What if: The Justice Ponies

(Steel's Theme)

It was night in Phillydelphia. A few short weeks ago, the second the sun went down in the gritty city, ponies would run for home. The once-respectable city had always been considered too dangerous after dark for the average pony. Because when the shadows lengthened, the gangs came out to play.

But then everything had changed when a costumed bat pony calling himself “the Steel Renegade” had stepped up and embarked on a one-pony crusade to rid the city of crime.

After a long and difficult campaign he had managed to rid the city of the largest gang in the country, the Last Laugh, and the city had started to revive.

However, that didn’t mean the city was completely safe at night. There were still gangs in the city, although they didn’t hold as much power or fear as they once did. One of these gangs, the Abandoned, was currently stalking their favorite stomping grounds. East 57th street was famed for its jewel shops.

The gangbangers snickered as they approached one of the jewelry stores, clutching crowbars. Their intention was made clear as they raised their crowbars.

Suddenly, there was a loud whump as something slammed down behind them with enough force to rattle the windows.

With unmistakable dread, the gangbangers turned around.

Standing behind them was none other than the Spectacular Steel Renegade himself.

His matte black suit, with shock-resistant metal plates, looked particularly terrifying in the half light. His glaring helmet glinted in the sunset, his nightsticks looked like two beams of light.

“They say this city is a gem, y’know,” he said quietly, his voice scrambler making his words into a menacing baritone snarl, “And it’s scum like you who make everypony else call it a nightmare.”

The gangbangers hesitated for a second longer, their fear of Steel conflicting with their youthful cockiness and adrenaline.

The latter won.

They charged as one mass, yelling and raising their crowbars. Their fevered minds full of delusions of the glory they expected if they managed to bring down the dreaded Nightstalker himself.

In less than a second Steel was in the air, his left nightstick parrying a blow while his right one simultaneously smacked a unicorn in the head, bringing the thug down. He flipped over their heads and landed upright on his hind legs.

Not giving the remaining Abandoned a second to react, he charged and threw both nightsticks. Both found their targets, and two more gangbangers fell unconscious. He grinned under his cowl and spun on his back hoof, sweeping the legs out from under a third thug. Before he could hit the ground, Steel managed a second rotation and kicked the unfortunate stallion in the head.

Steel’s military training and intimate knowledge of anatomy (hey, those anatomy charts in doctors’ offices were good for at least that much with how often he had once needed to go) ensured that the fight was short, sweet, and very painful for the Abandoned. Before too long, all twelve ponies were knocked senseless, securely zip-tied, and strung upside down from a lamp post.

Dusting his hooves off, he prepared to take flight when something hit him in the back HARD.

He staggered, then scooped up his nightsticks. With a thought, they flowed and became a pair of specially reinforced tonfas and he took up a ready position. His enhanced bat pony vision enabled him to easily spot another stallion standing in an alley. He noted with some concern that he appeared to be wearing a red costume. In his experience, anypony who wore a costume tended to be more dangerous than others.

He was spared any further thought when Red charged at him. He attempted his usual Trip-and-Whack technique, but Red leapt over his outstretched hoof and aimed a blow at Steel’s head with his own hoof.

Steel grunted as the right hook landed, and he disengaged quickly.

He and Red circled each other like wolves, not taking their eyes off each other. Steel noted that Red appeared to have a slightly lopsided guard stance, and was favoring his right hoof. He suddenly attacked with a vicious swipe at Red’s right shoulder, but he ducked aside with astonishing speed and kicked Steel in the….

“GAAH!”

Steel staggered back, wheezing and blinking back tears. Note to self he thought, Reinforce the crotch pad… Ow…

He now looked at Red with a new appreciation.
He’s fast, he thought, Fast enough to make up for his terrible form. It’s almost as though he know what I’m gonna do before I do it.

He’s not a precog, said a little voice in his head, I’m not sensing any temporal shifts when he acts.

Very helpful, Brawl, he thought grumpily, Then you give me your theory!

I believe that he is using sound to determine your actions, replied Brawl, look closely.

He did, and realized that under his hat, Red’s ears were constantly perked up and twitched toward any sound that Steel made.

Super-sensitive echolocation… That would explain it!

He smiled evilly and hooked one of his tonfas on his belt, using his freed hoof to pull out a small sphere with a pin set in the top. With one deft motion he depressed the pin and hurled it at Red.

But before it could get any uglier …..both of them were interrupted by a mysterious voice that said “HEY!”
They turned to the voice to see that it was…...Wolf-Spider!

“That’s enough!” Wolf-Spider said with seriousness in his voice. “Now I don’t know why both of you are fighting but that’s enough”.

“Oh son of a-” Steel began, but then the sphere let out a deafening blast of sound. Steel gritted his teeth and reluctantly retracted his tonfas as he waited for the ringing in his ears to abate.

When he could finally hear again, he glared over at Wolf-Spider.

“For the record,” he growled, “The other guy started it. I don’t tolerate gangs or gangbangers in my city.”

“He’s called the Crimson Colt, and he’s not a criminal, just another hero like us. Now both of you need to calm down or I’m putting both of you in time out”.

“Go buck a cactus, pretty-boy,” Steel growled, ”As far as I’m concerned, you’re no hero. And neither am I.”

Wolf-Spider sighed and webbed Steel’s mouth shut.

“Still the arrogant mouth as usual. Anyway….I’m here for a mission for both of you. Equestria is in big danger and Celestia’s building a team to stop this threat. And she wants both of you on that team” Wolf-Spider said as he ripped the webbing off of Steel’s mouth like a band-aid.

Steel grunted, unimpressed, and scraped the remains of Wolf’s webbing off of his respiration holes.

“And why would I wanna ride with you? You’ve brought nothing but trouble since you started the ‘hero’ business. You brought us capes into the spotlight, when some of us rely on the shadows to do our work.”

“Because Celestia’s dying and she needs your help. Steel!”

“And why would she need the help of the local vigilante? Isn’t that what the Lunar Guard Marines are for? Call up the 602nd. They’d be happy to help.”

“Because this is not your ordinary sickness. It’s any entity that feeds off the health of innocent ponies. It’s name is Mr.Virus. We tried to stop it but it took out all of the guards in the entire room in ten seconds. It’s also controlling one of our heroes named Fly-Boy. He’s got a sister named Elemental and she’s just recruited Galaxy Dust as we speak. We are Equestria’s last line of defense from this thing. Now are you in or are you gonna let it kill a bunch of innocent Ponies?”.

Crimson Colt stepped up and nodded his head yes to be a part of the team.

Steel thought, and thought for a good long while under his cowl. On one hoof, he would rather take a speeding garbage truck to the head than leave his city undefended for any period of time, but on the other hoof… If “Mr. Virus” was as dangerous as Wolf was suggesting, then his city was in danger anyway.

There was really only one option, really.

“Give me ten minutes to collect my gear,” he said, then kicked open a manhole and leapt down.

To Be Continued...........