Third Wave

“Finally! After years of searching I, Ahuizotl, possess the Wings of Speed and with its power I will…”

“Not so fast, Ahuizotl!”

“Mmh, Masked Mare, I´m usually the one to say that…”

“Aw, I wanted to say that!”

“Does it matter which pony says it?”

“Oh come on, Mare-velous, it´s funny!”

“Seriously, Fili-second?”

“Oh Daring Do, I see you have brought some little friends with you,” Ahuizotl said, his casual tone showing he wasn´t intimidated by the seven ponies that had just crashed into his zeppelin.

“We´re the Power Ponies, Ahuizotl,” Masked said.

“And you´re going down, evildoer! Get it? Because we´re so high and we´re putting him down as in sending him to jail…”

Not a single pony laughed at Fili-second´s joke and Zap even facehoofed.

“It doesn't matter who you are, ponies. Now that I possess the Wings of Speed I´ve become the fatest being in Equestria. Nobody can match my power now!”

“You wanna bet on that?” Zap said, clearly offended at Ahuizotl´s claims.

“Why waste my time fighting against such low foes?” Ahuizotl asked and blew a whistle to call his cat minions, sending them to attack the Power Ponies. “Now, using the power of the Wings, I´ll recover the Horn of Wisdom and with my intelligence augmented by its power, I´ll locate the Horseshoes of Power and then…”

“You might want to cut short of the evil speech, Ahuizotl,” Daring Do said, calling her old rival to attention to the fact that all his minions had already been defeated and were laying unconscious in the floor.

“Perhaps I underestimated you, ponies…”

“Seriously, this guy doesn't know who we are?” Zap asked and Radiance shrugged.

“But even you are no match to the power of my most fierce mascot!” And Ahuizotl blew a different whistle, calling upon a much larger and furious cat from behind his seat.

“A sabertooth tiger! Where did you…”

“Surprised, Daring? I caught this precious specimen in a lost jungle months ago and I was hoping for the occasion to have him gobble you up! It might as well, eart your friends too!”

The sabertooth tiger jumped, bearing his sharp fangs and…

“Oh look at the pretty kitten! It´s so huggable!”

Fili-second squashed the giant tiger like he was a toy, caressing him and calling him cute names. Daring was as struck as Ahuizotl, being the first time she had seen Fili-second take on her giant form. The Power Ponies were non puzzled, obviously used to her friend enormous shape. They simply waited for Ahuizotl to react so they can finally apprehend him.

“Ah…”

Ahuizotl then disappeared and reappeared behind them, having grabbed Saddle Range with his tail.

“Muahaha, I´ve captured your little mascot, Power Ponies! She´s obviously the weakest link in your group and with your sidekick in my possession, you are forced to obey me! Muahaha!”

Daring Do growled, furious that Ahuizotl will resort to such low tactics, but the Power Ponies didn't looked worried at all. In fact, they were smirking and shaking their heads, like feeling sorry for Ahuizotl.

“You...are...a big...meanie!”

*****

“I guess poor Ahuizotl never stood a chance,” Sunny Daze asked, holding her microphone to record the interview.

“It was his fault for assuming Saddle is the weakest one of the group,” Mare-velous said.

“She might actually be the strongest one of us,” Radiance added.

“You might think that will be Masked. After all, she is the only know alicorn, a pony with the abilities of all three races plus, impressive psychic powers,” Sunny said, her tone trying to lure Masked for a statement.

However, the alicorn simply turned around and locked herself in a room.

“You have to excuse her. She is the quiet type,” Radiance apologized for her teammate.

“Maybe so but she´s still the founder of the Power Ponies and their leader. Without her, you wouldn't have gone this far,” Sunny mentioned, looking at a picture of the Power Ponies fighting against a hydra, their first famous mission. “Without her powers, you would have been defeated long ago.”

“It´s not about power, Mrs. Daze. It´s a team effort, working together is how we achieved victory,” Mare-velous interrupted her.

“Speaking of victory, you have recovered the second of the legendary set. Guess it wasn't such an old mare´s tale after all. Tell me, do you have it here in the base?”

“Actually, Mrs. Do took it to the museum. She said that now with Ahuizotl behind bars, nobody will be so dumb as to try to rob it from a public place, “ Radiance explained.

“And what about Mare-Do-Well? Didn't she tried to steal the Horn of Wisdom?” Sunny asked but before Radiance could answer, Mare-velous interrupted her again.

“And where did you heard that? I don´t recall Daring sharing the story with the press.”

“I have my sources. Same sources that say you have been keeping the Horn safe here.”

“Actually..” Radiance tried to say but Mare-velous interrupted her again.

“I believe this interview is over, Mrs. Daze.”

Sunny Daze simply shrugged and turned off the microphone, leaving the building.

“That was mighty rude of you, Mare-velous.”

“I don't trust that reporter. She ask an awful lot of questions.”

“Well, that is her job.”

“But I doubt her job includes snooping around our headquarters.”

“You are being too suspicious. We´re still relatively new and some ponies still don't trust us. We can use all the publicly available.”

Mare-velous could tell her friend got a point. The whole mask business still put some ponies off, but she didn't think that Sunny Daze was the right answer. Something about the smirking pegasus strike her as wrong. She may not have the precognitive powers of her friend Masked but her instinct was sharp enough to tell her the report was after something else that just a scoop.

****

The Wings of Speed looked so harmless locked inside a glass case. No longer a powerful magical artifact, now they seemed like simply jewelry. Daring was well aware of its magical properties but it was in moments like these, that she felt that all the stuff of legends was nothing but shiny rocks. How many times had she risked her neck to recover some mystical artifact, noyl to discover that it was broken or just useless?

That didn't stop her to write a story out of it. She just needed to embellish the details a little and she got an instant success. But now, she felt like she was the useless one. At the end of the day, after all the dungeons and mazes, she was still a simply pegasus. But these ponies, the Power Ponies, they all had special abilities that went beyond their natural abilities as ponies and, when compared to them, Daring was like a simple necklace compared to a magical stone.

“The Wings are secure, Mrs. Do. You don't have to worry.”

Daring turned around and smiled at the bespectacled unicorn that was approaching her.

“Thanks Selena. Although I will prefer if it was kept in the vault like all the other ones, instead of being exposed like this.”

“Mr. Rich spared no expenses acquiring the latest security measures. He also said that having the item in display will improve the mood of investors,” Selena noticed the look Daring was given her and blushed,” Those were his words,not mine.”

Daring sighed and said, “It´s okay Selena. I know your hooves are tied because rich is the biggest sponsor of the museum, both literally and figuratively.” This made Selena giggle. “But I just wish the museum wasn't so..exposed. Maybe I´m just old fashioned like that. Been feeling like that lately.”

Selena adjusted her glasses before saying,” Daring, you know I consider you my friend? Back when I was appointed as curator as the museum, despite being the youngest candidate to the job, you were the only one who supported me…”

Daring blinked and then ruffled her friend´s mane. “What´s up with you, giving exposition like that? You´re starting to sounds like one of my characters!”

“Heh, I guess my point is that you should be proud of your efforts.”

“Thanks kiddo but still, the Power Ponies should take the spotlight for this one. They located Ahuizotl and stopped him with little to no effort.”

“They did more than that, Daring,” Obese said, walking into the room. “They managed to finally apprehend Ahuizotl, something you haven´t been able to do for years. That assuming you haven't let him get away in purpose to have a villain for your stories.”

“Mr. Rich, how ca-”

“It´s okay Selena. I´m just happy Azuitol it´s gone for good,” Daring said, walking away. “And don't worry about your business, Rich. There´s only one item left and once I get it…”

****

That night, Rich took extra precautions to secure his business, hiring twice the goons to protect the cargo. One of the them noticed they were carrying clubs and crowbars and got worried.

“You kidding? We´re not gonna let that Mare-No-Gooder give us a pounding again!” the leader of the goons told the newbie.

“But Mare-Do-Well it´s a good guy! She saved my brother from a pair of robbers once!”

“You were not here yesterday when she kicked the flanks of half my guys. Now, shut up and get ready! Hey, you three, go guard the crates!” he barked to some mares that simply nodded.

They didn´t had to wait too much to felt the shadow of the caped pony above them. The goons went mure upon seeing the silent figure of the masked vigilante and some even dropped their weapons.

“What are you doing standing like that? Go get her!” the leader ordered and they tried to attack her but Mare-Do-Well avoided them in one swift motion making them crash against the crates and landed next to the nervous newbie.

“I do-don´t want to fight you!” he said and Mare-Do-Well actually kept still.

“You don´t have to kid…”

The kid turned around to see the mares from before drop their hats and jackets.

“Let the professionals handle this!” Zap said, revealing herself along with Mare-velous and Daring Do.

“We knew we´ll catch you if we stayed in the docks,” Mare-velous said.

“You have nowhere to go this time,” Daring said and Mare-Do-Well responded by throwing her cape over her. “Not this time!”

Daring did a somersault in air, managing to avoid the cape and start fighting against Mare-Do-Well. With just one punch, she realized something was wrong. Mare-Do-Well was still able to catch up with her but there was something different in the movements. Daring had trained with some of the best martial artist and learned that fighting styles are unique and no two ponies fight alike. The speed, the reflexes, they were similar but without a doubt this wasn´t the same mare Daring had fought before.

Before she could gather her thoughts however Mare-velous sued her rope to catch Mare-Do Well. The masked pony squinted and the rope snapped in two.

“How…”

“This is taking too long!” Zap declared and flew up high, calling upon lightings that feel all over the docks, threatening everypony in sight.

“Auh! Tell your partner to call down, MAre-velosu!”

“Zap! Quit it!”

The pegasus didn't listened and brought even more lightings, none of which hit Mare-Do-Well who escaped through the crates.

“She´s getting away!”

Mare-velous and Daring gave chase to Mare-Do-Well who went in between two boxes. She seemed to be trapped but when they get there, she was already gone.

“She got away? How? Zap, she´s not here!” Mare-velous said.

“That´s impossible! I´ve the entire sky covered in clouds! There's no way she could have escaped!”

“How did that pegasus sneak on us?” Mare-velous asked.

“I´m not sure it was a pegasus this time, Mare-velous.”

“What? But that was Mare-Do-Well.”

“It was her but it wasn´t the same mare under the mask.”

****

Meanwhile, in the headquarters of the Power Ponies, Masked Matter-Horn was in deep concentration, trying to tune in to the mystical Horn of Wisdom. Using her psychic power, she was able to trace the magic signature and locate the Wings without the need of the compass that Ahuizotl stole and used. Now, she was trying to locate the final element but something was blocking her vision. She was in tune with the mystical artifacts, their nature somehow relate to the same magical energies that turned her into a winged unicorn. She had many questions about them but wasn't comfortable asking the explorer. She felt this was soemthign rpviate, soemthign that only the elements could answer. Unfortunately, that meant not only keeping a secret from her  friends but also, considering the possibility of betraying them once they got the final element.

Despite the intense amount of focusing the task required, Masked was no so distracted she didn't noticed the pony in the ceiling and when she tried to come down,  a magic force field hit her.

“You made a mistake coming in here, Mare-Do-Well,” masked said, floating over the masked pony. “I´ll give you one chance to surrender.”

Mare-Do-Well response was to throw some smoke grenades at her and flew away but Masked Matter-Horn had already teleported and was in deep chase of her.

“Surrender. I designed this building. There´s no way you can escape.”

But there was. Using a flashing bomb to cover her escape, Mare-Do-Well took the only exit available, using an air vent to get away. Masked Matter-Horn huffed, having her suspicions on the identity of the pony that just got away.