My Brave Pony Starfleet Magic: Season II

by DakariKingMykan

Episode 12: Fast on your Feet

EPISODE TWELVE

Lightning and Grand Ruler Celesto were training together in the palace dojo. Over the years since Lightning first started training, his speed, strength and stamina were becoming outstandingly impressive. Of course he still could not outmatch his master, but he was only told to do his best.

Grand Ruler knocked Lightning off his feet again and then lunged over him, as if for a finishing blow, but he stopped at the last few inches. “Hold!” he said and helped Lightning up. “That will do for today. Your skills are starting to reach the point of beyond adept, Lightning.”

Lightning was glad to hear that, “But, after all I’ve just been through I’ll be glad to be giving my body and my mind a good long rest.”

“I’m afraid you won’t have too much time to get that rest…” Grand Ruler said “Or have you forgotten that Queen Celestia and I have invited you and Twilight Sparkle to the ballet tonight as part of your cultural studies."

Lightning began to feel uneasy, though he had studied the art of ballet dancing and excelled at it during his training… he had never been to a real ballet before. “Exactly why you should come and see the real thing for yourself. Besides, you have also done so well in training, that for compensation, as was well anticipated of course, I have taken the liberty inviting Starla Shine to join us as your date.”

Lightning liked that idea and thought aloud “Well… maybe it won’t be so bad after all.”

Twilight, Starla and Celestia were already preparing for the ballet that night-- first class makeovers. It took a lot of time just to fix up Celestia’s long flowing mane and her tail. Twilight and Starla even got to wear new gowns that were made for them by Rarity. “You look fabulous, both of you.”

Twilight bowed “Same to you, my queen.”

Celestia wore her fancy formal queen’s garbs which she wore during Twilight’s coronation as princess. Only it had been refitted to accommodate her humanoid body. The sleeves were long. The dress was whole and went all the way around her, and she wore a red and white, royal robe.

Twilight wore her princess garbs, and Starla, after double-clicked her insignia, changed into her favorite ball gown which was pink, with ruffled shoulders, and long white gloves. Half of her beautiful long mane was piled on her in a beautiful bun, and a few threads dangled out front softly draping over her shoulders.

“Wow! When do I get one of those?” Twilight asked, hinting at the insignia “When you grow up.” Starla teased. The ladies all shared a giggle.

Spike was waiting patiently with the men, all dressed up in his cute little tux and ready to go-- He was invited too by Twilight, or rather being forced to come as she felt that as her helper he ought to take interest in her activities. Lightning tapped his Starfleet insignia twice and changed instantly from his casualwear to his formalwear-- He still wore his pants and boots, but he also wore a simple formal jacket and bowtie with his captain’s epaulets on his shoulders, and his medals.

Grand Ruler wore a white tuxedo, with golden royal epaulets, a blue sash, but he still wore his cape, and he also carried a walking stick with a blue sapphire at the brim.

“Ooh, la, la!” they said when they saw the ladies descending the stairs in their gowns. They exchanged bows and curtsies. Grand Ruler tenderly kissed his wife’s hand, and Lightning did the same with Starla, but Spike and Twilight both gazed at each other and felt, “Nah!”

Goldwin was still wide awake, and wanted to stay up that night to help keep an eye on the palace. “Are you sure about this?” Celestia asked. “Yes, I am…” answered Goldwin “And if anything goes wrong or I need help, Princess Luna, Cadance and Shining Armor are nearby, and the guards have the place under tight lock. I’ll be just fine.”

“Well, if you’re sure, we’ll be off then.” said Grand Ruler. They all bid each other goodnight, and the leaving party left Goldwin all by himself.

He really wished he could go with them, but he couldn’t, and he didn’t mind. He had a whole night practically to himself… as he just paced round the empty throne room.

As the party stepped into the coach and ready to leave, Starla sighed as she gazed at the palace “I’m worried about Goldwin. Do you think he’ll be lonely?” That’s what all the others pondered over. “Well, maybe we should’ve taken his magic mask?” said Spike “He can’t be lonely if he’s just a statue.”

“I know, be he said he wished to stay up late.” said Celestia “And he does have Princess Luna, as well as Shining Armor and Cadance close by.”

“Yeah, he does.” said Lightning “If he says he fine we ought to trust him. He does have to learn to handle being alone sometimes”

With that said, they were all off to the ballet.

Meanwhile, in his secret lair, the changeling captain was planning on taking matters into his own hands again. “I will show that wretch, Chrysalis, what true power is all about.” He gloated to himself as he continued to work. “She still hasn’t figured out that it is I who has been siphoning the energy she gathers in order to bring my beautiful robotic creations to life.”

This time he had a new creation. While his last robot was built for brute strength, this one had a different ability; one that he hoped would destroy the ponies for good, and he knew the perfect place to send it too.

Upon arriving at the ballet, many of the other creatures attending gazed in awe as the royal party arrived. Twilight even noticed two familiar faces in the crowd. “It’s Rhymey and Fluttershy.”

They stopped for a minute to say hi. “Why are you guys here?” asked Lightning.

“I had lots of spare time, so Rhymey thought he’d take me out tonight.” said Fluttershy.

Rhymey nodded and said…

“The ballet is such a poetic place,
It brings a smile right to my face.
The music plays, and dancers go on
It’s poetry in motion, and ever so on.”

They were all glad to see each other and thought they would all have dinner together after the show, but for now they all took their seats. Rhymey and Fluttershy sat down below on the main floor, while the royal party had a special balcony box reserved. They could see everything, except Spike, if he wasn’t sitting on Twilight’s head. “Just don’t mess up my mane.” she said.

The show began…

It was a ballet story about a weary young stallion who dreamt of being someone special and well known and respected, but he was so ridiculed and mocked by others that he began to lose confidence. Along the way he met a young mare who seemed troubled, and it turned out she was a princess who was on the run to escape the boredom and traditions of palace life. The two appeared to be falling in love.

Celestia and Grand Ruler took an immediate shine to the story. It was almost exactly identical to their past lives. Celestia had tears in her eyes at some of the sad parts. Her husband passed her a hankie.

Starla squeezed Lightning’s hand softly, and he gripped tight in response, both they and Twilight was bedazzled not just by the story, but the graceful and skillful movements the dancers showed.

Twilight hoped she could learn plain learn how to dance like that at all, for she was still just a rookie in training. The only one who didn’t seem interested was Spike. He had finally fallen asleep after trying his best to keep awake.

Rhymey and Fluttershy were enjoying the show too. “They’re so graceful.” Fluttershy whispered. Rhymey nodded in agreement; by this time he had enough inspiration to write a whole book of poetry, and maybe a few songs.

Soon, the first half of the show was over and an intermission happened to give the dancers a small rest period, and the audience a chance to stretch their legs a bit. Spike woke up startled by all the hustling. “Huh? What’s going on?” he asked. “Have a nice nap?” Twilight teased. The others all snickered softly, and Spike felt very embarrassed. “It’s all right, Spike. You’re still young.” said Celestia.

The intermission was soon over and everyone began to take their seats for the next act to open, but as the dancers took their places to begin, all the lights went out. Everyone gasped and stuttered and stammered in the dark. Then suddenly the stage lit up again and something was there that wasn’t before on the stage. “What’s that?” asked Spike.

“Is it part of the set?” wondered Lightning. They all soon got their answer as the thing began to attack the dancers-- grabbing them and absorbing the energy from them rendering them weak and unable to get up.

Fluttershy screamed and held on tightly to Rhymey, and it soon became clear that thing was no dancer. “Everyone out!” shouted Grand Ruler. Everyone, except the gang ran out of the theater “Let’s go down there!” said Lightning as he, Starla and Twilight leapt down below to join the others.

Once the last pony exited, Grand Ruler and Celestia gazed at each other and nodded. Then they flew towards opposite ends of the theater, and they formed a large force field keep outsiders from entering and getting involved in the action about to happen. Unfortunately, it meant they couldn’t assist the others as they had to each remain where they were to keep the spell working.

Lightning, Starla and Rhymey transformed, “STARFLEET MAGIC!!” Then they and Twilight headed onto the stage to confront the creature. They didn’t mind Twilight and Fluttershy fighting with them this time as they would need all the help they could get, but Fluttershy was beginning to cower. “Um… I’ll just stay here out of the way.” Fluttershy whimpered, but she was grabbed by Starla forced to join them on stage. “How do you expect to make the force cowering like this?” she scolded.

The creature gazed at them all, and they could all tell just by looking at it. “It’s a robot!” cried Twilight. “Right, everyone, be careful. We don’t know what its specialties are.” said Lightning. The others acknowledged.

“WARD SWORD” Rhymey shouted, and gripping his sword tight, he gazed at the evil metallically menace.

“I’ll go first,
And give him my worst!”

He dashed forth with his sword at the ready, but just as he was able to slash, the robot quickly sprinted out of the way causing Rhymey to miss. Then before he knew it, the robot leapt straight back again and kicked him hard. Fluttershy screamed as Rhymey skidded across the stage stopping near her. “Are you alright?” she asked as she helped him.

“Yes…
I guess!” groaned Rhymey.

Starla, Lightning, and Twilight all went after the robot at once, only to have the robot dodge their every attack and attack them all hard, sending them all crashing across the stage.

Rhymey and Starla leapt up high…

“STAR SHOWER”

“DRILL QUILL”

Combining their attacks, the two of them created a large bombardment, believing there was no way the robot could dodge it all, but to their horrors. The robot was faster on its feet than they thought-- it actually managed to slink, spin, and leap around through all that bombardment, and attacking them hard.

Twilight and Lightning ran towards their friends, but the robot quickly sped and dashed in front of them. Its eyes glared at them and they glared angrily back and then charged at it, but the robot, again, leapt out of the way. “Where’d it go?” asked Twilight.

“Look out!” squealed Fluttershy. Twilight and Lightning looked up and sped away just before the robot slammed down on top of them causing it to dash its feet hard into the stage. It yanked and pulled until it freed itself and it glared at Fluttershy. She gulped hard and trembled with extreme fear, but Rhymey wasn’t about to let her get hurt, and he dashed at the robot with his sword at the ready. He swung and thrust with all his might, but the robot outmaneuvered his every attack, and punched him hard out of the way again.

Fluttershy hated seeing her colt-friend battle so tirelessly. For a split second, she felt her fear leave her and replaced with boundless courage as she moved behind the props and scenery and pushed on the them hard knocking them all over the like a tower, right on top of the robot. “Way to go, Fluttershy!” cried Twilight.

Fluttershy leapt with joy, but she immediately stopped when the robot leapt through all that mess and glared at her angrily. Fluttershy hid behind a prop tree quivering again.

“This isn’t working! It’s just too fast.” snapped Lightning

“Every time we get close, it speeds right past.” rhymed Rhymey.

“Lightning!” called Grand Ruler. “Remember, speed and strength aren’t everything to win a battle. Just think!”

“Twilight…!” Celestia called “What can you tell from the battle style?”

Both Twilight and Lightning thought it over. The robot was much faster than they were because its legs were specially built, even so, the legs could only work on solid ground, and speed didn’t amount to wit.

Twilight and Lightning happened upon the same idea.

“If we can’t outmaneuver it…” said Lightning

“…Maybe we can outsmart It.” said Twilight.

The others heard the idea. “It’s worth a shot.” said Starla.

“Let’s give it all we’ve got.” rhymed Rhymey.

“Oh… okay.” said Fluttershy, and then she stood tall and proud “Let’s do this!”

The robot spotted the gang all together, and dashed for them. “Go!” shouted Lightning, and they all scattered in different directions cause the robot to miss. As fast as the robot was, it couldn’t follow all the fighters at once.

“Hey, big guy, I’m over here.” Starla teased. The robot angrily dashed and leapt for her, which gave Rhymey the chance to attack the robot while it was in midair, unable to swerve out of the way. Rhymey slashed hard with his sword, hitting one of the robots legs, causing it to spark. The robot was starting to lose speed, but it didn’t seem out of action yet. It charged at Fluttershy, and she ran in a scream of both fight and rage straight at it, but Twilight teleported Fluttershy to right behind the robot at the last minute and Fluttershy kicked the Robot’s back hard.

“Yeah!” cried Spike “Now this is what I call a show!”

Lightning went after the robot next, by himself, and decided to show off a little foot work of his own. “Master!” he called up. Grand Ruler nodded, and his golden horns began to glow, extreme music filled the air giving Lightning a feel for dancing.

Lightning began to dance, twirl, flip, and kick his legs skillfully which helped him dodge the robot, and gave him the opening to strike it hard, rendering it weaker and weaker, and finally damaging its legs, and exposing the energy core in its backside. “There it is!” cried Twilight.

“Let’s get it.” cried Starla.

The others nodded.

The robot had just enough power left for one final attack, and lunged at Lightning, but the brave unicorn skid along the floor, right below the robot and gave it a huge kick in the chest, sending it soaring up in the air. “Get it, guys!” he called.

Rhymey set his sword on destroy-mode, and powered it up…

“THRASH SLASH”

He leapt up high and slashed at the core. “My turn!” said Starla, as she got out her bow. “GALACTIC PROJECTILE” and she shot at the core, completely shattering it and causing the robot to spark and flare up. “Watch out!” said Twilight as she used her magic to generate a smaller force field to encase to robot inside so it exploded safely without causing any more damage to the stage.

The robot was gone, and the fighters all stood together, proud and tall! “Victory is ours!” they all said.

Grand Ruler and Celestia dispelled their large shield, and all the other creatures and even the dancers came back in the theater, cheering and applauding. The spotlight shone on fighters on stage. Spike was cheering and flipping madly with joy. Grand Ruler and Celestia were proud of the fighters. “Take a bow.” Celestia said “You’ve earned it for such a stupendous performance!” added Grand Ruler.

The fighters shrugged and thought “What the heck.” and they all bowed most kindly to the cheering and wooing crowd. Even Fluttershy managed to bow in front of that big crowd without feeling too nervous.

The changeling captain wasn’t too upset with his latest creation’s failure. It only meant he was one step closer to one creating the perfect machine force that would assure him his ultimate victory. “Until the time is right, no one must suspect me. Not even Chrysalis.”

At that moment, he could hear Chrysalis coming, and he had to play it cool.

She burst into the room. “All right, captain, who did it?” she demanded to know. “Who sent that creature?”

“Creature, my queen?” asked the captain. “I don’t understand.”

Chrysalis’ lips curled into an angry scowl. She didn’t know how, but now it was official someone was trying to conquer United Equestria before she did. “First my energy is being stolen, and now this.” she hissed.

“My queen, I assure you. I will never let anything happen to you or your plans for the conquest of United Equestria.” the captain said, but lied.

Chrysalis was pleased to hear the captain say that. “United Equestria and all its precious love will be mine to feed on yet. Then I will be completely unstoppable, and will rule over all!”

“…Unless I dispose of you first.” the captain silently thought “The fool! She still has no idea her days are numbered.”

Even though the battle was won, the ballet theater was still a little damaged, and needed repairs. Thus, the rest of the show was canceled, but their majesties decided to invite all the fighters for a lovely dinner at the palace. Fluttershy and Twilight’s dresses were a little mangled and dirty from the fight. “Rarity’s going to be so disappointed.” Twilight said.

“Oh, she’ll understand.” said Celestia.

As they all sat down to dinner, Spike was starting to wish the show wasn’t canceled. Much to everyone's surprise.

“I thought you hated ballet.” said Lightning.

“That’s what I heard him say.” rhymed Rhymey.

Spike admitted he still wasn’t too fond of ballet, but he did know why. “I guess I just wasn’t watching something I really liked. Like, battles, and adventures. Now that’s a ballet I’d like to see, and maybe there could have been some of that in the show. I guess I won’t get to see it now.”

“Well maybe you still can.” Goldwin suddenly said. That’s when the room went dark. “What’s going on?” asked Fluttershy.

Then, a small area of the room lit up, and Goldwin, along with Cadance and Shining Armor were putting on a miniature ballet of their own, about two knights fighting for the love of a princess-- something Goldwin had written that night while he was alone.

“I thought you all felt a little disappointed that the ballet was canceled.” Goldwin said.

“So we made up one for all of you.” Cadance said.

Twilight and Starla couldn’t help but giggle at Shining Armor in his costume-- a typical prince’s outfit with a feathery hat. “This is so embarrassing.” He said. “Now, darling!” his wife said “You promised.”

Shining Armor sighed “Things I do for you.”

“Go along Shining Armor.” Grand Ruler said “Make us proud.”

The rest of the evening was peaceful and just as enjoyable as everyone had hoped for.

(Promo)

In our next episode, while Krysta and her husband, King Topaz try to deal with their son’s rambunctious attitude. Lightning and friends recall the very first days when Twilight and her friends began to their training, which resulted in mistrust and stubbornness, and what was more a real danger seemed to occur and Twilight has no idea what to do. Follow her instincts, or obey her orders.

How did these lesson affect Twilight and her friends, and what became of the endangered ponies in the accident?

Don’t miss the next episode of “Starfleet Magic!”

(Next Episode: “Order of Choice”)