//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2: Experiments 
// Story: Superlad 
// by DanishDash 
//------------------------------//

Anon turned, sighing to himself. It happened again, he really held back this time, did his best to not to kick it out of town. It meant he could not join the soccer team, it meant he would still need to hide, need to stay away from normal people.

Looking up he spotted someone, he froze! No one was ever out here this late, only Rainbow Dash and she had gone home already! With his enhanced vision he quickly noticed it was Twilight Sparkle, the school genius. Her expression was one of pure shock.

It was then that he knew she had seen.

Both of them just stood there for what felt like an eternity, none spoke, and Anon did not know what to do or think. He had been careful ever since he got to this school, keeping his head low, trying his best to make himself so uninteresting as possible. So far it had worked, he had never gotten into trouble, never concerned himself with his fellow students, never done anything at school that could risk him being exposed.

Then the day he finally broke his rule, this one time he decided to play alone, decided to take a chance he was of course discovered! He was angry at himself for being such an idiot. He could hardly blame Twilight, this was all on him for risking it in the first place.

"How did you do that..?" A voice suddenly asked.

He looked, focusing his mind to bring him out of his thoughts. He hadn't even noticed Twilight walking up to him. There was no fear to trace on her, some nervousness, sure, but not outright fear.

"Lucky shot.." Anon replied, his voice matching hers in nervousness. He knew the lie would not fool her, she knew what she saw. She gave him a look, even a little smile. Sighing, he decided to just confess. "I'm strong, REALLY strong."

"Strong?" Twilight asked, looking slightly amused. "The world record for drop kick is 75.35 meters, yours must have taken the ball well out of town.. No amount of human training or strength would ever be able to perform such a  feat."

Anon raised an eyebrow. "You know the world record of a drop kick?"

"When you're friends with an obsessive athlete you tend to learn a lot." Twilight said with a slight smile and a small shrug. "You're Anon, right?"

"Yeah, and you're Twilight Sparkle."

"You know me?"

Now it was Anon's turn to look amused. "I think everybody knows about you and your friends."

Twilight chuckled. "Alright, though I don't know your full name.."

"Anonymous, but you can just call me Anon."

Twilight frowned, the name was not common. "Alright then, Anon. So how did you get so strong and is that all you can do?"

Anon sighed, he had rather hoped he would never have this conversation. "I can do a lot of things.. My senses are beyond what yours are, I see far and clear, even through walls at times, though it's hard." Twilight listened, though how much she believed he was not sure. "I can hear far too, run fast, really fast. As you already seen I'm pretty strong too, oh and I can.. Uhm.."

Twilight raised an eyebrow. "You can, what?"

"Fly.."

"Fly?" Twilight repeated.

"Fly."

Twilight frowned. "Like, how?"

Anon frowned as well. "I'm not really sure, it's like the gravity itself is weak, uhm. I sorta just take off, like the air around me is water, I just take off and float, just without the restrictions." He shrugged. "I'm not sure how else to explain it.."

"Hmm.." Twilight looked at him for a while. If she was being honest, all of that sounded pretty insane. Or it would have, if not for the fact she knew of another reality where she is a pony princess and has magic not only in that world, but this world as well. "Show me." She said, then quickly put a hand up. "Not right now, and not here, but tomorrow. You don't have anything planned right?"

Anon shook his head. "No, I usually keep to myself and keep my head low."

"Great! Uhm, no, not great, but you know great that you don't have plans for tomorrow.." Her cheeks warmed realizing she was rambling. "Meet me tomorrow after the last bell, we can go to a place where you can show me without the fear of anyone seeing you."

Not having anything else planned, and the fact Twilight had already seen him doing something impossible, he figured he might as well go. If nothing else it would be good to finally be able to talk about these things, at least he would not have to carry his secret alone.

"Alright, I'll see you tomorrow then."

Twilight's eyes seemed to lit up with excitement. "Great! It's a date!" She blushed, then covered her mouth. "I mean, not a date, but it's tomorrow we meet to hang out, you know, as friends." This didn't help so she quickly got her backpack and waved. "S-see you tomorrow Anon!"

"Uhm, see ya Twilight." He said and waved a little, but she was already gone.

Had that just happened? Anon was still a little shocked about the whole ordeal. The one thing that was not allowed to happen, happened. After being so careful for such a long time, Twilight had seen him. He was stupid taking a risk such as practicing control of his strength here, and now his secret was known.

Even so, it felt liberating to have at least one person who knew about him. Twilight seemed like a kind girl, for what little he knew about her he didn't get the impression he should be careful or he couldn't trust her. Maybe her seeing was not such a  big mistake after all? If she could be trusted then maybe he could have someone to talk to, maybe he could tell her the whole truth.

For now however he'd rather keep that for himself, at least until he knew he could trust her completely. If people didn't suddenly whisper some crazy rumors about him having amazing powers tomorrow, then he would know she could be trusted.

For now however it was probably best for him to go home and get some rest...





The following day Twilight was almost giddy with excitement for the day ahead. Today she was going to perform tests, see what Anon could do and try to come up with exact perimeters for his powers. Of course she had already figured out that he must have been the one who had done all those heroic things around the city.

It wasn't a huge leap in logic, but she had no idea if what he did was the limit or just a small display of his abilities. Just how strong was he? 

"Twilight!" 

"Huh?!" Twilight looked around. Her friends all looked worried. "Sorry, what was that?"

Rainbow sighed. "You weren't even listening."

"Are you okay sugarcube?" Applejack asked. "You have been daydreaming all day."

Twilight blushed. "Sorry, I didn't realize I was so deep in thought.."

"What's wrong?" Sunset asked.

"Nothing is wrong." Twilight assured them. Which was true, though she did not want to mention what she had seen or what Anon had claimed. She didn't like hiding things from her friends, but this was Anon's secret and he had been honest with her. The least she could do was to respect his privacy. "I'm sorry Rainbow, what were you saying?"

Rainbow rolled her eyes. "I said that the only way to prove this person is out there is to be in danger."

"Uhm.." Twilight frowned, not sure she liked the train of thought Rainbow had boarded. "Can you run that one by me again?"

"Relax Twilight, I'm not actually going to be in danger. I could pretend that I was going to fall off a bridge, or drown." Rainbow suggested, making all her friends wince at the scenarios and the potential danger she would be in. "Just need to make it look real."

"I'm not sure Rainbow Dash, that sounds dangerous.." Fluttershy put in, careful as ever.

Rainbow simply snorted. "I'll be okay, that's why it's important you guys are there! You have to document it, but also be there in case something does go wrong." Rainbow was confident as ever, reckless as ever and Twilight was not happy hearing about this plan of hers.

Thankfully it was Sunset who pointed out the flaws of her idea. "You don't even know how to get this person's attention in the first place. What if he or her was just nearby when those accidents happened?"

"But it would be funny!" Pinkie put in. "We could tie her to a tree and make a fake bomb! She can be Rainbow Damsel!" She giggled and some of the other girls joined in, except for Rainbow who just blushed in embarrassment and annoyance. 

"Anyway, putting Rainbow ideas on hold for now. Any of you wanna go to the mall and watch a movie? Me and applejack thought about watching Ranger of Truth." Sunset asked.

Applejack perked up. "Darn tootin!" 

"Oh! I want popcorn, a soda, a Snickers bar, or two, I want hot chocolate-" Pinkie Pie listed off everything she wanted while Fluttershy gave a small nod.

"I hear they have well trained horses in that movie.."

"Oh, I hear the romance plot is very spicy and romantic. I simply must go!" Rarity agreed. "I will come."

Rainbow sighed. "Well all right, I hear the action is pretty good. But don't think I have forgotten about my plan!"

Sunset chuckled and turned to Twilight. "How about it Twilight, you wanna come?"

"Oh I wish I could, but I have other plans today." Twilight frowned. The others looked disappointed. "I'm sorry, but I promised."

"It's okay." Sunset assured her with a smile.

"So what are you doing after school?" 

Applejack asked, but she had hardly asked the question before the bell rang. It wasn't really a problem that Applejack knew, Twilight did not think Anon minded if anyone knew they were hanging out after school, but for now she rather keep it all close for now.

She had a lot of things she wanted to go over to test his speed, his strength and see if he could actually fly. It was all very exciting, though there were other questions to be answered as well. Has he been given these powers? Was he born with them? Does he come from another planet and the powers respond to this world? Was it magic? Or some other form power she did not yet have a grasp on.

Whatever the case, Anon seemed willing to indulge her for now, so the least she could do was to keep his secret. One thing was for certain, Rainbow was right all along, but the truth behind was something Twilight needed to figure out.





The day went as usual, nothing new there. Anon kept his head down, walked around in his usual hoodie and thick glasses, doing his best to keep a low profile. When lunch had come around he could not help but overhear Twilight and her friends talking.

Normally he would try not to listen in on people's conversations, but like yesterday the topic had caught his ear and he could not help but do so. Rainbow was once again talking about him, talking about how she might be able to lure him out. The plan was idiotic, did she really think he would come flying just because she was splashing some water around?

If she really was in danger then of course he would show up and save her, but until she was actually in danger she could just swim around in the lake until she got tired. Thankfully it seemed they were going to the movies so she wouldn't be in any danger today.

When the final bell rang it was time to go and wait for Twilight. They had not agreed on a place to meet, just the time, so Anon decided to wait in front of the school. He saw Twilight's six friends come out and walk off, since Twilight wasn't with them he could only assume she did not want them to know about their plans. He was thankful for that, as nice as it would be to talk to someone about his powers more openly, he wasn't ready to involve others.

Anon didn't need to wait long, soon enough he spotted Twilight hurrying out of the doors and over to him. "Sorry I kept you waiting, I didn't want my friends to see us.." She seemed uncomfortable saying that, clearly her friends meant a lot to her and she didn't like to keep secrets from them.

He shook his head. "It's okay Twilight. I'm sorry for making you hide this from your friends.. If you don't want to do this I understand. If you hurry you can probably still catch up to your friends and enjoy a nice evening at the movies."

Twilight looked surprised for a moment, then remembered his hearing was much stronger than normal human ears. She smiled. "No no, it's okay. I like to see what you can do, maybe even understand your powers. If nothing else, you at least have a friend to talk to."

Now it was Anon's turn to look surprised. "Friend?"

"Yeah, do you want to be friends?" She asked innocently.

Anon found the question odd, not in a bad way, but normally people would just get to be friends without announcing it. This felt more like an offer for his benefit, as if to make him understand he was not alone. Smiling a little he nodded. 

"I'd like that."

Her smile grew slightly. "Then let's go."

It took about 45 minutes on foot and then a short bus ride to reach their destination. It was a small and old looking airfield. There was a high chain link fence that surrounded the large open field, but Twilight simply walked up to one of the smaller gates designed for people and unlocked it with a key.

Anon tilted his head. "Your place?"

Twilight shook her head, closing and locking the small gate behind him. "My uncle's. He used to have a flying club here, but he lives overseas now, but the property is still his." She explained. "The hangars are filled with a lot of old parts, I'm the only one using this place now, I guess you can do it. It's my own makeshift laboratory.  

Anon nodded, getting where she was going with this. The place was outside of town, no one was likely to come by here by chance, and it had space to perform the tests she wanted to do. "And no one is flying here anymore?"

A coy smile grace Twilight's lips. "Only you, if you can fly that is. But we should probably unlock the hangar then get the equipment ready."

"Equipment?"

"Yeah, I do have a few gadgets I've made, nothing too complicated, but with a few adjustments it should help us find your limits and potential." Twilight explained, seeming very excited about all of this.

The airfield was for small planes only. There was a small house with a small tower, that was probably for the members of the club. A place to eat, talk and just have a nice time. The small tower served as their control tower, not anything too complicated like at the airports, but it served as a good observation point to help direct traffic. There were three hangars, again only for small planes, but still big. 

She took him to one of the hangars, and just like she had said it was her makeshift laboratory. There were a lot of parts scattered around, electronics, old computers, even a spot for her to do chemistry. 

"Sorry for the mess.." She suddenly said as Anon looked around. "I don't usually bring guests out here.. I like to have a place of my own. A place to think."

Anon knew how she felt, though unlike her he didn't have such a place. Twilight walked to a table, seeming to tinker with something for a few seconds before turning to him. "Alright, how about we begin with a strength test?"

"Alright, what do you have in mind? Do you want me to pull something heavy?" Anon asked, taking his glasses and hoodie off, revealing his muscular arms and torso. "Hm, Twilight?" When she didn't answer he looked towards her. She stood almost frozen in time, staring at his muscles. "Twilight, you okay there?"

"What a fine specimen..."

"What?"

"Huh? Uhm, I mean!" Twilight blushed. "N-no you don't need to pull something, c-come with me!" She hurried out a back door looking as red as a tomato.

Anon followed Twilight outside, she was still a bit embarrassed, but more focused now. She stood in front of a big and old looking machine, the kind that crushes cars. Anon could already see where she was going with this. "Clever." He simply said, making Twilight smile.

"Thanks! Since you stopped that truck from hitting the restaurant, I figured we should be able to test you safely like this."

"You knew it was me?" Anon asked, surprised. 

Twilight simply giggled. "Come on Anon, if you can do all of these things you say, then who else would it have been?"

He couldn't argue with that. "I see your point.. So, what now?"

"You just step in. The roof will come down on you slowly. The walls won't move at all, so you only have to focus on keeping the roof over your head." Twilight explained and walked closer. "I modified the crusher a bit, so you don't need to worry. You just tell me when it gets too much and I'll stop increasing the pressure."

"When did you have time to do this?"

Twilight blushed once more out of slight embarrassment. "Well after our talk I decided to come over here and prepare before today.. Thought it would save some time."

Anon smiled. "You're pretty smart Twilight." Chuckling, he stepped up on the platform. "Alright, I'm ready."

This was crazy, Twilight knew it was crazy. If this had been any other case she would never consider such a dangerous experiment. Well, she had taken all precautions she could, the roof would move slowly enough for her to stop it before it would ever come close to crushing him. Though that didn't mean it felt kind of scary doing this, if her parents knew what she was doing, or her brother, then she would be in serious trouble, and rightly so.

Twilight got out the remote, slowly turning the knob. On the display Twilight had attached to it she could see what kind of force she was putting down on him. Slowly the roof moved down and Anon lifted both hands in order to stop the plate. A few seconds after the plate made contact she turned her attention to the display. The kilos quickly rose as the applied more force.

100 kilos.

200 kilos.

500 kilos.

1 ton.

It kept going up and up, but Anon did not budge. He kept standing still without making a single sound of strain. The machine however started to groan, it was of course not designed to meet such resistance, normally a car would start breaking under the weight by now, Anon however did not.

She knew he could take over 20 tons already, otherwise he would not have been able to stop that truck. So as the tons moved up and passed over 50 she started to look even more amazed. The machine kept groaning as Anon refused to move. After a while she could see he was starting to strain a bit, but he did not move. He was gritting his teeth but still stood firm, even with the plate crushing down on him with such force that it would have killed a normal human being by now.

"Amazing!" Twilight said. "Anon, you're holding up 150 tons!" The machine could handle no more, it was at its maximum, so Twilight started to raise the plate and shut the machine down. "Amazing.." 

"You said that already.." Anon chuckled as he stepped off the platform, moving some sweat from his forehead. "How did I do?"

"You did amazingly! Oh, sorry, used that word again.." Anon chuckled and she let out a small nervous giggle, but then continued. "You held up 150 tons, you can probably do more, but that is as high as the machine could go. How are you feeling?"

"I'm okay, I could feel the last few tons that's for sure.."

Twilight nodded, opened her computer and wrote some quick notes. "So we are close to your limit at least.. Hmm, I wonder if you can grow stronger though."

For a moment Anon considered telling her about how he got these powers and the things he knew, which was not much, but it would help her. He hesitated however, he wasn't sure if that would make him sound insane or crazy. No, for now he would keep those details to himself, share them once he was ready.

"So, what's next?"

Twilight smirked. "Speed test."

She took him to the runway, which was about 120 meters long. Anon frowned, this was no way near enough to any accurate measurement of his speed.

"Uhm Twilight, I don't think this is long enough.."

She frowned. "Why?"

"Well, I can travel over 10 kilometres in just a few seconds.. What speed I manage to gain here I will be at the goal in under a second."

Twilight looked shocked. "That sort of time will make you break the sound barrier."

"I did.." Anon admitted. "Which is why I don't travel so fast anymore.."

"I see." If Twilight had not just seen Anon hold 150 tons above his head she would be skeptical, but if it was true he could travel so fast she would have to come up with something else. "It is really impressive, such speed would rip a normal human body apart, not to mention when you have to stop. Your durability must be something out of this world."

Anon nodded. "You have no idea.."

Twilight didn't hear what he mumbled, but turned to him with a smile. "We can test some of your other abilities, like you said you can see through things? Oh, and fly?"

"Yeah, well.. I have to focus really hard to be able to see through stuff, so it takes some effort. Flying however has become second nature, sort of. I've never had a chance to fly in the city, but I have practiced in wide open areas." 

"I see, well we can find ways to test your maneuverability and-" Before Twilight finished her sentence a loud bang could be heard in the distance. Anon looked more alarmed, probably because of his super hearing. "What was that?"

"An explosion." He answered. "Something is on fire downtown."

Twilight frowned, the mall was downtown. "I should call my friends.." She quickly walked back into the hangar, Anon following close behind her. Once they got in he walked over to his backpack while Twilight tried to call up her friends. Of course there was a chance she would not get through, if they were in the middle of watching the movie. 

She got no response, not even from Pinkie. "They're not answering.."

"I'll go have a look." Anon answered, pulling out a blue and red hoodie from his backpack. Twilight watched as he put it up and moved up the zipper. "If nothing is wrong I'll be back."

Twilight felt her heart pound faster, she knew the odds of her friends being in danger was close to none, but she was still scared. Anon didn't bother with the hood, but instead kept it down, letting his short cape flow behind him as he turned and marched out of the hangar.

Already they could see smoke in the sky, confirming what Anon thought, there was a fire. "Be careful." Twilight said, knowing the risks of him flying out there. Strangely enough, without his thick glasses and hood it was like looking at a completely different person.

Anon looked at Twilight one final time, then gave her thumbs up and a boyish grin. Then leaped off into the air, Twilight could almost swear she felt the ground shake for a moment as he took off. To her shock she saw he really was flying, he kept to the air, flying towards the city with great speed.

Of course the amazement was overshadowed by the concern for her friends. She hoped they were okay. If not, then she hoped Anon could save them in time.