//------------------------------// // Chapter 19. You Must be This Tall to Save The World. // Story: Magnets in a Mare's World. // by Triple-Rainbow //------------------------------// If there was one mare that’d I’d be happy Maresterio I hate that I can’t lord it over her Let it never be said that I’m unwilling to make sacrifices for these ponies. Even if I don’t like most of them, I have no reason to make them suffer for petty reasons. Though, I also must admit that the temptation is sometimes too great for me to ignore. Maresterio has the unique ability to annoy me in new ways every day. I can only imagine how she would react if she knew the truth about her “arch-nemesis”. I can’t help but scoff at that. Unlike her Earth comic counterpart, Maresterio isn’t Spider-Mare’s enemy. No, instead she’s one of the many rouges in a certain alicorn’s gallery. There are two genuine alicorns and two pseudo alicorns, similar to how Superman and Supergirl were Kryptonians and Superboy and Bizarro were technical Kryptonians. Day Breaker and Cupid Arrow are Alicorns, though I’m not sure if they’re aliens or a very rare race of ponies. Nightmare Moon was, from what I can assume, a unicorn with a false pair of dragon wings who masqueraded as a dark alicorn of the night. Though the more foolish of ponies speculated that she was an actual demon, something that even I doubted. Finally, Maresterio’s nemesis was the lesser known of the four alicorns; The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well. I worked closely with the “mare” on my second call to arms. I had hoped to train myself a bit more to prepare for my next mission, but another call from the card came only a day after my fight with High Heel. Lingering guilt had stolen any sleep I could get the night before, so I was tired, in pain, and angry, both at myself and the world in general. I had felt guilty about dislocating High Heel’s leg, something I don’t feel any more after thinking it over. After all, she tried to kill me by throwing me around like a rag-doll, all I did was make sure that I survived. Of course, not everyone agreed with the methods I used. I overheard several campers talking about it, openly bashing me for being “too graphic”. A fight with a villain isn’t a cartoon for children, it’s real life, it’s news, it gets bloody and messy! I’m sooooo sorry that I bled on camera too much. If I had it my way, I wouldn’t have bled at all! I need to move past this, thinking about it will only give me a headache. The real blight of my day began when Harmony began to vibrate while I was washing dishes. After making sure that I was aloe, I answered the card to listen to the same dull voice that called me the day before. “Magneto, your assistance has been requested by Mare-Do-Well tonight at Six P.M, at the Trot City History Museum. Please be ready to meet with them tonight if you are available.” As quickly as it arrived, Harmony once again left with little fanfare, returning to her inert state as I slipped the carp back into my pocket. I quickly reminded myself of my end goal, to earn their trust and find a way back home, and finished up my tasks for the afternoon. Timber had once again covered for me by helping me come up with a story about my “sisters” coming in from out of town, which gave me the perfect excuse to leave early and wait at the museum at least thirty minutes earlier than I needed to be. Imagine my surprise when Mare-Do-Well arrived an hour later than planned. Unlike Earth, sunrises and sunset were much faster, occurring only over the course of a few minutes rather than the slow rise and descent that they had on my world. The staggering shift from day to night head caught me off guard a few times in the past, but it had simply become another minor inconvenience by that point. Harmony had never specified an actual meeting place, and it was hard to be discreet on a roof while wearing a bright red costume, so I chose to wait in an alley facing the museum across the street. The only thing that kept me from falling asleep on my feet was the smell from the dumpster. Looking back on it, I should have left as soon as the clock rolled past six. But, I still wanted to keep a good appearance with the other heroes, so I waited until the velvet cloaked mare descended the fire escape above me. “Howdy there, partner!” A southern sounding voice called out as boots against metal drew my attention to Mare-Do-Well. The first thing I took note of was the comically sized purple fedora that sat on her head, which matched the different shades of purple that made up her vest, jacket, and other costume pieces. Out of all the costumed heroes and villains I had read about, Mare-Do-Well was one of the few who I couldn’t place as a DC or Marvel based counterpart. Instead, the world seemed to steal inspiration from Darkwing Duck for the mysterious mare, with a dark grey mask that took influence from Deadpool or Spiderman’s comically large white eyes and blank expressions. The other prominent detail that I noticed were the immaculate pair of bright orange wings that hid the small cape that hug around her neck. I had seen a number of large wingspans on Terra, but the velvet vigilante certainly held a place among the mares with the largest pair. Finally, I noticed the towering white horn that shot through the Mare-Do-Well’s forehead, something that clashed with the orange feathers that sprouted from her back. I already knew that High Heel dyed her horn red, so it wasn’t too much of a surprise to me that Mare-Do-Well would dye hers white. “Mare-Do-Well, I presume?” I asked sardonically. “You bethca! Nice ta meet ya, Magnito, it’s a pleasure,” she enthusiastically greeted as she leapt to the ground, thrusting a hand forward with, what I could only assume was, a dopey smile plastered on her face. I gingerly accepted her hand, still slightly bitter about waiting until the sun fell down for her to arrive. “It’s an honor,” I lied. “So, Harmony said you needed me, right? Why is that?” “‘Cause I wanted to meet you,” she replied, dropping her accent before it came back with a light cough. “I mean, cause I need yer help. I could use an extra pair’o eyes, and yer just the stallion I could count on. ‘Sides, Maresterio is covered head ta toe in gold’n other metal, an’ I head ya specialize in magnets an’ stuff. “I need ta nab her quick tonight, otherwise I’ll haf’ta chase her util tomorrow mornin’. Sorry ‘bout bein’ late. I’d woulda been here sooner if it weren’t for somepony,” she lightly growled, seemingly ignoring me for a moment before she lit her horn and summoned a paper bag. “Uh, cupcakes?” She offered, her voice suddenly adopting a more meak tone than previously. Food sounded great and I was practically starving, so I chose not to question the strange mare too much as I scarfed the pastry down. “So, what should we expect tonight?” I asked in between bites. “Uh… Shoot, I had a joke ready fer this. She’ll be uh,” she groaned, before snapping her fingers and abandoning her southern accent again. “A great and powerful headache! Nailed it.” I didn’t know it at the time, but that was the greatest description anyone could ever give for her. Working off of my knowledge of her villainous Marvel counterpart, I took a shot in the dark hoping to look more insightful than I was. “Alright, so an egotistical maniac who likes the sound of their own voice? Ego too big for their fishbowl head?” “Huh, it does look like a fishbowl,” another cough brought back her southern accent. “Y-yeah, ya heard about her?” “Not as much as I would like. So, what’s her M.O.?” “Her moe?” Mare-Do-Well asked, summoning another paper bag and taking out a cupcake of her own. “Her Modus Operandi, what does she want, how does she usually act, why is she here tonight?” I clarified. “Ooooh. Well, I’m pretty sure she’s here for the Alicorn Amulet,” she said, partially lifting her mask to eat her own baked delicacy. The yellow skin on her face didn’t match the color of her horn or wings, and I felt a strange headache as I looked at her additional appendages. “The Alicorn Amulet? What’s that?” “Well, before Eris was making illegal enchantments and experimenting with magic, this stallion named Stygian made a bunch’a evil enchantments. The Alicorn Amulet’s supposed ta give anypony the powers of an alicorn. Earth pony strength, unicorn magic, PEGAUS WINGS!” She excitedly added on the end, flapping the massive walls of feathers that she called wings. “And it’s just on display in the open?” “It’s supposed ta be in… In-ah… Not working.” “You mean inert?” “Yeah, that! Without all’a the rubies in it, it’s a hunk a junk.” “And I assume she has the missing pieces?” “Right on the money,” she winced. I nod I just had to step away from my journal for a moment to bang my head against a wall before I continued writing. If the Alicorn Amulet is as powerful as they said it was, then why would they have it in a museum?! The other heroes should have known that Maresterio acquired the other pieces, so why why such an important job entrusted to Mare-Do-Well? Harmoy originally wanted Mare-Do-Well to solve this on their own, I was only there because she actually knows how to ask Harmony to do something. Something like that belonged in Starswirl’s Vault, not a museum! Hell, I’m surprised that it was only Maresterio who came to steal it. At the time, I didn’t question it because I had no measure for how powerful an alicorn was, and I can only imagine how the world would change if Maresterio became an alicorn. I nodded as I mulled over that fact. “So, we need to catch her and, hopefully, take the jewels she has if she was dumb enough to bring them.” “She totally is.” “Great. Can I assume her entrance will be pretty loud?” “Subtleties’ a foreign concept ta ‘er,” she remarked. And now, as I’m writing, I can’t help but wonder how she managed to steal the gems for the Amulet. I would have to guess that Zephyr helped her somewhere along the line. She probably wanted to take the last piece herself just to say she did it alone. We fell into a short silence after that, staring at the few meandering tourists who came to see the museum lit up. The calm and slightly tense air around us was shattered by a shy voice from Mare-Do-Well. “I uh, I saw your fight with High Heel on the news.” I waited for her to continue, letting the seconds drag on to a full minute before I chose to break their self-imposed silence. “And?” “A-are,” there was another cough, once again summoning the more vocal southern voice. “Are ya alright? It uh, it looked pretty bad out there. I’ve taken my fair share o’ licks, but that look rough.” “It was alright. There were healers there, anyway.” “That’s good. I never needed ta get a quick heal, thank Faust. My curse covers all’a that stuff, so I’m good to go round fer round.” “Lucky.” Once again, we slipped back into a stilted silenced for another minute or so until she decided to break it again. “You also took it pretty far, dude,” she said before Mare-Do-Well’s hand flew up to her mouth and covered it. “S-sorry, it just kinda slipped out, ya know? I don’t mean anything by it, but—” “I get it,” I interrupted. “I went too far, or whatever, and I’ll apologize to the press about it when I get the chance. I didn’t mean to do that, I just,” I stumbled on my words, searching for the right excuse to give. “It was an accident. I panicked and I didn’t know what else to do. I thought I was ready for all of… this, but I’m still learning. I’ll admit, it’s harder than I thought it would be.” “Ain’t that the truth,” she agreed. Stealing a glance at the museum, I decided to ask Mare-Do-Well a question. “What would you have done?” “Pardon?” “What would you have done if you fought High Heel?” “I-uhh-I don’t rightly know.” Typical. Criticize but don’t offer advice. Although, I can’t fault them too much. If anything, they were only a little more experienced than myself back then. With nothing more to say, we both waited quietly for Maresterio to arrive. We thankfully didn’t have to wait long as the lights along the street and on the museum began to flicker. A sheet of low hanging purple fog rolled out from the sewers below, flooding the area in mist as a pillar of smoke rose up. Maresterio’s laugh rag out in the air, accompanied by a chorus of screams and shouts as the late visitors and tourists began to back away. She emerged from the dark cloud, holding the hem of her cape as she gave her speech to the cowering civilians. “Citizens of Trot City, I, the great and powerful Maresterio, have come to desecrate the dire dullness that devastates your daily lives. Applaud in awe and astonishment as the amazing alchemist arrives!” “Oh, I can already tell that I’ll hate this," I griped as I followed Mare-Do-Well out of the alley. “Maresterio! Yer performance is being cut shot!” Mare-Do-Well quipped. “Ah, Mare-Do-Bad, here to make a mess of my marvelous master plan, with the metal manipulator Magneto as your minion. I was't aware you allowed atrociously armored eye-sores to appear alongside you. Have your standards sunk so low that you seduce stallions to stand on the sidelines so they'll sing your subpar praises?” “I would take offense to that if it wasn’t coming from a walking fishbowl,” I countered. I was honestly surprised that no-one made the connection before about her costume. Aside from the noticeable golden breast plates in her armor and the blue gemstones in engraved into her copper gauntlets, she looked almost exactly like Mysterio from my world. “F-fish bowl?! You foul fiend! Your deride will damn you to a deep despair!” “Fish bowl with a dictionary, apparently.” “Well, you look like a used tampon!” She shouted back. In a flurry of motion, she raised up one of her gauntlets and fired a small metal ball at me, which I caught in my magnetic grip on reflex. Sadly, despite it being the oldest trick in the book, I didn’t expect it to be a flash bomb, and I was blinded by an explosion of light alongside Mare-Do-Well. Mare-Do-Well was able to heal our eyes with a simple spell, thankfully, and I was able to see Maresterio disappear in a cloud of purple smoke as four copies of her took her place. The clones dispersed quickly, breaking off into pairs that raced to different entrances into the museum. Something to note about Maresterio is that was that her brand of fake magic could only fool children and aliens, i.e. me. So, as I went to chase down the pair of illusions that a child could easily see through, Mare-Do-Well raced past me and chased after the real target, dragging me along for the ride as a magenta aura grabbed my arm. “Quit foolin’ around, she’s gettin’ away!” Flying past the two intangible clones, Mare-Do-Well pulled me through several winding halls, finally arriving at the exhibit of old heroes and villains that held a mix of replica weapons and costume pieces mixed with genuine relics from before Eris’ time. Maresterio turned back to us, holding the Alicorn Amulet in her hand as she discarded the broken glass case. As she quickly placed the second to last jewel in place, I reached out with my magnetism to rip the artifact out of her hands. Her own telekinesis struggled against my power, turning it into a battle of tug-of-war as Mare-Do-Well ran past me to attack Maresterio. A swift kick to her midsection ruined Maresterio’s concentration, allowing the Amulet to easily sail into my hand as I tore the gauntlets off of her wrists. With both the Amulet and her primary weapons gone, Maresterio was left defenseless as Mare-Do-Well threw a punch to Maresterio’s side. Crumbling to the floor, the egomaniac pressed a hidden button on her chestpiece, causing a pulse of energy to race through the museum and disable the lights. Suddenly, I heard glass shatter as Mare-Do-Well cried out in pain. “Do-Well!” I called out, only to be answered by sound of a freeze gun charging up, something that I was only able to place when a blue beam shot through the darkness and froze the glass cases behind me. Another blast tore through the air as I flew higher, the beam following me without any hinderance thanks to Maresterio’s built in night vision. I ended up flying too high far too quickly, and bashed my head against the ceiling as the freeze ray kissed my feet. Once more, the sound of glass shattering cut through the air, thankfully announcing an end to the freeze ray as an unmasked Maresterio fell to the floor. The lights in the museum began to flicker back on as Mare-Do-Well stood over the seemingly unconscious villain. Releasing a sigh of relief as I rubbed my head, I descended back to the floor with the Amulet still in my hand. “Didn’t you say that the display items were inert?” I asked with a hint of venom. “Well sorry. That’s what the tour guide said when we came ‘ere earlier,” she rebutted. “Tour guide? Did you make me wait over an hour to go on a tour of the museum?” “No, we were jus—” Mare-Do-Well’s sentence was cut short as a blast of ice washed over her mask, bathing her face in a chilling spell as Maresterio rolled away and aimed the weapon at me. The ice beam shot into my shoulder, forcing me to drop the amulet as the block of solid ice began to worm its way closer to my heart. The Amulet was wrapped in a pink aura, flying over to Maresterio’s neck as she placed the finally piece inside, tossing aside the freeze ray as arcane power began to wash over her body. “At last! The astronomical energy of the Alicorn Amulet is mine! Crowds will cheer across the cosmos, cities of creatures will curtsy, and countries will cherish my—” I interrupted her monologue by stealing the necklace back. Frozen shoulder or no, I still had control over magnetism. Before the mare could try and take it back with her levitation, Mare-Do-Well swept Maresterio’s legs and knocked her out with the butt of the freeze ray. “Th-th-that’s wh-wh-what ya-ya get, ya-ya v-villainousss varmint!” She stuttered out. Half an hour later, the police arrived to take away Maresterio as we reported the damages to the officer on duty, which would thankfully be reimbursed by the Harmony League. Once we were done, Mare-Do-Well and I walked away from the crowd and slipped into the cover of night in an alley. “Thanks fer yer help out there, Magneto. Couldn’ta done it without ya.” “Oh, I’m sure you would have found a way. But, I am grateful that you invited me. Now, I need to get back home. I don’t know about you, but I think I need to hit the hay early tonight,” I said, stifling a yawn as I slowly floated off the ground. “Alrighty then. Take care of yerself, Magneto. I’ll call ya if we need help again.” “Sounds good to me,” I agreed, flying out of the alley way as Mare-Do-Well loudly exclaimed, “We did well!” I was about to call back and thank her for the compliment, but a sudden flash of light from below caused me to avert my eyes. After blinking away the stars, I looked down to see three little fillies standing where Mare-Do-Well was supposed to be. A young orange pegasus with abnormally small wings, a white unicorn with a broken horn, and a yellow earth pony who was holding herself up with a pair of crutches each chatted excitedly about the events of the night, recounting our “team-up”, completely oblivious to the fact that I was floating only twenty feet above them. I knew about super powered children in comics, and I was fine with the concept because it was fiction. Billy Batson and his siblings weren’t real, it was fine that they fought evil and died trying to save the world because nothing about their life was based in reality. But those three fillies, they weren’t fictional characters trapped on a page, they were living, breathing, tiny creatures that could die from one mistake. I cleared my throat and crossed my arms, catching their attention as they looked up at me. “You know I didn’t fly away yet, right?” My rhetorical question was met with silence before each of them called out one part of Mare-Do-Well’s name. Instead of a bolt of lighting like in Shazam’s comics, there was a blinding flash of light as the three fillies disappeared, and the fully-grown Mare-Do-Well reappeared in their place. “Magneto, what’re you doin’ here? I thought ya left already?” “I did, and then you shouted and I saw a flash of light. It's not exactly a subtle change.” “Change? What change?” “Cut the cra-er-the baloney. I know you’re just three fillies!” “Fillies, what fillies? I ain’t seen no fillies. No sir. No fillies here. What’s a filly any way? SCOOTS!” Mare-Do-Well shouted at herself themselves.(?) I couldn’t believe that the Harmony League would allow three underage children to play dress and fight crime. I would have liked to believe that they were all ignorant, but Nightmare Moon must have known about their secret, and she let them become heroes (a hero?) anyway. “I don’t believe this. Do your parents know about this?” I demanded. Judging from their combined body-language, I could tell that answer was a resounding, “no.” Pinching the bridge of my nose, both to ease my headache and to wake myself up slightly so that I could deal with them, I fully dropped to the ground and chastised them. “I can’t even begin to describe how bad this is. Do you have any idea what you three are doing?” “Hey, we’re superheroes, alright? We know plenty!” One of them defended, I assume either the unicorn or the pegasus. “That word must mean something different here, because from where I’m standing, you don’t! I can’t believe a bunch of kids are risking their lives like this.” “We’re not kids, we’re fillies! Apps, not helping.” “I don’t care, you’re still too young to be putting yourselves in danger! What would have happened if, God forbid, one of you died because of this? Huh? Is Nightmare Moon going to call your parents and take responsibility?” I pressed. “You need to stop this right now, before one of you gets seriously hurt.” “I don’t need a mutt telling me what I can and can’t do! Scootallo! You can’t call him a mutt! Fuck it, I’ll do whatever I want!” She argued, both with me and the other two. “Language, young lady!” “Fuck you. You don’t know us! You don’t know me!” “I know that you’re putting yourself in danger!” I shouted back. It was almost hard to remember that I wasn’t arguing with a full-grown woman mare, but three adolescent fillies throwing temper tantrums. Shouting at children that aren’t your own is never a good way to teach them, especially if they have super powers. Mare-Do-Well shoved me away when I tried to take a step closer, slamming me into the brick wall as she snarled at me. “I know what I’m doing!” “You’re a child! What makes you think you have any idea what you’re doing?” “Because we’ve been doing this for over a year, asshole! Scoots!” One of her friends chastised. I grabbed her arm to force the mare off of me, and that was the last thing I remember before she shoved through a wall of bricks. When I finally regained consciousness a few hours later, I was back in the Polaris Palace, laying prone on a cleared off table with my armor and helmet striped from my body. The scars and bruises that I had earned over my few weeks of active duty had vanished without a trace, thanks to the healing spell that either Mare-Do-Well or Nightmare Moon had applied. Only seconds after walking up and quickly stumbling to my folded costume, I was frozen in place as a blue aura encompassed my body. Nightmare Moon emerged from the shadows, peeling out of the slim cracks that decorated my bare walls. Still immobile, I was lifted off the ground and forced to face Nightmare Moon as she wore a glare that bored into my soul. I didn’t even notice when I was given control of my body back, too frozen by her gaze to even speak. In a swift motion, she planted a hand on my chest with only a thin piece of paper separating us. Stumbling back a bit, I quickly caught the check that she forcefully handed me and looked back up at her. “What is this?” “My second offer. Take it, leave, and do whatever you want. I’ll find someway more suitable for your enchantment.” “Wait, wait, what do you mean?” “I don’t think you’re capable to be part of the Harmony League,” she bluntly told me. “And those three fillies are?!” “Their enrollment into the League on a trial basis was voted amongst the highest members, just as the motion for your enrollment was put to a vote. The pillars of the League are aware of their age, just as several other prominent members are. Their missions are assigned accordingly, allowing them to learn more about their collective curse and fight for the Harmony League. If they were in any real danger, then they wouldn’t be allowed in the League.” “And what happens if they get shot?” I argued stupidly. If I had only thought about it more, then I could have seen the flaw in my argument, but I only ended up making a fool out of myself. More so than I had already done. “The same thing that would happen if Day Breaker was shot. They possess a third of the strength of a true alicorn, and they’ll likely be just as powerful as a real alicorn in the future. Don’t let their age cloud your judgment, Xavier. “And, they’re much more experienced than you. Of course, experience does not mean they are perfect. They’ll be reprimanded for attacking another hero, but don’t think that you’ll go unpunished. That is, unless you accept this offer. Take the money, hand over your enchantment, and don’t get in our way.” “I can’t—“ “Then effective immediately, you’ve been degraded to support. You will not be summoned by Harmony without having an experienced member present. Be grateful that Day Breaker spoke up in your defense. Were it not for her, I would have taken your enchantment already,” she said. leaving no room to argue as she dove into the shadows and left me in my lair. I was too surprised at the time to feel actual anger, but after a minute of siting in silence I lashed out and tore away the walls and floorboards, destroying the shoddy effort I had put into making my home away from Camp Everfree. I was angry at every at that moment. Nightmare Moon for her words, the Harmony League for allowing children to become soldiers, the world itself for imprisoning me. I flew into a blind rage that left nothing but torn metal and broken stone. After a few minutes of labored breathing, I was able to reclaim some peace of mind and stormed out of the Polaris Palace, slightly ashamed and still infuriated with what had happened. Unsurprisingly, those three are still fighting crime out there. They’ve fought a lot of ponies who were leagues above Maresterio, saved hundreds of lives, and I must admit that I begrudgingly look up to them. I still can’t help but be worried for them. Super powers or not, those three are still children. They deserve normal lives where they don’t have to stop the end of the world before bedtime or skipping school to save cities. Everyday they’re out there is another day that they’re putting their lives in danger. I also hope, for their safety, that they don't stand in my way later on.