My Brave Pony Starfleet Humans STARFLEET EVENTS

by DakariKingMykan

Act 4: Curious Clues

ACT FOUR

That was the end of the first day, and the sun was beginning to set.

Soon, everyone was gathered in the gymnasium for the huge dinner feat prepared by Celesto’s faithful chef, Cookie Dough, and the cafeteria at school as well.

Roast Beef, Turkey, Chicken, mashed potatoes, vegetables, even pizza’s soups and fries, and big dessert table for afterwards.

Once again, the students from the respective schools did not wish to sit with one another and interact and just sat on opposite ends of the gym away from the other, at their own tables. Even when they got up to get more food, when two students from opposing sides met up, they would look away from one another.

Twilight noted how much everyone seemed to really hate one another, and she didn’t like it a bit.

Even her schoolmates were still being grumpy and miserable towards each other now.

“I can’t believe those guys…!” Indigo grumbled “…They totally stomped all over us.”

“Please don’t grumble at us.” said Sour, and then she sneered “It was your idea to set all that up, and they beat us anyway.”

“Maybe if you had done better in the Archery event.” snapped Sugar!

“Hello, Starla Shine’s a master archer!” protested Lemon.

On and on, the girls argued, and Twilight couldn’t stand much more of this, not to mention she had to feed Spike, whom she had kept outside all day, out in front of the school where no one would see him.

“Where are you going?” Indigo asked.

“Me? Oh, I... just need to… stretch my legs. Yeah, I’ve been sitting dead still all afternoon.”

The girls all just glared at her angrily, and felt very unconvinced, but ignored her and went back to their argument.

Shining Armor sat at one of the staff tables with his wife, aunts and uncle, and he watched his sister leave the gym. “Poor Twily, she really ought to stop alienating herself like this.”

The others all gazed at him both understandingly, but awkwardly too.

“Okay, okay, I admit not many of the students have been friendly to her either.”

Celestia couldn’t help but sigh and groan “Some Friendship Games this is turning out to be. I hope this doesn’t lead to a war of schools.”

“I hope not too.” agreed Cadance “It’s already hard enough with this rivalry, but if things got any worse…”

Her uncle cut in and assured her “Don’t worry, that will not happen, I’ll make sure of it. I built and run these schools to try and help others, not to cause riffs. Perhaps once the two schools realize how similar they are, things can start to get better.”

“That will be easier said than done.” said Luna.

Suddenly, Cadance remembered her letter. She took it out and read it, but it turned out to be nothing more than a map of the Pacific Ocean, and attached to it was a note that said…

“Meet me at the East Coast of the island at Midnight on Saturday night.”

She recognized the handwriting anywhere and almost burst into tears “….Fratello!” she cried softly.

Everyone else looked at the note, and there was no mistaking the handwriting.

Celesto also examined the map, and he was astonished by the area that was circled in red ink. “This is the very area I wanted Lightning to scout on the expedition.”

“It’s where Fratello’s boat sank two years ago.” cried Cadance. Now her tears began to flow “He’s alive! My brother’s alive!”

The others wanted to believe it, but it all seemed so improbable, so mysterious, but there was only one way to confirm this. The note said to meet whoever it was by the East Coast at midnight that night.

“Where’s Lightning?” asked Celesto “He must know about this.”

“He’s in the washroom, he’ll be back soon.” said Shining Armor.

Twilight crept outside to the bushes where she was keeping Spike hidden to avoid getting in trouble.

Her dog was so happy to see her and licked her cheek almost uncontrollably.

“Aw, Spike.” she cooed, and she fed him bits of scraps she had smuggled from her dinner plate, and a couple of doggie treats from her knapsack. “I hate to keep you here like this. Oh, what am I saying, even I hate being here like this. No one’s really been nice to me, even my own fellow schoolmates.” She got out her detector which was still glowing, “And what’s worse I still can’t figure out the mystery behind this whole school.”

Suddenly, she could hear voices from around the corner.

The Starfleet gang were holding a private meeting outside where hopefully no one was listening, and Sunset finally had a chance to tell everyone what she had learned.

“What do you mean the portal’s gone?” asked Applejack.

“I mean it’s gone as in it’s not there anymore.” said Sunset.

She led the gang over to the statue, unaware that Twilight was spying on them from the bushes.

“Look…” Sunset said as she felt all along the stone, and nothing happened.

“It really is gone.” said Buddy Rose “But how?”

“I have no idea” said Sunset. She got out her book. “I reported this to Commander Lightning Dawn…”

“…Commander Lightning Dawn?” Twilight muttered in confusion.

Spike growled softly, and Twilight quickly hushed him.

Fluttershy was certain she heard the noise, but she couldn’t see anyone.

Sunset showed everyone a reply she had gotten from their Lightning Dawn, when Sunset reported how the portal had lost its energy, but exactly how and why, even they didn’t know.

“We’ll do everything we can on our end to see if we can restore power to the portal, but for the time-being, transport between the two worlds is impossible.”

“…That’s all he said.”

Everyone then took out their energizers to make sure they were still working.

Twilight watched as Sunset held her hand over each one and her hand and eyes began to glow eerily, much to her shock.

“They still have power.” said Sunset.

“Well, that’s a good thing.” said Rainbow “But how do we fix the portal?”

“I’m not so sure we can…” said Rarity “None of us really know how this thing is supposed to work anyway.”

“Ooh-Ooh-Ooh!” cried Pinkie as she waved her hands up giddily “What if we try energizing it with some of our own powers?”

“Couldn’t hurt to try.” said Applejack.

They all assumed based on their surroundings that no one was watching and got out their energizers, and Sunset stood in the middle.

Lightning was just washing up in the washroom. He was the only one in there, and he splashed some water from the faucet on his face. “Oh, why did I eat so much?” he groaned “This has been one of the strangest days I’ve ever seen.”

Just as he was about to leave, he saw a strange light flash out of the corner of his eye… from the window. “What was that?”

He moved over and stood on the radiator to get a good look out the high window, and there he could see it all…

The Starfleet gang, holding up strange looking badges to the statue, and unleashing flowing colors of some magical energy at it, and Sunset herself began to glow in a golden light, transforming into a shining angel like character, and gave some of her own light to the statue.

Twilight saw it too, and was so shocked she could hardly move. Her glasses fell of her face and onto the ground, and Spike hid behind her, whimpering frightfully.

Twilight’s detector began to go the craziest it had ever reacted, and opened wide.

“Oh, no!” cried Twilight, and she once again fought for control against her own device, which began to absorb the magic from the others, and in a bright flash, their powers were transferred into the device, and all was quiet.

“What happened?” asked Artie.

The others had no idea, but not only were the portal not restored, their energizers were no longer resonating with power. Even Sunset felt her magic had just vanished without explanation. “What’s going on?” she asked in a fret.

“We’ve lost our powers!” cried Pinkie “WE’VE LOST OUR POWERS!!”

Starla grabbed her and held her hand over her mouth “Pinkie Pie, will you keep it down?!” she growled.

Pinkie nodded sheepishly, but still all of them were in uproar about no longer having their powers. What happened to them? Where did they go?

“This is a guess, I could be mistaken,
But… it almost felt as if our powers were taken.” said Rhymey.

“Funny, that’s what I felt too.” said Fluttershy. “One moment I could feel the power, then it starting getting weaker. Then it was gone.”

The others all concurred having all felt the same thing, but they had no evidence to really prove it was just that simple, and even still, who would want to steal their powers, and why?

“Let’s go in and ask to see the security cameras.” Buddy Rose.

The others agreed, and ran back inside.

Twilight poked her head out from the bushes, and put her glasses back on, still unable to really believe what she had just seen, not to mention did! Still, she could not deny that her detector had absorbed it all.

“I knew there was something strange going on at this school, Spike.”

Spike noted the slight difference in her voice, rather deep and somewhat sinister.

“This may explain why they’re so good at the games, but not anymore. Just think of what I can do with this discovery… once I understand it a bit more.”

As for Lightning, he was still standing on the radiator, almost as if he had forgotten how to move, and he finally snapped out of his trance, but lost his balance and fell off onto the floor.

“Oof! Ow!” he groaned. Still, that blow form the impact informed him what he just saw was real and that he wasn’t dreaming.

What now? What was he to think or even do? Though he had gotten his answer--yes, there was something odd about the island, and it was somehow tied with that gang-- now his mind just flooded with tons of more questions, but also a bit of fear as well, especially by Sunset Shimmer.

It was obvious to him that she was not like the others.

He exited the bathroom and bumped right into Starla as she and the gang came by.

“Oh, Lightning… I’m sorry.” she said.

“Uh… yeah… me too.” He said to her “I… Um… have to… get back to the table.” Then he walked off rather quickly and awkwardly as if he were desperate to get away.

“What was that all about?” said Applejack.

“He looked as if he had seen a ghost.” added Buddy Rose.

Fluttershy stammered “Maybe… maybe… unless…”

“Unless what?” asked Sunset.

Fluttershy twiddled her fingers and could hardly find the words to speak, but Pinkie then shot off as fast as she could…

“Maybe Lightning saw a flash from the window in the washroom and wondered “Gee, what was that?” and so he climbed on the radiator and looked out and saw us trying to energize the portal, and now he knows something’s up with us.”

The others all stared at her with wide eyes, and then shook their heads snapping out of their shock.

“Yeah, pretty sure he didn’t see us.” said Rainbow “I mean, he’s a teacher. He wouldn’t go around spying on others.”

“But… what if he did see us?” suggested Dyno.

“Ay’-Ay’-Ay’! That won’t be a good thing.” said Myte.

“Or maybe he just feels a bit awkward for bumping into me again.” said Starla. She began to feel a bit bummed, now having possibly ruined her chances of apologizing to him.

“Never mind that now, we’ve got to see the security cameras.” said Sunset.

They all entered the gym, everyone was still eating. The amounts of food seemed endless.

The gang made their way to the staff table. Lightning felt a small shiver run down his spine when they approached.

The gang asked Celestia and Luna if they could check the school surveillance cameras.

“Please, it’s very important.” Sunset said “It’s about… a little problem we’re having.” She put a little emphasis on her words, which told the sisters it had to do with the magic and stuff.

The sisters agreed and excused themselves to escort the gang to the main office.

As the gang all left, Starla stayed behind and turned to face to Lightning. She kindly approached him, and he winced softly.

Cadance, Shining Armor and Celesto noted this, as did Starla.

“About earlier today, when you first got here; I wanted to apologize for that little… mistake I made.”

Lightning hesitated and almost didn’t know what to say, until Shining Armor softly tapped his foot with his under the table.

“I… accept your apology.” Lightning said “…Thank you for that.”

Starla smiled, but couldn’t help but note his still acting a bit strange as if he were intimidated by her.

Then she went off, and Lightning kept his eyes on her until she’d gone through the door.

“Okay, what’s going on here?” Cadance asked.

“Hmm…?”

“You’ve been looking at that girl a lot.” said Shining Armor “You don’t by any chance…” he clicked his tongue and gave him a friendly nudge, but Lightning was outraged at such a thought

“Absolutely not!” he practically thundered “I hardly even know her anyway, and besides, I’m a teacher and she’s a student. That’s way out of line.”

“Yes, in most cases it is.” said Celesto, then he recited something he learned from the pony Lightning Dawn. “But one thing I learned is, even though you are different by social status, you are still people, and there isn’t anything that says two people cannot be together. That’s how Celestia and I got back together.”

“Yeah…” said Cadance and then she held her husband’s hand “Just look at us. I’m Principal, and he’s a former student, now the dean.”

“We can totally understand it, Lightning.” Shining Armor said, but Lightning was growing a tad annoyed “I realize this, but believe me; I have no feelings for Starla. That’s not what’s bugging me.”

“Well, what is it?” asked Shining Armor.

Lightning was about to tell them all that he had seen, when suddenly the bell rang, meaning meal time was through and it was high time to bust their trays and the students to get settled in for the night.

“Come on then…” said Celesto as he got up along with the others, but Lightning remained where he was. “Oh, and Lightning… take a look at this.” Celesto said handing him the map and Cadance’s letter and quickly informed him of the situation.

Lightning, after reading and considering things, decided maybe it best not to tell them what he had seen just yet, and to get in on what they were planning.

Meanwhile, Celestia and Luna had already been told of the situation and were viewing the footage from the cameras from the computer in Celestia’s office.

“Right about here…” Artie said.

The footage showed the gang channeling their energy into the statue, when suddenly the energy seemed to be flowing away from them, like being sucked through an air-current, right into the shrubs nearby.

…they could not see it was Twilight and her detector as she hidden very well behind the shrubs.

There was a bright flash of light, and the screens went out; obviously the camera had been busted by the power surge and couldn’t show anymore.

“You were right, Rhymey.” said Sunset “Something really did snatch our powers away.”

Rhymey acknowledged this, but then he said…

“We may know our powers were stolen now,
But what caused this to happen, and why, and how?”

This was what everyone wanted to know, but the cameras had nothing left to show due to being busted.

Rarity cleared her throat, and everyone looked at her and gawked; she was wearing a trench coat with a matching fedora. “Detective Rarity is on the case…” she said “And we’re going to get to the bottom of this faster than my costume change.”

The others all blinked once.

“I think she’s been readin’ too many of them Shadow Spade books again.” said Applejack.

Rarity ignored that and said “If we’re going to find out what happened to our powers, we must gather clues. First stop: The scene of the crime!”

She was acting very different than her usual self, it almost frightened the others, but seeing as she was right anyway, they decided to just go along with it.

“Don’t take too long.” said Celestia “It’ll be lights out very shortly.”

The others all agreed, and headed outside.

“Sister…” Luna said “I’m very worried. If their powers really have been stolen, then perhaps it’s a sign that some sort of danger lurks near.”

Celestia couldn’t deny that, and what worried her most was that her powers had not been stolen yet. If there really someone or something stealing power from Canterlot High, she was likely to be next. “I better tell Celesto.”

Outside, the gang scouted all around the bushes. Pinkie was even sniffing around and acting like a little rat searching for food.

As for Rarity, she imagined the entire world around her was in black and white, and her inner detective voice was narrating.

“There I was surveying the crime scene, and looking Tres Chic while doing it.”

“What are you doing?” asked Buddy Rose.

“Oh, um… juts thinking thoughts.”

“Well do ya think ya might wanna start lookin’ for stuff instead of at your reflection?” Applejack sneered.

Rarity sank back into her thoughts…

“Though their manners were rude, my peeps were right. In order to solve this mystery we had to be focussed. Driven! One-hundred percent in the--”

She stopped when something caught her attention. “Ooh, look at this.”

She held up what appeared to be a small crystal. “Why this color is so divine! Who would ever dream of throwing something this gorgeous away?”

The twins walked up to her and tapped the crystal.

“Because it’s fake…” said Dyno.

“Trust us, we knew stones.” added Myte.

Rarity felt a little disappointed, but then she realized something else about the crystal. “Aha!” she shouted “But it is a clue. This is the same imitation crystal from the shoes worn by the Crystal Prep students.”

The others could all see it too.

“Someone was out here, from Crystal Prep.” sneered Artie.

“Wait…” said Rainbow “A Crystal Prep student stole our powers? How is that possible? They don’t know we even have-- or rather had powers.”

“I’m not so sure.” said Sunset “Indigo Zap seemed pretty determined to get at us during the games. Maybe she sent someone to spy on us?”

“Oh, but, we lost our powers after the games.” said Fluttershy “I don’t think Indigo would’ve tried anything like this.”

The others would have protested is Rarity had not shouted “Aha!” She had found another clue “Behold!”

“A… dog biscuit?” asked Starla.

“Exactly.” said Rarity “I think I have all that I need now to find the culprit.”

Before anyone could even question her, VP Luna called to them saying they would have to come inside for the overnight and the doors would be locked.

Despite the urgency of the mystery, the gang did feel rather bushed after a long hard day, and there wasn’t much they could do now.

Seeing as there was no real threat or danger to deal with, they thought it wouldn’t be too bad to work on things in the morning…

…Except for Rarity.

“So even though the hour had stuck, I remained just as determined as ever to solve this mystery and solve it tonight!”

“Rarity…!” Sunset called “Do you want to spend the night out here?”

Rarity followed her and the others back into the school.