//------------------------------// // Part 2, Chapter 1 // Story: Mare of Steel // by iowaforever //------------------------------// Chapter 15 Princess Celestia hated meetings. Thousands of other ponies would agree with her, but being as old as she was she had a special disdain for them that no other pony would understand. Part of her wanted to call off all meetings and run the country as she saw fit, but the more rational side of her kept pressing her to accept the meetings as the best way for ponies to voice their ideas on how Equestria should be maintained. Dealing with the amount of weirdos she had to put up with made her doubt her rationality. “While I admire your enthusiasm in wanting to defend Equestria,” Celestia said “Giving every pony hoof axes, regardless of age or mental stability, so they can fend off a zombie attack is not only risky but economically unsound. Besides, it’s impossible to reanimate dead flesh; believe me, I would know.” “That’s what they want you to think!” the pony standing before her said. “The necroponies let you believe that they can’t exist, and then they attack you with their zombie armies while you’re weak and helpless.... Also, if we ever got attacked by the Griffon Kingdoms then we’d be better prepared to defend ourselves.” “The Griffons have been our allies since the Nightmare Moon incident; the chance that they would willingly turn on us is incredibly low, especially with our economies being so intertwined. Your proposal is fine, but it needs work; speak to me about it once it costs less money and deals with a viable threat.” the pony sputtered for a few seconds before composing himself and returning to his seat. Celestia turned to the rest of her administrators. “Now, is there anything else that needs to be discussed?” she asked. “Yes; what are you going to do about Supermare?” Celestia’s face dropped and she hung her head in frustration. Not this again... “General Steel Wing, we have discussed this matter several times and my answer is still no.” “But she is a viable threat!” said Steel Wing, a white Pegasus with a black mane flecked with streaks of grey. “Think about it; she is a pony who can withstand any weapon known to ponykind, can lift an incredible amount of weight with one hoof, and her senses can pick up more signals than anything we have. She is a threat to Equestria, and we need to stop her.” “From doing what? Supermare has done nothing to convince me that she plans to harm the citizens of Equestria, unless you consider stopping crime and saving ponies from natural disasters to be threatening.” “It’s a ruse; you place more trust in her and she’ll start making demands, and soon she’ll be ruling this country and all of us will be her personal attack dogs.” “That is the most ridiculous idea I’ve ever heard.” Celestia stood, looking at Steel Wing. “Have you ever heard of a Seal of Honesty?” “Yes.” “My personal student has cast several to see if Supermare is telling the truth, and every time she has been more than honest with us.” “How do you know that she doesn’t have some power that allows her to fake a test such as that?” “You’re paranoid, Steel Wing, and I don’t want a paranoid general in command of my forces. Drop this matter, or I shall have you replaced with someone I can trust.” Steel Wing glared at Celestia, his wings beating slightly. “I will convince you that I am right, no matter what it takes. I bet that Supermare is away in her secret base, planning your downfall as we speak.” .............. Rainbow Dash was lying beneath one of Applejack’s trees, finishing up her afternoon nap. She yawned, brushing the Daring Do book she had brought off her face, and stood to gather the rest of her things. She pulled a pair of saddlebags over and tossed the book inside before strapping them to her back, turning towards Ponyville as she did so. The last few weeks had been quiet; other than trying out for the Wonderbolts nothing exciting had happened in Ponyville. Rainbow had spent most of her time napping, practicing a few of her older moves to make sure they were still good, and occasionally saving a pony or two. The number of ponies searching for Supermare had dropped down, but Rainbow was still careful that her identity was safe with her. She spread her wings and took off, wind rushing through her mane as she flew towards Ponyville. She would have gone faster, but going too fast could have tipped a few ponies off as to who she was, and she would be up to her neck in Supermare fan-ponies. She liked attention, just not that much attention. She continued on her present course, flicking her ears this way and that in order to pick up any signs of trouble. Yes, it made her feel paranoid, and it drew attention sometimes, but it was better than letting a bunch of ponies die when something bad happened. She had searched for a way to stay informed without the ear-twitching, but short of being Supermare all the time nothing came forth. Unable to pick up any sign of danger, Rainbow Dash smiled and sped up a little riding an errant wind current towards Ponyville. She folded her wings and dove, pulling up just before colliding with the ground. “Oh, Rainbow Dash.” Rainbow turned and saw Twilight walking up to her, a few book bags slung over her flanks. “I didn’t expect to see you here this early.” “Oh hey Twilight. Yeah, I just couldn’t get to sleep.” Rainbow Dash landed and looked around. “Did I miss something?” “No, I was just on my way home when you showed up. Would you like to walk with me?” “Sure, why not?” Rainbow Dash fell in place next to Twilight, the two mares walking past dozens of other ponies going about their daily routines. “So... What’s in the bags?” Twilight asked. “Oh, just a Daring Do book and... other things.” “Oh...” it took Twilight a few moments to realize what Rainbow meant “Oh! Rainbow, isn’t that being a little paranoid?” “Beats having to fly back to my house every time somepony’s in trouble. Seriously, those clasps are a pain in the flank to get done in a hurry. I think I might expand my house so I can change faster.” “Rainbow, you have to be a little quieter about this. Some ponies may figure things out.” “Yeah, I know. Still, it’s kind of fun, going out there and helping ponies. Besides, I think I look cool in that suit... but, I’ve got problems.” “Oh joy.” Rainbow gave Twilight a soft jab in the side, retaining as much of her strength as possible to not knock Twilight into a wall. “Hey, this is serious! I keep getting these freaks that want to be my ‘arch-nemesis’.” “Yeah, I’ve heard.” Twilight produced a newspaper and passed it to Rainbow Dash. “This was in yesterday’s paper.” the picture showed a green earth pony dressed in a poorly fitted mask and towel cape hanging by his tail from Trottingham’s clock tower. “‘Local Earth Pony Attempts to Fight Supermare: Claims to be Arch Nemesis.’. Never knew the guy in my life.” “He said he did.” “He also said I was from Jupiter and was his second cousin or something. I don’t even have a second cousin!... At least, I don’t think so, and they’re probably dead anyway.” “Still, you don’t hang ponies from clock towers.” “I was having a bad day, okay? Tank had something wrong with his stomach and I had to wake up early to get him to Fluttershy, Derpy sent my mail to Raindrops and I had to spend three hours getting everything sorted out, once that was done some firebug in Trottingham tried to burn down an orphanage, and then this bozo comes up and says I’m his arch nemesis.” “I... I didn’t know about that.” “Yeah, they never talk about superheroes having bad days. It’s always ‘love interests’ and ‘arch nemeses’.” “But... you still like it, don’t you?” “Of course.” Rainbow Dash smiled. “Didn’t you hear what I said earlier?” “Well, yes... Are you sure you don’t need us to help with something?” “You’re doing fine; as long as you don’t tell anypony, I’m good. I mean, unless you can teleport halfway across Equestria and have a bunch of powers to prevent big natural disasters then you’d only slow me down.” “Oh, okay.” Twilight looked away. “Just make sure you don’t forget about us.” “I’d never do that. You guys mean the world to me and I’d never forget you, superpowers or no superpowers.” As soon as she finished saying this, her ear flicked towards Canterlot. Airship, weak ropes, not enough Pegasi to save everypony. “Uh, Twilight, I’ve gotta go.” “What? Did I do something wrong?” “No, just... I need to go. Now.” “Is something else wrong?” “Plenty.” Rainbow Dash took off towards Canterlot, tugging at the straps of one of her saddlebags. ............... Thunderlane set another pony down near a grove of trees, taking a quick headcount to determine how many ponies had been rescued. Usually he would have asked somepony to join him, like his cousin Blossomforth, but either because of his cockiness or stupidity he had decided to go alone. Last time I’ll go out like this alone. Nothing had happened until a rough spot near Canterlot had snapped one of the ropes holding the balloon to the rest of the airship. Things quickly spiraled out of control, and with only two other Pegasi capable of lifting a pony they were having trouble evacuating everypony. “Hey! Is that all of the foals?” he shouted as an older stallion landed. “I don’t know. I didn’t have time to check and see if there were any below deck.” Thunderlane spread his wings and shot upwards, returning to the stricken airship just as a second support cable snapped, causing the airship to lurch to one side. his wings beat against the skewed deck of the airship, allowing him to stay upright and continue his search for more ponies. However, debris from the deck of the ship were now raining down on him, and try as he might he could not get close enough to make his search more thorough. Thunderlane’s heart stopped for a moment when he heard the last few supports snap. He could only watch in mute horror as the airship fell to the ground, gradually picking up speed as it fell. He thought he could see a few ponies still onboard, some of them looking up to him as if to ask “Why me?”. He closed his eyes, waiting for the sound of the airship crashing against the ground. But no such sound came. Curious, Thunderlane opened one eye and saw the airship floating several meters off the ground, the ponies on deck confused as to their continued survival. Slowly the airship was lowered to the ground, and now he could see who had saved the airship: a tan pony dressed in a blue suit and red cape, her forehooves wrapped around the bow of the airship. “It’s Supermare!” one pony shouted, and soon the others were joining in with cheers for the hero. Supermare smiled as she lowered the airship to the ground, setting it down gently before flying up to help those still on board get down. Thunderlane couldn’t help but smile and flew down to the airship, trying his best to not get in Supermare’s way. “You should be proud of yourself.” Supermare said after unloading the last of the ponies. “If you and the other Pegasi hadn’t reacted how you did then more ponies would have been injured.” “Well, sure,” Thunderlane looked away, unsure of how to proceed “But, I mean, you saved the day.” “I like to think that we all saved the day here; you did the most important step, and I helped in the end phase.” She smiled and took off, rising over the rest of the ponies. “Statistically speaking, airships are still the safest way to travel. Just remember to check your supports next time you go flying.” she waved and took off, vanishing into the clouds while the other ponies cheered. Thunderlane stood in silence as Supermare left. He attempted to say something, but nothing could really describe the mix of emotions he was currently feeling. On one hoof he was still scared that somepony could have been hurt during the accident, but on the other hoof he was in awe that Supermare had arrived and saved everypony so quickly. He stood there for a few minutes before feeling something tugging at his tail. “Mister Thunderlane?” Thunderlane looked and saw a Pegasus filly staring up at him “Are you okay?” “Yes, I’m fine... I’m fine.”