//------------------------------//
// The Little Things 
// Story: The Reason to Smile 
// by Onomonopia 
//------------------------------//

With a single grunt, All Might lifted a massive pillar over his head. He then gave it a small toss and catch, just for the foals that were watching, before driving down into the ground like a stake. The ponies that were all watching him began to applaud and he bowed slightly for them.

"Please, there is no need for applause. This is nothing for a hero like me!" All Might laughed. The crowd laughed with him as one of the construction pony's walked over to the hero.

"Thanks for helping us out, All Might. Construction is going pretty well with you here to do all of the heavy lifting," the pony said to him. "But are you sure you can waste time here helping us out? Don't ya have bad guys to be hunting down or a fire to be putting out or something?"

"It is not a waste of time at all, my dear friend. A hero's job is to help others, no matter what their problem is. You need help putting up buildings? Well there's no need to fear. Because I! AM! HERE!"

"Well if that's the case, we could use your muscle over at the dam. When that mountain hit the ground, it caused a lot of structures to get cracked open. We had a stopgap on the dam for a while, but it looks like it's starting to break apart. Think you can handle it?"

"Of course I can. Do not worry, for I...am on my way!"

All Might rocketed away from where the repairs were being made, zipping through the streets of Ponyville quick enough so that he wouldn't waste much time, but slow enough so that his shockwaves didn't hurl any ponies. But he also slowed his pace so he could look over the town. The town that was still completely in ruins. He knew that he had done all he could to keep them safe. He had gotten there in time to save Spike and the others. The day had been saved.

But just like with Pinkie, he had almost been a second too late. A second later and Twilight would have lost her little brother and two fine citizens would have lost their lives. He needed to be better. He needed to be faster. And he needed to take down these foes as soon as he could. He had been a hero a long time and he knew, as much as he hated to admit it, that a hero could only arrive in the nick for so long. If he kept this up there would come a day...when he wasn't there in time. That thought kept him up often.

He shook his head and put his smile back on his face as he reached the dam, surprising the heck out of the group of ponies that, from their perspective, watched as All Might appeared out of thin air.

"GREETINGS!" he exclaimed. "I heard from one of your other workers that you could use some help with this dam...heh...problem. Well do not worry, for I am here!"

"Oh, All Might. Jeez, with the speed you were moving at for a moment we thought you were Rainbow Dash. That would explain why there was no rainbow trail," one of the worker pony's pointed out. "Yeah, we're glad you're here. This dam could come cracking down at any moment. We need to put some supports up to hold the water back while the new batch of cement settles. Normally it would take a full team of unicorns to move those support beams, but with you here..."

She turned around to see that All Might was already holding up all six of the support beams.

"Just tell me where you need me."

"We need you to place them here, here and here," she said as she pointed at the dam. "Try to be careful, one bad hit could cause the dam to burst. And while I am a little bit curious to see how you would deal with a burst dam, I would rather just get it fixed."

"No need to worry, I am the image of caution," All Might replied. The mare raised an eyebrow at All Might before she smiled and shook her head with a small chuckle. He nodded to her and turned to head towards the dam.

"And All Might? Lifting that mountain was pretty awesome of you," she said softly. "And...thank you. You and Twilight both. For saving us."

"Always."

All Might walked towards the first spot, taking care to set the beams down gently. He grabbed hold of one of them and lifted it with one hand, getting a feel for its weight and how it felt to move it. He then turned it towards the dam and gripped the center with both hands. It was a cylinder that, by his estimate, might be around sixty feet in length, making it more than unwieldy. He took care as he walked forward and placed the flatheaded top at one of the weak points on the dam. He slowly exhaled his breath as he lowered the other end down, making sure that the part touching the dam never slip as he rammed his side down into the ground. He stepped back for a second to see if anything happened and, when nothing did, he sighed slightly before smiling.

"Alright. One down, five to go."

All Might had just began to turn when he saw one of the support beams move itself into position. The number one hero's eyebrow went up as it fastened itself in place, before the other four followed suit and positioned themselves to support the dam. All Might glanced over his shoulder to see the culprit for the beams suddenly coming to life: one princess of the sun, former ruler of Equestria.

"Celestia. To what do I owe this pleasure?" All Might asked with a slight bow.

"No bowing please, I'm not royalty anymore," Celestia said with a small giggle. "And I believe that I am here for the same reasons that you are. The ponies here need help and I have the power to help them."

"You would be right, Celestia. And while I had this under control, I am grateful for your help nonetheless," All Might said. He then flashed his patented smile at Celestia who had to squint her eyes slightly.

"You could outshine the sun with that smile," she replied courteously. "Of course, I am not only here to help my former subjects, but to talk with you as well."

"Of course, Celestia. But we can talk while we work. Our conversation won't bring the smiles back to these ponies faces any faster," All Might pointed out. 

"I agree." Celestia's horn flashed and a moment later, both she and All Might were standing in the town square. All Might leaned against a wall to steady himself, but was back with his smile on his face a moment later. "Then let us walk and talk."

"Twilight has been acting differently lately," Celestia began as the pair began to walk through the streets. Whenever a pony needed help along their way, they would stop to help, but All Might quickly found that while he was incredibly strong and fast, Celestia could deal with nearly all problems with her magic. "She has been more driven than I have seen her in a long time, but she is also more distant. Like she is pushing others away."

"I cannot say I blame her for her actions," All Might replied. Celestia raised an eyebrow at him, but motioned for him to keep speaking. "She is not only the ruler of this land, but she is its greatest hero. That is quite a burden for her to bear."

"It is not a burden that she should bear alone. That is why she has her friends. That is why I helped her and her friends to find the Elements of Harmony," Celestia sighed. "Alone is no way for a princess to rule this land. And trust me, I know that from experience."

"I agree. Her friends should be there to support her during her rule. But there are some things only the number one can do," All Might added. He then raised an inquisitive eyebrow to Celestia. "Forgive me Celestia, it may not be my place, but may i ask why you decided to rule and defend Equestria all on your own instead of allowing others to take on the burden?"

Celestia stared at All Might for a moment before she sighed and stared up at the sky. "I originally ruled alongside my sister, but one day...she gave into her darkness and betrayed me. In order to stop her...and save myself...I banished her to the moon for a thousand years. It was the hardest thing I have ever had to do."

"I am so sorry."

"Thank you. After that...I was afraid. Afraid of letting others get close to me. Afraid of losing them...afraid of them turning on  me. Not to mention I was the only alicorn left in the land. My power was far greater than anything my subjects could dream of. I was the only one who could...handle...certain..."

Celestia turned to look at All Might, who gave her an understanding smile. "Twilight nearly lost one of her closest friends in the battle with Diamond Dust. Not only a close friend, but a friend who had recently became a mother. Fighting a battle she shouldn't have been apart of. If you ask me Celestia, it seems that Twilight is starting to learn what you and I learned years ago. That having allies is a gift, but sometimes...sometimes there are things that only the number one can take care of. You know what I mean."

"Yes, All Might," Celestia sighed.

"Yes I do."

==== | V | ====

"Welp, another day, another power to add to my growing collection," Sombra laughed. He tossed the crystal like orb into the air and caught it with his magic, smiling at his reflection. "But I'm going to have to start getting more creative in my lying. Chronos isn't happy that he's lost two of his number. He should be happy. I'm getting rid of the weaklings in his group and giving their powers to somepony who needs them more. Moi."

Then a faint sound caught Sombra's ear, a sound that he knew all to well. It was the sound of somepony crying in pain. Which confused Sombra. Somepony was crying in pain and he wasn't the cause of it? He needed to rectify that immediately. He followed the sound of the crying until he came to the darkest part of his base, where, sitting in a room with nothing in it but darkness, sat a lone girl dressed all in white.

"Oh hey, you're...White Noise, was it?" he asked her. Her masked face spun around to face him and a moment later she was upon him, her face barely an inch away from his. All Sombra did was raise an eyebrow. "Boundaries, girl. Don't make me get a restraining order."

"What. Do you. Want?" she seethed at Sombra. But he heard more than the anger.

"Ah, you were the one crying, weren't you?" he asked her. White Noise hissed at Sombra, before turning and walking back into the darkness. "Oh come on, none of that. Tell Uncle Sombra what the matter is?"

She glared at him in response.

"I won't go away until you do."

White Noise snarled and lashed out at Sombra with her fingers, but all she ended up grabbing was smoke. "None of that dear, I know how your powers work. You absorb energy, be it magical, physical or other. But I'm fairly certain absorbing smoke is outside your wheelhouse. Now come on, talk to me."

"My powers...constantly...hurt me," she managed to get out. Sombra raised an eyebrow as he placed her age at around eleven or twelve based on her softer voice. He had assumed she was older. "Always burning. Always seeking a way out. Absorbing power...soothes them for a time...but the pain always returns."

"Oof, that sounds like a bitch. How about this?" Sombra asked. Before White Noise could ask what he was doing, she felt a strange and dark power flood into her. But the pain slowly began to fade and, for a moment, that was all she cared about. "There, feeling better?"

"What...did you do?"

"Healing spell. One I totally invented," Sombra bragged. "Yep, back when I first came up with that, I was a pretty big deal. Then some things happened and I became to dark king we all know and love. At least, I learned to love me and really, isn't that all that matters? Now if you're done crying, I'm going to go and find some way to make that sparkler cry. If you start hurting again, just come find me and I'll do a repeat performance. Ciao."

"Thank you..." White Noise whispered. Sombra stopped at the door way to see her looking at him with what looked like...gratitude in her eyes. "That was...nice...of you. No one has ever been...nice to me."

"Oh think nothing of it. I always look out for my friends," Sombra said with a bow. He turned and left the room, waiting until he was a good distance away before he smirked and looked down at the crystal orb once more. "Especially friends with such wonderful gifts to give me."