//------------------------------// // Episode 21: Part 2: Dreaded School Time // Story: My Brave Pony: Starfleet Magic Season XI // by DakariKingMykan //------------------------------// “Previously on Starfleet Magic…” The planet was shrouded in wicked shadows which began to poison Princess Luna with illness. The darkness turned out to be a massive dream field, which trapped half the populace from fleeing from the dangers that lurked within-- evil shadow ghouls popping up all over the planet, and to make matters stranger, Prince Castor and Princess Leilani became entranced by some mysterious force. EPISODE TWENTY-ONE With more and more shadow ghouls appearing, and so very few resources to fight them. The remaining inhabitants of United Equestria shuddered and whimpered in fear at the sight of the hideous ghouls approaching them. Swift Star couldn’t believe this was happening. “…I can’t see much of a way out of this.” he said to himself. “Some Lieutenant I turned out to be.” Even in New Canterlot, the ponies asked Mykan… “Can’t you do something?” “Can your weapons save us?” Poor Mykan shook his head. Without a dream band, even his weapons would have no effect against such enemies. The trio of minions continued to snicker at the heroes. “You may as well give up.” Mash called. “From now on, this world belongs to us, and that goes double for all other worlds beyond too.” Lightning clenched his fists angrily as he glared at the wicked shadows moving towards the group, and the village, and worrying about the other countries and cities beyond. “There’s got to be something we can do to get at these things.” “…There is!” said Grand Ruler. He looked over at Celestia, and she agreed. They got out the Rainbow Rod halves, and joined them together, making a magical glow. The fighters all gazed up in awe, while the minions were shocked. “Hey, what’s going on?!” groaned Magi as she and her colleagues covered their eyes. “That light! Make it stop!!” shouted Mash. Emcee covered her face with her coat. When the light faded, glowing brightly in the sky was none other than the Grand Celestial Ruler. They glowed brighter than ever due to being shrouded in dream magic. The giant creature glared down at the three minions-- actually making them shudder-- and they bellowed “…Time to put a little stopper in your twisted games.” The Ruler flew up high, floating atop the flag pole on the highest tower of the palace, and then raised their magic scepter high up over their head. “What are they doing?” wondered Starla. She got her answer as the ruler powered up, and unleashed a great wave of sparkling light that quickly began to spread all along the ground. The three villains groaned as the light spread across the entire planet, but the darkness in the skies didn’t seem to lift up a bit. “It’s not working!” cried Pinkie. Lightning disagreed. “I don’t think that’s what they’re doing.” Indeed! The Ruler, still coated by the dream magic, combined it with their, already, awesome, holy, powers, to cast magical barriers all over the planet. These barriers pushed back all the shadow ghouls, and kept the towns, villages, and all the inhabitants protected. The ghouls couldn’t get through. One touch of the barriers vanquished them instantly, and they were powerless to tunnel under and get inside. The palace was protected now too, and all the shadows were repelled outside. The fighters were overjoyed, while the minions were outraged. “Hey! You can’t do that! That’s cheating!!” whined Magi. The Ruler glared down at the trio and insisted, “We can do far more than you realize!” Lightning and the others agreed as they stood forth, confronting the trio. With the shadow ghouls held back, there was far less obstacles in the way now… …But just as things were about to get heated up, Lightning noticed the villains’ bodies were a tiny bit transparent. “They’re not real!” he wailed. The fighters were all confused, until Lightning fired a few blasts at them, only for his shots to pass right through the villains. “They’re just illusions!” cried Buddy. “So they aren’t really here!” growled Applejack. The images laughed. Emcee confessed, “We’re just casting these images because we couldn’t miss the chance of seeing your faces when we announce our taking over of this world.” Mash chuckled, “You should’ve seen yourselves.” His taunting enraged everyone, and suddenly there was worse to come. “Your majesties!!” called a guard from the window-- the very guard who was watching the children and Luna before. “Your majesties…! Something is with the children!” The Ruler gasped with worry. The fighters were alarmed as well to hear this, but nothing could prepare them for the next thing that happened, for the second guard came rushing in with most-disturbing news. “Gone!!” cried the Ruler “Our children are gone!” Pinkie gasped… Rarity felt faint… …Everyone else was in complete shock. The guard explained what happened… …How the children started acting funny, and then began to walk like zombies towards the window in Luna’s bedroom. “I tried to stop them, I really did.” groveled the guard, “But it was like trying to move a mountain! I-I… just couldn’t hold them off. I couldn’t even stop them with magic.” The images heard everything, and they felt this was most-interesting, and then they all heard a familiar voice calling to them. “You three…!” Artie’s ears twitched. “Anyone else heard that?” Everyone agreed, but none had the slightest idea who it was or where it was coming from. “It’s the boss!” whimpered Mash. “Quit clowning around and report to me at once. We have much work to do.” Heeding their orders, the images began to fade away. “So long…!” Magi taunted at the fighters. Lightning was outraged, but there was no time for that now... …The darkness continued to worsen, and more ghouls were showing up all over. They were powerless to break through The Ruler’s spell, but The Ruler would have to remain where they were, keeping the spell active if to keep the people safe. This meant that they could not leave to find their lost children! More ghouls appeared, and rather than fight them off, “Let’s move!” hollered Lightning as he and all his friends leapt up high, passing through the barrier and landing on the battlements near Starla and Krysta. “You girls okay?” asked Lightning. “We’re fine, but what are we going to do?” wailed Krysta. “The children are out there, on their own…! It’s dangerous to be out there alone!” cried Fluttershy. Rhymey looked up at the darkness in the skies… “The evil continues to grow stronger still, As our enemies carry out their wicked will! We must find the children fast, And put an end to the evil, at last!” Everyone agreed, but when they tried to use their visors to scan for Castor and Lelani’s by tracking their specific signals. “I’m not getting anything.” said Rainbow. “What’s going on?” They were able to scan for each other, but not the children no matter how hard they tried. “You don’t suppose?” fret Dyno. “Of course we don’t suppose.” said Myte. “They have to be around here somewhere.” Suddenly, though The Ruler was maintaining their position atop the palace, they could still move their eyes and see all around them. “The children…! We see them!!” The children were far out in the open fields away from the palace, surrounded by magical light, like the dream magic, which warded off any of the shadows that came at them. Before leaving to try and catch them, Lightning kissed Starla softly, asking her to remain behind where it was safe. “…You be careful out there.” She said to him, and playfully touched her stomach. “I’d like this baby to know its dad.” Her husband nodded, “I haven’t let you down yet.” Then he and the fighters, along with Krysta rushed out over the fields, where it was really getting darker than anywhere else. “What’s going on?” wonder Applejack. “It’s getting too dark to see around here, even with our own glowing.” Then, Artie asked, “Has anybody noticed something? There aren’t any shadow ghouls around here at all.” “He’s right.” agreed Pinkie, and she comically looked up, down, every way around, “…Not a one?” “What’s going on?” asked Spike. “I believe we’re about to find out…” cried Rarity. “…Look!” …Up ahead stood Castor and Leilani, both standing like statutes and completely mesmerized while shrouded in the dream light. “…Your Highnesses!” called Lightning, but the children did not respond. “What’s wrong with you two?” Pinkie waved her hand in front of the children, snapped her fingers, and then took a huge breath to yell in their faces… only for Applejack to pull her back with her hands over Pinkie’s mouth. Suddenly, the light around the children went out, and the both snapped to their senses. “What happened?” groaned. “What’s going on?” whimpered Leilani “Where are we? How did we get here?” she and her brother were really getting scared because of the dark. Fluttershy came up to them and held them close. “Don’t worry, you’re safe now, We’ll take you back and--” she paused and looked up, “…Oh, Wow!” Everyone looked up and saw a large and spooky-looking building unveiling in the darkness. “What… is this?” asked Krysta. Buddy got a good look, “It… looks like some kind of school.” Cadance shuddered as the sight of the dark building. “Wait a minute…” said Saber “What’s a school doing here? How did it even get here in the first place?” Everyone began to think the same thing; having never seen this structure before, but it soon began to make sense-- what with the building being so evil-looking, the mysterious of its appearance, and the darkness shrouding it greater than ever… “This has to be it…” said Lightning. “…This is where all those Nightmares and monsters have to be coming from.” He was so fascinated, that he almost lost sight of the present. “Let’s take the children home, and then we get back and investigate. I want to know more about this place.” Everyone started to turn the other way, ready to leave… …Unaware they were being watched! The Lady Phantasma sensed their presence, and snickered in the shadows, “Leaving so soon? School is just about to begin.” Just as the team took the children away from the school, all of a sudden, there they were… right back in front of the building again. “Uh, didn’t we just come from here?” asked Rainbow. Pinkie nodded, and the team started going to the left, but once again they ran into the school. They even tried flying straight up into the sky-- the school showed up before them again. “It shows up in every direction that we go.” said Artie. “It’s almost like it’s following us.” Krysta tried to teleport everyone away, but it was no use while they were shrouded in the shadows. Lightning didn’t like this at all. Suddenly, the big front doors burst wide-open, and long, dark, tentacles came shooting out, towards everyone. “LOOK OUT!!” Lightning shouted. Cadance and Saber quickly grabbed the Children, pulling them out of the way, while the fighters stood ready to intercept the tentacles-- punch, chop, kick, or hack them to bits with their sharp weapons… …Only to discover how tough the tentacles really were. Rhymey tried hacking one with his sword, only for nothing to happen. Spike and Rarity tried breathing fire…! Nothing! Soon, all the fighters and the children were ensnared, and dragged into the building-- The doors slammed shut behind them! Everyone screamed and wailed as they felt they were falling through an eerie, shadowy tunnel-like vortex. “I think I’m going to be sick!!” Rarity shouted. “Don’t… lose the children!!” Spike called. Cadance and Saber both looked up and saw their cousins being pulled away in another direction. “Kids! Come back!!” cried Saber, but it was no use. Neither he, nor any of the fighters could seem to reach them in the swirling darkness. “HELP!!” the children cried before disappearing into the darkness. “NO!!!” Lightning shouted. Suddenly, with a loud THUD…!! Everyone crashed on a hard, solid floor. “Is everyone okay?” asked Buddy. “I think so.” replied Applejack. “…What a ride!” Everyone got to their feet, feeling unharmed. “The children…! Where are they?” asked Dyno. Myte looked around and said, “Where are we?” Everyone deduced that they were inside the school’s atrium, and a very creepy and foreboding place it seemed. It seemed like an ordinary school hall, but it was very dark and creepy. Cobwebs were everywhere, blood stains on the walls and the floors, and torches lighting the halls instead of regular lights. “It feels more like a temple hall. I don’t like this, not at all.” said Rhymey. Suddenly, the sounds of shrill shrieks, and eerie laughter seemed to echo through the halls, making some of the fighters jump in fright, especially Fluttershy. She could see a door-- most likely leading to back outside. “I think I’ll just leave now! Don’t try to stop me-- Ow!!” she yelped when Applejack suddenly grabbed her by the arm. “What kind of Starfleet General are you, running away like that?!” she scolded. “She’s right!” agreed Lightning “We can’t leave now! We’ve got to find the children. Their majesties would never forgive us if something happens to them.” The fighters tried scanning for the children’s signal with their visors, but they weren’t able to scan for pretty much anything at all. “My visor’s being scrambled.” said Buddy. “Mine, too.” said Rainbow. “That’s the least of your worries.” hissed an evil voice. “That’s the same voice from before.” said Saber. “…The one that was calling to the trio.” Cadance nodded in agreement, and voice continued to call out to the team… “You’ve now stepped into a world of nightmares beyond your imagination. Get used to your surroundings, because this all there is, and all there ever will be.” Lightning was losing patience and angrily called out. “The royal children…! Where are they?” The voice only snickered, “If you want them so badly, come and get them…” the voice paused. “…That is, if you can brave the dangers that lurk around every corner.” With a soft chuckle, the voice faded out, leaving Lightning more furious than ever. “Let’s go!” and he started marching towards the hallways. The others agreed and began to follow him into the evil school, huddling together in a group to keep from getting lost. The halls were long and empty, which seemed pretty odd for a school. Pipes were drippy, and the floors were all grimy and even a little misty. “Ugh’ll…!” groaned Rarity. “You’d think some institutes would learn proper hygiene.” “Focus!” said Lightning. “Something could happen any second.” He sounded really tough, and he had his reasons. “Lightning, we want to get the children back too.” said Artie. “But we have to keep our heads.” Lightning agreed. As Commander, he knew better. “It’s not just the children I’m worried about; it’s out there too. These nightmares… they’re wrecking our world. Who knows what else they’ll do. Ever since they appeared, I’ve wanted to know who they are, what they want, what they’re trying to, do and stop it.” Suddenly he stopped dead still, feeling vibrations in the air. “Hit the dirt!” he shouted, and everyone ducked down just in time as a huge axe on a chain swung past. Rarity heart was racing fast! “Oh, my…!!” “Where did that come from?” wondered Spike. Suddenly, the fighters felt more vibrations coming from the floor, and they all leapt up just in time as multiple spikes shot up from below. “Let’s move!” shouted Lightning. “Keep your eyes sharp!” Everyone took off down the hall, feeling the vibrations for all sorts of tricks and traps—guillotines, rotating sawblades, trap holes, crushing pillars-- that seemed to leap out unexpectedly, and everyone just dodged by hairs. The more they rushed the deeper and longer the hall seemed to go. “This placed looked a lot smaller outside.” complained Dyno. “Si, but looks are usually deceiving when it comes to this.” said Myte. Just then, everyone’s gave a twitch by what sounded like rushing water coming in from behind. Only it turned out to be a big surge of red blood “Look out!!” hollered Saber. “Huddled together, quick…!” shouted Lightning, and everyone came together as he shrouded everyone in a big Uniforce barrier, letting the wave pass by them. “Okay, that was officially terrifying!” groaned Krysta. Everyone took a big breather as Lightning uncast the barrier, but Fluttershy then gasped… “Sorry to sound like a dread, But look up ahead.” “What could be worse than all that?” asked Spike, but then he saw, “Oh…” Everyone came to a halt and gasped at lay before them. The area was so gigantic, it really made everyone question how it could all fit inside the school-- it was as high as a five story-building and wide enough to be a football stadium, and the whole place seemed to be a 3D-like maze, with twisting stairways, awkwardly placed doors, strange-looking hallways. “Oh, sure…! We’ll be able to find anything now.” grumbled Rainbow. Suddenly, Pinkie felt a really nasty chill run down her spine, making her whole body quiver. “Pinkie-Sense in overdrive!” she whimpered. “Something big is about to happen!!” Before anyone could question her, shadowy claws reached up from under the floor and grabbed her ankles. “AAH…!!” That’s when many doors flung right open, and so many different ghouls, monsters, and other creatures came rushing out in an all-out ambush! “Don’t tell me these are the pupils!” wailed Applejack. Pinkie kicked herself free from the shadow on the floor, and she looked ready to take the brutes all on, only to see, just like the others, the entire area was flooded with baddies! “They’re everywhere!” cried Rainbow. All those monsters growled and snarled as they approached, and soon they were joined by none other than the trio: Magi, Mash, and Emcee, and they weren’t illusions this time. “Now… school’s really in session!” laughed Magi. Lightning, again, demanded, “Where are the royal children?!” Mash blew his whistle, “Looks like someone’s forgetting to raise his hand before questioning. Not that we’d answer you anyway.” “And according to my calculations,” teased Emcee “…The odds of you actually being able to save the children, and yourselves are… oh… um… absolutely Zero-Point-Zero percent.” Lightning snuffed, “I actually like those odds, because we always prove them wrong.” Magi snickered, “You’re quite literally living in a dream world.” Then she held out her staff and shouted to the army “…ATTACK!!” Lightning powered up! “Ready?” he called to his friends, and they all powered up as well. In-spite of the large army they were facing, they were all still willing to fight. Lightning jumped on one monster, and leapt of it, punching another into a group of other monsters. Two more tried to grab him, but he elbowed them both in the chests, and flipped them over. With his whip on hand, Buddy lashed at every monster that came at him, until a flying creature with huge talons came in and picked him up. “Hey!!” he shouted, and before the creature could lift him too high, “LEAF SWARM!” he unleashed his leaves right at the monster’s face, forcing it to drop him back to the ground. Spike and Rarity fought valiantly too. “Take this!” Spike shouted, slashing his sword hard, blowing some of the monsters away. With her claws, Rarity slashed, and bashed each and every monster. “Back…! Back I say!!” she thundered. Then she and her husband nodded at one another, and stood, back to back, and they each took a huge breath, and breathed out busts of flames, while spinning round, and round like a pinwheel, striking every monster in their path. Cadance threw her ninja shurikens at several monsters, which batted them away like they were nothing, forcing her to skillfully dodge their oncoming attacks. Finally, the group of monsters rushed her all at once, and while it looked like they crashed into her, with her ninja powers, she somehow, had zipped away, making the monsters foolishly wail on each other. She was then forced to leap up high when another monster tried to rush her, allowing Saber to strike it when his sword. “Sneak up on my wife, eh?” he growled. Two other monsters tried to sneak up on him from behind, but, without even turning round, he simply punched them with extra arms. Then he found himself surrounded by monsters. “Oh, yeah?” he bellowed, and he drove his sword into the floor hard, and got out his chain, whirling the sickle around and around, knocking the monsters all in the heads, and making them fall like trees. “And stay down!” he growled. Not that it really mattered how many monsters he or friends whacked down. More and more seemed flood out from the twisted doors, flowing down the wavy stairs, even some even burst up through the floor. “There’s too many of them!” shouted Krysta. “We can’t give up!” hollered Artie. He leapt up high with his staff in-hand, and swatted a horde of flying creatures in the air. Applejack punched one monster away, and then saw several coming at her at once. “Okay! Time for a good old fashioned buck kick!” she growled, and then, she got down on her palms, and thrust her feet out, kicking one monster hard in the chest and sent it crashing into the others. Suddenly she was gabbed hard from behind by a four-armed creature, holding her at bay. She struggled, but couldn’t seem to free herself… …That is until Rhymey and Fluttershy came flying and kicked the monster hard in its open sides, making it drop her. “Hey, You okay?” asked Rhymey. Applejack gave her friends a thumb up, but then more monsters burst up through the floor! “Ugh! This ain’t working!” Fluttershy agreed, “Every time we knock them to the floor, They just come back with for more and more!” Things got even stranger when she suddenly ran into a monster she recognized-- Sputterfly. Fluttershy was most-surprised and couldn’t understand it in the least. Then there were more familiar creatures—the Rag Doll, the football team, even Ms. Seams was back too. “These are all the monsters we’ve already beaten!” cried Dyno. “How are they back?” asked Myte. The trio laughed, and Mash called “Don’t forget about us!” and he unleashed his ball bombs at everyone, even almost hitting the students as well. Magi fired magic blasts form her staff, while Emcee threw her explosive vials. Explosions and sparks erupted all over blowing everyone about. “Hey! What gives!” shouted Dyno. “You actually would hit your students too?!” yelled Myte. Pinkie was equally as outraged. “What kinds of school teachers risk the lives of their own students?” The trio laughed, and Emcee said, “I doubt very much they care about it, seeing as they don’t live in the first place.” The fighters all blinked in confusion. Magi snickered. “Don’t you fools get it? They don’t live, they don’t die, and neither do we. We’re all just dreams!! Just like everything else around here, and dreams don’t disappear as easily as you think they do.” While still fighting, the team took a moment to check all their surroundings, and from their past experiences, it was all starting to make more sense. “This whole school, and all of you-- this is just one big dream?” asked Krysta. Lightning punched down a monster and glared at the teachers. “That means this place isn’t really real, and none of you are real. But why does it all feel so real?” “Ha!” snapped Mash, and he unleashed his bombs on Lightning again, which he dodged by leaping up high. “We dreams could have been real, but thanks to mortals like you… we aren’t!” “UNIFORCE!” he unleashed his power at him, only for Magi to come in and defend her colleague with a strong wall of magical light. “What?!” gasped Lightning. “Did you see that?” asked Buddy in shock. “She just blocked Lightning’s attack like it was nothing.” wailed Rainbow. “I thought no one could stand up to the Uniforce.” Emcee chuckled, “Maybe you need to dream bigger.” And she pulled out a vial of formula which the fighters all recognized-- the mixture she used on the Dream Field before to make her own strength grow immensely. “I’ve recently perfected it, so now all our powers are even greater than yours.” Lightning shook his head in disbelief. “No! I can’t believe that! I don’t believe that!” He roared loud as he charged up his aura, and came soaring in for a head-on attack, but Mash simple stomped his foot, sending a huge shockwave to blow him back hard, and sent him skidding along the stone floor. “Lightning!” called Buddy as he and the others raced to him. “Are you okay?” “I’m fine.” replied Lightning “But watch it-- they really are stronger now.” Magi laughed “You think THAT is stronger? We’ll show you “Stronger!” She then raised her staff up high, casting light over herself and her colleagues, causing them all to grow to three times their original sizes. “Oh, no…! Not this again!” groaned Krysta. The fighters were either growling or shuddering with fear as they gazed up at the laughing teachers. “See what happens when you dream big?” joked Mash. “And it looks like your dreams, and your realities are, quite literally, about to get squashed!” With the giant teachers, and the vast army of monsters backing them into the walls, the team really was in trouble. To Be Continued… (Promo) In our next episode: Things from bad to worse as the nightmares continue to gain more strength, turning their attentions back on United Equestria, in attempt to bring Starfleet down, and the secrets of the golden sword finally fall into the enemies hands, placing the royal children and Lightning and his friends in even greater verge of ultimate defeat. How can our heroes overcome these new trials? Don’t miss the next exciting episode of “Starfleet Magic!” (Next Episode: “Part 3: “Secret of the dreams.”)