ACT FOUR
All the friends had gone out of camp, and met up outside of Canterlot High, right by the statue where the portal was.
They had been waiting there a long time.
"I'm starting to think they're not coming." said Rainbow.
"No, they will." said Sunset "But I don't understand why Lightning Dawn is coming, and not Princess Twilight Sparkle."
"What I wanna know is, how did Lightnin' Dawn get the message in the first place?" wondered Applejack "Ain't he supposed to be on some other dimensional planet?"
Suddenly, the portal began to glow, and everyone stepped away from the statue. "This is it... here they come!" cried Buddy Rose.
Everyone then watched as the trio materialized out of thin air.
Krysta appeared as a red robin, but a little bit larger, stronger and swifter than actual birds.
Spike appeared, still a dog, but as he was stronger and older, he now appeared as a Great Dane.
Finally, there he stood; an almost exact look-alike of Flash Sentry, only he had brown hair, brown eyes, peach-coloured skin. He wore a white T-shirt with his picture of his insignia, ID-code, stars, and black track pants with matching jacket.
"LIGHTNING DAWN…!!" everyone cried with joy.
Lightning smiled proudly and stated "I have returned." and he saluted proudly, and the others saluted back, but then they all huddled around him giving him handshakes, hugs... Starla was very nervous to approach him, and at first stuck out her hand, but Lightning rejected and hugged her instead "I know you missed me, I missed you too." he whispered into her ear.
Starla blushed madly.
As the greetings continued to exchange, Krysta and Spike felt a little left out. "What are we, invisible?" Spike asked.
"Ah, they'll come round...I hope." said Krysta.
Suddenly, the hollering toned down as Sunset approached Lightning. She felt very awkward seeing him again, and Lightning felt strange too, and looked at her rather sternly "I remember you, Ms. Shimmer." he said "I also haven't forgotten how badly you treated me and the others when I was last here, and I have heard about your little issue..."
Sunset looked very guilty and hung her head low, but Lightning then smiled "And I've also heard that you've reformed, and if everyone else can forgive you..." he held out his hand "... then I will too."
Sunset felt flattered, and relieved and shook his hand graciously.
Everyone awed at the sweet gesture.
"Um... sorry to interrupt..." said Fluttershy "But... well... how come you were sent here instead of Twilight Sparkle."
The trio all felt a bit awkward. Obviously Queen Celestia had not told Sunset about the tragedy, but Lightning didn't have the heart to say it either. News like that would devastate everyone.
"She... has a cold." he lied.
His fib fooled the others.
"What...?" snapped Spike, but then Krysta waved her wing warning him to play along. "Oh, yeah, it's real bad... sneezing, coughing-- the works."
"Oh, the poor chica." said Dyno.
"I hope she gets well soon." added Myte.
Then, they all headed back to camp, which Lightning and the others found very interesting, despite the spell still being in effect, nobody seemed to be acting hostile or mean at the moment, but still maintaining distance from one another.
Sunset signed Lightning up to be a guest at camp so he could stay on the grounds, although it felt awkward for him to see Celestia again.
Both of them said nothing at first to each other, feeling nervous-- having remember that a long time ago when they had that huge back at Canterlot High--
Still, Celestia approved of Lightning and graciously allowed him to stay at camp as a guest, and even his pets were allowed to stay too.
"Thank you." Lightning said.
"Yes... you're quite welcome." she said to him.
They reached out to shake hands, and were a little hesitant, but they did so, and then Lightning turned to leave.
"She's changed too, ya know." said Artie.
"Yes, I can see..." said Lightning "But the memories are still..."
"Oh, never mind all that." said Rarity "Come! We have so much catching up to do."
They all got some milkshakes and then headed down to the lake for some quality time. Lightning filled them in on everything that had happened over the two year period, and were they ever shocked and amazed... especially Sunset.
-Equestria and Unicornicopia were both blown up in the Great War, and United Equestria now stood.
-Celestia was now Queen, and happily married to Grand Ruler Celesto, Lightning mentor and foster father. They even had children.
-Long before that, Krysta reconnected with her memories-- she was the Queen of the fairies of the planet Luminous. She had a husband, and adopted a son.
-Twilight herself, became Princess of Friendship, and she and her friends all joined Starfleet and fought valiantly in the past. Twilight ranked up to Junior Captain.
"Wow, that is impressive." said Sunset "I guess she really was Princess-- er, Queen Celestia's prize pupil."
"You think that's cool..." said Krysta "Lightning became Supreme Allied Commander of all of Starfleet!"
Everyone's eyes bulged and they all gawked at Lightning as if he himself were royalty. This made Lightning feel a bit awkward, but he admitted it was true.
"Commander of your own force...
That must be one difficult course." said Rhymey.
"Oh, it is..." said Lightning "I'm practically fourth in command of the entire planet, or at least the armed forces, and I'm married too."
At that moment, Starla felt a slight sting pierce through her heart. "Oh, you are...?"
"He sure is..." said Spike "He and Starla, or rather the one we know; they've been married five months, and what's more, Rarity and I are engaged now."
Rarity spit out her milkshake in shock "I beg your pardon?!"
"I think he means the other Rarity, where he's from." Applejack whispered.
"I am quite aware..." said Rarity "But... a pony marrying a dragon? It's just... well..." she couldn't really find anything too wrong about it, and smiled "Well, as long as they are both happy. I know I would be."
"Thank you." Spike said.
Pinkie sniffed softly "It's so sweet. Married for five months, and engaged at the same time." she began to blubber softly as she dabbed her eyes with a tissue.
Starla tried her hardest not to let her jealousy and anguish show, now that she knew Lightning was married. Not that she actually had a chance with him to begin with...
...but Lightning and the others could feel it coming from her anyway.
She gazed at them all and felt embarrassed "Does it really show?"
The others nodded, and then decided to change the subject. "So, apart from the obvious, what's new around here?" Lightning asked.
"See for yourself." Rainbow said as she showed him images on her phone, and how she, the Rainbow Rocks, and the Starfleet gang all transformed whenever they played music, sang, or danced.
"Interesting..." said Lightning "When I was here, I cast magic on you guys, just as Twilight cast her magic on the rest of you. It seems the magic was not fully taken back after we both departed from here. Well, now that we're together again, we can all work together and combine forces to stop the Demonites and the Sirens."
Everyone seemed pumped up and ready to go at it, even Fluttershy.
"So, what do we do first?" asked Rainbow.
"First, we need to gain information." said Lightning "We need to figure out what the bad guys are planning to do, how they intend to pull it off, and then try to stop them, and I have an idea how."
Around camp, despite everyone maintaining distance from one another, they still managed to enjoy their daily activities. Still, every now and then, the campers would run into another, and an argument would engage.
The only ones who seemed to be staying close together and getting along were the D-Man-Knights and the Dazzlings as they walked all over and could
"Wonderful..." Blaze hissed softly "With every passing second, their energy continues to rise to its maximum breaking point."
Sonata wiped her sweaty brow "I'm going to reach my melting point if I stay out in the sun like this too long."
Everyone ignored her complaining, and continued to walk around, when suddenly a little robin-- Krysta-- came soaring in from the skies and snatched one of Aria's star-clippies. "Hey!" she shouted.
Sunset saw this and chased after the bird, and threw a rock at it.
Krysta only pretended to be hit and dropped the clippie to the ground while she faked flying out of control and crashed into the bushes, out of sight.
Sunset grabbed the clippie, and unseen by all, attached a teeny little object onto it, and returned it to Aria "Here you go."
Rather than being grateful, Aria snatched her clip back, and pinned it into her hair "Thanks." she scoffed rudely, and then she walked off with her friends, while Sunset gazed over at the bushes, and she could spot Krysta, and she winked at her, and she winked back.
Sunset and Krysta met back up with the gang in the music room, where Lightning had a book with him. It was a very special book used by Starfleet for spy missions.
"Good job girls..." he said "That device you pinned to the clip will record everything the girls say, and transfer it into magical text to this book. It can be read by magic audio."
"So it's like an instant spy-camera or something?" asked Dyno.
"Sort of..." Lightning said.
"Why not just plant it on one of the demons then?" asked Myte.
"Well, firstly they don't exactly have anything on them we can pin the device too." said Krysta "Besides, I've got a sneaky hunch the Dazzlings aren't as bright. They're more likely to spill any beans we want to her."
For now, all they could do was just sit and wait for some valuable information to be said, and maintain a cool act.
"I still say we should just transform and kick their miserable butts right now." said Rainbow.
"Just the wrong thing, Rainbow..." Spike said "We don't want to cause a scene, not yet anyway."
"Besides, we can't." said Lightning "I can't re-energize all your powers now." he held out the two gems "The last time it worked, the timing has to be just right and the situation must extremely call for it, otherwise it won't work. Besides, the Friendship Magic the rest of you possess can only be unlocked by drawing energy from a strong source. So we're all going to have to keep our eyes open for anything, and at the same time try not to cause too much trouble, all right?"
Pinkie saluted "Aye-Aye mon-captian." and then she began to slink about, rolling her eyes round, and ducking all over the place.
The others all rolled her eyes.
Just then, the dinner bell sounded.
"Time to get us some vittles." said Applejack.
"Good, I'm starving!" said Spike.
Sadly, Spike and Krysta were forced to remain outside. No pets were allowed in the cafeteria. So, they sat outside the on the porch. Spike was eating kibble, which he didn't seem to mind the taste of, and Krysta found some worms on the ground, which Spike found a bit disgusting.
Krysta would have protested, but neither she nor Spike wanted to let it slip to other campers that they could talk or it would blow their cover.
Inside, many of the campers, mostly the bands, were all still arguing a bit with one another, while the friends all sat at Sunset's reserved table.
Sunset sat down, but spilled her milkshake "Ah, no! That was the last one too." she grunted "It was my favourite."
Some of the others helped her clean it up, it was an easy job. "We can get you another one." said Buddy.
The D-man-Knights could hear this, and thought it a great opportunity to cause more friction between the humans.
From where Blaze sat at his table, he had a good view of the kitchen area, at the milkshake machine. His eyes glowed brightly, and... BAM!! The machine blew out, which made all the campers jump.
Lightning however saw Blaze's eyes glow from where he sat. The boys and the Dazzlings chuckled softly, as the staff took care of the mess, but a lot of the campers were now outraged that some of them wouldn't get their milkshakes now.
More small disputes began to break out.
"Oh, I love the sssssound of all thissss." hissed Scales.
The others all nodded, but then Adagio saw at Sunset's table and noticed she and all the others were not quarrelling. "That's weird..." she said.
"Sure is..." said Sonata "This burger isn't grilled just right."
"Not that!" growled Adagio and she motioned over at the far away table where the friends stood.
"Why aren't they fighting?" asked Tempest.
"Why is no energy coming from them?" added Boomer.
"I got a better question..." said Slick "Who the heck is that guy with them?" he motioned at Lightning.
They all got a good look, but couldn't recognize him, though he did have a strong resemblance to Flash Sentry.
The mess was cleaned up, and despite the arguments and the busted machine, nothing too serious was happening, but the friends did not like this one bit, especially Sunset. "What next?" she groaned.
"Um... Sunset..." Artie said as he slid his drink over to her; the exact same kind she had spilled. "You can have my milkshake, if you want it. I haven't touched it yet."
Sunset felt flattered, and blushed softly. "Thanks... but... I really couldn't."
"It's okay... I don't mind."
Since he seemed insistent, Sunset decided to take his offer. "Thanks... again."
Artie then turned away, feeling very nervous, and this instantly told Lightning about Artie's crush, and the others confirmed it by nodded at him.
Still, now was not really the time to think about that. They all decided to just take their dinners and go someplace else... someplace quiet!
On the way out, Lightning bumped into someone who was just coming into the place; Flash Sentry.
"Flash..."
"Lightning… Lightning Dawn?"
He did remember him from way back, but just as a student from Canterlot High, he did not remember anything about Starfleet, and he didn't remember that Lightning was a pony either.
The two boys shook hands. "I haven't seen you in a long time. Where have you been?"
"Oh, well... actually I just got here today, I've been... doing a lot of traveling since I left school."
Flash detected a bit of a lie in his voice, but he brushed it off. "So, I guess you'll be here for the battle of bands, huh? Not that there is going to be any. Me and my group are going to kick everyone else off the stage."
"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?" snarled a camper.
"I think it's perfectly obvious what it means." protested Flash, and another heated argument began to stir of who the best band was.
"Let's get out of here!" said Starla, and everyone dashed out the door, all noticed by their enemies.
"There is something very unusual about that group." said Blaze. "They don't seem to be affected by the magic we've cast; but how?"
"Perhaps it could be... another form of magic...?" Aria suggested.
"Impossible." said Sonata "Why and how would those guys have any magic?"
"I think there's only one way to find out for sure..." said Tempest "Right, Blaze...?"
Blaze nodded in agreement. It was time for the D-Man-Knights to perform one of their numbers. "Come..." he said to the others, and they all followed him outside.
The friends sat on the deck outside with their food. "This simply has got to be stopped." said Rarity
"Look, Rarity... I told you before; we can't make a move without enough information." said Lightning "We still have to figure out what their big plan is. We can't transform with the Starfleet gem until the moment is right, and we still need to find an energy source to energize the friendship gem."
"Well, why didn't you just energize them both before you came here?" asked Rainbow.
"It doesn't work that way." said Spike "The magical energies need to come from this world, as a combination, or they won't function well at all. Those are things I learned from Twilight."
One of the campers passing by swore she heard him. "Uh... did that dog just talk?"
Spike quickly then acted like a real dog and barked softly. The camper walked away and everyone sighed in relief.
"Sorry." Spike whispered.
Suddenly, everyone could hear music playing.
"Where's that coming from?" asked Starla.
"Look!" cried Buddy Rose.
The Dazzlings came out, and their gems were glowing.
Rhymey grunted and said...
"The magic of their gems is playing a song
Something's going to happen, something wrong."
The girls then stepped away from the door as the D-Man-Knights casually strut out. Many campers looked towards their direction as the boys began to sing to a rather sinister and spooky song.
[Blaze]
It's nearly sundown, and that's the time when strange things come to play
[Scales]
And then the night falls, you know that you have lived for your last day
[Tempest]
You think you’re brave, but all the strength and courage will not save you.
[Boomer]
You start to run, but no one can escape all our power...
[Slick]
...This is the hour
[Blaze]
'Cause we're the D-Man... D...Man... Knights
We're taking over the world, no matter who stands up and fights
We are the D-Man... D... Man... Knights
We live for all that's wrong and be a, He-Man, She-man, D-Man-Knight!
An instrumental verse began to play as the boys began to dance wildly on the camp grounds, and many of the students, hypnotized by their song, danced with them.
However, Lightning and the gang were totally unaffected, and this did not go unnoticed by the boys nor the Dazzlings as the song continued, and the boys seemed to dance and slide near the gang... in attempt to view them more closely.
[Blaze]
You know we're strong now, and growin' stronger every single minute.
[Scales]
We're quite the tough guys, and all were in this for is just to win it
[Tempest]
We'll win it all, and turn the Earth into a giant nightmare
[Boomer]
No matter what, we're free to do anything that we want
[Slick]
...This world we haunt
[Blaze]
'Cause we're the D-Man... D...Man... Knights
There's no way we can lose and victory is in our sights.
We are the D-Man... D... Man... Knights
We live for all that's wrong and be a, He-Man, She-man, D-Man-Knight!
'Cause we're the D-Man... D...Man... Knights
There's no way we can lose and victory is in our sights.
We are the D-Man... D... Man... Knights
We live for all that's wrong and be a, He-Man, She-man, D-Man-Knight!
The girls were creeped out a bit, by the way the boys were acting, but still they and the guys were unfazed by the magic at all.
[Blaze]
We're takin' over it all
all the goodness is about to fall
From now on chaos is the way it's gonna be(Darkness will rule)
A destructive spree!
It's nearly sundown, and that's the time when strange things come to play
[Scales]
And then the night falls, you know that you have lived for your last day
[Tempest]
You think you’re brave, but all the strength and courage will not save you.
[Boomer]
You start to run, but no one can escape all our power...
[Slick]
...This is the hour
[Blaze]
'Cause we're the D-Man... D...Man... Knights
We're taking over the world, no matter who stands up and fights
We are the D-Man... D... Man... Knights
We live for all that's wrong and be a, He-Man, She-man, D-Man-Knight!
An instrumental verse began to play as the boys began to dance wildly on the camp grounds, and many of the students, hypnotized by their song, danced with them.
However, Lightning and the gang were totally unaffected, and this did not go unnoticed by the boys nor the Dazzlings as the song continued, and the boys seemed to dance and slide near the gang... in attempt to view them more closely.
[Blaze]
We're gonna fly high, and swoop right down from when you least expect it
[Scales]
The screams will echo, and people run in panic and have a fit.
[Tempest]
The time is near, to take our place as the rulers of the world, yeah
[Boomer]
There's no mistake, there's not a soul who can defy...
[Slick]
...Our evil eye
[Blaze]
Yo' we're the D-Man... D...Man... Knights
The strongest in the world and the only ones with the might
We are the D-Man... D... Man... Knights
So learn our names just right and be a...
He-Man, She-man, Be-Man, C-Man... D-Man-Knight!!
It’s just we're D-Man... D...Man... Knights
The strongest in the world and the only ones with the might
We are the D-Man... D... Man... Knights
So learn our names just right and be a...
He-Man, She-man, OW!!
As the song neared its end, every single person at camp seemed to be enraptured, but not Lightning or the others, even Krysta and Spike remained unfazed.
The Dazzling's had seen enough, and motioned to their boys as they danced on the camp grounds with the rest of the campers.
The boys danced their way off into the darkness as the sun set, and the Dazzlings followed them, and no sooner had they gone did the campers break out into heated arguments again.
"Um... what was all that about?" said Applejack.
"I think that was just some kind of test, meant for us" said Artie.
"It was..." Lightning said "And now... they must know for sure that they can't affect us with their magic. That could be serious."
The evil gangs had retreated to the secluded area to discuss their next move.
"I was right..." said Aria "They are being protected by magic."
"I think we ALL could guess that by now." said Adagio.
"I didn't." said Sonata. She seemed a bit worried "If they're protected by magic-- what if they try and stop us?"
"Ssssstop usssss, them? Don't be sssssilly." hissed Scales.
"Even if they are protected, they can't possibly stand up to us." said Boomer.
Slick was deep in thought "One thing puzzles me though. Where the heck did those kids get magic to begin with?"
"There's only one explanation..." said Adagio "...It must be Equestrian magic. What else could stand up to our spells?"
Sonata and Aria agreed with her. "But how did they get it?" asked Aria.
"Never mind that..." said Adagio "Whether they have it or not, you heard the guys. I doubt whether that stupid mule, Celestia herself could stop us even if she were here."
Blaze took no notice of the current debate, and he checked his watch, and the energy-meter had gone well-past the halfway mark. "By this time tomorrow evening we shall have collected all that we need."
The others all liked the sound of that.
"Right after the battle of the bands." said Tempest "Maybe we'll ever get more than what we bargained for."
As they all continued to discuss, they had no idea they were bugged and being listened too by the gang as they huddled around Lightning's book, and they heard everything.
"So, that's what they're doing." said Dyno "It's really Ingenious."
My nodded. "Gather as many people in one place, and then sap the energy right of them."
"Well, now that we know all this, how do we stop it?" asked Fluttershy.
Nobody had any ideas, not even Lightning. They knew the energy was being harnessed, but didn't know where it was being stored, and the baddies hadn't let that slip yet.
"Maybe... we can fight them on their terms." said Sunset "You know; Fight music with music. I mean, if you think that's a good idea..."
Lightning's head perked up. "Yes...! That is a good idea!"
Krysta and Spike picked up on the idea at once, but others didn't understand much.
Lightning explained everything as best he could.
"Your powers seem to energize whenever you play music, sing or dance. Well that's the energy source we need to jump start things, but that's all... maybe we can counter the hypnotic waves the Sirens and the Demonites are casting with our own music."
Starla caught on. "We could do songs that give make people want to emit positive energy instead of negative."
Everyone jumped at the idea, and Sunset felt amazed that her idea really worked.
"Looks like the Rainbow Rocks really are the band to beat." said Applejack.
"Say, what about the group band we wanted to form." said Buddy Rose "We could sign up as two separate groups and double the amount of music to give."
Everyone jumped at that idea too.
"Lightning, why don't you join the group." suggested Starla.
"Me?" Lightning asked in near shock.
"Yeah, you should." said Krysta.
"You can sing and dance just like the others." added Spike.
The others added their sentiments as well, and reminded of Lightning the time he starred in their play "The Music Masters" which performed at Canterlot High two years ago.
"You were an astonishing performer by far.
A natural born superstar." said Rhymey
Lightning remembered all that, and how fun it was to be in a play.
"Come on, Lightning." Rainbow said "I promise, we'll give you equal rights."
"Pleeeeeease...!" Pinkie said as she fluttered her eyes as him.
With all that persuasion, Lightning couldn't be paid to refuse. "You got it!"
Everyone cheered and slapped high fives.
"Uh, there's still one thing though..." said Artie "We still haven't got a name for this group."
Everyone thought and thought, but they still drew the same blank as before. Even Lightning couldn't figure it out.
Krysta and Spike looked at each other and shook their heads.