My Brave Pony: Starfleet Magic [The Unauthorized Revision]

EPISODE TWO

(Part 1)

    "Lightning?"

    "Lightning Dawn!"

    "Wake up!"

    Lightning felt his head whip to the right, from a force that threatened to roll his whole body across the floor when he opened his eyes in a surprised gasp. He reached his hooves up to caress his sore face when he noticed the green eyes of a pink-maned white unicorn that were staring down at him. Before Lightning could sit up her hooves pushed his away and grabbed his head then she brought her face closer to his. He gulped and remained still as the unicorn, with a stethoscope hanging off her neck, gazed deep into his eyes while her horn glowed and shone a light nearly blinding him.

    "Alright." The mare said with a sigh and backed away, letting Lightning to stand up. Hoping that his blush wasn't too noticeable, he turned his attention to the scene around him.  The library was completely torn up.  Bookshelves toppled and books scattered and ripped pages littered the ground. Pieces of the wooden wall were cut and slashed into and charred black from the fire. The stage where Abra Kadabra had performed his tricks was demolished into broken boards and cracked to the point of being unrepairable. As his jaw clenched tighter from the sight of injured unicorns laying on blankets and being cared for by other doctors and nurses, Lightning turned once more toward the white mare that had taken a close look at him.

    With the use of her horn the white unicorn was floating a clipboard and writing something onto the paper on it before she gave the clipboard to a waiting stallion and turned to face Lightning. "The good news is that you don't seem to have suffered any physical damage. Mental damage however will be a whole other issue. I'm not a psychologist so I can't say."

    Lightning blinked and furrowed his eyebrows at the unicorn's abrupt words. "Wait, what?" Was all he managed to gasp out at first. Massaging his temple with a front hoof, he took a deep breath and needed this doctor—or who he assumed to be a doctor—to clarify herself. "I...mental damage?"

    "Oh?" The unicorn arched an eyebrow and hurriedly walked closer to him, her horn lit up and blasting light into Lightning's face brighter than before. "Perhaps it's a concussion? I could probably help you with that..." As her lips turned up into a thin smile, Lightning felt less and less comfortable with the pink-maned doctor.

    "Dr. Celine, how is he?" Another voice called out, taking the mare's attention to the one who addressed her and allowing Lightning some breathing space.

    "He's fine." Dr. Celine greeted the female unicorn standing out of Lightning's line of sight. "His magic seems to have been drained completely, but interestingly your friend doesn't seem any worse for wear. I'd love to study him."

    "Sorry, but that will have to wait." The voice replied with the slightest hint of nervousness. Curious about the voice's familiarity to him, Lightning turned around to find Starla standing there. Not only that, but she was wearing the vest of a Star Fleet warrior, with the serial number "KY-1M" emblazoned under her insignia. "Private Lightning Dawn's participation is required for the operation."

    "Very well, Lieutenant..." The doctor sighed. Lightning could hear the distinct sound of disappointment as the unicorn gave a nod toward Starla. "Next time, then. I'll just busy myself with the injured."

    "If you'd please." Wearing a polite smile, Starla's violet mane bounced when she returned the nod and she watched as the doctor moved away to the nearest unicorn that needed attention. Starla remained quiet for a moment before she sighed and looked back toward Lightning with a more natural smile than the plastic one she had just a second ago. "She'd never let you out of her sigh if she found out that you didn't have magic. Besides, I found you first." Starla said with a chuckle.

    "Uh...you're uh...?" Lightning stuttered dumbly while staring at her vest.

    Though smiling, Starla rolled her eyes and sighed. She reached her hoof out and pressed upwards against Lightning's chin in order to draw his attention. "My eyes are up here, bub."

    Realizing what he was doing, Lightning shook his head and cleared his throat, quickly jumping into a stiff stance of attention and staring straight ahead. "Sor-I mean, my apologies, Lieutenant!"

    "Geez..." Starla sighed again and nudged her hoof against his shoulder, surprising him and almost throwing him off balance. "No one does that outside of bootcamp." She began to explain to a sheepish-looking Lightning. "And besides, you're technically outside of the regular command structure, being the Grand Ruler's apprentice and all."

    "Oh..." Lightning replied simply.

    "Starla!" When another voice called out both Starla and Lightning turned to see three other familiar faces, as well as realizing that all of them were wearing Star Fleet uniforms as well. The red unicorn, Buddy Rose, turned his attention toward Lightning for a moment and patted him on the back with a hoof. "Good to see you still in one piece." He said with a smile then looked back to Starla. "We got word on where 'it' headed with the hostages."

    "Hostages?" Lightning's voice came out louder than he thought he would. After a calming breath, he continued. "What hostages are you talking about? Does it have anything to do with that meteor? Or that thing that attacked me?" Lightning looked around the library and could tell there were much less unicorns than there had been during the welcoming party. He hoped that that was because most had managed to escape during the attack but Buddy Rose's statement had put doubts to those hopes. "Speaking of which...did it escape? Where's Krysta?" Lightning felt his chest clench as he feared that both the words "hostages" and the fact that his friend wasn't around right now could be related.

    "I'm...I'm sorry, Lightning..." Rhymes stepped forward and offered a comforting hoof on Lightning's shoulder. But Lightning shook his head and slapped the yellow unicorn's hoof away.

    "No." Lightning said sternly. "No. Is Krysta here?" When Rhymes did not answer immediately, Lightning faced Buddy then Starla then back to Rhymes. "Was she knocked out like me? Where's that doctor...that Celine doctor?"

    "Lightning, you have to calm down." Starla said, placing both of her hooves onto Lightning's shoulders and directed him to sit down, which he did. "You have to calm down, and listen, alright? Krysta is-"

    "No...no, Krysta isn't-"

    "She's safe, Lightning." Buddy said in a strong tone, but it only caused Lightning to shake his head faster. To his credit, the unicorn remained seated while Starla tried to continue what she was saying while her hooves still rested on his shoulders.

    "No, you can't know that because she isn't here."

    "Lightning, please calm down."

    "I can't calm down. Not until I know that Krysta is safe."

    "I said she is, you stubborn stallion."

    "If she's not here, she's not safe, and I have to-"

    "Will you just shut up, already!?" To everyone's surprise, a voice managed to completely holler over their overlapping arguing. The unicorns all looked toward Artie who stared at the others with frustration obvious on his face, but his ire was focused entirely on Lightning. "They're trying to tell you but you just won't shut up!"

    Lightning nickered and then growled. "Well why don't you make me, huh!?" With that he flared his wings out and exploded in rage, lunging at the orange unicorn, only to be held down by both Buddy and Rhymes. Lightning screamed and struggled in vain to swipe his hoof at the beret-wearing unicorn who was standing just a few feet out of reach. "Yeah, that's right! You're just talk! Saying those sweet nothings to Krysta because that's what you are! You're nothing!"

    "Settle yourself, will ya!?" Buddy strained out while holding Lightning down. "You're embarrassing yourself!"

    "Dude, listen to what Starla's trying to tell you. We'll save Krysta and everyone else, we promise, it's true!"

    After a few more seconds of pointless struggling, Lightning angrily pounded the floor with his hoof in frustration. The library was silent save for his angry screams until before long, Lightning was panting and gasping for air and he grew quiet.

    At Starla's signal, Buddy and Rhymes got off of Lightning, leaving him to lie face down on the ground. She layed down next to him and without hesitation, she stroked his short mane with her hoof. "You're not the only one who has a loved one taken from that attack. Lots of unicorns are missing their dads or moms or kids right now. Please trust me when I say that we'll save everyone. Including Krysta. I promise"

    Without thinking Krysta stroked Lightning's mane a few more times, hoping that his calmer breathing came about from her ministrations. Suddenly he shot up to his feet, causing everyone to take a step back in surprise. Lightning exchanged a look with Artie but then glanced back to Starla, his eyes fiery with determination. "I'm going with you." Lightning said.

    "Lightning, no." Buddy Rose said. "This is a job for Star Fleet members."

    "I'm a Star Fleet member too, Buddy." As Lightning said this, he puffed his chest out as though his vest wasn't noticeble otherwise.

    "I mean real members." Lightning choked back an audible gasp and felt his shoulders immediately slump. When Buddy realized what he had said without thinking, the red unicorn winced in regret before returning to a hardened look. "We don't know what to expect with that thing that attacked us and we don't know what sort of shape you're in."

    Lightning huffed and clenched his jaw tightly. With a loud exhale he tried to push his usefulness. "I know what it is. If you look into the histories, it looks and acts exactly like a sorceror called Titan. It was required reading of me for my apprenticeship! I can help! Even if it's not to fight, I can-"

    Artie clicked his tongue when he saw the wavering glances the others began to exchange and stepped forward. "Well c'est bon. But! Do you honestly expect you can come along because you can list off what you memorized from a boo-" The orange unicorn stopped not at the irritation from Lightning but the look that came from Starla, who was standing behind the white unicorn where he couldn't see her.

    As Artie backed down, Buddy tried to explain once more. "Listen, Lightning. Even if you could tell us the size of his boots, we don't know what sort of fight to expect. And unlike you, we're...more experienced. Simple as that. You can't just worry about Krysta, Lightning. There's a whole lot of hostages that were taken and we can't put any of them at risk." Lightning looked down at the floor in shame, unable to respond or even think.

    "You gotta put your trust in us, bro." Rhymes added. Looking up from the floor, Lightning noticed everyone staring at the five of them and felt guilt for being so selfish. Some unicorns were wrapped in bandages while others were crying and being consoled by parents or friends or family. While silence continued to prevail, Lightning heard the creak of wood as the sound of hoofsteps reached his ears.

    Before Lightning could further protest, the four warriors moved on out. Starla stopped at the door and gazed back at him, almost apologetically, but then she ran off to join her teammates.

    Feeling the pressure begin to build up again, Lightning angrily pounded the floor with his rear hooves, eliciting a gasp from someone in the room. He shut his eyes tight, feeling his eyelashes getting wet when a hoof tapped against his back. Lightning wiped his eyes with his foreleg before facing whoever it was that was prodding him.

    At first thinking that no one was next to him, another soft poke brought Lightning's eyes downward, to a green-colored colt wearing square glasses. The younger unicorn looked up when he realized he got Lightning's attention while the white unicorn grew more confused by the vest, which looked oversized, that the colt was wearing. Thinking it was some kind of costume, Lightning furrowed his eyebrows when he noticed the serial number, "GU-6I" printed on it. Lightning's eyes returned to the small unicorn's and they stared at each other in silence until the green colt spoke up. "I...um...I saw what happened."

    "...did you, now...?" Lightning exhaled. His voice came out rough and scratchy and he coughed slightly as his throat felt hoarse from screaming just a few moments ago. He couldn't help but chuckle sadly at himself, too tired right now to feel embarrassed from how much of a whiny jerk he probably made himself look like. "I guess I was pretty loud, huh?"

    His face taking a familiar neutral look, the colt raised his hoof to adjust his glasses. "No, I mean that I saw what happened when Titan attacked you."

    It was Lightning's turn to stare before he asked "You know about Titan?"

    "I know lots of things." The colt said with his face still emotionless.

    "Holmstrup, please stop bothering Grand Ruler's apprentice." Query said as she approached them.

    "Please, don't, mother..." Seeing the colt cringe and sigh at the sound of his name, Lightning smirked and with his hoof mussed up the green unicorn's light grayish mane. He glared at Lightning with irritation but did not do anything to stop him.

    "No, no, he's not bothering anyone..." Lightning said with a nervous laugh as he stopped and treated Query with a polite smile.

    "I see." The librarian stated simply and looked between the two unicorns in front of her. It was then that Lightning realized why the colt's stare looked so familiar.

    Unable to tolerate the tense air around them any more, Lightning cleared his throat and tried to fill in the silence. "I didn't realize that even kids were allowed into Star Fleet these days."

    "Hmm?" Query looked warily toward Lightning for a moment before recognizing his reference. The gray unicorn glanced at the colt to confirm her suspicions before answering. "No, they are not." She responded seriously, to Lightning's chagrin. "He is simply wearing his father's vest."

    "Oh." Lightning gulped. "...I didn't...is he...?"

    "Taken with the other hostages?" Query asked. "Yes, he was."

    "That's not what I meant, but..." Lightning began to say, but stopped. He was simply relieved to hear that the colt still had both of his parent's as strange as that sounded.

    "You act as though you were not speaking with him during the party, Lightning Dawn."

    "I was?" Lightning asked dumbly.

    Query tilted her head at Lightning's answer then righted herself before answering. "Yes. My husband, Prancy. He is the captain of the local Star Fleet detachment."

    Lightning balked at Query's straightforward reply, but thinking back, realized he hadn't really paid attention to any of the unicorns asking him questions. The party couldn't have been more than an hour or so ago and Lightning realized to his dismay that no one really stood out except for a few names and faces. Looking back to the green-colored colt, Lightning felt his spirits lower at the sight of a child being reminded his father was missing. That others had loved ones taken from them in the attack.

    "I'm sure that the others will get him." Lightning said, trying to stoke confidence in both Holmstrup and himself. With his hoof, he patted the colt's head in a more assuring manner.

    "That's very kind of you to say. My thanks for that." Lightning looked at Query in surprise when he barely heard a crack in her voice. The gray unicorn returned a gaze before nodding. "There is...much work to do." She said before turning around and heading to where Dr. Celine and the other emergency workers were.

    "As I was saying earlier..." Lightning turned to see Holmstrup fixing up his now-messy mane and adjust his glasses before speaking. "When Titan attacked you, you seemed to go unconcious, but your eyes were still open. It was quite disturbing."

    "I'd bet it was." Lightning said, feeling a shiver rush up his spine.

    "Yes." Holmstrup frowned but continued. "However, not a moment past before he dropped you then grabbed as many of the unicorns in the vicinity as possible, along with your fairy friend then simply disappeared. It was then that Starla and the others arrived."

    "...that is pretty weird..." Lightning looked to the floor in thought, unable to understand the situation.

    "Curious...most curious..." Lightning arched an eyebrow and looked at Holmstrup as the colt seemed more lively, stroking his chin with his front hoof. "Come, Lightning. I have a way to find out where the others are heading to at my house."

    He was unsure of letting a child become involved but struck down that thought. 'He's already involved...just like me and everyone else who has a missing loved one.' Lightning thought. Taking note of Query and the others still busy with the injured unicorns on the other side of the room, Lightning shrugged his shoulders and followed after the colt to the door. With his longer stride, it did not take long for him to catch up to the shorter unicorn.

    "By the way, Lightning..." Holmstrup spoke up.

    "Hmm? What's up, kid?"

    "I love my mother dearly, but considering her naming sense...could you do me a favor and call me 'Brain' instead?"

    Lightning smirked. "Sure thing, Brain."

    …

    The sound of crying and sobs caused Krysta to toss and turn in her sleep. The heartwrenching wails of children calling for their moms or dads and hopelessness lacing the voice of others begging not to be next brought her out restless unconciousness into haggard wakefulness. She shuddered a gasp at the dark cloudy whisps that surrounded her, a floating dense mass that obscured the sight of those who were crying. Letting her wings flutter quickly, Krysta took off but bounced against what felt like glass and fell onto the clear floor.

    The fairy groaned in pain and rubbed her sore face with her hooves as her lips arced down in a pout. Looking around in confusion, it was only now that she noticed the shape of her enclosement: a bubble of magic that was made to seem more transparent because of the soot-colored clouds that drifted about. Unlike glass, the light from her glowing antennae failed to reflect from the surface. Like glass, it felt solid to the touch of her hooves when she walked up to the edge of her prison, the size of which seemed to be large enough to hold an adult-sized pony with just some discomfort but was quite large for a creature her size.

    Touching blindly against the solid wall, Krysta leaned closer and peered as best she could to see through the dense screen of smoke as the cries and sobs continued out of sight. Krysta fought against the depression to started to take hold from hearing those yells of distress. "Hello!? Can you hear me!?" She called out. "It...it's going to be alright! My friend is definitely going to save us! He's the Grand Ruler's apprentice, after all, s-so...I'm sure he'll come with all of Star Fleet soon!" While starting off strong, Krysta's voice steadily grew quieter as her words of encouragement directed less toward the other voices than to herself. "I have to do something, too..." Krysta sniffed quietly and leaned her head against the bubble wall.

    When there was movement in the corner of her eye, Krysta looked up to find another bubble approach in the darkness. She narrowed her eyes then floated up for a moment, letting her wings flutter hard enough for her to just hover. She smiled when her bubble continued to move while she remained still in the air, then taking a deep breath in, charged straight into the side to propel her prison forward. "Gah!" She groaned and felt her shoulder sting as she rammed the magical barrier over and over, sure she would bruise. But through the pain, Krysta smiled when her bubble finally touched against the other and she eagerly brought her face close to the side and tried to peer at it. "Hello? Is anyone there?"

    Perhaps whole minutes had passed but Krysta was unsure until a silouhette appeared from within the other bubble. "I-is that you, Miss Fairy?" A scared voice—a child's voice, asked. Despite the situation, Krysta smiled and nodded, not caring that her gesture could barely be seen.

    "Yeah, it is!" Krysta gulped and let out a sigh of relief. "Are you ok, sweetie?"

    "No..." The voice answered. "...I want my mommy!" The unicorn foal's sniffles made Krysta wince, but she tried to keep her voice as steady as possible.

    "Just sit tight. Everything's going to be fine! Did you learn Grand Ruler's promise to his subjects in school yet?" Straining her eyes, Krysta could barely tell that the young pony was bobby her head. Thankfully enough the unicorn she was talking to had also learned how to use illumination magic, as a bead of light shook up and down, although it flickered. "What was it that Grand Ruler promised?"

    "Th...the Gram Ruler promised us...his subjectives whom he loves..that Good will always win o-o-over Evil..." The voice sniffled and shook. "We just...learned it yesterday..."

    "Is that right?" When the unicorn squeaked an affirmative, Krysta smiled. "That's great to hear!You're so smart and brave to remember that! My name is Krysta. What's your name, sweetie?"

    "...Clove..."

    "Clove? That's such a pretty name! And what's your mommy's name?"

    "...I think it's...Elodie...?"

    "Wow! Both of your names are so pretty!"

    "Th...thanks..."

    Hearing less and less of a shakiness in Clove's voice, Krysta looked around once again. "Clove, do you know where it is we were taken? Where this is?"

    The unicorn's light shook from side to side in the other bubble but then her voice trembled out a "...n-no!"

    "Don't worry, Clove, honey. Take a nice deep breath like you're smelling some flowers, okay?" As the light bobbed once more, Krysta waited a bit before trying a different question. "It's ok if you don't have an answer, but did you see anyone else besides me? Your friends or any another unicorn?" As she asked this, Krysta noticed how light seemed to permeate through the dark clouds around them.

    "...no." Clove responded, her voice less shaky. "But I can hear a lot of other unicorns! Are they missing their mommies, too?"

    Distracted by the thinning smoke, Krysta realized that the unicorn had asked her a question. "Uh...well...some could be mommies and daddies looking for their kids! So that means your mommy is looking for you too!" Her view of the neighboring bubble began to be clearer and clearer as they seemed to be escaping the smoke. Looking down, Krysta was now able to see the stone-tiled ground, and realized that their bubbles had been moving as a result of her crash all this time.

    "There's mommy!" With a blink, Krysta looked toward Clove's bubble and took note of the pink-colored filly wearing her orange mane in a ponytail. Krysta was about to comment when she noticed Clove's raised hoof pointing toward something. Following the imaginary line to where the unicorn filly was looking at, Krysta immediately felt cold.

    While their bubbles had escaped the dark clouds that engulfed half of the old-stone room they were in, Krysta was speechless at the sight of the figure in what seemed to be the room's center. Covered in heavy robes, the figure was twice the size of any unicorn she had ever seen. It may have been as tall if not taller than the Grand Ruler, himself. The clouds seemed to pour out from within its robes, obscuring the light of the few lit torches set on the walls around them. In the flickering, dancing light, Krysta watched, no, witnessed a pink-colored unicorn mare thrash about violently against shadowy tendrils wrapped all around her body and dragging her toward the figure. Her terrified screams quickly went silent when she disappeared under the figure's robes.

    Slowly, the figure turned to face them. Krysta paled at the sight of its piercing, fiery eyes.

    "...mommy...?"