The Manual of Heroes

by Kaliann25


First Principle

First principle:
A hero should always follow his/her heart, no matter where it leads

Crystal Palace:

It was a pretty nice afternoon. The sun on the sky was sending its warmer rays to the Crystal Empire; just enough to combine them with the cold wind from the mountains.

Everypony was in an excellent mood, including certain eighteen-year-old Princess.

Flurry Heart was fully concentrated in sewing the last details her especial outfit: a purple jacket with purple pants; green undershirt, with emerald-green buttons. And the last touch, an artificial flower that spilled green-colored water to the face of anyone who approached to smell it.

Aside the outfit, the young Princess also had bottle of green mane-dye; and a complete make up kit, where she spared white face paint, red lipstick, and the black eye-shadow.

When Flurry finished stitching the flower to her jacket, she proudly looked at the outfit, and shrieked happily.

“It’s ready!” she said as she stumbled her fore-hooves excitedly. “This year, I’ll be the center of attention!”

Then, she noticed one of the buttons was missing. “Huh, I guess I started to celebrate too early.”

She took a new button, and a needle from her sewing kit, and started to put it on her shirt; when suddenly, somepony called at her door.

She gasped in surprise, accidentally pricking her hoof with the needle.

Flurry cursed, and went to open the door.

Of course, this task would be a lot easier if she used her magic, but as a proud cosplayer, she had to do everything by hoof. Using the easy route would be disrespectful for her fellow cosplayers.

(Unbelievably enough, this attitude was not uncommon among unicorn cosplayers.)

“Hey mom. What can I do for you?” asked Flurry, as she opened the door, annoyed.

“I know you don’t like being bothered when you’re on ‘the zone’,” apologized Cadence. “But our agreement was that you couldn’t start to work in your cosplay until you finished the task I gave you, remember?”

Flurry nodded. “Of course I remember. I just chose the perfect title for my crowning.”

Cadence smiled, relieved. “Okay, let’s hear it. Your official title as Princess of Equestria.”

Flurry smiled proudly, as she announced: “It didn’t took long for me to figure out what title I should carry. Something that suits my personality, and distinguishes me from all the others. I’ll be, the Princess Geek of all Comics!”

Cadence’s smile faded, as she frowned. “You better be joking.”

“I am not!” assured Flurry, with confidence, as she turned from her mother to admire her recently finished attire. “That title says everything about me. I am a Princess who loves comics, and proudly call myself a geek. That will encourage all the closet otakus, geeks, gamers and…”

Cadence cut her for good. “Stop it. Seriously, Flurry Heart, what would ponies say if you take a title an official title as ridiculous as that?”

“They’ll agree is less sappy than ‘Princess of Love’ or ‘Princess of Friendship’.” said Flurry, with insolence.

Cadence’s eye twitched.

“I told you, this is serious, Flurry Heart!”

“I am being serious!” said Flurry, as she crossed her forehooves over her chest. “If there’s something I take seriously, is being a geek. And comics. I live, and breathe only for comics!”

Mother and daughter were about to start arguing, when Shining Armor entered.

“Hey, what is going on here?” asked the stallion.

“Our daughter plans to take the title of ‘Princess Geek of all comics.’” explained Cadence angrily.

Shining made an exasperated groan. “Again, Flurry? When are you going to grow up? You just turned eighteen, for Faust sake!”

“What is wrong to embrace my true identity?” protested Flurry. “I am a geek, and, as a Princess, I can set the example to our little ponies. Ponies shouldn’t feel embarrassed of what they are. And if a Princess can publically accept her identity as a nerd who only reads…”

“Enough!” said Cadence. “Flurry, dear, I thought your father and I were clear. If you don’t take your crowning seriously, we wouldn’t let you go to this year’s Comuket!”

Flurry looked at her cosplay worriedly, and shook her head. “Why is so hard to understand this is what I take seriously?”

Shining glared at her. “You cannot live inside a comic, and you know it.” He sighed. “We will give you one more chance. But, if for dinner time you haven’t choose a proper title, forget about Comuket.”

“What?” asked Flurry.

“Did I make myself clear?” asked Shining.

Flurry glared at her father, but nodded. “Fine!”

“Then, you have four hours, more or less.” Said Cadence, looking to the clock at the wall. (A Batmare-themed clock). “Use them well.”

With that, the two of them left the room.

“This is so unfair!” cried Flurry, kicking a Mane-iac hugging-pillow. “It’s a new era, time for a new time of Royalty. Grandma Celestia is addicted to sweets, and nopony critiques her for that! What is wrong with being addicted to comics?”

She looked through her window, and sighed.

But then, she noticed something on the sky. It was a magic sign, of a giant yellow ‘A’ over a white circle.

“Oh, the Awesome Sign! This is a job for…”

She ran to her closet, where she took a couple of cufflinks that she put on her forehooves. Then, Flurry pressed the button on the cufflinks, and soon enough, a white suit emerged from the two ornaments.

The suit was bulky, to look like muscles. It had yellow boots, and a yellow ‘A’ on the flanks. Complete with a white helmet with yellow visor. For anypony else, Flurry Heart looked like a random earth pony.

“I, CAPTAIN AWESOME, AM COMING TO RESCUE!”

And, with that, the Princess-turned-superhero jumped through the window.

The ‘captain’, ran through the roofs of the Empire, looking for crime.

Then, she found it. It was a band of criminals in the middle of a brutal fight against the police. And the thugs had the advantage.

Without thinking twice, Captain Awesome jumped between the police, and the thugs.

“Oh, it looks like a delicate situation.” He turned to the police. “You did well by calling Captain Awesome!”

The leader of the thugs nodded. “So, we finally meet, Captain Awesome. Your reputation precedes you.”

The captain made a heroic pose. “Oh, so my heroic deeds are famous.”

“You and the ‘League of Heroes’ are nothing but a big nuisance. We found it cute, at first, but, at this point, we don’t find your clownish actions as cute as they were. Now we have no choice but putting you out of the way.”

Captain Awesome only flexed his muscles.

“Ahahahahaha! You would never defeat me, I am too awesome!”

The boss turned to his thugs. “Destroy him!”

The gang members took several knives, and ran to stab the hero. But their weapons only bounced on the super suit.

Laughing at that pathetic attempt to stop him, Captain Awesome used his awesome strength (equivalent to a hundred ponies) to threw them away, leaving the leader alone.

The leader pulled off a dynamite cartridge, and, in a suicidal attempt, he ran toward the Captain.

It was child’s play for Captain Awesome. Using his awesome agility, he intercepted the thug, and took the cartridge, only to push him away.

Then, the awesome captain embraced the cartridge ready to take the full impact of the explosion. But, instead of a big explosion, Captain Awesome ended up covered in some sticky substance.

“What kind of awesome trap is this?!”

The leader of the thugs face-hoofed. “Seriously? Are you going to continue with the jokes?”

“My awesomeness is no joke!” said the captain.

A sweat drop appeared on the boss’ temple. “I’ll just see who is under that helmet, okay?”

The thug approached menacingly to the Captain. But he wasn’t afraid.

Under that helmet, Princess Flurry was confident. Her cousin, who she considered the greatest genius in the world, have created the suit in order to make her not only as strong as a comic book character, but he also added a ton of gadgets to prevent the bad guys to figure out that the super powerful earth pony, was actually, a geeky little Princess.

But then, a kunai knife came out of nowhere, and forced the thug to jump away.

“What the hay?”

He looked up to a building, only to see a pony dressed in a black robe, decorated with red kanjis.

Some of his henchponies shot several magic beams to the black-robbed pony, as soon as the attacks reached him, he vanished into the shadows.

“Oh… great!”

Somepony tapped the boss’ shoulder. He turned, only to see the same pony from before, right behind him.

“Shadow clones, loser!” said the ninja superhero, as he knocked the thug with his bo-staff.

“Shadow Ninjutsu! What are you doing?” asked Captain Awesome.

“We have an issue here at the Empire.” said the other hero. “And, I’ve been watching you, ant it seemed that you could use some help.”

Captain Awesome looked at the unconscious thug, and shrugged. “I had it under control.”

“I know, I know, but I couldn’t resist.”

Captain Awesome sighed, as he freed himself from the sticky trap, using his awesome strength.

He was about to charge against the rest of the thugs, but when he noticed, they were already defeated by two newcomers. A pony dressed in a blue suit, with blue mask, decorated with white lightings all over. The other was pony with black bodysuit, a trench coat, and a detective hat.

They were called Watt, Master of Electricity. And Elementary, master of the elements… and master detective. Along with Shadow Ninjutsu, and leaded by Captain Awesome, the four of them formed the ‘League of Heroes’.

But, in reality, they were actually Flurry’s group of comic-loving friends. Light Spectra, son of Soarin and Rainbow Dash. Beat Box, daughter of Vinyl and Octavia. And Sparkler, the youngest daughter of Derpy, and Doctor Hooves.

For them, reality was what they wanted it to be. And, with the help of Bright Spark’s technological support, they could easily become real superheroes.

“So, why are you guys here?” asked Captain Awesome.

“You see, I interrogated a bunch of morons back at Cloudsdale, and they said that they storage everything they steal here at the Empire.”

“For real?”
“Yeah, they told me the same in Canterlot too!” added Watt.

“And, in Manehattan.” said Elementary. “So, we came here to say hi, and stop those criminals for good.”

“And, we can’t do it without our leader. Are you ready, Captain?”

“Captain Awesome is always ready!” said the hero, proudly.

But then, right before they could jump to action, the entire Crystal Empire trembled, and the temperature descended several degrees.

“Is the Empire under attack?” gasped Shadow Ninjutsu.

Then, they saw a blue shield appearing over the city.

“Eeeyup, that’s definitely my father’s shield.” sighed Captain Awesome. “That means, I should take care of this problem as myself.”

It was true. Flurry was linked to the Crystal Heart since her Crystaling. And, whenever Equestria was under attack, by any of the ancient threats, it was Flurry’s duty was to use the Crystal Heart’s power to defend the Kingdom.

“Aw, I really wanted to go!” complained the Captain.

“Maybe another time, besides, you have a lot to do, right? Like choosing your title as official Princess?”

That reminded Flurry she was still angry at her parents. “Hey, you know what? I’m going with you! Is not like I’m the only defender of Equestria!”

The other heroes made a step backwards.

“Flurry, please don’t!” they said at the unison.

“Come on, they’re on our side!” said Captain Awesome.

“Yes, but also, they are is scary as hell!” complained Light Spectra.

“Come on, they’re not that bad!” said the Captain, as he activated his transmitter. “And they can handle everything!”

Castle of Friendship, underground facility:

Between the Crystal Palace, the Castle of Friendship, and Canterlot Castle; most of the ponies agreed that the biggest was Canterlot’s. But that was because they ignored the existence of the massive structure underneath the Castle of Friendship.

Prince Bright Spark built it especially to be his personal laboratory and workshop. And, also, as his weapon storage.

He shared the facility with his best friend, Luminositè Belle, daughter of Rarity.

The two of them were equally gifted in the earth pony sciences, especially physics, and electro-mechanics.

But, Bright specialized in building big, and powerful weapons. Some of them capable to destroy an entire city in a matter of seconds, like the ‘egg-shaped nightmare’, as Celestia called it.

As for Lumi, she preferred to create small, useful gadgets. But mostly clothing, like her mother. Her outfits were not only pretty, but also highly advanced. Her most praised creation was a fabric that was practically indestructible, and provided absolute protection. It could resist extreme temperatures, cuts, direct impacts… and provided magic invulnerability to the user.
In fact, the Royal Guards stopped using armors, and started to order uniforms from Lumi. They also bought several weapons from Bright Spark, but only the less destructive ones.

The two friends were working on their respective projects, when Flurry’s face appeared on one of their multiple screens.

“Cousin Bright, cousin Bright! The Empire is under attack, but I’m not in conditions to use the Crystal Heart. Can you take care of the enemies for me?”

Bright nodded. “Sure, Lumi and I will be there in five minutes.”

“Or less.” added Luminositè.

Flurry smiled happily. “Thanks cuz, I owe you a big one!”

“Whenever you need.” Said Bright, as he cut off communication. He turned to his friend. “Are you ready?”

“Moi toujurs ready, mon ami.” said Lumi with a wide smile. A kind, happy smile. But her eyes sparkled with pure cruelty.

Crystal Empire:

Shining and his soldiers were advancing toward the Penguin Army in front of them. Leaded by a gigantic penguin, armed with a magic scepter that freeze everything on his way.

“Surrender now, ponies!” laughed the giant penguin. “I, Prince Edgar, will freeze Equestria for eternity, and then claim it for my father, King Charlatan!”

Shining continued advancing, not bothering to cast his shield.

“Come on! Freeze us? Shall I remind you that us, ponies, were who defeated the Windigos?”

Penguin Prince Edgar laughed as he aimed his scepter directly to Shining. “Defeated? You merely scared them away. It was my father, King Charlatan, who exterminated them and stole their power! NOW FREEZE, PONY!!”

A magic gust came from the scepter, hitting Shining.

But the pony was not impressed. His new uniform, a purple jacket, and kepis, provided complete protection against the spell. “Nice try.”

Edgar menacingly closed his beak, and turned to his army.

“What are you waiting for, an invitation? DESTROY THEM!”

The penguins charged toward the ponies, as the ponies aimed a hoof to their opponents.

An electric current came from the hooves, stopping the penguins’ advance.

Prince Edgar changed his scepter for a large sword, and joined his army to the battle.

Shining pushed him away with his magic, combined with his suit’s mini-missiles, but that didn’t seem to bother the giant penguin too much.

“Come on! My father warned me to not to attack Equestria, but I can’t see why. All I see is that you are stronger than I thought, but I can’t see this ‘danger’ he was talking about.”

Shining frowned, as he changed the missiles for a small laser cannon. “Oh, believe me, you don’t want to know. Just thank your god you’re dealing with me and my daughter instead of my nephew and his little friend. They’re both geniuses, but…”

A voice came from behind Edgar.

“Aw! Do you really mean that, uncle Shining?”

“And I thought you didn’t like us, Captain Armor.” said another voice.

Edgar turned, as Shining Armor gulped. No, please! For Faust sake, not them!

Right behind them, there was a unicorn colt, about fifteen; with lavender fur. And a blue-cobalt mane, and tail, with a pink strip.

Aside him, there was a teenage unicorn filly (also about fifteen), with light blue fur, almost white. With a blond mane and tail.

They both were wearing black spandex suit, one with purple details; and the other one, with red scarf and red boots.

“Go away…” mumbled Shining, knowing what was coming.

“Never! Never until I make my father proud!” announced Edgar.

“You don’t understand, run while you still can.” warned Shining.

Too late, Bright Spark took a remote from his pocket, and pressed a button.

Immediately, several metallic structures appeared all over the battlefield. There were anthropomorphic figures about twelve feet tall, with two menacing claws aiming to the penguins. The army of penguins made a step backwards, so as the ponies.

Bright Spark pressed a second button.

The metallic giants changed their claws by plasma cannons, and shot.

Powerful explosions covered the battlefield, as the penguins were sent in all directions, screaming in fear.

A few of the invader army tried to throw their spears at the things, but they could only scratch the metallic surface.

Edgar gasped, and looked at Bright, who shrugged.

“What can I say? Your soldiers are made of flesh and blood that is weak. Mine are made of steel that is strong. You don’t need to be a genius to know how this is going to end. Right?”

“But don’t worry. They’ll survive. We never kill.” explained Luminositè calmly. “We prefer to honor our mères by reforming you.”

Prince Edgar screamed in anger, and charged against the teenagers.

Luminositè extended her right forehoof, and her scarf wrapped around it, as it was some kind of snake. Before Edgar could react, it wrapped around his feet, making him fall.

And, while he was still on the ground, he felt how his ankles got broken by the damn scarf. He screamed in pain, as he looked at both of his feet in unnatural angles.

Bright Spark, using his suit-enhanced agility, jumped right before Edgar, as he pulled out a metallic sphere from one of his pockets.

“Seriously, nothing irritates me more than my enemies screaming. I hope this helps you remember that while we teach you manners.”

Said that, he forced the penguin to swallow the sphere. It was small enough for Penguin Prince Edgar to swallow it with ease, but it was really uncomfortable to have something forced into his beak.

Finally Bright pulled out a remote from the same pocket he took the sphere, and pressed the button.

The bomb that Edgar was forced to swallow exploded, and the penguin threw up a stream of blood, as he bended in agony.

He looked at Bright, who took a crowbar from another pocket.

“Let’s see if you remember.”

Edgar’s eyes opened in fear.

Mercilessly, Bright hit him with the crowbar on the ribs. The sound of bones breaking echoed all over the battlefield, but Edgar did his best to not to scream.

Bright nodded approvingly, and moved away, letting Luminositè approach to their victim.

She took a little silver lighter from her pocket, and aimed it to Edgar. A powerful flame torrent came from the lighter, burning Edgar. But, again, he tried to stay quiet.

When the mare finished, he just looked at the duo, and begged. “Please, kill me.”

“We never kill, my friend.” said Bright. “As Lumi said, we only reform our enemies.”

“Unfortunately, the Elements of Harmony are not compatible with complete sociopaths, so we need to find our own way to reform villains.” explained Lumi.

Prince Edgar cried in fear. But, it seemed like it was over.

“Only one more thing.” Said Lumi, putting a collar around the penguin’s neck. “This is called ‘Control Collar’. If we catch you in Equestria again…”

She took a new remote from her pocket, and pressed the button.

A powerful electric current ran all over Edgar’s body. He closed his beak in a desperate attempt to hold back his screaming.

“If we find out you send anyone else to do your dirty job…”

The young mare pressed the button again, making another electric current go through Edgar’s body. He faded unconscious.

“Do you think we successfully reformed him?” asked Lumi, with a faint smile.

Bright looked at what was left of the once proud Prince, and nodded.

“It seems so. I don’t think he would ever try to invade Equestria again. Now, what I wonder is why did Flurry call us. She could easily deal with this one.”

“Who cares what that idiot does? Good thing she did it, though, it was starting to get difficult to control the ‘urges’.”

Bright nodded. She was right. “We’ll worry about that later. Now, I’ll go talk to my uncle. You go home, if you like.”

Luminositè nodded, and walked to her transportation; as Bright went looking for the soldiers.

……

The Crystal Guard was long gone. Once the lunatic duo appeared, they retired as soon as they could. They were far too scary.

Shining could just lower his gaze, feeling impotent, and angry. Mostly angry.

“Uncle Shining!” his nephew called.

“Haven’t you done enough for a day?” complained Shining. “What do you want?!”

“I only wanted to know if cousin Flurry was doing okay.”

“Of course. Why you ask?”

“Because she called me, saying that she wasn’t in conditions to use the Crystal Heart, and if I could take care of the villain. I mean, she didn’t even needed to use the Crystal Heart to defeat this one. The suit I made for her was more than enough.”

Shining’s jaw dropped. “She was the one who called you?”

Bright Spark nodded. “Yeah, why?”

Shining Armor’s scream of anger echoed all over the mountains, and the Crystal Empire.

“FLURRY HEAAAAAAART!!!

Later:

Flurry returned home late. As the League of Heroes suspected, it was a trap. They found a large group of criminals, waiting for them. Luckily they were prepared for them, and disarmed a large operation that ran for all over Equestria.

The young Princess was really satisfied, she had a really good day.

But, her good mood disappeared as soon as she noticed a bunch of boxes, ready to throw away on the garbage chariot. Her comics, her beloved collection she took years to get. And not only her comics, but her action figures, her fanarts, her fanfics… and NO! her collection of cosplays.

“No!!” she screamed, as she ran to recover her stuff.

Unfortunately, she was repelled by a known blue force-field.

“No…” she cried, knowing that she couldn’t break her father’s shields, not even in a million years. “Why?!”

“I don’t know.” said her father, approaching. “Perhaps, because you called the lunatic of you cousin, to avoid your responsibility as a Princess?

“To do what?” added Cadence. “Pretend you live inside a comic book?”

“Is not that bad!” said Flurry. “Captain Awesome have done great things for Equestria and…”

“You endangered us all!” said Cadence, frowning. “He is cruel, and evil. And you know it.”

“Bright Spark is not evil!” said Flurry. “He’s cruel, I know, but only to punish evil! That makes him good!”

“Maybe he’s not evil, but he is a time bomb.” sighed Shining, with patience. “Only Faust knows what would happen if he loses control.”

Flurry lowered her gaze. “Sorry, I know he is as crazy and all… but…”

“But nothing, this was the last straw. No more comics.”

“We didn’t want to do this, but you crossed the line. Tomorrow morning, the trash chariot will take all this away for good.”

Flurry paled. “NO, YOU CAN’T!”

“Yes we can, and we did!” said Shining. “No more comics. Now go to your room, and work in your official title.”

The young pony flew to her room, and shut the door.

“Don’t you think we were too harsh on her?” asked Cadence.

“She showed us her priorities by calling Bright.” said Shining. “She is eighteen! It’s time for her to grow up!”

In the meantime, Flurry was crying on her pillow.

How dared them? How could they took her comics, her beloved comics? This was so unfair. And, to make things worse, her bed felt so incomplete without her sheets of ‘Captain Equestria: Civil Conflict’.

“Are you okay?” asked somepony.

She looked at Bright with the edge of her eye. “Cuz, how did you get here?”

“Who cares? Are you okay?” asked Bright.

“Do I look like I’m okay?” asked Flurry. “They took my comics! What should I do now? And why? It’s because I want to be a hero, on my own way. What is wrong with that?”

Bright shrugged, and he pulled out a book from somewhere. “Of course not. As the Manual of Heroes says, a hero should always follow his/her heart, no matter where it leads.”

Flurry smiled. “Thank you for your support, cuz. I kind of feel better.”

“I’ll help you recover your stuff.” said Bright, shrugging.

“For real?”

“For real. I mean, I care about you. We are family, after all!”

The two of them bumped hooves.

“As always, I owe you a big one, cuz.”