• Published 30th Jun 2013
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Whenever You Call - Onomonopia

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When All Else Fails

Superman eyed the pony across from him carefully, ready for any sudden movements. He didn't know who she was, but her last attack had almost hit the fillies. If she tried to endanger their lives, he'd have to bring her down.

"I don't know who you are, but if you try something like that again it won't end well for you," Superman said to her in a calm manner. She looked stunned that he could speak, but quickly reassumed her fighting stance.

"Step away from the fillies or I will shoot you again!" the pony shot back. Superman didn't move, only brought his arms across his chest and stood with defiance in his eyes. He didn't know who she was, but he did know that she posed a threat to the girls.

"Princess Luna wait he's--" The words were drowned out by the sound Luna's horn made as she flooded it with power. It crackled and sparked in a vicious manner, causing the three to back up. Superman wasn't worried in the least--as long as he stayed between her and the fillies, they were safe.

"Last chance," she warned as she took aim at his "S." When Superman didn't move, she attacked.

"Ma'am, I don't know what you're trying, but believe me when I say that it won't--GAH!" He yelled out as the spell connected with his chest and took him off his feet, tossing him into a tree. He shook his head, trying to clear the static from his eyes. After the static cleared, he slowly got back up to his feet, eyeing the pony carefully.

'That felt like...magic. That settles it, I have to get serious now,' he thought to himself as he walked back in front of the fillies. The spell had hurt, but he had endured far worse in the past with Captain Marvel and other magic wielders. But the fact that there were creatures in this land that could use magic worried him. He would have to be even more alert than before. He crouched low and prepared to rush the pony, trying to control himself to a level that would end her in a single hit. She seemed surprised that he had brushed off her attack like it hadn't affected him, but she too had crouched lower and was preparing her next blast. It would be easy enough to dodge, all he had to do was--

"STOP!" the three fillies cried out, placing themselves between Superman and Luna. Both looked at them in surprise, before glancing at each other warily. After a brief staring contest, Superman slowly rose out of his fighting stance. Luna looked at him for another moment before she too went into a neutral stance. She asked the first question.

"Scootaloo, do you know this...creature?" she asked in a wary voice, never taking her eyes off of him. He did the same, waiting for her to try and move against the fillies.

"Yeah, he's Supermane! He's saved me and my friends twice now!" Luna seemed taken back by this information, glancing at him with a now confused expression.

"So, he wasn't the one attacking you?" she asked at last. All three fillies shook their heads and pointed to the twigs.

"No, it was those Timberwolves! They attacked us!" Luna was really confused now. She had been certain that the odd creature had been responsible, but these fillies wouldn't lie to her. She took a moment to think, deciding what she should do next. After mulling it over, she walked past the three and straight over to Superman, who raised an eyebrow at her as she approached.

"Creature, I...have treated you unkindly. I thought that you were a beast, but...if what these fillies say is true, then I should be thanking you. I do not know if you will accept it, but I...apologize," she said before bowing. In all honesty, he hadn't been expecting that. He didn't know how to respond, but movement out of the corner of his eye caught his attention.

"Move!" he yelled, pushing Luna out of the way. The pieces of the timberwolves that he had destroyed had re-formed together to create a giant wolf. A massive bark claw slammed into Superman's chest, but the wooden claws didn't even faze the Man of Steel. He grabbed the paw and snapped it in two, causing the massive Timberwolf to howl with rage and back up. Superman opened his eyes as far as they could go before he unleashed his heat vision upon the beast, letting waves of insane heat wash over it. The Lumberwolf screamed as the intense heat waves completely vaporized it. Within seconds Superman had reduced it to ash, leaving a small burning pile where it had once stood.

"Well, that was interesting," he said with a smile as he turned back to the jaw-dropped ponies. Luna looked back up at him again, but this time with fear in her eyes. She slowly backed up as he advanced, until she had backed herself into a tree. He smiled at her antics and held out a hand.

"Apology accepted," he said with another smile. Luna looked from his eyes to his outstretched hand, not sure what to do. After a moment, she reached out her hoof and placed it in his hand, allowing him to pull her to her hooves.

"You're...not mad?" she asked. Superman chuckled.

"From what I can tell, you heard the fillies' cry for help and came down to investigate. When you saw the three of them backed into a corner by me, your instincts took over and you attacked what you thought was the attacker. Am I right?" he asked her, raising an eyebrow. She nodded her head with a bit of a blush.

"You did what you thought was right. I can't condemn you for that." The three fillies ran back over to join Superman and Luna, wanting to hear the conversation up close. He turned to them with a look.

"As for you three, what are you doing in the forest at this time of night?" he asked the them.

"Well, after being saved by you we spent the rest of the day building a catapult, but we didn't get to test it. And who builds a catapult without testing it?" Scootaloo asked innocently. Superman put his hands to his head and started to rub his temples, not believing that these fillies could get in so much trouble so quickly. Luna took this lull in the conversation to speak.

"They called you Supermane. Is that your name?" Luna asked. Now that she was no longer in 'kill mode,' she was curious to learn about this creature in front of her. Hearing his name mispronounced again, Superman sighed and rolled his eyes.

"No, it's actually SuperMAN. These three keep calling me 'SuperMANE for some reason," he explained, glancing back at the three. "So, Princess, may I ask for your name?"

"Oh, where are my manners? My name is Princess Luna, Princess of the Night and one-half of the rulers of Equestria," she said with a slight bow. Superman perked up at hearing this. Co-monarchy? He had seen enough monarchy's in his time, but he had rarely come across a co-founded one. Luna looked at the small patch of fur he had on his head, along with the odd shaping of his face. Superman noticed that Luna seemed very interested in his outfit. When he pointed this out, she blushed and stammered out her question.

"I-it's just, I've never seen clothing like this before. Where do you come from?" Superman wasn't sure how to answer that. Did she mean where he was born or where he lived? He assumed she meant the latter.

"I come from a planet called Earth, which is very far from here." Luna nodded in interest, thinking of more questions to ask.

"How did you get here?"

"My ship blew a fuse while I was traveling above your planet. Now I can't seem to find my ship, so until I do, I will remain here." Again, he could easily just fly home, but he wanted to bring the ship back with him. Also, there was a lot of danger in this new land and a lot of ponies seemed to be in trouble, often...and Superman always helped those who needed it.

"Incredible. You have a vessel that is capable of interplanetary travel? Do you use it to fly around the galaxy?" Luna asked, becoming more and more interested in Superman.

"Actually, I don't need it to travel the galaxy. I was using it to help convey equipment to a distant space outpost and to find new civilizations--like this one for example." Luna wanted to ask more questions about space, but Sweetie Belle yawned and placed her head on the ground. The other two ponies had already fallen asleep. Luna and Superman looked at each other.

"It is late. I should probably get them home. It was nice meeting you...Supermane," she said with a small smile. Superman smiled at the joke.

"And you, Princess."

Luna used her magic to place the fillies on her back, but Superman stopped her before she could take off. "I have a favor to ask of you. Please don't tell anyone else that I'm here. I'll reveal myself in time, but for now...I'd rather not have that attention." Luna nodded with a smile and leapt off into the night, her thoughts still on Superman. He terrifed her, that much was certain. Her magical blast should've incinerated him into ashes, but he shrugged it off as though it were nothing. Then, there was that heat vision of his. He had completely vaporized a Lumberwolf with one blast and made it look easy. But despite all his power, he still had a smile that made her feel safe, and he seemed to be really nice. She had blasted him into a tree and attacked him unfairly, yet he had forgiven her and accepted her apology...And the CMC trusted him completely. So maybe he wasn't somepony to be feared, but she didn't trust him...completely.

As Luna flew off into the night to the CMC's homes, Superman flew off into space to recharge, preparing himself for the next day.

{___----___}

Unbeknowst to the two, in the darker parts of the Everfree forest, a malevolent shadow was working its way through the forest. The shadow belonged to a power of darkness, bent on ruling the entire land of Equestria. Its immediate goal was to destroy the Elements of Harmony. It worked it's way into the swamp, where it searched for the perfect creature with which to attack Ponyville. It sank into the swamp, where the beast it was searching for lay sleeping at the bottom. The malevolent shadow flooded its power into the hydra, completely crushing its will. It opened its eyes fro the energy force, but did not arise from the swamp just yet. Tomorrow would be the perfect day.

{_--------_}

Ponyville was in a state of excitment. As the sun rose on the town, the annual gardening competition was beginning and all of Ponyville was abuzz about it. Ponies of all species had gathered for the event. Gardeners from all over Equestria had come to participate, because this was the chance for the greatest gardeners to make their claim for glory. As ponies prepared for the competition, a certain mare was doing her best for her roses.

"Okay, the volcanic soil did help my roses to grow a little better, but I don't know if it will be enough to de-throne Applejack," she muttered to herself. Roseluck had tried for the past three years to get her roses to outperform Applejack's apples, but the Apples knew how to make their crops truely great, so Roseluck hadn't won yet. Besides Applejack, there was also Carrot Top. Her carrots were a leading contender as well. Over at the apple stand, the CMC, Rainbow Dash and Twilight were giving AJ a pep talk.

"Okay, Applejack, you got this one in the bag. Remember, your apples are the best produce around," Twilight told her friend with confidence. AJ chuckled to herself and continued to look for the best apple to present to the judges.

"Ah know that, Twi. Mah apples have won every year. Why would this one be any different?"

"Mah sister's apples are the best around! There's no way you'll lose!" Applebloom exclaimed happily. The other two nodded as well.

"It's too bad my sister had to go to Manehatten along with Fluttershy and Pinkie to show off that new fashion line. They're going to miss a great festival," Sweetie said with a smile.

"Your family's apples look great as always," Scootaloo said, looking over the produce.

"Yeah, your apples are almost as cool as me. Um wait, what I meant was...you have the best produce around," Rainbow Dash said with confidence.
"
"Attention all entries in the 10th Annual Gardeners' Competition," a loudspeaker blared, "Please bring yourself and your produce to the judging arena!" Mayor Mare's voice echoed from over by the stage. Ponies had circled around the judging area, each of them rooting for their hometown hero or favorite. Applejack nodded to her friends and grabbed her prized apple, heading for the judging table. Once she was there, she placed her apple next to multiple other entries. She spied Roseluck next to her and walked over.

"Howdy! Yer roses are looking purty good. Ah might just be in trouble this year," she said with a chuckle. Roseluck smiled at her.

"Yeah, maybe this year I'll actually stand a chance against you." The two laughed together as the judges approached the table. As they started to examine another ponies' pumpkins, Roseluck looked around in confusion.

"Hey Applejack, did you feel the ground shake a little?" AJ looked around for a moment before shrugging.

"Ah don't feel anything," she said with a shrug. Roseluck looked around and shrugged as well, figuring that she had just imagined it. The judges walked over to where Carrot Top was and examined the carrots with interest. Roseluck and Applejack tried to wait paitently for their turn as the judges moved on.

...boom.

This time, both Roseluck and Applejack looked around, both of them having felt the shockwave. The other ponies were too caught up in the competition to notice, but something was definitely wrong. Twilight and Rainbow Dash also noticed and started to look around. The CMC didn't feel the shockwaves, but seeing that both RD and Twilight were upset made them nervous as well.

Boom.

Now, other ponies were starting to look around as well. The shake had knocked off some of the produce, but the judges hadn't noticed or just didn't care. The judges had made it to Roseluck's rose and looked at it with very impressed faces. Then they moved over to Applejack's apples, where their faces grew into smiles. They finished judging the other produce and walked back to the stage. They whispered into Mayor Mare's ear and sat back down as Mayor Mare took the stage.

"We have our winner! The winner of the 10th Annual Gardener competition is...a hydra?" The ponies looked around in confusion at what Mayor Mare said, before looking behind their seats at the monstrous sight. A massive hydra, twice as big as a normal one, was lumbering towards the village. All ponies took one look at it and fled for their lives. Applejack, Twilight and Rainbow Dash fought through the crowd of screaming and fleeing ponies to get a better look at the hydra. It was a deep black instead of the normal yellow color. It had green eyes with black smoke coming off of each head. Each of it's four heads looked at where the ponies were fleeing, and each head opened it's respective jaw.

KKRRAAABBBOOOOOMMMM!!

Four bolts of darkness shot out of the hydra's mouths, creating a wall of fire where the ponies had been trying to escape. It roared into the sky and dark clouds formed over the town. It started to unleash blasts of darkness on the buildings and the streets, just barely missing any pedestrians. Twilight watched the situation with fear and turned towards the hydra with rage.

"Rainbow Dash, go high and keep it distracted! Applejack, you and me are gong to go for the legs! Go!" Rainbow Dash shot into the sky and flew straight for the hydra's eyes. It roared and tried to bite down on her, but she got to the side in time. Applejack brought out one of her ropes and Twilight supercharged it with magic. The two started to wrap up the hydra's legs, making it impossible for the hydra to move them. It lifted one of its feet and toppled with a CRASH, and face-planted into the town.

"HAHA! Take that!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed as the ponies of the town started to celebrate. But before any party could start, the hydra roared in rage and broke the magical bonds on its legs and pushed itself back to its feet. Twilight tried to use a knock-out spell on the monster, but the dark energy protected it from the magic.

"That's not good," Twilight whispered as Rainbow Dash took flight. She charged back towards the creature's eyes, but it had learned from its first experience. When she got close, it made a fake attempt for a bite and waited for her to dodge. When she did, it spun its fourth head around to face her and let loose a massive roar. The roar was powerful enough to send her flying across the skies of Equestria, miles away from the fighting.

"Twi, what do we do?" Applejack asked. Twilight tried desperately to think of a plan, but the hydra gave them no time to think. It fired another volley of darkness towards the two ponies, forcing them to flee. While they ran, the hydra started to stomp on the town. Buildings were crushed underneath its weight and monuments were destroyed. Applejack and Twilight ran to the library and ascended to the top, using the high ground to formulate a plan.

"Alright, from what I've seen, this creature runs on dark magic. We need to find a way past its barrier of darkness if we hope to get a shot in." Applejack nodded and looked back to where the creature was stomping around. Her eyes grew wide with fear as a terrible realization befell her.

"Where's ma sister?" she whispered to herself. Twilight's eyes grew wide as well and the two started to look around for the CMC. The fillies had found themselves in the worst possible place, right underneath the hydra. The three could only look up in terror as the creature glared down at them and snarled. The three ponies beneath it had the scent of the Elements of Harmony and that made them targets. It slowly lifted its foot above the fillies, casting a dark shadow over them. The three closed their eyes and braced for the end, but at the same time they all cried out,

"SUPERMANNNN!!"

Not too far away from Ponyville, Rainbow Dash had recovered from the ride on which the hydra had sent her. She shook her head and snarled.

"That stupid hydra thinks it can get the best of me? I'll pay it back ten-" Then RD heard the scream--the scream of three frightened fillies. She looked over at Ponyville in fear, only to find her fears confirmed. The hydra was about to bring its foot down on top of the CMC.

"No...NO!" Rainbow Dash screamed, blasting off at mach one towards the hydra. She flew as fast as she could, but she could tell that she wouldn't make it. She poured every ounce of speed that she could into her wings, but the hydra was already bringing it's foot down. She wouldn't make it! She wouldn't--

KKKKKAAAABBBBBBOOOOOOOMMMMMMM!!!

Rainbow Dash was blown out of the air as a red and blue blur blasted right by her and straight towards the hydra. RD balanced herself with her wings and looked at the blur in confusion, turning around to see where it had come from. Her jaw dropped as she realized that there were twelve, TWELVE, sonic booms from its flight path. With a new fear gripping her heart, she slowly turned back to where the hydra was.

The ponies of the town screamed as the hydra brought its foot down on the CMC with a boom. Applejack and Twilight looked on in horror, tears starting to fall down their faces.

"No..." Applejack whispered. The hydra let out a roar of victory, shaking the entire town. Ponies started to cry along with Applejack and Twilight. Then the hydra stopped roaring and it looked down at its feet in confusion. Then, to the shock and horror of everypony there, the hydra's foot started to raise up. The ground shook as the hydra tried to press its foot back down, but a force far stronger than the hydra was now under it. Everypony looked at its foot, trying to see where the CMC had been and if they were still alive. What was down there under the foot would forever be remembered in pony lore for years to come. A bipedal creature in a blue suit with a red cape and a large 'S" on its chest was lifting the hydra's foot with one arm and had a smile on its face. The CMC opened their eyes and looked up, huge smiles growing on their faces as they realized who was there smiling at them.

"Like I said. Whenever you need me..." The CMC's smiles grew almost too huge for their faces to handle as they exclaimed,

"SUPERMAN!"