//-------------------------------------------------------//
My Brave Pony: Starfleet Magic [The Unauthorized Revision] 
                   -by Typewrittensoul-                    
//-------------------------------------------------------//
//-------------------------------------------------------//
                         Prologue                          
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Prologue
MY BRAVE PONY STARFLEET MAGIC: The Unauthorized Revision
PROLOGUE/INTRO
"Far off in the distant reaches of the Dimensional Universe, there is a magical world called Unicornicopia, home to a race of winged unicorns. These creatures' single horns were all a coloration that matched their distinct individual coats. However their leader--known as the Grand Ruler--was the sole being to have a horn of gold. Despite this difference the unicorn subjects, whom the Grand Ruler always kept a watchful eye over, welcomed the protection that the golden horned alicorn provided. Under his rule there was peace in Unicornicopia.
While most of the unicorns desired to live simple, tranquil lives, many others sought to give their service in order to protect the peace their race loved and cherished. They trained to become powerful warriors and joined their Grand Ruler in his never-ending struggle against the forces of evil- To become members of 'Star Fleet.'
It was thanks to Star Fleet and its trained warriors that countless worlds were protected from evil forces.
Despite Star Fleet's tireless efforts, however, there was one evil force in existence which proved to be as strong as Star Fleet, and at times, even more so. A force of malevolence led by a powerful hooded sorcerer who sought to destroy all that was good and decent, and rule the Dimensional Universe using levels of hatred beyond anyone's imagination.
A great and terrible battle occurred when the sorcerer attacked Unicornicopia directly. Star Fleet, surprised by the maneuver and guile of the sorcerer and his forces, tried to stave him off but proved to be no match against his dark magic.
Fearing for the safety of his subjects as well as that of the Dimensional Universe, the Grand Ruler sallied forth and fought against the sorcerer in an epic match of ferocity and will. With the power of his golden horns, the Grand Ruler unleashed the mysterious magic of the Uniforce and was able to render the sorcerer weak, but was ultimately unable to destroy him.
Using the last of his available strength, the Grand Ruler sealed the sorcerer away in a distant Dark Dimension, so that he might never again recover his power and threaten Unicornicopia or the Dimensional Universe with his evil.
Over the course of one-thousand years, the threat that the sorcerer posed was eventually forgotten and lost from everyone's collective memories, remaining only in the annals of history books; merely tales of the past. But the Grand Ruler's struggle against the evil that remains continues on, and along with the brave warriors of Star Fleet, he would be the vanguard--the shield and the sword--the first to fight and the last to stand against all that threatened the side of Good..."
    …
    Finishing his tale, Lightning Dawn turned toward his fairy friend. "...and that's all I know, Krysta." The white unicorn said to her.
    The small blonde-haired fairy cocked her head to the side, still perplexed. "Thanks for the history lesson and all, but that doesn't explain why His Majesty wants you to start living in Unicornicopia, all of a sudden." Krysta spoke her thoughts aloud. "You've been living in the royal palace for a long time now, and considering that you still can't do magic..."
    Lightning had been wondered this as well. And many times before that, he wondered why the Grand Ruler himself would take him as his apprentice above all the others. Like Krysta already mentioned, for many years he lived with his master in the royal palace, which floated in the skies high above Unicornicopia. It was there that he learned how to do things without the use of magic.
    Lightning arched his brows at the words of the pink-skirted fairy girl and sighed. He brushed a bang of his short brown mane out of his face and glanced up at his single pale colored horn. Although he was also unicorn, he was unable to perform magic.
    Yet despite all of that, now the Grand Ruler was sending him to live in the kingdom below. To meet new creatures, to make friends and to start a new life for himself. Of course, Lightning was to continue his studies and his training, as well.
    Lightning sighed again and looked down at his white armor vest. For a moment his eyes settled on the serial number "AO-0C", which was printed on the vest just above his insignia on the front. Standing up, the unicorn used his forehooves to smooth out the wrinkles beginning to form along his pair of pants, which matched his vest in color, that covered his hind legs. When he took a step forward, the material of the distinct black boots that covered his rear hooves squeaked slightly from the movement, attracting Krysta's attention.
    "Well…I guess we better get going." Lightning said.
    Krysta nodded as the unicorn unfurled his wings. Flying off together, they were ready to start their new lives.

//-------------------------------------------------------//
                     Episode 1 part 1                      
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Episode 1 part 1
MY BRAVE PONY STARFLEET MAGIC: The Unauthorized Revision
EPISODE ONE
(Part one)
Across the vast territory that comprised the kingdom of Unicornicopia were several towns and cities and even a few metropolises, each with their own history and unique culture. What stayed the same was that every populace consisted of all winged unicorns, but spanning different colors of coats and manes and personalities.
Those unicorns too young for work went to school and played all day while the older ponies had taken on the responsibilities of work but still managed to have fun in their free time. The children helped their parents by doing chores and the parents helped their kids to prepare for adulthood by teaching them responsibility and discipline, and all unicorns remained friendly and helpful to everyone else; their family, friends and strangers alike.
Lightning was settling into his new house in White Village, and had just finished unpacking his things, with Krysta's help. Even though Krysta was small, her fairy magic actually allowed her to move things that were hundreds of times her own weight. The miniature pony, with her clear wings fluttering quickly, was able to lift at least five big books without breaking a sweat when her two antennae glowed their characteristic pink, like that of her frilly skirt.
Placing the last item—a dollhouse she and Lightning found in a nearby shop—on the table next to Lightning's bed, the two of them were officially moved in.
"Well, that's all of it." Lightning declared. He watched with a smile as Krysta happily flew into the dollhouse to inspect her home-within-a-home and couldn't help but chuckle at the sound of the fairie's delighted giggles.
As soon as she emerged and landed on her favorite spot atop Lightning's head, the two of them made their way out the front door. As they emerged into the village street, Lightning remembered the conversation he had from his master before they left the palace…
Standing before his master, Lightning resisted the urge to let out a frustrated sigh.
Even if the two of them were in the privacy of the Grand Ruler's study, it wouldn't have been becoming for a mere apprentice to show such disrespect toward his mentor.
"Once you settle into your new home, I want you to venture out and meet some of the populace. Staying here at the palace will no longer do you any good.” The Grand Ruler of Unicornicopia began to say. “In addition to the arrangements made, I have already sent word of your arrival and the local Star Fleet representatives will meet with you.”
“Master...” Lightning looked toward the tri-horned alicorn sitting a few feet away and spoke out in a deferential tone, without fear of repercussion for what normally constituted as speaking out of turn. “...while I have nothing to say about your wish for me to leave the palace...I don't understand how you can just give me a Star Fleet vest when I can't even do basic magic, not to mention summon weapons or perform combat spells! I don't even qualify for basic training, much less graduation. Doesn't my appointment completely disregard the whole reason for Star Fleet's existence?”
As he admitted his worries, Lightning remembered seeing a small grin appear on his master's face, something he only saw on a few rare occasions. “My student...while it is good that you feel so strongly about this that you can confide in me, maybe you could benefit from reading the histories once more, so you can better understand what it is that makes someone worthy of being called a warrior of Star Fleet. Haven't I always taught you to know as much about a situation as you can before making a decision or stating an opinion?”
“I am well versed in the histories and rules of Star Fleet despite never attending the Academy, just as you instructed me to when you first took me as your apprentice...” Lightning quickly responded in a calm manner. As he spoke, the unicorn let his face slip into a frown for a moment before catching his mistake and stilled himself into a neutral look, causing the Grand Ruler to let out a small chuckle.
“So you do.” The Grand Ruler said while nodding his head in approval. After a moment of silence, he spoke again, his voice a more relaxed tone. “Don't be so anxious, Lightning, I'm sure you and the Star Fleet representatives will get along just fine. Good luck my student."
Lightning let out a huff at the memory, disliking how his mentor gave him this assignment without fully explaining its relevance to his training or studies. As he flew, Krysta held on tight to his golden horn while perched upon his head.
Soon enough, they arrived at their destination. The central town at the very center of the kingdom was known as Rainbow City Central; the biggest and busiest city that would be more accurately called a true metropolis. Tall buildings and other large structures that were unheard of in the smaller towns dotted the landscape, housing the various business places and companies responsible for stores, restaurant chains and other sorts of trade.
A sea of unicorns walked along the streets, going about their business, going to work, walking their foals to school. Less denser flocks of unicorns flew about, entering the city limits or heading to other parts of the kingdom.
Krysta and Lightning couldn't stop admiring the nonstop movement, awed by the sights and sounds of so many unicorns gathered together. Beyond being told to go to Rainbow city Central, the two of them were unsure of where they were supposed to meet the representatives. Lightning descended to street level, following the sanctioned flow of traffic designed to limit accidents in order to gain his bearings in this huge city.
After an hour of exploring, they walked along an avenue in a quieter part of the city, where the noise was much less as there weren't so many ponies in the area. Krysta was the first to spot a large garden and excitedly flew closer to admire all the kinds of plants, vegetables, and beautiful flowers that populated it.
"Wow!" exclaimed Lightning as he arrived near a patch of lovely red, blue and yellow flowers.
"Double wow!" added Krysta, fluttering around and sniffing loudly and deeply the many sensational smells the drifted along a soft breeze. "Mmm! Smells like… like…" She started to say while engrossed in the scent of a flower leaning toward her, but then her little nose began to twitch and there soon was an itch. "Ah… Ah… Ah-AH…!"
"Krysta…?" Lightning blinked and stood up from poking at a ripe squash to see his fairy friend stretch her head upward in the telltale signs of a- "Krysta, no!" He leaped toward the fairy but before he could lift her away she had already sneezed.
"AH-CHOO!" Betraying her little size, the force of that single sneeze caused the flower that was unfortunate to be in front of her to be knocked back then quickly keel over and even lose all its petals. "Oh...oh no!" cried Krysta in pure dismay. She and Lightning exchanged worried glances between themselves and the victimized flower.
That's when a red unicorn came dashing over.
"Sheesh, again?" The red unicorn groaned as he gently scooped the fallen flower out of the soil and into a pot he floated in from the nearby display.
“I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!” Krysta buzzed about the unicorn and the pathetic-looking stem placed into a pot. “I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!” She continued to repeat the apology and followed after the red unicorn as he walked over to a table and floated the pot on top of it. “I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so-” but then Krysta froze mid-air and covered her mouth with her hooves when the unicorn turned his attention toward her.
The fairy pony trembled as the seconds passed when the unicorn finally said “They always keel over when they make someone sneeze.” Krysta stared blankly, still too traumatized to appreciate what he just said. “It's alright, miss. I'm not angry at you! I can fix it, no problem. There's no better gardener than me!"
Lightning was amazed hearing this as he trotted closer. "Did you grow all of this, yourself?" he asked while scooping Krysta into his hoof like the other unicorn did with the plant and placed her onto his head.
The other unicorn watched this in amusement and nodded in reply. "That's right! My name's Buddy Rose, and I'm the caretaker of the community garden. I can handle any flower, tree, weed—anything that grows, actually!"
Despite hearing this, Lightning couldn't help but eye the bald flower stem with embarrassment. “I know Krysta's said it enough times to make your ear fall off, but I'm sure that she's really sorry about your flower, Buddy!”
“Like I already said, friend, it's not a problem at all! Heck, you should see the state of the garden when the colts and fillies pass by after school!” The red unicorn turned toward the stem and floated in a watering can, tipping it just enough for a short shower of water poured out before setting the can back where he found it. Lightning watched in curiosity (and felt Krysta on top of his head lean forward in anticipation as well) as Buddy mumbled something toward the stem and patted it with his hoof.  And sure enough, in no time at all, the flower Krysta had ruined was standing upright again, although still without its petals.
"That's...that's amazing!” Lightning stood on his hind legs for a moment before dropping back onto all four feet. “Aren't you glad, Krysta?” He glanced up at his fairy friend, who was now hanging off his bang as a result of Lightning's sudden movement. Once she began to flutter about, Lightning was turned his attention once more to Buddy. “Did you do that without magic? Wow! Oh, where are my manners? You already know my friend Kyra...”
“How do you do?” The fairy zoomed close and curtsied much to the red unicorn's enjoyment.
“Pleasure to meet you, lil' miss.”
Happy that there was no ill will, Lightning continued speaking “I'm-"
"-Lightning Dawn? Yeah, I know." Said Buddy, matter-of-factly. "The Grand Ruler told everyone to expect you."
"He...did?" asked Lightning in surprise. 'Maybe the news spread all over so it'd be easier for the Star Fleet representatives to find me?' Before Lightning could confirm that thought, he was interrupted by the other unicorn.
“Oh, darn!” Buddy exclaimed then glanced toward Lightning. "I'm really sorry to impose, but could you do me a big favor?" He asked while giving the white unicorn a small basket of vegetables. “If you do it, we're even-stevens for the flower!”
“Wait, didn't you just say that it was-ugh!" Lightning was interrupted when the basket handle popped into his mouth and once the glow of Buddy's magic dispersed from around it, rested on his lower jaw, preventing him from speaking.
"I got a big order of vegetables I have to deal with and watering to do and such. Could you take that basket to the Rainbow Dish Inn, on 48th street? Please?" Before Lightning could answer, Buddy had already turned and gone off, saying, "It's just a couple of blocks down! Thank you!" Then disappeared around the corner.
"Huh..." Lightning scoffed softly to himself.
The soft flapping of Krysta's wings sounded out as she hovered next to Lightning at his eye level. "Ok… that was weird..."
…
Refusing to keep the basket in his mouth for the entire period of the random errand, Lightning had placed the wicker basket full of vegetables on his back. It proved to be a smart move since they ended up getting lost looking for the address Buddy told them to find. But by the time he had realized (read: Krysta pointed out that) they were lost, there were no unicorns nearby and Lightning was too stubborn to backtrack just to look for anyone. "I'm pretty sure we'll run into someone eventually..." He said to try to rationalize the situation.
Krysta looked at her friend with concern and fluttered in front of his face to cause him to stop. "Lightning, why don't you sit and rest?" She tried suggesting.
As though waiting for an excuse, Lightning immediately dropped onto his stomach and let out a relieved exhale, the basket somewhat balanced on his back. “Yeah. That feels good." Lightning panted out and wiped his forehead with a foreleg.
Krysta giggled at the sight of the unicorn being too tired to sit on the bench just a few feet away. Stretching out her hooves, the fairy fluttered and began trying to push Lightning forward, predictably without success. “Come on, you lazy...bum...”
“Argh! Ugh-ragh!” Lightning playfully protested with growls against Krysta's efforts, but nonetheless stood up and took the last few steps—albeit sluggishly—forward then slumped down on the bench that happened to be by a fountain, almost dropping the basket in the process. "Ohhh! My poor hooves!" Lightning complained even louder. If Krysta wasn't so tired from her efforts to nudge Lightning, she would find it funny. Like her unicorn friend, the fairy haggardly dropped herself on her favorite spot, which was atop Lightning's head.
With the splashing sounds of the fountain, mixed with the simple fatigue of the unicorn and the fairy, respectfully, the two were almost led to believe that the bench they found themselves on was the perfect spot to just take a nap.
With his eyes closed, and mind ready for sleep, Lightning growled when suddenly someone said, "Excuse me…?" Opening a single eye, Lightning saw an orange unicorn, wearing a red beret, right across from him, poking his head from behind an artist's canvas. The two of them stared at one another before the orange unicorn spoke up again. "…you kind of walked into the way of the scenery."
"Did I, now?" Lightning mumbled in reply and closed his eye once more.
“Sir? I tried to ask you politely but now it looks like I must ask you in a much sterner manner. Please, vacate the area of my scene, forthwith!”
“Hmmm...Krysta, do something about it...” Lightning said in a groggy manner, patting around his head with his forehoof to find out where the fairy was.
“You do something about it...” Krysta sleepily countered and smacked the hoof away.
While watching from behind his canvas, the orange unicorn's wings flared out in surprise at the sight of the Krysta trying to sleep. "Is that a…fairy…?" His eyes lit up as brightly as the sun. "I'm feeling...inspired! H-hold still, please!" The unicorn said excitedly, going so far as to knock away the painting he was working on to place a fresh canvas on the stand. “Yes! Yes! So wonderful! Magnifique!”
Krysta grumbled at the constant shouting, furrowing her eyebrows and rolled over in her makeshift-bed atop Lightning's head. “What!? Oh...oh well, no matter, I am still feeling inspired! Yes, yes! This shall be my masterpiece!”
“ARGH!” The little fairy sat up, with dark circles under her eyes and an infuriated look on her face at the noise interrupting her sleep. She huffed out an irritated nicker and buzzed over to the noisy artist. “Hey, Pony Picasso! I know you wanted me and my friend to leave, but being rude isn't the way to...” She stopped in mid-air when the artist used his magic to turn around the canvas, showing her the painting. “W-wow!”
"Do you like it, my muse? I shall call it Fairy Fountain."
“M-muse?” Krysta blinked when she heard he title, and stared in awe at the paint strokes and various colors used to depict her sleeping on what looked to be on top of a cloud. Simply put, it was incredible. It looked so real almost as if it were a photograph. Or quite possibly even a window. “I like painting.” She blurted out dumbly, to which the orange unicorn smiled.
“It's nice, I guess...” Lighting stated after walking over from the bench.
The orange unicorn's smile disappeared and his eyes narrowed at Lightning's comment. "I do not consider myself a rude unicorn, so I shall introduce myself first. I am Artie: painter, sculptor, and drawer extraordinaire. Now pray tell, who are you?" The unicorn regarded Lightning in a less-than-friendly manner.
“Hi, nice to meet you. I'm the guy that's been carrying a basket of vegetables around for the last hour, despite not having anything to eat since this morning, and who was just woken up by some loudmouth jerk in a stupid-looking hat!” Lightning growled back in response, as the dark circles under his eyes were more prominent thanks to his white coat.
“Mon beret is not stupid-looking!”
“Guys, guys! Settle down!” Krysta flew between the two unicorns before they got any closer to each other, as it was obvious they were far too gone to keep their argument to words. First she turned to Lightning. “Just because you're hungry and tired, it doesn't make it right to take your anger out on someone you don't even know! Please don't do this, Lightning?” She then turned to face the other unicorn, Artie. “And please forgive my friend here, Artie. You see, we're running an errand at the moment and he's just a bit grumpy right now. He's really a nice guy once he gets some food in him. One of the nicest, honestly.”
She turned back toward her friend. Lightning nodded and grumbled, one of the better responses that she could get when he was at this state. Krysta was thankful enough for that when Artie spoke out. “If the mademoiselle requires it of me, then I shall stand down.” Her eyes lit up at the term and she nearly swooned. "Thank you, Artie." She said in a gleeful voice.
"Yeah…thanks, Artie.” Lightning said quietly under his breath, but loud enough for Krysta to hear him. She pouted at her friend's immaturity and couldn't help but feel embarrassed. With a sigh, she addressed the orange unicorn once more.
“Again, thank you for being so understanding, Artie. And thank you so much for painting. It's a really nice gesture.”
“Why of course, my muse.” Artie said with his chin raised high. “I am not one to disregard such wondrous inspiration even if it were but for the shortest moment.”
At that point, the size of Krysta's smile was in direct proportion to Lightning's frown. He snorted and walked off to bench, taking the basket of vegetables in his mouth.
“If it is a delivery of vegetables, then you must be heading for the Rainbow Dish Inn, n'est pas?”
“I have no idea what that last part means but please, go ahead.” Krysta giggled girlishly.  She then yelped when Lightning appeared from behind and scooped her up in his right wing.
"'et's 'o, 'rysta!" Lightning said with the basket handle in his mouth and he began to run off with the fairy in tow, much to Artie's confusion.
...
“What are you doing, Lightning!?” Krysta exclaimed angrily and stomped as hard as she could against the unicorn's side. The power of her attack felt more or less like a flick, which he managed to ignore when he slowed his run into a walk. “Not only was that rude, but Artie was just about to tell us where to find the restaurant!”
To this, Lightning openly scoffed. After unfurling his wing, allowing Krysta to fly up and kick him in the back of the head (again, no worse than the power of a heavy flick), he placed the basket onto his back in order to speak clearly once more.
“I can find it, just fine.” Lightning announced to the skeptical fairy flying around his head. “We don't need directions from...a guy with a stupid-looking hat, anyways.”
“Now, now, Lightning. No need to be jealous!” Krysta in a preachy manner, patting Lightning's short brown mane with her small hoof. “It's not everyday that a unicorn gets to meet a fairy, after all!” Her more chipper sounding words, to which was followed by a giggle, helped to lift Lightning's mood somewhat. “So can you blame a girl for liking a little attention as a result?”
“Hmph...” Lightning glanced away, although not feeling sincerely upset. Krysta smirked when she spotted the tell-tale sign of her friend trying to hold back a smile, so decided to play along. She moved to hover in front of the unicorn as he continued walking and crossed her hooves in front of her chest. “If you're so against it, all you have to do is say something nice to me every now and then. It's that simple.” The fairy said with her own exaggerated pout.
“Fine.” Lightning chuckled and smiled first, shaking his head knowing that he lost their impromptu game. Krysta giggled as well, but remembering what she was supposed to be doing, returned to her act of feigning a pout. “Uh, let's see...” He began to ponder and glanced at his fairy friend, looking at her miniaturized pony features for something that she'd appreciate to have pointed out. “...I guess I really like your-”

//-------------------------------------------------------//
                     Episode 1 part 2                      
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Episode 1 part 2
EPISODE ONE
(Part two)
In the aftermath of the sudden crash, vegetables littered the ground and Lightning was on his back, feeling as though the whole world was spinning much too fast. "What...what hit me?" he groaned out and shook his head.
“Well, well, looks like you finally 'ran into someone,' Lightning!” Krysta pointed out with chuckle. The white unicorn was less than amused and lifted his head to find a yellow unicorn sprawled on the ground next to him. As well as a basket's worth of vegetables sprinkled across the sidewalk.
As he rolled onto his side to check for any injuries, Lightning heard the other unicorn groan out. “Whoa...” In a quick movement the unicorn managed to hop onto its legs and was already stretching out his wings by the time Lightning succeeded in lying on the sidewalk, stomach down. The mix of hunger (carrying a basketful of vegetables sure didn't help) and fatigue (walking around the city around noon during the summer sure wasn't smart) was beginning to take its toll on him and he sighed out in frustration.
“Oh no...I'm really sorry about that. Wasn't watching where I was going, you know?” The yellow unicorn rushed over to Lightning's side with a guilty look on his face.
"It's...it's not a problem...” Lightning groaned out and with some help from the yellow unicorn he managed to stand back up. “Thanks.” He said, feeling slightly embarrassing for being so tired at the moment. Then Lightning sighed and bent down to pick up the ear of corn lying at this feet while Krysta  set the basket next to him, using a mix of magic and her own strength to lift and carry it.
The yellow unicorn simply watched as Lightning and Krysta started to pick up the vegetables one by one and place them in the basket. He tilted his head at the strange sight, unsure what to make of it. “Y'know, it would be a lot faster if you just used your magic...” The yellow unicorn said warily and with a glow of his horn, the remaining vegetables all floated back into the basket.
After counting the number of vegetables to find that none of their items were missing, Lightning and Krysta let out a simultaneous sigh of relief. With smiles all around, they turned their attention to the yellow unicorn that had helped them.
"About using my magic...it's, uh, kind of a long story." Lightning stated simply. Then with a nudge from his fairy companion, Lightning said "My name's Lightning Dawn, and this is my friend, Krysta. Thanks again for helping us out."
"I'm always willing to lend a hoof to a friend, even the ones I simply haven't met yet." The yellow unicorn bobbed his head.
"Wow. That's so sweet." Krysta's eyes fluttered at hearing that, and Lightning too was impressed by the wise-sounding words.
"Did you read that in a book somewhere, or...?"
“Nah," the unicorn said with a light chuckle and rubbed the back of his head with his hoof. "Came up with it on the spot. I'm Rhyming, by the way.”
Lightning and Krysta exchanged glances before looking back at the yellow unicorn. “Uh...no you're not...” Lightning said what on both of their minds.
His head still bobbing up and down to some unknown beat, Rhyming smiled and nickered softly at the others' confusion. “Haha, yeah, I guess technically you're right, but that's not what I meant. My name is Rhyming. But it's cool if you wanna call me 'Rhymes,' for short.”
“Oh.” Lightning said simply at the explanation. Feeling that he exchanged enough pleasantries, the white unicorn bent down to pick up the basket and placed it onto his back once more. "Well, it was nice meeting you, Rhy-"
“Wait!" Krysta fluttered in and forcefully closed Lightning's mouth shut before he could finish. While holding his jaw closed with a surprsing amount of force for her size, she turned her head toward the yellow unicorn. "Does that mean you do a lot of rhyming?”
Lightning shot a downward burst of air through his nostrils, surprising the fairy with the smell and force and sending her tumbling in the air before she corrected herself.
Krysta buzzed up to Lightning's muzzle and jutted her hoof against his nose. "What was that for!?" She exclaimed with her eyesbrows furrowed.
Lightning narrowed his eyes and stared at the fairy unflinchingly. “Krysta, do we really have to do this now? I just want to drop off these vegetables, already. Not to mention that just because that's his name it doesn't mean that-”
"To be honest the pretty little lady made a nice catch, there." Rhymes interjected, making Lightning's shoulders slump and Krysta let out a triumphal cheer. "It's funny, really..." The yellow unicorn added, "my parents must have hit the lottery when it came time to name me, 'cause doing rhymes and matching words always fills me with lots of glee.”
“I knew it!” Krysta said excitedly. "Don't underestimate this pretty little lady's intuition." The fairy boasted for a moment to a quietly annoyed Lightning before she flew over to Rhymes with excitement beaming in her eyes. “So, uh, Rhymes...do you...write poetry?"
"Write 'em and read 'em, like I need 'em." Rhyming flashed a smile.
"W-what about songs?" Krysta asked quicker than before.
"Yeah, I write songs and I sing; I jam too; though words in general are simply my thing."
Hearing this, Krysta combed her mane with her hooves and lightly adjusted her antennae. "That's such a coincidence! M-me too! I love to rhyme...too? Like, um...I'm a poet...and don't even...know it!”
“Hey, that's a good one.” Rhymes nodded and smiled, causing Krysta to blush. "I guess the way you look isn't your only attractive hook."
"Oh, gosh..." Krysta flew a few inches farther away from Rhymes' in an attempt to hide her face turning even redder then before. With a bit of a squeal, she even hid behind her raised forehooves.
Lightning sighed and dropped his face into his hoof, shaking his head from side to side. "Not this, again..."
"Oh, shush. You had your chance and blew it."
Lightning looked skywards and shook his head in disbelief, but stayed quiet nonetheless.
Seeing this, the fairy clicked her tongue. "Ok, fine..." After calming herself down, Krysta looked once more toward the yellow unicorn. "Say, Rhymes? I was wondering...do you happen to know where the Rainbow Dish Inn, is?"
"You're talking about Cookie's place? Yeah, I go there all the time. Eating his food's way worth the long line."
Krysta and Lightning exchanged knowing glances when they heard the name, then looked back toward Rhymes. "You do?" The two of them spoke in stereo and leaned closer in anticipation. "Could you point us toward it?" They again managed to ask in tandem.
Rhymes simply raised his hoof and pointed behind the two of them, just as they asked.
With "perplexed" and "befuddled" written on their faces respectfully, Lightning and Krysta followed the direction that Rhymes was pointing to and upon turning around saw that just across the street was a building with its roof in the shape and color of a chef's hat, and a sign with a picture of a familiar-looking blue unicorn that read "Cookie Dough's Rainbow Dish Inn" in the front.
"How about that..." Lightning noted flatly.
"...it's...hard to think this was just a coincidence." Krysta added with a straight face. If it weren't for Rhymes speaking up, the two of them would surely have stood there for several more hours.
"Well my new friends," Krysta and Lightning slowly turned back toward Rhymes, but kept their eyes on the building as long as physically possible, as though it would disappear as soon as they broke sight with it. But not wanting to seem rude to the unicorn who had helped them out so much already, the two of them finally focused their full attention on what Rhymes had to say. "I wish I could say that I can stay to play, but I've got lots of things to do that are due today."
"What? No...you can't leave, already! We only just realized we were meant to meet each other!" Krysta cried out, and decided it was time to use her saddest-looking pout and even tilted her head for good measure. Lightning, meanwhile, looked everywhere but toward the little fairy, knowing full well that based on past experience, he stood no chance against "The Look."
"Couldn't you just stay, a little while longer?"
Unaware of "The Look" however, Rhymes remained unfazed by the fairy's attempt to get her way by less-than-fair-means. He smiled and said "Don't worry, Ms. Krysta, saying 'goodbye' isn't a sign of what's been, but instead another chance to say 'hello' again. And I'm sure the next we meet, our time together will be twice as sweet."
For the first time ever, it was Krysta that was taken by surprise, and she brook off "The Look" in order to hide her blushing face behind her hooves. "And you too, Lightning, I look forward to running into you again...though hopefully it won't be literal." With that, the yellow unicorn gave a salute and flew off.
"Please...come back." Krysta's voice squeaked out while still hiding behind her hooves. Both she and Lightning watched the sky until the yellow unicorn was too far to see.
"Come on. I just want to drop off this basket."
"...alright, fine..." Krysta unenthusiatically returned to her spot atop Lightning's head and the two crossed the street to enter the restaurant they had been looking around for so long.
...
Lightning began to feel anxious and couldn't wait to get rid of the basket he had been carrying on his back for a while, now. Krysta was listlessly lying on the white unicorn's head, but he paid no mind to the fairy's sudden drop in energy.
As soon as he entered through the front doors, Lightning was to see so many unicorns. The line of unicorns waiting to be seated was at least the size of two herds, while from where he stood, every seat at all of the tables were taken. There were even a few tables where unicorns were ordering another serving despite the large stacks of plates and bowls that had yet to be cleared.
"Hey...what's that?" Krysta sniffed the air and sat up atop Lightning's head. "And that?" She sniffed again and Lightning felt the fairy scrambling about and taking deeper inhales of the drool-inducing odors. "Oh, that smell's good!"
"Krysta...this is no time to be thinking about food..." Lightning chastised, but was saying it more for himself rather than his friend as he felt his stomach growl and rumble. The fact that he hadn't eaten since breakfast was hitting even harder than it had before. "Let's find out who this basket is...supposed to go to..." The white unicorn said while slurping at the increasing amount of saliva in his mouth from seeing and smelling all of the delicious foods that the vegetables he was delivering were sure to be turned into.
Just then, at the far end of the dining area, the big doors to the kitchen swung open and a long line of waiters and waitresses came out, magically carrying and pushing tureens and trays and carts of delicious hot foods, fresh tossed salads, fruits and pastries, and then just as Lightning thought this show was outrageous enough, all of the customers rose out of their seats and began to stomp on the floor and magically tap their glasses with their spoons in applause as the head chef—noted by the tall white hat on his head—came out.
Lightning recognized the blue unicorn from the restaurant sign. And as if to completely cement the unicorn's identity, the chanting sound of "Cookie Dough!" filled the room as everyone joined in a growing chorus so loud that it made it hard for Lightning to even think.
The cheers and hoots went on for a good minute until the blue unicorn raised a hoof, instantly quieting everyone in the dining room. Those with seats sat down at their chairs and everyone including Lightning and Krysta waited with bated breath curious to what the head chef and restaurant owner had to say. The feeling of excitement, Lightning had to admit had become infectiously palpable.
"Honored guests…" The unicorn known as Cookie Dough began. "I'm a unicorn of simple words, so I won't take too much of your time when you've been so patient and greatly supportive of my restaurant, and the work of all of my staff. Without further ado...eat heartily, everyone!"
The customers all cheered and the chatter and noise returned to the dining area, as the waiters and waitresses moved quickly to deliver the orders from the train of food on full display for eveyone to see. But despite the spectacle of the sight, Lightning kept his duty foremost in his mind and followed the head chef when he disappeared into the kitchen. Passing through the doors, Lightning trotted quickly after the blue unicorn and called out to him. "Um… excuse me?" he asked.
Cookie Dough turned round and was just about to yell at the white unicorn for trespassing into the kitchen when he spotted the basket of vegetables on Lightning's back. "Oh! You're new...Buddy must have sent you." The experienced chef walked up to Lightning and quickly inspected the leafy and brightly colored vegetables before setting them into the basket. "A bit late, but they still look good. Just set the basket onto the far table there in the corner." Cookie ordered and turned to leave when Lightning called out to him again.
"Actually, I'm Lightning Dawn." After placing the basket as he was directed, Lightning watched as Cookie stopped in his tracks.
The blue unicorn turned around again, his eyebrow arched and head tilted from hearing the name. "Lightning, you say?" He asked in a cautious manner.
Lightning smiled. "Yes." And at that, Cookie Dough rushed into the white unicorn and held him in his hooves in a tight hug.
"My boy! Haha! It's been too long!" The chef lifted the other unicorn off the ground for a moment before letting him ago and placing his front hooves on Lightning's shoulders. "I...I don't know what to say, besides that you've gotten so big since I last saw you!"
"Hey there, Cookie!" Krysta peeked out from under Lightning's mane. "You got any treats, like old times?"
"I guess not everything's changed." Cookie Dough laughed, only to be interrupted by the sound of a growling stomach. "What's this?" He said, eyeing both Lightning and Krysta. "No, this simply won't do!" And in a few simple moments, Cookie Dough had used his magic to arrange for Lightning and Krysta a place to eat right there in the kitchen by clearing one of the countertops. The two watched the chef as he used his magic to skillfully mix, mash, slice, and chop up all the foods he would use to cook and set out for them to eat.
"I would've been fine with one of your special pastries, Cookie!" Krysta shamelessly admitted as two dishes were placed onto the table in front of her and Lightning.
Cookie Dough shook his head while wearing a wide smile. "No, no, little Krysta! If there's any lesson I've taken to heart since I left my position as the Royal pastry chef at the palace," He swelled with pride at the sound of the two practically gorging on what he cooked for them. "It's that just as there much more to look forward to in a meal than the sweets, there's more to life than having fun."
Lightning was intrigued by what the chef was saying, but did not slow his eating pace at all. Though he made sure to properly chew and swallow what was in his mouth before taking the next bite. Krysta, meanwhile, frowned at what Cookie said. "Can't say I'm really a fan of that one, Cookie. But...mmm..." The little fairy made happy sounds with every bite, becoming distracted from her original point. "How'd you...mmm...this is good! How'd you manage to put this together so well, Cookie?"
Cookie let out a snicker and clicked his tongue in slight disappointment to Krysta's question. "No, no...a chef does not simply tell his guests what he knows, but must show all that he learned through the look and taste of his food. The body will know immediately what the brain takes time to understand. You need to enjoy using all of your sensations, rather than just indulge in one particular taste just because its your favorite!"
No longer feeling the need to sate their curiosity, the two focused on finishing the food they were given, noisely and messily devouring their meal in a manner that would disgust formal company. But for Cookie Dough, seeing and hearing the appreciation of what he labored over made him smile ever more.
By the time the white unicorn moved on to the second plate, Krysta was finished with all the morsels she was given, which when put altogether could fit on a single tablespoon. When Lightning's plate was practically clean up, they felt as if they could hardly move. Despite all that they ate, neither of them felt overwhelmed or hungry but completely satisfied.
Even when Cookie Dough had lived in the palace during the first few years of Lightning's apprenticeship, the chef knew exactly how to end a meal. It was no wonder that his favorite chef ended up as a famous restaurant-owning chef.
After cleaning up their dishes in order to pay Cookie back for the meal, Lightning was given an invitation for himself and Krysta.
"What's going to happen at the library?" Lightning tried to pry information from information from the blue unicorn but knew deep down that Cookie Dough was a master of keeping secrets.
"You were supposed to get them when you first arrived, but it seems that there was a big hiccup in the schedule. It's lucky that I happened to have them on hoof when you showed up." Was his vague answer. While Lightning felt that he could always trust Cookie Dough, the white unicorn remembered a few instances when the pastry chef managed to trick him into eating his blander-tasting vegetables.

//-------------------------------------------------------//
                     Episode 1 part 3                      
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Episode 1 part 3
EPISODE ONE
(Part three)
    Though Lightning felt somewhat refreshed after passing by Cookie Dough's restaurant, the number of unicorns he had come across over the course of the day was starting to wear on him. And despite having yet to meet with the Star Fleet representatives like he was supposed to as part of his mission, Lightning was currently on his way to the Unicornicopian library (which to his surprise was also the site of the observatory as well) because of an invitation for some still-unknown event.
    "Well, considering that part of the mission is to meet new unicorns and learn about the world outside of the palace, you can't say today's been a waste." Krysta said to assure her friend. "And if you think about it, wouldn't a secret event be the perfect time to meet with the Star Fleet representatives? What if you're getting officially inducted, or something!?"
    "That's pretty unlikely..." Lightning sighed at his friend's hopeful scenerio as they finally approached the library. "This looks to be the place. " He said walked up to the front door and turned the knob by holding it between his front hooves and turning it. With practiced ease he ventured inside, only to find everything was all dark. The door closed behind him, engulphing Lightning and Krsta in darkness. Despite that there should have been light coming in through the windows, it was pitch black inside. Krysta focused her magic into her antennae to provide illumination, but it failed to give them any better clue as to what was going on.
    Not wanting to trip and fall on anything, Lightning decided to slowly retrace his steps to find the front door. "This is getting creepy." Krysta shuttered in the otherwise silent darkness.
    Lightning felt the same, and felt paranoid that they weren't alone. His muscles tensed when he sensed movement behind him. He readied to lift his hind legs and buck whatever it was when all at once, the lights went on Lightning found himself surrounded by more than fifty unicorns screaming out "SURPRISE…!"
    He stumbled back from the loss of balance when he aborted his kick attempt—since it was a foal blowing into a paper noise maker standing behind him—and Lightning fell face first to the floor. With a loud yelp, Krysta was tossed off of her spot atop Lightning's head and needed to fly up at full force to avoid crashing to the floor.
    When he lifted himself up, rubbing his now sore nose with his forehoof, Lightning looked around the large library room to see balloons and decorations of different colors and shapes and sizes tied or pinned to the ceiling and walls. Looking up, the white unicorn instinctively shook his head as confetti fell from above, the work of a pair of unicorns emptying a bagful of the paper pieces. As the cheering remained loud and confusing as ever, Lightning noticed a big banner that held by another pair of hovering ponies that read, "Welcome, Lightning Dawn!"
    Stepping forward out of the boistrously singing crowd, a grey-colored unicorn wearing half-moon shaped spectacles approached Lightning. "Are you surprised, Lightning Dawn?" She asked.
    "You could say that, yeah..." Lightning stuttered out at the number of ponies looking toward him with smiles on their faces. "Are all of you the Star Fleet representatives?" The question seemed to be unexpected by the grey unicorn and she adjusted her glasses before answering.
    "It seems you're a bit confused, Lightning Dawn. We're merely the Unicornicopia welcoming committee. Were you not informed about us by the Grand Ruler when he sent you here?"
    "Nnnnno...." Lightning gave a drawn out answer, feeling more awkward as the cheering unicorns soon grew quiet and began to exchange looks with each other.
    Silence took hold another, interrupted only by the sporadic cough.
    Feeling that things had taken for a bad turn, Krysta fluttered back onto her friend's head and tapped her hoof to get his attention. "Lightning..." She hissed in a whisper. "Say something!"
    "R-right." Lightning gulped and looked toward the several pairs of eyes staring back at him. "Um...thank you all for the...welcome...?"
    As soon as he said that, noise erupted once again and the all the unicorns rushed into him like a rising tide that began introducing themselves, offering him some refreshments, or asking him to join a game, or even dance. In fact amidst the cacophony of overlapping voices seemed to be the sound of quickly paced music. "I, uh...I think I'll just have some punch please!" Lightning tried to yell over the dozens of voices talking all at once to each other as well as to him. Just when he thought dealing with one unicorn at a time was tiring...there was nothing that he desired more right now that to escape from the magnified excitment of this crowd.
    ...
    With the help of some crowd control, Lightning managed to get to a seat at a table and found himself dealing with just six other unicorns at a time. As luck would have it, the grey-colored unicorn, who he soon learned was the librarian named Query, was sitting next to him and helping him deal with the many unfamiliar faces asking him all sorts of questions about life at the palace or being the Grand Ruler's apprentice. Despite the more manageable level of chaos around him, Lightning still felt a bit overwhelmed by the attention he was getting. "Krysta…" He whispered and looked about. "Some help would be nice right about now!" Just as he hoped he could depend on his friend, Lightnings hopes were dashed when he spotted Krysta flying about and showing off to a group of her new fans who were more than eager to pay attention to the fairy.
    Lightning scowled at the sight of her huge smile and the sound of her giggling which was loud enough to hear over everyone talking and the music, he realized that the fairy was pretty much lost in her own world, now.
    The fact that he was unable to use magic was luckily not the focus of the other unicorns' questions—or at the very least, they took care not to bring the subject up—for one reason or another. Feeling his throat becoming dry from answering the question of one green-colored unicorn named Prancy about what it felt like to wear boots, Lightning held the glass of red punch between his hooves and took a swig of the sweet liquid.
    Then suddenly, the lights went out once more save for a spotlight that appeared over the stage curtains set up on the right side of the front entrance. "And now everyone…" The voice of an unseen announcer called out. "Get ready for the mystifying magic of… Abra...Kadabra!"
    "A stage magician? Really?" Lightning said quietly to himself. "What am I, five?" Despite his personal feelings, he looked around the room and saw the many excited and happy faces of the other unicorns in attendence. Swallowing his pride, Lightning resigned himself to at the very least fake his enjoyment of the show as small puffs of purple smoke began to appear on stage. With a flash of light and a loud pop, eliciting screams of enjoyment from the younger foals in the audience and easily amused, a purple unicorn wearing the traditional magician's hat and cape-backed tuxedo, appeared on stage. "Thank you! Thank you!" The unicorn's loud voice managed to reach to the far back of the audience, egging on the cheering crowd until they calmed down into a soft murmur.
    "As you all may well know, I am the one, the only, the great! Abra...Kadabra!" A respectful show of applause occured before quieting once more. "Now before I begin with my first fantastic trick...if I may have a volunteer from the audience to help me, please!"
    The magician's call for a "volunteer" was quickly proven to be code for "pre-chosen mark" when the spotlight turned toward Lightning even before AbraKadabra was finished speaking. Lightning looked around and was met with a set of expectant face happily trying to encourage him to move to the stage for the show to proceed. Knowing full well that he was the guest of honor, Lightning had already realized that he didn't have much of a choice. The white pony sighed and took a last swig of his punch before making his way toward the stage to the thunderous applause and cheers of the rest of the unicorns.
    It took a few moments for Lightning to walk down the aisle, shoved up by an unfurled wing or outstretched foreleg at every few tables until he was standing right next to the costumed performer. "Well, Lightning Dawn—how wonderful I am to meet you." said Abra.
    The audience laughed at the wordplay to which Lightning replied "Yeah…charmed…" and earned a slightly louder response, much to the magician's chagrin.
    Abra cleared his throat and hid his irritance from the audience just like a professional would. "The first trick of the night will be the Classic of classics, the Magic Box!" As the audience their awe known, a tall box was rolled in with the help of a blue-colored unicorn mare dressed in a a lacy saddle. Lightning let out a long exhale, expecting this to be a long night...
    Four tricks and fifteen minutes of poorly coordinated banter later, Lightning had managed to escape his forced volunteer status in exchange for a more cooperative volunteer—a certain green unicorn named Prancy. While everyone was preoccupied watching the show Krysta had found herself without her fans and dejectedly followed Lightning deeper into the aisles and shelves of the library.
    Walking into the "My-N" sections, Lightning was unable to spot any subject that looked particularly interesting. A lot of the books were redundant and a few were actually mishelved from other sections but worn-out condition of the books really stuck out to him, not to mention how jumbled and out of order they were. This mess in the organization made Lightning wonder if it would be worth the trouble to fix the area himself, when he spotted Krysta floating off to another part of the library.
    He looked away from the ill-treated selection of books in this section to follow his fairy friend to the next section over. "Where are you off to?"
    "I dunno...browsing, I guess..." Krysta said with a shrug of her shoulders.
    "Want some company?" Lightning offered, to which the fairy shook her head.
    "No thanks. I'll be okay." The fairy replied as she flew off.
    Lightning stopped and watched Krysta disappear around the corner. Now left alone to his own devices in this quiet portion of the library, Lightning could only sigh, and then he turned to gaze out a nearby window. The night had certainly come quickly, but then again considering everything that's happened, it shouldn't have been so surprise that the day was pretty much done. Lightning admired the blanket of the night sky, dotted by glimmering stars, knowing that it was all thank to the Grand Ruler that unicorns could enjoy a wonderful sight even when the sun had set. Lightning's daydreaming was then interrupted when he heard a heavy slam ring out right beside him.
    "Huh?" He glanced down at the item, too surprised to realize that what may have happened to him if it was only four inches to the right from where it fell. It looked to be an ordinary astronomy book.
    "Excuse me, is anyone down there?" A voice called out from an above floor. “I need a little help!”
    Lightning looked upward to try to spot the voice's owner through the break in the ceiling caused by the spiraling flight of stairs. Not only was it dark where he was, but the lights also seemed to be off on the second floor and the subsequent floors above it. Still, he knew he wasn't mistaken about the voice coming from a girl. "Y-yeah?" He replied. "Do you need your book, back? The one that nearly, uh, killed me?"
    "Why yes!” The voice replied, sounding distracted. “Could you bring it up, please?" I'm afraid I can't tear myself away at the moment!”
    Lightning arched a brow when his quip was ignored but nonetheless took the book in his mouth, holding it by the spine. Figuring it would be quicker to simply fly up instead of climbing the stairs, Lightning carefully ascended through the stairwell and after a moment found himself emerging in what seemed to be the observatory on top of the library, which was the size of a single room and much like an attic the roof was relatively low.
    After landing, Lightning searched around the dark area in attempt to find the voice's likely owner when it drew him to turn around and spotted a portion of the domed roof open. Thanks to the moonlight, he recognized that jutting out through the observatory roof was a large telescope and the voice's owner stood behind it, hunching down to peer through the eye piece. "Oh, thank you so much." said the figure, somewhat darkened by standing behind the telescope.
    “Ho're hel-” Lightning began mumbling out then remembered the book being held by the spine between his teeth. Feeling a bit flush in his face, he very quickly lowered his head down to the floor to spit out the now drool-covered book and wiped his mouth with his foreleg. “Sorry, I meant to say 'you're welcome', heh...” As he spoke, the voice's owner stood upright and out of the telescope's shadow.
    He cringed at the state of the book on the floor. “...and, uh...it looks like that I'm also sorry about the mess I made with your b-” Lightning noticed the movement from the corner of his eye and instinctively looked toward the unicorn and found his jaw remaining open mid-sentence, effectively stopping the second part of his apology.
    Her white coat seemed to shine as it was bathed under the moon's light, and from a slight breeze that entered through the open portion of the dome roof, her violet mane—long and wavy—swayed and sparkled like a set of silent wind chimes. As her attention remained transfixed toward the night sky, her eyelashes twinkled ever softly whenever she blinked. Yet somehow, all of that paled in comparison to the brightness in the unicorn's smile while she stared upward, much like how Lightning was doing looking at her.
    “-eautiful...” Lightning finally exhaled, catching her attention when she noticed his presence.
    “Did you say something?” The unicorn asked when she turned away from the open dome and regarded Lightning, who stood there in dumbstruck silence for a moment.
    "I, uh…” Lightning quickly spat out to fill in the silence. When he finally registered her question, he stammered again. “I...don't think I saw you downstairs at the pretty. Party!" Realizing his slip, Lightning's eyes bulged and he snapped his jaw shut, seemingly as a result of a defensive reflex. To his ears, the sound of his gulp was like a battery of fireworks destroying the silence that had settled in.
    "I don't know. I just didn't feel like it.” She answered simply, sounding as though she was completely unaware of the panic that had struck the other unicorn just now. “It's not that I'm antisocial or anything, but I sort of planned this stargazing session way before I got the party invitation, which I only got earlier today...” Her eyes turned toward the sky once more at the mere mention of them.
    He nodded, but then it struck him that his gesture would be unseen while she looked away. In taking a calming breath, Lightning felt some of his confidence return. "Um…if you don't mind me asking, what's your name?"
    “Hmm?” The unicorn looked at him and her eyes grew wide when she realized that she had been distracted. "S-sorry about that! That was so rude of me! My name's Starla. Starla Shine. I guess we can skip the question about what I like?” Tilting her head and letting out an embarrassed laugh, the winged unicorn mare brushed away a maverick strand of her violet mane from her face with a forehoof. “So...what's yours?"
    There was only silence as Lightning found himself lost in Starla's blue eyes. "I'm Lightning.” He said a bit distractedly. With a blink, he somewhat returned to his proper state of mind. “That is, Lightning Dawn. You can call me Lightning, though...but, uh...I can't say that that's my interest...”
    The both of them shared a laugh, much to Lightning's relief.
    Once they had quieted down, Starla found herself wiping a tear from her eye, hoping that she hadn't been laughing as loud as she thought. “Nice to meet you, Lightning…" Starla said with a smile. “I don't feel as guilty for skipping out on the party, now.”
    “Th-that's fine, not like you missed much. I mean, after the first barrage of questions, my being the Grand Ruler's apprentice was pretty much tossed aside as a novelty!” Lightning tried to feign nonchalance, and enjoyed hearing Starla laugh again from the playfully melodramatic wave he did with his hoof
    “Did you meet Artie? Because that's...that's a really good impression!” She said in-between attempts to restrain her laughter.
    Feeling more relaxed, Lightning and Starla were both able to sit down and talk about themselves, eventually turning it into a sort of game where they would ask each other for three clues before guessing about a particular fact. The stakes were high for the most correct guesses, which was being treated to a free meal at Cookie Dough's restaurant at the loser's expense.
    ...
    “...it's because...of your name, right?”
    Starla rolled her eyes at Lightning's guess and imitated a buzzer noise with her voice. “Nope! That's your third and last guess for this round. Way to go for the obvious answer, by the way.”
    “I do what I can.” Lightning shrugged off the other unicorn's snarky remark with his own, receiving a light tap from Starla's hoof against his shoulders as a result.
    She laughed when Lightning pretended that it hurt, and she shook her head at the sight of him rolling around on the floor. “Look out, we've got a regular comedian, over here!”
    Resting on his back, Lightning narrowed his eyes and said in as haughty a way as possible, “I'd prefer it if you called me by my official title of Royal Jester, thank you very much!”
    “Oh, please!” Starla shook her head and groaned at the terrible accent he spoke in and playfully swiped at Lightning again, which he successfully avoided.
    “Alright, so answering time.” Lightning said, rolling onto his stomach and moped with his chin resting on his upturned hoof while lying on the floor across from her. “Why is it that you love to look at stars so much?”
    “Hey there, don't be so quick because of your namesake. You forget that that was the last round?” Starla let her lips take on a mischievous grin and with her magic she manipulated the eraser to erase a line from Lightning's tally, leaving the final score at 3-10 on the blackboard that was set up on a stand.
    “Bah. That 'guess wrong, lose a point' rule wasn't fair...” Lightning observed out loud while looking at his four erased marks on the chalkboard to Starla's one. “Especially since at this point, I'm pretty sure you're a mind reader.” He slouched even more as the eraser came under Starla's control once more and rubbed another of Lightning's points out of existence.
    “Oh, come on!” He glared daggers toward the mare while Starla was more focused on drawing a simple-looking smiley face that was sticking out its tongue on her side of the scoreboard.
    When she was satisfied by her work, Starla looked toward Lightning with the sort of confidence that only winners knew and cherished, allowing it to seep into the tone of her teasing boast. “Well, it's not my fault that you're a terrible guesser. Not to mention the fact that you're a flat and uninteresting character, which makes you just too easy to read.”
    “Hmph. It's better to be certain rather than always gue-wait, what?” Lightning frowned when he realized the snipe in her comment. The two of them stared at each other in tense silence but after a minute passed, Starla's face scrunched up and she couldn't hold back a snort and started to laugh again.
    As hard as he might, Lightning couldn't hold out long against Starla's infective laughter and joined her. Soon enough the two unicorn's found themselves once more in silence. Following her lead, Lightning looked up at the night sky and felt awed by the innumerable twinkling lights.
    “To answer your question...I love to look at the stars because...” Starla took a deep breath in as though the reason was floating about like an invisible scent before letting out a long and satisfied sigh. “...of times like this...when it's quiet and calm...they're just so mystical, don't you think? I'm sure only the Grand Ruler could say how long they've been up there...I'm always wondering what sort of secrets they hold...what kinds of stories they would tell if they could talk. What sorts of advice they'd give whenever there's something I'm not sure about...”
    Her horn glowed and from a nearby bookshelf Lightning watched a notebook float and place itself on the floor in front of him. He blinked when he felt Starla lie on the floor next to him, brushing her folded foreleg against his as they were so close to each other. Lightning quietly gulped and turned his attention to the notebook as the pages were magically turned.
    There were sketches of the different constellations she found interesting and gave pet names to. He quietly listened to the reasons she gave for the names, recognizing at a glance a few of the constellations from the royal astronomy books—which were vastly superior in detail than most of the books in wider circulation—that he read during his studies at the palace. What was unavailable in those books however were the local folk myths that Starla began to recite from memory, given to the most important of the star groupings that recounted the battle between the Grand Ruler and the evil sorcerer a thousand years ago. He was most intrigued by what she said about those and paid particular attention at this point.
    "Lately I've been trying to discover more constellations or something new." Starla said with a sigh. “Still no luck, I'm afraid...”
    "Well what's out there tonight?" asked Lighting. Starla took to her feet and walked over to glance through her telescope. At first she listed off the same old stars, using both the official and her personalized names, but then...
    "Wait a minute! What's that…?" She spotted a strange sort of light. She leaned away from the ocular piece for a moment, rubbed her eye then looked back into the telescope. “That's not a comet...or even a meteor...” She said with caution obvious in her voice. “It's moving way too fast...”
    Lightning walked over to the dome opening and scanned the night sky without the benefit of a telescope, but could soon see what Starla was talking about with his own eyes. "Whatever it is…” He spoke out and felt his muscles tense at the approaching object getting larger and larger in view. “...I think it's coming right this way!"
    A roar of flames as the object fell from the sky overwhelmed their hearing. The flash and explosions of light as it tore through the upper atmospheres nearly blinded them. Without thinking Lightning clenched his eyes shut and leaped onto Starla, throwing her to the floor and kept her under him to cover her from the rain of debris that began shooting into the observatory, squealing and shrieking like fireworks.
    Her terrified screams were mute compared to the monstrous explosion of sound that shook the earth and everything built atop it for minutes without end. Lightning clenched his teeth, holding Starla tight while ignoring the pelting stings of debris against his hide and the blunt force of books hitting his back and sides.
    Those minutes, that felt like hours, were punctuated by streaks of lightning arcing across the sky, followed by the roar and boom of thunder that seemed insignificant compared to the crash just moments ago. "Are you alright?" Lightning grunted out, doing the best he could to ignore the pain.
    "Y-yeah!" Starla shouted in reply. Lightning winced from the scream so close into his ear and rolled off of the other unicorn. “S-sorry! I mean, yeah.” She gulped and moderated her voice, getting to her hooves. “Come on, we have to see if everyone else is ok!”
    “S-sure!” Lightning groaned and hobbled behind Starla as she bounded down the stairs.
    ...
    Before they reached the first floor, Lightning and Starla could hear the other unicorns screaming down below and they dashed the rest of the way down to see what was going on.
    "Lightning!" He heard Krysta call out to him and the fairy leaped onto her friend's head. "What's going on?" She exclaimed as Lightning did his best to follow after Starla toward the front of the library.
    What they found caused all three of them to gasp in horror. Several parts of the walls were completely shot through, while several fires had broken out but were being tended to a number of unicorns floating buckets of water in from the outside as well as dumping their drinks or padding some out using the table cloths or other heavy materials.
    Lightning spotted the grey-colored librarian and rushed over to her. "It cannot be..." Query gasped out, looking like she was hit by shock.  "Are the rumors true? Can he-?"
    With that, the front door and several window panes burst open, letting strong gusts of wind to screech and holler and groan, causing all sorts of glass from the windows to the punch bowls to shatter. Everyone was running about in panic as a large flash of lightning arced across the sky, followed by the crackle and boom of a thunderous roar.
    And then, emerging out from beneath the stage where the magic show took place just an hour ago, was a figure dressed in dark robes; its head and face covered by a dark hood. Only its eyes—red and ominous—cast a stare toward the unicorns and suddenly they were all too frozen in fear to move, much less scream.
    Lightning could barely speak as he just stood there, gawking at the huge and looming figure as it silently oppressed everyone with its mere presence. Lightning's body trembled. His breaths had become a series of hushed, quivering gasps for air. The words of the histories flashed before Lightning's eyes.
    Images...dreams...memories...causing Lightning to unknowingly whisper out in a trembling voice, "T...t...t-t...Titan!"
    At the sound of Its name, the figure turned immediately toward Lightning and the sight of its red glowing eyes chilled Lightning's blood and made his bones feel brittle, leaving him feeling only despair. The mass of robes sped across the floor space and halted in front of the white unicorn, dwarfing him at twice his height.
    As Lightning was caught in its gaze, the moonlight had disappeared. The licks of the orange and red flames that crackled and snapped all around him were now silenced; suffocated and drained of their heat.
    It felt as though Darkness itself had enveloped his body, and wrapped its slithering cold grip around Lightning's neck like a living noose to wring out not simply his life but his very hopes and dreams.
    His body felt heavy. His thoughts cloudy. Lightning felt sleep beckon to him.
    An awful, permanent, sleep.

//-------------------------------------------------------//
                     Episode 2 part 1                      
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Episode 2 part 1
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...?"

//-------------------------------------------------------//
                     Episode 2 part 2                      
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Episode 2 part 2
EPISODE TWO
(Part 2)
    Lightning stood at the edge of Violet Swamp. From the dark, bubbling pools of tar and the acrid  smell of asphault reaching his nostrils, it was plain to see why no one traveled to this part of the kingdom. While there were a ring of trees, none bore any leaves. Combined with the dark of the night and eerie moon's glow above, just a simple gaze through all the thickets and brambles was enough to send chills up Lightning's spine.
    He was relieved to find that Brain wasn't so eager to go along with him. Or more likely was that he knew his limits and wasn't as dumb to go fight anyways. "What a smart kid." Lightning remarked to no one in particular.
    It was thanks to Brain's genius with a hoof-made radio that intercepted Star Fleet's communications that Lightning was here in the first place. While there were shelves upon shelves of gadgets and gizmos sprawled throughtout the colt's house from his tinkering, Lightning was more interested in finding out where the "Alien Intruder," as the attacker was named by Star Fleet, had taken Krysta, Brain's dad and all the others.
    They listened in on chatter about the brief reconnaissance flights taken by a nearby Star Fleet squadron had found activity taking place on Black-Top Mountain, where an old shrine and monument were built to honor the heroism of those involved with stopping Titan's defeat 1000 years ago. However one of those flights took on a disasterous turn when a unicorn lost control of his flight and crashed into the swamp below. Further flights were cancelled and apparently a special team was sent in. Despite the importance of the site and the events taking place there, it seemed that no one was aware or willing to even mention Titan's name. Lightning couldn't help but wonder why Grand Ruler had not stepped in, but the doubt quickly washed away as his faith in his master took hold. Knowing his master, everything had to happen for a reason.
    It had to.
    "Well… here goes." Lightning said to himself. Then he took one step forwards, crushing a twig with his hoof followed by all kinds of screeches and noises from within the swamp. He gulped nervously but ventured forth.
    Stepping under the cover of the winding, twisted, bare branches, the light of the Grand Ruler's night sky was mostly blocked from view. As through the trees were stretching their limbs to tear down something they could never touch. The thought that the stars and the moon were still there, even though he couldn't see them, was comforting and helped Lightning to keep going forward. The salty and the sulfuric odors that wafted into his nose every so often from a dead breeze were less pungent as he continued away from the tar pits. Instead the sour smell of ever-rotting leaves and plants took hold. Along the mountain trail he was now travelling on, jagged rocks, fallen logs and dangling vines seemed to trip him everywhere he stepped. At some points the dirt trail turned into mud, thick enough to grab hold of his boots and cause him to fall face down into the grungy mixture. "Urgh..." he groaned out and spat out.
    The bushes shook and twigs snapped. His instincts took hold when Lightning sensed movement. Leaping foward to create distance—losing a boot in the process—Lightning spun in mid air and used his wings to brace himself to keep himself aloft in order to fight...
    "Lightning…? Is that you…?" Emerging from the dense brush of trees was a certain violet-maned mare. Lightning sighed heavily in relief and returned to all fours on the ground. As he did so, Starla called out to the others who soon emerged as well. While Artie and Buddy used their magic to carry a lantern and flashlight respectiveuly, Rhymes arrived using the glow of his horn for light.
    "What are you doing here?" asked Artie in an icy tone. "We told you not to follow us."
    Lightning held his tongue while Starla floated his muddy boot to him. "Thanks." Lightning he said to her, although his good mood was already strained. After putting his boot back on, he turned toward the others and only barely recognized Artie's presence. "Nice of you to assume, but it just so happens that we crossed paths. I came to find the kidnapped hostages, myself."
    Rhymes quickly stepped between the two stallions' line of sight. Buddy followed along, stepping in closer to Artie's side. "Now, I wasn't there and I don't know why you two keep fighting when you're eye to eye. But I don't care who threw the first word. This squabble you guys have is something can ill afford." The yellow unicorn said with a serious look.
    "Nor will it be tolerated." Lightning gulped and faced Starla when he heard her speak so sternly.  "Lightning, as an active duty member of Star Fleet, it is imperative that I tell you that my primary objective is to complete my mission. And I will go out of my way to make sure that any interference or anything that will hamper my full operational capabilities and strategic advantage, will be dealt with. Is that clear?"
    Lightning gulped and nodded his head. Then Starla turned her glare onto Artie, causing him to cower for a moment before he regained his composure. "I was sure that since I'm the commanding officer on this mission, I'm responsible for dealing with unforseen events."
    "Yes, ma'am." Artie snapped to an attention, to Lightning's surprise.
    "Good. Now, corporal, take point. Private first-class Rhymes, you too. I'll deal with the problem right now."
    "Yes, ma'am." The orange unicorn saluted and without missing a beat, moved up ahead the path leading to the mountain. Rhymes did a less formal gesture, lazily moving his hoof but kept close to Artie and left.
    Unable to find relief in her words, Lightning found himself under Starla's intimidating gaze once more. This time he couldn't even gulp because of his nerves.
    "You'd just ignore me if I told you to go back, right?" Lightning was caught off guard by her blunt question, but managed to nod nonetheless.
    "Yeah." He managed to say. "I...I probably would."
    She sighed and her expression became hard to read. It was the same solid face she made when they were playing their guessing game just a few hours ago, only now when combined with her vest and serious demeanor, had taken on an imposing character.
    "Sergeant, what's the protocol on finding civilians or warriors unable to complete their duty in a dangerous area?"
    Buddy Rose glanced toward Starla for a moment before looking up as though the answer was written somewhere in the night sky. "Section 3 of Regulation Combat Protocol Within Mission Parameters is..." With his pause, the red unicorn smirked and looked back toward Starla and Lightning as though he had just heard some inside joke. "...the immediate escorting of civilians or unfit Star Fleet members to the closest Battle Ready Area or Medical Camp..."
    "That's unfortunate." Starla quickly replied, as though she already knew the answer to her question. "The nearest Ready Area or Medical Camp is at least half an hour away on hoof, not to mention that complying with protocol would leave me with at least one less team member to complete the mission."
    Lightning stared blankly at Starla, not understanding.
    To this Starla rolled her eyes and sighed, further confusing him. "Lightning, if I tell you to hide, what will you do?"
    "Uh...hide?"
    "To help Artie?"
    "If it's really that important for the mission...I'll help him in whatever way I can."
    "And if things get rough, and I tell you to run away with the hostages and not look back?"
    "I'll protect the hostages with my life, but I'll leave only if all of us are safe."
    "Eh, close enough." She glanced toward Buddy, and through some unknown signal, both of them began walking toward where Artie and Rhymes were. Buddy turned around and gestured his head, which Lightning noticed and followed after them.
    Hearing them approach, Artie let out a loud, dramatic sigh. "Finally, he's gone! Now we can-" He stopped mid-sentence as he noticed Lightning was walking closely behind Starla and Buddy when they passed him by. "...wait, what's going on? Qu'est-ce que qu'il fait, ici?"
    "The boss-lady's decided to let him tag along. Just deal with it, Artie." Buddy shrugged before looking ahead.
    Artie and Rhymes exchanged glances, but they could tell there was no point in trying to object. So, despite any sorts of technicalities that were bound to be involved, they knew better than to argue with Starla and quietly moved along with Lightning now joining them.
    As they traveled up toward the mountain, Rhymes stayed to the front of their formation, magically cutting through the undergrowth and thicket with a materialized sword so they didn't have to weave along the path and proceed straight.
    Noticing his awe, Rhymes smiled at Lightning walking beside him. "You like it? I call it my 'Ward Sword.' Catchy, huh?"
    "Yeah." Lightning replied simply, admiring the level of detail in the sword's materialization as well as its ability to cut through the brambles for them to walk through.  "How do you do th-" A scream cut him off and to their surprise, they unicorns all watched as Starla suddenly began sinking.
    "Get away!" She shrieked "Quicksand!" Heeding her warning, the others all leapt away before they got sucked in as well.
    "Starla!" Lightning called out when he and Buddy landed on one side while Artie and Rhymes watched from the other edge of the collapsing ground.. "Uh...don't struggle. You'll only sink faster!"
    "I KNOW WHAT QUICKSAND IS!" Starla snapped out at first, but when she noticed that she was already half submerged, she took a breath and regained her calm.
    "R-right." Lightning yelped back and looked around for something to help her out.
    "Lightning!" He heard Buddy call out and saw him pull a vine from a tree and toss it to her. Now that the sand was up to her shoulders, Starla caught it in her teeth and bit down as tightly as she could. Both Artie and Rhymes fluttered to the other side and immediately took to task, pulling hard until they finally yanked her out of the sand. They reached out and pulled the mud-covered mare away from the pit's edge and they all dropped to the ground, panting and tired.
    "Thanks..." Starla gasped out and spat out pieces of vince that was stuck to her teeth. "I'm confused..." She gulped and looked to the others as they continued trying to catch their breath. "There's no quicksand in this swamp."
    Lightning's ear twitched at sound of creaking wood. Within the grove of trees, the shadows themselves seemed to move. Before he knew it, he had jumped to his feet, pulling Starla up as well. "What are you-"
    "RUN!" Lightning screamed out, just as the trees around them began to explode. A shower of wood and splinters rained on them, as dirt and torn plants and weeks sprayed out from the force of the constant concussions.
    All of them galloped as fast as they could toward the end of the tree line where the mountain path became clearer. But the ground shuttered and quaked as tree after twisted tree burst into pieces like grenades.
    With their wings raised, the unicorns did their best to shield themselves from the flak until they stumbled into the clearing, toppling over each other and desperately gasping for breath.
    Rolling onto his back, Lightning looked up and was greeted by the sight of the starry night sky in its full glory once more.
    The five them remained quiet, save for their heavy breathing and the soft wind passing over them.
    "...wow." Buddy was the first to break the silence.
    Rhymes gulped out loud. "Yeah."
    ...
    After a few minutes of rest, the group started their trek up the path once more. Looking back, Lightning regarded the straight line of trees that were now crumbled pieces of wood. He felt Goosebumps from the sight and turned to look at Blacktop Mountain, which was in full view and right ahead. With the large, ominous dark clouds obscuring the peak, it looked even more eerie than the swamp, sending chills up everyone's spines.
    "...so...this just a regular day for Star Fleet?" Lightning asked, feeling the need to fill in the silence.
    "Yes… it is." Artie said icily, trotting up next to the white unicorn. Noticing the sour look on Lightning's face, Artie shook his head and let out a nervous chuckle as he could feel Starla staring daggers from the front of their group. "Um...but anyways, that's was pretty amazing of you to notice that the trees would, you know...explode..."
    "Yeah." Lightning nodded. "You'd be surprised how quiet it gets at the palace, so I guess my hearing became really good? I don't really know..."
    "Ha, yeah. All the better so you can hear others criticize you and you can get mad at them, huh?" Artie blurted out but realized only when he saw the irritated look in Lightning's face. "I...I'm sorry about that, uh..."
    Lightning looked up ahead just in time to see Starla look forward, then turned his attention to the yellow unicorn walking alongside him. "Nah...don't worry about it..." He said instead of his initial reaction. Hurrying his pace, Lightning moved closer to the front.
    "No, it's..." Artie began, but stopped himself and continued to walk as the other unicorn moved ahead. Rhymes walked up from the rear of the formation with one corner of his mouth raised along with his eyebrows. Artie noticed the yellow unicorn and nickered. "You know I'm not good with words..." Rhymes simply shrugged his shoulders, much to Artie's feigned annoyance. Rather than puruing an answer from the other unicorn, Artie looked ahead. "Hey, I think I see it!" Artie called out.
    Toward the front of the group, Buddy, Starla and Lightning looked around but were unable to see anything other than pebbles, rocks, boulders and wiry plants sticking out from those rocks and boulders.
    "Where?" Lightning asked, squinting his eyes to where he figured the path led up to. Even when he poured all of his focus, he could only barely make out a dot at least a mile ahead. But soon enough the shrine came into view. A wooden structure built into the mountain, the shrine had been buffeted by the elements and long disrepair.
    The five of them stood just in front of the wide doors, that were three times a unicorn's height and as wide as an average wingspan. "Well, here we are…" Artie said nervously. With a strong burst of wind, the shrine doors creaked inwards, as if they were being invited in.
    "That...wasn't scary at all..." Rhymes quipped as they now stared down the mouth of a deep cavern, which was dark and unlit.
    "Come on, let's go." Starla said and walked into the cavern. "Corporal, you're on point. The rest of you, keep your heads on a swivel."
    "Yes, ma'am." Artie rushed to the front while the rest filed behind him in pairs. As the howl of the winds faded, they all quietly walked down the cavern, alert as much as possible. Even with the lamp and flashlight, as well as the glow of both Starla and Rhymes' horns, it was dark. As they walked further in, not even those sources of light seemed to be enough, and the group's pace slowed as a result.
    "Think we should announce we're here?" asked Buddy Rose, who was walking alongside Lightning in the center row of the column.
    "And why should we do that?" asked Starla, a bit perturbed by Buddy's suggestion from her spot in the third row next to Rhymes.
    "Well, whoever was responsible for attacking us in the swamp obviously know we're here..." Lightning added. Then, the echoing slam of the doors bounced off all around them. They halted and readied themselves for an attack, which in the ensuing minutes, had yet to come.
    "Maybe that was our...welcoming call...?"
    Ahead of them, a torch lit, revealing a dead end. As its flickering orange light dazzled the group in its warm but eerie glow, two more torches alighted revealing a wall on either side of them. Finally a fourth was set ablaze behind them, and a wall had materialzed where there used to be the cavern path.
    "Ok, then..." Lightning sighed. Without needing orders, the group drew closer to one another, each unicorn looking outward as they formed a circle. Floating out of the darkness, Lightning spotted large bubbles approaching them. "Hey, there they are!" He called out and rushed over to the twelve to fifteen bubbles in sight. "Krysta!" Lightning cried out. "Krysta, are you ok!?"
    Looking over his shoulder to see what the ruckus was, Artie immediately recognized something was wrong. "LIGHTNING, NO!" He bellowed and engulfed the white unicorn in an orange glow and barely managed to drag him back before sharp talons swiped down from the ceiling and crashed into the stone floor.
    "What in the world!?" Lightning gasped out as he regained his balance. His wingers flapped restlessly and he looked back to Artie with wide eyes. "Th-thanks!"
    "Shut up and pay attention, idiot!" Artie screamed out and still holding onto Lightning with his magic, threw him to the ground to dodge a horizontal swipe. Feeling the magic disperse, Lightning groaned out in pain from the move but stumbled to his feet and rushed away from the dark edge back to the others.
    "Hold your positions!" Starla called out and the others nodded, knowing their responsibilities. By instinct, Buddy and Rhymes slid over to fill the gap that formed from Lightning's absense and all four of them used their range of vision to watch out for further movement. Lightning bumbled over to Starla and Rhymes, panting quickly to catch his breath from the ambush.
    Around them the group heard nothing but the faint wind blowing through holes that had formed in the shadow-obscured ceiling. Lightning groaned and brought a hoof to his temple as he felt an onsetting migraine.
    "Lightning, are you alright?" Starla asked while carefully looking around her.
    "I've, uh...been better..." Lightning hissed as his head began to throb.
    "Oh come on, I didn't throw you that hard, Lightning!"
    "Not now, Artie!" Starla growled out.
    "Aagh..." Lightning groaned and clenched his jaw. He clutched his head with both forehooves, and even his body began trembling now from the sharpening pain as though his head would explode from the pressure.
    "That doesn't look good, boss-lady." Buddy looked away from his assigned sector and eyed Lightning with worry. He turned back to face the darkness on his side that was weakly punctured by a wall torch.
    "AARGHH!" Starla looked at the white unicorn with increasing concern, placing an assuring hoof on Lightning's shoulder as he was now clenching his eyes shut and growling out from some unknown injury. She looked back to the others and after assessing the looks on their faces, nodded.
    "Alright then, boys...full power!"
    "Yes, ma'am!" The three unicorns answered, and their horns glowed brighter until the whole room was illuminated, pushing away the shadows that previously wrapped around the weak torch lights. Taking full advantage of the moment, they all looked around for any way out of this room, while wary of whatever it was that had tried to attack Lightning.
    "I found it!" Artie called out and pointed to a set of rocks that ascended upwards like stairs.
    "Alright, let's move, let's move, let's move!" Starla called out and rushed to take Lightning over her shoulder. Buddy moved to the other side and lifted him up as well and the two of them began to drag the pained unicorn to where Artie was waiting.
    "I got the rear!" Rhymes yelled out while backing away toward the stairs as well. Casting the light of his horn from side to side, he felt a sprinkle of dust trickle onto him. "Huh?" Looking up, his eyes grew wide when a black-coated unicorn dropped down, swinging a scythe's blade onto him. Rhymes yelped, reinforcing his horn with magic and struck back against the enemy's strike.
    "Rhyming!" Artie called out when he noticed the yellow unicorn's bright light disappear.
    "N-no! Just go!" Rhymes strained out. With as much strength as he could muster, he pushed back against the larger black unicorn and growled out until it jumped back into the shadows after seeing the round was at a draw. "Get Lightning to safety!" He panted, keeping his attention toward the direction the other unicorn had escaped to. "I've got this!"
    Just as he said this, a second creature emerged and lunged to strike Rhymes from behind. Several shimmering stars struck at the ground leading up to where the yellow pony stood at the ready and dispersed into flashes of light.
    "Starla!?" Buddy yelled in surprise when the mare jumped off the stairway and shot at the second creature with her magic.
    Without looking back at them, Starla proceeded to fire more bolts of magic until the second enemy disappeared into the shadows as well. "Just go! You too, Artie!"
    The two of them exchanged looks until the orange unicorn hurried to prop Lightning over his shoulder. "Come on..." Artie grunted and they hauled the still-shaking Lightning up to the next floor.

//-------------------------------------------------------//
                     Episode 2 part 3                      
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Episode 2 part 3
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.