//------------------------------// // Friends, foes and monsters(edited) // Story: Hero name: Princess Midnight // by King Ice //------------------------------// Twilight was on a chair behind the counter of her library, smiling as she read a book. She looked at a newspaper on the counter from the “The Pony Times”, the newspaper where her father was working. On the first page was a picture of her fighting Octomare in front of Trixie Labs, with the title “Princess Midnight, a New Hero?” She was happy that the director of this journal, Johnny Mercado, published something about her. Maybe villains would hesitate more before doing a crime now that there was a new hero in town. “Hi, Miss Twilight,” a female voice said. Twilight looked up and saw one of her favorite visitors, Twinkle Shine, a young unicorn a few years younger than Twilight. Her coat was light goldish-grey and her mane pale cerise. “Twinkle Shine! What can I do for you today?” Twilight asked, smiling as she put her book on the counter. “Well, I need a book on chemistry for my classes.” “Oh, then stop worrying, you know that my library has at least one book on everything!” Twilight exclaimed. “But, if you need help on that I could help you myself.” “Really!? I didn’t know you were good at that!” Twinkle shine exclaimed with sparkles in her eyes. “Well, I was very good at science... before I… quit school,” Twilight said, murmuring the last part as she looked down. She had to quit school if she wanted to have more time to save people, she must have had to give up on her dream of working on something that has to do with science and be a hero instead. “Well, I’d be glad if you’d help me!” Twinkle exclaimed ignoring what Twilight said. *** Meanwhile, in an apartment far from Twilight’s library. “F*ck that! I don’t know what to do anymore!” Moonlight Bouncer yelled as he threw another beer on the ground, he was on his couch in front of his TV. There were empty beers all around him. This was Moonlight Bouncer, an earth pony who was completely yellow. “Since that accident in Trixie Labs two years ago, my life got so much worse! I was only a worker, I had no idea of what they were working on, and because of a simple mistake, I’ve been electrocuted, giving me electric powers! And they dared to fire me! As much as I tried to get the attention of the public, they simply didn’t care, now my life is horrible!” He shouted as he shot lightning bolts from his hooves on his TV, exploding it. “But at least, I still have Star Eyes with me.” He added as he smiled, yes, Star Eyes has been a very good friend since high school, and she’s also his wife, she’s been with him in the hardest moments, and have never given up on him. “That’s it! I can’t take this anymore Moonlight!” He heard a voice shout, he turned around and saw Star Eyes, her belongings were all packed up! “What are you doing honey?” He asked fearfully “Don’t you see? We don’t have any money, we can’t pay the rent, my life has been ruined! We can’t live like that! This is why I’m going back to my parents’ house! They’ll treat me better than you!” She shouted as she opened the door, to leave Moonlight’s life forever. “Wait! Please! I… I can find a work I swear! And I’ll get us money! I just need more time!” He yelled as he followed her. “No! You had your chance! I’m sorry but I can’t live like that anymore!” “But, what about me? Don’t you love me?” He asked hopefully “For two years, my love for you was fading away, you’re not normal anymore!” “What!? Just because I have electric powers!? I’m like a unicorn, it’s just that I am an earth pony!” “Please, you know that unicorn’s magic doesn’t work like that, you can use electricity from every part of your body! But enough talking, I’m out of here!” She said as she took her bags and exited of the house, Moonlight saw her close the door as he desperately tried to say something, he couldn’t believe it! Suddenly, he felt rage. “ENOUGH! I can’t accept this anymore! Trixie Lulamoon ruined my life! And for that, she’ll pay with her life!” He shouted as he left his anger escape, he started shooting lightning all round him, breaking everything and setting fire to his house. “Beware, because The Sparkler is born!” *** Meanwhile at The Pony Time building. Night Light arrived happily at his workplace, he saw everypony hard working, he saluted them all of course, then he arrived to his boss’ office, Johnny Mercado, a great pony, but a bit too strict sometimes. Night Light breathed out and knocked at the door, he opened it when he heard somepony telling him to. He closed the door behind him saw Johnny Mercado, it was a pegasus, he had a brown coat and a black mane and tail. “Night Light! My best journalist and photographer!” Johnny exclaimed as he approached Night Light to pat him on the back. “You’re here just in time! I loved what you did with that new super hero! She has a great potential for good stories! She’s way better than Rocket Pony or Vampony, it’s always so hard to find something great to say about them, ponies don’t see much of them, and I prefer not to talk about the others, here we have an alicorn! Do you know how much money we could get if we find some exciting stories about her!?” “Hum, yes, but I was thinking you could give me an assignment very specific, you see, I think I’m on a track to find the identity of the Crime Master, the crime overlord of our city!” Night Light exclaimed excitedly. Many ponies know that somepony is directing criminals’ operations, he was called the Crime Master, none of his smaller lackeys knew his identity, and the police didn’t find his most trusted henchmen, if he has, but Night Light was finally on a lead. “Nah, the Crime Master has been here for years now, ponies don’t care about him anymore, what they want is more action! Try to find Princess Midnight, follow her to see her actions of heroism, and you know what, if you can find her secret identity, I’ll give you a pay raise!” Johnny exclaimed, Night Light didn’t have enough time to protest that Johnny got him out of his office. Night Light sighed. “He refused, didn’t he?” Jane, Johnny’s secretary, asked Night Light. She was a unicorn, she had a blue mane and a blue tail as well as white coat. Night Light sighed. “Yes, if only he could listen, I mean, I know that this new heroin will get us more sales, but there’s already many other heroes, while the Crime Master is really somepony dangerous, we have an occasion to stop him! I could try to discover his identity anyway, but without some proofs I’ll never do it! The newspaper is my only chance!” He exclaimed angrily “Well, you could try to contact a hero that’ll help you to solve this case, you definitely can’t be in danger with a hero by your side, and he’ll help you to find some proofs.” Jane suggested, Night Light smiled. “You’re right. I’ll ask the director if he can put a little note on the front page, asking metal Pony to meet me! He’s been doing these heroes thing for years now, I’m sure he’ll be experimented enough to help me!” Night Light said ecstatically as he ran to his boss’ office. *** In front of Trixie Labs, two guards were standing in front of the door while some workers were repairing the damaged wall during Princess Midnight and Octomare’s fight. It was like any other day and they were happy this way, they didn’t want another crazy pony dressed like a buffoon. “Hey, want to grab a milkshake at the lunch pause?” One of them asked “Why not, I won’t do much anyway.” He responded, but then, he saw a cloaked figure approaching. “Oh, I think we have another lunatic.” He whispered to himself “If you’re working here, show us your ID card please, if you don’t, then get out of here.” His partner said to the cloaked figure. The figure laughed evilly as he removed the cloak, it was Moonlight…no, The Sparkler! He was dressed in a yellow tight bodysuit and was wearing a yellow mask which had the form of a lightning bolt. *** At Twilight’s library “So, it’s decided then! You can come to my apartment tomorrow, since it’s Sunday, we should both be free.” Twilight said as she gave her address to Twinkle shine. “Yes, and thank you again, miss Twilight!” Twinkle shine exclaimed happily. Twinkle shine smiled, said goodbye to Twilight and turned her back to leave the library, but all of a sudden, she saw police cars go by at full speed. “It seems there’s trouble miss Twilight.” Twinkle said turning around, however, Twilight wasn’t behind the counter anymore. “Miss Twilight? Where did you go?” She asked *** Princess Midnight followed the police cars by flying above them, seeing that’ll take too much time to arrive wherever they were going, she decided to fly closer to them and ask where is, what she assumed to be a villain. “Excuse me, can you tell me where you are going?” Midnight asked calmly. “Princess Midnight?! I saw you in the newspaper! Oh, it’s at Trixie Labs, somepony is attacking it.” He answered, Midnight rolled her eyes, somepony is attacking that place, again!? She flew higher and accelerated, soon she arrived at Trixie Labs and saw two burned ponies, she gasped as she saw they were still fuming, she gritted her teeth and entered, she looked around and saw many terrorized ponies who left they’re computers, it seemed that this floor wasn’t where they were making their experiments neither building some new machines. Then, she saw him, the super villain was interrogating one employee beside another one burned to the bones. “Tell me where Trixie is! If you do so, I may spare your life!” The Sparkler shouted to the employee he was holding by the collar. “She’s… she’s not here! She’s… she’s… she’s on a… business trip!” The employee responded, The Sparkler was about to say something when he was interrupted. “It’s Princess Midnight! She is a hero! She came to save us!” One of the employee shouted with hope. “Well, she didn’t really save us last time She was utterly defeated.” Princess Midnight ignored them and approached The Sparkler slowly. “I don’t know who you are, but you’ll release him or…” Princess Midnight started menacingly. “Or what? I’m sorry, but The Sparkler gets what he wants!” He groaned as he electrocuted the employee, he started yelling some gibberish as he was electrocuted. “NO!!” Midnight shouted as she saw the corpse fall. It was even set in fire because of the heat. The Sparkler laughed. “This is what I’ll do to Trixie Lulamoon and everypony who dared to mock…” The Sparkler didn’t have the time to finish his sentence that he was sent flying on the wall, he hurt his back and fell on the ground. He got up, groaning as he was rubbing his cheek, Midnight had punched him in the face! “You’re going to pay for that, you trash!” “You killed innocents, so I prefer to warn you. You’ll get hurt. Badly.” Midnight said as she shot a magic beam at The Sparkler. He dodged it easily by jumping on the side, then he shot lightning bolts, Midnight jumped above them, the bolts continued their way and hit a desk, setting it on fire, the remaining employees escaped as the fire-fighting system activated, there was no fire anymore and water was covering the ground. The Sparkle groaned as he took another punch on the face, however, this was an opportunity, Princess Midnight was too close to him to dodge, he smiled as he shot lightning on her, Midnight groaned in pain and jumped back. “Okay, you’re pretty strong, you’re lucky I didn’t train myself to use my powers in combat.” The Sparkler said as he smiled, then he put his hooves on the water. “Bye, idiot!” He shouted as he used electricity on the water. Midnight gasped, but it was too late to dodge, she was electrocuted, she started yelling as she felt the pain, but The Sparkle didn’t stop, and continued with a smile on his face, however, Princess Midnight gritted her teeth and teleported herself, The Sparkler widened his eyes and stop electrocuting the water, suddenly, Midnight appeared behind him and shot him with a big magic beam, right on the back, the super villain gasped in pain as he was laying in a small crater. “It’s over, I’m getting you to the police.” Midnight said as she was panting. “I can’t win against that, there’s no way! If only I had some stallions to back me up!” The Sparkler thought as he gritted his teeth. “You won’t get me!” He shouted, Princess Midnight was ready to knock him out, but The Sparkler looked around and saw a big metal door, he hurried and shot a lightning bolt at it, Midnight looked confused. “I don’t know what you were trying to do but it didn’t work.” She said preparing to shoot a magic beam. “Well, I suggest you hurry and blast this door. I was a worker here. This door is connected to the machines that are in this floor. My lightning hit the door and soon the machines will be too. It will surely short circuit them and everything will explode!” “You think you can trick me?” “Then, maybe you can make a bet. And if you lose, everypony in this building will die! Except for; I’ll be able to escape with my powers. Are you sure you want to take that risk? Hurry, there’s still approximately thirty seconds.” He said with a smile, Midnight gritted her teeth and flew as fast she could and punched the door with all her might, but it didn’t even move, Midnight tried using her magic too, but nothing was working. The Sparkle smiled and stood up, then he ran without turning back. “This… Door is made of antimatium! I can’t destroy it and it seems that I need an ID card.” Princess Midnight said panting. But then she gritted her teeth. “Nothing happened! The Sparkler tricked me, How can I be such an idiot!” She shouted as she flew outside of Trixie labs and started searching for The Sparkler. *** Princess Midnight sighed and landed on top of her library, she turned back into Twilight Sparkle and teleported herself in front the library, the sun was setting, and she didn’t find The Sparkler, and on top of that, she didn’t even close the library when she went to fight him, well, it’s not like somepony would steal books anyway. She opened the door and entered, she still had a few minutes before the closing hour. When she entered in the library, with no surprise she saw nopony, no, wait. There was a pony, a mare with a dark orchid coat and a red mane and tail, but what Twilight noticed the most was that she was a unicorn… with a broken horn. The mysterious unicorn was reading a book happily. “Hello, do you want to borrow this book? You seem to like it.” Twilight said as she smiled, the unicorn turned around, startled by the sudden arrival of the lavender unicorn. “Oops, sorry if I startled you.” The mysterious unicorn breathed out and smiled. “No, it’s nothing, I was only surprised, are you the librarian?” The unicorn asked as Twilight nodded in agreement. “Then, I’ll happily borrow this book, he’s very interesting! I love fantasy worlds!” She exclaimed as Twilight moved behind the counter to register the book. “Oh, I love fantasy books too! What’s your favorite?” Twilight asked to start a conversation as she was writing in a book where were noted all the borrowed books. “” The fallen alicorn” is one of my favorite one!” “Me too! But my favorite is definitely…” “Lord of Shadows!” They both said at the same time, they looked at each other and laughed. “I didn’t know I’ll meet somepony who has good tastes, today.” The mysterious unicorn said. “Please, this isn’t so surprising, these two books are in the top ten of the most popular fantasy stories.” Twilight responded. “Yes, this is true.” The unicorn said as she smiled. “Do you have a card member?” Twilight asked as the unicorn shook her head. “Do you want one? It’ll allow you to borrow four different books at a time.” “With pleasure.” The unicorn said. “My name is Fizzlepop Berrytwist.” She added “Okay, I’ll make you a card member tomorrow.” Twilight said as she gave the book to Fizzlepop. “And my name is Twilight Sparkle, nice to meet you.” Twilight said as they shook their hooves. *** Meanwhile, in a deserted park, Night Light was walking around with a camera around his neck, he seemed pretty nervous. “Where is he? It’s getting dark.” He mumbled “Right here.” A voice answered, Night Light turned around and saw a pony land on the ground, in front of him. It was an earth pony covered by a blue metal armor. “Mister Metal Pony, I’m glad you’ve accepted to come!” Night Light exclaimed happily. “Of course! I’ll do anything to stop these filthy criminals!” “Good! So, I might know where we should go, you see, I have a disguise, and I infiltrated some bars where many unfriendly ponies meet up. And I’ve discovered, hardly, that they’re bosses, the biggest criminals in town are gathering for a meeting, a meeting organized by a certain Richard Kirk, they didn’t tell me more, so I’ve decided to use my contacts to find that Richard, and without surprise, this pony wasn’t recorded anywhere until three months ago, he bought a manor, this is where the biggest criminals in town and their henchmen will meet, and there’s only two possibilities: one, they’re making an alliance to take out the overlord of crime, the Crime master, or two, Crime Master himself called them to join him, and if it’s the second one, well, we’re screwed, the whole city will be in danger!” Night Light exclaimed as he started walking, showing the way to the manor to Metal Pony. “Don’t worry, this is why, we, heroes are here. “So, I’ve seen some pictures of this manor on the website he was sold, and there’s some sort of ballroom, it’s the biggest room in the manor so there’s a possibility they’ll meet there, and it happens that there’s an opening on the roof, well more of a window, if we can get there, and open it, I’ll record everything! When I’ll have enough proof, you’ll jump in and beat them all!” Night Light exclaimed. “Don’t worry about it fella, know that my suit is completely bullet proof, and I have a propulsor on my back that allow me to fly, I’ve been a hero for twelve years now, I don’t see anything they could do to stop me.” Metal Pony explained. *** Meanwhile, at a bank, not far from Twilight’s library. The Sparkler breathed in and breathed out, he needed money, to live, but also to recruit some goons that’ll help him, he could become an overlord of crime, he smiled at the thought, he’ll be rich and adored, his life will definitely be better. He entered in the bank as the ponies looked at him weirdly, why was he dressed like a clown? They asked themselves, however, the two guards on duty didn’t feel anything good coming from this costumed goon, every time a costumed idiot is seen in town, he causes trouble. “May we help you sir?” One of the guards asked as he slowly moved his hoof on his gun. The Sparkler smiled and quickly electrocuted them, they yelled in pain as they fell on the ground in front of the astonished witnesses. “Now, you don’t see any problem if I ask you to give me all the money?” The Sparkler said as he approached the bankers, they shook in fear and started putting the money in a bag that The Sparkler gave them. “Hurry!” He shouted “You stop right now!” A voice yelled startling The Sparkler, he turned around and gasped. “You!” *** Back with Night Light and Metal Pony They were on the roof of a big manor and had opened a window to look at the ballroom, many ponies were entering, ten meters below them! “Oh my god, I was right! There’s the Killing Joe! Harry The Butcher! Brenda The Harpy Queen etc...!” Night Light murmured in awe as he named them. “There are all here, the most influents criminals in town.” He said as he prepared his camera, good, he was recording now, beside him, Metal pony was narrowing his eyes, it seems he’ll have a good catch tonight. The criminals stood in front of a platform, they all had serious looks on their face, because many of them will encounter the Crime Master for the first time. There were curtains, so they couldn’t see what was behind it, but they heard some noises, then, somepony came out, it was a stallion, a pegasus, he had a black coat and brown mane and tail. He had a brown fancy suit. “I welcome you, I am The Counselor.” He said introducing himself. “The what?! Where is Crime Master?! He’s the one we are here to meet!” Somebody shouted, The Counselor chuckled. “But, he is here.” He responded. A new figure emerged from the curtains, it was a stallion wearing a black fancy suit, he had a blond tail and was wearing a black mask with red eyes painted on it, they assumed his coat was white due to the white horn coming out of the hole on the mask. “I am happy, to finally meet you, ladies and gentlecoats, I’ve invited you here because it is time to join our forces, to be a new force in this town, a force that nopony will stop! Not the police, not the government, not even the superheroes, think about it, if we assemble all our forces, we will be unstoppable! You all saw it, didn’t you? The superheroes are getting bigger in number! If we don’t do something now, we are all lost!” *** Princess Midnight stood before The Sparkle who groaned. “Why!? Why are trying to stop me again!? I didn’t attack your precious friend, neither her building this time!” The Sparkler shouted annoyed. “I have nothing to do with Trixie Labs, I am only here to protect the city and its innocents, surrender now!” Princess Twilight warned him. The Sparkler shot lightning from his hooves, Midnight dodged it easily and flew in his direction, The Sparkler shot again, but Midnight teleported herself, however, the super villain smiled, turned around and electrocuted violently Midnight, she groaned in pain and jumped back as the ponies around started to run away. “I fell for that teleportation trick one time, I won’t fall for it again!” The Sparkler chuckled, however, Midnight smiled, this was weird, she was supposed to be worried or something like that. “Are you sure of that?” She asked him as she teleported herself again, The Sparkler sighed and turned around electrocuting… nothing? “Behind you.” The Sparkled was startled and turned around only to receive a punch from Princess Midnight, it sent him flying across the bank, right on the wall. “You… b…” He started but was interrupted by a magic bolt hitting him, he gritted his teeth trying to contain his pain. “No swearing.” Midnight said as she started to hit him, he groaned at every punch he received in the face, he even started coughing blood, Midnight seemed angry, maybe because he killed too many. “Take THIS!” She shouted as she punched him one last time hammering him on the wall, he was knocked out. She looked at him and saw that he was bleeding pretty badly from her punches. “I should hold back more, I could have killed him.” She murmured to herself. “Thanks for stopping him Princess Midnight!” A police officer exclaimed as he arrived with hoofcufs, other police ponies were accompanying him. “This is nothing officer, take good care of him.” Princess Midnight said as she flew out of the bank. *** Back with Night Light and Metal Pony “Ponies are scared, because just like super heroes, super villains are multiplying! They’re losing hope! They don’t try anything to change this except one thing, they believe in heroes, they think they might be able to protect them, but we’ll crush these hopes, these dreams, everything they love, and we’ll take over this city, then all Equestria, and then THE WORLD!” Crime Master said, the criminals looked at each other with confidents smiles. “Did you record everything?” Metal Pony murmured, Night Light nodded in agreement. “Then I’ll go kick their asses and unmask the Crime Master.” Metal pony stood up and jumped inside the manor, he activated his propulsor and flew around the room as he kicked some crooks. “It’s Metal Pony! Shoot him down!” A crook shouted as they all started to shoot at him, however the super hero continued to take one at a time without any problem, the bullets were bouncing on his armor! “Stop shooting, you idiot! Don’t you see that bullets bounce on him!? They’re flying back at us!” The Killing Joe shouted. “You’re right fella, but you still don’t have anything to fight me, so I think I’ll get you to the police.” Metal Pony said as he kicked a crook in the face, his hits were dangerous, he was covered in metal after all. Metal Pony smiled arrogantly and didn’t see what was coming, coming from nowhere something big punched him in the face, Metal Pony gasped as he was threw in the wall, he fell on the ground and cough. He looked at what punched him and recognized nothing that looked like a pony. It was a bipedal creature, made of black rock, and it was as big as The Smasher maybe even bigger! At least 3 meters tall! It had a mouth and blank eyes, so it seemed to be a living being, but Metal pony had serious doubts about it. “This is Rockhead!” Crime master exclaimed as Rockhead rushed to Metal Pony, the guests stepped back as the two fought. “He is the incarnation of brute force!” Crime Master continued as Metal Pony flew above Rockhead and tried to hit him, however, his punch didn’t even make him budge, he gritted his teeth as Rockhead punched him on the ground, Metal Pony stood up and started punching him without stopping. “He is very enduring too! Like a mountain!” Crime Master added as Rockhead looked at Metal Pony tiring himself, he moved his hand and tapped on Metal Pony’s shoulder, it was enough to send him fly to another wall. “I can’t believe it, he’s destroying Metal Pony, like nothing!” A crook exclaimed in awe. Rockhead slowly approached Metal Pony who hardly stood up, he was ready to fly at his head, however, Rockhead caught him easily, Metal Pony’s fore body was now in Rockhead’s hand, he started squeezing, Metal Pony groaned as he was intensively moving his hindlegs, he couldn’t cry because of the villain’s hand. “Metal Pony!” Night Light gasped in horror as Rockhead suddenly pressed on the hero, Metal Pony exploded in his hand, the other criminals closed their eyes as blood splashed everywhere, Metal Pony stopped moving and Rockhead dropped his corpse on the ground. There was only blood, metal and bones remaining on the ground, it was only a pile of flesh now! This Rockhead must have an amazing strength to do something like this. “This, my friends, is the beginning of a new era.” Crime Master finished. Night Light gulped, and started running, he didn’t care if he was on the roof, he jumped without any hesitation and caught a branch, he went down on the ground and started running as fast as he could, he must go to the police, now! If he gives them this camera, they’ll see everything he recorded and come here, even if those criminals escape before they arrive, they still could investigate the manor. Back in the manor, they all seemed amazed by what they saw, The Counselor smiled. “Wait a minute! You said you want to take over the city, didn’t you? Who’s gonna rule it?” One of the crime lord asked. “Why, me, of course.” Crime Master responded, Harry The Butcher gritted his teeth. “I receive orders from nopony! You think we’ll obey you?! Then, you can go die!” He shouted to Crime Master. “Oh, but I didn’t invite you all to convince you.” Crime Master chuckled as Rockhead, surprising everybody, squashed Harry The Butcher on the ground like a mosquito, blood splashed everywhere again, and Rockhead pull his hand out of the crushed pony. “I think you don’t have much of a choice.” *** Night Light was running like he never did in his life, he ran past the cars that stop to not hit him, he looked around and saw ponies having fun, smiling like everything was fine, then, he saw it, the police station! He smiled with hope in his eyes and entered, he pushed away the other civilians and approached a police officer, sitting behind the counter. “Thank goodness, I’m finally here! I need help!” Night Light shouted “Yes, I know, this is why most ponies come here.” Night Light ignored his comment and put it on the counter. “In this camera, I recorded a meeting between the lords of crime and the Crime Master! You must see this video, I know it seems unreal, but hurry up! You must stop them!” Night Light shouted, the police pony looked horrified, no, that was impossible, he was thinking. “I… Thank you, we’ll take care of that, you must have saved many lives with this recording, I’ll go inform my colleagues right away!” The police pony said as he stood up. “Oh, and one last thing, could you give me my recording back after that, I want to put some pictures of it in the newspaper.” Night Light added “We’re sorry, but we’d prefer to keep it until we arrest Crime Master, not to cause a panic.” “Oh… I understand.” Night light said as he started to leave the police station. The police pony looked at him go, then at the camera, he dropped it on the ground and smashed it with his forehoof, he smiled in relief. “Boss will be so happy he might congratulate me.” He said *** At another place “Madam, somepony attacked your laboratory again.” A voice said “These super villains are a pain in the ass, but the superheroes will be too, when they’ll learn about what I plan, I think it’s time to get rid of them.”