Krypton

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Krypton, home to an incredibly advanced race, but at the same time, isolated from the rest of the universe for almost ten thousand years. In its capital, Kryptonopolis, was the Council Tower, home to the Council of Sages, leaders from all over the planet. These were the most intelligent kryptonians that their race could have, or at least they were supposed to be, since there were some who considered that they were nothing more than old men attached to tradition and locked up in their own bubbles. So thought Jor-El, who was on the top floor of the Tower, facing the council.

"Don't you get it? Krypton's core is deteriorating, I told you that blowing up the core was a bad idea."

Jor-El looked at the council members with anger in his eyes. He was a magical kryptonian, one of the two races that made up his species, capable of accessing the magic that plagued the universe and, although it was little on the planet, it was still present. His fur was whitish, while his mane was dark black, and his eyes burned green. The one who answered him was a physical kryptonian mare, the other race of his kind and with slightly greater strength.

"Our power reserves were running low, what could we do?"

"Look up to the stars!" Jor-El shouted, frustrated. "How did our ancestors!"

"It's forbidden" replied another member of the council. "And if we did, are you suggesting evacuating an entire planet?"

Jor-El was silent for a few moments before sighing, shaking his head.

"No, it's already too late, we don't have ships big enough or with the right engines for interstellar travel."

"Surely there is something we can do to prevent the destruction of our world" said another member of the council, being supported by the rest, but Jor-El shook his head.

"No, the core is decaying too fast. By my calculations, there is only a little over 6 months left before destruction. We don't have time to do anything else."

"What if we evacuate one of our moons?" asked another, some nervousness and concern in his voice, but Jor-El shook his head again.

"The explosion will be too big, enough to disintegrate two moons. There will be nothing left."

The members of the Council of Sages looked at each other with concern, murmuring among themselves. In the end, the mare who had spoken to him in the first place got up.

"Thank you for laying out the situation for us, Jor-El. We'll calculate the odds and see if you're correct in your dire predictions. If that turns out to be so...then consider that the council owes you an apology..."

Jor-El nodded solemnly before turning around, pausing to watch them.

"Are you going to notify the town?"

"Ignorance is sometimes a blessing," another council member said. "If your predictions are correct... they will live happier not knowing what is coming."

Although he didn't agree with that, Jor-El didn't feel like arguing, least of all now. In a sense, he wished he didn't know what he knew. With one last bow, he left the room, now he just wanted to go home to be with his wife and his unborn filly.

The fortress of the House of El was located on the outskirts of Kryptonopolis, on one of the many mountains that surrounded the city, illuminated by the sunset rays of Rao, the red star around which the planet orbited. Jor-El approached on his mount, H'Raka, a flying being with four membranous wings, flying over the enormous dome that contained his observatory, landing on the courtyard and in front of the door, on which the symbol of the House was engraved. A floating object quickly approached, its head was spherical, whose front seemed to be liquid, moving slightly.

"Good evening, sir," it said, the liquid surface of it vibrating with each word. "Did your report go well with they?"

"Halfway, Kalex," Jor-El growled as he stepped off H'Raka.

With a light tap on his back, the animal headed for a space prepared for him, with several service robots ready to support him. Jor-El advanced through the corridors, followed closely by Kalex, until he reached a large room, lined with several armchairs, more nearby service robots, and lying on one of the enormous sofas, was Lara-El, his wife, a physical kryptonian mare with light bluish fur and a mane with two shades of blue, like her light eyes, but what caught her husband's attention was her slightly bulging belly, a sign of her three-month pregnancy, where it still their future daughter was developing, at least according to the medical robots. The mare looked up and smiled, getting up and walking over to Jor-El, who walked quickly towards her.

"Honey, you shouldn't strain."

"Jor-El, I'm pregnant, not invalid, and besides, I'm only three months pregnant" Lara-El said as she rolled her eyes, allowing her husband to put her back to sofa.

"But that doesn't mean I want to take care of you like the jewel you are."

Lara-El laughed lightly, though concern soon came to her face.

"How has you been?"

Jor-El sighed as he lay down next to her.

"At least they have accepted that the core is deteriorating, but they want to find some method of salvation."

Lara-El was silent, her hoof caressing her belly.

"Is there really no salvation?"

"No…" Jor-El said, sadness deep in his voice. "Evacuation to some of our moons is infeasible, they will be destroyed along with the planet. And escaping to some other planet is out of the question, we don't have ships powerful enough to support the journey, and there isn't enough time to build one."

They both fell silent, contemplating that possibility. Their world was coming to an end, and as things stood, there was nothing they could do to stop it.

"How is the baby?" Jor-El asked after a few moments, trying to put Krypton's tragic fate out of his mind.

"Kalex has already established when her birth will be... in six more months... one day before the destruction" Lara-El closed her eyes, tears sliding down her cheeks. "We'll... we'll only have one day to see her."

Jor-El got up from his seat and hugged his wife, who began to cry in no time. Ever since he discovered the fate of their world, they had spent their days trying to stay strong, but there were times, especially when they thought of their daughter, when the pressure got the better of them. His gaze wandered around the room, taking in the symbol of his House on several of the walls, the symbol that represented hope. Now, it was hard for him to find hope, how could there be when his daughter would only have one day to live? There was no escape.

Hours later, Lara-El had managed to calm down, and she was sleeping peacefully in their bed, but Jor-El was not so lucky. Locked away in his observatory, his scientific mind began to calculate and theorize, a habit he had to try to stand firm, not to succumb to despair. His mind was focused on the ships and the impossibility of creating one capable of taking out the inhabitants of Krypton in time, the only possible way was to use the energy of the Phantom Zone and create a wormhole towards some habitable planet. But time was not enough, a ship large enough could not be created, it would take years, centuries, perhaps. But... what if it were smaller? If instead of a ship to evacuate the planet, it was a single continent...

The Kryptonian turned away from the telescope and went to the computer, a block of steel placed in front of a large empty space, but when he activated it, hundreds, thousands of gray drops gathered into a gigantic sphere that began to form strange symbols and calculations at full speed. A scale model of one of Krypton's continents was created, and next to it, a hypothetical ship to be able to take to a single continent. After some calculations, Jor-El discarded that idea, it was still not viable, so he reduced the ship to save several cities.

Jor-El discarded smaller and smaller ship ideas until there was only one option left. The only way he could build an escape ship is if the passenger wasn't an adult kryptonian, or even a teenager, he had to be a foal. The stallion frowned, thinking of his future daughter, what if...?

"Kalex, my daughter's birth was scheduled for the day before Krypton's destruction?"

"Correct, sir."

Jor-El looked again at the ship plan that he had started to create, was it possible? With a small spark of hope, he calculates when he might have the ship ready, and almost jumps for joy at the sight of it, three days before the destruction if he starts tomorrow. His daughter... could survive.

"Can our daughter survive?"

Lara-El looked at the plans that her husband had created the night before, a small spark of hope growing in her.

"Yes, if I start today, I can finish it before she is born."

"What are you going to build that ship with? Even if the council agrees you're right, I doubt they'll let you work on this."

"That's why I talked to my brother last night, he'll send me the parts I need."

"Your brother?" Lara-El said with a raised eyebrow. "You haven't spoken to each other since..."

"I know, but he's a smart stallion, he'll know I'm telling the truth. And he values family as much as I do, he'll help me."

Lara-El watched her husband for a while before looking back at the model of the ship.

"Where are you going to send she?"

"I still have to study several possible planets, before deciding."

Lara-El kept her gaze on her husband, who was now busy cataloging the candidate planets, which appeared as replicas in the great gray liquid mass.

"Okay... But don't forget to rest, Jor-El."

"I will when our daughter is safe."

The days turned into weeks, and the weeks into months. Zor-El, brother of Jor-El, agreed to help him, sending him the necessary parts for the ship. As told, the Council of Sages refused to tell the kryptonian people, who lived happily unaware of the apocalyptic disaster that was approaching them. However, they couldn't keep it a secret forever, as more and more scientists discovered that something was terribly wrong with the planet's core, and rumors spread like wildfire.

As the final day approached, Lara-El's pregnancy also progressed, until finally, the day of delivery arrived, and contrary to what many parents did, they decided to give birth to their daughter at home. Jor-El accompanied his wife, trying to reassure her as the mare screamed in pain, gasping for breath, the medical service robots close to her to help her. Kalex, using its liquid surface, displayed a hologram of the little filly, following her vital signs, just as it would another machine but with the vital signs of the mother.

"You can, darling," Jor-El said in as calm a voice as he could manage, clutching Lara-El's hoof.

The mare looked at her husband, appreciating his presence. Time passed slowly, especially for Lara-El, but in the end, the filly's head slipped out into the world, and the room filled with the sound of her crying. A health service robot was ready to grab the little filly between its tentacles, help bring her into the world, and cut the umbilical cord. Her mother gasped, her mane sticking to her face and feeling the sweat all over her body, but seeing the robot approach with her daughter, who was still crying softly, she knew she would be willing to go through all that one more time just for her. Jor-El held their little filly in his arms, watching her, feeling the love that only a father would know run through him.

The filly was born a physical kryptonian, she had his coat, and her mane was just like her mother's, only it was a little softer in tone, and when she opens those eyes, he can see her mother's in them. With a few tears, Jor-El handed his precious daughter to Lara-El, who caught her between her hooves and pressed her gently against her chest, crying with joy at the sight of her.

"She's beautiful" Lara-El said with a smile, seeing how her daughter had finished crying, yawning softly and falling asleep on her chest.

"Like you," Jor-El said, walking closer and looking at the two most important mares in his life. "Our little Kara-El."

Although both parents wanted to prolong this moment, they knew very well that if they wanted her little filly to survive more than a day, they had to get going, and fast.

Jor-El walked quickly through the corridors of the Council Tower, heading to the room where the members of the Council of Sages would be, carrying some saddlebags on his back. Arriving at the gates, he was stopped by some guards, but the gates opened, allowing him to enter. The kryptonian walked past the guards and into the room, looking at the council members, and not surprisingly, he saw defeat and despair on their faces. As the gates closed, the stallion started to bow, but he was quickly stopped by the same mare that had spoken to him the first time.

"No need, Jor-El. Since these are the last days of Krypton, such formalities are unnecessary."

"I guess you haven't found a way to save us" he said, already knowing the answer.

Jor-El looked at the faces of the council members, defeated and depressed.

"No" said the same mare, "as you warned us... there is no possible salvation. Our lust for power got the best of us and we have brought Krypton to destruction."

"It's possible," Jor-El said, studying the council's reactions. "But if you help me, I can safeguard the future of our race."

The council members looked up at Jor-El in confusion.

"What do you mean?" said the same mare.

"Give me access to the codex, and the history of our civilization will not die with us."

The council looked at each other, murmuring.

"What makes you think we have the codex? We abandoned cloning hundreds of years ago."

"I know that the Council of Sages never destroys a piece of history, even if it represents one of the darkest times of our species."

The council members looked at each other, until finally, the mare got up and approached Jor-El, stopping a few meters from him.

"When you warned us that digging into the core for energy was dangerous, we didn't listen and brought destruction to Krypton...we won't make the same mistake again."

The mare looked at the council members, who looked at each other before getting up as well. Once positioned, they all hit the ground with their right hooves, causing a slight tremor. Right in front of Jor-El, to his hooves, a hidden hatch opened, and out of it levitated the codex, where the DNA of magical and physical kryptonians was kept, a small skull that belongs to the common ancestor of both races of the kryptonian species.

"Take the codex, Jor-El" said the mare. "I don't know what you're going to do... But don't make our same mistakes."

Jor-El nodded, using his horn to grab the small skull and stuff it into his saddlebag.

"Thanks..."

"No" said the mare as he picked up a hoof. "We don't deserve your thanks or your forgiveness, or yours, or anyone else's."

Jor-El looked at the council members, nodding and walking away, ready to go. But before he did, the doors burst open, a cloud of smoke billowing into the room. Coughing a little, the stallion looked into the smoke, making out three forms of three physical kryptonians, and thought he recognized the one in the center.

"This council is dissolved!" the kryptonian in the center yelled.

He wore gray armor and a black cape, as did the other two kryptonians beside him. His fur blended well with his clothing, as it was gray in color and his mane was dark black. The mare who had spoken to Jor-El frowned and brushed past him, stepping in front of and facing whoever was the general of part of the kryptonian army, Dru-Zod.

"On behalf of what authority?"

"Of mine."

Zod raised his right hoof, and from his gauntlet, a cannon shot out a bolt of energy at a mental command from his owner. The bolt caught the mare in his chest, throwing her back, already dead. Once so, the general gestured to his lieutenants, Faora, a mare with a blood-red coat and a black mane, and Non, a fairly large stallion for a kryptonian, brown fur and a mane of the same color but somewhat darker.

"Arrest them."

As the two lieutenants obeyed, Jor-El moved to stand in front of Zod, who gestured to the nearby soldiers to allow the stallion to approach.

"What are you doing, Zod?!"

"What I should have done years ago, old friend" Zod said, brushing past Jor-El and glaring at the council members. "These idiots, with their endless debates and ambition, have brought Krypton to ruin!"

"And you think a coup is going to save us?"

Zod turned to look at Jor-El, walking over and placing his right hoof on Jor-El's shoulder.

"Then help me, old friend. Together, we will save Krypton and eliminate the corrupted bloodlines that have brought us to this."

Jor-El held the gaze of his foalhood friend, then watched as his lieutenants and his soldiers arrested the remaining members of the council.

“And who will decide which bloodlines survive?” he asked, meeting Zod's eyes again. "You?"

Zod frowned, pulling away and staring at Jor-El.

"Don't do it, El, I don't want to be your enemy."

"I will respect the stallion you once were, but not the monster you are now."

Zod stared at Jor-El, knowing that his paths were totally separate now, if they weren't already.

"Take him out of here, keep him in the cells."

Two soldiers approached Jor-El, who took advantage of Zod's turning away from him to send a small spark of magic through his horn, barely perceptible from him, just before they put an inhibitor ring on him. He was dragged out of the council room and through the corridors of the Tower, down several floors to the one containing the cells. In one of the turns, Kalex appeared, attracted by the call of its master.

"Is everything okay, sir?"

"Back off!" one of the guards yelled.

Jor-El nodded and closed his eyes, practically at the same time that Kalex illuminated its liquid face and blinded the two guards. The kryptonian raised his left hoof and slammed his elbow into the side of the soldier to his left, then hitting him in the head with enough force to knock him unconscious. The other managed to recover, but the stallion had already approached him and hit his head against the wall to reduce him. Once freed, he look at his robot assistant.

"Put me through to Lara."

Kalex's liquid face moved, revealing Lara-El's face.

"Jor-El? Do you have the codex?"

"Yes, prepare the launch now, Zod has started a coup, and I'm sure he'll want the codex when he finds out I have it."

Lara-El nodded and communications were closed. Jor-El ran through the corridors closely followed by Kalex, emerging into the outer courtyard where he had landed, a few parked civilian ships and, in the stables, guarded by service robots, several winged mounts roaring at what they saw beyond. War had broken out in the city, small battleships darting between buildings and attacking larger ones.

"H'Raka!" Jor-El yelled as he approached the stables.

His mount stopped roaring alongside his companions as he heard his master taking flight to catch up with him. Jor-El climbed onto his back and strapped himself into his saddle.

"Stop!"

Jor-El turned, seeing several soldiers running from the entrance towards him. The kryptonian finished tying himself to the saddle and grabbed the reins, yanking and indicating to the beast that they could go. H'Raka ran at high speed towards the edge of the platform, jumping into the void and spreading his four wings, flying at high speed. Both entered the buildings of Kryptonopolis, dodging as best they could the enemy ships and the rays that were thrown between them. Kalex was close, flying at high speed to stay within range.

"Enemy ship approaching, sir."

Right after it said that, a bolt of energy passed by Jor-El and his mount, and turning, he saw one of the small battleships approaching, oval in shape with four huge wings on its back that also acted as engines and were capable of moving in any direction. In the nose, just below, was a power turret that was rapidly lighting up. The kryptonian urged H'Raka to move faster, trying to dodge enemy fire. Unfortunately, when they were close to leaving the city, one of the shots managed to hit the beast in the joint of his lower left wing, causing him to cry out in pain and drop several meters before he could stabilize himself with the three remaining wings.

"Come on, H'Raka, you can!" Jor-El shouted, trying to cheer his mount up, turning to see that the ship was still behind.

Before it could fire another blast, it was hit by an even larger bolt of energy, fired from an even larger warship. Jor-El made sure they didn't decide to follow him and headed towards his fortress.

H'Raka managed to reach the House of El fortress, collapsing in the courtyard, and several service robots immediately arrived to assist him. Jor-El unfastened his restraints and climbed down, stroking the head of his mount.

"Rest, H'Raka, you've done a great job."

H'Raka gently licked the hoof of his master, who took one last look at the beast and entered his home. Jor-El walked for a while before reaching the observatory, which had had a few changes. The telescope that had been there was replaced by the ship, which floated in the air thanks to its levitation system, and nearby, a launch terminal had been built. Lara-El was near the ship, rocking little Kara-El in her arms, singing a soft lullaby. Her husband watched them for a few seconds, regretting having to break that image, but he had no choice.

"Lara" he said, calling his wife by her first name, something he used as a token of affection. "Is the time."

Lara-El nodded weakly, still watching her daughter.

"I…can't…I thought I could…but now that I have her here…"

"Lara..."

"What if the ship doesn't make it?" Lara-El asked with fear and doubt in her eyes, looking at her husband. "She will die out there, alone..."

"If she stays here, she will die with no chance of surviving. If we send her on that ship... she has a better chance of surviving."

Lara-El closed her eyes, crying as she felt her daughter doze softly against the fur of her chest. The mare opened her eyes, looking at little Kara-El, kissing her forehead before letting Jor-El grab her with his hooves. The stallion mimicked his wife, gently kissing his daughter before levitating her with his magic into the open cabin. The filly stirred a little, disturbed in her sleep, but she went back to sleep right away.

"Have you found a place for her?" Lara-El asked as she watched Jor-El pull away from her.

"Yes, search the archives of the House of El for scout ships that were sent into space millennia ago" the stallion said as he gestured to Kalex.

The liquid surface of it moved, creating a representation of a solar system, although there was something strange, something that stood out to the naked eye.

"The star... orbit around the planet" said Lara-El confused.

The hologram represented the destination planet in the center of the system, with the star and its moon orbiting around it.

"Yes... It's the only one of its kind I've found in the galaxy, and I have a feeling it's the only one in the entire universe. But aside from that, it's perfect for her, its star is a yellow star, young, her cells will absorb all that radiation."

Kilex's hologram changed to represent three beings similar to kryptonians, two of them were practically the same as physical and magical, but the third had feathered wings. Still other species appeared on the list, another similar but striped species, one taller, another insectoid, one with head feathers, feathered wings, claws, and a beak, another that resembled a winged reptile, and according to the little description on their side obtained from the archives of the scout ship, they were capable of breathing fire...

"It appears to have multiple dominant species, but she will camouflage well."

"You don't know that" Lara-El said as she looked skeptically at the species, especially the ones that seemed to be winged lizards. "She will be an outcast... she may even be killed."

"How?" Jor-El asked, still watching the inhabitants. "To them, she will be a goddess."

Lara-El looked at her daughter, tears running down her cheeks, knowing that despite all her worries and protests...this was the only way her little filly could survive. Jor-El walked away from the ship and over to the computer, the liquid gray sphere waiting for him to do anything. The stallion made sure the command key was in place, wedged over the computer, the symbol of the House of El standing out. The kryptonian took out the codex and levitated it until it was above the gray sphere, beginning to levitate on its own.

Jor-El began to perform various commands, watching as the small skull began to glow yellow as three tentacles protruded from the sphere and approached the codex. Upon contact, it was a few seconds before it began to dissolve, a golden glow traveling through the tentacles until it was lost in the sphere. When finished, a tendril approached the control pedestal where the stallion was.

"Passing code to command key" said the robotic voice from the computer.

The golden glow moved up the tendril to the pedestal, and when finished, returned to the sphere. Jor-El then placed his hoof on the pedestal, from which four small tentacles came out and clung to him. Awareness of him, memories of him, and all knowledge of him traveled to the command key, creating a backup for him. After about seven minutes, about to finish the transfer, he turned to see his wife, who had not left the ship and was still watching her daughter.

"Lara, come, she will at least have a part of us."

Lara-El nodded, moving closer to leave her mind on the command key as well. But before Jor-El finished and made way for his wife, Kelax came quickly over.

"Five ships are surrounding the fortress and assessing its defenses. I estimate there are only four minutes left before they destroy the main gate and another three minutes until they get here."

Jor-El frowned, looking at his wife, who was looking at Kalex with concern. After a few seconds, Lara-El turned and ran towards the launch terminal.

"Kelax, give me the coordinates of the planet, now."

Jor-El looked at his wife, and when the computer finally released his hoof, his memories up to that point completely passed to the control key, he approached, listening as Kalex said the coordinates and Lara-El typed them into the launch terminal.

"Lara, what are you doing? You must turn your mind to..."

"If Zod gets here, Kara won't leave this house, and you know it" Lara-El said staring at her husband. "The process of transferring my mind to the command key will take too long. I'm not taking any chances, Jor-El."

The stallion looked at his wife for a few seconds before nodding and walking over to the computer. With a few quick movements, the command key came out of his slot, being caught in Jor-El's magical aura. It was pure white in color with soft blue ripples running across its surface, glowing faintly. The kryptonian quickly approached the cabin where his daughter was, bringing the object closer to her. From both sides of the shield that contained the symbol of the House of El, two tendrils sprouted and wrapped around her neck, turning the command key into a makeshift necklace.

"Bye, Kara" Jor-El said, placing his hoof on his daughter's chest one last time. "Our dreams and hopes travel with you."

As Jor-El stepped away, Lara-El readied the ship from the launch terminal, closing the cockpit and lifting the ship upright, holding the little filly in place with it artificial gravity system. The dome, which previously served only to observe the stars, was opened, now being the door to reach them. The launch was ready.

The battleships surrounded the fortress of the House of El, facing the courtyard. H'Raka, still resting in his stable, managed to rise and roar a threat at the invaders. One of the ships turned around, revealing its rear, where the door was open and where General Zod was, observing everything.

"Concentrate fire on the front door and take down that beast, he can cause trouble!"

Two of the ships positioned themselves on either side of the ship his general was in, one of them aimed at the gate and the other at H'Raka, firing at the same time. As soon as Jor-El's trusty mount fell to the ground dead, the energy blasts focused on the gate, destroying it in no time. Zod's ship landed and he went down, closely followed by Faora and Non.

"General Zod, we have detected the presence of a ship inside, it is about to take off" said Faora.

Zod looked up at the dome atop the fortress, open to its fullest capacity.

"Stay here and secure the area, don't do anything against that ship unless I order it" he said as he started walking towards the shattered door.

"Are you going in alone, General?" Non asked.

"Yes, this is a personal matter between me and Jor-El... Let no one else come in."

His lieutenants complied and stayed at their posts as Zod walked on and into the House of El. He walked quickly until he reached the observatory, he could see Lara-El in a terminal, a ship about to take off, and in at the entrance, clad in battle armor and the symbol of the House of El on his chest, stood Jor-El, ready for combat.

"What's on that ship, Jor-El?" Zod asked as he approached.

"My daughter... And you're not going to stop her from escaping this planet."

Zod scowled at the ship, but he had more important things to do.

"Lucky for you, I'm not interested in your daughter. I know you have the codex, and since it's the last days of Krypton, the codex can help keep our civilization safe. Give it to me, and I'll withdraw my forces."

"No, the codex will go to my daughter, Zod, and when the time comes, she will see that our entire race thrives, not just the bloodlines you choose."

"Don't make me do this, Jor-El... You were my friend, but if you continue down this path... you will become my enemy."

"You have already become mine by taking up arms against your own kind" Jor-El said as he got into a combat stance.

Zod growled and charged forward with a cry of rage. He raised his right hoof and tried to punch his old friend in the face, but he narrowly missed it and tried to do the same, receiving the same result. Despite being raised to be a scientist, Jor-El also received combat training. Nimbly dodging, the scientist drew a small short sword from his gauntlet and struck, but the general managed to move away from him. The blade slashed part of his forehead, a wound just above his right eye, causing the warrior to cry out in fury.

Before he could recover, Jor-El launched a series of quick strikes with his short sword, overwhelming his opponent, finishing with a kick that managed to knock him to the ground. Zod growled from the ground, managing to stand up, but he felt the point of the sword on the back of his neck. His gaze lifted and he saw that the ship was already belching fire and smoke as Lara-El prepared to take off.

"Lara, listen to me!" Zod yelled, drawing the attention of the mare, who looked over his shoulder at him. "The codex is the future of Krypton! Abort launch!"

Lara-El looked at Zod for a few seconds before looking at her husband. Then, she turned towards the launch terminal and started to take off. As the ship began to rise, both the mare and Jor-El watched it, hope and sadness mingling with each other.

"NOOOO!"

Zod, feeling Jor-El's sword move slightly away from him, and blinded by rage, quickly rose and activated his own short sword from his gauntlet, piercing the neck of his former friend. The scientist widened his eyes and stared at the general in confusion, before refocusing on the increasingly distant ship of his daughter, and losing his life.

"JOR-EL!" Lara-El yelled, backing away from the launch terminal.

Zod ripped the sword from the flesh of his former friend and backed away from him, trembling slightly at what he had just done. As Lara-El knelt beside a deceased Jor-El, the general gazed at the distant ship, and his remorse for what he had just done subsided...for the time being.

"Your daughter, Lara... Where have you sent her?" he said as he focused on the mare.

Lara-El stopped sobbing for a few seconds, looking at Zod over her shoulder.

"Her name is Kara... daughter of El... and she is out of your reach."

Zod looked at Lara-El for a few seconds before grunting and walking out of the observatory, past the mare. With a quick step, he went out to the courtyard, where his lieutenants and soldiers were already observing the ship.

“Shoot that ship down!” Zod yelled as he stepped between his lieutenants and stared up at the sky. "Don't destroy it completely, the codex is inside!"

One of his battleships circling the fortress started up, heading toward the fleeing ship. Its submachine gun swung into position, and just as it was about to fire, a massive energy bolt hit and destroyed it. An approaching warship, accompanied by several smaller ships, was responsible, and they trained their weapons on Zod and the rest.

"General Zod, by order of the Council of Sages, you and your lieutenants are under arrest!"

Zod watched the ship target him, hiding the one with the codex and the daughter of his old friend...Kara-El.

As for the ship, it stepped out of the planet's atmosphere, and the rear engines began to glow bright green. Right in front of the ship, a circular portal was created, and when it was passed through, it closed, thousands of light years away. Kara-El had escaped.

The shuttle was located in the center of Kryptonopolis, and from there the ships left for the small colony outposts on the moons of Krypton and those that went to the gigantic portal to the Phantom Zone. Above this was a large, oval-shaped transport ship, and since the destruction of Krypton was imminent, it was operating only with artificial intelligence, allowing its workers to be with their families. On the platform were the remaining members of the Council of Sages, Lara-El, several soldiers, and General Zod and his lieutenants, sitting immobilized on three small circular platforms.

"General Zod, for his high treason, you and your lieutenants will be sentenced to 300 cycles in the Phantom Zone."

Zod growled as he watched them, completely still in his place.

"You don't have the courage to kill us, do you?!" Zod said angrily. "Jor-El was right! You are a bunch of useless, first to last!" his gaze stopped at Lara-El, who held his gaze. "And you... I intend to find your daughter... And finish what I started!"

The council member who pronounced their sentence gestured, and soon, a bluish liquid began to creep up the three bodies, freezing them. Zod kept his eyes open and locked on Lara-El, the hatred in his gaze before it was hidden by the liquid, which turned solid in no time. With another gesture, the three prisoners began to board the ship, and once its only passengers were inside, it began to ascend to leave the planet. Its goal was the portal to the Phantom Zone, made up of three gigantic plates that joined in a triangular shape. Lara-El watched the ship slowly disappear into the sky, moving away shortly after without even saying goodbye to anyone.

Lara-El was in the House of El, hours after Zod's sentence, walking slowly towards one of her balconies. In the distance, she could see the sunset illuminate the city of Kryptonopolis. A tremor shook the earth and, in a secluded area of the city, a pillar of fire and lava erupted from the ground and disintegrated several buildings, and with every second, more and more pillars of fire appeared.

"Lady Lara, shouldn't you seek shelter?" Kalex asked, a little behind her.

"There is no shelter, Kalex…" Lara-El said, sadness in her face and voice. "Jor-El was right... it's the end..."

The columns of fire grew closer, and Lara-El could already feel the heat. Her gaze went heavenward, thinking of her daughter…her little Kara.

"Create a better world than ours, Kara."

From the depths of the mount that supported the House of El, a column of fire and lava erupted, effortlessly obliterating the ancestral home of one of the most important kryptonian families. From the outside, you could see all of Krypton full of red cracks, part of the crust sinking, and before long, it exploded, reducing an entire millennia-old culture to ashes and stardust in just a few minutes.

Author's Notes:

A few small clarifications.

First off, wow , I didn't think the prologue would be that long, but I wanted to keep all of this to just the first chapter, so I didn't have much of a choice. It's amazing, even though Superman is my third favorite superhero, his kryptonian origin story, unlike the death of Batman's parents (my favorite superhero, by the way), needs one more peak of exposure. Although I think it's more because I've seen the origin of the bat so many times in so many different works and I've only seen Superman's in Man of Steel (which the smart ones will have realized that I took a peak of inspiration from that movie, don't worry, I don't take EVERYTHING, there are things that didn't convince me of that version), so I guess that's why I wanted to explore the origin of the Mare of Steel more.

Second, as you probably already realized, this story is a continuation of Batmane, the dark steed, consider this as my own version of the DCEU (it is written like that, right?). As such, I say the same as in the previous one, the canon of the series will be taken into account until season 8, season 9 does not exist, and some little things that I did not like or do not fit me for the story that I want to tell will not be here.

Having said that, I hope you like this story, and for those of you who have arrived without knowing that this is a continuation (which would surprise me since it is in the description), do not worry, it does not have great connections with the story before part of a few mentions here or there, although I recommend reading Batmane first for a better experience. Enjoy .

A special mare

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The afternoon sun beat down on the dirt road leading to Manehattan, surrounded by green fields. Spring Flower, an earth pony mare with white fur and a pink mane, whose cutie mark was a sunlit daisy, was sitting by the side of the road as she moved her tail nervously across the ground, gazing at the distant train tracks, for those that one of those steam vehicles passed in the direction of the city. The mare pursed her lips as she gazed at the distant buildings, half a day's journey away, but at this rate, they would not arrive.

They had started this journey from Smallcolt at the request of Charity Kindheart, an old friend of Spring Flower, as she was putting on her signature Summer Theatrical Show, and was hoping that she and her husband would bring back some of their produce and farm foods. The mare frowned as she saw another train, this time leaving Manehattan and heading in the opposite direction, but it was enough to make her growl slightly.

Her gaze focused on her husband, an earth pony named Field Sickle, with a yellow coat and a chestnut mane, with a cutie mark representing a sickle cutting through the wheat. He was busy trying to repair the race where they had brought all the food they had prepared for the event, which now waited patiently on the ground, protected in travel boxes, for the stallion to put the broken wheel back in place.

"I told you to take the train, but no, we had to go by car" Spring growled, a little irritated.

"Where's your sense of adventure?" Field said from his position, smiling at his wife with a wink.

Spring Flower wanted to be angry with him, but it was impossible, not when he was giving her that look. Still, she refused to smile at him and kept her brow furrowed, which wasn't too difficult because if they were still there, they would have to spend the night outdoors and, on top of that, they would be late for her friend's event. Field Sickle managed to place the wheel in its place with a cry of triumph, regarding his wife with pride.

"I told you I'd fix it!"

"Hooray, now that race can take us a few more meters before it breaks again," Spring said sarcastically.

"Hey, this race has accompanied three generations of my family, a little more faith."

"You said the same thing when you promised me it wouldn't break in the middle of the trip" replied the mare with narrowed eyes.

Field opened his mouth to answer but closed it, putting on a nervous smile, one that had always seemed endearing to his wife, making her laugh slightly. Spring, with a small smile on her lips, got up and approached her husband, giving her a kiss on the cheek.

"Come on, let's go now, if not, we won't get to..."

Spring stopped looking at the horizon, there was something... strange, and it was getting closer and closer. Field looked at his wife strangely and followed her gaze, also seeing that strange object.

"What's that?"

"I don't know" Spring said with a frown.

The object came even closer, revealing that it was engulfed in flames, and in a swift way, it passed over their heads and crashed several meters away. Both ponies looked at each other confused, observing the object had fallen. Spring started walking in its direction, being stopped by Field.

"What are you doing?! We don't know what that is!"

"There may be somepony there who needs help."

"What if it's something dangerous?"

"Like what?" Spring asked with a raised eyebrow, and seeing that her husband was thinking, she gave a smile and advanced to his side. "Also, where's your sense of adventure?"

Field frowned as he watched his wife walk over to the fallen object, and with a resigned sigh, walked to her side. As they got closer, a familiar sound was heard, one that made them both look at each other in confusion, it was the cry of a baby. Alarmed, the mare ran over, reaching the crashed ship, seeing the small open glass dome. With some difficulty, Spring managed to climb up to the cabin, seeing a small earth pony filly lying on her back, crying loudly, though every breath she took seemed to take monumental effort.

"What is it?!" Filed yelled as he ran to catch up with her.

"It's a filly!"

Spring grabbed the little filly between her hooves and went down carefully, feeling the filly cry loudly. When she went down, she took a good look at her, making sure she didn't have any injuries. Due to her size, the mare didn't think she was more than a day or two old. Field walked over and studied the baby, looking at the ship in confusion.

"What was a filly doing there?"

"I don't know, but the poor thing is scared," Spring said, rocking the filly between her hooves.

Little by little, she stopped crying, calmed by the calming presence, but her breathing was still a great effort for her, Spring feared that she had some respiratory problem. Field looked at the filly as well, noting the necklace she hung around her neck, glowing in shades of blue.

"What's that?" he asked as he grabbed the object, also being watched by Spring curiously.

Upon being taken, the rope detached and took on a more liquid form, joining the rest of the structure. Field dropped the object in surprise, worried that it was dangerous, but after it didn't pass, he went back to picking it up cautiously. At the top was a stylized 'S', with a background glowing blue.

Prim Hemline looked at the designs in front of her with a critical eye, she always did, especially with new designers, even if they were recommended by an element of harmony and one of the rising designers from all over the country. The designs that she had of her, 10 in total, were decent, as were the others that the same mare had presented to her other times, but like the previous times, there was something that she did not add up to. She looked up to see the earth pony in front of her, Coco Pommel, who was looking at her with a nervous smile, yes... but not the one others in her situation normally had.

"Well, Miss Pommel," Prim Hemline said as she surveyed her designs on her desk. "I like the first seven designs, but... the other three need more work."

"I understand" Coco said, keeping her cool, and once again, it wasn't the answer Prim expected.

"They are somewhat repetitive and even boring, you should think about them better" she said as she extended the mentioned designs.

Coco walked over and, instead of poring over them as she had seen many before her do, she shoved them quickly into her saddlebag with a quick 'I will, Mrs. Hemline.'

"There's something else I want to talk to you about your... performance on your designs."

"What's wrong with them?"

"Do you like fashion? I don't mean just if you like designing dresses, anypony can like that" Prim leaned in her chair to stare at Coco. "What I'm asking is if you're passionate about it."

"Of course, Mrs. Hemline, that is my special talent, after all."

She watched Coco carefully for a while, before sighing and leaning back in her chair. Ever since Coco started working for her a few months ago, she had always encountered this problem. Her designs, while pretty good, lacked the passion of somepony whose talent was fashion design, but she... sometimes wondered if her cutie mark didn't represent something else and the poor mare didn't know and wasted her life in something that was not her destiny, or she was hiding something from her. She was lately starting to believe the latter.

"You may retire, Miss Pommel. I hope to have those dresses after Hearth's Warming."

Coco nodded and walked away from her, taking the designs with her to prepare for the festive break. The mare left Prim Hemline's office and headed down the hall toward the exit. Her ears twitched, detecting the sound of one of her oldest friends, something that made her smile. After going down to the first floor and walking to the lobby, she saw her, a unicorn mare with golden fur and a night black mane, a cutie mark of a notepad and a camera, Ink Tale, the best journalist of the Daily Planet and her best friend for a few years. She was talking to the receptionist until she saw the earth pony, smiling before walking over.

"Finally, you was starting to worry me."

"Hey Ink, what are you doing here?" Coco said with a smile.

"What? Can't I come see how my best friend did?" Ink answered as she approached with a smile on her face.

Both mares hugged each other and headed for the exit, saying goodbye to the receptionist and heading out into the street.

"How did that witch like your designs?"

"Ink, Mrs. Hemline is not a witch, she's just a demanding mare" Coco said with a small laugh, making her friend roll her eyes.

"Coco, you always see the bright side of ponies, even if they're ponies like Prim Hemline or Suri."

Coco kept her smile, though she was a little hurt that her friend kept mentioning Suri. She had already received enough scolding from her mother for that, she didn't need her friend to participate as well.

"I has done well for me, although the last three designs she wants me to review. According to her they are a bit boring."

"Exactly, according to her. I keep saying you should go with another fashion company, hell, even Rarity would be so much better."

Coco rolled her eyes, allowing Ink to ramble on about the many possible job options. Both walked through the streets of Manehattan until they reached one of their favorite coffee shops, where they entered for their lunch. While the star journalist ordered a lettuce, tomato and cheese sandwich, the earth pony ordered a double hay burger with fries, something that always surprised her friend, since she did not understand as a mare as kind as her, and sometimes even shy, could be so gluttonous. When the waitress left their food, the unicorn looked at her friend with a raised eyebrow.

"Seriously, you should watch that diet, aren't designers supposed to try not to get fat at all costs?"

Coco took a big bite out of her hay burger, and after swallowing, she responded.

"First, that's for the models. That thing about designers keeping to a diet only applies to Rarity" she said with a small giggle, remembering her more educated friend. "And second, you know I have a fast metabolism."

"Thanks for reminding me why I hate you sometimes" Ink commented as she rolled her eyes.

Both mares laughed together for a few seconds before going back to their food. 'I doubt obesity is a feasible problem for me anyway,' Coco thought to herself. In fact, neither obesity nor any other disease had been a problem for her.

"Please dad! Just one?"

Coco's ears instantly moved in the direction of that sound, and when she turned her head slightly, the mare saw, across the street, a filly standing next to her dad, pointing to a traveling candy stand. Her eyes adjusted automatically, zooming in and taking in their faces, and she could see that the stallion wasn't too happy.

"Honey, I already told you no. We just got out of the dentist, do you want to go again?"

The pout that the filly made made Coco laugh slightly, drawing the attention of her friend.

"Something happens?"

"Nothing, I just...remembered something from my foalhood."

"The fact that?" asked Ink with that curiosity of hers that characterized her so much.

"When I was 6 years old, I pestered my mother to buy me candy at a town celebration" said Coco with a smile, remembering those times... when she was still relatively normal. "I spent hours trying, in the end I got it, but she grounded me for a week without going out for throwing a tantrum in public."

"By Celestia, I'd pay to see that" Ink said with a barely suppressed laugh. "You sure were the cutest thing possible."

Coco nodded, smiling as she remembered that time, the time when she was still normal. After her 7th birthday, everything started to change.

Coco walked through the halls of her school, accompanied by the rest of her classmates, the headache she had been suffering from all morning getting stronger. She entered the class and sat at her table, moaning slightly at her pain as she brought a hoof to her forehead. Her teacher, a pegasus mare, started to take roll, but her words made her headache worse. Her ears moved in several directions at once, detecting the conversations of the other foals in the class, the little hoofbeats on the tables...

"Coco?"

The little filly opened her eyes and looked at her teacher, who was looking doubtfully at her paper with the list on her right wing.

"Are you okay Coco?"

Coco tried to speak, but a new headache prevented her, and the pain came with more noises. She could hear the tapping of a pencil on a table in a different classroom, the song of a bird from the schoolyard, and from farther and farther away.

"8-bit an apple cider? That's a steal!"

"A round of beers over here!"

"Do you still have Vanilla Cream Pies left?"

Coco brought both hooves to her head, trying to block out the noises, the assault on her ears, her eyes squeezed shut.

"Coco, do you need help?"

The filly looked at her teacher, and that was much worse. Her vision zoomed in on her face, showing her every detail, before her skin began to fade. In horror, Coco looked down at her, watching as skin gave way to muscle and then to bone, revealing her organs, before reversing the process. A slightly white aura covered her body, shining more brightly on her wings, and as she turned to look at her companions, she saw that the aura shone with equal intensity on the hooves of earth ponies and the horns of unicorns. Overwhelmed, she got up from her desk and left the class, ignoring the teacher's yelling at her.

Coco ran down the hall, all those noises drilling into her brain, the walls disappearing and appearing at irregular intervals. All she wanted was a place to hide, to be safe. Her suddenly enhanced vision beyond known limits focused on a small service store, which the filly hurriedly approached, opening the door and blocking it as she entered, then dropped to the ground, pressing herself against the corner and covering her ears, in a vain attempt to block his senses. Several knocks shook the door and her brain, making her groan in pain.

"Coco, please open the door."

"Leave me alone!" Coco yelled, realizing with a jolt of pain that it was a very bad idea.

"Please Coco, I just want to help you."

Groaning in pain, Coco opened her eyes and stared at the door, which disappeared to reveal the ponies outside it, her teacher and the foals. She wanted them to go away from her, to leave her alone. Her eyes began to sting, then burn. Her pupils turned red, and as the color covered her bluish iris, the doorknob began to heat up and turn red hot. The little filly could see and hear her teacher scream in pain as she stepped away from it, and moments later, two bolts of concentrated heat shot out and hit the metal knob.

Coco cried out in pain, looking through a red window as the metal heated up. Before the temperature rose any further, the filly closed her eyes, feeling the rays of heat trying to escape from her eyelids. She stayed there, huddled in the corner, her ears being assaulted by multitudes of voices and noises, and her eyes burning.

"She's a freak" said the voice of one of her classmates.

"Yesterday I invited her to play hide and seek, but she said her parents didn't allow her to play with other foals."

The little filly felt tears well up from the corner of her eyes, despite the burning she was feeling at the moment, she didn't know how, but she didn't care either. The minutes passed slowly, and the foals were led away while a teacher stayed with her, trying to get her out of it without success. After a while, somepony knocked on the door, and Coco pressed closer.

"Honey, it's me... it's mom..."

Coco sobbed at the soothing voice of her mother, standing out from the storm of noise like a beacon in the dark.

"It hurts... there's too much noise, mom... it hurts..."

Her mother was silent for a few moments before speaking again.

"Focus only on what you want to hear, honey... Focus on my voice, can you do it my little angel?"

Coco tried, concentrating only on the soft voice of her mother, who continued to encourage her. Little by little, the noises farthest from her began to disappear, until she could only hear the closest ones. The burning in her eyes was still present, but concentrating, she faded as well. The little filly opened her eyelids slowly, afraid to release those rays of heat again, but it didn't happen. Her gaze focused on the door, seeing through it to her mother, her muscles, her bones.

Closing her eyes, she breathed several times before opening them again. Concentrating, the muscles in her mother began to hide her organs and bones, followed by her skin, illuminated by that white aura, which it also managed to make disappear, seeing her mother as she had always seen her, quickly ducking out the door. A little calmer, Coco got up on trembling legs and walked over to the door, opening it. The mare on the other side smiled and opened her arms, into which her daughter threw herself for a hug, sobbing into her chest.

"That's it, honey, it's over..."

"What's wrong with me?... Why am I such a freak?"

"Oh honey…" Spring pulled her daughter away to look at her face, wiping a tear from her cheek and smiling. "You are not a freak, you are special."

Coco sobbed again and hugged her mother, who hugged her back, sighing to herself. What she feared so much had happened... her daughter was not exactly like the ponies in absolutely everything.

Foalhood home

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"Here's your coffee" the waitress said with a smile as she used her magic to set the cups on the table.

"Thank you" Coco said with another smile.

Ink lit her horn and caught the cup in her magic, taking a sip and humming in satisfaction. She focused on her friend, who was looking out the window at the street.

"What are you going to do during the Heart's Warming holidays?"

"Tomorrow I'll go back to Smallcolt" Coco said, looking at Ink with a smile. "I'll take what I need to work there."

"Sometimes I envy you" the unicorn commented with a little nostalgic sigh. "I'll have to spend the holidays alone."

"What about your father?"

"The usual" Ink said rolling her eyes. "Even when my mother was alive he was more focused on work than us. Now much more."

Coco frowned, thinking for a few seconds before a small smile crossed her face.

"Well, you can always come spend the holidays with us."

Ink put her coffee down and looked at her friend in surprise.

"Coco, I couldn't, it's a family celebration and..."

"Nonsense, my parents won't mind, I'm sure they'll want to meet you" said Coco, shaking her hoof to make light of the matter. "Besides, my mother will be thrilled to have somepony else to show off her food, she can't do it with us."

As Coco lightly laughed, Ink frowned at her.

"Are you sure?"

"Completely."

"Well…" Ink hesitated a little longer before smiling and nodding. "Very well, I accept."

"Great" Coco said with a huge smile. "Feel free to come with me tomorrow or a few days later."

"I haven't started my vacation yet, but as soon as I have it, I'll go, rest assured."

Coco and Ink smiled and clinked her cups to seal her promise.

Coco watched the landscape through the window, a few hours ago they had moved away from Manehattan, substituting the urban landscape for a more rural one. The train to the route from the city that never sleeps to Fillydelphia, passing through the interior of Equestria. She was longing to get to the town where dhe grew up, she still fondly remembered the festivities that were held there, and like Ponyville, it had a country charm that was hard to match, although from what Rarity had told her in a letter, that was something that, unfortunately, it was disappearing little by little thanks to the popularity that the city was acquiring.

Her ears twitched and, with a little adjustment, she could hear the ponies talking animatedly at the Smallcolt station, they were coming. But she stood her ground, she had learned the hard way that it wasn't a good idea to act like she already knew what was going to happen, ponies tend to be a little suspicious (unless you're Pinkie Pie), they even asked her once if she was a clairvoyant, that was a strange afternoon. When the train came to a complete stop, Coco got up with a few other passengers, made sure her saddlebags were still in her place, and headed to one of the doors to get out.

Once out of it, she took a deep breath, smiling at the pure air that entered her lungs. She walked following the crowd and went out to the town, a feeling of joy and nostalgia flooding her, it was still the same as she recorded it. She walked through its streets with a gleeful whistle, politely greeting ponies she encountered.

"Is that Coco?" said the voice of a stallion several meters from her.

Coco looked out of the corner of her eye and saw a group of ponies her age looking at her out of the corner of their eye.

"I think so," she said again, a mare.

"Do you think she has failed in fashion" said another mare with a giggle.

"As shy and awkward as she is, she wouldn't miss me."

Coco followed her path not bothering to listen to them anymore, they were ponies who didn't deserve it. One of the few things she didn't like about Smallcolt was that she hadn't made many friends in her foalhood, quite the opposite. Her gaze continued to wander to the shops on the street, trying to get away from those thoughts.

One of the shops she found was one belonging to the richest pony in the small farming town, and in the doorway, talking animatedly to customers, was his daughter, a unicorn with golden fur and a reddish mane, whose cutie mark was a sack of bits with a printed rose. The mare met Coco's gaze, keeping it conditioning before giving her a friendly nod and a small smile which the earth pony mimicked. She still remembered the time when that relationship was not so friendly.

Coco was sitting behind her parents' stall, where several different products of they own making had been placed, as her parents had placed her in charge so that they could enjoy the Summer Sun Celebration festival. The teenage mare had a smile on her face, speaking happily to the approaching ponies.

She had been looking forward to helping her parents at one of the festivals Smallcolt put on during the year, as fun as it was to explore the various stalls, being in charge of one was a very different experience and a huge responsibility that she was willing to take on.

"Wow, look who she is, but she's the peasant with no cutie mark."

Well, the only bad thing is that she couldn't escape the insults this time. Biting back the groan of frustration that was about to come out of her, Coco smiled as best she could at the mare she had told her about, Rose Golden, a unicorn daughter of Smallcolt's richest pony.

"Hey Rose, do you fancy something?"

"And stain my fine palate with food made by a failed cutie mark pony?"

Coco suppressed the growl that she wanted to throw at her. The topic of her cutie mark was something she didn't like to talk about, since at 16, she still didn't have it. She was beginning to believe that it was a side effect of having the superponic abilities that she did.

"I have only made a small part of the food, the rest has been cooked by my parents."

"Even worse, country food, ugh, no thanks" Rose said with a disgusted face, making her group of friends laugh.

"Don't you have anything better to do? Or is your life so boring that you have to come here to entertain yourself?"

Rose Golden frowned, glaring from her at her few friends who laughed, before looking back at Coco, a small sarcastic smile on her face.

"Wow, but if the filly is showing guts, is it because your coltfriend left you?"

Coco no longer bothered to hide her growl, her friend's departure was still very recent, and she didn't like that they used him to mess with her... despite how badly they ended. Before she could say anything, somepony approached, somepony who didn't seem very happy.

"Rose Golden" said Wood Golden, fhater of Rose.

"Hi dad" Rose said, not noticing her father's suppressed fury.

"What are you doing?" he said through clenched teeth.

"Oh, I was just teaching this country filly some manners," Rose said with a giggle.

Her father, on the other hand, grunted, looking at the group of his daughter's friends, who looked at each other nervously before walking away, confusing Rose. Once they were gone, Wood focused on Coco, a small nervous smile on his face.

"Please excuse her, I hope this doesn't tarnish the relationship between our families" he said, frowning at a surprised Rose.

"Don't worry, do you want to buy something?"

"Maybe later, but I assure you I will, I've already tried your mother's cream pie and I plan on doing it again" Wood said kindly, taking his daughter with him.

Coco knew that it was wrong, and she knew that her parents had told her that she couldn't use her abilities outside the home, but... how many times would she have the opportunity to listen while the smug unicorn was taught a lesson?

"What the hell were you thinking of calling her a peasant?" her father growled, causing his daughter to frown.

"But she is a peasant..."

"I remind you that your great-grandfather was a farmer in this town, and he worked much harder than anypony being a unicorn. Like it or not, we are country ponies."

"But..."

"Listen to me, young mare, I've spent almost two hours trying to convince her parents to make a business alliance, and since I don't make it because it turns out that her daughter is being harassed by mine... the parties are over for you"

"What?!" Rose yelled, Coco didn't need her prodigious hearing to hear her, as several ponies turned curiously. "You can not..."

"Of course I can, and I assure you that I will do more, also no more going out with your friends and all those magazines of yours will go to the trash, no new dresses, no new makeup, no..."

"Dad, no..." Rose said, almost on the verge of tears.

"Dad, yes, it's time for you to grow up. If you want to keep all those things, it's better that her parents don't reject the contract because of you, and above all, that you start doing more with your life than pretending to be a Canterlot noblemare. Actually, you're going to start now, go to the community center and fill in for the worker who's on our stall."

Coco had to suppress the laugh that she was about to let out, even more so when she saw the pout worthy of a 6-year-old filly that Rose put on her face. With a growl, the unicorn turned and headed towards the communal house, a huge building where meetings, parties, and on that occasion, served to house some stalls in a covered space, located in the town square, behind of some posts, including Coco's. The earth pony shook her head in amusement, shutting off her super hearing and refocusing only on her position.

Time passed slowly, talking happily to the approaching ponies, but something began to bother her. It was a background noise, one that Coco tried to shut out, at least until she saw several ponies pointing behind her in concern. Confused, she turned, seeing something that made her eyes widen, the longhouse was on fire. Concerned, the mare turned away from her stall and approached the building, from which several ponies were emerging, soot clinging to their fur. She scanned the area and breathed a sigh of relief to see her parents outside it, watching what was going on, so she walked over too.

"What happened?"

"I don't know," Field said as he looked at the burning building. "Some idiot must have set something on fire."

"Is there somepony inside?" Coco asked as she looked at the building.

"No, they're all out, I think" her mother answered, a little doubt in her voice.

Coco was not happy with that answer, so she watched the building carefully with her vision, going through the walls and looking beyond, listening carefully. There was something, a gasp, a cry for help... and it was Rose. The earth pony looked at her parents, doubtful, they had taught her to hide her powers, and that unicorn behaved very badly with her... but she couldn't leave her there.

Making sure her parents weren't paying any attention to her, she slipped through the crowd, surrounding the building and looking for a way in. After a while, she managed to reach an area that was practically empty of ponies, with windows looking out onto the burning interior. Taking a deep breath, and praying that the immunity to damage she had always felt protected her now, Coco jumped through the window, and plunged into the fire, which licked her body harmlessly, causing her to sigh in relief.

Her eyes swept the room, walking and dodging pieces of fallen wood. The interior was worse than she thought, the wooden columns that held everything up were collapsing, and several sections of the second floor walkway had already collapsed. She spotted Rose on the other side, huddled against a section of the wall that was not yet burning, her eyes watering and coughing.

A cracking noise was heard above her, and when Coco looked up, she saw that part of the catwalk above the unicorn was going to fall off. Worried, the mare moved faster, but it was too late, the wood gave way, falling with great speed, and Rose raised her head to watch, terrified.

"No!"

Coco ran, seeing how everything around her was getting slower, no, she was getting faster. The mare skidded a bit next to Rose, who was still lowering her head with her eyes closed, waiting for the blow, and she got on her hind legs, raising her hooves. Allowing everything to return to their normal speed, she supported the weight of the catwalk on top of her, thus saving the unicorn. She didn't care if she made fun of her, insulted her parents, she didn't deserve to die, and she would make sure she lived.

Rose blinked in confusion and raised her head, her eyes widening at the sight of Coco there, when a few seconds ago there was nopony with her. She could see trails of fire slither across her fur, but the earth pony barely seemed to notice, focusing only on supporting the weight of the catwalk. A glow appeared on her flanks, one that drew the unicorn's attention, and seeing what was there, her surprise was greater.

"Get out of here!" Coco's voice yelled, drawing her attention again.

Rose blinked and looked at Coco, who was staring at her. Nodding, she stood up and walked away from her, stepping out from under the section the earth pony was holding. Once away, the mare allowed it to fall at last, breaking harmlessly on top of her and closing in on the unicorn, heading for her exit, but the fire was making things difficult for her.

Coco frowned, focusing on the ponies outside the longhouse, especially Wood Golden, who had noticed that her daughter wasn't out and was being held by the firepony, and her parents, who had worried eyes on the building, but they concern was something else.

Sighing, and looking at the mare next to her, Coco took a deep breath, much more than any pony could, and blew with all her might. What came out of her lungs wasn't just air, it was a blizzard of ice and snow that blasted out and doused the flames before them. The earth pony walked at a slow pace, being watched wide-eyed by Rose, until the path to the exit was clear. Finishing, she gasped a little, and turned to look at the unicorn.

"Okay, go away."

"What will you do?" Rose says with concern.

"Get out of here before they see me and my parents give me the scolding of the century" Coco growled as he brushed past Rose, turning to see her walk away.

Rose hesitated a bit before moving forward, stepping in amazement on the already melting snow, and walking quickly outside. Coco nodded satisfied, about to leave, but something caught her attention, a touch of color on her flanks that she had never noticed. Confused, she turned to study it, but the fire around her reminded her that it wouldn't take long to put it out and go inside, so she decided it was a better idea to study the thing in her house.

Knock Knock.

Coco lowered the hoof and waited for one of her parents to open the door, which was not long in coming. The door opened and her father appeared with a smile on his face, coming over to hug her.

"Coco, you're finally back!"

"Hello dad" Coco said with a smile on her face as she returned the hug.

The two parted ways and Field entered, followed by Coco, closing the door behind them.

"Honey, Coco has arrived!"

Coco walked past her familiar foalhood home and into the kitchen, where her mother was in front of a pot, preparing a stew, turning to look at her daughter.

"Hello Coco" she said as she hugged her and smiled. "How is my little designer?"

"Fine, mom" Coco replied, then looking around the kitchen. "By the way, is you already cooking? It's still 5 o'clock, isn't it a bit early?"

"It shows that you now live in the big city" Spring said with a small laugh as she approached the stew again. "Let me guess, your food has been based on convenience food and fast food to go, yes?"

"Maybe."

"Honey, you know what I'm saying, a good meal needs..."

"Time, love and perseverance" said Coco and Field with a small laugh.

"You always say that, honey," Field commented with amusement, making Spring look at her husband and her daughter with narrowed eyes.

"Keep it up, and you won't have dessert."

"No, not dessert!" Field said, too exaggeratedly and his laugh ruining his tone of desperation.

"You can't do that to me, I haven't thought of anything else on the way here!" Coco yelled, achieving an effect of desperation a little more accomplished than her father.

"Then don't provoke me" Spring looked at both of them seriously for a few seconds before the three of them started laughing together. "Come on, go leave your things in your room, it's as you left it."

Coco nodded, still smiling, and walked away from her towards her room, up the stairs. Opening her room, she saw her bed tucked away from her and a ponnequin in the corner. The mare approached her bed, leaving her saddlebags, unfastening the tie she always had around her neck, and her mane pin. Once without that, she went back downstairs, ready to have a relaxing vacation without having to pretend that she was a normal pony.

"I'm going to run a little, mom" Coco said, approaching the back door.

"Come back for dinner, Coco."

The mare nodded to her mother, still focused on the kitchen, and stepped out onto the porch of her house, the large wheat field before her. Her vision adjusted and she saw her father in one of the sections, working to cultivate the fruit of his labor. Letting her hearing expand, she made sure there was nopony but her family, and after making sure of it, she went downstairs, and she prepared to run, glancing at the edge of the trees ahead.

In a flash, Coco was shot into the trees, the only thing to distinguish from her was a blur of white. Field looked up for a second before smiling and going back to his work. The mare nimbly dodged the logs, jumping over obstacles, and feeling the wind in her face. She had been holding back in Manehattan, where she had to force herself to be just like the other ponies, but here, she could be herself. She barely spent a few minutes when she began to hear the noise of a waterfall, and with a smile she pushed herself forward.

Coco skidded a few meters from a cliff, from which she could see a waterfall and a flowing river, her little refuge from when she was a filly. She lay down on the moss clinging to the rock, sighing in relaxation, though her gaze went to her cutie mark. As she had feared, the bushes had brushed against her fur, slightly blurring the image of her hat, leaving hints of something red and yellow beneath it. With a sigh, Coco rested her head on her hooves and lay there, just relaxing and letting her senses expand, taking in the sounds of the forest.

Find her destiny

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Field and Spring entered their small house, worried, as they had not seen their daughter come out of the longhouse.

"Coco?"

"I'm here, mom!" Coco's voice yelled from her room, making her parents sigh in relief.

Spring nodded to her husband, who nodded and walked away from her to take the cart with the things they brought to the fair and take it to the barn. The mare went upstairs and into her daughter's room, seeing her on her bed, the hat she had been working on all week between her hooves, about to finish. The design and sewing had been something that she had taken as a habit, even though it was somewhat difficult, especially if you did not have magic, feathers or claws, but it had helped Coco to channel her senses, to concentrate better, and she had discovered that she was not bad at it.

"Are you OK?" Spring said as she lay down next to Coco, who shrugged.

"You know I can't take damage. Apparently, not even with fire."

"I did not mean that."

Coco didn't reply, she kept focused on her hat, sewing.

"Is Rose okay?"

"Yes, you have saved her life."

Coco let out a small sigh of relief, before concern returned to her voice.

"Has she said anything about...?"

"She says she doesn't know who saved her."

Coco breathed easier for that. She didn't know if it was because Rose had deduced that she didn't want her secret discovered and decided to keep it as a token of gratitude, because now that she knew what she could do she was afraid of her, or because she felt ashamed that a 'peasant' had saved her life. Whatever the case, she hadn't said it, and that took one of her problems away, now she had to get over the next.

"I guess I'm grounded."

Spring blinked, genuinely surprised.

"Because what you say?"

Coco stopped sewing and looked at her mother in confusion.

"Use my powers, somepony saw me use them, and you told me..."

"Your father and I don't care what we told you, you've saved a life, Coco, how can we get angry about that if we feel so proud?"

Coco looked at her mother for a few seconds before a small smile appeared on her face, reaching out to hug her mother. Spring stroked her daughter's mane for a while before separating from her, smiling warmly at her.

"Come on, get some rest, we still have to see Celestia's sunrise."

"Okay...By the way, do you remember how you always told me that my cutie mark would appear when I found out my destiny?"

Spring blinked, confused, nodding slowly. Over the years, she and Field had come to the conclusion that, given the nature of their daughter, she would probably never have a cutie mark.

"Well, it has shown up…I'm not sure what that means though."

Her mother tilted her head before a smile spread to her face, turning her head to look at her daughter's cutie mark.

"That's fantastic dear! Let's all celebrate together at...!"

Her cheerful tone and smile disappeared at the sight of her daughter's cutie mark. It was a shield, a shield containing a stylized red 'S' on a yellow background, yet another reminder of her little filly's true origin.

"Mom? Is something wrong?"

Spring got up from the bed, looking at the cutie mark, turning to hide her face from her daughter, but Coco could hear her little sob perfectly.

"Mom, are you okay? What's wrong?"

Spring didn't answer, still seeing that 'S' in her mind. She knew what she had to do, that was practically a sign that the time had come, something that she had agreed with her husband... only she didn't expect it to be that day. She couldn't she wait a little longer? Maybe a day or two, a week… No, she knew she couldn't put it off any longer… her daughter deserved to know the truth.

"Mom...?"

"Stay here, Coco" said her mother, much more serious than she had spoken before. "Your father and I have to talk, and please don't listen to us."

Coco frowned, confused. Did her mother know something about her cutie mark that she didn't? Still hesitant, she nodded, promising that she wouldn't listen to her parents. Spring left the room and left her alone, thinking, trying to figure out why she had acted like this. While she waited, she continued with the hat, hoping to finish it. Almost an hour passed before her father came looking for her, a serious expression on his face, worrying the teenager even more.

She followed her father up the stairs, still trying to figure out what was going on with her cutie mark. In the kitchen, she saw her mother sitting at the table, several tears on her face, and right in front of her, a small box. Field sat down next to his wife and motioned for his daughter to sit across from them. Coco obeyed and looked at her parents with doubt and concern, had she done something wrong without her noticing?

"What's wrong? Have I done something wrong or is there something wrong with my cutie mark?"

"No, honey, you haven't done anything... and your cutie mark hasn't either... we just... we think it's time to tell you something we should have told you a long time ago."

Coco frowned, watching her parents carefully.

"Okeeeey..."

"Honey…" Field closed his eyes, taking a deep breath and preparing himself for what he was going to say. "I want you to know, no matter what, we are your parents... but somewhere among the stars... you have other parents..."

Coco frowned, confused, at least until she managed to understand the meaning of those words. The mare opened her eyes, feeling her heart tighten, shaking her head.

"No, that's not true..."

"Coco, even though we have raised you as our daughter, and love you as our daughter… we are not your biological parents."

Coco felt a gigantic weight settle on her soul. If she was really adopted (that word now sounded fatal), who were her real parents?

"Do you remember your mother's friend? Charity Kindheart?" Field asked. "We went to Manehattan many times to her plays."

"Yes..."

"We ran into you on one of our trips to see her…" Field stared at an indefinite point, lost in his memories. "You fell from the sky in a...ship, if that's what you say."

"A ship?"

Seeing that her father nodded, Coco thought about those implications. Dropped out of the sky in a ship...was she...was she an alien? Is that why she had these strange powers? Images of the aliens that she saw in the comics from time to time came to her mind, beings that came to conquer and dominate the world, was that her?

"This was with you when we found you" said her mother at last, speaking for the first time in the entire conversation.

Spring handed her the box, which Coco reluctantly took, opening it and examining its contents. It was a cylindrical object, and on the tip, was the same image of her cutie mark, only white and blue instead of red and yellow.

"We don't know what it means, but your mother and I think it represents your true species...your family."

Coco felt her tears come out of her eyes, this couldn't be true, she couldn't be...an alien from another world. Sadly, she put the cylinder down on the table, looking at her parents.

"Can't I keep pretending I'm your daughter?"

Spring got up quickly upon hearing that and approached Coco, hugging her tightly.

"You are our daughter, and nothing will change that, EVER. But you have to understand that somewhere, you have another mother, another father" Spring moved a little away from her daughter and grabbed her chin, smiling slightly, "and that doesn't have to be bad."

"How are you so sure?" asked Coco crying. "How are you so sure I'm not like the monsters in the comics?"

"For your cutie mark, honey" Spring said with a smile. "Why did you get your cutie mark?"

"For saving Rose..."

"Exactly, for saving a life, not for being a comic book monster. Whatever that 'S' stands for, it must be a good thing if it became your cutie mark by saving a life."

Coco sobbed a little, but nodded, hugging her mother tightly, and soon after, her father joined their. They stayed like that for a few minutes before parting, Field staring at the cutie mark.

"Anyway, as proud as I is... if we want to keep the ponies from getting suspicious, we have to hide it."

Coco blinked, noticing that detail, looking at her cutie mark, but recent events prevented her from thinking of a solution.

"I'll send a letter to Charity," Spring intervened. "I'm sure she'll be happy to help, and she was always very good at makeup. She might come up with something."

Coco nodded, still thinking about the revelation that had been made to her. Though she would still have a hard time processing it, and it would be a long time before she fully accepted it, there was something that had sparked a fire inside her. Where was she from? If she wasn't a pony, what was her true species? And above all, who were her biological parents and why did they send her to Equs?

Coco dozed, in the limbo between wakefulness and sleep, her tail moving lazily across the ground, listening to all the sounds of the forest. When her super hearing developed, her father took her to the forest and urged her to practice there, to get used to receiving dozens, hundreds of auditory stimuli, to focus only on what she wanted to hear and discard the rest.

It was thanks to her mother that she learned to focus on a nearby sound and eliminate the farthest ones, her father taught her to be able to choose between the distant ones. Her ears snapped up, detecting one of two voices she would recognize anywhere.

"Coco... Coco..."

The mare stood up, yawning slightly and stretching, realizing that it was already quite late. She looked at the waterfall one last time before turning around and starting to run at high speed back to her parents' house. Before long, she was past the trees and into the fields, seeing her mother on the porch, waiting. Coco skidded a few meters from her, with enough force to kick up the dirt and leave a small trail on the wooden floor, causing Spring to narrow her eyes at her.

"What have I told you about throwing dirt on the porch?"

"Sorry, I got a little emotional" Coco said with a small laugh. "I'll clean it up later, I promise."

"You better. Now go in for dinner, and clean your hooves before you go in."

Coco nodded, following her mother into the house, cleaning her hooves first. Her father was in the kitchen, reading the newspaper, although he left it when he saw his daughter.

"How was the walk?"

"Well, the forest is still as nice as ever" Coco said with a smile, coming over to help her mother set the table. "How's the harvest?"

"Perfectly, this year I will also have a good harvest, and Mr. Golden will be delighted with that."

"I keep saying that you should ask him to send somepony to help you" Spring commented with a frown, looking at her husband, who was rolling his eyes. "The doctor told you, Field, you shouldn't work so hard."

"Wait, the doctor?" Coco interrupted, looking at her father with concern, who waved a hoof in the air to make light of the matter.

"Nothing to worry about, Coco, I'm perfectly fine. And honey, you've already forbidden me to help you around the house, work on the wagon, I'm not going to let you take my fieldwork away from me."

"I didn't say that," Spring replied. "I just told you that you should get help, please."

Field growled, turning to answer his wife, but seeing her look, and Coco's look, he sighed, and a small smile appeared on his face.

"Okay, okay...tomorrow I'll ask Mr. Golden if he can bring me some workers here tomorrow, okay?"

"Thank you" Spring said with a sigh of relief, giving her husband a kiss.

Coco watched the exchange of affection a little apart, worried. Did her father have health problems? A part of her was tempted to use her enhanced vision to make sure, but she didn't want to betray his trust.

Coco woke up from her bed with a yawn, turning to look at the ceiling, the morning light streaming into her room. Her senses stretched out little by little, listening to her mother in the kitchen and her father working in the field. That made her laugh a little, he didn't care if they cared about him, he would always be working early. The mare got up at last, walking towards the door, although she stopped for a second to look at her closet, leaving shortly after.

"Good morning, mom" she said with a smile.

"Good morning, Coco" answered her mother, still busy making the morning coffee. "Do me a favor and make sure your father doesn't overexert himself."

"I was going to do it" said Coco with a small laugh.

She stepped out onto the porch and scanned the field for her father, finding him in no time. She walked towards him calmly, taking a deep breath of the pure air that was always around. Field stood up, the sickle attached to his hoof by a special glove, and turned to watch his work, smiling as he saw his daughter walking towards him. Coco smiled as she approached, but something made her stop, something she didn't like. At practically the same time her dad stopped and clutched his chest with his left hoof, the heartbeat the mare had heard all her life from her alongside her sire…was fading.

"Dad!" Coco yelled as she saw her father growl in pain.

Acting fast, Coco closed in on her father, just in time to keep him from hitting the ground.

"Dad, are you okay?"

"Yeah... it was just a dumb fall..."

Coco wasn't satisfied with that answer at all. She activated her vision and she pierced through the skin and bones of her father, looking his heart. To her horror, the organ was shutting down, and when she saw the white aura that had always surrounded him, she gulped as it began to blink.

"I'm going to take you to the doctor, dad, you'll be fine..."

"I... don't need... to go... to... the... do-doctor," Field replied, his voice growing weaker.

In front of the terrified and teary eyes of Coco, Field looked one last time at his daughter. When the mare stopped listening to her father's heartbeat, his white aura faded... forever.

It was dark night when Coco was looking at the night sky, sitting in the middle of the crop fields. Two weeks had passed since her father's death, and that day was Heart's Warming Eve, she could hear the ponies gathered at her house, keeping her and Spring company.

"How long has she been there?" said the concerned voice of her mother.

"Since we got here" Ink replied, equally worried.

Coco couldn't help but smile slightly, her friend had decided to visit her as soon as she received her letter.

"Come in and enjoy the party a bit, dear, I'll talk to her later."

"Are you sure?"

"Completely."

It takes a while, but finally, Coco heard her friend enter inside. Shortly after, her mother's hoovessteps on the wood of the porch, seconds later on the ground, came closer and closer.

"Hi Mom."

"You heard us, right?"

Coco didn't answer, she kept her gaze fixed on the stars. Her mother sat next to her, bringing her right hoof closer to her daughter's to tighten it in a loving grip.

"So many powers... and I couldn't save him..."

"There are things you can't avoid, Coco... Not even with all the powers in the world."

"What use to me then?" Coco growled angrily. "If I can't use them to save my father...what do I want them for?"

"There are things you can do, Coco, and you know it" Spring forced her daughter to look into her eyes. "Thanks to those powers you saved Rose's life, you got your cutie mark thanks to that. You are destined to save lives..."

Coco watched her mother for a few moments before looking up at the sky again.

"Sometimes I think they're up there... watching me..."

"And now your father is doing it too. He and your birth family...will take care of you..."

Coco didn't answer, instead she put her hoof on her mother's back and pulled her into a hug, looking at the stars.

A couple of days passed, and Coco managed to convince Ink to return to the city, leaving her and her mother alone. This morning, like all the others, she was sitting on the porch, looking at the farmland that had belonged to her father. The makeup that Charity had taught her to use to hide her true cutie mark was gone, revealing the red 'S' on her flanks. After her conversation with her mother, the mare had been thinking about what she had told her, her destiny was to save lives. It was easy to say, but... how was she supposed to do it?

The mare got up and went into her house, passing through the living room, where her mother was reading a book, trying to get over her loss in her way. She went up to her room and entered, her gaze going to her closet. With a sigh, Coco opened the doors, looking inside it, filled with various dresses that she had made to get used to her 'new talent', and under all of them, hidden by more folded dresses, was a small bag. The earth pony brushed her clothes and grabbed the bag, setting it on the bed.

Inside it, there was something even smaller, the same box that her parents had given her long ago. She watched it for a few moments before opening it, revealing the cylindrical object inside, still glowing blue. For years, Coco had tried to find out what it was, without much success, until she finally gave up, she didn't have much reason to continue...until now. It could not be a mere decorative object, why would they give it to her then if it had no real use? If she was given that, it's because there was a way to use it on her own… or there was something in Equs that could activate it.

"If you're planning to leave, make sure you pack well."

Coco blinked in surprise and turned to see her mother, who was smiling at her. She had been so engrossed in the cylinder, that she hadn't noticed Spring approaching.

"Mom…I…I don't want to leave you here alone…" she said as she hesitantly approached her mother, who shrugged.

"I won't be alone, Mr. Golden has a contract with me, not just your father. In a few days, he'll be here to discuss how we're going to proceed with the farm."

"But..."

"And I have several friends that I can visit from time to time. You can go quietly."

Coco looked at her mother, and even though she was smiling, she knew that she was holding back the urge to cry. With a sigh, she walked over and hugged her, which Spring gladly accepted.

"I'll be back when I find out who I am."

"I already know who you are... you are my daughter."

Mother and daughter hugged each other for a long time, knowing that this could be the last hug for a long, long time.

Fortress of Solitude

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The blimp was trudging through the storm in the mountains. They were crossing the Griffin Range, which ran through part of Griffonia. It was a merchant ship, and they were heading towards one of the important cities of the country, and for that, they had to cross mountains, full of cliffs like the one they were on.

Unlike in its neighboring country, Equestria, the storms here were much more dangerous, destructive, and chaotic, similar to those that could be seen from time to time over the feared and avoided Everfree Forest. This nature was due to the fact that the only clouds that were allowed to tame, and therefore, control the weather at will, were the one that crossed the pony country, in the rest of the world, the weather was uncontrollable, capricious and dominated itself.

"Secure the sails!" yelled the airship captain through the rain and lightning, a griffin missing his left eye.

His crew consisted of a large number of griffons and a few ponies. One of these, a mare covered in a raincoat that covered her entire body, moved with three more griffins to secure the left sail. They grabbed the ropes and pulled hard, collapsing the sail and securing it to the blimp. The earth pony looked up, looking at the far walls of the cliff, something had caught her attention. Her ears moved inside the hood that covered her face, trying to find the source, and when she did, her eyes focused to see better.

"Captain!" she yelled as she approached the helm, eyeing the one-eyed griffin, who scowled at her.

"What do you want, rookie?!"

The mare raised her hoof and pointed to a specific point on the cliff, which glowed slightly red. The griffin frowned, giving a brusque order to one of his crew members to take control of the helm. He went to the railing and took his spyglass out of his jacket, extending it and looking with his one eye at the point indicated.

"You have a good eye, rookie!" yelled the griffin, still watching through the spyglass. "It's one of those mines the ponies dug in Griffonia with the king's permission! They've lit the alarm torches, they must have had an accident!"

The griffin returned to the helm and turned the ship to approach the scene, ordering its crew to prepare to help any injured. As they got closer, they could clearly see the mine, built on one of the huge ledges in the cliff face, large enough to even accommodate a crane and several wagons full of magical gems, capable of storing magic on their own, used in a lot of magic items. The entrance to the mine was circular, two huge torches protected from the rain burned with fire, something that was only lit in cases like that.

"Those ponies are idiots, they must have had magical headlights! I always say those things are dangerous around here!"

"Why?!" the mare asked, still watching the mine and the ponies running towards the blimp.

"You're obviously a pony, rookie! The storms here are wild! So it's a bad idea to mix a thunderstorm environment like this with magical headlights! Any fault, boom!"

The airship positioned itself with its right side toward the ponies, and the crew set up several catwalks to allow passage as they climbed down to help. The mare was between them, leading the ponies toward the airship, but she stopped, her ears flicking toward the mine. She turned and focused her eyes, piercing through stone walls and searching for the source of the noise…a call for help.

"Rookie, we're leaving!"

"There are still ponies inside!" she shouted as she advanced towards the mine.

"We can't go in! Let's go now, it's an order!" Seeing the mare walk away, ignoring him, the griffin growled and climbed into the airship, looking at the mine, noticing that a member of his crew was approaching. "If she's not here in 15 minutes, we're leaving!"

In one of the deepest areas of the mine, inside a small space enabled for the rest of the workers, and blocked with a metal door, there was a group of five ponies, two unicorns, a pegasus and two earth ponies, in addition of two griffins who also worked there.

"We're running out of oxygen" said one of the unicorns.

"I told you it was a bad idea to use magical headlamps with a storm brewing," growled one of the griffins.

"If we get out of here, believe me I'll file a claim on that" the pegasus intervened.

Before anyone could go on, the metal door creaked, drawing their attention. On either side, two hooves appeared, bending metal with astonishing ease, slamming the door aside and revealing their savior, an earth pony mare wearing a raincoat, some parts burning slowly, but its owner hardly seemed to care, and her face hidden by a hood.

"Follow me!" she yelled, turning around.

"Since when can you ponies do that?" the other griffin said as he followed their savior with wide eyes.

Before they answered, they saw the mare take a deep breath and a blizzard of snow and ice rushed out of her lungs, dousing the fire and letting them through. Since everything else was on fire, and the structure of the mine was badly damaged, the group decided to leave the questions for later.

The one-eyed griffin kept his gaze on the mine entrance, watching through his spyglass. Finally, less than a minute before he gave the order to leave, the mare appeared with a group of workers. The captain couldn't help but burst out laughing when he saw her.

"That rookie has guts!"

With a shout, he ordered several of his crew members to come to their help. The mare stopped midway, making sure the ponies and griffins she had saved were not far behind. But something caught her attention, something she didn't like at all, it was the sound of metal creaking and rock falling off. The earth pony turned and saw that the base where the crane was standing was giving way, so the huge metal structure was beginning to fall…in the direction of the blimp. If that thing went down, they would have gone there for nothing…and she wasn't going to allow it.

Running at high speed, just a blur of color to those watching, she positioned herself close to the crane, which was about to crush it. Getting up on her hind legs, she spread her hooves and held up the massive structure, praying the rock floor would hold long enough.

"What the hell?!" shouted the captain as he watched the mare holding a crane of at least 5 tons.

He may not have been an expert in pony anatomy, but he was pretty sure earth ponies couldn't hold such a weight, and watching the ones he had on his deck staring in equal amazement, he knew he was right. The group that the mare had saved finally climbed up, and knowing that if the metal structure ended up falling they would be dead, he decided to walk away, not without grunting. The airship began to move away, just in time, as the rock floor began to crack, more and more pieces of stone falling into the void.

In a short time, the one that held the mare and the huge metal structure also gave way, falling into the void, but luckily, the blimp had managed to escape. The one-eyed griffin leaned over the railing, watching the crane and the rock fall into the darkness with no trace of their mysterious savior. With a sigh, and promising himself that he would tell her story, he headed to the helm, they still had a storm to ride through.

While the blimp was moving away, at the bottom of the cliff, the rocks that had fallen had almost completely hidden the ground, piling up with each other, in addition, the crane was nearby, completely destroyed.

Thump

The rocks shook as the bottom of the cliff filled with the noise of something thrashing from within, playing in the background of the storm. With a last tremor, several good-sized rocks went flying, others rolled down, while Coco climbed out of the rubble, shaking her head to get her bearings, for, although no damage had been done, the fall was enough to disorient her. She had lost the raincoat that had been covering her body, revealing her white fur and her 'S' cutie mark, the only accessory on her body was the cylindrical pendant around her neck.

She raised her head and focused her eyes so she could see the blimp through the rain and lightning, speeding away from her, making sure everypony, or everyone, was safe. The idea of trying to reach the airship flashed through her mind, but even though she knew she could jump incredibly high, she had never tried to do it to such a great height, besides, even if she did, she would have to give some explanations, and she didn't want to do it. Sighing, Coco climbed down the rocks and began to walk along the bottom of the cliff in search of a shelter to spend the night and wait for the storm to die down.

At last, after almost an hour of walking, she found a cave in one of the rock walls, going inside. She activated her enhanced vision to make sure there were no more tenants inside it, and even though she knew they couldn't hurt her, she preferred to avoid fighting an animal that only wanted to protect his territory.

Satisfied that she was the only one in the cavern, she walked to the far corner and lay down, not bothering to light a fire. Her vision was good enough that she could see in the dark with almost no light, and in the time she had been traveling, she had realized that she could be surrounded by snow or in a desert that would feel neither cold nor hot, so the temperature was not a problem either.

Coco brought a hoof to her neck and grabbed her collar, the cords of which retracted to the top, to the sides of the 'S' shield. It had been almost a year since she left Equestria, a year trying to figure out her place in the world, her destiny. All this time, she had carried her cylinder with her, hoping it would give her some clue, something that would tell her what she should do.

For the first few months nothing happened, and she was already beginning to believe that it was nothing more than an unimportant necklace, at least until that thing gave her first vision. She had seen the silhouette of an advanced city, far more than any other she had ever seen, being illuminated by a gigantic red sun, almost ten times as bright as Equs.

That was her first dream, four months after she left. And since that day, she had had two other visions, one showing her a mountain, on the top of which was a kind of fortress. The other vision, it showed her that fortress in better detail, symbols and carvings on its walls, and over a large courtyard, the 'S', carved into the ground. Coco believed that it was showing her visions of her homeworld and perhaps the home of her birth family, and apparently the cylinder symbol and cutie mark represented her family. With a sigh, she returned the cylinder to her neck, closing her eyes to sleep, hoping for another vision.

There was only white around her, a steppe of snow and ice, the full moon barely visible through the blizzard. Soon something broke the silence, the sound of incredibly powerful engines. Through the clouds, an immense black object, with rivers of blue light falling covering its entire surface, crossed the sky, landing elegantly, turning off its engines, waiting for its masters to come looking for it.

Coco jerked awake, clutching the cylinder to her neck. Watching it, she saw that it glowed, even stronger than the other visions, slowly fading and returning to its usual glow. The mare was sure, that had been a vision in Equs. Judging from the snow she saw, it was very likely that he was in the Frozen North, and even though she knew that she had a good chance of being wrong, she had nothing to do either.

It had taken her almost a full month to get to the Crystal Empire, using only her super speed to get there, as she didn't want to mix with other ponies, not without something to cover her cutie mark. She watch the realm protected by the Crystal Heart from a hill, heading north toward the Frozen North, avoiding the usual routes to Yakyakistan. Even though she didn't feel the cold like any other pony, she was finding it hard to move through all the snow and wind, and she didn't want to risk causing an avalanche with her speed.

As soon as she passed the most familiar area of the Frozen North, where the kingdom of Yakyakistan was, the cylinder on her neck began to shine more intensely, and when she looked, Coco saw that it was guiding her, shining brightest in the direction she should go.

Following the directions, she continued on her way for days, maybe even a week. She soon reached the top of a hill, seeing a steppe of ice and snow, illuminated by the moonlight, and situated on a gigantic block of ice, she was not sure how to climb. The mare lowered carefully and, following its directions, she circled the icy wall for a few minutes.

The cylinder began to glow brightly in the direction of the ice within it. Confused, Coco used her vision to pierce through the icy layers, trying to see what it was it wanted to show her, seeing a huge, frozen object. As she met her target, her eyes lit up red and two beams of heat slammed into the ice, melting it in no time. For two hours, the mare was creating a tunnel towards the hidden structure and forgotten in time, until finally, she stopped in front of some gigantic doors, turning off her heat vision, blinking to calm the burning produced, and take a good look at its surface, noting the large 'S'.

She watched the doors for a few seconds, finally, after so many years, she would start to receive answers. She lifted her hoof and touched the metal, which warmed slightly to her touch, before it began to vibrate and slam open, revealing a dark hallway. When Coco crossed the threshold, light flooded the interior, but there were no visible bulbs or lanterns, instead, it was the walls themselves that shone, giving a pure white color that contrasted with the black outside. The mare looked at the place impressed, she had never seen anything like it before. Her attention went back to the cylinder at her neck, realizing that it was still leading her, so she started walking following the directions.

After a while, she came to a huge room, big enough that 50 ponies could fit inside with no problem. In the center, making a circle, were six blocks made of the strange metal that the ship was made of. Coco walked over, seeing that the top was made of what appeared to be a gray liquid substance, but just above it was a slit that seemed to fit nicely with the cylinder on her neck.

"Unknown identity in the computer room."

Coco immediately turned around, noticing that behind her there were two robots, or so they seemed. They had no noticeable arms or legs, and floated slightly in the air, their heads were small, and their blue eyes almost resembled those of insects. They approached slowly, evaluating the mare, who was alert in case of danger, she was not sure if those things could harm her.

"Command key detected" said one of the robots, its eyes blinking with each word. "Identified as a member of the House of El, please insert command key to take control of the ship."

"House of El?" Coco asked doubtfully. "What's that?"

"Please insert command key to take control of the ship" the robot repeated again.

Coco watched the robot for a few more seconds before grabbing the cylinder around her neck, which was no longer a necklace, and studied it. She turned and walked over to the terminal, which she assumed was a computer, although, though they weren't very common in Equestria, nor in other Equs countries, it didn't look anything like one. She placed the cylinder, the control key, in the free slot, and almost as if it were being drawn, it was quickly inserted, barely sticking out a few inches.

Seeing that the robots kept repeating the same phrase, Coco introduced it completely. Ahead of her, several gray tendrils emerged from the ground and began to coalesce into a sphere, hovering several inches above the ground.

"Command key activated" said a female voice, although artificial, that came from the sphere, that vibrated with each word. "Does you agree to become the supreme councilor of the ship?"

"Yes...?" Coco said, not sure what to say.

"Processing... Processing... Accepted as Supreme Councilor of the ship and, for practical purposes, Supreme Leader of the Council of Sages. Do you wish to surface?"

"I suppose..."

"Processing... Processing... Activating motors to surface, strong tremors expected."

Practically after saying that, the entire ship began to shake, Coco had to hold on to the terminal to keep her balance. From the outside, the ice around the ship began to break up as it rose to the surface. After a few minutes, the black surface of it began to emerge again, after spending millennia under the ice, blue lights shining brightly, illuminated by the moon. When everything stopped, the silence became total again, and inside, the mare stood up again as the sphere began to speak.

"Successful surfacing... Attention, the last time the engines were fired was... Calculating... Calculating... 10,000 years... The long period of inactivity has deteriorated the engines until they are unusable..."

Coco looked at the sphere, confused.

"I knew you'd make it."

Coco turned quickly, there, behind her, was a pony, a unicorn stallion with whitish fur, it looked like hers, a black mane and dressed in a dark robe, the same 'S' on his chest.

"Who are you?"

The unicorn smiled, Coco could see the sadness on his face.

"I am Jor-El, your father."

Symbol of hope

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Coco stared wide-eyed at the pony in front of her, unsure how she should proceed.

"My... my father?"

"Yes... At least, a shadow of what Jor-El was, his consciousness... By inserting the command key, I was able to upload into its internal system and manifest myself."

Coco nodded slowly, getting the idea. Although he was him, he acted and looked like her biological father, or so she believed, he was really just part of the ship. She didn't know whether to be excited to finally meet him, or disappointed that he was nothing more than a super advanced artificial intelligence.

"I know you will have plenty of questions, and I am here to answer them, my little Kara."

Coco blinked, raising an eyebrow, perhaps...

"Kara? That... Is that...?"

"Your name... Kara-El, the last daughter of the House of El."

Coco heard the name... her name. She gulped as she watched her father, hundreds of questions trying to come out at once, questions she had asked herself countless times.

"Where am I from?... Why did you send me here?"

Jor-El nodded, pointing behind Coco, and turning, she saw that the huge gray sphere was taking shape, its surface becoming covered in the image of continents, seas, islands, an entire planet.

"You are from Krypton, a world much more hostile than Equs" more tendrils emerged from the ground, some becoming planets, some possessing symbols that Coco did not recognize and others the same 'S', others in ships, which addressed the first. "Once, our race expanded to the stars, colonizing new worlds, and for a hundred thousand years, our civilization prospered. This ship was one of thousands that were sent into space, preparing everything and waiting for a representative of House of El came to take care of everything."

"But it never happened" said Coco as she looked at her father with confusion. "The ship said the engines hadn't fired in millennia."

Jor-El was silent for a few seconds before speaking.

"There was a catastrophe in one of the planetary colonies" he said as he pointed to one of the worlds, which it changed its symbol to one that Coco recognized, an omega. "That caused the Council of Sages at the time to ban space exploration and order all kryptonians to return to Krypton."

The ships began to return to the sphere that represented Krypton, sinking into it while the rest of the planets returned to their liquid state and fell to the ground.

"For almost 10,000 years, our civilization stagnated, our culture, our science, everything remained exactly the same for millennia. In the end, our natural resources were exhausted and the Council, in a desperate act, decided to drill into the core, ignoring my warnings. ."

Huge machines arose at the poles and equators of the planet, firing beams of energy to pierce the crust to the core. Nearby, the gray liquid rose and transformed into two ponies, one was Jor-El, another, an earth pony mare, and between the two of them, they held a small filly, Coco didn't need to be told who she was.

"Knowing the catastrophe that was coming, we decided to send you here" the representations of her parents raised the filly, who entered a ship and flew away, quickly disappearing and returning to the ground in liquid form. "I knew that here, you would go unnoticed, the ponies are physically the same as us."

"If that's true... why am I so different from them?"

Jor-El let out a small chuckle as the representation of Krypton faded and split into four forms, on the right, an earth pony, a unicorn, and a pegasus, and on the left, a representation of Coco herself.

"Physically, on the outside, we are the same, but our biology is very different. For starters, your molecular density is much higher than that of a pony, which makes you more resistant. And since this planet has a gravity lower and a richer atmosphere than on Krypton, it gives you an advantage, but that's just the tip of the iceberg."

The three ponies disappeared and instead gathered into a huge sphere from which a single tendril sprouted and joined the representation of Coco.

"Our race has a very unique ability, our cells are capable of storing the energy of the stars, and depending on the type of star, we would have some effects or others. For example, Krypton orbited around Rao, a red giant..."

"Wait, it was orbiting the star?" Coco asked doubtfully, making Jor-El chuckle to himself.

"Right, I figured we'd get to this part sooner or later. This planet is the only one in the galaxy, and dare I say in the universe, where it's the star that orbits the planet."

Coco looked at her father with a raised eyebrow, but nodded. After everything she had heard, she wasn't going to be skeptical about a detail like that. When he saw that his daughter was paying attention to him again, Jor-El continued.

"As I was saying, Rao was a red giant, so the radiation we absorbed was practically zero, so we were as weak as ponies, although at least they have a greater connection with magic" Rao's representation shrank and almost twenty more tendrils joined the representation of Coco, who deduced that it now represented the sun. "Here, instead, the planet has a yellow star, barely out of infancy in stellar terms. Your cells have absorbed all that extra radiation, giving strength to your skin, your muscles, your senses, here you have become stronger than I could ever have imagined."

Coco carefully observed the hologram that represented her, listening, finally she had an answer to why she was so different. Her gaze went to her father, especially to the 'S' on his chest.

"What does the 'S' stand for? I have it for a cutie mark, but I don't know..."

"Cutie mark?" Jor-El interrupted with a raised eyebrow, causing Coco to look at him in confusion.

"Yes, cutie mark" she said as she showed him hers, which Jor-El studied with interest. "You know, it shows up when you discover your special talent."

"Interesting" said Jor-El. "Kryptonians don't have cutie marks. My guess is that since Equs is a planet with a magical field infinitely more powerful than Krypton, your body will have absorbed that magic and generated its own over time, allowing you to have a cutie mark. And to answer your question, it's not an 'S'" the stallion brought a hoof to his chest, patting the symbol. "The symbol of the House of El symbolizes hope, hope that, in each one of us, there is a force at the service of good. That is what you will bring to the world, my little Kara."

"What?"

"You are the last of the House of El, and as such, the last to bear the symbol of hope. You will bring that hope to the ponies, you will be a source of inspiration, an example to follow."

"Are you sure? I don't know if... I don't know if I will live up to your expectations" Coco said with concern, to which Jor-El shook his head.

"You don't have to be, my little Kara. I understand the enormous weight I am placing on your shoulders. I will understand if you don't want to take on that responsibility."

Coco was silent for a few minutes, thinking. Be a beacon of hope and a source of inspiration for the ponies? She didn't think she lived up to that, but… wasn't her cutie mark the symbol of his family? Moreover, it was the symbol of hope, and it got it by saving a life. If it was her destiny to become that symbol of hope, then she would do it without hesitation. The mare raised her head and looked at her father with determination in her eyes.

"That I have to do?"

First flight

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About a year had passed, a year in which Coco learned as much as possible about her race, including her native language, which she can learn thanks to a special learning machine, in a month she could already speak Kryptonian fluently, although her father commented that it had been faster than normal, possibly due to overexposure to yellow sunlight. That morning, Coco woke up with a yawn, stretching out on the bed in one of the rooms that the ship had for future residents, who now would never arrive.

She got up and stretched a little, still yawning, her gaze sweeping across the futuristic room, which had a full-length mirror on one side. Coco approached it and grabbed a nearby comb, that was one of the things that were the same on all planets. As she combed her mane, she thought of her mother, her friend Ink... it had been a long time since she'd seen them, maybe... maybe it was time to go back.

When she went on to groom her tail, still thinking about going back, she noticed her cutie mark, and she immediately stopped in surprise and concern, it was disappearing. Worried, she put down the comb and left her room, heading to the computer room, where her kryptonian father would be. Indeed, Jor-El was in front of the computer, although he was not using the terminal, but his mind, since he was connected to the ship's system.

"Dad, something's wrong with my cutie mark."

Jor-El blinked and turned, looking curiously at his daughter. The kryptonian walked over and studied the cutie mark, which was slowly disappearing.

"This is strange" he said, more to himself than to his daughter.

With a gesture, two service robots approached, illuminating Coco with blue beams of light as Jor-El turned to the computer, which created a rendering of the mare, highlighting the three main systems of her body, the central nervous system, the central solar system and the central arcane system. Various stats were off to the side, causing the stallion to frown.

"Your central arcane system is losing power at an alarming rate, at this rate, it will reach the levels you would have on Krypton."

"So..."

"In other words, you're losing your ecuestrian magic, though luckily it won't affect your powers. The magic and energy you receive from the sun is very different."

"But I don't get it" said Coco with a frown. "I thought my body had started generating magic on its own."

"And it does, but... there's something sucking it in..."

Jor-El frowned, and before them, Coco's image disappeared and was replaced by that of the planet Equs, several stats beside it.

"This is worrying, all the magic on the planet is disappearing."

Coco's eyes widened in surprise and concern.

"How bad is it?"

"Very, at this rate, in three days the magical density of the planet will be lower than Krypton once was, which means the ponies will have absolutely no magic at all."

"But what is causing this?"

"According to the reconnaissance camera records" the planet rotated and zoomed in, showing a map that Coco faintly recognized, "here."

"That...that's Ponyville."

"Do you know it?"

"Rarity lives there, an old friend of mine and her own friends, the Elements of Harmony" Coco said as she frowned. "If whatever's stealing the magic is in there, you can be sure they'll fix it."

"Are you completely sure about it?"

Coco was silent for a few seconds before speaking again.

"Take the cameras to the nearby forest and try to search for powerful and ancient magic."

Jor-El looked at his daughter curiously before obeying. As he did so, its arcane magic levels rose almost to the limit, something that made the stallion frown.

"But what...?"

"If the Tree of Harmony is active, then the problem is on its way to being resolved" said Coco, looking at the hologram of the forest. "Trust me."

Jor-El looked at his daughter, nodding, hoping she was right.

Both Jor-El and Coco watched Equs's hologram, specifically, its magic density levels.

"You were right, since yesterday, magic levels are stabilizing" Jor-El said, as Coco nodded, her cutie mark fully restored.

The three days that Jor-El predicted passed quickly, and Coco had begun to regret her decision not to act, luckily, yesterday what had been absorbing the planet's magic disappeared. Her father looked at her out of the corner of his eye, his daughter had been acting strange the last few days, and not only because of the magic.

"Is something wrong Kara?"

Coco watched the planet for a few more minutes before turning to her father.

"Dad... you've taught me a lot, and I appreciate it... but I think I'm ready... I think it's time for me to show myself to the ponies."

Jor-El looked at his daughter, smiling and nodding. The hologram disappeared, the liquid returning to the ground, and he stepped away from her.

"So come with me, I've been waiting for this moment to give you one last gift."

Coco raised an eyebrow curiously, but she fell silent and followed her father. She led him into a hallway filled with different oval doors, all with the 'S' symbolizing the House of El.

"This ship was created for the House of El, and thus there are many suits ready. I took the liberty of modifying them to suit you."

Jor-El stopped in front of one of the doors, which opened to reveal a suit that Coco watched with interest. It was a vivid blue color, with four boots and a vibrant red cape, and the 'S' was radiant across the chest and in the same color, set against a yellow background.

"I've put some kryptonian illusory technology on it, it will make sure the ponies see a completely different mare than you. The only ones who will see the truth will be those you choose to reveal your identity to."

Coco stroked the 'S', nodding, a small smile on her face. Her father had thought of her privacy.

"I don't know how to thank you so much."

"You don't have to" Jor-El said with a smile. "And remember, my little Kara, this ship, this... Fortress of Solitude will be here for you, when you need help or to be alone."

Coco nodded, taking the suit out of its place, and starting to put it on, noticing the yellow belt that it had on its waist. The mare made sure the suit was on and she started walking towards the exit, and once there, she turned to her father.

"I wish I could hug you."

"You don't know how many times I've wanted to do it."

Coco smiled sadly, turning towards the exit and taking a deep breath before moving on. The gates opened and the mare stepped out onto the chilly outside, lit by the morning sunlight, to which the earth pony turned with closed eyes, feeling the warmth of it. Her gaze turned forward, to the steppe of ice that stretched for a mile or two, preparing to run, to test her own limits.

With a blur, she shot forward, running as fast as she could. The edge of the ice was coming up fast, and before she got there, she jumped into the air with all her might. Coco sailed through the sky for a few moments before beginning to fall, propelling herself back into one of the mountains that surrounded the steppe. After almost five jumps, she tried to stay in the air, a smile on her face, the cloak billowing behind her. However, she didn't hold on for long before falling again, and no matter how hard she tried, she kept falling, crashing into a mountain, ripping part of it off.

The mare growled in frustration, getting up and walking away from the small crater she had caused. Her gaze turned back to the sun, closing her eyes and feeling its energy wash over her. With a deep breath, she crouched down, gathering all the strength she could into her muscles, preparing for the biggest jump she was going to make in her entire life.

The ground began to tremble slightly, her cloak lifted and billowed in the air, and a few stones began to levitate and orbit around her hooves. Coco opened her eyes and looked at the sky, psyching herself up, and, after one last deep breath, she jumped with all her might, leaving cracks in her wake that extended for several meters.

Her body rose high into the sky, her front hooves above her head, a foallike laugh filled with emotion coming from her mouth. Soon, she leveled off and began to fly like a pegasus, moving in a straight line over the Frozen North, going faster and faster. She soon reached the outskirts of the frozen territory, being able to see the kingdom of Yakyakistan. She flew past, surprised at how fast she had come compared to when she went on the ground.

The territory of the Crystal Empire came into view, seeing the tall towers of the castle. An idea flashed through her mind, and even though she knew it might be a bad idea, the excitement of the flight she was making came to the fore, furthermore, if she was going to show herself to the ponies, and if the rumors of the Empire's protective amulet were true. real, it would be a very good presentation.

Her vision focused and she could see the crystal princes having something, possibly tea, on one of the balconies, until that moment they had not noticed her. Coco flew with great speed towards the highest tower, starting to spiral down, and that was enough to catch the attention of the princess of love, who stood up with a frown. The mare moved on to the next tower and, before Cadence could do anything, she went down to the courtyard where the mythical Crystal Heart was kept, beginning to spin around her before the surprised eyes of the nearby ponies.

Her gaze went to the Heart, which was beginning to spin faster, catching up with her, and, just as she had suspected, letting out a wave of positive energy that enveloped her completely. The Crystal Heart had seen her as an ally, and she was sure that it would tell the princess of love that way when she went to check on it. Coco quickly flew out of there, feeling how a field of love and magic spread a few meters around the protective amulet of the Empire, transforming the nearby ponies.

Coco took to the skies and headed towards Equestria quickly. From the heights, she watched the lands below her through the passing clouds, and soon, she came to a train track that crisscrossed the country from the Crystal Empire. With a smile, she lowered herself down to its level, starting at ground level, reaching the cars. Some ponies didn't notice her, but others did, pointing at her curiously.

"What's that pegasus doing?" said a mare watching her from the window.

"No idea, but it's as fast as a Wonderbolt."

"Must be some kind of exercise for…wait…where are her wings?"

Soon, the murmurs began to grow louder on the train as the ponies moved closer to get a better look at her, noticing that she didn't, she didn't have wings.

"That's impossible!"

"How can she do it?"

Coco smiled, turning around a bit and waving to the ponies before ascending back into the sky. Once there, she studied everything with her enhanced vision, seeing the sea in the distance, miles away, and an idea crossed her mind. Gathering more speed, she flew out to sea, feeling a cone of air form around her as she approached the speed of sound. At last, she reached the waters, and came down to be almost brushing its, breaking her in two as she passed. In the end, she broke the sound barrier with a loud 'boom', but contrary to what would happen if she were a pegasus with the necessary magic, she didn't create a sonic rainboom.

At last, before her eyes appeared the silhouette of a land avoided by many creatures, the Dragon Lands. With immense speed, she crossed the lands, passing small volcanoes as they erupted. Her gaze focused on a nearby lava river, and, with some curiosity, she moved closer, slowing down. She stared at the molten magma, remembering that supposedly even that couldn't hurt her and her suit was made of materials resistant to more extreme temperatures, including lava, but it was hard to ignore the education and warnings she received.

Hesitantly, she extended her right hoof and lightly touched the molten rock, instinctively brushing it aside quickly, but taking no damage. Still unsure, she tucked it back in, breathing a sigh of relief when she felt nothing but a warm sensation, like it was just hot springs.

Fueled by the knowledge, she dove into the lava, occasionally jumping out, before she began to dive. She followed the course of the river until she came to an even deeper and wider pool, and upon reaching the center, she stopped and shot straight out, spinning to brush the remains of lava from her suit. Opening her eyes, however, she was met with a somewhat awkward surprise, she was surrounded by dragons who were staring at her with wide eyes. She turned around slowly, seeing behind her a dragon smaller than the others, a scepter in one of her claws, so she assumed she was the leader, and she had the same shocked expression on her face.

"Er... sorry to interrupt, I got a little emotional" she said with a small laugh. "I hope you don't mind, and by the way, the lava is perfect. Have a nice day."

Before they could answer her, Coco flew into the sky, quickly disappearing into the clouds and heading towards Equestria, breaking the sound barrier again. When she was close to its shores, she began to climb with speed, higher than any pegasus or being in the history of Equs. When she stopped, she turned, looking at the planet behind her, her cloak billowing faintly behind her. Closing her eyes, the mare allowed her ears to take in as many sounds as possible, focusing first on the Dragon Lands.

"Can ponies swim in lava?"

"Until now I thought not, but now I'm not sure. I'll send a letter to Spike to see if any of his friends can confirm it."

Coco let out a small laugh before focusing on the city where she lived for most of her life and where she met her best friend, Manehattan.

"I want that report by tomorrow on my..."

"Fuck traffic today, I'm going to be late again at..."

"Very well, today we will learn the multiplication tables, who is ready to learn?"

"Give us all your money and nothing will happen to you..."

Coco frowned at that last one, her ears moving in the direction of the voice and, with a quick impulse, hurtling back toward the planet.

Lyra whistled happily through the streets of Manehattan, carrying several shopping bags in her magic. It had been a catastrophe for her to lose her magic, it almost gave her something, but as always, the day had been saved, especially her vacation. She had had a hard time getting Bon Bon to take a break from her two jobs, but she got it. The earth pony was in their hotel room now, and the unicorn hoped she was resting, because if she wasn't, he was going to have a serious talk with her.

When she came to her senses, she noticed that she had gotten a bit lost. With a frown, she pulled a small map from her saddlebag and inspected it. According to this, her hotel was on the next street, she could reach the end of the street she was on and turn onto the other, or cut through an alley. A little tired, she Lyra decided to go the shortest way, she didn't think anything would happen to her in broad daylight. Turning into the first alley she saw, she walked at a brisk pace, at least until she noticed how dark everything was.

In the background, she saw the exit, but she also saw two ponies, a unicorn and an earth pony, both wearing jackets, and they didn't seem very friendly. A smile crossed their face when they saw her, starting to slowly approach. Lyra gulped and started to back away, but she felt somepony land behind her, and turning, she saw a pegasus smirking at her.

"Why in such a hurry, precious?"

Lyra started to walk away where she could, bumping into the wall.

"Look, we'll make it easy for you. Give us all your money and nothing will happen to you" said the unicorn with a smile.

Lyra looked at the three ponies around her, she had nowhere to run. With a defeated sigh, she pulled her bag of bits out of her saddlebag, a few tears welling up in her eyes. There went all her savings and her money for her romantic vacation. The unicorn took the bag in his magic, hefting its weight, before smiling and looking at the mare in front of him with a look that his victim didn't like at all.

"Are you going to be a good filly and do what we want?"

"Yo-you said that..."

"I lied" the pony said as he pulled out a gun and placed it over Lyra's head, who widened her eyes in terror.

"You better obey, or I swear I'll tear that pretty face to shreds."

Lyra swallowed hard, fear freezing her in place. Knowing that she had no other choice, she nodded, tears in her eyes. The unicorn smiled, lowering the pistol, but before doing anything, a voice stopped him.

"Please leave this mare alone and give up."

The four ponies present turned and looked in surprise at the pony who had spoken, a mare that floated in the air slightly, her coat a chestnut color and a black mane gathered on her forehead. This wouldn't have been so surprising, except that she wasn't a pegasus, she was an earth pony, dressed in a blue suit, red cape and boots and a big 'S' on her chest. Still, the unicorn was undeterred, walking away from his victim and pointing the gun at the mare, not caring that she was breaking one of the basic laws known to ponies, a creature without wings cannot fly.

"Don't mess around where you're not called unless you want us to hurt you too."

"I'll just say it one more time, surrender peacefully."

The unicorn growled and fired, but contrary to what he expected, the bullets smashed against her skin and fell harmlessly to the ground. The mare sighed and lowered until she was on top of her four hooves.

"Are you going to give up already?"

The unicorn tossed aside his pistol and drew a knife, lunging at the mare, but the blade broke against her skin, leaving him helpless.

"I guess that's a no. I recommend you stop before you hurt yourself."

Right after she said that, the unicorn raised his hoof and smacked her in the face, only for a loud crack to sound through the air as he cried out in pain. Sighing, the mare kicked the injured pony hard, turning to the others, who all stared at her in terror. Before they could escape, the earth pony stepped forward and hit them hard enough to knock them unconscious. Lyra watched all from her corner, eyes wide as she watched it all, and when the strange mare turned on her, she tried to back away further, just in case.

"Are you okay?" she said with a small smile.

Still acting cautious, Lyra nodded, making the mare's smile widen.

"Perfect, do you want to report these ponies?"

"I do not know..."

"Okay" said the mare, still smiling. "In case you change your mind, they'll be at the police station a few blocks from here, it's in front of a foal's park, you can't miss it."

"Okay..."

The mare smiled at her one last time before hefting the pegasus and the earth pony onto her back and then grabbing the unicorn between her hooves, rising into the air as if it were the most normal thing in the world.

"Have a nice day, miss."

With that dismissal, the mare walked away from her, leaving Lyra incredibly confused. After a few moments, she started walking, wondering if maybe she hadn't had a coffee overdose hallucination. She guessed she would have to go to the police station to find out.

Home Sweet Home

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Coco looked down from the sky at the farm below her. Using her enhanced vision, she noted that there was only one pony there, on the back porch, but to be sure, she scanned the rest of the area. Satisfied, she started down, watching the mare, who had her back to her, watering some plants. With a deep breath, she prepared to speak.

"Hi Mom."

The mare stood up immediately, her ears straight and in the direction of the voice. It had been a long time since she had heard that voice. Spring turned, looking at an earth pony she didn't recognize at first, confusing her, but before she said anything, her face began to distort. Little by little, her unknown face gave way to that of Coco, her daughter, her little filly.

"Coco..." Spring said as she walked towards her daughter, who was landing, tears in her eyes. "You have returned..."

"Yeah, sorry, I know it took me longer than..."

Before she could continue, her mother caught her in a tight hug, pulling her into her arms.

"Oh, Coco, you don't know how much I've missed you..."

"Me too, mom."

The two held each other for a while before separating. Spring, with a smile, motioned for Coco to get into house, both heading to the kitchen.

"From that suit, I guess you found what you were looking for."

"That's right" said Coco with a smile, helping her mother to prepare some coffee. "I found a ship my race sent here millennia ago."

"Was there more there?" Spring asked cautiously.

Coco was silent for a few moments, placing the coffee in the pot before daring to answer.

"Just robots, an artificial intelligence from the ship, and my biological father's consciousness."

Spring's eyes widened and she looked at her daughter in surprise.

"Your father...?"

"A simulation of him... He acts and thinks like him... but my real biological father died a long time ago... he and everyone who was like me... I'm the last one left... I'm alone."

Spring bit her lip, looking at the embarrassed face of her daughter. She knew how much Coco had felt alone during her youth, longing to know who sent her here, and wanting to meet them. She and her husband had considered many times the possibility that their daughter was the last of theirs, why else would they send her here being so small? The mare hugged her daughter, who accepted the hug, and patted her back.

"You are not alone, Coco… You are my daughter, and a pony too. I want you to remember that."

Coco nodded, separating and looking at her mother with a smile.

"I will never forget it."

Both mares smiled at each other, focusing on the coffee. Once ready, they sat at the table, enjoying their drinks.

"And tell me, did you find out what that 'S' stands for?"

"Yes" Coco said with a proud smile, passing her hoof over her chest. "It represents my family, the House of El, but it is also the symbol my race had for hope."

Spring smiled, watching her daughter happily.

"We were right, I knew it meant something good…" the mare took a sip of her coffee, still smiling, and then looked at her daughter. "What are you going to do now?"

Coco thought a bit before speaking.

"I will use my powers to help ponies, or other creatures, in any way I can. You told me, I earned my cutie mark for saving lives, and I will."

Sring looked at her daughter, unable to prevent pride from appearing in her eyes. She extended her hoof and caressed her daughter's.

"I'm sure your father, both of your fathers, will be proud."

Coco smiled, also caressing her mother's hoof. The two were silent for a while, enjoying this little moment. Finally, they parted ways and went back to their cafes.

"Are you planning on doing anything while you're not saving ponies?" Spring asked taking a sip of her drink.

"I'm going to see if Rarity can give me a job at her boutique in Manehattan, but I don't want to leave you alone so soon."

"Don't worry" said the mare with a smile "I'm fine, I have several friends that I visited and they come to visit me and there is also Wood who comes from time to time."

"Mr. Golden still comes around here?"

"Yes, part of the farm is his from our business deal, and he is helping me with the crops."

Coco couldn't help but see that her mother's smile when talking about Mr. Golden was much wider than usual, and it didn't escape her that she called him by her first name. She had a feeling her mother was falling for him, but it was none of her business.

"As you wish, although I will have to stay here for a while, I doubt my old apartment will still be available."

"Actually," Spring began with a small smile, "when I went to get your stuff, I talked to your landlady and told her you were out on a trip in mourning, and offered to keep your apartment vacant until you returned, as long as I kept paying your rent."

Coco frowned at her mother.

"Mom, have you been paying my rent? You didn't have to..."

"Nonsense" said Spring waving a hoof. "I knew you'd come back one of these days, and I wasn't going to let you stay on the street. Besides, your landlady offered to clean your apartment from time to time, you'll find it prepared and ready for you."

Coco looked at her mother for a while, not too happy that she had spent her money on her rent all that time. With a sigh, she shook her head, letting out a small smile, it was very typical of her. Her gaze focused on the cafe, now she just had to go back to Manehattan, and, hopefully, meet her friend again.

Coco walked through the streets of Manehattan, carrying some saddlebags with her suit inside. The sun was slowly sinking over the horizon as she approached the building where her apartment was located. Stepping inside, she was met with a familiar sight, a wide, well-lit foyer, a wall lined with mailboxes to the left, and a counter to the right that also led to the landlady's hearth. There was a fairly young unicorn stallion, about 16 years old or so, a red coat and an orange mane, reading what appeared to be a comic book.

"Hello" Coco said as she approached, drawing the attention of the unicorn, who widened his eyes a little. "Is Mrs. House here?"

"Y-yes" said the unicorn with a bit of nervousness. "Wa-wait here."

The unicorn got up and went to the door that led to the house of the landlady and went inside.

"Grandma, there is somepony outside looking for you" he said from inside while Coco waited.

"Whose?" Mrs. House's voice asked.

"I do not know..."

"Okay, let's go see that pony."

A few minutes passed until an old unicorn mare came out, with reddish fur and a graying mane, with some orange spots similar to her grandson's. Coco couldn't help but smile when she saw her, Mrs. House had always been nice to her, strict with the rent, but understanding when she couldn't pay it, and always worried about how she was doing. The old mare focused on the earth pony and her eyes widened at the sight of her, before a smile crossed her face.

"Coco! Celestia, how long! How was your trip?" she said as she walked over, coming out from behind the counter and hugging the mare.

"Well, Mrs. House, quite well."

"I'm so glad you're here, your apartment is the same as you left it, well, if you don't count that your mother took your things" she said with a small laugh before focusing on her grandson. "Help Coco with her luggage."

"No need, Mrs. House, I'm just carrying these saddlebags," she said with a smile, one that Mrs. House shared. "And don't worry about the rent, I'll send a letter to my friend Rarity to see if she'll let me work at her Boutique. You remember her, don't you?"

"My dear, everypony knows who Rarity is," Mrs. House said with a laugh. "And don't worry, I can wait, although I advise you to talk to her face to face, especially if you're going to ask her for a job and you haven't talked to her in years."

"That was my idea, but she lives in Ponyville and…"

"I know, but next week she's coming over for that museum of friendship that Princess Twilight is opening."

"Museum of Friendship?" Coco asked curiously.

"Yeah, it's the talk of the town lately. So don't worry, talk to Miss Rarity first before you even think about paying me rent."

"Thank you, Mrs. House."

"You're welcome" said the old mare with a smile, then looking at her grandson. "Please, bring the key to her apartment, you know which one it is."

The unicorn nodded, looking a little nervously at the mare, and went behind the counter, searching through some drawers before pulling out a key which he handed to the earth pony, who put it in her saddlebag. With a smile and a last hug to Mrs. House, Coco headed towards the stairs going up to her apartment, approaching her door and opening it, then entering the living room.

Just like Mrs. House said, it was the same as Coco left her, except now there were no fabrics or half-finished dresses. The mare entered her room and left her saddlebags on the bed, approaching the window and looking at the city, seeing the sunset in the distance. She had already recovered her house, she only had to get a job and reunite with Ink. With a sigh, Coco turned to her saddlebag, ready to continue with the work she did have.

The train was moving at high speed in the direction of Manehattan. Twilight and her friends will travel in a private car for them and guarded by the newly created friendship guard. It was something the young princess hadn't liked at all, but since Ponyville was getting more and more populated, Celestia had insisted that she have some protection, which included individual coaches for her and her friends. Rainbow looked out the window in boredom, sitting across from the alicorn and Spike, and next to Fluttershy. She couldn't help but give a small yawn, the only reason she was there was to support her friend at that opening.

"This is fucking boring" she said with a sigh.

"And if we play I see, I see?" Pinkie said from one end of the car, sitting across from Applejack and Rarity. "I start! I see I see..."

"I don't feel like playing that much, Pinkie," Rainbow said with a sigh, then looking at Spike, who was reading a Power Ponies comic, a memory coming to her mind. "Hey Twilight, do you think we'll be able to see that Supermare?"

Twilight blinked, snapped out of her thoughts, since she had been focused on her notes.

"Whose?"

"You know, that flying earth pony, they named her in the Daily Planet, Spike was driving us crazy all day yesterday."

"Can you blame me?" Spike said with a smile. "Her name is literally Supermare. She's practically stepped out of a comic book!"

Twilight rolled her eyes before flicking her gaze from Rainbow to Spike.

"Spike, I told you a hundred times yesterday, Superpony..."

"Supermare" Rainbow corrected with a smile.

"Whatever she's called, she's not real. Earth ponies can't fly."

"Of course we flew, silly" Pinkie chimed in with a giggle.

"Pinkie, the bike with wheels you use doesn't count" Applejack replied with a small laugh.

"Oh, so no, we don't fly."

Twilight rolled her eyes before focusing back on Rainbow and Spike.

"Like I said, earth ponies can't fly, and what's more, nopony can do what she's supposed to do."

"Lyra saw her, dear, and she doesn't usually lie" Rarity intervened.

"She was mugged, and knowing what they would have done to her, she was obviously going to exaggerate. And in the event that this Supermare exists, it must be some kind of trick."

"What trick?" Rainbow said with a sly smile, to which Twilight shrugged.

"I don't know, and honestly, I'm not going to bother investigating something that may very well be an invention."

With that, Twilight went back to her notes. Rainbow looked at Spike, and they both smiled at each other. It didn't matter what the alicorn said, nothing was going to take away their hope of seeing a pony straight out of a comic, one with powers at least.

Supermare

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Coco was in orbit, feeling the sun charge her with its energy, her eyes closed and listening. She had gotten into that habit lately, turning up whenever she was needed for the past week. She had seen even the published newspapers talking about her, and just as she had expected, Ink was the one who talked about her the most and even named her Supermare for the first time, it became quite popular in no time. Her friend had always been drawn to stories where she uncovered powerful crooks and stories out of the ordinary, and the story of an earth pony capable of flight was very out of the ordinary.

Coco kept her attention on a specific place, the Museum of Friendship, waiting for it to finish to go see Rarity, but attentive to any other possible problem. The mayor of Manehattan had been talking for a while, introducing the museum.

"And now, I present to you Her Highness Princess Twilight," the mayor said, and was soon followed by a round of applause.

"Thank you, Mayor," said Twilight's voice. "And thanks to you too for coming. This museum will show us that friendship played an important role in the history, not only of ponies, but also of other races and..."

Coco frowned, something was distracting her, a voice a little further away, perhaps a street away and, by the sound of a cart, advancing in a carriage. Judging from the muffled sound of the voice and the small echo, it was inside a freight wagon.

"Are you sure this will work?" a voice asked.

"Completely, one shot, and everypony in its range will lose their magic" followed a second.

"And what about the princess? I don't think this is as powerful as that centaur's magic" finished a third voice.

"Don't worry, the only ones capable of maintaining their magic with this thing will be princesses Celestia and Luna" said the second voice with a small laugh. "That little princess doesn't have the power to resist this thing."

Coco had heard enough, so she launched herself onto the planet, hoping to get there before something really bad happened.

Twilight smiled as she listened to the applause after her relatively short speech, she had learned the hard way that the general public was not willing to listen to a speech of more than 2 pages, and they already got nervous with that number of pages. Out of the corner of her eye she saw her friends, to one side, and applauding too, and she was grateful for their presence, she may have already felt more comfortable with her real tasks, but from time to time she kept getting nervous and needed their support.

Right in front of her, at the bottom of the stairs leading to the museum, was her new guard, controlling the crowd, something she still saw as over the top and unnecessary, but both Princess Celestia and her own brother had insisted. Looking away from them, she focused on the mayor, a unicorn stallion, and she used her magic to grab the scissors she would use to cut the ribbon and open the museum.

But when she was about to do so, she noticed a fairly large freight carriage pull up at the back of the crowd, pulled by two earth ponies. The doors opened, letting out a ramp, and two unicorns came out, dragging up the ramp a large, wheeled device that seemed to have a gigantic antenna pointing at the crowd, a chair placed just behind, where an earth pony was sitting, and two good-sized transparent spheres on either side. The device moved to the back, drawing everypony's attention, and, after a few adjustments from the pony sitting in the saddle, it fired.

A beam of red light shot out from the antenna, enveloping all the ponies, and a few seconds later, they felt their energies being absorbed at the same time as spheres of color came out of their bodies. Twilight gasped as she saw a sphere the same color as her magical aura come out of her chest, heading with the rest to the device, entering through the antenna and being stored in the crystal spheres. The scissors in her aura trembled before falling, terrifying the princess, who tried to use her magic again, only to confirm her suspicion that it was gone.

"Listen, princess!" yelled one of the two unicorns, still possessing his magic and using it to hold an automatic machine gun, drawing Twilight's attention. "If you want everypony to get their magic back and not take damage, you'll come with us!"

The friendship guard tried to get back on their feet, trying to protect their princess until the last breath. Twilight glanced at the unicorn and then at the assembled ponies, before sighing and starting to walk towards the stairs, only to be stopped by Rainbow, who, despite being out of magic, her sudden extraction was not as severe or exhausting for her or her friends thanks to the same thing that the alicorn had, their connection with the Elements of Harmony.

"What are you doing?!"

"Make sure you get your magic back."

"Ho-how do you know it's not a trap?" Spike asked, a little shaken by the lack of magic within him.

"I don't know," Twilight said, looking at the unicorn, who was waiting patiently. "But I have no choice."

"Not even I would have said it better, your highness, now, please, come with us" said the unicorn with a smile.

Twilight frowned before moving forward, giving Rainbow and her friends a reassuring smile. Walking down the stairs, the cyan grunted as she addressed her friend, but when she looked up, she froze, her eyes and mouth wide in surprise, just like their friends, the princess of friendship, who stopped her path halfway up the stairs, and practically everypony present, even the criminals. The only one who didn't notice was the unicorn that had threatened the alicorn, who frowned when she stopped and was about to speak, yelling until he heard a voice behind him.

"Please, you and your minions surrender peacefully."

The unicorn blinked and turned, his eyes widening in surprise just like everypony else. In front of him was the mare of the rumors and urban legends, the mare that had starred in an article in one of the most famous newspapers in the city and that their star reporter had named Supermare. There she was, an earth pony dressed in a blue suit and cape and red boots, floating in the air as if she were a pegasus, defying the known laws of physics. The unicorn tried to hide his surprise and put on the same confident smile he had used on Princess Twilight.

"Guess you're that Supermare, huh?" he said, glancing sideways at the pony positioned behind the device, who prepared to fire.

"Call me what you want, now please give up, don't make this harder" the mare said as she landed.

"I'm afraid that won't be possible, and if you don't want to be harmed, leave us alone."

The mare didn't obey, instead she kept walking. The unicorn looked at the pony behind the controls of the machine, who adjusted the beam to affect only the one called Supermare, and fired. The same red beam came out of the antenna and hit the earth pony, who stopped for a few moments, turning her head to look at the pony responsible, and noticing how a white sphere came out of her body and joined the others.

"Don't say I didn't warn you" said the unicorn with a small laugh, drawing the mare's attention again. "Now, stand back and..."

"Last warning, give up" the mare interrupted as she advanced.

The unicorn frowned, confused. That mare wasn't supposed to be able to walk peacefully after taking her magic away, only an alicorn like the princess he intended to kidnap or ponies connected to artifacts of great magical power like the bearers of the Elements of Harmony could do that. With a growl, he raised his submachine gun and took aim at Supermare.

"Don't take another step or I swear I'll shoot."

Seeing that the mare continued to advance, he fired, but just as the rumors said, the bullets smashed against her skin and bounced harmlessly off the ground, not even stopping her pace. The unicorn started to get nervous, backing away as that Supermare advanced, and when the magazine emptied, he pulled his pistol from his saddlebags.

"I said stay away!"

Seeing that the mare did not obey, he shot. The bullet closed on its target, just above the big red 'S', and fell to the ground. The mare stopped a short distance from the pony, who held his pistol in a wobbling magical aura.

"Ho-how is it possible...? We took away your magic..."

"Yes, that's right, you took my ecuestrian magic away from me, but I can survive just fine without it. Now, are you going to give up?"

The unicorn stared at the mare for a moment, thinking. He had many things at stake, he had been paid to do this job, and although he did not know who had done it, he did know that he would pay dearly for that failure. With a growl and in one last desperate attempt, he raised the pistol and fired, this time convinced that at this range he could do more damage, her loss of magic should have affected her somewhat.

The bullet shot straight into the mare's eye, who held it open, allowing it to smash into the eyeball and fall to the ground, followed by the gaze of the unicorn and Supermare. The criminal looked up, even more nervous than before, as the earth pony slowly raised her head.

"I guess not, too bad. I was hoping I didn't have to hurt you."

Before he could react, the mare hit him on the head hard enough to knock him backwards and to the ground unconscious, but without too much damage. Once incapacitated, Supermare turned towards the device, her eyes lighting up red.

"I recommend you get down from there" she said at the same time that two beams of heat shot out of her eyes.

The earth pony felt the heat, and, alarmed, jumped to avoid further damage. Once outside, the mare allowed the power of her lightning to increase until it began to melt the metal, passing through its structure until it reached its central core, causing a large explosion that released everyponys's magical auras, returning to their respective owners. The larger shards were stopped by Supermare, who flew towards them at a speed that was barely visible, which caught Rainbow Dash's attention, knocking them harmlessly to the ground. Once the device was destroyed, the mare focused on the rest of the henchpony, who watched her nervously.

"Well, are you going to surrender peacefully or will I have to apply force like with your boss? Please don't make me do that."

The ponies looked at each other, then looked at the guards, who were already recovering fast, and the bearers of the Elements of Harmony. They weren't stupid, between a mare immune to bullets and with those abilities, the guards and heroines from all over Equestria knew what the best course of action was, so they dropped their weapons without putting up a fight, making Supermare smile.

"That's how I like it" her gaze went to the guards, who were cautiously approaching her. "All yours, gentlestallions."

The guards looked at each other, watching their princess, who nodded, her gaze focused on the mare, so they moved past her to seize the ponies. Supermare looked at them carefully before turning to Twilight, who was already approaching.

"A pleasure to meet you, your highness," she said with a small bow before standing up again, making Twilight a little uncomfortable.

"Likewise...and please, you don't have to bow down," she said, and seeing the mare nod, Twilight took a deep breath before speaking. "Thanks for your help, I guess... Are you that Supermare?"

The mare let out a small laugh before nodding.

"I'm going to have to get used to that name... Yes, I'm Supermare."

Twilight watched the mare carefully, aware that this meant that her friends, especially Spike and Rainbow, would remind her all her life that she had been wrong to assume that the rumors of a superhero were false... again, first with Batmane and now with Supermare. She swore to herself that if she ever saw news about a mysterious vigilante again, she wouldn't question it. Before she could speak to her, a cyan, rainbow-maned figure stepped in front of her, and the alicorn didn't have to look at her face to know she had a huge smile on her face.

"I knew you were real!" Rainbow said, and if Twilight knew her friend well, which she did, she would have a competitive smile on her face.

"Rainbow!" Twilight said with a frown.

"What? Oh yeah, sorry Twi" the pegasus answered, barely paying attention to the alicorn, who frowned at her, but before she said anything, a small dragon stepped in front of her.

"That was amazing!" Spike yelled with excitement in his eyes. "I'm finally in front of a real superheroine!"

Supermare snickered, infected by the little dragon's jovial spirit, but she couldn't deny that she was a little uncomfortable. Rainbow, on the other hand, looked at Spike with a raised eyebrow.

"But you weren't there when Batmane showed up?"

"Yeah," Spike replied with a shrug. "But I saw him from afar, and besides, that time I was more worried about other things."

"Touché" Rainbow nodded, focusing on Supermare again with a defiant smile. "Back on topic, I've seen the speed you were going at, so... how fast are you?"

Supermare looked confused at the pegasus, of all the things she had expected to be told when she showed herself publicly, and not just in small isolated acts, it wasn't that. Although considering who had asked her, it was obvious.

"Rainbow!" Twilight said, standing next to her friend and Spike, looking at the pegasus with some indignation. "Do you really think this is a good time for that?"

"It's always a good time to compete, Twi. Now, are you fast or not?"

Rainbow looked back at the mare, who shifted her gaze from the pegasus, to Twilight, to Spike, who was still looking at her excitedly, and back to the competitive pony.

"I do what I can..."

"Do you want to stop being so humble? Come on, tell me already."

"Okay, if you insist" Supermare said with a shrug. "Last time I checked, I could break the sound barrier, so at least I'm supersonic."

Instantly, Rainbow's confident smile was replaced by a worried one.

"Supersonic?" she asked, unable to stop her nervousness from getting to her. "By any chance you won't be able to make a..."

"Sonic Rainboom?" Supermare asked with a raised eyebrow, seeing Rainbow's affirmative nod. "No, I can't do it, I don't have the necessary pegasus magic."

Rainbow's nervousness disappeared with a small sigh of relief, returning to the defiant smile again.

"In that case... I challenge you to a race!"

Before the mare could say anything, Twilight stepped in, looking at Rainbow with a frown.

"You can't be serious, you know very well that there are no living beings capable of breaking the sound barrier."

"Did you forget about me?" Rainbow replied with her characteristic smug smile.

"Exactly, Twilight" said a new voice, and when those present turned, they saw Pinkie Pie smiling enormously, at least until she frowned and brought a hoof to her chin. "But if Supermare can do it whenever she wants, I don't know if you can win, you can't do it whenever you want and you need help from the..."

Pinkie couldn't finish her sentence as Rainbow shoved her hoof into her mouth, preventing her from speaking and letting out a nervous laugh.

"Yeah... I don't think she need to know that."

Pinkie pushed the hoof away from her and smiled with a big nod.

"Okay dokey lokey!" she said just before walking away to her other friends, who were making sure the ponies were okay, jumping up and down and humming a happy tune.

Supermare watched her for a few seconds before focusing on the two mares and a dragon in front of her. Twilight watched her friend for a few moments before sighing and refocusing on the heroine.

"Well, although I thank you once again for helping us, I would like you to come with us."

Supermare raised an eyebrow curiously as she watched the alicorn.

"Go with you? Why?"

"Look, I don't want to sound ungrateful..."

"You look like it," Spike whispered, but he snapped his mouth shut and looked away at Twilight's stern expression, who refocused on Supermare.

"Princess Celestia has an opinion about... vigilantes. Although, if I'm being honest," Twilight glanced at the ponies Supermare had stopped, "I think she'll like you more and may be more lenient with you than Princess Luna's dark knight."

Supermare followed Twilight's gaze towards the arrested ponies, thinking about what she had said, before beginning to rise into the air and look at the princess again.

"If you don't mind, I'd like to decline the offer, at least for now. When I feel ready, I'll talk to you and the rest of the princesses. I promise."

With a smile and a wave of farewell, Supermare shot into the sky, spinning to the left and, with enormous momentum, hurtling forward with a loud boom behind her, a barely perceptible ripple indicating that it had broken the speed of sound. Rainbow smiled and spread her wings, ready to follow her, but as she was taking off and picking up speed, a magical aura grabbed her tail and pulled her to the ground, and turning, she saw Twilight frowning at her.

"What are you doing? I was going to beat her in a race!"

"Did you see what she just did?" Twilight asked with a raised eyebrow. "In the unlikely event that she really did, you wouldn't be able to reach her."

"And who tells you no?" Rainbow said, standing up and looking at Twilight with a frown. "I'm able to make a sonic rainboom, I can also break the speed of sound."

"Under certain conditions, and you know it well. You can't do it whenever you want, not even you."

Rainbow stared her friend in the eye before grunting in defeat and walking away to approach the rest of their friends. Twilight watched her for a few seconds before sighing, focusing on Spike, who cautiously approached.

"Do you still believe that she doesn't have superpowers?" he asked, hoping she wasn't mad about earlier, and to his relief, it seemed so.

"Yeah, there has to be some trick I'm not seeing."

"She just flew out and broke the sound barrier," Spike pointed out, emotion in his voice. "That's hard to fake."

"Exactly, difficult, not impossible."

"Why can't you believe it's real?" Spike asked curiously. "We've seen things that were supposed to be myths, Nightmare Moon, The Pillars of Equestria, the Pony of Shadows..."

"But they could be plausible, heroes with great strength and unparalleled magical ability, and beings made of black magic, real things," Twilight pointed out, then looking up at the sky in the direction the mystery mare had gone. "But Supermare, she defies everything I know, and there is nothing in her abilities that begs to be explained rationally."

"For now," Spike said with a smile. "I'm sure plenty of ponies of old would say the same thing you're saying about trains."

Twilight couldn't help but giggle a little, nodding at the little dragon.

"Maybe you're right, Spike" she said before approaching her friends.

Author's Notes:

Hello, surely you have noticed that it took me a long time to upload this chapter, and there is a very reasonable explanation, well, two. The first is that last week I suffered a loss that has taken away my desire to write, but I'm finally back. The second is that my style of working had been to write a chapter, publish it, and the next day do the next one in a hurry to publish it that same day. As you will understand, it is a style of work that ends up wearing out in the long run, and I have realized that this can harm the story.

That's why I've made the decision that I'm going to take my time writing each chapter, especially since unlike Batman, I don't know much about the lore of Superman lot and I have to do my research. I hope you still want to read this story, and don't worry, I'm not going to abandon it. Until next time!

Reunions

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A pegasus moved down one of the corridors of the Lexcorp headquarters building, the richest and most influential technology company in all of Manehattan and Equestria, at least until Blood Enterprises began to gain ground. He walked with a nervous step, aware that the news he had would not please his boss at all, and despite the image he gave to the common ponies, his closest employees knew his true personality. After a while of walking, he came to some beautifully decorated and polished oak doors, a good sized desk off to the side with a seated earth pony mare, who looked at the pegasus and, seeing the look on her face, nodded, allowing him to enter.

The interior was a huge office, almost like an apartment instead of an office. To the left was a fireplace, several luxurious sofas, and a minibar in the corner with access to different bottles of wine, champagne, ciders, among other drinks. To the right was a huge desk, also polished oak, with a wingback chair, just in front of some glass-fronted cabinets displaying various awards and achievements by the company and, for the most part, by the owner of the same, in addition to some photographs of the same owner.

In front of the door through which the pegasus entered, there was a wall made up of windows that extended to the ceiling, and in the center, there was his boss, a unicorn with white fur and a red mane, dressed in a black suit that gave him it covered the upper part of his body, but not his cutie mark, which was a microscope, levitating in his magic, from a reddish aura, a glass of wine. The most powerful and richest pony in Manehattan, Lex Tech.

"You better have good news" Lex said as he took a sip from his glass. "I was having a good morning."

"I'm afraid not... Mr. Tech..." said the pegasus, swallowing hard, aware that his work was in danger, even if it wasn't his fault.

"Blood Enterprises again?" asked the unicorn with a small hint of annoyance in his voice. "I miss the days when they were barely getting by in Canterlot, now they're such a nuisance. Who knew Prince Blueblood would get that company off the ground?"

The pegasus gulped, watching as Lex Tech took another sip of his drink, thinking.

"I'm afraid it has nothing to do with Blood Enterprises..."

Lex was quiet for a second before slowly turning around and looking at the pegasus.

"Has one of our secret projects failed?" he asked as he approached, making the pegasus more nervous.

"No, Mr. Tech... The... ponies you hired failed to pick up your... test subject..."

Lex Tech got closer to the pegasus, looking him in the face.

"How the hell did they fail? I gave those idiots a weapon capable of absorbing that alicorn's magic."

"According to the sources you sent to the opening of the museum, it was that... Supermare."

Lex stared at the pegasus before turning around and going back to the window.

"So... Supermare is real... I don't know why I'm surprised, Miss Tale always tells true stories, and she has a good nose for stories... I have to admit that" he said while taking a sip of your wine. "You can go."

The pegasus sighed in relief and walked away, leaving the huge office. Lex stared out over the city, thinking. Ever since he found out that they were going to do a Museum of Friendship in Manehattan, he had planned the whole operation. He would get a real alicorn to study, her anatomy and magical system, figure out the source of these fascinating beings' power, and hopefully figure out a way to replicate it.

He would become a full-fledged alicorn, and, if he played his cards right, he would replace the princesses and lead the ponies into a true golden age where they would rule over the other races of the planet as they were always meant to be. And if the rumors were true, and the only way to be an alicorn was to be born as one or chosen by one, then he could join the quest for the princess, find her, and rescue her, which would give a very good image to him and his company, whatever will happen will happen, he would win one way or another.

But that mare, that Supermare, had taken it from him, but he would not give up. All he had to do was eliminate the flying earth pony and go back to his plans. Lex Tech sipped his drink, surveying the city, his city, from the top of his tower, the top of his empire, nopony could challenge him and get away with it.

Coco was walking through the streets of Manehattan, several hours after the incident at the opening of the Museum of Friendship, heading to 'Rarity for you', the boutique that the unicorn owned in the city. Although she didn't like to admit it, she had used her powers to make sure the mare would be in the shop, since she doubted that they would let her into the hotel she was in and besides, she would have to give less explanations if she showed up at the store instead of the hotel.

She was carrying her saddlebags, where she had hidden her suit in case of emergencies, and she had put on her fake cutie mark, which she checked from time to time to make sure it didn't slip out and reveal the true. At last, she reached the shop, and, with a little sigh, entered, ringing a small bell announcing her arrival, which caused an earth pony mare with orange fur and purple mane, including somewhat bushy eyebrows, approach her with a big smile.

"Hello, welcome to 'Rarity for you', how can I help you?" asked the mare, which Coco vaguely recognized as Plaid Stripes, although she was now wearing no dental braces.

"Hello, I'm here to see Rarity, if she's here" said Coco with a friendly smile.

"The boss is a bit busy, I can help you if you wants."

"Actually I'm not here as a customer, I'm an old friend, I came to say hello."

Plaid looked at Coco for a second before nodding, asking her to wait there before settling into the tent, leaving the mare alone, who she looked around her. At the counter she found a unicorn mare, and to her surprise, she wasn't any of the three employees Rarity had once introduced her to. Her fur was pinkish with a bluish mane, combed into a rather elaborate braid. She was reading a magazine, waiting for a client, because it was a quiet day, and from time to time she caressed a small raccoon that was sleeping peacefully, and which she vaguely recognized as Smoky Jr.

"Coco?" Rarity's voice said, and she sounded quite incredulous.

Coco sighed, aware of what was coming, and focused on Rarity, who was watching her with wide eyes, unable to believe her eyes. The earth pony mare smiled nervously and raised a hoof in greeting.

"Hello Rarity... It's been a while..."

Rarity stared at Coco, approaching cautiously before running to hug her, which took her by surprise, but she returned the gesture right away, it was one of the options she had considered. After a few moments, the unicorn backed away from her a bit, smiling widely, a few tears in her eyes.

"Sorry dear, I got a little emotional" Rarity said with a small laugh.

"It's okay, I understand" Coco replied looking away, some guilt in her voice. "I haven't talked to anypony in a long, long time, it's normal for you to... get emotional."

Rarity looked at her friend for a few moments before turning to her two workers, who had watched the exchange with some confusion and curiosity.

"We'll be in the break room if you need me for anything."

The two mares looked at each other before the unicorn behind the counter shook her head.

"I don't think it's necessary, Miss Rarity, Plaid and I will manage, take the time you need."

"That, you can trust us boss!"

Rarity rolled her eyes as she watched the younger mare with a small smile.

"I've told you a thousand times not to call me boss."

Plaid smiled nervously and lifted a hoof behind her head.

"Uh...oops?"

Rarity shook her head in amusement before turning to Coco and gesturing for her to follow her. They both went to the back of the store and entered through a small door, and behind it, there was a fairly large room, mostly reserved for storing fabrics, some mannequins with dresses and suits ready to exhibit. Nearby, a design for a new dress had been hung on the wall, and if the earth pony had to guess, it was one inspired by today's events, judging by the red and blue colors the dress possessed. and by a small 'S' on the chest but much smaller and slimmer to fit in a dress.

"Do you like the dress?" Rarity asked as she approached a different area.

It's had a counter top, with a coffee maker, tea set and sink included. Nearby was a small tea table with two eyelid cushions to sit on.

"Uh, yeah, I like it" Coco said as she walked over to the tea table, since Rarity had motioned for her to sit down.

"I was inspired when I saw Supermare stop those ruffians, her act of heroism and her strength have been a great source of inspiration,although I'm still looking for a name for the dress, maybe when she talk to Twilight and the other princesses and reveal something about her past I'll think of something" Rarity said with a confident smile, preparing a cup of coffee, before turning to Coco. "Coffee or tea, dear?"

"Coffee will be fine, with a little milk, if possible" said Coco with a small smile.

As Rarity nodded and started making the next coffee, Coco sighed to herself. She had expected her official public appearance to be disconcerting, and she had already expected ponies to admire her, but this... her symbol was going to become a product of fashion, and she didn't know if she should feel flattered or insecure. Her gaze swept over the rest of the room, remembering how small it was the last time she passed by, a long time ago.

"This is bigger than last time."

"Yes, I had to make some arrangements" Rarity said with a small laugh. "I realized I needed a bigger place to store my fabrics and clothes that weren't already on display. Plus, it's always nice to have a break area for employees, don't you think?"

"Yes" Coco said with a smile, accepting the cup of coffee that Rarity handed her with her magic. "Although I only recognized to Smoky Jr and Plaid. Where are his parents and the three employees you introduced me to?"

"Well, Mr. Smoky and Mrs. Softpad are still here, only now they are resting at home" Rarity said as she turned her head, and when Coco followed her gaze, she saw a curtain, quite elegant, that covered a doorway big enough for a raccoon. "When I did the works I decided to make them a small and adorable house."

"That's very generous of you, Rarity" Coco commented with a smile, one that the unicorn returned.

"It's the least I could have to thank them for how much they've helped me" Rarity took a small sip of her coffee after that, humming pleased, before speaking again. "The other three workers, well, they decided to make a name for themselves in the fashion world, the last one was last month, and from what I know, they've done well."

"How have you been without them?"

"I haven't had any problems" Rarity answered with a small laugh. "Plaid, after a little fashion lessons and dealing with clients, has turned out to be a great employee. And Gem Design has been a good worker."

"Gem Design ?" Coco asked curiously. "Is that the mare that was at reception?"

"Yes" Rarity stated with a smile. "She has worked for me for almost four months and she has a great talent when it comes to judging which dress or suit goes best with our clients, too bad she doesn't aspire to more."

Coci raised an eyebrow curiously, seeing how Rarity frowned.

"What are you talking about?"

"I mean, despite being good at fashion, she has a good eye, she doesn't like to do her own designs or get into this world" Rarity sighed to herself before shrugging. "But I should not decide how others should live their lives."

Coco nodded without saying a word, drinking her coffee, thinking. The truth is that she identified a bit with Gem, although of course, her reasons were very different from what she could have with the unicorn mare.

"But enough about me, what about you, Coco? Anything you want to tell me?"

Coco bit her lip and looked away, thinking.

"I... I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but... the truth is I need your help" Coco sighed and looked at Rarity with a nervous smile. "But I promise you I didn't come just for that, it's just... I couldn't think of anypony else to help me, I don't know if you know what it's like looking for a job in this city, but I can try months to get one without a stroke of luck, and I don't know how long I can go without paying rent."

Rarity reached out her hooves to grab Coco's, giving her her best friendly smile.

"Coco, you don't have to apologize, I understand. And I'll be happy to help you."

"Thank you, Rarity..." replied Coco gratefully.

"What are friends for?" said Rarity with another smile turning away again and taking a sip of her coffee. "Tomorrow I'll talk to Prim Hemline and..."

"Actually," interrupted Coco with some nervousness, "I didn't want to go back to work with Mrs. Hemline."

Rarity blinked and looked at Coco in confusion.

"Are you sure? I know she's kind of picky about designs, but..."

"That's not why..." Coco fell silent, looking away from Rarity, once again going over the speech she had been practicing all that week. "The truth is, I don't feel comfortable being a designer."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you could say I'm like Gem Design, I realized I'm better at touching up ready-made dresses, helping ponies pick out their perfect outfit, and maybe designing a little dress now and then, but... I don't like standing out, being under the spotlight, it's too much pressure for me... sorry..."

Rarity stared at Coco, who had looked away, thinking. That was something she hadn't expected from her friend, but, as she had told her with Gem's case, it was none of her business, she had no right to decide how ponies lived their lives. The unicorn sighed, looking away for a moment before looking back at her friend with a smile.

"You don't have to apologize, it's fine. I just want you to know that I'm here in case one day you want to try again."

"Thank you, Rarity," Coco said with a grateful smile that the unicorn dismissed with a hoof wave.

"No need to thank me. Now, since you're not interested in working in the fashion world in a more professional way, I can offer you a job here if you'd like."

"That would be great, Rarity."

"Perfect," said Rarity with a smile, "you can start on Monday. If you want you can have the morning hours and help Gem Design, that's her normal schedule, but the other employee I have for this shift was sick, and the poor mare has been working alone in the morning for a month now."

"I'd be happy to help."

Coco and Rarity smiled, drinking from their coffee at the same time. The unicorn watched her friend some more before speaking.

"Do you need help with anything else, dear?"

"No need, Rarity, you've done enough."

"My dear, I am the element of generosity, I can never have enough when it comes to helping a friend" Rarity replied with a small laugh, one that Coco shared.

The earth pony thought to herself for a bit before an idea popped into her face. She hadn't originally intended to ask Rarity for help with that, but, now that she thought about it properly... she might need it.

"Actually, I think there is something."

"I'd be happy to help with anything."

"Great, because I guess you could say it's a.... friendship mission."

Rarity blinked in confusion, watching a nervous Coco, before a smile crossed her face.

"In that case, you've come to the right place."

The Daily Planet building, the most famous newspaper in all of Manhattan, and one of the tallest skyscrapers in the city, second only to the Empire Horse and the famous Lexcorp headquarters. Its top was crowned by the representation of the planet Equs in all its splendor. Inside, on one of the higher floors, Ink Tale the newspaper's most famous reporter, stood in front of her boss, News Note, an earth pony with a grayish coat, a chestnut mane, though with some signs of gray hair, and a newspaper as cutie mark.

"Tell me you have a story on your Supermare, I haven't heard of anything else all day since this morning" he said, leaning back in his saddle and watching Ink.

Despite the serious look News Note was trying to imprint on his face, Ink couldn't take him seriously for one simple reason, his boss was a piece of bread. He may have been demanding when it came to publishing stories, and he always expected the best from his workers, but that didn't take away from the fact that he was considered by most of the ponies who worked for him a friend, at least as long as he wasn't angry with one of them.

"Of course, boss, I was there, remember? I'll have the article ready tonight," Ink said confidently.

"I hope so, because the ponies are going to want to know who this mare is, where she's from, what she wants, and since you were one of the first to talk about her, and give her that name, I want to keep it that way. I want the ponies to relate the Daily Planet to Supermare."

"Copy that, boss," Ink said with a smile, one that became more smug, which News noticed and didn't like. "And... I'm still waiting for an apology."

"For the love of Celestia, I published your Supermare article, don't you think that's enough?" he said with an exasperated sigh.

"Yeah, but not without a little laugh at me, boss" replied the mare with a small laugh.

"Okay, okay, all right, I'm sorry, okay?"

"Apologies accepted" replied Ink, still chuckling slightly, before turning away. "I'll go write that article."

"Well, I expect a lot more Supermare's from you."

Ink paused a few inches from the door to look at News Note.

"Of course, but don't think I'm going to leave Lex alone over this. I can write about both very well."

News grunted as he leaned back in his seat.

"Ink, let me be clear with you, leave him alone already. So far, everything you've presented about him has been assumptions and anonymous statements that nothing is clear about."

"And what did you expect? Lex knows how to hide his tracks" replied Ink, retracing her steps. "I just need some more time before I find conclusive proof."

News sighed, leaning back against the back of his chair and massaging his forehead with his hoof.

"Ink, the only reason I let you publish those articles was because of your prestige as a journalist, but if you keep this up, your reputation is going to plummet" News stared at the mare in front of him, concern in his gaze. "It's a very bad idea to try to smear the pony who is not only the richest, but also the kindest and most supportive pony in Manehattan."

"And that's precisely why he's so good at hiding his crimes" replied Ink with a frown, causing News to sigh.

"In the unlikely event that your suspicions are true, you know you'd be getting into serious trouble, right?"

"And that's why I know I'm safe," Ink said with a sly smile. "Lex is no fool, he knows that if anything happens to me while I'm investigating him, it would be very suspicious."

News Note looked at Ink a little longer before sighing.

"Okay, but I warn you" his look became a little more severe, the same one that he put with some important matter related to the newspaper, "since your only evidence of the alleged crimes of Mr. Tech are unreliable sources, I will not continue publishing those stories, is it clear?"

"Like glass, boss" Ink answered with a nod.

News watched her some more, leaning back in his chair and gesturing toward the door.

"That's it, you can go now, write that article."

Ink nodded and finally left her boss's office, going out into a room full of different desks with several journalists sitting, typing on various typewriters, but the one that stood out the most was the unicorn that walked around the room. The reason was because he was quite striking, since both his fur and his mane were an orange-red that was difficult to hide, some freckles on his cheeks, a naive face, a camera that he always carried around his neck, another camera like his cutie mark and, what it had become another of his assignments at the Daily Planet, a tray with several cups of brewed coffee.

Snapshot, the newspaper's most recent photographer, but for the time being, he was also the new coffee colt. He was pacing the aisles created by the desks, giving the journalists the coffees they'd ordered, but when he noticed Ink, he quickly made his way toward her a bit nervously.

"Miss Tale, the receptionists told me to tell you that somepony important is waiting for you in the lobby!" he told her when he was already close to her.

Ink rolled her eyes and started to walk away towards her desk.

"You know I don't do walk-ins, coffee colt, besides, I have to write an article" she said as she sat down.

"But, Miss Tale…she's…" Snapshot stammered nervously, earning Ink's gaze.

"She's...?"

"She's... an element of harmony... says she needs to see you for a friendship mission."

Ink paused and looked at the unicorn in front of her in surprise. A friendship mission the same day the museum was attacked and Supermare went public? Why did she have a feeling that there was something more? Still, refusing a call from a Harmony Element could be considered rude, and besides, she could interview her and see if she could tell her anything about that mysterious flying earth pony, who knows, maybe she's already talked to them being the heroines of Equestria.

"Okay, I'll go" she commented as she stood up and walked away from him, taking a look at the unicorn. "By the way, Paper has been giving you a dirty look for a while now."

Snapshot gulped before slowly turning around, and sure enough, a pegasus stallion was frowning at him, its wing feathers drumming on the table, still waiting for his coffee. Nervously, the unicorn hurried over to bring his drink as Ink entered the elevator and pressed the button for the first floor.

When the doors opened, she was faced with the vast lobby of the Daily Planet, ponies pacing back and forth, a few heading for the elevators so the mare had to step aside, a large counter with several workers ready to help visitors, and just behind them, towering over everything else in the room, a scale model of the planet Equs, which also stood on top of the building, and with the name of the newspaper orbiting around it like a ring . Ink walked over to the counter, straight to the only worker who wasn't busy with a visitor, a unicorn mare.

"Hello, the coffee colt told me that one of the elements of harmony was waiting for me."

The mare looked up and nodded, pointing with her hoof to a place behind the representation of the planet. Ink nodded, giving her a goodbye wave before walking away, arriving at an area filled with several dozen sofas, ready for visitors. She looked around the place, trying to locate one of the well-known heroines of Equestria, until she finally recognized her, that snow-white fur and that almost perfect mane were difficult to camouflage.

Ink walked over, smiling as she approached Rarity Belle, who was talking to another mare, one she didn't recognize at first, but the closer she got, the more familiar she became, causing her to stop in her tracks with wide-eyed surprise, a part of her unable to believe that what she saw was true. Rarity noticed her presence, smiling and getting up from her place, gesturing to her partner, who looked at Ink for a few seconds before sighing and getting up too. Despite her initial surprise, Ink forced herself to walk, if only to make sure her eyes weren't playing tricks on her.

"Hello, Miss Tale, thanks for coming" Rarity said with a smile.

Ink, for her part, barely paid attention to her, because her eyes were fixed on the mare that accompanied Rarity, who noticed her gaze, and instead of saying something, she moved aside and let the two talk. The unicorn could not believe it, but her eyes had not deceived her, her friend, who had not seen her for a long time, was in front of her.

"Coco?"

"Hello, Ink…" the mare said, looking away from her a bit. "I... Sorry for taking so long to come back, I hope you can forgive me..."

Ink looked at her friend for a few moments, before a sigh came out of her mouth, and shortly after she smiled slightly.

"I see you're still the same Coco I knew, always apologizing when you have no reason to."

Coco looked at her friend with a bit of surprise, who came over to hug her, which she quickly accepted. Her eyes deviated to Rarity, who was smiling happily at her, and the mare smiled back. Soon, they parted ways, and Ink stared at her long-lost friend.

"By Celestia, I've missed you."

"And I you, I'm sorry I've been gone so long."

"Apologizing again" Ink said with a small laugh. "Coco, nothing's wrong, seriously, I understand you. Honestly, I would have done the same, besides, it's not like you left without warning."

Coco nodded, relieved that her friend wasn't upset. Rarity, who had watched everything a little away from them, approached, smiling at both of them.

"I'm glad you guys are friends again! Why don't we celebrate? I invite" she said with a hint of joy in her voice, but Ink shook her head.

"As much as I want to get away, I have to write an article for tomorrow about what happened today" she said with a small sigh, then looking at Coco. "I hope you do not mind."

"It's okay" said the mare with a smile. "I know what it's like to work under deadlines, we can meet another day."

"Tomorrow at the usual cafeteria at 12?" Ink asked with a smile, to which Coco nodded energetically.

"I will be there."

"In that case, I'll have to leave you alone, I have to go back to Ponyville early tomorrow" Rarity said with a small sigh, but she soon smiled again. "Anyway, I'm glad I helped you become friends again."

Ink smiled at Rarity, and soon, her smile became more cunning, an expression Coco had seen a few times before.

"Thanks for that... and if you want to keep helping, you don't happen to know anything new about Supermare, do you?"

Rarity blinked a little in surprise, but she quickly pulled herself together, Coco had warned her about that, her friend wasn't the best journalist at the Daily Planet for nothing.

"I'm afraid not, dear, I know exactly as much as you do, and if you're wondering, I doubt Twilight and the other princesses know more."

Ink looked at Rarity for a bit before she sighed and shrugged.

"Well, I had to try. Nice to meet you."

"The pleasure is mine" Rarity said with a more polite smile.

Ink smiled too and then turned her attention to her friend, smiling at her.

"See you tomorrow, Coco."

"Goodbye Ink, I'm looking forward to reading your article tomorrow" Coco said with a smile, one that her friend surpassed hers.

"I know."

With those words and one last goodbye, she headed for the elevator, while Rarity and Coco headed for the exit.

"Thanks again for helping me, Rarity" Coco said gratefully.

"You don't have to thank me for anything, Coco" Rarity replied with a smile. "It has been a pleasure."

Smiling at each other, the two mares left the Daily Planet, talking animatedly to each other.

Century exclusive

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Supermare saves the opening.

Yesterday at 10:30 in the morning, during the opening of the much talked about Museum of Friendship (created in collaboration with Princess Twilight and several museums from Equestria, Griffonia, Zebrica and several other countries), it was attacked by what could be say that it is a terrorist group that wanted to kidnap the princess, using a machine capable of taking magic from everypony present. But before they could do it, the mare that had already been talked about in this newspaper appeared and that has spread in the city like an urban legend, Supermare.

As the rumors said, the mysterious mare possesses abilities that could well be classified as impossible. For starters, despite being an earth pony, she is able to fly on her own, bullets squish against her body like paper, her eyes can expel laser beams, or heat beams as some say, and she has a enviable speed, since it is capable of reaching the speed of sound with little effort, with a simple impulse, something that not even Rainbow Dash, element of loyalty, member of the Wonderbolts and the only confirmed pegasus capable of breaking the sound barrier and performing a sonic rainboom, is capable of doing.

But another ability that surprised everypony was revealed when the terrorists took the magic from her, something that everypony present could witness. The mare showed no signs of weakness, moreover, her abilities were still there, as if they did not depend on her magic, something that, until now, no being from Equs has shown until now.

This makes us wonder, who or what is Supermare? And more importantly, why is she here? What does she want? These questions will remain on everypony's minds, and hopefully, they will be answered.

Article written by Ink Tale.

Coco stopped reading with a sigh, leaving the newspaper on the table of the cafeteria that she and her friend used to frequent in the past. Although a part of her was glad that the ponies had taken her existence well, apparently at least, she was concerned, especially by the questions Ink had asked. Since she saw the first articles talking about her, she had suspected that discovering the secret identity and the whole history of Supermare was her new goal, and those final questions had confirmed it.

Ink was her best friend, but she wasn't sure she wanted to tell her the truth, how could she? Although she knew that she wouldn't tell anypony, it was too dangerous for her to know her true identity. She might be virtually invincible, and nothing could harm her, but her friend was another story, so it was very likely that, if Ink found out the truth, she would try to help her with anything, which could put her at risk.

Coco sighed to herself, grabbing her coffee cup and taking a small sip, thinking, obviously her friend would get in trouble whether she knew it or not to pursue a good story, but if she kept the truth, she would at least make sure that if they tried to get the truth out of her with some truth potion or spell, they wouldn't discover her identity, so at least her mother would be safe. Still, she'd rather Ink didn't have to go through that, but she knew her well enough to know that nothing, not even a superpowered mare, would stop her from trying to come up with a good story.

The front door opened behind her and Coco turned to look at who had entered, noticing Ink scanning the room for her, and finding her, she smiled, quickly approaching her table.

"Hello Coco, have you waited long?" she asked her with a smile as she sat down.

"Not much, I came a little earlier so I could read your article, it's pretty good" Coco replied with another friendly smile.

Ink looked at the newspaper, a proud little smile growing on her face.

"Yes, but it is not as impressive as others I have written. Supermare is no longer an exclusive by herself, everypony is already talking about she, my next article will be a bomb."

"Really? What are you going to write?"

Before she could answer, a unicorn mare, wearing the cafeteria uniform, approached with a small notepad, smiling kindly.

"Good morning, Miss Tale, what can I serve you today?"

"First, stop being so formal, we've known each other for a long time, second, you know how I like coffee."

"Roger, Miss Tale" replied the mare with a mischievous and amused smile before walking away.

Coco couldn't help but laugh a little at her friend's face.

"What do I have to do so they don't treat me with that respect? It's not like I'm a princess."

"Admit it, you like it" Coco replied with a smile, one that Ink replied back.

"Okay, I like it, just a little bit. Anyway, while we wait for my coffee, can you tell me where you've been?"

Coco made a small, barely concealed grimace, she knew she couldn't avoid that subject for long.

"Didn't you want to tell me what that new article of yours was going to be about?" she asked, hoping to delay that moment a little longer.

"First comes my best friend and then my amazing and spectacular new article" Ink replied with a huge smile.

Coco sighed to herself and thought about the answer. At first she had thought of lying, but her friend was too good at detecting small contradictions, so her second plan was to tell her the half truth. It was much easier to hide information than to make up a story from scratch.

"After my father's death I decided to travel to Equestria and beyond, although you already knew that" she said, noting Ink's nod. "I went through Appleloosa, Trottingham, even further afield, Griffonia, Neippon, and then retraced my steps to the Crystal Empire. At first it was to clear my head, then it turned into an extended vacation, until I decided it was time to come back" Coco let out a small sigh as she looked away towards the window. "I'm just sorry it took so long to get back."

Ink watched her friend for a while before smiling and reaching out her hoof to grab Coco's.

"Hey, don't be sorry, I did something similar when my mother died" she commented, a little sadness mixing in her voice. "If there is anypony who can understand you, it is me."

"Thanks, Ink" Coco said with a smile.

The two looked at each other for a few seconds before the same waitress arrived and left Ink's coffee. Once she was gone, Ink took a sip and hummed happily at the taste.

"Well, what was your new scoop?" Coco asked as she focused on her drink.

Ink smiled even more, leaving the coffee on the table and looking with excited eyes at her friend.

"Oh, jeez, this will be much more than an exclusive, it will be the news of the century. I'm going to prove that Supermare is not of this world."

Coco almost spit out her coffee, mentally thanking her inability to choke, and nervously watching Ink, managing to hide it with a screen of disbelief, which was not difficult because she was also incredulous that her friend could prove that.

"What?"

"What you hear, Supermare is not from Equestria, nor from any other country in Equs" she said, confirming Coco's suspicions.

"And why are you so sure?"

"Come on Coco, you may have grown up on the farm and be more fashionable than anything else, but we both know you're smart, I'm sure you can figure it out."

Coco stared at her friend for a few seconds, without speaking, and given Ink's emotion, she waved a hoof and decided to answer for herself.

"Okay, whatever you want. It's pretty obvious when you think about it, Supermare is the only pony, and creature, capable of such impressive abilities."

"Well, there are other creatures that..."

"Coco, have you seen or heard of any creature that can fly without using wings?"

"Er... no, but there are creatures as strong as her."

"With what she's shown so far, because I'm sure she's got a lot more power, just insanely big creatures. And I know you mentioned Rockhoof, but even he needs magic for that, and if you've read my article, you know that Supermare doesn't need her magic for her abilities" Ink's smile widened even more if that was possible. "Tell me a single creature in Equs that can do unusual abilities without magic, one is enough for me."

"Uh..."

"Exactly" said Ink happily. "Supermare is the only being capable of using those abilities without needing magic, which only leads to one conclusion, the biological and magical laws of our world do not apply to her, therefore she is not from our planet."

Coco watched Ink for a while, afraid that her friend would publish that article. She had thought to tell the truth, and she wanted her to be the one to publish it in the Daily Planet, but not so soon. She wanted to talk to the princesses first, let them know that she was there to help, that she was not a threat, and that they need not fear a full-scale alien invasion, and then tell the planet's inhabitants, she was sure that an item of that caliber would travel the entire planet. But if Ink wrote that article early, she risked the ponies being afraid of her, distrusting her, and though she knew there would always be ponies like that, she knew them well enough to know there would be far fewer of them if she were the one to say it, through Ink, but it would be her.

"Ink, I... I think you should wait."

"Why? Now is the right time."

"Well, Rarity told me that Supermare was planning to talk to the princesses" wasn't true, but that was something Ink couldn't know unless she asked Rarity directly, and she doubted she would because of something like that. "Suppose you're wrong..."

"If that happens, you have my permission to dress me in such sissy dresses" Ink replied with a cheeky smile, causing Coco to roll her eyes before continuing.

"If you're wrong, and the princesses decide to go public with their conversation with Supermare, then you'd come off as a liar."

Ink frowned at that. Coco knew very well what her friend thought about lying, especially in a media such as the newspaper. In all the years she had known her, she had seen her curse journalists who misinformed for money or political interests, and she had quite enjoyed debunking their lies. Being branded a liar would also be a low blow for her. She shook her head and smiled once more, and Coco sighed, knowing that she hadn't managed to change her mind.

"There's still too much evidence for my theory, plus my gut tells me I'm right, and you know I always follow my gut."

Coco sighed, taking time to think of a way to make her friend wait to write that article.

"Do you remember the changelings?" she asked her, watching as her friend frowned.

"What do they have to do with Supermare?"

"Remember how the ponies reacted to their reformation, how most still hated them? Even today many changelins still suffer from that discrimination. If your theory is true and you publicize it without Supermare being able to explain herself, you could cause the same thing."

Ink frowned, before rolling her eyes.

"Look, I don't support racism towards changelings, as Princess Twilight says, everypony, or everycreature, deserves a second chance, especially them. But you can't compare them, the changelings didn't have a very good first impression, even if they were being controlled by a crazy, they made mistakes. Supermare has done nothing but help since she appeared, they are two different cases."

"And what about Zecora?"

"Whose?"

"A zebra that lives in Ponyville, well, in the Everfree Forest" said Coco. "Rarity told me about her once, the ponies were afraid of her because it was the first time they had seen a zebra, much less a zebra like her who lived in a forest that everypony feared. And Zecora did nothing to deserve that fear. Ponies... are naturally fearful of what they don't understand."

Ink frowned a bit before speaking.

"Okay, I get it, I can do more harm than good" she said with a small frustrated growl, looking away from her. "But ponies deserve to know the truth."

"They'll know, I'm sure... and Supermare might want you to say it" Coco said with a small smile, making Ink look at her curiously.

"Why do you think Supermare would choose me for that?"

Coco let out a small laugh before pointing to the newspaper on the table.

"You were the one who called her Supermare in the first place, I guess that's kind of obvious, right?"

Both friends laughed a little, Coco much calmer. She had managed to prevent Ink from revealing her secret before long.

"By the way" Ink said after calming down, although her smile didn't disappear, becoming more mischievous and perverse. "What I said about the dresses stands, and I plan your punishment if I'm right."

"Really?" Coco said with a raised eyebrow.

"If I'm right, you and I will go out partying and you'll listen to everything I say, to see if that way I can get you a coltfriend... or a fillyfriend."

"How much longer are you going to keep this up?" Coco said, rolling her eyes, although she couldn't help her smile. "You don't have a partner either, you know?"

"I know, but I've had more than you, and according to your mother, the only partner you had was the one who accompanied you to the prom... and it was your father."

"Hey! I wasn't the most popular in high school... besides, there's nothing wrong with going to a party with your father" Coco replied with a little red face.

Ink laughed heartily at her friend, though Coco couldn't help but join in soon after. She had missed her best friend so much.

Twilight made her way through Canterlot Castle, heading toward the throne room, followed only by two guards from her friendship guard (she wasn't sure if she'd ever get used to them). Normally there would be Spike too, but Princess Celestia had asked her not to bring the little dragon with her, which had made her nervous and worried, since that had only happened when an enemy from the distant past appeared that threatened Equestria.

At last she reached the doors of the throne room, guarded by two royal guards, who nodded to her, their eyes drifting to the two ponies behind her.

"I'm sorry, your highness, but Primcess Celestia has ordered that only you enter."

That made Twilight a little more nervous, but she took a deep breath and nodded, her gaze going to the two guards, who nodded.

"We will wait here, your highness."

Twilight smiled, nodding and turning to the doors, which were opened by the two royal guards. The alicorn entered, the doors closing behind her, and looking at the thrones of the high princesses of Equestria, although only Celestia was in her place. She noticed that her sister-in-law Cadence was there as well, waiting at the foot of the stairs that led to the thrones, greeting the young princess with a smile, one that was reciprocated.

Twilight focused her gaze on Celestia as she moved forward, noticing that she was reading a newspaper, and the closer she got, the better she could make out the cover photo. It was an image where Supermare appeared flying in front of Twilight herself, Rainbow Dash and Spike, an image taken moments before the mare left. As the younger princess moved closer to her, the white alicorn closed the newspaper, tucking it under her right wing, and approached her former student with a smile.

"I'm glad you were able to come, Twilight," she said as she walked down the stairs to hug the young alicorn, who accepted the hug.

"And I'm glad to see you," Twilight commented as she hugged her former teacher, but as she pulled away from her, concern appeared on her face. "But why did you ask me to come? Did something happen?"

"There are no imminent dangers in the near future, rest assured," Celestia commented with a small smile, causing Twilight to give a hidden sigh of relief. "I called you because of what happened yesterday, and more specifically, because of the article that the Daily Planet put out this morning, have you read it?"

Twilight frowned, confused, this was something she hadn't expected.

"I'm afraid not, it's not like I subscribe to the Daily Planet."

"In that case, I would like you to read it and tell me if what has been written matches what you saw. Cadence already told me that Supermare is not an enemy, but I would like to know if her abilities are as impressive as it is said here. I trust Miss Tale's integrity, but I've learned that sometimes impressed ponies can exaggerate things" she said as she held out the newspaper with a smile.

"Cadence told you that she can be trusted?" Twilight asked confused as she grabbed the newspaper, looking at the aforementioned, who approached with a guilty smile.

"I...was the first to have contact with her, well, to see her at least."

Twilight frowned, tilting her head in confusion.

"What are you talking about?"

Cadence looked at Celestia first, who nodded, before speaking.

"Supermare came from the Frozen North, circled some castle towers and then approached the Heart" Twilight's eyes widened, but Cadence smiled calmly. "You shouldn't worry, when I went to check on it, it revealed to me that it sees her as an ally. If I didn't tell you, it was because Celestia told me it wasn't time yet."

Twilight raised an eyebrow, glancing at Celestia, who gave her a guilty smile, but she otherwise remained calm. Sighing, and admitting to herself that maybe it was a good idea to keep it a secret for now, she started to read the article, sighing to herself at the end.

"Well, technically speaking, what she says is real, at least to the naked eye," she said at last, handing the newspaper back, which Celestia placed back under her wing.

"Naked eye?"

"Well, it's obvious she's up to some trick."

"What kind of tricks, Twilight?" Celestia asked with a small smile.

Twilight frowned as she watched Celestia. She was under the impression that she knew something that she didn't.

"Well, I originally thought she was a pretty powerful unicorn and was using high level spells to pretend to be an earth pony that flies, but then her magic was taken away, so now I think the spell is on her suit."

"Twilight, you better than anypony should know that there are no spells that can achieve that, if so, the theaters and the film industry would resort to that instead of ropes and harnesses" Celestia said calmly, to which the younger alicorn sighed.

"I know, but the idea of an earth pony capable of flight is even more impossible. In fact, no creature of Equs could do what she does."

"The Crystal Heart didn't detect any other magic in her" Cadence said.

"Well…I…" Twilight groaned at last, sitting down on the floor and sighing. "I don't know what to think, this has all been on my mind since yesterday, and it's even worse after Ember send a letter to Spike. She asked him if ponies could swim in lava. In lava! That shouldn't be biologically possible!"

Celestia watched her student in silence for a few minutes, knowing how to recognize when Twilight was in the middle of a nervous breakdown. Most likely, she had spent the whole day since she returned from Manehattan trying to find something that would give a logical explanation to what she had seen and what the Dragon Lord Ember had told her.

"Please come with me, I think it's time to show you something."

Twilight and Cadence looked at each other before following the older princess. They left the throne room and, with a quick glance at the guards, remained at their posts as they continued to walk. The three alicorns made their way through the castle, up several stairs to the upper floors, and came to a large door locked with several protective spells, Twilight could feel the power of it.

Celestia watched the door as her horn lit up, enveloping the door in her aura and performing various spells until it finally opened. The white alicorn entered, gesturing for Twilight and Cadence to follow her. Inside, there were several objects, most of them wrapped in sheets, but what stood out was what was in the background, making the two princesses widen their eyes.

"You were right about one thing, Twilight, no Equs creature can do what Supermare can."

In front of them, there was a white spaceship, the 'S' that Supermare had on her chest at the front of the structure. Thousands of questions raced through Cadnece and Twilight's minds, barely able to formulate a single one. Celestia remained silent, she knew very well the reaction that knowledge generated, one of the reasons why she kept the ship hidden for so long. Deep down, however, she was glad that the little filly had traveled on that ship had come in peace and to help and not as the start of an invasion. After so many years, she was able to lift a weight off of her, although she would still want to talk to her, after all, she didn't know if there would be more of her and, gods forbid, they had more malevolent intentions.

It had been nearly two weeks since Supermare apprehended those terrorists, and Lex had taken advantage of that to offer the museum a security contract. Despite the failure of his original plan, he considered himself a business stud, so he wouldn't let this opportunity pass him by, and furthermore, he would make sure the ponies saw him even better.

At that moment, he was lying on one of the sofas in his large office, enjoying a good read, a glass of champagne and illuminated by the rays of the afternoon sun, which was slowly sliding towards the horizon. The doors opened slightly, and his secretary peeked out, a nervous look on her face.

"Mr. Tech, one of our scientists wants to see you."

Lex looked up curiously before nodding, and the mare disappeared behind the door, replaced by a unicorn dressed in a white science coat, closing the door behind him. Despite his determined face, Lex could see the fear in his eyes and the nervousness in his trembling paws.

"Mr. Tech, I'm here to tell you about your latest studio project."

"Has there been any problem?" Lex asked as he focused back on the book, ignoring the unicorn.

"No... I resign."

Silence was present in the room, only broken by the sound of the pages of the book turning and the sips of champagne. After a few minutes, Lex looked at his nervous worker.

"Well? Are you going to explain to me why you quit or are you going to keep wasting my time?"

The unicorn gulped, taking a deep breath before speaking.

"What you wants to do is...is...is despicable, evil even."

"Really?" Lex said, barely paying attention, which made the pony in front of him even more nervous.

"It will put many innocents at risk."

"If we want to find out more about Supermare and find out how to defeat her, it's an evil I'm willing to accept."

The unicorn looked at his boss in disbelief, unable to believe what he was hearing.

"Princesses Twilight and Cadence will be involved! It's treason!"

"Only if we're found out, and I've made sure we're not found out, so don't worry about it."

The pony bit his lip nervously, but in the end, he grunted and hit the ground.

"I'm not going to continue with this madness!"

"Then you can go, but don't think about going to tell anypony, we'll keep a close eye on you… you've already heard the rumors about what happens to those who try to harm me, right?"

Lex looked up and stared at the unicorn, who felt all his courage drain away and be replaced by fear. Swallowing hard, he nodded and left the office, pausing in the doorway as he heard his boss speak to him.

"Just in case you didn't understand me, pack your things and don't come back here."

The unicorn gave a weak nod and walked out at last, leaving Lex alone. The stallion did not stop reading his book, making a mental note to order that pony to be watched and killed at the slightest sign of trying to say anything to the police or anypony else.

Blimp crash

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Unicorn Gorge, along with Galloping Gorge, Ghastly Gorge, and Everfree Forest, was one of Equestria's natural wonders. It was crossed by the Solaris River, on both sides of it there were forests and fields full of animal life, its waters flowed into the North Luna Ocean, a few kilometers from the coastal city of Vanhoover, on one of the most beautiful beaches in the country.

It was being toured by a cruiser blimp, the largest of its kind. The deck was quite spacious, with various activities for travelers. Twilight was in the pool, lying on a hammock, and playing chess with her sister-in-law Cadence, also lying on a hammock. Next to the princess of love was Shining Armor, who had managed to overcome his dizziness thanks to various protective spells made by his wife, enjoying the sun, and next to him was his father Night Light, who was reading a book calmly.

Close to them, but far enough away to leave the family alone, were two friendship guard soldiers, who were exchanging with two other crystal guards, who at the request of both princesses, they were also enjoying the cruise before changing shifts. In the words of Cadence and Twilight, if they were going to have guards on their vacation, they should at least have fun too.

In the water was Twilight Velvet, near Flurry Heart, who had armbands and a float, giggling with boyish glee as she swam. Near them, some green thorns came to the surface, scaring the little alicorn a little, who clung to her grandmother, but when she recognized the scales, a small laugh came out of her mouth. Spike's face came out of the water, smiling at his cousin and splashing her with water, making the filly laugh, who imitated the dragon. After a few minutes of splashing, which Velvet also joined in, Spike turned and looked over his shoulder at his cousin.

"Come on Flurry, let's go for a walk."

Excited by this, Flurry walked over to her cousin and placed her hooves around his neck. Spike, after making sure that he would not be drowned, began to swim, taking the little alicorn with him, which made her get several laughs, easily thanks to his elongated and scaly body, using his small wings as fins. Velvet smiled as she saw her grandfoals having fun, moving a little away towards the edge of the pool, near her family. She rested her hooves on the edge and her head on them, looking at Twilight, who was still quite focused on her game.

"Why don't you mares put down that stupid game and get in the water? The water is perfect!"

Twilight rolled her eyes at her mother's words, though a small smile was on her face.

"Mom, the only reason you say that is because you always lose when you go up against one of us" she said as she made her move.

"Careful with that tone, I'm still your mother" Velvet replied with narrowed eyes, but she lost herself laughing lightly, followed by her daughter and Cadence. "But seriously, this is supposed to be a family vacation, you should go in and enjoy the vacation with your foals, or dragon."

Twilight frowned slightly before sighing.

"Mom, I've told you a thousand times that Spike and I don't have that kind of relationship, I'm not his mother. We're comfortable just the way we are."

"Uh-huh, but you keep treating him like he's your son and he treats you like you're his mother" Velvet said with a softer smile. "The only thing you do is deceive yourselves, the sooner you accept it, the better."

"I agree," Cadence said, drawing Twilight's attention, though she was still focused on the board. "It's a bit annoying to feel the mother-son love so strong in you and that you deny it so openly. If you continue like this, you will hurt each other."

Twilight looked from her mother to Cadence, sighing a little.

"Look, this is something Spike and I have to figure out on our own, okay?"

Cadence and Velvet looked at each other for a few seconds before nodding, deciding to drop the subject for now. The older mare focused on her husband, who was still focused on his book.

"And what about you, do you want to take a dip with your beautiful wife?" she said with an amused and somewhat flirtatious tone, ignoring her daughter, who had rolled her eyes.

"I'm afraid not, dear" Night said with a small laugh. "I'm getting to the best part, and Shining..." his gaze went briefly to his son, who had his eyes closed and was breathing calmly. "Yes, he's asleep."

As if to confirm it, Shining let out a small snore. Velvet shook her head before starting to walk away.

"Well, I'll go with my grandfoals, they know how to have fun."

Both Cadence and Twilight laughed softly, continuing their game as Velvet walked over to her grandfoals to continue playing.

Far away, on one of the blimp's lowest floors, in the generator room containing magic crystals to power the engines, three pegasi moved nervously forward, the two behind looked over their shoulders every two minutes to make sure nopony was following them. Soon, they stopped at the largest generator, a small hatch revealing what was going on inside.

"How long will we have?" one of the pegasi asked nervously as the one in front opened the hatch.

"Ten minutes, so we'll have to get the hell out of here."

Inside the generator, a pure white crystal, almost 14 centimeters tall, expelled pure magical energy in the form of bolts of the same color, all of which was absorbed by the generator to power the engines. The pegasus dropped a small metallic bluish sphere, protecting the interior, which as it fell, began to beep. The hatch slammed shut, and turning, the pony saw that his companions were already galloping away. Growling, he followed suit, backing away from the disaster that was about to happen.

At the pool, after Twilight had won, both she and Cadence began to move closer to the water.

"Finally!" said Velvet, who was close to her two grandfoals, who turned and smiled.

"Come on Twi, the water is perfect!" Spike said with a big grin, causing Twilight to roll her eyes.

"I'm coming, Spike, but you need to go outside and put on some sunscreen. It's been almost two hours since the last time."

Spike groaned in frustration as he pointed to himself.

"Twi, I'm a dragon, my scales can withstand lava, I doubt the sun will do anything to me."

"No excuses, get out of the water already. You'll be able to get back in after waiting two minutes."

Grumbling to himself, Spike started swimming towards one of the stairs, almost as if he were a crocodile. As Twilight watched him, she felt a throat clearing next to her, and turning, she saw Cadence's amused smile.

"So... you keep saying you're not his mother?"

Twilight felt her cheeks turn a little red.

"No, just because I'm worried he'll get burned doesn't mean I'm his mother."

"Sure, and asking Big Mac, or Rarity's parents, or anypony willing, to take care of him every time you have to leave Ponyville for a long time doesn't make you his mother either" Cadence replied with a giggle.

"He's still a kid, I'm not going to leave him alone," Twilight murmured.

"Uh-huh, sure" Cadence commented with a small smile.

"Look, I'll talk to him about it after the holidays, okay? I don't want to push him with that," Twilight muttered as she walked away from her.

"Okay, but keep in mind that he might think the same."

Twilight fell silent, her hooves already heading down the stairs and into the water. She gave a small sigh and turned to Cadence, but before she spoke, a powerful explosion shook the entire blimp, scaring everypony and putting the two friendship guards on alert. Because of the tremor, Shining Armor fell to the ground, jolting awake, and looking around in confusion.

"What happened?" he asked himself, trying to get his bearings.

Some ponies shouted and pointed to the rear of the blimp, from which a large plume of smoke was billowing out. Cadence was on the move right away, taking flight to take her daughter in her magic, grabbing her with her hooves, and then levitating her mother-in-law, and she pulled them out of the pool. Twilight, after making sure that Spike was already out of the pool and approaching Night Light and Shining, began to help everypony out of the water, soon joined by the Princess of Love, who had left Flurry with her grandmother.

"Go to the lifesaver balloons!" Twilight yelled as she pulled the last pony out of the water, glancing at the two guards, who looked at each other uncertainly.

"But your highness, we must protect them..."

"Listen to her and help me! The two of them are capable of taking care of themselves!" Shining yelled, his years of training in the Royal Guard and being his captain rising to the surface, then glancing at his sister and wife, who were already approaching. "I'll help what ponies I can to escape, you make sure this thing doesn't fall."

"Be careful" Cadence said, leaning in to kiss her husband, pulling apart shortly after.

Shining nodded before walking away, accompanied by his family, the two guards, several frightened ponies, and the blimp's crew. The two princesses watched their family walk away before taking flight and walking away, along with a few pegasi who preferred to stay away or who hoped they could help the alicorns if need be. Twilight watched as the ship began to list dangerously, falling faster and faster, at this rate, there would be no time to get on the life saving balloons, much less for the ponies inside to get out.

"We must stop the blimp" she said, thinking of any possible solution, trying unsuccessfully to calm her nerves.

"How?" Cadence responded with frustration. "Our magic isn't strong enough to hold that thing, and it's falling too fast to put out the fire safely."

"I could hold an Ursa Minor, I can hold a blimp."

Cadence sighed and shook her head.

"You know as well as I do that you almost didn't make it, and an Ursa Minor only weighs 2 tons, the blimp weighs almost 17. We don't have enough magic to stop it, or even slow its fall. The only thing we can do is help so many ponies as possible." Cadence focused on the nearby pegasi, who were waiting for the princesses to finish speaking. "If you want to help, get the ponies that can't get to the balloons out of the blimp!"

Cadence shot towards the ship, flying at full speed, followed by several pegasi. Twilight watched her for a few seconds before grunting and mimicking her, but she had another goal in mind. She lit her horn and headed towards the lowest part of the blimp, she wasn't going to give up without trying. But before she could do so, she heard an explosion behind her and, turning around, saw a blur, of which she could only make out the colors, red and blue. The blur quickly approached the bottom of the airship, causing Cadence and the pegasi that followed her to stop for a moment, surprised, the princess turning to look at the younger alicorn, they knew who she was.

Supermare placed her hooves on her head and placed them on the wooden and metal surface of the blimp, flying at the same speed and slowly coming to a stop. The wood snapped easily and the metal began to bend, but she managed to stop completely, and the mare carefully began to level the blimp. The two princesses looked at each other before approaching the source of the fire and starting to use their magic to put it out, while the pegasi went to help the workers, guards and Shining Armor. However, three pegasi did nothing, instead, they looked at each other before taking a pair of glasses from their saddlebags, putting them on and focusing on the mare.

Supermare lowered slowly, making sure the blimp didn't move too much, keeping the ponies on board out of trouble. Twilight and Cadence finished putting out the fire and entered the area of the disaster in search of the wounded and leave them safely on the ground, while Shining, the crystal and friendship guards, along with the workers, they made sure that everypony got off the ship, returning with empty life balloons to continue taking out passengers.

After nearly an hour, Supermare settled to the ground and, with extreme care, gently lowered the blimp to the ground, backing away so she could leave, making sure before the huge ship didn't capsize on its side. Once ready, she took flight and surveyed the ship with her x-ray vision, making sure nopony was inside, nodding in satisfaction that the only ponies there were already grabbing the last of the balloons, so she turned away and went to the other side of the river, where all the passengers were, including the two princesses, who were making sure their family was okay.

"Everypony is fine?" Supermare asked as she landed on top of her hooves.

Twilight and Cadence turned to see her, walking closer.

"Thanks to you, yes" Cadence said with a smile.

"You have also helped, Your Highness" Supermare answered with a smile and a small bow. "I would not have been able to put out the fire or help the wounded in time."

"Anyway, thanks," Twilight chimed in with an even bigger smile. "If it wasn't for you, this would have been a thousand times worse."

Supermare nodded, glancing from her to the ponies, who all glanced sideways at her and murmured, amazed at her presence.

"Before I go, I would like to apologize to you, Princess Cadence" said the mare as she looked at the aforementioned, who raised an eyebrow in confusion. "I know very well that my first appearance in the Crystal Empire was a bit reckless, I hope I haven't caused too much trouble."

"Don't worry about it" Cadence said with a small laugh. "Believe me, the Empire has suffered worse than a quick visit from a flying earth pony."

"So I've heard" commented Supermare with a small laugh as she began to fly. "Anyway, I have to go, but first I wanted to tell you that I'm ready to talk to you about my reasons for doing what I do. I hope that helps you see myself in a better light."

"That's not necessary, my aunt Celestia already sees you with better eyes than other vigilantes" said Cadence with a smile.

"Where do you want to meet?" Twilight chimed in, looking curiously at Supermare. "And how do we contact you?"

"You can choose the place, and don't worry about contacting me, just call me and if I'm not too busy, I'll show up as quickly as possible. Just make sure it's between four and ten in the afternoon, I'm more active at that time ."

Both princesses looked at each other before nodding at Supermare, who smiled and rose higher into the air, focusing her gaze on the ponies.

"I hope this experience doesn't stop you from traveling in a blimp again. Statistically speaking, it are the safest form of transportation."

With those words and one last smile, she shot off into the sky, out of sight in no time.

Lex walked through the corridors of the laboratories, specifically, area B, in the basement of the building. The scientists he was with looked at him out of the corner of their eyes, some with respect, others with fear, not very used to seeing him around. Soon, he arrived at a conference room, opening the door with a hoof detector. Inside, the chairs had been removed, leaving only a table where a more compact and powerful model of computer developed by Lexcorp rested, and in the background, a large screen that covered the entire wall, also developed by the company.

"Have you finished studying the data?" Lex asked as he entered.

It had been a day since he had sent his team to collect data of Supermare, and he had left one of his top scientists all the previous afternoon and this morning to study the recorded video and develop his theories before showing them to Lex. The only other pony in the room, a dark brown-furred pegasus with a black mane named Natural Cells, nodded nervously from behind the computer.

"Yes, Mr. Tech."

"Well, start now, I don't have all day."

Natural nodded quickly and went to work. Before long, an image took shape on the screen, a huge blimp and a small dot just below. The video began and immediately zoomed in quickly to the distant point, revealing Supermare.

"Unfortunately, the princesses put out the fire before the subject could use her icy breath, so we couldn't collect data on that, and she also didn't use her heat vision," Natural reported nervously.

"I hope there are other data and I have not risked so much for nothing."

"Yes, Mr. Tech, we have other data that may be of interest to you" answered the pegasus quickly, fearful of his boss's wrath, pressing some keys.

Supermare's image took on a rippling aura around her.

"After studying the footage, I think I have a theory as to how she accomplished her flight." As nervous as he was in Lex's presence, his voice was filling with emotion. "She has the ability to modify her own gravitational field."

Lex raised an eyebrow, getting a little closer to the image of Supermare.

"Does it have any similarities with levitation spells?"

"No, it has nothing to do with levitating anything. Her body literally creates a gravitational field around her, allowing her to escape Equs's natural gravity and, in plain language, fly."

"If so, does it affect other objects?"

"According to these data, only if they are objects of minuscule size and mass, like a marble or a small stone," reported Natural, also looking at the Supermare video.

"Can it be countered?"

"With current technology and knowledge, we cannot cut off her natural ability to do so, we can only hold she on the ground, nothing more, although that would have to be done with methods that do not resort to force" Natural pressed a few more keys and the images of Supermare changed to show her muscles and, in some sections, her bones. "Her molecular, bone, and muscle density are much denser than ponies, in fact, they can exceed even a dragon's. Her body seems to be adapted to an environment with stronger gravity, which, added to her high density, would explain some of her strength. If this is correct, we are dealing with a being external to Equs."

Natural looked excitedly at the image of Supermare, the only alien being known to ponies. They could learn so much from her. His gaze focused on Lex, who had not taken his eyes off the mare

"That was something obvious even without the data, it was enough to see her abilities" he said with an indifferent tone, then looking at the pegasus. "Anything else? I hope this isn't all."

Swallowing a bit of saliva, Natural shook his head.

"It's not the only thing, Mr. Tech. I said that her molecular density and Equs's low gravity compared to what it might have been on her home planet explained some of her strength, but there is one more thing that gives her much more strength."

The images showing Supermare changed to show the color spectrums that the ponies couldn't see, and the one that stood out the most was UV rays, and what it showed caused Lex to be surprised for the first time that day. All those rays were being absorbed by the mare, and a few, minimal ones, were expelled from her body.

"The sun... the sun gives she her strength," Lex murmured.

"That's right, she's a solar battery" Natural said while looking at Supermare. "Her body absorbs solar radiation at an accelerated rate and uses it to fuel her abilities."

"How much energy does she absorb compared to what she expends?"

"According to these data" Natural focused on the computer for a few seconds, "in an hour she earns a thousand times more energy than she spends."

"And if she is deprived of sunlight and ultraviolet?"

"She would be two months or so before she would have to start rationing the use of her powers. As long as she has access to that energy, she is invincible."

"Nothing is invincible doctor, we just have to find her weakness" Lex said calmly. "If her body absorbs energy at an accelerated rate, we just have to counter that, and once we figure out how, Supermare won't be a problem."

An afternoon of tea

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Celestia was waiting sitting on her throne, it was almost six in the evening, and both her sister Luna and her niece Cadence were already on the balcony of her private rooms, waiting for her and Twilight for their meeting. Two days had passed since the blimp incident, and contrary to what she had expected, her former student preferred to postpone the meeting with Supermare, returning to Ponyville with Spike, unlike Cadence who stayed at her in-laws' house until then. Celestia had a vague idea why Twilight had decided that, and she hoped she was right.

The doors opened and Twilight entered the throne room, her guards standing outside it waiting for her princess to finish her meeting. Just as she suspected, she had some saddlebags full of what would surely be parchments, quills and a few different books, she had come prepared for her meeting with Supermare. Celestia smiled and stood up, approaching her former student.

"Dear Twilight, it's nice to see you."

"Nice to see you too, princess," Twilight replied as she accepted her former teacher's hug.

Celestia couldn't help but giggle lightly, pulling away from her to look at Twilight amusedly.

"My dear Twilight, now you are also a princess, since a few years, you can stop calling me that."

"Sorry," Twilight said with slightly red cheeks and a nervous laugh. "Sometimes it comes to me without thinking. I've called you that since I was a filly."

Still smiling, Celestia gestured toward a door on the side of the throne room, the two of them walking toward it. On the other side was a corridor that led to the private parts of the castle, closed to the general public unless invited directly.

"How was your talk with Spike? I hope you have resolved your situation."

Twilight blinked and looked at Celestia in surprise.

"How did you know...?"

"Twilight, I was the one who allowed you to have Spike from his birth instead of taking him from you, and I also helped you raise him with your parents" Celestia said with a calm smile. "I've seen how your relationship has evolved since the beginning."

Twilight felt her cheeks turn a little redder, looking away from her. After a few moments, she took a deep breath, calming down, and a smile spread across her face.

"We're not sure about our relationship yet, but we're going to give it a chance to call us mother and son, at least for a while."

"It's the best decision you could have made," Celestia confirmed with a nod and a smile.

Both continued their way until they reached the door of Celestia's private room, decorated with the carving of her cutie mark on the wood. Entering, Twilight took in the familiar room, the gigantic bed, the large cushion by the fireplace, a desk covered with scrolls that had yet to be reviewed. She had spent part of her foalhood in that place, and she brought back great memories. To the left, facing east, where the sun rose, was a balcony where a tea table had been set up, and both Luna and Cadence were already waiting there, being the princess of the night the first to notice their presence.

"You've finally come. It's not that I'm angry, but you're always telling me the importance of being punctual, sister" Luna said with an amused smile.

"You do have an agreed time, but from what I know, Supermare let us pick the time," Celestia said with another smile, motioning for Twilight to sit next to Cadence. "Which, if I may say so, is much more polite than showing up unannounced and without permission to enter."

"Hey, I'm with you" Luna said with a smile. "But I can't control how he acts, just because he's my dark knight doesn't mean he's under my direct orders."

Celestia rolled her eyes as she headed for the balcony. Her gaze went to the skies, searching for any hint of Supermare.

"Twilight, Cadence, Supermare said we should just call her, right?"

"Yes" confirmed Cadence. "She said she'd show up if she wasn't too busy."

Celestia nodded, looking up at the sky.

"I invite you to come, Supermare, you are welcome."

The four princesses of Equestria waited patiently for any sign of the extraordinary mare. At last, a distant explosion was heard, high above the Canterlot skies, and as she focused on the source, Celestia could see something that was enveloped in what appeared to be a blazing fire generated by reentry into the atmosphere. The red color faded more and more until there was nothing left, and the distant figure that was Supermare began to level off and move closer to the castle.

Some guards saw her from their positions at the lookout posts on the walls surrounding the palace, but had been informed of her visit and instructed to allow her passage. Supermare came closer, stopping a few meters from the balcony where the princesses were, respectfully nodding.

"Your Highnesses, it is an honor for me to be with you."

"It's a pleasure for us too, Supermare" Celestia said with a smile and a nod. "Please sit next to me."

Supermare nodded and landed on the balcony, sitting on one of the cushions provided for it. Celestia sat next to her, on a cushion wider due to her greater height and size, grabbing the teapot in her magic and pouring four cups, the first being given to the mare in blue and red.

"If it's not an indiscretion to ask, were you off planet when I called you? It's the only thing that comes to mind that could explain the fire you had when you arrived."

"Yes, it was off planet, I think in the outermost part of the atmosphere" Supermare said with a nod, taking a sip of her drink.

Twilight had to muster all her willpower not to proclaim that it was impossible, but she refrained. Supermare had already shown that what ponies considered impossible were not only possible for her, but ridiculously easy to do. Instead, her eyes lit up with scientific excitement, pulling a scroll and quill from her saddlebag, before looking doubtfully at the mare.

"Do you mind if...?"

"Not at all, I already suspected that you would want to collect my data" Supermare said with an understanding smile.

Ignoring the amused looks from the other three princesses, Twilight began to write about what Supermare had said on a scroll that already had the mare's known abilities written on it, adding the ability to apparently be able to survive in space without needing oxygen or being affected by lack of pressure, which it could indicate that she could do the same in the depths of the ocean, judging by her strength, something told her that she would also resist high pressures.

Luna watched the mare in front of her for a few more seconds before speaking.

"If it's no bother, may I know what you were doing off planet?"

"Listening" Supermare said simply. "I was waiting for you to call me, and besides, I've gotten into the habit of listening off-planet for danger."

"Wait, wait... If I'm listening right, can you hear anything from space?"

Twilight stared at Supermare in amazement, expecting to write her response at any moment. The mare thought for a moment before shaking her head.

"My sense of hearing is far above that of any being on Equs, as I understand it" her gaze strayed a bit. "But I can't hear absolutely everything either. I have to focus on a specific point to hear something, for example, when the blimp exploded I had my attention on you, highnesses" she said as she looked at Cadence and Twilight.

That caused them to look uncertain.

"Were you spying on us?" Twilight asked doubtfully.

Almost immediately, Supermare opened her eyes and, for a moment, she put aside her serene demeanor and became a nervous mare.

"No! I mean, yes... But... Let me explain" Supermare sighed heavily before speaking. "I was beginning to weigh the idea of requesting a meeting with you, Highnesses, so even though I don't like it, I decided to listen to you to find out if it was a good time to ask for an audience. You, Princess Celestia, were quite busy in a meeting, so I thought it would be impolite to listen or interrupt."

"Something that honors you" Celestia said with a smile, one that grew a little bigger. "Although I must admit that you would have come in handy, they were just a couple of nobles looking for more privileges."

"I keep saying you should let somepony talk to them first to filter out those leeches," Luna muttered, to which Celestia shrugged.

"It helps to appear approachable, that gives our ponies more confidence." Celestia focused back on Supermare and nodded for her to continue.

"Well, you, Princess Luna, had a meeting too, so I thought maybe I should try it with you, Princess Twilight," she said as she focused on Twilight and Cadence. "I had a bit of a hard time finding your voice, since you wasn't in Ponyville, and it's harder to locate somepony specifically if I don't know where they are. By the time I did, you were already finishing your conversation, so I didn't hear long before the explosion happened. Still, I'm very sorry if that makes you uncomfortable in any way."

Twilight and Cadence looked at each other before nodding and turning to Supermare, smiling friendly.

"You have nothing to apologize for" Cadence began. "From the way you talked, it was never your intention to spy on us, you just wanted to know if you could talk to any of us, and you respected my aunts' privacy, so I have no doubt that you would have done the same with Twilight and me."

"Besides," Twilight continued, "if you hadn't, surely that day would have ended in some disgrace."

Supermare sighed a little relieved that she hadn't spoiled her chance. Her gaze focused on her drink for a few seconds before she took a deep breath and began to speak again.

"In fact, princesses, I would like to take the opportunity to tell you because I wanted to have an audience with you" Supermare looked at the four princesses in front of her, who barely looked at each other for a few seconds before nodding.

The mare was silent for a few more moments, going over the words in her head, while her hostesses waited patiently. She had spent whole days planning what she was going to say, looking for a way to say it without causing mistrust.

"First of all, I want you to know that I am here to help, that is my only goal. To help as many ponies and creatures as possible."

"That goes without saying, Supermare" Celestia said with a reassuring smile. "You've already proven it."

Supermare nodded absently, still thinking of the words she had to say. They would be the first ponies she would confess her best-kept secret to in her entire life.

"I... I'm not a pony... In fact, I'm not even from Equs... I wasn't born here... I'm from a very different world."

Supermare looked up to study the reactions, the possible fear, distrust or rejection, but she found none of it. Princesses Celestia and Luna had unreadable expressions, an abysmal experience to camouflage their true emotions. Cadence was relatively successful in hiding those emotions, but what she showed seemed to be curiosity. As for Twilight, she couldn't keep her emotions under control, quite the contrary, she was excited, and her eyes shone with an intensity never seen before. The mare couldn't shake the feeling that her revelation hadn't been as surprising as she had hoped, perhaps Ink's guess was even more obvious than she had originally thought and more ponies would have come to the same conclusion.

"If it's not too rude, can you tell us what your species is called?" Cadence asked curiously.

"Of course," Supermare said with a small smile, noticing how Twilight got ready to write. "I belong to the Kryptonian race, and I come from the planet Krypton."

"Kryptonian, Krypton, not very original, right?" Luna said with an amused smile, ignoring her sister's look.

Supermare laughed happily, before flashing another amused smile at the princess of the night.

"Ponies, Ponyville, Equestria, Equs, mare, Baltimare, not that you are fit to judge that, your highness."

"Good point" Luna admitted with another smile and a sip from her cup.

"Seeing as you're pretty much the same as earth ponies, does your race have earth pony, pegasus, and unicorn counterparts? And also, do they have the same abilities as you?" Twilight asked curiously.

Supermare's gaze turned grim for a few seconds and was quickly replaced by a small smile, but both Celestia and Luna saw it, looking at each other to confirm if they had seen what they had seen. They recognized that look, one they didn't see that often.

"From what I've learned, kryptonians have counterparts to earth ponies and unicorns, but not pegasi. And as for abilities, kryptonians can only develop them under certain conditions, conditions that Equs meets by being so unlike Krypton."

"Really? What's the difference between Krypton and Equs?" Cadence asked curiously.

"Well" Supermare frowned for a few seconds, thinking. "Krypton is about twice as big as Equs, and its gravity is ten times as great."

"That would explain your enormous strength and endurance," Twilight muttered as she typed. "Your body is adapted to a more hostile environment, but…" the lavender alicorn frowned, pulling out some books on Equs and physics. "The strength you've demonstrated is greater than what you would have in an environment of 10 times less gravity than your body is used to. Perhaps your earth pony magic, or the equivalent in your species, will give you a boost?"

"I doubt it," Supermare said, making Twilight frown. "For starters, Krypton's magic density was lower than Equs's, in fact, it's thanks to the extra magic that I have a cutie mark, otherwise I wouldn't be half as strong as a common earth pony."

"Low magical density," Twilight muttered as she took notes, ignoring the amused looks from her fellow princesses. "Krypton must have a magic level equal to or less than 3 on the arcane scale for cutie marks to not be possible. But if it's not magic, why is your strength greater?"

"Well, I was getting to that" commented Supermare with a small smile. "There's a factor that Equs has that Krypton didn't have, and if it weren't for that, I'd only be about as strong as a minotaur, not excelling in anything else."

"And what is that factor?" Luna asked intrigued.

In response, Supermare looked up at the sun that was still in the sky. The princesses followed his gaze, immediately understanding, Twilight being the first to speak.

"The sun, you absorb energy from the sun" she said with wide eyes, before immediately starting to write.

"My species can absorb radiation from stars, depending on what kind it was. On Krypton, their star was Rao, a red giant, as a result, they barely absorbed any energy. But the Sun... is a young, radiant star. Every day, my body is overloaded, hence my abilities."

Celestia took a long look at Supermare before illuminating her horn slightly. Sure enough, she felt the energy of her sun enter the mare in front of her, a lot of energy.

"Are there more kryptonians on Equs? Or will more come?" Cadence asked with a bit of doubt and concern.

Once again, Supermare's face turned grim, keeping her gaze deliberately averted from the four princesses. Silence settled over the table, and after a few seconds, the sound of Twilight's quill scraping on parchment also stopped, as the alicorn looked up in confusion at the sudden silence, worrying when she saw the mare's face. Cadence regretted asking that, and as she focused more on Supermare, she noted bitterness, sadness and, standing out among everything else, loneliness, an immense loneliness. Celestia and Luna glanced at each other surreptitiously, suspecting what the answer was.

"No... Krypton... died a long time ago... my father sent me here before its destruction. I am the last Kryptonian."

The princesses were silent, not knowing quite what to say, especially the younger ones. Celestia and Luna looked at each other, nodding before the white alicorn spoke.

"We are very sorry to hear that, being the last of your kind is something that nocreature should feel. We understand if you don't want to talk about it anymore."

Supermare shrugged, looking up at last and giving a weak smile.

"Don't worry, I agreed to be the last kryptonian a long time ago. I'll get over it in time."

Both Celestia and Luna doubted that. They had seen that situation a few times in the past, and they knew well that it was something that was never overcome, only learned to cope with it. But they decided to remain silent, not wanting to contradict Supermare, it was something that only she could do.

"You say your father sent you here, do you know what he was like?" Cadence asked, in an attempt to cheer Supermare up, trusting in the drop of love she had felt when the mare spoke of her father.

A warm smile spread across Supermare's face, bringing her right hoof to the 'S' on her chest.

"Yes... I know how he was" her gaze turned thoughtful for a few seconds before she spoke again. "There is an ancient kryptonian ship in Equs, and to avoid confusion, it was abandoned and lifeless, until I arrived. There I learned everything I know about my species" she observed the princesses in front of her, who nodded in understanding and allowed her continue. "My father... he was the best scientist on Krypton, or at least one of the best, and my mother was also a genius in her field. Their names were Jor-El and Lara-El, I was called Kara-El, belonging to the House of El."

Her gaze was warm, and she had a smile on her face. Also, Cadence could sense a strong love coming from her, even if she hadn't met them personally.

"I gather then that 'S' stands for your family," Celestia said with a small smile, relieved to see that her mood had lifted a bit.

"That's right" she said again, pride in her voice. "But it doesn't just represent the House of El, it's also the symbol my kind had for hope" Supermare's gaze lowered a bit, as did the emotion in her voice. "And I hope I'm doing a good job representing it."

"You do," Luna interjected with conviction. "You should be proud, I'm sure your parents would be."

Supermare smiled, focusing on her drink in front of her. She hadn't returned to the Fortress of Solitude after leaving, so she didn't know if her father was truly proud, though she was inclined to believe he was. Celestia and Luna looked at each other, both agreeing on what to do next.

"Please come with us, there is something you should see" Celestia said as she stood up, followed by her sister.

Cadence and Twilight looked at each other a little confused, but they soon figured out what the older princesses' intention was, which the younger one was a little disappointed in, as it meant that their meeting would be over soon. Still, she didn't say anything and stood up with the other alicorns, being watched by a confused Supermare, who also stood up.

They went into Celestia's rooms and out into the halls of the castle, walking up a few floors. The few guards they met, despite having been warned of the presence of the mare in red and blue, looked at her with surprise, but managed to hide it behind a layer of seriousness. The group stopped in front of a closed door, which was soon lit up with Celestia's golden aura, opening shortly after with a click. The sun princess gestured to Supermare to be the first to enter, which confused her a bit, but she obeyed. Her gaze quickly wandered over the objects before settling on one that made her eyes widen in surprise, drawing closer in disbelief.

"I found it the day you arrived, or so I guess" Celestia said as she entered, followed by the other three princesses.

Supermare looked at the kryptonian ship in front of her, floating slightly and with the symbol of the House of El etched on the front of it. The closer she got, the ship vibrated, blue traces regorging its surface, something that put the princesses on alert, but the mare stood her ground. After a full minute, a robotic voice came from the ship.

"Initializing AI system... Hello, Kara-El."

Interviews

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The princesses looked at each other doubtfully, while Supermare moved a little closer.

"You…I guess Jor-El believed you."

"Affirmative" said the ship with the same robotic voice. "I am a backup copy of the Kalex service robot, I was ordered to ensure that the ship arrived at the assigned coordinates on planet 01-E, in system 0143 of sector 2814, and to send an energy pulse to alert competent magical organisms to ensure your survival and, when the time came, guide you to the House of El scout ship 789."

Supermare watched the ship for a few more moments before a small smile appeared on her face.

"Well, I guess that won't be necessary."

"Affirmative, I detect a traditional House of El suit. If you wish, I can escort you to the 789 scout ship and transfer my memory to an available service robot or enter hibernation mode instead."

Supermare eyed the princesses behind her, especially Celestia, doubtfully. The sun princess smiled and nodded.

"You can take the ship, Supermare. In my eyes, it's yours, I only kept it until the return of its owner" she said calmly. "Although, I'd appreciate it if you'd hide the ship on your way out of here. For ponies to discover your alien origins by seeing your ship, I don't think that's best."

Supermare smiled slightly before turning back to the ship.

"Can you hide yourself somehow?"

"The camouflage systems are operational."

"In that case, I'll be happy for you to come with me" Supermare said with a smile, but her brow furrowed as she observed the size of the ship, comparing it to the size of the door.

Before she could say anything, Celestia walked over, standing next to her.

"If you're willing, I can teleport us to the balcony of my quarters so you can leave from there."

"Thank you, your highness" Supermare replied with gratitude, then looking at the other princesses with doubt. "I guess that would mean our little meeting is over, unless you want otherwise."

"You shouldn't worry about that" Luna said calmly. "We can always meet another day."

Supermare looked at the other alicorns, who nodded, Twilight a little more reluctantly.

"In that case, if you ever want to talk to me about something, give me a call. If I'm not busy, I'll show up," she said, looking at Twilight a little longer, a small smile on her face, before focusing on Celestia. "I'm ready."

Celestia nodded and illuminated her horn, and with a flash of light, both she, Supermare, and the ship disappeared. A few seconds later, they appeared on the balcony where they had held their meeting, the afternoon sun illuminating them, and a little apart from the tables, towards the wide space that there was, which allowed the small ship to be there without interference. The mare in red and blue gazed at the sky for a moment before turning to face the sun princess.

"Before I go, I wanted to ask you something, Your Highness."

"Go ahead."

"I… wanted to know if you're okay with me telling my story to the ponies" Supermare said hesitantly.

Celestia watched Supermare for a few seconds before moving to the railing and looking out over the distant city.

"That decision must be made by you, you don't have to ask me for permission to tell the story of your life. But I must warn you that, although there will be ponies who believe in your word, there will be others who will not and will accuse you of being an invade" Celestia turned her head to look at Supermare. "As much as it breaks my heart to say it, not all ponies follow the ideals of friendship, love and harmony as I would like."

Supermare sighed, surveying the city with Celestia.

"I know, it's something that's always on my mind. I just hope I can make the ponies who mistrust me see that I'm here to help them."

"I'll do my best to show you my unconditional support, maybe that will lessen the number of ponies that fear you."

"Thank you, your highness" Supermare said with a smile before turning to the ship, which it was waiting patiently for her. "How fast can you take?"

"The flight and takeoff systems were not affected, so the flight power is greater than 1,235 kilometers per hour."

"Okay, we'll fly as high as possible to the ship, still, you better activate your camouflage."

The ship vibrated and, with a bluish ripple that spread across its surface, disappeared from view. Supermare nodded and began to float away from the balcony, giving Celestia one last look.

"Thank you."

"You don't have to give them," Celestia said with a smile. "And if you need to talk about anything with me, my sister, or any of the other princesses, don't hesitate to ask us for a meeting."

Supermare watched her for a few seconds before nodding and quickly flying away. An engine was heard starting and a gust of wind arose as the invisible ship took off with its owner, who quickly disappeared from sight. Celestia sat up and kept her gaze heavenward for several minutes in silence.

"Twilight and Cadence are gone?" she said when she felt her sister go out to the balcony.

"That's right" Luna replied as she sat down next to her. "According to what Cadence has told me, they are going to have a little party celebrating that Twilight and Spike are finally officially mother and son. That is something that makes me very happy."

"And me" Celestia smiled, mimicking her sister, pride in her eyes. "It fills me with pride to see that their relationship has blossomed at last."

Luna nodded, looking at the sky with her sister, also happy for Twilight, one of her closest friends. They were silent for a few minutes, watching the sun follow its cycle to the horizon, at which point Celestia would have to hide it and she would raise her moon.

"Sister, can I ask you something?" she said at last.

"Of course."

"I know that Supermare is a hero, and that she deserves our thanks, but I can't help but wonder... why didn't you ask her true identity?"

"She gave it to us, didn't you hear her? Her name is Kara-El."

"Don't act on me, I'm not that naive" Luna said with a frown, staring at Celestia. "We both know that's not her real name, least not the one he has in Equestria, and I'm sure it's not her real face either. If her race was as advanced as it seemed, they must have perfected their technology, and that includes the camouflage."

Celestia didn't answer right away, remaining silent for a few more seconds.

"When I first heard of her, I wanted to know who she was. I didn't like the idea of another vigilante taking justice into her own hooves."

"What made you change your mind then?" asked Luna with a raised eyebrow, being watched out of the corner of her eye by her sister.

"Her methods... Unlike your dark knight, she doesn't hide her face, at least not directly, and she doesn't hide it behind a mask that makes her look like a monster." Celestia looked away from her sister and refocused on heaven. "Until now, she hasn't broken any major laws, the criminals she catches don't have to go to the hospital for multiple injuries, and she doesn't use methods bordering on torture to interrogate them either."

"In other words, Supermare is more attached to your ideals, isn't she?"

If Luna had been upset by the accusations towards Batmane, she hadn't shown it or she didn't care. Celestia refused to speak any more, so the princess of the night sighed and got up, ready to leave, pausing for a moment at the balcony door.

"Cadence invited us to the party they're throwing for Twilight and Spike."

"I'll be right there, you tell the guards and castle staff that we'll be out."

Luna nodded and walked away from her, leaving her sister alone with her thoughts. Celestia was still debating with herself if she should ask Supermare to reveal her true identity or not, after all, unlike a certain bat, she hadn't shown anything to make her doubt her. For that she would give her the benefit of the doubt.

Supermare landed in front of the gates of the Fortress of Solitude, relieved to see that it was big enough for the little ship to fit through. It landed shortly after her, becoming visible again, and following her into the lighted interior. They only spent a few minutes walking before a white flash, which materialized in Jor-El, appeared before them, looking curiously at the ship but focusing first on his daughter.

"Hello, Kara" she said with a friendly smile, but his eyes kept drifting to the ship.

"Hello, dad" Supermare answered with another smile, a little more guilty. "I'm sorry I don't come as often."

"Nonsense, you have your job, your responsibilities to the ponies and your own life, you don't have to apologize for being busy" Jor-El replied, waving his hoof to dismiss his daughter's concerns, before focusing all his attention in the ship. "I see you found the ship that brought you here."

"Yes" Supermare looked at the ship next to her father, a small smile on her lips. "Princess Celestia had been guarding it ever since it got here."

"I understand... Tell me, Kalex, are you still active?"

"Affirmative, sir" answered the robotic voice of the ship. "My functions are 100% operational and ready to be transferred to an available service robot."

"Perfect, because I already had one free for you, I knew it was only a matter of time before you would arrive" said Jor-El with a satisfied smile, turning around and walking through the corridors of the Fortress of Solitude, followed by his daughter and the ship that brought her to Equs.

For a few minutes, the three of them walked in silence, before the ship began to speak.

"Sir, I see that your project to transfer your mind to the command key was successful, but I have not been able to detect Lady Lara's consciousness."

Jor-El paused for a moment, silent. Supermare next to him showed concern on his face, knowing how sensitive her father was on that subject. Despite her attempts, she had only managed to learn that her mother had been an expert biologist, nothing more. Remembering his wife seemed to be painful.

"There was an attack before she could pass her mind to the command key... There's only me."

"I'm sorry I asked, sir."

"Don't do it, Kalex" Jor-El looked at its over his shoulder for a few seconds before continuing to walk. "Come on now, I'm sure you'll be more comfortable in a service robot than in a ship."

Supermare silently watched as the ship and her father moved forward, sighing to herself. A part of her had hoped to find out a little more about that day, but it was clearly something too traumatic for Jor-El, and she didn't blame him, he lived with the constant doubt that he had happened to his wife. Resigned, the mare followed them through the Fortress of Solitude.

Ink was lying on her favorite couch, reading one of her favorite books, which followed the best literary detective she'd ever seen, Shadow Spade, drinking a glass of wine next to her. Although she was not a millionaire, her status as the best journalist for the Daily Planet, perhaps in the entire country, had allowed her to have enough money to buy a relatively luxurious penthouse, with a large living room, which had a dining table, several bookstores, her own office to write her articles and keep track of her research, two bedrooms, a modernized kitchen, she even had a bathroom with a fairly large bathtub that could almost pass as a Jacuzzi.

In front of the living room, and therefore, in front of her, there was a glass door that opened onto a large balcony, separated from its neighbors by a wall almost two meters high, and an impressive view of the city, specifically, of the Lady of Harmony and the sea beyond. Since she didn't have any articles to write or any interesting stories to follow, at least for now, and News Note didn't need her in the building, she had decided to stay up a bit with her favorite mystery series.

That was her plan, at least until somepony knocked on the glass door that led to the wide balcony. Ink blinked in confusion, the wall was too high for her neighbors to jump over, and none of them was a pegasus to fly past, and she was on a tenth floor, who could be knocking on the glass door? And most importantly, how? When she looked up, her eyes widened at the sight of who had caught her eye, her figure was unmistakable, and she was showing her a friendly smile while waving at her with her hoof.

"Good evening, Miss Tale, I hope I'm not interrupting you."

It took a few more moments for Ink to snap out of her shocked state, setting her book down on the small table in front of the couch, and practically running to the door, opening it with a smile.

"You don't interrupt anything, Supermare, it's a pleasure to receive you in my house" she said as she allowed her to pass, looking at her curiously. "Can I help you with anything?"

"In a way yes" Supermare answered, smiling at Ink. "I deduced that it would be better to contact you here instead of at your place of work, that would have caused a little chaos that I didn't want to cause. I hope you don't mind."

"Don't worry about it, you did your best. If you didn't, all the Daily Planet reporters would have gone after you like a pack of timberwolves."

Ink let out a small laugh, sitting down on the couch and gesturing to Supermare, who quickly followed suit.

"I thought so, although I don't like to admit it, I'm becoming a celebrity" she commented with a slight frown.

"Well, it's something you have to take on if you're going to save that many ponies, especially the way you're doing it."

"I know, I know, it had to happen sooner or later."

Ink watched Supermare carefully, who was giggling slightly to herself. She was not as she had expected, she was friendlier and closer than she imagined. in some way, she reminded her of Princess Twilight, whom she had interviewed (thanks to Coco's friendship with Rarity), from afar she seemed to be unattainable and perfect, but when you got closer, you saw that she was an ordinary mare.

"So what do you need my help with?" she asked curiously, already suspecting the answer.

"You see, Miss Tale..."

"Please call me Ink" the unicorn replied with a friendly smile, masking her emotion.

"Okay, Ink" agreed Supermare with another smile. "A few hours ago I spoke with the princesses, I told them my reasons for doing what I do and, in a nutshell, my story... and after talking it over with Her Highness Celestia, I think the ponies deserve to know that story too. That's why I'm here."

Supermare looked at Ink with a slightly more serious look, but she kept her smile. The unicorn looked at the mare in surprise, before an unstoppable smile of triumph spread across her face. Trying to control herself, she got up from the couch, nodding in the earth pony's direction.

"I'll be happy to help you with that. I'll get my notepad and we can get started."

Supermare nodded and watched as Ink took off at a brisk jog, but didn't quite run. She couldn't help but smile at the joy her friend expressed, despite the prospect of her telling her story once more, and this time, it would be told to all the ponies of Equestria and creatures beyond. Before long, Ink returned with a small notebook and pencil in her magical aura, sitting back down with a beaming smile.

"Well, I'd like to start with a bit of a personal question, if you're okay with that."

"Keeping in mind that I have come to tell my story, I agree" said Supermare with a slight smile.

"In that case... Given your unusual abilities that border on the supernatural, if they aren't already, there are ponies who doubt that you're really an earth pony. So my question is... are you really an earth pony? Or are you from an unknown tribe of ponies? Or... maybe something else?"

Supermare was silent, thinking. She knew that her friend would start directly with a question aimed at finding out as directly as possible whether she was from Equs or not.

"Technically speaking, no, I'm not an earth pony, and I'm not from a time-forgotten pony tribe. My origins are more… exotic."

"Exotic? Can you specify that?"

"In simple terms, I'm not from Equs, I'm what many would call an alien" Supermare grimaced slightly at that word.

Ink smiled even more as she took notes and muttered to herself.

"I knew it" she muttered to herself, looking at Supermare with an even bigger smile. "If you come from another world, why were you sent here? Are you an emissary of peace? A scout perhaps?"

"No... I was sent here when I was barely a day old, shortly before my planet, and all my race, disappeared."

Ink stopped typing for a few seconds, staring at Supermare. That was something she hadn't expected, and mentally, she thanked Coco for convincing her to wait to write that article. Who knows what she would have provoked. Somewhat apprehensively, she watched the mare in front of her, who seemed to lose herself in her thoughts for a few moments before focusing on her again.

"That's why, despite not being from Equs, I feel closer to you than to my own race, I was raised as a pony after all" she commented with a small smile.

Ink watched her a little longer before nodding and thinking about her next question. That revelation had shaken her a bit and had forced her to discard many questions that she had been thinking about for days. But that was no problem for her, and despite the depressing tone Supermare's story had taken on, she was willing to put the best face on it and make the best impression possible on the ponies.

Clean Mop, a unicorn stallion with grayish fur and a black mane, with a cutie mark consisting of a bottle of soap next to a mop, whistled to himself as he scrubbed the hallway floor of the lower levels of the Lexcorp building. He had access to a few rooms, but most were off-limits, forcing the scientists to clean up themselves. Despite that handicap, Clean knew that much of what was being done down there was illegal, and that he could get into serious trouble if he ever tried to tell anypony. The elevator at the end of the hall opened and Lex Tech stepped out, walking briskly and drawing Clean's attention.

"Good morning Mr. Tech" he said with a smile, being completely ignored.

This was another thing he had discovered when he started working at Lexcorp. While publicly Lex was kind, friendly and approachable, the reality was that he viewed everypony as inferior, as mere insects compared to him, and those who didn't, were little more than pets who, if not obedient, would be eliminated without even hesitation. Clean sighed to himself and went about his business, watching as Lex approached one of the high security rooms.

Lex placed his hoof on the hoovesprint scanner, glowing green before opening up and letting his through. Inside, there were a large number of computers arranged around the room, all controlled by different scientists, studying what was in the center, a rather enormous reinforced glass display case.

"How's the E.M.E.C. project going?" he said as he approached.

One of the nearby scientists, the same one who had informed him about Supermare's abilities, quickly approached, very nervously.

"Well, the compound still has problems, sir."

"What problems?" Lex asked, not taking his eyes off the cage.

Inside it, was the compound E.M.E.C. (Environmental and Magical Energy Collector), initially designed to be able to absorb the arcane energy of magical crystals, to later be used in engines and equipment that use magic to function, without the drawbacks of crystals. It was a pink mass, moving around its cage as if it had a life of its own, which most scientists found hard to believe, after all, it was something artificial. Natural looked at the compound doubtfully.

"It doesn't respond to either the magical or electrical signals we send to it, making it difficult for it to obey us. But as far as its magic and energy absorption abilities go, they are operational."

"Can it absorb energy directly from living beings?"

Natural swallowed hard, watching out of the corner of his eye that his classmates also looked away.

"Yes... In fact, we have found some disturbing behavior."

"What is the problem?"

"80% of the rats we introduce have died from energy absorption, 15% have managed to survive but barely have energy, and 5%..."

"What about the 5%?"

"The E.M.E.C. has tried to possess them from within, trying to create a symbiosis..." Natural looked dubiously at the compound, some fear in his voice. "Sir, many of my companions do not want to believe it, but we have created a living being, a symbiont or... a parasite."

Lex hummed to himself, moving a little closer to the cage. Immediately, the E.M.E.C. it lunged at the glass, sensing his presence.

"Could it do a symbiosis with a pony?"

The scientists looked at each other with doubt and fear. Many weren't sure that thing was actually alive, but they did have a suspicion of the disaster it would cause if it got mixed up with a pony and escaped.

"In theory, yes…" Natural said with a small tremor in his voice.

"And the pony could control the E.M.E.C.'s abilities?"

"It's a posibility."

"In that case, start looking for a volunteer" he said as he turned around and headed for the exit.

Natural looked at him in awe before following him out into the hallway with him.

"Mr. Tech, I insisted, the E.M.E.C. is not ready, and we don't know what could happen."

"It's the best opportunity we have to face Supermare" Lex said with conviction as he advanced.

"Sir, please let me do more animal testing before..."

"No, we'll start the pony trials today" Lex said as he stopped and looked at Natural. "I want results as soon as possible."

"Sir, please" Natural was desperate, aware of how dangerous that idea was. "We need to do more testing before that and I don't know if I'll be able to find volunteers that soon."

Lex regarded the scientist in front of him calmly before looking away, focusing on a pony cleaning up a bit away from them, or at least pretending to. With a nod, he made Natural look at him as well.

"Don't worry about it, I've already found you a volunteer" he commented in a higher tone of voice.

Clean felt a shiver run up his spine, praying it wasn't what he thought it was. Turning his head slightly, he saw Mr. Tech and that scientist stare at him, confirming his suspicion. The unicorn gulped when he saw Lex Tech approach with a smile that contrasted with the coldness in his eyes.

"Hi, do you want to volunteer for one of our projects to help ponies?" he asked, in a tone that made it clear he wouldn't take no for an answer. "You will be paid for your services."

Clean hadn't listened well to what the two ponies had said, but if he was sure of one thing, this project was one of the illegal and dangerous ones, and besides, they had already chosen for him. Feeling the sharp stab of terror in his back, he nodded, praying he'd make it out of whatever they wanted to do to him alive.

Blind Date

View Online

Lex entered the observation room calmly, standing in front of the window from which he would see the entire operation. Natural Cells was next to him, much more nervous than his boss. It was quite early in the morning, barely 5 a.m., but the unicorn had insisted on doing it as soon as possible. His gaze went to a computer controlled by a scientist, showing the subject's vital signs and E.M.E.C. compound readings.

"Are you sure we'll get accurate readings?"

"Yes" Natural answered with some nervousness. "We may be unable to control it, but the tracking spells are still working. We will receive constant data on the energy it consumes, so if it takes energy from Supermare, we may have clearer data than last time."

"If it absorbs her energy, that data won't be useful" Lex said calmly. "What use are data from a corpse to us?"

To say that Clean Mop was nervous would be an understatement, he was terrified. He was strapped to a stretcher, both his four hooves, his torso, even his head had been immobilized, an inhibitor ring on his horn to prevent him from using magic and ruining everything. The room around him was completely white and sterile, typical of a hospital. If he raised his head, at least as little as his restraints allowed, he could see the steel gates that isolated him from everypony, to his left he could see a window through which he could see Lex Tech and the scientist who had been present when he was chosen, the first with a stoic look and the second unable to meet his eyes. To the right of him, was what had him terrified.

A reinforced glass container, connected to his body through an IV, containing a pinkish mass that seemed to have a life of its own as it moved in the direction of passing ponies, but was mostly centered. in Clean. The only thing keeping it from advancing through the IV into his veins was the key they had placed, cutting off the E.M.E.C. compound. Surrounding him were about four scientists, clad from head to hooves in heavy-gauge containment suits, the only thing visible were their eyes, viewed through thick insulated goggles. One of them, a unicorn whose horn was covered, approached to the left side of him and he could see the guilt in his gaze.

"Ready?"

Clean wasn't ready, he wanted to go home, go back to his shitty apartment, go back to eating junk food, go back to his boring and aspirational life. Instead, and after looking at the intimidating unicorn behind the window, he nodded slowly. The scientist glanced over his shoulder at Lex before nodding to the pony next to the container, the tied stallion didn't know if he was a pegasus or an earth pony because of the suit. Using his hoof, he unlocked the tap and allowed the EMEC compound to begin traveling down the IV to it new host.

As soon as it entered his vein, Clean tensed slightly, that hurt, a lot. The E.M.E.C. compound moved steadily through his vein, and he could feel it, up his arm to his shoulder, and from there to his chest, and when it reached his heart, he screamed in pure pain. It was like it were tearing him apart inside, and it wasn't stopping. The scientists looked at each other in alarm, one of them approached the key, stopped by Lex's voice.

"Whoever stops the experiment will be the next test subject."

That warning was enough for the scientist to back away from the container with a grimace of fear. Being one of the culprits in a pony's possible death was better than becoming the next guinea pig. Clean was no longer paying attention to his surroundings, his eyes were looking frantically from side to side as he felt that this thing was moving up his neck to his head, reaching his brain in a short time, and seconds later, little pink tendrils began to spread over the eyeballs.

The pink mass was already fully out of the container, entering the defenseless pony's body, who shuddered and cried out in sheer pain, then turned into weak moans, transitioning to silent gasps before falling into utter silence. In the observation room, his vital signs were slowly and hopelessly stopping. One of the scientists present acted on instinct and approached, willing to try to save the unicorn.

"Don't bother," Lex's voice interrupted, causing the scientist to look at him in disbelief.

"He's dying!"

"Judging from previous animal experiments, he won't survive for long. Don't waste your time or mine." Lex turned and stared at Natural. "Leave his corpse under observation just in case, if nothing has happened by sunset, dissect him and try to salvage all the E.M.E.C. compound you can."

Natural looked at Lex with some fear and disbelief, watching the dying pony, whose vital signs were already fading, before lowering his head in resignation.

"Yes sir Tech."

Lex nodded in satisfaction and walked away, waiting to see if this was a complete flop or a hit.

An earth pony mare was looking critically and doubtfully at her reflection, studying every inch of the dress she was wearing.

"Are you sure it fits me?"

Coco smiled slightly, standing next to the mare, nodding with conviction.

"Very secure."

"Doesn't it make me look fat?" The mare frowned, turning to see the curve of her flanks.

"Believe me, you look beautiful, I'm sure you'll dazzle your friend."

A blush covered the mare's face, and Coco could hear how her heartbeat had sped up slightly.

"I don't want to dazzle him... it's just a friends outing."

"That doesn't mean you can't look more beautiful than usual from time to time."

The mare thought for a bit before a tiny smile appeared on her lips, looking at Coco shyly.

"I'll take it."

Coco smiled and walked her into the nearby changing room, waiting patiently until the mare came out of it again, grabbed the neatly folded dress and walked on three legs, the fourth clutching the dress, to the display. There was also Gem Design, reading the newspaper, giving her a quick glance to see if she needed help, but seeing that she was managing on her own, she went back to reading.

"Very good" Coco said as she looked at the dress's price tag. "Let me calculate the discount before you pay me."

The mare blinked in shock as she watched Coco eye the tag.

"Discount?"

"All products sold by Rarity have an initial 50% discount for new customers" Coco explained with a calm and reassuring smile.

"That... that's very generous," the mare replied gratefully, part of her relieved that she didn't have to pay full price.

"She's the element of generosity, after all," Coco replied with a giggle, turning her attention back to the cash register. "Let's see, 50% initial discount and another 20% for plus romance..."

"W-wait... what?"

"Boss's idea," Gem chimed in from where she was, an amused giggle slipping from her lips as he focused on their client. "She has a soft spot for those things."

The mare's face had turned completely red.

"B-but i-it's no-not a da-date... W-we ar-are o-only fri-friends."

"And you don't want it to be something else?"

The mare opened her mouth to respond, slamming it shut, opening it, then shutting it again, looking away from her and nodding sheepishly.

"In that case it's 100 bits."

As the mare rummaged through her bag of bits for the required amount and Coco bagged the dress, Gem absently pulled out a calculator and, after glancing at the label, began to do some quick calculations.

"Here you go" said Coco with a smile, holding out the bag, which the mare caught between her teeth, and picked up the seven 10 and 20 bit coins that she had given her. "I hope things go well with your friend."

The mare nodded sheepishly, still flushed, and hurried out of the shop. Coco sighed happily to herself before starting to put the coins in the cash register.

"Perfect calculation" Gem's voice said, putting the calculator aside and looking with an amused smile at Coco. "Are you sure you didn't go to a math college or something?"

"Very sure" Coco replied with amusement. "I'm just good at mental math."

"I see," Gem said with a giggle, focusing on her newspaper again.

Coco watched her out of the corner of her eye, noticing the Daily Planet emblem to one side. She knew that this same newspaper would be going around the country, maybe even the whole world, before long.

"Is that today's newspaper?"

"Yes, and it is very interesting."

"Really?" Coco tried not to show her nervousness too much.

"Uh-huh" Gem moved a little away from the newspaper and brought it closer to Coco. "Turns out Supermare is an alien, who knew huh?"

Coco gave her just a small smile, trying to remind herself that it was normal for ponies to see her as an alien, she had to get used to it. At least she hadn't reacted with the fear she had expected, she almost seemed disinterested. Her gaze went to the newspaper, reading the headline and the lead article.

Supermare, the Last Daughter of Krypton

Not really wanting to read her own story, she pretended that she read with interest. After a few moments, she turned her head to Gem, who was patiently waiting for her to finish.

"That explains a few things," she said, trying to sound interested and, at the same time, a bit doubtful.

"Yeah, although it was obvious when you think about it," Gem said with a shrug. "That journalist said it in her last article, no being from Equs is capable of doing those things without magic."

"Right, she said it" Coco internally wondered how many ponies would have come to that conclusion. Her gaze returned to Gem, who had retrieved the newspaper, still with that disinterested look. "What do you think?"

Gem hummed to herself before shrugging.

"Honestly, I don't really care, she's helping a lot of ponies, and that's what counts."

Coco couldn't help but smile, hoping that more ponies would think like Gem. Before she could say anything else, the doors opened, and when she turned to the potential customer, she knew she was about to face something she had been waiting for all day.

"I told you!"

Ink Tale practically yelled that statement, standing right in front of Coco and looking at her with pride and amusement, causing her friend to roll her eyes, but she still smiled.

"Did you really come all the way here just to tell me that? Couldn't it wait for later?"

"Nope, I can't take it anymore without telling you, honestly, you're lucky I didn't decide to come to your house last night" Ink replied with a smile.

"May I know what's up?" Gem asked doubtfully, looking from Coco to the unknown mare, the latter looking at her for a few seconds before smiling and pointing at the earth pony.

"My friend here didn't believe me when I said Supermare wasn't from Equs."

"What I remember, I didn't say I didn't believe you, just that you should wait before writing your article."

"Still counting."

Gem looked doubtfully at the two of them before realization hit her face, her eyes looking from the newspaper to Ink.

"Wait, did you write this article?"

"Yes" Ink stated proudly. "And I must say that it's the best I've written so far."

Gem looked at Ink for a bit more before focusing on Coco.

"When were you going to tell me you had a famous friend? Apart from Rarity" she added almost at the last second.

"I'm not that famous" Ink replied, although Coco didn't miss the small smile on her lips. "I'm only known. Ink Tale, at your service."

Ink approached Gem and extended her hoof, which was embraced by the mare's, smiling in spite of her.

"Gem Design, a pleasure."

Once the friendly greeting was over, Ink turned to focus on her friend, and Coco didn't like the look in her eyes.

"As for you, you have lost the bet."

Coco frowned at her quickly and let out a small groan of frustration.

"Oh no, I didn't bet anything."

"As I recall" Ink replied with perverse amusement, "you didn't deny the bet either, therefore you accepted."

Coco frowned and opened her mouth to speak, only to be interrupted by Gem next to her.

"Betting?"

"If I was right, which I ended up being, then Coco would have to obey me and I would take her to pick up."

Instantly, Gem seemed much more interested, leaning over the counter, and Coco didn't like the way things were going.

"Really?" Her gaze went to Coco, a mischievous smile on her lips. "You must have had a long dry spell if she had to bet to gambling to find you a coltfriend."

Coco groaned to herself, but before she could defend herself, Ink stepped forward.

"Believe me, it's the longest dry spell in history" Ink could barely hold back a giggle at her friend's expense.

Gem raised an eyebrow before looking at Coco, who was muttering annoyed to herself.

"When was the last time you had a coltfriend? Or a fillyfriend, I'm not judging."

Coco looked between her two friends before sighing and looking away.

"Never, and I don't care either."

The surprise became more evident on Gem's face before being replaced by a determined smile and looking at Ink.

"I'm in, I may not know Coco very well, but I know how to tell one pony looking for something serious from one who just wants a night of fun."

"That would be great for us, we'll make a great team."

"Can you please stop?" Coco's voice said, drawing the attention of the two mares. "I know you want to do it for my sake, but really, I don't need a coltfriend, fillyfriend, or special pony right now. I'm perfectly fine being single."

Ink's look went from amusement to decision, making Coco groan to herself. That was the look she got when something got into her head, and when it did, not even Princess Celestia could have stopped her.

"You're saying that because you've never had one. You're missing out on a great experience, and as your friend, I'm not going to allow that, you're going to come with me and I'll help you find your ideal pony…or at least the closest one."

Coco stared at Ink for a few moments before sighing in defeat.

"Okay, it's not like I can change your mind, right?"

Ink's smile returned, much bigger, nodding proudly.

"Thanks. The only thing I need to know is if you're more interested in stallions or mares" she announced, and at Coco's look, she shrugged. "You never specified it to me, and bisexuality is common in Equestria, but I don't want to risk ruining your night."

"Honestly, I don't care."

"Okay, no taste in particular, it'll make it a little easier and give me more options" Ink muttered to herself, making Coco wonder what she was getting herself into. After a few seconds, the unicorn raised her head and calmly looked at her friend, who could see that, at least, this was important to her. "You will not regret."

Coco was already regretting it. The disco they had taken her to, practically against her will, was loud, very loud. Even with her super hearing, she had a hard time concentrating on the outside world, the incessant loud music and ponies talking to make themselves heard a constant distraction. She was at the bar, studying her surroundings intently, her gaze fixed on her two friends, who, true to their word, were talking to different stallions and mares, Ink trying to find one that would meet her standards of what should be the perfect match for her best friend and Gem judging if the ponies they chose wanted something serious, or at least a friendly relationship with a view to something more, or a night of fun.

Coco had to admit that Ink was taking it very seriously, so much so that she had even lent her one of her most beautiful dresses, one that she only wore when she had to go to a high-class party and wanted everypony to focus on her. In her own words, even if she was a budding designer with a great sense of fashion, when it came to flirting she needed something more revealing and flashy instead of elegant, and that's what that dress was. It was incredibly tight, hugging her curves perfectly, sleeveless and joining her body with a strap at her neck, exposing her back and part of her torso. The skirt was short, barely reaching just below her cutie mark, with a small fringe down the right side to give a hint of what it looked like, and the mane of her tail had been gathered into a tight bun, which if not for the dress, Coco was sure somepony would say something to her out of public indecency.

Although Ink and Gem meant very well, Coco herself was not at all interested in having a romantic partner, and she had very good reasons. In the first place, the path she had chosen already made it a bit difficult for her to have a normal life and support her friends, much less a partner. She was sure that if she listened to her friends and agreed to have a coltfriend or fillyfriend, over time they would end up wondering why she spent so little time with them, abruptly left any dates they had or was late for said dates, without having to consider the small chance that somepony would find out her identity and decide to go after her loved ones, and a special pony fell into that category.

The second one was something that embarrassed her a bit due to it nature, but Coco was sure that she could never properly satisfy any couple in bed. As she went through the typical teenage hormone rush she realized a detail that was both embarrassing and terribly frustrating, nocreature of Equs could have a fun time with her without risking breaking hips, among other things, or, worse still, die. Not even the strongest materials on the planet had been able to withstand her powerful muscles. With these two factors in mind, the mare ended up accepting that it was best for her to refrain from having any type of sentimental partner.

She snapped out of her thoughts as she saw Ink enter her field of vision, a triumphant smile on her face, and internally, the mare cursed herself for being distracted, now she would have no idea who she had been paired with.

"Come with me, I want you to meet somepony."

Sighing to herself, and knowing that she had no escape, she followed her friend through the sea of ponies. They reached a somewhat isolated area, where the noise of the music was a little lower and allowed the ponies to talk, still loudly, but with better results. There they found Gem, talking to three different mares, specifically, with a unicorn in the center, with turquoise fur and a duller mane with a white stripe, in fact, Coco reminded her of somepony, and after thinking for a few seconds, she realized that she was the same mare that she saved from some robbers on her first day of her official career as a superhero, or at least that's how she had been declared. To her right was an earth pony looking disapprovingly at the mare next to her, though she tried to be sneaky, succeeding to the untrained eye, but not to Coco. Her fur was a shade of pale cream, while her mane was dark blue with a pink fringe.

To her left, was another earth pony mare, with dark gray fur and a black mane, and judging by the look on her face, she was in the same situation as Coco. She was dressed in a much more demure and elegant dress than her, a passion red color and a skirt that reached just above her hooves, not really touching the ground, and keeping her tail hidden

"This is the friend we told you about" Ink said with a smile, pointing to Coco, who looked at her out of the corner of her eye and sighed to herself before smiling friendly.

"Hi, I'm Coco, nice to meet you."

"Same here," the unicorn mare said, studying her briefly before glancing at the earth pony to her left with a smile. "I'm Lyra, this is my fillyfriend Bon Bon" she introduced pointing to the mare to her right, who nodded slightly, "and this is my friend Octavia, you may know her, she's a very famous and talented cellist."

The so-called Octavia rolled her eyes before focusing on Coco, trying to flash another smile, albeit much smaller and more demure.

"Nice to meet you.."

Before Coco could speak, Ink intervened.

"Cellist?" she said with a raised eyebrow before the realization reached her face. "Ah, I see, you must be Octavia Melody. I heard you had a concert in Manehattan the night before."

"That's right, I…"

"And I can tell you, she did great," Lyra interrupted, earning dirty looks from both Octavia and Bon Bon. "Like I said, she's very talented."

"Of that I have no doubt" Ink stated, her gaze turning to Coco briefly before speaking. "Coco here is also talented here at the same time, she is a great designer."

"I don't think I'm tha..."

"She has gained the favor of Rarity herself," Gem interjected. "I myself have seen some of her dresses and I can say that they are dazzling."

Coco groaned to herself, looking away from they in some annoyance, but as she focused on Octavia, she could see that she was giving her a friendly, amused smile. Her eyes almost seemed to say you too, huh?

"Another talented mare, huh?" Lyra said with a smile, locking eyes with Ink before focusing on Octavia. "By the way, could you go get me a drink?"

Both Octacia and Bon Bon looked at her at her sudden, forced, and blatant request. Before she could answer, Ink intervened.

"Could you bring me a drink, Coco? So you can take advantage and get to know each other better."

Both Coco and Octavia looked at their respective friends before walking away, resigned.

"Lyra, you know Octavia doesn't want a fillyfriend" Coco managed to hear.

"She'll be good for him, and from what we've been told, her friend too."

"That's true" this time it was Ink.

Coco sighed to herself and followed Octavia to the bar, in a slightly secluded spot, which allowed them to talk without having to raise their voices so much over the music. The mare sat on one of the prepared cushions, glancing out of the corner of her eye at her involuntary date from tonight as she sat next to her. After a few moments of silence, she began to speak.

"I guess your friends have dragged you into this too."

Coco sighed heavily, her gaze turning to her friends, who were starting to talk among themselves, except for Ink. Curious, she adjusted her hearing to hear her, trying to ignore the music around her.

"Sorry, I have my own date tonight" Ink turned to Gem with a mischievous smile. "Make sure Coco doesn't try to escape, I know her very well."

"You can trust me" replied the mare with an amused laugh.

Rolling her eyes, Coco focused on Octavia, nodding.

"Yes, in my case a lost bet that I don't remember accepting. Did you also lose a bet?"

Octavia's face turned a little gloomy and she looked away from her, making Coco immediately regret it.

"I'm sorry if it's personal, I didn't mean to upset you."

"No, no, you didn't bother me" Octavia thought for a bit before sighing. "And I'm sure Lyra doesn't want that either, she's just worried. I haven't dated since..."

Octavia didn't finish the sentence, and Coco didn't need it. Even if they were different cases, she could recognize somepony who was still dealing with the loss of a loved one.

"I'm sorry."

Octavia nodded slightly, barely listening, leaving the two of them silent. A few moments later a waiter approached, a beaming smile on his face.

"Good evening, ladies, would you like something?"

Octavia blinked a bit, apparently remembering where they were, and looked at the waiter, answering shortly after.

"A little wine, if you have."

"Of course, and you?"

"Anything not too expensive, I don't care much" she replied with a small shrug.

The waiter nodded and moved away from they to bring their orders, which didn't take long. Deducing that the two preferred to talk to each other, he left them alone. Coco looked at her drink, a rather cheap Gin Tonic and therefore simple. Grabbing the glass, she took an experimental sip, deciding it wasn't such a bad taste after all, and regretting a little that she couldn't get the full experience. Next her, Octavia took a sip of her own drink, and she could already see that, inwardly at least, it was already having an effect. She sometimes wondered if being unable to get drunk was a gift or a curse.

"How was he?"

Octavia looked away from her glass and looked at Coco doubtfully.

"What?"

"How was he? Or she" Coco replied with a kind smile.

Octavia watched her for a few seconds before a small smile appeared on her face, laughing softly.

"She was… honestly, she was a mess, much more concerned with partying than anything else. You may have known her, her name was Vinyl Scratch."

Coco frowned at her a bit, trying to remember if she knew anypony famous by that name, something Octavia noticed, letting out a small giggle.

"She was also called DJ Pon-3."

Recognition came to Coco's gaze.

"DJ Pon-3? I haven't heard her records personally, but Ink has, she told me that she was one of the best DJs around."

"Yes, she always presumed that" Ocatavia commented with a nostalgic smile. "We always ended up arguing about which was better, classical music or electronic music."

Octavia was silent for a few moments, and Coco decided to wait for her to continue. Finally, she spoke again, but this time there was sadness.

"But whatever she had talent she had arrogance. I can't blame her, her parents gave her everything she wanted as she grew up." Little by little, Octavia frowned. "I put up with it at first, but not after what she did at home."

"What did she do?" Coco asked, now genuinely curious, drawing a long sigh from Octavia.

"She threw one of her parties at the house we shared in Ponyville, and not like the ones Pinkie Pie throws... I don't know if you know her."

"I know her, she threw me another one of her parties."

"Well, the one from Vinyl had nothing to do with it, she left the house destroyed" Octavia growled a little, frowning even more. "When I confronted her, she told me that I was boring, that it was just a party. That was the straw that broke the camel's back and I threw her out."

Octavia was silent for a while, her angry face starting to turn guilty, something Coco noticed.

"What happened to her?"

Octavia thought for a few moments before speaking.

"She sent me an invitation for a cruise on the Celestia Sea with her father, she said it was an apology, but I didn't accept... they were lost at sea, never found."

Silence fell between the two of them, with Coco not quite knowing how to proceed.

"I… I'm so sorry to hear that."

"Thank you," Octavia said, giving her a weak smile. "It's been 5 years now and I still get depressed thinking about her... Sometimes I wonder if it's not my fault."

"Don't think about it, it's not your fault" Coco replied with conviction, to which Octavia shrugged.

"I could have stopped her, talked things out or…"

"You didn't know what was going to happen, you can't blame yourself for something you can't control" Coco's own look became distant. "I tell you from experience."

Octavia watched her for a few seconds before she sighed and nodded, not entirely convinced. After a few minutes, she turned to give her a smile.

"Enough talking about the past, let's focus on the present."

Coco glanced at her before nodding. She didn't know her well enough to know if her words had worked or not, but she wasn't going to insist.

Author's Notes:

I'm back! I told you that I would not put this fic aside, but you should know that I will also be writing Old Mare Celestia, although I must admit that I write when the inspiration strikes me, in this case it was thanks to a Superman fanfic in the Marvel Cinematic Universe ( if anyone is interested, it name is Superman, Kal son of Odin).

I already have the next chapter to this one written, so you'll have the next part tomorrow, and since I'm in the hospital and have nothing better to do, you might as well have the next one soon, we'll see.

To finish, I have decided that after finishing this first phase of this DC universe in My Little Pony I will go through the stories to correct mistakes and rewrite the scenes that I think were wrong. So for now you will have to put up with the failures .

Anyway, that's all, I hope there is still someone out there who is reading this. See you!

Parasite

View Online

"I hate this job."

The only two ponies in the room, a unicorn and a pegasus, they were dressed in the requisite containment suits, exposing only the eyes, and the unicorn's horn covered by a protective shell. The room was white and sterile, several cabinets with different chemical substances, a work table with surgical material, and a table between the two where their next job was, Clean Mop's corpse.

"And me" said the unicorn, agreeing with his partner. "But it's either this or teaching at the university."

"At least in college it's legal."

"Maybe, but at least we make more money and like it or not, working at Lexcorp gives us prestige," he replied with a shrug, looking at the corpse. "Do you have the recorder ready? We have to make a report."

The pegasus sighed to herself before approaching a contraption on the side of their workbench, a Lexcorp-created prototype based on the radio. With the push of a button, the machine started up, whereupon she gave the unicorn a nod.

"We are on Friday May 24, 1006 after Nightmare Moon, it is 9:34 p.m., the experiment with the E.M.E.C. compound began this same day at 4:57 a.m. and the body of the test subject has been kept under surveillance, name classified. Due to the lack of reaction it has been classified as a failure, we are preparing for the dissection to evaluate the progress of the compound and try to recover what we can."

The unicorn approached a little to the head of the corpse, observing the body.

"His fur has started to shed in various areas of his body, his skin taking on a pinkish hue similar to the base state of the E.M.E.C. compound" the unicorn focused on the head and opened his left eyelid with his magic. "The eyeball has also undergone changes, the iris and pupil have completely disappeared and the sclera has turned a darker pink, it almost looks pur... What the fuck?!"

The unicorn jerked away, his mate looking at him with doubt and concern.

"What happen?"

"His eye, for a moment..." the unicorn frowned, seeing the body utterly still. "For a moment it seemed to move."

"Maybe you've imagined it" the pegasus suggested, looking at the corpse, wondering if they hadn't created the first of many zombies.

The unicorn was silent for a bit longer before sighing and nodding. I need some vacations. He came closer again and opened his eyelid again, sighing with relief to see it immobile, and continued with his report.

"As I was saying, the color almost looks purple. Now we'll move on to the actual dissection."

The unicorn closed his eyelid and used his magic to grab a scalpel. After a second's hesitation, still with the memory of the eye moving in his mind, he brought the sharp tool to the dead pony's chest. Just before penetrating the skin, his eyes snapped open and his hoof shot out and grabbed the scientist's neck.

"Fuck!" the pegasus screamed, recoiling in terror.

The unicorn tried to escape, but there was something strange. He could feel four small spikes protruding from the edges of the aggressive hoof digging into his skin, cutting through the thick fabric of his protective suit like paper, locking him in place. Before he could yell or plead for mercy, he began to feel drained, unbelievably drained, all while he felt his life energy being sucked through that hoof. The pegasus watched the scene in horror, seeing how what had previously been Clean Mop changed as he absorbed the energy of her fellow scientist.

His fur shed completely, including his mane, leaving him totally bald, his skin finally turning the pink color of the E.M.E.C. compound, and pupils arose in his eyes a shade much lighter than his sclera. His front hooves began to morph, turning into dragon-like claws, allowing him to make a stronger grip on his victim's neck, blood leaking a little from the rips in the protective suit. His ears decayed at high speed, falling off his head, leaving only a couple of tiny holes where they had been. His horn grew larger and sharper, and a series of tiny spines sprouted a little above the horn, running down to his nape.

The pegasus watched everything frozen by pure terror, at least until he... that thing, dropped the unicorn's dead body. Trying to be as stealthy as she could, she moved toward the heavy metal doors, praying that she could open them without alerting the monster they had created. Unfortunately for her, he became aware of her presence, jumping off the table and falling on all fours and began to move towards her, who abandoned all care and ran with all the speed that her pegasus magic allowed her, squeezing the button that would open the doors in despair, her eyes riveted on the beast behind her, getting closer and closer. Just as the mechanisms began to activate and the doors began to open, what was once Clean Mop reached her, grabbing her neck and pinning her to the wall, beginning to absorb her energy. The mare tried in vain to resist, but the fatigue overcame her more and more, she knew what would happen to her.

As life drained from the pegasus, the being began to undergo further changes. Around his pupils emerged an iris a shade darker than these, but still lighter than the sclera, making his eyes more pony-like. The spines on his head grew a little larger and went down to the base of his neck and his tail, which without a mane was incredibly short, lengthened. In the center of his back two bulges began to emerge, which grew larger and larger, reaching the base length of the wings of pegasi and thestrals and soon after, its was covered in a membrane. The being dropped the dead body of the mare and left through the now open doors, still moving more by instinct than by choice, finding a relatively lonely corridor, but still with some ponies that watched him in pure horror... ponies that were a perfect meal.

Not far from there, Natural Cells was taking an elevator down to the labs, fidgeting as his eyes drifted to the newspaper wrapped in his magic, one that had come out that morning. If what was said there about Supermare was true, then the calculations he had made to measure how much power she possessed were wrong, terribly wrong. When the doors opened, he started to move as fast as he could without running, in the direction of his personal laboratory, where he had the research on the alien. Kryptonian, he had to remind himself that this was her species, deep down he regretted that it was an extinct race, they could have learned so much from them.

Just as he reached the doors of his lab, an alarm began to go off, red lights began to flash on the ceiling, which only meant one thing, either somepony had broken into the premises, or one of their most dangerous experiments had gotten out of control. A group of building security came running down the hall, brushing past him without looking at him, and around another corner. Even knowing that it was a bad idea, Natural decided to follow them, he wanted to know what was happening. After a few minutes of running, he began to hear gunshots, lethal gunshots, since Mr. Tech, as always, did not agree with the laws of the princesses and had given his personal army an arsenal of weapons created by his own company based on those from abroad.

When the unicorn arrived, his eyes widened at what he saw. In the middle of the hall was a monstrous being, vaguely resembling an alicorn, only with the wings of a batpony, bald, pink-skinned, dragon-like spines running down his back, and claws instead of hooves. Around them were several bodies of scientists, their bodies were skeletal, as if something had sucked all the liquid out of their bodies. A small idea of what it was came to his mind, which only terrified him even more, the E.M.E.C. compound had achieved a symbiosis, and from what he could see, it was incredibly dangerous.

The bullets impacted his body, tearing pieces of pink skin and purple blood, making him scream in pain and fury. With the speed of a well-trained pegasus, he pounced on two of the soldiers, who couldn't react in time when the monster dug his claws into their faces and began to absorb their energy at high speed, and when he released them, he moved even faster than before towards the others. Natural couldn't help noticing that one of the soldiers he had killed, or ansorbed, was a pegasus, and already out of force of habit, he theorized that the E.M.E.C. compound was acting according to its nature, absorbing the energy of everything it touched, and now that it had a host, it gave him the properties of said energy, in this case, pegasus magic, making him faster and more agile, which explained why he had a pair of wings on his back.

In one of his attacks, his gaze met Natural's, which gave him a shiver of terror, since even if it were wild, he could see something in those eyes, recognition. Knowing that the soldiers had nothing to do, he took off running, running from what he had created, the screams and gunshots of the soldiers in his ears for a while until all was silent. Soon after, he heard something that terrified him even more, the wings of a thestral approaching at high speed. Before long, that thing pounced on him, causing his magical aura to go out and the newspaper to fall to the ground. The beast spun around and grabbed his neck with his right claw, and the unicorn was preparing to die.

However, to the surprise of the scientist, the energy absorption, even if it was present, was not as fast as he expected. Cautiously, he opened his eyes, realizing that the monster had been distracted by something, and to his surprise, he began to see a spark of intelligence in his gaze. Moving as best he could under his iron grip, Natural looked at what had so captivated him, the Daily Planet newspaper, with the headline of his lead article in full view.

"Supermare..." the beast said, surprising Natural more, causing him to look at him with wide eyes. "Meal..."

Natural didn't know how that thing knew that Supermare had a lot of energy, but he suspected that the memories of what had been before were still there. His gaze returned to the scientist below him, causing him to panic as his gaze, now with the intelligence of a small foal, filled with anger and unreasonable fury. Obviously, those memories included what had been done to him, and he didn't seem very happy. The absorption of his life energy, which until then had been slow, accelerated, and in a few seconds, the unicorn felt the life drain out of him, his body narrowing as if a juice box had been squeezed dry. Once dead, the being got up and began to walk, a new goal in his mind... to feed on Supermare.

Octavia and Coco had been talking for a while until the cellist said goodbye, smiling in a friendly way, and although both of them had been on friendly terms, they knew that it was not as their respective friends expected. Left alone, the mare studied the disco, looking for her friends, finding Gem first, who after seeing that she wouldn't try to escape, had decided to dance and have some fun, and she didn't really blame her for it. In the short time she had known her, she had realized that the unicorn had a party streak in her, so staying still in one place while surrounded by music and dancing ponies was not the most fun thing in her book.

Her eyes searched for her other friend, finding her in the far corner, not many ponies around her, and talking to somepony. Coco frowned at her slightly, wondering what she was doing, though she already had a slight idea. Adjusting her ear, she caught the last details of their conversation.

"... you everything you wanted to know, I only ask you to make sure that nopony knows that I told you so. I could get in serious trouble."

"Don't worry, I'm very discreet, why do you think I asked you to come here with some of your friends? It makes it less suspicious" Ink said in her usual arrogant tone, something that only happened when she was on the trail of a very good story and knew, or suspected, that everything was working out for her. "Besides, believe it or not, there are many who are against him. If you play your cards right and try to pick up more ponies tonight, nopony will know that you did it."

"I hope so."

"See ya, enjoy the party."

Coco stopped listening as Ink got up and walked away from the stallion she had been talking to. Even if she didn't know what had happened, she was a little worried about him. What was he into that he had him so terrified? Vowing to keep an eye on him to make sure nothing happened to him, she zeroed in on her friend, who had spotted her through the crowd and was approaching her with a beaming smile.

"How was your date? I hope you fell in love or, at least, stayed another day" she yelled to be heard over the music, sitting next to Coco.

Coco looked at her out of the corner of her eye, noticing that there was a little alcohol in her blood, but not the following to prevent her from speaking with all her faculties, which only told her one thing, Ink had chosen that disco for more than just finding her a pony special. Deciding to let it be for now, she shrugged and focused on her drink, which was already nearly empty.

"We stay as friends, but we won't be seeing each other anytime soon either."

"Really?" Ink said with a frown. "Did you even try?"

"I would have if Octavia wasn't still thinking about her previous fillyfriend."

Ink blinked and looked at Coco curiously, but seeing the look on her friend's face, she knew that she shouldn't continue the topic.

"Okay, I guess I'll have to try again, I'm not going to give up that easily."

"Maybe another day, I've had enough dates for one night" Coco commented sipping her drink, giving her friend a hard look that made it clear that it wasn't a negotiable thing.

Ink looked at her friend for a few moments before shrugging, before a mischievous smile appeared on her face.

"Okay, that means I'll be able to plan a lot better."

"I'm sure of that. Finding myself a fillyfriend and having a job interview on the same day can't be easy."

Ink stiffened upon hearing that, at least for a few minutes before sighing and rolling her eyes.

"Okay, what gave me away this time?"

"For starters, I saw you talking to a pony over there" Coco said as she pointed to the spot, which although it was hard for a normal pony to see from her current position, it wasn't impossible. "Second, you're not drunk, and considering that you're off tomorrow and the other times you've taken me to one of these places I always end up having to take you home, that means you were working."

Ink studied her friend for a few seconds before laughing, playfully smacking Coco on her arm.

"Have you ever been told that you would make a great journalist?"

"You, several times" Coco replied with another smile. "Anyway, may I know who you're following now?"

"Lex Tech."

Coco's eyes widened, staring at Ink.

"Lex?"

"Yes, the same one" Ink confirmed with an amused smile. "I know many take him as a saint who wouldn't hurt anypony, but he is the meanest, most self-centered and dangerous pony I know."

Coco opened her mouth to speak, only to close it again, frowning instead. Various memories came to her mind, memories of a slightly simpler life.

"How are you so sure of that?"

"I did an interview with him while you were away, and I can tell you my instincts went crazy. That pony isn't clean wheat, and everything I've investigated so far confirms it." Ink let out a frustrated growl, turning to face the bar, looking for the bartender. "Unfortunately, nopony wants to stop being anonymous, not that I blame them, and Lex knows how to hide his tracks. As much as I hates to admit it, he's a genius, but that only makes him self-centered."

Coco was silent, remembering a young pony who, despite what she didn't like to admit, he fit that description. But... dangerous?

"What did that pony tell you?"

Ink's face became serious, much more than before.

"Something that, if true, would not only make Lex a criminal, but a traitor to the country. According to him, Lex was responsible for the attack on the Museum of Friendship and the accident of the blimp where the princesses Cadence, Twilight were and their family."

Coco tried to process that thought, wondering if maybe Ink wasn't wrong. But she knew her well enough to know that she wasn't like that.

"What will you do with that information?"

"File it away and try to pull that thread, see where it leads me" Ink shrugged, a small smile on her face. "Who knows, maybe he's finally slipped up."

Coco looked at her out of the corner of her eye, thinking of what to say. If Lex was half the things she had told him, then that was very dangerous. Before she could say anything, her ears twitched, she had detected something that she was always attentive to, even with all that music. Concentrating, she made it out much better, screams of terror.

"I think I'm done for today," she said, drinking the last of her drink, trying to appear calm, and pulling a few bits out of a hidden pocket in her dress and placing it on the counter.

"Are you sure? We can still have some fun, I promise I won't keep looking for you as a partner."

"Very sure, I'm exhausted" Coco replied with a friendly tone. "Thanks for bringing me, say goodbye to Gem for me."

"I will, and by the way, keep the dress, it looks sexy on you."

Ignoring her friend's mocking tone, and with no time to return the mocking, she waved her goodbye and headed for the exit. As soon as she noticed that Ink had lost sight of her, she changed course and went to the back door, using her enhanced vision to make sure it wasn't being watched, which it wasn't. As she left, she saw a few ponies in the alleyway next to the building, both customers and workers on their off shifts, smoking, drinking cans or bottles of alcohol, or just talking. The moment nopony was looking, she took off running, speeding away from the club, perilously close to breaking the sound barrier, something she didn't want to do at ground level, plus she didn't want to destroy the dress.

She arrived at her building in record time, rising into the air in the alleyway that led to her apartment, entered through her window, removed her dress with speed and finesse (it was a gift dress, after all, and she promised herself that she would fix the minor damages caused by her speedy run) and donned her kryptonian suit, leaving her home again, taking to the sky and bursting into speed with a loud boom and headed for the source of the screaming, all in a little over a minute.

From the air she could see what was happening on one of Manehattan's main streets. A being with thestral wings, a sharp horn, and dragon claws advanced slowly, several ponies behind him, dead. The carriages had stopped, their occupants had run away, and the drivers unbuckled as quickly as possible before following suit. On the scene was a police carriage, with two officers using magical weapons designed to stun targets and immobilize them, mass-produced by Blood Enterprises a month or two ago and distributed among law enforcement officers at an affordable price. However, he was proving that it were useless, since the projectiles did not seem to harm that being.

Supermare studied him with her vision, and at least on the surface he looked like an ordinary pony, but all of his organs were coated with this strange pinkish mass. The being tensed his muscles and launched at high speed towards one of the two policeponies, who widened his eyes in horror and braced himself for the impact, one that never came. The mare had launched at a speed infinitely greater than that creature's, raising her right hoof to block his claws before slashing with the other and sending him back several meters.

"You are fine?" she asked, turning her head to look at the ponies behind her, who nodded slowly. "In that case, take cover."

That made one of the two policeponies, a pegasus, frown.

"No, our job is to protect the ponies. We're not leaving."

"You've done a wonderful job, but he's proven that your weapons can't hurt him" Supermare replied, her eyes turning to the creature, which was already getting up. "Help the ponies that are left around here to escape, leave that being to me."

The two policeponies looked at each other before deciding that she was right, walking away and closer to the few carriages that still had ponies inside. Supermare, once sure they were gone, closed in on the creature, landing on his four hooves a few meters away.

"Hello, can you understand me?"

The creature did not respond, instead preparing to fight, leaping forward. Supermare sighed and moved out of his way in a swift, agile and graceful movement, if anypony saw her, she would seem as if she had vanished and appeared somewhere else. Deducing that this being had the intelligence of a wild animal, or did not intend to communicate, she decided to end the fight quickly, hitting him in the torso, sending him flying for a few meters before reappearing in the direction he was going and slamming him to the ground, with enough force to knock any creature his size unconscious.

The creature rose to his hooves and claws again, though not without staggering, and roared at the mare in red and blue. With a sigh, Supermare dodged another of his blows and attacked again, repeating the cycle several times. Over time, she began to notice that something was wrong, with each blow she landed with her powerful hooves, she felt herself becoming more exhausted, her arms beginning to tire from the constant action, something she barely remembered experiencing in her earlier youth. The being in front of her, on the contrary, seemed to be getting stronger, becoming faster and more resistant with each blow that the Kryptonian gave him.

After the tenth hit, the creature attacked again, and this time, Supermare narrowly dodged, realizing with alarm that not only was she getting tired, she was slowing down. Something was thinking, something that was weakening her at high speed. Getting away as best she could, she decided to study the creature she was fighting better, studying him on a molecular level, and what she saw she didn't like one bit. Although his organs seemed to be those of a pony, his molecular structure was very different, his body seemed to have adapted to absorb energy... all kinds of energy. A terrifying thought came to her mind, what if he could even absorb the magic of the Elements of Harmony? It definitely looked like he would be capable of that.

Her study was interrupted as the being lunged at her, who tried to get out of his way, but for the first time in her life, she was too slow. Supermare received a powerful blow to her left cheek, knocking her to the ground a few meters back, and before she could recover, that creature was already on top of her, closing his claws around her neck. The mare tried to resist, but it was useless, the more time she spent in contact with him, the more exhausted she felt and the weaker she became, in a certain sense, she reminded him of something from her past. The difference was that that time she felt like she was being ripped apart from her inside, now, she was simply exhausted, something she hadn't felt since she was 6 years old.

Her eyes focused on the claw that held her, noticing something that made her eyes widen in surprise and horror. Threads of golden energy trailed up his claw to his forearm before disappearing. The creature underwent more changes, letting out a grunt of satisfaction as the whole process took place. His size increased considerably, reaching the height of Princess Celestia herself, the thorns on his head became as large as his horn, dwarfing as it descended down his back, now covering his tail, which lengthened quite a bit, acquiring a draconic form.

"So much energy..." the beast whispered, his words weak at first but gaining strength and intelligence over time. "So much power... and now it's mine. I don't know whether to be grateful or seek revenge."

His gaze zeroed in on the mare below him, smiling and bringing his muzzle closer, looking directly into her eyes.

"I must thank you, your power has been enough to give me back control of my body."

Supermare was barely listening, her energy was almost completely depleted, she could barely keep her eyes open. With force, the creature hurled her away from him, slamming into the wall of a building with enough force to create a small crater on impact, which in her weakened state, caused a few of her ribs to break, but she didn't even have the strength left to scream in pain, instead, she only let out a barely audible moan, falling to the ground like a discarded rag doll.

"I'll let you live so I can feed on you again" the creature said as he got a little closer, Supermare had to make a great effort to focus on him. "And don't think about trying to escape, the little friend who gives me my powers already has your genetic signature registered. I will always find you, wherever you are."

The creature crouched down so he could meet Supermare's eyes, who felt the unconsciousness claiming her, the edge of her vision turning black.

"And don't think that the princesses or that little group of mares will be able to stop me. Their magic will only make me stronger."

The creature got up and moved away a bit, looking up at the sky with a small smile. This was better than his old life. Sensing the latent power of the sun, once Supermare's, he took a mighty leap, taking off with such force that he broke the sound barrier right there, the wave shattering glass in its wake and hurling the mare back against the wall at the same time that burst her eardrums. The Kryptonian couldn't take it anymore and fell into complete darkness.

Supermare, last daughter of Krypton

by Guillermo

Krypton

A special mare

Foalhood home

Find her destiny

Fortress of Solitude

Symbol of hope

First flight

Home Sweet Home

Supermare

Reunions

Century exclusive

Blimp crash

An afternoon of tea

Interviews

Blind Date

Parasite