The princesses looked at each other doubtfully, while Supermare moved a little closer.
"You…I guess Jor-El believed you."
"Affirmative" said the ship with the same robotic voice. "I am a backup copy of the Kalex service robot, I was ordered to ensure that the ship arrived at the assigned coordinates on planet 01-E, in system 0143 of sector 2814, and to send an energy pulse to alert competent magical organisms to ensure your survival and, when the time came, guide you to the House of El scout ship 789."
Supermare watched the ship for a few more moments before a small smile appeared on her face.
"Well, I guess that won't be necessary."
"Affirmative, I detect a traditional House of El suit. If you wish, I can escort you to the 789 scout ship and transfer my memory to an available service robot or enter hibernation mode instead."
Supermare eyed the princesses behind her, especially Celestia, doubtfully. The sun princess smiled and nodded.
"You can take the ship, Supermare. In my eyes, it's yours, I only kept it until the return of its owner" she said calmly. "Although, I'd appreciate it if you'd hide the ship on your way out of here. For ponies to discover your alien origins by seeing your ship, I don't think that's best."
Supermare smiled slightly before turning back to the ship.
"Can you hide yourself somehow?"
"The camouflage systems are operational."
"In that case, I'll be happy for you to come with me" Supermare said with a smile, but her brow furrowed as she observed the size of the ship, comparing it to the size of the door.
Before she could say anything, Celestia walked over, standing next to her.
"If you're willing, I can teleport us to the balcony of my quarters so you can leave from there."
"Thank you, your highness" Supermare replied with gratitude, then looking at the other princesses with doubt. "I guess that would mean our little meeting is over, unless you want otherwise."
"You shouldn't worry about that" Luna said calmly. "We can always meet another day."
Supermare looked at the other alicorns, who nodded, Twilight a little more reluctantly.
"In that case, if you ever want to talk to me about something, give me a call. If I'm not busy, I'll show up," she said, looking at Twilight a little longer, a small smile on her face, before focusing on Celestia. "I'm ready."
Celestia nodded and illuminated her horn, and with a flash of light, both she, Supermare, and the ship disappeared. A few seconds later, they appeared on the balcony where they had held their meeting, the afternoon sun illuminating them, and a little apart from the tables, towards the wide space that there was, which allowed the small ship to be there without interference. The mare in red and blue gazed at the sky for a moment before turning to face the sun princess.
"Before I go, I wanted to ask you something, Your Highness."
"Go ahead."
"I… wanted to know if you're okay with me telling my story to the ponies" Supermare said hesitantly.
Celestia watched Supermare for a few seconds before moving to the railing and looking out over the distant city.
"That decision must be made by you, you don't have to ask me for permission to tell the story of your life. But I must warn you that, although there will be ponies who believe in your word, there will be others who will not and will accuse you of being an invade" Celestia turned her head to look at Supermare. "As much as it breaks my heart to say it, not all ponies follow the ideals of friendship, love and harmony as I would like."
Supermare sighed, surveying the city with Celestia.
"I know, it's something that's always on my mind. I just hope I can make the ponies who mistrust me see that I'm here to help them."
"I'll do my best to show you my unconditional support, maybe that will lessen the number of ponies that fear you."
"Thank you, your highness" Supermare said with a smile before turning to the ship, which it was waiting patiently for her. "How fast can you take?"
"The flight and takeoff systems were not affected, so the flight power is greater than 1,235 kilometers per hour."
"Okay, we'll fly as high as possible to the ship, still, you better activate your camouflage."
The ship vibrated and, with a bluish ripple that spread across its surface, disappeared from view. Supermare nodded and began to float away from the balcony, giving Celestia one last look.
"Thank you."
"You don't have to give them," Celestia said with a smile. "And if you need to talk about anything with me, my sister, or any of the other princesses, don't hesitate to ask us for a meeting."
Supermare watched her for a few seconds before nodding and quickly flying away. An engine was heard starting and a gust of wind arose as the invisible ship took off with its owner, who quickly disappeared from sight. Celestia sat up and kept her gaze heavenward for several minutes in silence.
"Twilight and Cadence are gone?" she said when she felt her sister go out to the balcony.
"That's right" Luna replied as she sat down next to her. "According to what Cadence has told me, they are going to have a little party celebrating that Twilight and Spike are finally officially mother and son. That is something that makes me very happy."
"And me" Celestia smiled, mimicking her sister, pride in her eyes. "It fills me with pride to see that their relationship has blossomed at last."
Luna nodded, looking at the sky with her sister, also happy for Twilight, one of her closest friends. They were silent for a few minutes, watching the sun follow its cycle to the horizon, at which point Celestia would have to hide it and she would raise her moon.
"Sister, can I ask you something?" she said at last.
"Of course."
"I know that Supermare is a hero, and that she deserves our thanks, but I can't help but wonder... why didn't you ask her true identity?"
"She gave it to us, didn't you hear her? Her name is Kara-El."
"Don't act on me, I'm not that naive" Luna said with a frown, staring at Celestia. "We both know that's not her real name, least not the one he has in Equestria, and I'm sure it's not her real face either. If her race was as advanced as it seemed, they must have perfected their technology, and that includes the camouflage."
Celestia didn't answer right away, remaining silent for a few more seconds.
"When I first heard of her, I wanted to know who she was. I didn't like the idea of another vigilante taking justice into her own hooves."
"What made you change your mind then?" asked Luna with a raised eyebrow, being watched out of the corner of her eye by her sister.
"Her methods... Unlike your dark knight, she doesn't hide her face, at least not directly, and she doesn't hide it behind a mask that makes her look like a monster." Celestia looked away from her sister and refocused on heaven. "Until now, she hasn't broken any major laws, the criminals she catches don't have to go to the hospital for multiple injuries, and she doesn't use methods bordering on torture to interrogate them either."
"In other words, Supermare is more attached to your ideals, isn't she?"
If Luna had been upset by the accusations towards Batmane, she hadn't shown it or she didn't care. Celestia refused to speak any more, so the princess of the night sighed and got up, ready to leave, pausing for a moment at the balcony door.
"Cadence invited us to the party they're throwing for Twilight and Spike."
"I'll be right there, you tell the guards and castle staff that we'll be out."
Luna nodded and walked away from her, leaving her sister alone with her thoughts. Celestia was still debating with herself if she should ask Supermare to reveal her true identity or not, after all, unlike a certain bat, she hadn't shown anything to make her doubt her. For that she would give her the benefit of the doubt.
Supermare landed in front of the gates of the Fortress of Solitude, relieved to see that it was big enough for the little ship to fit through. It landed shortly after her, becoming visible again, and following her into the lighted interior. They only spent a few minutes walking before a white flash, which materialized in Jor-El, appeared before them, looking curiously at the ship but focusing first on his daughter.
"Hello, Kara" she said with a friendly smile, but his eyes kept drifting to the ship.
"Hello, dad" Supermare answered with another smile, a little more guilty. "I'm sorry I don't come as often."
"Nonsense, you have your job, your responsibilities to the ponies and your own life, you don't have to apologize for being busy" Jor-El replied, waving his hoof to dismiss his daughter's concerns, before focusing all his attention in the ship. "I see you found the ship that brought you here."
"Yes" Supermare looked at the ship next to her father, a small smile on her lips. "Princess Celestia had been guarding it ever since it got here."
"I understand... Tell me, Kalex, are you still active?"
"Affirmative, sir" answered the robotic voice of the ship. "My functions are 100% operational and ready to be transferred to an available service robot."
"Perfect, because I already had one free for you, I knew it was only a matter of time before you would arrive" said Jor-El with a satisfied smile, turning around and walking through the corridors of the Fortress of Solitude, followed by his daughter and the ship that brought her to Equs.
For a few minutes, the three of them walked in silence, before the ship began to speak.
"Sir, I see that your project to transfer your mind to the command key was successful, but I have not been able to detect Lady Lara's consciousness."
Jor-El paused for a moment, silent. Supermare next to him showed concern on his face, knowing how sensitive her father was on that subject. Despite her attempts, she had only managed to learn that her mother had been an expert biologist, nothing more. Remembering his wife seemed to be painful.
"There was an attack before she could pass her mind to the command key... There's only me."
"I'm sorry I asked, sir."
"Don't do it, Kalex" Jor-El looked at its over his shoulder for a few seconds before continuing to walk. "Come on now, I'm sure you'll be more comfortable in a service robot than in a ship."
Supermare silently watched as the ship and her father moved forward, sighing to herself. A part of her had hoped to find out a little more about that day, but it was clearly something too traumatic for Jor-El, and she didn't blame him, he lived with the constant doubt that he had happened to his wife. Resigned, the mare followed them through the Fortress of Solitude.
Ink was lying on her favorite couch, reading one of her favorite books, which followed the best literary detective she'd ever seen, Shadow Spade, drinking a glass of wine next to her. Although she was not a millionaire, her status as the best journalist for the Daily Planet, perhaps in the entire country, had allowed her to have enough money to buy a relatively luxurious penthouse, with a large living room, which had a dining table, several bookstores, her own office to write her articles and keep track of her research, two bedrooms, a modernized kitchen, she even had a bathroom with a fairly large bathtub that could almost pass as a Jacuzzi.
In front of the living room, and therefore, in front of her, there was a glass door that opened onto a large balcony, separated from its neighbors by a wall almost two meters high, and an impressive view of the city, specifically, of the Lady of Harmony and the sea beyond. Since she didn't have any articles to write or any interesting stories to follow, at least for now, and News Note didn't need her in the building, she had decided to stay up a bit with her favorite mystery series.
That was her plan, at least until somepony knocked on the glass door that led to the wide balcony. Ink blinked in confusion, the wall was too high for her neighbors to jump over, and none of them was a pegasus to fly past, and she was on a tenth floor, who could be knocking on the glass door? And most importantly, how? When she looked up, her eyes widened at the sight of who had caught her eye, her figure was unmistakable, and she was showing her a friendly smile while waving at her with her hoof.
"Good evening, Miss Tale, I hope I'm not interrupting you."
It took a few more moments for Ink to snap out of her shocked state, setting her book down on the small table in front of the couch, and practically running to the door, opening it with a smile.
"You don't interrupt anything, Supermare, it's a pleasure to receive you in my house" she said as she allowed her to pass, looking at her curiously. "Can I help you with anything?"
"In a way yes" Supermare answered, smiling at Ink. "I deduced that it would be better to contact you here instead of at your place of work, that would have caused a little chaos that I didn't want to cause. I hope you don't mind."
"Don't worry about it, you did your best. If you didn't, all the Daily Planet reporters would have gone after you like a pack of timberwolves."
Ink let out a small laugh, sitting down on the couch and gesturing to Supermare, who quickly followed suit.
"I thought so, although I don't like to admit it, I'm becoming a celebrity" she commented with a slight frown.
"Well, it's something you have to take on if you're going to save that many ponies, especially the way you're doing it."
"I know, I know, it had to happen sooner or later."
Ink watched Supermare carefully, who was giggling slightly to herself. She was not as she had expected, she was friendlier and closer than she imagined. in some way, she reminded her of Princess Twilight, whom she had interviewed (thanks to Coco's friendship with Rarity), from afar she seemed to be unattainable and perfect, but when you got closer, you saw that she was an ordinary mare.
"So what do you need my help with?" she asked curiously, already suspecting the answer.
"You see, Miss Tale..."
"Please call me Ink" the unicorn replied with a friendly smile, masking her emotion.
"Okay, Ink" agreed Supermare with another smile. "A few hours ago I spoke with the princesses, I told them my reasons for doing what I do and, in a nutshell, my story... and after talking it over with Her Highness Celestia, I think the ponies deserve to know that story too. That's why I'm here."
Supermare looked at Ink with a slightly more serious look, but she kept her smile. The unicorn looked at the mare in surprise, before an unstoppable smile of triumph spread across her face. Trying to control herself, she got up from the couch, nodding in the earth pony's direction.
"I'll be happy to help you with that. I'll get my notepad and we can get started."
Supermare nodded and watched as Ink took off at a brisk jog, but didn't quite run. She couldn't help but smile at the joy her friend expressed, despite the prospect of her telling her story once more, and this time, it would be told to all the ponies of Equestria and creatures beyond. Before long, Ink returned with a small notebook and pencil in her magical aura, sitting back down with a beaming smile.
"Well, I'd like to start with a bit of a personal question, if you're okay with that."
"Keeping in mind that I have come to tell my story, I agree" said Supermare with a slight smile.
"In that case... Given your unusual abilities that border on the supernatural, if they aren't already, there are ponies who doubt that you're really an earth pony. So my question is... are you really an earth pony? Or are you from an unknown tribe of ponies? Or... maybe something else?"
Supermare was silent, thinking. She knew that her friend would start directly with a question aimed at finding out as directly as possible whether she was from Equs or not.
"Technically speaking, no, I'm not an earth pony, and I'm not from a time-forgotten pony tribe. My origins are more… exotic."
"Exotic? Can you specify that?"
"In simple terms, I'm not from Equs, I'm what many would call an alien" Supermare grimaced slightly at that word.
Ink smiled even more as she took notes and muttered to herself.
"I knew it" she muttered to herself, looking at Supermare with an even bigger smile. "If you come from another world, why were you sent here? Are you an emissary of peace? A scout perhaps?"
"No... I was sent here when I was barely a day old, shortly before my planet, and all my race, disappeared."
Ink stopped typing for a few seconds, staring at Supermare. That was something she hadn't expected, and mentally, she thanked Coco for convincing her to wait to write that article. Who knows what she would have provoked. Somewhat apprehensively, she watched the mare in front of her, who seemed to lose herself in her thoughts for a few moments before focusing on her again.
"That's why, despite not being from Equs, I feel closer to you than to my own race, I was raised as a pony after all" she commented with a small smile.
Ink watched her a little longer before nodding and thinking about her next question. That revelation had shaken her a bit and had forced her to discard many questions that she had been thinking about for days. But that was no problem for her, and despite the depressing tone Supermare's story had taken on, she was willing to put the best face on it and make the best impression possible on the ponies.
Clean Mop, a unicorn stallion with grayish fur and a black mane, with a cutie mark consisting of a bottle of soap next to a mop, whistled to himself as he scrubbed the hallway floor of the lower levels of the Lexcorp building. He had access to a few rooms, but most were off-limits, forcing the scientists to clean up themselves. Despite that handicap, Clean knew that much of what was being done down there was illegal, and that he could get into serious trouble if he ever tried to tell anypony. The elevator at the end of the hall opened and Lex Tech stepped out, walking briskly and drawing Clean's attention.
"Good morning Mr. Tech" he said with a smile, being completely ignored.
This was another thing he had discovered when he started working at Lexcorp. While publicly Lex was kind, friendly and approachable, the reality was that he viewed everypony as inferior, as mere insects compared to him, and those who didn't, were little more than pets who, if not obedient, would be eliminated without even hesitation. Clean sighed to himself and went about his business, watching as Lex approached one of the high security rooms.
Lex placed his hoof on the hoovesprint scanner, glowing green before opening up and letting his through. Inside, there were a large number of computers arranged around the room, all controlled by different scientists, studying what was in the center, a rather enormous reinforced glass display case.
"How's the E.M.E.C. project going?" he said as he approached.
One of the nearby scientists, the same one who had informed him about Supermare's abilities, quickly approached, very nervously.
"Well, the compound still has problems, sir."
"What problems?" Lex asked, not taking his eyes off the cage.
Inside it, was the compound E.M.E.C. (Environmental and Magical Energy Collector), initially designed to be able to absorb the arcane energy of magical crystals, to later be used in engines and equipment that use magic to function, without the drawbacks of crystals. It was a pink mass, moving around its cage as if it had a life of its own, which most scientists found hard to believe, after all, it was something artificial. Natural looked at the compound doubtfully.
"It doesn't respond to either the magical or electrical signals we send to it, making it difficult for it to obey us. But as far as its magic and energy absorption abilities go, they are operational."
"Can it absorb energy directly from living beings?"
Natural swallowed hard, watching out of the corner of his eye that his classmates also looked away.
"Yes... In fact, we have found some disturbing behavior."
"What is the problem?"
"80% of the rats we introduce have died from energy absorption, 15% have managed to survive but barely have energy, and 5%..."
"What about the 5%?"
"The E.M.E.C. has tried to possess them from within, trying to create a symbiosis..." Natural looked dubiously at the compound, some fear in his voice. "Sir, many of my companions do not want to believe it, but we have created a living being, a symbiont or... a parasite."
Lex hummed to himself, moving a little closer to the cage. Immediately, the E.M.E.C. it lunged at the glass, sensing his presence.
"Could it do a symbiosis with a pony?"
The scientists looked at each other with doubt and fear. Many weren't sure that thing was actually alive, but they did have a suspicion of the disaster it would cause if it got mixed up with a pony and escaped.
"In theory, yes…" Natural said with a small tremor in his voice.
"And the pony could control the E.M.E.C.'s abilities?"
"It's a posibility."
"In that case, start looking for a volunteer" he said as he turned around and headed for the exit.
Natural looked at him in awe before following him out into the hallway with him.
"Mr. Tech, I insisted, the E.M.E.C. is not ready, and we don't know what could happen."
"It's the best opportunity we have to face Supermare" Lex said with conviction as he advanced.
"Sir, please let me do more animal testing before..."
"No, we'll start the pony trials today" Lex said as he stopped and looked at Natural. "I want results as soon as possible."
"Sir, please" Natural was desperate, aware of how dangerous that idea was. "We need to do more testing before that and I don't know if I'll be able to find volunteers that soon."
Lex regarded the scientist in front of him calmly before looking away, focusing on a pony cleaning up a bit away from them, or at least pretending to. With a nod, he made Natural look at him as well.
"Don't worry about it, I've already found you a volunteer" he commented in a higher tone of voice.
Clean felt a shiver run up his spine, praying it wasn't what he thought it was. Turning his head slightly, he saw Mr. Tech and that scientist stare at him, confirming his suspicion. The unicorn gulped when he saw Lex Tech approach with a smile that contrasted with the coldness in his eyes.
"Hi, do you want to volunteer for one of our projects to help ponies?" he asked, in a tone that made it clear he wouldn't take no for an answer. "You will be paid for your services."
Clean hadn't listened well to what the two ponies had said, but if he was sure of one thing, this project was one of the illegal and dangerous ones, and besides, they had already chosen for him. Feeling the sharp stab of terror in his back, he nodded, praying he'd make it out of whatever they wanted to do to him alive.