//------------------------------//
// Bulletproof 
// Story: Stallion of Tomorrow 
// by Jade Dawn 
//------------------------------//






A “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic” Fanfiction



Written by Jade Dawn







“Well, well,” Tech Lexicon purred. “It seems Captain Corsair really is as good as his word.”

He was reclining in a chair before the desk in his penthouse office, leaning back in it as idly rubbed a hoof across his lower lip. His desktop computer displayed drone camera footage of the Constitution and the ponies on the deck, with adjacent monitors that had been set up showing radar of the surrounding area, infrared scans, and so on. The lights in the office were dim, leaving only the brightness of the computer screens to illuminate the room, casting shadows on Lex’s face and lighting up his emerald green eyes. Merciful Grace and Dr. Green Vale stood beside him, the former watching the radar screen, the latter shifting uncomfortably on his hooves.

“They’re turning away from the city,” Mercy said. “Heading right out for the coordinates we gave them. Still no comm traffic between the ship and shore, sir.”

Lex smiled. “Good, good…”

“That poor pony…” Vale murmured.

“They’re pirates, doctor. How did you expect them to respond to resistance?” Lex snorted. “Besides, it adds stakes. More of a chance that he’ll show up now that somepony’s actually been killed.” He chuckled. “But oh, the look on Lucky’s face…Mercy, remind me to send flowers to Dawning Hope’s family or something.”

“And what if…”

Lex shot a glare at Vale, who flinched before spitting the rest of it out. “…what if he doesn’t show up and this was all for no–”

“He’d better come, Vale,” Lex growled. “He’d better.”

Suddenly the radar beeped. “We’ve got something coming in,” Mercy announced. “Heading towards the ship at approximately…” She looked up and glanced at Lex. “…very fast, sir. It’s him.”

Lex leaned forward. On the screen, he saw a blinking green dot approaching the ship, speeding towards it like a bullet.

“Here it comes, fillies and gentlecolts…Vale, all drones on him, watch him carefully. I want to get every second of how he takes this.”

Vale quietly nodded, tapping buttons on an adjacent keyboard as he sent new commands to the cloaked drones.

Lex folded his hooves together and narrowed his eyes. He felt his heartbeat increase slightly as he tensed with anticipation. Supermane was about to go up against some of the best infantry weaponry in LexCorp’s arsenal; assault rifles, grenade launchers, RPGs, armor piercing personal cannons; if it was one of their kinetic weapons they probably had it. He’d hesitated to give them some of the more advanced energy weapons, though. Those would be more easily traceable back to LexCorp and would arouse suspicion. The people would have a better time believing that the pirates had cobbled these together themselves, and the self-destruct modules they’d installed would ensure minimal evidence remained after the fact. Tartarus, he could loan some of his own weapons developers for expert consultancy; get them to write of the self-destructs as some enchantment or another.

This was a big night. He knew Supermane was resilient, enough to take a blast from the bridge bombs. But those had been crude explosives. Actual directed weaponry was another matter. At best he hoped to at least hurt him. But to outright see him killed tonight? That would be even better.

Come on, Corsair. Make him bleed for me.





“They killed him…” Fluttershy sobbed as she clung to Rarity, burying her head in her shoulder. “He was just trying to…and they killed him…”

Rarity just held her close, gently rubbing her shoulder with a hoof. She didn’t say anything; what was there to say? They’d just watched a new friend, who by all accounts seemed to be a nice, gentle and good pony, thrown cruelly to his death for the crime of stepping up in somepony else’s defense. She was just as internally terrified and grieving as Fluttershy was.

“I’m gonna kill ‘em…” Rainbow growled through gritted teeth. “I’m gonna kill ‘em–” She crouched and started up for a leap into the air–

–only to be caught and held down by her tail in Rarity’s magic. “Rainbow Dash, for Celestia’s sake, don’t…” She swallowed. “…don’t make us lose another friend, please.”

Rainbow snarled and shot Rarity a glare over her shoulder. It quickly faded at Rarity’s pleading look in return, like fire dousing in water, and she settled for hanging her head in silent, restrained fury.

Rarity sighed. “Miss Lead…are you–”

“What do you think?” Lucky spat bitterly. She sat facing away from the three, hugging her shoulders with her forelegs. Her head was lowered and she stared blankly at the ground, her face in some blurred line between quiet rage and deep sorrow. “I stuck out my neck for that guy…made sure he felt like he belonged here…gave him pointers, helped proofread his stuff, not that it ever needed any…went out for lunch breaks, had our laughs and good times...we…we had a good thing together…how in Tartarus do you think I’m feeling?” She squeezed her eyes shut and whispered under her breath, “I never even got to tell him…”

Fluttershy lifted her head out from Rarity’s shoulder, the fur of her face now thoroughly dampened. She looked out mournfully across the crowded deck to the side where Dawning had been thrown from…then suddenly went still, her look turning quizzical.

“…look,” she whispered.

“Hm?” Rarity asked.

“L-look…out there, up in the sky.” She lifted up a foreleg and pointed, the others following to look for themselves.

Out on the horizon, backlit by the lit Manehattan skyline in the distance, was a small, dark object darting towards the ship at high speed. They could just make out something dark red trailing from behind it as it dove down below the railing and disappeared from view.

“Is…is that him?” Rainbow wondered aloud.

Lucky nodded. “It’s him.” Then in a whisper: “Supermane, if that’s really you out there and you can hear me, please…help us.”





Crossbolt sat on his haunches, back leaned up against one of the steel support columns that stretched from the floor to the high, high ceiling of Constitution’s main engine room, while he idly turned his rifle over and around in his chocolate-brown hooves while looking it over. Around a dozen of his fellow crewmates shared the spacious room with him; most were at the control panels that operated the engines, other guarding the engineering crew, about ten total tied up in a tight circle in one corner, while the remainder watched over the room from the catwalks that criss-crossed high overhead.

Like the majority of Bronze Corsair’s crew, Crossbolt was born of the area around the Colto Maltese islands; in an environment rough at best, outright lawless at worst, the lengths gone to for survival were mere practicalities. When he’d joined Corsair’s crew not three years ago now at the age of seventeen, morality wasn’t ever part of the question. It had been a simple matter of coin in his saddlebags and food in his stomach, and Corsair paid well in both. All he requested in return was loyalty and efficiency. It was win-win for all involved, and thus far it had worked out immensely in their favor thus far.

Still, Crossbolt shared the sense of background unease felt by a some of the crew with this latest heist. Times were getting rougher as the Guard put on more pressure, and some measures not previously thought of were understandable, but this was rather pushing it–

Suddenly a blinding red light flashed in his left eye and he instinctively yelped as he shut it tight.

“Whoop, sorry there, mate.”

Grayback. One of the griffons among the crew. Crossbolt blinked his eyes in irritation. “Damn it, Grayback, are you trying to blind me?”

“Oh relax, boy. Just checkin’ out the features on this lovely little thing,” Grayback replied as he turned off the laser sight on his assault rifle, practically fawning over it. “Automatic fire, laser sights, even a grenade launcher…I dunno who Captain made a deal with, but if it means getting more of these then I’d looove to stay in business with ‘em.”

Crossbolt rolled his eyes. “Assuming we actually get away with this.”

“Hey hey hey…risk is part of the game. Take chances, get rewards. Can’t take it, then…” he paused, suddenly sniffing. “…what the hell?”

Crossbolt took a sniff too, quickly picking up on the acrid scent in the air. “Is that the engines?”

“Oi, down there!” called a pegasus mare patrolling up on one of the catwalks, pointing down with the barrel of her rifle at the smooth metal floor. Crossbolt and Grayback sat up, and immediately saw the problem.

A large, glowing red spot had suddenly manifested in the floor, smoking and hissing as it grew larger and brighter, going from red to burning orange.

“Son of a…” Grayback grabbed up his rifle. “On your legs, we’ve got a boarder!”

Every pirate in the room, whether they’d noticed yet or not, raised their weapons and turned to aim down at the circle of rapidly liquefying metal. Grayback had one talon ready at the trigger of his grenade launcher, while Crossbolt did his best to keep his cool as he held his pistol in both hooves.

The spot turned to bright yellow, then blinding white at the last second before the shape of a cloaked pony suddenly burst up from it like a knife through melted butter, liquid metal sloughing down off his cape as he hovered up between the catwalks, while the pirates on them collectively did a double take as he did.

“Tartarus, who the buck is that?!”

“H-he’s floating! How the hell is he floating?!”

“Don’t give a damn about that, waste the mother–“

Supermane darted down before the pirate even had a chance to finish, pulling his gun from his hooves and batting him in the head. He hadn’t even hit the steel catwalk’s floor before Dawning Hope leapt airborne again and shot towards the zebra on the neighboring catwalk. A stomp of a hoof crushed her gun into the floor, and a second later she was sent skidding unconscious down the catwalk. The next one, the pegasus who’d noticed the melting floor in the first place, at least had the sense to fly upwards before Dawning could reach her and managed to get a single shot off from his pistol. Dawning easily dodged to one side though, and in another moment the pegasus had been struck from the air and landed hard over the catwalk railing.

It had all taken only five seconds, tops.

“Fire, fire, fire!”

Dawning, still in midair, whirled around just in time for the pirates on the deck below raise their weapons and open fire, peppering his body with a hailstorm of rapid-fire ammunition, flooding the engine room with flashing lights and deafening gunshots.

Being hit by bullets was an…interesting experience for him. It was like little pebbles hitting his body very hard, very fast all at once. He felt little bursts of pain and flinched a little with each hit–it was probably a good sign that he could feel pain, all things considered–but they never did any actual damage to his body. He held firm against the barrage, the bullets not even scraping his shirt for being so close to his fur and skin. Even so, just from the feel he could tell that these guns were hitting a lot harder than the cruder ones he’d had crooks pull on him once or twice in the past…

“–bouncing right off–”

“–how the buck–”

Dawning held in the air just long enough for them to start to realize that they were only making him flinch, then shot downward in a blur, hitting the floor hard enough to stagger the pirates with the shock of impact. He rose up and gave one a hard side hit with a shoulder. Headbutt another hard enough to send him sliding into the side of one of the engines. Punched the third into a bulkhead, then pounced on the one farthest to the right, gripping the fur of his chest in his teeth and lifting him off the ground as he screamed. The pony struggled and squirmed, desperately punching at him with his hooves as Dawning whirled around and threw him. He spun through the air in a mass of flailing limbs, striking his two compatriots hard and sending them all tumbling to the floor in a tangled heap.

Then he felt something explode against his back with a loud burst, staggering him for a moment. He whirled around through the residual smoke to face Grayback, one talon clutching the trigger of his gun’s grenade launcher as he stared in shock.

“Holy…how is he not–”

Crossbolt grabbed his shoulder, tugging frantically at him. “Gray, c’mon, let’s get out of here–”

Dawning leapt towards them like a pouncing tiger. Crossbolt yelped and bolted for the doors, while Grayback opened his beak to scream as Dawning seized him. The griffon flailed his wings and legs wildly as Dawning spun back around and threw him down to the floor, and then went still on impact.

Dawning stopped to breath. Less than ten seconds. Nopony killed, but all either unconscious or incapacitated. Some moaned in semi-lucidity on the ground.

“Holy Faust, look what he did…”

Dawning looked towards the still-bound engineers. None of them looked hurt too badly, but they were all clearly rattled, and staring at their enigmatic savior with wide eyes, looking almost as afraid of him as they were of the pirates. Doing his best to move gently, Dawning walked up to the bunch and grabbed the ropes in one hoof, pulling them apart with a single tug as though they were tissue paper. The engineers slid free, numbly rubbing their forelegs and bodies as they stared up at Dawning.

“Any of you hurt?” he asked.

One older-looking stallion in their midst, wearing a uniform tag that named him Chief Engineer Steamer, shook his head. “They threatened us and shoved us around, but…” He rubbed a shoulder. “Nothing too bad, I suppose…w-what about them, are they–”

“They’ll live,” Dawning answered. “They’ll hurt a lot when they wake up, but they’ll live.” He nodded over to what remained of the ropes. “Make sure they’re secured. With any luck, the authorities will be here soon to pick them up. Can you still operate the engines?”

“Well of course, but–”

“Good. Put them in reverse and do whatever you can to get the ship back towards the coast.”

“T-they’ll notice,” one of the younger engineers blurted out. “They’ll send more down here and there’s no way you can take them all on…”

“Don’t bet on that,” Dawning replied, shooting him a glance that sent the young engineer’s ears folding back.

Dawning’s ears flicked beneath his hood towards the main doors out of the engine room. Indeed, more of the hijackers were already coming, and fast. He hadn’t heard any alarms being raised across the ship, so he guessed that they must have heard the gunfire from engineering.

“I’ll take care of it. Move, now,” he barked. As Steamer and the other engineers scrambled back to their posts, Dawning strode towards the doors, his bullet-ridden red cloak trailing between his hooves as he stepped over the unconscious pirates along the floor. It didn’t take him long to reach the doors, and he made sure to close them behind him after he’d stepped into the brightly-lit maintenance corridor beyond.

He’d only just turned from the doors as a fresh wave of pirates stepped out from a left-turning corridor farther down. As soon as they saw the hooded pony before them, they raised their weapons and started shouting at him.

“Drop on the ground, pretty boy!”

“I’ll blow your face off with this thing, don’t think I won’t!”

Too bright in here, Dawning thought. His eyes glowed red as he sent rippling beams of heat vision across the ceiling, blowing out the overhead lights one by one down the length of the corridor. Sparks burst and rained down, and nearby pipes burst and spewed steam as the hallway was plunged into darkness save for small red emergency lights along the floor. The pirates’ aggression quickly shifted to surprise and panic.

“The lights, what’d he do to the lights?!”

“–steam’s everywhere, I can’t see–”

“Oh Faust, why are his eyes glowing–”

His eyes still burning bright, Dawning crouched and leapt forward through the darkened, smoke and steam filled corridor like a wraith out of nightmares. Even through the darkness, most of the pirates found the sense to leap back into the corridor from where they’d come. Two, however, didn’t make it back in time.

He didn’t touch them. He didn’t need to. The rush of air from his sudden acceleration did all the work for him, picking the two up and throwing them down in his wake like ragdolls. One hit the wall of the corridor and was knocked out instantly, his gun clattering out of his hooves. The other one kept going, helplessly flailing his wings, while Dawning whirled around and held out a foreleg, letting the pegasus smack into it face-first and go down, out cold.

He let him slide to the floor before darting back around the corner. The remaining group were backing away down the hall, staring up at him as they shakily pointed their weapons.

“H-he’s floating…how is he floating?!”

“Somebody just kill it already!”

The three pirates at the forefront of the group opened fire; the griffon on the right with a shotgun, the two earth ponies to her left with machine guns, filling the hall with flashing lights, the acrid scents of smoke, and the cacophony of gunshots.

Dawning simply hovered through the barrage, feeling the bullets ricochet off his body, the only damage being done to the ends of his cloak, frayed by deflected fire. Quicker than the blink of an eye, he reached out with both hooves, crushed the barrels of the left and right guns in his grip, dragging their owners still clinging to them up into the air and slamming them together against the earth pony pirate in between. He let go and all three fell on top of each other in a crumpled heap while he floated on past.

By now the remaining group was scrambling desperately down the hall as they shouted amidst each other; some for more weapons, others for reinforcements, and all in some measure of horrified disbelief. Only a few still bothered to fire shots over their shoulders as they collectively turned tail.

“He’s just a pony…just one earth pony!”

“Someone tell the Captain–”

“…said these would work, why aren’t they working?!”

While the group fled, one pirate tripped and fell to his side in the corridor. It was Crossbolt; Dawning of course didn’t know his name, but he recognized him from the engine room. As his companions galloped and ran away ahead, he looked up to see Dawning floating towards him. Staring in pure terror, he scrambled for a fallen gun–an exceptionally long-barreled thing–and unloaded it straight into Dawning’s chest.

“Stay away from me!” he screamed. “Don’t touch me, please–”

Dawning’s response was only to float through the barrage and grab the barrel in a hoof, crushing and bending it and cutting off the hail of bullets. Then he reached with his other foreleg and gripped it further down, crumpling it further. And then again with the first, now lifting the big gun up into the air while Crossbolt still held on to the barrel, frozen in terror.

“I’d think about letting that go if I were you,” Dawning told him.

With a whimper of fright the young pirate released his grip, falling to the floor with a hard thump. He looked up with wide eyes and a quivering lip as Dawning finished crumpling up the gun and tossed it over his shoulder.

“H-how…” Crossbolt whispered. “Y-you’re…you’re just a pony...”

Dawning reached down and picked up the shaking stallion in one hoof, making ready to knock him unconscious with the other.

“Mister, you have no idea how wrong you are.”





Bronze paced around the bridge of the Constitution, passing by members of his crew now operating the ship’s controls, overseen by White Wind as he looked out at the distant lit Manehattan skyline. The navigation systems were, of course, far more advanced–and decidedly more electronic–than what they usually worked with. But his crew were a resourceful bunch, and they’d grasped how to sail a vessel like this rather quickly. Still, it was a fair bit different from operating a conventional sailing vessel or even the kinds of airships they were used to. They didn’t usually have enclosed bridge compartments like this one did; much easier for looking out at one’s surroundings and getting a feel of the air.

Mainlander pansies.

Despite the teething stages of figuring how to handle the ship, and aside from the rabble raised by that one stupid pony with the glasses, this whole caper had gone off without a hitch. In an hour or two they’d return to their own airship, parked at the rendezvous point that had been arranged. From their they’d turn the Constitution over to their benefactors, collect their pay, and make a silent exit from Manehattan’s waters.

So far so good.

And yet paradoxically, their success thus far was also concerned him.

Years of living a life of piracy and smuggling had taught Corsair to pay attention to gut instinct, even when immediate circumstances suggested that all was well. It could mean the difference between anticipating an unseen threat or being taken by surprise. Not paranoia, but a constant subtle vigilance. Bronze put up a confident game, but his instincts were telling him to stay on full alert. Especially under the given circumstances. 

Try as he might, he couldn’t pry a single scrap of information about who their anonymous “employer” for this operation was. They had to be wealthy; he knew that much at least, at the very least from the quality and power of weapons they’d been given, and he’d put enough pressure on their representatives to make absolutely certain that the money was legitimate.

So it wasn’t all that surprising to him some little voice in the back of his head–far from a conscience, just instinct–was insistently whispering that there was a setup buried in this somewhere. And if not that, then at the very least there was some part of it about to go wrong.

Corsair made another pass around the bridge. He went past helm and navigation, took a glance out on the deck to make sure everypony was still in order, looked out at the Manehattan skyline again–

And then he felt it. He felt it in his hooves a fraction of a second before he realized he was seeing it.

“…we’re changing course. White?”

“It wasn’t us, Captain,” White Wind replied, frowning as he looked at the controls. “Someone just put the the ship in reverse from engineering.”

“Bloody hell…” Bronze leaned forward to one of the panels and switched on the intercom. “Cog, you and your boys mind explaining to me why the whole ship’s suddenly going in reverse?”

There was no reply. Nothing but the soft hiss of static came from the speaker.

Bronze frowned and tried again. “Cog? Grayback? Damn it, somebody answer!”

Static silence.

White shook his head. “This isn’t right, there should be someone answering…”

Bronze snorted. “No sh–”

Suddenly the intercom crackled. A lighted label up above identified it as coming from one of the corridors a few decks above the engine room. The voice on the other end was frantic, desperate, and drowned out by the sounds of shouting, screaming, and gunfire in the background “–ptain! Captain–”

Bronze and White exchanged glances before the former slammed his hoof back down on the intercom button. “I hear you, what’s happening down there?” Bronze barked into the microphone.

“–came through the hull–throwing around like–flames shooting out of his eyes–just bouncing off of him, we need…oh Faust, NO!”

There was a sudden sound of rushing wind and the intercom went silent again.

“Hello? Hello? What is it?!” Bronze shouted as he tried to reconnect. No matter how much he tried, nopony on the other end would answer.

“…orders, Captain?” White asked.

Bronze straightened himself up, clearing his throat and putting a note of authoritative confidence into his voice. “White, you and me are going to take anyone we can spare from the deck out there and go down below, see just what in Tartarus we’re dealing with. The rest of you lot, stay up here and get this tub back on course.” As he talked, he grabbed a submachine gun, loaded it and holstered it beneath his coat. Then he turned back to the intercom and set it to address all decks.

“Fillies and gents, it seems someone has decided to board us, so if you aren’t already rushing down to blow them to Tartarus with everything we’ve got, then please…”





“…feel free to do so,” Bronze’s voice finished with a crackle of static through the speakers.

A hush fell over the gathered hostages on the main deck, as though collectively holding a bated breath. Some began whispering and murmuring amongst themselves, afraid to arouse the irritation of their captors, but too excited by this sudden development to stay quiet. Meanwhile, the Elements and Lucky huddled close together.

“Sheesh,” Rainbow whispered. “He must be giving them Tartarus down there…”

“Oh, speak of the devil,” Rarity said in a hissed whisper as she nodded up to the bridge. “Here comes ‘tonight’s entertainment’.”

Bronze and White were coming down the stairs again, and this time they didn’t look nearly as smug or confident. The captain began calling the pirates on deck, with most going to form a ring around the two while others stayed behind on guard, looking between each other and their hostages clearly trying to look unconcerned as they titled their ears and heads to listen in.

In short order, the gathered crew began breaking off and heading downstairs. They were bringing down the exceptionally large weapons now, the ones so big that it took either a unicorn’s aura or the bipedal members of the crew to hold.

Rainbow, in spite of the situation, she couldn’t help but look at the size of their artillery in a kind of awe. “Faust, they could punch a hole in a battleship with one of those things, I’ll bet.”

Fluttershy turned to Lucky. “Uh…he can resist a shot from one of those, right?”

Lucky thought for a moment. “I know he’s been shot at before, and he took one of the bombs on the bridge at point blank, so…it’s possible…”

“Well even if he can,” Rainbow interjected. “We can’t just sit here and let him fight these guys all on his own.”

“And do what?” Rarity replied. “Take on all these pirates? The ones with guns?”

“Rarity, c’mon, we’re the Elements of Harmony! We’ve fought armies of changelings and the Storm King’s mooks! We’ve had worse odds; what are a few guns thrown into the mix?”

“I…” Rarity huffed and turned to Lucky. “Miss Lead, help me talk some sense into her here.”

Lucky pursed her lips, staring down at the deck before she spoke. “…they killed Dawning. I don’t know about anypony else, but I want at least one personal crack at ‘em for him.”

“Exactly.”

“For Celestia’s sake…”

“But–” Lucky added. “We should wait for the right chance. Supermane’s probably going to be up here in the next few minutes and he’s going to raise Tartarus when he does. All eyes will be on him. If we wanna level the odds out on our own, I say we wait for that.”

Rainbow nodded. “Fine. That works.”

Rarity sighed. “Alright…then we’d best make sure we’re ready for when our chance comes, if ever…”

Fluttershy said nothing. She sat quietly, looking around between her friends and the pirates, thinking silent prayers for them, for Supermane…and for Dawning.





The sounds of frantic gunfire rattled from behind the tall, ornately-carved doors to the main dining hall. Suddenly the doors were thrown open by a frightened hippogriff pirate. She scurried through into the hall, turning to look over her shoulder…just in time to scream once as the body of one of her fellow crew ponies was hurled into her, knocking her down hard onto the floor beneath his bulk. She scrambled desperately to free herself, kicking her hind legs and scratching at the smooth, polished floor with her talons. She hadn’t made much progress before a twisted, vaguely pretzel-shaped metal mass that used to be two machine guns came bouncing into the room, striking the hippogriff on the head and knocking her out.

Dawning stepped through the doors, his cloak and shirt now starting to show much more wear and tear than they had when he’d first broken in. He took a moment to scan the two to make sure they were unconscious, then leaned against the doorway to catch his breath and shake a few crumpled bullets out of his mane and shirt sleeves.

He’d been cutting his way through the pirates’ ranks fairly well up until now. By just a rough mental count, he’d taken down around half of their numbers so far, leaving them unconscious in the halls and decks behind and below, their weapons crushed to uselessness. And if he remembered the layout of the ship right, the dining hall wasn’t too far down from the top deck.

It never crossed Dawning’s mind to count any of this as “good progress”. He wouldn’t allow himself to relax until he was absolutely sure that the pirates corralled for the authorities to bring in, and the passengers were out of danger–especially Lucky, Quicksnap, and the Bearers.

The one thing he really took comfort in was that as torn as his cloak had gotten, at least the hood was still mostly intact. If he played it right, he could still make sure ponies got as few glimpses of his face as he’d let them.

His eyes wandered over to the crushed guns on the floor, and he began to wonder about them. He knew that plenty of pirate crews operating beyond the Equestrian borders were known to use guns, but mostly simple flintlocks. The ones he’d seen this crew armed with were much more advanced than that, expertly designed and clearly factory assembled. He supposed that they could have just had them stolen and smuggled to them, but even then, something didn’t quite sit right with him about this…

And why make a raid so close to a major city like Manehattan? He thought. That’s not just playing with fire, that’s practically guaranteeing arrest, coming in as close as this. They’d have to be either really desperate or–

His ears perked up. Footsteps. Lots of them. More reinforcements were coming. Fast. He whipped his head around to face the doors at the far end just as they was broken open, a fresh new wave of pirates streaming in with weapons at the ready. They clearly didn’t expect to find him so far in by now; the cat-like Abyssinian at the lead did a double take before shouting to her comrades.

“He’s here, torch him!”

But Dawning had already leapt to the side as the hail of gunfire blasted across the room, demolishing the doors he’d just been in front of. The extra second let the newcomers spread out into the room in full force, and for Dawning to plan out his next move while they did.

He picked a zebra mare off to the far right first, just alongside a row of tall windows to the outside; she didn’t even have time to let off a shot from her machine pistol before he’d thrown her to the floor. A burst of bullets along the floor at his hooves alerted him to the shotgun-wielding unicorn stallion just to his left; he leapt, crumpled the front end of the gun into the floor, and then downed the pony with a blow to the head. Kicked a donkey’s machine gun into his face, while his weapon let off one last burst into the ceiling.

“Flank him, flank him!”

You can try.

Dawning kicked out with his hind legs, hooves connecting with a minotaur and sending him clear across the hall. There was a loud crash and smashing of wood and shattering glass; it sounded like he’d crashed through one of the tables. Two, actually, from the sound of it.

Then he heard a loud yell as a hippogriff raised the butt of his gun in the air to strike him–why he’d try that, he couldn’t imagine–and turned just in time to catch it in both hooves. Before the hippogriff could pull away, Dawning had wrapped his forelegs around his arms and forcibly turned him towards the row of windows. Even as the avian struggled, Dawning forced a hoof down over his right talon, making him squeeze down on the trigger. The assault riffle’s barrel exploded with repeated gunfire, shattering the glass and sending a glowing line of bullets off into the dark waters and sky beyond. Dawning felt bullets peppering his back, but he kept his grip until the gun stopped firing and only clicked, before throwing it and its owner into a heap in the far corner.

“–the sluggers, hit him with the sluggers!–”

Dawning turned to see three of the pirates–a minotaur and two unicorns–were advancing from the scattered group, carrying the biggest guns Dawning had seen out of the whole crew. They were thick and heavy, with large circular magazines hanging beneath them. They were so big that they were literally strapped to the chests and shoulders of their wearers, the two unicorns using their magic for additional support, while the minotaur held his up in his arms.

Simultaneously, Dawning crouched for a leap as he began wondering what these weapons were for a fraction of a second.

At the same time, the minotaur in the middle of the three opened fire. 

The next thing Dawning knew, something heavy and fast had slammed into his torso; the sensation was rather similar to how he’d always imagined being punched in the gut would feel…but on several orders of magnitude greater. Before he could even gasp, the shell had exploded with a loud and terrible blast. The remaining port windows of the hall were shattered by the burst of force before Dawning’s body had even hit them, leaving him only the decorative wood paneling and the outer hull to go crashing through to the outside.

He spun head over heels in the night air, his now tattered cloak flopping and flapping into his face as he tried to control his flight, fighting through the harsh stinging sensation that burned across his stomach and chest from the impact. Finally, he managed to slow his airborne spiral and steady himself, coming to a stop hovering in midair and finally allowing himself to let out a pained breath.

“Aaaugh…what the…?”

Then as the ringing in his ears faded: “…it hurt him…h-hey, yeah, it hurt him! C’mon, quick, hit him with those again!”

Another BOOM of one of the sluggers firing, the whistle of a speeding shell. The instant Dawning heard it he dove sharply to the right, feeling wind at his tail and hind legs and the whistle reach a crescendo as the shell sped past him and off into the distant black waters. As he turned to head back inside the ship, he saw that the force of the one that had hit him had been enough to blast a wide hole in the side of the dining hall. The entire port side of the room was now exposed, and the upper wall and hull of the deck beneath it had been practically erased as well.

Faust above, how powerful are these things? Where’d they even get firepower like this? The other weapons he’d seen so far, he could believe them getting a hold of–he dodged another shell and sent it spiraling off into the ocean with a kick as he flew–but something like these “sluggers”? No, he couldn’t believe that pirates with the capabilities they were known to have could get something like these easily. There was something much more wrong with all of this than just a cruise ship hijacking.

And now that it was crossing his mind, he was getting a nagging sensation that he’d seen these weapons somewhere before…

Later, Dawning thought as a fresh wave of gunfire sprayed across his chest and shoulders. Come back to it later.

He landed on the broken edge of the dining hall floor, blowing aside splinters, shards of glass and other small debris in a circle as he touched down. He quickly scanned the area around the three “slugger” pirates, looking for anything in the local environment that he could use to his advantage. His eyes locked on to a crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling above, half of its glass shattered away and framework slightly bent from the blast.

And in just the right spot over the three sluggers.

Perfect.

A quick flash of heat vision, barely enough to make the air glow red, and the main support of the chandelier had been severed neatly in half, sending the structure plunging downward.

“CRAP, LOOK OUT–”

The cried warning came too late. The chandelier crashed down atop the left-side unicorn and the minotaur, the remaining glass splintering apart as they were pinned down beneath the structure. The hall’s floor, already damaged, shuddered and creaked in protest beneath everyone’s hooves or feet. The remaining slugger operator was staggered, the weight of his weapon forcing him to fall to the floor as he dropped it from his aura and hooves.

Alright, now just let me have that thing so I can ARGH, DARN IT! He felt another grenade explode against his back from behind, smoking hot shrapnel tearing through his cape and shirt and stinging his flesh.

Dawning whirled on the pirates who’d already gotten their footing back. The female Abyssinian that had led them in was fumbling to reload her grenade launcher while the others fired, peppering bullets across his muzzle and chest.

Amidst the assault, Dawning planted his hooves, took a deep breath, and exhaled a burst of air at the pirates. For a moment, the dining hall’s atmosphere was churned into a windstorm, sending the few still standing flying and spiraling around in the air. They screamed and flailed helplessly as they were flung against walls, ceiling, and tables, while smoke billowed around in spirals and debris was blown airborne and fluttered about.

Dawning only let it go on for a few seconds before stopping, letting the now thoroughly winded raiders fall to the floor with a number of thuds, the ones still conscious moaning from the ordeal. One was the Abyssinian, who tried to feebly crawl forward and retrieve her grenade launcher.

She’d just touched the bump stock of the weapon with the ends of her claws when Dawning stomped down on it with a hoof, crushing it like tinfoil. “I don’t think so.”

Then his ears twitched as he heard the sound of hooves and metal clacking against the floor. The last slugger-wielding pirate had gotten back up, and was lifting his gun to take another desperate shot. If he hits me at this range with everyone else nearby…

Dawning leapt, crossing the distance between them in a second. But the sudden force of him colliding with the pirate, combined with the latter’s already weakened and terrified state, caused the unicorn to topple backwards, the big heavy weapon tilting upward even as Dawning reached to pry it away from him.

In a second, two things happened. The first was that Dawning saw the unicorn’s hoof instinctively squeeze down on the trigger.

And the second thing was a realization in Dawning’s mind.

He had seen this kind of weapon before.

The Lexpo–

And then the world roared and went white.





Quicksnap held Goldenrod close, the young filly now staring wide-eyed and hushed-breathed at the pirates going to and fro, and once or twice stopping to glance down nervously at the deck. They were starting to hear gunfire echoing up from beneath the deck, and the pirates were looking noticeably more troubled as time went on and more and more went downstairs with their big heavy weapons. More were coming down from the bridge now as well; evidently, repelling the intruder was taking greater priority than even the ship’s course by now.

Quicksnap, meanwhile only watched half-heartedly, absentmindedly holding the young pony nearby. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t push aside the image of Dawning Hope being thrown off the side of the ship.

He’d come to the Daily Planet only a month or so after Dawning did. Both were the fresh blood of the bullpen. But while Dawning was always kind of shy and reserved, it never seemed to the young hippogriff that he ever really felt out of place working there. Quicksnap, meanwhile, felt like an alien adjusting to life in Equestria. He supposed he should’ve expected that feeling more; he literally had come from another country and culture entirely, one that had been particularly reclusive for a long time until just a few years ago. Between that feeling of isolation, the hazing he’d experienced and still did, and just the general pressures of the job, there had been days when he often thought about calling it quits and returning to Mount Aris.

But then, he had Lucky and Dawning looking out for him, but more so the latter, he’d always felt. He remembered one particular evening when he’d confessed to Dawning that he was thinking of going back home, that he couldn’t make it in Manehattan. Dawning had understood completely, but then there was something he’d said…What was it?

“You know, I don’t really have all that many friends around here either. It’d be a shame to lose one of the few I’ve got.”

Something about the way he’d said that, it had made him feel…welcome, he guessed. Like even with how he felt, there was at least one pony he could be sure wouldn’t let him go through life here alone. Somepony he could look up to, even.

And now he was gone.

“Mister Hippogriff?”

Quicksnap looked down. “Um…hm?”

“Is Supermane down there?” Goldenrod asked. “Is he coming to save us?”

Quicksnap hesitated, unsure himself. “I…yeah,” He finally said. “He’s gonna come, don’t worry. You’ll see, everything’s going to be–”

He was just about to say “okay” when suddenly, the center of the deck erupted upwards with a mighty explosion. Pirate and hostage alike were catapulted screaming and flailing into the air. Burning debris and splinters flew and rained back down as smoke poured from the gaping wound in the ship. The surrounding floor, rendered dangerously unstable by the blast, began to crumble and fall into the smoking hole, expanding while everyone nearby frantically backed or scrambled away.

Quicksnap felt Goldenrod clutch his body tightly, her scream drowned out by the cries of dozens more. Pandemonium broke loose as ponies began stampeding in all directions around the deck once again, jostling each other, Quicksnap and Goldenrod…and the pirates, who were caught off guard and found themselves getting knocked and bounced around just as much as everyone else, too startled to even raise their weapons at first. Everything suddenly became a rushing blur of motion and sound, and Quicksnap grabbed Goldenrod close and ducked underneath a nearby table for shelter.

Then through the din he heard the Captain shout out. “–damn it all, fire, shoot them all!”

“NOW!” Hollered somepony else, and in a second he realized that that was Lucky who’d shouted.

Quicksnap poked his head out from under the table, just in time to see a rainbow streak cut upward through the air, uppercutting two pirates into simultaneous arcs across the deck. The rainbow arced 180-degrees, shedding a torn mess of blue fabric as Rainbow Dash swooped down for another strike with an excited cry.

“Shoot her!” White Wind yelled, firing blast after blast from his shotgun. His fellow crew aimed their weapons up to shoot at the pegasus as well, their bullets only hitting rainbow streaks as she dodged and looped around.

“Sorry, bozos!” Dash crowed as she socked an earth pony in the jaw… “Supermane isn’t the only pony…” …swooped beneath the legs of an Ornithian and tripped him into falling flat on his beak… “…with super-speed in these parts!” …and plucked a rifle from the aura of a unicorn and walloped her over the head with it. “…and I’m the OG!”

Quicksnap couldn’t help but break into a grin as he pumped a fisted talon in the air.. “Aw, yeah!”

“Is it Supermane?!” Goldenrod cried over the noise.

He was just about to answer when something grabbed his attention out of the corner of his eye. A small group of pirates were sneaking their way alongside the deck railing, out of the way of the bulk of the chaos. From the way they were raising their weapons, Quicksnap assumed that they were going to try and take Rainbow by surprise while she was distracted.

Gotta do something, he frantically thought. Thinkthinkthink… He went to wring his talons together, bumping his camera as he did–

…his camera.

“Kid, stay here and don’t move,” He told Goldenrod before crawling out from under the table and pulling the covering down to hide the young filly. Quickly, he checked the camera, readied the flash, and stood up in full view. For just a moment the band of pirates glanced down at the hippogriff that had just jumped into their path and–

“Hey, scallywags! SMILE!”

SNAP!

“GAH! What the–”

SNAP!

“AAH, my eyes!–“

SNAP! SNAP!

“–can’t see–”

The pirates squealed as Quicksnap snapped pictures at rapid-fire speed, staggering backward and desperately shielding their eyes as they were bombarded with flash after flash. He couldn’t help but grin as he watched them writhe through the viewfinder screen.

Suddenly a rainbow-colored blur swooped down into frame, ramming into the pirates at full speed and knocking them to the deck like bowling pins. Upon stopping it turned into Rainbow Dash, who gave Quicksnap a smile and a wink.

“Thanks kid–AH!” She yelped as the camera flashed.

“Sorry!” Quicksnap apologized. “Instinct!”

“Agh…no hard feelings,” Rainbow replied, blinking spots out of her eyes before kicking back up into the air. She looped around over the young hippogriff’s head and dove back into the fray with a fierce battle cry.

Across the deck, Fluttershy stood frozen still against the railing, fighting the urge to curl up in terror, but also hesitant to join in the fighting. Yells, cries, and gunshots echoed in her ears, flashing gun muzzles and rushing bodies flashed across her line of sight. It was all starting to blur together in one assault on her senses.

It was too much. Too much…

Don’t panic, don’t panic, don’t panic…

“FLUTTERSHY!”

The cry of her name snapped Fluttershy back to full awareness as a blue shield of magical energy flashed up in front of her eyes. A hail of bullets peppered across the glowing arcane surface, and small cracks began to form as they bounced off. Fluttershy scrambled back, startled.

“D-darling…” She heard Rarity grunt from beside her, her voice strained as she did her best to hold the shield up. “If you…would be so kind…as to, erm, stare these ruffians down, I’d…ungh!–”

Fluttershy glanced between the unicorn and the pirates firing upon them. She knew Rarity had taken shield-casting spells from Twilight, and while she was getting better, she wasn’t a master with them yet. They probably only had a few seconds before it cracked.

It was up to her now.

Fluttershy took a breath and shut her eyes, calling up to her mind everything these pirates had done. They’d attacked an unarmed ship for no other purpose than greed and pleasure. They’d…they’d killed one of her friends.

How dare they.

And she snapped her eyes open and stared.

The barrage against Rarity’s shield suddenly ceased. The three pirates who’d only moments ago been shooting stared back at the yellow pegasus, as first confusion, and then fear crept into their faces. Their weapons dropped and fell from their hooves, and they began to shiver and shake as a terror like they’d never known clutched their hearts. They looked as though the wrath of Faust herself had unfurled before their eyes.

“W-what’s she doing…oh gods, what is she doing?!”

“I-I can’t look away–”

“Make it stop, make it stop!”

Then the air was pierced by a fearsome cry, and suddenly one of the long food tables on the deck came crashing down on top of the three, squashing them into the deck like a flyswatter as wood splintered and desserts splattered.

Rarity huffed as she cut off her magic, letting the remains of the table fall from her dissipating aura. “And let that be a lesson to you!” she barked, glaring daggers at the now-unconscious three. Then she straightened herself up, sniffing primly as she brushed off some debris from her shoulder. “Uncouth barbarians…”

Meanwhile still, Lucky Lead snuck, crawled, and dodged around through the chaos like a predator in a stampede. Despite all the movement, both around her and her own, she kept her eyes firmly focused on her target.

Captain Corsair had clambered up on top of one of the tables in an attempt to stay above the churning throng, furiously shouting out orders over the screams and yelling…No, more like desperately, Lucky thought to herself. With all the noise of a “big tough stallion” who’s losing control.

He didn’t even see her coming. She was only a few yards away from him by now and he still hadn’t noticed her. Perfect. If she could catch him by surprise, then maybe taking the head of this operation would get the rest to stand down. Maybe.

And if that didn’t work, well…at least she might be able to take him down with her.

And with Dawning.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity of covering ground, she at last found herself crouched right next to Corsair’s perch, practically at his hooves, still unseen by him. That’s right, big guy…just keep looking out across the deck, don’t mind me…keep looking out that way aaaaand…NOW!

Lucky turned and bucked the table’s legs, toppling it over and sending Bronze tumbling to his side on the deck. She darted forward, grabbing the hilt of his sword in her teeth and quickly pulling it from his scabbard, then gripping it in her right hoof as she stepped back and pointed the blade straight at his muzzle.

“Where’s your pirate’s swagger now, Captain?” Lucky half-growled, half-chuckled at him.

Bronze stared at the tip of the cutlass, slowly pushing himself back to his hooves while Lucky kept the sword trained on him. “You, uh…don’t really strike me as the sword type, little miss,” he said.

“Oh, trust me,” Lucky replied. “I know all about how to use one of these babies. Dad was in the Guard. Picked up all sorts of things from him.”

“Ah,” Bronze nodded, reaching up to sheepishly straighten his coat…except too late Lucky realized that he wasn’t, he was reaching beneath his coat. His hoof darted in and out, there was a glinting of metal in moonlight, a flash of a muzzle and two rapid gunshots, and the next thing Lucky knew she felt the sword be knocked clean out of her hooves, spinning past her head and just narrowly missing her right ear. It happened so fast she barely had time to count the seconds before she was glancing back and forth between her empty hoof and the pirate captain. 

Corsair smirked as he leveled the machine pistol to point between her eyes. “Guard brat, eh? I could tell.”





The fallen support beam groaned and buckled as Dawning pushed it up from underneath. At last he shoved it to the side, where it fell to the floor in a flurry of burning embers and splinters. He breathed heavily as he recovered, the acrid scent of smoke and flame stinging his nostrils and throat.

The dining hall had been almost completely destroyed by the blast. Whatever windows were still left had been blown out. The bodies of the pirates lay scattered around him. None killed, mercifully enough, but plenty severely injured. He’d only just barely turned in time to shield the unicorn who’d fired the slugger from being blown to bits by his own blast. Half the room was on fire now. The ceiling had caved in all the way up from the top deck, smoke and ashes rising up through the hole. Between the heat of the fires and the choking smoke, the dining hall had become a furnace.

But it wasn’t just the temperature that made Dawning’s insides seethe. He wasn’t sure of it before, but he was now.

The pirates’ weapons–from the conventional guns to the heavier weaponry like the sluggers–had come from LexCorp.

He’d seen the designs for them at the Lexpo during Lex’s speech. Briefly, yes, but he remembered them. The “Guardian Angel Initiative” or whatever Lex had called their defense research program. And Dawning knew that Lex was far too protective of his technology to just allow it to be stolen. Which meant that if the pirates really had gotten their weapons from Lex, then he must have given them to him.

This was a set-up. The pirates were just unwitting pawns. They hadn’t decided to take a ship this far into Equestrian waters on their own. They couldn’t have. No pirate could possibly so stupid, especially not with the Guard starting to crack down more on anti-piracy measures. Which meant that they must be desperate. Desperate enough to conceivably take a well-paying but risky offer, and Lex was certainly rich enough…

There wasn’t any potential benefit of the doubt to be had anymore, not like there had been with the bridge bombing.

Lex was behind all of this. And he didn’t care who would get hurt if it meant either testing or destroying Supermane before he got to the ship.

It made Dawning’s blood boil. So many ponies, so many unsuspecting lives, so many who’d done nothing wrong…all in danger now because of him.

And because of me…because I went and showed myself off to the whole damn world…

Then the crackling sound of another support beam falling from the ceiling nearby reminded Dawning of the current situation. Focus, Dawning…the fires first. He pushed himself up off the ground and flew in an arc around the room, blowing gusts of air across the fires. The frigid winds smothered the fires out in seconds, and smoke and embers billowed en masse out the gaping holes where the windows used to be. In moments, the blaze was extinguished.

With the roaring of the flames now gone, Dawning turned his attention to listening for what was going on up on the main deck. The presence of the massive hole blasted through the ship certainly helped in its own way; he didn’t even need to focus his hearing to tell that panic had once again broken out on the deck above. For a moment he heard Rainbow Dash’s voice, and then the sounds of erupting gunfire.

Oh Faust… Quickly, he focused his x-ray vision up through the decks…and found himself relieved to see that Rainbow seemed to be handling herself fairly well, looping through the air, dodging bullets, and landing hits where she could. Quicksnap was distracting some of the pirates with his camera flash, while Rarity held up a shield as Fluttershy glared daggers at a small group now quaking in frozen terror. Her infamous “Stare”, Dawning presumed.

So they’re all holding them off, but where’s–

“Where’s your pirate’s swagger now, Captain?”

Lucky. He found her in seconds, holding a sword towards the Captain’s throat. He knew that smug look all too well; that was the look she got when she knew she had somepony cornered.

“You, uh…don’t really strike me as the sword type, little miss.”

“Oh, trust me, I know all about how to use one of these babies. Dad was in the Guard. Picked up all sorts of things from him.”

“Ah…” The Captain slowly reached up to tug at his coat…and all too late Dawning saw the gun holstered inside, and his heart skipped a beat as the Captain quickly drew it and fired a shot–

“LUCKY!”

–and knocked the sword right out of her hooves. He saw Lucky staring, dumbfounded and terrified, as the Captain pointed his weapon right at her head.

“Guard brat, eh? I could tell.”

Dawning felt his fury rekindled as he crouched for a leap, his vision turning red as he let heat flood into his eyes…





“Come on now, luv, what really was your plan?” Bronze Corsair purred, keeping the machine pistol steadily trained on Lucky’s brow. “What, did you think nobody was going to see you trying to play the hero? Or that they’d all just give up seeing me at sword-point?”

Lucky had her hooves raised now, mostly out of pure instinct. She felt her forehead and temples beginning to sweat as she fought to keep herself from looking as scared as she was. “It was…worth a shot, right?”

Bronze scoffed. “C’mon, no shame in admitting it now. You had absolutely no clue what you were going to do, did you?”

Lucky swallowed. “How about we catch up to the present…you really want to add another body to tonight’s count?”

“Oh, please,” Bronze shrugged. “Like I actually care how many ponies get killed. It’s nothing personal; just part of the business.” He flashed her a smirk. “Gonna be honest though, in your case it’s a bit of a pity. You don’t know how to plan an attack worth a damn, but you had spunk. I like–”

Suddenly a shimmering, red shaft of heat cut upwards through the deck between them, neatly slicing the gun in half. Corsair yelped and leapt back in alarm, dropping the molten bisected sidearm to the deck. It wasn’t even a second later before something erupted up through the floor, knocking Bronze back and to the ground as it did while splinters and debris rained down.

All around the deck, the sounds of panic and gunfire came to an abrupt halt as everyone stopped and stared. Most, both pirates and partygoers included, looked up at the hovering figure in silence. Rarity and Fluttershy let out stifled gasps. Rainbow Dash and Quicksnap couldn’t help but grin by just a little. Goldenrod poked her head out from under her table and her jaw slowly dropped in quiet wonder.

“Leave. Her. Alone.”

Lucky Lead suddenly found herself staring up in awe as Supermane floated just in front of her, glaring with burning red eyes at the pirate captain who’d just had her in his crosshairs. His cloak was half-shredded, his shirt tattered, he was covered with soot and ash all over and he looked like he’d been to Tartarus and back, but it didn’t matter at all to her.

Celestia above…he’s right here in front of me… She’d never ever gotten this close to him–heck, the last time she’d actually gotten to see him like this was back at the monorail and only for a moment–but here he was, closer and more real to her than ever. She almost forgot that just a second ago she was about to be shot through the head.

“Supermane, I knew it had to be you down there, I–”

He snapped his head around and shot her a still-glowing glare over his shoulder. “Not now, Miss Lead.”

Lucky felt like her insides were withering as she cringed. “S-sorry…”

Bronze grunted as he picked himself back up. Now it was his turn to try and hide his fear as he stared up at the Pony of Steel. “You’re, uh…you’re our mystery boarder, I take it?”

“One chance, and one chance only,” Supermane growled, floating down to his hooves on the deck and slowly advancing towards the captain. “Tell your crew to put down your weapons and stand down…” His eyes flickered, and for a moment the air around them sizzled like the warning sound of a rattlesnake. “…or I break whatever you have left.”

Corsair glanced around. “Ah…well, see, about that, erm…Bruce!”

The captain suddenly scrambled to his hooves and bolted. Lucky saw Supermane was just about to launch into a pursuit when she felt the deck rumble beneath her, something heavy thudding loudly behind her as some of the party guests shrieked in terror. On instinct she leapt out of the thing’s way, just in time for the most bizarre member of this crew that she’d seen tonight to come stomping past. 

Her first thought was to internally call this…thing a shark. It certainly had the head, dorsal fin and gaping toothy maw of one. But instead of fins or a tail, it’s body turned into a hulking torso with muscular arms and legs, clad only in a pair of torn shorts. Its mouth was curled in a sadistic grin, baring those big sharp teeth for all to see as it strode up towards Supermane. Where the buck were they keeping this guy all this time?!

And even with his face shrouded by his hood, Lucky could make out an unmistakable look of “oh crap” on his face as he turned and looked up at the behemoth.

The thing roared as it swung its huge left fist at Supermane, missing him by inches as he darted back out of the way. It threw another punch at him with the other fist, which Supermane ducked as he moved to swoop around behind the creature–

–only for it to grab the trailing end of his cape. In a blur of surprising speed, it swung around, flipped him over its back and slammed him face down into the deck. Lucky winced as she saw the deck planks crack under the force of the impact and a shudder go through the floor. Around her, she heard the pirates’ stunned silence transform into raucous hooting.

“Y-yeah! Whoop his flank, Bruce!”

“C’mon, c’mon, bite his bucking head off!”

Supermane started to push himself back up onto his hooves…just as the shark thing grabbed him by the shoulders in both of its big hands. Lucky heard it let out a rapid series of growls that sounded vaguely like laughter as it lifted the pony up into the air, then gasped in horror as she watched it open its toothy jaws wide and bring them down over Supermane’s front half–

KK–RUNCH!!!

For a moment, all went into a tense silence. The shark thing’s eyes grew wide, while Supermane’s hind legs and cape hung limply out of its mouth.

Then the first few teeth and drops of blood started falling and dripping from the mouth, and the shark thing opened its maw to wail. It spat Supermane back out onto the deck as it staggered off, clutching its broken jaw with its now half-toothless gums, crying and moaning like a cowed pup.

Supermane, meanwhile, landed back on all four hooves, shaking off slobber, blood, and shark teeth as he glared around at the staring pirates, the fire in his eyes rekindled. Little wisps of steam rose up and faded as whatever remaining liquids around him were vaporized in the ambient heat coming off of his eyes.

“How about…we not try that again?” he growled.

The surrounding pirates just stared at him in absolute horror and bewilderment, nervously fidgeting with their weapons. The surrounding civilians watched with bated breath. For a minute, the Constitution’s upper levels fell into a thick, tense silence, broken only by Bruce’s child-like moaning off from one corner.

Bronze Corsair glanced around at his crew. “…g-go on! Shoot him, kill him!”

Whether by a collective regaining of nerve or instinct to follow orders, the crew once more raised their weapons and cut loose with a barrage of gunfire at Supermane.

Lucky only had a millisecond to feel a wave of terror at the oncoming hail of bullets, before she suddenly felt strong hooves gripping her barrel and a hurricane’s worth of wind against her face. The next thing she knew, Supermane was crouched over her on the deck, an overturned and rapidly deteriorating table serving as the only other shield between her and death by swarms of lead. Even with her shoulder up against his chest, she could feel the thud-thud-thud of the bullets peppering him across the back.

“When I tell you to run,” she heard him say into her ear. “Find cover right away and stay there. Don’t let me see you trying to kill yourself playing hero again.”

“A-alright,” Lucky squeaked out, her voice lost in the roar of the storm. Then she suddenly remembered Dawning. “W-wait, there was–”

But Supermane had already moved on from talking, kicking the table with one hind leg and sending it flying across the deck. It slammed through the gathered cluster of marauders, the already damaged piece of furniture shattering into broken splinters as it bashed them aside.

“Go, now!”

Lucky nodded quietly, scampering off to one side as Supermane leapt back up into the air. The pirates didn’t bother following her as she bolted. They had their eyes on more dangerous game now, letting waves of gunfire follow the flying pony as he swooped over the side railing and arced out over the ocean. Bullets pinged and bounced off of his body as he turned around and dove back towards the ship.

Good, good… Dawning thought to himself. Keep aiming at me, forget about everyone else…

Then he saw some of the pirates raising up long, heavy metal tubes over their shoulders. There was a cluster of loud BOOMs as he saw two–no, three–bursts of light erupt from the tubes. Rocket launchers. The projectiles glinted in the moonlight as they streaked towards him.

Great…more heavy weaponry…

Dawning dove down, away from the ship and towards the ocean below as he heard the rockets whistle over him. He looked over his shoulder to see if he’d lost them…only to feel his heart sink a little as he saw the three rockets had arced down too, following hot on his trail.

Guided missile launchers. As if he needed more proof that these weapons came from LexCorp…

Dawning leveled off just over the surface of the water, his hooves leaving a white wake of foam as they skimmed the surface, whatever remained of his cape flapping like a torn, ragged flag. Still the missiles followed in his trail, engines whining as they gained on him. 

Damn, they’re persistent…need to find some way to–

Suddenly his mind flashed back to just after the monorail. When Rainbow Dash had come after him.

He stopped abruptly in midair, and sure enough, the missiles shrieked right on past him, their guidance systems momentarily confused by his sudden stop. Two seconds later they realized what had happened and began arcing around…

…but that was all the time Dawning needed.

His eyes flashed red, bombarding the missile to the far left with heat vision. It went off in a blinding explosion with a sound to match, and Dawning found himself quietly relieved that the Constitution was so much higher up; if it had been closer it might’ve done further damage to the hull.

Dawning let the next missile close in on him, then rolled out of the way and delivered a kick to it with one hind leg, sending the thing spiraling off into the waves below. It splashed beneath the waters before going off, blowing up a slurry of white sea foam and glinting shrapnel.

And the third…Dawning looked back and realized in an instant that this one was about to find its target. All he could do was mentally brace to be blasted like with the sluggers…

He felt the tip of the warhead hit, crumple against his chest, and then explode all in a second. Once again Dawning found himself thrown backwards, his ears ringing, letting out an instinctive gasp…but this time, he found that righting himself in the air was quicker, easier, that the force of the blast didn’t leave him stinging and aching quite as much, and the ringing in his ears died away much quicker now.

Maybe because I was expecting this one? Dawning wondered as he shook himself off. Did…preparing for it actually help my body take it better–no. Theories later.

Dawning swooped up from underneath the Constitution and hovered above the deck. Most of the hostages had either fled below decks with the pirates now otherwise occupied, the remaining stragglers–the Element Bearers and his Planet co-workers included–having found cover wherever they could. Rainbow Dash had resumed her flyby assault on the pirates; half of them were shooting at her again, while the Corsair and the others looked over the side where Dawning and the missiles had gone. 

Only a few heard the whooshing noise of him darting down towards the deck again; just in time to cry and point out, too late to do anything before he swept over the missile launchers and rained a cascade of heat vision down across the weapons. They were bisected instantly, sending their operators scrambling back, clutching burnt limbs in pain.

An instant later, Supermane slammed down onto the deck with a hard THUMP, shaking the floor and sending the pirates unlucky enough to be close by tumbling off their legs.

“About time you came back up!” Rainbow chirped as she hovered overhead. “I was beginning to–”

“Go to the others,” Supermane interrupted, barely giving her a glance as he watched the pirates regain their footing. “Make sure they’re alright, keep them out of the way…yourself included,” he finished, with just a little bit of a forceful note in his voice.

Rainbow frowned a little as she backed off. “Okay, okay…”

“Back up, I got this!” a thick voice rumbled behind Dawning. 

Pirates scattered as the speaker let out a bellow that seemed to shake the sky. Heat assaulted Dawning’s back as an anomalous purple light cast his shadow before him. Dawning turned around and his eyes widened again. Ah, darn–

He took to the skies as a wave of purple flames washed over the space where he had been floating a moment ago. The fire cascaded over the floors, crackling as it greedily devoured the wood. 

“Hold! Still!” the nirik pirate shouted, glowing eyes blazing with hatred amidst the flames that covered his body. He took in another inhalation as the pirates opened fire once more, the rattling of their gunshots blending with the renewed screams of whatever patrons still remained above deck, and the crackling of the fire. Another surge of flames chased Dawning as he flew in a circle over the pirates, bullets whistling in his wake. 

All the while, Quicksnap was crouched behind a table off on the sidelines, camera in his talons, one claw tapping the shutter button so fast that it was almost a blur, and grunting in annoyance all the while. Goldenrod was hiding beneath the tablesheets of a buffet table a scant few feet away.

“Shouldn’t you be hiding?” She asked.

Quicksnap kept his eyes glued to the screen as he continued snapping photos. “Gotta…get…just one…good…pic of him…okay, okay just please stay there…aw, son of a–“

“Bad language,” Goldenrod warned. Quicksnap just grumbled in frustration and shut his beak.

Meanwhile, the nirik had figured out how to lead his target. Dark purple obscured Dawning’s vision as he was surrounded by a pervasive heat that seemed to dig into his bones; he tried to scream, but opening his mouth drew the arcane fire into his lungs. Bullets hammered at him as the pirates concentrated their fire, while the heat and pain of the nirik’s flames forced him to fall to his hooves on the floor. 

“We got him!” He heard Corsair shout. 

Don’t…count…on it. 

Dawning pressed against the floor and rocketed back up into the air. Clean, cool air filled his lungs as he took in a deep breath, then turned and faced the nirik. More magical fire raced at him with a roar, and he met it with a mighty exhalation of his own. The icy wind met the nirik’s fire with a great hissing and an explosion of steam…then pushed the flames back, washing over the nirik and the other pirates. Cries of shock and pain were suddenly cut off as the clouds washed over them, turning into a low crackling. 

When the steam cleared away, both the nirik and his comrades were now encased in pillars of ice. The fires had been doused in the arctic blast as well, leaving only a faint acrid odor to mark their former presence. 

Dawning landed hard back on the deck. He breathed heavily as he stood up, air hissing through gritted teeth, smoke rising from his body and clothing, eyes glowing red again as he looked up to glare at the remaining pirates.

Including Bronze, there were only a scant few who were still standing. Only one remaining griffon among them still had a slugger. As they stared back into Supermane’s glowing, angry red eyes, none of them could keep their terror from showing on their faces any longer. They’d played their last cards, and they all knew where they stood.

He.

Was.

Done.

Supermane took a single, silent step forward–

And then somebody shrieked out “FIRE, FIRE!” and the remaining pirates cut loose. The air was shattered by the thundering hail of gunfire. Streaks of light flew at Supermane’s body, collided, and bounced away in different directions, bullets pinging against the deck or whistling through the air.

Dawning walked through it all. He leaned forward into the barrage, legs pushing against the force of the weapons’ firepower, his black tail and the tattered remains of his cape billowing as in a tempest. He kept his body and muscles steeled, willing himself to stand and push through. He became as an unbreakable stone in a pounding surf.

The lone griffon raised up his slugger and fired. The shell struck and exploded against Dawning’s chest, tearing up the deck paneling around him…but this time he was ready for it. This time he stood firm and braced against the force of the explosion, only being knocked back slightly by the blast.

The cloud of smoke around Supermane was lit up by flashes of yellow and white from the gunfire…and then red as his eyes lit up. Ghostly, crimson beams of heat flashed out and struck the slugger, and the griffon howled as he dropped it and clutched his talons.

The lead hailstorm began to trickle and diminish, the piercing ratatatat of gunfire slowly giving way to hollow clicks. One by one, ammo clips produced their last bullet, and the guns went empty as the last of their contents were fruitlessly fired into Supermane’s body. The last one to go was Bronze Corsair’s, as he fired off whatever rounds he had left from a spare pistol he’d taken.

BANG!

BANG!

Click. Clickclickclick.

And with that, the last gun went silent–

“…oh, you’re screwed now,” Rainbow Dash whispered from the sidelines.

–and Supermane leapt like a tiger towards them.

The remaining pirates scattered and fled in all directions, Corsair included. He turned tail and bolted down the deck, the ends of his coat billowing out behind him, hearing the whooshing of wind and the screams of the crew behind him as they were taken down one by one. He was at last at his wits’ end, and all he could think about was getting as far away as he could from the…the thing who’d cut them down in a matter of minutes.

Bronze turned his head back to look over his shoulder, just for a moment. It was just enough time for him to careen at full speed into a pair of bodies, tumbling head over hooves and smashing into a table as he fell, caught in a tangle of limbs. He kicked out instinctively–“OW, MY BEAK!”–and an orange-and-red hippogriff went staggering down to the deck. As Corsair picked himself up, he heard something yelp in terror and felt frantic kicking at his chest. A young filly.

Corsair only glanced down at her for a moment before a last, desperate idea flashed into his brain…

SMACK!

A donkey fell to the deck, knocked out cold by a back-hoof from Dawning. There was only one pirate left standing for him to take care of now, a white-colored pegasus that he recognized at the captain’s side from earlier in the night. The pegasus’s wings nervously twitched; Dawning could tell that he wanted to try flying, but knew it’d do him no good. He made ready to pounce–

Suddenly, a shrill scream pierced the air, and Dawning’s head snapped around to find the source. As soon as he found it he felt his blood, fired up with adrenaline and fury just seconds before, suddenly chill.

Farther down the deck, he saw Bronze backed up against the railing, a little filly struggling as she dangled from one hoof. Goldenrod. From nearby, he saw Quicksnap scrambling up from the deck at Corsair with a cry of “Let her go!”, reaching to pull the filly out of his clutches…only to get floored by another kick from the captain’s hind leg.

“Put me down!” Goldenrod wailed. “Help!”

Dawning’s brow furrowed into a glare, ducking his head low as he began to creep towards them. “Let her go. Now,” he growled.

Corsair looked into Supermane’s eyes from across the distance between them, his face somehow a mixture of anger and terror. “Let me and my mates walk…” he growled. “…or I throw her over.”

“NO!” Shrieked the voice of Mayor Policy. Rarity and Fluttershy were just barely holding him back off to one side, while the older stallion struggled and squirmed. “NO, PLEASE, NOT MY LITTLE FILLY–”

“THAT GOES FOR YOU TOO!” Corsair roared at him, holding Goldenrod over the side of the railing. “ANYONE TRIES TOUCHING ME I’LL THROW HER, I SWEAR TO FAUST!” The child’s screams and pleas became shriller, sobbing dryly as she stared down at the water so far beneath her. 

The surrounding ponies stared, wide-eyed and tense to see what would happen. Dawning stood in place, glaring at the mercenary as he considered his options. At this point he absolutely believed that the captain would do it. And in truth, part of him wasn’t sure what to do. Heat visioning a gun out of someone’s hoof or claw was one thing, but this was a young child that was being held, and he didn’t want to risk accidentally burning her. He knew he was fast enough to cross the distance between them and snatch her away. But on the other, if he was too slow by even a second–or worse, grabbed her the wrong way while going so fast…

He shuffled his hooves, just ever so slightly…

It wasn’t clear if Bronze actually thought he was about to make a move, or if he just lost his nerve at around the same time. Whichever the case, the next thing everypony knew, he’d let Goldenrod fall over the side of the ship while he turned and bolted towards the bow. The crowd erupted into horrified screams, Policy’s the loudest and most despairing of all. Several rushed towards the railing, not that there was anything they could do.

But Supermane was faster than them, and he was over the side in a blur and a gust of wind and darting down after the falling filly before any of them even got there.

The screams faded, replaced only by Goldenrod’s as Dawning flew down after her, the wind in his ears. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Corsair leap over the side himself. The white pegasus swooped down and caught the captain, turning and banking around into a nearby cloud cover in the opposite direction. 

Damnit… He’d have to track them down later… 

He flew down past the flailing filly, then banked up and came up to meet her at a slower pace, his forelegs held out gently. Goldenrod landed in his grasp with a grunt, the same hooves that lifted a train not so long ago receiving her like a pillow. Her wide, tear-streaked eyes looked up at him in awe and disbelief. 

“It’s okay,” Dawning whispered, gently ascending back up to the ship. “I’ve got you. You’re safe.”

Her tiny forelimbs wrapped around his neck. “Thank you!” she cried. “Thank you, thank you! You’re a hero!” 

Hero. There was something about that word that felt like a sting in his chest, and Dawning found himself hating it. He’d never wanted…

Stop it. She’s safe. You got to her before it was too late. That’s…that’s all that matters.

Except even his own conscience didn’t sound so firm on that either…

They were met with a moment of astonished silence as Dawning crested the side of the airship, the crowd of ponies parting as he gently alighted on the deck. He’d only just touched down when he saw Sound Policy pushing his way through. “Goldenrod!”

“Daddy!” Goldenrod cried, leaping out of Supermane’s arms and bounding across the deck to her father. Mayor Policy grabbed her up in a tight hug like she was the most precious gem in the world, gasping in relief as he buried his face into her shoulder.

“Oh Faust, oh Faust, I thought I’d lost you…oh Faust…”

Dawning couldn’t help it; in spite of whatever he’d felt seconds earlier, he found himself smiling now.

But it faded back into that same discomfort just as quickly when Mayor Policy looked up at him, the fur of his face stained with tears as he looked at Supermane like some kind of angel. “Thank you…thank you…”

Somepony started clapping their hooves. Then another. Then three more. And before Dawning knew it, everyone on the deck was applauding loudly for him. 

Dawning stepped back a little. His eyes scanned across the crowd until they found Lucky and the Elements in their midst. Rarity, Rainbow, and Lucky were all applauding along with everypony else, Lucky the hardest and loudest of all. Only Fluttershy didn’t join in; instead, she stood quietly staring at Supermane, head tilted ever so slightly to one side.

Dawning fought the urge to tug at his hood, reassuring himself with feeling it against his ears and the top of his mane. It’s alright…you’ve still got it up and it’s still dark out…they can’t see it’s you…

Meanwhile, Quicksnap scrambled back up, absentmindedly wiping some blood from his beak as he stared up at Supermane. He sighed in relief when he saw Goldenrod safely in the arms of her father…and then, with a suddenly growing excitement, realized that at long last Supermane was standing perfectly still. Finally!

He raised his camera, suppressing a tremble; he might never get a chance this good again. He took careful aim at the caped figure and tapped the shutter button. 

Click.

Quicksnap blinked in confusion and looked at the screen, his eyes widening in dismay at the message displayed. 

Card Full.

“…oh, come on!” 





Dr. Green Vale had scooted away from the desk, staying as far away from Lex as he could. He didn’t want to be anywhere near the burning, silent glare that the businesspony wore on his face as he stared into the drone feed. 

But he could see its reflection in the monitor. And that was enough to send shivers down his spine.

“Nothing,” he suddenly growled. He abruptly stood, with such speed that Vale flinched and hurriedly scooted himself off to the side as Lex turned and walked away from the desk. “Absolutely nothing.”

He began to pace, nostrils flaring as he breathed in and out like an enraged bull. That had been his best military-grade personal weaponry, as much as he dared throw at Supermane under guise of a pirate raid…and it had done nothing. And even when it had, it still wasn’t enough. The guided missiles, the concussion cannons…Tartarus, even the basic weaponry! Those bullets had been designed to crack dragon scale and they’d just bounced right off!

Faust above, he’s invulner–no. No. Don’t you dare sink to using that word, nopony is ‘invulnerable’…

“S-sir?” Dr. Vale squeaked.

“What?” Lex snarled.

Vale cringed. “T-the weapons…we’re going to need to figure out how to–”

“Destroy them,” Lex snapped, turning away and marching off into the depths of the penthouse. “Destroy them all.”

“N-now?” Vale asked. “Sir, there’s still dozens of passengers near–AH!”

Merciful Grace shoved past him towards the computer, hovered the mouse cursor over a window marked Self-Destruct, and clicked.





“Um, excuse me…p-pardon me, sorry…”

Fluttershy wormed her way through the crowd, head ducked meekly and ears flattened against the auditory barrage of cheers and hooves clapping. Despite the noise, she pushed through as best as she could.

She had to get to Supermane. He was right here, and this was their best chance yet to get to talk with him.

At last she broke through the maze of bodies to at least be able to see him again. Mayor Policy had stepped forward and was shaking his hoof with grateful vigor. Supermane’s hood was still up; she couldn’t see his face clearly through the shadowy shroud it cast over it, but she could’ve sworn that he looked uncomfortable. She could see him shuffling his other three hooves, but only just so, like he was trying to hide it.

“I-I can’t thank you enough,” the Mayor was saying . “I really can’t…oh Faust…”

“Uh…you’re welcome, sir…” How he talked drew Fluttershy’s attention too; something between a properly spoken reply and a grunt. He sounded as uncomfortable as his body language suggested, but he was trying to mask it by being polite. It was something she herself was well-acquainted with. He didn’t like the attention. Now that the immediate threat was dealt with, he wanted to be anywhere but here. Fluttershy could tell that much. 

Supermane stiffened, and she heard him clearing his throat underneath the hood. “Mr. Mayor, I–”

“Supermane!”

Lucky Lead squeezed past Fluttershy and hurried up to the cloaked stallion. Fluttershy saw him flinch and step back a slight bit as she skidded to a halt before him.

“I-I’m sorry…we had a friend with us, one of my coworkers. Dawning Hope. Tall stallion, tan fur, glasses…they…they threw him over–”

“I know,” Supermane replied curtly. “I found him on the way in, he’s safe.”

Lucky sighed in relief. “Oh Faust, thank you…”

Supermane turned back to the Mayor. “Sir, there’s something–”

He abruptly stopped, suddenly turning his head from one side to another. Fluttershy barely had time to wonder before there was a loud bang that made her jump with a yelp. She whirled around to see a molten, smoking mass of red-hot metal that had once been a gun laying on the deck a little ways away.

The crowd hadn’t even lapsed back into full panic mode before another discarded weapon suddenly exploded into sparks and smoke.

And then another. And another. And then they started hearing muffled booms and pops from the decks beneath. All throughout the Constitution, the pirates’ fallen weapons flashed white hot and burst into a moment’s worth of flame, like a trail of firecrackers strewn across the ground.

Fluttershy instinctively dropped to the ground, holding her hooves tight over her head and ears amidst the renewed chaos. It didn’t last long. In about ten seconds it was over, and where it not for the sounds of screaming and stamping of hooves, the ship would’ve been silent again.

Somepony reached down and pulled her up to her hooves. “Fluttershy darling, are you hurt?!” Rarity asked, worry in her voice.

“N-no, I’m not…” Fluttershy shakily replied.

Rainbow Dash came up to them, looking around in shock. “They…they just exploded! All the guns and stuff, they just…buckin’ blew up!”

Fluttershy looked around. Smoke rose in thick wisps from the destroyed weapons, some still glowing a dull red. The passengers were settling down now–slightly, anyway–and wisely keeping their distance. Some looked like they’d been caught too close when the weapons went off and had been either burned or hit with debris; fortunately, nopony seemed to have been seriously hurt or worse, at least. Fluttershy saw several ponies grabbing table cloths and even ripping up their evening wear to serve as bandages where needed. The Mayor was holding Goldenrod tightly. Quicksnap was frantically trying to insert a new card into his camera.

Lucky ran up to them, out of breath. “Did you see that?!” She panted. “Faust above…I knew something was fishy about that kind of firepower, but that…I don’t know if they were enchanted or…wait…” She looked around quizzically. “…where’s Supermane?”

There was a whooshing of air overhead, and a gust of wind that blew the four ponies’ manes. They all looked up just in time to catch a glimpse of the tattered end of Supermane’s cape as he swept off over the waters, towards the lights of Manehattan in the distance.

“He’s heading back to the city!” Rainbow cried as she unfurled her wings. “If I hurry maybe I can–”

“Wait,” Fluttershy said, hopping up into the air and hovering in front of Rainbow. “Let…let me go after him.”

Dash blinked in confusion. “What? Flutters, no offense, but…why you–”

“I…” She looked over her shoulder. “…no time to explain, I just think it might be best if I’m the one who tries talking to him. I-I’ll be back as soon as I can and let you know!”

She didn’t wait for any more debate. With a flap of her wings, Fluttershy turned and flew off into the night after Supermane, as fast as her wings would allow her.

Lucky ran to the railing. “Hey, wait! I’ve got questions I want asked…oh, at least come back and take a notebook…or a tape recorder?…”





Bronze Corsair’s hooves clattered against the smooth tiles of the rooftop as White Wind set him down. The two sat in silence for a while, panting heavily, sucking in the cool night air, trying their best to suppress the shudders running through both of their bodies.

It was a couple minutes before the young first mate started to speak. Or rather, stammer. “Wha…the hell…how…”

Bronze shook his head. “I don’t know, White…I don’t know and I don’t want to know…”

He shakily stood to his hooves, slowly walking to the edge of the roof. White had set them down back in the city’s harbor district, flying as best he could in the hopes of shaking the…the thing that had come after them. The sea was to their backs, the Constitution’s lights glowing like a beacon in the night. 

Bronze looked out across Manehattan, trying to figure out where to go next. At this point, all he could think about was getting out of the damned city, getting back out to their ship, and then high-tailing it out of Equestrian waters.

They could take the pay and shove it for all he cared.

At last he thought he’d worked out a plan, and identifying a path to escape gave him a slight bit of relief. A little gust of breeze at his back helped relax him.

“Alright…I think…I think if we can cut across to the opposite side of the island, we can get a boat at the harbors on the other side, shake ‘em off along the way…” He turned back to White.

…except White Wind wasn’t there anymore. Corsair suddenly realized that he was all alone on the rooftop.

He felt his heartbeat start to quicken, his muscles tensing, his breathing picking up speed. He rapidly glanced around in all directions, beginning to instinctually back towards the center of the roof. He reached beneath his coat for a gun, only to remember that he’d lost it when–

Then something sharply tugged upward at his shoulders, and he suddenly couldn’t feel the ground beneath his hooves anymore. He looked down to see Manehattan dropping away from him at break-neck speed; in less than five seconds, he began to feel the wispy moisture of clouds against his fur.

He was so shocked by the sudden ascension that he didn’t think to start screaming until a full two seconds into the upwards flight.

Abruptly the ascent stopped, and Bronze was forcibly turned around, held up by the collar of his coat. The next thing he knew, he was staring at the dark, hooded head of the flying pony, narrowed blue eyes glistening in the shadows, the Moon’s glow framing his shrouded head like a halo.

“Who gave you those weapons?”

Bronze’s jaw worked like a gasping fish. “Wha…wha…”

“The guns,” the stallion growled again. “Who. Gave them. To you?”

“I…I…” Bronze swallowed, sweat running in streams from his forehead. “I don’t know, I…I don’t know…”

The stallion shut his eyes, and Bronze felt the warm breath of an exhale. 

“I consider myself a patient pony. There are very few things that can move me to anger.” The stallion’s voice was now dangerously, hair-raisingly calm. “Putting other ponies’ lives in danger…” His eyes snapped wide open, pupils and irises glowing like embers. “…especially children…is very high up on that list.”

“Ch…child…” Bronze stammered. “T-the filly?…w-wasn’t personal, w-what was I–”

The stallion titled his hooves ever so slightly. Bronze’s coat slipped out of his grip.

And then he was falling, wind screaming in his ears and drowning out his shriek of terror, tumbling head over hooves as he fell, vision spiraling between the rapidly rising city below, and the red-eyed angel of judgement hovering in the pale moonlight.

Somehow in the midst of panic, in the middle of being certain that his life was about to end, Bronze willed himself to shut his eyes tight…

…and then felt something grip him by the tail and slow him to a stop.

Whimpering and shuddering, he slowly opened his eyes again, and found his vision filled by the sharp, angular stone edge of a rooftop. Were he an inch or so closer, it would have been touching his head.

Right between the eyes.

Bronze felt himself being lifted back up into the sky again, still being held by the tail, left to dangle as he watched the city shrink away once more.

“That filly was almost ten,” he heard the stallion say. “Maybe younger. She almost died tonight, and she’s going to remember that for the rest of her life.” His voice dropped back into a growl of barely-held fury. “I don’t have to catch you. I could easily just let you fall and not do anything. There are plenty of ponies who would say you deserve it. The only reason I haven’t is because I choose not to. I’m being more merciful to you than most would say you deserve. So with that in mind…”

The stallion tossed Bronze up into the air and grabbed him by the neck, holding him close enough that Bronze could feel the heat radiating from his eyes. “Tell me. Who gave you. Those weapons?”

“I DON’T KNOW!!!” Bronze cried, trembling uncontrollably, tears flowing now. “I don’t know, I really don’t know! T-they came and found me, they never said who they worked for! I-I-I tried to find out, I did, I wanted to know, but they…I don’t know…please…”

The stallion didn’t reply. He just shut his eyes, and Bronze felt him huff in frustration. He didn’t like what he had heard, and it was terrifying.

“P-p-please…I don’t know, I really don’t…w-wait…where are we…what are you…no. No, wait!…”





Wish I could’ve gotten a coffee… Copper Top thought to herself as she paced back and forth along the barricade.

By now, word of what was happening aboard the Constitution had started to reach the mainland, in no small part due to the ship’s crew regaining control of the communications systems and finally getting an SOS out. While it was now generally known as well that the pirate threat had been neutralized by Supermane, the police were still mobilizing in full force, and other emergency crews were on stand by to render assistance to the wounded.

It also meant that waves and waves of sight-seers and media ponies would come pouring in from all over to catch a glimpse of the scene. Which meant that they’d need to be kept safely out of the way so the authorities could do their work.

Which was how Copper had been one of many off-duty officers who’d been called in to provide backup along the barricades they’d erected to keep the gawkers out until they could get a handle on the situation.

Ah well. Duty called.

But when this is over I’m getting myself a–

Something came whooshing overhead with enough force that it almost knocked Copper’s cap off, and there was a loud crash and splintering of wood that made her jump. She quickly spun around; the back door of one of the police wagons just behind her had had its door smashed inward, like something had been thrown through it.

Copper with drew a baton from her utility belt and extended it, slowly approaching the wagon, flanked by two other officers. With the tip of the baton, she pushed open the remnants of the door.

Laying inside on his back was Bronze Corsair, his mane disheveled, hooves wrapped up in his own belt, panting for breath and shaking like a leaf.

“Uh…do we tell him to freeze?” Copper asked aloud.





Fluttershy crouched behind a rooftop air conditioning unit, watching Supermane as he arced overhead towards the next roof over. His shredded cape billowed as he landed, raising a foreleg like he was about to stomp a hoof in frustration. But he held back, and eventually settled for sitting down and hanging his head. Fluttershy could just make out the faintest echo of a sigh from beneath the dark red hood.

It had taken tremendous effort for her to keep up with him. She could fly fast if need be, but she was no Wonderbolt. Still, she had kept up as best as she could, taking cover first between clouds, then flying low between the upper floors of buildings in an effort to stay out of sight.

Fluttershy had hoped that she could perhaps follow him back to wherever it was that he lived, or failing that, somehow find a way to get his attention and try talking to him. But that had been before she watched him snatch up the captain. When she saw Supermane drop him from such a height, her heart had practically leapt into her mouth, and it took all the effort she could muster to hold back a scream. For those fleeting few seconds, she genuinely thought she was about to watch Supermane kill somepony.

He hadn’t. But seeing him that furious with somepony gave Fluttershy a shock of fear.

And she knew that he was still fuming. Watching him now, she could practically feel how angry the ordeal with the pirates had made him. He seemed to be trying to calm himself down now, taking deep breaths, occasionally pawing at the rooftop with one hoof or another. But even from a building away, she knew he was still tense.

It was at this point that she thought about this pony, who could fly faster than even Rainbow Dash, who had lifted a tram and half a bridge with his bare hooves, who she’d seen shrug off bullets and explosives, who could melt steel with a glance, and who was very much not having a good night, all of that…and began seriously reconsidering her plans to make contact with him.

No, this…this isn’t a good time...best to just leave him alone…

Fluttershy slunk back behind the unit and slowly turned around. She didn’t dare take flight from here. If she could reach the opposite edge of the roof and get out of his line of sight–

“I can hear you, you know.”

Fluttershy jumped, instinctively scrambling back against the air conditioning unit, wincing as she felt the metal lightly clang against her back and unfurled wings. She struggled to control her breathing, fighting panic.

“I can see you, too,” She heard Supermane call out again. “You’re hiding behind the AC unit. Sitting down, back pressed up against the side, back hooves off the ground. Wings open–you just stretched them outward by two inches.”

Fluttershy’s heart raced. She began to sweat, glancing around in fright. How is he seeing me?!

The next few seconds were agonizingly silent, and Fluttershy was left with only her heartbeat and panicked breathing to hear.

Then, from behind the unit, she heard the sound of hooves lightly touching down on the stone masonry. When Supermane spoke again, his voice was even, calm, gentle.

“Come out, Miss Fluttershy. I want to talk to you.”