Twilight lazily floated above the town of Ponyville, enjoying the warm rays of the sun. She could almost feel her body drinking in the solar radiation.
Of course, the planet’s ozone layer prevented her from absorbing it at any real significant rate, especially since Equestria’s ozone layer was far healthier than Earth’s. Clark solved that by flying into orbit. Though, while Clark’s body could handle that kind of pressure, Twilight was still unsure how her own body would fare. After all, she still had no idea how her body could use the powers of Superman, his soul or not. She wasn’t a Kryptonian.
It didn’t matter in the end, she supposed. She had a couple decades of unused solar radiation on tap. She wasn’t running out anytime soon.
A crash, followed by a scream, reached her ears. She instantly flipped around and started searching Ponyville for the source. After a moment she realized the sound wasn’t coming from anywhere near Ponyville. She concentrated, trying to discern the source of the crash.
“Halt! Royal Guards!”
Twilight blinked and focused on the city in the distance. She gaped for a moment. “Canterlot? I mean, yeah, I guess I could hear it… but still!” she griped.
She sighed, and then the sound barrier was shattered as she made haste for the city. Looks like the life of Superman had followed her. Hmmm… maybe a bit of precaution wouldn’t go amiss. Her horn lit up as she began preparing a glamour.
---
In Canterlot, Pegasi in Royal Guard armor were chasing after a Unicorn that was leaping rather athletically from spire to spire as it dodged every attempt to be tackled, stabbed, or all around caught. It wore a blue suit of clothing that covered everything, and a pair of strange gauntlets covered its forelegs, forming hands of all things. In one hand was a bag that jingled quite loudly.
He cackled loudly as he once more effortlessly dodged a spear thrust from one of the Pegasi. “Come on! Is that the best the vaunted Royal Guard can do?” he taunted. “I never believed it would be so easy! And I haven’t even used magic yet!”
“Celestia burn it all, hold still!” roared one of the guards, a lithe Pegasus with a grey coat, blonde mane, and sky blue eyes. She was wielding a shield of all things as her weapon.
She dove for him, but he managed to twist in midair just enough to lay a hoof on her shoulder. Suddenly she was spiraling towards the ground with a pained shoulder and he fell to a different roof, and vanished over its edge. The Pegasus crashed into a wooden stand, likely saving her life.
The thief was chuckling as a he rounded a corner, now happy that he lost the Guard. He glanced behind him to make sure.
And ran straight into what felt like a pony shaped wall. He staggered back and looked at who had stopped him, and found…
Well, it was a pony, he could tell that much, but everything else was blurred by a glamour.
“And who might you be?” he asked.
Twilight glanced up at the bright noon Sun, then back at the Unicorn. “You’re rather brave to be robbing a store in broad daylight like this,” she noted, before shrugging. “Either way, give up peacefully and return the stolen property.”
He smirked. “That really is a good glamour. Even your voice is unidentifiable. Kudos,” he complimented. “And I can’t rightly call myself the world’s greatest thief if I just limited myself to nighttime marks.”
Twilight quirked an eyebrow. “World’s greatest thief?”
“My name’s Shifter,” the stallion introduced, taking a quick bow. “I’m the best when it comes to stealing. It doesn’t matter what, it doesn’t matter when, and it doesn’t matter where… I can steal it, and normally do it without getting caught.” He glanced back at the approaching Royal Guard, the grey mare at their head. Looks like they had found him. “Even the best have off days,” he grumbled, his eyes on the mare in particular.
He made to sprint around Twilight, but she grabbed grabbed his tail, bringing him to a halt. “Not so fast,” she said with a frown. “I’m not letting you escape.”
Shifter grinned at her, and Twilight only had enough time to register the, depressingly, familiar sound of a limb speeding towards her face before everything went black.
---
“Hey. Hey! C’mon, wake up!”
Twilight groaned as consciousness returned to her. She opened her eyes and immediately regretted that decision, her left eye feeling like it was on fire. She hissed softly. “Oooh… what happened?” she asked.
“You got knocked the fuck out,” the voice that woke her up stated flatly. “Pretty hard at that. You’ll probably be sporting a shiner under that glamour for a good month.”
Twilight turned to look at the speaker, and found a grey Pegasus with blue eyes wearing Royal Guard armor sitting next to her.
“You mind telling me why you thought it was a good idea to try and stop a criminal?” the mare grunted, obviously not impressed.
Twilight blinked, and then remembered. Shifter had knocked her out. She frowned. How had Shifter knocked her out? It usually took Gods, or maybe Alicorns, to knock out the Man of Steel. Was her body not as durable as her old one? No, she had gone hoof to hoof with Nightmare Moon and had a tree fall on her leg. Durability wasn't the problem. “I… guess I underestimated him,” she admitted.
“Drop the glamour,” the guard sighed. “I’m placing you under arrest for interfering in Royal Guard business. We would have caught him if you hadn’t interfered.”
Twilight got to her hooves. “Sorry, not an option.” She took to the air, and the Pegasus followed.
“I said you’re under arrest! Don’t make me knock you out again!” she declared, brandishing her shield.
“I have the utmost respect for the Royal Guard, but getting arrested is not on my agenda today,” Twilight said, before turning and leaving at incredible speed.
The Pegasus she left behind gaped. “Whoa… That is one fast Pegasus.” She blinked, a thought coming to her. “She’s heading in the direction of Ponyville… and I know only one Pegasus there that can probably match that speed.” She turned around and started her own flight, this time towards the palace.
---
Twilight had dispelled her glamour once she reached the town. It was kinda pointless here since everyone had seen her fighting Gilda. Once she landed in front of Town Hall she made her way inside.
Time to do some research.
---
“That’s it?” asked an Earth Pony wearing Royal Guard armor. “All you have to go on this vigilante is that they’re fast, likely a Pegasus, and was seen heading to Ponyville? You have a hunch that it’s Rainbow Dash of Ponyville, and want to issue an arrest warent for her. Am I correct so far?” He sounded obviously displeased.
He was Astral Knight, the Commander of the Royal Guard in Canterlot, direct subordinate of Captain Shining Armor. He had a white coat that was only slightly darker than Captain Armor’s and a red mane with green eyes.
“Yessir. Rainbow Dash interfered in Royal Guard business by letting Shifter the thief escape during her attempt to apprehend him. As per our zero-tolerance policy, I wish to go to Ponyville and issue her arrest myself,” the Pegasus said.
Astral Knight sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “Alright, there’s a number of problems here. First and foremost,” he glared at her here, making her take a step back in surprise. “We do not make arrests based on a hunch. If you couldn’t identify them, then you do some good old fashioned detective work to determine their identity. Once you have some reasonable proof, then we can issue an arrest.”
He held up a hoof, halting whatever the Pegasus was about to say. “Second, you just tried to get me to sign off on an arrest of Rainbow Dash, a well known hero of Equestria. You are going to need a lot more than a hunch for me to do that and not get our department torn apart by angry civilians and Princesses.”
The Pegasus frowned. “Sir, our job isn’t to pander to the public!” she tried to argue.
“I tell you what your job is, not the other way around!” Astral Knight roared, making the Pegasus jump in surprise. “Our job is to protect our Princess! Our job is to ensure the safety of the people of Equestria! Our job is to do as we are told by our superiors!” His glare intensified. “If I ever catch wind of you trying to even so much as glance at one of the Elements of Harmony again without a damn good reason, I will strip you of your armor personally and throw you in the deepest dungeon of Canterlot for endangering the lives of everyone in this country! Now GET OUT AND DO YOUR JOB!!!”
“Yessir!” the mare yelped, leaving as fast as she could.
But even while she fled the wrath of her commanding officer, Cobalt Doo swore she would unmask that mysterious pony if it was the last thing she did. Vigilantes only made the job of the Royal Guard harder. As far as she was concerned, they were no better than criminals like Shifter.
---
Hidden in the rafters of the building, Shifter smirked as he listened in to the conversation between Commander and subordinate. 'Ponyville eh? Alright miss mystery pony, let's see if you'll be any better of a challenge on your home turf.'
Shoot. I was thinking that Shifter was Lupin the III. The green suit and worlds greatest thief is what sent me in that direction. The issue is, is he a villain or a hero?
I'm just guessing the obvious: Clark/Twilight is weak to magic.
Pretty ironic if you think about it
8043316 Er... Shifter has a blue suit, not green.
8043368 Shifter punched her. He didn't cast a spell at her.
8043373 I don't know the whole reason, but I can guess Twilight's body has all of clark's stuff flickering... but i can be a horse... (pun in Spanish)
btw, just managed to get approved the publishing of the stuff I sent you... and added somethings on Tat's fustercluck of a Ponyverse Check it out
Wait... Is Cobalt related to Derpy?
8043373
Not maybe a magic-induced punch?
8043583 Like I said, he didn't use magic against her.
Twilight and a thief?
I'd ship it.
Hello there. Thanks very much for getting the next chapter up. I have to say excellent job on this chapter. As for how a unicorn thief could do that, I have a few theories:
1. This thief is secretly super-powered in the strength department (though, if this were the case, he wouldn't have much to fear from normal guards, so this is unlikely).
2. His suit, unknown to either him OR Twilight, has something in it that is oddly similar to Kryptonite.
3. Twilight's use of magic to disguise herself ended up greatly reducing her durability (which seems like the most likely scenario at present, though it's probably still wrong)
or 4. Nightmare Moon was just so ludicrously over-rated that any moderately competent solider could have taken her single-hoofedly in a fair fight even without the Elements of Harmony (this is the LEAST likely scenario).
At any rate, very good introduction to the new characters in this story and I will definitely be looking forward to more. However, I also understand that real world concerns come first, so I will also be patient.
8044158 I'm tempted to go with 4, if only so I can watch the fireworks in the comments section.
Number 3 actually does make sense, considering I did state she cannot magically shield against magic. The next logical step would be to say her own magic could interfere with her durability, but I'm gonna draw the line and say Twilight magic will not interfere with her enhanced durability. It cannot protect her from magical attacks, but it won't negatively affect her either.
Number 2: There is no Kryptonite-like substance in this story, or at least i have no plans to introduce one. Interesting idea, but not one I currently intend to implement.
Number 1: Again, interesting idea, but Shifter is not enhanced beyond the physical or magical limits of the pony race.
For everyone out there, here's a hint if you feel like guessing. When I finally reveal why Shifter could knock the Mare of Steel on her plot, the ones who guessed right will get bragging rights.
And a cookie. But mostly bragging rights.
Oops, pre-emptive name-drop.
8043373 Shifter didn't use magic, but perhaps the gauntlets he's wearing did?
8044443 Fixed! Thanks!
8043370
So your saying I am not far off on the Lupin part then. Who is going to be pops than?
8044915 No, Shifter is not a Hero Soul or Villain Soul. I'm just trying to figure out why you thought he had a green suit.
8045567
I thought I had read green originally. In my original comment I thought you where using Lupin more then Catwomen. After reading your authors note that is. Still let's see how Super Twilight handles this.
8045677 Ah, okay I get it.
And Red Coat Lupin is the only Lupin III I know of. I didn't even know about the Green Coat version until you said something and I did some research.
I can however see why you would think that. Shifter's personality is actually damn near a mirror of Red Coat Lupin. That wasn't my intention, but oh well. Well, a mirror for as much as I can remember anyways.
8044324 Yeah. I kind of figured all my guesses were wrong anyway. Thanks for clarifying that. Unfortunately, I'm now completely stumped. As big a Batman fan as I am, I freely admit I'm nowhere near as good a detective as he is.
8052865 Yeah, but it was a one-off. I basically took that moment, gave Twilight a better reason for being a badass than "Alicorn Powers Go!" and am currently in the process of applying comic-book styled encounters into it all.