//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: False Heroes // by RadicalDishonesty //------------------------------// Opening my wings, I rocket off of the ground into the blue sky. It’s filled with white clouds, the aftermath of a storm. A few exhausted stormclouds are exactly what I want right now. I aim for a nearby cluster of clouds, holding my wings tight to my body and twisting my trajectory to barely scrape my hoof against a cloud near the edge. There’s a tingling in my hooves, and I feel a tiny jolt as I lightly tap it. I don’t look, but I know there’s a tiny, almost imperceptible spark as I draw the lighting off of it into my hoof. When I clear the cloud I bring my wings up and give them a powerful flap, redirecting myself to a small nearby cloud. I twist to barely scrape my hoof against that cloud, as I release the lighting into the cloud with an audible snap. Twirling in the air, I aim for another nearby cloud, grabbing another tiny lightning spark to fill the central cloud. Like collecting little particles of dust made out of lightning. I chuckle to myself, even though I’ve thought the same thing a hundred times before. I whip through the air, gathering lighting from all the nearby clouds into the central one. I’m finally free, if only for a little, from the wreck my life has become. I land on the cloud, and I can feel the static electricity on my hooves. I shift back and forth, feeling the pleasant tingle. Pegasi can handle a little lightning, usually. I guess some can’t, but I definitely can. I look over the town, the town I grew up in, Fillydelphia. The proper weather team is clearing out the clouds nearer to town, making way for the blue skies scheduled for the afternoon. It’s coming along nicely, too. Of course, from above the clouds like this it’s easy to see the blue sky. One of the weather team I don’t recognize is setting up the rainbow mixture on a cloud for the post-storm show. He flies up high and bodychecks the cloud, the rainbow sprouting from it and spreading across the town. The blue sky and rainbows looked great, as usual. Our rainbow department was always on point. I look away, though. Reminds me too much of a certain blue and rainbow dream wrecker. … I was in. The Wonderbolt Academy was going great. I was even chosen as lead pony, even with a talent like… that mare around, because I was going to push us to ever greater heights. And I did. We were the best the academy had ever seen. I’m talking constant record breaking. My dream… our dreams, probably, were within reach. Until, of course, my wingpony, Rainbow Dash, threw me under the bus. So, we were in a cloud clearing contest, and I get the idea to make a twister. It’d win the contest, set another academy record, impress the brass… it was a hat trick! The perfect plan. We make the twister, and it starts clearing out the clouds, exactly as planned. Until a balloon got in the way. Turns out my wingpony’s pathetic friends couldn’t handle even a week without seeing her, so they fly, through a no fly zone, straight to a military training facility. Anyway, of course, the twister we made hits them, and they all fall to their deaths and now I’m responsible. … No, wait, they didn’t die at all. In fact, none of them were even hurt. They were perfectly fine because the other cadets caught them. No harm, no foul. So apparently, Rainbow Dash bitched to Spitfire about how unacceptable it was that I was in charge, and Spitfire kicks me out of the academy! Spitfire was all behind my actions before that, but now because of some sob story from Rainbow Dash about how much danger her friends were in I’m kicked out. And that’s it. It’s game over. My dreams of being in the Wonderbolts are shot, and probably so are my dreams of stunt flying for anything. That rainbow-maned traitor ruined my career, propped her own up, and is probably laughing it up in whatever podunk town she and her crappy friends live in. It’s not fair. It just isn’t fair! I stamp down hard on the cloud I’m on, and it goes off with a thunderclap. I hear a panicked yelp from somewhere below me. “What the hay was that?!” the voice whines. Great. I am not in the mood for this right now. “Who’s screwing around up the--” A blue and white pegasus swoops up from the ground. I definitely recognize her: Rainy Skies. Probably sent out here to finish clearing the storm clouds outside of the town. “Lightning Dust?” she asks, like she’s surprised to see me. “Yeah, it’s me,” I spit out. She scowls at me. She’s always been kind of kind of a grump. I guess I should play nice, though, so I roll my eyes and say, “Hey, Rainy Skies.” I sigh. “What do you want?” She glares at me. “You shot a lightning bolt at me!” And now I have to set this record straight. “I didn’t shoot a lightning bolt at you, Rainy. I was just screwing around and you happened to be here.” She holds her forehooves out and keeps berating me. “You pull this kind of horseapples all the time.” I try not to grit my teeth. I’ve gotta play this cool. “Look, I was practicing, and I didn’t know anypony would be here.” “Practicing?!” She cackles at me. “For what?! The Academy? I already know how that went.” What. She smiles super smugly at me. How the hell does she already know? Her smile falters as I take off from the cloud and start flying toward her. Who has been spreading this horseapples around? “Uhm… D-Dusty?” she stammers out. Was it Sundrop? Or Cloud Wing? Rainy Days flaps away from me, backing herself up against a cloud. “L-let’s not get carried aw--” “Who?” I growl out at her, an inch away from her muzzle. “SkySoargotanofficialdispatchfromWonderboltHQ,” she spits out in a rush, her eyes squeezed shut and head pressed back up into the cloud. I punch the cloud right next to Rainy Skies’s head. The cloud snaps as the leftover lightning from my punch discharges into it. It’s not enough to really hurt, but Rainy cringes and whimpers pathetically anyway. I push away from the cloud cover and take off full speed towards Fillydelphia. This can’t be happening. I take a quick look for where the sun is in the sky. Still early afternoon. Late enough that Sky Soar is done with lunch and probably back in the office. I angle myself toward downtown. Spitfire sent word to my boss about this? I home in on the weather department’s tower, dodging and weaving through the pegasi in the city. I reach the office building in what is probably record time and blast through the reception room, kicking up tons of paperwork and some more outraged yelps. I bust into Sky Soar’s office, snorting loudly. Sky Soar just looks up from what she’s writing. “Oh, Lightning Dust,” she says, as if me kicking the door open was a normal everyday thing. I only did it once or twice, tops. I snort and glare at her. “What’s the deal with the Academy?” She raises an eyebrow. “Wouldn’t you know better than I do?” she says, still frustratingly placid. She frowns at the scowl I give her in response. “Fine,” she says, motioning me to sit down. “Close the door, we need to have this conversation anyway.” I slam the door shut. “It’s closed. What. Happened.” She folds her hooves on the table in front of her in that frustrating ‘I am in control’ way. “Why don’t you start with what happened at the Academy?” “It wasn’t my fault!” I blurt out. She raises an eyebrow. “So… the report that you decided to make a tornado to finish a cloud clearing exercise was inaccurate?” My next outburst catches in my throat. “...I wasn’t the only one to make that twister, you know.” “But you were in charge, yes? Lead pony?” I catch the next scream of outrage in my throat again. “Th-that… I mean it wasn’t my fault there were ponies in the way. Those civilians weren’t supposed to be there at all.” Sky’s eyes grow stern. “Tornadoes are dangerous whether or not civilians are around. Making one, especially making one before you have cleared it with anyone else, is always dangerous.” “It wasn’t that big of a deal!” I finally shout. “Nopony was hurt! I was just pushing myself like the captain asked me to!” “What you did was reckless and thoughtless.” She unfolds her hooves and stands up, walking around her desk. “If this was only one incident, maybe it could be overlooked.” “But--!” “But,” she interrupts. “It wasn’t.” She unfurls her wing and shoves something at me. It’s a manilla folder. What… was she hiding it under her wing since I got here? I unfold it to look at what's inside. I get as far as seeing the paper is pink, though, before slamming it shut and shouting, “You’re firing me!? I didn’t even do this on the job! You can’t fire me over this! I've got rights!” “Which is why I am not firing you. This is a notification of suspension, pending investigation of your conduct. Only after that will we decide if you will remain an employee of the city of Fillydelphia.” “It's basically the same damn thing!” I throw the papers at her, which immediately flutter in different directions, not hitting her at all. She looks at me half-lidded. “Are you done, or do I need to call security?” I snarl at her and about face. Throwing the door open, I extend my wings my wings up full size. “Dust--” Sky starts. I don’t let her finish. Pumping my wings at full power, I blast out of the room, hearing the flutter of all the disturbed papers. I deftly bob and weave through the ponies in the halls, kicking up as much wind as I possibly can, and shoot out the front door. This is a disaster. I trudge down the streets of Fillydelphia. The sun is setting and the streets are filled with ponies, mostly returning from work. Which I won't be doing anytime soon because of the stupid Wonderbolts training camp. If I thought my life was over before, it's definitely over now. They couldn't be set with just ruining my dreams, but they have to ruin my normal crappy job too. Not like I liked it there anyway. So I have decided to crawl into a bottle and hopefully die there. I just wanna be alone, and fortunately, the ponies around me are leaving me alone. That's usually how it goes, here. It's the big city, there are too many ponies here to really care about most of 'em. Maybe it's different for the other species' districts. I have a hard time believing the griffons or dogs go out of their way for each other, though. Not that I mind. Could you imagine how much of a hassle it would be if everyone on the street expected me to help them? Or if right now, when I just wanna go buy some booze, ponies would be trying to get in my business? As I trudge to my favorite liquor store, though, I notice puffs of smoke ahead of me in the city. Probably some poor sap's building on fire. But, aside from going to get drunk, it's not like I'm doin' anything, so I figure I'll go watch. Trotting up to the street I catch a glimpse of the house on fire. It's a two stories tall unmarked building. Probably just some office building for paper pusher types. And, yep, there's smoke pouring out of it, and the front door has orange plumes of fire comin' out of it. I'm not the only one watching, though. There's a good group of ponies gawking already. They seem really into it, too, so I go up to one the mares at the end and nudge her with my hoof-elbow. “Psst, hey. What's going on here?” She turns back with a worried expression on her face. “Somepony's trapped inside the building!” Sure enough, I see a dark shadow pass in front of one of the second story windows. The windows all have big metal bars in front, for some reason. Definitely not getting out that way, and the front door's no good either. Above it, I can see a couple members of the weather team smashing clouds together frantically, trying to get enough water to soak the house. They both get on top of the cloud they made and bounce on it frantically, being rewarded with a light drizzle. It does basically nothing to the fire. After the downpour they put on today, there's just not enough water to put out the flames. So, the building's definitely burning down, and there's somepony stuck inside. Bad day to be on fire. A loud bang hits my ears. There's a second and a third. With a fourth bang, the frame for the window buckles outward. No way, the pony's smashing their way out! Another tremendous bang and the wood of the frame splinters. One final bang and the whole window busts out of it's frame, flying out onto the street. Inside the window frame, alit from the glow of the fire behind it, is a dark black figure. I think it's a mare, but before I can tell much about her she disappears back into the building. The crowd starts muttering to each other in hushed tones. The worried mare beside me says in her best cryptic melodramatic tone, “Could it be her...” I don't bother stopping myself from rolling my eyes. The dark figure reappears in the window, this time larger and more amorphous. It dramatically leaps from the building, sailing through the air. I finally get a good look at it, and it's a mare dressed in a black full-body suit, including a face mask. She's wearing a purple broad brimmed hat, and even her eyes are covered with this bluish film. I think she's got a cape on, but it's hard to tell 'cause she's got a pale blue stallion draped over her back. Am... am I looking at a wannabe super hero? One of the other onlookers cries out, “It's Mare-Do-Well!” Sounds like I am. She hits the ground hard, pretty much immediately buckling and rolling. It's actually a pretty good rolling landing, and she even manages to get her cargo to tumble safely. Might leave them sore in the morning, but overall it's a pretty good roll. Both of them are pretty sooty, but I guess neither are burnt to a crisp, so... she saved that guy's life. I hear the sound of sirens from behind me and see the telltale flashing lights of the policepony's horns. Mare-Do-Well wrenches herself up off the ground, and the ponies start to crowd her, talking about how great she is. She's unstable, but she's shakin' off the fall. One of the ponies from the crowd cries, “Wow, you can still stand? That's amazing,” and I scoff under my breath. I've walked off worse crashes than what she just had. Two stories is nothin' to a well-trained pegasus. But nopony ever told me how tough I was for dropping two measly stories. I coulda done that, easy. Mare-Do-Well says nothing in response, but she nods and starts looking around sorta frantically. One of the crowd of ponies shuffles a bit to the side, and Mare-Do-Well slips through the opening in the crowd, taking off at an impressive pace away from the sirens. “Wait! Stop!” cry the policeponies, one of which breaks into a gallop. Mare-Do-Well turns the corner with the policepony in pursuit, while the other walks up to the stallion rousing himself up off the ground. He seems like a real pince-nez type, glasses and a half-burnt tie, so of course it’s a unicorn. He’s banged up, too, covered in soot and bleeding from his nose. The policemare that stopped helps him up. “Sir, are you okay?” He nods slightly and groans. “Good thing Mare-Do-Well was there to save you, or you'd be burnt to a crisp!” says one of the crowd-ponies. “Hush!” The policemare says. “Please allow him to talk. Sir, could you please tell me what happened here?” The stallion bites his lip. “Well... er...” he hangs his head. “Y-yes... “W-well... you see I was just minding my own business, doing some work in the office when... well, I smelled smoke. Next thing I knew the mare in the black suit busted into my room and threw me over her back.” The crowd broke into appreciative sounds at this. “Sir... I know it's been a rough time for you but... did you see anything that could tell us who was under the mask?” The stallion shakes his head. Grimacing, the policemare takes a step back from the crowd. “Alright... well you ponies stay here, I have to look for my partner.” I watch the policemare trot away, and turn to the crowd. “Sooo... what's the deal with this Mare-Do-Well character?” They all gasp dramatically. One of the mares, a green one, from the crowd pipes up. “How could you not know who Mare-Do-Well is?! Were you living under a rock?” What a bitch. I scowl and say, “Gimme a break, I’ve been outta town.” “For a whole month?” She’s been doing… whatever she’s been doing the whole month? “Look, I was under intense training before I left. I’m sorry I can’t be bothered to keep track of every dumb flash-in-the-pan celebrity.” She gives me this half angry half dubious look. “Oh, I’m sure you were so busy. For what?” “For--” The words catch in my throat. “Look, it’s none of your business what I was doing,” I snap. ”Mare-Do-Well, who is she?” “Sh-she’s a dangerous vigilante,” comes a wavering voice from the crowd. The crowd all gasps, and all part to reveal the stallion that Mare-Do-Well was carrying from before. He looks around at the crowd nervously, who are all glaring at him, before piping up again. “W-what? You’ve all read the articles in the Daily Tribune right? Sh-she’s working outside the law, attacking supposed muggers and su-such.” The green mare glares at him, “How dare you? She saved your life!” He flinched under her glare. “F-f-f-from what?” he said, trembling. “F-f-f-from the fire? I didn’t set the fire. Fires don’t come from nowhere.” He pauses. The crowd is clearly waiting for the obvious accusation, while he’s busy chickening out. I give him a nudge. “Well. Out with it!” He briefly makes eye contact with me, but of course he flinches away. Looking down he says, “Sh-she must have set the fire herself.” Predictably, the crowd erupts into anger. The green mare starts stomping up to the stallion’s face. He cowers down as small as possible as she yells at him. “I can’t believe you! Mare-Do-Well is a hero who’s accomplished more than you ever will!” I grind my teeth hearing those words. “She’s beloved by the people and she’s an inspiration! She’s a hero! You can’t possibly--” I dart in front of her, between her and the cowering stallion. Getting up in her face as much as she got up into his face, I growl out, “Maybe you should learn to accept that your ‘hero’ is a sham.” With her stunned by those words, I continue to press forward. “That all those idiotic childish fantasies of heroism are wrong. That your ‘hero’ never stood for anything that you thought they did.” I start to raise my voice. “That all you thought they were was just a big lie! “Heroes don’t exist. They never did!” I start screaming at her. “And you need to get it through your thick skull that they don’t exist, and it was always some stupid sham and they’ll happily ruin your life once you become inconvenient!” Finished with yelling, I’m huffing up a storm. She’s looking at me with this mixture of fear and… I dunno what else. The rest of the crowd is shuffling uncomfortably. I take another deep breath and shout, “What are you waiting for! Nothin’ to see here! Go home!” The crowd all starts slinking away, the green mare no exception. She takes one final look at me with that expression before turning away. I dunno what she’s thinking, but she’s pissing me off. “Th-thank you,” a voice came from behind me. I whip around, ready to yell at whoever didn’t actually leave, and find the stallion still there, flinching at my movement again. What a wimp. I just snort though. “What are you doin’ here?” “Y-you saved me,” he says as lamely as it sounds. I roll my eyes. “Don’t get any ideas. Didn’t you hear me? Heroes don’t exist.” “W-well, you stopped the crowd from yelling at me. A-and you didn’t get rewarded or anything.” A clipped chuckle escapes my mouth. “Yeah, I guess.” We settle into silence again, and we watch the building in front of us crackle and burn. He was working here for years, huh? Everything he was working towards in the last few years is goin’ up in smoke. I hear a loud snap, and a big puff of smoke and cinder billows out of the windows. Nothing is gonna be salvageable for that building. He sighs wistfully at the building, and I snort. “You’re just gonna sit here and watch it burn?” “What am I supposed to do?” I frown. “I dunno. Yell. Scream and shout. Try to figure out who that Mare Do Well chick is to get revenge. Something! You sittin here all calm is creepin me out.” He gives me this funny look. “Wh-what’s your name?” I purse my lips. “I said not to get any ideas.” Laughing nervously, he holds up his hooves and waves them frantically. “No no n-n-n-n-nooo nono. I didn’t mean anything like that. I just mean… I wanted to know who helped me out.” Rolling my eyes, I decide to indulge him. “It’s Lightning Dust.” “W-well thank you, Lightning Dust. Someone going out of their way for me re-really helps. Especially considering--” he motions to the fire again. I purse my lips together. “Yeah… don’t mention it.” Turning around as fast as I can make casual, I start walking away. Last thing I want is to get caught up in his stuff today. I’ve got my own forgetting to do at the liquor store.