> Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Crossover Go! > by Dragonfire2lm > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Season 1, Episode 1- Fae Hunt Part 1. > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The planet Magian Prime hung in the void of space, it’s sun and moon orbiting around it and the very fabric of reality around the blue and green sphere shifting and warping as if the very existence of this world spat in the face of everything the greatest minds in the universe knew to be proven facts of reality. Observing the planet from afar was a large humanoid robot comprised mostly of simple geometric shapes. Its torso was a rectangle with metal tubes for arms, legs and neck. Its hands were blocky with fingers made of interconnecting metal pieces and all connected to a square palm. Its feet were even more simplistic and just large square blocks of metal. The robots head held the most detail, a square head with two round eyes, a rectangular slit for a mouth and an antenna atop its head with an orb on the end. A blue dot of light glowed in each of the robot’s eyes, the simplicity of its design hiding the complex and advanced technology that lay within. The interior of the robot, an interconnected maze of rooms and halls reinforced with white sheets of metal across every wall and floor were home to the team that piloted the ship sized machinder. The main command room was situated in the heart of the robot, it had six white orb shaped chairs with different coloured seats attached to a lowered circular section of the floor in the centre of the large room with six tubes of six different colours used to transport the crew around the robot off to the far side of the room. Three of the chairs and their owners faced the large command console and screen that took up the majority of the front wall observing the planet. A young human boy, with bright blue eyes, neatly combed yet still slightly scruffy black hair and dressed in what appeared to be a red jumper over the top of a white button up shirt, grey pants and a pair of scuffed sports shoes that had seen better days sat cross-legged in his orange coloured chair looking curiously at the planet displayed onscreen. Next to the boy, practically sprawled in his red chair was something that could only be described as a robot monkey. The animal’s arms and the end of its tail were entirely made of metal tubing not unlike the arms and legs of the robot it was inside. The creature wore a red helmet with a white border that protected the front, top and back of its skull, decorated with a white stripe and a shark like fin in the middle. A pair of bulbous black, glass orbs acted as casing for the monkey’s eyes and its ears were replaced with metal, antenna like augments. It’s muzzle, feet and an oval patch of fur on its chest were white and stood out against the short red fur that covered the rest of the monkey. The red monkey sighed in boredom and sat up straighter as he transformed one of his robotic hands into a large red magnet, pulled out a rag from a hidden compartment within his seat and began to inspect and polish the magnet with his free hand. On the opposite of the child, another robot monkey, this one with yellow fur and light pink eye casing glared at the red one as he started humming. “Sparx! We’re supposed to keep an eye on the planet while Antauri and Gibson finish their research.” She scolded and her teammate rolled his eyes. “Come on Nova we’ve been sitting here for what, three hours? All because Brain Strain wanted to see if Antauri had any old records to, and I quote “Verify the legitimacy of this new information”. I’m dying of boredom over here!” Sparx complained as he shifted his magnet hand back to normal. “We only knew we even had this new information because Sakko pulled it out the Super Robot’s databank and gave it to the Skeleton King!” Nova retorted. “Wouldn’t it be easier to just land on the planet and go looking for this Fae thing?” Sparx asked. “You agree with me, right kid?” The boy seemed to pay his teammates no mind as he looked over at the world below his gaze distant. “Chiro?” Nova asked. “Are you alright?” “Huh? Oh, sorry guys I guess I zoned out for a second there.” the boy replied sheepishly. “Everything alright kid? You looked more than just zoned out to me.” Sparx said. “I think so, something about that place seem odd,” Chiro explained. “It’s almost like we’re meant to go there.” The whoosh of a door opening caught everyone’s attention as two more monkey’s, one blue with black eye casing and one black with green eye casing walked into the command centre. “About time Gibson! You guys find anything?” Sparx asked. The blue monkey walked up to the command console and brought several text documents onto the screen as he explained. “To ease your obvious frustration Sparx, we did find something. Whoever planted these documents into the Super Robot’s database knew what they were doing and expected us to find them. They are indeed legitimate and the implications of this information falling into the hands of The Skeleton King are… disturbing to say the least. However, Antauri is more knowledgeable on the subject than I so I’ll let him explain.” “Thank you, Gibson,” the black furred money said. “The planet we are monitoring is known as Magian Prime, a world formed around a strange space-time anomaly that very few scientists have been able to study due to the unique nature of this world. Time moves faster on the planet’s surface than anywhere else in the cosmos and the world itself has been known to appear and disappear at random.” Antauri pulled up one of the documents they had unearthed as he continued. “This world harbours the last remaining Psychion Fae, a powerful race whose form varies across the different colonies yet all are known to possess a myriad of psychic abilities. They were thought to be extinct after The Skeleton King destroyed their colonial ships and hunted down every last member of the species.” “Which means he could come after the one hiding on that planet.” Chiro surmised and Antauri nodded. “Whether he seeks to once again destroy the Fae or use them for some dark purpose one thing is clear, we must find them before he does.” Antauri stated. “Ok, so why haven’t we already gone down there and rescued the thing yet?” Sparx asked. “The anomaly that surrounds Magian Prime would make it impossible to leave the planet’s surface as we are now, The Super Robot just isn’t equipped with the right technology to handle travelling through the chroniton energy the anomaly generates,” Gibson explained. “We would be stranded on Magian Prime with no way to return to Shuggazoom City.” “Tell that to Skeleton King…” Chiro stated darkly and pointed at the planet. Looming nearby and rapidly approaching the planet was a jagged, massive ship made of bone. It gave off an aura of evil and dread. Chiro and the monkeys stared at it in horror. “So, we’re doomed if do and doomed if we don’t,” Sparx stated. “What do we do now?” Chiro activated the small golden badge pinned to his jumper, in a flash of green light his clothes transformed into a white, long sleeve shirt and pants, black boots, orange gloves and an orange scarf. White face paint adorned the upper half of Chiro’s face with orange lines under his eyes. His hair lost its combed look, his fringe hanging down between his eyes while the rest of his hair shaped itself to mimic the shape of the helmets of his monkey friends. “We have no choice monkey team,” he explained as he finished his transformation into Hyper Mode. “Everyone on that planet is in danger if The Skeleton King gets his hands on that fae.” “Great we’ll get stuck on an alien planet trying to find one specific alien! It’ll be like trying to find a needle in a haystack!” Sparx grumbled. “Well if we had a way of tracking Psychia energy, the power source of the Psychion Fae’s psychic abilities we might just have a chance of succeeding but there’s no way we could possibly build a device to track such a rare energy type in so little time.” Gibson replied. There was a sound of the transport tubes being used as the last member of their team, a green monkey walked in fiddling with a device in his hands. “And just where have you been Otto?” Gibson asked. Proudly, Otto held up the gadget he was working on, it was small, round and covered in flashing lights. He grinned as he explained what it was. “I got bored waiting around, so I built a Hyper Energy Detector. I thought we could use it to track some of the weird monsters Skeleton King uses.” The detector beeped and whistled, the lights along its surface blinking a light pink colour. “Look likes it’s picked up something!” Otto said happily. “Everyone we’ve got a Fae to rescue, monkeys mobilize!” Chiro commanded and the six of them rushed to their respective transport tubes, each one coloured to match of the five monkeys and an orange tube for their human leader. The tubes carried them to their seats in various places throughout the Super Robot as the group performed the start-up sequence for combat. “Foot Crusher Cruiser Six, go!” Nova stated as she strapped into her seat and the back of her helmet connected to an interface built into her chair. “Foot Crusher Cruiser Five, go!” Otto said seconds later. Gibson perched himself in the cockpit of his section of the robot, hands and feet gripping the controls. “Fist Rocket Four, go.” Over the comms, Sparx replied not a second later. “Fist Rocket Three, go!” The groups second-in-command, Antauri, took his place within the Super Robot’s head. “Brain Scrambler Pilot Two, go!” Finally, Chiro slid into his seat, the seat belts snapping into place as he did. “Torso Tank Driver One, go!” As a group, they recited their team name, one word after the other, a rallying cry that steeled their nerves and prepared them for a fight. “Super!” “Robot.” “Monkey.” “Team!” “Hyper.” “Force.” “Go!” they all exclaimed, rockets blazing to life on the Super Robot’s feet and propelling it towards Magian Prime. As it neared the planet, the robot shuddered, alarms began blaring as systems failed or spiralled off the charts. “We’re in the grip of the anomaly!” Gibson stated. “It’s pulling us towards the planet’s surface!” “Foot thrusters are failing! We can’t slow down!” Nova exclaimed. “Navigations dead!” Otto stated. “Monkey Team, brace for impact!” Antauri commanded. The Hyperforce screamed as the Super Robot plummeted to the ground, a dense forest rushing up to meet them. The Everfree forest oozed malice and hate, every tree, bush and blade of stunted grass screamed at her to leave, to run and never return. The sheer animosity made her nauseas she stumbled over to small pond and caught sight of her reflection on the water’s surface. A small creature barely larger than a housecat with the general shape of a fennec fox stared back at her. Bright orange fur, large ears, a narrow muzzle and expressive powder blue eyes tiredly looked over her battered form as the two antennae between her ears drooped in exhaustion, the powder blue bulbs at their tips flickering weakly with psychic energy. Her lower jaw, neck and chest were covered in white fur sullied with dirt and dust and the cream coloured fur of her legs fared no better, her fur was mattered and uneven and her legs riddled with holes that smelt of burnt ozone and psychic energy. She shook loose a pebble that had lodged itself in one of her large paws, wincing in pain as the broken blue crystals around her ankle shifted with the movement, her Psychia Nervous System screaming in pain alongside her regular one at the action. She carefully adjusted her pose to get a better look at her deer-like tail and the matching white spots on her flank. Ok, so my foci crystals are fried, I’ve had three Psychia neural blowouts in the past twenty-four hours and the entire forest is trying to kill me. I need to get to that castle and soon, there’s only a couple of days left. The end of her tail was singed and she took solace in the fact that large red gashes in her side had finally stopped bleeding. She stretched like a cat, and flexed the black, tattered scraps of flesh that were her wings before wincing as they tugged on damaged muscle and tissue. I won’t be moving those anytime soon and just when my wings were starting to grow back too… Her head throbbed with pain and fatigue and with a whine she drank quickly and continued her trek through the forest. She had wasted enough time, time she couldn’t afford to waste. She walked with purpose despite the pain in her legs at each step or the aching void in her head where her horn once sat, she continued on even as countless eyes followed her every movement as she headed deeper into the forest. Curse this forest, curse that damn tree and everything to do with it! I’m getting to that castle, I am going to wait for Nightmare moon, I will make things right and nothing on this ancestor damned world will stop me! Anything that growled at her received a growl in return, the beasts brave enough to lash out were met with her own fangs, claws and snarling fury yet the forest still wanted her gone, the plants sought to halt her progress, blocking her path with branches and even entire trees falling to in her path. She bolted through the undergrowth, leaping over falling logs and sliding under branches as they crashed down around her, screaming their hatred of her all the while. She only stopped running when something too big to fight blocked her path. The fox-like creature looked up as an Ursa Major peered down at in all it’s ancient rage and fury. She leapt away from it as tried to swipe her and she was caught in the jaws of a timberwolf. Ponyfeathers! The wooden canine tossed her around like a rag doll, she felt another clamp down om her leg, she roared in pain, her head burned as power flowed from it to the rest of her body, she was encased in an aura of powder blue energy that quickly caught fire as her body simply kept producing it, the timberwolves were disintegrated as her body screamed out in pain, she felt her power erupt from her ankles, reducing the crystals that grew out of her legs to nothing but dust. Her power kept building, it sought a way out and the added pain of having it explode out of legs and making yet another set of holes proved too much for her on top of everything else. Only the thunderous crash of something falling from the sky to land on top of the ursa major, scattering the constellation beast into stardust, kept her conscious due to the shock. She lay in a tired, painful, bloodstained heap on the forest floor as six figures emerged from whatever had crashed into the Everfree. She was overwhelmed from the sense of strength and safety the group radiated, it was such a stark contrast to the hatred and wrath of the forest surrounding her that she was frozen in shock as they homed in on her and she got clearer look at them. Help me, please. Five cybernetically enhanced monkeys and a young boy. She knew who they were, knew more than she was willing to tell them but she hoped, she prayed that perhaps now she could do what she came here to do despite the Everfree’s attempts at thwarting her. With their help, she could save The Mare in the Moon. It didn’t take her long to realise that The Hyyperforce’s Super Robot had been the object that crashed into the Everfree from orbit, especially as Antauri carefully carried her into the robot’s medical facility and placed her on a bed. She watched with renewed interest as the rest of the group observed her as Gibson cleaned and bandaged her injuries. She kept quiet despite her pain, though being somewhere relatively safer and in good company certainly helped her ignore her pain and discomfort. “That’s a Psychion Fae? What the heck happened to it?” Sparx asked. “She looks like she got into a fight.” Otto noted and the others looked over him curiously. “How do you know it’s a girl?” Chiro asked. “I dunno, she just looks like one. Plus, I don’t think guys have a pouch.” Otto stated. I like him. “That is… surprisingly observant of you Otto, I just performed a deep medical scan it turns that our fae friend here is indeed female,” Gibson remarked pulling out a scanner from where it sat waiting on a table beside him. “Her biology is very interesting, two nervous systems, microbial filters instead of lungs, a highly efficient digestive system, external egg sac concealed in the chest cavity, presumably for a multi-stage incubation process and yes, a pouch. Psychion Fae appear to be egg laying marsupials, fascinating.” He’s as clever as Master said he is. She chittered in amusement as his accurate assessments. “Wait did you just say egg sac?” Sparx asked, looking disgusted and she growled at him. I’d like to see you try to store hundreds of eggs without one. It’s gross but necessary. “Guys, I think she can understand us!” Otto exclaimed and beamed when she looked at him and nodded. “But can we understand her? Communication goes both ways after all.” Antauri stated. If I wasn’t so worn out you’d hear me just fine but such is life I suppose. “How can we tell? It doesn’t look like she can talk.” Nova said. “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it, she’s still wounded and needs time to recover. The long-range scanners detected a settlement nearby so there’s a chance one of the locals know her.” Gibson suggested. “Alright, Gibson, Otto, you two stay here to look after the fae, the rest of us will ask around and see if anyone knows her.” Chiro decided. “We’ll have to travel on foot, the Super Robot is still damaged from the crash.” Antauri advised as they made to leave. “The robot is too large to move around the settlement safely regardless, we can’t run the risk of potentially injuring a civilian.” Gibson added. “Monkey Team, move out!” Chiro ordered. She looked around the sparsely furnished room as the Hyperforce split up though she noticed Otto looking at her curiously. He seemed to have gotten an idea because the next minute he had rushed off to some other part of the robot leaving Gibson just as confused as she was. What on Arcania is he doing? “What on Shuggazoom is he doing?” Gibson grumbled as he carefully inspected her bandaged legs. “Well no matter, you my friend, are in for a long road to recovery with those holes in your legs, malnourished form and general lack of health but not to worry, as a part of The Super Robot Monkey Team I’ll have you in perfect health in no time at all!” You have my eternal thanks. She shuffled around on the bed, her bony form made lying uncomfortable and the pressure of her weight resting on her legs caused no small amount of discomfort. She grimaced and did her best to ignore the pain. “I’m sorry we can’t do more for you,” Gibson admitted. “As much as I would like to administer pain relief we simply don’t know how your biology might react to it.” Has it really been that long since Psychion Fae roamed the cosmos? I guess this’ll be a learning experience for both of us then. She nodded, her tail wagging weakly in gratitude for his efforts. She was still in too much pain to try communicating with him, she huffed in frustration and rolled onto her side to take the weight off her legs. You must have so many questions yet I can’t answer them in this state. Stupid crystal tree…. “Just try to rest, I’ll take a closer look at the medical scan and see if I can come up with something to help you.” Gibson stated. She tilted her head in confusion, hadn’t they already done enough. I’m pretty sure saving my life is enough for now. He seemed to pick up on her thoughts from her body language. “You’re the last Psychion Fae in all the known universe and that makes you a target unfortunately,” he explained. “The rest of my team and I didn’t arrive here by chance, we found records that one of your kind survived The Skeleton King’s attempt to wipe out your people and spotted him near this planet. We thought it was the best choice of action to try and find you before he did.” If my intel was right then I’m not the last but… Oh stars, if the Skeleton King is on the hunt once again… She grew tense at the mention of The Skeleton King, her mind wandered to an image of Ponyville overrun with skeletal like monsters and ponies fleeing in terror. She rolled back onto her stomach, her ears splayed back and antennae snapped back behind her head as she growled and forced herself to her feet. I need to warn Ponyville! She crashed back down onto the mattress, it was clear she didn’t have the strength to do much of anything at the moment. She felt Gibson place a metal hand on her back, easing her down onto the bed as she tried to stand again. “You need to calm down,” he instructed. “You could aggravate your injuries if you try to run off.” I don’t care! There are people in danger! If Fluttershy were here she could translate for me, wait…It’s worth a long shot but if I can just… An image, all I need to do is show him is an image of what she looks like… She whined, her antennae glowing as she forced her tired mind to work beyond her limits in an attempt to put a voice to her concerns. She focused on Gibson, directed her intent at him with what little strength she could muster. He blinked in surprise and she smiled in relief as he quickly contacted the rest of the Hyperforce. Thank goodness… Ow, my head…. “Monkey Team, be on the lookout for a yellow Pegasus with a pink mane and tail and blue-green eyes. It is imperative we get her to the Super Robot immediately, she’s the only one who can communicate with the Psychion Fae.” Gibson explained. “I take it you established some form of communication with our guest?” Antauri asked over the comms. “Yes, extremely basic telepathic communication, I hypothesise that telepathy is her primary form of communication but her injuries prevent her from doing so normally.” Gibson explained. “Don’t worry we’ll keep an eye out for this... Pegasus.” Chiro said. “Seriously we’re looking for a Pegasus?” Sparx snarked. “To clarify the pegasus is a subspecies of the indigenous race of this land, ponies.” Gibson replied. Ah, I sent him more information than I wanted, oh well no harm done. “You’re kidding...” Sparx deadpanned. “This starting to sound like something out of a kids holovid show!” “Hey Nova?” Otto asked. “Where do you keep your heated blanket?” “Why?” Nova asked back. “That blanket is all nice and cosy so I thought we could let the fae borrow it for a while.” Otto replied. “She’ll give it back once she’s better, right?” Nova asked warily. “Uh, Nova, why are you so worried? It’s just a blanket?” Chiro asked. “It’s safer not to ask kid,” Sparx warned. “Nova just… really likes that blanket.” “Oookay then…” Chiro said, confused. Nova sighed. “Alright, alright I keep it in a hidden compartment in my room by my bed. She can borrow it. Just make sure she looks after it.” “Thanks Nova, you’re the best!” Otto said brightly. “…Anytime Otto…” Nova grumbled. Moments later Otto came back carrying a large fluffy blanket that had a cord attached it which trailed back into some unseen corner of the Super Robot. He draped it over her, made sure there was enough space for her to move around and turned it on with a small remote. “You use the dial to change how hot you want it, don’t pick the top one though, that’s a Nova only setting,” He explained and handed her the remote. “It’s got three micro batteries and it’s hooked up to the Super Robot’s neutron generator so it’ll never run out of power.” His joy was infectious and she found herself smiling with him as he gave her the run down of everything he had used to build the blanket and all the fancy settings and other things Otto had installed in it. “Well she’s a good listener at least or perhaps extremely patient.” Gibson observed. “Man, am I glad to be out of there! That forest was creepy!” Sparx stated as the rest of The Hyperforce made their way to moderately sized village with houses that looked to be straight out of the middle ages with thatched roofs and surprisingly colourful designs. In fact, the entire town was colourful, flowers of every colour imaginable grew in flowerbeds outside of homes and the inhabitants of the village itself were just as bright and cheery in disposition as they were in colour palette. The group stood in the middle of the cobblestone road in awe at the peaceful, bustling town as ponies of all shapes, sizes and colours went about their daily business under the midday sun. “Gibson wasn’t kidding about the ponies...” Sparx groaned. “This is weird, it’s like the whole place is me sized.” Chiro noted as everything from the doors to the ponies themselves were no taller than him. “What’s the matter Sparx? This place isn’t manly enough for you?” Nova said teasingly. “Of course not! Even the guys are brightly coloured... at least, I think those are guys.” Sparx said. “Focus guys, we gotta find that pony Gibson told us about.” Chiro stated and walked over to a pink pony with a slightly darker pink curly mane and tail and three balloons marking her flank. “Hey uh, do you know anyone that’s friends with a small fox-like creature that has a pair of antennae on its head?” Chiro asked. “Uh-huh, sure that’s Fluttershy’s mom! OhMyGosh! Did you find her, is she ok? Fluttershy’s been so so worried ever since Fenneca went into the Everfree Forest three days ago!” the pink pony said rapidly. “She was hurt, my team and I patched her up so if you could just tell me where to find this Fluttershy person we’ll uh, get out of your hair.” Chiro replied, taken aback by the torrent of words that came from this pony. “She’s in the marketplace putting up missing posters, tell her I said hi!” The pony said but paused, peering intently at the group. “Say, you guys are new to Ponyville right?” “Y-yeah, why?” Chiro replied. “Then you guys are in for a treat! Everypony-or everyone- new to Ponyville gets treated to a Welcome to Ponyville Party hosted by me, Pinkie Pie!” the pony explained. “Your monkey friends look so adorable, do they like bananas? Because Fenneca loves bananas and she’s not a monkey but she’s always saying that bananas are good-“ Pinkie’s tirade was cut short by Sparx clamping her muzzle closed with a hand. “We don’t like bananas; can we go now?” he said flatly. “My monkeys don’t eat bananas and we’ll catch you later. Thanks for the help.” Chiro said sheepishly and led Sparx away before he did something he’d regret. “Seriously, why does everyone assume we eat bananas!” Sparx fumed. “How come you’re so worked up Sparx? That isn’t like you?” Chiro asked. The red monkey sighed. “I know kid, I’m sorry but look at us. Stuck on an alien planet babysitting an alien that got the scrap kicked out of it from a creepy forest. We’re just sitting ducks, waiting for the Skeleton King to act because we have what he wants. I don’t like sitting on our tails just doing nothing.” “I know Sparx but what if that’s what he’s planning on? Us taking action just so he can swoop in and do whatever he wants?” Chiro asked. “We all understand your frustration Sparx but there’s no need to lash out at others,” Antauri stated. “besides, we have the advantage, by protecting the Psychion Fae we protect the universe and Shuggazoom City by denying The Skeleton King the power he seeks.” “Hey guys, I think I found the pony we’re looking for.” Nova said and pointed to somewhere ahead of them. A butter yellow Pegasus, her long light pink mane held up behind her with a blue ribbon and a matching one was tied around the base of her short and equally pink tail, had finished putting a missing poster onto a stall selling apples and apple related products. Chiro walked over to the mare and grabbed her attention by pointing at the poster. “You’re looking for her right? My friends and I found her out in the forest.” Chiro explained and the pony whipped around and stared at him, her blue-green eyes shimmering with newly kindled hope. “You did? Is she alright? She said was going to go search the old castle in the Everfree Forest but that was three days ago!” the Pegasus exclaimed fearfully. “She’s always let me know if she’ll be gone for more than a day… Oh, where are my manners, I’m Fluttershy.” “I’m Chiro and these are my friends, Antauri, Sparx and Nova. We’re part of the Super Robot Monkey Team, your friend is on our ship.” Chiro explained. “Hey ‘Shy!” a new voice called out as a rainbow maned Pegasus with blue fur swooped down from above to hover by Fluttershy. “You find your mom yet?” “Oh Rainbow! These nice people found her.” Fluttershy replied and gestured to Chiro and the gang with a hoof. The owner of the apple stand, an orange mare with a blonde mane and tail and wearing a cowboy hat, spoke up. “Well that’s the best thing we’ve heard all day, I’m sure everypony will pleased to hear Fenneca made it back alright.” “Totally! I was gonna go get her but it looks like you guys beat me to it, the name’s Rainbow Dash,” the blue Pegasus said and hovered above Antauri, examining him. “Are these like, toys or something?” “We are advanced cybernetic monkeys, not toys.” Antauri explained, though all Rainbow was high pitched monkey chittering. “I don’t speak monkey…” Rainbow said flatly. Fluttershy giggled. “He said they’re real monkeys and not toys.” “You can understand us?” Sparx asked. “I can understand all animals, it’s my special talent,” Fluttershy explained and pointed at the three pink butterflies that adorned her flank. “I can explain on the way, if you want. I’d very much like to make sure Mama is ok.” “Yeah, we’ll take you to the Super Robot,” Chiro stated and looked over at Fluttershy curiously as he led the way back towards the forest. “She’s your mom?” “She found me when I was just a baby and took me in since she couldn’t my find birth parents. What happened to her?” Fluttershy asked. “We found her badly injured in the nearby forest and have been unsuccessful in attempting to establish two-way communication with her,” Antauri explained. “Do you know why?” “Oh dear, she’s that hurt? Mama normally talks using her mind, she can only talk to one person at a time though,” Fluttershy replied. “She used to be able to talk to as many people as she wanted a long time ago but she can’t without her horn.” “A horn? It didn’t that look like she had a horn, or even a broken one.” Nova stated. “Mama said she had to have it surgically removed and it would take too much time and energy to grow back, so she never bothered.” Fluttershy said, flitting nervously around the group as they kept walking. “There’s nothing to be worried about, we got patched her up and she’s doing fine.” Sparx said to try and lighten the mood. The Monkey Team heard the tell-tale sound of the comms switching on as Gibson chimed in. “I can assure you that the Psychion Fae, I believe she’s called Fenneca yes? is doing much better than when we first found her and is recovering form her injuries quite rapidly I might add.” “Thanks for the update Gibson. We’ll be back at the robot soon.” Chiro stated. “Understood.” Gibson replied. “I’m so glad you’re ok!” Fluttershy sobbed as she held her adopted mother gently in her hooves. Fenneca nuzzled her in return, the psychic link between mother and daughter re-establishing itself from the pair’s close proximity. “It’s alright Dear ‘Shy, I’m fine, even better now that I know that you’re safe.” Fenneca telepathically murmured. “When I felt the link between us vanish I was so scared I thought I’d lost you!” Fluttershy said. “The guards wouldn’t search any deeper and I couldn’t risk losing Dash if she went after you too!” “Pardon the interruption but what do you mean by link?” Gibson asked, he and the rest of the Hyperforce were watching the two of them from beside Fenneca’s bed. “I’ll need you to translate for me, is that alright?” Fenneca asked and Fluttershy lessened her grip on the small fox-like creature for a moment and nodded, sniffing back another round of tears. “Atta girl, now repast after me...” “P-psychion Fae have an extra gland located at the front of the brain… that generates Psychia energy and uses the Fae’s second nervous system to transmit it around the body for everyday use,” Fluttershy said, doing her best to repeat her mother’s words. “The fae’s antennae act as relays to send and receive information from one induvial to another with only the fae monarch’s- the rulers of the fae colony- have the natural ability to broadcast information to multiple people at once with a single horn growing out of their foreheads.” “So, the horn acts as a natural signal booster, allowing the monarch to talk to everyone in a group and expend less energy doing so…” Gibson surmised. “Perhaps we can modify one of our communicators to broadcast her psychic energy instead of standard transmissions.” “But wouldn’t she need a way to have it on her all the time?” Nova asked. “We could put one on a collar!” Otto suggested. “She’s not a dog Otto.” Gibson said in annoyance. “Can it be dark purple?” Fenneca asked curiously and Fluttershy passed the question along. “I could ask Rarity to go make the collar, she’ll be thrilled to hear your safe. I’ll ask her if she can decorate it with that black lace you like.” Fluttershy suggested. “Make sure she gets paid for her work, her sincerity is admirable but I don’t want her losing bits on my account.” Fenneca stated. “I’ll make the communicator!” Otto said. “if we make it from scratch we can modify it whenever we need to.” “Well, if we’re all agreed I see no harm in the idea.” Gibson admitted. The sun was setting by the time everything was done, a royal purple collar, lined with black lace fit comfortably around Fennca’s neck. She sat still on the bed as Otto attached a small black box to both the back and front of the collar before finally adding a hyperforce badge with a built-in communicator to middle of the collar. “All done! Try it out.” Otto suggested and leapt off the bed as the rest of the Monkey Team crowded around her, eagerly waiting for the result. Fenneca focused her power, her intent towards the communicator and was pleasantly surprised when the sensors on both the front and back of the collar detected her energy. It wasn’t the same as having her horn, her mind still empty, closed off from any and all other Psychion fae but that was nothing new. This however was exciting. “Hello, I’m Princess Fenneca Evenstar, Fae Monarch of The Star Maker colony of Psychia Fae, it is an honour and privilege to meet you Hyperforce. I’ve heard a few rumours about your return to duty but I never thought you’d come here, of all places.” She said. “You’ve heard of us?” Chiro asked. “Anyone who knows of The Skeleton King, knows about you, the universe’s last hope of salvation from his twisted ways,” Fenneca replied and smiled. “It’s nice being to talk with other people again, it’s just been me and Fluttershy here for over two decades now.” “Are there any other members of your species on this world? We can’t risk Skeleton King getting his hands on them.” Asked Gibson. “I came to this world in search of an Orbital Colonial Ship- a base of operations- for the Moonglow clan and found records of a young fae monarch that been sent to this world via an emergency teleport when the ship lost power and was caught in Magian Prime’s anomaly, now acting as this world’s moon,” Fenneca explained. “By the time I arrived, the poor thing was sick, but had managed to use the magic of this world to recharge the ship. The preservation protocols activated, sending the young fae back into the ship and into suspended animation.” “The Super Robot was damaged when we landed and even if we can repair it there’s no way we can escape the anomaly’s pull and reach the orbital ship.” Gibson commented. “You don’t have too, the orbital ship only has so much power before it needs to be recharged, it’ll run out in two days’ time during a nationwide festival. The fae will be released from stasis and sent back down to her previous location. I was trying to reach it when you all found me.” Fenneca stated. “But that’s during the Summer Sun Celebration!” Fluttershy exclaimed and Fenneca nodded. “I was hoping to contain and cure the fae as soon as she lands but an outside force has prevented me from even getting to the landing zone, I didn’t want to put everyone in town in danger should she come knocking.” “We’ll help you, The Monkey’s and I can quarantine her in the Super Robot while you work on a cure.” Chiro said. “I was hoping you’d say that, I’d rather the little one be in here than making her condition worse or in the hands of The Skeleton King.” Fenneca admitted. “The Skeleton King could choose to send down his forces to attack the village in an attempt to draw Fenneca out and use the confusion to capture her or this other fae, we’ll need to be on high alert until the celebration is over and our target safely contained.” Antauri advised. “Otto and I will work on repairing the Super Robot, once the repairs are complete we can move to somewhere closer to the village to defend it in case of an attack.” Gibson said. “I can’t do much right now, but I’m sure Fluttershy will be happy to help you explain the situation to everyone in Ponyville, they’re a skittish lot but I’m sure Mayor Mare will be grateful for the extra protection during the celebration.” Fenneca added. “Sounds like we got ourselves a plan!” Sparx said. “Alright Monkey Team, be on the lookout for any Skeleton King activity. Hyperforce go!” Chiro commanded. > Season 1, Episode 2- Fae Hunt Part 2 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Night had fallen, Fluttershy was curled up around Fenneca on the bed, refusing to leave her mother’s side and the monkey team had retired to their rooms for the night. The fae herself was wide awake, lying on her side and staring up at the metal square panels that made up the room’s ceiling. Her wings felt like nothing more than dead weights on her back, the tissue damaged beyond repair and dying as a result. Her legs itched beneath the bandages as her body worked to replace the gaping holes with new flesh muscle and bone. She was thankful the pain had receded for the moment. A sweet scent wafted by and she looked to see a plate of muffins lying on the bed in front of her, a plate of muffins that hadn’t been there a second ago. She rolled over to lie on her stomach and craned her neck forward to snatch one of them for herself. She smiled as the taste of banana and honey muffins filled her mouth and held the baked good between her paws as she eagerly devoured it. It was eaten in a matter of minutes she tried to reach for another one but the rest were just out of her reach and she frowned, silently cursing her weakened state. It’s free food and I can’t even reach it! Something moved out of the corner of her eye, she looked around but failed to find anything. When she looked back, however, the plate had been moved towards her so everything was within reach and there was an added get-well card set behind the plate, written in hoof writing Fenneca recognised. “Pinkie Pie, if you’re setting up a party in here don’t set off any alarms and no hay or flower-based foods.” Fenneca advised and she watched Pinkie Pie pop up beside her for a moment, salute and then ducked back down to continue doing whatever she was here to do. The Monkey Team is in for quite a surprise when they get up in the morning. Fenneca mused and dug in to another muffin. “Guys, what happened to the Super Robot?” Otto asked when everyone arrived in the command centre the next morning. Streamers and balloons showcasing the team’s signature colours decorated the walls, tables laden with sweets and other party fare lined the walls and a party hat was placed in everyone’s chair as if waiting for them to put it on while a large banner that read “Welcome to Ponyvillle Monkey Team!” was hung in the centre of the room. “Someone broke into the Super Robot... to throw us a party?” Sparx asked. “Well it beats getting attacked at least.” “This is a serious breach of security Sparx, what if something from the forest had followed them in?” Gibson retorted. “What about Fenneca? She and Fluttershy are in the med bay, aren’t they?” Nova pointed out. “Whoever broke in doesn’t appear to have done so with ill intent, I’ll go check on our guests but I believe we should enjoy this celebration,” Antauri said. “We are the guests of honour after all.” “You guys gotta try this stuff, it’s the best food I’ve ever tasted!” Otto added from where he was scarfing down food from one of the tables. The rest of the team looked at each other, Sparx shrugged and joined Otto over at the table. “When in Shuggazoom, right?” “The food doesn’t appear to be poisoned… Still, some warning would have been appreciated.” Gibson said cautiously. “But then it wouldn’t have been a surprise!” Pinkie cheerfully explained from right behind him, the blue monkey screeched and leapt into the air in surprise. “You’re the pony we met yesterday, so you set this up?” Chiro asked while Gibson glared daggers at the pink mare. “That was not funny…” Gibson grumbled, despite Sparx snickering in the background. Pinkie giggled. “It was kind of funny, do you like the party! I wanted to invite everypony in Ponyville but even I know the Everfree forest is way too dangerous to have a host a huge party, so I made an itty-bitty private one just for you guys!” “You didn’t have to go through all that trouble just for us, you could’ve been hurt.” Chiro said. “How did you even get in here anyway?” Nova asked. “I know all sorts of shortcuts to get from where I am to where I want to go so getting here was easy-peasy!” Pinkie replied. “As for how I got inside, I just asked nicely.” “I’m calling it now, she’s crazy.” Sparx stated. “The good kind of crazy?” Pinkie sked hopefully. “Whatever floats your boat.” The red monkey replied. Fenneca looked up from her seemingly endless supply of muffins to see Antauri walk into the med bay. “I take it the party is in full swing? Fluttershy went home earlier to tend to her animal friends.” she explained. “The inhabitants of this place are certainly full of surprises,” Antauri commented and glanced at the plate of muffins. “Want one?” Fenneca sked with a sly grin. “Yes, I would, thank you.” He replied and leapt up on the bed and helped himself to the spoils and sat across from her. “How are you feeling?” “My wings couldn’t be saved unfortunately, they’ll need to cut off before they cause an infection but other that I’m healing, in no small part thanks to Pinkie’s endless supply of banana and honey muffins.” She explained. She watched in amusement as Antauri ate his muffin, a smile on his face at the sweetness of it. “These are good, I can see why you like them.” he said, still smiling. “Bananas are good,” She replied in a wise tone and chittered happily. “It feels wonderful to enjoy pleasant company again, it’s been too long.” “You mentioned that it had just been Fluttershy and yourself for a while now, does that mean she’s the only one you’ve been able to talk to?” Antauri asked. Fenneca paused mid bite and sighed. “Pardon the long-winded explanation but telepathic communication isn’t as easy as it looks.” “All living things have a natural barrier around their minds, one built from their worldview, their culture and experiences. Since many lifeforms see their mind as the one thing they can truly claim as their own in this life, it is… difficult to establish a means of communication with them. Even most other psychic races share this belief and so the less open-minded person is, the more energy I would have to expend in trying to get my point across,” Fenneca explained. “Even so, I need to do so delicately or risk breaking the mental barrier and hurting the person I’m trying to talk to.” “This world is steeped in magical energy, as are its inhabitants and ponies are rigid creatures. Fluttershy explained the nature of cutie marks, didn’t she?” Fenneca asked. “She did, they are symbol representing the special talent a pony has, the skill or ability that they enjoy doing, a part of who they are.” Antauri replied. “The same power that manifests as a cutie mark also strengthens their mental barriers and as such, I’ve only really been able to properly talk to Fluttershy and those that, like her, have spent their foalhood years around me, children are the most adaptable of any species after all,” She explained. “The ponies of Ponyville have accepted me as a person, an individual but even so, some of them still treat me as a pet or companion rather than someone of equal intelligence and the same is true for everywhere else in Equestria, so I haven’t really been able to have any kind of meaningful conversations and I’d rather not worry my daughter with such talk.” “I’d be more than happy to lend an ear Fenneca, even the strongest among us needs support every now and again.” Antauri offered. “Then I’ll extend the same courtesy to you, friendship goes both ways after all.” Fenneca replied. “I couldn’t have said it better myself.” The black monkey stated and both fell into a comfortable silence as they ate. Saying the citizens of Ponyville were surprised when the Super Robot walked out of the Everfree Forest at around midday was an understatement, there was panic in the streets as they scrambled to find safety and The Hyperforce stared blankly at the chaos below from within the robot’s command centre. “They do know we’re the good guys right?” Sparx snarked from his seat. “They will soon, it appears Fluttershy is trying to calm everyone down,” Gibson noted and pressed a button on the arm rest of his seat. “Activating microphone.” “Everypony Stop!” Fluttershy boomed and the townsfolk literally stopped mid panic, comically frozen in place. “I know this looks scary but this robot and the people in it-“ “What’s a people?” one colt asked and Fluttershy rubbed a hoof over her forehead before she addressed the crowd again. “The ponies that live inside the robot are my friends, so there’s no need to worry, ok everypony?” Fluttershy asked and the crowd immediately began to calm down, muttering amongst themselves. “They’re Fluttershy’s friends, that makes sense.” “Do you think they can talk to faeries too?” “Of course they can, anypony that’s friends with the faery mare can talk to faeries, look at Rainbow Dash!” “But Dash seems so normal, not weird at all.” “That’s what they want you to think!” Back in the Super Robot, The Hyperforce stared in shock at how quickly the townsfolk changed their tune. “See, everyone in this town is crazy.” Sparx said. “What do they mean by faery mare?” Chiro asked. “It could be that Fenneca’s presence has isolated her and Fluttershy from the rest of the population through superstition, she has mentioned that she finds it difficult to talk to establish contact with adult ponies.” Antauri suggested. “Given the danger posed by the monsters in the Everfree Forest, the town has most likely adopted a culture of fear and superstation around anything that isn’t a pony.” Gibson concluded. “Great, just one more place we don’t fit in.” Sprx snarked. “Even if we don’t fit in here, we’re not the only ones.” Nova replied. “Even if we don’t belong here we still have a duty to protect these ponies from Skeleton King.” Chiro said. “And we gotta protect Fenneca too!” Otto added. “Indeed, we can’t stand by and watch if this town or this world is in danger. It is out sworn duty to protect the innocent from evil.” Antauri stated. “With the super Robot up and running, I can extend the threat detection system to cover both Ponyville and the forest, this place isn’t as large as Shuggazoom after all,” Gibson commented. “Otto and I will stay behind and work on a containment field to capture Nightmare Moon.” “I will go and try to obtain more information, Fenneca mentioned the town having a library that might hold valuable intel on Nightmare Moon, even Fenneca is unsure as to what we’ll be dealing with.” Antauri said. “Meanwhile I’ll go patrol the village and let everyone know we’re here to help.” Chiro added. “I’ll stay behind and keep Fenneca company, just in case something happens.” Nova added. The group nodded and went their separate ways, ready to take action against The Skeleton King. The group returned to the Super Robot hours later, took their respective seats and shared what they had learned. “Alright team, what’s our status?” Chiro asked. “We’ve been able to isolate the frequency of the Psychia energy the fae use and modified the robots eye tractor beams to create a containment field that will restrain Nightmare Moon and allow us to cure her of her illness.” Gibson replied. “However, we may still need to be cautious.” Antauri advised the team and everyone turned their attention to him. “Did you find something Antauri?” Chiro asked. The black monkey nodded. “Aside from the interesting fact that Ponyville has a library made out of a tree and a librarian that everyone knows of yet has never seen, Nightmare Moon may have altered her form to use this world’s magic for everyday use instead of her natural fae abilities.” “There’s no such thing as magic, it’s probably just some form of background radiation that scientists have been unable to study due the planet’s anomaly,” Gibson countered. “I’ll have to recalibrate the tractor beams to account for it but it shouldn’t be a problem.” “Even so we should stay on guard. All I could find on Nightmare Moon were a few old myths and legends, nothing concrete.” Antauri warned. “Good idea Antauri. Nova, how’s Fenneca? Is she doing any better?” Chiro asked. “After Otto cut off her wings and we cleaned up what was left of the dead parts she perked right up, I spent the day helping her get her strength back by helping her walking round the med bay,” Nov replied happily. “She’s still a bit unsteady on her feet but she looked so proud of even that small bit of progress it’s hard not to feel happy about it. Plus, it’s nice having someone to talk about girl stuff with.” “What, you two talk about crushes or dresses or something?” Sparx asked teasingly. Nova shot him a glare and stated pointedly “Actually, we swapped battle stories.” “Cool, she tell you any good ones?” Otto asked excitedly. “A few but the whole time I got this vibe that she was happy to have us fight for her for once. She looked, I dunno, tired, like she was sick of fighting.” Nova added. “Perhaps she is simply relieved that she doesn’t have to protect Ponyville by herself now we are here to do so.” Antauri suggested. “Speaking of Ponyville, Mayor Mare has officially hired us to act as security for the Summer Sun Celebration,” Chiro added. “Tomorrow, Princess Cadance will be visiting to check on the preparations and it’s our jo to make sure nothing happens while she’s there and during the celebration.” “Sound simple enough, patrol around the town while Chiro escorts the Princess.” Gibson stated. “Remember team, The Skeleton King could use this as an opportunity to attack, one of us will to stay on the Super Robot to guard Fenneca.” Antauri remined them. “Since you brought it up, why don’t you do it?” Sparx said. “Very well, I do admit I have enjoyed my brief time talking with her.” Antauri replied. “Then it’s settled, great job monkey team!” Chiro said. Chiro watched as the pegasi pulled golden chariot landed off to the side of the dirt road the trailed down the street, the ponies pulling thee chariot slowing from a gallop to a trot and finally outside the giant tree that served as the town’s library. Stepping off the chariot was a pink furred pony a head taller than him with both the feathered wings of a Pegasus and the horn of a unicorn. Her long mane and tail were a mix of purples. Blues and yellows and curled at the tips and her blue eyes shined with the grace and benevolence expected of a princess. Her golden horseshoes and matching tiara complimented the fairy-tale princess look along with the blue crystal butterfly that was her cutie mark. Chiro bowed. “Your highness, I’m Chiro, leader of The Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce. I’m here to escort you around town.” “Please there’s no need for that, just call me Cadance,” the princess replied. “I hear enough of that in Canterlot.” “Ok then, so what’s first on the list?” Chiro asked as Cadance pulled out a pair of saddlebags from the chariot and slipped them on. “First things first, I’ll be stopping by the Ponyville Marketplace. There’s a stall here that sells the most beautiful sculptures in all of Equestria and I always make sure to buy one whenever I come down here!” Cadance replied happily. “Aren’t you supposed to oversee the prep work for the festival?” Chiro sked as he hurried to catch up to the mare as she pranced down the road. “Lighten up Chiro, no one will mind if I stop by really quick.” Chiro sighed in exasperation as he followed the princess into the marketplace. She smiled and greeted the shop owners who busy trying to get one last sale in before they closed up shop for the celebration. Cadance stopped in front of a stall that was adorned with elegant carvings and glowing runes of magic. The stall itself had a variety of detailed crystal sculptures of every shape and colour imaginable and was run by the pony orange mare that ran the apple stand yesterday. “Howdy Princess!” the orange mare said and noticed Chiro looking in awe at the sculptures on display. “Now then. Aren’t you the fella that rescued Ms Fenneca yesterday?” “Yeah, I’m Chiro,” he replied. “Did you make these?” “Well nice to meet ya Chiro, name’s Applejack and nah, I’m just minding the stall for Fenneca, this here is her handiwork. Right pretty ain’t it?” the farm mare replied. “Fenneca made all this?” Chiro asked in awe. “Beautiful, aren’t they? I think I’ll take this one.”Cadance said and levitated a statue of a white crystal rabbit. “That’ll be ten bits Princess, what about you Chiro, you want one?” Applejack asked and the princess pulled out a coin purse from her saddlebags and floated over the correct amount of money. Chiro spotted a gorilla carved from green crystal but shook his head. “I’d like to but I don’t have any money.” Cadance noticed the figure he’d been eyeing and picked it up in her magic, passing it over to him. “I’ll pay for it, a gift.” she said with a warm smile and he carefully held the figure in his hands while she paid Applejack, surprise written all over his face. “Wow, thank you.” he said gratefully. “It’s no problem at all. Now then time to get work, right?” she asked with a cheeky grin. “First stop is the catering.” “Then ya’ll want to head on over to my family’s farm, Sweet Apple Acres, this year is a special event so the whole Apple family from all over Equestria pitched in to help.” Applejack stated. “I don’t have to check the list now, thanks Applejack.” Cadance replied and the orange mare tipped her ht. “Anytime Princess, you two take care now.” Applejack said and waved goodbye as they left. “It sounds like you come here often.” Chiro noted. “My mother lives here, she’s the town Liberian… she doesn’t get out much…” Cadance admitted sheepishly. “So, I visit her as much as I can. I’m going to give her the rabbit sculpture as a gift.” “Alright so that’s the food, those fritters were delicious!” Cadance said brightly. “The decorations are all handled, the weather team is on point this year! All that’s left is to check on the music, Onwards!” Despite spending the better part of the day trekking around Ponyville, Chiro was smiling, Cadance’s friendly nature and caring attitude made it easy to find fun even in doing a simple job such as this. The Princess and her escort headed to the outskirts of town and stopped at a large tree willow tree that towered over them. Chiro noticed the tree had a door, several windows and a balcony which was obscured by the tree’s canopy. “This is a house?” he asked and Cadance nodded. “It’s also Ponyville’s animal shelter, Princess Celestia wants the owner of the place to train a bird choir for the celebration.” She explained. The conversation was cut short when they heard birdsong coming from the backyard. Cadance put a hoof to her lips and motioned for them to quietly investigate. The two of them quietly crept around to find a large, flower covered hedge blocking their view. Cadance smirked, her horn aglow as she levitated Chiro so he could see over the hedge while using her wings to hover in the air. The backyard was huge, animals of all shapes and sizes lounged around the place while a birds perched on trees and bushes as they sang to the commands of Fluttershy, acting as a conductor and using a stick to point out the next section of the song. The song was bright, cheery and short as birds did the work of trumpets and horns that would usually announce the arrival of Princess Celestia. “You all did wonderfully, now we’ll take a break and pick up where we left off after lunch.” Fluttershy said and her flock of birds preened at the praise while the flew over top the many birdfeeders scattered around the garden. “Music? Check.” Cadance whispered and put Chiro back on solid ground before quietly gliding down herself. “That was amazing, I’ve never seen birds do that before.” Chiro said. “Fluttershy has a way with animals. Come on, why don’t we wander around town? I still have a few hours to kill before I’m needed back in Canterlot.” Cadence suggested. “Yeah, sounds like fun.” Chiro agreed. In the med by, a rock floated in Fennec’s powder blue psychic energy, suspended in the air in front of her as she used her claws to carefully carve an image into it. Six similar rocks rested beside her while a box of them sat discarded on the floor. Antauri meditated beside her, sitting in a lotus position as he hovered in the air under his own psychic power. She smirked as she looked up from her work to notice him looking at her curiously. “These seven stones have the best harmonic resonance to my psychic energy, by carving the proper symbol, rune or word for each of the Psychion Fae colonies, Sun Singers, Moonglow, Star Maker, Soul Sifter and Chronicler Colonies, the Fae Council and the Dust Mother these stones can be used for a faerie circle to boost the castor’s energy,” She explained as Gibson walked in. “They work like magic batteries, gathering energy and channeling into the user to perform feats of magic that they wouldn’t normally be able to do.” “You mean to say these are examples of Psychion Fae technology?” Gibson asked. “These are examples of Psychion Fae spellcraft.” Fenneca replied. “Don’t be ridiculous there’s.” Gibson began but the fae princess cut him off. “I swear to Shadar, if you say there’s no such thing as magic…” Antauri could see where things were heading and spoke up. “We can’t afford to fight among ourselves so perhaps it would be best to agree to disagree?” “I’m sorry Antauri but from where I’m sitting he’s insulting me, my master and the thousands of others that came before us that studied the arcane.” Fenneca stated hotly. “Arcane as in archaic, magic is nothing more than superstition and misinterpretation of documented scientific phenomena.” Gibson replied. “You’re standing on a planet that defies scientific explanation at every turn! Pegasi hold dominion over the weather, this kingdom’s ruler raises the sun!” Fenneca protested. “These creatures are genetically predisposed to interact with air currents and weather patterns, if we were to study their biology you could figure out how they do so easily,” Gibson countered. “And Princess Celestia raising the sun? preposterous! She’s using the anomaly’s affects to give herself more significance in the eyes of her subjects. Just a bunch of smoke and mirrors.” “Then explain yourself! You and the other monkeys wield The Power Primate, a mystical, perhaps magical force and yet you fight with advanced technology! Proof that magic exists and can coexist alongside science and technology!” Fenneca retorted her as her eyes and antennae flashed purple. “Both of you, enough!” Antauri snapped. “In fighting will get us nowhere. Gibson, I want you to keep on eye on the threat detector and Fenneca? We need that faerie circle done soon if we are to have any chance of saving Nightmare Moon.” “Yes, of course Antauri.” Gibson stated and left the room. “Sorry.” Fenneca muttered and went back to work. After a long day of preparations for both the citizens of Ponyville and The Hyperforce, the warm summer night was filled with tension for both groups though for entirely different reasons. While ponies celebrated late into the night in the town hall, The Monkey Team stood at the ready outside The Super Robot. “We have but an hour before Princess Celestia is due to raise the sun, scientific impossibility aside and also an hour until our target returns to Equestria,” Gibson stated. “The plan is as follows, Antauri will disengage the Brain Scrambler with Fenneca on board while the rest of us will distract Nightmare Moon long enough for Antauri to trap her using the altered tractor eye beams and Fenneca will administer the cure.” “So, what is the cure?” Sparx asked. Fenneca, curled up in a corner of the Brain Scrambler responded over the comms. “I’ll be using a spell, amplified by a circle of rune stones to restore Nightmare Moon to full health.” “That is hardly a decent explanation.” Gibson pointed out. “Very well then,” she huffed. “First, I’ll be scanning her body to isolate the illness, then look at her genetic code to determine if she was genetically predisposed to catching it or if it was simply a matter of her environment. Secondly, I’ll isolate her consciousness from the rest of her body, putting her to sleep while I break her body down to its atomic structure and reconfigure it into a perfectly healthy variant, all in the span of seconds.” “But the amount of energy needed for atomic disintegration and reconstruction would be enormous and the slightest mistake could kill her!” Gibson explained. “I am a Star Maker, the universe is but atoms to me,” she stated. “This procedure is a common one learned among all Star Maker monarchs.” “Will it work?” Antauri asked, attempting to prevent another argument. “We can’t keep her contained for long.” “This isn’t the first time I’ve had to perform the spell, it will work.” She replied. A beeping noise came from the group’s communicators. “That’s the alarm, Ponyville is under attack!” Nova exclaimed. “Antauri, you stay here with Fenneca in case Nightmare moon shows up early. Everyone else, move out!” Chiro ordered and the team ran towards the town. As they neared the town the familiar roar of motorbikes met their ears and the stopped in shock at the sight. A horde of formless raced through the streets, gunning after any pony unlucky enough to still be out at the late hour. “It appears Skeleton king has finally made his move.” Antauri stated grimly. “Well it’s time we made ours!” Nova exclaimed, her hands transforming into giant yellow and pink fists as she charged the nearest skeletal monstrosity. “Boom, Boom Wake-up!” The hapless minion didn’t know what hit it, black goop flying everywhere as it was obliterated and the rest of the team quickly followed Nova’s example. Gibson spied a nearby water tower, his hands morphed into drills he fired beams of energy at a group of formless to get their attention. They took the bait, ran forward with their claws at the ready. The blue monkey side-stepped them as he drilled into one of the tower’s support beams which sent it crashing down onto the formless and the water that spilled out made the rest unsteady on their feet. Sparx summoned his own weapons, giant magnets, a ball of red magnetic energy formed as he moved his magnet hands closer together and with a cry of “Magna-ball Blazer!” he sent the ball hurtling towards another formless, the velocity of the projectile knocked it off its bike and slammed it into a wall, splattering it into goop. A scream caught their attention and the team looked over to find a young filly cornered by a group of formless. Otto rushed forward, hands becoming large green sawblades, sparks flew off them as he put the spinning disc close together and aimed at the formless. “Skritch Scratch Doom Thrower!” he exclaimed as he pelted the formless with hot sparks. With the enemy distracted, Chiro rushed in pulled the filly out from the line of fire. He placed the pony down as Nova leapt into another group of formless, pounding them into goop. The filly made a beeline for the safety of nearby building. “Hyperforce, to town hall! We gotta make sure everyone is safe!” Chiro ordered and the monkeys backed off and stood protectively around their leader. “Chiro!” Antauri said from his seat in the brain scrambler. “I’m detecting Nightmare Moon’s energy signature, she’s headed for town hall!” “Roger that Antauri, commence operation Fae Hunt!” Chiro ordered “Change of plan team, we wipe out every last formless we see, we need to buy Antauri and Fenneca time to deal with Nightmare Moon.” “Disengaging Brain Scrambler.” Antauri stated and after a few button presses, the head of the Super Robot separated from its body and morphed into a flying vehicle. The craft zoomed across the night sky and reached the town hall in seconds. Antauri looked at the screen above him and read the information it displayed. “She’s almost here, activating eye tractor beams!” he stated as he spotted a blue wisp of smoke moving towards town hall. The brain scrambler’s twin tractor beams activated, trapping the wisp of smoke just as it was about to slip into the building. The wisp grew in size, changing and shifting until in its place, caught in the beams, was a tall black furred mare with both wings and a horn, her long mane and tail resembling a chunk of the night sky and moving under their own power. “Fenneca, now’s your chance!” Antauri stated and the fae princess jumped out of an open hatch, the seven rune stones floating in her magic as she landed on the ground below. “What trickery is this!” the mare demanded as she struggled. “Release me at once!” Fenneca ignored her and placed the seven stones in a circle around herself and took a deep breath. Her ears and antennae dropped to the side as she focused and reached her mind out to the stars above. An explosion broke her concertation and she looked up to see Nightmare moon hurling blasts of magic at the tractor beams. “I’m losing power, I can’t hold her!” Antauri explained and the tractor beams fizzled out, the brain scrambler billowing smoke as something exploded inside the ship. “Antauri?” Chiro asked worriedly over the comms. “I’m alright, I’m heading back to the Super Robot, the brain scrambler is badly damaged.” Antauri replied. “Has Nightmare Moon been subdued?” Gibson asked. “I’ve got it covered, just focus on defending the town.” Fenneca stated as Nightmare Moon got to her hooves “What are you?” Nightmare Moon hissed as she stared at Fenneca. The fox-like fae tilted her head in confusion. “Have you… Have you never seen another Psychion Fae before?” Nightmare Moon looked dumbfounded as if she was having trouble processing the information. Fenneca used this to her advantage and began chanting. “In honour of The First king, in memory of The First Queen, in the name of The Dust Mother may I bring hope back to this shadowed soul.” “What are you doing? Stop!” Nightmare Moon stated as the stones around Fenneca glowed a bright blue. In her panic, Nightmare tried to fire a bolt of magic but it harmlessly bounced off a purple shield that sprang up around the smaller fae. “May light and love grace this one once more, I call upon your healing light, O golden Mornstar!” A rune, glowing as bright as the sun, appeared under Nightmare Moon, a golden orb of light blazed forth from it and encased the mare in its magic. A swirling vortex of power erupted forth and died as quickly as it appeared, blinding all those present with one final flash of power. Fenneca felt her mind brush against the consciousness of the much younger fae and with care and plenty of reassurance directed at the younger monarch, Fenneca set to work giving the other fae every bit of information she would need to live and flourish in this world. The experience was simple, like a river flowing downstream Fenneca’s knowledge on her own kind trickled from her mind to the other fae’s who eagerly soaked it up like a sponge, fear gave way to understanding and that too shifted into sorrow and regret. Time held no meaning as Fenneca guided Princess Luna back from the dark. The sun rose that day to cheers of victory as the Monkey Team arrived at Ponyville’s town hall to see Fenneca standing a small dark blue filly. The filly had both feathered wings and horn, though what was interesting were the antennae, long rabbit like ears and light blue, rabbit-like tail that marked her as a psychion fae. Her equally curly blue mane obscured her face as she hugged Fenneca, bawling into the fox’s chest. Ponies began to trickle out of the town hall and watched in silence. “Is she ok?” Chiro asked and Fenneca looked up at him sadly as she spoke. “Her name is Luna, a monarch of the Moonglow colony. Psychion Fae children don’t show signs of taking after their fae parent until they hit puberty, yet this pup, foal, whatever, has her antennae, horn and wings fully grown. Her growth was accelerated far beyond what was healthy for a child her age and her mind couldn’t keep up with her body, literally forced to grow up too soon.” “Furthermore, from what I can tell, she was put into a position of power at such a young age, fae hybrids like her age at roughly the same rate as their non fae parent but they still have certain needs that have to be taken into account or else their developing psychic powers turn on them, literally becoming poison that twists the mind and body and if left untreated the process is irreversible and at times, fatal,” Fenneca explained. “I’ve transmitted everything she needs to know about herself and her species telepathically so once she feels up to it she can learn what she is and who she wants to be at her own pace.” The crowd began whispering in awe as they parted to make way for Princess Celestia, the ruler of Equestria. The solar princess approached the group and paused in surprise when Fenneca stood between her and Luna, fangs barred and hackles raised. “There is nothing to be afraid of, I only to want to see my little sister and to thank you all for saving her from the evil that corrupted her.” Celestia explained. Fenneca growled, her eyes and the bulbs on her antennae changed from powder to blue to a dark purple. Her ears and antennae snapped backwards in aggression. “She. Was. Sick you ignorant welp! I looked into her mind and she knew nothing of what she was where she even came from! It was a miracle she even survived this long!” Fenneca roared. “She grew up thinking she was a freak and butchered herself just to fit in.” Celestia was shocked into silence. Fenneca looked over at Luna as the filly rested a hoof on her shoulder. The fox sighed and shook her head. “I get it, you both had no idea but even still if I had just arrived sooner…In truth, I’m angry at myself for failing to stop this from occurring so I apologise for my outburst.” “Then I too should apologise, I didn’t realise something was wrong with Luna until it was too late, if anypony is to blame, it is me,” Celestia replied and walked over to Luna. “Can you ever forgive me, Luna?” Luna hesitantly looked around her, her antennae twitching nervously as she mumbled her reply. “I-I don’t know…” “Then I will do everything I can to make it up to you, I missed you so much little sister.” Celestia said and Luna nodded. “They deserve a reward...” Luna mumbled and pointed at the Hyperforce. “You’re right, thank you, all of you for saving my sister.” Celestia said gratefully. Chiro stepped forward. “We’re The Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce-“ “Go!” Otto chimed in. “-and we came here looking for Fenneca, our enemy the Skeleton King wants to capture her and his forces attacked Ponyville.” Chiro explained. “I can protect other psychion fae, so Luna is safe from his detection but I can’t do the same for myself I’m afraid and Luna isn’t old enough to safely use the proper wards.” Fenneca explained. “In that case, I Princess Celestia, hereby name The Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce as Knights of Equestria and defenders of the kingdom!” Celestia declared and smiled at Fenneca. “And how can I reward you?” “I am Princess Fenneca Evenstar of the Star Maker colony and simply knowing that my people aren’t gone from the universe is reward enough for me,” the fox replied and looked over at the crowd to see Fluttershy watching form afar. “Though... if I may be so bold as to ask a favour, Princess?” “By all means.” Celestia replied. “I wish for my adopted daughter and for all those of her line to be given noble status while within Equestria’s borders. A mother wants nothing more than to see her children live as safe and as happy a life as she can provide.” Fenneca stated. “I think I can arrange something, Lady Fenneca.” Celestia replied with a smile. “I walked right into that one, didn’t I? Oh well.” Fenneca mused. “Alright team, how about we can and enjoy the party?” Chiro suggested. “We’ve earned it.” “Need I remind you that we are stuck here for the foreseeable future?” Gibson chided. “The Super Robot doesn’t have the capacity to escape the pull of the anomaly.” “Then we’ll just have to make the most of it right? I gotta admit the ponies start to grow on you after a while.” Sparx said. “It’s not really that much different from protecting Shuggazoom City, just smaller.” Nova commented. “Come on you guys! We’ll miss out on all the food!” Otto called out from the entrance of town hall. “Otto is right, we should take the time to relax and enjoy ourselves before The Skeleton King’s next threat makes itself known.” Antauri stated and followed his teammate inside, the rest of the team not far behind him. > Season 1, Episode 3- Depths of Fear > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- “If Princess Celestia controls the sun, you’d think she’d turn the heat down a bit.” Sparx said as he and Chiro sat under the shade of a tree by Ponyville’s local lake. “Still, it was a pretty cool idea for Pinkie Pie to throw a party here for everyone to cool off.” Chiro replied as Nova, Otto and Gibson splashed around in the lake alongside many of the locals from Ponyville. Several other ponies were lounging on towels or picnic blankets set up under the shade of large umbrellas or trees. “Hey Chiro why don’t you come in, the water’s fine!” Nova called out. “Nah it’s fine, I-I’m good here!” the boy replied nervously. “Heh, don’t sweat it kid, we’ll beat the heat our own way.” Sparx stated. A shadow fell over the yellow monkey and she looked up just in time to see something quickly plummeting towards her. “Oh no…” “Pony tsunami!” Pinkie Pie cried out joyfully as she landed in the lake with a large splash. “I don’t know how you lot have the energy to run around in this heat,” Fenneca said from her spot sprawled atop a large rock, the bandages around her legs were gone as were the holes. “In my opinion there’s nothing better to do on a sunny day than lounge around and take it easy.” “I couldn’t agree more darling.” Replied a white unicorn mare with a purple mane and tail styled in elegant long curls and sapphire blue eyes. The mare was wearing a large straw sunhat and was sharing a towel with Fluttershy, a pitcher of lemonade between the two. “I know lot of my animal friends enjoy the warm weather Rarity,” Fluttershy replied. “Everyone just has different ideas of fun, that’s all.” “You got that right, there’s no way I’m getting in the water and end up smelling like wet monkey,” Sparx replied, the end of his tail transforming in to a small fan he pointed in Chiro’s direction. “We’re cool as cucumbers, right kid?” “Yeah.” Chiro replied. “Hey, everypony out of the water!” Everyone looked up to see Rainbow Dash flying down towards the gathering, a flock of other weather pegasi flying behind her. “This is official Wetherpony business. Show’s over folks.” “Is something wrong Dash?” Fluttershy asked. “Ever since the water tower got destroyed last week, Ponyville’s hasn’t had as much water reserved for weather management and the waterways have all dried up so we have to store as much water in clouds as we can to hold out until we get the big rainstorm next week from Cloudsdale.” Rainbow replied. “I wonder whose fault was that, huh Gibson?” Sparx asked sarcastically. “Clearly the Skeleton King’s minions have grown more formidable, targeting a key structure like that during the attack.” Gibson said. “Suuure.” Sparx replied. “Is there anything we can do to help?” Chiro asked. “Well I think the water shortage is caused by a blockage in Ponyville’s underground waterway and as Lead Weathermare of Ponyville it’s my job to figure out what went wrong and how to fix it,” Rainbow stated. “The waterway is a huge network of tunnels that carries water from an underground lake in the Everfree Forest all the way to Canterlot’s aqua ducts. I could use some help looking for the blockage, it’s like a maze down there.” Antauri floated up from where he was meditating beneath the surface of the water. “The Super Robot’s scanners should be able to map out the subterranean waterway and pinpoint the cause of the problem.” “Someone will need to stay behind to relay the information back-” Gibson explained and Chiro latched onto the idea. “Me, pick me! I’ll stay!” “Somepony mind explaining what’s going on?” Rainbow asked. “With Chiro staying behind, Rainbow will need a way to communicate with the rest of the team.” Fenneca pointed out. “You could come with me.” Rainbow suggested. “I don’t like being underground any more than you like being grounded.” Fenneca stated curtly. “What’s the big deal? You live in the basement.” Rainbow retorted. “A basement I dug out myself, know is structurally sound and ludicrously reinforced.” The fae replied. “You know, we could give Rainbow a communicator and have Fenneca wait with Chiro in the robot.” Otto suggested. “This is where you guys get your water, talk about creepy.” Sparx stated as he and the other monkeys looked around the large cavern Rainbow Dash hovered down from the entrance, a large pony sized manhole, a Hyperforce communicator hanging around her neck via a piece of cloth. “I only come down here to do maintenance, this place is creepy.” “Chiro, have you located the source of the water blockage, the high mineral composition of these tunnels are interfering with my scanner.” Gibson explained. “The Robot’s scanners have detected a blockage down the main tunnel you’re in now, just keep going straight and you can’t miss it.” Chiro replied over the communicator. “Be careful everyone, we’re picking up additional life signs down there but they’re spotty at best. It could be the local wildlife or it could be whatever caused the water to stop flowing in the first place.” Fenneca added. “Does anyone else feel like we’re being watched?” Nova asked. “Be on your guard Monkey Team.” Antauri advised as the group walked down the tunnel. The darkness of the cavern forced the monkeys to use their head lamps for light while Rainbow flew above them, her head turning toward every strange sound that echoed through the tunnels. “She’s certainly jumpy today.” Sparx commented. “Rainbow? Are you alright?” Fenneca asked. “Why wouldn’t I be? Did that monkey say something?” Rainbow replied. “There’s nothing to worry about, you’re almost there.” Chiro stated. They group turned a corner to find themselves staring at a dead end. A lumpy, twisted mess of something that resembled rock towered over them from floor to ceiling and prevented them from going them any further. “What the? There wasn’t a wall down here before!” Rainbow exclaimed as Gibson inspected it with his hand-held scanner. “This ‘wall’ appears to made of wood pulp and hardened… mucus, disgusting,” the scientist commented. “I’m also picking up a large volume of water on the other side of this structure.” “So, you think something built this?” Sparx asked. “Who cares, let’s just smash it and get out of here.” Nova said, her weapons at the ready. “Wait! Chiro, this is why there’s no water right?” Rinbow asked. “Yeah.” “This thing’s obviously been here for a while, we last checked the waterways the week before the Summer Sun Celebration so if it’s been like this since then…” Rainbow explained. “The water’s been blocked for at least a week.” Chiro realised. “We need to let it drain out slowly or Ponyville could be flooded.” Rainbow stated. Something moved in the shadows, Nova whirled around in search of it but was met with only the darkness of the tunnel. Something impacted her back with enough force to send her flying into the wall, something sticky that prevented her from using her fists and kept her body pinned to the cavern wall. “We’re under attack!” Antauri warned just a green glob hit him square in the chest and leaving him stuck to the ground. “It appears to be bioluminescent mucus with highly adhesive properties, Otto, can you cut them loose?” Gibson asked. “I can- uh-oh!” Before Otto could do anything he too was stuck to a wall by a glob of glowing green goop. “Oh, just great, we’re stuck underground and trapped by a pile of snot!” Sparx snarked, stuck upside down to the opposite wall. “My wings! They’ve gummed up my wings!” Rainbow moaned from her place glued next to Antauri “Gibson get us out of here!” Nova exclaimed. “it appears Fenneca was right, we aren’t alone down here…” Gibson stated fearfully as hundreds of blue, bulbous compound eyes stared at the group from the shadows, the sounds of chittering and buzzing roaring in their ears. A large, deep sounding crack followed by a dull boom echoed from the fake wall, the creatures in the darkness scattered into the depths of the tunnel as water began to pour from cracks in the wall. “The water pressure is too much for the structure, it’s breaking down.” Gibson stated. “The wall’s broken! We gotta warn Ponyville!” Rainbow exclaimed. “Forget Ponyville, what about you? You’ll drown!” Sparx said. “Monkey Team to Chiro, come in!” Antauri said. “We’re trapped in the waterway and it’s flooding, we need help immediately.” “Chiro?!” Antauri called out as the leader of the Hyperforce stared numbly at the screen. “I…I can’t!” Chiro forced out. “I can’t swim!” “Chiro, go issue an evacuation order, I’ll go down and rescue your team.” Fenneca stated. “But aren’t you-?” “Afraid of being buried alive? Yes, but I’m more afraid of losing someone when I could have done something to help them,” Fenneca replied. “I’ll make sure everyone comes back safely Chiro, I promise.” Chiro activated Hyper Mode and ran out of the Super Robot with Fenneca, the fae heading in the direction of the waterway’s entrance while Chiro sprinted into Ponyville. “Everyone, get to higher ground!” he called out, waving his arms to get everyone’s attention. “The town’s about to be flooded!” He ran from street to street as ponies galloped to a hill outside of town. Chiro checked every store, every house and worked with the weather team to shepherd the citizens away from town. Just as the last few ponies reached the safety of the hill, water sprung from pipes and manhole covers, rushing through the streets and transforming Ponyville into a miniature mockery of the waterways beneath it. He activated his communicator. “Monkey Team, come in!” He sighed in relief as he got a response from Nova. “We’re alright Chiro, Fenneca got us out and rescued Rainbow Dash.” “She created a semi-permeable forcefield around Rainbow to allow her to breathe underwater, quite ingenious really.” Gibson added. “It’s a modified shield spell…” Fenneca corrected. “Can you two not do this right now? We still need to get out of here.” Sparx commented. “Uh guys, I just saw something move down there.” Otto said. “Wait, is that?” Nova asked. “TV Monster! Monkey Team, move!” Antauri commanded. “Rainbow, head to the surface-“ Fenneca ordered and Chiro heard her yelp over the comms. “it’s got Fenneca, after it!” Sparx shouted and Chiro’s blood ran cold as the voice of the Skeleton King came in through the commlink between him and the Monkey Team. “You pathetic primates, did you really think you could stop me! The Psychion Fae is mine!” The sound of laser weapons being fired filled Chiro’s ears, his body moved on his own as he ran down the hill, his teammates, his friends crying out in pain as the Skeleton King cackled in his ears. “You are nothing without the boy! Just mere stepping stones on my path to universal destruction!” The Skeleton King gloated. Chiro grabbed his helmet from his room inside the Super Robot and slammed it on, it covered his head entirely with a glass panel around his face so he could see. He heard hiss of the helmet connecting to his Hyper Mode uniform, adjusting both the pressure inside the helmet and supplying a continuous stream of oxygen to Chiro even as he dashed out of the robot and ran towards the nearest manhole cover. He waded through the water, feeling around for the cover and quickly pried it off, more water spraying out like a geyser until it petered out into a weak gurgle. He stared down into the water depths, his heart racing, his breathing shallow. “What are you guys doing? Help her!” Chiro heard Rainbow shout over the comms. “That thing is getting away!” Chiro found himself staring at the unnatural, horrifying visage of The Skeleton King as the dark lich projected his form onto the water’s surface. “You’ll find me wherever you find fear, boy.” Chiro glared at the image and stepped through it, wading deeper into the water. “I’m not afraid of you.” Chiro could hear The Skeleton King’s roars of fury as he dove into the water and started swimming. He moved awkwardly at first, a weak dog paddle but some small, instinctual part of mind, or perhaps The Power Primate, kicked into gear and he found swimming to be as simple as walking. “This isn’t so bad,” he cheerfully said, confident in his new aquatic ability. “Now, where’s Fenneca?” “Hello, is anyone there? I could use some assistance!” Fennec shouted over the comms in a panicked voice. “Fenneca? Where are you?” Chiro asked. “I triggered a cave-in, it was the fastest way to keep this thing from kidnapping me…I’m stuck, that monster was blocking my radio signal and I don’t have enough strength to clear the rubble!” The fae replied. Chiro looked around and saw a pile of rocks on the floor nearby, a few of them glowed blue for a moment, shuddering slightly before the blue aura flickered out. He swam down, one hand clenched into a fist that glowed with energy. “Thunder Punch!” Chiro exclaimed and struck the pile of rubble; the force of the attack crumbled the rocks and left a cloud of dust in its wake. When the dust settled, he spotted Fenneca, the bulbs of her antennae lighting up the tunnel as she paddled towards him. “Thank you…Just thank you.” Feeneca said gratefully, relief palpable in her voice. “Any sign of TV Monster?” Chiro asked. “No, it was damaged in the cave-in so it fled.” Fenneca replied as the comms crackled to life. “Fenneca? Are you alright?” Antauri asked. “We Spotted TV Monster fleeing the area.” “She’s fine guys, I rescued her.” Chiro explained. “Chiro? Underwater? Nice going kid!” praised Sparx. “That was very brave of you Chiro.” Antauri added “I’m glad you guys are ok, what happened to Ponyville?” Nova asked. “Hey, is anypony there?” Rainbow asked over the comms. “The weather team and I are working on cleaning up the flooding so you guys can come up now.” “Yeah, I say it’s high time we got out of here.” Sparx added. “Indeed, whatever attacked us could still be down here.” Gibson stated. In the void of space, hovering above Magian Prime was The Citadel of Bone. Deep within the heart of the ship, on a throne as vile and twisted as he was, sat Skeleton King. “the Hyperforce think they’ve won? This is only the beginning!” the undead king growled. “they think they’re safe, that they can protect thepsychion fae with their new pony allies…” He smiled evilly as things scurried and moved about in the shadows of his ship. “The Hyperforce aren’t the only ones with allies on this world and one day the boy and those filthy primates shall face my wrath!” To Be Continued… > Season 1, Episode 4- Boast Busters > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Man, it’s kinda weird having the patrols be so… short.” Chiro commented as The Hyperforce walked back into the Super Robot’s main control room. “With the Super Robot’s scanners and our own town wide patrols, protecting Ponyville from danger has proven to be a much more streamlined process than in the past.” Gibson added. “Even so, we mustn’t let down our guard or become complacent, the moment we do so will only give the enemy an advantage.” Antauri stated seriously. “Hey team? we have a visitor.” Nova pointed out and the group looked up the command rooms main computer screen which displayed the feed from one of the robots outside cameras. “What’s Fluttershy doing here?” Otto asked. “You don’t think something happened to Fenneca do you?” Nova asked worriedly. “Nah, she looks like she’s here for a casual visit, she probably just need help with something.” Sparx replied. Chiro activated the microphone. “Hey ‘Shy, we’re in the command room, come on up.” “Um, thank you for inviting me in. I’m not interrupting anything am I?” Fluttershy asked as she walked out of the orange transport tube. “Not at all, I take it you need us for something? We’d be happy to help in any way we can.” Antauri replied. “Oh, thank goodness, I was worried you wouldn’t hear me out, what with you all being so busy protecting Ponyville and Mama from all those monster attacks.” Fluttershy said. “We wouldn’t be very good heroes if we didn’t listen to people when they have a problem, so what’s up?” Chiro asked. “Well, um, this is going to sound silly but you all have to stop Skeleton king from kidnapping Mama, right? Could you maybe, um…Be her friends too?” Fluttershy asked, her wings twitching nervously. Otto looked like a kicked puppy. “We’re not her friends?” “I didn’t mean it like that!” the pegasuis hastily said. “It’s just Mama doesn’t really open up to anyone nor does she have anyone to share her hobbies with, aside from me and Rainbow but she treats Rainbow more like my friend and not her friend as well.” “You want us to spend time with her and get to know her better? I believe we can manage that.” Antauri said. “Really?” Fluttershy asked hopefully. “Sure, what sort of stuff does Fenneca like doing?” Chiro asked and Fluttershy beamed. “Mama has her sculpting and her magic studies obviously but she likes wood carving, gardening, cooking, fishing and reading,” Fluttershy explained happily. “She loves reading fiction, fae don’t have fiction, every single story they have is actually a historical recount from one of their ancestors.” “Wood carving huh? I’ve always wanted to try that.” Chiro said. “An entire race whose literary content is entirely non-fiction, that does sound interesting. I wonder how their society evolved to reach that state?” Gibson wondered. “I dunno, fishing sounds kind of boring but I guess it would be fun to cook your own catch.” Sparx said. “I myself am curious about Fenneca’s magical abilities, from what we’ve heard from her she obviously takes pride her skills as a mage yet seems reluctant to rely on that same skill.” Antauri added and shot Gibson a look when the scientist opened his mouth to argue the point. “Don’t worry Fluttershy, we’ll take care of her!” Otto said. “I noticed a poster in town today during my patrol, it was advertising a magic show,” Nova said. “It’s around the same time Fenneca closes up shop for the day so why don’t we take her to go see it?” “A big flashy show like that would also be a prime target for a Skeleton King attack, we could show up saying we’re there to act as security.” Sparx suggested. “Or we could simply ask her to join us during our time off. Disguising out intentions will only end in suspicion and distrust.” Antauri countered seriously. “I can talk to her if you want,” Fluttershy spoke up. “I just want to see mama happy around someone other than me… she’s done so much and I know she’ll continue to be there for me for the rest of my life but…” The yellow Pegasus smiled sadly. “I won’t be there for the rest of hers. I want her to find happiness outside of the home, I want her to have friends other than me. Mama will live a long time after I’m gone so I want to do something to make sure she’ll have somewhere to go and people she can rely on after that.” “Wow… that’s some heavy stuff you’re saying, isn’t that still a long way off?” Sparx asked. “Oh yes, definitely but it still worries me. I just can’t bear the thought of mama being left all alone if something happened to me.” Fluttershy replied. “A noble sentiment from one your age but you shouldn’t let such thoughts cloud your mind, you have many years ahead of you. It is what you do today that matters most not what tomorrow may bring.” Antauri said warmly. “Besides we’re called robot monkeys for a reason, we don’t age.” Sparx added puffing out his chest proudly. “Clearly, you still haven’t grown up.” Nova said mockingly. “Says you, you’ll always be cute, little Nova to me.” Sparx teased and Nova pulled out her weapons, growling in anger. “What did you just say?” “Uh did I say cute? I meant strong and tough and-please don’t kill me.” Sparx begged “That’s better.” Nova huffed. “Are they always like that?” Fluttershy asked. “More or less.” Chiro replied sheepishly. A crowd had gathered around a stage in the middle of the town square, the ponies that had gathered watching on curiously as a blue furred mare with a silver mane and tail, dressed in a purple wizard hat and cloak decorated with stars performed on trick after another. “This all just sleight of hand and misdirection, common tactics for stage performers.” Gibson commented from where he and the rest of the team watched from in the middle of group of onlookers. “I dunno, I think it looks kinda neat.” Otto replied. Rainbow hovered above the group, looking rather bored at the tricks being displayed. “Pfft, I’ve seen Fenneca do better than this.” “I agree darling, even Fenneca’s usual outfit for Nightmare Night is better than… that.” Rarity added. “Can we just enjoy the show? I don’t care if I can or have done better.” Fenneca calmly stated from where she was levitated above the audience by Antauri in order to properly see the performance. The mare onstage seemed to have caught wind of the conversation. “Well, well, well, it seems we have some neighsayers in the audience. Who is so ignorant as to challenge the magical ability of the Great and Powerful Trixie? Do they not know that they're in the presence of the most magical unicorn in all of Equestria?” “So, "Great and Powerful Trixie". What makes you think you're so awesome, anyway?” Rainbow asked. “Antauri, put me down. I’m done here.” Fenneca said flatly. Antauri lowered her down gently and looked at her in concern. “Is something the matter?” On stage, Trixie was regaling the audience of how she dented an ursa major. “When all hope was lost, the ponies of Hoofington had no one to turn to, but the Great and Powerful Trixie stepped in, and with her awesome magic, vanquished the ursa major and sent it back to its cave deep within the Everfree Forest!” “I know exactly how this is going to go, that poor mare will be heckled right out of town, I’m not going to stand here and watch such a thing,” The fae replied. “I’ll be at Sugarcube Corner if you need me.” “Perhaps it would be best if I went with you, you never know when the Skeleton King might attack.” Antauri said. “I suppose I could use the company and you can easily contact the rest of your team should something happen, oh very well, come on then. I’ll pay for you.” Fenneca relented. “Your stuff is all set up for you over there!” Pinkie Pie said brightly as soon as Fenneca and Antauri stepped into the bakery. They both blinked in surprise as Ponyville’s party pony herded them to a both in the corner of the store, food and drinks already set for them. Fenneca sat down, staring at the plate of banana bread and the mug of hot chocolate waiting for her while Antauri seemed to be just as shocked at the plate of cookies and strawberry milkshake waiting on his side of the booth. “How did she know what we were going to order?” Antauri asked curiously. “It’s Pinkie Pie, try not to think about it.” Fenneca replied. “This town is certainly full of mysteries.” The black monkey added. The two of them fell into a comfortable silence as they ate, both fae and monkey choosing to focus on their food and the quiet, calm atmosphere of the bakery. “it’s usually busier than this, I suppose everyone is out watching the show.” Fenneca mused after a while, a melancholy tone in her voice. “I’ve noticed you take great pride in your magical abilities, your arguments with Gibson are the most expressive I’ve seen you be,” Antauri commented. “You are usually more reserved.” Fenneca paused, trying to gather her words her a moment. She nodded to herself and took a sip of her drink. “My ancestor, Queen Lupa married a powerful dark mage. Magic is in my blood just as building and nurturing the world around me is,” the fae explained. “My master was a mage, as was his wife and I helped train their firstborn in the ways of magic after I graduated from master’s teachings.” Fenneca smiled wistfully. “Amore was such a sweet girl and a joy to teach. I still remember how excited she was when her mother announced she was pregnant with her younger brother, skipping around the house shrieking with laughter at the prospect of being the perfect big sister.” “I like to think Amore and her brother are out there somewhere, happy and healthy. It’s been so long since I’ve seen them,” Fenneca said. “Master’s family were one of Skeleton King’s first targets, Amore and her mother fled through a portal to some distant world just to survive and…well, one of Masters last acts before he was imprisoned was to send his son far into the future to a time where he could grow up safe or as safe as a child could be under the looming threat Skeleton King now poses.” “I know the boy is safe with a family who cares for him and that’s all that matters,” She said and laughed bitterly. “I can’t even tell the lad about his family for fear he’ll fall into the Skeleton King’s clutches trying to find them.” “You will be able to someday; The Monkey Team and I will one day bring an end to the Skeleton King,” Antauri replied. “All we can do is hope for the best.” “Aye, and I can hope that someday I’ll be able to show myself as a mage and not just Fluttershy’s mother or a fae. I honestly do miss using magic out in public for the benefit of others.” “I wouldn’t mind seeing what you can do, at the very lest you are welcome to share what you know with myself and the rest of the team, even if Gibson might disagree with your methods.” Antauri said with a smile. Fenneca smiled back in gratitude, a sad, wistful look mixed with the pain of past experiences. “People don’t understand that magic is more than just knowing fancy spells, every practitioner develops their own style and not every scholar or mage will know every spell there is to learn and Ponyville just sees my performance on Nightmare Night as nothing more parlour tricks anyway,” Fenneca said bitterly. “I forbade Fluttershy from studying magic because of how most ponies see me use it, I didn’t want her to face anymore hardships than what she’s already been through.” “Couldn’t you simply explain to everyone now that you can freely communicate with them?” Antauri asked. “It took me several years of performing during Nightmare Night and in the company of children no less, to convince everyone that I wasn’t some evil witch here to steal away their foals or curse their homes,” Fenneca stated. “Nowadays I just stick to using my magic and my mages uniform around the house until Nightmare Night rolls around.” “Then perhaps another approach is needed. If the inhabitants saw you using your magic frequently around town they would gradually come to accept it and you as a part of their community.” Antauri suggested. “I suppose, I was more worried about Fluttershy being ostracized by my presence in the past so I never took the initiative to show that I would not use my powers to harm innocents but… Dear ‘Shy has been pushing to get out and express myself more.” The fae mused. The sound of someone screaming in pain and fear caused the two of them to dart out of their seats and dash outside. Rainbow flew past, her tail and flanks badly singed as a small cloud followed her around, constantly zapping her with lighting. “Rainbow, this way!” Fenneca called out and the blue Pegasus raced towards her. The fae princess’s left antenna glowed and tinkled with the sound of channelled magic, Fenneca quickly drew a rune in the air, the movement of her antenna leaving lines of magic suspended in the air. “Frostbite!” She called out, the rune glowed and transformed into an orb of icy mist that hit the storm cloud as Rainbow flew overhead, freezing it solid in a matter of seconds and sending it plummeting to the ground where it shattered into pieces. Rainbow saw that the cloud was no longer after her and landed beside Fenneca, letting out a sigh of relief. “Phew, thanks a lot. I felt like my wings were going to fall off with how long that thing kept following me.” “Are you hurt?” Antauri asked. “Nah I’m fine-ow!” Rainbow yelped as Fenneca prodded the mares flank with a paw. “You have first degree burns, from a lightning strike,” Fenneca noted her expression dark. “What happened?” “It was that crazy mare, Trixie! She challenged Ponyville to a contest, anything we could do, she could do better!” Rainbow explained. “I performed a trick and she sicked that thing on me!” “… What?” Fenneca exclaimed. “Of all the reckless, asinine, selfish things… Dash, hold still.” Fenneca walked over to one of the many flowerbeds scattered around town and picked a few of the healthiest flowers and held them in her telekinesis. She walked back to Dash and sat on her haunches, her front paws glowing in a soft green light as she held the flowers in one paw. Ponies stopped to stare as the plants in her grip wilted, a grassy green coloured light flowing from then and held in her free paw. After tossing the dead plants to the side, Fenneca placed her paws on Rainbow’s chest and drew another rune with her antenna, this rune was drawn much more carefully, a backwards facing N followed by an arch running through it. “Healing Hands.” She stated and the completed rune glowed, the energy harvested from the flowers further fuelling the spell as golden light washed over Rainbow, healing her wounds and leaving in the best shape she’d ever been. Once the light faded and Fenneca stepped away, Rainbow moved around, testing and flexing her wings and legs as if to see if the spell did the trick. “That was awesome! I feel awesome! What was that?” Rainbow asked. “One of many rune-based spells passed down in my family ever since my colony was founded, such spells are also taught at the school I went to. I used one spell to destroy the cloud and another to heal you, though I used some extra magic from those flowers to curb the usual side effects of casting the spell, usually targets of Healing Hand have their vitality restored by burning excess fat in the body and speeding up their metabolism resulting in extreme hunger upon completion.” Fenneca explained. “That was still awesome! Why you don’t you do that stuff more often?” Rainbow asked. “Do you remember when you used to stay over at my place when you first moved to Ponyville all those years ago and the legend of the Everfree Witch was still going around?” Fenneca asked. “Yeah….” Rainbow replied slowly. “Everyone thought I was the witch and that was after I got them to stop thinking Fluttershy was one in training.” Fenneca flatly stated. “Oh.” “Nevertheless, if the blatant disregard for her audience and their safety is what Trixie considers to be part of the act, then someone needs to set her straight.” Fenneca stated. “I haven’t received any calls for assistance from my team, so perhaps everyone does think this is normal.” Antauri stated. “That was not normal, I know my storm clouds. if anypony else had gotten hit, they’d end up in the hospital! I got burned and I’m a Pegasus, Pegasi are naturally resistant to lightning!” Rainbow exclaimed. Fenneca had taken off, running back towards the stage show. “Should we do something?” Nova asked as Rarity wailed about her mane Turing green and Applejack was forced to bunny hop offstage, her body hogtied and an apple stuck in her mouth. “This doesn’t look like part of the show.” “It’s a show, what performer would hurt the people giving them money?” Sparx asked. “She’s still an Equestrian citizen, unless she hurts someone, our hands are tied.” Chiro stated. The ground rumbled and shook, onstage Trixie struggled to keep her balance as the stage was lifted up, caught in the branches of large tree that rapidly grew and towered over the audience. A branch snaked out and cut through the ropes binding Applejack while another limb of the tree, this one tipped with a flower moved towards Rarity. The flower opened and the pollen it released restored the unicorn’s mane back to normal. “Who dares to interrupt The Great and Powerful Trixie’s show!” the showmare demanded. “I heard you wanted a challenge, didn’t you?” Fenneca stated as she materialised onto the stage beside the mare, almost as if she faded into existence. “What were your words, anything we could do, you could do better?” “Who are you to challenge Trixie?” Trixie asked and looked at the fae in confusion. “What are you?” “I am a certified Flora Magus from the Mages Association Grand Institute of the Arcane.” Fenneca stated. “You’re a graduate from M.A.G.I.A? But that’s impossible the school only accepts unicorns!” Trixie exclaimed. Fenneca blinked. “I wasn’t aware the school had an Equestrian branch.” “If you’re a graduate of M.A.G.I.A then prove it, everypony knows only unicorns who study at the school learn how to summon a familiar as it’s the only school in the world that teaches them how.” Trixie stated. “Form Familiar? They teach that to children and do you not see the giant tree around you?” Fenneca stated, an ear flicking in irritation. “You obviously had help from a unicorn whose special talent involves plants, you’re just bluffing!” Trixie argued. Fenneca rolled her eyes and turned to face the crowd. “Plese be advised that learning or casting Institute taught spells without a license is illegal in all realms the school is affiliated with.” With her antenna she drew an arrow that pointed to her right and drew a line through it, she didn’t even need to recite the spell’s name as the rune glowed and turned into an orb of light that sunk into her chest and popped out a second later, glowing and expanding until it popped like a bubble. A small blue dragon with large fins on the side of its crocodile-like head and small webbed wings was curled up on the stage floor, snoring cutely. “This is Miss Snuggles, my familiar. She is what’s known as a bedraggle, a dragon-like monster species that has become so reliant on intelligent life to care for it that it rarely shows its true power.” Fenneca explained and nudged the creature awake with a paw, it yawned and crooned happily at her as it got its feet. Trixie was speechless as the fae stepped towards her, a serious look on her face and teeth bared, her familiar growling threateningly. “Your little stunt with that storm cloud gave a Pegasus first degree burns and you clearly have no respect for your audience,” Feeneca stated coldly. “You are a performer are you not? You are supposed to entertain, not belittle your paying customers and stroke your ego!” “I’m done here, my tree will stand until sundown, as a reminder of your actions today. I suggest you clean up your act Trixie, insulting your audience won’t get you very far in show business.” Fenneca advised and jumped off the stage, Miss Snuggles using its wings to hover down after her. The fae was met with the thunderous applause of the crowd. She meekly nodded her head in thanks. “I was just doing what I felt was right.” She admitted and left the town square, her familiar waddling along behind her. The small dragon squeaked at her and Fenneca smiled at it. “Yes, yes, you’ll get to see Fluttershy again, I know its been a while since I brought you out,” Fenneca said. “I’ve got some new chocolate flavours for you to try as well, you’ll love them.” Miss Snuggles roared in joy, its wings fluttering and tail wagging happily as it walked beside its owner. “I missed you too.” Fenneca replied with a smile. The inside of the large willow tree Fluttershy and Fenneca called home was large and spacious with plenty of room for a zoo full of animals to comfortably live and move around in without any issue. The décor had a homey feel to it and if one looked closely you could protective charms and spells carved into barely noticeable spots of every piece of furniture, every shelf and even in the corner of the walls and floor of the home. Lighting was provided by bioluminescent flowers that grew out of the ceiling and the bookshelves, shelves and kitchen counters looked to have even grown from the tree itself. Fenneca stood on a custom-made stool, one she had carved herself as she used her telekinesis to stir a large pot of soup sitting on the stove. She glanced over at the salad she was tossing and let it sit in the bowl as she looked over the fridge, opened the door and pulled out a bottle of salad dressing and applied a generous amount to the salad before placing the bottle back into the fridge. She did all of this with her psychic abilities and not once having to step off her stool. She checked the stew, pulled out a clean spoon from the cutlery draw and gave a taste. “Fluttershy? Did you want soup or salad for tea? I had to use up the tomatoes before the preservation spell made them go funny.” Fenneca called out and the Pegasus poked her head into the room. “I was wondering…” Fluttershy began cautiously. “How, much did you make?” “Didi you invite Rainbow over again? You could have warned me. I would have made tuna bake instead.” Fenneca stated. “I invited the Hyperforce…” Fluttershy admitted. Fenneca paused, then a flurry of activity overtook the kitchen, plates, bowls and cutlery flew from their respective shelves and draws to float past the open archway on the far right of the kitchen into the dining room. “I better get my skates on then.” “You’re not mad, are you?” Fluttershy asked. “No, I’m not, I just hope they like my cooking.” Fenneca replied with a nervous smile. “Care to give me a hand? We’ll need something for dessert, any ideas?” “We still have some ice-cream in the freezer what about that with some fruit?” Fluttershy suggested. “That will work, pick whatever fruit you think will work best, slice them up and leave them in the fridge for later, it will save time,” Fenneca said and turned her attention back to the stew. “Make sure the animals are fed and cared for once you’re done and I’ll plate up when they get here. How’s the new patient by the way?” Fluttershy walked to fridge and began picking and choosing fruits for dessert as they carried on the conversation. “He’s still unconscious, though with how badly hurt he is its no surprise. I still don’t know how he wandered through the Everfree Forest in his condition.” “You saw the prosthetic limbs he has, even as bare bones as they are he’s more resilient than he appears. He may be n animal but he’s as intelligent as you or I so we should be careful.” Fenneca advised. “If you think he’s dangerous shouldn’t we ask The Hyperforce for help?” Fluttershy asked. “Given the brain damage he had when we found him, it’s hard to say what state he’s in, all we can do is wait.” Fenneca replied. “I suppose so,” Fluttershy agreed, placing the apple slices into a clean bowl and started washing and cutting up a punnet of strawberries. “I heard about what happened at the magic show today. Are you alright?” “I wasn’t the one that got hurt.” The fae replied and Fluttershy looked at her mother in concern. “That’s not what I meant.” The Pegasus stated, the rhythmic sounds of the duo’s work in the kitchen punctuating the awkward silence that followed. Fenneca let out a sigh. “I’m upset at how Trixie treated her audience; her actions today could paint how the entire town view magic.” “Lots of ponies use magic, it won’t be that bad.” Fluttershy said reassuringly. “Hm, we’ll see. I still remember how difficult it was just buying food for you when you were little. I don’t know what I would have done if Granny Smith hadn’t helped me out,” Fenneca stated. “I just remembered I need to use the eggs soon; do you want egg salad sandwiches for lunch tomorrow?” “Could you make egg and mayo sandwiches? I’m meeting up with Rarity during my lunch break and I thought I’d share my lunch with her.” Fluttershy replied. “A good idea, that mare is so busy it’s no wonder she prefers to eat out at The Canter Café, she barely has enough time in the morning to make lunch for her sister let alone herself,” Fenneca noted. “Rainbow likes egg and mustard, doesn’t she? I was going to make some for myself anyway.” Trixie had locked herself in her wagon after carefully (and embarrassingly) climbing down the tree that had her stage ensnared in its branches. She stared at her reflection in the mirror of her small vanity, a brush held her magic idly combing through her mane. Her hat and cape hung on hooks by the wagon’s door and the curtains on the window were drawn tightly shut as mage lights floating near the ceiling provided the small living space with light. “How dare that furball humiliate Trixie in front of her audience. Those country bumpkins know nothing about magic!” the show mare fumed. “She must have cheated!” Her gaze drifted over to her degree in stage magic and illusions. It was from a small, family run magic school in the heart of Manehatten. Her rage melted away, her reflection looking as sad as she felt. “Trixie will be the most powerful unicorn in Equestria, then everypony will once again know the name of Hoofsten Lulamoon’s School of Magic and Misdirection!” Trixie exclaimed and looked at a photo beside her on the vanity. It showed a much Trixie standing alongside two older ponies, a mare that shared her mane colour and a stallion with the same coat and eye colours as her. All three of them stood proudly at the front of a tall building. Above them hung a banner that read Grand Re-opening!. A knock at the door drew her attention and Trixie puther hairbrush down on the vanity and peeked out of a nearby window. Waiting outside the door was a charcoal furred, teal maned earth pony with green eyes and a chrysalis for a cutie mark. She had a small box balanced on her back. Trixie huffed, rolled her eyes and walked over to the door. “The Great and Powerful Trixie is resting after performing feats unseen by pony eyes, go away.” Trixie stated flatly, only for the mare to shove the box into her hooves. “I was so inspired by your performance today Great and powerful Trixie! I just had to give this to you.” The mare gushed excitedly. “I was digging around in my family’s old house and came across this old thing, rumour has it its supposed to boost a unicorn’s magic! I wouldn’t know for sure since well, I’m not a unicorn but hey you are!” “Um, thanks?” Trixie replied, overwhelmed by the other pony’s excitable nature. “Oh no need to thank me, I can’t wait to see you wear it during your next show!” the pony replied. “oh, look at me, just rambling on. I better get home. Bye-bye!” With that the pony left just as suddenly as she appeared. Trixie took the package inside with a shrug. “What a weird pony, still this is a gift from a fan… Oh my gosh, this is my very first piece of fan mail!” Trixie said happily and tore open the box. “An… amulet? Well it looks magical. It might clash with my outfit, eh I can just try it on now and see.” Trixie slipped on her hat and cape and stood in front of the vanity mirror as she slipped the red and black amulet depicting a unicorn head flanked by a pair of outstretched wings around her neck. “It doesn’t look too bad…” Trixie mused, her curiosity getting the better of her. “That pony said it can boost unicorn magic right? Let’s find out.” As the sun set for the day, red light could be seen peeking out past the small gaps in the curtains behind the windows of Trixie’s wagon. Fluttershy, Fenneca and The Hyperforce sat around the large, round dining room table. Everyone had a both a bowl of soup and a small plate of salad in front of them. “I gotta say this soup is good, not as good as mine mind you but not to shabby.” Sparx stated. “It’s just tomato soup, nothing special.” Fenneca replied. “Sparx just doesn’t want to admit someone other than Antauri is a better at coking than him.” Nova teased. “I can admit Antauri is a better cook than me, he taught me how to cook and you have no room to talk, you avoid the kitchen like the plague.” Sparx shot back. “Calm down, both of you. Remember, we are guests here.” Antauri chided. “As long as the food doesn’t go to waste and no one gets hurt I don’t mind a bit of banter. It’s been centuries since I’ve had the pleasure of enjoying such a lively meal.” Fenneca said. “Just how long have you been stuck here anyway?” Chiro asked. “Oh, around nine hundred years.” The fae replied between bites of her salad. “You have to keep in mind that time moves faster here on the planets surface than everywhere else in the universe.” “That’s still a really long time though. It must have been lonely.” Otto said. “I left home in search of other fae, the hope and future of my entire race on my shoulders. I can bear a bit of loneliness for their sake,” Fenneca stated and smiled. “That didn’t stop me from taking in and looking after Fluttershy.” “How did you find her anyway? Did her parents abandon her or something?” Sparx asked and the fae noticed Chiro was paying rapt attention to the conversation. “It was the night after one of the worst storms I’d ever seen during my time here, even the Everfree wasn’t left unscathed. Trees ripped from the ground, roots and all, flood waters powerful enough to wash away boulders. I found Flutershy as an infant, trembling on a stray piece of cloud, hanging onto it for dear life, the poor thing was soaked to the bone,” Fenneca explained. “I only found out the full story a few days later after stealing a newspaper from town, that same storm had practically torn apart Cloudsdale, a Pegasus city made of heavily enchanted clouds. By all rights it should have withstood the brunt of the storm but for some reason it just didn’t.” “Mama went looking for my family but so many other foals had lost their families too she was worried I'd get lost in the system as everyone worked to find a home for the survivors, a lot of ponies lost more than just their homes,” Fluttershy added. “So, she adopted me and here we are.” The conversation was halted as the sound of the front door slamming open made the Monkey Team jump up in their seats on high alert. “Rainbow? What did I tell you about knocking first?” Fenneca called out. “Sorry!” Everyone heard the rainbow maned pegasus call out from elsewhere in the house and The Hyperforce visibly relaxed. “Is my food in the fridge?” “Yes, in the paper bag on the second shelf, oh and show up early tomorrow if you can, I’m making egg and mustard sandwiches for lunch.” Fenneca replied. “Awesome! Thanks mom, see ya!” The sound of displaced wind, the opening and slamming of the fridge and the whoosh that signaled Rainbow leaving via an open window happened so quickly the Monkey Team didn’t really know what to make of it. “What just happened?” Otto asked. “Did she just call you mom?” Nova asked Fenneca. The fae princess just laughed. “She doesn’t call me that out in public, in fact she is so against the idea that she continues the play part of Fluttershy’s best friend instead of her adopted sister. Don’t let on you know though, I don't want her to get embarrassed.” “Rainbow’s an orphan too, she moved to Ponyville when she was thirteen and mana caught her looking for food in our rubbish bin,” Fluttershy explained. “Since she graduated from Flight School early Rainbow wasn’t old enough to have a job or support herself but she wanted to prove she was as capable as anyone else.” “She put on such an air of confidence everyone thought the silly girl was just fine and already had a home, I took her in since Fluttershy already knew her from Flight School and we’ve kept up the little show ever since,” Fenneca elaborated and shook her head sadly. “She a strong one but I fear her confidence will get in trouble one day.” “I can sort of understand where she’s coming from, not wanting to be weak or helpless.” Chiro admitted. “I wondered why you took it upon yourself to heal Rainbow’s injuries instead of sending her to a doctor,” Antauri said with a knowing smile. “You’re not one to normally display your abilities so openly.” “I couldn’t just stand there.” Fenneca retorted. The conversation fell into idle chatter and light-hearted banter as plates were cleared and Fluttershy helped her mother serve dessert. There was a sense of belonging and comfort in the room, the house as lively as ever as tales of heroic exploits and daily misadventures were swapped between everyone. Fluttershy and Chiro shared a hoof bump under the table as Fenneca laughed alongside the others at a story Sparx was telling, their goal of getting the fae princess to open up looked to be a success. The next morning saw no sign of The Great and Powerful Trixie, just the tracks from her wagon that led to the road going out of Ponyville. To Be Continued... > Short: You've Got Mail 1. > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Was there anything in the mail?" Otto asked hopefully as Fenneca walked into the Super Robot's command center levitating a satchel. "It's only been a few days since I set up the post office box for you guys. Give it time," Fenneca replied and smiled. "But yes, The Super Robot Monkey Team has mail Otto." "We'll need to scan it to ensure it doesn't contain anything harmful." Gibson suggested. "Antauri gave me permission to give it a once-over to make sure no one tried to sneak anything past the Robot's defenses, it's all safe." Fenneca replied. "Of course it's safe Gibson, they're letters from my fans after all." Sparx stated confidentiality. "We only got a couple of letters, one is addressed to me and the other for Nova," Fenneca said and pulled out a letter. "Even so, it appears our Golden Monkey has a couple of fans." "What does the letter say?" Nova asked. "One fan wanted to know if you'd rather fight a giant crow or a large bear with bone like spikes, as well as wondering if you had any embarrassing stories about your teammates. I'll be recording what your response for an authentic reply." the fae explained with a mischievous grin. "Why do I have to pick? I'd smash both of them!" Nova stated, with an aggressive fighting stance to match. The yellow monkey paused as she thought about the second question. "Embarrassing stories huh? Well there was the spaghetti incident." Gibson groaned. "I assure you, I did not make that spaghetti monster on purpose. I was merely trying out a new form of artificial flavoring I had developed..." "It took us three days to get the spaghetti sauce out of our fur after the monster ate us instead of the other way around!" Nova argued. "Gibson, as much as we appreciate your scientific endeavors, you are banned from the kitchen for a reason." Antauri stated. "It's ok Gibson!" Otto replied cheerfully as the blue monkey grumbled under his breath. "The monster tasted better than what you usually make!" > Short: You've Got Mail 2 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "I'm surprised word about me has spread so quickly." Fenneca mused as she and Nova looked over the letter Fenneca had received the other day. "He's curious about Psychion Fae, can you blame the guy? Even we don't know much about Psychion Fae and we're your friends." Nova replied. Fenneca blinked. "I suppose I have been rather tight-lipped... Very well, how about a history lesson? The origin of the species." "So we finally get to learn something knew from you about your people and all it took was a letter." Gibson quipped. "I wasn't aware I was that secretive, my apologies. I suppose worrying about the safety of Ponyville got to me, Fenneca replied. "At any rate... All Psychion Fae, regardless of which of the six colonies they come from can all trace their lineage back to The Dust Mother, the very first Psychion Fae." "The Dust Mother had six children who found a mate among the various different races of the universe and their actions shaped the laws, beliefs and customs for the colonies. Fenneca explained. "The children of the Dust Mother and their mates are known as The First Council and the First King and Queen of a colony. Because all fae can trace their bloodline back to those First Kings and Queens, it is vital that we find mates outside of the species for healthy, genetically viable offspring. Even the colonies themselves remained segregated to prevent accidental inbreeding. "You've mentioned your ancestors in the past, can you tell us more about them?" Antauri asked. "The first Starmaker is Queen Lupa, a wolf like fae as merciful as she is powerful. Her husband, King Lucien is a founder of the mages association and widely regarded as the boogeyman of the Psychion Fae." Fenneca explained and noticed the confused looks she was getting as she used present tense to describe her ancestors. "Ah, I can explain that another time, there's simply too much to explain and not enough time." > Short: Fenneca's Report 1 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- October 4th, 1226 After Exile, King Lucien, I start this report with an apology. The seal you placed upon my memories of my master and his family has been broken. I remember my failure, have done my best to hide this fact from my friends and family but I'm failing. I am responsible for so much grief and pain across the cosmos that I predict that you, The Dark Djinn, will be here to pass judgement on me by next spring. I await your return, Honoured Elder. With that said, Princess Luna is recovering nicely and I have continued to assistant The Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce in adjusting to life in Ponyville. The Monkeys have no memory of my time with them prior to my failure and I hope it stays that way. They must not remember me nor my master, for their sake. No matter how much I miss them. Apologizes Honoured Elder, I know you prefer my reports to be more personal in nature but I fear I'd be here all night if it was. Though I will mention this, it's been hard getting to know The Monkey Team all over again, seeing Chiro growing and learning under their guidance. Spending time with all of them feels right and yet one wrong move could trigger recollection. I'm terrified of the idea that the monkeys could remember me at any time, I don't know what I'd do if Antauri ever regained his memory or how he'd react. He'd probably say it wasn't my fault. I need to cut this short, in my last report I mentioned an escape pod crash landing near my home, its occupant, Mandarin was seriously wounded and I've been helping look after him, it's time for my shift. I'll have more news detailing Mandarin's recovery in my next report and hopefully I'll have discovered what happened to him by then. As always, I hope you and Queen Lupa are well. Until my next report, Princess Fenneca Evenstar. > Season 1, Episode 5 PREVIEW > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Monkey Team, I’m afraid we have a serious issue on our hands,” Antauri stated as he stood before the rest of the team in the Super Robot’s command centre. “The Neutron Generator is running out of power, thankfully Fenneca has offered to assist Gibson in finding an alternative power source. Until they do, we are to find entertainment during our free time outside of the robot.” The Hyperforce’s second in command shot Chiro and Sparx a stern look. “That means no Vidgames and no joy rides, am I clear?” “But there’s nothing to do, Ponyville is so boring!” Chiro protested. “Ponyville may not be a technological wonder like Shuggazoom city but there is still fun to had, you only need to look for it.” Antauri replied. “Easy for you to say, you spend all your free time in the library, or with Fenneca.” Sparx commented. “I’m sure you will all find something to do, it only be until Gibson has procured a new fuel source.” The black monkey stated. “Indeed, Fenneca has pointed out n rea rich in gemstones that may have exactly what we need, if all goes well we should be back up to full power by this afternoon.” Gibson explained. Chiro and Sparx sagged, the dread of wandering around the town in boredom showed on their faces as plain as day. “If you two need something to do, why not join me for some Strength Control Training?” Nova suggested. “Strength Control Training? What, do you just not hit things as hard?” Sparx asked and Nova scoffed. “There’s more to it than that, come on, I’ll show you.” the yellow monkey replied and led Sparx and Chiro outside s she explained. “I got the idea from Rainbow explaining how pegasi train for a position in weather management, they need to control the strength of their wing flaps to create wind currents to direct the flow of hot and cold air that creates Equestria’s weather patterns. They do this by trainng to move objects of various sizes by the wind their wings create. It’s how they get a feel for how strong the wind should be, from a light breeze to a gale.” “So… you try to move things by hitting them…How is that any different than what you usually do?” Sparx snarked. Nova smirked. “You’ll see.” Nova had led them to Sweet Apple Acres, the Apple Family’s farm in the agricultural district of Ponyville. “Hi-yah!” Thwack! Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud. Chiro and Sparx watched in confusion as Nova hit an apple tree, its fruit falling down into the carefully placed baskets situated around the tree itself. “If I don’t hit hard enough, the apples won’t fall and if I hit too hard I risk damaging the tree.” Nova explained as she moved onto the next tree. Thwack! Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud. “You’ve got to get a feel for the tree’s harmonic frequency, sense how much force you put into a punch without breaking it or your hand. By mastering this technique, you can control the strength of your attacks in the heat of battle.” Nova stated. Thwack! Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud. “Wow, I didn’t know you put so much thought into your training Nova, that’s so cool!” Chiro said. “What? You thought I just cared about being strong for the sake of it?” Nova asked and Chiro looked sheepish. “Sort of, yeah…” Nova moved onto another tree. Thwack! Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud. “One of the core principles of the Power Primate is strength and knowing how to use it, why don’t you give this try Chiro?” Nova asked. The boy leader looked over at Sparx for answers and the red monkey just shrugged. “There’s no harm in trying kid. who knows, maybe you’ll find it fun or something.” Sparx stated. Nova stood aside as Chiro walked over to a tree ripe with fruit and activated Hyper Mode. “So, I just punch it?” Chiro asked. “Place your hand on the trunk and push against it, feel the weight of the tree and your own power as they clash,” Nova explained and Chiro closed his eyes and pushed against the sturdy plant. “Let your will guide your attack. You want to hit the tree, you want to knock down the apples. You will knock down the apples.” “Rrragh!” Chiro roared and landed a solid punch in the center of the trunk. Thwack! Thud. “Ow…” the boy grumbled and rubbed at the spot where alone apple had landed on his head. “You make it look so easy…” “That’s why it’s called training Chiro, you’ll get it sooner or later. You just gotta practice.” Nova said reassuringly. “Maybe later, I’m going to se what Otto’s up to…You coming Sparx?” Chiro asked. “You go on ahead kid, Rainbow should be on her first break for the day so I’m going to see what she’s up to. She challenged me to a race the other day and I sure ain’t backing out of that.” Sparx replied, a competitive look in his eyes. “There’s no way you’ll win without the Fist Rocket.” Nova taunted. “I’ve got my rocket pack, don’t I? I still have a chance.” The red monkey stated confidently. “Yeah, a microscopic chance.” Nova retorted. “… I’ll see you guys later.” Chiro said and both monkeys paused in their bickering to look at him. “See ya later kid.” “Have fun Chiro! Say hi to Otto for me.” > Short: Despairium > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "So you had something to show us?" Sparx asked as he and the rest of the Monkey Team gathered in the main command room where Gibson was waiting for them. "I have serious matter to discuss with you all. While I was out with Fenneca collecting fuel to power the Super Robot, she showed me a very dangerous substance that we must avoid at all costs," Gibson explained. "It is commonly called Despairium, a toxic form of energy that corrupts the mind and errodes ones physical form, purple in colouration and can be found in solid, liquid or gaseous states." "So it's dangerous, we've handled stuff like that before." Sparx countered. "If it were truly a substance that obeyed the laws of science I would agree with you Sparx but..." Gibson paused and looked worried. "Fenneca called it the poison of mind and body given form, it has supernatural origins I'm afraid and our fae friend may already be infected." The team was silent as they processed the information. Eventually Antauri spoke up. "What are the signs of being affected by it?" he asked. "Early symptoms? Brief bursts of emotions or exposure to certain stimuli cause the eyes turn purple briefly. With time it will only worsen. Sevre symptoms include purple eyes and gums, rapid weight loss and eventually the mind and body warps itself to allow it to generate vast quantities of Despairium, endangering nearby life forms." Gibson explained. "Ok, call me crazy but the purple eye thing is not that right? I mean, it's Fenneca!" Sparx argued. "We've been here for a couple of months! she's our friend so she'd tell us if something was wrong right?" "Right?" Sparx asked again, just as concerned as everyone else. "Isn't there something we can do to help her?" Nova asked. "The only person capable of curing those affected by Despairium is the King of the Miasma Marsh, a King Shadar. The marsh itself is sealed off from the rest of the planet by some sort of barrier that only deactivates once every decade." Gibson replied. "Which won't be until spring next year."