Power Ponies: Rise of the Red Phoenix

by FoxMcCloud7921

Chapter 1

One year later…

Maretropolis had spent much of the past year rebuilding after Tirek’s defeat. Much still needed to be done but the city more or less was back to its lustrous self. Even though crime had dropped to a significant level within the last few months, it was still present within the lower tiers of the city although, much to the surprise of the police, they were having much success capturing those low-lives and dropping them off at Alcoltraz, the highest secure prison in all of Equestria.

Of course, Trot Summers did play a small part in that, even though she admitted to herself that she was being modest. She and her friends in fact played a big part, capturing criminals, whether it was bank robbers, drug traffickers, etc. Of course, they never did stay long to interact with the police. Keeping their identities safe was a top priority. Like Trot Summers, ace student at Professor Celestia’s School for Gifted Youth.

Trot was currently brushing her teeth in the bathroom of her small apartment while the TV was on in the living room. She almost always had the news on, but not just to keep on track with world events. While using her magic to brush along her gums, she kept her ears up to listen closely.

“…thanks in part to the Power Ponies, the large group responsible for the latest string of bank robberies have finally been apprehended. In other news, another individual has been taking on crime on the streets as well. The vigilante police now call ‘The Red Phoenix” has struck again, ambushing and capturing a large group of ponies responsible for sex trafficking in multiple cities, including Maretropolis itself-”

“Ugh, Trot can I please turn this off? It’s kind of hard to study when I start hear about sex trafficking.” Trot’s friend and roommate Moon Dancer was sitting on the couch reading a book.

Trot spit out the toothpaste in her mouth and smiled slightly. “Sorry Moony, you can go ahead.” She and Moon Dancer had first met at the university. They happened to share their first class together and right off the bat it seemed they had much in common. Of course, at an institution like this, magic was a very important topic.

Moon Dancer had decided to turn the TV off completely, which was normal in their apartment. Moon was dedicated to her books, maybe more so than Trot, although she wouldn’t admit that out loud. Admittedly, it has been getting tougher to keep up her schedule, having to deal with school and then of course being Masked Matter-Horn. But she, and the others, knew what they were getting themselves into and she had no regrets.

After rinsing her mouth out with mouthwash, Trot came out and looked over at Moon with an amused look. “Did you even sleep last night?”

“Of course I did,” Moon said, glancing up slightly. “Your brain can’t process everything without a good night’s sleep.” Trot shook her head. If sleep wasn’t required, Moon would be stuck with her books all night. “Not sure why you watch the news so much. Most of the time it’s just depressing.”

“Oh that’s not true,” Trot said as she sat on the couch next to Moon, relaxing for a few moments. “Besides, whenever there’s trouble, you know who comes calling.”

“Yeah, yeah, the Power Ponies. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you really admire that Masked Matter-Horn.” Trot of course hadn’t told Moon her secret identity, mostly because she knew that would put her in danger. In fact, the only people who knew her identity was her mother who lived on the other side of the city. She had been worried that her mother would freak and demand that she stop what she was doing. Instead, she only made her daughter promise to be careful.

“Well, she is pretty cool,” Trot said with a slight shrug. “She’s definitely pretty powerful.”

“She was obviously one of Celestia’s students, that’s for sure,” Moon said as she finally put her book down. “Maybe she could teach us a thing or two.”

Trot smirked slightly. “Well maybe if I ever run into her I’ll make sure to ask. Anyway, we better get going.” The two of them grabbed their bags and headed out towards the university.

---

Around that same time, the pony Hum Drum was sitting at the table eating breakfast slowly as he felt his eyes droop from time to time. He was not a morning pony and vowed very early in his life that he never would be a morning pony. Of course, it was mostly because he stayed up late last night. “Another day of school,” he thought. “I don’t know how Trot does it." He was more interested in the video game he had been playing last night.

Of course, that was only when he wasn’t busy. Working with the Power Ponies had definitely changed his sleep cycle. They were a group that acted mostly at night, but that wasn’t to say if there was a catastrophe during the day.

“Just like last year,” Hum Drum thought, grimacing at the thought. The battle against Tirek had been the toughest that the Power Ponies ever faced. He had been powerful and they couldn’t beat him with strength alone. It was actually Spruce who had come up with a machine that emitted an energy that used the power inside of an old relic known as the Crystal Heart that would be able to defeat him.

Hum Drum, as always, hadn’t been much help in that fight, but he was able to get that machine to the girls just in time before Tirek had managed to destroy the entire city. He may not have any special powers, but that didn’t deter him from staying with the team. The girls were like a second family to him and he knew they’d do anything for him.

It helped a lot since Hum Drum didn’t see his own parents very much. Both of them had busy jobs which required them to get up very early in the morning. His mom always packed his lunch before he left, which was thankful for but he wished he could see them more instead of the two or three minutes where they came home and then immediately went upstairs to bed.

“Another day of school,” he thought again as he ate by himself in the kitchen. “Well, maybe Trot and the others will have discovered something new for us to do today.”

---

Detective Marey Allen sat at her desk with a cup of coffee as she studied a case file that was marked “Red Phoenix” on the top. There wasn’t much inside except for pictures of the criminals that were apprehended, some that were mildly disturbing, while others showed what looked like a phoenix depicted on walls and alleyways. There were some witness accounts saying the mare, assuming she was a mare, was someone who was a voice of the ponies sick of the crime and corruption in the city while others were more terrified of this vigilante and were less than likely to step out of line.

Normally, Marey was not one to judge considering she, known to a select few, was a vigilante herself. However, the violence that these pictures showed was beyond brutal. Some of these criminals had the vigilante’s logo branded into their skin, which apparently was a sign that these ponies were the worst of the worst and that sealed their fate down at Alcoltraz.

“You’ve been looking at that file all week Allen.” Marey looked up and saw her superior Spitfire, captain of the MPD, staring down at her.

The earth pony sighed. “I just don’t get it, Captain. We should be looking up on this mare. I know she’s getting rid of criminals just like us, but there’s no way the MPD would consider her an ally.”

“And what about the Power Ponies then?” Spitfire asked, taking off her shades.

Marey bit back a retort. “That’s different.” But was it? Sure, they only resorted to violence when they had to and certainly not to this extreme, but like this Red Phoenix, they were acting their own and certainly weren’t being supported by the police. “I guess I see your point.”

Spitfire sighed slightly. “Look Allen, you’re definitely one of our best, there’s no doubt about that. That’s why I need you, so that way when that big case, whatever it may be, comes you won’t be distracted with anything else.”

“Captain, if you give me forty-eight hours with this, I know I can dig something up.”

Spitfire looked intrigued. “Forty-eight hours huh? And if nothing does come up, you’ll drop the whole thing completely?”

Marey didn’t want to drop it, but it was the only she was going to get authority from her superior. “Yes, I’ll drop it.”

Spitfire thought for a moment. “Alright Marey, forty-eight hours and you’ll have full access to everything the department can provide. But I expect something at the end and if you got nothing, then I’m pulling the plug.”

“Yes ma’am.” Marey didn’t waste any time as she finished her coffee, grabbed her coat and headed out of the office.

---

One luxury of being head of one’s own department was that you could come into work any time you please, as long as you got what needed to be done finished. However, Spruce Spanner wasn’t one to take advantage of such things but that didn’t mean she couldn’t sleep in until seven. Unfortunately, she ended up waking up a half hour before her alarm went off.

The music that suddenly blasted inside her house almost made her jump out of her bed. Her heart now beating rapidly, which for her was not a good way to start the morning, she ripped off her sheets rather angrily and glided towards the living room.

As she expected, she saw her roommate and fellow heroine Zapp rocking out and standing on one of the chairs with her back towards her. Spruce rolled her eyes slightly and found the remote to the stereo and pressed the power button, cutting off the music completely. Zapp suddenly froze and turned her head slightly. “Oh…Spruce…good morning!”

“Do you know what time it is?” Spruce asked.

“Er…six thirty-seven?”

“Yes, and I was currently sleeping until you decided to turn on my stereo and not only that but turn it full blast!” Spruce paused and took a deep breath. “Zapp, we have neighbors here and if I can hear it, they can hear it. Do you want us to get kicked out?”

“No I…my apologies,” Zapp said, bowing her head. “But this contraption is really quite fascinating. And the music well, it seems to get my blood pumping. We have nothing like this back home.”

Spruce sighed. She knew Zapp’s background, a princess and future queen of her tribe in a land faraway from here, and her exposure to everything here was new for her. “It’s alright…I know you meant well but…keep it down and maybe not have it on so early in the morning? I can’t exactly have my blood pumping without…you know…”

Zapp looked embarrassed. “Right…I will keep that in mind next time.” Despite her short time in Maretropolis, Zapp, or Aurora as she was known by her people, had come a long way. Her dialect certainly told the others that she was of royal blood, and as if she was from a different time period, which in her case was true. Now she spoke more casual though she was still mostly polite, at least when she wasn’t summoning storms.

“So uh…you want me to make breakfast?” Zapp asked.

“Hmm…I suppose that’s a fair tradeoff,” Spruce smiled slightly.

“Excellent! My cooking has been getting better you know.”

“I…I’m glad to hear that. Just…don’t burn the house down.”

Zapp scoffed. “Oh ye of little faith…”

Spruce shook her head as she headed towards the bathroom and took a shower. Much to her surprise as she washed herself only a few minutes later, she could smell something heavenly coming from the kitchen. “Maybe those lessons finally paid off…” she thought.

Once she dried off and got dressed, she went into the kitchen and was greeted by Zapp with a large smirk on her face. “Didn’t burn anything.” She pointed towards the table. “Eggs, soy sausage and biscuits with orange juice. Perfect way to start the morning, no?”

Spruce’s eyes widened, mostly from surprise but partly because she just now realized how hungry she was. “Wait…how did you make biscuits so quickly?”

“That’s my little secret.”

---

Green Gardener was woken up in a similar manner. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the sound of music that woke up her but the sound of pans clattering to the floor. Immediately she got up, fearing someone had broken into the house. “Well, they certainly picked the wrong house!” she thought as she grabbed her bracelets from the table next to her and made her way towards the kitchen.

Deciding not to be fancy, her bracelets conjured up the first thing that came to mind, which was a metal bat. “Alright you ruffian, if you think you can just-!” She suddenly stopped mid-hoof as she stared into the kitchen. Her friend and fellow heroine Mistress Mare-velous stood in the middle of the kitchen, staring back at her with utensils surrounding her. “Mistress what the devil are you doing!?”

“…I was hungry,” Mistress replied.

“And you thought you could just make a mess of my kitchen!?”

“I was looking where you put the pans. You got so much stuff in these cabinets they’re all ready to fall out.”

Green facehoofed. “You could’ve asked me…oh well.” Using her magic, she managed to get everything tidied away. Due to the long distance between here and Alfalfis, she had decided to let Mistress stay here until they could figure out living quarters. Unfortunately, the currency that Mistress had wasn’t recognized in Equestria so she had to rely on Green for food and shelter. As a zeppelin pilot, she had worked part-time with the MPD and the Equestrian Armed Forces (EAF), but now she had to limit her work, mostly to keep herself, or rather Radiance, available in time of need.

“Should I even ask what you were planning on making?” Green asked as she took out a pan.

“Just something simple,” Mistress replied matter-of-factly. “Back in Alfalfis, we mostly lived on eggs, dairy and bread. We never had the stuff that’s common here.”

“Hmm…now that you mention it I could go for a croissant sandwich…” Green’s eyes then widened. “Say Mistress…have you ever had a croissant before?”

“A…croissant? Is that a Prench word?”

“Actually yes, but it’s amazing! And even better as a sandwich.” She then put the pan away. “Forget cooking, we can go out for breakfast. Allow me to get cleaned up first.” She then trotted back to her room as Mistress stared up at the ceiling.

“Croissants huh…? If they knew right now, the elders would envy me.”

Comments

[Crack-Fic Casey]

Pretty good, but I can see some potential problems.

Mainly, why is Tirec the thing that sets off the public questioning the Power Ponies? It's not like in Man of Steel, where the aliens were specifically looking for Superman. It feels like the comic version of Civil War, where the anti-superhuman movement was sparked by collateral damage that had nothing to do with the heroes. And while one could argue that the public is dumb enough to ignore that, wouldn't it be better to create a situation that the heroes are partly responsible for? After all, you intend to deal with a pretty important question. It will weaken your story if you don't give both sides an equal footing.

[FoxMcCloud7921]

8117580

Something is going to set it off in the future. You just have to wait and see.