//------------------------------// // Episode 20: Part 1: In the Dark of the Day // Story: My Brave Pony: Starfleet Magic Season XI // by DakariKingMykan //------------------------------// EPISODE TWENTY Lady Phantasma snickered menacingly in her chamber. “The time is now! …All these ages of waiting and preparing are about to pay off. The ultimate nightmare is about to begin, and never end.” Meanwhile, the rest of the school was busy preparing for the annual tradition. “Graduation Day…” Zadovia announced to the assembly “You’ve all studied very hard, and developed your wickedness. Now, you stand here, about to become real, full-fledged nightmares. You will terrorize dreams everywhere, and frighten all mortals everywhere out of their minds.” The front row of students, whom were all graduates hollered for joy, but the vast majority of the room felt a little left out to not be graduating along with their fellow school mates. The three teachers didn’t seem too amused or concerned about their students, or their groans and displeasures. If anything, they looked proud, as did Zadovia. “And now, there is one final announcement to be heard…” she announced. “…But rather than tell you myself, I’ll leave that to our Great Founder: The Lady Phantasma.” The images of Phantasma’s evil red eyes appeared high above the podium, and her evil laughter echoed throughout the hall. “Wow! She looks wickeder than ever.” Mash whispered to his colleagues.” Emcee agreed, “It’s because we’ve fed her so much power with every battle we’ve fought. She’s finally starting to awaken and take.” Magi shuddered with delight, “I’m enjoying this more and more by the second.” Phantasma addressed the crowd. “Students of the School of Nightmares… after all these ages, our great goal is about to be recognized. Only thing more must be accomplished and this will all be made soon. Prepare yourselves for the great beginning of our triumph. Help us to succeed, and…” she paused and made certain she had complete and undivided attention, “…You will receive instant graduation with the highest of honors!” Hearing this, the students cheered and hollered with joy. Zadovia looked up proudly at the image of her master, while Phantasma sneakily thought, “Let the games begin, and the darkness rise!” Her evil eyes began to glow brightly, and dark streams of haze began to spread all through the halls of the school. That very evening, Princess Luna was due to get up to raise the moon, and begin the night, and her nighttime duties… …But as she left her bedroom, she didn’t look so well. She looked tired and a little pale. “Luna?” Celestia asked, startling her sister. “Oh, forgive me. I did not see you. I was just one way to…” she couldn’t seem to finish her sentence as she felt a little woozy and dizzy. Celestia didn’t like this one bit. “I don’t think you should be up and about.” “Nonsense...” Luna insisted “I have my duties, and I must uphold them.” but at that very moment, she had another dizzy spell and would have fallen flat on the floor had her sister not caught her in her arms. “You also have decaying health, and I’m not going to let you push yourself.” Before long, Luna was lying in bed, and she was sweating up a storm. Celestia and Grand Ruler were there, along with the children as the court physician examined the suffering princess. “Is Aunt Luna okay?” asked Castor. “She looks so bad.” whimpered Leilani. “We don’t know.” answered Grand Ruler. “The doctor is doing whatever he can.” The doctor placed a cool, wet cloth on Luna’s forehead. “She has a fever; that much I can tell, but I’m truly baffled by all this.” The family was baffled by it too. As supreme Alicorns, the royal trio usually never caught common illness, and always kept well-vaccinated and fit. The only time they would ever get sick is if something was really wrong. This made the children worry, and they moved in closer towards their aunt’s bed, but their mother held them back. Don’t get too close now.” But the doctor assured her, “This isn’t contagious. You can come forth.” With that, the parents and the children came forth. Luna slowly opened her eyes, and looked up at her family, preferably at the children. Her lips curled into a weak but visible smile. She reached her hand out from under the covers and allowed her niece and nephew to take it. “I will be fine, my dears.” The children wanted to believe her, but they still had their suspicions this wasn’t as simple. Luna then looked up at her sister… Celestia looked down on her with deep concern in her eyes-- very close to tears. The sisters said nothing to each other, as their sisterly-love was strong enough to understand they were wishing each other all the strength from one another. Grand Ruler offered his own prayers too, and he also offered to take over Luna’s night duties, especially because he had his hunches as well that something was making Luna sick, and he wanted to investigate. “I must go now.” he whispered to his wife. “Make sure the children are put to bed.” Celestia agreed… …And soon she was tucking the children into bed, but they didn’t look too sleepy. “We’re so worried about Aunt Luna.” admitted Castor. “Can’t we stay up with you, Mother?” asked Leilani. Celestia wouldn’t hear of it. “I will stay up and keep an eye on her. You two should still try and sleep. I don’t want you two getting all tired and cranky.” The children didn’t dare argue anymore. “I’ll have to summon Cadance and Shining Armor to join us.” said Celestia. Then she kissed her children on their heads. “Try to sleep now. Goodnight, Children.” “Good Night, Mother.” the kids called as she exited the room, but the two of them lay wide awake in bed, still shuddering with that very fear that was plaguing them. “Leilani, do you think the bad guys have something to do with this?” asked Castor. His sister nodded, “The Dream World was already spinning out of control the last time we saw it, but how is it connected to Aunt Luna?” The children both agreed, they had to talk with Arien about this. “But wait!” cried Castor “We can only talk to him in our dreams-- when we’re asleep, and I don’t feel sleepy at all.” “Me neither.” agreed Leilani. “Maybe if we just sit up quietly, we’ll fall asleep.” The two lay back in their beds, just staring at the ceiling. Meanwhile, their father stood on the highest terrace of the palace, and had used his own magic to raise the moon up and start the night. Everything seemed alright. Lights in buildings were coming on. Others were going out as ponies headed off to bed, while other ponies were heading to work for their night jobs. “So far, so good.” he thought, but he wasn’t letting his guard down. Like his children, he also had his suspicions, “Are the Nightmares responsible for what’s happening to Luna? Since her element is the Power of Darkness, perhaps, somehow, her own aura is affected by the darkness of the Nightmares. …If this is true, Luna could be in great danger. We all may be.” Early the next morning, Castor and Leilani awoke. They had managed to fall asleep in the night, however… Castor called over, “Leilani… did you--” we all he managed to get out before his sister shook her head in dismay. “…Nothing.” Neither of them had a dream about Arien, the Dream World, or anything. The children were deeply concerned. They remembered the last time they had spoken to Arien, the darkness was growing stronger. The Dream World was in terrible danger, and Arien’s spirit was growing weaker. Feeling unable to sleep anymore, the children hopped out of bed. They walked over to the window and spread the curtains wide open… …And what they saw made them both gasp hard in shock! They had to find their parents and tell them about this! Far, far away, in New Ponyville, Lightning stretched out and yawned, and hopped out of bed nice and early. Starla was up too. “Morning, Honey.” He said sweetly to her. His wife smiled and walked over and kissed him sweetly. “Morning, Love.” Suddenly, Krysta appeared. “Lightning…! Starla…!” Startled by her sudden appearance, Lightning remarked, “Won’t you come in?” Krysta took a moment to catch her breath. “…You might want to see this.” She fluttered over to the window and pulled the curtains open wide. Lightning and Starla braced for the expected sudden flare of sunlight to come in, but it didn’t happen. If anything, the sky seemed a little darker than it would for this time of the morning. Reason being… …Lightning and Starla looked out the window, and up into the sky. “Galloping Galaxies!” cried Lightning. “What is all this?” wondered Starla. High in the skies were long streams of darkness-- like long black ribbons stretching across the sky and weakening the glow of the daylight. The streams were growing bigger by the second as the light continued to fade. Shining Light came bursting into his parents’ bedroom all affright. “Mommy…! Daddy…! What’s happening in the sky?!” he wailed. Starla held her frightened son close comforting him. “Don’t worry, honey. Everything will be fine. Daddy and I will make it go away.” …She hoped, and so did Lightning and Krysta. “Go round up the unit.” Lightning whispered to Krysta. “I think this is what we’ve been waiting for.” Krysta agreed and teleported away. A few days ago, their majesties had ordered Lightning and his unit to report to the palace in New Canterlot if anything super unusual happened-- in view of the Nightmares’ threat from the last battle. …And this was more than beyond super unusual! Soon, the entire unit had arrived at the palace in New Canterlot, and at the very same moment, the Royal Crystal Family had arrived too. “Hey!” Shining Armor called. Flurry got all excited at the sight of Shining Light, but she was as scared as he was by the looming darkness in the skies. “We better the kids to daycare.” suggested Cadance. The others all agreed. Button Fly and Twilight Sparkle Scales were the only other children brought. Seedling and Sun Stream were at home with their respective mothers while Buddy and Artie were at the palace. No sooner were the kids safely placed in the custody of the royal daycare did Goldin come along. “Ah, good, you’re all here.” he said. “I’ve been asked to escort you all to the briefing room.” As the group was led along, Lightning asked. “Is everything okay? Why aren’t their majesties here?” Goldwin hesitated to tell, but he did anyway. “Princess Luna is sick?” cried Spike. “Oh, how dreadful!” whimpered Rarity. “How ridiculous.” said Rainbow Dash. “I thought Supreme Alicorns never got sick like this.” “Well, she’s sick.” replied Goldwin. “We don’t know what’s causing it, and we’re all very worried.” Cadance felt sick to her stomach, and she excused herself from the group to head to her Aunt’s bedroom. “Cadance?” called Shining Armor. His wife looked back at him-- the kind of stare that said it all and made you understand. He decided to accompany her. The others just continued to the briefing room. Their majesties and the other royals came in almost immediately after. “Good, you’re all here.” said Grand Ruler. Lightning nodded, “We all came as ordered.” Both their majesties then gave a small yawn. They had been up all night doing Princess Luna’s night duties, and staying by her side. They immediately took pep-pills to keep themselves awake. “How’s she doing?” asked Starla. Celestia hesitated. Pinkie Pie nervously blew into a paper bag. “Not very good…” Celestia finally answered. “She didn’t sleep very well, and her fever is worsening. So we’ve placed her in a cooling chamber to keep her stable.” At that very moment, Luna lay in a special tube, in place of her bed. It kept her body temperature stable as promised, but it didn’t stop her, now, growing aches and pains. She felt as if sharp needles to pricking her insides in many areas. If it got any worse, the court physician suggested plain freezing her body. The group didn’t know what to say for Celestia, but she assured everyone. “Let my family and I worry about her. Right now, we’ve got other pressing matters…” she gestured to the outside at the darkening skies. “Can you see that?” asked Dyno. “It’s almost dark enough to be night again.” said Myte. Streetlights lit, and windows brightened up in town, even the palace lights came on due to the darkness growing. “The nightmares, they’re gone too far. We need to show them like the heroes we are” said Fluttershy. While Rhymey agreed with her, he said… “I understand your wishes, dear, But the people need to flee from here. They must leave the planet, right away, And go someplace safe, far away.” “He’s right,” agreed Grand Ruler. “Already now, Krysta’s army fairies are at work as we had discussed.” Ever since the last battle, Their Majesties had ordered citizens of United Equestria to standby for immediate evacuation. Even now, many groups were filing in lines, heading through warp portals set up by the fairies, taking them all across space to the safe planets. Mykan Stevens was helping the people in New Canterlot, while Swift Star aided the people on New Ponyville. “Well, that there’s a good thing.” said Applejack. “At least they can be safe from danger now.” Many of the others were not so certain. “Applejack, remember,” said Buddy “These aren’t ordinary enemies we face; they’re living nightmares.” “He’s right.” agreed Artie. “Dreams can follow you anywhere, and it’s feasible. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door to the briefing room; even though the meeting was in progress. One of the guards entered to room, followed by Professor Brain. “Forgive the intrusion, your majesties, but he said it was most urgent.” The Professor explained the situation… “What? Are you sure of this?” asked Grand Ruler. “Quite certain, my lord.” replied Brain “It seems the flow of space departures have ceased. I was asked to check the systems in the main ops to ensure no malfunction, and I could find nothing to fault.” Krysta looked out the window, and she could see herself in the distance-- deep in the village all the portals had stopped working. She tried to created one right then, herself, but nothing happened. “It’s the darkness!” she cried “Somehow, it’s blocking my warping powers.” Lightning realized “…Just like in the Dream Fields. That’s it! All this darkness is one massive Dream Field covering the entire planet.” Everyone was inclined to agree. Grand Ruler activated a hidden computer in the walls. The systems were still operating properly. “It seems that only half of the populace has fled the planet!” “Only half?!” remarked Celestia. “This is very bad!” Pinkie Pie began to fret, fearing if the Cakes’ and her own family were still on the planet. “What are we going to do?! What Are We Going To Do?!” Applejack held her by the shoulders and barked, “Get a hold of yourself, that’s what you’ll do. We got to think here. We know what the nightmares are up to now, but I got feeling the worst is yet to come.” Starla then had an idea, “…That golden spirit-- the one that appeared when this whole thing started when he gave us these dream bands.” Everyone recalled the flashback to when he appeared. “Be Warned: a great evil is now threatening your world. With the use of these gifts, you will be given the power to stop them.” Everyone looked down at their dream bands. “Whoever he is, he knows more about these creeps than any of us.” said Lightning. “Si, but… who is he, really?” asked Dyno. Myte nodded, “And how can we contact him?” Pinkie goofily tried rubbing her band like a genie’s lamp, hoping the spirit would appear. She felt embarrassed with this failed. Spike and Rarity looked down at their bands without a single clue; same did the others. Meanwhile, Castor and Leilani were by their aunt’s side, watching her sleep peacefully-- she had been given medicines to ease her pain-- but they hated to look at her through the glass tube. The doctor and their mother had allowed the children to stay, as long as they didn’t bother her, and call the second something bad happened-- if Luna started having pains again. Two sentries were present too to try and keep a watchful eye on the children while their parents were in the meeting. The children held hands tightly, both worried for their aunt. “Try not to fear, highnesses.” said one of the sentries. “The court physician is doing what he can.” The children were still not convinced, knowing the darkness was responsible for all this. Finally, Castor admitted, and whispered to Leilani, “…I say we tell them.” Leilani gazed at her brother. Part of her wanted to say “No! No! We mustn’t!” but another part of her actually agreed with him. “We promised Arien to keep it a secret, but father once taught us… “There are times when secrets must be revealed.” Both children began to fret on possible consequences if they told their secret, but keeping it only felt heavier on them now. Suddenly, the children stood tall and stiff, and their eyes began to glow brightly, startling the guards. “Children?” cried one of the guards. “Children, what is it?” The children did not respond. They just stood where they were, stiff and silent with their eyes still glowing, freaking the guards out. Outside, their majesties and the entire group stood, all stood at the drawbridge of the palace. “Do you think this will work?” asked Krysta. “It’s worth a try.” replied Lightning “If we combine all our dream-powers into one massive burst, maybe we can pierce through those shadows and dispel the dream field.” He then looked at Starla as if to express his concern and ask her to stay out of it, but his wife already disagreed. “We need all hands for this one.” She paused and touched her stomach, also expressing concern for the baby. “…I’ll try not to burst out too much.” Lightning agreed, and ordered everyone to stand ready to transform. The space ponies were first. “STARFLEET MAGIC!!” “Sure feels great to be back in armor.” remarked Starla. The Equestrians went next… “HARMONY HOUR, FRIENDSHIP POWER!” Followed by Spike… “Dragon Power!” Then it was Cadance… “Go-Go Ninja!” And finally, Shining Armor… “Mask of Saber!” Celestia merely magically changed from her royal dress and robe, into her old battle suit. “Engage Dream-Mode!” ordered Lightning, and soon everyone was glowing brightly in the dream light. “Are we ready now?” asked Grand Ruler. Everyone saluted proudly. Everyone stood out in the open area before the drawbridge, hand-in-hand forming a big circle. “Concentrate hard now.” hollered Lightning. “Hope this works.” muttered Rainbow. Everyone focussed hard while looking straight up at the sky. Soon, their glowing grew brightly--their inner auras and magic combined with the dream energy. All the energy combined into the center of the ring, in a massive glowing ball of light, which then fired as a massive burst up at the sky. The light was so bright, all the citizens in town could see it, and so could others from miles away. The blast fired straight up, colliding into the darkness in a massive and bright explosion. The fighters all nearly collapsed to their knees. “Whoa! That was a kicker.” said Applejack. “…Did it work?” asked Buddy. “It’s… too bright to tell.” said Artie. As the light from the resulting impact weakened, up in the sky, everyone could see wide opened rifts of broad daylight peeking through the darkness. Everyone’s faces lit up with hope, but those hopes were immediately dashed when the holes were patched up by more darkness “It didn’t work!” cried Saber. Cadance clenched her fists in outrage. “…Of course it didn’t work!” called a familiar voice. Everyone looked ahead and saw Magi standing before them. “You won’t be able to bust up this Dream Field. It’s not like the small ones you’ve faced. It’s got more power in it than all of you combined. As quickly as you try and dispel it, the darkness will instantly reform.” The fighters growled and glared at her. “We still outnumber you!” bellowed Lightning. “Oh, really…?” Magi laughed, and at that moment, Mash and Emcee appeared alongside her. “We are far from amused!” bellowed Rarity. Spike agreed. “We’ll just do to you again what we did in the previous battle. We can take on any monsters you throw at us.” Many of the others did not share the boast of confidence, especially the villains. The trio just stood where they were, grinning wickedly. “They don’t get it, do they?” teased Mash. “Apparently not…” snickered Emcee. That’s when the ground began to rumble and quake. “What’s happening?” wailed Krysta. Their majesties remained stiff and alert… …Then all once, big puffs of smoke burst up from the ground and took on the form of black shadowy creatures-- like ghouls, or specters-- with red eyes, sharp teeth, and claws. As the darkness worsened, Princess Luna awoke, groaning and moaning as more sharp pains began to stab at her. The children were still locked in their trance with their eyes glowing, and their faces just as expressionless as ever. The lone guard staying in saw that Luna needed help. He quickly pulled on the service rope, and the ponies who answered at the door immediately saw the problem with the princess. “Summon the court physician, immediately!” cried the guard. The servants agreed and headed off, but when the guard turned back to face the children, they actually started moving-- slowly turning their heads towards one of the bedroom windows. “Your highnesses?” the guard asked, but he got no response. Instead, the children began walking towards the window, like zombies. “What are you doing?!” the guard bellowed, but the children continued to move towards the window, as if they intended to just flee on out. Meanwhile… “What kind of monsters are those?” yelped Fluttershy. “Kinds we haven’t seen yet, I suppose.” rhymed Rhymey. Some felt they had seen these types of monsters only in plain nightmares. “Starla, get back…” Lightning insisted. “Krysta, go with her.” His wife and Krysta complied, and they flew up onto the battlements of the palace. “Attack!” shouted Grand Ruler. Everyone roared and began to rush forth. The shadow ghouls rushed forth as well and met with the fighters in fierce brawls. The heroes punched and kicked at the shadows, but these new monsters proved to be quite the adversaries. They moved much faster than normal monsters did and were able to dodge each and every attack that came their way. Others even caught the fighters’ fists in their claws and shoved them off, or grabbed their legs as they came in for a kick, and flipped them up and over. “These guys are strong!” groaned Saber. Cadance dodged the attacked from oncoming shadows, but she couldn’t seem to get an opening to attack, especially when the shadows revealed their abilities to shoot energy-beams from their eyes. She was blasted hard, as were several of the other fighters. Even their majesties were having a hard time. The trio of villains just looked on casually at the battling without bothering to join in. They just watched with amusement and cheeky grins. “All right! That does it!” growled Grand Ruler. “Let’s give them all we got!” Celestia nodded in agreement, and so did Lightning. They all stood together and powered up their best attacks… “UNIFORCE” “TEN-FOLD… UNIFORCE” Celestia didn’t shout out her attack, bit still fired a huge blast of light from her horn. The three forced combined, zoomed forth in one massive stream, striking the ghouls and vaporizing them all. The other fighters all cheered and leapt for joy, while the trio only snickered. “Don’t celebrate yet!” hollered Mash. That’s when the fighters could see, the ghouls were coming back as if they had never been beaten at all. “How is this possible?” groaned Dyno. “What kind of trick is this, meng?” asked Myte. “It’s no trick.” sneered Magi. “These creatures are nightmare monsters. They dwell in the very darkness that surrounds us. As quickly as you try to beat them, they’ll just come right back.” The fighters all cringed. “So even if we beat them, they won’t stay down?!” cried Rarity. “I think that’s what they just said.” replied Spike. Emcee snickered and said “…And that’s not even the best part…!” “What does she mean by that?” wondered Krysta. Starla wondered too, until she looked up and over the land, “Look!” she shouted. From the height she stood on the wall, she could see more ghouls were appearing in the village. Ponies and other creatures began to panic, and while there were sentries and other Starfleet fighters; without any dream-bands, they were powerless to do anything. Inside the palace, the alarms were going off like crazy, as reports were coming in from all over the planet-- more and more shadows ghouls were materializing everywhere! “This can’t be happening?!” cried Celestia. “Oh, but it is…” laughed Emcee. “Nightmares love the dark, and they love to feast on fear.” The fighters had positively no idea how to possible save their world this time. To Be Continued… (Promo) In our next episode: The ghouls continue to threaten United Equestria, and the royal children are missing. It soon becomes school time when our heroes finally infiltrate enemy headquarters and get a real clue of what’s happening around them, in a world full of the most fearsome, frightening foes and dangers imaginable. What new challenges await our heroes? Don’t miss the next exciting episode of “Starfleet Magic!” (Next Episode: “Part 2: Dreaded School Time!”)