My Brave Pony Starfleet Magic: Season IV

by DakariKingMykan

Episode 25: Part 2: A Dark Duel

The Dark King continued to laugh as he glared down at the ponies. To him, they were as small as Krysta were he their size. Never had the ponies faced anything so incredible large before. Even the Grand Celestial Ruler would hardly be about the length of the King’s massive fingers.

“We are in some trouble!” cried Dyno.

“Really, you don’t say.” said Myte.

Then they heard the sound of Tnaig laughing. “Take a good look around, for this is exactly what your world will look like one day.”

“Not a chance!” snarled Lightning.

“…Yeah!” snapped Rainbow “We won’t let you or even some creepy horned-giant wipe out our world.”

Tnaig felt deeply outraged “You dare insult the Dark King, in his very domain and presence?!” he shouted, and with that the darkness began to swirl in large gusts around him and his body was shrouded in dark light. “I think you shouldn’t have said that, Rainbow!” cried Starla.

When the light and winds had faded, Tnaig had grown in size a bit and he was as dark as the Dark King. “This will be my greatest honor-- destroying you all in the presence of his majesty.” he hissed.

The ponies stood their ground, clenching their fists. “Let’s get him!” shouted Lightning. Everyone nodded, and they all charged forth roaring loudly. Tnaig just stood where he was as all the ponies rammed a huge punch, or kick straight at him from all ends…

…but Tnaig felt nothing. He didn’t even flinch! It was like hitting a solid wall, and before the ponies could react, Tnaig’s eyes glowed, and a big burst of darkness emitted from him, blowing everyone off and sent them rolling along the ground.

“Wow! What just happened?” cried Pinkie.

“It’s as if being so close to the Dark King is making him even stronger.” said Buddy Rose.

“That’s not fair!” cried Fluttershy “How can we take him down on his home ground?”

“There has to be a way! There simply must.” cried Rarity.

“Fools!” thundered The Dark King “If you believe your super powers will save you here, you are sorely mistaken. Only the darkness reigns supreme. The light has no practical use here.”

The ponies refused to believe that and all stood back on their feet. Tnaig was far from amused by their determination. “You should have remained down. Now, Starfleet prepare to meet your end!”

The battle waged on, but ultimately the ponies were powerless against Tnaig’s supreme power. Not a single one of their attacks could even tickle him, while he continued to mercilessly strike them all hard. Their weapons and super attacks were no good either.

“DARK LIGHT ATTACK” Tnaig blasted at them. Lightning tried to counter the attack. “UNIFORCE” but his attack hardly amounted to snuff in the Darkness just as the Dark King had warned him, and Tnaig’s blast hit the team harder than ever, knocking them all down.

The ponies were starting to look really beat up-- all bruised, and burned, and their armor suits were dented a bit. Some of the girl’s manes were all tangled. “This dude’s tearing us apart!” cried Rainbow.

“Maybe we could try the mega modes.” suggested Buddy Rose.

“How can we, our powers are too low.” snapped Artie.

Tnaig couldn’t help but chuckle at them. “It is no use. Nothing can save you here. Why not surrender now and spare yourselves all the more agony?”

“Never!” shouted Lightning “No matter how tough the odds, Starfleet never gives in!”

“Ha! Fools!” shouted Tnaig and he zapped them again. All of them felt pretty weak and sore. Lightning was really fed up with all this now as he slowly struggled up. “My word, you are either very brave, or very foolish.” hissed Tnaig.

Lightning said nothing and gazed down at his friends. They barely managed to struggle up on their feet as well. “Lightning…” Starla said “You have to do it.”

“You don’t have any other choice.” added Rarity.

Lightning reluctantly agreed.

“Does this mean you surrender?” asked Tnaig.

Lightning gazed at him sharply and sneered “…Far from it.” and he began to concentrate hard until his horn was glowing brightly, along with the rest of his body in golden lightning.

“What is this?!” snarled the Dark King.

Finally, Lightning transformed completely, and now stood as an Enticorn. Tnaig hated the sight of all that glowing light. “Very impressive, but your efforts will be all for naught.”

Lightning growled angrily and shouted “EVIL MUST DIE!!” and he dashed forth and punched Tnaig hard, really damaging him and send him soaring up high. Lightning then zipped up fast, and kicked him hard sending him crashing to the ground.

Lightning roared ever so loudly, and his glowing increased brightly. Everyone shielded their eyes, even the Dark King winced back on his large throne.

Tnaig got up to his feet, and dashed straight back towards Lightning. “I’ll show you true power!” and the two went at it hard, but Lightning showed no mercy. He dodged every one of Tnaig’s attacks, and attacked him back hard.

“He’s going berserk again!” cried Buddy Rose.

Lightning blasted Tnaig hard and sent him skidding along the ground. Tnaig growled, but then he could see the gang of out the corner of his eye, and turned to fire at them. “No!” shouted Lightning.

“WATCH OUT!!” screamed Pinkie, but they wouldn’t be able to dodge in time. Tnaig fired, and the gang would have been toasted if Lightning hadn’t zipped in the way just in time to take the blast, damaging him, hard, and he fell to his knees. “Lightning!” cried Starla, and she dashed over to him.

“Starla!” shouted Artie; he was worried Lightning would take his fury out on her again, but surprisingly, he didn’t. “Lightning…?”

Her husband gazed at her smiling, not snarling. He didn’t even make any attempt to raise his fists at her. “Starla… it’s working. I’m in full control!”

His wife smiled with joy, and the others overheard.

“What is all this?” snarled Tnaig.

Lightning stood and glared at him “It’s something evil like you would never understand.”

“All I understand is that you will fall before my dark magic!”

“Not before you fall to the power of the light!”

The two dashed for each other again…

Meanwhile, in the past, Spike was really upset over everything. He slammed the ground angrily with his claw “I can’t believe it! He took them away!” he growled and continued to pound the ground in anger.

Krysta stopped him and urged him to calm down “We’re all worried and upset, Spike, but throwing an angry fit isn’t going to help.”

“She’s right, at the moment there’s nothing we can do.” said Grand Ruler.

They had already agreed they couldn’t just head into the future, not until the potion was fully set or they’d be risking their own safety, but the potion still needed another thirty minutes to be ready and could not be used in its current state.

“But what if we don’t make it in time?” cried Spike “What if we get there and it’s too late?”

The royal twins knew he had a point there. It wouldn’t be long before the ponies began to suffer from the decomposition without the potion to strengthen them, and worse, actually facing Tnaig and possibly the Dark King himself on their home grounds.

Now everyone was feeling as equally as worried as Spike, and starting to feel maybe they couldn’t wait, but it just wasn’t safe enough. “Isn’t there anything we can do?” asked Spike. He gazed at their majesties “Maybe you two could go to the future? You’re stronger that most of us and you could hold out longer.”

“Out of the question, Spike.” snapped Cadance, but her aunt and uncle disagreed. “He has a point, Cadance.” said Grand Ruler. His wife agreed “There’s one thing we never considered yet, our fusion power. That should suffice us with plenty of power until the potion is ready.”

The royal twins were intrigued, having remembered their father telling them stories about how he and their mother used to be able to merge into the Grand Celestial Ruler. Since Celestia had originally died, the fusion magic was never used again.

Though the risks were still pretty high, even the twins agreed it would probably be their best chance. “I say we go for it” said Shining Armor “…I mean what have we got to lose?”

The royal twins agreed too. “We’ll send you both to the future, but we must stay behind until the potion is ready, we’ll join you as soon as we can.” said Castor.

“Remember, we are still uncertain this will actually work well.” added Leilani “And whatever you do, do not try and battle the Dark King until we’ve arrived.”

Their majesties nodded, and then everyone headed outside where their majesties prepared to transform. Taking out, each, their respective halves of the rainbow rod, and joining the two pieces together. In a fright flash of swirling light, their majesties merged, and formed the Grand Celestial Ruler.

Everyone gazed in awe at the giant creature, and the royal twins were astonished beyond their wildest dreams. The ruler gazed down at their children and said in their mixed voice “It is time to go.”

Their children agreed, and prepared to warp the ruler to the future.

The battle continued…

Lightning and Tnaig were really going hard at it. The two attacked each other hard, sending each other soaring away from one another. “This… this can’t be!” groaned Tnaig “I cannot accept this?! I WILL NOT LOSE TO THE LIGHT!!”

Lightning growled angrily as he glared at his opponent, and the two charged at each other again, but suddenly, Lightning began to slow down, and his light began to fade softly. This gave Tnaig the edge he needed to bash him hard.

“Lightning!” cried Starla, but then she started to feel weary as well, as did the others.

“What’s… happening?” cried Dyno.

“I feel… like I’m going to… fall down…” groaned Myte.

Rhymey suddenly realized what it was…

“Our bodies are not fit to hold up in this time.
We’re slowly… degrading… to dust and grime!”

Tnaig continued to attack Lightning mercilessly, and gave him a huge blast from his Dark Light, so hard, combined with Lightning’s exhaustion from decomposition, that he transformed back into his casual clothes, flat on his back. “It’s… no good.” he panted “I can’t… keep up… my power.”

The others struggled all they could but they all were far too weak to fire as much as a spark of magic, or even lift their weapons.

Tnaig snickered wickedly as he approached Lightning “Poor little ponies… You went through all that fuss, getting in our way, destroying our cardinals and my comrades, only to end up here; unable to attack, unable to defend yourselves. Why you can’t even move!”

He poised his hand claw over Lightning “And now… for the darkness!” His claw began to glow, ready for the kill.

“NO!!!” Everyone shouted, believing Lightning had had it, but suddenly, a large beam of light fired at Tnaig, knocking him away hard.

Everyone looked up and saw Grand Celestia Ruler, hovering in the skies. At first they thought they were all hallucinating, but they weren’t when the ruler used their magic to gives them all a much needed boost of energy, so they could all get up again.

The Ruler smiled at them all and then turned to glare down at Tnaig “Where there is darkness there will always be a light to show the way, but no matter what way that is, good will always triumph over evil.”

Tnaig sneered and scoffed “A very touching gesture, but if you think me to be intimidated, you are sorely mistaken… just as you are ABOUT TO FALL BEFORE ME!!”

He furiously dashed up to attack The Ruler, and the ruler dashed forth. Despite being more than twenty times Tnaig’s size, Tnaig managed to sock The Ruler hard in their gut, and the kick them hard in the back, but the ruler managed to fire a zap of magic from their sceptre sending him skidding along the ground.

“Ye-haw…! Show ‘em who’s boss!” cried Applejack.

Tnaig was not amused “So, you are capable of harming me. I knew that you were powerful, but I never dreamed of experiencing it.”

The Ruler narrowed their eyes at him and said “We are capable of much more than you and your kind could ever understand.”

“Too bad you’re not capable of winning.” snarled Tnaig.

Lightning stepped forth “We are capable…” he said as his friends all stood beside him “And we will win.”

As they stood near the ruler, the light from their glowing was enough to make their insignias glow. “Let’s do it.” said Lightning.

Everyone agreed and transformed again.

“MEGA MODE ACTIVATE!!”

“VALKYRIA!!”

“Enough of this!” shouted Tnaig, and he powered up for a really big attack. “Everyone, let us band together.” said The Ruler. The ponies nodded and they all began to concentrate hard, as their magic was absorbed into The Ruler’s sceptre. “TIME TO DIE!!” shouted Tnaig as he launched his strongest Dark Light Attack.

“MYSTIC LIGHT” The Ruler and the ponies fired their power straight at the big blast. The two forces collided, and seemed to be at equal strength. “We’ve… got to… try… harder!” shrieked Fluttershy.

“Give it all!” shouted Rainbow, and they all poured on more power, actually forcing Tnaig’s attack back slowly. “It’s working!” cried Rarity.

“Keep it up!” shouted Starla and the poured on more magic as the blast continued to head for Tnaig, but he just laughed at them “Fools, you really thought this was all the power I had left? Here in the darkness, my power can be limitless!” He began to absorb more of the darkness around him which began to push back on the opposing force immensely. The ponies and The Ruler just couldn’t hold it.

“No!!” Lightning cried as the blast got nearer and nearer.

“It’s no use! We’re goners!” shouted Pinkie.

Tnaig really felt this was it. Just a few more feet and it would all be over, but suddenly… Tnaig got blasted hard in a stream of large dark magic, and his attack got canceled out, as did the other. Everyone, even The Ruler was confused, until they saw… the Dark King was doing it.

“What…?! Your majesty?!” cried Tnaig “This is all your fault, you wretched little ponies!”

The team couldn’t believe what they were seeing-- The Dark King then raised his huge hand and zapped him hard again, vanquishing him into the darkness. “BUT I WAS YOUR MOST LOYAL SERVANT!!!!” his last words echoed as he vanished into nothingness.

“He’s gone…” said Buddy Rose.

Applejack was livid and thundered at the Dark King “What in the hotel bills did you do that for! He worshiped you! He carried out your will!”

“He was getting reckless.” the Dark King said “I couldn’t risk anything happening to the Grand Celestial Ruler. They are a fusion of your queen and Grand Ruler Celesto. He is an essential factor in my creation. I could not let him be destroyed.”

“So just because he was a little reckless,
You vaporized him into the darkness?!” snarled Rhymey.

“You’re just sick!” screamed Rarity.

The Dark King laughed and sneered “Perhaps, but then again what would any of you know about anything?”

The team was most confused what he meant.

The Dark King gazed all around him as it got really, really dark for a brief moment. “Silence… emptiness… complete and total nothingness-- That is what it means to exist in the dark. Already nearly every planet, every world in this universe is under my dominion. Once all of you are exterminated, there will be none to stand in my way of total eternal darkness.”

The Ruler clenched their fist “You are truly evil, Dark King.” they said “It was our folly that you were ever created, and now we all intend to end that error.”

The ponies all nodded and looked ready to fight, but the Dark King only could laugh. “The only thing that shall end is your existence, along with the power of the light!” he raised his huge hand and began to sap at their energies, and once again everyone, even The Ruler was suffering from decomposition. The Ruler even defused into Celestia and Grand Ruler, and everyone’s armor and suits powered down.

“And to make it so I have no further problems…” The Dark King hissed as he raised his hand again, and the Grand Ruler began to float up into the air. “Celesto!” cried Celestia.

“Master!” shouted Lightning “No! Let him go!”

Grand Ruler shouted in anguish as he vanished dark glow. The others were all shocked, and some near tears. “Is he… he isn’t…?” cried Starla.

“Silence!” snarled the Dark King “He has merely been sent back to his appropriate time. I told you before, he is essential to my creation.”

“Celesto.” peeped Celestia.

Grand Ruler crashed on the floor in the palace, back in the past. “Father!” cried Castor. The gang ran over to him. “Daddy, are you alright?” cried Leilani.

“That time travel… really takes it out of you.” her father groaned. He did manage to explain what happened, and these made Spike feel all the more edgy. “We can’t wait anymore. We’ve got to go now!”

The others were inclined to agree, and the potion was ready as well.

“I’m going as well.” Grand Ruler said.

“Uncle, you’re weak. You should stay and rest.” protested Cadance. Princess Luna agreed too. “You are not strong enough to handle another jump through time. You must rest before you can fight again.”

“She is correct, father.” said Castor “However, we can leave you this…” then he and his sister left a small bit of their magic. “It will let you warp to the future again.” said Leilani “But you will have to recover your full strength before you can use it.”

“I will, but please, hurry. I don’t know how long the others can last.” Grand Ruler cried out.

The team agreed, and Cadance transformed into her Ninja form. The royal twins then gave her a simple spray of the magic potion, and though Cadance didn’t feel any different, her cousins assured her she’d be protected, but only for a short while.

“Cadance…” Shining Armor said. His wife turned to him, and he blew her a kiss, and she gestured blowing another one, since she couldn’t speak, and then she, her cousins and Spike warped to the future with cases of the potion in hand.

“I sure wish I was going with them.” said Krysta.

“That makes two of us.” said Shining Armor.

“There is very little any of us can do, and we cannot leave our world unprotected.” said Luna.

“We must have faith.” Grand Ruler said as he meditated on the floor softly to help restore his strength faster. He was also silently praying that everyone would be able to hold out.

In the future, despite being incredibly weak, the ponies still gave it everything they had. The ponies fired what little of their attacks they could.

“UNIFORCE”

“PULSAR LASER”

“LEAF SWARM”

“PAINT BOMB”

“DRILL QUILL”

“BOOM-BOOM FLARE”

The others all fired whatever magic their respective elements of harmony could give them. All those forces fired directly at the Dark King, but of course even all that hardly did amount to a mosquito bite on the giant demon. The Dark King could only snicker. “This is almost rather entertaining to watch.”

By this point the ponies felt so weary was lack of energy, and decomposition, they could hardly see clearly. “We… can’t… give… up!” cried Applejack.

“But… what can… we even do?” groaned Dyno.

“He’s… just too strong… for us.” added Myte.

Lightning struggled all he could but fell flat on his chest. He felt as heavy as a meteor and could barely move an inch.

The Dark King prepared to destroy them once and for all. “It is time to put an end to this conflict that has kept us all close.” he teased, and his two monstrous hands began to form a large ball of dark energy to fire at them all.

“Hey… if we die here in the future, does that mean we don’t get reborn in the past?” Rainbow wondered aloud.

Poor Fluttershy was so scared, but she could hardly even squeak.

Rarity, she felt this was it. “Oh, Spike…” she cried in her thoughts “Goodbye… I… never got to tell you...”</I> She finally knew it, but seemingly too late.

“Celesto…” Celestia peeped “Goodbye, my darling!”

“BE GONE!!” shouted the Dark King as he fired his shot straight for them all. This really looked like it was it for the friends, when a bright light began to shine from above…!

To Be Continued…!

(Promo)