EPISODE THIRTEEN
Another day in New Ponyville, and all the ponies and other creatures were going about minding their own business.
Lightning, Twilight and Rainbow Dash were doing some exercise running on treadmills. Spike lazily sat bathing in the sun with shades on and a smoothie in his claw as he watched the others. The girls had to each run a distance of ten dimensional light-years, while Lightning only had to run five, but he didn’t start until the girls only had five miles left to go.
The girls looked exhausted but Lightning seemed fit and fine like he was enjoying himself. “I don’t get it!” Rainbow complained “How come we have to run ten light-years and you have to only run five?”
Lightning smirked and said “Because I haven’t been neglecting my training. That’s why. This is peanuts to me; I’ve run farther than this before.”
“How much further do we have to go.” panted Twilight.
“The same as before; five dimensional light-years.” replied Lightning
The girls knew he was right and decided to keep running. “Uh… Lightning…?” Rainbow asked “… how far is five dimensional light-years anyway?”
“Well, it starts here in United Equestria. Then you out in space all the way to the planet Conva, and then back again… five times.”
The girls moaned groaned and Lightning sighed. “Seriously, I don’t know how you girls expect to get your commission to the force if you can’t keep in shape.”
“That’s what I keep telling them.” Spike said as he picked at his claw, but the girls were not amused. “Sure Spike… you don’t have to run a million miles per hour. You just sit there soaking up rays like a frozen fish.” growled Rainbow. Spike pretended he didn’t hear her and continued relaxing.
Once the exercising was all done, the girls felt they could barely stand up. Rainbow was even desperate enough to ask Spike for a sip of his smoothie. “Sorry, it’s all gone.” Spike said.
Rainbow sighed in dismay. Luckily, Twilight didn’t feel too wiped out to conjure up two canteens of water for them both. Lightning still sighed “What am I going to do with them?”
At that moment, a portal appeared and out popped Krysta and her husband, King Topaz from the planet Luminous. “Hello dear friends.” said Topaz.
As delighted as the others were to see them, the fairies had come searching for Twink. “We all came here on a picnic but he just wandered off.” said Krysta “He’s been acting very strange lately.”
“How do you mean strange?” asked Rainbow.
Topaz explained their adopted son was very young, not even four years old, so he was still very little and not able to do very well at things like magic and teleporting, or even flying very effectively on his own. His folks always had to hold his hand while they flew together. “Lately he’s been getting a little disobedient and forgetful.” Krysta said “It’s like he’s trying to prove he can do something when really he can’t, yet.”
The conversation was interrupted when two little butterflies came lying by and Twink popped his head out from behind a bush. “Hey, come back here!” he shouted and he fluttered his little wings as hard as he could, but just as expected, he couldn’t fly as, still being young, and he flopped down onto the ground.
“Twink!” snapped Topaz. His little son rolled his eyes and turned to face him. “Yes, father.”
“What have I told you about trying flying?”
Twink sighed “Not until I’ve trained hard enough.”
“That’s right.”
“But Dad…” Twink tried to argue, but his mother wouldn’t hear of it. “Twink, you’re still very young.”
“I was talking to Dad if you don’t mind.” snapped Twink
Twilight cut in “Now, Twink, that’s no way to talk to your mother.”
Everyone could tell by now, Twink was in a bad mood. “Come on, buck up little guy.” Rainbow said, but Twink snapped at her “Don’t call me that!”
“Now, see here, son!” Krysta said “That’s no way to talk.”
“You’re mother’s right, Twink.” said Lightning. “You still have a lot to learn, and lots of time to grow up, but believe me, even then you could still have troubles.”
Twink didn’t believe it “You guys wouldn’t know. You were always big and strong, you all learned how to do things easily.”
Twilight approached him “You know, you’re wrong Twink.” she said. “We all had our troubles, one time and another.”
Rainbow and Lightning nodded, and Spike came up to all of them and said to Rainbow and Twilight “I remember how you girls felt during your first days training for Starfleet.”
“I remember that too.” Lightning said.
It all started a few months ago.
The evil Titan and his followers had been destroyed, along with the planets Equestria, and Unicornicopia, but United Equestria was formed and all the ponies had become humanoid like the Space Alicorns. A whole new world was started for everyone. Grand Ruler and Celestia were finally reunited and were married, and a new age dawned for all.
Of course, even with Titan and his followers no longer a threat, Starfleet would continue to exist. There were bound to be other evils that would one day arise and cause trouble, everyone wanted to be ready, and Twilight and friends, now understanding and fully realizing the real dangers and trails that were sure to come.
They all decided to join Starfleet and be ready to protect their world from future attacks, so there would be no repeats of what happened before.
Rainbow Dash was especially excited, because she believed that by passing the training, “The Wonderbolts will have to recruit me for sure.”
Twilight sighed. “Is that all you can think about?” she said.
“What do you mean?” asked Rainbow, and Twilight explained that she was signing up out of curiosity-- for a challenge. She already knew she was great at doing a lot of magic, but she wondered just how much more she couldn’t actually do. “Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be the absolute best you can be?” she asked.
Rainbow never thought of it like that before, and both she and Twilight made a pact that would both do their best to excel at the training and come out as top notch pony-stars.
They soon, however, realized that training was going to be no walk in the park!
On the very first day, Lightning and Grand Ruler ordered all the girls to gather round, and things already got off on a bit of the wrong foot. “Cadets Applejack and Rarity...” Lightning said “You are both improperly dressed.” Applejack was asked to remove her hat for the duration of training, and Rarity had on flipflops instead of her casual boots. “I thought they looked darling with my ensemble. I really don’t see any harm in it.” Rarity said. Lightning just gave her a stern look. “Oh, all right.” Rarity snapped and changed into her boots “You’d think someone would have a care or two for a sense of fashion
Grand Ruler cleared his throat and told the ladies “Fall in!” Then he welcomed them to their first day of training and he assured them this would be no easy feat. “As I am aware you are very skilled in the arts you perform, however, I feel that compared to Starfleet you are just not powerful enough. As you saw in the previous war, your skills as they currently are were into fit enough to combat the newer, more powerful enemies we have faced. I believe that you can all pass our tests, that you can become stronger and swifter than anything you ever imaged, and it’s because I believe in you.
...But... do YOU believe that you can do it? Well, that’s what we’re about to find out.”
Rainbow was hardly paying too much attention, as she was daydreaming about how swell it would be to become the absolute greatest. She was snapped out of her trance when Lightning called to her “CADET RAINBOW DASH!!” she snapped awake. “Let’s try and keep awake, shall we?”
“Sir, yes sir!” Rainbow shouted. Lightning picked his ear.
“Now girls, as you know, you won’t become as strong as us original space alicorns, but you can become stronger than what you’ve ever been.
Before we get into any serious training, we’ll need to test your current skills. How strong you are, how fast are.”
Rainbow was confident that she’d be the fastest in the class, and she was-- She excelled a five-hundred meter dash, just running, in only eight point four seconds, while all the others were slower than she was. “Yeah, I totally rocked that!” Rainbow gloated with pride.
Grand Ruler was impressed by all their skills. “Well, Rainbow Dash, it certainly seems you are the fastest in the class.” he said. Rainbow felt flattered, but she was soon confused when she heard “…but defiantly not the fastest of all!”
“I don’t get it…” said Rainbow “You all saw how fast I was…?” Her friends all agreed. “Yes, Rainbow you were fast.” said Grand Ruler “But you must learn to excel even beyond your built in limitations. Move with purpose and clear direction. Cockiness is the key step towards blundering.”
He demonstrated what he meant by letting Lightning run the course. Rainbow still just smiled gloatingly, but when Lightning started, he just seemed to just whiz right through the course without even flying but just running on his own two legs, and in only three point two-one seconds!
Rainbow and her friends couldn’t believe how fast that was and Rarity almost fainted in shock.
Twilight was amazed that a pony that couldn’t do magic could be so strong and fast.
“And that…” Lightning said “Is the result of the intense training I spent more than ten years pushing myself, I’m still going hard it.” He could already do many things like break sold boulders with his bare hands, and even take loads of pressure than normal ponies couldn’t, and his speed. That was impressive enough just on his feet, but his current record of flying was 55,800 miles per hour. That was just a little over seven times the speed of Rainbow Dash’s best speed of Mach Ten!
Now Rainbow felt her attitude starting to spike, and she promised herself she was going to get through this training and become stronger and faster than ever before, just as all the others did.
For the first few weeks, the ponies were put down to hard training drills and courses to build up their physical strengths, testing their courage, and increasing their speed and swiftness, all kinds of things. Grand Ruler and Lightning even put them through the same things Lightning had to endure.
Lightning told them “A Starfleet officer thrives on surviving the hazarding pains of simple and enemy torture and LIVES... to go back for more, to fight for what is right.”
Fluttershy already felt nervous to the point of wanting to quit and run, but her friends wouldn’t hear of it and dragged her back each time. Pinkie Pie seems more enthusiastic, but she was constantly told to be reminded that this wasn’t a game, and the single most judgment in error could mean the end of her life or the lives of others. Rarity was easily the worst student who had the hardest time fitting in. Not a single session went by that she hadn’t complained about having to get dirty or do things without the aid of her magic, such as heavy lifting or performing tasks, dodging things like paint blobs as if they were projectiles and getting splatted every time…
Even when it came to a steaming-tank, it wouldn’t be good on her. At first, she felt excited about getting a good steam session. “A good steaming shall help me recover from all these hard endures I have been through.”
But Lightning smirked at her, and waited until she got inside and he locked her in to tell her. “You won’t be thinking that in a moment. This is no ordinary steaming tank. These steam jets can burn through solid steel in a matter of seconds.”
Rarity’s eyes widened and she felt the heat starting to get to her, for it was actually a test of pain-tolerance, and to toughen her up so in the future it wouldn’t seem so bad, but still, for her first time Rarity fussed and bucked about as the searing heat got to her “THIS IS UTTERLY INSANE!” she squealed, but all Lightning did was stare at her amusingly with his arms folded and said “How do you think we fighters got to be so tough? You need to build up your pain tolerance-- be able to take the hit!”
Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy went through a special training session for flyers, and trained at Wonderbolt academy in New Cloudsdale for all the wonderbolts to get a taste of it as well. The Grand Ruler was there to unveil a new invention to the Equestrias “Behold, the Hurl-a-Whirl.”
It was a machine similar to the wonderbolts Dizzitron, but instead being strapped into a disc, ponies were strapped in a large bubble like cell, and instead of being twirled in mere furious circular motions, the ride was designed to hurl, whirl, and twirl the flyer in all possible directions. "And if you scream..." Lightning teased "...It's just going to go faster and harder."
The Equestrians all gulped hard, even Rainbow!
The ride would launch them out, and then they were forced to recover fast and race back through an obstacle course. Touching a single obstacle or failing to complete the course in less than five seconds were marked as failure.
“You guys are tough!” snapped Rainbow.
“We have to be.” said Grand Ruler “In Starfleet we keep in good shape and always stick to our training. We like to try and be prepared for anything!"
Not a single of the ponies, not even Rainbow Dash cleared the course. They all were too dizzy to recover, got his by the obstacles, and failed to make the timing. Fluttershy didn’t even try as she was too scared. These failures were expected of course, as it was always with first timers, and would need more time to improve.
Applejack was amazing when it came to strength and attitude, and her speed had improved significantly, but she had a few troubles getting across some of the harder courses that were laden with such traps and obstacles that she could even move forward without getting hit or falling. That’s when she and others were told that would eventually be taught how to dance like in a dance school.
“Dancing can do wonders for the battle.” Lightning said “It helps you improve your evasiveness. Remember: even the most powerful attack or weapon cannot harm you... IF... it doesn't hit you."
He demonstrated by going through one of the hard courses, which he had gone through many times. It was a simple spread divided into four parts. The objective was to hop along a series of tall small pillars overlooking a deep fall, while at the same time small, harmless darts, cannon balls, and spiked logs would come at him to try to trip him up.
(Skip to 0:50)
He stood ready, and then began to skip, hop, side-step, and twirl gracefully through the course and didn’t get a hit a single time impressing the girls.
He even gave the girls a little challenge.
The Equestrians would all be armed with special paint guns and would try to shoot Lightning and three others as they danced along a simple flat runway.
From start to finish the girls tried their hardest, but didn’t land a single hit. “You see girls. Dancing can be quite effective. You’ll learn. I believe in you all.”
So, training continued, and two months later, the girls began to get the hang of things and were starting to show signs of improvement in strength, speed, endurance, dexterity and so on, but things were far from over.
One day, a couple of weeks before the changelings came and the war started, the girls were put to more serious tests and to see if they really had what it took.
They were subjected to running obstacle courses, faced with dangers that were only magical illusions or cardboard props. Applejack and Pinkie Pie went first with their course-- dodging all the traps and obstacles from the dance moves they had learned, and reaching the finish line as fast as they could. When they finished, they stood tall and proud and saluted.
Grand Ruler had been inspecting them himself, and Celestia was invited to watch too as well as time the girls. “A minute fifteen.” she said. “That’s very good ladies.” added Grand Ruler.
Pinkie jumped her joy.
“Ye-Ha!” cried Applejack.
Rarity and Fluttershy’s obstacle course was different. It was a rescue scene: They had to rescue two baby foals, actually just dolls from a raging inferno fire, while avoiding making the situation worse or getting hurt themselves. The flames were only illusions, but Fluttershy was still freaked out by them, but with Rarity’s help, the girls managed to brave the course and get the foals to safety. “One minute five seconds.” said Celestia. “Very impressive.” added Grand Ruler.
Rainbow Dash was training with Lightning and Starla in a shootout range. Ponies were to soar or run through the course, unicorns and alicorns fired magic projectiles at the targets as they passed, and all ponies that couldn’t do magic were given special ray-guns to use that were quite harmless.
Being a great fighter also meant how well your accuracy as well as you judgment were. Starla demonstrated by going through the course and showing off her masterful archery skills. She even did trick shots with her bow, and even fired several arrows at once. Not a single target was missed, and a single imperfect bullseye was not counted.
Rainbow’s accuracy was perfect in every way. She hit all her targets perfectly, but then it came time to add a new element to her course; the judgment factor. “Sometimes…” Lightning warned Rainbow “You’ll have only a split second to determine what your target is; either a good guy or a baddie, and whether or not you should shoot.”
Rainbow was still acting cocky and determined to prove she knew what she was doing, but was flying so fast and attempted to copy Starla’s style by showing off, she was thinking properly and hit every single target on the course.
As for Twilight, she had one of the hardest courses-- a monster maze. She was to trek through a staged cavern where cut-outs of monsters would pop up, and she was required to attack them either with magic or psychical attacks.
Of course, being skilled and quick on the draw with magic, every time a monster popped up, she fired a beam of magic form her horn at it, slicing the cut-out in two. A couple of shots she slipped and hit the props near the monsters, but she stayed focused and continued to fire.
When she came out, Grand Ruler and Celestia were very impressed with her timing. “Fifty-six seconds.” said Celestia. “Excellent!” added Grand Ruler.
While their majesties inspected the cave, the ponies all gathered round, almost all of them were happy with their results, but Rainbow was sulking really low, and when asked why her friends were shock to hear…
“You failed the shootout?” asked Rarity in disbelief.
“But why…?” asked Fluttershy.
"I'll tell you why..." Lightning said as he presented her with a drawing of the course and all the targets she had hit. According to the sheet, Rainbow hit every single one of her targets. Every... single... one!
"But I hit all the criminals." said Rainbow.
Lightning shook his head and gave her a strict look as he pointed at some other targets, "And you also hit... an innocent bystander... a mother with a baby carriage... and a hostage!"
“I don’t get it." Rainbow complained "I mean, they’re just cardboard.”
“Which doesn’t change a thing.” snapped Lightning as he approached her. “The whole point of your exam was to show good judgment, not recklessly fly by your targets and showing off. Bottom-line is, you failed Cadet Dash, and that is final! You'll never make the force until you learn to think more rationally and show better judgement.”
Rainbow simply scoffed at him and turned away, which only further infuriated him. “Just be glad the Wonderbolts didn’t see. They wouldn’t be pleased with you either.” That was all he said and he left. Rainbow couldn’t understand what all the fuss was about, but her friends did, and they understood why Lightning failed Rainbow.
Rainbow couldn’t believe this, he friends not supporting her in what she felt what was her time of need, but she felt betrayed and angrily stomped away.
There was far worse to come. Their majesties emerged from the cave and called Twilight over to them. She approached them with a proud smile on her face, but then noticed they were not pleased with her, and Celestia gave it to her straight, “You may have had the fastest time, but we’ve marked you as fail.”
“What?!” Twilight cried in shock.
Grand Ruler gazed down at her, “You need to take the time to use your head before you ever use magic or a weapon.”
Twilight tried to protest that she hit every target, but all Grand Ruler rebuffed her and said “That doesn't mean anything! All you did was use your magic. What you did in there was reckless and completely irresponsible.”
“Your majesty, I don’t understand.” Twilight said.
“Well maybe you will when you understand this…” Grand Ruler said,a nd he gave her some practical advice for her to heed, “Sometimes the "obvious" choice is the "wrong" choice. Remember that.” Then he and his wife headed off, but Celestia turned to gaze at Twilight again to say “I am disappointed in you, very disappointed.”
Twilight was in disgrace.
Celestia did think they were, perhaps, a little harsh on them, but her husband assured her it was okay. “She needs to learn and understand, trust me. She will come round. I have faith in her, just as you do. Besides, I have an idea.”
Rainbow was obviously still too upset to talk to anyone. So they all gave her some time and space to herself, but Twilight… she had never felt so confused, or upset in her life. “I don’t get it, Spike. Why did they fail me?”
“I have no idea. I wasn’t there.” said Spike “But I’m sure it must’ve been for good reason. They wouldn’t just up and fail you.”
“But still, I don’t get this “Obvious Choice” deal. Why wouldn’t he just tell me what the problem was? Queen Celestia usually said things flat out.”
“He’s not Celestia, Twilight.” Spike said “It’s probably his way of tutoring.”
Twilight still didn’t feel any better.
“I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about, Twilight.” said Fluttershy.
“Yeah, don’t be all beatin’ yourself in. We all have our flaws in all this here trainin’ stuff.” said Applejack.
“Twilight, I’m certain that whatever flaws you may have will be as easily overcome as my own have.” Rarity said, but that’s when she realised she was standing on a sticky spot on the floor, and she began acting all panicky. The others all laughed at how silly she looked, but the moment was soon interrupted when the alarms sounded. The girls and Spike wondered what the commotion was. Pinkie stood tall and proud and was ready to dash out the door “Future Starfleet officer Pinkie Pie to the rescue!” she shouted, but Applejack held her back. “Whoa! Hold your horses, girl.” she said. Pinkie had quite forgotten that they were all still not officially permitted to join battles. Whatever was happening was best left to deal with by Starfleet and the Wonderbolts.
Suddenly, Spike belched out a letter from their majesties…
It said that a gang of pony thieves, breaking the law had robbed a bank and were now holding a family of pony’s hostage in a mine near New Everfree Forest. The strangest thing was Grand Ruler and Celestia allowed Twilight and only Twilight to enter this battle, despite the regulations. She was to go to the battle alone, without her friends.
Twilight was baffled beyond words. “First they fail me in my test, and now they want me to jump into a real mission?” she asked aloud “What’s going on here?”
The others didn’t know, and weren’t sure if it was right for Twilight to go out there, but their majesties ordered it, so Twilight had no choice. So she teleported…
…right to the area near the danger zone.
The Wonderbolts were keeping the by-standers way back, while Starfleet fighters had the place completely surrounded. “Twilight…!” Lightning called as he touched down by her. “You got the call, I see.” He explained they managed to round up most of the criminal-ponies, but a few more were still inside the mine with the hostages. “None of us would dare even try to sneak in there through the entrance; we don’t know what they’ll do.”
Twilight realized that would be foolish, but she had an idea and thought maybe she would teleport herself deep inside the mine where the thieves wouldn’t notice, and she could ambush them from behind. Lightning knew this disregarded every regulation in the books, but allowed her to do it. “Be careful.” he warned her.
Twilight managed to teleport into the mine. At least the torches along the walls gave the place a little light so she could see where she was going. She quietly crept along, until she saw what she was looking for. A family of three, a mare, a stallion, and their little son we’re being held at horn point by three nasty unicorns wearing burglar masks and bandanas, and were threatening to blast the hostages if they didn’t behave, or if anyone tried to rush in on them.
Twilight carefully moved into position, and then used her magic to teleport the unicorns away from the hostages. The thieves were confused, and then they saw Twilight, and a battle began. Three on one, but Twilight’s physical training proved to be too much for the thieves; even their magic didn’t work too well on her.
All that time building up her strengths, her body was so solid now she couldn’t feel the pain as much from such a small blast, and her speed made it easier to dodge oncoming projectiles.
Desperate, one of the thieves grabbed one of the lit torches, and swung at it at Twilight like a weapon. She managed to dodge it and kick the thief hard into his comrades sending all three of them crashing into the wall, right up against one of the long wooden supports. However, the force of the impact weakened the supports which held up the ceiling. The weight of the rocks was starting to give above the area the hostages were under. “They’ll get crushed!” cried Twilight. She tried to teleport them to safety, but she had already used her teleporting too much, and it didn’t work.
The thieves saw their chance to escape, and the one holding the torch saw something else two, right near where they were, hidden under some sheets. He quickly set the wooden supports by the sheets ablaze, and then he and his comrades ran outside, not caring that they were immediately caught by Starfleet.
The fire was starting to spread faster, and the roof above the hostages was going to cave in any second. “Hang on, I’ll get you out.” cried Twilight as she dashed over to help them, but she was suddenly interrupted when Grand Ruler sent her a telepathic message telling her, “No, Twilight! First put out the fire.”
“What?” snapped Twilight, she tried to protest, but Grand Ruler demanded she do it.
"No, I have to get them out of here. I can teleport them out and then come back in a few seconds!"
"JUST DO AS YOU'RE TOLD!!" shouted Grand Ruler.
Twilight had no idea why, but she did as she was told and put out the fire by using her telekinesis to lift a huge water barrel. She didn’t stop until every last ember was out.
That’s when the rocks above the hostages were starting to fall. “Oh, no!” cried Twilight. She dashed over as fast as she could, but the rocks already started to fall before she was halfway there. “NO!!” The family was not dead, but unconscious, and the little colt looked like he was really hurt.
Twilight just stood there with a hard look on her face, and tears of shame in her eyes.
A rescue team came in to help take care of the family, but Twilight’s cheeks turned bright red in anger. “UGH!!” she growled as she ran off right past Lightning “Twilight!” he called, but she didn’t stop.
Twilight was so angry and upset she was smashing and kicking rocks in her yard all day. The others were afraid to even approach her. “He told me to put out the fire first.” Twilight yelled “He was wrong! I never should’ve listened to him!”
Twilight angrily threw another rock, which Lightning caught. “Grand Ruler was not wrong, Twilight.” He said to her, but Twilight protested “Yes, he was! I should’ve gotten those ponies to safety first!”
“Twilight…” Lightning said calmly “You did the right thing.”
“No! I didn’t!” Twilight roared “Now those ponies are hurt! What do you say to that?”
Lightning could see Twilight was going to continue being stubborn, so he told her that before she went popping off anymore that she go back to her training course and have a look around herself. “Maybe you’ll see where you went wrong.”
Twilight did just that, and she looked all over the training cave, all the targets she hit with her magic blasts were still there and lying about, but now that she looked more carefully, she saw something she missed before…
Some of the monsters she hit with her magic had magical-resistant armor. Had they been real monsters, her magic wouldn’t have had any effect on them at all, and over using her magic was what made it so she couldn’t use her teleportation skills over and over.
What was more; she also noticed a wooden prop barrel with a burn mark on it, made by one of her missed magic shots. She tipped the box over and read the label, “...Gun Powder?” The barrel was of course empty, but had it been full it would’ve exploded after being hit causing loads of damage!
Twilight began to wonder, and she dashed back to the mine. She looked back at the area where the fire was and noticed the sheets. She pulled them away and uncovered a box marked TNT
“Dynamite...?”
She finally understood-- if she hadn’t put out the fire first, then the whole mine would have gone up and everyone would have been hurt. Even if she had teleport the family to safety just for a few seconds, just those few seconds would had been too late. There could had been such an explosion that could have caused a huge rock-slide that would damage the forest and the nearby villages.
Twilight turned round and saw Grand Ruler standing at the mine entrance, “Sometimes the "obvious" choice is the "wrong" choice.”
He also explained that the whole incident at the mine was merely a set up, and all those ponies, they weren’t thieves, and the hostages weren’t even real ponies, just enchanted puppet clones, and even the box of TNT was totally empty. Even the roof caving in was not real and would not have hurt anyone. It was just enchanted to seem real.
Every single pony that was in the crowd and Lightning were all involved in the act.
Twilight was livid, and surprised. “You set this all up to teach me a lesson?”
“You are a very remarkable pony, Twilight Sparkle, but being a Starfleet fighter isn’t easy. Sometimes, you will find that no matter how skilled you are, or how much you wish to... in the end, sometimes, you will find that you ultimately cannot save everyone or everything.
These are hard lessons that I learned, when I was just starting out, and that Lightning his friends and the many fighters that came before them learned...
...and just as you and your friends will learn.
Sometimes, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. I know that seems harsh, but if you think carefully about it... sometimes you have to do what's best."
Twilight finally began to understand where she was going wrong. "Sire, I've been such a fool. I promise to do my best to improve, and I will make you proud of me."
“I believe you.” Grand Ruler said, smiling proudly at her.
Meanwhile, Lightning had asked Rainbow Dash to report back to her training course. She was still not in a very sour mood. “Why did you call me back here?” she asked.
“I thought you’d like to try the course again.” Lightning said “And this time, you can do anything you want out there, even show off.”
Rainbow was confused at first, but decided “Okay.” She began to get the feel that Lightning was hiding something from her and she didn’t know what it was until she started the course. Again, she was zooming so fast and shot every single target that came her way. Suddenly, she attacked one particular target and she stopped right in midair! “Hey!” she snapped and she went to examine that cardboard cut-out. “Whoa… it’s Twilight!”
“That’s right.” said Lightning. “You just destroyed the princess, not to mention a close personally friend.”
Rainbow suddenly remembered the full deal about being a fighter and how her desire to show off her best moves blinded her to the real deals.
"You see, Rainbow..." Lightning said "In Starfleet, we think of others-- other beings. They are alive and flesh, not cardboard cutouts. that's why important we use good judgement, and stay well prepared, because all those living beings have friends, families, loved ones... and it's our job to keep them safe."
Rainbow felt very foolish for the way she had been acting, but her spirits were held up again when Lightning said “… and I know you will too.”
Both Twilight and Rainbow shared their report to Celestia and Grand Ruler… saying that they had learned not to let their desires for greatness overshadow their better judgement, and that it took common sense and priority to be a good fighter, not just amazing skills and magic.
The story was over, and Twink began to understand. He knew he would never be big in size-- he was a fairy, but someday he would be able to do many things, “And we all love you just as you are, Twink.” said Twilight.
Twink looked up. “You’re all weird…” he said with a naughty smirk “But I love you all too.”
Everyone smiled down on him, and his parents were very proud of him for learning to be patient with things.
(Promo)
In our next episode, it’s off to the planet Conva to answer to a distress signal. Lightning and friends run into an ally, but soon find themselves in the milled of a massive prison breakout riot which soon puts United Equestria at the end of a shooting range.
Will Lightning and friends solve the issue? Will United Equestria be blown to bits?
Don’t miss the next exciting episode of “Starfleet Magic!”
(Next episode: “Prison Roundup”)