//------------------------------// // Episode 22: Part 2: Amazing Alliance // Story: My Brave Pony: Starfleet Magic Season VIII // by DakariKingMykan //------------------------------// “Previously on Starfleet Magic…” The training with trying to unleash he pure inner strength was proving to be fruitless for the heroes, and things didn’t seem to be going to well for Stammadon when Ka Hotake cursed him with a magic seal and thereby gained control of him, and Stammadon proved to be ruthless in battle, even going as far to hurt his own minions-- they and the heroes are now at the mercy of possessed Stammadon and Ka Hotake. EPISODE TWENTY-TWO Ka Hotake continued to laugh as Stammadon continued to stomp towards the seemingly helpless Starfleet fighters, “It’s a shame you don’t have any tricks left up your sleeves,” Ka Hotake taunted “Because you’re going to need them.” The three Shis were outraged at this traitor, and the way he was controlling and using their master for his own thievery! Suddenly, Stammadon was looming over Lightning, and ready to strike him down! Swift could see everything from his palace window, “No!! Commander!!” he cried, and very much stood on the window sill wanting to jump down there and go help, but he was once again restrained by Professor Brain and Shadow Coat, but really… they, too, were just as fretful. “Say farewell!” growled Stammadon, and he brought down his arm to strike, he was suddenly blocked by Lightning’s arm, then he was kicked hard in the chest. Lightning bolted up onto his feet, “UNIFORCE” and blasted him hard sending him skidding along the ground and making deep drag marks. All the fighters then leapt up onto their feet. “What?!” snapped Ka Hotake. “Maybe we do have a few tricks left up our sleeves,” said Lightning with a smirk “…Like holding back our full strengths.” Spike nodded, “And something else you haven’t seen yet either…” he said and he motioned up at the ever-darkening skies “I have a special power when the darkness gets out of hand.” He concentrated hard and his body flashed brightly as he transformed into The Majestic Dragon!” All the villains were astonished, “No! How can this be?!” cried Ka Hotake. Spike glared down at him, “There goes an old saying: What you don’t know only makes me stronger.” Ka Hotake growled “Well, I suppose that is correct, but here is something that you do not know, and he tapped his staff hard and made Stammadon concentrate hard, emitting his raging aura. La Hotake did the same thing as well, and with a special skill, he combined the two auras together to form one colossal creature…! “What is that?!” cried Rarity. She and the others tried to scan it, but the database contained no information on this never seen before creature. The creature was as large as the Majestic Dragon-- at least fifty feet tall-- It’s body seemed to resemble that of a gorilla with flaming red fur, an orange belly, and super strong muscles, as well as sharp teeth, and it roared furiously. “Behold… the Raging Konga!” shouted Ka Hotake “A combination of hateful aura, dark arts, and believe me… it’s just as powerful as it seems! So powerful, that I only use it on special occasions… and if I can generate enough hateful energy, and thanks to Stammadon’s intensive training and great strength, my great beast is here!” The Konga roared and pounded its big chest, actually making flames with each beat. Spike knew he couldn’t let the creature loose on the village-- who knew what damage it would do! “I’m sorry guys; I have to hold this creep back.” Many of the others agreed, but Lightning shook his head, “Hold on, Spike! That creature looks burning-hot to the touch. I’ll give you a hand!” And he transformed into his Enticorn form, “I can take the heat like this.” Then he looked down at the others, and Starla assured him “We can handle things here, just help Spike.” Lightning nodded and zipped up to the huge fiery creature that swung its arm at him. Lightning swerved, “Take this…” and gave him a huge punch to the face, actually damaging it and making the monster roar as it tumbled down onto its back. “My turn!” said Spike and he spun hard, whipping his huge tail against the monster sending it rolling along the ground and further away from the village. Stammadon then roared and charged forth, “Watch out!” shouted Starla, and she and the fighters all scattered about. “We have to stop Ka Hotake!” said Krysta “It might make Stammadon weaker if he doesn’t control him.” The fighters agreed and split into two separate groups. Starla, Buddy, Artie, Rainbow, Fluttershy, battled Stammadon. Rhymey, Rarity, Pinkie, and the twins tried to go after Ka Hotake. “You’ve had it, Hombre!” hollered Dyno. “Here we come!” shouted Myte. The twins did a double flying-kick, but Ka Hotake blocked it with his staff and flung them off of him. “GET HIM…!” shouted Rarity. The fighters all charged at him, throwing their punches which he dodged. They kicked at him which he blocked each kick with his staff or his free hand. “Is that the best you’ve got?” he taunted. Rhymey growled, “WARD SWORD!” and he gripped his weapon tightly, and he charged at the creature roaring like a mad-pony, swinging his sword like crazy. Ka Hotake managed to parry him with his staff, “My training and gathering hatred has improved my strength many times!” he sneered. Rhymey continued to attack him, and managed to catch him off guard, and slashed him hard in the chest, flipping him over backward. “My strength has increased too, That’s what training can do, My friends and I will easily triumph over you!” The others regrouped with him, and agreed with what he said, but Ka Hotake only laughed hysterically. “Um… just what is so funny?” asked Pinkie. Ka Hotake stopped laughing, and then roared furiously, enveloping himself in strong, fiery aura. “Oh, no!” cried Rarity. “Oh, yes! Every master thief keeps a trick or two up his sleeve! Now my strength is even greater!” and he thrust his staff forth, unleashing a strong wave of burning energy that struck the ponies hard in a huge explosion, and knocked them all down hard. “Ay’! That’s hot flames!” cried Dyno. “Well,” said Myte as he got up and joined his brother “Let’s fight fire WITH FIRE!” “Ah, Si…!” agreed Dyno. The two joined their hands, “BOOM-BOOM FLARE” “Ha!” shouted Ka Hotake, and he countered the blast with his aura, and actually pushed the flames back at the twins with ease. Their friends came in and yanked them out of the way, sparing them from the blasts. Ha Kotake then rushed in to brawl with them more. The minions watched as the groups each battled, and they were all beginning to think this fight was really getting crazy. “What should we do?” asked Tan Shi. En Shi couldn’t believe what she was about to say “Maybe we should… fight to help Starfleet?” As expected her comrades reacted rather shockingly. “Help our enemies?! Have you taken leave of your senses?” scolded Rai Shi. “Perhaps,” answered En Shi “I know it breaks everything we stand for, everything we believe, but… look what’s happening to Stammadon?” The minions watched as their brainwashed master continued to battle with Starla and her team. Rai Shi pointed out, “Still, what if the master defeats our enemies? Then we will finally be rid of them forever.” “True,” agreed Tan Shi “And even if we tried to battle now, Ka Hotake or Stammadon will force us away. We could be badly injured, or even destroyed ourselves.” The minions had a tough decision to ponder, but for now they just kept out of sight as the battle continued. Spike and Lightning had forced The Konga out into the open fields, but the raging beast was still fighting as ruthless as ever and was charging straight for the duo. “Here comes!” cried Spike. Lightning then powered himself up, and Spike did too. “ULTRA-UNIFORCE” “FLAMES OF LIGHT” The two forces crashed into the big beast, forcing it back hard, enveloping it in huge explosions. “We got him!” cheered Spike, but he soon ate those words when The Konga burst through the smoke like a flaming geyser. “We… didn’t get him!” “Uh, oh…!” said Lightning as he noted how much stronger and more burning The Konga seemed now “I think all that power only made him stronger!” This was obviously another hidden power Ka Hotake hadn’t mentioned-- The Raging Konga was created and formed out of raging energy, so blasting it with more burning energy like that would add to its rage and power. The Konga then held his massive hands together and slammed the ground hard sending a burning trail towards the duo. “Dodge!” cried Spike, “No…! Don’t let that fire spread!” said Lightning, and instead of dodging, he stood right in the path of the burning trail and conjured a strong uniforce wall, shielding himself and Spike from the blast. The flames died out, and Lightning ceased the shield, but he felt pretty beat. “You alright?” asked Spike. “I’m fine, but we’ll have to fight him hand-to-hand. We can’t give him anymore strength!” Spike agreed, and the duo rushed in to attack. Spike and Konga engaged in a fist struggle. Spike could actually feel the burning on his majestic claws. “Yep, he’s stronger alright.” Still, he and Lightning were able to take the burn. Spike shoved Konga off allowing Lightning to fly straight up and POW!! The Konga was smashed hard in its huge chest knocking it down on its back. Lightning then leapt onto the creature’s huge face and began to ram numerous punches and kicks into it. The Kong then brushed him off, swatting him aside like a fly, sending Lightnign soaring way high up into the air. “Lightning!” called Spike. Lightning shook off the pain from the blow. “This is going to be tougher than I thought.” He hoped the others were faring better. Stammadon gave a large roar as he and Starla charged at one another, both their fists ready and WHAMM, both were struck hard in the face and send tumbling back, yet the two landed on their feet and looked ready for more. “Impudent creature!” growled Stammadon. The other fighters stepped in before Starla, and charged in. Stammadon knocked Artie’s staff away and rammed him hard. “LEAF SWARM” Buddy unleashed his leafs at him, but no surprises, he didn’t even get scratched. Buddy then tried to whip him, but Stammadon caught the whip, pulled him in hard and kicked him back out hard again. “SONIC RAINBOOM” Rainbow came soaring in form above hard. Stammadon leapt up high, “BLAZE OF THE FLARE KING” KAPOW!! His blast struck her hard, and she began to plummet to the ground. “Rainbow Dash…!!” cried Fluttershy, and she quickly leapt up high and caught her. Krysta came in and fired multiple blasts from her wand; all which bounced harmlessly off of Stammadon’s strong body. “Uh, oh…!” Stammadon then swatted mercilessly for her, but she cleverly zipped and served and finally warped herself out of the way, and stuck her tongue out at him. Stammadon growled. Ka Hotake laughed, “Face it, fools, there is nothing you can do. With the power of my rage, victory shall be mine!” and with that he unleashed a flaming blast from his staff. “Duck!” shouted Pinkie, and everyone hit the dirt just as the blast flew way past them, straight at the palace… KAPOW!! The Blast hit just a few inches away from the window Swift was watching. The barrier kept the palace protected, but the force of the blast caused a huge flash wave, that knocked the three ponies away from the windows. Swift was alright due to his increased strength, but Brain and Shadow Coat were knocked unconscious when their heads hit the floor. “Professor…! Captain…!” It was no use, they were out cold. He quickly called out into the hall, “We need meds up here! We got two out cold!” Help was sent for, but for the moment Swift was on his own. He looked back out towards the fighting, and really felt worried for the team. The rest of the Starfleet forces were fighting off the massive army of monsters while Stammadon, Ka Hotake and Raging Konga battled Lightning and friends. “Striker!” he cried softly as he watched his cousin attack and cause another explosion, which knocked several of the fighters about. Swift never felt so worried for his cousin before, and all this was exactly as he feared-- if they couldn’t snap him out from the darkness controlling him, the team would have no choice but to follow protocol and destroy him! He just HAD to get out there and try to confront him, and maybe snap him out of it, but just the same he knew he couldn’t-- it was orders, not to mention going down there meant he’d be walking straight into certain death if he was wrong. “I have to get out there!” he argued with himself “But I can’t… I shouldn’t! …But Striker… I have to!” Then suddenly he got an idea, “Maybe I can go out there, AND stay here at the same time.” He quickly dashed to the bookshelf, and found a book he studied in his first year at Starfleet Academy, “Aha…!” he said. And as fate would have it, there, in a box right next to the book was a small box containing just what he needed. “This could work!” And the first thing he did was pluck out a hair from his head…! The three villains attacked hard, knocking all the fighting groups hard once more. All of them were starting to feel worn out, but they were still able to stand. “Is everyone still good?” called Lightning. Everyone threw up their fists and nodded proudly. Ka Hotake scoffed “Well, I must admit you lasted longer than most of those I destroy… but I’ve wasted enough time here with you! I have a planet to conquer and a galaxy to rule!” He signalled to Stammadon and to Konga, “Finish them off!” His two henchmen roared and looked ready. “Now…?” Rainbow asked. “Now!” agreed Lightning. The other fighters nodded, and stood tall, shouting, “SUPER MODE… ACTIVATE!!” “What’s this?!” snapped Ka Hotake, and he watched as all the fighters began glowing brightly, and their armor, pads, boots and visors all were sparkling brightly. Stammadon growled at the sight of the fighters new look, and he charged straight for them--straight at Starla to be exact. Starla just stood where she was with her hands on her hips, and then slowly raised her right arm, halting him by the head, and with a simple push, she shoved him back hard as if he were a lightweight. “Forward!” Starla ordered, and she and her troops began to march straight ahead for Stammadon. “STRIKING FORCEWAVE” His blast struck the marching fighters, but they just walked through it as if it was nothing thanks to their new suits powering up their strengths many times. Ka Hotake was confused, “What sort of trick is this?” then he realized the group fighters facing him were marching his way, and Rhymey said… “I already told you-- it’s what we do. Now, you’re about to be outmatched too!” Ka Hotake was not about to take this, and raised his staff to defend himself, when suddenly… “FIST OF FORCE” Rai Shi leapt in and punched the staff clean out of his hand. Then Tan Shi came up from behind, and kicked him hard in the back sending him sailing through the air. “What the--?” said Pinkie Pie. “Are they… fighting him?” asked Artie. “And where is En Shi?” added Rarity “TSUNAMI” Everyone turned to where that shouting came from, and saw En Shi unleash her strong watery wave at Raging Konga, and while her biggest and strongest way was barely to amount to the size of his foot, the coolness of the water did have a negative effect on the burning energy, harming the raging creature. Spike and Lightning were almost speechless. En Shi looked at them, “We’re only doing this to save Stammadon. Do not think this means we are your true allies.” Spike and Lightning sighed, but they did need all the help they could get, and even thought that this could help them weaken down the minions enough to capture them too, but right they had other issues. “You… traitors!” snarled Ka Hotake. “That’s rich coming from you!” sneered Tan Shi, and she lunged straight at him swinging her claws, and Ka Hotake blocked her every attack and knocked her away with his staff. Rai Shi then came in, swerving and dodging the staff swings, and then punched Ka Hotake hard in his face, sending him skidding along the ground, but Ka Hotake then unleashed his fiery aura at him, making a big explosion and knocking him down. The ponies were at first astonished, and then they tried to jump in an assist. “This is our fight!” Rai Shi insisted “Our honour has been insulted and betrayed. Revenge will be ours!” “Don’t be ridiculous!” sneered Dyno. “…This is still our fight too!” added Myte. The others all agreed, and rushed in to help, and the Shis didn’t bother disagree; just as long as Ka Hotake was brought down. Ka Hotake was badly outnumbered, and he couldn’t stand up to Starfleet’s new strengths. Rarity grabbed his staff, and broke in two in her bare hands. “No!!” cried Ka Hotake, and with the destruction of his staff, Raining Konga began to grow weaker, and its flaming body began to fade out. “Now’s our chance!” said Lightning. En Shi and Spike agreed. Without Ka Hotake’s staff, Konga wouldn’t be able to absorb the energy that was about come his way! The three creatures unleashed their fury. “HAIL STORM” “FLAMES OF LIGHT” “ULTRA-UNIFORCE” All that power, so much energy, Konga just couldn’t take it as he was lifted up into the air by the powerful blasts, hurled out into space and… KA-BLAAMM!! Spike and Lightning cheered, and En Shi nodded proudly. Ka Hotake leapt up into the air and gazed in horror as the lights in the sky faded, “It’s impossible!” he whimpered “…No one has ever been able to withstand my Raging Konga attack!” He still felt that as long as Stammadon was under his control, victory would still be his. “Come… we’ll retreat and train again!” But Stammadon just stood where he was and he didn’t respond. “Did you hear me?” bellowed Ka Hotake “I order you to come with me!” Stammadon only laughed, “Did you honestly think you could control a creature as strong as I?” Ka Hotake was confused, and Stammadon turned and glared at him. “You… you’ve broken my spell?” cried Ka Hotake. “You fool… I was never your little puppet to begin with!” The fighters, the Shis, and Ka Hotake were all astonished. Stammadon explained that he was already super strong before ever meeting Ka Hotake, “…A magical curse as weak as yours could never match my power, and now thanks to you, and I am greater and stronger than before, but I always had suspected from what Starfleet had warned me that you’d try and betray me, so I’d have to get you out of way. So, I played along with your little game, despite that it cost me many of my soldiers in my army, it helped to increase my strength even more!” The fighters didn’t like the sound of this a bit, “You mean, he was holding back on us all this time?” whispered Buddy. The others realized this, “He was never usin’ his full power.” said Applejack “Now he knows we’ve got our super mode!” The three Shis were delighted, and joined their master by their side, glaring at the fallen master. “After everything I taught you, this is how you repay me?!” thundered Ka Hotake. “Just like what you were going do to us?” growled Rai Shi. “Use us for your own goals and then dispose of us like worthless trash?!” roared Tan Shi. En Shi shook her head, “What a pitiful creature you are, Ka Hotake.” “BE GONE…!!” thundered Stammadon, and he and his minions opened fire on their former ally, striking him mercilessly. Some of the mares in group couldn’t bear to watch and turned away while and the rest of the team were all horrified. In the end, Ka Hotake had had it! He fell over backward and exploded into nothingness! Stammadon snickered. “You didn’t have to just up and destroy him like that!” thundered Starla. The villains turned to face the fighters, and Stammadon sneered “He had it coming to him. When I want revenge… I get it!” The fighters all stood infuriated and glaring at the villains. “And now…” hissed Stammadon “I think I’ve held back long enough. It is time for me to do away with you meddlers once and for all, and believe me, even your fancy new suits will save you naught!” The fighters all stood ready to brawl! “Wait!” cried a voice, and the villains turned round. “Swift Star?!” snapped Lightning. “What are you doing here? Beat it!” demanded Starla. En Shi immediately went into a blushing soft state, “My darling, Swift Star!” she cried. The other two Shis rolled their eyes, but Stammadon growled “…You again!” The fighters would have kept demanding that Swift leave at once and not interfere in their business, but many of them scanned Swift with their visors. “It’s not him!” they whispered to one another. “It’s a puppet clone.” Spike could look across from the palace, with his fine dragon eyesight, he could see a small figure in a window of the palace-- it was Swift, and he was just fine. The villains were unaware of this technique and knew nothing about it-- En Shi was so entranced, you’d think she wouldn’t even care. “Striker, listen to me!” said Swift “It doesn’t have to be this way. I know you better than you think!” “Quiet you!” sneered Tan Shi, but suddenly, Stammadon began to feel strange as he clutched his head and groaned. “Master!” cried Rai Shi. Stammadon only got worse as he fell to his knees, “No… I… I…” “Master!” cried En Shi, and she and the Shis huddled around him trying to snap him out of his trouble. “It’s working!” cried Lightning “Striker’s spirit is actually responding to Swift.” “Come on, Striker! Come on!” “I… Am Not… NOT!!” suddenly, Stammadon’s voice changed, he sounded like Striker again, “Swift… H-H-Help… me…!” “Master, snap out of it!” cried En Shi. “Let’s get them while their stalled!” snapped Spike. The fighters all agreed, and prepared to charge forth. Tan Shi turned round, “SYMBOL POWER: BARRIER” “I’ll help you!” cried En Shi, and she combined her freezing winds with Tan Shi’s barrier, creating several layers of strong and frozen barricades, and trapping the fighters. “Spike, ram them!” shouted Lightning. Spike roared and rushed forth, smashing headfirst through all the barriers shattering them like glass, but he felt very woozy having rammed his head through all that-- he de-transformed. “Spike!” cried Rarity as she scooped her husband in her arms. “I’m okay…” he said groggily. Rarity was relieved. “Hey! They’re gone!” cried Fluttershy. Everyone looked round and surely enough all the villains had gone, even Swift’s puppet was missing-- obviously, they had made their escape while the fighters were momentarily trapped. …and obviously, En Shi had taken the puppet with her. Lightning landed on the ground and changed back to his normal self. “Back to the palace… We’ve got a lot of thinking to do.” Back on Ainzul… Rai Shi and Tan Shi had lay Stammadon on a bench-- En Shi had run off. Stammadon was resting softly and groaning in his sleep. “Still he struggles with that other force within him.” said Rai Shi “We’re it not for this we would have beaten our enemies for certain.” Tan Shi agreed, “But at least we did away with Ka Hotake, and we did manage to test our new powers. Thanks to all the fear we had gathered, we shall be ready to strike next time.” Rai Shi couldn’t help but notice she didn’t seem her usual snarky or rude self that she usually was. She noticed this too, but neither one of them wanted to really say much about it, and really… Tan Shi was starting to feel more respect for her team mates, thanks to Kara Shi’s sacrifice, Stammadon’s loyalty to his minions, and her loyalty to him. As for En Shi, she had tied Swift to her bed with strong chains that even he himself couldn’t escape from. Even his legs were chained down-- each one to an opposite corner of the end of the bed leaving him spread wide open. All his clothes were removed except for his under garments. He was gagged too with a cloth over his mouth so he couldn’t scream-- not that anyone would hear him anyway. En Shi softly crept over and slithered onto the bed, wearing only a satin robe and her own undergarments. She was glaring at him so deeply, and practically drooling, “My darling… long have I waited for this moment.” Swift fussed and whimpered, but this only made her lust for him more as she moved in closer and closer. She giggled softly, and then she was ready to make her move, “Just relax, and let me take you…” Suddenly, as her fingers traced along his bare chest, she felt something hard and solid. “What…?” She gave it a couple of knocks, and it sounded like hitting a block of wood. Despite her love for Swift, she couldn’t resist and drove her fingers through the fake flesh, exposing the enchanted puppet-block, which made the Swift puppet vanish completely. En Shi was shaking with outrage and sadness having been deceived, and just when she seemed so close to finally having her beloved to herself! She clenched the sheets of the bed in her hands tightly, still quivering and vowing, “…I am not discouraged, Swift Star. I WILL have you! Make no mistake about that!” Back in New Canterlot, when the team arrived back at the palace, the first thing they did was confront Swift. “What were you thinking?!” scolded Rainbow. “You had no right to interfere with our business out there.” added Artie. “Even if it was a puppet clone, you cost us our chance to get Stammadon!” bellowed Rarity. More and more of the team scolded him, and Swift really felt like a poor kid being yelled under the shadows of big adults. “QUIET!!!” Lightning shouted, his voice echoed along the walls. Everyone gawked at him, and Lightning cleared his throat, and approached his student. “Swift, despite that you used a puppet clone, which I must admit I find clever and resourceful… You still entered battle when you know you’re not supposed to, and could have placed us all in danger yet again.” Swift shamefully looked up at him, “Yes sir. I don’t blame you for wanting to punish me this time.” “Who said anything about punishing you?” The room went silent and everyone felt confused. “On the contrary-- even though you broke the rules, I understand why you did what you did and more so… your interference gave me an answer to a theory I had been suspecting… …Stammadon may be possessing Striker’s body, but he hasn’t truly vanquished Striker’s spirit. He’s still in there. You all saw it.” “He’s right.” agreed Starla “Striker was fighting for control, but he’s obviously not strong enough to break Stammadon’s power.” “So what does that mean for us?” asked Buddy. “It means,” answered Lightning “…That there’s hope for Striker. We just might be able to save him.” Swift was very delighted to hear that. The heroes had serious planning to do! (Promo) In our next episode: Serious training and planning is done for all of Starfleet for the final battle that draws near, and yet mixed feelings are carried throughout the team and others. The same can be felt for Stammadon and his minions as he continues to struggle with Striker’s spirit within him. What will the ultimate plans be, and who approves of what? Don’t miss the next exciting episode of “Starfleet Magic!” (Next Episode: “Follow Which Leader?”)