//------------------------------// // Man of prey // Story: Man of Equestria // by Brotherhoof12 //------------------------------// The city at night was always peaceful, the bright lights, ponies on the side walk chatting about, and the night life hustle and bustle made the night all the more special. "AAAAAAHHHHH!" Light waved his arms wildly before hitting solid ground from falling from a five story building. Thanks to his tough body he was able to take the fall damage with relative ease. "MOVE!!" He A.I. companion shouted before Light did so before three throwing knives dug itself where he originally was. At first he thought he was safe, but that soon changed when they started to beep making Light immediately shoot back up on his feet and ran for cover. Hiding behind a wall just in time for them to go off, Light looked above to see if the mare with the large comical hat had any more toys to throw at him. There she was, on top of the roof looking down towards him, he expected her to use her grapple gun to reach the ground, but his eyes widened behind the lenses from his mask as the mare jumped instead of using any contraption to slow her fall! But as she was falling down her cape whipping in the air Light caught a glimpse of something he swore was never there from there last encounter. With a stunned silence as she gracefully fell back to the ground, Mare do well looked directly at Light making him shout out his dismay. "Since when did you grow wings!!!???" Before her wings sprung forth and boosted her dash towards him with her fist covered with a spiked brass knuckle heading straight to his head. [12 hours before] "He's over there! waste him!" A masked robber said before his horn lit up and dispensed a magic bolt towards the lone figure not even flinching when a volley of magic repeatedly bombarded him. Putting some of his strength in his legs, Light dashed to the closest criminal and grabbed the crook by their shirt and immediately flung the unicorn in the air and landed in a near by dumpster followed by the rest of the robbers. With all the criminals in the dumpster, he casually walked near it and slammed the cover before any of them could escape, crouched under the dumpster, and with a no trouble at all lifted the heavy container and casually walked to the police that are staring at him with the utmost surprise at what they are seeing. "Hear you go, officers." Light said with a chipper tone in his voice. Gently putting the container down, Light gave them a two finger salute and quickly jumped high in the air and started to hop on each high roof before none of the ponies could no longer see him. Its been a couple of adjustments of being here, but with Light knowing he no longer is alone in this world he could make a sigh of relief to know that maybe staying here could be the right choice. And since he started to help the police in stopping common robberies Light started to his picture on the newspapers with his hero persona 'superman' labeled in every front page. But when he remembered the last Newspaper yesterday he could only frown when he remembered the news that Lex's father has died, apparently even with the new medical equipment Lex used on his father it still could not save him. As of now, Lex is now the head of his Father's multi-million company, but all the money he owns still could not bring the one thing Lex is missing, and that's his family. The day started out great, but Light can only wonder how it all turned south. "Just a few weeks here and we already seem to have ponies following us." Wheatley Said making you snap out of your thing and looking above you to see several pegasai with cameras tailing you. "Superman! Superman, we just want to ask you a few questions." A maroon pegasus shouted at you. "Over here, Superman! Can we be safe to assume you are here to conquer our world?" Said another pegasus. "What are you beneath that mask?" A lanky aqua colored asked. "Are you here because your world was destroyed and now your stranded here to find if more of your kind survived?" The last pegusus reporter asked you. Uh... well, she's not to far off on the question. "Can you find a way to lose them?" Light asked his A.I. companion. "I'm one step a head of you. You need to go ground level and take a sharp left right... NOW!" Doing what he said, Light jumped off a five story building and landed on the side walk making small spider web cracks on the ground and took a sharp left to enter the subway. Thanks to Lex he gave Wheatley all the info on how the city goes making it easy to ditch any local news reporters. With the reporters now taken care of Light ran past many surprised ponies as they watch him run past them. Light saw that a subway train was about to close it's doors, so in a increase in speed he dashed in the train right before it closed and started to move and giving him a few moments of piece and quiet. Taking a big sigh of relief, Light Scanned the train to see only a elderly earth pony wearing a large coat and fedora. With another thing less to worry about Light casually walked towards the stunned pony and took the seat next to him as if it was normal. Running and jumping to elude reporters is such a hassle alight should head back and check on Lex on how he's doing. Light then turned his gaze on the still surprised earth pony and just simply nodded to him and said, "Reporters." With that reply the earth pony nodded his head began reading the newspaper again as if sitting next to an alien was a normal daily occurrence. Either way, Lightning is just happy that he was able to relax for just a moment before the subway stopped to pick up more ponies. Turning his head to see how many are entering his eyes widened when he saw even more reporters getting their cameras ready and their eyes ever vigilant to stop the masked hero. Light assumed it was thanks to the reporters that contacted their friends on how they lost him and checked the train schedule to figure out the next stop he would be in. "Looks like another long day." Light was about to make a break for it when hi felt a tap on his shoulder. Turning around Light Saw the elderly stallion hand him his large coat and hat to him with a friendly smile and said to him, "Don't want to stick out like a sore thumb." Giving a quick nod, Light covered himself with the coat and hat before the automatic doors opened with a sea of multicolored ponies started to cram themselves in the train cart, but thanks to Light's strength he is able to push himself against the sea of passengers and at the same time slip past the news reports with relative ease. Reaching the surface of the city still wearing the coat and hat the nice elderly stallion gave him Light picked a quite alleyway, removed his hero outfit, and used the large coat as a cover to hide his costume before he emerged wearing a simple white t-shirt and a tight fitting blue jeans. "We really need to have a better way the wear normal clothing under the costume, these jeans are going to get annoying, I can already tell." Light said to his companion. "We can try putting little hiding spots with a set of clothes, that way when we need to change we can go to the nearest one and we can change to hero to zero as quickly as possible." "Yeah I guess your rig- wait, what did you call me when I'm not being a here?" "Anyway, where we are standing right now I can safely tell you that the route we are walking on will take around an hour before we reach our destination." He said to Light. "Yeah, thanks for the info." Light said to his friend, giving up on the previous comment his A.I. friend said about him. [Lex Tower] With Lex now in charge he completely started to change his father's building from the outer walls that were once egg shell white to jet black paint, the lights that showed the mark of Lex's company also change to dark green making the building look like it came out of some science novel. But with the changes to the building also came benefits to Light, since he can't take chances if one of the workers found him in his superhero costume, Lex had the building have secret entrances only he and Light knows making it easier for them to sneak out when ever they want. The secret entrance was a hidden door disguised as just a plain wall of the building. Light pushed a single misplaced brick before it tuned out to be a keypad, pushed the six digit code, and with a few beeps from the keypad the door opened up and Light walked inside to meet the Lex. The room he is now in is first floor storage room full of your typical items of office supplies, but when Light strode through the room and opened the supply door he was now in the main lobby of the first floor. Like always he spots no one in the main floor just a big lobby with black tiles with green edges with a big water fountain in the center, several large elevators on each side, and the only receptionist reading a magazine behind a very large and a very expensive looking desk. "Good day to you." Light said without a care in the world. "Uh-huh." The unicorn said wile using her magic to flip another page and stare lazily at what she is reading. The unicorn has a name, but light never asked and at the same time she never looked up from her magazine or even asked who he is. For some odd reason that's seems cool with both of them, If light does not cause to make any trouble or tell her boss what she does on her job then she won't care to even acknowledge him and would just read away with her hearts content. Taking just a few more paces to the nearest elevator he pressed the top floor button and with the elevator door moving up he waited patiently while the elevator played smooth jazz. Just another thing added to this building, elevator music. With the elevator now coming to a stop Light casually walked out of the elevator and entered Lex's new office to him writing down several large parchments of paper with his secretary beside him holding an even larger stack of paper. Needless to say, when Lex heard Light's footsteps he immediately looked up, smiled, and got up from his chair to greet his friend. "Finally a good excu- I mean, welcome back, friend." He said while shaking Light's hand. "Sir you still need to sign more of these paper work before the next bundle arrives." His secretary said in a even tone. It really made him a bit unnerved on how she just seems to just be there without any sign of surprise or any emotion from her. From the first time they met to now, Light seemed to ever get any word from except formal greetings. Lex shuddered by that and quickly moved Light to another section of the office, the room holds an empty desk with large shelves, books, and even a stand holding what looks to be a full set of armor in the center making it not really fit to the room just made stand out. "I've been signing non-stop, I'm glad you arrived before she would decided to just grab my hand and sign them all herself. He chuckled at his joke before going around the empty desk, opened one of it's drawers and pulled two glasses and a very expensive looking bottle. "Um, I don't drink." Or ever in that regard, they were never any form of liquor in the house his parents forbid it all he drank was juice, soda, water, but never any alcohol. "Relax, this is just some soda I go and poured it all in an empty bottle looks cool though. I just do this so when the adults come for a meeting I would pull this bad boy out and drink to make me look like I can handle my liquor." He told him while pouring two glasses full of the soda and handed one to Light. "Thanks." Light took a sip from his drink and he immediately enjoyed the cup of soda he was drinking. "It's good." He said with a smile before pushing his arm with the empty glass towards Lex for more. Lex chuckled at the request and poured him another drink. Taking a sip for himself he raised it in front of light as a sign to do the same. "A toast, for the future of our kind." Light moved his glass forward to Lex's own glass and was met with the two click together before they drank there soda and started talking about how their day went. Light told him about his latest heroic act about stopping a robbery and also escaping the press with the help from an very kind stallion. Lex just told him he had paperwork to do and that's it. "Ever since my father passed away I had to deal with all of the paperwork with no help from my staff. There all trying to have their own changes, but I'm trying to make changes where it can benefit all of the workers instead of them stuffing their pockets full of more bits." Lex said with a bit of distaste at how they would do such a thing was also an irony not lost to him on how he handled his business, but that was his own little secret dark secret. "Yeah, but we also need to figure out how to deal with the real issue... the metal men that our hunting us and if we are the inly humans on this planet." Light said in a serious tone. This made Lex stop drinking and put his glass on the desk and gave Light a stone faced look. "Yes, this I am in charge of one of the most multinational conglomerate I do have some connections to lead to some history about some of our kind. With us working together we can be a beacon for other humans to go to and be protected from those monsters that was made by our long lost ancestors." "I'm sure that my hero persona 'superman' and you being a rich boy of a billion dollar company should get some signs of humans getting here. It's just really to find them with so many ponies and other faces though out the city will be a difficult task even if I have super human abilities." Light said with a sigh of frustration. It seemed so much easier in their heads on how the plan should work, but when in motion It just seemed to be at a slug's pace. "I already made ides to have surveillance around the city, my company specializes in technological inventions that put other companies to shame. I will try to set them in a couple of months, but till then just do what you do best and be a hero." Lex told him while reaching for his drink and downing the entire cup in one gulp. "Well with your hero persona 'Superman' doing good, you also have some completion in the form of a mare that you know very well." Lex snapped his free hand and waited just one second before his secretary strolled in with no large stacks of forms and document, but a single newspaper. "It seems that during nights when you are never around she stops some criminals that should be locked up for a long time, but some how get released the next day. She has made quite the waves before your grand entrance and already has a fan base revolved around her." Light looked at the picture showing a tied group of criminals being hauled to jail, but the real noticeable piece of evidence she was the one who caught them was the single thrown weapon she used on him the first time they met. "Well I am glad she is on our side, but why is that a problem to us?" Light asked Lex. "The problem is not her, but who she is dealing with. For past two weeks I tried to have some shipments from across the country, but they all get ransacked by the same criminals that she has been dealing with. If you can, I need you to do a stake out on one of my warehouses that are going to hold new equipment that is being shipped tonight." Lex explained. "So you want me to help her?" Light asked. "I need you to just have a low profile and let her handle to small fries. If you can gather whatever info she is getting from them I would like to hear them when you come back." "Ok, that is all good and all, but did you forget the one thing that might make the plan fall into pieces?" It was Light's A.I. who spoke to Lex it's single glowing blue eye staring straight at him. "We fought her before and she kicked his ass." "Thanks for reminding me." Light said with sarcasm. "Your very welcome. You might want us to lay low, but that still does not hold any possibility that she might notice someone is watching her." Wheatley explained the holes of Lex's idea. "It's just a simple stake out, just make sure you just watch the warehouse and see what she does." Reaching for the bottle Lex poured him a glass and drank the entire thing before looking at Light with a smile that showed he is confident on his plan. "To not sound like I'm about to jinx you... what is the worst thing that could happen." [present time] "He totally jinxed us!!!" Wheatley shouted while Light dodged another volley of small projectile explosives. It was supposed to be a stake out. While Light dressed in his costume and was on top of a nearby rooftop looking over the warehouse that is holding Lex's shipments to spot Mare do well he was instead seeing a large group of criminals taking the shipment while at the same time holding the security guard hostage. Light was about to take action when the entire warehouse became shrouded my darkness from the lack of light being cut off making it harder to see what was happening. And in just as soon as Light jumped of where he was standing to investigate the issue the warehouse light turned back on to the all of the criminals unconscious and tied up and the hostage free and was running away to call for back up. Light was about to take a further look at the crook before Light heard small objects bouncing on the floor before a huge bang erupted followed by a bright light. As soon as the light had faded and the sense of hearing was restore Light was soon welcomed by a dark leather boot slammed to his face that caused him to lay flat on his butt. After that confrontation it soon became a cat and mouse game with the masked mare that now was sporting wings flying over him throwing explosives at him while he runs and dodges her attacks. "Ok, I may have just been activated months ago and still have a lot to learn about this world, but I am sure she can't just grow wings that fast." His A.I. told him. "Your right," Light stopped running, turned his gaze towards the flying Pegasus, and used him human strength in his legs to jump straight to the surprised mare. Before she could react Light grabbed her cape and the two descended to the ground in a heap of limbs. The first to untangle themselves was the masked mare that was about to take flight again to gain some distance was soon stopped when Light wrapped his arms tightly around her. Given his strength it was impossible for her to escape but she still tried to struggle in vain. "I'm not your enemy," Light said while grunting from wall the flailing she was doing. "I'm a hero, like you, so please stop fighting." "Your no hero if your working with him!" As soon as Light heard her voice she took the opportunity of surprise and tossed another explosive in the air that detonated above them making the hold around her loose. Mare do well then released a flurry of kicks and punches at the stunned human before she landed a round house kick to his face only for her foot to be grabbed by his hand. "The last time we fought," Light spat out some dirt from the explosive and looked straight to her lensed eyes. "Your punches were a much stronger." With a flick of his wrist he sent her flying in the air. To stop her motion she extended her wing to bring her to a halt and then proceeded to speak her piece to him. She was about to fly higher when a fist was mere centimeters too close for her face to even dodge, but to dodge she did with the agility that Light did not know she possessed. He also did not know that when she moved away from the fist she planted a sticky bomb on his arm and in a second soon detonated. "GRAAAAH!" Light fell hard on the ground from how strong the explosion was about to get back up but was soon smacked down when a set of hoofed feet planted them directly on to his face causing the small crater he made even more bigger. "Who are you?" Even her voice sounded different then last time they fought. Light quickly lunged both his hand to grab her by surprise her agility evaded the idea of catching her and was immediately treated with more small bombes exploded all around him. Swatting away the smoke to clear his vision Light looked up to see her circling around her like a predator waiting for its prey to show a hint of weakness for it swoop down a deliver the final blow. "This is going no where!" He shouted angrily to no one but himself. "Calm down, now I know this may look bad, but we accomplish to talk to her." Wheatley said in a positive tone to uplift his spirits but instead was immediately shot down when even more bombs were being thrown down on them. "I can't do [SHIT] if she keeps flying." Light said in his earth language. "Come on, we can't have her keep doing this she must have a limit." Wheatley said to Light. As if the universe is making fun of him Mare do well unleashed twice the amount of explosives she used before and as soon as they touched the ground they immediately coated the area in fire and smoke with Light caught in the cross fire. The fire was not he problem, the impact of the explosion was not the problem, but the thick smoke filling in Lights lungs were a problem. Just because he is invulnerable to high amount of physical pain, it did not mean intangible things such as smoke had the same effects. Light's eyes quickly filled with tears and his throat cried for clean air, but due to the smoke being so thick Light felt disoriented to even comprehend on how to counter this but to jump high enough to get away from the smoke. As soon as he jumped high in the air to get his lungs the air they need his eyes opened just at the right moment to see Mare do well with her right fist covered in what appears to be brass knuckles. The fist connected to Light's jaw making his brain rattle in his skull. With even more pain to struggle with Light could not counteract Mare do well's onslaught of fists and kicks made it even more annoying. Just when the last punch was delivered Light was about to stop her by grabbing her in a bear hug she slapped her left hand to Lights forehead and soon used her wings flew even higher. Light was about to grab her legs when he heard rapid beating noises that soon caught his attention. What light didn't realize was that what she slapped on his hand was a sticky bomb that soon detonated in his face causing him to hit the ground again. When his body hit the ground his lungs were once again assaulted by smoke and fire making him claw at his throat for air. Mind in shambles, lungs filled with smoke Light could not even hear his friend's shouting to help him get out of this situation. As his vision became dimmer and dimmer Light could lay flat on his back as his last breath slowly left his body and was invaded my smoke he could only look at the flying mare in the sky. For some reason Light lifted his right arm in the air as if trying to reach her, but as soon as his eyes closed they immediately opened to see all white. He could finally take a breath of clan air and when he started to take what was around him into consideration his eyes soon locked with another set of eyes the same color as his. Who was in front of him was human, but instead of it being the same person as before was replaced with a woman. She had long black hair, well rounded cheeks, and her skin was fair making the expression she was making look peaceful. A wave of calmness washed over him from her stare, but soon his eyes widened at what she was holding. In her hand was a toy, but that was the same toy that he was with him on hi ship and the color scheme was the same as his costume. She made the toy fly in front of him as if to show him what the toy can do. Light only raised his arm to reach out towards the toy, his eyes closing once more, but when he opened his eyes once again he no longer saw fire and smoke, but the endless sight of the starry sky. As soon has he no longer was engulfed in smoke Light took a moment to cough out what little smoke was left in his systems he soon saw Mare do well fly head first with her brass fist cocked back to deliver a mighty blow. That fist was soon caught with ease with just his left arm, like a iron bear trap his hand clamped onto her arm and did not let go while her other arm tried to deliver more punches to him. They were all blocked by his free hand and that arm was also grabbed and held tightly in his grasp. With her now trapped Light spoke with a more serious tone of voice to get his point across that he's no longer playing around. "Stop, like I said before, I'm a hero like you." He said to her. Once more she struggled in his grip, but it just made him tighten his hold on her even more. "Why are you doing this? What is the point doing any of this?" He asked her. "You have no idea who your friend is or what he's doing behind your back." She said with an even tone. "He will do whatever it means to get what he wants, especially if it involves his own kind." That revelation caused his feet to stop moving and thoughts come to a halt. "Lex? Wait, what do you-" Before he could ask her several beams of light aimed at them followed by several heavily armed security ponies surrounding them with their weapons drawn and pointed at them. "Freeze! put your hand in the air, you two are coming with us." One of the guards shouted. Light as about to fly higher in to the air and escape, but it was Mare do well who was the fastest. She tucked her legs in and immediately kicked Light's face causing him to loose his grasp. As soon as she was free she released all of her explosives to the guards and upon impact incased them in a flash of light and smoke. Light was smart enough to cover his eyes before they exploded or else he would be like the ponies that are coughing and wheezing for air. Just as Light was about to escape the scene he spotted the masked mare staring at him higher in the sky. "Be carful on who you trust, especially your own kind." With her final piece said she flew away into the night without a trace leaving him to his own thoughts. "What the heck does she mean?" "Less talking more running, the smoke is disappearing." Wheatley told him. Think aside Light jumped away from the guards and continued to hop on roof top to roof top till the warehouse behind him no longer can be seen. With the guards no longer on his tail Light stopped jumping and rested his hands on his knees to catch a breath it was his A.I. companion that broke the silence. "Ssooo.... you can fly now." Wheatley said casually. "Yeah." Light replied. "Did you plan on telling me this before or after the fight." He asked. "Do you honestly believe I hide the fact that I can fly? Even I didn't know I could do that." "Then we can calk that up with how this planet is effecting you?" Wheatley said. "Pretty much." Light replied again. After his reply more silence filled the conversation, but was soon shattered when Wheatley asked him another question. "Do you believe her?" Light was silent for a moment until he spoke with a hint of betrayal in his voice. "Lex is out friend right?" His A.I. was silent after hearing the question making Light even more uncomfortable about what he learned. He was about to speak again before Wheatley cut him off. "Lets find out." He told him without any hesitation. "After all, he is a friend." "Yeah," Light said before he started his jumping to the next building, it would be easier for ponies to see him out in the open with him flying in the sky without the help of wings, so building hopping was his only option for travel. Light can think later on how he can fly, even more so on who that woman was. The only problem he wants to face in the large tower coated in green light like a beacon calling him to it. Just seeing the tower made him all the more uncertain on what might happen when he sees Lex and tell him what he learned. "Let's go talk to our friend.