//------------------------------// // Darkseid Cometh // Story: To be a Hero in changing times // by Sparkfire //------------------------------// Darkseid Cometh Crystal Empire- Main Hospital waiting room While, waiting on rainbow to recover from the sheer exhaustion of her stun against Doomsday, everypony began trying to start a conversation with Clark. Each attempt had varying degrees of success. Only Twilight and Clarks’ conversation seemed to get off the metaphorical ground. Especially when he referred to Rainbow as a Flash, and followed up with saying she might be the fastest pony alive. “Are you saying that Rainbow really is the fastest pony ever?” Twilight questioned, confused at his comment dubbing Rainbow Dash as someone called the Flash. “Not exactly. The Flash is a Title that is bestowed on the Fastest Living being alive in that particular universe. However, there may be ponies just as fast, if not faster than her in this universe that I’m not aware of yet. “It’s just my observation based on you and your friends’ and the other princesses reaction to her tapping into the Speed Force, that I’ve been able to conclude that calling her the Flash is appropriate. She just reminds me of the first Flash in my world.” Clark commented, noticing that every pony seemed interested everytime he mention other heroes. “Sugarcube, ya mentioned other characters before. Who are they? An ya mentioned some sorta club?” Applejack asked, curious about why they were even mentioned. “This will  be a long story. You really sure you want to hear it?” It was Celestia who answered. “Yes, tell us everything you can. It sounds as though these ‘other heroes’ might have some connection to equestria. Plus, untill Rainbow Dash has recovered, we do need to pass the time.” “Alright. I’ll start with me. “First, I’m not the the only man who held the title ‘Superman’. There was a man back about seventy years or so named George Taylor. He was human, a meta-human to be precise. “Basically, Meta-human means humans with abilities that deviate from the norm. His meta-powers were Super Strength, enhanced endurance, speed and not much else. By todays’ meta-human standards, he’d be outclassed by more than a few current heroes and villains. “Back then however, he was literally the strongest man in the world. At the time, no human could lift more than eight hundred pounds. George on the other hand, could lift fifty tons.” For a moment, Clark stopped speaking. Trying to figure out how to phrase his next sentence. “When I first made my appearance wearing my kryptonian family crest -The ‘S’ on my chest is actually a symbol or kryptonian letter that mean ‘El’, as in Kal-El. ‘Kal’ is my birth name, and ‘El’ is my kryptonian family name.” “Darling, are you saying that you got confused as a lookalike of this past Superman because of a gaudy symbol from your home world?” “I better get this out of the way. My ‘homeworld’ is earth. I have no memories of Krypton, since I was sent to earth a few hours after I was born. I far as I know, Krypton blew apart right afterwards.” As he finished, and about to continue his real story, more questions came up. “Your world blew up? That doesn’t make any sense. How does a planet blow up, and how do you know it blew up? “Princess...Twilight? It’s kind of a long story. I’ll get to it eventually, but it involves things that affect me personally. “Back to George Taylor. When I first appeared, I was thought to be his son. I never called myself Superman out of a deep respect for him.” “Then how did you introduced yourself?” Celestia inquired. “I always introduced myself as a friend, or offered assistance, or just told them my Kryptonian name depending on the situation I found myself or them in . “Six months after my introduction, George and a few of his surviving friends from that era, held a reunion to remember their fallen friends. It was there that they were attacked by an old enemy. “Their enemy had sent a creation of his known as an android, called the Red Tornado. Tornado nearly killed all five remaining members from that group. Until I showed up that is. “Tornado was simply following orders, and at the time, I was the only one capable of defeating him as far as I knew.” “Why are you making excuses for this ‘Red Tornado’? He sounds like a monster at the beck and call of his master.” Luna asked, curious at the lack of animosity he seemed to have for Red Tornado. “Because Red Tornado is an android - Artificial - made to do what he’s told. Normally, machines aren’t sentient nor sapient like you or me. Red Tornado is an exception to the rule. The only reason he even tried attacking them was Morrows’ threat to destroy him. “George had some very powerful friends with him, and they held their own till I showed up. After that battle, I finally met George and the remaining members of the Justice Society. He basically said ‘So, you’re the the guy who stole my name. Welp, after this fight, I’d say you’ve more than earned it’. “I didn’t know what to say. He’d basically made me his successor after meeting him once. After that, I started to meet him once a month. He’s the reason I started the Justice League” “Mister, ya said a lot. Yet I didn’t understand a dang thang ya said. Whatsa Justice League do?” “At the time, I had no clue. I figured if there was a group that handled the threats no one else could fight, and help augment search and rescue missions, then at least I did something help the world. The name “Justice League” was given to the team after we were forced to battle a creature called Starro the Conqueror. “Yet it grew into something much more than that.” “Youmeanitbecameateamofsuperfriends?Oh,i’msojustnervocitedthinkingaboutagrougofsuperpower-Mummufuu!?” Pinkie was cut off as Applejack jammed a hoof in her mouth. “Sugarcube, Ah know you’re excited here an all about meeting new ponies and all that, but ya need ta calm down. No one here even understood what ya just said. “Actually I did understand. I’m use to hearing people talk at that speed.” Clark said matter of factly while shrugging his shoulders. As the ponies (besides pinkie) stared at him blankly, they all had one though. ‘What kind of world is he from’ “I can tell that you think that’s weird. Let’s just let that go for now. I’d like to ask some question myself, if you don’t mind that is. “Princess….. Cadance. I’d like to ask you this: What does that Crystal Heart run on? I could have sworn I felt something like it in my world before. Cadance was taken aback. Surely he couldn’t have met somepony like her, nor should he have felt the power of the Crystal before today. “It’s powered by love, but how could you have felt anything like before today.” “I concur with my wife. Love is one of the most powerful forces in equestria and unique only to Cadance and the Heart.” “It just feels like something I’ve felt before. I can’t really explain it properly without taking too much time. We’d be here for at least the remainder of the day.” Clark said, remembering how long it took Hal to explain what happened to him after a certain incident. “Also, I’m from a different universe. Different rules apply to my world.” He added. Before anypony else could ask any more questions, the building started to shake. And Clark heard a familiar sound. ‘No! It can’t be. That sounded like another Boom Tube.‘ He thought, praying he was wrong about who just arrived. But it was the only explanation he could think of for why the building shook. Cautiously, Clark made sure everyone in the hospital was alright. Then, using his X-ray vision, slowly looked in the direction where the the sound seem to originate. Right at the gate to the city. And a look of horror, anger, dread, fury, and determination came over Clarks’ face. “What’s wrong?” Twilight asked, expecting him to say it was a minor earthquake. “Something I need to deal with. Something much worse than Doomsday.” He grimmly stated. “Princess Celestia, Princess Luna. Normally I don’t do this, but after our battle with Doomsday, I got a good read on your powers and abilities. If you’re up to it, you might need to come with me. I don’t think I can handle HIM on my own in my current condition. “Just be prepared. I assume that your own reserves are low as well, so we’ll need to use extreme caution.” Both Luna and Celestia detected the hint of venom in his voice. After a few seconds, they shared a look of concern. After nodding to each other, they turned to Clark.Celestia spoke first. “Very well. Lunas’ and my wounds are almost healed, so we will come. Twilight, you and the others stay here.” “Alright, just be prepare for anything. Let’s go.” Clark said with a grim look. And with that, Celestia, Luna and Clark left the hospital. Something was wrong. Very wrong. And Celestia could feel it. What ever it was, she and would Luna would soon find out. ‘I just don’t understand. He took more damage from the creature than Luna or I did, yet he seems more worried about Luna and I than himself. Why? Even if his reserves recover insanely fast compared us, he should still be more worried about himself as he should have more injuries than us. And yet, he seems to have none.’ She thought, not understanding his actions nor how his powers worked. EVen with how he told them they worked. As they flew towards the main entrance to the Crystal Empire, Celestia and Luna could see something big standing there. Worry and panic began to set in as they thought the worst. Had the Creature known as Doomsday returned, or was it something much worst. The Closer they got, the more of the being they saw. First, it was humanoid in shape. Unlike Doomsday, it seemed to have smoother skin, at least comparatively. His face seem to have a neutral expression. For some reason it’s clothing drew Celestias’ and Lunas’ attention. It was wearing a dark blue sleeveless one piece suit that had a dull metal belt, which had a strange symbol on it. To the two princesses, it looked like a warp horseshoe. The Symbol, for an unknown reason to her seemed to feel them with dread just from seeing it. What really terrified them was the beings eyes. They were pure red, and as they got with in feet of him, they knew he was something to be feared. There was nothing but evil in his eyes. As they landed near it, all three of them prepared for the worst. “Ah, so you two are rulers of this… place. And the Kryptonian. I don’t know why you are here, Superman, but it doesn’t matter. My business is with these two, not you.” As the creature spoke, both Celestia and Luna both felt a chill go down their spines. Though the creature in front of them sounded calm, his rough sounding voice had a hint of anger in it. As they glanced in Clarks’ direction, they were shock at his actions. He had already got into a more combative stance, and the red energy he was blasting out of his eyes earlier seemed to be turning his eyes red. As if he was being consumed by rage. Yet his expression was more than telling of what was really happening. He was terrified of this creature, and he hated him with a passion unlike anything they’d ever seen. Whoever he was, he was dangerous. “I’ll get to the point. Doomsday was meant to test the defences of this world, and although he failed to kill anyone- he did show out strong your defences are. I’ll make this simple: Surrender the the Element Bearers heads to me, and I will consider sparing your subjects the horror of a war. Just an indefinite occupation of your world.” Celestia and Luna were horrified. Not only did this creature just admit to unleashing a monster that could have slaughtered every living being on the planet, but the way he said it implied he’d be able to do it again and again. On top of that, he just threatened to go to war if they didn’t hand over the heads of Twilight and her friends. And even if they did, he’d still come after Equestria and the other nations. His identity was made clearer than ever just with those word. The creature in front of them was Tirek, and he was far more terrifying than the legends said he was. He just seemed to ozoo evil from his very core. Anger filled Celestia and Luna to the point they were ready to vaporize him on the spot. Yet they knew they had to keep calm and think. “What if we were to refuse?” Luna asked with snarl. “Then I will unleash hell upon this world. Your Skies will burn, your oceans will boil. Death will come slowly and painfully to you all. Doomsday is just one of many weapons I have at my disposal, yet he is efficient when unopposed. There is much more at my beck and call than just brutes that don’t think. But I am not unreasonable, I will give you some time to prepare your answer. Two months is all I’ll give you.” Darkseid said, showing no emotion. Celestia eyes widened with shock. This creature in front of her now just made choice for Luna and Celestia easier. However, they had to play their hand right. They’d need Supermans’ opinion. They heard a low growl come from Clark before he spoke. “You do realized I will fight you Darkseid, regardless of their decision. You’ll have to get through me get through me to claim anything from this world.” Luna and Celestia, shared a look. They had heard the venom in the way he said the name “Darkseid” and the conviction in his voice as he said he’d have to go through him to get to anypony. They still were weary of Clark, but compared the the creature that they believed to be Tirek, he was the lesser of the evils. ‘We’ll have to prepare ourselves as well as the girls. I won’t let them die while I can help.it. I just have to phrase this just right.’ “Alright, we’ll consider your generous offer. Yet, you have to remember there are other rulers we will have to confer with. My sister and I’d don’t rule the entire planet, just Equestria.” “It doesn’t matters to me, they will still suffer the same fate as your kind whatever choice you take. I expect their heads and your unconditional surrender when I return in two months’ time.  “And Superman. I will kill you only after I make you watch this world fall to me.” Darkseid said to Clark, before turning around to open a boom tube, then walking through it. As Luna and Celestia narrowed there eyes at the fading entity, Clark could only wonder what was to come. The Spectre was right about one thing- he’d never would turn his back on those who needed his help. He would fight Darkseid regardless of their decision, no matter what it cost him personally. “We should head back and inform the girls that they must prepare themselves for the worst. If the creature thinks he can decide the fate of the planet through an empty threat, he has another thing coming.” Clark heard Celestia say. “Unfortunately princess, his threat isn’t that empty. This tactic is one of his signatures. He, along with Doomsday is one of the few beings I know of that can potentially kill me. He never makes threats. He meant what he said, and he has done it to other planets before.” He said, eyes narrowed at the spot Darkseid had stood. Only he knew how dangerous he really was. “Sister, Sir Clark, I suggest we head back. We mustn't allow ourselves to get distracted.” Luna spoke, trying to get them back on track. As they headed back, Clark thought to himself about what was to come. ‘Somehow, I will stop you Darkseid. I won’t let this world fall to you. Even if it cost me my life.’ Apokolips “Master, what is the plan now that the kryptonian is involved?” “Where is that worlds’ version of Brainiac? With Superman there, they have a chance to actually beat me.” “I’ve already have his coordinates locked, ready for you or who you send to go whenever you’re ready master.” “Good, have Doomsday ready within the hour. If by some miracle they beat me, I will still have the last laugh.”