The Legend of Captain Powerflyby E-Freek32ChaptersChapter 2: Getting it RightChapter 3: Making a StoryChapter 4: Meet the HeroChapter 5: Ponyville's Newest ProtectorChapter 6: A Bit Further Than You Need To...Chapter 7: Captain Powerfly! Where are you?!Chapter 8: No refills! No Refunds! And NO MEANS NO!!Chapter 9: Important Lessons and True HeroesChapter 1: The ContestChapter 2: Getting it Right“Alright, daaar-ling!” said Rarity in excited sing-song overtones as she pranced about her workshop. “Let’s see if we can outfit you in the most haute-couture of superhero costumes! But first, you must tell me: what will your superhero be like?” Fluttershy thought very hard about it for several moments, until she finally replied, “Well… she will be… um… very powerful…” “Ah-hah! You want to be Saddle Rager again, correct?” “Oh, wait! No! I don’t…!” “Have no fear, darling! I have just the thing for you this time!” The unicorn rummaged vigorously through her assortment of outfits. “Something that will neither rip nor tear nor even split one solitary stitch! There you go, darling!” Before the shy pegasus knew what was happening, she was wrapped inside the costume in less than a second. It was a two-tone green jumpsuit, similar to her previous costume. This one was made of hi-stretch spandex with several strategically-stitched seams flowing up and down the contours in a futuristic design. Fluttershy studied the suit very carefully. “Um… I don’t want to be Saddle Rager again. Could I… um… take this suit off? Please?” “You don’t want to be Saddle Rager, you say?” huffed the unicorn indignantly. “Hmph! Well, do say so, won’t you, dear?” “Hey, Rarity!” blurted Spike. “Could you… you know… go a little easy on her, please? Try to understand, okay, it’s kind of a tedious and stressful process.” Rarity took a deep breath between clenched teeth; oh, how all-too-well did she know what a tedious and stressful process it would be. But nevertheless, she was a lady, and ladies conducted themselves with grace and dignity, after all. Pretending all was as it should be, she calmly and collectively said, “Very well. Let us see what we can create, shall we? Now, your superheroine: you said she would be very powerful, correct?” “Um… yes.” “And by that, you mean…?” Fluttershy couldn’t come up with much else, yet. “Hmm. Shall we… play it by ear, then, my dear?” ******* And so they did. Some of the choices for her costume included: A pink and green jumpsuit with a set of matching boots… which was way too wimpy looking, according to Spike… and Fluttershy, interestingly enough. On to the next one… Next was a green, high-tech armoured suit with all sorts of gadgets and features such as a rubber pellet gun, a sonic stun ray, and (this was no joke) its own personal robotic hairstylist right inside the helmet. (Spike had to roll his eyes, face-palm and shake his head all in one go! Fluttershy just glared at Rarity… fiercely.) The next one was also a suit of armour… but it was just too bulky… and hideously gaudy. Next…! ******* As it turned out, playing it by ear proved very, very daunting. Fluttershy only added to the frustration with her meek, indecisive nature. Spike tried his very best to help, only to be brushed off by Rarity… again and again. After countless hours and countless rejections, Rarity – all sweaty and haggard – finally took a step back to see if the pegasus finally approved of the creation. The seamstress took a deep breath and huffed, “Now, puh-lease tell me that finally meets your criteria!” “Oh, I really hope it does,” replied Shy… while looking straight ahead into the wall; she was still a bit too nervous to so much as peek at what she was wearing. Rarity grunted as she shuffled a mirror in front of her customer. “Have a look and see, why don’t you!?” Fluttershy ducked down and closed her eyes. Rarity plopped on the floor, sobbing. “Please, Fluttershy! I’m begging you! Look in the mirror and tell me! I’ll just die if you don’t!” She wailed and cried as any diva would: loudly and melodramatically. Spike, though, seemed to approve wholeheartedly. “Go ahead, Fluttershy!” he encouraged with a smile on his face, adjusting the mirror so she could see. “I think you’ll like it!” The pegasus slowly looked up at the mirror. Her eyes just met the crown of her head… She ducked and clenched her eyes again with a nervous squeak. “Come on, Fluttershy! Just look at it!” She took a deep breath and steeled herself. She slowly stood up, her eyes still shut. Once she was on her feet again, she turned her head away from the mirror. Then she opened the one eye that was closest to the mirror… And saw she was wearing a white space-age spandex leotard with long front sleeves and a long neck cover; green trim lined all the deliberately-designed seams, from her neck down to her flank; a pair of knee-length teal boots on her back legs and hoofless ankle boots on her front hooves; a teal utility belt, same colour as her boots, wrapped around her waist. Fluttershy turned to face the mirror… and smiled. Rarity stopped crying for one moment, diluted makeup still running down her face. “I think…” she started carefully. “I think… I like it.” Rarity gasped in delight as more tears spilled over. “Oh, that’s wonderful!!” she squealed. “What did I tell ya, huh?” beamed Spike. “Perfect fit, isn’t it? Now we just need a name…” Rarity took a slight gasp. “Oh, yes! That we do!” “Okay, Fluttershy!” said Spike with a sly grin. “Are you ready?” “Ummm…” she whimpered. “I… hope so…” The little drake gently rubbed her on the cheek. “It’s alright, Shy. No need to get all worked up. We just need a name that will suit you, and you alone, just like your costume.” “Oh, I know!” cried Rarity. “How about Lady Monarch! You know, like the Monarch butterfly!” Spike glared hard at Rarity while Fluttershy bit her bottom lip nervously. “Or, perhaps… the Fabulous Ultimare!!!” “Rarity!” cried Spike. “Ooh! Ooh! I know just the perfect name: the Winged Wonder!!” “Rarity!!” “Or even…! “RA-RI-TYYYY!!!” The unicorn huffed in utter anguish and fury. “What?!!” she screamed back. Spike slowly waved his hands up and down as he replied. “Let’s just let Fluttershy decide on a name for herself, alright? You played your part – and you played it very well, too – but this is Fluttershy’s turn, okay?” Rarity pouted and curled up next the fitting dais. “So be it! I know when I’m not needed anymore…!” “Rarity, please!! Would you just stop doing that?!” barked Spike. To Fluttershy, he said, “Now then, deep breaths…” The pegasus sucked in a very deep breath… and held for a moment. “That means you also have to breathe out,” he chided. She huffed it back out. “Okay. Just relax,” he instructed soothingly. “Just relax.” She slowly committed herself to a more and more relaxed breathing exercise until she started feeling as relaxed as could be. “Okay, now just close your eyes, and picture the name that the people will be calling you.” Fluttershy closed her eyes tightly… and focused on what her alter ego would be called. “Umm… something… powerful…” she whispered. Spike replied. “Okay. Something powerful…” “Powerful… powerful… the… powerf-lll…” she started mumbling. “Powerfully…” “Powerfully…? Okay, not a bad start.” “Power… flying… Power flying…” Suddenly, she opened her eyes. “Powerfly!” she blurted out loud. “Powerfly!” replied Spike with an approving nod. “Powerfly! Yeah, that sounds pretty cool!” “Powerfly,” mused Rarity as she tested it out on her tongue. “Powerfly. Powerfly. Hmm, that is quite a fabulous name! Powerfly!” “Powerfly!” said Fluttershy again. “From this day forward, I shall be called ‘Powerfly’!” “Wait a moment!” cried Rarity. “Wait just one moment, please! I’m sorry, darlings, but I have to say it: that name is still lacking something!” Spike rolled his eyes and growled, while Fluttershy glared in utter exasperation. “What I mean is, it mustn’t stand all alone! It needs a more proper title. For instance: Lady Powerfly!” Fluttershy nodded. “Actually, you have a point.” Spike sighed. “Okay, fine! She has a point, but still…!” “Actually, I think I will be called… Captain Powerfly!” she cried with uncharacteristic force and drama, as she struck a superheroic pose. “‘Captain’ Powerfly?!” blurted a rather dumbfounded Rarity. “But…! But…! Spike laughed aloud with sheer excitement. “Now we’re talkin’!” “Captain Powerfly!” cried the pegasus again, her voice now strong and boisterous. “Defender of innocents everywhere, champion of all that is good, destroyer of all that is evil!” She turned back to Rarity, and – once again her meek and shy self – said, “Thank you so much, Rarity! I couldn’t have done this without you!” “Well, we couldn’t at any rate,” offered Spike. “Oh, well, you’re most welcome, darlings,” she replied with a small grin. Returning to her heroic persona, "Captain Powerfly" turned to Spike and said, “Come, my faithful ward! Evil is afoot, and we must trample it down in its wake!” Spike hopped up on the pegasus’ back, and she trotted heroically out the door of the shop. Rarity escorted her out past the door. "Powerfly" turned and said to Rarity, “Good day to you, citizen. And remember: stand free and harmonious!” Her voice almost echoed across the neighbourhood as she howled, “WINGS TO THE SKY!!!” And off she bolted, creating a huge gust of wind that almost knocked Rarity off balance, her ward howling on her back in sheer excitement. “Oh, my,” said the unicorn in wonder. “Such fortitude I have never seen from our meek little Fluttershy. Still…” she pondered with a bit of a pout. “I maintain Lady Powerfly to be more fitting.” Author's Note "Stand free and harmonious". I think I can small Gouda or Havarti. (LOL!) But, hang in there bronies and pegasisters! The comic is coming up next chapter! (Comments are welcome.) Chapter 3: Making a Story“And now for the final splash page, Captain Powerfly!” said Spike as he held the paneller – a magical frame device used to capture stills of the subject and their backgrounds – up in front of him. Fluttershy obligingly struck a heroic, contemplative pose from atop a faux-building rooftop. “The city is safe from the clutches of evil… for now,” she boldly proclaimed (according to the script.) “But when it strikes again, it shall find itself opposing Ponygon City’s new champion and protector: Captain Powerfly!!” “Aww! Too perfect, Shy!” cried Spike. Back in her own meek persona, she added, “Oh, but we really shouldn’t forget the… um… her new catchphrase. I mean, if you don’t mind…” Spike froze as he contemplated that factor. “Oh, yeeee-eahhh. I knew I forgot something! Hold on!” He transferred the image on the paneller plate to the magic paper. Then he resized the frame and held it up. “Okay, Captain! Big finish! Here we go!” She jumped up, and with one mighty flap of her wings, blasted off into the sky, yelling, “WINGS TO THE SKY!!” And it was all captured right on the plate, action lines, catchphrase, and the whole shebang. And when it was all done, Spike added with his pen, “The end… for now…!” He gently laid his comic template down and carefully flipped the pages from cover to cover. Each time he flipped a page, he ecstatically squealed with unbridled glee as he studied the story he personally developed with his subject. Nearby, the resident draconequus and spirit of chaos, Discord, chuckled. Though he played the part of the villain rather nicely, he still had just as much fun helping put the comic together. Fluttershy touched back down to terra firma as she slid off her mask. “Are we done now, Spike?” she queried wearily as she lowered herself on her belly and placed her head on the ground. “I’m just so tired!” As soon as he finished, tears of uninhibited joy flowed down his face. “It’s perfect!” he squeaked. “It’s just… too… perfect!! You gotta at least read it, Shy!! You just gotta!!” “Could I at least rest right now, Spike?” moaned the pegasus. “I am really too tired right now.” “Yeah, let her rest, Spike,” said Discord. “I’ve been looking forward to reading it myself.” Spike dried his joyful tears and settled back down. “Uh… yeah, you bet. Not a problem,” he said sympathetically. “Yeah, you have been giving ‘er all day, haven’t you, Shy?” The only response coming from Fluttershy was a light, barely audible snore. “That would probably mean ‘Yes’,” said Discord as he placed a blanket over her. “Now let’s see that comic of yours, old pal-of-mine!” He picked up the comic, sat right next to his best pony friend, and studied the pages cover to cover. “Oh, ho hooo! Fan-tab-ulous, dear boy! Oh, just look at that villain, Dr. Miksen Matsch; so dastardly and wicked!” he observed evilly. “I know, right!” said Spike. “Hey, good job on that, by the way!” He gave him a thumbs up. “Happy to serve, my boy.” Then in a more heroic tone, he continued, “Ah, and here comes our dear champion of all that is good and just: Ponygon City’s own Captain Powerfly!” ******* This was the story in the comic: It introduces the evil Dr. Miksen Matsch, a villain horrendously disfigured as a result of a lab accident involving a mutated lab rat, a vat of volatile chemicals, and a bad batch of cookies. (The reader was advised in a footnote that they “really did not need – or even want – to know the rest of the details.”) Late one night, two young lovers are out for a stroll in one of Ponygon City’s numerous public parks after watching a rom-com movie. Suddenly, they are knocked unconscious by a strange beam of light. A mysterious figure in the shadows speaks in digital monotone, “Subjects acquired.” Another voice via radio orders the being to bring them in; they will make “an ideal fit for the rest of the puzzle.” (Whatever the puzzle is was not mentioned. Spike was a tad… shy on details.) Unbeknownst to the shadowy figure, yet another figure in the shadows is watching. “At last!” it thinks. “I catch your lackeys in the act! I’ll just follow along and find you out, Dr. Miksen Matsch!” Several time-lapse frames later, the reader finally gets their first glimpse of the titular hero, clad in her heroic outfit. “Watch out, vile fiend!” she says. “Captain Powerfly is hot on your trail!” True to form, she is very hot on his trail. And using her super-speed and super-agility, she is able to keep up to the villain’s henchpony in jig time… without being spotted. According to the caption, she is “as a magic arrow, able to negotiate tight twists and turns with tremendous speed and unimaginable accuracy!” Two pages later, Captain Powerfly is led towards an old abandoned HayFlakes factory. (“So the fiend hides out in a factory where my favourite yearlinghood cereal was once manufactured,” she notes sadly.) She quickly darts towards a skylight window, the only source of light in the whole facility. There, she sees the evil scientist himself, laughing at the potential fate of his victims. He spends the next page detailing the reason they’re all here. He’d been watching them all and studying their DNA (How he got it was another detail Spike forgot to mention.) He does mention he needs the DNA to enhance his own personal powers and to create an army of super ponies who will all do his bidding. After he’s done gloating, he reaches out to one mare with glasses. “Let’s start with this one. You look like a perfect choice for book smarts, my dear.” Powerfly can no longer take it! She smashes her way in, shouting, “Actually, Matcsh, that is a BAD choice!” Dr. Matsch whips around to face the intruder, a look of horror on his face. “Who are YOU?!” he queries. “You don’t remember??” The next two pages detail that she was one his “more… interesting experiments.” She too was kidnapped when she was younger and experimented on by the scientist himself. “But thanks to my new super agility, I got away! Now I’m back to shut you down… for good!!” He sics his robots – armed to the teeth with lasers and hoof-blades - on her; but despite being fast and strong, they are outmatched and outflanked by the super-agile heroine. Most wind up destroying each other. Then out comes the huge, ugly mutant. (Spike and Discord had to draw this one out; it still resulted in a frightful semi-abomination.) However, this one is much more of a physical match for Powerfly. But this one is rather dumb, as one would expect. Still, the match gets to a bit of a stalemate… and Dr. Miksen Matsch returns to what he was about to do. Just as things seem hopeless, a deus ex machina of sorts shows up in the form of several boxes of Honey HayFlakes that are revealed in a sealed box recently broken open. Powerfly gets the idea to open one the boxes and spills it into the mutant’s mouth. The mutant stops fighting long enough to taste the “Yummy crunchies” he now has in his mouth. “You want more?” offers Powerfly. “YAH!! MORE!!” cries the mutant with joy, shaking the room with his bouncing. This gets Dr. Matsch’s attention just as he is unstrapping the mare. “Open wide!” she spills another box into its mouth. The mutant jumps for joy, his giggly dialogue reading: “UH HUH-HUH! UH-HUH-HUH! UH-HUH-HUH!!” “What are you doing, you brainless dolt!” demands the scientist. “What’s the meaning of this?!” If the mutant wants more, Powerfly makes a deal: make sure the scientist is immobilized while she brings in the police. The mutant hesitates, but Powerfly asks him if the scientist was ever nice to it. Turning back with a hateful glare at the evil scientist, it’s clear he was not. The mutant thumps him on the head, knocking him unconscious. Powerfly flies off to bring the police to the old factory, and the mutant frees the mare, who then helps him free the other ponies. The police arrive to capture Dr. Miksen Matsch and the mutant. But Powerfly begs the authorities to let the mutant go free; after all, the poor thing just needs to be loved and cared for. One scene later, she is offered a place in the supergroup, A.R.M.O.U.R. She says she will, but only on the condition they offer a place for her new friend, “Bobby” the mutant. (He was only referred to by Dr. Matsch as “that big blobby thing”, but a newer, better name was needed in short order.) After some deliberation, it is decided they will accept Bobby as one of their own, as long as he leaves some HayFlakes for the others. In the next scene, she makes her heroic declaration from atop the building, overseeing the cityscape: “The city is safe from the clutches of evil… for now! But if it ever strikes again, it shall find itself opposing Ponygon City’s new champion and protector: Captain Powerfly!!” She leaps up into the sky, yelling her new catchphrase: “WINGS TO THE SKY!!” The end… for now… ******* “Well done, Spike!” gushed Discord. “Simply amazing!” He placed the comic back in Spike’s paws. “Now, then, I do believe Mr. Liveryfield awaits your entry. Best not keep him waiting.” Spike raced off to the castle to collect the necessary requirements for the postal service. Fluttershy snuggled deeper into Discord’s side. “As for you, our little hero,” said Discord to Fluttershy. “We’d best get you to bed for a little rest.” With that, he collected the tired pegasus in his arms and took her back home. ******* The next few days saw Spike waiting very eagerly by the mailbox, bouncing up and down with absolute glee for hours – if not almost days – on end. In fact, he went so far as to drag his bassinet next to it… just in case it came in while he slept. As for Princess Twilight, sure it would have been nice to have the little drake inside more often, helping out with some of the daily chores. On the other hoof, maybe it was better having him out of her mane for the next little while. Besides, keeping herself busy was actually quite relaxing… despite the extra royal responsibilities on the side. Every morning after the mail was sent away was practically the same routine: Twilight would walk out to the mailbox and collect her mail from Spike (which was quite a lot, being royalty, so she had to acquire the largest mailbox in town.) “So?” she would ask Spike as he handed her the mail. “Anything for you yet?” Spike had nothing else in his paws, so that pretty much answered the question. “Not for me. Not yet!” He was still quite hopeful, nonetheless, so he remained put. “Well, you should come back inside one of these times. I kinda miss you inside,” she finally said on the fourth day. By around the eighth day, though, Spike finally answered with a dejected sigh, “Yeah, maybe I should.” He packed his bassinet as he continued, “If I had won, the prize would’ve been here by now.” “Um… you think?” she chided. He sighed heavily again. “Oh, well. Guess it’s time to get the castle in order, huh?” “Yes! That would be most appreciated, my good drake,” she replied as she looked over the bundle of mail. As the dejected little dragon carried his basket up the stairs, Twilight took notice of a rather bulky envelope. And it was addressed specifically to Spike the Dragon. “Hold on a minute, Spike!” she called. “How did you miss this envelope?” Spike froze. “Which one?” She looked it over and studied the return address. It was from Catalyst Comic Studios, the very same studio whose flagship comic was, in fact, the Power Ponies. Twilight quickly placed all the rest of the mail on the nearby table. “Omigosh! Spike!” she cried in shock. “How did you actually miss this one?!” “Why?” he asked, rather befuddled, as he approached her. “Read the return address, ya shmuck!” she chided with an excited grin and giggle, as she passed the envelope over to him. He took it in his paws and read it. He gasped. “No way!” He jumped up and down and screamed with excitement. “NO WAY!!” He sliced open the fold and gleefully dumped the contents on the floor. “Ooh! Careful! Careful!” Spike tried to catch his breath. “Yeah! Yeah!” He carefully picked up the bag containing the now officially published first edition of Captain Powerfly, (The Top Prize Edition). “Omigosh!” he squealed as joyful tears dripped down his face. “You want me to read the note, Spike?” queried Twilight. “Mm-hm, mm-hm, mm-hm!!” he replied, too excited to say much else. She cleared her throat and read it to him. Dear Spike, How’s it going, Faithful Comrade? I hope everything is all cool on your end of things. Well, I’m about to make your day! A panel of five judges (myself included) have read and reviewed your creation… and we all thought it was awesome! We all decided, after lengthy deliberation and hundreds of other tough decisions, it was deserving of the Grand Prize. Inside this envelope is your own personal copy of the Top Prize Edition of Captain Powerfly. But that’s not all…! The Grand Prize winner also gets a special amulet to transform into their chosen superhero. You read that right, Faithful Comrade! Your subject can officially transform – powers and the whole nine yards – into their chosen superhero! How cool is that? But it gets even better! As you probably know by now, we’re holding a comic-con in Canterlot this upcoming weekend, and I’ll personally be there to present the prize to your hero. Enclosed are tickets and back-stage passes for you and three other guests. Make sure you’re all there at Stage 4 by 1:00 pm, this very Saturday! Where were those tickets? Spike frantically searched the envelope, then… oh, there they were, under the comic. He huffed out in relief. Twilight continued: We’re looking forward to meeting you guys! I think it will be so cool! Sincerely, Rob Liveryfield President, Catalyst Studios, Inc. P.S. And in case you’re wondering, my personal booth is in aisle C, no. 25. Stop by and say hi when you guys get a chance! I really wanna meet you guys! Spike squealed again as he shook with glee. “Oh, joy!” he squeaked. “This is the happiest day of my whole life!!” “Well, that’s in a couple days, so you might want to hurry over and let Fluttershy and Discord know,” said Twilight. “By the way, any idea who the fourth pony will be?” Spike grinned at Twilight. “I sure do,” he said slyly. “How about you?” Twilight glared at him. “How about ‘I am very busy this weekend’?” This was going to be a challenge. Author's Note There you go, everypony! Meet Captain Powerfly, Ponygon City's newest champion and defender! (Sawwy, no pink bunny mask, k16. Hope u like anyways!) (Everypony else, don't be shy! By all means, please leave comments!) Chapter 4: Meet the HeroThat Friday, Spike and his fellow guests all got cozy in Twilight’s personal room at the palace. The following Saturday, Spike, Fluttershy, Discord, and Twilight all wandered in wonder around the many sights and sounds of the convention at the Grande Gala Hall. Not so much Twilight; she was still rather grumpy from Spike’s little dirty dealings to convince her to come with them (of which the less spoken, the better). Fluttershy, despite her general dislike for huge crowds, gazed in wonder at the many works of art as they passed by. In fact, she even spent a few bits on some random merchandise. Discord just simply ambled along amongst the crowd, getting a few stares here and there… some curious, and some downright hateful. Interestingly enough, one green stallion actually asked to have his picture taken with the draconequus. “Yeah, that was cool how you and the others took down Tirek, dude!” he admonished with a chuckle. “Playing the… ‘traitor’ of the group, just to get near Big Bad himself, huh? Genius, dude! Pure genius!” “Oh!” stammered Discord. “Why… thank you! I thought it was a brilliant… plan, myself. Don’t you agree, Princess?” Twilight cringed in disbelief. “Hmm. Yes. A… brilliant plan. Very brilliant.” “Oh, yes!” admonished Fluttershy (albeit rather slyly). “And nopony else was the wiser.” She nuzzled up to Discord as she added, “And to think he was once such an awful beast! Isn’t he wonderful?” Discord blushed and grinned uneasily. “Yes, to think…” No sense ruining it with the real truth… and everypony present - who was there at the battle - knew it. “Oh, wow!” said the excited young stallion upon recognizing the others. “Oh, Your Highness!” he cried as he bowed low before Twilight. “And… um, Fluttershy, right? Yeah… and the little dragon, too! What was your name, little buddy?” “Spike.” “Spike! Right on! Can I take a picture of the whole group of us? Please? Please, please, please?!” He pleaded with huge puppy-dog eyes. Discord, Fluttershy, and Spike gathered around the fancolt… then gazed expectantly towards Twilight. Twilight sighed and gathered with the rest of them; no sense making her own kingdom look like a bunch of miserable nags. Another nearby pony took the snapshot as the green colt said, “Say, ‘barley’!!” “BARLEEEEEEE-EEEY!” The fancolt raced back to his buddy to take a look at the pic. “Oh, wow!” he cried in sheer joy (typical of a fancolt). “Oh, wow! OH, WOW OH WOW OH WOW! Omigoshthisisthebestever! This is the best day of my life!” He hugged the mares, and shook paws with Spike (and hugged him) and Discord. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!! My friends are gonna be so jealous!! I got to meet actual, local heroes!” Then he turned back to the group and said, “It was so awesome to meet you guys!” He raced off to find more treasures, whooping-up with joy along the way at his current treasure. Discord chuckled. “My, oh my. Fancolts…!” He continued chuckling. “Oh, well. Let’s go find Mr. Liveryfield, shall we? Which booth was it again, Spike?” The drake looked back down at his letter. “C-25. It’s this way.” They reached C-25, where a crowd of ponies gathered for the autograph of its resident artist: Rob Liveryfield himself He was a somewhat gruff-looking unicorn with a bright chestnut coat, and brown brush-cut mane, tail, and trimmed goatee, and fiercely piercing blue eyes. His cutie mark was a comic book with a ballpoint pen scribbling on it. He had the look of a stallion who had seen both glorious highs and horrible lows in the course of his career. Still here he was, a stallion right in his element, doing up sketches, making artwork for his faithful fans, and – as was a proud tradition amongst famous ponies – signing his million-bit autograph on his finished works. “There you are, little dude!” he said to a young fancolt as he passed him a finished work of art. “You take real good care of that, okay!” “Thank you, Mr. Liveryfield!” squealed the colt. “My friends are gonna be totally jealous!” The unicorn chuckled as he mirthfully shook his head. “Alright! Cool!” Clearly, working with absolute geeks was just another day at the office. He turned back to the crowd. “Okay! Who’s up next?” Nopony else was really eager to step forward. “Maybe when ya got more artwork, bro.” Mind you, it was still around 10:45 in the morning, and that was still his first work of art of the day. “Oh, okay. Sure. Anypony got anything else they want me to sign, though?” “I might have something,” said Spike. Rob looked up his fan. “Oh, yeah? Oh, hey! A baby dragon, huh? Don’t see you dudes around very often. Can you breathe fire?” Spike awkwardly scratched the back of his neck as he answered awkwardly, “Well, yeah, but my flame can only send messages to and from Princess Celestia,” he waved dismissively. “But that’s it.” “Well, don’t sell yourself short, here, dude! I heard of a clan of dragons called the ‘Hundredflame’, and there’s a good reason for the name, too.” “Really?” asked Spike. “Oh, yeah!” He leaned closer to the young drake. “I heard they can spew about a hundred different types of flames. Think about it. You might be one. Hey, what’s your name, by the way?” “Spike.” Liveryfield took a closer look. “You’re Spike? Like the creator of Captain Powerfly? That Spike? Cool! You did make it!” He looked over at the rest of the group, recognized and waved at Fluttershy and Discord. “And that must be Captain Powerfly’s alter ego herself! Pretty cute in real life.” He mumbled the last statement more to himself. Fluttershy lived up to her name once again. “Umm… hello…” she mumbled very quietly. “And then, Dr. Miksen Matsch. Cool work on that… uh…” Then the unicorn’s demeanour changed to rather grim. “You’re… that Discord guy, aren’t you?” “In the flesh, my good stallion!” he announced with flair. “Yeah. Turning ‘traitor’ and all that, just to get next to ol’ Whatsisface, the big, bad ugly red and black dude. Just an act, I’m told. Right?” “Well, of course it was,” whined Discord, looking rather hurt. “But, mind you, it did look very real, now didn’t it, my dear princess?” Twilight nodded grimly. “Oh, don’t mind her,” he said to Liveryfield. “She’s… just not a big fan of these sorts of conventions.” “Eh, not everypony’s cup o’ joe,” he said as he stood up and stepped toward them. “But anyways…” He bowed to the princess. “Nice to meet you all, especially some real royalty.” “Um… thank you, Mr. Liveryfield,” replied Twilight with a slight flush in her face. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, too.” Rob chuckled. “Not used to the job yet, huh?” Twilight sighed and grimaced. “No!” He stepped towards Fluttershy, who was already shyly shrinking away at his approach. “And… Fluttershy, right?” She nodded very shyly, with a tiny little whimper, and a deep, crimson flush across her face. He chuckled. “Well, I hope you’ll be at the stage to take your prize, at least.” She blanched and froze right in place. “S-stage…?” “You betcha, Mr. Liveryfield!” said Spike. “Oh, yeah; you can just call me Rob, dude.” “Yeah! You bet, Rob!” He turned to Fluttershy… who by now was lying on the floor, hyperventilating into a paper bag, surrounded by her friends, and other rather concerned comic-con attendants and guests. Tears were flowing rampant from her eyes. “It’s okay, Fluttershy!” Discord assured her. “You’ll be just fine!” “Remember when you almost went onstage singing back-up bass for McIntosh?” reminded Twilight. “And you did just fine! Baby steps, remember? Baby steps.” Fluttershy got back on her feet again and took a deep breath. “You can do this, Fluttershy!” said Spike. “Yeah!” offered Rob. “All you gotta is take the prize. You don’t have to do much talking… I mean, if you don’t wanna, y’know.” He placed a reassuring hoof on her shoulder. “Don’t worry. Just be cool. It’ll be alright.” “Th-thank you, Mr. Liveryfield,” she said quietly. “Just call me Rob, babe. Just Rob.” ******* “Okay, ladies an’ gentstallions!” said Liveryfield in his mic on stage 4. “Let’s give it up for the… uh, drake of the hour: Spike the dragon, all the way from Ponyville, creator, writer and artist of the grand-prize winning entry, Captain Powerfly! Yeah, c’mon up here, Spike!” Everypony howled and applauded as the proud drake strutted eagerly across the stage, waving to his adoring fans. “Alright, alright! And, let’s also give it up for the villain of the hour, the one and only, Discord, lord of all chaos! Also known in the comic as the evil Dr. Miksen Matsch!” The draconequus slowly and deliberately strutted across the stage, smiling and waving to his… not-so-fans, who were quite slow at applauding, naturally. “Don’t worry, guys. He’s cool, now,” assured Liveryfield. “And last, but definitely not least, let’s give it up for the mare of the hour: Fluttershy! Also known as… Captain Powerfly!” Fluttershy cringed and closed her eyes as she stood just out in backstage. Don’t cry! Don’t cry! She thought to herself. It will all be okay! You can have a good cry back in Twilight’s room! Just don’t cry… at least not now! She slowly ambled out onstage as everypony watched her with excitement. Just being onstage was terrifying enough; but being watched by the crowd was utterly unbearable and nerve-wracking. But… looking at the crowd, she noticed they had looks of awe in their eyes. She even heard a little filly whisper how beautiful she looked. That lifted her spirits just enough to smile back at the crowd and wave as they howled and applauded at her arrival for almost two whole minutes. “Hello, everypony,” she said to them. “Okay… I think that’s everypony. Right?” He looked around at the onstage group. “Yeah? Okay, cool! Ladies and gentstallions: the talent behind the grand prize winning entry to the Make Your Own Comic Contest, Captain Powerfly! Let’s give ‘em a round of applause, guys!” And so the audience gave them one more round of applause. Rob took his mic to Spike. “How you feelin’, Spike?” he asked the drake. Spike almost burst, tears of joy forming in his eyes again. “Best! Day! Of my life, Rob!” “Aw, yeah! Always is, ain’t it, bro?” He took the mic to Discord. “How about you, Discord?” “Well… I can only say… I’m just really, really honoured to have been part of a project of this magnitude, Rob.” A very lukewarm applause… “And Fluttershy! How you feeling? You excited?” She quivered as she bit her lip, but she still managed a slight nod and whimper. “Umm… y-yes…” “Yeah!” he nodded back to the audience. “Yeah, I’d probably be speechless, too. Alright, let’s get to the real deal, here!” He walked towards the table and picked up a white treasure box. “Alright, in this box here… is your grand prize.” He opened it, and showed the audience. It was a silvery medallion on a brass chain. In the middle of the medal was a green gemstone. “Fluttershy… aka, Captain Powerfly! It is my honour and pleasure to grant you, as the hero of the comic, the prize for your winning entry: the medallion of Captain Powerfly! Hey, Spike… or Discord. Wanna put it on her?” Spike stepped forward, carefully removed the medallion by its chain, and wrapped it neatly around Fluttershy’s neck. After several moments of waiting for… something to happen, Spike finally asked Rob, “So, now what?” Rob pulled out a little notecard from the box. “You gotta say this phrase. Some of my best writers figured it might be appropriate.” Fluttershy took the card in her hoof and read, “From deepest earth to highest sky, shall come the might of Powerfly.” Suddenly, a mighty energy flowed through her body, causing her to dance wildly in midair as her wings jerked her upwards. She glowed brightly as the medallion caused a powerful metamorphosis. When it was over, standing in Fluttershy’s place was no longer a mere wallflower of a pony… but a much mightier creature, clad in a space-age spandex leotard with long front sleeves, trimmed with green stripes along its patterned seams. She had a green utility belt, knee-high rear boots, and hoofless front ankle boots. A lengthy green cape was draped between her wings for good measure. A green mask wrapped around her head, open only to her mane, eyes, ears and muzzle. But Fluttershy was a very changed pony: her coat and mane colours were somewhat richer and her teal eyes had a much more empowered appearance to them. She looked up at Spike, Discord and Rob, back towards Twilight, and down at the audience. One would have thought Princess Celestia herself was standing right there… because everpony watching was staring in absolute awe at the being before them, whispers of shock and admiration among them all. Rob smiled and nodded as he finally spoke into his microphone. “People. I give you… Captain Powerfly!” Once again, the audience erupted into a cacophony of howls and cheers. A new superhero was born right before their eyes. The Legend of Captain Powerfly was born. Author's Note There you go! That's how I envision Mr. L. to look in ponified form, a pony also in his element with the comics (with the exception of his magical comic-making technique in ponyverse.) (So, Mr. L, if you happen upon this fanfic, or even hear about this... hope you're not too ticked about this! I'm just not sure how to get a hold of you, that's all...) Chapter 5: Ponyville's Newest ProtectorThe train ride home was rather exhausting… especially for poor Fluttershy, who was still recovering from the shock of being out on stage… live! She was so shocked, in fact, that she was still in the very same wide & glassy eyed, semi-catatonic state as she was in the previous night. Her eyes started developing larger and larger veins from the dreadful lack of sleep. Discord, Twilight, and Spike all decided, regardless, just to leave her be for the moment; during the previous night, they had tried everything they could think of to get her out of her semi-catatonia… without any hint of success… and without hurting her in any way. Discord was the only one who kept trying – he was the spirit of chaos, after all, so he had an eternal cornucopia of tricks in his proverbial grab-bag. They made it back to Ponyville well into the afternoon. Spike and Twilight went home to her castle, while Discord carried Fluttershy back to her cottage on the edge of the forest… still tickling her nose to make her sneeze (didn’t happen!) Once inside Fluttershy’s cottage, Discord caught sight of Angel Bunny. “Oh, what luck!” cried the draconequus. “Could you give me a bit of a… paw with Fluttershy? She… uh… well, let’s just say she got a real taste of life onstage.” He explained the scene, as Angel just nodded. The bunny grinned, wordlessly indicating he had one trick in mind. Something rather… fiendish, from the look on his face. Discord loudly cleared his throat and glared at the bunny. “I’m not so sure I particularly like what you have in mind, Mr. Bunny.” Clearly, the draconequus had changed his lease on life dramatically: while he was a spirit of chaos, he was anything but evil anymore. In fact, he was only partly evil when he first met Twilight Sparkle’s group of friends. Most of the evil stemmed from his abject bitterness from being isolated away from the rest of society all those years before he was turned into the local spirit of chaos and disharmony. Once Fluttershy showed him the true meaning of kindness and friendship, then he changed. In fact, his heart grew fonder of the gentle saffron pegasus day by day. Like all other ponies who knew her, he made absolute sure to always treat her preciously. Like all other ponies, it hurt him to see her cry. And that was why he was very suspicious of Angel’s actions at that moment. As for Angel, he just waved his paw as if to say: “Relax! I know what I’m doing!” He stepped up on the nearby open windowsill and let out a shrill whistle. A robin plunked right next to the bunny. “Reggie?!” cried Discord. “Is that you again?!” Fluttershy suddenly bolted upright. “Reggie?!” The bunny-bird duo gazed at each other, rather stunned and baffled. Obviously, Angel’s plan wasn’t necessary after all… Except, another plan was needed in very short order. Fluttershy was now headed towards them. “What did you do this time, Mister?!” she demanded of Reggie. The bird and bunny nodded. No sense bothering with a plan; the bird just bolted out the window. “Ooh!! That… that crazy bird!! I have to catch up to him and make good and sure he’s not hurt!!” Then she lamented, “Oh, but I’ll never catch him; he’s much too fast.” Then she remembered the medallion still around her neck. “Umm… Shy…!” stammered Discord. “How did that phrase go…?” “Let’s not get hasty, now! I can assure you that he’s…!” “From deepest earth to highest sky, comes the might of Powerfly!!” she hollered… rather mightily, one might add. In one mighty flash of light, the mighty being re-emerged in full heroic regalia. “Now, then…” said Captain Powerfly. “One of nature’s most fragile creatures must be taken care of, post haste!” She bounded out the window, and with the mightiest of voices, hollered her catchphrase, “WINGS TO THE SKY!!” And with a mighty flap of her wings, she was off and away… after the “hapless” robin. Miles away from the cottage, Reggie continued beating as hasty a retreat as he could possibly muster… flying even harder once he heard the catchphrase screamed out loud. He dared a quick peek behind him at least once or twice… Sure enough, there was the mighty pegasus bearing down on him. Okay! That’s it! he thought. I am never playing tricks on that crazy pegasus ever again!! If I ever get through this, I am moving to a new state! He tore off straight into Ponyville, dodging and weaving around houses and kiosks, nooks and belfries, statues and café tabletops… with Captain Powerfly remaining hot on his trail. Even more impressive - while Reggie was a tiny bird that could easily weave through very tiny spaces, and Captain Powerfly an average sized pegasus mare who couldn’t - not so much as one teacup or saucer was even remotely disturbed. Indeed, she was forced to dodge and weave around the general municipal landscape to keep up to him… but she did so with the precision and finesse of a superior grade arrow. Just like in the comic, such was the capability of the mighty superhero… …Who had the bird firmly between her front hooves once she caught up to him in the town square, right between the fountain and the town hall. “Hold fast, creature of the forest!” she ordered. “Let me examine you first to ensure you aren’t so much as scratched.” The bird sighed and yielded, throwing his wings in the air in submissive disdain. I might as well, he thought. I am done with this craziness! After several minutes thoroughly examining him, Captain Powerfly gently lifted him up and said, “Thank you for your cooperation, creature of the forest. Fly free, and remember: safety first, always!” Then she noticed the crowd gathering around her. They all had varied looks of very keen interest, varying between amazement, curiosity, shock… some even a little nervous. Whatever the case, this new superhero had everypony – repeat everypony’s – attention. The Fluttershy inside really wanted to run and hide from all the staring eyes now upon her… Captain Powerfly, on the other hoof, stood as steadfast as she could before the crowd, gauging their responses, anticipating upcoming possible scenarios… typical superhero thoughts. She stood a bit taller, cleared her throat, and announced to the crowd, “Have no fear, citizens of Ponyville! Your fair community is now under the protection of… Captain Powerfly!!!” She struck a heroic aerial pose for emphasis. Discord had arrived on the scene with Angel in tow… just in time to witness the posturing. He sighed as he shook his head, a claw scratching his muzzle thoughtfully. “I have a… particularly uneasy feeling about this,” he said to the bunny, who nodded in agreement. “You too, huh?” He paused in deep thought for several moments before he assessed, “I have a hunch the others won’t be quite so… fond of this whole thing.” Angel nodded glumly. He knew exactly where Discord was coming from. ******* The Ponyville residents, naturally, saw it the other way, especially after the numerous feats of heroism Captain Powerfly performed. Oddly enough – one could even say ironically enough – the rest of the Mane 6 saw it the same way, more or less. (Not so much Rainbow Dash, who saw her thunder being stolen… but still.) ******* One day, a house caught on fire, the result of a stovetop fire. A baby was trapped on the upper floor. Firefighters just could not reach up to the poor, helpless infant; one of them was injured and needed an evac himself. And the window was just above a raging flame, so a ladder was no use. Luckily, Fluttershy happened to see the smoke pouring out in the distance, so she decided to quickly have a peek. She got within yards of the burning house… and heard the poor baby crying. Into a back alley she ducked. “From deepest earth to highest sky, comes the might of Powerfly!” ******* “Is there any way to get up to the second floor and reach that kid?” queried the captain desperately. “Any way at all?!” A mighty voice echoed throughout the streets, “Wings to the sky!!” Along came Captain Powerfly to assess the scene. Everypony cheered. Their heroine had arrived to save the day. She hovered above the crowd, surveying each and every one of them… finally catching sight of a mare with a large cloth bag. “Citizen, I am in need of your bag,” she said to her.” “Oh, go right ahead! Please!” she replied excitedly. To another mare with a neckerchief, she asked, “And may I borrow your scarf as well?” “By all means!” Powerfly zipped over towards the nearby fountain and soaked the bag and scarf in water. She wrapped the wet scarf around her mouth and hooked the bag in her front hoof… and charged right into the open window. Inside, it was nightmarishly hot and smoky. Fire was just starting to seep in through slowly widening floor cracks. The baby was writhing, coughing and screaming in her crib in dire panic. Powerfly hovered over the crib and slowly reached for the terrified little foal… …Just as the floor underneath collapsed right under one of the crib’s legs, causing it to tilt in one corner, catching fire right where it fell in. Foal filly in hoof, Powerfly carefully slid her into the wet bag and made her way out the window… just in time for the floor and the crib to collapse into the main floor. A huge draught of flame blew out the window just behind them, catapulting them several yards over and across the street… just about into the window of another house. Catching her breath, Powerfly removed the scarf from around her mouth and comforted the little foal, assuring her she was alright. She slowly floated down and hoofed her off to her poor, unnerved mother. “Oh, thank you! Thank you so much!” cried the tearful mother as she grabbed her baby out of the bag. The crew captain sighed in relief. “Well, I guess all that’s left to do is get the flames out and get our injured ponies looked after.” “Alright! Make it happen, people!” barked the chief. He approached the superheroine. “And, job well done, Captain… Powerfly. Right?” “Correct, Chief. Your crew should find their work now much simpler.” “Thanks to you!” She modestly nodded back to him. “Just doing my duty, Chief. Just as you do yours.” Once again, she braced herself for a mighty lift-off, yelling, “WINGS TO THE SKY!!” With one mighty flap of her wings, she catapulted herself skyward. ******* The next day, Fluttershy brought in a little package from the gadgets store. “And what do you have there with you, my dear?” queried Discord. “It’s my newest tool for my crime-fighting crusade!” she replied excitedly as she ripped open the box. It was a radio scanner for listening to emergency bulletins. “Oh, how… how nice. That should help greatly in your crime-fighting campaign.” The pegasus squealed in delight. “Oh, I know!” she squeaked as she turned the device on and started fine-tuning it. “Now if there’s another emergency, Captain Powerfly will be there on the triple!” Discord nodded. “Hmm, very nice, my dear. Very nice.” Fluttershy caught on to his rather indifferent demeanour. “Is something wrong, Discord?” The draconequus grimaced for a moment as he sought an appropriate answer. “Well… I’ve been wondering something,” he finally said. “Don’t you think you’ve been getting a bit… over the top with this new superhero persona of yours?” Fluttershy grimly gazed at her friend. “What do you mean by that… if you don’t mind me asking?” She finished her question rather… harshly. Discord sighed heavily. “What I’m saying is…?” “Is…?” She left that hanging precariously… very precariously. Discord began sweating bullets. Fluttershy – normally so sweet and gentle to a fault – was suddenly subjecting him to an inquisition. Suddenly, the scanner squawked loudly, “All units, be advised, we have a 459-Sierra at the Town Hall. Possible 10-31.” “10-4, Dispatch. Charlie two-five, en route.” Fluttershy ran outside. Discord just stood at the door, sighing. “Charlie oh-eight. Two-five, you need backup?” “From deepest earth to highest sky…” “10-23, oh-eight. I’ll let you know.” “…Comes the might of Powerfly!” Captain Powerfly emerged, ready for active duty once more. Turning to Discord, she staunchly declared, “Ponyville needs my help once again, Discord. We will discuss this further upon my return. WINGS TO THE SKY!!” And off she flew towards the town hall. Discord nodded glumly. “I expect the discussion will be quite interesting.” Author's Note I bet it will be interesting. Very interesting. There you go, gang! Captain Powerfly herself in ponysona! Tell me what you think! Comments are welcome! But like I said, why would Angel and Discord start becoming alienated? Find out next chapter... Chapter 6: A Bit Further Than You Need To...“…And don’t you forget it, Mister!!!” screamed Fluttershy after she read Discord the riot act. “Hmph! Don’t worry, my dear; I won’t!” he huffed as he beelined out the door. “Umm…! Where are you going?” she queried as she began cooling her jets. “If you don’t mind me asking?” Again, she tagged the last question rather grimly. Discord sighed as he woefully looked back at his friend. “I think… I need a bit a break from all this.” “What do you mean, ‘a bit of a break’?” Discord turned back with a grim gaze of his own. “Exactly that!” he intoned heatedly. “A bit of a break!” Fluttershy’s heart started sinking under his gaze; her hooves started growing cold and her stomach started getting a bit heavy. “Did I… did I do something wrong?” she whimpered meekly. Her meek, timid self started showing through in spades. Discord closed his eyes and thought very deeply. “Well… yes and no. Look, I understand how you really like being a superhero and all that… but…” “So are you saying I should stop being a superhero and just be a little wimpy wallflower again?” she replied sadly. “Is that what you want?” “Never mind what I want, right now. What I’m asking is this: Do you want to live vicariously through somepony else… or yourself…?” Fluttershy whimpered and grunted in frustration. She kept her gaze away from Discord as she replied, “All I ever was, was just a little weakling! A nopony!” “WHAT?!” sputtered the draconequus in shock as he flew into her field of vision. “A nopony?! How can you possibly say that?!” He fell flat on his back, his hands over his head and his face distorted in shocked, demented disbelief. “How can you even THINK that?!!” He stood back up and gazed in her eyes again. “You! One of the Mane Six, holder of an Element of Harmony – Kindness, to be precise!” Fluttershy tried to retort… but couldn’t. Discord pressed on: “You dealt with an injured manticore; boldly stared down a dragon and a cockatrice; negotiated with a heavy negotiator; saved both a royal couple and the Crystal Empire from unspeakably powerful foes; and – as a crowning achievement of sorts – you, a so-called mere ‘wallflower of a pony’, made me that kinder and gentler spirit of chaos that I am today… AFTER – I might also add – you defeated me with your powerful magic of friendship!” He lowered his glare down to Fluttershy’s eye level. “And you’re going to stand there and – gallingly – tell me that you, of all ponies, are a meek, wimpy, weak nopony?” Fluttershy pursed her lips, her misty eyes averted to the floor, her bottom lip starting to tremble. Discord plunked his jaw on the floor, his snake-like body bowed in the air like a bent hose. “Oh, how I would laugh at such a laughable joke,” he grumbled. “If only I didn’t feel instead like throwing up.” Fluttershy turned her back to him again. “Well… I’m so sorry if I can’t make you understand,” she replied with a strained voice, again fighting her tears. Discord slowly stepped towards the door. “No. No, you can’t make me understand all this. And do you know why?” he asked as he stopped on the other side of the door. He waited for Fluttershy to turn and look at him… even though she didn’t. “Well I’ll tell you. It’s because you’re the one who doesn’t understand.” Just then, the scanner crackled, “All units, we have a 10-91-Alpha around the vicinity of Sugarcube Corner, possible Code-Purple.” “And if you do continue this charade, well… I’m sorry, but… I won’t be here when you get back.” “10-4, Dispatch. Charlie Oh-Eight en-route.” Fluttershy just glared back at him. “Charlie Six-Two, almost 10-97. I’ll scout the 20 for you.” Discord waited for an answer. “From deepest earth to highest sky,” she stated defiantly. “Comes the might of Powerfly!” Captain Powerfly once again stood tall, daring him to make his next move. “Charlie Two-Five. If it’s what or who I think it is, you’ll need help. Lots of it!” Discord turned on his heel, wheeled suitcase suddenly in tow. “Well, then... I leave you to think about what you’re doing. Goodbye, my dear.” And off he went into the distance, not even so much as taking a glance backwards. “Angel Bunny?” he heard Captain Powerfly cry in surprise. “You as well?!” He only stopped to glance at his suitcase… where Angel sat, a grim, miserable demeanour in his eyes and a bindle stick over his shoulder. He very firmly pointed forward as if to say, “Go! Now!” Off they went, still not looking back. They heard Captain Powerfly snort loudly. “So be it!” she roared hotly. “Good day to you both!!” And off she flew towards Sugarcube Corner to save the day… a bit too peeved to remember her catchphrase. ******* Discord dejectedly took another sip of his tea in Twilight’s castle tea room, his face laying pathetically flaccid and flat on the table. “So-ooo, Discord,” said Twilight after fifteen minutes of waiting for the draconequus to mull over his woes. “Care to talk about your problems with Fluttershy yet?” “Or are you trying to turn yourself into a permanent fixture in the room?” queried Spike sarcastically. “Well…” he finally began. “You’ve seen it all, haven’t you?” “I’m guessing it all boils down to Captain Powerfly, am I right?” “Yes! Yes you are!” he replied as he raised his head. “Captain Powerfly is where it all begins and ends. With insecurity, self-loathing, feelings of inadequacy, and an inferiority complex bigger than the moon sandwiched in between; add a cold glass of delicious gratification to help wash it all down. And the next day, repeat the process all over again.” He plunked his head back down on the table again. “Now I ask you, what could be more pitiful?” “Now, Discord!” said Twilight with a dismissive smile. “I’m sure Fluttershy just needs a little something for her… self-confidence.” Her denial shone through like a flaming beacon. “Oh? Did she need to tear a strip off of you for daring to remind her to be careful? I’m willing to bet she didn’t.” Twilight jerked her head toward Discord. “Tear a strip off…? What do you mean?” Discord hung his head backwards over his chair. “Oh, if you had heard the riot act she read me earlier this afternoon…! Oh, my word!” He related the story from the beginning. Angel pointed at Discord, nodding vigorously, wordlessly telling Twilight she might want to listen to him. “Oh, wow!” muttered Spike. “Somehow, I think this was my fault.” Twilight stood up and sighed, finding it hard to believe that Fluttershy would be so harsh. She slowly stepped towards the draconequus and placed a gentle hoof on his shoulder. “Did you want me to have a talk with her, perhaps?” “I’d like to come along, too,” said Spike. He took her hoof in both paws. “Oh, could you? Please? Maybe if she talked to somepony who she trusts more…!” ******* Back at the cottage, Twilight, with Spike in tow, knocked on her friend’s door. “Fluttershy? Are you home?” No answer. Twilight knocked again. “Fluttershy! It’s me, Twilight! Please open the door!” “Is she even home?” asked Spike. A sudden gust of wind unexpectedly answered that question. Twilight and Spike whirled around to come face-to-face with a rather harried-looking Captain Powerfly. “Oh, Your Majesty! And Spike as well!” said the superheroine as diplomatically as she could in such a hurry. She bowed before the princess. “How may I be of service this day?” “Um… hello, Fluttershy. I was wondering if we could…” “I’m sorry, Princess!” Powerfly replied in a slight panic. “Who might this… er… ‘Fluttershy’ be… that you speak of…?” She trailed off, knowing full well Twilight was not going to buy it. She sighed. “I’m sorry. You… wanted to speak to me, I gather.” Twilight and Spike nodded rather solemnly. “Yes.” “Did Discord set you up for this?” she asked rather heatedly. “Well, he told me the story.” “And…?” “Look, Fluttershy, whatever’s going on, I’m sure there are better ways to deal with it than… well, hiding behind a mask… right?” Captain Powerfly gazed cold and hard into Twilight’s eyes. “So I take it you also feel I should be that weak and powerless nopony, am I right?!” “No!” hollered Twilight in a regal, commanding voice as she thumped the ground with her front hoof. “You are wrong! We do not ask you to just be weak and powerless!” Captain Powerfly was taken very much aback at this, suddenly not having a clue what to do or say next. Twilight heaved a sigh and continued. “We want nothing – but nothing more - than for you to just be yourself!” She stepped closer and held her friend by the shoulders. “Look at me, Fluttershy!” Captain Powerfly looked up into Twilight’s eyes. “You might not know it, but there’s really nothing weak about you at all.” “In fact,” said Spike. “You, yourself, are a lot stronger where it most counts!” He placed a paw over his heart. “Especially right here.” “Just like Discord was saying,” said Twilight. “It’s your kind-heartedness that makes you strong.” “So, please…” begged Spike as he gingerly held her by the arm. “Just be that Fluttershy that everypony loves so dearly. Please?” Powerfly closed her eyes, as a tear fell down her mask. Her amulet glowed, the light spread across her body, and her costume disappeared. Fluttershy’s face drooped in sorrow and she dropped to her belly. She grabbed Spike and hugged him tightly, sobbing heavily. “I’m… (hic) sorry…!” she cried. “I... I j-just wanted t-to…(hic) to be s-somepony every… (hic)… every…pony liked!” She sobbed even more. Spike and Twilight both hugged her back. “It’s okay, Fluttershy,” Twilight replied tenderly. “Everypony gets that awful feeling now and again.” “You know what else, Shy?” Fluttershy tearfully looked up at Spike, still sniffling, but now otherwise done crying, waiting for him to continue. “Everypony’s just going to have to like you for who you are, aren’t they?” “Absolutely!” added Twilight. “Yes!” said Shy as she wiped her tears. “You’re absolutely right! I only have to be myself and nopony else!” She hugged Twilight again. “I’m so sorry. I really only wanted to feel stronger, that’s all.” “Actually…” uttered Spike awkwardly. “I think I’m the one who’s gotta shoulder the cross on this one.” “Oh?” asked Fluttershy. “Why’s that, Spike?” asked Twilight. “Well, I am the one who talked Fluttershy into this, right?” “It’s okay, Spike,” said Fluttershy, patting him tenderly on the shoulder. “I was the one who got carried away.” “True… but I’m also the one who made the superhero… so, let’s just say I gotta shoulder a good part of the blame and be done with that, okay?” “Okay… even though I’m to… blame…” She trailed off very quickly when she caught Spike’s withering glare. “Anyways,” continued Spike. “I have a question: how long have you been using that amulet?” Fluttershy thought back. “Oh, gosh. I think it’s been… around eight days, so far.” “Okay, but about how many hours in total, would you say?” Fluttershy thought back even harder. “Let’s see. Let’s see. Ummm…” She mentally crunched the numbers. “Almost… Twooo--…” “Ah, okay…” said Spike nonchalantly. “…--Enty…?” Spike’s jaw dropped. “Uh…! Twenty?! Really?? Total?!?” “Oh?” said Twilight, not having a clue why Spike was surprised. “Um… yes, I think so…” replied Fluttershy. “About… twenty…ish, in an approximately rounded-off total… give or take.” “Whoa! Yeeee-eahhhh, that’s pushing it a bit!” said the drake in dire amazement. “Anyways, I ask because… well, you know about the limit on your amulet, right?” That really got the alicorn and pegasus’ attention. “Limit??” replied Fluttershy in alarm. “What limit?” Spike nodded grimly, sighed very deeply. “There’s a twenty-four hour consecutive limit. After that, it’s…” He snapped his fingers. “Poof! ‘Goodbye, Captain Powerfly; we barely knew ye!’” Fluttershy huddled into her hooves, getting somewhat panicked. “Oh, no!! What have I done?!” she wailed. “I wasted twenty whole hours already!!” She sobbed into her hooves again. “Fluttershy! Relax!” said Twilight, comforting her friend as best as possible. “It’s not the end of the world!” “Yeah! I mean, yeah, be Captain Powerfly if you must! But… be sparing, okay?!” “I can’t believe I did that!” continued Fluttershy. “I just can’t believe I did that! How could I be so stupid?!” Twilight and Spike just rolled their eyes. “Oh, come on, Shy!” barked Spike. “You’re only equine, y’know!” Author's Note Oh, absolutely, she's equine, amiright? But it's not quite over. Stay tuned... (Don't forget to comment, 'kay? Thanks!) Chapter 7: Captain Powerfly! Where are you?!Chapter 7: Captain Powerfly! Where are you?! Days later, early in the morning, Fluttershy busied herself with her daily chores, feeding all the animals in her care, singing a lovely little melody here and there. She was getting herself back to basics, back to her old life. Back to being herself… and not Captain Powerfly. And it was so liberating. She kept her amulet and her scanner in a safe spot, out of sight, out of mind. In fact, Angel kept them hidden away, just to be sure. There were only three consecutive hours left on it anyways, so it was just as well. Life was getting back to normal, as it was supposed to be. “There you go, little birdies,” she cooed sweetly to one flock. “A nice, rich, hearty blend of the finest seeds and nuts for a good breakfast. Bon apetit!” Angel and Discord kept the yard and animal houses clean. “Hey, Angel!” chided the draconequus. “I think you missed a spot over there!” As always, he couldn’t resist teasing the bunny… who physically chided back about what a slacker he was. The two boys had gotten to be good buddies over the year. ******* Unfortunately, the rest of Ponyville was a different story… …Especially after everypony got a little too cozy with their new superheroine on the job to save the day. The police and firefighters – sad to say – had become a bit lazier and slower to respond. Princess Twilight found herself a bit busier rallying her Mane 6 group to save the day. The residents started getting a bit peeved; some were starting to cause a bit of unrest at the town hall. And the mayor found herself in a bit of jam. And everypony was left asking one question: Where was their superheroine? Where was Captain Powerfly? ******* After a gruelling day of battling, the Mane 6 tumbled into the front foyer of Twilight's castle, Pinkie falling to the floor first, followed by Rarity and Fluttershy both on top of her. Rainbow and Applejack stumbled on either side of the pony pile, the former panting and wheezing. Twilight, Spike and Discord ambled in after the rest. “That…!” hollered Pinkie with sheer irritation. “Was the unfunnest moment in my entire life!” After that declaration, she lay still on the floor, staring into space, deathly – and uncharacteristically – silent. “Ugh! Of all the worst possible things to ever have happen to us…!” whined Rarity. “That was the... worst… ABSOLUTE THING!!” Once again, she fell into her melodramatic howling/weeping fit. This time, her eyes were fountains of tears with mascara. “Okay! Who wuz it, had the dumb idear of usin’ thet smooze again?!” Discord stumbled into the middle of the room, eyes baggy and dark, thoroughly exhausted. He was so exhausted, that he plunked face first onto the floor, sobbing and moaning, “Never! Ever! Again!” Twilight huffed in frustration at her sorry crew. “Would everypony just settle down?!!” she boomed in her regal voice. They did… all the while glaring venomously at her… …Because the smooze was, in fact, her idea… out of desperation. “Anyways,” she continued. “We had it all under control…” “Oh! We ‘had it under control’, alright!!” cried Discord very sarcastically. “Yes! We had it under control! We rounded up the smooze and sent it all into the ice dimension to cool off for a few minutes, so everything is good!! Is that clear, Discord?” The draconequus sighed. “As long as I can clarify for the record that I’m the Spirit of Chaos. Not the Spirit of Destruction!” “Clarified! Thank you!” “Y’know who would’ve been a great help to us?” said Rainbow. Everypony looked up at the blue pegasus with interest… especially Spike, who cringed. He had a good idea – nay, a dreadful feeling – as to whom she was referring. “Who ya thinkin’, R.D.?” Aw, please don’t say it, R.D.! thought Spike. “Captain Powerfly, that’s who!” I just said…! Oh, wait. No I didn’t… Fluttershy cringed, feeling a bit betrayed. Discord loudly cleared his throat. “I thought we had an agreement, Miss Dash.” Rainbow looked up at him. “What agreement?” “You know, the one saying not to bring up Captain You-Know-Who anymore? That agreement?” “Yeah, well nopony said she couldn’t have shown up to… you know… help us out! Right?” Fluttershy stood up next to R.D., tears forming in her eyes. Rainbow caught sight of her dismal look… and suddenly felt her own heart falling. Fluttershy let forth a light sob. “I thought you had the Element of Loyalty,” she whimpered forlornly. And with that, she trotted out the door, crying all the way home. “Hmph!” snorted Discord. “So did I, Miss Dash. So did I.” “Shouldn’t have said that, Rainbow!” snarled Spike. “Good going!” Pinkie stood up. “Did you have to be such a meanie-pants?” She ambled out the door. “Good gravy, R.D.!” said Applejack as she followed Pinkie. “That really weren’t called for!” “Yes!” added Rarity hotly as she ambled out the door behind them. “How could you be so crass to the poor dear?” Rainbow bit her bottom lip with dire shame. She gazed desperately towards Twilight, who also had a very stern look in her eyes. “Oh, boy!” she muttered. “I… I really blew it, didn’t I?” Twilight only nodded. Spike verbalized on behalf of both himself and the princess. “Boy, did you ever stick your hoof in your mouth!” He paused to let R.D. stew over her shameful behaviour. He finally continued, “Maybe you’d better go over and apologize to her.” She slowly shambled out the door, adding, “Yeah.” Spike escorted her out the door, and as soon as the doors were closed behind her, she muttered, “Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!” She slowly ambled over to Fluttershy’s cottage, wondering how she would suitably apologize to her friend. ******* But who knew what would have even happened had the Wonderbolts themselves not even so much as caught wind of the hero? For there they were, the three top officers of the regiment, dressed in their formal uniforms, waiting for the return of Fluttershy… who was still weeping heavily on her way home. Soarin looked back when he heard the sad pegasus sniffling. “Oh, good afternoon, Miss Fluttershy!” he greeted cordially; then sympathetically, he queried, “Oh… did we… catch you at a bad time?” “Oh… um… I’m sorry,” she said as she dried her eyes. “It’s… um… been a rather trying day. You… um… you know… how it is.” “Oh, hey, no problem! We understand fully!” said Spitfire. “You being an Element of Harmony and all that. But anyways,” she added with a sly wink. “We have a proposal to offer you.” “Or – we should say – a certain superheroine that is on hiatus.” No! Fluttershy cried out in her mind. Not this again! Please! It was a real shame she could not so much as say, “No, thank you!”, let alone add, “Now if there is nothing else, please leave!” Instead, she just listened, slightly stunned with utter frustration. “In other words,” continued Spitfire. “We’re offering an honourary position on our Wonderbolts team for Captain Powerfly.” She pulled out a box. “We even went so far as to visit Catalyst Studios’ costume tailors...” She opened the box. “… To have them make this.” Fluttershy pulled the package out of the box. It was a Wonderbolts uniform. But this one was custom-tailored to the same design as Powerfly’s own outfit. “So?” queried Soarin. “What do you think?” Fluttershy couldn’t quite answer… or really even hear. The shock of the whole scenario left her in a trance. “Excuse me a moment,” she said blankly as she entered her cottage. The visitors all waited with restrained excitement. “Ooh, this will put us all back on the map in a big way!” said Fleetfoot with glee. Just then, Rainbow Dash arrived at the cottage. “Oh, hey guys! What’s happening?” “Hello, Cadet Rainbow Dash!” said Spitfire half-formally, mostly amicably. “How are you doing today?” “Doing well, Ma’am,” R.D. replied with a salute. “Oh, no need to salute, kiddo!” replied Spitfire with a chuckle. “So what’re you guys up to today?” Then she looked around. “Hey, you didn’t see Fluttershy around did you?” “Yep! She’s just inside, getting herself changed.” R.D. suddenly had a very uneasy feeling. “Changed…??” “We brought her a new uniform for her alter ego,” said Soarin as he kept watch on the cottage door for Fluttershy to step out… as… “Wait! You mean Captain Powerfly?!?!” cried R.D. in horror, her jaw now on the ground. “Oh, no!! I came to apologize for mentioning her!!” All of the Wonderbolts suddenly gazed at R.D., ultimately shocked by her horrified reaction. “What…??” they all cried in unison. Before R.D. could say another word, the familiar catchphrase echoed overhead… “WINGS TO THE SKY!!” “No! No! Noo!!” cried R.D. mournfully. “What have I done?! What have I DONE?!!” “Calm down, Cadet!” commanded Spitfire. “Captain!” said R.D., a bit defiantly. “With all due respect, this is not for Fluttershy’s own good, as you’re probably thinking! Please trust me on this; it’s not!!” Captain Powerfly – whose uniform colours were changed over to Wonderbolt colours – settled down next to R.D. “Greetings once again, Cadet Dash!” she greeted boisterously. R.D. just gazed balefully into the superheroine’s eyes. “Is something wrong, Cadet?” “Very!” said R.D. “I was a complete jerk to you, and I came to apologize to you for it – and I am sorry I was a jerk, by they way! But, seriously! Please don’t do this, Fluttershy!” She plunked down into a begging stance. “You don’t need to do this! You just don’t!” Spitfire very loudly cleared her throat. “Cadet…!!” she barked. Captain Powerfly reassuring raised a hoof towards Spitfire. “It’s alright, Captain.” She turned to R.D. and said. “It is true that you did act rather spiteful, Cadet. But I can assure you, everything is alright.” She placed a reassuring hoof on her friend’s shoulder. “There’s nothing to worry about.” Then R.D. remembered one important detail. “…Except for the three-hour time limit on your amulet. Remember?” The Wonderbolts did a mild double take as they pinned their gaze to Powerfly, who just scratched the back of her head rather awkwardly. “True, there is that,” she replied with a slight chuckle. “But… I’ll be as sparing as possible.” “Hmm, not a bad idea,” mused Spitfire uneasily. “At least until we’re able to get your amulet refilled – provided we can get it refilled. But we’ll worry about that later!” She lined up the group into formation. “Let’s get ourselves back to HQ! Care to be my personal wingmare, Captain Powerfly?” “I’d be honoured, Captain Spitfire!” Into formation she went. “WINGS TO THE SKY!” she hollered mightily. With a mighty blast of their wings, they all took off in perfect unison. …Leaving Rainbow Dash… now in tears. “I blew it,” she whimpered dejectedly. “Sweet Celestia, I totally blew it.” She plunked down onto her face and cried in the grass. “Stupid! Stupid! Stupi-hi-hi-iiid!” Angel, who had been watching from the sidelines, bounded up next to R.D. and patted her on the shoulder. Now what was she going to tell Twilight? Author's Note "Aw!! Here we go again!!" Right? But remember, there is a three hour limit to the amulet, so we'll see... Chapter 8: No refills! No Refunds! And NO MEANS NO!!The next day, back at Wonderbolt HQ, Spitfire readied her own personal squadron of flyers for the early morning drills… with a newer – albeit ad hoc – addition to the team. While Fluttershy was used to very early mornings, she was not really used the hardcore demeanour of the group. Still, there was a very good reason for her impromptu signup: Captain Powerfly… who she still had yet to transform into. “Okay, Shy!” barked Spitfire hotly. “Anytime Powerfly wants to show up, five minutes ago woulda been great!!” Fluttershy trembled and squeaked, “Y-yes… ma’am…” She took a deep breath and uttered, “From deepest earth to highest sky, comes the might of Powerfly!” Captain Powerfly re-emerged. “Ready for duty, Captain Spitfire!” “Alright, team! Let’s go through the basic warm-ups!” ******* But it didn’t take long for trouble to happen. Spitfire noticed that Captain Powerfly was significantly losing a great deal of her edge… among other things. “Whoa!” she called to her team. “Powerfly! Front and centre! The rest of you, carry on with your drills!!” Captain Powerfly stepped front and centre in front of Spitfire. “What’s goin’ on, hero?!” she inquired sharply. “You’re losing your game!” The hero suddenly shrunk in size, back to Fluttershy (still in costume) for several moments, then back into mighty Powerfly. A look of horror zipped across her face. “Oh, no!” “‘Oh, no’ what, kid?” Back to Fluttershy. “I think…” Then back to Powerfly. “I think my amulet…” Back to Fluttershy. “…is running out of power!” Spitfire grimaced and facehoofed herself. “Oh, sweet Celestia! Not now!” She sighed heavily and sharply as she glanced around the scenery. Back at Fluttershy, she continued, “Alright! Take the rest of the day off; go hang out downtown or whatever. Meet me back at the front entrance at no later than 1300.” Looking at Shy’s confused look, she semi-patronizingly added, “That means 1:00! You got that, scrub?” Powerfly looked back up at her and replied, “Yes, ma’am. I will be here at 1:00 sharp.” And with that, Fluttershy de-energized her amulet, and shamefully shuffled off the training field. ******* The next day, they both made it down to Manehattan, to the Catalyst Studios head office. Spitfire had the sense to make an appointment with Rob Liveryfield, so that made things a bit smoother. “Thank you for coming to see us, Mr. Liveryfield,” said Spitfire. “Yeah, sure! No prob, Cap’n. C’mon in, you guys.” As he escorted them into a nearby room, he asked Fluttershy, “So how’d the amulet work out? Good times?” “Um… yes. There’s something about that, though…” she replied, trying not to be as awkward as she was. “What’s that?” he asked as he closed the door for privacy. “Umm… well…” started Fluttershy. “I’ll cut to the chase, Mr. Liveryfield,” said Spitfire. “The Wonderbolts need Captain Powerfly back, and we need her amulet refilled, ASAP.” Liveryfield shook his head brusquely. “What?! Refilled?!” “Correct, sir,” replied Spitfire. Liveryfield shook his head again, this time in disbelief. “Uh-uh. Sorry. Not happenin’,” he said firmly. “Last time we did that, we regretted it, big time! Strict policies say no refills for anypony. Period!” “But… but…!” started Fluttershy. “Hey, read the fine print, honey!” barked Liveryfield. “You get one chance, and that’s it! Shoulda made the most of it, right? Shouldn’t have abused it, y’know? You know how it is when you get superpowers!” Fluttershy hung her head and started sobbing. “No! Sorry! That’s it! As far as Captain Powerfly is concerned, she’s just a figment of imagination now, as she’s gotta be! Alright?” The room stayed silent, save for the occasional sobs and sniffles from Fluttershy. Spitfire just scowled and rolled her eyes. Liveryfield grimaced again. “Okay, I guess we’re done here. I got lotsa things to do, so if you’ll excuse me…” He opened the door, and turned at the threshold. To Fluttershy, he said, “Y’know, Shy, it’s better off being yourself. Someday down the road, you’ll thank me for not letting you make a big mistake.” And then he went back to work. “Whatever…” grumbled Spitfire. “C’mon, kid. I’ll take you home.” Down at the lobby, someone was waiting for them. Fluttershy sniffled and recognized him. “S-Spike…?! And… Rainbow Dash? Umm, what are you doing here?” Spike gazed at her rather harshly. “Let’s just say I had a hunch you would be coming here.” Rainbow, still looking ashamed of herself, said nothing. “So…” continued Spike. “Did you… get what you wanted?” Fluttershy burst into tears again, and shook her head. She fell into Rainbow’s outstretched arms. Rainbow glared at Spitfire as she gently stroked her weeping friend’s back. “So… Cadet,” said Spitfire as nonchalantly as she could. “Will you and Spike be taking her home?” “Yes, Captain,” said Rainbow rather grimly. “We will.” ******* They all decided to take a stroll downtown just to get some fresh air, and bit of ice cream to lift up Fluttershy’s spirits, Rainbow’s treat. “Feeling a bit better, babe?” asked R.D. “I am, thank you,” replied Shy. She sighed. “I guess I needed a good cry. It’s not easy being yourself after being somepony else much stronger.” “Now, Shy,” chided Spike. “Remember what I said. Right?” They continued strolling down street, sharing a few laughs and giggles… …When they came across a rather harried scene. Police surrounded a small highrise, and everypony was looking up at something… …Or somepony… who appeared ready to jump off from a long way up. Spike and his pony companions all heard a police negotiator calling through a megaphone, “Mr. Meadows! We’ve all had some trying days from time to time, man! But please reconsider what you’re doing, okay! At least think about what your wife was telling you!” They all looked up at the roof. Mr. Meadows was still standing on the edge. “It’s really not the end of the world, Mr. Meadows!” called the negotiator. “So… please… just come on down… let’s talk about this, okay? What do you say, buddy? Please?” Mr. Meadows still did not move. A distraught-looking civilian mare got behind the megaphone. “Please, baby!! Don’t jump!!” she cried, her voice strained and shaky. “Please come down!!” She cried for a moment. “Please!! Come back to me!!” She could no longer continue; she fell to her belly, weeping mightily. Many others gathered around to comfort her. R.D. looked at the other two. “We gotta do something!” Spike glanced back between the two. “Okay! But what?!” Fluttershy suddenly hit upon an idea. “I think I have an idea, but we must time it right!” She gathered the other two closer to explain her impromptu plan. ******* Up top, Mr. Meadows, a thin, red milktoast of a unicorn with light sandy hair and set of horn-rimmed spectacles, struggled between ending his misery the quick and dirty way, or having to face more possible struggles down the road just to put his troubles aside. Either way, his eyes were baggy and red from hours of endless weeping. He kept to the edge, sobbing lightly, so tired and miserable from endless torture at the office and in his personal life. But down there was his wife, begging him to come back down to her, come back home with her. Oh, what to do? What to do?? In the distance, he heard a voice calling out, “Mr. Meadows? Mr. Meadows?” He slowly turned to see the source of that voice. There stood Captain Powerfly, in Wonderbolt colours, atop the roof access shed. “Who are you?!” he hollered. “And what do you want with me?!” The pegasus slowly drifted off the shed and stepped toward him. “I only want to talk to you, sir,” she said calmly. “Is it okay if we talked?” He held up a hoof and yelled back, “Just stay back!! I swear, I will jump!” She stopped and gazed back sympathetically. “Could you tell me why you would want to jump, Mr. Meadows?” she asked. “Please?” “You wouldn’t know!” he barked as he looked back over the building. “You wouldn’t even understand!” “Probably not… unless you got your painful story off your chest. I mean, what do you have to lose by telling me your story?” He glared back at her. “You really want to know, huh!” Powerfly nodded gently. “If you wouldn’t mind telling me…” “Okay! I’ll tell you! I had it all! I had a promising career, well on my way to the top, living my ultimate dream! Sure there’s a lot of good perks and good pay! I got myself a nice big home for my family! Life is good, right?” “That does sound like a dreamy life,” she replied with a warm smile. “But, you know how I had to get all of that?! You have any idea how I had to get where I am… or… was?!!” “Ooh… I think I see where this story is going. But, please… go on…” “I had to kiss up to the ‘right’ sort of people, y’know, the ‘in’ crowd! Consisting mostly of jerks and high-and-mighty types! Not my type of ponies!! I’m supposed to be principled and fair! But I wasn’t! I did things I probably should have been arrested for… or… something!” Powerfly nodded. “And you know what? I was caught at something! I fabricated stories to the wrong pony in upper management… and somepony caught me! They blackmailed me into doing more crooked things! But we all got caught doing those; but guess who got the worst of it!” She nodded very slowly, very knowingly. She nodded towards him. “Yeah! Me!! Now I have no job! Everypony in the business knows what I did and I can’t get another job! I got no more money, and I’m about to lose my home! So now tell me what’s left for me, huh?!” “Your wife and family, for one thing. That’s something… isn’t it, Mr. Meadows?” “Okay, I’ll give you that! My family! Yeah! But who’s gonna provide for them? I got no job, remember?” Powerfly nodded. “Huh? Right? Yeah!” “Is it possible you can take a fresh start? I know it’s a difficult thing to think about, Mr. Meadows… but I’m pretty sure maybe a fresh start is what you need.” She sat down and tilted her head in a tender gesture. “Don’t you…?” Mr. Meadows looked back down over the edge, deep in thought. “How big of a house do you need, Mr. Meadows? How much money do you truly need to make? And… was that particular business – um… whatever it was you did – was it what you really wanted to do to begin with?” He turned his gaze back to Powerfly. “Come to think of it… I think I just wanted to make some good money, you know?” She smiled a bit. “So it probably wasn’t… was it?” He hung his head. “No,” he replied tiredly. “It really wasn’t.” She very gently stood up and stepped towards him… very carefully gauging his next reaction; preparing to stop dead in her tracks if he stepped back to the edge… but ready to grab him if he did jump. Slowly, slowly… very slowly, she stepped towards him… …Just enough that she was able to gently place a tender hoof on his shoulder. “Would you willing to make that fresh start… my friend?” He lifted his head, taking a rather defensive stance. “I’ll share a little secret with you if you’re willing to.” “You have a secret, huh?” The amulet around her neck glowed; where Powerfly stood was now a smaller, gentler little saffron pegasus mare with a lighter pink mane. “I, too, lived a bit of a lie,” she said in her regular, softer voice. “My real name is Fluttershy. And… well, my friend and I entered this… silly little comic contest.” She giggled. “So I created this new persona called Captain Powerfly, which won the grand prize: an amulet that grants you the hero’s abilities.” She pointed to the amulet still around her neck. Mr. Meadows grinned and nodded. “Neat!” “Oh, yes! I thought so, too. But,” she continued rather grimly. “Since I’m a very, very shy pony, I thought being Captain Powerfly would give me lots of confidence in everything… but… well, it never really did… and… well…” She sighed forlornly. “Since then, everypony else has been a bit too reliant on my hero…” She looked at him sadly, tears forming in her eyes. “Especially me.” Mr. Meadows nodded. “I see,” was all he could think about saying. “But, well…” she said with a tiny smile. “My amulet is almost dried up and that’s that.” She watched the amulet dangle around her neck. “Just be myself. Just be true to myself.” She looked back up at the unicorn. “What do you think, Mr. Meadows?” She asked as she put her arm around him. He slowly leaned into her, readily accepting her evident offer for a hug. “Thank you, Miss Fluttershy,” he said, very relieved, though very drained. “Thank you… so much.” “Think nothing of it, my friend,” she replied tenderly. “I only serve as the Element of Kindness, after all.” “Wait!” he said in surprise. “Did you say ‘Element of Kindness’?” “Yes. Why?” “How many are there that hold the Element of Kindness? Because… well, there is somepony that I know of around here holds the Element of Kindness along with the rest of her group of six ponies. Where are you from, anyways?” “I’m from Ponyville.” “Oh, I see! Yes! You must be the newer group of ponies representing the Elements of Harmony!” He studied Fluttershy’s confused look. “Only you’re the ones from Ponyville. The ones I know of are from here in Manehattan… uh-oh! Wait a minute! You don’t know, do you?” “You know what, Mr. Meadows? I think I have heard of other groups representing the Elements of Harmony. I’ve even heard Princess Cadence is forming her own group in the Crystal Empire.” As they continued talking, a blue pegasus, carrying another unicorn and a baby dragon, came up to join them. “Is it safe, now, Cap… er… Fluttershy?” “Ah, yes!” Fluttershy glanced back at Mr. Meadows. “Er… is it alright, Mr. Meadows?” He immediately recognized his tearful wife, who Rainbow released and allowed to race over and grab her husband, sobbing, “Oh, baby! Thank Celestia!” Mr. Meadows embraced his wife. “It’s alright, now, sweetheart,” he spoke gently. “It’s going to be okay, now. We’ll sell off the house, get a smaller one. I’ll even get a much more different job…” “I don’t care!” she cried. “I don’t care what! As long as you’re still here with me and the kids! I don’t care!” “I know, baby. I know. It’s not gonna be the end of the world after all.” Rainbow nodded approvingly. Spike beamed, grinning from ear-to-ear. “And all it took to save this stallion,” he said to Fluttershy as he clapped a paw over her shoulder. “Was your own inner strength.” She beamed proudly. Yes; yes it was her inner strength that saved the day. Chapter 9: Important Lessons and True HeroesDear Princess Celestia, I learned a truly valuable lesson about just being yourself and counting on your own deepest inner strengths. As you know, I am a very shy and gentle sort of pony… but I really mistook that as being a weak, wimpy nopony. Yet, I had no idea how truly low my self-esteem was until I entered a contest to create my own hero – or I should say, our own hero (Spike created the comic) – and won the grand prize: an amulet that transformed me into my hero, Captain Powerfly. And what a magnificent superhero she was! She had the amazing ability to fly with pinpoint accuracy and lightning-fast manoeuvrability… more so than any other pegasus that I know of! (Even Rainbow Dash! I guess that's why she might have been jealous, but I guess I can't blame her either...) But that was really not me! Captain Powerfly was not who I truly was! I learned the hard way when my amulet died out (As I’m writing this, I’m still wearing the costume that was left over when it finally did. I admit that I still yearn to be Captain Powerfly!) But I also learned in a more valuable way when I saved somepony from ending his own life… using my own abilities: just being a good, kind friend with a good ear and a shoulder to cry on… if need be. And, sometimes, that’s what everypony really needs when times get tough, isn’t it? Your Faithful Disciple Bearer of the Element of Kindness Fluttershy “Done?” asked Spike as he waited for the Shy to finish. She read and re-read her letter to the princess. “Let me just see…” Rainbow Dash, who was silently sitting next to her, read it as it was being written. Spike shoved his nose into the letter and read it for himself. “You know what, Shy? It’s perfect! The princess will love it…!” “Oh, I don’t know…” she whimpered, still very uncertain. “Fluttershy…!” said Spike very firmly. “Trust me! It’s done!” She sighed. “Okay. If you say so… it’s just that…” Spike very loudly cleared his throat and beckoned her to give him her letter. Rainbow gently wrapped her arm around her friend. “I think it’s a very beautiful letter, Shy.” Fluttershy very slowly and reluctantly rolled up the parchment and hoofed it over to Spike. “Thank you!” he said with a grin on his face. He took a deep breath, and lit the parchment with his special flame. Shy heaved a deep sigh… in mournful, yet very liberated relief. She watched the scenery roll by as their train continued on from Manehattan to Ponyville. Yes, Captain Powerfly was gone, never to return. And after all that rigmarole her very presence caused, it was clearly the way it was meant to be. Obviously, Mr. Liveryfield knew exactly what he was talking about. But then again, being in the comics industry for as long as he was, it was pretty much granted he would know. Everypony was rather exhausted from the final adventure. For the remainder of the trip, the two pegasi huddled together and fell asleep. ******* Days later, everything returned back to normal around Ponyville. Fluttershy was once again attending to her normal duties, taking care of her animals. “There you go, little birdies,” she cooed to the flock around the feeders. “A nice, hearty blend for a complete breakfast. Bon apetit!” Discord and Angel were once again busy keeping the place clean and tidy. “Hey, Angel!” teased the draconequus. “You missed a spot!” Angel once again gestured what a slacker Discord was. Good buddies jiving each other, as usual. Reggie the robin stopped by, causing a bit of mayhem as usual… naturally not learning any lessons… and knowing that Captain Powerfly was gone for good. Except, this time, Fluttershy wasn’t near as prone to reacting with as much terror to his antics; her tolerance threshold had recently multiplied at least a hundredfold. “Still being a little stinker, huh, Reg?” queried another voice from somewhere not far away. Fluttershy finally caught Reggie’s line of sight… and gave him her infamous glare. Naturally, he settled down. “Yes, he is being a big stinker!” she said. Spike just arrived with an envelope in tow. “Good morning, Shy! Discord; Angel! How’re things so far?” “Good morning, Spike!” she replied sweetly. “I’m very good, thank you for asking!” “Likewise!” replied Discord. Angel also replied with a thumbs-up. “Right on! This came in the mail for you, care of Princess Twilight.” He showed her the envelope from Catalyst Studios, Inc. “I think Mr. Liveryfield wanted to say a few things he couldn’t find the time to say yet.” “Oh, thank you, Spike!” She took the envelope, opened it, and found a letter with the company’s letterhead inside. In roughly penned writing, it read: Dear Fluttershy, I would’ve sent you a typed up letter, but I figured it would’ve been more meaningful by pen. I heard about your little adventure about a dozen blocks from our office, and (yah, I’ll admit it) I thought, “Oh, yeah; Captain Powerfly. Yay. (sarcasm)” But then I got wind of the real story. I heard it was actually you yourself who saved some poor dude from suicide! Then I was like, “Cool!! (4 real!)” So I thought I would write you a letter just to say how cool I thought you really were doing all that with only your own REAL inner powers! And not with something made-up! So, until next time, stay Faithful, Comrade! Peace! Rob Liveryfield President & Comic Creator Catalyst Comics Studios, Inc. Tears of elation and pride formed in Fluttershy’s eyes. After so many years of insecurity, she finally felt all was just right with the world, and she was able to hold her head even higher than before. She squeaked in delight as she hugged the letter. “Somepony thinks I’m cool!” she whispered excitedly. “Oh-hoooo!” said Discord with sheer elation. “And why wouldn’t they, after the incredible way you helped Mr. Meadows?” Angel nodded vigorously. “It’s like I said, Shy,” said Spike. “You did it just being yourself.” Fluttershy wiped her tears away. “I should write him back, one of these times, to thank him for the wonderful compliment.” The group started sharing some small talk and chuckles for two minutes. “And, POOF! If you see me, it’s too late!!” hollered another voice from out of nowhere. Then in another spot in the trees, she cried, “Is she here?” Another spot near the stream: “Is she there?” Then on top of one of the cottage’s branches. “She could be anywhere!! It’s…!” Suddenly, the branch snapped very loudly. The occupant screamed as she hit the ground… hard and painfully. Then, she moaned, “It’s Any-Mare… er, I mean… Anywhere-Mare. Augh! I gotta do more seriously serious work on that schtick!!” It was Pinkie Pie, dressed in a white, long-necked leotard with a red and orange flame design flowing down from her shoulders. Her poofy hair was wrapped in a matching red cloth band and a mask around her eyes. In her possession was a flyer from Catalyst Studios’ main competition, PhenomeComics from out of Los Pegasus. A comic-con was being held in Baltimare that weekend. And a make-your-own-superhero contest was on. Spike, Fluttershy, Discord and Angel all cringed. Not this rigmarole again?! “So… um, Pinkie…?” uttered Spike. “Wha… Say what? Who? I don’t know any pony named ‘Pinkie’? Who is this ‘Pinkie’?!” she stuttered, trying to play dumb. “You!” “Whoa, not me, little dude! You’re talkin’ to the next big thing, the Anywhere-Mare!” She performed a rather amazing act of disappearing and reappearing in spectacularly unexpected places. “And POOF! You see me, it’s too late!!” Spike and the other spectators cringed again, and shook their heads. He looked again at the flyers in his paw. One of them looked just like… “Hey, Pink… er… Anywhere-Mare!” “Wazzup, li’l dude!” “Is this the entry form, here? The one that has a line for the artist to sign?” “Yeah! You wanna be the artist? Because you were the prizewinner in the last contest, right? So can you be my artist?” She pointed at Shy and Discord as she danced near them. “And you two can be my backgrounds! You would be totally the awesomest backgrounds! How about it? Could you?” Fluttershy could only lay her arm across her eyes in exasperation. Discord just glared. “Yeah!” said Spike. “Let me think abou… ah… ah… ah…!” He was suddenly about to sneeze. “Sure, think about it,” replied Pinkie… er… Anywhere-Mare. “But let me know by the end of the…” “AH-CHOOOHFF!!” Spike sneezed out a big flame. But it wasn’t his usual green courier flame. This flame was a bright gold flame with a blue wick. And the flyers and entry form immediately disintegrated into a fine, grey dust floating in the breeze. Spike sniffled and rubbed his nose. “Whoops! Excuse me,” he said, not bothering to hide his satirical demeanour. “Yeah, I did some research. I guess I do have ties to the Hundredflame Clan,” he added with a snicker. Pinkie’s jaw dropped, her eyes bugged-out in sheer horror. “Spike! You! Jerk!” she wailed as tears flowed out of her eyes. “You did that on purpose, didn’t you?! Don’t lie! I totally saw you, you… you mean meanie-pants!!” He snickered. “Yeah, I did. So what?” The pink pony plunked down on the ground and started whimpering and whining, mournfully muddling about the ashes that once were flyers and a contest entry form. “Well, there goes my chance to be really cooler than Rainbow Dash,” she moaned. As much as Fluttershy hated seeing Pinkie cry, it was for own good. It really was! “Well,” said Discord, with a slight chuckle. “I’d love to stick around and watch this bout of chaos, but…” He turned back towards the animal pens. Angel eagerly followed. “Someday, you’ll thank me for this, Pinkie,” said Spike. “Oh, really?!” she sputtered. “Thank you so much, Spike!” said Fluttershy… in rather satirical form. “Yeah, big fat thanks for ruining my big chance, Spike!” snarled Pinkie as her tears fell to the ground. Fluttershy glared harshly, straight into Pinkie’s eyes. “Trust me, Pinkie! You will thank him for this down the road!” All Pinkie could do under the powerful glare was just gulp. THE END (That’s right! Don’t even think about it, Pinkie Pie!) Author's Note And so, Fluttershy, bearer of the Element of Kindness, once again earns her stripes as "Best Pony"; not as a superhero, but as a true, genuine REAL hero! Am I right? Am I right?? Anyhoo, I hope you liked my first true fanfic to this awesome website! Gimme your comments, gimme your ratings. Tell what you loved; tell me what you hated. I wanna hear from you awesome people!! And hopefully, I'll be back with moar tales... Peace out, bronies an' pegasistahs! Chapter 1: The ContestIt was another fine morning in Ponyville. The birds were singing many a merry tune and not a cloud stood before the rising sun. Everyone was caught up in the daily hustle and bustle of their morning routines. Breakfasts were made and eaten. School lunches were made up for hungry yearling tummies. Shops and stands were opened at varying times of the day. The library of Ponyville’s new castle was rather busy with its extended morning cleaning routine of its rows upon rows of books. The small young dragon was little more than a blur with a feather duster in each hand and a third in his mouth, as his keeper, the recently inducted princess, Twilight Sparkle frantically busied herself cataloguing new books. “Okay, now these ones go into sections ‘BAC’ to ‘BAR’,” she muttered frantically as she sorted them out into piles. “And these ones from ‘ROA’ to ‘ROM’, and these ones are to go into ‘TAE’ to ‘TAM’, and these ones from ‘EAR’ to ‘EBB’, and…!” And then she coughed violently as she caught a lungful of dust from Spike’s pass over the older books. “Spike!” she hollered between hacking fits. “Watch what you’re… (cough)… doing!” She coughed some more. “I can’t… (hack, hack)… work with all this… (cough)… dust in the air.” And then she coughed some more. Spike stopped on top of one of the bookshelves. “Oufs! Forry!” It was tough to speak with a duster in his mouth. “Sorry about that, Twilight!” Then he added with a rather ironic scowl, “Kinda too bad we don’t have a… um… vacuum cleaner anymore.” “After what you and Peewee did to it last time? No way!” “I tried to avoid him! I swear!” Then the doorbell – which Twilight decided at the last minute of construction should be a standard feature in her castle - rang. “I got it!” yelled Spike as the three feather dusters very briefly floated in the air where he stood three microseconds ago. Twilight could just barely make out the excited dragon’s form until he made it to the door. “Hmm. You must’ve been expecting something in the mail,” she deduced as he eagerly signed for a mailed package. “Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!” he yelped in anticipation as he pranced over to the table with a book-sized box. “It’s here! It’s finally here!” “What did you get, Spike?” He ripped off the tape holding the tabs closed, and slid the contents out onto the tabletop. He pulled a chair up to stand on so he could get a better look at the books. He grinned broadly and squealed with delight as he stifled an urge to burst. “So what did you get, Spike?” repeated Twilight. She lifted the book to get a closer look… then moaned, “Oh, no! You have got to be kidding!” Spike was taken aback. “Kidding?! Kidding?!! Me, kidding?!! No way, Twilight! This time, we’re gonna get it right!” “‘How to Make Your Own Magical Comics’?” “That’s right! Written by the comics-master himself, Rob Liveryfield!” “Rob Liveryfield? Yeah… I… uh, read some of his works. I can’t say I approve of his work, especially all those tacky costumes he made!” “Okay! Okay! Look! Some of those comics… well, they weren’t the greatest, I’ll admit that! I mean some of his script writers, well at least one of them was el stinko!” he conceded as he pinched his snout for two seconds. “But listen! Twilight! We are talking about the creator of the magic comic book, here! Whole new style! Whole new generation of comic-making!” This was definitely hard to argue. Liveryfield was the main artist of the Power Ponies comic… including the issue Twilight and her friends were trapped in. Not long after the series finished, it was he who actually created the new method for making comic art. Using live, costumed ponies in an empty, medium-sized room, he was able to capture the action as one would creating movies… except the action would be captured into the panels of the comic. When it was all finished, the panels would be refined and rendered, then coloured, lettered, and finished off. It proved more effective and time-saving. “Anyways, I just entered a contest, and I want to make my own comic!” He produced a brochure detailing the “Make Your Own Hero Story” contest. In it was a superhero pony flying out of a comic book. “Oh, you do, do you?” asked Twilight – feigning some degree of interest - as she continued cataloguing her new books. “What’s it called? Who’s in it?” Spike raced off to the bedroom and pulled out a script to present to the princess. “Check it out! It’s got a villain with super-awesome powers, like mental control over all these totally cool and amazing ninja-robot-dragon-beasts that shoot lasers from their eyes and fire from their swords!” “And the hero…?” asked Twilight, hoping to keep the subject as brief as possible. “Well, the hero… um… is going to… have some really cool and amazing powers! For instance… um…” Twilight let Spike stew over that for the moment. “Sounds exciting. Now if you’ll excuse me… Let’s see, these ones will go from ARR to ATM. These ones…” She carried on as if nothing else was happening. “Hey, Twilight! Wanna be the hero?!” cried Spike… causing Twilight to jump up and knock over her neat piles. Her neat little piles she had spent hours sorting out. She slowly turned her angry gaze in Spike’s direction, her teeth grinding, a terrifying scowl across her face. “Spike?” she said menacingly. A bead of cold sweat cascaded down the side of his temple as he replied very nervously, “Yes, Twilight… er… I mean, Princess?” He felt himself slowly lift into the air. “The answer,” replied Twilight. “Is… ‘NO’!” She opened the library door, then the main door, and took careful aim. “Okay!” whimpered Spike as he was tossed back and forth. He knew she was going to do something painful. “You can put me down, now! I’ll go away! I swear!” Regardless of his begging, she violently bowled him down the hall, down the stairs, pinballing him against the banisters, and right out the main door, where he finally settled on his face. “Go bug somepony else!!” she bellowed after him from the balcony. “And take this with you!” She neatly packaged his books back into the box and flung it after him… right on his noggin. “And would you stop calling me ‘Princess’ already?! It’s getting embarrassing!” She slammed the door and locked it. Spike nursed his aching head. “She was turned into an alicorn. She was crowned as princess. She got her own castle. And… she doesn’t wanna be called ‘Princess’?” He stewed over that for the next several moments. “Odd. Ah, well.” Off he went to Rarity’s house. ******* At Carousel Boutique, Spike skidded several metres out the door from his severe, excruciating, backside-first exit out the door. “Ow! Ow! Ow!” he grumbled as he slowly stood, nursing his tender backside. “You could’ve just said ‘No’, you know!” Rarity very menacingly stepped out. “Spikey, darling. NO!” She hoisted him up very close to her scowling visage, right up close to her eyes. “And if those comics dare to cross the threshold of this business, I will happily create beautiful leather purses and saddlebags out of dragon leather! Do we have an understanding?” “We do,” he whimpered as he landed on his still tender backside. “No comics in Carousel Boutique.” “That’s a good little dragon,” she said with a faux, syrupy smile. “Now run along, dear… before I do find customers for those dragon leather accessories.” With that, it was as though he was never there. ******* He had no better luck with Applejack, either. The horseshoe-shaped marks on his butt were a very clear indication. He moved on… very painfully. ******* Off to Sugarcube Corner he went… Where Pinkie yakked and yakked for almost half an hour straight about all sorts of insane plans for being the superest, bestest, most awesomest superhero with the craziest, neatest, wackiest, most unbelievable superpowers on the whole planet. Somewhere in the back of the little drake’s mind was a mental list. On that list were several names; names of ponies that he figured would be ideal to team up with on this project. Not five minutes into the crazy pink pony’s little bout of verbal diarrhoea, another name was crossed off that list… over and over and over and over. That name was none other than Pinkie Pie. Why? Simple: he wanted to keep this project as orderly as need be. Pinkie Pie had too much risk to cause chaos border-lining Discord’s levels. It took almost that full half hour before Pinkie suddenly realized she was talking to thin air. Ironically – and by rather pleasant circumstance – she forgot what she was talking about in the first place. Back she went to making pastries, singing silly songs to herself. ******* Spike, on the other hand, asked Rainbow Dash if she was willing to help out. No sooner had he explained the project when he suddenly found himself talking to thin air. No verbal response; just a sudden vacuum that followed a trailing rainbow near sonic speed. “Okay,” he said to the volume of thin air where Rainbow was no longer standing. “I take it you’re not interested?” There was no verbal response – not that he expected one, anyway. He sighed. “Might as well see if Fluttershy will turn me down.” ******* Fluttershy was busy scolding a little robin after nursing it back to health. “That’s what happens when you don’t look where you’re flying!” she said, referring to its careless flight path into the birdbath. The robin, however, was perfectly fine. He looked over towards Angel flashing a small sign, just out of the pegasus’ view, that read: “She has GOT to be kidding me! Help a guy out, would ya?” Angel held up a sign that said: “Just roll with it, bud. Trust me!” He flipped it over: “It’s not worth the aggravation!” The bird hung his head, and just rolled with it, enduring countless minutes – which felt more like countless hours – under Shy’s tender loving care… and bothersome scolding. In the end, he knew the bunny was right. Spike casually sauntered into Shy’s back forty where he spotted the situation. “Oh, my, Fluttershy. Who got… ‘hurt’ today?” he queried casually. The pegasus casually glanced sideways towards the drake, then back at her unwilling charge as she continued with his care. “This poor, silly robin flew into my birdbath the wrong way and hurt himself!” “Is that… oh, for crying out loud! It is him! Reg!” snapped Spike. “When are you going to learn not to scare Fluttershy like that, guy?!” The little robin rolled his eyes back and facewinged himself. “Spike, please! Don’t stress poor Reg while he’s recuperating!” Spike glanced back at Angel. Angel held up a sign: “Correction! Don’t stress poor FLUTTERSHY while he’s… ‘recuperating’.” Reg let out a series of aggravated tweets while he shook his head. “Reggie, please…!!” cried Shy. “Okay, hold on, everyone!” said Spike. “For the sake of peace in the neighbourhood, let’s all just stay calm and cool. Okay? Just calm… and cool…” “Yes! Calm! Yes!” said Fluttershy with a grimace; sharp, heavy breaths siphoning between her clenched teeth. Spike tactfully decided to wait for several moments so she could actually calm down. But Fluttershy decided to make the inquiry right there. “So… what did you need, Spike?” She snapped her head towards him as she added, “If you don’t mind me asking.” “Well… maybe I’ll wait until you’re done…” “Oh, no, Spike!” she offered as she turned back to Reg’s care. “It’s okay! You can tell me… if you wouldn’t mind…” Spike took a deep breath and asked her, “Do you remember that Power Ponies comic we got trapped in?” Fluttershy snapped her head back in his direction again. “Oh! My! How could I forget that? When I transformed into that horrible brute!” Then she grimaced. “But, oh, that was because I got so… angry at that nasty Mane-iac for batting that poor, helpless firefly!” “And you ultimately trashed her big laser gun! That was cool! But, aaany-waaaays…! Let’s get to the real reason I’m here! Remember Rob Liveryfield?” “Umm… I’m sorry. I just don’t know who that is.” “He’s the one who did the artwork on that issue.” He continued to explain the comic artist’s role, and the contest he entered. “So, wanna join the contest with me?” Fluttershy started quivering in fear. “Oh, my! We don’t have to fight that terrible Mane-iac again, do we? I don’t want to be a brute anymore!” Spike grinned. “That’s the beauty of it: you get to create your own superhero persona. And best of all, you won’t be trapped in the comic. You’ll be making it.” Fluttershy sighed as she pondered the scenario. “I… I don’t… know, Spike. I just don’t know if… I even…” She trailed off again, trying not to outright say… well, that. But Spike could tell what she was trying to say. “Please, Fluttershy?” he whimpered as he donned a sad puppy-dog expression. Fluttershy cringed as she tried to rebuff his pitiful, somewhat heart-wrenching persuasion method. “Spike. Please… don’t…” His eyes started filling with crocodile tears, his bottom lip started to tremble, and a tiny whimper edged out of his throat. And that did it. “Okay!” she shrieked. “I’ll join the contest with you! Just… promise me one thing!” “Sure,” replied the drake as he grinned smugly. “Promise me I won’t have to be a brute again! Please!” Spike chuckled. “No, you don’t have to be a brute if you don’t want to. You do, though, have to create your own superhero. Right, Reg?” Fluttershy looked back at Reg… Or rather where he should have been. He was now in the tree. “Reggie!! Get back here! I’m not finished caring for you!” Spike left Fluttershy to unsuccessfully try to catch the impish little robin, chuckling at the chaos he knew was taking place behind him. Author's Note Okay, bronies and pegasisters; hope you like this so far! This is my first fanfic and I just wanna test the waters a little bit before a newer instalment I've got that's still collecting dust. And yes, we all know who Mr. Liveryfield is a blatant reference to. And just like in the ponyverse, the folks either love or hate the guy, but is still indisputably deserving of our respect. (Especially here because of the new technique for making comics) Don't forget: leave a comment! Tell me what you think!!
Chapter 2: Getting it Right“Alright, daaar-ling!” said Rarity in excited sing-song overtones as she pranced about her workshop. “Let’s see if we can outfit you in the most haute-couture of superhero costumes! But first, you must tell me: what will your superhero be like?” Fluttershy thought very hard about it for several moments, until she finally replied, “Well… she will be… um… very powerful…” “Ah-hah! You want to be Saddle Rager again, correct?” “Oh, wait! No! I don’t…!” “Have no fear, darling! I have just the thing for you this time!” The unicorn rummaged vigorously through her assortment of outfits. “Something that will neither rip nor tear nor even split one solitary stitch! There you go, darling!” Before the shy pegasus knew what was happening, she was wrapped inside the costume in less than a second. It was a two-tone green jumpsuit, similar to her previous costume. This one was made of hi-stretch spandex with several strategically-stitched seams flowing up and down the contours in a futuristic design. Fluttershy studied the suit very carefully. “Um… I don’t want to be Saddle Rager again. Could I… um… take this suit off? Please?” “You don’t want to be Saddle Rager, you say?” huffed the unicorn indignantly. “Hmph! Well, do say so, won’t you, dear?” “Hey, Rarity!” blurted Spike. “Could you… you know… go a little easy on her, please? Try to understand, okay, it’s kind of a tedious and stressful process.” Rarity took a deep breath between clenched teeth; oh, how all-too-well did she know what a tedious and stressful process it would be. But nevertheless, she was a lady, and ladies conducted themselves with grace and dignity, after all. Pretending all was as it should be, she calmly and collectively said, “Very well. Let us see what we can create, shall we? Now, your superheroine: you said she would be very powerful, correct?” “Um… yes.” “And by that, you mean…?” Fluttershy couldn’t come up with much else, yet. “Hmm. Shall we… play it by ear, then, my dear?” ******* And so they did. Some of the choices for her costume included: A pink and green jumpsuit with a set of matching boots… which was way too wimpy looking, according to Spike… and Fluttershy, interestingly enough. On to the next one… Next was a green, high-tech armoured suit with all sorts of gadgets and features such as a rubber pellet gun, a sonic stun ray, and (this was no joke) its own personal robotic hairstylist right inside the helmet. (Spike had to roll his eyes, face-palm and shake his head all in one go! Fluttershy just glared at Rarity… fiercely.) The next one was also a suit of armour… but it was just too bulky… and hideously gaudy. Next…! ******* As it turned out, playing it by ear proved very, very daunting. Fluttershy only added to the frustration with her meek, indecisive nature. Spike tried his very best to help, only to be brushed off by Rarity… again and again. After countless hours and countless rejections, Rarity – all sweaty and haggard – finally took a step back to see if the pegasus finally approved of the creation. The seamstress took a deep breath and huffed, “Now, puh-lease tell me that finally meets your criteria!” “Oh, I really hope it does,” replied Shy… while looking straight ahead into the wall; she was still a bit too nervous to so much as peek at what she was wearing. Rarity grunted as she shuffled a mirror in front of her customer. “Have a look and see, why don’t you!?” Fluttershy ducked down and closed her eyes. Rarity plopped on the floor, sobbing. “Please, Fluttershy! I’m begging you! Look in the mirror and tell me! I’ll just die if you don’t!” She wailed and cried as any diva would: loudly and melodramatically. Spike, though, seemed to approve wholeheartedly. “Go ahead, Fluttershy!” he encouraged with a smile on his face, adjusting the mirror so she could see. “I think you’ll like it!” The pegasus slowly looked up at the mirror. Her eyes just met the crown of her head… She ducked and clenched her eyes again with a nervous squeak. “Come on, Fluttershy! Just look at it!” She took a deep breath and steeled herself. She slowly stood up, her eyes still shut. Once she was on her feet again, she turned her head away from the mirror. Then she opened the one eye that was closest to the mirror… And saw she was wearing a white space-age spandex leotard with long front sleeves and a long neck cover; green trim lined all the deliberately-designed seams, from her neck down to her flank; a pair of knee-length teal boots on her back legs and hoofless ankle boots on her front hooves; a teal utility belt, same colour as her boots, wrapped around her waist. Fluttershy turned to face the mirror… and smiled. Rarity stopped crying for one moment, diluted makeup still running down her face. “I think…” she started carefully. “I think… I like it.” Rarity gasped in delight as more tears spilled over. “Oh, that’s wonderful!!” she squealed. “What did I tell ya, huh?” beamed Spike. “Perfect fit, isn’t it? Now we just need a name…” Rarity took a slight gasp. “Oh, yes! That we do!” “Okay, Fluttershy!” said Spike with a sly grin. “Are you ready?” “Ummm…” she whimpered. “I… hope so…” The little drake gently rubbed her on the cheek. “It’s alright, Shy. No need to get all worked up. We just need a name that will suit you, and you alone, just like your costume.” “Oh, I know!” cried Rarity. “How about Lady Monarch! You know, like the Monarch butterfly!” Spike glared hard at Rarity while Fluttershy bit her bottom lip nervously. “Or, perhaps… the Fabulous Ultimare!!!” “Rarity!” cried Spike. “Ooh! Ooh! I know just the perfect name: the Winged Wonder!!” “Rarity!!” “Or even…! “RA-RI-TYYYY!!!” The unicorn huffed in utter anguish and fury. “What?!!” she screamed back. Spike slowly waved his hands up and down as he replied. “Let’s just let Fluttershy decide on a name for herself, alright? You played your part – and you played it very well, too – but this is Fluttershy’s turn, okay?” Rarity pouted and curled up next the fitting dais. “So be it! I know when I’m not needed anymore…!” “Rarity, please!! Would you just stop doing that?!” barked Spike. To Fluttershy, he said, “Now then, deep breaths…” The pegasus sucked in a very deep breath… and held for a moment. “That means you also have to breathe out,” he chided. She huffed it back out. “Okay. Just relax,” he instructed soothingly. “Just relax.” She slowly committed herself to a more and more relaxed breathing exercise until she started feeling as relaxed as could be. “Okay, now just close your eyes, and picture the name that the people will be calling you.” Fluttershy closed her eyes tightly… and focused on what her alter ego would be called. “Umm… something… powerful…” she whispered. Spike replied. “Okay. Something powerful…” “Powerful… powerful… the… powerf-lll…” she started mumbling. “Powerfully…” “Powerfully…? Okay, not a bad start.” “Power… flying… Power flying…” Suddenly, she opened her eyes. “Powerfly!” she blurted out loud. “Powerfly!” replied Spike with an approving nod. “Powerfly! Yeah, that sounds pretty cool!” “Powerfly,” mused Rarity as she tested it out on her tongue. “Powerfly. Powerfly. Hmm, that is quite a fabulous name! Powerfly!” “Powerfly!” said Fluttershy again. “From this day forward, I shall be called ‘Powerfly’!” “Wait a moment!” cried Rarity. “Wait just one moment, please! I’m sorry, darlings, but I have to say it: that name is still lacking something!” Spike rolled his eyes and growled, while Fluttershy glared in utter exasperation. “What I mean is, it mustn’t stand all alone! It needs a more proper title. For instance: Lady Powerfly!” Fluttershy nodded. “Actually, you have a point.” Spike sighed. “Okay, fine! She has a point, but still…!” “Actually, I think I will be called… Captain Powerfly!” she cried with uncharacteristic force and drama, as she struck a superheroic pose. “‘Captain’ Powerfly?!” blurted a rather dumbfounded Rarity. “But…! But…! Spike laughed aloud with sheer excitement. “Now we’re talkin’!” “Captain Powerfly!” cried the pegasus again, her voice now strong and boisterous. “Defender of innocents everywhere, champion of all that is good, destroyer of all that is evil!” She turned back to Rarity, and – once again her meek and shy self – said, “Thank you so much, Rarity! I couldn’t have done this without you!” “Well, we couldn’t at any rate,” offered Spike. “Oh, well, you’re most welcome, darlings,” she replied with a small grin. Returning to her heroic persona, "Captain Powerfly" turned to Spike and said, “Come, my faithful ward! Evil is afoot, and we must trample it down in its wake!” Spike hopped up on the pegasus’ back, and she trotted heroically out the door of the shop. Rarity escorted her out past the door. "Powerfly" turned and said to Rarity, “Good day to you, citizen. And remember: stand free and harmonious!” Her voice almost echoed across the neighbourhood as she howled, “WINGS TO THE SKY!!!” And off she bolted, creating a huge gust of wind that almost knocked Rarity off balance, her ward howling on her back in sheer excitement. “Oh, my,” said the unicorn in wonder. “Such fortitude I have never seen from our meek little Fluttershy. Still…” she pondered with a bit of a pout. “I maintain Lady Powerfly to be more fitting.” Author's Note "Stand free and harmonious". I think I can small Gouda or Havarti. (LOL!) But, hang in there bronies and pegasisters! The comic is coming up next chapter! (Comments are welcome.)
Chapter 3: Making a Story“And now for the final splash page, Captain Powerfly!” said Spike as he held the paneller – a magical frame device used to capture stills of the subject and their backgrounds – up in front of him. Fluttershy obligingly struck a heroic, contemplative pose from atop a faux-building rooftop. “The city is safe from the clutches of evil… for now,” she boldly proclaimed (according to the script.) “But when it strikes again, it shall find itself opposing Ponygon City’s new champion and protector: Captain Powerfly!!” “Aww! Too perfect, Shy!” cried Spike. Back in her own meek persona, she added, “Oh, but we really shouldn’t forget the… um… her new catchphrase. I mean, if you don’t mind…” Spike froze as he contemplated that factor. “Oh, yeeee-eahhh. I knew I forgot something! Hold on!” He transferred the image on the paneller plate to the magic paper. Then he resized the frame and held it up. “Okay, Captain! Big finish! Here we go!” She jumped up, and with one mighty flap of her wings, blasted off into the sky, yelling, “WINGS TO THE SKY!!” And it was all captured right on the plate, action lines, catchphrase, and the whole shebang. And when it was all done, Spike added with his pen, “The end… for now…!” He gently laid his comic template down and carefully flipped the pages from cover to cover. Each time he flipped a page, he ecstatically squealed with unbridled glee as he studied the story he personally developed with his subject. Nearby, the resident draconequus and spirit of chaos, Discord, chuckled. Though he played the part of the villain rather nicely, he still had just as much fun helping put the comic together. Fluttershy touched back down to terra firma as she slid off her mask. “Are we done now, Spike?” she queried wearily as she lowered herself on her belly and placed her head on the ground. “I’m just so tired!” As soon as he finished, tears of uninhibited joy flowed down his face. “It’s perfect!” he squeaked. “It’s just… too… perfect!! You gotta at least read it, Shy!! You just gotta!!” “Could I at least rest right now, Spike?” moaned the pegasus. “I am really too tired right now.” “Yeah, let her rest, Spike,” said Discord. “I’ve been looking forward to reading it myself.” Spike dried his joyful tears and settled back down. “Uh… yeah, you bet. Not a problem,” he said sympathetically. “Yeah, you have been giving ‘er all day, haven’t you, Shy?” The only response coming from Fluttershy was a light, barely audible snore. “That would probably mean ‘Yes’,” said Discord as he placed a blanket over her. “Now let’s see that comic of yours, old pal-of-mine!” He picked up the comic, sat right next to his best pony friend, and studied the pages cover to cover. “Oh, ho hooo! Fan-tab-ulous, dear boy! Oh, just look at that villain, Dr. Miksen Matsch; so dastardly and wicked!” he observed evilly. “I know, right!” said Spike. “Hey, good job on that, by the way!” He gave him a thumbs up. “Happy to serve, my boy.” Then in a more heroic tone, he continued, “Ah, and here comes our dear champion of all that is good and just: Ponygon City’s own Captain Powerfly!” ******* This was the story in the comic: It introduces the evil Dr. Miksen Matsch, a villain horrendously disfigured as a result of a lab accident involving a mutated lab rat, a vat of volatile chemicals, and a bad batch of cookies. (The reader was advised in a footnote that they “really did not need – or even want – to know the rest of the details.”) Late one night, two young lovers are out for a stroll in one of Ponygon City’s numerous public parks after watching a rom-com movie. Suddenly, they are knocked unconscious by a strange beam of light. A mysterious figure in the shadows speaks in digital monotone, “Subjects acquired.” Another voice via radio orders the being to bring them in; they will make “an ideal fit for the rest of the puzzle.” (Whatever the puzzle is was not mentioned. Spike was a tad… shy on details.) Unbeknownst to the shadowy figure, yet another figure in the shadows is watching. “At last!” it thinks. “I catch your lackeys in the act! I’ll just follow along and find you out, Dr. Miksen Matsch!” Several time-lapse frames later, the reader finally gets their first glimpse of the titular hero, clad in her heroic outfit. “Watch out, vile fiend!” she says. “Captain Powerfly is hot on your trail!” True to form, she is very hot on his trail. And using her super-speed and super-agility, she is able to keep up to the villain’s henchpony in jig time… without being spotted. According to the caption, she is “as a magic arrow, able to negotiate tight twists and turns with tremendous speed and unimaginable accuracy!” Two pages later, Captain Powerfly is led towards an old abandoned HayFlakes factory. (“So the fiend hides out in a factory where my favourite yearlinghood cereal was once manufactured,” she notes sadly.) She quickly darts towards a skylight window, the only source of light in the whole facility. There, she sees the evil scientist himself, laughing at the potential fate of his victims. He spends the next page detailing the reason they’re all here. He’d been watching them all and studying their DNA (How he got it was another detail Spike forgot to mention.) He does mention he needs the DNA to enhance his own personal powers and to create an army of super ponies who will all do his bidding. After he’s done gloating, he reaches out to one mare with glasses. “Let’s start with this one. You look like a perfect choice for book smarts, my dear.” Powerfly can no longer take it! She smashes her way in, shouting, “Actually, Matcsh, that is a BAD choice!” Dr. Matsch whips around to face the intruder, a look of horror on his face. “Who are YOU?!” he queries. “You don’t remember??” The next two pages detail that she was one his “more… interesting experiments.” She too was kidnapped when she was younger and experimented on by the scientist himself. “But thanks to my new super agility, I got away! Now I’m back to shut you down… for good!!” He sics his robots – armed to the teeth with lasers and hoof-blades - on her; but despite being fast and strong, they are outmatched and outflanked by the super-agile heroine. Most wind up destroying each other. Then out comes the huge, ugly mutant. (Spike and Discord had to draw this one out; it still resulted in a frightful semi-abomination.) However, this one is much more of a physical match for Powerfly. But this one is rather dumb, as one would expect. Still, the match gets to a bit of a stalemate… and Dr. Miksen Matsch returns to what he was about to do. Just as things seem hopeless, a deus ex machina of sorts shows up in the form of several boxes of Honey HayFlakes that are revealed in a sealed box recently broken open. Powerfly gets the idea to open one the boxes and spills it into the mutant’s mouth. The mutant stops fighting long enough to taste the “Yummy crunchies” he now has in his mouth. “You want more?” offers Powerfly. “YAH!! MORE!!” cries the mutant with joy, shaking the room with his bouncing. This gets Dr. Matsch’s attention just as he is unstrapping the mare. “Open wide!” she spills another box into its mouth. The mutant jumps for joy, his giggly dialogue reading: “UH HUH-HUH! UH-HUH-HUH! UH-HUH-HUH!!” “What are you doing, you brainless dolt!” demands the scientist. “What’s the meaning of this?!” If the mutant wants more, Powerfly makes a deal: make sure the scientist is immobilized while she brings in the police. The mutant hesitates, but Powerfly asks him if the scientist was ever nice to it. Turning back with a hateful glare at the evil scientist, it’s clear he was not. The mutant thumps him on the head, knocking him unconscious. Powerfly flies off to bring the police to the old factory, and the mutant frees the mare, who then helps him free the other ponies. The police arrive to capture Dr. Miksen Matsch and the mutant. But Powerfly begs the authorities to let the mutant go free; after all, the poor thing just needs to be loved and cared for. One scene later, she is offered a place in the supergroup, A.R.M.O.U.R. She says she will, but only on the condition they offer a place for her new friend, “Bobby” the mutant. (He was only referred to by Dr. Matsch as “that big blobby thing”, but a newer, better name was needed in short order.) After some deliberation, it is decided they will accept Bobby as one of their own, as long as he leaves some HayFlakes for the others. In the next scene, she makes her heroic declaration from atop the building, overseeing the cityscape: “The city is safe from the clutches of evil… for now! But if it ever strikes again, it shall find itself opposing Ponygon City’s new champion and protector: Captain Powerfly!!” She leaps up into the sky, yelling her new catchphrase: “WINGS TO THE SKY!!” The end… for now… ******* “Well done, Spike!” gushed Discord. “Simply amazing!” He placed the comic back in Spike’s paws. “Now, then, I do believe Mr. Liveryfield awaits your entry. Best not keep him waiting.” Spike raced off to the castle to collect the necessary requirements for the postal service. Fluttershy snuggled deeper into Discord’s side. “As for you, our little hero,” said Discord to Fluttershy. “We’d best get you to bed for a little rest.” With that, he collected the tired pegasus in his arms and took her back home. ******* The next few days saw Spike waiting very eagerly by the mailbox, bouncing up and down with absolute glee for hours – if not almost days – on end. In fact, he went so far as to drag his bassinet next to it… just in case it came in while he slept. As for Princess Twilight, sure it would have been nice to have the little drake inside more often, helping out with some of the daily chores. On the other hoof, maybe it was better having him out of her mane for the next little while. Besides, keeping herself busy was actually quite relaxing… despite the extra royal responsibilities on the side. Every morning after the mail was sent away was practically the same routine: Twilight would walk out to the mailbox and collect her mail from Spike (which was quite a lot, being royalty, so she had to acquire the largest mailbox in town.) “So?” she would ask Spike as he handed her the mail. “Anything for you yet?” Spike had nothing else in his paws, so that pretty much answered the question. “Not for me. Not yet!” He was still quite hopeful, nonetheless, so he remained put. “Well, you should come back inside one of these times. I kinda miss you inside,” she finally said on the fourth day. By around the eighth day, though, Spike finally answered with a dejected sigh, “Yeah, maybe I should.” He packed his bassinet as he continued, “If I had won, the prize would’ve been here by now.” “Um… you think?” she chided. He sighed heavily again. “Oh, well. Guess it’s time to get the castle in order, huh?” “Yes! That would be most appreciated, my good drake,” she replied as she looked over the bundle of mail. As the dejected little dragon carried his basket up the stairs, Twilight took notice of a rather bulky envelope. And it was addressed specifically to Spike the Dragon. “Hold on a minute, Spike!” she called. “How did you miss this envelope?” Spike froze. “Which one?” She looked it over and studied the return address. It was from Catalyst Comic Studios, the very same studio whose flagship comic was, in fact, the Power Ponies. Twilight quickly placed all the rest of the mail on the nearby table. “Omigosh! Spike!” she cried in shock. “How did you actually miss this one?!” “Why?” he asked, rather befuddled, as he approached her. “Read the return address, ya shmuck!” she chided with an excited grin and giggle, as she passed the envelope over to him. He took it in his paws and read it. He gasped. “No way!” He jumped up and down and screamed with excitement. “NO WAY!!” He sliced open the fold and gleefully dumped the contents on the floor. “Ooh! Careful! Careful!” Spike tried to catch his breath. “Yeah! Yeah!” He carefully picked up the bag containing the now officially published first edition of Captain Powerfly, (The Top Prize Edition). “Omigosh!” he squealed as joyful tears dripped down his face. “You want me to read the note, Spike?” queried Twilight. “Mm-hm, mm-hm, mm-hm!!” he replied, too excited to say much else. She cleared her throat and read it to him. Dear Spike, How’s it going, Faithful Comrade? I hope everything is all cool on your end of things. Well, I’m about to make your day! A panel of five judges (myself included) have read and reviewed your creation… and we all thought it was awesome! We all decided, after lengthy deliberation and hundreds of other tough decisions, it was deserving of the Grand Prize. Inside this envelope is your own personal copy of the Top Prize Edition of Captain Powerfly. But that’s not all…! The Grand Prize winner also gets a special amulet to transform into their chosen superhero. You read that right, Faithful Comrade! Your subject can officially transform – powers and the whole nine yards – into their chosen superhero! How cool is that? But it gets even better! As you probably know by now, we’re holding a comic-con in Canterlot this upcoming weekend, and I’ll personally be there to present the prize to your hero. Enclosed are tickets and back-stage passes for you and three other guests. Make sure you’re all there at Stage 4 by 1:00 pm, this very Saturday! Where were those tickets? Spike frantically searched the envelope, then… oh, there they were, under the comic. He huffed out in relief. Twilight continued: We’re looking forward to meeting you guys! I think it will be so cool! Sincerely, Rob Liveryfield President, Catalyst Studios, Inc. P.S. And in case you’re wondering, my personal booth is in aisle C, no. 25. Stop by and say hi when you guys get a chance! I really wanna meet you guys! Spike squealed again as he shook with glee. “Oh, joy!” he squeaked. “This is the happiest day of my whole life!!” “Well, that’s in a couple days, so you might want to hurry over and let Fluttershy and Discord know,” said Twilight. “By the way, any idea who the fourth pony will be?” Spike grinned at Twilight. “I sure do,” he said slyly. “How about you?” Twilight glared at him. “How about ‘I am very busy this weekend’?” This was going to be a challenge. Author's Note There you go, everypony! Meet Captain Powerfly, Ponygon City's newest champion and defender! (Sawwy, no pink bunny mask, k16. Hope u like anyways!) (Everypony else, don't be shy! By all means, please leave comments!)
Chapter 4: Meet the HeroThat Friday, Spike and his fellow guests all got cozy in Twilight’s personal room at the palace. The following Saturday, Spike, Fluttershy, Discord, and Twilight all wandered in wonder around the many sights and sounds of the convention at the Grande Gala Hall. Not so much Twilight; she was still rather grumpy from Spike’s little dirty dealings to convince her to come with them (of which the less spoken, the better). Fluttershy, despite her general dislike for huge crowds, gazed in wonder at the many works of art as they passed by. In fact, she even spent a few bits on some random merchandise. Discord just simply ambled along amongst the crowd, getting a few stares here and there… some curious, and some downright hateful. Interestingly enough, one green stallion actually asked to have his picture taken with the draconequus. “Yeah, that was cool how you and the others took down Tirek, dude!” he admonished with a chuckle. “Playing the… ‘traitor’ of the group, just to get near Big Bad himself, huh? Genius, dude! Pure genius!” “Oh!” stammered Discord. “Why… thank you! I thought it was a brilliant… plan, myself. Don’t you agree, Princess?” Twilight cringed in disbelief. “Hmm. Yes. A… brilliant plan. Very brilliant.” “Oh, yes!” admonished Fluttershy (albeit rather slyly). “And nopony else was the wiser.” She nuzzled up to Discord as she added, “And to think he was once such an awful beast! Isn’t he wonderful?” Discord blushed and grinned uneasily. “Yes, to think…” No sense ruining it with the real truth… and everypony present - who was there at the battle - knew it. “Oh, wow!” said the excited young stallion upon recognizing the others. “Oh, Your Highness!” he cried as he bowed low before Twilight. “And… um, Fluttershy, right? Yeah… and the little dragon, too! What was your name, little buddy?” “Spike.” “Spike! Right on! Can I take a picture of the whole group of us? Please? Please, please, please?!” He pleaded with huge puppy-dog eyes. Discord, Fluttershy, and Spike gathered around the fancolt… then gazed expectantly towards Twilight. Twilight sighed and gathered with the rest of them; no sense making her own kingdom look like a bunch of miserable nags. Another nearby pony took the snapshot as the green colt said, “Say, ‘barley’!!” “BARLEEEEEEE-EEEY!” The fancolt raced back to his buddy to take a look at the pic. “Oh, wow!” he cried in sheer joy (typical of a fancolt). “Oh, wow! OH, WOW OH WOW OH WOW! Omigoshthisisthebestever! This is the best day of my life!” He hugged the mares, and shook paws with Spike (and hugged him) and Discord. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!! My friends are gonna be so jealous!! I got to meet actual, local heroes!” Then he turned back to the group and said, “It was so awesome to meet you guys!” He raced off to find more treasures, whooping-up with joy along the way at his current treasure. Discord chuckled. “My, oh my. Fancolts…!” He continued chuckling. “Oh, well. Let’s go find Mr. Liveryfield, shall we? Which booth was it again, Spike?” The drake looked back down at his letter. “C-25. It’s this way.” They reached C-25, where a crowd of ponies gathered for the autograph of its resident artist: Rob Liveryfield himself He was a somewhat gruff-looking unicorn with a bright chestnut coat, and brown brush-cut mane, tail, and trimmed goatee, and fiercely piercing blue eyes. His cutie mark was a comic book with a ballpoint pen scribbling on it. He had the look of a stallion who had seen both glorious highs and horrible lows in the course of his career. Still here he was, a stallion right in his element, doing up sketches, making artwork for his faithful fans, and – as was a proud tradition amongst famous ponies – signing his million-bit autograph on his finished works. “There you are, little dude!” he said to a young fancolt as he passed him a finished work of art. “You take real good care of that, okay!” “Thank you, Mr. Liveryfield!” squealed the colt. “My friends are gonna be totally jealous!” The unicorn chuckled as he mirthfully shook his head. “Alright! Cool!” Clearly, working with absolute geeks was just another day at the office. He turned back to the crowd. “Okay! Who’s up next?” Nopony else was really eager to step forward. “Maybe when ya got more artwork, bro.” Mind you, it was still around 10:45 in the morning, and that was still his first work of art of the day. “Oh, okay. Sure. Anypony got anything else they want me to sign, though?” “I might have something,” said Spike. Rob looked up his fan. “Oh, yeah? Oh, hey! A baby dragon, huh? Don’t see you dudes around very often. Can you breathe fire?” Spike awkwardly scratched the back of his neck as he answered awkwardly, “Well, yeah, but my flame can only send messages to and from Princess Celestia,” he waved dismissively. “But that’s it.” “Well, don’t sell yourself short, here, dude! I heard of a clan of dragons called the ‘Hundredflame’, and there’s a good reason for the name, too.” “Really?” asked Spike. “Oh, yeah!” He leaned closer to the young drake. “I heard they can spew about a hundred different types of flames. Think about it. You might be one. Hey, what’s your name, by the way?” “Spike.” Liveryfield took a closer look. “You’re Spike? Like the creator of Captain Powerfly? That Spike? Cool! You did make it!” He looked over at the rest of the group, recognized and waved at Fluttershy and Discord. “And that must be Captain Powerfly’s alter ego herself! Pretty cute in real life.” He mumbled the last statement more to himself. Fluttershy lived up to her name once again. “Umm… hello…” she mumbled very quietly. “And then, Dr. Miksen Matsch. Cool work on that… uh…” Then the unicorn’s demeanour changed to rather grim. “You’re… that Discord guy, aren’t you?” “In the flesh, my good stallion!” he announced with flair. “Yeah. Turning ‘traitor’ and all that, just to get next to ol’ Whatsisface, the big, bad ugly red and black dude. Just an act, I’m told. Right?” “Well, of course it was,” whined Discord, looking rather hurt. “But, mind you, it did look very real, now didn’t it, my dear princess?” Twilight nodded grimly. “Oh, don’t mind her,” he said to Liveryfield. “She’s… just not a big fan of these sorts of conventions.” “Eh, not everypony’s cup o’ joe,” he said as he stood up and stepped toward them. “But anyways…” He bowed to the princess. “Nice to meet you all, especially some real royalty.” “Um… thank you, Mr. Liveryfield,” replied Twilight with a slight flush in her face. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, too.” Rob chuckled. “Not used to the job yet, huh?” Twilight sighed and grimaced. “No!” He stepped towards Fluttershy, who was already shyly shrinking away at his approach. “And… Fluttershy, right?” She nodded very shyly, with a tiny little whimper, and a deep, crimson flush across her face. He chuckled. “Well, I hope you’ll be at the stage to take your prize, at least.” She blanched and froze right in place. “S-stage…?” “You betcha, Mr. Liveryfield!” said Spike. “Oh, yeah; you can just call me Rob, dude.” “Yeah! You bet, Rob!” He turned to Fluttershy… who by now was lying on the floor, hyperventilating into a paper bag, surrounded by her friends, and other rather concerned comic-con attendants and guests. Tears were flowing rampant from her eyes. “It’s okay, Fluttershy!” Discord assured her. “You’ll be just fine!” “Remember when you almost went onstage singing back-up bass for McIntosh?” reminded Twilight. “And you did just fine! Baby steps, remember? Baby steps.” Fluttershy got back on her feet again and took a deep breath. “You can do this, Fluttershy!” said Spike. “Yeah!” offered Rob. “All you gotta is take the prize. You don’t have to do much talking… I mean, if you don’t wanna, y’know.” He placed a reassuring hoof on her shoulder. “Don’t worry. Just be cool. It’ll be alright.” “Th-thank you, Mr. Liveryfield,” she said quietly. “Just call me Rob, babe. Just Rob.” ******* “Okay, ladies an’ gentstallions!” said Liveryfield in his mic on stage 4. “Let’s give it up for the… uh, drake of the hour: Spike the dragon, all the way from Ponyville, creator, writer and artist of the grand-prize winning entry, Captain Powerfly! Yeah, c’mon up here, Spike!” Everypony howled and applauded as the proud drake strutted eagerly across the stage, waving to his adoring fans. “Alright, alright! And, let’s also give it up for the villain of the hour, the one and only, Discord, lord of all chaos! Also known in the comic as the evil Dr. Miksen Matsch!” The draconequus slowly and deliberately strutted across the stage, smiling and waving to his… not-so-fans, who were quite slow at applauding, naturally. “Don’t worry, guys. He’s cool, now,” assured Liveryfield. “And last, but definitely not least, let’s give it up for the mare of the hour: Fluttershy! Also known as… Captain Powerfly!” Fluttershy cringed and closed her eyes as she stood just out in backstage. Don’t cry! Don’t cry! She thought to herself. It will all be okay! You can have a good cry back in Twilight’s room! Just don’t cry… at least not now! She slowly ambled out onstage as everypony watched her with excitement. Just being onstage was terrifying enough; but being watched by the crowd was utterly unbearable and nerve-wracking. But… looking at the crowd, she noticed they had looks of awe in their eyes. She even heard a little filly whisper how beautiful she looked. That lifted her spirits just enough to smile back at the crowd and wave as they howled and applauded at her arrival for almost two whole minutes. “Hello, everypony,” she said to them. “Okay… I think that’s everypony. Right?” He looked around at the onstage group. “Yeah? Okay, cool! Ladies and gentstallions: the talent behind the grand prize winning entry to the Make Your Own Comic Contest, Captain Powerfly! Let’s give ‘em a round of applause, guys!” And so the audience gave them one more round of applause. Rob took his mic to Spike. “How you feelin’, Spike?” he asked the drake. Spike almost burst, tears of joy forming in his eyes again. “Best! Day! Of my life, Rob!” “Aw, yeah! Always is, ain’t it, bro?” He took the mic to Discord. “How about you, Discord?” “Well… I can only say… I’m just really, really honoured to have been part of a project of this magnitude, Rob.” A very lukewarm applause… “And Fluttershy! How you feeling? You excited?” She quivered as she bit her lip, but she still managed a slight nod and whimper. “Umm… y-yes…” “Yeah!” he nodded back to the audience. “Yeah, I’d probably be speechless, too. Alright, let’s get to the real deal, here!” He walked towards the table and picked up a white treasure box. “Alright, in this box here… is your grand prize.” He opened it, and showed the audience. It was a silvery medallion on a brass chain. In the middle of the medal was a green gemstone. “Fluttershy… aka, Captain Powerfly! It is my honour and pleasure to grant you, as the hero of the comic, the prize for your winning entry: the medallion of Captain Powerfly! Hey, Spike… or Discord. Wanna put it on her?” Spike stepped forward, carefully removed the medallion by its chain, and wrapped it neatly around Fluttershy’s neck. After several moments of waiting for… something to happen, Spike finally asked Rob, “So, now what?” Rob pulled out a little notecard from the box. “You gotta say this phrase. Some of my best writers figured it might be appropriate.” Fluttershy took the card in her hoof and read, “From deepest earth to highest sky, shall come the might of Powerfly.” Suddenly, a mighty energy flowed through her body, causing her to dance wildly in midair as her wings jerked her upwards. She glowed brightly as the medallion caused a powerful metamorphosis. When it was over, standing in Fluttershy’s place was no longer a mere wallflower of a pony… but a much mightier creature, clad in a space-age spandex leotard with long front sleeves, trimmed with green stripes along its patterned seams. She had a green utility belt, knee-high rear boots, and hoofless front ankle boots. A lengthy green cape was draped between her wings for good measure. A green mask wrapped around her head, open only to her mane, eyes, ears and muzzle. But Fluttershy was a very changed pony: her coat and mane colours were somewhat richer and her teal eyes had a much more empowered appearance to them. She looked up at Spike, Discord and Rob, back towards Twilight, and down at the audience. One would have thought Princess Celestia herself was standing right there… because everpony watching was staring in absolute awe at the being before them, whispers of shock and admiration among them all. Rob smiled and nodded as he finally spoke into his microphone. “People. I give you… Captain Powerfly!” Once again, the audience erupted into a cacophony of howls and cheers. A new superhero was born right before their eyes. The Legend of Captain Powerfly was born. Author's Note There you go! That's how I envision Mr. L. to look in ponified form, a pony also in his element with the comics (with the exception of his magical comic-making technique in ponyverse.) (So, Mr. L, if you happen upon this fanfic, or even hear about this... hope you're not too ticked about this! I'm just not sure how to get a hold of you, that's all...)
Chapter 5: Ponyville's Newest ProtectorThe train ride home was rather exhausting… especially for poor Fluttershy, who was still recovering from the shock of being out on stage… live! She was so shocked, in fact, that she was still in the very same wide & glassy eyed, semi-catatonic state as she was in the previous night. Her eyes started developing larger and larger veins from the dreadful lack of sleep. Discord, Twilight, and Spike all decided, regardless, just to leave her be for the moment; during the previous night, they had tried everything they could think of to get her out of her semi-catatonia… without any hint of success… and without hurting her in any way. Discord was the only one who kept trying – he was the spirit of chaos, after all, so he had an eternal cornucopia of tricks in his proverbial grab-bag. They made it back to Ponyville well into the afternoon. Spike and Twilight went home to her castle, while Discord carried Fluttershy back to her cottage on the edge of the forest… still tickling her nose to make her sneeze (didn’t happen!) Once inside Fluttershy’s cottage, Discord caught sight of Angel Bunny. “Oh, what luck!” cried the draconequus. “Could you give me a bit of a… paw with Fluttershy? She… uh… well, let’s just say she got a real taste of life onstage.” He explained the scene, as Angel just nodded. The bunny grinned, wordlessly indicating he had one trick in mind. Something rather… fiendish, from the look on his face. Discord loudly cleared his throat and glared at the bunny. “I’m not so sure I particularly like what you have in mind, Mr. Bunny.” Clearly, the draconequus had changed his lease on life dramatically: while he was a spirit of chaos, he was anything but evil anymore. In fact, he was only partly evil when he first met Twilight Sparkle’s group of friends. Most of the evil stemmed from his abject bitterness from being isolated away from the rest of society all those years before he was turned into the local spirit of chaos and disharmony. Once Fluttershy showed him the true meaning of kindness and friendship, then he changed. In fact, his heart grew fonder of the gentle saffron pegasus day by day. Like all other ponies who knew her, he made absolute sure to always treat her preciously. Like all other ponies, it hurt him to see her cry. And that was why he was very suspicious of Angel’s actions at that moment. As for Angel, he just waved his paw as if to say: “Relax! I know what I’m doing!” He stepped up on the nearby open windowsill and let out a shrill whistle. A robin plunked right next to the bunny. “Reggie?!” cried Discord. “Is that you again?!” Fluttershy suddenly bolted upright. “Reggie?!” The bunny-bird duo gazed at each other, rather stunned and baffled. Obviously, Angel’s plan wasn’t necessary after all… Except, another plan was needed in very short order. Fluttershy was now headed towards them. “What did you do this time, Mister?!” she demanded of Reggie. The bird and bunny nodded. No sense bothering with a plan; the bird just bolted out the window. “Ooh!! That… that crazy bird!! I have to catch up to him and make good and sure he’s not hurt!!” Then she lamented, “Oh, but I’ll never catch him; he’s much too fast.” Then she remembered the medallion still around her neck. “Umm… Shy…!” stammered Discord. “How did that phrase go…?” “Let’s not get hasty, now! I can assure you that he’s…!” “From deepest earth to highest sky, comes the might of Powerfly!!” she hollered… rather mightily, one might add. In one mighty flash of light, the mighty being re-emerged in full heroic regalia. “Now, then…” said Captain Powerfly. “One of nature’s most fragile creatures must be taken care of, post haste!” She bounded out the window, and with the mightiest of voices, hollered her catchphrase, “WINGS TO THE SKY!!” And with a mighty flap of her wings, she was off and away… after the “hapless” robin. Miles away from the cottage, Reggie continued beating as hasty a retreat as he could possibly muster… flying even harder once he heard the catchphrase screamed out loud. He dared a quick peek behind him at least once or twice… Sure enough, there was the mighty pegasus bearing down on him. Okay! That’s it! he thought. I am never playing tricks on that crazy pegasus ever again!! If I ever get through this, I am moving to a new state! He tore off straight into Ponyville, dodging and weaving around houses and kiosks, nooks and belfries, statues and café tabletops… with Captain Powerfly remaining hot on his trail. Even more impressive - while Reggie was a tiny bird that could easily weave through very tiny spaces, and Captain Powerfly an average sized pegasus mare who couldn’t - not so much as one teacup or saucer was even remotely disturbed. Indeed, she was forced to dodge and weave around the general municipal landscape to keep up to him… but she did so with the precision and finesse of a superior grade arrow. Just like in the comic, such was the capability of the mighty superhero… …Who had the bird firmly between her front hooves once she caught up to him in the town square, right between the fountain and the town hall. “Hold fast, creature of the forest!” she ordered. “Let me examine you first to ensure you aren’t so much as scratched.” The bird sighed and yielded, throwing his wings in the air in submissive disdain. I might as well, he thought. I am done with this craziness! After several minutes thoroughly examining him, Captain Powerfly gently lifted him up and said, “Thank you for your cooperation, creature of the forest. Fly free, and remember: safety first, always!” Then she noticed the crowd gathering around her. They all had varied looks of very keen interest, varying between amazement, curiosity, shock… some even a little nervous. Whatever the case, this new superhero had everypony – repeat everypony’s – attention. The Fluttershy inside really wanted to run and hide from all the staring eyes now upon her… Captain Powerfly, on the other hoof, stood as steadfast as she could before the crowd, gauging their responses, anticipating upcoming possible scenarios… typical superhero thoughts. She stood a bit taller, cleared her throat, and announced to the crowd, “Have no fear, citizens of Ponyville! Your fair community is now under the protection of… Captain Powerfly!!!” She struck a heroic aerial pose for emphasis. Discord had arrived on the scene with Angel in tow… just in time to witness the posturing. He sighed as he shook his head, a claw scratching his muzzle thoughtfully. “I have a… particularly uneasy feeling about this,” he said to the bunny, who nodded in agreement. “You too, huh?” He paused in deep thought for several moments before he assessed, “I have a hunch the others won’t be quite so… fond of this whole thing.” Angel nodded glumly. He knew exactly where Discord was coming from. ******* The Ponyville residents, naturally, saw it the other way, especially after the numerous feats of heroism Captain Powerfly performed. Oddly enough – one could even say ironically enough – the rest of the Mane 6 saw it the same way, more or less. (Not so much Rainbow Dash, who saw her thunder being stolen… but still.) ******* One day, a house caught on fire, the result of a stovetop fire. A baby was trapped on the upper floor. Firefighters just could not reach up to the poor, helpless infant; one of them was injured and needed an evac himself. And the window was just above a raging flame, so a ladder was no use. Luckily, Fluttershy happened to see the smoke pouring out in the distance, so she decided to quickly have a peek. She got within yards of the burning house… and heard the poor baby crying. Into a back alley she ducked. “From deepest earth to highest sky, comes the might of Powerfly!” ******* “Is there any way to get up to the second floor and reach that kid?” queried the captain desperately. “Any way at all?!” A mighty voice echoed throughout the streets, “Wings to the sky!!” Along came Captain Powerfly to assess the scene. Everypony cheered. Their heroine had arrived to save the day. She hovered above the crowd, surveying each and every one of them… finally catching sight of a mare with a large cloth bag. “Citizen, I am in need of your bag,” she said to her.” “Oh, go right ahead! Please!” she replied excitedly. To another mare with a neckerchief, she asked, “And may I borrow your scarf as well?” “By all means!” Powerfly zipped over towards the nearby fountain and soaked the bag and scarf in water. She wrapped the wet scarf around her mouth and hooked the bag in her front hoof… and charged right into the open window. Inside, it was nightmarishly hot and smoky. Fire was just starting to seep in through slowly widening floor cracks. The baby was writhing, coughing and screaming in her crib in dire panic. Powerfly hovered over the crib and slowly reached for the terrified little foal… …Just as the floor underneath collapsed right under one of the crib’s legs, causing it to tilt in one corner, catching fire right where it fell in. Foal filly in hoof, Powerfly carefully slid her into the wet bag and made her way out the window… just in time for the floor and the crib to collapse into the main floor. A huge draught of flame blew out the window just behind them, catapulting them several yards over and across the street… just about into the window of another house. Catching her breath, Powerfly removed the scarf from around her mouth and comforted the little foal, assuring her she was alright. She slowly floated down and hoofed her off to her poor, unnerved mother. “Oh, thank you! Thank you so much!” cried the tearful mother as she grabbed her baby out of the bag. The crew captain sighed in relief. “Well, I guess all that’s left to do is get the flames out and get our injured ponies looked after.” “Alright! Make it happen, people!” barked the chief. He approached the superheroine. “And, job well done, Captain… Powerfly. Right?” “Correct, Chief. Your crew should find their work now much simpler.” “Thanks to you!” She modestly nodded back to him. “Just doing my duty, Chief. Just as you do yours.” Once again, she braced herself for a mighty lift-off, yelling, “WINGS TO THE SKY!!” With one mighty flap of her wings, she catapulted herself skyward. ******* The next day, Fluttershy brought in a little package from the gadgets store. “And what do you have there with you, my dear?” queried Discord. “It’s my newest tool for my crime-fighting crusade!” she replied excitedly as she ripped open the box. It was a radio scanner for listening to emergency bulletins. “Oh, how… how nice. That should help greatly in your crime-fighting campaign.” The pegasus squealed in delight. “Oh, I know!” she squeaked as she turned the device on and started fine-tuning it. “Now if there’s another emergency, Captain Powerfly will be there on the triple!” Discord nodded. “Hmm, very nice, my dear. Very nice.” Fluttershy caught on to his rather indifferent demeanour. “Is something wrong, Discord?” The draconequus grimaced for a moment as he sought an appropriate answer. “Well… I’ve been wondering something,” he finally said. “Don’t you think you’ve been getting a bit… over the top with this new superhero persona of yours?” Fluttershy grimly gazed at her friend. “What do you mean by that… if you don’t mind me asking?” She finished her question rather… harshly. Discord sighed heavily. “What I’m saying is…?” “Is…?” She left that hanging precariously… very precariously. Discord began sweating bullets. Fluttershy – normally so sweet and gentle to a fault – was suddenly subjecting him to an inquisition. Suddenly, the scanner squawked loudly, “All units, be advised, we have a 459-Sierra at the Town Hall. Possible 10-31.” “10-4, Dispatch. Charlie two-five, en route.” Fluttershy ran outside. Discord just stood at the door, sighing. “Charlie oh-eight. Two-five, you need backup?” “From deepest earth to highest sky…” “10-23, oh-eight. I’ll let you know.” “…Comes the might of Powerfly!” Captain Powerfly emerged, ready for active duty once more. Turning to Discord, she staunchly declared, “Ponyville needs my help once again, Discord. We will discuss this further upon my return. WINGS TO THE SKY!!” And off she flew towards the town hall. Discord nodded glumly. “I expect the discussion will be quite interesting.” Author's Note I bet it will be interesting. Very interesting. There you go, gang! Captain Powerfly herself in ponysona! Tell me what you think! Comments are welcome! But like I said, why would Angel and Discord start becoming alienated? Find out next chapter...
Chapter 6: A Bit Further Than You Need To...“…And don’t you forget it, Mister!!!” screamed Fluttershy after she read Discord the riot act. “Hmph! Don’t worry, my dear; I won’t!” he huffed as he beelined out the door. “Umm…! Where are you going?” she queried as she began cooling her jets. “If you don’t mind me asking?” Again, she tagged the last question rather grimly. Discord sighed as he woefully looked back at his friend. “I think… I need a bit a break from all this.” “What do you mean, ‘a bit of a break’?” Discord turned back with a grim gaze of his own. “Exactly that!” he intoned heatedly. “A bit of a break!” Fluttershy’s heart started sinking under his gaze; her hooves started growing cold and her stomach started getting a bit heavy. “Did I… did I do something wrong?” she whimpered meekly. Her meek, timid self started showing through in spades. Discord closed his eyes and thought very deeply. “Well… yes and no. Look, I understand how you really like being a superhero and all that… but…” “So are you saying I should stop being a superhero and just be a little wimpy wallflower again?” she replied sadly. “Is that what you want?” “Never mind what I want, right now. What I’m asking is this: Do you want to live vicariously through somepony else… or yourself…?” Fluttershy whimpered and grunted in frustration. She kept her gaze away from Discord as she replied, “All I ever was, was just a little weakling! A nopony!” “WHAT?!” sputtered the draconequus in shock as he flew into her field of vision. “A nopony?! How can you possibly say that?!” He fell flat on his back, his hands over his head and his face distorted in shocked, demented disbelief. “How can you even THINK that?!!” He stood back up and gazed in her eyes again. “You! One of the Mane Six, holder of an Element of Harmony – Kindness, to be precise!” Fluttershy tried to retort… but couldn’t. Discord pressed on: “You dealt with an injured manticore; boldly stared down a dragon and a cockatrice; negotiated with a heavy negotiator; saved both a royal couple and the Crystal Empire from unspeakably powerful foes; and – as a crowning achievement of sorts – you, a so-called mere ‘wallflower of a pony’, made me that kinder and gentler spirit of chaos that I am today… AFTER – I might also add – you defeated me with your powerful magic of friendship!” He lowered his glare down to Fluttershy’s eye level. “And you’re going to stand there and – gallingly – tell me that you, of all ponies, are a meek, wimpy, weak nopony?” Fluttershy pursed her lips, her misty eyes averted to the floor, her bottom lip starting to tremble. Discord plunked his jaw on the floor, his snake-like body bowed in the air like a bent hose. “Oh, how I would laugh at such a laughable joke,” he grumbled. “If only I didn’t feel instead like throwing up.” Fluttershy turned her back to him again. “Well… I’m so sorry if I can’t make you understand,” she replied with a strained voice, again fighting her tears. Discord slowly stepped towards the door. “No. No, you can’t make me understand all this. And do you know why?” he asked as he stopped on the other side of the door. He waited for Fluttershy to turn and look at him… even though she didn’t. “Well I’ll tell you. It’s because you’re the one who doesn’t understand.” Just then, the scanner crackled, “All units, we have a 10-91-Alpha around the vicinity of Sugarcube Corner, possible Code-Purple.” “And if you do continue this charade, well… I’m sorry, but… I won’t be here when you get back.” “10-4, Dispatch. Charlie Oh-Eight en-route.” Fluttershy just glared back at him. “Charlie Six-Two, almost 10-97. I’ll scout the 20 for you.” Discord waited for an answer. “From deepest earth to highest sky,” she stated defiantly. “Comes the might of Powerfly!” Captain Powerfly once again stood tall, daring him to make his next move. “Charlie Two-Five. If it’s what or who I think it is, you’ll need help. Lots of it!” Discord turned on his heel, wheeled suitcase suddenly in tow. “Well, then... I leave you to think about what you’re doing. Goodbye, my dear.” And off he went into the distance, not even so much as taking a glance backwards. “Angel Bunny?” he heard Captain Powerfly cry in surprise. “You as well?!” He only stopped to glance at his suitcase… where Angel sat, a grim, miserable demeanour in his eyes and a bindle stick over his shoulder. He very firmly pointed forward as if to say, “Go! Now!” Off they went, still not looking back. They heard Captain Powerfly snort loudly. “So be it!” she roared hotly. “Good day to you both!!” And off she flew towards Sugarcube Corner to save the day… a bit too peeved to remember her catchphrase. ******* Discord dejectedly took another sip of his tea in Twilight’s castle tea room, his face laying pathetically flaccid and flat on the table. “So-ooo, Discord,” said Twilight after fifteen minutes of waiting for the draconequus to mull over his woes. “Care to talk about your problems with Fluttershy yet?” “Or are you trying to turn yourself into a permanent fixture in the room?” queried Spike sarcastically. “Well…” he finally began. “You’ve seen it all, haven’t you?” “I’m guessing it all boils down to Captain Powerfly, am I right?” “Yes! Yes you are!” he replied as he raised his head. “Captain Powerfly is where it all begins and ends. With insecurity, self-loathing, feelings of inadequacy, and an inferiority complex bigger than the moon sandwiched in between; add a cold glass of delicious gratification to help wash it all down. And the next day, repeat the process all over again.” He plunked his head back down on the table again. “Now I ask you, what could be more pitiful?” “Now, Discord!” said Twilight with a dismissive smile. “I’m sure Fluttershy just needs a little something for her… self-confidence.” Her denial shone through like a flaming beacon. “Oh? Did she need to tear a strip off of you for daring to remind her to be careful? I’m willing to bet she didn’t.” Twilight jerked her head toward Discord. “Tear a strip off…? What do you mean?” Discord hung his head backwards over his chair. “Oh, if you had heard the riot act she read me earlier this afternoon…! Oh, my word!” He related the story from the beginning. Angel pointed at Discord, nodding vigorously, wordlessly telling Twilight she might want to listen to him. “Oh, wow!” muttered Spike. “Somehow, I think this was my fault.” Twilight stood up and sighed, finding it hard to believe that Fluttershy would be so harsh. She slowly stepped towards the draconequus and placed a gentle hoof on his shoulder. “Did you want me to have a talk with her, perhaps?” “I’d like to come along, too,” said Spike. He took her hoof in both paws. “Oh, could you? Please? Maybe if she talked to somepony who she trusts more…!” ******* Back at the cottage, Twilight, with Spike in tow, knocked on her friend’s door. “Fluttershy? Are you home?” No answer. Twilight knocked again. “Fluttershy! It’s me, Twilight! Please open the door!” “Is she even home?” asked Spike. A sudden gust of wind unexpectedly answered that question. Twilight and Spike whirled around to come face-to-face with a rather harried-looking Captain Powerfly. “Oh, Your Majesty! And Spike as well!” said the superheroine as diplomatically as she could in such a hurry. She bowed before the princess. “How may I be of service this day?” “Um… hello, Fluttershy. I was wondering if we could…” “I’m sorry, Princess!” Powerfly replied in a slight panic. “Who might this… er… ‘Fluttershy’ be… that you speak of…?” She trailed off, knowing full well Twilight was not going to buy it. She sighed. “I’m sorry. You… wanted to speak to me, I gather.” Twilight and Spike nodded rather solemnly. “Yes.” “Did Discord set you up for this?” she asked rather heatedly. “Well, he told me the story.” “And…?” “Look, Fluttershy, whatever’s going on, I’m sure there are better ways to deal with it than… well, hiding behind a mask… right?” Captain Powerfly gazed cold and hard into Twilight’s eyes. “So I take it you also feel I should be that weak and powerless nopony, am I right?!” “No!” hollered Twilight in a regal, commanding voice as she thumped the ground with her front hoof. “You are wrong! We do not ask you to just be weak and powerless!” Captain Powerfly was taken very much aback at this, suddenly not having a clue what to do or say next. Twilight heaved a sigh and continued. “We want nothing – but nothing more - than for you to just be yourself!” She stepped closer and held her friend by the shoulders. “Look at me, Fluttershy!” Captain Powerfly looked up into Twilight’s eyes. “You might not know it, but there’s really nothing weak about you at all.” “In fact,” said Spike. “You, yourself, are a lot stronger where it most counts!” He placed a paw over his heart. “Especially right here.” “Just like Discord was saying,” said Twilight. “It’s your kind-heartedness that makes you strong.” “So, please…” begged Spike as he gingerly held her by the arm. “Just be that Fluttershy that everypony loves so dearly. Please?” Powerfly closed her eyes, as a tear fell down her mask. Her amulet glowed, the light spread across her body, and her costume disappeared. Fluttershy’s face drooped in sorrow and she dropped to her belly. She grabbed Spike and hugged him tightly, sobbing heavily. “I’m… (hic) sorry…!” she cried. “I... I j-just wanted t-to…(hic) to be s-somepony every… (hic)… every…pony liked!” She sobbed even more. Spike and Twilight both hugged her back. “It’s okay, Fluttershy,” Twilight replied tenderly. “Everypony gets that awful feeling now and again.” “You know what else, Shy?” Fluttershy tearfully looked up at Spike, still sniffling, but now otherwise done crying, waiting for him to continue. “Everypony’s just going to have to like you for who you are, aren’t they?” “Absolutely!” added Twilight. “Yes!” said Shy as she wiped her tears. “You’re absolutely right! I only have to be myself and nopony else!” She hugged Twilight again. “I’m so sorry. I really only wanted to feel stronger, that’s all.” “Actually…” uttered Spike awkwardly. “I think I’m the one who’s gotta shoulder the cross on this one.” “Oh?” asked Fluttershy. “Why’s that, Spike?” asked Twilight. “Well, I am the one who talked Fluttershy into this, right?” “It’s okay, Spike,” said Fluttershy, patting him tenderly on the shoulder. “I was the one who got carried away.” “True… but I’m also the one who made the superhero… so, let’s just say I gotta shoulder a good part of the blame and be done with that, okay?” “Okay… even though I’m to… blame…” She trailed off very quickly when she caught Spike’s withering glare. “Anyways,” continued Spike. “I have a question: how long have you been using that amulet?” Fluttershy thought back. “Oh, gosh. I think it’s been… around eight days, so far.” “Okay, but about how many hours in total, would you say?” Fluttershy thought back even harder. “Let’s see. Let’s see. Ummm…” She mentally crunched the numbers. “Almost… Twooo--…” “Ah, okay…” said Spike nonchalantly. “…--Enty…?” Spike’s jaw dropped. “Uh…! Twenty?! Really?? Total?!?” “Oh?” said Twilight, not having a clue why Spike was surprised. “Um… yes, I think so…” replied Fluttershy. “About… twenty…ish, in an approximately rounded-off total… give or take.” “Whoa! Yeeee-eahhhh, that’s pushing it a bit!” said the drake in dire amazement. “Anyways, I ask because… well, you know about the limit on your amulet, right?” That really got the alicorn and pegasus’ attention. “Limit??” replied Fluttershy in alarm. “What limit?” Spike nodded grimly, sighed very deeply. “There’s a twenty-four hour consecutive limit. After that, it’s…” He snapped his fingers. “Poof! ‘Goodbye, Captain Powerfly; we barely knew ye!’” Fluttershy huddled into her hooves, getting somewhat panicked. “Oh, no!! What have I done?!” she wailed. “I wasted twenty whole hours already!!” She sobbed into her hooves again. “Fluttershy! Relax!” said Twilight, comforting her friend as best as possible. “It’s not the end of the world!” “Yeah! I mean, yeah, be Captain Powerfly if you must! But… be sparing, okay?!” “I can’t believe I did that!” continued Fluttershy. “I just can’t believe I did that! How could I be so stupid?!” Twilight and Spike just rolled their eyes. “Oh, come on, Shy!” barked Spike. “You’re only equine, y’know!” Author's Note Oh, absolutely, she's equine, amiright? But it's not quite over. Stay tuned... (Don't forget to comment, 'kay? Thanks!)
Chapter 7: Captain Powerfly! Where are you?!Chapter 7: Captain Powerfly! Where are you?! Days later, early in the morning, Fluttershy busied herself with her daily chores, feeding all the animals in her care, singing a lovely little melody here and there. She was getting herself back to basics, back to her old life. Back to being herself… and not Captain Powerfly. And it was so liberating. She kept her amulet and her scanner in a safe spot, out of sight, out of mind. In fact, Angel kept them hidden away, just to be sure. There were only three consecutive hours left on it anyways, so it was just as well. Life was getting back to normal, as it was supposed to be. “There you go, little birdies,” she cooed sweetly to one flock. “A nice, rich, hearty blend of the finest seeds and nuts for a good breakfast. Bon apetit!” Angel and Discord kept the yard and animal houses clean. “Hey, Angel!” chided the draconequus. “I think you missed a spot over there!” As always, he couldn’t resist teasing the bunny… who physically chided back about what a slacker he was. The two boys had gotten to be good buddies over the year. ******* Unfortunately, the rest of Ponyville was a different story… …Especially after everypony got a little too cozy with their new superheroine on the job to save the day. The police and firefighters – sad to say – had become a bit lazier and slower to respond. Princess Twilight found herself a bit busier rallying her Mane 6 group to save the day. The residents started getting a bit peeved; some were starting to cause a bit of unrest at the town hall. And the mayor found herself in a bit of jam. And everypony was left asking one question: Where was their superheroine? Where was Captain Powerfly? ******* After a gruelling day of battling, the Mane 6 tumbled into the front foyer of Twilight's castle, Pinkie falling to the floor first, followed by Rarity and Fluttershy both on top of her. Rainbow and Applejack stumbled on either side of the pony pile, the former panting and wheezing. Twilight, Spike and Discord ambled in after the rest. “That…!” hollered Pinkie with sheer irritation. “Was the unfunnest moment in my entire life!” After that declaration, she lay still on the floor, staring into space, deathly – and uncharacteristically – silent. “Ugh! Of all the worst possible things to ever have happen to us…!” whined Rarity. “That was the... worst… ABSOLUTE THING!!” Once again, she fell into her melodramatic howling/weeping fit. This time, her eyes were fountains of tears with mascara. “Okay! Who wuz it, had the dumb idear of usin’ thet smooze again?!” Discord stumbled into the middle of the room, eyes baggy and dark, thoroughly exhausted. He was so exhausted, that he plunked face first onto the floor, sobbing and moaning, “Never! Ever! Again!” Twilight huffed in frustration at her sorry crew. “Would everypony just settle down?!!” she boomed in her regal voice. They did… all the while glaring venomously at her… …Because the smooze was, in fact, her idea… out of desperation. “Anyways,” she continued. “We had it all under control…” “Oh! We ‘had it under control’, alright!!” cried Discord very sarcastically. “Yes! We had it under control! We rounded up the smooze and sent it all into the ice dimension to cool off for a few minutes, so everything is good!! Is that clear, Discord?” The draconequus sighed. “As long as I can clarify for the record that I’m the Spirit of Chaos. Not the Spirit of Destruction!” “Clarified! Thank you!” “Y’know who would’ve been a great help to us?” said Rainbow. Everypony looked up at the blue pegasus with interest… especially Spike, who cringed. He had a good idea – nay, a dreadful feeling – as to whom she was referring. “Who ya thinkin’, R.D.?” Aw, please don’t say it, R.D.! thought Spike. “Captain Powerfly, that’s who!” I just said…! Oh, wait. No I didn’t… Fluttershy cringed, feeling a bit betrayed. Discord loudly cleared his throat. “I thought we had an agreement, Miss Dash.” Rainbow looked up at him. “What agreement?” “You know, the one saying not to bring up Captain You-Know-Who anymore? That agreement?” “Yeah, well nopony said she couldn’t have shown up to… you know… help us out! Right?” Fluttershy stood up next to R.D., tears forming in her eyes. Rainbow caught sight of her dismal look… and suddenly felt her own heart falling. Fluttershy let forth a light sob. “I thought you had the Element of Loyalty,” she whimpered forlornly. And with that, she trotted out the door, crying all the way home. “Hmph!” snorted Discord. “So did I, Miss Dash. So did I.” “Shouldn’t have said that, Rainbow!” snarled Spike. “Good going!” Pinkie stood up. “Did you have to be such a meanie-pants?” She ambled out the door. “Good gravy, R.D.!” said Applejack as she followed Pinkie. “That really weren’t called for!” “Yes!” added Rarity hotly as she ambled out the door behind them. “How could you be so crass to the poor dear?” Rainbow bit her bottom lip with dire shame. She gazed desperately towards Twilight, who also had a very stern look in her eyes. “Oh, boy!” she muttered. “I… I really blew it, didn’t I?” Twilight only nodded. Spike verbalized on behalf of both himself and the princess. “Boy, did you ever stick your hoof in your mouth!” He paused to let R.D. stew over her shameful behaviour. He finally continued, “Maybe you’d better go over and apologize to her.” She slowly shambled out the door, adding, “Yeah.” Spike escorted her out the door, and as soon as the doors were closed behind her, she muttered, “Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!” She slowly ambled over to Fluttershy’s cottage, wondering how she would suitably apologize to her friend. ******* But who knew what would have even happened had the Wonderbolts themselves not even so much as caught wind of the hero? For there they were, the three top officers of the regiment, dressed in their formal uniforms, waiting for the return of Fluttershy… who was still weeping heavily on her way home. Soarin looked back when he heard the sad pegasus sniffling. “Oh, good afternoon, Miss Fluttershy!” he greeted cordially; then sympathetically, he queried, “Oh… did we… catch you at a bad time?” “Oh… um… I’m sorry,” she said as she dried her eyes. “It’s… um… been a rather trying day. You… um… you know… how it is.” “Oh, hey, no problem! We understand fully!” said Spitfire. “You being an Element of Harmony and all that. But anyways,” she added with a sly wink. “We have a proposal to offer you.” “Or – we should say – a certain superheroine that is on hiatus.” No! Fluttershy cried out in her mind. Not this again! Please! It was a real shame she could not so much as say, “No, thank you!”, let alone add, “Now if there is nothing else, please leave!” Instead, she just listened, slightly stunned with utter frustration. “In other words,” continued Spitfire. “We’re offering an honourary position on our Wonderbolts team for Captain Powerfly.” She pulled out a box. “We even went so far as to visit Catalyst Studios’ costume tailors...” She opened the box. “… To have them make this.” Fluttershy pulled the package out of the box. It was a Wonderbolts uniform. But this one was custom-tailored to the same design as Powerfly’s own outfit. “So?” queried Soarin. “What do you think?” Fluttershy couldn’t quite answer… or really even hear. The shock of the whole scenario left her in a trance. “Excuse me a moment,” she said blankly as she entered her cottage. The visitors all waited with restrained excitement. “Ooh, this will put us all back on the map in a big way!” said Fleetfoot with glee. Just then, Rainbow Dash arrived at the cottage. “Oh, hey guys! What’s happening?” “Hello, Cadet Rainbow Dash!” said Spitfire half-formally, mostly amicably. “How are you doing today?” “Doing well, Ma’am,” R.D. replied with a salute. “Oh, no need to salute, kiddo!” replied Spitfire with a chuckle. “So what’re you guys up to today?” Then she looked around. “Hey, you didn’t see Fluttershy around did you?” “Yep! She’s just inside, getting herself changed.” R.D. suddenly had a very uneasy feeling. “Changed…??” “We brought her a new uniform for her alter ego,” said Soarin as he kept watch on the cottage door for Fluttershy to step out… as… “Wait! You mean Captain Powerfly?!?!” cried R.D. in horror, her jaw now on the ground. “Oh, no!! I came to apologize for mentioning her!!” All of the Wonderbolts suddenly gazed at R.D., ultimately shocked by her horrified reaction. “What…??” they all cried in unison. Before R.D. could say another word, the familiar catchphrase echoed overhead… “WINGS TO THE SKY!!” “No! No! Noo!!” cried R.D. mournfully. “What have I done?! What have I DONE?!!” “Calm down, Cadet!” commanded Spitfire. “Captain!” said R.D., a bit defiantly. “With all due respect, this is not for Fluttershy’s own good, as you’re probably thinking! Please trust me on this; it’s not!!” Captain Powerfly – whose uniform colours were changed over to Wonderbolt colours – settled down next to R.D. “Greetings once again, Cadet Dash!” she greeted boisterously. R.D. just gazed balefully into the superheroine’s eyes. “Is something wrong, Cadet?” “Very!” said R.D. “I was a complete jerk to you, and I came to apologize to you for it – and I am sorry I was a jerk, by they way! But, seriously! Please don’t do this, Fluttershy!” She plunked down into a begging stance. “You don’t need to do this! You just don’t!” Spitfire very loudly cleared her throat. “Cadet…!!” she barked. Captain Powerfly reassuring raised a hoof towards Spitfire. “It’s alright, Captain.” She turned to R.D. and said. “It is true that you did act rather spiteful, Cadet. But I can assure you, everything is alright.” She placed a reassuring hoof on her friend’s shoulder. “There’s nothing to worry about.” Then R.D. remembered one important detail. “…Except for the three-hour time limit on your amulet. Remember?” The Wonderbolts did a mild double take as they pinned their gaze to Powerfly, who just scratched the back of her head rather awkwardly. “True, there is that,” she replied with a slight chuckle. “But… I’ll be as sparing as possible.” “Hmm, not a bad idea,” mused Spitfire uneasily. “At least until we’re able to get your amulet refilled – provided we can get it refilled. But we’ll worry about that later!” She lined up the group into formation. “Let’s get ourselves back to HQ! Care to be my personal wingmare, Captain Powerfly?” “I’d be honoured, Captain Spitfire!” Into formation she went. “WINGS TO THE SKY!” she hollered mightily. With a mighty blast of their wings, they all took off in perfect unison. …Leaving Rainbow Dash… now in tears. “I blew it,” she whimpered dejectedly. “Sweet Celestia, I totally blew it.” She plunked down onto her face and cried in the grass. “Stupid! Stupid! Stupi-hi-hi-iiid!” Angel, who had been watching from the sidelines, bounded up next to R.D. and patted her on the shoulder. Now what was she going to tell Twilight? Author's Note "Aw!! Here we go again!!" Right? But remember, there is a three hour limit to the amulet, so we'll see...
Chapter 8: No refills! No Refunds! And NO MEANS NO!!The next day, back at Wonderbolt HQ, Spitfire readied her own personal squadron of flyers for the early morning drills… with a newer – albeit ad hoc – addition to the team. While Fluttershy was used to very early mornings, she was not really used the hardcore demeanour of the group. Still, there was a very good reason for her impromptu signup: Captain Powerfly… who she still had yet to transform into. “Okay, Shy!” barked Spitfire hotly. “Anytime Powerfly wants to show up, five minutes ago woulda been great!!” Fluttershy trembled and squeaked, “Y-yes… ma’am…” She took a deep breath and uttered, “From deepest earth to highest sky, comes the might of Powerfly!” Captain Powerfly re-emerged. “Ready for duty, Captain Spitfire!” “Alright, team! Let’s go through the basic warm-ups!” ******* But it didn’t take long for trouble to happen. Spitfire noticed that Captain Powerfly was significantly losing a great deal of her edge… among other things. “Whoa!” she called to her team. “Powerfly! Front and centre! The rest of you, carry on with your drills!!” Captain Powerfly stepped front and centre in front of Spitfire. “What’s goin’ on, hero?!” she inquired sharply. “You’re losing your game!” The hero suddenly shrunk in size, back to Fluttershy (still in costume) for several moments, then back into mighty Powerfly. A look of horror zipped across her face. “Oh, no!” “‘Oh, no’ what, kid?” Back to Fluttershy. “I think…” Then back to Powerfly. “I think my amulet…” Back to Fluttershy. “…is running out of power!” Spitfire grimaced and facehoofed herself. “Oh, sweet Celestia! Not now!” She sighed heavily and sharply as she glanced around the scenery. Back at Fluttershy, she continued, “Alright! Take the rest of the day off; go hang out downtown or whatever. Meet me back at the front entrance at no later than 1300.” Looking at Shy’s confused look, she semi-patronizingly added, “That means 1:00! You got that, scrub?” Powerfly looked back up at her and replied, “Yes, ma’am. I will be here at 1:00 sharp.” And with that, Fluttershy de-energized her amulet, and shamefully shuffled off the training field. ******* The next day, they both made it down to Manehattan, to the Catalyst Studios head office. Spitfire had the sense to make an appointment with Rob Liveryfield, so that made things a bit smoother. “Thank you for coming to see us, Mr. Liveryfield,” said Spitfire. “Yeah, sure! No prob, Cap’n. C’mon in, you guys.” As he escorted them into a nearby room, he asked Fluttershy, “So how’d the amulet work out? Good times?” “Um… yes. There’s something about that, though…” she replied, trying not to be as awkward as she was. “What’s that?” he asked as he closed the door for privacy. “Umm… well…” started Fluttershy. “I’ll cut to the chase, Mr. Liveryfield,” said Spitfire. “The Wonderbolts need Captain Powerfly back, and we need her amulet refilled, ASAP.” Liveryfield shook his head brusquely. “What?! Refilled?!” “Correct, sir,” replied Spitfire. Liveryfield shook his head again, this time in disbelief. “Uh-uh. Sorry. Not happenin’,” he said firmly. “Last time we did that, we regretted it, big time! Strict policies say no refills for anypony. Period!” “But… but…!” started Fluttershy. “Hey, read the fine print, honey!” barked Liveryfield. “You get one chance, and that’s it! Shoulda made the most of it, right? Shouldn’t have abused it, y’know? You know how it is when you get superpowers!” Fluttershy hung her head and started sobbing. “No! Sorry! That’s it! As far as Captain Powerfly is concerned, she’s just a figment of imagination now, as she’s gotta be! Alright?” The room stayed silent, save for the occasional sobs and sniffles from Fluttershy. Spitfire just scowled and rolled her eyes. Liveryfield grimaced again. “Okay, I guess we’re done here. I got lotsa things to do, so if you’ll excuse me…” He opened the door, and turned at the threshold. To Fluttershy, he said, “Y’know, Shy, it’s better off being yourself. Someday down the road, you’ll thank me for not letting you make a big mistake.” And then he went back to work. “Whatever…” grumbled Spitfire. “C’mon, kid. I’ll take you home.” Down at the lobby, someone was waiting for them. Fluttershy sniffled and recognized him. “S-Spike…?! And… Rainbow Dash? Umm, what are you doing here?” Spike gazed at her rather harshly. “Let’s just say I had a hunch you would be coming here.” Rainbow, still looking ashamed of herself, said nothing. “So…” continued Spike. “Did you… get what you wanted?” Fluttershy burst into tears again, and shook her head. She fell into Rainbow’s outstretched arms. Rainbow glared at Spitfire as she gently stroked her weeping friend’s back. “So… Cadet,” said Spitfire as nonchalantly as she could. “Will you and Spike be taking her home?” “Yes, Captain,” said Rainbow rather grimly. “We will.” ******* They all decided to take a stroll downtown just to get some fresh air, and bit of ice cream to lift up Fluttershy’s spirits, Rainbow’s treat. “Feeling a bit better, babe?” asked R.D. “I am, thank you,” replied Shy. She sighed. “I guess I needed a good cry. It’s not easy being yourself after being somepony else much stronger.” “Now, Shy,” chided Spike. “Remember what I said. Right?” They continued strolling down street, sharing a few laughs and giggles… …When they came across a rather harried scene. Police surrounded a small highrise, and everypony was looking up at something… …Or somepony… who appeared ready to jump off from a long way up. Spike and his pony companions all heard a police negotiator calling through a megaphone, “Mr. Meadows! We’ve all had some trying days from time to time, man! But please reconsider what you’re doing, okay! At least think about what your wife was telling you!” They all looked up at the roof. Mr. Meadows was still standing on the edge. “It’s really not the end of the world, Mr. Meadows!” called the negotiator. “So… please… just come on down… let’s talk about this, okay? What do you say, buddy? Please?” Mr. Meadows still did not move. A distraught-looking civilian mare got behind the megaphone. “Please, baby!! Don’t jump!!” she cried, her voice strained and shaky. “Please come down!!” She cried for a moment. “Please!! Come back to me!!” She could no longer continue; she fell to her belly, weeping mightily. Many others gathered around to comfort her. R.D. looked at the other two. “We gotta do something!” Spike glanced back between the two. “Okay! But what?!” Fluttershy suddenly hit upon an idea. “I think I have an idea, but we must time it right!” She gathered the other two closer to explain her impromptu plan. ******* Up top, Mr. Meadows, a thin, red milktoast of a unicorn with light sandy hair and set of horn-rimmed spectacles, struggled between ending his misery the quick and dirty way, or having to face more possible struggles down the road just to put his troubles aside. Either way, his eyes were baggy and red from hours of endless weeping. He kept to the edge, sobbing lightly, so tired and miserable from endless torture at the office and in his personal life. But down there was his wife, begging him to come back down to her, come back home with her. Oh, what to do? What to do?? In the distance, he heard a voice calling out, “Mr. Meadows? Mr. Meadows?” He slowly turned to see the source of that voice. There stood Captain Powerfly, in Wonderbolt colours, atop the roof access shed. “Who are you?!” he hollered. “And what do you want with me?!” The pegasus slowly drifted off the shed and stepped toward him. “I only want to talk to you, sir,” she said calmly. “Is it okay if we talked?” He held up a hoof and yelled back, “Just stay back!! I swear, I will jump!” She stopped and gazed back sympathetically. “Could you tell me why you would want to jump, Mr. Meadows?” she asked. “Please?” “You wouldn’t know!” he barked as he looked back over the building. “You wouldn’t even understand!” “Probably not… unless you got your painful story off your chest. I mean, what do you have to lose by telling me your story?” He glared back at her. “You really want to know, huh!” Powerfly nodded gently. “If you wouldn’t mind telling me…” “Okay! I’ll tell you! I had it all! I had a promising career, well on my way to the top, living my ultimate dream! Sure there’s a lot of good perks and good pay! I got myself a nice big home for my family! Life is good, right?” “That does sound like a dreamy life,” she replied with a warm smile. “But, you know how I had to get all of that?! You have any idea how I had to get where I am… or… was?!!” “Ooh… I think I see where this story is going. But, please… go on…” “I had to kiss up to the ‘right’ sort of people, y’know, the ‘in’ crowd! Consisting mostly of jerks and high-and-mighty types! Not my type of ponies!! I’m supposed to be principled and fair! But I wasn’t! I did things I probably should have been arrested for… or… something!” Powerfly nodded. “And you know what? I was caught at something! I fabricated stories to the wrong pony in upper management… and somepony caught me! They blackmailed me into doing more crooked things! But we all got caught doing those; but guess who got the worst of it!” She nodded very slowly, very knowingly. She nodded towards him. “Yeah! Me!! Now I have no job! Everypony in the business knows what I did and I can’t get another job! I got no more money, and I’m about to lose my home! So now tell me what’s left for me, huh?!” “Your wife and family, for one thing. That’s something… isn’t it, Mr. Meadows?” “Okay, I’ll give you that! My family! Yeah! But who’s gonna provide for them? I got no job, remember?” Powerfly nodded. “Huh? Right? Yeah!” “Is it possible you can take a fresh start? I know it’s a difficult thing to think about, Mr. Meadows… but I’m pretty sure maybe a fresh start is what you need.” She sat down and tilted her head in a tender gesture. “Don’t you…?” Mr. Meadows looked back down over the edge, deep in thought. “How big of a house do you need, Mr. Meadows? How much money do you truly need to make? And… was that particular business – um… whatever it was you did – was it what you really wanted to do to begin with?” He turned his gaze back to Powerfly. “Come to think of it… I think I just wanted to make some good money, you know?” She smiled a bit. “So it probably wasn’t… was it?” He hung his head. “No,” he replied tiredly. “It really wasn’t.” She very gently stood up and stepped towards him… very carefully gauging his next reaction; preparing to stop dead in her tracks if he stepped back to the edge… but ready to grab him if he did jump. Slowly, slowly… very slowly, she stepped towards him… …Just enough that she was able to gently place a tender hoof on his shoulder. “Would you willing to make that fresh start… my friend?” He lifted his head, taking a rather defensive stance. “I’ll share a little secret with you if you’re willing to.” “You have a secret, huh?” The amulet around her neck glowed; where Powerfly stood was now a smaller, gentler little saffron pegasus mare with a lighter pink mane. “I, too, lived a bit of a lie,” she said in her regular, softer voice. “My real name is Fluttershy. And… well, my friend and I entered this… silly little comic contest.” She giggled. “So I created this new persona called Captain Powerfly, which won the grand prize: an amulet that grants you the hero’s abilities.” She pointed to the amulet still around her neck. Mr. Meadows grinned and nodded. “Neat!” “Oh, yes! I thought so, too. But,” she continued rather grimly. “Since I’m a very, very shy pony, I thought being Captain Powerfly would give me lots of confidence in everything… but… well, it never really did… and… well…” She sighed forlornly. “Since then, everypony else has been a bit too reliant on my hero…” She looked at him sadly, tears forming in her eyes. “Especially me.” Mr. Meadows nodded. “I see,” was all he could think about saying. “But, well…” she said with a tiny smile. “My amulet is almost dried up and that’s that.” She watched the amulet dangle around her neck. “Just be myself. Just be true to myself.” She looked back up at the unicorn. “What do you think, Mr. Meadows?” She asked as she put her arm around him. He slowly leaned into her, readily accepting her evident offer for a hug. “Thank you, Miss Fluttershy,” he said, very relieved, though very drained. “Thank you… so much.” “Think nothing of it, my friend,” she replied tenderly. “I only serve as the Element of Kindness, after all.” “Wait!” he said in surprise. “Did you say ‘Element of Kindness’?” “Yes. Why?” “How many are there that hold the Element of Kindness? Because… well, there is somepony that I know of around here holds the Element of Kindness along with the rest of her group of six ponies. Where are you from, anyways?” “I’m from Ponyville.” “Oh, I see! Yes! You must be the newer group of ponies representing the Elements of Harmony!” He studied Fluttershy’s confused look. “Only you’re the ones from Ponyville. The ones I know of are from here in Manehattan… uh-oh! Wait a minute! You don’t know, do you?” “You know what, Mr. Meadows? I think I have heard of other groups representing the Elements of Harmony. I’ve even heard Princess Cadence is forming her own group in the Crystal Empire.” As they continued talking, a blue pegasus, carrying another unicorn and a baby dragon, came up to join them. “Is it safe, now, Cap… er… Fluttershy?” “Ah, yes!” Fluttershy glanced back at Mr. Meadows. “Er… is it alright, Mr. Meadows?” He immediately recognized his tearful wife, who Rainbow released and allowed to race over and grab her husband, sobbing, “Oh, baby! Thank Celestia!” Mr. Meadows embraced his wife. “It’s alright, now, sweetheart,” he spoke gently. “It’s going to be okay, now. We’ll sell off the house, get a smaller one. I’ll even get a much more different job…” “I don’t care!” she cried. “I don’t care what! As long as you’re still here with me and the kids! I don’t care!” “I know, baby. I know. It’s not gonna be the end of the world after all.” Rainbow nodded approvingly. Spike beamed, grinning from ear-to-ear. “And all it took to save this stallion,” he said to Fluttershy as he clapped a paw over her shoulder. “Was your own inner strength.” She beamed proudly. Yes; yes it was her inner strength that saved the day.
Chapter 9: Important Lessons and True HeroesDear Princess Celestia, I learned a truly valuable lesson about just being yourself and counting on your own deepest inner strengths. As you know, I am a very shy and gentle sort of pony… but I really mistook that as being a weak, wimpy nopony. Yet, I had no idea how truly low my self-esteem was until I entered a contest to create my own hero – or I should say, our own hero (Spike created the comic) – and won the grand prize: an amulet that transformed me into my hero, Captain Powerfly. And what a magnificent superhero she was! She had the amazing ability to fly with pinpoint accuracy and lightning-fast manoeuvrability… more so than any other pegasus that I know of! (Even Rainbow Dash! I guess that's why she might have been jealous, but I guess I can't blame her either...) But that was really not me! Captain Powerfly was not who I truly was! I learned the hard way when my amulet died out (As I’m writing this, I’m still wearing the costume that was left over when it finally did. I admit that I still yearn to be Captain Powerfly!) But I also learned in a more valuable way when I saved somepony from ending his own life… using my own abilities: just being a good, kind friend with a good ear and a shoulder to cry on… if need be. And, sometimes, that’s what everypony really needs when times get tough, isn’t it? Your Faithful Disciple Bearer of the Element of Kindness Fluttershy “Done?” asked Spike as he waited for the Shy to finish. She read and re-read her letter to the princess. “Let me just see…” Rainbow Dash, who was silently sitting next to her, read it as it was being written. Spike shoved his nose into the letter and read it for himself. “You know what, Shy? It’s perfect! The princess will love it…!” “Oh, I don’t know…” she whimpered, still very uncertain. “Fluttershy…!” said Spike very firmly. “Trust me! It’s done!” She sighed. “Okay. If you say so… it’s just that…” Spike very loudly cleared his throat and beckoned her to give him her letter. Rainbow gently wrapped her arm around her friend. “I think it’s a very beautiful letter, Shy.” Fluttershy very slowly and reluctantly rolled up the parchment and hoofed it over to Spike. “Thank you!” he said with a grin on his face. He took a deep breath, and lit the parchment with his special flame. Shy heaved a deep sigh… in mournful, yet very liberated relief. She watched the scenery roll by as their train continued on from Manehattan to Ponyville. Yes, Captain Powerfly was gone, never to return. And after all that rigmarole her very presence caused, it was clearly the way it was meant to be. Obviously, Mr. Liveryfield knew exactly what he was talking about. But then again, being in the comics industry for as long as he was, it was pretty much granted he would know. Everypony was rather exhausted from the final adventure. For the remainder of the trip, the two pegasi huddled together and fell asleep. ******* Days later, everything returned back to normal around Ponyville. Fluttershy was once again attending to her normal duties, taking care of her animals. “There you go, little birdies,” she cooed to the flock around the feeders. “A nice, hearty blend for a complete breakfast. Bon apetit!” Discord and Angel were once again busy keeping the place clean and tidy. “Hey, Angel!” teased the draconequus. “You missed a spot!” Angel once again gestured what a slacker Discord was. Good buddies jiving each other, as usual. Reggie the robin stopped by, causing a bit of mayhem as usual… naturally not learning any lessons… and knowing that Captain Powerfly was gone for good. Except, this time, Fluttershy wasn’t near as prone to reacting with as much terror to his antics; her tolerance threshold had recently multiplied at least a hundredfold. “Still being a little stinker, huh, Reg?” queried another voice from somewhere not far away. Fluttershy finally caught Reggie’s line of sight… and gave him her infamous glare. Naturally, he settled down. “Yes, he is being a big stinker!” she said. Spike just arrived with an envelope in tow. “Good morning, Shy! Discord; Angel! How’re things so far?” “Good morning, Spike!” she replied sweetly. “I’m very good, thank you for asking!” “Likewise!” replied Discord. Angel also replied with a thumbs-up. “Right on! This came in the mail for you, care of Princess Twilight.” He showed her the envelope from Catalyst Studios, Inc. “I think Mr. Liveryfield wanted to say a few things he couldn’t find the time to say yet.” “Oh, thank you, Spike!” She took the envelope, opened it, and found a letter with the company’s letterhead inside. In roughly penned writing, it read: Dear Fluttershy, I would’ve sent you a typed up letter, but I figured it would’ve been more meaningful by pen. I heard about your little adventure about a dozen blocks from our office, and (yah, I’ll admit it) I thought, “Oh, yeah; Captain Powerfly. Yay. (sarcasm)” But then I got wind of the real story. I heard it was actually you yourself who saved some poor dude from suicide! Then I was like, “Cool!! (4 real!)” So I thought I would write you a letter just to say how cool I thought you really were doing all that with only your own REAL inner powers! And not with something made-up! So, until next time, stay Faithful, Comrade! Peace! Rob Liveryfield President & Comic Creator Catalyst Comics Studios, Inc. Tears of elation and pride formed in Fluttershy’s eyes. After so many years of insecurity, she finally felt all was just right with the world, and she was able to hold her head even higher than before. She squeaked in delight as she hugged the letter. “Somepony thinks I’m cool!” she whispered excitedly. “Oh-hoooo!” said Discord with sheer elation. “And why wouldn’t they, after the incredible way you helped Mr. Meadows?” Angel nodded vigorously. “It’s like I said, Shy,” said Spike. “You did it just being yourself.” Fluttershy wiped her tears away. “I should write him back, one of these times, to thank him for the wonderful compliment.” The group started sharing some small talk and chuckles for two minutes. “And, POOF! If you see me, it’s too late!!” hollered another voice from out of nowhere. Then in another spot in the trees, she cried, “Is she here?” Another spot near the stream: “Is she there?” Then on top of one of the cottage’s branches. “She could be anywhere!! It’s…!” Suddenly, the branch snapped very loudly. The occupant screamed as she hit the ground… hard and painfully. Then, she moaned, “It’s Any-Mare… er, I mean… Anywhere-Mare. Augh! I gotta do more seriously serious work on that schtick!!” It was Pinkie Pie, dressed in a white, long-necked leotard with a red and orange flame design flowing down from her shoulders. Her poofy hair was wrapped in a matching red cloth band and a mask around her eyes. In her possession was a flyer from Catalyst Studios’ main competition, PhenomeComics from out of Los Pegasus. A comic-con was being held in Baltimare that weekend. And a make-your-own-superhero contest was on. Spike, Fluttershy, Discord and Angel all cringed. Not this rigmarole again?! “So… um, Pinkie…?” uttered Spike. “Wha… Say what? Who? I don’t know any pony named ‘Pinkie’? Who is this ‘Pinkie’?!” she stuttered, trying to play dumb. “You!” “Whoa, not me, little dude! You’re talkin’ to the next big thing, the Anywhere-Mare!” She performed a rather amazing act of disappearing and reappearing in spectacularly unexpected places. “And POOF! You see me, it’s too late!!” Spike and the other spectators cringed again, and shook their heads. He looked again at the flyers in his paw. One of them looked just like… “Hey, Pink… er… Anywhere-Mare!” “Wazzup, li’l dude!” “Is this the entry form, here? The one that has a line for the artist to sign?” “Yeah! You wanna be the artist? Because you were the prizewinner in the last contest, right? So can you be my artist?” She pointed at Shy and Discord as she danced near them. “And you two can be my backgrounds! You would be totally the awesomest backgrounds! How about it? Could you?” Fluttershy could only lay her arm across her eyes in exasperation. Discord just glared. “Yeah!” said Spike. “Let me think abou… ah… ah… ah…!” He was suddenly about to sneeze. “Sure, think about it,” replied Pinkie… er… Anywhere-Mare. “But let me know by the end of the…” “AH-CHOOOHFF!!” Spike sneezed out a big flame. But it wasn’t his usual green courier flame. This flame was a bright gold flame with a blue wick. And the flyers and entry form immediately disintegrated into a fine, grey dust floating in the breeze. Spike sniffled and rubbed his nose. “Whoops! Excuse me,” he said, not bothering to hide his satirical demeanour. “Yeah, I did some research. I guess I do have ties to the Hundredflame Clan,” he added with a snicker. Pinkie’s jaw dropped, her eyes bugged-out in sheer horror. “Spike! You! Jerk!” she wailed as tears flowed out of her eyes. “You did that on purpose, didn’t you?! Don’t lie! I totally saw you, you… you mean meanie-pants!!” He snickered. “Yeah, I did. So what?” The pink pony plunked down on the ground and started whimpering and whining, mournfully muddling about the ashes that once were flyers and a contest entry form. “Well, there goes my chance to be really cooler than Rainbow Dash,” she moaned. As much as Fluttershy hated seeing Pinkie cry, it was for own good. It really was! “Well,” said Discord, with a slight chuckle. “I’d love to stick around and watch this bout of chaos, but…” He turned back towards the animal pens. Angel eagerly followed. “Someday, you’ll thank me for this, Pinkie,” said Spike. “Oh, really?!” she sputtered. “Thank you so much, Spike!” said Fluttershy… in rather satirical form. “Yeah, big fat thanks for ruining my big chance, Spike!” snarled Pinkie as her tears fell to the ground. Fluttershy glared harshly, straight into Pinkie’s eyes. “Trust me, Pinkie! You will thank him for this down the road!” All Pinkie could do under the powerful glare was just gulp. THE END (That’s right! Don’t even think about it, Pinkie Pie!) Author's Note And so, Fluttershy, bearer of the Element of Kindness, once again earns her stripes as "Best Pony"; not as a superhero, but as a true, genuine REAL hero! Am I right? Am I right?? Anyhoo, I hope you liked my first true fanfic to this awesome website! Gimme your comments, gimme your ratings. Tell what you loved; tell me what you hated. I wanna hear from you awesome people!! And hopefully, I'll be back with moar tales... Peace out, bronies an' pegasistahs!
Chapter 1: The ContestIt was another fine morning in Ponyville. The birds were singing many a merry tune and not a cloud stood before the rising sun. Everyone was caught up in the daily hustle and bustle of their morning routines. Breakfasts were made and eaten. School lunches were made up for hungry yearling tummies. Shops and stands were opened at varying times of the day. The library of Ponyville’s new castle was rather busy with its extended morning cleaning routine of its rows upon rows of books. The small young dragon was little more than a blur with a feather duster in each hand and a third in his mouth, as his keeper, the recently inducted princess, Twilight Sparkle frantically busied herself cataloguing new books. “Okay, now these ones go into sections ‘BAC’ to ‘BAR’,” she muttered frantically as she sorted them out into piles. “And these ones from ‘ROA’ to ‘ROM’, and these ones are to go into ‘TAE’ to ‘TAM’, and these ones from ‘EAR’ to ‘EBB’, and…!” And then she coughed violently as she caught a lungful of dust from Spike’s pass over the older books. “Spike!” she hollered between hacking fits. “Watch what you’re… (cough)… doing!” She coughed some more. “I can’t… (hack, hack)… work with all this… (cough)… dust in the air.” And then she coughed some more. Spike stopped on top of one of the bookshelves. “Oufs! Forry!” It was tough to speak with a duster in his mouth. “Sorry about that, Twilight!” Then he added with a rather ironic scowl, “Kinda too bad we don’t have a… um… vacuum cleaner anymore.” “After what you and Peewee did to it last time? No way!” “I tried to avoid him! I swear!” Then the doorbell – which Twilight decided at the last minute of construction should be a standard feature in her castle - rang. “I got it!” yelled Spike as the three feather dusters very briefly floated in the air where he stood three microseconds ago. Twilight could just barely make out the excited dragon’s form until he made it to the door. “Hmm. You must’ve been expecting something in the mail,” she deduced as he eagerly signed for a mailed package. “Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!” he yelped in anticipation as he pranced over to the table with a book-sized box. “It’s here! It’s finally here!” “What did you get, Spike?” He ripped off the tape holding the tabs closed, and slid the contents out onto the tabletop. He pulled a chair up to stand on so he could get a better look at the books. He grinned broadly and squealed with delight as he stifled an urge to burst. “So what did you get, Spike?” repeated Twilight. She lifted the book to get a closer look… then moaned, “Oh, no! You have got to be kidding!” Spike was taken aback. “Kidding?! Kidding?!! Me, kidding?!! No way, Twilight! This time, we’re gonna get it right!” “‘How to Make Your Own Magical Comics’?” “That’s right! Written by the comics-master himself, Rob Liveryfield!” “Rob Liveryfield? Yeah… I… uh, read some of his works. I can’t say I approve of his work, especially all those tacky costumes he made!” “Okay! Okay! Look! Some of those comics… well, they weren’t the greatest, I’ll admit that! I mean some of his script writers, well at least one of them was el stinko!” he conceded as he pinched his snout for two seconds. “But listen! Twilight! We are talking about the creator of the magic comic book, here! Whole new style! Whole new generation of comic-making!” This was definitely hard to argue. Liveryfield was the main artist of the Power Ponies comic… including the issue Twilight and her friends were trapped in. Not long after the series finished, it was he who actually created the new method for making comic art. Using live, costumed ponies in an empty, medium-sized room, he was able to capture the action as one would creating movies… except the action would be captured into the panels of the comic. When it was all finished, the panels would be refined and rendered, then coloured, lettered, and finished off. It proved more effective and time-saving. “Anyways, I just entered a contest, and I want to make my own comic!” He produced a brochure detailing the “Make Your Own Hero Story” contest. In it was a superhero pony flying out of a comic book. “Oh, you do, do you?” asked Twilight – feigning some degree of interest - as she continued cataloguing her new books. “What’s it called? Who’s in it?” Spike raced off to the bedroom and pulled out a script to present to the princess. “Check it out! It’s got a villain with super-awesome powers, like mental control over all these totally cool and amazing ninja-robot-dragon-beasts that shoot lasers from their eyes and fire from their swords!” “And the hero…?” asked Twilight, hoping to keep the subject as brief as possible. “Well, the hero… um… is going to… have some really cool and amazing powers! For instance… um…” Twilight let Spike stew over that for the moment. “Sounds exciting. Now if you’ll excuse me… Let’s see, these ones will go from ARR to ATM. These ones…” She carried on as if nothing else was happening. “Hey, Twilight! Wanna be the hero?!” cried Spike… causing Twilight to jump up and knock over her neat piles. Her neat little piles she had spent hours sorting out. She slowly turned her angry gaze in Spike’s direction, her teeth grinding, a terrifying scowl across her face. “Spike?” she said menacingly. A bead of cold sweat cascaded down the side of his temple as he replied very nervously, “Yes, Twilight… er… I mean, Princess?” He felt himself slowly lift into the air. “The answer,” replied Twilight. “Is… ‘NO’!” She opened the library door, then the main door, and took careful aim. “Okay!” whimpered Spike as he was tossed back and forth. He knew she was going to do something painful. “You can put me down, now! I’ll go away! I swear!” Regardless of his begging, she violently bowled him down the hall, down the stairs, pinballing him against the banisters, and right out the main door, where he finally settled on his face. “Go bug somepony else!!” she bellowed after him from the balcony. “And take this with you!” She neatly packaged his books back into the box and flung it after him… right on his noggin. “And would you stop calling me ‘Princess’ already?! It’s getting embarrassing!” She slammed the door and locked it. Spike nursed his aching head. “She was turned into an alicorn. She was crowned as princess. She got her own castle. And… she doesn’t wanna be called ‘Princess’?” He stewed over that for the next several moments. “Odd. Ah, well.” Off he went to Rarity’s house. ******* At Carousel Boutique, Spike skidded several metres out the door from his severe, excruciating, backside-first exit out the door. “Ow! Ow! Ow!” he grumbled as he slowly stood, nursing his tender backside. “You could’ve just said ‘No’, you know!” Rarity very menacingly stepped out. “Spikey, darling. NO!” She hoisted him up very close to her scowling visage, right up close to her eyes. “And if those comics dare to cross the threshold of this business, I will happily create beautiful leather purses and saddlebags out of dragon leather! Do we have an understanding?” “We do,” he whimpered as he landed on his still tender backside. “No comics in Carousel Boutique.” “That’s a good little dragon,” she said with a faux, syrupy smile. “Now run along, dear… before I do find customers for those dragon leather accessories.” With that, it was as though he was never there. ******* He had no better luck with Applejack, either. The horseshoe-shaped marks on his butt were a very clear indication. He moved on… very painfully. ******* Off to Sugarcube Corner he went… Where Pinkie yakked and yakked for almost half an hour straight about all sorts of insane plans for being the superest, bestest, most awesomest superhero with the craziest, neatest, wackiest, most unbelievable superpowers on the whole planet. Somewhere in the back of the little drake’s mind was a mental list. On that list were several names; names of ponies that he figured would be ideal to team up with on this project. Not five minutes into the crazy pink pony’s little bout of verbal diarrhoea, another name was crossed off that list… over and over and over and over. That name was none other than Pinkie Pie. Why? Simple: he wanted to keep this project as orderly as need be. Pinkie Pie had too much risk to cause chaos border-lining Discord’s levels. It took almost that full half hour before Pinkie suddenly realized she was talking to thin air. Ironically – and by rather pleasant circumstance – she forgot what she was talking about in the first place. Back she went to making pastries, singing silly songs to herself. ******* Spike, on the other hand, asked Rainbow Dash if she was willing to help out. No sooner had he explained the project when he suddenly found himself talking to thin air. No verbal response; just a sudden vacuum that followed a trailing rainbow near sonic speed. “Okay,” he said to the volume of thin air where Rainbow was no longer standing. “I take it you’re not interested?” There was no verbal response – not that he expected one, anyway. He sighed. “Might as well see if Fluttershy will turn me down.” ******* Fluttershy was busy scolding a little robin after nursing it back to health. “That’s what happens when you don’t look where you’re flying!” she said, referring to its careless flight path into the birdbath. The robin, however, was perfectly fine. He looked over towards Angel flashing a small sign, just out of the pegasus’ view, that read: “She has GOT to be kidding me! Help a guy out, would ya?” Angel held up a sign that said: “Just roll with it, bud. Trust me!” He flipped it over: “It’s not worth the aggravation!” The bird hung his head, and just rolled with it, enduring countless minutes – which felt more like countless hours – under Shy’s tender loving care… and bothersome scolding. In the end, he knew the bunny was right. Spike casually sauntered into Shy’s back forty where he spotted the situation. “Oh, my, Fluttershy. Who got… ‘hurt’ today?” he queried casually. The pegasus casually glanced sideways towards the drake, then back at her unwilling charge as she continued with his care. “This poor, silly robin flew into my birdbath the wrong way and hurt himself!” “Is that… oh, for crying out loud! It is him! Reg!” snapped Spike. “When are you going to learn not to scare Fluttershy like that, guy?!” The little robin rolled his eyes back and facewinged himself. “Spike, please! Don’t stress poor Reg while he’s recuperating!” Spike glanced back at Angel. Angel held up a sign: “Correction! Don’t stress poor FLUTTERSHY while he’s… ‘recuperating’.” Reg let out a series of aggravated tweets while he shook his head. “Reggie, please…!!” cried Shy. “Okay, hold on, everyone!” said Spike. “For the sake of peace in the neighbourhood, let’s all just stay calm and cool. Okay? Just calm… and cool…” “Yes! Calm! Yes!” said Fluttershy with a grimace; sharp, heavy breaths siphoning between her clenched teeth. Spike tactfully decided to wait for several moments so she could actually calm down. But Fluttershy decided to make the inquiry right there. “So… what did you need, Spike?” She snapped her head towards him as she added, “If you don’t mind me asking.” “Well… maybe I’ll wait until you’re done…” “Oh, no, Spike!” she offered as she turned back to Reg’s care. “It’s okay! You can tell me… if you wouldn’t mind…” Spike took a deep breath and asked her, “Do you remember that Power Ponies comic we got trapped in?” Fluttershy snapped her head back in his direction again. “Oh! My! How could I forget that? When I transformed into that horrible brute!” Then she grimaced. “But, oh, that was because I got so… angry at that nasty Mane-iac for batting that poor, helpless firefly!” “And you ultimately trashed her big laser gun! That was cool! But, aaany-waaaays…! Let’s get to the real reason I’m here! Remember Rob Liveryfield?” “Umm… I’m sorry. I just don’t know who that is.” “He’s the one who did the artwork on that issue.” He continued to explain the comic artist’s role, and the contest he entered. “So, wanna join the contest with me?” Fluttershy started quivering in fear. “Oh, my! We don’t have to fight that terrible Mane-iac again, do we? I don’t want to be a brute anymore!” Spike grinned. “That’s the beauty of it: you get to create your own superhero persona. And best of all, you won’t be trapped in the comic. You’ll be making it.” Fluttershy sighed as she pondered the scenario. “I… I don’t… know, Spike. I just don’t know if… I even…” She trailed off again, trying not to outright say… well, that. But Spike could tell what she was trying to say. “Please, Fluttershy?” he whimpered as he donned a sad puppy-dog expression. Fluttershy cringed as she tried to rebuff his pitiful, somewhat heart-wrenching persuasion method. “Spike. Please… don’t…” His eyes started filling with crocodile tears, his bottom lip started to tremble, and a tiny whimper edged out of his throat. And that did it. “Okay!” she shrieked. “I’ll join the contest with you! Just… promise me one thing!” “Sure,” replied the drake as he grinned smugly. “Promise me I won’t have to be a brute again! Please!” Spike chuckled. “No, you don’t have to be a brute if you don’t want to. You do, though, have to create your own superhero. Right, Reg?” Fluttershy looked back at Reg… Or rather where he should have been. He was now in the tree. “Reggie!! Get back here! I’m not finished caring for you!” Spike left Fluttershy to unsuccessfully try to catch the impish little robin, chuckling at the chaos he knew was taking place behind him. Author's Note Okay, bronies and pegasisters; hope you like this so far! This is my first fanfic and I just wanna test the waters a little bit before a newer instalment I've got that's still collecting dust. And yes, we all know who Mr. Liveryfield is a blatant reference to. And just like in the ponyverse, the folks either love or hate the guy, but is still indisputably deserving of our respect. (Especially here because of the new technique for making comics) Don't forget: leave a comment! Tell me what you think!!
