//------------------------------// // Episode 3: Fearsome Flowers // Story: My Brave Pony: Starfleet Magic Season I // by DakariKingMykan //------------------------------// EPISODE THREE Usually being accepted into Starfleet took lots of hard work and serious training; four to six years of studying at the Starfleet academy as well. However, due to the fact that Lightning had been personally trained and prepped by the Grand Ruler himself for well over a decade, and by his majesty's royal command, all the technical stuff was overlooked and disregarded. As such, Lightning was immediately inducted, and already promoted to Senior Lieutenant, which made him superior to his other friends, and the leader of the unit. Though Lightning was initially unsure of being a leader of his own force having not much experience with such responsibilities, his master knew he would do just fine, and his master was very trustworthy. Krysta, being Lightning’s companion-- with her astonishing ability of strength, she was dubbed as an auxiliary Starfleet fighter; practically Lightning’s sidekick. Lightning also received two packages from Grand Ruler that day; one containing his new armor vest. It was exactly the same as his old one, only now the insigna had stars around it to show he was a member of the force. The insigna itself was replaced with a special-transforming badge... an Energizer... which still had the same marking of a Unicorn and a single wing! A few simple sequenced taps would allow Lightning to change clothes instantly, if and when he was in a hurry and had no time to change by himself, but only by shouting the command "Starfleet Magic" followed by a single press on the energizer would be transform into Battle-Mode, just like the others did durring the fight on the mountain. The armor itself composed of a highly density polymerized alloy and infused with Stardust and Cosmic energies; making it hundreds of times stronger than diamond. Nothing could harm it under fifty-thousand degrees and would take a lot of power and strength just to dent it. It was also magically enchanted; it would amplify the wearer’s natural abilities, magic, and weapons, making them stronger and swifter than they were before. The visors, now they were most important piece of equipment. Each visor had a set of various incredible functions. -Heat sensory -X-Ray -Infrared vision -Sound Scan -Radar -Telescopic magnification -Medical scan -Power scouting -Database retrieval Also, all Starfleet suits as well their fighters fought under a specific elemental or attributed force. Lightning's was "The Power of Believing" a very uncommon force among any other, and actually the only one of it's kind to ever be in Starfleet before, but it represent Lightning's courage and determination, propelling him to keep fighting and never stop believing in himself, even when things seemed dire. Lightning almost couldn’t wait for his first official battle. He was however curious about the second package as well. It was wrapped with a special magical material, not the kind you could just rip away or open so easily. All it came with was a letter from Grand Ruler… Lightning… You are about to embark on your adventure to help protect our world from that which threatens us. As much as I have faith in you, I wish to take no chances for your safety and therefore feel I should let you have this. You may not be able to open this package just yet, but all shall be made clear to you when the time is right. I have complete faith that you shall be one of our greatest assets in the fight against Titan and his evil forces. Learn well and strong, my apprentice, and keep on believing. Your caring Mentor: Grand Ruler. “Huh! I wonder what it is.” Lightning said as he shook the package trying to figure it out, but he decided to just leave it be for now. He had other things to attend to. Though he was an official Starfleet member now, he still had a normal life to live, and needed a simple job to pass the time, earn some extra money as well as make a little living outside the force. So he decided, and became a community worker; he would go around and help others at their work or do menial tasks for others. The entire planet was now well aware of what was happening, that Titan and his forces were out there and willing to strike again, but with Starfleet on constant alert and patrolling the areas for any signs of danger, the civilians lived in not too much fear and still went about their daily lives; it was better than living in fear and staying in hiding all the time. Some Starfleet officers did aerial patrols, others were walking beats on the streets, and others were on sentry duty in lookout towers. If anything evil came to the planet, they’d have to be pretty slick to avoid being seen! Still, Unicornciopia was also a planet of law-and-order, as was said before, crimes, hostile acts and such things were not tolerated. Everyone wanted to live in civil peace and good-relationships, but if the law was broken, depending on the severity, there would be consequences. Lightning pretty much was starting to get used to his new life, but he never neglected his training and exercise to keep strong, nor his studying to gain more knowledge of the world and galaxy around him, but most importantly the uniforce. It wasn't like anything he had ever seen or studied before. What was the Uniforce really? Where did it come from? How did he tap into it before, and how could he do it again? He still had no idea how to summon it like he did in the battle against the Titan-Puppet Unfortunately, he searched all over the library, but not one of the books had the information he sought. He was starting to feel a little frustrated. Inquerius was passing by and saw him studying hard again. “Are you frustrated, Lightning?” she asked. “I don’t think "frustrated" is the word?” Lightning sighed “Do you have any other books that can help me find what I’m looking for?” “Do you really think that what you seek can be found in a book? That such a rare and extremely powerful force has been recorded.” asked Inquerius. “That’s what I’m asking you!” snapped Lightning. He apologized quickly for being rude, “But please, can you just help me out?” Inquerius felt confused, “I have not been helping you already?” Lightning was getting so frustrated at all those questions, but Artie was passing by with some books he was returning told Lightning “You haven’t been around very long, and I don’t think you quite get it here. You see, her name is Inquerius; "Inquerius" like "inquire" or "curious." She doesn’t give answers, she asks questions. It’s the way she talks. Just like how Rhymey rhymes all the time, at least he does it less annoyingly.” He chuckled softly, but Rhymey looked up from his book and scoffed teasingly. “Less annoying, eh? My rhymes are okay.” Lightning got the drift now. Inquerius helped others by trying to get them to realize the answer for themselves; like answer a question by asking a question. A rather bizarre, but somewhat effective way to get certain things. “Is there not something else you can do instead of pondering over this mystery?” asked Inquerius. Krysta fluttered near her friend and suggested he take a break go get lunch. “You’ve been working too hard, Lightning. You really should relax.” Lightning felt that was laughable. How could he relax at a time like this when he had so many unanswered questions tormenting him, as well as worrying what Titan was up to now? But just then, his stomach gurgled he complied with what Krysta said. The Dark Planet was, as its name suggested, an eerie, dreary, fearful place with dark thundering skies. The grounds were littered dark soils, burned trees, and the bones of dead bodies decaying. Just the ideal place to keep an evil demon like Titan imprisoned all those centuries, but in all that time, Titan had slowly begun to rebuild, and in the center of the planet stood a tall and spooky dark castle, his home and base of operations for the past millennium. Over the ages, Titan worked hard to restore his power, and break Grand Ruler’s barrier on the planet and escape; So far all he had succeeded in was creating a small rift big enough to send his minions or puppet-clones of himself through, but not great enough for himself. In order for him to escape, the entire barrier would have to be brought down Now understanding what his course of action was. He summoned his minions before him in his massive throne room. The minions bowed, and Titan explained his plan, “My experiment in sending that puppet to gather energy from the alicorns has proven a success. Even now, the rift in the force field is expanding as my power grows, which greatly weakens the barrier itself, but if I am to effectively escape I shall require more power, which means more energy drained from those ponies and the world around them. Do you understand?” Mysterious bowed to his master “We understand completely my Lord Titan. We will not let you down.” Dementia nodded, but Rep-Stallion scratched his head in confusion, “Uh, not trying to question orders, but can’t we just get stronger in secret and then strike those punks again?” Dementia nudged him softly and growled “We’re going to explain it to you one last time, so pay attention! One of the first rules of combat is… Don’t underestimate your opponent!” “Dementia is correct.” hissed Titan “That is mistake I intend not to make a second time, therefore we stick with my plans. By doing this will not only gain more energy and power, should Starfleet spring into action we shall study them and learn of their skills and power, making it easier to crush them in our own time. However, if we destroy them beforehand, that’s fine too.” Mysterious and Dementia nodded, and Rep-Stallion nodded too finally understanding. “Tell us my lord.” Mysterious asked “How shall we carry out your wicked will?” Titan snickered sinisterly and in his hands he conjured up a sack of magic powder he entrusted to the minions. “This dust contains one of the more darker spells. Sprinkle it over any inanimate object and you will see." He snickered sinisterly. Lightning and Krysta had finished their lunch and thanked Cookie Dough. “Happy to do it for you guys.” he replied, and then he left to get back to work. Krysta let out a tiny burp. “Ooh! Excuse me!” she giggled, but Lightning still seemed distracted. “I don’t get it…” he said. “How can everyone be so calm when there’s an evil force out there that could attack any minute?” Krysta was just as confused as he was, but then assumed everyone was just trying to be brave. “We can’t just let one fact scare us.” “I don’t know…” Lightning said “Wouldn’t it be easier to just blow up the Dark Planet, and Titan would be gone?” but suddenly he realized “What am I talking about…?” He knew that Starfleet was not a murderous force. They couldn’t go around blowing worlds up without good reason or cause. Even still, from what he had already seen, studied, and heard of, it was clear Titan couldn’t be defeated quite that easily, even if he was weak. Even the Grand Ruler was not strong enough to ultimately destroy Titan, hence why he had him sealed off in the first place. No, until something could effectively be done, all there was nothing to do was continue to stave Titan and his forces off. In the meantime, Lightning and Krysta decided to head to Buddy Rose’s garden to pick some flowers for their home in White Village. There were so many kinds of flowers and they were so beautiful and nice to smell. Krysta was careful not to sneeze this time. As Krysta was about to pick some flowers, Buddy Rose came along and said “You don’t want those flowers.” “I don’t…?” “They’re too plain-- Too ordinary. Now I have something I think you’ll really love.” He motioned for them to follow him to a vacant patch in the flowerbeds with only mere drawings such beautiful flowers on sticks. They were so incredibly beautiful it was almost impossible to describe them… Buddy Rose explained that’s why they were called Beauti-Flors, and they only grew in his hometown, Redwood Meadows. “So why don’t you have any here?” asked Lightning. “I ordered a new supply of seeds from there, but my shipment’s way overdue.” said Buddy “I’ve sent contacts back and forth but I haven’t gotten any replies, and I can’t leave just yet, the garden needs urgent tending to. If there’s one thing I learned about gardening, never neglect your duties. The slightest bit could be fatal.” “Well, can’t you ask your family to come by and drop it off.” added Lightning, but Buddy Rose stopped and froze on the spot. He looked very grim all of a sudden. “My folks… they died a few months ago.” Hearing this stunned Lightning and Krysta. "Oh, I'm really, sorry." Lightning said. "It's okay, you didn't know." Buddy Rose explained how a few months ago he had graduated from the Starfleet academy, while his parents had gone off to the planet Yale, where his older sister, Iris, was attending college. They were all planning to come back and visit to celebrate Buddy Rose’s graduation, when the planet got attacked by invaders. Starfleet did the best they could but weren’t able to save everyone. Several lives were lost, three of them being his family. Lightning felt really bad for Buddy. His parents were dead too, and just learning of this spiked an old painful memory inside of him. However he didn't let it show, not liking to think of it, and was really concerned for his friend. “Now we're really sorry.” said Krysta. “It’s okay, you’re not to blame.” Buddy replied “Now I only have one living relative, my little cousin, Daphne Dill. She lives with me, and I take care of her after her parents died in an accident, but she’s too young to make a delivery of such importance, and she’s in school. So, I can’t ask her to get me the seeds.” Lightning and Krysta offered to get the seeds themselves, to which Buddy was thankful. Lightning and Krysta flew off, and in a very short time they had arrived! Redwood Meadows: It was a lovely village with red roses and other red flowers in the fields as far as the eye could see and even some tall redwood trees. Little white cottages with red thatched roofs were all scattered along either sides of a red-brick road leading into the flower fields. Strangely however, Lightning and Krysta couldn’t see any movement below, no signs of life. “Where is everyone?” Lightning asked. Krysta had no clue. “Let’s go down and take a look.” and down they went. Everything seemed as if they village had been evacuated. It was so quiet they could almost hear the echo of leaves falling. Suddenly, Lightning felt the ground rumbling and the tremors grew stronger with every passing second. “Krysta…?” asked Lightning “What’s that noise…?” Krysta gulped hard. “I don’t think I want to know.” The rumbling got stronger, and then suddenly, Lightning and Krysta could hear the creepy sounds of soft growling coming from behind them. They turned round, and what they saw nearly made them leap out of their skins! It was a flower exactly like the Beauti-Flors in Buddy’s pictures; only it was at least twenty feet tall, with dark eyes, sharp, prickly vines, teeth… and it roared like the monster it was. It also ran in the ground itself by its roots and tore everything in its path as it went. Lightning and Krysta backed away, and then they heard the sound a familiar laughter, and Dementia appeared, levitating in the air. “Hi…!” she teased. “You…!” snarled Lightning “So, this is Titan’s doing!” Dementia nodded. “You didn’t think you’d go unpunished for you actions on our last encounter… did you?” Then she instructed her monster, Floralbite, to attack and destroy Lightning. The Floralbite snapped its teeth twice. Lightning realized what this meant. “Well… I guess this is It.” he said and remembered what he was supposed to do, he stood upright and waved his arms shouting “Starfleet Magic!” touching the insignia on his armor, and he donned his battle suit and hollered “Power of Believing!” The body of his armor was still white, but his visor, shoulder-pads and stomach guard were gold colored like his horn. Lightning clenched his fists tight “Let’s do this!” Floralbite lunged at Lightning and he and Kyrsta evaded it, causing the monster to smash the ground. “Wow!” Krysta exclaimed “I never thought flowers could be so strong.” Lightning leapt up, and scanned the beast with his visor. Its attack was fairly high, its defenses weren’t nearly too high, but its attacks were dangerous. What was even stranger, the life readings gave off strange signals. No vital signs, no inner-bio functions. “Hey, this monster isn’t a living being, it’s just made out of ordinary flowers.” “What?!” snapped Krysta. Dementia snickered and gently patted the small sack out powder on her belt. “What, giving up already?” she teased. Lightning growled angrily and leapt over kicking the monster hard in its body. The monster growled in pain and nearly toppled over after that attack, but was still strong and ready for more. Dementia, although amazed by Lightning’s strength, laughed hard and mocked Lightning for his foolish attempts and then she herself leapt down to join the fight. “Let’s see how you like this, WARP WAVE!” and she sent a waving blast of wavy-energy right at Lightning. He back flipped out the way, but Dementia continued to fire at him while he continued to backflip away, but finally he got hit and rolled down a small slope. “…Gotcha!” Dementia laughed! “Hey!” snarled Krysta “No one does that to my friend!” and she lunged right at Dementia, buzzing around her like an insect, which greatly annoyed her. She swung her arm and nearly batted Krysta away, but she swerved and kicked Dementia hard in the face, actually sending her down. “Ha! Take that!” Dementia was outraged that her pretty face had been kicked and splotched with dirt “My beautiful face! You pesky firefly, take this!” and she fired another wave blowing Krysta high up in a draft. “Whoa!” Lightning saw that, and dashed over to try and help, but the Floralbite ran out in popped up in front of him, and punched him hard sending him skidding across the ground. Lightning wasn’t hurt badly, but was angrier than ever as he got up again. Since this monster was not truly alive, it could be destroyed without consequence, but Lightning no magic of his own to do so. He struggled and struggled with all his might trying to summon he uniforce, but nothing happen. He needed help and fast if there was to be any hope of beating this thing! The Floralbite growled and fired large barbs at him that exploded on contact which Lightning did his best to evade. “There has to be a way to stop this thing.” cried Krysta. “There is, just surrender, willingly I’ll make sure your treated with mercy.” hissed Dementia. “…Never!” Lightning snapped “I may be the newbie, but I believe I can still win.” but while he was proclaiming, the monster managed to catch Lightning off guard, grabbing him with its snaring vines. “Lightning!” cried Krysta as she tried to fly over and help him but Dementia just kept blasting more waves at her. “Destroy him now!” Dementia bellowed. The monster opened its huge mouth ready to devour Lightning whole. “No…!” growled Lightning “I… won’t… let this… happen!” and he sank his teeth into the vines. The monster roared and growled in pain as it released Lightning. “Hey…!” shouted Dementia “You won’t get away that easy.” but as she prepared to retaliate…! “LEAF SWARM!” shouted a voice as a swarm of razor leaves flew at her. “Buddy Rose!” cried Krysta and Lightning. Buddy Rose, in full armor himself, smirked at them. “I wondered why you guys were taking so long. Then word came in Rainbow City that Redwood was under attack.” Dementia was furious, as well as in a mess. “Get them!” she thundered, and the monster charged. “Run!” shouted Lightning, and the gang dashed away only to have the monster start chasing them. The monster growled and opened its mouth to fire more explosive barbs. “Look out!” Lightning called as he and Buddy evaded the attack. “All right, that does it!” snarled Buddy “There’re only one way to deal with a bad bud like this! VINE WHIP!” and he summoned forth a long whip which was his basic weapon. He lassoed it round the monster near its roots and yanked with all his might pulling it up and out of the ground, and then lassoing the whip around the roots so it couldn’t get back up again. “No!” cried Dementia “Floaralbite, get up!” The monster tried with all its might, but it couldn’t seem to get up straight with the whip latched round its roots. “Awesome!” said Lightning “But what do we do now? How can we stop it for good?” “I was hoping you’d know.” said Buddy. He himself was still a Starfleet freshman, and he didn’t have any powerful finishing-moves he could use. The Floralbite was fussing about and struggling to break free “I can’t hold on much longer!” “Aw… what’s the matter? Out of options are we?” teased Dementia. Then she used her powers to free her monster and make it stand up right again. “Uh oh…!” cried Krysta, but just as the monster was about to charge in something sped past it. “What now?” Dementia sneered as she and the others saw the object hover before Lightning “Hey! It’s that package I got from the Grand Ruler.” Indeed it was, and the wrapping around it magically vanished revealing a small golden scepter with a golden ball on time, and encrusted with rows of colorful jewels, all the colors of the rainbow. “Lightning…!” echoed a voice. “Grand Ruler…?” Lightning cried, but his master was nowhere to be seen; only his voice was heard. “If you are hearing this magical message, means you are ready to take possession of this item. Although you are strong and swift, brute strength alone will not always be enough to help you. You may be able to tap into the uniforce, but you have much to learn before you truly can master it. Therefore, until such a time, I give you THIS to assist you in battle. This is the Rainbow Rod. I created it centuries ago, and in time it has become infused with great power that should be extremely helpful to you. When the time is right, and you have strength enough, simply recite the chant inscribed on the rod, and unleash the Spectrum Stream.” Heeding his master’s message, Lightning took hold of the rod, and held it tightly and began to recite the chant. “Powers of the rainbow, heed my call I summon you now to make evil fall Let goodness and justice triumph in might I summon now… the rainbow’s light!” He held the rod up high as it began to glow mystically. “What’s going on…?” cried Dementia. Once the rod was fully charged, Lightning aimed it at the monster and shouted “SPECTRUM STREAM!” A magical force of powerful magic fired from the tip of the scepter in all the colors of the rainbow with white in the center and struck the Floralbite hard. The monster roared loud, and Dementia braced herself from the upcoming shockwaves as the monster fell over backwards and vanished in a fiery explosion, and the smoke cleared, all that was left were nothing more than ordinary Beauti-Flors scattered along the ground “Wow!” cried Lightning he gazed down at the rod “I… I did it!” "Whoa... too cool." said Buddy. He gazed down at his whip. It didn't have a cool finisher move like that... not yet anyway. Dementia couldn’t believe what has just happened, but she decided to flee while she had the chance. “You’ll pay for this!” she snarled as she vanished and was gone. Buddy Rose was happy that his hometown would be safe and he could cancel his order for the seeds because now he had enough Beauti-Flors to fill a whole basket. “I’ll take them back to my garden and get them replanted.” Still, what none of them could understand was how the flowers became a monster in the first place. Dementia’s magic was only used for offence and defense. So how did she make all the flowers turn into something like that? Whatever the reason, they were sure to find out. At least the village was safe now and the damages would be easily repaired. Buddy Rose even gathered up all the flowers he could carry and planned to take them back to his garden. Back in Titan’s lair, Dementia was struggling hard to make herself look pretty again after all she had been through, much to the annoyance of her fellow minions. Titan however was no too disappointed that Dementia had failed in her mission to destroy Lightning. She still got him the energy he needed. The force of the battle was so intense that each and every time an attack was used more energy was unleashed, giving Dementia the chance to secretly absorb it and take it back with her to give to Titan so he could weaken the seal and increase his own powers. Furthermore, Titan now knew the existence of Lightning’s rainbow rod. It was all just too perfectly laid out. Win or lose; Titan would always get what he wanted. He couldn’t help but snicker softly. Once back in Rainbow City, Buddy Rose went straight back to his garden and planted all his new flowers into place. “Beautiful.” He remarked. “Simply beautiful…” and he handed Lightning a bouquet of flowers for his home in White Village, free of charge. Lightning almost felt embarrassed “It’s not really normal for a male to give another flowers.” he joked. Buddy Rose agreed, but it was his job “You guys helped save my hometown, as well as helping me get these flowers. Now my business will go up twice as much.” Lightning and Krysta were also grateful to Buddy. He showed up just in time to help them, and that was what Starfleet was all about, helping one another, and working as a team. That night, before going to bed, Lightning sat himself down at his desk and with began to write in his journal his report on what had happened, and then write a report on his current status and adventures, and any other interesting things he would find. He was told by Grand Ruler to do this after every battle, or extreme adventure, and then send him the journal by instant mail. Lightning wrote his report… “My first mission as an official Starfleet member has been a success, thanks to my extensive training, my new friends helping me, and my increasingly in curiosity newly acquired weapon the rainbow rod. As of today, I have also realized it is best to wait for things to come with time. For shortcuts and impatience often can lead to disaster. As much as I am curious to understand and eager to learn the secrets behind my training of true magic, and that of the mystical uniforce which I am mysteriously able to tap into, I will do my best not to let my desire for these answers slow me down or frustrate me.” He signed his name, then sent the report through the magic mailbox slot which would send it all the way to Grand Ruler’s floating palace in the sky. After that, he hopped into bed, and turned out the lights and dreamt of all the adventures he would have another day. (Promo) In our next episode, Lightning and Starla seem to be growing closer as he learns more about her and the force, but Rep-Stallion shows up to create a force of his own; a solid rock monster immune to most attacks. How can Lightning and Starla hope to beat this rock-headed beast? What will become of their budding feelings? Don’t miss the next exciting episode of “Starfleet Magic!” (Next Episode: “Rollin’ Rocks”)