ACT TEN

The others tried and tried to break through the force-field, but it was just no use! Even a blast of Harmony didn't do a thing. "It's not working!" cried Spike.

"We can see that for ourselves." snapped Twilight.

"We can't give up." cried Starla "We've got to try and help Lightning."

The chaos in the skies was growing more and more savage as if something really big was happening up there. "Do you think he's okay?" asked Fluttershy. The others couldn't tell, but the deathly hoped he was.

The red orb suddenly morphed in an enormous glowing red version of Titan's hood and two ghastly hands floating freely on each side. His plan was to first get rid of Lightning, and then proceeded to kill all his other friends before finally moving on to conquer the entire dimensional universe. "Well, what are you waiting for?" he taunted "Just try and give me your best shot."

Lightning clenched his fists and glared angrily at him. He soared forward like a missile, but Titan merely waved his right hand sending a blast of powerful wind to blow him back hard, and then his monstrous eyes glowed brightly; Lightning straightened himself out just in time to get struck by powerful blasts from the chaos around him.

Titan laughed maliciously "How sad. It seems that you aren't as powerful as always preached about being."

"Don't test me, Titan!" growled Lightning, and he charged at him again. "So that is how it shall be then…?" Titan snickered, and he launched his hands outwards like projectiles flying in many circles and zigzags around Lightning forcing him to dodge their oncoming attacks. Suddenly the two hands floated aside from Lightning ready to come together in a huge clap. "Uh-oh…!" muttered Lightning and he soared up fast just before being squashed. "That was close!"

Titan wasn't through with him yet and made his hands keep going at Lightning, and even used his vile powers to conjure more magic from the chaos to zap at him making it even harder to keep up with the attacks and evade them and eventually getting himself pummeled by the hands, or zapped by the chaos power.

Even when Lightning did managed to get close enough to attack Titan nothing he could actually do even fazed him. Having his body made of the red orb itself and all that magic that went with it gave him a rather solid forum; too solider for physical attacks to work, and too powerful for even the Uniforce to get at him.

Worse than that, Lightning was still already tired enough having recently battling with Distraught and his friends were cut off from him. Lightning was panting and losing focus "There's got… to be… a way!" he panted.

That's when Titan's huge hands grabbed him and held him tightly. Lightning wailed in a struggle or pain, so loud his voice echoed along skies and could be heard by the others down below.

"Lightning! He's in trouble!" cried Starla and once again, she tried hard but failed get through the force-field that blocked her and sent her crashing down to the ground. The others rushed to catch her. "Are you okay?" asked Fluttershy.

Starla was physically okay but she couldn't stand much more of this. There just had to be a way to get up there, or Lightning would surely be defeated all on his own.

Suddenly, the others could hear a voice calling out to them by telepathic waves, especially to Twilight.

"Twilight…? Twilight, can you hear me?"

Twilight recognized that double-voice anywhere. "Grand Celestial Ruler…!" This immediately told her and others that Celestia and Grand Ruler had awakened and were fused together.

"Where are you…?" asked Dyno.

"We can hear you, but we can't see you." added Myte.

The Ruler explained everyone was okay and that all their friends and all the creatures had escaped Distraught's dimension and were now in the safe dimension again, however, it could not come to assist them just yet. United Equestria was covered in powerful darkness making it difficult to teleport there, there was a way for them all to help Lightning and lift the darkness enough for The Ruler to help out more, and it had to do with the orb that they found.

"How can this help us?" asked Rainbow.

"You already know how it can." replied The Ruler.

"We do?" asked Pinkie "But all it did was give us power."

Twilight's eyes lit up "That's it!"

"What's it?" asked Artie, and Twilight explained that if the orb gave them powers that were contained within it. "So, maybe if we loan the orb enough power we can send up there to Lightning, maybe even break the shield."

"Well, what are we waitn' for? Anythin's worth a try." said Applejack.

The ponies all stood in a circle with the orb places in the center, and held their heads and arms up and they all concentrated hard. Spike watched anxiously waiting for something to happen. That's when all the ponies' bodies began to glow brightly in lights of the respected colors of their coats.

The power of their suits, natural magic, and of the Elements of Harmony flew into the orb like beams of light. Until the orb was glowing widely in many different colors full of power, but the ponies, now in their regular clothes and armor again, continued to concentrate.

Lightning was being constantly squeezed by Titan's massive hands. His armor and visor were beginning to crack under pressure and they both vanished for a power-down, while Lightning could hardly feel his body anymore from all the squeezing or even breathe.

Titan was enjoying himself so much he could hardly bring himself to end it, but knew he had to. He glared at Lightning deeply with his huge eyes. "Feel the pain…" he taunted "Embrace its discomforting power; the same that I had to endure and more thanks to you and your pony-friends!"

While he spoke he held Lightning in one hand and slowly raised the other getting ready to squash him like a grape. "I guess… this is it…" Lightning groaned soft and weakly.

"Yes…!" hissed Titan "But don't worry about being all alone. Your friends will join you soon, and believe me… their fate… shall be far worse than yours!"

Just as he began to slam his hand down, the blue orb fired two beams of light that shot straight up at the sky, penetrating through the force-field like bullets. One of the beams shot straight at Lightning while the other pierced Titan's other hand before he could squash Lightning. Titan roared in pain. "What was that?" he shouted, but he suddenly felt Lightning actually trying to force his way out of his grip, for the second beam of light was restoring Lightning's strength and pushing it beyond normal. Lightning managed to push and stretch the hand releasing him from its grip and he was now glowing brightly. "What's the matter, Titan? I thought you were going to destroy me."

Titan repaired his right hand and formed a second left hand and then realized that this was the work of his friends below ground and, after all, they did have the power of the blue orb. "Maybe you aren't as strong as you think." Lightning taunted.

Titan didn't bother to answer with words but rather powered up to strike back. This time things were different. Lightning didn't even bother to don his super armor again, he just skillfully dodged Titan's hands as they came at him, or any other magical blast from the chaos. When he found his opening he zipped straight ahead and kicked Titan's face hard finally dealing him damage, but Titan was far from beaten and managed to hit Lightning back hard.

Back and forth the two of them exchanged blows and attacks with neither one of them willing to give in. Lightning even managed to shatter Titan's hands several times over, only Titan continued to conjure more to replace them over and over. "Give it up!" he snarled "I lost to you many times in the past; I won't lose to you again!"

"We'll see about that!" snapped Lightning, and their brawl continued, but Titan had a point. As long as the chaos remained intact Titans power would never run out.

The others down below figured their plan worked, and were tempted to head up into the chaos to help Lightning, but The Ruler warned them to continue concentrating to help it dispel the chaos. "Only then will we be able to end this nightmare for good."

Heeding The Ruler's advice the friends formed around the orb again, and focussed more of their powers into it. They were all starting to feel weak from giving off so much power and energy. "Keep going!" Twilight said "We can do this!"

Her friends all agreed and poured it on. Soon the orb was glowing with so much power and light, Spike had to slip on some shades. "Wow!" he exclaimed "This is intense! I don't think I'll ever feel the same again!"

In the Safe Dimension, Grand Celestial Ruler could sense the power growing. "It is time…" it said to all its subjects- all the ponies and other creatures of United Equestria "Please everyone… lend your strength and power to me and help us vanquish the evil from our home-world."

All the ponies and creatures, even Castor and Leilani though only newborns, gave their powers and energy to The Ruler, charging its power to extreme full. The Ruler aimed its scepter towards the sky ready to the magic off into space in the direction of United Equestria. "Twilight, Lightning…!" it bellowed "If you can hear me, and you know what you must do… Do it now!"

The ponies did hear The Ruler, and agreed it was time. "All together now…!" Twilight said and she and her friends unleashed the power of the orb all across the sky.

"What's happening?" growled Titan as he noticed the light piercing through the chaos and weakening it severely. "No! It can't be! GRR…! Curse those ponies!"

"If I were you I'd start worrying about what I'm about to do, Titan!" Lightning said "I think I finally figured how to beat you for good." That's when his horn and began gave of the biggest and brightest of golden glows ever.

"You tried the uniforce on me already, what makes you think it will work again?"

"Oh, but you don't get it…" said Lightning "See, I've been attacking your forum all this time when I should have been attacking your soul."

"What?!" growled Titan.

That's when Lightning's entire body flared up, enveloped by the power; a method of using the uniforce in which Titan was not aware of. Lightning began to soar straight at Titan's head like a speeding comet, with the uniforce surrounding him, that's exactly what he looked like. "Prepare yourself Titan!"

Titan growled fiercely and held his hands in front of him like a shield "I won't let you!" His hands began glowing wild with power stopping Lightning in his path. At first both forces seemed equal, but Lightning wouldn't give up. "Say goodbye!" he shouted and poured on all the power he had in him shattering the hands and heading straight for Titan's face and flew clean through. Titan roared and growled in pain as red light shone through the giant hole in his head, back and front.

Lightning soared down below and called to his friends "Guys, do it now!" and the other ponies used the magic they had transferred into the orb to fire a huge beam knocking Titan up, up, up and out into space. "This can't be happening!" roared Titan "I won't lose to you ponies again!"

Grand Celestial Ruler fired the magic from its scepter out into space in Titan's direction. The magic flew straight at the large hole Lightning had made causing Titan to explode in a giant red flash.

With his destruction, all the chaos lifted from United Equestria and all the damage was restored. All the ponies and other creatures returned home safely as the sun rose for a new day. The cheers of joy and triumph were heard all over, and Lightning, Twilight, and friends through all weak and tired from using so much power at once just had to smile.

It still very much surprised everyone to learn that Titan was still alive. It turned out that Titan also discovered the ancient powers of the orbs of Brogan. By using Distraught, who had the ability to effectively use the powers of the red chaos orb, he was able to use this energy to revive himself and give himself a new body and forum.

Everyone just prayed that this time they had seen the last of him, but would keep in constant mind that it was possible for him to return by other ways, and when and if he ever did, they would just have to beat him again. For now, it was bets to put it all behind them.

That very day, a very special celebration was held at New Canterlot for many things; the saving of the planet and the universe, the defeat of evil, and the restoration of Starfleet. Now the blue orb would serve as the new ultimate energy source of Starfleet's super powers, and this time the force-field around it was so powerful that no one would be able to get into it without royal ones who were the only ones who could dispel the shield. Even reality bending powers wouldn't be able to break it.

Princess Luna was also highly honoured. "Princes…" Celestia said "You did an outstanding job assuming the role of ruler of the planet in our absence."

Her husband nodded in agreement "We could never be more proud of you."

Luna felt touched and bowed with honour.

Cadance, Shining Armor, Krysta, and even Goldwin were honoured in their acts to help protect the planet in the times of darkness, as well as personal thanks from the royal ones for looking after the babies.

As for Lightning, Twilight, and friends, they were more than deserving of promotions and awards for having done most of the work and securing the orb and overcoming obstacles in the most outstanding of odds. Twilight was dubbed Captain of the Friendship Force team. Rainbow Dash got two promotions form both Starfleet and the Wonderbolts. Lieutenant Rainbow Dash she was now called on both sides.

Lightning's friends were all made executive officers, all promoted to Executive Captains, which meant they still outranked Twilight and friends, but it didn't matter to any of them. They all were still a team and promised to remain good friends.

Spike was knighted by the royal ones for having played the biggest role on Brogan. Though it was just an honorary knighthood for he was still very young. "Wow! Sir Spike." He said standing up tall and proud. "Do I get my own suit of armor?" but everyone laughed at the cute joke, even Spike did.

As for Lightning, he was promoted to the rank of Fleet Admiral. Grand Ruler was very pleased by how far Lightning had come, not to mention he was greatly impressed by the many ways Lightning had discovered to use the uniforce. "You mastered in only a few years, what took me whole centuries to discover and perfect. Lightning, you are truly a unique pony."

Lightning bowed to his master "Thank you, sire. But really, I wouldn't be what I am today if not for all you taught me, and the support of all my friends."

The others all smiled and nodded, and the celebration party began, but during the festivities, Lightning noticed Distraught was sitting outside all alone and looking very glum. He and the others just had to go out there and talk to him.

Poor Distraught never thought it was possible to feel so incredibly ashamed of anything before. All this time he was just a pawn in Titan's game, and the ponies had ultimately proven they weren't evil at all, and perhaps his father wasn't as pure as he thought.

"Hey, Distraught…." Lightning called to him.

"Just leave me alone!" Distraught snapped at him "You won, I lost. You were right, and I was wrong. Are you happy now?"

"Distraught, there's no need to act like this." said Twilight.

"How can you say that?" protested Distraught "After everything that I've done… after all the creatures I've hurt! How can you let someone off this easy? I know I sure wouldn't!"

That's when Grand Ruler and Queen Celestia, having defused a while back, approached him. "Distraught, look around you…" Celestia said "You did do many horrible things, but no one is hurt now."

Her husband nodded in agreement "Even so, you were never truly evil Distraught. You were blinded and confused by Titan's deception. Many before you who have same fate have acted no differently. However, you unlike most of them have a unique ability to learn from your mistakes."

Lightning, Twilight, and all their friends agreed, but Distraught still didn't feel any better. His race was still dead, and he realized by this point that even magic could not bring them back to life. "I might very be the only one of my kind left." he said "And even if there are others out there, who among them would want to welcome someone like me?"

Lightning and Grand Ruler both understood how he felt, and both they and all the others decided to maybe it was best to let Distraught have something they had kept for a long time; a jar full of incubating Draconequus Eggs some of the Starfleet Safari teams had found on other planets and kept. "Why don't you take these and start your own race?" Grand Ruler said "Then all will be lost to you after all, and a new era can begin."

Distraught didn't know what to say. To receive such a gift from the ponies and a chance to start his race over and preserve the species, but it still baffled him greatly that they were doing this after everything that happened. "I guess, it is true, you're not evil at all. You're offering something that I never thought was possible for me to have."

Grand Ruler stepped forth and extended his glove to him "The hand of friendship." Distraught gracefully accepted, and tenderly kissed Celestia's glove. "Thank you!" he said "Thank you all… many times!"

Distraught decided to head off into space to find a suitable planet where the eggs could hatch and the Draconequuses could start a new life, and thought maybe someday he'd come back for a visit.

"Well, there he goes." Twilight said.

"Do you think he'll be all right?" asked Buddy Rose.

"Sure he will." Applejack said "He's been on his own for a good long time."

Everyone had high hopes and beliefs for Distraught.

Soon, fireworks lit the skies, courtesy of Dyno and Myte. "Vamos Amigos…!" the twins shouted with joy. "PARTY!" cried Pinkie Pie, and things got pretty wild outside.

Many of the ponies and creatures danced wildly to the music. Krysta and her fairies even made sparkling lights go off like being in a dance hall. The Wonderbolts even got their rock music to play the Starfleet theme.

Starla approached Lightning. "Begging your pardon, Admiral." She said playfully "Permission to grove with you sir?"

Lightning chuckled "Permission granted captain."

Celestia and Grand Ruler gazed at one another. "Shall we darling?" Grand Ruler asked. Celestia nodded and they hit the dance floor with everyone else.

MY BRAVE PONY

Starfleet Magic: The Movie

(Credits roll)

Author's Notes:

Well, that was refreshing. Steam well blown off, but don't think this is the end.

Just those ponies wait and see what other fires I can start with them the next time.

Heh-Heh-Heh…!