Today, Ah had the strangest sense of deja vu. Like always, Manehattan was a busy, bustlin’ place. Filled ta the brim with ponies goin’ from one place ta the next, sellin’ clothes and food outta carts on the sidewalks, the high skyscrapers, rebuilt ta even greater glory than before shinin’ in the noonday sun, and still, Ah felt somethin’ was amiss.
Naturally, Ah was right. The Clock struck noon, and after its twelve bell tolls, an explosion caught my ears over toward the east side of town. Fllickin’ my cables out that-away, Ah leapt through the air and across the cityscape below ta see somethin’ all too familiar. He’d tricked it out this time, that smart dummy.
Covered in all this fancy armor like somethin’ out of a comic book, he’d destroyed the wall of the same damn bank he broke six damn years ago, and he was just standin’ there, lookin’ fer somethin’. Sighin’, Ah hopped down there and stood in front of him across the busy street.
“Hello? Is it… me you’re lookin’ fer?”
“There you are, you red bitch! I’ve been waiting for you! Six years of hard time all thanks to you, and I spent every minute of it planning my revenge! On this day, at this hour, at this bank, I—”
Ah didn’t even get ta do anythin’. Before Ah could even engage, since I’m polite and all that and Ah wanted ta let him finish ta kill some of the monotony of my day, some bitch in blue had come by and slammed the poor bastard’s face inta the ground.
Irritated, Ah rolled my eyes. “Ya know, ya coulda let him finish.”
Blur frowned at me. “He blew up private property! We’re the ones who get saddled with the damages, why would you let this go on?”
I shrugged. “Boredom? It’s not every day some megalomaniacal idiot tries ta challenge me specifically.”
“Are you guys making fun of—” The Armored “““Genius”””, heavy on the air quotes, attempted to say, but Blur, back hoofed ‘em and knocked him out.
“The adults are talking,” she said.
“Uh-huh. How long are ya gonna keep this up? You’re lookin’ a little ripe ta be workin’ about now.” I motioned at her belly, and had she not been wearing a mask, Ah’m sure she would’ve blushed.
“Oh, shut up. You kept working for another month before we finally forced you to stop.”
Ah raised a brow, but even under the mask, she knew. “Mmhmm. Take that shit off and go home. Is yer man home, or did ya just rush out here and leave the little one alone?”
Blur frowned. “He’s at work, and she’s asleep! If I didn’t stop the noise, you were just going to make even more noise, and ruin my little moment of peace!”
I walked across the street and took the ‘genius’ out of her hooves. “Uh-huh. Ah got ‘em, go on, git!” Ah swatted her rear, and after a glare, she zipped away.
Ah don’t blame her much, her daughter is just as much a ball of energy as she was when she was little, or so her parents say, and Pinkie was never one ta really understand the meanin’ of a ‘sleep schedule’ so she only gets so many moments ta do it these days. More than anythin’, Ah’m surprised Ah beat her here. Bet she was gettin’ dressed.
Feeling the limp body in my hoof begin ta stir, Ah shot a cable with my free hoof and flew us away. If Ah take him ta the castle, Ah can give him the fight he wanted, so that was what Ah’d planned on doin’… before Ah was caught on entry.
“Applejack, please,” Twilight said.
Standing in the forest with the body half through the barrier and stuck, Ah groaned. “Come on, it’s not like Ah was really gonna hurt him.”
“Don’t you lie to me! What would that make this one, twenty five? Twenty six?”
Ah coughed inta my hoof. “Twenty seven. Look, Twi, if ya don’t beat the stupid out of ‘em—”
“‘They’ll never learn,’ I’ve heard this before. The problem is, I always have to repair the castle afterward, and we usually need Scootaloo to keep from killing these guys. In case you didn’t notice, she’s still not back from her tour.”
“Well, not today, right? They should be back today. Ah have ta go pickup Applebloom from Canterlot tonight.”
“As if they’d let a medic go home. Provided she’d even want to go home! Ugh.” Silence, but Ah knew Ah’d already won the argument.
“Where are we?” mister ‘genius’ asked.
“Oh, don’t’cha worry none. This is the recrutin’ office! You’re about ta get conscripted,” Ah said with a smile.
“I… what!?”
“Fine, do what you must. Keep the damage to a minimum, and please don’t break him.”
“Yes Ma’am!”
As it happened, Ah was goin’ ta get ta relieve my boredom today. School don’t let out for another two hours, so that makes two hours for tort— er, correction, Ah’ll administer ta mister ‘Genius’ here.
“What’s yer name, son?” Ah asked as Ah dragged him inta the castle garage.
“My… my name? What are you talking about? Where are you taking me? This is abduction!” He squirmed, but my grip was iron, and there was nothing his suit could do that might make me let go.
“Perhaps, but ya just destroyed private property while on parole, which means that the corrections facility Ah sent ya ta the first time failed ta do the job. So, seein’ as Ah’m the one who caught ya—”
“Uh, no, I have the recording. That was clearly the speed hero. Who, oddly enough, looks a little more overweight than I remember. You’d think with all the running—”
Ah shook my head. “Ya would, wouldn’t ya? Anyways, since she’s busy, you’re in my custody, and now Ah’m about ta beat some sense inta ya. When ya lose this fight ya wanted so badly, you’re gonna sign a contact. And if ya break that contact, ya die. We don’t tolerate two time criminals, so if ya value yer life, you’ll give up this senseless pursuit, and be conscripted willingly, instead of bein’ forced ta sign the contract. Ah mean, come on. What were ya gonna do if ya did, by some miracle, manage ta get me?”
After taking him down the stairs and inta the training room, Ah slid him across the floor like a hockey puck and waited fer an answer.
“Huh… I never really thought about that.” He stood up and scratched at his helmet, then looked at his hoof like it was a foreign object. “I… made the suit. I really just wanted the money in the first place because I wanted to build my machines. I… guess I would’ve kept doing that.”
I nodded my head. “Good, good. We’ll put ya in the R&D department and have ya contribute ta weapon’s development fer the super soldiers. With that terrible war finally over, it’s about time we made somethin’ that protects our soldiers instead of sendin’ other creatures ta their deaths at our hooves.”
“Now hold on, I didn’t agree to anything!” he protested, “My creations are to be used by me, and me alone! Nopony ever respected me or what I do, and now I have to fight back against this society that ridiculed me for being a shut in and—wait. What are you doing? How are you glowing like that?”
Ah let my power flow and started doin’ my stretches. “My kids get outta school in about two and a half hours. As much as Ah find it hard ta not be bored waitin’ fer my lovely little boys ta come home, Ah’m not about ta sit here and let ya ramble about how the world’s treated ya unfairly. New flash: everypony goes through that. We’ve all got our problems, we’ve all got our passions, and makin’ ponies miserable just because you’re miserable is about the completely wrong way ta go about things.
“Now then… provided ya don’t wanna have yer bones repaired slowly and painfully by my delightful, irritated friend whom Ah’m imposin’ on right now ta use this space, Ah want ya ta tell me yer name, and how much force yer suit can withstand. The army can’t use ya if yer broken, and Ah fully intend fer the army ta use ya. Ah’m a general, afterall.”
Finally, it had set in. Mister genius had realized the position he was in, and took a step away from me. “Wait! Wait, hold on, wait! I give up! My name Steel Craft! I’ll serve, I’ll do it!”
I tilted my neck ta the side and popped it. “There we go, that’s what Ah wanted ta hear. Come on now, that ain’t all Ah asked ya. Ah can’t break ya too bad, our medic’s servin’ a tour still. It’d be a shame ta lose two or three months of your new life in R&D so yer bones can heal.”
He turned tail ta try and run, but there was nowhere fer him ta go. He tried to run to the stairs, but as soon as he turned back around, we were just about face ta face.
“Ah’ll take that number now. In foot-pounds, if ya please.”
“Eight-hundred thousand!” he squealed.
Ah smiled. “Wonderful. Ah don’t know how precise Ah can make it, but let’s see how yer suit feels about seven-fifty, give or take a few hundred!”
“Oh, Goddess, no, no, NOOO!!!”
After Ah’d left mister Craft with princess recrutin’ officer herself ta discuss the terms of his enlistment, Ah got in my SUV and drove back ta the house ta pickup Fluttershy and the babies, then then off ta the elementary school. It was Monday, August 9th, 2036, and the first day of school for three of our little apples.
Was Ah nervous about the two of my own that had the best and worst qualities of Goose and Ah, and super powers? Absolutely. But, more than that, Ah was nervous about Lupie. The boys were, more than anythin’, their cousin’s keeper. If Lupie just so happened ta get mad and transform, it was Lamni and Blood’s job ta put her down. We had it so everything was arranged ta keep them in the same class for this very specific reason.
Ah never received a call, Mac never received a call, and Shy never received a call, so there was hope that the three of ‘em survived the day. And, preferably, all their classmates too. Looking at the phone, Ah anxiously waited fer two twenty-five ta turn ta two twenty-six.
“G-geez, I don’t think I’ve e-ever seen you this nervous.” Shy remarked.
Ah glared at her. “How could Ah not be? Why aren’t you?”
Rocking little Rosie, she shrugged her shoulders. “L-lupie knows that if I get a call, she’ll be in trouble. I-I believe that that alone, i-is enough.”
Ah clicked my tongue. “Fair enough. Maybe Ah’m just jittery, that’s all. How ya doin’ back there, Citrus?”
The three year old, who might as well have been an inversion of my own color pallet, looked up from his game. “Ah’m fine Auntie Applejack. Mama, are we gonna get lunch soon?”
Shy nodded. “S-soon, dear, soon. W-we’ve got to get your s-sister and your cousins first.”
“’Kay!” and back to his game he went. My boys are fairly jealous of the life Citrus has, if only because he gets to stay home and play all day, and they have to go to school now.
Rosie looks more like her mother and less like her grandmother, but she’s got the same eyes her grandmother had, so that was the name we went with. Ta be honest, Ah was rather frustrated when Ah found out about Lupie because Ah knew just when and where she was made. The day of my weddin’. Not only did Shy give me shit all those years ago about fightin’ with my boys growin’ in me, but she didn’t tell the rest of us about Lupie till she told Mac about Lupie.
Course, he’d decided he was gonna go serious with Shy after Uncle Blood’s funeral, seein’ as she was the one he always went ta fer comfort anyways. Because of my unique situation, we all came ta the conclusion that it would be best if Ah moved in with them. Ah’ve tried, since then, ta date and maybe find the boys a father, but… Ah could never remarry. It wouldn’t be right fer me ta act like Ah’m over him, or as if we were never together. If it was anypony, it had ta be him. And now that he’s gone, Ah don’t know that anypony else could ever be him.
What Ah did know, however, is that my brother had turned his life around and started actin’ more like the stallion he was supposed ta be after uncle Blood died. It would be difficult, and maybe impossible fer me ta find them a father, but in the meantime, he can play that role, since he’s already doin’ it fer his own new apples. However fluffy one may be.
And fluffy she was, let me tell ya. Ain’t never seen so much hair on a foal. Lupie is somethin’ like a big orange-pink puffball, and ya could never shave her enough ta keep her from lookin’ like a walkin’ shag carpet. Her father’s temper, her mother’s more… eccentric side, and a personality that seems ta come outta nowhere. Acts more like Applebloom than anypony else, which is either the result of genetics, or time spent with her before she was shipped off ta the war.
Finally, the bell rang, and colts and fillies flooded out. After a few moments, Ah spotted the puffball, accompanied by a more scaly green colt with a blond mane, and a yellow one with blood red eyes and a white and black mane. Unable to contain myself, Ah got outta the car and ran ta the gates.
“Over here, Sugarcubes!”
Mine, the shark boy and the copycat, slammed into me like the little bricks they are. “Mama!”
Then, from above, a slowly growing puffball leapt at me. “Auntie Applejack!”
Ah caught the wolf-pony before she could land, and then grabbed the other two in my forelegs. My beloved little family. We weren’t normal, but there was always a ‘Mama’ around when one was needed, and at the end of the day, there was a ‘Daddy’ around too. Broken? Maybe. But there were enough pieces there to fill the picture, and that was enough fer us.
“Ah’m home!” Mac announced as he walked in through the front door. In a wave, the little ones migrated toward him, all after ‘daddy’s’ attention, as much they could get of it.
Ah was feedin’ Rosie when Ah realized what Mac bein’ home meant. “Oh, geez, is it five already?”
A foal on each leg, Mac carefully walked further inta the livin’ room. “Sure is. Ya’d better hurry. She’s supposed ta land in canterlot a little after seven.
“Are ya gonna go get Auntie Applebloom, Auntie Applejack?” Lupie asked.
Ah sighed as Ah watched Rosie suck the bottle down. “Sure am.”
“Can Ah come?”
Ah knew this was gonna happen. The filly loves her Auntie Applebloom, and she’s only seen her once this year. Ah clicked my tongue. Ah wasn’t against it, but it was a long drive, and Lupie, much like her uncle and her mother, and her cousin Lamni, was a carnivore. She doesn’t need it with every meal, but she needs a little blood and a little meat a few times a week to keep her powers in check. Lamni is a little worse, but it doesn’t affect his powers, he just gets grumpy, which is fun for nopony.
“L-lupie, did you like the candy bar I put in your l-lunch today?” Fluttershy called from the kitchen.
“I did!” Lupie called from her father’s foreleg.
“S-she should be okay for a few days then. Wh-what do you think, dear?” Shy asked.
Easily picking up the fluffy filly, he looked her in the eyes. “You’re gonna be good fer yer Auntie Applejack, ain’t’cha?”
“Yes, Daddy,” little red eyes nodded vigorously.
“Alright, Sugarcube.” He flicked his snout at me. “Trade ya.”
“Sure. Come’ere, Lupie.” Ah’d finished burpin’ Rosie anyways, so Ah had Lupie crawl over ta my hoof, and he took Rosie with his now free hoof.
“Rest of y’all need ta get off and go do somethin’ till dinner’s ready. We can play once Ma’s got a free hoof, alright?”
The other three squealed a ‘yay’ and ran outside, and then I took the fluffy one on my back and headed to the garage. “Well, Ah’ll be back with yer sister in a few hours. See y’all later.”
Ah waved, they waved back, and then it was just us.
It’s nice ta have such a lively home now. When Ah was growin’ up, we were all so depressed and angry all the time that it was a wonder we made it out of that alive. These kids, however, have already had it better, and the oldest ones are five. And what a long six years it’s been since that final confrontation with Persona.
Ah… felt so guilty fer so long about Uncle Blood’s death. Ah gave him a part of my power without thinkin’ of how it might affect his body. Ah broke mine over and over again before Ah could finally contain it, how could Ah have thought he’d be able ta survive usin’ power like that? Course, he could’ve asked fer help, and he never did. Somepony who fights till his whole body is broken ain’t somepony who was willin’ ta give up or give in. In the end… he really lived up ta the cape.
As Lupie and Ah exited the city in Applebloom’s car, we took a break at the statue. ‘Welcome ta Manehattan, the city of heroes’ the plaque says. History will never know their names if Celestia has anythin’ ta say about it. But the name history will remember, is Red Hoof. The first hero. Manehattan’s hero. Equestria’s hero.
Once Lupie and Ah had finished our quick dinner at the statue, it was back ta the road fer the long drive ta Canterlot. Blood and Lamni were born one minute after the other on August 31st, 2031. Half a month later, Lupie popped outta Fluttershy. Within a year, Pinkie announced that she’d found her ‘soul mate,’ one Cheese Sandwich, got married, and had her first. Between the two of us, we’re really the only remaining active members of Harmony in Manehattan.
After Scootaloo discovered her powers back in that long September, she’d decided then that she’d go on to serve in the military and rose up the ranks as a sort of ‘super physician.’ She coulldn’t cure illnesses, but physical deformities were easy for her. She had good eyes, she was light on her hooves, and though she couldn’t fly, she was fast. She is the best combat medic Equestria has, and she’s put to work for it.
With nopony ta support anymore, Rainbow decided that she should take the time ta go through all the school she missed. She lives with her parents when she can, and spends her days at the university trying to learn everything about aerospace. Her parents did move ta Manehattan after the Persona conflict ended, but Dash wound up at Canterlot University, all thanks to a very large web of strings pulled from on high.
She visits every now and again ta play with all the kids, see her parents, and Fluttershy’s brother, oddly enough. Ah expect somethin’ ta happen between those two any day now, but Dash wants ta get her master’s degree first. As awful as her parents had it, she doesn’t think she can have kids, so she at least wants to be involved in aerospace if she can’t be a mother. Shy said she’d pickup the slack fer both of ‘em, which Ah don’t doubt she will.
If it’s not one night, it’s the next with them. They’re not quiet about it either. In the beginnin’, we all lived in the apartment fer a while. Then, after the boys and Lupie were born, we found ourselves a six bedroom house. My room was next ta the master bedroom, which was a mistake. After Citrus was born, we ran out of rooms, and then she was pregnant with Rosie as soon as she was able. This time, despite Goose’s warning against it, we bought a very, very large house in Manehattan Heights with eighteen bedrooms. Shy took that as a challenge. She’s still very loud about it.
While Ah never expected it with the way she is, Rarity retired from the life she’d been livin’ as part of harmony and Celestia’s spy, and settled down with her Cavallian friend up in Tin last year. She, like Pinkie, is due fer one herself next year, but she isn’t nearly as optimistic about it. She visits once a month ta talk and catch up, but every time she does, somepony is pregnant, and there are more foals at my house. She doesn’t quite get how Shy keeps doin’ this, but as she, Pinkie and Ah know, Rarity will understand soon enough.
Twilight is still a national secret, but she’s become very involved in the Super Soldier program. She devotes most of her time ta studyin’ the virus and the ponies who have it, along with the possibilities these ponies bring to the table. As she said earlier, mister Steel Craft is the twenty-seventh pony Ah’ve ‘scouted’ and brought ta her ta be turned fer the greater good, as it were. She excels at criminal reform, and several of the super soldiers are her devotees.
In 2032, Zvyr declared war on Equestria by attacking one of our bases in the northern islands. In Tzar Medved’s words, “The people must rise to stand against these monsters the equestrians call ‘Princess.’” As predicted, the reveal of ‘The Radiant Sun’ ta the modern world was a shock ta many, and already hostile foreign nations took that as an opportunity to paint us as more evil and more threatening than we already were, just using the footage Persona provided.
Footage that Ah was in, of course. Ah still get sceptical looks and ponies who’ll come up and say, ‘ya know, ya look an awful lot like that monster from the Radian Sun video.’ It’s not pleasant, but that was the least of my problems back then.
Applebloom, Sweetie, and Scootaloo, had all signed up fer the super soldier program, and they’d all passed the tests with flyin colors, enterin’ the service as officers thanks ta their Junior Guard training during and after highschool.
Sweetie was sent ta the infantry division and fought on the front lines. She was never the same after the war. She still lives in Manehattan, and ya can find her singin’ in clubs and bars a few nights a week, but she mostly keeps ta herself other than that. Ah once got a few words about what happened in the war, and the thing she talks about the most is ‘the smell.’ Bein’ the pony flamethrower she is, Ah can only imagine what she had ta do while she served.
Applebloom, on the other hoof, has had an interesting career. At first, she was heavy infantry, and supported footsoldiers from the rear by operatin’ anti-air and other cannon type weaponry. Then, as the war progressed over the years, they found that other countries were beginnin’ ta experiment with the virus ta try and make their own super soldiers. It worked ta some degree, and to be ready for it, Applebloom was then moved ta intelligence. She served there until the end of the war in 2035 when Medved was captured, publicly executed, and replaced with a dissident who was against the attack on Equestria in the first place.
The war ended back in May of that year, and as for what Applebloom has been doin’ since, Ah really don’t know. Ah’ve… inquired with ponies who might know, but been told that it’s important ta national security, and on a need ta know basis. Naturally, Ah wanted ta be on that basis, but Celestia wouldn’t budge. Ah went around her and got the name of her division out of Luna, but that only gave me more questions. These ‘Hidden Knights’ did… somethin’, but whether that was intelligence related or what was up in the air. They don’t exist, apparently, so Ah guess Ah’ll have ta hear that story from the horse’s mouth herself.
As fer me, however, things really haven’t changed all that much. Ah take care of my boys when Ah have ‘em, and when Ah’m needed in Manehattan, Ah go out ta be the pony Ah’ve always been. Ah thought about gettin’ a normal job, or goin’ back ta school, but despite all the sorrows and hardships it's brought me, bein’ a hero is how Ah found the joys of life in the first place, and Ah just couldn’t imagine myself bein’ somepony else.
Sometimes, they call me Auntie. Sometimes, they call me Mama. Sometimes, they call me a hero. But most of the time, they call me Super.