EPISODE EIGHTEEN
The news spread fast about the birth of Cadance’s child. She had a son, that didn’t make it.
All of United Equestria fell into a deep state of depression and sorrow. Many ponies wept for Cadance and her loss.
Some ponies didn’t bother to even go to work, and those that did were far too upset to concentrate on the simplest tasks.
Even Mykan was feeling way down hearted. As he tried to pour his coffee that morning, he missed and spilled the scalding water all over his hand burning himself, but he could only feel about half the pain, as he couldn’t stop thinking about the tragedy.
All across New Ponyville, there was not a place you could look where you wouldn’t see a sad face.
Fluttershy, wearing a large bandage across her head from where she got conked by the boulder, couldn’t stop weeping and cried a stream of tears. Rhymey and the other animals tried to comfort her, but all they wanted to do was weep along with her
Artie sat in the corner of his house, away from the windows with all his paintings surrounding him, and clutching one close to him.
Pinkie Pie had drunk nearly a dozen milkshakes in attempt to drown her sorrows, and while it did make her feel chilly, it didn’t make her feel any better.
Mr. and Mrs. Cake understood how she felt, and they too felt the strain starting to get to them. Thankfully, Pumpkin and Pound cake were much too young to understand why everyone looked so down.
Rainbow Dash couldn’t find her spark to fly any faster. In fact, even a little bird was flying faster than she was.
The Twins sat outside their mine. Next to them, their mine carts were overloaded with jewels and golden rocks, after having recently struck it really rich, and yet… they didn’t care a bit.
Both of them deeply broken-hearted for Cadance; all they wanted to do was sit by their carts, and search through their feelings.
Rarity and Spike hadn’t come out of their room, and Rarity couldn’t stop weeping. Spike remained at her side to comfort her, but he, too, felt as upset as she did. NEither of them had felt so upset since Twilight had died.
Even at New Sweet Apple Acres, the crusaders were trying to help out with the chores, but they lost focus, and fell to their knees. Applejack and Buddy Rose ran out to them, and soon were comforting the sobbing girls, and felt like sobbing themselves. Even Applejack couldn’t hold her tears back this time.
Even at New Canterlot Palace, things were no better.
Goldwin was a golden statue, and around him hung a sign which he wrote before removing his mask: “Don’t wake me up. I just want to be a statue right now”
At least while he was a statue, he couldn’t feel sad.
At the foot of Cadance’s bed, her little baby colt; a white unicorn pony with a soft blue mane, lay in a little basket, but he was very dead. The doctors had already tried everything, but not even the most powerful magic would do anything.
Cadance was so incredibly heart-broken and crushed, she had grown ill with grief, forcing the doctors to sedate her to keep her calm so she could try and heal, even though they knew this would be a tough case.
Who could blame her? She lost her parents, her brother, then Twilight… and now this, as well as Shining Armor not being there.
It wasn’t fair! How could someone so beautiful be cursed with so much pain and grief?
Their royal majesties were all heart-broken for the loss of their grand-nephew, and even more hurt now that Cadance was sick. It was almost as if she didn’t want to live anymore!
Celestia still tried to be brave as she put her own children down for their nap.
Castor and Leilani were confused…
“Mama sad…?” asked Castor.
“Why…?” added Leilani.
They were too young to understand, and she did not wish to tell them at all for fear of frightening or upsetting them. She smiled sadly and stroked their little heads saying “It’s okay, my little darlings. Just go to sleep.”
Her sleepy kids let out two little yawns and went out like lights. Their mother kissed them both on their foreheads. She really loved her little angels.
And as she left the nursery, and shut the door, she suddenly backed against the wall and slid down to the floor, sobbing softly into her hands. Her mane and tail stopped fluttering and sparkling, which only happened when she was really, really downhearted.
Her husband and her sister heard her, and came to her side, feeling just the same. Their manes also were not sparkling, and Grand Ruler’s cape wasn’t fluttering.
All three of them knew this would never truly heal even with time.
Sad to say, there was even worse to come...
As Starla and Krysta went to visit Lightning, who was still recovering in the sickbay; Starla walked very slowly, hardly able to feel her steps as she was so hurt.
“If you want, I can just warp you there.” Krysta offered.
Starla nodded sadly “Please…”
Soon they appeared in Lightning’s room, only to gasp in shock at what they saw.
Lightning was lying in bed, clutching his chest and gasping as if he was in pain.
“Lightning…?!” cried Starla. Then she watched as her husband just collapsed flat onto the bed. “Lightning!” She and Krysta dashed over, and Starla put her ear to his face “He’s not breathing!”
“I’ll go get help!” cried Krysta.
Pretty soon, Lightning was hooked up to life-support and a respirator to help give him air.
Their majesties heard the new and were there with the others.
“He’s alive.” Penny said “He’s just in a standstill.”
“Oh, no…” cried Grand Ruler “I’ve seen those before.”
Everyone gazed at him, and Starla fearfully asked “Is it… serious?”
“Not so much as critical, but it is still frightening and horrible.”
He explained that what he and the doctors called a standstill was another word for the deep comatose like state Lightning had fallen into. It was sort of like a disease, almost like what Cadance was suffering from, but worse. Lightning had fallen in such a severe state of shock, despair and a loss of confidence from the stillbirth, all coupled with the obvious trauma from his past, that his body just shutdown…
…almost as if he were dead!
Tears were cascading down Starla’s face. “Will he… will he wake up?”
“It’s hard to say.” replied Grand Ruler “Lightning is trapped in a veil of profound darkness deep within in his mind, and he’s finding it difficult to escape. He needs to find his confidence and regain his will to want to live again, but it’s not known how long that could take. It may take years.”
Starla’s blood ran cold, and Krysta nearly dropped her wand.
Celestia placed a comforting hand on Starla’s shoulder “We’ll do all that we can for him, but you have to try and be brave. He would want that, and he needs it to help him recover.”
Starla wiped her eyes, and then gazed down at her husband. He looked so lifeless as he just lay there.
Nobody said a thing. What was there to say?
Cadance lost her baby, and now both she and Lightning were totally out of action, though at least Cadance was still stable, though barely.
Grand Ruler then began to have that sickening feeling there was more to come!
On the Insecto mothership, Ladybird was actually amused by all the suffering and anguish going on, but also a little distraught. “It serves them all right!” she sneered softly as she stroked her pendant. “They say “What Goes around Comes around.” And I intend to bring them much more!”
Saber, Phoebe and Jetar had recovered from their previous battle, and they too had heard about the suffering going on.
“So, Lightning Dawn is no longer able to fight?” sneered Phoebe “This is just the opportunity we’ve been waiting for.”
Jetar agreed “With their most powerful fighter out of action, the others will be easier targets to strike.”
“Indeed we shall…” Ladybird said as she appeared before them all “As we speak, I have chosen the mighty Buzz Saw to go down to the planet.”
“Ah, yes…” hissed Saber “His diamond-alloyed blades can cut through even solid rock. Imagine what it could do to the ponies flesh…”
Phoebe shuddered with delight “I’m getting shivers already.”
In the meantime, the trio decided to keep training to beef up their strengths, and to try and keep Saber from having anymore relapses of his actual identity and lifestyle.
As long as Ladybird kept the spell from her necklace going, it wasn’t very likely he’d have any more flashbacks.
Meanwhile, Stag was really growing fed up with all the attention the trio was getting while he and Slick were neglected, cast aside and constantly ignored. He was sharpening his sword furiously grumbling “I’ll show them who the top bug is.”
“What’s happening to you?” asked Slick “You’re becoming more vicious than old hornets with a bite.”
Stag glared at him angrily, but said nothing. He needed to formulate a plan of how to eliminate the rest of the royal party.
Meanwhile, Starla was back in new Ponyville.
With both Lightning and Cadance out of action, Princess Luna was now minding the New Crystal Empire, and she didn’t have to be there anymore.
She was sitting with Krysta at a table at the café, with a cup of tea at her hands, but all she could think about was the tragedy, and Lightning’s condition.
Fluttershy and Rhymey, and Spike and Rarity came up to her; all of them looking glum.
“We heard about Lightning.” Spike said.
Starla’s features saddened even worse. “I wanted to come home to New Ponyville, but not like this.”
“Oh, you poor dear...” Rarity said as she passed her a hankie.
She dabbed her eyes.
Krysta sighed miserably “How can this all be happening?”
“We tried our best, but it wasn’t enough.
I don’t know much more I can take of this stuff.” said Rhymey.
Fluttershy held his hand firmly, she felt worse than most of them. “If I had just gotten Cadance to safety quicker, none of this would have happened.”
“Fluttershy, it’s not your fault.” Spike said “If you want to blame someone, blame those nasty Insectos. They’re the cause of all this.”
“Spike is right…” Rarity said, and she angrily clenched her fists “I swear, I will not rest until every last one of those miserable bugs is squashed for this treachery!” Her eyes were searing with flames, indicating she could not be more serious.
Suddenly, they all heard the distant sounds of ponies screaming and running in panic.
“We better look into this.” said Starla.
The others agreed; despite the tragedies, United Equestria and Starfleet still had to go on, especially when there was danger afoot.
“I’ll go help the civilians.” said Krysta, and she flew off leaving the rest of the gang to look into the disturbance.
They all ran against the crowd of panicking ponies into a nearby clearing, and they couldn’t see anything scary or unusual, but they could hear something that sounded like a swarm of flies buzzing.
It got louder, and scratchier.
“That’s not the sound of bugs!” cried Krysta.
There was a loud booming sound, and the others all gawked at a huge pile that was being used to pave the streets. The rock pile began to crumple as a large burly Insecto forced his way through it.
Rarity and Fluttershy couldn’t help but scream at the sight of him.
He was a very scary looking bug, his arms were long Buzz Saws, and his back was covered in spindles. He even wore one of those horrid hockey-like masks over his mask, making him look really vicious. He even roared viciously.
“I am Buzz Saw!” he snarled “I am strong! I am master of the blades!” His saws began to whirl and screech furiously.
“Let’s do it!” said Starla.
They all transformed successfully, but the ponies’ visors warned them…!
“Our power-levels, they’re down by half!” cried Fluttershy.
“It’s because we’ve been so distraught,
So our full powers, we have not.” said Rhymey.
“We’ll have to make do with what we’ve got then.” Spike said as he drew out his sword.
Buzz Saw growled as he stood ready to brawl.
Spike jumped up high for a huge attack, and Buzz Saw batted him hard with his arms, striking him hard across the chest, and he crashed on the ground.
“Spike!” cried Rarity.
She and the others dashed forth, only to get bashed, and slashed and shoved away hard.
“WARD SWORD!”
Rhymey tried his best, and managed to parry a few attacks, but each blow felt more forceful than usual due to his sore feelings of the tragedies, and he got struck many times.
He swung his sword hard blocking Buzz’s arm.
“…Give up?”
His answer was a swift kick in the chest, sending him rolling along the ground
“You miserable pup…!”
Buzz only growled, but more of delight; he made the same sounds for joy or anger.
Rhymey and Spike both lunge at him with their sword, but he managed to hold them both down, and using his blades, he actually broke their swords in half!
“No!” cried Spike.
Rhymey growled fiercely, then he and Spike made their swords vanish so they could magically repair themselves, leaving them both unarmed.
“Quick! Let’s try a double magic attack.” suggested Starla.
“I’m with you.” agreed Spike.
“PULSAR LASER!”
“DRAGON FLAME!”
Starla and Spike combined their attacks into one searing waved of flaring energy, but Buzz revved up his saws and actually slashed right through that energy like it was made of paper.
“I don’t believe it!” cried Starla.
“Well, believe this!” shouted Buzz “CRACKIN’ CUTTERS!” Several miniature cutters were launched from the giant ones on his arms and flew at the others like homing missiles.
The gang did their best to dodge them, but the cutters swerved and turned and always kept beaming on them.
They all got hit, sparks flew everywhere. Rarity even saw a small bit of her mane snap loose. “You… ruined… my… MANE!!” she shouted. She could feel her confidence starting to burn with her rage, and she charged towards Buzz furiously.
He swung at her, and she sneakily ducked under, avoiding the blades and head bashed him hard in the chest sending him slamming hard into a tree.
The others all blinked once in shock, and Rarity was panting heavily.
Buzz angrily cut the tree down in one swift slash.
“Hey!” snapped Fluttershy “That poor tree!”
Buzz only roared, which frightened her to hide behind Rhymey.
“SPINDLE SHOOTER!”
The spindles on his back shot like missiles… for that’s exactly what they were.
“Look out!” cried Spike, but sparks and small explosions already blew all around the team, knocking them all over.
Buzz laughed wickedly “You get the point?!” he joked.
The gang all lay about injured and a little weak. Their power levels had dropped significantly, and were now down a quarter.
“It’s a shame your pitiful commander isn’t here to see this and the horrible mess you’re in, but don’t worry I’ll make sure you’re there to greet him on the other side!”
Starla grew infuriated that he would talk about Lightning like that, and she got out her bow.
“Starla, it’s no use!” cried Rarity.
“STARLIGHT ARROW!”
Her shot flew straight at Buzz, and as expected, he slashed the arrow.
“U’rgh!” growled Starla.
“My turn again.” growled Buzz.
“Run!!” cried Fluttershy.
“CRACKIN’ CUTTERS!”
The cutters chased the gang down, actually getting at them from behind like something in a funny cartoon.
“Yike!”
“Ooh!”
“Eek!”
“Yeowch!”
Now their powers were reaching critical levels, yet all they could do was hide in a ditch out of sight.
“I’ll find you miserable little freaks!” shouted Buzz. He revved up his blades “Even if it means cutting this whole village down to size!”
He began to cut down more trees, lamppost, and even tear up the streets. Even the solid rocks were slashed to bits.
The friends knew it was only a matter of time before they were found.
“I really wish Lightning were here.” said Fluttershy.
“Well, he isn’t…” snapped Rarity “It’s up to us to stop that creature!”
“But how?” asked Spike “Our weapons are useless against those saw blades, and any energy we throw at him, he just cuts right through it.”
Starla thought deeply, and realized the only hope was to go for the old clichéd maneuver. “We’ll have to get him to hit himself.”
“Oh, really… that old move?” said Rarity “He’ll be expecting us to try that.”
Rhymey then remembered an old strategy he came up with once.
“Listen carefully to what I say,
I think I may have a better way.
Instead of working side-by-side
Maybe our paths we should divide.”
The others caught onto to his idea; instead of all going at Buzz in the same way, they would trick him up and try to distract him separately.
With their powers fading fast, they agreed to try it.
“Where are you?!” thundered Buzz as he busted up a huge stand of fruit. “Come out!” he sawed down a string of lampposts.
The team all leapt out from within the ditch.
“Hey, saw-head…!” Starla called “Did you miss us?”
“Funny…” snapped Buzz “Last time I checked, I kept hitting you square on, like I will again; CRACKIN’ CUTTER!”
As he launched his cutters…
“…Now!” shouted Starla, and they all split up with two blades following each of them.
Rarity then zipped back and attempted to attack Buzz, but he dodged, and also swerved to avoid the blades following Rarity.
Fluttershy then soared in aiming a flying kick. Straight for his head, but held his arms out and flung her off him, and twirled in a pirouette style to avoid the blades again.
“You don’t think I don’t know what you’re trying, do you?” he called out “You’ll never get my blades to hit me.”
Rhymey, Spike and Starla all charged at him, with the blades following them.
“SPINDLE SHOOTER!”
“Watch it!” cried Starla, as she and boys ran about dodging the missiles with such agility and made their way through, and lunged to attack Buzz, but he swung his arms and batted them all off and away, and still managed to dodge his own flying cutters.
“This is actually quite amusing…” snarled Buzz “…But I got a mission to complete.”
He revved his blades at full power and charged forth at the entire gang and swung at them, and they dodged; zipping here and there and all around him.
“Over here…” teased Spike.
“You missed me…” added Rarity.
Buzz was growing angry and continued to swing at them so recklessly.
“You couldn’t hit me with that broadside.
Not even if I were fifty feet wide.” Rhymey mocked.
“Why you…!!” he swung again, and Rhymey zipped out of the way, causing Buzz to strike a power-pole with electrical wires in it, which shocked him and caused him to spark and flare.
He managed to pull himself out, but his blades were all charred and bent from the shocking.
“Hey, Buzz…” Fluttershy called.
The second he turned round; he caught a quick glimpse of the gang standing right behind him, and the quickly ducked down causing his own cutters to strike him hard.
“It worked!” cried Spike.
“Now let’s finish him.” added Rarity.
“Gladly...” Starla said as she grabbed her bow tightly “I have just enough power to do it.”
Buzz didn’t care even his saws were all banged up, and foolishly charged forth just as Starla readied her finisher.
“GALACTIC PROJECTILE!”
She fired her super shot, hitting Buzz square-on. He roared and howled loudly as he fell over, exploded, and reappeared in a capture-sphere, only to, again, be destroyed in just seconds by Ladybird’s magic.
Still, the others were joyed that they won the battle.
Starla looked right up at the sky, directly at the mothership calling out to the Insectos “You won’t beat us that easy! We’ll fight you to the bitter end!”
Ladybird heard all this while viewing the monitors, and she blasted the screens in outrage. “This is extraordinary! What does it take to break these ponies?!”
“Mother, please… calm yourself!” cried Phoebe.
Her mother took a few deep breaths and calmed down.
“We will destroy them.” Phoebe said “Each failure brings us closer to ultimately striking them where it hurts them most.”
Jetar came up to them “Perhaps… but still, if they were to gain enough information about us, then they would probably strike us when we would least expect it.”
“Jetar is right…” said Ladybird “We cannot allow those fools to gain any more information. We must destroy them quickly while they remain in the dark!”
Saber wielded his blade furiously and said “All the more reason for us to press on with training and preparation! They will never know what hit them!”
They all cheered at the thought of their assured victory…
…unaware that Stag heard everything and was grinning ever so wickedly “So simple… now I know how to get rid of them, and I won’t even have to get my hands all that dirty.”
Slick didn’t have to ask and could already tell what Stag was plotting.
A good part of the street needed so serious cleanup, and the power-poles needed repairs. Fortunately, the pony technicians and others were able to find some of their strength to brave their sadness and it wouldn’t be long before things were okay again.
Still, despite the overall victory and the guaranteed restorations, nobody was really ready to move on just yet.
The gang visited Lightning at the royal palace.
Thanks to the respirators and life-support, he was still stable, but his heart-rate was very low while his brain-activity was quite high.
“He looks so white…” said Fluttershy.
Rarity gawked at her awkwardly “He always looks white.”
“I think she means pale.” said Spike “I can see it too.”
Rhymey sighed…
“He looks so still,
He’s lost his will.”
“No…” Starla said and she softly caressed her husband’s cheek. It felt so cold, but there was a slight bit of warmth she could feel. “He’s still in there, I can feel it. You’ll be alright, honey. You’ve got to.”
Their majesties could see them from the opposite room, and they both felt down for Lightning, but even more down as the turned to look at their niece.
Poor Cadance looked a little pale as she just lay there. The doctors said this was natural, but she still would be okay after a good long rest; at least physically.
Her uncle softly stroked her hand and felt very hurt for her. “You poor thing…” he cried every softly “You did not deserve any of this.”
As for Celestia, she couldn’t help but walk over to the crib which and unwrap the blankets that completely covered the body of her infant grand-nephew.
Even in death, the little colt looked so adorable; it only brought more tears to her eyes, and anguish to her heart.
She would give her very own life force if it meant the child could have another chance, but it wouldn’t work anyway.
Her husband walked up to her and softly replaced the blankets, feeling it was better not to look at the child. Celestia agreed to this, but it still hurt her very much, and began to sob ever so softly into his chest as he held her tightly.
(Promo)
In our next episode: Cadance awakens but is only further distraught at the loss of her child.
Meanwhile, Stag betrays his fellow Insectos by secretly giving plans and valuable information to the ponies which could aid them in the quest to stop the armada, while Saber is sent down along with the dreaded Termitor
With the information collated, the entire team runs into battle, again without Lightning, and attempt to snap Shining Armor back to his senses, but will they really be able to succeed?
Don’t miss the next exciting episode of “Starfleet Magic!”
(Next episode: “Return of the Ninja!”)