EPISODE NINE

Buddy Rose and Applejack’s first assignment was on Herboss, the jungle planet, which they had visited before, many times.

This place was extra special to Buddy; it was where he was reunited with his old flame, Lily Bud, but they had long since gone their separate ways ever since she was reassigned and moved deeper into the galaxy.

Somehow, being brought back to Herboss brought on those old times, and while they weren’t as strong, they were still there, and Buddy remembered them all, but now was not to time to be fantasizing of old romances.

Buddy and Applejack had rendezvoused with the Starlfeet Outpost, and were welcomed by the Captain, A Light Green Space Alicorn with a bright yellow mane. Her name was Pine Needle, and her Starfleet Code was OC3N.

Skipping the pleasantries, Pine explained to them all the details and invited them to one of her lookout towers to observe over the distance--

The large beam of flowing dark energy was heading up into the sky and out into space.

“We’ve been tracking it for about three days.” answered Pine “At the same time a hoard of creatures appeared and began to attack the villages.”

Buddy stiffed with anger. He remembered the planet’s natives-- The Hebolites: a race of anthropomorphic plant aliens-- clever as they were, they were physically far too vulnerable to put up big fights and defend from such menacing evil themselves, hence why Starfleet was around.

Pine explained, “We managed to save many of the Herbolites, but several others were captured and imprisoned by the enemy and now forced to work as slaves near the energy, by mining the planet’s soil, and infusing it with the power of Lord Titan.

This power is then mined through a makeshift generator, about the size of a small cabin, which then sends it out to be absorbed by the United Alliance of Evil.”

Buddy clenched his fists. “That’s even funny. Mining all that cosmic energy could result in serious damage to the planet’s environment, maybe even its internal structure.”

Applejack realized the danger as well. “And there’s no chance of us busting into that area now?”

“No, ma’am…” replied Pine “We have already made attempts, but right now our forces are outnumbered, and a few of my men were injured.

We’ve sent for extra reinforcements. They should be here momentarily, and then we can discuss battle plans.”

One of the soldiers then called up to her. “Captain, the reinforcements have arrived.”

Pine nodded, and she and the others leapt to the ground to greet the arriving soldiers, at least fifty of them, and one familiar face, the leader, which Buddy recognized instantly.

Applejack looked between them, and many of the soldiers were amazed to see they knew each other.

“Where is she?” bellowed Specter. “She’s supposed to be leading us in our mission.”

“We’ve got to tell Titan!” cried Razor, but Specter grabbed him by the collar, “You fool! Lord Titan gave direct orders not to be disturbed while he gathers power!”

He let go of him and realized. “We must find Ms. Starlight and bring her back to the ship at once.”

All three of them had a good idea where she would have gone to and prepared to depart the ship themselves.

Despite their reduced ages and appearances, Grand Ruler Celesto and Queen Celestia still carried out their royal duties, including their parental duties of teaching their children about royal responsibility.

The royal family was out on a tour of New Canterlot, just for a casual stroll, and to show the children how the common folk lived, but several extra guards were with them as escorts and extra protection.

Princess Cadance and Shining Armor were left to watch the palace while Princess Luna was off duty and in bed from working all night.

Celestia showed the children the royal way to greet subjects, how to talk politely, and Grand Ruler showed them all the fundamentals of how the people lived, and while it was different that royalty, it wasn’t all that different altogether.

“Yes, someday,” replied his father “Running an empire can be strenuous work, but all through it, you just have to remember, that your subjects are not that all different from you.”

“You mean we all feel the same, and we all do many of the same things?” asked Leilani.

“Yes, dear,” replied her mother “And with thoughts like that, peace and happiness can gain much strength over darkness and resentment, and that means you run a great kingdom.”

But suddenly, their parents began to sense something wrong. That’s when the ground began to rumble, and the villagers began to panic and run!

Starlight then fired a powerful blast at group, which theory majesties blocked with a barrier, which barely held due to their limited strengths.

“Oh, no you don’t…!” sneered Starlight, and she quickly used her magic to raise the ground up knocking Celestia away from the group and way far out into the open meadows.

Their father wouldn’t let this happen, and he quickly turned the children over the guards telling them, “As you get back to the palace, send for Princess Cadance and her husband.”

“But sire…” one of the guards tried to protest, but Grand Ruler couldn’t wait and quickly teleported the guards and the children back to the palace, and then sprinting off into the fields.

Though Lily was a General, and Buddy and Applejack both Colonels, it was Captain Pine who went over the plans and gave instructions.

“The area surrounding the generator is heavily guarded with hordes of monsters and Darquines, but the good news is that there are no indications of any force-fields, still, we must keep in mind of the slaves in the area, which could make it difficult to fight.”

“I get it,” said Applejack. “The monsters could try and hold the slaves hostage, that is if our attacks don’t accidently injury them either.”

The plan was becoming obvious to everyone: Some of the fighters would distract the villains while others would free the captive Herbolites. Only then could everyone work on shutting down the generation and ceasing the flow of energy.

Buddy seemed a little distracted, and couldn’t help looking over at Lily, and she looked back at him, and as professional as she would have been, she gave him a small smile making him blush softly.

As the troops all geared, gathering their weapons and donning their armor and stuff, Buddy and Applejack sat together checking their own gear.

Buddy knew it was that obvious, even he was willing to call himself out. “I never thought I’d ever see her again, and now that I have it just feels so… weird.”

He paused and looked down. He didn’t regret his life or his actions. He loved Tree Hugger and Seedling dearly, and he was happy to have them both, and he wasn’t starting to have feelings for his old flame again.

“Lily was my first love. That’s one part of my life that can never be changed or forgotten.”

Applejack looked up and over his shoulder and could see. “Don’t look now, but there’s one part of your life heading your way.”

Applejack decided, “I better let the two of you talk… and be honest with one another.” she hinted especially at Buddy before walking off leaving the two alone together.

Buddy nodded without even looking at her. “Yep, a really long time.” he then paused “I… see you made General.”

“Sure did. I’ve been to a lot of places, and I’ve done a lot.” she paused and looked a little down. “I’ve been thinking a lot about you.”

“Ever since I got transferred and moved deeper into space, I knew I had to write to you. I must’ve started at least fifty letters trying to find the right words, but in the end… the best way was to be blunt.”

Buddy felt that little sting get to him again-- the day he received that letter telling him it could never be between them, which was understandable, but still hurtful.

“I can’t imagine how hurt you must’ve been.” said Lily, “And I thought about you ever since.”

Buddy managed to keep strong and cleared his throat. “Look, Lil… there’s something I need to tell you.”

Before he could say anything else, Captain Pine blew her whistle. “All right, let’s get going.”

“Tell me later.” said Lily “Let’s go kick some evil’s butt!” and she dashed off to assemble her own troops.

Buddy could only sigh that he didn’t get to tell her about his family back home.

Much as Buddy could have scolded her for speaking to a superior that way, he hung his head low, and then perked back up again to join the ranks.

Celestia picked herself up and brushed off the dirt from her royal dress, only then to see Starlight glaring her down.

“Starlight, please…!” she begged, hoping to try and reason with her, but Starlight wouldn’t hear it, or waste time with monologues.

“Now you die!!” she shouted as she aimed to blast her, but she defended herself with a barrier, barely held, and she was knocked back hard again!

Starlight looked up as Saber-- Shining Armor-- landed in the field, and he was joined by the Silent Ninja-- Cadance—and Grand Ruler landed right next to them.

“Hey…!” called Starla as she and Pinkie’s droid landed beside the duo to help them. “We got the message from the royal guards and rushed right over.”

Grand Ruler prepared to teleport himself and his wife away to safety, but when he actually tried, nothing happened.

Starla scanned the entire area with her visor. “It’s an invisible dark barrier. No one can get in or out of here.”

“Just a little reassurance that I don’t miss this chance.” said Starlight, and she glared at Celestia. “You and I have a score to settle, and I aim to do it now!”

Pinkie tried running her droid against the barrier, only for it to get shocked and bounce off.

With that settled… Cadance patted her husband on the shoulder and gestured over at her aunt and uncle, offering to defend them while he and the others would battle Starlight and try to bring the barrier down.”

Saber got out his sword and his chain-and-sickle. Starla armed her bow, and Pinkie made her droid put up its dukes.

The trio charged forth ready to attack, but Starlight leapt about dodging their every attempt, and then proceeded to punch, kick, and bash everyone away from her.

Then she swiftly turned round to fire a shot at Celestia, but Cadance threw a handful of shurikens at it, blowing it up midway.

Starlight had leapt up high to fire at the royal couple again. This time Grand Ruler and Celestia fired magical blasts to help repel the evil rays.

“STARLIGHT ARROW” Starla fired her arrow forcing Starlight to dodge, giving Pinkie’s Droid to leap up and punch her hard, and Saber leapt up with his sword ready. “Going down…!” he called.

He swung his sword like crazy, as Starlight dodged every blow, only then to be punch by Saber’s extra limbs.

Starla then soared in, and gave Starlight a huge kick to the chest sending her crashing down hard.

Deep down, a small part of Celestia could hardly stand to watch Starlight getting beaten up like this, even if it had to be done to keep herself safe.

From in the palace, Lightning saw everything from a window, and the scanners showed the barrier in place, and it was extremely powerful, and couldn’t be brought down by ordinary magic, even combined together.

“We’ve got to break down that barrier.” he said to Captain Shaina. “Is there anything at all that could do it?”

Shaina but explained, “The scans show the uniforce could break it down.” she then stopped and looked at him with extreme concern.

Yet he checked the analysis himself, and to make matters worse, it would require two shots of the Uniforce-- one inside, and one outside which would have to hit at the exact same places.

Lightning’s mind was flooded with anxiety. He had been training well to boost his strength, but was still uncertain of using the uniforce.

“What about Grand Ruler?” he wondered “Sure, he’s a little older stronger than I am, but what affects will it have on him?”

Captain Shaina looked at him with deep concern as well. “Commander… what are you going to do?”

Despite the incredible amounts of pressure, Lightning knew the choice was obvious, and right.

The poor Herbolites were working hard around the generator-- mining the soils to help the flow of power, all while under the watchful eyes of the monster forces.

There were all kinds of monsters Titan had sent. Monster with spikes and spines, monsters with big muscles or wearing armor, some even carried swords, whips, and even maces, and they were extremely cruel and vile…!

Any time an Herbolite even so much as yawned, or coughed from the strain of working, the monsters really let them have it.

“Keep that energy flowing, or else!” followed by whip-lashings or small blasts making sparks and explosions fly.

The poor little creatures could only wail and groan while they kept on working and the monsters just laughed.

The Starfleet troops could see everything as they gathered around the sites near the camp area.

Some hid behind large rocks, others hid in the trees and behind the large plants.

Buddy and Applejack were infuriated by the way the aliens treated the poor creatures.

Applejack nodded, feeling the same, but neither she, nor he, nor any of the troops were to move out until they got the signal-- when the first row of soldiers would drive out some of the monsters, which would then make it easier to rush in and attack!

Captain Pine stood with her team, and Lily had her forces all hiding among the trees and other places, ready for the signal.

Unfortunately, one of the monsters couldn’t help but look up. “I think I see movement over there.”

Another monster sent a few Darkquines to investigate the brush nearby, and the foot-soldiers moved in closer, and closer, worrying the fighters.

“Get ready!” Pine whispered to her troops. They all stood ready, and waited until the Darkquines were just a few feet away from the plants.

The soldiers leapt out of hiding, tackling the Darquines to the ground and beating them out.

“Ambush!!” a monster shouted as more soldiers leapt out of the trees and out from the brush and began to charge forth.

More Darkquines began to rush forth, followed by some of the monsters to engage the oncoming soldiers.

“Okay get ready,” Lily called to her troops “Once Pine and her troops lead those guys away we move in.”

She looked down at Buddy and Applejack who stood ready with the rest of the forces.

The monster leader, whom with a big anthropomorphic gargoyle, carrying a big mace, called out to the soldiers, “You’ve tried before, and you’re failing again, and now these Herbolites are going to suffer even more for your foolishness!”

…But that was when Lily called to the monsters “…Think again!” which signaled the forces to come forth.

All the other monsters and the rest of the Darquines found themselves battling with soldiers coming in from all directions, leaving few guards around the Herbolites.

The duo agreed and they both leapt up high, and over towards the few remaining monsters near the captives.

The monsters began to attack-- throwing rocks, slashing their weapons, or firing energy blasts from their weapons or claws, which the duo valiantly dodged every attack.

“LEAF SWARM” Buddy unleashed his razor leafs at the creatures forcing them to shield themselves.

Buddy then fired strong magical blasts from his horn, breaking the chains around the prisoners, setting them all free.

“I don’t think so!” growled the leader, and he raised his mace to wipe out the defenseless aliens, but Applejack lassoed the mace with her trusty rope, yanking it away. “Attacking defenseless aliens? Big brutes like you make me sick!” she yelled.

The monster growled, and despite being unarmed, he lunged for her, punching and kicking, while Applejack blocked every attack with her arms and legs.

Buddy rounded up all the Herbolites and urged to follow him where the few remaining reserved soldiers would escort them to safety.

Buddy got out his weapon and cracked it on the ground. “Get out of my way, or else!”

The monsters were far from deterred and began to open fire at him and his followers.

Buddy cracked his whip, skillfully batting off oncoming attacks, and used his magic to produce small transparent walls to intercept other attacks.

Finally, other soldiers came to aid him in warding off the monsters giving him a perfect opening for the Herbolites. “Come on…!”

Suddenly, he looked behind him at the battlefield, and he saw both Applejack and Lily were starting to have trouble.

Lily was ambushed by a horde of monsters, and Applejack was starting to be overcome by the leader’s huge strength.

The thankful Herbolites could only gaze back at Buddy, but now was no time for pleasantries, especially since Buddy had already dashed back towards the field.

He would have had a hard time trying to decide who to help more-- Applejack or Lily.

But Applejack made it easier for him when she decided, “Time to step this up a game!

Valkyria!” She glowed brightly, blinding the leader and forcing him away as she became the Valkyrie of Honesty!

Though the power would only last a few moments, Applejack felt a little stronger and could manage herself, giving Buddy the chance to rush over and help Lily.

He dashed over and lassoed one of the monster’s legs with his whip and flipped him over onto his back, which gave Lily a free hand to punch another monster away from her, and then flip the third one over as she leapt back up onto her feet.

The two soldiers gazed at one another, and their eyes met, and they couldn’t help but smile at one another, as the world around them seemed to get blurry and sparkly.

“Ugh! What am I thinking?!” Buddy growled in thought, which snapped him to his senses just in time as he and Lily returned to the battle.

“It’s working!” cried Captain Pine “Now we’ve got to take out the generator!”

Applejack decided to take that one, and she had the perfect plan before her Valkyrie power would run out.

The monster leader quickly found his mace lying on the ground near him and grabbed it.

POW!! The bright magical beam was fired, but the leader managed to actually block the weak attack with his mace and sent it right back towards Applejack… which was exactly what she planned for…!

She stuck out her shield, and positioned it just right so the blast bounced off of it, sending it right up into the sky.

Rather than answer him, Applejack quickly zipped up with her shield ready again and deflected the blast straight at the generator, striking it hard and causing it spark and short out.

The soldiers and the monsters all ran hard and managed to get a good distance away as the dreaded machine exploded.

Applejack’s Valkyrie Powers and her battle powers were all blown out, and her suit powered down. She felt a little beat, but was able to stand.

The monsters were positively devastated, and then found themselves surrounded by the armed fighters.

“We know you guys are harnessing the power for Lord Titan.” added Applejack, but the monster’s only laughed and snickered.

“You know nothing!” hissed the leader, but knowing he and his comrades were defeated, and not wanting to risk being captured and mind-probed, he called to the monster forces, “For Lord Titan!”

“…FOR LORD TITAN!!” and they all destroyed themselves in simultaneous explosions.

“Watch those fires!!” cried Pine “Don’t let the plants catch a blaze!”

The fighters all leapt up into the air gathering loads of clouds together to bring forth some rain, and others used instant magic to douse the fires before any damage was done.

She leapt up high, giving saber a huge kick to the chest sending him sailing backward and crashing into Starla and Pinkie, and all three of them crashed up against the far side of the barrier.

“Ugh! What’s with this lady?!” groaned Saber “She looks like she’s barely broken a sweat.”

Starla tried to scan Starlight with her visor, but nothing happened as if the sensors were being blocked.

Starlight then eyed over at Celestia again, but Cadance stood in front of her, and Grand Ruler held his wife close.

Her husband agreed, and just like Lightning he realized and felt the Uniforce would be the only way to break it, but it was still fairly risky, and he while he, himself, was inside the barrier, who could blast it outside?

Everyone could see him standing outside the barrier, right near where their majesties stood.

Starlight didn’t care much, as she rumbled with Cadance, whom managed to keep one step ahead of her from getting to Celestia.

Grand Ruler and Celestia gazed at Lightning, and Lightning pointed to his golden horn, and then at the barrier, showing he had the same idea and was willing to take the risks.

His majesty would have argued, but he couldn’t, knowing there was no other way.

“No! Don’t do it!” cried Celestia. “We don’t know how lethal it could be!”

“We must,” said her husband. “Cadance and the others can’t hold out much longer.”

“STRIDENT SHOCKWAVE”

Starla and Saber fired their attacks straight at her, forcing Starlight to defend herself with a barrier of her.

Starla and Saber continued to fire at her, and Cadance added by throwing shuriken-after-shuriken, while Pinkie’s droid could only punch and kick at the shield from behind.

With Starlight still distracted, Lightning and Grand Ruler saw their chance; both of them feeling rather nervous, but brave at the same time.

They both stood tall and strong and chose their target, and having a good sense of synchronization, they stood ready to fire.

“UN… NI… FOOOOOOOOORCE!!” The two ponies shouted and unleashed their powerful waves at one single spot on the barrier, striking it from both sides at the same time.

The combined forces of each blast burned their ways right into each other, resulting in a small explosion, which threw their majesties and Lightning back, and the barrier began to shatter and was gone.

Also, her own barrier was beginning to fail, and it vanished too, leaving her exposed and vulnerable to attack.

“Let’s get her!” shouted Starla, but before she and the fighters could act, they were attacked all around from behind by the henchmen, who stood near Starlight.

Starlight attempted to shoot them all back, but the henchmen had teleported she and themselves away, back to the ship.

Starla didn’t seem to care much, as she looked up ahead-- Lightning and Grand Ruler had both collapsed to the ground, obviously weakened from using their powers.

Celestia held her own husband in her arms, cradling him softly. “Celesto…? Celesto, speak to me!”

Starla scooped Lightning up into her arms. “Lightning!” she shouted “LIGHTNING!!”

He snapped wide awake groaning, “Watch it! I can still hear a little you know!”

At the same time Grand Ruler awoke as well and saw his own wife smiling lovingly at him.

Onboard Spider-Base, it was a different story as Starlight suddenly went dead, and stopped moving, or speaking, or anything.

That’s when a second Starlight Glimmer-- the real one-- showed herself, and she looked furious as she shouted, “What’s wrong is that you nitwits bungled my entire plan!!”

“…I see now.” said Specter, realizing the second Starlight was a puppet-clone, but none of the usual run-of-the-mill types.

Starlight explained how she had worked on perfect what she called “A Super-Puppet-Clone.”

Unlike ordinary clones, she had the power to infused part of her actual conscience into the body of the puppet itself, allowing her to control it with perfect will.

Thanks to her magic, the puppet was protected from being scanned, so Starfleet wouldn’t psyche her out so easily, and the puppet was incredibly strong and really able to take a pound and use her powers… not to the fullest, but fairly enough.

If the puppet were to be damaged or destroyed, Starlight’s conscience would simply return to her true body, which was laying safely in a secret place onboard her ship.

“No one was told,” said Starlight “But thanks to your intrusions, I won’t know for certain how long my puppets can really hold out, or that Starfleet be better prepared!”

What really infuriated her was how close she felt she was to finally destroying Celestia.

The henchmen didn’t like how angry she looked, but all Starlight could do was grumble, “I’m not through with you yet. I will have my revenge!”

Back on Herboss, The Herbolites were all safely home within their villages and jungles, and scanning had shown no other evil or monsters were lurking about.

Applejack and Buddy were convinced they had done a great job, but it was only the beginning as they had other planets head off to.

“There’s more generators on all them other worlds,” said Applejack “They got to be stopped before Titan gets too strong.”

“That’ll be easier said than done,” said Pine “So many planets in a big galaxy…”

It was about time for Lily and her team head off for their next assignment as well, and Buddy was saying goodbye to her.

“Lil… look…” said Buddy “There’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you.”

Lily could only smirk at him, “Just make sure you tell it to your wife and kid when you get home.”

Lily giggled “Duh. Word travels around Starfleet pretty good, and besides, you didn’t think I didn’t notice that…?” she pointed at his wedding ring.

Buddy gazed at his hand feeling silly, and then he actually noticed on Lily’s finger, she had a wedding ring too.

Lily nodded “And I have two baby boys at home. One a year and a half, the other, three months…”

Now Buddy felt shocked and silly. All that time he was so wrapped up in his old feelings of his old flame, he didn’t bother to notice or ask.

Still, Buddy felt glad to have a full and easy conscience again, now that he could finally let those old feelings lie and be buried.

In our next episode: The Idiots are on the verge of being discovered when Starfleet Allies, in the sea discover their secret base, and Beaker is finally about ready to put his project into motion, which could spell out “Doomsday” for all of United Equestria.

Just how dangerous is Beaker’s project and how will Starfleet be able to deal with it?

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

(Next Episode: “The Giant Bang Theory: Part 1” )

My Brave Pony: Starfleet Magic Season X

by DakariKingMykan

Episode 9: Turning Over an Old Leaf