Rainbow Dash has decided to use her newfound powers for good, becoming the hero Supermare. However, there are still issues to deal with, ponies to save, and villains to face off against. All of this is a daily aspect to being the Mare of Steel.
This is a collection of side stories to Mare of Steel; I recomend reading that first before reading these character tags will be added when needed
I do not own Superman or My Little Pony (wish I did; that'd be cool)
Superfilly
Rainbow Dash crept through the hallways of her house, her hooves squishing against the clouds. Her foe was unaware, too wrapped up in her own exploits to know what was approaching. Certain she was not being watched, Rainbow Dash continued along, stopping only to make adjustments to her cape.
The house was furnished enough that she could sneak through it with ease, giving her complete surprise. Her size also aided in her spying ability, as she could easily peak over tables and chairs and stay out of sight. Rainbow Dash smiled; everything was going according to plan, and she would finally have victory over her opponent.
Said opponent was standing inside the kitchen, looking over a collection of old letters. She was a pink mare with a blue mane and tail, but to Rainbow Dash she was the villain, an unspeakable monster who reveled in the grief of other ponies. Rainbow Dash, however, was the hero, a paragon of goodness come to protect the innocent and weak from the horrors of the world around them. She was faster, stronger, smarter than any pony alive, and she feared nothing.
And now the hero must defeat the evil villain! Rainbow Dash thought as she stalked closer and closer. When she was within reach, she let out a cry and launched herself at the other Pegasus, using her wings to glide the rest of the way. She did not hit with a lot of force, but it was enough to startle the mare out of her focus.
“Rainbow Dash,” Firefly asked as the filly began scrambling across her back “What are you doing?”
“Who’s Rainbow Dash? I’m Superfilly! Defender of Cloudsdale, foe of Tyranny!”
“Do you even know what that means?” Rainbow Dash paused from her attempts to overpower her mother.
“Uh... no... But all my friends said that that’s what superheroes are supposed to oppose!”
“And you’re trying to oppose me?”
“Yes!” Rainbow Dash pointed a hoof at Firefly “You are my arch-nemesis, Mom-Lady! You use your evil powers of evil to impose early bedtimes and alfalfa sauce! Well I, Superfilly, will remove your threat once and for all!” Rainbow Dash began to tug at Firefly’s right wing while the older mare laughed.
“So, you want to oppose me?” she unfurled her left wing and used it to reach back towards her daughter “Try opposing this.” she began to gently stroke the tips of her feathers against Rainbow Dash’s side. The filly stopped trying to pry the other wing open and began to giggle.
“H-hey! That’s not fair!” She swatted at the feathers with her hooves, but Firefly persisted and began to brush her daughter faster “S-Stop! Ha ha ha! P-please!”
“I don’t think I will.” Firefly giggled and started to use both wings to tickle Rainbow Dash.
“Hee-Hee, n-no! I-I’m s-supposed to win! C-cut that out!” she began to thrash around before losing her balance and dropping to the floor, the soft clouds causing her to bounce when she landed. Free of her mother’s tickling, she took off running, trying to reach the sanctuary of her room.
“I’m coming to get you, silly filly!” Firefly called before taking off after Rainbow Dash. The filly was fast, but she was still a filly who had yet to master flight, and her stubby legs were no match for her mother’s wings. Rainbow Dash had almost reached her room when Firefly grabbed her and rolled her over, the older mare blowing a raspberry into Dash’s stomach. Rainbow Dash squealed and continued to squirm while her mother continued to tickle her, the two ponies collapsing into a pile of giggles.
When she had finally calmed down, Rainbow Dash rolled over and lay against her mother’s side, the older mare draping one of her wings over Rainbow Dash. The filly smiled, snuggling up against her mother while tugging at the towel tied around her neck.
“Guess I’m not that great of a superhero.” she said, finally managing to pull the towel from her neck.
“You’ll always be a superhero to me.” Firefly said, leaning in to nuzzle Rainbow Dash.
“But I can’t even overpower my arch-nemesis. How can I be a superhero if I can’t overpower my arch-nemesis?”
“There’s more than just strength, Rainbow.”
“But all that other stuff is boring.”
“Well, sometimes we need to focus on the boring stuff, otherwise we go so fast our whole lives go by without us enjoying them. Do you want to leave me and Dad behind?”
“No! Of course not! But... I still want to do all the fun stuff.”
“You can, just remember about everything else.” Rainbow Dash smiled and snuggled closer.
...
When Thunderhead came home that night, he found his wife and daughter curled up on the floor, sleeping soundly. He walked over to the two and began to stroke Firefly, stirring the older mare from her sleep.
“Fun day?” he asked, trying not to wake the sleeping filly.
“Yes. She was playing superhero and thought I was her nemesis.” she looked down at her daughter “Then she fell asleep and I guess I dozed off too.”
“Well, let’s get the little hero to bed.” Firefly nodded and scooped Rainbow Dash up in her hooves, the filly mumbling something about “Mom-Lady” before rolling over. Once the filly was tucked in, the two ponies exited her room and went into the kitchen.
“Do you think she knows?” Thunderhead asked.
“About what?”
“About... well, what she is?”
“Thunder, this was just innocent playtime. I don’t think she has a clue.” Firefly sighed “I still think we’ve been dancing around this issue for quite some time.”
“Five years is ‘quite some time’?”
“Yes. Rainbow Dash deserves the right to know where she comes from.”
“I’m all for telling her, but we can’t just walk up to her and say ‘Good news! You’re an alien!’ Do you know what that would do to her?”
“Rainbow’s stronger than you think.”
“... Yes, I know. But she’s only five; she’d get excited and tell everypony she met she was an alien, and if that pony happened to be a guard-”
“Thunder, you’re being paranoid again.” there was a pause.
“Sorry.” he said, walking over to Firefly “I just want her to be safe.”
“I know.” she said, resting her head against his neck “I do too.”
So, these stories are going to be whatever did not make it into Mare of Steel either due to awkward pacing or lack of room. I hope you enjoy. Likes and comments are appreciated.
Jor-El is actually a lot harder to write for than it seems (I guess it has to do with him being dead and therefore unable to show up for extended periods of time in Superman's comics). It's really hard to make him seem wise yet not jerkish, which is inevitable when writing really big sentences without being careful. anyway, I don't own My Little Pony or Superman. Likes and comments are appreciated.
Of Mothers and Old "Failures"
A particularly bad windstorm had hit the frozen north of Equestria, but the crystal walls of the Fortress of Solitude were more than enough to shield Rainbow Dash from the elements. The sound of the wind did cause her to shiver a little, but she passed it off as a normal reaction. Besides, she had more pressing matters than the weather to worry about.
“So, why teach me about freezing things with my breath when I’m in the middle of a snowstorm?” She asked. The holographic image of Jor-El, her biological father, merely shrugged.
“It’s better to learn now than if you were to sneeze and freeze one of your friends solid.”
“... Yeah, I guess you’re right.” Rainbow Dash inhaled before blowing a small cloud of ice particles out of her mouth. The cloud hung in space for a moment before dissipating, droplets of water collecting near Rainbow Dash’s hooves.
“Very good. The exact amount of ice you can project is proportional to the amount of air that passes through your mouth, but like your vision it is not a passive ability, so you do not have to worry about freezing something while you talk.”
“That’s good.” there was a pause before Rainbow Dash spoke. “Why did you decide to become a scientist?”
“I’m sorry?”
“Why are you a scientist? I mean, wasn’t there anything else to do besides science?”
“Yes there was. However, even from a young age I had always been attracted to how the universe worked, and when I was old enough I applied to be educated as a scientist.”
“So... You were always this big egghead?” there was a pause.
“If you see it that way, then yes. In the end, it doesn’t matter what you do as a profession, as long as you enjoy it. I enjoyed the sciences, while you seem to be very fond of racing.”
“I was raised by the trainer of the Wonderbolts; that’s kind of expected.”
“Yet there was always a possibility that you could have been drawn to something else. Quite a few of my colleagues had been raised by artisans or merchants, yet they too were attracted to the natural world and how it works. Who knows, you could have decided to be a scientist if you so wished.”
“I don’t think Ponyville could handle two eggheads running around.” Rainbow Dash paused for a moment. “What about my mom?”
“I’m sorry?”
“You haven’t really told me about my mom. What was she like... unless I was grown in some weird alien baby-growing machine, then I don’t really want to know about that.”
“Cloning was outlawed on Krypton long before even my father’s father was born.” Jor-El’s image faded and was replaced by a young Pegasus mare. She looked to be a little older than Rainbow Dash, with a long brown mane and grey coat. The mare blushed and shuffled a little, as if she was embarrassed to be seen.
“Her name was Lara Lor-Van. We met soon after I began my education as a scientist, and we courted for ten years before finally marrying.”
“What’d she do? Was she a scientist too?”
“Of a sort. She wanted to know how the universe worked as well, but while I was content to study and watch from afar, she wanted to actively go out there, so she studied to become an astronaut.”
“An astronaut?... That’s sounds like it’d be cool, going around in space and seeing all those stars and stuff. I know Twilight would have some big scientific project, but I mean, it’s space. I bet my mom saw a lot of cool things in space, like comets... or aliens! Did she ever visit any planets or moons and see aliens?”
“She suffered an injury to her lungs during a training procedure about five years before you were born, so she was unfit for most potential off world missions.” Jor-El sighed “I tried to help her as best I could, but I am a scientist, Kara, not a doctor; I could explain the entire chemical makeup of a pony, Kryptonian or otherwise, but I couldn’t do something as simple as fix your mother’s lungs. I... well, I felt like I had failed her, that there was more I could do to help her.”
“I know what that’s like.” Rainbow Dash looked down to her hooves “My dad, my adoptive dad, died when I was nineteen. I’d just gotten a job as a weatherpony and... I thought that, maybe I could have done something. You know, paid for more treatment, or a better doctor, or at least a nicer bed for him to sleep on. I had to do something and... I didn’t.” She looked back up at Jor-El, a small tear sliding down her face “I... I kept feeling like it was my fault he was dead, and... and...”
“I know what you are trying to say,” Jor-El said “And know that I felt the same way about your mother’s injuries. But remember: even when it seems as if we are being unjustly treated by the world, we should not allow it to tear us down, for then we can be easily swayed and may turn towards irrational actions. We should learn from these experiences, and allow them to teach us more about ourselves and make us stronger, and if we do endure loss, we should remember those that we have lost for what they were, and cherish those memories for as long as we live.” There was another pause before Jor-El spoke again. “Sorry, I did not mean to get philosophical; I know you’ve stated your displeasure for that sort of behavior.”
“No, it’s okay... I don’t mind.”
“Thank you, Kara. Rest easy tonight, my daughter.” and with that the image winked out, leaving Rainbow Dash alone in the Fortress of Solitude.
Next chapter: Rainbow Dash has a conversation with her mom concerning superheroes.
Rainbow Dash turned left and headed towards the Wonderbolts’ Training Facility. The airspace over the building was unusually calm, with almost no Pegasi to be seen. She did not allow the lack of activity to keep her on edge, but still shot a few glances towards the shadier parts of the building.
I shouldn’t worry, she thought. If I can punch a giant robot across town, I can handle a few thugs. She chuckled a little at the thought of somepony trying to mug her and approached the building, pushing the door open and letting herself in.
No one was there except for a few janitors. Spitfire, Soarin’, Rapidfire, all of them were gone. Rainbow Dash shuffled around a little, unsure of how to proceed, before swallowing slightly and walking further into the building.
“Hey, where is everypony?” she asked.
“Trottingham.” Rainbow turned and saw Firefly walking out of a nearby room, the older mare having tucked a small folder beneath one wing. “Some big businesspony, Mane or something, needed some entertainment, and he hired Spitfire and the others to perform.”
“Well, what are you doing here? Don’t you usually go with them when they tour?”
“They needed someone to watch this place.” Firefly laughed. “So, what brings you by?”
“Well, I was hoping I could talk to you about... something.” Firefly looked concerned.
“Is something wrong?”
“No, nothing’s wrong...”
“Are you pregnant?”
“What? Mom, why is it whenever I talk with you you always ask if I’m getting married or pregnant?”
“Well, considering that you’ve had next to none in terms of relationships with stallions, it’s very likely you’d do something stupid and get yourself pregnant.”
“Thank you for reminding me that I don’t have a love life; that’s doing wonders for my self esteem.”
“Well, if you spent less time racing around and got out a little more then that wouldn’t be a problem.”
“I do get out!”
“Then go out a little more.” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes before Firefly spoke again. “But seriously, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing, just... Mom, you know about that robot that attacked Ponyville two days ago?”
“Does Princess Celestia love cake?”
“Well, the pony that defeated it, Supermare? That was me; I’m Supermare.” Firefly didn’t answer; she looked at Rainbow Dash for a moment, eyeing her for any signs of emotion, before shrugging and smiling.
“Is that it?”
“‘Is that it’? Mom, I just told you I’m a superhero and you ask ‘that’s it’?”
“Well, what did you expect? ‘Oh Rainbow, that impossible because you look nothing like her’? I raised you from a filly and I know what you can do; It was kind of easy to put the pieces together.”
“Oh.” Rainbow Dash looked at Firefly. “You’re okay with that?”
“Okay? Rainbow, I’m proud of you.” Firefly pulled Rainbow closer and hugged her. “You’re doing something with the gift you have, and you’re using it to protect other ponies. I couldn’t be more happy about your choices in life.” Firefly hugged Rainbow Dash tighter. “You haven’t told anypony else, have you?”
“No. I was going to tell my friends sometime soon.”
“Be careful with that, Rainbow; I know you have good friends, but if you just go from pony to pony telling them who you are then it will only cause trouble for everypony. You wouldn’t be able to be Rainbow Dash any more, and then you’d never be able to be with me or your friends. You don’t want that, do you?”
“No, not really.”
“Good.” Firefly began to lead Rainbow Dash further into the facility. “So, asides from beating up robot dragons, what else have you been up to?”
“Well, Ponyville’s throwing this big party for me... well, for Supermare, anyway. You can come if you’d like.”
“If I have the time. You know that the Wonderbolts are going on tour soon and I’ve got to keep them in shape.”
“Oh... Think I could get some season tickets?”
“Maybe, as long as you don’t show up everypony with your superpowers.”
“Mom, I’m not that kind of pony.”
“Says the mare who derailed an autograph signing because you wanted to race against Spitfire?”
“... I could have beaten her.”
“Sure.”
“Mom, I’ve got a lot of big responsibilities and stuff; I’m not going to blow it that quickly.”
“I hope so.”
“And... well, I was thinking, maybe...”
“Maybe what?”
“Maybe... we could, y’know, spend some time together... you know, mother daughter stuff?” Firefly looked at the younger pony, a small smile gracing her lips.
Rainbow Dash was napping, her first real nap since leaving Canterlot after her fight with Zod. She snuggled into the branches of a tree near Sweet Apple Acres, allowing the wind to brush against her and lull her to sleep. Dreams of flying drifted through her mind, and a small smile spread across her face.
She slept for a few minutes before something fuzzy touched her nose. She scrunched up her face a little and rolled over, but the fuzzy thing landed on her again. She rolled over several more times, but the fuzzy thing kept landing on her again and again. Rainbow Dash grumbled and sat up and found a small butterfly, one of the green and blue ones that Fluttershy was fond of, sitting on her stomach.
“Oh, hi there.” the butterfly looked at her, twitching its antennae a few times. “Hey, can you maybe go sit somewhere else? I want to get some sleep.” The butterfly fluttered up and landed on her head, causing her to frown. “Seriously, I want to sleep. Shoo, get out of here.” Wish talking to animals was one of my powers. “Come on, get out of here, go bother Fluttershy.”
The butterfly fluttered down and landed on her nose, fuzzy legs brushing against her. She twitched her nose several times to get rid of the butterfly, but the insect looked at her and twitched it’s antennae a few more times. “What does Fluttershy do to get rid of... get rid of...”
Rainbow Dash’s nose had begun to tingle, a sensation that grew in intensity the longer the butterfly sat there. She reached up to swat the butterfly away, but something gave out and she sneezed, a massive blast of sound that could be heard as far as Manehattan. Rainbow Dash shook her head and looked around; several apple trees were now devoid of leaves and apples, and a very confused and slightly angry Applejack was looking at her.
“Rainbow, what the hay happened?” She shouted.
“Heh, sorry about that AJ. I can’t really control my sneezes.”
“Well, good thing I had ta pick these apples, but next time I want ya ta sleep somewhere without any crops, ya hear?”
“Yeah yeah, I heard you.” Applejack nodded and went about picking up the scattered apples. Rainbow Dash rubbed her nose and looked around, frowning slightly.
The branch she was sitting on was covered in small icicles, each one growing in thickness and length. Attached to a particularly thick icicle was the butterfly, now a shade of light blue and covered in ice. Rainbow Dash blinked a few times as she realized what had happened.
“... Fluttershy’s going to be mad.”
...
“Hey, Fluttershy, you home?” Rainbow Dash landed outside Fluttershy’s cottage, the frozen butterfly tucked under one of her wings. Fluttershy was with some of her otters, the butter yellow Pegasus helping them with a small pile of fish. Fluttershy paused from her activities and looked up.
“Oh, hello Rainbow Dash. What can I help you with?” Fluttershy finished helping the otters and flew up to face Rainbow Dash.
“Yeah... I’ve got a problem...”
“Is something wrong with Tank?”
“No, he’s fine. It just... well... Something happened to one of your butterflies.”
“Oh dear, you didn’t knock one over when you were out flying, did you?”
“No, I... I kind of froze it, a little.” Fluttershy gasped.
“Oh Rainbow, of all the things you could have done you had to stick some poor little butterfly in a freezer.”
“I never did anything like that! I just... sneezed.”
“Sn-sneezed?”
“Yeah... Wait, I never told you guys about the freeze breath, did I?”
“No.”
“Yeah... I can freeze things with my breath if I really wanted to. I usually can control it, but... well, not when I sneeze.”
“Has this happened before?”
“No, of course not. I just never had... never had...” Rainbow Dash’s nose began to tingle again.
“Rainbow, is something wrong?”
“Fl-Fluttershy, you should... get...” Rainbow Dash’s body spasmed as she sneezed again, knocking the butterfly out from under her wing. Rainbow Dash rubbed her nose and looked up, seeing that Fluttershy was now covered in small icicles, her eyes wide with surprise and her mane swept back.
“Oh come on!”
...
“Hey, Twilight!”
“What is it Rainbow Da-” Twilight frowned as Rainbow Dash dragged the frozen Fluttershy into the library. “Rainbow Dash, what’s wrong with Fluttershy?”
“I froze her with my freeze breath.”
“What?”
“I have freeze breath and I sneezed on Fluttershy, okay? I was going to tell this to you sooner, but it slipped my mind.” Rainbow Dash placed Fluttershy on the ground before Twilight. “Can you unfreeze her?”
“I think I have a spell that may work. Just stand back.” Twilight’s horn shimmered as Fluttershy was enveloped in purple light. There was a flash and the ice around the Pegasus melted, and with her limbs free Fluttershy collapsed to the ground shivering.
“Hey, Fluttershy,” Rainbow Dash said, pawing at the ground sheepishly. “Sorry for freezing you.”
“Th-Th-That’s-s-s-s O-k-k-k-kay R-R-Rainbow.” Fluttershy stammered, pulling herself back to her hooves. “I kn-kn-know y-y-you didn’t m-m-mean to do th-th-that.”
“Yeah, I’ll try not to do that again.” Rainbow Dash wrapped a leg around her friend. “Come on, I’ll take you home and you can lie down.”
“O-O-O-Okay, Th-Th-Thanks.” the two Pegasi turned to leave while Twilight conjured a mop to clean up the melted ice.
“Rainbow Dash, I think I need to make a list of your powers so we know what to expect and how to deal with problems like this.” Twilight said.
“Uh, what if somepony else finds it?"
“I can memorize it and make a spell so that we all know what they are, then we could destroy the original copy so nopony else gets ahold of it. Does that work?”
“I... I guess it would be okay. Can I get Fluttershy home first, and then we can talk more?”
Princess Cadence stood on one of the balconies of the central spire of the Crystal Empire, waiting. Behind her was a small table, on which sat a teapot and two cups, and a very nervous Shining Armor.
“Are you sure that you don’t need anything else?” he asked, pawing at the ground nervously.
“You’ve asked me that ten times in the past five minutes, and yes I am sure I don’t need anything else.” She shot her husband a smile. “I’m surprised that you’d be so nervous over one pony.”
“Well, yeah, but she’s still, you know, a superhero and all. I have a right to be nervous.” Cadence chuckled and turned to face Shining Armor.
“Shining, there’s no need to be nervous; she may be a superhero, but she’s still a pony.” Shining Armor nodded in agreement. “You know, this reminds me a lot of our first date.”
“Yeah...”
“You were so nervous that you’d mess something up you accidentally set your napkin on fire.”
“I know, no need to remind me.”
“Still, I thought it was cute.” Shining Armor blushed. Cadence giggled at his misfortune and looked back across the Crystal Empire. A minute passed before she saw a blue speck flying towards the spire, gradually growing until it took the shape of a tan-coated mare in a blue suit and red cape. The mare slowed and pulled up, hovering over the balcony for a moment before landing with a small thump.
“Princess Cadence.” She said, nodding her respects.
“Supermare.” Cadence returned the nod. “On the behalf of all my subjects, I want to welcome you to the Crystal Empire.”
“The pleasure is mine.” Supermare smiled and looked past Cadene towards Shining Armor. “Your husband?”
“Oh yes, almost forgot.” Cadence turned slightly. “This is Shining Armor, Captain of Equestria’s Royal Guards.”
“It’s an honor to meet you face to face, Supermare.” Shining Armor said, bowing slightly.
“Not many people get that chance.” Supermare looked at Cadence. “Will he be joining us?”
“No, I have some administrative work that has to be done. I’ll just leave you two alone for now.” Shining bowed again and left, Cadence blowing a kiss to him before he vanished from sight.
“He’s always been like that around visiting dignitaries.” the princess chuckled. “Come, make yourself at home.” Supermare nodded and made her way towards the table. Cadence took a moment to look the superhero over; Supermare did not carry herself like a noble, preferring to be more loose and casual with her movement, but she did seem to walk carefully, her steps barely making any sound against the floor. Cadence could also see traces of strong magic radiating off the mare, but she passed it off as merely leftover power from coming through the barrier surrounding the Empire. She walked over to the table and sat down, pouring tea for herself and her guest as she did so.
“So,” Cadence began. “I wanted to ask you a few questions.”
“I’ll answer them to the best of my ability.” the superhero responded, taking a small sip from her tea.
“Will you be making any further trips into the Crystal Empire to do... heroics?”
“If it’s a problem, no, but I promise to not interfere unless extremely necessary.”
“Oh, that’s a relief.” Cadence sighed and finished off the last of her tea. “When I first heard about you, I was reminded of one of my friends from my childhood years. She was a bit... hot blooded, very passionate about protecting ponies by any means necessary.”
“And you were afraid I might have something get to my head and I’d turn into some kind of vigilante or, Celestia forbid, overthrow you?” Cadence nodded. “I am a protector of ponies first and foremost; while I do believe in justice I won’t take it upon myself to become a one-pony justice department. Also, I think you are capable of being a very good ruler, and you’ve been nice to a couple of my friends and I don’t want to betray their trust as well as yours.”
“But wouldn’t that help you in the long run?”
“Yes, but I tend to see myself as a guide, not an administrator. How you run your nation is up to you, and I promise that I will not try and usurp your authority unless you become a threat to the ponies of Equestria and the Empire.” Supermare took another sip. “Is there anything else you would like to ask?”
“A few things, yes. When I first arrived here, I noticed a few sources of magical energy to the west. You wouldn’t have anything to do with that, would you?” Supermare was silent for a moment before chuckling.
“That’s nothing to worry about, just some background radiation from the explosion in Canterlot. A lot of magic does tend to collect up here, so you shouldn’t worry if more spots pop up.”
“Very well. One final question.” Cadence paused, looking around at the Crystal Empire. “Are there... are there more of you?”
“... No. I am the last Kryptonian; the others died when Krypton was destroyed, or... I don’t really want to talk about the others.”
“I didn’t mean to pry, I just...” Cadence sighed. “I grew up amongst alicorns and other powerful beings. When my aunt brought me to Canterlot for magical training, I couldn’t imagine what she had to go through with... no one. It scared me and made me feel bad, thinking that She had no one to help her through Luna’s banishment.”
“What about those that you grew up with?”
“They never left my home, and Celestia never visited. She never did tell me why, but I rarely saw her as a filly.”
“I see.” Supermare finished the last of her tea. “You shouldn’t worry. Celestia is a strong mare, and I think we all have to go through times where we need to know that we are alone; it helps us grow closer to and be more thankful for our friends and family.” Cadence looked at the superhero. “My father told me that.” Supermare explained.
“I thought you said you were the last Kryptonian.”
“I am. It’s a long story that I don’t really have time to explain.” Supermare smiled. “I would love to stay and talk, but I have other duties to attend to.”
“Oh, of course.” Supermare rose up into the air and prepared to leave, but something held her back.
“Two things before I leave.”
“Yes?”
“Your friend, what was her name?”
“Diana.”
“Diana, huh? I’d like to meet her sometime.”
“I’m sure she’d like to meet you as well.” Supermare nodded. “Was there anything else you’d like to ask?”
“Yeah. Does Shining Armor know?” Cadence frowned.
“Know what?”
“You know what I’m talking about. Have you told him yet?” Cadence blinked before she realised what exactly Supermare was talking about.
“No, I haven’t told him yet.”
“You should. It’s the kind of thing that anypony should tell their spouse.” Supermare nodded and took off, shrinking into the distance before vanishing entirely.
Evil Things That Are Evil (Or, if Mare of Steel were written in the Silver Age)
Brainiac was in his evil base doing evil things that are evil. All around him were various machines and computer stuff that were helping him perform his evil plans, which had been stored away in his evil safe of evil.
Did I mention that he’s evil? Because he is.
“Mwa ha ha!” Brainiac laughed evilly, because he is evil. “Those fools don’t know that I, Brainiac, am just moments away from completing my evil plan! Soon all of Equestria shall be mine! Mwa ha ha!”
“Not if I have anything to say about it!” said a tan mare in a red cape and blue suit before smashing through the wall of Brainiac’s evil lair.
“Oh no! It’s Supermare!” (cymbal crash).
“Yes, it is I, Supermare, and I was able to pick up your evil plans with my super-hearing and now I have come to stop you in the name of truth, justice and the Equestrian Way!”
“Really? Well, you are too late, Supermare! As we speak, my evil machines of evil are already completing my evil plan. Soon the entire water supply of Ponyville will be contaminated, and there will be extra fat in the drinking water!”
“Oh no! Not the drinking water! Then all of Ponyville’s citizens will be unable to live healthy and fulfilling lives. You can’t do such a thing!”
“Yes I can, because I am evil. Mwa ha ha!”
“You cannot win, Brainiac; you may be evil and smart and stuff, but you are evil and I am not, so you must be defeated!” they fought, and Brainiac lost because he is evil and Supermare is good. “Now, I’ll use my super-drinking skills and my super-metabolism to drink all of the contaminated water and Equestria will be saved!”
And she did.
“Curses, foiled again!” Brainiac said.
“Now it’s off to jail with you.”
“Aw maaan.” and so Brainiac went to jail and the day was saved.
“Thank you Supermare for saving the day!” all the ponies in Ponyville said.
“No trouble at all, citizens! I am here to serve you, after all.” Everypony cheered, except Pinkie because she was screaming.
“Oh no! Silversmith just stole forty cakes!”
“Not forty cakes! That’s as many as four tens!”
And that’s terrible.
“Fear not, citizens. I, Supermare, will go and save the day!” and off she flew, with everypony cheering, to stop the evil forces of evil once and for all.
Rainbow Dash tore through the skies over Baltimare. Behind her, smoke rose from an old warehouse she had been fighting in, but she had set that issue aside for the moment.
Catching the pony responsible was higher on her list of priorities.
“You just can’t allow me to retake that which is mine, can you, Supermare?” The Great and Powerful Trixie shouted from an oncoming rooftop.
“When you put ponies’ lives in danger, Trixie, we are going to be in conflict.” Rainbow Dash stopped in front of the deranged showmare, folding her forelegs and glaring down at her. “You care only about yourself, and you don’t care if anypony gets hurt.”
“If they do then it’s their fault that they got in my way.” Trixie’s horn shimmered. “You could have stayed out of this, but no, you had to show up and ruin everything I had worked so hard to create!”
“Staging a fire just so you could appear heroic putting it out? You really need to focus, Trixie.” Trixie growled and fired a blast of magic, but Rainbow easily evaded and dove towards Trixie. Trixie tried to attack again, but Rainbow fired a short blast of heat vision and knocked the unicorn off the building. Rainbow considered diving after and saving Trixie, but the unicorn managed to teleport to a second building.
“So you have your superpowers,” Trixie scoffed. “They are nothing compared to my magic.”
“Says the unicorn that can’t even lift a good sized cart with her magic.” Rainbow Dash dodged another blast from the enraged Trixie. “Look, why don’t you just give up and turn yourself in, and I can get back to saving ponies. I think we’d all be happier.”
“No, I will never surrender to the likes of you!” Trixie’s horn glowed again. “You may be able to dodge most of my spells, but I assure you that you will suffer greatly with this!” Trixie released her spell, a white wave of energy rushing towards Rainbow Dash. The Pegasus tried to dodge, but the wave was just too large and she found herself slammed against another building. A few chunks of masonry broke loose and collapsed on her, pinning her to the ground.
Okay, weird spell, but I don’t think it did anything. Rainbow Dash shuffled her hooves around and pushed up, attempting to throw the rubble off her back. She strained for a few moments before collapsing, more rubble being added to the pile.
“... Okay, this is bad. My powers aren’t working properly.” Rainbow Dash pushed up again, but to no avail. “Maybe I should ask Twilight to make some telekinetic thingy just in case things like this happen.”
“Maybe you just need to push yourself harder.” Rainbow heard a voice that sounded a lot like herself say. She looked up and saw, sitting on a fallen beam, a red version of herself in a red bodysuit.
“Uh... where’d you come from?”
“If my theory is correct,” a second voice said, and Rainbow saw a navy blue Pegasus in a blue suit land next to her other doppelganger. “Trixie’s spell acted as a limited-range duplicator, separating us from your natural reserve of magic and giving us physical forms.”
“Uh... could you explain that with less egghead talk?”
“She means that we’re you.” the red one said before looking to the blue one. “Right?”
“Technically speaking no. I do not know the exact deviations between us, but aside from physical variances I cannot determine what sets us apart.”
“Even Twilight would know...” Rainbow Dash muttered before failing once more to remove the rubble. “Hey, can one of you give me some help here?”
“Pssh. Screw that!” said the red one, Rainbow deciding to call her Red Dash, before taking off. “I’m going to have another go at Trixie. See you losers later!” and with that Red Dash was gone. Rainbow Dash muttered a curse and looked to the other, Blue Dash.
“Okay, I’m sorry for calling you an egghead. Could you help me?”
“No.” Blue Dash prepared to leave. “Rescuing you does not gain me anything. There are more practical uses of both my intellect and strengths, and helping you does not assist either?”
“How do you know?”
“... Pardon?”
“How do you know I’m useless? I mean, you don’t know how Trixie’s spell works, so you might need me and... Red to study it further.” Blue Dash paused for a moment, mulling over what Rainbow Dash said. The other mare shrugged before raising a hoof, a small beam of blue light encircling the rubble and raising it high enough for Rainbow Dash to squeeze out.
“I have assisted in freeing you. Now I must go and subdue my counterpart so I may begin tests on our connection, if any.”
“Sure, go ahead.” Blue Dash nodded and took off, Rainbow Dash following behind. I’ve got to find a way to get my powers working again... Maybe these two might be my answer.
There was a crash up ahead and Rainbow saw Red Dash circling Trixie, an aura of power surrounding the Pegasus. Around them were the remains of several carts and buildings, blown apart by energy blasts from either of the two combatants. Blue Dash moved forward to try and intercept Red, while Rainbow Dash hung back to avoid getting hurt without her powers.
“You call that an energy blast?” Red Dash yelled at Trixie. “I could do something like that in my sleep!”
“You have no control whatsoever. I am in complete control of what I am doing.”
“Eh, who needs control? I’m still stronger than you!”
“Actually,” Blue Dash said. “You only seem to possess a limited amount of power, and upon seeing Trixie’s displays of power yours are not all that strong.”
“What?!” Red Dash turned to face Blue Dash.
“That is not to say you aren’t strong, but I would say your powers are closer to that of an average unicorn.”
“Trixie is not average!” the two Dashes ignored her.
“How would you know this, egghead?”
“I only observed the destructive capabilities of both you and the unicorn; based on the energy expenditures and the blast radius of a standard spell and one of your energy blasts, they are roughly the same.” Rainbow Dash smiled a little; Red and Blue arguing with each other had provided her with a distraction to get at Trixie, and she was now sneaking up behind the showmare with a large brick in her hooves. Before Trixie had a chance to turn around, Rainbow Dash had slammed the brick down on Trixie’s head, knocking the unicorn out cold.
Okay, now I just have to get rid of those two.
“I bet I could take you on easily!” Red Dash said, taking a fighting stance while Rainbow returned to them.
“Given your headstrong attitude and lack of any tactical insight, I highly doubt that I could be troubled by some insignificant peon such as yourself.”
“Heh, I find that hard to believe.” Rainbow Dash muttered. Both Red and Blue looked to her.
“... What did you just say?”
“I don’t think either of you guys are really that great.” Rainbow turned to Red. “You are too impulsive and careless; yeah, you chase the bad guys, but you also cause a lot of collateral damage, which might get a lot of ponies hurt and make you seem like some thug.”
“At least I get results...” growled Red Dash.
“As much as your analysis is amusing,” Blue Dash began. “There are other issues I must deal with, and since you are here together I can-”
“No, no experimenting.” Rainbow snapped. “You’re no better; you’re so wrapped up in logic that you don’t care about what’s going on around you, unless it has something to do with you. How are you supposed to protect ponies if all you care about is expanding your ‘vast’ intellect?”
“... Did you just insult my intelligence?”
“Yeah, pretty much.” Both Blue and Red glared at Rainbow, auras of energy enveloping them.
“I say we deal with this... annoyance, and then we can decide where our paths will lead us.”
“Whatever you say, Egghead.” Red and Blue raised their hooves and fired their energy blasts at Rainbow Dash, both attacks connecting at the same time and sending her flying. She struggled in the air for a few moments before righting herself, but not after she clipped the top of a building, sending several chunks of masonry falling towards the ground. Rainbow raced after them and managed to knock them out of the way, slowing them down enough so that they caused no further damage.
Okay, things are getting back to normal... Rainbow Dash turned and raced back to Red and Blue Dash, the two Pegasi generally surprised that she was still flying.
“Hmm, interesting.” Blue Dash said. “It seems that your durability is still very high. I suppose that striking you with a higher concentration of power may overcome that.”
“Sure it will.” Rainbow Dash rushed forward, one hoof out to strike Red Dash. Red had little time to react before Rainbow slammed into her at full speed, the force of impact knocking the clone half way across town. As Red recovered, Blue fired a blast of energy at Rainbow, but the attack bounced harmlessly off her as she tackled her doppelganger. She struck as fast as she could, landing several hits before she was grabbed from behind by Red Dash. Rainbow allowed herself to drop, slamming Red Dash into the ground and knocking her out cold.
“This... this is impossible!” cried Blue Dash. “You shouldn’t have your powers back!”
“My guess is that you two blasting me was enough to fix whatever Trixie did.” Rainbow raced forward and grabbed Blue Dash. “And now, time to get rid of you both!” Rainbow pitched Blue to the ground, somehow managing to hit Red in the process. Both doppelgangers began to glow before exploding into a shower of light, the force of the explosion knocking Rainbow around as she tried to maintain altitude.
“Okay, that was interesting... Now to go get Trixie to jail, again.”
Rainbow did not like doing heroics in Trottingham. There was something about the city that got to her; there was an inherent wrongness that Trottingham possessed, and try as she might Rainbow could not shake the feeling that she was being watched.
Still, several dangerous ponies had escaped to Trottingham, and as Equestria’s protector she needed to make sure that they did not do any more harm. She looped over the dark buildings, scanning the streets for any signs of criminal activity. After one unsuccessful sweep, she found a rooftop and sat down, flicking her ears to pick up any sounds.
“Hmm... I think somepony might have tipped them off that I was coming.” she said to herself. “I guess I’ll have to look a little harder if I-” she stopped talking when she heard something, a whipping sound growing closer to her. She had little time to react before the bolas wrapped around her legs, knocking her off the roof and causing her to tumble to the ground below. She was unharmed, but the bolas left her unable to move very far, even when she applied more force against them. She twisted around, trying to get a good view of the bolas so she could burn them away with heat vision, but as she did so she spotted a second pony behind her.
The pony was silhouetted against a nearby streetlight. It was a colt, a unicorn dressed in a black cape and gray body armor. His face was hidden behind a black cowl, the only sign of emotion being two white slits for eyes. Rainbow would have used her x-ray vision to see who it was, but her confusion was doing a wonderful job at clouding her judgement. He stopped two meters away from Rainbow Dash before pulling out a small device, and with a quick flick the bolas dropped away from Rainbow’s legs.
“I am surprised to see you of all ponies down here at this hour.” he said, grabbing the bolas with his magic.
“What, is there a law against it?” Rainbow got back to her hooves and faced the newcomer. “Why did you attack me?”
“You were a distraction, and I was forced to neutralize you before you screwed something up. Here,” the pony ducked back into the shadows before returning, the criminals Rainbow had been pursuing grasped in his telekinesis. “I believe these belong to you. Take them and leave.”
“Uh, thanks?” the other pony nodded and began to walk away. “Hey wait! You can’t walk away just yet.”
“Yes I can.”
“But... Hey, maybe we could work together or-”
“No. I work alone.” and with that the pony disappeared. Rainbow scanned the buildings and alleys with her vision, but she could not find any trace of the unicorn. She looked down at her prisoners, then back at the spot where the colt had vanished.
Who was that guy?
................
“Hey Twilight,” Rainbow called as she entered Twilight’s library. “Do you have any newspapers around here?” Twilight poked her head out from one of the bookshelves, a notepad clutched in her magic.
“I think so, but I haven’t gotten new editions in a few weeks.” she set her notebook aside and trotted over to Rainbow Dash. “Why do you ask?”
“Well... I had a weird encounter with a pony last night in Trottingham.” Twilight raised an eyebrow.
“A pony? What do you mean by ‘weird encounter’?”
“He was dressed up in some kind of costume, but he was all creepy and said he worked alone.”
“And what does that have to do with newspapers?”
“I just want to know if there’s been anything about him in a newspaper or something.” Twilight nodded and walked off to another section of the library. Her horn shimmered and several papers were pulled out from the shelves, and Twilight passed them off to Rainbow Dash.
“These are a few issues of Trottingham’s newspaper published within the last year. They might have what you’re looking for.” Rainbow nodded her thanks and began looking through the papers. Most of it was useless, focusing on mundane goings-on around the city, and she was surprised that she did not see any mention of herself.
However, the paper at the bottom of the pile caught her attention. The front page had a prominent picture of a masked pony, identical to the one from before save for a few changes in costume design. Above the picture was the headline “Bat Themed Vigilante Defeats Major Crime Boss”, and the article was filled with small tidbits of information and speculation as to who the mysterious pony was. If she had Rarity’s eye for detail she probably could have figured out who it was, but she was not so lucky.
“Twilight, do you think I could borrow this for a few days?” she asked.
“Hmm? Oh sure, whatever you need, Rainbow.” Twilight responded before ducking behind another shelf. Rainbow picked up the newspapers in her mouth and left the library, turning towards Sweet Apple Acres so she could find somewhere quiet to read.
She was unaware of a shadow beneath one of the nearby trees.
...............
Rainbow Dash was back in Trottingham, and had found a nice high building from which she could survey the entire city. The more immoral side of her said to start some trouble and see if that would draw him out, but she reminded herself that she was Equestria’s protector, not it’s destroyer. She opened up all of her senses as far as possible, although she avoided using her x-ray vision in case she spotted something... unpleasant.
“I’m surprised you actually came back.” a voice said from behind her. It took quite a bit of fortitude for Rainbow not to jump in fright, but she composed herself and turned to face the unicorn once more.
“How did you do that?” she asked.
“I can’t answer that question.” he said, the white slits of his eyes being the only thing she could see clearly. “Why are you here?”
“I’m just curious.” she said, taking a step back to try and draw him out into the light. “I just want to know more about you.”
“I would appreciate it if you would stay out of what I do here.”
“Why? Don’t you trust me?”
“To a point. While I appreciate the work that you do, you are a bit naive when it come to less savory aspects of Equestrian life.”
“And I suppose you’re not?” the unicorn’s eyes narrowed.
“I have spent most of my life in this city. I know how it works, what goes on in the alleys and back roads. That experience makes me more effective, and to be honest, your over-reliance on your powers has caused you to become detached from Equestrian society.”
“No it hasn’t!” Deep down, there was a hint of truth to what he said; ever since taking up the title of Supermare, Rainbow had been spending less and less time with her friends, not to mention the change in her speech patterns. “Okay, maybe you have a point, but you still don’t have to shut me out like this.”
“Why not?”
“Well...” Rainbow pawed at the ground for a moment as she thought of the right scenario. “Suppose some big alien monster comes and starts destroying the city. What then?”
“I’d find a way to defeat it... But if I really deemed it necessary, I’d find a way to contact you.”
“Okay.” Rainbow looked out across Trottingham. “Glad we’re able to agree on some-” she stopped talking when she looked back. The unicorn was gone, again, and all that remained was a small slip of paper. Rainbow frowned, her ears flattening against her head. “How does he do that?”
Rainbow turned her attention to the piece of paper. She shifted into every possible type of vision she had to search for traps, but found none. Still, she approached cautiously before picking the paper up, turning it over and finding a note on the other side.
I know where you live, Rainbow Dash.
“Wha... How... He-” Rainbow blinked, looking first to where the unicorn had disappeared and back to the note. In a fit of anger she set the letter on fire with her heat vision before taking off, sweeping the city in search of the other pony.
He can’t hide forever... He can’t just know who I am and expect to get away with it.
Normally Twilight was awoken by the sun beaming down in her face, but now she was denied that simple pleasure. She blinked and rose from her bed, looking out the window to see what was obstructing her view. She blinked again when she saw Rainbow Dash, still in her Supermare outfit, sitting on a cloud and staring off to the southwest. She hurried over to the window and flung it open, but Rainbow remained focused on the southwest.
“Rainbow!” Twilight hissed, trying her best not to wake up Spike. “What are you doing?”
“Wha-” Rainbow looked over at Twilight. “Oh, hey Twilight. What’s up?”
“Don’t try and deflect my question! Now get in here before somepony sees you!”
“You’re not my mom; you can’t just order me to do things.” Twilight’s eyes narrowed.
“Get. In.” Rainbow Dash disappeared, and Twilight was about to call after her when she felt a tap on her flank. She turned and saw Rainbow Dash standing behind her, no longer wearing her suit. “How... How did you do that?”
“I flew back to my house, but there were some ponies nearby so I hid my suit in my sock drawer, and then flew back here before you realized I was gone.” Rainbow Dash said. Twilight blinked.
“You have a sock drawer?” Twilight asked.
“Don’t you?” Twilight was about to respond before Rainbow cut her off. “Never mind. What was it that you wanted to know?”
“Uh, well... What were you doing? You never wear your costume around town, and you blocked my sunlight. Is something the matter?”
“... Kind of.” Rainbow fluffed her wings before continuing. “Last night I flew down to Trottingham to find that guy who dresses up like a bat, and not only did he get away, but he knows who I am.”
“Well, why wouldn’t he? You do tend to make a lot of headlines-”
“No, he knows that I’m Supermare. Me, Rainbow Dash, Supermare.” Twilight took a step back to put distance between herself and the increasingly frantic Rainbow. “What am I supposed to do?”
Twilight shrugged. “Go and confront him about it?”
“How? He’s all mysterious and brooding; I go and confront him and he’d probably just blow me off and disappear, again.” Twilight’s raised an eyebrow, as if asking Rainbow to explain. “He just shows up and disappears whenever he likes. It’s kind of freaky.” Rainbow added. Twilight rolled her eyes before speaking.
“Rainbow, I’m sure if you just talked with him, even for a little, you might be able to convince him not to tell other ponies who you are. I mean, unless he’s actively threatening you then you can assume that he’s-”
“Twilight, this guy dresses up like a bat. A bat. Even Fluttershy would think he’s a little out there.” Twilight opened her mouth to object, but Rainbow cut her off. “Look, I know you want me confront this pony and try to find some kind of peaceful solution, but I’m not really sure if that’s an option.”
“This is coming from the mare who talked down a dragon from burning down Appleoosa?”
“Hey, Fluttershy helped with that.”
“That doesn’t matter. Rainbow, remember that you’re not a hyper aggressive pony, and you shouldn’t just look at every problem and try to solve it by beating it into pieces.”
“But it’s my identity, Twilight.”
“I know, but maybe convincing him to stay quiet will help you in the long run.” there was a pause before Rainbow sighed.
“Okay, we’ll try it your way. And if he still acts all hostile, I’ll-”
“Try to talk him down before anything bad happens.” Rainbow raised an eyebrow at Twilight. “Let me guess, you were going to say ‘punch him across Trottingham’, weren’t you?”
“... Maybe?”
...............
After finding a high spot where nopony could sneak up behind her, Rainbow had opened up all of her senses to Trottingham. Every sound, sight, smell, she could detect it, and she waited for any sign of the bat-pony. She would have kept an eye open for any ongoing crimes, but the city was quiet for now. And I always thought they had problems in Trottingham... maybe this batguy is more effective than I thought.
She spotted something out of the corner of her eye. A ripple of fabric on a nearby rooftop, a shadow. There he is. Pulling her senses back under control, Rainbow rose into the air and dove down into the city, pulling up just as her target turned to face her. “Found you.”
“Took you long enough; I spotted you on that building five minutes ago.” the unicorn responded, causing Rainbow to frown. Does he always have to be so high and mighty?
“... Never mind. We need to talk.” the unicorn’s eyes narrowed as Rainbow continued. “You know who I am, and I have no idea if you are trustworthy or not.”
“You’re worried that I might leak the information to someone that would use it for their own gain?” he said.
“... Yeah, something like that.” there was a pause before the unicorn spoke again.
“I merely wanted to know who you were that, should you decide to go rogue and attack ponies, I would have some sort of advantage.”
“... That’s kind of paranoid, isn’t it?”
“I operate out of Trottingham; paranoia is a very useful thing to have. As such you don’t have to worry about the possibility of me telling anypony about who you really are.”
“Why?” Rainbow raised an eyebrow. “Do you expect me to trust a guy that dresses up like a bat and... does whatever it is you do?”
“Believe whatever you like, but I am very good at keeping secrets.” Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow again, but something told her that the unicorn was being honest with her... as honest as possible.
“Actually... You do have a point.” she said after a pause.
“Really?”
“Yeah. I mean, if I ever went nuts or something then somepony would need to stop me from killing ponies... but I still don’t like the idea of you being that pony. I mean, I have no idea who you are.”
“Says the pony with x-ray vision.” the unicorn smirked before snapping his head to one side. “I need to go; the city needs me. But if you ever come back here, I’ll be waiting.” the unicorn turned to leave, fading into the dark as he departed. Before he got too far out of sight, Rainbow shifted her vision to see just who was beneath the mask.
“... No. How could he-... but-” By the time Rainbow calmed down, he was gone. She raced through the streets, trying to find where he had gone, but once again he had disappeared into the dark. Once she was certain he was nowhere to be found, she stood there in silence for a very long time, trying and failing to find an explanation for what she had seen.
Somehow, against all reason, Blueblood was still alive.
.................
Rainbow had spent the last few days in the Fortress of Solitude, trying and failing to come up with an explanation for what she had seen in Trottingham. If it really was Blueblood beneath the mask, then either Zod had somehow managed to survive blowing himself up, or he had lied to Rainbow about Blueblood’s death. The rational side of Rainbow told her that the second option was a bit more plausible, but the other part of Rainbow’s mind was not ready to give in that easily.
Despite her best efforts, logic lost in the end, and Rainbow decided to do something really stupid.
As she neared Trottingham, she checked the small lead box dangling around her neck. She had been meaning to get rid of the box, and more importantly it’s contents, but something had held her back, possibly the idea that she might need it in the future.
I need to take a break from this; I’m starting to get paranoid... and sound like Twilight. Rainbow shook her head and continued on through Trottingham, scanning the roofs and alleys for any sign of the bat-pony. At first she found nothing, but after an hour of searching she finally spotted a familiar silhouette among the rooftops.
“For all your initial hostilities, you really seem persistent in coming back.” the unicorn said. “It’s getting annoying.”
“This time it’s actually important.” Rainbow landed a few feet away from the unicron, making a small adjustment to the box before speaking again. “Do the names Jor-El or Zod have any meaning to you?” She opened her senses up again, watching the other pony’s eyes and pulse for any indication that he was lying.
“No. Never heard of them before.” Rainbow blinked as the unicorn raised an eyebrow. “Are they supposed to be important?”
“... Sure.” Rainbow took another step closer. “So, You ever been to the Summer Sun Celebration?”
“I assume there’s a point to this?”
“Yes there is.” another pause.
“... Whatever. To answer your question, yes I have, and to answer your potential follow-up question, the last time I went was seven years ago.” Rainbow’s eyes narrowed and her ears flattened against her head.
“Okay... So, if you weren’t at the Summer Sun Celebration, where were you?”
“Neighpan, and before that a prison in the Griffon Kingdoms.”
“How’d you end up there?”
“The pony you think I am knocked me out and threw me on the first ship out of Equestria, saying I was a wanted terrorist... at least, that’s what others told me once I woke up.” Rainbow paused. Somepony would have recognized what Blueblood looked like, but from what little she did know about Kryptonian magic Zod would have been able to plant a mental suggestion in another pony’s mind to make them think that Blueblood was a criminal (perception filters might also have been used).
That’s just too coincidental... I need to be sure.
“Okay... well, what do you have to say to this?” Rainbow pulled the box off her neck and opened it, angling it so that any and all radiation from the Kryptonite would reach the unicorn and not her. The other pony blinked a few times at the new sensory input, but otherwise did not react.
“Nice rock. You might want to put it away before somepony gets hurt, though.” Rainbow’s ears flicked up and she took a small step back. He’s not affected by the Kryptonite... but Zod wasn’t affected either... but he was using magic... Rainbow growled in frustration and closed the box, turning away from the other pony.
“Why can’t you just be dead and I won’t have to worry about this?”
“I’m sorry?”
“I can’t believe that you haven’t been in Equestria for five years. Either you’re lying to me, or you’re using some kind of mind-blocking magic to keep me from seeing if you’re telling the truth.”
“I’m actually fairly weak when it comes to magical power.”
“You really expect me to believe that?” Rainbow spun around, glaring at the unicorn. “I almost died because of you-”
“Because of the pony that impersonated me.”
“No, it was you! It had to be you!”
“Why?”
“Because...” Rainbow stopped herself. She had seen Zod explode, but she did not see the real Blueblood die. And Zod used whatever means necessary to get what he wanted; lying about killing some pony would have been trivial to him. “Because...”
“I’ll let you think on that for a moment.” the unicorn turned to leave, but Rainbow Dash recovered before flash stepping in front of him.
“We’re not finished here!”
“Would you like me to say that I really was the pony who tried to kill you? If it will make you go away, I’d be more than happy to help.” Rainbow started to say something, but her hearing picked up something on the other side of town.
“Why are we doing this again?” Griffon, male. Probably early twenties.
“Shut up! He could be listening in on us.” Pony, also male. This might be trouble.
“I, uh... I need to go.” the unicorn raised an eyebrow again before he seemed to understand what she meant.
“Where are they?”
“Couple blocks over.” the unicorn nodded before moving towards the edge of the building, raising his hoof and firing what appeared to be a grappling hook over at the next building. “Hey! Wait a second!”
“If you’re still worried about me being the pony that attacked you, I really-”
“I know. Look, why don’t we just call a truce and deal with the problem at hoof, and then we can get back to arguing about this later.” the unicorn was silent for a moment, and Rainbow half expected him to just leave without answering.
“Fine.” With that, he tightened the grappling hook and leapt off the side of the building, easily landing on the next rooftop before sprinting towards the potential crime. Rainbow let him get a head start before taking off, racing past the unicorn at high speed.
Okay Rainbow, just keep a level head; see if this guy is the real Blueblood, and then beat him into a pulp when he’s not... yeah, I can do that. She eased up on her speed and found a rooftop near where the suspects were, using her x-ray vision to pick them out from the darkened streets. The griffon and the pony were standing beneath a lamp post across the street from her position, looking around as if they were expecting trouble. It was a different experience from what she had seen in canterlot or Manehattan, where the common thugs and thieves were a bit more confident.
“Think maybe we should get on with this?” the griffon asked.
“Not yet...” his comrade responded, checking a nearby box that Rainbow could see had a crossbow and some light explosives. Where do ponies get all the explosives? “Just want to make sure we don’t have any intrusions.”
“Is everyone in this city so paranoid? I thought Canterlot was bad, but then you guys keep going off about this ‘Batpony’.” This earned a glare from the pony.
“Be careful with what you say.”
“Why? It’s a big city; what are the odds that one pony is going to be right here watching us?” Pretty good, actually... Rainbow crept closer to the edge of the building as the two kept talking. “Look, I don’t think he’s here; let’s just do this and get on with it.”
“... Fine.” the pony reached into the box and tossed the griffon the crossbow before fishing out the explosives. “We do this quick, we can get back just as the others are finishing up.” And that’s my cue. Rainbow took a step forward and was about to approach the criminals, but stopped when a grey clad hoof touched her shoulder.
“Not yet.” the unicorn whispered, sounding even harsher than normal. “The suspects are too spread out.”
“So?”
“Remember how I said you rely on your powers too much? You’re doing it again.” he reached for his belt and pulled out a small bat-shaped device. “Go for the griffon; I’ll take care of the one with the explosives.”
“Sure.” Rainbow adjusted her angle as the unicorn threw the device at the lamp post. It lodged itself into one of the seams on the post before sparking, and immediately after the light from the lamp disappeared. Sensing that was her cue, Rainbow jumped from the top of the building and landed right behind the griffon.
“Hey, you know it’s dangerous to carry crossbows around in the dark?” she asked. The griffon whirled around, and Rainbow could see that he was very freaked out by this turn of events. “You might end up hurting someone.” With a cry the griffon fired, and Rainbow watched as the bolt struck her forehead before splintering. She stepped forward and swatted the weapon out of the griffon’s talons before pulling him up into the air, hoping that it might stop him from struggling and making things difficult.
The light turned back on a few seconds later, and she saw that the unicorn had subdued the other pony. He dragged the suspect over to the lamp post while Rainbow landed and tossed the griffon towards the others. “Well, that wasn’t so bad, now was it?”
“Perhaps. Watch that one for a moment, will you?” the unicorn kept walking until he had reached the wall, at which point he slammed the suspect against the wall and locked eyes with the other pony. “Where do street thugs like you get ahold of military-grade explosives?”
“I-I won’t tell you...” the pony whimpered, causing the unicorn to lean in closer and intensify his glare.
“Would you care to repeat what you just said?”
“Hey,” Rainbow took a step closer, drawing her “partner”s attention. “You’re not going to hurt him or anything, right?”
“He’ll live, if that’s what you’re worried about.” he turned back to the pony. “Would you care to answer my question before I have to change my mind?” Every part of Rainbow Dash told her to break up this “interrogation” before it went too far, but the other pony ended it before she had to.
“Our... our boss gave them to us.”
“Why?”
“He said we should go and cause some trouble and try to draw you away from the real job.”
“Where?”
“I... I don’t know.” the unicorn whacked the other pony’s head against the wall.
“Where?!”
“One of the warehouses near the river! Don’t ask me what they’re doing, ‘cuz I don’t know!” the unicorn nodded before pulling another device out of his belt. The criminal spasmed when the device contacted, lapsing into unconsciousness shortly thereafter.
“This should knock them out until somepony comes to fetch them.” Rainbow Dash stepped aside as the unicorn stunned the griffon and began to tie the two to the lamp post. “In the meantime, we’ll have to find a way to get to the river before the others have a chance to get away.” he paused before looking at Rainbow. “Can I get a lift?”
..............
Trottingham’s waterfront was just as dirty and run-down as the rest of the city, with trash covering the ground and the water having been tainted slightly green. Rainbow had heard that certain parts of the river could be set on fire if you were not careful, so she made a point not to use her heat vision anytime soon in case that was true. She and the unicorn landed near one of the bigger warehouses, looking around for any sign of activity.
“There are dozens of warehouses along the waterfront,” he said, stepping closer to the building. “Our ‘friends’ could be at any one of them.” Rainbow nodded before opening up with her x-ray vision, scanning the numerous buildings until she found the targets.
“Four buildings down. About a dozen of them, mostly Earth Ponies.”
“What are they doing?”
“Uh...” Rainbow squinted to get a better picture. “Moving some barrels of... stuff. I have no idea what it is.”
“Might be explosives of some kind. I’ll need to get a better view of who it is. Until then, keep an eye on them and make sure they don’t-”
“I have superpowers, and they don’t seem to have anything that can hurt me. I should take them out now so we don’t have to waste a lot of time.”
“Remember what I said about over reliance on your powers?”
“... Fine. We’ll try it your way.” Rainbow went back to looking at the ponies the unicorn disappeared into the shadows. She could just barely pick up the sound of his hooves as he moved closer to the crime scene. She shifted around on her hooves a little, waiting for some kind of sign.
“I know you can hear me from here.” the unicorn said, his voice a low whisper. “Move closer and get in position to attack. Wait for me to put out the lights first.” Rainbow nodded, spread her wings and jumped into the air, gliding the rest of the way before landing near the edge of the roof. The ponies below had not seen her, so she took a moment to sneak a little closer and observe her quarry better.
The ponies were loading the barrels onto a large cart. Progress was slow, as they lacked unicorns to lift the barrels, but they still possessed a level of efficiency that Rainbow had to admit was admirable. She still could not get a good look at what was in the barrels, so she made a point to open one up to find out what they were so interested in stealing.
Unfortunately for her, as she leaned forward one of the roof panels split. She stumbled but was able to recover, but the sound caused the ponies below to stop working and look up. Rainbow blinked a few times before realizing that she was standing right in the open.
“Oops.”
“Hey!” one pony cried. “You’re not supposed to be here!”
“Well... Neither are you.” Rainbow Dash leapt down to the ground and approached the other ponies. “Now, I ask you to give up before somepony gets hurt.” the ponies looked at her, then looked to each other before laughing.
“You- you’re joking, right?” the first pony choked out through his laughter. “You think you can just dress up like Supermare and scare us into doing what you want?” Rainbow glared at the pony, her ears flattening against her head.
“I am Supermare.”
“You’re too thin to be Supermare.” a second pony replied. “And your mane’s the wrong color.” Rainbow blinked again. Do I have to take a picture of myself and put it up on every wall in Equestria? She set that thought aside before flash-stepping over to the pony and lifting him into the air with one hoof.
“Would you care to repeat that?” she asked, just before another pony found himself hogtied by a pair of bolas. Rainbow knocked out the pony she was holding with a small swat before jumping at the next pony, the unicorn leaping out of the shadows and knocking out a third pony.
“I thought I told you to wait for my signal.” he said, pitching one of the criminals over his head and into a wall.
“Yeah, that didn’t work out so well.” Rainbow Dash swatted away another pony, trying her best to hold back her strength so as to not hurt anypony. Their attackers tried to stay as far away from her as possible, instead going for the unicorn behind her. Fortunately he was a skilled fighter, and the two were able to overcome the other ponies with ease.
Once the suspects were subdued, the unicorn busied himself by tying them together so they would not get away, while Rainbow Dash walked over to the cart to inspect the barrels.
“I’ll need some time before I can figure out who they were working for.” she heard the unicorn say as he stepped away from the other ponies and walked over to the cart. “The jury’s still out on what they were trying to steal.”
“Maybe it has something to do with who they’re working for?”
“Maybe...” Rainbow took a step towards the barrels, reaching out to open the nearest one. “Careful, you don’t know what could be in there.”
“I’ll be fine.” Rainbow reached out and swatted the top off the barrel. There was a rush of steam, but otherwise nothing happened and Rainbow leaned in closer.
The barrel was filled with mud. Nothing special; no lead, no Kryptonite, not even weapons, just mud. Rainbow shifted her visions several times to see if there was something she had not seen, but all she found was more mud. She opened the other barrels and it was the same; mud.
“See? It’s just some mud.”
“... mud?”
“Yes, mud. Now, we should probably go get those guys off to-” she never finished, because the mud in the nearest barrel sprang up, grabbed her by the face and slammed her into the ground. The other barrels began to shake as the mud oozed out, each part combining together to form one giant blob. The blob quivered and pulsed before taking on an equine shape, two white eyes leering down at Rainbow Dash.
“I was hoping for the Batpony.” the monster growled, a sneer spreading across its face. “But you’ll just have to do.” the creature raised up its right foreleg, which morphed into a large spear as it aimed for Rainbow’s head. Rainbow struggled to throw the monster off, but every time she shifted mud would flow into the crevasse her movements left behind.
The monster would have attacked, but stopped when one of the bat-shaped devices entered its head and exploded. The creature roared in anger as it turned to face this new threat, and as it turned Rainbow was able to free herself from the mud.
“Is this what you have to deal with around here?” she asked as she pulled away from the beast.
“Normally, no.” the unicorn leapt into the air as the creature attacked, vaulting over the mud-monster while throwing another explosive at it. The creature swiveled around and lunged, forming its hand into a large mallet as it tried to crush the unicorn.
“That’s more like it.” the thing said as it swung its weapon, reducing the cart to splinters. “Now hold still so I can kill you for what you did to me!”
“I didn’t do anything to you!” the unicorn shot back as he threw another explosive.
“Guess you forgot about the changeling and the chemicals. Brain surgery should remedy that.” the monster morphed again, both of its forelegs turning into massive scythes as it pursued the unicorn. Not wanting her ally to get hurt, Rainbow raced down and swung at the beast, but only succeeded in knocking off a chunk of mud that the creature quickly absorbed. She tried using her heat vision, but other than getting an angry roar from the monster it had no effect. The thing kept advancing, its attacks ripping through steel and concrete as it tried to kill the unicorn.
“Nothing’s working!” she grumbled after another failed attempt to use her heat vision. The unicorn ducked under another attack and ran towards Rainbow.
“If you have any ideas, I’d love to hear them.” he said as he turned to face the creature.
“Oh, so now you’re asking for my help? Whatever happened to working alone?”
“I think I’ll make an exception for now.” the two backed up as the monster neared, Rainbow looking back at the slowly approaching river. “Now would be good.”
“... I think I’ve got something.” Rainbow turned and flashed-stepped passed the creature, grabbing one of the empty barrels in her hooves. She took off and raced towards the river, flying low and scooping up a large amount of water in the barrel. She turned around and flew back towards the monster, stopping short and allowing the water to leave the barrel and splash the creature.
“How is that supposed to work?” the unicorn asked. “If anything, you’ve made him harder to beat.”
“Watch this.” Rainbow took a deep breath before breathing a stream of ice at the creature. It roared in anger and tried to advance, but Rainbow’s freezing breath reached the liquid aspect of the monster and began to freeze it solid. The creature’s advance slowed as more ice built up inside it, its weapons stopping inches away from the unicorn. When she was certain the creature was frozen, Rainbow stopped her attack and took a few more breaths.
“Freezing... I should have thought of that.” Rainbow gave a small chuckle before landing.
“That thing said you were responsible for this.” she looked to the unicorn. “What did it mean?”
“It used to be a pony. He starred in several older horror films, and I guess you can say that he became his most famous role: a monster called Clayface.”
“How does that explain the mud?”
“I pursued him to a chemical factory last year, during the changeling scare. He was captured by one, but before I could stop it or he could break free the two fell into a vat of a chemical called SM-0023.” he nodded towards the frozen monster. “The chemicals mutated him into this thing.”
“Ah...” Rainbow looked to “Clayface”, then back to the unicorn.
“So, do you still think I’m the pony that tried to kill you?”
“... No.” Rainbow sighed. “You... you don’t seem like him. You could have betrayed me anytime you liked, but you didn’t... I still don’t trust you, though.”
“I can live with that.” there was a pause before Rainbow spoke again.
“So... Batpony, huh?”
“That’s what everypony else calls me. I’m not going to stop you if you feel like calling me that.”
“What do you call yourself?” the only response Rainbow got was a more intense glare.
“You best leave before somepony sees you and makes a scene.”
“And what about you?” Blueblood pulled something out of a pouch on his belt, something Rainbow could not see clearly.
“I need to follow up on some leads.”
................
“You realize, that this is a very grave matter you’re presenting?” the pony fidgeted around, trying his best to remain calm as his boss paced in front of him. Yes, he had managed to get away from Supermare and the Batpony, but now he was wishing he had gotten captured instead.
“W-we almost got away-”
“Oh sure. And then you had to go and get Batpony on your tail, and now I seem to be short one mud monster.” the other pony leaned in closer. “I knew I should have picked some other guys; they at least would be careful to avoid dirtying my image.”
“I-it wasn’t our fault! Supermare showed up and she-”
“Wait... Supermare?” the pony nodded before his boss backed up. “Well, that changes things. Tell you what.”
“What?”
“I’m willing to let all of this go, wipe it clean, as it were, in exchange for that little piece of information that Stupidmare is working with the Bat.” the boss held out his hoof. “C’mon. Just shake on it and everything will be fine.”
“Uh, okay.” the pony reached out with his hoof, and had little time to react before his boss grabbed him and sprayed a cloud of green gas into his face.
“Oh, I’m glad to see that you’re so happy about this.” the boss giggled. “Guess they were right when they said that mud was good for your complexion.” the last thing the pony heard before dying was a low chuckle that grew into a horrific cackle as the victim's face twisted into a rictus grin.
There were many things Rainbow Dash had been nervous about: passing her flight exam, moving to Ponyville, finding out whether or not she would explode due to magical overload, all had nearly pushed her over the edge. Becoming Supermare had helped a bit, but she was still a pony, and thus much more skittish than she would have liked.
Now, though, her nervousness was greater than any other time. As she stood outside Cloudsdale’s hospital, she had to suppress the urge to start pacing, less she wear a hole in the ground or attract too much attention. Her eyes stayed focused on the door, and she did her best to cut off as many unnecessary sensory inputs, no small task considering her heightened senses. She briefly flicked through her x-ray vision, but looking through the hospital felt wrong and disturbing. So she waited.
The doors to the hospital opened and out stepped Firefly, the older mare giving Rainbow a small smile once she was outside. Her left wing was in a cast, and she walked with a slight limp, but other than that she seemed fine. Not able to suppress her urges anymore, Rainbow hurried forward and pulled Firefly into a hug, doing her best to limit her strength and not hurt her mother further.
“Missed the chance to hug me, I see.” Firefly said, reaching up to hug Rainbow back.
“I was worried, Mom.” Rainbow said. “When you got hurt, I... I panicked. I thought that you’d gotten killed or something.”
“It’d take a lot more than a magic blast to the face to get rid of me.” Firefly game a small chuckle and broke from Rainbow’s embrace, although the younger mare was incredibly hesitant to do so. “Come on, let’s get out of here; I don’t want to spend anymore time here.”
“I’m with you there.”
................
The two had taken their pace slowly, and it was almost twilight by the time they reached Firefly’s house. The older mare had wanted to get home as quickly as possible, but Rainbow Dash could not risk the chance of her mother getting hurt again.
They had not talked much, especially when passing through the heart of Cloudsdale. Most of the city was repaired, but many buildings still bore the scars of Brainiac’s attack. Firefly could tell that Rainbow was unwilling to talk at that moment, and so kept her silence until they reached her house.
“You sure you don’t need my help?” Rainbow asked.
“Rainbow, I’m sure I don't need help getting in to my house.” Firefly paused. “Although, getting there was something completely different. And if you ever want to stop by and help me with some of my exercises, I’d be very appreciative.”
“Exercises? You mean, like physical therapy?” Rainbow remembered back to when she had broken her wing, having to do a few different stretches to make sure that it had healed properly, and guessed that that was what Firefly was talking about.
“That, and something to get my strength back up. They said I’d never make it past twenty MPH,” she chuckled. “Like that’s going to stop me.”
“Just as long as you don’t hurt yourself again, I’m cool with it.”
“Since when have you gotten all protective of me?”
“Since...” Rainbow hesitated, turning away a little “Since I got you hurt.” there was a pause before Firefly spoke again.
“You’re blaming yourself for this?”
“Mom, it was my fault. I could have taken Brainiac down a lot faster than I did. Heck, I could have gotten him out of Cloudsdale and gone somewhere where nopony would get hurt. But I didn’t; I stayed in Cloudsdale. I didn’t beat him fast enough. I-”
“Rainbow, stop it.” Firefly took a step forward. “This isn’t a race, where you can just train yourself to fly faster. I’m no superhero myself, but I know what could happen if you cut loose and tried to beat somepony quickly, and you could have damaged Cloudsdale a lot worse than what happened. And even if you had taken the fight elsewhere, I still would have gone after you.”
“Why?”
“Because super or not, you are still my daughter, and I will not let anypony hurt you, no matter what.” Rainbow smiled, but that smile faded and she looked away. “Rainbow?”
“... I tried to kill him.” another pause. “I saw you get hurt, and... I lost it. I just wanted to kill him so bad, make him pay for what he did you. But...”
“No. Thunderlane talked me down, but if he didn’t...” Rainbow shuddered. “Mom, I don’t want to kill him now. I-I don’t want to kill anypony.”
“I know.” Firefly stepped forward and wrapped a foreleg around Rainbow, the younger mare leaning in.
“But what if I lose it again? What if there’s somepony so powerful that I have to do something like that?”
“I can’t answer for the second part. But I know that you are a strong mare, and I know you’ll be able to keep a rein on your temper now that you’ve seen what it’s like when you lose control.”
“You think so?”
“Superheroes aren’t the only ones that get angry; I’ve been dealing with my own anger issues for a lot longer than you have, and the best thing I’ve found is to find a way to get it to work for you, rather than have it take over.” Firefly looked into Rainbow’s eyes. “Can you do that for me?”
“... I’ll try.”
“Good.” Firefly smiled and broke off their embrace. “Now, do you think you can spare some time from your schedule to keep an old, injured mare company?” Rainbow gave her own smile before an idea came to mind.
“Mom, wait here. I’ve got to go get something.” Firefly raised an eyebrow, but complied. Rainbow darted inside the house, flying up to her old room. sitting behind a few boxes was an old set of horseshoes, her last pair before she had moved to Ponyville. She picked up one, turned it over and activated her heat vision, etching a small phrase into the metal. When she was finished, she flew back downstairs and outside, stopping in front of Firefly and handing it to her.
“‘World’s Greatest Mom’...” Firefly read, looking up just as Rainbow gave her another hug.
“You’ve always been there for me.” she said. “Even when I got my super powers, you never gave up on me. You’ve tried to help me every step of the way, and I don’t think I’d be who I am today if you weren’t here.” there was a brief moment of silence before Firefly pulled Rainbow Dash even closer.
It was getting dark as Rainbow put the last few clouds in place over Ponyville, the lower visibility making it slightly more difficult to see until she adjusted her vision. Normally she and the other weather ponies would have had the snow clouds set up a few days in advance, but the weather factory was still slightly damaged from her fight with Brainiac. So lighter snow was needed, with the weather ponies scraping together what they could.
Maybe I should ask my father if there’s some kind of alien snow device so this doesn’t have to happen again. She set that thought aside for now as she began to head home. It was Hearth’s Warming Eve, and she had to make sure everything was ready for the party Pinkie was throwing at Sugarcube Corner. She slowed down and landed at her house, dusting any residual snowflakes off her back before stepping inside. Tank was asleep in his corner, and near the base of her bed was a small stack of presents: five for her friends and three for the Crusaders. Off to the side was a package for her mom, but she would deliver that tomorrow. Giving a small smile, she walked over and picked up the presents, tucking a few under her wings so she would not have to worry about having to make too many trips.
Hopefully Pinkie didn’t drink all the eggnog already; I don’t want to have to eat dirt again just to get some-
“Mama?” Rainbow Dash’s ear flicked towards Ponyville, picking up the sound of a little filly. In her excitement for the upcoming festivities, she had left her super-hearing active. Curious, she set the presents aside and listened.
“Is something wrong, sweetie?” a mare’s voice responded. Rainbow could tell who it was; it was Sea Swirl, a unicorn from Los Pegasus who had moved to Ponyville with her family to study some of the animals that lived in the nearby lake. They’d spoken a few times, but never long enough to really get to know each other.
“Is Dad home yet?”
“He should be home in the morning.”
“But he said he was gonna be home tonight.” the filly said. “He promised...”
“He’ll be home soon, sweetie. It’s a long way back from Saddle Arabia. He’ll be home soon.”
“He promised.” Rainbow blinked, cutting off her hearing for a moment. She could not remember a time where either of her parents had missed Hearth’s Warming, and could not imagine letting some filly have to suffer through... whatever that was like. Concentrating, she zoomed in her vision towards Sea Swirl’s house, searching for any information as to who her husband was and where he might be.
She did not have to look very far. Off to one side was a model of a ship, a small schooner most likely used for trade. A few other bits of memorabilia were strewn around, including a picture of Sea Swirl and a colt probably a year or two older than her.
Okay, guess he’s in the shipping business... makes sense. Maybe that’s the ship he uses. She turned her attention to the model, scanning it for some kind of identification.
Sea Swirl... the ship’s named after his wife... that’s actually kind of cute. After returning to her normal vision, she walked over to one wall and gave it a small poke. The wall slid away, revealing her suit and cape dressed on a ponyquin Rainbow had borrowed from Rarity.
Guess Santa Hooves isn’t the only pony flying out tonight.
...............
The wind had picked up in Manehattan, causing any ship still in the harbor to anchor or tie up as quickly as possible. Rainbow Dash was strong enough that she was unfazed by the wind, although there was the issue of the wind whipping her cape in her face. She identified what appeared to be an office of some sort and descended, landing with a small bounce as she stepped inside.
“Excuse me?” she said, hoping that there was somepony there to talk to. She heard a noise from the back as an older Earth Pony walked in, clearly surprised to see her standing there.
“S-Supermare?” the pony stammered. “What a surprise! I-is something wrong?”
“Do you have any shipping schedules I can look through? I’m looking for a ship called the Sea Swirl.”
“Oh. Of course. Just a minute.” the pony went into the back room for a moment, and Rainbow could hear the sound of rummaging before he returned with a book and a few maps. The Earth Pony spread the maps out and opened the book, thumbing through a few pages before stopping.
“Here it is.” he said. “Sea Swirl. They were supposed to arrive back from Saddle Arabia yesterday, but with this storm rolling in...”
“I would have assumed that the weather teams would have stopped such storms.” Rainbow said.
“Not when you have one this big. It should swing inland tonight, but if they are caught in that storm then I doubt that they’ll arrive until tomorrow.” Rainbow frowned. That little filly had seemed very broken up at the idea that her father was not going to be home for Hearth’s Warming, and she was not about to give up and risk having a little filly’s hopes crushed.
“Where is their approximate location?”
“Well,” The Earth Pony circled a section of the map with his hoof. “If they’ve kept their speed consistent they should be somewhere in this area. But then this storm-”
“That’ll do.” Rainbow turned to leave, pushing her cape out of her face once she was outside. As she got her bearings, the Earth Pony came up behind her.
“Whatever you do, I hope that it works.” he said. Rainbow grinned and took off, speeding off towards her target.
.................
Sea Strider was uncertain just how far off course they were. With the wind and waves battering them around, and the clouds obscuring his vision quite a bit, it was next to impossible for he and his crew to keep the schooner pointed in what he assumed was the right direction. He ducked just as another wave broke on the side of the boat, making the deck extra slick as he made his way towards the helm.
“I think the waves are starting to die down a little.” the Pegasus at the helm shouted over the wind.
“For a given definition of dying.” Sea Strider took a moment to try and get their bearings. “Can you slow us down a bit?”
“If you stow some of the rigging, maybe, but then we might get knocked off course even further.”
“That’s a risk we’ll have to take.” he turned his attention to the crew on deck. “Finish tying everything down and get to work on those sails. With luck, we won’t get too lost when the storm-”
“Boss!” another pony at the bow called, pointing up towards the sky. “I think I see something.” Sea Strider looked up, scanning the clouds for any sign of whatever it was that the other pony had seen. At first he found nothing, just more black clouds and rain, but then a blue and red streak broke through the clouds, looping around once before climbing into the sky again.
“Is... is that Supermare?” Sea Strider grabbed a spyglass from a nearby crate, focusing on the orbiting superhero. She hung in space for a moment, the wind pulling at her cape, before spreading her forelegs wide and bringing her hooves together.
There was a massive crack as Supermare’s hooves connected. The ship and its occupants were rocked as a massive wave of force washed over them, and Sea Strider was forced to avert his eyes. When he looked back, he saw that the force of Supermare’s “clap” had removed every single cloud from the sky, and the wind had died down to relative calm. Sea Strider and his crew stood in silence for a moment as the Mare of Steel descended, brushing her mane out of her face once she landed.
“Sorry that I didn’t get here sooner,” she said. “I may have superpowers, but a good sense of direction is not one of them.”
“Uh, well...” Sea Strider shuffled around a little before continuing. “Thanks.”
“Don’t mention it. This storm would have blown inland and thus put more ponies in danger, and I didn’t want to risk having you all hurt as well.” Supermare smiled. “But now you can continue on without any serious interruptions.”
“Might take a bit longer than we hoped,” the helmspony said, looking up at the sky. “That storm blew us way off course. It’ll take us a day to get our bearings again.” at this, Sea Strider’s heart sank. Not only would they be very far behind schedule, and thus risk having their contract lost, it would be the third year in a row that he would miss Hearth’s Warming. And I promised I’d be back...
“How strong is your ship?” Supermare asked.
“... I’m sorry?”
“How sturdy is your ship? What kind of forces can it take?”
“Well... we once made a trip to Scandineighvia and we got hit by an iceberg. The ship was alright but the iceberg took a bit of damage.”
“That’ll do.” and with that Supermare leapt over the side of the ship, diving down into the water below. Sea Strider stood in confusion for a moment before the entire boat seemed to lurch upwards, all those on deck hanging on for dear life. When Sea Strider looked out again, he gasped as he saw that they were now quite a ways above the water, flying towards what he assumed was Manehattan.
“We’re... we’re flying?” one of the other sailors asked.
“I guess so.” Sea Strider said after a moment. Looks like I will make it after all.
..............
Ah, I’m running late. Rainbow Dash thought as she hid her suit away and gathered up her gifts. After depositing the ship in Manehattan (and giving Sea Strider a lift to the Ponyville train station), she had hurried home as fast as she could, no small task while trying to remain unseen. Then her clasps had snagged while she was trying to get her cape off, and after twenty minutes of struggling with that she was finally ready to go. She set some food out for Tank, locked up her house, and then made her way towards Ponyville, slowing only to catch a few snowflakes on her tongue.
Sugarcube Corner was lit up with dozens of Hearth’s Warming decorations, a shining beacon amongst the low light of the evening. Rainbow slowed to a stop just outside, fluffing her wings a little before entering. Inside, the Cakes had set up a massive ammount of sweets and other snacks, and were now trying to keep Pound and Pumpkin from getting too grabby with some of the items. The Cutie Mark Crusaders were off in another corner, messing around with something Rainbow could not really see, and her friends were all gathered around the fireplace while Pinkie Pie finished up one of her jokes. Their conversation stopped when Rainbow Dash entered the building, Rainbow giving them a small smile before walking towards them.
“Sorry I’m late, guys,” Rainbow said. “I had some other things to deal with before-” She never finished, because Pinkie Pie had tackled her and began squeezing her as tightly as possible.
“Dashie! You’re here!” the pink mare squealed, finally letting go of Rainbow.
“Good to see you too, Pinkie. Here,” Rainbow passed her the gifts. “Can you take care of these for me? I need to go get some food.”
“Sure thing, Dashie. Ooh, and I saved you a bunch of eggnog because I know you get really grumpy when you don’t get any and dirt doesn’t taste very good, even when you pour yummy stuff on top of it.” Rainbow chuckled as Pinkie bounced off, the mare somehow managing to keep every single one of Rainbow’s gifts balanced on her back.
“Glad you could make it, Rainbow.” Twilight said once she and the others had reached Rainbow. “When you didn’t show up we began worrying that something had happened.”
“Oh, you guys didn’t have to worry; I was just out running a few errands, that all.”
“What kind of errands?” Fluttershy asked before backtracking “I-I mean, i-if you don’t mind sharing, that is...”
“Nah it’s okay, I don’t mind.” Rainbow twitched her ear towards Sea Swirl’s home. She could hear the family reuniting, the happy squeals of a little filly bringing a smile to her face. “I just made sure that a few ponies didn’t have to spend Hearth’s Warming Eve apart from each other.”
It was another slow day. Cloudsdale was fully repaired, the weather teams had only a few adjustments to make, and Rumble had got off to school without any major problems. So, once again, Thunderlane found himself with nothing to do, so sleeping in was called for. He lay sprawled out over his bed, a pillow resting on his face to block out the sunlight, snoring slightly. In his mind drifted a multitude of images, most of them incomprehensible but one image did repeat itself a few times: a red S set inside a shield.
He had stayed in that position for almost half an hour before hearing a knock at the door. Thunderlane pushed the pillow off his head and got out of bed, yawning as he made his way to the door. He opened the door and found... nothing. Sighing, he closed the door and turned around, almost tripping over a familiar rainbow maned mare dressed in a red cape and blue suit.
“Took you long enough to let me in.” Rainbow Dash said, giving Thunderlane a small smirk.
“You know, when somepony comes over, they usually wait outside for somepony to let them in?”
“Most ponies don’t date superheroes.” Rainbow shuffled a little. “And isn’t that what special someponies do? Walk into their special somepony’s house?” a pause.
“Well... yeah, I guess, but...” the two looked around, trying to find the right words to say.
“Right. Sorry if I spooked you or anything; I’m still kinda new to this whole relationship thing.”
“I understand.” he chuckled a little. “So, now that you’re here...”
“Oh yeah, that’s right.” Rainbow fluffed her wings. “I was thinking, since you and I didn’t have anything going on tomorrow, that we could go out and get some lunch or something.” Thunderlane perked up. Ever since the fight at Cloudsdale, he and Rainbow had not really gotten a chance to see each other all that much; a few small words, a glance or two, nothing more.
“Sounds great. But... what if something comes up? I mean, I don’t want to distract you from anything important.”
“Brainiac’s still in stone and Silversmith’s weekly attempt to kill me happened two days ago, so I’d say we’re in the clear.”
“... A business pony is trying to kill you?”
“Long story. I’ll explain it to you some other time if you’re really that interested.”
“... I can live with that. So...” there was a pause. “Where do you want to go?”
“There’s that little restaurant over by Sugarcube Corner; Twilight took me there after the incident in Canterlot and I remember it being pretty good.”
“Okay, that’s what we’ll do.”
“Great.” Rainbow smiled. “Now, I’ve got to make a few rounds and Twilight said she wanted to show me something, so I’ll see you tomorrow.” she gave Thunderlane a quick peck and exited his house, racing off towards Seaddle once she was certain no one was watching. Thunderlane stood in the doorway for a few minutes, watching the sky where Rainbow Dash had disappeared.
................
“So, Twi. What is it that you wanted me to see?” Rainbow asked later that day as she stepped into Twilight’s Library. The entire structure had changed; for one, dozens more bookshelves had been added due to Twilight having “discovered” a few new spells during a trip to Manehattan, and Rainbow’s fur stood on end as she crossed over the threshold.
Although, that might also have been from the freaky helmet and necklace that Twilight seemed to be wearing more often. She was not wearing them now, but it still creeped Rainbow out.
“Well, I was messing around with a piece of Kryptonite,” Twilight said, turning to face her friend. “And I think I found a way to neutralize the harmful radiation it gives off.”
“... Are you sure that helmet didn’t knock a few screws loose?” Twilight giggled.
“Of course not. If anything, Nabu’s been more than helpful with my research.”
“Oh, so the helmet has a name now?”
“That’s irrelevant.” Twilight turned around and reached for a lead box. “Now, I applied a few neutralizing spells and some alchemy to the Kryptonite, trying to change its makeup into something else. I... did make a few mistakes at first, but I think I found the right mixture this time.” She passed the box to Rainbow Dash, who held it at arms length as if it were a dangerous animal Fluttershy had asked her to hold.
“Twilight, it’s great that you’re trying to help me and all, but what if this ends up killing me even faster than regular Kryptonite?”
“We can always close the box then.” Twilight gave a small smile. “And I’ve been looking in to a few spells that can slow or reverse Kryptonite Poisoning. You should be fine.” Twilight, if I open this up, and I die, I’m going to kill you. Rainbow Dash swallowed and slowly moved to open the box, her wings tensing in preparation for flying away as fast as she could.
She winced as the box fully opened, bathing her in red light. Any second she expected to feel dizzy and collapse, but nothing happened. She blinked a few times and looked into the box, eyeing the glowing red Kryptonite.
“It... it’s not killing me.”
“YES!” Twilight cried, jumping in place for a few moments. “It works. I can’t believe it works!”
“Whoa, hold on Twi.” Rainbow closed the box and handed it back to Twilight. “Maybe it’s just taking a little longer to kill me. Why don’t I just come back tomorrow and if I’m okay then yeah, it worked.”
“Oh... I guess that would be reasonable.” Twilight took the box back and placed it on her work table. “Guess I’ll see you tomorrow then?”
“Yeah, I’ll be over just after breakfast, if that’s cool with you.” Rainbow nodded and turned to leave, her mind mulling over the possibilities of never having to worry about death by green rocks again.
However, unbeknownst to her, small changes began to take place within Rainbow’s body.
...............
Maxima, queen of Almerac, had a problem.
Normally, she would have just beaten the problem into submission, but doing that had only made the problem worse. She had driven away every “suitor” she could find, and to her that was beginning to get annoying. She sat on her throne, idly spinning her sword with her hoof and waiting for a solution to her problem to manifest.
“Um... Your Highness?” Maxima’s eye’s darted to the source of the voice, another Earth Pony dressed in the garb of a servant, who was carrying a small stack of forms. Oh, not this again.
“What is it now?”
“Well, you see... some of the citizens are complaining that there hasn’t been enough food-”
“That’s ridiculous.” Maxima gestured to the room around her. “I’ve looked around, I haven’t seen a food shortage.”
“Well... that because you’re getting all of it.”
“And why shouldn’t I?” Maxima stood up to face the servant, placing her sword on her back. “I am the queen of Almerac; I am entitled to taking what I need, am I not?”
“I-I suppose so, but... do you always need so much?”
“Of course. When one is as powerful as I am, they should have what they desire.” she turned away. “If you wanted to be helpful, you and your fellow should continue looking for a suitable mate for me.”
“But we’ve looked everywhere, Your Majesty, and you’ve sent everyone away-”
“That’s because your definition of ‘searching’ isn’t thorough enough!” Maxima barked. “I asked you to find me a strong warrior, and all I get are a bunch of good for nothings that are about as capable as fresh recruits. Is that too much to ask, to find me the strongest warrior possible?”
“Um, n-no your majesty.” the servant shuffled a little. “B-but... well, we were hearing rumors.”
“About what?”
“Well... On Equestria, there's a... pony. A pony that was said to be the last Kryptonian.”
“Really?” Maxima’s curiosity was piqued. She had never met a Kryptonian during her lifetime, but she had heard of them being highly capable of technology, and resisting the forces of Apokolips was not a downside either. “What else have you heard?”
“Not much... they did say the pony was very powerful.” That was all that Maxima needed to hear. A pony with great power, from a race with a glorious history. Maxima would find this pony and claim them as her own. With a smile, she moved to the center of her throne room, pulling out a small teleport bracelet as she did so.
“I am going to Equestria to claim this pony.” she said, keying in the coordinates.
“But what about the food shortages?”
“I can’t be bothered by such things right now.” Maxima finished preparing for transit and pressed the button on the bracelet. There was a minute pause before she was surrounded by glowing light, her body dissolving to nothing as she was teleported to Equestria.
................
Rainbow Dash did not get a lot of sleep. She kept tossing and turning but she could never find a comfortable position, and by the time she managed to get to sleep it was nearly morning. With a groan she opened her eyes, glaring up at the ceiling as if she was trying to burn a hole through it.
Well... this day’s off to a great start, she thought before yawning and forcing herself out of bed. She blinked a few times before yawning, shuffling over to the bathroom to get ready for the day. Her mind drifted to her upcoming date with Thunderlane; her luck with getting time to herself was rather abysmal now that she was a superhero, but despite her worries she had a good feeling that today was going to go well. She smiled and stepped into the bathroom, reaching for a towel before freezing, her eyes fixed on her mirror.
Staring back at her was a colt. He was about the same size as Rainbow Dash... in fact, he looked almost exactly like Rainbow, blue fur and multicolored mane and all. Rainbow blinked, and to her surprise the colt blinked at the same time she did.
“Okay... this can’t be as bad as it seems.” she said before gasping and placing a hoof to her throat. Her voice had dropped several octaves, and was less raspy than she was used to. “W-what’s wrong with my voice?”
The realization came rather quickly. The reflection, her voice, the fact that nothing about her felt right at the moment. Somehow, Rainbow Dash had been turned into a colt.
Once she realized this, she began to scream.
.................
“So, I should be fine, won’t I?” Rainbow glared at Twilight, trying to bite back as much of her, or his, rage as she could. “Can you explain to me why I’m a guy?”
“I-I had no idea that this would happen.” Twilight stammered, taking a few steps back.
“And you decided to expose it to me anyway?! Did you want me to turn into a guy as part of some weird fetish thingy?!”
“I’d never do that!... Look Rainbow, I know you’re upset, but I really didn’t mean to have this happen to you. I-I’m sorry.” Rainbow’s glare intensified, but he found he could not hate Twilight. Yes, the unicorn had turned Rainbow into a colt, but Twilight did not show any signs of being malicious about it. With a sigh, Rainbow lowered his head and turned away.
“Okay. I’m sorry I yelled at you.” his panic quickly reasserted itself and he grabbed Twilight. “But what am I going to do? I can’t spend the rest of my life as a guy!”
“Rainbow, I’m sure it’s really not that bad-”
“Really? I distinctly remember being called Supermare, not Supercolt! Nopony’s going to think I’m the real deal if they see a colt! And what about Thunderlane? If he finds out I’m a guy now, he’ll dump me and look for somepony else!”
“If he really loves you, I don’t think-”
“And what about me? If he does dump me does that mean I’ve got to start dating... mares?”
“Rainbow, I think you’re over exaggerating this a bit.”
“Am I? What if somepony like Colgate or Rose starts getting attracted to me. What if I start getting attracted to them? I don’t want to be gay!”
“Rainbow, you’re a colt now; you wouldn’t be considered ‘gay’ if you dated mares.”
“No, my body’s a colt now; my brain is still Rainbow Dash! And it’s not just the dating; what if everypony sees me and starts making fun of me? ‘Hey Rainbow, did you finally decide to get in touch with your masculine side?’ ‘How much was the operation?’ ‘Can you write your name in the snow?” Rainbow pulled Twilight closer to him. “I DON’T WANT TO BE A COLT ANYMORE!”
“I was beginning to realize that.” Twilight said, finally freeing herself from Rainbow’s clutches. “Rainbow, you really need to calm down. I’ll look for a spell to turn you back into a mare, and then you won’t have to worry about anything anymore.”
“Okay... But what am I supposed to do until then? I’m meeting Thunderlane in two hours for lunch, and if he sees me like this-”
“Why don’t you go and explain what happened?” Rainbow looked at Twilight for a minute, trying to gauge if his friend was joking. When he got nothing, he sighed.
“I guess I could do that... But I think it’s best if I put my costume on.”
“Why?”
“I’ll get less awkward questions as to why Supermare got turned into a colt then why Rainbow Dash got turned into a colt. You just fix the problem and turn me back into a mare, I’ll handle everything else.”
“Well, okay.” Twilight pulled a few books off the shelf and began to thumb through them. “Come back tomorrow and I think I’ll have a spell ready.”
“If this spell turns me into a mule or gets me pregnant, I’m going to kill you.” Rainbow exited the library and headed for home, flying as fast as he could so nopony would be able to see his changed form. As he flew, he thought of just what to tell Thunderlane and what to do afterwards. Maybe we’ll just have to stop seeing each other until this is over...
...............
Maxima stepped into the town, surveying the buildings and the ponies. It was a small peasant community, complete with shops and farmers. It was hardly a place to find somepony as powerful as a Kryptonian, but it would be a start.
“You there!” she said, approaching the nearest pony, a slightly chubby blue mare with a red and pink mane. “I am searching for a Kryptonian. Have you seen them?”
“Uh...” the mare shuffled her hooves, backing away slightly from Maxima. “I don’t think so...”
“Do you know somepony that would know where the Kryptonian is. And hurry up, peasant, I would like to leave as soon as I can.” The other pony flinched slightly, and Maxima saw that she was not getting anywhere. Frustration rising, she moved on to the next pony, a wall-eyed Pegasus accompanied by a young unicorn. “Would you know where the Kryptonian is?”
“Cryptozoo what now?” the Pegasus asked, Maxima biting her lip to avoid shouting at the other pony.
“You are trying my patience, peasant.” she growled. “Where is the Kryptonian?”
“Are you looking for me?” a voice said from behind her. Maxima turned and saw a beige Pegasus colt dressed in a red cape and blue suit, a shield symbol set on his chest. That voice, and those muscles... I do believe I have found a match.
“I am Maxima, Queen of Almerac.” She prepared herself for whatever attack the colt might have for her. “I have come to challenge you.”
“Why?” the colt asked. “What have I ever done to harm you?” Oh, he’s playing hard to get... that is so adorable!
“Do not ask such questions. Face me, or would you rather I call you a coward?”
“Look, I’m dealing with a lot of issues right now, and I don’t want to fight you and make things worse. So if you would just go back to Almanac or wherever it is that you’re from, everything will be fine.”
“If you will not initiate the fight,” Maxima smirked. “Then I shall do the honors.” Maxima rushed forward, catching the colt with a punch to the jaw. The colt flew through the air and banged against a wall, shaking his head to remove any dizziness. Maxima rushed forward to deliver a second strike, but the colt spun around and bucked her in the face, sending her flying through their air.
Now this... this is a fight! Maxima righted herself just as the colt dove down on her, She dodged the first strike and managed to deflect the second, throwing the colt to the ground with a grapple. The colt broke from her grasp and swept her legs out from under her, and before she hit the ground he grabbed her by her forelegs and smacked her around like a ragdoll. Once she was free, Maxima tackled the colt and delivered three punches to his face, hoping to beat him into submission. But the colt barely seemed fazed by the attack, and responded by throwing her up in the air once more, only this time angled away from the town.
Maxima landed with a crash, the wind being driven from her lungs. Inwardly, she was smiling; she had found a pony who was strong enough to fight her on even terms, maybe even stronger. All she had to do was inform him of her reward and they would be together. She got to her hooves just as the colt came towards her, and as he neared Maxima jumped up and tackled him out of the air.
As the two tumbled through the air, they continued to trade blows. Maxima put her opponent in a headlock, slamming her hoof into his face repeatedly. The colt would have none of that, and broke free before giving her a solid punch to the face. As Maxima reeled, the colt flew up and kicked her in the back, driving her into the ground.
“Had enough?” the colt asked, landing in front of Maxima.
“Almost.” she said, standing up and approaching the colt. “You have proven that you possess great strength and combat skill, something that I admire in a mate.” at this, the colt took a step back.
“W-what?”
“I came here to challenge you to see if you would be my mate. As you are clearly incredibly strong, very handsome and highly skilled, I can think of no other pony to have as a mate.”
“B-but I’m not a colt. I’m a mare.” Maxima was confused, but did not allow that to show.
“You don’t look like a mare to me.”
“I can explain.”
“Oh, I’m sure it’ll make for a wonderful story on our wedding night.”
“What?!”
“Maybe you could even tell it to our foals someday!”
“No! I don’t want to have foals!” the colt cried, taking off to get out of Maxima’s reach. “I’m not a colt and I’m not marrying you!”
“Oh, but who wouldn’t want to find love in the arms of the most powerful mare on Almerac?”
“Me!” with that the colt flew off, a small mach cone forming around him. Again with playing hard to get. That makes him even more desirable.
“Wait, my love!” Maxima called, sprinting after the colt. “I must take you back to my palace for our wedding!”
...................
Thunderlane made his way towards Ponyville, quietly humming to himself. It was a nice day off, and he was happy that he would be spending it with Rainbow Dash unless she needed to go and save the world again. If that happened... well, there was always next week.
As he neared Ponyville, he was almost bowled over by a red and blue streak. Once he got his bearings again he saw Rainbow Dash holding on to him, worry painted across her... his face.
“Thunderlane!” he cried. “Thank Celestia I found you.”
“Rainbow?... Why are you a colt?”
“That’d take too long to explain. Look, I need your help; there’s this crazy mare chasing after me and she wants me to be her husband or something.”
“Uh... are you really accepting the whole ‘guy’ thing that quick-”
“NO! I’M A GIRL!” Rainbow stopped, placing a hoof to his throat. “Hey, my voice is back to normal... My voice is back to normal! I’m not a guy anymore!”
“You still look like one.” this drew a glare from Rainbow.
“I realize that, but that means that the whole ‘guy’ thing is wearing off. I’ll be a girl in no time.”
“My love!” another voice cried. Thunderlane looked and saw a tall, light green Earth Pony with a red mane racing towards them. “You cannot run from me so easily! I...” she stopped, sizing up Thunderlane before looking to Rainbow Dash. “My love, who is this colt you are consorting with?”
“Uh, my name’s Thunderlane, and-”
“And he’s my special somepony.” Rainbow snapped. “Go get your own.” there was a pause as the mare looked between the two of them.
“Well... I suppose you could bring him along with us. I’m not adverse to sharing.”
“WHAT?!”
“Uh, as the only unaffiliated party here,” Thunderlane said, raising a hoof. “Could you explain what’s going on?”
“I am Maxima, Queen of Almerac. I challenged this colt here to combat, and since I found him to be perfect I decided to take him as my mate.”
“Your... mate?”
“Indeed.”
“You do realize that he’s... really a mare?” there was a pause as Maxima thought this over.
“Well, I suppose his voice is a bit mare-ish.” she mused. “But it doesn’t matter. Our love shall be a testament to all, and our union will produce the strongest heirs the galaxy has ever seen.” Thunderlane could hear Rainbow gagging behind him, but ignored her for now.
“Why would she... he, whatever, want to marry you?”
“He is strong enough to best me in combat. Is that not good enough?”
“No, it’s not.” Thunderlane landed and approached Maxima. “Just because somepony’s strong enough to fight you doesn’t mean they’ll love you? What about knowing their likes and dislikes? Building memories?”
“That will happen after our wedding.”
“If he doesn’t decide to leave you at the first opening.” Maxima glared at Thunderlane as he continued. “You need to show some respect to those that you love, otherwise you’re only going to drive them away and make them hate you.”
“And what would you know about love, peasant?!” Maxima shouted, stepping towards Thunderlane to try and intimidate him. “I respect this colt; he is the strongest one I have ever met-”
“But if you respected him, you’d let him decide what he wanted to do with his life instead of forcing him to marry you.” Thunderlane returned Maxima’s glare. “You may love him, but he’ll never love you if you don’t respect him.” there was a long pause.
“... Fine.” Maxima sighed. “I see that you’ll need some time to think this over, and just beating some sense into you is not working. I shall return in a week to receive your answer, and then we shall know a lover’s embrace.” She reached for a bracelet on her left foreleg, pressing a button before disappearing in a flash of light.
“‘Lover’s embrace’?” Rainbow landed next to Thunderlane and gagged. “Gah, she sounds just like Rarity... except, rude.”
“And your manners are obviously impeccable.” Thunderlane muttered, receiving a playful swat from Rainbow.
“So... I guess we can’t really go out while I’m still a colt, can we?”
“I guess not.” there was a pause.
“Maybe... You could come back to my place for a bit?” she asked. “We could order take out or something.”
“That sounds okay, but... You’re still a colt. Won’t ponies get... ideas?”
“Hey, it’s wearing off.” Rainbow smirked. “Besides, don’t you want to be there when I really turn back into a mare?” Thunderlane blinked, a small bead of sweat rolling down his temple.
Must not get turned on by a colt, must not get turned on by a colt, must not get turned on by a colt...
Stupid sexy colt Rainbow Dash.
.............
Maxima was seated on her throne, again. She stared out into space, not really focusing on anything in particular. The conversation with that colt played over and over again in her mind, and she found herself growing frustrated.
Who does that colt think he is that he can order me around? I’ll show him; I will respect the one week limit, but once my love realizes his passion for me, I shall take my vengeance out on that... that interloper. She was about to formulate a plan when there was a crash. She looked up as a heavily armed, white furred minotaur flew through the ceiling on a skull covered motorcycle, coming to a stop in the center of the room.
“Alright toots!” the minotaur said, dismounting and pulling a large chain and shotgun off the bike. “Th’ name’s Lobo. I’m lookin’ fer this geek named Suza, got a big price on his head and I aim ta collect. Now, if’n ya want ta keep yer face, I suggest tellin’ me where he is... or don’t, it makes things more fun that way.” Maxima regarded the bounty hunter for a moment. He was loud, brutish, and smelled funny, but he was positively massive, muscles rippling down his body.
... Why did I ever go to Equestria in the first place? This one is perfect!
Rainbow Dash did not want to consider herself petty, but she really hated dealing with messes caused by Silversmith; one of his experiments would go wrong and threaten to destroy Manehattan, she would come along and deal with it, and his only thanks was trying to kill her. She was not sure of what the details of his latest screw up were, but from what she had heard while flying to Manehattan it involved griffon mercenaries and a prototype suit of some kind.
Maybe Silversmith designs these things for the sole purpose of getting them stolen by nutcases. She put that thought aside as she neared Manehattan, pulling up to get a better view of the situation. The mercenaries were moving towards the docks, a machine that resembled a large, misshapen pony leading the way. She looped around until she was in front of them, took a deep breath, and unleashed a mighty gale that swept the mercenaries off their feet. The machine was unaffected, and as she landed it readied whatever weapons it had in preparation for the coming fight.
“I’ll give you a chance to surrender, so you don’t hurt yourself or anypony else.” she said, staring down the machine. There was no vocal response; instead, the machine raised one of its weapons and fired, a bright red beam shooting out and striking Rainbow Dash. She flipped through the air once before stabilizing, and with a small snort she rushed forward and tackled the suit, the two landing with an almighty crash. The suit tried to right itself, but to no avail before Rainbow Dash smashed her hooves down on the thing’s shoulder, snapping off one of its weapons and giving her room to rip the front half of the suit clean off.
Inside was a male griffon with gray and brown feathers and a small scar above his right eye. Upon seeing Rainbow he gave her a smug smile. “Good to see you again, Supermare. What took you so long?”
“Corben,” Rainbow growled, yanking the mercenary free of the wreckage. “How’d you get out of jail this time?”
“I played nice, surprisingly enough.” he replied, still smiling. “Of course, there’s not much pay in begging on the street like some layabout, so I had to violate my parole a few times to get by. Surely a mare of your understanding would see that a griffon like me has a few needs that must be taken care of.”
“Nearly demolishing a city block in your attempt to get... whatever that was?” Rainbow nodded towards the wrecked suit. “How do your needs justify that?”
“Wouldn’t we love to know.” Corben chuckled before continuing. “Love to chat, but I expect the police are waiting for me, so if you don’t mind...” Rainbow gave an irritated grunt before taking off, the griffon mercenary clutched in her hooves. Fortunately, she only had to go two blocks, for the police had been tailing the fight for some time now, hanging back to avoid being shot by the weapons the suit carried.
“Officer,” she said to the collection of cops approaching her before descending. “This is the griffon responsible for hijacking the Silver Industries hardware. I’ll leave him to you for now.” the leading officer nodded before moving to handcuff Corben. The mercenary’s smug look had not wavered much, even as he was led away by the Manehattan Police.
Rainbow’s annoyance grew as she saw a familiar gray Earth Pony and his assistant approaching.
“I suppose I should be thanking you, Supermare,” Silversmith said, giving her a thin smile. “Had that mech been taken to... wherever that griffon had planned, who knows how badly-”
“Save the speeches for later, Silversmith.” Rainbow snapped, turning to face the businesspony. “First it was that laser thing last month, and now this? Your military contracts tend to attract a lot of thieves, and they always show up just before you’re about to make a big show of things to the military.”
“Well it’s only natural.” Silversmith shrugged. “Silver Industries is at the cutting edge of technological innovation, so radicals and mercenaries trying to steal my work is expected. I imagine the Griffon Kingdoms would kill for even one weapon I produce.”
“Why don’t you just sell them your weapons instead of tricking them into stealing?”
“Because, Supermare, I have more important things to worry about than gun running.” Rainbow noted that Silversmith lost his composure for the briefest of instances, but he recovered too quickly for her to exploit it. “Mercy, go back and get a team to recover the suit; we might be able to get it repaired by the end of the month.”
“Yes sir,” the Earth Pony mare nodded before wandering off, leaving Rainbow alone with Silversmith.
“Now, don’t you have some ponies to save elsewhere?” he asked, his smile returning again.
“This isn’t over, Silversmith.” Rainbow replied, taking flight once again. “Any more of your tech gets stolen, and the mercenaries might not be the only ones going to jail.” with that she departed, heading back towards Ponyville.
Really shouldn’t have let my anger get in the way of things, she thought to herself as she flew. It’ll only encourage him.
...
The prison where they had moved Corben was up in the mountains, near the abandoned base Steel Wing had used to imprison Supermare. Silversmith had visited before, when he had first hired the griffon to steal the Silver Industries mech, and he was returning to “check up” on his associate’s stay.
As Corben was led in, Silversmith noted a few things. Primarily, the mercenary had appeared to have lost weight, his face thin and pale, and his breathing had become a bit more labored. Well, this is an interesting development. Silversmith remained passive as Corben sat down across from him.
“Let me guess, you’re asking for a refund?” Corben asked, his voice more hoarse than usual.
“I rarely asked for refunds, especially after that performance you gave me.” Silversmith replied. “Although... you don’t look well. Is something wrong?”
“Plenty.” Corben coughed, and Silversmith thought he saw a small splatter of blood. “Turns out that I’ve got some weird blood disease. Only got worse when they dragged me back in here.” he coughed again.
“I’m sorry to hear that.” Silversmith said, ignoring the mercenary’s distress. “Is it treatable?”
“With what they got? They said I’ve got a few more months to live, and that’s being generous.” Corben chuckled. “You’d think they’d let me out to spend my last days alive in freedom, but nope. I’ll just end up dying here.”
“I see.” there was a pause before Silversmith spoke again. “Actually... there might be a way out of this.”
“What?” Corben asked, one eyebrow raised.
“I’ve been working on this... project. It originally started as a project to increase longevity, but with the right adjustments I could save you.”
“What is it?” the griffon leaned forward, obviously interested. “Anything’s better than dying in here.”
“Just as I described it.” Silversmith smiled. “Not only will your blood poisoning be cured, but you may even get stronger and faster. Given your line of work, that could be very useful.”
“Right.” Corben coughed again. “What’s the catch?”
Silversmith chuckled. “There isn’t a catch, my friend. You’ve done good work for me and others; consider this a token of my goodwill and a thank you for all those jobs and favors.” Corben was not stupid, and Silversmith guessed that he saw through that last bit. But if he did, he did not indicate it.
“Okay... I’ll try your little project.” he chuckled, leaning back in his chair. “If this works, I’ll do whatever you’d like for the foreseeable future. And if it doesn’t-”
“You won’t have to die in a prison cell.” Silversmith finished before standing. “I have to go; business is going well and I want to make sure it stays that way. I’ll have somepony come and feth you by the end of the week, and then we can begin.”
“Whatever you say, Lex.” As Silversmith left, the guards returned to escort Corben back to his cell. Once he was sure he was alone, Silversmith let out a dark chuckle.
“This has gone even smoother than I thought it would.”
...
Corben was uncertain how long he had been out. He had finally been called in for Silversmith’s “project”, the disease in his body having all but killed him. One trip to an operating table and he was out, his mind lost to the dark void of his subconscious.
He was coming to, but he still could not feel anything. Must be the drugs.
“Ah, you’re waking up.” he heard Silversmith say off to his right. “How do you feel?” Corben felt... fresher. Younger even. The pain that the disease caused was gone, and he did not feel as groggy as he thought he would coming out of an operation. He took a moment to flex his limbs, marvelling at how smoothly each part of his body moved.
“Well, whatever you did, it certainly worked.” he said, sitting up and looking to the businesspony. “Don’t suppose I could get something to eat? Or should I wait and let whatever it is you used to knock me out wear off?”
“Oh, you should be fine.” Silversmith turned to exit, Corben hopping off the operating table and following after him. The floor feels weird... It’s like I’m barely touching it.... “I installed a food court a few levels up, so that my staff can stay close to their stations at all times. It’s not fine dining or anything, but it should be enough to hold you over for a little while.”
“You’d be surprised; those paychecks you gave me didn’t all go towards hiring new muscle.” Corben smirked. “I might be a crook, but I still like to live comfortably.”
“Don’t we all.” With that, Silversmith disappeared down a separate hallway while Corben made his way upstairs. He still was not feeling anything, but decided not to worry about it right now. He was up and moving, and more importantly not dying, and that’s all that mattered for now.
Silversmith was not joking when he said that the food court was nothing fancy; if anything, it was a glorified high school cafeteria. Guess some expenses had to be addressed, he thought, moving quickly through the lines to find something that looked edible. Once he gathered enough food, he found a corner far away from the corporate drones Silversmith had employed, watching them as they went about in their own miserable little routines.
Yet another advantage of the mercenary life, he thought, reaching for a nearby apple. I couldn’t imagine being some drone. With a chuckle, he inspected the apple for any blemishes, and finding one proceeded to take a bite.
It was then that he realized something was very wrong. Sure, he could feel himself biting into the apple, but the taste? The texture? He felt nothing. Puzzled, and with a bit of worry creeping into his mind, he took another tentative nibble, his worry growing as he once again tasted nothing.
Don’t panic... It’s probably just the drugs... right? But it was not just the apple that was off. At the entrance to another hallway was a fan, positioned to dry a patch of carpet where somepony had spilled a drink. Corben was within the fan’s arc, but he felt nothing every time the thing passed over him. He had been beaten up and sent to the hospital enough times to know that there were no drugs that could knock all of his nerves for a loop.
“What the hell did Silversmith do to me?” he got up quickly, hurrying to a nearby bathroom so he could have some privacy. Once he was alone, he hurried to the sink and turned it on, his panic growing as he felt nothing after jamming his talons beneath the stream of water.
I... I can’t feel anything... why can’t I feel anything? He looked up at himself and saw that there was an unusual glow behind his eyes. He blinked a few times, in case his mind was playing tricks on him, but the glow remained.
Panic had eclipsed reason. Without thinking, Corben raised his talons and raked them across his face.
Only then did he scream.
...
Silversmith was interrupted from his latest project when the door to his office was all but knocked off its hinges. Standing in the doorway was Corben, half of his face shredded off to reveal a metal endoskeleton and glowing green eyes. He found out sooner than I anticipated... Better play this carefully.
“You.” the griffon mercenary growled, stalking over to Silversmith’s desk. “What did you do to me?!”
“I cured you of your blood poisoning.” Silversmith replied, his voice even and controlled. This did not appear to be the answer that Corben wanted, as the griffon slammed his fists into the desk and split it in half.
“You bastard! You turned me into... into... some kind of machine!”
“How observant of you.” Corben grabbed Silversmith and hoisted him in the air, his claws wrapping around the Earth Pony’s throat.
“At first I thought it was just the drugs you were using,” Corben snarled, tightening his grip. “But they won’t wear off. I can’t feel anything; not the wind, not some apple, nothing! Do you know what it’s like not to feel anything?!”
“My friend, I think you are overreacting to this turn of events-” he never finished, for Corben tightened his grip around Silversmith’s throat.
“Overreacting?! You think I’m overreacting?!” Corben’s glare intensified. “What could possibly make you think I’m overreacting to being turned into some robot?!”
“Cyborg...” Silversmith corrected between his gasps for breath. “And can’t you see... you can take... revenge?”
“Oh believe me, I am.” Corben chuckled. “Once I pop your head like a grape, I’m going to smash this entire building to the ground. That should be a good revenge.”
“Not... me, you... idiot.” Silversmith looked down at the griffon as best he could. “... Supermare.” This caught Corben’s attention. He released Silversmith, the Earth Pony gasping for breath and trying to compose himself.
“Talk. What does Supermare have to do with this?”
“Well, think for a moment.” Silversmith composed himself and looked at Corben. “I turned you into a cyborg, that’s true, but who was it that got you sent to prison all those times? Who was it that destroyed your once illustrious mercenary career? Who was it that had you thrown into a prison where your condition worsened and you nearly died?”
“... Supermare.”
“Correct.” Silversmith smirked as he continued. “You can kill me if you’d like, but just think of it; Corben, the griffon who killed the Mare of Steel. Every warlord and mercenary will be begging for your service, and you won’t need to steal two bit mechs and weapons again. And,” Silversmith pointed a hoof at Corben’s chest. “I added a little surprise, just in case you do end up fighting her.”
“... So why shouldn’t I kill you now?” Corben asked, his remaining eyebrow raised.
“Why waste time and energy on a weak businesspony like me? Besides, you’ll need all the energy you can get to fight the strongest pony in Equestria, won’t you?” Corben was silent for a long while, and Silversmith could sense the smallest hints of doubt creeping into his mind. Finally, the griffon grinned, a grotesque half grin now that half his face was missing.
“Alright,” Corben said, chuckling. “Kill Supermare... should be nice. After that, I might come back here and kill you; who knows?” with that, Corben turned to leave, Silversmith letting out a frustrated sigh before standing. There was a pause before Mercy hurried in, the mare rushing up to where Silversmith’s desk had been.
“Are you alright, sir?” she asked, still calm and composed as ever.
“I’m fine, Mercy.” he replied, turning around to look out at the Manehattan skyline. “I’ll need a new desk, though... see to it that I have one by tomorrow.”
“Yes, sir.”
...
Once again, Rainbow Dash found herself in Manehattan, swooping between the buildings as she headed towards the heart of the city. She had only gotten a small bit of information concerning what was happening, but it was enough for her to know that ponies were in danger and she was needed.
As she pulled up, she was able to get a better view of the situation. Most of the civilians had run off, and in the center of the plaza was a griffon and a collection of smashed carts. Adjusting her vision, she saw that it was Corben, but half of his face was missing to reveal a metal skull. That’s just disgusting. As she neared, Corben spotted her and turned to face her.
“I was wondering when you would show up, Supermare,” he said, his half smile unnerving her. “Missed me since we last met?”
“Corben,” Rainbow Dash said, landing in front of him. “What happened to you?”
“You know, earlier I was panicking that I’d become a monster,” he said, smirking. “But now that I’ve gotten a chance to get out, I find that I kind of like it. Maybe killing Silversmith is a waste of time.”
“Silversmith... he did this to you?” Corben’s smirk vanished, his right talon clenching into a fist.
“No... You did!” With that he swung at her, his fist colliding with Rainbow’s jaw. Unprepared, Rainbow was driven back, much to the surprise of the griffon cyborg. “Well well, now isn’t that interesting? Guess I’m a bit stronger than I thought.”
“Corben, you’ve gone insane,” Rainbow Dash readied herself for an attack. “Silversmith’s just using you. I don’t know for what, but he’s-”
“Actually, I think a name like ‘Corben’ isn’t really fitting for someone like me.” he lunged forward, swiping at Rainbow Dash but missing by a few inches. “I’m a new griffon, might as well get a new name. Perhaps you should call me... Metallo.”
“Doesn’t matter what you’re called; you’re still putting innocents in danger.” the newly christened Metallo swung at Rainbow once again, but she ducked under the strike and bucked, catching the cyborg in the chest and knocking him back. Metallo barely seemed fazed, and managed to intercept and dodge away from Rainbow’s followup attack. Once again he landed a hit on her, but now that Rainbow was prepared she was able to take the hit and keep moving.
Still, it was obvious that Metallo’s skill as a fighter was helping him greatly. Rainbow’s attacks hit air just as often as they hit him, and although his attacks could not hurt her he was still landing quite a few more than she would have liked. All the while, he never lost that smug grin of his, even at the times when the battle turned against him.
There’s more to this that I don’t see...
“Getting tired?” Metallo asked, ducking under one punch only to walk right into a second.
“Of you, yes.” Rainbow dodged and took flight, angling for a strike to disable the cyborg for good. She had scanned him several times with her x-ray vision, looking for a power source, but could not find one.
“Well, Silversmith did say he made some... ‘modifications’.” Against all odds, Metallo’s smirk grew even wider. “Why don’t we find out what those were?” Rainbow snorted and dove, just as Metallo turned towards her and a compartment in his chest slid open.
Rainbow’s anger turned to panic as she was bathed in green light, her strength being sapped quickly by the unearthly radiation. Kryptonite! He’s powered by Kryptonite!
Rainbow collapsed to the ground, trying her best to get back up and escape. She almost got back to her hooves before Metallo kicked her hard in the side.
“What’s the matter, Supermare? I thought you said you weren’t tired.” Metallo laughed before kicking her again. “How does it feel, to be just as weak as everypony else? To be the one being beaten.” Rainbow had no time to respond before Metallo kicked her again. “You talk big, but what are you without your powers? Just a scared little pony in way over her head.”
“Not... yet...” With what remained of her strength, Rainbow kicked out and struck Metallo in the legs, causing the cyborg to fall away from her. Now that she was not being directly bombarded by the radiation, Rainbow took the time to make her way to the nearest alley, just so her strength could recover.
“Clever... guess there’s more to you than I thought.” she heard Metallo say, the griffon searching the alleys for her. “What, are you going to drag this out longer than it needs to? I’ve got the rock, and you’re just going to get weaker every time you come near me.”
He’s right. I try a direct approach he’ll just blast me with that Kryptonite. Rainbow looked around, trying to think of something. She moved further into the alley, just far enough to hopefully stay out of sight of Metallo.
I could fly up and attack him from behind... No, if he turns around before I reach him, I’m dead... I need to disable the Kryptonite in his chest, but how? Rainbow growled in frustration before her hoof brushed up against something. She looked down and found a rusty old spanner, small flakes of dirt falling to the ground. ... That’ll do.
Grabbing the spanner in her hooves, Rainbow Dash hid from sight as Metallo approached. She had one shot at this, and didn’t want to screw this up. With each step closer she could feel a little bit of her strength slipping away, but she put it out of her mind as he spotted her.
“Found you.” he said, grinning as he turned to hit her with the full force of the Kryptonite. As he turned, Rainbow rushed forward, stabbing towards Metallo’s chest with the spanner. His smile vanished as the spanner lodged in his chest, and with the last of her strength Rainbow yanked back and ripped the Kryptonite from his chest, the rock bouncing away from her before coming to a stop near a trash can.
“Wh... What?” Metallo asked, straining as if he was struggling against some unseen force. “I... I can’t move!”
“Heh,” Rainbow chuckled, dropping the now broken spanner and stumbling over to a nearby wall. “Guess you’re not so great... without your powers... either.”
...
Silversmith’s new desk was not as large as his old one, but it would suit his needs. The cybernetic enhancement project that Corben (no, Metallo) had been a part of lay in front of him, and off to the side was another drawing for his “secondary” project. Currently, his team of lawyers were working around the clock to cover up Silver Industries relation to Metallo, and Silversmith hoped that that would cause no further delays.
The projection system needs some work... he mused, studying the blueprints for a moment. But witnesses did say that Metallo gave Supermare some trouble... Definitely keep the Kryptonite core, but have it better protected. Silversmith grabbed the secondary project and a pencil, sketching out a few things before he had a rough outline of the suit.
Thursday. He was supposed to stop by, as he said he would, but that last phone call said otherwise. “Stuck in traffic,” she had heard over the background sound. “I’ll be there as soon as I can. Please, wait for me.”
That’s what he had said last time... and the time before that.
She had grown tired of waiting. Waiting only made everything worse; waiting had gotten her thrown out into the streets, waiting had caused her jobs to tank, and now she was supposed to wait for someone who said they cared?
Really, no one cared. She was a simple mare, but no one cared about what she thought, or felt. They had stayed quiet in high school, and now she was just a thing to be pushed from one point to another.
She gave a small sigh, looking out across Manehattan. The city looked so much more beautiful at night, but now it was just row upon row of grey, featureless buildings. And here she was, stuck in a rut with little to break up the grey. Waiting.
“Please, wait for me.”
Why should she wait for someone who didn’t really care? What good would really come from this? What good did she have left? Slowly she rose, crossing over to the phone and pulling the plug from the wall.
No more calls. No more false reassurance.
She took one last look around her apartment before exiting, making her way towards the elevator at the end of the hall. She could hear voices from the other rooms, ponies going about their daily lives without any worries. They at least had someone who respected and cared for them.
Who did she have? An awful mare for a boss, and yet more ponies who got “delayed” or “Stuck in traffic”.
She stepped into the elevator, pressing the highest button available. It would not take her to her destination, but it was a start. Slowly the elevator rose to the top of the apartment building, while she merely sat on the floor and mulled over her life.
One failure after another. And here she was, still waiting for ponies that would never come.
The elevator stopped, the mare stepping out into the hallway. Nearby she saw the service ladder leading up to the roof, and after checking to make sure no one was coming she quickly scurried up to the top. The door was, surprisingly, not locked, so she was able to force it open without much difficulty.
Outside, she was greeted by a warm breeze coming from inland. As a filly, she had loved the breeze, but now it just seemed stale, like everything else in the city. She stepped out towards the edge, peering down at the street below.
There was nopony around. Would that mean it would take longer for someone to find her? Maybe... maybe that was for the better. No one would have to see her suffer. Or maybe it would be over quick.
Maybe...
She looked out across the city again. No one was there. Fine. Then no one would mourn her when she was gone. She closed her eyes, taking one final breath before she would step off.
“Your doctor really did get held up, Coco,” a soft, bell-like voice said. Her eyes snap open as a blue clad hoof rests gently on her shoulder. “It’s never as bad as it seems.”
She turned her head slightly, eyes wide as she saw the mare behind her. The red cape, the blue suit, the S... it was her.
“You’re much stronger than you think you are,” the mare said, giving her a warm smile. “Trust me.”
Those words would linger. “Trust me.” Never before had a simple request for trust felt so honest, so right. As her emotions welled forward, as she pulled her savior in a tight hug, she felt safe for the first time since she had arrived in the city.
She could trust her. After all, she was Supermare.
Getting a message to come to Trottingham always filled Rainbow Dash with apprehension. Not that she was scared of injury or attack, but considering who lived within the city and his obsessive desire to be left alone... If he actually wanted to speak to her, it must have been serious.
She hung over the city, scanning its rooftops for any sign of her contact. Even though he enjoyed to stick to the shadows, he always left some small way that his allies could identify him. Super Vision helped as well, with Rainbow able to see even the tiniest of motions among the darkened city. All she had to do now was wait for him to make an appearance.
Minutes ticked by, Rainbow shifting the speed at which she flapped her wings as a means to kill the boredom. The city was still quiet as ever, save from the odd pony heading home late from work or a rendezvous with friends. Then, just as the time began to wear on her, Rainbow spotted a familiar ripple of fabric atop one of the larger buildings, joined soon by a pair of glowing white eyes. There he is.
Rainbow dove down slowly, just enough to keep a reasonable speed without drawing attention to herself. The shape of her contact became more pronounced as she neared: a stocky, white furred unicorn in gray armor and a black cape, most of his face hidden behind a cowl topped with two bat ears. He still scowled at her as she closed, but Rainbow guessed that was merely his natural disposition rather than outright annoyance... probably.
“Let me guess, you saw me come in several minutes ago?” she asked once she landed.
“I had other matters to attend to,” Batpony replied, stepping a bit further out of the shadows. “Ponies say a lot about me, but I am not omnipotent.”
“You certainly act like it.” Rainbow countered, shuffling her hooves. “So, what is it you wanted to talk about?”
“In a moment. We’re still waiting for one more pony to arrive.” Rainbow cocked an eyebrow at this. Inviting her to Trottingham was surprising, but inviting another pony? The situation must have been far more serious than she realized.
“And who is this ‘other pony’?” she asked.
“Her.” Batpony said, glancing around Rainbow Dash. Rainbow turned just as an Earth Pony mare alighted onto the roof, skipping slightly before she came to a stop. She had a red coat, black mane, and piercing blue eyes, though she seemed just as confused as Rainbow did. She was dressed in a blue and gold leotard complimented by a pair of silver bracelets around her forelimbs. Her mane was held back by a golden tiara marked with a red star, and a glowing gold lasso hung from her hip.
“I did not know we would meet again in this matter,” the newcomer said, coming to a stop a fair distance away from Rainbow Dash.
“Neither did I,” Rainbow replied. “I thought you were sticking close to Vanhoover after what happened.”
“As pleasant as that was, I do not have the luxury of being able to stay in one place.” the mare countered. “And I am sure you realize that you alone cannot protect all of Equestria.”
“I’d like to think I’ve done a good job so far.”
“Ladies, please,” Batpony interjected, stepping away so the three formed a triangle. “I would suggest we table the discussion on ‘jurisdiction’ for later and get to the matter at hoof.” Rainbow paused, looking between the two others for a brief moment.
“... Sure,” she said, flapping her wings to get her cape back in alignment. “What did you want to tell us?”
“I have been monitoring several underground groups that have become active in Trottingham and beyond since the attacks on Cloudsdale and Manehattan.” the unicorn said, pulling a device from his pocket and opening it to reveal a digital notepad. “The most prominent is one styled as ‘Intergang’: gun-runners primarily, they’ve been active in several smuggling and black market rings in the Griffon Kingdoms and the badlands, assisting with some of the uprisings in those countries.
“Recently, though, I’ve intercepted several shipments passing through Trottingham, and most worryingly one on its way to Canterlot. It appeared more ornate and advanced compared to anything else I’ve seen, even from griffons.”
“You think these criminals intend to make an attack on the Princesses?” the Earth Pony asked.
“It’s possible,” Batpony replied. “I traced the funds, and they appear to have come from two sources. The first I traced to the private estates of one Jet Set, a noble with ties to the airship industry-”
“He could easily sneak anything in through one of those things,” Rainbow said. “I can start searching ships for anything suspicious.”
“And that wouldn’t be suspicious already, that Supermare suddenly had interests in the shipping industry?” Rainbow chewed her lip, but said nothing as Batpony continued. “At any rate, the funds are too small to support any more than a few small shipments, which drew me to the second source.”
“Which is?” the Earth Pony asked. There was a pause before Batpony spoke again.
“Unknown.” he put away the notepad before continuing. “I’ve done all I can at this point, but the second source is well hidden.” Rainbow raised an eyebrow again, but was unable to speak before the third pony spoke.
“I might have a lead on that source, if the information you say is correct,” she said. “The monster that attacked Vanhoover identified itself as Kalibak, an old enemy of the Amazons since before Equestria was founded. The forces at his master’s command would have every reason and quite a few resources to corrupt Equestria from within.”
“But you managed to defeat that guy, right?” Rainbow asked. “How dangerous can he be if you take care of him before anyone else needs to step in?” this drew a glare from the Amazon.
“One victory now means little when dealing with our enemy.” she said. “Had it been a full scale attack, I believe that not even you could stand against it.” Rainbow’s ears drooped as the mare turned to Batpony. “Do you have any samples of these weapons that are en-route to Canterlot?”
“A few, but there were... complications. Some of them were damaged in transit.” Batpony turned to her. “It might not even correlate with what you experienced, but I will see what I can do. In the meantime, do you know how to shut down the funding for Intergang before they act?”
“Your criminals are but a symptom.” the Amazon shook her head. “If you intend to find a true cure, you must prepare for war.”
“The War in Heaven,” Rainbow said, taking a step closer to the other mare. “That Kalibak guy mentioned something about its ‘final act’; what do you know about it?”
“If I may,” Batpony started. “The two events have tenuous links at best at this point; I’ll need more information before you can act further.”
“‘Us’?” the Amazon repeated. “What of you?”
“I will do what I can here to try and limit Intergang’s funding and spread.” Batpony’s eyes narrowed. “I can provide you with information to fight whatever might happen at Canterlot, but nothing more.”
“Don’t think you can pull that ‘I work alone’ stuff on us, Blueblood,” Rainbow said, turning towards the unicorn. “If this is really as bad as you two are making it out to be, then any one of us working alone might not be able to stop both threats, whatever they are. We need your help just as much as you’ll need ours.”
“I’ll manage. I’ve done it before.” Batpony’s eyes narrowed. “I will get you your information on Intergang, and perhaps there is come correlation between them and your ‘friend’.”
“... Very well,” the Amazon sighed and looked to Rainbow Dash. “Is it truly so difficult to actually work with anypony here?”
“I’m wondering that too.” Rainbow turned to face the other mare. “No offence, but you weren’t exactly as kind as ponies say you are when you turned down my offer to help.”
“I know,” the mare seemed to soften a bit. “And for that, I am sorry. But I do not take the forces of Apokolips lightly, and neither should either of-” she stopped, Rainbow Dash following her vision to find that their compatriot was gone.
“... He does that.” Rainbow said after a moment. “Don’t worry, he’ll come around in time.”
“For all our sakes, I hope so.” the Amazon moved towards the edge of the building. “I must return to Canterlot. If the Batpony is unable to procure a sample in time, I will have to take matters into my own hooves.”
“Okay.” Rainbow replied, pausing slightly as she watched the mare take off into the night. That left her, alone again, listening to the sounds of Trottingham.
The world seemed to have gotten a bit bigger... now the question remained as to whether she was ready for it.
