My Brave Pony: Starfleet Magic III

EPISODE FIVE

His name was Ace Ray, once a proud Wonderbolt, who got discharged and dismissed for poor acts of conduct, and constant mockery towards the Starfleet comrades whom he loathed and despised for reason that were not true.

Worse than that he would gather friends who felt the same as he did and started pep rallies trying to persuade people that Starfleet was no good and deserved to be mocked, beat up, or killed, but nobody supported them and merely mocked him in return.

Ace Ray was nothing more than a pompous, disgraceful pony whom everyone but his group of mockers seemed to loathe and despise the way he despised Starfleet. "They blew up our planet!" he would whine "How can support cold hearted killers?"

"They did no such thing!" he would get a response "And they don't do things without reason. They are far better ponies than anything you will ever be; Failure!"

Even his own sister Skye didn't wish to support her brother, namely because her friend, Lieutenant Rainbow Dash was bother a full-fledged Wonderbolt, and a part-time Starfleet fighter, and the fact that she found respect and honor for Starfleet since day one. This made Ace Ray so mad that he ultimately threatened to beat up his own sister from time to time. Everyone suggested, begged her, to get Ace Ray some help, but every time she thought about it she completely went the other way, almost as if she were too much of a coward to go through with it, to the fact that she was just as stubborn as her brother some time, and felt she could help him herself.

Rainbow Dash constantly checked up on her, and was worried about her friend, and would sometimes think about turning Ace in herself, but Skye insisted she not do it.

…

One day, Twilight and Spike were looking forward to a good breakfast at the café with Lightning and Starla. Ever since they had returned from Horn Kong they had done nothing but study the Dragon-Knight Egg and did their best to find anything related to whatever secrets it had… if the legends were true. So far, there wasn't much to go in. Lightning and Starla had covered as many sections from the Starfleet archives as they could, but they were just as stumped.

They all met up at a table and discussed it through. "I'm starting to think maybe it all just is a myth after all." Twilight said.

"Possibly…" Lightning said "But I think we should keep going at it for a while longer. After all, maybe there was a secret but just never recorded?"

The other agreed and decided to keep going at it in their spare time, but now, they just enjoyed being off duty and their breakfast. Krysta and her son Twink stopped by to say hi. Both of them looked dressed up to go butterfly hunting. "I didn't know you guys went butterfly hunting."

"We do it all the time. It especially helps Twink with his princely training and communicating with nature and other life forms" said Krysta "Of course, a butterfly to us is able the size of an eagle to you."

"After we catch one we just play a few games of cards, have some tea, chat for a while, and then we let it go." said Twink.

"Oh, that's so sweet, Twink." Twilight said.

Twink blushed and acted shy before he headed off with his mother. After they left, Rainbow Dash came along after finishing her patrol rounds along with Rhymey and Fluttershy. "What up chums?"

Her friends smiled. "All is quiet I assume?" asked Lightning.

"Yes sir, Admiral." Rainbow said as she saluted. "Too bad I can't say the same about Skye."

"She's still down hard about her brother?" asked Starla.

Rainbow nodded and explained her brother and his friends were getting more and more out of control with their mocks and outright spite of Starfleet and those who sided with him. "He still blames you guys and says you destroyed Equestria."

"But we didn't…" Lightning said "And everyone else knows that."

"He mocks us all day and night.

I think he's really looking for a fight." said Rhymey.

Everyone felt very annoyed, but they decided to let it slide. So far, Ace hadn't done anything to violate any of the laws, and unless he did, they were to take no action. "You know… I wonder…" Fluttershy said "Do you think maybe he blames you because he doesn't know the real story?"

That was a possibility everyone had considered, but it was hard for them to get even so much as a word out to Ace as he didn't care to listen and always assumed he was in the right and just mocked and picked at them more.

That's when the soft sounds of the morning were broken by the sounds of an angry mob lead by Ace came marching into the area hollering bad things about Starfleet and holding signs which also gave bad messages. "Huh!" sneered Twilight "Just pretend you don't see them."

Everyone in the entire café simply turned their backs to the miserable mob. "Hey!" snapped Ace "We're talking to you all. Starfleet has to go!" His mob of friends seemed to agree with him, but everyone else just ignored him. Passersby took no notice and just walked right past the buffoon.

Ace had finally taken enough of being ignored and walked right into the outdoor dining are at the café. "What's wrong with all of you?" he shouted "You've been brainwashed by these losers! They've ruined our whole world!"

Still, no one cared to even notice him and his pointless whining.

"They're murderers; they go on killing everything they deem as evil. They never once thought of talk and reason. You know what they are, violent, evil sneaks."

Spike was starting to lose his patience and wanted nothing more than to see him get trashed for all he was spewing. He stood up, but Twilight told him to calm down. "Just ignore him, Spike."

Rhymey agreed with her and said…

"There's no need to make a fuss

There is nothing he can do to us."

Ace turned and marched angrily over to the table. "And you… will YOU STOP WITH THAT RHYMING!" he screamed.

Rhymey glared at him angrily and picked his ear.

"I fail to see why you mock…

…me, for the way that I talk.

My entire family speaks in rhyme.

We have been doing so for a long, long time.

There is nothing wrong with what I do.

But I would say something in wrong with you."

His voice was sounding angrier, but Starla cautioned him to cool it, but Ace continued to be as rude and obnoxious as ever. "You lousy bunch of murdering mules…! You're not going to intimidate me. You're all the same, just like the wonderbolts. I almost glad they threw me out so I don't have to see what disgraces they've become."

Rainbow really hated it when someone insulted the wonderbolts, and stood up angrily to protest. "Take it easy, Rainbow." Fluttershy said. "I mean… he is just expressing his opinion."

"That's right." mocked Ace "And if I think that Queen Celestia is stupid for allowing all this into our world, well that's my opinion too." His friends in the mob laughed and applauded him for the mock.

Now, Twilight stood up with a look of extreme fury in her face for Ace mocking her teacher like that. Her patience was wearing thin as well, but Lightning stopped her from doing anything else. "Don't do it missy, and that's an order." he said. He realized it wasn't nice to mock any of the royal ones. "He hasn't done anything worth fighting about."

Twilight reluctantly agreed, but as a princess she didn't have to take another minute of this and calmly ordered Ace and his mockers to leave the area. "Why, yes… your majesty." Ace put a lot of mocking emphasis on those words, and Ace began to leave with his mob. "…Jerks!" Starla muttered.

Ace and his mob hadn't even taken a few steps away when Skye came along, and she was very angry with her brother. "Ace, Stop this now!" she growled.

"Get out of here, Skye."

"I won't! I've had just about enough of your mocking and badmouthing Starfleet."

"Well I have enough of you support them."

"I have every right to support them, and so do others."

A lot of the others began to cheer Skye on. "You tell him, Skye." hollered Rainbow.

Skye went on giving Starfleet more and more support and how Ace was wrong to badmouth them. "They saved our lives, they helped us evolve into a whole new world, and all you can think about is yourself."

The more she went on, the angrier her brother became, and he dropped his protest sign and marched over to her. "To be honest, Ace Ray…" Skye said "You're as bad and unimaginative as the evil they face!"

That's when her brother punched her right in the face sending her off her feet. Everyone screamed, and watched as Ace began to tackle his sister to the ground and ram numerous punches into her. "DON'T YOU EVER… EVER COMPARE ME TO THOSE MONSTERS!" he shouted. "AND DON'T YOU EVER SUPPORT THESE WASTES OF SPERM AGAIN! STOP SUPPORTING THEM AND START HATING THEM OR I'LL KILL YOU!"

Now he had broken the law, Lightning and friends could act and they dashed out form their seats and rushed over and Rainbow gave Ace a huge bash with her feet sending him skidding across the ground.

The mocking mob was shocked, and while some of them dropped their signs and looked ready to fight, most of them had run off scared. Skye was badly bruised and she was crying, but more in fear than pain. Rainbow stayed to comfort her while the rest dealt with the mockers.

Ace got up to his feet and never before had been so enraged. "STARFLEET…! I HATE YOU!" he screamed as he foolishly charged forward to fight, but Lightning hardly had to lift a finger to beat him. Ace had no special training and all his attacks didn't amount to anything. He punched and kicked at Lightning furiously, but Lighting felt nothing.

The same with his friends all attacking the others…Twilight simply contained them in a force field, beating them easily, and Ace, Lightning gave him a simple shove pushing him to the ground, but Ace kept on getting up and ran at him again with all his hatred only to get shoved again. "I hate you!" growled Ace "I'm going to beat you EVEN IT KILLS ME!" but Lightning has heard enough and grabbed his capture blaster. "You're under arrest for assault, threatening, and high treason to the law!" He fired the blast which hit Ace hard. Ace screamed and roared as he felt himself transforming, and he fell over, exploded, and was magically shrunk down and imprisoned in a blue sphere of liquid.

Skye wasn't sure whether or not she was grateful or upset that her brother was captured, but all she wanted to do was weep.

…

All of Ace's friends were sentenced to community service for assaulting officers of the force. And Ace him; rather than sending him to prison, he was immediately convicted to the insane asylum on a dimensional planet called Xandra. Unlike the prison planet Conva, it was home of one of Starfleet's asylum to detain and deal with those criminals who were mentally unstable who needed serious psychiatric treatment or professional help with whatever problems they had. No one had ever broken out from this asylum, and even If they had there was no way they could leave the planet. The warp portals that led out into Dimensional Space were inaccessible by all convicts. Any one of them who tried to enter only got tossed back out again.

Many were fortunate enough to be cured after a long time, but some still remained still uncured, and it was doubtful if they ever would be. This was just the place for Ace to be sent to. Skye didn't what to feel worse about? That her brother was locked up and officially labeled as a psychotic weirdo or the fact that she herself should have had him convicted long ago.

She sat there with all the others gazing at him as he slept miserably on his bed in his padded room, wrapped up in a strong straitjacket. "He looks so helpless. So miserable." Fluttershy said. This made Sky feel worse. "He'll be okay, Skye." Twilight said "But in the meantime he really needs to be left alone to cool off."

"Yeah, just give it a little time." added Rainbow "Who knows, maybe he'll be up and out of here before you know it...?" but the others didn't seem to agree with her there.

Rhymey said…

"He's a very disturbed one.

It could be a while before this job is done."

Even Skye agreed with him on there, but she was at least glad there was now a good chance to get her brother some help. Still, at least it was comforting to know that his mockery had been brought to a halt.

…

A few days later, the gang was called back to the asylum on Xandra, and they were surprised to find Dr. Penny Sillion there. Not only was she skilled in medicine, and anatomy, but she also had a high degree in psychology and had taken over watch in the asylum for the day, and called Lightning and the others back.

"What's going on, Penny? Lightning asked.

"Well, I've been going over the reports from the doctors and nurses about Ace Ray." Penny said as she flipped through the files…

Over the past few days, the doctors and nurses had done all they can with Ace. They talked to him and questioned him to what his beef was with Starfleet; no surprises it was all the same stuff he always fumed about, however… they had managed to get one breakthrough. Ace had mentioned that he and his sister were on the far side of Equestria when everything was happening; when Nightmare Moon had enslaved everyone before Titan came back, and in the midst of the chaos he was knocked unconscious and remained so. So he never saw what really happened, and only badly and wrongfully judged Starfleet by what he saw in the aftermaths when United Equestria was born.

"That certainly explains a lot." Spike said. "He just doesn't know what really happened and what Starfleet is really like."

Finally, it was all starting to make some sense. "But then, why do we have to be here?" asked Starla. "Ace won't listen to anyone who tells him the truth."

"Ah, but that's just it." Penny said "Follow me…"

She led them into a dark room and flicked on the lights. Inside was a powerful machine penny called the Dream Reprise Emulating Action Machine; Dream for short. "I made it myself."

"You made this?" Twilight asked in astonishment.

Penny nodded and smirked "I'm not just a doctor of medicine and psychology. I know a thing or two about science."

The machine took up about half the room, and consisted of a large central generator shaped like a large box. A patient would lie down on the bed in front of it and wear the special belt, which was connected to the machine, around their head. The machine was designed to produce artificial dreams into their minds based on memories of others and play them, kind of like putting someone under hypnosis or sending them back through time to see things. "I built this hoping to help patients who have amnesia help them gain their memories back. I think this could help Ace; it will show him what really happened and he'll finally see factual proof of what Starfleet is like." Then she turned to the others and explained that she needed them all to help make the dream that Ace would need to see. She led them all to the side room where there was a chair with another belt hooked into the machine which would capture their memories and help piece them together in the dream that Ace would need to see.

"But why do you need all of us?" asked Fluttershy. "Couldn't you just have used your own memories?"

"No, I don't think so, Fluttershy." said Lightning. He was beginning to see what Penny was going at. "This machine can only obtain the memories and viewpoints of only one patient at a time, and she requires bits of all our memories as each of us were in different places of the time."

Rainbow felt psyched to try this out. "This is going to be awesome!"

Fluttershy felt rather nervous at first, and wasn't sure if she was willing to though with it, but Rhymey persuaded her to try.

"I know it seems like scary feat,

But we need your help to make the picture complete.

You can do it.

There's nothing to it."

As usual, his words gave his mare-friend the confidence she needed. Fluttershy stood proudly and volunteered to go first. "Just be gentle?" she peeped.

One-by-one, everyone took a turn sitting in the chair, even Spike. All they were required to do was think back to the days when Equestira and Unicornicopia still stood, and to the times up to, during, and after the war against Titan and his diabolical minions.

Once they were all done, Penny managed to compute and edit it all out through the genius of Starfleet technology and that of what the robot empire provided. Now, all that was left to do was bring in the patient, and this was proving to be difficult as Ace was putting up such a fuss and fighting off the guards. "I'm not going! Get off me!"

The guards decided to slip him a shot of sleeping potion to make him drowsy so he'd calm down enough and make it easy to drag him into the room. He had already fallen into a deep sleep and was placed flat on the bed and hooked to the machine.

"Well… here we go." said Penny and she activated the machine. Nothing to extreme happened, however, there was one another part of the machine; a magical holographic imagery that would show everyone what Ace was experiencing in the dream, and it would allow them to talk to him, like taping into his sub conscious.

"How do you make this stuff?" Rainbow asked rhetorically.

…

In his dream, the first thing Ace saw was Equestria of old, and all the ponies were normal ponies again- walking on all fours, they had no arms, hands, and Twilight Sparkle was being coordinated as Equestria's newest princess. "What's happened?" he asked "What's all this about?" but he suddenly didn't think he cared that much feeling that he was home and Starfleet was never there in the first place. He tried to say hello to friends of his he knew, but no one answered him or even took notice of him.

Dr. Penny's voice echoed through the air. "Do not be fooled, Ace Ray. These are only images of the past, made up of the memories of others. They can neither see hear nor feel you."

This made Ace remembered what really happened and how he was dragged into that weird contraption of hers. "Let me out of here!" he demanded "Get me out!"

"Forget it, Ace!" snarled Lightning "You need to be set straight once and for all, and this is the only way, and you're going to stay right where you are until you've seen everything. You have no right to refuse."

Ace tried to resist, but is only made the dream stronger, even if he shut his eyes, he would only then dream while inside the dream. There was no escape; not until turned the machine off. "Turn it off!" growled Ace "Get me out of this mistake of a story!"

"Forget it, Ace!" snapped Twilight "This is no mistake. All this really happened, and you're about to see. Now, pay attention!"

Fluttershy's memories replayed images of when Rhymey first came to Equestria in search of a star stone. He fell in love with her at first sight and saw how kind and gentle she was, offering him to stay and rest after his long journey.

Ace felt horrified that there was a Starfleet pony in Equestria before he even knew of it. "What? She's putting him up? Why doesn't she lock him up before he does any damage, or kills her?"

"Quiet, you..!

What you say is not true!" growled Rhymey.

"Look closer and you will see,

I did nothing wrong, I came peacefully.

I got the treasure that I sought,

I explored a bit, and what then had I got?

I was mistaken for Fluttershy, in a costume so fake.

All this ridicule and joking, I just could not take.

Fluttershy was indeed a very caring one.

I grew more attracted to her before day was done.

We had shared a small dance at the grand galloping gala.

Then I had to leave, I was a sad fella."

As he went on, Ace was suddenly starting to see, based on the memories that Rhymey never caused any trouble when he came, and Fluttershy really had fallen in love, even though he had to leave. He was still unmoved. "So what…? You fell in love with Fluttershy, that doesn't make this oh-so awesome guy. You Starfleet fighters are still all the same. You kill for no reason, and you don't seem to care!"

"QUIET!" shouted Lightning. "We can't keep going back and forth because you keep whining. It takes too long. Now, pay attention for what you're about to see next."

The next parts were shown at Twilight's coronation, the dark day when the evil Nightmare Moon had returned; despite the fact that Princess Luna was already there and cleansed of her evil nature. She had brought with her new friends; Titan's three minions…

Mysterious!

Rep-Stallion!

Dementia!

They had come to conquer Equestria, and this time they were stronger than ever. "Big deal!" snapped Ace "Hey, Princess. Why didn't you just use the Elements of freaking Harmony? You could have turned them good. Then everything could have been alright."

"We did try that!" growled Twilight "…Look!"

Being normally non-violent ponies, Twilight and her friends did try the Elements of Harmony in hopes to heal Titan's minions by appealing the magic to their hearts and counteracting the evil within them… except… the magic didn't work! "What?!" snapped Ace "But… that's impossible! The Elements of Harmony always work…! Unless…?"

His answer was displayed right before his eyes. Twilight and her friends were shocked to discover that the minions physically did not have hearts, and were incapable of feeling things like love and harmony and compassion. They were galactic dimensional demons; artificially created beings, made of corpses, graveyard soil and infused extremely evil magic. "But, Twilight Sparkle is supposed to know everything about every kind of magic there is." whined Ace.

"No, Ace! I don't know absolutely everything." Twilight said "No one does, but one thing I did learn was; Nothing is without weakness. The Elements of Harmony are no exception."

"Besides…" Starla cut in "At the time, you were all plantery-ponies, from Equestria. Now, I'm not saying that's a bad thing, but look for yourself; every single adventure you had, any discovery you made, every kind of creature you met, every villain you faced, and every sort of magic Twilight ever learned-it was all from Equestria. What did you know about space?"

Ace tried and tried to come up with an excuse, but for the first time he was starting to show signs that maybe they were right. As magical as Equestria was, no pony had ever truly gotten into space before. Every test rocket that was designed and sent up simply vanished, but they couldn't figure out why. So, they had never made it into space and couldn't hope to discover what was really out there and stuff... for the moment.

That was beside the point…

"This may make you vexed,

But I bet you know what happened next." said Rhymey.

Ace watched in horror as Nightmare Moon and her minions attacked. The Equestrian's put up a valiant effort, but they were no match against this new kind of evil and power. Twilight fought her hardest and charged and Nightmare Moon full force, only to get blasted extremely hard by the evil mare's magic, and worse… her wings were gone! Nightmare had actually destroyed her alicorn form, and changed her back into a regular unicorn.

Before long, all of Equestria had been enslaved. Celestia, Luna, and Twilight had been thrown into prison cells. Everyone was just powerless to do anything.

"I remember." Ace said "I was on the far side Equestria with Skye when it all happened. We were on vacation, and before I knew it, we were enslaved, and forced into work, and I was beaten unconscious by one of those goons." He has mistaken them for Starfleet ponies because they almost looked the same; anthropomorphic ponies wearing armor.

Ace was starting to actually question his own thoughts about Starfleet, but he quickly began reverting back. "No! I can't believe this! That still doesn't change my mind."

That's when the images began to fade and he found himself in space and overlooking a strange dimensional planet; the planet Unicornicopia, and the main home base world of Starfleet. It was founded and established by the one Equestria pony to ever make it into space… Grand Ruler Celesto. The former first captain of the royal Canterlot Guard, and fiancé of, then, Princess Celestia, who was caught in the first war against Nightmare Moon and was banished into dimensional space, and with no magical pathway, or proper protection, he was instantly teleported by the magical qualities of the void of space itself.

After establishing Unicornicopia and creating the first alicorn ancestors of the race; the planet became an entire world of alicorns; a whole new race of new space ponies. They even discovered ways to genetically alter and reshape their skeletal structures and biological compositions. This gave them humanoid-like bodies.

"That's just sick." Ace said "You look like deranged mutants."

"That may be, but look at all the things we can do." said Lightning. "We can accomplish menial tasks with our new hands, instead of using our mouths or levitation. It makes things easier, and especially helpful to those who… can't… use... levitation!"

Ace never thought of it like that before. He had always hated his new body and never once took to heart what wonderful new things he was able to do with it. Still, the dimensional-universe was filled with all sorts of worlds and other races. Some were bad and some were good; some to help and some to fight. Grand Ruler had establish Starfleet to vow to always fight off evil and never allow it to reign again, in compassion and worry for other races that would possibly suffer from other evil forces.

"Just look at how we train." Lightning said. "Look at the hard work. The struggling and pain…!"

Ace could see things that even the Wonderbolts never taught at the academy.

They were forced into strange and unusual exercises, such as plowing fields with their bare hands along. Carrying large and extremely heavy objects from one point to another. Even having to wear enchanting weighted clothes that made things difficult to do but would help them build strength, and speed beyond their built in limitations.

Of course they also had to have a proper education of the mind. So they had their schooling and lessons and studied all forms of magic that they could, and slowly learned about new types as their adventures continued. They also learned martial arts, fencing, and practicing to develop their own styles battle magic and battle style, and they had special masusssessions to harden their muscles, endurance, and also to increase flexibility.

One of the best parts of training was dancing and choreographing. They did all kinds of dances. Step dancing, tap, ballet, break-dancing, and any other kinds of ways to dance you could think. It helped them to improve on their footwork, as well as increase their evasiveness. Shots and projectiles were easy to avoid, and obstacle courses could be cleared more quickly and smoothly. Beside from that, dancing was also a lot of fun and good exercise which made it one of Starfleet's most standard of practices.

They even had a machine known as the Hurl-A-Whirl; a machine similar to the dizzitron, except I hurled them in every single direction possible. Hardly anyone ever made it their first time without barfing. Then they had to soar through an obstacle course and make it to the finish line in less than five whole seconds.

Ace could hardly believe such brutal training was even possible, and what amazed him more was the results of the training paying off. Now the ponies had very strong levels of endurance; their bodies were so solid that it wouldn't be easy to hurt them. Their physical strength had improved immensely; they could lift huge and solid objects and hardly break a sweat. Their speed; now that was an astonishing improvement. Some managed to run on their two feet alone at 15.5 kilometers per second, which equaled to 55,800 KPH! More than five times faster than Rainbow Dash and her absolute best speed of 9999 KPH and that was just by running. They could travel at even faster speeds by flight. According to Grand Ruler, some ponies like him were most likely to one day reach the velocity of light squared, but only in theory. With a speed like that, a pony would be able to circumnavigate the entire universe... if they didn't stop for rest breaks!

All this, and the technology and weapons they had developed over the centuries, they became a fierce force to be reckoned with. They traveled to many star systems and discovered many new sorts of sights and discoveries. They fought against many different sorts of foes; Dragons, ogres, giants, witches, warlocks, mutants, demons, aliens, orgs, even a few machines here and then.

Compared to them and their experiences, advanced training, technology and others things… the Equestrian ponies were still in nursery school.

"What do you say now Ace?" asked Rainbow.

Ace sighed hard "Okay, I'll admit you guys are pretty strong and pretty slick… but you are not going to possibly deny that you brutally slaughter those creatures. It makes you no different from them."

"We don't destroy all creatures." Starla said "Most of them we just battle them to tire them out, and then it's easier for us to capture them and bring them to justice."

"You're excuses are as lame as… as… whatever!" snapped Ace "You still kill those you can't capture. Have you even though of putting some effort into thinking of another solution instead of resigning yourselves to cold-hearted murder immediately?"

"What would you suggest then?" Starla said "And even so… would it even work?"

"Ace…" Lightning said "We're not as particularly fond of taking someone's life either, but sometimes we just don't have a choice."

Ace was shown all the many kinds of few monsters that were too big, and too powerful to be captured. The worst of them was Titan, the single most evil villain they ever faced. He had killed so many people and destroyed so many worlds, and he did not wish to be reasoned with, and his evil powers were far too much for healing magic to work on. He could never truly be redeemed for everything he had done even if he wanted to be.

He would send monsters that were merely the same as his minions, or like the shadow bolts which were made of inanimate, non-living objects like rocks, beauty products, tools, vehicles, or even just comprised of elemental energy itself. They were not truly living beings, but still very dangerous and had to be stopped before they caused any more damage or took anyone else's lives.

Ace gasped in shock and shame.

"Don't you realize what you're up against, Ace Ray?" Lightning asked sternly "If we don't stop them, then they'll continue to destroy and conquer more and more. You wouldn't even be alive if it weren't for us coming to Equestria!"

"Equestria!" cried Ace. He suddenly remembered those awful images, and at that moment, the dream reverted back to that scene where Equestria was under the grasp of Nightmare Moon's iron fist.

Eventually, after the three princesses were freed from their prison and taken to Unicornicopia, and after Unicornicopia had been destroyed by Discord, under Titan's power… Starfleet had come to Equestria to wage war on Nightmare and Titan's minions.

Unfortunately, the planet itself was already doomed long before they had come; all the evil energy Nightmare had unleashed was infusing with the pure energy of the magical core of Equestria. The planet was doomed to explode, and there was nothing that could have been done to stop it. The planet itself could not be saved, but using their skills and resources of space-warping, they were able to transfer everyone off the planet, including Ace who still unconscious form being beat up, to safety, as they did not possesses the knowledge, power, or resources to head into space themselves.

"You… saved me?"

"The truth hurts, doesn't it, Ace?" sneered Starla.

"Had we not come to save you, then…

You would have died in the planet's explosion!" snapped Rhymey.

Ace was officially speechless and he stuttered and stammered. "Huh? But…! But I…?"

"Face it, Ace..." Lightning said "Starfleet is good, and without us, you wouldn't even be here learning that now. YOU OWE US YOUR LIFE, ACE RAY!"

"AH…!" cried Ace as he just stood there, wide-eyed, mouth agape and completely dazed. He continued to watch the afterimages; with a little help from Twilight, her friends, and the Elements of Harmony. Starfleet destroyed Titan's minions and Nightmare Moon's once and for all, but Titan himself had returned, mightier than ever, and managed to actually destroy the Elements of Harmony treasure, crushing them to dust in his giant hand. Only with their faith, their believing, were they able to give Celestia and Grand Ruler the ability to merge together to form the Grand Celestial Ruler.

Titan was beaten, and although Equestria and Unicornicopia were destroyed forever, there was enough magic and enough believing to rebuild the two worlds into one; United Equestria was born, and a new day had dawned.

"You see, Ace." said Twilight "We all owe each other our lives. We've helped each other out of horrid situations, and throughout the years we still stood strong with our friendship, and believing. It took some time for us to get used to, but now we all live and work together as one, spreading more friendship and harmony throughout the universe and protecting it from evil forces."

Ace could see what she meant by watching the scenes of Twilight and her friends training to become warriors, and together they and their new friends defeated many foes that plot to destroy their world and threaten the universe. Even if in some events that called for it they would have to destroy their victims, they did in good conscience and for the sake and safety of all that they stood for, namely the lives of everyone they knew.

It all ended with Twilight's team and Lightning's team standing side by side. Twilight and Lightning slapped each other a high five. "Starfleet Magic!"

"Friendship is Magic!"

The two teams stood tall and proud and proclaimed, "PONIES UNITE!"

To that day, United Equestria stood tall and proud, still protected by their heroes. Twilight had studied and trained hard and managed to get back her alicorn form, and she was junior captain of Friendship Force.

Ace fell to his knees as the images faded into blackness. "Wow! What a force." he said in awe "Maybe they really are so much more… and they are just trying to look out for us all. Like used to for Skye."

"Ah…! Skye…!"

He was starting to remember all the horrible things he had done to her; bullying her about supporting Starfleet, being a mean and spiteful to his comrades in the Wonderbolts which lead to his dismissal, rallying up his friends and fellow mockers to give more spite and hatred to anyone who showed support towards Starfleet… and worst of all, his recent offense of beating up his own sister.

"DON'T YOU EVER… EVER COMPARE ME TO THOSE MONSTERS!"

He punched her!

"AND DON'T YOU EVER SUPPORT THESE WASTES OF SPERM AGAIN!"

He kicked her.

"STOP SUPPORTING THEM AND START HATING THEM OR I'LL KILL YOU!"

Skye screamed, and he just punched her again!

"No!" cried Ace as he watched in horror as he continued to beat on his sister because of his own blind and spiteful ego. "NO…!"

…

Penny saw this as more than enough and switched off the machine causing Ace to wake up in a scream "SKYE…!"

The others all jumped in shock by the suddenness of his scream. He was panting heavily in fear, and he lay back down flat on the bed and burst into tears of shame and woe. "Skye…!" he cried "I'm so sorry…!"

Skye came into the room, on her visitation rights. "Ace…? I'm here."

She slowly crossed over to her brother who gaze dup at her through his tear-filled eyes. "Skye… please forgive me… I'm so sorry…!"

His sister gently stroked his hand and then held him close letting him cry. "…It's okay, Ace. I'm here. It'll get better." Ace felt nothing but sadness, shame of the monster and blind fool he had been acting like.

The others in the side-room couldn't help but pity him, even Penny. At least her machine proved successful and Ace now had a chance to make a full and complete recovery. "Is he going to be okay, doc?" asked Spike.

"Yes… he will be... eventually." Twilight said for Penny.

Fluttershy wiped a tear from eye, and Rhymey sighed softly in pity, and Lightning and Starla held hands.

Now that he knew the full and complete truth, Ace would be okay… someday, but for now he really needed a lot of rest and recovery.

…

(Promo)

In our next episode, Artie is offered an award in New Manehattan for a statue he donated, and is off to accept with some friends to accept this honor, but it also discovered that another piece of the crystal heart lies within the city, and but Sombra sends Harkin to retrieve it, as well as to cause some misfortune and misery with Artie's special statue, turning the beautiful work of art into a nightmare. As the battle and struggle for the shard proceeds, Harkin finds it hard to resist a small sparring with Lightning.

What are Harkin's motivations, and will he outwit our heroes and steal the shard?

Don't miss the next exciting episode of "Starfleet Magic"

(Next Episode: "Art Attack!")