My Brave Pony Starfleet Magic: Season VI

by DakariKingMykan

Episode 7: Send in the Clones

EPISODE SEVEN

One evening…

About twenty escaped prisoners and several new monsters had teamed up to attack United Equestria all at once, and were targeting New Canterlot Palace, figuring if they took out the main ops of Starfleet, the rest would fall.

Lightning, all twelve of his friends, even Cadance and Shining Armor visiting from the New Crystal Empire were also there lending a hand in the battle.

Right now, the two forces were staring each other down after a huge brawl; it looked as if it was time for the final move. The monsters all charged forth, while all the fighters remained where they were, not making a move, though some were sweating nervously.

“NOW, KRYSTA…!!” shouted Lightning, and that’s when Krysta and a large army of her fairies appeared and conjured a powerful warping portal, which the monsters gasped at, but ran right into it.

“Got ‘em!” cried Krysta.

The portal they had conjured sent the monsters hurdling along a dimensional pathway, clear across space, and emerging on Conva, into cells in the prison.

Colonel Cerise Wonder was there to greet them, mocking at them from outside the cells, “Welcome everyone, tonight’s menu is Justice Soup, served ice-cold. Order now, it takes twenty, maybe two-hundred years to simmer.”

The monsters were not amused.

A guard approached Cerise, saluted and said “That’s another fifty prisoners hauled in this week, Colonel.”

Cerise nodded, but she seemed far from relieved or delighted. As it stood, the prison was still practically deserted. It had been nearly two weeks since the prisoners had escaped, and though new prisoners were coming in, little-by-little thanks to Starfleet’s constant hunting for them, at this rate she was worried that it would take probably a-hundred years or so to gather at least half of them all back, and who knew what fretful dangers those monsters were causing.

“I can’t even begin to imagine how tiresome this must be for everyone on the force.” Cerise said to herself.

Indeed, all the fighters felt exhausted as they came into the palace. Goldwin came along with a tray of drinks, “These are from the court physician. They’ll help you feel better.”

“Thank goodness…” groaned Rainbow, and as she reached for her drink, her back cracked softly, “Ooh! I’ve got cramps in places I didn’t even know I had.”

“Well, bottom’s up.” Artie said, and he and the others sipped their drinks. They tasted very strong, Rarity almost gagged! “Eww, pardon my saying, but I don’t take kindly to this taste.”

Many of the others looked grimly at her. “It’s an elixir, not a milkshake.” said Applejack.

Pinkie Pie licked her lips, “Mmm, tasty, is there any more?”

The others all gawked at her in shock.

“What? I like it.”

“I’m… not even going to comment on that.” said Buddy Rose. Then he stretched out, “I do feel a bit better though.”

All the others felt their aches and pains going away as the elixir kicked in, but they were still plenty sleepy after such a battle against so many monsters.

Even Krysta came in feeling a little bushed. “How are the other fairies, Krysta?” Lightning asked. “Oh, they’re fine. They just need a rest, which is what I feel I could use.”

That’s when Princess Luna came into the hall to greet everyone, and everyone bowed to her and she bowed back. “I have a special announcement to make on behalf of my sister and brother-in-law; you are all welcome to spend the night here in the palace.

Everyone’s expressions were all the same, thankful, honored, Rarity felt like groveling at the princess’ feet, but Spike held her back, shaking his head telling her not to.

“Um, where are they’re majesties anyway?” asked Starla.

“Alas, that is the main reason I am here.” replied Luna, “They have been working rather vigorously without much rest. I had finally managed to suggest they adjourn to bed, and really hope they rest well.”

The others began to understand, what with the prisoners still being loose and having to keep up with all the regular work and duties and other problems.

“I insisted that they rest, I can handle the duties for a while.” Luna said “Now get some rest, you have all worked and fought hard yourselves, and don’t worry, I’ll be standing watch. Now, I bid you all goodnight.”

Then she walked off leaving the others to adjourn to their respected reserved bed chambers, and Goldwin headed back to his pedestal, removed his magic mask, turning back into a statue.

Pinkie stretched and yawned, “I am so sleepy; I think I’ll sleep like a baby tonight.”

The Spanish Twins wuickly covered her mouth, and the others looked concerned, but Pinkie had already said the word “Baby”, and everyone turned to Shining Armor and Cadance. The two of them sighed and rolled their eyes, “It’s okay,” said Shining Armor “You don’t have to be so sensitive around us.”

“But we thought, maybe…” Dyno said, and Myte finished the sentence “… you’d feel upset.”

“We understand your concern for us, and we appreciate it,” said Cadance “But really, you don’t need to go overboard about this. We’re okay. Really, we are.”

“Come on, let’s hit the hay, I’m beat.” said Shining Armor, “Goodnight, guys.”

Everyone bid them goodnight and watched the couple walk off to their chambers, but Lightning and Starla caught sight of Cadance’s eyes, and they could see the soft showing of tears.

Some of the others noticed it too.

“Poor Cadance…” said Fluttershy, “She says she’s okay but I can tell she’s still upset about this whole thing.”

“I wish there was something that could be done,
Not just for them, but rather for everyone.” said Rhymey.

Alas, no one had a clue of what could be done in a situation like this. So, they all decided to adjourn to bed.

Starla gazed up at the stars in the sky through her mini-telescope. Usually it helped her forget about worrying, but this was one of those few times it didn’t.

Lightning held her close, feeling just as bad as she did and wishing there was something that could be done.

“Maybe they could adopt a child.” Krysta suggested and she pulled out a very tiny picture of herself with her husband, King Topaz, and their adopted son, Prince Twink, “Twink may not be my real child, but I love him just the same.”

“It’s… not really a bad idea, Krysta.” Lightning said “It would help a little, but Shining Armor and Cadance were hoping to have a proper child of their own.”

“Besides…” Starla cut in “The tradition of the Crystal Empire, old or new, is still the same: Cadance was adopted by Celestia as a niece, and Shining is related by marriage. According to the laws of the land, the next crystaling child must be of proper birth from the parents.”

Krysta began to realize the full seriousness of everything and it only made her and the others feel worse, but they could not undo what had been done, not even with time travel magic, then they would run the risk of altering the future in a bad way; probably make things ten times as worse for everyone!

“Come on, let’s gets some sleep.” said Lightning.

Krysta slept softly in her miniature bed on the table, and Starla was asleep as well, but Lightning lay awake besides her, still pondering over what to do.

He turned his head and gazed at the moon and stars outside, and he shut his eyes softly praying to the spirits, “Mom, Dad… Twilight; Please, just give a little help. I can’t stand Shining Armor and Cadance being like this. If there’s anything that could be done for them… what is it?”

He suddenly drifted off to sleep.

While outside, one of the pony guards at the gates let out a yawn. “When is my replacement coming?” he groaned “My shift ended an hour ago, even a guard needs sleep.”

Another pony guard showed up ready to take his place.

“Where have you been?!” the first guard practically snarled. He quickly apologized for yelling, and the other guard understood. “Go on and get some rest, I can handle things here.”

The other guard complied and went off, leaving his college at the gate. The second he was gone, the guard looked around to make sure he wasn’t being watched, and he signaled for someone to enter into the palace.

Through the trees near the palace, a monstrous figure snickered from within the shadows, and next to him, a guard was tied to a tree and gagged. He struggled and fussed, but the creature glared pitifully at him, “Struggle if you will, nothing can stop me now.” then he gazed round behind him where a large group of creatures stood in the shadows, “Are you already…?”

The creatures nodded, and the monster snickered sinisterly, “Phase one begins!”

The guard at the gate checked around again, and then deactivate the shields at the entrance was so the creatures would not be scanned as they entered the palace and went into hiding.

Lightning found himself standing in a strange place wondering where he was. All around him he could see beautiful meadows, trees, clear waters, blue skies. “What is this place? I feel like I should know it.”

Suddenly, he looked on ahead and he could see none other than his master, Grand Ruler Celesto, working on something very important. This already told Lightning that this was Unicornicopia, and from the lack of towns, cities, as well as no sign of other creatures, it was the early days, centuries ago.

The planet had just been cleaned up and made suitable for life, and Lightning was curious to see what Grand Ruler was doing.

“Master…” Lightning called to him “Master over here!”

Grand Ruler didn’t even look up, which began to make Lightning wonder if he could even see or hear him, however, he got a good look at what Grand Ruler was doing: trying to artificially create one of the very first ponies of the Space Alicorn race, and from the looks of how frustrated Grand Ruler seemed, Lightning could tell this was not a first attempt, since he knew from the stories than many first attempts at it failed.

“Galloping Galaxies!” cried Lightning “Somehow, I’ve gone back in time a-thousand years, but what is all this for?”

No one could answer him of course, but that was nothing compared to what he was about to witness.

Grand Ruler had successful managed to create the body of a baby alicorn from bits of DNA from blot spots stained on his armor, and a few threads of hair from Celestia’s mane and tail that were on him.

Grand Ruler gazed down at the body very nervously, “Oh, it’s been so lonely being all by myself since I came to this place. Please, please work!”

His golden horns began to glow, and he softly let out a ray of magic onto the body of the child.

Several minutes past and nothing happened; it was a very stressful thing to be seeing. Then, suddenly, the baby began to stir, and it awoke and began to cry softly like a real newborn child.

A delighted and overly-excited Grand Ruler picked up the child with tears of happiness flowing down his face, “I did it… I did it!” he cried softly, and he held the child up high and shouted, “…IT’S ALIVE!!!”

Lightning felt just as giddy as his mentor did, and before long, miraculously, he saw them all; the first one-hundred baby alicorns, and Grand Ruler tending to their every need like a proud and caring father, not even minding that so many children demanded so much attention. He was too happy to care.

Now the space alicorn race had begun, and soon it would expand into the proud race Lightning knew and was a part of.

Suddenly, Lightning began to realize this was it. This was the sign, the answer he had been looking for.

…He woke up, it was already past sunrise, and cried out “That’s it!” startling Starla and Krysta, waking them up in a shock. “Lightning…!” Krysta groaned.

“What was that for?” Starla said as she rubbed her eyes, but her husband held her shoulders and looked deep into her eyes saying, “I think I know what can be done.”

Meanwhile, Captain Shaina, up and about was walking down the corridors to the main control ops room. The two guards at the gate saluted to her. “Good morning, Captain.” said one guard “What is your purpose for being here?”

“I have been sent to inspect the reactor control unit.”

The two guards gasped in near shock, “But, I thought you needed authorization from their majesties, and a scientific escort from the labs?” asked the other guard.

Shaina gave both guards a straight look. “This is a matter of emergency; I’ve had no time for the procedures. Now let me through. This is an order!”

The guards wanted to question her again, but Shaina looked ready to give them both a lot of trouble if they failed to comply. So the guards let her through.”

Once inside the control ops, all the technicians and other ponies were at their stations and manning the controls and systems of the palace.

Some of the ponies questioned why she was there, but she gave them all a straight look, telling them not to. So the ponies kept to their work.

Once Shaina was convinced no one was watching, she made her way over to an unmanned console, which controlled the reactor units of the palace controls, practically the heart of all the power systems.

The pony was supposed to man it had not reported for shift yet.

Shaina then fiddled with the controls, and removed a few power cells from the reactor; vital cells that were not to be removed as they were the way she had, and she stored them within a glass tube, and she left without even leaving any traces of her deed.

The moment she had gone, the reactor temperature had risen slightly, but when the pony who manned the unit came for her shift, she noted that, and a small rise in temperature was nothing to fret about.

Lightning had already gathered up the others and explained to them his idea; Cadance and Shining Armor could have an artificially created child, made from extracted part of their own DNA, “Don’t you see, it would almost be like having a real biological child of their own, and it wouldn’t really violate the laws of the land.”

The others thought it over and realized perhaps it would be a suitable idea, but first they required approval from their royal majesties about this.

“Not a chance!” Grand Ruler said with stern firmness. Even Celestia agreed with him and looked grimly at the ponies for their suggestion, “Do you have any idea what you’re asking?!”

Lightning didn’t like very much how they were behaving, and he could tell from the looks in their eyes they hadn’t slept very well last night, obviously still so uptight about all the worry and chores and alert of attacks.

“Can’t you at least give it some thought?” Lightning asked.

“Lightning, what you suggest is not only dangerous but it’s virtually impractical.” Grand Ruler said.

The ponies were confused.

“How is it dangerous?” Spike asked “I thought you could make artificial ponies? Isn’t that how the Space Alicorn race started?”

“Yes, it is.” replied Grand Ruler “But it was different back then. I already had the DNA samples I needed to make the procedure feasible with magic, but even then I had many failed attempts at creating a child. I was barely able to figure it out the first time.”

Before anyone could ask, Celestia explained the problem already. She hated to break confidentiality, but it was necessary to make things clear. It turned that Shining Armor and Cadance’s medical files revealed that their reproductive facilities were not only so badly damaged, “…If we were to extract the necessary DNA from their samples to make this work, it could be very fatal for them. They may not even survive such a procedure.”

Everyone gasped at such horrible thoughts.

“I can’t believe we didn’t think of that!” cried Rainbow.

“Oh, we can’t just ask them to risk their lives.” said Buddy Rose.

“Even if the procedure worked, and a baby was made, they may not live to take care of it!” added Artie.

“You see…” Grand Ruler said “The risks are simply too great. This conversation is finished. We have much to do.”

Lightning felt awful, more so for not thinking it through enough and seeing as there was no discussing it further, he apologized and he and walked out of the throne room.

“I still think it was a cool idea.” said Pinkie, and the others soft voiced their approvals as well. Lightning appreciated them, but that didn’t change a thing. Their majesties had spoken, and there was no questioning them this time.

After they had gone, Princess Luna had heard everything, and did not take liking to the attitude that was given. She confronted the two. “Sister, Brother-in-law, may have a word with you both?”

Celestia rolled her eyes and said firmly “Princess Luna, please don’t start with us. We’ve made our decision.”

Her husband nodded firmly, and he let out a huge yawn as did Celestia, much to Luna’s pity, “You are both very tired.”

“We are not tired; we’re frustrated!” said Grand Ruler “With all that’s happening already we simply cannot take any risks like this. It could cost Cadance and Shining Armor their lives.”

“Definitely or only possibly…?” Luna asked.

Grand Ruler hesitated and shrugged, “Well… I supposed yes, it’s only possibly they wouldn’t survive, but on the other hand they could.”

“Please, no more!” cried Celestia, “I’m just not willing to take that risk.”

Luna decided to spare the two any lectures or trying to convince them, but she did suggest they think it over. “I can understand you are weary and frustrated, but perhaps you should consider everything before making any firm decisions.”

She left the two to think about it, and just the thought of it frustrated them deeply. How could they ask their niece and nephew to put their lives on the line? That was only the tip of the matters, supposing the procedure would fail and no baby would be created and the still died?

It hurt so much to think about that Celestia began to cry softly. She was so tired, so frustrated and worried. Her husband held her close, feeling the same as she did. “Celesto, I don’t think I could bear it if things went wrong.”

“I know…” he said to her as he “Shining Armor and Cadance mean as much to me as they do to you. I couldn’t bear to lose either of them either.”

Still, they couldn’t ignore that everything from success or failure was all just possibilities; nothing more than a mere guess; a chance. They really needed to think it over hard.

Suddenly, the temperature inside the palace was beginning to rise, and it was felt by everyone. Investigations were carried, out and it turned out that the reactor was starting to race and be overcharged.

Lightning was warned of this, and the guards and technicians explained to him that Captain Shaina was last seen inspecting the reactor unit before the technician reported for her shift.

Lightning marched straight to the training dojo where Shaina was training her new recruits to the royal guard army, and demanded to speak to her at once.

“Captain, do feel the temperature rising?”

“Well, yes sir, I do.”

“You do? Captain, the reactor is starting to race; it’s almost in the yellow zone. Now I want to know what you did to the unit.”

Shaina looked confused and asked, “What I did to the unit? I haven’t been anywhere near the control ops. I’m not permitted inside without written authority or scientific escort.”

Now Lightning felt confused, “But the guards said that you entered the control ops, in a matter of emergency one hour ago.”

“One hour ago...?” said Shaina, then she called for one of the new recruits to come forth. “Kindly inform the commander where I have been since the crack of dawn?”

“Sir, she has been here training us recruits.” the pony answered.

Lightning began to feel worried, “You can swear that you never went anywhere near the ops?”

“I can swear it.” Shaina answered, she was starting to feel a little annoyed, but more concerned. “Alright, I apologize. Forget what I said.” Lightning said, and he ran off, leaving Shaina confused.

Meanwhile, the reactor was getting worse and the palace systems were beginning to crash. Professor Brain was summoned to the main ops immediately to inspect the situation. “Sabotage!” he cried “Someone has removed the cells from the main unit, and unless they are replaced within the next hour, the reactor will overload, which in turn will destroy the entire palace!”

The technicians all gasped in fear, but the professor assured them there was nothing to worry about. “I have ordered up a set of replacement cells for the unit, they should be here in moments.”

Suddenly, one of the technicians burst into the room with distressful news.

“What?!” cried Brain “The entire store room was cleared out?!”

“I’m afraid so, sir.” said the technician “The guards had told me Commander Lightning Dawn had ordered it to be cleaned out.”

The Professor felt confused, “Lightning would do no such thing, at least not without informing me. Oh, dear… if cannot replace the missing cells in time, I’m afraid we will all be in great danger.”

Now the technicians were frightened once again. “Couldn’t we just make new replacement cells?” one of them suggested, “I only wish we could,” Brain said, “But I’m afraid that those cells are highly concentrated forms of energy. It would take days to make just one. There just isn’t time.”

Lightning was walking through the palace, carrying a large bag over his shoulder, most likely full of important things from the palace storeroom, including the cells for the reactor unit.

Goldwin came rushing up to him. “Lightning, where are you going with all that?” he asked.

“Why do you want to want to know?” Lightning asked, almost in a grouchy tone. “Well, the guards said you took the reactor cells from the storeroom, and we need them to fix the reactor.” said Goldwin.

Lightning then quickly whirled around and pulled off Goldwin’s mask, changing him back into a statue. Then he left the mask on the floor and ran off before anyone else would see him.

He made it outside, but the others spotted him from in the courtyard. “Lightning…!” Starla called as she and the others raced after him. Lightning spotted them and began to put on speed.

“He’s trying to lose us!” said Artie.

“I don’t get it, why would Lightning take the reactor cells?” Pinkie wondered.

Suddenly, a second Lightning came swooping in, crashing into the other Lightning. The two ponies crashed down on the ground dropping the sack to the side.

“Huh?” cried Spike as he looked between the two ponies “There’s two of them?”

The others were beginning to realize what was going on, and they all landed in field where the two Lightning’s stood glaring each other down.

“Why don’t you admit your true identity?” one of then sneered, “Me, what about you?” protested the other.

“One of them is an imposter!” cried Rarity “…But which one?”

“Never mind that now,” said Applejack “We should get the cells back to the palace.”

“Oh, I don’t think so…” said a gruff voice. Everyone turned round and saw a strange creature; he resembled a humanoid creature wearing a large steel box for armor, and a visor across his face. He was holding the sack and mocking them.

“Duplicit!” snapped Starla.

“You know this guy?” asked Rainbow.

“Si, we know him. Read about him in the archives.” said Dyno, and Myte continued to explanation, “Five-Hundred years ago, he attacked Unicornicopia and tried to take it over, using the power to duplicate perfect copies of other creatures, making it hard to tell whom was who.”

Duplicit snickered, “Well, I always knew I’d be renowned one day, just as you’ll all soon be for having locked me up for half a millennium!”

He explained how he had sent his clones into the palace, deactivating the security fields so they wouldn’t get caught, and now that he had the power cells, and the reactor was overloading everything was falling into place. “Unless your palace friends want to blow themselves up, they’d better shut down every power source in the palace, but then what will there be to stop me from getting inside and taking over?”

The friends had all heard enough, and decided it was time for action. “Let’s go!” one of the Lightning’s shouted. “Yeah, let’s go!” repeated the other.

With that, everyone transformed…

“STARFLEET MAGIC!!”

“HARMONY HOUR, FRIENDSHIP POWER!”

“Dragon Power!”

Everyone was transformed, including the two Lightning Dawns. However, the visors were able to scan the difference and they could already tell who the real Lightning was; the clones only looked like the originals, but their vital signs were different.

The real Lightning joined his friends and said “Give it up, both of you! We’ve got you outnumbered greatly.” But Duplicty and the Lightning Clone laughed. “Not for long…” hissed Duplicit. He then scanned all the other friends with his visor, and out from his box-body emerged clones of each and every one of them.

The friends all gawked in outrage and their copies glared back, sniggered and looking pumped up ready for a fight.

“Told you, I’m good.” said Duplicit, “Unfortunately, I can only clone those that I scan, and only make one clone of each at a time. But don’t take my word for it… TAKE THEIRS!!”

With that, the clones rushed forth roaring and screaming.

“Everyone, pick a partner and dance!” said Lightning, and he and his friends charged after their respective clone.

What a battle it was! Each friend and their respective clone seemed equally matched in almost every way. Each clone knew the fighting style of their original counterpart, making it easy to determine what moves they would use.

Even their weapons and magic attacks were the same.

The two Starlas fired constant arrows at one-another, the two Buddy Roses got their whips tangled, Artie, Rhymey and their clones had a real battle off with staves and swords, Spike did the same with his clone too. The Spanish twins and their clones really heated things up with their fire attacks, nearly burning up a small part of the field.

The two Raritys’ fists collided with one another. “Oh! You broke my nail!” cried one of them, “You broke mine as well!” whined the other.

“You call those nails?!”

“Shut up and fight, Mule!”

The real Rarity flared up in outraged and charged at her clone with such fury!

The two Applejacks got each other’s ropes tangled; the two Pinkie Pies kept exchanging punches and kicks.

The two Fluttershy’s looked ready to fight. “Actually, I prefer a staring contest!” said the real Fluttershy, “Fine by me.” said her clone, and the two foolishly stared each other down with their deepest most frightful scare, neither one of the budging!

As for the two Rainbow Dash; they flew up high and charged at each other so fast, roaring like angry warriors, and collided into one another in huge Sonic Rainboom that shook the skies.

The two Rainbows however didn’t seem too hurt. “That the best you got?” shouted one “Ha, I haven’t begun to fight!” snarled the other.

As the battle continued, the palace was in worse danger than ever as the crashing systems and the overloading reactor began to take their toll, creating sparks, small explosions and Earthquakes.

Professor Brain found Goldwin with his mask off in the hallway. He placed it back on his face and recited the magic words…

“Powers of life, now begin
awaken the magic from within!”

…and Goldwin was brought back to life, “What happened?” he asked, and he noticed the lights flickering and the alarms sounding, “What’s going on?”

“I’m afraid it’s serious; quite serious.” replied Brain “I have no choice: I must shut down every system in the palace!”

“What?!” cried Goldwin “But if you do that, our defenses will be weakened badly.”

Another small shower of sparks erupted from the celling as a few wires fell out, “And if I do not, the palace will explode from the overload!” cried Brain “I just have no choice!”

Soon, the palace was completely shut down; all the systems and mechanical defenses were totally powerless.

“Oh, no; the palace…!” Lightning cried. Duplicit snickered and said “Looks like your friends have all but given up. Now is the perfect time for me and my clones to invade! COME ON OUT!!”

At the sound of his shouting, and whole squad of pony guards, which he had cloned from around the palace, marched forth.

“No!” cried Starla “We can’t let them get in!”

The fighters tried to rush in to defend the palace, but their evil clones held them back, wanting to continue the fight, refusing to let them go anywhere.

Lightning’s clone gave him a huge punch sending him skidding across the ground, and all the other clones blasted the others sanding them all skidding and rolling into a huge pile.

With the clone still blocking them down, Duplicit and his gang of guards marched forth towards the palace. “At last!” he hissed wickedly “After all these ages, I finally will crush Starfleet, and then roam on to rule the galaxy!”

Lightning clenched his fists as he got up, “I won’t let this happen!” and he concentrated hard making the energy flow through him and he changed into his Enticorn form, much to the enemies’ horror.

“The rumors are true!” cried Duplicit “Lightning can become an… Enticorn! I can’t clone that!”

Lightning Clone seemed just as nervous, he wasn’t able to change into Enticorn as he was only a cheap copy, and the powers he had were not quite the same as the original.

“I should’ve thought of this before.” Lightning said “Just because you look like us doesn’t mean you are our exact equal in every way.” and his body flared up more and more as he prepared for his attack.

“I can still take you!” shouted the Lightning Clone, and he rushed forth, but Lightning punch him hard, sending up way up high, and then he unleashed his fury, “ULTRA UNIFORCE!!”

The attack his the Lightning Clone, blowing him to dust in the skies much to the clones’ horror but to the friends delight.

This gave the Equestrian ponies another idea, and the five of them stood together and concentrated until their cutiemark energy began to show and they shouted, “VALKYRIA!!” transforming into the Valkyries of Harmony.

Just as before, their clones did not possess this specific type of power as it was far too unusual to copy, so they could not become Valkyries.

“Let’s bind ‘em!” said Applejack, and combining their swords together, they unleashed their binding beams to ensnare the remaining clones of themselves and their friends.

“We got them, now let’s finish them!” cried Rarity.

The friends all agreed, and combined their finisher attacks together.

Starla: “GALACTIC PROJECTILE!”

Buddy Rose: “WHIPLASH STRIKE!”

Artie: “SUPER STAFF SPIN!”

Rhymey: “THRASH SLASH!”

Dyno & Myte: “BOOM-BOOM FLARE!!”

Spike: “DRAGON KNIGHT SABER… IGNITE!”

Valkyries: “HARMONY BLAST!!”

The clones never stood a chance and were blown into ash!

Duplicit was furious, and then all the friends stood together with Lightning at the head of the group. “It’s over Duplicit…” he sneered at him “Make it easier and give up while you can.”

“Forget it!” shouted Duplicit, “Not when I’m this close to getting my revenge!” with that, he scanned the friends and created more clones of them, but unfortunately like before they only came out as regular ponies and could not become Enticorns or Valkyries.

“We gave you the chance to quit,
But I guess now there’s nothing for it.” said Rhymey.

Duplicit laughed at them, and motioned that he and his forces were standing directly near the palace, which concerned the others deeply. “Attack us if you will,” Duplicit said “But if you do, the result of your blasts may hit your precious palace as well. You wouldn’t want that would you?”

“He’s right!” cried Buddy Rose “If we shoot now, we could damage the palace.”

“What do we do? WHAT DO WE DO?!!” cried Pinkie.

Lightning was really frustrated, until he looked up and saw a small shimmering in the windows from the tower above. The shimmering seemed be flashing in morse code, which he read and understood.

“Prepare to fire.” Lightning said.

Everyone gawked at him in such shock.

“But Lightning…” cried Starla, “No buts, Starla. Do as I say.”

“But we’ll hit the palace!” cried Rarity.

“I’m aware of that, now stop deviating and prepare to shoot!” shouted Lightning.

The others still had no idea what he was thinking, until the saw him crossing his fingers on his hands, which was one of Starfleet’s many secret signals meaning: Everything was going to be fine and to just do it.

With that in mind, Lightning loaned them a small bit of power to recharge their weapons.

“You can’t, you wouldn’t!” cried Duplicit.

“Try us.” hissed Lightning, and all the others stood poised and ready.

Duplicit was losing his patience, “We’ll take you on! Let’s get ‘em clones!”

The clones all hollered and began to rush forth.

“Ready, guys?” asked Lightning and his friends all gave him a nod, “Ready, and FIRE!!”

(Skip to 0:22)

The team unleashed their power, in a blazing bombardment of blasts and fire power, hitting the monster and all his clones square on.

The resulting explosions were very big and massive that they all combined into one huge blast! Yet, when the smoke cleared, the clones were all gone; Duplicit was captured in a sphere, but the palace was completely unharmed and was shielded by a barrier.

This barrier was conjured by the three supreme majesties, and with a little help from Cadance and Shining Armor.

“Of course!” cried Dyno “Only the normal systems were shut down.”

“…But that didn’t include magical resources.” added Myte.

Lightning and the others de-transformed, and the barrier was dissolved as the five royal ponies walked out.

Grand Ruler picked up the sphere with Duplicit inside, “With him captured any other clones he has roaming about vanished; pitiful creature.”

The others all agreed, for someone having to rely on clones to do all the work for him meant that that he was probably a lousy fighter, hence why he was so easy to bring down without having to fight much.

“How did you all know to come here?” asked Fluttershy.

That’s when Krysta popped up, “I saw what was happening, and when the palace systems shut down, I knew there’d be trouble.”

“Well, it’s a good thing you did.” Celestia said, and then she noticed the bag on the ground, Duplicit had dropped it during the surge, but nothing was damage. She levitated it with her magic and handed it to her sister, “Take to the main ops at once.”

“Yes sister.” Luna complied, and she went off with the bag containing the power cells, and soon the palace systems would be back to normal.

Shining Armor then cleared his throat, “Cadance and I also have an announcement to make.”

The others all gazed at them with much curiosity, and Cadance said “We’ve decided… to try the cloning idea.”

Their majesties felt as if they had swallowed flies, and the others all gawked in astonishment. The couple expected these reactions but reconfirmed “We want to go through with this.” said Shining Armor.

Cadance explained that Princess Luna had spoken to them about Lightning’s idea of an artificial child, “We realize there are risks, but we’ve made up our minds. We want to do it.”

Her aunt and uncle’s feature changed to a deep concern and worry. “There’s no point in arguing.” Shining Armor said “We’re willing to take the risk.”

Still unsure of taking the risk, but realizing there was just no stopping it now, their majesties reluctantly approved. “I just hope we don’t regret what we’ve decided.” said Celestia.

“We hope so too.” Cadance said, but she said it to herself, but pretty much everyone was thinking the same thing.

Still, one thing they all did bear in mind was the possibility of things not going so bad and a new baby would be born, or rather created.

Only time would tell.

(Promo)

In our next episode, while volunteering with Dr. Penny Sillon on a small medical tour, the Cutiemark Crusaders discover a secret passage which leads them face-to-face with the strange pony. Meanwhile, Lightning and friends finally have a lead and discover the true identity of the stranger.

Who is the strange pony and how will he handle the Crusaders trespassing on his lands?

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

(Next Episode: “Into the Light of Darkness!”)