//------------------------------// // Episode 25: Part 2: Plotting Risks // Story: My Brave Pony Starfleet Magic: Season II // by DakariKingMykan //------------------------------// “Previously, on Starfleet Magic” As Fratello planned to unleash his ultimate attack, Chrysalis invaded his laboratory and overpowered the robot captain, taking control of his entire army. She soon had unleashed her newly acquired army of robots to unleash on United Equestria. At first seemingly unable to fend off against the Doom-Droid, their royal majesties joined the fight and merged into Grand Celestial Ruler, but Chrysalis was also prepared and created a chaotic energy absorbing storm to further tip the battle in her favor, and leaving the ponies with no a clue of what to do. EPISODE TWENTY-FIVE Things kept going from bad to worse, then from worse to way worse. The palace was still being approached by several robot men. Even with the force-field still active, the orders were to keep the robots far away, especially with the chaos storm brewing. Princess Luna was taking a timeout to rest and restore her magic, and the artillery crew were starting to run low on magic for their ammunition. “Don’t shoot until you are certain you cannot miss!” said Shining Armor. At best the guards could only wait until the robots were very close. That way they wouldn’t miss and the give the magic some time to recharge. Both Goldwin and Cadance were starting to grow more worried and agitated. Goldwin was worried if the palace got attacked or destroyed and he’d be outside, and lose the magic from his mask, and Cadance was more worried about everyone in the battle, especially her brother, knowing he was under Chrysalis’ control. She was getting that look in her eyes, but apart from the force field keeping her in. Goldwin and Shining Armor were watching her every move. All she could do at the moment was pray that everything would soon be fine. The Ruler had no choice, they had to fight and at least try to keep Doom-Droid at bay. At least by fighting physically without blasting or doing much magic the chaos storm wouldn’t accelerate as fast, but Doom-Droid was still able to fire its power, and the Ruler had no choice but to absorb it which did accelerate the storm. Chrysalis couldn’t stop laughing with glee. Her plan was foolproof, and the best part of it all was no one could even try to attack her. They’d either be stopped by the robot-men, Doom-Droid, the chaos storm, or by she herself. Even launching attacks from below did nothing. Worse than that, the teams and the army were growing exhausted and couldn’t keep going much longer. “There’s… just… too many of them!” Lightning panted. “We… need… help!” cried Twilight just as she collapsed from exhaustion and a robot grabbed her by the neck and picked her up of the ground. The others tried to come to her rescue but were all ambushed by more robots. Twilight tried to break free but she hardly had enough strength to make even a small spark, but just as the robot was about to effectively destroy her. It got blasted at, and Twilight fell to the ground. “Leave my friends alone!” shouted a voice. Twilight looked up and could see Spike riding atop of one of many hundreds of dragons, flying to the scene. “Spike!” cried Twilight. Spike leapt down from his dragon ride, “Ta-da! In person, or rather dragon.” and he told his dragon buddies to have at the robots. Soon more reinforcements arrived. “It’s the Griffins!” cried Rainbow. “And here come the Diamond Dogs.” cheered Rarity “And I can’t believe I’m actually cheering for them.” “And there’s the Minotaur gang!” cried Fluttershy. Her ex-trainer tipped his shades and spat on the ground. “All right boys, this is what we trained for.” He growled “NOW LET’S DO IT-----!!” and he and his men began to charge forth bowling all those robots in their path over like pins. With a whole new army dealing with the robot men, it gave all the other fighters a chance to regroup. Even The Ruler suggested that Lightning, Twilight and team regroup at the royal palace. Heeding their ruler’s advice, the team fled for it, and Chrysalis ordered Fratello to “Never mind them. The cowards, they will soon find there is nothing they can do to stop me now!” Already, the chaos storm had really taken its toll-- buildings, towns, and villages were being struck by the powerful Lightning. Many of the buildings homes and schools were shattered to pieces. It was only a good thing the planet had been evacuated or innocent lives would had been lost as well. The team was barely able to make it back to the palace safely, and even so, it pained them to watch the continuing battle and the storm raging. They knew that even Grand Celestial Ruler couldn’t go on like that forever. Finally, Professor Brain came running into the throne room with some very interesting news. “I’ve discovered how Chrysalis is creating this dreadful storm he said.” “Well, tell us already!” snapped an impatient Artie. Brain explained that the Grand Celestial Ruler’s source of power was pure dimensional cosmic energy, while Doom-Droid’s was pure negative energy. Chrysalis absorbed the same forces from the caverns on the Dark Planet, and with them she combined the energies together to form the powerful storm that was threatening the planet. The more the energies were combined, the more savage the storm would grow. It was then decided that the best and only way to stop all this was disrupt Chrysalis magic spell and destroy the Doom-Droid before she had a chance to reenergize it. “But how can we do that?” asked Applejack. “It’s too dangerous to even try to get near either one of them.” “And how can we disrupt Chrysalis’ spell of darkness?” asked Buddy Rose. “Every time we get a chance to try and get near Chrysalis she blasts us away.” Everyone thought and they thought, and finally Lightning realized “If Fratello’s powering Doom-Droid on the inside, maybe if we disconnect him he’ll lose power, and Chrysalis won’t be able to hold the balance as well, and we’ll have a chance to get at her.” The others began to agree. “But how do we get him out of there?” asked Rainbow, and she had a point. Obviously Lightning couldn’t try the same stunt, and pull the body apart, like he did with Dragonoid. “Wait… we’re forgetting the most important thing.” Twilight said “Doom-Droid absorbs all forms of energy launched at it.” Everyone caught onto Twilight’s plan and not everyone liked it, but what choice did they have? This was the only way to give Grand Celestial Ruler the chance they needed. Krysta suddenly appeared. “It’s ready!” she said, and explained that she and her fairies had set up traps to help them with the Doom-Droid. “You have to lead it into the open meadows. Then you’ll see what happens.” What none of them realized was that Cadance had been listening in to everything they said and she was getting ideas in her head again. The team made their plans and hoped it would work. If the chaos storm got any worse, who knew what would happen. This was exactly how Equestria and Unicornicopia were destroyed before, and the teams promised they weren’t going to let that happen again.  “Okay! Let’s go!” shouted Lightning, and they all headed back into action. No sooner had they left, did Cadence realize this was her chance to escape. She realized there was only one chance she had of getting through the barrier; out through the caverns below. Shining Armor and Goldwin caught her. “Cadance!” shouted Shining Armor. His wife turned, and she never knew if she would forgive herself, but she fired a stream of magic at her husband, causing him to be temporarily stunned and entranced by her love spell. “Princess, Stop!” cried Goldwin as he rushed over to try and stop her. “I’m very sorry about this, Goldwin.” she said and she quickly pulled his mask off, turning him into a statue and unable to stop her. “Forgive me!” she said as she headed down and out of sight. Finally, she found the secret passage that lead out of the palace, beyond the barrier, and she flew off on her own.  After she was gone, Shining Armor was released from the spell. “Cadence!” he cried, and he noticed Goldwin was a statue, and his mask was on the ground. He quickly brought Goldwin back to life. “What happened?” Goldwin asked, and he suddenly remembered. Shining Armor saw no choice but to search for his wife before she got into any more danger, and he told Goldwin to take over. The armies of allies were still dealing with the robot men and were starting to get the upper hand, but The Ruler was still struggling with Doom-Droid which only made the storm worse. The Ruler was even starting to feel a little weak after being attacked physically so much. Another punch in the chest sent them toppling over backwards. The fighters down below scattered out of the way as the huge creature fell flat on its backside. It wasn’t hurt too badly, and got back up again, just as Lightning, Twilight and friends arrived on the scene. “Well, well, back for another thrashing?” mocked Chrysalis and she fired more energy blasts at the team. The team scattered, and told the Ruler what Krysta had said-- whispering into its large pointed ear. The ruler agreed and got back to their feet, and then they and the team began to fly away off towards the open meadow. “After them, you fool!” Chrysalis snapped at Fratello. Fratello acknowledged and drove Doom-Droid after them with Chrysalis following so she could continue powering the storm. “You can run, but you can’t hide from my power!” shouted Fratello. Once in the meadows, Krysta signaled for her fairies to spring the trap. “What are you waiting for?! Get them!” shouted Chrysalis. Fratello acknowledged and Doom-Droid charged forth, when suddenly, its foot sank into the ground and the whole thing fell over. “What’s happening?!” cried Fratello “Get up you stupid machine!” Doom-Droid got up, but then its other leg fell magically into the ground and the whole thing fell over again. Krysta and her fairies had used their incredible warping abilities to make invisible portals all over the ground, like trap holes. It was the best they could do, as Doom-Droid was much too big to fit in any portal they could conjure, but still it provided them with an excellent advantage. Lightning and friends remained in flight, and The Ruler levitated above the ground to avoid the holes. Now it was time to put part two into action. “I’m going to try to go in.” said Lightning. “Keep me covered!” “Be careful, Lightning.” cried Starla. Lightning nodded and began to charge up the uniforce, which shrouded his body with the glowing energy, which he hoped Doom-Droid would absorb and allow him to get inside. Chrysalis saw all this and tried to stop him with her blasts, but ended up having to defend herself from everyone else firing at her, allowing Lightning to slip through. “Here I come!” he shouted. “Hey!” cried Fratello as Lightning actually was absorbed right through Doom-Droid’s armor, emerging inside the actual body of the giant robot. The inside sure wasn’t what Lightning had thought, it was all pretty much just a simple enclosed room, and Fratello was locked in the glass tube in the center. “You!” snarled Fratello. “That’s right, Fratello!” said Lightning “Time to shut you and your mechanical-monsters down for good.” Fratello laughed, “Wishful thinking, Lightning Dawn, but nothing will stop me and my Doom-Droid from destroying your kingdom!” Lightning tried to unleash the uniforce, but his horn didn’t glow, and suddenly, Lightning began to feel strange-- weak, and hardly able to stand. “What’s… happening…?” he groaned “What is it? I feel… very weak!” The he realized that when he passed through Doom-Droid, his power had been absorbed, and some of his physical strength as well. Fratlleo laughed again. “Fool! Did you really think you could penetrate my genius defenses so easily? Well, let me show you!” He began to activate Doom-Droid, making the robot glow with the same mystical glow. “Oh, no!” cried Lightning! The others were wondering what was taking Lightning so long. “Look!” cried Fluttershy. Doom-Droid was glowing in a bright golden light. “That glow…! But it can’t be so?!” cried Rhymey. “It’s the uniforce!” cried Twilight. That was when she and the others realized that Doom-Droid must have absorbed the energy Lightning covered himself with. “That means we’ve only made Doom-Droid stronger!” cried Rarity. “Never mind that, it’s going to fire!” cried Spike. Everyone tried to run for it but realized the blast was going to be much too big for them to evade. “…FIRE!!” shouted Fratello.  “Here it comes!” shouted Buddy Rose as the blast was fired and headed straight for them all. This really looked like the end for them, when suddenly… “No!!” shouted the ruler as they leapt down from the skies right in front of the team, shielding them from the blast, but also getting severely damaged from being hit with a force so strong. It was the uniforce after all! Everyone watched in horrors as The Ruler collapsed from extreme exhaustion after such a brutal attack. “No!” cried Twilight “Ruler! Ruler, wake up!” The Ruler was awake, but extremely weak. “You… must… protect us.” they begged. “We must have rest… before… we can fight again.” Chrysalis laughed loudly. “The trouble is… you won’t get the chance!” she thundered at them. Even if the storm had stopped accelerating without The Ruler, Doom-Droid was free to rampage as Chrysalis wanted it to, for she still had to remain where she was in free float to keep the spell of the storm going.  “Fratello, destroy them now!” she ordered, but for some strange reason, Doom-Droid didn’t move, not even an inch. “Fratello!” shouted Chrysalis. “Something is wrong!” cried Fratello “Every system has shut down and is slowly recharging, but I can’t seem to move at all.” Lightning slowly got to his feet chuckling, “You’ve fallen right into our trap!” “Trap?!” snapped Fratello, and then he realized he had been outsmarted.  The teams knew all along that Lightning’s uniforce powers would have been absorbed and Doom-Droid would fire back at them. Grand Celestial Ruler was told of this, and it was planned to have them shield the team all the time as they were the only thing strong enough to withstand such a powerful force. Now the robot was drained of a lot of its power-- much like a novice when using the uniforce--, it became exhausted and was virtually powerless for the moment. “You wretched creature!” snarled Fratello. Lightning began to stomp towards the glass tube, “You just wait until I disconnect you!” but he soon found out he was in way over his head, as Fratello left the tube freely, and began to fight with him, for he still had power enough to fight himself. It wasn’t easy to maneuver in such a cramped cabin, and Fratello was just as swift and as strong as ever, while Lightning was still a little weak from having his physical energy absorbed, but still he kept trying. While outside, with both Doom-Droid and The Ruler still down, Twilight and the two gangs had to do their best to protect The Ruler from Chrysalis’ wrath. “Take this…!” shouted Chrysalis as she fired a strong burst of magic. Twilight and friends countered it, and the Star Fleet fighters combined all their attacks together. “STAR SHOWER” “LEAF SWARM” “PAINT BOMB” “DRILL QUILL” “BOOM-BOOM ROCKETS” All those attacks, created the biggest swarm anyone had ever seen, and yet the blasts were either wiped out by the storm, or blocked by Chrysalis countering the magic with her own. “Ugh! Not a single hit!” growled Artie. “We have to keep on trying!” cried Starla “Lightning must need more time!” “We don’t have any more time! The storm’s getting worse.” cried Rainbow. That’s when powerful lightning struck near where the team was, knocking them all over and just barely missing The Ruler. To make matters worse, there were now more robot men coming for The Ruler, and the army of allies were starting to feel tired, and there no more reinforcements. “Spread out!” cried Twilight. “Protect The Ruler at all cost.” She wasn’t pretending to be a leader like Lightning, she really meant it, but even she and her friends were starting to lose their wind after having fought for so long and using up a lot of strength. “Yes!” Chrysalis cheered for joy. The storm was growing, the rebels were losing power, and even if by some fluke they could overcome all the robots, she was still at full power and standing by and would be ready to battle the weak warriors herself. It seemed there was no way that she could lose. “UNITED EQUESTRIA IS MINE!!” she roared. Inside Doom-Droid, Fratello finally had Lightning backed into a corner and was laughing at the defenseless fighter. “All that fuss, and look where it landed you.” Fratello hissed, and then his left hand disappeared down inside of him and out stretched a medium sized blade which he would use to slash Lightning to bits. “I have a world to destroy and queen to serve, a pity you won’t be around to see it.” Poor Lightning wasn’t sure how to get out of this one. “There’s got to be a way out of this.” he thought to himself “I can’t let it end like this! I just can’t!” To Be Continued…! (Promo In our final episode, it’s an ultimate struggle as Lightning battles Fratello but becomes trapped inside of Doom-Droid. Just as the robot seems to reenergize, help arrives at the last second as the Grand Celestial Ruler recovers, and Cadance arrives on the scene, and before long it’s the finally battle against Chrysalis herself. The fate of the planet is at stake, but how will things turn out? Don’t miss the next exciting episode of “Starfleet Magic!” (Next Episode: Final Part: Doing the Right Thing!”)