Power Ponies: The New Heroes

It was a normal night in Maretropolis. Or at least what counted for normal here. The airships in flight, the bright lights, the night life. All of this was part of the norm here. One thing that would appear odd, though, even though it happened on a bi-daily basis, was the super villain battles between the power ponies and, more often than not, the Mane-iac. This wasn't the case tonight. True, the power ponies were fighting, but it wasn't against Mane-iac, but rather a new villain who called herself "The Element Empress".

The power ponies were planning to retire...they had to stop this new mare. This would be their final fight. After a long and grueling battle for all of them, when all hope appeared to be lost, and the power ponies were stuck in a corner, looking their end in the face, they were rescued, by an unexpected ally, and a new generation of Power Ponies!

Though this was welcome, one thing they hadn't expected was that their old enemy, the mane-iac, was with the new group.

"You can not stop me, power ponies," Element said, laughing when she was able to bring the power ponies to heel, a feat not even the Mane-iac was able to do without trickery.

"This city will be mine, and there is nothing you can do to stop me." The Element Empress' outfit was a spandex one-piece with black for the main color, with accents of red, blue, gray, and brown at the wrists and ankles, Her mask was a simple one, as it was the same mask type as Radiant Gem's, the only difference being the color, while the mare herself was a unicorn, whose coat, or at least what could be seen, was a light green, while her mane was a contrasting dark blue.

The Power Ponies were on the floor of the warehouse they were fighting in, their cloths torn, their bodies bloody from the fight, as The Element Empress had the ability to control earth, air, water, and fire. "And why are you so certain of this, Empress," Matterhorn said, "we've beaten other villains, one stronger than you."

She began to laugh "Because I'm better than they are. It doesn't matter who comes to save you. You cannot prolong the inevitable..." She said menacingly.

"Now," she said, grabbing all of the Power Ponies in her magic and lifting them into the air, "you six will die."

A blast of heat hits her, knocking the Power Ponies from her grip and slamming her into a crate inside the warehouse. As one of the new heroes, Solar Flare, stepped forward.

She got up from the wreckage of the crates, with only a few scratches on her, and said, "Who are you to interfere with me?"

"I am Dawn Breaker. Mistress of the radiant power of the Sun!" She said, as her eyes glared. Her costume was simple, a purple jumpsuit that also partly revealed her cleavage, her boots and gloves lined with some frills, but her mask was similar to Radience and The Element Empress, in that it covered her eyes. her coat and horn were pure white, and her wings as well. her mane and tail were long, waving, and were shades of green, pink, purple and blue.

"And you think you can defeat me," Empress said, gesturing to the Power Ponies as she said, "When I easily defeated these six?"

"Who ever said she was alone?" a voice the Power Ponies recognized instantly said.

A second crate slams into Element, as the familiar figure of the Maneiac, appeared, walking using her mane like she always did.

"What the," Radiance said in surprise.

"Mane-iac," Empress said, venom in her voice, "why are you helping these pathetic heroes. You're their arch-nemesis."

"Because...I'm tired, of the constant cycle, of fighting against them....I want...to make this city a better place now....I've been wanting to do so for a long time...And, now that your here...I can afford to leave the villain business, and do their job." She explained, with a smile given to the Power Ponies.

"So you think that simply saying you will defeat me because you turned over a new leaf will allow it? You two are but rookies, and you will need luck to defeat me."

"Maybe, but they aren't alone either!" A voice sounded as she got blasted by a blue laser beam, and another figure walked in. she was tall in a golden suit, with silver armor sections around her thighs and arms. with purple gloves and boots, and a black mask over her already black fur. her teal eyes looked cat like. "I am Sky Shadow. Defender of the Stars!"

"Well, it would seem you have more surprises than I thought," Element growled. "But are you certain you have enough. It's only two rookies, a wash-out villain who is probably a worse hero, and six mares who are too injured to fight."

"More like Three heroes, a mare who knows how to be a villain, And the six mares who would fight to the bitter end." A final voice said, as a combination of numerous blasts hit her like stars, as the dark blue furred form of Empress Eclipse appears. her suit was also similarly dark blue, with her mask being purple, along with her gloves and boots.

"It doesn't matter," Element said, "None of you can defeat me."

"We'll see about that!" Matterhorn said defiantly as they all stood by the new team, smiling back at Maneiac, as the entire group of 10 attacked Element.

The battle was quick, but harsh, as Element used her powers to be able to fight back against the ten of them, they ganged up on her, as Shadow and Eclipse used their power together, Just when One of the Power ponies were knocked back, Maneiac caught them and sent them right back as a sling shot with her hair. Dawn Breaker was using her own powers of heat and solar rays to attack, with vicious blasts of fire, as the entire lot of them got to be unbearable.

Zap caused a storm, and Shadow joined in with Dawn and Eclipse, as they turned it into a combination of a hailstorm and raining fire as well, Filli-second sped right for Maneiac, to be slingshotted back, at double the speed and momentum for a mach speed punch, sending Element flying, right into Mistress Marevelous, who used her lasso to tie her up and sling her right back, Radiance used her bracelet, to create a bat, which knocked her upwards, before Saddle Rager met her in the air, and pounded her in the ground, hard enough to cause a large crater. To finish the job, Matterhorn joined forces with Eclipse and Shadow, as they froze her in a block of ice, and she was sent off with the police.

As she was sent away, the Power Ponies, walked over to the ones who had saved their lives, which, in the case of Mane-iac, was an ironic twist, but a welcome one nonetheless.

She smiles "Thank you...for showing me that I can truly make a difference, by being good." Maneiac said.

"No, problem Mane-iac, but who are the rest of you?" Matterhorn asked.

They smiled "I'm Dawn Breaker." Said the white mare. "I'm Empress Eclipse" said the blue one. "And I'm Sky Shadow" Said the black one. but they then removed their masks, to allow the Power Ponies to see who they really were. Celestia, Luna, and Nightmare Moon, at the same time, maneiac, returned to her normal state, no tendril mane or tail, infact her mane and tail were short, her mane going down to her shoulders, and was light blue, with her eyes being the same color, and her fur was a light shade of lavender. She smiled "Well. you girls likely already know me but, My name's Luxurious Locks. but those I hold as friends called me Luxi." She said smiling.

"Yeah, uh, I hate to be blunt," Zap said, directing it to Nightmare, Luna, and Celestia, but why are you three here? And how is Nightmare Moon here. Wasn't she, I don't know, beaten by the Elements of Harmony a few years back?"

"Because the elements separated me from Luna, they didn't destroy me." She explained.

"Plus Zappy, it's what the authors decided to do." Said Filli-Second smiling happily.

Filli, you aren't Pinkie or Discord, so no braking the fourth wall, not even to respond to me.

The other Power ponies and Mane-iac looked at her with looks of concern and confusion on their faces, while the three alicorns simply had amused grins.

"Yeah, well," Zap said, "that still doesn't answer my question as to why you three are here when you should be in Canterlot."

"Yes it does Zap. I already told you why, the Authors deemed it so. Ya can't question it!" She said happily.

"No, I can't question you, and I'm not even asking you, I'm asking them. If they stepped down, we would have heard of it by now."

"Actually," Luna said, stopping the two before they came to blows, "we did indeed step down, we simply made sure the public didn't find out so we could move here."

"Oh...Okay then..." She said shrugging. "Guess you guys wanted something a bit more exciting than ruling huh?" Zap said.

"Yep," Luna said. "Princess Cadence and Twilight are taking our places."

Matterhorn shrugged "Fair enough then." She smiled "Cause we're retiring after this fight...it was fun, for one last battle...we were planning on retiring to a quiet place outside town....so...think you four can handle the town for us?" She asked them smiling happily and gratefully that they saved them.

"Of course," Celestia said. "After all, the worst the city has gone against was Luxi, here."

Luxi then spoke up blushing a bit "True...at least, till Element there...But she's frozen today, so we can let it go and watch over the town should anything else pop up."

"Though if history is any indication when it comes to super villains, she'll somehow return with little or no explanation for us."

Luxi huffed, crossing her arms. "What are you trying to say??"

Bringing her hand up in an "I'm just saying" gesture, Nightmare said, "It's simply a super villain cliche I've observed, along with the villain somehow getting the heroes main weakness."

The Power ponies simply began to giggle a bit as Luxi just huffed, pretending to be offended by the remark, given how she was a former enemy of the team before deciding to turn over a new leaf.

"So," Nightmare asked, "where do you plan on going?"

They all shrugged. "Ain't sure. just, go our seperate ways but stay in contact I guess." Saddle Rager said.

"Well, Matterhorn," Celestia said, "perhaps you'd like Ponyville. It's quiet, and you have much in common with Twilight. Plus, her assistant is a large fan of yours."

"Maybe. Not like she'll need the role there taking over for you...though I'm not sure if I want to give her assistant a heartattack...." she said chuckling to herself.

"Maybe, but he would like to meet one of you."

"Well maybe...I might drop by to check out the town." She said smiling to the former princesses.

"Well," Nightmare said, "this has been an interesting day."

Luna and Luxi both nodded in agreement, as the Power ponies began to leave, to begin their retirment.

Three days later

Celestia, Luna, Nightmare, and Luxi were at the city limits with Matterhorn and the others, not in costume, wishing them luck with whatever they do.

"Thanks for your help three days ago. We appreciate it, and we now leave the city in your capable hands. Farewell, we'll be sure to keep in touch." said Matterhorn as they began to leave.

"Good luck," Luxi said, waving to them in goodbye.

"Same to you Luxi." They said, as they soon left, being out of eyeshot, having gone their own ways.

"I hope that they are able to find some place peaceful," Celestia said. "They've earned it."

"Indeed they have, sister," Luna said.

"So," Nightmare said, "where's our hideout going to be?"

Luxi spoke up "We could stay at my apartment. it's large enough for all four of us. I used to use it to come up with plans." She suggested smiling.

"I do not see why not, but we will have to use illusion spells so the press doesn't come after us for being, well, us," Nightmare said.

"Yeah," Luna said, "the announcement, which we were smart enough to prerecord with magic, is supposed to be delivered later today, and I don't want the paparazzi to hound us."

She nodded "Well then, follow me, my friends, and teammates." Luxi said smiling as she walked off to lead the way.

As the three alicorns followed Luxi, they used illusion spells to change their appearance. All three went down to normal pony size, with Celestia removing her wings and making her coat a slightly gray color. Luna kept her wings, and made her coat a cyan blue, while Nightmare became an earth pony with a similar, though slightly lighter, coat and a deep purple mane, in contrast to Celestia's new yellow mane and Luna's new silver mane.

Luxi smiled, leading them to her large apartment.

The apartment was, as far as furniture and decor went, a mini-castle. The sofa and chairs had white cushions with black legs, with the walls having a reddish color. The main hall was thirty feet long, with six doors at regular intervals, three per wall, And all of the decor had white trimmings, the walls having it at the joints between the floor and ceiling.

"Wow, very roomy Luxi" Celestia said as the three begin to look around the apartment.

"Yeah. I got this from the money I, uh, 'earned' before you guys got here. Actually got the entire floor, so we don't need to worry about neighbors," Luxi said sheepishly, rubbing her arm in embarrassment. "But tat was the old me, and if I didn't need any use of it, I'd tell the building manager all but this room are open again. But that's not exactly important. What are you guys going to call yourselves in public, anyway?

They all shrugged, and giggled a bit from Luxi's explanation for how she got the money and the apartment. but they all shrugged "I donno..." Nightmare said. "Nyx maybe? or Violet..." she said as Luna spoke up "Star Dancer for me" She said, as Celestia shrugged. "Sunny Skies I suppose."

"I suppose those names are appropriate," Luxi said. "It's a good thing nopony knows my identity."

They nodded in agreement "Alright...so what will we do then?" Said Nightmare as she went to relax.

"Well," Celestia said, "how about we see the sights"

They nodded, and went to go look around the floor to pick out rooms

A few month later

The group, which had become collectively known as the Royalty, due to many citizens believing that either the wings or horn on the alicorns to be artificial, and the spell that Celestia had made so they wouldn't be recognized by any friends they had made should they see any fights also helped.

Right now, the four of them were dealing with one of the more troublesome gangs in the city that had been small during the Power Ponies time, but had grown as Celestia and the others came in. The gang, called the Reapers, did just about everything bad by Equestria standards. Which was to say murder, drugs, rape slavery, and the occasional bombing of shops that spoke out.

So far, everything was going as it should. they were stopping the foes, and freeing the slaves, and so on.

"Dawn," Luna shouted to Celestia over the magic explosions, "Grim's getting away with ten captives."

Celestia nodded and dashed off to attack Grim, to be able to rescue the captives.

Grim was a slightly taller than average unicorn stallion with a dark gray coat, almost ashen, with an entirely black mane. He wore the usual reaper outfit, which was a black t-shirt with a white skull on it and a pair of blue jeans. The captives he had were a mix of ponies, and Celestia even saw a griffon with them.

"Let them go, Grim!" Celestia yelled.

"Aaahhh, Dawn Breaker...Such a treat...You'll never save them you know...after all, my partners are now going to be taking down your own team now that your alone with me."

He chuckled. "After all, we all know that you're the one that keeps them together. My people have seen your little group in the field, and it's obvious that if you weren't there, Sky Shadow and Empress Eclipse would be at each others throats, literally. And the public still doesn't trust Maneiac, and that puts her at odds with the rest of you, as you three get all the attention. Shadow and Eclipse especially."

"You are lying. We already know that there's no way you could pull these stunts off on your own." She countered.

"Oh. And why not? My gang is the largest in the city. If it wasn't for you four, I'd be the mayor."

"Because your too stupid to pull this off."

"Oh, I am insulted that such a pretty mare would call me stupid," Grim said, his voice becoming deeper, "Tell me, would an idiot be able to run a city wide gang by himself? Or have a sex slave operation going on for years without even your predecessors knowing? I engineered that leak of info to bring all of you here so that we can eliminate you."

It was at this point Celestia noticed there were no other sounds aside from the captives, her, and Grim breathing.

"Bring them here!" Grim yelled.

Celestia turned to look, in shock of what was going on.

She saw Luna and the others, still in their outfits, being held down by ten Reapers each. All three of them looked beaten, with a slight amount of blood coming from Nightmare's nose. "Yeah," Grim said, bringing her attention back to him, "I did have help, but it was all some, shall we say, benefactors giving us some new spells, including my favorite, the fantasy spell." He then lit his horn, which now had a green aura around it, with what he though was a hint of purple, and shoot a beam of magic to a pegasus mare. As soon as it hit, her wings popped out, and she began to moan in pleasure, or at least, that's what Celestia thought it was. "Useful for incapacitating troublesome slaves, though it's obvious we didn't use it on your friends. We simply used a numbing spell, which is even better."

She began to growl in anger, her rage making her mane and tail nearly catch flame.

"Ah, ah," Grim said in a taunting tone, lighting his horn again, "we wouldn't want to hurt your former subjects, Celestia."

"What!? Don't you DARE touch them." she growled in rage.

"Oh, but I can. You're too fearful for their lives to do this," Grim said, his eyes focusing on the same mare he shot earlier. "Ponies die every day. What harm is there in one more." As he said this, Celestia thought she saw a pair of shadows move behind Grim. "And in case your wondering as to how I know who you are, it's simple really. I saw a faint shimmer around you four when I last saw you, which was a month ago during the mayors second speech in which he gave you a key to the city. I am quite skilled in magic, so I cast any anti-spells that applied to illusions I could think of, and it was a few weeks later that I saw the four of you again, this time, without your spell in the way."

"You won't win you know. You won't get away." She said confidently.

"And why not? You won't bother harming me while we have civilians in our grasp, and we both know it. You can't do anything without at least one pony being died. And I can tell you, that isn't going to happen," Grim said as he fired his magic blast. Just before it hit, though, a shadow fell infront of the mare, and the blast hit it, causing a cloud of dust to come up.

Celestia looked in surprise, as the dust began to clear, and she saw someone in a red costume, full body, the red helmet having a black styled visor, and red dots at the top, along with the entire body of the costume, being covered in diamonds from the shoulders to the hands, and hips to boots.

"What the!? Who!?"

"What?" The pony said with a cocky tone. "Didn't your agents tell you that the Royals aren't the only ones helping the city anymore."

"I don't know, L," a second pony said. "I think that's good, as we've tried to keep to the shadows."

A blaster is fired and attacks the mooks holding Nightmare, Luna, and Luxi hostage as a metallic bang begins to ring out. It appears to echoe around everywhere, causing everyone to turn and look for where it's coming from.

What was seen instantly was that the guards fell to the ground, blood pooling around their bodies. "About time," the pony known as L said. "What were you doing, R? Seeing the sights?"

"Mostly the main three I see here." Says the one known as R, as everyone turns to see him standing on top of the nearby building, before he leaps, and lands nearby. His own costume was a shade of red, but seemed to be a bit darker with black gauntlets covering the lower arms, that had a silver line through the middle and silver at the ends of the gauntlets. his boots similarly had a black and silver section at the top. His helmet was black at the front and Red for the rest, and had a stylized triangle with jagged edges on the face of it, along with having a similar jagged triangle emblazened on the chest, with a black background.

"And what," Grim asked, "makes you two pretenders think you can stop me when these four," he gestured to Celestia and the others, "couldn't?"

"Isn't it obvious," L said. "R did just kill thirty of your guards at a speed that is impressive, so what makes you think we won't just do the same?"

"Answer," R said, "there is none."

The same pony spoke up, as he cracked his neck, pointing at Grim. The silver mouth section of his helmet never moving. "I also took out the 100 reinforcements you had coming here to capture them earlier."

Grim flinched in shock but kept his head down to hide the expression.

"So," L said, holding up his gun, which had a red jewel like piece at the area where the hilt joined with the main body. The main body had a metallic crest at the top, while under that was a mouth looking body, with the decal being of teeth. "you feeling lucky, punk."

"L, I am going to smack you for that when we're done here." said R, as he began to check on the other three "Are you girls Okay?" he asked as he began to untie them.

"We're fine, Luxi said, "but who are you two?"

A smirk was hidden behind the emotionless helmet "We'll tell you shortly don't worry." He said as he turned his attention back to Grim.

"So," Grim said, "what are you going to do with me?" As he said this, he slowly reached behind his back and pulled out a cylinder of metal with a lever on the side, which he sent up with his thumb.

They watched him. "Ah crud." R said as he moved to protect the trio beside him. "GRENADE!" He called as L retreated to Celestia

Grim tossed it, and it explodes in a burst of light, blinding them for a few moments as he makes his escape, fleeing the scene.

As their sight returned and L looked around, L said, "Mother-! How did I forget that?"

"Forget what?" Celestia asked.

"That the bastard always ha a flash bang on him," he replied. He looked to R and said "You alright?"

"That's because villains always have backup plans to escape. and Yeah. I'm fine." he said as he looked to the other three "What about you?" he asked.

"Yeah," Luna said. "But just who are you two?"

"Do you mean who we are as a group, or our secret identities, Luna," L asked. He held up a hand and said, "Before you ask, me and R decided some villains may try a mind control or optical illusion thing on us, and I used a spell that would prevent us from being affected."

R nodded. "In terms of what we're called like this. I'm Magnus..." He said striking a quick pose, as most heroes would do when introducing themselves. The four other heroes who just met him could actually see a set of other costumes similar to the one he was wearing but different in other ways. One of them, looked like a slightly more armored version of the one that 'L' was wearing. "If you want to know my Secret Identity...I'll tell you somewhere more private and secure." he said simply.

L just face palmed at R's obviously egotistical behavior while saying, "And the more humble one of the two of us, which is to say me, goes by the name 'Rex', due to my outfit looking like a T-rex. As for collectively, Rangers. As for my secret one, seeing as how we know yours, is Lone Shadow, but you can just call me Lone."

R whacked Rex in the head, for his remark and the line from earlier to Grim. "Seeing as Lone here told you his name, I'll tell you mine...my Real name is Red."

"Egotistical," Lone whispered in sing song, which made the others giggle a bit. Red either didn't hear or decided to get Lone back later for it.

"So," Red said, "what are four beautiful mares doing here?"

"Well," Lone said, "that's good, but you aren't the least bit curious as to why Grim's voice got deeper, how he seemed to be particularly interested in Celestia, like he wanted to kill her, or why he didn't just kill that mare?"

"Element Empress?" Nightmare said to suggest it, believing that to be the reason.

"Possibly," Lone said. "We have a few contacts in the police department, and they said that she had somehow escaped, and we asked them to keep it quiet to prevent panic from civilians."

Celestia nodded "Good call...my sisters and Matterhorn froze her previously...I wonder how she managed to escape..." She said wondering about it.

"Some reports say she just melted free over time. Others that it was a lunatic that liked her, who purposefully sabataged the cooling system for her cell to allow her to be melted free." Magnus said.

"Well, it's been a pleasure meeting you four, but me and Red here need to go to track both of them."

Red looked over "I think we should actually team up with these 4 buddy. Our own resources combined with theirs? We'd be a full team of 6." He explained, suggesting such a team up would prove to be beneficial.

"But how do we know they want to be one too, Red. A single compliment, however good it is, doesn't always ensure you get your way," Lone said.

"Because six heads are better than just two and 5 heads are better than just one, considering that I'm going with them." he said, before looking back at Luna and the group. "If you will allow me too of course."

"Of course," she said.

"Then where are you going to get your gear, and I don't mean what you have on? We both know I'm the more technical side of this."

"Yeah," a new, deep voice said from Lone's left wrist.

"Grimlock," Lone said bringing his wrist up, "what did I say about talking while other are around?"

"I'll get it soon enough deserter." he said to Lone, being clearly quite cold and rude, seeing as how he was ready to simply let Red go ahead on his own with the other 4 'Royalty' team to join them and Lone would go on his own, refusing to join the team.

"I'll get it soon enough deserter." he said to Lone, being clearly quite cold and rude, seeing as how he was ready to simply let Red go ahead on his own with the other 4 'Royalty' team to join them and Lone would go on his own, refusing to join the team.

"I'm joking, hard ass. Do you really think I'd leave you after the shit we've been through?" Lone said. "Besides, I think we can both agree our base is better for our purpose than where ever they live. No offense to you guys, by the way."

"What's your base of Operations then? We've got an entire floor of the apartment where Luxi lived." Explained Celestia.

"We've got a tower." Red explained.

"Which also contains an entire underground base section for more needs to combine with the tower." He added.

"Though, in all honesty," Lone said, "we tend to use the underground part of it, as it allows for better secrecy."

Red nodded "The tower's just for a location AND for us to actually you know, LIVE somewhere." Red said laughing a bit.

"So, should we head there," Lone said.

"How about you go on ahead? I'll follow them back to their base and help them move their things to our base? Assuming of course, they'd like to do that?" he said, looking to Luxi and the others, to see if they'd choose to join up with the Rangers in their own base.

"Right," Lone said, nodding.

Red nodded and left with the Royalty, to be able to help them pack up their things and move them to the new base with the Rangers.