//------------------------------// // Episode 21: Enter the Dragonoid // Story: My Brave Pony Starfleet Magic: Season II // by DakariKingMykan //------------------------------// EPISODE TWENTY-ONE Captain Fratello had finished repairing and upgrading himself, and had resumed work on his latest creation and modifications to his other robot-men. “It’s nearly time, my mechanical friends.” he said. His robot-men raised their arms up in acknowledgement and a kind of cheer. Then Fratello gazed up at the larger robot. “With you by our side, nothing, not even Starfleet or can stand in our way.” The entire chamber echoed with the sound of his evil laugh. It was during the final battles of the last war, in Equestria’s last minutes before it exploded. The evil Lord Titan managed to overpower the Elements of Harmony treasures, and actually crushed them into dust, destroying them forever. However, although the gems were gone, the magic itself was proved to exist within Twilight and her five other friends. That, plus the aid of Starfleet, combined with the magic of Grand Celestial Ruler. Titan was defeated, and although Equestria and Unicornicopia were destroyed, there was more than enough magic and harmony to combine the remains of the two planets into a whole new world; United Equestria. Twilight had gathered up her five friends and told them about the Elements of Harmony and that they needed to train hard to get the magic going again. Rainbow Dash was the only one who seemed eager to get started and she kept punching and kicking at the air as a warm up, but the others weren’t so sure. “I’m not so sure training like this will help.” Pinkie Pie said. “Yeah, it’s not what we did the last time.” said Applejack “Exactly.” said Twilight “Which is why if we train hard enough, we should be able to get the magic going for sure.” Lightning didn’t understand why he had to be there. He wasn’t tied to the elements, and he couldn’t use them as he was an original space pony. Twilight was aware of that, but she wanted him there to coach them. “After all, you don’t have magic of your own, yet you can unleash the uniforce.” “Yes, that’s true.” Lightning said “But I really don’t think it works like that. I’m still just mastering how to use the uniforce, and it still makes me exhausted when I use it. It always lived inside me. It wasn’t something I just learned from scratch. It just came to me when the time was right.” Twilight was aware of this as well. What she was hoping was that he could show her and the others how to focus, and concentrate harder. Lightning thought perhaps the training would do their girls some good, but he didn’t think it would actually work. The best thing he did for them ordinary strength building-- lots of exercise and drills to help harden their muscles and build up power for their magic, or skills. Even Fluttershy wasn’t too afraid to fight, but she was afraid she would hurt her friends when it came to sparring with each other. “Oh, really now, Fluttershy.” said Rarity “Look, I’m not one for all this anymore than you, but we have to try it.” “Well, if you’re sure.” Fluttershy said and she and Rarity began to spar with each other. For once they didn’t complain about being so sensitive about their looks, or being too timid. By the end of the session, the girls all felt pumped up, and Twilight felt so confident. “I can feel it.” she said “I think it’s going to work.” “Oh, boy…” Lightning muttered in dismay, as he held his head low. The other girls cheered Twilight on as she walked forward, and attempted to try her hidden powers on a rock a few feet away. Twilight concentrated, but nothing happened. She tried harder. Still nothing happened. She concentrated as hard as she could, and the results were explosive. The girls and Lightning all fell off their feet, and when the smoke cleared Twilight was half covered in dirt and her mane and tail were messed up. “I think I tried that a little too hard.” she said. “A little?!” snapped a voice and Spike came over the hill with cupcake resting upside down on his head. “Everyone in the whole kingdom must’ve felt that. You even ruined my snack!” Twilight apologized and brushed the dust off her. “I guess this may be harder than I thought.” she said. “Sorry Twilight, But I don’t know what else to tell you.” Lightning said. “Ah, it’s all right, Lightnin’. It’s not your fault.” Applejack said “Yeah… we’ll all get the hang of it sooner or later.” added Rainbow. That’s when Pinkie Pie saw some children in the park and dashed over to play with them all. Applejack headed off to check on her apple fields, and Rainbow and Fluttershy took off to enjoy a beautiful day. “What’s with everyone?” snapped Twilight “An evil threat is coming and they’re not worried?” “Twilight…” Rarity said “We’re all very concerned, but that’s no reason for us to fret about it all the time, you know.” Then she and Spike walked off together “Yeah!” scoffed Spike as he walked with Rarity and wiped the cupcake off his head. “Ah, Twilight…” Lightning said “I know how you feel about the battle, but I know we’ll be ready for it. Just do me a favor and don’t go knocking yourself silly. It’s a little hard on the senses.” then he left too. Twilight had been cramming through her all books and all her notes about everything she knew of the Elements of Harmony, but all her notes and books only had proper information on the elements when they were contained within the treasures. They had never before had any history of being used the way they were now-- contained within ponies. Even Queen Celestia and Grand Ruler had no clues how it worked. She’d have to discover their new properties for herself, remembered what the Queen had said “It will all come in time.” Twilight chuckled but then sighed. “Time; but exactly how much time do we have?” she wondered. She then felt the ground give a little shake, and then another one, and another. Each time the tremor seemed to be getting bigger and stronger, like giant footsteps. She ran to the door and headed outside and she could see and hear tons of ponies running for the hills instead of into shelters. Then she saw why! Over the hills came something about fifty feet high, stomping the ground with its big feet, crushing everything it its path. Even the force fields weren’t strong enough and the buildings were flattened like pancakes. Thank goodness no was inside, but that thing… it was now fully in view… a giant robotic dragon! “Twilight!” called a voice!” Lightning and all the others came rushing over. “What in the name of the galaxy is that?” cried Buddy Rose. “…The beginning of your doom. That’s what it is!” The teams turned and saw Fratello standing on the roof of a house laughing evilly. “Allow to introduce you to my latest, and greatest creation; Dragonoid!” With the click of a remote control in his hand, Fratello activated the robot dragon, and it roared loudly and extended its large claws, and began to stomp its way forward laying more paths of destruction through the town. “Say goodbye, Ponies!” shouted Fratello. “Uh… is this the part where we run now?” asked Spike, but several others glared at him angrily for that. Since the force fields wouldn’t be able to defend any of the civilians this time, Lightning ordered Twilight and friends to get them all as far away from the village boundaries as possible. “I don’t care how you do it, just hurry!” “Right, come on girls!” Twilight said, and they all ran off leading the civilians like a flock of stampeding sheep away from the village. Then, Lightning and his team transformed “STARFLEET MAGIC!!” Then, they all drew out their best weapons and Lightning powered up the uniforce. “Let him have it!” shouted Lightning, and everyone fired their most powerful attacks all at once, but Fratello just laughed as the blasts his Dragonoid, but didn’t do a thing at all. “It’s no use. It’s way too big!” cried Artie. “You bet it is.” snarled Fratello. He fiddled with the remote, “And now it’s coming for you.” Dragonoid roared and began to stomping towards the gang, then raised its huge claw ready to slice. “Scatter!” shouted Lightning and everyone sped off in different directions out of the way. At the royal palace, their majesties heard of and could see everything. Half of New Ponyville was already demolished and Lightning and his team would need back up. “Send out every available team! We must help them.” Grand Ruler ordered. The guards acknowledged and ran off. “Celesto!” cried Celestia as she and Shining Armor dashed over to him. “Cadance is gone.” “What, gone?” snapped Grand Ruler. Shining Armor nodded “She’s not anywhere in the palace.” Then suddenly, they all had a feeling that since Fratello was out there. “She wouldn’t be so foolish, after we warned her.” said Celestia, but it was defiantly possible that she had gone out to the battle to try and reason with her brother. Lightning and friends kept trying with all they had to, but they still hadn’t even managed to make Dragonoid flinch. Twilight and friends arrived back on the scene and with many reinforcements; Starfleet Fighters and royal guards. All the guard began to fire their magic and weapon attacks from afar and at different angles. “Your pony army is no match for the power of my robot!” snarled Fratello. He tapped the control, “Dragonoid, let them have a taste your real power!” Dragonoid’s eyes glowed and it opened its large jaws unleashing a hyperactive blast of energy creating a massive explosion when it struck, and blowing many of the fighters off their feet and through the air. A large crater was seen where the blast had hit. Fluttershy screamed, and Rainbow Dash couldn’t believe it “Whoa! That’s a lot of power!” Some of the guards felt like running away but forced themselves to stay and keep fighting. Some of them tried going after Fratello himself, but he blasted them all away every time they tried. “It’s impossible. You’ll never get the better of me. Right, Dragonoid?” Dragonoid roared loudly and kept on attacking. “It’s no use!” shouted Dyno. “Nothing we throw at it even makes a mark!” added Myte. Dragonoid opened its jaws again. “It’s going to fire again!” cried Rarity, and it did. Some of the guards barely managed to get out of the way and got badly hurt. Fratello continuously laughed with evil glee. “I don’t remember the last time I was so amused.” and he continued to command his creation to wreck more and more of the village. Destroying the buildings, and laying damage to the streets. Then, he turned to face the library. “No! Not my library!” Twilight shouted, and she dashed over. “Twilight, No!” cried Spike “Twilight, come back here!” Lightning ordered. Twilight began to fire multiple shots of magic at the Dragonoid-- anything to stop it from smashing her library and home. “Dragonoid, behind you!” shouted Fratello. Dragonoid turned round and saw Twilight. “Uh oh…!” Twilight whimpered while backing away. Dragonoid then prepared to fire another blast and Twilight was saved by Applejack, lassoing her out of the way just in time. “You okay?” Applejack asked “That was close!” whimpered Twilight “Too close!” added Spike. Then suddenly “Close-- That’s it!” Lightning had an idea. Everyone wondered what he meant, and he explained that if their attacks weren’t working from a distance, “Maybe they’ll work better up close.” Some of the others thought that to be virtually suicide, but others could already see Lightning’s point. Dragonoid was so big and massive, that it probably wasn’t able to reach in areas so close to it or even underneath it. “It’s worth a shot.” said Starla. “Maybe the only one we’ve got!” rhymed Rhymey. But that plan proved to be hard to achieve, for the moment they tried to make a move, “Oh, no you don’t!” growled Fratello as he worked his remote and make Dragonoid stop them from getting any closer. The fighters and the guards couldn’t move anywhere within twenty feet of Dragonoid without having to retreat or risk being mauled or blasted. “That remote control!” cried Pinkie “We have to get it away from him.” That was even harder to accomplish as Fratello himself was a skilled and strong fighter with his robotic powers-- easily staving off whole swarms of guards that tried to attack him. Many of the fighters, despite their training or weapon enhancements began to suffer more and more injury, while Fratello, being a machine hardly ever got tried and continued to punch, kick and blast them all away. Starfleet tried their attacks, and Twilight and friends charged, but to no avail. “You all put up valiant efforts.” Fratello chortled “Quite frankly it’s amusing, but I think I've toyed with you long enough!” He was ready to command Dragonoid for the final attack, when suddenly he was shot at and lost the remote-- dropping into a water barrel, shorting it out. “What?!” snapped Fratello, and he turned and saw someone speeding towards him shouting “BROTHER!!” “PIRNCESS CADANCE?!” the teams cried out in shock. What was she doing there; especially after her aunt and uncle forbad her form enter battles like this? No one knew, but it was definitely she who fired those shots, and became clear she had come to confront her brother. “Well, Princess…” mocked Fratello “It’s been a long time hasn’t it.” Cadance stood tall and proud but made no further attempt to attack him. “Fratello, please, call off this attack of yours.” Fratello on snickered at her “I’ve got a better idea...” that’s when Dragonoid began to move again. Even without the remote, it was built with a backup system. Now it was free to carry out its assigned task: Destroy all the ponies and conquer United Equestria for the entire Robot Empire to take over. “Brother, No!” cried Cadence “Call it off!” “Silence!” roared Fratello and he shot her in the leg. Cadance yelped in pain and fell to her knees holding her sore leg. “Brother…!” “Your brother is gone, he is no more. I am there is now, but you soon won’t be here.” Dragonoid was now rampaging through the damaged village and planning to invade all of United Equestria, but Cadence was in great danger, and all the guards were injured or down for the count. “We’ll have to split up!” Lightning said “Twilight! You and your team help Cadance. We’re going after Dragonoid!” “Be careful!” Twilight said and they teams separated. Lightning and friends dashed right for Dragonoid, shooting at it to get its attention, and it worked-- it turned to face them. “Keep firing at it. I’ve got an idea!” said Lightning. That’s when he began to fly up and straight at the giant robot-dragon. “Lightning!” called Starla. “Just do as I say!” Lightning called back at them. As he flew closer and closer, Dragonoid began to fire more shots directly at him which he dodged in midflight. The others kept on shooting at Dragonoid trying to keep it distracted. Finally, Lightning managed to reach and latch onto Dragonoid’s massive head, which was at least twice his size in diameter. “What’s he doing?” asked Buddy Rose. Then he got his answer as everyone saw Lightning gripping and pulling trying to yank the head off. “He’s crazy!” snapped Dyno “Si, he can’t pull that off!” added Myte. Lightning especially couldn’t concentrate with Dragonoid reaching up and swiping at him. Even rocking back and forth trying to bat him off! “WHOA! YEOW…!” Lightning held on for dear life as if he were battling a raging, bucking bull! “Lightning!” cried Starla “Hang on tight!” shouted Artie. “Give it your all and fight!” rhymed Rhymey. Meanwhile, Twilight and friends were trying their hardest, and so were the remainder of the guards, but they couldn’t defeat Fratello. Rainbow Dash lunged at him only for him to blast her so hard into Twilight’s home, breaking the walls and windows. “And I just redecorated!” cried Twilight. Cadance tried one last time to reason her brother, even try her own Crystal-Heart magic on him, hoping to connect to his heart. “You never learn, do you?” sneered Fratello. He had no natural heart, and the magic was totally ineffective on him. “Fratello, please!” cried Cadance. “Silence!” roared Fratello “Dragonoid will soon make ashes of your friends, but don’t worry… I’ll make certain you’re all there to greet them on the other side!” This was it, he charged up his power ready for the kill, and he fired! Twilight and friends shut their eyes tight thinking they had just been destroyed, but when they looked, there were their majesties standing before them, and had blocked the blast. “This has gone quite far enough, Fratello!” snapped Celestia. Her nephew gazed at her and Grand Ruler angrily. “You, pathetic overgrown fleshes of ridiculousness actually think you can win?” he laughed “You just wait until Dragonoid gets here and shows you the same courtesy!” “Sorry to disappoint you, but it looks like Lightning and his team are about to bring your over grown pet to the ground.” Grand Ruler pointed out. Fratello turned and saw to his horror… Lightning pulled and pulled with all his might and actually managed to yank Dragonoid’s head off of the body, exposing the insides of wires and circuits. “Time to end this!” shouted Lightning as his body began to glow along with his golden horn. “…UNIFORCE!!” (Skip to 0:48) He fired that burst of power through the opening and completely blowing out every circuit, every wire. Dragonoid was doomed as it flared, and sparked as it blew up from the inside. Then it fell over backwards, and exploded in a massive burst of flames. “…YEAH!!” Lightning’s team shouted. “Yes!” shouted Lightning still in the sky. “No! It’s impossible! growled Fratello "How could I lose with a giant dragon robot in my possession?” He then angrily turned and lunged at the others, but Grand Ruler and Celestia kicked him hard back, and so another fight began, but Fratello was badly outmatched by the power and team work of their majesties, and decided to make a hasty retreat at the last minute, but he promised this wasn’t over! Despite the victory, New Ponyville was in a really bad shape, just like New Crystal Empire and would take a little time to repair and set straight again. All the other ponies went to stay with friends and others were put up in shelters until their homes were repaired. Lightning, Twilight and all their friends were being put up in the royal palace in New Canterlot. Cadance, however, she was strongly reprimanded by her aunt and uncle for just running off into the battle like that. Even Shining Armor was cross with her. “What were you thinking going out there? You could’ve been destroyed!” he said. “I know…” said Cadance “But I thought maybe I cold reason with him, try to help him.” “Cadance…” Lightning snapped “We’ve been through this. You can’t reconcile with him. You can’t help him. There’s nothing you or any of us can do to save him. We must destroy him!” “I hate to agree with, Lightning…” Twilight said “But he’s right. He’s just too… too…” she could barely bring herself to say “…Evil” “Cadance…” Celestia said “We understand how strongly you feel about Fratello. We all feel just as bad.” “But your behaviour today, and your putting yourself and the teams in danger was very foolhardy.” added Grand Ruler. “I’m afraid that for your safety, you leave us no choice.” “Cadance, you are confined to the palace grounds until further notice.” Celestia said, and to ensure they were not bluffing they placed a special barrier around the palace so no one was allowed to leave or enter without consent. Teleportation would not help either. Cadance touched the barrier and found it wouldn’t let her through like very strong glass. She gazed at her aunt and uncle angrily, but she didn’t bother to speak knowing things were done. She just walked off to her room, alone. Their majesties sighed wondering if they were too hard on their niece, but they were worried about her, and had to protect her. The two teams felt just awful for Cadance, but they felt more awful for the damages done, and that Fratello was still out there. As for Fratello, he had retreated to his hideout and began immediate fast construction of another giant robotic monster. “You may have beaten Dragonoid, but I have another creation in store for you, a much more powerful one. So savour this victory while you can. For it shall be your last!” Meanwhile, Chrysalis had observed everything and now she knew that Fratello was in fact Cadance’s brother, and the fact that he was building giant robots and a whole robotic army. “This could prove be most advantageous… for me.” (Promo) In our next episode, a great power source has been discovered on the Dark Planet their majesties plan to send several of the friends on a mission to obtain it, but the path ahead is laden with many dangers and tricks the friends must overcome, and it also turns into a race against time when Chrysalis discovers the power source as well. Can the friends overcome all the obstacles and beat Chrysalis to the finish? Don’t miss the next exciting episode of “Starfleet Magic!” (Next Episode: “Part 1: Illusions of Darkness”)