My Brave Pony: Starfleet Magic [The Unauthorized Revision]

EPISODE TWO

(Part 3)

    "Move right!" Rhymes jumped at Starla's warning and narrowly avoided a bolt of lightning that struck out from the darkness at where he was just standing.

    As soon as he landed, the black unicorn emerged and swung with his tail, which was a scyth's blade. "Whoa!" Rhymes ducked, then leaped foward to stab the creature with his magic-infused horn. Seeing the attack, the black unicorn whipped his scythe-tail back and threw Rhymes off to the side from the sheer force of the swing.

    "They don't look like any minions I've seen before." Rhymes observed once he regained his balance. The glow of his horn grew somewhat brighter, and the distance between him and his opponent afforded him a chance to materialize a sword.

    Leaping in and out and between broken pieces of rock that littered the ground, Starla shot several more blasts of magic, taking the shapes of stars, at the second creature; a bug-like unicorn with a black colored carapace covering a gray coat. "Maybe they're Serpentia's?" She asked while shooting at the extremely quick and agile opponent.

    "They look reptilian to ya?" Rhymes countered Starla's guess while also countering a downward diagonal strike from the black unicorn's tail with his sword. From inside the other unicorn's reach, Rhymes swung up, managing to nick its neck. It creeched out and jumped backwards from Rhymes. "Besides, meteor strikes and ponynapping aren't her M.O.!"

    "You're right..." Starla sighed when Rhymes pointed that out. Quickly dropping to her left side to dodge a thrust from the insectoid-creature's talons, Starla pushed off the ground with a front hoof and spun around, bringing her legs close to her body then kicked back out to strike her opponent in the face with both rear hooves, sending it flying into a wall. "Phew. Your turn." Starla said and whipped her violet mane out of her face.

    "Uh, let's see..." Rhymes furrowed his eyes in thought as the black unicorn charged at him. "...what about Dakari?"

    ...

    Buddy Rose and Artie shook their heads at the sight of Lightning writhing in pain on the ground, his breathing labored.

    "I don't know. If I had some of the herbs from my garden I could try to whip something up..."

    Artie let out an exhasperated sigh. "Buddy, you already used up your whole aid kit on him."

    "...are you sure you didn't throw him that hard?"

    Artie narrowed his eyes at the red unicorn, eliciting a sheepish look from him. "Hey, I'm just trying to figure out what's going on here!" Buddy raised his hoofs up in a surrendering gesture.

    "Vraiment?"

    When Lightning moaned again, the unicorn's attention turned back to him for a moment. "Anyways, we have to find a way out of here while Starla and Rhyming hold whatever-those-things-are back..." Unlike the lower level, there were no lit torches at all, leaving everything dark beyond their own light sources.

    Looking around, Buddy used his magic to levitate his flashlight and aimed the limited reach of the light's beam to figure out how large the space they were in was. Since they were trying to conserve their magic, neither of them emitted a glow directly from their horns.

    While the amount of magic Buddy was using while carrying the flashlight failed to illuminate anything past his nose, he found that farther away he moved from the lamp, the darker things got around him. In fact, he began to see dark whispy clouds of mist that seemed to be crawling along the ground away from the farthest corner from the stairway. He aimed the flashlight at the corner and then felt his blood run cold.

    Several dozen bubbles were floating about, touching against the wall all the way up to the ceiling. But what had grabbed his attention was the robed figured standing at twice his height, floating in the center as dark clouds seeped downwards and was gazing down at him with fiery red eyes.

    "...nuts..."

    ...

    jofdsajlf;lsajfdsaphufodspaoufhndjsaofjr;agj'r[jagumg,.,?.jyd]ogiahsudoifjekalwmjfeoaudjhydjdiofdsafjowa

    Lightning groaned out as if his brain would melt out of his head. He ground his teeth together and his coat began to become soaked in his sweat.

    /.,/.,/sklafslamfs./am>:"":f.s,a/mfklsa{yiyiyfiewtxdrysjfdsaljfljl;?hgfhdfhfgds"dfs}dsdsafs?":

    He twitched at the sounds, at the whispers.

    '].]'.sgs;].dsgdohpholshdf.;]h.;]s.h;ts.];.:>gqwerq;';.'.;]raehg.;qetea;'gebsg}:dsgrdsgeayturtsgeuyoa;'

    As though claws were tearing at his thoughts

    m}{>ok":a/.p[fdshoafisdabnf[.];.sdafsa

    Dark tendrils wrapped themself around Lightning's neck.

    Jkopsaiujfaefm,nljhdsaf?

    "N-no..." He coughed out.

    UIOUFIEAiHNUOFNsEYWJhAOFJEaWAOFlJEIlOIWAPcFIJoFIOSnJAFOSsNJNuFJDSmFOAUe

    "...no..." Lightning panted.

    SKAFJiDSAOFUSwOIANFiJOAEWNlFEWlJAFJUrOSAPeUFIOgASFNaEJAOiFNEJnAOFmJSyOJIOpNFEJoWAFKwEWAFrJDSOsAFPSIUA

    "Get...get away..." Lightning choked out desperately.

    FEyJADoFNJANuGRIAHrGTURIOAfFHIJrNAFKJiNAFHAUeFIHEWnAUFNdSAKJLs,FNSKfAFLaHDUSmOAFUiSOAFlHSAJyO...

    ...lSNAOoFNSJAFvNMSLAFeMAJTIOdERWAUHToOSANnGFJSeKFNSNMs...

    ...aFLASlJFSUGlUETIUsSNGJhES;MFaYHMUYlGFKJMlTYGFKcTRHFeNJUXaFNsAeJL;NtAOoSUeDAFxPHUiSDAsFSt...

    Breathing even heavier, Lightning's eyes shot open and a pure white light shone out from his irises. Without the use of his wings, he floated up into the air and his golden horn was charged with a dense concentration of magic.

    The robed figure turned to face him, releasing Buddy and Artie from its grasp and the two unicorns dropped to the floor. Witnessing this, a sheer wind enveloped Lightning and he shouted at the top of his lungs "Leave. Them. ALONE!"

YsafdsafsafdstfgvaOgragtraevtgaUtreatvaertavDfrwavfawvAjlks;ajfmaRjofjpewaofiuofhEjslamofawijfTfoijasmpofwufiowOfjiaomfasofnhaiwCxreqjutfriowaHjdtbAjkiyfyLeqrLsaEftyNeqeGnfEdafMteE,qMORTAL?

    Lunging at Lightning, the robed figure unleashed a torrent of shadowy tendrils that sought to fully constrict and crush the unicorn, but no matter how much force it used, Lightning seemed unfazed. "I dO." He replied as his horn glowed brighter.

    The heavy robes concealing the figure began to smoke then quickly were set ablaze but still it tried to tighten its hold to no avail. Pure white light enveloped everything and everyone in the room, stirring Buddy and Artie awake but leaving them complete blinded by the surging energies.

     When the light finally began to recede and Lightning stopped glowing, he dropped to the ground, right next to a charred pile of still-smoldering fabric.

    Unsteadily getting back to their hooves, the red and orange unicorns hurried over to Lightning's side, who looked every bit as exhausted as they felt.

    "Buddy? Artie? Are you guys alright?" Rhymes' voice echoed up the stairway from the floor below.

    "Are the hostages safe?" Starla called out next.

    "Yeah. Uh...I think so... Buddy stuttered out as he checked Lightning's vital signs.

    "What are you talking about? What's going on up there!?" Looking around, Artie saw how all of the imprisoned unicorns were lying all over the floor, outside of their bubbles and unconcious.

    "...we have no idea!" Artie shouted back, earning an irritated growl from the lieutenant downstairs. Slowy, heavy steps rang out as Starla and Rhymes popped their heads up, each of them covered in varying levels of dirt and sweat.

    "I need a...better sitrep than that...corporal!" Starla demanded while panting. On her back she was carrying an unconcious pink-colored mare whom she placed gently onto the ground. Likewise, Rhymes struggled up the last few steps with a green stallion draped over him. Buddy rushed over to help and together the two of them placed the stallion on the ground next to the mare.

    Buddy did a double-take when he recognized the green stallion. "I...is that...?"

    "The captain? Yeah..." Rhymes said with a smile on his face. But then he quickly drew quiet when he realized what this meant. He immediately turned toward Starla with a fearful look in his eyes. "Am I in trouble for attacking the captain!?" Rhymes squeaked out.

    Starla largely ignored him and rushed over to where Lightning was laying toward the center of the room. She regarded the many other unicorns but focused on making sure Lightning was alright. She sat down and cradled his head into her forehooves. "Lightning? Lightning? Wake up!"

    He slowly stirred, making Starla smile as she wiped a tear from her eye. She looked toward Buddy and Artie. "What in the world happened, here? What are you trying to hide?" She furrowed her eyes at their blank stares and was about to chastize them when she noticed Buddy point to something behind her. Their wide eyes and mouths gaping open prompted her to turn around to see what was going on.

    Seeing the hole in the wall, Starla could only gulp and let her eyes grow wide in disbelief as well.

    "...right through a mountain side..." Rhymes managed to declare everyone's thoughts.

    "S-starla?" Lightning's voice weakly groaned out. Surprised, she looked down, almost forgetting that she had been cradling his head in her forehooves. "What's...what's going on? Did we find them?"

    "Yeah." Starla replied in a soft voice. "Mission accomplished."

    "Where's...Krysta...?"

    "I've got her right here, Lightning." Artie said as he approached them. Leaning down, the orange unicorn carefully placed the still-unconcious fairy where Lightning could see her. The white unicorn gave the biggest smile and let out a relieved breath.

    "Thanks...Artie." Lightning nodded his head toward the other stallion. "I owe you...and...I'm sorry for being such a jerk to you this whole time..."

    "Nah..." Artie chuckled. "...don't worry about it. Pas probleme." Stretching out his foreleg, Lightning smiled and they tapped their hooves.

    The Star Fleet members looked to the sun, casting an orange, red and yellow glow in the sky as it began to rise over the horizon through the large hole in the mountain.

    Despite the darkness that had cast the kingdom in its shadow, a new day was already dawning. The night was now waning and Lightning Dawn, Starla Shine, Buddy Rose, Artie and Rhyming watched with smiles on their faces as the sun shared its light and its warmth once more.