//------------------------------// // Episode 23: Part 4: Impossible Dreams // Story: My Brave Pony: Starfleet Magic Season XI // by DakariKingMykan //------------------------------// “Previously on Starfleet Magic…” The royal children led our heroes on a direct course to the School of Nightmares itself, where the children became lost inside. The heroes followed, overcoming dangerous and frightening trials, only to wind up in bigger jams than ever, but none as so deeply when Zadovia and the Lady Phantasma revealed themselves, and the children were the keepers of Sir Arien’s magic sword-- the one force which enabled our heroes to do battle with the enemy. EPISODE TWENTY-THREE Lightning held Castor in his arms, and Cadance held Leilani. Lightning could feel Castor’s pulse. “He’s alright. He’s just out cold.” Cadance gave a thumb-up stating that Leilani was okay too. As for Krysta, she really didn’t know what to do with Arien. He was only unconscious too, but there were worse matters occurring. Phantasma levitated the sword beneath her evil eyes, cackling. “Mine! All Mine! I have waited for eons!” She was so incredible enamoured by this victory that she began to monologue about dreams, and how they were. “For as long as there have existed living beings with the ability to think, they have the ability to dream as well. Dreams are the inspiration of imagination. They help beings to focus on their goals and turn them into reality.” Through magical flashbacks, it was shown that in the Dream World, dreams were being born and created by those who had goals in life. Some wanting to have dream careers… Others to make differences in the world… Some dreamt of fame and glory, and others of romance and happy bliss… “…But not all dreams last!” snarled Phantasma. “Some fools find it too difficult to achieve their goals. They’re either too lazy, they find a new calling, or something just happens to change all that-- including a loss of life.” More images were shown… Magi: She was the dream of a young and ancient sorcerous apprentice… who kept screwing up every spell she ever tried; no matter how hard she studied her books and parchments. She was expelled from her academy, and struck out on her own, eventually finding life as a mortal more to her liking-- married to a common man with children of her own. Mash: He was the dream of a would-be, star athlete’s coach, who trained a star pupil well, but then… something went wrong! The athlete student had an accident and shattered his right knee. No operation would set it right ever again, thus, he was unable to ever play sports again, and the coach died of a heart-attack, making it impossible for him to find another student to make his dream a reality. Emcee: She was the dream of a female scientist, who wished to revolutionize the world with her new formulas and systems, but she was betrayed-- her research and discoveries had already been demonstrated by her rival whom received the standing ovation and celebration she craved, but was now forever beyond her grasp. She drove herself to insanity to find new ways to achieve her dream, but to no avail, until she was thrown in an asylum for being far too mentally unwell… Thus, ending her dreams… Even Zadovia herself: She was the dream of a nasty creature that dreamed of controlling a school and students with an iron fist-- strict, disciplinary, as well as control and power-hungry. It wasn’t long before complaints were made by concerned parents, and the principal creature was dismissed, and even arrested for abuse, child endangerment, and many other crimes. Eventually, the creature died in a prison riot, leaving Zadovia behind as an unfulfilled dream! “…The mortals had fallen, but their dreams didn’t die that easily! The remained, lost and hopeless within the Dream World, where they languished unfulfilled. What else could they do? They were specific dreams for their specific beings, and no other. It’s not as if they could just find someone else who would take them. New dreams were created for that every time. One dream, one type, for one being! That’s always the way it’s been. Slowly, the creatures began to grow angry and embittered-- fueled by their jealousy and lust for greatness, and above all… to finally become real! So, they turned to the dark side, and changed from good dreams to nightmares, and terrorize people in their sleep!” The Trio felt a little sorry to hear that. It really didn’t seem fair that dreams had to suffer like this, just because they couldn’t come true… …But just the same, this could not excuse their evil actions, or their plot, which outraged the trio. “You went to all this trouble, just to get vengeance on Dreams that did come true, and punish Dreamers for it?” asked Lightning in disgust. “No, not quite…” replied Phantasma. “…All dreams have the same goal in common, and that’s come true, but for many of them, since that will never happen, and their evil and hate continued to grow… …It created me!” The trio gasped. “You?” asked Krysta. “Yes! I am the result of eons of darkness and hatred created by the nightmares! I am the ultimate force of their hate, and their lust for power. I feel their rage, and it gives me life and power, and the more suffering they caused within dreams, the greater my force grew, and we began to slowly take over the Dream World--changing all the beauty and bliss into shadowy horrors… …Our true goal is to harness all the power of the dreams that we can to gain physical form; to finally become reality, and make the world of dreamers OURS!!” The Trio had heard enough already, and they were completely repulsed. Phantasma continued to speak, “…We would have succeeded were it not for one little obstruction in our path!” She gazed down at Arien’s unconscious body. “The fool…! He would always step in and ruin our plans, and repel us back into the shadows from whence we came.” Flashbacks were shown of how Sir. Airen, the brave and gallant guardian of the Dream World stepped in with his golden sword to battle the monsters, much how Starfleet fought their battles. “Evil beasts of the darkness!” he would say. “I cannot and will not allow you terrorize the good dreams of this real, nor will I stand by and watch you harm innocent dreamers!” The monsters would charge at him, only for Arien to hold his magical blade up high, and focus pure energy from all the good dreams into it. With a single swing, he cast the light upon the shadows, vanquishing them away. Since dreams could not truly die, the evil ones would try again, and Arien would do his best to repel them and spare the dreamers from a very nasty night’s sleep. As the flashbacks continued, Phantasma showed the images of what happened when everything all began. “Despite our many failures, that didn’t stop the nightmares from gaining power. The School of Nightmares-- I established it to help all the precious nightmares out there grow in power and strength, forming a massive army of chaos and darkness beyond anyone’s wildest dreams. As the ages went by, our forces grew stronger, and more horrific than ever, allowing us to over-power Airen… …Things would have been so perfect… except for one little flaw!” The great battle waged on, and it looked as if Arien was truly about to go down as he was ensnared by the shadows. “Hey, look.” cried Krysta. “It’s the children!” said Lightning. Castor and Leilani were both in the flashback when… it happened! Arien broke his sword into two pieces and entrusted them within Castor and Leilani’s dreams. “…Take the sword! Take it, and protect good dreams!” No one had to see anymore. All the images vanished. “Clever of him.” hissed Phantasma “While I had stolen his body and held it all this time, he had transferred a portion of his power and spirit into those two young ones in attempt to protect dreams even further.” She then laughed wickedly, “…But now the sword is mine, and with it, there will be nothing that can stand in our way! The nightmares shall rule all! We will become real, and proceed to turn all worlds beyond in to dark, chaotic worlds of fear and bleak despair!” Lightning thought deeply, “So that’s why she wanted the sword-- It’s the one thing that has the power to stop the nightmares, and she wants it so it can’t be used against her!” He then bolted upright and balked up at her. “I won’t let you get away with this!” Then suddenly he noticed, “…My dream band!” It was gone! Candance and Krysta’s were gone too, and all three of them were no longer sparkling with the dream magic. All throughout the school, the other fighters also lost their bands, and stopped glowing too. “What the…?!” cried Buddy. “Oh… …No!” wailed Fluttershy. “What’s happened?” asked Spike. Phantasma laughed. “Slow learners that we are. Now that the sword is no longer on your side, its powers are no good to you anymore. There’s nothing you creatures can do to us nightmares now.” Lightning began to worry. “If our dream powers are gone, then that means…!” “…Full-pattern, Fire!” Starla ordered. The guards fired all their powered-up cannons, while others fire blasts of light from their lances after having them enhanced by Starla’s dream magic. The vicious nightmares were blown back hard in the explosions from the attacks. “Prepare the next line!” ordered Captain Shaina. Her soldiers switched out the used cannons for freshly loaded ones. Shaina saluted to Starla, wanting her to charge them up again. Starla raised her left arm, only to notice that her dream band was gone! “What?!” she yelped. She also noticed she was no longer glowing either. At that very moment, the barrier around the palace began to lose its sparkle as the dream magic faded away. Starla looked up and could see Grand Celestia Ruler had lost their dream magic as well. “Huh?” they groaned. “What’s happening?” The barriers all over the planet began to weaken. The citizens began to panic as the angry, snarling nightmare monsters and shadows began to lick their chops and flex their claws, or whatever it was they had as they began to creep forth. “Not good! Really not good!” murmured Swift. Neither he nor the other sentries or fighters even considered to do battle with the creatures, still fearing there was nothing they could do to them without dream magic. Even Mykan Stevens, in New Canterlot Village was growing nervous with the sentries and the civilians. Starla began to worry about Lightning and the others. Worse than ever, inside Princess Luna’s room, the nurse called for the Court Physician. “Doctor, the princess is still worsening!” “What? That’s impossible!” cried the doctor, but according to the computer on the ice-chamber, even while encased in solid ice, Luna’s vital signs were still falling; very slowly, but surely. “I don’t believe this!” wailed the doctor, but one look out the window, the dark skies were more than enough to convince him that this magic, whatever it was, was truly a menace. “I don’t know what else to do for her.” The nurse went pale with worry. “What are we going to do?” asked Krysta. Phantasma only laughed. “I just told you-- there IS nothing you can do. I’d love to stay and witness your downfall, but I have other things to tend to. Get them, Zadovia!” Zadovia grinned as Phantasma disappeared with the sword in hand. Lightning, leaving Castor on the ground-- laying him down next to Arien’s unconscious body-- bolted upright and glared the evil principal down. “Oh, please…!” sneered Zadovia “Don’t tell me that you actually intend to still try and battle without your precious dream magic?” Lightning clenched his fists, “Well, I’m certainly not just going to sit around and do nothing either.” He didn’t let on that he actually had a small theory. “I just hope I know what I’m doing.” he thought silently. With the barrier gone, he leapt up onto the stage. “Lightning!” called Krysta. Zadovia glared at her, “I’ll deal with you and your friends in a moment.” Lightning growled and charged at Zadovia, aiming a powerful punch for her, but Zadovia actually raised two of her arms, and blocked his attack… …The attack didn’t pass right through her! “You missed me!” hissed Zaodvia, and she aimed one of her other arms, and punched for Lightning, but he back-flipped away from her. “Did you see that?” asked Krysta. Cadance nodded, and she was just as surprised too. Lightning grinned. “I knew it! Your master said that you were all becoming totally real now, which means you’re no longer illusions but solid beings. I don’t need the dream magic to stand up to you now.” Krysta and Cadance both lit up with hope and astonishment… while Zadovia only laughed, “So what if you knew that? Just because you can face me like a normal being doesn’t mean you’ll actually survive. I’m far more powerful than my students or my staff.” Lightning snuffed. “Let’s see just how much!” and he rushed forth again, punching and kicking like crazy, only for Zadovia to prove her word by blocking his every attack with all four of her arms. “Is this best you’ve got?” mocked Zadovia. Cadance couldn’t bear to just sit and watch anymore, and she left Leilani with the other two unconscious bodies-- in Krysta’s care. “Hey, wait!” called Krysta, but Cadance had already leapt up on stage, making her sigh. “I guess I’ll look after all three of these sleepyheads.” Lightning continued to punch and kick, hoping to land a hit on Zadovia, and still she managed to block his every attack. “You don’t run a big institute like me without learning how to fight for yourself, you know.” She finally had an opening, and punched him hard in the face, knocking him back several paces. Cadance then silently crept up from behind in attempt to ambush the evil principal, only for Zadovia to anticipate her, and grab her from behind, and flip her over before her, and kick her hard like a ball towards Lightning, smashing right into him. “No!” wailed Krysta. Zadovia huffed, “I ought to give you a century of detention for attempted foul-play.” Lightning and Cadance both got up. Cadance patted Lightning’s arm… “I’m okay...” he said to her. “But we’re going to have to keep on our toes to take her on.” Suddenly, he gasped! “The others…! Do they know they can fight too?” Cadance raised her hands to her face-covers in shock. Krysta gasped too, fearing for the people of United Equestria. The ghouls and monsters were getting closer as the skies grew even darker and more violent with evil lightning… The Ruler had absolutely no idea what to do. Neither did Starla, nor anyone… …Until Starla noticed something! One of the ghouls actually cast a shadow, which was made by the light of The Ruler’s glow. “Illusions don’t cast natural shadows.” Starla said to herself. Then she gasped in realization… She stood atop the battlements. “General?” called Shaina. The Ruler looked down as well, and before anyone could say anything… “PULSAR LASER” Starla fired her blast at the creature actually hitting it, in a big explosion. *Mykan’s POV* “Huh?” From where I stood, just up the street, I saw what happened over at the palace. “Did you see that?” I called to the sentries… …They all nodded, and happened upon the same idea as me. I grabbed out my Sword of Pure Soul, and my Shield of Righteous Courage. “Let’s rumble!” And with that, I leapt into actions, slashing at the brutes with my sword, and blocking their attacks with my shield. The sentries joined in and began to fight along with me while others stayed behind to keep those brutes at bay. *POV Ends* The Ruler grinned, and made an announcement, using their Royal Voice. “Attention! Attention all fighters and sentries! Obey as we say without question. Attack the invaders! Repeat: Attack the invaders!” All over the planet, everyone heard the announcement, and while the fighters were confused at first, Swift made the first move… “HAAAA…!!” and he kicked a monster hard in the chest, sending he soaring up high and over a rooftop, landing with a crash into a dumpster! Soon, all the fighters and sentries on the planet banned together and began to fight back at the evil monsters. “It’s working!” cried Starla. “At least it gives us another chance.” The Ruler, feeling their power would be too great to use in fear of harming fellow fighters and damaging the lands and villages, separated back into Celestia and Celesto. By doing this, they could assist in battle much more effectively. “You sure you’re up for this?” asked Starla. “Don’t worry about us.” called Celestia. “…Just keep defending the palace.” added Grand Ruler. Their majesties leapt up and flew up high into the air to go and assist in other locations. Starla then called to the guard, “Well, you heard them!” The guards all quickly snapped to it and re-loaded more cannons and weapons ready to assist the ground forces already doing battle. Still, Starla was concerned about Lightning and the others… While their majesties were both worried about them, and for Luna, and their children! Feeding time, Stir-Gey unleashed more of his slimy meat, which smelled so rancid, that Buddy, Applejack, and Pinkie were grossed out by the smell as they dodged the attacks. “Ugh!” groaned Pinkie. “I’ve smelled old, rotten cheese that wasn’t this bad!” “Wait!” cried Buddy. “Dreams don’t have scents, but real things do.” Applejack grinned widely as she grabbed her lassoing rope, “Well then, let’s get busy!” The trio began to fight back, pushing the evil enemies away, and messing up the cafeteria, much to Stir-Gey’s horror! “No! My café!” he wailed. Suddenly, his spatula was wretched from his grip by Applejack’s lasso. “My spatula…!” Pinkie came leaping up and over, and kicked his smokestack hat off his head. “My hat…!” WHAMM!! “OOOOHH…!!” he groaned as Buddy had kicked him hard in his huge gut. “…My… belly!” and over he toppled like a falling tree. “You’ve been served.” joked Buddy. In the gym, it was a whole new ballgame. “Attack!” shouted Mash, and he blew his sonic whistle, sending his shockwaves at the trio of fighters. “STRIDENT-SHOCKWAVE” Saber unleashed his electricity in the waves, which conducted along the air, and shocked Mash hard. The football players all charged for Rarity. She extended her claws, and with a mighty dragon roar, she rushed forth, skillfully swerving around the evil jocks, and slashing at them with her claws. “Let’s get them!” shouted the captain of the team, and he and his teammates prepared their pulse shots and kicked them all towards Fluttershy, but she leapt up into the air, and with such graceful aerobatics, she kicked and punched some of the shots back into others, causing big explosions and smoke clouds. “What’s going on?!” yelled Mash. “How are you able to fight us like this? You lost your dream- bands.” Fluttershy snuffed and said, “They may be gone, that is true, But we can still fight all of you.” Rarity agreed. “We’re in your school, which means we must be able to fight you on your own terms.” “Yeah!” hollered Saber. “So what’s it going to be?” Mash growled, and blew his whistle at his team, “Get them!” The battle continued. Magi and Emcee both suffered the same problems… Their respective trio of enemies became wise to the fact that the nightmares were now solid beings rather than illusions they couldn’t touch or attack. “SONIC RAINBOOM!” KAPOW!! Rainbow sped through Emcee’s students, and bound straight for the evil teacher. Emcee shielded herself with her lab coat, and flicked the pony off of her like a fly. “You forget about my formula?” she balked. “It makes me larger, and stronger than you could ever be! ARGH!!” her huge head was suddenly kicked hard from behind by Dyno and Rhymey. “Too bad it doesn’t make you smarter.” taunted Dyno. “Or swifter for that parter.” rhymed Rhymey. Emceed swung her huge arms at the men, which they dodged. Rhymey then spotted a whole bunch of monsters below. “DRILL QUILL” His sharp feather rained down on the creatures, making them scatter all about, and Rainbow jumped in and began punching and kicking them away. In Magi’s classroom, it was the same story. “Take this!” she bellowed as she unleashed huge wind gusts from her staff, which blew Spike, Myte, and Artie into the air hard in furiously circles. Some of the students were blown into the twister as well, which they still did not mind. Many of them lunged for the men, which they tried to dodge by slipping swerving out of the way against the air currents. “Hey, guys!” Artie called “Brace yourself, I’m going to attack with my bombs.” Spike and Myte gasped. “Is he nuts…?” wailed Spike. “The bombs may hit us!” “I think that’s why he warned us.” said Myte. “PAINT BOMBS” Artie unleashed his explosives. While in their sludge-forms, the blobs flew amongst the winds, striking the monsters as they came in, and also shooting out from the twister like bullets, striking the bookshelves, and setting them ablaze. “My books!!” shouted Magi, “…My precious books!!” The winds began to cease, and one by one, the men leapt out from the winds, and struck her across her huge face, sending her back hard into the blackboard. Lightning and Cadance glared Zadovia down. The evil principal adjusted her glasses, “Perhaps I should take this up a notch, and teach you wretches a lesson you won’t soon forget for disrupting my school!” With that, she tapped her pointer on the floor by her feet, setting off a small explosion that nearly blinded Lightning, Cadance, and even Krysta. When the light faded, the trio could hardly believe their eyes. The entire assembly hall was crowded with Zadovia clones-- standing on the floor and floating in mid-air. They were unable to move from their original positions, but it didn’t matter much to her. “She’s everywhere!” cried Krysta. Every single Zadovia seemed to speak in perfect sync at the same time, making her voice boom loudly. “I’m more than just everywhere; I outnumber you twerps, more than a-hundred to one.” The army of ladies extended all four of their bare arms, and the palms of all four of their hands began to glow. “Uh, oh!” cried Krysta, and she looked down at the children and Arien. “I don’t think I can protect them all!” Cadance and Lightning realized this, and they had no choice either. They quickly huddled together near her and their friends, and Lightning cast a strong dome barrier of Uniforce around them. “That won’t shield you forever.” shouted Zadovia, and the army began to fire laser shots of energy in an incredible barrage of light so bright it was hard to see. The blasts struck at Lightning’s barrier, making bright explosions upon impact, and forcing Lightning to pour on all the power he could to keep himself and his friends protected. He growled and roared as those blasts continued to strike at his power. “We’ve got to stop these creeps!” he growled. Cadance nodded in agreement, but all three fighters were unable to do a thing while under the barrier, not to mention they were vastly outnumbered. “Maybe if we find the original, we can wipe out the rest.” suggested Krysta. Keeping his stance up, Lightning agreed, “But how can we figure out which one is the original. My visor still doesn’t work on them because they are still Nightmares.” Zadovia’s army continued to shoot at the barrier while laughing maliciously, and Lightning was finally starting to feel his fatigue catch up to him from battling for so long and braving the dangers of the school, as well as pouring too much power into the Uniforce, which would naturally drain him. “I can’t hold up much longer!” he groaned. “Lighting, hang on!” cried Krysta, but the barrier was starting to weaken, and it shattered away. Lightning collapsed to his knees, and while his visor couldn’t scan around, it did warn him that his energy levels were low, and his suit was about to power down. The evil stopped attacking, and gloated at their assured victory. “What’s the matter? Have you finally realized the futility of your own hopes and dreams?” Lightning growled softly while looking back and forth at all the images of Zadovia. Each and every one of them seemed exactly the same, making it almost impossible to determine where the original was… until, he could see… “The pointer-stick…!” The others saw this as well, and Cadance placed her hand on Lightning’s shoulder, telling him she would do her best. The Zadovia army laughed again. “Your world is about to become a world of permanent shadows, and soon all other worlds beyond will share that fate. …But you won’t be around to see it… not much longer.” She and her army prepared to fire again, but right at the last moment, Cadance smashed one of her ninja smoke bombs on the ground. “Huh?” Zadovia and her army looked around. “Where did they go?” She couldn’t attack if she couldn’t aim properly. “Hey, over here…!” Krysta called, showing she was backed in a corner of the massive room. “There you are!” The army prepared to open fire on her, when suddenly; Cadance threw her shurikens at some of them, causing the clones to misaim, and accidently open fire on their own clone comrades, striking them hard, and actually destroying them. There were still many others left… “I won’t lose-- not to you!” The real Zadovia bellowed. Her other clones opened fire, but because Krysta was backed into a corner with her unconscious friends, it was easier for her to defend with her repelling portals… In the blasts went through one portal, and out through another, shooting at more of the clones. Lightning, with what little strength he had left began to creep up softly towards the real Zadovia, with the pointer. Unlike the clones, Zadovia herself was able to move! She quickly whirled round and fired a magical blast at him from the pointer, which Lightning was barely able to dodge, and he landed flat on his back. “You’ll have to do better than that!” she laughed. That’s when Cadance began zipping along from behind, in attempt to get at her sneakily, but Zadovia was swifter than that. She leapt and zipped out of the way every time Cadance would try and lunge for her. It was like watching two slick ninjas go at each other. The clones continued to fire towards Krysta, and she kept her portals up, but just like Lightning she couldn’t keep up forever. Finally, Zadovia punched Cadance hard, and knocked her hard into the back of the stage hard. She laughed wickedly as she approached the fallen ninja with a threatening glare. “Any last words?” she asked as she raised her pointer to blast her. …Then, without warning. ZAP!! “Ah!” Lightning had bolted upright, and blasted the pointer out of her hand with a Uniforce pulse. “Yeah… “School’s out… Forever!” he sneered at her. The pointer landed right near Cadance, and she grabbed it and snapped it into splinters in her hand. “NO!!!” Zadovia shouted. Her body immediately started to light up with glowing cracks and disintegrate, and all her clones vanished instantly. The pointer apparently wasn’t just her weapon, but the source of her very power and force… …No just hers, but the teachers as well, as their bodies began to breakup as well, and all the students began to vanish in dark flames into the darkness, much to the confusion of the other fighters. The entire school began to rumble with an earthquake with boulders and rocks crashing down! “The whole building’s coming down!!” cried Krysta. Lightning was completely tapped out of power. His suit had powered down, and he felt really tried, and could barely stand up straight, let alone feel like running for his life. Not that it mattered anyway… the door to the assembly hall had vanished, leaving no visible way out. “We’re going to get buried alive!” shouted Krysta. Even she couldn’t defend everyone from an avalanche this massive. Since Cadance couldn’t use much magic in her ninja form, she was forced to power down. “Hang on!!” she cried as she rushed over and scooped Lightning up in her arms, and rushed over to Krysta and the others, and quickly pushed her magic to the limits to encase everyone within a barrier dome. The rocks began to crash and smash up against it, weakening it severely. Cadance could already feel the strain getting to her after battling and rushing about so much. “I don’t think I can hold it!” “You have to!” wailed Krysta. Lightning was able to stand up on his feet, but he was still all tapped out and couldn’t off enough Uniforce to even cook a meatball, let alone enforce the barrier. He didn’t want to admit that this was the end as he could see flashes of Starla, Shining Light, and all the rest of his friends in the outside world! Luckily for them, the rumbling awoke Castor and Leilani as their eyes suddenly snapped wide-open…! To Be Continued… (Promo) In our next episode: our heroes find themselves in the actual Dream World, or rather what’s left it as the Lady Phantasma continues to grow strong with power obtained from the darkness, but our heroes are all tapped out from battling with her forces already, and Phantasma is still full of special surprises saved just for them. How can our heroes overcome the dangers before them now? Don’t miss the next exciting episode of Starfleet Magic!” (Next Episode: “Part 5: In a Dreamy World.”)