Late one night, Applebloom woke up, unable to sleep and decided to get a cup of milk from the kitchen.

On her way downstairs, she began to hear soft clanging noises coming from the garbage cans outside the house. “Not the raccoons again?” she groaned. She remembered her sister telling her if ever raccoons or small wild animals got into the garbage, they were be shooed off instead of the family having to wake up to see their garbage thrown all over the place.

Having done this many times before, she grabbed a broom and a flashlight, and walked outside to the garbage cans, only to see it wasn’t a small animal, but someone, most likely a pony, dressed in black rags and wearing thick dark goggles going through the trash and taking bits of discarded food.

The stranger turned to gaze at her, and he immediately dropped all the food he took and ran off into the darkness. “Hey!” Applebloom shouted and she tried to chase after him, but he was too fast and slick for her to keep up, and she almost ended up running into the forest on the grounds.

“Hello…?” Applebloom called as she flashed her light around, but whoever that stranger was, he was long gone.

Applebloom then heard the sound of footsteps coming towards her, and the shine of a flashlight. It was Applejack, having returned from her assigned nightly duties. “What are you doing out here, Applebloom? It’s after midnight, and you have a school field-trip tomorrow.”

“I was chasing, I think it was a thief.” replied Applebloom “He was pokin’ through our trash and… I guess I scared him off.”

Applejack had heard this before; it was not the first time this had happened. Weeks before the prisoners escaped, reports had been coming in of sightings of a mysterious stranger poking through dumpsters and garbage cans, but no one ever got a good look at the stranger as he always seemed to vanish in the wink of an eye.

Applejack even saw the unusual footprints the stranger had left, but unfortunately, they didn’t match any style of footwear she knew of, nor could her scanners detect anything unusual about them.

With nothing to go on, and no great harm done, Applejack escorted her little sister back to the house, but the both of them were still wondering about who it was.

From on a tree limb, the stranger watched the two ponies walk off, and he panting in anger and outrage, but more weakness as he felt his stomach in hunger.

My name is Mykan Stevens, and I… I am the first human ever living here in United Equestria.

I had been living here in this world for about half a year and in all that time I have discovered so many incredible things, learned so much about the magical worlds around me, and even made friends with many strange and unusual creatures, not just ponies.

As an auxiliary member of Starfleet, I wasn’t allowed to enter battles as much as the ponies that were could, but I was permitted to help out in any way that I could when, and if, it was necessary. Armed with the gifts I had received from their royal majesties; my enchanted cape so I could fly, my teleportation device on my belt, and two main weapons--The Shield of Righteous Courage, and the Sword of Pure Soul-- I felt that nothing could stop me.

Today, however, as a part-time school teacher of the human world, the students, Cheerilee and I were going on a field trip, a trip to New White Tail Woods to go on a nature hike.

Since it was too far to walk, and teleportation was only to be used in times of extreme peril; Two large air-balloon baskets were ready, and many Pegasi from New Cloudsdale were going to be flying them, so it would only take ten or fifteen minutes to get there from New Ponyville.

Though today wasn’t my day to teach, I was going along to learn first-hand more about United Equestria itself.

“I can’t wait to go!” cried Sweetie Belle. “Me neither, I feel like a brave soldier venturing into the unknown.” added Scootaloo.

“And to think, this’ll be our first ever trip since we got our cutiemarks…” said Applebloom, and she and the others compared the marks on the front of their clothes, which matched the marks on their flanks, though DD’s mark was really just a tattoo she had gotten, as she was a Space Alicorn and couldn’t get a Cutie Mark.

“Oh, knock it off already!” sneered Diamond Tiara, “We already know you got your cutiemarks. It’s not like it makes you any more important than ever.” added Silver Spoon.

The girls’ features hardened, and Sweetie Belle said “We’ve got more than just these marks…”

Scootalloo nodded and said, “And if that’s not important enough to you, then that’s your problem, like everything else wrong with you.”

Many of the other students listening reacted in awe, and Diamond and Silver felt shocked having been told such a thing, and before either of them could express any protest, DD spoke first, “You’ve been pulling the same in-your-face act since day one, Diamond. It’s old and it’s tired! I mean look at all of us, we’ve all gotten a bit better over all this time, and some of us even found new ways to go about our lives… but you two. You’re still the same pathetic losers who like to torment others just feel important. You’re just sad.”

Now the students were cheering for the crusaders and laughing at Diamond and Silver, making the two feeling like bursting into tears of humiliation and running off.

Cheerilee then called out to everyone. “Okay, children, it’s almost time for us to leave, but before we do I’d like to introduce you to our new student.”

A dark blue unicorn with a beige mane stood beside her. He looked about the same age as the girls, but he had no cutiemark as was evidenced that his clothes were blank, and he didn’t look very happy either as evidenced by his scowling face.

“Everyone, this is Biffy Box. Biffy, these are your new classmates, and hopefully soon-to-be friends.”

“Sure…” Biff said in a soft gruff tone, much to Cheerilee’s confusion. “Okay, well, we better get going. Group-A, come with me in one basket, and Group-B, go with Mr. Stevens in the other.”

The students boarded the baskets in file. Mykan’s basket carried the crusaders, Diamond, Silver, and the new pony Biff, while Cheerilee carrier the rest of the class, and soon, the Pegasi lifted the baskets off the ground and they were all on their way, soaring over New Ponyville.

Biff sat by himself in the corner, not making any eye contact with any of the other kids, just kept up that same look of mean gruffness.

“I think maybe we oughta’ show a bit of friendship to the fella.” said Applebloom. The other girls agreed, and carefully made their ways over to the lonesome pony.

“Hi…” said Sweetie Belle “I’m Sweetie Belle, this is Scootaloo, Applebloom and Daphne Dill.”

“That’s nice, now back off!” Biff snapped, “You mess with me, I’ll deck you!”

The girls felt their friendless fading already. “Um, we we’re just trying to be nice.” said Scootaloo.

“Look…!” Biff sneered “I had to deal with enough losers at my old school, and now I have to deal with a bunch of wimps like you.”

“Excuse me…?” DD sneered. “You’re excused.” Biff said, and he gave her a small shove, rocking the basket.

Not wanting to cause more trouble, the girls decided to leave Biff alone, now thinking of him very rude, while Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon chuckled softly at the crusaders.

They too approached Biff and tried to befriend him, expressing their own distaste for “Wanabe losers.” As they worded it, but Biff expressed the same rudeness to them too, “Nice Tiara, what are you; princess of the geeks.”

Diamond felt shocked and really sore, “One: No one talks to me that way, and two…”

“Wow, you can count up to two.” Biff cut in, and then he gazed at Silver Spoon, “How about you, four-eyes, what can you count to, three?”

The girls could see this would be no friendship and left Biff alone in the corner.

In a short while, the class reached its destination, in the village just near New White Tail Woods. It was one of those new places that had appeared since United Equestria was formed and much wider than Equestria of old. The same thing applied to the small mountains that surrounded the area.

“Single file please...” Mykan said as he and the students climbed out of the basket.

As the students calmly stepped out, Biff standing at the very back of the line pulled on DD’s tail, causing her to trip and bump into all the other students and they all fell over.

He laughed at them softly, but the girls were not pleased and were about to protest when Mykan cleared his throat telling them all to stop fooling around, still unaware of what was going on.

The girls were really starting to get riled up by Biff’s antics, but Biff just stuck his tongue out at them.

Soon, the whole class had huddled together at the entrance to the forest, and Cheerile called everyone’s attention. “Now, the pathways have been clearly marked. So everyone, pick a partner in groups of two. Stay close together at all times, and no wandering beyond the pathways. We’ll all meet back here in one hour for lunch.”

I nodded and reinstructed the class “Remember, we are just visitors here to study up on how nature works. Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints. However, if you wish you can find a special treasure to bring back with you, make sure you ask one of us first if it’s okay, and if you do happen to get lost, you each have been given a whistle to let the rest of us know where you are.”

The children understood and began to pair up. Naturally, Applebloom and Sweetie paired up and so did DD and Scootaloo, as well as Snips with Snails and Diamond and Silver.

The rest all paired up with others, and even I myself paired up with Cheerilee. Finally, Biff was forced to be paired up with Pipsqueak since there was no one left, and Biff was looking at him in a threatening way, which I did happen to notice this time.

Still, we all walked into the woods together, keeping to the paths and seeing a whole bunch of things in the way.

I myself was fascinated by the foliage, mushroom species and other things that were similar to all the things on my home planet, Earth. “This is all incredible.” I said as I looked at a simple fern plant “I remember studying about these in my old science class. In a way, it’s almost as if I never left Earth.”

“I’m so glad you’re enjoying this, Mykan.” said Cheeriliee “I often wonder what Earth is like, but if you say it’s all the same.”

As the hike continued, many of the students began to find simple little treasures to take back with them; Pine Cones, birch-wood.

Suddenly, Sweetie Belle found something very unusual in the forest; a piece of black ragged fabric. “What’s this doing here in the woods?” she wondered to the others.

“What kind of fabric is it?” asked Scootaloo, “I don’t know…” said Sweetie “But I bet Rarity will if I show it to her. I’m going to take it home with me.”

Applebloom asked to look at the fabric more closely, “I think I’ve seen this somewhere before, but I can’t quite make it out.”

Suddenly, the girls could hear the sound of arguing. It was Biff squabbling with Pipsqueak over a simple pine cone that Pipsqueak had already found and claimed, and Biff was trying to take it for himself.

Biff’s horn glowed and he used a tiny bit of magic to push Pip away, and he fell in a mud puddle.

Biff laughed at him, but the girls had seen everything and DD, having had more than enough, grabbed Biff’s arm, using her Space Alicorn strength, and grabbed the pinecone saying “Just because you’re bigger than him, doesn’t mean you get to pick on him.”

The others helped Pip up, but Biff was really getting angry, and used his magic to shock DD to letting him go. “You know, I didn’t like you before, and now I can see you need to be taught a lesson.”

He stood ready for a fight, but DD shook her head in dismay, not wanting to fight and she and the others began to walk away.

“What you scared of me? Chickens…!” Biff mocked, and he began to flap and cluck to taunt at them. “If we’re chicken, why are you flapping and clucking?” Scootaloo teased, and Biff felt his face turning red with rage.

He then noticed Sweetie Belle had left her knapsack on the ground and got the idea to get revenge on the girls already. “Hey, losers!” he called.

“Hey, my knapsack!” cried Sweetie, and she and the others watched as Biff levitated it with his magic and sent the pack up and soaring over, deep to the other side of the woods near a small mountain. “No! My fabric is in there!” cried Sweetie.

The others were outraged, “What is wrong with you, boy!” snarled Applebloom “Why are you being so mean to us?”

“Because I like to…! So there.” said Biff “It how to get through life, my pop says, you gotta be tough and show people whose boss.”

When I was growing up, my father showed to me
How to get what you want and how all things must be
This world is a one where the strong are meant to rise,
So seek out the weak and cut them down to size
And so I take up pride in making ponies cry,
And a laugh at them so hard it brings a tear to my eye.

You’ll never get through life so far if you act like geek,
So be tough and get real rough and find some misery to wreak
So pick on people, make ‘em squirm as proper and you should
Yes, a bully’s life is gold and it makes you feel so good.

The girls couldn’t believe how disgusting that song sounded the way it praised and encouraged bullying.

I like to pull off pranks, and I love to call you names,
I would rather be your foe than join in any nerdish games
Why work for something hard that would take a real long time
When I can snatch it off you and then push you in the slime
If I see someone different I don’t like it at all,
So I tease and pick and poke and watch cry and whine and bawl.

Yes, a bully’s life is gold and it makes you feel so good.

His song ended, and then he heard the sound of soft sarcastic clapping from behind him; it was from me and Cheerilee, “That was a very interesting son, Biff.” Cheerilee said “But I’m afraid we don’t tolerate bullies in our class.”

“Biff, don’t make it worse by lying.” I said to him “We heard what was happening from way back, and we just saw you throw Sweetie Belle’s bag deep into the woods.”

“Um, Ms. Cheerilee, Mr. Stevens…” said Pip “…That’s not all he did.” And he and the girls explained what had been going on all day, and after what we had just seen and the song we heard, Cheerlie and I were highly convinced we had a problem child on our hands.

Cheerilee grabbed him by the arm and began to pull him along out of the woods, “I think you and I need to have a serious talk young colt!”

While she dealt with him, I offered to escort the girls deep into the woods to look for Sweetie Belle’s knapsack.

“Stay close with me, girls.” I said as I lead them deep into the forest. We emerged outside, and there was the mountain trail straight ahead, and a path leading to the village just past it.

“There’s my knapsack!” cried Sweetie and she rushed to take it and check through it. Sure enough, nothing was damaged and she still had the fabric she had found, but strangely, there on the ground where he pack had been, she found another piece of fabric just like the one she had found.

Even I was astonished by the pieces and asked if I could look at them both. I took out my magnifying glass from my own knapsack, “Strange, they’re both the exact same color and yet, different fabrics. This one is cotton and this one is silk.”

I even noted that they two pieces had bits and threads of other fabrics on them, but it didn’t make much sense, but before the girls and I could examine things any closer, our stomachs gave a soft growl, and we could hear the town clock chiming it was twelve noon.

“Whew, I could sure go for a bite after everything that’s happened.” said DD.

Since the village was in plain sight, just along the trail of the mountain, we all decided to just walk around the way back to where the group meet us.

“Come along, girls.” I said, and we started to walk along the trail, when suddenly… everything went darker around us, as a booming haunting voiced called out…

“IF YOU VALUE YOUR LIVES… LEAVE NOW AND NEVER RETURN!!” the voice thundered, as bolts of Lightning seemed to erupt from the mountainside.

“Quickly, girls…!” I shouted, and the girls all held onto me close as I activated my teleporter, and we vanished!

We reappeared on the far side of the forest, where Cheerilee and the rest of the class were. They were all very surprised that we teleported in. “What happened?” Cheerliee asked.

The girls rambled all at once about what happened, “One at a time, please!” cried Cheerilee. Then I decided to tell her about what happened in private.

“What in the hootin’ nanny was that all about back there?” Applebloom wondered to the girls.

“Aw, what’s the matter? Have a little scare in the woods?” Diamond taunted, “You’d think they met a lion, a tiger or an Ursamajor.” added Silver.

The girls’ features hardened and the glared angrily at the two, “Trust us…” sneered DD “If you were there you’d be scared too.”

The two ponies did look scared, much to the crusaders confusion, but the sound of angry puffing made them realize Biff was standing right behind them, and he was steamed.

Diamond and Silver cowardly ran off, and Biff spoke threateningly to the girls, “Thanks to you creeps, Ms. Cheerlie gave me a week of detention when we get back to school.”

“Hey, don’t blame us.” said Scootaloo, “You’re the one who was acting like a big bully.”

Biff gnashed his teeth and looked really ready for a fight, but Cheerilee and Mykan were coming back. “This isn’t over, you dweebs.” Biff said, and he went off, not wanting to get caught.

As the girls ate, they couldn’t help but gaze at the mountain on the other side of the village and the forest. From where they sat it seemed rather normal and calm, but what they had went through earlier they would not forget, and all four of them wondered very deeply what it was that drove them away.

Little did they realize that they were being watched from afar by a stranger hiding in shadows, looking at them through binoculars and snarling angrily!

In our next episode; Fluttershy’s friend, Treehugger is in search of a mate, and she happens to set her eyes on Buddy Rose, but takes things a bit too strongly. Not as strongly as when an unknown creature attacks the forest and even puts Treehugger in danger.

Can our save the forest and Treehugger from certain doom?

Don’t miss the next exciting episode of “Starfleet Magic!”

(Next Episode: “Treed”)

My Brave Pony Starfleet Magic: Season VI

by DakariKingMykan

Episode 4: Two Wrongs make a Fight