//------------------------------// // Act 5: Liars and Fires // Story: My Brave Pony Starfleet Magic MOVIE- Human in United Equestria // by DakariKingMykan //------------------------------// ACT FIVE What an incredible thrill this was; not only was able to breathe in space without a spacesuit on, but traveling so incredibly fast across the cosmos on a dimensional pathway with Lightning and his team. “And you guys travel all the time like this?” I asked. “It’s the only fastest way to get from one place to another quickly in this universe.” Lightning answered. The view was so incredibly breathtaking, that I nearly lost my balance. “Watch it!” shouted Starla “Remember what we warned you…” “I remember.” I said. I was warned very strictly that if I strayed from the path and fell into space, I’d get teleported to anywhere in the whole Dimensional Universe. Since pathways could only connect to moons and planets, but not connect to vehicles, we were headed for a small moon in orbit of Conva, the prison planet. There we would be escorted by one of Princess Avyanna’s shuttle craft that would take us all to the Kallanium which was flying nearby on its way to United Equestria. We arrived in the docking bay, and were greeted by the many guards before the princess was announced, everyone bowed to her, and Starla gave me a soft nudge telling me to bow too… so I did, when I looked back up our eyes met. She gave me a straight, but rather cheeky looking expression. “Your highness…” Lightning said “We apologize for this, but--” “Naturally, don’t apologize.” Avyanna quickly said. “After all, you are merely conducting your duty, and I have no objections to this search.” She then gazed at me again, and I gazed back at her. “Your highness…” She nodded at me “Mr. Stevens… so nice to have seen you again.” I kept a cool attitude, and smiled at her, which aroused the suspicions of the others. “You two have already met?” asked Starla. “Indeed…” answered Avyanna, and she explained how she found me in my disabled ship, brought me aboard and nursed me back to health. “I thought it best if I sent him all to you in United Equestria, so he’d fully regain his health.” The ponies used their visors’ lie-detection as she spoke, the readouts showed them she was telling the truth, but I was not fooled for an instant, but I did not make any attempt to make a scene. “Now then, shall we commence the inspection?” asked Lightning. “Please…” Avayanna said as she instructed her guards to escort us all. We searched the entire ship, including the landing bays, but much to my confusion, not a ship was found. The ponies even used their heat and radiation scans and could find no traces of there ever being any ships to begin with. No burn marks…  No radiation traces of after burns… …Nothing. Deep down, I had anticipated something like this. Nothing convinced me different that Avyanna had sent all her ships out, and covered her tracks well the others could not detect or realize. Still, I could not prove otherwise, so there was no point in trying… not yet anyway. I needed to come up with a plan, and act on my own… all I needed was one clear opening to get my chance. We were all escorted back to the docking bay, ready to board our ship to head back down to Conva’s Moon, and from there, head back to United Equestria, via a pathway. “Again, we apologize for having put you through this, your highness.” said Lightning. “Again, there is no need to apologize.” said Avyanna “I was pleased to have eased your minds, and it was wonderful having you all here.” She gazed at me once more “I was especially pleased to have seen you again, Mr. Stevens.” I smiled and tenderly kissed her hand, much to suspicion of the others, and the disgust of Mayne. “Pleasure was all mine, Princess.” I said slyly. Lightning cleared his throat, saying it was time to leave. “I wish you all a safe journey home.” said Avyanna “I hope you will not run into any misfortune.” As I prepared to board the craft, I gazed back at her and said “You know, your highness, there’s only one other thing I like less than misfortune… a liar.” The others glared at me angrily, but Avyanna didn’t take it as an insult. The ponies practically shoved me into the craft, and then we took off. *POV ends* Avyanna could see us set out. “It was a good thing I had sent the fleet out, and used the magic spell from our dealer to clear the ship of evidence and manipulate their scanning. They never detected a thing.”  Mayne didn’t say a thing. He just stood where he was practically half sulking. “Something disturbs you, Mayne?” “You took an awful chance, your highness.” said Mayne “Such carelessness could be quite costly. You seemed to be acting in a rather peculiar way towards Mr. Stevens.” “What I choose, Mayne, is my own priority, and right now your priority is to carry my orders and order the fleet to do their job. I trust you have no problem with that…?” “None, whatsoever.” said Mayne, and then he headed off, but was still not pleased. He was worried that the princess was becoming infatuated with Mykan, which would lead her to stumbling, and ruin their conquest. “You took an awful chance, your highness.” said Mayne “Such carelessness could be quite costly.” “I do not remember asking for your opinion, Mayne.” she snapped at him. She was so impressed with Mykan’s attitude that she decided to do another little test. *Mykan’s POV* After setting on the moon, the craft returned to its mothership, and left us to prepare to head out. The ponies were still giving me attitude. “You could have greatly insulted the princess with what you said back there.” said Buddy Rose. Not giving too much attitude, I simply said “I wouldn’t call it an insult, especially when it’s the truth.” “Mykan, the princess denies your story, and we could find no shred of proof that supported your belief.” said Lightning. “I’m afraid when we get back we’ll have to…” “I know the drill…” I said “Let’s just go.” Dyno whispered to Myte “How can he be so calm? He’s going to be arrested.” “Do you think maybe we didn’t look hard enough up there?” Myte asked softly. We were all just about to jump through the warp-portal, when suddenly… “Hey, look!” Artie shouted, as a squad of miniature ships came soaring from out of nowhere and began to open fire on us.  “PIRATES!!” shouted Lightning, as we all jumped out of the way of the laser-fire. “Where did they come from?” snapped Starla. “Never mind that, let’s get them.” “YEAH!!” the others all shouted. Starla stayed down to keep me protected as we ducked behind a rock formation. The others all took off into the air and began to return fire. Lightning landed on one of the ships, and thrust his fist clear through the glass, striking the pilot had. Lightning then leapt off as the ship crashed and burned. Rhymey drew his sword, and sliced another ship in half, right down the middle… causing it to explode. Another tried to sneak up on him… “Nice try…” Then he zipped up high out the way, “Bye-bye!” And shot it down with one blast of magic from his horn. Down below, Starla kept shooting any ship that came near our way with her Starlight Arrows and her Pulsar laser. “I bet Avyanna just called them back.” I said. “Mykan, will you get it straight, these are pirates. Why would they work for the princess.” snapped Starla. “Look, all I’m saying is…” “LOOK OUT!!” And Starla jumped on me, pushing us both down behind the rocks before we got hit by a laser beam. “Stay down here out of sight, that’s an order!” She told me, and then went back to her shooting. Buddy Rose was faced against three ships at once.  The pilots rammed at him with full speed, firing their lasers like crazy, but Buddy dodged their every blow. “LEAF SWARM” He launched a barrage of his leaves which hit the cockpit view glasses of every ship, blinding the pilots’ view, causing them to all to crash into one another. Dyno and Myte stood together, nodded at one another and joined hands; “BOOM-BOOM-ROCKETS” unleashing their missiles at the oncoming ships. Artie launched his Paint Bombs at more, but just as the number of ships seemed to be nearly diminished, a whole new fleet soared in. “They’ve got reinforcements!” he shouted. Lightning narrowed his eyes. “Get back, I’m going to go enticorn on them.” The others gave him some space, allowing him to gather his strength and change into an Enticorn, then hopefully blow all the ships away in one shot, but for some strange reason…  As he tried to increase his power, he began to feel very weak, and began to float down to the ground, like a paper in a draft. “LIGHTNING…!” cried Starla as she watched her husband fall to the ground. The twins soared down and caught him before he could be shot by the pirates. The ships were still flying in a huge group, far too many to shoot out one-at-a-time. However, I got a good look at one ship in the middle, and calculated all the trajectories around it. I tapped Starla and told her “Shoot that one, there in the middle.” “Just back off, you don’t know what you’re doing.” she said. “I know if you don’t shoot there now, they’ll shoot us. Just do it!” Starla then took a good look at the ship I was pointing at, and realized my calculations. So she summoned up a big burst of energy into her horn “PULSAR LASER!” and fired at the ship, it exploded, and bits and pieces of it slammed into the other ships, causing the same thing to happen to the entire fleet… in one massive chain reaction. Starla was impressed by my judgment of trajectories, and she felt a bit silly for not having seen it before, being under so much stress and having seen her husband fall… “Lightning…” she cried. “I’m okay…” he called as he and other regrouped around us. Starla leapt up and hugged him deeply. “What happened?” “I don’t know… I just started to feel really weak, but thanks to you, the pirates are gone.” “Um, actually… it was Mykan who showed me.” The others all gazed at me, and were majorly impressed as Starla was. “Can we go now?” I simply said. *POV Ends* From her ship, Avyanna and Mayne saw everything, both of them not feeling a bit remorseful of all the many ships and troops they lost, but to Avyanna, being a near ruthless warrior, it was well worth the loss. “That Mykan has more spark in him than I thought.” she said, and she began to fade off into her warm and fuzzy thoughts again, much to Mayne’s dismay. She came too almost at once. “Mayne… take a letter.” “Yes, your highness.” *Mykan’s POV* We all arrived back in United Equestria, and were greeted by the rest of the gang. “Lightning, what happened?” asked Krysta.  “We saw the whole the thing from the observatory, we were about to launch reinforcements to help.” added Fluttershy. “I was actually looking forward to kicking some serious butt.” Rainbow groaned softly. “Don’t worry; I’m sure they’ll explain it to you…” I said, and I began to walk off, but Rarity and Rainbow blocked my way. “Excuse me, please…” I said sounding rather gruff. “Mykan…” Lightning said “You didn’t prove your story was true, we have no choice but to place you under arrest again, pending a new hearing.” I turned and gazed at him, and then walked off again. “Mykan!” snapped Rarity “Stay where you are, or we will shoot you?” “Rarity…!” I shouted, then I calmed down “All of you… I’m not trying to escape, and even if I did, where would I go? The only home I knew and loved is in another universe, which I may never see ever again. So do me a favor and cut the theatrics until you all get your act together.” A silence followed, and I walked off to my own jail cell. *POV Ends* “What just happened?” Pinkie asked. “Never mind it…” said Applejack. The ponies thought Mykan behaved rather rudely, but he was right in many ways. Still, they didn’t know what harm could happen as long as I was in custody. Spike was more concerned with Rarity’s behaviour than ever. “You didn’t have to be so harsh on him.” he said. “Spike…” she practically snapped “He is under suspect. How else do you expect to treat him?” Spike sighed “I give up…” and he walked off leaving Rarity confused and frustrated. She then turned to gaze at her faded reflection in a window; that grouchy, horrid expression finally made her realize… “Oh, my goodness…!” she cried “Is this what I’ve been looking like these few days? I look simply… hideous.” She was acting rather dramatic and went off to console her thoughts and shame. Meanwhile, Lightning was escorted to the sick-back for an examination after what had happened, and suddenly, the doctor found the reason, and pulled a small chip that was stuck under Lightning’s mane. “That’s an Energy-Distorter…” Lightning said; it was a small device used to stabilize energy in control units, and prevent systems form overloading. It was very dangerous when used on biological creatures, and would leave them extremely weak when their energies suddenly increased. “How did that get in your mane?” Starla asked. Lightning had no idea, but began to wonder if maybe it happened while they were all onboard the Kallanium. This made him wonder something else… why the pirate ships didn’t attack the Kallanium itself. It was just sitting there, completely unarmed, and most likely loaded with treasures of the princess. “Could we have made a mistake?” Lightning asked “Maybe Mykan was right?” They both were still uncertain, what with all the evidence they had gathered. It just didn’t add up. Just then, their royal majesties entered the sickbay.  Everyone bowed at them. “Glad to see you’re feeling better, Lightning.” said Celestia. Lightning bowed to her in thanks, and then he said “We sent Mykan back to his cell until his new hearing can be arranged.” “Speaking of Mykan, that’s why we are here…” said Grand Ruler, and he held out a letter. “From Princess Avyanna…?” asked Starla. “Yes…” said Celestia “It was sent to us moments ago. The princess has requested that Mykan attend the welcoming ball tomorrow night, as an apology.” Lightning examined the letter himself, and it read that Avyanna did indeed wish Mykan to be present at the ball, and that she was sorry that the pirates attacked the group on Conva’s Moon, when she was certain they were after her and her unarmed ship. Avyanna seemed to sound almost desperate to have Mykan there, which further stirred up the suspicion. “Your majesties, I think I have an idea…” They all huddled together as Lightning explained his idea. Their majesties were very skeptical about such a plan, and yet under the present circumstances, they too were beginning to feel doubtful about things. They gave Lightning their approval to proceed. Tomorrow night was going to be unlike any other.