//------------------------------// // Prologue // Story: Super Dad // by tallestbrony //------------------------------// Super Dad By: Tallestbrony Prologue Star Gazer lived a typically normal life for a five year old colt. Every day he’d wake up in the morning to the smell of pancakes or fried hay. Nothing else seemed to be able to wake him, not that he complained though. Those smells were the signal to a great day, and they happened to be his favorite foods. But, let’s be serious, what’s not to love about warm, savory pancakes with a side of some crisped hay? His days are filled with everything that you’d expect from your average colt. Wake up, eat breakfast, go to school, avoid the bullies, get home, do homework… yeah… homework; all of this before going back to sleep just to do it all over again. The weekends provide a change from the weekly grind, and there is one constant he can rely on to help make the days worth getting up for. Moon Gazer, his father. Moon Gazer, to the untrained eye, appeared to be your average unicorn. His body wasn’t too toned under his dark grey coat, and his bushy blue hair was nothing to take note of. He wasn’t taller than the average pony, and he may not be any smarter. Star wouldn’t know for sure about that, seeing how most ponies seemed to be smarter than him. Yes, to everypony in Equestria, Moon Gazer appeared completely average, but not to Star Gazer. You see, this little unicorn colt has learned his father's greatest secret. His dad… is a super pony! How could that possibly be? There is no such thing as super ponies. And that may be true most of the time, but Star has found enough proof to say otherwise. First off, he fights monsters everyday. Under the bed, in the closet, even the ones in the dark! Every night before bed he clears every dark crevice before tucking Star in… and reads a chapter from Daring Doo. But that’s not really super, that’s just awesome. Secondly, he has a the whole alter ego thing that every super pony in every comic Stars ever read. At day, he’s just your average unicorn dad. But at night, after his practice with the monsters, he puts on his super pony costume and takes off to fight crime! He has a cape for when he flies and a mask to hide his secret identity. And to top it all off, he has a full body suit made with ‘special materials’ to help protect him from danger! And lastly, he has a nemesis! The dreaded Doctor Overtime! Scurge of the underworld and master of time! Moon Gazer has to battle him every night and the fight seems to be a stalemate time and time again. When he returns home he has practically no energy to do anything more than make breakfast or walk Star to school. The battles rage night after night and every week it seems like Moon is going to lose, until he takes a day to recover his strength. Then he’s back in the fight, no problem! For these infallible reasons, Star has determined that his father is a super pony. He hasn’t told anypony about this yet, in an attempt to keep his secret identity from Doctor Overtime. It’s his secret to keep with his father, and together they plot to overcome their oppressive over lord. Moon tells Star that if his studies real hard and gets good grades, he’ll be able to apply to something called a University and learn how to become something even greater than a super pony. He could really make something of himself and do better than he does. Star strives for that dream, but doesn’t believe it’s possible to reach. Nothing could ever surpass his father, superpowers included. -o--0--o- Moon Gazer has fallen on some hard times recently. Back before his son was born he worked in the observatory in the castle. It was a great set up for him. He interned during his college years and landed the job practically unchallenged. It was great! Good pay, working the field he loved, and he got to visit the castle every day! He even met Celestia once… well, he stood near her while his boss spoke to her, but that still counts! Everything was going great for him… until he met her. Morning Star. The earth mare that ruined his life by stealing his heart. To him, it was story book when they first met. He’d been sent out to deliver a message to one of his coworkers homes when they bumped into each other. She was a sight to behold. A pristine white coat with golden curls coming down to her shoulders. Her thin form swayed with elegant poise and she wore a smile that exuded confidence. A sword stuck into the ground eclipsed in the rising sun marked her well formed hips. They bumped and swapped their apologies, Moon helping her to her hooves like the gentlecolt he was. She tried to just walk it off, but Moon asked her to meet for lunch. She told him she’d think about it. Three weeks later Moon found himself in the area again, completely by chance, and bumped into her… No stalking was performed, so he lies. He went through the ropes and asked her out again. She gave an adorable chuckle and agreed for lunch later that day. Moon was overjoyed by this. He ran home, washed three times, made sure to have enough money for what ever happened, and made it to their meeting point thirty minutes early. Six hours later, he finally decided to go home. It crushed him, and he didn’t know why. He only met her twice by this point, but he couldn’t get her out of his mind. As the days went by food started losing its flavor, the stars didn’t shine as much, the spring in his step seemed to diminish with every step. He had to find her again and give it at least five more tries, he had too! Some more time passed before one fateful day he had to make a similar errand to that home again. Along the way he passed an alley where he caught a glimpse at the mare of his dreams, running and quickly followed by three stallions. Leaving any rational thought behind, he charged down the alley to confront the assailants and save the mare in distress. If this didn’t work, nothing would. “Hold it right there scumbags!” He yelled from behind the three stallions as they cornered her. “Leave her alone and I won’t hurt you!” As the last words left his mouth, he realized how doomed he was. First off, he wasn’t a fighter. He didn’t know a single combative spell and was on the weaker side, even by unicorn standards. And now he faced an earth stallion that was easily twice his size and two pegasi, both larger than him. “Go buck yourself pansy!” One of the pegasi yell back, barely looking back to the smaller stallion. Moon managed to get a glimpse at Morning Star’s fearful eyes and did the only thing he could think if. He levitated a trash can over and dumped it onto the three stallions. Luckily for him though, it happened to be filled with broken glass. The shards fell down on the three stallions and cut them over their bodies, even scoring hits in vulnerable places. As they scrambled around, they cut themselves even further on the glass. Not wasting a golden opportunity, Moon levitated the mare over the mess and ran off to safety. Once safe, Moon went to ask is she was okay, but was stopped when he felt something press against his lips. He wasn’t familiar with the feeling and didn’t quite know how to process it until two hooves draped themselves over his shoulders. That’s when he realized was currently kissing Morning Star! After another system reboot he returned the kiss, lost completely in the moment. Morning was lost for words with this selfless act. She didn’t understand why this stallion that she didn’t know, that she had completely stood up before, would risk his neck for her. She didn’t understand it, but she was grateful for it. And so, she thanked him… right there in the middle of that street. Then again at lunch that day… and then again for the rest of the night at his place. Now, most ponies don’t ever prepare for things in their entirety, either from lack of experience or resources. Sometimes they play a game and they don’t have… the right gear. And sometimes, it’s… risky, to play this ‘game’ without the right gear. Because sometimes, you play the game and get pregnant. Now, in Equestria, it is not uncommon for two ponies to meet and… play the game. With mares going in heat every month and hormones working against the two sexes, it happens. But, what society does care about is who it happens with. Especially for the ponies in Canterlot. A unicorn lowering himself to… mingle with a dirty earth pony, how uncouth! Even worse, there was the problem of her being from The Shadows. Canterlot resides on the side of a mountain and can be divided into three portions. There’s the Castle at the top. It houses the Royal ponies as well as any important dignitaries. Below that is Golden Gate. This is where most of the ponies of Canterlot reside. This is where you find all of the businesses, middle to upper class homes, or anything worth going to. It sits around the castle for the most part. After that, are the Shadows. This would be considered the slums of Canterlot. Compared to most slums it's not the worse. But it's not the best place to find yourself either. Ponies from the Shadows don’t really ever leave that part of town. It’s not unheard of, but is rare. Moon was considered part of Golden Gate, while Morning was Shadowed; as they called it. When his coworkers found out… it gave him that notoriety that would plague him to this day. He started being seen as a sexual deviant who spent his spare time in the slums with less than worthy ponies. The posh ponies of Canterlot spoke poorly about him behind his back and made it very apparent that they did not approve of his life choices. At first Moon didn’t care. He had a foal on the way and loved spending all his spare time with Morning. But, the same could not be said for Morning. She had moved in with Moon and was taken out of her element. The ponies in this area treated her poorly and would whisper ill tidings behind her back. She enjoyed Moon’s company… but, it was only company for her. Nothing more. To attempt to salvage Moons reputation the two of them decided to get married. It seemed like the right thing to do, but was thrown back in their faces. Another pony who had lost the job to Moon had started the rumor that it was a cut throat wedding and they didn’t value the traditions of marriage. At the same time, Moon’s boss was working a deal with some of the Royal family and didn’t want to chance looking bad. So, he was fired. After a month of job searching the two of them decided to move to Detrot and try again there. The only job he was able to obtain was as a purifier for the local gem mines. His job was to go into the mines and burn out the gas that would build up. This was incredibly dangerous and required him to wear uncomfortable gear. The cloth he wore didn’t breath, to keep it from catching on fire, and had a cape that was fire resistant. His mask, when charged, could provide him with two hours worth of clean air. The pay wasn’t very good, the danger was immense, and the hours were horrific. But, it put food on the table and was the only job that would hire him. So he did it. This was his life for several months. He worked all night, came home and crashed from his physical exhaustion, then took care of his pregnant wife three minutes later. He didn’t mind it all though. Because as her bulges on her sides grew and grew, so did his excitement. He was going to be a father! Everything he had to put up with would be worth it at that point. Then, one day after a particularly hard day of work, he came home to a note. Went into labor, get to the hospital! Thirteen hours of labor later, Star Gazer was brought into the world, and Moon couldn't have been happier. He was a father! This was the greatest moment in his life, by far! The same could not be said for Morning though. It wasn’t that she didn’t love the foal or hated Moon. She loved her foal and… liked Moon well enough. He was a good stallion and did his best. But… she didn’t feel ready for the responsibility of raising a foal. She was young and felt that there was so much more she could do than sit at home and change diapers. Moon would ramble about things like ‘planned mortgages’ and ‘college funds’ and these things terrified her. She didn’t plan things. She went with the flow and things just… solved themselves. But, she couldn’t just leave Moon with a foal that needed her to survive. So she decided to wait. Once Star Gazer was old enough to feed himself and go to preschool, she left Moon a note saying she was getting groceries and jumped the first train she could find. It was a long train ride for her, one filled with many tears and much self loathing. She had left her foal behind for her own selfish desires. Just the thought of that made her terrified to return. Lost, conflicted, and unsure of where her future laid, she found solace in the knowledge that Star Gazer was in good hooves. Hooves far more capable than her own. So she continued on, never looking back, but always regretting. Moon waited hours for her return, but soon realized what happened. There wasn’t anything he could do about it though. He couldn’t just leave Star alone, and it wasn’t like he even knew where to begin looking. He asked the authorities for help, but they shrugged it off. Ponies abandoning their spouses wasn’t that uncommon in Equestria, with how many end up together. Not to say they didn't sympathize with him, it's simply too common to fret over. It’s why there are more single parents then there are couples. So, Star did the only thing he could. He worked the mines at night, stayed up all day watching his son, and hoped that one day Morning Star would return. It wasn't the life that he thought he would be living, far from it, but it’s what he has to do to provide for his son. And that’s good enough for him.