There was once a time in Equestria before superheroes. It all started ten years before the return of Nightmare Moon. There was an incident involving a gang of thugs that was escalating quickly. The Royal Guard was getting thrashed, unable to handle the rowdy aggressors. But then, out of the dead of night came a strange figure. A unicorn stallion wearing a bodysuit made of ice blue silk with green stripes lining the seams. He had a symbol of a teal crystal spire on the front of his suit’s barrel, and he stood imposing as he spoke to the guards. “Leave this to me. I’ll handle this.”
None of the guards could take this guy seriously. The captain of the regiment stood up, and brought herself face-to-face with this green-eyed mystery stallion. A huff of anger expelled from her. “You expect us to sit back and watch? We’re the feathering Royal Guard! We don’t take orders from civilians!”
The stallion was unfazed, and looked into the captain’s blue eyes with unflinching determination. He spoke calmly. “I don’t expect you to trust me immediately. You can intercede if you think that I can’t handle it. Regardless… I’ll do my job.”
For a moment, the two traded looks for a while until the captain finally sighed. “Fine.” She shook her head, her black mane bobbing. “But as soon as it gets too dangerous for you, we’re butting in!”
The stallion smiled. “I wouldn’t expect any less from you.” He then turned to the thugs and jumped down towards them. He spoke in a bold voice. “Enemies of the law! Surrender, or I’ll bring you down!”
The thugs turned towards the stallion, and one muscular one in particular scoffed. “Look boyz. Some nutjob thinks that ‘e can boss us ‘round.” He smiled to show off his (probably stolen) golden tooth. “Why don’t we show this fool who’s in charge here!” His lackeys cheered, and started to run towards the stallion.
A sigh accompanied a shake of his head. “I tried doing this the easy way… Oh well.” He reared up, and slammed his hooves down. The shockwave was stronger than one might expect from a unicorn, but that wasn’t all. Multi-colored spires of crystal shot out from his forehooves towards the approaching foes. The sheer force of the shards combined with the shockwaves knocked down most of his approaching accosters. Some did manage to shake off the attack, but they were just a small number.
The apparent leader shook off his shock temporarily as he responded to the devastation to his goons. “What in the…? Who are you? What are you?”
The stallion smirked at his terrified enemies, and spoke. “I’m Crystal Spire, a superhero.” He widened his stance, sending a daring look to the gang boss. “Well? Aren’t you gonna fight back? I could use a good test of my abilities…”
The thug boss stared at Crystal Spire for a moment, then snarled. “You…!! We are! Boyz, get up! Let’s show this fool why we’re not to be messed with!”
The conscious thugs stood their ground as the boss took out some syringes from a black case. They were filled with strange fluid, and there were enough for all the remaining thugs to each take one. Crystal Spire watched as the underlings used the syringes and seemed to grow more powerful. He scoffed. “Steroids.” His face then bore a smile. “Well, this should prove interesting…” He took a deep breath and grew more rigid. He struck hard against the first to attack, causing the pony to slightly wobble back before regaining fervor. Crystal Spire blinked in surprise. “Well. That failed. Time for a new angle…”
Though, that thought had to wait. The rest of the roided thugs swarmed him as their boss sat back and watched. He couldn’t quite keep them away. He needed time to gather his magic. Luckily, the Royal Guard did come to help. He smiled at the captain as she knocked some of them out. “Ample timing, captain. I need time to cast a spell.”
She huffed indignantly as she knocked out another thug with a maroon hoof swinging a shock baton. “I don’t take orders from you.” She paused as she saw the odds were still against them, and sighed. “I’ll keep them occupied, though. This spell of yours had better be amazing, Crystal Spire.”
After she went off to distract the rest of the thugs, Crystal Spire focused his magic to work in tandem with his powers. He hadn’t tried this in his practice, and now he was regretting that decision. He built up the spell for a moment and then opened his eyes. He redirected his spell to his hooves and stomped to release another shockwave of crystals. But, though the thugs tried to evade, they couldn’t. He knocked the rest of them out and the crystals stopped to form a cage around the thug’s leader. Crystal Spire let out a sigh of relief as the guard captain placed hoof cuffs on the thug leader so he could release the crystal prison attack. “Well that was more draining than I expected… I’ll need more practice before trying that again.”
The guard captain sighed as she approached, letting the other guards take away the thugs. “Look. I don’t know who you are exactly, but… you helped us out. I’m sorry for being so testy. Can you forgive me?”
Crystal Spire flashed a smile and nodded. “Water under the bridge, captain. I look forward to working with the guard again. Now, I have places to be! Crystal Spire, away!” He stomped a hoof and was instantly lifted off the ground by crystals. The guard watched in awe as he surfed away on his wave of crystals.
The guard captain shook her head. “Showoff.” She turned to lead her regiment from the scene. How was she to explain this to her superiors, let alone Celestia? It certainly was a fantastical tale… She decided to worry about that later.
Later, In Canterlot…
Celestia raised an eyebrow. “A superhero? That’s what he said he was?”
The captain nodded. “You can ask any of my regiment that saw the battle, Princess. It may seem absurd, but… He had powers unlike any pony that I’d seen before. Without his help… we’d likely not have gotten out of that mess as cleanly.”
Celestia paused as she took all that in. She looked the captain in the eye. “Captain Nocturne, tell me… Just who is this Crystal Spire, in your opinion?”
A thoughtful look was upon Nocturne’s face for a moment. She gave a shrug. “I don’t know. He could be any male unicorn with green eyes. We might never know who he is. But one thing I do know is that he is a good pony. He’ll show up again.”
Silence prevailed in the room for a while before Celestia gave a nod. “Very well. I will allow Crystal Spire to continue his work. However…” Concern raised upon her face before she continued. “Crystal might only be the first of a new type of pony. I don’t know how he got his powers, but we must be ready in case others with powers aren’t so benevolent.”
Nocturne gave a bow. “I’ll search for others like him, if you wish. It would be an honor.”
After a bit of deliberation, Celestia nodded. “Very well. You and your regiment will be assigned the special task of finding these super-ponies and ascertaining if they will be helpful for us. It might take a while to find some, but I wish you the best.”
After this moment, everything changed in Equestria. Nocturne’s regiment went on to find many super-ponies, each vastly different from all the others. The powers they displayed were unlike anything that had been seen. These ponies were documented and listed, each considered to help Equestria. But whenever they found one that was breaking the law, Crystal Spire had already captured them and put them in prison. All the other super-ponies had another identity, and they’d all been documented- except for Crystal Spire. He was an enigma.
Nocturne sat alone one night in her house going over copies of the files that they’d written.
Super-Pony Files
Entry 001: Crystal Spire
Alter-Ego: UNKNOWN
Gender: Male
Eye Color: Green
Coat Color: UNKNOWN
Hair Color: UNKNOWN
Cutie Mark: UNKNOWN
Hero Symbol: Teal Crystal Spire
Tribe: Unicorn
Height: 5’7”
Weight: 180 lbs
Power: Summoning & Controlling Crystals
Origin: UNNOWN
Notes: Nobody knows who’s behind the suit, aside from Crystal Spire himself. One day, I’ll find out who he is…
Entry 002: The Hunter
Alter-Ego: Snow Shard
Gender: Female
Eye Color: Purple
Coat Color: White
Hair Color: Silver
Cutie Mark: Shattering Snowflake
Villainess Brand: Bow w/ Snake Arrows
Tribe: Pegasus
Height: 4’9”
Weight: 170 lbs
Power: Can shoot her feathers like arrows.
Origin: Crashed into a vat of magic sludge, woke up with powers the next day.
Notes: Crystal Spire has fought her many times, and she escapes often. Though, she seems to think that they’re dating…
Entry 003: The Inferno
Alter-Ego: Prized Peach
Gender: Male
Eye Color: Blue
Coat Color: Dull Orange
Hair Color: Blonde
Cutie Mark: Peach
Villain Brand: Fire
Tribe: Earth
Height: 6’0”
Weight: 200 lbs
Power: Can summon fire and control it.
Origin: Inhaled some kind of magic gas, woke up with powers the next day.
Notes: It seems that this one likes to cause havoc wherever he goes. Crystal Spire has defeated him multiple times.
Entry 004: Mecchis
Alter-Ego: Springworks
Gender: Female
Eye Color: Amber
Coat Color: Gray
Hair Color: Metallic Blue
Cutie Mark: Springs
Heroine Symbol: Springs
Tribe: Complicated…
Height: 5’2”
Weight: 180 lbs
Power: Various mechanical gadgets that come from her body.
Origin: Almost died, got a friend to conduct an experimental surgery on her to implement machines into her body.
Notes: This one has been useful to us when Crystal Spire is busy elsewhere in Equestria.
The rest of the entries went on like that, listing things written in her own hoofwriting. Things had changed in the short time since she had met Crystal Spire. The public was aware of these super-ponies, and each town seemed to have a resident one that it preferred. However, there was no doubt that many appreciated what Crystal Spire did. He’d been known to do things that other supers couldn’t.
It had been some time since they last worked together. She let out a sigh. With so many super-ponies, how could she be sure that the world was safe? For every good super, there were as many bad ones. Was that how it naturally balanced out? Nocturne pinched her brows for a bit. Sometimes, she wished things could return to the way they were, before the world needed supers. But with dangers mounting, those days wouldn’t return.
She was shook out of her thoughts when she heard a knock on her door. A bit surprised, she got up to check. Not many disturbed her at night, so she was curious as to who would. She opened the door to find somebody unexpected. “Crystal Spire? What’re you doing at my door?”
He seemed exhausted. She let him in, and he sat down on her couch. He then spoke. “I’ve been thinking recently. Do you think what I do is worth it? I’m asking because… all the supervillains I lock up always escape. Is what I’m doing an exercise in futility?”
Nocturne hadn’t heard any of the other heroes talking like this. The others always seemed to be so confident, like Crystal Spire always was in public. Yet here hee was, doubting himself. She sat next to him, and spoke. “You’re doing what’s right. Evil might rise, but it’s your job to stand up against it. It shouldn’t matter how many times it returns, you should always stand up. You’ve got to do that so we maintain some semblance of peace.”
Crystal Spire smiled gently, nodded, and then left. Nocturne could only hope that what she said helped him.