//------------------------------// // Episode 17: The Great Army Showdown: Part 2 // Story: My Brave Pony: Starfleet Magic Season I // by DakariKingMykan //------------------------------// “Previously on Starfleet Magic” After dealing with Lightning’s stress issues, he and his entire unit were challenged to a showdown against Titan’s minions, whom had mastered their super powers. Unable to refuse, Lightning and his team accepted the challenge, and soon found themselves on the Dark Planet, face-to-face with the super minions, while at the same time Unicornicopia had been invaded by a vast army of clones. As resistance continued, the forces on Unicornicopia were beginning to weaken severely, and to make matters worse, Lightning had completely passed out from some strange drowsing. EPISODE SEVENTEEN The gang huddled together, and the minions stood side-by-side. Lightning was still sleeping deeply, much to the gang’s upset, but to the minions’ delight. “Poor thing.” hissed Mysterious “Guess he’s reached the end of his rope.” added Rep-Stallion. The others tried to wake Lightning up, but he was really passed out. Krysta then realized that Lightning had collapsed under the effects of Dr. Penny’s drug she had given him that day. “She sedated him, now of all times?!” snarled Arite. “Lightning, please, wake up!” cried Starla. “Come on, amigo!” added Dyno, but Lightning still didn’t awaken. His battle suit even powered down. The gang also realized that they had all huddled into one group again, which made them an easy target for their enemies. “Who should we take out first?” Dementia teased. “All of them!” snarled Rep-Stallion. The gang were in trouble now, but they couldn’t just run off while Lightning was down. They needed to bide time, and suddenly, Buddy Rose could see something far off in the darkness. “I have an idea.” He whispered to the others “Get ready to move.” “And now, the time has come!” growled Mysterious “Say goodbye, Starfleet!” Then he and his comrades charged up their most powerful attacks for a humongous shot. “DANCE OF ICE!” “THE BITE OF LIGHTNING!” “THE HAMMER OF EVIL!” Right as they fired their attacks, Buddy Rose quickly leapt up, “LEAF SWARM!” he launched the biggest swarm he had ever unleashed, until he had created an entire wall of razor-leaves around the team making it hard to see them, but the minions didn’t care and just launched their attacks all at once. The forces struck the wall of leaves so hard, making a powerful explosion. It really looked as if it was all over, the minions gazed up ahead hoping that when the smoke had cleared they would see nothing but the remains of their dead enemies, but to their shock and outrage, they were gone! “Where did they go?” cried Dementia. Rep-Stallion angrily slammed his scythe hard. “I don’t believe it! They outwitted us again!” Mysterious was annoyed too. “They must be around here somewhere.” he said “Remember, they can’t leave here. We’ll find them, even if we have to tear this derelict-dimension-dump apart piece by piece!” They spread out and began blowing up and attacking anyplace that could remotely serve as a general hiding spot, but the team had retreated to the one place they hoped and felt the minions wouldn’t dare to attack-- Titan’s old castle! There they hoped to bide their time and maybe help Lightning wake up, but they all couldn’t help but worry about Unicornicopia and how things were going there. The reinforcements still had not yet arrived, leaving Grand Ruler and his forces of guards and fighters to fend off the endless swarms of minion clones for much longer than expected, but the forces were growing exhausted while the clones remained as strong as ever, but still the fighters knew they couldn’t give up. The shields around the buildings began to weaken again, forcing Grand Ruler to use more of his powers to recharge them to keep the civilians inside safe from the dangers, but using up all that power as well as assisting in battle was making him weaker. He fell to his knees panting heavily. “Sire, are you alright?” asked a guard. “Yes!” groaned Grand Ruler “But I’m running out of power.” The guards and the fighters felt very concerned, but he reassured them he still had strength to keep going. “I just hope the reinforcements get here soon.” He gazed up at the starry skies, out into space, knowing fully well that Lightning and his team were on the Dark Planet. “I especially pray they are alright!” Lightning was still sleeping deeply under the effects of Penny’s medicine, but for now he and the others were safe, but the others felt it wouldn’t be long until the minions figured out where they were. “Just look at them out there.” said Artie. Everyone gazed outside watching the minions blast more chunks and piles of dead trees and rocks away. Their powers seemed just as strong as ever, even after all that had happened outside during the battle. “Come on out!” roared Rep-Stallion “We’ll find you!” He sliced the remains of trees down, and blew up more rocks. “It seems that their powers just grow and grow. But how did they get it? That’s what I’d like to know.” said Rhymey. The others all felt the same ever since the day the minions first changed into their knight forms, but their visors still couldn’t tell them a thing of their power source; there was no available data. Suddenly, Lightning began to awaken and opened his eyes. “Guys?” he groaned softly “What’s going on? I feel so… heavy. So… so beat!” “You’re just sleepy from Penny’s medicine.” said Krysta “Take it slow and try to wake up.” Lightning struggled to stand, but he felt as if he had a huge boulder rest on his back and slumped back down. “Shh! Quiet!” snapped Starla “They’ll hear us out there.” The minions heard nothing and continued to search the grounds outside. “You’re beginning to make us angry!” snarled Rep-Stallion as he fired more blasts, and in his blind rage he fired a blast near Titan’s castle. “No!” Mysterious thundered as he intercepted her blast with his own power. Both he and Dementia were furious. “You idiot!” growled Dementia “That castle is the only keepsake we have left of Titan, and you almost blasted it!” “Sorry.” Rep simply said. “And need I remind you of what else lies in that palace?!” growled Mysterious. “Yeah, yeah, I remember the source of our power is in there.” Rep sneered, and then Dementia smacked him across the face “Shut up! What if the ponies heard you?” They heard, and they were delighted to have. “So, their power source is somewhere in this castle.” Krysta said. The others all happened on the same idea at once-- to find the source and hopefully disable it. “Um… just one thing,” Artie said “Where do we even start looking?” Just the foyer of the castle seemed large enough to hide so many things in so many places. Lightning, still woozy, managed to stand up. “Maybe… we should go in deeper?” he suggested, and seeing no other option and it would do well for Lightning to move around and shake his drowsiness away, they ventured forth into Titan’s castle. Outside, the others were beginning to wonder if maybe the ponies really had gone into the castle. They had already searched far enough in the grounds. “It’s possible they could be in there.” hissed Mysterious, and Dementia cast a nasty look at Rep, “And guess whose fault it is for opening his big mouth…” “Hey, I said I was sorry.” snapped Rep “At least we know where they are.” Mysterious hated to agree but Rep was right, and he and the others knew Titan’s castle well and how it was filled with traps and dangers to those who dared to enter. “I think we’ll play a waiting game.” he hissed and then snickered. The ponies, except Lightning, made their horns glow to give them light to see well in the dark as they continued to trek through the castle. Cobwebs and piles of dust and mold everywhere they looked. Water drops dripping down from above. Rats roaming around every here and there, and bits of dead bones along the floor. Starla stepped on a few crunching them under her boot. “Ugh, Yuck!” she murmured. Every once in a while one of the others would ask if Lightning was okay “I’m fine!” he would say annoyingly. Then he let out a yawn, “At least I think I will be once this drug wears off.” That was the least of their problems. They now were facing an area with many doors and pathways. “Which way should we go now?” asked Buddy Rose. The best they could all do was split up. Starla and Krysta would remain with Lightning to help him out. Artie then reached down to the floor and picked up sharp pointed stones from the ground and handed them to the others. “Use these. We’ll draw marks on the walls so we don’t get lost.” Everyone agreed, and then each picked a door and headed through. Some ways lead upwards, others went deeper down, and some just kept going straight ahead. Poor Rhymey felt his hind legs quivering, but he kept on repeating a small verse whenever he felt scared to help himself feel better. “Be brave and bold, That’s what you were told. Be brave and bold, That’s what you were told.” Dyno and Myte were used to dark dank places, being miners, but this wasn’t anything like being in a mine-- so unfamiliar, so creepy. Suddenly, they felt as if they were walking on wood instead of cold stone, and it began to creak loudly as they stood where they were. “Uh, Dyno…” Myte whimpered. His brother gazed down at the wooden plank “Uh, oh!” and suddenly, the twins fell through, shrieking. Their shrieks echoed throughout the castle, alarming the others. Rhymey quivered in fear. “Mercy me…! I BELIEIVE I SHOULD FLEE…!” and he ran as fast as he could down the tunnel, stepping on stones that activated traps that shot small flame-geysers in the walls and ceilings which he barely was able to avoid without a few scorches. “What’s that?” asked Buddy Rose, but suddenly a wall of spikes slammed down near at the end of the corridor and began to zoom right for him, forcing him to run faster than he had ever run and just barely reaching the end of the corridor but ended up falling down a long drop. Artie heard all the screaming and was already running down his corridors, and suddenly the floor felt slippery and he skidded about all over the place. “Whoa… hey… No!” as he slid he could see a series of swinging axes up ahead, and barely managed to duck, evade, and leap over them all, but he was still sliding and speeding up as he went downhill. Lightning heard all the frightful screams and echoes. “Okay, I think wide awake now.” “Good!” cried Krysta “Because I think we should…” “RUN!” cried Starla, and all of them began to dash ahead, and up ahead were three doorways, each of them dashed through one completely separating from one another. Somehow, every one of the friends all wound up falling, sliding and running back to where they started and crashed into each other, then flat on their backs on the floor. “Now… I’m really awake.” groaned Lightning. Everyone felt really silly, and now felt quite lost. “We made such haste. But it was all a big waste” Rhymey said. “What do we do now?” asked Krysta “There’s no point in trying the paths again. We’ll just end up back here.” The twins suddenly had an idea and began to feel along the walls. “What are you two doing?” asked Starla, the twins didn’t answer but just kept feeling along the walls, and tapping the stones. Suddenly, Myte reached up and grabbed hold of a torch holder, which moved like a lever. “Esso Es! I thought so” he chirped with glee as the wall near him began to slide open revealing a hidden way to a flight of stairs. “Way to go, boys!” said Lightning “Come on, let’s go.” Everyone dashed up, up, up the long flight of curving stairs up into the castle keep. They felt a little tired after running all the way to the top. “Whew! Now I see why the minions always teleport.” groaned Artie. Nevertheless, they had reached what appeared to be Titan’s old throne room, and the sight of Titan’s old massive throne was almost breathtaking. “Even the Grand Ruler’s throne isn’t this big.” remarked Lightning. Krysta flew round, and around the throne as she flew to the top then back down again. She landed on the seat and walked around a bit, but something felt strange to her. “Krysta, what’s wrong?” asked Lightning. “I feel something.” answered Krysta “Something below here is giving a vibration.” The others all scanned the area with their visors, and they not only detected powerful vibration, but their magical scans were going crazy. “There’s something beneath the throne, in the floor.” said Buddy Rose. “Stand back.” Starla said, and once everyone was clear “PULSAR LASER!” and in a swift blast, she blew up the throne, and when the dust cleared the floor began to quiver softly, and the stonework where the throne was began to rise up revealing a large glowing green sphere. Everyone gazed at it with awe, but there was no doubt in their mind that this was it—the power source the minions argued about. “This is it. We found It.” cried Lightning, but at that moment, the sphere levitated up, and began to fly around in furious circles, and then it flew straight through an open window and headed outside. “Let’s go after it.” snapped Artie. They all flew up and out the window, chasing the sphere, not realizing where they were going at first until they ran right into the minions. “Well, well…” hissed Mysterious as he held the sphere and tucked it away into his armor. “Did you enjoy your tour of the master’s castle?” Dementia snickered, then she sneered furiously “I hope you’re willing to pay for blowing up his throne! The others had almost forgotten why they had come in the first place. “No more games!” Lightning said “I think it’s time we finish what we started.” The others all nodded in agreement, and then, “Starfleet Magic!” Lightning transformed into his battle suit again and he and his team stood ready. “So, you finally ready to lose yet?” snapped Rep-Stallion as he gripped his scythe. “We sure are…” Krysta said “We’d love to lose; lose you.” Most of the ponies quickly got out their weapons… “STAR BOW!” “VINE WHIP!” “SUPER STAFF!” “WARD SWORD!” “Go!” shouted Lightning. At his shout, the gang split up and attacked the minions just like before. The battle seemed more equal this time as attacks and blows were sent and given, but the minions were still proving to be far too swift and strong. Their powers just never seemed to get weak, no matter what they did, al because of that strange glowing orb. “We’ve got to try and get it away from them.” Lightning hollered to his teammates. “That is not going to happen!” growled Mysterious. “Attack!” he and the other charged straight at the ponies, and the ponies realized that Mysterious was their obvious target as he had the orb, but Dementia and Rep-Stallion helped to keep a lot of them back. Rhymey and Artie’s weapons were starting to get scraped and scratched, while Rep-Stallion’s scythe had hardly a dent in it, and Dementia’s ice powers were making it hard for others. Dyno and Myte tried to rush Dementia from different ends, but she flipped out of the way causing the twins to ram into each other. “Did we get her?” they both said feeling dizzy. Dementia burst out laughing, but Starla didn’t think it funny. “Oh yeah?!” she growled, and lunged at Dementia trying to land one good bash, but she dodged each and every one of them and kicked her hard sending her back and right into Lightning, knocking him down. “Are you okay?” Lightning asked. “Yeah… I’m alright.” She answered. They both held hands as they held each other up and almost fell into another shy spell. “This is crazy! We’re not getting anywhere.” Krysta said. The others huddled together to regroup. “We’ve fought the best we can, But I say we need a new plan.” panted Rhymey The minions laughed as the slowly crept forth “There’s nothing you can plan.” hissed Mysterious. “There’s nothing you can do.” he reached into his armor and held out the glowing orb. “We have the magic. We have all the power, and now we have you in our grasp, just as our army has your world at our mercy.” The team suddenly remembered and shouted “...UNICORNICOPIA!!” The clone army just wouldn’t stop coming, and the guards were all finally reaching their limits after battling for such a long time, and worse the barriers came down again, and Grand Ruler struggled his hardest to get them back up, only then to collapse onto the ground. “Sire!” cried Captain Shaina as she ran to his side. “That’s it!” Grand Ruler groaned “I’m… running too low on power. I won’t be able to charge the shields again.” The angry clones began to huddle in large numbers, still hardly weakened at all from the fight. No matter how many times they were destroyed, they just kept on coming back, but suddenly portal began to open in the sky as the Starfleet reinforcements final arrived in vast numbers and jumped right into battle. One of the commanders apologized for being late, but the clones were even fighting them on the dimensional pathways. Nevertheless, the fight was evened out again and it would give the Grand Ruler and the other fighters a chance to rest a short while and recharge their powers so they could rejoin the fight. Lightning was very worried about the kingdom, and what he would give to topple the minions and race back. Suddenly, he remembered how during the fight everyone was bumping into one another. He was beginning to have an idea. “Any last words?” asked Rep-Stallion as he held his scythe high. “Make it fast!” snapped Dementia. “Yeah…” Lightning said “Everyone spread out!” the others felt confused at first, but did as they were told. The minions were losing their patience and spread out to continue the fight. “Lightning, what are you doing?” asked Starla “Just trust me!” Lightning said and then he ran back towards the minions. “What is he up to?” Krysta wondered aloud. Then they all noticed that Lightning was standing directly with minions all standing around him in a ring. “I give up!” he then said. “WHAT?!” everyone shouted, event he minions were shocked to hear. “You’re right, we can’t beat you, but I don’t want any more trouble. Take me, but let my friends go.” “Lightning, No!” shouted Krysta. “What are you doing?” called Dyno. Dementia felt she was going to faint. “Somebody, pinch Me.” she chuckled. “You’re offering yourself to us?” asked Rep-Stallion in disbelief. Lightning nodded. “I’ll do anything you want as long as you let them go.” Mysterious thought it over for a moment, “Well, as tempting as that would sound, I’m afraid we must refuse.” “That’s right!” growled Rep-Stallion “We swore we’d get rid of all of you, and that’s just what we’ll do.” Dementia nodded, “You destroyed our master, Titan, and now we’ll return the favor, starting with you, Lightning Dawn!” The minions charged up ready to fire, and Lightning had no place to run. “And now, goodbye!” roared Mysterious as he and the other minions fired, that’s when Lightning spread out his wings and flew straight up, casing the minions to miss them and strike each other instead! “It worked!” and his friends caught on with his plan. “If we can’t beat them by ourselves,” said Buddy Rose. “Maybe… we can get them to beat each other!” said Artie. The others agreed and the battle was on again. Krysta fluttered round Rep-Stallion and near his face like a fly “Bet you can’t hit me here.” she teased. “Why you puny little pixie!” growled Rep and he launched his “BOLT OF THUNDER!” straight at Krysta, but she dodged it and the blast collided into Dementia, too late for her to raise her defense. She was furious. “Watch where you’re aiming?” she shouted at him. “Hey, it wasn’t my fault!” While they bickered and quarrelled, Starla and Rhymey decided to launch an attack. “STAR SHOWER!” “DRILL QUILL!” The two minions were hit hard and went after Starla and Rhymey, but they stepped out of the way at the last minute causing Rep and Dementia to ram into Mysterious hard. “You clumsy fools!” growled Mysterious. Another quarrel erupted with the three of them, and Dyno and Myte saw their chance and launched their “BOOM-BOOM ROCKETS!” Their rockets attacks minions in a huge bombardment so hard that the glowing sphere also slipped out of Mysterious’ possession and Krysta swopped in and grabbed it. “Look what you two have done!” roared Mysterious. “We?!” snapped Dementia “What about you? You were supposed to hold it!” growled Rep They broke out into such a quarrel and even began to fight and blast at each other. The ponies realized this was the perfect chance for them to attack with all they had. “It’s time to end this once and for all!” Lightning growled. That’s when his golden horn began to glow and he was which alerted the minions. “Guys!” cried Rep. The others looked up just in time as the other launched their strongest attacks. Buddy’s whip and Rhymey’s sword were charged up and glowing strong while Artie was whirling his staff hard and fast. “WHIPLASH STRIKE!” “THRASH SLASH!” “SUPER STAFF SPIN!” All three of them slashed hard, and knocked the armor clear off the minions. Then Starla went next, and clutched hew bow tight, ready to perform her new strongest attack. “GALACTIC PROJECTILE!” and her powerful arrow knocked the minions’ helmets off. The Spanish twins held hands, “BOOM-BOOM FLARE!” and attacked the unprotected minions hard, knocking them down. (Skip to 4:18) “My turn…!” Lightning roared as he stood tall and proud, bathed in glowing light and recited the chant and unleashed the “UNIFORCE!” The minions tried to run, but were struck full force and screamed loudly. The minions had never been hit so hard, almost like colliding into a giant meteor, and they felt their magic powers begin to die out, as their knight forms starting to spark and flare-up. They quickly used the last bit of magic they had to separate from their knight forms transformed back into their regular forms, just in time as the magic of their three knight forms rose into the sky like souls leaving the body, flaring, jolting, and sparking wildly. They combined together in one big sphere and exploded in a great ball of fire! At the same time, back on Unicornicopia, with knight-power gone, as the puppets were created from the very same source, all the evil puppets vanished in large puffs of black smoke, and were gone. The fighters and guards began to cheer for joy, and Grand Ruler knew what had to have happened. “Lightning, you’ve done it!” Lightning and his friends jumped for joy and cheered with delight, while the minions lay disgraced and beat up on the ground. “We lost... again!” Mysterious cried. “After everything we went through” added Rep “It’s all over! Master Titan… we’ve failed!” cried Dementia. The gang was still cheering, but then something caught their attention-- a portal gateway had opened, and the Grand Ruler’s voice called out. “Lightning, can you hear me?” Lightning answered his master’s call. “Yes, we’re here.” “Quickly everyone, come through this gate. Hurry, it will not hold for much longer.” “Andale, amigos!” cried Dyno. “Let’s go!” added Myte. “Wait!” snapped Lightning. “We go, but we’re taking the minions with us. They’ve caused us enough trouble for one lifetime.” His friends couldn’t agree more, but when they turned to face where the minions were. “Hey!” cried Buddy Rose, “They’re gone!” Sure enough, the minions were nowhere to be seen. They had slipped off to somewhere when everyone’s backs were turned. Still, there was no point in worry about that now, since they were blasted of practically all they had. Once back in Unicornicopa, everyone settled down and relaxed to a wonderful celebration in Rainbow City. Grand Ruler was very, very pleased with everyone for their efforts, not only for going beyond the call of duty and seemingly put Titan’s minions out of commission, but they had also found half of a star stone. It turned out that the glowing sphere Lightning and friends had found in the castle was in fact a defensive shell of soft magic that kept half a star stone-- the green part-- intact. This was what was supporting the evil powers that the minions had all this time, and also explained why they were able to detect the source with their scanners as the data hadn’t be programed into the visors. “But, how did it end up in Titan’s castle?” Lightning asked. Even his teacher didn’t know the answer to that, but one thing was certain, it was now imperative they all continue to search for the remaining whole stone and the other half of the part they had just found. Even with Titan’s minions out of action, there were still other, more powerful evils still were lurking out there. “Our mission for great peace has not been fulfilled. Take good care, everyone, and never let your guard down.” Everyone bowed to their ruler. After the party broke up, everyone decided to head home for a much needed rest. Lightning and Krysta escorted Starla home to her home apartment-building. “Starla?” asked Lightning. “Hmm…?” “I…! I uh…” he just couldn’t bring himself to tell her once again, “Goodnight, Starla.” Then he left. “Goodnight, Lightning.” she whispered, and she didn’t stop staring at him until he was out of sight. “Why didn’t you tell her?” Krysta asked. “I just couldn’t do it.” Lightning said “It didn’t feel like the right time.” Krysta sighed and rolled her eyes. She was still waiting impatiently for him to suck it up and tell Starla how he really felt. “Lightning, what am I going to do with you?” (Promo) A fairy just like Krysta has appeared in Unicornicopia and reveals to Krysta about her forgotten roots. Lightning and Krysta are then invited to Krysta’s home world to help restore Krysta’s memory, but Lightning also runs into Serpentari and finally recognizes her as the one who destroyed his planet, but soon finds she is far more powerful than he realizes and cannot take her on himself. What will restoring Krysta’s memories achieve and how will Lightning fend off against the evil serpent demon? Don’t miss the next exciting episode of “Starfleet Magic!” (Next Episode: “Queen of the Fairies”)