“Previously on Starfleet Magic…”
Our heroes found themselves stranded in the Dream World, discovering it to be a horrific scene due to the nightmares’ ever-growing evil. After confronting the newly-formed Lady Phantasma, the heroes soon find themselves trapped in worlds of their deepest dreams, leaving the evil nightmare leader unopposed.
EPISODE TWENTY-FIVE
Buddy found himself in a most-elegant field of wildflowers; all sorts of beautiful flowers. Their colors were enough to die for, but their sweet fragrance in the warmth of the sunshine combined with the bits of dew in the air.
“Wow! This place is fabulous.” he said. “But… how did I get here?”
The peace and tranquillity of his surroundings made him not really want to care. This was something he had always dreamed about-- beautiful, lush fields, with no chaos, no pollution, no littering… nothing but clean, sweet smelling air, and blissful peace all around.
He leaned up against a tree, basking under its shade sighed. “This place feels almost too good to be true.”
Really, he was trapped in a real dream.
Just as Phantasma had promised, each and every one in the group was transported into a world of their deepest and fondest of dreams. As unreal as it all truly was, it didn’t feel or seem that way to the heroes.
Artie was in a magical world where everything was a like an art world-- carved statues of wood or stone, roads that were hand-drawn, and houses and buildings actually giant arts and crafts supplies…
Pencil-boxes for bodies, cardboard with paint streaks for roofs, and large hollow paint-brushes as chimneys that blew black scribbles as smoke.
“This is so neat!” he said to himself, and he took his chance and just drew a cup of hot-cocoa with cream and sprinkles-- with his finger just in midair-- and the drawing actually materialized into the real thing.
“Mmm…!” he said after he took a sip. “I could get used to this.”
He wasn’t the only one enjoying a treat-- Pinkie Pie was trapped in a world like his, only everything was made of sweets and goodies!
“Hoo-Wee!” she cried “It’s mine! ALL MINE!!”
She leapt around taking bites out of everything in sight, and she didn’t get a tummy ache, or a cavity, nor did she even feel full. She could just eat, and eat, and eat some more.
“This is soooooo goooooood!” she sighed “And each bite gets better and better!!”
Then she looked a little sad when she realized her friends were not present to share it with her. “…Gee. I wish they were here.”
Some of the friends weren’t even alone, as they shared the same dream…
Like Rhymey and Fluttershy… even Krysta was with them.
The trio found themselves in a beautiful animal refugee, deep in a beautiful forest, where all the animals lived in peace and good health, under the watchful eyes of Fluttershy.
“This place is so lovely,
A great place for the animals, Rhymey and me.” she would sigh.
Rhymey loved the scenery-- all the bamboo huts with leaf roofs, the sunny weather, the river flowing gently.
“A place like this is just for me,
so much inspiration for my poetry.
The animals and life, me and my wife,
We could stay here forever, blissfully.”
All the animals were so friendly and kind to one another. Even natural predators were helping those smaller and weaker than they were… like good friends.
The bears would help the bees find flowers to make honey…
Crocodiles would provide bridges using their own bodies so smaller animals could cross the rivers.
Krysta, being a fairy, couldn’t get enough of this.
“It’s like everything I’ve ever dreamed of; where all of nature goes along and undisturbed. No fighting and hatred.”
She suddenly felt like shedding a tear, “It’s just so beautiful! I could stay here forever.”
Fluttershy felt the same way, but all of sudden she didn’t look so pleased.
“Something about here doesn’t seem right.
It all seems too perfect… just too right.”
Rhymey nodded in agreement…
“I feel the same as you,
All this is too good to be true.”
Krysta looked all around her. “Come to think of it… it does… but why?”
Dyno and Myte were laying ontop of a mountain of jewels, and were surrounded by beautiful dancing mares while sipping Iced Mango Juice.
“Mmm… Esta es la vida! *This is the life*” said Dyno.
“Si, I agree…” added Myte. “Nothing but riches, and juice, and all the beautiful senioritis...”
The beautiful dancers all giggled and waved at their masters.
Rainbow and Applejack shared a dream too: Both were flying through space, outfitted with powerful fighter-ships, and blasting aliens to dust.
Rainbow was most surprised to see Applejack there. “What are you doing here?”
“I don’t know…” replied Applejack. “I may be a chore-girl, but I’ve always dreamed of having wild adventures and having fun, especially in outer-space.
It’s just a side of me I never told anyone before.”
Rainbow didn’t mind, and together, she and Applejack blasted a whole bunch of aliens out of the stars.
“Whoo-hoo!!”
“YEE-HAW!!”
Suddenly, they both realized…
“Um… what are we even doing here anyway?” wondered Applejack.
Rainbow looked all around her. “It’s like we were just transported here.”
Spike and Rarity found themselves sitting on thrones, and dressed in royal attire.
“Huh?” said Spike.
“I… I can’t believe this.” added Rarity.
All around them, royal guards cheered and hollered, “HAIL KING SPIKE!!
HAIL QUEEN RARITY!!”
Spike and Rarity had often had dreams of being royal, and ruling the lands; living in a big castle, and, naturally, all the comforts and easy breaks they could ask for.
One of the royal servants wheeled out a massive cart full of incredibly expensive diamonds and jewels. “Your snack, Sire…”
Spike’s mouth watered, and his tongue hung out. “I’ve only dreamed of seeing such tasty things.”
“Spike, No!” cried Rarity. “You can’t eat such elegant stones! Why I could just use them to make so many designs and beautiful wear.”
One of the maids approached her, “But My Queen, you’ve already made so many.” And she pulled a curtain wide open revealing an endless hallway of so many dresses, outfits, and other clothing, which made Rarity’s eyes glitter like stars.
She couldn’t help but scream for joy!
No words, no thoughts could possibly express how she was feeling.
Spike munched on his jewels, and they tasted so nice to him, he didn’t think he’d ever taste anything like them again.
“Sooooooooo good!!” he sighed.
What was more; it seemed no matter how much he ate, the cart before him was never empty! It just kept spouting endless amounts of jewels so that he would never be out, and no matter how much he ate, he never felt full.
“More! More!!” he cried.
“I want it all!!” shouted Rarity as she lay on top of a pile of dresses.
They both really felt they had it all, that they nearly had forgotten about each other.
“Spike…?”
“Ra-- Rarity…”
Spike stopped eating, and Rarity got up from her massive collection of clothes.
They had both nearly forgotten about how they loved each other, and to each of them, the other was far more important than any treasure, magic, or material could ever be.
“What’s happening to us?” wondered Spike.
“I… I should feel so happy.” said Rarity. “And I did… I have everything I’ve always dreamed, and yet now, I don’t feel as good as I ought to.”
It was then the two ran towards each other, Rarity threw her arms around her husband. “Oh, Spike!” she sobbed.
“Rarity, I don’t think I actually like this!” said Spike.
Cadance and Shining Armor were sitting in their royal Crystal Palace, with little Flurry Heart, growing up well, and they were teaching her how to use magic.
Such a peaceful and wonderful family…
Then, there was a knock at the door. It was Uncle Fratello and Auntie Twilight Sparkle.
“What?” exclaimed Shining Armor.
“How?” wondered Cadance.
Fratello chuckled, “How” and “what?” Is that how you greet family?”
“Unky Fratello! Auntie Twilight!” cheered Flurry Heart, and she ran over to her aunt and uncle.
“Aww… Who’s my favorite little niece?” Twilight cooed.
Flurry giggled, “I’m your ONLY niece.”
The royals gazed at their relatives, still unable to believe they were both alive!
“Well, what are you just standing there for?” Twilight teased. “Come give your sister a hug.”
“I could use one of those too.” added Fratello.
Cadance and Shining Armor found themselves drawn towards their siblings, and yet when they hugged them, they could actually feel warmth, joy-- like the real thing.
“Brother!” Cadance squeaked softly.
“Oh, Twily! It’s really you!” sobbed Shining Armor. “I can’t believe it!”
Cadance and Shining Armor’s eyes were flooding with tears of joy and happiness.
“Hey, come on. No tears…” said Fratello. “Come on, let’s do the happy dance.”
Beaming at the idea, everyone jumped into a circle…
“Sunshine, Sunshine! Ladybugs awake!
Clap your hands, and do a little shake.”
All this love, all this joy! It felt so wonderful, and yet something inside the royal couple was trying to tell them that something really had to be off.
If Twilight and Fratello were both supposed to be dead, how could they possibly be here?
How could any of this be here?
Cadance was starting to feel very stressed. “No, no… this can’ be.”
“What’s the matter?” Fratello asked. “Don’t tell me you’re not feeling happy. You know I hate it when you’re upset.”
…Exactly as her brother would say and act.
“Come on, we’re all friends here, as well as family.” said Twilight. “We can always be there for each other.”
Now Shining Armor began to feel his wife’s stress as he thought, “She is just like Twilight, but why do I keep thinking like… maybe… this… isn’t real?”
The longer they remained the way they were, the more power was absorbed from them, and all of it was transferred to Phantasma, increasing her strength.
“Yes…!!” she hissed “So many dreams, so much power, and it’s all mine!”
Suddenly, she began to feel something was wrong herself. “I don’t feel like I’m gathering power from everyone. But that’s impossible… I trapped them all.”
That’s when a bright flash of light shined-- just popped in out of nowhere—making her groan and growl. “What’s going on?”
She wasn’t the only one to see this strange light…
Everywhere in each of the dreams, the light shined…
“What’s that?” asked Shining Armor.
“I… I don’t know.” replied Cadance.
Fratello, Twilight, and Flurry Heart didn’t seem the least bit concerned, nor did they even seem to notice the light at all.
Then, someone else appeared from the light itself.
“Lightning?” said Cadance.
It was him indeed, and he was no dream.
“Let’s go.” He called to the royal couple. “You have to come with me, now.”
“Wait, what?” remarked Shining Armor.
“You have to trust me…” replied Lightning. “All this around isn’t real. It’s just one big dream.”
The couple turned back to face their family, only to see them moving outward and vanishing into darkness, which helped them to fully-realize the awful truth.
Their hearts began to feel heavy, almost to the point of tears, but they quickly toughened up, realizing what they really had to do.
So they followed Lightning into the light...
Pinkie slumped by a river made of chocolate-goo, and she looked mighty down, finally feeling the weight of her solitude.
“I don’t like this.” she said to herself. “What’s the point of having all these wonderful goodies if you have no one to share it with?
I want my friends back.”
She threw her head up high and shouted. “DO YOU HEAR ME?!! I WANT MY FRIENDS BACK!!!!”
Suddenly, a glow of light appeared, and there stood Lightning, in his battle-gear.
“Lightning? But how-- But who…?” Pinkie felt really confused and dizzy, but Lightning held his hand out to her.
“Come with me…” he said “There isn’t much time.”
Pinkie agreed, and she began to gather up a bunch of treats to take with her to snack along the way… which disappeared the moment she ran into the light.
“Ah, rats!”
Spike and Rarity were still holding each other, still no longer really enjoying their surroundings or all the things they had.
That’s when another light shined, and Lightning appeared, in Super-Mode.
“Hurry up! Let’s go.” he said while offering his hand to them.
The couple gawked at each other, and took on last look around them-- noticing their world was now vanishing into darkness.
They couldn’t wait to get out of this, and so they followed Lightning away.
Lightning then appeared before Dyno and Myte, in his Mega-Mode form-- from the time when Starfleet battled The Dark King from the future.
“Que?!” said Dyno. “Lightning, how did you get here?”
“And how did you get your Mega Mode powers?” added Myte.
“Never mind that, just come with me, quick.”
While the twins were ever-so curious to how Lightning got his Mega Mode-- seeing as it hadn’t even been invented yet-- they weren’t sure they really wanted to leave this wonderful place…
All their treasure, all the lovely girls…
Dyno turned round, “Myte, look!” he cried.
Myte looked around and saw the whole place was starting to vanish like an illusion. “I think we’ve been duped.”
This made it easier for them to want to follow Lightning into the light.
Next, Lightning appeared in the beautiful dream where Rhymey, Fluttershy and Krysta were. Only, he appeared as his human form-- from when he went to the human world, and in his battle armor.
“Lightning?” remarked Krysta. “Why do you look like that?”
Fluttershy gasped,
“How is it you look this way?”
“Did something happen that led you astray?” added Rhymey.
Lightning didn’t answer, but told them “Come, let’s go. You have to leave this place. It’s not real. It’s just a giant dream.”
At that moment, the world began to fade away, prompting the trio to go with him.
Applejack and Rainbow were already starting to get bored with doing nothing but zapping aliens and asteroids in their pods.
“I never thought I’d say this…” said Rainbow “But I don’t think this is the kind of world I’d like to live in 24/7.”
“Me neither.” agreed Applejack. “I mean, it’s fun from time to time, but not this much. I’m actually getting kind of cramped in here. I need to stretch my legs.”
There were no planets or places for them to set down upon.
All at once, this place was losing its charm.
“Hey, what’s that there?” wondered Rainbow.
Applejack saw it too-- a strange glow of light up ahead. “It looks like…” she paused. “…Lightning?”
It looked like him… in his Enticorn form.
“Come with me…” he called to them “This is not the world for you two to be in. It isn’t even real.”
The ladies turned around, and saw everything fading away, which prompt them to eject from their pods, and follow him into the light.
Buddy sat in the hills his flowery dream, with a rather grim look on his face. Sure, it was nice and pretty and sweet-smelling here, but it was quiet-- too quiet. You could hear birds chirping louder than usual.
Much as Buddy enjoyed this tranquil peace and beauty, he did start to feel a bit lonely without his friends and family and wished they were here with him.
Suddenly, a bright light shined, and there stood not Lightning or a version him, but…
“Prince Castor…?” Buddy was most-surprised.
“Come on…” Castor said to him “We’ve got to get out of this place. It’s really not safe here…”
At the very same time, his sister was with Artie, ready to lead him out of his own dream. “You have to listen to me. This is all an illusion, and the longer we stay, the more dangerous it is.”
This put Artie in mind of beforehand. “Phantasma! She’s doing all this!”
He bolted upright, more than willing to leave this dream of his behind. “It’s not so fun around here all alone anyway.
Lead the way, Princess.”
Soon, both men took the hand of the child with them, and headed on out into the light.
Phantasma roared and growled as the light. “No!! This can’t be happening!!”
In a big bright flash, everyone had returned, including Lightning… and the other five counter-parts fluttering in midair above him.
The Real Lightning-- the pony version standing with the group-- looked up at Phantasma sneering, “You can’t fool us anymore, and you can’t hold us back either.”
Castor and Leilani stood by his side.
“You dare defy me?!” thundered Phantasma. “You forget whom you face here! I am the new ruler of this world, and soon I will rule all worlds beyond.”
The other five Lightnings stood above Lightning and all said together, “NOT IF WE CAN HELP IT!!”
And they all charged forth, straight into battle.
Phantasma let out a roar as she swung her big arms to bat off the swarm of fighters. All the Lightnings went flying off, but they straightened themselves out, and rushed back in to attack her.
The Real Lightning turned to his friends. “Is everyone alright?”
The others were all perplexed by what was going on.
“We’re fine now…” answered Buddy “But… what’s with all this?” he motioned at all the clones.
“Yeah, how did you split yourself into every version of yourself?” asked Rainbow.
“More importantly: Why weren’t you and the children affected by the illusions?” added Shining Armor.
Lightning smirked and answered, “We were just as affected as all of you.”
The children nodded in agreement, while everyone else was still confused.
Lightning explained, “Remember what Arien told us…?”
“You must believe in your dreams. Only then may there be a chance.”
“Well… I only have one dream right now: To beat Phantasma and save the world from her evil.”
The friends all felt very intrigued.
“Leilani and I have the same dream too.” said Castor. “We love this world, and we hate what’s become of it, and we want to help Arien.”
Leilani nodded, “Lightning’s dream as well as our own dreams must have helped make this happen.”
Phantasma heard all this, and was plenty outraged, but she could only bellow. “You think just because you found some loophole that you’ve won this battle? I disagree!”
She unleashed a big dark shockwave, blowing all the Lightning’s off of her.
Battle-Mode Lightning growled, and dashed straight at Phantasma’s huge face, kicking her hard in the cheek which nearly sent her toppling over backward…
But she quickly recovered and swung her huge arms, forcing all the clones to dodge.
“Try this!” shouted Phantasma, as she shot them all with dark magical blasts. Even Enticorn Lightning got hit hard.
“Ugh! I was afraid of that…” grumbled Lightning. “Those guys may look like me, but they aren’t really. There’s no replacing the real thing.”
That’s when all the others happened upon the same idea.
“If we focus on all of our dreams... we can do the same thing.” said Artie.
“Well, it’s sure worth a try.” agreed Applejack.
The royal children stood forth, and together they said, “We’ll help you.” Under their power, they would do for the rest what they did for Lightning.
“Well, let’s get dreaming.” said Krysta.
Everyone agreed, and they shut their eyes while bowing their heads forth.
“No!! I won’t let you do this!” shouted Phantasma, but really couldn’t stop them herself with all the Lightning clones getting in her face, forcing her to keep on fighting.
Still, she didn’t have to try and stop them herself.
Her eyes began to glow, and the shadows in the sky suddenly halt dead still.
“Stop them, now!” Phantasma ordered, and the shadows began to soar down towards the group of fighters.
The heroes didn’t dare break their concentration, nor did they even make any sudden movements.
Surely the swarm of shadows would have blown them all to bits... had they not suddenly run smack into a light field that covered the heroes like a big dome.
“What?!” shouted Phantasma. “Impossible!”
While she was distracted with this shocking revelation, the Lightning clones all fired multiple Uniforce blasts at her, forcing her to put up a dark wall to shield herself. “I’ll get you yet!!” she bellowed.
The shadows tried with all their might, but they couldn’t get past the light waves, which were caused by Lightning and the Children-- it was their own dreams to help save the Dream World and stop Phantasma that helped keep the nightmares at bay and allowed the group to focus.
Each and every member of the group poured all the thought and heart they could into how much they, too, wanted to win this war and protect dreams and the worlds.
Then, all their bodies were shrouded in bright light, and like magic, they had summoned clones of themselves-- in battle-mode, Super-Mode, Mega-Mode, The Valkyries of Harmony, Crystal Pony forms…
Unfortunately, none of them had any human counterparts to summon—having never been to the Human World with Lightning.
Cadance summoned her Ninja form, and her Crystal Pony Self.
Shining Armor could only summon Saber.
As for Spike, he summoned both his Dragon Knight self, and his biggest bad boy: The Majestic Dragon, which stood behind the massive army of fighters and the row of Lightnings rejoined the massive army.
The other heroes opened their eyes and were astounded by what they had created-- seeing a massive army of themselves before their eyes.
“Amazing!” cried Dyno.
“Si… it’s the most incredible I’ve ever seen!” added Myte.
Rhymey and Fluttershy both looked up, and murmured together…
“A powerful army before our eyes,
We can’t lose with a force this size!”
Spike was especially astounded. “I summoned my Majestic Dragon… without super darkness or tension?”
His dragon looked down at him, almost as if it wanted to smile proudly, and all of Rarity’s clones fluttered around it.
Spike and Rarity looked lovingly at one another, but then they, along with their friends turned to face Phantasma.
“Is this the part where I’m supposed to be scared?” the evil creature asked. “My army of shadows still vastly outnumber you and your pitiful posse a million to one.”
Lightning and friends didn’t seem the least bit worried, and Lightning said to the others, “Let’s prove her wrong.”
Everyone else nodded.
All at once they all shouted. “ATTACK!!!”
The army rushed forth.
Many of the space ponies rushed up into the air and attacked the oncoming shadows-- punching, and kicking them so hard, they burst into dark sparkles.
Some of the Equestrian clones rose up too, and laid waste to more of the vast armada.
Finally, Spike’s Majestic Dragon put some real light in the world-- with its “FLAMES OF LIGHT!” POW!! He blasted up a huge chunk of the armada to pieces.
The dragon and the fighters by his side would keep the shadows at bay.
“Now, let’s move in!” ordered Lightning.
The rest of the army moved in to begin an assault on Phantasma.
“I can take you all on! Take this!”
From her four large hands, and from eyes, she fired several streams of dark energy, only for many repelling portals to materialize-- to absorb the blasts and fire them up harmlessly into the sky.
Krysta chuckled, and looked up at her own single clone, which had multiple wands.
“…So cool!!” she chirped, and her clone winked at her.
Then the Valkyries moved in with their swords at the ready.
One-by-one, the five warriors cast their magical beams to hold Phantasma down by each of her arms and her neck.
“Let go of me!!” she gagged!
“We’ve got her on the ropes!” called Lightning. “Now, let’s finish her!”
“RIGHT!!” everyone agreed, and they began to concentrate hard on their dreams again, as did Castor and Leilani.
The children held hands, giving their prayers and hopes to the team, increasing the strength of the clones.
The army was glowing brightly, with Enticorn Lightning standing at the head of the forces.
“Grant me all the power I need!” he bellowed as he held his arms up, and all the clones began to channel power into him, and Majestic Dragon.
The dragon spread out his huge wings, and the Enticorn landed atop the dragon’s huge head. He, the dragon, and the army by his feet were all glowing bright… and allowed the Entircorn to take all their energy and form it into a massive ball of light above the Enticorn’s head.
“ATTACK… NOW!!” he shouted.
The dragon roared, and the army hollered, all pulling their power to help The Enticorn throw the massive sphere forth.
Phantasma struggled with all her might, but she couldn’t break free from the bindings, nor defend herself.
“No!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!”
Her body was engulfed in the powerful, burning light, vaporizing her newly-formed body into nothing.
The heroes all shielded their eyes from the brightness, and when the light had faded, Phantasma was nowhere to be seen.
Amazingly enough, Arien’s pedestal was not harmed at all, nor was the land around where the blast had crashed.
Everyone looked on ahead.
“Did we do it?” asked Rainbow. “Please say we did it! I can’t take this anymore!”
“I think we did.” said Shining Armor. “I don’t see her anywhere.”
Pinkie’s eyes began to light up with joyful fireworks. “We did it!! We beat her!!”
Everyone smiled with joy, which was suddenly cut short by the sound of sinister laughter, followed by a dark force rising up from the ground.
“Surprise-Surprise… I’m back!” Phantasma growled.
She was back indeed, now resembling what she was like before-- a smoky mass of darkness with huge red eyes.
“We didn’t get her! We didn’t!!” whimpered Pinkie.
Castor and Leilani held each other while trembling with fear, while Lightning could only growl in frustration at the evil creature!
To Be Continued…
In our final episode: It’s All-or-Nothing as Phantasma unleashes her greatest fury yet, which even proves to be too much for the heroes’ dream clones to handle. Things go way worse as the darkness begins to spread all through the galaxy as the evil grows stronger.
Is there any remaining hope for all dreams and all reality?
Don’t miss the next exciting episode of “Starfleet Magic!”
(Next Episode: “Final Part: A-Dream-Come-Reality”)