The town of Ponyville was shocked to learn that the Mysterious Mare Do Well was really a trio of ponies playing her at different times, and in this realization, a sort of sub-culture grew. One of fans and fanatics of fictional superheroes, both young and old.

But then one day, in a laboratory in Manehattan, a particular batch of black crystals retrieved from the site of King Sombra's ancient underground cave combusted, releasing strange magical radiation outwards in all directions. Many ponies seemed to gain weird and unusual powers because of this. . .