//------------------------------// // Episode 24: Part 1: Infiltration // Story: My Brave Pony Starfleet Magic: Season V // by DakariKingMykan //------------------------------// EPISODE TWENTY-FOUR Krysta was fluttering about on her own patrol rounds, and as she finished up, she passed by New Canterlot, and peeked into Lightning’s room in the Royal Palace, and what she saw nearly made little heart race. There he was… sitting upright in bed! “Lightning! You’re awake! How do you feel?” Lightning spoke in a groggily voice “What’s a guy gotta do to get food in this place?” Krysta dashed off yelling at the top of her little lungs “HE’S AWAKE!! HE WANTS FOOD!!” Of course, despite the fact she wasn’t being very courteous in a sickbay, where others were trying to sleep, even the staff was shocked and amazed to hear that Lightning was awake. Soon, Lightning was well fed, and all his friends came to see him, including their majesties and even Cadance. Starla threw her arms around Lightning planting kisses all over his face, he would have gladly returned her affection except his arms and legs were still a bit tired from lack of use. Luckily the doctors gave him special exercise bars and foot pedals to help him warmup and get his full strength back. Lightning also felt a bit ashamed with Cadance here. “I don’t know where to begin…” he said to her. Although her sadness showed, Cadance hugged him softly telling him “I know how you feel, but you saved my life, and I’ll always be grateful for that. Thank you, Lightning.” Lightning weakly raised his arms and managed to hug her back. A small tear leaked from his eye, but he didn’t dare mention who he believed he saw while lost in his mind, still a bit unsure, and he didn't want to upset Cadance Everyone thought that was sweet. Rarity even wiped a tear from her eye “We’re so glad you’ve recovered, Lightning.” said Celestia. “That goes without saying.” added Grand Ruler “You’ve been closer to death than ever before, are you sure you feel alright?” “No sweat…” Lightning said as he worked on his chin-ups “After a little bit of this I’ll be ready to get back into action.” “Speaking of action…” Spike said, and he looked at their majesties “How go the preparations?” Their majesties seemed a little worried. “What’s wrong? Cat got your tongues?” asked Pinkie. “Well, there is good news…” said Celestia “Professor Brain has nearly completed work on the teleportation device. This will safely show you all aboard the Insecto Mothership.” “Well, that’s wonderful.” said Rainbow “It means we can finally go up there, get Shining Armor back, and then blow that armada out of the skies for good.” “Wait, Rainbow…” said Artie “I think there’s bad news too.” Their majesties nodded, and there was no other way to explain to them, so they said it plain a clear. “What?!” Lightning “The barrier around the planet is weakened?!” “I’m afraid so…” replied Grand Ruler “We figure it happened during the big battle with Stag, all the dark energy he conjured up, as well as all the power we used to beat him must have caused intensive shockwaves that have upset the transistors. Some of them are developing tiny faults in their circuitry.” Everyone felt their bloods turned cold. “For now everything is still fine…” Celestia said “But we don’t know how much more can happen before they finally give out.” Grand Ruler nodded and glared deeply with concern at everyone “It doesn’t have to said to tell you how serious this could be. We must put our plans into action at once and finish off the armada before the barrier may give out.” The others already were more than understanding. “If that barrier fails, we’ll be blasted to bits by those ships like when they first came.” said Dyno. “Well, what are we waiting for? Vamos! Let’s go!” cried Myte. Everyone dashed out of the room, but Lightning was told remain behind until he gained his full strength back. “It’s not safe for you to re-enter battle just yet.” Grand Ruler said. As aggravated as Lightning felt, he knew he had to comply. So he was left alone, and he sighed softly, but continued with his exercises. He took a glance outside his window and gazed up at the mothership. What he would give to be able to kick all of their miserable Insecto hides for all the trouble they caused, especially for hurting Cadance and killing her baby. It only made him want to exercise harder and faster. Meanwhile, the Insectos didn’t know about Lightning’s recovery, and dismissed any thoughts of him interfering anytime soon, but there was something else they were aware of…! “You are certain of this?” asked Ladybird. “Positively, your majesty.” replied Slick “Sensors indicate the barrier has been weakened, but unfortunately it is still too strong for us to open fire on the planet.” Phoebe was growing rather frustrated and gripped her scepter tightly “I want so much to get at those creeps for everything they’ve put us through.” “Steady, Princess…” said Jetar trying to calm her down, but Phoebe turned and snapped at him “Don’t tell me to calm down! Calm is killing me!” Jetar winced back a bit as if had come face-to-face with a cobra. “I’m sorry, Phoebe, but I agree with Jetar.” said Ladybird “The battle will come, but mustn’t be so hasty. Your father once made that mistake which blew us into space, and he swore he wouldn’t make it again. Neither shall we.” Thinking of her father made only made Phoebe feel more agitated deep down, but her mother was right. “I’m sorry, Jetar.” “Naturally, don’t be. I understand how you feel and would probably have acted no different.” Nevertheless, Ladybird had been waiting for this moment, and instructed the entire army to be ready for anything. She then stroked her pendant and gazed at the figurines inside. “The hour of your vengeance is near, my love. This planet and all who live on it will be blown to space dust!” Behind her, stood a figure with red glowing eyes, eager to assist in the upcoming battle ahead. As everyone prepared for the immense battle ahead, so much was being done as precautions. Krysta and her army of fairies were in charge of evacuating the entire planet to the safe-world planet. Grand Ruler and Celestia were taking no chances at all if the barriers would fail. All the ponies had been lining up in very, very long lines as Dr. Penny and her staff used their shrink ray to shrink many of the ponies in groups down to size, and then Krysta’s fairies sent them on their way. By doing this, the Insectos would not be able to spot or detect them. Of course, several unicorn ponies also knew how to cast shrinking spells, and it helped speed up the process. By this point, more than half of the planet’s entire populace was evacuated; All the ponies, yaks, dragons, griffons; everyone. Even many Starfleet personal, the minor officers headed off to ensure the populace’s safety. Only the mega officers, like Lightning and the team would remain behind to battle any invasions or chaos that was sure to ensue, but they were also prepared to leave if things got really messy. So Krysta had many other fairies standing by. The entire group was each given a teleporter, and their energizers were also empowered by their majesties for an emergency return transport, which would warp them out of the ship and take them back to United Equestria. “Be warned…” Grand Ruler “This can only be used one-time, and once only, so do not activate unless you are certain you need to return.” The gang understood, having already discussed their plan; their number one priority would be to get Shining Armor off of that ship, then the big attack could finally begin, but not until. Even Cadance was given permission to go, since her magic would help get Shining Armor back… they hoped. As Cadance was preparing for departure, she stroked her ninja medal, and remembered the last time she nearly got her husband back. This time she didn’t think it would be so easy. Even then… she’d have to break the horrifying news about their son. “How can I tell that?” She muttered to herself, and she remembered how excited and happy he was when she first revealed she was pregnant. How he would always go off saying he was looking forward to being a father. All this was making her feel really frustrated. She was suddenly snapped out of her trance when a bright light flashed into her room, and that figure appeared before her, much clearer than he was to Lightning. “Who are you?” Cadance asked. The figure stepped forward and looked deeply into her eyes. “Mother, it is I… Amando.” Cadance gasped and almost felt like fainting, but she couldn’t deny this cold strong resembled the body of her dead baby. “I… I can’t… Is it…?” “It’s alright; I understand how this must feel, but right now I need you to listen to me. Father is in great danger, and your power alone may not be strong enough to save him from the enemy’s clutches.” “I know… I’ve thought about that, but what can I do?” Amando’s spirit began to glow and he changed into a glowing golden orb. “What are you doing?” She suddenly got her answer as the ball forced itself into her, stunning her at first, but Amando said to her… “Mother, though I never had a chance to live my life, I am still your son, and that can never change. I am loaning you what little power I can give. When the time calls, use the Mother-Child Bond You must save Father!” Then his faded off, and all was quiet. Cadance wrapped her arms around her body feeling no different than normal, but her emotions were going crazy due to the fact she had seen the grown spirit of her son. She slowly rose to her feet, clenching her fists and stood tall and proud and thinking “I will save him… for you, my little boy.” Soon, all the teammates, except for Lightning were standing outside the palace. The Space Ponies were transformed, the Equestrians were in their Valkyrie modes, Cadance and Spike were both transformed too. “Are you all ready?” Grand Ruler asked. No one said anything at first, just exchanged looks of concern with one another. We’re they really ready to venture forth into a place they had only so much info on? Apart from the obvious, no telling who or what else they’d run into? “We’re ready.” Starla said, and she spoke on everyone’s behalf. “Good luck to all of you.” said Celestia. Then she held hands with her husband, and the two of them touched their horns together. At once, they conjured a spell to shrink everyone down to size, which would wear off in a very short time. Once they were all shrunk down. “Let’s go!” shouted Starla, and she and all the others activated their teleported, whisking off into the sky. Lightning watched them from his window, and never before did he feel so concerned, especially for Starla. “Please be careful… all of you!” The Insectos, again, could neither spot nor detect the fighter’s presence. The team arrived in a dark, and seemingly untidy room of the mothership and that’s when they unshrank and returned to normal size. “Where are we?” asked Fluttershy. “It looks like a broom storage utility room.” said Spike. “Really, and I thought these creatures had no class for sanitation.” scoffed Rarity. They could all see the door, but used their scanning and senses to detect any movement outside. Once the way was clear, they exited the utility room, and saw a three way intersection. Immediately, they headed down the central corridor. “Good thing we studied up on those blueprints.” said Buddy Rose. Carefully, and silently they slunk around corridor after corridor of the massive spacecraft, but little did they realize, they were already being watched…! …The second they had arrived and returned to normal size, their added weight was detected, and of course, thanks to the hidden cameras, Queen Ladybird could view them all from the monitors in the throne room of the palace. She snickered wickedly and remarked “Like a moth to the flame, I knew they’d come.” Phoebe and Jetar grinned sinisterly, yet neither any one of them sounded they alarms, for they were planning to have a little fun with their uninvited guests to soften them up a little. “You two, better get ready…” said Ladybird “I shall remain here.” The two nodded and went off. “Princess…” “What is it?” Jetar acted almost a little shy for what he was about to do, but he handed her a golden medallion. “It’s a lucky charm I’ve always had on me. I’m not really superstitious, but I’d feel honored if you had it during this battle.” Phoebe took the coin, and she didn’t really seem too impressed with it, but she looked in Jetar’s yes, and she began to see the deep trust and confidence he was showing her, or rather… the hidden feelings she was starting to realize. She smiled, and softly pecked his cheek. “Thanks.” Blushing, Jetar rubbed his cheek softly. He had never felt like this before towards anyone, but even a ruthless bandit like himself knew when it wasn’t worth trying to resist. As for Phoebe, she couldn’t help but think “He’s not so bad, and he did train me, and I owe him my life... Okay, maybe I do like him a little… more than a little…” She kept her face turned so no one could see her blushing. The gang continued to trek along the many corridors, and Fluttershy was feeling a little shaky. “Easy, my dear Try not to have fear.” Rhymey said. “I’m trying.” Fluttershy whimpered. The others all sighed softly. Then they came to a large directory sign on the wall, showing where many areas were… Engine Rooms-A-M. Engine Rooms-N-Z Soldiers Quarters Pantries At the bottom were directions on how to get to the royal palace, atop the ship, as well as how far away it was. “One-and-a-half miles?!” groaned Rarity “We’ve only traveled half a mile. I thought for certain we had come further. The ship looked so much smaller on the outside. “Okay, okay…!” groaned Applejack “Let’s just move on.” As the team moved out, Cadance stopped. “Cadance, what’s wrong?” asked Starla. Since she couldn’t speak, she placed her hand against the wall and began to tap her finger in Morse code, saying that she was sensing something terrible coming, but she wasn’t sure what. The halls were all clear; Spike could smell no Insectos nearby, but suddenly the lights went out, and the entire place went dark. Fluttershy couldn’t help but whimper. “Hey, who turned out the lights?” asked Pinkie. Suddenly, before anyone could speak or act, they all felt strange and in several flashes of light, they were all teleported away. Queen Ladybird sniggered. “Let the fun commence.” The space ponies found themselves believing to be standing in space. “What happened?” asked Dyno. “I don’t remember seeing this in any of the blueprints.” added Myte. Then he tapped his feet and sure enough it still felt like he was standing on a solid floor. He then fired a simple pulse from his horn, and it flew along and actual crashed as if it collided with a wall. Artie scanned the entire place with his visor. “This is some kind of virtual room. Everything here is just an illusion.” “Only half correct.” hissed a familiar voice. “Slick…!” Starla sneered. “Thought you’d seen the last of me, huh?” The team looked ready to face him, when suddenly a second Slick appeared. “Well, thankfully this will be the last I see of you!” A third one appeared, and a fourth, and more… “That goes for us!” they all said together. Soon, there was a whole army of Slick’s in the room with them, badly out numbering the seven ponies. “What’s going on here? Am I seeing things clear?” asked Rhymey. “How is he doing this?” added Buddy Rose. The Slick’s all snickered. Meanwhile, all the Valkyrie’s and Spike found themselves not in a virtual room, but face to face with what had to be the biggest flock of Stingars they had ever seen, and various Insectos, including ones in the same class as the monsters they had already beaten. “How many are there?!” cried Rarity. Pinkie tried and tried to count them but got flustered several times. “There’s a lot! A whole lot!” cried Rainbow. Spike got out his sword “I think it’s time we squashed this swarm for good.” “Spike, you can’t be serious?!” cried Rarity “We can’t take on all this.” Applejack disagreed and gripped her own sword “I’m up for this. Let’s party!” “Hey, that’s my line.” said Pinkie “But I’m always up for a party anytime.” Rainbow wanted in too, and Fluttershy and Rarity saw no other choice but to stand and fight. Meanwhile, Cadance, the last member of the party, she was given an extra special challenge all to herself. She was transported all the way to the palace throne room and landed with a thud on the floor wondering where she was. “Greetings, little princess…” She turned her head round… and saw her! “I am Ladybird. Queen of the Insecto Armada, and the widow of my beloved Pinsar…” She stroked her necklace, taking a moment to remember her husband. “Speaking of husbands… you remember Saber, don’t you?” A pair of glowing red eyes appeared in the darkness, and Saber stepped out into the open. “Shining Armor…!” Cadance cried in her thoughts. Ladybird snickered-- aware that Cadance couldn’t speak, but knew how she was feeling. “Ironic, isn’t it. You ponies destroyed my husband, now I’ll make your former husband destroy you. Proceed, Saber. Destroy this intruder!” Saber bowed to her saying “Consider it done, my queen.” Then he turned and gazed sharply at Cadance and charged at her with his sword at the ready, and she dodged at the last second. “It feels great to be back in action!” shouted Saber, and he pitched his shuriken blades, Candace did a twirl leapt to dodge them all and they hit the wall. Cadance decided to try her love magic at once, and blasted Saber with everything she had, but he didn’t even flinch, or even blink his eyes. “It’s not working!” she cried in thought “I can’t connect with his heart.” Ladybird’s necklace was glowing brighter than ever, shielding Saber from being manipulated. She laughed wickedly and scolded “You’re in my territory now, foolish pony. Before you fought him on the planet, but now that he’s here where my magic is more than ten-fold stronger, there’s not a thing you can do to break the spell I’ve cast. Your husband is an Insecto, now and forever!” Cadance was most disturbed. “Speaking of your planet…” hissed Ladybird “The final phase of our ultimate attack should be falling into place at this time, a pity you and your friends won’t be able to do anything to stop it.” Saber charged again and slashed Cadance hard across the chest making a bright shower of sparks, and knocking her down, and he lunged at her before she even got a chance to get up and pointed his sword directly at her neck. “It’s been, Princess, but now it all ends. At least your precious baby won’t be alone on the other side anymore.” Meanwhile, on the planet, all had been very quiet ever since the gang teleported up to the armada. The planet was evacuated except for all those fighters who stayed behind. Everywhere, all the fighters, even their majesties stood vigilant waiting for any signs of an attack. Grand Ruler was growing a little edgy as he muttered “Come on, what are you waiting you bugs?!” Celestia placed a comforting hand on his shoulder “Steady, dear. Steady.” Her husband calmed himself. Suddenly, Princess Luna looked up at the sky “Look!” From the hole on the barrier, everyone could see many hundreds of lights raining down from every other battleship in the armada above. Whole swarms of Stingars and Insectos emerged in the fields, flooding up the entire area. Celestia, Grand Ruler and Luna nodded in agreement, and shouted out for the counter-attack to commence! At once, the entire army dashed forth and began to brawl with that massive army of bugs. Grand Ruler raised the shields, but he, his wife and sister-in-law all joined in the brawl as well. Celestia, and Luna both transformed into their old fashioned warrior garments, not wanting to use up too much power too fast. “Let’s go!” shouted Grand Ruler, and he leapt down off the terrace with the ladies behind him. They each landed on top of three Stingars, conking them out, and then they rushed into battle to assist in any ways they could. All those bugs, the battle was very fierce indeed. Power blasts, explosions, attacks of all kinds went everywhere, yet the army of Insectos never seemed to decrease. The only one who wasn’t battling of course was Lightning. He was on the safe-world planet along with everyone else, and he was still a little bit weak to be up and about, but he was exercising harder and faster than ever, desperate to get his full strength back. “Lightning, take it easy.” said Krysta. “Take it easy?! How am I supposed to take it easy when all of my friends are way out there in the biggest battle of all, and I’m stuck here?” “Lightning, if you don’t calm down, I’ll have to sedate you.” Dr. Penny said. Unable to argue, Lightning calmed down a bit, but his edginess was really reaching its breaking point, not to mention his worrying about the others and how they were fairing. Sad to say, nothing was going swell for any of them! On United Equestria, the big battle was already starting to take its toll; the more the ponies and other creatures fought the Insectos, the more power they ended up using which sent more and more shockwaves that upset the transistors keeping the planet-barrier stable. “No!!” cried Grand Ruler “The barrier won’t be able to take this!” The ladies were very concerned “But we can’t stop battling or the planet we be destroyed still.” cried Celestia. “So… either way…” said Luna “Neither way looks good!” They had no choice but to continue fighting. The Valkyries and Spike were fighting like crazy, slashing and pummeling every single Stingars that came their way, but naturally… “It’s no use! There’s too many of them!” cried Rarity. “We can’t keep this up!” groaned Fluttershy. “Keep goin’!” shouted Spike. In the virtual-room, the many army of Slicks lunged forth all at once, and though only one was obviously real, all the other attacks felt as real still. All the slicks punched, chopped and kicked all the fighters ruthlessly. “How can this be?” said Starla “How are they doing this?” “I don’t know…” panted Buddy Rose “The scans don’t reveal anything. We can’t even try to tell which the real one is.” The many Slick’s laughed and one by one each explained. “This virtual simulator has been a gem to the training of us Insectos for ages.” “It helps us to challenge any kind of battling imaginable.” “One of its many functions is it can make any simulation appear and feel as dangerous as the real thing itself.” The ponies could hardly believe that. It totally didn’t seem plausible for simulations to actually cause harm, but it was happening for real, and if they didn’t figure out what to do and fast, they were defiantly going to get pummelled by Slick and his army. As for Cadance…! “Say goodbye...!” Saber thundered as he drove his sword straight at her for the kill! To Be Continued! (Promo) In our next episode; as the situation becomes dire, and hope starts to fade, Cadance begins to put the gift from her son’s spirit to the test and use the power of the Mother-Child Bond. But as the barrier continues to fade, and very little time left, Grand Ruler and Celestia begin to attack the armada themselves, blowing every ship they can out of the sky. But the Insectos are still not beaten yet for a secret is about to be unleashed, but exactly what is this weapon and how will it affect the battle? Don’t miss the next exciting episode of “Starfleet Magic!” (Next episode: “Part 2: Big Bonds”)