Canterlot City. A place for all of its wonders and value was ridden with crime. Every kind of criminal you can imagine existed, pickpockets, bootleggers, smugglers, thieves, murderers... they were all there. The police forces were tough and did their best to apprehend most of them, but there were much bigger threats than common crooks - supervillains. Supervillains plagued the cities just as much as criminals, and they made most of the city's way of life difficult and frightening. And there was only one way of counteracting them... superheroes.
It was your typical day as two officers were in a shootout with two thugs.
"What in the heck did these guys steal?" An officer asked.
"Report says Ethersteel," another officer replied.
"What happened to stealing money from banks?"
"Where have you been? Science is the new currency."
As the cops continued to shoot, someone dressed in a purple suit wearing eye goggles was overlooking them.
"As Albert Einstein once said, 'Learn from yesterday, live for today, and hope for tomorrow.' Well, it's been two weeks since I came in contact with that magic geode. Still trying to figure it out."
The cops rolled out of the way as the thugs' getaway truck came and took off.
"Today, however, is what I live for. Making my debut and showing everyone what I'm capable of. From this moment, the world will know me as The Masked Matterhorn!"
"Hey, keep it down! Some of us are trying to sleep! The nerve of some people!"
"Sorry," Matterhorn replied. "Remember what your Uncle Astral Spirit said 'With great power comes great responsibility."
Then Matterhorn saw the truck with the stolen Metal on the move.
"Oh, no you don't!"
Matterhorn jumped a few buildings before landing on the truck just as the truck made a hard right. Matterhorn used her magic to gain control of the steering wheel.
"This car belongs in the HOV lane. Hoodlum Operated Vehicles." Matterhorn drove the truck right into a skate park. "Coming through!"
Matterhorn jumped off the truck and caught the truck with her magic.
"Ta-da!" Matterhorn announced as the skaters cheered. "All right, jerks. Cough up the metal."
One of them pushed the container out of the truck and to her feet.
"Thanks, guys. That's called an ollie."
Then her head buzzed.
"And that is my Danger Radar. It warns me when someone is trying to pull a fast one."
Then suddenly someone rammed her to the ground then Matterhorn looked to see someone wearing a black flight suit with a red visor.
"You may have defeated my minions, child. But you'll beg for mercy at the claws of Black Hawk," He announced himself then did a sonic scream at her.
"Black Hawk? You are horrible at coming by that name?" Matterhorn covered her ears as Black Hawk kept screaming.
Then Matterhorn places her Black Hole headphones to block the noise.
"That's more like it. Quite a scream you got there," Matterhorn said as she set her Sparkle Shackles to Electric Mode. "Ever think of auditioning for 'So You How To Scream'?"
Matterhorn fired an electric beam at Black Hawk that sent him back a little.
"Joke while you can, it will be your last!"
"Sorry. I can't hear you, these things have black hole sound absorption."
Black Hawk swooped in and gave her a punch to the gut, just Matterhorn headbutted him then Black Hawk grabbed her and took to the air.
"Easy there, my ears are starting to pop."
"I'm more of a dropping type of person," Black Hawk dropped her but Mattehorn activated her rocket boots and followed him.
"Gotta stop this guy before he wrecks every building in Canterlot," Matterhorn said then set her gauntlets to Ice Mode. "Time for you to feel the freeze!"
Matterhorn froze one of his jets which sent Black Hawk right into a Canterlot Weekly van.
"Now to make a cage for this bird."
Matterhorn went straight for him. Black Hawk was in the air and then made a sonic scream which shattered multiple glass windows.
"Did you forget about my headphones?"
"It wasn't for you," Black Hawk said as the glass shards were coming down to the arriving police. "It's either stop me or save them, hero!"
Matterhorn created an energy orb around them so the glass wouldn't hit, allowing Black Hawk to escape.
"Damn it, your first supervillain and you let him escape."
"Uh, Masked Matterhorn was it?" An officer asked her.
"Yes, officer," she turned around to see him.
"Appreciate the help but how long will that orb of yours pop?"
"Oh, that, it will disperse within an hour."
Much Later…
"I'm telling you, you're the one who should be going to Nexus High, in fact why not apply? It's a slam dunk." Monica said.
"I would love to apply, Monica, but Miss Candance just became the new principal for Crystal Prep and my family are barely scraping by. I can't ask any more from them."
"Smoothies are me."
"Not what I meant, I'm glad we can do this, Monica. I miss you not being in school."
"Yeah, well you're gonna see me a lot sooner than you think. There's an open slot at Nexus High, so Randall is giving a recruitment presentation at Crystal Prep today."
"That's today? Randall Mclean is coming to school today? How do I look?" Twilight asked.
"Kind of rattled for a guy who's not interested in applying," Monica replied.
"This Randall Mclean. He's my idol, I know everything about him. I even volunteered to come in early and help– Oh, shit, I volunteered to come in early and help set up today! Ice Light is going to kill me!" Twilight grabbed her stuff and headed out.
"Classic Sparkle," Monica smiled.
At Crystal Prep…
"Okay, I just need to reprogram the temperate threshold," Twilight was working on something.
"Sparkle!" Ice Light shouted as she and Ivory Haze came in. "You know you missed it?"
"I know. I'm sorry, Ice. But once I missed it, I figured I'd just catch up on some schoolwork."
"You're always at the wrong place at the wrong time, Sparkle. Luckily, Ivory was here to help."
"Yeah,More like forced to help."
"Thanks, Ivory. Hey I have a question, what temperature do you think a viscous liquid needs to reach before it achieves its maximum density?"
"You got me. You're the egghead, remember? I'm just the guy doing a story on Randall Mclean for the school's website. How epic is it that there's a school specifically for geniuses and that they're coming here for recruits?" Ivory asked then Willaim Rhodes and his son. Melvin entered the classroom.
"It can't be that good if that rich cat, Monica Simon got in. As far as I can tell, Nexus High is on par with a 4H club," Melvin scoffed.
"If the 4 H's are hardworking heroes who help," Twilight said to him.
"One of them has W, Sparkle," Ice Light groaned.
"Hey, I'm good with science, not spelling."
"Well, if Nexus High is legit, then Melvin Rhodes can get in as well."
"You're too good for them, son." William said. "Randall Mclean is an overrated lab assistant. I knew him back in the day, and he's a fraud."
"Whatever you say, ," Twilight said with a deadpan expression.
Then Ice Light's phone rang.
"Oh. it's 9:00. We should be starting."
Moments later, all the students were gathering at the auditorium and Ice Light was on the stand.
"Weclome, students of Crystal Prep. It isn't often a scientist gets called genus within his lifetime."
"Can we call him a giant dork?" Melvin said under his breath while preparing a spitball.
"But when he creates a private school for young minds looking to pursue their dreams, we also get to call him a role model. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Randall Mclean from Nexus High."
Everyone clapped as Randall Mclean took the stage.
"Good morning everyone. You know, I could spend a lot of time talking about the cool things we're doing over at Nexus High."
Melvin fired the spitball only for it go right through.
"What?" Mevin asked, realizing it's a hologram.
"Like I said, I could talk about them," The real one continued to talk. "But I would rather show you, with our new hologram prototype. Created by the fertile minds of Nexus High. I'm excited to say, we have one slot that needs to be filled this semester."
Then everyone raised their hands.
"Not that simple. You see, in order to be a student at Nexus, you have to certain kind of intellect."
Randall dropped a drone on the ground then the drone showed an equation.
"An intellect that can solve an equation like this for example."
"Wow, that equation seems to explain how moisture interacts with vibration meaning indoor storm clouds," Twilight thought.
"An intellect like Starlight Glimmer or Ocellus. Students who specialize in elemental physics."
Behind the curtain, Starlight and Ocellus were on a machine with Monica watching.
"You guys are on," Monica said to them. "Go."
Both of them headed out.
"Simon?" William asked.
"Oh, Mr William. What do you need?" She asked him.
"That contraction is making a funny sound. Is it supposed to do that?"
Monica went to check it but was unaware that Willliam took a photo of her.
"Looks fine to me."
"Don't be smug, you're not the-"
"And in the area of Chemistry, your very own Monica Simon," Randall spoke up.
"I gotta go," Monica left him.
"Keep talking, Mclean. I'm going to bring you and school down along with Canterlot High," William said.
On stage…
"Thanks, Randall. At Nexus High, kids are doing things they could have only dreamed of before. Like Starlight and her Ethersteel reactor. Starlight?"
"Once," Starlight started as she brought out the reactor. "Ethersteel could be found in the nation, Valentia, but with my Ethersteel reactor, there will be enough Ethersteel…"
As Starlight was talking, Twilight's Danger Radar was going off.
"Crap. Danger Radar is going nuts," Twilight exclaimed as the reactor created a sonic wave making everyone run to safety.
"Fortunately in this chaos, no one will notice me switching to…" Twilight went behind the curtain and put on her costume. "...The Masked Matterhorn."
Matterhorn appeared out of the curtain.
"Somehow the Ethersteel is working in reverse. Instead of vibrations, it's producing them," Matterhorn said while dodging the sonic waves. "Let's hope I got the magic worked out."
She used her magic to save some of the people from the sonic waves, then the place started to crumble.
"It's true what they say, Sparkle. You're always at the wrong place at the wrong time," Matterhorn explained as debris was falling on her.
Matterhorn use her magic on them and toss them to the other side.
"Okay avoided getting crushed, now shut that thing off," Matterhorn headed straight to the reactor and began working. "Detach the impulse valve with the discharge. That ought to stop you."
The reactor let out a blast that sent Matterhorn back that scorched her top a bit then it turned off.
"Okay, let's try not to have an indoor barbecue, shall we?" Matterhorn asked. "Luckily, I still have my Sparkle clothes."
Moments later…
"I shut the reactor off. But the fire department can handle these flames," Twilight pulled out her phone to call them only to have no signal. "Shit, no service. But someone needs to do something. And that person is me."
Twilight look over to see the drone that has Randall's equation.
"Well, hello, Randall's equation. That gives me an idea," Twilight smirked then proceeded to work on the reactor. "Piggyback on that Ethersteel output, absorb some of this condensation and redirect it. Repurpose the wires in."
The reactor produced a storm cloud and the rain put out the fire.
"All my work. What did you do?" Starlight asked.
"Uh, sorry."
"Why couldn't you just let that Matter kid handle it?"
"I think she's called The Masked Matterhorn," Twilight said then Starlight stormed off.
"Hey, don't let it bother you, pal. Bad news she'll hate you for life," Monica said.
"The good news?"
"You don't go to school with her."
"And who is this young girl I have to thank for putting out the fire?" Randall asked.
"This is Twilight Sparkle, the one I've been telling you about."
"Well, Twilight, I'm impressed. Not only have you solved my equation, but also put it to practical use. Indoor storm clouds are something I've been toying with, and you're the only one who figured it out."
"Mr. Mclean, look L solved it as well," Melvin said as he showed Randall his work.
"Sorry young man. That looks more like a Rorschach Test than an answer," Randall said to him. "Twilight, can I have a moment?"
"Curse you, Sparkle!" Mevlin grumbled as his father consoled him.
"Don't worry, son This will all be fixed," William said to him.
With Randall and Twilight…
"I appreciate what you did here today, Twilight. And with great please I like to offer you the remaining slot at Nexus," he said to her.
"Are you kidding me?" Twilight was stunned.
"Nexus High should be shut down," William came in. "What you did here today was reckless."
"My students know exactly what they're doing, William. And if we were to guess, someone did some tampering on campus."
"Don't be foolish. You want to point fingers? Point them at your own people."
He showed him the photo of Monica near the machine.
"I know for a fact that Monica was tinkering around with the reactor before the presentation."
"What? That can't be."
"And according to the board of education states that any student accused of sabotage shall be suspended indefinitely. Pending an investigation."
"You're a vicious person, William. But you're right. Monica, I hate to say it, but pending a brief investigation, I'm afraid you'll have to be suspended."
"What?" Twilight and Moncia gasped then Twilight said.
"You can't do that."
"I don't know what he's showing, but.."
She was interrupted when Black Hawk entered.
"Devastation. The perfect time for the Black Hawk to pick through the remains," Black Hawk said he grabbed Randall and carried him out of the school.
"Randall!" Monica exclaimed.
"I'll go and get help," Twilight said as she ran behind the curtain. "More like finding my costume so I can change back into.."
Twilight pulled out her costume and saw the scorch mark.
"Oh right. Note to self, make the costume out of flame resistant material, next time."
…
…
"Let go of me, Gunther," Randall said to him.
"Gunther Anderson, was a pathetic employee of yours, Mclean. Fired with insufficient cause. I am the Black Hawk."
"Gunther, you fired for stealing equipment," Randall said but was drop then Black Hawk grabbed him again.
"The equipment was rightfully mine," Black Hawk retorted.
"Everything you worked on belongs to Nexus."
"Yes, but my antigravity Black Hawk is all me. And it needs Ethersteel to work," Black Hawk said before getting kicked by Matterhorn that forced him to release Randall then Matterhorn use her magic to hold him.
"You again?"
"I knew the purple would be memorable," Matterhorn said as she flew away from Black Hawk. "Don't worry sir, I've got you."
Then Black Hawk grabbed both of them.
"Yes, but I've got you. Let's see how you like being stabbed in the back, like Mclean did to me."
He dropped both of them forcing them to free fall.
"Can't let my first day turn out to be Randall's last," Matterhorn dived and grabbed him and engaged her rocket boots.
"Thanks, Matter Girl."
"It's better than being a Matter kid. At least you're safe."
"Not yet, Black Hawk is heading back to the school. It's the Ethersteel he wants."
"Then hold on tight," Matterhorn said as they headed back.
At Crystal Prep, William grabbed the Ethersteel ore just as Black Hawk landed.
"You? I told you, I had everything under control," William said to him.
"Then why am I not in possession of the Ethersteel?" Black Hawk asked.
"I needed to take care of some business first."
"Your personal grudges don't concern me."
Black Hawk did a sonic scream at William that sent him right into a wall.
"Dad, are you okay?" Mevlin ran to him. "I'm gonna make Black Hawk pay."
"You will do no such thing," Black Hawk said as he holded the Ethersteel unaware that Matterhorn was there . "It will take someone stronger than you to take me down."
"Are you talking about me?" Matterhorn asked as she got close to Black Hawk and punched him which cracked his visor.
"No bother, I shall destroy you all just the same."
Black Hawk prepared to do a sonic scream but Matterhorn fired an ice beam at his mouth.
"Bull's eye, more like bird's eye," Matterhorn said as she kicked him into the wall where he was unconscious.
"Nice work for a catcher," A police officer said. "You mind sticking around to answer a few questions?"
"Honestly, I've got my own questions that need answering," Matterhorn said as she flew out of there."
…
"I just don't see how I can go Nexus High, mom." Twilight said to her mom, Twilight Velvet.
"Twilight, I thought we settled this. This exactly what your uncle Astral Sprint would have wanted. And we're not going to let him down."
"But how are you going to afford it?"
"I'll get a job like your dad. Are they hiring at the cafe here?"
"Very funny. I guess it just feels weird going there Monica. What's she gonna say now that she's been suspended?"
"She's gonna say the suspension is temporary," Monica said as she walked up. "And you deserve to be at that school as much as I do."
"Moncia! You okay? What did your dad say?"
"Relax he said, if the smartest school wouldn't have me he'd create an even smarter one. Whatever that means. Hi, Miss Velvet. What are you doing here?"
"Well, I was so determined to see Twilight go to Nexus High. I told her I'd walk him to school myself."
"Well, I can take it from here, if you want."
"Thanks. Have a great day you two."
"First day jitters?" Monica asked.
"Of course I do, I mean I'm going to school with a great mind such as myself." Twilight replied
"A simple yes or no would do. You're going to fit in just fine," Monica replied.
"How are you feeling?" Twilight asked.
"Confused. I know those Rhodes aren't fans of mine but it seems too devious, even for them. Plus that matter person showing and disabling the reactor can't be a coincidence. Now I think that guy had a hand in this somehow, and I intend to prove it."
"I don't know, maybe she was trying to help. But I can always count on you."
…
…
"See you later."
"Yeah." Both of them fist-bumped each other heads their separate ways.
'Learn from yesterday, live for today, and hope for tomorrow.' I guess Einstein was right. Even though I made some mistakes it still led me here. And with a new school as awesome as this to go to tomorrow could only get better, I hope." Twilight thought to her as she walked to the school entrance.
"Twilight Sparkle, you finally made it," Randall greeted her.
"Hi, ."
"Please call me Randall. Welcome to Nexus High."
He showed her the school.
My uncle Astral Sprint said everyone had a gift. Maybe I've finally found mine.