Chapter 12
Twilight’s studious nature made her a spastic sleeper; her mind always awash with information, she could never fully stay asleep and woke up once or twice per hour. She always managed to doze off again, but she was not overly fond of the spurts.
Especially not when certain pink ponies managed to break into her library.
“Twilight!” Pinkie screamed as she ran through the door. Twilight rose from her bed and crossed over to the stairs.
“Pinkie, this better be important.” Twilight said.
“It is! My Pinkie Sense said there was gonna be a really big doozie down at Ghastly Gorge and we all needed to be there!” Twilight suddenly felt much more alert now. She teleported down to the bottom level and approached Pinkie.
“What exactly is going to happen?”
“I don’t know. My Pinkie Sense never tells me that much.” Pinkie shook again from some unseen force “Wait... It’s Rainbow Dash! She’s in trouble.”
“Why would she be in Ghastly Gorge at night? She knows it’s dangerous.”
“Unless... she’s been ponynapped!”
“Pinkie, that’s one of the most ridiculous theories I’ve ever heard.”
“But it could have happened. Maybe some ponies got jealous of Rainbow Dash and took her to Ghastly Gorge so they wouldn’t be jealous of her anymore.”
“How would that work?” There was a pause.
“I have another idea; they thought she was Supermare and ponynapped her so she’d stop saving ponies.”
“Supermare? Rainbow Dash doesn’t look anything like Supermare.”
“She does if she wearing a costume and mane dye.”
“And why would she be wearing those things?”
“She was a distraction!” there was another pause before Twilight spoke again.
“By any chance were you two trying to distract us so you could play pranks?”
“... Maybe.”
“That explains why that box of books was covered in superglue.” Twilight sighed “So, you think these ponies mistook Rainbow Dash for a superhero that can beat a full grown Ursa half to death with her bare hooves?”
“Yup.”
“How would they catch her?”
“Special superhero catching devices!” Pinkie smiled while Twilight gave her a weird look “Don’t you ever read comic books?”
“No I don’t.” Twilight moved past Pinkie and opened the library door. “Come on, let’s get the others and see what exactly this doozie of yours really is.”
..............
“Well, I suppose if Rainbow Dash is in trouble then I could spare myself.” Rarity yawned before ducking back into her boutique to remove her nightgown “But couldn’t we have waited until it was a little lighter out?”
“By that time the bad guys would have hurt Dashie with their anti-superhero weapons!”
“What are you talking about, Pinkie?”
“She thinks that Rainbow Dash was ponynapped by somepony who thought she was Supermare.”
“But they look nothing alike... unless she was wearing that costume I made for Pinkie.” Rarity exited the boutique, giving her mane a slight toss as she walked “Well come along; we need to get the others.”
................
“What kinda stupid ponies’d think Rainbow Dash was a superhero?” Applejack said as she pulled her stetson on and grabbed a coil of rope.
“It’s just a theory that Pinkie has.” Twilight said.
“Well, it’s kinda a stupid idea. I reckon she just messed up one of her tricks and crashed.”
“At night?”
“She’s done dumber things before.”
“Okay, we can discuss those things later. Now we just need to get Fluttershy and we should be ready.”
.............
“I’m not going.”
“What?”
“I’m really really sorry girls,” Fluttershy said from behind her door “But I just can’t go out there at night.”
“Come on Fluttershy, we’ll all be there in case something bad happens.”
“And Rainbow Dash really really needs us to save her from her ponynappers!” Pinkie shouted.
“Rainbow Dash has been ponynapped?” Fluttershy flung open her door and tackled Twilight “Why didn’t you say so earlier? Oh, she must be so scared, surrounded by those awful ponies in Ghastly Gorge. Come on, let’s go save her!” Fluttershy took off, her wings carrying her as fast as she could go.
“Never thought Fluttershy’d be the one to lead the chase.” Applejack said “C’mon girls. Follow that Pegasus!”
..................
The five reached Ghastly Gorge in about thirty minutes. Using Pinkie as a beacon, they began to scour the canyon up and down, searching for any signs of their rainbow-maned friend. They had a brief run in with a group of Quarray Eels, but Fluttershy’s superior handling of animals allowed them to get by without much trouble.
However, the encounter had given them information; two of the Eels bore heavy burns on the sides of their faces, indicating something had attacked them recently. Given that Dragons usually did not eat Quarray Eels and Phoenixes never came this far north, the only option they were left with was either a pony with very powerful combat spells or something much worse than Dragons.
“Do you think we should have told the Princess about this?” Rarity asked.
“I’m sure it’s not that bad.” Twilight said, leaping over a log “Besides, the Summer Sun Celebration is today; I’m sure Princess Celestia has a lot on her mind right now.”
“Well, what about Princess Luna? I’m sure she could have been of some help.”
“She’s going to be at the celebration too, I think. I’m not sure what she’s preparing for.”
“She could always step away from her project for a few minutes to find Rainbow Dash.”
“... Yes, she could have.” They passed through a small grove of trees and stopped. Below them was a shallow ravine, with several large rocks hanging over the edge. The five spotted two unicorns, dressed in the armor of the Night Guard, and Twilight felt a bit more relieved.
“Looks like Luna already did something for us.” Twilight said “Come on, let’s see why they’re here.”
“Wait, Twilight, they might have been the ponies that attacked those Eels. Are you sure this is-” but Rarity’s warning went unnoticed. Twilight trotted out of the grove towards the two guards. The guards spotted her and turned to face her.
“Identify yourself!” the first guard shouted, his voice slightly monotone.
“Oh, sorry for startling you. I’m Twilight Sparkle, personal student to Princess Celestia. One of my friends is in
danger and in the area and I was wondering if you had seen her.”
“Leave now, or we will be forced to deal with you.” the second guard said.
“‘Deal with me’? But I haven’t done anything wrong; I was just wondering if you had seen-”
“She's resisting. Kill her.” The two unicorns lowered their horns and fired, two beams of dark blue magic flying towards Twilight. Twilight threw up her shield spell as fast as she could, barely deflecting the spells. Twilight poured more magic into her shield spell, the spiderweb of cracks caused by her attacker’s spells slowly vanishing.
“Girls, help me!” Twilight shouted as another salvo of spells slammed into her shield. She dropped the shield for a second to fire her own spell, a bright purple beam of energy slamming into a nearby rock and causing the two guards to duck for cover. She continued to fire away to keep the guards pinned while the other four rushed forward to help her.
One guard stepped out to attack, but found two orange hooves slamming into his face. Applejack hit the guard again, knocking him out, and rushed towards the second guard. The guard shot another spell at the charging farm pony, but Twilight threw up a second shield and deflected the blast. Applejack reared up and struck the guard in the face, knocking his helmet off and sending him spinning.
“Funny, I thought they trained guards better’n that.” Applejack said, pulling out her rope in order to tie up the two guards.
“They do. But why would Luna want them to kill me?” Twilight approached the nearest guard and tapped her horn to his head, the remainder of her magic seeping through the connection to find any information. she concentrated for a few minutes before something forcibly threw her back, her horn sparking with magic residue.
“Twilight, are you alright?”
“I-I’m fine.” Twilight dusted herself off and stood “Those guards were brainwashed, just like Flim and Flam.”
“Brainwashed?”
“Yes. I don’t know who did this, but they obviously did not want us to come here.”
“Why Luna’s guards?”
“I don’t know. Finish tying those guards up and we’ll look around some more.” Applejack nodded and continued working. While the earth pony was occupied, Twilight and the others surveyed the ravine. She focused mainly on the large rocks on the edge, poking around the closest ones to make sure no other guards were waiting for them.
“Those rocks over there look like they might be useful for cover.” Twilight said, pointing to another patch of rocks on the other side of the ravine “I’m going to cast a small light spell so I can see better.”
“Do you need any help?” Rarity asked “I may not have the resources you do, Twilight, but I still know enough magic to assist you.”
“Okay, Rarity, cast your spells in that direction,” Twilight pointed further down the canyon “and I’ll cast mine in the other direction.”
“Very well.” Rarity turned away, her horn glowing with magic. Twilight’s own horn glowed for a moment before two balls of light shot from the tip, rising over the ravine and filling the place with light and illuminating a certain rainbow-maned Pegasus buried under a boulder.
“Rainbow!” Twilight cried. Rainbow Dash stirred and looked up.
“... Guys? What are you doing here?” Rainbow Dash asked, her voice a hoarse whisper.
“Pinkie had a doozie that said you were in trouble, so we came to find you.”
“... Thanks.”
“What happened to you?”
“It’d... take too long to explain.” Rainbow Dash coughed “Please... help me.” Twilight nodded before leaping down the side of the ravine, loose rocks sliding under her hooves. Fluttershy and Pinkie joined her, and soon the three of them had reached Rainbow Dash.
Now Twilight could see just what condition Rainbow Dash was in; the Pegasus was covered in cuts and bruises, her eyes were unfocused, and all the color had left her face. The rock on top of her was easily twice the size of any normal pony, and only Rainbow Dash’s head and neck were exposed.
“Come on, we’ve got to get this rock off her.” Twilight focused her magic and attempted to lift the rock.
“No! Forget the rock.” Rainbow Dash said, a little more energy present in her voice “Just get this necklace off me.” Twilight looked and saw a small necklace around Rainbow Dash’s neck.
“You’re worried about some stupid necklace when there’s a boulder crushing you?”
“Yes.”
“Ooh, is it some device that the mean ponies used because they thought you were a superhero?” Pinkie asked.
“Pinkie, will you cut it out with the superheroes?”
“She’s right... mostly.” Twilight turned towards Rainbow Dash, her eyes wide.
“What do you mean she’s right?”
“I’ll explain... just get the necklace off.” Twilight grumbled in frustration and yanked the necklace off Rainbow Dash with her magic. She noticed that Rainbow’s injuries began to slowly fade once the necklace was removed, but decided it was not very important right now.
“Okay, now we’ll get this rock off you.”
“No.”
“What? Are you insane or something? You’ll be crushed.”
“Not really. I’ll take care of this.”
“How? You’re not a unicorn, so you can’t use magic to lift it off. Your legs are probably pinned, so you can’t dig your way out. Unless you're some kind of super powerful pony then I don’t see how you can get out.”
“Well... remember on Wednesday when we had that talk about whether or not I knew Supermare? I... kind of lied, a little.”
“How so?”
“I know who she is.” Rainbow Dash grunted a little as she shifted beneath the rock. “You might want to step back and put up a shield spell.”
“Why? What does this have to do with you knowing who Supermare is?”
“I’m going to send this rock flying and I’m pretty sure it could kill you if it hit you. As for the second part, well...” Rainbow Dash let out a cry as she pushed up with all her strength, launching the boulder high into the air. Not wanting the
rock to crash down and kill somepony, Twilight caught it in her magic and set it aside before turning to Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow Dash was dressed in a very familiar blue suit and red cape, the former of which was adorned with a stylized S set inside a shield. The Pegasus landed, showing no signs of pain or fatigue from bucking a giant rock off her back. Twilight’s irises shrunk to pinpoints and she started stammering.
“Wha... how... you...”
“I am Supermare... Well, my real name’s Kara, but you can call me Supermare; it sounds cooler.” Rainbow Dash said. Twilight’s mind short circuited for a moment and she was unable to come up with a suitable exclamation. Seeing an opening, Pinkie decided to speak.
“My best friend is a superhero!” The pink mare cried, dashing forward to give Rainbow a hug. Rainbow Dash caught Pinkie and the two stood hugging for a minute while Twilight tried to pull herself together.
“You... you... rock... how?”
"Super strenght, Twilight; that rock is no heavier than a pebble to me.”
“So, the robot dragon and the Ursa... that was you?”
“Yup.”
“What other cool things can you do?” Pinkie chirped, but Twilight shot her a glare.
“Pinkie, can we talk about this later?” Pinkie backed off, but she was still grinning ear to ear. “How, thought? I mean, you’re just a normal pony-”
“Actually, I’m an alien.” there was silence before Pinkie spoke again.
“So you’re an alien and a superhero? That’s even better!”
“Pinkie.”
“Sorry Twilight, but it’s still really cool.”
“And I didn’t tell you guys about this because... well, I was scared you’d turn on me or something.”
“‘Turn on you’?” Twilight asked “Rainbow Dash, you’re our friend; we’d never turn on you just because you were some alien... Unless you were actively trying to kill us, but that’s something else completely different... You’re not going to do that, right?”
“Of course not.”
“But still, why did you have to be all secretive about it?”
“Secret identities, Twilight,” Pinkie said “She doesn’t want you to get in the way or other ponies to start harassing her about saving them.”
“What’s going on down here?” the group turned and saw Applejack and Rarity coming down the side of the ravine “Y’all leave us for a few minutes and ya go back to talkin’ about superheroes.”
“Because Rainbow Dash is Supermare!” another pause.
“But... that’s impossible.” Rarity said “You two look nothing alike unless you dyed your mane and coat, and honestly I think you would look terrible with mane dyes. And you’re just a normal pony; you can’t throw robots across town.”
“She’s an alien.”
“An alien?” Applejack said, taking a step back “Ya look just like some regular pony; how can ya be an alien?”
“Not all aliens have to look weird; I’m physically the same as every other pony... except for the superpowers. As for how I look with the suit and all... It’d take too long to explain, but it involves really powerful magic.” Rainbow Dash looked at Twilight “If you’re good, I’ll let you borrow my suit so you can study it.”
“Really?”
“Let’s not get distracted here, Twilight,” Rarity walked up to Rainbow Dash “How am I suppose to know that you aren’t just lying to us?”
“She threw this really really big rock off herself when you were busy looking away!” Pinkie chirped. Rainbow Dash and Rarity ignored her.
“So, what do you want?”
“Just proof. Show us some other superpower... without hurting us, or getting us dirty.” Rainbow Dash looked
around and spotted a smaller rock about five feet away. There was a pause before two red beams shot from her eyes and hit the rock, destroying it instantly. the other five stepped back in shock as Rainbow Dash turned towards them.
“Is that good enough, or do you want me to fly around the world backwards and tell you this yesterday?”
“No, no, that’s good.” Rarity took a deep breath to calm herself before speaking again “So all this time, that was you?”
“Yeah.” Rarity approached for a moment before throwing her forelegs around Rainbow Dash.
“I never got to tell this to you, but thank you so much for saving Sweetie Belle. When I heard that she was almost killed by that dragon, I died a little inside. Can you imagine what my life would be like if she were dead? I just couldn’t go on with my life. So thank you again, and if there’s anything you need I will use all my resources to make sure you get it.”
“You’re welcome, Rarity.”
“‘Suppose I should be thankin’ ya too.” Applejack said, coming forward to join Rarity “Ever since my folks died, Applebloom’s been the thing holdin’ my family together. If she weren’t around... well, there’s no tellin’ what I’d do.”
“Hey, you could get creative.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing, really.”
“But if you are an alien and not just lying to us about that,” Twilight said “Does that mean there are other aliens like you? Is that why you have superpowers?”
“I’d love to explain, but we’ve got a lot of big problems and not a lot of time.”
“Problems?”
“Blueblood is evil; he beat me and threw me down here to try and kill me, and now he’s going to use one of Luna’s guards to kill Princess Celestia.”
“What? Why?” the other five asked.
“He’s a Kryptonian like me, except evil. I want you guys to go back to Ponyville and get whatever supplies you need, then get to Canterlot. I’m going to go and stop Blueblood.” Rainbow Dash took off, but she was stopped by Twilight.
“Wait, you can’t just fly off like that.”
“Don’t worry; I’ll explain more when all this is over. I promise I’ll answer any questions you have once I’m done beating Blueblood.”
“But if he beat you before, how do you expect to beat him now?”
“Trust me. I’m Supermare.” With that, Rainbow Dash shot into the sky and disappeared, a red and blue streak the only sign that she was even there.
“I just hope she knows what she’s doing.” Twilight said “Okay, I think I have enough magic for a teleport back to Ponyville, but we might be cutting it a bit close. So if I singe anyone... I’m really sorry and didn’t mean to do it.”
“We’ve been through a lot tonight, Twilight.” Rarity said “We were attacked by brainwashed guards, our friend is actually an alien superhero, and Blueblood is trying to kill Princess Celestia; I think getting singed is the least of our worries.” Twilight nodded in agreement before casting her teleport, the five ponies disappearing in a flash of purple light.
Just as the sun began to peak over the horizon.
Pinkie Sense, go!
The next chapter is gonna be awesome!
Alright! Reading time!
Hmm.. okay, I wish to be honest here without trying to be insulting. The story is great, really. Lots of potential, great ideas but... it's just.. so lacking in details. There's no build up, no intrigue. it doesn't draw me into it like I'd want. things are just happening way too fast to process properly. It reads less as a story and more as.. well... a story outline. Bottom line? the story is good... but a rewrite with more details included and a a bit more focus on the emotions and such of the group would be good. I mean, they barely reacted to finding out that Dash was Supermare! Just "Oh, she was Supermare? Well, that was unexpected." and then moved on.
So yea. It's a great story thus far, but it could be a LOT better. I'd even offer my help for fleshing it out if you like, but... you don't know me at all. Still, if you DO want help, I'd love to assist.
All in all, good job. Keep it up!
~Batsy Marble
1492216 If you are willing to help, I am all open for ideas
1492216
Agreeing with this as to the big reveal moment. Well, I say 'big reveal', but what I read was more of a 'meh reveal'.
Pinkie was the only one who was excited (go figure), and only Twilight was seemed the least bit interested in knowing the how and why. It had no feeling to it, is what I'm trying to say. I mean, sure, they're pretty much used to Dash doing the impossible; but she's suddenly revealing that she's a superhero. She can shoot lasers from her eyes and kick a boulder into orbit! More than that, she isn't even a Terran native--she's an actual alien. Done right, this scene should be all shock, awe and confusion.
Rarity's done a quick summation, just in case you can't be bothered to read the last two chapters.
However, to me, the point of this two-parter has been the power of friendship. Nopony can go it entirely alone. They will always be stronger together than they ever will be working on their own and I think that the sooner Rainbow realises this, the more good she will be able to do.
Overall pretty good. Even though I agree with the other's about how easily they accepted this fact.
But now Rainbow's gonna kick flank
1493714 They are right.
I'm going to do a rewrite on this chapter to make it a little more believable... I should probably get an editor some day too
1493727 I'll gladly help I'm also proofreading for two other fellas so I know the drill.
1492216 made a couple of edits to that particular section. It's by no means perfect, but hey, it's better
1493716 no no no. Applejack is secretly from a tribe of amazon warriors, and decides to become the super hero Wonder Mare, and Fluttershy is a telepathic, shapeshifting martian.
1631651
oops...forgot i made that comment...
1631862 that's okay. What i'm surprised at is that everyone always pins Green Lantern to Applejack. Someone on youtube tried to connvince me that Rarity of all ponies should be Wonder Mare.Why give the lasso weilding element of honesty the power ring and the fashionista the laso of truth? it just doesn't make sense.
Quite frankly, I'm surprised there isn't already a Wonder Mare fan fic.
1633599
The MANE (hahaha) reason Applejack isn't usually made to be Wonder PONY is because wonder woman is still very (oh god i'm going to be shot for saying this) womanly...She still worries about her appearance and other heavily stereotypical things. She just happens to be able to rip your balls off. and Aj just doesn't fit that too well. Yes, I am defining a character by a single trait, but that is exactly what you are doing when you she should be wonder pony. She has a lasso, she should be Wonder Woman.
She fits better with green lantern, a strong willed and stubborn individual with a strong sense of justice and a bit of an ego. She can easily be molded to fit Hal Jordan's back story with a lack of onscreen parents and a loveable role modle to guide her/ kill off in granny smith.
I personally felt she fit better as an Indigo Lantern (Compassion) but with the revolations in the current green lantern story line that is less...uh...yeah
And I have a reason to delete my old comment, i'f you'd like to know why, ask and i'll send you the answer. But there is a reason i don't want that comment floating around
1635539 Okay, i might see how AJ Ties into green lantern now that you've pointed it out, but i still don't quite see why she's not Wonder Mare Material. She's a strong, independant, female who has a tendancy to be stubborn and gets angry very quickly when you insult her pride. If she didn't have a brother, it wouldn't take much for her to fit the bill of the feminist icon Wonder Woman. Yes, she could stand to be a bit more femenine, but she's still closer to wonder woman than anypony else. Ergo, she should default to being Wonder Mare, not Green Lantern (at least in my oppinion, anyways).
1636890
I'm not saying she couldn't fit as Wonder Woman, I'm saying she is a better fit as Green Lantern.
Both arguments could be made, now that you've expanded beyond "She has a rope".
And the reason I'd say Wonder Pony is to keep the number of syllables the same. And Wonder Mare just doesn't have the same ring to it. Now her side kick, Wonder Filly on the other hand.
And as for another character fitting better, i feel Rarity fits better. Independent (owns her own business at 14-25...however old they are), doesn't want to fight but will when pushed to it (she kicked a manticore, and this point got screwed up in recent comics), compassionate, caring, and generous. And Wonder Woman is a bit on the dramatic side (Granted less fainting and more "have at thee coward, today you face your maker." but dramatic is dramatic). But most of the Fan-cannon rarity fits very well.
Zod shall be smashed!
Cause, ya know, not noticing how it is the same type of rock that made Dash sick for 2 days is easily over looked. And that rock, Twilight had 5 months to study it if she wanted. Celestia might have even dropped hints about it being from another planet. Following that line of thought, she might have even spoken to her mother about it which would bring about the conversation with El-Jor.
I think I am raging and I need someone to splash me with a bucket of water.
2446904
RD is Supermare, not The Incredible ... Dash, I guess?
*Warning: Overly lengthy critique ahead. Read at your own risk.*
This is a great idea for a story and all, but I think I'm going to stop reading right here. The writing quality is a little sub-par, in my opinion, and would take a very serious overhaul of the whole story to correct, so I won't go expecting that to happen. However, just to make it known, there is a pretty serious lack of descriptive writing. Nearly the entire story is back and forth dialogue without any breaks. The format of this dialogue is a little confusing most of the time as well. Although you do well with starting a new paragraph each time someone different speaks, quite often I catch someone speaking, and then someone else performing an action right away in the same paragraph. This naturally leads people to thinking that that is the character that did the speaking. This chapter did a lot better in that regard than most of the previous chapters, but I still felt it was necessary to bring it to light.
Hypothetical example:
"Aren't you going to ask me to change anything?" Rainbow Dash just shrugged.
"It just needs to be about 20% cooler."
While that's not directly taken from this story, it's the kind of thing I'm starting to expect from it.
That example should be formatted more like:
"Aren't you going to ask me to change anything?"
Rainbow Dash shrugged. "It just needs to be about 20% cooler."
Like I said, this chapter did better with that, but so far this story's been hurting my brain trying to figure out who's talking half the time. As for the overuse of dialogue, there are a lot of times when lengthy dialogue could be summarized with a quick descriptive paragraph. For instance, instead of quote after quote while Rainbow Dash reveals her identity to her friends, it may have been much more pleasant to read something like:
'Dash sighed, realizing that she shouldn't lie to her friends about this anymore, as she tossed the boulder off of herself like it was a pebble. After a moment of shocked silence from her open-mouthed friends, she finally began explaining everything that had happened to her, and the truth about who she was.'
This could be followed by some dialogue, as long as it isn't overdone or completely without any descriptiveness, detailing her friends' individual reactions, but even that alone I'd prefer over reading a dozen lines of one pony speaking after another.
That turned into a longer rant than I intended, but it's just my personal take on everything here and I may be the only one who finds this in any way painful to read. You've got a good concept, and I haven't found anyone else who's done a good Superman/MLP crossover, so all the points for originality.
2648120 I understand what you mean; I do have a tendency to get wrapped up in the dialogue rather than the descriptions, and I have tried to get better at my descriptions as I write more.
Thanks for your review
Supermare VS Bluezod, go!
“Hey, you could get creative.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
I don't get that...
2721492
Batmare. Naturally.
2870339 Applejack was Mare-Do-Well so she already was Batmare.
Rainbows suit makes her look like Daring Do, based on description
They definetly look almost like twins
BD out
Time for RD to kick flank! Let's see how much destruction there's gonna be!
Now, normally this is the boring part of any superhero movie. You know, the part where a) They lose theiur powers, or B) get captured for an asine reason just to pad it out. It's use is what seperates the goo (Superman, Avengers, Captain America) from the bad (see any kid superhro movie, steel). This is where it i s done well. Why is that? Well, because this part also remembers that it is also about the friendship between six mares who looked down Chaos and said, "Enough."
This is good stuff. *throws more popcorn in mouth*
Insert Supergirl theme at this moment
“Is that good enough, or do you want me to fly around the world backwards and tell you this yesterday?”
All the facehoofs.
!!!
Aside from that, I’m glad that the girls are taking this so well. Looks like Firefly was right.