Chrysalis was in big trouble!

Over the past weeks she had sent a whole swarm of changelings to United Equestria to attack it all at once, but each and everyone one of them had been defeated and captured by Starfleet. Still, the changelings managed to round up a lot of energy for Chrysalis, and her life force was almost fully stabilized, but now she had another objective to accomplish. She had been seeking out new ways to not only sustain her life force, but become more powerful than anything she ever had been before and only recently had discovered a possible way, but to do it she required more energy. The problem was that by this time, the Dark Planet was starting to seem deserted as the entire changeling army had been virtually diminished!

Chrysalis and the captain had been rounding up every last changeling they could find from, but alas, even with the fortress guards, the gang was so small they didn’t even fill up a third of the throne room in the fortress. “Is this all there is left?” asked Chrysalis.

“I regret to say yes, my queen.” said the captain “It would seem nearly our entire army has been imprisoned.”

Chrysalis angrily gritted her teeth, “And you all call yourselves mighty warriors?!” she growled “Be fortunate that I still have need for you all or I’d have disposed of you like an old pair of gloves. Now, out of my sight, all of you; I must think up a plan.”

The changelings did as they were told.

The captain left with a scowl on his face. He retreated to his secret alter and continued to finish his latest project. By this point, he really hated Chrysalis, almost even more than he hated the ponies. “This time has finally come!” he hissed to himself. “Now that changeling army has almost completely diminished, I’ll show that pompous pest a thing or two. Meanwhile, I mustn’t forget about the ponies.”

He recalled all his past experiments.

First he created a robot built for brute strength and power, and then he made one built for speed. Neither one of them was successful in destroying the ponies, but that didn’t seem to matter too much for him. “If this next experiment of mine is successful, I’ll have finally gathered all the ideal information I require.” He hissed to himself. “And then, I can finally start to rebuild what was taken from me all those years ago.”

As he prepared to give the robot’s energy-core one of his spheres containing stolen energy from the jars in the throne room, he began to get another idea; one that he was certain would bring Chrysalis down for good!

The robot was sent to United Equestria, and the alarms went off and the civilians ran for the nearest shelter before the shields came up, but some of the civilians didn’t make it in time. The robot grabbed them and began to absorb their energy, leaving them weak and unconscious.

It wasn’t long before every single member of Lightnings’ gangs arrived on the scene.

Sapphire and the girls dashed off to help the civilians who hadn’t made it inside to safety, while Lightning and his gang confronted the robot. They were still unable to scan it with their visors-- No data, but they knew they’d have to proceed with caution, knowing yet what its specialty was.

The robot spotted them and narrowed its eyes at them. “Let’s go!” shouted Lightning, and they all transformed together “STARFLEET MAGIC!!”

Lightning stepped forth and recited the oath…

Lightning: “Power of Believing!”

Starla: “Power of Space!”

Buddy Rose: “Power of Flora!”

Artie: “Power of Art!”

Rhymey: “I summon within; Power of Wind!”

Dyno & Myte: “Power of Fire!”

The robot punched its metal fists together in a threatening manner, ready to fight!

“Remember, find the energy-core and destroy It.” said Lightning “Go!” and he and all his friends charged into battle. Buddy Rose and Artie attacked, but got punched out of the way.

Starla went up next. “PULSAR LASER” He blast shot straight, but the robot quickly turned and fired its own lasers out of its eyes countering her blast and sending it back at her, hitting her hard and knocking her down.

Dyno and Myte tried to attack the robot at the same time, but it caught their punches and kicked them both aside.

Finally, Lightning went at the robot with his fists and feet moving wildly and swiftly, but the robot managed to counter his every move as if he saw it all coming ahead of time, and then engaged him in a fist lock, and blast him hard with its lasers sending Lightning slamming into a tree. The entire gang rushed over to help him up. “Lightning, are you alright?” asked Buddy Rose.

“I am…” replied Lightning.

“What’s with this robot?” asked Twilight “It’s like it knew your every moves before you even had a chance to make them.”

Rainbow Dash didn’t believe that and flew towards it. “Rainbow, wait!” shouted Lightning, but Rainbow had already flown high up. “SONIC RAINBOOM” She flew straight at the robot, ready for the impact, but the robot simply raised its arms and grabbed her, actually stopping her in midflight. Rainbow struggled all she could but couldn’t move any further, and the next thing she knew, the robot whammed its solid head right at hers sending her crashing head-first hard into a lamppost.

The others winced. “Ooh! That’s gotta’ hurt.” cried Spike.

Rainbow felt all dizzy and everything was swirling and waving before her eyes. She shook herself awake. “He actually stopped my Rainboom attack?” she asked in utter disbelief.

Krysta suggested all the Starfleet fighters try attacking the robot at once. “Good idea…” said Lightning. “All right, group-formation!”

All the fighters stood in a line, each of them holding out their weapons and readying their attacks. Twilight and Rarity stood at the end with their horns glowing. “FIRE!!” shouted Lightning, and altogether the attacks formed a giant stream of magic launched right at the robot. It looked like a sure-fire hit, but the robot just opened up its huge mouth and actually absorbed the attack and then spit it right back at them all. “LOOK OUT!!” screamed Rarity.

Right at the last moment, Krysta used her powers to create a portal to absorb the blast and launch it out into space where it exploded harmlessly. “That’s as close as I ever want to come.” panted Krysta.

The more the gangs kept trying, the more the robot managed to outsmart them in every possible way. Nothing they did was working, but everything the robot fired at them was working for it. One after another, the ponies got hit, blasted, and they were all starting to feel worn out, while the robot, being a machine, just kept on coming.

“What are we going to do?” cried Fluttershy.

"Let me try." Sapphire said. She charged at the robot. "Sapphire, no!" Lightning called but Sapphire went through with it. The robot readied itself for an attack and charged at Sapphire. Sapphire lit her horn and at the last second teleported away from the robot. The robot skidded to a halt and looked around for Sapphire.

Suddenly, there was a rumble beneath it and Sapphire came burst from the ground, sending the robot high into the air. Sapphire landed on the ground and she concentrated, unleashed the Roar of Harmony (what Spike decided to call it). The wind and power of the roar caused the robot to be broken into many, many pieces that were scattered on the ground. Sapphire stopped her Roar and panted a little.

Lightning and the team cheered happily. "That's our girl!" Rainbow cheered.

The Starfleet fighters powered down their super suits, and they all began to work together to help clean up the little bits of mess they made in the field. As they worked, Lightning still looked worried about something.

“Are you okay?” asked Starla, and they explained how it still bothered them about the robots. “So far, we’ve faced a robot of strength, then one of speed, and now one of intelligence; the three fields of a battler.” said Lightning. “I think these are all just tests.”

"So what? Sapphire kicked their tails everytime." Rainbow said nonchalantly.

“Still, it doesn’t explain where they’re coming from, who’s sending them and why.” she said. A brief silence befell everyone. It was defiantly clear now that there was another evil, aside from Chrysalis, out there coming after them.

If only they knew more!

Chrysalis viewed the ponies’ battle, and her guards had discovered a secret altar in the areas around the fortress. “I bet I know who’s behind all this now.” She hissed angrily and marched back to her throne room, but upon arriving, she was horrified to discover her energy jars were all tipped over and shattered, and all the energy she had captured was gone. “No. No!” she cried.

The captain stepped out from behind Chrysalis throne “Can you believe it...” he mocked “It looks like someone’s destroyed all your precious love energy. Now who’d do a thing like that?”

Chrysalis’ fury began to show. “You… You… TRAITOR!!” she dashed forth ready to tear him to shreds. “Uh-uh-uhn…!” The captain said as he pulled open the black curtain behind him revealing one jar of energy he hadn’t destroyed yet, and he blackmailed her with it. “You wouldn’t want me to shatter your last jar would you? Because that would cost you the last of the energy you need.”

Chrysalis didn’t understand “Why would you do this? You know that if I perish, you perish as well.”

The captain had to laugh at her “Poor, pitiful creature. You’ve become so obsessed with your desire to conquer United Equestria and your lust for emotion-eating; you’ve forgotten one of the first rules of magic: Things are not what they seem.” His eyes glowed mysteriously, and he revealed his true self-- A super-robot not like all the others, in silvery and shiny, armor wearing a red cape, and a strong metal head, roundish on the bottom, cubical on the top.

Chrysalis gasped in shock as the robot stood there laughing at her. “You didn’t honestly believe that only changelings were capable of changing their appearance.” he said as he held up a Flux Gem; a magical treasure its user could use to change their appearance, almost like being a changeling. He then threw it to the wall, shattering it. “I no longer require it, not now that I have gathered all I need from you.”

“What do you mean?” growled Chrysalis.

“You and I share a common goal; to conquer United Equestria.” said the captain “But of course, I have my own reasons for wanting to take it, not that you would understand. I am not about to allow you or anyone else to stand in the way of what is rightfully mine; the start of a whole new age for the entire dimensional universe!” and he punched the last jar, shattering it and expelling the lover energy out. “No!!” Chrysalis exclaimed as the energy whirled around the room and faded away.

The captain chuckled at her and the way she was on her knees in shock. She had no energy left to feed on, and would soon perish! “Consider this my resignation, but it was fun while it lasted.” he mocked at her “Farewell, Queen Chrysalis, and thank you for helping me.”

Chrysalis furiously tried to zap him with her magic, but had forgotten that he was immune so such spells, and he shot at her with a pulse blast forcing her back into a wall. While it was tempting to just wipe her out then and there, he preferred to let her wallow in her misery and watch her squirm. So he vanished, and was gone for good leaving Chrysalis in her messy throne room.

She angrily kicked over the throne and shouted in a blaze of such outrage!