My Brave Pony Starfleet Magic: Season V

by DakariKingMykan

Episode 13: Part 2: Duel of the Dragons

“Previously on Starfleet Magic…”

Spike and Rarity ran away to New Las Pegasus for a quick wedding ceremony. When their friends found out about this from Sweetie Belle, they set off to look for their friends, only to arrive too late as Black Dragon Knight captured everyone to force Spike in a fight to the finish, but not before revealing herself as Scaley, his long lost elder sister.

Meanwhile, Lightning dispatched as many helping ponies as he could try and locate their friends before something extreme occurs.

EPISODE THRITEEN

The search for the missing fighters continued, and by the point half of the inhabitants of the planet were searching, even some civilians offered to help, but they were still no closer to finding a trace.

Even some dragons offered to help in the search and searched all over their lands, even inside the volcanos. They found more gemstones, and plenty of lava pits, but no sign of Scaley or the fighters.

Lightning still had to remain in the New Crystal Empire as the reports came in, but he did also alert their supreme majesties, and they sent every available guard they could to join the search, and kept in touch with Lightning with their holographic images.

Right now, one of the sentries and Krysta’s fairy guards came into the throne room.

“Well, anything yet to report?” Lightning asked anxiously.

“I’m afraid not, sir. We’ve searched every inch of this empire. We found nothing.”

“Same goes with us…” said the fairy “It could be even possible they are no longer on this planet, or even in this dimension.”

Lightning disproved the suggestion “They can’t be, the Insecto Armada would have seen them and opened fire on them if they tried to venture into space.”

“We’ll have to keep looking…” Celestia said “Check every place once over, and then once again.”

“And don’t forget to check the most inconspicuous of areas as well.” added Grand Ruler.

The guard bowed and he and the fairy guard went off to rejoin the search.

Krysta gripped her wand in frustration “It’s all my fault. If only I had watched where they had gone to, we’d have found them already.”

“Krysta, I know you’re worried.” said Lightning “I’m worried too, but you can’t keep blaming yourself like this.”

“Lightning is right…” Grand Ruler said “Blaming yourself isn’t really going to help us find where they are, but we will find them…somehow.”

“We must go now…” said Celestia “Search or no search we still have other duties to tend to.”

Their majesties vanished, leaving Lightning and Krysta to ponder over if their friends were still safe.

In the dimensional warp, the two dragon knights, Spike and Scaely, stared each other down. “No mercy!” hissed Scaley and she lunged straight at Spike. He dodged causing her to miss, giving him the chance to strike her, and she zipped out of the way causing him to miss as well.

All was silent for a moment, until Spike could smell her essence, and quickly whirled round as she tried to attack from behind, blocking her sword with his.

The two went at it hard, parrying and thrusting their blades at one another. Scaley kicked Spike hard in the chest sending him rolling along the ground.

“Spike!” Rarity shrieked.

“Not so loud! We’re right here!” groaned Buddy Rose.

Spike got up quickly…

“BLACK FIRE!”

Only to get knocked down again by Scaley’s attack.

“Oh, I can’t watch!” cried Pinkie as she shut her eyes tightly.

Scaley laughed as she stomped towards Spike “Like I said, nobility gets you nowhere.” She pointed her sword straight at him “Take a deep breath, for it’s going to be your last.”

“Spike!” cried Rarity.

Just as Scaley was about to strike, Spike grabbed her arm in his claw, and kick-flipped her up and over him…

“DRAGON FLAME!”

And he fired a huge burst of flames at her knocking her down again.

“Maybe you don’t know as much about nobility as you think! DRAGON FLAME-WHEEL!”

He lunged straight at her, and she blocked him with her cape, engaging in a struggle.

The two knights bounced off one another, and charged swinging and parrying their blades.

All the ponies could do was watch helplessly, some of them were astonished by the way they were brawling.

“I’m almost too scared to even look away.” said Fluttershy.

“I’ve practiced fencing all my life
But I’ve never seen such struggle and strife!” added Rhymey.

“Never mind that…” groaned Rainbow as she struggled herself to try and break free “We’ve gotta get out of this somehow.”

They all pulled with all their might, but the flame-like manacles that held them down were just too strong. “We can’t reach our energizers.” said Starla.

“Let’s try our Valkyrie powers.” suggested Pinkie.

“Couldn’t hurt to try.” agreed Applejack.

The girls concentrated hard with all their might…but nothing happened. Their energies didn’t boost, their cutiemarks didn’t glow.

Scaley saw this feeble attempt and couldn’t help but scoff at them “Sorry, but as long you’re in my domain, we go by my rules.”

The battle ground began to glow, and Spiked gazed down at the huge Dragon Symbol glowing beneath his feet. “What is this?” he asked.

“I call in the Dragon’s Seal; a powerful spell I cast upon this place making it so that only dragons can use any power here. Every other creature type is totally powerless. There’s nothing more your friends can do except watch you fight your last battle.”

Spike growled in anger, and charged at Scaley.

“DARK LIGHTNING!”

“Not this time!” Spike sneered, and he skillfully swerved around every single lightning bolt that shot at him.

“BLACK FIRE!”

As the flame stream launched straight at him, Spike shielded himself with his cape and kept right on charging forward.

CLANG!! Their sword clashed together in a lock, and the two knights struggled and pushed to gain control, but of course, Spike was a little tired after dodging all those blasts, which gave Scaley the upper hand, and she knocked on his arms and kicked him hard sending him soaring up high.

“DARK LIGHTNING!”

Not a single shot missed, and sparks and small explosions emitted all over Spike.

Rarity couldn’t help but shriek in horror.

The others all gawked in shock as they saw Spike drift to the ground. His armor was a little dented and had scorch-marks all over it, but Spike still managed to get to his feet.

“GRR… Impossible!” growled Scaley “You should be begging for mercy by now!”

Spike scoffed and said “It takes more than that to keep this dragon down.”

“This is not over!” snarled Scaley, and the battle continued.

Meanwhile, the search was still having no luck in locating Scaley’s hideout.

The Cutiemark Cursaders were just coming back with bushels of apples they had picked from the orchard. They were starting to feel tired, and needed a break.

“I really wish Applejack and Buddy Rose were back.” panted DD.

Just the mention of those names made all the girls fell more worried than ever, and more wishing they could do something to help.

“Even if we could help, remember what Big Mac said.” said Babs.

“U’rgh!” groaned Sweetie Belle “I’m sick of feeling like this; so useless.” In her frustration, she kicked one of the empty bushel baskets down the hill into the open field ahead. Then it rolled straight up over a rock, and seemingly landed down on the other side of it, out of sight.

“Hey!” snapped Applebloom “What’cha do that for?”

“I’ll go get it.” said Scootaloo “Anything to get away from all this whining.” And she flew down into the pasture to where the basket had rolled to, but strangely, when Scootaloo got to the rock, it was there, but the basket was nowhere to be seen.

“But… I’m I saw it land over here.” she said “There was no evidence that it was carried off or broken into pieces.”

She landed firmly on the ground and began to scout around the rock, when suddenly her hand mysteriously went right through the ground.

“Whoa!” she yelped as she retracted her hand. “What the…” she felt along the ground again, and her hand sank right through.

She moved in closer and dipped her head through the space, and there… she could see it all…!

The volcanic landscape, the friends bound to one of the rock walls, and in the middle of it all were Spike and Scaley, still brawling more fiercely than ever.

The two knights collided into each other, and again, and again, each time more forceful than the last, and the engaged in another blade-lock.

“You… won’t… win!” snarled Scaley.

“I know you won’t… because I will!” Spike retorted, and they both breathed their flames at each other, and at such close range… BOOM!! The resulting explosion threw them both to opposite ends across the field.

“Don’t give up, Spike!” hollored Buddy Rose.

“Yeah…! Show this Scaled-Freak who’s the top dragon.” added Applejack.

The battle continued.

Scootaloo pulled her back out, shocked and astonished by what she had seen.

“Scootaloo!” said DD, making her jump. She looked behind and saw all the others standing there.

“What’s takin’ you so long?” asked Applebloom.

Scootaloo wasted no time and told the girls to take a peek, and they were just as shocked and astonished as she was seeing the two Dragon Knight’s battle it out, both of them were starting to wear out, but neither was willing to admit defeat.

The girls pulled their heads out of the hole. “We have to tell someone, now!” cried DD.

The girls franticly rushed back, and saw Big Mac wheeling himself along.

“Big Mac!” cried Applebloom

“Hey, you girls are supposed to be workin’. We got a big crop to get in.”

“We found Applejack!” cried Babs.

“And Buddy Rose!” added DD.

“We found them all, they’re right in the field.” said Sweetie.

Big Mac looked out into the pasture, but he couldn’t see a thing, as the girls weren’t specific, he thought they were just being silly and tyring to get out of doing their chores. “Nice try girls. Now, you better get on back to pickin’ apples, unless you wanna do my chores longer after I get better.”

Then he wheeled off without giving the girls a chance to explain.

“Let’s try Granny Smith.” suggested Scootaloo.

The girls rushed round the back, only to find Granny fast asleep in her rocking chair, and talking to herself in her sleep. “You call that a… apple pie? I’ve seen… burnt toast with better crust.”

Applebloom sighed. “Ain’t that just like Granny?”

Most of the farmhands were all out working their fields, and others were out helping with the search so there was no one nearby.

“Let’s try sending a letter to Lightning.” suggested Sweetie Belle.

“That won’t help.” said Scootaloo “He’ll be too busy with the reports and stuff to read it in time.”

It was then the girls realized there was no other alternative, though they also agreed this pure danger they were walking into, but they had to at least do something to try and save their friends since no one else would help or even listen.

They all put their hands in the center and shouted their name, “THE CUTIEMARK CRUSADERS!!”

The grabbed a long length of rope, and grabbed a shovels, rakes, even a baseball bat to use as weapons, they grabbed their scooting helmets as well as their knee and elbow pads.

“I cannot believe we are doing this!” said Scootaloo.

“I can…” said DD “I just hope we know what we’re doing.”

Together they actually were able to lift that huge rock and put the rope under it to weigh it down.

“Well, come on…” said Sweetie “Let’s do this… on three.”

The girls all nodded in agreement, and shouted “THREE!!” before jumping through the warp.

Luckily, they did not go unnoticed, for Krysta happened to be flying by while on the search. She saw the whole thing. “No mistakes this time.” she said, and she warped straight back to Lightning to tell him.

The girls landed on top of a rock pillar, unseen by anyone. The others were too far away to see them, and the two knights were still brawling, and looking more exhausted than ever, yet still not willing to give in.

The girls had no time to admire the sights or the battle, and had to try and get to the ponies.

They tied off their guideline, and then quickly climbed down the soft slope of the pillar.

Applebloom nearly slipped off, but DD grabbed her and gave her leverage. “Take it easy.” whispered Sweetie

“Easy for you to say…” said Applebloom “Look at this place, it’s a major nightmare.”

“And hot too…” groaned Babs “My feet are sizzling.”

The girls began to slink around, hiding behind the rocks.

“DARK LIGHTNING!”

“DRAGON FLAME!”

The two attacks collided resulting in a big explosion, but Scaley leapt right through the smoke, tackling Spike to the ground, and they both slide right near the edge of the field by the lava pools.

“Spike!” cried Rarity.

“He’ll be fried to a crisp.” added Starla.

The others continued to struggle and pull in attempt to break loose, but to no avail.

Spike was sweating badly while Scaley laughed at him as she strangled him. She even kicked away his sword so he couldn’t try and grab it.

The sword soared through the air, landing on the far side of the mountain near the crusaders.

The girls could already tell they wouldn’t be able to break the seal that held their friends. Sweetie Belle and DD found that their magic didn’t work here in this world.

“Now what do we do?” asked Scootaloo.

“I guess we didn’t plan ahead for this one either.” said Sweetie.

Babs sighed “Do you girls ever plan anything all the way through?”

Before any of them said anything else, they saw something flicker round the side of the mountain they were near.

“What was that?” asked Applebloom.

“Let’s check it out.” said DD.

Spike glared up into his sister’s burning eyes “I always wondered what my family was like…” he growled “But I never dreamed of this…!”

Scaley snickered “At least you didn’t have to live the nightmare of being related to the disgraceful! The lousy! The goody-two-shoes high and mighty that makes me sick to my stomach! Well, finally I can put the last of that dream to rest. Brother or not… give my regards to father and mother when you see them!”

“SPIKE!!” screamed Rarity “DON’T GIVE UP!!”

Her words helped him start to gain another wind, just as Scaley prepared for the kill, raising her sword high up.

Spike looked deep inside him, concentrating all his purity, and his body began to glow.

“Huh? What’s this…?!” cried Scaley, and she was suddenly thrown off him as the light got stronger and Spike began to transform.

Everyone then gazed in awe as he emerged in his strongest from… The Majestic Dragon!

“Incredible!” Scaley said under her breath “The rumors I’ve heard were true. He is able to tap into father’s greatest power.”

Meanwhile, the girls had crept in back of the mountain and found what was making that glowing; a large aqua-green crystal that seemed to be pulsating softly.

“What do you think it is?” asked Scootaloo.

“I don’t know, but Rarity would love this.” Sweetie joked.

The others weren’t amused, but Babs held up her bat and softly tapped the crystal, and it gave a small jolt and glowed softly.

“It must be some kind of power-source.” said DD.

Suddenly, the bright lights from back round the other side of the mountain distracted them, and they all rushed over to see.

The other ponies were feeling more confident now that Spike had transformed.

“That chica doesn’t have a chance now.” said Dyno.

“Él va a aplastar a su *He’ll Crush her* like an egg in an omelet.”

Spike gazed down sneering deeply at Scaley “A Dragon’s heart is not measured by how much he loves, but by how much he is loved by others. Something you fail to understand, and will now be your downfall.”

Scaley laughed softly, and then burst out loud laughing manically.

“What’s that girl laughin’ about now?” wondered Applejack.

“My downfall…? I don’t think so…” said Scaley “You see, I did study and develop my own magic, and I’m sure you and your friends know the first rule: Things are not always… WHAT THEY SEEM!!” and with her shouting, she began to glow brightly…

…at the same time, the magic gem glowed for the crusaders to see.

Then, in a flash of dark flowing energies, Scaley had transformed into an exact, but darker copy of the Majestic Dragon.

“Oh my!!” cried Fluttershy

“Am I seeing what I think I spy?!” rhymed Rhymey.

The others were all virtually speechless.

“This can’t be!” cried Spike “You have a majestic form as well?!”

“Majestic? Hardly…” scoffed Scaley “But it no longer matters. It’s time we settled this like true dragons.”

“So be it!” growled Spike, and he began to tap into his special ability to absorb the darkness in attempt to weaken Scaley, but much to his surprise, just as she looked like him, she had an exact reversal of that ability, causing the two forces to cancel each other out.

Scaly laughed at him, enraging Spike to soar right at her, biting and clawing. Scaley roared fiercely as she bit him in the neck, and bashed his face with her claw.

“FLAMES OF DARKNESS!” shouted Scaley, and she fired a huge burst of black fire from her mouth, hitting Spike directly, but in his spinning he managed to bash Scaley in the face with his huge tail, and then he swerved right up and head-bashed her hard in the gut.

The battle waged on, and on as the dragons thundered and roared like something out of a horrific nightmare.

The battle became so intense that the entire dimension was starting to quiver. The lava pools bubbled furiously, and gas-pockets began to erupt from the ground.

Worse than that, the volcano the ponies were bound too was quivering as smoke started to spew from its mouth at the top.

“Uh… guys… I think we’re in big trouble.” said Artie.

“Gee, what was your first clue!” snarled Rainbow.

The lava would only flow down their side of the mountain, and roast them all alive, and they still couldn’t break free.

Spike saw this, and tried to rush over to help them, but Scaley flew straight at him, bashing him away hard “I am far from through with you.”

“Let my friends go!” shouted Spike “I agreed to fight you and we are…”

Scaley laughed “You Fool! You’ll have to defeat me before you can try save them!”

All this was really stressing Spike out. That volcano was going to blow any second, but he gazed down at all his friends, and then his eyes fell upon Rarity. “I’ve gotta try…!” he said, and he and his sister continued to brawl.

They bit… they clawed… they tail-bashed and head bashed, and even blew their flames at one another.

The volcano was nearly ready to blow.

“SPIKE, HURRY!!” shouted Buddy Rose.

“GET US OUT OF HERE!!” squealed Pinkie

Spike glared his evil sister down. “What say we finish this now, go at it with everything we’ve got?”

“Fine by me…” hissed Scaley “I’ve waited long for this moment for my ultimate victory over you nobles!”

The two dragons charged up as much as they could and unleashed their forces.

“FLAMES OF DARKNESS!”

“FLAMES OF LIGHT!”

The two forces collided into each other in a perfect standoff right in the middle. Both Dragons struggling to pour on more energy…!

The crystal was pulsating brighter than ever now, and the Crusaders grabbed all their rakes, shovels and bats.

“Ready…?” said Applebloom.

“Go!” shouted Sweetie, and the girls began to hack, bash and whack at the crystal hopping to shatter it or at least disarm it, but the Crystal hardly even got scratched.

Still they kept on trying.

As for Scaley “Say goodbye, little brother!” and she actually managed to fire huge beams form her eyes, hitting Spike in the face, causing him to ceasefire and get hit by Scaley’s attack, and sent him crashing to the ground.

“No!!” cried Rarity.

“Get up, Spike!” hollered Artie.

But Spike’s energy was running low, and Scaley moved towards him saying “Once and for all… Goodbye!”

The crusaders continued to pound at the crystal, but it still wouldn’t shatter.

“This isn’t working!” cried Scootaloo.

“We need something stronger!” added Babs.

Suddenly, DD could see Spike’s sword just across from them. Even though they could not use the Dragon powers, they could still lift up the sword.

It was very heavy, but the five them managed to hold it up.

“Okay, on three!” said Sweetie.

“THREE!!” the girls shouted, and they charged forth with the sword, crashing it into the crystal, actually damaging it and causing it to actually shatter.

The lava was starting to pour over the top of the volcano and seep towards the gang.

“WE’RE DONE FOR!! DONE FOR!!!” screamed Pinkie.

“No…” cried Fluttershy.

Rhymey gazed at his wife dearly.

“Fluttershy, know that I love you.
Even as I perish, my heart is true.”

“I love you too!” Fluttershy sobbed.

Rarity’s tears were falling in earnest. “Goodbye Spike… at least we can say we wer earried for a short while.”

Starla felt the worst, as Lightning didn’t know where she was, and she wished she could see him one last time before she perished. “Goodbye… my love!” she cried softly.

“Again!” shouted DD.

“THREE!!”

The girls charged and struck the crystal again, damaging it further.

“One more time!” shouted Applebloom.

“We can do it!” added DD.

Applejack thought she could hear her sister’s voice “Applebloom!”

Buddy Rose looked around “DD…?”

Scaley had Spike at her mercy, and was ready for the ultimate big kill. “It’s a shame I have to do this. We would have made a great team had you chosen the proper path!” she held up her claws, ready to slash!

“THREE!!”

The girls charged at the crystal with all their might, striking it hard and causing it to shatter and burst in a huge flash of light that threw the girls back round the mountain.

The others saw them…

“Applebloom! Babs!” cried Applejack.

Rainbow and Rarity gasped.

“Scootaloo!”

“Sweetie Belle!”

“DD!” cried Buddy Rose.

That’s when the manacles around the ponies vanished, and they all slid down the mountainside and dashed away just before the lava could engulf them.

As for Scaley “The Power Source!” she thundered, then she began to glow and clutched herself in pain as she felt her power getting weaker, and the entire dimension around them began to warp and shift.

Spike saw his chance and kicked Scaley of him!

His sister gazed frightfully at him, and before she could do anything at all…

“FLAMES OF LIGHT!”

He launched all the power he had left in him straight at her, and Scaley was unable to do a thing with her power source shattered. She screamed long and loud as the light engulfed her!

The dimension weakened without the crystal, and with Spike it shattered into a huge glow of light…

…which Lightning and his oncoming forces could see form very far. “What’s that?!” he wondered “Hurry!” he shouted, and he and his forces rushed forth.

When the dimension had ceased, the force of Spike’s powerful attack had thrown everyone clear just in time, and they were all laying on the ground of the pasture.

Many of the locals, including Granny Smith and Big Mac rushed to the scene to see everyone was okay.

The ponies were fine, the crusaders were fine, but just a little battered from being thrown back.

Spike was alright too, and was now is normal-state again.

As for Scaley, she was still alive too and she was coming to.

Her helmet was gone, her armor was all dented and rusted, her cape was tattered, and all her magic powers were gone. She could still see her sword and reached for it, but Spike stepped on her arm, and glared down at her furiously.

The others felt this was going to get really bad.

“Oh, no… look away girls!” cried Rarity as she and the others made the girls look away.

Lightning and his forces arrived just in time “Spike!” he shouted, but Spike didn’t even look at him.

“Go on… finish me!” sneered Scaley “It’s what you want isn’t it!”

Spike was breathing angrily and stared her deep in the eyes “Family or not! After all the things you’ve done, all those you’ve hurt and killing our own parents… you don’t deserve to live!”

He drew in a huge breath…

“SPIKE!!” cried Rarity, and she and the others watched as Spike let out a huge roar and a burst of flames… destroying Scaley’s sword, much to Scaley’s confusion.

“But I already told you… I’m not like you. I am a Noble Dragon, and proud to be. I hope someday you can understand that.”

With that, he stepped off of her, and walked away, letting Lightning’s forces apprehend Scaley, preparing to take her away.

“Make sure she’s locked up and totally secured!” Lightning ordered.

“YES, SIR!” hollered the soldiers.

“Lightning!” Starla cried as she dashed over.

“Starla!” he cried, and he ran over and held his wife dearly.

“I thought I’d never see you again…” she sobbed softly.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t have been there sooner.” Lightning said. He looked up at Krysta and smiled thankfully at her, and she smiled back.

As for Spike, he was absolutely exhausted, and collapsed to his knees. “Oh, Spike…!” cried Rarity as she ran over to help him up “Darling, you had me so worried, but… oh, you were so wonderful out there.”

Spike could only smile at his wife, and then he gazed at the crusaders and he didn’t think he could ever be able to pay them back for what they did back there.

Buddy Rose and Applejack however looked sharply at the girls.

“What were you girls doing in there?” Applejack said.

The girls could hardly believe her tone of voice after all that happened.

“We saw where you were, and you were in trouble.” said Applebloom.

DD nodded and added. “We tried to get help but no one believed us, or helped us so we thought…”

“You thought you’d come and save us yourselves…” Buddy Rose cut in “…and you DID save us all. We are proud of you for it, and we owe you big for this, but right now… what I’m about to say may seem totally hypocritical, but I want all to solemnly promise us something on your word of honour…”

The girls nodded nervously, and Buddy Rose told them very strictly…

“When we tell you to never to meddle in these situations, don’t you ever step out of line again, understand?”

The girls promised and agreed, this time they meant it.

“We realize you girls meant well…” said Applejack “And like we said, we do owe ya, but there will come other situations like this, and you may not be so lucky the next time. We’d hate to think of what would happen if you girls got hurt or killed.”

“Believe us, we all understand.” said Sweetie.

“We’ll never ever deliberately put a toe out of line again.” added Babs.

“…Unless, we have no other choice like in some situations.”

Even the others couldn’t disagree to that, and regardless of the seriousness, everyone couldn’t help but laugh.

Suddenly, Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Babs all began to glow in a mystical light.

Everyone gazed in awe.

“Could it be…?” cried Rarity.

“It’s finally happening.” said Fluttershy.

When the light had faded, there, on the front of the girls clothes appeared marks- identical three-toned shields, red, pink, and purple, and each one had a symbol in the middle for each respective girl.

Applebloom: A red apple.

Scootaloo: A Pegasus wing.

Sweetie Belle: A Star

Babs: Three Seeds.

The girls could not believe their eyes, and though it was usually not right to do, they just had to drop their pants in front of everyone.

“Galloping Galaxies!” cried Lightning.

“Amazing!” added Starla.

The girls could hardly believe it, but they leapt up and shouted, “WE ALL GOT THE SAME CUTIEMARK!!”

The marks that represented their courage, honor, loyalty, and unlimited amount of caring they had shown to others, especially to Spike and the others for saving them.

DD of course did not get one; she was a space alicorn and could never have one because of the super magic blocking it out, but she was very happy and excited for her friends. “You did it! You finally got them!”

She ran over and hugged her friends dearly.

The girls just had to break into song and sing “We’ll Make Our Mark”

“All right everyone!” said Pinkie “Get ready for the biggest cute-ceañera celebration ever!

Everyone cheered and before long there was a big party held in the streets as the song continued. Applejack, Rarity and Rainbow all embraced the four girls, never able to feel happier for them.

“Hey, can I join in.” said DD as she came up to the group, and the girls noticed that the front of her armor was an identical mark like theirs with the Starfleet Insignia in the middle, something very special that Artie made for her quickly.

“I also got this…” she said as she rolled down her pants slightly revealing she had gotten not a cutiemark, but a matching tattoo on her flank where her mark would be.

Some of the others couldn’t believe Buddy Rose actually allowed her to have that. “Hey, we owe her that much and more.” he reminded them.

It was harmless enough anyway.

“I wanted to get it not as a sign of talent and destiny, but to show how much you girls mean to me.”

The others all had tears in their eyes at such a sentiment.

“So can I stay in the club?”

The girls all shared a laugh and continued their song to the end.

A big picture was taken in town, and sent back to their supreme majesties who couldn’t be relieved the battle was over and ever so happy for the girls.

“APPLEBLOOM…!!”

“SWEETIE BELLE…!!”

“SCOOTALOO…!!”

“BABS SEED…!!”

“DAPHNE DIL…!!”

“…THE CUTIEMARK CRUSADERS!!”

Everyone cheered for joy and happiness, and the party continued.

As for Spike, he suddenly thought he could see Twilight Sparkle's angel round a corner. “Twilight?” he cried softly, and excused himself from the crowd.

“Spike? Where are you going?” asked Rarity.

“I’ll be right back.” he called out to her.

He went round the corner of Carousel Boutique, and sure enough, there she was standing on Spike’s monument stone of her.

“Twilight...?!”

She smiled lovingly at him “Hi Spike…”

He reached out to hug her, forgetting that she was just an angel-spirit, and he passed right through her.

“Sorry.” Twilight said “But… I’m here because there’s someone here who wants to talk to you for a moment.”

That’s when the original Dragon Knight’s spirit appeared before her. Spike gazed at him in awe “Are you… are you really my…?”

The knight removed his helmet revealing his striking close resemblance to Spike “My name is Fang. In life I was the noblest of all dragons. Spike… I am your father.”

Spike’s eyes flooded with tears, he didn’t even notice the others were all gathered round the corner and could see everything.

Another dragon’s spirit joined Fang by his side. She was very beautiful, with silvery shiny scales, and eyes as golden as the son.

“Mother…?!” cried Spike.

She nodded lovingly at him “My little boy. Seeing you and what you’ve become fills my spirit with eternal joy.”

Spike really felt like crying now. “I’ve been wondering for so long… wondering who I was, and where I came from, and now… I… I!!”

He bowed his head softly letting out his emotion.

“Spike…” said Fang “I realize this is difficult for you, but the time has come for you to understand.”

He explained that it all happened during the dragon’s war centuries ago.

Scaley had defied the family’s honor and in her outrage of her father’s nobility and power, she used her vile resources to design an inferior copy of all his weapons and powers. Despite this, her ruthlessness knew no bounds and she killed her own mother right before Fang’s eyes.

Saddened by his wife’s death and fearful for his unhatched child, Spike, Fang took Spike’s egg, cast a spell on it, preserving it and burying it deep in a mountain side.

“I did not wish for you to be born in such times of such bloodshed and such frightfulness. I had always hoped that you would one day be discovered and be born into a world of nobility and be raised in kindness… my wish came true. You are a true noble dragon, and I did not make a mistake bestowing my powers to you.”

Delphine nodded and said “The fact that you had the chance to destroy Scaley but chose not to was truly an action of pure heart, and honor that only the noblest. Just as when your father decided to not destroy Scaley, but seal her away, not wanting to become like her and slay his own family.”

That felt deep, very deep.

“Mother… Dad…” Spike said “Please don’t leave me alone.”

His parents smiled “You are never alone, Spike.” and he pointed behind him at the entire gang.

“Just remember who you are, and what you choose to be.”

Spike raised his hand and his mother raised hers, but just like before, he passed right through her.

This made tears come to his mother’s eyes “My son, take great care of yourself.”

She and Fang began to disappear along with Twilight “Sorry, we have to go.” she said “I love you all, especially you Spike.”

This brought tears to everyone’s eyes as they watched the three spirits fade away. Fang took one last look at Spike “Good luck… my son.”

Then, they were gone, and Spike began to cry softly again.

“Oh, Spike…” Rarity cried as she walked up to him and held him close, but Spike’s tears were actually more of joy than sorrow. He finally got a load off his chest and now knew all he wanted to know for so long.

“…I’m okay.”

That was all he could say.

(Promo)

In our next episode: Pinsar sends the powerful Mosquitops which has the dreaded power to absorb the ponies’ powers and use them against them.

Things then go from bad to worse when Shining Armor finally returns, but is no longer on their side and does battle with them.

Will the ponies be able to overcome such horrifying difficulties?

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

(Next episode: “Insect in Shining Armor”)