Watching Over Us- The world could really use more heroes.
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN I NEED TO DO COMMUNITY SERVICE!!?”
On a normal day in ponyville, somepony will get shocked with surprising news almost daily. For Rarity, it would be finding out that she didn’t have the exact color of cloth a customer requested, her gems disappearing or when she didn’t have enough of the specific materials needed to piece together a dress or suit. For Fluttershy, it would be finding a poor defenseless animal in the fields by her cottage. However, today’s over reaction came courtesy of a cyan mare talking with her concerned Alicorn friend in the main hallway of the Castle of Friendship.
“Okay, Rainbow. Try to calm down and breath. I just found out about this yesterday-.”
“Calm down!?” Twilight, just who exactly told you this?” Rainbow asked in a demanding and snarky tone. The mare wanted to know answers as she floated in the arm with her front hooves crossed. The Princess sighed to herself as she began her explanation.
“Yesterday, Princess Celestia and I had to talk with Spitfire about the wonderbolts being at the this years Galloping Gala. On the side, she told me that you needed over sixty hours of community service hours for your wonderbolts application before you submit it.”
Rainbow, now hearing this, sighed. She sounded defeated, due to her heavy breathing and the expression on her face. “Well great… tryouts are in almost a week and now I need this? Do all the times we save Equestria count?”
Twilight shook her head, making Rainbow’s expression look even more hopeless. “NO, but there have been some times where you did gain hours, Rainbow.” Around now was when the pegasus’s ears perked upward from it’s original downward position. To her now, There was still hope!
“When?” She asked out of Curiosity.
“Well, there was Winter Wrap up. You gained Ten hours for that. Four hours for the hurricane operation to help give Cloudsdale a rainy season. Three hours for assisting with the festivities at the wedding for Princess Cadence-.”
“Does beating up changelings count?” Rainbow asked, again out of curiosity. Twilight’s only reaction was another sigh and royally facehoofing herself.
“I believe that’s in the category of “Saving Equestria” like you previously asked.”
“Hehe… Had to try. Ooh! What about helping fix up Ponyville after we sent Tirek back to Tartarus?”
“That counts. Seven hours.” Her friend answered. Now though, she was holding a piece of chalk and writing each of the numbers from times the cyan pegasus had participated in events that count towards service hours. After like five minutes of crunching the numbers, she finally figure out the amount of hours Rainbow had. “So in total… You have fifty four total hours of community service completed.”
“Wait… What about-?”
“If you were going to say anything involving the Equestria Games, then that doesn’t count since you were a competitor and not a volunteer.”
Now Rainbow just looked at her friend with a blank expression. “How did you-?”
“Been practicing some mind reading spells so I thought I try it with you.”
The Cyan mare just rolled her eyes. It was typical of Twilight to be trying out new types of spells. The Alicorn just had a tendency to not warn others ahead of time before doing so. As the pegasus landed on all four of her hooves, the lavender mare said something else that caught Rainbow’s attention. “You know, I think I might have the perfect opportunity for you to get your remaining hours.”
“Really?” She asked as Twilight handed her a small paper flyer with her levitation spell.
“Did you hear about the field trip to Manehattan Scootaloo’s class was going on Tomorrow?”
“Just now actually before I came to see you. Scoots wants me to come along for the ride.” Rainbow told her friend, handing the flyer back wing her left wing.
“Well going with her counts. In fact, since the trip lasts almost all day, you will get more than enough hours by the time you are done and back home.”
A beacon of home went off inside Rainbow’s mind. She could see it now! One step closer to the tryouts she had been preparing for and waiting months for! All she needed to do was go on this trip and she would be set!! Besides, what’s the worst thing that could happen?
Field Trip Day
When the day of the trip to Manehattan finally came, Rainbow was hit by a freight train of surprises. Mainly because of both Applejack and Rarity being part of the trip as well so they could accompany their little sisters. Not only that, but a lot of other mares, colts and stallions were with their son or daughter for the field trip as well. Heck, even Ditzy Doo was with her daughter Dinky and Filthy Rich was accompanying Diamond Tiara.
Of course, one of the other curveballs life threw at her occurred once the train ride to Manehattan began. Ms. Cheerlie, Scootaloo’s teacher, had asked if Rainbow could watch over one more child besides Scootaloo for the day. Turn’s out. that “child” was none other than Spike. He wanted to come along, but since Twilight was busy helping Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie, no one could keep an eye on him for the trip. Rainbow agreed to look after the baby dragon, but kept thinking that this was some kind of weird test Twilight was doing to test her loyalty.
“Well, bring it on I guess.” she thought to herself.
Upon arriving around noon, the small groups of kids and adults began to part ways in different directions. Unlike normal field trips where everypony had to stick together, this one was quite different. Everypony had five hours to go around Manehattan and explore since the train ride home was leaving around sundown. It served as quite a big opportunity to take in all of the cities biggest sights without getting dragged in by Rarity on one of her shopping sprees.
First stop, the statue of Equiniti. Constructed over 200 years ago using the highest quality copper and steel, the earth ponies that originally settled in Manehattan constructed the colossal work of art in order to thank Princess Celestia for the opportunity to form a town there. Now, the work of art serves as a symbol of strength and freedom to all inhabitants of Equestria and also Equus. To Rainbow’s disappointment though, she wasn’t allowed to fly up to the top due to safety regulations enacted by the guards on duty. What a bummer…
Site number 2; Centrail park. A huge park with open fields, tree’s and play area’s for the children to have fun. They even allowed for pets and other animals like dogs, rabbits and birds to peacefully interact and play with each other. Fluttershy would’ve liked it if she and Angel were here. It would have been a great place for them to have a picnic.
The only thing that was off about the park today that Rainbow didn’t like was what some groups of ponies were doing with their free time. One small group of workers looked like they were drinking apple cider in the middle of the day and were acting like drunken lunatics (No offense to Princess Luna intended.) Another group of both mares and stallions were doing some activity that Spike said was called Live action Role Playing. “Something for eggheads.” Rainbow thought to herself.
Time began to shrink with each passing moment and after a long tour around the entire city, the three of them finally arrive at one of the stops that Scootaloo and Spike really wanted to go to. The Manehattan Museum, which upon arriving, had banners and pictures of what appeared to be comic book characters.
“Awesome!! I can’t believe they’re still open!” Spike proclaimed as he hoofbumped Scootaloo, leaving the Cyan mare they were with puzzled by what they were talking about.
“Uhh… What’s with all the superheroes and stuff?” Rainbow asked.
“Why today’s free comic book day of course!” Scootaloo told the technicolor pegasus “The museum always sets up a free one day exhibit using the entire building to demonstrate all the well known comic books in Equestria. They even give out free comics to who everypony that attends the event today.” Rainbow tried her best in processing everything the filly told her inside her brain. But in looking around, one thing caught her eye and also her attention. It was one of the flyers on the nearby advertising about the event. More importantly, what was on the bottom of the flyer.
Get the Chance to receive the first issue of the comic book adaptation of “Daring Do and the Sapphire Stone.” by AK Yearling before it’s official release in two weeks!!
“Okay then, I’m sold. Lead the way, you two.” Rainbow told Scootaloo and Spike. The reaction that followed was a young cheerful “Yay!” from Scootaloo and her trying to leap on the mare she considered as her big sister so she could hug her. Once they walked up to the counter to be let inside, the three of them got small goodie bags that contained the free comics and various other goodies that were associated with the event like tour guides, flyers, pencils and erasers, etc. With that, the element of Loyalty let the filly and the baby dragon lead the way inside the museum.
The trip started in one of the main rooms to the left of the main entrance. Inside it… was none other than the Power Ponies. One of Spikes favorite comics. Rainbow herself was surprised to see a statue of Zap inside the exhibit. It was a character that almost resembled her for some reason, but she liked it when Spike told her about Zap’s storm powers. This comic was followed by other well known comics like Bat-mare, X-mares, Captain Equestria, Avenge-mares, Wolver-wing and other popular comic books from both Marevel and P.C. comics. Heck, even Daring Do had her own exhibit there today since P.C. comics was working with AK yearling on publishing the Graphic Novels.
One of the most biggest and surprising exhibits in the museum’s grand room though was a comic that attracted a wide audience across Equestria and the world. It was called The OverWatch and to Rainbow’s surprise, they had a lot of things on display here today. Props of some of the characters gadgets and the bad guy’s weapons were on display and there was even a huge LED TV screen that explained the world and the story while touchscreen monitors allowed visitors to interact more with the characters of the story. Right now though, only a few pnies besides Rainbow, Spike, and Scootaloo were either finishing up with looking around or they were looking for somepony they were with.
“Well, they got quite a set up here-.”
“Rainbow!” Scootaloo hushed. “The Movie clip’s about to play!” As soon as the filly warned her idol, the video began and sound erupted from the nearby speakers.
“As the world was on the brink of devastation… close to the verge of chaos, conflict, and anarchy… A new hope arose from the ashes of despair. An elite Task Force of talented individuals from all walks of life. Earth ponies, Pegasi, Unicorns, Gryphons, Dragons, Breezies, and other species joined in with a common goal. To fight the threats not all of us can clearly see. Even newly discovered races like the Excedians, a rare species of Bipedal creatures with the genetics of different animal species, but with the mind and will of a normal pony. Though rumored to be gone or even a myth, it has been said that The Overwatch works in the shadows to make sure that we all stay safe so they can protect all of us… Watch over all of us as it’s ideals of Freedom, Equality, Loyalty and Courage influence modern society to helped the world recover and balance be restored. Though it’s watch has said to have ended, it will never be forgotten.”
The clip ended with a scene of a young foal next to his mother as they see the Statue of Equiniti in Manehattan. Rainbow right now was completely speechless. She wasn’t quite sure if she saw a promotion for a comic book or a teaser for a future summer movie. Visually, everything just looked so realistic. So… lifelike. The silence that had drifted around the room was broken when the pegasus heard Spike shout out from his seat.
“That was AWESOME!!!”
“Sweet! Everything was just so cool!!”
“Hey squirt, can we keep it down? We can’t shout in a museum.” Rainbow reminded the two of them as they made their way to the touchscreens up front. The character select screen on the pegaxus tablets was in a hexagon shape format, showing only a few of the infinite number of characters shown in the artwork of the comic snippets that were shown in the movie.
Out of generosity, Scootaloo let Spike choose first. He carefully scanned each of the portraits and wondered which one to choose first. Out of everyone, he really wanted to see what one of these “Excedians” were like. The baby dragon finally made a decision by selecting a creature with dark navy colored fur and ice like eyes.
“Well, let’s see who this guy is.” Selecting the panel, he and the two ponies he was with were surprised to see the profile appear on the big screen as another voice spoke this time to explain the character he chose.
“The Wolf Excedian named Frost was only a pup when he was found by a young Princess Luna on one Heart Warmers Eve during her fillyhood. Despite representatives from both the dragon and gryphon kingdoms claiming that the young child was a danger to the safety of her and Princess Celestia; the girl’s father, King Apollo, took in the wolf and treated him like a son. Over time, Frost was able to grow up alongside his two adoptive sisters. They played together, learned together, and been together through the best and toughest of times. They stayed by each others side and experienced the joys of life… as well as the agony of death. Even the Grand Magus Starswirl the Bearded considered him as a talented student even though he wasn’t able to discover his talents with magic as quick as Celestia and Luna. But when he figured out his talents, the Wolf was soon able to learn how to bend, control and create forms of Ice using his energy and mind along with some forms of Magic like Teleportation.
However, the good times for the wolf did not last forever. When he was only nineteen, he returned home one night with his teacher only to find both Celestia and Luna in a weakened and defeated state due to the events that have transpired within the Crystal Empire and how they lost to the Tyrant named King Sombra. He was shocked to the core, like everything he knew shattered like glass. Frost had promised the girl’s father when he was on his death bed that he would do everything in his power to protect them from harm. Seeing them like this felt like he broke his promise to the one who raised him… And that was something he must correct.
The following night, despite his teacher’s pleas, Frost traveled to the Crystal Empire in the far north. Upon arriving, he challenged Sombra to a duel the pitted the Tyrant King and the Wolf against each other in a furious battle that destroyed the surrounding fields of snow and ravaged mountainsides. In the end, Frost would’ve won… if Sombra didn’t trick him by pleading for mercy. The Dark Ruler used this tactic to slowly seal the Excedian away in a Crystallized Tomb. But, in a desperate attempt to teach the king a lesson, Frost used what remained of his strength to pull of a powerful technique. A technique that crystallized Sombra’s own heart, binding it to his soul.
The wolf’s final words to the king were that since he boaster earlier about himself being the “Heart of the Empire,” Frost literally made that happen. It was a lesson to teach him how precious life could be.
“When the Crystal Heart is claimed by someone with a pure heart, your reign of Tyranny will fall with you along with it. A new dawn will come one day. This I swear to you.”
It has been said now that the Crystal Empire was able to hide from the watchful eyes of Celestia because King Sombra forcefully misused the Wolf’s powers while he was sealed away. To hide his kingdom in a never ending blizzard. But Months after Sombra’s fall, the wolf’s tomb was finally discovered by the most unlikely of individuals. Two OverWatch Agents. One being a Pegasus named Firefly and the other being a Breezie named Snowfall. Through a recon mission and their curiosity, they not only found him, but also released him from his frozen prison, bringing the Excedian back to life.
Now back in the world after being asleep for over a thousand years, Frost is partners with both Firefly and Snowfall in OverWatch, working to help everypony in need and to someday reunite with his two adoptive sisters.
‘Okay, that’s a little more realistic than I expected.’ Rainbow thought as she looked at the bipedal wolf on the screen. Most of his fur was a dark blue that looked like the ocean off Manehattan’s coast with the tip of his tail being a light blue shade. The fur on both the front and back of his head though was in a very strange pattern. The fur in the front drifted downward in a three spike pattern while the back of the head had six different spikes (Three on the left side, three on the right). Two were along the top of the head, two along the middle that curved towards the tio set and the last two pointed towards the bottom. Grey fur also covered his mouth and “hands” (whatever Lyra called them). The character also wore a sleeveless turquoise vest that had a strange symbol on his back, an sleeveless azure shirt that looked faded, black pants with cuffs at the bottom of the pant legs that matched his vest and something that was two shades of grey and had some four blue stripes covering whatever hooves were suppose to be on these creatures. Next to him shoulder was the light blue breezie with a snowlike mane and wore a black tactical suit that helped hide her from any detection spells or technology.
her time analyzing the two was interrupted when she heard Scootaloo squealed happily next to her. “My turn to pick the next one!!” Having the dragon help her, she soon chose the next character to look at as the screen changed. It now showed a pink pegasus with a blue cerulean mane and tail and a lightning shock cutie mark. For some reason, it reminded Rainbow of a Wonderbolt from when she was studying with Twilight. Just that this one had a special pair of goggles, a leather jacket and a strange harness around her chest with blasters on her forehooves.
“The Pegasus named Firefly was an excellent flyer from the day she first took off. She can soar through the skies at break-neck speeds and was considered as the first ever “Aerial Daredevil.” Of course, her talents were recognized by her friends and peers and with her best friend Spitfire, they formed the elite Pegasus flying team named The Wonderbolts. The name was actually based off of the wonders Firefly could achieve and also the bolts of blue lightning that were sometimes left behind.
However, despite being fearless, Firefly could not foresee the unforeseen. Weeks after becoming Commander and also having a newborn foal, she was asked by a few of the brightest minds in Canterlot to test a new simulation room that was being created for the team. It was designed to where time slowed down in the real world when you were inside and it allowed flyer to easily condition themselves in different weather simulations. Eager and confident as she was, Firefly volunteered to go first.
Everything was fine at first. But when she decided to go faster, the core that kept the room in one piece was beginning to melt down and overheat. Firefly could not hear Spitfire’s desperate plea to try and get her friend out of the chamber she was in. Within a matter of seconds, the whole room blew in an explosion and the Wonderbolt got caught in it. Miraculously, it did not hurt her…
It instead changed her…
The reaction with the energy of the core and the magic that radiated with the time shield that was apart of the room caused the pegasus to develop a very rare and unknown condition. The doctors called it “Chronostasis” and it had surprising effects. Firefly would continuously phase in and out of time itself. She would end up somewhere in the past at random times for unknown extended periods of time. These sometimes lasted mere seconds while other incidents lasted days, with no way of knowing when she would come back to the present or how long she would stay there for before disappearing again. However, one of her unicorn friends named Songbird refused to give up on her friend. After weeks of unrest and several overnighters; Songbird was able to construct a harness using the remains of the core and through proper testing, she was able to successfully keep her in the present and prevent Firefly from phasing out. Now, the harness allows her to to control her own time; allowing the pegasus to accelerate forward and rewind herself to where she would’ve last been. Now, she tries to find a way to restore her family after being away from them for quite some time. Even though she was no longer a Wonderbolt, Firefly was now an important member of The OverWatch as “The Tracer.”
“Don’t Worry, my friends. The Calvary’s here!”
With the clip coming to an end, Rainbow was now even more mindblown. She knew that this probably might have been a comic book envisioning of her like how the creators of the Power Ponies envisioned Zap. But why did she have a strange feeling just now about all of this? A feeling like all of this was… somehow true?
“Rainbow? … Rainbow? … Earth to Rainbow!!!”
The ringing in her ears of Scootaloo’s words had Rainbow’s train of thought grind to a complete halt. “Hunh? What is it?”
“Do you want to have a try?”
“Ah, thanks Squirt. But I’ll pass.” Rainbow’s focus was now on the time as she looked at the time. 4:30pm. “We have half an hour left before we need to go with the others to go home. Why don’t you go look at some of the stuff on display before we leave.” Both youngsters were up for that idea as they happily trotted across the room. One of the things Scootaloo said to her dragon friend had Rainbow thinking the same feeling she had moments ago.
“Hey, would you think it would be awesome if this comic was somehow real?”
“You mean like the Power Ponies comics where you go in physically?”
“No I mean like real real. I mean… Look!” Scootaloo cheerfully said in Awe as they went to a nearby display that had some kind of mechanical spear. “The Halberd of Blackhorn the Dark. Had enough force and magical power to possibly topple Canterlot Castle!! Wouldn’t it be cool to see these characters fight like POW! KABLAM!! WOOSH!!”
BOOM!!!
The ground physically shook a small tremor beneath everypony’s (and Spike’s feet) as the three of them looked at each other. This couldn’t have been a earthquake. Manehattan was nowhere near any major fault lines in Equus.
That’s when Rainbow noticed a black round shadow over both Scootaloo and Spike. It was getting bigger by the second. On instinct, the pegasus dashed forth and grabbed the two youngsters just in time before something crashed through the glass windows along the roof. Dust kicked up, making it hard for Scootaloo and Spike to see. Rainbow dash though, was unaffected by it due to numerous hours training in dusty conditions for flying competitions. Whatever crashed through wasn’t just one figure as the movement of another figure perched itself atop a ledge in the back of the room. When the pegasus saw who the attacker was though, she originally thought that what was going on was just a dream or just not real.
The attacker looked like a Sphinx from one of the Daring Do novels. But it’s wings were completely black and it’s body was a dark burned brown color for fur with a pair of red goggles. One’s she had not seen before that looked different than the standard issue wonderbolt goggles. It’s cat like face was the same color as the body, but that was not the major concern right now.
The major concern was that it could channel Magic as it began to control a form of Dark purple sorcery. It wasn’t taking aim at whatever was on the floor nearby. She had no clue what it was until she heard another voice. Very small like it came from
A breezie?
“Frost, Safeguard!!!”
Upon realization, Rainbow noticed that the figure on the floor wasn’t hurt, but was actually conjuring a lot of power. Immediately after hearing the words, the Sphinx began to fire beams of Dark light that almost struck the spellcaster if it didn’t put up the shield in time. Luckily, it put up a 6ft wall of ice in front of itself along with Rainbow, Scootaloo, and Spike. The dust had finally faded and at this point, nopony could hold in their shock.
“So, is everypony enjoying the exhibit so far?”
The wolf they saw on the TV screen moments before was right in front of them in a partial crouch position, looking at the three of them. At first, Scootaloo and Spike thought that it was some kind of illusion. But Rainbow knew it was real. it could breathe, move and even speak like it did just now. It even reacted to the environment around him, due to his attackers beams beginning to penetrate his barricade.
“Frost, your shield isn’t going to hold much longer like this.” His Breezie companion told him. “You need to move unless you want to get a hole blasted in you.”
Sighing, the wolf looked back at his companion before looking back at Rainbow and company. “Alright, fun’s over. You three stay low and get behind cover as fast as you can.”
Like they were direct orders from Spitfire, Rainbow Dash had Scootaloo and Spike follow her as they took refuge behind a concrete display along the floor. From Rainbow’s crouched position on the ground, the pegasus could still see the fight that was about to unfold right in front of their eyes.
Frost’s first move that he made was putting his hand at the base of his previous creation. Soon, the ice turned into a cold sapphire colored magic as it churned around his hands. He planned to go on the offensive. However, after the first few steps, a change of plans was needed after another problem made it’s grand entrance into the room with a cloud of smoke. From the smoke came a bipedal figure with a grey cat tail and a dark jacket that covered its body from head to toe. It took off it’s hood to show it’s shaggy silver fur across it’s head and it’s pitch black eyes with Violet pupils, seconds before charging at the wolf. Frost was quick enough to dodge his first attack with it’s claws before saying the bobcat’s name.
“Krosis.” The dragon word for Sorrow.
“Frost, this is bad.”
“You think, Snowfall!?” The wolf excedian replied with an edge in his voice after skidding backwards a few feet. “Where’s Tracer? She was with us a few minutes ago before we got blindsided.”
The question immediately caught the Attention of the Cyan Pegasus watching from her cover. ‘Does that mean… Firefly’s here? But where could she be?’ Just then, a light blue wisp of energy zipped in through the museum’s broken ceiling and behind the sphinx that was trying to pin down Frost with suppressing bolts of magic. The pink pegasus didn’t catch the beast’s attention though until she tapped her hoof on it’s shoulder and caught the spellweaver off guard and startled it.
“Looking for somepony, Kitty-cat?”
The sphinx gritted it’s teeth as it jumped from it’s old vantage point and took up position atop one of the other displays above the ground. However, it did not expect the pegasus to do one thing. Quickly give chase. Using her speed and newfound abilities, Firefly unfolded her wings and blinked forward from point A to point B as she soared and began firing her “Pulse Pistols” that fired energy pulses for ammunition. With the sphinx being occupied, Frost cracked a grin when he saw Firefly make her entrance as it now gave him some leeway to finally go on the offensive.
Now this looked more like a fair fight.
Both OverWatch members continued to combat the two individuals that attacked them. The wolf focused his skills with Ice and Combat as he began to counter the Bobcat’s skilled martial arts techniques. One thing bothered Frost though. He could feel Krosis’s energy, but he wasn’t using any of it like how Frost was using it in his Cryokinesis abilities. For now, this guy was not an opponent to take lightly because the wolf had a bad feeling that he had not shown what he was fully capable of yet.
The same feeling was felt through Firefly as she was fighting the Sphinx and staying on her hooves. Blasts of fury and speed were how the two flyers fought against each other, but the pegasus still had a few tricks up her sleeve. Tricks that involved working as a team with Frost. Getting behind the Wolf, she told him to execute a tactic that the two of them have been working on for quite some time when they had the opportunity to practice in the Danger room back at base.
“Frost, toss up!”
With both hands on the ground, Frost channeled his power to conjure a miniature catapult that chucked Firefly into the air. Oh her downward descent, she tossed a small cylinder canister that landed in between the Sphinx and the Bobcat. The Pegasus recalled to her previous position in a backward pull as soon as she let go of the object she tossed with her wing. Because once it hit the ground, an explosion of electromagnetic energy went off and the blast wave could be felt by everypony in the room.
For a brief moment, Rainbow, Spike and Scootaloo thought that they won as the room grew quiet. The dust was still everywhere though and it was hard to make out what happened. That was… until something from Snowfall began to click.
“Oh no…”
“Snowfall, what’s wrong?”
“Firefly, change your goggles scan to spiritual pressure readings. My suit is picking up Spirit Waves.”
The pegasus quickly obeyed the Breezies plea as it changed the lense vision from clear to a cyan blue. The numbers began to skyrocket.
“Oh dear Celestia this is bad… The rates have skyrocketed over the past ten seconds-.”
A violent shock wave was let loose as the dust from before scattered everywhere. The Wolf was now really concerned and on alert given what was happening. “How much?”
“Eighty Percent.”
Now that was a bad omen. The dust from before was now gone as a massive flow of Dark Purple energy surged from the bobcat excedian. He threw his coat to the side, revealing the shocking secrets he had kept hidden. Runes covered his entire chest and along his arms and legs at it glowed through his torn black jeans. Pointing his hand to the roof, an armada of blades formed in the sky. Formed from the same power Krosis possessed.
“Oh ponyfeathers! He’s an Esper!!”
Espers are a very rare and dangerous case. They are known to be masters of the mind. Warriors that have undergone rigorous training to harness the power of their mind and eventually learning to transfer that energy into raw telekinetic power. Being able to create illusions and objects with their minds that inflict real damage to those unfortunate enough to get attacked by one. Right now, Firefly and Frost were the unfortunate ones stuck in the bobcats crosshairs.
The moment Krosis moved his arm forward, all the blades in the air went forth like rain during a storm. From behind cover, Rainbow had to pull Scootaloo and Spike close to her so they wouldn’t get hurt by the incoming Blitz of weaponry. Firefly herself was lucky enough to move out of the way just in time, surprisingly ending up nearby Rainbow’s location.
However, Frost wasn’t so lucky. Despite knowing how to blink (A stronger level of Teleportation), he tried to form a shield in order to block the attack. However, the Esper’s blades were way too fast for him. Striking him across the arms and chest, the telekinetic creations knocked the Excedian to the ground and severely hurt him. His body was still sore after crashing through the glass ceiling and now this just made his condition worse. Krosis stared at the downed Excedian, now with a grin of satisfaction. He looked at his partner and gave a quick command.
“Ebonheart, you flush out the other one and get the objective. I’ll deal with the wolf.”
The sphinx nodded and turned in the direction of the display case Scootaloo was looking at earlier. With a flick of it’s paw, the glass around the case shattered and exposed the contents inside. “Hehe… Too easy.”
“Crap,” Firefly cursed. “No wonder they’re here to grab that.”
“Wait, that weapon’s real!?”
“Why else do you think that Blackhorn is in Tartarus?”
The pink pegasus was now more focused on her team mate that was on the ground. With the bobcat now being a powerful Esper and his partner being as unpredictable as him, it would be impossible for her to try and take on two at once. Plus, they might use the ponies here as hostages. Looking back at her struggling partner, she muttered. “Come on, Wolfy… Fight back-!”
She didn’t have the moment to finish because when she said those words, Frost caught his attackers and everypony else off guard. When Krosis stepped into a puddle of water by a broken drinking faucet, Frost had an opportunity to strike back. The wolf used his Cryo energy to make a frozen fist from the ground to push the Bobcat back. Staggering to his feet, the wolf put his first two fingers of each hand on both of his wrists. This tactic caused his energy to flow around him and his strenght and power to increase. In this state, his energy slowly closed his open wounds that were covering his body. “Now then… My turn.”
That was the tracers cue to get back in the game as they now focused on getting back at the Esper and his comrade. However, Rainbow had now noticed that the sphinx was getting closer to his objective. Even Scootaloo began to quietly panic along with Spike. And with Firefly occupied… She was the only mare for the job that could do something.-. No scratch that, had to do something.
“Spike. Scootaloo. Stay here and keep your heads down.” She told then before she used her wings to push herself silently across the floor. The sphinx right now was looking at his partner and did not see Rainbow pass him. When he turned back around to the display case, the halberd the lion creature was looking for disappeared. Ebonheart took off his ruby goggles for a moment, making sure that his eyes were not playing any tricks on him. But this wasn’t a trick. The spear was indeed missing. He kept looking around, unaware of the cyan pegasus on the floor on the opposite side of the case he was investigating. Then, something moved at the corner of his eye. He turned to look and found a small orange filly with a purple mane. Not taking any chances and thinking she took it, the Sphinx lifted a paw at the child.
“Eeek!”
The small squeak though led to Ebonheart getting blindsided by someone or… something.
“Hey Kitty-face!!”
The next moment, Rainbow sprung from behind the sphinx off of the floor and swung the weapon, striking Ebonheart in the belly. The impact went off like a sonic boom, sending the sphinx into the nearby wall while it knocked the pegasus back on the floor. The weapon dropped to the floor and snapped into a few pieces as it knocked Rainbow backwards. Upon hearing the strike, Krosis swiftly moved over to his hurt comrade using a conjured grappling claw out of his telekinetic energy and picked up the unconscious sphinx.
“Be Grateful that all of your lives are spared.” The Excedian warned them before pulling himself out using the same ESP claw technique. Frost and Firefly now looked at Rainbow Dash, still surprised by her actions moments ago. In their eyes now, she was more than just a bystander or a witness. She was a pegasus who put herself in harms way to protect her friends and those that she cares for. Snowfall herself was even… Cheerful.
As the Cyan mare rejoined her friends, Firefly trotted over to where the broken halberd was and placed the pieces back into the display using her wings. Turning back to Rainbow, the pink mare said a few final words to her.
“You know… The world could use more ponies like you. The world could really use more heroes.” With that, the agents of OverWatch disappeared as Frost teleported them out of the room. Rainbow stood speechless. Did she get praised by… Firefly? The Firefly!? She wasn’t able to fully process the thought of what happened when Scootaloo jumped on top of her back and hugged her tightly in all out joy
“Yeah!! BEST DAY EVER!!!”
Manehattan, Nearby Building (Moments after the battle concluded)
As the three friends left the Museum and joined the others that they came with at the train station, they didn’t know that the heroes who saved them were not that far away. On top of a skyscraper overlooking the train station, the Tracer watched the three of them as they returned to meet up some other ponies that they knew. As she watched them, her partner was finishing up a phone call and soon sat down next to the pegasus by her right wing side.
“Just got off the phone with command. They’ll assess the damages and take care of the rest while Snowfall goes to report what happened. For now, we won’t be needed for anything else for a while unless the Director specifically needs us.”
The pegasus just nodded, watching the cyan mare down below reunite with her two friends from Ponyville. The wolf noticed his partner as Firefly watched them laugh and chatter away as they trotted to their train ride home.
“So… What do you think?”
“Well,” The pegasus said. “She has definitely learned a lot as much as she has grown. Reminds me a lot of when I was younger and around her ago. Brave… Loyal… a guardian to her friends and those she cares for… She’s almost like me. It’s just that she’s the Element of Loyalty… I am proud of her.”
Frost didn’t do anything, except chuckle when he heard the last statement and grinned.
“She’s been in the dark for a long time though,” Firefly continued. “Her father taught her many things and taught her well, but now I’ve heard she’s living on her own. Spitfire told me in a letter that she’s very committed to accomplishing her dreams. Even going so far as getting hospitalized to save a team mates life and even attempted to walk away from Wonderbolt Academy because she cared for her friends safety.” The Pegasus and wolf watched as the train was slowly beginning to leave the station as the group of mares sat down and began to conversate. Rainbow right now was happy, and so was everypony else she was with.
The Tracer sighed. “I think she should know. However, I’m worried…”
The wolf sighed a little as he looked at the mare with a calm expression. “I’m sure she will understand, Firefly. All you need to be yourself. Besides… Family is very important and whatever decision you make should be what you think is right… She is your daughter after all.”
The pegasus smiled as she looked at the Excedian. “Thank you, Frost.” As she watched the train go off into the distance and the smoke of the train fade away, she could only think of one thing as a few tears shed from her eyes. ‘Oh my little Rainbow… I’ve missed you so much. Soon, mommy is coming home.’
End