Natural disasters were just that. Natural disasters. They happened, they were a part of life, of the earth’s cycle. They came and went, and they could all be easily dealt with and survived from.
But people didn’t always like natural things. And those who benefited from that dislike?
They loathed natural things.
So the fools, the war mongers, and the ignorant built barriers to protect themselves from their protectors, for they preferred the flames of hell over the strangers with unfamiliar faces.
“Stop the “Hu-Mare”!”, an officer shouted out, and five police men began shooting at a blonde woman with an insignia of planet Earth on her shirt, holding up a diamond force field with her bare hands. Her freckles glistened in the night sky. She grunted in dissatisfaction, as she kept an eye on the other women beside her. The bullets wouldn’t hurt her as much as other people, but she wasn’t impervious.
She focused all her strength on keeping the barrier up, however, and braced for impact.
But the bullets skidded off into the ground next to her, and the blonde looked up with annoyance at the purple haired woman with a diamond insignia on her uniform. “I had that under control, sugarcube.”
“You’re welcome, darling.”, the purple haired woman sassed, and she kept her second diamond barrier on the cops, who ran off in fear.
“You’d think they’d be happier about us stopping this tidal wave!”, a pink haired woman with a voice that exploded nearly as much as the explosions she was making by blowing up chunks of debris that were falling everywhere. An uncharacteristic frown sat on her face as she blew up another chunk of debris that nearly crushed a little girl.
The little girl was crying and shaking, and before long another chunk of debris was coming to her. She closed her eyes and braced for impact, but a purple ray of light stopped the chunk in mid air, a few small nuggets of rock falling off, and it was thrown away from her.
A shy woman with glasses and a pony tail offered her hand. On her shirt was an insignia of a dove. “You’re safe now.”, she said as gently as possible, but the girl still ran off, screaming “Stay away from me!”
The shy woman sighed, her hand still slightly reaching.
“Dove, we need you to push out the wave!”, the strong woman shouted, struggling under the weight of the diamond barrier, but motioning the pink haired girl to stay away.
“Party Animal, you focus on the debris. I’m coming, Atlas!”, Dove replied, and she stood in the middle, closing her eyes and honing her power. She had to use all her focus for this one.
“Do hurry, Dove. I can only craft this barrier for so long!”, the tired purple haired woman beseached.
“Maybe if you’d spend less time on your outfit and more on your trainin’ we wouldn’t be in need of Dove’s powers.”, Atlas muttered, and the woman scoffed.
“Excuse me for trying to live up to my name, Diamond!”
“What’s in a name, huh?”, Atlas sassed back.
“Guys, come on, stop fighting! Just kiss and “Lake up”!”, joked Party Animal, but the two didn’t laugh. She sighed again.
Finally, Dove’s eyes shone purple and she rose up into the sky momentarily, her wings sprouting for a second. Worrying about that, Dove lowered her energy output, so the wave still overflowed a parking lot that was thankfully empty.
But the city had been saved from a wave that could have destroyed it all.
Not that the people cared.
“No more "Hu-Mares"! No more "Hu-Mares"! No more "Hu-Mares"!”, they shouted the technical term for the mutated individuals. “Mutants go home! Mutants go home!”
The team looked at the angry faces, at the fearful expressions, at the vengeful crowd. Broken bottles and pieces of trash were thrown at the would be heroes. Party Animal looked like she was gonna cry, and Diamond tried to pretend she didn’t care. Atlas, knowing this was the last thing the team needed, rounded them up.
“Good job, X-Mares. Let’s regroup at the academy and wait for the Professor. I’m on kitchen duty!”
“I’ll join you!”, Diamond said, a little too eagerly, and she blushed. “I could… Use the distraction.”
“Can I choose the movie?”, Party Animal asked.
“You’ll have to ask the others, but I think it’s your turn.”, Atlas said in her most motherly tone. Gosh, sometimes Party Animal reminded her of…
Well, she didn’t want to mention her.
“Dove? You comin’ or what?”, Atlas asked, and the rest of the team looked at Dove, who stared into the crowd looking for one sympathetic face, one person who could change their mind.
She thought she could perhaps see one. The mother of the little girl she had saved regarded her with… Not closed eyes, at least.
Dove took a deep breath. “One day…”, she vowed once more, and she took off with the team, as they entered their jet plane and took to the sky.
Heroes in spirit, but not in opinion.
White. White all over.
“Blindingly white, actually”, the man with a horse shaped head and a goat’s beard noted. “How fitting.”
Five prison guards stood all around him, each one pointing a gun at his person, as he sat quietly and ate his meal, the only sounds those made by his utensils. It made him chuckle. Only five? How quaint.
As if that would stop him.
The television monitor continued to crack nosily, and one of the guards grew impatient and, momentarily staring away from the man, began to press random buttons on the remote. The prisoner kept looking down, but smirked satisfactorily, and suddenly the TV was working and the news turned on.
The guard nodded, pleased, but The Prisoner knew better. “Just a few more moments and she should be here. And perhaps…”
He sighed, years of regret parting his lips. “Perhaps she’ll stay.”
“What are you moaning about, freak?”, a guard asked, butting The Prisoner’s head with his gun. That Elicited… Certain memories The Prisoner did not want to relive.
But The Prisoner would use this for his advantage. “Congratulations.”, he thought with sweet malice. “Your death will be more… Artistic.”
Suddenly, the sound of steam exhaling from the metallic doors echoed across the white cell, and The Prisoner smiled smugly. “All according to plan.”, he thought, just as the News began to address what only he had accounted for.
“This just in: A tidal wave, one of the largest in recorded history, narrowly missed Canterlot City. Conflicting reports state a group of “Hu-Mares” were present, but rather they were there to stop the disaster or not was not the topic of discussion. “We would have been just fine without them. Who says they didn’t cause this mess themselves?” one eyewitness said…”
The doors finally opened, and into the room rolled a woman with hair that was blue, green, and purple despite her age. Her kind face was weathered with years of conflict, and her heart hurt at the sight of the man in front of her.
Her chair skidded to a stop next to his cell, the metal bars separating the two. The guards kept their guns on the man, knowing the woman was an authorized guest. But in their minds, she should have been there too.
The whole rotten lot of them should.
The woman did not know what to say at first. The news occupied her headspace, but she had to focus on this first.
“I hope you know I wish I was here for a different reason.”
“But you are here, Celestia. You are finally here.”, he said, a little longing in his voice.
She tried to ignore what hearing her name in his voice was like. “Bob, I…”
His serious stare stopped her. “You know that’s not my name.”
It was like removing a tooth. Acknowledging it was losing him further. But she had to get information. “D…Discord.”
“That’s better.”, Discord whispered with satisfaction, increasing her rage.
He gazed up at the television. “Horrible, isn’t it? So many wonderful, normal, acceptable people in danger.”
He scooped up a spoonful of mashed potatoes and swallowed it. “Would be a damn shame if someone took this tragedy to their advantage…”
Celestia couldn’t be silent no more. She had to know. Her voice and face were rough, but her eyes revealed her fear. “If this is your doing…”
“Heavens no, my darling! I would NEVER stoop so low! Not that it would matter.”, Discord stated, putting a hand to his heart before staring into her soul.
She was unwavering. It was a quality he admired in her, even though it meant they were on opposite sides. “They all matter. We can all matter… They just need to listen…”
“But instead they’ll be too busy blaming your students! How’s the latest class? I’ve heard good things from my brotherhood, good things. Especially about that Ms. Sparkle. She seems especially talented.”, He smirked again, and Celesita nearly growled.
“Stop playing games! Why would they blame my students? How are you going to frame them?”, Celestia demanded, losing her temper for a moment, before sighing in shame. Discord laughed at her, enjoying it.
“I don’t need to lift a finger, my sweet. The humans hate us. They always have. And they always do.”
Unflinching, she moved her piece. “It’s that mindset that has led you to whatever new scheme this is.”
“And it’s your mindset that has led to our kind being spat on the face, and then begging for more. The… Tides, are turning. The time for talking is done. It’s time for action.”
Suddenly, Discord stood up, and the guards all cocked their guns. “DON’T YOU DARE MOVE!”
Discord sighed and shook his head in humored annoyance. Without saying a word, he snapped his fingers…
And the guns turned on the guards and set off before Celestia could do anything. Not that she could do much. She was merely a telapath of sorts, and could not even move objects.
He was something way more powerful.
“You know, it’s funny…”, he stated, as he walked over the dead bodies, their blood tainting the white floor, Celestia closing her eyes in mourning. “They never even knew my mutation. They simply put me in… Because I was a mutant. A “Hu-Mare”.”
Celestia stared Discord, who looked down at her with nearly cold eyes, but ones that still displayed warmth for her. “Whatever it is you’ve got planned… I will stop you. WE will stop you.”
“You can’t stop the future, you can simply delay it until it’s too late. We are the future, Celestia, not them. And once I get the final chess piece, I’ll win this little game of ours.”
Celestia look lingered on his face as he prepared to leave, opening up a hole in the roof. ““I don’t want to fight you, Bob. I… I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Then don’t get in my way, Celestia.”, he stated darkly, before softening. “They… They no longer matter.”
He pressed closer, and from his hand created something that he then placed softly in her hand, his touch so much gentler than it was with anything else. “…We matter. We could… If you think about it.”
Turning away, nodding his head, he flew out of the roof and into the night sky, while Celestia stared at what was in her palm.
A rose.
She sighed. “…If only.”
She placed the rose down, wishing she could destroy it. “But you’ll find my students stronger than you believe.”
The fight would go on.
The question Celestia hoped she could answer positively was:
Should it?