Mare of steel
Tirek was content. He could feel the nurturing warmth around him. After so many intense nightmares, it was a sensation he did not want to end. Reluctantly, he opened his eyes in response to the warmth on his face. He found the warm oranges and reds of a perfect sunset framed by the cooler blues and purples. He felt he warmth to his right shift. He turned his head. His eyes shot wide open when he saw it was the Princess of Friendship leaning into him.
She said, "See? Friendship was all that you needed." The purple alicorn gave a happy sigh. "I love the smell of friendship in the evening. It's the smell . . ." She inhaled deeply. ". . . of harmony."
Tirek looked around, taking in his surroundings. A simple meal on a red and white checked tablecloth was spread on the ground in front of him. The rest of the Element Bearers were lying beside the blanket, enjoying the food while they watched the sunset.
Tirek exclaimed, "What am I doing at a damned picnic?"
Pinkie Pie pronked about, "Celebrating friendship! Group hug!"
The centaur found himself blanketed by colorful ponies. Each touch exuded friendship. It was pure torture.
Twilight said, "Isn't it better this way? You don't have to be evil when you have friends. We will make sure you don't feel alone anymore."
Tirek snapped his head back toward the voice. The Princess of Friendship was smiling at him. That sickened him to no end. To his horror, she suddenly became two alicorns. The two then became four. The doubling continued until he lost count. As one, they serenaded him about love and friendship. Blood streamed from his ears.
“DIE, TWILIGHT SPARKLE!” shouted Tirek as he sent out the strongest magic blast that he could manage. When the blinding light faded, he saw that the ponies were gone. He was in bed. He was in his room in Grogar's fortress, which now sported a porthole-sized hole in the wall. He breathed a sigh of relief. "It was a dream. It was only a dream."
“What is the meaning of this?” asked a cold voice.
Tirek paled when he noticed Grogar staring at him through the new hole. The fur under the ram's nose was singed, making him look like he had a black moustache. The ram glared at him.
“It was an accident, Grogar, sir. I was having a nightmare and . . .”
Grogar lifted Tirek with his telekinesis and repeatedly slammed him against the opposite wall multiple times until the centaur's rump was embedded in it.
Tirek coughed blood. “I told you, it was an accident, sir! I had this dream about Twilight Sparkle giving me her friendship and I . . .”
Steam seemed to stream from Grogar's ears. “Now listen to me, idiot. Ponies are supposed to be scared of us, not the other way around. Now clean this mess and fix my walls before I return or I’ll make sure you have nightmares about me from now on.”
Heavy footsteps drew their attention. They turned to the door as it opened, revealing Harry the bear. The caterpillar on his head gave a soft sigh. "Please do not be so harsh on my faithful student. He has been having nightmares. Unlike you, he has borne the brunt of the power of Harmony firsthand. Can you not tell that he was speaking in anger, not fear? Can you not see that his is dedicated to taking down our common enemy, Twilight Sparkle? Is that not what you want in your minions?"
Grogar glared at Master Mind. "Fine. Let him get as angry as he wants, but this had better be the last time he damages my lair. This is MY hideout. This is MY sanctuary. MINE! HERE, I AM THE MASTER."
Master Mind replied, "Indeed. And we are your grateful, if clumsy, guests. You have my word that he will personally repair all the damage. I will reinforce this room so that this never happens again. Now, why don't you go run your morning errands. Your lair will be better than new when you return."
Grogar nodded as he left. “It'd better be.”
Tirek watched as the ram left. He sighed in relief when he heard the front door slam shut.
“Thank you very much Mr. Master Mind, sir.”
Master Mind replied, "You have your orders. Eat your four crystals and use your new magic to make the repairs. I'll take care of the rest."
“Four . . . yes, four. Thank you, Mr. Master Mind, sir.”
In the middle of the woods, Grogar abruptly stopped. His mind now felt clear. Ever since Master Mind agreed to take him on as his student, the ram's thoughts were always fuzzy and confused in the immortal's presence. The correlation was obvious.
Grogar roared in anger as he shot a magic blast skyward.
“No matter how powerful I become, the damn worm will always do what he wants with my mind.”
Northern Wasteland:
The novelty of white nights had quickly worn off. It was morning in Ponyville, and Twilight Sparkle rose at her normal time. Feeling a pang of homesickness, she exited the Fortress of Solitude and flew toward Equestria. She stopped over the middle of the ocean. A that range, the sounds of civilization were uncomfortable but not overwhelming. This had been her routine for the past week. Each day, she managed to edge closer to civilization before the discomfort drove her back.
As she hovered, she concentrated on isolating and identifying every sound. She could distinguish and follow millions of conversations. She could hear and identify millions of steps, correlating each to size, species and hoofwear. She could trace flight paths by listening to the wingbeats of the fliers. In short, she began to see the world around her with her ears.
Twilight lost track of time as she edged ever closer to civilization, mentally painting a picture of the world that she heard. Her eyes narrowed when she heard something new. It was a metallic screech that was soon joined by dozens of screams of terror. She cast her gaze toward the noise. It was a train speeding down a mountain track with its brakes locked. There was no way it could stay on the upcoming curve.
Twilight was gone in a blur. There were lives at stake.
Meanwhile, the Dash was flying in a simple search pattern as she carried a sensor pack tuned to Twilight's magic. Her commlink crackled. Arrow's voice came through. "Dash, go to Vanhoover's Dead Mare's Curve. There's a runaway train!"
The pegasus was already moving at full speed when she replied, "I'm on it!"
Dash arrived in time to see the locomotive teetering on the curve. In seconds, it was sure to fall off the track and pull the rest of the train down the mountain with it. The mare gave a grim smile. Taking all of the ponies to safety was foal's play.
Just as she was about to start, she saw as lavender blur shoot past. "Twilight?" she asked.
Without turning, the alicorn replied, "On it!" Twilight pushed the locomotive back onto the tracks and guided each car as it reached the curve. Once the caboose had passed, she grabbed the coupler and brought the train to a smooth stop.
“Twilight that was so cool!” cheered Rainbow Dash.
Twilight turned and smiled happily. Her ears swiveled toward the locomotive, and the smile faded to a frown. She flew to the locomotive and scanned the engine. Her x-ray vision revealed a spiderweb of angry red cracks. Using her body as a wedge, she cut away the crew cabin before balancing the rest of the locomotive on her forehooves. She rocketed into the sky with her payload. In the stratosphere above the forest, the boiler exploded, sending out a cloud of shrapnel that showered down harmlessly. Twilight returned to the track with the remnants.
“Twilight! Are you okay?” asked Rainbow Dash.
The lavender alicorn smiled at her. “Not a scratch.”
Rainbow shook her head in disbelief. “That was . . .”
“Awesome, even if it’s wrong, I’m the one saying it.” Twilight smiled, amazed by what she just did.
Suddenly, Twilight winced as she clamped her forehooves over her ears. In a pained voice, she looked over at Dash and said, "I'm sorry, Rainbow. I need to get out of here before I hurt somepony." The alicorn sped off so fast that she left an afterimage.
Daish said, "Thanks, Twilight."
Although she knew her friend could not see her, Twilight nodded in acknowledgement.
Dash hovered above the passengers and crew. Touching her commlink, she said, "Did anypony catch my video feed?"
Batmare replied, "Yes. It looks like Princess Twilight still wants to come home."
Dash said, "I meant did you see how she saved the train?"
"She already showed us her power. What impressed me is that she's gained so much control in such a short time."
Back at the Fortress of Solitude, Twilight sat in front of her desk. Turning to the doll, she said, "Today was super amazing, Miss Smarty Pants! Not only was I able to filter out the noise for a while, but I was also able to see Rainbow with normal vision! No more zombies for me!"
She dipped her quill into her inkwell, only to have the nib bounce. Around the quill, she muttered, "Right. Frozen solid." She gently focused her heat vision on the inkwell until the ink melted. She then heated the stone walls to keep the ink from refreezing.
In all capital letters, she wrote,
"CONCENTRATION IS KEY!"
Ponyville:
Fluttershy exited the market followed by two friends helping her with her grocery bags. The large bear was helping her with the heavy bags as Fluttershy carried the lighter. On top of the bear’s head was his inseparable friend, Wormy the caterpillar, who seemed to guide Harry to look non-threatening to the other ponies.
“Thank you very much for helping me you two! I bought a special treat for you when we go back home!” The pegasus smiled, showing Harry the jar of honey that she purchased.
The bear roared happily just as Rainbow Dash appeared.
“Hey, I have great news!”
“Oh, is it something regarding Twilight?” asked Fluttershy anxiously.
Harry and his friend Wormy approached to Rainbow as she nodded happily,
“We haven’t been able to locate her magic but I just saw her save a train with her new abilities. She is doing her best to return to civilization!”
“Oh, these are great news! She will be with us in no time! Isn’t that great, Harry? Wormy?”
The bear cheered happily. Rainbow stared at the caterpillar. Somehow, the insect was able to give a sincere cheer of his own.
“So, Harry still hangs out with that worm, huh?”
“Of course! They are the best friends, Rainbow, just like you and me. Isn’t just great when the power of friendship transcends species?”
Fortress of solitude:
It was the dawn of a new day in Ponyville, but in the Northern Wasteland, the months-long day wore on. Emboldened by her discovery, Twilight flew off in the heading opposite that of yesterday's flight. Once she reached the limits of her noise tolerance, she began orbiting the planet, taking care to isolate and catalog the sounds associated with each location she overflew while filtering out the other sounds.
Hours into her flight, the scrams of panic caught her attention. She stopped and looked toward the sound. It was coming from Fillydelphia. She flew at top speed, homing in on the plume of smoke. She landed on top of the blazing tenement. She bucked open the fire door. A plume of superheated flames shot past her. She blinked in surprise and stepped to one side. Instinctively she took a deep breath and faced the flames. She narrowed her lips and blew. Supercooled air killed the flames on the first few floors. She hovered downward, repeating the performance until the blaze in the stairwell was dead.
Starting at the second floor, she used her x-ray vision to look for trapped ponies. At each occupied apartment she opened the door and said, "Stay close to the ground and use the outside fire escape!" Systematically, she worked her way up the building until she was satisfied that the evacuation was well in hoof.
The task of saving other ponies required all of her concentration, and the noise did not even bother her.
Outside, the fireponies had arrived along with the Great and Powerful Trixie, who was ready to use her powers to rescue the ponies inside as the fireponies took care of the fire. They were relieved to have a member of the Justice League at their side.
Trixie aimed her horn at the entrance as she concentrated.
“Water, turn off this fire! Retaw nrut ffo siht erif!”
A stream of clean water emerged from her horn, flooding the entrance of the building, creating huge clouds of steam as all the residents escaped from the death trap.
“Is everypony okay?” asked the fire chief. “What happened in there?”
“Princess Twilight saved us all.” explained a resident of the building. “She stopped the smoke and . . .”
Finally, the lavender alicorn exited the building. She smiled at the chief.
“Everypony is okay. I made sure of that.”
Trixie shook her head in disbelief. “Twilight Sparkle, are you okay?”
The lavender alicorn winked an eye at the showmare. “Not a scratch.”
Trixie sighed, relieved that everypony was safe. "Trixie is happy to see you in the city, but did you have to steal her thunder?" Quickly, she smiled. "Just kidding."
The blue mare turned to the janitor. “Trixie demands to know what happened in there. Do you have any idea what started the fire?”
"Well, I noticed we were having problems with the boiler . . ."
Twilight gave a gasp. She yelled, "Trixie! Clear that side of the building!"
Trixie pointed her horn and said, "Raelc klawedis!"
Twilight smashed through the side of the building, only to re-emerge a split-second later with the boiler. Steam was shooting from a small hole in the bottom as they rocketed skyward. To her horror, it exploded in a crowd of shrapnel above the packed sidewalk before she could get it out of the city.
Trixie pointed her horn at the sky. “Umbrellas protect ponies from the metal fragments. Sallerbmu tcetorp seinop morf eht latem stnemgarf!”
Big beach umbrellas popped out all over the area, catching the sharp fragments of the boiler before they harm anypony.
From the above Twilight looked at Trixie and nodded at her. Trixie returned the gesture. With that, the princess returned to her Fortress of Solitude.
“Thank Faust Trixie was there to cover for my mistake. I am glad to see she found her path after she gained metapony powers.”
The Next Day:
Lantern made his morning delivery, swapping the saddlebag at the doorstep with one filled with the supplies that Twilight had requested in the evening swap. All the consumables were replenished -- food, ink, quills, and scrolls.
As he flew away, a voice caught his attention. "Spike!"
Lantern turn to find Twilight outside the fortress, waving at him. Spike stopped and returned the wave with a giant, ring-generated hand. With that, he returned to the Watchtower.
Twilight beamed as she watched his retreating form. Finally, she could see him normally again. Zombie vision seemed to be under control at last.
Twilight returned to her subterranean study and heated the walls. She emptied the saddlebags. To her surprise, there was a newspaper among the supplies. The front page had a picture of her rocketing off with the boiler. She smiled as she read the banner headline.
"MARE OF STEEL"