My Brave Pony Starfleet Magic: Season III

by DakariKingMykan

Episode 15: Love for my Life

EPISODE FIFTEEN

Sombra had summoned his minions before him. All eight shards of the Crystal Heart had been located. They had three, their enemies had four, and Raven had the last one. “The time has come…” Sombra said “I want those remaining shards, and I am willing to forgo our former regulations of mercy.”

Melantha and Frost-Eye liked the sound of this as it meant they could cause as much mischief and chaos as they wanted. Harkin, however, though he paid attention, didn’t share the same excitement as they did, and Phaedra, she was lost deep in her thoughts. She couldn’t stop thinking about Royce and their last meeting.

“PHAEDRA!” roared Sombra, making her snap to her senses. “Did you not hear what I have said? I want those shards.”

“Yes sire. They shall be yours.”

“See to it that they are. I am sending you down first, and keep well in mind, failure is no longer tolerable. Understand?!”

The minions all shuddered nervously at the booming sound of his voice, but they bowed in acknowledgement, and then left him. “Is it just me, is he getting wilder and angrier every day?” asked Frost-Eye.

“You know, for once, I actually agree; it’s not just you.” said Melantha “He’s really raving mad. Still, at least he’s lifted the rules.” She held up her trident and picked at its points “No more holding back now.”

“Yeah!” hissed Frost-Eye as he rubbed his icy fingers sinisterly. Phaedra, however, was looking down again, still thinking about Royce and it was starting to make her feel furious more than sad. “Is the something troubling you, Phaedra?” Harkin asked.

Phaedra didn’t answer directly. She just held her head high and said “I’ve to get going, I have work to do.” Then she was gone.

Meanwhile, Grand Ruler hadn’t been sleeping well lately. Ever since the official encounter with Raven and knowing more about how powerful she was, he was more fearful for Celestia’s life than ever. After all, deity alicorns like them were only age-immortal; they could still be killed, even in the night as they slept.

Celestia awoke in the morning feeling up and about, but she looked beside her to see her husband looked baggy-eyed and a little pale. “Darling, did you sleep at all last night?”

Her husband softly shook his head, and he tried to get up and put his clothes on, but Celestia wouldn’t let him. “Celestia, we have to go on duty, and there is so much to do.” He said to her, but his wife protested “Look at you, you’re exhausted! You have to stop worrying so much about this.”

Grand Ruler tried to make excuses, but he was forced to admit he was worried to her face. Celestia thought it was wonderful that he was showing how much he cared by watching out for her, but she put her foot down and insisted he rest. “I can manage fine on my own for a while, but you need your sleep. Will you do that… just for me?”

Grand Ruler, now realizing just how tired he really was, and how he knew better than to argue with his wife, smiled at her and said “You win.” And he climbed back into bed “…but I’m doing this under protest.”

Celestia only smiled lovingly at him.

“I’m telling you… I… don’t… think that I--” and he drifted off into a very deep sleep.

(Music from 0:09 to 0:35)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=29&v=Yel0TA1WjKk

Celestia softly adjusted the covers and softly pressed her lips against his cheek and she whispered as she gazed upon him “My love, you do so much for us all, and I adore you for it.”

The whole of the planet was put on wide alert of Raven and her sinister plot, and that anyone who so much as spotted her anywhere or had any information that would lead to her capture was to be reported at once to the authorities, but no one… positively no one was permitted under any circumstances to do battle with her.

The rest of Lightning and Twilight’s friends knew of Raven by this point and almost couldn’t believe the story they were told. It only made Twilight angrier and more determined than ever to find Raven and strangle her for threatening her beloved teacher. “Captain Twilight Sparkle, you’ll do no such thing!” Lightning strictly told her. “We still don’t know exactly how powerful Raven really is. It’s dangerous to even think of facing her.”

Everyone else agreed. So far, Raven had only been showing them samples and fractions of her power, and with a-thousand years of training, that didn’t even come close to all their years of training combined. “She could very well even be stronger than Celestia and Grand Ruler.” Spike thought aloud.

This made Twilight so steamed that she just picked him up and glared him in the face and yell “DON’T YOU EVER SAY ANYTHING LIKE THAT AGAIN!”

“Captain, Ten-hut!” snapped Lightning, and Twilight suddenly realized her error, and she hugged Spike warmly “Spike, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just I’ve been so worried about the queen.”

“Darling, we all are.” said Rarity “I would spend many a sleepless nights if any tragedy would befall her.”

“And don’t forget…” Buddy Rose cut in “We still have other things to worry about, like Sombra and his minions. They’re still out there.”

“Oh, evil is roaming all about
We really have our work cut out.” said Rhymey

Hearing the word work reminded everyone about their chores, as well as Lightning and Starla’s wedding coming, and Twilight was almost ready to try her little experiment with the spirit of Cadance’s dead brother. “I think I’ve finally got it all ready to go.” She said “I just hope it works. I can’t bear to think of Cadance being so upset anymore.”

“Speaking of Cadance…” Starla said “I wasn’t going to tell you all, but… I may as well. You’ll never guess what she gave me as a wedding gift.”

The others all gazed at her, especially Lightning. Starla gazed at him especially and let it out, and everyone was very surprised “She gave you her wedding dress?” asked Arite.

“Oh… that’s so incredibly generous of her.” added Fluttershy.

Starla blushed nervously and admitted she was just as surprised, but the package had arrived at her doorstep that morning with the dress and a letter, which she had and read for everyone to hear…

Dear Starla…

Since we’re giving you and Lightning a royal wedding, I couldn’t think of anything more than to let you have the dress I wore for my royal wedding, and hope that it’ll bring you as much happiness on your wedding day as I had.

I know it’s at least a size too big for you and it is designed to fit a normal four-legged pony, but I’m sure you’ll find just the right tailor to help you get it looking just right for you.

Hope to help out more with the wedding.

Yours truly: Princess Cadance.

“Wow!” Lightning exclaimed softly. “Starla I… I just…” he was more speechless than she was. Starla had been having a hard time deciding on designs for her dress. He had never seen Cadance’s wedding dress before, so it was still a mystery of what it looked like to him. “Still, I need to fix it up.” Starla said “If only I could find the right pony to help me.”

That’s when Rarity slowly sauntered up to her, grinning hopefully and fluttering her eyes at her. “Someone, like… um… er… Rarity would you like--?”

“YES! OH, YES I WILL!” Rarity cried for joy. She was acting almost as if she were the bride, and Starla could only chuckle, “Somehow I knew she’d like that.”

When everyone broke up and ran off to do their daily duties and rounds, Pinkie hopped merrily through New Ponyville so excited about the wedding, when suddenly she swore she could see a familiar pony amongst the crowds, dressed in those same ragged robes. “Royce!” she screamed.

Royce winced at the sound of her voice. “Oh, no…!” He didn’t mean that just because it was Pinkie again, but because her shouting out his name that loud alerted the attention of many ponies that had seen his picture on the reward posters.

“It’s him!”

“That’s the pony!”

“After him, we’ll get the reward!”

Soon, a massive chase was on, and Royce was running for his life. Both he and the mob ran right past Pinkie and when the dust cleared, Pinkie stood there, covered in dirt and her mane all frazzled. “Was it something I said?” she groaned and then she fell over flat on the ground, but quickly got back up, shook herself clean, and ran off to find Royce. She had a few things to ask him since they first met.

Meanwhile, Lightning has just finished his patrol rounds with all the other boys, and they went back to Lightning’s place to plan for the wedding some more, but they got there to find a fancy carriage with a big R on it, parked in front of the house, and two prestigious looking unicorns were just stepping out and reaching for the door, when they dropped down in front of him. “May we help you?” Lightning asked.

The stallion stepped forth. “Ah, Admiral… Permits us-- I am Sir. Reginald Rolls and this is my wife, Rani.”

His wife waved her fan before her face and acted snobbishly casual. “Charmed.” she simply said in a near scoff.

“I repeat… can we help you?” asked Lightning.

The couple explained that they were the owners of one of the largest empires of business and trading. They held out a reward poster of their missing son, Royce, and had been told he was last seen somewhere in New Ponyville. “Yes, we’ve seen him before too.” said Buddy Rose.

The couple’s eyes lit up but they seemed profoundly underwhelmed than joyed, and then asked that if they ever saw him that they would kindly return him. “You see, our son gratefully dishonored our family and ran out on us.” said Reginald.

“We were hoping to find him and cure him of whatever ills him and give him the future he so wrongfully ran out on.” added Rani.

Lightning and the boys noted the cynicism in their voices, and were starting to have odd feelings about these two ponies, but they promised them. The ponies took their leave, and Dyno and Myte shuddered. “Ponies like them, they don’t make us feel so comfortable.” said Dyno. His brother nodded “We’ve dealt with their kinds before when we mine diamonds for them. They seem to care more about their own happiness than that of others.”

Lightning had heard of these kinds of creatures too, and they usually ended up with nothing but humiliation, misery, and plenty of other negative things for their selfish and snobbish attitudes.

The others agreed, but they were officers of decency and integrity, and couldn’t turn down those in need of help.

Meanwhile, Twilight was at home and writing a letter to her brother in the New Crystal Empire telling him and Cadance that she had a surprise for them, and to meet her later. She felt more nervous than excited, but finished the letter and got Spike to send it off.

“Well, that’s done. All I can do now is wait.” said Twilight. Spike sighed boringly. “Well, I just hope something exciting happens. I’m tired of all this waiting around.”

Twilight knew how Spike felt-- Even though it wasn’t right to wish for any danger to befall on the planet, she felt the need for some action and excitement herself. “Why don’t we go for a fly? Maybe we’ll find something.”

“Yeah.” chirped Spike, and he hopped her back, but as she opened the door, they found a couple of unicorns were about to knock. “Oh! Hello…”

“Please, forgive us for barging in, your highness.” said the Stallion “But we really need help and feel you are the one who can help us.”

His wife looked as if she was going to cry, and Twilight invited them in. Their names were Rake and Violet, and they were but humble florists, and their daughter had run away a few years ago, and they had searched for her for a long time but never found their precious Fay.

“Fay…?” Twilight muttered, remembering that was what that pony, Royce, called Phaedra when they last saw her. The couple even showed them a picture of Fay as a regular unicorn, and Twilight and Spike were able to compare the image of Fay to that of Phaedra in their minds; a perfect match!

Violet almost broke down crying out of extreme worry. “We searched so long, and we never found her. Now we fear she may be… she may be…!”

“She’s not dead…” Spike said “We’ve seen her.”

The ponies’ eyes lit up with joy. “You have?!” they both cried with hope in their eyes.

Twilight nodded nervously. “We have seen her around, although we don’t know where she is right now, but if we see her… um… we will tell you.”

The couple bowed as if they were addressing a deity alicorn, and expressed their many thank-yous, but Twilight and Spike felt very awkward. How could they tell them that their daughter was working for Sombra?

Phaedra stood over a rocky cliff overlooking New Ponyville and a large swarm of shadowbolts stood behind her. She knew she had to draw Starfleet into the open and try and force them to hand over the shards they had, but her mind was still tied in knots. “Go!” she thundered and the Shadowbolts took off and she followed.

Several civilians caught sight of them coming and ran through town causing uproars of panic. The alarms sounded and everyone dashed for the nearest shelters, but the shadowbolts had already invaded the village and began to wreak havoc; scaring the citizens, wrecking stands and carts and knocking over trees and ripping up the ground.

One of the ponies tried to stand up to the big beasts for ruining his family picnic, only to be punched hard into a trashcan. Lightning and his team arrived just in time, with Starla too, and helped the stallion out of the trash and helped him get to safety before the force fields activated around the buildings, and Twilight and her friends arrived to help those who didn’t make it inside to keep far away from the danger-zone.

Among them were the two couples Twilight and Lightning had spoken to, and they were none too thrilled to see each other as was hinted by their sour stares, and their constant nagging at one another, but the teams didn’t have time to worry about this, and just left them.

“I’ve never seen so many shadowbolts before.” said Rainbow.

“Me neither.” said Applejack “There’s more of ‘em here than an escaped herd a ’cattle.”

“And there’s more where those came from!” growled a familiar voice.

“Phaedra!” growled Lightning.

She glared at them sinisterly “You’re all pathetically predictable. I attack the village; you come out like a jack-in-the-box.”

The others had a feeling they knew why she had come. “If you’re here to take the heart shards we found, you’re wasting your time. We don’t have them here.” said Lightning

“They’re locked up safely where you’ll never get to them.” added Twilight.

Phaedra was not convinced. “I was hoping to do this the easy way…” she hissed as she drew her sword “GET THEM!!” and the shadowbolts charged forth.

“Let’s go…!” shouted Lightning, and everyone transformed.

“STARFLEET MAGIC!!”

“HARMONY HOUR, FRIENDSHIP POWER!!”

“DRAGON POWER!!”

The fight was on!

Rainbow flew straight up, and up, and up, and came crashing down at a gaggle of foes. “SONIC-RAINBOOM” and the shadowbolts were blown away in a colorful explosion.

Spike and the Spanish twins stood together as a hoard of foes charged at them. They gazed at each other and nodded slyly, “BOOM-BOOM ROCKETS”

Their rockets took out a great deal of the shadowbolts, and then Spike was up next. “Let’s see if I’ve got this worked out.” and he drew in a big breath “DRAGON FLAME” and he breathed out a huge breath of fire, roasting more of the foes into smoke.

“Bueno!” chirped the twins. They were very impressed with that last attack, but not as impressed as Spike himself. “Wow! I’m getting good at this.”

There were still many shadowbolts left, and the teams continued to brawl. Eventually the number of shadowbolts became fewer, but Phaedra leapt down with her sword at the ready. “My turn!” she grumbled, and began to slash and swing her sword hard knocking the teammates away like baseballs. She was fighting more fiercely than ever before. “Fay! Stop this!” cried Twilight.

“Twilight, don’t!” cried Lightning, but Phaedra gave Twilight a taste of her “BLADE BLASTER” and knocked her off her feet, and she pointed the tip of the blade right at her. “The one called Fay no longer exists!” she growled “I am Phaedra-- demoncorn… and my only purpose is to make others suffer!”

She was about to stab Twilight hard, when Lightning came and kicked her hard across the ground. Rarity helped Twilight up “Are you all right?” she asked.

“I’m fine.”

Everyone huddled together ready for a big fight. Phaedra got up and screeched loud and angrily. Her screech could be heard for miles, and it reached a cave in the rocky mountain nearby where Royce had hidden from the mobs searching for him. He poked his head out “That voice! I’d know it anywhere.” Even though the regulations forbad any civilians for getting anywhere near a battle unless it was unavoidable to escape… his heart leapt with a burst of determination and he rushed over to where the action was.

Phaedra’s scream was also heard by the ears of her folks, outside of the boundary limits. “Am I hearing things!” cried Rake. “Not unless I am…” cried Violet “It’s her!”

They held hands and jumped for joy, still unaware of their daughter’s evil. However, their joyous mood was interrupted by the taunting of Royce’s parents. “Just like any common folk; you are as incompetent as you are penniless.” Reginald sneered.

Rake turned to face him. “Oh, yeah…? I’ll have you know that our business does well now these days. Had you ever done any real work in your life, you’d know what that feels like!”

Rani stepped in and slapped his hand with her fan “How dare you make such an insult to us! For your information, the family has worked for many, many years. We’d do more if your crazy daughter hadn’t corrupted our son!”

Now Violet intervened. “More like how your miserable runaway son forced our daughter into unhappiness!”

The parents argued and spat with each other endlessly, until Rake looked up and swore he could see a familiar looking pony running towards the battle area, with his hood down. “Isn’t that your son?” he asked.

Reginald and Rani looked up and could see him. “Royce! ROYCE!” his mother shouted out. Royce heard her, but paid no attention and continued to run towards the battle field. Rani dashed after him calling out his name, followed by her husband.

Then Phaedra’s folks realized if they’re daughter was there in the battle, she was probably getting hurt, and dashed over as well, but as hey all neared the entrance boundaries to the village, other Starfleet officers blocked their way. “Hold it right there!”

“It’s far too dangerous for you to proceed any further.”

The parents tried to plead their cases to the guards, Reginald and Rani even attempted to bribe the guards which they angrily rebuked. “We said, No!”

“All civilians not safely sheltered by the force fields have been evacuated. There is no one else in there or we would have seen them.”

“But you don’t understand, we just saw my son rush in there!” cried Rani, but the guards insisted that was not the case and still refused to let them proceed. “No, and that is final! Now, be off until it is safe!”

“Well, I have never been spoken to so gruffly before.” growled Rani,

“Well maybe it’s about time you were!” snarled Violet, and before long another spat had ensued with the parents, much to the guard’s embarrassment to watch.

Royce had actually tried to get in through another way, and he, too, was blocked off by another set of guards. “Please, I must get in there.”

“I’m sorry, but we have our orders. Please keep away from here. It’s for your own safety.”

Poor Royce was not willing to give in, but he resisted the urge to fight his way in as he knew he wouldn’t stand a chance against the guards and their super training. Luckily, he had his own way of slinking about without being seen…!

Meanwhile, Phaedra’s rage seemed to be increasing as the battle continued, increasing her power, even with the entire team of fourteen against her. “Come on!” she growled.

One-by-one, they each went after her, and they all got knocked away or hit hard. Rhymey drew out his sword, and Spike got out his and they began to brawl with her, two on one, and they managed to hit her several times, and knock her back hard, and this gave the others the chance to come in from all sides; to punch, kick, and blast her, but even after all that, Phaedra shot up right and looked ready for more.

“Surrender, Phaedra!” said Lightning. “You can’t win, and we’ll never let you get our heart shards.” added Twilight.

“Who cares about that?!” growled Phaedra. The others were confused. “What difference does it make if I get those shards and Sombra rules or not?” She was starting to sound more tearful than angry. “Nothing, absolutely nothing will shake off this pain I feel!” Her sadness soon faded back into fury, and she picked up her sword and blasted everyone again, knocking them over.

Then she decided to rush them and finish them off before they had a chance to get back up again, but as she charged with her sword glowing brightly ready for the kill, Royce leapt in front of her “STOP, FAY!”

Phaedra gasped and skidded to a screeching halt in her tracks just barely stopping before him, and the tip of her sword had lightly tapped him. “Royce?!” she asked in shock “Get out of my way!”

Royce held her arms together. “No! I won’t let you do this to yourself anymore!”

Looking deeply into his eyes, Phaedra felt strange inside, but shook it off. “No!” she thundered and wretched out of his grip, and poised her blade at him, but Starla blasted it out of her hand with a shot from her bow. “Stand down, Royce!” she said

“We have strict orders to deal with Phaedra.” added Rainbow, but Royce just stood and defended her. “No! I won’t let you hurt the mare I love!”

“But, Royce, she’s evil, and she’s committed enough atrocious acts to get her worse than what she’s given.” snapped Artie.

Royce refused to stand down, and both Twilight and Pinkie understood why, but then they glanced behind him and noticed that Phaedra was gone. “Spread out and find her.” Lightning ordered “Use your visors to sense for her evil energy. She can’t be far. Spike, get Royce to safety.”

“…Right” Spike acknowledged, but as he approached Royce peaceably to escort him to a safer place, Royce refused and tried to run off on his own, but thanks to Spike’s Dragon Knight speed, he couldn’t get away as he almost managed to zip and pop up right before him again. “You’re not getting away this time. I’m not a puny dragon pushover anymore.”

Royce foolishly tried to rush him, but didn’t stand a chance against Spike’s super powers, and soon found himself lifted up and draped over his shoulders. “Put me down!” he demanded “I have to get to Fay!”

“The only place you need to get is to safety.”

“Please! You must let me go. I can put a stop to all this!”

Spike stopped in his tracks. He had his orders, but he also knew that at times he could follow his own judgement too, but was this the right time to do so?

Lightning questioned the guards around the perimeter and gave them a good scolding letting Royce slip past them, though the guards had no idea how he managed to get in without them noticing, nor had they seen Phaedra escape either.

The team searched and searched, but the readings of Phaedra’s energy seemed to be all over the place making it difficult to pinpoint her exact location, but it wasn’t very likely she had gone back to Sombra.

“Spread out!” Lightning ordered “Cover every possible area around here.”

Twilight and Pinkie, however, had a feeling where Phaedra was, and they found her in the cave Royce was hiding in, by the rock formations. They found her sulking in shame and trying to fight her tears of pain. She looked up and saw them. “What do you want now?” she groaned “Look, I’ve accepted things. I can’t beat you. Are you happy now? So whatever you’re going to do to me, just get it over with quickly.”

Twilight and Pinkie shook their heads. “Fay, we won’t hurt you anymore.” said Twilight.

“Stop calling me that!” growled Phaedra.

“Why? It’s your real name, isn’t it?” asked Pinkie.

Phaedra clenched her fists angrily. “No! I gave up that life of mine long ago. Can’t you see that? I don’t want it anymore! I don’t want to be hurt!”

“But you are hurt!” said Twilight “You’ve been hurting yourself more than ever, any after day with all that you’ve done, and all because of Royce and both your parents.”

Phaedra raised her sword and pointed it at Twilight’s face “I’m warning you! One more word…!”

Twilight just stood there, and so did Pinkie. “Go ahead, shoot.” said Pinkie “But what will that get you?”

“We’ll be gone, but you’ll still be hurt.” added Twilight.

Phaedra struggled and tried to bring herself to fire, or thrust her blade, only to finally realize, as if for the first time that they were right. She dropped her sword and fell to her knees. “I don’t want to do this anymore!” she cried. “I don’t want to be alone!”

“You won’t be, Fay.” said a voice from the cave entrance. Royce was there, with Spike. “How did you find us here?” asked Pinkie.

Spike sniffed the air, as another of his new Dragon Knight skills gave him a powerful sense of smell “…And you guys left a trail like a skunk.”

“Besides…” Royce said as he approached the fallen demoncorn “I followed my heart. I knew it would lead me back to you someday. He held her hand for first time in a long time. “Fay, please listen to me, I never meant to hurt you.”

He finally explained that he had tried to write to her when they were dating, but his folks got to him and stopped his every letter. He tried to sneak out, but they stopped him; desperately in hopes that he would forget “a poor, and filthy creature like her.”

“My folks always claimed they knew what was best for me, yet all they really seem to care about is their own selves, and making more money. All these big plans for me, telling me what I wanted instead of understanding me…”

Royce explained that his folks were big boasting aristocrats, always looking shamefully at the poor and less fortunate than themselves, but he wasn’t like them at all. “My life was nothing without you, Fay. I tried to get word to you, but when that failed, I struck out on my own to find you, but I never did. That’s when I began to feel resentful towards friendship myself. Without you, the world held no meaning, no joy, and nothing to live for.”

A tear rolled down Phaedra’s cheek, and she threw her arms around him. “Oh, Royce…!”

The three friends smiled, but the moment was soon interrupted by the sound of Royce’s folks calling out to him, having figured out where he was. “Royce! We know you’re in there.”

“Come out, this instant!”

Royce held onto Phaedra tightly, and the friends decided to check out the front of the cave, where not only Royce’s folks, but Phaedra’s folks were there. “We want our daughter back!” they demanded.

“Who cares about your daughter?” growled Rani “Your daughter is the reason my precious son is in that cave.”

“Stop this bickering!” yelled Twilight, and they all quieted down, as she was the Princess. “If you folks hadn’t been quarrelling with each other, and learned to get along better, none of this would ever have happened at all.”

A big argument ensued…

Royce and Phaedra could hear it from all the way inside the cave. Neither of them could stand it anymore, but they didn’t want to be separated from each other again. Not to mention that Sombra was likely to let Phaedra have it for dishonoring her allegiance to him. If they tried to run off anywhere together they would be chased to no ends and be forced to be separated again. “I can’t lose you again, really I can’t!” cried Phaedra.

“You may not have to.” Royce said “There is still one way we can be together, and no one can stop us.” As a unicorn for his father’s businesses, one of them was for stone carvers and traders, he was skilled a few bits of magic involving stone, including turning things into stone. “So many have tried to tear us apart, but at least this way, we can be together always.”

He looked deeply into Phaedra’s eyes, and she smiled tearfully at him and nodded her head in agreement. They held hands and embraced each other tightly as Royce’s horn began to glow. “I love you!” he said to her.

“I love you!” she said back.

A big flash of light shone so brightly, everyone could see it flash from outside the cave, and Lightning could see it from way up in the sky. “What was that?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t have time to scan It.” said Starla.

They all decided to head down and investigate, but found large groups of ponies along with Twilight, Pinkie, and Spike at the entrance. The teams ventured inside only to find both Royce and Phaedra had turned themselves into solid stone. A magic that even Twilight wasn’t able to break, but she knew of this kind of spell. “Royce cast it out of love for Phaedra. They won’t come out until they feel that it’s safe… someday.”

That was it. There was nothing anyone else could do.

The teams told the families and others what had happened, and the Rolls and Phaedra’s folks felt very sorrowful and ashamed, having finally now realized the full error of their ways with each other and their attitudes towards others.

“You’ll all have to spend a long time thinking over about what to do about this.” Lightning said, and gazed he gazed back at the statues. “…Your children would have wanted it.”

The families promised from then on to try and resolve their differences with each other, and, turn over a new leaf of views and understanding. Hopefully they would learn, and someday their children would come back to them.

For now, it was best to just leave them as they were… together!

As for Sombra, he was well aware of what had happened. “So, Phaedra has deserted us, has she? What a shame. Still, this shall affect me in no manner. We shall continue, and victory shall be ours.”

Frost-Eye, Melantha, and Harkin bowed to him. “Those ponies will pay for this!” growled Frost-Eye.

“Pay in their blood…” hissed Melantha.

Harkin, once more, was silent and thinking to himself, ready to take matters in his own hands.

The team had gone to New Canterlot, to the palace…

Grand Ruler had awoken, and felt much better after his long rest, and he was very surprised to hear of what had happened. “A fitting end to a tragic tale.” he said. He was glad the damages were dealt with, and no one else got hurt, but he felt just awful for Royce and Phaedra, but he too, agreed to just let them rest where they were until a day would come that they would decide to come forth and live again. “Well done, everyone.” he commended.

Also, Shining Armor and Cadance had finally arrived at the palace, responding to Twilight’s letter. “What’s this big surprise you’ve got, Twily?” her brother asked.

“You’ll see... I hope.” Twilight said as everyone watched her dump her bag of rocks and wood, along with the boots and gloves, onto the floor, and she poured the jar of the toxic-sludge all over the objects. “What are you up to, Twilight?” asked Celestia.

Twilight didn’t answer, and asked Robot-Fratello if the ghost of Prince Fratello was present. “…Affirmative.”

“My brother…?” Cadance peeped in confusion

Twilight threw her potion onto the floor near the mess, and it puffed into a sparkling cloud. “Fratello, if you can hear me, move towards the pile.” she said, and cast her spell on everything and mysteriously the pile of junk began to mold together into an oddly shaped creature; a boulder body, logs for arms and legs. Twilight’s spare gloves and boots for hands and feet, and the sludge nectar served as joints, held the body together, and even formed the creature’s head. “It worked!” cried Twilight “I did it!”

Celestia and Grand Ruler were amazed, and in shock while everyone glared in awe at the creature. Everyone gasped in amazement. “Twily…!” cried Shining Armor “What is this?”

Twilight smiled, and Cadance slowly approached the creature. Her heart was racing like crazy. “Fratello… is it really you?”

“Yes. Sort of…” Fratello spoke in a garbled, sludgy voice. It felt very strange for him to have a weird body, but he was there nonetheless. “I’ve missed you so much, Cadance.”

Cadance stepped forth in attempt to hug him, but he stepped back and cried “No! You mustn’t touch me. The sludge-- you’ll be poisoned!”

Candance quivered in a mixture of emotions, and tears streaked down her face “Oh, my brother!” Despite her tearful features, Twilight could tell she would be happy and Lightning and Spike smiled and nodded at her.

As for Celestia, having her nephew back, she just didn’t know what to say or do, but she was very happy, for Cadance, and for Twilight for having mastered such magic. “Thank you, Twilight.” she said.

Twilight smiled warmly at everyone, and Cadance walked over to her sister-in-law and hugged her so lovingly, and Shining Armor hugged them both, and Fratello… he just stood their feeling happy for the first time in a long time.

(Promo)

Harkin denounces his allegiance to Sombra, and abandons him and the team entirely, and then heads off on his own, to New Canterlot where the team is in the midst of a wedding rehearsal and Raven drops down in attempt to kill Celestia herself. Disobeying orders, Twilight gives chase to Raven in attempt to stop her with Lightning trailing behind trying to get her to stop, and Harkin shows up demanding an audience with Lightning, and a deathly ultimatum with it.

Will Twilight and Lightning manage to stop Raven for good, and what does Harkin ultimately want with Lightning?

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

(Next Episode: “Win, Lose, or Die!”)