True Blue Hero

by totallynotabrony

Chapter 11

Shining Armor stared, perhaps suspicious that his secret cover identity may have just been blown. Twilight looked back and forth between the two stallions sitting at the table, confused yet curious as to what she had just missed, which might actually turn out to be her own secret identity. Blueblood realized that he had just found himself in an uncomfortably awkward position.

So talk your way out! Trudy admonished. You’re good at running your mouth, right?

In fact, blathering was practically a minor superpower for Blueblood. He put on a stupid grin and chuckled. “Sorry, Shining. I was distracted there for a moment. What you were talking about was so fascinating that I was hanging on every word and forgot to put them together in complete sentences. I’m sure you can understand how that might have led to some minor misunderstanding on my part.”

Shining looked relieved and Blueblood inwardly sighed. He didn’t suspect Blueblood of suspecting him of having wings and also suspecting that he knew that feel. But that left the problem that Shining was now annoyed that Blueblood hadn’t been paying attention, Blueblood suspected.

Has anyone ever told you that your thought process is a train wreck? Trudy asked. I’m in here listening directly to your brain and I didn’t understand that. Mind thinking clearly next time?

Blueblood ignored her and kept his easy smile going. Shining shook his head and turned to his sister. “It was nothing, Twilight.”

“Okay then.” Twilight sat down. “So what did the two of you order?”

Crisis averted, the conversation switched to lunch and Blueblood allowed himself to relax. But only a little. Blueblood kept thinking, convinced Shining’s slip of the tongue indicated that he was a costumed crusader.

And if he was, that could mean trouble in Blueblood’s end of the field. Crime-fighters and even crime-starters meant there were more ponies like him out there, probably with weird talking voices in their heads as well. Plus, they could be more powerful than him as well. Why, there could be dozens, possibly even hundreds of superponies prowling the streets of this very city.

Now you’re just becoming paranoid, Trudy said. There’d be way more reports and property damage if there were more than a couple of us in Canterlot. Besides, what do you have to worry about? Jealous you’re not so special anymore?

Blueblood bit back a witty reply, only because he had no witty replies on hoof, plus, Twilight and Shining were still near him. He’d been talking about an art expo that had recently opened up in the city, while at the same time not even paying attention to the conversation at all. Minor superpower indeed, because even Blueblood himself didn’t understand what he was blabbering about.

Actually, that’d explain a lot about you, Trudy laughed, catching Blueblood off-guard and causing him to stop mid-sentence and just stare at the brother-sister duo awkwardly.

There was a pressing pause in the conversation as Shining and Twilight stared at Blueblood. He shook his head and said, “Pardon me. I was just putting together my next few paragraphs. Sometimes I have so much to say trying to go from my brain to my lips that it all gets a bit jumbled.”

“Right,” said Shining.

“Oh, I know how that can be sometimes,” said Twilight in a much more agreeable tone. “Why, just the other day…”

She kept talking and Blueblood relaxed as the pressure of the conversation shifted to somepony else. And, like always, Twilight’s voice fizzled out to white noise. He turned his mind to the problem of what to do about Shining. Perhaps Blueblood could get him alone somewhere and confront him. Even when his daisy sandwich arrived, he focused his attention more on Shining than the food.

Yeah, that worked out really well when you were alone with Steel Blast. Are you just begging to visit the hospital in intensive care?

Of course. Leave it to Trudy to remind him of the little flaws in his plans. And just about every other flaw about him.

It’s not a little flaw! We could die! We almost did! I had to bail us out, like usual! Just my luck I had to end up in the body of the most irresponsible stallion this side of Equestria.

Well, truthfully, he had been the one doing most of the saving, considering it was his body and all.

No, don’t try and justify it! Can you please, for once in your life, think about your actions before you do them? At least then we won’t end up dead in a ditch somewhere.

Wait a second… there weren’t any ditches in Canterlot! Maybe a few gutters here and there, but the most likely place they’d end up dead is a back alley somewhere—

Not helping! Just… just try to pay attention to what they’re saying. Maybe you can catch a clue. You know, like how an actual hero does?

Sassy as Trudy may be, she had a point. Blueblood furrowed his gaze and focused intensely on Shining while trying to catch every word that left his lips. But for the life of him, it was impossible. The stallion was just that boring.

Seriously? You can’t put effort into something that doesn’t involve you wearing tights and punching bad guys?

Now Blueblood wondered why Trudy just didn’t listen to Shining herself if she was so adamant about it.

I… um…

Shining and Twilight stopped their conversation and stared at Blueblood, who was grinning smugly. It took him a moment to notice.

“Sorry, again,” he quickly interjected. “I was having an argument with myself and I won.”

“Doesn’t that mean you also lost?” Shining asked.

Ha!

Blueblood shrugged modestly. “You win some and you lose some. I’m sure you understand.”

Shining’s eyes narrowed, as if he understood perfectly. Twilight however, broke the moment by chuckling in a way that wasn’t really funny but helped fill the gap in conversation. “Well, I’m sure that’s how everypony feels sometimes. Shining and I should probably be going. I can’t spend too much time on lunch or the taxpayers might think a princess was slacking off.”

Blueblood breathed a mental sigh of relief. “Yeah, those taxpayers really know when to bite your ass at the worst of times. A pleasure to meet the both of you, as always.”

Why don’t you kiss the ground their hooves touch on, I bet that’d look much more convincing.

Well, the pub’s floor looked kind of clean, but there was no telling what germs were on it. And if he got sick, Trudy would be too. Hey, maybe that’s a pretty good idea after all.

Okay, okay, relax. Jeez, I can’t get a break with you, can I?

Blueblood got up with the other two and they left the pub. All three were probably heading back to the castle, but Blueblood excused himself, not wanting to walk with them. It also gave him room to think when others wouldn’t be around to grow suspicious of his internal conversations. He really needed to keep Trudy in check when out in public.

He decided that the only thing he could do was unmask Shining, but he was going to have to act soon. But what could he do? It wasn’t like crimes happened in Canterlot on a regular basis. Except for the poorer sectors, the city was typically a haven of good neighborhoods and low crime rates. If he wanted to know who Bright truly is, it’d have to be when something big was going to go down, so that the two of them ended up in the same place.

You know… we could always—

Blueblood stopped in his tracks. Could he possibly manage to pull off a crime just to unmask a fellow vigilante? Would he really sink that low and heartless just to figure out a mystery as complex as the one he was stuck in? The answer to that question, as always, was obvious.

What? No, you idiot! I was thinking we could pretend to do a crime. Jeez, where is your head at?

… Riiiiiiiight. Merely pretend to pull off a crime. One so big, so attention-grabbing, half the castle guards and even Bright would end up there. And then he could unmask Bright for what he truly is, and finally get some answers.

Now the only question is, what could Blueblood do that could constitute a crime that would attract the attention from a hero such as Bright?

Comments

[Arzoo]

I hear hostages tend to get attention. He could take Twilight hostage, for maximum misunderstanding. Though he may be just barely bright (ha) enough to decide that Twilight could flatten him whether or not she's a masked hero in addition to a regular one.

[Lag Incarnate]

And enter Anti-hero, stage left.

[FinalFan]

Well, since he's got two personalities inside his head, it makes a certain amount of sense to be both a superhero and a supervillain. The only problem is that he runs the risk of becoming his own archenemy, and that would get awkward.

[terrycloth]

Knock over a hairspray factory?

[Thadius]

:thumbsup:

[Capn_Chryssalid]

Grand cake larceny.
I gotta say, Trudy is one strange symbiote!

4131192

Oh god. Another Sentry.