My Brave Pony Starfleet Magic: Season III

by DakariKingMykan

Episode 14: Twi-Lightning

EPISODE FOURTEEN

Cadance had still been having recurring nightmares of her brother. They came and they went just like the wind, and she found herself losing sleep on the count of always being awoken at night. Shining Armor was becoming very concerned for his wife’s mental health, but the court physicians said there was nothing that they could do and just hope that Cadance would finally put it all beneath her.

But one morning, things took a turn for a worst as Cadance was in front of her mirror doing her makeup. Robot-Fratello was there, and she didn’t mind him as he was just a robot, when suddenly Fratlleo began to cry “Warning, Warning!” causing Cadance to mess up her eyeliner. “What’s wrong?” she asked. “My sensors have detected the presence of cosmic spiritual energy waves in this chamber.”

Cadance couldn’t see or feel anything, until she felt a soft breeze fluttering around her, and that same voice calling out to her. “Cadance, Cadance…!”

Cadance didn’t want to believe it, but she suddenly gazed at her mirror and her reflection seemed to shimmer and the whole mirror glowed in a mystical light, and there, right before her eyes. “F…Fra…Fratello?”

Her brother nodded.

Cadance pinched herself to make certain she was wide-awake, and even asked Robot-Fratello who confirmed that she was awake. “Brother, it’s really you!” she cried with tears in her eyes.

“Do not be fooled, Cadance. I am merely a wandering spirit of what I once was when I was alive. I have come to warn you of a grave message; it concerns the safety of the planet as well as Aunt Celestia.”

“You mean Sombra will be coming for the heart shards again?”

“By now you must realize that your enemy is not only King Sombra, but Celestia, herself, is in even greater danger than you realize.”

Cadance could tell he was referring to that mysterious assassin; the one that Lightning claimed to have seen the night Shining Armor was poisoned. “Who is she? What does she want with Celestia?”

“I have told you all that I know. Take great care, and remember what I have said.” His spirit began to fade. Cadance begged and pleaded for him not to go. “Remember, Cadance! Remember…!” then he was gone, and the mirror was plain again. “Fratello!” cried Cadance.

“Sensors detect the spiritual entity is no longer present.” said Robot-Fratello. Poor Cadance, she didn’t know how much more of this she could take. She just couldn’t seem to move on, and worse, Shining Armor’s own happiness was severed by his wife’s unhappiness, but he honestly didn’t know what to do.

Twilight received a letter from her brother telling her about Cadance’s problem, and how she saw Fratello as a wandering spirit, and she finally couldn’t take this anymore and decided to do something about it. “Just what are you going to do?” asked Spike.

“I’m going to see Zecora. That’s what; I think I may have an idea.”

Her figuring was that if Cadance really had seen Fratello, and he was indeed a wandering spirit who hadn’t moved on. Then maybe… just maybe… with a little help of her own magic, she could get it to possess an artificial body of some sort. Then it would be as if he had been brought back to life, and maybe Cadance would start to ease up a bit. Maybe they could even help him move on.

Zecora was the only one that could help her with this one, but even she herself was against the idea, and protested, but seeing as Twilight’s intentions were pure, and it did seem somewhat right to help a wandering spirit, she agreed to help.

They held the ritual inside the hut, around Zecora’s cauldron.

“Concentrate hard. Let your mind become clear,
And soon da spirit’s location shall appear.”

Twilight closed her eyes and concentrated with all her might, and the cauldron boiled and hissed as the fire beneath it roared. It began to show images of where Fratello’s spirit was in the New Crystal Empire, hanging near Cadance all the time.

“Gosh… that explains everything.” said Spike.

Twilight agreed. “So, now that we know where the spirit is, what next?”

Zecora threw some powder into the cauldron and the smoke puffed out showing her more.

“Da wandering spirit of your sister-in-law’s brother
It prefers to be around her, and not any other.
Before da spirit can live again,
Dere’s a list of ingredients you must obtain.
And only when this is met,
Da spirit shall live yet.
De ingredients you see here,
They are what you need, I fear.”

Twilight could see the ingredients consisted of anything solid to use as structure. She would need objects that could serve as certain needed body parts, like gloves for hands, and boots for feet. Finally she would need something to stick it all together with, and finally, a substance that would bind it all together. It would have to be something strong and powerful, not like ordinary glue. “Gee, I better get started.” Twilight said. “I sure hope this works.”

“Da spirits demand a lot
But give it all you got.
With all dis hard work and strain,
You’ll make da spirit live again.”

Twilight nodded and set off to find the things she would need. “Hey! Wait for me!” hollered Spike as he ran after her. Zecora just stood where she was and blinked twice.

All the rest of the morning Twilight and Spike roamed about New Everfree Forest and managed to gather plenty of things needed, and kept teleporting them all in a huge pile to just outside her place in New Ponyville. Spike was growing tired carrying so many heavy things, and thought about transforming to make it easy. “Don’t even think about it, Spike.” Twilight reminded him “You don’t use your powers for personal gain, or little reasons.”

She had collected a big boulder for a body, and some logs and smaller rocks to serve as limbs and joints. She even decided to use a pair of her spare gloves and boots that gave the hands and feet, but she still needed a substance that would allow the body to hold together and take shape… but she couldn’t think of anything, nothing she tried worked, and finally she remembered she had a jar containing Melantha’s Toxic Sludge which she had gathered it up and had been studying it to possibly help to come up with defenses for it in future battles.

“Twilight, are you sure about this? You know what that stuff does.”

“I do, Spike, but I just can’t think of anything else.” said Twilight. She then peeked through her books on spirits and how to lure them out. She needed to mix a special potion, that when mixed correctly, would create a small cloud that would attract the spirit to it like honey attracting bugs.

She told Spike to fetch the ingredients and she called out to him. The potion was coming along nicely as it turned a beautiful shade of pink and it glowed brightly. “Cool.” said Spike.

“Yep, just one more ingredient and we’re all finished.”

“Finished what?” said a voice, and they looked up and saw Lightning standing at the door, and he didn’t seem too thrilled as he walked over. “What are you up to now, Twilight? You were supposed to be on duty two hours ago. So I had to cover your patrol rounds as well as mine.”

Twilight gasped and smacked her forehead. “I completely forgot.” Dereliction of duty was a serious offense, and there was usually no excuse for such actions. Not even what she was doing. “What are you up to anyway?” Lightning asked.

Twilight couldn’t see any harm in telling him. “It is for Cadance, and to help her brother out too.”

“Ah, well I suppose that’s something.” said Lightning. Even he himself would leap at the chance of being able to bring his own family back to life if he could. “But remember, this doesn’t get you off the hook, and I will be making inquiries about neglecting your duties.”

Twilight agreed, and she called out for Spike to hurry up with the last ingredient for the potion to be complete. “I’m coming!” called Spike, but he rushed in so fast that he slid along the floor. “Watch out!” shouted Lightning, but Spike bumped into the table flipping it over and caused the incomplete potion mixture in the bowl to soar way up, and the potion spilled out and splashed on Twilight and Lightning. At once, their bodies glowed brightly and their spirits magically seemed to emerge from their respective bodies and traded places.

Then all was quiet. Spike came out from hiding under the fallen tablecloth. “I’m so sorry!” he cried “Are you guys okay.”

“Yeah…” Twilight said, but she sound like Lightning.

“Fine...” Lightning said, but he sounded like Twilight.

The two of them gasped and gazed at each other.

“Twilight…?!”

“Lightning…?!”

“Oh, boy!” groaned Spike. “This is not good.”

Lightning and Twilight kept looking their bodies over in absolute shock. It was just an accident of course, so they didn’t yell or blame each other, or even Spike for bumping the table, but still. “This is a complete disaster.” cried Twilight.

“You’re telling Me.” said Lightning “Look at me I feel so… so… weird.” He looked at himself in the mirror. “Galloping galaxies, I’m a mare!”

Twilight took that offensively “And what’s so strange about how I look, or even being a mare?”

“I didn’t mean it offensively. I’m saying I look weird for me.”

Twilight actually felt the same way. She felt physically stronger than ever before, but she had no magic to use now, being in Lightning’s body. She tried and tried to lift a simple teacup. “…Nothing.”

Lightning tried to think about this and in doing so his horn began to glow and he lifted the mirror up. “Huh?” he gasped, and suddenly let it go, shattering it on the ground. “Oh!”

“…Seven years bad luck.” Spike said.

“Sorry about that.” Lightning said “I don’t know what I--” as he spoke, a spark of magic blew from his horn shocking him and knocked him off of his feet. “Ow!”

“Lightning, you have to take it easy.” Twilight said “Magic usually is emitted from a pony’s emotions. The more you feel with the magic, the more it’ll unleash. You have to take time to focus your magic and your emotions so they won’t be troublesome.”

“Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind.” groaned Lightning as he tried carefully to get up. “I’ve never had real magic before. I’ve studied it, but never experienced it.”

The bottom line was that they couldn’t remain as they were. Which meant Twilight would have to fix up another potion to reverse the spell, but there were plenty of problems to overcome.

First: Just as her initial experiment was untested, Twilight had never witnessed this kind of magic before, and would have to cram through her books to see if there was a possible cure.

Second: She used her own magic to help mix the potion and enchant it, but Lightning had her body now, and he didn’t know much about how to use even the simplest of her powers.

This meant it would probably take a while

To make matters worse, they both had places to be and chores to do, plus Twilight now would have to fill out a report explaining her skipping patrol. Lightning had to meet Starla for lunch at the Cake’s café to discuss wedding plans with her. Lightning sighed “I guess I have no choice. I’ll have to tell her what’s happening.”

As much as Twilight didn’t like this, she agreed, and decided to start researching her books for the cure. Spike was very tempted to go and watch, but Twilight forced him to stay behind and help for his running into the table and spilling the potion on them.

“I’ll see you guys later…” Lightning said as he left, and the magic sparked again. “Ouch! If I can keep myself in one piece is that is.”

Twilight sighed, and then she and Spike went through the books. Twilight simply reached for one book to look at, she broke the whole shelf just like that. “What the…?” she cried as all the books fell to the floor. “What happened?” asked Spike.

Twilight reached down and picked up a book and tore its cover off. “Whoa!” She then tried to gently place the book down and ended up, accidently, smashing the table as if it were made of paper.

Twilight had forgotten that Lightning’s body was many times physically stronger than her own. All those years he had been trained and became strong like that meant he had to repress his strength-- hold it back and be more gentile. Obviously she’d have to suppress harder with Lightning’s body.

She tried her hardest to hold back, and ended up breaking the bookshelf ladder. “Oh, no, what next?” she groaned.

Meanwhile, in New Canterlot…

Business continued to go along, but guard around the palace was now tighter than ever. A barrier shrouded the palace non-stop in view of the assassin still being out there hunting for Queen Celestia’s life, but preparations were still going for Lightning and Starla’s upcoming wedding. Even though they weren’t of royal blood, their majesties insisted that two of Starfleet’s finest officers deserved a royal-like wedding. It was their gift to them, and after all Lightning was like a foster son to Grand Ruler.

Right now, however, the royal ones were busy giving their little babies a bath. It was so cute the way the foals splashed and flopped about in the water and suds, and even splashing their parents, which they took with good humor. “Why, you naughty little things.” Celestia giggled.

Grand Ruler chuckled and helped his wife dry the babies off and get them into their clothes. “There you go, all clean now.”

The babies smiled and cooed, but then they let out tiny little yawns and were ready for a nap, and before long they were tucked into their cribs and were sleeping so peacefully. Celestia almost didn’t want to have to take her eyes off of them, but she and her husband began to feel worried, about the assassin. Even with the force-field up they still had their fears.

Celestia gazed out the window and couldn’t shake off the feeling that her killer was out there somewhere plotting a new attack, but she had to be brave for her subjects, and her family. “Celestia…” Grand Ruler said, speaking softly so as not to awaken the babies “I won’t let anything happen to you. None of us will.”

His wife smiled at him and they shared a soft kiss.

While down in the village. Many of the ponies were going about their days, working, playing, or enjoying life to the fullest, but some were marching through the village like zombies in a trance, hinted by their red-glowing eyes. Some of them were Starfleet officers. They all seemed to be marching towards the palace. All were under the watchful eye of the hooded assassin who was watching them while standing atop a lamppost.

Three royal guards on patrol spotted her and demanded she step down immediately. She did so, landing right before them, and her eyes began to glow as she stared at them. The guards were hypnotized as well, and they marched along with army chanting “Kill Celestia, Kill Celestia!”

The assassin snickered and looked up at the palace. “See how you like it when your own subjects try to kill you, Celestia. Just like when…” she stopped, and shut her eyes tightly while gripping that broken heart-shaped locket. “Be still my love! Vengeance is almost ours!”

Meanwhile, Lightning managed to make it to New Sugarcube Corners in one piece without accidently shooting more magic, but he was mumbling to himself a lot about what to say to Starla. “Well, here goes… something.” he said as he nervously walked into café.

He saw his fiancée sitting at a table. Even though he was in a female body, he still had the mind of a male and sighed heavenly. Some of the other ponies there thought it weird that Twilight Sparkle was gazing like that at Starla.

Lightning walked towards her. “Oh, hi, Twilight. Have you seen, Lightning? He’s late”

Lightning opened his mouth to speak, but Starla interrupted him. “Oh, never mind, I’m sure he’ll be here.”

Lightning tried to speak again, but Starla interrupted him again, by handing him and extra special invitation. “Twilight, I’ve done a lot of thinking about it, and… would you be mare of honour at the wedding?”

Lightning took the invitation, and felt awkward. He tried to speak up again, but Mrs. Cake came by with a milkshake for Starla. “Here you are, Captain. Extra special whipped cream for the bride-to-be, as a thank you for inviting us to your wedding.”

“Oh, it’s a pleasure, Mrs. Cake.” said Starla, but that’s when Pinkie bounced into the room throwing confetti and flower petals, and little Pound and Pumpkin followed behind her blowing noise-makers “Whoo-hoo! It’s more than a pleasure. It’s totally out of this world to be invited to a wedding.”

Pound and Pumpkin giggled excitedly and clapped their little hands.. Mr. Cake came and took the twins. “Yes, but first we need to take our naps.” then he went off.

Finally, Lightning shouted “Starla!”

Starla didn’t see him say that. “Lightning?” she looked all around but couldn’t see him anywhere. “Where are you?”

“I’m right here.”

Both Starla and Pinkie saw Twilight speaking. “Are you okay, Twilight?” Pinkie asked “You sound a little hoarse.” She stuffed a thermometer in Lightning’s mouth and felt this head. Lightning spit it out. “Cut it out, Pinkie.”

Starla didn’t understand this herself. “Twilight, what’s going on? Why do you sound like Lightning?”

Lightning was losing his patience “I am Lightning!” he said sharply, but he could only think of one way to prove it for sure. “Starla, look into my eyes.”

Starla looked, and even though she was gazing at Twilight, there was only one creature that could ever look into her eyes that deeply in such a way, “Lightning?!”

He nodded at her, and Starla fell into her seat in shock, and Pinkie tried thermometer on her own self now and felt her own pulse. “Oh… I wonder how Twilight’s getting on.” Lightning muttered.

Twilight was doing no better. She was trying her hardest but she couldn’t keep up with Lightning’s body and its awesome strength. So far, she had broken two ladders, three tables, and damaged six books just trying to pick them up. “Ugh! How does Lightning do this?” she grumbled. So she got Spike to fetch the books for her and hold them up to her so she wouldn’t damage them anymore, but Spike was really getting annoyed with all this. He had held up so many books for Twilight, his claws looked cramped. “Have you found the spell yet?” he groaned.

“I think so…” Twilight answered. She read a section about misplaced souls, and how it was an old technique used by an old married couple of unicorns. Long ago, they had a big argument saying that neither one of them knew how the other one felt to actually be one another. So they conjured up the spell to switch bodies. Once they learned how difficult it was and how to function properly as each other, the spell wore off, and they regained their own bodies along with new respect for each other.

“Well, that’s something.” said Spike “It means you don’t have to make a potion to reverse the spell.”

Twilight sighed, “But it doesn’t make things any easier.”

Just then, there was a knock at the door. “Anybody home?” called Rarity.

“Oh, no!” cried Twilight, worrying about how she’d take the switch, but she answered the door, and accidently ripped it right off its hinges, making Rarity jump. “Oh, hello, Lightning. Sorry to be… ahem… a bother.”

Twilight gently put the door down and Rarity walked in. “Oh, Twilight, where are you?”

“Um… Rarity…?” Twilight said. Rarity winced when she heard Twilight’s voice but didn’t see her. That’s when Twilight stepped in front of her and waved nervously “Hi…?”

Rarity gazed at her, almost as if she had forgotten how to blink or move. “Huh…?! Ta… Twi… Twilight…?!”

Twilight nodded nervously, but Rarity still didn’t believe it, but Twilight and Spike sat her down and told her everything…

…While Lightning had just finished telling Pinkie and Starla the story. “So you and Twilight switched bodies?” Pinkie asked for the umpteenth time. Lightning nodded. “And Twilight has your body just as you have hers?”

“Yes, Pinkie… for the last time! We’re going to try and reverse this somehow.” He took a sip of his own milkshake, and he accidently unleashed more magic, shattering the glass and getting milkshake all over his face. “…And I hope it’s soon.”

Starla couldn’t help but giggle at how silly he looked, and helped him clean up. When suddenly Krysta came bursting into the café, looking for Lightning, knowing he would be there with Starla. She looked out of breath, and in a panic. “Where’s Lightning? We’ve got an emergency!”

“What’s wrong?” Lightning asked, making Krysta jump in surprise. “What…? Lightning…?!”

Lightning sighed “I’ll explain later. What’s the emergency?”

As soon as Krysta finished explaining, the friends dashed off to the library to warn Twilight and Rarity. “An army of New Canterlot citizens… after Queen Celestia…?”

Krysta nodded and then warped them all to New Canterlot and they could see for themselves; the army of hypnotized civilians marching in a trance and chanting “Kill Celestia, Kill Celestia!” It became obvious that this was the work of that hooded assassin. Twilight’s blood began to boil in Lightning’s body and her massive muscles began to pulse. “I swear… if I ever find that monsters… I’ll…”

“Twilight, that’s enough.” growled Lightning. He was still the admiral, whether in his own body or not. “We’ve got bigger problems. They’re heading straight to the palace.”

“It’s okay. They can’t break through the force field, right?” said Pinkie, but the others were not convinced and had a bad feeling. The more Lightning thought about the palace, it made his horn glow, and suddenly they all found themselves inside the palace throne room, landing with a splat on the floor. “What happened?” asked Starla.

“Lightning?!” snapped Twilight “Remember what I told you about emotions and my powers?”

“Ugh… Sorry!” groaned Lightning. “Can you get off of me now?”

“What’s going on here?” echoed Grand Ruler’s voice as he and Celestia entered the chamber. They were surprised to see the friends there, though they hadn’t requested their presence, and Celestia could instantly see what was wrong with Lightning and Twilight. “I must admit, I am very surprised.” She sounded more disappointed than surprised.

Lightning bowed to her “Begging your pardon, my queen, can’t we deal with this later?”

“Lightning is right.” said Grand Ruler “We have a big matter to deal with.”

The army had reached the outer castle-gates, right before the force-field, and mysteriously passing right through it. The magic had no effect on them whatsoever.

“We cannot let them get here.” cried Rarity “They will try and kill you, your majesty.”

“Yes, I know.” said Celestia “There just might be a way for us to stop them, but we’ll need all of your help.”

She and Grand Ruler knew of a spell they could cast together that would hopefully break the hypnotic-spell on the army, but they would need time to meditate and concentrate their powers to get it working strong enough. “With the force-fields not working, all of you will have to help keep the army at bay until we are ready.” Grand Ruler said “We’ll send the royal guards to back you up, but whatever you do, do not, I repeat, do not destroy them. They are innocent beings.”

Most of the others agreed. “Wait!” snapped Lightning. “What about me and Twilight? We can’t go into battle like this. Can’t you fix us?”

Twilight answered for their majesties and told him of what she learned in her books. “We have to learn and understand about what it really means to be one another. That’s the only way we’ll get our bodies back.”

The royal ones knew of this as well, and had a feeling that the task ahead would help them to learn it. “Go, now!” they both said. The team agreed, and they ran off without transforming just then.

Celestia felt worried, especially as the chanting outside grew louder as the army got closer. “Kill Celestia, Kill Celestia!”

Grand Ruler hated the sound of it too, but for now the two of them had to concentrate and build up their magic. They sat down on the floor, facing each other; held hands together, closed their eyes, and concentrated silently.

Meanwhile, the team arrived outside and the gatekeepers were losing to the crowd of possessed ponies. Soon, the royal guards joined them with their weapons at the ready as the army slowly approached, followed by the gang. “Remember…” Lightning reminded everyone “We don’t want to hurt them too badly, but do what you can to keep them from reaching the queen.”

Everyone agreed, and the guards saluted in acknowledgement, and they ran into action.

By this time the army was dividing into many rows of ponies, still marching and still chanting. The civilians were easy to handle as they had no special training and weren’t nearly as strong as they all were, even the guards could handle them on their own…

Or so they thought…

Many had tried to detain the ponies in magical bindings instead of force-fields, but again, the simple magic didn’t work, as they just passed right through it. Starla even tried to capture them within spheres, but they instantly broke out.

The assassin was watching nearby and had been using her own powers to release her slaves from their captures and making them immune to being magically halted. “This is just too easy.” she hissed softly. “Let’s make it a little more entertaining.” She raised her hands, and they began to glow “Fight, my servants, fight!”

At her command, the servants started to fight like experts, forcing the team to put more muscle into their efforts to restrain them, forgetting that there were Starfleet Fighters amongst the crowds as well, and they were harder to beat than ever. “Okay, that’s it!” growled Pinkie as she stepped forth and stood bravely with arms out. “Any of you ponies wanna get through this; you’re gonna have to go through me.”

…and she got trampled on as the fighters stomped over and past her, flattening her like a pancake on the ground. “Okay! I need a new plan.” she groaned.

Rarity used her magic to lift up the ponies and force them back. “Ingrates!” she growled “Ruffians! Absolute degenerates!” but the Starfleet fighters managed to dodge her every attack and knocked her hard into the wall. “Ugh! Oh, and I just had my mane done this morning!” she whined.

More of the fighters were approaching her and looked ready to cream her into dust, but Lightning and Twilight stepped in their way. Right bodies or not, they had to fight. “How do I use levitation?” Lightning asked.

“You have to concentrate hard with your mind.” Twilight answered

“Okay, uh… magic beams?”

“Use confidence and fury.”

Lightning tried with all his might, but only ended up throwing out five magic blasts, the force of which threw him backwards into the wall, while the blasts ricocheted off of the walls, ground, and obstacles, and almost hit their friends. “Hey, watch it!” growled Spike.

“Ugh, forget it! I’ll do this the old fashioned way.” groaned Lightning, and he got up and challenged the fighters to combat. He managed to knock some of the ponies unconscious, but he was soon getting tired very quickly, as Twilight’s body was not as strong or as heavily trained as his.

Twilight had no easier, as she was getting the hang of holding Lightning’s super strength back, but a little too much as it left her vulnerable and punches felt heavier to her. She also had a hard time keeping up with Lightning’s body’s reflexes and often missed her blows and went too far and long when dodging. She couldn’t even try to unleash any of Lightning’s Uniforce powers as she was not properly or mentally trained to handle it, and she couldn’t use Lightning’s Capture Blaster as it only would appear in response to his voice, not hers.

“This isn’t working!” she cried, and she got kicked by three ponies all at once, while at the same time, Lightning was tossed hard and landed near her away from the battle area, leaving the others to fend off against the oncoming army. “There’s too many of them!” cried Spike.

“We have to keep on trying.” said Krysta “We need to give their majesties more time to conjure that spell.”

“Right, let’s go!” shouted Starla.

Krysta used her powers to conjure portals that the marching ponies just waltzed right into and ended up being teleported back to the starting point at the gates. Then she quickly soared to the next lot and repeated this move.

Spike found a big drum full of oil which he spilled a little of it making a trail across, and a single breath of his fire made huge flame walls which actually scared some of the ponies to go back.

The others helped the guards to shove all the others as far back as they could without letting them get any closer…

…While Lightning and Twilight had landed in the hedges and pulled themselves up. “How can you stand having a mane this long?” Lightning grumbled as he picked the twigs and leaves out

Twilight got up. “We’ve got to help the others.” she cried, but Lightning stopped her “Hold it! We can’t be of much help to them like this.”

“Well I could be if your crazy strengths were easier control.” snapped Twilight “But no, instead I have a body of uncontrollable powers, while you try and use my own magic and blow us to bits.”

Lightning took that as very insulting and would have loved to have slapped her across the face for it. Instead, he said to her “Maybe you’ve forgotten and just haven’t noticed; but my strengths are very important to me. I worked very hard to get them, and I work just as hard to keep them in check. Without them, I’d be just one vulnerable moving target.”

Twilight had thought about it before, but only now was she starting to think about it more deeply. She never had to worry about her own strength that badly for she was lucky enough to be born with magic, and lots of it compared to all of the many other unicorns… which she used to be!

“We may have each other’s bodies, but we need to do what your book said and start getting along better and learning how the other really works, feels, and other things.” Twilight said.

Lightning nodded “We’re both in this together, and we’ve got to get out of it together.” He held out his hand to hers, she nodded bravely taking a-hold, and they both dashed back to help their friends…

…They were starting to lose their edge having struggling for so long. No matter how hard they tried to keep the ponies back, they just kept right on coming back again, and they didn’t dare fight them any harder or destroy them. “We can’t hold them back!” cried Rarity.

Pinkie was still trying hard, pushing and shoving all she could, but the crowd just ended up pushing her slowly along in the opposite direction. Spike was out of breath, and Krysta had used a lot of her magic. “We can’t give up!” shouted Starla, but really, she found herself being forced backwards and into the palace by the oncoming crowds along with the guards.

Soon, the main foyer was packed with all the ponies who were chanting louder than ever as they got closer and closer to the big doors leading to the throne room where the queen and Grand Ruler were still meditating.

Suddenly, when it seemed they were about to enter, several of the ponies were levitated in the air by magic. Rarity wasn’t doing it and neither was Starla. “Look!” cried Spike, and they could see it was Lightning, actually using Twilight’s levitation spell perfectly. “That’s it. Don’t break your eye contact.” Twilight instructed. “Just concentrate.”

“Right…” and Lightning poured more effort into his spell, and soon man more of the ponies were being lifted up and he tossed them hard into the crowds knocking everyone over like bowling pins.

Now, Twilight jumped in and began to fight them all, pushing them back even more, just as Lightning told her how to use his strengths and steady the reflexes. Still, more of the fighters began to advance on her. “Twilight, remember how you hold it all in and give them all a fair chance? Well now’s a good time to forget it and just let it out.”

Twilight nodded, and she bolted upright and roared loudly and began to ram her way through those crowds; up and down, back and forth. The others were astonished by how well she was getting on.

“What are we just standing here for?” asked Spike.

“Why, nothing at all.” replied Rarity.

“Yeah, let’s brawl.” chirped Pinkie.

Starla nodded, and they all jumped back into action with what little strength they had left, and working together, with the guards, they managed to shove the ponies all back outside.

Of course, some of them still tried to get back in, but Twilight taught Lightning how to concentrate and fire magical beams, and it worked for him almost like using the uniforce, and he sent those ponies flying right out the door. “Wow! I’m getting good at this.”

Still, even with their new advantage, it didn’t hold up long as soon the crowds had gathered into the palace again, and everyone was find it hard to keep them all back as easily anymore. However, the big doors to the throne-room seemed to rumble and quiver and a mystical glow could be seen shining from underneath it.

The doors swung open, and there stood their majesties standing hand-in-hand with their eyes, their horns and their bodies glowing in a mystical white light. “Get down!” Grand Ruler cautioned the team, and all their fighters and guards leapt out of them way as they unleashed a powerful, magical wave of light that spread all across New Canterlot, covering the whole village, and breaking the spell cast on the servants.

They all awoke and felt dazed and confused, and many of them had wicked headaches trying to piece together what had happened, but they all peacefully left the palace mumbling about the confusion.

The guards and the friends cheered for joy. Pinkie leapt about cheering louder and more wildly than the others.

Lightning and Twilight stood before their teachers. “Thanks for saving us.” Twilight said.

“No, thank you, Twilight.” said Celestia “Remember, you all did well too to keep us protected.”

Her husband nodded. “And it looks to us as if that’s not the only thing you two helped to accomplish.”

Lightning and Twilight realized he was right. They had learned a great deal already about how different they were from each other, and had found even more respect for one another’s aspects than ever, and because of that… their bodies glowed brightly again, and their spirits returned to their respective bodies.

“I’m back!” cried Lightning.

“Me too.” added Twilight.

The others cheered for joy. “Twilight, I think there something for you in your pocket.” Lightning said. Twilight reached and pulled out the wedding invitation Starla gave to Twilight when Lightning was in her body. “You guys want me to be mare of honour at the wedding?”

“Sure…” Lightning answered “We talked about it, and besides… now that I know how great a pony you really can be, you deserve the honor ten-fold.”

Rarity thought that was just sweet and felt tears coming to her eyes, and Pinkie felt like jumping about some more in celebration, when a dark feminine voice replied “How sentimental.” followed by a sinister laugh. “Well done, Celestia. I commend you for avoiding my latest maneuver, but I assure you that you’re only setting yourself deeper into place… for the final kill!”

That’s when she seemed to appear before everyone in the middle of the room, laughing at them; a genetically altered alicorn, just like most of the others. She was about the same size as Celestia, only she had pale greyish skin. She wore a dark suit and a dark blue cloak with a matching hood over her head concealing all but her lower facial area. Threads of her long purple mane hung out from the hood.

“You…?” Lightning muttered and he realized “You’re the one I saw on the roof the night Shining Armor was poisoned.”

The guards even recognized her as the same creature they had spotted many times through the palace grounds, but were never able to catch.

Everyone else gasped, and realized this was her; the assassin! “So, you’re the one.” Celestia said “You’ve been sending me all those letters.”

“Bravo, Celestia, I only had to reveal myself to get you to figure it out.” the pony spoke with sarcasm.

Twilight’s blood was boiling as she thought of all the horrible things this creature had done. “You’ve been trying to kill Queen Celestia. You poisoned my brother, and you’re getting others to do your dirty work?!”

The pony hissed wickedly and sneered “Am I good or what?”

Twilight felt every single ounce of restraint inside of her snap, and she screamed loudly and charged at her. “Twilight!” called Celestia, but as Twilight leapt to attack, she passed right through the pony. “Did you see that?” cried Krysta.

“It’s a magical image. She’s not really there.” said Starla.

“My, my, don’t we love to state the obvious.” said the pony “I just decided it was time to reveal myself to you all, and personally threaten Queen Celestia myself.” She angrily glared at Celestia dead in the eyes “You vile beast! I despise you, you loathsome, despicable creature… more than I have for all these centuries!”

“You’ve lived for centuries?” asked Grand Ruler.

“Please, tell me… who are you?” Celestia demanded to know.

“And why do you want to kill Celestia?” growled Twilight “What’s she ever done to you?”

“Very well, I suppose I owe you all that much. The name is Raven.”

“Raven…? That’s a weird name for a pony.” said Spike.

Raven glared at Celestia “You may have forgotten me, Celestia, but I remember well, back to that day when your royal carriage ran over my husband!”

Celestia gasped in shock. It was all coming back to her…

A-thousand years ago, after Grand Ruler was tossed into space and the evil Nightmare Moon had been sealed away in the Moon. Raven was just a normal unicorn who lived happily in Ponyville of old with her beloved husband, whom she loved more than her own life. They were out celebrating their first wedding anniversary, having a picnic in the lush green fields. Her husband gave her a present; beautiful golden heart-shaped locket pendant with their wedding pictures inside of it, to show how much he loved her, and cherished their marriage.

However, when they had returned to their home village, not only were they unaware that, then Princess Celestia, was visiting the village, but a gang of no-good pony thieves had stolen some treasures from her royal carriage that she was planning to donate to the town treasury for all to enjoy.

The thieves were outfitted in anti-magic and de-spelling charms, not even Celestia's magic--at the time when it was much weaker-- would be enough to apprehend them, or trap them.

These days, such charms would not work so well on Celestia, or Starfleet as they were much stronger, for such weak objects to work but the fact remained: The punks would have to be caught the old-fashioned way... resulting in a chase!

Celestia and her coach-guards chased those punks down, and they came to a very sharp turn and spun out of control just as Raven and her husband were coming round the bend…!

WHAMM!!!! What a crash!

Raven had been thrown hard into a wall by the force of the impact, breaking her locket in the process, but her poor husband hadn’t been so lucky, for he was lying down badly injured under the fallen carriage. That’s when Raven looked on ahead...

Celestia and her guards had bailed out of the carriage before it crashed. Celestia would not lose track of the punks with her jewels, and she chased after them herself.

Raven tried to call to her and tell her about her husband, but Celestia had already shot out of sight and hadn’t heard her. The coach-guards got to their feet, and Raven dashed to them, desperately pleaing to them for help, but they ignored her completely and told her not to interfere, and they ran off to catch up with the princess, leaving poor Raven all alone and completely helpless.

Try as she would, her telekinesis wasn't strong enough to lift the huge, heavy coach by herself, and there was no one else around to lend her any help.

“My husband died on that day, just lying there on the cold hard ground, and a part of me died that day with him! He could have been saved, but you and your guards rammed into him and then just ran off doing absolutely nothing! My husband died, and it’s all because of you, Celestia!”

Celestia felt her insides churning with grief and guilt. “Celestia, is this true?” Grand Ruler asked with deep concern and slight shock in his voice.

Twilight refused to believe it. “Your highness, please… tell me it isn’t true.”

“I only wish it weren’t true, Twilight.” Celestia regretted to say “Except I had flown off in pursuit of those thieves that took my treasures, and I couldn’t hear her cries for help, and her husband was lying on the other side of the carriage where my guards couldn’t see him. They just thought there was some pony trying to get in the way of things. When I found out what really happened, it was already more than too late to do anything. I was completely devastated, but we hadn’t found Raven anywhere, for she had gone, and seemed to disappear from the face of the planet.”

Raven cut in and continued with her story…

After her husband had died, she was filled with sadness and heartache, but above all that she felt anger and hatred at Celestia, and decided she’d pay her back… by taking her life! However, she knew she had no chance against Celestia and her extreme powers. So she decided to make herself stronger. One day, she happened upon an enchanted portal, unlike anything she had ever seen before. Intrigued by its mystical enchantment, she leapt right in, and soon found herself in a strange and mysterious dimension. It was dark, and laden with all sorts of strange phenomenon. Raven had also stopped aging. She never grew any older, never grew tired or hungry; just exist in this strange world.

It was there that she happened upon none other than the Crystal Empire, deep in its slumber after it had vanished from Equestria when Sombra was first sealed away. All the buildings still intact, yet all the life-forms within the kingdom were in deep state of dormancy due to Sombra’s curse. Raven was free to roam the empire herself, all alone. She found the royal magical library and began to study all that she could and began to master new spells and powers beyond her dreams.

As the ages passed, she began to learn more and more, and began to develop a lust to obtain more combined with her desire to annihilate Celestia. A-thousand years had passed, and she had become so powerful that her spirit and personality faded away and she became the sinister alicorn that she was now.

When the Crystal Empire re-awoke, she remained behind in the dark dimension, and wished to study Celestia. Even with all her newfound powers, she didn’t dare just rush recklessly into battle without thinking.

Finally, sometime after United Equestria was formed, she emerged out of hiding and decided to test Celestia by deliberately sending her threatening letters of her impending attacks.

“I must confess I never realized how resourceful and slippery you were, Celestia, but despite my failures, it just brings me closer and closer to my ultimate strike.”

Many of the others were growing outraged and irritated by this psycho’s lust for murder. “What happened was just an accident!” growled Twilight.

Celestia stepped forth and tried to reason with her. “I never meant for any of this to happen, please believe me!”

“Ha! Your sincerity has the hollowness of a lie, or my husband wouldn’t have died then!” roared Raven. “You have nothing I want Celestia, except to see you dead.”

Grand Ruler stepped forth. “You will never succeed!”

Lightning stood beside him. “We won’t let you!”

“Yeah!” the others hollered. Raven merely laughed “Very charming, and very ineffectual, but I’ve wasted enough time here already, but before I take my leave, you might be interested in seeing what else I have with me. I believe it is something you want.”

She reached behind her and pulled out, for everyone to see, that she had the eighth and final shard of the crystal heart. Raven snickered and gazed at Celestia. “Until we meet again, Celestia, but your days are numbered. Rest assured, you will rest in pieces!” she laughed wickedly and faded away.

Many of the friends were outraged, while few of them were frightened out of their minds. Celestia was in a mixture of emotions-- fear, guilt, and slight outrage.

Still, at least now they had even more answers, but from that point on, they would all have to be on the tightest guard than ever before.

(Promo)

In our next episode; Phaedra flies off on her own to let off steam and get back at the teams for good, but her long lost love, Royce is also being sought by other and winds up getting caught in the fight. The two are eventually brought together, and it seems Phaedra is prepared to make a sacrifice or two.

How will the team handle this new onslaught, and what is in store of Phaedra and Royce?

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

(Next Episode: “Love for my Life”)

Author's Note:

I knew this would happen...

I alter lines, and my haters don't bug off. They just complain and mock even more with their TV-Tropes and other patheticness.

At least it's all the proof now I DON'T have to do as they tell me. what's the point in "Correcting things" if they are going to continue to act like Broken Minds.