The Reason to Smile

by Onomonopia

The Mission

"I didn't really have time to prepare, so I'll just go one at a time," All Might began.

"The first villain is Diamond Dust. She is a lady in her forties who is able to control anything that she considers valuable,so long as it is not alive." The magical image of her zoomed in to give the ponies a better look. "Luckily for us, she only considers the rarest of gems to be valuable, so they serve as her ammunition. Though in a pinch she will use anything that shines. She is incredibly vain and particular about her appearance, so we can use that against her."

"Sounds like somepony else we know," Rainbow Dash ribbed Rarity.

"Please, I am nothing like this ruffian," Rarity replied in an offended tone.

"Heatstroke is next."

"The guy who looks like a surfer dude?"

"Underestimate him at your own peril," All Might warned. "He controls fire. And I mean that literally. Unlike my fellow hero Endeavor, who creates fire, Heatstroke has full control over nearly all flames. His weakness is that he is prone of overheating if he tries to take on too much fire. That and he has no skill at hand to hand combat whatsoever. But still, he is not a foe to take lightly."

"Why not? From the sound of things I've just got to dump a rain cloud on him and he's not a problem," Dash said with a smirk.

"Heatstroke is wanted for over a dozen murders, most of which involved burning his victims alive," All Might said, his smile gone. Rainbow stopped talking after he said that. "Following him we have Vein Mine. His Quirk is that he can absorb any material he touches and make it apart of his body. He can hold up to five different materials at a time as apart of his form. Gold, Silver, Bronze and Steel are his go to, but he always leaves a spot open so he can add something on the fly. His weakness is that while he's durable, he's not particularly fast and relies on his toughness in a fight. He can take a punch."

"Didn't you drop him in a single hit?" Twilight asked.

"He can take a punch from anyone aside from me. Monstro is next. As the name implies, this guy is a real monster. Insane strength, iron like skin, and a complete disregard for strategy or forethought. He is vicious in a fight and can rip apart plenty of well trained heroes without much effort. However, what he has in strength he lacks completely in brains. It is not fair to call him an idiot, but he fights and acts like a wild animal. Outsmarting him will be your best bet in defeating him."

"Unless you just punch him really hard," Spike smirked.

"Again, I am one of a kind. And, unless I am mistaken, none of you have incredible strength?" All Might asked.

"Ah'm pretty strong mahself, but not enough to send something like that flying through the sky," Applejack agreed. "Outsmart him, huh? Sounds like yer wheelhouse, Twilight."

"Warp Drive is pretty simple. He creates wormholes and can travel between them at will. He can make them small enough so that only a pea can fit through or large enough for someone like Monstro to get through. He's crafty and always fights underhanded. But he's most likely the weakest of the group, used mostly when they need a quick getaway. Any of you should be able to take him provided you don't lower your guard."

"You've said that about all of them so far. That we shouldn't lower our guard. Right after you get done explaining that they're not really that tough," Fluttershy pointed out.

"They are not that tough for me. But they have a list of crimes a mile long and the deaths of plenty of heroes are on that list," All Might replied. He clenched his fists and cracked the table where he was grabbing the edge. After giving Twilight a sheepish grin, he resumed.

"White Noise...she is a problem. Her Quirk is that she can absorb any energy, no matter what kind it is. Heat, electricity, kinetic...and apparently even magic. And, unless it's a solid object like a rock being thrown at her, she doesn't feel any pain. Blast lightning at her? She absorbs it unharmed. Punch her in the jaw? That might put her down before she has the chance to absorb it."

"She sounds like a problem. So what's her weakness? Absorbing too much energy cause her to fill like a balloon?" Pinkie asked.

"You would think so. But according to other reports...she doesn't have a limit," All Might revealed. "She's been hit by everything I've mentioned above and has absorbed it all. What she's most know for is absorbing all of the radiation in a power plant...and then going nuclear in a city days later."

"That's a lot of power," Twilight muttered.

"It is. My advice against her is to either let me handle her or let your heaviest hitters handle her," All Might said. "I don't know how much magic she can absorb, but I do not want to find out. She can also create weapons out of the energy she absorbs, as well as fire it back in blasts or just detonate and expel all of the built up energy in her body. She's dangerous, but fragile. Blitzing her is the best option."

"And that just leaves the leader. Chronos." The table shook as All Might said his name and the ponies looked up at All Might to see that his smile was gone. "This villain has been hunted by heroes for the better part of three decades, always managing to avoid capture. His Quirk is quite possibly the most dangerous out of all of them. He can stop time."

All eyes went wide as All Might said this, all except for Twilight, who nodded as All Might's words confirmed her suspicions.

"What the heck?! Stop time? How is can you say that is quite possibly the most dangerous Quirk they've got?! That sounds pretty freaking dangerous to me!" Dash exclaimed.

"In his youth he would be the most dangerous out of all of them no question. But even with his ability to stop time, he could not stop his own aging. From what decades of fighting him has taught us, it's that every time he uses his Quirk, those seconds he freezes are added to his age. It might not seem like much, a few seconds at a time, but he's been using that Quirk for over fifty years. And the time added up."

"Chronos weakness is that he's old. He's a man who is chronologically fifty seven who moves like a seventy year old. In his youth, stopping time for a few seconds would give him time to strike a frozen foe, position himself for a better advantage, avoid a dangerous attack, or flee the scene. But in his old age he barely has the strength to freeze time, let alone act while time is frozen. Attacking him from a distance is your best bet. Even if he freezes time, he's too old to reach you before his time freeze wears off. He also has a cool down of a few minutes for every time freeze he uses. So after he uses it, he's vulnerable."

"Then how did he escape us?" Twilight asked. "I figured that he was freezing time, but if what you said is true, then he would have only been able to move to a different place in the throne room. How could he possibly grab his allies and escape from us before his time freeze ran out?"

"I do not know. And that is what concerns me," All Might said. "From what I know about them, we had them. They were bested. And yet, somehow, they slipped out from my fingers once again." Twilight didn't know why All Might was so angry with himself, but she used that momentary lull in the conversation to step forward.

"So that is what we are up against my friends. Our mission is to find these villains, put a stop to them and help All Might get back to his world. Sadly this will not be a quick mission. I am going to need you all here with me, so that we can be ready to take these guys on at a moment's notice."

Twilight had hoped that her friends would instantly agree to help her, that they would shine with the same friendship and magic that she remembered. But instead they all shared looks with one another and then looked at anywhere that wasn't where Twilight was standing.

"I mean, I've got class to teach..."

"I've already missed one show, can I afford to..."

"Little Cheese get's angry if I'm gone for too long..."

Twilight felt her heart sink as, for a long moment, she was afraid that her friends would leave her to handle this all on her own. Then the Ambassadors shared another look and smiled at each other.

"Ah what they heck, let Derpy teach class for a day. The Wonderbolts could learn how to crash."

"I've missed plenty of shows, what's one more?"

"I can pop home to visit Lil' Cheese at any time. And I'm fairly certain he's reached the point where he can visit me," Pinkie said. Then she looked up at her mane, reached her hooves inside and a moment later pulled out her son. "There he is!"

"What ah think our friends are trying to say, is that of course we'll help ya," Applejack said. She placed a hoof on Twilight's shoulder and winked. "It'll be just like old times. All of us together, some stranger with bizarre powers...no offense."

"All good."

"...And the fate of the world on the line."

"Yeah, just like old times," Twilight said with a smile. She wiped away a tear from her eye as he friends all gathered around her. "So let's stop these villains and make sure that the peace that we've worked so hard to maintain over the years continues to prosper! All Might, these are your villains, so what should we do next?"

"I have...no idea."

===| V |===

"I see. This truly is a strange land," Chronos muttered. For the past day he had been learning all that he could about this strange new land from Sombra, who was more than happy to give a warped view of what the world of Equis was.

"As strange and magical as they come," Sombra laughed. He then steered the old man to the side and walked with him down a dark corridor. "But sadly, the forces of good in the world posses far stronger magic than those of us who are evil. And from what you told me, the same is true of your world."

"Nearly. Hero and villains are nearly equal in my world. It is that damned Symbol of Peace All Might who weighs the scales in favor of the heroes," Chronos snarled. "His strength, speed and stamina is something no villain can hope to match. He has taken down leagues of my cohorts and made it look easy. It is not fair."

"I know how you feel. With my sheer skill and intellect I could more than keep up with the princesses and their help, but they wield magical artifacts that make my power useless. What is a villain to do?" Sombra asked.

"Indeed...what can we do?" Chronos asked. Sombra's response was to laugh before he pushed open two dark doors, revealing a room that housed only one thing within it. A vial of a black liquid that churned ominously.

"Why, my new best friend, the option is simple. We find a way to make those Quirks you and your allies wield strong enough to match that Symbol of Peace," Sombra explained. He used his magic to grab hold of the potion and levitated it over to Chronos. "This is the potion of the beast. It takes a pony and turns them into a mindless monster, in exchange for greatly boosting their speed and strength. Now normally nopony would want to give up their sentience for power. But you already have somepony on your team that already fits the bill. So if you give them this..."

"Yes. It would give him the strength to match the Symbol of Peace without sacrificing any of his brain power...do you have potions for all of us that can somehow make us stronger?" Chronos asked.

"Sadly, this is all I have on me at the moment. However, I have a few leads that may turn up something fruitful in the near future," Sombra said. "Whether or not the will help to strengthen your Quirks remains to be seen, but I have a good feeling about all of this. So what I will do is when you send that beast man of yours to attack the ponies, I will go with him so that you and your allies can discover these...items for me without fear of a hero stopping you. Besides, I owe a certain purple dragon some payback."

"That...sounds amazing, actually. Thank you, Sombra."

"Chronos...what are friends for?"

Chronos left Sombra to do...whatever...and headed for one of the rooms that Sombra had given to them. He opened the door and entered to find Diamond Dust sitting on the ground, while White Noise rested her masked head on her lap.

"How is she?" Chronos asked.

"She finally got to sleep," Diamond Dust said. "I was worried for a second. Her episode was longer than usual."

Chronos sighed before he placed a hand on the girls head, listening to her breath softly.

"Do not worry, I will find a way to help you. That I promise."

Comments

[Pete100]

"How is she?" Chronos asked.

What happened? Also, is lil’ cheese a boy or girl?

[FrostTheWolf]

10424314
Something tells me that there's more to White Noise than we might think. Perhaps her quirk affects her in some other way?

[Pete100]

10424333
Maybe when she releases the the energy she absorbs she loses some of her own energy too

[Cobalt Hope]

10424332
Believe it or not from what I know we do not actually know if pre injury his muscle form was his true form or not. Since in the manga ,show, and movies as well as lore there some contradicting things shown and stated. But then again I am not an expert in the series so I may be wrong

[Onomonopia]

10424332
There isn't really any confirmation on this, but I always believed that All Might's muscle form was how he master OFA so quickly, since the giant muscles could withstand the power.

[FrostyPony17]

Loving the story so far. I wonder when All Might's secret will be revealed to the ponies.

[badninja]

Well this is interesting. Twilight will probably try and find a way to save her, but will she take it in good faith or will her more evil ways kill her?

[Snow Frostfang]

I feel like there’s a reason for what just happened at the end.

[JJJ1]

I randomly saw this story, started to read without even bothering to see who the author was, and by chapter three I started to recognize this story structure quite a bit. I literally said "Hey wait a minute..." Before bursting out laughing to see that it was one of your stories!

Lordie me, this speaks a lot about your skill as an author on this sight to be so recognizable that someone like me, who leaves this sight for months at a time and hasn't read many stories on here in years, is still able to recognize your work above so many! Truly astounding, both the consistent quality of your stories and your writing in general.

[Onomonopia]

10426299
I'm glad that my work is so recognizable. And that people still come back to read it. Hope you enjoy.

[The yeti]

As always love your stories. And this reacurring "nice" "thank you" is hilarious XD

[Diokno44]

10424416
While I haven't read Vigilantes in ages, I forget, is it ever explained how he got his Muscle Form? Cause his normal form pre-injury wasn;t scrawny. Some do suggest he may have had a dormant Quirk OFA unlocked.

[Onomonopia]

10433009
Vig doesn't give any more info on it either. I just always figured the muscle form was what allowed Yagi to take the full power of OFA

[Author333]

Really no one commenting about the jojo reference?.