//------------------------------// // Episode 5: Truth Hurts // Story: My Brave Pony Starfleet Magic: Season III // by DakariKingMykan //------------------------------// EPISODE FIVE His name was Ace Ray, once a proud Wonderbolt who got discharged and dismissed for poor acts of conduct, and constant mockery towards the Starfleet comrades whom he loathed and despised for reasons that were defiantly not true. He accused them of… -Blaming them for the destruction of Equestria -Turning the world into a tightly controlled police state -Being monstrous murders that killed creatures without reason. …Of course none of this was true, but he simply refused to believe it. It was suggested he take courses and seek professional help for his unbearable attitude, but he refused, and instead of getting better, he grew worse! He would gather friends who felt the same as he did and started pep rallies trying to persuade people that Starfleet was no good and deserved to be punished, beat up, or killed, but nobody else supported them and merely ignored their every word. They loved their new world, and appreciated Starfleet and their dedication to fighting evil, and they knew that Ace Ray was nothing more than a petty-minded bully that everyone but his group of mockers seemed to loathe and despise the way he despised Starfleet. “They blew up our planet!” he would whine “How can you support cold hearted killers?” “They did no such thing!” he would get as a response “And they don’t do things without reason. They are far better ponies than anything you will ever be, you failure!” Even his own sister Skye didn’t wish to support her brother, namely because her friend, Lieutenant Rainbow Dash was now a full-fledged Wonderbolt and member of Starfleet, and the fact that she found respect and honor for Starfleet since day one. This made Ace Ray so mad that he ultimately threatened to beat up his own sister from time to time unless she complied with his way of thinking, to which she angrily refused.  Everyone suggested, begged her, to get Ace Ray some help, but every time she thought about it she completely went the other way, almost as if she were too much of a coward to go through with it, to the fact that she was just as stubborn as her brother some time, and felt she could help him herself. Rainbow Dash constantly checked up on her, and was worried about her friend, and would sometimes think about turning Ace in herself, but Skye insisted she not do it. One day, Twilight and Spike were looking forward to a good breakfast at the café with Lightning and Starla.  Ever since they had returned from New Horn Kong they had done nothing but study the Dragon-Knight Egg and did their best to find anything related to whatever secrets it had… if the legends were true. So far, there wasn’t much to go in. Lightning and Starla had covered as many sections from the Starfleet archives as they could, but they were just as stumped.  They all met up at a table and discussed it through. “I’m starting to think maybe it all just is a myth after all.” Twilight said. “Possibly…” Lightning said “But I think we should keep going at it for a while longer. After all, maybe there was a secret but just never recorded?” The others agreed and decided to keep going at it in their spare time, but now, they just enjoyed being off duty and their breakfast. Krysta and her adopted son Twink stopped by to say hi. Both of them looked dressed up to go butterfly hunting. “I didn’t know you guys went butterfly hunting.” said Starla “We do it all the time. It especially helps Twink with his princely training and communicating with nature and other life forms” said Krysta “Of course, a butterfly to us is about the size of an eagle to you.” Twink nodded and said “After we catch one we just play a few games of cards, have some tea, chat for a while, and then we let it go.” “Oh, that’s so sweet, Twink.” Twilight said. Twink blushed and acted shy. Then he headed off with his mother. After they left, Rainbow Dash came along after finishing her patrol rounds along with Rhymey and Fluttershy. “What up chums?” Her friends smiled. “All is quiet I assume?” asked Lightning. “Yes sir, Admiral.” Rainbow said as she saluted. “Too bad I can’t say the same about Skye.” “She’s still down hard about her brother?” asked Starla. Rainbow nodded and explained her brother and his friends were getting more and more out of control with their mocks and outright spite of Starfleet and those who sided with him. “He still blames you guys and says you destroyed Equestria.” “But we didn’t, and everyone else knows that.” said Lightning “Well, everyone except him that is.” “He mocks us all day and night. I think he’s really looking for a fight.” said Rhymey. Everyone felt very annoyed, but they decided to let it slide. So far, Ace hadn’t done anything to violate any of the laws seriously, and unless he did they were to take no action. “You know… I wonder…” Fluttershy said “Do you think maybe he blames you because he doesn’t know the real story?” That was a possibility everyone had considered, but it was hard for them to get even so much as a word out to Ace as he didn’t care to listen and always assumed he was in the right and just mocked and picked at them more. That’s when the soft sounds of the morning were broken by the sounds of an angry mob lead by Ace came marching into the area hollering bad things about Starfleet and holding signs which also gave bad messages. “Humph!” grunted Twilight “Just pretend you don’t see them.” Everyone in the entire café simply turned their backs to the miserable mob. “Hey!” snapped Ace “We’re talking to you. Starfleet has got to go!” His mob of friends seemed to agree with him, but everyone in café just ignored him completely, and passersby took no notice and just walked right past the buffoon. Ace had finally taken enough of being ignored and walked right into the outdoor dining area at the café. “What’s wrong with all of you?” he shouted “You’ve been brainwashed by these losers! They’ve ruined our whole world!” Still, no one cared to even notice him and his pointless whining. “They’re murderers; they go on killing everything they deem as evil. They never once thought of talk and reason. You know what they are, violent, evil sneaks, and they turn our world into a police state, watching us all day and night.” Spike was starting to lose his patience and wanted nothing more than to see him get trashed for all he was spewing. He stood up, but Twilight told him to calm down. “Just ignore him, Spike.” Rhymey agreed with her and said… “There’s no need to make a fuss There is nothing he can do to us.” Ace turned and marched angrily over to the table. “And you… will YOU STOP WITH THAT RHYMING!!” he screamed. Rhymey glared at him angrily and picked his ear. “I fail to see why you yell and mock. There’s nothing wrong with the way I talk. My entire family speaks in rhyme. We have been doing so for a long, long time. There is nothing wrong with the rhyming I do. But if you think so, then something’s wrong with you.” His voice was sounding angrier, but Starla cautioned him to cool it, but Ace continued to be as rude and obnoxious as ever. “You lousy bunch of murdering tyrants…! You’re not going to intimidate me. You’re all the same, just like the wonderbolts. I’m almost glad they threw me out so I don’t have to see what disgraces they’ve become.” Rainbow really hated it when someone insulted the wonderbolts, and stood up angrily to protest. “Take it easy, Rainbow.” Fluttershy said “I mean… he is just expressing his opinion.” “That’s right.” mocked Ace “And if I think that you’re all stupid and retarded for allowing and all this into our world with no objections, well that’s my opinion too.” his friends in the mob laughed and applauded him for the mock. Feeling harshly insulted, now Twilight stood up with a look of extreme fury in her face for Ace mocking her friends and she like that. Her patience was wearing thin as well, but Lightning stopped her from doing anything else, “Don’t do it missy, and that’s an order.” he said. He realized it wasn’t nice to mock any of the royal ones. “He hasn’t done anything worth fighting about.” Twilight reluctantly agreed, but as a princess she didn’t have to take another minute of this and calmly ordered Ace and his mockers to leave the area. “Why, yes… your majesty.”  Ace put a lot of mocking emphasis on those words, and Ace began to leave with his mob. “…Jerks!” Starla muttered. Twilight gritted her teeth angrily. It was already offenvise enough to publicly insult royalty. Ace and his mob hadn’t even taken a few steps away when Skye came along, and she was very angry with her brother. “Ace, Stop this now!” she growled. “Get out of here, Skye!” “I won’t! I’ve had just about enough of your mocking and badmouthing Starfleet.” “Well I have enough of you support them.” “I have every right to support them, and so do others.” A lot of the others began to cheer Skye on. “You tell him, Skye.” hollered Rainbow. Skye went on giving Starfleet more and more support and badgering how Ace was wrong to badmouth them. “They saved our lives, they helped us evolve into a whole new world, and all you can think about is yourself.” The more she went on, the angrier her brother became, and he dropped his protest sign and marched over to her. “To be honest, Ace Ray…” Skye said “You’re as bad and unimaginative as the evil they face!” That’s when her brother punched her right in the face sending her off her feet. Everyone screamed, and watched as Ace began to tackle his sister to the ground and ram numerous punches into her. “DON’T YOU EVER… EVER COMPARE ME TO THOSE MONSTERS!!” he shouted. “STUPID QUEEN CELESTIA MAY APPROVE OF THIS, BUT I DON’T!!!” Everyone, even Lightning and Twilight, gasped at that. He dared to say that about Celestia...?! “Ace, stop it!” cried Skye, but her brother only hit her again, and then tackled her hard to the ground. Now he had really broken the law. “Let’s move!” snapped Lightning. “YOU… YOU LITTLE FREAK!!” Ace shouted “I’LL BEAT THE STARFLEET LOVE RIGHT OUT OF YOU!!!” but before he could hit her again, Lightning grabbed his arm and gave Ace a huge punch to the face sending him skidding across the ground. The mob was shocked, and while some of them dropped their signs and looked ready to fight, most of them had run off scared. Skye was badly bruised and she was crying, but more in fear than pain. Rainbow stayed to comfort her while the rest dealt with the mob. Ace got up to his feet and never before had been so enraged. “STARFLEET, I HATE YOU!! I HATE YOU!!” he screamed as he foolishly charged forward to fight, but Lightning hardly had to lift a finger to beat him. Ace had no special training and all his attacks didn’t amount to anything. He punched and kicked at Lightning furiously, but Lightning felt nothing at all, not even so much as a pinch. He just gave Ace a simple nudge, which knocked him back hard. The same with his friends all attacking the others, Twilight simply contained them in a force field, beating them easily. As for Ace, Lightning gave him a simple shove pushing him to the ground, but Ace kept on getting up and ran at him again with all his hatred only to get shoved again. “I hate you!” growled Ace “I’m going to beat you EVEN IT KILLS ME!” but Lightning had heard enough and got out his capture blaster. “You’re under arrest for high treason to the law!” He fired the blast which hit Ace hard. Ace screamed and screamed as he felt himself transforming, and he fell over, exploded, and was magically shrunk down and imprisoned in a blue sphere. Skye wasn’t sure whether or not she was grateful or upset that her brother was captured, but all she wanted to do was weep. Court was held the next day at once, at Lightning’s requests for such a severe case. All of Ace’s friends were sentenced to long hours of community service for assaulting officers of the force, but Ace on the other hand wasn’t so lucky. Charged with -Assault –Battery –Public rage -Disturbing the peace -Attacking officers ...as well as Publicly Slandering the supreme crowned heads of United Equestria… he was really in hot water now. His case was farily simple. Captain Spitfire was called into court to explain the reasons behind Ace’s dismissal from the wonderbolts. She even brought with her Holo Image projections that revealed footage of Ace’s baffling and obnoxious behaviour. “He would go around boasting and acting like some tough guy. He wouldn’t let anyone help him, and he even pulled practical jokes on us all that no on seemed to find funny. As if this were not bad enough, when Starfleet came, his anger and rage went out of hand. For dishonoring the wonderbolts, and slandering his homeworld, I saw no other alternative but to demand resignation.” Even Skye was even called to testify, though she was very nervous and almost didn’t feel like doing it, she did feel the truth had to be known, and she revealed a very interesting point: When Nightmare Moon returned, with Titan’s minions by her side, both Ace and Skye were enslaved, and in the midst of the chaos, Ace was knocked unconscious, so he never really saw or was aware of what was going on, and he didn’t awaken a few hours later, after Equestria exploded, and United Equestria was created, and everything else with it. “IT WAS THEIR FAULT!!” shouted Ace “THEY DESTROYED OUR PLANET!!” The judge banged his gavel and sneered “I find you in content Ace Ray!” All through the trial, Ace had been shouting and yelling at everyone who dared to speak aginast him, or seem to be on Starfleet’s side, and the judge was losing patience “You have already greatly inconvineced this court One more outburst like that, and you’ll be removed from the court room.” Ace growled and lunged, but was detained by Twilight putting up a small barrier around him. “You do that very well.” Lightning whispered to her. Twilight winked at him. Finally, after all the evidence, and obviousness in Ace’s attitude, it seemed a little too harsh to send him to prison, but it was clear he needed help. So he was sentenced to the asylum on the planet Xandra, until such a time that he could be given the help he needed and then maybe, just maybe, rejoin society. “What…?! No!!” shouted Ace “I’m the crazy one, they are!!” but his cries did no good, and he was dragged away. Still, nobody thought this a good thing, especially for Skye. The poor girl was fighting her painful tears. The friends comforted her in pity. “Are you going to be okay?” Lightning asked. Skye could only nod sadly, and she promised to help her brother as much as she could. She’d be fine living on her own; she had plenty of life experience. She even would visit her brother whenever she could to try and help him recover, if it were possible. Xandra was once an uninhabited planet, but with ideal conditions to support life. Starfleet set up base, and established the many insane asylums to send criminals, like Ace, who were mentally unstable who needed serious psychiatric treatment or professional help with whatever problems they had. No one had ever broken out from this asylum, and even If they had there was no way they could leave the planet. The warp portals that led out into Dimensional Space were inaccessible by all convicts. Any one of them who tried to enter only got tossed back out again. Many were fortunate enough to be cured after a long time, but some still remained uncured, and it was doubtful if they ever would be. This was just the place for Ace to be sent to so he couldn’t harm anyone else in his condition. Poor Ace, he did not take being locked up very well, and continued to insist he wasn’t insane, only to be restrained and sedated by the medical staff. Skye even saw it happening one day while visiting with the others. She hated seeing her brother like this, but alas, until he was willing to admit his problems and be willing to let others help him, such as listening to the truth, he would never get well and would most likely remain on Xandra for like. After all, some patients were able to get well, but some were not. Even Dr. Penny had her doubts. She often visited the asylum to supervise in treatments and interventions. “He’s relaxing now, but he really isn’t improving.” she said. Skye sat there with all the others gazing at him as he slept miserably on his bed in his padded room, wrapped up in a strong straitjacket. “He looks so helpless, so miserable.” Fluttershy said. This made Sky feel worse. “He’ll be okay, Skye.” Twilight said “But in the meantime he really needs to be left alone to cool off.” “Yeah, just give it a little time.” added Rainbow “Who knows, maybe he’ll be up and out of here before you know it...?” but the others didn’t seem to agree with her there.  Rhymey said… “He’s a very disturbed one. It could be a while before this job is done.” Even Skye agreed with him on there, but she was at least glad there was now a good chance to get her brother some help. Still, at least it was comforting to know that his bullying had been brought to a halt. “Still, what if others start to think the way he does?” asked Starla “She’s got a point.” said Rainbow “Then the whole thing would start all over again.” It was then that both Twilight and Lightning got the same idea. They and the others were due to give a lecture at Starfleet Academy at The New Crystal Empire, for the newcomer cadets who were training to join the force. It was also a meeting to help promote and explain the public image surrounding Starfleet in case anyone else had crazy ideas like Ace did; to help show what the force was really like, and not as simple as people liked to label them. “Maybe we can do a retelling of some of our history.” suggested Lightning “Like a refresher course.” “Yeah, that way we can help let the truth be known, and it’ll unconfuse anyone who missed the picture.” The others liked the idea, and Penny invited them all to follow her for something special. “I just may have something that can really help out your lecture.” She led them into a dark room and flicked on the lights. Inside was a powerful machine penny called the “Memory Operating Machine” or MOM for short.”  “You made this?” Twilight asked in astonishment. Penny nodded and smirked “I’m not just a doctor of medicine and psychology. I know a thing or two about science and technology.” The machine took up about half the room, and consisted of a large central generator shaped like a large box. It needed to be big in order to process all the data received, as well as do what needed to be done. Whoever sat in the chair, and connected the electrobs to their temples, the machine would focus the magic of memories the subject thought back to, and would then display them visually for all watching to see. It was almost like a lie detector with pictures. Penny hoped to develop this for Starfleet to use in future courts, in a way that would force the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth from anyone. “Don’t you think that’s a little extreme?” asked Rainbow “I mean, peering into people’s private thoughts…” “Yes… I did think of that, and I’m not sure if this will be approved of.” Said Penny “But still, I’ve tested it over and over, and it works fine. If you guys want, I’d like you to use this at your lecture to demonstrate it publicly, as well as help other actually see what really happened, and you’ll also be abe to simulate fantasies just as you think them up. Like how things could have played out” Penny even demonstrated by sitting in the chair herself, and in almost no time, everyone saw images of what just happened in the past ten minutes, exactly as Penny remembered it well. Then she showed them a simple fantasy form her thoughts; thinking of herself reciving a nobel prize for best doctor in the galaxy, but she cautioned everyone to try to keep their most private thoughts to themselves as the device had a special blocker to keep super hot secrets, as well as top secret information from being read and absorbed. This way no one could try and absorb Starfleet secrets, or ever access to valuble and dangerous things. Fluttershy thought it a bit frightening, but also, like the others, soon gazed in awe with delight. “Penny, this is fantastic.” cried Lightning “This could revloutionize a lot of things.” “No more memory spells or potions required!” added Twilight. Fluttershy was still a tad bit skecpitcal and nervous about the whole thing. “But why do you need all of us?” asked Fluttershy. “Can’t you just use your memories only, Lightning?” “No, I don’t think so, Fluttershy.” said Lightning “It’s pretty obvious, this machine can only obtain the memories and viewpoints of only one person at a time, and she requires bits of all our memories as each of us were in different places of the time, like putting a jigsaw puzzle together.” Rainbow felt psyched to try this out. “This is going to be awesome!” Fluttershy felt rather nervous at first, and wasn’t sure if she was willing to go though with it, but Rhymey persuaded her to try.  “I know it seems like scary feat, But we need your help to make the picture complete. You can do it. There’s nothing to it.” As usual, his words gave his mare-friend the confidence she needed. Fluttershy stood proudly and volunteered to go first. “Just be gentle?” she peeped. One-by-one, everyone took a turn sitting in the chair, even Spike. All they were required to do was think back to the days when Equestira and Unicornicopia still stood, and to the times up to during and after the war against Titan and his diabolical minions. Finally, all the images were put together and even edited on the machine like a movie. The night of the lecture came, and the Starfleet Academy atrium was packed to the brim with students, and cadets whom were graduating to the force. Princess Cadance and Shining Armor had come as special guests of honor, as well as Queen Celestia and Grand Ruler Celesto. When they had received Lightning and Twilight’s letters about Penny’s newest invention, they were most eager to see it in operation. The Headmaster welcomed everyone to the lecture and introduced the guests of honor, and before long Lightning, Twilight and the others did their best to explain all the details and honors of Starfleet. Though Lightning Starla and Krysta were more experienced, so they answered most of the questions and explained really hard subjects. Anything that was Equestrian related, Twilight and her friends handled. The Lecture seemed long, but all the students and the guests found it most interesting. Some even took notes for reference and study purposes. There was even a large holographic image which displayed past events form Penny’s machine. “As you can see…” said Admiral Lightning “The enemy forces were seeminly outnumbering us, 100 to 1. However, we had discovered their energy source was emitting from a rock formation nearby. We simply destroyed the source, just so, thereby rendering the enemy fighters completely powerless. They were then easily captured, brought to justice, thus saving the planet.” “Remember, when you are out there fighting, you are fighting for more than just yourself. You fight for others. They are counting on you to protect them, and to help avoid a horrible fate. Always be true to yourselves, and that and those you fight to protect.” The atrium echoed with applause form the audience. Even their majesties applauded. Lightning looked up and his eyes met that with his mentor’s. Grand Ruler nodded proudly at him. The headmaster then spoke up. “That was marvelous. Simply marvelous.” he said. Then he turned back to face the crowd. “Now, for the remainder of the evening, if there are any intelligent questions you have may have, Admiral Lightning and his unit will do their best to answer, but keep well in mind, top secret information will not be given.” One pony stood up, and his question was for Twilight. “Princess Twilight, your highness; since you are of royalty, why is it you are not in command of the unit?” “That’s simple…” Twilight said “My royalty has no actual function of rank within the force. An officer is still an officer regardless of whom or what they are in private life. My friends and I have also only been with the force for a single year, while Admiral Lightning and Captain Starla are far more experienced than we are.” She gazed Lightning, and he nodded at her and explained “Twilight Sparkle is also a Junior Captain, and therefore I am her superior, always, but I do not wish to treat her as any inferior. A good officer has faith in his comrades and his friends, regardless of their rank, and only must judge depending on the seriousness of the situation at hand.” The crowd felt satisfied, and then several other ponies had other questions, especially regaurding the recent capturing of Ace Ray. “Why were you all humanoid?” “Why did Starfleet come to Equestria?” “What exactly happened before the planet exploded?” “Why is it sometimes you destroy your enemies?” “Can you not simply capture and reform them all?” “Is there not any other way besides fighting to resolve problems?” These and other questions were exactly what the team had been waiting for. “Order please… Order!” said Lightning. The crowd hushed down. “We anticipated the questions, and have already prepared a special display that will hopefully answer them and more. The time has come for you to bear witness the origin and history of Starfleet in its first public viewing, approved byt their royal majesties. Everyone applauded, and the Grand ruler and Queen stood and bowed.  Then, the lights went out, and Lightning and his friends prepared the little show created by their memories. “This is it…” Shining Armor whispered. He could feel Cadance twictching with excitement, but also could sense she was feeling a little tense about something. “You okay?” he asked her. His wife smiled at him and placed her hand over his. “I’ll be alright, my love.” The holo-images appeared, and one by one, each team member would explain parts of the story. The first thing everyone saw were images of Equestria of old, and all the ponies were normal ponies again-- walking on all fours, they had no arms, hands, and Twilight Sparkle was about to be corinated as Equestria’s newest princess.  “What are you seeing are images from our memories of the past.” said Twilight “Pay close attention to everything you see, and your answers will be given.” Everyone watched with curiosity and amazement… The first thing that happened was, the planet was being rocked by a series of savage earthquakes. They came and they went, but the pony geologists were baffled and couldn’t figure out why it was happening, completely unaware that the earthquakes were growing more savage and slowly breaking the planet apart. Fluttershy and Rhymey’s memories replayed images of when Rhymey first came to Equestria in search of a star stone Starfleet required to power up and defend themselves from stronger enemies. He fell in love with her at first sight, and he saw how kind and gentle she was, offering him to stay and rest after his long journey from across space. “Look close and you will see, I came to your world peacefully. I got the treasure that I sought, I explored a bit, and what then had I got? I was believed to be Fluttershy in a costume so fake. All of that treatment, I just could not take. But Fluttershy was indeed a very caring one. I grew more attracted to her before day was done.” Fluttershy blushed softly, and the crowed couldn’t help but “Aw…” at the whole concept. Their memories showed then of Fluttershy asking to have a dance with him at the corrination gala that night, and Rhymey was waiting in hiding, while at the time heard and saw a grieving and heart-broken Celestia, singing a song to the stars for her long lost love, the Grand Ruler. Celestia remembered it so, and felt her cheeks go red at what was happening then… There she was, on the terrace, looking out into space, with tears in her eyes, and she began to sing… How I miss you. Looking out… wondering where you are. Send my love, way out there so far. I could never stop thinking… even now, though you’re lost in space Longing for the old feelings of love and grace Praying now, wondering how, Have you forgotten me. Will you come back, and we’ll be happy as can be. As the song continued… Grand Ruler felt touched. He had never heard that song before… hearing it made him feel warm but sad inside as it reminded him of events yet to be told. Then he noticed his wife, her head hanging down forward and she was fighting her escaping tears. He reached out and handed her a hankie. She wipped her eyes and her husband held her close. Shining Armor and Cadance saw them, and both never realized how painful love could be, until now…! Oh, my heart is grieving. I cry my tears, each and every day… wishing you were here. To the stars above… is where I pray for you, my love. I do miss you so. While Celestia sang her song, Rhymey and Fluttershy were dancing down below, and Rhymey explained…. “We had shared a small dance, andthen I had to go It really hurt my heart to say goodbye to her, so.” After Rhymey had gone, the next parts were shown at Twilight’s coronation. The dark day when the evil Nightmare Moon had returned-- despite the fact that Princess Luna was already there and cleansed of her evil nature—the evil that had been sepearated from her had returned, and she had brought with her new friends; Titan’s three former minions…  Mysterious! Rep-Stallion! Dementia! They were in fact responsible for all the continuous earthquakes as a test of their newer, stronger powers, and they had come to conquer Equestria. “We tried everything we could.” Twilight said “We tried to reason with the creatures, and even use the Elements of Harmony to heal them, but unfortunately, we were in for a shock… the magic did not work at all.” The images showed everything exactly as she told it. The minions had not a scratch on them, even after being zapped by the powerful magic, for the elements of harmony, then, could only work on creatures that had hearts, souls, and actual capabilities of compassion and hope for redemption, but Titan’s minions had none of these. They were arrifically created demoncorns, made from corpses and graveyard soil, and infused with extreme evil energies that gave their power and lifeforce. They had no hearts. They had no souls, and they were not creatures of compassion. They were one-hundred percent pure evil, and their only desire was to destroy and conquer. “We tried everything we could…” said Rainbow Dash “But those guys proved to be just too much for us to handle. We never knew such power and evil could exist. All our magic, strengths and skills were totally useless.” Starla nodded “You all must understand, there are just some things that friendship, pacifism and harmony cannot fix.” The crowd watched in horror as the evil creatures completely overwhelmed and dominated over the entire Equestrian army, even the four princesses were beaten severely, and soon all of Equestria had been enslaved. Twilight’s alicorn wings had even been destroyed turning her back to a normal unicorn. She, Luna and Celestia were imprisoned, while everyone else was forced into bone-breaking labor and marching drills. Many of them continued to ponder wonder if there was a way to turn the tables back then, Starla reminded them right then. “Keep well in mind, that back then you were all just ordinary planetary ponies from Equestria.  Every single adventure you had, any discovery you made, every kind of creature you met, every villain you faced, and every sort of magic even Princess Twilight ever learned-- it was all from Equestria. You knew nothing about space, nor the mysteries and wonders out there, and therefore you had no possible way of knowing about or defending yourselves against creatures.” Then images were shown of Starfleet arriving to aid the the Equestrians, and with their cooperation, they were all able to put an end to Nightmare Moon, Titans minions, even Titan himself when revealed. Even still, the planet itself was still doomed due to their irreversible effects caused by the earthquakes. Were it not for Starfleet showing up, the Equestrians would have been blown to dust along with their planet, as Equestrian ponies had no access to get out into space, and go to other planets were it would be safe. The rest on that story was history, and United Equestria was born and all that went with it. All the students watched in astonishment, and now many of them, if not all, were super keen to learn as much as they possibly could of the mysteries from out there.  “And now…” Lightning said, his voice sounding very deep and mysterious “What you are about to see if the details and history of Starfleet.” That’s when the images began to fade and everyone could then see the sight of a planet Unicornicopia, the former main home-world and orgin of Starfleet.  It was founded and established by the one Equestria pony to ever make it into space and survive Grand Ruler Celesto. The former first captain of the royal Canterlot Guard, and fiancé of, then, Princess Celestia, who was caught in the first war against Nightmare Moon and was banished into dimensional space, and with no magical pathway, or proper protection, he was instantly teleported by the magic of the void of space itself. He crashed on a barren and dismal planet that would soon be Unicornicopia. It was there that he had a horrible accident; he was blasted by a powerful air-geyser that shot him directly through the air and hitting a bed of rocks hard, leaving him horribly crippled and fractured beyond any hope of repair.  There was no way to repair his old body, even with magic, so he was forced to reconstruct his body into a human shape to save his life. This also allowed him to become stronger, faster and better than he was before. After rehabilitating the planet and fully establishing it as Unicornicopia and creating the first alicorn ancestors of the race; the planet became a world of a new species of ponies. The Space Alicorns: a race of humanoid ponies, much stronger and more powerful than ordinary Equestrian ponies. “With our human bodies, were capable of doing so much more than normal ponies.” said Starla “We could accomplish menial tasks with our hands instead of using our mouths or levitation magic. It made things easier, and especially helpful to those who could not use magic.” Lightning nodded. “Still, the dimensional-universe was filled with all sorts of worlds and other races. Some were bad and some were good, some to help and some to fight. Grand Ruler had established Starfleet in a solemn, eternal vow to purge and stave off evil and never allow it to reign again. This was in an act of compassion and worry for other races. He knew what evil was capable of doing; it cost him his home on Equestria, his old life, his family friends, and his beloved Celestia. If just that could just happen to him, he didn’t want to begin to imagine anyone else suffering the way he did.” Many ponies stared at Grand Ruler with increased amounts of respect and understanding of him, and he vowed bravely yet strictly. “Just look at how we train…”  Lightning said.  The images were then of the alicorns doing unusual exercises, such as plowing fields with their bare hands. Carrying large, solid and extremely heavy objects from one point to another--such as pulling a huge sleigh loaded with huge boulders, with no wheels or even skis to make it easier-- Even having to wear enchanting weighted clothes that made things difficult to do, but would help them build strength and speed beyond their built-in limitations. Of course, they also had to have a proper education and schooling to exercise their mind power. “You can’t become a true fighter without first developing your mind.” said Lightning. “The more you know, the more you will understand and grow to be fine warriors.” So they had their schooling and lessons, studying all forms of magic that they could, and slowly learned about new types of creatures and all sorts of phenomenon as their adventures continued. They also learned martial arts, fencing, and practicing to develop their own styles of battle magic and battle style, and they had special ma-suss sessions to harden their muscles, endurance, and also to increase flexibility.  One of the best parts of training was dancing and choreographing. They did all kinds of dances. Step dancing, tap, ballet, break-dancing, and any other kinds of ways to dance you could think. It helped them to improve on their footwork, as well as increase their evasiveness. Shots and projectiles were easier to avoid, and obstacle courses could be cleared more quickly and smoothly. Aside from that, dancing was also a lot of fun and good exercise which made it one of Starfleet’s most standard of practices. They even had a machine known as the Hurl-A-Whirl; a machine similar to the dizzitron, except it hurled them in every single direction possible. Hardly anyone ever made it their first time without barfing. Then they had to soar through an obstacle course and make it to the finish line in less than five whole seconds.  The end results of the grueling training were astonishing…!! Now the ponies had very strong levels of endurance; their bodies were so solid that it wouldn’t be easy to hurt them. It as almost as if they were wearing suits of thick and dense armor right inside their bodies, and certain forms of magic would not be able to penetrate them, which meant they could be transfigured into other creatures or objects so easily. Their physical strength had improved immensely; they could lift huge and solid objects the size of small hills and hardly break a sweat, and they could break giant boulders into gravel with one punch, some even with just one finger, or even their tails!! Their speed… Now that was an astonishing improvement. Some managed to run on their two feet alone at 15.5 kilometers per second, which equaled to 55,800 KPH! More than seven times faster than Rainbow Dash and her absolute best speed, and that was just by running. They could travel at even faster speeds by flight. According to Grand Ruler, some ponies like him were most likely to one day reach the velocity of light squared, but only in theory. With a speed like that, a pony would be able to circumnavigate the entire universe... if they didn't stop for rest breaks! All this, and the technology and weapons they had developed and pioneered over the centuries, they became a fierce force to be reckoned with. They traveled to many star systems and discovered many new sorts of sights and discoveries. They fought against many different sorts of foes; Dragons, ogres, giants, witches, warlocks, mutants, demons, aliens, orgs, even a few machines here and then. In every measurable sense, the Starfleet race was far superior to the Equestrian race; in magic, strength, experience and intelegence.  …The Equestrians in the audience couldn’t possibly argue a thing with that. Compared to Starfleet with all its massive powers and other things, they were still in nursery school. So all this new training was to help them all power up and become just as strong fighters as any member on the force. “As for villains and enemies…” said Starla “We don’t destroy all creatures, especially if we do not have to... Most of them we just battle them to tire them out, and then it’s easier for us to capture them and bring them to justice.” The images seen then were of past battles, on Unicornicopia, and even on other planets, whereas all the villains and monsters were battled out, and imprisoned in blue spheres, then taken to prison. Even the previous war against the Changelings was fought in the same manner. Rhymey then said… “We take them to prison where they can cause no nonsense Sometimes they even have to face a lifelong sentence. Some can be rehabilitated, and rejoin society, But many others are tougher and must remain in captivity.” Images were shown of prisoners serving out their sentence, at hard labor, and being safely locked away in cells, and stripped of their magic and special strengths so they couldn’t try to breakout. “Still…” Lightning suddenly said “There are times in which we do not have much of a choice.” A lot of creatures they had faced before were much stronger and far more devious than those captured and imprisoned. Some were even so big and so powerful; they could never be captured at all. They refused to negotiate, cared nothing about diplomacy, and sealing them away would do no good. Then they would eventually break free, like Nightmare Moon escape from the moon, or how Titan broke free from his prison on the Dark Planet. The worst of it, was magic like the Elements of Harmony could not redeem the villains or turn them good, as was said before… the villains were just too much! So, there was no alternative. “We’re not as particularly fond of taking someone’s life…” said Lightning “But you must consider what is at stake. If they are not stopped, they will continue to destroy, and harm more innocent creatures.” The crowd, though still skeptical about the whole concept of taking someone’s life, at least it was more understandable, and done with good conscience, but destroying the enemy was only and always the absolute last minute resort for everything. “We are Starfleet…” said Lightning “We are a team. We are a unity. We are a congregation dedicated to protecting the innocent, and defending worlds from those who would serve to do evil’s work.” Twilight stood by Lightning’s side along with the others, and added “Together, with our hopes, our beliefs, our magic, and our bonds of friendship and trust. There is no obstacle we cannot overcome.” The final memory images were shown of Lightning and his friends, along with Twilight and her friends, standing united in the glowing sunlight, and they saluted to the world and beyond. The room echoed with applause and cheers. Their royal majesties clapped along and nodded at their students from afar. They nodded back. And then, as the lights lit up, all of Lightning’s friends and Twilight’s friends, only just arriving having come off duty from their work and patrol, joined the group on stage for a salute to Starfleet Academy. “And remember students…” Admiral Lightning said as the music started to play “Almost everything you will ever know, just as we know now, it all began right here, and will make you all into brave ponies just like us.” The crowds cheered again, and the group on stage began to sing… (Skip to 0:37) Just because we are trained to brawl and fight Doesn’t mean that we are not to erudite It may not bring much glee, but to be a brave pony Is as difficult not giving up hope We protect good races of decency and kind We are warriors judge and deciders all combined Thanks to our education there is not a situation We have come across of which we cannot cope. But where did we go to learn the skills that that we have now, you see Where did we go to learn to be a brave pony? “Remember students…” Lightning announced “Remember that all you will ever be all started right here, at Starfleet Academy.” Hail to thee oh, Starfleet-A From all your children here today You taught us all what it does mean To fight evil, and make the scene To save the day, and win the fight To let the villains know our might To show evil their game is through, And show them what it is we do. What it is we do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do… We’ll show them all our super skills Our super strengths, our hearts and wills We sing our praises loud and clear And really put… our class in gear You taught us how to win the war And helped rebuild our lives and more Without you, who knows what we’d be Oh… Starfleet Academy… Starfleet Academy… All hail to thee… These are the things we’re known to be As a bornified (Bornified) Trurintried (Truintried) Highly-skilled (Highly-skilled) Iron-willed (Iron-willed) Brave… Po… ny! Everyone fell in a beautiful line up, and one by one, everyone took a turn to sing a line. Lightning: Let’s get our game face on. We hear the alarms call   Starla: We see the villain’s afoot Buddy Rose: It’s time to fight and brawl Artie: Let’s get our weapons ready Dyno & Myte: We’ll soon make things alright Rhymey: We’ll arrest them and we’ll them up so very tight Twilight: We’ve got our eyes on you Rarity: You’ll never outwit us Rainbow Dash: Let’s speed it up a notch Applejack: And then you’re plans we’ll bust Pinkie Pie: If your in trouble just call, and we will save the day Fluttershy: We laugh at danger, and we’ll never scream or run away. She felt a little bit nervous having just said all that, and blushed softly. Then some of the others took eaxtra turns in the song. Starla: You’re now under arrest Let’s seal the evil away Rarity: The fight is done for now until another day Twilight: Whatever comes along, here’s comes a well known fact  Lightning: Whenever evil comes be sure that Starfleet will always act! The crowds cheered, and suddenly, every single pony, and other creature in the crowd began to singalong… Hail to thee oh, Starfleet-A From all your children here today You taught us all what it does mean To fight evil, and make the scene You taught us how to win the war And helped rebuild our lives and more Now thanks to you, we've seen the light And help to right each wrong in sight We shout our voices in delight… My Brave…. Po… NY!!! The song ended, and the crowd burst into applause and praise. Spike clapped and whistled, but he still felt a little down, wishing he was a brave fighter and standing there with Twilight. “Someday… I will.” The lecture was such a hit, and Penny’s device was greatly approved of by their majesties, but from then on, it was to be used strictly in court, and inquiries and things like that, as the new ultimate lie detector. Penny was well compensated for her efforts, and very thankful to their majesties, and Lightning and the others for helping her. Skye was really getting used to living on her own without her brother. With her friends and others who cared for her, she got to become a strong-willed, independent pony. As for Ace, he was still nowhere making any efforts to get well, and continued to put up fusses and attitude in the asylum on Xandra, only to always be sedated and restrained in his quarters. He was beginning to be a real hopeless case, still clinging to his insanity about Starfleet. As he lay strapped tight in bed, struggling to fight the sedditive from putting him to sleep, he thought angrily and insanely “Someday, I’m gonna break out of here, and when I do… they’ll pay. All of them!” Of course, given his attitude, his inept abilities and resources... that was likely to never happen (Promo) In our next episode, Artie is offered an award in New Manehattan for a statue he donated, and is off with some friends to accept this honor, but it also discovered that another piece of the crystal heart lies within the city, and Sombra sends Harkin to retrieve it, as well as to cause some misfortune and misery with Artie’s special statue, turning the beautiful work of art into a nightmare. As the battle and struggle for the shard proceeds, Harkin finds it hard to resist a small sparring with Lightning. What are Harkin’s motivations, and will he outwit our heroes and steal the shard?  Don’t miss the next exciting episode of “Starfleet Magic” (Next Episode: “Art Attack!”)