//------------------------------// // Episode 12: Arranged and Engaged // Story: My Brave Pony Starfleet Magic: Season III // by DakariKingMykan //------------------------------// EPISODE TWELVE Lightning stood at the side of the street, all dressed up in a pure white tux and waiting anxiously but calmly as a carriage pulled up to him with Starla, all dressed up in a beautiful gown, riding in it. She fluttered her eyes at him. “Have I kept you waiting, darling?” she asked flirtingly. “Why, not at all. You’re bang on time.” Lightning answered as he climbed inside beside her, and they set off for a most romantic evening.  Starting with a moonlight dinner and champagne, followed by a most wonderful and enjoyable dance all around and across a fountain in the park under the stars, by the end of the dance, Lightning got down on one knee, and pulled out the ring in the box and showed it to Starla. “Starla Shine…” he said looking up into her eyes, and she gazed down at him and the ring “Will you…” …and right before he said another thing, a loud ringing sound of his alarm-clock which woke him up from the dream he was having. He just couldn’t believe it “Even in my dreams I get interrupted! N’ARGH!!” he angrily slammed down on his clock, stopping its ringing, and gazed a picture of Starla on the table next to it. In front of the picture was the ring in its box, and a small paper with all the many times Lightning tried to propose and was interrupted. Even though it was just a dream, he decided to make it count too, making an even thirty times he had failed to propose ever since he got the ring. Krysta appeared, and was in a happy mood that day, but she noticed he was looking down in the dumps. “Didn’t sleep well?” she asked. “No, I slept well, but I woke up bad.” He told her about his dream, and Krysta was starting to get frustrated with Lightning always being interrupted too, and today he wouldn’t get the chance either, as he promised to babysit the Cutie Mark Crusaders after his patrol rounds, all five of them. Babs was in town, and Rarity originally volunteered to babysit, but as usual the girls were too much for her to handle, and she practically begged and pleaded for Lightning to take them off her hands, to which he didn’t really mind as she was a friend in need, not to mention he couldn’t stand her whining! Lightning sighed as he put on his armor vest and his boots “Maybe I should just give up altogether.” he said. “Lightning Dawn, how can you say that?” snapped Krysta, and Lightning realized maybe he wasn’t thinking straight. “You’re right, I didn’t mean that.” He smiled at her, but Krysta could tell he was still feeling bummed. “I have to go do my rounds before breakfast, and then I’m off to pick up the girls. Do you want to come?” “Um… no, I just remembered I have… something to do, but I’ll catch up with you later. Bye!” and she flew off. “Huh! She sure sounded strange.” Krysta went off to Twilight’s, and was surprised to see Rarity there, reading as if she had nothing more important to do. “What? You don’t really expect moi to babysit, do you? Oh, no, no, no!” she said. The others all shook their heads grimly, and then Krysta explained about Lightning’s frustration. “I think we should talk to Starla about this.” she suggested. “What?!” snapped Rarity “You can’t be serious! Telling her that she’s going to be proposed to? It’s just not done.” “Actually, Rarity, I kind of agree with Krysta.” Twilight said. Rarity gasped “Twilight?!” “No.” Twilight said “Who knows? Maybe Starla’s feeling just as frustrated as Lightning is?” “So, I guess we all tell them.” Spike said. They didn’t find Starla at home, and assumed she was having breakfast at the café. They found her sitting and eating at a table alone while she looked in a book on dimensional star gazing. “Um… hi, Starla.” said Twilight. Starla looked up. “Hiya, guys…” “Um, Starla…” Twilight said sounding a little nervous “Are you feeling okay?” Starla almost insulted. “Sure, I feel fine. Why do you ask?” “Darling…” Rarity said “We… um… were concerned that, you noticed how…uh…” Starla smiled cheekily “You’re all worried I’m upset because Lightning has proposed to me yet because he keeps getting interrupted.” The others all looked as if they swallowed flies. “You know Lightning’s trying to propose to you?” asked Spike. Starla giggled “Of course, silly. Who doesn’t know? Who couldn’t see it coming from dimensions away? Besides, my answer is already yes.” “It is…?” cried Krysta with a twinkle in her eyes. “But then, why don’t you just tell him that?” asked Twilight. Starla hated to sound selfish, but “It’s because I want Lightning to pop the question. I want him to say those words. I don’t care how he does it, just as long as it’s from him. That way we both can be satisfied.” Rarity understood what Starla was doing. “I myself have often dreamed that the male of my dreams would ask for my hand in marriage, and my answer would be “YES!” Ahh…!” she sighed in a dopey daze. The others rolled their eyes, and Starla sighed. “Actually, to be honest; I am getting frustrated with the way Lightning keeps getting interrupted. In fact I wish he were here right now, and maybe we’d be officially engaged by now. I love him so much. Even since the day we first met I knew he was special.” Music was heard as Starla began to sing "To Be In Love..." …while memories and flashbacks occurred-- from the day she first met Lightning on Unicornicopia, all the adventures they had and all the dangers they faced, but always keeping their heads high, and there were all the fun times they had while not on duty, all the places they went to and things they did right up to the point where they shared their first kiss, and their love continued to grow over time, even when they had arguments or got into big fights, they never stopped loving each other. Starla sighed softly again. Her eyes were half open and her cheeks were blushing. “Maybe you should go to him.” Spike suggested “It’ll help give him the chance to propose to you.” The others agreed, and decided to hang around to ensure that nothing would interrupt it this time. Starla agreed and they all headed off, except they had forgotten that Lightning was babysitting the Cutie-Mark Crusaders and they were most likely to be anywhere. The Crusaders were happy to be spending the day with Lightning, and Babs was happy to finally meet Buddy Rose’s cousin, Daphne Dill. Lightning was just happy that they were all having fun, even before they went out. First they went swimming, then for a hike in New Everfree Forest where they said hello to Zecora as they passed her hut. They stopped and got ice-cream. Lightning even found time to show them some of his fancy battle moves, so long as they themselves promised to not try it at home. DD however, merely noted all she saw to help for the day when she would attend the Starfleet Academy. Then they went to the playground near the skate-park. Lightning enjoyed watching the girls play, and even played tag with them for a while, but when they went skating, Lightning began to see other couples skating romantically together. This brought on his upset over not being able to propose to Starla. He just sat on the sidelines with his skates on, while the girls were skating happily. They even did tricky stunts they had been practicing, like twirling, skating on one foot, or even holding each other like a big group on top of one another. They fell down, but they weren’t hurt, and the other four checked their flanks under their pants. “Anything?” asked Sweetie. “Nope…!” “Nothin’…!” “Nadda…!” Even though DD couldn’t earn a mark, being a space alicorn, she felt disappointed too, but then they noticed that Lightning was a down in the dumps, and they, too, knew why, and they got the idea of maybe cheering him up would help earn their cutie-marks, or at least cheer Lightning up, and they knew just how to do it. They all skated over to Lightning at the bench and gazed at him with the same expression. “What is that?” Lightning asked. “It’s you, Admiral.” said Babs “You know if you keep scowling like that you might stay that way forever.” Lightning felt confused “…And your point is?” “Golly, sir. You just gotta pick yourself up again. Things’ll be gettin’ better soon.” said Applebloom. “Girls, I appreciate your trying to perk me up, but I don’t think you can help with this.” “Sure we can.” said Sweetie Belle “Hey, let’s sing him that new song we wrote together.” DD suggested “Come on, Admiral. It might help you…” Lightning looked at their cute little faces and they gave him the sad puppy-eyes. He chuckled softly “Okay… let’s hear it.” The girls each took turns singing the verses of a song they called “Life has its funny little ups and downs.” and Lightning soon realized they were right. The music continued to play even after the girls sang all the words. They all headed back onto the rink in, and Lightning began to twirl to the music, charge at the lampposts, leap up, grab them, and spin around landing back on the rink, and even tap-danced on his skates, to the girls’ and other skaters delight and applause. Then he skated all the way around the rink, going faster and faster and faster, until he spotted the others and Starla watching him. He glanced at Starla as she waved to him, only for a split second, and didn’t watch where he was going and crashed over the railing, into the bushes outside. The girls smacked their foreheads in disappointment, and then again when they checked their flanks under their pants' to see they were blank. Lightning looked and felt a little silly, but Starla helped him out. He was glad she had come, and Twilight and the others decided to take the girls to give them time alone, but just as promised they kept their watch to ensure nothing bad would happen this time… Starla helped Lightning brush all the leaves and twigs out of his mane and off of his clothes. “I saw you out there, you really can move on skates.” “Especially when I don’t fall over…” They both giggled and then were gazing into each other’s eyes. The others and the crusaders could see it from afar. “I think he’s going to do It.” chirped Krysta. “Oh, be still my heart, but this is so exciting.” cried Rarity. “Come on, Lightning!” Twilight muttered. “Starla, there’s something I want to ask you.” “Yes? I’m listening…” The crusaders facial expressions grew wider and brighter as Lightning reached behind him and pulled out the and finally opened it to reveal the ring. Starla’s eyes glittered and her mouth hung open at the size of the large diamond. “Come on! Come on!” cried Spike. Lightning reached; ready to place the ring over her finger… “Starla Shine… I want to ask you… if you would…” the ring barely touched Starla’s finger when suddenly, she vanished in a flash of light. “Starla…?” The others gasped and winced in both shock and annoyance. “Not again!” groaned Twilight. “What happened?” asked Scootaloo. “She just disappeared.” added Sweetie Belle “She was teleported.” said Krysta “I’d recognize that light anywhere. She was warped by fairy magic.” Twilight had to agree with her. Then they all went to Lightning who was still as confused and frustrated as ever. “Lightning, are you okay?” Lightning turned to face her, and even though he looked calm, everyone could tell that deep inside he was ready to scream. “Where could she have gone?” Lightning asked “Who did this to her, and why?” Nobody knew the answers for sure, but they all then saw the ring he left on the bench was softly glowing. Everyone else huddled around it and suddenly they all started glowing, and they vanished too. Before they knew it, they had landed on the grounds of a faraway planet, and were surrounded by large trees and shrubs and tall grass. “Ugh, and I had just has this uniform cleaned!” groaned Rarity. The Crusaders, however, were very excited. “Wow! What a ride!” cheered DD. “Golly gee!” added Applebloom “I’ve always dreamed of travlin’ into space; I mean not just on an evac-order.” “Uh… you realize we’re lost?” Spike said. “I think we have something else to worry about right now, Spike.” said Twilight. Everyone looked up ahead and could see a whole load of pony guards coming towards them, and they didn’t seem at all friendly, or part of the United Equestrian guard, nor were they Starfleet officers, but they were armed with lances and clothed in armored vests and helmets. Rarity seemed ready for a fight after having her uniformed dirtied. “No!” snapped Lightning. “We’ve got to find out what’s going here, and maybe they know where Starla is. Everyone stand down.” He then motioned for Krysta to hide in the trees and follow them. “If things get ugly, you know what to do.” Krysta nodded, and hid away as told. Twilight stood with the frightened crusaders. “It’s okay girls. Just try to be brave.” she whispered. Everyone stood up with their hands up high as the guards came and motioned for them to march along, leading them all the way to a large castle, about half the size of the royal palace in New Canterlot. “My goodness!” cried Rarity “I wonder who lives here.” “I think we’re about to find out.” Twilight said. They all were to march inside the castle, through the foyer, and brought before the master who was eating his dinner; a rather oversized feast for one. He was a white space alicorn, and had no ID code or Starfleet insignia. Instead, he was dressed in fine blue coat, vest, and cravat, and his black mane was done in a ponytail. “It’s like someone out of Colonial Equestria.” Twilight whispered. “My, my, who do we have here?” he said in a very gentlemanly like tone as he stood up from his seat. “Who are you? What is this place?” Lightning asked. “Oh, permit me. This is my home-world, the planet Lekio, and I am Sir. Awdr Pomption III. I extend my apologies for bringing you here so abruptly.” While he was speaking, a swarm of warping fairies came fluttering in beside him “They can get rather carried away, but with all the excitement, and my wedding coming…” “Wedding?” asked Rarity “You are getting married?” “Why yes, I am. This was planned long ago, and finally tonight is it.” He then clapped his hands and the chair next to his began to spin around. “Allow me to present my bride…” Everyone took one look, and gasped in shock! “Starla!” shouted Lightning. She had been stripped of her uniform and was wearing a beautiful pink formal gown, but was tied to the chair with magical chains that she couldn’t seem to break, and they didn’t allow her to use her powers either. “Lightning!” she cried. “Ah, I see you are all well acquainted with her.” said Awdr. “You can’t marry her.” snapped Sweetie Belle. Awdr chuckled “Dear child, you are far too young to understand such things, but this mare and I had an agreement that was made long ago.” “What…?!” Lightning asked in shock while gazing at Starla. “He’s lying!” snapped Starla “I’ve never met this guy in my life, and I made no agreement.” “Silence, please!” growled Awdr. He cleared his throat and reached into his coat, pulling out a contract for an arranged marriage for himself and Starla. He explained that he was born in a rich family, who moved out from Unicornicopia to get away from Starfleet as they wished to live in privacy away from all the noise, but continue to do business and exchanges with others around the universe. Awdr’s father and Starla’s father were former business associates, and they made the deal that their children would wed, and they both formed and signed the contract. Starla was just outraged, “My father…? He just sold me off and he never told me?” “Yes, sadly, if memory serves me well, your father was assassinated before he could ever tell you. He didn’t wish for you to live where all the action was and demanded that you be given a life of peace, quiet, and riches.” “That sounds like her father all right…” grumbled Lightning “He was opposed to Starfleet since his wife died in the force, and foolishly thought he could reason with evil creeps, but above all he didn’t want Starla to even think of joining the force at all. He wanted to be in control of her every move and make sure she lived best to his standards.”  Even Rarity thought this was too outrageous “I may have standards, but even I know how to make better decisions when regarding others.” “Yeah…sometimes…” Sweetie muttered under her breath. The other crusaders giggled. Awdr was unmoved “My apologies, but the deal was made, and I intend to make good on it. My father recently passed away and I certainly do not intend to live out the rest of my life alone now.” Lightning felt his anger rising. “I don’t care what was made; you’re not going to marry her.” Awdr was starting to lose his patience “My dear sir. As much as I prefer to remain proud and gracious, you are starting to get on my nerves. My decision has been made, and so has the girl’s. I simply took what is rightfully mine, and the only reason you are here is because I required something else.” He snapped his fingers and one of the fairies flew towards Lightning and grabbed the ring in the box from him and gave it to Awdr. “Can’t have a wedding without a ring, and this is the most beautiful gem I’ve ever seen.”  “That doesn’t belong to you.” Twilight snapped. She tried to get it back with her magic, but her horn didn’t even glow. Rarity and Sweetie bell tried, but they couldn’t cast any magic either. “As I informed you, Lekio is my world, and here we don’t fight using magic. You’ll find that all your skills, powers, and weapons are ineffective here. Only the fairies have magic here.” Nobody said anything to him after that. “Now then, I think we have an understanding. I was hoping to invite you to attend the wedding tonight, but seeing as you obviously mean to cause no ends of trouble, I’m afraid you’ve left me no alternative.” He ordered his guards to lock them all up and make certain they didn’t get up to any tricks. The guards ushered everyone along. “No! Lightning!” cried Starla. “Starla…! No, Starla…!” “Leave him alone, you sick creep!” Starla demanded. “Tsk, tsk, tsk. Is that any way to speak to your future husband? Not to worry. In time, once you’ve lived here for a while, you will learn better manners.” “I’m not going to marry you, and I’m not going to live here with you either! I am an officer of Starfleet and I have my own life. Do you understand? I won’t marry you! I won’t say those words, and you should know… I’m in love with someone else.” Awdr snickered softly “Oh, yes, that stallion who wanted to give you this?” he held up the ring for her to see, and he tried to force it onto Starla’s finger and claim her as his official bride, but she fussed about and kicked his face. “Don’t touch me!” she growled. As aggravated and sore as Awdr was, he was grinning wickedly and was starting to reveal his true nature-- cold, cruel, cunning, pompous! He gazed deeply into her eyes. “I think you will find that in the end I always get what I want. You see, when I said only the fairies can do magic here, I left out one little detail.” His eyes began to glow hypnotically. Starla tried to look away but he forced her to look into his eyes. She felt herself slipping away. “My, husband!” she groaned “Our… wedding…!” “That’s more like it.” Awdr snickered. He instructed his fairies to prepare Starla for the ceremony that would take place directly at sundown, but too bad for him Krysta had seen everything from the castle window. “Why, that dirty creep!” she growled softly. She even bet that was how he was controlling the fairies. She recognized them as many of old subjects that had long set out to find partners to live with and befriend, and he obvious kidnapped them against their will; the pony-guards too. “He won’t get away with this. I’ve got to go for help.” The friends were locked and chained in cells in the dungeon, below the castle. They couldn’t use their magic to break out, and the warping fairies were all over the place, as well as the pony guards standing outside the dungeon door. Some of the crusaders were awfully frightened, and were trying their hardest not to break out crying. DD did her best to be brave, and the others had to stay brave for the girls as well. Rarity didn’t even mind that the dungeon was filthy and dusty, and the chains were really uncomfortable. “Rarity isn’t there anything we can do?” cried Sweetie. “Now, now, Sweetie, you and the girls just sit there quietly. We’ll think of something. Lightning was pulling on his chains as hard as he could in desperation to get out and stop that creep from taking Starla away, but it was no good. “I can’t break them. These chains must be made of a special reinforced alloy.” “You’re telling me!” groaned Spike, who was chained up and off of the floor. “I can’t even move.” He tried to use his fire as it was not magic, but it didn’t even singe the chains. “It’s no use, Spike.” Twilight said “I don’t think even I could break these, even if I still had my magic.” “So… that’s in then?” cried Appleboom. “We’re stuck here… forever?!” cried Babs. “Oh, no we aren’t.” Lightning said “Not if my little secret plan works out. I just hope it happens in time.” In one of the towers of the castle, Awdr was dressed in his wedding attire and looking at his reflection in three full-length mirrors. “Mmm… yes. Very handsome…” he said to himself and winked at his own reflection. Suddenly, he heard a noise coming from the tower opposite of his own. “Oh, what’s going on now?” In the other tower, Starla was putting up a fuss, as the hypnosis seemed to have worn off. She was giving all the guards and the fairies a rough time, refusing to go along with the plans, and insisting that she was not part of any deal. Awdr arrived and tried to act suave and disgusting with her “Now, now, darling, you needn’t behave so irrationally. I too am feeling nervous, but once we are married it will be all right.” Starla picked up a lamp and threw it at him, missing him. “I told you I won’t marry you!” she shouted, and she tried to fly out the window, but Awdr just counted backwards from three, and Starla was warped back by the fairies. Starla tried to flee again, but was warped back every time. “Escape is quite impossible, my little my angel.” Awdr told her “I must admit though, I am surprised that you broke free of my power, but this is not the first time this has happened, and I always come prepared with a backup plan.” He held out a box and opened it revealing a simple ruby pendant. “For my bride-to-be…” he said with a wicked smirk, and he order his guards to hold her down as he hypnotized her again, and the pendant he place around her neck would enforce the hypnosis, making it ten times as powerful. It would keep Starla under his spell, provided it wasn’t removed or destroyed. “We… will… marry.” Starla said in a daze, with her eyes glowing red “I… will… be… yours.” Awdr nodded sinisterly grinning. “It sure is paying to get everything you want.” After accomplishing her tasks and carrying out her orders, Krysta went back to Lekio and found the dungeon. The crusaders saw her and almost shrieked for joy. “Shh… keep it down, girls.” Lightning whispered, and Krysta quietly used her magic to undo all their shackles. The warping fairies spotted her and charged in ready to attack, but Kyrsta, being the fairy queen, teleported them back to her home-world, The Valley of Fairies on the planet Luminous, and had ordered her guards to keep them there until the hypnosis wore off. “Hypnosis?” asked Twilight. “Yeah, I saw it myself.” replied Krysta “Awdr’s hypnotized everyone who works for him, and he’s also hypnotized Starla into marrying him!” Krysta was suddenly grabbed by Lightning “What did you just say?!” he asked sounding very serious. Krysta repeated what she said about Awdr hypnotizing Starla, and Lightning’s cheeks turned red, blazing with anger like a steaming kettle whistling, and he dashed to the cell bars and pulled and pulled on them with all his might, and he actually managed to bend them so he could squeeze through. The guards began to race in and charge at him, but Lightning punched, kicked and knocked them all out cold, much to everyone else’s shock. Lightning then ordered Krysta to take the crusaders back to United-Equestria, while Twilight Rarity and Spike would come with him and crash Awdr’s plans. “Aw, but, can’t we stay Admiral?” asked Babs. “No, girls, this is far too dangerous for you.” snapped Lightning. “Rarity, we want to stay.” cried Sweetie. “Girls, I agree with Light-- er…the Admiral. This is no place for five young fillies.” “Sorry, girls, but it’s better if you go.” Twilight said. “Come on, Spike.” Then she ran off with Rarity and Lightning and left Krysta with the pouting ponies. “We just wanted to watch.” complained Scootaloo. “I don’t know…” said DD “These things can get dangerous. Maybe we should just go back.” “Come on, girls. I have my orders.” Krysta said, and she warped them all and herself away. Rarity, Twilight, and Spike on Twilight’s shoulders, followed Lightning as he dashed through the castle. “Do you even know where you’re going?” asked Twilight, and Lightning skidded to a halt. She crashed into him, and Rarity too and they all fell into a pile on the floor. “…Actually, I don’t.” Lightning said. The castle was pretty big, but they all figured the best place the wedding would be held was in a big courtyard or something, outdoors. “But how are we going to find it?” asked Spike. That’s when they could all hear the fait sounds of a trumpet fanfare, and other music playing. “Follow that music.” cried Lightning as he squeezed himself free and dashed off. “Lightning…!” Twilight called out to him, but Lightning didn’t stop. He was really determined to get Starla back and teach Awdr a lesson or two about real manners! The ceremony was a small, but an elaborately decorative one, held in the courtyard round the back of the castle. All the pony guards and the rest of the fairy army were there. Candles and flowers decorated all around, and Awdr stood at the alter at the end of the aisle as Starla, wearing a simple white gown, and a flower in her hair, and still under the spell, was slowly marching towards him. Awdr reached out for her hand, and she took it. Then he proceeded to perform the ceremony himself, and being in such a rush that he was, he skipped over a lot of the basic stuff, and merely had the ring in its box, and special wine for the ceremony. He poured it into a golden goblet, and took hold of it, and made Starla hold it too. “I ask that you now profess your endless and eternal vows of love and worship to Me.” he said Starla slowly laid her hand on the goblet. “I… pledge… my love… to you… my one… and only… Lightning…” “What… Lightning…?!” He couldn’t believe that his power was malfunctioning. Starla was still wearing the pendant, and she still seemed hypnotized. “You’re supposed to say, Awdr. Kindly repeat your vows.” Starla repeated her vows, “I… pledge… my love… to you… my one… and only… Lightning…” Awdr was losing his cool, and grabbed her shoulders, forcing her to drop the goblet, spilling the wine. “What’s wrong with you?!” His eyes glowed and he glared at her and growled fiercely “Say my name…!” Starla’s lips quivered and she looked ready to say it. “Lightning…!” Awdr looked like he was about to explode, but decided to forgo the vows, and merely claim Starla as his wife with the ring alone, without drinking the wine. He grabbed the ring and was just about to slide it onto her finger, when Lightning burst through the doors in back, kicking them clean off of their hinges. “HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!” he shouted. “You!” snapped Awdr “How did you get out?” but he really didn’t care to hear how and ordered his fairies to sick him, but just as the fairies prepared to teleport Lightning to who knew where, Lightning whistled loudly, and Krysta and a whole swarm of fairies she brought from her home world, as ordered, and they used their magic to counter the other fairies’ magic. “Good timing, Krysta!” Lightning called to her. Krysta winked and playfully saluted to him. Then she turned to face the furious Awdr. Twilight and the others came out to join Lightning by his side. “It appears I underestimated all of you.” Awdr said “But I’m afraid you’ve now pushed me too far. Let’s see how well you fare without the use of your powers! GET THEM!” and he ordered his guards to charge them. “Ha! Starfleet is prepared to fight, even when we can’t do magic.” Lightning said with pride. “Have at you!” growled Rarity as five guards surrounded her. She flexed her hands, and cried out like a marital artist, and punched and kicked them aside, not too hard though, keeping mind they were just under a hypnotic spell. Twilight didn’t do so well at the start, usually depending on her magic, but she managed to find herself, and managed to knock out a whole swarm of guards. While they dealt with the guards, Krysta and her army faced all of Awrd’s fairies. They constantly threw magic projectiles at each other, back and forth, but Krysta’s army managed to get the upper-hand and sent Awrd’s fairies through their warp portals and back to their planet where they would be dealt with soon enough. As the fairies continued to battle each other, one of them tackled another one hard, and the two fairies went soaring towards they alter and knocked over one of the tall candles. One of the flames landed in the puddle of wine that Starla had spilled causing a big fire to spread, and Starla, still in her trance, just stood there not even blinking her eyes. “Starla!” cried Lightning. He knocked the guard he was fighting away, and then dashed to save her when he was halted by Awdr. “Oh, no, you don’t!” he growled as he swung a sword right at him, and Lightning dodged. “Hey! I thought you didn’t believe in fighting?” “Fighting and fighting for a female is quite a different matter.” Lightning saw no difference, but he didn’t have time for this, and dodged another blade swing and ran towards Starla before the flames reached her. The fire consumed the entire alter, and the ring on it. “No!” shouted Lightning as he watched in horror as the ring melted away to nothing, which really spiked his anger. “Guys…!” Lightning cried. Twilight and the others dashed over and promised to look after Starla. “I’ve got a little score to settle.” and he ran back to face in Awdr in a blade battle, or rather he fought with a long candelabra staff. “That’s it, fight for honor, like a real man.” Awdr sneered “En-guarde!” and the two of them went at it. Meanwhile, the others were trying their best to wake Starla up. “I will… marry.” She kept on saying over and over. Her eyes glowed, and so did the pendant she was wearing. “Hey! That’s it…” cried Spike, and he leapt up onto her shoulder and grabbed the pendant off of her. Starla awoke from her trance in shock, which knocked Spike off of her shoulder, and shattering the pendant. “Ouch!” he groaned as he held up the broken necklace which he thought would have made a tasty treat for him. “Double ouch.” “Starla?” cried Twilight “Darling, are you alright?” added Rarity. Starla rubbed her eyes and shook her head. “What’s going on?” but then she could see for herself, up ahead whereas Lightning and Awdr continued to brawl. Awdr thrust his sword, but Lightning caught it within his candelabra staff! “It’s over, young Lightning. Starla is mine!” “In… your… dreams…!” growled Lightning as he continued to fight back, and Starla remembered everything. She angrily ripped her dress making it shorter so she could move more easily. Just as Lightning seemed to gain the upper-hand, and knocked Awdr’s sword away. “Ha! Now who’s the better male?” Awdr simply snickered and used his magic to hypnotize Lightning so he couldn’t move. “You didn’t really think that my fairies were the only ones that could do magic here?” Lightning growled and struggled to try and move, but it was no use. Awdr picked up his sword. “I was really hoping it wouldn’t have to come to this.” but just as he got ready to deliver the kill. “No!” Starla leapt out in front of Lightning, shielding him. “I won’t let you! H’YAH!” and she kicked the sword away from him again. “Why can’t you just get it through your head? I love Lightning, not you! You can’t always get what you want, especially by hypnotizing them. Even if you did manage to make me say those words, you’d know they weren’t my true feelings. Not that I’d expect a sick, pompous fool like you would even know about feelings.” Awdr finally lost his patience and hypnotized her, paralyzing her on the spot too. The others tried to stop him, only to get paralyzed themselves, and they couldn’t use their own magic to break free. “Well, it seems I’ll have to do away with all of you then.” and he picked up his sword a third time. “Such a pity-- We would have been so happy together, and you would have had everything you could ever dream of, but there goes the old ways-- if I can’t have you, then no one may.” But before he could do anything, his sword was lassoed and yanked out of his hands, yet again! “What?!” he growled as he turned to see Lightning’s team and Twilight’s friends all around them, along with the Cutie-Mark Crusaders in the front. “Freeze, we have you completely surrounded.” shouted Buddy-Rose Seeing as he was vastly outnumbered, and even he couldn’t try to hypnotize everyone at once as it was beyond his power. Awdr lost whatever courage he seemed to possess and got down on his knees begging for mercy. “Please… I surrender!” he cried “Just don’t hurt me.” Everyone felt awkward at his sudden cowering. Nevertheless, he was arrested for violating issues and laws within Starfleet’s derestriction: kidnapping, blackmailing, and attempted murder. All the other ponies were released from the spell, and were promised to be returned home so things would get back to normal. Lightning was so relieved that the others came back to save them. “You should be thanking the girls.” said Artie.  “Yeah, they’re the ones who called us and told us to come.” added Rainbow. Lightning and his team were surprised, and the girls admitted that the second they got back to United Equestria, they went around and gathered all the others and told them of the situation. “And here we all are.” said Babs. “We’re sorry we disobeyed orders and came back.” added Sweetie. Rarity approached her sister, and she seemed angry at first, but her facial expressions changed to a smile and she hugged her warmly. “Oh, Sweetie Belle, that’s the single most wonderful things you’ve ever done.” “Yes, girls, that was very brave of you.” added Twilight “You’re real heroes.” The girls smiled. “Well, that’s us for ya.” said Applebloom, and all five of them stood together proudly and shouted “THE CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS!!” “Now if only we had our Cutie marks.” said Sctooaloo, but sadly, they were all still just blank flanks. As they all worked to help clean up some of the mess, Lightning found a small melted band on the ground, which was defiantly all that was left of the ring he wanted to give to Starla. This made him really upset, and it reminded him of all the interruptions he had which lead to this whole mess. As Awdr was being taken away, he growled at Starla “I still fail to understand what you see in him, in this life you choose.” “Maybe you would if you had the one thing that money can’t buy and that magic can’t conjure… a heart, and you’d know that I love my life just as it is, and I love my friends, and I especially love Lightning.” Starla protested. “Love…! Pah…!” mocked Awdr “Perhaps you two are made for each other after all. You’re both as ridiculous as everything else is in my view!” Lightning had heard quite enough and stood by his mare-friend with his arms at his side. “Okay you inconsiderate, pompous, windbag of a mule!” Awdr felt as if someone had just slapped him in the face “You dare call me a mule! Outrageous…!” “Not to mention, ugly.” Rarity muttered. She almost couldn’t blame him for feeling so disgraced. “I don’t care what you think is outrageous!” snarled Lightning “You can’t talk that way to the mare I’m going to marry. Now, get him out of here!” he told the others and they dragged him away, but Starla… her face lit up with glee when she heard those last words. “Why, Lightning Dawn, are you proposing to me?” Lightning angrily threw away the destroyed ring he was holding not caring about it anymore. Being so incredibly frustrated, he yelled right in her face “I’VE HAD ENOUGH INTERRUPTIONS! WILL YOU MARRY ME, YES OR NO?!” Starla didn’t seem to mind at all that he was yelling in her face, and acted all soft and floating, “Oh, those are the sweetest words I’ve ever heard.” “WILL YOU ANSWER ME...?!!” “Oh, yes… I will.” She answered softly and she gently pulled him into a deep kiss. Lightning cleared his throat “Oh… well… that was easy.” Starla giggled and pulled him into another kiss, much to the delight of all the others, but a little to the sickness of the Crusaders, being young they didn’t like seeing lip-kissing. Still, a lot of the others were so happy and they were all thinking the same thing… that it was about time! (Promo) In our next episode; Spike feels very left out and unimportant, and continues to wish he could do more to help. Meanwhile, the seventh shard has been located in new Canterlot, and Melantha comes after it, while at the same time, the hooded assassin reveals herself and her latest plot to destroy Celestia, a threat so powerful that hope seems to be fading for the team. Will they get the heart shard before Melantha does? Will Celestia survive her newest death threat? Don’t miss the next exciting episode of “Starfleet Magic” (Next Episode: “Knight of the Dragons”)