• Published 4th Feb 2016
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Hero Souls: Awakening - SvenFoxx



Twilight always knew she was different. She just never imagined it was her soul that was different.

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14. First Member of the Gallery

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.'

Author's Note:

Sat down and binge-watched The Batman for inspiration. This is where I begin the separation from Canon, and begin to turn this into the universe I imagined it to be.

We've also introduced three new characters... none of which are potential or current Hero Souls or Villain Souls.

Shifter, the self proclaimed world's greatest thief. I'm not ashamed to admit I based him lightly off Catwoman. I have some plans for him. And yes, there is a very good reason why a Unicorn of all the pony races was able to knock the Mare of Steel out cold with a punch.

Cobalt Doo, a member of the Canterlot Royal Guard. Still considering what exactly I'm going to do with her, though I do have an interesting backstory in the works.

And Astral Knight, the Commander of the Canterlot Royal Guard. He seems very harsh, but he's just very pragmatic is all. He's willing to work with the lesser evils to take down the greater evils if necessary, but he'll turn around and try to arrest them the moment the truce ends as well.

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