> The Code of the Villains > by Kaliann25 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Rule # 1 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule # 1: The bad guys win, and the good guys lose First bank of Canterlot: At simple sight it was another boring afternoon at the bank: the employees were trying to not to sleep on their counters and only a few costumers in the line. But I repeat: at simple sight, because actually everypony in the room was ready to react at the first unusual move or sound around them; because they weren’t actually employees or costumers but under-covered Royal Guards ready to capture the two bank-robbers who attacked the bank every three months at four o’clock. Why? They didn’t know but they’ll have the chance to interrogate them soon. “How long we have to keep this farce, Commander Sentry?” Asked one of the ‘cashiers’ to the ‘costumer’ he was attending. Flash Sentry, the mission commander, looked at his watch and frowned. One small detail about those two was that they were very punctual. “Soon. In five, four, three, two, one…” The skylight in the middle of the roof exploded in a million pieces making everypony to get under desks, chairs or whatever they could. Then a rope entered by the recently made hole and a mare used it to enter elegantly to the bank. She was wearing a black spandex body-suit, a red skirt, red designer boots, a long ruby-colored scarf and a porcelain mask with creepily-glowing yellow eyes. She gracefully jumped to the center of the main hall and moved with elegance to the cash registers with smooth ballerina-like movements. “Afternoon; I would like to retire some money. Half of the vault s’il vous pleit” she said with a heavily marked French accent. Then the main gate exploded in a million pieces that somepony started to play very loud electronic music followed by violet and purple disco lasers and fog that gave the bank-robber a dramatic effect. And then he appeared in the middle of another explosion; if the first one’s aura felt somehow graceful and elegant, this one’s felt more energetic, like a teenage boy having fun at Friday night. He wore what it seemed like another spandex suit with small details painted in purple; and he hide his face by a black helmet with a purple visor. “What’s up? I came for the other half of the vault! Would you mind?!” One of the cashiers, a unicorn, shot a magic beam against the newcomer; but it didn’t had any effect on him. Instead the mysterious stranger aimed his hoof to the cashier and shot an electric current that knocked-out the pony. Flash deactivated his armor’s camouflage spell and faced angrily the couple of bank robbers; and then the rest of the soldiers. “We finally meet ‘Dolly’ and ‘Mister Z’. In the name of Princess Twilight and Princess Celestia, you are under arrest for multiple charges of destruction of public property and at least fifteen bank robberies. Surrender now or…” The two villains high-hoofed. “Finally! This morons took their time to appear even if we took the bother to attack the same exact targets in a specific order!” “I know, right? Is like this Kingdom doesn’t take its future threats seriously!” Flsh had a pulsating vein in his temple, he couldn’t stand being ignored like that. “Listen to me idiots, if you think you’ll get away with this you’re wrong. There’s no money in here, we knew you would come so we moved everything in the bank to a safe location” “We don’t care about money, we do this only because we’re villains and rob banks is the villainous act for excellence” explained Dolly with a shrug. Z then took an old textbook from his suit and began to search for something. “Let’s see, where is it, where is it? Oh, here it is! You see, as the Code of the Villains reads, a true villain doesn’t care about money or power but the chance to do at least one act of evil everyday” “Being evil is its own reward” The Royal Guards exchanged confused looks but recovered quickly and charged against the so-called villains. One particularly big and muscular soldier jumped over Z, but strangely enough the villain hold him with one hoof without any difficulty (how was he this strong? He seemed skinny and weak for Celestia’s sake!). And laughing at the soldier’s face, Z turned to Flash. “Commander Sentry, catch!” “WHAT?! Z threw the enormous pony to Flash who fell under his subordinate’s weight. Another of the soldiers jumped to Dolly and tried to pierce her with his sword, but the edge only bounced on the spandex. But it wasn’t over, the pony felt something like a snake wrapping around his legs. He looked down, it was the scarf of Dolly. “Huh?” The scarf began to tighten around the soldier’s legs completely immobilizing him and then it somehow electrocuted him until the poor soldier fainted. Another guard ran and managed to put the cuffs around Dolly’s forelegs, but she easily broke them with a single move and slowly walked to the one who dared to put on the cuffs on her. “Bonsoir” “Ehem… afternoon?” he asked nervously. Then Dolly pushed him ‘softly’ sending him to a wall cracking it. At this point the soldier who fell on Flash recovered and tried to tackle Dolly, but the scarf reacted to this and wrapped around his legs as well; then it raised him from the ground with ease and put him right in front of Dolly. “Nice try mon ami. Now this will only hurt a lot” The scarf dislocated his ankles. “AAAAAAARGH!” Flash recovered and saw how his soldiers were being beaten one by one, but he would never surrender. He extended his wings and charged against Mr. Z when suddenly a metallic claw of the size of a pony came out of nowhere and immobilized him. “Wait, what?” He tried to struggle but it was useless. “No, NO!” Flash looked down. The claw belonged to a black-colored anthropomorphic metallic structure with a giant Z on its chest painted in purple. “WHAT THE HAY IS THIS?” Shouted Flash struggling with the giant claw. Z shrugged. “Sorry pal, he’s too strong for you” “WHAT IS THIS?” Asked Flash again. “A Z-Bot. Z-Bots are my soldiers and servants; I brought them to help me carry the loot but they also defend me if I need to” Dolly looked at her friend confusedly. “Z-what-now?” “Bot, the abbreviation of Robot” She sighed patiently. “Are you stupid or what? We live in a pseudo-medieval society, the concept of robotics haven’t being invented yet” Z shrugged. “Come on! Is less complicated than say: golems-made-of-metal-that-work-with-electricity-instead-of-magic” Dolly made a face-hoof. “You win, Z-Bots suits them well” Z nodded and at his sign, more of the Z-Bots came through the door towering over the terrified royal guards. “Okay guy this is your situation: my soldiers are made of steel that is strong; you are made of flesh and blood, not so strong. You don’t need to be a genius like me to know how is this going to end” The terrified Guards dropped their weapons. Z nodded pleased and at his sign, the Z-Bots took the two villains in their metallic claws and began to fly away. Mr. Z turned to the robot holding Flash. “Release him” The robot let Flash go. “You’ll pay for this!” Threatened the Pegasus. “I don’t think so Commander Sentry. As the first rule of the Code of the Villains says: the bad guys win and the good guys lose. And that’s the most important rule” Dolly agreed. “That’s basically the only rule. The others are made to make sure the accomplishment of that rule” And all the soldiers could do was seeing the two villains escaping. They didn’t had their loot but that didn’t matter, being evil was its own reward; that was the main difference between a true villain and an idiot with a hunger of power who would eventually fall. City of Ponyville: The sun was hiding behind the Castle of Friendship, giving it a beautiful look, and right at that time, a young unicorn colt entered happily. It was a graceful kid with no older than ten years with lavender fur as his mother and a cobalt-blue mane like his father; but he had a pink gracious pink strip in the middle of it, again like his mother. And his Cutie Mark was (for nopony’s surprise) a pink star over a gear. His name was Prince Bright Spark, son of Twilight Sparkle. “Mom, I’m home! Mom?” Princess Twilight was sitting on the Livingroom checking on some documents. “It’s late mister, where have you been?” “At Rarity’s playing with Lumi” explained Bright Spark innocently. Twilight sighed and hugged her son. “I thought so. But next time try get home a little earlier, okay?” “Sorry mom, I think I got carried away” Twilight just smiled, to be honest she wasn’t really upset, nope; only playing her role as a mother. “It’s okay. At least you already did your homework, right?” Bright proudly presented his notebooks. “Yes mom. Do you want to check it?” “It’s okay, I know you made it perfectly” said Twilight satisfied. Twilight was really proud of her son, he was brilliant and never made mistake when doing homework, not only that; he also was very skilled in average and combat magic; and hoof-to-hoof combat (that one taught by his father). He was only ten years but the most renowned academies were behind him, especially the exclusive School for Gifted Unicorns of Princess Celestia from Twilight graduated. Yeah, Twilight couldn’t be happier with her son. “Anyway, I’m glad you’re here, now if you excuse me I’ll back at my study. Just remember to dust the Livingroom before dinner” “Sure mom, I’ll just leave my stuff in my room!” Twilight nodded sure that her son would do a perfect work as always and after kissing his forehead; she went upstairs. Bright waited until he heard the sound of door of his mother’s study closing and then he walked to his room. Once he was inside, he took what seemed like a briefcase from under his bed and activated it. The briefcase unfolded revealing one Z-Bot like the ones from the bank; but smaller, this one was about Celestia’s height. “What are you waiting for? Go dust the Livingroom, you know how she likes it” The machine emitted a series of ‘bip’ sounds in response to its creator and left the room. Bright was calmed, he knew that his mother wouldn’t leave her study under any circumstance until dinner, also his father was still working at Canterlot; there was no danger that his robot would be discover. Then he walked to his desk and began to work in some diagrams for what it looked like a powerful and dangerous weapon. He made some modifications to the design, examined it for a moment and then he just ripped of the piece of paper and started all over again. “No, no, no, I want to incapacitate alicorns; not fry them entirely! Damn it, how can I make this thing less lethal?” He sighed and took a glance on his ‘diary’ looking for inspiration. The old notebook had the word DIARY written on the cover and that was more than enough to convince Twilight not to take a look, but if she did; she would petrified seeing all the early diagrams for weapons, robots, assault vehicles and the other monstrosities Bright Spark had built since the age of six. But most important the diary had the first version of the Code of the Villains wrote on the back of bubble gum wrappings. He sighed and continued working on his new weapon, but then his mother interrupted him by calling him to dinner. “Bright, dinner is ready!” He sighed and walked to the kitchen, as always with a furious appetite. “I’m here mom!” Said Bright Spark. “Okay, let’s talk now” said Twilight serving her son a bowl of hot soup. “How was school?” “The same old story: the teacher congratulated me for my math exam and…” They chatted happily about the day, when finally the colt looked at the clock. “Eight thirty. Do you think daddy would be back before my bedtime?” “No darling, if he haven’t arrived yet, that means he’ll take the eleven o’clock train. Sorry, but you can give him a big hug tomorrow morning, you know that’s his favorite way to start a day” There was not much to say, after thanking his mother for the meal and do the dishes, Bright went to take a bath and read something like before bed. The perfect closing for a day of villainies. > Rule # 2 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule # 2: Consequences are your worst enemy, avoid them at all cost The alarm clock Bright Spark used to wake up was really unusual, since he used to sleep really late because all of his reading and weapon design, it was always a battle to wake up in the mornings; so his brilliant solution was to install a mechanism under his bed that every day at seven literally catapulted him out of the bed straight to a window. But it was okay, the curtains were made of the same material of his suit so he always ended up unharmed and ready for the day. Once he was completely awake, he used his magic to do his bed and then walked to his bathroom to spill some water on his face and brush his mane and tail to finally go downstairs. He entered to the dining room and froze at seeing the Pegasus who was calmly reading the paper and eating a plate of oatmeal and fruits. “Dad!” Said Bright running to hug Flash Sentry. The soldier smiled and hugged his son, who happily sat aside him. “And how was your shift dad? Did they assigned you the same boring patrols around the castle?” “Bright, I would appreciate we don’t talk about work, I had a very difficult day so tell me, what happened here? I hope your mother haven’t cause you too many headaches” Twilight, who precisely was entering to the dining room, sent a cold glare to Flash but the stallion just answered with a playful smile. “You know I’m kidding honey” Twilight smiled too. “I know Flash, I’m just playing with you. Anyway, how was work?” Flash groaned. “You don’t want to know” “Flash…” “Fine, everything went fine until I was assigned to stop a couple of fuc… uf! Sorry Twi, I know I have to control my mouth in front of our son. Is just that I underestimated my opponents” Twilight seemed worried. “Oh Flash! Do you think you need me and my friends need to intervene?” “Not for the moment, they just took me out of guard; let’s just change the subject. Hey Bright, have you trained your personal defense while I was out?” “Of course dad! Healthy mind in healthy body!” Assured the colt. “Good, today after school I’ll see. If you skipped a single day of practice you know I’ll now!” “Don’t worry dad, I’m always ready” assured Bright Spark finishing his breakfast. “Now if you excuse me, I have to go to school” The two parents looked proud how their adorable colt walked calmly. Bright was in a very good mood and more than ready for another day at school, when suddenly three older kids stopped him: they were Pund Cake, a cream-coated Pegasus with brown mane, Tootsie Floute, a purplish blue unicorn with navy blue mane and the third one was a unicorn Bright didn’t know his name but have seen it a couple of times. “Hi nerd, do you have our homework?” Asked Pound. Bright nodded and took some notebooks from his saddlebag. “Do you have the money?” Tootsie passed him a bag of bits with her magic and after Bright counted it, he gave them the homework they asked for, but the third unicorn just grinned to the kid. “And why should we pay you for do our homework, squirt?” Bright smiled ironically. “You’re new here, right?” Pound Cake gulped and quickly ran to stand between his new friend and Bright Spark seeming really worried. He even took two more bits from his wallet and offered them to Bright in an attempt to calm him down. “Please Bright, don’t get mad! Bowling Master is new, he still doesn’t know how things work here. We’ll explain it to him, just don’t hurt him, he doesn’t know you yet” Bright returned the extra bits to Pound. “As you wish, but next time he tries to bother me, you two better stay behind. I’m not kidding” “Of course Bright!” Said Pound and Tootsie at the unison. So the kid walked with a dangerous smile on his face while the others scolded Bowling Master. “You idiot! Nopony messes with Prince Bright Spark!” “But he’s just a kid!” “Yes, and believe me, me and Pound met the mistake to provoke him once… we ended up in urgencies and that was when he was only seven!” “But…” “Okay go on, mess with him. You’ll make his day” Bowling looked doubtful at the young colt walking away, was this serious? By his way certain ten-year-old filly with light blue (almost white) fur, and blond mane and tail joined Bright Spark. “Intimidating older kids as usual?” Asked Luminositè, daughter of Rarity “And making profit. Wanna go for ice-cream after school? Those morons pay!” “Maybe tomorrow. In fact I was about to ask you if you can go to my house, there’s something I need to show you in my toy-house. I hate to admit it but I need your help” “Need more capital?” “No, we still have a lot of money even if our last robbery was a failure, what I need is some technical advice” Bright raised an eyebrow, he and Lumi were equally gifted, so it was rare when they asked each other for help, but he just nodded happily. Bright lived for challenges and nothing was more challenging to adapt his style to Lumi’s machines that were completely different from his. Bright preferred to build big dangerous weapons, but Lumi centered her attention in smaller and more practical devices; still they worked just fine together and knew that they could count on each other if they had difficulties. They walked to school. The school of Ponyivlle had grown a lot during the years, from a solitary house on the top of a hill it became a formal building properly divided in preschool, elementary school and high school. Bright and Lumi had a lot of friends, apparently, but truth being told they were just true friends between each other since the rest of the ponies were kind of afraid of them. They all knew all-too-well that anypony who messed with the Prince or his best friend would pay the consequences. Anyway, at the end it was a pretty normal day and when school was over, Lumi and Bright headed to Carousel Boutique where Rarity received them with a quick ‘hi’ and said Lumi that lunch would be ready soon but right now she had to concentrate in finishing a dress. Lumi nodded and guided Bright to the backyard where her toy-house was waiting. They both got in and put their eyes on the plastic stove where a light came and placed on their eyes followed by a mechanical voice: —Retinal identification complete. Welcome Dolly, Mr. Z — Then the door moved as it turned to be an elevator and finally both of them walked into their underground headquarters/laboratory. “Well?” Asked Bright Spark. Luminositè showed him a yard of fabric in a stretcher. “Choose your weapon” Bright obeyed and took the first weapon he had at hoof: a plasma-canon. He shot at full potency but the fabric wasn’t affected. “Now try liquid nitrogen” Bright obeyed, but again nothing; then he went a step further and shot whit his freezing gun. Still nothing. “Impressive. Does it have anything to do with your mom’s project?” “Yes, mère is trying to invent an especial kind of fabric that automatically repels dust and humidity; and since she let me borrow her failed attempts I was able to create this: it can take temperatures between 300,000 and minus 300,000 degrees without affecting the user; take shocks up to 300,000 volts; impact and cut-proof, and of course repells dust and humidity” “Impressive as always. And very consistent” admitted Bright Spark. “The only thing I cannot repel as good as I wish to is pure magic” “Then let’s keep the other Weapon-niforms” “And if we have to fight something more powerful than an alicorn, huh? Besides this new fabric is more elastic and adapts better to the exoskeletons you created; if we use this we can add more gadgets to our suits” Bright smiled please, that sounded just great. The Weapon-niforms were one of the few creations they made as a team: an exoskeleton on the inside that helped them to pretend to be adults that also provided them with super-strength and increased agility, covered in the Nano-technology-fabric Lumi created them made them practically invulnerable to everything. And all because of the second rule of the Code of the Villains: they should avoid consequences at all cost. “And what seems to be the problem?” Asked Bright “In order to give them the magic resistance I want I have to use a bigger power-source, but the point of my Nano-machines is that they’re less than a millimeter long” “I see. I’ll see what I can do. In the meantime I’ll go home, dad is back from Canterlot and I want to spend as much time as I can with him” “Have fun!” And Bright went back home, when Rarity asked him if he would stay for lunch Bright excused himself saying he came only because he forgot something last day so Rarity didn’t ask more and said good bye. A villain always had to have an excuse ready; that was vital for the accomplishment of the second rule. Also that’s why they created the characters of Z and Dolly, to have them to take all the blame of their actions and they could go with their lives without a punishment. “Bright, I was waiting for you!” Greeted Flash Sentry when the colt walked into the Castle. “I’m ready dad!” Exclaimed Bright. They two began a quick training before lunch, it was one of Bright’s favorite things to do: to spend time with his father. Besides Flash didn’t want his son to become a spoiled Prince who couldn’t defend himself as Blue Blood, and Bright agreed with him even if he would prefer to add a weapon or two in the training. However he always had a great time with his father and that was the most important. “Okay, you seem you have trained but not as hard as you should my son” “It’s difficult to train all by myself dad!” Flash nodded understandably. “I know, that’s why I want you to join me at Canterlot during vacation so you can train with me, what do you think? We’ll train properly every day and your godmother will be more than happy to have you” “It sounds great, I don’t think mom would mind!” “Uf, and speaking of your mother, she says she wants you to do the admission exams to the Academy for Gifted Unicorns” “I know” complained Bright. “But I don’t want to, I don’t like study magic, I want to learn about science!” “I know Bright, but you know your mother, she wants the best for you… or what she thinks is best” Bright Spark just sighed. Flash stroke his son’s mane and winked an eye. “But hey, if you don’t want to it’s okay. All you have to do is fail the test, in that school they don’t give second chances” Bright’s eyes enlightened with joy. Of course, fail! That’s why he loved his father that much, because he always went straight to the point, unlike Twilight or himself who complicated themselves overthinking things. He preferred a simpler approach to the things in life and almost always find the right answer. “Lunch is ready!” Suddenly called Twilight. And father and son walked to the Palace, it was a good afternoon. > Rule # 3 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule # 3: a villain only attacks when haves an absolute advantage Under Luminositè’s toy house/ Mr. Z and Dolly’s headquarters: Luminositè was working in her Nano-machines with her eyes on the microscope while manipulating miniature tools with her magic. No matter how hard she tried, the same thing always happened: she couldn’t repel pure magic without an extra power source; and if she added one, her Nano-machines would stop being ‘Nano’. What a problem. “I need more power, but how do I get it?” “If you ask me, you forced the limits of the impossible with half-millimeter batteries; but I already have the solution” said Bright Spark getting into the lab. “Is that so? I knew I could count on you. Then what is it?” Bright shrugged and deliberately slow he stroked Lumi’s fabric as it was one of his briefcases that contained the Z-Bots. Luminositè rolled her eyes, as always her friend was about to give a dramatic effect to his actions. It was kind of annoying. And effectively, he turned off the lights and with a faint purple light over him, he made an ironic smile; and put a hoof on his mane to make a perfect pose. Lumi sighed and tired of his stupidity, threw him a screwdriver to his head. Bullseye! “I get it, I get it” said Bright rubbing his head. “Your problem is the power source, well, you simply have to put it elsewhere, not directly on the Nano-machines” “Oh, you mean the exoskeleton” said Lumi understanding. “Bingo!” “Okay, let’s go to work! Can you take care of the power source?” Said Lumi. “Sure! And you know what the best part is? With an extra power source we can add more gadgets to the suits” “That’s marveleux!” Bright kicked one of his briefcases activating one of the Z-Bots that gave him his toolbox. Bright then put on a pair of welder-goggles. The two of them had a long work to do, easy but long. If they were actually planning to defy the Crown, they had to be prepared. “That’s all for today!” Said Bright to her friend. “I must go before mom gets worried… and… what you’re doing?” Lumi was busy sewing what it seemed like rag doll that looked exactly like Dolly. “What it seems I’m doing? I have to prepare my dollies for the show, and I want them to look exactly like me” “Good luck then. See you around!” Canterlot Archives, two days after: A gray-coated soldier was patrolling his assigned hallway, right the one in front of Clover the Clever’s wing (that was right under Star Swirl’s) when somepony called at him: “Excuse me! Excuse me!” The soldier turned, it was a pony dressed in a black spandex bodysuit with purple details and a black helmet with purple visor. “This is a restricted area! Only with Royal Authorization from this point” Said the Guard half confused at the pony’s strange attire. The strange pony took the soldier by the neck and through him destroying the door. “Thank you for opening the door for me, I’ll recommend you with your superiors” The guard got up and jumped towards the strange pony with a sword, but it bounced on strange suit. The stranger shrugged. “If that’s all what you have…” The soldier used his magic first to shot a direct attack, then to reinforce his sword and tried again, but nothing happened. “Seriously, this is getting old” mocked Z. Then the guard used a spell-alarm calling for help. Immediately more Guards trotted towards the room while Z covered his ears. “Damn it, make it stop!” Complained the villains. “Too late! You’ll never get away with this!” “I’m pretty sure I will, but please can you shut up your alarm? I like mine better!” Said Z making a sign. A Z-Bot came in breaking through a wall, but unlike the others, this one was equipped with two huge speakers that started to play electronic music as loud as in a disco. “That’s how you call for attention stylishly! Now about your alarm please…” The guard obeyed. Seriously, what was wrong with this dude? More soldiers arrived, but they froze at the sight of the enormous machine but Z tranquilized them. “Easy my friends, this one is only my walking disco. Come on, let’s get this party started!” A couple of lasers came from the robot’s eyes along with artificial fog turning the Archives into a Friday night disco. “On the other hoof, you better take care of these ones!” Said Z throwing a couple of more briefcases that turned into Z-Bots. The machines caught the guards into their metallic claws and threw them away. The pegasi tried to attack from the air eluding the robots’ while stabbing them with their spears, but obviously the weapons only scratched the metal surface. Some of the soldiers managed to avoid the machines and tried to fight Z directly, but one more times their weapons proved to be ineffective against the suit and Z answered with a powerful electrical current. Seeing the battle was over, Z walked to the archives and at his sign, one robot followed him and opened its chest revealing a small compartment where Z could put every spell-scroll he wanted. But soon enough the shelves reacted to the intruder and turned into solid walls that began to close over master and machine. Z looked fascinated how he was going to get crushed into the security system and giggled, he was having a very good time. On the upper floor, the guards who protected the wing of Star Swirl the Bearded heard the cries for help from their partners, but because of the nature of the spells stored in the area, they had strict orders to not to leave under any circumstance; especially when the Archives were under attack. That was their sacred duty. But even with all the precautions they had to take, much to their surprise the crystal door that secured the area had a perfectly round hole. Somepony have broken in. After exchange a quick nod, the guards ran looking for the intruder. They found her in a very interesting set-up: she was sitting in front of a little tea table surrounded with dollies that looked exactly like her, having what it seemed like a tea party. But confused and all, the guards professionally stood and shouted: “Hold! Identify whoever you are!” The stranger turned to them and made an exaggerated bow. “Bonsoir, please don’t mind me. I’m just an older girl who still plays with dolls. I love them so much that I turned into one. Je suis Le Puppè but you can call me Dolly” “Miss, you are under arrest for…” “Why don’t you play dolls with me, si’l vous plait?” The guards aimed their spears to her. “You are under arrest” Dolly made a small gesture to her ‘toys’ and the dollies turned to the confused guards and walked towards them emitting a strange sound: “Gero, gero, gero, gero, gero” The soldiers just stood there unsure of what to do, when the dolls hugged their hooves and looked at them with their creepy yellow eyes and exploded causing some serious burnings. Then  Dolly walked elegantly to the soldiers as her scarf wrapped around her hooves as it was some kind of snake and caught a warrior hidden in the shadows waiting for the right time to ambush the trespasser. The warrior struggled to get rid of the accessory but it electrocuted him making the soldier faint. More elite warriors were watching from the shadows when they realized the little dolls were all over the room observing them with the creepy yellow eyes. The captain of the shadow-unit happened to have one of those right in front of him and before he realized, the doll opened its mouth exhaling some green gas on his face. The guard obviously fell asleep immediately. “What?!” “I know you’re supposed to be hidden, but my dollies are eyes and ears for me; and believe me, before I came I ordered them to give me a full picture of this place” explained the villainess. “Shit…” Then the little robots then jumped on the soldiers and attacked them with a variety of weapons: tazers, tiny flame-throwers, freezing rays or even miniature missiles that put the soldiers out of combat. But none of them exploded, Dolly still needed them to have a close watch over her surroundings, until she received a message from Z: CAN YOU HELP ME PLEASE? “You ran into trouble already? Very well, dollies!” The dolls that were equipped with saws made a huge hole on the floor right aside the villainess. Trapped, Z was patiently waiting while the walls closed more and more over him; and it was getting a little uncomfortable so Z finally ordered: “Self-destruction!” The robot exploded in a million pieces, destroying the death-trap where Z was and he calmly walked to the terrified guards. “What? But how?” “I don’t know, maybe because I’m smarter and better equipped than the average evil-doer” explained Z as he checked on his suit: even after the explosion it was in perfect condition, not even a particle of dust. “Whoa, guys I highly recommend my tailor, she’s a true genius!” Then a piece of the roof with a perfect circle shape fell followed by the end of a scarf. Z took the end and after a farewell gesture to the soldiers, the garment pulled Z to the upper floor, Star Swirl’s wing. Some guards tried to go after him but he threw them a small metallic sphere that generated a powerful electrical charge that let them all out of combat. “Why do you always use electrical weapons? You have more interesting things in storage” “You know what my weapons do, what I want is to incapacitate them, not vaporize them or freeze them to death. Unfortunately ponies are too fragile for my inventions” Dolly sighed but preferred not to argue with Z in the middle of a fight, so she commanded her dollies to start emptying the shelves of spell-scrolls. Once again a defensive spell activated making the shelves to crash to each other squishing the robbers in the process. At the end a lot of robotic dolls were destroyed. “Okay, we can’t continue doing this, it will be a waste of equipment” said Z. Dolly nodded. “You’re right, I think we have no choice but take an entire shelf!” “Great idea! Which one?” “Who cares? Is the message what matters!” Z nodded at his partner’s observation and took a remote from his suit and pressed a button calling more Z-Bots. The machines entered by breaking the beautiful crystal roof and took the nearest shelf. And at Z’s command, one of the machines even stole the gold chandelier with embed jewels that illuminated the place. Then Dolly wrapped a captain with her scarf and pulled him to the villains. “What do you want?!” Asked the soldier. “Nothing, we’re just gonna ask you if you can give something to Princess Celestia for us” explained Z. “Please?” The soldier gulped, this people seriously unnerved him, but then a tall majestic came into the Archives. “Why don’t you give it to me yourself?” Asked Celestia looking sternly to Z. Bright knew her all-too-well, so he was very familiar with the expression on her face: it meant trouble. Luckily their masks hid every expression of the two villains and they were focusing on playing their characters and Z recovered himself from the shock and advanced towards Celestia with arrogance. “It’s so nice to meet you Princess! I’m glad you could join us. Here, I proudly present to you my business card!” Celestia received it raising an eyebrow. MISTER Z PROFESSIONAL VILLAIN “Is this some kind of joke?” Dolly followed Z’s example and equally presented her card: LE PUPPÈ PROFESSIONAL VILLAINESS “Again, is this some kind of joke?” “We came here and trashed all this place! That seems like an act of evil for me” Celestia rolled her eyes. “I guess you’re right. So what? You’re going to steal my powers and take over Equestria? Enslave my little ponies? Tell me what you’re planning to do, oh terrible professional villains” “What? No! Don’t dare to compare us with the morons who do evil chasing a stupid goal. Being evil is its own reward; what a true villain must do is to do his/her best to make the world a little worse. One act of evil at the time!” Explained Dolly. Celestia face-hoofed, this was ridiculous. “If that’s true what’s the point to breaking in here to steal valuable spells?” Asked Celestia. “Basically show the world we can do whatever we want and there’s nothing you can do about it!” Said Z with a shrug. In the air the stolen shelf began to shake all over and a last trap activated: a magic explossion that ended up destroying the machine that carried the shelf; but the robot with the chandelier flew away in silence. “Oh my!” Said Z sighing. “At least we have the chandelier” And at that point Celestia finally had enough and shot Z and Dolly with a powerful magic beam, sending them to a wall and advanced threateningly to so-called villains. “You had your fun, and I had some as well, but did you actually thought you can came here, annoy me and go away with it?” Much for Celestia's surprise, the two of them stood like nothing. “Did it hurt?” Asked Z. “No, what about you?” Asked Dolly. “Obviously not! Great job with the fabric!” “And you with the power source!” They shook hooves satisfied. “Don’t you dare to ignore me!” Shouted Celestia angrily. “Oh pardon me!” Said Dolly. "And answering your question, I thought we already explained to you that was precisely the point" Said Z with a small shrug. Celestia was about to answer when Z aimed a hoof to her and activated his plasma cannon that sent her flying right to the other wall. “See? She’s an immortal goddess, so there’s no problem if I use more powerful weapons with her!” A tower of flames was sent to them, but thanks to the suits they didn’t were affected at all. “What? How’s this possible?” “Dear Princess Celestia, who do you take us for? There’s a huge difference between professional villains and the average ones” said Z taking the Code of the Villains from a Z-Bot. “As true professionals we never attack unless we have an absolute advantage. So, sorry about this!” And Z pressed a button from his suit, detonating several micro-bombs placed strategically on the roof of the lower level (that level's floor). As a result, the entire wing of Star Swirl the Bearded ended up falling over Clover the Clever’s one right at the time the Z-Bots took their masters in their claws and moved away. “I never thought your Godmother could be that scary” said Dolly thoughtful as they flew away. “You know what they say about the calmed ones, they can be really scary when you piss them off!” Effectively, their suits’ sensors reacted to a huge amount of magic power and right behind them, Celestia in her Day Breaker form appeared ready to destroy them once and for all. “YOU TWO ARE IN SERIOUS TROUBLE!” And she sent another tower of flames that reduced the Z-Bots to a puddle of melted metal, but the villains were still intact. But their suits won’t last long so they had to think into something fast. Z then aimed his hoof to the angered Celestia and shot her a stream of liquid nitrogen; but it turned into steam at the contact of Day Breaker’s body. Luckily that was what the villains needed, since she was temporary blinded by the steam, so they had enough time to sneak to a hidden vehicle they had around. “That was funny. We’re officially part of the evil hall of fame!” Cheered Z while driving. “And the best part, she’s mad with Z and Puppè; not with us!” “But now that we’re on the big leagues, we must be better equipped. We need more gadgets!” “Indeed, and also have to build more robots, I don’t know how many we lost today!” > Rule # 4 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule #4: A villain is always a step ahead, that’s why is vital to collect information in every way possible Bright started his Saturday morning as always: literally catapulting himself out of his bed and then run downstairs to have breakfast. It was one of the few weekends with his father at home, opening the door to countless possibilities: they could go to the park, or go walk around town or simply stay in the backyard training; it didn’t matter, because all that Bright wanted was to spend time with Flash Sentry. “I don’t know, maybe I was too harsh with him; at least he was home yesterday, I don’t like the idea of attacking dad” Bright said while brushing his mane. So he went to the dining room just to check with huge relief that his father was the one making breakfast; Twilight always did her best but to be honest she wasn’t very good with the house-work. In fact Bright created the Z-Bots way back before he became a villain, precisely to become the Castle’s servitude. “Hey Bright, are you ready for our day together?” Asked Flash happily while serving his son a portion of eggs with haybacon. “I’m always ready dad! Is mom joining us today?” “No, she haves to check a thesis for a PHD” “Come on!” Complained Bright. “You’ll get it one day champ, after all you have your mother’s brains. Anyway, what do you want to do?” “We’ll see, but I want to train at the evening!” Said Bright firmly. “That’s the spirit! Have you hear it darling? We have a young warrior among us, maybe he’ll become a general one day!” Said Flash to Twilight who was precisely walking downstairs to join them. “Maybe, but who knows!” Smiled Twilight. “Good morning you two, have a good sleep? You didn’t stayed awake too late reading, right Bright Spark?” “Look who’s talking! But no, I was too tired yesterday” Protested the colt crossing his hooves. And the small family ate happily, even if Twilight was busy for the day she did her best to enjoy those small moments with her husband and her son; and also promised them to do her best to join them before lunch. So when they finished breakfast, Twilight walked back to her study while Bright and Flash headed to the main door and opened it right before Princess Celestia could knock it. “Godmother! It’s been a while!” Cheered the colt. Celestia embraced the little one with her wings and kissed him on the forehead. “Bright Spark, look at yourself, I swear you get bigger each time I see you. How are you?” “I’m great, thank you Godmother. Have you came to speak with mom? I’ll call her right away” Flash just bowed to his boss. “Hello Princess Celestia, what brings you here?” “A very urgent matter I’m afraid. Bright, do you mind if I speak with both of your parents alone? In the meantime I would like you to go play outside” said Celestia frowning. The kid nodded confused but did not questioned her; as for Flash, he was clearly annoyed. “Come on! I had a very long week and all I want is to spend time with my son. Is it truly necessary for me to be here?” Celestia was about to answer but Twilight had just joined them. “Flash, if Princess Celestia came all the way to here that means this is very important. Please?” “And I understand the importance of family Commander Sentry, all I’m asking is an hour of your time, I promise” said Celestia. Bright by his way was already heading upstairs back to his room. “Bright Spark, I said I need you to go play outside” reminded him the Princess of the Sun. “I know Godmother, I’m just going to get my baseball cap, I won’t take long, I promise” said the colt innocently. “Dad, I’ll be at the park or at Rarity’s playing with Lumi” “See you in an hour then” sighed Flash resigned. So the colt got what he was looking for and ran to the park. “This kid is more mature than his father from time to time” giggled Twilight. “It happens. So, shall we go to the Thrones Room?” Asked Princess Celestia. So the three of them headed to the room where Twilight locked the door. The place haven’t changed too much during the years, it only had a few new decorations like a pottery vase that Bright Spark had made but not much more. “Okay Princess, what brings you here?” Asked Twilight. In the meantime Bright walked happily around Ponyville; and knowing that he couldn’t count on Lumi that early he simply went to the park where he sat on a swing and pressed a hidden button on his cap. Back in the Thrones Room, the vase (decorated with glitters and such) emitted a very soft light (almost imperceptible) and started transmitting right to Bright’s listening device that was on his cap. “So what happened, Princess Celestia?” Asked Twilight again. As an answer, Celestia threw the two business cards on the table where Flash took them and made an exasperated face-hoof. “Come on!” “That’s why I asked you to stay Commander Sentry. If I’m not mistaken, you already had an encounter with Mister Z and Le Puppè right before your last shift finished, right?” “What have they done this time?” Asked Flash. “They broke into the Canterlot Archives and trashed the place” explained Celestia. “Did they took an important spell with them?” Asked Twilight fearing the worst. “No, their robbery attempt was frustrated by the Security System, but they didn’t seem to mind since their real goal was to introduce themselves to me” “WHAT?” Shouted Flash and Twilight at the unison. “As you heard. Apparently the whole idea of their intrusion was to challenge me and show me that there’s nothing I can do to stop them” Flash frowned. “So you actually fought those morons?” Celestia nodded. “Exactly, their behavior was childish and stupid, but at the end they did showed me they were stronger than I thought. Why did they attacked the Canterlot Archives if they weren’t trying to steal an important document? Simply to deliver a message, to show the Crown that whatever we try, they’ll always have the advantage. And to make things worse they didn’t stole any spell but they took away my five hundred year old golden chandelier right before they gave me their cards” Flash shook his head. “So they were just calling for attention?” “Precisely, but why? And more important, who’s attention?” “What do you mean?” Asked Twilight. Celestia frowned and shivered as she remembered one of the darkest and scariest moments of her life. “Thousands of years ago Luna and I fought a powerful foe, yes I know what you’re thinking: another one. But unlike the others, this one was different and I can say the scariest and most powerful until now. He caused countless massacres, destroyed population after population always proving to be invincible. Not only ponies, griffins, minotaurs, centaurs, cats, goats, literally every single living being on earth. His motives? It wasn’t to conquer them all, it wasn’t get more power: no. He just hates us with all his heart, he considers us nothing but bugs that deserve to be crushed. He was pure evil” Flash made an understanding nod. “He was being evil just for being it” Celestia nodded again. “Usually evil doers do what they do chasing a goal, and at the end they get so obsessed with that goal that they end up falling to see more than they want to see, or when they reach it, grow overconfident and fall; or maybe they get more and more ambitious and the most they have the most they want and at the end they have more that they can handle causing them to fall as well” “So?” Asked Twilight. “But Grogar wasn’t a common evil doer, he caused all that devastation not because he wanted to get something; the devastation itself was his goal. And what made him truly frightening wasn’t his overwhelming power, but his ability to feel magic, allowing him to prevent all his opponents’ moves before they do it so he always won practically without fighting” “So how did you defeated someone like that?” Asked Twilight. Celestia made an ironic chuckle. “Defeat him? Are you crazy? It is impossible, we were lucky he retired voluntarily” “What?” Asked Twilight with a shiver. “His power, actions and status of invincible made him a reputation; and it was rumored that he was the Lord of Villains. So obviously his position of the mightiest was envied by the other villains and they defied him one by one… but they all became helpless and trembled in fear once they were in his presence. Luna and I witnessed how monsters like the Storm King, Chrysalis, Squirk, and even Tirek’s teacher, Lady Catrina escaped screaming in fear when Grogar looked at them straight to their eyes… and it was obvious he was running out of patience every time they defied him and ran away before the encounter began” Twilight and Flash shivered; by his way back in the park Bright only raised an eyebrow, this seemed interesting. Celestia continued: “According to Discord, the day Tirek defied him he finally had enough; and with a single attack he crushed all of Tirek’s bones to the point of crush his spirit as well, and sick of being surrounded by such weak creatures, he retired forever… at least we hope so” Twilight finally understood. “So you think Dolly and Z want to copy this pony…” “Not a pony, a ram. And I’m not sure if they know what they’re doing, but I can tell you that if they continue acting like this, they maybe end up attracting him and that would be the end of Equestria and all of its surroundings. Commander Sentry, capture those two have become our top priority. You have faced them before, so when you return to Canterlot, you’ll have your own task-force waiting for you to take command. We must stop them while we can” Flash bowed to the Princess. “I’ll do my best, Your Highness” “And Twilight, I know it’s been a while but I need you and your friends ready to fight any time now. The unknown nature of Z and Dolly is that worries me so we must be ready to face them every way we know” “You can count on us Princess Celestia!” On his swing, Bright laughed happily. “So it’s official, we’re on the big leagues now! This is so great, I can’t wait to tell Lumi! Hahahahaha!” He laughed deactivating the transmitter on his baseball cap. “Hey, you’ve been too long, I want to use the swing!” Protested a kid behind him. Bright turned and Weather Master, the young son of Thunder Lane and Cloud Chaser, paled. “Oh Bright Spark… I’m terribly sorry… I’m leaving now…” Bright shrugged and jumped out of the swing. “Easy, I’m on very good mood today” And he left happily to the sledge and soon enough his father came looking for him. Flash seemed worried, but forced a smile to not worry his son as well. “Dad?” “Sorry champ, is just that I have a very long day before me when I go back to work on Monday; but you don’t worry. What do you want to do?” Bright smiled and said he would like to go to Fluttershy’s animal refuge on the town outskirts. Flash agreed while Bright was happily thinking that now he’ll spend a lot more time with his father even if he wouldn’t know. A good villain was always a step ahead. > Rule # 5 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule # 5: No matter who, a villain has everyone under complete control Four thirty of the morning, an agile shadow snuck behind every single patrol in the Crystal Palace. Her goal? The Crystal Heart Tower, the safest place of the Palace; especially designed to make sure no one comes in… or out. A group of unicorns and earth-ponies maintained every sector of the area under the strictest of vigilances while the pegasi patrolled the air; it was by far the most secured place of the Crystal Empire. “I must go to the exterior wall, is the best point” said the figure to herself. She opened a small window with the help of a hairpin and waited for a couple of seconds until it was time to jump. A Pegasus soldier saw her, but before he could alert the rest of the Guard, he received a kick just to the face and he fell unconscious while the figure got him and with the help of her own wings, she gently placed on the ground so he won’t alert the others with his fall. Then she hide the poor guy behind some bushed and she disappeared between the gardens. The mailpony arrived puncutally at five o’clock every morning, and she had to get her before her parents or she’ll get into a bunch of trouble; luckily at this point of her life Flurry Heart was quite an expert and arrived just in time to receive the mail before her parents. She got to the mailbox and opened it looking for a letter that had the seal of her school, and when she didn’t find it, the Princess sighed relieved. “I guess I worried for nothing” said satisfied the young alicorn taking off her black suit and sending it back to her room with her magic. “But I can’t relax, tomorrow it’ll be here and I…” “Looking for something, Flurry?” Asked her father’s voice right behind the Princess. Flurry shivered and slowly turned to Shining, who had a small envelop in his hooves. She had a horrible feeling about this… that confirmed when her mother join seemed pretty upset as well. “I’m in big trouble, right?” Asked Flurry nervously. Both of their parents limited to aim a hoof to the dining room and Flurry made a huge sigh and walked slowly to meet her fate. Cadence frowned and opened the school’s letter: “What is this? Oh, your grade-report. But what is this? These aren’t the grades we’re used to see. In fact, it seems you have to repeat seventh year! But how, your grades are usually straight A’s; how did this happened?” Asked Cadence sarcastically. And then the worst part, Shining took another letter from the school. “And then we have this letter, apparently you’re expelled from the school for falsifying your grade reports and our signatures for who knows how long!” Flurry moaned, how could she be so stupid? She had been so careful! How? “I bumped into your teacher in the beauty salon” explained Cadence. “She told me about how bad your grades were and if we didn’t do something about it, you would have to repeat the year. Then I told her that I always thought you were a model student and I don’t need to tell you how that ended. At the end we arranged she sent us your real grades through Spike and here we are. You are in big, big trouble young lady!” Shining frowned. “Do you realize what you’ve done? This is a permanent stain in your school record that not even your Royalty Status would save you from. What do you have to say in your defense, Flurry Heart?” The girl didn’t said anything, she just lowered her head. She knew she was in deep trouble and knew that if she talked back, she would only make thing worse. Damn it, she had been so careful. “We’re waiting Flurry Heart. What do you have to say in your defense?” Demanded to know Cadence. The young mare shook her head. “Flurry…” said her father in a warning tone. Flurry still didn’t say anything, what did she had to say anyway? That the time she supposed to be studying, she was busy reading a comic book or making her next cosplay? Because that was the truth, but it won’t help to her case, and admitting it would mean to get separated from what she loved the most. And since her daughter didn’t answered, Cadence shrugged. “We talked to your aunt, you’ll be living with her until you school-year finishes; and yes, we already registered you in Ponyville’s school” “What? Aunt Twilight?” “If somepony is capable to put you in line with your studies, that’s your aunt” said Shining frowning. “BUT YOU CAN’T DO THIS!” Protested Flurry. “Is almost time for the COMUKET, the biggest doujin market in Equestria! And I can’t let my cosplay of the Reverse Filly Second go to waste!” Shining’s eye twitched. “The COUMKET? Your cosplay? You’re telling me you preferred a stupid hobby over your studies?” Flurry gulped, realizing she messed up even more. Still she had to admit, she lived only for comics, comics were her life. “If that’s the case I’m glad you lost that event. You’re leaving to Ponyville tomorrow, and if to the end of the year you have a decent notes, your principal will think about having you back next year” said Cadence. There was no use to complain and Flurry knew it. Instead she pouted and flew to the room of the only person who truly understood her in that Castle: her uncle. Spike had been living in the Crystal Empire with Shining and Cadence after certain incident with Twilight when he was nine, but I won’t get too much into detail. The important was that since Flurry was born he was really close to the little one and introduced her to the wonderful world of comics. “This isn’t fair! You saw how much effort I put into my cosplay! Why I can’t go to this year’s COMUKET?” “Easy Flurry, you know I wouldn’t go without you” said Spike apparently calmed. “That reminds me, you helped them! Why did you gave those letters to mom and dad?” “Because I didn’t knew what was on that letters! They just told me: Spike, can you receive a letters with your messenger breath for us? And I said sure!” Flurry sighed. “I know is not your fault, but still go; at least you can tell me how was the event and even sent pictures with you messenger breath. But I’m taking my cosplay with me if there’s any event near to Ponyville” “That’s the spirit!” Smiled the dragon. “And give a hug to Twilight and Bright for me, okay?” The pink alicorn sighed. “Oh yeah, cuz Bright. At least he likes comics but not like us” “There’s a huge difference between Ota-Cools and fanboys of… what did he reads?” “Bits me, but I’ll figure out soon, much to my disgrace” complained the teenage alicorn. “Tell me uncle, how you do that? You have good grades and also find the time to make great cosplays and all. How Spike?” The dragon shrugged, he didn’t want to have this conversation. He hoped it was enough for Flurry but god, the girl was stubborn. “Uncle Spike!” Complained Flurry. “I know how to distinguish reality from fantasy. You should to Flurry” The thirteen-year-old girl frowned. “Hey, I do live in reality! I just wish it was different, like the world of comics” Spike sighed. “That’s impossible Flurry Heart!” “I can try!” Spike sighed. “Look, let’s not fight before you go. I love you Flurry and I’ll miss you a lot!” “I’ll miss you too” “But I’ll be at a letter of distance” … Bright woke up like any other day, catapulting himself out of the bed, but immediately he knew something was not right. A small light carefully dissimulated on his alarm-clock warned him that there was somepony else in the house. And he went to the bathroom, and as every morning he activated a servant Z-Bot to do his bed and in the meantime his mirror gave him a complete image of the dining room. He frowned when he saw the guest, he couldn’t stand his cousin: he found her annoying and overly obsessed with stupidities like comics. What the hell was Flurry doing there? “Whatever” he groaned going downstairs and faking ignorance. “Morning mom, dad!” Flash smiled to his son, he was about to leave to Canterlot to continue his investigation about Z and Dolly, but he always had the time to have breakfast with his son. “Early as always buddy. We have a guest so behave, okay?” “Guest? Who… oh, cousin Flurry!” The teenage girl made a small nod. “How are you Bright? I’m staying a loooong time so I hope you don’t mind” “What?” Asked the kid this time genuinely surprised. And then Twilight just came with a tray of toast. “Yeah, she had a little problem with Shining and she’ll stay with us for what’s last of the semester. Luckily we have a lot of space in the castle. So tell me Flurry, are you going to start today or you prefer to sleep for today and start tomorrow?” “I think I slept more than enough in the train auntie. I’m going today, so, are you ready to show me your school, Bright?” The kid made a forced smile and nodded. But this time he didn’t fool his parents. “Come on Bright! Take it as an opportunity for you two to get along. She’ll stay for a while and I don’t want any fight” Bright nodded forcibly, she also couldn’t really stand her nerd cousin, but still she was also willing to get along well and have fun. “So shall we go then?” Asked Flurry Heart. “Whatever” said Bright in a very bad mood. Both left the castle, Bright with a very mad mood; but luckily Flurry understood the situation and didn’t say anything. And then they bumped with the group of Pound Cake, Tootsie Floute and Bowling Master. “Ey nerd, do you have our homework?” Asked Bowling. Flurry giggled. “Are you getting bullied, buddy?” Bright ignored her and took the notebooks from his saddlebag. “Do you have the money?” Tootsie and Pound quickly took the bits but Bowling just stood there angrily,. “I’m not in the mood. Pay me or you’ll see” Bowling groaned. “And why do I have to take orders from a ten-year-old, huh?” Bright shrugged and before the older unicorn could react, he was trapped in a terribly tight hold that also immobilized him by the horn prevent to use magic. But Bright was perfectly capable to use it and he made appear a trash can and then he threw Bowling inside to finally kick the can down the hill where it rolled until it crashed with a tree. Pound and Tootsie gulped and moved backwards. Bright looked directly at them. “You two…” “We warned him!” Said Tootsie trembling. “Yeah, we didn’t intervened as you said!” “Don’t worry. Look at her? That’s my cousin Princess Flurry Heart” The two of them then noticed the alicorn and bowed. “Your Highness!” They said at the unison. “She’s new at school and I need somepony to show her the school. Make sure everypony knows she’s my cousin and if somepony messes with her, he or she will know me. Understood?” The two of them nodded. “Of course Bright!” “Whatever you need my friend” Then the kid turned to his cousin. “And you, are you okay with this?” “Eh? Oh, sure! You’re more interesting than I thought, you knew it pal?” “You have no idea. Anyway, also somepony help the idiot of Bowling and tell him that if he bothers me again, he’ll beg me to do this to him again!” The colt said threatening. The next of the day seemed interesting for Flurry, she had to admit Bright intrigued her, especially since she noticed everypoy was afraid of him. And they also treated her like a Queen more than a Princess, but not because she was an alicorn but because she was the cousin of the frightening Bright Spark. But for strange that the relationship between classmates was, at least Flurry could find a group that loved comics as much as her: Light Spectra, son of Rainbow Dash and Soarin; Beat Box, daughter of Vinyl and Octavia; and Sparkler, Derpy’s and Doctor Hooves’ youngest daughter. A cheerful and dynamic group that like her, lived only for comics. It was a relief to find people who shared her interests almost everywhere. “You should come home one of these days, we have a small corner where we use to hang out and read comics. We have everything, from very old editions to the newest ones” smiled Sparkler. “We even have censored editions!” Assured Light Spectra. “Cool! For example you have when The Buffon, Batmare’s mortal enemy, killed Jason Trott, the second Sparrow?” “As good as news thanks to dad’s TARDIS!” Said Sparkler proudly. Flurry smiled impressed, after all good old Ponyville didn’t seem too bad. But even if she would love to go with her new group of friends, she still had to go home and report to her aunt. The only problem was that classes here and back in the Empire were equally boring. “Hey cuz, does your moms knows you’re the biggest bully in school?” Bright shrugged uninterested. “No, and I prefer to keep it that way. Flurry smiled widely. “In that case…” “Your new friends told me how you ended up in Ponyville on the first place, so here’s the deal: I make sure you pass this semester with honors so you can go back home and you make sure to not to bother me. What do to think?” “Are you serious?” Asked the young alicorn. “Of course! I already have a fruitful business doing homework for half of the school, one more is not a problem” At the end Bright smiled to himself, he knew that his cousin would eventually fell under his control like everypony else. At the end it was basic for a villain to control all the people around, from enemies to family. But even if his cousin betray him with his mother, at least it was impossible they figure out his true hobby. Everything was doing fine for the evil genius. > Rule # 6 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule # 6: If you don’t make yourself at least an enemy, you failed as a villain Canterlot Archives (or what was left of them) Princess Celestia’s cleaning team was collecting what they could from that disaster left by the two new villains. The building was completely trashed but the especial documents and the rest of the treasures were intact thanks to the protective spells. Still the cost to repair what Z and Puppè have done would be exorbitant. But another bright side was that none of the soldiers were actually harmed, and they would be back on duty pretty sun. “So they did quite a number here” mumbled Flash looking around. “Commander look at this” said one of his soldiers showing him what was left of one Dolly’s dollies. “Interesting” said Flash. “Is this one of the metallic golems they used against you, commander?” Asked the soldiers looking at the metallic structure underneath the fabric. “No, this is the first time I see the tiny ones” said Flash examining the doll. “And what should we do commander?” “Keep it, our specialists will analyze it later along with the big ones” ordered Flash. “Sir yes sir!” The members of the recently created task force against supervillains kept collecting samples of what was left of the villains’ equipment. Then in what was left of the Z-Bots, Flash noticed something familiar in the one who according with the witnesses, operated as Z’s entertainment system; it was the last CD DJP0N3 had released before her retirement. His son’s favorite. “Commander Sentry?” Asked one of his subordinates. “Oh, sorry is just this called my attention. Forget it” The soldiers nodded at their leader and continued looking for everything they could find. Luckily when they escaped, they left behind a lot of their strange soldiers, giving the Crown a solid base to start their investigation. “Have you had any progress, Commander Sentry?” Asked Princess Celestia entering the place. All the soldiers bowed to the Princess, but she made them a sign to indicate them to continue working; she was in a hurry to defeat Z and Dolly once and for all. By his way Flash showed the Princes a piece of the Z-Bots the task force just recovered. “As you can see, we’re trying to recover the pieces from the artificial creatures who serve Dolly and Mister Z. By the moment the unicorns in our team haven’t being able to detect what kind of magic makes them move so we’re going to send them to the specialists” Celestia nodded and with her magic tried to pull one of the dollies, but she couldn’t. Raising an eyebrow she took it with her own hooves. “Interesting” “Your Highness?” Asked Commander Sentry. “Have you noticed this things are able to repel magic?” “Yes Princess, and we just find that is the fabric what gives them that ability, but once you remove it the metallic structure presents no problems to magic” “Fascinating! The fabric, huh? So maybe that’s the key to their invulnerability: the fabric, their suits” Flash nodded thoughtful, unconsciously touching a small bracelet he had on his left hoof. “Bright made that for you?” Asked the Princess smiling. “Yeah, having something from Bright helps me to relax” Celestia nodded. “I understand the feeling, I also have a ceramic cup he made for me. He’s a very skillful colt, and as his mother, I have the feeling he’s linked to a magic destiny that would change the course of history; but I can’t really tell what it is, at least for now. Anyway, if we want that Bright Spark finds his destiny we must keep Equestria safe. I don’t want that Grogar returns and destroy everything and everyone before he could reach his destiny” “Don’t worry Princess Celestia, Canterlot is now the safest city of Equestria” Luminositè’s toy house, underground laboratory: “Oh, this could be troublesome: they’re planning to double the vigilance in Canterlot” said Bright deactivating the transmitter on his father’s bracelet. Lumi, who was working on her nano-machines, just dropped her tools. “So that means we can’t attack Goldand Diamond’s jewelry?” “Sorry but we lost too much equipment in our last attack” apologized Bright. Lumi kicked the wall. “WHAT? NO! I’ve been a good girl for too long, I need to do something evil now!” Bright knew she was right, Luminositè was a especial case: she was kind of a sociopath, and she truly felt a compulsion to hurt others, and the only thing that kept her relatively under control was to perform one of their over theatrical acts of evil. “Calm down Lumi! We just have to think in something else, is not big deal!” Lumi then looked up and smiled devilishly. “What if we attack Ponyville? All I need is to do something evil, it doesn’t matter is if it’s something small, after all as villains we have enough to do a daily act of evil” Bright grinned to his friend and made a quick high-hoof. “In the highly unprovable scenario that they find us, we’ll be in tons of trouble, right? Besides now we’ll have two alicorns to fight instead of one” said Bright Spark with a calculating smile. “Come on! Your cousin is an idiot who believes superheroes are real, so yeah, she’ll give us a bunch of trouble. Let’s have fun!” Bright looked at his friend’s eyes and laughed hysterically. Luminositè smiled evilly, she knew that Bright was just like her: a sociopath, but unlike the girl, Bright haven’t noticed yet; and she knew that made him far more dangerous than her. Then they both activated their suits and jumped to their assault vehicle, and using the especial tunnels that lead them to one of the multiple exists from their lair: in the middle of the Everfree Forest, far enough from the town so nopony suspect a thing. They were ready. … Right at that moment, Flurry was happily at Derpy’s kiosk buying comics with her new friends. “At least I can still buy this” sighed the pink alicorn taking the last number of The Filly Second. “By the way, you know what’s the difference between the Reverse Filly Second and Doctor Whoosh?” Beat Box rolled her eyes. “Duh! Reverse Filly Second  is the mortal enemy of Mary Allen, the original Filly Second; and Whoosh is the sworn rival of Sally West, her niece and heir” Flurry nodded satisfied. “What, did you underestimated the knowledge of our selected group of otakus and geeks?” Mocked Light Spectra. “Of course no! I was just checking if you were true experts or if I needed to teach you as uncle Spike taught me” “Who knows! Maybe we would be the ones who teach you instead” said Sparkler. They laughed at this and began to talk about all kind of stuff, asking each other details that only a true fan would know, when suddenly Sparkler looked at the sky. “Hey, have you looked at those shadows?” Asked the unicorn. The group suddenly shut up and looked at the metallic structures that flew to the center of the park, playing electronic music really loud. “That sounds like Mama Vy’s last single” said Beat Box. “Nor mama Tavi neither I can stand it anymore” Then the machines landed, followed by Z and Dolly who jumped from their vehicle ready for action. “Hey!” Protested Beat Box. “I don’t know who you are, but shut the music already!” Z looked at him and aimed one of his suit’s especial cannons to the mare, shooting a powerful water stream that sent the girl against a wall. Then he just advanced towards her with arrogance. “Nopony tells me to shut my tunes, understood young lady?” Flurry came to face Z. “Listen to me you piece of…” Z simply pushed her away, but he was so strong that he actually made her to go through a wall. Light Spectra and Sparkler made a step backwards, too scared to move, but Z tried to calm them down. “Don’t look at me like that, she’s an alicorn; this is nothing for her. Now, do you know some place where I can commit a crime? It doesn’t have to be a big one” The kids only looked at Z really scared, so he turned to Dolly who simply aimed to the town hall. “What about we take the town’s taxes?” “Our daily act of evil, I love it!” Approved Mister Z. And the two villains walked to the town hall, when suddenly a lasso wrapped around Dolly’s hoof. She turned, it was a mature mare with orange fur, blond mane that was starting to turn silver. Yeah, time had left a mark on Applejack, but her will and determinedness was intact, and was willing to defeat the new villains. “Release me before you get hurt” warned Dolly calmly. “Ye’re the one who’ll get hurt” threatened Applejack pulling her lasso, but nothing happened. Then Dolly was the one who pulled, pulling the poor Applejack as well, who ended up right in front of the villainess. “Nice try” she said softly. And Dolly’s scarf wrapped against the older mare as it was a snake immobilizing her entirely. “Is an honor to be fought by the Elements of Harmony, but you see, this is time for a new generation to take over things” “Dolly, look out!” Suddenly warned Mister Z. Fast like only herself, Rainbow Dash charged against the two of them. “HEY, NOPONY HURTS MY FRIENDS!!” Dolly threw Applejack to Rainbow Dash, making them roll on the ground defeated already, sadly Rainbow wasn’t as fast as she used to be in her youthful days; so the villainess walked to the town hall. “You do the theatrical stuff, and I do the robbery, okay?” Asked Dolly. Z nodded happily and arrogantly walked to the defeated older mares to give them his business card. “It’s a pleasure to meet you! From now on, I’ll cause you lots of trouble; you see, as professional villains my friend Dolly and I plan to create a reign of terror in Equestria!” Mayor Caramel was relaxing in his office, when suddenly a strange mare dressed in a strange black outfit came in. “What?” Dolly’s scarf wrapped around Caramel and release a small electrical current to the poor pony. “Tell me, where can I find the town’s taxes” Caramel looked defiantly at Dolly. “I’ll never tell you” Dolly nodded. “Suit yourself, all I have to do is destroy this place until I find them” Then the office’s door opened again letting pass Z. “What’s new?” Asked Z. “He refuses to talk, so we have no choice but destroy this place” “Fair enough” said Z advancing towards Caramel’s desk and threw it to the wall with all his strength. The wall broke, revealing a small safe behind. The two villains shook hooves congratulating each other and with their tremendous strength, they ripped off the safe’s door and took all the bits with the help of a vacuum-cleaner-like device that they had. It wasn’t much, but it for the new villains the act itself was what counted. And when they walked out of the town hall, they found that Twilight, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy have joined their fallen friends. The purple alicorn stared to them. “So it was really you. We finally meet Z, Dolly” The two villains bowed respectfully to Twilight. “It’s a pleasure Princess, nous sommes Monseur Z and Le Puppè, soon to be known as the greatest villains of all times” said Dolly. Twilight just shot them a magic beam with all her strength, and this time, Dolly’s scarf wrapped around its owner’s hoof as a snake and blocked the attack. “What have you done? You just sacrificed a perfect scarf!” Moaned Rarity. “No, I didn’t” said Dolly directing her animated scarf to place right before Rarity, so the white unicorn could appreciate it was completely intact. “Touch it if you want, I promise you won’t regret” Rarity reluctantly obeyed and touched the material that proved to be ten times softer than silk. “Sweet Celestia! What is this?” “It’s a fabric of my own creation, powerful enough to repel the attack of an alicorn and as submissive to my will as any muscle of my body; oh, and it haves a hundred times my strength” Rarity was truly amazed by this, so she didn’t noticed when a bunch of little dolls came and tied her with a long steel cable. “Hey!” “Excuse moi, but I don’t want to hurt any of you” “Yeah, it’s an honor, truly, but we have our principles… and just can’t fight mature ladies. Sorry but it feels wrong” explained Mister Z. “But I want to fight!” Said Twilight charging against him. But before she could even touch Z, he aimed one of his hooves to her activating a cannon. “Fine, what do you prefer? Electricity or a high-frequency sound wave?” He shot, and a powerful sound wave sent the alicorn flying, impacting against a tree that broke. “That wasn’t nice!” Complained Pinkie Pie. “She’s an alicorn, this was nothing for her!” “You’re right, like this other alicorn!” Suddenly shouted Flurry Heart joining the fight shooting several magic beams against the new enemies. “You missed!” Mocked Z making a backflip to elude Flurry’s attack. Still Flurry didn’t gave up and continued attacking the two agile villains, and to make things worse, Pinkie joined aiming her party cannon and shot a cake-attack that almost hit them. “Whoa, you’re fast for an old lady!” Said Dolly. “Is being young at heart that matters” smiled Pinkie Pie. Dolly nodded and made an agile backflip to increase the distance between Pinkie Pie and herself, landing right before Rarity and Fluttershy. But this time Pinkie’s Pinkie-Sense warned her where the villainess was going to land and shot her with a new cake-attack that actually hit Dolly. Still the villainess simply cleaned it with a small handkerchief and much to Rarity’s surprise, none of the whipped cream or frosting actually stained the suit. “Oh dear! How you did that?” “Mon fabric, I’ve seen your work and it’s great, it has inspire me to think outside the box and create new and powerful fabrics that not only is stain and dust-proof but also protects me from almost everything. As you Madame Belle, I’m a very gifted mare!” “But you use your talents for evil!” Complained Fluttershy. “Je sais, is my hobby!” Answered Dolly. Pinkie Pie smiled to herself and attacked Dolly with a new charge of cake. “Hey meanie, you’re not concentrated!” Mocked the pink pony. Dolly’s scarf blocked the attack and the villainess took one of her dolls and offered it to Pinkie. “Tell me, if you’re really that young at heart, care to play dolls with me?” Pinkie scratched her head. “Do you like play with dolls?” “I love them! I love them so much that I turned into one, that’s why I became Le Puppè” Pinkie seemed to want to ask more, but then the small doll walked towards her and released some kind of gas on her head, and soon enough the pink mare fainted. “Pinkie!” Shrieked Rarity and Fluttershy. Then the small doll turned to the two friends and also put them to sleep with the gas. In the meantime Flurry and Twilight were trying to fight Z, but he was simply eluding their attacks tiredly. “Seriously, do we actually have to do this? I have my personal reasons not to fight you, so can you just stop? I seriously don’t want to use my Z-Bots on you!” “You’re right, we don’t have to. So turn yourself in and stop this nonsense!” Ordered Twilight. Z sighed. “Fine, you asked for it!” And at his command, two of the Z-Bots grabbed Flurry and a third one aimed a cannon to her, using a high-frequency sound wave, not enough to harm her but just the right amount to make her dizzy. Then the machines held her firmly as Twilight looked at Z in horror. “Release her!” “Sure, just stop bothering me and let me give you something” “What?” Asked Twilight doubtful. And he simply walked to his mother and gave her a business card. And as Celestia, Twilight limited to look angrily at Z. “Is this some kind of joke?” “No, I didn’t really wanted to fight you, but since you’re here I guess I can take the chance to introduce myself as the newest villain who’ll terrify Equestria. Nice to meet you” Twilight couldn’t believe this. “You’ll never prevail” “Well, as the Code of the Villains say, the bad guys win and the good guys lose. You’ll see soon enough, now if you excuse me… Z-Bots!” Another of the machines aimed its cannon to Twilight and shot a new sonic wave that made the alicorn faint. … Even after being held hostage by Z, Flurry was smiling, damn, she got beat badly but she was really happy this time. This was the answer to her problem; before she left the Empire Spike told her that she couldn’t live in a comic that she most live in reality, so all she had to do was to model reality to what she wanted. Yeah, she’ll transform her reality into a comic as Mister Z and Dolly have done. Yeah, those two transformed into real super villains, so what was left? “Superheroes!” “Did you said something?” Asked Twilight worried. “Don’t worry auntie, I was just remembering what those two did” Twilight nodded, at least they had to admit they did their best to avoid fighting and all they did was a small robbery and destruction of public property. Then Flurry Heart excused herself and went to her room; once there, she just opened the sketch book where she draw her cosplay concepts before actually mad them. Then she draw, not a copy of another character, but her own character, the one she’ll become. Happily she looked to a corner, right to one of her favorite comics, it was a girl who disguised herself as a stallion to hide her true identity: the masked vigilante Heart of Darkness. “Is not a bad idea, I have to become a captain. And I know the perfect name for my heroic self, and it’ll be a stupid name so I make sure nopony forgets me. I’ll be Captain Awesome!” > Rule # 7 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule # 7: A villain’s true power comes from the ability to weaken the enemy, not from pure strength It was about 4:00 PM, a beautiful afternoon where all the inhabitants of Ponyville continued with their normal lives after the attack of the mysterious new villains. Princess Celestia even offered a portion of the Royal Treasure to replace the town’s taxes that were stolen by Z and Dolly. At least the damage was minimal allowing Twilight to take the situation calmly and focusing on what was most important: taking care of her son and niece who were busy with their homework. Or clarifying, Bright was sleeping peacefully on his chair after finishing his homework in less than ten minutes, but Flurry was struggling for almost two hours. Unfortunately for the pink alicorn, Twilight have decided to personally supervise her homework-doing so Bright was unable to fulfil his part of the deal; but at least she remained silent about the whole thing of him being the school bully. “Come on dear! This can’t be so difficult, you almost got it! Just try to concentrate!” Encouraged Twilight. “No, NO!” I can’t do it, I can’t do it, I can’t do it!” Protested Flurry Heart exasperated. “Is not my fault I’m not a nerd like you or Bright! Why do I have to learn math? Who cares about school?! I’m a Princess for Celestia’s sake, I don’t have to study!” Twilight looked sternly at Flurry, who at the end smashed her head against the table. “Sorry auntie, is just that I’m tired, bored and sick of this! Sorry for calling you a nerd” “Don’t worry, I am a nerd and proud of it. But you may be right, maybe we both could use a rest before continuing with your homework. Lemonade?” “Huh? Yes, thank you. Hey Bright, wake up!” The kid opened his eyes and looked at all the notebooks all over the table. “You’re done already? Finally! Mom, is it really necessary for me to be here as she does her homework? Her constant complains and whining are distractive and very annoying!” Twilight sighed sadly. “No Bright, don’t worry. I thought that your speed could motivate your cousin but apparently motivation is not the problem. Why do you think you’re having so much trouble, Flurry?” The preteen just crossed her hooves and kicked a chair. “I don’t know, maybe I’m dumb or something” “Maybe, after all you spent all your time reading comics with uncle Spike, right?” Added Bright. Flurry frowned, but Twilight decided to cut it for good and opened the door with her magic. Thankful, Bright jumped out from the chair and ran to meet his friend Luminositè. Then Twilight turned back to Flurry. “Ignore Bright, he’s a little grumpy since I forced him to stay here this whole time. But come on, I know you’re not a fool Flurry. According to Shine, you managed to fool him and Cadence all this time before you get into trouble. Or isn’t truth that all this time you perfectly falsified grade reports and your parents’ signatures?” “I’m not that good, at the end they got me and sent me with you. No offense!” “None taken” said Twilight rolling her eyes. At the end the Princess of Friendship sat aside her niece and gently stroked her mane. Flurry smiled and cuddled with her aunt enjoying the contact, just what she need to relax. “You know every action haves its consequences, so it’s only logical to think that a bad action will bring you bad things. The real reason Shine sent you with me is for me to help you not with your studies, but to show you how to use that brilliant mind of yours for good” “I wish there was a career that only consists in reading comics and doing cosplay. That would be great” Twilight giggled. “I can just imagine what will happen when the time for you to choose an official Title come. Would you like to be known as the Princess of Comics?” “What? No, I’ve talked about this with uncle Spike before and I prefer the Title of Geek Princess of all Comics. Thousand times better than Princes of Love or Princess of Friendship. Again, no offense” They both laughed happily. “See? You finally relaxed” smiled Twilight. “Yeah, thank you auntie. Not all of us can be as perfect as Bright” Twilight kissed her niece on the forehead. “Bright is not perfect, nopony is. In fact I just remembered his worst tantrum. Oh, children!” “What happened?” Asked Flurry suddenly interested. “Don’t you ever mention it, understood? Especially to him” Asked Twilight. “Cross my heart, hope to fly; or I make an appointment with the ophthalmologist” assured Flurry. “Okay, I just told you that bad actions bring you bad consequences, right? I don’t remember exactly what started it, it was five years ago, so all I know is that Bright was angry with me, and, suddenly he told me he wasn’t going to be good anymore and tried to take an old lady’s cane to make her fall, because that was what bad pony would do. I got him on time and I had no choice but spank him. I thought it was over but when we get home he said he’ll find the way to be as evil as he wanted without any consequences” “You spanked him again?” Asked Flurry. “Why? No. He just locked himself in his room shouting, so I let him do as he pleased until he got tired and fell asleep. )'m pretty sure he forgot at the next day. Yeah, I bet the famous plan to be evil without consequences was never made” Flurry just laughed imagining the scene. “Remember, you promised to never mention this. Especially to your cousin” warned Twilight. “I know, I know, but it was funny” “So ready to continue with homework?” “Now that I laughed, of course” After that they finally finished quickly, relaxing worked wonderfully and finally Flurry could retire to her room where she opened her sketch book. At first she considered use a pink spandex suit, almost magenta as her mother’s fur; with a helmet that covered her entire face as Z’s, but hers was going to have a blue visor. But then the young Princess remembered she supposed to pass as a stallion so she switched to white and blue; but she still wasn’t convinced. All she was sure the helmet had to resemble Z’s. Then she moved to the page where she made her fan-arts of Mister Z. “You have to know you created me, you gave purpose to my life. You taught me life can be as a comic if you work hard enough” Then she moved to another page full of drawings of Dolly. “And you, you’re going down. You’re guiding a noble soul to his doom by following your villainous ways” She draw for a little longer and then decided it was time to take a step further in her plan to become a superhero. “Auntie, can I use the Castle’s gym?” “Oh, go ahead but don’t touch Flash’s or Bright’s weights” “Sure!” Flurry nodded and went to work-out. If she wanted to defeat Z and Le Puppè she had to get strong enough to do it. Luminositè’s toy house: Lumi was sewing her Dollies’ dresses. Play dress up with them before actually use them was one of her favorite things to do. “Bright, shut up! I can’t concentrate with the noise” The kid shrugged. “Okay, it’s cool! I’m done already” said Bright Spark putting aside his wrench. “Mercí. What were you working on?” “You see: right now Canterlot is highly protected and Ponyville is about to be, and with the moron of my cousin living in my house I can’t wait to rebuild my army of Z-Bots t to do a villainy; so I thought what if we attack multiple locations at the same time?” Lumi made an understanding nod. “Your Godmother will have no choice but divide her military in small groups we can handle easily instead of a concentrated force in two cities. You’re an evil genius!” smiled the girl. “We both are. And that’s why is so fun working together; but I think it’ll be good for us to work separately from time to time. Don’t you think?” Lumi smiled happily. “I love the idea, but I need my own vehicle” “You’re welcome!” Lumi seemed a little confused at first, but then she shrieked excitedly when she took a good luck on the vehicle Bright have just finished, then she kissed the unaware boy straight on the lips. “Eww, Lumi!” Complained Bright. “Sorry, I got a little carried on. So I have my own Dolly-Mobile?” “I’ll let you personalize it as you want” “Oh, I’m so excited! I can’t wait to design the Dolly-Mobile with gadgets and decorations!” Bright smiled, everything was doing fine for the bad side. > Rule # 8 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule # 8: A villain always make a show of each job, that’s how you show your enemies that you’re sure to be victorious Crystal Palace: The last days have been pretty boring with the Crystal Guards since they really missed Flurry. With the time they ended up getting used to the presence of a noisy little Princess who always tried to disobey her parents going out without permission, or well, trying to avoid they see her real school reports. Because of Flurry the Crystal Guards had become the bests in Equestria, all thanks to a rebellious and hyperactive preteen. “See this bruise? She made me this her last night in Palace. Good times, good times.” “I tried to convince General Armor to not to do it, that the little brat made our lives interesting. Now what? Spend countless hours doing nothing like the other Guards?” “What? Do you prefer to be a babysitter?” “Is better than nothing” They all laughed nostalgically sharing his feelings. Oh Princess Flurry, what will they do without her? But suddenly they all muttered when they heard an strange sound coming from the upper floor, for most of the Royal Guards it was nothing, but to them an out-of-place noise meant that something odd was going on. They ran upstairs to an empty salon that Princess Cadence and General Armor used to storage unused objects like an extra set of dinner service, silvery and a few decadent ornaments. The door was usually locked, but this time it was completely open, and inside there was somepony they didn’t expect: A tall girl with a black spandex suit, red boots, a large ruby-colored scarf and a white mask with creepy yellow eyes; surrounded by lots of tiny dolls dressed exactly like her. The girl was busy choosing what to take from that room, when she noticed the soldiers’ presence. “Ah, quelle belle surprise, I didn’t expected to see you until a few minutes later” she said making an elegant lady-like bow. “Je sois Le Puppè but you can call me Dolly. Who is the officer in charge?” The pony in question raised a hoof so the snake-like scarf gently deposited the business card on his hoof. “As you can see I am a professional villainess. What I’m doing here? Well, a Castle is the perfect place to practice mon profession: there are so many valuable things to steal, do some large-scale vandalism and of course to beat down some soldiers. Have you seen some of those around here?” Enough, the Crystal Soldiers ran towards Dolly, who commanded her dolls to counterattack. The strange androids walked to the guards and jumped embracing their armors. Immediately the dolls generated some kind of electric current that didn’t harm the guards but magnetized their armors, and before they could ask what the hell was going on they ended up stuck to each other. Dolly made another exaggerated bow and her scarf wrapped around the group and threw them against a wall. “That’s a good start, do you have more?” The soldiers didn’t answered, they were unconscious so Dolly turned her attention to her dollies. Half took all the silvery and jumped out the windows and the other half created a hole in the roof so Dolly could jump through it. On the upper floor Cadence and Shining were having tea together. Since Flurry went to live with her aunt for a while they felt a little lonely at first, but also took it as an opportunity to spend some time as a couple and revive the spark. “I missed this moments together. Is not that I don’t enjoy our time as a family but…” “I know, I missed this too” smiled Cadence to her husband. “So what, are you in the mood for a picnic with happy ending for tomorrow?” Shining kissed his wife passionately, when suddenly a portion of the floor before them (in a perfect circle shape) fell to the down floor, followed by a pony dressed in black jumping from the hole and bowing to them. “Oh excuse moi, I didn’t wanted to interrupt you I swear” she said offering them her business card. “Now if you excuse me, I’ll go this way…” The villainess calmly walked to the door, when in the crystal walls she saw the reflection of the marriage preparing their horns to send her a magic attack. Dolly eluded it with an elegant jump and turned to her attackers. Another magic beam was sent, but this time it was blocked by the scarf that unfortunately began to burn meaning that the Nano-machines made short-circuit. Bad sign, she knew she had to replace it after the confrontation with Celestia. “Oh, I really liked that scarf. Dollies!” Three of the dollies jumped through the hole and exploded creating a smoke-screen that would helped her to escape but Cadence used her wings as a fan revealing where the villainess was, allowing Shining to shot a magic beam that sent her to a wall. The crystal shattered in hundreds of tiny pieces but thanks to her suit didn’t harm Dolly. “I see you’re in need of some medical attention” said Cadence walking towards Dolly. “Surrender now and I’ll get you the best doctors before sending you to jail” “Tell us who you are and what do you want” added Shining. Dolly got up and shrugged. “Mercì for the offer but I don’t need a doctor. I’m stronger that I look ma chère Princesse. And qui suis-je? As my card says, I’m Le Puppè professional villainess” “And what the hell do you want?” Insisted Shining Armor. “That” answered Dolly aiming a hoof to the Throne. Before the Crystal Monarchs could react, Dolly made another of her lady-like bows and charged to Cadence. She and Shining were about to respond the attack when a powerful explosion in a side-room called their attention for half of a second, enough for giving Dolly the chance to kick them both out of the room. They rolled on the ground until they bumped into something soft that softened their crash. They turned, it were their unconscious soldiers down because of the dollies’ paralyzing gas explosion. But the two Monarchs stood still willing to fight. “Go on, defeat us, the ponies of Empire would never surrender to you” “We’ll protect our people to the very end” said Shining taking a sword from a fallen partner, and after protecting himself with a magic force-field and tried to stab Dolly. She didn’t bothered to elude the attack and pushed the Prince away, maybe she used a little too much strength but he fell on his fellow guards so it was okay. “I think there’s a misunderstanding your Highnesses, I’m not interested in overthrown you. I just want the throne” Cadence wasn’t on the mood for this. “And that doesn’t mean overthrown us?” “No, that means I like the chair and I want it as a souvenir” Shining and Cadence exchanged a confused look. “Are you serious?” “Yes, why would I like to overthrown you?” They stood there without understanding this girl, when a soldier came from behind Dolly and tried to stab her. Unfortunately for him Dolly turned and punched his jaw as one of the dollies embraced a leg and electrocuted the poor guy. “How did you saw me?” “All my dollies are eyes and ears for me” And speaking of that, her dollies warned her of a combined attack from both Cadence and Shining; and considering her suit haven’t fully recovered from the confrontation with Celestia, Dolly knew it would mean the end for her. So she took the unconscious soldier and threw to them, forcing the Monarchs to stop the attack so they wouldn’t harm an innocent. “This is getting tedious” finally sighed Dolly. “If you excuse moi, I plan to spend the rest of the afternoon in my new chair” Before Shining and Cadence could say something, the dolls used the simplest of their tools: led light, and since the Castle was made of crystal, it reflected all over blinding everypony for a few instants. Everypony except for Dolly who walked to the Throne Room and with her enhanced strength, she took the throne with her hooves and walked away just like that. When everypony else recovered the vision, first thing Shining and Cadence did was to help the fallen soldiers. They were fine, apparently the villainess limited to incapacitate them. “What the hell just happened?” Asked the pink alicorn once she made sure everything was okay. “All of this just for the throne? What’s wrong with that pony?” Cadence frowned. “When auntie Celestia told me about the new villains I didn’t quite believe it… but now… I still can’t believe what just happened” Then a soldier came to report. “Your Majesties, something strange happened. When we were checking on our partners we realized the Crystal Heart was missing” “WHAT?” Shouted Cadence. “But is not snowing or anything!” “Precisely, we began to look and found it in a shelf in the library. Do you know what it means?” “It’s a message” mumbled Shining Armor. “She just told us that she could take it if she wanted” That was too much, when Spike returned from the university, they asked him to send a message to the other Princesses, and in less than an hour Princess Celestia arrived along with the especial unit leaded by Flash Sentry. “Flash, is so good to see you” smiled Shining shacking hooves with his old friend. “Hi buddy, I would like we met in another circumstances compadre. What did those two did this time?” Asked Flash with a frown. “Those two?” “Dolly and Mister Z” Shining raised an eyebrow and gave Flash Dolly’s business card. “We don’t know Z yet. Our fight was with Dolly only” Flash exchanged a look with his team. “Something wrong, Commander Sentry?” Asked Celestia joining the conversation. “Yes, those two supposed to be inseparable, I don’t get why suddenly one of them decide to attack son her own” It was Shining Armor who got the answer. “As far as I understand, until now they’ve been attacking in Canterlot only; and when we finally answer to their provocations they start targeting Ponyville and here. Don’t you see it? They’re forcing us to split forces!” Celestia frowned. “Great, not only they do all this to call for our attention, but also they know how we work. We must think in how to set a decent trap for them” They all agreed, yeah a trap. Now the question was, what kind of trap? They were so concentrated on their discussion that didn’t noticed that one of the soldiers was missing (the same who tried to stab Dolly on the back). He was in the basement, constantly looking back to make sure nopony was listening. He took a dark crystal from his armor and made it glow with his magic. “Tirek, Tirek… this is Sombra” The crystal turned red and the voice of the powerful centaur was heard through it. “I told you this line is only for emergencies” “Is not exactly an emergency. You see, a new villain showed up, and she made quite a performance only to steal a stupid throne” “Did she actually overthrown Armor and Candeza?” “No, she just wanted the throne, the fancy chair of you prefer; but she did fight them and won” “That doesn’t sound like an emergency” “That’s what I thought at first, but then Celestia showed up and told Armor and Candeza that there are actually two of them and constantly claim that they act like they act only to make a ‘daily act of evil’. Sounds familiar?” From the other side of the crystal, Sombra heard Tirek gulping. “So you think they’re trying to attract Grogar?” “Maybe, maybe not; but if things continue like this they’ll certainly will” “Damn it, damn it, DAMN IT! Those morons are about to ruin everything. But let’s not panic. First contact with Chrysalis and I’ll meet you at the mountains tonight. I’ll also try to speak with Discord, maybe we don’t get along that well but maybe he’ll help us this time” “Considering we’re talking about Grogar I’m sure we’ll all agree we must destroy those two idiots before it’s too late” They deactivated the communication and inside his hideout, Tirek trembled in fear. He wouldn’t be able to face Grogar’s return; no one would. Please, he couldn’t return, he just couldn’t. “For all that’s sacred, I won’t let those to attract the fucking ram. Please, don’t let them call him!” > Rule # 9 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule # 9: A villain should be always ready to confront any possible enemy. Both heroes and other villains Crystal Mountains, tallest peak: In a forgotten cave in the middle of the peak, Chrysalis was wrapped in several blankets and eating hot soup from an old thermos. It was when she felt a presence, she turned. It was a blue stallion, almost frozen to death. The Queen raised an eyebrow and offered the stranger her thermos. Sombra kindly refused and turned into black fog to then get back to his normal form; but this time without any freezing signs. “Since when changelings eat soup?” Asked the Dark Monarch. “I’m not actually feeding. Just trying to warm myself up. As you can notice, it’s freezing in here” “Imagine have to climb this whole mountain barehoof. It was a pain but I cannot use my power without risking the whole plan” Chrysalis sighed. “The plan won’t work if you kill yourself neither, but suit yourself” “Still, if the situation in Equestria is as bad as he warned us, none of us will survive for long” said the third villain in the cave. Tirek. “The big guy haves a point” said Sombra. “So tell me, are you sure of what you saw, Sombra?” Asked the centaur. “Yes. I already warned you: maybe they’re just idiots who don’t know what they’re doing, but they’ll certainly attract his attention if we don’t do something. Were you able to locate Discord?” “Yes but I limited to leave a message. He doesn’t want anything to do with me since certain incident the last time we met” explained Tirek. “Well, at least we can be sure he’ll do things his ownm as always” said Chrysalis. “Anyway, can we see into your mind to see what happened? Because I can’t risk months of planning just because a false alarm” Sombra agreed to do that, but only if it was Chrysalis who do it. So both Tirek and Chrysalis shared the images of what happened in the Crystal Empire with Dolly. “As you can see, she only cared about made a show of herself. She was powerful, but childish. A deadly combination” Tirek nodded crossing his arms. “We’ve been waiting for centuries to take over Equestria. We can wait a little longer. Stopping this idiot and her little partner must become our top priority” “If the goat comes there won’t be much to take over anyway” agreed Chrysalis. School of Ponyville: Flurry was busy drawing in her notebook how she imagined her upcoming battle with the mysterious Mister Z, giving especial attention to her opponent’s suit. It was getting prettier than the original now that she thought about it. She smiled, that’s how her opponent should look like in battle: majestic, powerful, incredible. He was much more than a comic book villain. “Miss Flurry, can you repeat what I just said?” Asked the teacher taking the pink alicorn out of her daydream. “Sure: Miss Flurry, can you repeat what I just said?” Repeated Flurry. The whole class, including the teacher, laughed happily. Flurry made a little bow happy in her role of class clown. The teacher sighed and limited to take a good look to the notebook’s draw and after ripping the page, he smiled to her. “Put attention” At recess, the group of geeks met for lunch. “So lately you’ve been kind of off Flurry. Are you in love?” Mocked Sparkler. “Yeah, did you got recently a husbando?” Said Beat Box continuing the tease. Flurry rolled her eyes. “Ha-ha. There’s no one I like and if there was…” But she couldn’t continue when the image of a marvelous villain in a black spandex suit came to her mind. Flurry’s sudden blush caused a general laugh but she preferred to not to say anything. When the young alicorn came back home, she tried to focus in her homework but the image of Z constantly went back to her mind. She somehow finished all her work and began her super-hero training: one hundred pushups, one hundred squats and one hundred crunches. Then she ran ten kilometers in the treadmill. “That’s quite a routine” said a voice from the ceiling. “But what works in the manga world, may not be as effective in reality. What’s the next step? Getting bald?” Flurry looked up. “Discord?” The draconequs grinned and appeared right in front of the young alicorn making her fall from the treadmill. “Damn it, what the hell do you want?” Asked the alicorn. “I need to train a lot if I want to defeat Mister Z!” Discord laughed in delight as he made appear Flurry’s sketch book. “Yes, but getting fit won’t help you to actually defeat somepony like them. They have powers, you know?” “I’m an alicorn!” “Your Grandma Celestia is an alicorn too and they received an attack from her like nothing. And not only they have powers, but also a super powerful army that supports them. What chance do you have little Princess?” Flurry nodded. “I’ll think in something. Why do you care?” Discord snapped his fingers and made appear a white spandex suit with yellow details that resembled Z’s. Flurry was astonished, this was exactly like she dreamed about. Even the material seemed so comfy and soft, it was almost like a dream. “I was checking your sketch book” explained Discord. “You’re pretty good at drawing, did you know?” “So this suit is for me?” Asked Flurry. “More than a suit is a Power-suit. I don’t like to brag a lot but this thing is one of my best jobs: it’ll give you super strength and enhanced agility like the one those two have; and a few more surprises. Besides, you wanted to pass as a male, right? This will also make you look like a grown stallion instead of a geeky little Princess” “But why are you giving me this?” “Because I got a message from an old acquaintance” “Huh?” Asked the young alicorn. Discord sighed. “Yes, yes, but that's not important. What really matters is that I think they’re just like you, a couple of nerds who take comics too serious. But they somehow found a way to become super powerful. And we must stop them. But in order to do so, we need somepony as nerdy as they are” Flurry frowned. “I’ll ignore the last comment and thank you the support. What do you want in exchange?” “Get those two. I got the message from someone I really dislike, but he’s right about one thing: if we don’t do something, we’re all going to pay. But again, they won’t be stopped our way, they must be stopped by somepony who truly understands them” Flurry smile. “Then I’ll keep training” “Good for you but please accept it” “I will but they are two against one” said Flurry. “Invite your other geeky friends, I don’t mind. The Bearers of Harmony are too old now, and don’t know how to stop a couple of real-life supervillains. But a team of Superheroes surely can” Flurry put a wide smile. “Great!” “Officially your life is a comic! Congratulations, now stop those two before something bad really happens” “Don’t worry. I, Captain Awesome, am awesome enough to stop Dolly and Mister Z” > Rule # 10 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule # 10: A villain always accept a challenge with open hooves The figure in the white and yellow was jumping from rooftop to rooftop with great agility, constantly looking around and searching for a target. “Flurry stop!!” said Discord through the communicator. “You won’t find them today, why don’t you go back and wait until they come to light to face them?” “Oh come on! Haven’t you received a new toy, Discord?” Answered Captain Awesome as he jumped on top of a chimney. “Besides, I still have to try the suit’s power. There’s isn’t any small crime I can take care of?” From his house, looking at Flurry’s activities in a magical mirror, Discord sighed and began to check out. “There’s a group of thugs robbing a pony in the red district, but it’s not place for a thirteen-year-old Princess to be” “Since when you’re a responsible adult? Besides it can be a dangerous place for Flurry Heart, but it’s the perfect place to for Captain Awesome to be in!” “Ahahahahaha! Okay, you have a point, kiddo. I’ll tell you exactly where they are, but you must promise me you won’t tell your parents or your aunt!” And without further discussion, Captain Awesome jumped rooftops where Discord told him to. The red districts, her parents, aunt and grandmas always warned Flurry to say away, but never actually explained why so she was very excited. In the meantime, Discord was excited as well, he may not be into comics, but he was very excited to see his newest invention in action. Finally Captain Awesome arrived on top the rooftop of an infamous nightclub, and he watched carefully what was going on. It was a poor tourist who got lost and ended up in the worst possible place. And to make things worse, three gang members appeared and one of them held him, the other put a knife in his neck; and the last one revised. They took his camera, and a big bag of bits. “Thank you for inviting us to dinner” mocked the one holding the knife. The poor tourist gulped, when a figure in white jumped from a rooftop, landing on the robber, who ended up unconscious on the ground. Captain Awesome touched him and shrugged. “This guy isn’t going to wake up in a while, don’t you think?” The other two thugs shook their heads recovering from the surprise, and took knives on their own. Awesome waited, and the two of them ran to stab him, but the weapon simply bounced on the hoof, leaving the stallion in white without a scratch. The thugs moved backwards in surprise and Captain Awesome took his chance to push them away. But what it seemed like a little push for the hero, it was a tremendous force for the pony, and he ended up going through a wall. Captain Awesome looked surprised at his own hooves. “Be careful little Princess. Now you have the strength of a hundred ponies” warned Discord. “A hundred ponies?! Don’t you think it’s a little too much?” “I won’t take any risks with Z and Puppè, your little Highness. But I can add a device to help you adjust the strength, what do you think?” Before Flurry could answer, the remaining thug tried to hit her, but for Captian Awesome, it was practically the same than a gentle tickle. Then the guy tried to escape from the mysterious stallion, but Awesome aimed a hoof to them and activated a sonic wave so powerful, that the pony fell unconscious. “Awesome!” Cheered the captain. “Please don’t hurt me!” begged the tourist. Captain Awesome gently shook his head. “Don’t worry. Captain Awesome only use his awesome strength to protect the weakest. Now take your things and get out of here” “That’s the problem! I don’t know how!” “Then hold to me” said Captain Awesome as he took one of the unconscious thugs in his back. The tourist obeyed not knowing what to expect. But then Captain Awesome jumped, helped by his awesome strength and landed on the rooftop he jumped from. Then jumping between rooftops, he landed right before a patrol of Royal Guards. The patrol was about to react, since they had the orders to arrest any stupid in any disguise, but Captain Awesome limited to put the unconscious robber in front of them as the tourist separated from him. “This guy was robbing this poor tourist, who got lost and ended up in the wrong place. Anyway, I could only carry one, but he has a couple of accomplices. They’re equally unconscious in the alley near to Scarlet Beauties nightclub. Take care” And Awesome jumped back to a rooftop with great agility. “Wait!” Called the tourist. “At least tell me who you are!” The captain bowed to him. “I am… CAPTAIN AWESOME!” And he disappeared after a smoke screen. The guards scratched their heads. “Captain Awesome?” “Captain Awesome!” celebrated the tourist. Factory under construction, city of Trottenaghe: In what it seemed like a day between many others, the workers were walking out for their lunchbreak, when suddenly the whole place began to shake and began to fall apart. One of the ponies in a scaffold, was a Pegasus, and flew just in time to save one of his partners, but they were five on the scaffold and he hadn’t enough hooves or strength to save them all. But out of nowhere, in a cloud of white smoke, a pony in a white and yellow suit jumped just in time to save the other three workers by embracing them in his awesome hooves. And then he fell on his back absorbing all the impact by himself. “Oh no! Are you okay, sir?” asked one of the rescued ponies. “Of course I’m okay! Haven’t you heard about Captain Awesome’s awesome resistance?” asked the hero standing like nothing happened. “Thank you, you saved our lives!” “It’s the heroes’ duty” Unfortunately their happiness didn’t last, because the scaffold fell on another, causing it to fall as well. This one hadn’t any ponies on it, but it had a bucket full of bricks that was about to fell on an unaware pony’s head. Luckily Captain Awesome pushed him just in time, this time moderating his awesome strength, and the bricks fell on his awesome helmet. But he hadn’t any scratch. “Oh thank you sir!” “You’re welcome. Like I said, it’s the heroes’ duty” “Can we do something to thank you?” “Tell your acquaintances. There’s a hero in town, and I’ll be the one who stops Dolly and Mister Z!” And the hero disappeared into another could of white smoke. “Hey Discord! Great job with the helmet’s visor! This ability to see the world in slow motion is quite useful!” “You can thank me later your little Highness. Right now I see another emergency in Maredrid, a bull lost a fight and is getting even with the audience” Captain Awesome activated his teleportation device and went right to action. The situation in Maredrid was simple, but was slowly getting out of control: in the last bull fight, champion Cuernos de Acero lost his title to the new talent Miguel Tizón. In an attack of anger, he began to destroy everything around, and threw the referee to the audience, and that’s when his rampage began. Now everypony in the city were running away from the mad bull, who punched everypony he could reach. But suddenly, in a cloud of white smoke, a pony in a white spandex suit appeared. “So you lost the belt and got mad? Why? Are afraid to lose your pants?” The bull screamed in anger and ran to smash this insolent. But the pony stopped his attack with a single hoof. “My turn” Captain Awesome tried to awesomely roundhouse-kick the bull. But, being a professional fighter, Cuernos de Acero dodged attack, and he punched the pony back. Again Captain Awesome received the attack without a scratch, but he was unable to punch back the bull. “Olé! Olé!” Shouted the bull over and over as he eluded all of the awesome attacks. From the communicator, Discord sighed. “You know, if you fight like this with Z and Dolly, all you’re going to get is a serious beat down” “Do you have any ideas?” “I don’t know, maybe you can use the functions on your power-suit? You know, your superpowers” “Oh right, I’m a superhero now!” “Who are you talking to?” Asked Cuernos de Acero. “Nothing, I just reminded I’m not a hero, but a superhero” And with his hooves he sent more powerful sonic waves to the bull, so powerful that he was sent to a wall. The impact cracked the wall instantly, but that didn’t affected the bull that much. “NOW I AM ANGRY!” Yelled the bull charging to Awesome. “DIE PONY!” Awesome shot a sonic wave again, this time to the floor, weakening the structure creating a small crater where Cuernos de Acero fell in. “No! Fight! Fight like a stallion!” Demanded the bull. “As you wish” said Awesome throwing a rock to the bull’s face, making him faint. Then the Royal Guard finally showed up. “What happened here?” “Not much, I knocked the champ” explained Captain Awesome. “Ehem… thank you I guess” Captain Awesome bowed. “Don’t thank me, it’s the heroes’ duty. But if you can, send a message to Z and Dolly: I, Captain Awesome, will be who stop them once and for all!” And he disappeared behind a white smoke screen. “Did he said Captain Awesome?” And for Flurry, she appeared back at her room in aunt Twilight’s Castle, where Discord was waiting for her. “Thanks Discord, this was the best day ever” said the young alicorn as she took off her helmet. “I just wish those two answer to your challenges, but I’m sure he will. They’re like you, extremely childish” sighed the draconequss. “Hey!” “And he won’t resist a challenge” continued Discord. “Be glad, Flurry! Soon enough you’ll meet the stallion of your dreams, and, stop him before he and his little friend call someone much more dangerous” “Who?” “I’ll tell you when you’re older. Or when you stop them” And that was only the beginning. Soon enough everypony in Equestria knew about the superhero who claimed he’ll be the one who stop the newest villains. But they haven’t answered. Yet. Canterlot Castle, one week later: Flash exchanged a look with his partners, who dedicated him a salute and he walked into Princess Celeestia’s private study. “Your Highness, am I interrupting something?” Asked Flash as he saw Celestia was with her sister Luna. “No, please come in, Commander Sentry” said Princess Luna. “Precisely I was about to get back to my room” “No, please stay Luna” said Celestia offering a hcair to Flash. “After all Commander Sentry haves a very important investigation at his charge” Flash bowed to his Princesses and offered them a folder. “Precisely I was about to solicit ate more personnel for task force: the apparition of the individual known as Captain Awesome is creating more questions than answers. Not to mention he is unwillingly, or willingly, making that those two get more attention” Celestia frowned. “So you think this Captain Awesome is a trick from Puppè and Z to call for more attention?” “That’s the problem, Your Majesties, we don’t know. But there are some similarities, like the resemblance of the suit and the fact that Awesome is also calling for attention every time he shows up” The two sisters exchanged a concerned look. “And how did our enemies reacted to this?” Asked Celestia. Flash frowned. “You mean or true enemies, or the couple of morons who do nothing but trying to call for attention?” Celestia sighed. “I know how you feel about them, Commander Sentry, but you must understand that this childish behavior may be only a distraction from their true intentions. But like I explained to you already, these two may not be a true menace but they can surely attract Grogar” Luna shivered. “And no one wants this. Not even our other enemies” Flash silently bowed to his Princesses. “However,” continued Luna, “I’ll order a few of my soldiers to join your task force as well. We must stop those two no matter what their intentions are” “Thank you, Your Highness” But suddenly, a new soldier was sent through the door and crashed into the Princess’ desk. “What?” “Your Highnesses, you have a visitor…” And he fainted. Without losing time, the three went out of the small room to the main hallway. What they found was a bunch of unconscious soldiers, and right before them, two ponies in black spandex suit still holding a poor guard. “Oh, look Monseur Z! The Princesses are here!” Said Dolly turned to them. “Oh, okay. Unexpected but it doesn’t affect our plans” Flash screamed in anger and ran to Z, who limited to shot him a sticky substance that glued him to a wall. “Huh?” “I like you Commander Sentry. Please do not interfere” Princess Luna frowned and shot a powerful magic beam to the so-called villains. But as usual, they received the attack fully, but nothing happened to them. “Princess Luna, nice to meet you” said Z. “Are you aware that Princess Celestia tried this already?” Asked Dolly. Luna was not going to give up that easily. She tried to tackle Dolly, but the villainess took the blue alicorn by her horn and threw her away. Princess Celestia prepared to fight as well, but Z calmed her with a gesture. “We don’t want to fight you. Not today at least. We’re here only to deliver a message, would you be so kind to give it to Captain Awesome?” “A message?” Asked Flash confused and angry. “Then why you attacked all those ponies?” Z then took the famous Code of the Villains from his suit. “It was our daily act of evil. Remember that we’re villains” Celestia’s eye twitched because of the contained anger. Even her mane, that resembled the aurora boreal, turned into flames again. “WHAT DO YOU WANT?” she demanded with her Canterlot Voice. “Tell mon capitaine that we accept his challenge with open hooves. A villain should always accept challenges, how would we prove we’re better than heroes, then?” “Even his suit is a clear defy to me” said Z. “What is wrong with this dude?” “I can say the same about you” said Flash. “You’re nothing but a bunch of brats who want to be famous” Ignoring him, Dolly continued: “Tell Incroyable that in two weeks, we’ll attack the Pharaoh’s Palace Casino in Las Pegasus. We can barely wait” Then they jumped through the window to their vehicles. They were ready for a fight, and really hoped that Awesome would worth it. > Rule # 11 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule # 11: When a villain haves to protect someone, it must be done from the shadows Flurry was impatient, Discord had just told her that her challenge had been accepted; and now she had an appointment at a casino. The problem was that she had to wait two entire weeks, and couldn’t sleep because of the excitement. All she wanted now was to be face to face with her new idol, the paladin of injustice Mister Z. She also had to fight Dolly, but Flurry didn’t mind her that much. “Soon, very soon! But also, why it had to be in two weeks?” sighed Flurry dreamily. Her night lamp turned into a tiny version of Discord. “Don’t you see you’re falling straight to his trap?” asked the God of Chaos. “He’s playing with your patience so you won’t be in shape when you face him. One of the oldest tricks of the comics” Flurry smiled widely. “Oh, you’re right! But is not an old trick, it’s a classic! Oh god, I’m so dumb, hahahahaha!” “And why do you find it funny, your little Highness?” asked Discord sighing. “Because I’m officially a comic book heroine! You said it yourself, I fell for a cliché and I didn’t even realized! But now that you noticed I can relax and with for the right moment. When we finally met, he’ll think I feel for his trick but I’ll be ready. So now I’m going to relax and let the idiot think what he wants” “Just don’t forget they are no normal villains for Celestia’s sake” warned Discord. “I know, that’s why I’m still training. Body, mind and soul. And speaking of that, I’ll study my comic collection to see if I find another of Z’s tricks. Soon enough he’ll see the true power of Captain Awesome!” Discord preferred not to say anything, but he already pictured the scene between the fan-girl and her idol. But unlike what Flurry and Discord thought, the encounter was scheduled in two weeks not because of a stupid trap. It was because Luminositè had plans with her mère. They were checking on Rarity’s boutique in ManeHattan. Rarity had changed a lot on the last years. Now she didn’t focused that much on her work, as she used to, but into her beloved ones. Especially her little girl. It was hard to be a single mom. That’s why whenever Rarity had to work outside the cities, she did her best to take Lumi with her. Luminositè was adopted, it all started with a Friendship Mission. The Cutie Mark Rarity was sent to a faraway city, to deal with some problem in an orphanage. Right at the time a year and a half filly was brought. The baby had just been rescued from her abusive parents, who broke her several bones. Also her entire body was covered with bruises. Rarity’s heart broke at seeing the foal’s conditions and adopted her immediately. Of course the orphanage’s personnel warned her that children who came from problematic homes could develop antisocial tendencies. But Rarity’s decision was made. And with the pass of the years, Rarity could say that her perseverance and love paid off. Lumi was the perfect little girl, a miniature version of Rarity. She enjoyed to make miniature dresses for her dollies, and also had inherited most of Rarity’s lady-like mannerisms. They were so alike, that, for most of the ponies, Lumi was Rarity’s biological daughter. And whenever they were in ManeHattan, they always enjoyed themselves between shopping, Brodtrott shows, and delicious food. And also the city had a small benefit that Rarity ignored. Right on that moment mother and daughter were on the backstage preparing for a fashion show, along with CoCo. They were about to present Rarity’s latest line to the public, but most for their disgrace, a pony who they really dislike was also on that show. Little did CoCo and Rarity knew that there was nothing to fear with Lumi there. “I saw Miss Polomare near our stand, so we must stay alert” warned CoCo. “We must be careful” Rarity nodded thoughtful, but she was calmed. Suri Polomare haven’t messed with her in a while. Anyway, soon enough she realized she had to go to confirm her turn, along with CoCo. “Oh dear, look at the time!” said Rarity worried. “Luminositè, you are in charge of my dresses. Do not let anyopony to approach, okay?” The girl smiled happily and made a small bow. “You can count on me, mère” Rarity smiled to her daughter and ran with CoCo, leaving Lumi calmly sewing little dresses for her dollies. Not her Dolly’s dollies, just her normal dollies. Then she saw at a dark corner. “You know, Suri? I have great news” the girl said with a sweet tone. Sweet but cruel. Suri came to light. She was sweating and trembling all over, she tried to seem calmed but she couldn’t. Just couldn’t. This girl was scary as hell. “Did your mother finally realized you’re a sociopath?” asked Suri as she gulped. “Of course not! You know our kind is expert in faking emotions” Terror was more than visible in Suri’s eyes. She was one of the two ponies who knew Luminositè’s true personality. Twisted and cruel. The second was her best friend, of course. But unlike Suri, Bright was like her, so he never feared her. Suri’s nightmare began the last time she tried to steal a design from Rarity. Just as this time, Rarity put the girl in charge of watching her dresses. Suri thought she could easily overpower the girl, but she was wrong. She remembered it very well. “That are the clothes that mère made! Put your hooves away!” cried the little girl. Suri pushed the seven-year-old Lumi away. “Stay away, you know nothing of the fashion business!” And when the fashionista thought it was over, the girl aimed a hoof to her, and the girl’s scarf wrapped against Suri as it was a snake. Then it tightened, so strongly that Suri’s bones broke instantly. “You broke something, I wasn’t intending this” said Lumi fascinated of what she had done. “Apparently I have to re-caliber best mon ècharpe’s strength. But you wanted to harm mère, so you deserve to be punished” Suri Polomare was about to say something, but an end of the scarf introduced into her mouth to silence her. Then the thing released an electric charge so powerful, that Suri swore that she was burning inside-out. “You can tell anypony you want. A little girl electrocuted you with an ècharpe. Who would believe you anyway?” said the girl in a cold tone. The scarf released the fashionista, and she landed on her now broken hooves much to Lumi’s delight. Oh, how much she loved to cause pain, but she had to restrain the ‘urges’ for the sake of her mère. From that day, Luminositè turned into Suri’s stuff of nightmares. But going back to the present, Lumi was ‘kindly’ smiling to her. “You know what my news are? I want a Nutella ice cream with strawberry topping. And I know you’ll buy it for me, if you want me to ignore the fact you were spying on me” Polomare shivered and smiled to her. “Of course! But I swear I didn’t came to spy on you or your mom. I solemnly swear!” Luminositè nodded. “Je sais. I know you’re not stupid or a masochist. You know all too well what I would do to you if you try to harm my mère again” Suri nodded and approached a newspaper to Luminositè. VILLAINS TERRIFY CANTERLOT “You’re the one with the red scarf. No? I would recognize the damn thing anywhere” Lumi grinned. “Wi, me and my friend Monseur Z have a very particular hobby. It helps me to control the ‘urges’ better than you…” Suri shivered. “I just wanted to check it. I was here when I saw your new friend dressed in white playing hero” Luminositè sighed. “Captain Awesome is an idiot who wants to play with us. But he’ll fail miserably as the others” Suri frowned. “I’m curious, how did you resisted an attack from Celestia herself?” “Professional secret” “Of course! Now if you excuse me I’ll go for an ice cream” And she ran before Luminositè changed her mind about not hurting her. > Rule # 12 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule # 12: If a hero shows up, show him he chose the loser side Las Pegasus; Pharao’s Palace, Hotel and Casino: It was a weekend like any other, tourists come and go, enjoying the shows, gambling, losing and wining. But, what in general seemed like the usual cheery and happy atmosphere, for those with the sharpest senses, it was all fake. Most of the tourists weren’t tourists at all. They were Royal Guard working undercover, waiting for the new villains to show up. “Anything new?” asked Flash to Flare Warden, his second in command. “Well, Lens of Truth lost two hundred in the roulette. Aside that…” Flash frowned, since the undercover mission started, he had to deal with problems like that on the daily basis. “Oh, then go tell Lens of Truth I have him a consolation prize. A trip!” “Commander?” asked confusedly Flare Warden. “Yes. Officer Warden, would you be so kind to tell private Truth to pack his bags. He won a two-weeks stay on jail.” Flare Warden sighed. “As you wish, Commander Sentry. But I would like to remind you, our jail is overpopulated” Flash could only groan. It was truth, most of the soldiers fell to Las Pegasus’ temptations, gambling or having fun instead of attending their duty. “I know. Is like that bunch of irresponsible are doing it on purpose” “Have you just realized?” asked Flare. “Do not misunderstand me, Commander, but they prefer to spend time in the jail instead of being humiliated by Z and Dolly again” Flash preferred to not to say anything, but it was true. Until now, the only thing they could do was to convince the owner of the Casino to store the profits from the vault, to a safer location. But Flash had no idea how to stop them. No one had. Then suddenly a couple of ponies appeared, pushing two enormous box into the casino. Flash spotted them, and walked toward them. “Hold in the name of the Royal Guard! What do you have in those boxes?” The two ponies shook their heads confused. “Nothing bad, good sir, just the new slot machines Mister Gambling ordered” “Let them in, Commander Sentry” said the casino’s owner. “I’ve been waiting for this shipment since last month. This new model guarantees…” “I get it, but just to be sure, I’ll need to open the package” The owner shrugged, and at Flash’s sign, six guards went to open the boxes; and with their magic, they lifted the content. Nothing suspicious, just slot machines. They were about to retire, when Mister Gambling suddenly said: “Black and purple? But I clearly ordered gold and blue” The soldiers’ eyes widened, and prepared to fight as the slot machines made appear two giant claws from their sides, followed by a strange neckless head, with two purple lights for eyes. Where the small figures that spun whenever people pull the lever should be, there were now purple Zees. The Zees lined up, and where the coins should came out, what came were tiny dolls. Dolly’s dollies. Flash and the casino’s owner stepped backwards as the Z-Bots and Dolly’s dollies advanced toward them. The Z-Bots began to shot lasers from their eyes, as the dollies released artificial purple fog. Then, the usual loud electronic music began to play. And finally two ponies dressed in black spandex suits came in. Dolly and Mister Z have arrived. “This is the last time I hire this delivery company. They arrived with a delay of two minutes” said Mister Z. “Don’t be so harsh on them, mon ami. Les messagers do what they can” Flash groaned annoyed. “Ignoring us as always. There’s nothing to steal here. We made sure of that” “I know, I know” sighed Z. “You emptied the vault before we arrive. Dude, we try to find creative ways to ruin people’s life. You guys should put some effort as well” Dolly gracefully jumped toward the casino’s owner, and kissed his forehoof. “Excusez-moi, but what is about to happen would be extremely unpleasant for you.” Then she turned to the army of dollies and Z-Bots. “Guys, here we have hundreds of ponies filling the slot machines with bits. You know what to do!” Dollies and Z-Bots then ran to forcibly open the so-called machines, and emptied them much to Mister Gambling’s desperation. Then Flash screamed in anger and flew towards them with a sword in each forehoof, and stabbed the so-called villains. “That doesn’t work, imbècile” said Dolly. Flash smirked. “These had a sealed spell inside” And both swords activated, freeing the ‘lighting spell’. Both Z and Dolly trembled all over and fell on their rumps. “Ouch… I actually felt that!” Complained Z. “How’s that possible?” Dolly shook her head. “It overcharged my Nano-machines, and to avoid short-circuit, they redirected the energy excess to us. That hurt a lot” More soldiers joined, and after they pleasantly found the key was electricity, the unicorns began to shot several lightings to the two enemies. Dolly extended her hoof, allowing her scarf to wrap around it, and block the attacks. But at the end the Nano-machines in the scarf overloaded as well, making it to burn. “Merde” And their robots were too busy stealing, that couldn’t protect them this time. Both of them made a backflip and Z took one of his many suitcases, activating a Z-Bot. The machine jumped to protect its creator, but it couldn’t last more than two electrical attacks. “Dang it. Dollies, stop stealing, attack!” Commanded Mister Z. The dollies obeyed Z’s command, trapping the soldiers in a sticky substance that glued them to the floor. “Do you think this is over? Now we know what to use to actually harm you!” Shouted Flash. Dolly sighed. “Shut his mouth” she commanded to the Z-Bots. The nearest of the metallic soldiers aimed a cannon to Flash and glued his mouth with some kind of white substance. “Hey!” Complained Z. “Easy, is sort of edible. Is home-made toffee that Aunt Sweetie cooked” Z shivered, Sweetie Belle’s home cooking was legendary, in the bad way. “Still, be more careful with him” “Don’t start with sentimentalisms. You know we are villains” “Yeah, right, why did you weaponized this thing instead of leave it at your home so you and your mom could eat?” “Touché” Finished their little arguing, they victoriously walked out of the casino, followed by their procession of machines, now full with the gold they could steal before the soldiers’ interruption. “The only thing I regret is that we couldn’t see Captain Awesome” complained Z. “What I regret is that I forgot to make my robotic fabric electricity-proof” But suddenly Z-Bots and Dollies helplessly exploded when a powerful sonic-wave hit them. And before Z and Dolly could react, a pony dressed in a white spandex suit jumped in front of them and made them an inviting gesture. “Be careful what you wish for, Z. I, Captain Awesome, am here to stop you for good!” And made a ‘cool’ pose by flexing his muscles. The two villains sighed. “Free advice: if you actually want to be cool, use fog machines and electronic music” said Z. “Or a specific theme. I love dolls so I turned into one. And you, what you are? A Captain, but what kind of Captain? Military Captain? Sea Captain? Without that you simply look ridicule” Captain Awesome prepared to fight. “It’s easier to see somepony else’s mistake. I frustrated your robbery, that’s all that matters. And also that I’m going to stop you, starting for you Dolly. You are going down!” So Captain Awesome trotted to Dolly, to punch her. Dolly ran toward him as well, to deliver a punch on her own. Hoof and hoof met in the middle, and both of them were sent backwards rubbing their hooves in pain. “Ouch” villainess and hero said at the unison. “Super strength doesn’t mix with super strength, we know that now” said Z thoughtful as he aimed a hoof to the hero. “Now, why don’t you swallow this?” Z sent a powerful electric current to Captain Awesome, who received it with open hooves. “Uh, that tickles! Now, how about this?!” Awesome responded by sending another sonic wave in response. Both villains back flipped to elude it, and then jumped to kick him at the same time. Combining their strengths they could actually hurt Awesome, but he had a plan. With his enhanced senses, he perceived the attack coming in slow-motion. He had only a few seconds to react, so he had to move fast. He took them on the right time by their back legs, and threw them to a wall. They both created a huge crack on the walls, but still stood back on their four hooves. “Z, je pense we underestimated Mon Capitein” Awesome did not took it well. “Did you just realize, moron? That’s why I’m going to defeat you first. You’re dragging dear Mister Z through the wrong way! If you continue influencing him, who would know in which kind of trouble you’ll get him!” He shut up when the villains made a step backwards. “Dude, are you trying to defeat me, or invite me to a date?” asked Z slightly uncomfortable. “At least now we know what kind of Capiein you are. Sea! All those long seasons alone in sea without a mare to cuddle” Flurry’s face grew red. Luckily she had a helmet. But at least she tried to make thing clear. “Ehem, do not misunderstand me! I’m telling you this because you’re just like me!” “If you say we’re soulmates, I’m going this way” said Z going to left. Dolly gave him an understanding nod. “Yeah, at least we know which side the heroes are” Captain Awesome shook his head. This was what her fangirlism got her. “No! I mean, Z and I are the same! We both are comic geeks who did their best to bring our hobby to the real life!” And that let the two villains astonished. And they weren’t the only ones. The ponies who were gathering around the strange scene were pretty confused as well. A bunch of comic geeks? But they thought they were to witness an epic battle between good and evil. However, Awesome continued: “But this isn’t the way, Mister Z! There are more positive ways to be like a comic book character. Take me for example, I thought I had to resign to a boring and monotonous life. But you, you showed me you can transform your life into a comic if you want. But being a villain is wrong! You have to react, become a hero like me. Do not let this femme fatale to influence you!” The two villains made a face-hoof. “We influence each other, idiot!” “And we don’t like comics!” Flurry simply shrugged. “Come on! There’s no use to deny it, not when you’re dressed like that!” “You may have a point but no, we don’t like comics!” Flurry, or Awesome, finally nodded. “As you wish. I’ll beat you and then, if you want to reform, we can talk about our favorite comics!” Dolly and Z aimed their weapons to Awesome, and shot. Z a powerful plasma shot that melted a part of the street. Awesome eluded the attack itself, but a Z-Bot pushed him to the newly-created crater. Once there, Dolly finished by covering him with a white substance. Awesome tried to jump and continue fighting, but he was completely stuck. “Hey! What is this!” “Home-made toffee. Don’t ask” “Anyway, bye!” Two dollies came into the crater and exploded. But when the smoke vanished, Awesome had vanished as well. “Huh… the kid have some tricks in storage” said Z. “Apparently we found an interesting diversion. Shall we go now?” They both called their personal vehicles and flew away. They didn’t got anything this time, but at least it was very fun. Twilight’s Palace, Flurry’s room: “Even wearing my Power-suit, that would hurt you really badly” said Discord as he tried to remove the toffee from the suit. “Urg, what kind of evil invention is this substance?” “So you can’t remove it?” asked Flurry heart. “I don’t know. It reminds me that time when Pinkie Pie asked me to help her clean after she allowed Rarity’s sister to cook something at the Cakes’ kitchen” Finally they could clean it, but Discord wasn’t happy. “Kiddo, I have you the suit and all. And you almost ruin it because of your fangirlism!” “I couldn’t help it. I wish Z tells me about his favorite comics” Discord rolled his eyes. “Whatever! At least you met them!” “Yeah, but I wish I could take care of them and their metallic golems at the same time” Discord shrugged. “It’s a shame here in Ponyville there isn’t a group of airheads who would do anything to become a superhero” “Geeks are not airheads!” Protested Flurry, as she realized. “Wait, are you saying you’ll turn my friends into superheroes as well?” “I already told you! Bring your other nerdy friends, with me. And also, I can use a break. It’s kind of boring to keep watching you. So please, go call them.” “Understood!” said Flurry putting on her suit again and jumping through the window. Every afternoon after school, the group of Ponyville’s geeks were hanging out at Beat Box’s house. It was the best to get together since one of her mothers worked until late directing the town’s orchestra (Octavia) and the other, stayed until late composing music, and only showed from time to time to offer them something to eat (Vinyl). The group was happily reading and borrowing each other comics, when suddenly Light Spectra took a look around. “Hey, have you noticed? This is the first time the three of us are alone until Flurry moved to town. Does anyone knows where she is?” “Maybe doing homework under her aunt’s strict eye” said Sparkler, “is what she have been doing since she came” “Yeah, you’re right!” It was when the window opened, and a stallion in a white spandex suit jumped in. “I am Captain Awesome!” They all muttered because of the impression. “Hey! Aren’t you one of the weirdos who had been appearing on the newspapers?” “Those who…” “Yes, we proved that comics can be real if you really put some effort” said Awesome making a heroic pose. “And that’s what I came to tell you. I need your help, you are the only ones who can join me to make Mister Z to see the light” Beat Box shook her head. “Dude, I’m going to call Mama Vy, and tell her Stranger Danger!” It was when Flurry deactivated her suit, making it to retract to a necklace. “What do you mean with Stranger Danger? Don’t you recognize your own friend? Now, who wants to be a part of a real-life team of superheroes?” > Rule # 13 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule # 13: If your enemies get creative, you get twice as creative Canterlot National Museum: “And if you follow me” continued the tour guide, “this is the legendary helmet Commander Hurricane wore during the Pony Wars. Along with Clover the Clever’s robe, those two are the only relics from before the consolidation of Equestria that we keep. With the pass of the years, several private collectors tried to put their hooves on these objects, both by licit and illicit ways. But nopony have ever been able to subtract them from the museum. And never will.” “Wanna bet?” asked one of the visitors, with a strange mechanical voice. The guide stared at this pony, since the tour started, this guy unnerved him. He haven’t talk until now, but his eyes were more like two lighting bulbs instead of actual eyes. And now that he noticed, he haven’t even blinked. Not to mention his moves were oddly rigid. More like a pony, he was like the imitation of a pony. But the poor guide couldn’t say anything, since the strange pony suddenly jumped, and with superpony strength, he destroyed the security glass (reinforced with the most powerful spells known). A flame torrent activated falling right on the stranger, along with the evacuation alarm. All ponies, both visitors and employees, began to escape from the museum as a bunch of soldiers got into the museum; to face the strange pony, who was still complete and with the helmet on its hooves after receiving the flame attack. “You are under arrest!” shouted the squad leader. Much to the soldiers’ surprise, the pony turned to them, and unzipped its skin revealing the metal structure underneath. The machine looked at the guards, and simply aimed one of its metallic hooves to them, shooting them with metal spikes. The soldiers created several force-field with their magic, but the attack never came. Another strange pony, dressed in a black suit, with a ying-yang symbol embroidered in the flank jumped in front of them, and stopped the metal spikes with a katana. He looked like the classic representation of the ancient assassins from Japony. “I don’t know who you are, but I, Shadow Ninjutsu, won’t let you go away with this” said the newcomer aiming his katana to the metallic pony. The machine accepted the challenge and charged against Shadow Ninjutsu. It tried to punch the pony, but the ninja was able to cut the machine’s hoof with his enchanted katana. A stream of oil came out of the thing as it was blood. The ninja stepped backwards. “Interesting…” Then the ninja shivered. “What’s going on?” asked the leader of the guards. “Nothing, just my Ninja-Sixth-Sense” said the ninja examining the robot. With his super ninja strength, he took the mechanical pony ant threw it through a window. “This thing had distraction all over its face” explained Shadow Ninjutsu. “Luckily for you, I’m not alone” “Yeah, right. And who are you?” asked one of the soldires. “Me? Just a fan of comics. My friends and I came to clear the geek’s reputation, but you can call me Shadow Ninjutsu” And he threw a smoke-bomb disappearing from the soldier’s sight. “Did he just said a fan of comics? Geek?” In another hall of the museum, another of those strange mechanical ponies were walking, carrying several artifacts from the ponies’ bronze era on its back. The machine could just leave, but it was looking for something… or somepony. Its sensors told him that somepony else was in the room, and waited patiently. And effectively, a pony was stalking the machine from the roof. This one was wearing a light-blue suit with a blue helmet that had a lighting as a visor. Also his entire suit was covered with white lightings. He waited for several moments and finally jumped in front of the machine. “Sorry dude, but this is a museum. Is forbidden to touch or take pictures” Said that, he punched the machine with the strength of a hundred ponies. The mechanical pony trembled all over and finally collapsed. “Okay, that was easy. Too easy.” Said the pony in the blue suit, as he pressed activated his communicator. “Guys? Here’s Watt. I just destroyed one of Z’s machines, I think.” A voice answered: “This is Shadow N. Was that machine a poor imitation of a pony?” “Yes. Have you found one too?” “Well, duh! However, I think this is only a distraction. Z and Dolly are nowhere to be seen.” Watt nodded, when suddenly he felt something was wrong. He turned to the machine that began to shake as it overcharged. “Oh come on!” Then, it exploded sending Watt to a wall. “Yeah, I should see it coming” He stood, and after checking everything was okay, that the suit did protected him, sighed. Then, an explosion coming from the other hall indicated the hero that the first machine had also exploded. Watt sighed and began to look around the museum for more of those fake ponies. He found a couple of those machines in the ancient Ponygypt wing, right when they were taking a sarcophagus. The hero was about to intervene, but a breeze came from the hallways, turning into a pony in a black spandex suit, a raincoat and a detective hat. “It’s just elementary my dear partners, I won’t let you take those old kings. They’ve done enough for their Kingdoms, let them rest in peace” And activating his powers, the pony turned into ice. “This might do the trick!” Said that, he froze the two robots. “Elemental, watch it!” warned Watt as he came in. “Why? Shadow N already told me that they’re not real ponies” “Yeah, but they can explode if you’re not careful” “For real?” As fast as a lightning bolt, Watt ran to the frozen machines, opened the window and threw them away right at the moment they exploded. But thanks to the hero’s brave intervention, nopony was harmed. “Ehem, Watt…” More of that machines came into the hall, preparing to fight- “Perfect” In Ponyville, from inside her room and helped by Discord’s magic mirror, Flurry was carefully watching her friends. She would join them for battle, but since Discord wasn’t going to help them with the watching this time, they agreed she’ll replace him since she already had the whole superhero experience. “Captain Awesome here!” said Flurry. “I see no trace of Dolly and Z, but I’ll check the streets of Canterlot. I’ll let you know if I see something strange. They’re planning something, but where are they?” The mirror showed her the streets of the city. Everything was peaceful, and quiet. Everypony went into hiding after the Royal Guard announced that the villains attacked. Then she noticed, a couple of hooligans in black hoodies painting graffiti on the back of Goldadn Diamond’s jewelry. Pure and simple vandalism, but on the daylight? Well, it had some sense since all the soldiers were concentrated on the museum along with the heroes. But still, she had to check. “Guys! The only suspicious activity I see is a couple of hooligans painting some graffiti at Goldand Diamond’s store. Is not much, but we must check it” “You have to be kidding me!” complained at the unison the other heroes. “I know, I know, but a quick look won’t kill you” said the young Princess. Back at the museum, the robotic ponies were still stealing things and such, and both heroes and soldiers were fighting but had to be careful. They’ve proved first-hoof that the machines would explode at any impact. “Okay, Watt. You go” said Shadow N. “What? Why me?” asked the electrical hero. “Because you’re the fastest of us” said Elemental. “Go get them, and then come back here. All in less than a minute” “Fuck you guys” sighed Watt. “Oh! You kiss your mom with that mouth?” mocked Shadow N. “Yes, in fact mom taught me all the bad words I know. Every time she crashes she swears like a lot” said Watt as he shrugged. “Is that so? My mom as well” laughed Shadow N. “As for me, one of my moms doesn’t like me to swear, but the other doesn’t mind” joined Elemental. From her room, Flurry sighed. “Guys, we are superheroes. Remember? We cannot reveal any personal information” “Sorry!” they apologized. Then Shadow Ninjutsu opened a window. “Okay, what are you waiting to leave, Watt?” Watt sighed but he jumped through the window and ran to the jewelry as fast as he could: like a lighting. In the meantime, the two hooligans continued with their graffiti. Their designs were poor and all, but they were having a hell of a time. “No one is coming” complained one of them. “That means our plan worked” said the other. “Time for me to show you my newest invention!” “Great!” The girl took a can of paint and draw a circle. Just a circle. “Hold!” suddenly shouted Watt as he came in. “There’s a thousand bits fine for this!” “You don’t say” said both of the hooligans turning to him. They both seemed genuinely surprised to see this stranger, but at the end shrugged. “So Mon Capitein had friends” “We should see this coming” Then the one who pained the circle pressed a button on the can of paint, and the drawing glowed… to next disintegrate the wall where it was. “Impressive! What’s that?” “My Nano-machine’s latest application” The two of them walked into the jewelry through the wall they just made. “Three, two, one…” Watt shot them an electric current to the both of them. They sighed, and threw their hoodies away (that exploded) revealing the black spandex suits underneath. “I warned you we should use an extra layer of armor” “Yeah, why haven’t you fixed our electricity vulnerability?” “Go to hell Z, you’ve seen how busy I am!” “Yeah, I’m sorry. But this is kind of frustrating” They jumped just in time to elude another lighting from Watt. Dolly aimed her hoof to the hero, and as always, her scarf wrapped against it as it was a snake and went straightly to Watt. But Watt moved with his super-speed, appearing right before the villains. Inside her helmet, Dinky grinned, and punched the two of them to the other side of the small local. The two villains stood. “I have to admit it, you have great moves” said Dolly. “But, what’s your name?” asked Mister Z. Watt charged his hooves with electricity. “Exactly!” “Huh?” asked the villains. “W-A-T-T is my name. I’m the master of electricity. And my friends and I are the League of Heroes!” “Oh, that’s great… I think” Watt nodded. “And we wouldn’t allow that you and your friend stain the name of us geeks and otakus!” The two villains groaned annoyed. “Not this merde again!” “We are not otakus nor geeks!” “Come on guys! Just look at yourselves! Why do you keep denying it?” “Because we’re not!” “Fine then!” Watt charged his hooves with electricity and with his super-speed he moved to deliver a direct punch to the villains. But this time Z aimed his hoof to the blur he could see thanks to his helmet’s sensors, and shot his own electrical current. Watt grinned, he wouldn’t be able to dodge it, but he was powered by electricity so he had nothing to fear. And once he was hyper-charged by Z’s attack, Watt accelerated to deliver a hell of an attack to Z. Unfortunately for him, the floor moved under his hooves, and before he realized, he was rolling backwards. And with the acceleration he had, Watt ended up crashing violently to the statue of Celestia that was on Canterlot’s main plaza. “Ouch…” Z simply walked to them, and was about to kick the hero to finish this ridiculous encounter. But a bo staff put on his way. Z turned to he supposed was one of Watt’s partners, but he saw nopny. “What?” Several shurikens were threw out of nowhere to the villain, who protected himself with his forehooves. Dolly then extended her scarf, catching the idiot who hided in the shadows. Shadow Ninjutsu barely eluded it and landed before Dolly. “How could you see me? Ore wa Ninja desu!” Dolly made a sign, and a squad of her dollies walked to the light. “Je have plenty of these hidden around. And every single one of them are eyes and ears for me” Shadow Ninjutsu prepared his bo staff. “Omoshiroi” They started to fight, as Watt and Z were fighting on their own. The villains were enjoying themselves, there was nothing that they loved the most than a challenge. But they were asking themselves where Captain Awesome was. They really liked him. And for the heroes, they were wondering where their third partner, Elemental, was. Suddenly one of the dollies turned and released a stream of oil, covering another hidden individual with it. Another of the tiny androids came in, and with a spark, he turned on the oil covering the hero on fire. But Elemental didn’t worried. He turned himself into fire as he proudly announced, “An elementary trick, but unfortunately for you, evil-doers, I’m the master of the elements!” Then he directed some flames to the dollies, but they didn’t burn. “Pardon, but the dollies are stronger than that” explained Dolly as she took a silver sphere from her suit. “If you want to destroy them, you better use something like this!” She threw the sphere to Elemental, that resulted to be a bomb, and the explosion was powerful enough to send Elemental flying. Then Dolly turned to Shadow Ninjutsu and invited him to keep fighting. “Aren’t you going to use your bombs?” asked the ninja as he sent several blows with his katana. “Non, I did it because he was interrupting us, and I’m enjoying this fight” “Huh… thanks I guess” Back at the main plaza, Z was using his suit’s jetpack to stay off the ground since Watt was running all over, ready to deliver an electric-charged punch to the master villain. And, to make things worse, the ponies slowly gathered around the plaza to see the fight. Unbelievably enough, a few were cheering for the villains, who had become some kind of celebrities at this point. “Come on! Get down here and fight as a stallion!” shouted Watt sending lighting after lighting to the pony in the sky. Z nodded. “You see, is not that this haven’t been interesting, but at this point my Z-Bots have been able to empty the bank’s vault, so we have nothing to do here. Dolly, it’s done!” The villainess nodded to her partner, and activated her jet-pack as well. “This have been interesting, please never change. But as mon ami said, we have nothing to do here anymore” “No wait!” called Shadow N. Dolly flew and joined her partner. “What’s going on?” asked Watt. “Unfortunately, is elementary my dear Watt” said Elemental as he joined in. “We’ve been fooled! This was a double distraction!” The two villains nodded, and Z took the famous code of the Villains. “When your enemy gets creative, you must get as twice as creative. It’s all here on the Code of the Villains” “And as a consolation prize, you can have fun with our other machines. Guys!” More of the fake ponies came in and hugged the group of heroes. “Wait, WHAT?” Z then commanded: “KABOOM!” The machines of course exploded. Thanks to Discord’s suits, they weren’t harmed. But when the smoke cleared out, the villains were gone. “Dang it!” “We just get fooled by those two… huh, I guess good old Discord won’t like this at all” And in the meantime, Dolly and Z were flying back to Ponyville on their especial vehicles. “For a moment I thought those idiots would force us to use the true power of our arsenal” sighed Dolly. “Yeah, it’s a shame. I really wanted to use the ‘Little Boy’ this time” Dolly sighed. “Do you actually want to annihilate the entire population of Canterlot and Ponyvilleo? Pal, don't! You know what that thing does!” “I know, I know. I was just kidding. However we must think in something to use against them and our mothers in order to defeat them without actually harming them” > Rule # 14 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule # 14: Villains understand each other, so stay with your friends As every morning, Luminositè woke up by a delicate shake from her mère, followed by a kiss on the forehead. The little girl smiled to Rarity and woke up happily. “Good morning mère. How did you slept?” Asked the filly with a smile. “Very well darling, what about you? Did you had good dreams or need a hug?” “Sweet dreams mère. But I always want a hug” said Lumi extending her hooves to her mère. Rarity smiled and hurried to hug her filly. The thing was that since Rarity remembered, Lumi used to have very vivid and horrifying nightmares. Even if when she was sleeping she seemed abnormally peaceful. She never moved nor emitted a sound, but when as soon as she wake up; the girl began to cry and call for her mère. And if Rarity wasn’t there to help her, Lumi had panic attacks that lasted for hours. Of course Rarity didn’t mind and was always willing to help Luminositè; but the situation made her wonder how deep Lumi’s emotional wounds really were. “So what are we going to do today, mère?” Asked Lumi “Whatever you want Lumi. Just give half an hour, okay? I know I promised to spend the whole day with you but; I still have to stitch some buttons to the blazer I was working on. I wanted to do it last night but I was exhausted” “It’s okay mère! In the meantime I’ll be in my toy house.” Rarity smiled as her daughter ran to do the dishes and then to the so-called house. Rarity then started to work on the blazer hurrying as much as she can; she didn’t wanted to fail her daughter. In the meantime, Lumi entered to the toy house and approached to the plastic stove to put her eye on it. —Retinal identification complete. Welcome Dolly— The floor trembled as the elevator activated and she entered to the lab, weapon storage, workshop, etc. And much to her surprise, she found her friend Bright giving the last touches to the blueprints of what seemed like a biblical-proportions cannon. He smiled evilly. Lumi sighed and gently touched Bright’s shoulder. “Good morning partner. What are you doing so early in the morning?” “You know, the usual. I was trying to create the perfect weapons to incapacitate alicorns. Look at this! It’s perfect!” Lumi took a good look of Bright’s blueprints and sighed. “Bright. Why don’t you just give up? Your weapons against alicorns never work and this is no exception. We are supposed to incapacitate the Princesses, not erase them from existence” Bright teared apart the blueprints. “Yes, you’re right! But I can’t help it. Whenever I create a new weapon I can only thing in big and destructive things! Like the Little Boy!” “Yes, your most dangerous creation until now. Geez, everything haves to be so extreme and violent with you” “Again I can’t help it. Is like an addiction.” “It is an addiction. Period. Accept it, you are like me” Bright frowned to his friend. “I am not a sociopath!” Lumi sighed. “Suit yourself. I’m not your babysitter” Bright tried to focus in his invention but Lumi’s words constantly went back to him. Luckily for the colt, his alarms warned him that his parents were awake; so he went back to his room through the especial elevator. Once Bright was back in his room, he quickly jumped on his bed and pretended to be asleep, waiting for being waken by his mother. After smiling to Twilight, Bright followed her to have breakfast along with Flash. “So what do you want to do, Bright?” Asked Flash in a very good mood. “The day seems pretty today. What if we have a walk?” “Sure, where to? Around the town?” Asked Twilight. “I was thinking more in the Everfree Forest. It’s nice” suggested Bright. The adults agreed, with the pass of the years the Everfree Forest wasn’t that dangerous any more unless ponies go beyond the Princesses’ old Castle. So after finishing with their breakfast, the family went into the forest as Twilight told them again of how she met her friends and defeated Nightmare Moon. Bright had heard that tale like a million times, but hearing it where it happened made it more interesting and real. And they finally arrived to the Old Palace, where Twilight made them go all the way down to the Tree of Harmony. “Here we are! The Tree of Harmony itself, the Being who have protected Equestria since Equestria’s foundation!” Exclaimed Twilight. “From goofballs like Discord to frightening foes like Tirek” said Flash. “It’s unbelievable how such a powerful defense could be so beautiful” Bright nodded in agreement. “I still can’t believe this is a weapon” Twilight stroke her son’s mane. “Because is not, Bright. A weapon is created to harm others. Even if you excuse yourself that you’ll use it for protect others, at the end it is an instrument of destruction. This is a defense; created to protect. Those who are affected by it aren’t hurt because of the Tree itself but their own nature. You’ll get it when you grow up” Bright nodded confusedly, but he was just pretending. Because he did understood. This was the answer he was looking for! The key to create the perfect tool to incapacitate an alicorn was to make a deffense, not a weapon! Unaware of Bright’s real thoughts, Flash and Twilight hugged their son as they contemplated the Tree’s beauty. Until it suddenly shook as it was feeling an imminent danger. Instinctively, Flash and Twilight turned to Bright to see if he was okay; and for a moment they he had a twisted smile and an unnerving look in his eyes. They blinked in confusion and when they looked at Bright again, he was back to normal. What happened? “Let’s go back” said Twilight. “It may be nothing but we have to report this” “Just a note Twilight. Understood?” Warned Flash Sentry. “Of course, this I won’t waste any of our precious time with Bright” Again Bright preferred not to say anything and went back with his parents. That was interesting, maybe the Tree of Harmony recognized him as a true villain? He had no idea and that’s why he was so excited. He lived for challenges and intrigues. That’s why he never actually tried to take over Equestria, because it was so easy for something like him. But anyway, the family returned to their home and Twilight only sent a letter, as she promised, so she could pay all her attention to Bright. The family spent together all day until it was time for bed. Usually Twilight sent Bright Spark to bed at eight thirty, but he stayed up most of the night reading; just like Twilight. But this time Bright was busier waiting for his parents to go to bed instead of his books; he had a very especial appointment for the night. “It’s time” Bright went to his personal bathroom and activated the secret elevator that sent him straight to his lab. From there he could use one of the many tunnels he and Lumi had built, the fastest and safer way to the Everfree Forest. Not to mention he won’t call anypony’s attention underground. And much to his surprise, he found Lumi was already there. “Oh, the situation of the matin had repeated” said the girl calmly. “Funny, right? And what are you doing?” Asked Bright with a smile. Lumi shrugged and showed the Dolly’s dollies she was working on. “I can’t sleep. Mère and I had an espresso this afternoon. Mère warned me two things, that I wouldn’t like it, and I wouldn’t be able to sleep if I drink it. She was right about one thing though, because the espresso was déliceux” “Oh, I was about to go to the Everfree Forest. Wanna come?” “Sure! Why?” Bright simply used his magic to grab the trashcan where he threw blueprints from the morning. “Let’s just say that I realized what I was doing right. The key is not to build a weapon but a barrier. A barrier, you know, like a defense!” “And what does it have to be with the Everfree Forest?” “Where do you think that Equestria’s greatest defense is?” Luminositè nodded as she understood. “Oh. Intéressant” The two of them put their suits on and after take an especial gadget, they used the tunnels to appear close enough to the Princesses’ old Palace. Once they got there, they jumped the stairs and landed right before the Tree. And just like in the morning, the Tree shook when it felt their presences. “You know? I always wondered if this thing was sentient” said Bright. “I had my answer this morning” Dolly nodded. “Huh” “Yes. It recognized me as a true villain. Now it had recognized you as well!” The two made a high-hoof and activated the machine they have brought. It seemed like an old school projector that sent a powerful light to the Tree of Harmony as a small screen it had attached began to show the kids all kinds of numbers and data. They two seemed genuinely impressed for what they were seeing, and also imagining how they would use this new knowledge. “And when we finish our gadget based on this, we also can take care of the group of geeks before they force us to really hurt them. “It’ll take us months to replicate this power, not to mention modify it” “Well, the two of us love challenges” They stood there as the scanner continued the analysis; when suddenly Dolly removed her mask and kissed Z’s helmet. “Eww, Lumi!” Complained Z. “One day I’ll marry you, you have to get used to” “Never!” “I don’t know, where are you going to find somepony as broken as you are?” Bright was about to protest again, when the machine announced them it was done. They took a good look of the data, effectively, to make this power theirs wasn’t going to be easy at all. But still, now they had a very good idea of how the Tree worked, so they could start designing. But suddenly, enormous glowing roots emerged from the ground blocking their way back to the lab. Z and Dolly turned back to the Tree, prepared to fight. But the Tree didn’t seemed actually hostile, in fact they felt it was inviting them to get close. Even the roots limited to give them a gentle push toward the Tree. Without actually understanding what to expect, they walked to the Tree and touched it. Do you realize you’re not actually evil, right? “What? We are criminal masterminds! Of course we are evil!” Said Z. But here you are, trying to figure out how you can get rid of your opponents without actually harming them. “Listen to me ‘Hearts Warming Tree’, you have no idea what we’re capable of” warned Dolly. Oh, but I do have an idea little girl. I can feel those wonderful minds of yours already figuring out how to replicate my powers on your own ways. Do not think that my previous agitation was because I was afraid of you kids, no, you intrigue me. But I am afraid, yes, for you. Be careful my children, you two have a dangerous monster sleeping deep inside your own minds. That monster is the Madness. Pretending to be villains it’s okay, playing is the most important duty for all children; but you two are so gifted that your game isn’t actually a game. Watch for your sanity, especially you Bright Spark. Unlike Luminositè, you haven’t admitted your own insanity. You have no idea of what are you really capable of. Now go to your homes and think in what I’ve said. And by the way, I am indeed a Hearts Warming Tree. The original. No go because you have school tomorrow! Come back any time! The two kids separated from the tree between confused and unnerved. Crystal Mountains: Chrysalis entered to the villains’ temporary lair and grinding her teeth in anger, she threw a newspaper to the stone table. “THAT’S IT! JUST LOOK AT THIS!” Tirek took the paper. EQUESTRIA’S NEW VILLAINS ARE ACTUALLY COMIC GEEKS? Two days ago Canterlot Museum was attacked along with famous jeweler Goldand Diamonds’ jewelry by the self-proclaimed new menaces of Equestria, Dolly and Mister Z. Both attacks were only a distraction as their real goal was to empty all the vaults of the banks of the area of Canterlot. And, once again, given the way these two acts, it was highly speculated they act this for marketing themselves, but why? Well, maybe we’re starting to have some answers to this extremely childish behavior. Yesterday, during these events, the new villains were confronted by a group of ‘heroes’ who proclaimed to be just like the villains: a group of comic book geeks. So is this the truth behind these two villains? That they were influenced by comic books and decided go this far? Expert psychologists have analyzed the villains’ actions under this new light and they all say the evidence is right there. They’re nothing more that psychologically immature adults that somehow got too much power on their hooves. The Centaur’s rage was almost tangible. The Dark Magic explosion sent both of his partners away. They barely had time to protect themselves with a magic force-field. “Watch it moron!” Complained Sombra. “SHUT UP! Don’t you see that the Goat can return because of this nonsense? Damn it, damn it, DAMN IT!” Tirek suddenly stood. “I’m going to Equestria and I’m going to find these two and teach those morons what it means to be a true villain. I’m going to make them wish they’ve never touched a comic!” The two of them looked at Tirek on his way to Equestria. “Shall we help him?” Asked Chrysalis. Sombra shook his head. “No, I have a feeling that there’s more about them. I prefer to stay alert.” “Yeah, me too. He’s an idiot” “Let's be fair, Chrysalis, remember what Grogar did to him. I don’t blame him for being afraid. For him, a season in Tartarus is nothing compared with Grogar’s possible return” “Yeah, you’re right. But, then, shall we stop him?” Asked Chrysalis concerned. Sombra smiled. “What? Did Princess Sparkle’s lessons touched your heart?” “Oh you’re right! Friendship, gross!” And both went out of the cave, ready to switch hideout as they saw Tirek’s figure heading to Equestria. > Rule # 15 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule # 15: A villain should never get into another villain’s territory Flurry and her friends were sighing considerably upset, she knew that if she were with her friends during the fight, they wouldn’t end up falling into the villains’ trap. “Not only we couldn’t clean the reputation of all geeks, but now we’re the laughing stock” complained Sparkler. “Yeah, but do you realize we took then off-guard for an instant?” Asked Light Spectra. Sparkler nodded dreamily. “Especially my speed and electric powers. I was able to punch Z a few times, but at the end he proved to be smarter than we thought but…” “No, what you proved is that you’re dumber than he thought” said Discord materializing before them. “For real? That was the dumbest performance I ever saw, is worse than the time I fooled Light Spectra’s mother to think Cloudsdale was just a tiny cloud. And when I convinced Rarity Belle that a rock was a diamond, and basically the first time I faced Princess Twilight and friends. Where was I?” Flurry crossed her hooves willing to defend her friend. “Hey you’re no one to call us dumb! Remember that time you get fooled by Tirek? Besides, Z and Dolly have been working together for a while and we just started. We still have to get used to be real life superheroes, doing things is way too different than reading it” Discord sighed, Flurry may had a point. “Okay, whatever. You're lucky I’m willing to give you a second chance, okay? But please do better next time, because this is the last one! Those two idiots may do something we all gonna regret!” Light Spectra shook his head. “Don't worry, we'll get better. Now that we have experience fighting the two of them we’ll get better, but the problem is that we don’t know how powerful they really are. Is there a way we can see their actual power?” “He haves a point” said Beat Box. “So what, we set a trap or something?” Discord seemed to consider it. The kid do had a point in there, nopony was sure how powerful Mister Z and Dolly really were. “Well, we can set a trap and see it for ourselves I guess but…” He suddenly quiet when he felt a very dark presence getting closer. Same Flurry who had better magic sensitivity than the others. “Discord, what is this?” Asked the preteen alicorn. Discord gulped. “An old acquaintance. Kids give me your necklaces, NOW!” “But Discord, you just said…” “Listen to me: I’ll give them back to you, but first I have to make sure you survive. Someone really big is about to come, and I can’t allow you to try something stupid; like try to face him with your new powers” The kids have never seen Discord that serious before, in fact they’ve never seen Discord serious. Period. But they gave him back the necklaces that contained their Power-suits. Discord nodded and locked them in a magical box he hyper-charged with his power to seal it definitely. “If something happens to me, the box will unlock automatically. But until then, I want you safe. Understood? Safe!” The kids nodded and then Discord tele-ported to his home lost in the middle of nowhere. Once he got there, he grabbed a strange crystal. He was about to hide it, but suddenly Discord felt that presence coming closer. With a sigh, Discord turned to face Tirek. “Discord, my old friend” greeted the centaur. Discord prepared to fight. “What do you want here, Tirek? Try to take over Equestria again?” The monster grinded his teeth. “Of course not! At least not for now. Grogar, you know what that monster did to me. HE CAN’T RETURN BECAUSE OF A COUPLE OF IDIOTS!!” Discord sighed as he threw the crystal he grabbed to Tirek. “It contains magic sealed inside. Enough to bring you back to your final form” “What is the trap?” Asked Tirek. “Is limited. For a normal it will last an entire lifespan, but at the rate you burn your magic it’ll last only a few hours. Besides it won’t activate until I’m safely away from you” Tirek grinned evilly and Discord shrugged. “You can try actually take over Equestria, but it won’t work” “Maybe, I'm perfectly aware that I'm wasting my last chance to get my revenge on the ponykind. But it’s a price I’m willing to pay if I can avoid the return of Grogar” “Sorry we left you on your own that time, but we were terrified” “I don’t blame you. No one can stand upon Grogar” Discord nodded and tele-ported as far as possible. And as he promised, as soon he was far enough, the crystal glowed allowing Tirek to take all its power. Soon enough he was big and powerful again. But Discord didn't wast time, he appeared on Canterlot Palace to warn the Princesses about Tirek’s upcoming rampage. That of course set general alarm all over Equestria, and something had to be done. It was decided that the four Princesses will wait in Canterlot Palace to attract Tirek so they give their little ponies enough time to find a safe place. But before they went into hiding, they still had to arrange some details with the Bearers of Harmony. “So why can’t we use the Rainbow Power like the last time?” Wanted to know Pinkie Pie. “We can’t. At least not yet” explained Princess Celestia. “Girls, you already have fulfilled your Destinies, so for the moment we must focus on keep the newest generations safe. Once we make sure they're out of Tirek's scope, we can use the Rainbow Power again.” “While we distract Tirek, the young royalty must be secured in our old Palace” explained Luna. “The Tree of Harmony will maintain Tirek far, at least for a little.” “Then it’s decided!” Said Cadence. “Flurry, darling, I’m so sorry for our fight, but I just wanted what’s best for you” “Oh mom!” Cried Flurry hugging Cadence. Shining and Spike joined the hug. “Oh dad, uncle Spike!” Then Spike separated from the hug and walked to hug Twilight tightly. “Oh Twi, you know I never blamed you for what happened between us, right? I always loved you.” Twilight just cleaned up her tears and smiled sadly. “Thank you Spike” Then the lavender alicorn turned to her former students and her husband. “Starlight, Sunburst, I trust you to take care of the kids. Please, I’m begging you” “Don’t worry Twilight, we’ll protect the children with our lives” assured Sunburst. “We won’t let that anything happens to your kid or Princess Flurry” added Starlight. Twilight nodded and hugged the both of them before going to hug her son. “Bright, whatever happens to us…” “We’ll be always with you in your heart” said Flash, who along with Shining, was in charge of the Princesses’ personal security. “Wait! Before we go, can Lumi join cuz Flurry and me? I can’t go without my best friend!” “No Bright, she must go hide with her older sister” said Twilight. “But there’s a chance I don’t see my best friend ever again!” Fake-cried Lumi. Twilight then looked at Rarity. “What do you think Rarity?” The white unicorn nodded, in fact, she was relieved that her daugther will be as safe as the young Royalty. “Well, I don’t see why not. Friendship is what makes Equestria strong!” “Okay then let’s go!” Flurry, Bright and Lumi were on their way to the Princesses’ old Palace along with their guardians. Sunburst and Sstarlight were all confident that Princess Twilight and her friends will solve the situation quickly as always, but Bright and Lumi knew that their mothers weren’t that young anymore. So the two kids were already thinking in how to sneak out the vigilance and go teach a lesson to Tirek. At least Bright’s tantrum gave them the advantage to stay together. “Hurry kids, stay as close as you can. Especially Flurry, remember that Tirek wants Alicorn magic more than anything” said Starlight worriedly. They all walked closer to each other looking around in case Tirek came closer. When they arrived to the old Palace. Once inside, Starling and Sunburst hurried to create several magical barriers not noticing a tiny doll walking toward them. Not a normal doll, one of Dolly’s dollies. The only ones who noticed it were of course Bright and Lumi, who held their breath as the tiny android released a sleeping gas that made everyopony indtantly go to sleep. Except for them. “Okay, now what?” Asked Lumi looking at the unconscious unicorns and alicorn. “First we leave a squad of robots to protect them from the perils of the forest. Then we go to the lab to get some weapons and kick Tirek’s huge ass” So the two of them ran into action. They had to stop Tirek before it was too late. At their backs they heard a satisfaction laugh, but they’ll fix things with the Hearts-Warming Tree later. That was it, Tirek had advance through Canterlot’s Castle multiple hallways, full of soldiers but all of them fell before the monstrous centaur. Only Shining Armor and Flash Sentry remained to protect the Princesses. But Tirek limited to threw them away so he could center his attention in the four terrified Princesses. “Now it’s time for the main dish” Tirek said preparing to absorb their magic. “You will never prevail” said Celestia looking him at the eyes. “Did you hear me? NEVER!” In other circumstances Tirek would laugh and told Celestia all resistance was futile; but now he only cared about Grogar’s possible return. In order to stop the two bastards he would need as much power as possible. “We’ll see that. Now let’s start!” Tirek trapped the four Princesses in powerful dark magic force-fields and opened his mouth to absorb their power. “You are mine” Tirek was about to start when a powerful electric current hit him right on his back. That made him scream more in surprise than in pain, (even if it actually hurt). He released the four alicorns and turned to the insolent soldier. But it wasn’t a soldier but two ponies in black spandex suits. Not exactly who he was expecting but who he was watching for. And the two ponies still had their hooves aiming to him with a smoke string coming from them. “Tirek, I presume” said Mister Z. The monster suddenly lost interested in the alicorns and smiled evilly to the two villains. “Oh it is you! You have no idea how much I’ve wanted for this!!” “Good, because we want to have a word with you as well. You see, something is definitely wrong here” said Dolly politely. Tirek grinned. “Precisely. You and your stupidities are…” Ignoring him, Mister Z took a book from his suit and began to look for something on it, to finally give it to a very irritated Tirek. “Here it is!” Said the villain jumping on Tirek’s shoulder to show him the book. “As you can see, the Code of the Villains clearly stablishes than a villain should never get into another villain’s territory. Don’t you see it’s rude?” Tirek looked at the wanna-be-villain with a blank expression. “There’s no such thing as a Code of the Villains” Tirek jumped back from the monster’s shoulder and made an understanding nod to his partner. “Oh! And I actually got upset for a little while! What happens is that this guy doesn’t know the Code yet!” “Oh! Is that true Lord Tirek? Then mes exuses. We were about to make you pay for your offense. Sorry for the misunderstanding” “But to make sure it won’t repeat keep with this copy of the Code” said Z giving a friendly slap on Tirek’s back. “All the details are there. But the short version is: when a villain is defeated by heroes, all the conquered territory is revoked, so any fother villain can come and take it. And right now Equestria is my friend Dolly’s territory” explained Z. “And mes ami Monseour Z” finished the girl. Then the two of them turned their backs on Tirek and walked away. The four alicorns didn’t know what to think of this. But Tirek was just pissed off. There was nothing more infuriating that the fact they were mocking him. “Are those two wanting to die?” Whispered Cadence. The two young villains continued calmly walking to the exit. Tirek grinded his teeth and after tearing apart his new copy of the Code, he jumped towards the villains and tried to smash them with his enormous fists. But they turned around, and simply stopped the punch with a single hoof each. “What?” Asked the centaur. “We’re stronger than we look” explained the two at the unison. Then the two villains jumped aside, and before Tirek could react, he received a punch to the jaw and another in the stomach. Both monstrously strong. To make things worse, Dolly’s scarf wrapped against his body completely immobilizing him. Tirek screamed in anger and tried to struggle, but the even if the damn attire was made of something that resembled to silk, it was practically unbreakable and Tirek was unable to get rid of it. Then Z advanced toward him and roundhous- kicked him on the face, sending him flying away so hard that he ended up crashing through six walls. Shining and Flash slowly got back on their feet and ran to their Princesses to protect them at the same time the two new villains were advancing menacingly towards them. They prepared to fight even they knew it was useless. What possibilities they had against those two? “Z-Bots!” “Dollies!” The mechanical soldiers and the strange rag dolls moved closer to them and everypony got more nervous, but then the Z-Bots opened their chests revealing they had tiny fridges inside. “Something to drink? We have milk, cola, orange and apple juice” offered Z. “What?” Asked the Princesses. “Yes, you seem to be having a bad day” said Dolly shrugging. Celestia groaned in disbelief, but at this point nothing about those two should surprise her anymore. So what she did was to take a can of cola. “Seriously, what is wrong with you?” “Well, we’re evil-doers. Professional villains, so everything about us is completely wrong” said Z. Twilight face-hoofed as she took a bottle of orange juice. “You know what we mean. Why are you saving us?” “We’re not saving you Princess, we’re defending our territory” explained Dolly. “Now we highly recommend for that you get out since there’s an élevée probabilité that we’ll destroy the entire place” Luna frowned and was about to ask them if they were followers of Grogar, when they heard Tirek galloping towards them, alerting the kids in disguise. They turned their backs on the Princesses and called their reinforcements: “Dollies!” “Z-Bots!” More machines and tiny dolls entered to the Palace making a protecting circle around the Princesses, when suddenly Tirek charged in, not noticing one of the Z-Bots had extended its metallic arm at the floor-level so the centaur ended up stumbling ovrt. His face ended up right before Z and Dolly. “Right where you belong” “To our hooves” Tirek got up and punched the two wanna-be-villains to the other side of the room. They both crashed on a wall making a huge crack, but still they got on their hooves without any apparent damage. “How rude” complained Dolly. “Yeah, that’s no way of treating your fellow villains.” The four alicorns had a sweat-drop on their temples. “Are this guys for real?” Asked Cadence. Z and Dolly ran towards Tirek, who also ran to their encounter. He tried to smash them under his enormous fists, but they gracefully eluded every single blow he did with elegant backflips, jumps and such. The problem was that each time Tirek hit the ground or the walls the entire Palace trembled because of the strength. Obviously he was more than furious. “And I think that’s our sign to go” said Twilight worriedly. “Twilight Sparkle…” mumbled Celestia. The lavender alicorn turned to her mentor with tears on her eyes. “Princess please, there’s a huge chance we get kill if we stay close to this fight. Besides all I want to do now is to be with my son! Please!” Cadence took Twilight’s hoof in understanding and support. Of course she understood, such as Shining as Flash. Even Luna thought it was better escape now that Tirek was busy fighting Z and Dolly. So at the end Celestia had no choice but agree. Tirek saw them escaping, but he didn’t care. Again, his real goal was to kill these two before they call the fearsome Overgoat with their stupidities. Tirek was starting to get tired, he had to defeat the two idiots, but how? Then he remembered: he had magic, and there was more than one way to use it. Instead of trying to shot a magic beam that wouldn’t do anything but make his magic reserve to run out faster, he could use it to enhance his own abilities. Surrounding himself with a powerful magic aura that made him ten times stronger and faster, he finally managed to smash the two insolent ponies. The two of them went through the floor entirely and ended on the lower level as Tirek prepared to finish them for once. “Who else?” The Z-Bots turned their metallic claws into powerful cannons that began to shot a strange substance. Tirek roared in pain, this thing was a thousand times hotter than fire; but he won’t get defeated by something like that. With a single punch he got rid of half of them. Strange, he felt a little shock in his hand when he ripped apart the cables of the Z-Bots, but didn’t care. Another bunch of the machines trapped him with their metallic arms as the others continued attacking with the plasma cannons. The burns only made Tirek angrier, and he finally sent a magic beam that destroyed the machines. Then he ripped apart the ones holding him to finally face the rest of the mechanical army. There were still lots of them. Tirek grinned. “Okay, let’s do this!” And he opened his mouth to absorb their power. Nothing happened. “What?” He tried again. Still nothing. “Oh. It seems that your abilities doesn’t work with artificial power sources” said Z right behind him. “What kind of Golems are these?” “Non-magical Golems” explained the junior villain. Tirek turned around. As he thought, the two of them were standing right behind him like nothing had happened. Maybe he couldn’t get magic from the Golems, but still he could get something from the two of them. He opened his mouth as they aimed their hooves to him. Tirek was ready, but instead of delicious magic, what he received were 900 volts on his face; that made him scream in pain. “Are you okay fellow evil-doer?” Mocked Dolly. Mister Z just studied Tirek’s humiliated expression. “Maybe he needs more energy. Sorry for being so disrespectful to you Mister Tirek. Let me make it up for you!” The two kids aimed their hooves to Tirek again this time sending 1800 volts. His screams of pain were heard all over Canterlot, making the Princesses to temporary stop their escape. “What?” Asked Luna in disbelief. “Do you think they be able to defat Tirek?” Asked Cadence. Celestia shook her head. “He’s too powerful” And right at that moment, an explosion of dark magic destroyed half of Canterlot Castle. “I told you”  The explosion sent Z and Dolly right to the gardens. “It seems like he got mad” said Z. “To be fair anyone would piss off after receiving more than enough voltage to kill several people” observed Dolly wisely. Tirek jumped in front of them with smoke trails coming from his body both from the burns and the anger. “How are you still alive?” “Well, you come from an era where the most powerful were those who had the strongest magic power” said Mister Z. “But in le monde moderne, power belongs who have the most advanced weapons” added Dolly. Then Z took from his suit a couple of bracelets. “What is that for?” So the two junior villains made a high-hoof and both of them ran to Tirek’s sides so fast that the centaur didn’t had enough time to react; and when he noticed, he was wearing the two bracelets. “What now?” The bracelets turned into full gauntlets covered in menacing spikes. “Is this gift supposed to make me change my mind about killing you?” Asked Tirek. “Not exactly. You see: they’re called remote-control gauntlets” explained Z as he took the remote control from his suit. Z began to manipulate the tool and much to Tirek's surprise, he unwillingly turned his hands into fists and slowly moved them right in front of his face. He tried to struggle, but there was nothing he could do. Z laughed evilly and pressed a new button and Tirek punched himself on the face, breaking his nose. “Stop punching yourself” BLAM! “Stop punching yourself” BLAM! “Stop punching yourself” BLAM! “Stop punching yourself” BLAM! Etcetera. Dolly made a sigh and took the remote from Z. “Hey! I wanted to make him to break himself a tooth, or two!” Dolly bowed to Tirek. “Forgive him. He’s a sadistic jerk” Tirek gulped seeing the mask’s creepy yellow eyes. He shivered, somehow he could feel the girl smiling sadistically under the strange mask. “What are you going to do with me?” Dolly quietly manipulated the remote and Tirek grabbed his own horns. Tirek paled when he understood what she was about to do. “No, please don’t!” “So do you promise to respect the Code of the Villains from now on?” Asked Dolly. “Of course!” “Glad to hear it” CRACK! “AAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!” Mister Z then took a couple of silver spheres from his pocket, and forced them into Tirek’s mouth. Tirek could only watch helpeslly how Z pressed a button on his suit and the two spheres exploded inside him, making Tirek vomit a stream of blood and teeth. Then the master villain took a new weapon from his pocket but Dolly stopped him. “Don’t show him all of our equipment yet” “But I want to see how far I can go without killing him” explained Z. Tirek shivered. These two were much dangerous that he thought. “I’m the first one to admit I would love to keep him as a guinea pig but we don’t have the time or the equipment to take care of him. Besides, remember what the Hearts Warming Tree told you?” Z shook his head. “Oh, so it was true. I am a sociopath!” Dolly smiled to him. “Bien sûr! That’s why I became your friend on your first place. You are as broken as I am” She pretended to be cool with that, but she was scared of herself. It had been a while since she felt the need. And she was more scared when she realized that it never left, not. All this time it was sleeping, waiting for the right moment to reemerge stronger than ever. Tirek trembled in fear as he looked at these two. He wanted to scream, he wanted revenge but he didn’t dare to make a move. Finally the two new villains put on him a collar and took the gantlets off. “What is this?” Asked Tirek weakly. “This is a reminder a little more permanent than your broken horns. It is called Control-Collar. If you dare to enter to our territory ever again…” This time was Dolly who took a remote control from her suit and pressed a button. A powerful electric current ran all over Tirek’s body. “If you send someone else to do your dirty job…” She pressed the button again electrocuting Tirek again. “Or if we just feel like it” Again she pressed a button continuing Tirek’s torture. “Understood?” Tirek nodded weakly. He haven’t felt that vulnerable since… but the two monsters haven’t finished his humiliation. They took a Polaroid camera and then took a selfie with the two of them posing in front of the centaur. Then they made two copies. “Here, keep it” said Z. And Dolly also gave him a new copy of the Code of the Villains. “And also, study this to avoid future misunderstandings” They activated their vehicles. “And one last thing, you have half an hour to leave Equestria” And they drove away. “Hey, shall we tell him the agony will be worse if he tries to take it off?” Asked Dolly. They heard a scream of pain and begging for mercy in the distance. “No, I think he already knows” So they continued their way back to Ponyville when they found the Princesses waiting for the result of the battle. “How are you still alive?” Shouted Twilight when she recognized the master villains. As an answer they showed them the pictures they took. None of the Princesses could believe this, not only they defeated Tirek without a scratch, but considering the monster’s expression, they managed to scare him for good. The Princesses gulped and slowly moved away for the two new villains. They proved to be much more dangerous than they though. “Oh come on! What about we leave it for today?” “Yes, we already made our daily act of evil by destroying your Palace, even if it happened while we were saving your behinds. Is like the vieux familier proverb says: who sins and prays draws!” “And where’s Tirek?” Asked Celestia fearing the worse. “Don’t know, surely he’s trying to escape. After all we gave him half an hour to leave our territory” And they left the Princesses alone as they wandered what the hell just happened. “So we owe Equestria to those two?” Asked Luna. “I don’t understand, what the hell is wrong with these two?!” > Rule # 16 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule # 16: Villains always have clear goals It was the most dangerous and inhospitable island of Equestrian territory (it was surrounded by sharks, jellyfishes and poisonous fish) and the island itself was so dangerous that only Zodiac-type beasts were able to live in. A hell of an island, the perfect place for Sombra and Chrysalis to place their new hideout, where they could work on their plan take over Equestria. They still counted on Tirek, but there was no guarantee that he would return from Equestria so they had to modify their original plan. “Do you think the ponies beat him, again?” Asked Sombra in a nostalgic mood. “Unfortunately, yes. At this point he must be in Tartarus already. You know what? I don’t like this all friendship-thing and all, but I must admit I’m gonna miss the big guy. With his bad mood and all, I kind of get used to having him around” “I know, we’ll feel his absence and not only because of the plan” The two of them sighed and tried to go back to work, when heard something big and heavy dragging towards them. The two villains prepared for a fight, thinking it was a Zodiac beast, but it was just Tirek. “TIREK!!” Shrieked the two villains running to their partner, “What happened to you?” Asked Chrysalis. “Who did this to you? The new guys?” Tirek nodded weakly and touched the Control Collar Z and Puppè put on him. “Those two… those two monster! They beat me badly, they tortured me, mocking me knowing there was nothing I could do to stop them to finally force me to mutilate myself and then… THEY MARKED ME AS SOME KIND OF PET! Damn brats, I almost wish that Grogar comes in, and show his monstrous power to those two. How could they be so powerful?” He smashed the ground in his anger, worrying his two partners; and Sombra approached to the Control Collar. “They marked you with this? Why don’t you take it off? I’ll do it!” Said Sombra preparing his horn. “NO SOMBRA, THERE’S SOMETHING YOU SHOULD KNOW!” But it was too late, as soon as the Control Collar was surrounded by Sombra’s magic aura, it glowed and much to the Dark King’s and Chrysalis’ surprise, a powerful electric current surrounded Tirek, making him tremble and scream in pain begging for mercy. Sombra released the Collar and the current stopped torturing Tirek, who fainted instantly. Sombra exchanged a look with Chrysalis and surrounded Tirek with his magic (careful enough to not to touch the collar). “Damn it, he’s dying! Bring me water now!” Shouted Sombra. Chrysalis obeyed and Sombra hurried to create a mat for Tirek. He carefully put Centaurus on the mat and tried to treat his internal wounds with his magic. Chrysalis arrived with the water and spilled some on Tirek’s face. It worked, Tirek slowly opened his eyes. “Next time wait that I finish my story stupid… don’t you think that if it was possible, I would take off this collar myself?!” “What kind of magic is this?” Asked Chrysalis examining the collar. “I don’t know, but I won’t let you touch this thing ever again” said Tirek touching softly the collar. “Not until we know who are we really dealing with?” “Then what?” “I don’t know, but if you enter to Equestria, don’t underestimate them. Understood?” Sombra and Chrysalis nodded, so Tirek took a book from his pocket. “Also try to study this. It may help you to understand them better” “The Code of the Villains?” Asked Sombra. “Since when we have a code?” “They invented it” explained Tirek. “All their little game is based on this, and if they face you, they’ll go as far as they have to force you follow it” They nodded, it was obvious that they couldn’t count on Tirek anymore. His horns will heal, but his pride was another story. Now they had something else to be careful about besides the Power of Harmony. A good guy would have enough by sealing them, but a villain wouldn’t hesitate in eliminate them for good. Now the question was, what kind of ponies where those two monsters? Bright and Luminositè’s laboratory: “Who likes her little dress? Who likes her little dress?” Asked Luminositè to her tiny androids as she put on their dresses. And for Bright, he was busy unsuccessfully trying to find the mathematically exact formula to replicate the power of the Tree of Harmony by non-magical ways. One by one his failed attempts were going into the trashcan and he tried again. Lumi raised an eyebrow and used her magic to pull one of the papers form the can and examined it carefully. “The problem is that the Hearts Warming Tree needs too much power. More than our power-sources can produce” mumbled the girl. “I know, the only thing I can think about is my prototype of an energy source based on my Little Boy” “We talked about this, don’t you dare to make that thing. We can destroy three cities at once and you know it” “I know, I’m just a little frustrated. Wanna go rob a bank or do you prefer a jewelry?” “What ab out an art gallery? Today I’m in the mood of high-class crimes” The two friends made a high-hoof and readied their vehicles. Canterlot Art Gallery: Another boring day for the guard of the museum. As always he scolded a couple of students for taking pictures with flash, chased two kids who separated from the school trip and a couple of idiots who were about to put their chewing gum under the benches. But then he heard it, electronic music out loud. “This kids! When are they gonna learn?” He complained leading to the source of the noise. But instead of kids, he found into a couple of grown ponies in black spandex suit aside a giant metallic structure that worked as a mobile disco complete with laser and fog machines; and lots of tiny dolls dressed exactly like their owner. He had read enough newspapers to know who they were. “Dolly! Mister Z!” “So we’re finally getting the recognition we deserve!” Cheered Z. “You saved us a couple of business cards!” The guard then ran for his life. “Oh come on, we weren’t going to hurt him unless he gave us a reason” said Dolly scratching her head. “C’est la vie! Come on Monseur Z, I just saw a couple of Pencazzos that would look truly exquis in my side of the lab!” “Paintings? I don’t know, I prefer sculptures. Shall we split?” Dolly nodded and the both of them went to different wings according with their interests: Z went to the sculpture area and Dolly to the paintings. And then Z saw it: an abstract sculpture made of several gears, screws, metallic pipes and such; it spoke directly to his soul of mad inventor. Yeah, there was nothing more beautiful than the gear, the soul of the machine. “I love it! Z-Bots, take it for me!” Two of his machines took the sculpture between their claws and he was about to go when a stern voice ordered him: “Drop that sculpture immediately!” “I have nothing between my hooves Princess Sparkle” said Z calmly turning to his rival. “Besides, it’s a crime to want pretty things?” “No but take them without permission certainly is” “Your Highness, Dolly and I saved you from Tirek. Can’t you just look to the other side at least for once?” “And then there’s that detail, why did you saved us?” Asked Twilight. “Because Equestria is our personal playground with Dolly, and we don’t like to share. Only between each other” “Again, why did you saved us? You could let Tirek drain our power and then defeat him so you wouldn’t have anyone in your way” “Because I live for challenges, and not having anypony in my way sounds boring” Twilight frowned, there was something wrong with this dude, not necessarily evil. In the paintings wing, Dolly was looking carefully at the famous The Daisies from Van Pogh, and almost in trance she extended her hoof towards the paining. As always, her scarf wrapped on it as it was a snake and carefully retired it from the wall. “That’s a very delicate and valuable work of art! Leave it where it was or you’ll damage it for life!” Commanded Rarity entering to the room. “Madame, mon écharpe won’t harm it, is made of a very special material that not only resists the most powerful magic and the most extreme temperatures, but also is soft and delicate” Rarity walked carefully towards the villainess and saw how one of Dolly’s dollies walked to her and made an inviting gesture. “Their dresses are made of the same material” explained Dolly. “Touch it si’l vous pleit” Still unsure, Rarity touched the fabric. “Unbelievable! You know? My daughter and I are also interested in textiles, I wish she could get as good as you” Dolly sighed. “And for me, I wish I could show my true talent to my mère. But I can’t” “Why?” “Because if I show her, mère would realize that I use my talent for evil, and I don’t want to disappoint her” “You don’t have to use it for evil” said Rarity feeling a possible way to reform the villainess. “You have more options! I’m a mother too and I love my daughter, I would love her no matter who or what she is. I think your mother will understand if you explain her your reasons to do this” “Mon reasons you say? Simply to control the monster I have inside. I’ve tried and the only thing that keep it under control is to follow the game my best friend created, but after what happened with Tirek I realized I’m losing control” Suddenly the entire place began to shake. “What?” Asked Rarity. “Monseur Z is fighting” Back on the sculpture wing, Twilight was shooting magic beams against Z, who eluded it with his increased agility; but still received lots but he didn’t care, he knew that his mother was weaker than his godmother… still he didn’t like how this was going. “I’m young your Highness, you’re not. Let’s stop this foolishness, you can’t stop me, I have…” “Enough power to defeat Tirek without effort, I know” said Twilight. “Why don’t you use it with me? Fight!” “I don’t want to!” Rainbow entered flying and tackled Z from the back, but it didn’t work. The suit absorbed the impact but Rainbow didn’t get hurt; the fabric was softer than silk. “You too, Loyalty?” Asked Z annoyed. “We’re all here to stop you Z” said Pinkie Pie jumping out of nowhere. “But Twily didn’t wanted to do anything until she tried to reform you. If we don’t, we have no choice but use the Rainbow Power on you” The three mares activated their Harmony Forms. Z froze as he had an epiphany: there it was! The answer to replicate the power of the Tree of Harmony! “This is your last chance Z. Reform or face the consequences” “Where are the soldiers? Why are you here instead of them?” Asked Z. “Since you defeated Tirek, we realized that you’re the highest class of enemies” said Twilight. “Isn’t that what you wanted?” Mister Z jumped just in time to avoid the combined Harmony Attack. They attacked again but this time the Z-Bots blocked the attack with their bodies. The older mares stepped forward and they extended their claws as a warning. “It didn’t work?” Asked the girls. Z sighed relieved, of course, machines weren’t alive, they had no soul so the Power of Harmony wouldn’t affect them. But he had a feeling that something bad will happen to him if the attack actually reach him. Who knew how the Power of Harmony would affect a sociopath. “It doesn’t work. Stop now that you still can” warned Z. “We’re not giving up Z” said Twilight. Z nodded. “But I do. Seriously, I told you before: I’m not fighting old ladies. Sorry but there’s no fun of that. I’m out of here. Take care!” So the Z-Bots took him on their claws and flew away. Rainbow Dash wasn’t that young anymore but still she won’t let Z escape just like that. Z looked at her flying after him and after a sigh, he aimed his hoof and sent a stream of light directly to her eyes disorienting the cyan mare and force her to go to a wall. “Damn it!” Complained Rainbow Dash looking Z going away. “I don’t know Rainbow Dash, I’m glad he escaped” sighed Twilight. “What? Why?” Asked Rainbow Dash. “Don’t you see it Dashie? His reaction was more like a child realizing his game wasn’t a game anymore” explained Pinkie. Twilight nodded. “Exactly. I don’t know who he is or what he wants, but I’m more interested in interrogate this guy instead of turning him into stone. With all the power he haves, why did they insist in stupidities like this?” In the meantime Applejack and Fluttershy arrived to the room where Rarity was in order to help her, but they find their friend simply chatting with Puppè. “What’s going on?” Asked Fluttershy. Applejack shook her head. “A’ don’t know but we must stop this. DOLLY!” The villainess turned to the group of mares ready to fight. “Is it possible that they’re all here?” Sighed the disguised girl. “Darling, after you defeated Tirek Princess Celestia realized that you’re the highest class of enemies. Sorry about this but we must seal you with the Rainbow Power” Dolly nodded. “I know. Dollies!” The tiny androids released a small smoke-screen that distracted the mares, allowing Puppè to jump away by using her scarf as a rope to hang from a rafter. “Ya’ don’t wanna fight?” Asked Applejack. “Non, you must understand but as the Code of the Villains says, a villain must always have clear goals; and fight living relics is not one of ours” “Who are ya’ calling a relic?” Shouted Applejack throwing a trashcan she found to the villainess. The thing impacted on her, but it didn’t affected Dolly at all. “See? If you were a soldier I would punch you back, but I feel bad about fighting an old lady. I respect the six of you too much to harm you. Sorry but is not happening. Dollies!” The robots answered to their creator facing Fluttershy and Applejack and tying them in a beautiful red ribbon that they couldn’t get free. “Is invulnerable to magic and also cannot be cut, have fun” said Dolly swinging away. But suddenly Dolly stopped and turned to take the painting but Rarity protected it with her body. “I won’t let you” Dolly sighed. “And apparently I missed on. Whatever” And this time she actually left the room with a resigned aura. It took like two and a half hours to free Applejack and Fluttershy from Dolly’s ribbon. As the villainess have warned, it couldn’t be cut and magic didn’t affected it. But at the end they were all in the train on their way back to Ponyville. “I get that they don’t want to hurt us, but I seriously don’t understand this behavior. They have more than enough power to overthrown the Crown… but they keep doing this pointless stuff” said Twilight biting her lip. “I know, their behavior is more childish than anything” said Pinkie. Rarity agreed, but didn’t said anything as she was deep on her thoughts. Why Dolly didn’t tied her as well? Why did she just quit to get the painting just because of her, who could she easily defeat. This didn’t had any sense. And then it was what Dolly told her. Why did she tell an enemy all that personal stuff? It was when Rarity shivered as she put all the pieces together. Sweet Celestia, it can’t be! When the train arrived to Ponyville station, Rarity pretended to act normally until all her friends left and then ran to her house in a hurry. When she entered, she saw her daughter having a tea party with some dollies. Not Dolly’s dollies, just regular dollies. “Luminositè!” “Oh mère, welcome home!” Smiled the little one. “Lumi, why didn’t you tied me back at the art gallery?” Lumi took a sip of her imaginary tea. “Because it was what you needed to find out who I really was. Mère I need your help” Rarity had to seat, seriously: how and why? > Rule # 17 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule # 5: A villain knows when is enough evilness “Luminositè, I know I told you that you can explain me wherever you feel more comfortable, but you know that I don’t fit in your toy house” said Rarity when her daughter insisted in told her the story inside the toy house. It was big en6ough to allow three foals to be perfectly comfortable inside, but an adult had to bend down in a very uncomfortable position in order to fit in. But Luminositè insisted and got into the toy house and began to work the plastic stove to deactivate Bright’s security system and allowing Rarity to enter the lair. “In a minute mère, I promise everything will be clear soon. Now come on in, I know you’ll get a little uncomfortable but it won’t be long. Please?” Rarity sighed and entered inside the toy house sitting uncomfortably as her daughter opened one of the plastic cabinets of the kitchen revealing a control console that seemed like it came from a sci-fi comic; where the girl had no choice but use the manual control of the elevator. Doors and windows soon covered with some kind of hyper-resistant plastic and the floor began to descend much to Rarity’s impression who began to hyperventilate of claustrophobia but then it stopped in front of a steel door that lead to an underground passage decorated with several bookshelves, a couple of flowerpots and even a mini zen garden. “Welcome to our lab mère, please follow me” Rarity obeyed, and was taken to a large room divided in two: in a side there was a white board with highly complicated calculations and big scary half-built metallic structures and a messy desk. And in the other side, Rarity saw a neat desk with pink paper sheets carefully placed in a corner, and the opposite one several numbers of the fashion magazines Rarity used to buy, a full equipped work table: sewing machine, threads of all colors, a mannequin that Rarity swore she threw away long time ago; serving as a model of a light metallic structure that adapted perfectly to the plastic body. But what really caught Rarity’s attention were the display cabinets full of clothing made with the strange black fabric the villains used. Without thinking, Rarity touched it, again it felt ten times softer than silk. “What is this place? Since when is here?” Asked Rarity. “As I said, this is our lab. Z and I built it around three years ago and we’ve been extending it with time; but don’t worry, is six meters underground so we don’t disturb anypony” “Lumi, why are you helping Z? He’s a very dangerous pony!” Said Rarity. “Not as dangerous as me, mère. Remember when you adopted me? The bad things” Rarity nodded sadly. “Your biological parents had beaten you so many times that almost all of your bones were broken. I took months to be able to approach to you without you crying in fear or trying to bite me, or attack me with your magic. Why are you asking me this?” Lumi sighed thoughtful. “Because what they did to me changed me forever, they broke my bones to the point to breaking me from inside. There’s a monster inside me, lots of times I only think in hurting others, that’s all I care about. But this is no new, remember when I used to torture insects and then small animals? Fluttershy found me several times and used her Stare against moi, but I never cared” “I remember when she told me” said Rarity holding back her tears. “But I thought your sessions doctor Caring Heart had took care about that” “Non, what really helped me was that I found somepony as broken as me. Mes parents broke my bones over and over turning me into what I am now, but he has that je ne sais pas from birth” “Lumi…” “When I first met Z, I thought he was nothing but an annoying materner enfant, but in his words, he wouldn’t let me alone until I accepted him as a friend. One day he saw me torturing a lizard, but instead of freaking out like most of the ponies, he said I was intéressant for him, and wanted to help me to do as I pleased without getting caught. No more scoldings, no more limitations” Rarity couldn’t believe what her daughter was telling her, Luminisitè was openly admitting she was some kind of sociopath. “Z taught me to pretend normality; and one day after he had a fight with his mom, I found him very concentrated writing the Code of the Villains, the perfect guide to be evil without having any consequence. I helped him adding a few rules on my own, and he was so excited with my cooperation that showed me what he could really do” “What do you mean?” “He had created some kind of metallic servants to do his chores for him, and told me that with his gift he could build anything so he could become the perfect villain” Rarity scratched her head. “Okay, so you’re telling me this kid built those so-called servants without his parents realizing? Who would be so stupid to not to realize?” Asked Rarity. “Then I found out that I was gifted and him and could also build things, so I created my own metallic servants. Sinc then, I haven’t moved a hoof to do any chore at home” continued Lumi. Rarity froze in shock and Lumi giggled happily. “Dollies!” The tiny machines ran to her creator and Lumi took one on her hoof and presented it to her mother. “You always ask how I can clean so well, truth be told is not me. They are” “Impossible! Made of metal you say?” “They’re just covered with my especial fabric but yeah, they’re made of metal. Steel to be more precise” explained Lumi proudly. “Can I look?” “Go ahead mère” Rarity then used her magic to try to remove the fabric and look what was inside, but she couldn’t. “Mère, my fabric repels magic. You have to do it by hoof” Rarity raised an eyebrow but obeyed, revealing the metallic skeleton. “Unbelievable, you did this without help?” Luminositè nodded. “I specialize in mNano-technology. Tiny and functional machines. In fact…” The girl simply walked to her desk and opened one of the drawers, taking a small box that contained what it seemed like metal shaving. “This is mon greatest creation, the Nano-machines. Of the size of a speck, this things are the secret behind our suit’s power. I reused the fabric you created for the Mare-Do-Well costumes and adapted it by adding the Nano-machines” “Amazing!” Said Rarity. “But Lumi, do you realize that with your talent you can change the industry of fashion forever?” “Not only the fashion industry; the application of my creations are merely military. Imagine a future where Equestrian soldiers wear suits made with this fabric instead of an armor. Not only they’ll have more mobility but also they’ll be more protected” Rarity nodded looking the fabric in awe, then she turned to the mannequin that was covered with metallic structure. “What about this thing?” Asked Rarity. “This doesn’t seem too fashionable” “Monseur Z and I have created a few things together, like our suits. The fabric I made proved us with our invulnerability, and Z’s endoskeleton provide us the right power source to my Nano-machines and also gave us our super strength, enhanced agility and all the gadgets we use in battle” Rarity gasped. “Unbelievable, and to think that two kids were able to make all this. Who else knows about this?” “Only Suri Polomare” “WHAT? BUT SHE’S MY WORST ENEMY!” Lumi dedicated a twisted smile to her mother, a smile that made her shiver. “Dernièrement haven’t’ bothered you anymore, right mère? I used on her the early versions of the weapons I use as Le Puppè, and since then I just have to approach to make her shake in fear. Oh, and there’s also the Hearts Warming Tree who warned Z about his unware madness, but nothing else” Rarity didn’t know what to think of this, so she just sat on a chair her daughter offered and the dollies gave her a cup of tea (that kind off helped her to calm down). Then the white unicorn looked at Lumi as it was the first time, but also she saw the same little girl who she fought to gain her affection and now Lumi was asking her for help. Yes, Lumi needed her, but Rarity didn’t understood to what exactly. “Why did you brought me here, Luminositè?” Lumi made a small and elegant sigh and then took a remote control from her desk. The floor trembled as a flat screen emerged from it; Lumi then pressed another button showing their battle with Tirek. First Starlight and Sun Burst guiding the kids to hide in Celestia and Luna’s old Castle, then the rag dolls entering and releasing the sleeping gas sending everypony to sleep except for Lumi and Bright Spark (Rarity raised an eyebrow at this, she had already figured out Z’s true identity, but this confirmed it) and finally the two kids putting on their suits. Rarity was especially amazed of seeing how two full bodysuits complete with the endoskeleton and two layers of fabric emerged from a couple of cufflinks and a mask. “Unbelievable, but Luminositè, how could you be so irresponsible? You two could get killed!” “Keep watching mère” Rarity obeyed worried. She knew that Tirek was defeated already and fully aware that her daughter wasn’t harmed, but still she remembered when she faced Tirek back when she was young and remembered it as one of the most frightening experiences of her life. However as Rarity watched, she was soon enough convinced that the kids were never in danger. “Unbelievable, and what are those things you used to move to Canterlot?” “Vehicles. Bright built them” “And what about this magic mirror? Did he built it as well” “Non, this one was mine and isn’t magic. All our equipment works with electricity, never with magic” Rarity nodded and continued watching. During the fight it was obvious not only that the kids had the advantage from the very beginning but also that they were just torturing Tirek for fun, like when they forced him to punch himself over and over and finally to break his own horns. Painful to watch. “This is what worries me, mère” said Lumi pausing the scene where she forced Tirek to break his horns. “I didn’t do it to avenge you, non to protect Equestria neither to save anypony. I did it because I wanted to make him suffer. I knew what I was capable of and I wanted to torture him, I really did. That’s why I called you mère, the need to hurt is still there, but now that I developed mon capacitès to this level I’m much more dangerous than before. I want to stop mère, but my madness tells me how fun it is and I can’t just quit!” Rarity just hugged her daughter. “Good lord, why?” “I told you, I wanted to” “I don’t meant that, I meant, why didn’t you came to me earlier Luminositè?” “I didn’t knew how powerful my need was. Not at that time, I just wanted to keep playing villain with mon best friend; but then, our evilness got out of control!” “Lumi, this isn’t evilness, it’s madness. Sorry but it’s the truth” “I know mère. I admit I’m broken inside and I need your help mère. Don’t let me turn into a complete monster” “I promise I won’t. But now I would like to have a talk with your friend before I go talk to Twilight. Do you think he would hurt me?” “Bright? Non, he’s a genius and mon meilleur ami but he’s still a materner enfant. He would probably shout me to reveal our secret but nothing else. And if he tries to hurt you, I’ll protect you. But don’t worry, in the bottom he’s just a kid too afraid to get punished by his mom” “I cannot believe such a dumb kid is also one of the greatest geniuses in the world” “He’s pretty smart, that’s why his actions have no consequences, so he would never grow up. And I know mon actions haven’t had consequences neither but I grew up at the moment they broke me inside” Rarity cried softly and hugged her daughter. “Please don’t say you’re broken my dear. I'm begging you!” The two of them stayed like that for a while until Rarity final broke the embrace. “So what now mère?” “Like I said, I would like to have a talk with Bright. But in the meantime, why about a cup of tea for me and cocoa for you and you tell me all about your super fabrics?” “So you won’t ask me to stay away from Bright?” “No, he helped you on his time, now it’s time for you to help him. I don’t know how far he can go, but you do; and must stop him for his own sake. He needs to open his eyes, would you do me the favor to convince him to talk to me?” “I'll do anlything for you, mère. For you and that moron" > Rule # 18 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule # 18: A villain always gets what he/she wants Bright was having a very hard time, first the idiot of Tirek and then the incident with his mother and friends trying to stop him. What happened with Captain Awesome and his gang of weirdos? He truly enjoyed the encounter, why did they suddenly disappeared? “I don’t see why are you complaining, didn’t you want us to be recognized as the next great menace of Equestria?” Asked his friend Lumi during recess. “Well, the fact that we fought them for real means that we’re officially a menace for the peace. I thought you’ll be hereux” Bright sighed and took a bite of his daisy and haybaycon sandwich. “Maybe, but you know? I had more fun fighting them than the others. I really wanted to keep fighting Captain Awesome, Shadow Ninjutsu, Watt and Elementery. I don’t like comics but fighting real superheroes in the real life had some kind of charm. Not to mention I’m not convinced if I want to fight he Bearers of Harmony” “Aw, did you got sentimental fighting mommy?” Teased Luminositè. “I don’t know, is just I don’t like the idea of fighting old ladies. Is not fun! At least the other ones actually gave us a hard time, but we were raised by the Elements of Harmony, there’s nothing they can do we don’t already know. I don’t know if you get it, but even if they ruined our wonderful new hoodies made with your fabric, I miss them” Lumi shrugged and as the lady she was, took a sip of her tea. “Le seul problème de volouir devenir plus stuide qui’il ne l’est déjà que la plupart du temps est atteint” mumbled the young mare, but Bright didn’t paid attention to her anymore. The two of them finished their meals and went to play at the swings, but everything good had to stop and recess was no exception. They listened the bell that announced the end of it and walked back to their class. Then Lumi turned to her friend. “By the way, can you go to my place after school? I need to talk to you in private” “Sure!" Smiled the kid, he liked to spend time with his best friend, as long as she didn’t try to kiss him; he truly didn’t understand that obsession Lumi had on him. But when the classes finished, Twilight was waiting ther for her son and had an expression Bright didn’t like at all. No, she wasn’t mad or anything, she was just expectant and seemed strangely too happy. “Mom? What are you doing here?” Asked Bright. And then, Twilight hugged him all of sudden. “Oh my precious boy! I have wonderful news!” “I see…” said Bright struggling to escape from Twilight’s embrace. “What is it? “We’re going to Canterlot right now! You just received a letter from the Academy of Gifted Unicorns, you have your admission test tomorrow at ten!” Bright shook his head trying to assimilate what his mother just said. “But mom, I don’t think I’m ready! Truth is that…” Twilight smiled confidently to her son and gently placed a hoof on his shoulder. “Bright, all the magic you practice with me have prepared you for this. Don’t you realize this is a great moment for you? is the most prestigious school in Equestria! Now come on, the train leaves in ten minutes and your father and your Godmother are waiting, we’re going to have lunch together! Let’s go!” And she pulled the disconcerted colt to the train station and apparently she had sent his luggage in advance so all they had to do was to get on the train. Lumi looked at them at the distance and she made an elegant and classy sigh. “Apparently idiots have more luck than they should” sighed the filly before going to her home. And for Bright, he just looked at the landscape in the train grumpy and mumbling to himself, but Twilight interpreted as he was just nervous about the exam; but in fact he was analyzing the best wat to mess up the exam and go back home as soon as possible. Another one who wasn’t very happy with the situation was Flurry, who stayed at the Palace with a very particular babysitter. “Just the guy I wanted to talk to” said Flurry angrily. Discord sighed, he didn’t wanted to have this conversation; that’s why he refused to babysit Flurry at first, but Twilight reminded him of all the favors he owed her so he had no other choice. “Don’t ignore me Discord! When are you going to give me back my necklace?” “Look kid, I can’t give it to you just like that. Haven’t you heard? They beat Tirek without an effort, that means we underestimated them, I’m sorry but I have no intention to endanger you or your friends” “But Discord! Only us can defeat Dolly and Mister Z” Discord made a face-claw. “Listen: I gave Tirek enough power to get his last form and they still managed to defeat him. This isn’t a game” “You gave it to him?” Asked Flurry in disbelief. “Of course, I needed to address this situation in multiple ways because of their unknown nature. The thing is, by defeating Tirek they proved to be in their own league. Now go do your homework!” But Flurry couldn’t take her babysitter seriously. “Are you crazy or what? Something bad could happen if Tirek managed to beat them!” “Go to your room!” Shouted Discord. “Whatever, but I swear I’ll use Captain Awesome’s suit again. I swear to you Discord!”   Canterlot Castle; Solar Guard Headquarters: “You seem down dad, what’s wrong?” Asked Bright Spark. Flash simply hugged his son. “Is nothing to worry about son, is just that I got retired from the case of Dolly and Z, and I really wanted to defeat those two!” Bright frowned. “I see…” “Yeah, after what happened with Tirek the Crown took them now as the highest class of menace, and Princess Celestia says is your mother who should stop this kind of villains” Bright didn’t say more annoyed of what he just hear, but luckily for him his father interpreted it differently. “Yeah, sorry for troubling with my problems, because if I’m not wrong you have a great day tomorrow” said Flash with a smile. Bright groaned annoyed. “It seems so…” “I know you don’t want to go to your mother’s school but remember the plan” The kid nodded. “I guess so, but I’m not worried about failing but mom’s reaction. Have you seen her?” Flash giggled and stroke Bright’s mane. “I know, I know, but I’ll be at your side when we explain it to Twilight, I promise” “She’ll get angry” “Dad will protect you, I promise” assured Flash. The kid offered him a shy smile. “I’ll teleport with you when this ends” The commander laughed happily. “Being that good in magic, I can’t tell why you don’t you want to go to that Academy, but I guess you have your own interests Bright Spark” “Yeah, I guess so” The rest of the day they spent it together but since his father was on duty, Bright Spark joined him and his soldiers while Twilight and Celestia spend some time together as well reading, having tea or discussing the most recent events: “So you’re telling me you prefer to recruit the so-called-heroes to take care of Dolly and Z instead of you?” Asked Celestia in disbelief. “I know it sounds weird, but I don’t think we must turn those two into stone but talk to them. Their abilities can be used for good, we just need to understand them, and to be honest Princess Celestia, we’re not getting any younger” Celestia nodded sadly. “I know, but still I’m not sure if this heroes are the right ones to do the job, remember we’re talking about people who can defeat Tirek” “Still they were clear that they preferred to fight them instead of us, they see them more as a threat than us” “Maybe you’re right; after all not even Z and Puppè take themselves too seriously, even if they hold so much power; and they saved us, so there’s a huge chance there are some good in them” Twilight nodded satisfied and nodded; and Princess Celestia gave her a friendly punch on the shoulder. “So changing the subject, tomorrow is the big day, huh?” “Yeah, I’m so nervous” said Twilight. “Don’t be. Bright is really, well, bright, and all the progresses he makes on his own are incredible. Can you imagine how far can he get with the appropriate guidance?” The Princess of Friendship looked to the horizon dreamily. “Yeah, and this is only the beginning. I remember how everything started for me when I got enrolled in the Academy” “And as you, I feel your son is linked to a magical and mysterious destiny; his time is coming. Maybe he’s the one destined to stop Z and Puppè? Who knows!” At the next day Bright had a lot of trouble to wake up without his catapult, but at least his mother over-excitement did the trick for him and before he realized, he was already up at six A.M. “Mom, remind me at which hour is my test?” Asked Bright angrily. “I know it’s a bit too early, but some early practice will be good for you, remember they’re really strict at the Academy” Bright sighed with patience, just a little more and this annoyance will end. And after a very long morning for the young colt, it was time for him to present the exam. “Don’t you want me to join you, Bright Spark?” Asked Twilight. Bright shook his head. “No, mom, I have this covered” Twilight nodded. “It’s a shame Flash couldn’t join us but, he had things to do. You know? Sometimes I feel I should form my own Royal Guard only to have my husband closer, but whatever. Good luck Bright Spark!” The kid nodded doing his best to not to giggle. Truth being told, Princess Celestia did offered Flash Sentry a day off to join his son during the hour of truth but he refused since he knew that Bright would need an escape route when he failed. Did he trusted Bright could teleport that far? Of course! Flash knew his son held a huge amount of magic capability, it was only he was not interested in using it, and the Pegasus only wanted that his son was happy. Back to Bright and Twilight, the feared announcement came: “Next!” Bright exchanged a last look with his mother and got into the room proudly. The examiners looked at him blankly and after a dry nod, they asked: “Name?” “Bright Spark” The three ponies, three renowned old unicorn academics just exchanged a few comments among them and nodded: “Approved” “Wait, what?” Asked Bright Spark. The academy’s principal, Deep Knowledge, just winked an eye to the boy: “You are the son of one of our most prominent students, the Princess of Friendship herself, and not only we want to win over the Crown’s approval but also, if you have of your mother’s talent, we know you’ll be a great acquisition for this institution. That’s why you’re instantly approved” But Bright shook his head, he won’t study here not matter what. “No, no, no1 wait a second, you said it yourselves, I am the son of Twilight Sparkle and I spent countless hours of my precious time practicing in order to give you a good show” One of the professors, Dusty Library, just giggled. “Oh, we have an honest one, more points in your favor kid” So, professor Deep Knowledge made a small nod. “Fair enough, show us your abilities son of Princess Twilight Sparkle” Bright took a deep breath and suddenly, the professors’ inkwells began to shake at the boy’s magic. They looked at the kid and what they saw was a twisted smile they didn’t like at all, it was the same smile he put on every time he used Z’s helmet. Then the inkwells exploded staining everypony with blue ink. “Hey!” They all protested. Then Bright recharged against a wall and shrugged. “What can I say? I have no interest in studying here” “What? But this is…” A zipper appeared on principal’s mouth making the insolent kid laugh. “I didn’t wanted to get to this, you see, I originally planned to fail the test but since you’re determined to accept me I have to make sure you want me as far as possible from you” said the kid arrogantly. “Young man, if you behave like this…” Then the parchments where they write who passed and who didn’t (the most) burned in flames. They managed to control the small fire but then they realized it have changed and every single applicant have passed. “What?!” And they tried to get it back to normal but they simply couldn’t. And then Dusty looked at the kid, who simply shrugged, always keeping his twisted smile. “Oh, that was a simple but very specific combination of spells that you have to undo in an specific order” “Tell us how you did this or…” Bright shrugged. “Or what? I said I don’t want to be enrolled in this school, so what do you have to actually threat me? For once I’ll do something good for others and let you accept them all. Good luck fixing this!” Then he left very proudly much to the professor’s annoyance and confusion. Twilight was waiting impatiently. “Bright, how was your test?” Bright smiled widely. “Wonderful! It actually went better than I expected” Twilight hugged him. “I’m so glad you passed! We’re going to get you the best backpack right now and…” But then principal Deep Knowledge appeared dripping ink and practically with steam coming from his ears because of the anger. “Very well, you wanted it? You have it! I WANT YOU AT LEAST TEN METERS AWAY OF MY SCHOOL! DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!” Bright took advantage of Twilight’s astonishment and teleported as fast as he could. “Bright?” Asked Twilight completely confused. Canterlot, Solar Guard Headquarters: Flash was looking to the clock wondering how Bright was doing when suddenly a large shadow appeared behind him. “Commander Sentry, what are you doing here?” Asked Princess Celestia. “Oh, hi Princess! what brings you here?” “You see Commander, I was wondering, why didn’t you accepted a day off to support your son in the most important moment of his life?” Flash laughed happily, “About that…” And right at that moment, Bright teleported in. “Oh, hi Bright! What happened?” The kid grinned but seemed surprised by seeing Celestia there. “Oh, Godmother, what are you doing here? Anyway, they were determined to accept me no matter what so I had to persuade them they didn’t wanted me near!” Flash had to use all of his self-control to not laugh loudly, so he just hugged his son. Still, Celestia raised an eyebrow. “What? Bright, you don’t want to study at my academy?” “I’m terribly sorry Godmother, but magic is boring, I want to learn more about science and technology. You know: physics, math, chemistry, etc. The problem was that mom was so excited that I had to agree to do the exam but I planned to fail from the very beginning” Celestia rolled her eyes. “I would scold you two, but I know my faithful student and I’m very aware of how stubborn she can be and she can’t understand unless you take serious actions. Anyway, follow my advice and get the hell out of here before she kills you!” There was no need to repeat herself, they two ran away as far as they could leaving Princess Celestia who couldn’t help but smile. “Definitely my godson is full of surprises” … The sea waves broke against that solitary rock in the middle of the sea. A long time agou that place was green and full of life, considered of one of the natural wonders of the world, and those who were lucky enough to consider that pace their home, were the happiest beings on earth. But now tit was nothing but an arid rock but only one inhabitant. A very frightening and terrible inhabitant, considered the worst being of creation. So yeah, the island of Tambelon definitely have seen better times. The irritating sound of the cowbell he had on his neck what was made him open his eyes, but he was already awake from a while now. The unusual magical activity from a near island to his Tambelon was that awoke him on the first place. What were those three doing? Joining him to destroy him once and for all? Yeah, right, those three were too coward to face him, and he was pretty sure they had no idea where to find him. “”As always they seem overly obsessed with invading Equestria. But why is my doorbell ringing?” He looked to the island’s direction, so finally they decided to face him? No, he frowned thoughtful when he noticed something was wrong, as he thought those three had no idea he was that close to them but it seemed like they were preparing to face something who can actually face him. The cowbell was still ringing. “Danger? You mean I’m in danger? Bullshit!” He wasn’t worried at all, of course not, only intrigued. The damn problem of being that powerful was that his life somehow had become a continuing boredom, that’s why he spent most of his time sleeping. But now that he was awake, maybe someone could actually give him a good fight. “Where is the danger coming from? These three, the one they want to fight? Who?” Asked the Overgoat. Then he felt something unusual about the three moron’s energy, they were… sitting reading? What was it? A spell book perhaps? No, it didn’t felt like it. So what was it? “It seems I have to concentrate a little bit more” He concentrated in sync with Crhsyalis. They were reading about… “There are nothing but stupid rules!” Complained the Changelling Queen. “Code of the Villains, Code of the Villains, is nothing but a manual to inflate the ego of someone who thinks is invincible” “Be careful, they could actually beat the big guy so that means they’re not normal enemies” “It was because I lowered my guard, but it won’t happen again. just think about it: Sombra turns into mist, Chrysalis can transform in anyone and I steal magic energy, they only have a trick on their own we need to find out” And at this point Grogar decided to stop looking. “As I thought, nothing but the same shit of always, more garbage coming to annoy me” > Rule # 19 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule # 19: A villain should never, EVER, act by anger After his little adventure pissing off the examiners, Bright was a worried about his mother’s reaction, just a little. But he didn’t mind at the moment since as good accomplish, his father have already prepared a little escape and there they were; happily wandering around the streets of Canterlot. The kid was happy, there were few things he liked more than spend time alone with his father; and he took the chance to tell him all about what happened during the exam. And of course, Flash laughed all the way, but at the end he calmed and turned serious. “I know I should scold you but I was the one who give you the advice… but you overdid, Champ. And I’m pretty sure right now your mother is considering which punishment you should get” “Yes, I overdid but come on! They wanted me to admit me without exam, I had no choice, dad” “Of course not; or maybe yes, but again, I cannot complain since I was the one who gave you the idea. So I recommend you to stay away from your mother until your Godmother and I talk to hert, okay? Whatever it happens, I promise you I’ll try to soften her” “What? But dad, I thought we were going to have fun together today!” Complained Bright. “I know Bright Spark, but as I say, you overdid and is up to me to deal with your mother. And you’ll like the change of plans, I promise” assured Flash. And now that he mentioned, Bright realized where they were: it was an old residential neighborhood full of ancient manors; and they stopped in front of a beautiful beige house with windows decorated with stylized flower pots; and on the top of it, two towers with a golden dome. Bright couldn’t believe it, and as Flash guessed, Bright ran straight to ring the doorbell. The door was opened by a sixty-nine-year-old mare with gray fur, a white and purple mane (that had become whiter with the pass of the years), blue eyes that she covered with a pair of glasses with silver frame and a Cutie Mark of three stars. The mare seemed surprised at first, but then she smiled. “Oh, look who suddenly remembers he haves grandparents! What do you have to say on your defense, young colt?” Bright only hugged the mare and nuzzled her, and Twilight Velvet returned the gesture with a playful smile. “Granny! Is so good to see you!” “Oh Bright Spark, I’m so glad to see you darling. Night! Look who is here!” Night Light appeared behind his wife and smiled widely. “Oh, what a nice surprise! So you finally decided to appear after a long time. Oh Flash, always a pleasure. Where is my daughter?” Flash made a small nod to his parents-in-law. “Hi MIs and Mister Sparkle. Sorry for coming all of sudden but we have a small situation and…” “Say no more, come on in please” said Velvet letting them pass. “Do you want something to drink?” “A cup of your famous cocoa, please Granny!” asked Bright with joy. Velvet and Light giggled to this expected answer and the mare went to make the cocoa and a cup of tea for Flash, who accepted it in silence. “Thank you Miss Sparkle” said Flash politely. “You see. There is a small problem involving Twilight and Bright’s admission exam for the Academy of Gifted Unicorns” Night Light raised an eyebrow. “What? But I thought you didn’t wanted to study magic Bright” said the mature unicorn looking to his grandson. “Yeah, we even gave you that book of basic mechanics for your birthday” added Velvet. Flash sighed. “I know, but try to explain that to Twilight. She really wanted Bright in that school!” sighed the Pegasus. “And I don’t want to! Advanced magic is boring!” Complained the kid. The grandparents stroke Bright’s mane now with a very clear idea of what happened. “So then?” “Well, dad suggested all I had to do was to fail the admission test so I could make mom happy and study elsewhere. But when I got there they accepted me without even evaluating me so I had to make sure they wanted me as far as possible!” Explained Bright. The grandparents began to laugh loudly imagining the scene. “As you see, the kid made quite a number” said Flash. “I can see that” giggled Velvet. “Uf! Twilight probably wants to kill him!” “I’m pretty sure of that, but she also deserve it, right Bright?” Agreed Night Light. The kid pouted. “Yes, she’s always busy doing I-don’t-know-what from the Crown; and the few time we spend together is for learn useless magic. It’s boring but…” “Is the only connection you have with Twilight, we understand darling. She’s really stubborn but at least this will open her eyes to your interests Bright” smiled Velvet comforting her grandson. “But while she calms down… you may stay away from her” said Night Light thoughtful. “That’s why we came, I’ll try to reason with her but if she looks the kid she surely explodes” explained Flash awkwardly. “Gladly we’ll take care of him” smiled Night Light. “It’s been a while since we spent time with certain colt. Why don’t you come to visit more frequently?” “Maybe because he thinks his old folks aren’t funny anymore” Bright smiled warmly to the two of them, he really love his grandparents. So Flash just sighed relieved Bright was okay with the change of plans and went back to the Palace ready for his greatest challenge so far in his long and successful military career: to deal with his angry wife. He arrived to the Castle just in time to see Twilight and Princess Celestia arguing angrily about what just happened, or to be more specific, Princess Celestia was listening to Twilight’s shouting, and god, she was furious. “But he’s an irresponsible! HAVE HE REALIZED HE THREW ALL HIS FUTURE OUT OF THE BOARD? WHAT WAS HE THINKING ABOUT RUINING HIS REPUTATION IN EVERY MAGIC SCHOOL?” And Celestia continued listening, but when she saw Flash had come, she sent him a look asking for help. Flash understood and called: “Twilight!” “WHAT? Oh, the accomplice is here. Where is Bright Spark?!” “As far as possible, at least for the moment. Now calm down and try to listen” asked Flash patiently. “ARE YOU DEFFENDING HIM?!” “Of course, he’s my son! And it’s no big deal!” Five, four, three, two, one… “NO BIG DEAL?  NO MAGIC ACADEMY WILL WANT HIM AFTER WHAT HE HAS DONE!” Flash took a deep breath, this was going to be hard. “So what?” Bad choice of words, Twilight just began cursing and shouting and was so angry that her magic went of control and if it wasn’t for Celestia’s quick reflexes Flash would be carbonized right there. “Twilight!” Warned the white alicorn. The lavender alicorn apologized and after breath to calm down, finally she looked at Flash angrily. “I’ll ask you again Flash: where is him?” “In a safe place” And it was when Celestia intervened but just a bit since she wanted to be out of this problem. “Commander Sentry, would you mind to take a double shift for tonight?” “Gladly!” And they left leaving Twilight alone with her anger. In the meantime Bright was having the time of his life relaxing in a way he could only do at his grandparent’s house; and experience that made him ask himself why didn’t he visited them more frequently? It was a forty-year-old house where everything was surrounded with a strange smell of nostalgia and family; and Bright really loved that smell, it made him felt protected as in any other place. There were lots of shelves full of old magazines his grandfather had been collecting from who-knows-when, and even if they were full of mots and had lots of lose pages, Night Light loved to open them and read a random article just to be transported to another era. And Bright Spark had inherited that taste, and both grandfather and grandson shared countless hours reading enjoying each other’s company. As he was used to every time he visited his grandparent’s house, Bright walked to the jar full of jellybeans his grandmother always had in case the grandkids come to visit; then he walked back to his grandfather’s study to pick up a magazine that didn’t seem too damaged, to finally sit aside the older stallion. Night Light glanced at him from behind his magazine and smiled to him, Bright smiled back and they but stayed there just reading, when suddenly Night Light asked: “So how you’ve been doing at school, Bright?” “Great grandpa, the same old thing with teachers and homework… and boring. Too easy for me” Night Light giggled. “You’re just like your mother when she was your age” Bright frowned. “I’m nothing like my mother” “Of course not! But you did got your enormous brain from her, right?” “Maybe, but I’m nothing like my mom!” Insisted Brigth Spark. “So even if is not magic, always study hard” Bright nodded softly and Night Light seemed as he was going to add something, but then Velvet came in: “Lunch is ready!” The two of them let their magazines and went to the dining room where Velvet served them a delicious-looking lasagna. “So tell me dear, what are you going to do now that you made your mother lose her temper?” Asked the mature mare. “Pray for my father manages to calm her down” said Bright sincerely worried. The two older unicorns stroke his mane. “Easy, your mother will understand eventually” “If you need help, you can count on us” They ate in silence for a while, until Velvet winked an eye to her son: “If only Twilight realize of your other talents. By the way, what happened with the little project of the metallic servant you were working on?” Bright froze for a few instants remembering that four years ago he told his grandparents he wanted to make some kind of machine that would make all his chores for him, he even showed them the prototypes that never worked. Luckily they took it as a phase and understood Bright’s true passion; luckily for the young villain they haven’t related the machines Z used with his. “Bright?” Asked his grandfather. “Huh? Oh sorry, I spaced out. And the project is doing fine, you’ll see! I’ll give you your own metallic servant when I finish!” The two older unicorns laughed at this and again they stroked their grandson’s mane but Bright detected a bit of condescendence, still he didn’t mind, remembering that a secret identity was vital for a villain. When they stopped eating, Bright comfortably stretched-out. “Uf! I ate for a year!” “Is that so? Because we were thinking we could go for some ice-cream for dessert” said Velvet playfully. Bright just accepted in silence. Definitely I’ll return at least a couple of pounds heavier. Near the Sparkle family’s house, there was a small but famous ice-cream shop where the family used to eat since Shining and Twilight were little; property of an old friend of Velvet, Cream Cone. With the pass of the years the shop had grown a lot, but Cream Cone still made her ice-cream by hoof and attended her costumers in person. Strangely enough, the Sparkle family weren’t the only one that had visited the place for generations. “What do you want, Bright?” Asked Velvet. Bright considered for a bit and smiled. “A vanilla sundae with cranberry sauce!” “Sure, go get us a table and we’ll join you soon” said Night Light. Bright then went to pick a beautiful table, right aside the garden to keep enjoying a good day, but he bumped into an unsuspected complication: his grandparents and him weren’t the only ones who decided to have some ice-cream to deal with a stressful day. “BRIGHT SPARK!” Roared Twilight’s voice scaring the young colt and paralyzing both costumers and workers. The kid gulped. “Ehem… hello mommy?” “HELLO MOMMY? IS THAT ALL YOU HAVE TO SAY? YOU’RE COMING WITH ME RIGHT NOW!” And with her magic she began to pull Bright Spark from his ear. “Ow, ow, ow, mom please!” “You and I are going to have a serious talk Bright Spark, and when …” “TWILIGHT SPARKLE!” Shouted a voice as powerful as Princess Luna's. Twilight turned only to face her mom angrily advancing towards her. She haven’t seen her like that since… “Of course he had to be with you! Back off mom, this had nothing to do with you” “It has everything to do with me, now release the kid. He stays with us until you calm down and could have a civilized discussion with him, not before” Twilight of course wasn’t on the mood to argue. “Excuse me? Bright is my son, you can’t decide over him!” “Maybe not, but his father can, and he was the one who told us to take care of him for today” “I’ll deal with Flash later, I’m perfectly capable to educate my son so he’s coming with me right now!” “Should I remind you what happened between you and Spike?” Asked Velvet coldly. Twilight froze, that was cheating. Taking the chance, Bright get rid of her and went to hide behind his grandmother. “As I said, when you calm down and can have a civilized conversation with Bright, come to our house. But in the meantime, Bright stays with us” “I have the ice-creams. Shall we go home now?” Asked Night Light. And they left leaving Twilight between hurt and offended. But no, one time was more than enough so she advanced furiously to her parents and son. Bright shivered when he saw his mother’s eyes, but at the end she made a small nod. “Fine, I get it. I can’t deal with Bright right now and I admit it. But I want you to understand one thing Bright: you are in big trouble and when we go home, you’ll be grounded. Do you know what you just did?” “I failed a test?” “You gave yourself bad reputation and no magic academy will accept you after what you did. Do you understand? No magic academy! And the worst part is that you’re the son of the Element of Magic… Shame on you!” That was it, Bright separated from his grandparents and faced his mother. “Good! I’m glad I did it! MAGIC IS BORING, I HATE IT!” Twilight’s eye twitched, she was angrier than ever; unfortunately, so was Bright. “What did you say? I OWE EVERYTHING I AM TO MAGIC!” “MEANS THAT YOU’RE AS USELESS AND BORING AS MAGIC!” Enough, Night Light and Twilight Velvet hurried to take Bright back home before things got really bad. “Bright…” tried to reason with him Velvet. But she soon realized that the kid was crying in anger; and Velvet preferred not to say anything. Bright was exactly like his mother when she was ten, and Velvet knew by experience that it was impossible to talk to them when they were that angry. “But do you realize you two have to talk at some point, right?” Asked Night Light. “She never listens, I don’t want to learn magic. Is not fair! I don’t deserve to be grounded!” “Bright, you overdid by offending the examiners. We understand you’re not interested in learning magic, but your mother is right about grounding you” “But…!” Protested Bright. “Fair is fair Bright” said Twilight Velvet firmly. Bright didn’t answered, he was still angry but not with his grandparents, of course not! Talk with his mother? Yeah, right, she never listened to him and the fact he was being grounded proved it. But it was okay, if his mother wanted to ground him that much, he’ll ground her first and knew the perfect way to do it. If mommy wanted to play, he will play. And for the rest of the day nor Bright neither Twilight said any other a word to anypony. Night Light and Twilight Velvet were clearly at their grandson’s side, but they were also aware that Twilight was right to ground her son. Now all they could do was wait. It was nighttime, very late, but Bright resisted to sleep. He had to wait to his grandparents went to bed to make his move. Finally when he spotted how the light from their room turned off (around eleven o’clock) he jumped out of the bed and being as sneaky as possible, he went to one of the towers and after check he haven’t alerted anypony, he opened the window and put on the two cufflinks to activate his suit. In the meantime Twilight couldn’t sleep neither so she decided to have a night walk to her old academy to clear her thoughts, specifically the new wing built in her honor. And for fortieth time in the day she asked herself why Bright did what he did and why Flash and her parents put on his side? Magic was boring? What the hell? Okay, she admitted it was a good idea to let Bright Spark stay with her parents until she calmed down, but still didn’t get why this change in Bright. At least Flash told her half of the story, of how Bright agreed to do the exam only to please her and he really didn’t like to study magic, that he did it only because it was the only way he spent time with her. For real? Okay, it was true that because of her Princess duties she hadn’t as much time as she wanted to spend with her son, but he always was so independent and never complained. In which moment he said he didn’t like to study magic anymore? Okay, letting aside that he offended the examiners and at this point every single magic academy considered him as undesirable, she understood that she never actually asked Bright what he wanted to do. Twilight took a good look around, admiring the architecture of her beloved school. So Bright would never put a hoof in there? It felt so frustrating! She was lucky that the rector understood it was Bright’s fault, not hers. But still her reputation would suffer for raise such a disrespectful and bratty child. Lost in her thought as she was, Twilight didn’t realized when a large shadow had appeared above her. A little distracted Twilight looked up only to see with… Mister Z? In claws of his infamous Z-Bots? What was he doing there? The steel things released its creator and he landed right in front of Twilight, too surprised to react; and he didn’t actually cared, all he wanted was to teach her a lesson. Twilight was wondering what was he doing there, and why he haven’t made a full show of himself as he was used to? And what did he wanted? To steal top-secret documents or something? But before she could ask, Z aimed a hoof to the Academy and from his suit emerged some kind of cannon, much bigger than the ones he used in previous battles. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” Shouted Twilight scared. He shot, reducing the Academy to nothing but a bunch of ashes. And not happy with that, he turned to a Statue of Twilight that was on the garden and kicked it destroying it completely. “WHAT? WHY?” Cried Twilight. “To send a message: this is what I really think about magic. Compared with what I can do, it is useless!” And his robots came back to take him on their claws and flew away leaving a very shocked Twilight behind, but not before release a smoke screen to cover Z’s track. From the highest tower of their home, Night Light and Twilight Velvet were seeing the disaster in their daughter’s old Academy. They were awoke for the sound of a explosion and the first they did was to run to check on their grandson’s safety; but he wasn’t there. They discovered a track of hoof-prints to that tower, but again there was no sign of him, it was like he flew away but it didn’t had sense. And finally they saw a giant metal structure carrying Equestria’s newest villain, Mister Z. They stepped backwards but he didn’t mind, he was so furious that he didn’t care anymore. Z deactivated his suit revealing himself to his grandparents. “What?” “The metallic servant project did work. I made it so well that I also adapted them as soldiers. You can have one if you want” said Bright coldly and walked back to his room. Looking at the devastation Z have just made, Twilight felt as confused as ever. This didn’t seem like Z’s doing, his crimes were more to call for attention instead of make real destruction; so why he decided to destroy her academy. And then it was that weapon, why did he destroyed everything with a single shot instead of go and take something from the Academy? This seemed more like a tantrum than an actual villainous action, and that was when Twilight had a horrible feeling that made her shiver. But no! It didn’t had any sense. There was no way a ten-year-old could build all that right? “It’s urgent I recruit the new group of heroes. I have to take off his mask no matter what!” > Rule # 20 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule # 20: A villain know how to appreciate a good opponent Twilight arrived to her Castle, still a little tired from that weekend, but she had to make her best to not to worry her niece, and dealing with Bright Spark. She still had a lot of doubts of what happened with Mr. Z, but she decided to keep the appearances, at least for now. The lavender alicorn opened the door and found Discord with his silly smile on his face, but this time, seemed more forced than anything; and also his eyes reflected exhaustion, just as hers. “Hi Discord. You didn’t annoy Flurry that much, do you?” “On the contrary Princess, that girl knows how to get under your skin when she wants something. What about you? Had a though weekend too?” Twilight frowned, she was still very angry, but at least agreed with her parents she had to wait to talk with Bright until she wasn’t willing to kill him. “This kid, I swear! But if he doesn’t want to follow my steps it’s okay, it’s up to him! But being that rude with professors of my Academy? Forget it, I have more important things to think about…” But she shut up when Flurry came to greet her. “Hi auntie! Where’s Cousin Bright?” Twilight frowned, but held herself because she knew Flurry didn’t know what happened. “I don’t want to talk about it now Flurry, I’m sorry. Right now I have to think how to bring back the ‘superheroes’ from last time” said the purple alicorn sitting in her couch. Flurry and Discord exchanged a look, and then the God of Chaos stared to Twilight while scratching his head. “For real, Princess? But why? I thought Celestia asked you and your friends specifically to take care of this situation!” “You must understand Discord that neither my friends nor I are getting any younger, also this new generation of villains are nothing like we faced before; so it's only logical that the new generations of heroes are the one who take care of this!” “So you’re looking for the youngsters do your job. Is just me or you learnt that behavior form Celestia?” Said Discord raising an eyebrow. “Maybe, but I’m not in the mood for moral discussions; and yes, they proved they have the power to defeat Tirek, but when my friends and I faced them the last time, they seemed uninterested. Also their reaction was more like a child realizing his/her game wa no longer a game. No, I need ponies who act like them, think like them, etc. And I need to give those ponies the support they need, to take the villains down and unmask them. Sealing those two away seems awfully extreme. Anyway, thank you Discord, now if you excuse me I need to relax before Bright Spark returns from visiting my parents so I can talk with him as calmed as possible” “Wait a minute, why is Bright Spark with the grandparents? I want to see them too! We always have a hell of a time!” “Flurry, I don’t want to talk about it, at least not for now. Now please, try to be as quieter as possible, I had a long weekend, and still have a long day before me” Then she went upstairs leaving alone the draconequs awith the pink alircon. Whent were alone, Flurry dedicated the widest of smiles to Discod, who sighed in defeat. “Whatever, but you better think in a better plan, because last time you failed miserably” “Easy, we just have to coordinate a little better, and instead of react to what those two do, we have to make them fall in our own tricks!” Assured Flurry. “Okay I’m listening” sighed Discord. Much more later, on the Crystal Empire, certain purple dragon was getting back after an exhausting day in college, when he found Discord waiting for him in his room. “What can I help you with?” Asked Spike. “If it’s for a guys night, I’m on my finals; but I’ll gladly join you in a couple of weeks” “No Spike, is not to help me. To help them.” Said Discord extending his claw making appear a bunch of ponies in Spike’s room. It was the interesting group who Spike had read about in the newspaper: Shadow Ninjutsu, Elementary, Watt and Captain Awesome. The dragon raised an eyebrow and looked at the heroes, then to Discord then back to the heroes. “Unexpected but I think I get it. Which one is Flurry?” Captain Awesome took off the helmet and walked to Spike. “I knew you’ll figure it out soon uncle Spike!” Cheered Flurry Heart. “What actually surprises me is that you were able to convince Discord to help. Now, what’s this all about?” “Auntie Twilight needs our help to defeat Z and Dolly once and for all, but since the two of them are too powerful and last time we failed dumbly we could use an extra hoof, or claw. And that’s where you come in uncle Spike. Please, we cannot stop them without you” “Do you realize those two actually defeated Tirek, right?” “Why do you think we’re asking for more help?” Spike laughed happily at this. “Okay, this is the weirdest thing that ever happened to me, and I lived a good part of my life with Twilight. But okay, what do you need me for?” “Help us to coordinate! Can you?” “Why not? It’ll be fun!” And since the key for a good relationship was confidence, the rest of the heroes took off their masks. Spike only knew Light Spectra since he was the son of Dash and Soarin; but for the rest he barely remembered seeing them a couple of times in Ponyville. Still he didn’t mind, it was always good to make new friends. “When do we go after the new villains?” Asked Spike. “First we need to practice a little by fighting crime. Are you ready uncle?!” Spike nodded approvingly and Discord snapped his fingers to make appear four magical mirrors so Spike could take a close look to every move of each hero. They were going to need a lot of practice if they were actually thinking in fight Equestria’s new villains. And speaking of villains, Bright walked to his home very nervous, not because the imminent punishment his mother will put on him for being disrispectufl to the examiners; but because his actions from last night could make his mother to find about his secret identity as Mr. Z. Seriously, what was he thinking? He stupidly broke one of his own rules. Still he entered. “Bright Spark” said his mother coldly. “Hi mom” said Bright with a tone of resignation, sitting in front of him. Twilight forced herself to smile to her son and served him a glass of juice while she made some tea for herself. “Then…” said Bright shyly. “So, let me see if I get it: you don’t want to follow my steps by studying in the Academy for Gifted Unicorns?” “No mom, I’m sorry but I’m more interested in other things and I wanted to tell you but you’re busy all the time, and when we have some time together, you want to dedicate it to the study of magic, and you’re so excited that I have no choice but play along” Twilight nodded sadly. “I’m sorry Bright, I’ve never been good at listening or seeing more than I wanted to see, that was the exact same problem I had with Spike years ago and… oh, forget it. I apologize for not listening to you Bright; but we still have to talk about your behavior” Bright sighed. “I overdid, I know” “Yes you overdid, such disrespectfulness to such personalities is something I cannot ignore. Now, your dad told me about your little plan to make me happy and free you from studying there, so I guess this is not only our fault; but you’re grounded. Two weeks” Bright still thought it wasn’t fair, but at least he already took care of the Academy so he better not said anything. “I guess I’ll go to my room then” Twilight just said it was okay; maybe when they were more calmed she could find the time to share Bright’s interests but right now she had to calm down. On one hoof, in the other, she was affraid what she could find. Like comfirming her theroy. In the meantime, in his room, Bright realized a little light was tingling on his desk, it was his communicator. So he just walked to it and activated the gadget. “Hey Bright, how was your weekend?” “Could be worst, two weeks grounded” “Come on! Can’t you go to my house even for an hour? There’s something I need to discuss with you in person” “Sorry, not yet. I’m so sorry Luminositè!” The filly sighed. “Okay, but try to get to my home when your mother allows you to. It’s urgent” Bright cut off the communication, he had two long weeks before him but at least he could do whatever he wanted as Mr. Z. Crystal Empire: Bright Spark was having a hard time, and even if she felt bad about her cousin, Flurry couldn’t help but being happy of how things were doing. Right now she was back home at the Crystal Empire running from rooftop to rooftop dressed as the Captain. “Anything, uncle Spike?” From his room, the dragon was checking on several magic mirrors to take a close look of each of Equestria’s new heroes. “Not yet cap, but Shadow Ninjutsu; there’s a robbery in progress right in front of the building you’re running” In the streets of Mane-Hattan, the hero jumped from wall to wall to finally stop when he spotted the robber running from the victim; but the criminal had to stop when somepony threw a shuriken star right in front of him. “What the hay?” From the shadows, the new super hero took him by the neck and threw him to the floor tying him up immediately. “Summimasen, but this is yours” said the ninja returning his belongings to the victim. Inside his room, Spike applauded this action and continued coordinating the heroes. “You’re doing great to be a nerd of the comic books” mocked Discord seeing the dragon. “What are you talking about? I’m doing great precisely for being a comic nerd!” Protested Spike. Discord nodded. “Yeah, I won’t deny it” Then something in a mirror caught Spike’s attention. “Watt, a soldier from Princess Celestia is making you signs to approach. Hey, I think is my brother-in-law!” In Canterlot, the electrical hero answered to the dragon’s words by moving at the speed of light and get right in front of the commander to the anti-villain-force (created especially to deal with you-know-who). “What can I do for you, fellow protector of the order?” Flash Sentry made a small nod. “Are you one of the heroes who faced Dolly and Mister Z?” Asked the Pegasus. “Of course I am! Have you heard of us?” “Quite a lot. The Crown needs you. Only you know how those morons think” “I know…” said Watt expectant. From inside his room connected all the magic mirrors so the whole group could hear the conversation. Flurry was especially excited, she was waiting for this moment since she heard her aunt saying she would ask for their help. But back with Flash and Watt, the hero asked: “So what do you want us to do exactly?” “Considering the delicate of the situation, the Crown is asking you for a meeting at the Castle of Friendship” said Flash Sentry. “For real?” Asked Watt. “Exactly, three days from now in the Castle of Friendship at noon” “All the Crown?” Asked Watt. “Yes, the Princesses of the Sun, the Moon, Friendship and the Crystal King and Queen” “You can count on us” assured Watt. “You can count on us as well” assured the other heroes even if Flash couldn’t hear them. Back in Spike’s room, the purple dragon nodded satisfied. “The moment we were waiting for is already here!” Island of Tambelon: The only inhabitant of the island opened his eyes after his attempt to sleep. The Silver Cowbell have been ringing annoying him. It wasn’t like he needed to rest or anything, but this was irritating and somehow worrying. “What is wrong with you?” Asked Grogar. As answer the Silver Cowbell rang louder. Grogar shook his head, he hated this thing but it was too late to regret now. When it chose him as his Champion he accepted believing the promise that one day he’ll find a rival brave enough to defy him, and also strong enough to put on a real fight on him. Then he realized. “You mean… there’s actually someone who can? Someone worth it?” He looked in direction to Equestria and again closed his eyes to feel its surroundings. Nothing new, the same shit of always… but no, there was something new added. Discord’s powers divided in a strange way. Through the eyes of the draconequus he saw the group of young heroes. “I guess I should take a look then. But if it’s another disappointment, the whole world will pay the consequences” Castle of Friendship, three days later: The four heroes showed up punctually, and were gracefully received by the two Main Princesses, the Crystal Queen and King, and the Bearers of Harmony leaded by Princess Twilight Sparkle; and the Princess’ husband but he stayed silent as a watcher only. Even Spike was there using the excuse he was visiting Twilight, but he was there actually to help Flurry and her gang. Not so long ago Discord have placed the magic mirrors so he could help the heroes during the battle. Twilight felt a little nervous, but confident that everything will be okay. At least she made sure that her beloved son was safe with his grandparents while the heroes take care of the situation. The first one to talk was Captain Awesome: “First of all, I want you to know it’s an honor to be here to take care of this situation” “But why the change? I thought you didn’t want us at first” “Maybe not, but after our last encounter with Z and Dolly we realized those two still have something good inside them, besides I have a horrible feeling and the only way to confirm it is to capture those two as soon as possible” “Horrible feeling?” Asked Elementary. “Personal business darling” said Rarity, who have a very clear idea of what was happening on Twilight’s mind. But she would attach to her plan to speak with Bright Spark first, after all she was pretty sure he and Lumi will win this. “So what are our instructions?” Asked Watt. Twilight looked around and shrugged. “I think you have learnt something since your last encounter, right?” Said Twilight. “A lot! We’re ready this time!” Assured Captain Awesome. “Glad to hear it because this is actually a trap. You see, we called you here because…” “You knew those two wouldn’t resist to make an entrance?” Guessed Shadow Ninjutsu. “We figured it out already. We’re all here to say hi to our favorite evil doers!” Said Elementary. There was no need to say more, because as they were waiting for an invitation (and actually they were) the two ponies in black spandex suits jumped in front of the Princesses and heroes. “As always you never miss an opportunity to show off” said Flash annoyed. “Of course, a professional villain haves to make a show of his/herself” said Z scratching his head. And for Dolly, she ran to hug Captain Awesome. “Mon Capitein! We missed so much!” “Even if we only saw you once!” Added Z hugging Awesome too. Awesome pushed them away angrily. “At least you haven’t changed” “Let’s do this, but at least let us evacuate Ponyville” said Celestia. “Done!” Said the two of them taking a remote. The Z-Bots appeared on Ponyville’s sky playing loud electronic music making the ponies panic and run away from town. “He can always count with the Ponyvillians” said Z. “The fact that the Bearers of Harmony live here made them too used to this things. It’s kind of sad when you think about it” said Dolly shrugging. “So shall we go out now?” Politely asked Mr. Z to the heroes. The rivals nodded ant the two groups went outside. The Princesses plus Shining and Flash Sentry just stood there watching them leave; they have all seeing villains come and go during their lives, but these two were the first ones who just showed up claiming to be professional villains and despite having unimaginable power, they just insisted in doing minor crimes that were more annoying that actually evil. They practically were like… “Children playing” said Cadence without understanding. Twilight nodded while biting her lip, she wished that her bad feelings were wrong. In the battlefield, before the two villains could take position, Captain Awesome and Watt aimed their hooves to them and sent them a big dose of electricity and sonic waves; but they eluded it on time. “Hey! Not fair!” Complained Z. “Why should we play fair if you don’t, idiots?” Said Elementary. The evil ponies made an approval nod. “I like you guys” “Yeah, that’s the spirit. Now, Dollies, let’s go!” The little dolls began to walk at great speed, surrounding the heroes and releasing a smoke cloud that covered the whole place. Dolly smiled inside her mask and made an elegant backflip while her dolls’ heat-sensors gave her the heroes’ positions; when suddenly several kunais (or ninja’s throwing-knives) impacted on her body. The suit repelled them, but she gasped in surprise and used her scarf to protect herself from more and more of those attacks. “How?” “I’m a ninja, darkness gives me a field advantage” Dolly groaned and prepared to fight. “You better make this worth it” Dolly’s dollies took positions behind Shadow Ninjutsu and began to shot small lasers; but he vanished and reappeared several meters away. A new bunch of dolls began to attack him but he vanished again; somehow he moved too fast to be detected even by Dolly’s advanced sensors. “Shadow Clones, do you like it?” Dolly was about to react when suddenly she received a bo-bow blow right on her face making her lose her balance, it didn’t hurt her because of her Weapo-niform but it gave Shadow Ninjutsu time to roundhouse kick her. And in the meantime Rarity couldn’t help but wonder how things will go if the group of heroes win. She was absolutely sure that Bright and Lumi could handle them since they practically defeated Tirek without an effort, but if the heroes win, she had to speak with Twilight before she unmask them. Back to the battle, the Z-Bots have surrounded an area and were about to attack with their plasma cannons when they were destroyed by a blue lighting and powerful sound-waves. Mr. Z was hidden in a bush and seemed disappointed of what just happened, and more when Watt’s attack went straight to him. “Did I hit him, cap?” Captain Awesome shook his head. “He eluded it, but barely” Z looked at the two heroes. “How did you find me guys?” “We improved. Since I use sonic waves as a weapon, I learnt how to use a sonar” explained Captain Awesome. “I don’t believe I’m actually saying this but, Awesome!” Cheered Z. They kept fighting and in the meantime Elementary took the chance to transform into wind and blow away the smoke to clear the heroes’ vision for the battle revealing several dolls and Z-Bots prepared to jump over the heroes at any time. “Okay, you got better” admitted Dolly. “This time we came prepared” said Captain. “I wish this is the beginning of a beautiful enmity” said Z shacking his hooves. No one realized of the three silent watchers careful looking at the battle from a prudential distance. No matter which group wind the battle, they would intervene since both heroes and ‘villains’ will end up exhausted after the match. The observers of course were no others than Sombra, Chrysalis and Tirek, who was convinced at last minute when his fellow villains. They convinced by saying that the ones who put the collar on him would be so busy fighting that they won’t pay attention to him. “So this is only the beginning. They’re not doing bad” said the centaur. “Maybe, the new heroes really are something” agreed Sombra. “Yeah, for the first time I actually want the good guys to win” admitted Chrysalis. The battle grew in intensity, but Spike was confident that his niece and friends will wind this; Discord too, and both were watching the battle in Spike’s old room through the mirrors and warning the group of the villains’ moves. “Behind you Shadow N! The explosive ones are trying to get you!” “Elementary, change of Element! The Z-Bots are combining to transform into something, turn into something they can’t handle!” “Damn it Watt, less running more action! Fry those two from behind!” And such, it was the most exciting thing the dragon has ever done since he lived in the Crystal Empire. Suddenly the door was opened. It was Cadence. “Spike? Discord? What’s going on in here?” “What are you doing here?” Asked Spike. “Well, you’re like a son to us so I came to see if you were okay but this…” “There’s a lot to explain, I know, but right now I can’t distract, I must help the heroes to defeat Z and Dolly!” On the mirrors Cadence just looked how the villains and heroes continued fighting; and thanks to Spike it was the heroes who had the advantage. So at the end she face-hoofed, it wasn’t too hard to connect the dots. “Which one is Flurry?” … At the end both groups stood in front of each other. Unbelievably enough, the destruction was minimal; and after an uncomfortable silence, they all laughed happily. “Hahahaha! You know? For a moment, I was afraid I wouldn’t see you again guys! I thought I had to resign myself to fight the old ladies” said Z very excited. “Yeah, unfortunately, your little game ends here for Equestria’s sake!” Said Awesome. “Don’t you see it? This girl is a bad influence, you’re going to the point of no return because of her!” “Ehem, maladroit, you’re getting things wrong. The bad influence is Monseur Z!” Complained Dolly. “Exactly, do not confuse things” said Z. “I can’t believe she actually convinced you that you are the bad influence!” Said the Captain. Shadow Ninjutsu sighed annoyed. “Captain, can we attack now?” “Oh, sorry” They prepared to continue fighting, when suddenly everyone froze in horror, including those who didn’t have magic abilities. What was it? Who held this overwhelming power? Finally he appeared, looking at everyone as they were nothing but insects. Frowning in disgust he spitted to the floor and sighed disappointed. “As I thought, this is a disappointment. Now everyone, and I mean absolutely everyone, in this miserable world will pay the consequences, starting by the ponies” It was Grogar. > Rule # 21 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule # 21: (Recently added) A villain knows what to choose between family and being a villain It was Grogar, Lord of Tambelon, and master of all villains. The vilest and cruelest who have ever lived, Grogar. Every single one froze when saw the almighty Overgoat, walking slowly into the battlefield. Most of them didn’t know him: the six Bearers of Harmony, Shining, Cadence, Flash Sentry Spike; and of course the two groups of heroes and villains. But they could feel the aura of pure he irradiated and shrank in terror (except for the newest villains). However, what was this creature? Why did his aura feel this monstrous? With a single look they could say he was worse than any other villain they faced. But the ones who were the most scared, were the ones who did know him: the Princesses, Discord and even the three villains watching on the distance. “I was afraid this would happen. LOOK WHAT YOU’VE DONE!” cried Celestia shaking in fear. Grogar’s sinister eyes moved around the place paying especial attention to the group of masked heroes, who slowly moved backwards. Just by looking at him they knew they didn’t have a chance. They have to escape, to run… they still had so many things to live for. Captain Awesome looked at Discord looking for protection, but he was literally petrifying because of fear. There was no escape, this was the end. “I came here for a challenge, but what do I find?” Said the Overgoat walking slowly while touching lightly the Silver Bell on his neck. He advanced towards the terrified heroes. “Nothing but a bunch of children stuffed into magic suits. Is this a kind of game for you or what? You’re nothing but trash, pathetic bugs. Let me see your faces so I can see the light extinguish from your eyes!” He took by the neck who was closer to him, Captain Awesome, and threw away his helmet. Flurry Heart screamed in fear, but she was unable to escape; why didn’t she used the super-sonic-waves from the suit? Well, just by seeing Grogar she knew that wouldn’t affect him, he was too powerful. Grogar frowned when he noticed the girl’s desperation and he spitted on her face. He then looked at the other heroes, to then to the ponies guarding on the Castle. Finally his evil eyes stopped on the girl’s parents; the fear they felt was stronger than their desire to protect their child. Grogar grinded his teeth and began to shake Flurry to the point she peed herself, and he finally threw her to Cadence and Shining. “So the same shit of always, what’s wrong with you? I’m here willing to kill this child, your child, as slow and painful as possible; and you won’t do anything?” Flurry looked at her parents and mumbled what it seemed like an apology while the monster continued looking at them with disgust. They couldn’t say that Grogar was enjoying with the situation nor he hated them. No, for Grogar they were nothing but insects to squish. Without a warning, Grogar teleported him and Flurry in front of the Crystal Monarchs. “Come on! Defend her, do something! Why aren’t you trying to protect your child? That’s why I hate everyone so much, no one fights for its dignity when I show up; they let me do whatever I want only because they’re too afraid to act. You’re nothing but disgusting insects, no, insects are better than you! You’re nothing but bacteria who deserve to be punished just for exist!” Grogar released Flurry and took the Crystal Monarch by their manes. “I’ll kill you all starting by who disgust me the most: the parents who doesn’t have the nerve to protect their child” They didn’t even tried to defend themselves, only sobbed waiting for the inevitable, infuriating Grogar even more. The stupid Cowbell guided him to Equestria because supposedly he’ll find someone worthy to call a true enemy. But nothing, just the same bunch of weak cowards of always. And then something unexpected happened, the sound of steps leading to his direction, followed by an impertinent question: “We get it, we all disgust you. So why don’t you do us all a favor and kill yourself?” Everyponies’ jaws dropped and turned to Mr. Z who walked to Grogar like there was nothing to worry about. But inside his suit, Bright Spark felt confused: he didn’t get why Flurry Heart was disguised as Captain Awesome, but he didn’t care. All he knew was that his family was in danger and he had to protect them no matter what. He also didn’t understand why his aunt and uncle didn’t do anything when Grogar threatened them and Flurry. Okay, they were afraid, he could see that but he really didn’t get why. Well, his suit’s sensors went crazy as soon as the goat appeared, meaning that the Overgoat's power was beyond his calculations. But Bright and Lumi were more excited than anything. And for the goat, he released Cadence and Shining and walked threateningly to the insolent who dared to talk back to him. “Let me see if I get it, you’re demanding me to kill myself?” "No, no, no; Monseur Z suggests you to kill yourself” said Dolly joining her friend with an agile and elegant jump. His friend maybe went a little too far but even if he was that crazy, she wouldn’t abandon him; besides she didn’t get why everypony was so afraid neither. “You see: as we can see that’s the only way you can be happy” Everypony was froze at the impertinence of the two villains. Okay, they were confident on their abilities, but right now their recklessness have just turned into stupidity. But surprisingly enough, that made Grogar smile. For the first time on his life. “Kill myself you say, but that would be like a favor for all this low creatures so I won’t do it. But you entertained me so I’ll concede you a wish and you better ask me to…” Kill yourself!” Said the villains at the unison. “…you better ask me to kill you without pain because is the only thing I plan to do for you. No one have ever talked to me like that before. Congratulations!! Now…” He raised two hooves charging them with a huge amount of power, it was a horrible red glow that seemed ten thousand times worse than Alicorn Magic; but suddenly Dolly’s scarf wrapped around his back-legs as it was some kind of snake and after a single pull from its owner, it made Grogar fall. But the two villains haven’t stopped there, seeing him vulnerable, they both kicked him right on his face sending the Overgoat ten meters away. And as he was used to, Mr. Z took the Code of the Villains from his suit and opened it: “You’re violating the Code of the Villains: a villain should never enter to another villain’s territory” “And Equestria it’s our personal playground, you must go” Grogar shook his head, he didn’t get it, he truly didn’t. Why couldn’t he prevent their moves? Yes, his power was monstrous but his true strength came from his unique ability. He was born with an extreme sensitivity towards magic; allowing him to guess his opponents’ every single move before they made it, and since every living creature was linked to magic he was able to guess every move from everyone making any attempt to stop him or ever get close to him completely useless. But this time he couldn’t feel anything, not the scarf nor the kick. And now that he realized, he couldn’t feel any kind of aura coming from them, it was like they weren’t there or something was hiding their auras; but his ability allowed Grogar to even feel the spells to hide auras. How did that work? Still Grogar didn’t care, this whole trip suddenly seemed that worth it even if it was only to receive a punch on his face, it was the first punch he ever received on his life. He grinned and surrounded his body with the same red aura and turned to the young villains and spitted them a black strain of flames not giving them enough time to defend themselves. Finally Grogar made a small gesture with his hoof and then the ground literally swallowed them. “You’re nothing but scum, but at least you were more worth it than the rest of the scum. I wish you lasted more” Then he advanced to the group of ponies who looked at the scene in awe. Grogar felt even more disgusted by them now that he met, two creatures who not only dared to talk back to him but punch him as well. “Now where were we, happy family?” Asked the Overgoat preparing to kill the irresponsible parents. ]Something hugged his leg. "Huh?” Asked Grogar looking down. It were two dolls, dressed just like one of the two idiots he just defeated. The Dolly’s dollies looked up and before they could say something, strong steel cables have immobilized him. Grogar surrounded his body with a red aura, so hot that melted the metal, and then he faced the still terrified ponies; unfortunately the two dolls distracted them enough time for a squad of Z-Bots came in surrounding and aiming its cannons to Grogar. The Overgoat raised an eyebrow, just like with the two villains, he felt no magic aura coming from the metallic giants. “Whatever!” He said tackling against the nearest one. The machine melted at the contact of Grogar’s magic aura but the rest of the group didn’t mind. Instead they shot several electrical streams against him. Grogar destroyed more of the Z-Bots but they kept coming. “Aren’t you afraid of me?” “I seriously doubt it” said Z appearing behind his mechanical army. “They’re made of cable and metal, they have no emotions, and I barely gave them enough intelligence to follow our orders” Dolly jumped aside her partner. “And right now: we order them to use level 9 weapons” The electrical weapons turned into big dangerous plasma cannons, that the robots began to shoot against Grogar at the same time. Grogar laughed at this, the impacts were actually painful more than enough to kill a Minotaur with a single blow, but it was nothing for someone like Grogar. He smashed his steel rivals under his hooves with ease. Then he spotted Dolly’s scarf trying to get him by the left, but the thing disintegrated when it touched Grogar’s aura. “Whoa, don’t let him touch you Monseur Z!” Warned Dolly making a triple backflip to avoid the goat. “I’ve figured it out already” said Z taking also a prudential distance from Grogar. The Overgoat stretched a little and transformed his aura into several tentacles that tried to catch the two villains. Knowing their suits will suffer the same fate as the scarf if they touch the tentacles, Z decided to chill the things a little. The youngster aimed his hoof to Grogar and shot a stream of liquid nitrogen that evaporated at the contact of the ram’s body, creating a cloud that blinded him temporary giving ]Z and Dolly more than enough time to shot a couple of lasers. Grogar answered with more of his black-fire breath; both attacks met at the center creating a huge explosion. This was getting ugly. In the meantime the spectators finally reacted and have refuged into Twilight’s Palace already where they created a magic barrier working together. “I was afraid that this happen from the very beginning! This two morons attracted Grogar!” sobbed Celestia trembling. “To be fair for the first time in history someone have punched Grogar” said Discord making appear rock after rock to block the door. Shining and Cadence were helping their daughter to take off the suit. “Mom? Dad?” “Why Flurry? Why?” Asked Cadence taking her daughter in a tight embrace. The teenage girl wiped a small tear from her eye. “I wanted to live inside a comic” “Dear, that’s not how it’s work!” Said Shining Armor. “You endangered yourself only because of a hobby?” “Mr. Z and Dolly can…” “They have brought the destruction to Equestria!” Shouted Shining Armor. “Maybe they managed to entertain Grogar for a while, but at the end he’ll kill them. There’s no hope” Flurry hugged her parents crying. “I know, but I want to believe!” Cadence sobbed. “I’m so sorry dear, our last memory together is you being held by the monster and your father and I unable to help you”[ Flurry shook her head. “I understand… he’s a monster!” [ Twilight and Luna helped the other three heroes. Nopony could believe who they really were, especially Rainbow Dash when she discovered her son under Shadow Ninjutsu’s mask “Light! What were you thinkin?! “I don’t know, be a ninja?” He said ironically. “Besides we were never in real danger until he arrived!” Protested Sparkler, Derpy’s younger daughter, taking off the mask of the superhero Watt. “We thought we could beat Z and Dolly, but clearly we underestimated them!” “They do nothing but act like idiots, that’s why we thought they were like us: geeks with too much free time” explained Beat Box, daughter of Vinyl and Octavia, taking off her suit of Elemental. Rarity haven’t said anything yet since she was too scared to act since Grogar’s arrival, at first she thought she could wait until Bright and Lumi defeat the four heroes and then have a serious talk with the little Prince, but now everything changed. She was worried for her daughter, she had to do something; but she also had to tell Twilight and Flash. “Twilight! Flash! There’s something I need to tell you…” Twilight looked at her friend confusedly but then Luna shook her head calling Twilight’s full attention. “Princess Luna?” “I simply don’t get how they’ve been able to surprise Grogar that many times” “What ya’ mean Princess?” Asked Applejack. “Every living creature is somehow connected to magic, you can say magic is directly linked to life; and Grogar’s true strength is his ability to feel even the faintest magic pulsations from a living being. That allows him to anticipate every move anyone makes arund him…” “That means Z’s and Dolly’s weapons work without magic; and also it seems like they don’t have any magic inside them, like they aren’t even alive” finished Celestia. The Palace of Friendship shacked over and over as the result of the battle outside, and even if nopony liked Z or Dolly they still attached to the small hope they win. And for Twilight, her only consolation was that Bright was safe (at least temporary) in Canterlot. “Twilight, Flash! Please, this is important!” Insisted Rarity. The Royal Couple was about to pay attention to Rarity, when a tremor stronger than usual followed by a powerful explosion was heard, and before anypony could react, the two villains were sent through the door and the improvised barrier Discord made, falling violently in the middle of the Thrones Room. The two of them had a string of smoke coming from their suits but still were able to fight. But then Grogar came into the Palace paralyzing of fear everypony (again). Strings of smoke were coming from his fur as well much to everyone’s surprise, but even if he was hurt and all, he felt happy. “This is over. It was interesting yeah, and I’ll regret killing you now. This was the first time someone dared to face me, not to mention hurt me. But everything good have to come to an end. Congratulations, I consider you my true rivals. That’s why I’ll kill you with honor” Z calmly took a remote control from his suit and pressed a button. The Palace trembled again as the floor removed revealing a huge-ass cannon that aimed right to Grogar. “Swallow this!” Shouted Mr. Z. The cannon shot a silver sphere that went straight to Grogar’s mouth and he began choking. “He literally swallowed?” Asked Dolly genuinely surprised. “Okay, I want to press the button!” [“No, no, no, no, no! This thing literally haves the power to blow up Canterlot’s Castle along with the mountain where it’s built. I want to do it” “Together!” Suggested Dolly. Z nodded, and together, the villains pressed the button. Grogar stood there for half of a second, when suddenly new streams of smoke appeared coming from his nose, ears and eyes… to finally vomit a huge amount of blood. The two villains nodded again and kicked him again on the face, this time sending the Overgoat to the other side of Ponyville. Z shrugged and began to walk to the door when Twilight stood before him. Stop!” “What?” Asked the villain. “How and when did you installed that into my house Z?! I demand to know!” Shouted Twilight. Dolly looked at Mr. Z worriedly, same for Rarity; but the kid didn’t mind and answered: “I live here” “What?” Asked Flash Sentry. Z nodded slowly. “My father spends most of his time working at Canterlot. And, for my mother, is she's so centered in her studies that she barely pays some attention to me. She never realizes of what I build or install here" Twilight moved backwards scared. “No… THIS CAN’T BE!” Flash just stood there completely astonished, same for the others who looked at Z in awe. Then the villain pressed a button from his suit, making it retract to two small cufflinks in the kid’s front hooves.  “No… Bright Spark?” The kid smiled to his parents. “Hi mom, dad… Godmother… hello everypony. I know you have tons of questions, but this isn’t the right moment, I think” he said completely calmed, only with an ironic smile. And like confirming what Bright Spark have just said, Grogar’s angry roar was heard in the distance. Bright grinned. “This guy is in his own league, right? Fortunately Dolly and me too! Emergency Protocol Class A! Activating Castle Defense System! Also I need a spare suit, ASAP!” Suddenly heavy steel doors covered the Castle’s doors and windows followed by power cores that activated some kind of electromagnetic shield that blocked magic. And finally another secret compartment under the floor opened revealing a table with four different remote controls that Bright took with his magic and turned to his mother and gave her one. “In order to defeat the goat, we must work together; but don’t worry, you don’t have to leave the Castle. In fact I turned this whole place into a fortress of death a while ago, so all you have to do is help me with the defense system. Here, you’ll control the attack-drones” He turned to Luna and gave her another remote: “Machine-guns” To Shining Armor: "Freezing guns” And finally to Godmother Celestia. “Plasma cannons” Then he took fifth remote, making the others began to wonder where he hid them, and pressed a button, making appear fifteen flat screens on the Thrones Room’s walls. “Now you’ll see what happen in every angle possible” explained the kid with a pride. A servant Z-Bot came in offering Bright Spark a new pair of cufflinks. Bright took them and then the machine turned to Dolly offering her a new mask. The girl took off her mask and accepted the new one. Rarity ran to her daughter. “Luminosité, please wait! I don’t want you to die!” “Don’t worry mère, we’ll win” A powerful magic beam hit the Palace making it shake entirely and suddenly the two foals fell on their knees. “Bright!” Said Twilight running to her son. “What is it? Are you okay?” “Luminositè! Talk to me Luminositè!” Cried Rarity. They nodded weakly. “Yes, we’re okay. Is just… is this his true power?” Asked Bright with a weak voice. “WHAT? YOU DIDN’T FEEL IT BEFORE?” Shrieked Luna. “Our suits makes us invulnerable to magic, but it haves a huge weakness: it blocks our own magic abilities, including the capability to feel magic power on others” explained Bright Spark. “That’s why we use sensors, but we never thought he would be this powerful. His power exceeds the sensors’ reading capability” said Lumi. She was still trembling. The two were petrified, the first normal reaction since Grogar appeared. Twilight’s desires to punch her son for being that stupid were struggling with her motherly instincts, that told her to comfort and protect Britht no matter what. At the end Twilight’s instincts proved to be stronger and she embraced Bright Spark with her wings. The kid trembled at the touch of his mother’s warm… and suddenly he began to laugh hysterically. “Bright?” Asked Twilight moving backwards. Her son smiled, it wasn’t a normal smile… no there was something else behind it: pure madness. “THIS IS GREAT! SINCE I CREATED THE CHARACTER OF MR. Z I HAVEN’T HAD THE CHANCE TO USE MY REAL WEAPONS! NOT EVEN WITH TIREK, HAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! PERFECT DO YOU FEEL IT LUMI?” The girl smiled to her friend “I know right? THE PERFECT GUINEA PIG! WE CAN DO EVERYTHING WE WANT TO HIM… AND HE’LL SURVIVE! PERFECT, PERFECT, PERFECT!” Rarity gulped, she knew her daughter had problems but this exceeded every expectation. “Let’s have fun Dolly!” “We’ll crush him for sure Monseur Z!” Everypony shivered, suddenly the two kids seemed more dangerous than Grogar. But they changed their minds when they heard Grogar’s trot towards them. “Damn it!” Said Bright pushing apart his mother and taking a new remote. On the screen they saw Grogar arriving to the Castle and punched the door with his hoof, but instead of destroying it, he was electrocuted. Then Bright activated with his remote a series of cannons right behind the Overgoat. But the goat turned right on time and destroy them before they could even touch him. “I’ve learnt to cover my back. Sorry” But still he didn’t noticed when a gigantic boot made of steel appeared where the cannons were moments ago and kicked him on the butt sending him flying all over the town again. Luminositè face-hoofed “Moron” “I was improvising” apologized Bright Spark. Celestia shot him a medium-powered magic attack. “Ouch! Godmother, why was that for?!” Complained Bright. “You deserve more for being so stupid!” Scolded Celestia furiously. “We’re all gonna die horribly because of you! And what you do?? PROVOKE GROGAR! ARE YOU CRAZY OR WHAT?” Lumi seemed to consider it. “Wi, mon biological parents broke my bones until they broke me inside” “For me… I’m pretty sure I have it from birth” said Bright Spark. The Palace shook again at Grogar’s attacks. “You’re an idiot Bright! I can’t believe I had a crush on Mr. Z!” Shouted Flurry. Bright shivered. "Neither do I. My own cousin… gross!” Flurry blushed and look to other side. Then Lumi hugged Bright tightly. “Besides I am the one who’ll marry him!” “Ew, Lumi!” Complained Bright separating from his friend. The Castle shook again. “Okay, we’ll discuss our future together later, we have something more important to focus on!” Said Lumi. ]Bright nodded and the two foals ran to Bright’s room. “Wait! Where do you think you’re going?” Asked Luna, blocking their way with a magic force-field. "We still have to discuss what's going on here!" Luminositè took what it seemed like a Swiss-army-knife and cut a door for the both of them on the force-field. Luna’s jaw dropped, they were actually capable to defeat alicorn magic with a tool so small? “Sorry Princess Luna, but we must go for the big guns, and our weapon storage’s nearest entrance is in my room” explained Bright Spark. “Yeah, we’ll defeat the Chèvre before you know it!” Assured Lumi. And the two of them disappeared upstairs. “Seriously, how many weapons have those two built?” Asked Luna with a shiver. The Palace shook again and Discord screamed in fear when he noticed the steel door starting to bend at Grogar’s attacks. Grogar continued sending magic beams to the door. He was… how was this emotion called? Happy? Yeah, he was happy! For the first time in history he was enjoying a battle, and he really wanted to kill this two not because he considered them bacteria that deserved to be destroyed only for daring to exist, but because of his pride. He would really enjoy kill those two! Still he felt a little disappointed when they locked themselves into the Castle, but he hoped that was just to rethink their strategy. And the sound of two ponies approaching confirmed this. Grogar turned smiling really excited for this battle, not being able to predict their attacks also added some emotion. He raised an eyebrow looking at them covered in some kind of metallic armor but he didn’t really mind. “For a moment I seriously thought you wouldn’t come out. My apologies” said the Overgoat. “My apologies as well!” Said Mr. Z bowing exaggeratedly. “We underestimated you so we had to pause until we rearm ourselves!” Grogar laughed happily. THEY underestimated HIM? God, this was hilarious. He truly liked those two. “Before we continue, can I ask your names, please?” The other two nodded happily and extended him their business cards “Mr. Z, professional villain. Nice to meet you!” “Je sois le Puppè but you can call me Dolly” “Grogar, and I’m going to kill you as fast and honorably as I can!” “You will try!” Defied Z. “My I ask why are you so confident about it?” Dolly made an elegant face-hoof. “The difference it’s pretty obvious, piece de animale” “You’re covered with fur, that is weak; and we are covered with steel, that is strong. You don’t have to be a genius to know how is this going to end” Grogar chuckled and reactivating the dark aura, he punched Z, who stopped his attack with a single hoof without the armor being affected. Grogar threw a few more punches against the villains, who responded with some punches on their own. Then Grogar changed his strategy and attacked them again with his black-fire-breath. They didn’t bother to elude it, but it was a bad idea since the armors actually received some damage from this. “Too much for you?” Asked Grogar. An explosion right on his back made Grogar turn, Bright’s attack drones have joined the battle along with the Z-Bots and Dolly’s dollies. Grogar smiled and set several magic attacks at the same time he eluded the Castle’s defense system and the villains’ attacks at the same time. But there was too much to focus at the same time and didn’t realized when Z approached enough to punch him on the jaw. Grogar spitted a couple of lose teeth. “Ahahahahahahaha! This is getting better and better! Now I’m sure I WANT TO DESTROY YOU!” And he began to bleat, a loud powerful ultra-sonic bleating that sent the machines flying; but the combat armors resisted without any problem. “TWO CAN PLAY THE SAME GAME!” Shouted Z over the sound making a sign. His Disco-Z-Bots revealed they were equipped with the world’s most advanced audio system and began to play music at an irresistible volume that mixed with Grogar’s bleat; the armors protected Dolly and Z, but Grogar’s ears began bleeding. Normally this wouldn’t affect him, but the bomb he swallowed weakened him really badly. “NOW!” Shouted Dolly. Six of Dolly’s dollies combined to create some kind of jet-pack that attached to Grogar’s back and literally sent him flying. Z then prepared his anti-aerial missiles but Dolly stopped him. “Wait!” “What?” "There’s only one thing capable to stop him” “You mean…” “The Little Boy” “Are you serious? But I thought you were afraid of that weapon” “And I am, but this is our only chance. Now go ask for help to the others, I’ll distract him” “Okay. Take care. Lumi” “Promise me something: when this finishes, I want a kiss” Z would complain but there was no time for that. A Z-Bot grabbed Dolly and flew with her where Grogar was. In the meantime Z ran to the Palace where its doors opened letting pass their creator. “You heard Dolly” said Bright knowing everypony were watching carefully in his flat-screens. Celestia nodded. "What do you have in mind?” “Nothing good, but it’s our only hope” “And are you sure this will work?” Asked Discord. As an answer Bright took the Code of the Villains. “As the Code says, the bad guys win and the good guys lose; and Lumi and I are bad guys so we’re gonna win!” Everypony looked at Bright Spark as he was crazy (and indeed he was), but at the end Twilight placed a hoof on her son’s shoulder. “You are my son and I support you Bright. But you must promise me something: you’ll quit to be a villain in exchange for my help” “No more villainies son” added Flash. “I don’t understand why are you doing this but this haves to stop” Bright nodded. “Okay, I promise. But I won’t quit to my inventions!” “Nopony is asking you to quit” assured Celestia. “In fact if you win the Crown will support the development of your science. Your inventions saved us after all, it’s only fair we support you” “But also we’ll be watching you really closely” said Luna frowning. Bright sighed. “Okay” "So what do you need us to do, nephew?” Asked Shining. “Uncle Shining, I need you to create the strongest force-field you can. And the rest of you I need you to reinforce it. Use all the power you have!” “A magic force-field?” Bright shrugged. “Believe me, if you don’t do as I say, we’re all gonna die. And not because of Grogar!” They all shivered, but agreed. And ran after Bright unsure if they were doing right helping him. In the distance they could see the explosions of the fight between Gogar and Dolly. NOW UNCLE! I NEED YOU TO MAKE A DOME BUT DON’T CLOSE IT, NOT YET!” Shining obeyed creating the force-field around the two fighters. Grogar looked around when he felt the magic-force-field beginning to form. What now? Well, he didn’t care, he had to defeat Dolly and then Z. And finally kill the cowards who were watching from the distance, but he would let the ponies live with the hope an opponent as good as Dolly and Mr. Z appear on the future. Dolly then attacked Grogar with some kind of sticky liquid that attached him to the ground and buried the Overgoat to all the way up to the neck. He roared and tried to escape but the liquid hardened instantly. Still Dolly only had a few seconds to act. “It was fun, but now it’s time for me to leave!” Apologized Dolly jumping back to the Z-Bot’s claws. The robot flew away while several cracks were appearing on the surface of Grogar’s improvised prison. “Do I close it now?” Asked Shining when he saw Dolly flying away. “Not yet!” Said Bright activating a series high-security commands on his suit. Twilight looked back at her Palace, just in time to see how the main tower elevated slightly and divided in half. “Huh?” A cigar-shaped or egg-shaped metallic object flew from the tower guided by straight were Grogar was stuck. “CLOSE IT NOW!” Commanded Bright. The dome closed right after the egg entered. Grogar struggled more against the strange substance he was trapped in, but he realized he won’t make it on time; so he attacked it with his magic. Worst idea ever.  From outside the couple the group saw a mushroom-shaped cloud beginning to expand slowly. At Bright’s sign, Cadence, Luna, Celestia, Twilight, Rarity, Flurry, Beat Box, Sparkler and Discord used their full strength to reinforce Shining’s force-field… And then the cloud impacted on the force-field. Everypony screamed in pain. Rarity, Flurry and Sparkler even fainted because of the power of the impact. Celestia noticed that her nose was bleeding because of the effort she was doing… even her sight became blur by seconds; and she understood she won’t last too long… and she wasn’t the only one. Everyone was in worse condition than her, struggling desperately to contain the cloud of death inside the dome. Several cracks began to appear on the surface as everypony’s strength was fading away; when suddenly three more villains came out of nowhere. Tirek, Sombra and Chrysalis. “What are you doing here?” Asked Dolly aiming her weapons to her. But then the three villains combined their powers reinforce the dome. “What?!” Tirek grinned. “If there’s a chance that to defeat the monster, you can count on me!" “And me!” Added Chrysalis. “He must be destroyed!” Shouted Sombra. Help was appreciated, but soon the villains began to weaken too, this weapon was too powerful to contain. This was Bright Spark’s true power, his ultimate weapon. And speaking of Bright, he took off his armor and suit, he had to enjoy the show with his own eyes and began to laugh delighted. “Beautiful! I’VE BEEN WAITING FOR AGES TO USE THIG THING! Bright always had a clear idea of what this weapon would do, but only theoretically. Seeing it was a complete different experience. ]Lumi took off her suit as well. "This thing is worse than I imagined, but I must admit is kind of interesting” The others continued holding the explosion until it began to cede. And when it was finally over, they were about to release the force-field but Luminositè stopped them right on time. “Wait, the environment inside the dome is extremely toxic, we have to take care of it or the consequences will be devastating” Nopony said anything but continued holding the dome, and at Bright’s command a troop of Z-Bots marched and penetrated the force-field without breaking it, thanks to Lumi’s nano-machines it was possible. "Now!” The Z-Bots activated what it seemed like industrial vacuum cleaners and absorbed all the radioactive dust and radiation itself. Finally Bright and Lumi said it was safe to retire the force-field. “Bright, what the hell was that thing?!” Asked Twilight with a shiver. “This one is called the Little Boy. …” But they all muttered when they felt Grogar’s presence coming closer. What? Impossible! But much for their surprise it was actually him, his fur was burned, he limped and could barely breath, but he was actually there… and hate was burning in his eyes. “Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait!” Complained Bright Spark. “I just threw you a nuke straight to your face! A FRICKING NUKE! How’s that you’re still alive?!” Grogar fell on his knees. “Honestly, I have no idea… seriously, what was that?” Bright took a cannon one of his robots was offering him and began to electrocute Grogar. “Die already!” Grogar screamed in pain, he was too weak to resist now. “DIE!” Demanded Lumi joining as well. Grogar screamed again, but he didn’t die. He stood there trembling as the electricity ran all over his body… and the two kids were about to change to a plasma cannons when they saw the fear on their mothers’ eyes, so they left it. Grogar chuckled. “So this is how you really look… two ten-year-olds!” He began to laugh but couldn’t resist and bend in pain. “You win this kids, I admit defeat. You are the first ones who have defeated me! But I’ll be back and you better be ready because I would never underestimate you again!” And, with the last of his strength, Grogar teleported away leaving everypony in silence. “Did they actually defeated Grogar?!” > Rule # 22 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule # 22: A villain knows when is time to stop Everyone were silent still shocked for what just happened. Grogar, the damn Grogar, the incarnation of pure evilness and terro,r have just been defeated. By two ten-year-old-kids! How was that even possible? “Okay, that was intense! Now that the weirdo is gone, what about we focus on the important stuff, huh?” Asked Bright Spark. “The important stuff? What do you mean Bright? Something dangerous again?!” Asked Twilight still half-recovering after contain that monstruos explossion. “What?! No! I meant repair the town, Z-Bots! Go fix this mess, I want this town as good as new!” The machines activated at its creator command and flew to Ponyville at full speed. Lumi then made a small gesture to her ‘dolls’ that joined the Z-Bots; so the two kids finally relaxed. “In all my years I never thought I would live long enough to see someone who lasts Grogar more than a minute, not to say actually defeat him” said Tirek falling on his knees. That made Bright and Luminositè turn to the other villains. “That reminds me, what are you doing here?” Asked Bright. His eyes sparkled with a sinister spark. The three villains paled in horror. “We thought we could take advantage of the fight and take over Equestria, but not anymore!” Said Sombra gulping. “I see, you decided not to move when Monseur Chèvre appeared” said Luminositè calmly. “So what now? Are you going to fight us now?” Asked Bright preparing a remote control. But the three villains shook their heads, and before the astonished ponies, they bowed to the two kids, who were the most confused of all. “MASTERS!” The villains shouted at the unison. “Did you hit your heads or something?” Asked Lumi. “No, I think they’re still affected by the nuke” guessed Bright shrugging. The three of them lowered their heads submissively. “Now that you defeated Grogar you’re officially the Lords of all villains” said Chrysalis. “What are your orders, masters?” Asked Sombra. “From now on we’re your humble servants” Bright finally understood the situation. “Okay, I get it. Queen Chrysalis, which is the fifteenth rule of the Code of the Villains?” She diligently took the copy the kids gave to Tirek and began to look for the mentioned rule. “Here! A villain should never enter into another villain’s territo…” Before she could finish, she heard a small click around her neck; same for Sombra. When they saw, they were wearing the same collar as Tirek. “The big dude have already explained you how the control-collars work, right?” Asked Bright preparing his remote. “You have thirty seconds to get out of here. Twenty nine, twenty eight…” There was no much to say, the three villains ran for their lives. “Now I think we’re finally done!” Said Bright Spark. “I agree. At this point our robots shall be done with the repairing” The day had been strange to say the less, but the kids didn’t care and they better returned to Ponyville followed by the grownups. But the adults, turned to see the devastation behind them for the last time. Still they couldn’t believe how much desolation was caused by the weapon. “All that life extinguished… in less than a second” said Luna biting her lip. “And the weirdo is still alive, I still can’t believe it!” Said Bright Spark with a sigh. Twilight and Flash turned to their son worriedly. He spoke about executing someone just as he was commenting the weather. And now that Twilight thought about it, if it wasn’t for her, he would really killed Grogar a few minutes ago. But was it really okay to keep him alive? For the very first time Twilight found a villain she regret she kept alive; she did because of her convictions, but Bright Spark seemed not to care. For the first time the Princess of Princess knew Bright Spark’s true colors. When the group arrived to Ponyville they realized the place was in perfect conditions, the Z-Bots and the dolls proved to be as efficient as only machines could be. “Wow, just wow…” mumbled Twilight and Rarity. “As perfect as always” said Bright satisfied with his creations. “And thought these were the creatures who gave so much trouble to the Royal Guards” said Shining admiring the robots. “Well, I originally made them to be my servants, I adapted them for combat later on” explained Bright Spark. “I was the one who convinced him to do it” said Luminositè with her smile. “Servants?” Asked Twilight. Her son winked an eye to her. “Between us, I haven’t do a single chore since almost four years” “What I want to know, is why on Equestria you decided to become a super villain?!” Exclaimed Flurry Heart. They all looked expectantly to the kids, so Bright Spark just shrugged and began to explain: “I remember it as it was yesterday. I was five years old and mom and I were in Canterlot for Celestia-knows-what, and she bought me some candy. I was happy with my candy until we bumped into some poor kids, and mom made them give them my candy. because ‘good ponies always share’ she said to me. So I couldn’t enjoy my treat because she wanted me to be a good pony.” Twilight couldn’t believe him, was he serious? “That day I decided I wouldn’t be a good pony anymore, and ran to make my first act of evil just to show how evil I will become!” And then Twilight remembered. “You tried to take the cane of an old pony to make him fall… and I spanked you!” Bright nodded. “That day I learnt the most important lesson of all: bad ponies suffer the consequences of their acts. So I locked up in my room and thought in a way to be the evilest pony in the world without suffer the consequences”· Lumi kissed Bright on the cheek. “That day the Code of the Villains was born!” Bright Spark continued: “Then I decided to walk around Ponyville when I bumped into Lumi who was in very bad mood because Rarity grounded her for torturing little animals” Luminositè smiled creepily. “Hurting others, when I was littler that was the only thing that mattered. But then Bright told me about his code to make things sans conséquence and convinced me. But how could we do it? Then he showed me his early attempts of mechanical servants and instantly knew he could do anything, including weapons” “And with her help I built my first weapons; and since then we’ve been advancing. It's so great that my best friend as gifted as me!” Finished Bright. “And the final step in our master plan was to create les personnages who would take the blame of our acts of evil, giving born to Monseur Z and Le Puppè” Everypony made a face-hoof. “Basically…” “This was all about a tantrum…” “And being so gifted…” “They created all those problems” This crossed the line. “I can’t believe I say this about my own son, but HOW CAN SOMEPONY BE SO SMART AND SO DUMB AT THE SAME TIME?” Bright could only activate his suit to protect from his mother’s anger, same for Luminositè. But, luckily for them, Celestia called to order: “So this all villain-thing reduces only to one thing: a game. I understand that the most important duty of the childhood is to play, and all you’ve been doing is nothing but a game. But since you two are abnormally gifted your little game turned out to be more. Unbelievable, a case without precedent” “So what shall we do, Tia?” Asked Princess Luna. “First thing we should do is to confiscate all the weapons those two have, then put them under strict vigilance. I highly recommend a psychiatric hospital, no offense Twiliy” said Shining Armor. “That’s just the fear talking Shining!” Protested Twilight. “Obviously. Damn it Twilight, you saw that egg-shaped-thing and what it did! I’ve never seen something that frightening in my life” “They saved us from Grogar, I think we can give them the benefit of the doubt” said Luna. “I guess Luna is right, send them to a psychiatric hospital sounds excessive, but we can start by confiscating the weapons. Where is your storehouse kids?” Bright shrugged and took a new remote, seriously, where did he hid that many? Celestia smiled, proud of her godson, knowing he would do the right thing, but instead of that they heard the sound of heavy steel doors locking the underground construction. “Bright!” Scolded Flash. “Sorry dad but you don’t understand, we’re talking about highly dangerous equipment that could destroy an entire city if it’s managed by non-qualified ponies” “And the only ones qualified to take care our equipment without endanger the entire town are us” The Princesses’ first impulse was to protest, but then they thought better remembering the explosion. “Okay, but at least promise me you’ll disarm those egg-shaped-nightmares” begged Cadence. “The nukes? Sure thing!” Answered Bright. Luminositè sighed relieved. “Thank you, I’ve been asking him to do it from a while now; well, at least it saved our behinds for today. Hey, now that I think about it, why don’t we wrap them for present and send them to Monseur Chèvre. Where he lives?” For once nopony objected to the implicit idea, in fact they were seriously considering it buuuut… “It would be a huge relief for the entire world, but no one knows nor wants to know. Who would want to know where the world’s most frightening being lives” “Oh, quel dommâge” sighed Luminositè. “I’m afraid to ask, but how many of those things you have?” Asked Shining Armor. “Three more” Luna shivered. “Seriously, why haven’t you try to take over Equestria yet?” Bright shrugged. “It would be extremely easy, so easy that we kind of lost interest, no offense but none of you are match for our medium-powered weapons; not to mention the really big ones” Luna gulped, wishing she didn’t ask. Twilight gave her son a small hug. “Okay, leaving aside you only create dangerous weapons, I’m genuinely impressed of what you’ve done. How do you manage to make this much?” “As my godmother said, I’m abnormally gifted” Flash sighed but smiled to his son. “You may be frightening but I’m glad you saved us” Twilight sighed with sadness. “I guess I shouldn’t force you to become like me, as I see you already have a defined path” “Mom, it wasn’t your intention” said Bright Spark. Still the lavender alicorn shook her head. “From now on, I promise to be more at your side, in fact I’ll make sure to watch every move of yours Bright. Every move” “Oh come on!” “Take it easy, I mean that we would do lots of things together even when your father is at work, lots of things. And the first thing we’ll together as mother and son will be rebuild my academy. Right now Bright!” The boy rolled his eyes. “As you wish. Z-Bots, you heard my mom!” The machines emitted a series of bips to his creator and flew to Canterlot. “Aren’t you pushing them too much?” Asked Flash Sentry. “No, they’re machines; made of cable and metal, they cannot feel tired” Nopony said more, until Lumi put a hoof on her friend’s shoulder. “So this is the end of being villains?” “We don’t have a choice apparently; or well, we do have it: to quit to our family but I’m good where I am” “Me too, I don’t want to leave my mère” sighed Luminositè. “But it was fun while it lasted” Bright smiled to Luminositè, who captured him in a tight embrace. “Lumi?” “Remember my reward if we survived to the battle?” Bright was about to protest, but she kissed him. “Accept it: we’re the same Bright, you’ll appreciate this when you grow older” “Doubt it” complained Spark. The girl just giggled and everypony decided to go to Twilight’s Castle to relax after a very stressing afternoon. Everypony but Flurry who sighed angrily. “And there goes my first crush. Screw you cuz!” > EPILOGUE > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- EPILOGUE Grogar felt bad, he wasn’t himslef. When he returned to Tambelon, he thought all he had to do was to rest until he recovered his strenght, and he did rest; but after a while he noticed something was really wrong. He only wanted to recover his full power and then put those two in their place, he would never forgive how two ten-year-olds did this to him. TWO TEN-YEAR-OLDS! He sure of one thing: when those two grow up, they would be real threats to him, so he had to stop them while he still had the chance. And since he sincerely hated them, he wanted to do it as soon as possible. Grogar had never hated someone before, he certainly despised people and felt sick around them, but now every time he remembered Le Puppè and Mr. Z the hate mixed with the until now unknown feelings of humiliation after the defeat and even fear appeared in his heart as flames. He was surprised, as the hate, he had never feared someone before; an here he was being forced to think twice before attacking the two who defeated him. “When I recover my strength, I swear I’ll destroy them forever!” But his strength never returned, in fact he felt weaker every day. His bones hurt and didn’t knew why, then he began to lose his fur. At first he thought it was because of the stress, caused by his very first defeat, and having to think that much before facing this opponent. But when he began to have constant vomits and cough blood he realized something was horribly wrong. However, only when mysterious protuberances began to appear all over his body, he realized the horrible truth: he was dying, and very slowly. “And all this time, I thought there were nothing worse than that explossion. I was wrong, this side-effects are the most horrible part of all this. I hate them, I hate them so much!” And all that time the silver cowbell from his neck haven’t stopped ringing. Before creation it needed to be destruction. The Tree of Harmony protected the world, but from time to time it was necessary to start-over gain; it was the cycle of life. And to destroy the world there was the Tree’s other face: the Silver Cowbell. At first, the Cowbell selected someone to be its’ champ, always the most evil being in the world to assure complete destruction. But now the Bell knew there was something much more dangerous than pure evils: the madness. And now that the current champ was dying, the Bell knew the perfect replacements for him.