• Published 30th Jun 2013
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Whenever You Call - Onomonopia

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Brainstorm

Superman didn't want it to be true, but his x-ray vision and super hearing confirmed his fears. Above the town of Ponyville, a massive metal structure was floating above the town. While most of the ponies were terrified of what it was, Superman knew who it was. The metal ship was in the shape of a skull, the glowing eye ports and mouthpiece made this ship recognizable to anyone who came from Earth. But Superman knew this fiend from the three connected circles on the skull's forehead. Braniac was a Kryptonia super computer that had a hand in the destruction of Krypton. It's sole purpose was to record all known knowledge and to wipe out the species from which it gained the knowledge. He and Superman had fought before.

"Braniac? Who's--" Rainbow Dash covered her face as Superman shot off into the sky mid-sentence, flying for the center of Ponyville where the others were. He found them in the same state as RD; staring at the massive skull in the sky, along with all the other ponies in the town.

"Superman! What's going on? What is that?" Twilight asked him as he floated down next to them.

"That is Brainiac," Superman said with a scowl, startling the ponies. They had never seen Superman look angry before.

"What's a Brainiac?" Celestia asked him.

"He's from my home planet--a computer that's sole purpose is to archive all technology in the universe," he said, giving them the shortened version of his story. "He and I have clashed many times, but no matter home many times I beat him, he keeps coming back." Celestia smiled inwardly at that, realizing that this must be the pony that Lex said would help them. She looked up at the ship and admitted that it looked impressive.

"What does he want?" Pinkie asked him. Superman frowned and looked up at the ship.

"We're about to find out." Superman took to the sky and flew towards the massive ship. Right before he could reach it, a barrier of energy shot out and electrocuted the Man of Steel. Superman cried out in pain as the power coursed through his body and he fell back down to the town, crashing through the roof of Sugar Cube Corners. The Elements of Harmony cried out and all ran over to where he landed as the skull let loose a beam of light into the center of the town. From the beam came the image of a creature that looked similar to Superman in shape. He wore a purple suit with silver plating on his chest and he had a green face. On his head were the same three connected circles that were on the outside of the ship .

"Greetings, creatures of the planet Equestria," he said in a metalic voice, his eyes looking over all of the ponies. "Your world has been brought to my attention by an...associate of mine. So I have come here to investigate this world, which I have been told is home to technology that I have never seen before and knowledge that I have not assimilated yet."

"Sister, how does this being know of Superman?" Luna whispered to her sister, while Celestia was doing her best not to smile. Lex had kept his word and had sent one of his allies to help defeat the false hero. But after what Lex had told her about Superman and his past opponents, she prayed that Brainiac was up to the task.

Over in Sugar Cube Corners, the ponies were helping Superman to his feet. He rubbed his head and looked up at the ship. Three massive metal tentacles came down from the ship and drove into the ground, shaking the earth and causing panic.

"Superman, what's happening?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"He's started his absorption process," Superman growled, shooting into the air. "Twilight, Rainbow Dash, get as many ponies as you can away from here! I'm going to need all the space I can get to fight him." Before the ponies could ask any other questions, Superman shot into the air and flew towards the ship. He slammed into the barrier, straining with all his incredible might against the shield. While no normal man would have been able to make it through, Superman tore a hole in the shield and flew through it. He punched a hole in the outer plating and flew through the ship until he found the control room. It was a room covered in computers that were connected to a center circular platform. There, sitting on a metallic throne, sat the mastermind behind the ship.

"Brainiac," Superman growled, landing on the center platform and marching towards Brainiac.

"Kal-EL. I was not expecting to see you here," Brainiac responded, standing up and advancing towards Superman with his arms crossed behind his back. The two met in the center of the circular platform, Superman glaring at his foe while Brainiac simply stared at him with his emotionless eyes.

"Leave this world, Brainiac. There is no knowledge here for you to steal," Superman threatened.

"Then it seems I have been lied to. Oh well," he responded coldly. "If there is no information for me then this planet is a waste of living organisms. I will exterminate them."

"I'm giving you one warning. Leave," Superman whispered, his eyes glowing red.

"No."

CRUNCH!!

Brainiac's head crumpled as Superman drove his fist through the metalic face. Superman then yanked his hand out and unleashed his heat vision upon Brainiac's body, turning it into a pile of molten metal within a few seconds. Superman looked down at the smoldering pile on the floor, a frown on his face. It had been TOO easy. Brainiac had never gone down that fast before. The only way that he could be beaten that fast was if...! Superman spun around just in time for a live wire to slam into his chest, sending incredible amounts of electricity through him. Superman yelled in pain and collapsed to his knees, his suit smoldering. He lifted his head to see another Brainiac walk up to him.

"You figured it out point five six seconds too late," Brainiac said, lifting the wire and driving it into his chest again, sending more electricity into him. "After replaying footage of our last battles, I have determined that fighting you head on seems to be a futile effort. A replica of myself would serve me much better as a distraction. It gave me time to attack you from behind. Now, you are mine." Brainiac tried to yet again impale Superman with the wire, but Superman moved to the side and flew into Brainiac's gut, driving him into the wall. Superman grabbed Brainiac by the throat and slammed his other fist into his face, crumpling the faceplate some. He went for another blow, but Brainiac caught his punch and sent a current of electricity through Superman.

"You will not defeat me this time, Kal-El," Brainiac said, grabbing Superman's head with both electrified hands. The electricity drove Superman to his knees. Brainiac then brought his knee into Superman's jaw, launching the Man of Steel back across the platform and over the edge. Brainiac strolled over to look down at his expected victim. Superman came flying up with a massive blow to his chin, sending Brainiac across the platform.

"It will take more than that to beat me," Superman said, walking over to the downed Brainiac.

"I am already aware of that. But as I stated, you will not defeat me." Brainiac tried a surprise left, which Superman intercepted with a forearm block. Superman then drove his fist into Brainiac's head, breaking it apart. He then stood up, panting slightly but smiling.

"Well, that went better than expected," Superman said. He was looking around to see where the self-destruct button was when he heard the sound--the sound of hundreds of feet marching. Superman turned towards the sound with fear beginning to grip his heart. A panel had opened in the wall and a Brainiac had come out, followed by another. Superman backed away as what must have been nearly one hundred Brainiacs came walking out of the doorway.

"As I said, Kal-El," all the Brainiacs said at once. "You will not defeat me." Superman braced himself and clenched both fists as the army of Brainiacs marched towards him, ready for the fight of his life.

(S)

"I hope he's alright in there," Luna said to the others, voicing her concern. It had been ten minutes since Superman had gone into the alien ship and the ponies we getting worried about him.

"I don't know what you're worried about. He's Superman; he's fought far worse than this," Rainbow Dash said with a shrug.

"Worse for us maybe, but this is a creature that has battled him multiple times," Twilight reminded her. "That means that he has fought Superman and lived!"

"I'm telling you, there's nothing to worry about. Superman will come flying out of there any moment and--"

KABOOM!

The ponies all jumped as one of the sides of the skull blew open and a red blur came flying out. Rainbow Dash smiled and was about to start bragging when the army of Brainiacs came flying out after him. Superman turned around and lanced through them with his heat vision, blowing a few of them up, but the others then swarmed him and quickly brought him to the ground. The ponies watched in terror as Superman tossed the Brainiacs off of him, slamming his fists into the ground and sending out a shockwave that knocked off the rest. Superman was bleeding slightly and his suit was torn in a few spots, his cape nearly ripped in half.

"W-what? I thought that there was only one Brainiac," Twilight asked in confusion. Superman flew into the swarm of Brainiacs, swinging left and right. The Brainiacs eventually overpowered him again and pinned him to the ground, each of them activating their electricity hands and combining the blasts onto Superman. The ponies looked away as Superman cried out in pain, straining against the army.

"We need to help him!" Luna cried out, starting to race towards the army.

"Are you crazy?" Celestia asked her sister, holding her back with magic. "They are defeating Superman, the strongest creature that we know. What chance would you possibly have?" Luna growled in frustration, but knew that her sister was right. Celestia was personally happy that Superman was being beaten. She had been afraid that Brainiac would be too weak to battle Superman, but it was apparent that even Superman couldn't defeat all of these Brainiacs.

"ALL OF YOU, BRACE YOURSELVES!" Superman yelled out to the ponies. They all took shelter as Superman fought to his feet, shaking off the Brainiacs and slamming his hands together. The resulting shockwave tossed all of the Brainiacs across the town, Superman then dropped to his knees afterwards. The ponies, minus Celestia, all ran over to him to see if he was alright.

"Superman," Rainbow Dash said, looking over his body with tears in her eyes. His suit was now badly torn and he was bleeding from the nose. Despite this, he still got back to his feet and looked around at where all the Brianiacs had landed.

"Are you alright?" Fluttershy asked, pulling out a roll of bandages and trying to wrap up his arm.

"Not now, Fluttershy. Twilight, why are the ponies still here?" Superman asked, looking around at all the ponies still in the area. "I thought I asked you to evacuate the area."

"We assumed that you would beat this guy," Twilight said with a bashful grin. "And you did! Brainiac is--"

"Getting back up," Superman said grimly, looking over towards the buildings. Nearly all of the Brianiacs were getting back up and repairing themselves. Once repaired, they all looked towards Superman and began to advance towards him. "Luna, Celestia; the two of you need to get these ponies together and get them out of here," Superman instructed, preparing for another battle.

"I do not take orders from--"

"This is not open for debate," Superman said coldly, giving her a look that could stop a man's heart. Celestia backed up a little as she looked into his eyes, knowing that she didn't want to make him angry. Luna nodded and wrapped magic bubbles around all of the ponies in view, floating them out of the town. Only when the two princesses and the Elements remained did Superman glare at the Brainiacs.

"I did not come to this world expecting to kill you, Kal-El," the Brainiacs said with a small grin. "But it is an opportunity that I will not pass up." The Brainiacs all flew towards Superman who took off towards them. The army collided with the Man of Steel and Brainiacs went everywhere. Superman drove a fist into one Brainiac's mid-section and pulled up, ripping the robot in half. Another Brainiac drove electricity into the back of Superman's head and knocked his head forward, while another Brainaic drove his fist into Superman's stomach. Superman doubled over as three Brainaics drove their elbows into his back, knocking him to the ground. Superman rolled over and fired heat vision into one of them, but two more grabbed him by the throat and re-angled his head so the beams couldn't hit it.

"It seems that this is the end, Kal-El," said Brainiac--one that Superman assumed was the real Brainiac--as he walked over to the pinned hero, a small smile on his face. "You fought valiantly. A valiant, but futile, battle. Now then, time to correct a mistake I should have never made." Superman's eyes narrowed as Brainiac aimed his lightning for Superman's chest. He was about to fire, when a bolt of dark-blue magic hit him in the head. He slowly turned his head towards Luna, who stood defiantly in front of all the Brainiacs.

"Get away from him," Luna said with a growl.

"I promised my associate that I would not hurt the local life directly," Brainiac began, aiming his hand towards Luna. "But that is an arrangement that I can no longer uphold." Luna's eyes widened as electricity was fired right towards her. Twilight was fast enough to toss up a barrier in front of her that stopped the attack, but the force of the impact threw her back into a wall. She banged her head against it and slumped over unconscious.

"Leave them alone, Brainiac! This is between you and me!" Superman roared, trying to break free of the Brainiacs' grasp.

"No, Kal-El. They chose to enter this battle and they will pay the price," Brainiac said with coldness, firing more electricity towards the other ponies. Twilight threw up a sheild to protect her and Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash took to the sky, Rarity and Applejack took cover behind some buildings and Pinkie just bounced around to avoid the shots. "I will collect one of them for knowledge. The rest can die."

"BRAINIAC! Leave them alone!" Superman growled, tossing off the Brainiac copies that were holding him back and flying towards the real one. The real Brainiac turned his arm and shot lightning into Superman's "S", sending him back down to the ground. The collateral damage caused by the misfired shots had caused some of the ponies to come out of hiding as they ran for their lives. The real Brainiac started shooting left and right at the ponies, but the combined efforts of Twilight and RD managed to keep any of them from being hit. Celestia helped as well, wondering what Luthor was thinking, sending that maniac here. Superman had nearly broken free when he saw something that made his heart stop. A grey unicorn filly had run out into the middle of the street, staring at Brainiac.

"L-leave him alone!" she yelled at him. Brainaic looked at the pony for a minute before smiling and aiming at her.

"NO!" Superman roared, breaking free of the other Brainiacs' grasp and flying towards the real one. He had almost grabbed the real one when one of the fake Brainiacs jumped onto him and forced him to the ground, shocking him. Brainiac fired at the filly who just watched in fear as the blast came closer and closer. Superman forced himself back up, throwing himself towards her. Time slowed down as the beam of lightning came towards the filly; Superman was still being dragged down by the other Brainiacs. The moment before the blast hit, a grey blur flew in front of the attack.

"No...!" Superman whispered as the lighting hit the grey blur that only his eyes could follow. He watched with terror as the grey pegasus fell to the ground next to the unicorn, who looked down at her in shock.

"Mom?" the filly said weakly, walking over to her. Superman could see the wounds on the pegasus with his vision and knew that she wouldn't make it. The grey filly nudged her mother, tears filling up in her eyes as she realized what had happened. "No, not you too! Please, get up mom!" The ponies and Princess Celestia looked on in shock as Brainiac coldly looked at the dead pony without emotion.

"How foolish, sacrificing one's self despite there being no hope," he said, mercilessly looking at the crying filly and aiming his arm at her. He clinically added, "And she died thinking that her sacrifice would matter. This species is so pathetic that I will not bother collecting a sample. Destruction will do." Brainiac prepared to fire again, then stopped. He looked down at the ground, noticing that it was shaking. Luna had awakened, scanning around the battlefield and rubbing her head. The ponies and the princesses looked over towards Superman. Although his head was hanging down and his hands were on his knees, yet they could feel the power radiating from him. One of the Brainiacs tried to grab him...only to have his arm ripped off faster than any of them could register. The Brainiac copies backed away as Superman got to his feet, his whole body shaking. Then he raised his head so that they could see his eyes, eyes that were blood red. Brainiac had done somthing that no sane villain would do.

He made Superman angry.

The ponies didn't know what to think as Superman slowly surveyed all the Brainaic copies, his face contorted into a look of sheer rage. The original Brainiac ordered all his copies to charge Superman at once, which they did with their hands crackling with electricity. The ponies watched in terror as Superman was surrounded...only to blink and realize that all the copies were suddenly scattered on the ground in pieces. One of the few that Superman missed lunged at him, only to be destroyed with a super-speed punch that went through him--and any houses that were behind him

"Did...did any of you see that?" Twilight asked them. "One moment they were there and the next they were..."

"He's been holding back," RD realized in shock. "All this time he was holding back his true power." All eyes were on Superman, who was standing completely still yet his body still seemed to be vibrating at speeds none of them could see. He then began to walk forward, the very earth shaking beneath his feet as he marched towards Brainiac. Brainiac didn't move as Superman approached him, his blazing eyes only a few feet away from Brainiac's face.

"Congratulations, you finally managed to hurt me," Superman said with a rage in his voice that would cower Satan himself. The ponies all looked at him in a new state of fear, having no idea what to think. This was not the kind and caring Superman that they had come to love; this was Superman unchained, and he quietly said to the fiend, "Now are you ready for the consequences?" Brainiac's systems never registered the punch to his stomach that tore a hole clean through him. Superman then grabbed Brainiac by the neck as the machine pushed a button on his wrist.

"All units, attack." Superman looked up towards the ship with his blazing eyes as the ship's doors opened, letting even more Brainiac copies out to attack. He would deal with them in a minute, but first he was going to destroy the true Brainiac.

"I've had enough of you," Superman growled as he unleashed his nova vision upon the original, burning him to ash in a matter of seconds. Superman dropped what was left of him and burned it as well, before turning his attention to the sky. Superman placed one hand on the ground before vanishing skywards as he began to tear apart the Brainiac copies with ease now; attacks that used to be able to hurt him only fueled his rage even more.

The ponies all watched in awe and terror as Superman tore through the Brainiacs, not leaving a single one functioning. Faster than was fathomable by the ponies, Superman gathered up all of the Brainiac pieces and blasted them into oblivion with his heat vision. Superman heard the ship's energy cannons preparing to fire and threw himself into the ship, using his heat vision to destroy the engines as he pushed the ship into space, ripping the tentacles out of the ground. He gripped onto the bottom of the ship and began to spin it around, building up enough momentum so that when he let go it was sent hurtling to the sun. He used one last blast of heat vision to make sure that it reached the sun before he turned around and headed back to Ponyville, the rage giving way to another emotion: sorrow.

(S)

Rainbow didn't know what to think. Yes Brainiac had killed that pony with no remorse, but what Superman had done to him had been...hard to watch. After Superman had burnt the copies' remains into ash, he sighed and sat down on the ground, putting his face in his hands. The ponies of Ponyville had come back to their home to find the ship gone and the threat beaten. They all started to cheer, but Superman seemed to hear none of it. His ears were listening to only one thing...the sound of the crying filly. Superman stood up and walked over to her, kneeling down. The small filly was weeping over her mother's body, with a brown stallion standing beside her. She looked up at Superman with tears in her eyes.

"Why? Why couldn't you save her?" Superman had no answer; he couldn't answer. But there was something that he could do. RD watched as Superman gently scooped the crying filly into his arms and held her, comforting her the best he could. The filly looked stunned for a minute before she broke down and started to sob into his cape. Then Dash saw something that she thought that she'd never see. Despite saving all of Equestria, despite all of the cheering; Superman was doing something that stunned her.

Superman was crying.

She didn't believe her eyes. Superman, the being who could shrug off the most powerful spells, survive being blasted by dark hydra magic, and could fight off hundreds of foes, was crying over another's sorrow. Spells and electricity didn't even phase him, but this filly's pain had finally brought the unstoppable being to tears. He wasn't celebrating his victory over one of his most dangerous foes; he was comforting another who had lost one that she loved. All of RD's rage towards him for beating her and being better than she was melted away as she watched this moment. Even as the other ponies went over to comfort her, Rainbow was looking at Superman in a new light and was seeing him for what he really was:

He was truly a hero.

Author's Note:

I'm so catching hell for this one.