> The Hero: Cozy Glow...?
>  by SoloBrony
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Prologue (ish)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Once upon a time, a little filly got blasted with a giant friendship laser beam.

Yeah, little weird when you just lay it out like that, but just go with it.

This little filly was Cozy Glow. Not that she knew it at the time, mind you; in fact, knowing things about herself and her past was something she was just generally doing very poorly, right then.

It seems that the rainbow laser didn't have the expected, desired effect of de-powering and potentially incapacitating her, but instead stripped the little filly of her memories. That's the sort of side-effect you should generally vigorously interrogate your doctor about before taking your medicine, but Cozy was just a risk-taker like that.

Not that she had any choice in the matter.

And so, dazed, utterly confused, yet still possessing extraordinary magical power, our little filly stumbled away from the blast with one, simple thought:

Holy smokes, there's a bunch of wizards over there trying to kill me with rainbow lasers! I need to get out of here!

And just like that, totally oblivious to the true nature of the conflict, the filly instinctively tapped into her recently-acquired magical power and vanished, teleporting quite some distance from the skirmish. It was not lost on the heroes of Equestria that one of their adversaries had just seemingly shrugged off the powers of harmony – they could hardly see the intellectual damage they had wrought – and fled, but they were too concerned with wrapping up the battle to immediately give chase.

Besides which, Cozy had teleported smack into the middle of the Everfree Forest of all places, so it's not like they would have found her easily. And so it was that our would-be heroine (ish) found herself alone, confused, and terrified in an unfamiliar, dangerous environment. So begins the bizarre tale of Cozy Glow the Hero (ish).
> Did you plan this, too, Twilight? Tell me!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I spun in place quickly, trying to figure out what had just happened. I felt a burning sensation from my horn, and rubbed at it with a hoof.

Did I just teleport?! Whoa! I thought only really powerful unicorns could do that! But it just came so naturally!

Something about the fact that I had powerful unicorn magic bothered me, like it was unfamiliar, but I couldn't quite put a hoof on it. Besides, everything was at least a little unfamiliar right now, so it didn't seem that important.

What did seem important was that someone had just tried to blast me, and I was now in spooky woods.

Why were those ponies trying to hurt me? How did I get into that mess? Wait...

It started to dawn on me that I couldn't remember anything about that fight or those ponies.

Or about where I was. Or who I was. I keeled back onto my flank and began to hyperventilate and tug at my mane.

Oh no... oh no... I can't even remember my name! Why can't I remember my name?!

Parents? Friends?! I can't even remember where I live!

I started to have a real freak-out then, until I felt a reflexive kick of self-reproach and clamped down on those emotions with determination and resentment.

Get it together... me! Don't be a weak little foal! Concentrate! You were fighting a bunch of wizards, right? So they must have cursed you with memory-loss!

I started to get my heart-rate under control and I tried to quickly turn that idea over in my mind.

It makes sense, but why would they do something like that? It was just such an unsavory thing to do. Only the most vile and wicked ponies would cast some sort of memory curse, right?

Wait... I have super-powerful magic...

I had been fluttering my wings in my panic, and I suddenly registered what their presence meant.

Oh gosh... I'm a princess! I'm some kind of powerful magical princess of Equestria! Hey, I remember what Equestria is! And if evil wizards got together in a big group to stop me, it must mean...!

I couldn't remember reading comic books, but I certainly remembered their contents!

I'm a super hero! And not just any super hero, but a really powerful one that it takes a big group of powerful villains to stop! And I got away! I can still save the day, or whatever!

There was a deep sense of satisfaction at how incredibly powerful and influential I apparently was, but it was overshadowed as I came back around to the fact that I was still lost in the woods with some kind of evil mage army on my heels.

Right, so if I'm a powerful super hero, and I have enemies who might come from anywhere... I need a disguise, and fast! And a secret identity, and a cool super-hero name!

I looked around, but the forest wasn't quick to provide a costume and disguise kit. Dumb forest didn't know its place. But that wouldn't keep me down; I just tapped into my awesome magical powers to try to whip up a disguise. Unfortunately, it seemed like I couldn't actually change my appearance that easily.

Fiddlesticks! How am I going to hide from the legion of doom or whatever if I don't have a disguise?

A little more playing around with my powers and I at least felt my mane change a bit. A little exploration of the forest I'd found myself in revealed a clear river nearby, and I poked my head over it to see the results.

Eww, a blonde flat-top? I look ridiculous, I'd stand out way too much!

A few more spells and I settled on a very unassuming bob-cut in my original color, and managed to change my coat color to an off-white color. Somehow, I just knew this appearance would let me fade into the background, totally forgotten and overlooked by everypony.

I wonder why I feel so sure about that. Oh, darn! I have both wings and a horn; somepony's bound to notice THAT. Hmm... well, the wings would be easier to cover up than the horn. But how?

Wait, if I'm above them, ponies can't see the horn. If I fly into a town, I might go unnoticed long enough to get some clothes, and then I can cover my wings with a dress or something! I should cover my cutie-mark, too.

That line of thought suddenly prompted me to look at my cutie-mark. I expected to find something epic, like a bursting star, or maybe something mysterious like a patchwork of stars, indicating my arcane power. Instead, there was just a boring chess rook.

Then again, in chess, rooks are power. And super heroes are all about being a bulwark against villains, right? So that's the idea! I'm like a castle, or the rook in chess; I lock things down and stand between badguys and the vulnerable ones they try to prey on! Pretty cool, I guess.

With that positive attitude, I took to the skies with an ease that surprised me; I had an uncomfortable sense, like I did when I first used my magic, that something was unfamiliar about this kind of powerful, easy flight. I shrugged it off and climbed far over the tree-line, scanning the horizon until I saw a nearby town.

Huh. Looks deserted, nopony around. The legion of doom, or whatever that group of angry wizards is called, must have terrified the populace into submission. They'll pay for messing with stuff under my protection! This is MY domain! I think.

But in the meantime, this is perfect. I can sneak in without anypony around to notice!

So I made my way around quickly to the businesses that had windows; I reasoned that a clothing shop would have a prominent display of some kind, and my reasoning was soon rewarded. I found a garish carousel-themed clothing shop at the center of town, and slipped inside. All of the dresses in the front were far too eyecatching for what I needed, but I did find a simple blue cloak in the back that fit my needs perfectly. It even had a hood that could hide my horn, if I wanted! Bonus.

I snagged some extra cloth, along with some cosmetic contacts to change my eye-color to a light blue; something about that just called out to me as perfecting my 'obscure background pony' look. I had other plans for the cloth. After all, what kind of superhero didn't have a cool costume? I bundled all of that up in a backpack and headed back out into the town, and considered my next move, and how I'd put a stop to the villains.

That's right! The legion of doom will rue the day they crossed... me!

Man, I REALLY need to come up with a cool superhero name. But first I'd better find somewhere to hide!

And so I set off back into the forest, figuring it made for as good of a secret super hero hideout as any. Boy, was I in for a surprise!
> So pushy!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'd just gotten done setting up a rudimentary campsite when I heard a cry of distress from the woods.

As a super hero, I should go help, right? But wait, I don't have my costume ready; I can't compromise my secret identity. Guess I'll skip this one.

The cry escalated to a blood-curdling scream. I twitched my ear in irritation.

Jeez, pushy much? Well, I can't call myself a hero if I ignore THAT. Besides, what am I afraid of? I'm an all-powerful super hero, I'll just power through whatever challenges come my way!

I was honestly pretty worried about getting discovered and having to face off against that army of wizards again – I'd only gotten a glimpse of them, but that first image I could remember was like a living nightmare in my short memory now – but there was a stronger, more willful, angrier part of me that told me not to be weak and let anypony scare me or make me back down. That part was in control when I grabbed my cloak in my teeth, pulled it free from my wings, and blasted off from the ground at max speed for the source of the commotion.

I'm going to do this super hero thing RIGHT.

I caught a glimpse of what appeared to be some kind of struggle, and set down behind a large tree to don my cloak before springing out with a warcry (albeit a high-pitched, squeaky one).

"Fear not, pony civilian! I have come to resc—WHAT IN EQUESTRIA IS THAT?!"

Not my proudest moment.

There was what appeared to be a zebra struggling with a chimera – one head each of a goat, tiger, and snake.

Huh. Wonder how I know what a chimera is. Must have studied monsters for my super heroics! I remember they're intelligent...

That thought clicked while I took in the scene of the zebra desperately prying open the tiger head's jaws and pulling her injured leg out. I was coming up with a strategy, but it seemed my exclamation had caught the goat head's attention, and soon enough the snake was looking my way too.

Might as well go all-in!

I fired off a vicious bolt of energy at the snake head, causing it to roar in anguish.

"Hey, ugly!"

The chimera whirled on me and took a menacing step forward. The tiger head growled, forgetting the zebra entirely, and she made quick to scoot as far away as she could with an injured leg. I quirked an eyebrow at the tiger head.

"Oh, did you assume I meant you?"

The tiger head grunted. "Didn't you?"

"What, do you think you're ugly?"

The tiger head hesitated, suddenly looking unsure. The goat's head looked over.

"Hey, sis, you're not ugly."

"Aww. Thanks."

Blech, someone just blast me now.

"But wait," the tiger head said, returning her attention to me, "if not me, then who?"

"Isn't it obvious? Who do you think?"

The tiger head looked over at the snake head uncertainly. The snake head had just recovered from my blast, and looked deeply affronted at the tiger.

"Hey, I'm not ugly!"

The tiger head quirked an eyebrow. "Well, I mean, you're kinda slimy and scaly, you can't deny—"

"That doesn't make me ugly!"

"Well beauty is subjective, don't you think?"

The goat head roared in frustration and glared at me.

"Who did you mean, foal? Settle this for them."

I blinked a bit, still surprised that my plan had bought so much more time than expected. The zebra had managed to recover her hooves and start to run. I pointed my hoof at her retreating backside.

"I meant her, obviously!"

The chimera redirected all of its attention to the fleeing zebra. They had just started to say 'Oh', whether in response to me or to realizing the zebra was escaping I'm not sure, when I hit the entire creature in the backside with a charged magical blast strong enough to send them flying into a tree – and with a truly obscene screech at that. It only took a little telekinesis to curl the branches around them and lock the entire creature into place.

"Ugly or not, all three of you are idiots..."

I smiled at a job well done, and trotted off back towards my makeshift camp. I'd taken down a monster, gotten a better handle on my magic during stressful situations, and I'd managed to avoid blowing my disguise in the process! A good day, all told. And with that cheering mindset I resumed my work on my costume, until I heard the approach of hooves.

I stood at the ready to fight, but it turned out to just be the zebra from earlier. On seeing me, she inclined her head courteously.

"That monster gave me quite a fright; I thank you for ensuring I could make good my flight."

I cocked my head to the side at the unexpected rhyming, but then simply shrugged.

"For that no thanks are necessary; I was glad to relieve you of your adversary."

What? I wasn't going to be outdone by some random zebra!

For her part, the zebra seemed taken aback, but then smiled warmly.

"Your deeds and words are truly most gracious; tell me, would you rather sleep in my home most spacious?"

It took me a second to parse what she had just said and offered, and I took another moment to try to put together a rhyme of my own, before simply shrugging and giving up on that.

"Seems better than sleeping out here, at least; thanks."

The zebra nodded and smiled, sparing me one of her weird rhymes, and I grabbed my stuff to follow her. On the walk, she was silent, but chewed her lip persistently. Finally, as her home came into view, she caught my eye.

"Tell me, what is a filly doing out here – especially one who wields magic without peer?"

Hm, she noticed how strong my magic is. I need to be careful about that!

Only after admonishing myself for the slip-up did I give her question some thought. I mulled it over and shook my head.

"Let's just say some bad ponies are after me. I was looking for somewhere safe from them. I don't... really want to talk about it right now."

To my surprise, I really didn't. It was a lot easier to look ahead to goals than to focus on how tenuous my fate seemed right now. The zebra's face was lined with concern, but she simply nodded and let me into her home. Before long, with how much of a drain my spellcasting had put on me, I was drifting off to the best/worst sleep I could remember, my thoughts stuck on the haunting first image I could recall.

Those bad ponies who cursed me... I need to find out who they are, learn everything about them I can. Then I can figure out how to beat them!
> Do you have a way to beat a monster like this, Cozy?!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Over the next few days, I learned my host's name was Zecora and managed to throw together a half-decent costume (with her help). I kept pretty quiet, especially since I got the impression she generally preferred the silence, but I did make sure to impress upon her the need for secrecy.

I also made sure she never saw my wings.

When she asked my name, I panicked and told her I was called Quillon (that's kee-yon, in case you didn't know) – it just kinda came to mind based on my appearance, for some reason.

I thought I'd have to re-apply the alteration to my coat color, or fight to keep my hair restyled, but it turned out they were much better-behaved than that. All told, I was pretty secure in my disguise, and since I'd managed to go a few days without being discovered I started to feel less anxious about my pursuers and more focused on the future.

Since I'm a super hero, shouldn't I be out saving ponies, or beating up monsters, or something? Isn't that how super heroes get more powerful? And I need some kind of super hero name.

I looked over my costume, which had a distinct rainbow-and-lightning hue. It's just what we had on-hand and what seemed 'super heroic' to me, for some reason – Zecora had found that funny, especially when I added wing slits (hah! Joke's on her!), but I didn't think it looked funny. It looked... what's the term...?

Awesome. Yeah, that.

And so, since I obviously needed way more power to defeat the evil wizards who had cursed me, I set off with my costume towards Ponyville (as I'd learned it was called) in the dead of night.

And I sat around for a solid hour before I realized that evil wasn't just going to spring up so I could defeat it, spontaneously.

This super hero thing is BORING. How am I supposed to know where the badguys will show up? They might end up attacking somewhere halfway across Equestria from here and I'd never even know!

That's when I remembered I was some kind of super-powerful mage, myself. Clearly I must have had some kind of system to warn me about incursions, but what?

Let's see... my experience with super heroics so far is that you hear a pony scream, and then you go bolting off in that direction to help. So... could I set some kind of scream-detector here, and have that alert me when trouble starts? Yeah, that seems reasonable! Ponies pretty much always scream and freak out when something goes wrong, so that should be foolproof!

Affirmed by this line of reasoning, I pondered over what I knew of magic and what I'd need for that kind of spell.

Crystals. Er, that is, I'll need gemstones as a focusing agent for this – one to act as a detector, and another for me to wear. But where can I get gems at this hour?

I tapped my chin with my hoof, considering it, until I remembered Zecora mentioning there was an angry green dragon guarding its hoard in the Everfree.

Of course, robbing a dragon was stupid, borderline suicidal, extremely dangerous, reckless.

Brave and totally awesome, like a super hero.

If there was one thing I knew about adventuring, it's that randomly taking on ridiculously dangerous tasks was how you got more powerful. So I set off straight for the dragon's lair, donning my costume and shifting my coat to a deep navy blue, and my mane to an ever-flowing rainbow just long enough to reach back to my shoulders; the super hero 'Dashing Savior' would have her debut with a super-sneaky stealth mission!

Huh. This is the second time I'm stealing – not very heroic, I guess. On the other hand, the dragon stole most of that hoard, if what Zecora told me is true, and if it feels like its hoard is unsafe it will probably move further away from ponies. So that's a win! Less risk for those who wander into the woods.

I wasn't sure why I knew so much about dragon behavior; I chalked it up to super hero studies again, and stole into the cave making less noise than a light-footed mouse. The cave was pretty well-lit, and it didn't take me long to spot the giant gem hoard or the giant, slumbering dragon behind it. For a moment, my blood ran cold at the sight of it.

Wowza, somehow I didn't really register how big these guys were. But then again, that's what super heroes are all about! Facing up to stuff so scary a normal pony wouldn't go anywhere near it!

I nodded to myself and tried to quell the sense I was making a huge mistake as I looked over the gem hoard. It didn't really matter what gems I used; even the cheapest, smallest stuff would do for a simple spell like this. The dragon would probably barely care they were gone.

My musings were interrupted when I heard a loud snort. I had been very confident about my stealth skills, staying utterly silent.

But I hadn't accounted for smell. I'd been bathing with aromatic zebra concoctions and I was wearing a spandex outfit that smelled like rubber.

Two giant, yellow eyes cracked open.

"Oh, fiddlesticks."

The dragon reared up, furious at the sight of me, and roared so loudly I reflexively generated a shield around myself with my magic just to block out the noise.

Oh wow! Now THAT'S a handy power!

I saw the dragon take a deep breath, readying to fry me with fire.

This guy is asking for it. It's time to show off the brand-new technique I've been working on!

I charged energy into my horn, and started belting out in a loud, sing-song voice, "Iiii've, been working on my maaaaaagic, all the live-long daaaaay~!"

The dragon belted out a giant fireball at me, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't terrified. But I hadn't just charged in to a fight with a dragon without any prep-work; I figured that if I was going to be fighting a big group of evil wizards, someone would try to burn me eventually, so while I was working on my costume I also worked on a little counter. A shimmering, magical cup of red energy appeared in front of the dragon, and as the fire filled it, it turned from red to blue. The flames dissipated into the field, and they melted together into a floating, crackling ball of electricity.

The dragon blinked in confusion, but then shrugged and started towards me, apparently intent on biting down on me or rending me with his giant claws. That really ticked me off.

"HEY! Don't you dare ignore my ball! YOU TAKE MY BALL SERIOUSLY!"

And with that I blasted him in the face with a ball of lightning. Not exactly easy to make, or control, and even harder to trigger in a way that was deadly, but I just poured enough effort in to force it, causing my horn to shoot sparks and smoke slightly in the process. A deafening crash filled the room as dragon and ball collided, and the flash was so bright it left me blind for a few seconds.

When my vision cleared, the dragon was visibly scorched all over, and twitching on the ground, clearly dazed and in great pain (though in no danger of death).

"YEAH! YEAH! TAKE THAT! THE DASHING SAVIOR TRIUMPHS! I'm going to call that move my 'dragon ball' after this! Hah! Emergent move-names! Yeah!"

I was so caught up in my antics I almost didn't notice the dragon growling at me. I knew I didn't have the energy to keep fighting him, but I couldn't let him know that, and besides, I figured a big predator like him must be pretty unaccustomed to pain. I was quick to capitalize on that.

"Hey! Don't you take an attitude with me!"

I put my hooves on my hips and shouted down at him as angrily as I could.

"You tried to fry me just now! You got exactly what you deserved, mister! And you'll get a lot more than that if you don't apologize!"

I flared my horn threateningly, and I was gratified to see the big bully flinch.

Yeah! Fear my power!

I didn't let the moment slip away, flying up closer to him and staring right into one of his huge yellow eyes.

"Now you listen here! Your nasty attitude and dangerous habits aren't fit for being so close to a pony town, so you need to pack up and get out of here! If you don't, I'll turn you into a tiny little fish and huck you into the stream, and we'll see how you like it when bigger things try to chow down on you, GOT IT?!"

For a second, I almost believed my bluster myself, and that really helped me sell it. The dragon made a whining sound and nodded meekly, which was really a boon to my spirits – despite a nasty headache setting in from my magical strain. I looked over his hoard.

"Oh, right. And I need a few gemstones before you go!"

The dragon's eye shot wide open, and his eyebrow ridge arched in fury. I rolled my eyes back at him.

"Not big, shiny, expensive ones. Like, any gem will do, I just need a bunch of little ones. I'll let you pick them out."

The dragon blinked a bit at that, and then slowly raised his head. I realized how much of a strain it was for him; I'd apparently done a lot more damage than I realized, and he wasn't in any shape to fight any more either. He eventually, hesitantly, reached over and scraped a few smaller quartzes towards me. I flew down to pick them up, and realized there was a sizeable diamond mixed in with the pack – probably on accident.

I shrugged and stuffed all of the gems into the saddlebag at the rear of my costume. "Golly, thanks. Cheapskate."

The dragon rolled his eyes at me while I flew out.

Whew! I did it! Beat a dragon, discovered my shield spell, got some practice, and I got the gems! It's like I can feel myself leveling up!

Wait, is that adventure games or comics? Whatever, basically the same concept. Now I can set up those alarms in every town. Soon, the Dashing Savior will be known Equestria-wide!

If I'd only known just how fast word would spread, I might have taken things a bit more carefully.
> Cozy Glow's battle tendencies
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Zecora had warned me that there had been some sort of cataclysm recently, including the reemergence of the windigoes of all things, and it had set the local wildlife crazy – apparently, that was why the chimera that had attacked her was in the Everfree Forest in the first place. I wasn't sure how the evil wizards were involved yet, but I barely had time to set up my last alarm in Van Hoover before one of my gems began humming.

Trouble at the Silver Stable retirement home! What kind of dastardly monster would attack elderly ponies?

I actually paused to tap my chin and think about that. No point rushing into battle unprepared, after all. Still, I couldn't think of any monsters with a particular preference for old ponies, so I decided to just get in there and see for myself. One long-range teleport later (those were getting easier and easier), and I was on the roof of the retirement home, in full disguise.

It didn't exactly take a master detective to find the source of the disturbance; ponies were screaming and fleeing full-tilt from  a giant, furious-looking bird.

A roc! I thought they only preyed on dragons, normally. I guess the monsters really are agitated. Let's see, roc, roc...

I quickly threw together a plan. Rocs weren't exactly talkative or social, so manipulating it that way was out. Still, they had certain instincts...

My rumination was cut off as the roc swept down and snatched a screaming pony in its talon.

Okay, just gotta go with it! I've gotten a bit better at disguise magic, so let's give it a try!

My horn lit up and I made several quick, subtle alterations to my disguise. A ridge of scales, webbed wings, and one seriously nasty smell.

The roc, which had just circled to leave, suddenly u-turned and dove for me.

Yay, it worked!

The roc bore down on me with terrifying speed.

Oh no, it worked!

I barely managed to evade the creature with a quick teleport, and I blasted off from the ground, the giant bird hot on my tail. But I wasn't flying off in a random direction; I'd taken the time to study the geography of Equestria a bit (courtesy of a book at Zecora's house).

The one that knows the terrain and plans ahead is assured of victory! This stupid creature can't hope to match wits with the great Dashing Savior!

I quickly zipped over to a nearby marsh, and stood on a patch of vines, ducking as low as I could and charging my horn. The roc dove for me, and just as it clamped its talons around me I teleported to the side. As expected, the roc got its talons tangled in the vines and was stuck for a moment – just long enough for me to grab the hapless pony it had grabbed and teleport them back to the retirement home. I finally got a good look at them; a very old, light purple mare with a faded white and pink mane, and a book as her cutie mark.

Oh great, a nerd.

She quickly set a hoof on my withers.

"Oh, thank you, little lady! I—"

I cut her off in my most heroic-sounding voice.

"Get inside, quickly! I, Dashing Savior, will deal with the monster!"

I dropped the draconic alterations to my outfit, and replaced the scaly wings with what appeared to be magically-conjured rainbow wings; I figured I would be less likely to be recognized if folks thought I was just a powerful unicorn mage, rather than an actual alicorn. The nerd-pony leaned back in surprise and stared at me in appropriate awe and wonder.

"It's far too dangerous! A little foal like you should get to safety!"

Or maybe she was just horrified that I was going to take on a monster all by myself.

Typical adult, underestimating me! I'll show them just how powerful I am!

I snorted in disgust and blasted back off into the air before she could undermine my confidence any more. The roc had gotten free and was on its way back. It was time to set the next phase of my plan in motion.

Which would have been a lot easier if I'd planned this far ahead. Instead, I just charged up a nasty laser beam and shot the creature right in the eye. I figured I would hurt it and maybe drive it off, but I was shocked when the bird was actually smacked out of the air like it had been run over by a giant cart, shrieking loudly in the process.

Whoa. I'm waaaay more powerful than I realized. That wasn't even that hard!

The roc screeched and made to flee as quickly as possible, and I chased it, firing off low-power blasts the whole way and screaming at it at the top of my lungs.

"THAT'S RIGHT, YOU HAD BETTER RUN! IF YOU EVER BOTHER PONIES AGAIN, I'LL KICK YOUR BUTT ALL THE WAY TO ABYSSINIA!"

What followed was a most-definitely heroic cackle as I singed its rear with a blast that got a really gratifying, chicken-like squawk out of it.

Not so tough now, are ya?!

I chased it for a good fifteen minutes, which took us far out of sight of the retirement home. The creature thoroughly driven off, I flew back to the retirement home to see if anyone else needed assistance. To my surprise, two alicorns – one huge and white, the other smaller (though still pretty tall!) and dark-blue – were reconstructing a part of the building that had caved in.

Whoa! Didn't expect to run into other alicorns so quickly! That means they're princesses, right? But... I don't know if they're with the evil wizards or not, so I'd better play it safe.

I set down near them, and carefully dispelled the rainbow-wing illusion while hiding my real wings under my costume. I trotted up to the giant white alicorn, who smiled down at me with an almost nauseating level of warmth before speaking.

"You must be the 'Dashing Savior' Dusty Pages mentioned. What you did here today was very brave."

I struck my best heroic pose, which barely came up to her knees.

"Just doing my part to keep Equestrian ponies safe, ma'am. Do you all need any further assistance today?"

To my surprise, she giggled. Giggled! At me! I can't get no respect, I tell you!

"No, little one. I believe we have things well in hoof from here. Why don't you come in and get some hot cocoa? It's chilly out."

To be honest, I hadn't noticed the cold at all. I chalked that up to alicorn resilience, but it wasn't like she knew that. I just shook my head; even though a reward sounded nice, I knew the more-heroic thing to do was to turn it down, and I was determined to be the best hero ever.

Besides, the longer I spend here, the more I run up chances of getting discovered.

"That won't be necessary, miss...?"

She blinked at me in confusion, before realizing I was asking her name. She held a hoof up to her chest.

"Princess Celestia...?"

I puffed myself up to look as heroic as possible. After all, a hero who makes a quick exit after saving the day is mysterious and cool!

"Got it. That won't be necessary, Princess Celestia! I must be off to save other ponies!"

She seemed about to object, but I teleported straight back to Zecora's before she could do so.

"Hah! I nailed it!"

I did a little dance in place before realizing I wasn't alone; Zecora was brewing something in the center of the room, but had paused to watch my little celebration with a smirk.

"I see my hospitality you've well-availed; might you tell me how you've prevailed?"

I froze in place, blushing furiously, and coughed to conceal my awkwardness. I spent the next ten minutes telling Zecora of my glorious heroic deeds, and discovered she was actually a really good listener; she commented or questioned in all of the right places, always in her frustratingly clever rhymes, and seemed genuinely impressed at my bravery.

I'd expected her to think I was fibbing, but I guess since I saved her personally, she knew better. It wasn't long before I'd worn myself out, both from the magic expenditure and the rapidfire chatter, and I crawled into bed with a deep sense of satisfaction.

Look at how incredibly powerful I am. And I'm just getting stronger! And ponies admire me!

As I drifted off to sleep I thought of what might have happened to that 'Dusty Pages' if I hadn't shown up. It brought a little shudder to me to imagine the same happening to me; powerless, at the mercy of forces beyond my control, held against my will... imprisoned...

I bit my lip and swore nopony, myself included, would suffer that fate.
> MC Cozy
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Golly. Breaking into the Canterlot Archives really wasn't all that hard.

The next morning, I'd woken up still sore from all of my recent exertion, but ready to tackle another day of super heroics. Except there were no emergencies to deal with, so I decided to train; since my biggest asset was magic, that seemed the natural focus.

But, having no books from which to study more magic, I decided to make some blank ones out of some nearby trees (in itself one heck of a magical exercise, no doubt about it) and snuck into the Canterlot archives to magically copy anything that seemed combat-magic related.

Security was surprisingly lax; 'Quillon' was able to basically trot right up to the library once I'd passed the outer security, and when a guard did stumble across me reading a restricted tome they just told me I must have gotten lost and to go back to my parents.

Of course, he checked my saddlebags, but the books in there clearly didn't belong to the library (I gave them all cheesy foal's book covers), and once I started pouting and saying I'd gotten lost looking for the kid's books he escorted me out.

No wonder Equestria needs heroes! Those guards are incompetent suckers!

And so I was sitting in Zecora's hut reading a book on self-enhancement spells when one of my gems went off.

Gee, already? This hero thing is really a full-time job! Oh well. At least I can try out some of the cool stuff I've been reading about.

I quickly donned my costume, prompting a concerned look from Zecora, who was preparing a skin lotion for somepony named 'Rarity' who just insisted on buying her beauty products from the zebra.

"Forgive me for delaying you with prattle, but are you again rushing off to battle?"

I grinned as I slipped on my cool lighting-patterned mask.

"Yup! And when I find those badguys they're going to be sorry, once I smack them so hard their vision turns all starry!"

Zecora chuckled at that, but then fixed me with a look of concern.

"Strong though you may be, you are still but a foal; are you sure such danger should be your goal?"

I waved off her concern while I struggled to get one of my rear legs into the spandex.

"Don't remind me I'm a foal, lately I've been on a roll. Whether ogre, dragon, or troll, every villain is going to pay the toll! I have to stand up to those who'd hurt, who'd kill, because if I don't, who will? It may be dangerous, but it's only when I face the danger I can grow; that's just my fate, because I am a hero."

Zecora held up a placard with a '6' written on it. I shrugged.

"Good enough."

And with that I teleported off to see what was causing a ruckus in Ponyville.
> I like the cut of her jib
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I appeared on top of the tallest spire in Ponyville – the peak of the gaudy crystal castle. I stood there a moment to let my hair billow in the wind, looking all mysterious and cool. Then I looked around for the source of the disturbance.

I sure didn't have to look long! There was a hydra rampaging on the far side of town.

Oh, good. A simple, straightforward monster fight. Well, this should be—

As I flew closer, I realized there was a slight complication. Apparently, some other rainbow-themed hero had gotten involved before I could! She was zipping around the hydra and confusing it, and generally limiting the damage it could do while the civilians fled.

Whoa. She's awesome!

Which means I need to find some way to out-do her!

I quickly scanned the area, and formulated a plan. I was getting good at throwing those together at a snap pace. I swept down at a crazy pace, grabbing a cloud on the way, and dunked it in the little stream that ran by the outskirts of town, turning it into a black stormcloud. Then I banked upwards over the creature and gave it a sharp kick; I apparently messed up a bit, because it shocked me a bit too, but it still sent a satisfying bolt of electricity straight into one of the hydra's heads, causing it to stagger backwards in shock and yowl in pain.

"Whoa! Kid, get out of here, you just made it mad! Er, madder!"

The rainbow-maned pegasus was hollering at me and waving her hooves, and quickly dove under a bite from the hydra.

Get out of here? She thinks I can't handle it! I'll show HER!

I swept under the head of the hydra that had tried to bite the mare, plowing into the ground, and I charged my energy into my hooves. Then I swept up in a massive flying uppercut as my magic radiated from my upraised hoof, slamming into the bottom of the creature's jaw and sending the entire hydra keeling over onto its back.

"FLYING HYDRA PUUUUNCH!"

I blew on my hoof, which had caught on fire, and congratulated myself on the awesome move name. The pegasus flew up to me with her jaw slack, which got a giggle out of me.

"That... was so AWESOME! How did you do that?!"

I had just looked the technique up in one of the books, and turned it into an uppercut, but I wasn't going to tell her that!

"Well, y'know, heroes train hard to defeat the enemies of Equestria. It's how we roll. I'm Dashing Savior. You are?"

She laughed at that. "Oh, you're a fan! Well, I'm Rainbow Dash!" She extended a hoof to me.

I wasn't sure what she meant, but I bumped her hoof regardless. Both of us looked over to the hydra, which was slowly regaining its footing. I looked back at Dash and grinned.

"Let's send this bozo packing!"

Rainbow whooped and punched the air.

"Yeah! Alright, somepony who knows how to get stuff done!"

We each banked in opposite directions around the hydra, causing its outer heads to track us and fight with itself over where to go. Then we both swept in from the rear and kicked the center head in the back of the skull, causing the whole creature to lurch forward. The center head swiveled drunkenly, eyes unfocused.

"Hah! We really did make it see stars!"

"Huh?"

"Nothing! Inside joke! Let's finish him!"

Dash needed no more prompting; she dove into the hydra's stomach with a flying kick, while I swept around it and stomped on its tail. The resulting wheeze-shriek was hilarious, and the creature yelped like a dog the whole way as it ran back into the forest. I chased it a bit, screaming after it.

"IF YOU EVER COME BACK, THAT'LL BE THE LEAST OF WHAT YOU GET, UGLY! KEEP RUNNIN'!"

Both of us landed on the ground laughing and traded another hoofbump. Dash shook her head and grinned wildly.

"I totally thought I'd need to get the rest of my friends together to deal with that guy, but we sure showed him!"

"Well, when Rainbow Dash and the Dashing Savior unite, who in Equestria could possibly keep up?!"

"Right!"

We laughed some more, and while she was distracted I dispelled my rainbow-wing illusion and hid my real wings. She looked me over appraisingly.

"For a unicorn, you fly really well! That weird wing-spell thing you do is way beyond the other wing spell I've seen!"

"Yeah? Thanks! It took a long time to develop."

That was a blatant lie, but a real wing-conjuration that worked that well would be incredibly hard, so I had to keep up appearances. The rainbow mare shrugged.

"Well, every hero's gotta practice and train like crazy. Can't believe you can do all of this stuff at your age, though. Say, you wanna cool off with a burger and some cider?"

I was about to reject the reward, as per my newly-established usual, when my stomach growled. I realized grazing in the forest hadn't really been the most robust dietary plan.

Really, what's the worst that could happen? And she's a hero! I'm sure I'll be fine with her around.

"Sure, just let me get changed back into my 'civilian' getup. Can't let my secret identity get compromised. You promise to keep it a secret, right?"

Dash's eyes lit up.

"You really have a secret identity? That's so awesome! Yeah, I'll definitely keep it under wraps."

Careful not to reveal my wings, I put on my regular cloak and teleported off my spandex. I might trust this mare, but there was no telling who was in cahoots or under the influence of those evil wizards; couldn't be too careful!

I extended a hoof. "I'm Quillon. Pleasure to meet you for real, Rainbow."

"Likewise!"

And just like that, we set off to get hayburgers and goof off for the rest of the day.
> The Main Villain: Cozy Glow...?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"And that's how I saved Daring Do!"

"Wow, good job!"

Dash and I had been chatting up a storm while we ate our lunch on a cloud overlooking Ponyville. I didn't have much to say about my past, obviously, but I at least ran down the monster fights I'd been in so far, and she seemed suitably impressed.

I was actually a lot more interested in hearing about her exploits, though. It seemed like she was on good terms with someone called 'Twilight Sparkle', who was apparently another princess (Just how many of us were there, anyway?) and they'd spent a lot of time together saving Equestria.

I tried to keep my probing about the evil wizard group as oblique as possible, because I still wasn't sure what the deal was with them. I figured they must have been secretive; we must have been fighting some kind of invisible war, unknown to Equestria at large!

"So, who are all the princesses? There's Celestia and Twilight..."

Dash nodded, "Oh yeah, there's also Celestia's sister Luna."

"Does she have a dark-blue coat? I think I saw her at the retirement home."

"Right, that's her. She and Celestia are staying at Silver Shoals for now. And then there's Cadance, the Princess of Love. She runs the Crystal Empire with Shining Armor. There's also Flurry Heart, their kid – just a little baby. Didn't they teach you this in school?"

I shrugged. "Maybe, it's just a lot of princesses to keep track of! Speaking of, wasn't there another princess?"

Dash tapped her chin in thought. "No, I don't think so... the Hippogriffs have a queen, and I think her daughter counts as a princess...?"

"I mean another pony alicorn princess type thing."

Dash just shook her head. "No, definitely not. I've met all of the Equestrian princesses."

I tried to hide my surprise.

Holy smokes! I must not be from Equestria at all, then! Some kind of foreign princess? But then where am I from?

Dash saw me deep in thought and flicked a fry at me. "Bit for your thoughts?"

"Oh, just... I thought there was another one, that's all. I guess I just got it all confused."

I did my best innocent foal impression, and that seemed to convince her. She just shrugged.

"Don't tell Twilight this, but I kept getting it mixed up for the longest time myself. I often forgot that she was a princess, and at first I forgot Luna was a thing at all!"

"Gee, that must have made her feel pretty awful..."

"Yeah, maybe..."

Dash looked off at Ponyville in thought, and I seized the opportunity to consider where I must have come from. But I just couldn't imagine a foreign alicorn princess emerging without anyone in Equestria hearing about it, and I definitely knew more about Equestria than anywhere else... so did that mean I had only ascended recently, and nopony heard about it? I must have really nailed that secret-identity thing pretty fast!

"Say, Quillon."

I stirred from my thoughts again, and worried for a second I had messed up my disguise somehow.

"Huh? Yeah?"

"I know you don't want to tell me anything about your past or who you are or whatever."

More like I CAN'T...

I just nodded and she continued.

"I'm not going to push you on that. But... thanks. For helping ponies. Things have been absolutely bonkers since the big fight with Tirek, Chrysalis and Cozy Glow. The windigoes' coming back really spooked ponies, and now there's monsters rampaging, and Cozy managed to escape so there's this big pony hunt going on for her..."

An escaped villain? That sounds like prime super hero material.

"No problem, Dash. It's what heroes do, right? It's been fun."

Dash nodded, chewing her lip over. "Twilight's been really crushed by all of it. She's scrambling to fix the damage from the fighting, but with monsters cropping up all over, it's splitting her attention between crisis management and restoration."

"Well, tell her I can handle the monsters! Wherever they crop up, I'll have it well in hoof, so she can just focus on getting things back in order."

"She'll definitely appreciate it."

"So, Dash... that Cozy Glow you said escaped. What was she like?"

"Well, she was a foal, like you. But she was rotten to the core. She pretended to be nice, won ponies' trust, and then used it against them, manipulating folks. She thought friendship was about power, and didn't care about anypony but herself, like, at all. She stole a massive amount of power for herself and used it to turn into some kind of alicorn, and then she tried to beat us all with it. Came close, too."

"Wow. She sounds like..."

"A real monster?"

"No, a real loser! Like, what was even the point of trying to make friends and turn ponies on each other? What was even her game, there?"

Dash frowned in thought, and folded her front hooves.

"You know, I have no idea. She just wanted power, I guess...?"

"Yeah, but for what?"

"So that everypony would listen to her...? And love her? I guess?"

"Creating strife doesn't make everypony love you, though! Heck, ponies can't really spare time for love if they're panicking or worried about each other, anyway! And it sounds like she had things backwards; she made friends, who are by definition ponies who listen to you and love you, and then used them to get power, so she could make strife and get more power, so she could get more friends?"

Dash laughed at that. "When you lay it out like that, it does sound kinda silly! I guess she was just greedy? Had to have it all?"

"But she started out with friends, then lost them by being a jerk. Then she had power, and from what you're saying she ran off and caused even more trouble with that, and then she lost anyway! So she wasn't satisfied with friends, she wasn't satisfied with power... she just had no plan at all."

"Well, what's your plan?"

I shrugged. "I'm a super hero. I'm going to be the best hero Equestria ever had. No point in doing things half-measure, right?"

"Okay, but like, why? What do you hope to gain?"

I opened my mouth to speak, and then closed it in thought. Dash pointed a hoof at me.

"See? You're doing the same thing, where you're just kinda going through the motions, not sure why."

"That's not true! I was just caught short, but the truth is... I don't need a reason to be a super hero. I don't have to have some kind of end-goal or whatever. I don't need to have something to gain."

Dash cocked her head. "But then why do it?"

"Heroics are their own reward. You know what I mean, don't you?"

Dash chewed her lip. "I mean, the admiration and sense of awesomeness you get out of it are nice..."

"Yeah, but they're not why you do it, right?"

Dash considered that, and nodded. "Yeah, I do it because I care about ponies. I just want to save them when I see them in trouble. It's like an instinct."

"Well, I took it beyond just instinct. I'm making a whole lifestyle out of it. I want to be the best at it. That's just how it is."

Plus, the better I get at it, the more powerful I become. And I do like the power, the admiration, all of it. But that's not the only reason I do it, right? That wouldn't be very heroic, and I'm the best hero – so that's not why.

Dash chewed over some fries in thought, and then grinned at me. "Y'know, for a kid, you're really insightful."

I choked on my drink at that. "For a kid?"

Dash held up her hooves placatingly at my angry expression. "Easy, easy! What I meant was, you're really sharp in general, and that's even more surprising for your age!"

I nodded, placated. "Thank you. You're... actually pretty insightful, too. And that's even more surprising for a jock!"

Dash laughed and playfully swatted some cloud at me, and we engaged in the aerial pegasus equivalent of a pillowfight as we each snatched clouds to batter each other with. I was so at ease around her I almost forgot to disguise my wings as magic.
> Dial it up
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next couple of days went by smoothly. I spent time with Dash and Zecora, but I focused mostly on training; just because I had won the last few fights soundly didn't mean I wouldn't eventually meet my match. After all, super heroes always do, right?

But they come back stronger. And I still had those evil wizards to beat.

I was in the middle of training my self-enhancement magic when several of my gems went off, all at the same time.

Oh ponyfeathers! I won't be able to get to all of the disasters in time!

For a split second, my irritation at the interruption to my schedule was overridden by a terrifying image of a horrible, gigantic red and black monster, towering over ponies who writhed on the ground in agony, amidst flames and devastation. The phantom memory passed as quickly as it came, but I felt a wet, terrible fear slither in my guts before I clamped down on it.

I am not some weak pony who will cower or fail! I'm going to save the day, and NOTHING CAN STOP ME!

I teleported into my disguise, and teleported for Manehattan; I figured I'd work my way back to home, since I'd likely be too exhausted when it was all over to teleport back to the Everfree from farther than Ponyville.

My teleport beacon for Manehattan was on top of the tallest skyscraper I could find, and I wasted no time in spotting the disturbance and bolting for it. There was some kind of swarm of pastel-colored bugs zipping around, and ponies were shrieking and fleeing. I watched one of the bugs chomp half a bench off, and then split into two.

... Buck.

So these things had crazy biting power, multiplied at an astonishing rate, and ate literally everything. I vaguely remembered a description of that sort of thing... Parasprites?

But where can I find a tuba at this hour?!

Oh. Wait. Duh.

I bolted straight for the music store, though I at least opened the door instead of shattering the window, and I grabbed all of the instruments I would need in my magic. Then I flew back towards the swarm, and grabbed several ponies in the process. I set them all down, though I kept them from running off (kicking and screaming as they were), and magically augmented my voice.

"LISTEN UP, YOU SCAREDY-FOALS!"

That got their attention, and they stared at me in either awe or terror – either way worked.

"I AM THE DASHING SAVIOR, AND I AM HERE TO SAVE YOUR TOWN! TAKE THESE!"

I shoved instruments into the hooves of each of the ponies, and quickly got each one playing the one or two notes they needed to play on repeat to lure the swarm out of town. With a few encouraging zaps from my horn, they got to playing, and the swarm began following them to the border of Manehattan.

Job done! Time for the next!

My horn heated up, and my world tilted sideways as I slipped through space to Las Pegasus. I wobbled on my hooves slightly after that long-range teleport, and stared down from on top of the casino I had picked as my teleport zone.

Huh. I don't see anything wrong.

Then I heard screams from inside the casino directly below me, and I rolled my eyes and groaned.

Of course.

I teleported inside of the casino, and the source of the disturbance became obvious immediately; some kind of machine was going absolutely haywire, spewing boiling cider at ponies and running around on mechanical spider legs. One scalded foal was hiding under a table, which the machine flicked over before aiming its juice-jet at them.

There was no time to plan, only to react, and I sprang between the foal and the machine. I thought I'd be able to get a shield up in time, but instead I just got a face of steaming cider.

HOLY EQUESTRIA THAT BURNS!

"YOU WORTHLESS SCRAPHEAD! BURN! BURN IN TARTARUS!"

I screamed and loosed a magic blast that could have laid out a dragon, and the machine shattered and splattered all over the rear wall, thankfully away from the other ponies. I rapidly wiped the boiling cider off of my face before turning around on the foal, who was staring at me with an awed expression.

Reel in the anger, Quillon! You're a hero!

I managed to contort my facial expression to something vaguely friendly and/or heroic.

"Are you okay, citizen?"

"I... I got burned... are you a super hero?!"

I nodded. "I am the hero, Dashing Savior! Get some ice for that and go to the doctor! I must go, for there are other ponies to save!"

Also MY FACE HURTS SO BAD, ARGH!

Having confirmed that the foal was not in any life-threatening danger, and the other ponies seemed alright, I teleported to Appleloosa. I was still blinking hot cider out of my eyes when I appeared on the top of the clocktower at the center of town.

For a brief moment, I wondered how much worse it would have been if I wasn't unnaturally tough, or what a straight jet of cider to the eyes would have done to that foal.

No time for empathy, Quillon! Find the next crisis!

I glanced around, and saw a blurry commotion on the far side of town. My eyes still weren't really clear, but I set off for it anyway, like a hero should.

I hope these stupid ponies are thankful for what I'm going through for them!

I landed near the commotion and took a closer look. It seemed like there was some kind of mass fight going on. From what I could tell, buffalo, earth ponies, and a few unicorns were involved, but it didn't seem like there was any clear grouping to the combatants; it was just a giant free-for-all.

Well what am I supposed to do? Fight all of them?!

I started trying to think of ways to manipulate the combatants into stopping, when I suddenly realized something. The fighters weren't saying anything at all. Bystanders were crying out and generally having a good ol' fashioned pony freakout, but the fighters were almost robotically silent.

Magical manipulation! Okay, just gotta release them—OOF!

While I had been analyzing the situation, a buffalo had taken interest in me and rammed me from the side. Thankfully it was just a headbutt – their horns weren't curved well for frontal rams – but it still hurt like Tartarus.

"Why you—No! BAD BUFFALO!"

I zapped the buffalo in the face with a stun spell, which caused it to wobble drunkenly in place before falling over. I also felt the enchantment break under the stun.

Well okay then!

I flew above the melee, and began tossing out stunning spells left and right. Soon, only the unicorns were left, who kept shielding themselves with their magic.

Dangit! Of course they had to be wizards! Now what?!

One of the unicorns fired a horn blast at me, which I only barely managed to weave around in midair.

It felt like the time was right for a heroic proclamation.

"FOALS! I AM THE DASHING SAVIOR, AND YOUR EVIL WAYS WILL NEVER PREV—OW!"

One of the unicorns had snuck out of my field of view and shot me in the back. It was a pretty weak hornblast, but still, the nerve!

I teleported underneath his chin – advantages of being pint-sized! – and reeled a hoof back.

"FLYING HYDRA PUNCH! MINIMUM POWER MODE!"

It was really just a jumping uppercut, but it still knocked him on his haunches and stunned him enough that I could put his lights out with a spell. I wove around a couple more hornblasts and got some distance from the three remaining unicorns.

"You don't know who you're messing with! Heroes never lose! Come on – give me your best shot!"

I formed a cup of energy, and the unicorns obligingly fired blasts into it as hard as they could until they were spent. Then I turned that cup of energy into a tiny ball of electricity – far less powerful than the one I had used against the dragon, and far less dangerous. Plus, I had practice now, so I wasted no energy in zapping them all with it until they were down for the count.

"Yeah! THAT'S MY DRAGON BALL TECHNIQUE, SO-NAMED BECAUSE IT DEFEATED A DRAGON'S BREATH! The Dashing Savior never fails!"

I was talking tough, but frankly I was wobbling on my hooves at that point. The crowd was cheering for me, though, and that helped me power through. I charged my horn and teleported to Ponyville, and arrived feeling so tired my thoughts turned to my bed – but that thought was quickly dashed from my mind by what I saw...


<TO BE CONTINUED

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPCLFtxpadE
> Push it to the limit
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rainbow Dash was lying on the ground, scorch marks visible on her wings and barrel, alongside an orange mare I didn't recognize. Standing nearby and cackling was a cloaked pony, cackling loudly and blasting chunks out of nearby architecture with a staff he clutched in his right hoof.

Oh gosh. An actual super villain. Could this be... COZY GLOW?! I have to stop her!

I swept down and slammed into the ground, and then posed heroically. "Freeze! Stop right there, Cozy Glow! Your reign of terror ends now!"

The pony, whom I now realized was a grey stallion with a black mane, looked at me in confusion. "Cozy Glow? What are you talking about?"

"Nevermind! I'm stopping you anyway!"

Idiot! Obviously this isn't Cozy! They said she was a foal! Whatever, this guy's going down!

I fired off a hornblast at the interloper, but he simply smacked it aside with that staff of his.

"Dangit! If I was at 100% there's no way you'd be able to do that!"

The stallion quirked an eyebrow. "And why should I care about that?"

"Well... it's not fair for a supervillain to beat a super hero just because the hero's tired! Don't you want to prove you're tougher than—" I posed dramatically "—the Dashing Savior?"

"Not really."

He fired a wall of energy at me the size of a house, and I barely managed to teleport past it, firing a blast of my own that hit square. He skidded backward, digging a trough in the dirt with his rear hooves, and then planted back on the ground. He casually dusted himself off with the staff.

"Was that the best you can muster, foal?"

Oh buck.

I barely had time to register how unimpressed he was before I was suddenly hit from behind; somehow, he'd yanked that energy-wall back to him after I had dodged it, and I fell right into his trap. I was sent flying past him, and barely managed to spread my wings and direct my trajectory into the stream rather than the bridge or dirt nearby.

When I pulled myself back to shore I heard him laughing.

"You call yourself a super hero? Honestly? These two put up a better fight!"

He gestured to the two fallen mares. Everything about what he said made me violently angry.

Forget magic blasts! I'm taking him down old-school!

I concentrated all of my magic into my body, using the earth-pony component of my alicorn nature to my advantage. He saw my horn glow, and fired off a preemptive blast, but I dodged it easily with simple hoofwork.

He blinked in surprise, and then fired a half-dozen more blasts, all of which I likewise evaded.

"What's the matter, old man? Can't keep up?"

He sneered and fired another wall of energy, but this time I charged at it, ramming through it with sheer force. He barely had time to widen his eyes in surprise before I charged straight up to him.

"FLYING HYDRA PUNCH!"

I was really starting to like that move.

We flew together a solid ten feet into the air, and I felt his jaw give under my hoof in the process. He'd feel that in the morning, for sure! We both landed, him on his back and me on my hooves, but I almost collapsed immediately.

Dang. Ramming through that energy blast took a lot out of me... but at least I won!

Then he stood up. And popped his jaw back into place without even a whimper. I stared at him and stammered.

"Uh...y-you aren't, uh..."

"Lost for words, hero?"

Well, at least he kinda-sorta acknowledged me. Then he fired another energy blast, which I only dodged by swaying to the side and collapsing.

New plan, now! I need to make a show of strength that can at least scare him off! He doesn't care about injury, so... I know!

He leveled the staff at me, but just as he did so I yanked on it with all of the telekinetic force I could muster, which dragged him much closer to me. It surprised him so much he missed me with his next blast, and I took the chance to leap up and bite him on his right leg as hard as I could.

This time, he howled with pain and surprise, and wagged his leg desperately to get me off of him. I was tenacious, and stayed latched on even as he swung me through the air, until he finally teleported away. I went sailing through the air and bounced on my rump a few times.

From where he had teleported, close to the treeline, he fired another blast, as he turned to flee. This one caught me square, and knocked the sense out of me. I felt something snap, screamed, and tumbled tail over teakettle into the side of the hoofbridge, bouncing my head against it.

Owwww... when I get my hooves on that loser, I'm going to make him so sorry! He not only beat up Dash, he kicked me around, too!

I huffed and shakily got to my hooves, and examined my wings. Nothing seemed broken, but they were... orange?

I suddenly realized what had snapped was my disguise. And my wings were showing. I glanced around in case anyone saw.

And I saw a purple alicorn staring at me.

We just stared at each other for a second.

Then her eyes narrowed, her mouth set a snarl, and her horn lit up.

Yeah, I teleported out of there as fast as I could. I landed directly in my bed and passed out.
> Odd bedfellows
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The glowing red giant cackled and slammed a cloven hoof down, shaking all of Ponyville. Some of the burning buildings collapsed, but I held firm.

"You won't win, monster! Good always triumphs in the end!"

The red giant laughed – a deep, powerful sound – and leaned down.

"Good? Is that what you think you are?"

"Duhhhh, I'm a super hero!"

I blasted him in the face for getting so close, and he reeled back and grunted in frustration. I saw a massive energy blast charging between his curved horns, and formed an equally-giant cup to catch it in. I glanced and saw a blue alicorn to my side.

"Oh, hey, Luna. Little busy!"

I caught the giant's energy blast and turned it to a ball of lightning.

"Now you taste The Dashing Savior's Dragon Ball!"

I hurled it back at the giant, but he just swatted it aside like it was harmless. I stomped the ground in frustration.

"No fair! No fair at all!"

The giant yelled and swatted me with the back of his hand, and I went flying through a burning building, which had the effect of burning me, slamming me, and totally ruining my costume and hairdo. By the time I stopped skidding on the other side of Ponyville, all of the hair had been shorn from one of my legs.

And it hurt. Windigoes and seaponies, it hurt. Worst of all were my face and my hooves, though, which ached for some reason I couldn't remember. I staggered to my trembling hooves as the giant casually strolled up to me. His booming voice rang out another laugh.

"Only a little foal like you would think the world is fair. Nothing is fair, Quillon. The strong tread on the weak. And you... you are weak."

He lifted a hoof to slam down on me, demonstrating his point, but his words set me off.

"NO!"

I blasted his hoof back with everything I had, but this only managed to make him withdraw his foot and rock on his back legs. He chuckled dismissively.

"Yes, little one. It's a truth you once knew. You may have forgotten, but it is reality nonetheless. And..."

He leaned in, and I tried blasting him again, but I could only conjure sparks from my horn. I watched, terrified, as his red, ape-like face drew far too close for comfort.

"... No one could ever love you. Not for who you are. Ponies only want to be around those who show them what they want to see. It's just like I told you before. This super hero act of yours will only win them over as long as you keep it over; when you can't any longer, no one will be there for you. No one will ever love Quillon."

"That's..."

He smirked. "You can't even deny it. This is why love and friendship are weaknesses."

"Enough."

I glanced over at the source of the new voice, and saw Princess Luna had caught up with us. Her horn glowed, and the giant, Ponyville, all of it faded away. All that was left was me and her. I glanced at my disguise, only to find to my dismay that my costume had been torn to shreds; my coat had reverted to its off-white color, so she could see Quillon clearly.

Dangit! I keep blowing this whole secret identity thing!

Luna eyed me over quizzically. "Pray tell... who precisely are you, little one?"

I balked slightly. "Huh? Didn't you see me before, at Silver Shoals? I'm the Dashing Savior!"

She shook her head. "That's not what I meant. Tirek called you 'Quillon', is that right?"

I sighed. No point denying it. "Yeah, that's right."

"Quillon, you have odd nightmares. Why would a foal be dreaming of Tirek?"

"Nightmares...? Wait, all of this was—of course! It's just a dream! Phew! I thought I'd blown my cover with you!"

Luna cocked her head. "Your... cover?"

"Well yeah! I can't have everypony knowing I'm actually a super hero, duhh! Secret identity!"

Luna blinked a few times, screwing her face up in confusion. "I don't understand your meaning, but if you mean to say that you believe I am merely a part of your dream, I will have to disappoint you."

It was my turn to look confused. "What do you mean?"

"I am the Princess of the Night, and though I am otherwise retired, I still safeguard the dreams of ponies across Equestria. I have the power to come to you in your dreams, to protect you from nightmares."

"Oh. Well... that's... not ideal, but you can keep a secret, right?"

Luna smirked and shrugged. "I suppose? I don't understand why you would wish to hide your heroism, though, little one."

"Well, it's because there's actually some really nasty ponies after me..."

At this, Luna's demeanor became stern and serious. "What? Which ponies, why?"

"I don't know!"

It came out of me all at once, and I cursed my lack of self-control. Maybe being asleep made it harder to parse what I said?

Gotta watch myself...

I was hyperventilating and I realized I was on the verge of tears.

"I don't know what they want with me! They attacked me and I only barely escaped, and I've been hiding out ever since! I've tried to pick my life up where I think it left off otherwise, but I'm always looking over my shoulder! I have no idea what I'm doing here or where my family is, or, or..."

I actually threw up. As much as I hated myself for losing control before, now I was REALLY furious at myself. I even felt angry at Luna for bringing all of that out of me. There was a voice in the back of my head screaming to get ahold of myself; that I was letting Luna work me over instead of staying in control.

But I just didn't care. I'd almost been killed several times in the past few days, and as much as I tried to put it out my mind, there were ponies out there coming for me, and they were stronger than I was. I needed more power, or I wouldn't stand a chance. And it seemed like the whole world was falling apart, too!

Luna put a hoof on my withers, a look of sincere concern on her face. Just that simple look... there was something in there that told me she knew a little of what I was feeling. And that was comforting. She was about to speak when there was a rumble all around us, and I noticed for the first time we were standing in a starry void.

"It seems you are awakening, Quillon. Seek me out! We must speak more!"

With that, the dream ended, and I snapped awake, breathing hard and still aching from my battle.

Seek her out...?

I considered it. I really did.

No. She knows too much about me, and I don't know which side she's on. One of the other princesses tried to attack me, so who knows how deep this goes? Can I even trust Celestia? Will... Luna get dragged into the fight if I go near her? That would mean the heroic thing to do is keep her away, right?

I sat up in bed and turned it over in my mind, like a cube puzzle.

Is that why Rainbow Dash got hurt? Because I've been hanging around her?

Is Zecora next?

I glanced around the hut. Zecora wasn't anywhere to be seen, even though she should have been; the sun was setting, and that meant she should have been staying indoors to avoid the dangers of the forest.

Had she already been hurt? Did somepony take her?!

My head throbbed as it whirled with concerns and thoughts, but I managed to stagger out of bed and out of the door.

I wasn't sure what I should do or why I should be doing it, but I knew I couldn't just sit still.
> Flawless logic
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I spent hours combing the Everfree Forest for Zecora, until well past dark, but she was nowhere to be found. When I finally returned to her hut, exhausted, I spotted that the vegetation had been disrupted; someone had gone to her hut by a path she didn't use, and the door was slightly ajar. I peeked in through one of the windows, and saw that mean purple princess inside, sitting in a chair and watching the door carefully.

I was right! She's in cahoots with the evil wizards and she took my friend! She even laid a trap for me!

I fought down the impulse to confront her right-off. Who knew how many other insane, powerful wizard-friends she had lurking around? Instead, I silently took flight, zipping off through the night.

It was only then that what I'd thought caught up with me.

Zecora. My... friend. She's my friend. And Dash is my friend.

That evil wizard stallion hurt Dash, and then they took Zecora. All to get to me. And this princess is working with him, or brainwashed by him, or something, and they're all trying to get me. I don't have friends, or a home, or... what do I do?!

I kept chewing it over as I flew, clamping down on my stress.

You have to focus, Quillon. Think about what resources you still have. There must be a way to beat them!

Playing superhero had really stopped being fun. It was one thing to beat up weak monsters with overwhelming magic. Even the more dangerous, stressful stuff I could handle, but this?

Evil wizards sneaking around, preying on my friends? Conspiracies that reached the highest level of government?

This wasn't fun, it was a whole different kind of terrifying. I had no idea whom to trust or where to go.

Remember, Quillon. It's when the superhero is at their lowest that they have to rally, and come back stronger. And... and I'm at my lowest.

Tired, injured, freaked out, homeless, friendless... yeah, this was as low as it got. I even wondered if the sympathy I'd detected in Luna's eyes was fake; maybe she was just luring me into another trap?

But then again, what other option did I have? I needed my strength back, and I needed help if I was going to face up to this.

Don't let pride stop you from asking for help when you need it. That's something I remember... no idea where from, but it's probably the right call. I'll need to be careful, but maybe she can help me after all.

With that thought, I peeled off towards Silver Shoals. I didn't have the strength to teleport all the way there if I wanted to be ready for a trap, and the long flight would give me a chance to clear my head. I flew just above the treeline, watching carefully for ambushes or interceptors, but I saw nothing the whole way.

I set down quieter than a bat at the entrance to Silver Shoals, and crept like a thief through the night to the room where Luna was staying – it was easy to find, since it had her distinctive cutie-mark on the door. I knocked gently, and a few moments later, I heard her voice.

"You may enter."

I slipped inside, and Luna sat up straight on her bed when she saw me.

"Quillon! I worried you would not come. I—are you alright? You're injured!"

I stared up at her, my legs shaking and my breathing a little strained from the long flight. I still wasn't sure if this was a trap or not, but I eventually forced myself to speak.

"Princess... they took my friend, they were waiting for me at my home!"

Luna's eyes shot wide. "What?!" She bounded out of the bed over to me, and wrapped me in a wing. I almost bit her out of fear, but once I relaxed I realized it was the first time I could remember anypony comforting me.

It was... nice. I suddenly understood better what I was supposed to do with that scalded foal back at the casino, but I shoved that down.

"I... Princess, you can't tell anypony! I think they can brainwash ponies – one of my friends got attacked, and then one of her friends attacked me when I was saving her! I think... I... oh..."

I realized just how tired I really was. I hadn't slept properly, and I hadn't eaten in almost twenty-four hours. The sudden warmth and comfort had caused my fatigue to surge to the fore.

Luna seemed to understand, and set me down in her bed, brushing my hair out of my face.

"Easy, little one. It will be okay."

I grabbed her hoof.

"Promise me, Luna. Promise me you won't tell anypony! I just... I just need some sleep."

Luna chewed her lip, but eventually nodded. Seeing that was the best I was going to get, I leaned back into the pillow and the world around me faded.
> Recovery
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I woke up surprisingly refreshed. As it turned out, Luna had the best bed, and the fresh lavender around her room helped too. I was pleasantly surprised to find hay bacon and hash browns waiting for me on waking, and I was just finished with them when Luna returned. She smiled pleasantly, though she seemed very tired.

"Good morning, Quillon. Did you rest well?"

I nodded. My brain had had time to kick back into gear while I ate, and I remembered the situation I was in. But...

"The fear's gone, now. I know what I need to do."

Luna's smile faltered a bit, and she looked concerned.

"Quillon, I don't believe you should try to confront these dangerous ponies on your own—"

"I CAN'T—" I cut her off in anger, but I held up a hoof and steadied myself. "I won't get anypony else mixed up in this! I'm not weak or cowardly or..."

Why don't I want her to help? She's big and powerful, right? But... I wouldn't be much of a super hero if I just let others fight my battles for me. And... I don't want anypony else to get hurt.

I nodded and took in a sharp breath. "I'm going to clean up my own mess. I'm the one who got them into this. I can get them out."

Luna frowned. "Quillon, you're still very young. Nopony expects you to be able to fix everything that you break on your own! And you can't blame yourself for the actions of others—"

"Stop addressing me as a foal! I am a hero, and that means I have to take responsibility for my own actions and their consequences! Heroes own up to their mistakes and fix them, right?"

Luna's face darkened for a second, and it looked like she was going to object, but she stopped short and seemed to consider. Then she actually laughed softly.

"Oh, Quillon. You remind me a lot of myself, long ago."

I blinked in confusion. "Is that a good thing...?"

Luna snorted. "Not particularly, but... I won't push you away. If you're adamant about getting involved, well... I've seen the magic you wield, I couldn't easily stop you. Just, tell me how I can help...?"

Hrmph! She's trying to manipulate me!

But then again, why? It's not because she wants to use me for her own ends, it's because she's concerned for my safety. I guess I shouldn't be too angry with her. She wants to help, so... how can I have her do that, without her getting hurt or trying to control me?

"Well, my hero outfit got kinda wrecked in my last fight. I could use help putting a new one together."

Luna worked her jaw and blinked a bit in surprise. "I am... not much of a seamstress, I'm afraid. I admit I didn't expect that request."

"Oh, it's okay. I mostly made the first one using magic, and I can guide you through the process. I know a freaky amount about dressmaking for some reason."

Luna smirked at that. "You don't know why you are knowledgeable in that field?"

Oops.

"Uh-uh, I mean I'm not sure why I bothered studying it so much, is all. It's silly stuff, after all. But since I know it..."

Luna nodded. "Let's get to work. I admit, I am more familiar with armorsmithing, from the early days of Equestria..."

"Well hey, that could work! I get in lots of fights, so armor is probably a good idea!"

Luna frowned at that, but we got to work. By the time we were finished, we were both proud of our creation, and I just knew those evil wizards would be in for a surprise. Luna finally went to bed, though not before stating in no uncertain terms that I needed to wait for her before I did anything dangerous.

I felt bad about ignoring that when I left to go rescue my friends, but the longer I left them with the badguys, the worse it would be, and I had firmly decided not to get Luna involved any further.

Better watch out, villains. We all know when the hero gets a new look, that's when they get really serious.

I grinned to myself. Equestria wouldn't know what hit it.
> The marathon
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Remember, Quillon. You don't know how many there are, but there's at least the princess and that stallion. This is a marathon. Remember the stuff you read about!

I flew across Equestria; I could be incredibly fast, but I took it slow enough that I didn't waste my stamina. I wanted to be at my best this time.

It doesn't matter how many there are. I'm going to take them all down and get my friends back. That's a fact.

I clinched my teeth and scanned the Everfree as I flew over it. An ambush could be anywhere, after all. Yet all seemed as it should be, and I flew over the forest uneventfully, ultimately coming to stop at the edge of Ponyville. I scanned the area, and spotted that purple princess walking and talking with an unfamiliar yellow pegasus.

Here goes nothing.

I flew over and slammed down in front of them, causing both to flinch back. I'd been tempted to launch a sneak attack, but that wouldn't be heroic, and I'd lose the chance to ask the question I needed to.

"Princess Twilight, right?"

I strode up to the shocked princess, who flared her wings out and took a lower stance. I imagined she didn't recognize me in the dark blue maille armor that Luna had made for me, complete with a dark-blue chanfron sporting my cutie mark. I got up close enough to look her in the eyes before I continued.

"Where did you put Zecora?"

Twilight suddenly clicked what was going on and grit her teeth, and charged her horn as I did likewise.

"You're not going anywhere near her again!"

She fired off a blast, but I'd been in plenty of fights lately; my reflexes were on fire to begin with, and I'd heightened them for this fight. I leapt out of the way and blasted what looked like a giant energy beam at her. Twilight's eyes shot wide and she formed a shield around herself, but her expression turned to sheer perplexity when the 'beam' turned into sparkling dust on contact with her shield.

"An illusion...?"

While she was processing that, I dashed around to the yellow pegasus and carried her to safety.

"Get out of here, get to safety! I believe Twilight's being mind-controlled, she'll be dangerous until I stop her!"

I didn't bother listening to what the pegasus had to say in response, as I rocketed into the air to put distance between us before Twilight fired off another shot. I flew above her, and watched her carefully.

Twilight, for her part, seemed confused by something, looking between the mare and me.

"Uhh... what are you doing?"

"The only thing I want to hear out of you is where you're hiding Zecora!"

Twilight took in a deep breath, took a step back, and charged her horn again. I realized she was also going for the long game.

So she's not sure she can beat me. Good. But I can't waste the energy to just blast her, and I don't know how much she can take; I might end up seriously hurting her instead of just snapping her out of it. So what do I do?

I quickly went over what little I knew of Twilight, and came to an idea. I charged my horn as though I was about to throw a huge blast, while flying up as high as I could. Twilight squinted as I was silhouetted by the sun, and took to the sky to try to level us out.

That was the opening I needed. I cast my spell, and there was an utterly blinding flash of light; Twilight, disoriented and confused, crashed into the ground. I quickly cast another spell that created the sound of an incoming blast, and then readied a tracking spell. The moment Twilight heard the sound, she teleported, and I teleported after her. She was just opening her eyes when we finished, gasping to see me, and I blasted her full on.

With a dispel.

There! That should break the enchantment and snap her to her senses!

I essentially hosed her down with energy, and at first she freaked out and threw her hooves up, but quickly set them down and stared at me in confusion even as the energy kept washing against her.

"Are you hitting me with a... dispel?"

"Yes! Did it work? Are you back to your senses?"

Twilight worked her jaw open and closed a couple of times, blinked a few times, and then shook her head. "I wasn't under an enchantment, Cozy."

I paused, cutting off the wash of energy from my horn, and leaned back. "Huh? Cozy? Where?"

Twilight squinted at me like I had brain damage. "You. Cozy Glow. Obviously!"

I rolled my eyes. "Why are you calling me that? I'm Qui—err, I'm The Dashing Savior!"

Twilight groaned and smacked her face with a hoof. "I know your 'secret identity' is Quillon, Cozy."

"Stop calling me Cozy! Not only do I resent you conflating me with a known criminal, that name's really dumb! It's like a night light or something!"

"Hey, don't you drag my father into this!"

"... Huh? Look, just tell me where Zecora is!"

"It doesn't matter how you threaten me, Cozy, or Quillon, or whatever you want to be called! I won't let you near her!"

I groaned. "If you're not brainwashed, then what made you betray Rainbow Dash?! She said you were friends!"

"We are friends! I never betrayed her!"

"But then—"

I was cut off as powerful energy blasts hit both Twilight and I from the side, sending us both skidding into the dirt. My armor took the brunt of the hit, so I was back on my hooves momentarily, but Twilight fared much worse; there was a visible scorch mark on her coat, and she was groaning pitifully. It reminded me of something.

Rainbow Dash and that orange mare. I snapped my gaze to the origin of the shots to see that same grey-coated stallion laughing heartily.

"You did a good job tying her up so I could take her down, 'Savior'. Now it's your turn."

Welp, I've had about enough of this.

I zipped into the air so fast he struggled to track my motion, pouring all of my fury into my horn.

I'm sick of running. I'm sick of my friends getting hurt. I'm sick of being confused by everything and not knowing who I am. I'm sick of being called 'foal' and 'child' and 'kid' and being told I'm not ready. Not ready? NOT READY?!

"DOES THIS LOOK NOT-READY TO YOU?!"

I hurled an energy blast at him, much more powerful than I even intended. The stallion gasped and threw a shield up at the last second, but it was shattered on impact, and he was blasted into the new crater I'd made in the center of ponyville. It wasn't all that large – just a few meters across – but he definitely felt the impact.

I landed at the edge of it and yelled at him so hard my lungs grew sore.

"STILL WANT TO CHASE AFTER ME? WANT TO MESS WITH MY FRIENDS AND INNOCENT PONIES? YOU WANT SOME OF THIS?!"

The stallion suddenly snapped awake and fired a blast at me, but my enhanced reflexes were too quick; I dodged to the side and fired another blast, but he teleported away. I barely had time to pivot around and cast a shield before he slammed it with another wall of energy. I sighed.

"Should have known it wouldn't be that easy. Marathon it is, after all."

"Foal, you've gotten in my way too much. It's time to—Yipe!"

I really didn't like being called foal. The moment he said it I started casting a spell, and while he was concerned with rambling the grass at his feet turned into parasprites.

Carnivorous parasprites.

"HOLY EQUESTRIA WHAT ARE THESE THINGS?!"

He'd already been bitten on his rump and lost most of his cloak in the process, and two nasty bites had landed on his neck before he cast a shield that blew the parasprites away and disjoined them back into grass. By the time he had resolved that, I was gone; he looked around in confusion and panic, but was unable to find me.

Because he didn't look underground.

Ground-swimming didn't seem like a combat spell at first, but now I get why it was in there.

I sprang out of the ground with tremendous force, and he just barely managed to dodge backwards.

"Your Flying Hydra Punch again? Too predictab—AH!"

He had backed up right into the patch of dirt I had hollowed out while underground. He lost his footing and grabbed the edge of the pit reflexively, dropping the staff in the process. I snatched it in my telekinesis and hurled it away from us as hard as I could, and he screamed as he dragged himself back to his hooves.

"NOOOO! YOU, YOU LITTLE B—"

When he looked back, he realized I was under him again. And he was pinned in place with telekinesis.

"You should have noticed I didn't call my attack name last time."

"What?!"

"FLYING HYDRA PUNCH!"

This time I got him directly in the chest, and I heard the whoosh as I knocked the air out of him and sent him flying. As we fell back to the ground, I noticed an amulet had fallen from his neck in the process, without his cloak there to keep it secure. I walked over and picked it up.

"Huh. Weird fashion choice."

The stallion, flat on his back, coughed violently and looked around. His eyes widened in surprise.

"Where am I? What's going on here?!"

"Neighsay?!"

I whirled around to find Twilight back on her hooves. I braced for an attack, but she seemed more focused on the stallion.

"Princess?! What is the meaning of this?"

Twilight eyed the amulet I was holding, and levitated it over to her. I didn't exactly fight her for it; with all of the shiny armor I was wearing, I was feeling plenty gaudy already.

"The alicorn amulet. How did you get this?!"

She whirled back on Neighsay, who rubbed his horn.

"I was asked to secure it in Canterlot, Princess. Dangerous artifacts were being moved after the Battle of the Bell. Don't you remember?"

Twilight groaned. "Right, I signed off on that. But why were you wearing it?"

I slammed a hoof on the ground, causing it to shake and getting their attention. I glared at Twilight.

"I don't care about any of this! Where is Zecora?!"

Twilight hesitated, but looked like she might be about to answer when I heard an oddly familiar voice.

"There she is! Alright, guys, let's do this!"

I whirled around and saw a vision from my nightmares; those same six evil wizards that had blasted me right from the start. A gryphon, a yak, a changeling, a hippogriff, an earth pony, and a dragon. I didn't know what sort of ritual they were doing, but I'd thought about it over the past week and it seemed like it took all six of them.

And I'd made a plan.

I put a portal in the path of the yak, the slowest and least reactive of the group, and she ran straight into it. The others yelled in surprise, and as the portal snapped closed, the gryphon immediately whirled on me.

"Where is she?! What did you do with her?!"

I was about to just admit she was dumped into a Canterlot pond, but thought better of it.

"Tell me where my friend is, and I'll tell you where she is!"

"You... how dare you?!"

The gryphon started flying towards me, and I smirked.

"You're approaching me?"

"I'VE GOTTA GET CLOSER TO KICK YOUR FLANK!"

I put a portal in front of him, which opened directly behind him. He went through it about a dozen times before he braked in midair, and looked behind him, then back in front of him, in confusion. I snickered.

"Trippy, right? I did that by accident once."

I snapped the portals closed. "Enough fooling around! What have you all done with Zecora?!"

The gryphon reeled back in surprise. "Zecora? Wait, you're not looking for Chrysalis or Tirek?"

"Huh? Why would I be looking for Tirek? Who's Chrysalis?"

Twilight's voice boomed out over the field. "Could everypony just CALM DOWN?!"

Nice voice augmentation. She really is an expert at this stuff.

All of us looked expectantly at Twilight, who took a moment to take a deep breath, hold it a moment, and let it out.

"Okay... Quillon... first things first. Is Yona okay?"

"How should I know? Who the heck is Yona?"

Twilight's eye twitched slightly. "The yak you just teleported."

"Oh. Yeah, she's over at Canterlot. I dumped her in a pond so the impact wouldn't hurt her."

Twilight blinked a couple of times. "Oh. Well, that's... good. Now... you're looking for Zecora. Why?"

"Because she's my friend, and she never came home! And I know you're responsible, I saw you sneaking around the house!"

Twilight quirked an eyebrow. "I was literally sitting in the hut and waiting for you to come home, once I realized you were staying there."

I thought back. I scuffed a hoof against the ground, mildly embarrassed. "Well, that is, I noticed you in the house while I was sneaking around it."

Twilight sighed and rubbed her face. "Right. Okay. Zecora's fine, she just left it to me to deal with you when she found out you were Cozy Glow."

"Stop calling me that!"

Twilight's eye twitched again. "Right. Whatever. So, she's staying at the castle right now."

"You mean the crystal nightmare at the edge of town?"

Twilight glared at me for a moment, but then rolled her eyes and nodded. "Yeah."

I narrowed my eyes. "What about Rainbow Dash? What have you done with her?"

"Huh? She's in the hospital; why do you care?"

"She's my friend! This isn't rocket magic!"

Twilight stared hard at me for a few moments. She chewed her lip over. "She's in the hospital, because of the injuries she got last time Neighsay came around."

What?!

I rushed up to Twilight. "What?! Is she okay?!"

"She'll be fine! She just needs to rest for a few more days!"

I teleported out immediately. The ponies at Ponyville General were pretty surprised to see me, but I didn't care.

"Where is Rainbow Dash?!"

The receptionist leaned back in surprise. "Uhh, I'm sorry, little filly, but visiting hours—"

I blew a hole in the ceiling and yanked him down to my level by his collar, right over the desk. "You will be sorry if you don't tell me WHERE IN TARTARUS MY FRIEND IS!"

"Room 2B!"

Stupid ponies! Even the non-evil ones are trying to get in my way! What is with this country?!

And with that I was off, down the hall and around the corner. The moment I laid eyes on Dash, with a big cast over her midsection and reading a book, I threw my chanfron onto a chair and bounded up to her, careful not to disrupt her wound.

Dash was definitely shocked to see me, but I didn't give her a chance to say anything before I wrapped my disproportionately large wings around her.

To Tartarus with the disguise, since Twilight knows I'm Quillon and an alicorn anyway.

Dash stiffened and just rested against me in the hug for a few moments. "Uhh... Cozy?"

I twitched slightly. "Twilight told you that too, huh? I'm not Cozy! What is with that mare?"

Dash slowly pried me off of her. I didn't really want to let go, for some reason, but I wasn't going to smother her, either. She fixed me carefully with her eyes.

"Your cutie mark is a rook, right?"

"Uh... yeah?"

A cold sensation started to settle in my gut.

"And your coat – your natural coat – is like a light pink? Your hair used to be curled?"

I leaned back slowly. "Uhhh..."

"Twilight saw you without the disguise, y'know. You can't hide it anymore."

"But... that's—"

Dash cut me off with a frustrated groan, and rubbed her head. "It's over, Cozy. Stop... stop messing with me, okay?!"

"Stop calling me that!"

That cold sensation had spread all the way down to my extremities.

It can't be... can it?

Dash just looked at me, fatigue obvious on her face.

"Look... I don't get what your game is at this point. Obviously we know who you are, so why bother carrying on the charade?"

I lifted a hoof and opened my mouth, but whatever point I was going to make wilted under her gaze. I set my hoof down and looked around the room.

What was I doing here? Just a minute ago I felt like an unstoppable hero, a knight clad in armor, fighting to save her friends.

But my friends didn't need saving. Well, maybe from Neighsay, but that was kind of incidental. Am I really...?

"Am I really... that loser we talked about? Cozy Glow? The megalomaniacal villain? Is that why everypony's been after me?"

Dash, for her part, cocked her head to the side. "I mean... you are, aren't you? I admit, I didn't really buy it when Twilight said it, but Cozy was really manipulative and all, so..."

"Do I... seem like her? To you?"

Dash shook her head. "No, definitely not. I mean, I guess there's the overlap of being a super-powered, really smart filly, but... wait, why are you asking me this? Are you saying you aren't her?"

"I... I'm saying... I don't know?"

Dash stared at me like I'd grown a second head. "You don't know? How could you know know?"

I considered trying to explain that I had amnesia, but it sounded lame, even to me. I just slid out of the bed and grabbed my chanfron. Dash leaned up as much as she could, groaning with the effort.

"Hey, you can't just walk out of here after that!"

I glanced back. "Rest well, Dash."

I need to go figure stuff out.

I teleported out of there. After checking in on the castle to ensure Zecora was alive and well where Twilight said she'd be, I set off for Luna's, my head still spinning from what they'd told me.
> What's in a name, really?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I woke Luna up by accident as I took off my armor and set it on the dresser. She eyed the scorch mark and broken rivets on the hauberk, but didn't say anything. I crawled up into the bed with her and she wrapped a wing around me.

We stayed like that for a while, just silent and together. Part of me wanted to stay that way forever.

But I knew it wouldn't be heroic.

Guess I'm really stuck on that. Even if I wasn't a hero before, it's just how I think now. I guess that's better than the alternative...

"Princess?"

Luna cracked open an eye to look at me and smiled. "Just Luna is fine. What is it, Quillon?"

"I, uh... I have something I need to tell you. I'm not who you think I am... maybe? I don't really understand it."

Luna quirked an eyebrow at that, but said nothing, so I eventually screwed up the courage to continue.

"This isn't my natural coat color. I disguised myself to hide from the ponies who were after me, but it seems like maybe they weren't the badguys after all..."

"Your friends were alright, then?"

I nodded. Then I cocked my head to consider. "Well, there was actually a stallion who was possessed by some amulet or something, and went crazy? I laid him out, though."

Luna's eye widened a bit. "The alicorn amulet?"

"Right, that's what Twilight called it."

"That is an artifact of immense power. I am surprised you prevailed."

I sighed, and slowly took off my cloak, revealing my oversized wings. Luna regarded them thoughtfully, but didn't seem all that surprised.

"I, uh, I might have been a badguy before. I'm not really clear on the details, but... well. This."

I had made my white coat permanent after my slip-up with Twilight, but I reversed the change and took out my contacts now. Luna watched me go through the process without a word. Once I'd set the contacts aside, I just watched her for a while. She didn't seem scared, or angry. Finally, I just shrugged.

"So, uh... they tell me I was Cozy Glow? If you knew her."

Luna nodded. "I had my suspicions."

"O-oh. Uhh... I see. So, uh..."

I gestured at myself.

"Am I? Because, uhh... I don't really remember?"

Luna hummed thoughtfully. "Well, I did not know Cozy personally, so who am I to say? You look like her, but if you don't remember, then how are we to know?"

I stared at her with a frown. "You're just messing with me now, aren't you."

Luna yawned and pulled me in tighter without another word. I was frustrated at first, thinking she was blowing me off, but then I realized what she actually meant by it all.

It doesn't really matter to her. Or... maybe it does, but she's saying it doesn't have to, right now.

I eyed my gems on the night stand, next to my contacts. If a crisis came up anywhere, they'd rattle and I'd know.

So... I'm not technically being unheroic by staying here, right? I'll still know if anything goes wrong. So I can just...

I curled up and let all of my cares slip away for the first time I could remember.
> Epilogue (ish)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next two weeks passed by in relative peace. There were a few more incidents I went out to deal with, but I spent most of my time with Luna. Sometimes we'd talk; I found out she had once caused a lot of trouble of her own, and it took her a long time to let it all go and become a new pony. I mostly wanted to push my past out of my mind as much as possible, but when I felt like I needed to discuss it, it was good to have a pony who understood.

Most of the time, we'd just enjoy each others' company, either in silence or engaging in the activities at Silver Shoals. I was shocked at how active those senior ponies really were, and they seemed to like having a foal hanging around.

I gathered that Luna had told Twilight where I was, but nopony ever came asking after me. I had some time to try to sort things out for myself. Some of my memories came back, gradually and subtly – I would see something and simply remember what it was, or some incident from my past, or I'd just be thinking about things and run across some memory I didn't realize I had.

I hated it when that happened. No matter what the memory was about, it was always through the lens of a malicious, manipulative pony. Luna could always tell when one had come up because she saw me throw myself into my training whenever it happened. That's usually when we'd have one of our talks.

I kept the new coat color and mane style permanently. Aside from making me harder to recognize, it helped remind me that I was playing a different role than I was before – that I could be somepony new.

I was outside working on a particularly tricky spell when Twilight, Dash, and Zecora showed up. They apparently wanted to see how I was doing for themselves.

There was also a purple mare I didn't recognize, who was introduced as Starlight Glimmer; apparently, we had even nastier history than I did with the others, but she seemed the happiest of the lot to see me improving. She promised I'd be seeing a lot more of her in the future, and even gave me a few tips on my magic; I actually needed them, because my magic was getting less powerful over time. Apparently, I had absorbed magic from some artifact, and as it wore off I'd need to learn to harness my own power without it as a crutch.

I guess I should have known super heroics wouldn't come that easy.

Twilight asked me what I planned to do with my future. In particular, she wanted to know if I planned to go back to her school. I barely remembered the place, but what little I did remember was the worst of what came to my mind; I was definitely in my darkest mindset there. I told her I wanted to stay as far from my old life as possible, and that seemed to put everyone at ease.

On the other hand, I needed to study more than magic. I figured that would be when they'd ship me off somewhere, but to my surprise, Twilight just left a sack of books with Luna. Apparently, it's fine if I stay here, at least for now. Dash made me promise to visit sometimes, but aside from that, it didn't seem like there were a lot of demands on me.

I suspect Luna had something to do with all of that, but I don't really know for sure.

Twilight admitted that nopony was entirely sure what to do with me. A villainous foal was unique enough already; one with amnesia who was engaging in heroics was outside of even her rehabilitation expertise. But, as long as I was determined to do better and stayed near ponies who cared about me, she said, she thought things would turn out for the best.

I think she's right. How hard can turning good be? I did it by accident, after all.

Celestia spent some time with me after they'd left. She commented that I was the quietest foal she knew.

I told her that was because I used to use words as weapons. There's a sincerity in silence. She seemed to think that was funny, for some reason, but I didn't press her for an explanation. Sometimes she oversees my magic training; maybe she misses teaching.

I wish I could remember my family, if I've even got one. I wish I hadn't screwed things up so badly before. I wish I knew why the powers of Harmony stripped me of my memory. There's a lot of things I wish for.

But I think I'll be okay.

And anycreature who tries stirring up trouble in Equestria is going to have to get through me, no matter what the Princesses say about it being reckless!