PONYVERSE

by TopWanted

The Speedster's Secret

The Speedster’s Secret

/|/|/PP/|/|/

“Stop right there, evil doer!” Matterhorn shouted as the Power Ponies alighted on the other side of the street. The bank robbers gasped in shock, some dropping their bags of money in surprise.

“Aw crap, it’s the Power Ponies!” a robber shouted.

“That’s right, we’re-”

“Aw crap, it’s the Power Ponies!” the same robber shouted.

Mistress Marevelous gave a look to Matterhorn. “Uh, yes, we…”

“Aw crap, it’s the Power Ponies!”

Radiance and Humdrum walked forward, Humdrum waving his claw in front of a robber who seemed to be going through the same motions over and over again. Radiance tapped lightly on a precariously balanced thug and tipped him over. The same robber repeated his line.

“Looks like their stuck in a loop,” she sighed.

Matterhorn groaned loudly. “Not again! This makes the fifteenth one this week.”

“Sixteenth,” Zapp added. “I had to break up a disturbance this morning that turned out to be a pony that walked into and got stuck in a fire hydrant.”

“It’s like the laws of physics are breaking down,” Marevelous noted. “It all started with that big eye in the sky.”

Matterhorn rubbed her face in a tired manner. “Yeah, I’ve been trying to find out what it did but I’m getting nowhere. Whatever that thing was affected the whole city. And it’s getting worse.”

Saddle Rager smiled. “Well if anypony can figure it out it’s you.”

Matterhorn smiled. “Thanks.”

Fili-Second zipped between them a moment later and hugged them close. “Oh, come on, girls! Look on the bright side! We caught the bad guys. And… Ice Cream!!!” She tossed out a hoofful of cones in the air then sped away and returned a moment later having delivered a scoop to each one. Her friends all caught them and looked at her.

“Levity is nice at times, Fili-Second,” Matterhorn warned her. “But this could really turn into a serious problem.” She licked her cone. “Oh! Raspberry.”

Fili-Second waved a dismissive hoof. “We’re superheroes. We can handle anything that comes at us as long as were together.”

Humdrum licked his ice cream a little too fast and grabbed his head in pain. “Gaah! Brain freeze!” The group laughed cheerfully and felt a little better about the future.

---

“Ms. President this is insane!” Matterhorn shouted at the commander and chief of the country. The mare frowned at the cadre of costumed cavaliers in her oval office but didn’t motion for them to leave or be escorted out. “No amount of panic justifies such a critical action!”

The president righted her glasses and sighed. “Reports have been coming from all over the country about ponies from Maretropolis. Despite being away from the city they still exhibit these… odd symptoms. Until we know what we’re dealing with. All ponies living in Maretropolis need to be quarantined in a deserted area outside the city. For the good of the populace.”

“You’re talking about camps!” Zapp shouted. “You can’t move that many ponies into something like that!”

“Why not just quarantine them within the city?” Radiance asked.

“Maretropolis has been tested and found too dangerous to keep ponies in right now.”

“Dangerous!?” Marevelous shouted. “When did these tests happen?”

“I can’t divulge that information.”

Marevelous gritted her teeth and reached for her lasso. Saddle Rager shot out a hoof to stop her. “Wait!” she ran in front of the president. “If our city really is dangerous than we need to be helping as much as we can to make it not. Not bickering like this. All those ponies are going to be homeless and confused. We need to help them.”

Matterhorn and the others looked at each other. Finally, she sighed. “You’re right. The ponies come first. We’re sorry for disturbing you like this, Ms. President.” They all turned to walk out.

The president’s frown didn’t go away as they left adding a hint of some other emotion they couldn’t comprehend. “For what it’s worth, girls, I’m sorry.”

---

“Reports of fires breaking out in Maretropolis all across the city,” a news anchor reported with live coverage from shaky cams outside the city. “With the city abandoned by presidential decree, soldiers have moved in to systematically demolish and raze the city under quarantine law.”

The Power Ponies sat around a table each with their eyes glued to the computer screen which showed the latest news. Fili-Second looked uncomfortable. Marevelous looked furious. Saddle Rager tried to hold back her tears. Matterhorn looked wide eyed her mouth agape.

“Why not just nuke it!” Zapp shouted angrily. “I can’t believe they lied to us like that!”

Humdrum had his head resting on the table, Radiance beside him. “She never said they wouldn’t do this,” she muttered despondently.

“Well she should have been upfront with us about it!”

Marevelous slammed her hooves on the table shaking some of the ponies from their sad stupor. “Why aren’t we out there stopping this, Matterhorn!?” she asked. Matterhorn continued to stare at the screen her eyes filled with the images of fire and destruction. “Matterhorn. Matterhorn! Twilight!”

“What?” She was pulled away from the screen and shook her head. “I… yes… something. I-I’ve been working on something.”

They all looked to her expectantly. Matterhorn got up and went over to the controls for the screen. She made the news disappear and then pulled up camera footage of that night. The room was silent as the scene played out before them. Finally, she stopped it at the camera’s best look at the eye.

“This is our enemy. We need to find it and stop it before it does the same thing to another city.”

Saddle Rager wiped her tears and frowned. “But Matterhorn, how is that going to help us save Maretropolis?”

Matterhorn lowered her head and turned from her friends. “Maretropolis is gone. We should move onto other things.”

Zapp slammed her hooves on the table. “How can you say that?! It’s our home!”

Matterhorn reeled on her pointing to the door. “Then why aren’t you there, huh? Same reason as me, I bet! Because you want revenge.” Her expression lightened a bit and she looked hopeful. “Well, I think I have a solution. You see the eye was made of transdimensional-”

Marevelous held up her hoof to stop her. “Now hold on. You’re seriously tellin’ us to just let this go?”

Matterhorn sighed. “It’s the only option right now.” She looked to all of them. “Can I say my piece?”

Nopony answered, each one looking at the table with dejected or angry eyes. Matterhorn continued. “The eye was from an alternate dimension. One where physics doesn’t work the same way probably. That thing’s dystopic energy seeped into our world and corrupted it, or at least the ponies that were present to see it. Here’s the big catch though. Using the little knowledge of transdimensional physics by spending time here in the Veloci-Lair, I’ve found a way to detect the eye.” She pulled up a new window showing a series of white spheres. A red dot seemed to jump from one to the next in quick succession. “This moving dot is giving off the same energy as the eye. That means all these worlds it visits are in danger of having the very same thing happen to them. We need to put a stop to it.”

Radiance frowned. “You’re suggesting policing all these worlds? That’s way too big an undertaking for us.”

Matterhorn smiled. “But what if we gathered up other versions of ourselves from other realities? We could teach them what to look out for. Don’t think of it like policing. More like missionary work. Teach them to take care of themselves.” They seemed unconvinced. “Please. We need to do this. So much more than our own little world is at stake.”

Each member of the team looked at each other in deliberation. “Fili-Second?” Marevelous asked the pink mare. “You’d be doin’ most of the work travelin’ back and forth. Ah’d say it’s up to you.”

Everypony turned to her expectantly. Fili-Second shrugged dismissively. “Matterhorn is always right. I trust her judgement. And I don’t want to see anypony else affected by that thing.”

Saddle Rager suddenly let out a loud shriek and they all turned to where she was pointing. The screen showing the frozen image of the eye had begun to move again. The eye pointed directly at them. It blinked once and then Matterhorn scrambled to shut off the screen. It went black and the room was left in silence. “Let’s not use this screen again,” Matterhorn suggested.

“I’ll get rid of it!” Humdrum said and got up sprinting to the console. He stood on a stool and tried to grab the screen from its position on the wall but the stool tilted and he tumbled backward. He landed with a yelp and then the bolt holding the screen snapped and it fell on his head. His eyes spun as he held his cranium in pain. “OW!”

Fili-Second snorted and the others followed in laughter.

---

“Thank you for the warning,” Twilight Sparkle said as she shook hooves with the Masked Matterhorn. “We are very grateful for this information.”

The Power Ponies couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable in this world. Matterhorn didn’t seem to notice it but everything felt just a little off. Every other world they’d visited before was pleasant for the most part but something about the way this Twilight dressed and the strict poses of the black suited soldiers outside gave them pause. They stood in the throne room of one Princess Celestia, though in this world she was known as Queen. Depictions of her glistening blue armor and red fiery mane were everywhere in this castle.

Radiance fidgeted as she stared over at her own double sitting in a smaller throne across the room. “What is it?” Fili-Second asked.

Radiance frowned. “Oh, nothing. I just think this world’s me has a very different eye for fashion then I do.”

Matterhorn and Twilight finished exchanging pleasantries. “I’m glad you’ve taken us so seriously. It can sometimes be hard to get ponies to believe it even with their own eyes.”

Twilight smiled, something in it making Fili-Second on edge. “We’re much more open minded here. But please, you have to stay the night. You haven’t even met the Queen. She’d love to meet some ponies from another world.”

Matterhorn didn’t even look back for confirmation from her team. “Oh, that works! Actually I’d love to discuss these Elements of Harmony that keep appearing wherever we go. You have them as well, correct?”

Twilight smiled and held out a hoof for her to follow. “Oh, yes. Let’s walk and talk.”

Zapp sighed heavily. “Great. Looks like we’re staying.”

Saddle Rager tried to approach her own double but the hooded mare gasped in her seat and shot out of it looking afraid of her. “I don’t really like this place,” she mumbled.

“Ah agree,” Marevelous frowned. “It’s too on edge.” The team all looked uncomfortable, ready to split. “Ah think Ah’ll just go talk to Matterhorn.”

Humdrum walked in front of her before she could follow their leader and crossed to a small throne. “I don’t know, I kind of like it! I wish I had a throne.” He threw himself on a throne and didn’t notice as it began to tip backward. He waved his arms enthusiastically to balance himself but the throne fell back anyway. “Ow.”

“Humdrum,” Fili-Second chuckled. The rest of the team laughed as well.

---

“They tried to kill us!” Zapp shouted.

“They were interested in crossing dimensions,” Matterhorn tried to reason with her.

“We barely got out of there alive!”

“But we did! And at least they know about the threat now.”

“Do we want ponies like that to know?” Radiance asked. “Those villains tried to foalnap Pinkie!”

Saddle Rager patted Fili-Second’s back, her mind still racing from the near death situation she had just escaped. Still she forced a smile. “Really guys, I’m fine. See?” She pulled down her cowl and showed them her skin. “No scars. They didn’t do anything.”

Marevelous glared at Matterhorn. “We need to be more careful with the worlds we visit now.”

Matterhorn nodded. “Yes, I agree. We just need to do a little bit more research before going anywhere rashly.”

“No.” They all turned to the objection. Zapp stared right back at all of them. “I’m not doing this anymore. This is getting us nowhere.” She pointed at Matterhorn. “You said you wanted revenge right? So why haven’t we faced that thing?”

Matterhorn frowned. “I’m close, really. I think the answer to defeating it is in the Elements of Harmony.” She pulled up some schematics on the computer. “They keep reiterating in a diaspora of alternate worlds and I think it has a purpose.”

Zapp slammed her hoof on the ground. “I’m done listening to your smart talk, Twilight. Tell me, straight up, can we fight it?”

They all looked to Matterhorn. “No. Not yet at least.”

Zapp sighed. “Then I’m going home.”

“Rainbow!”

“You don’t need me here!” she shouted. “Not for this. Right now. I’m better off in our world. Somewhere I can do some good.”

There was silence. Then Saddle Rager stood, Fili-Second looking up at her with surprise. “She’s right. I… think that it would be better if we both left. There’s still all those refugees. We need to start thinking about them.”

Marevelous looked to Matterhorn as if to talk them out of it. Matterhorn simply blinked. “If that’s what you want.” She turned her back to them and went back to the computer.

“Seriously?” Marevelous asked. She looked back at Zapp and Saddle Rager then grunted and left the room.

Humdrum stood suddenly on his chair and raised a hand as if to say something important. “Don’t worry. It’s not like its good bye.” The chair tipped and he fell over bonking his head on the floor. “Ow…” They all shared a laugh as they helped him up.

Fili-Second rose as her two friends looked to her. “I… um… you’ll still be around right? We’ll still see each other?”

Zapp smiled slightly, though there was a pain behind it. “Yeah, we’ll… we’ll see you later.” She reached for the necklace around her and took it off, handing it to Fili-Second.

“But you need this,” she insisted.

“Why don’t you keep it safe for me?” Zapp replied. “It’ll mean we’ll see each other again.”

Fili-Second nodded painfully and accepted the lightning bolt necklace.

---

“Rainbow flank left! Fili-Second flank right!” The two new recruits, each hoof picked by Matterhorn from different universes flew in the air and pinsir attacked the giant monster hydra that attacked a city. A robotic Rainbow Dash slammed into its right head as Fili-Second ran up its side and delivered a punch to the left head. Radiance summoned a pair of giant fists to uppercut the middle head but it was made of metal and didn’t wilt as easily to the attack.

Fluttershy flew off to the side, a pair of colorful shades on and an oversized tye dye shirt covering her. She presented the left head with a daisy. “Peace?” The hydra blew a burst of flame at the flower and it disintegrated. “Hey! Plants are Mother Earth’s children too!”

Radiance yelled back down to Marevelous who commanded the attack. “It’s not working!”

Marevelous cursed to herself. “Giant Mecha-Hydra. What will the multiverse think of next to throw at us?” She signaled for Fili-Second to return to her side on the street level. The rest flew next to her as well. The robotic Rainbow Dash and peace loving Fluttershy landing in the huddle. The city around them wasn’t looking so well

“Kill. Destroy. Swag?” Rainbow Dash asked in a metallic tone.

“Nah, you did good out there, Rainbow,” Marevelous reacted to her, not entirely understanding the way the metal mare talked. She bit her lip as she looked to Fluttershy. “You too, Fluttershy.”

“All we need is love, sister,” Fluttershy said in a hopeful but banal tone.

Marevelous turned to the only pony who was not a part of the huddle. “Matterhorn! You wanna join in?”

Matterhorn stood off to the side scribbling calculations in the asphalt with her horn. “Hold on! I’m just trying to figure out why this isn’t working.”

The two flesh hydra heads regained their senses and roared as the middle began to build up energy in its maw. Marevelous’ eyes widened and she grabbed the two ponies closest to her. “Get down!”

With Fluttershy and Fili-Second she ran for cover, Radiance close behind. She snatched Matterhorn while she was distracted and followed. Unfortunately, before the last member of their team could hide the energy erupted and spewed forth in a blaze of plasma. Robo Rainbow was incinerated moments before rounding the corner to join them.

“NO!!” Marevelous shouted. She reeled on Fili-Second. “It’s too dangerous here! We gotta go now!”

“No! Matterhorn shouted. “Just… Let’s just find a Rainbow here. I’m sure it will work!”

Fili-Second looked between the two, unable to choose who to listen to. The Mecha-Hydra stomped forward and cast its glare on the team, robotic eyes glowing red and preparing for another fire. “NOW!” Marevelous shouted.

Fili-Second closed her eyes and focused as she touched all the ponies around her. A moment of concentration and then a sonic boom and they were gone.

“What in Faust’s name was that?!” Marevelous shouted across the table at Matterhorn. They were back at the Veloci-Lair, the casualty weighing heavily on most of them.

“I thought it would work,” Matterhorn muttered. “The elements should have been activated. All my research points to the fact that the power resides inherently in us. A robotic Rainbow Dash should have been the perfect choice. Loyalty is programmed in.”

“Stop talkin’!” Marevelous slammed her hoof on the table for emphasis. “A teammate dies, somepony you brought on, and all you can do is wonder why the blasted Elements didn’t activate?”

“Fluttershy is from a time and place in her society where love and peace are a revolutionary movement,” Matterhorn continued to ramble to herself. “She’s got to represent kindness more than any other.”

It was Radiance’ turn to get mad as she spun Matterhorn around and slapped her in the face. “Twilight! This is not the time to indulge in your science experiments!”

Matterhorn looked shocked but then frowned and pushed her off. “This is exactly the right time. Every failure gets us one step closer to success. I know the Elements are the answer to defeating the Glitch. I just know it!” Twilight went over to the computer and began running more numbers.

Everypony looked at each other nervously. Even Humdrum who’d been left behind on the mission was looking particularly shaken up.

“Ahem,” they all looked to Fluttershy. “I, um, I think I’d like to go home now.”

They looked back to Matterhorn, she didn’t even seem to be paying attention. “I’ll help you out,” Fili-Second said solemnly.

“Can you make another stop?” Marevelous walked toward her, a resolute look on her face.

“Applejack?”

“Ah can’t in good conscience stay here and do what she says. Ah’ve been thinkin’ about this for a while and Ah believe Ah need to go home.”

“Me too.” Radiance walked forward as well. “I… don’t want to let this consume me.” They all glanced at Matterhorn, but the mare was simply too engrossed in her studies to notice what they were talking about.

“You’re really leaving?” Humdrum asked as he tugged on Radiance’ costume.

Radiance smiled weakly and rubbed his head. “We’ll see each other again. I know we will.”

“Then… what’s going to happen to the Power Ponies?” The three of them looked at each other. Marevelous unclipped her lasso from her side and presented it to Pinkie. “No,” she said with trepidation, “I can’t.”

“This isn’t just to ensure we meet again,” Marevelous said. “Ah think Rainbow and Ah were thinkin’ the same thing when we wanted you to have our weapons.” She rubbed her mane and put her forehead to hers, giving her the best smile she could. “We want you to be safe.”

Fili-Second hung her head, sadness Filing her thoughts. Still she forced a smile. “Okay. But you better be prepared for me to drop in.” She hugged them both.

“We will, Pinkie. We will,” Radiance said.

She made sure to touch all of them and then in a boom they were gone.

---

“Another failure!” Matterhorn kicked a chair and sent it flying as they returned to the lair. “I just don’t get it! Fifteen iterations and fifteen failures!”

Fili-Second followed behind her, slightly exhausted from the day’s events. She had been tasked with gathering and teleporting lots of different ponies for Matterhorn’s Harmony tests. Matterhorn had been growing rather callous in the passing weeks and it upset her. Still she tried to keep a smile on her face. “Don’t worry about it so much, Twilight. Maybe you just need to take a break and come at it from a different angle?”

Matterhorn stopped her frustrated raging and glared at Fili-Second. The mare cowered for a moment beneath the gaze but then Matterhorn’s eyes widened. “A break. Different angle. Of course!”

She immediately left for her secret room, the one where she stayed most of the time now doing her important work. The panel door slid shut and Fili-Second was left alone in the room. She let out a sigh.

The door opened behind her and she turned to see a small purple dragon dragging a suitcase behind him. “Humdrum? What are you doing out of your costume?”

He looked at her, a worn look in his eyes and then looked away in shame. “I’m, um… I’m leaving.”

“What?” Fili-Second asked. Surely this had to be a joke. “You can’t just leave, you’re the last one.”

“There’s still you,” he said. “You could come with me.”

Fili-Second paled. She had never even considered it. She understood why the others left but Twilight still needed her. Her power was invaluable. Not to mention the fight was important. “Spike, you know I can’t do that.”

The little dragon nodded wearily then set his suitcase down. He still had a bit of trouble looking her in the eye. “So you won’t take me home?”

She was silent for a long moment. “No, I’ll take you.”

“Thanks.” He looked like he had something else to say so she waited. After a minute he spoke up. “You know I’m really not as clumsy as I always appeared to be.” She lifted a curious eyebrow. “All those times tripping or falling off my chair? I was just trying to cut the tension. You all tended to fight a lot more than you realize.”

She laughed. “No, we didn’t.” She immediately caught herself. “I mean we don’t.”

Spike tapped his claws together and smiled slightly. “You know, I think you and me are pretty similar. We both tried to keep a smile on everyone’s faces. But since this all started, I haven’t seen a real smile on anypony’s face. I used to screw up to make you guys happy. Now I just feel like I’m the clown.”

Fili-Second shook her head vehemently. “Spike, you’re not a clown! You’re a teammate and a friend!”

“And we always will be?”

“Yeah.”

He looked to the panel where Matterhorn had retreated to. “I… still want to go home. And you should come with me. She can’t do it on her own here. She’ll follow you. Maybe back home she can clear her head.”

She seriously considered the words. Should she just forcibly take Matterhorn home? Would she be better off? But then again, there was more on the line than her own home. Matterhorn was like this for a cause, she had to support that. “I’m sorry.”

Spike hung his head once more and bit his lip. “Okay, just promise me one thing.” She looked up at him. “Don’t become the clown.”

She smiled and nodded, embracing the dragon in a hug before disappearing in a sonic boom.

---

“Later Twilight tried to find a replacement for herself. That’s how she came across Mare Do-Well. You guys were the thirty third team I had put together, most of them not lasting past two missions. It’s obvious now that eventually Twilight would’ve found some way to replace even me. Spike was right. I am the clown.”

Rainbow sat in her chair listening to her whole story. By now, Pinkie had gotten out of bed and sat on the side of it. She still looked sad and her mane hung limply but it felt good to get the truth out finally. It might make her hate her but Rainbow deserved the truth. She didn’t look up as she heard the mare stand from her chair and begin to walk. She wouldn’t blame her for leaving after hearing that.

Then to her surprise she felt a sudden warmth. Rainbow wrapped her hooves around her and hugged her tight. “But… I lied to you,” she whispered, her eyes beginning to tear up.

“I never knew Pinkie in my world,” Rainbow said. “So the only one I’ve ever known is you. And I can tell you right now, you’re not replaceable.”

With that, she let the tears flow and gave into the hug holding her friend as tight as she could, not wanting to let go.

Comments

[Mal Masque]

The road to hell is paved with good intentions, as it seems.