My Brave Pony Starfleet Magic: Season VI

by DakariKingMykan

Episode 12: How to catch Trouble

EPISODE TWELVE

One morning at New Canterlot Palace, Cadance and Shining Armor were summoned by their aunt and uncle.

They were being escorted to the laboratory eager to find out why they were summoned, and their majesties let Professor Brain explain and unveil their surprise.

“It was not very easy, but after a few days of hard work thanks to the sophisticated equipment, everything was satisfactory… most satisfactory.”

“What was?” asked Shining Armor.

The Professor pressed a switch on the console, a light shone behind them, and up from benath the floor raised a large tube filled with pink liquid, a very sophisticated piece of equipment, and there inside the tube was a tiny baby Alicorn.

Cadance and Shining Armor froze at what they saw, but inside their bodies began to feel warm and easy. “Is that…? Could it be…?” Cadance asked.

“Yes, Princess… that is your child.” replied Brain.

Shining Armor’s eyes flooded with tears at the sight of his child, and right before he could ask, “…It’s a girl.” Grand Ruler said.

“A girl…” Shining Armor peeped softly.

Now Cadance’s eyes were brimming with tears of joy. “Just look at her…” she cried softly as she gazed at her daughter through the glass of the tube; her cute light pink coat and her mane with colors of purple and blue. “But, why is she an alicorn?” Cadance asked.

“We all talked it over…” Celestia said “And we all agreed that it was probably for the best. After all, in all of the Crystal Empire’s history, even in Equestria of Old, there has never been a baby alicorn before.”

Cadance and Shining Armor really had no complaints, and honestly didn’t know how they would ever be able to repay everyone. The baby looked absolutely perfect, it even had a belly-button, despite it was artificially created.

“We wasted no efforts this time…” Grand Ruler said “We perfected the child in every way we could so that it’s almost as if you actually had it yourself, Cadance.”

As much as Cadance and Shining Armor were so happy, they were told by the professor, “I’m afraid the child still needs more time.” And he explained that the baby had just been created and produced, but it needed to gain life energy and strength; hence the tube and the equipment. There was nothing at the moment to do except wait for the baby to awaken.

“When will that be?” asked Shining Armor. “I’m afraid I haven’t the exact precision on that…” remarked Brain “It could be days, week… a month at the very most, but no longer. Nevertheless, everything should be just fine.”

Cadance’s heart skipped a beat, “Should…?”

“Yes, Cadance…” Grand Ruler said, and he hated what he was about to say next, but it had to be known. “We must constantly watch this tube and maintain the controls of the life support. If anything goes horribly wrong, it may be very fatal for the child.”

Hearing that word “Fatal” made the couple’s stomachs churn. Already they had lost their baby boy, Amando. If they lost their new baby girl before she even woke up...!

“Now, now… let’s not think about that.” said Celestia “We’re going get through this, and we’ve already arranged for round-the-clock watches.”

The couple felt a little better, but even still, from past experiences they knew no one was perfect, not even their aunt and uncle, but they promised to be brave and strong for their new daughter.

Meanwhile, Lightning Starla and Krysta were in the archives, looking over old files from Equestria of old to help them solve the mystery of the pony Mykan Stevens.

They, too, had heard the news about the new baby. “What do you think they’ll name her?” Krysta asked. “Hard to say…” said Starla “But whatever they choose, I’m sure it’ll be sweet.”

Their girl talk was interrupted when Lightning called them over to the table where he sat, “I think I’ve found something.”

The girls walked over, and saw Lightning had pulled out a file with a picture of a dark green unicorn. She had blue eyes, her mane was a light yellow, and her Cutie Mark was that of a sewing needle and a skirt.

Her name was right above the page: “Sephia Stevens.”

“Stevens…” said Krysta, “That’s Mykan’s last name.”

“That’s not all…” Lightning said, and he held that little scrap of magazine clipping he had brought, the very one that Applejack had unintentionally brought back from the mountain mansion. He held up to the file picture; they were both identical.

“She really is, Mykan’s mother.” Starla said.

“She was…” Lightning said, and he pointed to a small sentence in the file from a new clipping: Equestria Daily: “Sephia Stevens killed in prison riot.”

The girls were very surprised, and before they could even ask, Lightning read the story from the files of reports.

Sephia Stevens was a former fashion designer and seamstress. Once voted the best seamstress in all of Canterlot and maker of many fine ball gowns, wedding dresses, and fashionable formal wear. Her husband, whom had led such a private and secretive life, had died in an accident years prior.

On the eve of the Grand Galloping Gala, she had sold a dress to a duchess from Manehatten, whom had requested it specially made by Sephia. When the duchess wore the gown to the gala, it had fallen apart at the seams during her grand entrance, publicly humiliating her and making her the laughingstock of the night.

Outraged by this humiliation, the duchess pressed charges on Sepiha for sabotage and setting her up for the scandal. Though Sephia pleaded innocent, she could not prove her story and was sentenced to forty years in prison by the court of Manehatten.

No letter of appeal was written to Princess Celestia, and Sephia was brutally beaten to death in a huge prison riot.

Sephia was reported to have had a son, Mykan, whom was due to be put into foster care on the arrest of his mother, but he had run away before this was carried out, and was never seen again. His last known location was at his mother's mansion, accumulated from years of fame and good fortune. When Canterlot officials had attempted to foreclose and sell off the mansion, it had magically disappeared with young Mykan still inside it.

No one had ever seen or known what happened to the house or the young Mykan Stevens ever since.

“That was seven years ago; about three years before The Great War...” Lightning said.

Starla and Krysta didn’t know what to think or feel other than such horridness, and confusion. “Now we know where the mansion and Mykan are, atop the haunted mountain in New White Tail Village.” said Starla.

“But that doesn’t explain other things…” said Krysta “Why is he up there? Why is he chasing people off? Why would he sneak around at nigh stealing food from other people’s garbage?”

The three thought it over, and it all boiled down to one thing; “It could be a result of a deep psychotic depression.” said Lightning “I mean… he lost his mother. I know how it feels.”

“So do I…” said Starla, she didn’t go any further, as it pained her and Lightning to be reminded of their past tragedies of losing their families.

“So, what do we do now?” asked Krysta. A long moment of silence followed, the friends knew that Mykan needed help and he simply could not go on the way he was living, but the only way to even try to help him was to try reasoning with him. After, depressed and seemingly violent, he had made no such attempt to harm anyone nor had he done anything severely illegal, so they couldn’t arrest him, charge him or even take him in for official interrogations.

“I guess we’ll just have to wait and see if we can find some way to reason with him.” said Lightning.

Later that day, in New Ponyville it was a great day to be at school, and the children were all eating their lunches outside.

Naturally, the Crusaders all sat and ate together, but they didn’t seem very hungry. For the past several days they had been thinking about the same thing; Pony Mykan Stevens, and how he seemed so agitated, like he was in extreme pain.

“He’s probably super starved.” suggested Applebloom. “Maybe… He looked really pale and thin. I remember when I didn’t eat breakfast, I was pretty grumpy.” added Sweetie Belle.

The girls each took a few nibbles from their lunches, but still thinking of Pony Mykan, and how he got his fill by stealing rotten and discarded foods from garbage cans, which made them feel a little sick to their stomachs.

Across from where they were sitting, Snails and Snips were opening their lunch boxes. “what did you bring?” asked Snails.

“I got a chicken-salad sandwich. What’choo got?”

“I got a chicken-salad sandwich too.”

“Hey, wanna trade?”

“Sure.”

The girls thought it a little silly the boys trading the exact same sandwich, but more a nice gesture between friends.

That’s when, seeing the act and looking at their lunches, the girls all happened upon the same idea. “Maybe we can help Mykan a bit…” said Scootaloo “We could leave him some scraps of food, or even make whole balanced meals for him to take. Who knows, maybe it would even… show him we don’t want to hurt him?”

A brief silence followed, but was broken by the sound of Biffy Box laughing at them, much to their annoyance, “Long time no see, geek girls.”

“What are you doing here?” DD asked, rather harshly “Weren’t you expelled?”

“I’m just going about helping my Pop with errands, and that includes here at this dump.”

His father was former wrestler, but now just a meager a delivery pony, and even though he and the school teachers were not on good terms, he was still obligated to his duties to make deliveries all over, and had come to give Cheerilee a package of new notebooks she had ordered.

“Let’s go, Biff…” he called to him.

“Later losers…” Biff sneered at the girls. The crusaders stuck their tongues at him, but he just walked off with his father.

As Biffy and his father walked off, he spoke silently to his dad saying “I heard the girls talking, and they gave me a great idea that mom will like.”

When the two ponies got home and told Windy Bag was Biffy had heard the crusaders saying about their plans for Mykan Stevens. “What?!” snapped Windy “Feed him? Are you out of your mind?”

“But, mom I thought you could use this to draw him out in the open.”

His mother looked like she was ready to burst in rage, “That is crazy… that is nuts… that is…!” she paused and then smirked, “…The best I idea I’ve ever had.”

Chump liked it when his wife got that look in her eyes, but Biff didn’t understand.

That evening, after dinner, each of the crusaders went into their respective kitchens while no one was watching, and gathered a few bits of things. Crackers, cheese wedges, fruit and a little bit of bread, and placed them in paper bags which they marked, “For you Mykan.”

It was their hope that Mykan would see the bags and accept the gifts.

Applebloom, however, got caught snooping in the kitchen by her sister. “You’re starvin’ again?” Applejack asked “But you just had supper.”

“Oh, um… well… I guess… I just have enough to eat.” Applebloom said, trying to be innocent, but naturally her sister gave her a straight look. “All right, Applebloom, what are you up to now?”

Applebloom tried to cover her act, but of course given her and the crusaders reputations, her sister didn’t budge, and she was forced to explain her idea…

“…That’s pretty much it. We reckon maybe he’ll soften up a bit, and at least he’ll have somethin’ decent to eat.”

Applejack, though thinking that was a kind gesture, didn’t exactly agree to it.

“But sis…” cried Applebloom.

“No buts, Applebloom.” her sister said “I know you wanna help, and that’s mighty sweet, but Mykan’s under suspicion. You might be aidin’ and helpin’ a criminal, and that’s a serious offense.”

“Maybe not…” Buddy Rose said as he came into the house with DD. Big Mac let them in. DD told Applebloom, “He caught me. I had to tell.”

“What do you mean “Maybe not?” asked Applejack, and Buddy explained “Well, in the first place: the girls are too young to be convicted in such manners. Starfleet code forbids it. Second: We do need more information regarding Mykan, and he hasn’t been totally classified as a criminal, and the only way we could learn is to confront him… try to reason with him.”

“That’s what I said…” said DD.

Applejack couldn’t believe what she was hearing, but she couldn’t actually argue much with it. “How about you, Big Mac… Are you up for this too?”

“Eeyup.” her brother replied “I just can’t let that poor boy starve like that, and like B.R said, it’ll help y’all learn more.”

Applejack decided to go along with the idea.

Applebloom and DD slapped each other a high-five.

Soon, two small meals were made and kept in two brown paper marks with “For Mykan” marked on them. Buddy Rose and Applejack placed the bags outside near the garbage cans.

“And now, we wait…” Buddy Said.

“Eeyup.” added Big Mac, and Applejack nodded.

That night, in White Tail Village, Lippy Sync was doing his homework in his room, when he looked out the window and saw his mother walking to the end of the street. Her hands were gloved and she held a paper bag with a label marked “For Mykan.”

Then, she stopped, and ducked down behind the large shrubs in front of the town-hall so no one would see her. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small vial of green powder, which Lippy recognized and flipped through his chemistry book; it was a type of poison, odorless, tasteless, dissolved instantly on contact with foods and liquids, and when ingested would cause extreme illness to the taker, even instant death if enough was taken in at once.

Lippy watched in horror as his mother laced bits of food form the bag with the poison and then slipped the bag near the garbage. “No…” Lippy cried softly, realizing what his mother was up too, but why would she want to do such a horrible thing? What would it accomplish?

After his mother headed back, he thought of going down there and getting rid of that booby-trap before something really bad happened, but as he stepped out of his room, he almost ran right into his big father.

“And where do you think you’re going?” he asked rather gruffly at him “Don’t you have homework to finish?”

“Well yes, but I…”

“Then you march yourself right back in there and finish it!” snarled Chump. Lippy hated it when his father yelled at him like that. He tried desperately to explain. “NOW!!” his father yelled!

His son dashed back inside his roof in a heartbeat and was panting heavily in fear, but not wanting to suffer punishment from his family, he tried his best to put it out of his mind.

But well after his bedtime, he was tossing and turning, positively rigged with guilt and worry of that poison food outside. He was starting to regret his actions about not doing anything about it earlier, and felt like sneaking outside to get the food before Mykan got it, but when he looked out his window, he could see the bag was no longer there by the trashcans.

“Oh, no…!” Lippy cried under his breath “…I’m too late!”

Down in her office, Windy Bag, up late and working like the Mayor she was, also looked out the window and noticed the bag of food was gone. She snickered and felt her trap was set in motion. “One bite out of that food, and that freak will hardly have any strength to keep his eyes open, let alone deprive me from what I want!

Meanwhile, I have other things to attend to.”

She walked over to the calendar on her wall. In the dead center, a date was circled in bright red and labeled, “The Big Day!” and it was only six days away. A Day Windy Bag had something really huge planned for then.

Meanwhile, Applebloom and DD’s food bags remained where they were by the trash. The girls were already sent to bed by the adults, as they did have school in the morning.

The girls were wide awake though, and watching from their respective bedroom windows. DD had to use binoculars to see…

Applejack and Buddy Rose were maintaining watch, hiding behind a huge haystack, hoping to spot Mykan and confront him close. Big Mac was with them for extra support, even though this was Starfleet business.

“Anything yet?” Buddy whispered.

“Nope.” said Big Mac.

“Shh, wait, listen…” said Applejack.

The team listened and could hear footsteps, and the soft sounds of groans. Suddenly, they could see him coming round the corner of the barn. He looked in pretty bad shape. The blackness of his coat was a little pale making it seemed less dark, even in the night, and Applejack swore he looked a tad bit thinner.

This was most likely due to his malnourishment, and unhealthy way of living overly sheltered.

“Hey, look in his hand.” whispered Buddy Rose, and they all could see Mykan was holding another paper bag marked “For Mykan.” And figured it from Sweetie Belle or Scootaloo, as they had the same ideas, but the bag seemed full as if he hadn’t eaten from it.

He made his way over to the trashcans, and he spotted two more bags of food, identical to the one he was holding, but he scoffed at them, and even threw the one he was holding by the others and opted for the garbage food instead; half eaten sandwiches, left over chicken legs, fruit peelings. It sickened the ponies to watch him scarf it down like that. Applejack almost threw up.

“Come on, now’s our chance.” said Buddy Rose.

“Eeyup.” said Big Mac.”

They all waited a couple of moments and then jumped out from behind the haystack, pointing heir flashlights at Mykan, frightening him softly. “You again…” he hissed angrily “Why can’t you just let me be!”

“I don’t think you should be sayin’ that.” said Applejack “You’re the one who keeps sneaking around stealin’ from people’s trash.”

Buddy Rose put his hand out telling her to stop and that she wasn’t helping and he confronted the snarling pony. “Mykan, we don’t want to hurt you. We want to help you.”

Mykan growled angrily and sneered “Help? You want to help me? I’ve heard that before.” His voice began to sound more tearful than angry “…No one ever helped me, and I don’t want anyone to help me!”

“How can you say that?” said Big Mac, and he pointed to the bags of food explaining what the girls had done “They just wanna help you out. We all do… and you’re treatin’ us like we’re the bad guys here.”

“Big Mac, take it easy.” said Buddy Rose. Then he spoke to Mykan calmly not wanting to make things worse “Mykan, won’t you tell us what troubles you?”

“Ha!” snapped Mykan “You wouldn’t understand even if I told you, and you certainly wouldn’t care!”

“Try us…” said Applejack.

Mykan was growing more irritable, and he reached into the pockets of his rags for that smoke powder, but Buddy Rose used his magic to hold his arm down. “Don’t do it…” he said to him “We want to help you.”

“Please… just leave me alone!” cried Mykan.

“Not until you tell us what’s up with you.” said Applejack “Are you afraid of somethin’… or someone.”

“I’m not afraid of anything! I’m not interested in any help from anyone. No one can help me now, just like… no one helped me before. Not even Celestia!”

The three friends felt concerned at those words; what did Celestia have to do with his troubles?

“It’s none of your concern now!” snapped Mykan.

“Everything that concerns a citizen’s well-being is our concern.” said Buddy Rose “Now, for the last time, tell us what your problem is.”

Mykan then noticed the full bright moon peeking through the clouds in the night sky, and he smirked wickedly and stood perfectly where he was, much to the others’ confusion.

Suddenly the moonlight shone directly on his thick black goggles, almost like a perfect reflection of the glare right at Buddy’s eyes, distracting him and breaking his concentration, releasing Mykan from telekinetic aura.

“Buddy!” cried Applejack.

“See ya!” Mykan said, and he threw more smoke powder to the ground.

POW!! There was a thick puff of smoke distracting the others and allowing him to make his getaway. “Dag’nabit!” snapped Big Mac “That kid’s slicker than I imaged.”

Applejack and Buddy Rose could hardly believe they had been outsmarted, and worse, Mykan left without the three bags of food proving conclusively he had no intention of cooperating with anyone, or even accepting anyone’s offer to help.

“That boy’s more agitated than a hog with his snout caught in a knothole.” said Applejack.

“Well, it wasn’t a total loss.” said Buddy Rose, “We did get more information…”

Applejack agreed, but didn’t know what to make of Celestia and Helping. The gang decided that, with Mykan already probably miles away so they couldn’t chase him, and it was already late. They decided to head to bed.

Applejack took all three bags of food inside with her, feeling it best not to waste good food.

As for Applebloom and DD, they had heard and seen everything.

The next day, they met up with Sweetie and Scootaloo at school before the first bell rang, and talked about the other night. They even brought the third bag of food to give back to them, only to discover?

“You didn’t leave this bag out?” asked Applebloom.

“Rarity caught me, and she wasn’t keen on the idea. So I couldn’t do it.” said Sweetie. “I totally forgot…” said Scootaloo “I was busy studying for the spelling test we’re supposed to have this morning.”

The girls were all confused now? The bag and the label on it were exactly the same, and inside were the same kind of food scraps. DD pulled out a big red apple and took a bite out of it. “Well, shame to let good food go waste.” she said.

Suddenly, the bell rang and it was time for class. DD quickly finished her apple and tossed the core into the trash as she headed into the school.

“All right, everyone. Settle down.” Cheerilee said “I hope you’re all ready for the spelling test today.”

Many of the students groaned in dismay, but Cheerilee got up and passed out a small stack of test papers telling each pony to pass one down, but when she got to DD, she noticed she was making a funny face and holding her stomach. “Are you alright?” she asked.

DD clenched her stomach hard and groaned.

“I bet she’s trying to play hooky.” teased Diamond Tiara.

“I’m not…” cried DD “It hurts… I… I…!” then she collapsed out of her seat and onto the floor. “DD…! DD!!” cried Cheerilee!

All the students, even Diamond felt concerned.

School was canceled for the rest of the day due to the incident, and Cheerliee felt deeply concerned.

DD was rushed to the hospital immediately, and Buddy Rose was informed at once.

Dr. Penny had already examined DD and prepared the operating room for an emergency procedure.

“You’re sure?” Buddy asked. “I’m positive. She’s been poisoned.” said Penny, “I scanned her and I detected a toxic substance in her digestive system, probably from something she ate. I must operate at once!”

Buddy felt his insides running cold, the thought of his little cousin being in such danger.

“Penny…” Buddy said “Please, just be careful with DD. She’s all I’ve got.”

Penny could tell he was very concerned, and she assured him “I’ve done this many times. She’ll be okay… I promise.”

With not much to do, Buddy was forced to stay outside the operating room in the waiting area.

As he sat, the pain of worry and concern for his cousin ate away at him to the verge of tears. He was supposed to be responsible for DD, and when things like this happened… it really shook him up, having lost his parents and his older sister, and DD losing her folks as well. He couldn’t bear it if he lost someone else.

“Please… please be okay, DD!” he kept saying softly to himself, “If anything happens to you… I’ll never forgive myself!”

A few hours later, Penny came out from the operating room smiling and informed him “…She’ll be alright.”

Buddy was ever so relieved that he almost fell flat on the floor. “Thank the stars!” he cried as he wiped the tears from his eyes.

Penny could only understand how he felt too well, but she couldn’t help but giggle.

DD was transferred to a room of her own to remain in the hospital until the next morning. After that, she was ordered by Penny to stay in bed for a whole week and take special medication so she could recover.

The other crusaders and Applejack, even Cheerilee came to visit, having canceled school the rest of the day. “Oh, DD, thank goodness you’re alright!” she cried.

“You sure gave us quite a scare!” added Applebloom.

DD laughed weakly. She spoke so softly, “Not as scared as me-- thought I was goner.”

“Please don’t talk like that…” cried Sweetie Belle “I don’t know how we’d feel if you’d… if you’d…”

“Hey, now, take it easy.” Applejack said to her “I guess we all feel the same for ya, DD.”

Scootaloo clenched her fists “I swear, when we find out who poisoned you, we’ll make them pay.”

The other girls agreed with her, but Applejack and Cheerilee thought the girls were getting a little too far ahead of themselves. “I think you’d best leave that to the professionals, girls.” said Cheerilee.

“Yeah, we’ll look into all this. We’ll find what happened.” added Applejack. Then she gazed at DD, “You just work on gettin’ better.”

DD smiled.

Just then, Dr. Penny came in with some news. “DD, we found what made you sick…” she held up the bag of food that the girls took from school. “That apple you ate from this bag was laced with a powerful poison. All the food in here is no good.”

Everyone felt shocked at such an idea, and Applejack and Buddy remembered the bag that Mykan had left behind when they had cornered him the other night.

“Mykan… tried to poison me?” DD asked in disbelief.

“Now why would he wanna do that?” asked Applebloom.

“Now, wait just a minute…” said Buddy Rose “We can’t be certain that even Mykan knew that the food was poison. The bag was left out and for him to take, but not from any of you girls?”

The crusaders shook their heads innocently, and this only meant that there was now even more mysteries about Pony Mykan Stevens to crack.

Penny cleared her throat and said, “Okay, I hate to do this to all, but you’re all going to have to leave. DD’s had a serious operation and needs to rest.” She then cast a look at Buddy Rose meaning that included him, but she assured him that he could take DD home first thing in the morning.

One-by-one all the others gave DD their blessings that she was okay, and urged her to get well soon before leaving, but Buddy Rose took one last minute to hug his little cousin softly. He almost felt like crying. “I’m so glad you’re okay. I don’t know what I’d do without you, DD.”

A tear rolled down DD’s face as she hugged him softly.

Penny dabbed her eyes with a hankie, but then she told Buddy that he really needed to leave. So he did, but as he left the hospital he promised himself and DD one thing…

“…I’ll find who did this to you, DD… and when I do, they are going to rue the day!”

(Promo)

In our next episode: Spike begins to have fearful thoughts of his marriage due to he and Rarity having different lifespans, which prompts him to spend as much time as he possibly can with her, much to her annoyance. Things are suddenly reversed when a monster begins to steal youth from other creatures to gain power and Spike is hit hard causing him to age to the point of near-death.

Can Spike overcome his issues, and how can our heroes stop this monster’s attempt to age the populace to nothingness?

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

(Next episode: “Age of Aging”)