a line!” said Slash “Do we go down there, Captain!”

“We do!” sneered Sienna “I want my brother back, and I’ll do anything… and I mean ANYTHING… to do so!”

Her crew mates shuddered softly, and Sienna then walked off to prepare for her attack! “Captain, wait…!” Slash called as he followed her off the bridge.

No sooner had they gone did the Raiders pick up something else on the monitors. “What is it now?” asked Omnisha, and she viewed the screen of Dyno and Myte doing business with a museum curator in New Cloudsdale “What have we here…?”

She watched as the curator rather excitedly accepted the large sum of money from the twins, and then proceeded to hand them an old shield with a polished surface in a plexiglass casing.

Omnisha didn’t even have to use her crystal ball to determine, “That must be a legendary item. It even bears the mark of Galaxia as seen from the memories of Sienna’s pendant.”

While she felt it would be smarter to go along with Slash and Sienna to rescue Mako, she decided to go on her own personal mission and get that shield from the twins, “Best of all I can get even with Slash for doubting me.”

She then glared at the Raiders, “You are not to tell the Captain where I have gone, or I shall tell her you’ve been slacking off in your duties.”

The Raiders shuddered at the thought, so they complied and Omnisha left on her own.

Soon, when Sienna came back to the bridge, “Where is Omnisha?” she demanded.

The Raiders acted dumb, groaning and moaning in their language saying they hadn’t seen her.
Sienna began to suspect more treason, but she had no time to deal with this “We’ll go get Mako without her. Let’s go!”

Meanwhile, in New Cloudsdale, The Twins had just closed their deal with museum curator. “Much obliged fellas.” the pony said as he ogled his money.

“Pleasure doing business…” Dyno said with a hint of disdain in his voice.

Myte, holding the case with the shield inside, shook his head, “Ay’ Mia…” he groaned “what some ponies won’t do for money.”

“Never mind.” said Dyno “We better get this shield to New Canterlot for safe keeping.”

As the twins flew down from New Cloudsdale, it wasn’t far from there to New Canterlot, especially if they used their speed boosts, but just as they were about zoom off…

…There was blasted all around from below. The force of the blasts knocked them about, and Myte dropped the shield. “No!!” he shouted and he dove down for it.

“Myte!!” shouted Dyno, and he followed his brother down, down, down… Myte managed to catch the case before it hit the ground in the field below. “I got it, Dyno!”

“But you won’t have it for long...” hissed a familiar voice.

“Omnisha!” snarled Dyno.

Omnisha snickered, “I’ll come straight to the chase; Hand over that item!”

“No way, Jose!” growled Myte.

The boys turned to run, but ran smack into an invisible barrier than shocked them and flung them back hard. A shadow then loomed over them, belonging to a Jemma-Nite, a Fencer, which had used its sword-pillars to conjure another barrier keeping the boys trapped in.

“Que!” snapped Dyno “I thought that was Slash’s monster?”

Omnisha snickered “You honestly think we only make one Jemma-Nite of each? We didn’t get where we are today, raiding the universe of its riches, by being close-minded you know!”

The twins glared angrily at Omnisha, “If you want to do this the hard way, and then fine!” said Myte, however, he realized that he couldn’t put the casing down, or it would most likely be taken, but unless he and his brother held hands, their full fighting powers wouldn’t work properly.

His only choice was to use his telekinesis to levitate the box in midair behind him.

With this done, the brothers nodded at one another, and transformed!

“STARFLEET MAGIC”

“Okay, chica…!” hissed Dyno “You want trouble, you got it!”

Omnisha snickered, “This ought to be amusing.”

Her monster drew out its swords ready to brawl!

Meanwhile, in another field, miles away from the action, Lightning and the rest of the team, already transformed stood in the empty fields with Mako in their care.

“Where ever are Dyno and Myte?” asked Rarity “It’s nearly time… Surely they got the shield to New Canterlot by now.”

“Easy, honey…” Spike said to his wife “We may as well focus.”

Lightning nodded in agreement, “Even without the twins, we’re still a formidable team.”

Suddenly, the skies grew dark…

It could be seen from New Sweet Apple Acres which wasn’t that far away.

“What’s goin’ on over there?” wondered Bright Mac.

“I don’t know, but I don’t like it one bit.” said Pear Butter. “You don’t think Applejack’s there, do you?”

Bright Mac knew it was possible, but he remembered what Starfleet told; civilians were not to interfere in Starfleet business, or go anywhere near the danger zone. Plus, the two of them knew better seeing as what happened the last time they ran into danger!

Still, both of them couldn’t shake off this bad feeling something horrible was afoot.

Through the darkness, the beam of light shone down from the sky as Sienna, Slash, a swarm of Raiders appeared.

“Mako!” cried Sienna cried.

Mako’s smile widened as he gazed back at his sister.

Sienna then glared sharply at Lightning, “Send my brother here now!”

Mako took a few steps forth, but Fluttershy and Rhymey stopped him.

“No!” Lightning thundered back at Sienna “You hand over the map piece you have first!”

Sienna was already losing patience, but Slash spoke severely to the team, “Do not toy with us, Starfleet! Surrender the boy, or we’ll take him by force!”

“Slash!” snapped Sienna “Let me handle this!” then she softly whispered, “You just make sure you haveour little plot ready.”

Slash agreed.

Sienna then held up the map piece she had with her. The fighters could tell with their visior-scanning it was no fake; it gave off the magical readings.

“You want it? Take it!” and she tossed the fragment out into the midpoint between the two forces.

“Careful.” Lightning said to the others, “I smell a trick…”

“Funny, I just smell flowers.” said Pinkie.

Some of the others sighed irritably, but Rhymey and Fluttershy moved on forth with Mako. Their scanners showed no signs of any energy sources or Jemma-Nites nearby, which didn’t ease their doubts either.

“I’m in clear,
Are you, my dear?” Rhymey asked.

Fluttershy nodded, “It’s too quiet though. I’m starting to get scared.” Still, she knew as long as Mako was near them Sienna wouldn’t make any sudden moves.

Finally, they reached the map piece, and Rhymey scooped it up in his hands.

As per the agreement, Fluttershy let Mako go, and he ran up to his sister.

Sienna bent down and threw her arms around him, nearly ready to cry her heart out. “I thought I’d never see you again!” she sobbed.

“I missed you so much!” Mako cried.

Many of the Starfleet fighters thought it was touching to see the siblings reunited.

Suddenly, the map piece flung clear out of Rhymey’s hands; pulled by a powerful force!

The fighters all looked as saw a Super Jemma-Nite, with a magnet shaped head, and a powerful magnetic staff that it used to pull the metallic map-piece into its possession.

“We’ve been double- crossed!” thundered Starla.

Slash snickered, “You’ll be more than that when I and Magneto are through with you.”

“Way to honor the deal!” balked Rainbow.

Sienna got to her feet snickering, and then she leapt over and took the map-piece from Magneto. “I surrendered it to you; that was the agreement. You never said I couldn’t just take it back.”

Lightning was outraged, “Let’s go!” he called to his team.

“Raiders, attack!” shouted Sienna.

At her command, the Raiders readied their cannons, but Artie and Rhymey stood ready as the shots were fired, they unleashed their own attacks…

“PAINT BOMB”

“DRILL QUILL”

…Intercepting the blasts.

“SONIC RAINBOOM”Rainbow then soared straight at the swarm,KAPOW!!Blowing them into ashes…!

The smoke was seen, and the rumbling was felt, softly, at the farm as well.

“Whoa, Nellie!” cried Bright Mac “I’d hate to be whomever was on the recievin’ end of that.”

“Eeyup.” agreed Big Mac “Whatever’s goin’ on over there, Applejack and the others should have it under control.”

“Should?” asked Pear Butter, and she felt her motherly instincts starting to takeover for the first time in ten years.

Her son and husband noticed this,

“Don’t worry, Ma…” said Big Mac “Applejack’s been doin’ this for years. She’s takin’ plenty of beatin’s before and always gone back for more.”

His mother shuddered with worry.

Big Mac realized he wasn’t saying the right things, but his father comforted his mother, “Easy, Buttercup. Gotta have faith, remember.”

Pear Butter was finding it harder to control her inner-instincts. Even Bright Mac was finding it hard to control his own inner anxiety especially!

Big Mac felt he had to do something to calm his folks down and get their minds off of the action, and he knew just the pony that could help…!

With the raiders destroyed, the team focussed their attention on the villains. “Give us back that map piece, Sienna!” Lightning demanded “It’s of hardly use to you anyway.”

Sienna snickered, “Sorry, but I need to take my brother home, but I’m sure Slash and Magento will entertain you.”

She activated her teleported and beamed back up into the sky, and a light shone on Mako as well.

“Mako!” cried Rarity, but Mako smiled at her, almost thankfully, and even saluted to the team saying he would try his best to talk to his sister.

Then he was gone.

“Now, where were we…?” hissed Slash “Ah, yes; your destruction!”

Magento held its magnetic staff out.

“Ha!” scoffed Starla “Our armor, suits, weapons, and even my droid are anti-magnetically shielded. You won’t beat us as easy with that trickery!”

Slash didn’t seem too upset, which irked the fighters.

Fluttershy felt her fears turn to rage, “Oh, he’s asking for it!” she growled.

Everyone agreed and charged forth. Half way across, they all scattered about to try and come at the villains in different directions.

Buddy came in first,“LEAF SWARM”and unleashed his razor-leafs from high up in the air, but shockingly, Magneto raised its staff and fired at the leaves, actually magnetizing them to the end of the staff.

“What?!” snapped Buddy.

“Did you all see that?!” cried Applejack.

Slash laughed, “Surprised? My Super Jemma-Nite not only had the power to magnetize metal, but wood, paper, cloth, plastic; just about anything!!”

“Unbelievable!” cried Lightning “Magnetism capable on any materials?! It’s incredible!”

Slash snickered, “Really? Then why don’t we demonstrate how it operates when we REPEL!!”

Magneto then, blasted the swarm of leafs off its staff and blew them all around forcing the fighters to swerve and dodge.

“This is crazy!” snapped Buddy “If we try to attack him, they’ll use our power against us.”

“Then we’ll just have to face them physically!” said Lightning.

Everyone agreed and rushed forth, “Oh, no you don’t!” snarled Slash, and he fired blasts from his sword while Magneto magnetized earth up from the ground in large balls and pelted at the fighters like a meteor shower.

The fighters punched and kicked through the rocks as they tried to go forth, but they still got hit either by more rocks or by Slash’s fire power.

Lightning Rhymey, Artie and Spike made it through. Lightning sprint forth, and the others held their weapons.

Lightning went straight at Slash, joined by Rhymey.

Rhymey swung his sword, clashing with Slash’s blade trying to give Lightning and opening to attack any open spot, but Slash was still able to block and defend, and he slashed at the two ponies hard making sparks fly.

Artie with his staff, and Spike with his sword went after the monster. Magneto couldn’t magnetize their anti-magnetic weapons, but apart from its magnetic powers it was a skilled fighter with the staff; able to keep up with Artie’s every attack and block it, as well as Spike’s strikes too.

“What’s with this creep?” Artie thundered.

“Come you; hold still!” growled Spike.

Suddenly, as the two fighters went for him, the monster aimed its staff at the ground and repelled at the earth, rocketing itself up high and causing the fighters hit each other my mistake!

“You okay, Spike? I’m real sorry about that.”

“I’m fine…” groaned Spike “But talk about a dirty trick!”

Krysta, watching the entire fight suddenly got an idea of how to stop the monster. She called over to the others, “Attack it with all your best energy attacks!”

“What?!” snapped Rarity “Have you gone mad?”

“He’ll just absorb the power and reflect it back at us!” added Buddy.

“Exactly…” Krysta said with a smirk, and everyone caught on with her idea, so did Lightning at the others, but Lightning decided to improvise a bit of his own plan too, and continued to brawl with Slash.

“You just don’t know what to quit, do you?” Slash growled.

“Sure I do, and that’s NEVER!!” thundered Lightning.

While the two of them brawled, the other fighters all stood together.

“Let’s give it all we got,
In one big shot!” said Rhymey.

The others all agreed, and powered up their strongest attacks.

The Equestrians all stood together and held hands in a chain, channelling some of their powers of elements into Rarity’s horn which she fired, just as the space ponies and Spike unleashed their powers…

“STAR SHOWER”

“LEAF SWARM”

“PAINT BOMB”

“DRILL QUILL”

“DRAGON FLARE”

All that power conjured up in a huge stream of energy that flew straight at the monster. Magneto raised its staff, intercepting the blast.

“Ha! Fools!” snarled Slash “My monster will repel your attack back at you…!”

Lightning smirked “That’s what we’re counting on.”

“Huh?”

Slash watched in horror as his monster repelled the blast.

“NOW, KRYSTA…!!” Lightning shouted, and Krysta quickly swooped in and waved her wand in a circle twice, conjuring a pair of reflector-portals-- One of which absorbed the repelled blast, and the other placed, strategically, behind the monster, and its own repelled blast struck it hard from behind, and was destroyed in a big blaze, much to Slash’s chagrin “No! Impossible!” he thundered.

“Actually, it’s quite possible.” said Krysta “Magneto’s magnet ability does seem impressive, but it only worked one way-- in all-out frontal attacks; meaning it couldn’t defend itself from behind.”

Slash growled angrily, but then turned round to see Lightning was glowing brightly.

“UNIFORCE”

“NOOOO!!!” Slash shouted, and he raised his sword up like a shield, blocking the blast with all the strength he could muster up.

KAPOW!! There was a big explosion, and Slash was knocked back hard. He wasn’t beaten, but his sword was totaled! “YOU…!!” Slash shouted at Lightning, “YOU… WILL… PAY FOR THIS!!!” but seeing as now he didn’t have a chance, he retreated back to the alien ship before he could be attacked again.

Lightning grunted, and the others felt just the same.

“Well, this plan went swimmingly.” said Rarity.

“Well, at least we beat the monster.” said Pinkie. The others wanted to feel the same, but they just couldn’t.

“I sure hope Makjo can convince Sienna to see the error of her ways.” said Fluttershy.

“You do?” asked Rhymey
“Me too…”

Suddenly,

“Yo…! Muchachos!” called Dyno as he and Myte arrived on the scene with the shield, but without the glass casing, “Whoa! What happened here?” asked Myte.

“Never mind that,” said Starla “Where have the two of you been?”

The twins explained how they were ambushed by Omnisha and a Fencer Jemma-Nite…

“The battle was really intense…” said Dyno “That witch had us flying up and down and all about as we tried to keep the shield from her.”

The twins remembered all the battling they did, while keeping the shielded levitated with their telekinetic magic. This made it hard to concentrate, and they got slashed and pummeled many times by Omnisha’s blasts, or the monster’s swords. It also didn’t help that they were trapped in by the barrier.

“Finally, we were starting to run low…” said Myte, “But we got lucky…!”

They recalled to the time when they were both running low on power, and they could barely keep the shield afloat anymore.

They were backed up against the barrier with Omnisha and her monster looming over them both,“It’s been fun…”Omnisha hissed“But I can see your futures now… you have none!”

Omnisha and Fencer prepared to finish the twins off with powerful blasts, but the twins decided to try a desperate move, and placed the shield in its casing in front of them!

The casing was shattered in the blasts, but… much to Omnisha’s surprise, the polished surface of the shield reflected the blasts at the two villains, knocking them both back hard and severely injuring them both.

With the Jemma-Nite down, its barrier ceased as well.

Omnisha was furious,“You think you’ve one just because of some fluke?!”she thundered. She tried to attack the twins again, only for both she and her monster to be beamed back up to the ship against their control, and they were gone!

“We never felt so lucky in our lives.” said Dyno.

“Si!” agreed Myte and he held up the shield “Were it not for this, we may not even be here.”

The friends felt relieved, and grateful that at least they got one of the legendary items.

“Come on, y’all…” said Applejack “I think you could all use some good home-cookin’ at my place.”

Everyone was all up for that, but just the same, they all still hoped Mako was doing well with Sienna.

On the ship, Sienna brought both Slash and Omnisha forth, “Look at you two!” she growled at the two failures “You’re both lucky I got my brother back, or I’d fire you both into the sun for your blunders and insubordination! From now on, anyone who leaves this ship without my orders will answer to me! Is that clear?”

“Yes, Captain…” said Slash “I will obey.”

“As will I…” whimpered Omnisha.

Sienna then sent them off to think of their actions, and she wanted to have some alone time with Mako.

“Don’t you think you were a bit hard on them?” Mako asked.

“No!” snapped his sister making him wince, “Oh, I’m sorry, Mako. I’m just so relieved I have you back, but I can’t believe Omnisha would defy me just to prove a point.”

Mako could tell his sister was very agitated, and walked up and hugged her. Thankfully, she responded as he hoped she would by hugging him back.

“Did the ponies hurt you?” she asked.

“No, they didn’t. They… um…” he hesitated unsure to tell Sienna that the ponies found him and helped him recover. “Well… do we really have to destroy them?”

Sienna was shocked a bit by what he asked. “What do you mean?”

“Well, it’s not like they’ve done anything to us. We did attack their world.”

“Mako…!” Sienna said with a surprised sneered “They’ve brainwashed you!”

“No! No, they haven’t… they…”

“They tried to turn you against me, or try to make me surrender!”

“Sienna that’s--”

“Well… we’ll show them, won’t we!” and she walked off to prepare for her next assault “When I’m through with them, they’ll be sorry they ever laid a finger on you!”

Then she was gone, and Mako was left alone on the bridge unsure of what to do. He looked out the viewport, at the planet below. “I’m not going to give up.”

When the team got back to the farm, were they ever surprised…!

Applejack’s folks along with Big Mac, DD and Applebloom were all meditating together with Tree Hugger, under an apple tree and surrounded by aroma candles.

“Just let it loose…” hummed Tree Hugger “Oooooooom… Eeh-Eeh-Eeh-oohhh…! Feel yourself lighter than air.”

The sessions ended almost immediately, and the gang was most curious.

Tree Hugger looked up at the team, “Hiya peeps…” and then looked at Buddy “Hey lover.”

“Hi…” said Buddy “Um… this may seem a silly thing, but what’s all this about?”

Applebloom answered, “When me and DD came home from school, Mama and Daddy were worryin’ their heads off about Applejack. Really, they looked like too soda cans ready to burst. So, Big Mac got Tree Hugger to calm them down with some of her own stuff.”

“Eeyup.” replied Big Mac

Tree Hugger nodded “A little sonic bliss and soothe poses never fails. Like the birds when the sing groovy tunes.”

The others all raised eyebrows at Tree Hugger, unable to make any sense out of her words, but Applejack felt touched as she approached her folks. “You were that worried about me?”

Pear Butter quivered softly but confessed, “Yeah, we were.”

Bright Mac came forth, “A lot’s changed since we’ve been away, you and your siblings especially.”

Applebloom and Big Mac blushed.

“Your ma and I gotta’ face facts, you’re not a little filly no more, Applejack, and you’re so much more, but we can’t help but worry about you. I already lost my brother, and I can’t bear to lose anyone else I love.”

Some of the other ladies had tears in their eyes; Applejack wiped her own eyes and said, “Ma, Pa… I understand how you feel. I know how it feels to lose those I care for.

Still, I am a Starfleet fighter and I need to do my job to keep the planet safe, but believe when I say, even I get worried sometimes, not just for me but for my friends too.

But all I really need is some love and support from my folks, and I feel there’s nothin’ I can’t do for anybody.”

Her folks smiled proudly and hugged her tight, and they were joined by Applebloom and Big Mac.

“Oh, it’s so beautiful!” Pinkie blubbered, and she let out a stream of tears all over Rainbow’s head, but she didn’t mind it that much.

“Come on, y’all… supper’s waitn’” said Applejack.

With that, everyone headed to the Apple’s house for a good-hearty meal.

(Promo)

In our next episode: Lightning and friends are off to sea when it is discovered the final legendary item was lost below the waves. Where they also help an Equestrian Marine Researcher discover an ancient city beneath the waves… a city that is under attack by an underwater creature that is terrorizing the world below.

What will this race think of Starfleet, and will the legendary item be retrieved?

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

(Next episode: “Voyage to The Bottom of The Sea (The Little Mer-Pony)”)

Author's Note

You didn't think this would be one of those eps about the parents interfering in their kids career...

Badness knows there's enough of that cliched trash as it is

Episode 18: Voyage to the bottom of the sea/The little Mer-Pony

EPISODE EIGHTEEN

Fifteen years ago, Equestria of old… somewhere at sea.

A young unicorn pony was out with his father, a blue unicorn with a red mane, sailing their boat across the ocean, when suddenly a great hurricane struck. The tiny boat was tossed all over and splashed by strong waves!

“Daddy!” the young pony cried “I’m scared!”

“Don’t worry, Sea Green, I’ve sailed through worse!” shouted his father as he battled for steering.

Suddenly, there was a huge tidal wave heading straight for the boat. “HANG ON, SEA GREEN!!”

CRASH!!! The wave struck and the boat was totally destroyed, smashed to bits and pieces.

Poor little Sea Green couldn’t swim, and he wasn’t very skilled at using magic just yet. He was drowning fast! He felt himself starting to lose consciousness when he swore he could see someone, or something swimming towards him.

The creature got closer, and what he saw next would have made his eyes bulge; it looked like a female pony, but she had a sea-creature tail.

He finally passed out, and woke much later to find himself ashore on a beach. “I’m alive!” he realized, and there was only one explanation, “That creature…! She must’ve saved me.”

Sadly, there was no sign of that creature anywhere, worse than that, his father was nowhere to be seen either. There was no sign of him being brought ashore either.

Poor little Sea Green felt tears coming to his eyes as he looked out over the water, “DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD…!!!”

(Just for fun)

In the present day, with only one map fragment and one legendary item to collect, Starfleet was searching farther and wider than ever, until one day, Lightning and Starla were sent on a special mission assigned to them by Grand Ruler Celesto and Queen Celestia, and Mykan Stevens was granted permission to join them, to give him a chance to visit the seaside and further his research on the ponies’ world.

*Mykan’s POV*

Pinkie Pie was present with us, but she wasn’t coming on the mission, she was there to babysit for little Shining Light.

She burst right into the room with a big cake on her head and began to sing a familiar and special song to the little foal.

Happy month-i-versary to you, yes you, today!
I-can't-believe-you're-already-a-month-old.
Time-sure-flies-doesn't-it-wow.
Seems-like-only yesterday-you-were-born.
But now you're a month old today, hey!

Little Shining cooed and giggled, and Pinkie she picked him up, twirling him and placing him on her tummy as she lay on the floor.

I couldn’t help but chuckle at how cute it was to see a grown pony playing so happily with a baby, but to Lightning and Starla it was almost too beautiful to look away from; especially since their baby was already a month old.

“We better get going.” said Lightning.

Starla knew he was right, but she couldn’t stop looking at her son, and Shining looked back at her. “Lightning, I just don’t think I can leave him like this.”

“Aw, don’t you worry…” Pinkie said, and she picked up the baby and smothered cooing, “We’re gonna have a good time, aren’t we wittle guy?”

Shining just sucked on his little fingers and smiled.

“Well I hope you know what you’re doing.” I said to Pinkie “I heard the stories of what happened when you tried to babysit for the Cake Twins when they were babies.”

Pinkie giggled nervously, remembering all the hardships she had trying to be responsible, “Ah, we learn from things, and I’m sure I can handle one little pony now, especially since he can’t use magic or fly away with these things on him.”

Starla, unable to help herself, pecked her little son three times on his head, “You behave now honey. We’ll be home soon.”

Lightning came over and patted Shining’s little head and smiling lovingly at him.

Seeing the happy family made my smile start to turn to a sad frown, and I clenched my fist softly.

“You okay?” Lightning asked me.

“Yeah…” I answered softly “It’s just… seeing how happy you guys are makes me think I could’ve had all that with Michelle, but I never will.”

The others all felt really bad for me, but I assured them “Hey, come on… we got a mission to do.”

Lightning agreed, and soon all three of us were flying high up over the country at terrific speeds. “WHEE-HOO… I love this stuff!” I chortled

Starla and Lightning shook their heads playfully at me.

The reason we were flying to our destination was because none of us had ever been there before and it was much farther away than other destination. Plus, we had to head for exact coordinates given to us in the letter from their majesties.

Starla also levitated her droid in its casing, via telekinesis.

The letter which we committed to memory read:

“Lightning…

Recently we have received report from our tracking scouts that one of the treasures we seek is somewhere over the Western Ocean fat beyond most of our known lands, but we have been unable to locate it exactly, which leads us to believe it may possibly be underwater.

You will rendezvous with marine researcher, Dr. Sea Green, who lives in his laboratory by the coast. He can tell you more.”

Thanks to our flying at super speed, we reached our destination and could see the ocean. It wasn’t very often that many ponies or creatures we knew ever saw it, other than seeing it from up in space.

“It’s so beautiful.” sighed Starla, “Not as beautiful as the stars, but… just a grand.”

Lightning and I agreed.

We scouted around an area by some rocky hills that overlooked the sea. Atop the hill surrounded by grass was a small and lonely house, far away from any town or village, and out in the yard was a big white sheet.

“That’s our marker.” said Lightning “Going down…”

We headed down into the yard, landing right near the marker, and surely enough there was someone there to greet us already; an aqua green unicorn with a navy blue mane. He wore a simple short sleeved shirt with dark pants, and wore a pair of square glasses.

“Commander Lightning Dawn?”

“Yes.”

“Dr. Sea Green…”

They exchanged handshakes, and after introductions, Sea Green invited into his home and laboratory to get down to business.

“I’ll come straight to the point. I’m aware of the mission you have. I was contacted by the Starfleet Officials to enlist my services, and I can tell you… the item you seek is indeed somewhere in the ocean; on the ocean bottom to be precise.”

“Well, that’s fine and dandy,” said Lightning “But, forgive me, I don’t see where you come into all this?”

Sea Green was not the least bit offended and he explained, “For fifteen years, I’ve done nothing but study Marine Biology and Oceanography.” And he explained the story of what happened to him and his father all those years ago.

“Oh, my!” said Starla “I’m very sorry to hear that.”

Sea Green nodded thankfully, “But, I haven’t told you the strangest part yet…” and he went on explaining to the rest of us how he survived.

“A Mermare…?” asked Lightning “You were saved by a Mermare?”

“I know it sounds crazy,” said Sea Green “There’s not a pony or other creature I’ve told this to and the thought I was nuts, but I’m not crazy. How else could I be here?

It also led me to believe that if I was saved, maybe my father was too? My father never came back, however, and while a part of me told me to give up and accept he may be gone forever; the rest of me still believes he is alive.”

The three of us raised eyebrows at Sea Green, but still undiscouraged, he continued to with his story.

For years, I devoted my life to studying the ocean, longing to find that mermare and thank her for saving me, and maybe find my father.

Now, after so many years of hard work and research… I think I may have discovereda secret civilizationbeneath the waves.”

A long moment of silence followed as the others and I absorbed what he had just said.

“I’ve longed to try and go down there to find it myself, but I have neither technology nor the power to go that deep, but I know that you do, and it’s also my hunch that you’ll find what you’re looking for in that civilization.”

We all could see where this was going now.

“So what do you think? Will you help me?”

A moment of silence followed, and finally I said, “I believe him.”

Lightning and Starla gazed at me, and Sea Green felt a smile coming across his face.

“Why not…?” I said “I used to not believe in fairy tales and magic, and yet here I am, in a magical world surrounded by talking humanoid-ponies, and helping them fight evil aliens. What’s not to believe?”

“He’s right.” said Starla “We’ve seen and experienced things unimaginable already.”

Lightning was more than convinced, “Well, Sea Green, it looks like it’s unanimous. We’ll help you… but only because this may lead us to the island we seek. When and IF we find it, we’ll have to leave at once.”

Sea Green understood but excitedly shook Lightning’s hand “Thank you, Commander. Thank you all; I promise you won’t regret this.”

Soon, Starla’s droid was prepped up and ready to go down into the deep first. There was no sense in all of us just diving in without observing first.

“Ready, Starla…?” asked Lightning.

“Ready.” replied his wife. She activated her gear, and Lightning plugged the uplink to her visor through a monitor on Sea Green’s work bench so we all could view.

Starla’s droid came to life, and Starla controlled it to fly out to sea, until her visor began to glow sensing the presence of the treasure. “This is it. I’m sending her down.”

SPLASH!!

Once the droid was in the water, Starla activated the sonar, and with a touch of a switch, her droid shifted into Aqua-Mode: small panels on the arms and legs folded out to show fins, and the bottom of her boots turned into aqua-jets to help her move about.

What a sight to behold. Clean waters all around with many schools of fish and a few other creatures.

“Wow.” I said softly.

“Magnificent.” added Sea Green “I’ve only seen so deep with my aqua-telescopes, but never this much.”

The deeper Starla went, the darker and darker it got due to getting further away from sunlight, but Starla’s droid had its view lights switched on as it neared the seabed.

“Depth: 3000 feet.” said Starla “Pressure: 1300 PSI.”

“So far so good.” Said Lightning “Our suits could definitely take the pressures.”

I couldn’t help but shudder “To think, creatures can survive at even deeper depths and not be crushed, even in my world.”

As Starla continued to trek her droid further along, following the signal of the treasure…

“Huh? What the-- Did you guys see something just now?”

The rest of us didn’t see anything unusual at all.

“Your life indication scan shows no form of life other than ordinary sea-creatures.” said Lightning.

Starla was certain she saw something; something most unusual moving around in the water, but she shrugged it off and continued searching.

*POV Pause*

Starla’s droid continued to search forth, unaware that she was being watched and followed, by one sea creature hiding amongst the underwater plant growths. It looked at the droid most curiously and followed it…

Then, from where the creature was, a pair of red and wicked eyes shone from the darkness, though nothing could actually be seen, it crept forth sweeping the plants and sands along as it went.

As that visible creature continued to follow Starla’s droid, it was suddenly GRABBED by its tail and it let out a scream!!

*POV Resume*

“You hear that?!” snapped Starla.

The rest of us heard it!

“Turn round!” said Lightning.

Starla made her droid spin to look behind, and she could see the silhouette of some large and unusual sea-creature being shaken about, and a pair of red, evil eyes.

“Let me go!” the creature shouted in a female voice.

Starla shined her lights on the visible creature and we were all most surprised.

It was indeed a mermare! She had a light yellow body and hands with opposable fingers, but she also had a blue fishlike tail and her long blue mane seemed scaly rather than hairy. She had red scaly like wings, and an angler-like rod popping out of her head that gave off a small light

“Galloping Galaxies!” cried Lightning. Neither he nor the rest of us had ever seen anything so astonishing before!

Sea Green couldn’t believe it especially, he nearly knocked his glasses off his face in shock, “It’s… It’s… Her!” he cried “I’d recognize her anywhere! She’s the creature who saved me when I was little!”

He suddenly found himself so captivated by her appearance, “She’s… beautiful.”

“She’s in big trouble!” I suddenly said.

Starla snapped to her senses and charged her droid forth, arming its bow, to help the merpony.

“STARLIGHT ARROW”

The shot fired, and even the frictions and flow of the water didn’t affect the light beam as it soared straight at the invisible creature… and passed straight through it!

The creature roared and glared at the droid.

“PULSAR LASER”

The light beam fired at the creature’s eyes, stunning it hard and making it yowl loudly, and release the mermare.

The evil creature then decided to retreat, and seemingly vanished without a trace. Starla tried to scan for it, but nothing showed on the radar.

At least the beast was gone, and the merpony was fine.

The merpony swam closer to the droid, now in complete and full view.

Sea Green felt hearts fluttering around his face.

“Thank you so much!” she said in a excitable voice “I totally thought I was a goner.”

Unfortunately, the water made it so Starla couldn’t speak to her, so she had to flash her lights at her in Morse code, hoping she’d understand, and she did.

“Oh, you can’t speak like I can?” she asked.

Starla flicked the lights: “I mean you no harm. I am a friend.”

“Well, duh…” replied the mermare “If you weren’t you wouldn’t have saved me.” she giggled.

The rest of us thought she was a little weird.

“I’m Skystar. Who are you?”

Starla made her droid salute and blinked “Colonel Starla Shine, Starfleet; so nice to meet you.”

“That’s a nice name, for a surface pony.” said Skystar “I have to thank you for saving Me.” then suddenly she got an idea and acted as giddy as Pinkie Pie “Ooh, ooh… I can take you home with me and meet my mother, and like, show you to all my friends.”

Realizing the great opportunity, Starla blinked to Skystar “I have friends with me. May they join us?”

Skystar swam giddily in circiles “Oh, my, gosh! That would be totes awesome! It’ll be a big party!”

Inspite of feeling a bit akward by Skystar’s overactive enthusiasm, the rest of us leapt to the invitation.

“This is it!” said Sea Green “Years and years of tiring research about to pay off.”

“Well, come on then, let’s go!” said Lightning.

Starla recalled her droid back to the surface.

Lightning then gave both me and Sea Green each a special energizer badge. “These will cast magical shields you so you can withstand the pressure and breathe and talk while in the water.”

“Awesome.” I said “The people of my world would kill to have this kind of power.”

Soon we all were in the deep and met Skystar personally.

Sea Green was finding it hard to keep focussed, as he was stunned by her beauty, but finally he spoke up. “Skystar… I am Sea Green. You… you rescued me many years ago.”

Skystar looked deeply at him, getting closer, and closer, making him feel incredibly numb inside.

“Whoa, I totally remember you. My mom said I was crazy to have saved a pony from drowning.”

Hearing that made triggered our concerns. Nevertheless… Soon were on our way, guided by Skystar.

“Tell me…” said Lightning “What was that creature that was attacking you?”

Skystar’s features hardened, “That was Morpheus. He loves to terrorize creatures weaker than he is and wants to rule the ocean for himself. He’s been a pain to me, my family and anyone for a long, long time.

But that’s not the worst of it. He has the power to meld into the water around him, making him impossible to see. We can’t attack him, but HE can attack us.”

“That explains why my attacks just went right through him.” said Starla.

Skystar brought us to a large rock on the seabed, with an odd symbol on it, with a touch of her light from her angler-rod the rock magically shifted revealing a long tunnel. “Don’t be shy…” she said urging us to follow her in.

Down, down, down we swam, and at the end of the tunnel, we’re we ever astonished beyond words; a complete underwater city; small but enchanting.

All the buildings were simply like Greek buildings, with stone columns for fences and walling, open roofs. It was surprisingly brighter down here too with all the glowing corals and underwater angler lights. There were mermares and mer-ponies everywhere.

“Welcome to New Seaquestria!” said Skystar.

So much to see… So many questions poured through our minds at how this was all possible, and Sea Green knew he would never feel the same again, “I’ve done it! I’ve actually discovered intelligent life beneath the sea.”

The detection of the treasure was no stronger than ever. “It must be somewhere nearby.” said Lightning.

Before any of us could say anything else, Skystar hurried us along, “Come on, come on! I want you to meet my mom, the queen!”

“The queen?” asked Starla “Your mom is the queen of all this?”

“Well, yeah, I just said that.”

Sea Green couldn’t help but rhetorically ask, “So that means you’re…?”

“…Princess Skystar. You got it.”

Sea Green felt his insides melting warmly as he thought,“She’s beautiful… she saved me… and she’s a princess too.”

Naturally, the royal palace was guarded, but Skystar took us all in through her own special, unguarded entrance. “I can’t wait for you guys to meet my mom. I think you’ll totally like her.”

Suddenly, a whole load of lights came on, and I and the others found ourselves surrounded by guards pointing glowing, sparking lances at us.

“Skystar!” called a voice, and that’s when we looked up and saw the queen. Her coat was a light pink, and her tail and fins were purple. She didn’t seem too thrilled to see any of us.

“Oh, hi, Mom…” Skystar said without much of a care, “I want you to meet my new friends.

This is my mom, Queen Novo.”

“I like her already.” I grumbled with sarcasm.

Novo looked down at the four of us was a look of disappointment, and then scolded her daughter “You were swimming outside again, weren’t you. How many times have I told you never to leave the safety of the kingdom? You could’ve been caught by Morpheus.”

Skystar felt a little ashamed, “I… kinda did get caught by him, but these guys all saved me.”

Novo didn’t look any bit pleased, but seeing as we didn’t really mean her any hard. “Okay, I trust you… for now.”

She snapped her fingers telling the guards to stand down.

“Thank you.” Lightning said.

“I’m only doing this because you saved my daughter,” said Novo “But tell me why you’ve come here.”

Lightning spoke calmly, “We seek a legendary item that is believed to be somewhere in your kingdom.”

Novo felt she understand, and she clapped her hands for her lackey, “Fisher Bait, bring it out.”

“Fisher Bait...?” Sea Green cried softly under his breath, and there he was;a blue unicorn with a red mane,arrived holding a large box wrapped in red seaweed, but suddenly he stopped when he spotted Sea Green.

Sea Green gawked at the sea-pony, but recognized him anywhere. “Dad…?”

“Sea Green…!”

“Dad…!”

The two swam towards each other, and hugged warmly, almost wanting to cry.

“You’re alive!” cried Sea Green “I always knew you were!”

“I’m sort I didn’t come home, I just couldn’t.” replied Fisher “Look how you’ve grown…”

The rest of us and Skystar were deeply moved by the reunion, but Novo cleared her throat, and motioned over at the box Sea Green’s father let out of his grip.

“Oh! Sorry your majesty...”

Novo sighed, and shook her head.

“What is with her?” Starla muttered to the rest of us “Doesn’t she even care about this?”

“Shh, take it easy, honey.” said Lightning “We need to see what’s in the box.”

Novo took the box in her hands, and used a bit of magic to remove the seaweed wrap, and there, in a glass casing was a large golden cannon-ball.

“That’s it!” cried Lightning “That’s what we’ve been looking for.” and he asked Novo “How did you get this?”

“Oh, I can tell you how.” said Skystar.

“Honey, don’t you dare…” snapped her mother, but Skystar refused and told us all everything, much to her mother’s disappointment. “I tell you not to, but hey… I’m only the queen.”

*Skystar’s POV*

Many years ago, before I could barely talk, we sea-ponies used to live on land. We were not in fact ponies, but Hippogriffs; creatures that have the head, claws, and wings of an eagle and the hind legs and tail of a pony.

But the land was soon ravaged by war, and disaster beyond words could say. So my mother, Queen Novo, discovered a powerful magic to transform us Hippogriffs into sea-ponies, so we could build a civilization beneath the ocean where we could live in peace and not have to worry about anything on the surface.

…Or so we thought!

Just as the ocean, like the land, has its jungles and forests, it has its monsters as well; always putting up a fight and coming after us.

We fought valiantly to protect our lands, and in doing so we defeated a group of sharks that had this cannon-ball that was buried on the seabed for who knows how long.

But it was still a dangerous world out there, especially when Morpheus came along.

*Back to Mykan’s POV*

“And you’ve all been down here all this time?” I asked.

“Yes, we have…” replied Novo “We don’t usually take kindly to those from the surface, and we usually don’t venture out there. With Morpheus on the loose, going out there would be foolish. We’ve tried everything, but even my magic isn’t able to beat him… since we can’t even find or hit him.

All our best attacks just go straight through him, and he comes back for more. Still, as long as we stay here, and people keep out of our way, the better.”

Fisher nodded and looked at his son, “That’s why I couldn’t come home…

After our boat sank in that storm, I was pulled to the bottom by something I couldn’t see. It was Morpheus, and he tried to drown me.

Queen Novo and her guards were out searching from Princess Skystar, and they brought me back here and turned me into the sea-pony I am now, or I would have perished for sure., but I couldn’t return, or even let you know I was alive.

I can’t begin to imagine how hard it must’ve been for you.”

Sea Green didn’t know what to say, but he was just too glad not only to have proven his theory correct about New Seaquestira, but to be reunited with his father after fifteen years as well.

“Best part of all…” said Skystar “I have a whole bunch of new friends. I mean, sure, I have my old friends, but making new ones is totes sweet.”

Novo sighed and rolled her eyes.

Lightning then cleared his throat, “I’m sorry to sully the moment, but I’ll come straight to the point: We need that golden ball.”

“Say what now?” Novo asked in shock.

The entire palace hushed as all the servants and guards gawked at Lightning, and he explained to them the situation…

“I see,” said Novo “I’m sorry things are like that up there, but I won’t just part with this. This is one of our more sacred treasures, and besides… what happens on the surface isn’t any of our business.”

Starla took great offense to that, “So you’re not willing to help save this planet? Even if it means the ocean itself could be destroyed?”

“She’s got a point, mom.” said Skystar “And besides…”

“Besides nothing!” snapped Novo “I’m queen of this world, and that’s my decision.”

The gang and I were really starting to dislike her now, but unfortunately Lightning had no authority here since Starfleet regulations usually applied to on the surface of the planet.

But Lightning did have solution, “Then would you be willing to make a deal?”

Novo turned and glared at him, “What?”

“A fair exchange.” replied Lightning “You give us the ball, and we’ll… get rid of Morpheus.”

Skystar gasped! The guards gasped! The servants gasped! Sea Green and his father gasped, and all fell silent for a moment… until Novo burst out laughing hysterically. “You… get rid of Morpheus? Oh please…!” even he guards and servants began to laugh.

Skystar, Sea Green, Fisher, and the rest of us were not amused!

“You’ve been down here for far too long.” said Starla “Much has changed on the surface. We will do it.”

Lightning agreed, and I agreed too, and as a result, we were all laughed at again, and when all went quiet again, Queen Novo finally agreed “Okay then. Do it. You beat Morpheus, and not only will I give you our treasure, I might… JUST MIGHT… consider about returning to the world above the waves.”

“Done.” agreed Lightning.

With that Novo went off, “Time for my daily seaweed wrapping.” Then she was gone to leave the rest of us to come up with a plan.

“So, how are we going to beat him?” asked Starla “He’s made of water, we can’t even see or detect him.”

“Maybe not…” I said “Maybe there’s more to Morpheus than just water.”

“I think you’re right.” agreed Sea Green “I know water, it’s been my life’s research, and it can’t just grab you like that.”

That’s when I happened on the answer, “You all know the fourth stage of matter, right?”

Fisher didn’t understand. “Gas… Solid… Liquid… what else is there?”

“Plasma.” said Sea Green, and he happened on my idea as well. “We’ve got to get back to my lab.”

Skystar couldn’t help but ask to go with us, “This is very dangerous, Princess.” said Lightning “Your mom would never forgive us either if we put you in danger too. You should stay here.”

Skystar sighed softly, but Sea Green held her hands in his “Don’t worry; we know we’re doing…

…I hope.”

They gazed deeply into each other’s eyes, and blushed softly.

“Come on…” I said “I can take us there in my teleporter now that I have the proper coordinates, but we won’t be able to warp back.”

Despite the risks, the ponies and I all warped back to the surface leaving Skystar and Fisher in the palace. Both of them were very concerned about all this!

Once back at Sea Green’s lab, he went through the cupboards. “The first thing we have to do is draw Morpheus out, and then make it so he can’t hide from us.”

“How?” asked Starla, and she got her answer when Sea Green held up a large jar of “Methyl Orange… just what we need.”

“Ah, yes…” I said recounting my chemistry classes “Methyl Orange reactions with certain types of medium.

We pour a little of this over the water, and we should get a nice yellow snapshot.”

“Alright.” said Lightning “Let’s go find that thing and blow it out of the water.”

Starla agreed. and she and Lightning both transformed.

“STARFLEET MAGIC”

Since Sea Green couldn’t fly like the rest of us could, but he was actually willing to go back underwater and view things from there, despite all objections from the rest of us. “I’m a scientist.” He said with pride “If you think I’d miss an opportunity like this to discover a new form of sea life, think again!”

With that, we all headed off.

*POV Pause*

Back at the royal palace in New Seaquestria, Queen Novo was most relaxed while enjoying her seaweed spa treatment, but Skystar was really growing worried about the others.

“Sea Green…” she muttered softly. She seemed to be most concerned about him.

Fisher Bait was just as worried. He had only just been reunited with his son. He didn’t think he could bear to lose him all over again.

“Princess…” he said to Skystar “Perhaps we both think alike?”

Skystar nodded, and while Novo was deeply entranced in her relaxation, Skystar and Fisher Bait slipped off through Skystar’s secret tunnel.

*Mykan’s POV*

Lightning, Starla and I flew several feet over the water; Lightning and Starla both using their visors to locate signs of plasma.

“I’ve got it!” cried Lightning “It’s coming loud and strong over here.”

I hovered right over to him, wearing safety gloves and goggles as I opened up the jar of Methyl Orange “Here goes something.” I said as I dumped the liquid into the water “I always was against pollution.”

“Wait…! Look…” said Lightning, and he pointed down at the bubbling water below.

*Pause*

Deep in the water, Sea Green was hiding within some thick underwater plants with his magic suit on. “This is it…” he murmured “He’s coming!”

*Resume*

The water continued to boil and stir as the creature began to take shape, and suddenly… POW!! The water burst upwards as the creature was now fully visible, as a giant yellow-reddish blog about the size of a large house. Its main body was large with spike-shaped blobs all over its huge head with two huge red eyes, and four large tentacles spouting out of the water.

We all gawked horribly at the dreadful beast…

Sea Green saw it from below, “Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all.” he whimpered.

The monster roared and snarled at us fighters above, and raised his huge tentacles.

“Look out!” shouted Starla, and we all scattered about as the tentacles swiped at us splashing hard in the water, making small waves.

I turned round, looking at one of the tentacles and, drawing out my sword, I gave the tentacle a huge swipe, but no surprises; it passed right through it just making a harmless water wave.

Morpheus snickered wickedly in growls, and swiped at me again.

Lightning and Starla tried firing beams of magic and uniforce at him; it was the same result.

“Nothing!” said Lightning.

“Not a flicker.” added Starla.

Down below, Sea Green could look up through the waves and see; Morpheus’ water-like body couldn’t be damaged, not how we were all doing it anyway.

Then, he looked on ahead and could see Skystar and his father heading straight for the danger-zone, and armed with lances from the palace. “Skystar… Dad… No!!” he called.

Fisher and Skystar already began to fire magical blasts at Morpheus from below, which alerted him of their presence, and he thrust one of his tentacles down into the water grabbed them both, making them drop their lances.

“No!!” cried Sea Green!

The tentacle burst out of the water for the rest of us to see our friends as Morpheus began to put the squeeze on them!

“Coming!” shouted Lightning, but of course his fists just went right through the watery surface with no effect at all.

“HELP… US…!!” Skystar cried. She and Fisher were really feeling the pressure.

Down below, Sea Green was panicking. He had no idea how to stop the beast, but he wasn’t about to lose his father all over again, not to mention lose a pony, who he could now fully admit he was in love with, either.

He spotted the sparking lances down on the seabed, grabbed them both, and bounded straight for Morpheus. “Let them go!” he thundered, he simply struck it with the lances “LET THEM GO!!”

Then suddenly, the lances zapped, shooting two blasts of energy right up through the water, and striking Morpheus directly in his two huge eyes, actually damaging him.

The monster roared, and let go of fisher and Skystar, dropping them into the water.

“Dad… Princess…!” Sea Green called as he swam to them.

“Oh, my!” groaned Fisher as he caught his breath, “Thought I was a goner.”

As for Skystar, she already caught hold of herself and gazed straight at Sea Green, “You totally saved me!” and she grabbed him and pulled him towards her, capturing his lips with her. His glasses fell off, but he was too shocked by the sudden… enjoyment… to care.

He spoke nervously, “I, uh… guess we’re even now when you saved me.”

Skystar smiled a huge grinned and pulled him in for another sudden kiss, much to his delight, and he began to return her kiss, while his father watched with pleasure.

Up on the surface, when the blasts hit Morpheus’ eyes, it told us exactly what we wanted to know, “Aim straight for his eyes!” hollered Lightning.

The rest of us agreed.

“SWORD OF PURE SOUL”I shouted, and my sword powered up, and a rushed down, striking one of the eyes hard.

“My turn!” said Starla and she armed her bow“GALACTIC PROJECTILE”

POW!! The other eye was struck, and Morpheus was roaring and flailing.

Finally, Lightning was up,“UNIFORCE”He fired at the damaged eyes, blowing them both into blobs of slime!

With his sources of life gone, Morpheus’ body began to bubble and ooze away… evaporating into nothingness!

“They did it!” cried Skystar “They destroyed Morpheus! Oh, I can’t wait until my mom hears about this!”

When we all got back to New Sequestria, Queen Novo addressed us all at once. “I would say I’m surprised…” she said, and then she scolded “But I’m not!” right at her daughter’s face “I keep telling you to stay here, where it’s safe, but you disobey me, always gallivant off, and nearly get yourself destroyed!”

Skystar couldn’t believe the way her mother was taking this and talking to her.

“And I have just one more thing to say about this…” said Novo, and in a sudden surprise, she hugged her daughter proclaiming, “…I couldn’t more proud of you.”

Skystar was confused, as was everyone else.

“Why shouldn’t I be?” said Novo “After all, you were just acting out of concern, and if it wasn’t for you and for Fisher, as well as your friends… Morpheus may still have been out there.”

“Ah, Mom…” Skystar said as she hugged her back.

Everyone felt overly-touched by the heart-warming scene.

After which, Queen Novo gracefully help up her end of the bargain and surrendered the golden ball to Lightning. “I guess maybe we have been cooped down here for a long time, and seeing the heroics you guys performed… maybe… I’ll consider letting everyone return to the surface, or invite others to see our world.

…JUST… Maybe...”

The rest of us all took at is the best we could get. “You’re alright, your majesty.” said Lightning “And thank you, for everything.”

There was no time to waste; we all had to get the ball back to New Canterlot immediately and as for Sea Green…

“Aren’t you coming?” asked Starla.

Sea Green was still holding Skystar’s hands and gazing into her eyes, and she gazed back at him so lovingly. His mind was made up. “I think… I’ll stay a little while. There’s just so much I want to learn about this kingdom and all that’s in it.

Besides…” he paused and held Skystar’s hands and looked at her deeply “I can’t just abandon her, she saved my life, and… well… I love her.”

Skystar blushed, but her mother rolled her eyes feeling she would have to speak with Skystar about this, but Fisher motioned for her to let it be.

Lightning shook his hand, “Thanks for everything, Fisher, and good luck.”

“Same to you.” replied Fisher “Oh, and one last thing…

Please don’t tell anyone about this place, at least not until they’re really ready to come forth. I don’t want them to be disturbed all that much.”

Lightning, despite knowing his orders to report what he discovered, felt Sea Green was doing something extremely noble; giving up a chance at fame in discovering a city beneath the sea and all that…

…He promised not to tell anyone a thing.

With that said, we all bid farewells and Lightning, Starla and myself returned to the surface, via my teleporter, and then it was off for home again.

“Too bad we couldn’t stay longer.” said Starla “There are so many questions I had for them all.”

Lightning felt the same. His mind was flooded with curiosity of the sea-ponies…

-Where did they come from originally as Hippogriffs?
-How did Novo discover the transformation magic?

Above all things…

-How did they all survive The Great War when Equestria was destroyed?

“Ah, well… Someday they’ll be another chance.” he said.

As we all flew further and further out, the getting fading off in the distance, I couldn’t help but wonder how Sea Green would be getting along.

*POV Ends*

As the times passed, Sea Green was having a heavenly time. Novo had used her magic to turn him into a sea-pony like his father, so he wouldn’t have to use his special suit from Starfleet all the time.

Sea Green spent his days swimming around with his lovely Skystar by his side, exploring many sights and astonishments the sea had to offer.

A lovely song played as the swam together… and enjoyed their romance of it all…

Skystar gazed deeply into Sea Green’s eyes, and he looked deeply into hers. They came together in a deep kiss… while under the distance watch of Novo and Fisher.

While Novo was still rather skeptical, at fisher’s advice, she left things well as they were. It just warmed her to see her daughter so happy.

(Promo)

In our next episode: Professor Brain reveals new power ups for the team, but which may take time to understand, and Starfleet receives a letter from way out in space for the location of the final piece of the map, which gives Slash the idea of following the team, with a little upgrade of his own that could prove seriously dangerous for both sides.

What awaits for our heroes in this new world?

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

(Next Episode: “Long Distance Relation Calls: Part 1”)

Episode 19: Part 1: Long Distance Relation Calls

EPISODE NINETEEN

Poor Captain Magnus Majik…

It had been nearly two months since Sienna had invaded United Equestria, and it caused his beloved Sephy Dancer to vanish into space. She had been labeled KIA-- Killed in Action.

He would often have recurring nightmares of watching it happen all over again, and he would wake up in a fright… and then sink into depression.

Still, he wouldn’t let it interfere with his Starfleet duties, nor would he have short fits with his troops, but there wasn’t any time in between that he wouldn’t stop, look up into the starry skies, making a wish on every star to have Sephy back.

Meanwhile, Lightning and his entire team were at the palace. Starla dropped Shining Light off at the palace daycare.

Everyone was discussing a serious problem.

“Our scouts have been up and about, and all over the planet.” said Celestia “But they are unable to locate the final piece of the mystic map anywhere at all.”

There was a moment of soft gasps and gawks of concern. “Where could it possibly be then?” asked Lightning.

Grand Ruler explained “We have one theory, but we need to ask from Captain Shadow coat. I’ve already sent for him.”

Shadow Coat knocked at the door immediately after, and he was welcomed in.

“Captain, please tell us…” said Princess Luna “Our mother, Queen Galaxia…”

Celestia held herself strong not wishing to let her emotions show, but Grand Ruler could already see it getting to his wife.

“…Did she herself attempt to hide a fragment of the mystic map?” Luna continued.

Shadow thought hard, going deep into his memories. “Yes… Yes, I remember; after the map was split into four fragments, she insisted on hiding it herself. Naturally, neither I nor my fellow knights were told of where she planned to hide it.”

The gang all sighed, “Well that don’t tell us much.” Applejack muttered so as not to be overheard, but then… Shadow remembered something.

“The queen was still very weak after her great ordeal, and having her horn severed.” He paused, and remembered “Yes… while on route to hide my treasures in the frozen mountains, I swore I could see a large glow of light in the darkened skies and believed it to be the queen.

Then… there was a tiny flash, much like a shooting star that fell from her, and… disappeared into the skies.

That is all I know.”

Everyone’s faces had concerned expressions, and Grand Ruler thanked Shadow, “You’ve been very helpful. You are excused.”

Shadow bowed and headed off to prepare to teach his next Ancient History class.

“That’s it then.” said Starla “Galaxia must’ve accidently dropped the piece into the sky, and it found its way into space and was lost.”

“Oh…!” cried Fluttershy “If that’s true, that means we’ll never be able to find it.”

Rhymey agreed,

“The piece could be anywhere in the entire universe,
It may even have been destroyed… that’s even worse.”

It really was starting to look hopeless. If they couldn’t find the map piece, it would be all that harder to even try and find the Temple of Mystery and uncover the Elements of Chaos.

“Now, now, everyone…” said Grand Ruler “Remember the code of Starfleet: Never to give up no matter how hopeless it may see. We’ll think of something… we usually do.”

Everyone agreed, and that was pretty much all there was to say.

Just as everyone got up to leave, Professor Brain knocked at the door and was let in. “Terribly sorry to interrupt an official conference.” he said “But I do have some good news, as well as bad.”

“Well what is it already?” asked Rainbow.

The Professor invited everyone to the labs so he could explain better.

“Last one there’s a rotten cupcake!” teased Pinkie, and she dashed off.

Once everyone had cleared out, the royal trio were the only ones left, and Celestia still looked a bit lost in her fighting depression.

“Are you alright, sister?” asked Luna.

“Yes… I’m fine.”

Luna and Grand Ruler didn’t feel she was.

“Do you wish to talk about it?”

Celestia smiled at them that they were showing great care, “I’m fine. Let’s go to the lab. I want to see what the professor has.”

Luna and Grand Ruler were really growing concerned. They both knew she was grieving over Galaxia. “If she doesn’t open up soon, it will only make it more painful for her.” said Grand Ruler.

Luna agreed, and it made her feel bad that she couldn’t really understand her sister’s pain the way she did. Still, putting it aside, they went off to the labs.

“After many weeks of researching, my assistants and I have finally been able to make good use of the alloy obtained from Sienna’s forces, and infused them into suits of armor as well as weapons and tools for battle.”

He showed everyone on a computer simulation, how even though the suits and weapons still appeared the same as the currents weapons and suits, “With new alloy polymerized within, your battle strengths and powers shall increase immensely.”

The simulations showed how they would be strong enough to blow whole mountains, or even asteroids into dust with much little effort than ever before, and even Sienna’s best forces wouldn’t have a chance against them.

“Okay, that is the coolest thing I’ve ever seen!” said Buddy.

“When can we try it?” asked Artie, but that’s when the Professor had the bad news, “I’m afraid there is one little flaw in the design I hadn’t anticipated.”

He held out the newly constructed energizers for each and every pony. “Off you go then.”

“Well, let’s do it.” said Lightning. The other ponies agreed, and removed their normal armor platings to use the new energizers.

“STARFLEET MAGIC”

“HARMONY HOUR, FRIENDSHIP POWER”

They donned their new suits and, just as the professor promised, they looked exactly the same… except…!

“Hey!” snapped Lightning, and he fell right to the floor with a huge thud, as did all the others, flat on their fronts and backs, and they could hardly seem to move!

“Gracia divina!*Goodness Gracious*”groaned Dyno “What is this, meng?!”

“I… I can hardly move at all!” added Myte.

The ponies all tried and tried with all their strength, but, they couldn’t’ seem to move and inch. Even their heads were stuck where they were due to their new visors weighing so much.

“Rarity, let me help you.” said Spike, and he tried to help lift his wife to her feet, but found that she was too heavy for him to move, and he lost his grip and flew backwards nearly hitting a table of beakers and chemicals, but Celestia stopped him at the last inch, holding him with her magic.

“Turn these… suits off…!” groaned Rarity, “HURRY!!!”

Since none of the ponies could reach the energizers themselves, Brain used a remote to deactivate the suits, freeing everyone from the heavy weight.

“Are you alright, Lightning?” asked Krysta.

“Yeah…” Lightning said “But that was… intense.”

Brain sighed. “I feared this would happen. It appears to be a side-effect of the polymerization of the alloy and your suits.”

This was indeed a cause for concern.

“And there is no chance of you recalibrating and correcting the weight problem?” asked Princess Luna.

“I’m afraid not, your highness. If I made any such attempt, then the suits would be rendered weaker.”

Rainbow sulked, “Well that’d peachy. We finally get that must-need power-up, and we can’t even use it.”

Applejack flexed and cracked her shoulder bones, “Felt like I had a full harvest moon on my back. How in the hoot are we supposed to fight with all that weight on our backs?”

Lightning clenched his fists, “The same way as ever; we train to boost our strengths and grow accustomed to the weight.”

Starla agreed with him, and all the others began to agree as well. They remembered the basic Starfleet training to get as strong as they were; fighting with loads of weight attached to their selves, and under immense pressures, which was not only used to build their strength, but to help increase their speeds and dexterities.

“But how are we even supposed to train with these things?” asked Fluttershy “They’re so heavy, we couldn’t even move in them.”

Before long, the entire team found themselves on The Moon where the lower gravity made the suits much lighter; at least enough for them all to find their strengths to struggle to stand up instead of being completely pinned down.

Still, it was very hard to keep on their feet and hold their balances without toppling over. “This may not be as easy as we thought, huh?” asked Starla.

“We have to try.” said Buddy “After all; if it’ll help us bring Sienna down we need to trust in the training.”

“Come on, everyone. Let’s go…” said Lightning and he began to march along the surface. “One, two… one, two… one, two…”

All the others soon followed, and even Spike joined, having just had his Dragon Knight Armor and sword upgraded with the alloy. “Ooh, this is heavy!” he groaned as he felt his feet sinking into the moon sands.

“Keep up the pace, Spike!” Lightning called to him.

From her ship, Sienna was contemplating and frustrated with her entire crew. “It’s utterly incredible!” she thundered “After all this time, Starfleet has nearly all the map pieces and all the legendary items, and we have just THIS ONE?!

And you call yourselves treasure hunters!”

Slash, Omnisha and all the Raiders looked and felt ashamed, and as for Mako, he stood behind his sister noting how much worse she was becoming in her obsession for The Elements of Chaos.

“Well…!” snapped Sienna “Does anyone have any BRIGHT ideas?”

“Perhaps the answer is obvious.” said Slash “Since we are unable to locate the Elements of Chaos ourselves, we can allow Starfleet to find them for us. Then, we attack and steal the Elements from right out of their grips.”

Omnisha couldn’t believe what she was about to say, “He does have a point. We’ve tried to get the map and the treasures from the ponies and it hasn’t worked.”

Sienna agreed with them and looked down at her only piece of the map. “For once, you two come up with an idea that makes you seem intelligent.”

The duo didn’t know whether to feel flattered or insulted, but suddenly, the ships warning alarm sounded. “What is it now?” snapped Sienna and Mako checked the console “There’s an object heading for the planet on a Dimensional Space Pathway.”

“Onscreen.” said Sienna.

A Raider turned on the monitor, and everyone huddled in to see the pathway stretching across the cosmos, and a lone Starfleet officer-- Captain Magnus-- was soaring across it on his way to the planet.

“Say, I recognize him.” said Slash “He was one of those annoying little pests that tried to intercept us upon our arrival here.

Let’s shoot him down!”

“No…!” said Sienna “Let’s wait and see what brings him here? I love a good mystery.”

So she let Magnus go, and conduct whatever business he had.

A while later, Lightning and team had returned to the palace, extremely tuckered out from their intensive training on the moon. They had literally marched all the way around the moon and back to their starting point.

They slouched and limped as they paced into the throne room. “Are you all okay?” asked Goldwin.

“You try pacing all way around the moon with a couple hundred tons on your body and then ask us that.” groaned Pinkie, and she flopped down like a deflated balloon.

Rhymey slumped onto the floor,

“Every muscle in my body is sore
To make a move hurts me more and more.

And we’ve all just barely begun to train,
It’ll be awhile before we can take such a strain.”

“Yeah, we still haven’t even tried using the weapons yet… and then we have to train at normal gravity too.” said Artie “That’s going to be tough.”

Everyone dreaded such training when the time came.

“I’m so tried I can’t even faint in shock.” said Rarity.

Just as everyone was about to go off and have a good long rest, Grand Ruler’s voice was heard over the palace intercom. “Attention. Attention please: Lightning Dawn and team, report to the briefing room immediately.”

All at once, everyone groaned so irritably that Goldwin covered his ears, but he couldn’t help but feel sorry for them all as he watched them all walk groggily off.

When they all got to the briefing room, their majesties saw how tired they were and used their powers to boost their strengths up a little.

“Whew… that’s much better.” said Spike. He cracked back and the spines along his head.

“So… what’s up?” asked Pinkie.

“This is what’s up, Pinkie Pie…” said Celestia as she held up a letter, “Captain Magnus received this on Planet M5 where his outpost and crew are, and he brought it straight here to us.”

“Where’s the Captain now?” asked Applejack.

“He is resting.” replied Luna “He came to us rather excitedly, and for very good reason.”

Grand Ruler then explained, “He claims that this letter was sent to him by none other than… Lt. Sephy Dancer, his Fiancée.”

A long moment of silence followed. Everyone remembered how Sephy was lost; disappeared into space.

“Are you positive about this?” asked Rarity.

“More than positive.” replied Grand Ruler “The handwriting is perfectly authentic…” he held up a single pink thread of hair from a mane that lay in a small, empty ashtray on the table, “And this hair was found in with the letter, and the DNA matches perfectly.”

Another moment of silence and extremely hopeful expressions appeared on everyone’s faces. There was no doubt that Sephy miraculously was transported to the planet she sent the letter from.

This reminded Grand Ruler of how lucky he was; when he was thrown out into space by Nightmare Moon, he landed on a habitable planet that would later become Unicornicopia and the beginning of Starfleet.

“Wait a minute…” said Starla “If Lt. Dancer was alive all this time, why wouldn’t she try to find her way back to base, or contact any Starfleet forces for rescue?”

Their majesties all looked concerned, and Celestia read from the letter.

“To whom it may concern…

I am the Mayor of, what promises to be, a new town of the Planet Firmos.

I do not remember much of my past, but my only clue was a strange marking I found on the armor vest I wore with the inscriptions of “Starfleet”

If you are reading this letter, please ensure that this “Starfleet” whoever he, she, or they are, gets this. I feel they may be able to help me figure out who I really am and where I come from.

Signed: “Mayor Fey Ser of the planet Firmos”

“Fey Ser?” everyone kept contemplating.

“That’s it then.” Fluttershy said “She must’ve lost her memories.”

Grand Ruler nodded, and then extended his magical mane to show the mappings of the known galaxy. “This letter was passed on and on in a chain sending.” he explained, and magical arrows appeared, bouncing along the planets on the map until they reached the far side of the galaxy, into Unexplored Space.

“The area still remains unrecorded and unexplored by our database, but thanks to our deep-space telescopic readings, Planet Firmos must be somewhere in this area.

We leave tomorrow morning. We’ve got to find Lt. Sephy and help restore her memories.”

Everyone agreed, but Lightning then noted, “We…?”

“That’s right. This timeI’llbe going with you supervising this mission.

If Sephy’s really been alive all this time, I must see it for myself. Just the thought that another pony survived the dangers of space like I did; it’s indescribable.”

The next morning, bright and early after breakfast, everything was all set.

Grand Ruler was bidding goodbye to the children.

“You two behave, and you listen to your mother and Aunt Luna, ‘K?”

“Okay, father.” said Castor.

“Will you bring us back something, Daddy?” asked Lelani.

Her father chuckled, but promised he would.

“Come children…” said Luna “Why don’t we go play in the garden.” and she led them merrily away, leaving Celestia and her husband to embrace. “Please be careful out there.” she whispered to him “I don’t think I could bear if something would happen, and I’d lose you again.”

“That… will never happen.” Grand Ruler assured her “I’ve done this many times. I won’t let anything happen.”

His smiled deeply at him.

Starla and Lightning had just returned from the nursery wanting to bid their baby goodbye. “He was still asleep when we got there.” said Starla. She was shivering softly with guilt of leaving her baby, and worried should something happen to her or Lightning.

“Easy honey…” said Lightning “I feel the same as you… worse even, but we have to go, and you know your droid doesn’t work across incredible distances.”

Starla understood.

Just then, Captain Magnus came into the room, and Lightning greeted him. “Good morning, Captain. Are you set to go?”

“Yes sir. I also wanted to thank you all for letting me join you. These past two months have been torture to me, but finally… my prayers have been answered and I’ll get the love of my life back.”

Grand Ruler approached him, “Just the same, keep in mind she’s lost her memories. She might not recognize you when if you try to talk to her, but don’t worry; she WILL remember again. That’s a promise.”

“Thank you, sire.”

With all that set, everyone was ready. “Do it, Krysta.” said Lightning.

“One super-duper long portal and path, coming up…” Krysta said, and she conjured up all the power she could spare forming a portal.

POW!! The magical path of light sparked from the planet and shot far, far off into space.

“Off we go!” said Grand Ruler, and one-by-one, everyone leapt through the portal, and rocketed off down the light path, off to the stars.

“Good luck everyone.” Celestia said softly.

Sienna saw the astronauts all heading out. “Track them!” she said to the Raiders “I want to know where their off to and why.”

The ship’s guide to the galaxy was a bit different than Starfleet’s due to Sienna having been to and robbing so many star-systems.

“They appear to be heading for Planet Firmos.” said Omnisha.

“That dump heap again?” scoffed Sienna. She remembered how she had robbed from it and blasted it from a fertile world into a world of desolation before coming to United Equestria, “But why would they be heading there?

…Unless they’re hiding something!”

Slash stepped forth, “Captain, allow me to peruse them before the pathway vanishes. I’ll find what it is they’re up, and if things get ugly I will destroy them.”

Sienna felt like agreeing, “But Slash, your sword was destroyed in your previous battle. I won’t let you go unarmed.”

“I know…” Slash grumbled. He still felt horribly outraged for the ponies destroying his pride and weapon, “Which is why I have decided to use my other sword.”

“What?!” snapped Mako “THAT sword, but that’s…”

“Have you gone mad?!” snapped Omnisha.

“Enough!” shouted Slash “I realize the dangers in that sword, which is why I kept it chained up all this time, but those ponies have forced me to use extremes, and it may be a good chance to bring them down for good.”

Sienna could see the flare and determination in Slash’s eyes and couldn’t object to this, “Very well, Slash, but you better now letwhat happened the last timehappen again.”

Slash thought about this as well, when he went to his room and pulled out a loose panel in the floor where a large metal box lay hidden and chained up.

Still, all he had to do was simply pull on the chains and broke them with his strength to get into the box where a long sword was sheathed in a red and black scabbard. Just looking at it without even laying his hands on it made him visualize and hear so many screams of many victims. Fires and ceaseless destruction followed up by the sound of an evil and monstrous laugh.

Nevertheless, he clenched his fist and took the sword in its sheath. “When this mighty blade is drawn… it MUST taste blood.” he said softly to himself.

Soon, he was off; launched from the ship within a hollowed missile and onto the magical pathway while it was still intact, and he rocketed off after Starfleet.

Sienna still had her doubts however, “I hope he realizes what he’s getting into.”

Omnisha actually agreed with her, and looked at her crystal ball. “There’s no way of telling how this will end up, and I’m usually good at foreseeing this sort of jazz.”

When all was quiet, Mako decided, again, to try and converse with his sister about the kindness that the ponies had shown him.

“Sienna, I’ve been doing something thinking about the ponies… I really don’t think we have to go to all this trouble with them anymore.”

Sienna sighed “Mako, not this again.”

“I just think maybe we could…”

“Mako!” snapped Sienna “What is with you? I thought those ponies had brainwashed you, but now I’m starting to see it’s more serious than I thought. They are our enemies, Mako. EVERYONE… in the entire universe is our enemy, and I’m not going to stop until they all suffer for the things that happened to us… remember?”

“Well, yeah I remember but… but…”

“But what…?” growled Sienna, she loomed over her brother the same way all the big bullies used to at the orphanage, and Mako actually shuddered in fear… at his own sister!

Sienna could see she was being a little too harsh on him, “We’ll talk about this later. I have things to do.”

Then she left, and poor Mako felt nearly on the verge of tears. Sienna nearly just treated him like an underling, and that was never like her at all.

Even Omnisha felt concerned. She had wanted Sienna to focus more on the mission, but as much as she wasn’t fond of Mako, she felt the little guy didn’t deserve that.“She’s growing worse.”Omnisha thought silently,“Her obsession to find the Elements and exact vengeance is overshadowing her care for her own brother.”

A long while later, Starfleet was arriving at their destination…

“Would you look at that!” said Buddy.

Planet Firmos: It looked rather dismal. It was all grey and brown patches as if it had been scorched with little green patches to indicate many forests.

“What a dreadful place.” said Rarity.

“Oh, my…!” cried Fluttershy “I sure hope the planet was always like this.”

Much as Rhymey hated to upset his wife, just looking at the planet was enough to tell him,

“I don’t believe it was always this way.
You can see by the marks in the earth that lay.

If I would have to guess it right,
This planet was attacked in a big fight.”

“Exactly right.” said Grand Ruler “We’re going in.”

As everyone got closer and closer to entering the planet, Magnus couldn’t help but look at the desolate lands all over. “Sephy…”

A portal opened, and everyone landed safely on the surface in the barren field, with hardly that much grass anywhere, but rather just plain dry ground.

The sky was a little grey with overcast and there was a soft breeze as well.

“Wow, this place could sure use a bit more color and joy.” said Artie.

“So, how do we find Sephy?” asked Magnus.

“Scan for her DNA of course.” said Lightning.

“Good thinking, Lightning.” commented Grand Ruler.

Lightning then activated his normal visor, and located the source of the DNA. “Follow me.” and he led everyone off into their air.

As they all flew along, they couldn’t see too many signs of many towns or villages, or even signs of other life forms. “This place is starting to give me the creeps.” said Spike.

Rainbow could hard stand the sight of the overcast much longer. “Excuse me…” she said “I think it’s time to bring a little sunshine into this place.”

She was about to fly upward when Grand ruler halted her with his magic, “No, Rainbow!” he scolded her “Don’t you remember what you were taught about visiting unexplored planets?”

Rainbow sighed, “…Never mess with the ecology, until your certain it can and should be done.”

“That’s right.” replied Grand Ruler “So keep close and don’t meddle with things… any of you.”

Pinkie complied by stuffing her hands down her pants, “I won’t touch a thing.”

“How much further, Lightning?” asked Starla.

“We’re getting close…” replied Lightning, but suddenly hid visor began to glow “What the…”

Everyone else gawked at the glowing.

“Can it… can it be?” wondered Applejack.

“It’s got to be.” said Dyno, “The last piece of the mystic map… it must be around here somewhere!” added Myte.

“That’s incredible!” cried Krysta “We’ll be able to find it after all.”

Grand Ruler felt that it was surely a gift of luck from the stars. “We can split up.” he said “Half of you spread out to find that map piece. The rest of us will continue to find Sephy.”

It was agreed.

Grand Ruler, Lightning Starla, Krysta, Magnus, Rarity, Pinkie, and Fluttershy headed off to find Sephy, while the others scouted around to find the map piece.

“This mission is really starting to turn gold for us.” said Magnus “You find that treasure you need, and soon I’ll get my Sephy back.”

“Hey, look up ahead…” said Lightning.

“It’s a village.” said Starla. It didn’t seem to be a very large or lively one. The buildings all seemed to be makeshift houses made from scraps of metal, wood and large rocks.

“How dreadful.” said Rarity “Who in their right mind would live in such oddly constructed buildings?”

“There doesn’t seem to be anybody down there.” said Fluttershy, and she began to tremble “This is getting a little creepy.”

Rhymey held her hand calming her.

“Is that where Sephy is?” asked Magnus.

“Must be… The signal’s coming strong from down there.” replied Lightning.

The team touched down at the foot of the village, and there was still not a soul to be seen. It was rather creepy like a ghost town.

“I bet I know how I can get someone to hear us…” said Pinkie. She drew in a huge breath to call out into the village, but Starla held her mouth shut, “Pinkie Pie!” she grumbled as she wrestled to calm her down, “No, no… Stop! Calm down!”

“Pinkie Pie…” sighed Grand Ruler “Remember the code…”

Pinkie talked with Starla’s still over her mouth.

“What was that?”

Starla let Pinkie go and she recited the code, “When visiting a new world, remember that we are strangers and the lifeforms, if any, may not yet trust us.”

Grand Ruler sighed, “Let’s all continue forth, WITH caution.”

As they all trekked through the village, Magnus could barely keep himself from going wild. “Sephy’s got to be here someplace.”

“Yeah, whatever this place is…” remarked Lightning.

Suddenly, they all could hear the sound of someone chanting in prayer near the largest building at the end of the village.

He looked to be a humanoid creature, but with silver skin, black hair, and he was dressed rather unusually, wearing a whole bunch of tattered clothes all jumbled and tied together to make a garb.

He was praying to a kind of Tiki stone.

The team all softly approached the stranger, and Rarity stepped on a small twig, snapping it, frightening the man and making everyone else jump.

The man backed away in fright, but Grand Ruler assured him “We mean you no harm. Don’t be afraid.”

The man gazed at the strange creatures, and all at once his fear faded away, “You…” he said softly “You look just like our mayor.”

Oddest type of greeting anyone ever heard, but Magnus rushed up to the man almost frantically, “Please… can you take us to her?”

The man nodded. “I am called Tomakar, I am the mayor’s right hand. I can take you straight to her.”

He led everyone up to the steps of the large building, which was actually the City Hall of the village. “For so long we wondered where Fey Ser came from, and now finally, our answers will be unfurled.”

Magnus really felt like coming out and explaining everything for him, but Krysta motioned for him not to, at least not until they saw the mayor.

Inside of City Hall, everything was all makeshift, build from more scraps, rocks and mud. There were also other creatures like Tomakar, only some had shiny golden colored skin, or bronze colored skin, yet every wore the same type of ragged, makeshift outfits like a primitive civilization.

At first many of the people were shocked or nervous about seeing the strangers, until Tomakar assured them “They are friends. They are going to help the mayor.”

The people calmed down and went back about their work.

“We are called Fermentials.” Tomakar explained “Each of us bears a color resembling a precious treasure of our planet.

You must excuse us, however… these days we are rather skeptical of approaching strange new creatures.”

“Um… sorry to butt in,” said Fluttershy “But would it have anything to do with the way the planet looks like it does now?”

“Yes…” replied Tomakar “But the mayor will speak more of this. We are nearly there.”

Soon they had all arrived at the mayor’s private office. “The mayor has no meetings today, so she should be free for the rest of the day.”

They were escorted inside, “Pardon me, Mayor…” said Tomakar “But these strangers have come to help you.”

The mayor spun in her chair for everyone to see, and Magnus nearly lost all feeling in his legs. It was really her; a light purpled Space alicorn with a long pink mane, and she even still had a soft burn mark on her face from nearly being hit by Sienna’s lasers. The burn had almost totally healed, but there was no doubt it was her.

“Bless the stars… she’s alive.” Grand Ruler muttered under his breath.

The mayor looked at all the ponies, “You… you all are just like me.” she said with astonishment.

“Well of course we are.” said Pinkie “You’re one of us.”

Sephy just looked at them all with a confused expression “I am?”

Lightning and Starla reminded Pinkie “She doesn’t remember us…”

“That’s what we’re here for; to jog her memory.”

Magnus began to feel a bit upset inside that his beloved didn’t recognize him at the start.

Grand Ruler approached the mayor.

“Who are you?” Sephy asked admiring the tall and strong pony.

“I would explain it to you, but that won’t be necessary.” he said. He then softly raised his fingers to lift away part of her long mane that was covering a side of her head, and surely enough there was a big spot where a large bump had once been.

“How did you get this mark?” Grand Ruler asked.

Sephy felt her head, “I… don’t remember.” and she recalled back as much as she could “All I remember is waking up in a field, wearing a strange and tattered suit.”

“Who am I? What am I doing here?”

“I couldn’t even remember what my name was.”

“…Fey…Ser…?”

“That was all I could figure… like it was part of my real name.

When the people of Firmos found me, they accused me of being an invader, but eventually they found that I meant them no harm, but they couldn’t help me figure out who I was.

They brought me to their village, which was dilapidated and in ruins, and the people were all starving and poor.

According to Tomakar… Firmos used to be rich in important and valuable minerals. Everyone knew nothing but happiness and comfort in their rich lives… but then these strangers invaded their world, robbed the people of all their treasure, and ruthlessly used powerful lasers to level the planet into mess that it is now.

Now all everyone knows is fear, misery and poverty. Food is hard to grow because of the infertile soils, and the lack of good water to find, making produce very hard to maintain.”

Rarity, Pinkie and Fluttershy all had tears in their eyes.

“Oh, you poor, poor creatures…” Fluttershy wept softly.

“That’s just so sad.” agreed Pinkie.

Tomakar thought it nice they were showing such care. “We thought surely that our well of despair was truly bottomless, until Fey Ser realized she had magical abilities of likes we never saw before…

She was able to lift objects to clear messes away, and help mold the damages into our village as it is now, and she was also able to help find suitable water for us all to drink and help to restore a little of our produce so we would never starve again.

Despite it wasn’t as much to save the entire planet, we were ever so grateful that we dubbed her the mayor our village and she has helped us to slowly return to much brighter hopes ever since.”

Sephy nodded, and everyone else thought that was very noble.

“Still…” Sephy said “Much as I have made a life here and am very happy to help my friends, it would really mean much to me if I could just remember where I came from.”

“Say no more…” said Krysta “One memory restoration coming up.” She reached behind herself and pulled out a tiny sack with a single droplet of clear water in it. “Fairies on Planet Luminous are excellent in restoring lost memories. Just a single drop of this and your memories will be all restored in a while.”

At first Sephy was astonished that it would that simple to get her memories back. Nevertheless she cooperated and let Krysta drop the tiny little droplet into her mouth and hit her tongue.

“Well, that’s it then.” said Lightning “There’s nothing to do now but wait for it to happen.”

Magnus really hoped it would be soon. He couldn’t stop staring at Sephy with such hope.

Sephy then caught his gaze at gazed back at him. Magnus quickly turned away, and Sephy couldn’t help but smile at how cute that was.

Meanwhile…

Slash had arrived on Firmos himself. He found it odd to have returned to a planet Sienna had already raided once. “It looks like this planet’s done well after our little intrusion.” He said to himself. Then he looked down at his sword, “…You and I have a job to do. It’s time to be rid of those miserable mules for good!”

To Be Continued…!

(Promo)

In our next episode: As Sephy slowly regains her memories, Slash unleashes his fury, unveiling his wicked weapon which transforms him into a powerful and fearsome beast, which proves to be quite a formidable force even for the entire team combined.

How can our heroes overpower Slash and his cursed sword?

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

(Next Episode: “Part 2: Worse Curse”)

Episode 20: Part 2: Worse Curse

“Previously on Starfleet Magic…”

While conducting strong training to master their newer but heavier super armor, the team had received a deep space letter concerning Lt. Sephy Dancer, alive on the Planet Firmos. Eagerly, our heroes set off, while Slash decided to follow them, breaking out a powerful and cursed sword for his hunt. Now while some of the ponies try to help Sephy remember, the rest went off to locate a piece of the mystic map, with Slash hiding in the shadows!

EPISODE TWENTY

Meanwhile, the other teammates were digging about in a field a few miles away from the village, still in search of the map piece.

Their super strengths made digging a breeze, but there were large and very deep holes all over the place.

Applejack popped her head up and wiped her brow “Whoo! Workin’ on a farm all them years sure pays off, but I can’t find that map piece here.”

Artie came out, “I got nothing too.”

“Me either.” said Rainbow.

Suddenly, Spike leapt up from his hole shouting “BOOYAH, whose da treasure hunter now?” and he held up the final map piece.

“Whoa! Way to go, Spike.” said Dyno “Viva…” added Myte.

Everyone huddled in to look at the piece and spike bragged and acted all cocky “No need to thank me or anything. I was just doing my job.”

But the others seem more interested in the piece than his bragging much to Spike’s dismay.

The map piece showed more lands of Equestria of old, even with a picture of the moon on it. It also had writing on it, and Buddy scanned it with his visor for the text translation.

“--Four will the challenges be complete from last to the first. But only by…”

…The text stopped.

“We’ve got to get this to his majesty now!” said Buddy.

“With this piece of the picture,
He’ll be please for sure.” said Rhymey.

“Well what are we waiting for?” Rainbow said with enthusiasm, but just as they were about to head off, they were attacked by a bombardment of magical blasts and shots.

Buddy dropped the map piece and it bounced along until it hit someone’s boot--Slash’s! He snickered as he picked up the piece “Thank you for finding my treasure for Me.” he mocked

“You snarled Artie!”

“What in the hotel bills are you doin’ here!”

“Cleaning up some loose ends, that’s what!” sneered Slash “It seems this planet has done quite well since we were last here. Perhaps we should’ve blasted it up a bit more.”

“What?” snapped Spike “So, Sienna was responsible for this planet being in such a mess!”

The others all felt the rages rising, especially Buddy’s, “You attacked an innocent planet, disrupting its beautiful flora and endangering its way of life…?! That’s way low!”

His magical aura began to flare up around him as his power began to increase. The others looked in awe, and then stood by his side.

Slash only snickered, “You think you outnumber me? Think again!”

That’s a when three powerful Jemma-Nites appeared.

A Boxer; with strong a solid boxing mitts fitted over its huge hands.

A Swordsman; armed with two powerful diamond blades

…And a Gunner; armed with a powerful laser blaster on its left arm.

The team transformed.

“STARFLEET MAGIC”

“HARMONY HOUR FRIENDSHIP POWER”

“Dragon Power”

“Let’s take ‘em!” shouted Buddy, and everyone rushed into action.

The Jemma-Nites all rushed forth with their weapons ready.

Meanwhile, the others, still unaware of the danger, were touring around the village and getting to know all the Fermentials and bonding with them.

Grand Ruler felt that so much more could be done for the planet to get it back to its former rich and blissful glory.

As for Sephy, she still hadn’t regained her memories yet, but she was enjoying seeing all her people getting along with the newcomers, although she noticed that one of the ponies wasn’t…

…Magnus.

He was just sitting on the steps of Town Hall.

She walked right up and sat down next to him. “Hey. Why aren’t you out there meeting the people?”

Magnus didn’t know how to answer at first, “I guess I’m just a little too excited, and nervous at the same time.”

Sitting near her like this brought on many memories to him, and as Sephy enjoyed the quiet moment she began to feel a little warm and cozy.

“Is something wrong?” Magnus asked.

“I don’t know… I… just feel really comfy right now.”

Magnus took it as a good sign that her memories were starting to surface, but he was told by his superiors not to try and rush it and let the potion run its course.

“Can I ask you something?” Sephy asked.

“Oh… um… sure…”

“If I’m really one of you, I mean when my memories come back, will you take me away from here?”

Magnus didn’t understand what kind of question. “Why do you ask?”

“Well, it’s just that… I’m very happy here, and I promised to help the Fermentials rebuild their world whichever way I can. I don’t really think I can just leave them all like that.”

Now Magnus felt worried. “If… you’re really happy here…” he paused trying to hide the idea of leaving her behind “I don’t think we’d take you back. That wouldn’t be fair to the Fermentials, or to you.”

Sephy felt rather flattered, and also slightly mesmerised by the sound of his voice. He sounded so honest, so caring… and so…familiar!

She could hear his voice in her mind…

“I joined Starfleet to help protect the worlds and their beauty, and I know you can do it do… I’ll show you everything I know.”

Rarity watched the two from afar “Oh, isn’t it lovely.” she sighed “Any second now, Sephy will get her memories back, and then… ahh… the romance will bloom once more.”

Pinkie and Fluttershy sighed with her at the thought of that happening.

Suddenly, there was a loud noise.

Everyone stopped and turned to look way out beyond the village, and they could see a whole load of smoke in the distance.

“What was that?” asked Sephy.

“It could be trouble.” said Magnus

Grand Ruler didn’t like the looks of the smoke, “Lightning… let’s go!” he called.

“Right…!” Lightning agreed, and he and the others all rushed off.

“I better go too…” said Magnus, and he excused himself from Sephy’s company, but he turned back and told her “Try to keep the people calm…”

Then he was a gone, and Sephy couldn’t take her eyes off of him until he was completely out sight.

“Mayor? Are you alright?” called Tomakar

Sephy didn’t answer, she was far too lost in her thoughts which were now going crazy as her memories began to unfurl before her eyes…

Everything from her life in Unicornicopia…

Meeting Magnus at the Starfleet Academy…

Falling in love with one another…

Being part of the same unit with Magnus in commander, but they were always there for one another.

“Sephy, I want to be with you always… not just as your commander, but as your life parter. I love you more than any power, or anything I’ve seen in this universe.

…Sephy… Will you marry me?”

“Oh, Magnus… Of course, I will!”

The final vision was that of when Sienna and her band of treasure hunters invaded, she, Magnus and their unit all tried to intercept which resulted in Sephy getting shot, her spacesuit being damaged and she was teleported off into space!

SNAP!! Sephy gasped hard!

“Mayor!” cried Tomakar “What is it? What is wrong?”

Sephy didn’t answer, but asked “My spacesuit…! Where is my old spacesuit?”

Tomakar was most confused.

Meanwhile,

“VINE WHIP”Buddy lashed at the Boxer.

“SUPER STAFF”Artie knocked the Swordsman’s blades away.

“WARD SWORD”Rhymey hacked Gunner’s gun in two.

“Our turn!” said Dyno.

“Si” agreed Myte.

The two brothers held hands,“BOOM-BOOM FLARE!!”

KAPOW!! The monsters were destroyed in three big explosions.

“YEE-HA…! Blown to Bits!” cheered Applejack.

“That was almost too easy.” added Rainbow.

Slash didn’t seem the least bit upset. He was even sniggering...!

“Um, what’s with him?” asked Spike.

Slash then sneered at the team, “Those monsters were just to get you all warmed up. Now the real fun begins!” he reached for his sword.

“What’s that?” wondered Buddy.

Slash drew the sword from its sheath, and all at once there was a huge wave that pulse from its blade, enveloping him with a sudden bust of power, and Slash began to pulse, and grow in size as his muscles bulged and he took on a more demonic form.

“This is getting creepy!” cried Artie.

Slash looked completely different now; he had shed his armor as his muscles were now bigger than ever, his eyes were all red, and his voice had gone deeper and raspier than before.

“The Dakon Sword!” he growled “This blade has been with me for centuries, we have slaughtered so many, and with each and every life taken did it’s mighty power increase, but at a terrible price…

For all the ruthless lives I slaughtered, the power begins to curse its holder; consuming them in such power and lust!”

“I’m not surprised.” growled Spike “All those creatures you killed…!”

Rhymey gripped his sword tightly, shuddering in anger,

“The very thought of all whom you’ve killed,
…It makes me sick to the core
You may have come far, you be quite skilled,
…But you will destroy NO MORE!!”

His magical aura began to glow softly around him, showing just how serious he was.

Slash, rather than wasting time, swung his sword hard, forcing a powerful airwave at the team, knocking them all back hard.

“What was that all about?” groaned Applejack.

Slash laughed “I just told you; this sword has incredible powers.”

Surely enough, the Dakon Sword began to flare up for a fire attack.

“Watch out!” shouted Buddy, and everyone dodged as Slash unleashed a huge wave of flames that flew way out over the field and made a big explosion.

“Madre de Dios!*Mother of God!*Did you see that?!” cried Dyno. “This isn’t going to be easy!” added Myte.

Slash snickered and prepared to attack again. “When this sword is drawn… IT MUST TASTE BLOOD!!”

Suddenly, he was bombarded from behind by many blasts. He turned round and saw the rest of the team glaring at him.

“I don’t know how you followed us here, Slash…” said Lightning “But we know it was you and Sienna that messed up this planet.”

Grand Ruler stepped forth, “You will pay for your misdeeds! This planet may not be in Starfleet’s jurisdiction, but we can still protect and avenge those in need!”

Slash seemed slightly amused, “Go ahead then; try to beat me. I can’t tell what a thrill this will be, for when I win, I’ll be rid of you no good pests forever, as well as leave here with another piece of the map.”

Magnus clenched his fists “You caused me to lose the one I love, and even though I found her… I’LL MAKE YOU PAY!!” and he charged forth, and all the others charged in as well.

Slash was incredibly outnumbered, and yet he fought with the strength of a whole army; he blocked their every attack with his sword or his free arm, or even by kicking his legs up.

Then it got serious, he swung his sword knocking Buddy, Artie, Rhymey and Spike’s weapons away with such forceful swings.

“A’rgh!” Spike groaned as he held his aching claw “I didn’t think he could hit us that hard!”

“That’s it! This guy needs to be taken down a notch!” said Pinkie “Come on girls…!”

The Equestrian ponies all agreed, and prepared to Valkyrie, but just as they shouted out their command,“VALKYRIA!!”and began to transform…

“Not this time…!” hissed Slash and he plowed his way through the other fighters, knocking them all down.

“GIRLS LOOK OUT!!” shouted Artie.

The girls couldn’t’ transform any faster, and Slash stood before them ready to strike them all hard, “It’s been fun, ladies…!”

The girls gasped through the light as they saw Slash bring his arm down to destroy them, but suddenly, the girls were teleported away by Grand Ruler and Krysta, and Slash missed, striking the ground and making a huge crater.

The girl’s transformation had stopped due to their moving from position. “You girls okay?” asked Grand Ruler.

“We’re fine…” said Fluttershy.

“…Just barely!” groaned Rarity.

Slash turned and growled fiercely at the team. He seemed more demonic than ever now due to the sword’s curse.

“We’ve got to destroy that sword.” said Starla.

“Yeah, but how do we get it away from him?” asked Magnus.

“You girls fly up high.” said Lightning “Then try to transform again. We’ll keep him distracted.”

The girls agreed and up they went, high into the sky.

“Oh, no you don’t!” thundered Slash, and the Dakon Sword began to spark with electricity to shoot at the girl, “Take this!”

But both Lightning and Grand Ruler flew up high and used their Uniforce powers to generate a huge shielding sheet of energy to block the blasts, allowing the girls to fly safely through the clouds and out of sight.

“Let them try their stunt! It makes no difference to me!”

“We’ll see about that!” shouted Magnus, and he rushed forth with his fist glow brightly,“MAGNA PUNCH!”

He struck the villain hard in his gut, but hardly did him much damage at all. Slash then attempted to hit him hard, but Magnus zipped off.

“DRAGON FLAME-WHEEL”Spike came charging in!

Slash held his sword out like a shield, blocking him off, and sent him hurling backward along the ground. “Ugh!” Spike growled “If only I could become the Majestic Dragon...” but he knew he couldn’t due to the darkness and chaos not being strong enough to properly trigger the transformation.

Lightning’s team stepped forth…

“STAR SHOWER”

“LEAF SWARM”

“PAINT BOMB”

“DRILL QUILL”

“BOOM-BOOM ROCKETS”

Lightning and Grand Ruler fired small streams of Uniforce at Slash too.

KAPOW!! What an explosion. Everyone watched in such anticipation, but to their horror… Slash leapt out of the smoke, high up into the air.

Now he looked even viler than ever, with red markings all over his skin, and he was snarling like the fierce monster he was transforming into.

“Thanks to that curse,
He’s growing worse!” cried Rhymey.

Slash barely even spoke; all he did was snarl and growl. He then took one huge swing of his sword sending a massive wave of electrical currents at the team. Strong explosions blew all over the place knocking the fighters all about.

“Such… Power!” groaned Grand Ruler “I’ve never faced anything like it!”

Slash didn’t speak, he just snarled and growled, and prepared to strike again, only for a bright light to shine from above as Valkyries of Harmony descended from the sky with their swords ready.

“Let’s rope ‘em girls.” said Applejack.

The girls all agreed and pointed their swords at Slash, ensnaring him with their magical light bands.

“Okay, let’s sap his power!” said Rainbow.

The power drain began, and Slash was shocked like crazy.

“It’s working!” cried Futtershy.

“Keep it up!” shouted Rarity.

Slash suddenly began to struggle and fuss about, and the force was pulling on the girls. “Whoa! Hey…!” said Pinkie!

In one swift wave, Slash actually broke his arm and his sword free from the binds.

“He’s broken free!” cried Rarity.

Then everyone watched as Slash gave a huge swing of his sword, actually slicing the magical binds, freeing himself, and yanking the Valkyries hard down to the ground, and they de-transformed.

“Girls!” cried Lightning.

The girls were weak, but able to get up onto their feet.

Slash had only sustained a little damage, but hardly enough to even come close to being defeated, and worse… his cursed sword was now glowing like crazy, and made Slash grow two twice his normal size, bigger and fiercer than ever.

“This is so not good!” said Krysta.

“If only we could destroy that sword!” said Starla.

Lightning clenched his fists, “There’s only one way now, and I hope it’s enough…” And he told to everyone “Give me what little power you can!”

Everyone could sense what Lightning was planning, and agreed.

First, they gave what little magic and energy they could spare to Grand Ruler; he absorbed the power into his three horns.

The fighters all felt exhausted, and de-transformed, but then they watched as Grand Ruler pour the magic over to Lightning as well as giving him some of his own, nearly exhausting himself as well.

As for Lightning, with all that power now coursing through him, he transformed into his Enticorn form.

“Wow!” said Magnus “I knew the Commander could do it, but I’ve never actually seen it before.”

“It’s so powerful and so dangerous that he doesn’t use it very often,” said Grand Ruler “Not unless the situation really calls for it.”

Lightning and Slash glared at one another strongly.

“This is it!” Lightning said “You’re going down!” he concentrated hard and his glowing hands glowed even brighter than ever,“ULTRA-UNIFORCE!!”

He fired his force straight at Slash, and Slash raised his sword actually defending himself from it, much to everyone’s complete and total shock.

“I… need… more power!!” cried Lightning, but sadly, none of the others could spare him anymore energy as they were all drained out, even Grand Ruler couldn’t heal the others while he himself was weakened.

Slash was growing more and more furious, and was ever so slowly starting find just a tiny bit of extra power to push back on Lightning’s force.

“No!!” shouted Magnus “He’s going to break free!”

Everyone else couldn’t believe this was happening, but suddenly… a ray of hope was insight.

“Magnus!” called a voice.

Magnus and the team turned, and there she was in her full battle suit. “Sephy?” said Magnus, and his fiancée smiled lovingly at him.

Sephy then hovered up high, “Here, this will help…!” her horn glowed and in a shower of sparling specks, the team all felt their strengths being restored a little.

“Whoa!” said Rainbow “This is awesome.”

“Incredible! I can feel my strength returning.” added Buddy.

“It’s one of Sephy’s special spells; Healing.” said Magnus “She used to help all my troops when they were falling in battle.”

Suddenly Sephy just collapsed. “Sephy!” cried Magnus. He knew that when Sephy overused her healing spell it would drain her of her own energy and render her weak.

“Everyone, lend me your power!” said Grand Ruler.

Everyone agreed and gave their newly restored powers into his three horns. All at once, his horns and his body glowed in a golden light and he fluttered up alongside of Lightning.

The two nodded at one another, and Grand Ruler turned to face the snarling Slash.

“TEN-FOLD… UNIFORCE”

POW!! His power added to Lightning’s; the Dakon Sword began to crack up, and it shattered as the power consumed Slash’s monstrous body.

KAPOW!! An enormous explosion that rocked the very earth itself and could be felt for miles, and in the midst of the explosion, the map piece was thrown into the air and landed safely in Starla’s hands.

Lightning de-transformed to his normal self, feeling pretty beat, even Grand Ruler felt tired out, but not so much they couldn’t stand.

As the smoke cleared, Slash lay on the ground, in his normal form. He just lay there, bruised and battered from the explosion. “I… failed you… Sienna.” he groaned before lapsing into unconsciousness.

Grand Ruler then zapped Slash with his magic, shrinking him down and imprisoning him in a capture sphere.

“We did it?” cried Pinkie “We beat Slash!”

“And we got the map piece back!” added Artie.

Suddenly, all was quiet as everyone looked over as Magnus went over to Sephy, scooping her up in his arms.

“Sephy?” he peeped softly.

Sephy opened her eyes. She was only a little tired. Her smile grew as she gazed up at him “Magnus…”

“You remember?”

She nodded at him, “I thought I’d never see you again, my love.”

Magnus smiled lovingly down at her, “I’ve missed you so much.”

The two gave into their feelings and came together in a deep kiss, to the delight of everyone watching them. Rarity wiped the tears from her eyes.

After a good long rest, Grand Ruler decided it was time for everyone to leave. “We must get the map piece back to United Equestria at once, as well as transfer Slash to prison where he won’t cause any more harm.”

Tomakar and the Fermentials understood this, “We can’t begin to thank you all enough for saving us from that horrible monster, as well as beating it for attacking our world in the first place.”

As for Sephy and Magnus, they were having a bit of a hard and sad moment. “Magnus, I can’t leave. I just can’t abandon the Fermentials. They’ve done so much for me and they need my help.”

“But, Sephy… I can’t just leave you here, not after all this time and finally finding you again.”

“You don’t have to.” Lightning said to them both “Grand Ruler’s decided that this planet could use a Starfleet Outpost on it, to protect it from future invasions, and help restore the planet to a better state again.”

“That’s right…” agreed Grand Ruler, and he looked proudly at Magnus and Sephy “And this outpost could use a couple of commanding officers to lead them.”

Magnus and Sephy liked the idea, and with their leadership and Starfleet’s resources, Firmos would be beautiful and flourishing again in a matter of weeks. Maybe it wouldn’t be as beautiful and as rich as it used to be, but still comfortable and beautiful for life to be blissful again.

“Of course, we’ll do it.” said Magnus.

Sephy nodded.

“Right, that’s settled.” said his majesty.

Pinkie leapt for joy “Aww, now it means Magnus and Sephy don’t need to separate again.”

“I think that’s already established, Pinkie.” grumbled Rainbow, but she, too, felt just as happy for the couple.

“Well, I’m afraid we must go now.” said Lightning “The sooner we get back, the sooner we can arrange for our forces to come here straight away and help you all out.”

Magnus stepped forth and shook Lightning’s hand “Thank you, Commander, and will you tell my men it was an honor to serve with them, and I’ll miss them.”

Lightning smiled and promised he would. “Good luck, you two.”

After exchanging final farewells, the team was off; soaring through space on a magic pathway.

“I’m so happy for Magnus and Sephy.” said Fluttershy.

“Me too.” agreed Buddy “And in a short while, the planet will be blossoming again. I just can’t stand it when trees and plants get sick like that.”

“Don’t forget about our little mission…” said Spike “We got the last map piece.”

“Quite right, Spike.” said Grand Ruler, and he all patted Slash’s sphere that was attached to his waist, “And thanks to our little friend here, the final showdown with Sienna is just around the bend.

We have much to do, team.”

Everyone agreed as the all continued on their way to the upcoming adventures and battles ahead.

(Promo)

In our next episode: In a desperate act to locate the Elements of Chaos, Sienna allows Starfleet to take her map piece which unveils the secret location, only to then take everyone aboard her ship in attempt to destroy them all, and Mako is on the verge of treason.

Can the team get to the elements before Sienna does, and will Mako truly have to turn against his own sister?

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

(Next Episode: “Mutiny for the Bounty: Part 1”)

Episode 21: Mutiny for the Bounty: Part 1

EPISODE TWENTY-ONE

A week had passed since the final piece of the map had been successfully obtained, and the entire inscription was now completed. Altogether the ancient text read…

“Know ye who read this, who dare to take upon themselves to uncover that which has been sealed away, with the map and items of four will the challenges be complete from last to the first. But only by creatures of four differences, with four blades of difference shall reveal the entrance to the Temple of Mystery.”

This helped explain the legendary items, as they were all types of keys to help progress through the Temple of Mystery…

Of course, none of this in any way revealed anything to the actual location of the temple itself. The map was still practically incomplete. While the team had secured three pieces of it, Sienna still held the fourth bit.

Even with the photo images of the map still didn’t help much as the complete picture was that of Equestria of Old.

When United Equestria was formed after The Great War, all the landmasses hand been expanded to a bigger size than what they once were, and all the towns and villages were rearranged in some ways. What oncewas here…wasnow over there.

Never discouraged, Starfleet sent their scouts on a worldwide search for anything that could possibly locate the Temple.

Meanwhile, Lightning and his team spent all that time training on their moon with their new super armor; they’re very HEAVY… super armor.

After days of hiking all the way around the entire moon, they only slightly were starting to get a good feel to it. They could stand up strong and stiff, at least on the moon with the low gravity, and were able to beat their records by a few seconds.

Still, they were nowhere near ready to use their new suits in battle, especially when it came to then it came to practicing with their new weapons, which were very hard to hold up due to their heavy weight.

Starla could barely hold her new bow up, and so she resorted to using her telekinesis to lift some of the weight for her. It helped a little…

“Okay, here goes.” she said“STARLIGHT ARROW”

POW!! The arrow was fired and flew… about a few feet out before flopping to the ground like a lead weight, much to Starla’s embarrassment.

Buddy gripped his new whip with both hands, but couldn’t wave it hard enough to make a small mark in the moon sands. “Whoo…!” he groaned “Talk about your heavy.”

Rhymey tried to swing his new sword, but could barely keep his grip on it as it kept sinking out of his hands.

“Oh, every swing’s a miss
I can fight with this!”

Artie held up his new staff over his head with both hands, like lifting up a huge barbell. “Wow!!” he groaned “This is… strange… and… somewhat… painful!!” That’s when he felt his arms going and he fell over backwards.

“Are you all right?” Rainbow asked as she helped him up.

“Just, peachy…” groaned Artie.

“This is insane.” grumbled Rainbow “I can’t even get a foot off the ground. My Sonic Rainboom’s are way useless now.”

Rarity lay draped over a rock in the style of her fainting couch, “I don’t believe I shall ever be the same again. This armor is so heavy and the training is so severe.”

Applejack gave her a grim glare, “Um… Rarity… You’re wearin’ yournormal armor,not your super suit.”

“I’m still tired anyway!” growled Rarity.

Lightning didn’t like everyone’s attitudes, “We have to keep on going.” he said to everyone “If we’re going to storm Sienna’s ship, we’ll need to get our A-Games on.”

Everyone knew that ever since Slash was taken to prison, his mind was probed allowing Starfleet to gain all the information he possessed about Sienna and her monstrous spaceship. They would soon know all about it just as the aliens did, and make it that much easier to bring it down for good!

“That’s fine and dandy…” said Spike “But look at us, we can barely still stand in these new weighted suits, and at this rate it’ll take at least a year’s worth of training before we can even start to train with them under normal gravity.”

Lightning couldn’t argue with that, and there was no way he knew to hurry it along. “When I was training with Grand Ruler as a colt, I remember all the rigorous exercises he put me through…

All those heavy weights I had to lift, some of which were tied right onto my back, my wrists and my ankles; it felt like trying to tow a mountain!”

“I don’t get it, Master. What’s this all for?”

“It is to help you train under extreme circumstances Lightning, as well as to develop endurance.

You see, there will comes times when you may not be able to rely on your speed alone, so you’ll have to try to make up for the loss with what other skills you might possess.

If there is a skill or power you seem to lack
Make up with another skill, and you’ll make a comeback.

…Remember that.”

Everyone thought that was very deep, and completely understandable.

“I think I can keep going now.” said Pinkie.

“Count us in too.” said Dyno.

“Si!” agreed Myte.

“LET’S DO IT!!” Fluttershy shouted… rather uncharacteristically. Everyone was gawking oddly at her, and Fluttershy blushed sheepishly.

Meanwhile, Sienna had been in a horrible mood all this time. “It’s bad enough they captured Slash! He was my best fighter!” she grumbled “And worst of it yet… they still haven’t found the Elements of Chaos!

I won’t wait much longer!!”

Omnisha waved her hand over his crystal ball, “With all due respect, Captain. Perhaps they, too, are unable to find the elements without the missing part of the map that we have.”

Sienna looked over at the map piece sitting on her chair. “You may be right, Omnisha. In all my ages of hunting treasures I know… some magical maps cannot reveal the location of the treasure, unless it is totally completed.”

She picked up the map piece and examined it closely. Then she passed it to a Raider, send this down to the planet, make sure that it lands at the proper coordinates.”

The Raider saluted and headed off.

“Now all of you listen up!” Sienna announced to the crew. Every Raider on the bridge stood from their post. “I have a plan, and it involves playing dumb.

We’re going to let those pesky ponies lead us straight to The Elements of Chaos, and once they shown us the way, we extend to them a little invitation… here, and once they are here… that’ll be the end of the line for them.”

The Raiders all grumbled and growled softly-- exclaiming their awe and interest.

“Okay, let’s move!”

All the Raiders complied and walked off to begin preparations, while Sienna snickered wickedly. “Those Elements are as good as mine, and Starfleet is as good as destroyed.”

Mako was riled with worry… for the ponies. He just couldn’t seem to get through to his sister with her obsession for the Elements being so great.

Even Omnisha was feeling a bit uneasy for Sienna going a bit too far. Her Crystal kept glowing red, which only meant one thing… Danger!

Meanwhile, the team had finished their training and returned to New Canterlot Palace.

Celestia and Grand Ruler were due to meet with all of them while their children were napping in their room, but Celestia was a little delayed having spending a little quiet time in the Royal Master Bedroom.

Grand Ruler came in, “Celestia… are you all right?”

His wife tried to put on a fearless look, but he saw right through it. “You’re still thinking about Galaxia, aren’t you?”

Celestia sighed very sadly, “Oh, darling… I can’t hold it in. I really miss my mother, even though I hardly knew her. Yet, we’re trying to solve a great mystery that she left behand all those centuries ago.

Sometimes I just wish my mother was here, to help guide us, and…” she paused and a small tear rolled down her eye “… I wonder, is she proud of us for what we’re doing?”

She imagines an image of her mother, standing proud and tall with her mane and tail fluttering in the winds, and yet looking down at her with a motherly smile.

More tears were fall from Celestia’s eyes, and it hurt Grand Ruler to see her so upset. He handed her a box of tissues, and she dried her eyes.

“If you want, you can sit this meeting out.”

“No… no… I can do this. I have to. A good queen never lets her emotions affect her duties.

I’m ready.”

She got up and headed for the door, while her husband smiled proudly and loving at her from behind. “Darling… come along. We can’t leave the team waiting.” she called to him.

Grand Ruler’s smile widened, and off they went together.

Cadance and Shining Armor were visiting with Flurry Heart, just as well.

Once again, Shining Light and Flurry heart were playing so adorable with each other in the playpen.

“I think they really like each other.” said Cadance.

“Hmmm… you don’t suppose…” Starla teased.

“Could be…”

Even their respective husbands thought the idea was cute.

“Anyway…” Lightning asked to their majesties “How goes the search? Have you found anything?”

“I’m afraid not, Lightning.” said Grand Ruler “Our scouts have been up and about and all over. Every sector was checked, scanned, and gone over again…”

Everyone sighed, “Well that’s just great…” said Shining Armor “So what do we do now?”

Before anyone could answer, the warning alarms sounded. The noise frightened the babies and made them cry.

“Stop those alarms!” shouted Celestia.

Captain Shaina came into the room, “Your majesties! Sensors detect a rouge object headed our way; it’s a missile!”

“Missile?!” cried Rarity.

“Prepare to intercept.” said Lightning, but to his surprise, “No need…” said Shaina “Infrared scanning shows it’s unarmed. It hasno warheador explosives of any kind.”

That was most unusual, and everyone looked out the windows and could see the missile heading straight for the palace grounds.

“Here it comes!” cried Buddy.

CRASH!! That was all that happened, the missile just plopped into the ground, and it did no real damage at all.

“Send the de-contamination squad.” Grand Ruler ordered.

A squad of ponies wearing special suits marched out to examine the missile and decontaminate it of any radiation or other elements.

“Where did this missile come from do you think?” asked Artie

“We’ll soon find out.” said Rainbow.

As the pony-team worked on the missile, one of the members found a small hatch on the missile and peeked inside; he couldn’t believe his eyes…! It was the final piece of the mystic map; the one that Sienna had taken.

Soon, it was given to their majesties and everyone couldn’t believe it. “It really is the map piece.” said Lightning “But why would Sienna just give it to us?”

No one had the foggiest of ideas.

“Your majesties…” cried Goldwin as he burst into the room, “You’ll never believe this, but I was in the observatory looking out into space; there’s no sign of Sienna’s ship anywhere!”

“What? Are you sure of this, Goldwin?” asked Celestia.

“I’m positive. I even confirmed it with the main control ops. They can’t find it anywhere.”

Rhymey had a bad feeling shaking inside him,

“She gives us the piece, and leaves like that?
Something’s not right here. I smell a rat!”

“He’s right, I think I know what’s happenin’ here…” said Applejack “Sienna wants us to find the Elements of Chaos, and then swoop in and surprise us with an attack.”

“I think you’re right, Applejack.” agreed Grand Ruler “But still we do have all the map pieces. We must use this opportunity to our advantage.”

Everyone agreed to that, and like magic the other map pieces were all teleported to the group.

Suddenly, all four pieces began to glow softly.

“What’s happening now?” asked Krysta.

“The pieces…!” said Rarity “They’re coming together again!”

The four pieces levitated softly in midair and all came together in the center, magically joining in soft flashes at the ends, until they all formed a single golden tablet.

Everyone gazed in awe at the fully-completed map.

Suddenly, the map gave a huge glow of light making everyone jump, and in a small lightened image…!

“Queen Galaxia!” cried Starla.

“Mother…!” Celestia squeaked softly. She felt her insides go numb seeing the image of her mother again.

The image was a special message and a hidden fact that could only be revealed when the map was completely assembled.

“If you have reassembled this map and would seek the Elements of Chaos, listen well.”

Pinkie stretched her ear open a little, “Okay, I’m listening…”

“Hold this map up to the light of the full moon, only then will you be shown the way to the Temple of Mystery.

Be warned of the treasure you seek inside. One touch of the Elements of Chaos and even the purest of creature will turn to evil.”

There was no more. The image faded away. The map stopped glowing, and fell down on the floor by Celestia’s dress. She picked up the map, almost near tears, “Mother…”

Grand Ruler placed his hand over his wife’s shoulder, and she, feeling overwhelmed with emotion rested her head on his shoulder. She didn’t cry, but she was visibly shaken.

Everyone hated to see her so upset, but still, now they could really find the Temple of Mystery. All they needed was the full moon… and it was barely midday.

Princess Luna was sound asleep in her room, and snoring softly. All night duties were hard for her, even when she had to get up.

Celestia softly tapped her sister, “Princess Luna…”

No response.

“Sister… wake up, please.”

No response.

Rainbow then stepped forth, and drew in a huge breath, “WAKE UP ALREADY!!”

Luna screamed and leapt up in fright, making everyone else scream as well. Luna was most annoyed, “What is the meaning of this?!”

“Sorry to wake you, sister, but we need your help.” said Celestia.

Soon, Celestia and Grand Ruler made the royal announcement to the entire planet explaining what was about to happen; the night was about to be brought in prematurely for a few short moments and that everyone was to ignore the sudden change and continue their daily routine normally.

Luna yawned, wanting to hurry and get this over with so she could go back to bed.

Celestia and Grand Ruler held hands, and flew up high into the sky, and used their magic to make the sun set so it got dark.

That’s when Luna used her magic to raise the full moon.

The entire team was standing out on a terrace. “Here goes…” Lightning said, and he raised up the map to the moonlight.

“Look at the map!” cried Dyno.

“…It’s glowing.” added Myte.

The map glowed brightly in Lightning’s hands, and the most amazing thing happened; there on the map appeared two magical glowing dots.

A yellow dot at the bottom, showing the team’s current position and a big red X appeared on the map where the moon was, much to everyone’s surprise.

“The Temple of Mystery is… on the moon?” Shining Armor asked in near disbelief.

“No wonder we couldn’t find it before.” said Cadance.

“We better go and check it out.” said Lightning. The others all agreed, but Starla chose to stay behind. “It’s almost time for Shining Light to be fed. I should feed him. I’ll send my droid to join you in a bit, once I have him down for his nap.”

“Alright, but don’t take too long.” Lightning said, and he pecked his wife goodbye and good luck.

“Krysta, take us up.”

“Right, here we go.” and everyone was teleported in a flash way off to the moon.

“Well, I guess we can put the sun back in the sky now.” said Grand Ruler.

“I don’t think that will be too easy.” said Celestia, and she motioned over at Princess Luna, sound asleep on the floor.

*Mykan’s POV*

I was already on the moon collecting a few rocks and bags of sand. I wanted to run some experiments to see if the ponies’ moon was like the moon that orbited Earth; made of the same stuff.

I wasn’t alone either; the Cutie Mark Crusaders were with me. I felt it would be a nice private learning session for them, as well to keep me company and help me out, and I had written permission from their royal majesties, and from the girls’ families to bring them along.

The girls seemed to be having more fun with the low gravity though. They were playing tag and having long and high jump contests.

“Bet I can jump higher than you, Applebloom.” said Sweetie Belle.

“You’re on, girl.”

The two leapt up super high, while Scootaloo and DD bounced along the surface.

“Take it easy, girls.” I called to them “Don’t leapt too high now or you’ll lose control.”

“Sorry, we’ll try.” called Scootaloo.

I stopped and took a look around me, still fascinated that I was actually walking on the moon, with air that I could breathe with no need of a spacesuit or anything. The stars all around me were shining brighter than ever they did at night on the planet.

DD suddenly came over to me, “How’s it going, Mr. Stevens?”

“I think I’ve just about got all I need.” I said “Just the same, I’m glad your girls are here with me.”

“Are you kidding?” said DD “This is the most exciting thing we’ve ever done! We’re actually on the moon!”

“YEAH!”the other girls all hollered, and they gave a huge leap for joy… and leapt a little too high! “Whoa!” cried Sweetie Belle as she felt herself losing her balance and found herself being pushed over by the soft winds blowing her a few ways across the terrain.

“I warned her.” I sighed.

The other girls and I hopped along to go after Sweetie Belle.

“Sweetie Belle…?” I called “Sweetie Belle, are you okay?”

“Sweetie Belle…?” Applebloom called “Where are ya?”

“Over here…!” Sweetie Belle called “Come here quick. There is something you will not believe!”

We followed the sound of her voice and found her standing over a large and deep crater. “Look down there.”

We all looked into the crater, and we couldn’t believe our eyes. The floor of the crater had an unusual carving in the ground of a large alicorn pony.

“What in the world is that?” I wondered.

“I’ve never anythin’ like It.” said Applebloom “Really, I haven’t.”

Suddenly, Scootaloo looked behind her and saw large and spooky shadows, like monsters, along the big boulders and rocks moving straight for them.

“Um…!” she whimpered while patting my back, and that’s when I saw the shadows too. “Stay behind me, girls.” I said. The girls all huddled whimpering behind me, and I prepared to draw out my sword as the shadows got closer and closer!

Then, the shadows changed into familiar shapes, as Lightning and his team came along. “Hey…” Lightning called.

The girls and I breathed a sigh of relief, and the girls hopped over to hug their respective relatives. “How do you like the moon, DD?” Buddy asked.

“I don’t know what it’s more; scary or exciting.”

“Hey! Check out what we found.” Cried Scootaloo, and she lead everyone over to the crater.

“Oh, my…” said Fluttershy as she looked down at the carving. “It’s a carving of Queen Galaxia.”

Lightning checked the map, and the yellow dots showing their position was directly over the red X. “This is it.” he said “The entrance to the Temple of Mystery.”

“We’ve really found it!” cried Spike “But… how do we get in. I don’t see any door.”

Everyone then remembered what the text on the map said.

“Only by creatures offour differences,withfour blades of differenceshall reveal the entrance.”

“Well, what if we try going Valkyrie?” suggested Rarity, the other Equestrian ponies agreed to try, but Lightning shook his head, “That won’t help. It says we need four different creatures, and four different swords.”

“What about me?” asked Spike “I’m a dragon, and I have my Dragon Knight sword. That would help.”

“Yeah…” I agreed “And don’t forget me and my sword.”

“That’s still only three.” said Lightning “We need one more creature with one more sword. It can’t be a pony. It can’t be a dragon, or another human.”

Everyone pondered about it, but then Applebloom gave a small yelp, “I think we need to start thinkin’ of somethin’ else about now.”

“What are you babblin’ about, Applebloom?” asked Applejack, but then she could see…! A whole swarm of Jemma-Nites and Raiders, marching through the fields and looking edgy for a fight!

“I’ve never seen so many!” cried Rainbow.

“We were right…” said Artie “Sienna WAS waiting for us!”

Everyone looked up and around but there was still no sign of Sienna or her ship anywhere; nothing but the large army of monsters and raiders.

“Krysta! Take Mykan and the girls back to the planet.”

Krysta nodded, but I stood firm, “No way! I’m going to stay and help you. You’re going to need all the help you can get.”

“He’s right!” said Dyno, “Si! We could use his help.”

The others all agreed too. “Just don’t come crying to us if you get hurt.” Rarity teased. I sneered at her “Well thanks for the mode of confidence.”

“Let’s go!” said Lightning.

“STARFLEET MAGIC”

“HARMONY HOUR, FRIENDSHIP POWER”

“Dragon Power”

“Ha!” was all I could do as I got out my sword and shield. I still didn’t have any super armor to transform into.

“Come on, girls…” Krysta said as she huddled the crusaders together and teleported them back to the planet where it was safe.

“Alright… let’s rumble!” said Lightning.

Everyone rushed forth towards the monsters, punching and kicking them down to size.

“Hiya!” I shouted as I slashed a Raider with my sword.

A monster then tried to hit at me, but I blocked it when my shield, “Did you miss me?” I teased. The monster struck for me again, but I ducked down making him strike a comrade instead, and they both went down, “I guess you did.”

The ponies continued to battle hard, and the number of Raiders was diminishing fast, and the monsters weren’t fairing any better, yet they continued to fight ruthlessly. Some even began to fight dirty!

Fluttershy flipped on monster over, but got surprised from behind by another that attacked her; kicking her several times and sent her crashing towards a rock wall, but Rhymey caught and set her down gently.

“Oh, thank you…!” she cooed

Her husband rhymed, “Anything for you.”

They two stood together as the monsters approached them. Fluttershy and Rhymey nodded at one another, and gave the monster a huge punch, sending them soaring off in the low gravity.

“Hey!!” A voice called out to us as Starla’s droid flew into the scene.

“Perfect! We’ve got to the whole team now.” said Lightning. “Now let’s really give it to them!”

Back in New Canterlot, the Crusaders were transferred to the royal palace for extra protection. They were permitted to use the super telescopes in the observatory to observe the action.

Starla sat next to them using a new control console Professor Brain had recently whipped up for her. Unlike her small controller and helmet piece, she was sitting at an entire console machine, with a headband and wires around her forehead connected to the systems. This all helped her to control he droid from a much farther distance.

“Gotcha!” she cheered as she took out a Jemma-Nite “That goes for you too! Ha!”

“Gee, she looks like she’s having loads of fun.” said Scootaloo.

“This isn’t fun, remember? This is serious.” said Krysta.

The girls got back to watching the action. The Jemma-Nites were falling, one by one, until only about a small portion of the army was left.

“We’ve got them on the ropes.” said Lightning “All together, everyone!” and with that everyone combined their most powerful attacks into a huge blast of power, blasting the remains of the monsters hard, and destroying them in a huge blast that enveloped the field.

“They did it!” cried Sweeite Belle “All the monsters are gone.”

Starla sighed in relief “What a battle.”

Suddenly, Applebloom gasped, “Uh-Oh!”

“What’s wrong?” asked Starla, but she could suddenly see for herself as the screen for her droid showed everyone enveloped in bright light.

The entire team was shrouded in a beam of bright light, and before anyone could question why, we saw Sienna’s ship way overhead.

“Surprise, Starfleet!” Sienna chuckled “Going up…!” and she made the transporter beam haul everyone up, up, up… straight to the ship.

“We’ve got to do something!” cried Rarity.

“Try to blast through the barrier!” said Spike, but before anyone could even try to attack, we were all bombarded from above by strong lasers and knocked out cold.

Finally, as we all disappeared into the ship, Starla lost all contact with her droid. “No!!” she cried “Lightning!”

“I’ll go get their majesties!” said Krysta.

The crusaders were all equally as worried for their friends and realities as well. Who knew what sort of dastardly things Sienna had planned.

Lightning soon began to awaken, feeling rather weak and dizzy, after all that battling and getting conked out by the stun lasers. He also felt rather heavy, much heavier than usual.

“What’s going on?” he wondered.

The rest of us were all right with him, and we all started to awaken.

“Uhn… what happened?” I asked “Where are we?”

The others all regained their senses, and discovered that they were all in a dark room. Everyone found out they were so heavy because their super suits had been activated. All of them were lying flat on a large circular floor, unable to move because of the weight under normal gravity.

I was held in place on the wall by strong glowing manacles on my wrists and ankles.

Starla’s droid was offline and stood motionless within a clear tube casing on the other side of the room.

The ponies and Spike tried to get up, but their suits were too heavy. They couldn’t even roll their heads with their heavy visors weighing them down.

“Heavy, isn’t it?” hissed a sinister voice. Lights came on all over the room, and there stood Sienna, Mako, Omnisha and a few Raiders. “I know it was for me, when I first started training with it. That’s how I became as swift and as strong as I am today.”

Buddy growled, “The old fake-out sneak surprise, and we fell for it.”

Sienna snickered, “You’d be surprised how often other races fell for that old trick, and in the end it always ended up tragic… for them.

I suppose I should thank you all. Without your help, not to mention constant pestering me and my plans, I never would have found the way to The Elements of Chaos.

Finally, after all this time; the greatest power will be mine, and the first I’ll do is I’ll crush United Equestria to bits! Then I will destroy many more planets, any naught will be able to stop me!”

Mako didn’t like the lust in his sister’s voice!

“You won’t get away with this, Sienna!” growled Pinkie.

“Ha!” scoffed Sienna “Last I checked I wasn’t the one laying on the floor with so much weight one me.”

The ponies tried and tried, but it was still super hard to make even slightest movement, let alone get up and fight, and I couldn’t break free from the wall either, and I couldn’t reach for my weapons or my teleporter.

“It was my fondest hope to finish you off myself, but I’ve waited far too long to get those Elements.” She snapped her fingers at a Raider, signaling it to throw a switch.

At once, the large circular panel the ponies and Spike were on began to glow, and the air seemed to be waving around them.

“What’s happening now?” asked Artie, and suddenly he and the others felt themselves feeling a bit heavier.

“What… is this?!” groaned Applejack

Omnisha snickered, “This is a super-gravity-simulator. We use it to train ourselves under immense pressures to get stronger. Slowly the gravity is increasing, and you’ll feel every last bit of it pulling down on you like have an entire planet on your shoulders!”

“Guys…!” I cried as I watched them all struggling with all that weight pulling down on them, and the more that gravity increased, the more their already heavy suits would crush on them, until they’d all be flattened.

Sienna snickered, “Let’s go… leave them to their fate. I have a date with destiny, and destruction!”

She and her followers left, but Mako stopped a moment and looked back at the suffering ponies, feeling extreme guilt and hurt for them. He really didn’t think he could bear this.

“Mako!” called Sienna, and he had no choice but to run to his sister.

“So much for… your idea… of him… reforming!” groaned Rainbow.

“It was… worth… a shot!” protested Rarity.

“Will you stop arguing!” growled Lightning “We’ve got to… try and get out of here… or we’ll be… crushed like eggs!”

He tried to transform into his Enticorn form, but the pull was much too forceful for him to concentrate hard enough, and the Equestrians couldn’t turn go Valkyrie as they were still ticked out from the battle on the moon.

The gravity was slowly increasing, and pulling harder on everyone. They could barely even open their mouths to speak!

I struggled all I could to try to get down from the wall, but the manacles that held me were too strong. All I could do was watch hopelessly as all my friends were being crushed painfully under the pressure.

I never felt so helpless in my life!

*POV Ends*

On the bridge Sienna had assembled another army of Jemma-Nites and Raiders. “The day of destiny is upon us! We are about to rise to power… a power beyond imagination, a power that will grant us all we could want and more!

All you Jemma-Nites, get down to the planet, and keep them all busy and detained! Destroy them if you must, but keep them weakened so they’ll never be have a fighting chance!”

Mako officially lost it inside.

“The rest of you…” Sienna hollered to the Raiders “Return to the moon and start digging your way into the temple. I want those elements in my hands in the shortest possible time. If not then sooner!

NOW, LET’S GO!!!”

The army hollered with pride and joy and ran off to prepare.

“I see future for us all.” said Omnisha “But it’s rather unclear.”

“What are you saying?” asked Sienna.

Omnisha waved her hands over her crystal ball, “The Elements of Chaos, they may be more powerful and more dangerous than what we expected. The future is unclear to me, but it could go any way it seems.”

Mako didn’t like the sound of that at all, but Sienna glared at Omnisha “I’ll tell you how the future will be: It’s ME using the Elements of Chaos to conquer the universe and destroy anyone who gets in my way!

Are you okay with that?”

Seeing how snarling and furious Sienna was, almost like an unpredictable, Omnisha gave in again, “Yes… I’m fine with it.”

“Good, now go and help with the plan!”

Omnisha left the bridge, but Mako, finally realizing his sister had gone too far stood up to her. “Maybe I’M not fine with it!”

Sienna halted dead in her tracks and glared back at her brother in shock!

“What! You’re going to destroy people needlessly now? You said we would only conquer them!”

Sienna was really getting irritated, “Did people like them not take away our parents? Did creatures like them not mess up our lives?! Wake up, Mako! They deserve what they’ve got coming to them and more!”

“You’ve gone mad, Sienna!!” snarled Mako “I can’t believe you!”

“What I can’t believe is you! I looked out for you! I took so many beatings for you, and I worked long and hard to get us here! And this is how you repay me?!”

Mako didn’t know what he felt like doing now.

“LOOK OUT THERE!!” Sienna shouted, “There’s a whole universe out there for us to conquer and rule, and some of it’s going to be yours, Mako, and the first thing we need to do is destroy anyone or anything that could pose a potential threat!”

She marched straight over to the controls and launched her Jemma-Nites down to the planet, much to Mako’s horror, and he couldn’t stand this much longer.

“Could I make it any clearer, Mako?” Sienna snarled, but as she looked over her shoulder, her brother was pointing a ray-gun right at her. “I can’t…” he cried “I can’t let you do this anymore!”

Sienna groaned irritably, “And you say I’ve gone mad?”

“Those ponies helped me!” cried Mako “They believed in me, and they were willing to let me go so I could try to help you, and now you’re planning to blow them up!

What have they ever done to us?! Maybe some creatures did mess up our lives and make it hard for us, but not they! They didn’t deserve any of it, and come to think of it… neither did any of the others.

I KNOW THAT NOW!!”

Sienna was still unmoved, “Put down the gun, Mako. I’m all you’ve got, remember.”

Mako was trembling.

“Ever since our folks died I’m all you’ve ever had. Do you really want to shoot me, or are you willing to go with me and rule the universe? Take your choice.”

Mako felt the gun getting heavier as his nerves sank, and tear fell from his eyes as he lowered the gun. Sienna snickered, “There we go, that’s better.”

She walked up to him and took his gun, and patted his head “It won’t be too long now.” Then she went off, and Mako collapsed to his knees.

His own sister nearly turned against him, or rather HE turning against her. “What am I going to do?!” he pondered to himself “Either way I go, it’s not going to end well for one side!”

To Be Continued…!

In our next episode: As United Equestria defends from the swarm of monsters, Mako ultimately decides with better judgment what he must do and agrees to help the ponies take down his sister, which sparks much warranted hatred and madness from Sienna.

Has Mako made the right choice, and what will the outcome be for either the heroes or the villains?

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

(Next Episode: “Mutiny of the Bounty: Part 2”)

Episode 22: Mutiny for the Bounty: Part 2

“Previously on Starfleet Magic…”

Sienna deliberately let the team have the final piece of the map which allowed them to locate the entrance to the mysterious Temple of Mystery, which had been located on the moon for centuries, but surprises were in store right around the corner. After battling a huge swarm of monsters, Sienna suddenly appeared and trapped the team onboard her ship, which made Mako decide to commit mutiny against his sister!

EPISODE TWENTY-TWO

The vast army of Jemma-Nites stormed through New Canterlot, feeling it was the best place to begin their attack; at the heart of Starfleet!

The alarms were already blaring, and the civilians all ran for the nearest shelter their could while others, unable to make it inside, ran or flew as far from the danger zone as they could as the barriers were raised over the buildings and homes.

“Send out every available knight and troop we’ve got!” Grand Ruler ordered.

So many Starfleet officers and knights marched out of the palace, and into action.

Cadance and Shining armor dashed down to assist them.

“Go, Go Ninja”

“Mask of Saber”

Transforming in their stronger forms, they leapt into action leaving Flurry Heart in the care of the palace nursery.

What a sight it was; to look down from way above to see fighters and monsters fighting it out. Swords clashing, guns firing, small explosions and streams of power and energy…!

Some of the Starfleet fighters got hurt in the process, but their comrades were there to aid and assist them, as well as pay the monsters back, destroying them in big explosions, but many more monsters remained, and more were appearing by the dozens.

Starla was frustratingly trying to reactivate her droid to try and help her friends trapped on Sienna’s ship, but it was no use, the signal could not get through Sienna’s ship.

“Come on! Start!” she cried as she pounded on the controls. The Crusaders and Krysta never had seen her so frantic before.

“Um, Starla…” said Krysta “I’m just as worried about the others too, but don’t you think you should help down below too?”

Starla pounded on the console in frustration, but she knew Krysta was right.

“Starfleet Magic!”

“Is there anything we can do to help?” Sweetie Belle asked. “No, no, girls. You all stay right here, and whatever you do don’t touch my droids console. Understand?”

The girls promised, and then Starla and Krysta leapt out the window leaving the girls alone to look through the telescopes at the moon in the daytime sky.

“Hey, check this out!” cried Applebloom.

The girls each looked through a separate telescope and could see Sienna’s forces on the moon, right by the crater where the Temple of Mystery was.

Omnisha was leading the gang. “Get digging!” she thundered at the Raiders “Do what you have to and unearth the entrance.”

The Raiders complied and began to dig in the crater above the Galaxia carving, but as soon as their shovel hit the ground, the ground was very solid and the shovels hardly made any dents.

“What’s wrong?” asked Omnisha.

The Raiders raised their busted shovels.

Omnisha was not one to give up. “Try the drills and the lasers. We’ve got to find the entrance!”

Meanwhile, Sienna was enjoying watching the action happening on the planet on the monitors. “This is more fun than a movie.” she cackled, and then she decided “Let’s take to the next level!

Fire the lasers!”

The Raiders complied and fired the ship’s lasers at the planet.

The beams hit the ground causing huge explosions. The barriers protected the buildings, but the destruction began to spread.

“No!” cried Starla.

“This is so not good!” added Saber.

“Won’t anyone do anything about that spaceship?!” shouted Krysta.

Such a plea was shortly answered as a bright ray of light shone from far behind. Everyone looked up and saw none other than Grand Celestial Ruler; the fused form of Grand Ruler Celesto and Queen Celestia.

“We will try to ward off the laser attacks.” they said “All of you please continue to help defend this world.”

Then they flew off into the sky, and waving their large sceptre, they conjured up several powerful barrier sheets which they could move around and intercept the laser blasts.

“Blast it!” growled Sienna “Those creeps are always up to something! Keep firing at them!”

She didn’t seem too concerned about The Ruler. She knew they wouldn’t dare try to attack ship. In the first place: they wouldn’t succeeded in damaging them thanks to alloy coat, but also because Lightning and friends were still aboard.

“I wonder how our little prisoners are faring?” she wondered, but she was so distracted by the battle, she didn’t notice that Mako had slipped off the bridge!

*Mykan’s POV*

This was complete and total torture to me; watching my friends be crushed under the immense pressure. All of them were starting to look a little swollen under the pressures of their armors, and they couldn’t even move their mouths to speak!

“This can’t be happening!” I cried.

Suddenly, the machine was switched off, and all the others gasped in extreme relief! Every muscle in their body ached, but it felt so good to at least be able to speak again.

“What happened?” Lightning asked wearily.

That’s when Mako loomed over him, “Hey, guys.” he said.

“Mako? What are you doing?” asked Fluttershy.

“Something I should’ve done long ago.” replied Mako, and tapped everyone’s energizers, powering down their super suits so they could all get up again.

“Ohhh…!” groaned Buddy as he felt his aching bones all over “I never thought it was possible to be to be in so much pain!”

Rainbow gave one simple pull of her finger, cracking the knuckle, “Ooh!” she groaned.

Mako then gave held out a special amulet he retrieved from the treasure hoard. “This will help restore some of your strengths.” He waved his hand over the amulet and it started glowing, basking everyone in a bright light and restoring their strengths as promised. That was all the power it had.

Rarity and Spike were only half surprised, but amazed at Mako.

“Um… excuse me!” I called over from the wall, wanting someone to get me down. Mako released me from the manacles. “Thanks a bunch, kid.” I said, but then I couldn’t help but ask “Why are you doing all this?”

Mako wasn’t putting on any fake act; he was most serious. “I want to save Sienna. She’s become so obsessed with all this power, she’s really lost it.”

He even told us that she was blasting United Equestria and sending wave after wave of monsters, and all of us were completely livid and agreed that Sienna had to be stopped, and we were going to start by bringing down the ship itself!

“How are we going to do that?” asked Pinkie.

“There is a way…” said Mako “The engine room. If we can destroy it, the whole ship will be brought down.”

The rest of us pretty much agreed, “Um, just one thing…” said Artie “I don’t think we want to blow up ourselves too.”

“We won’t have to…” said Lightning, and paced over to Starla’s motionless droid, and punched through the glass casing shattering it. “I remember the day Professor Brain presented this to me and Starla while she was pregnant. He told us it was equipped with a self-destruct system.”

“Well, that seems all fine,
But the droid is offline.” said Rhymey.

Lightning rolled his eyes, and turned the droid to its backside revealing a small panel to its inner-circuitry. “I’ll hotwire it, give it time for us to get clear.”

He then tapped into his visor to scan their position. “Right now it says we are directly over the moon.

When the droid explodes and blows up the engine room, then ship will start to fall, once we get about five-hundred from touchdown, we bail out.”

“I get it…” said Dyno “Then the void of space won’t be able to teleport us, and we can land on the moon safely.”

“Well, what are we waiting for?” said Myte.

“I’ll lead the way.” said Mako, and we all followed him out of the chamber.

Along the way, Rarity patted Mako’s shoulder, “I’m so proud of you, but you did take your sweet time.”

All of us didn’t like her attitude there.

“Please… let me.” I begged. Lightning agreed, and I flicked Rarity’s ear hard.

“Ow!”

Applejack chuckled, “Good one.” She said to me and we slapped each other a high-five.

Rarity was not amused.

“We are proud of you though, Mako.” said Spike “We’ll do all we can for you.”

“What about Sienna?” asked Mako.

“We’ll have to capture her still. She’ll never be able to be helped until she’s stopped. We’ll work it out later. Which way to the engine room…?”

“This way, come with me.”

Suddenly, we turned a corner, and walked into a whole bunch of Raiders. They began to screech and roar to sound alarms.

“Go!” shouted Lightning, and we all rushed in to tackle those brutes down.

“You’re going down!” thundered Lightning as he twirl-kicked.

“Rope ‘N Ride!” hollered Applejack, and she roped a trio of Raiders, and then yanked on the rope sending the trio slamming into the wall!

“DRAGON FLAME-WHEEL!”

He bowled his way through the Raiders, knocking them all over “STII-RIKE… and you’re out!”

With all the Raiders down, we all proceeded to the Engine Room,unaware that the security cameras were watching us!

*POV Ends*

Sienna was too busy to notice. “Keep firing the lasers!”

The ship’s lasers continued to blast at the planet below, but Grand Celestial Ruler continued to move their shield-plates to intercept every blast.

Deep within the Ruler’s magical body, Celestia and Grand Ruler were able to converse with each other.

“Celesto, we can’t keep this up forever.”

“You’re right.” said Grand Ruler “There’s got to be some way of bringing that ship down once and for all!” but he was still worried of Lightning and the others as well.

Down in New Canterlot, it seemed as if the Jemma-Nites would never stop coming.

Cadance fired her finisher-- the Ninja Fist Thrust-- destroying another Jemma-Nite, only for two more to then take its place.

Cadance shook her fists in frustration.

Saber slashed his sword destroying more Jemma-Nites, and then there were more. “This isn’t working!” he cried “They just keep on coming!”

Some of the Starfleet fighters and knights were growing exhausted, and while there were others to take their place so they could get some rest, they all knew this couldn’t go on forever.

Starla kept staring up at the alien ship worry about Lightning, which distracted her from the fight, and she got blasted at hard by a couple of monsters, and then was kicked hard in the chest and sent crashing into a tree, snapping the trunk and the tree keeled right over.

“Starla!” cried Krysta.

“I’m okay…” Starla said as she got to her feet, and glared at the monsters. Then she leapt up high in the air…

“STAR SHOWER”she unleashed her stars at the monsters, which barely scratched the monsters. They just raised their diamond-arms defending themselves from the barrage, which let Starla come in from above and kick them hard in the heads knocking them down.

She and Krysta nodded at one another with a smirk.

Sienna was amused by all the battling, but frustrated as well. “Don’t these ponies ever give up?!” she growled.

Then she contacted Omnisha, “What’s taking so long down there? Why haven’t you found the Elements of Chaos yet?”

“A-thousand pardons,” said Omnisha “We can’t seem to dig our way into the temple. This ground is unlike anything I’ve ever seen.”

The Raiders all groaned and whined, holding up busted shovels, broken drill bits, and tired out lasers, yet the ground hard been hardly scratched.

“I don’t care how you do it; just unearth that temple and GET ME THE ELEMENTS!!” Sienna thundered, and she pounded the console changing the picture to showing the engine room.

“What’s this?!” she snapped as she couldn’t believe her eyes. The prisoners had escaped and were setting Starla’s droid down in the engine room by the main reactor… and Mako was with them!

Any care and respect she supposedly had left for her brother seemed to be completely overtaken with rage! “He’s betrayed me!!”

She reached for her sword and drew it out, “That’s the last straw!” and she dashed off, but not before pressing a silent alarm switch.

*Mykan’s POV*

Inside the massive engine room, all the Raiders inside were unconscious, having been beaten up by the team when we burst in.

“This is the main reactor.” said Mako, “If this baby blows, the whole ship will go dead.”

Fluttershy gulped nervously, “I hope it doesn’t make us go dead!”

Rhymey held her hand to calm her, and we all watched as Lightning set Starla’s droid down behind the reactor where no one would see it, and opened the compartment in the back. “Easy… easy…” he said as he carefully picked at the wires with his fingers, remembering all he studied about electronics and circuitry from his education.

There was a soft spark, making him wince.

The rest of us gasped softly.

“It’s okay. It’s all right.” Lightning said, and he concentrated on his work. “I sure wish Krysta was here.” he said to himself “Her tiny hands would come in handy.”

After a few simple reconnections, the droid began to awaken again. “Systems, online.” it said in a robotic voice.

“Yes!” Lightning cried softly, “Now, Self-Destruct system-- connect this… to here… and that there…”

He finally managed to make the right connection. “Self-Destruct system activated.” beeped the droid, “Five minutes and counting.”

Then a timer appeared in her eyes and began to count down from 300 seconds!

“Five minutes?!” cried Artie.

“Uh, oh…” said Lightning “I forgot to calculate the timer mechanism.”

We all gave him a strong look of disdain. “Hey, nobody’s perfect!” retorted Lightning.

“Never mind, let’s beat it outta’ here before this place blows!” cried Rainbow.

“You don’t have to tell me twice.” agreed Applejack.

“Wait…!” cried Mako “…I can’t leave without Sienna. She’s still my sister, and I don’t want her to be destroyed.”

We all figured he would say that, and we understood his feelings well.

“How touching.” Sienna scoffed.

Everyone looked up, and we all saw her with an army of Raiders and a few Jemma-Nites by her side.

“Sienna.” cried Mako.

His sister glared at him in extreme disappointment, “I should’ve have known you’d turn on me, Mako.”

“It’s not like you gave him much of a choice!” sneered Dyno.

Myte agreed, “Look at yourself, Chica! You’ve become so overcome by greed and hatred you’ve chased your own brother away from you!”

Rarity and Spike stood by Mako’s side. Poor Mako looked ashamed, but Rarity and Spike comforted him, and glared angrily at Sienna, which only further enraged her. “You creatures…! What would you ever know about loyalty and truth?

Just look at me…!

Ever since our parents died, I had to toughen up to look after Mako, and then we got abducted and abused by those horrible aliens. I remember all the beatings I took to keep Mako safe, I remember all the things I sacrificed to keep us both alive!

…and now, THIS… THIS IS HOW YOU REPAY ME, MAKO!!”

Mako shook his head, “No, Sienna… I was always grateful that you looked out for me, but now you’ve changed. You’re not the sister I know and loved.” his voice sounded tearful “These ponies did nothing to us, except try and stop us from making larger mistakes than what we’ve already made.

They were kind enough to help me when I was lost and hurt, and you continued to hurt them!”

Sienna gnashed her teeth angrily.

“Don’t be a fool, Sienna.” said Lightning “It’s over! Your reign of terror ends now. Give yourself up and we’ll try and help you.”

“Help me…?!” growled Sienna “Maybe you should worry… ABOUT YOURSELVES!!” and she ordered her minions to attack in the big open engine room.

Pinkie sighed “They always want to do it the hard way. Fine, we’ll do this the hard way.

Rhymey quietly reminded everyone…

“We better not take long you, know.
Very shortly the bomb will blow.”

The Raiders all leapt over the railings and down to the main floor, and began to fired their ray guns.

“HOLD YOUR FIRE!!” shouted Sienna “You’ll blow the reactor! Use your swords!”

The Raiders complied and went after us.

“So you want swords, eh?” I snickered and drew out my sword and shield. I began to fence with those raiders. Rhymey and Spike joined me, wielding their own swords.

“ALL FOR ONE, AND ONE FOR ALL!!” we all cheered.

“See the Raiders as they fall!” rhymed Rhymey.

The Jemma-Nites came at the ponies swinging their huge arms, and the ponies fought back valiantly, holding them at bay.

The timer on the droid read 120 seconds to go; two minutes!

“Get them, you miserable monsters…!” thundered Sienna.

Lightning glared up at her, and leapt up onto the walkway and tackled her to the ground hard. “If you can’t be made to reason with, I’ll just have to DRAG you into custody!”

“You’ll never take me alive!!” shouted Sienna, and she kicked him off of her and drew out her sword.

“Take that!” Sienna growled, swinging her sword like a mad lady! Lightning swerved and dodged her every strike, and managed to punch her hard in the face, sending her over the railing and down to the floor.

Lightning then leapt down after her.

“We’ve got to hurry! There isn’t much time left!” cried Rarity

“Let’s hurry and waste these creeps!” thundered Applejack.

“Yeah!” agreed Buddy and he got out his Vine Whip and tripped all the monsters off their feet, and then he charged up his finisher,“WHIPLASH STRIKE”

One monster was destroyed.

“SUPER STAFF SPIN”

“THRASH SLASH!”

Artie and Rhymey took out two more.

There was less than a minute remaining on the timer…!

Sienna and Lightning were still brawling like crazy, and some of the others jumped into help him.

Applejack lassoed the sword and yanked it out of Sienna’s hand.

“Oh, yeah!” thundered Sienna, and she grabbed her ray-gun.

“NO!!” shouted Mako, and feeling overwhelmed with rage of his own, he lunged at his own sister, jumping on her and covering her head with his cape.

Blinded and stumbling about, Sienna dropped her gun, allowed the ponies to all come in and tackle her to the ground and take her by the arms.

“You’re finished, Sienna!” thundered Lightning, “In the name of Starfleet, I hereby place you under arrest for intergalactic terrorism and thievery!”

Sienna growled angrily, but just as Lightning was about to place her in a capture sphere…

…03… 02… 01…!!

KPAOW!! The droid exploded, and severely damaged the main reactor. The force of the explosion knocked everyone clear to the back of the room.

The entire ship began to rumble and shake as systems began to fail!

Outside the ship, the thrusters began to malfunction and exploded, and the ship began to tilt and descend.

The Ruler was confused.

“Look!” Celestia cried from within.

“The ship, it’s blowing up from within!” said Grand Ruler.

Down below, Starla didn’t like the looks of the ship blowing up one bit. “Lightning!!” she cried up at the sky. “Krysta! Take me to the moon!”

“But… but I…?”

Starla, in a moment of madness, grabbed the little fairy and shouted, “TAKE ME TO THE MOON!!”

“Okay! Okay! I gotcha!”

“We’ll go with you.” said Saber and Cadance nodded in agreement, and so, Krysta warped them all up to the moon.

The ship was slowly descending towards the moon, and inside the warning alarms sounded followed by an automated voice.“Danger! All systems failing! Evacuate Ship immediately!”

Sparks began to fly as more systems and consoles malfunctioned, and the ship rocked all about, giving Sienna her chance to escape custody.

“Stop her!” I shouted, and the others began to fire magical blasts form their horns, but Sienna skillfully rolled about, dodged their every blow, and made her way back to safety by the entrance door.

“Sienna!” shouted Mako, but he sister just glared at him like a traitor!

The ship continued to rock about as the reactor went crazy. Sienna shouted at us all “Don’t feel too proud that you’ve destroyed my ship, because you are going down with it!!” and she ran off.

“Sienna!!” cried Mako “…SIENNA!!!!” but she was already gone, dashing down the exploding corridors.

She was running to make her great escape, but the coridoors began to collapse as they blew wide open in the explosions. “Whoa… HEY!!!” Sienna shrieked as she was buried until tons of falling debris.

Mako tried to run off after his sister, but the twins held him back. “Let me go!” Mako cried, “Sienna! I won’t leave her!”

“Sorry, amigo, we gotta go now!” shouted Dyno.

“Andale, let’s go!” cried Myte.

We all leapt up high up to the exit.

“This way!” cried Mako “Emergency escape hatches…!”

*POV Pause*

The ship was falling faster and closer towards the moon.

“Look!” cried Omnisha “It’s heading right this way!”

The Raiders all panicked and leapt out of the crater, getting as far away as they could. “Hurry… Run!!” Omnisha cried as she ran for the moon hills herself.

The Ruler could see it all for themselves.

“The ship!” cried Celestia, “It’s heading straight for where the temple of mystery is!”

“We can’t let it hit there.” said Grand Ruler “Otherwise we may not be able to explore it.”

The only option they had to was to his the ship with all their might and try to nudge it off course so it wouldn’t fall into the temple, but Grand Ruler was still worried about Lightning and the others.

*POV Resumes*

We all reached the missile launch bay and the hangar doors were open wide.

“BAIL OUT!!” Lightning shouted, and everyone began to jump through the openings, out of the ship.

“WHOA!!” cried Rarity as she felt the force of the fall pushing against her. “My wings!!” she screamed “I’m losing my feathers!”

I scorned at Rarity, “You’re lucky you haven’t lost more than that!”

Rarity grinned sheepishly as we all plummeted down, down, down towards the moon. Mako turned to look back at the falling ship, “SIENNA…!!!” he cried.

*Pause*

At the very same moment, Starla and the others had appeared on the moon and could see the huge ship less than a-thousand feet from crashing!

“Look there!” Saber shouted pointing up at the sky, and everyone could see, “It’s Lightning and the others!” cried Krysta.

Starla smiled, “They’re all right!”

The Ruler could see them from where they hovered, and they were most pleased. “Now’s our chance.” said Grand Ruler. Celestia agreed, and the two of them powered The Ruler’s magical scepter, aiming it straight at ship…

“MYSTIC LIGHT”

*Resume*

POW!! The hyper beam soared, striking the ship hard, and though it did it hardly any damage due to the strong alloy, but it did push the ship way off from the temple’s crater.

“Whoa! Check it out!” cried Artie.

“INCOMING!!!” Rainbow hollered as the ship continued to go down, down, down…!

…CRASH!!! The very ground shook vigoursly as the ship slammed down hard in a clearing, hundreds of yards away. The back thrusters burst into flames, and one of the back wings was severed off.

The ground shook so violently that Omnisha and the raiders all fell over and off their feet. Omnisha dropped her crystal ball, and she scrambled to grab it, but Starla came along stepping on her arm.

Omnisha nervously looked up and saw Starla, and the others glaring furiously down at her. She knew she was finished and surrendered willingly.

Starla used her magic to capture Omnisha in a sphere, and Cadance took the crystal ball for evidence to be locked away.

As for the remaining Raiders,“STRIIDENT SHOCKWAVE”Saber blasted them to bits. “So much for them.” he grumbled.

“Starla…!” Lightning called as he and the rest of us came flying over the plain. Starla’s smile widened as her sprint on ahead and collided into her husband in a huge hug. “Lightning…!”

Lightning embraced his wife tightly and then said to her, “Um… bad news about your droid I’m afraid.”

Starla didn’t seem to care too much.

The friends were all delighted to be runited, but poor little Mako was absolutely miserable as he stood atop a hill and stared at the downed ship from afar.

“Sienna.” he cried softly. No one ever saw any escape pods exit the ship before it crashed, and surely no one could have survived the crash itself.

Mako felt his insides aching, but he hurt so much he couldn’t even cry.

“Oh, Mako…!” Fluttershy cried as she came up to the little alien boy, hugging him softly. “I’m so sorry.”

Everyone felt extremely bad for Mako’s loss.

“Take him back to the planet, will you, Krysta.” said Lightning “We’ll decide what to do about him later.”

Cadance, de-transformed so she could speak, and held the sad little boy, “I’ll go with him.”

Soon, Krysta warped the four of us away.

“Poor little guy.” cried Pinkie “I hope he’ll be okay.”

“We all hope so, Pinkie.” said Applejack “We all do.”

We all held our heads low and suddenly looked up at the bright lights in the sky as Grand Celestial Ruler loomed over us from above. Their cosmic energies protected them from being warped off into space by the teleporting energies.

“We are glad to see you all are safe.”

We all felt the same.

“How are things on the planet?” Spike asked.

“There have been some damages, and many of our fighters have been injured, but… thank the stars… there have been no serious casualties.

There are still some monsters left, but our forces will be able to handle them. Now that Sienna’s ship is down, no other Jemma-Nites can come after us, thanks to all of you.”

We all saluted kindly.

“We must return to the planet now to assist the soldiers, but before we leave… take this.”

The Ruler raised their free hand, and magically, a burlap sack containing all four of the legendary items appeared, reminding everyone that they still had one other quest to fulfil.

“Now, take these items and enter the Temple of Mystery to find the Elements of Chaos. Once they are found you will finally be able to destroy them forever, and fulfil the last request of Queen Galaxia.”

Lightning gazed up at The Ruler bravely, “We’ll find them, that’s a promise!” and the others and I all nodded in agreement.

The Ruler nodded proudly at us all, and then raised their sceptre, bathing everyone in a soft light to restore our strengths and powers back to full.

“We must go now before our power runs low.

Good luck to you all.”

The Ruler then flew off back to the planet and everyone waved them on.

*POV Ends*

As The Ruler flew, their majesties conversed with one another deep inside.

“Are you certain you did not wish to join them?” Grand Ruler asked Celestia, “It is something your mother left behind, and I assumed you would want to see it for yourself.”

Celestia shook her head, “This is their quest to fulfil, not mine. I don’t wish to go and let memories of my mother at close hand slow me down. Besides that… a good queen always puts the needs of her land and her subjects first.”

Her husband was very proud of her.

Still, in regards of all that was happening, no one had bothered to closely examine the remains of Sienna’s ship, or they would have seenSienna had survived the crash,and very slowly and shakily was digging her way through the messy, and collapsed halls making her way out through an opening.

Her expression was nothing short of sheer fury, and anxiety to get back at the ponies for what had happened!

(Promo)

In our next episode: Our heroes enter the mysterious Temple of Mystery, solving puzzles to unlock the way to the Elements of Chaos, but they soon discover that taking them will be harder than they thought, especially when Sienna appears in a sneak attack to take what she desires.

Who will truly end up with the Elements of Chaos when all is completed?

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

(Next Episode: “Part 1: Treasures in the Temple.”)

Episode 23: Part 1: Treasures in the Temple

EPISODE TWENTY-THREE

*Mykan’s POV*

It was really time; we all leapt down into the crater where the temple entrance was said to be, and the ground hard been scratched a little due to Omnisha’s digging party, but hardly much progress had been done.

The twins were scanning the ground with their visors. “This stuff is solid rock with bits of metallic substances in it.” said Dyno. “No wonder they couldn’t dig through it… I’ve hardly seen anything like it before.” added Myte.

Regaurdless of that, it was time to unveil the entrance of the temple, using four creatures each wielding a different sword.

Rhymey, Spike, myself, and Saber all stood ready.

“Okay guys… do it.” said Lightning.

The four of us agreed and stood in a circle in the center of the crater, and one by one, we held up our swords.

Rhymey:“Ward Sword!”

Spike:“Dragon Knight Saber!”

Mykan/Myself:“Sword of Pure Soul!”

Shining Armor/Saber:“Insecto Scimitar!”

We joined our blades by the tips in the air. All at once our swords began to glow, and the marking of Galaxia glowed brightly as well. The ground started to rumble as the rocks began to shift, forcing us all to leap up and out of the crater.

“Look…!” cried Starla, pointing at the center of the crater where a large hole opened wide, revealing a long tunnel leading deep into the ground.

Then all was quiet.

We all leap back into the crater and examined the tunnel. It was so long and dark we couldn’t see the bottom. So Pinkie picked up a little pebble and tossed it in. The pebble didn’t fall very far at first due to the low gravity, but suddenly we could hear it clattering along the sides like crazy as if it were falling at a faster speed.

Finally, we heard the echoes of a loud thud at the bottom.

“Sure is a long way down in there.” said Buddy, and he scanned through the hole with his visor at a long range. “The gravity gets stronger as you go down, like being back on United Equestria.”

“It must be magically enchanted.” suggested Fluttershy “After all, Queen Galaxia built this temple.”

Lightning looked at the bag he held containing the legendary items, and he remembered he still had the map on him; Sienna never took it. He retranslated the text about the temple…

“…With the map and items of four will the challenges be complete from last to the first.”

He then dumped the items out of the bag to be seen and we all examined them closely. “What kind of challenges are these supposed to be?” asked Rainbow.

“I don’t really know, can’t say for sure.
Perhaps if we go inside, we’ll get a clear picture.” said Rhymey.

“Rhymey’s right.” said Lightning “We’re going in, unless anyone doesn’t wish to.” He looked at everyone else, but not one of us was willing to pass up this opportunity.

Lightning re-bagged the items, and tucked away the map. “Mind the gravity…” he warned everyone, and he leapt down into the darkness, and one-by-one we all followed him, using our wings and other flight abilities to lessen the pull of the gravity. Rarity used her telekinesis to make Saber float softly.

At first it got really dark, too dark to see your hand before your face, but as we descended deeper and deeper, it suddenly began to get brighter.

“Where’s all this light coming from?” asked Artie.

“How is it even gettin’ here? We’re far below the ground.” added Applejack.

We all just assumed it was more magic.

Finally, we hit bottom…

*TEMPLE of MYSTERY*

The entrance area was big and wide round room of stone, with hardly anything in it but a single tunnel way in the wall up ahead. There was also a beautiful yet haunting background music that could be heard, but not one of us knew where it was coming from.

Fluttershy and Rhyme both shuddered as they felt chills run down their spines.

“My goodness!” said Rarity “What a dreadful place.”

Suddenly, the map began to glow and Lightning got it out. “Check it out…” he said as he looked at the other side of the map. Before it was completely blank, but now it was glowing as a second map appeared on it

“It looks like a map of the temple.” said Starla, and she was right, the picture showed the entire temple to be one straight route ahead, leading to different sized and oddly shaped rooms, with a large chamber at the end. “That must be where The Elements of Chaos are.” said Lightning.

Suddenly, his bag began to glow again, and he dumped the items out. There on each one appeared a number in a glowing light.

The Knight’s Helmet: 1

The Golden Cannon Ball: 2

The Mirror Shield: 3

The Amulet Pendant: 4

“Okay, it’s pretty, but what does it mean?” asked Rainbow.

Lightning already had the idea, “Remember what the map said about these items…

…Items of four will the challenges be complete from last to the first.”

“So we were right all along!” said Saber “There are obstacles blocking our way in, and using these items… we’ll be able to progress along.”

“Yeah, but why do we have to start with the last one first?” asked Pinkie.

I answered for her, “Don’t you see, Pinkie; all these challenges were set up in order BEFORE the Elements of Chaos… 1… 2… 3… and 4… We’re outside working our way inside.”

“Well, let’s shake a leg then and get it goin’.” said Applejack. The rest of us couldn’t agree more, and so with Lightning leading us, we all headed for the tunnel to begin our quest.

*POV Pause*

Sienna, was limping her way from her wrecked ship all the way over to the crater and the temple entrance. “I’ve got ‘em this time!” she grumbled to herself “There’s no way they’ll back out of it now.

*POV Resume*

At the end of the tunnel, we emerged in a huge cavern like chamber with large geodes and gems sticking out from the ground, “Hey!” Spike said while drooling, “I like this room…!”

“How exquisite.” said Rarity as she inspected the gems closely “There must be millions worth in bits. Maybe even billions.”

We all admired the beautiful site of the room, but as we looked all around we couldn’t see another doorway or anything, “Um… what exactly are we supposed to here?” asked Buddy.

We all looked over at Lightning, “Don’t look at me. The map doesn’t say.”

Spike ogled at one of the large gems, and readied himself to take a big bite, but the second his put his claws to it… it flashed and made a ringing sound. “Whoa!” he cried as he backed away.

Rarity touched the gem she was observing, and it flashed and rang too, just in a different note.

“Oooh… let me try one.” said Pinkie, and she tried a gem too. Every single huge gem along the floor flashed and rang in a different tune.

Rhymey suddenly had the idea…

“Perhaps it is a tune we must play,
Perhaps that will open the next way.”

“But, how do we know which notes to play?” wondered Fluttershy.

Curious, Lightning reached into the bag and pulled out the amulet. Just looking at it didn’t tell me him, until he lowered his hand and noticed right in a bare wall near him was a od shaped hole in the wall that perfectly matched the shape the amulet. “Wait a minute…” he said and he walked up to the hole and inserted the amulet into the niche.

Like magic, the amulet glowed, and shot out a small ray of light at the gems, hitting them in sequence making different sounds-- that of the regular eight scaled notes.

“Hey, I bet that’s it.” Lightning said, and he asked the others to touch the gems in the same sequence, and so they did…

Do-Re-Mi-Fa-So-La-Ti-Do…

The room began to rumble, and the wall began to slide up taking the amulet away with it.

“Okay, this is actually starting to be fun.” said Rainbow.

“Come on, let’s go.” said Starla.

We all proceeded through the door to the next room…

“Spike…?” Rarity called, but her husband was still so mesmerized by the tasty looking jewels, until she used her magic to pick him up and dragon him along with them, much to his dismay.

In the next room, it was much brighter; almost enough to be like the crack of dawn. Reason being: there were two large beams of light magically emitting from two huge stalactites on the celling

One of the light beams was reflecting right on a statue of a pony knight on the side of the chamber, that carried a similar mirror shield that was reflecting the light on a large glowing panel high up on the wall over the entrance, which illuminated the room like a solar powered light.

The other knight on the opposite side of the chamber however, the light just shone down upon it but that was all, and there was a second panel along the wall of the chamber that was not getting any light.

“Look…” I said “That knight doesn’t have a shield.”

Lightning reached into the bag and pulled out the mirror shield, and then careful positioned it on the statue.

The light bounced off the shield’s polished surface and reflected onto the other panel on the wall, illuminating the room brighter than ever and revealed another doorway for us all to proceed.

“That’s two challenges down, and two more to go.” said Artie.

Our insides were bubbling with excitement, and we all proceeded for the next room.

*Pause*

Sienna had made her way down the long dark tunnel into the temple, using a special ring that made her float down gently, to lessen her fall with the gravity being normal.

She saw the foot prints on the dusty floors leading all the way to the open doorway and perused after the team.

*Resume*

The next room, we all crossed through the doorway, and stopped right away as right before use was a humongous canyon, with an enormous drop into darkness.

Lightning scanned the depth with his visor, “It reaches all the way to the very core of the moon.”

Rainbow then looked on ahead and could see the doorway, far on the other side of the fifty foot gap. “Piece of cake…” she said.

“Rainbow, wait!” cried Lightning, but Rainbow already attempted to fly across the canyon, only to fall like a brick way down and hanging on for dear life to the cliff face. “Help…! Help…!!”

“Hang on, RD!” called applejack, and she threw down her rope for Rainbow to grab and we all pulled her back up safely.

“Are you alright?” cried Fluttershy. Rainbow was okay, but she stared at Lightning grimly and said, “There’s an anti-lift field all around here, isn’t there.”

Lightning nodded, “Next time, use your visor.”

With the magical field preventing us from flying or jumping across, “How are we going to get over there.” asked Pinkie.

“Remember, we have to use the items.” said Dyno.

“This is supposed to be the second challenge.” added Myte.

Lightning already got out the correct item; the cannonball. “What are we supposed to do with this?” he wondered.

“Look, there’s a cannon.” Said Starla, pointing way to the side of the entrance way.

It really was a cannon, that seemed to be in perfect working order despite being down here in the temple for all these centuries.

The cannon was pointing clear across the canyon at a large hole in the wall, which already gave us the idea.

“Load it in…” Lightning said giving Starla the ball, and she slipped it right into the cannon.

Spike then grabbed the trigger cord, “Fire in the hole!” he cried and pulled the cord, firing the cannon, POW!!! The golden ball rocketed across the canyon, right through the hole on the other side…!

This triggered a soft rumbling, and we all watched a long and solid rocky pathway extended from where we stood and stretched all the way across to the other side.

“I wonder if Galaxia had that much of a playful sense.” wondered Rarity.

“Come on, guys…” said Saber “We’re almost there. There’s only one challenge left.”

With that in mind, some of the gang hurried across the bridge and the rest followed.

*Pause*

Sienna was still perusing the group, and by this point she had gone her way through the gem room, and heading for the light chamber.

She stopped when she could hear the faint and distinctive sounds of the team chanting and hollering out.

Behind her mask, her eyes narrowed in rage and she come right on going!

*Resume*

This was it, the final test before The Elements of Chaos.

This had to be the oddest room of all the others we saw; it was all one large square room, about half the size of a football field. Entrance way had a small descend down a stairway, and all around us were a bunch of small square panels sticking out over a solid floor covered in water vapour mist.

There was only one item left; the knight’s helmet, and everyone could already see where it belonged; up ahead were three knight statues, and one of which, in the center, wasn’t wearing a helmet like his comrades were.

“This is it…” Lightning said as he held the helmet up and everyone watched as he placed it over the head of the center statute.

We all looked on with anxiety waiting for a path to open up, but nothing happened.

“He what gives?” groaned Rainbow.

Before anyone else could say anything, all the squares around the room glowed, and the two other statues vanished from their pedestals, each one appearing on far opposite ends of the room.

“Hear this….!” A voice called out making us all jump, and Fluttershy nearly leapt way up to the ceiling. “Who said that?!” she whimpered.

Rhymey looked and said,

“It’s the knight,
He’s glowing white.”

Surely enough the center knight was glowing and speaking to us with a magical message, “You have done well to make it this far. Now, return my comrades to their original positions to continue the way forward.

Simply call for them to “Go” and they shall obey.”

He said no more, and the light faded out.

“Wait!” cried Rarity “What are we supposed to do?”

The knight did not respond.

“Humph! How rude…”

Suddenly, one of the spares in the exact middle of the chamber vanished followed by each square in the far corners. Then a whole bunch of odd designs appeared on the all the other panels; straight lines, angled lines, all going in different directions.

“I think know what this is…” I said, and I stepped away from the group and stepped down onto the misty floor. I gave one of the panels a shove and it shifted to the next spot before it. “This is a giant sliding puzzle. We had to slide all these panels around and make pathways to guide the knights back to their pedestals.”

“Well, let’s get to work.” said Saber.

Pinkie leapt with glee, “I just love doing puzzles.”

We all set to work in a funny montage of flicks and scenes, with funny music playing in the background,

but of course there being so many different panels to work with, they made so many combinations.

Every time we shouted “GO” to the knights, they would begin to slide down the paths we made, like toy trains on a track, but every time they hit a dead end, or bumped into each other, they would automatically be teleported back to their starting points and we’d all have to rearrange the panels… again… and again…!!

The puzzle would not be completed until we could arrange the paths so both the knights would reach their respective pedestal at the same time.

It took us quite a few tries…!!

Finally, we got it right, and the knights made it back to where they belonged, and the center knight spoke to us again, “At last… the path can be opened.”

“AT LAST!!!” we all shouted, feeling pretty beat, but we watched as the three knights parted away and a door opened leading into the final chamber; the treasure room!

“Come on…” Lightning said to us all, and we all headed through the door…

*Pause*

Unaware that Sienna had seen everything while hiding in the shadows at the other doorway. “This is it…!” she hissed to herself “Those Elements are as good as mine!”

She then reflected on how much she had lost to get this far; Slash, Omnisha, her ship… and even Mako whom she still felt betrayed her to Starfleet!

“He’ll pay! They’ll all pay!”

*Resume*

The treasure chamber! We finally made it.

It was a large circular room, with large stone columns running all the way from the ceiling to the floor, and at the end of the room was an and enormous statute.

“Queen Galaxia…” Lightning said softly admiring the large statue.

“Incredible.” Artie said admiring the details artwork “It looks so… lifelike.”

Even though it felt silly to be bowing to a statue, the ponies all felt like paying some respect and bowed down. I joined them out of respect as well.

When we all looked up, “Hey look…” cried Starla. There, directly beneath the huge statue was a small stairway ascending to a lone stone pillar where a small but decretive treasure chest sat.

“Galloping Galaxies… that’s it!” cried Lightning “We’ve found them!”

“The Elements of Chaos…” said Starla.

Everyone felt a great joy of relief, but at the same time a sense of fear as well, remembering the warning of how dangerous they were.

As Lightning slowly moved towards the stairs, Pinkie began to tremble crazily! “Whoa…!” she cried “Hey… I… Oh…!” It was her Pinkie Sense tingling overtime “Something really big is coming!”

Many of the others were worried, knowing the reputation of the Pinkie Sense and never to doubt it, but some were skeptical. “What are you talking about? We’ve cleared all four challenges.” said Saber.

Suddenly, Lightning stopped on the stairs as he heard soft scratching noise. The rest of us heard it too!

“What was that?” whimpered Fluttershy.

The scratching continued, and everyone looked up and saw the statute’s head was moving as its eyes were glowing.

“Either I’m going crazy…” said Spike “Or that giant statue is alive!”

The latter was confirmed when we all saw the statue raise its huge hoof to stomp on us, forcing us all to scatter.

BOOM!! The massive stone hoof hit the floor, making everything shake, and the statue continue to glare us all, constantly raising its hoofs to stomp us, and firing magical beams from its glowing eyes.

“Look out!” shouted Lightning, and everyone dodged the blasts, which made huge explosions.

Saber glared at the living statue and decided to fight back,“STRIDENT SHOCKWAVE”

His blast struck the statute, but didn’t even scratch the rock at all.

The statue raised its hoof to stomp on Lightning, but he used his mighty strength to hold the massive load up and off of him in a big struggle.

Starla came over and helped him, and together they shoved the huge hoof off, slamming it hard into the treasure chest, knocking it off the pillar and spilling the six black magical elements all about!

“Look out!” Lightning cried, and everyone ducked out of the way as the gems flew all around and bounced off the walls.

Neither of us noticed that one of the gems flew clear right to the doorway…

*Pause*

The Element landed right by Sienna’s boot, and she could not believe her eyes.

“At last!” she hissed “It’s mine…!” And she reached down to grab it, all at once, her eyes widened as she felt a strong pulse of evil and magic flowing through her.

*Resume*

The statue looked ready for more!

“Let’s hit it back,
With a combo attack.” suggested Rhymey.

The others all agreed and combined their attacks together…

“PULSAR LASER”

“LEAF SWARM”

“PAINT BOMB”

“DRILL QUILL”

“BOOM-BOOM ROCKETS”

All those attack struck the statue hard in the face, but when the smoke cleared.

“Whoa! Not a scratch!” cried Buddy.

“Whatever that stone is I don’t think our attacks can break it!” said Artie.

“That’s just swell.” I groaned “So how are we supposed to stop it?”

The statue’s eyes glowed brighter than ever.

“When you find out, let me know!” cried Rarity, and she dashed off, but I on the other hand held out my Shield of Righteous Courage, and deflected two blasts into the ceiling, making a few rocks come crashing down.

“Watch it!” snapped Applejack “You tryin’ to bury us alive?!”

Lightning was growing annoyed with all this, and yet the treasure chest was still there, on the pillar beneath the statue, but still hopelessly beyond hope of reach with the statue going berserk with all that magic.

“Wait a minute…!” he suddenly, and he looked right up at the statue’s glowing eyes, “Of course… the statue is enchanted with powerful magic

We don’t need to destroy the statue. We just have to dispel the magic within it!”

“Yeah… open to any suggestions!” said Rainbow, but Lightning already had a plan, and he leapt up high into the air and used his unforce magic to ensnare the statures huge arms and bind them to the walls of the chamber.

“Quick! Give it more!” Lighting shouted.

All the space ponies agreed and used their own magic to create more bindings on the huge arms to hold them down.

The statue pulled and tugged to free itself, but even though its arms were bound down, it was still able to shoot beams from its eyes. “I got this!” I said and I leapt right up to the statue’s huge face. At such a distance and angle, the blasts always bounced off of my shield and hit the walls in back.

“Good work, Mykan.” Lightning called to me. Now that they statue was virtually immobilized, the rest of the team all huddled together.

Lightning nodded over at the girls, and the girls agreed to what he was thinking.

“VALKYRIA!!”they cried, changing into the Valkyries of Harmony, and had their swords set on “Heal”

All the other fighters set their own weapons and special finishers to “Heal” as well, and Lightning stood in the middle. “Get ready to move, Mykan!” Lightning called.

“Any time now…” I called back “I don’t know how much longer I can hold this hulk off!”

“Okay! NOW!!!” shouted Lightning, and I quickly used my teleporter to zip away, and just as the statue was about to fire at the team, they all combined their attacks together into one big massive attack, and fired at the statue’s head.

The statue began to glow a bright white as it broke its arms free from the magical bindings. The statue held its head, flailing about as the magical energies within seemed to fade away… emerging from the stone body in a soft glow.

“Thank you…!” a mystical called out, much to everyone’s surprise.

“That voice!” said Saber, the rest of us pondered exactly what he was pondering, but the voice called out to us “Thank you for setting me free. I know now that you will fulfil my final request.”

With that, the light and the magic vanished, and the statue reset itself, now totally inanimate, and the entire room was all quiet again.

“What just happened?” asked Pinkie

Applejack blinked once, “I think… we did it.”

We all began to smiled and jump for joy that we completed our quest.

“Wait!” cried Lightning “It’s not quite over yet…” and he picked up the chest from the floor, which put everyone in mind of what still needed to be done.

The Elements of Chaos gems were scattered all over the room. Each one strongly resembled that of the Elements of Harmony before having taken on relic forms, but they were all black and shimmering with a dark light.

“Be careful.” Lightning said “Whatever you do… don’t touch them.”

Rarity used her magic to levitate one of the gems and stow it over and into the chest, and some of the other alicorns did the same with the others.

When all was done, we had reclaimed five of the Elements; Selfishness, Hatred, Sadness, Treachery, and Deceit…!

“Where’s the last one?” asked Starla.

“I’ll tell you that!” sneered Sienna.

We all turned sharply towards the door, and there she was, much to our horror. “You… survived?!” cried Rainbow.

“Better than survived…” hissed Sienna and she held up one of the elements, which had taken the shape of an evil crown, similar to that of Twilight Sparkle’s old crown.

“That’s the Element of Normality!” cried Dyno.

We all watched as Sienna placed the evil crown on her head. She was magically engulfed in dark energy. Her mask flew off, and her hair came undone from its ponytail, and was now all spiky and sticking up all over the place.

“It doesn’t look so normal to me!” whimpered Myte.

Lightning tried to scan Sienna with his visor, but her power levels were completely off the charts.

This was not good… at all!

To Be Continued…!

In our next episode: As Mako desperately tries to find comfort over his apparent loss, his inner instincts make him realize that Sienna is alive, and soon the ponies discover this as well.

Meanwhile the team battles Sienna, only to discover how much stronger she truly is, and Sienna refuses to rest until she grabs the remaining Elements of Chaos.

Will the ponies be able to hold Sienna off until help arrives?

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

(Next Episode: “Part 2: The Power of Chaos.”)

Episode 24: Part 2: The Power of Chaos

“Previously on Starfleet Magc…”

After a long and mysterious venture through the Temple of Mystery, our heroes finally uncovered the elusive Elements of Chaos, only to then be attacked by a living statue of Queen Galaxia. It is only after the battle is won that Sienna revealed to be still alive after her spaceship crashed, and has now empowered herself with one of the Elements!

EPISODE TWENTY-FOUR

The Cutie Mark Crusaders were still in the observatory looking at the moon. The battle against the alien army had ceased, and many ponies, both of Starfleet and civilians were working hard to clean up collateral damages, but the girls were not able or permitted to return home until Lightning and the team returned.

All of them were all starting to feel extremely bored just looking at the moon and the stars all this time.

“Nothing’s happenin’ up there anymore.” groaned Applebloom.

“Wait! There goes something!” cried Scootaloo.

The girls all turned their telescopes to where she told them look, and what they saw was a squad of ponies riding up to the moon on a pathway.

“Oh, that…” said DD “It’s just a survey-team. They’re going up there to inspect the remains of the crashed ship. Buddy tells me things like this all the time.”

Sweetie Belle sighed, “I bet they get to have some fun and excitement. That’s the only thing exciting that’s happened since the ship crashed.”

While the girls continued to look for something to occupy themselves with, there was more going on in the palace…

Poor Mako…

Ever since Sienna’s ship went down he hadn’t been able to shake off the thought of his sister being dead.

He was still resting in a guest room, but under tight guard, as his fate for crimes he comittied himself was not yet decided. For now he was still pretty much held in under watch; two gaurds outside the bedroom chambers and a force-field at the windows…

…But Mako was too devastated to care much, and was sleeping very deeply, yet sadly.

Cadance and Krysta just came out having checking in on him.

“How is he?” asked Grand Ruler.

“Poor little guy…” said Cadance “I know how he feels too well. It’s never cool to lose someone you love.”

Celestia placed her hand over her neice’s shoulder.

Krysta sighed “I know I needn’t askm but…Do we really have to keep him under lockdown?”

“I’m afraid so…” replied Celestia “We don’t like it anymore than either of you may, but even though Mako’s had a change of heart, we can’t just ignore all the crimes he’s comittied in the past.”

“That’s right…” agreed Grand Ruler “I don’t know what we’re going to do with him yet, but no matter what, we can’t let our personal emotions affect our legal decisions.”

Cadance and Krysta understood, knowing the rules of protocol, but they still felt bad for Mako.

Inside the bedroom, poor little Mako was sleeping deeply.

Suddenly, he began to stir, and had a strange feeling deep down inside of him, and what was more, he could hear the sounds of a sinister laugh.

Finally, he snapped upright in bed. “Sienna!” he cried “She’s alive!”

*Mykan’s POV*

The new super-powered Sienna was laughing maniacally. “This is fantastic!” she shouted “I’ve waited centuries for this, and now the greatest power in the galaxy is mine! All I need now is to harness the remaining elements.”

Lightning shut the chest containing the remaining five elements tightly.

“Give me those elements!” Sienna demanded.

“Never!” thundered Lightning “You’re meddling with powers you can’t possibly fathom, Sienna!”

“That’s right!” agreed Starla “Those elements are bad news. Turn back while you can.”

Sienna, of course, nastier than ever due to her powers, and just as greedy and determined, let out a huge roar, and threw her arms outward sending a shockwave of energy that knocked everyone back.

“Whoa!” groaned Spike “What was that?” but really, he knew it was the crown giving Sienna all that wicked power.

Lightning grapsed the chest tightly, “We can’t let her get the other elements! Who knows how strong she’ll get.”

Applejack tied her rope around the chest in many knots to help keep it shut, and Lightning then infused the uniforce into the rope making it stronger and harder to break off.

Sienna roared some more, and we all stood ready to fight her, but that’s when she rushed right past us all, bashing each of us hard. Some of the team were sent clear into the walls, others skidded along the floor.

I myself was knocked clear towards one of the stone columns, but was able to quickly lift my shield to brace for the impact!

CRASH!!

“Mykan!” cried Fluttershy.

Because I wasn’t as strong as the fighters, my head was spinning really hard, “Oh… night-night!” I groaned, and I passed out on the floor.

*POV Ends*

Sienna snickered “That’s one down.”

The team felt their rage flowing, and lunged at her, attacking her from different angles all at once, but Sienna proved her newly aquried strength-- punching, kicking and bashing everyone super hard.

Saber tried to lasso her with his sickle-and-chain, but she broke through the chain, shattering it like it was made of paper “Easy picking!” she boasted, and she then lunged at him, smashing him hard into the wall, and he was unconscious as well, and his magic mask came off changing him back into Shining Armor.

Sienna laughed wickedly, “I love this more than ten planets worth of gold!” and she continued to brawl, beating on all the fighters.

“She’s beating us so easily…!” cried Pinkie “That lone element’s really powered her up.”

“Don’t forget, we’ve been up about for so long,
Our powers have decreased and are not as strong.” said Rhymey.

He was right! All that time they spent bringing down the ship, trekking through the temple, and battling the Galaxia Statue, everyone’s powers were dropping like bricks!

Lightning gazed down at the box, “I’ve gotta get these Elements out of here!” and he dashed for the doorway in the back of the chamber. “Oh, no you don’t!” thundered Sienna and she dashed after him, actually catching him before he could speed away and tripped him up so he dropped the chest.

The chest bounced along and skidded to a halt.

“Stop her!!” shouted Rarity, and the team all dashed forth to take the chest.

Sienna leapt in to take it for herself, but Buddy managed to lasso it with his whip. “I got it!”

“Wrong!” snarled Sienna and she thrust her firsts forth sending a shockwave at him, hitting him hard and sending him crashing into the wall hard, and he powered down.

“Buddy!” cried Applejack.

The chest went flying and Sienna caught it “I’ve got the chest! I’VE GOT THE CHEST!!” she cried. However, she wasn’t able to break the magical bindings around it with what power she had. “No!!” she growled “I must get to those Elements!!”

Suddenly, Lightning began to glow brightly as he powered up with what little strength he had left, “The only thing you’re going to get is a one-way ticket to jail!”

Sienna growled and stood strong to face him.

“UNIFORCE”

Sienna still stood where she was, and aactually took the hit. The blast sturck her hard and forced her back along the ground. She managed to hold her ground for a little, until she was forced hard against the wall.

“I WILL NOT BE DESTROYED!!!” she thundered.

The remaining fighters joined Lightning by his side and poured on whatever magic they could spare into the blast, making it even stronger and forcing Sienna harder against the wall than ever.

Artie checked his visor, and it was glowing red with warning! “Our powers are almost dry!”

“Keep it up, just a little more.” Lightning said “I think its working!”

Sienna felt the blast starting to damage her, she surely would had been defeated had she gotten a swift idea… and used the chest for a shield as it was laced with the uniforce.

KAPOW! There was a small explosion.

The team all fell to their knees, completely drained of strength, and all their suits powered down.

“I feel faint!” groaned Rarity, and she meant it.

“Anyone got an asprin?” Spike asked wearily.

Lightning looked up to see if Sienna was down, but much to his horror, not only was she still standing, but the chest lay open and empty on the ground. “No…!” he cried, and he looked slowly up at Sienna and saw her clutching the other five elements in her hands.

“Oh, no!” cried Starla.

“Oh, yes…!” hissed Sienna, and she wasted no time and harnessed their immense powers, in dark firey glows.

Like magic, the elements warped into bracelets that she wore-- three on her right arm, two on her left. “YES…!!” she thundered as she felt the power coursing through her veins, and her body began to morph! She grew to twice her size, her muscles bulged, her eyes glowed red with sparking jolts of power, and her hair had a ghastly grey pulsating glow.

Now she was able to levitate herself bodily off the ground.

“THE POWER!!!” she thundered, unleashing waves of chaotic energy all through the temple, causing it to start collapsing as boulders came crashing down.

Meanwhile, Mako had called out to everyone trying to explain to them what he felt, “Sienna is alive! I know she is.”

“How can you be so sure?” Krysta asked.

Mako explained once again how he and his sister used to share a special bond, “We still do…

Each of us could always sense when the other was in danger, or something was happening to them. That’s how I know… Sienna is alive! You’ve got to believe me!”

Celestia chose her words carefully, “Mako… it’s not that we don’t believe you, it’s just that… well, we have no positive proof.”

Suddenly, Grand Ruler’s voice could be heard, “Celestia…! Celestia…!”

“Darling… what is it?” asked Celestia.

Her husband explained he had just received a disturbing report, and he held up a photograph of footprints sent from the survey team on the moon, “One of the troops discovered these footprints leading away from the alien ship.”

“That’s it!” cried Mako “Those are Sienna’s bootprints. I’d recognize them anywhere. She IS alive.”

This greatly worried the others.

“She’s alive?!” cried Krysta, and there was no doubt in her mind she would have followed Lightning and the others to the temple.

Their suspicions were confirmed when the Cutie Mark Crusaders and Cadance came dashing down the hall. “Your majesties! Your majesties!” cried Sweetie Belle.

“Girls, what are you doing here?” asked Grand Ruler.

The girls were out of breath, and so Cadance answered for them “I had gone to check on them like you asked, and we all saw something strange on the moon; strange dark waves emitting from the surface where the temple would be.”

Celestia and Grand Ruler felt extremely worried now.

*Mykan’s POV*

The rumbling earthquake helped me to awaken, “What’s going on?” I cried.

Shining Armor and Buddy awoke too, and they saw what was happening!

“Let’s get out of here!” screamed Fluttershy, but before anyone could make a move, Sienna raised her hand and blasted them all with strong shadowy magic, halting us in place in shadowy barriers.

“I can’t move!” cried Dyno.

“I can’t either!” added Myte.

None of us were able to move an inch. This chaotic magic was so powerful, unlike anything any of us had ever seen, and it also didn’t help that we were all still weak and tried from every ordeal we went through.

Sienna laughed at all of us, “You’ve now only just had a fraction of my new powers, I can’t wait to unleash the full force on United Equestria… and once I’m done with it, the universe is next!”

The temple continued to collapse as more rocks and boulders feel from the ceiling, and the columns tipped over and crumpled.

“To show my gratitude in helping me claim my destiny, rather than destroy you myself, I’ll let you all disappear with the temple.

It shall be YOUR TOMB!!

I can’t wait forever to conquer this universe anyway!”

With that, she melted into dark waves and sped up through cracks in the ceiling allowing her to escape, leaving the rest of us to our appranet fate.

More rocks were falling, and even the Galaxia Statue was crumpling, and it was in vain that any of us could escape from the shadow shields that held us down.

“Ah, man… this is really it!” I cried.

“We’re done for! WE’RE DONE FOR!!” shouted Pinkie.

“Rhymey!” called Fluttershy.

Her husband looked back at her sadly and a tear rolled down his eye.

“Goodbye…
…My Fluttershy!”

Fluttershy burst into tears herself. “Rhymey… I love you!” she weeped.

All the others were horrified and frightened beyond imagination. The couples all felt this was really it, and worried about their friends and other realatives.

Shining Armor felt horrible for Cadance and Flurry Heart. “I’ll miss you two!” he cried to himself.

Rarity and Spike looked at each other from afar, feeling really upset, and Rarity worried about Sweetie Belle.

Applejack worried of Applebloom as well as her entire family back at the farm, and Rainbow worried about Scootaloo.

Buddy especially worried for DD and Tree Hugger. He knew they would at least have each other, and the rest of the Apple family, but he wished he could at least see them one last time.

Even Lightning couldn’t see any way out of this one. “Starla!” he called to his wife.

“Lightning…!! Remember, I love you!”

“I love you too honey!”

The both of them then thought of their baby boy, Shining Light. They couldn’t bear to think of him gowing up without his parents.

…And they didn’t have to!

There was a bright glow of light that flashed behind us all, and then called a familiar voice. “Hello! Are you all okay?”

“Princess Luna!” cried Rarity.

Luna then used all the magic she could spare to dispel the dark barriers, releasing us all.

“Quickly…!” Luna shouted, ordering us all to huddle close to her, and in no time at all, she morphed us all into darkness and took us back the way she came, through the cracks in the shifting rock.

Up, and up, and up we went until finally we made it safely back out onto the surface of the moon. The gravity was low and the stars were shining all around us.

Krysta was there to greet us all, “Lightning!” she cried as she flew over to him, hugging his face. “Oh, Krysta…” Lightning said hugging her softly back.

Everyone huddled together in a huge hug, especially around Princess Luna, thanking her for saving us all.

“How…? How did you know to come after us?” asked Applejack.

Luna explained how she had just awoken and felt well rested, when she heard of the warning from the survey party, as well as Cadance and the Crusaders warning of the dark energy emitting from the ground, “It was feared that you were all in peril. So I wasted in no time in asked Krysta to bring me here. Thank goodness I came when I had.”

Everyone, even I myself, couldn’t had been more greatful that she did, but when Rainbow looked up and over down at the planet, “Look…!” she cried, pointing at it.

We all looked and could see a small speck of darkness that began to spread across the planet.

“Sienna!” growled Lightning “We’ve got to get back!”

We all agreed, and huddled together by Princess Luna.

“Here we go!” said Krysta, and she warped us all back towards the planet!

*POV Ends*

The red alarms were sounding all over the entire planet as all civilians fled for shelters and the barriers were raised, and just in time as the darkness began to spread all over, starting in New Canterlot!

“Main the artillery…! All fighters to arms…!” Grand Ruler shouted, and every guard, every fighter manned their stations and armed the weapons… again, while the fighters, having rested up, dashed back into action.

Captain Shadow coat watched from a window as he could see the darkness spreading across the sky, and heading their way.

“What is that?” asked Goldwin.

Shadow clenched his fists, “Chaotic Darkness… I remember it so well. This can only mean one thing…!” and his fears were answered by the sound of a loud and evil laugh as SHE appeared, floating over the hills and heading straight through the villiage.

Mako saw her from another window, “Sienna!” he cried.

“She’s got the Elements of Chaos!” whimpered Cadance.

Celestia and Grand Ruler narrowed their eyes in anger as the monsterous figure continued to approach and called out to everyone with her booming voice.

“Feast your eyes before me! For centuries I craved the greatest power in the galaxy, and now that I have it, this world now belongs to me, and all worls beyond will soon follow!

Make it easier on yourselves and surrender to me now!”

Their majesties, felt concerned.

“If only we could turn merge into Grand Celestial Ruler again.” said Celestia “Oh, but we can’t, we used up a lot of our powers in the previous battle.”

“Sienna couldn’t have plotted this any better.” said Grand Ruler, “But we must fight with whatever it is we have. I won’t let our world fall to the same fate it nearly did before!”

His wife agreed, and the two prepared to head off.

“Beware, your majesties.” Shadow warned them “The Elements of Chaos are unlike anything you have ever seen or known, and they are extremeley powerful.

My fellow knights and I were barely able to defeat them separated. We never faced them in one solid form.”

Their majesties were aware, but they still couldn’t let themselves be discouraged and they ran off to join the battle about to begin.

Cadance felt extremely worried, “Shining Armor… I wish you were here right now.” She said to herself, and she wished all the others were there too.

“Wait! What am I just sitting around here for?” and she dashed off down the hall.

“Princess!” called Shadow.

“Cadance!” added Goldwin, but Cadance had already disappeared down the hall.

Captain Shaina and her team were all armed and ready with cannons, lasers, and others were powering up their magic as strong as they could get it.

“Prepare to fire!” shouted Shaina “Remember, don’t do anything until you get the order!”

She waited until she could see their majesties, and they both nodded at her giving her the signal.

“…FIRE!!”

The cannons and lasers fired straight at Sienna, zapping her hard and making huge explosions.

Mako could hardly bear to watch it, and ducked down beneath the window.

The artierly continued to fire, and the magical ponies added their magical blasts, striking Sienna more and more, making huge clouds of dust, but much to everyone’s horror, Sienna burst through the clouds, hardly scratched at all, and laughing manaically, “Is that the best you can muster?!” she thundered “Let me show you some REAL POWER!!”

She raised her huge hands, absorbing dark lightning formt he shadowy skies.

“Sheilds up!” shouted Grand Ruler.

The palace and the buildings were already protected with the barriers, surrounding them, and then strong sheets of magic appeared over the battlements just as Sienna unleashed extremely powerful dark lightning waves at everything. The blasts were so strong and vile that the very ground rumbled and shook.

The shields flickered softly, but they held and kept the ponies safe.

“Ha!” snarled Sienna “I’m just getting warmed up!” She then blasted at the grounds, sending dark waves of magic.

“LOOK OUT!!” cried Shiana as the grounds exploded in large blasts throwing all the fighters about, and there appeared many dark and evil large tentacles that began to swipe and slap at the fights still near them.

“They saw more arms are better than two!” hissed Sienna.

The fights then began to fight back against the tentacles, blasting them with magic, which did stun them and force them to retreat into the ground, but it wasn’t enough to effectvily stop them and the tentacles popped right back out again to strike back.

While some of the forces dealt with the tentacles, others decided to charge onward and attack Sienna directly.

Some came at her from the air, while others charged on foot; firing their magic or weapons, but, again, the blasts proved to be futile and hardly made Sienna flinch. All she did was let out a might ROAR… and that menay of the fighters soaring backwards in in the air current. Others fighters out of range ran into trouble as more tentacles came at them, and the air forces… Sienna zapped them with her dark lightning all around.

Some of the fighters fell from the sky and crashed hard on the ground.

“Easy pickings!” growled Sienna, and she loomed over the fallen fighters as their comrades tried with all their might to get them all to safety in time, but were still in range. “FEEL THE POWERS OF CHAOS!!”

She was about to smash them all to bits, when she was stopped by a powerful energy barrier conjured by their majesties, blocking her off.

Their majesties hovered in the air, hand-in-hand, combining their magic together. “Darkness is only opposite of Light, Sienna.” sneered Celestia.

Grand Ruler nodded and added “You may think you’re winning because you have the Elements of Chaos, but as long as we can still fight, as long as we still believe... there is no way your evil will win!”

Sienna didn’t seem the least bit amused.

“That goes for us too!” called a voice from behind.

*Mykan’s POV*

Sienna turned and saw much to her horrors, Lightning, the rest of the gang, and me had returned.

“Don’t you creatins ever die!!” she thundered at us.

“Guess we’re not as easy to get rid of as you are.” I teased.

Their majesties smilled at us all, Celestia especially smiled at her sister for saving the team.

“If you think just because you’re all together again that I’m going to flinch, FORGET IT!!” growled Sienna. “I’ll blast each of you to dark piles of dust, one-by-one. Then you won’t have the honor of watching me destroy your planet.”

Rainbow rolled her eyes, “Seriosuly, how many times are you going to say that?”

Sienna growled again, and decided to waste no more of her time yaking up a storm, but rather storm the fighters.

She charged straight at us forcing us all to scatter about. She summoned forth her dark lightning to zap at us all.

“Watch out!” cried Starla and everyone flew in circles and curves to avoid the zaps. “It is foolish to reist the powers of chaos!” said Sienna, and her body glowed greatly with dark light.

“This is it…!” Lightning said “Hold it steady guys!”

*POV Ends*

Sienna continued to glow strongly.

“What is she doing?!” cried Celestia.

Lunna had a sickening feeling in her stomach, “I have studied this before in dark magic. She is harnessing as much evil energy within her and she will unleash it like a big bursting wave!”

Grand Ruler gasped, not wanting to picture how much damage that would do, even with the shields up. “Stop her!”

Their majesites and whatever fighters came with them charged at Sienna, firing their attacks like crazy, but still hardly made her flinch.

“I’ll blast her myself!” said Grand Ruler, and he conjured all the strength he could“TEN FOLD… UNI--”but before he could finish and fire,

“LOOK OUT!!” screamed Celestia, and she quickly conjured up barriers to shield them and all the fighters… at the exact moment Sienna let out the loudest and most deadly roar, unleashing what had to be the deadliest blast of magic anyone had ever seen, like a small meteor impact, the wave was so massive that it could be seen from way up in space!!

The blast spread all over New Canterlot, shaking the grounds, knocking over forests, rupturing the lakes, and badly shaking the houses, dispelling the barriers…!

In the midst of it all, the entire team got consumed by the waves, even their majesties and all the fighters were hit as well.

The barrier around the palace shattered off.

“Whoa!” Goldwin cried as he tumbled over and his mask fell off turning him back into a statue, frightening Mako into looking out the window.

“Oh, no…!!” he cried upon looking at the devastation of the land outside. The Crusaders and Shadow Coat saw it all too, and they couldn’t speak!

The entire area was all covered in dark smoke from the blast. All the green grass was burned away, not a tree was left standing. The houses and buildings were still fine, but the barriers were down, leaving them exposed.

“No! It can’t be!” cried Applebloom.

Tears came to her and the other girls’ eyes fearing their friends and loved ones were no more.

Sienna was panting heavily, but her panting turned into wicked laughter “It’s over! I’VE WON!!!”

But as the smoke clear, she gasped! “No…!! IT CAN’T BE!!”

Lightning and the rest of of the team had survived, and Lightning, though wearing from the blast, glared right at her. “Yes… it… IS!!

We’re not done yet, Sienna!”

To Be Continued…!

(Promo)

In our next episode: As the battle aginast Sienna continues, its seemingly anyone’s fight, but Mako still cannot bear the thought of losing either his sister or his friends and takes it upon himself to try and reason with her.

Will Mako be successful, or will be it lights out for either Sienna or the heroes?

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

(Next Episode: “Part 3: Reaching out for within”)

Episode 25: Part 3: Reaching out for Within

“Previously on Starfleet Magic…”

Our heroes put up a valliant effort, but proved to be hardly any match for Sienna and her newly absorbed powers. Sienna managed to harness the powers of the remaining elements, and she then trapped the heroes within the crumpling temple, and proceeded to level United Equestria, but the Starfleet forces refuse to give in, even after the massive destruction Sienna has caused!

EPISODE TWENTY-FIVE

“I have got to be dreaming!!” growled Sienna, she wasn’t; all the fighters were still alive, maybe a few scratches, bruises and tangled up manes and tails, but very much alive.

Reason being: they had acitavted their Super Suits, and while under the normal gravity conditions, the suits were as heavy as ever, the powerful alloy actually protected them from the blast.

Though the suits were still too heavy to use properly in battle, thanks to their training Lightning was able to raise his hand to power down the super suit so he could get up.

Lightning remembered what Grand Ruler had told him once…

“If there is a skill or power you seem to lack
Make up with another skill, and you’ll make a comeback.”

*Mykan’s POV*

Krysta had teleported me into the palace before the blast struck, and I approached the Crusaders, and they leapt right up and hugged me.

“I’m glad you’re safe too, girls.” I said.

Shadow Coat was relieved to see me too, and as he looked out the window, the smoke cleared up, and many of the fighters all over the grounds were lying on the ground, exaushted or injured, but they were still alive due to Celestia protecting them all with her magical barrier.

*POV Ends*

Celestia was now dangerously exhausted as she lay in her husband’s arms.

“Celestia…!” Grand Ruler cried “Can you here me? Please say something!”

His wife opened her eyes and smiled weakly at him, “I’m all right, dear.”

Grand Ruler and Luna were relieved, but after what had just happened, all three of them hadn’t been so terrified at such power before.

Suddenly, there was a bright shine of light emitting from where Lightning and the others stood.

It was Spike, he was glowing like crazy, “When the Chaos overexceeds, my dragon heart unleashes my full power.” he said, and in a bright flash, he became The Majestic Dragon!

“Oh, Spike…!” Rarity sighed lovingly.

“Think I should be scared of that?!” sneered Sienna “I can take you on as easily as I did your army!”

The great dragon looked down at Sienna and hissed, “Who said you would be fighting me? This is all just part of our actual strategy.”

“What?!” snapped Sienna. She watched as Spike extended his wings, stuck his large head up into the sky and let out a might roar. All at once, he bathed his friends in bright blankets of light, restoring their strengths and power as best he could. Their majesties too...

The team all stood, transformed into their armor, and their majesties stood, all strong and well again. Celestia looked fully recovered.

Cadance, still in her Ninja Suit, having ducked down earlier, had run onto the scene by her husband’s side.

“Cadance!” cried Saber “How did you survive the blast?”

His wife gestured saying,“I’m a Ninja. I’m good at being stealth.”

The team all huddled together and stared at Sienna way up. Spike, in his Dragon Knight form, stood by Rarity. “Thank you for restoring us, dear.” she said to him.

Her husband nodded, “The plan worked. We survived the blast, and now we’re at full power again.”

“That’s right, Spike,” Lightning agreed “And that’s not all that we thing we did…”

Sienna had taken enough of this, “So much cuteness and all, BEHOLD MY POWER!!” she fired more blasts of lightning straight for the team, but they all scattered about like crazy, and the blasts missed.

“Lightning…!” Grand Ruler called to him, “We need to get the downed fighters out of here. We’ll join you as soon as we can.”

Lightning nodded, and then he went Enticorn “Time to get busy!”

He lunged forth at Sienna. She aimed a strong punch at him, but he swerved, “Take this!” and socked her right in her huge face.

POW!! Sienna was hit hard, and she roared as she crashed down to the ground hard.

KAPOW!!

“That… that hurt!” she groaned “That actually hurt me! I don’t undersdtand.”

Lightning appeared right before her, floating by her side “Didn’t think you would.” and gave her a good kick sending her up, up, into the air.

*Mykan’s POV*

Shadow coat had gone to help haul in some of the fighters, while Krysta and I were watching after the crusaders as we watched the fight from the window.

“I don’t believe it! They’re winning!” said Scootaloo.

I patted her back and explained, “That was our plan all along. Not only did they manage to survive that big blast, but it forced Sienna to use up a great deal of her power.”

“So now the fight’s even.” said DD “That’s way sweet, but do you still think they can do it?”

“I hope so.” said Krysta, but she said it to herself not wanting to upset the girls.

All any of us could do was watch the fight.

Mako, on the other hand, he didn’t know how much more of this he could bear to see. True, his sister had been very bad and was in need of a good beating, but he was starting to fear for the worst; maybe his friends wouldn’t be able to save her.

*POV Pause*

Sienna was still strong enough to fight back hard, and she punched Lightning hard sending him soaring and tumbling backwards.

“Combine powers!” shouted Starla, and she and the other space ponies stood all together, hand-in-hand with she in the middle. They combined all their natural alicorn magic into a huge blast of light energy, and fired at Sienna, hitting her hard in a big explosion.

The fighters looked on, but Sienna burst through the smoke and joined her huge hands together, “Now it’s my turn! Try some of this!”

“Scatter!” cried Starla, and she and the fighters flew off just as Sienna unleashed a huge beam of dark light, which missed them all and headed far off into the sky.

KAPOW!! What an explosion!

“I won’t miss you this time!” Sienna thundered as she put her hands together to fire another blast.

“Oh, no you don’t!” growled Saber and he lassoed her huge wrists with his chain,“STRIDENT SHOCKWAVE”the metal chains conducted the electrical force that jolted Sienna all over, but as well as being damaged, she was enraged!

“Saber, get out of there!” shouted Artie.

Sienna began to break free from the chain. Once she was free, she redied herself to punch him, but Saber vanished at the last second; whisked off by Cadance using her ninja speed and stealth.

“You hoo…!” called Lightning as he came soaring back in again and punched Sienna hard up into the air, making her a clear target for Rainbow Dash!

“SONIC RAINBOOM”

WHAMM!! She crashed clean into Sienna’s chest, resulting in a colorful explosion, and Sienna went sailing along through the air.

One-by-one, all the fighters lunged at her, punching her and kicking her, tossing her from one place to another like a ragdoll.

*POV Resume*

“Give it to her, guys!” I hollered as I watched the fight with the girls.

“Show her whose boss!” shouted Sweetie Belle.

Suddenly, Scootaloo gasped, “Look! She’s fighting back!”

*Pause*

Sienna let out a huge roar, “You think you’ve got me beaten?! I’ll show you beaten!!”

Lightning lunged straight for her, coliding into her, and she blocked him with her arms and flung him off of her.

The other fighters all jumped in, only to get zapped, punched and knocked back hard.

“It’s no good. Those elements are still making her too strong!” cried Rarity.

Rhymey suddenly had the idea…

“We should attack not Sienna, but the Elements instead.
If we can knock them off, all her power will be dead.”

The others all agreed to the idea, but Sienna laughed, “Nice idea, too bad I heard you, and too bad it won’t help, since you’ll be destroyed before can even get close!”

“We’ll see about that!” growled Buddy.

Sienna called forth more lightning to strike all around, one zap after another in random places, forcing all the fighters to swerve and dodge about.

“Now try THIS!” Sienna then summoned more dark tentacles out from the ground, but these tentacles were bigger and more solid that ever.

The fighters found it harder to dodge more than ever, much less get close towards Sienna.

The tentacles continued to swipe at everyone.

“Take this!” Rarity shouted as she fired a blast from her horn, which stunned it slightly, but only for a split second and it chased right after her again.

Then there was still the lightning strikes, and Sienna herself. “This is more like it!” she sneered.

WHAPP!! Some of the fighters got hit by the tentacles.

KAPOW!! Lightning bolts zapped more of them, making large explosions and nearly causing the fighters to fall from the sky.

“We’ve got to… keep on… going!” shouted Dyno.

“Andale! Andale!” cried Myte.

So they kept on fighting, and they kept on getting struck, and Sienna laughed at them all, “What’s wrong? Can’t the handle chaos…?” and she blasted them all again.

“Feel the pain! The very pain I felt all the time!”

Horrible images of her past kept flashing before her eyes. “May parents died in that spaceship crash! It was no mystery how it happened. They were killed by creatures! Creatures that roman this universe!

Then Mako and I were dropped off at that orphanage, surrounded by bullies and rude people, I had to toughen up just to keep my brother safe; especially after those blasted aliens came and enslaved us, worked us like dirty dogs! All the beatings we took all the pain, and wounds!

If I hadn’t stepped in to protect Mako, he would never have made it! Then I finally managed to overpower our captives and take control, but that just wasn’t enough!

Those creatures! Everywhere I looked in the universe reminded me of all the suffering and pain I had endured. Nothing would have pleased me more than to make them all pay and know the pain that I felt!

And then Mako betrayed me! He was poisoned by your lies and manipulations of friendship and kindness when you just used him to get to me first!

Well, I’ll show you!! I’LL SHOW EVERYONE WHAT TRUE POWER AND PAIN MEANS!!!!”

Mako heard it all, and he was on the verge of tears. His sister had become so corrupted and so nasty it was if she had forgotten the person she used to be; HIS SISTER!“I can’t bear this anymore!”he said in thought“I won’t let you do this to yourself Sienna. You did do all those things for me to protect me, and now it’s up to me to help you!”

The Crusaders, Shadow Coat, Mykan and Krysta were all too captivated by the fight to notice; he slipped away. All the gaurds were too busy tending to fallen comrades and maintaining their battlestations to notice him either, making ti easy for him to go along.

“I will take you all down!” bellowed Sienna to the fighters “I will make you all sorry you ever messed with me!”

Lightning shook his head pitifully at her, “Your past and pain may be understandable, but that’s no excuse for the innocent beings you’ve robbed from and destroyed! You’ve been so blinded by your lust for revenge and your obsession with power and wealth that you’ve been poisoned into the creature you’ve become!

The sooner we get those elements off of you, the sooner you’ll begin to see!”

“Ha!” scoffed Sienna “The only thing I see is your friends getting themselves whipped and blasted about!”

She wasn’t kidding! All the other fighters were still finding it hard to deal with all the chaotic tentacles and the lightning striking at them. They didn’t looke like they could handle themselves much longer.

Lightning clenched his fists, and his golden body was glowing brighter than ever, and he glared at Sienna, and she glared at him back; like cowboys ready to draw.

The two then suddenly lunged forth at each other, but at the last second, Lightning zipped away, much to Sienna’s confusion.

Lightning actually wasn’t up to fighting with her, but rather zoomed down and attacked all of the dark tentcales, slashing right through them, destroying them into dark clouds.

Though Lightning couldn’t stop the lightning bolts, he then flew straight at Sienna to punch her, but he zipped off again at the last second, and again, and again, and again, until finally… he blasted at her right arm, knocking three of the elements off her wrist.

“No!!” shouted Sienna as she watched the braclets fall down, down, to the ground. It was too dark to tell where they had landed.

With the three braclets off of her, the lightning bolts had ceased, and try as she did, without those bracelets, Sienna couldn’t conjure anymore. “So you got lucky!” she growled “But if you think this battle is won… you’re right… IT IS won… for me!”

She lunged forth, flying straight into Lightning, and he held her huge head with his hands blocking her, but despite the loss of half the elements, she was still pretty strong, plus, all the battling was starting to wear Lightning down a little.

Suddenly, she grabbed him and held him tightly in her huge hand.

“Let me go!” Lightning demanded, but Sienna just continued to put more pressure on him.

“Come on, we’ve got to help him!” cried Starla.

The others agreed, and dashed straight for Seinna. “Blast her!” shouted Artie, and the alicorns all fired magical beams from their horns, but she blocked their every attack with her other arm.

“STRIDENT SHOCKWAVE”Saber unleashed his powerful currents at her. Cadance threw her magical nija shurikens.

“DRAGON FLARE”Spike unleashed his firey wrath.

Sienna just blasted the attacks with her dark waves, which also knocked the fighters all way back and they crashed to the ground.

“Guys…!!” Lightning cried “Uhn…!!” Sienna was putting more pressure on him. “Hurts, doesn’t it?!” Then she raised her arm, “Let me put you out of your misery then!”

“LIGHTNING!!” screamed Starla.

“She’ll crush him like a bug!” cried Spike.

“SAY GOODBYE!!” Sienna shouted.

Down came her hand…!

POW!!

Sienna had a pained look on her face, as smoke was coming from her free arm. “Blast you…!” she sneered softly at Lightning, who was panting softly while sneering at her.

It had all been an elaborate ruse to get Sienna to lower her guard. This gave him the pefect chance to fire a small blast from his glowing eyes straight at her arm and knocking two more elements off.

“Like I said…” Lightning scoffed at her “Blinded! That’s all you are.”

Sienna then began to groan and moan softly as he body began to shrink down, and she let go of Lightning.

“She’s shrinking down!” cried Dyno.

“Si…! Her power must be draining out.”

Sienna was now back to her normal size, and appeared less monsterous than before, but she still wasn’t quit beat and still had some powers left.

Lightning landed softly on the ground, but feel to his knees feeling very weary now. Starla raced up to him and caught him in her arms “Are you okay?”

Her husband looked up at her and smiled weakly, and found his strength to stand. He gazed over at Sienna.

*Resume*

The Crusaders were bouncing with glee and giving each other high fives. “That’s five elements down!” cried Applebloom. “Just as soon as they get that last element on Sienna’s head, she’ll be toast!” chipred Scootaloo.

“Come on you guys.” I murmured softly “Oh, I wish I could be down there helping them!”

Shadow Coat placed his hand on my shoulder, “You have done much already, my friend. There is no need to despair. Sometimes doing a little can be a lot more.”

“Besides, we do appreciate you being here for us.” added Sweetie Belle.

DD nodded, and I felt flattered.

Suddenly, Krysta gasped “Where’s Mako?”

We all looked around but couldn’t see him anywhere. “Did he just run off?” asked DD.

“Nobody was watching?!” I asked with concern.

*Pause*

Despite Sienna’s overwhelming loss of power and strength, she still refused to give in. “I can’t be defeated! I won’t be defeated! I will get revenge on all creatures!”

“Sierously?!” groaned Rainbow “This is getting really annoying!”

“You know you are beat
You should admit defeat!” growled Rhymey.

Lightning stood firmly and called to her, “We all know you’re not going to win, Sienna, hear me?! And I’m sick and tired of all this sensless destruction! So why don’t you just give up already!”

Sienna stubbornly refused, “After everything I’ve done?! After everything I’ve been through to get this far, and you tell me to quit now?! WHY SHOULD I?!!!”

“Sienna… enough!” shouted a voice.

Everyone turned and saw Mako standing in the grounds.

“Mako!” cried Fluttershy.

“How in the blazes did he get out here?” wondered Applejack.

“Mako, go back!” Lightning called at him, but Mako would not budge and he continued to glare at his sister. “No more of this, Sienna. I can’t stand it anymore!”

Sirnna growled at him, but Mako continued to balk at her. “You’ve officially become worse than the monsters you’ve created!”

Small tears were starting to form in his eyes. “What ever happened to that loving and caring person I called my sister? The one living relative I had who was always there for me?”

Sienna just stood where she was, glaring at him unmoved, but Mako continued to bleed his heart to her…

“I know our childhood wasn’t the best. We lost a lot, but we still had each other. I always remembered how you always played with me; you cheered me up when I was sad! You were more than just my sister; it was like you were another mother to me!”

Some of the ponies began to feel extremely touched and hurt by his words of the heart. Fluttershy, Pinkie and Rarity had tears in their eyes seeing the little guy so upset.

“And then I saw you bravely take all those hits for me when I was bullied or abused. It broke my heart that you got so hurt, but knowing that you did it to protect me… I never once figured how I could ever repay you.

And then, we started treasure hunting, and we were still close, but we both went crazy. We stole from other races and even killed them because we were jealous and angry.

Now I know the truth: they were innocent beings and we just hurt them, and worse you began to forget who you used to be; MY SISTER!!”

“Huh?” Sienna was starting to have a slight realization.

“Look at them!” Mako shouted while motioning to the fighters “Did they ever do anything wrong to us? Did they make our lives miserable and promt us to become such mosnters?!

They helped me when I was lost. Even after everything you and I did to them, they showed me compassion and caring, and even a bit of understanding. I still have to face up to all the things I’ve done, but I’m willing to!

What are you willing to do, Sienna?!”

His sister’s sparking compassion began to fade back into rage. “I’ll tell you what I’m going to do…!” she growled and she raised her hand “I’m going to destroy them all… AND YOU!!”

Mako gasped, and watched as Sienna raised her and fired another blast.

“No…!!” shouted Lightning as he broke away from Starla and swooped in, grabbing Mako out and getting him out of the way as the blast went past, and hit the ground making a huge explosion.

The force of which knocked Lightning and Mako off and they fell to the ground. Lightning de-transformed to his normal form.

“Lightning!” cried Starla.

Mako was shocked and emotionally hurt by the fact his own sister just tried to kill him.

Sienna then turned to fire at Mako and Lightning again, but after using up so much power, she was really drained by this point.

“GET HER!!” shouted Starla, and using all the power they could pour on, and blasted hard at Sienna, and actually knocked the sixth and final element off her head.

The Element of normality bounced along the ground and came to a flat stop near the remains of a tree.

Sienna let out a huge roar as the dark magic began to leave her body in the forms of large flaming waves.

When the waves had ceased, Sienna was lying flat on the ground. Her outfit was a little tattered, her hair was all tangled up, and she was panting softly, but still alive nonetheless.

“That’s the last one.” said Saber.

“We did it!” cried Pinkie.

Everyone smiled victoriously, a little too tired to jump for joy.

Mako was relieved that Sienna hadn’t died; however he did look up and notice, “Wait a minute! Why has the darkness gone away?”

“He’s right…” cried Fluttershy “The chaos is still darkening the sky.”

The sky was growing darker, and the Elements of Chaos began to glow and rise up from the ground.

“What’s happening?!” cried Rarity.

The six elements rose up into the air, all in a corciluar formation.

“Oh, no!” cried Lightning “We forgot something about The Elements of Chaos! When they’re given enough power from their user… they unleash…!!”

Big bolts of lightning struck the elements, making them conntect with one another in electrical currents forming a kind of portal of darkness, and suddenly, waves of dark energy and magic molded together, taking shape… and there it was!

Everyone gawked up at it in extreme shock and horrors!

*Resume*

Shadow was was quivering in his knees att he frightful sight. “The Chaos Gaurdian…!” he cried “It has returned!”

The Crusaders all huddled together, quivering in fear near me.

While outside, that huge creature let out a huge ROAR, shaking the darkness in the sky and making dark lightning strike about.

To Be Continued…!

(Promo)

In our final episode: After the heroes get a good recharge of their powers, it’s the final battle against The Chaos Gaurdian commanded by Sienna, but the battle seems anything but easy, and Mako tries one last desperate time get through to his sister.

What fates will become of everyone involved in this final battle?

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

(Next episode: “Final Part: “Caring Connctions”)

Final Episode: Final Parts: Caring Connections

“Previously on Starfleet Magic…”

The struggle against Sienna and the Elements of Chaos proved to be a harsh and difficult struggle for the heroes, and after many blows and with a little help from Mako, the heroes managed to strip Sienna of the elements, costing her all her dark powers. However, The Elements lived up to their legend and have now unleashed the most fearsome creature in Equestrian history!

FINAL EPISODE

The Chaos Gaurdian: The most powerful and evilest creature from Ancient Equestria. Just as Shadow Coat had said, it was enormous humanoid shaped creature, and it looks as if was made of darkness itself, and they could see through it, but it was still solid, huge, and it roared loud, shaking the skies again.

“I can’t believe it!” cried Lightning.

“Oh, believe it.” hissed Sienna. She got up onto her feet, “As I recall correctly from what I learned from all of you… The Chaos Gaurdian will respond to those who unleashed it!”

She looked right up at the creature and called to it, “Chaos Gaurdian… attack the fighters!”

Two large flashes flicked where the gaurdian’s eyes would be, and it actually obeyed. It began to stomp its way over to the fighters.

“Let’s move!” shouted Starla and everyone scattered about, just as the guardian slammed its huge fists at the ground, making a huge crater.

Sienna laughed, “Ah, yeah! Back in the game!” and she leapt up high onto the gaurdian’s shoulders.

“Sienna, don’t do this!” cried Mako, but Sienna wouldn’t listen and ordered the guardian to destroy the team!

The guardian then revealed to be more than just phsycially strong, but it was able to use all the powers Sienna had. “Chaos Garudain; Dark Wave Stream…!” Sienna ordered, and the gaurdiain bought its huge hands together unleashed a wave of dark magic knocking everyone off their feet, and out of the sky.

“We’ve got to fight it!” cried Saber.

The others all agreed, “Let’s give it all we got!” said Buddy.

The Space Ponies all attacked,

“STAR SHOWER”

“LEAF SWARM”

“PAINT BOMB”

“DRILL QUILL”

“BOOM BOOM FIREBALLS”

All those attacked combined seemed pretty impressive, but the guardian just blocked it all with its arm. The attacks did nothing to it at all.

Sienna snickered and ordered the gaudian to attack, “…Chaotic Lightning!”

The guardian raised its huge arms way up and brought down the lightning bolts that struck everyone hard making huge explosions everwhere. Everyone fell to their ground and all their suits finally de-energized after being so overused.

“Great! What a time for them to wear off!” groaned Rainbow.

“What do we do now?!” cried Rarity.

“That’s easy…” sneered Sienna “You say your prayers!!”

She ordered the guardian to attack, and the poor could do nothing but dodge and scatter, and anything they could to get out of the way.

*Mykan’s POV*

The gang and I watched from the window, and we just couldn’t believe this was happening, but not as deeply as Shadow Coat. “Never in a-thousand mellenia did I dream that horrible creature would show itself again.”

“Well, how do they beat it?” asked Applebloom.

Shadow hestitated, and finally said “I… don’t know.”

“What do you mean you don’t know?!” wailed Sweetie Belle.

“The Chaos Gaurdian was unlike any creature ever known. I and my fellow graurds tried our best, but in the end it was only Queen Galaxia that could beat it, and she was barely to stand up to the guardian herself!”

Hearing that worried us all and Krysta looked down at the team scattering about. “Lightning…” she murmured softly.

I myself couldn’t bear to watch this. I knew Lightning and the others didn’t have much of a chance with their powers drained.

“I’m going down there!” I finally said.

“WHAT?!!”the girls all cried, and before anyone could protest, I already activated my teleporter and was gone.

*POV End*

“Mr. Stevens!” cried Scootaloo, and she looked out the window and saw Mykan flying towards the battle sight. “ARE YOU CRAZY?!!” DD hollered out

Even Shadow Coat thought Mykan was being rather foolish, but brave nonetheless, which reminded him of his glory days in the service, and how he never gave up for anything!

He finally decided “I’m going down there too.”

“What?!” snapped Krysta.

“I must! Any good knight would never turn his back on his friends!”

“Well, alright, but I’ll take you down.” said Krysta “And the second something goes wrong, I’m warping you out of there! Got it?”

“…Understood.” agreed Shadow.

The crusaders didn’t bother to ask to go too, knowing fully well it was much too dangerous. They watched as Krysta and Shadow warped away, and they were left alone to watch from the window.

“Attack them, Chaos Gaurdian!” Sienna shouted, and the guardian continued to punch and blast at the fighters.

Valiantly, the team did their best to avoid every attack, but they were still unable to fight back due their lack of strength, and eventually they got hit several times by the lightning, or were ever bashed hard by the garduian’s huge fists.

POW!! “Whoa…!” Lightning cried as he grabbed Mako and leapt out of the way just in time.

“Dark Wave Stream…!!” Sienna shouted, and the guardian unleashed another huge wave of dark energy, blowing everyone across the field hard.

“Si…enna…!” Mako groaned softly.

All the fighters were quivering sorely and wearily as they slowly got to their feet as the guardian stomped its way towards them.

Sienna laughed at how pitiful everyone looked.

Mako looked up at his sister, and all he could see was her evil grin as she continued to snicker at everyone “Sis…” he cried softly.

Sienna took no notice, and taunted at everyone “Feel the pain! Quake in fear! Now you know how it feels to be pushed and trashed about!”

Lightning roared as he stood up fully and glared wearily but sternly at her, “You won’t win, Sienna! You and your Chaos Gaurdian will both fall! That’s a promise!”

“Don’t make me laugh!” scoffed Sienna.

“No… it’s true!” said Lightning “You may be strong, and your guardian may be stronger, but there’s one thing we all still have that you don’t… and it happens to be the strongest thing of all.

WE BELIEVE… AND THERE ARE THOSE WHO BELIEVE IN US!!”

Sienna growled in deisbelief, when suddenly she could hear a sound rising over the hills, getting closer, and closer. “What’s that?” she snapped.

She soon got her answer as so many ponies, dragons, griffons, fairies; every member of Starfleet and ally alike came marching or flying in, all were guided by their majesties; Grand Ruler Celesto, Queen Celestia, and Princess Luna.

Everywhere Sienna looked there were fighters, knights, gaurds, even Mykan Stevens and Captain Shadow Coat were among the crowd.

Krysta hovered over to Lightning and they exchanged smiles at one-another.

“Sorry we’re late.” said Grand Ruler “We rounded up as many members as we could from all over the planet.”

Celestia nodded, and then signaled to everyone “Lend us all your powers dear friends, and together we will vanquish this evil.”

The army of fighters all agreed, and channelled as much of their power as they could, giving it to their majesties in the forms of sparkling streams.

“What’s going on?!” groaned Sienna. The light was so bright she covered her eyes and didn’t know what to do or where to aim the guardian at.

When the light had faded, their majesties nodded at one another and flew up high, circiling the field. They then combined loads of their freshened powers to generate a large barrier over the entire battle area, sealing the guardian and Sienna inside with the fighters.

Now Sienna couldn’t cause anymore destruction to the lands that she already had.

Then their Majesties landed down near the team and gave them all a good boost of power, healing their injuries and automatically transforming them back into their battle suits.

“Wow!” cried Pinkie.

“I feel better than ever.” said Artie.

Rhymey clenched his fists and said quietly to himself as he thought of all the fighters that just helped them all…

“Friends, you have loaned us your power
Now finally in this darkneed hour
This monster that we all now face
It shall be banished forever from this wholesome place!”

Fluttershy walked up to him and held his hand and smiled bravely at him.

All the fighters stood together with their majesties in the group. “You see, Sienna…!” Lightning called to her “Our believing and friendships will overpower your hatred and chaos any day!”

Sienna only yawned rudely, “Are you finished yet, because all you’re doing is boring me to death.

And speaking of death…!”

Even while under the barrier, the Chaos Gaurdian didn’t look a bit weakened as it was powered by the magic of chaos itself; the same evil feelings and power Sienna had given it from her using the elements.

“Everyone ready?” asked Grand Ruler.

Everyone nodded and stood proudly.

“ATTACK…!!”Sienna and Grand Ruler both shouted together.

The space ponies and Spike all rushed forth, flying past and around the Gaurdian like a swarm of hornets.

As for Celestia and the Equestrian ponies, “Alright ladies; form a circle around me.”

The girls did as they were told and all stood in a five star ring around her.

“Now concentrate hard with all the power of harmony you have.”

“But what for?” asked Applejack.

“Trust me. I think this might work.”

Heeding their queen’s advice, the girls closed their eyes and held their hands up focusing as much as they could. All the drawings of their cuite marks on their armor began to glow, and in soft streams the magic began to transfer from the girls and into Celestia.

“Get them!” shouted Sienna to the guardian “Dark Shockwave Thrust!”

The guardian thrust its huge fists forth.

“No!!” shouted Spike,“DRAGON FLARE”

“STRIDENT SHOCKWAVE”Saber unleashed his shockwaves, and Cadance used her Ninja Fist-Thrust combining her power with the others. The blast intercepted the dark shockwaves and exploded it, protecting the Equestrians.

“We’ll keep you covered.” Saber called to the ladies. The ladies couldn’t respond because of their concentration, but they felt thankful.

“Coming in…!” Lightning shouted

The guardian swung its huge fists at the ponies, forcing them to dodge about.

Dyno and Myte got in close and both punched the guardian hard in the side, but only doing it the slightest amount of damage, but hardly making it flinch.

“Not good enough!” said Dyno.

“Let’s try and hit him again.” suggested Myte.

“No you don’t…!” thundered Sienna, and she got the guardian to swing its arm at the twins, forcing them to zip out of the way.

“Chaotic Lightning!” shouted Sienna, and the guardian formed more chaotic storm clouds.

“Not this time!” thundered Luna, and she flew up high towards the cloud formation, and blasted the chaos in a shadow barrier to hold it up for a short while. “It shall not hold for long.”

Grand Ruler then used his magic to create a second barrier made of Uniforce over the shadow barrier. “That should hold it longer.”

Sienna growled in outrage.

“Coming in!” called Starla“STARLIGHT ARROW”and she shot the guardian clean in the chest making a few small sparks, but still hardly much damage.

Rhymey zipped pasted and slashed it in the side with his sword. Buddy lashed it with his whip, and Artie came rushing in,“COLOR KICK”

WHAMM! Right in the back, the guardian still didn’t flinch much and swung its fists at him, but he got out of the way just in time.

“Nothing we do does so much as tickle it!” growled Lightning, he soared straight in and aimed to punch the guarding right in the face, but the garudian rammed its own fists straight at Lightning.

POW!! The two fists met in an actual struggle.

“Let him have it!” shouted Sienna, and the guardian’s fist began to power up with glowing dark magic.

“I’ll let you have it!” sneered Lightning and his golden horn glowed as he enhanced his punch with the uniforce.

Suddenly there was a small explosion, and Sienna was thrown clear off the Gaurdian.

The necklace of Galaxia’s horn was knock off her and plopped to the ground, while she rolled along the ground.

“Get her!” Lightning shouted to the others.

As Sienna got up to her feet, Starla leapt down from above to put the hold on her.

Sienna struggled with all her might, much to Mako’s horror. He tried to go over tohis sister, but Krysta stopped him. “It’s okay. Starla knows what she’s doing.”

“But Sienna…!” cried Mako.

Instead of placing her in a capture sphere, Starla unleashed small magical waves from her horn, locking Sienna’s wrists and ankles with magical glowing binds. “Got’cha! You miserably wench!

…On your feet!”

The other space ponies saw her, “Way to go, Starla!” cheered Lightning.

“Very well done!” added Grand Ruler.

“CHAOS GAURDIAN…!!” Sienna shouted, but Starla held her in a neck lock. “You are not giving that monster any orders except for one! When I tell you, you will say exactly five words: “Chaos Gaurdian, Cease and Desist!”

Deviate by ONE syllable, ONE breath… and it’ll be your last!

Now say it! “Chaos Gaurdian, Cease and Desist!”

Sienna hesitated, forcing Starla to put more pressure on her. “Chaos Gaurdian…” Sienna finally shouted. The guardian turned and faced her waiting for the order.

“Say it!” growled Starla.

“Chaos Gaurdian…” Sienna paused “…DARK WAVE STREAM!!”

Everyone gasped, and Sienna then elbowed Starla in the gut, making her let go, and she was still able to leap away despite being bound at the ankles.

The Chaos Gaurdian then began to conjure up as much darkness as it possibly could.

“Oh, no!” cried Lightning, “Stop it!! Don’t let it shoot!”

Everyone rushed in and began to attack and strike as hard as they could, but tha guardian still felt nothing!

“Lightning!” Grand Ruler called, and with his golden horns glowing, Lightning got the message and he powered up too.

“UNIFORCE”

“TEN-FOLD… UNIFORCE!”

The two powerful blasts struck the Gaurdian hard, actually damaging it properly, but still not enough that it lowered its guard, and now it stood completely powered up and ready to fire!

“It’s not working!” cried Lightning.

“Keep trying!” shouted Grand Ruler, and the two continued to pour on more power, increasing the damaging they were inflicting, but still not enough!

“No!! Sienna, call it off!” cried Mako.

“Ha!” sneerd Sienna “If I’m going down, you’re all going down with me!!

CHAOS GAURDIAN… FIRE!!!”

POW!! The Gaurdian unleashed its most powerful blast that began to actually push aginast the uniforce; slowly sending it back towards the two men.

The other Space ponies decided to help and quickly combined their magical powers to add to the blast. Saber, Cadance, Spike and Luna helped with whatever power they could spare, and it seemed to work; the blast was being sent back towards the guardian.

“FULL POWER!!” shouted Sienna “FULL POWER, CHAOS GAURDIAN!!”

The guardian complied and forced more power into its blast, once again sending it back towards the team.

“It’s no good!” cried Buddy “The chaos is too strong, we need a little more power!”

Suddenly, there was a bright glow of light.

“What now?!” yelled Sienna, and she could see Celestia, and the Equestrian ponies, as the Valkyries of Harmony! Celestia was levitating high, and glowing the brightest as all the other Valkyries had given her their power.

“By the powers of harmony…” Celestia declared “May this chaotic evil be defeated, and my mother’s final wish be fulfilled!”

She held up her sword, which was glowing as brightly as she was, and each of the ponies shouted out their element’s name….

Rarity:“Generosity!”

Rainbow Dash:“Loyalty!”

Pinkie Pie:“Laughter!”

Fluttershy:“Kindness!”

Applejack:“Honesty!”

Celestia:“Magic!”

With that, Celestia pointed her mighty blade towards the space ponies and added her power to theirs, strengthrning those all perfectly to force the blast right back at the gaurdian. The lights got brighter, and brighter…

BA-KOOM!! What a rupturing explosion, the force of which knocked everyone all over the place; even Sienna and Mako.

The blast was so strong, and the magical force so great, the barrier shattered thus exposing everyone outside to the chaotic skies once more.

All the fighters lay on the ground, de-transformed, and looking pretty beat. Who wouldn’t after a blast like that?

Sienna had broken free from her magical bindings, but she also was just as beat.

The ponies slowly began to come to and sat upright. “Wow! What a boom!” Artie groaned.

“Thank goodness it’s over now.” said Cadance.

Krysta looked up ahead, and gasped, “I don’t think so! Look…!”

Everyone looked on through the clearing smog… and they were ever so horrified! The guardian still still there!

“My stars!” cried Grand Ruler “How could it have survived all that magic?!”

Tha guardian was still standing, but it did look pretty weak.

“We need to hit it again.” said Lightning “One more blast should finish it!”

The problem was, everyone was really tired and beat from all that had happened, and hard hardly much strength left to spare.

“Aww… what a shame.” taunted Sienna “You tried your best and it wasn’t good enough, but at least you’ve finally put yourselves all in one place. Though the guardian is weak now, I’m sure it still has the power to wipe you all out in one easy swoop!”

“Quickly…” Lightning said to everyone, “Transfer any of what little strength you can give to me. It should be enough.”

Everyone agreed, but due to their faitigue, the energy transfer would take a little time.

“Say goodbye!” Sienna shouted, and she was about to order the guardian to attack when suddenly, “No!” Mako snapped, and he stepped out in the way, dead center between Sienna and tha guardian, and the weakened fighters as they continued to charge Lightning up.

“Mako!” cried Fluttershy.

“Get out of there!” Luna called, but Mako would not move. He just stood where he was with his arms out like a human shield.

“Someone, go get him!” cried Applejack.

“We can’t! We must give Lightning the charge.
We have to hurry before the guardian’s barge.” said Rhymey

“Keep going.” said Lightning “I can feel the strength coming.”

The ponies tried all they could to charge Lightning’s power faster, without blowing themselves out as well.

“Mako… what do you think you’re doing?” sneered Sienna.

Mako glared angrily at his sister “If you want to take them down, you’ll have to go through me!”

Sienna growled, and the team was shocked by what he was doing; even though it did give them time to keep charging Lightning.

“Don’t push me!” Sienna growled “Get out of my way, right now! They’ve got to be destroyed!”

“No, they don’t!” shouted Mako “But I can see there’s just no getting through to you anymore, is there?”

“Mako… I’m warning you…!” said Sienna.

Mako still didn’t budge, mostly because he was too scared with what he was doing to move, but also because he felt he had to stand up for the fighters to give them a chance.

“It’s your choice, Sienna. The fighters are still weak, and they can’t move. You could send the Chaos Gaurdian to wipe them out, which means you’ll also wipe me out as well.

On the other hand, the longer you hesitate, the more power the commander gets, and he can attack the guardian and wipe it out for good. Then you’d have nothing left at all!”

Sienna just stood where she was, shaking angrily.

“What is here doing?” asked Rarity.

“He’s trying to force her hand.” replied Lightning “He’s trying to see if there really is no hope left for Sienna. After all… would she really attack her own brother, even if it meant destroying us too?”

“That’s way creepy.” said Rainbow “Brave… but creepy.”

Sienna just stood where she was, and her time was running out.“Why am I just hesitating?”she thought to herself“I’ve got to attack!

But…Mako…!”

She was starting to feel her sisterly emotions kick in again for the first time in awhile starting to silence her obsession and cruelty.

“What’s it going to be, Sienna?!” Mako shouted at her, and he took note of her struggling, “You won’t do it, will you? You’re still in there. Fight it, Sienna!”

Sienna gnashed her teeth furiously. He head ached with thoughts and confusion.

“I think it’s working…!” cried Shining Armor.

Their majesties, all three, looked at Mako admiring him for his bravery.

Suddenly, Sienna stomped her foot forth, and she shouted “MAKO, I’VE NEVER LET ANYTHING STOP ME… AND I’M NOT STARTING NOW!!

…CHAOS GAURDIAN, ATTACK!!!”

The guardian responded and began to stomp forth towards Mako, much to his and everyone’s horror.

“MAKO… GET OUT OF THERE!!” shouted Celesita, but Mako still wouldn’t budge.

“I don’t have enough power yet!” cried Lightning.

The guardian continued to stomp forth.

“SIENNA… DON’T!!” Mako shouted “CALL HIM OFF!!”

The guardian was now in reach of him, and raised its huge fists to flatten him!

“HELP ME… SIS!!!!” Makko screamed, and the cry of his voice ultimately stuck Sienna hard, and reawakened all her supressed memories of how she really loved and cared for her brother. All the good times they had and being there for one another.

That, and she also saw what a pain she had been and all the horrible things she had done to all beings, especially Mako.

“Mako…!” she cried with tears in her eyes “What have I done?!!”

She fell to her knees and screamed as loud as she could,

“STOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!!!!!”

and like a miracle, the guardian's huge fist stopped just a few inches away from Mako, and the guardian just backed away from him.

The team was speechless!

Mako looked over and saw his sister on all fours sobbing softly with her face towards the ground.

In a bright flash, Lightning’s golden horn was glowing again. “Thanks, guys.” he said to the team.

“UNIFORCE”He fired all the magic at the guardian, hitting is clean in the chest. The guardian rose up into the air, flailing and wailing as its dark body began to illuminate in a golden glow, and SHATTERED into millions of specks of soft light.

With the gaurdian’s destruction, the darkness in the skies disappeared revealing the nightsky.

Finally, all that was left were the six Elements of Chaos, lying flat on the ground where guardian stood. All of them were losing their dark glow, and they just rusted up and crusted over into ordinary stones, and softly disintegrated away into the wind.

Victory was won, and the ponies and Spike all felt ever so relieved, though they were a little too tired to jump for joy. Even if they had the strength they didn’t feel like it…!

Mako walked all way over to his sobbing sister.

She looked up at him with tearful eyes, “Mako… Please forgive me! I’m so sorry!”

Mako, with tears running down his own face, even after all that happened he still loved his sister dearl, and hugged her, “It’s okay, Sis.” he sobbed softly “It’ll be all right.”

Sienna held her brother softly, sobbing into his chest like a frightened little girl, “Mako…! I’m so sorry…!”

The two siblings continued to cry and embrace, and to the heroes this was more a hreatbreaking scene to watch. Many of them felt like crying too.

After a while, Sienna was resting, but was still being hauled off to prison, and Mako was going with her, but he was willing to face up.

“What you did was very brave, Mako.” Grand Ruler said “But inspite of all this, you and your sister must still answer for all the bad things that you’ve done.”

Mako held his head low, “Yes, your majesty. I understand, and I’m willing to pay.”

Grand Ruler didn’t like this as much himself. “However…” he said “I will have words with intergalactic DA’s and mention of how you helped us, and it still is understandable of what happened to you two.

Hopefully we can get you both into some rehabilitation program.”

Mako felt just a little better, and he looked at the all the heroes smiling rather sadly at him. “Thank you all for believing in me. It’s the nicest thing that’s happened in a long time.”

The heroes felt even worse now, but they couldn’t change a thing.

The guard put his hand on Mako’s shoulder “Come on, kid, time to go.” and he softly led Mako through a portal which would take them both, Sienna and the other guards to the prison planet.

Then they were gone.

Everyone sighed softly.

Celestia then noticed something shiniy by the Elements of Chaos; the necklace Sienna wore of Galaxia’s horn.

The wind softly began to pick up, and the clouds moved in an unusual pattern as a soft light appeared way up high.

“Celestia…” called a soothing voice.

Celestia’s heart gave a small leap as she recognized the sound, “Mother?”

A heavenly figure trotted forth and took shape within the shimmering lights in the clouds, and there she was.

“Queen Galaxia!” murmured Lightning. Everyone gazed in extreme awe.

Tears formed in Celestia’s eyes, “Mother! Is it really you?”

The spiritual image smiled down at her lovingly, “Yes, my dear. It is I.”

Celestia stood where she was, frozen with complete twists of emotions, but her tears fell like waterfalls. “Oh, Mother!” she sobbed softly.

Galaxia snickered softly, “Still very emotional I see.” Then she looked onward at her other daughter, “Ahh, Luna, my child.”

Luna was all in a ditter. She hardly knew what to say or even do, considering this was the very first time ever seeing her mother or being able to speak to her.

Galaxia smiled at her, “Your emotions natural, and healthy.”

She then addressed the entire team “I wish to thank you all. You have fulfilled my final wish. The Elements of Chaos have been destroyed, and the evil once contained within will never be a threat again.”

She then looked remorseful, “Sadly, all this is my doing.

When I had created the Elements of Harmony from the Light of Purity, I never realized what consequences would come when The Elements of Chaos were created from the darkness.

While my forces and I fought valiantly, we had neither the power nor the resources to destroy what I created.

So using the last of my power before I perished, I sealed the evil elements within the Temple of Mystery, and infused my spirit within the statue guardian. Waiting for the day when a worthy party would be able to to solve my great mystery, find the temple, and truly be worthy of carrying out my will to destroy the elements.”

Lightning remembered the battle in the temple, “It was you…” he said “Begging your pardon, but… it was your spirit controlling the statue along.”

“Yes, and I had laid in wait for many centuries. Though you ran into many hardships along your way, in the end you prevailed. Now my spirit is free, and I have no further regrets.”

“Oh, mother…!” cried Celestia

“Please, weep not, Celestia. The planet, the galaxy, your friends… they all need you to be brave. That’s makes a good queen; the braveness of her heart and her will. Remember that.”

Celestia wipped her tears away, and nodded bravely.

“M-M-Mother…” Luna finally said “Though I have not truly ever known you I… well, I…” she still couldn’t find any words to say, and her mother’s spirit didn’t mind at all “It’s alright, Luna. Though you have had your share of darkness, I know you are true to the others.”

Luna smiled.

“Celesto…” Galaxia said.

Grand Ruler stiffened upright, rather nervous and humble to be in the presence of his mother-in-law “Y-Y-Yes… Yes Ma’am?”

Galaxia couldn’t help but giggle at his shyness, “You are a very bright and noble individual. Celestia was very wise to choose you to be by her side. All I ask is that you continute to care for my daughter, her sister, and all those you hold dear.”

“Yes…” Grand Ruler said “Yes, Ma’am. I promise! In the names of the stars, I give my word.”

The others all couldn’t help but think he looked cute the way he tried to hide his nerves and act so brave before the Queen.

The light began to fade, and Galaxia’s spirit trailed off “…Farewell.”

Then she was gone, and the sky returned to normal.

Celestia clutched the fragment of her mother’s horn tightly, and her tears fell onto her hands. Luna and Celestia both embraced each other in a soft cry.

Everyone felt ever so sorry for the two sisters.

A week later, after some much cleaning up and restoration, all was beautiful and gleaming again. New trees were planted, grass was laid out, all the damages cleared away, and it was time to celebrate victory, as well as getting word from Intergalactic DA that Sienna was undergoing psychiatric treatment, while Mako would have to be placed in a foster home on another planet until a time his sister could be released and maybe join them.

...At least were not imprisoned.

A big party was held in New Canterlot, “EVERYBODY PARTAE!” Pinkie Pie hollered as she threw confetti all around.

There was music, dancing, and pretty much all the usual things at a gathering that huge. Abra Kadabra and Trixie were even perfoming a cool magic show for some of the spectators.

Many of the friends were all out on the terrace with their majesties and enjoying the festivities from there.

Shining Light and Flurry Heart were sitting in a shared playpen, and holding hands together like they were really dancing.

“Awww… that’s so sweet.” said Starla.

“I don’t think we need to wonder anymore.” agreed Cadance.

“Easy now, girls…” said Lightning “Don’t plan the wedding just yet.”

“Yeah,” agreed Shining Armor “I don’t think marriage before the terrible twos is a good idea either.”

Evereyone still thought it was sweet.

Grand Ruler couldn’t but ask Celestia for the umpteenth time, “Are you alright, dear?”

His wife rolled her eyes, “For the thousandth time, yes. Now stop asking.” she said playfully. She wasn’t as distraught over her mother anymore, keeping the fragment of her mother's horn in a safe place-- a box under her and her husband’s bed.

Suddenly, a big shiny red ball rolled up to them, and their children rushed out calling for their parents to come play with them, and the family ran off together.

No sooner had they left did Professor Brain arrive with good news for everyone. “I have built you a new droid, Starla. It shall be fully operation within a week.”

Starla was greatful

“Shesh, Professor.” said Krysta “Stop working, and join the party.”

“Yeah… cut it loose a bit.” agreed Rainbow.

Brain chuckled, “I’m afraid I’m not really the partying type. Besides, I must continue my work. The lunar team is dismantaling the alien spacecraft on the moon. We shall harness its alloyed coating should it be useful for us in future, as well as donating the vast amounts of treasure we have found to intergalactic charities.”

“Aw, that’s so sweet of you, Professor.” said Rarity “Oh, and incedeently…”

Brain cut her off “Eh, begging your pardon, but yes, I have begun construction on your droid, as well as Fluttershy’s.”

Many of the others had strange expressions on their faces. “Why do you two need droids now?” asked Artie.

Fluttershy and Rarity smirked and gentily touched their stomachs, and their respective husbands stood by their sides as everyone else’ expressioned widened with exictment.

“Are you kiddin’ me?!” cried Applejack.

Fluttershy blushed and hid her face within her long mane, and Rarity nodded lovingly.

“Yes, ma’am, we’re each having a baby.” said Spike.

“Yes, ma’am, we don’t mean maybe.” rhymed Rhymey.

Buddy came in a stepped in between the couples and said with a smirk, “You’re not the only ones.”

“Ay’ Ay’ Ay’! Congrats Hombre!” said Dyno.

“Three new babies.” said Myte “Could it possibly get any sweeter?”

The couples and Buddy all explained how the last avdneture and nearly getting destroyed several times over, they realized just how much they really wanted to become parents now, and at least have a new generation to carry on for them.

“Quick! Boil some water, and get clean cloths!” Pinkie hollered.

“Pinkie…” said Fluttershy “The babies won’t even be here for eight months.”

“I know that, but I spilled my punch on the floor. I need to clean it up.”

“OH, PINKIE PIE!!”everyone groaned, but then they all shared a good laugh.

MY BRAVE PONY
STARFLEET MAGIC SEASON VII

Author's Note

Coming up... Starfleet Magic Season 8

That's right... I never stop (And don't wish to. Too pissed)