In hindsight, ripping the barn doors completely off their hinges and walking through the fire was probably NOT the best way to keep a bunch of foals in a room full of fire from panicking. The two foals on the ground and the one that had somehow managed to get into the rafters all stared at him with terror in their eyes as he entered the burning barn. One was an orange pegasus with a purple mane; the one next to it was a unicorn with a purple-pink mane. And the one hanging onto the rafters was a regular pony with a red mane. And all three of them were in danger.
"Okay, the three of you just remain calm. I'm here to help," he said to the three in a calm voice with both hands raised in front of him, taking slow steps towards them. But just as he feared, the two on the ground backed away from him in terror and nearly backed into the fire. This wasn't going to work. They didn't trust him. He had to find a way for them to believe him when he said he was going to help them. An idea came into his head and he walked underneath of the one hanging from the rafters.
"Listen to me. You have to let go. Don't worry, I'll catch you!" he called up to the one hanging from the rafters. If he could get one of them to trust him, maybe the other two would trust him as well.
"ARE YOU CRAZY!? I'M NOT LETTING A FREAKY MONSTER CATCH ME!" she screamed as she clung even tighter to the beam. Superman frowned. He could fly up and get her, but that would terrify them even more. He had to convince them that he wasn't going to hurt them.
"Don't worry. I promise I won't hurt you and I will catch you," he said in his most sincere voice. The filly looked down at him from the rafters, looking him in the eyes and seeing if he was telling the truth. She closed her eyes and took a nervous swallow before letting go of the beam. Superman was right there when she fell and caught her gently in his arms. The filly opened her eyes and looked up into Superman's face.
"Y-you caught me," she whispered.
"I promised, didn't I?" he said with a smile. "Alright, everyone get out of here!" The other two exchanged glances and ran over to him. They looked up at him nervously, but allowed him to pick them up and put them in his arms next to their friend. He wrapped his cape around all three of them and walked back out through the fire, making it outside safely. He gently put the three fillies on the ground and let out a sigh of relief. Two of the three started to shake the ash off their coats, but the yellow one stared at the burning barn.
"Mah barn's gone," she sniffed, tears starting to fall from her eyes. Superman frowned and looked at the burning barn. Using his x-ray vision, he found that even though it was burning, it was still salvageable.
"Don't worry, I can save your barn," he said with a smile to the filly. she looked up at him with tear stained eyes.
"R-really?" she asked.
"I can, but the three of you need to get behind me." When the three fillies had done this, Superman planted both feet on the ground and took in a deep breath. When he exhaled, a blast of wind blew from his mouth, blowing away all the dirt and debris around the barn. The fire was immediately extinguished by the gale and the barn remained standing, despite the fire damage. Superman smiled and turned to face the fillies, whose jaws were on the ground.
"There, problem solved," he said with another smile. The yellow one looked up at him in awe while the other two continued to gawk at the barn.
"How'd you do that?" the yellow one asked him in a whisper.
"I just simply exhaled and the force of my breath extinguished the fire." The filly rolled her eyes.
"No, I mean how did you DO that? No pony I know has the lung strength to put out a fire by blowing at it!" The other two had snapped out of their stupor and had turned to look at Superman, waiting to hear an answer.
"Well, I guess I can do it because of my superpowers," he said with a shrug. All three of the fillies' eyes widened as he said this and they gazed at him with awe.
"You're a superhero?" the white one with the pinkish mane asked, pushing past the yellow one. Superman nodded.
"Prove it," the one with the purple mane dared, pushing past her two friends.
"I just extinguished a fire with my breath, what more proof do you need?"
"Ha, Rainbow Dash could do that with her eyes closed!" the orange one bragged. Superman raised an eyebrow.
"Well," the yellow one began, fighting her way through the other two, "Ah would like to thank ya, um..."
"Superman," he finished for her.
"Okay, Supermane, thanks fer saving ma barn," she said with a smile, her accent becoming thicker.
"Happy to help," he told them, turning away and preparing to take off.
"W-wait!"
He stopped in mid jump and turned back to the three. "Yes, what is it?" The yellow one looked down at her hooves, as if embarrassed to ask her next question.
"Um, if yer so happy to help, would ya mind helping us repair the barn? If ma sister finds it in this state, she'll kill us." Superman considered saying no, since they probably should take responsibility for their actions. But the three of them gave him the puppy dog eyes routine and Superman found he just had to help.
"Alright, I'll help you."
"Thanks! Applejack would be mad if we lost another barn this month."
"THIS month?" Superman asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah, our barn's been destroyed twice already. If I burned it down again, AJ'd be super mad."
"Again?" he asked, but the fillies were no longer listening to him. They had formed a mini circle and had begun to discuss their plan.
"Okay, if we manage to repaint the barn's outside and inside, we should be able to repair it before Applejack gets back," the one with the yellow fur said. "She'll never know that it happened."
"Actually, she will." The fillies turned to Superman, who had crossed both his arms and was giving them a stern look.
"How would she know? We're not gonna tell her!" The yellow one said. Superman smiled.
"Actually, you are. That's my condition for helping you. You have to tell your sister the truth." The fillies all started to argue with him, but he held up a hand and they fell silent. "Are we agreed?" The yellow one wanted to argue, but she looked at the blackened barn and sighed.
"We agree to yer terms," she muttered.
"Good. But before we begin, I'd like to know your names and what you were doing in the barn with a flamethrower."
"Ah'm Applebloom," the yellow filly said, running up to him.
"I'm Sweetie Belle," the white one said with a smile, jumping on her friend's back.
"And I'm Scootaloo," the orange one said, jumping onto the other two. The tower of fillies collapsed and they all landed on the ground laughing.
"Alright Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo; tell me what you were doing in a WOODEN barn with a flamethrower? In fact, where did you three get a flamethrower in the first place?" The three gave each other nervous smiles before answering.
"We, uh, made it," Scootaloo said with a small smile. Both Superman's eyebrows went up this time.
"YOU made a flamethrower? All by yourselves?"
"Well...Spike helped a little, but yeah, we made it ourselves," Scootaloo said. Superman blinked twice before asking his next question.
"You're not often supervised, are you?" Superman asked, placing a hand on his face.
"Nope!" all three of them said at once. Superman shook his head and turned back to the barn.
"Alright, how about we get this barn fixed up?" The three fillies nodded and ran off, but soon came back with buckets of red paint and brushes. Superman thought about what he should do next. It would be a lot easier if he fixed up the entire barn himself, but he also didn't want to show off too much of his power. Besides, he wanted the fillies to do some work since they were the ones who caused the mess in the first place.
"Okay, how this? I'll get one half of the barn and you three get the other half?" The three instantly agreed and started to open paint cans, arguing over who got what. He smiled at their antics while taking up a brush and paint can before walking over to the other side of the barn. The moment he was over there and out of sight, he used his super speed to grab new beams and supports from a pile near the back of the house. Since Applebloom told him that they repaired the barn twice in a month, he knew they'd still have some construction material left over. While the fillies continued to argue, he zipped inside the barn and started to repair the damage. He destroyed badly damaged supports with his heat vision and quickly replaced it with a new support. He did the same for the beams, destroying and replacing them as needed. When the interior was structurally strong again, he zipped back outside to his side of the barn. He tore the lid off the paint can and dipped his brush inside. He quickly painted not only the wall, but also the roof, back wall and anyplace else where the barn had been burned. What he did last was to fix and reattach the barn doors to the front, making them as good as new. When he finished, he came to a stop by his wall and placed the brush back inside the paint can.
Superman looked at his work fondly, as it reminded him of home. Growing up as a farm boy in Kansas, he was used to task like painting barns and repairing damage. It came with the territory. But it taught him the meaning of a job well done and that hard work built character. He smiled as memories from his childhood came to mind and he allowed himself to travel down memory lane. After a few minutes of nostalgia, he went over to the other side of the barn to check on the three.
"No, we're supposed to paint over here!" Applebloom yelled to her companions. Superman let out another sigh. The fillies had more paint on them than the wall. They were once again arguing, this time about where the paint should go. He looked at the wall and found to his astonishment that only the very bottom was painted. He snapped his fingers and the three stopped fighting.
"What are you doing over here?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"I finished my side already." The three gasped and rushed over to where he had been painting. He could hear their cries of disbelief as they saw his work and how fast he had finished. They ran back over and started to question him.
"How'd ya do that so fast?" Applebloom asked in disbelief.
"Because I actually worked hard. You should try it," Superman replied. The three fillies looked at him in confusion.
"So how are we supposed to paint the barn as fast as you?" Scootaloo asked.
"You can't," he replied. The three lowered the heads, but then Superman smiled and leaned in close to the three. "Unless you work together." Applebloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle looked at each other and nodded, walking back over to their brushes and picking them up. Superman watched with a smile as the three painted the wall in a pretty fast time, although Superman had to help them get up to the higher section. When they had finished, the three stepped back and observed their handiwork.
"It looks pretty good,” Applebloom said while nodding.
"Yeah, we did a good job," Scootaloo added.
"I like it," Sweetie Belle said with a smile. Superman nodded at them and smiled.
"You all did a good job. Now if you excuse me, I need to go," Superman said, waving goodbye. He almost made it into the air this time when their voices once again stopped him.
"WAIT!" all three cried.
"What is it?" Superman asked politely, turning around.
"Well, we just wanted to thank ya, fer saving mah barn...and us," Applebloom said with a smile. The other two nodded in unison. Superman smiled gently at this and got on one knee, so he could look them in the eyes.
"You're welcome."
"Will we see you again?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"Don't worry, I'll be around. But if you ever need my help, just call out for me and I'll be there," Superman answered with another smile.
"Promise?" Scootaloo asked.
"Promise."
"Pinkie promise?" Applebloom asked with a smile. Superman raised an eyebrow, but promised them again.
"Now I want you to promise me something. Promise me you won't tell anyone about me. I'm not ready to face all the ponies just yet. Promise?"
"Promise!"
"Now I've got to go. Your sister's coming," he said, pointing down the road. The three fillies turned to looked to where he was pointing. Sure enough, a small outline of an orange pony could been seen in the distance heading for the barn. They turned back to Superman, but he was gone. After a moment of looking for him, the three fillies decided to wait for Applejack.
"Howdy, girls. What's up?" Applejack asked them when she arrived at the barn.
"Um..."Applebloom began, but AJ looked behind them at the barn and gasped.
"Ah don't believe it..." she whispered.
"Applejack, we can explain--"
"The three of ya went and painted the barn! Ah, thanks sis, but you and yer friends didn't have to go and do that." The fillies let out a collective sigh and smiled brightly for Applejack. But then Superman's words came back to them and their smiles turned to frowns.
"Actually sis, we didn't paint the barn," Applebloom muttered. Applejack looked at her in confusion.
"Well if ya'll didn't, then who did?"
"Well, we did paint the barn, but only after we...set...fire...to it," Applebloom slowly said. AJ's face went blank.
"Beg pardon?" The three struggled to get the next part out.
"Well, we were trying to get our cutie marks in fire safety..." Applebloom began.
"So we figured that a real fire would be more practical than a fake one..." Sweetie Belle continued.
"So we may have set fire to the barn in the process." Scootaloo finished. Applejack's face was blank as she listened to their story.Then the fillies tried for the positive side.
"But we managed to keep the barn from burning down!"
"And we repainted it!"
"So it's like nothing ever happened!"
Applejack was still unmoved. All three of them sighed and hung their heads.
"How much trouble are we in?" Applebloom asked. To her and the others' surprise, AJ pulled them all into a big hug.
"Aw sis, ah'm so proud of ya. You told me the truth instead of lying and trying to ignore what happened. Yer really growing up!"
"Does this mean we're not in trouble?" they all asked.
"Heck no. Ah said ah was proud of ya, ah didn't say ya'll were off the hook. Now let's go inside. Yer punishment starts now." The three fillies sighed and slowly walked inside the house. AJ watched them go and smiled to herself.
"Ah'm not punishing you because ya burned down the barn, ah'm punishing ya because ya didn't tell me the whole truth. The three of ya cause more trouble than ya fix," Applejack said to herself with a smile. "Ah know somepony helped ya and kept ya'll on track, ah just don't know who." Applejack chuckled and walked inside the house, helping the fillies to get started on their chores.
{{-------}}
As Superman flew away from where the fillies had been talking to Applejack, as she was called, he couldn't help but smile to himself as he picked up on their conversation. The little fillies had listened to him and had decided to tell the truth, even when it would have been easier to lie. He was glad to see that they were ponies of their word, so he knew his secret was safe. But what Applejack had said afterwards worried him a bit. She knew that someone else had helped them. She was bright, that much was certain. Were all the ponies this bright? If so, he'd have to tread carefully and try not to upset any of them.
Superman flew up until he was far above all the clouds, where the rays of the sun recharged him like a battery. When he looked at the sun's location, he was surprised to see that it was noon already. Working with those fillies had taken more time than he had thought, though it had been fun. He looked back down towards the planet and resumed his flight, senses tuned and mind ready.
Who else needed his help?