//------------------------------// // Questions // Story: Power Ponies: Heroes of the Next Generation // by N7_Spartan117 //------------------------------// “You’ve got to be kidding me!” Trixie heard as she began to slowly regain consciousness. “You mean to tell me that you don’t see that this is a trap?!” “You saw the videos, Rainbow,” said Twilight as she looked over the various machines she had hooked up to Trixie, with her son Night Light Jr. holding Trixie’s head still and trying to read her thoughts, “Beside I’m running a couple of tests to make sure she is telling the truth.” “What, you think letting Nighty read her mind will help find something about who that was in the video?” argued Rainbow as she pointed to Twilight’s telepathic son, “He can only do that through physical contact. And besides, you said that his powers haven’t even fully developed yet. So he could find nothing or some useless nonsense.” “So? He...he’s trying his best!” Twilight bit back. Although Nighty was at the age for most Meta Ponies’ powers started to develop properly, Nighty was still struggled with his. “Have you found anything Nighty?” “N..no,” answered the colt in an upset tone, “All I could find was stuff about some mare named Dove and some fighting styles. Cool!” Nighty then tried to reach out to touch Trixie again to learn more of her tactics, but was quickly shooed away by Twilight. “It’s okay, Nighty. I’m sure you did your best,” said Twilight as she ushered Nighty out of the room. “Mom, who is she and what is this about?” “It’s nothing sweetie, she’s just an old friend who needs some help. Now run along and read your books.” “But---” Before Nighty could rebut, Twilight had already shut the door to the back room of the library she and her friends were using. Rainbow only gave her ‘I told you so’ look as Twilight made her way to her to a computer. “Yeah, I know, but he did his best. Besides, I already confirmed that it was her son and that the place we’re supposed to go does exist.” “I’m not saying that all that stuff is a lie. What I’m saying is that this a trap!” “Ah have to agree with Rainbow,” said Applejack as she stepped beside her, “This has all the makin’s of a trap.” “Yes, but why would she come here?” asked Rarity as she took her place beside Twilight, “She would not have come here unless she saw no other option.” “It wouldn’t be the first time she would have betrayed us,” remarked Spike. “But still she must really need us if she can’t just go there herself and get her son.” “True, but still she could do this herself,” said Rainbow as she crossed her hooves, “You remember what she did to 3rd and 5th Street back in Maretropolis. She almost leveled them just to make Mane-iac pay for killing Hum Drum.” “Yeah, I was the one that had to clean up everything!” yelled Pinkie, irritated by the memory of the debris from Trixie’s onslaught. “But that only took you like six seconds,” remarked Spike as he and the others turned to face Pinkie for her comment. “Well, you guys could have helped.” As the others began to argue over the situation, Fluttershy sat by Trixie’s bedside watching her begin to wake up. “I understand why you came,” said Fluttershy to a semiconscious Trixie, “And if it means anything, I still trust you.” Trixie slowly began to open her eyes, and saw Fluttershy looking down at her. “If somepony had taken Annie from me for as long as they took your son, I probably would have done the same things you have.” “Really?” asked Trixie, catching the others’ attention. “Well, maybe not kidnap all your friends and force one of them to turn….into... an... oversized….. monster!” said Fluttershy as she started to hyperventilate, but quickly calmed herself when she saw the worried look the other Power Ponies were giving her, “I forgive you.” “What?!” yelled Trixie and the rest of the Power Ponies in shock. “I forgive you for what you did to me,” Trixie could only look at Fluttershy as she tried to find the words to express her gratitude, “And I promise to help you get your son back.” “Really?” Fluttershy only gave a reassuring nod as an answer. “Thank you so much. And I’m sorry.” As the rest of her friends (except for Del) had left Sweet Apple Acres, Starburst looked at the ground sadly. “It’s gettin’ late,” commented Del as he looked at sun setting in the distance, “Star?” Star did not respond, but continued to look at the ground. Del tried to wave his hoof in front of her face to get her attention. As he tried, Star began to talk with the symbiote. “They do not trust us!” said the symbiote, “They will never accept us.” “That’s not true. They understand why I did this,” argued Starburst, still believing that her friends would understand her decision to bond with the symbiote. “Do they?” “Hey, Star?” said Del trying to get Starburst’s attention, “If it means anythin’, Ah trust that you made the right choice. Protecting the thing, Ah mean.” Star’s face turned bright red upon hearing this, “You….you think so?” she asked. “Yeah, Ah mean you wouldn’t do somethin’ unless it was for a good cause.” Star gave him a smile, knowing that she had somepony that believed in her, “Thank you.” “See? They still trust me,” said Starburst mentally to the symbiote. “Yes, the one whose affection we desire,” remarked the symbiote as it took over her body and made Star start nuzzling against Del. “Uh… Star?” Del could only try to pull away from the now blushing mare as she tried to think of a way to explain her actions, “Ah’m guessing it was the thing?” “Ye...yes,” answered Star nervously as she turned to hide her glowing red face, “I don’t mean to do that.” “Sure you don’t,” remarked the symbiote sarcastically. “Be quiet!” ordered Star out loud, quickly noticing Del’s confusion, “I was talking to the symbiote.” “Okay.” Star and Del just stood there in silence as each of them figured out what to do next. “It’s gettin’ pretty late.” “Yeah.” “Would you like me to walk you home?” asked Del as he started towards the road back to Ponyville. Star quickly gave him an excited nod, thanks to the symbiote. Star went to turn on the image inducer, but discovered something awful when she did. “Oh, no!” “What wrong?” asked Del as he galloped over to make sure she was okay. “My...my inducer, it’s broken!” excalmed Star as she showed Del the broken device, “It must have broken when the symbiote lashed out against Candy. How am I going to get home? I can’t go out there, somepony might see me like this.” “You could just fly home,” suggested Del, but he backtracked, “No, wait, somepony might see you.” “That’s right. What am I going to do?” As Star and Del continued to pitch ideas for how to get her back to Ponyville, Star’s coat started to change back to its original orange coloring and her alicorn horn had seemingly disappeared. “Uh, Star? Your coat.” “Yes, Del, I am aware that it’s not the right color. That's why we need to think of something to help me get back,” said Star in an irritated tone, not recognizing her sudden transformation. “No, look!” Del pointed to Star’s coat. Needless to say, it freaked her out. “What did you do?” asked Starburst to the symbiote. “We told you. We have many abilities,” replied the symbiote. “One of them allows us to change our appearance.” “And you couldn’t have done this when my mom or my friends discovered me like this?” “We didn’t see the need to,” answered the symbiote coldly, “They would have discovered us eventually.” “Well, since you look like your old self, you can get home and nopony will know,” said Del, pulling Star out of her argument, “You still want me to walk with you to your house?” “YES!” answered Starburst in an excited tone (again, thanks to the symbiote). As the two made their way back to Ponyville, the symbiote forced Star to wrap one of her large wings around Del. “I’m.....no... not doing this!” she said nervously. “It’s okay, Star,” said Del as Star removed her wing, “Ah don’t mind.” Hearing this caused Star’s face to turn bright red again. The symbiote then wrapped Star’s wing around Del again, with Starburst relaxing. “I understand why you guys don’t trust me,” said Trixie as she and the Power Ponies sat around a large computer built like a table, “But you have to believe me. I know how bad this looks, but I’m not trying to trick you. I really need your help.” “We’ve already established that you need our help,” remarked Rainbow Dash in an irritated tone, tired of going around in circles with the topic, “I just see this as a trap!” “We just don’t feel comfortable doing something like this without knowing what we’re getting into,” said Twilight from the head of the table. “But you said you would help me!” yelled Trixie in anger, “Look, I need you guys. I’m afraid of what will happen to my son if I’m the only one who goes.” “How do you know that’s really your son?” asked Pinkie, “For all you know, he could be a shapeshifting alien sent to infiltrate our society to conquer us!” Everyone quickly turned their head in Pinkie’s direction, their looks a mixture of confusion and disbelief. “What? It could happen.” “Anyway, I know that it looks like a trap, and I’m not going to argue that point with you. That’s another reason why I need you guys,” said Trixie. “What, so you can trade us as prisoners?” asked Spike. “No. If that place is filled with those things that attacked me, then I will need your help,” answered Trixie. She plugged the flash drive into the computer, and it created a hologram of the surrounding area around Trixie’s house. The neighboring houses had been either mostly or completely destroyed. The hologram started to show the image of Trixie throwing one of robots into a house across from her and another robot trying to shoot her with blasts of energy from its hoof, blowing up one of the houses. “Y’all looked like you did fine on your own,” remarked Applejack. “Hardly. That’s another reason why I need you,” remarked Trixie as the hologram disappeared. “Why, so we can be cannon fodder?” asked Rarity in anger. “No, I could barely handle twelve of those on my own. But if you all came with me, I know we could stand a chance against them and get to Starry.” The ponies and dragon only gave each other concerned looks, unsure if they really should help her. Trixie did have a point; Twilight had said they would help her, but did not really know what they were agreeing to. And this new information and lack of any info on what they were up against did not help any. As they continued to debate back and forth over the issue, Fluttershy, who had remained silent for most of the discussion, stood up to try and get the others’ attention. “Excuse me,” said Fluttershy timidly, but no one heard her. “I...have something to say.” Still nopony was listening to her, and they continued to argue. Trixie began to open her mouth to cast a spell to get their attention, but Fluttershy quickly covered her mouth with her hoof to stop her. As Trixie slowly closed her mouth, she watched as Fluttershy raised her hoof in the air like she was going to slam it down on the table, but instead she pressed a button that caused the speakers to make a loud screeching sound. “I have something I would like to say now,” said Fluttershy calmly as the others recovered from the irritating noise. “Well, say it,” remarked Rainbow as she dug her hoof into her ear, as if she were trying to dig the noise out. “Why are you guys questioning her?” Everyone gave Fluttershy a confused look as she continued with her statement, “I know why you don’t want to trust her, but she’s not asking you to. She just wants her son back. Wouldn’t we try everything in our power to get our children back if some mean pony had taken them from us and we never saw them for years?” “But, Fluttershy…” said Rainbow, but was quickly stopped by the timid pegasus. “No, Dash. Think about it. What would we do if we were in her position? I know I probably would not go the extremes that she did-” (Trixie lowered her head in shame, remembering when she had forced the one defending her into uncontrollable rage). “-but I still would have done whatever I could to save my Anthea. So don’t sit there and lie and say you wouldn’t do the same for Prism or Icy. The point is, I trust Trixie and I’m willing to help her. What about you?” The room fell into a deep silence after Fluttershy’s surprising defense. The others only looked at each other, their expressions did the talking for them as they thought of what she had said. As they sat there in silence, each had thought of what they would do if they were in the same situation. Twilight thought that, if she had found somepony who had taken Starburst or Nighty, she would torture them with her blasts of energy. Rainbow thought on how she would fry them with lighting. Applejack thought of bucking them into the air and slamming them down with her lasso. Rarity and Spike both considered how Spike would either incinerate or maul them. And Pinkie felt that she would run circles around them at super speed until they were nothing but dust. “Okay, I’m with you,” said Twilight as she stood from her chair. “We are as well,” said Rarity as she and Spike did the same. “Me three...uh or four,” remarked Pinkie as she tried to count how many had agreed before her. “Ah got your back,” said Applejack. All eyes were on Rainbow, who was still sitting in her chair with her hooves crossed. After a few seconds, she, too, eventually stood. “I still don’t trust you, but count me in!” Trixie gave them a warming smile as she saw that she would not have to go in alone. “Thank you.” “You're welcome,” said Twilight, “Now, I have found the location of the island, and now we just need to think of a plan.” The computer then made a holographic image of the island, showing its tropical terrain with a large volcano near a crescent-shaped beach. Most of the walk back to Starburst’s home was spent in awkward silence. Both would try to think of something to talk about, but the symbiote would cause Star to do something, like grow a tentacle or be forced to flirt with the stallion, that would cause them to go back into the awkward silence. “Okay,” sighed Del as he stopped dead in his tracks, “We need to talk about this.” “About what?” asked Star coldly, already knowing what the conversation was going to be about. “Why did you do it?” Star only looked at the ground, not wanting to answer the question. After a minute of complete silence, Del carefully reached for Star’s hoof, trying to reassure her that she could trust him. “Ah’m not mad at you. Just please, can you tell me why?” “My mother was the reason,” finally answered Star, still looking to the ground. Del only gave her a confused look, not really getting a straightforward answer. “What do you mean?” “She found out that I had him, and was going to….” “Going to what?” asked Del as Star began to raise her head to look at him. Star’s face changed from orange to bright red once again. “NOW KISS!!!” yelled the symbiote in voice similar to Del’s cousin Api. Star quickly backed away from the stallion to hide her blush. “Shut up!” said Star to the symbiote, confusing Del, “I don’t need to deal with you right now.” “Fine,” said Del in an irritated tone as he turned away from the mare. Star quickly realized what she had accidentally implied and hung her head in depression. “I’m sorry, Del. I was talking to the symbiote,” Star continued to look at the ground as Del turned to face her. “No, Ah’m sorry,” said Del as he started to look at the ground as well, “Ah just thought that you we talkin’ to me.” “It’s okay.” As the two ponies looked at each other, the symbiote made a black tentacle appear and move towards Del. “Uh... Star?” “Oh, sorry,” said Star as she retracted the tentacle, “I don’t know why it keeps doing that.” “Yes, we do,” remarked the symbiote, “We want---” “Qui---,” Star stopped herself mid-word, remembering she was not alone, “Symbiote.” “Oh….okay,” said Del nervously, “Can you finish tellin’ me why you bonded with it?” Star let out a depressed sigh , her hopes that Del had forgotten their earlier conversation dashed, “Well, mom had found him in my room, and I heard her talking with one of her scientists about him. That’s how I discovered that she knew about him. They were talking about taking him and studying him, or destroying him.” Del only looked on at the small orange pegasus, who was looking at her disguised hoof, almost forgetting that her coat was black due to her bond with the symbiote. “I couldn’t let her take him away and do who-knows-what to him. He’s my friend and….” “Ah understand, Star,” said Del as he lifted Star’s head back up, “You did what you thought was right and tried to save your friend, Ah respect that. If you think that it was the right choice than Ah support you.” The two just stood there, looking into each other’s eyes, both turning deep shades of red. The symbiote then grew another black tentacle that started to make its way towards Del by sliding on the ground. Del quickly noticed something moving around his front hooves, quickly transformed his hoof to metal, and stopped on the tentacle. “Ah’m sorry. That didn’t hurt you, did it?” “N...no,” answered Starburst nervously, “I don’t even feel them.” “Okay. So, why does it keep doing that?” “I really don’t know. It has a mind of its own,” said Star as she retracted the flattened tentacle. “Then why does it keep coming for me?” Star’s face reddened again at the question, and she turned her face to hide the blush. “I...I have no idea.” “Liar,” remarked the symbiote. “We want to be closer to him.” “Be quiet,” thought Star, talking to the symbiote. “For the last time, sto---” “HELP!!!” screamed a voice coming from a nearby alley. The pair quickly turned in the direction of the noise and started to gallop towards the alley. Once Star and Del reached the source of the voice, they found a unicorn stallion wearing a brown trench coat and fedora pinned to a brick wall by an earth pony stallion and a pegasus hovering over them. “Please, let me go,” begged the unicorn as he struggled to free himself to no avail. The two thugs burst into a fit of laughter as their victim tried to plead with them. “We already told you,” remarked the pegasus, “Give us your money, or my friend here will have to….. well, let’s just say the wall’s going to have a new coat of paint.” “I…..I told you….I don’t have any money!” As the two thugs turned and looked at each other, the pegasus gave the earth pony a nod. The earth pony began to raise his hoof, but before it could make contact a black tentacle wrapped around the hoof and threw the earth pony to the ground. As the earth pony struggled to his hooves, the pegasus turned to see Starburst and Del staring them down. “We’re only gonna tell you once,” said Del as he and Star slowly made their way to the thugs. “Run!” Star ordered. Once the earth pony finally got up, he and the pegasus gave each other an agreeing nod and charged at the young mare and stallion. The earth pony galloped towards Del and tried to tackle him, but when he did, Del quickly flipped the earth pony over and knocked him over to a nearby trash pile. The pegasus was having a easy time keeping Star on the ground by flying over her everytime she tried to reach him in the sky. By this point, both the symbiote and Starburst were beginning to get irritated with the pegasus stallion. “That's IT!” said both Star and the symbiote in unison. Star quickly changed back to her black-coated alicorn form, grew several large tentacles, and her teeth grew sharp and jagged. “WE ARE GOING TO END THIS NOW!!!!” All of the stallions stared in shock at the mare as she began to growl like an animal. Star charged towards the two muggers while launching the tentacles at them, wrapping two around the earth pony, pulling him out of the trash. The pegasus tried his best to dodge the he could, avoiding several tentacles trying catch him. “Wh...what are you?” asked the scared pegasus as he flew to the roof of the building opposite of his mugged victim. Star only gave a small laugh as she looked at the shaking pegasus. “You think you can hide from us, insect?” she asked. The symbiote then grew two tentacles on Star’s sides and dug them into the ground, “We will catch you.” Del could only look on in shock as the tentacles raised Star up to the shaking pegasus stallion. “Star….” Starburst quickly wrapped a tentacle around the pegasus and lifted him in the air. The stallion tried to free himself, but the more he struggled, the tighter the tentacle squeezed him. With his free hoof, the pegasus reached for his revolver, pointed at the tentacle and shot at it, trying to free himself. All the bullets did was make small holes on the tentacles that quickly covered back over. “Was that suppose to hurt me?” asked Star sarcastically as she knocked the gun out of his hoof with her magic. “Wha...who...are you?” asked the pegasus. Star only laughed, showing off her jagged teeth, scaring the stallion even more. Once Star had made it back to the ground with the two thugs still wrapped in tentacles, the symbiote formed two sharp tipped tentacles and slowly moved them towards her prey. “Star, stop!” said Del as he started to shake her, trying to get her attention, but to no success. The tentacles continued to make their way towards the muggers as Del tried to stop his friend. “Star, that’s enough! Stop it!” Star quickly tuned her head to face the stallion, only to reveal that her face had changed and no longer looked anything like her old self. Starburst’s eyes had became solid white, each almost went along the side of her head, and her mouth seemed to grow even more sharp jagged fangs. “We don’t want to stop!” said the symbiote. Del quickly realized that his friend was no longer in control, and that the symbiote had somehow taken over her body. Del quickly transformed into his metal form and punched the tentacles holding the muggers, causing them to fall off and free them. “Ah’m sorry, Star. Forgive me,” said Del as he raised his hoof to hit the mare, but the symbiote quickly wrapped a tentacle around his neck and began to squeeze. “I’m not your marefriend!” said the symbiote as Del began to gasp for air. As the symbiote continued to strangle Del, Star tried to fight for control again. “Let him go!” yelled Star, retaking the ability to speak. “Why? He was interrupting our fun!” asked the symbiote, speaking through Star. “I told you to never to hurt anypony!” “You said ‘friends’,” said the symbiote as it released Del from its hold, but quickly turned to shoot several tentacles at the muggers. “But not criminals!” “NO!” shouted Star, taking control over her body again and stopping the tentacles before they could get any further. “Again? This mare must have more willpower than expected,” remarked the symbiote as it watched Starburst release the frightened muggers and gallop towards Del. “Del….I am so, so sorry,” apologized Star as she hugged the stallion, “I...I wasn’t in control! This thing took over! He did it, not me!” “Star, is it really you?” asked Del as he felt Star’s face, “Or the symbiote?” “It’s me, I promise,” she replied as she continued hugging the golden-coated stallion. She quickly realized what she was doing, though, and practically flew off him, “Sorry.” “For nearly stranglin’ me, Ah forgive you.” As the two stood in awkward silence, the two criminals, still shaking with fear, began to gallop out of the alley as the pegasus retrieved his gun. The two finally made it out of the alley, but were stopped when they saw the unicorn they had tried to rob standing outside of the alley. “What do you want, you piece of trash?” asked the earth pony. The unicorn only smiled as he pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his noise “I AM A STALLION!!!” yelled the unicorn as he punched the earth pony. The pegasus quickly aimed his gun, but the unicorn cast a spell that shot the gun out of the mugger’s hoof. “What in the world was that?” asked the pegasus stallion as he clutched the hoof his gun was in. “Disarming spell. You’ll never guess where I purchased it.”