Power Ponies: the First of the Secret Generation

Chapters

Old Secrets in a New City (test chapter)
Chapter 1: Memories, a Train Ride and...New Heroes?
Chapter 2: First Night on the Town
Chapter 3: The Next Day's Surprises
Chapter 4: Melody's Surprise and Aura's Trial
Family Matters
More Surprises

Old Secrets in a New City (test chapter)

Author's Note

This is a one-shot, and I have no intention of returning to the story. It's a little story that's been burning at my mind for a while. Initially I had planned for Filly-Second to join Matter-Horn in this story, but I figured Radiance would be a better choice of a partner for her in this. And while they really don't display their abilities in the story, it's about whom they discover than a flank kicking adventure that showcases their talents. The abilities that do get showcased are those of the new characters they meet. Feel free to use any of the characters, locations, or ideas expressed in this work. If you're going to use any of the OCs in my stories for any of your projects let me know. Power Ponies is Property of Hasbro and the Hub television network and thus I have no rights to them, I merely gave my interpretation of who they might be behind the masks (as such their alter egos are also technically the property of Hasbro and the Hub as well). Enjoy this short story, to the best of your abilities. Well I had no intention of returning to this, but the first comment got me thinking that maybe I should expand on this a bit. I'll be moving this from one a one-shot to something that takes up a few chapters, maybe even expand on the villains I named. So now this is test/teaser chapter that I'll be using as a general guideline for the story (thanks ShadyCanopy).

Old Secrets in a New City (test chapter)

The First of the Secret Generation

Aura Mane and her best friend, Melody Show, were on the train to a city that had no records of Super powered activities, hero or villain, until a few months prior. Both were well dressed, with their cutie marks sufficiently hidden under their clothes. The city in question was a place known as Derby Heights, before the super activities it was known for its legalized gambling and racing that despite its competitiveness was not to a high stakes level that would be of concern for almost anypony beyond the betting pool or athletes. The two mares had known each other for years and despite their different choices of profession were usually found in some of the same clubs. The news article that had first drawn their attention to the city was once again in Aura's hooves the headline merely read, “Is this Trio here Rescue or Ravage,” with a large colored picture of a mare in all white next to a mare in all black and what looked like a mechanical filly standing between them on a street standing over the remains of what looked like robotic ponies.

“Darling you really should put that paper down, you've read it enough times to tell me what the entire article says backwards in nine different languages,” the refined, but pleasant, voice of the sun yellow unicorn with a sea blue mane and bright lavender eyes.

“Sorry,” said the sea green pegasus with a mane that was colored a vibrant orange, blue, and violet with sparkling indigo eyes in a voice that indicated I high intelligence that wasn't condescending as she put the paper back in her travel bag, “it just doesn't make sense, super powered ponies don't show up in place like that without a reason, and for some reason I feel it has to be me that meets with one of those three.”

“Yes of course dear,” said Melody, “but you're turning this into an unhealthy obsession, the last time this sort of thing happened was when you first found 'it' hidden in one of your purchases destined for your private collection.”

“I suppose you have a point, this is not where I expected either of us to be at this stage of our lives,” said Aura, “I imagined us both practically drifting apart by now because of our dedication to our jobs only to meet up in our twilight years and say how sorry we were for the whole ordeal and lament at the fact neither of us had foals.”

“You, my dear,” said Melody, “can be such a downer sometimes. Look at you, you have one of the most successful magi-tech companies in the world, you've found how to integrate magic into modern technologies as well as simulate spells with nothing more than appliances you literally find lying around.”

“Both my parents were unicorns, powerful ones,” said Aura, “there hasn't been a pegaus in the family for...”

“Over seventy generations,” said Melody cutting off her friend, “you've told me that at least a dozen times a month since we were fillies growing up together.”

“What about you and your 'accessory',” inquired Aura, “why did it's keeper decide to pass it over to you?”

“Probably the same reason you found your 'accessory' embedded inside a supposedly solid stone statue,” retorted Melody. The two gave a little giggle.

************************

After another forty minutes train reached their destination and the two mares stepped of with four bags each. After checking into their hotel, amusingly named Racing Mares, the two took to settling into their suite. Five hours later the sun had set and the sound of sirens told the mares it was time. They both nodded and headed to their bags.

Aura Mane went to an old fashioned travel case and flicked the rollers before placing her right hoof and left wing above the case. The extended appendages were bathed in a lavender light and the top of the case faded away, like it was an illusion spell, to reveal a masked purple jumpsuit with pink star bursts near the hooves, modified flight goggles and a silver like unicorn horn accessory. She took the outfit into the bathroom and emerged as her alter ego known to ponies far and wide as the “Masked Matter-Horn” and gave a nod to her associate when she stepped out and headed to the balcony. Her outfit making her appear to be a dark violet mare with

Melody Show reached into her smallest travel bag and slipped on purple bracelet. The moment she did she was in her purple suit, with stylish purple mask, and stepped over to the balcony as her alias known to the world as Radiance. Giving Matter-Horn a moment check everything she asked if the other masked mare was okay. To which Matter-Horn said she was fine and took flight, Radiance just shook her head and followed on a manifested (and stylish) flying carpet.

Three robberies, two muggings, and an amusing attempt to break into the jail later the two mares were no closer to finding the ones they were looking for. Matter-Horn was suddenly thrown to the ground by a what could only be described as a flying wall in the shape of a pony. Radiance turned to see the source of the attack and hissed when she saw her arch nemesis standing there and screamed, almost losing her flying carpet, at the mare on the wall, “Mare-teria, you disgrace of pony.”

Mare-teria cackled before stepping from the shadows reveal a mare in an outfit that seemed to be made in a mishmash of materials that somehow looked pleasing and accentuated her form before saying a sinister silky voice, “I knew you'd come Radiance, you and Masked Matter-Horn are practically stuck together.” Radiance just growled at her, “but I'm merely here as a messenger, my pet over there is just keep your associate from attacking me,” with that she threw a bulky disk like object to the ground next to the Matter-Horn and disappeared in a cloud of steam. The moment she did the moving pony shaped wall suddenly turned into a mass of steam and floated away from Matter-Horn.

Both the super-heroines approached the disk and once they were right next to it it glowed and the form of a pony veiled in shadows appeared and said in a deep dark voice, “Matter-Horn, it's been a while. You're here sooner than planned, a pity really since I had such a lovely containment chamber almost set up for you. Fortuneatly I already have insurance against you, it's named MHC-001, I know it lacks the flair I strive for at times, but this time it is of little consequence.”

“Dark-Mare,” said Matter-Horn with anger, “what does that little project have to with me?”

“Everything,” said Dark-Mare, “do you remember those clips of your mane I took during one of our last encounters? Of course you do, I was surprised to find them change color, you're a clever mare in taking the extra step with your outfit. I took those clippings and made a little clone of you, I only recently got a stable copy and accelerated its age to filly age, I tried to do more but your genetic code counteracted all my attempts. I suppose I should have changed the name, but failures in projects are of little consequence and should be mostly disregarded. I've been trying find methods of controlling your little copy, but it seems the product is immune to every form of mind control I've tried thus far. And its also a massive goody-goody, just like you. It would seem that whatever makes you immune to mind controlling effects also drives you to be a hero, I find that as fascinating as I do revolting. You try anything to get in the way of my projects here and I'll put your cute little copy in danger, a subservient version of you as my personal maid would have been nice but I like to be a practical mare whenever possible.” With that the glowing image disappeared and the disk blew itself to pieces.

Both mares just stared at each other for a moment with the realization if one of them had been copied any of the other Power Ponies could have been duplicated as well. Matter-Horn then said, “she said I'm immune to mind manipulation, that explains why her hypnosis wave system didn't affect me in our first encounter. It also appears I'm immune to gene therapies,” she gave a smile before saying, “the only thing she's managed is giving me a daughter, and with my equipment finding her in the city should be easier than usual because I know just what to look for,” she pulled her goggles down over her eyes and said, “initiate scan, city wide, search for all genetic matches to 'Masked Matter-Horn', begin now.” Her goggles lit up and schematic of the city appeared before her eyes and showed her 2 blips, one confirming her position while the other showed that what she was intending to find was on the other side of the city. She smiled again and told her goggles to mark the location, then told Radiance she was aware it was possibly a trap but didn't care at the moment because in her mind she had a filly save. Her smile disappeared when the second blip vanished, if she hadn't marked the location it was at last she would have been very angry at everypony (especially herself).

“Matter-Horn,” said Radiance, “I know saving you're double, but we have to account for the fact that some or most of what was said was a like to spur you into action.”

“Alright,” said Matter-Horn, “after we find these other super powered ponies we can formulate a plan to take all the variables into account.”

“That's the friend I know,” said Radiance, “you do nopony any good if you let your emotions command you, Dark-Mare is your personal nemesis as such she knows more about your superheroine self than anypony else, including me. The same holds true for me and Mare-teria, she's my arch nemesis, just like Dark-Mare is your arch nemesis. However it works both ways, we both know the strengths and weaknesses of our nemeses. So, what does Dark-Mare have that you are always able to take advantage of.”

Matter-Horn took a deep breath and said, “Dark-Mare is a narcissist, she's got a superiority complex that causes her to over look simple details that are possible avenues to best her schemes. She's around as smart as me, and has used that brilliance to make some truly twisted projects. It's not too far fetched for her to have made a clone of me, in fact my goggles got a blip of a possible clone before blocked the signal. She might have built a new fortress like base and is keeping my copy there or some sort of jamming signal designed to counteract equipment like my goggles was activated,” she lifted her goggles to her forehead and looked over at Radiance before saying, “I tagged the location I got the blip before cut out, we'll search that area of the city tomorrow, but now let's beat down some criminals, I have some newly acquired frustration I need to work out.”

“That's my girl,” said Radiance as she and Matter-Horn started galloping through the streets.

After another half hour of sub-par acts of villainy the two heard the sound of battle around the corner. The two rounded the corner to see what looked like a mechanical filly fighting alongside a mare in white. The mare in white had mask over the lower half of her muzzle and was wielding floating blades made from light, but showing the cutting prowess of a refined laser. The mechanical filly was launching as series of small projectiles. The two just watched what looked more like an aggressive dance from the two towards a team of well armed crooks. Before the crooks could get off another shot they all found their weapons missing, this was impressive because neither of the experienced super-heroines had noticed the act either.

“Impressive, yes,” said friendly dark feminine voice, “not some of my best work,” the two turned around to see mare dressed in a black outfit that had the same scheme as the mare in white, “but just good enough for what was needed. Finish it up Filly,” the two looked back at the two to see the mechanical filly fire series of rockets that formed a circle around the crooks and generated an energy dome that seemed to freeze everything inside it.

“The stasis field will only last for 6 minutes,” said the mechanical filly in an equally mechanical voice, “official law enforcement is is 5 minutes out, let's get out of here.”

The mare in black nodded to the mare in white before saying, “see you at base,” and enveloping the mechanical filly and two power ponies in shadows along with her and making everything go black for a few seconds.

When the black receded the two power ponies blinked a few times before looking around, what they saw was some very sufficticated equipment that seemed to blend quite well into a rustic medieval setting. “Where are we?” said Matter-Horn, “I didn't see this on the city layout.”

“It's an old time themed amusement park, that hides many a mark, it never demolished,” said the white mare as she materialized from the ceiling lights with a bright voice, “so we this place until we learn that may be abolished.”

“Forgive my associate,” said the mare in black said, “she can only speak in rhyme while in this form and every other thing I say is ambiguous at best.”

“I'm Techna-Filly,” said the mechanical filly before tapping few points on her chest and neck to reveal a chestnut brown earth pony filly with green eyes and a red mane before continuing with, “these are my crime fighting associates, the Guardian of Insightful Truths,” she gestured to the mare in white, “and the Guardian of Veiled Secrets,” she then mare in black.

“That's all very nice,” said Radiance, “but why did you reveal your identity to us? You should never do that with ponies you don't know.”

“Insightful Truths and Veiled Secrets told me that it would be okay, after all I know their identy and their abilities let them know who you are.”

Radiance and Matter-Horn arched their brows before Matter-Horn said, “so they have some kind of mystical ability that lets them know their namesakes. And what do you mean their identity?”

“Your assessemtn is correct,” said the Guardian of Veiled Secrets, “it would be best if only Matter-Horn joined in the room for a moment.”

“Gosh-Darnit, yer powerdown sequence is so fun to watch, but I think I can understand why. Radiance I'll show you to where I hang my mask up, Matter-Horn needs some privacy with the Guardians.”

“Why?” Inquired Radiance, “she's my best friend.”

“Then you should really understand, because who they are behind those masks is mine, we'll explain everything later.” The two left with doors making an obvious hiss as they closed.

Matter-Horn looked at the two mares, whom were now standing next to each other, and said, “if you have something to show me, do it already!”

The two nodded and held up their right forelegs before saying in perfect unison, “Ancient Power That Was Bidden, Your Power Now Must Be Hidden, By the Power of Moon and Sun, The Two Return As One,” in a flash a filly that looked like a young Aura Mane was before the Masked Matter-Horn.

Matter-Horn's eyes went wide before she took off her mask, which disengaged her color cloak (the magic woven into the suit made only so somepony with a close genetic match to the suits wearer could remove the mask to disengage that feature). With a trembling voice she said, “are... are you the failing project Dark-Mare was talking about in the message left for me when I showed myself super-heroine self to the city?”

The filly nodded before saying, “I turned into them with this,” before raising her right hoof to reveal an ancient bronze bracer that was twice the size of a standard bracer, “I intercepted it when she tried to dispose of it, I was foolish in deciding to put it on because no matter what I try it won't come off. She grew me, but the only things I've had interaction with is automatons. I don't even have name, I'm just called MHC-001. I need name, I'm a pony not a science project.”

Aura Man smiled down at the filly before saying, “Dark-Mare believes the opposite, but I believe what you do. You're me, in a way. You were cloned from pieces of my mane that were cut free, apparently my disguise charm for my suit has a time limit when pieces of me are removed. To me you're not just a clone, you're effectively my daughter. My maternal instincts went into overdrive when I managed to confirm you were real, if Radiance hadn't nipped that in the bud we would both be in trouble now. You know who she really is?

“Not anymore,” said the filly, “I only know that stuff when I'm the Guardians, when I return to being me I get a massive head pain and I only retain the knowledge base of the Guardians for about twelve seconds after turning back.”

“I'm guessing it's within reason,” said Aura Mane. The filly just nodded. Aura Mane then said, “my horn is a bit like your bracer, only I can take it off, the darn thing follows me everywhere so I just keep it close, along with my outfit.”

“So, what should my name be?” asked the filly.

“Sorry to say, but names aren't my forte, the name I use created by my best friend.”

At this Radiance walked in to see what looked like a six year old Aura Mane in front of an unmasked Aura Mane. “So, that's why,” said Radiance causing her mask to fade out, “she's the clone Dark-Mare admitted having trouble with.”

“She's making more,” said the now unarmored Techna-Filly, “she thinks she's figured out how to make a more subservient clone, but she also wants to end the original cloning success.”

The pegasus filly just drooped with sadness before saying mournfully, “at least you have a name, I'm just number to a psycho's experiments.” Turning to Radiance the pegasus filly said, “she says you're good with generating names,” she gestured to Aura Mane, “could please give me one, I'd like to know what it's like to have real name before I'm found and disposed of.”

“A name is good Idea,” said Melody, “but we are not letting anypony kill you, you have right to a life, and Aura deserves to at least know what it's like to be a mother now that you've found each other, “ tapping her chin in thought about the request Melody said, “Aurora Pane, it lines up with her's while still sounding different enough to distinguish you both.”

“How are you go explain me, and my accessory?”

“Easy, Aurora,” the filly gave warm hug to mare at the sound of her new name, “we'll say we discovered you in an unmarked R&D facility that I had ordered demolished, and after finding you wandering the facility I took you out on the town to an antique store to get anything you wanted, that bracer being it.”

“Works for me,” said Melody, “you always were better at providing plausible excuses.”

“Works for me too, mom,” said Aurora Mane. Aura smiled with a warmth her best friend had never seen before embracing the filly in a maternal hug.

“I guess I should introduce myself now,” said the unarmored Techna-Filly.

“That would be nice,” said Melody, “alway where your parents are.”

The earth filly slumped a bit before saying, “my name is Rose Adamant, I haven't seen my parents in months. I thought their disappearing for a few weeks every few months was a job thing, but when a represenative of their employers showed up at the door to ask about their whereabouts and their disappering act every few months I realized something was up. I threw together my suit in my lab, they insisted I have it and stocked with some of the latest high tech toys, and went to lay a smack down on the criminal element and question the more well-armed thugs about their whereabouts. I met up with Aurora, I really like that name by the way, a few weeks later.”

“Who are your parents?” inquired Melody.

“Gold Hoof and Racing Stride,” said Rose.

“The technologies experts that dropped of the grid twenty years ago,” said Melody, “how did you not hear the news two weeks ago?”

“What news?” asked Rose, then looked at Aurora before, “you know what she's going to say, so you tell me.”

Aurora hung her head with guilt and said, “your father and mother were found washed up at Neighyork City, your father was confirmed dead by a medical professional in the employ of the police and your mother is in critical condition in Neighyork General Hospital under heavy guard.”

“Daddy's gone,” said Rose through tears, “why didn't anypony contact me about that?”

“You're not officially listed as next of kin,” said Aurora, “in fact according to the knowledge held by the Guardians you are genetically related to them, and 30 other ponies. You are product of a military super soldier project, they modified it as a personal project and focused on intelligence and technological abilities instead of combatively effective qualities, that's the reason they dropped off the grid twenty years ago. They were believed to have gone rogue 5 months before you were 'born' and when they were finally tracked down somepony had made it so this city was off-limits to all official military personnel.”

Rose stared at the pony she had called her best friend for three months with tears in her eyes before crying, “you loo, land yool din't tull mwee, loo amd mwy lar zimlar, land loo din't twell mwee.”

Still looking sullen Aurora asked, “would you have believed it, even if it came from the muzzles of the guardians? Let me answer for you, no you wouldn't. You would keep denying it, even with all the evidence telling you the Guardians were right. You were never listed as next of kin because your parents didn't want anypony in the government taking you away from them, to them you were their real daughter and they wanted to make sure you were safe from all the threats they saw coming.”

The earth filly trotted up to the pegasus filly and smacked her with a left hook before giving her a big hug before saying, “that's for waiting so long to tell, and this is for knowing well enough to explain why you waited until now to tell me. All this time I had everything you wanted more than anything, but you never complained.”

“Sounds a bit like a certain pegasus I know,” said Melody with a teasing voice.

Aura smiled and said, “if I remember correctly a certain unicorn had a lot to spend, but didn't rub her personal expense accounts in my face.”

“My parents wanted me to go into music, that why they named me melody,” said the unicorn.

“Adamant is a mythological unbreakable stone,” said Rose, “that must mean they wanted me to be unbreakable. I want to talk to the mare I called 'mom' when she comes to, but I think it's in everypony's best interest that my ambiguous custody is taken care of by reputable pony.”

“I know just who talk to about that,” said Melody, “lead me to your communications room.”

Rose nodded and lead the unicorn mare out of the room.

*************************************

Three hours later all four were in the suite with Aurora asking the very legitimate question, “so, who's going to look after this place once we leave for good? We need to clear out our base and then that's it.

“The Power Ponies have been finding a lot super powered individuals, some of them want a new start as heroes in a new place, we'll tell them about this city and they can use your old base as an HQ. That way all you have to do is clear out all the personal equipment, just leave the communications equipment and instructions on how to contact you so they can learn to operate it, that stuff looks a little more sophisticated than most ponies are used to.

Chapter 1: Memories, a Train Ride and...New Heroes?

Author's Note

Well here's the first of the the new official chapters, no action type stuff here, it's just an introduction to some of the characters and the location. In my opinion it fleshes out a few things the original one shot glossed over or ignored. You also get a look at how I envisioned was the beginning of Matter-Horn's career as a crime fighter. Remember that the characters in this opening are not mine and belong to Hasbro and the Hub, this is just my interpretation of the characters and their alter egos. If you want to use this any of this for your own project shoot me a message beforehand, I like a fair warning when someone uses my ideas as a baseline and I would be more than willing to help fill in some gaps that your concerned with.

Chapter 1: Memories, a Train Ride and...New Heroes?

Memories, a Train Ride and... New Heroes?

Aura Mane sat in her office at the top floor of her Mare-tropolis office. Mare-a-Tech Industries was a project she started from the ground up, and had managed to make into a world power in only five years. On the tenth anniversary of the company she had received an ancient stone (the stone looked like granite, but felt like obsidian) statue of an alicorn, a fabled creature that was of passing interest to her. While moving it to her private museum, archeology was a passing interest to the sea green pegasus mare, she somehow managed to drop the statue, which was unusual because she was usually impeccably careful with her artifacts. Inside she had found a platinum like unicorn horn ornament, and without thinking had tried it on. In her defense it was not one of her brightest moments, considering she blasted burning hole into the image of one of her board of director upon seeing it (because whenever she saw the greed ridden stallion she got angry and cursed herself for not being able to fire him out of spite, such a thing would reflect bad on her company's image), then she had frozen her communication line when her secretary sent a message up to her that her afternoon meeting at three had been bumped down to five. With those suitably embarrassing moments before her she quickly stashed the horn in her briefcase and promptly forgot about it until she went to see her best friend.

The memory of the incident that gave rise to the Masked Matter-Horn was bringing an embarrassing smile to Aura Mane as she rode the train to Derby Heights in a private car with her best friend, Melody Show. The sun yellow unicorn mare with sea blue mane and brilliant lavender eyes watched as her friend pulled a news paper with the article, “Is This Trio Here to Rescue or Ravage?” The sea green pegasus mare with a mane that was colored a vibrant orange, blue, and violet with sparkling indigo eyes set the news paper next her as if she was contemplating whether or not actually to read it another time, from the looks of it the paper had been read through enough times that the wears on it were becoming noticeable tears.

The train continued for another twenty minutes before the pegasus mare picked up the paper and started reading it again, while reaching for it she said in a voice that was intelligent without being condescending and had a hint of intrigue, “no reports of super powered individuals in the city and then a mass of sitings starting with these three a few months ago.”

The unicorn mare looked over at the pegasus for a few minutes, at which point said pegasus was reading the paper again, before saying in a gentle refined voice, “darling, you really should put that paper down, you've read it enough times to tell me what the entire article says backwards in nine different languages,” came the refined, but pleasant, voice of the sun yellow unicorn with a sea blue mane and bright lavender eyes.

“Sorry,” said the sea green pegasus, “it just doesn't make sense, super powered ponies don't just show up in a place like that without a reason, and for some reason I feel it has to be me that meets with one of those three.”

Both mares were in semi-formal business outfits that hid their cuite marks. This was how they always traveled, it saved the agony of dealing with raving fans and petitioners. The sad part was that both mares had to deal with both in recent years.

“Both my parents were unicorns, powerful ones,” said Aura, “there hasn't been a pegaus in the family for...”

“Over seventy generations,” said Melody cutting off her friend, “you've told me that at least a dozen times a month since we were fillies growing up together.”

“What about you and your 'accessory',” inquired Aura, “why did it's keeper decide to pass it over to you?”

“Probably the same reason you found your 'accessory' embedded inside a supposedly solid stone statue,” retorted Melody. The two gave a little giggle.

“I just wish this little outing didn't have to be so serious,” said Aura, “just once I'd like to get out of the city for legitimate relaxation reasons. Every time we have to leave the city it's for some truly serious matters, I'm just glad Mane-iac is staying locked up for more than a couple of weeks. How does that mare keep getting out of a cell designed to contain ponies with super powers? Hopefully the Ability Neutralizer my company created should prevent her and ever other villain in that special prison from actually getting loose.”

“It will be nice to see these new heroes,” said Melody, “maybe we might actually get a chance to socialize outside the team on super powered matters. I wonder what these three are like.”

Aura put the paper back into her briefcase and gave a sigh, “I just hope they aren't under the influence of a super villain, remember the last hero we found.”

Melody gave a shiver and said, “Gear Dog was a pleasant character, but when it turned out he was just an ordinary pet that had been been missing for three months and was power the suit he piloted I became very concerned for the dears health, fortunately we were directed to the villain that was responsible and your technological prowess gave everypony a happy ending.”

Aura smiled and said, “I certainly hope it goes better than that.”

“As do I,” said Melody, “you want to order something? It'll be almost an hour to hour destination now.”

“37 minutes and fourty-six point nine seconds from the moment I finish this statement, if my calculations are accurate,” said Aura.

“You really need to work on that quirk of yours dear,” said Melody, “not everypony finds it as cute as I do, of course I've known you longer than almost anypony else.”

The two sat there in silence for the rest of the ride. Aura glancing between her friend and briefcase a few times. Melody checking a small travel bag that she pulled from under her seat with her cerulean colored magic.

****************************************************

A little over a half hour later the train pulled into the station and the voice a female announcer with an inviting voice that somehow also managed to sound irritated with a hint a condescending attitude bellowed over the intercom, “Derby Heights, all passengers destined for Derby Heights unload now, thank you and have a nice day.”

The two mares mares grabbed all their luggage. For Aura that meant her briefcase, a pair of large saddlebags and a larger than average travel case (she liked to travel practical and light); for Melody that meant three small jewelry bags, four travel bags, a large collapsible screen and a set of standard saddlebags (the excuse she always gave for being half of a traveling fashion show was that she always liked to look her best, and surprisingly the unicorn's magic was able to carry most of it while the jewelry bags were stashed in her saddlebags on her back). The two got off the train surprisingly fast, even if you considered they had their own private car on the train.

The two mares made their way to the hotel they had reservations with, they figured they would be in the city for about half a week so they had booked a room for a whole week (they had to keep up their public appearances after all).

The hotel, amusingly enough called Racing Mares, was one of the classier hotels in the city. The two had reserved a suite near the top level, reserving the penthouse seemed a little excessive to the two. Once they arrived the receptionist was far from pleasant, and the bellhop proved to be one of the more pleasant of the ponies employed by the hotel (he did however have a rather abrasive personality that combined with the attitude of the receptionist made the mares wonder how hotel had gotten its reputation as a high class establishment, at the very least he handled all their luggage with genuine care). Once they were in their suite they saw nothing other than class in terms of how the room was designed. A pair of queen sized beds were on opposing sides were across from the door, a well furnished kitchen with genuine marble flooring and a large stock of fresh fruits in the silver-lined refrigerator were among the experience the two mares got with the room.

In addition high end crystal lamps were tastefully hung from the wall along with tasteful crystal chandelier that hung from the ceiling at the dividing point between the bed and kitchen areas, the restroom was down it's own hall and had tub that was big enough to comfortably seat four stallions twice the size of the mares with room to spare (Aura commented on the lack of a shower extension immediately filled out the part of a room form asking for what she was dissatisfied with, Melody rolled her eyes at her friend knowing that only Aura would go for the service survey for the room upon entering it) while the sink was far to ornate for the tastes of both mares (although both the sink and tub were stocked with high end soaps, conditioners and various other fur and mane care products) and the toilet was a little bit gaudy in the opinion of both mares (what with it the whole thing being encrusted in gold and requiring almost twenty minutes with both mares searching to discern the handle from the overly ornate silver relief that covered the cistern and entire back of the unit).

“Are you done with the survey?” inquired Melody not really caring much for the survey, “I think we should get to work, the sun went down while we were inspecting the restroom.”

“Of course,” said Aura, “I'll get my suit,” Aura Mane went to her larger than average old fashioned travel case and flicked the rollers before placing her right hoof and left wing above the case. The extended appendages were bathed in a lavender light and the top of the case faded away, like it was an illusion spell, to reveal a masked purple jumpsuit with pink star bursts near the hooves, modified flight goggles and a silver like unicorn horn accessory. She took the outfit into the restroom and emerged as her alter ego known to ponies far and wide as the Masked Matter-Horn and gave a nod to her associate when she stepped out and headed to the balcony. Her outfit making her appear to be a dark violet mare with a forest green mane and oak brown eyes. Melody Show reached into her smallest travel bag and slipped on purple bracelet. The moment she did she was in her purple suit, with stylish purple mask, and stepped over to the balcony as her alias known to the world as Radiance. Giving Matter-Horn a moment check everything she asked if the other masked mare was okay. To which Matter-Horn said she was fine and took flight, Radiance just shook her head and followed on a manifested (and stylish) flying carpet.

As the two Power Ponies flew on their impromptu patrol they heard the sound of sirens and smiled to each other and gave a “let's get to work” nod to each other as they made their way to sound of the sirens. First night in the new city and they were already going to make an impression. They both wondered how long their luck would hold, but never voiced it.

Chapter 2: First Night on the Town

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 3: The Next Day's Surprises

The Next Day's Surprises

Aura Mane woke with a start, looking around she found the harness she had Aurora (just the thought of the filly filled her with joy and fear, all part of being a mother Aura thought as she tried to get back thinking analytically because being emotional could prove problematic) been told to wear the night before. “Aurora, where are you?” called Aura recalling what the filly had said was her calculated worst case scenario.

“Whime owva hwere,” came a young foal's voice, Aura followed the voice to find a four month old sea green filly wrapped in a blanket lying on a couch pillow by the couch on the floor.

“Was this one of your better scenarios? Or one of the worse ones?” said Aura with smile as she laid down next to the filly.

“Bwoth,” said the filly, “Vhwy can't Why twalk white anymwore?”

“You're young body hasn't built up proper structure for verbal communication,” said Aura, “so your voice comes out in the adorable young foal speak that you're using now. Personally I prefer it like this, makes explaining things easier to my parents.”

“Whime gwonna mweet mwy gwand pwarants?” said the now foalized Aurora. Aura smiled and nodded.”

“Mwy bwacelet fwell woff, wit's umbwer duh kwouch,” Aurora gestured towards the couch she was next to. Aura reached under the couch and pulled out the bracer, “wit swaid mwy bwody wiz twoo one. Why mweed twoo mwait a thwew mwears.”

“Good, because I'm not letting my daughter do what I do late at night,” said Aura with a stern voice.

“Aura, Aurora,” came Melodies voice, “where are you dears?”

“By the couch,” said Aura, “Aurora had an age regression a little before I woke up, she's physically a four month old filly and her speech is showing it. Everything about her just so cute.”

“Did seeing her like this,” came Melody's voice as she drew closer, “make you decide on something?”

“Yes,” said Aura, “I've resolved to see my parents again, it's been eight years since I last had anything to do with them. The last time I saw them I had been Matter-Horn for two years and kept it from them, so poorly that I'm surprised that they didn't call me out on my falsehoods. I'm telling them everything, and I'm taking Aurora to meet them. She is in effect their grand-filly and I want her to meet the ponies that raised me. I also want my parents to give me pointers because I'm going to officially name her as my daughter.” The filly looked at the mare with surprise.

“What's all the racket in this room...” the rest of Rose's question died when she saw the foalized Aurora.

“Hwy, Woes,” said the filly, turning to Aura she said, “Mwommy, mwill thwoo tweach mwee twoo fwy?”

“Yes,” said Aura, “but I think your grandparents would like to be part of that experience. The bracer taught you that, but without all the basic knowledge it gave you is fading.

“Wepsept spweech, wit weft mwee spweech, Land wit wallso weft mwee duh imthough Why gwathered wacktwivley fwom wit,” said Aurora.

“She sounds so cute,” said Rose.

“Mwy cwowculated mwoo mwood wage wegwess waz wa gwood swoonario,” said the foal, “mwoe mwatter gutt woo war mwy bwest fwend, Woes.”

“Scratch that,” said Rose Adamant with a furious blush as she trotted up next to Melody, “we'll be departing now, it'll take a while to get to house I called home from here by conventional means, wish I could use my armor.”

“You're almost as bad Aurora,” said Melody, “you've grown a near dependence on your super persona's capabilities that you need to readjust to doing things like everypony else. In Aurora's case she's been forced into waiting a few years before she can reclaim her powers,” at the mention of this Aurora's ears drooped.

“She's right Aurora,” said Aura, “you even mentioned that as the Guardians their knowledge told you that your actions were ill advised and you still followed through on it. I wish I had something like the knowledge of the Guardians when I assumed my mantle ten years ago, you've only been the Guardians a few months. Granted that was most of your life up until this point, but my reasoning still stands. I'll return the bracer to you when you're older and have proved you can be far more responsible than you were with it when I first found you. I know you'll argue that you've been doing a lot good and responsible things since you got, but can you tell me why?”

“I wanted to do something other than sit around those rooms in blissful ignorance,” started Aurora, “I genuinely wanted to help ponies, when I become the Guardians they drive me to be somepony that protects others. The influence is there even when I'm not the Guardians.”

“It drives the pony wearing it to be a protector?” asked Aura in surprise, “my horn amplifies certain aspects of my character when I wear it, it just so happens most of those magnified aspects drive me be a protector. We're similar in that respect. You both need to learn about power abuse, especially you Aurora because if your alter egos were warning you against power abuse and you ignored them then you were just a few steps away from becoming a villain instead of hero. You're lucky that Melody and I found you two before it got worse.” As she said all this she walked over to her travel case and went through the ritual for getting her outfit then threw the bracer on the outfit before resetting the system to look like a regular travel case.

During the chastising mother-daughter conversation Melody and Rose had left the room. “How long will it take to get to the place you called home?” asked Melody asked they walked the halls to the elevator.

“Forty minutes if we take a the nearest trolley, which has a stop off a five minute walk from this building,” said Rose, “then another half hour to get to my secret entrance and exit, another ten minutes actually get the doors to open, then another five minutes to climb the stairs to the main level from my lab.”

“It'll take us roughly two hours to get into building proper,” said Melody, “I take it the complex is in the wealthy part of town.”

“No,” said Rose, “it's near the industrial sector of town, the trolley doesn't go anywhere the rich sector, you'd need to get a private taxi for that.”

“And those are rather pricey,” said Melody, “at least last time I checked.”

“It's true here as well,” said Rose.

**********************************

Forty minutes, and one very annoying trolley ride later (both the mare and filly were hit on by a father and son duo, much to the utter disgust of both) the two were walking path to the industrial sector when Rose turned off the main path, followed by Melody, on to a side rode and came to an impressive looking two story building with a clearly visible basement.

“My lab is in the basement,” said Rose as they came up to what looked like an ordinary exterior wall and she started tapping seemingly random points on the wall for ten minutes.

At the fifty minute mark Melody was surprised the filly was still dedicated to a twenty minute song that song that would have even professional singers question their dedication, once the filly finished her song the well hidden doors popped open. “Well, you certainly have a level of dedication that many adult ponies are lacking,” said Melody as they descended into the basement. Looking over to her right as the doors closed behind her Melody noticed a door next to a collection of different armors that had “Sub-Basement” written over it.

Noticing the stare Rose Adamant said, “don't bother I've tried, even with my armors, at getting that door open and had no success. The main level is this way,” the filly motioned the opposite direction of the door surrounded by armors.”

“We're getting through that door later,” said Melody as they ascended to the main level, “we need to know what those two were up to down there, for the good of everypo...ny,” her long pause was at seeing the lavish furnishings upon entering the kitchen.

“Intruder Intruder,” came a mechanical voice, “you have six seconds to...”

“Command override R5-Zeta 7,” Rose cut the voice off.

“Welcome honored guest,” came the same voice, “how may this complex assist you?”

Melody smiled and said, “I would like all the files on project R053 4D4M4NT, and a case to hold them with plenty of space.”

“Those files are restricted,” said the mechanical voice, “state authorizer and authorization code.

Melody prided herself on being a quick thinker, but saying some random code after saying the name of one of the residents of house could be dangerous. She quickly went through everything she new about Rose's 'parents' before saying, “Gold Hoof, designation code GH-G-568-R4C-9DP,”

“Welcome director,” said the mechanical voice, “you wish to access all data on the subject for the Military Super Pony project, the appropriate case is being retrieved from its secure vault, please wait.” Both ponies looked at each other. Ten minutes later a hefty briefcase, half the size of Aura's travel case, was at Melody's hooves.

“I was not told the access code for the... attache case provided,” said Melody as she once again was thinking on her hooves.

“It is not required,” said the mechanical voice, which now had Rose wanting strip the control unit of out of every wall in the house, “merely saying the name of the project and the two ponies responsible for it in short succession will unlock the case for you, speed and efficiency is the main concern after all.”

“Of course,” said Melody, “can you direct me to a discreet exit, this project is classified after all.” Without another word the wall next Rose opened and the two walked through the long hall provided only to come out by by the Trolley station that had come by only two hours prior. Without a word the two rode the trolley back to their original departure point (this ride was far more enjoyable due to the fact that they were the only ponies on the trolley).

**************************

After a very somber five minutes, plus the six minute elevator ride, the two were back in room. And the sight that greeted them couldn't stop the two from laughing. What greeted them was Aura braiding Aurora's tail, the filly's mane was already braided in the practical style Aura was known for. The look of delight on Aurora's face added to the amusement. After laughing for a good three minutes, during which Aura was still braiding the filly's tail, Melody said, “you swore you would never have anypony share the styles you use with your mane and tail.”

“Technically I'm staying true to the spirit of that claim,” said Aura as she finished braiding the filly's tail, “she is a copy of me.”

“Fwisically and gemetically,” said Aurora with delight, “bwut hour mwinds war stwill diffwent there mwost thood sway wit mwatters.”

“Aurora,” said Rose with laughter still in her voice, “as cute as you sound like now I think it would be in everypony's best interest if you only talked in front of your 'mother' and who she tells you can speak with.”

“Like my parents,” said Aura, “like I said, I want to come clean with them.”

“Speaking of coming clean,” said Melody floating the briefcase over to Aura, “all you have to do is say Rose's original name and that of her 'parents' to unlock it, it holds all the information regarding her. On a related note she is apparently part of a secret military project.”

“Figures,” said Aura, “can the military just try making their projects public just once, why does everything have be classified with them?”

“How you think I feel about it?” said Rose, “I'm a pet project for politically minded ponies, I just want to live a semblance of a normal life! But I was going to be taken by the military after I reached a certain age, no wonder those two were distant with me most of the time.”

“We have some friends looking into the incident involving those two,” said Aura as she put on a a dress uniform and put a new smaller monitor vest on Aurora before putting on the matching headband, “at least we can get a more realistic demonstration of these units right now, still feels like Saddle Rager bucked my head when I put on the band though, how did it feel when I put the vest on you Aurora?”

“Like strong buck the chest after being caught in somepony's security line, I'm guessing,” said Melody, Aurora gave curt nod at the mare's summary.

“You two go and find something to do,” said Aura, “Melody and I have to go over the R053 4D4M4NT files that Gold Hoof and Racing Stride were,” the case hissed open, “working on.”

Aurora just yawned and crawled on to Aura's back before falling asleep, “well there go most of my plans,” said Rose, “I guess I'll see what I can do with the kitchen equipment.”

“You are not laying a hoof on any of those appliances young filly,” retorted Melody as she pulled several files out with her magic, “Aura just said that to preoccupy Aurora, who is now sleeping on her back, you will be helping us go over these files because they all talk about you in one form or another.”

*********************************

Three hours all three ponies that had been looking over the paperwork were groaning. “I never thought the interesting secret government documents could be so dry,” said Rose, “I mean those two weren't supposed to add samples of their code to make me, in fact according to their readings my body has been trying to actively reject their samples.”

“That explains why they were giving such high concentrations of stabilizing agents,” said Aura messaging her head with her fore-hooves, “according to the readings Melody's sample is trying to exceed fifty percent, there's no telling what happens when your body completes rejecting Gold and Stride's samples and Melody's sample becomes more dominant.”

“According these things my being a contributor was non-negotiable, the directing head pony mandated that I be the primary contribution to the project. Also it appears that somepony was crunching numbers of their own for the project. Their formulas and calculations aren't nearly as elegant as Aura's, or even Aurora's.” She floated the folder with all the formulas and calculations to Aura.

“Their calculations are also wrong,” said Aura after cursory glance, “they failed to account for the personality of the contributors, it's been recently proven to us that certain personality traits are indeed genetic,” she turned her head and smiled at the sleeping bundle on her back before continuing, “even without those facts it has been part of working theory for the past six years. According to all these files the project was initiated twenty-five years ago and didn't start it's practical stage until two years ago, at which point they would have all the cutting edge and most recent theories. It seems that everypony involved didn't even consider the personality theory at any point in the project. This is just a subset of a large project anyway, Rose as at least five 'siblings' from what I've been able to discern from the files. Thank goodness I wasn't part of her mix as well, that would be disturbing for me and Aurora.”

“And us as well,” said Melody and Rose in unison.

“Why is she sleeping so much?” asked Rose gesturing towards Aurora.

“Foals spend a lot of their time sleeping during their first year,” said Aura, “their bodies can't sustain the energy output they display, so they tire easily and sleep for extended periods of time in secure places near the mare they perceive as their mother. You might undergo an age regression when your medication times out, and when that happens you might end up at about her age with similar characteristics.”

“That's a terrifying thought,” said Rose, “especially since before today she never experienced foal-hood, and I certainly haven't.”

“I'm looking forward to playing the part of a genuine mother,” said Melody.

“What is it that you do?” asked Rose, “it must pay well if you're able to maintain high life type living.”

“I'm an image consultant with an acting career,” said Melody before giving an exaggerated toss of her mane, “I've only been in a few shows.”

“But they were major hits, you always were nominated for best supporting actress,” said Aura.

“Yes, well,” said Melody, “may parents wanted me to go into music, like them. Rose darling, you're a very bright filly, but your singing voice and dedication to it are simple marvelous. My parents will be ecstatic to meet you, they won't care how you came to be, for all intents and purposes you are as much my daughter as Aurora is Aura's.”

“I'm your daughter?” asked Rose as she looked at the unicorn mare with surprise.

“I am the your 'primary contributor', I think that gives full legal rights to spend as much time with you as I want. The military can come beating down my door as hard and often as they want, but I will fight them with everything I have,” then gave a smirk said, “and so will Radiance.”

***********************************

Two hours later all the files were copied with a duplication spell Radiance had picked up, the copies of the files went into the briefcase while the originals were stashed with Aura's outfit alongside Aurora's bracer. Melody, minus Rose, returned the briefcase and told the system to purge everything having to do with her visit from the past ninety-four hours from its memory (she wanted to be very thorough, and when the real director finally came for the files they would get surprise because in addition to nearly perfect duplicate files they had placed a series of specialty covert observation items in the case itself and on some of the files).

While Melody was focused on her part of the task Aura was watching Rose and Aurora while sending covert Power Pony signals to the rest of the team about what they had uncovered (in a code that she and Mistress Mare-velous had devised, just because the Power Ponies had their own secret private magi-com channel didn't mean somepony couldn't hijack their signal) while wondering what to do next. Aurora had mentioned that she had calculated that Rose Adamant had three more days until she felt the effects of being off her genetic stabilizing agents. She decided to crunch the numbers herself.

“Rose,” said Aura, “what was the dosage of your medication?”

“Somewhere between 19 and 23 milligrams per tablet, I usually had to pop three or four. Aurora only consumed a total of about 9 to 10 milligrams with each serving of food.”

“How many daily meals did she get?”

“I think she said 3, but she said she only had a bite of lunch a few days ago and completely skipped dinner that day.”

“Thanks for reminding me of the time delay,” said Aura, “that would mean she usually consumed about 27 milligrams of stabilizing agent regularly and only had about 12 milligrams in her system. That all held of her reaction for about a good 30 hours. You consume roughly three times what she does regularly and stopped using the supplement almost 20 hours ago. So that would mean,” she mulled over the calculations a bit in her head, “some time in the next two to three days your body will stop processing the stabilizing agent. Aurora is pretty good with calculations.”

“Wust wyke mwy mwommy,” came Aurora's voice with a yawn, “Why omwee hwerd duh pwart abwout mwee land mumburs.”

“And I thought we agreed your talking like that was a little disconcerting to me, I'm use you articulating your words with a bit more finesse,” said Rose.

“She will again,” said Aura, “when she's physically four or five at the earliest, until then she'll talk in this cute little way,” at the last part she nuzzled Aurora who in turn elicited a giggle.

*****************************

An hour later Melody trotted through the door with eight large, flat-looking square cardboard boxes. The two fillies looked at the box with interest, even more so when Melody said, “there's absolutely no place to get a proper meal here, and none of us has properly eaten since last night so I got us some pizzas.”

“An image consultant getting pizza?” came Rose's voice, “I thought that stuff was filled with everything you want ponies to avoid.”

“It is,” said Melody with a smile, “but indulging in junk food every now and then is guilt pleasure that I fully endorse.”

“Why mwever hwad Pete Za,” said Aurora.

“All the food I had was containers micro-biotic meal plans that were carefully set up to keep me at the peak of health and my immune system at its highest performance,” said Rose, “I just know about it because it was part of my reading program, of course most of the reading said about how it's actually bad for me.”

Both mares stared at the fillies, “did you like your carefully regulated meals?” asked Melody, both fillies shook their heads.

“Good enough for me,” said Aura, “I'm all for smart and healthy choices in your diet, but that just sounded something so cold and clinical that it was meant for a lab setting, not home life. What about you Aurora, what was your diet like before you stopped.” The foal gestured to the identically colored mare and whispered into her ear. Aura showed surprise, then anger before finally saying, “she was fed foods that were grown on site, but said foods were engineered to have low nutritional value so as to keep her at roughly the minimum for functioning. It's a miracle she... you saved up some extra pieces every few days to get the experience of full stomach.” The green filly nodded.

The rest of the day was the fillies trying the different pizzas that had been brought before them. Aurora showed her favorite was a daffodil and clover pizza, the same as Aura (much to the joy of the green mare, and amusement of Melody), whiled Rose showed a preference for a rose petal and mint leaf pizza, Melody stated she preferred the rose petal and daisy pizza. Aurora only had two and a half slices before her little belly was fully and she collapsed against Aura's chest in a happy slumber. Rose polished off half a pizza before heading for bed. Despite it only being the afternoon the two mares decided to join the fillies in sleeping, Melody placed their left over pizza in the fridge before joining Rose in the bed they shared.

As Melody was getting comfortable she heard Aura saying, “no matter what mommy will always be here for you baby girl, even if I have to fight the world to keep you one more second I will do it.” Melody smiled and just stroked the mane of a sleeping Rose Adamant as she drifted off to sleep then whispered as sleep began to take her, “that's a promise, and one of my unbreakable rules is you always follow through on promise...”

Melody whispered in the sleeping Rose's ear, “I've as much right to be your mom as Aura does Aurora, and remember no matter what I will fight for you. I never got a chance at this before, and there is no way I'm going to throw it away now that it's right in front of me,” then fell asleep next to the filly.

*********************************

Melody woke up in the middle of the night to the sight of two sleeping fillies beside them. Melody could easily remove herself from Rose's side, but Aurora was considerably tangled around Aura's chest. Melody gave the other mare an amused smile before saying in a near whisper, “I'll solo this one, you're needed for a much important task here.”

“I suppose you're right,” said Aura in the same manner before gentling stroking Aurora's mane with her wing then, “The official excuse to the public should help explain things without anypony getting to suspicious, but I'm worried about...”

“Coming clean with your family,” finished Melody as she slipped on her bracelet and donned the uniform of Radiance.

“It's the right thing to do,” said Aura, pausing momentarily and the foal on her chest lightly stirred before continuing with, “but I'm sure it's the best thing to do.”

“I'm sure they've figured out some of our little secrets,” said Radiance, “it won't hurt to confirm or show a few on your own terms. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a patrol to get to.” With that she was off over the balcony.

Author's Note

The last chapter told of Aurora's origins, this chapter I decided to explain where Rose came from. I don't know how many chapters this will take. But since Halloween is just around the corner I decided to make this story my primary focus. With any luck the next chapter will be up in time for Halloween. And please if you like the story let me know, I would like to see at least one up vote when I come post the next chapter. As for those you who down voted, or are planning to down vote please leave comments as to why you dislike the story. I can't tell what your reasoning for disliking the story is without that, in order to improve the story I actually need input beyond the generic like dislike system.

Chapter 4: Melody's Surprise and Aura's Trial

Melody's Surprise and Aura's Trial

It had been two days since the revelation of where Rose and come from and as she roused from her slumber next the mare known as Melody Show she started to feel burning shoot through her that caused her to roll off the bed. Melody and Rose were wearing a bio-monitor similar to the one that Aura and Aurora wore. The shooting pain forced Melody awake as well and without thinking she summoned her bracelet and once again to the guise of Radiance. She noticed Rose wreathing in pain on the floor and, fearing the worst, moved her to an open space in the room and formed a high walled fountain around the filly. The sound of the pain addling filly woke Aura and Aurora.

“What's happening to her?” asked Aura when she saw the filly wreathing in the high walled fountain that Radiance had created.

“Hwer stwaybilizing wagent is roo low wtoo mwaintwain her,” said Aurora with folded ears and a sad voice, “she's bwecoming what shwe's mweant twoo bwee now.”

“But will she still be her, or a puddle of goo?” asked Radiance, “I just found out she's effectively my daughter, I don't want to lose her already.”

“I can only go off incomplete statistical data that Aurora's been able to collect,” said Aura, “but with all the information at my hooves on this I can't say, her calculations on when the stabilizing agent would be almost completely out of Rose's system were pretty close.”

For a few seconds Rose looked like she was entirely a dark green goo then a large portion of if fell away to reveal a seven month old unicorn filly with Rose's color scheme.

“Woes? Wiz thwat thoo?” said Aurora rubbing her eyes with her hooves.

“Of course wit's mwee,” said Rose Adamant, she paused and moved her jaw around a bit before saying, “Wiz that mwy voice, what hwappened to mwee?”

“You purged all the genetics your body was attempting to remove, what's left is a seven month old unicorn filly,” said Aura with smi le, “you really do take after her.”

“Speaking of which,” said Radiance as she removed the fountain and gathered all the goo in a constructed ornate bottle, “Aura, I'll need you to go and get something a little more permanent for this and take to one of your labs for analysis.”

“Agreed,” said Aura, “I'll take Aurora with me, you have some 'educating' to give Rose, I just hope we don't encounter anymore complications.”

“With our recent luck we'll encounter plenty more of those before the end of the day,” said Melody, “be safe.”

“No promises, no guarantees, just an assurance I'll do my best,” said Aura as she slipped Aurora onto her back between her wings.

“I know,” said Melody, “good luck.”

“You too,” said Aura as she trotted out of the room with Aurora on her back.

*********************************************

Half an hour later Aura and Aurora were walking out of a store with a considerable number of vials, jars and bottles in four different bags, Aurora only had one of them while Aura had the other three. It was on their way back to the trolley station that they both heard a female refined aristocratic voice that Aura knew all to well say, “and here I thought we taught her better. And she has foal with her, I hope that she has a good explanation and not some convoluted excuse.” Aura's eyes went wide and she turned toward the voice to see an aging unicorn mare with a dark green coat and morning orange mane in an exquisite travel dress and fancy sun hat standing next to a sea blue unicorn stallion with a sea green mane in an explorers uniform and pith helmet standing next to a fancy six pony carriage drawn by four pegasi in dark blue uniforms with a greenish gold armor chest piece emblazoned with a sword and sun shaped shield.

Aura gulped and said, “hello mother, greetings father, I'll get in the carriage now, the filly is with me and I'll try to explain it the best I can.”

“I wouldn't expect anything less,” said her father in a refined warm tone, “we already sent a servant to collect your belongings from your hotel, we'll be having this discussion somewhere a bit more private.” Aura just nodded as she walked towards the carriage.

The ride to the estate her parents held in the city was a somber quiet, so much so that Aura and Aurora hugged on to each other for comfort. The actions of their daughter did not go unnoticed by the unicorn pair. Aura and Aurora remained quiet until well after they were in an extravagant dining hall and the servants had left the four ponies to ruminate on the most recent events. Conversation finally began when the travel case that secretly held Aura's outfit and Aurora's former bracer was placed on the table by an unseen unicorn servant and sound of the servants leaving prompted a new conversation.

“Well,” said her, “at least you've been personally successful, we would have assisted your company during that near crash debacle twelve years ago, but you wouldn't have had any of that. Why did you have to be as stubborn as me?”

“I wanted to see how far I could go on my own,” said Aura, “and I also have a few things to tell you,” she flicked the rollers and waved her hooves in the light before pulling out the Matter-Horn horn and Guardian bracer, these artifacts have been of more use to the populace than you could probably know.

Her father eyed her before saying, “you found some extra artifacts and have been letting museums borrow them for a short time?”

“No,” said Aura, “I've been using the horn to keep ponies safe,” she paused for an uneasy three seconds before saying, “as the... Masked Matter-Horn.”

Her parents looked at her for a moment before her mother said, “but her color scheme doesn't match yours.” Instead of saying anything Aura just slipped on her outfit in front of them and everypony in the room saw her change to Matter-Horn's color scheme.

She then removed the mask and returned to her original color scheme before saying, “I like to be careful, but it didn't help much after all, my arch nemesis almost discovered what I really look like. She cloned me and the filly next to me is the result, just learning of her existence set off my maternal instincts. She was physically older when I met her and she was using the bracer's power to help ponies. Dad could you take a look at the artifacts and tell me what they are, you're the foremost expert on this sort of thing.”

Her mother just blinked with a blank face while her father floated the bracer and horn over for close inspection before saying, “it'll be a few hours, I suggest you catch up with your mother, it's been over twelve years since we last spoke with you,” with that he left the room.

“How old is she, really?” asked her mother after an uneasy silence.

“Four months,” said Aura, “but the sample used to make her was taken from me four years ago.”

Aurora's ears drooped and she said, “Why won't we able to gwoe old, Why'll stop bweeing...” she was cut off by a hug from Aura and started sobbing into the mare's fur.

“I'll admit magic was always my forte,” said her mother, “I don't know much about the science stuff you seem to have talent for.”

“A clone can't live past the age of the donor at the time of donation,” said Aura as she stroked the filly's mane, “when she reaches the age I was four years ago she won't be able to go further. Right now she's nothing more than genetic double of me, the only that's truly hers is her mind and relationships.”

“I think I can help with that,” said her mom, “after all I don't want my granddaughter feeling like she's on her way to the gallows her entire life. We'll need a little bit of all of us for it to work, the ritual is time consuming and will take a few days to execute.”

“Yes well those vials, jars and bottles were for collecting something of great importance,” said Aura, “Radiance can't hold it forever, she's really Melody by the way.”

“That girl always did have certain flair,” said her mother, before turning to Aurora and saying, “you can call me grandma Lost Spell, what's your name.”

“I was MHC-007 before all this, them whem I met mwommy she dwecided twoo cwall mwee Aurora Flame.”

“Melody chose a good name for her,” said Lost Spell, “I'll have your purchases sent to her right away. Now then how long have you both been playing 'people's champion'?”

“I've been at for ten years now,” said Aura, “she was at for three months before she reverted to what you see before you. Her speech capabilities also reverted to those of foal her age, she can barely walk and I'm afraid to go anywhere without her.”

“You're doing fine so far Aura,” said her mother, “how long has she been in your care?”

“Just a few days, she can eat solid foods just fine, but anymore than a few slices of pizza will be a little much for her. It doesn't help that her entire diet before meeting me was designed to keep her energy levels low.”

“That's horrible,” said her mother with fright.

“That's super villains,” said Aura, “immoral, unethical, and just plain mean. I was fortunate to encounter her when I did and...”

“You had the Horn of Ray Rouser the Great and didn't bother to tell me,” came her father's voice as he entered the room.

“I didn't know what I had, it was in an old stone statue, and apparently won't leave me alone.”

“How do you mean?” inquired her mother with piqued interest.

“The horn won't stand to be more than thirty feet from me, dad, you lab was about twenty-five feet out during our conversation. If I try to go further than that the horn teleports to a point near me.”

“Then it's not Ray Rouser's,” said her father with disappointment, “I was so hoping that... what! hidden in a stone statue and mystically linked,” he rushed back into the study area.

“I see dad's the same as ever, if that stallion isn't examining something of the distant past he's oblivious to almost anything! How did you manage to have me with him anyway?”

“A secret that I'll share after we've assured my granddaughter can have a life that is truly her own,” replied her mother with a smirk.

“I was expecting... more from you,” stated Aura, “why aren't you, well... being you?”

“Took you a while to catch on,” said her mother in a cold voice that made Aura shiver and clutch her chest tightly, Aurora was curling up into a ball for her sense of self-preservation. “This is a test for Aura, not you sweetheart,” said Aura's mother to the huddled filly.

“Why don't cware abwout that,” said Aurora in a soft, timid, shy voice, “as far why'm concerned she's mommy, and foals mwy wage need twoo stway kwose to mommy.”

“Well,” came Aura's father's voice from the other room, “looks like she passed the first part of her test, Aura that horn is older than anything I've seen to date.”

“Not now, honey,” said Lost Spell, “Aura still needs to complete her first part of the test, then the fun can begin.”

“Mother,” said Aura with an aggravated voice, “your tests always have a straightforward answers with a much more subtle application, let's just get it over with so that I can actually try to be a mother for more than a couple of days.”

“And, you passed,” said her mother.

“That was more subtle that usual,” said Aura with a note of surprise, “the last time you 'tested' me was when my company was at a teetering point.”

“Exactly, you answered the way I wanted you too,” said her mother, “this time around your test was to identify my method, after all I expect you to do the same with your foals. So, what's the official excuse going to be?”

“Nothing major,” said Aura, “just a lot of jargon stating that somepony didn't decomission an RnD facility I own and decided it would be cute to clone me as test only to leave the facility unattended. It's close enough to the truth, after all Dark-Mare cloned here.”

“Wee other cwones were fwailurez,” said Aurora, “Why was the fwirst swuccess, and shwee dwecided why was why-ability after wonly a fwew months, why'm omly fwour months old.”

“How does she know her age?” asked Aura's mom.

“The bracer,” said Aura, “when she used it to transform into the Guardians that form gave her access to information that she normally wouldn't.”

“Why had twoo fwocus on the kowledge during weturning twoo mwyself twoo kweep wit,” said Aurora with flat ears.

“The Guardian Bracer,” breathed Aura's mother, “that's supposed to be a legend, you've actually worn it? However the details of those abilities was unknown.”

“Dad has it with my horn,” said Aura, “it's rare that you know something about an artifact before dad.”

“It was part of my studies, it's said a single wearer becomes two very powerful protectors.”

“She called herself the Guardians of Insightful Truths and Guardian of Veiled secrets,” said Aura, “One had light based abilities and always spoke in rhyme while the other spoke with every other sentence some kind of innuendo and had shadow based abilities.”

Lost Spell looked at the filly before saying to her, “when it came off did it say anything?”

“Why'll bwee waiting fwour the white time to bwond again. Mwhy woo ask?”

“Because my studies stated the artifact would always stay bound to an individual as long as they lived, the successors were not as predictable as one would think, that and it was next impossible to remove. Looks like reversing the physical age to foal-hood does a nice job of getting it off their foreleg, if my mother was here for this she...”

“Would be trying to corrupt your granddaughter,” Aura finished for her mother, “that mare was a borderline super villain, and you know it. It's a minor miracle I ended up the way I did.”

Lost Spell exploded into laughter, still giggling and chuckling through her words she said, “I suppose mom would come off that way, she had the nickname 'the horned villainess' when she was around your age. She comes off as a villain, but she's more of hero than you know.”

“Wait a minute,” said Aura, “my mother would never... grandmother, you set all of this up. You even made facimilies of my parents, they probably are still in Neighyork wondering about the mysterious dead stallion and mare that's in intensive care.”

“You know it,” said Lost Spell seeming to melt into an elderly unicorn with Aura's same coat colors with an dark orange mane and tail. “It's me, Forgotten Rite,” said the newly transformed mare, “and I'm very much looking forward to the ritual giving your daughter her own life. Don't look at me like that, I've known you've been playing superhero for the past seven years. But to think you were one of the most well known heroes on Maretropolis, that brings back memories.”

“What are you on about?” snarled Aura Mane, “I would never entrust Aurora Flame to you or my parents, even if there was a spell or ritual to free her from the fate of every clone in existence.”

“Your tools are out of reach at the moment,” said Forgotten Rite, “They're in spell that holds them in place until we finish our business. You may not believe me, but Maretropolis had another team of super ponies that were quite famous before your group made itself known, that was during my generation. I was on that team, my alias back then was Silver Star.”

“Wait, I read about her after I assumed my mantle,” said Aura, “she was pony with the power to command metal without showing in magic whatsoever despite being a unicorn.”

“Yes, well,” said Forgotten, “we all retired after the last of our nemeses ceased to be a threat, I hung up my costume and met your grandfather, your mother seems to have inherited my magical sense, but you got all the heroic qualities, as did your daughter since she's basically a little you right now.”

“Why'm scwared,” said Aurora, “I don't know what to do without some kind of guidance, why hwave mwoe...”

“Real intuition,” finished Forgotten Rite, “you became reliant on the bracer's power before you could develop it. That will be rectified in you upbringing. I was too hooves off with my granddaughter, your mother and I will share the load in your upbringing. You both need to know about the heroes that came before you. Aura, your almost as bad as your daughter.”

“Well she's basically a copy of me, a lot of the current genetics theories hypothesize that a sizable portion of our personality traits come from our biology rather than upbringing. Of course the Nature versus Nurture debate has been going on for a few decades now.”

“And you just proved my point without intentionally agreeing with me,” said Lost Rite, “your new training starts now, hers starts on her birthday a few years from now.”

____________________________________________

At roughly the same time Melody and Rose were staring at the goo that had slipped off the now unicorn filly and was now in series of jars and beakers. “Okay,” said Melody, “we don't touch the stuff until we get it back to a proper lab, this sort of thing is Aura and Sliding volunteer to deal with.”

“Woo's swiding?” inquired Rose.

“She's a friend and teammate,” said Melody, “she's really smart, but she doesn't always show it. She and Trembling are making in Maretropolis, mostly keeping an eye out for trouble. Now how about you and I put this stuff in a safe cold storage area then go and do things like nothing bad is going to happen.”

“War bwinging war thwingie jus' when cwase, white?”

“Yeah, it's annoying, but part of the job,” said Melody with a serious face.

After making sure she had everything Melody used her natural magic to tickle Rose for a few minutes, causing the filly to laugh in her cute sounding foalish voice. After the tickle onslaught Melody picked up Rose onto her back and made her way out the door, just before the filly started to clutch her chest like it was in pain and started go into small spasms on the floor, fearing the worst (which was worse than most considering her mostly nightly occupation) she lifted the filly into the air and made for the bed when suddenly said filly went limp her magic just before her brown coat turned to a vibrant yellow along with her mane and tail taking a slightly pinkish undertone.

After placing the filly on the nearest bed Melody was went over to the Rose and nudged her hoof with her muzzle, the filly stirred and opened her eyes (which thankfully hadn't changed their color as well). “Before you ask,” said Melody, “your coloration just changed, your coat is a bit closer my color and your mane now has a slightly pink undertone.”

“Woo mow watt that means?” said the filly as she looked over at Melody.

“Yes,” said Melody, “it will be harder for the ponies that claim to be responsible for your 'birth' to find you now. Besides, you're much cuter now. You might have an exceptional mind, it's still developing. Although I'm surprised you are still going through some additional changes, hopefully the change you just experienced will be the last.”

“Why'm squared, mommy,” said Rose, “Why am Why slow scared?”

“I don't know,” said Melody as she pulled the filly into an embrace, “but it feels nice when you call me 'mommy', I was always scared I would never have foals, what with the dedication to my career and other... duties. What I want to know is why I was chosen as your primary contribution, your files didn't say.”

“Well, wh...”

“What did the military intend for you?” finisned the unicorn mare, “you were supposed to be an infilitrator for gathering intelligence and sabataging systems when nes...,” the mares went wide at a sudden realization, “I've always been called highly attractive, I believe the expression they used during my school days was 'looks and brains'. I was nowhere near Aura in the brains department and, to tell the truth, I always tried to downplay my appearance. No matter what stallions keep saying how much I physically attract them, it was cute for a while, but now it's just annoying. They were trying to create an infiltrator so attractive she could get access to anywhere she wants or needs, with the intelligence to adapt to situation on the fly. I've found I'm quite good at that second part over my time as a super powered heroine, but I'm also a very willful mare. A trait you seem to have inherited, you put the training they forced on to you as a method for helping ponies.”

Rose's ears drooped and her head hung before she said, “hwow much wuf mwy wife wuz pwanned out? Did way wintend fwore mwe twoo drew wall mwy hweroics.”

“No,” said Melody as she pulled the foal closer, “you were supposed to be a good little obedient soldier. Your strong willfulness was an unintended property, the ponies you thought were your parents were given three months to get your willfulness under control or they would clean all evidence of its existence. You were potentially expendable from the get go to them. They were trying to make the perfect squad of specialists. The oldest among you is called Alpha-01, codenamed Alpha. You were the third in their series, the first time you said what you thought was your name that became your codename. You have an older brother called B-R-34-K3R, codenamed Breaker, he's a brute pure and simple. You my dear were always meant to be a refined individual, and that is something I will be thankful for, it'll make our bonding moments more easy,” she slipped on her bracelet and was once more in her outfit, using her magic and the bracelet in perfect sync she placed the jars and beakers filled with the sludge that had fallen from Rose into the fridge and plastered almost every section of the fridge with do not open signs, taking the 'Do Not Disturb' sign and hanging it on the outside of the door with prim nod before closing the door (all from a location hidden from the hall outside) she turned to Rose and said, “let's go find our friends, Aura's luggage has special signal that it's always broadcasting and I happen to know the the tracking modifications needed to trace the signal.” With a smile from the filly Radiance generated a fashionable carpet between the two and floated them out while closing and locking the balcony behind them.

****************************

A half hour Radiance and Rose were entering a fancy old mansion, the one Aura and Aurora happened to be in, only to hear Aura shouting, “GRANDMA YOU CAN NOT BE SERIOUS? MY PARENTS KEEP SAYING THAT I WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO ACHIEVE YOUR POSTION IN ANYTHING, AND YOU ARE JUST... GIVING ME YOUR POSITION IN ONE OF OUR NATION'S MOST ILLUSTRIOUS AND SECRETIVE POSTION... ALONG WITH AURORA AND MY FRIENDS, MOST OF WHOM YOU HAVE NEVER MET.”

“Are we done yelling,” came the voice of an elderly refined mare, “you're little outburst scared your 'daughter', whom ironically went closer to the source of her distress. By the way, your friend is here, a full fifteen minutes later than anticipated, I thought they'd be here in time here my full proposal.”

“Witch lasted a fwull fwortween...” started Aurora.

“minutes,” finished Aura, “We don't want your ceremony, need your deal and certainly don't require your aid.”

“I beg to differ,” said Lost Rite as she came into view to the new arrival, “you require all I just offered, I like how your figured out how to keep the horn from following you great distances by the way.”

“Don't go changing the subject,” said Aura with disdain, “even if you were a great super pony heroine from a long time ago it still doesn't explain why none of your children tried at the life. My aunts and uncles all turned their noses up a the very thought of leaving their comforts to help others.”

“Yes, well I suppose it was my fault for raising them almost exclusively in high society, tell me what would have her do,” she gestured to filly clinging tightly to Aura, “knowing that she won't make it to the age you are now, will your still be around when her lifespan suddenly ends and be their to cry at her funeral with a hollow statements about how she was 'cut down before her time' or will the the lives you've been leading catch up to you only for her to cry at your funeral before her lifespan ends. The ritual I'm proposing could give her a real life of her own.”

“What's my guarantee it won't blow up in our faces and somehow bring an end to her?” shot back Aura with anger and concern.

“The ritual requires at least 3 ponies that are close genetic relatives to be properly executed,” said Lost Rite, “it will transfer pieces us into her and change her into something that can live her own life without any problems. I've kept news of what you've been up to from your parents for the past six years,” said Lost Rite, “but I think its time you come out to them for real, they'll be ecstatic about having a granddaughter.”

“Another pegasus,” said Aura, “another pony for the gossip columns talk about embarrassing lineages and how the greatest magical minds of their generation have nopony to officially train. I didn't mind them so much, but I saw how they hurt my parents... wait did you say my friend is here,” the pegasus turned her head to see Radiance and Rose before giving a sheepish smile and beconning the two over, “Melody, Rose, meet my Grandmother, Lost Rite. She put on a show of being my parents until almost an hour ago. Alright grandma you've planned a lot of this out so I'm just going to ask one question, what trial do I have to undergo to officially get your assistance?”

“You've been living it dear,” said Lost Rite with a smile, “your 'trial' was that of the great concern you should, and you passed it a while ago, I just wanted to mess with you a bit.”

“In other words my 'trial' was just spending time with you and not trotting out,” said Aura, “that's not like you at all grandmother, usually the trials your pose are so elaborate that you might well hope you have superpowers to complete them.

“I want you to take my place in the organization Aura, my dear,” said Lost Rite, “my entire old super team makes up, and I want yours to do the same, we're getting ready to completely disappear from what we've been doing the past forty-seven years, but we need individuals to fill the spot. We would have stepped down for your parents had they gone into the life, but alas such things didn't come to to pass. Rather than more super villains making themselves known the criminal element died down to only a few hooffuls of rank amateurs with inflated egos, that is until fifteen years ago.”

“When the first recorded super villain of our time appeared,” said Aura quickly catching on, “but that villain was brought to hoof by normal ponies... after they had found a way to exhaust him, then things died down again until a few months before the first recorded members of the Power Ponies stepped in, but that was almost a full two years before the Masked Matter-Horn made her debut.”

“And seemingly over night managed to organize the rest of the super pony community of Maretropolis into the group that was named by the papers rather than itself,” said Lost Rite, “you, my dear, were the linchpin that made the group possible. Without realizing it you managed bring together a bunch of solo act heroes and make them a stable team, further more you already have the seeds to the next generation of super ponies at your hooves. Aurora and Rose will be excellent protectors once they've matured enough. You can't deny it, just like the horn chose you the bracer chose her.”

“The difference is that when she activates bracer she's duo and not some rank solo act.”

“That's only because she uses the knowledge available to her provided in the Guardian Forms,” said Lost Rite, “and she was growing far to dependent on it when she reverted to what she is now, a fortuitous event that is allowing you to teach her how to trust in the resources she has within her and not readily available in the knowledge she would have as the Guardians. Aurora is filled with self doubt and thus heavily relied on the abilities the bracer provided.”

“She knows?” asked Radiance with surprise.

“She's known for years, she's probably figured which pony's behind each to the masks already, she's been a little scary that way, and this is just her being polite.

“Oh, well this is going to get interesting,” said Radiance as she returned to form of Melody Show.

“imweed,” said the foal Rose Adamant.

“Woes, wiz matt woo?” came Aurora's voice when she noticed the other filly, “what hwappened twoo woo?”

“It looked like the darling still had some last minute changes to go through,” said Melody.

“She looks like she really could be your daughter,” said Aura, “your appearances are so similar now that it's a little disconcerting. What are you going to tell your family, last I checked you weren't entirely forthcoming about all your...activities.”

“I'll have you know I've shared my secret with my sister,” said Melody, “she's got a few extra special talents of her own these days.”

“Ah yes, Mare-tallia in Neighyork,” said Lost Rite, “if memory serves right her ability is assume an exterior that is any metal and control magnetic forces,” ending it all with a smirk.

Melody's eyes shot up in surprise before she sputtered a bit, “How do you know all that?”

“You have similar bone structures,” said Lost Rite with a smirk, “and when one becomes a superpower hero in the family you are almost guaranteed to find others in the family. My cousins were in the life as well, they retired after almost ten years at it while I kept going until I couldn't find anymore super powered villains to remove after almost three years of vigilance. Look at the two of you, most of the dangerous super villains are locked away now, you're finding yourselves playing mother to unexpected children and you are starting feel like the masks are finally getting in the way of living your lives. Most of those mean only one thing.”

“We're getting to the point we contemplate, or actually do, retire from the life,” said Aura, “you're right, I was going to give it another year then hang up the mask for good, but then I found out about her and all my plans suddenly didn't seem to matter anymore, my maternal instincts just 'clicked on', and the thing is I'm actually feeling like I want more foals in my life.”

Lost Rite smiled and said, “I'll help in raising her best I can, she deserves more than one super pony in her life.”

“Um about that,” said Aura nervously.

“There's a unicorn stallion she worked with in Trottingdale a few years back,” said Melody, “he's also in the life, the two have been corresponding with some of the cutest love letters I've ever seen.”

“Um, you haven't seen the last three he sent,” said Aura nervously, “they were rather...steamy.”

“Well, is he single?” said Lost Rite.

“He had a fillyfriend when we met, he never said if they parted ways or how far their relationship has gone, I don't want to do anything that could potentially be awkward around around another mare.”

“Once you get yourself a stallion you're in a committed relationship with that stops being an issue,” said Lost Rite with a nostalgic sigh, “in fact some mares actually look forward to those sorts of things once they're in a committed relationship.”

“Grandma!” said Aura Mane, “don't talk of such things before foals, who know how their sense of romance will develop now.”

“I wouldn't worry,” said Lost Rite while gesturing to a pair of sleeping fillies, “they fell asleep just before your friend mentioned a possible stallion n your life. I'll contact your parent s and see about making arrangements for the ceremony, don't worry it will be done miles from this city.”

“The sooner we're back in Maretropolis with them the better, the team is going to be surprised.” The magical artifacts were levitated back into her hidden compartment.”

“Aura,” said Melody Show, “we left the samples in an impromptu cold storage, we should retrieve them soon as possible.”

“We're approaching pressing for time,” said Aura, “I'll make some calls and have a very capable pony handle it, especially since it looks like all our luggage is already here,” Melody looked around and noticed her friend to be right, before the unicorn mare could say anything Aura said, “grandma's scary good like that. And if she's serious about helping raise Aurora then the filly might pick up on how to do similar things.”

“That is actually quite terrifying,” said Melody, “Make the call.”

Aura went over to her outfit and hit the hidden communication switch again before saying, “Matter-Horn to Fillysecond. We have some sludge to analyze, it's been placed in an impromptu cold storage unit, and I have the key to your access,” the pegasus held out her room key to nopony in particular a few second later a pink and white blur passed by and the key was missing, “and done,” said the pegaus mare with smile after switching off her communication unit.

Just before the mare could take a step you found a note next her stating they were already checked out along Melody stating her room key was missing.

three hours later the four ponies were in the private car that the two mares had taken the town with assurances the two would not have to ever return to that place.

Author's Note

I've been giving it some thought and decide that this story will update only durign the Halloween season, I'll spend a little time writing the next chapter and look into getting somepony to proofread the story in the future. Thanks to those of you who liked the the story before now, it may nto seem likesmuch but that helped me know that story still has promise and merit. That said I think this story will have somewhere between 2 and 5 more chapters before I switch it to completed. I was happy with the scheme I had for set up giving the Power Ponies original identities separate from the Mane 6 while still showing how each one ended up playing that particular pony. So my question here is, whom among the Power Ponies should be next? Keep in mind I'm having them do things in pairs and have hinted as to where each pair is now (without stating what those pairings are, although I have some idea about what the pairings could be. I think it would be nice to hear what the Power Ponies pairings should be. When I've finished what I'm calling the Secret Gen arc I'm thinking of doing a followup story arc that takes place years later during the teen years of foals of the series and their first few years of playing at superhero. Suggestions for this adn the expressed future story set would be appreciated.

Family Matters

Aura, Melody, the foals and Aura's grandmother were all coming up to the train station, at different times. It was time to go, and leave Derby Heights behind. The city had grown a bit on Aura, as a result she was thinking of how place a new set of company complexes in the city, she already had an R&D building in the city, which she had found out had been pillaged to make the equipment that had produced Aurora. The filly in question was far too small to trot beside her, no matter what was said to the contrary, so she was riding on the pegasus mare's back, truth be told Aura actually liked the sensation despite having issues with other ponies of various sizes and ages doing the same thing to her in the past.

Rose was in the same situation as Aurora, the filly was riding upon Melody's back. In her telekinetic grasp was a cooler that was half filled with ice in addition to the goo samples that they collected from the fillies when the stabilizing agent had run its course through their systems. Both mares were relieved that the fillies in question hadn't become puddles entirely. The difference between Aura and Melody was that Melody had been trained to be comfortable with things on her back. Both mares knew what the coming family meetings would entail, neither was looking forward to such things. To make matters worse, or better, the two weren't sure which, Aura's grandmother was a retired super pony.

Lost Rite was an unusual unicorn, she was proud of her granddaughter while she didn't show it. While her parents were caught up in their little world, Lost Rite didn't care either way. Her husband on the other hoof, how she fell for such a bigoted pony was beyond her, had a similar mindset to her daughter and son-in-law. She was pleasantly surprised when her granddaughter had turned out to have her distinct mindset, despite having next to no interaction with each other. However to keep up appearances she ended up doing things she wasn't all that proud of.

They all filed into the private car that Aura and Melody had arranged, Melody putting the samples in the car's hidden fridge. Once they were on their way, the fillies were sleeping soundly, much to the relief of the mares, Aura said, “So, grandma, I think it best you start off with why you tracked me down, impersonated my parents, and why you're being so nice to me.” Melody looked over at her best friend, she too was curious.

Lost Rite gave a drawn out sigh before saying, “I always wanted to treat you with great kindness, but your grandfather and parents were bigots that would do everything they could to make all my efforts fruitless, so I took a few pages from the opposition I faced in my youth and put on a show of making it look like I despised you. I was almost all the anonymous donors and gift givers you had over your life, I made sure I couldn't be traced in those regards, just in case your grandfather or parents suspected something, I wanted to keep you safe from their wrath, and me safe enough to continue,” she took another deep sigh, “I thought that sort thing would be left behind when I hung up my mask.”

“Who were you, really?” Said Melody softly, also keeping an eye on Rose.

“Back in the day I protected Maretropolis the way you and your friends do,” said Lost Rite, “in those days I was the Mare-sterious Spellcross, but over time the super element of crime dwindled to a point my team and I weren't really needed, so we decided to retire from the super life and try at a normal one, which involved raising families instead just sitting around the base on slow days talking about what kind of families we wanted. The one I ended up with was about as far from my dream as it could get, when Aura was born it was my hopes that some semblance of the kind of family I wanted would be possible, but...”

“That never happened,” Aura cut in promptly, “I'm happy you were many of my anonymous benefactors over the years, that kept me going when even my best friend couldn't do anything to improve my demeanor.”

“She got surprisingly broody when she was in a foul mood back in the day,” said Melody with a despondent smirk, “but now she heads into her basement to work on private projects, so now she works through her sour moods, not much healthier, but definitely more productive.”

Aura shot her friend a mock angry look before saying, “Yes, well I will admit I do have some rather unhealthy habits that probably will end up mitigated by my new occupation of trying to be a mother,” she smiled at the filly next her, “she's so much like me in a lot of ways, and that scares the daylights out me. How am I suppose to keep a genius level intellect from causing too much damage while managing a business and fighting crime?”

“You'll have help,” said Lost Rite, “your friends and me, and hopefully your parents will do their best to support you. If your parents don't then it's their loss, you're an incredible mare, and have made more accomplishments in the past five years than they have all their lives, the fact they still can't see what an amazing daughter they have is their own failing, I know for certain that I didn't raise your mother to be so narrow minded, but your grandfather was another story.”

“Speak of,” said Melody, “where is the old bigot?”

“Last I check he was in Neighyork conducting business when he got himself foal-napped, I swear that stallion can't go a decade without falling into the most basic of traps.”

Aura and Melody giggled a bit before Aura said, “Given our extracurricular activities it's harder for us to fall into those sorts of things, although we do have some teammates looking into some reports in that city, with any luck he'll be rescued and the situation will make him less of a bigot.”

“We have a better chance of an ancient dragon awakening a good mood and sharing its vast knowledge in a peaceful manner, without everypony jumping to conclusions,” huffed Lost Rite.

“Yeah,” said the two other mares with an annoyed voices simultaneously.

“Why are you still with him? If he's not the kind of stallion you thought he could be?” Said Aura.

“I'm one of those old fashioned mares,” said Lost Rite, “I believe in honoring my vows and that the legal system doesn't have a right to intrude in matters such as this, so yes I never filed for divorce. Besides, how do you think it would look for a married mare back in those days trying to separate herself from the stallion she made a commitment to in front of a mass of witnesses?”

“Especially given the public status of grandpa in those days,” said Aura, “you would have been assaulted for false accusations while he came out the 'hero' in the stories the papers wrote.”

“Probably still would,” snarked Melody, “all the old money ponies really like him, “and they have the most economic and political weight to throw around.”

“Regardless,” said Lost Rite, “I think it best that mistakes made in the past be avoided when possible with the new generation.” They all looked at the sleeping fillies with smiles on their faces.

“You know,” said Aura, “I never really thought I'd find myself playing mother, and this isn't the first time I'm happy about being wrong, but is the first time the thought makes me feel serene.”

“Will you try having more?” Inquired Rite.

“I need to find the right pony first,” said Aura, “but Dark-Mare did leave me a means of allowing ponies to have foals when they are in some sort of position that doesn't allow it.”

“Aura,” said Melody with a gentle smile at Rose and a gentle pet of the filly's mane, “that made mare's tech was for incubating clones, granted we have some classified military data on how they combined the material of multiple ponies, but even then the notes say that without the right stimulation and a consistent means of stabilizing the resistant donor material what comes out could revert to goo like what came off of the fillies. We're going to have to answer a lot of questions, and chances are the hardest ones to answer won't involve family. We're both major figures in the public eye, us coming back with a pair fillies and no legal documentation to show where they came from will be hard. Chances are our enemies will watching the news feed, and the moment you mention Aurora is a clone that somepony made using materials your company makes without you knowing it some of them will definitely put together who you are when not at the office or home.”

“I know, and it could get worse, some might start putting together who some of our friends are, after all we interact with some of them on a regular basis. Sliding has always been a hot topic in more quite a few circles, somepony might put the pieces together.”

“We could always ask Inquiry for help, she's very good at und...”

“No,” said Aura forcefully, “she's barely better than a conspiracy nut, the fact she figured out who we all are was bad enough, but she also had to insist we make her an auxiliary member of our team. Can you imagine what she'd do once she's found out what Aurora has connections with, and who she becomes when she uses that thing? It's bad enough I had to find a way to get my horn to stop following me everywhere, but now I need find a way to allow her to remove that thing whenever she wants or has to, and I don't think her very real excuse that it just won't come off will work everywhere she goes.”

“You're right on that account,” said Rite.

“It's more than that,” said Aura, “They're going to have to be constant examples in the public eye, which means they have to reflect 'our' social stations. That means the best schools, the best outfits, and some sense of connection to some of the social elite of the city and beyond. Aurora has most of my traits, including my antisocial tendencies, she's going to be under a lot of pressure to have more than one friend that's has a parent ranked high on the social ladder.”

“But she is like you,” said Melody, “and you always seem to work best under pressure, she might very well have that same tendency. She's like a little you, and not just because she's your clone. Devoid of the stimuli you grew up with she still managed to think just like you would if placed in a similar situation, whether it was intended or not she's more you're creation than some super villain. Aura, she's the foal you would have if you had birthed her yourself, the ritual your grandmother is proposing will probably just act as a life extension for her, she may very well still look just like you when it's over.”

“And I'm okay with that,” said Aura, “most ponies would feel disturbed at the thought of looking at their clone, regardless of the age difference, but I see her as a potential hope for the future. These two are part of projects that were underground, and the project that begot Rose will be publicly denied when we try to bring it to light with only what we have now.”

“We need to make sure all those accountable for this are not just brought before a court of justice, but also rendered the judgment they deserve,” said Lost Rite, “secret or not, projects like what brought those two into the world are a potential threat to the public at large, because they say to everyone out there that their lives aren't as priceless as they believed them to be.”

********************************************************

Silence followed for several more hours. The train finally pulled into the Maretropolis station, they gathered everything from their car and made sure it was properly stored for carrying, the foals on the backs of the mares that were now seeing themselves as said foals' respective mothers, and headed home.

When Aurora awoke she gave what Aura thought was cute yawn and discovered she was in a large complex, predictably she said, “Whewe awe we?” as she was looking about the extravagant complex that had an aesthetic that was mostly made up of artifacts and advanced furniture and architecture that somehow managed to be pleasing to the eye.

“My home,” said Aura, “This is Great-Horn Manor, a high profile estate that I designed and oversaw the construction of once my company became the economic giant it is now, while every square centimeter is known to the public most of the rooms are marked to indicate something very different, not to mention the natural cavern I extended into for housing my personal crime fighting facility The public mostly believes that the double P Citadel has my tech in it as a sort of publicity stunt.”

“Yes, well,” said Lost Rite descending the stairs, “You'll hang up the mask when the time comes.”

“Maybe,” said Aura, “but I plan on managing to make some of it happen on my terms.”

“You have all the materials needed for the ritual on hoof,” said Lost Rite, “I'll see about contacting your parents to at least get them to help with this one thing before going back to pretending everything you've done isn't worthwhile.”

“I should at least try to improve my relationship with them,” said Aura, “but they're still probably going to be closed minded elitists that only show up when they are under the impression that the event will be a major social one.”

“Why Fweenk thwat woo swaying that woo mwow have wuh daughter two the pwess mwight bwee wuh mwajor... Why cwan't pwonounce thwat word anymwore,” Aurora started crying, “mwy vocwabuulawy wiz swipping intwoo swmomthing bad,” she mewled sadly.

Aura picked up the foal and gently caressed her as she said, “it's okay, even if the bulk of your memories are gone by next month I'll be here to share in the kind that really matter.” Aurora sniffled and fell asleep with a sad whine against the mare that was holding her.

“She's young and needs her rest anyway,” said Lost Rite, “Now, put her to bed and come down here so we can start getting things ready.”

______________________________________________

At that same time Melody was getting comfortable with Rose in her abode. Much like Aura, Melody lived in an extravagant manor, unlike her friend though the manor had all it's decorations arranged so that the light would always hit them at the most attractive angles. Every room was filled with crystal lamp stands, bejeweled furniture (with genuine gemstones, not one was fake), and a host of other jewel themed aesthetic pieces, just looking about you could see this was the home of a pony that new jewels like none other. Melody's parents had envisioned her as a singer or dancer, Melody herself found her calling in jewel related marketing. That quickly expanded into the fashion industry as a whole.

She took a look back at the sleeping filly on her back and smiled as she used her natural magic to levitate Rose on to a nearby couch. For some time now she had found that her home life was missing something, but looking at a sleeping Rose made the feeling flow out from the mare. Melody realized she had a lot of explaining to do to her parents, how fortunate for her they would coming to visit within the coming week. After a quick check of the complex and its security system, which was designed and made by Aura, she headed for her study to get some books to help her with her new role.

When she returned from her study Rose was just waking up, “Whew awe we,” asked Rose with a bit of confusion.

“My home,” said Melody, “there's going to be a few changes around here since I learned about you. Secret government projects are one thing, but the kind of project that gave birth to you requires the willing participation of the donors. I wasn't even sent a notice they were planing to make me a contributor, did your handlers ever have you meet anyone else involved?”

Rose shook her head rapidly before saying, “No, Why nevew mwet anywun, evew.”

Melody took on a decidedly more wrathful look, which did indeed frighten the foal a bit, before darkly saying, “They didn't even know how to properly raise a foal, foals need to interact with other foals, they require socialization just as much as proper food, which I saw they didn't even give her either.”

“Mwiss Melody, you'we scawing me,” said Rose.

Melody snapped out of her dark musings and and took on a much friendlier tone, “Don't call me that, please just call me mom, I insist, after all I will be acting as your legal guardian and mother soon enough. Aurora is going to be having Aura as her mother, honestly I'm glad you entered our lives.”

“Why?”

“We needed a hope for the future, a reason to keep going when it comes time to hang our masks up for the last time, and a reason to hang them up. Ensuring you girls grow up right is a good reason, and when it comes time to answer the call we'll also be sure you are ready. You both were following your hearts, the same kind Aura and I have, but you were far too reliant on your equipment and accessories, Aurora even chose to ignore the wisest council she had at her disposal, that will always prove to be a mistake.” She gave a little smile.

“Why woo smiling?”

“Aura was the same way when I first met her, it wasn't until she started her life as Matter-Horn that she really started listening to what others had to say.”

Suddenly the peace was shattered when she looked out the window and saw an ornate carriage pulling into the space before the door, she felt her legs grow cold and neck grow hot.

“What wonn?”

“My parents are a week early, and we just got home. I haven't even gotten your room set up yet. The coming conversations aren't going to be easy, especially since they like to harp about the family's heritage every time I see them and they've learned of something they don't approve of.” She sifted through one of her bags with her magic and brought up a copy of information regarding the project that created Rose she managed to make and had decided she'd keep for herself.

*******************************

After twenty minutes of furious door knocking, and swearing about the lackadaisical nature of the hired help, Melody's parents finally saw the doors to her estate open and stepped inside to have the door close behind them. Before the mare could even say anything her mother, a royal purple unicorn with a royal blue mane and tail in an ornate fuchsia dress, said in a prim voice with a disappointed tone, “Your staff needs better training if it took this long to get the door.”

Melody groaned before saying, “Aura and I were out of town for a few days, I gave the staff the week off, they'll be back in three days, we honestly thought we'd be spending a bit longer on our little trip. What are you doing here? You're scheduled for a visit next week!”

“Hm, yes,” said her father, a dark green coated unicorn with a monocle and expensive looking dress jacket, “it always pays to plan ahead, but that doesn't explain why your staff isn't here.”

“Because I literally just back a few minutes ago, father,” said Melody with irritation present in her voice, “I was going to contact the staff after I got unpacked, and then I'd bring them up to speed a few changes that will instigated immediately.”

“Very good,” said her mother.

“Care to join us in the next room? I know you have some business with me to attend to,” said Melody.

“Very good,” said her father as they made their way to one of the rooms adjoining the entryway.

“Us? You brought company on your way back I see,” said her mother.

“No,” said Melody, “I picked her up on the trip,” she brought the room's doors open to reveal Rose sitting on a couch with a sizable collection of papers on the coffee table, “before you say anything about the filly read the file on the table.”

Her mother decided to entertain her request and picked the paper up with her silvery-blue magic. When it reached her eyes she gasped and almost dropped the parcel, “This is an authentic military intelligence document.”

“A copy of one,” said Melody, “just read it.”

Her mother scanned through the document for a few minutes, the silence in the room palpable, a look disgust was present on her face as she passed the document to her husband, who silently took it in his dark lavender magic and began to meticulously read it as if it were some kind of immense contract.

As her father continued to read her mother said with a hint of contempt, “That a project so distasteful was being done without your consent, I take it that's no ordinary filly in the room with us.”

Her father put the document back on the table he said, “The legal ramifications of this are immense, but do to its nature those responsible won't merely play the part of the victim while throwing us an offering to turn our attention too, I am disappointed with those who think that a project like this could be something to go very far without anypony's notice.”

“According to that file she's basically your biological daughter,” said her mother, “I know you aren't the kind of pony to play any sort of prank, especially one this elaborate. Tell us how you came into possession of these documents.”

“I encountered her before I found them,” said Melody, “then managed gain access to a restricted area of the facility that was being used as her home, turns out the experts chosen to oversee her creation and act as her handlers decided to make some adjustments and contributions that they were told by the higher-ups they weren't allowed to do. How they managed obtain any samples from me for their project has been eluding me since I made the discovery that I am the project's primary contributor, according to another set of notes I'm going pass along to the appropriate ponies the project director made it mandatory I be the primary contributor for the project.”

“Well, that's a charming as it is horrendous,” said her mother, “whoever is in charge of the filly's project is either a die-hard fan of yours are possibly one of the most obsessed stalkers I've learned of so far, the documentation we read didn't say was in charge, did you find out in any of the other documentations you have stashed away for later use?”

“No,” said Melody, “just the codename Mister Maestro, that doesn't give much to go on, especially since codenames are aliases designed to mislead others,” she gave a deep sigh, “the reason I gained access to all this and became aware of her is because,” she floated her bracelet over and slipped on immediately becoming Radiance, “I'm the super heroine known as Radiance.”

“Called it,” said her mother, “you know what that means dear.” Radiance and her father both let out a groan, her mother had a major gambling habit and she didn't seem to have any problems finding ways to make bets in her personal life.

“Yes dear,” said her father with defeat in his voice, “we'll attend any performances you want for the next year.”

“I would give a comment about being surprised,” said Radiance, “but in all honesty, I'm not. Just what was the bet you two made?”

“I bet your father that you were living a double life.”

“As somepony's eye candy,” snorted her father, “then she changed it before the bet was set to you going around as a vigilante. And on that note, I win to, honey.”

“Right, the foal,” her mother looking over at Rose, “she more than counts, especially since Melody provided proper documentation. So, what establishments will we be slumming for the next five months?”

“I'll tell you a day in advance, that way you can't have them shutdown before we visit, even if you try to do a rush job.”

Melody saw her mother give a little pout, the same kind that she and Rose seemed to inherit, it was commonly called the 'cute pout' because it made most ponies that saw it think it was cute as opposed to bratty, Melody had heard a whole trove of stories about her mother in her younger days getting out of problems with her pout, the tactic was something that her father liked to see while also having an immunity to the charm that had gotten her mother out of problems of the past.

“You'd really have me dine in place that common ponies frequent, that's just cruel.”

“You liked that ice cream parlor, and that doughnut shop, and that burger house, and that quaint pizzeria. Face it sweetie, sometimes the 'low class' establishments are better than the upscale ones, not to mention less of a strain on the coin purse.”

Melody rolled her eyes, she seemed to have her father's fondness for 'lower class' dining establishments while having her mother's more sophisticated pallet. “Could you two please not do all this in front of the filly that's basically your grandfoal, she hasn't even been settled in yet. And no, you are not allowed to spoil her for at least a year, she's barely six months.”

“So, what's her name?” Inquired her mother.

“Rose Adamant,” said Radiance as she slipped off her bracelet and set it down next the filly, “it's the phonetic pronunciation of her project's subdivision's name for her.”

“Which is?” Said her father.

“R053 4D4M4NT,” said Rose.

“Well, at least she has a name that is tied to your choice of profession,” said her mother, “and she looks almost like you.”

“She was an earth pony when we found her,” said Melody. This stopped all train of thought in the minds of her parents, “And somepony cloned Aura without her knowing about it, that filly is back home with her right now.”

“How is it she was an earth filly, but is now a unicorn?” Inquired her mother, choosing to wisely disregard the statement about Aura Mane.

“When you create a pony artificially, like Rose,” said Melody, “they tend to be genetically unstable, in order to rectify this chemicals referred to 'stabilizing agents' are introduced to their system. Rose looked like she was eight or nine years old when we found her, but when she decided to stop ingesting the materials that served as her injection of the stabilizing agents her system rejected a sizable portion the genetic material used to produce her, and since my genes were in the highest concentration she stabilized as something similar to me, her coat went from its original color to matching mine in addition to her transition from earth pony to unicorn.”

“An overall improvement, in my opinion,” said her mother, “and whoever was pulling the strings for her creation certainly has some sense of good taste.”

“At least we know whoever was in charge of the contribution selection has to be familiar with the socialite world, otherwise they wouldn't even be all that aware of you.”

“Not that surprising, but that still doesn't narrow down the list enough for us to make an educated guess who decided what went into Rose's project.”

“I can accept that departments of the government will always have their little projects that are known only to a select few,” said her father, “but they have crossed a dangerous line, right into taboo territory. The worst part of it all is that the ones who should be punished won't for one reason or another.”

Melody looked over to Rose, the filly had fallen asleep on the couch during the conversation of the elder ponies, looking back to her parents she said, “I just want to do my best at being a good mother for her, the ponies that were raising her clearly didn't know how to raise a foal. They left the poor thing on her own while they left to attend to business out of town for who knows how long, it's a blessing she's so smart and a miracle she didn't starve in the time between when she was left on her own and when we found her.

_____________________________________________________________________

Aura awoke to the sound of her doorbell being furiously wrung, she tapped a button by her bedside to check a crystal monitor and see who it was. She practically bolted upright fully awake when she noticed it was her parents. The pair of royally dressed unicorns made her twitch. She rushed over to Aurora's room, she needed something to calm her storm of anger that was surging through her mind, one look at the four month old filly in her likeness relaxed her mind and heart, the sight of the sleeping pony that was practically a little version of her did the trick. She roused her grandmother and headed to meet her parents, Aurora still needed her sleep, the filly was still very young.

Once she and her grandmother were in position Aura hit a button hidden in the armrest of her chair that caused the doors to the outside to unlock and open in concert with the doors to the room she and Lost Rite were in. Upon pressing the button she mentally prepared herself for what would be coming next.

The moment they were in the room, with the doors closing automatically behind them, her mother said, “I see you still haven't gotten some proper help.”

“Actually my home staff was on a mandatory leave I imposed on them,” said Aura, “and they shall return by this evening. Now, what do I owe the pleasure your visit, mother?”

“Still insolent to your betters I see,” said her mother in her usual condescending voice, “your grandmother said you both had something to discuss with us.”

“Yes, she said something about you two assisting in a ritual,” said Aura, “I'd like to inform you as to why that is,” they both gave the pegasus a glare of annoyance, which was met with a leer of disappointment by Lost Rite, “While Melody and I were on a business trip out of town we stumbled upon a filly that happens to be my clone, she was created through science and not magic, she also happens to have a time limit on her life. Grandma said that this ritual she's planning on will free the filly from the fact she's on borrowed time, that filly is basically your granddaughter since she was created using a sample of me.”

Her father narrowed his eyes, “Do you have proof, besides your grandmother's word, she has had a habit of playing intricate pranks on ponies regardless of their affiliation to her.” As if on cue Aurora blundered into the room in a half asleep state.

“See for yourself,” said Aura, “use your magic to validate everything I said about her.”

Her mother gave the filly a withering look, that went unnoticed by the foal, before doing a simple analysis spell, only discover what she had been told was all true. “I see,” said her mother in a less condescending, but still very much condescending, voice, “she is as you have stated. As much as it pains me to admit it we can not allow our bloodline to end.”

Aura mental facehoofed as she thought, Of course that mare wouldn't think in terms of common decency, she tapped the base of her right armrest and made her horn rise up.

“And now she thinks she can do something by trying to make a fake horn,” said her father.

“No,” said Aura as she pulled her horn up and placed on her head, a bright flash followed and the Masked Matter-Horn was sitting in her place, “I'm coming clean about what I've really been up to.”

“So, you've been pretending to...” said her mother before a beam of cold froze the mare's mouth shut.

“I'll have you know I'm the genuine article,” said Matter-Horn, “and unlike you I've actually put everything into making the lives others better. You both keep harping about our 'noble lineage' and 'duty to set an example to the rabble', I'm here to say that you just can't do all that by attending fancy parties and acting like others are beneath you. You both act like spoiled nobles set up as minor antagonists in a poorly written play, at least I do what I can to show that I'm worth every bit they say about me when they give me a title. You on the other hoof just go on and on about things that should have stopped mattering before you were even born, frankly I'm surprised you've managed keep your social standing as long as you have.”

“We always make it a point to know the right ponies,” said her mother, “something you seem don't seem to have properly learned. Seriously, you're idea of night on the town is dress in that ridiculous outfit and fight crime, the law enforcement officers are there for a reason.”

“That's enough out of both of you,” said Lost Rite, “seriously, how did my own daughter turn out so wrong? I used to do the same thing as Matter-Horn in my youth, I had tried to teach all my convictions, but you turned out just like your father, I can't even see any of myself in you anymore.”

“And why should I care about something like that? It nothing to do with me,” said Aura's mother.

“It has everything to do with you, Spell Tome,” said Lost Rite, “if I hadn't been running around being superhero then I wouldn't have met your father, and thus you would have never been born.”

“Did your husband know?” Inquired Aura's father.

“Nope,” said Matter-Horn and Lost Rite in unison.

“There are certain boundaries that heroes are unwilling to cross,” said Matter-Horn, “and one of the big ones is that you don't tell them who you are until circumstances demand it.”

“That never happened,” said Lost Rite, “I hung my mask up a long time ago, things were quiet on the super problem end of things during the age you grew up.”

“I actually read up on it,” said Matter-Horn, “that period was called the No Powers Age by the media, because there were no incidents that involved super villains or required superheroes. This time is different from the prior age of superheroes, mostly in that the super villains made an appearance before the heroes, usually it's the other way around.”

“Well, at least she can cast some kind of magic,” said Spell Tome.

“I'm going to report her to the authorities the moment we leave this complex.”

“Good luck,” said Matter-Horn, “Half the police force wants to thank my associates and I for the work we do another forty-nine percent want give us medals, ten percent are total fans of our work and joined the force for the main purpose of getting better looks at us and the remaining one percent are actually invested in our arrest. That and in our civilian lives we're all good friends with the bulk of the police force, you're just going to upset most of them by going to demand I be arrested for being a superhero. Sorry to say it, dad, but you're not going get what you want on this one. Everything I just said is putting aside what I'm known for doing during my day job, if you go and 'accuse' me of being a superhero chances are the entire police force is going laugh in your face, matter what city you're in.”

“I'm sorry to say it, but she has a point,” said Spell Tome, “she always had the highest marks in school, she managed lower us on to platform with no surrounding floor without us even realizing it. “I've never been so proud of our daughter before now,” said Aura's father.

“You never seemed to be proud of me,” huffed Matter-Horn as she removed her suit with her mechanical systems, “in fact you've practically played the disapproval game since I was born.”

“It's because you didn't fit the ideal,” said Spell Tome.

“Then maybe you should adjusted the ideal,” said Aura indignantly, “instead showing disapproval at my lack of an ability to meet your ideals you should have reshaped the ideal around me. At least in my business and as Matter-Horn I'm able to do things to make things a little better and brighter for others. I'd gladly give up the entire fortune I've earned if it meant that another life could be saved in some way, but sadly it seems I can do much more good while I still have access to the resources my business and fortune provide. Now, since the three of us want to minimize our interactions, and pleasantries have been exchanged I recommend we make preparations for his ritual grandmother has planned for extended Aurora's life.”

“You named her that?” Said her father with surprise.

“Actually, it was Melody's suggestion. One of my many failings is my lack of an ability to develop names, a failing I'm hoping she didn't inherit.”

“I thought you were already prepared,” said Spell Tome.

“We prepared the place the ritual will take place,” said Aura, “but as it stands all who are involved in it need to make personal preparations, grandma has provided the necessary instructions, they can be found in your guest room all with directions to where the ritual will be held. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get ready to give my clone a chance at being her own pony,” with that Aura left the room with all her supplies.”

******************************

It was almost three hours after her discussion with her parents, Aura wanted to be contemptuous, but she decided set that all aside to make the ritual work. There was always the chance her parents could contaminate the ritual, with how overly complicated it was that was a distinctive possibility. Aurora was lying asleep in the center of the ritual circle, her grandmother and parents came into the chamber in similar aesthetics to her. That is to say, all of them were in a sort of body paint that was in a set of ancient designs around their entire bodies. Despite the pain to set up the ritual itself merely required them to each place a drop of their blood in an open space of the circle without disturbing any of the markings and do a two minute chant. After that it was over. Even so, rituals can't be rushed. After another half hour five minutes of clearing their minds of all negative thoughts, such things could have an desirable effect on the ritual, they all began the ritual, moving in a clockwise motion starting with Aura.

___________________________________________________

While Aura was dealing with her family issues Melody was watching as her mother practically squeezed the terror out of Rose while her father gave the files a dirty look. After a bit of uncomfortable silence he said, “How long?”

“You're going to have to specify, father,” said Melody.

“How long have you been gallivanting about as a vigilante?”

“A few years now, and yes Aura knows, in fact she's part of the same team as me. There are six of us, seven if you include the sidekick, we've done a good job of protecting Maretropolis and are even considered great heroes. We want to hang up our masks eventually, and it could possibly be easier if we had somepony to come home to, besides Rose needs me. The ones raising her have been away for weeks, that's not a good thing when you have a foal as young as her around the house.”

“You said she looked a bit older when you found her,” said her mother, taking a break from squeezing the life out of Rose. Rose herself quickly wriggled her way out of the mare's hold and scampered over to Melody. “Care to explain that one?”

“The way she was created allowed the ones in control of her tank to accelerate her aging process to a point they deemed adequate. She looked like she was around six or seven years when we found her, same goes for Aura's new filly. Due to the nature of artificially grown lifeforms they often require some kind of chemical mix to keep their genetic sequences stable, both of the fillies were given this agent in two different ways, which makes sense because the requirements for stabilizing them are quite different. Rose was given hers under the guise of being part of a carefully managed diet.”

“She's as pretty and smart as you,” said her mother, “I'm just sorry it had come with news about this secret life of yours.”

“Aura and I were in agreement, it was time to let our families know. Tomorrow we'll be meeting back at our headquarters with some of our other teammates, and dropping off some resources we acquired on our trip. They need to go over everything, and everypony is quite good at what they do. Regardless, this is the life we chose to partake in.”

“When I said I wanted her to do something different and meaningful I didn't expect this,” said her father, “that's why I kept pushing Melody to be part of the music industry.”

“But I chose to spend my time with jewelry and made a business out of it,” said Melody with a smile, “if I hadn't I would have probably never gotten my special accessory, and would have certainly never found Rose.”

“Well, regardless I'm just happy we have a granddaughter to spoil,” said her mother, “at the rate you're going you might never have another foal.”

“Thank you for that lovely visual mother,” said Melody, “I'll show to your room now, Rose come along.”

The filly said nothing and just tapped Melody's side, she rolled her eyes and lifted the filly upon her back with her magic, this earned her a happy giggle from the foal, which in turn earned happy chuckle from her father and joyous giggle from her mother. They all headed down the halls to the room she chose to designate as theirs.

Author's Note

And we're back, one chapter left before moving on to the next team. This chapter was dedicated to Matter-Horn and Radiance interacting with their families, hence the title. I hope I got across the kind of relationship the two have with their parents I intended.

More Surprises

Matter-Horn and Radiance came into the central command of the base of operations for the Power Ponies, Power Pony Citadel, with Aurora and Rose in tow with all the files and goo samples they had collected. The tower was located on the edge of the city, but given the abilities of several of a members that wasn't much of an issue. Filly-second had her hood off and was zipping around between seventeen cooking catalogs while Saddle Rager had her hood like mask off and was trotting out of another room, neither seemed to notice the four ponies or resources that had entered the complex. “The little darlings are asleep now,” said Saddle Rager in her gentle and soft voice, her baby blue fur and dark bond mane seeming to shimmer as she entered the room.

“Great to hear,” said Fili-second in a subdued voice that seemed a bit odd to Matter-Horn and Radiance.

“Hi Sliding, Garden,” said Radiance.

“We thought you were still in Derby Heights,” said Fili-second.

“Just back yesterday,” said Matter-Horn as she removed her mask and her natural colors became known, we would been back in sooner, but our families showed up the moment we were got home.”

“Well we met her grandmother shortly before leaving, that mare figured us out pretty quickly, turns out she used to live the life we do.”

“Used to?” said Saddle Rager.

“Yeah, she hung up the mask to marry grandpa and have my dad,” said Aura, “she also helped with a little problem I brought to light. Don't worry, Garden, it's nothing serious now.”

“Oh, thank goodness,” said Saddle Rager.

“Um, mom woo are dese ponies?” said Aurora, drawing attention to her and Rose.

“Sliding Scale,” said Aura gesturing to Fili-second, “the foremost chemical expert in Maretropolis and best baker in the whole country.” Fili-second showed a bit of a proud blush through her green fur.

“And Garden Delight,” said Radiance, gesturing to Saddle Rager, “she runs and maintains the largest pet rescue facility in the city, she also happens to maintain and care for all the orphanages in the city.” Saddle Rager made a motion to hide behind her mane.

“And who are these two cutie pies?” said Garden after her introduction.

“The super team from Derby Heights,” said Aura, Radiance floated the files to Garden and the goo samples to Sliding. “I believe these will be of interest to you, Sliding we need you to be more thorough than usual, those samples came from these fillies.”

“Care to explain that one,” said Sliding.

“The filly that looks like a little me is in fact a clone of me that Dark-mare cooked up in a tube, and the files pertain to the filly next to Melody.”

“These are government files,” said Garden as she took look at the file covers, “was she involved in a government project without her knowing?”

“Why am the Gobermant Pwoject,” said Rose, she started to cry into Melody's outfit.

“Oh dear,” said Garden with another look at the file folders.

“What are their names? We can't just keep calling them the fillies,” said Sliding.

“The filly that's my clone is named Aurora Flame,” said Aura.

“And due to the way her project file is named the little filly next to me is named Rose Adamant,” said Melody as she caused her mask to disappear, “for all intents and purposes we've decided officially adopt them as our legal daughters, but it's going to take some work. Coming up with cover stories for how they ended up with us is going to be tricky, after all we're two of the most publicly recognized ponies when we're in our civilian forms.”

“Such is the way of things,” said Sliding as she headed for the chem lab, “that's why I dropped off the map and came back as a baker, if I'd kept it up the way before I would be in so much public spotlight I wouldn't be able get any proper sleep. Besides, baking with my family's restaurant is what sparked my interest in chemistry.”

“And that same love of chemistry is responsible for your abilities, why you had to drink concoction of yours in the first place still troubles me,” said Melody.

“Don't forget that out of control thunderstorm that caused me to get struck by lightning,” said Sliding.

“Well, at least the one responsible for it apologized to you,” said Melody.

The other mares giggled, the fillies just gave them all confused looks. “What show funny,” asked Aurora with confusion.

“That's how I met the mare that calls herself Zapp when she's out being a super hero,” said Sliding, “Garden, you should get to work on those files.”

“Oh, right,” said Garden.

“So, where's Humdrum? He wasn't around when we got home,” said Aura.

“Or up this morning,” said Melody, “one of the first things I did after putting Rose to bed was leave him a message that we were back. He always leaves a message for me in the morning on the network, but there wasn't one when I checked my messages.”

“That's funny,” said Sliding, “we had him running some errands around town the past few days, he should have finished them by now.”

“Oh, I hope nothing too bad has happened to him,” said Garden.

“He seems to get caught in someone's trap every few weeks,” said Aura, “we'll go looking for him in a bit, but right now we can't really waste our energy looking for him on account we don't have any clues to where we should start looking. Besides, we also have to find out why Aurora and Rose don't seem to be completely broken down into what Sliding is analyzing. Garden, after you've skimmed the files, I'm not expecting you to thoroughly read them, give the fillies a checkup, you're the closet we have to a medical professional right now.”

“Understood,” said Garden as she left the room with the files.

***************************************************

Almost five hours later in the facility's medical ward Garden was looking over Aurora with the highly advanced equipment they had in the base, but the near literal hovering Aura was doing as Garden performed her examination of the filly was upsetting the pegasus mare. However this set of actions did yield something interesting that was easily helping Aurora distinguish herself from Aura, and that was the fact the filly was somehow a natural empath. She was picking up on the emotional states of the other ponies in the room and adjusting her behaviors to match those emotions, this was trait that no one in Aura's family possessed. “You're behavior is really upsetting her,” said Garden Delight in a nervous voice, which was reflected in the nervous agitation of Aurora, Aura's worried fear was also reflected in Aurora being in a state of confusion of who to turn to for comfort.

“Why'm comfused,” Aurora finally said, she started to break into a little cry, “Why compt chwooze woo twoo make me fweel better.”

“What do you mean? Why are you so confused? I hope it isn't a sign the ritual didn't quite work,” said Aura with worry.

“Why cwan fweel your feelings, thand mwiss Gwarden's twoo,” said Aurora.

“Can you also hear what they're saying? Don't force it, just let everything flow unterrupted. Aura, calm down, please, this might mean something important.”

Aura quickly adopted a calm composure, which in turn calmed Garden and Aurora down, she also went over to a cabinet and pulled a large book of cataloged super abilities experienced and described in older texts. She quickly flipped to section on mental powers.

Aurora didn't say anything and just closed her eyes, after a few minutes she just gave a few successive nods.

Aura flipped through the volume and stopped at a point with clear surprise, “Garden, she's a natural empath! Some unicorns can train themselves to have the ability and there instances of pegasi and earth ponies having the ability to some extent, but according to our research a natural empath of a level that actually responds to emotions at this level at a young age is exceptionally rare,” she seemed to be mulling over a few things in her head, “it's possible that the ritual we used to stabilize Aurora gave her the ability as a side effect.”

“Or awakened it,” said Garden, “she has all of your genetic potential, there has always been a chance you could develop the ability. Maybe it's that potential that allowed you to bond with the horn?”

“And her with the bracer,” said Aura is if she were putting pieces together, “when she uses the bracer to 'transform' she turns into two mentally linked independent entities.”

“What kind of abilities do they have?” Aurora at this point in a unique reaction to the calm fell asleep on the examination table.

“One half of the two always knows what is true, regardless personal knowledge, and the other always knows what is being shrouded, same deal as with the truth centered one. The one that always know the truth can only say what is genuine, although it is done in a way that makes you have to figure out what exactly is being said sometimes. The one that knows when something is being kept is also excellent at keeping things hidden and usually talks in a manner that is intended to mislead. They also have elemental power, light for the truthful one and and darkness for the secretive one. One more thing, when her aliases introduced themselves by referring to themselves as guardians. I think your theory might be right when about why she was chosen,” she looked over at the sleeping filly, “If I really do have the potential to be an powerful empath I just want to know why my clone gained the ability within her short time alive and I didn't display any signs of it in the years I've been doing hero work.”

“Maybe you're over thinking it, what if hints of it came out before you found that artifact?”

Something clicked in Aura's head, “My apparent business savvy and vague feelings of trust or distrust when I meet new ponies, those feelings are usually proven right a few weeks or months later. If that is indeed the case, then that means that means I practically built my company on a partial formed empathic ability. It is often believed psionic abilities require a strong will to properly regulate them, both sides of my family are quite well known for their willfulness and in some cases even their stubbornness.”

“I guess that's why Matter-Horn and Mare-velous can seen butting heads from time to time.”

“I suppose, but Civic and I usually get along, it's just when we have difference of opinion on how something is to be done that we argue, why do I keep telling you and Wind Whip this again?”

“Oh, I knew, but Aura started to wake up during your musing over psychic abilities. I just wanted her to hear from you how even the best teams aren't always cooperative.”

Aura looked over at a half-awake Aurora and smiled before returning her attention to her friend. “Not many ponies have empathic abilities, and those that do tend have it limited to their special talent. Aurora's different, she's displaying the ability before she is even aware of what her special talent.”

“You're doing a good job being a mother, which reminds me, things haven't been as calm as we hoped. You see...” she gestured for Aura to follow, after putting the partially sleeping filly on her back Aura followed. As she followed the other pegasus Aura wondered what was going on.

After almost five minutes of moving through the halls they came to one of the lesser used rooms, when the doors opened they revealed the room had been converted into something akin to a nursery with super powered foals in mind. Inside were a pair of fillies. The first filly looked to be pegasus filly with coat the same color as Garden's mane and a sea blue mane, the other appeared to be a buttery yellow earth pony filly with a mane the color of dark chocolate. Both were sound asleep in enclosure pen

“I take it that these two aren't ordinary fillies,” said Aura as she approached the enclosure and placed Aura within it, “how come you haven't let Melody know about this yet?”

“Rose is very persistent in keeping close to her,” said Garden.

“I think that will change when she see the other fillies, do they have names?”

Garden nodded, “The pegasus is Sea Glider, we're lucky I found her when I did; and the earth pony is Cocoa Butter, Sliding found her while you were out.”

“What kind of super abilities do they have?”

“We promised to let them show you, sorry Aura.”

“It's okay, we should have all the fillies together and then head to the meeting room to compare notes.” Garden nodded.

_______________________________________________

At around the same time that was going on Sliding had completed her analysis and was doing her best to not startle Rose Adamant. “Come on, Melody, I think you're really gonna like where I want to take you,” she was saying about seventeen times a minute, “we found something that relates to all this and it would better if I just showed you.”

Melody unfortunately could only make out every fifth word, and thus was having difficulty understanding her friend. “Sliding, for the seventeenth time, you are talking too fast. Slow it down to saying the same sentence three times a minute, maybe I'll actually be able to make out what you said, I still have no idea what your results on the goo had to say.”

At that moment a navy blue baby dragon with fuchsia spines in a green cape, mask, gloves and boots walked in and gave an exasperated sigh before saying in a deadpan manner, “Oh joy, more fillies, as if we don't have enough in the building already,” he then noticed Melody, “oh, hi Melody. Um, sorry about that, I've been running all over town for the past fifty hours, still haven't slept, so please excuse my uncharacteristic unfriendly manner.

“Not at all, Humdrum,” said Melody, “I picked up this little one on the mission, “Aura's probably still pestering Garden over the one she brought in.”

“Whatever,” said Humdrum as he removed his mask and tossed on a random chair and then proceeded to to do the same to his cape, “follow me, I'll show you where we're keeping the other fillies.”

“I thought he was joking,” Melody said to Sliding.

“That's what I was trying to tell you,” said Sliding in a more normal speaking pace as they followed the boot and glove clad dragon, “we found some unusual fillies ourselves, of course we promised to let them deal with the matter of what they can do.”

I moved through the halls at pace that took almost twenty minutes, it would have taken somewhere between ten and fifteen if Humdrum wasn't so visibly tired, before coming to the doors to the nursery. When they opened they revealed Garden and Aura were already there, looking into the enclosure pen Melody saw three sleeping fillies. She giggled to herself as she lifted a now sleeping Rose off her back and into the pen next to Aurora. “Alright girls,” she said, “let's go and compare notes. Fang, go and get some sleep, that's an order.”

The young dragon gave a lazy salute before heading off in one direction as the four mares made their way to the meeting room.

Author's Note

And with this the first volume is done. Send me suggestions on which team should be the focus.

I honestly thought it would take a bit longer with this chapter, considering how blocked I felt on it, which is mostly why it's shorter than most of other chapter entries.

As for the abilities of these 2 new fillies you can offer up suggestions (PM me, I don't want any possible spoilers when it comes to abilities) on what they could possibly be capable of.