//-------------------------------------------------------// The Hero: Cozy Glow...? -by SoloBrony- //-------------------------------------------------------// //-------------------------------------------------------// Prologue (ish) //-------------------------------------------------------// Prologue (ish) Once upon a time, a little filly got blasted with a giant friendship laser beam. Yeah, little weird when you just lay it out like that, but just go with it. This little filly was Cozy Glow. Not that she knew it at the time, mind you; in fact, knowing things about herself and her past was something she was just generally doing very poorly, right then. It seems that the rainbow laser didn't have the expected, desired effect of de-powering and potentially incapacitating her, but instead stripped the little filly of her memories. That's the sort of side-effect you should generally vigorously interrogate your doctor about before taking your medicine, but Cozy was just a risk-taker like that. Not that she had any choice in the matter. And so, dazed, utterly confused, yet still possessing extraordinary magical power, our little filly stumbled away from the blast with one, simple thought: Holy smokes, there's a bunch of wizards over there trying to kill me with rainbow lasers! I need to get out of here! And just like that, totally oblivious to the true nature of the conflict, the filly instinctively tapped into her recently-acquired magical power and vanished, teleporting quite some distance from the skirmish. It was not lost on the heroes of Equestria that one of their adversaries had just seemingly shrugged off the powers of harmony – they could hardly see the intellectual damage they had wrought – and fled, but they were too concerned with wrapping up the battle to immediately give chase. Besides which, Cozy had teleported smack into the middle of the Everfree Forest of all places, so it's not like they would have found her easily. And so it was that our would-be heroine (ish) found herself alone, confused, and terrified in an unfamiliar, dangerous environment. So begins the bizarre tale of Cozy Glow the Hero (ish). Author's Note I've started writing again! Ish. //-------------------------------------------------------// So pushy! //-------------------------------------------------------// So pushy! I'd just gotten done setting up a rudimentary campsite when I heard a cry of distress from the woods. As a super hero, I should go help, right? But wait, I don't have my costume ready; I can't compromise my secret identity. Guess I'll skip this one. The cry escalated to a blood-curdling scream. I twitched my ear in irritation. Jeez, pushy much? Well, I can't call myself a hero if I ignore THAT. Besides, what am I afraid of? I'm an all-powerful super hero, I'll just power through whatever challenges come my way! I was honestly pretty worried about getting discovered and having to face off against that army of wizards again – I'd only gotten a glimpse of them, but that first image I could remember was like a living nightmare in my short memory now – but there was a stronger, more willful, angrier part of me that told me not to be weak and let anypony scare me or make me back down. That part was in control when I grabbed my cloak in my teeth, pulled it free from my wings, and blasted off from the ground at max speed for the source of the commotion. I'm going to do this super hero thing RIGHT. I caught a glimpse of what appeared to be some kind of struggle, and set down behind a large tree to don my cloak before springing out with a warcry (albeit a high-pitched, squeaky one). "Fear not, pony civilian! I have come to resc—WHAT IN EQUESTRIA IS THAT?!" Not my proudest moment. There was what appeared to be a zebra struggling with a chimera – one head each of a goat, tiger, and snake. Huh. Wonder how I know what a chimera is. Must have studied monsters for my super heroics! I remember they're intelligent... That thought clicked while I took in the scene of the zebra desperately prying open the tiger head's jaws and pulling her injured leg out. I was coming up with a strategy, but it seemed my exclamation had caught the goat head's attention, and soon enough the snake was looking my way too. Might as well go all-in! I fired off a vicious bolt of energy at the snake head, causing it to roar in anguish. "Hey, ugly!" The chimera whirled on me and took a menacing step forward. The tiger head growled, forgetting the zebra entirely, and she made quick to scoot as far away as she could with an injured leg. I quirked an eyebrow at the tiger head. "Oh, did you assume I meant you?" The tiger head grunted. "Didn't you?" "What, do you think you're ugly?" The tiger head hesitated, suddenly looking unsure. The goat's head looked over. "Hey, sis, you're not ugly." "Aww. Thanks." Blech, someone just blast me now. "But wait," the tiger head said, returning her attention to me, "if not me, then who?" "Isn't it obvious? Who do you think?" The tiger head looked over at the snake head uncertainly. The snake head had just recovered from my blast, and looked deeply affronted at the tiger. "Hey, I'm not ugly!" The tiger head quirked an eyebrow. "Well, I mean, you're kinda slimy and scaly, you can't deny—" "That doesn't make me ugly!" "Well beauty is subjective, don't you think?" The goat head roared in frustration and glared at me. "Who did you mean, foal? Settle this for them." I blinked a bit, still surprised that my plan had bought so much more time than expected. The zebra had managed to recover her hooves and start to run. I pointed my hoof at her retreating backside. "I meant her, obviously!" The chimera redirected all of its attention to the fleeing zebra. They had just started to say 'Oh', whether in response to me or to realizing the zebra was escaping I'm not sure, when I hit the entire creature in the backside with a charged magical blast strong enough to send them flying into a tree – and with a truly obscene screech at that. It only took a little telekinesis to curl the branches around them and lock the entire creature into place. "Ugly or not, all three of you are idiots..." I smiled at a job well done, and trotted off back towards my makeshift camp. I'd taken down a monster, gotten a better handle on my magic during stressful situations, and I'd managed to avoid blowing my disguise in the process! A good day, all told. And with that cheering mindset I resumed my work on my costume, until I heard the approach of hooves. I stood at the ready to fight, but it turned out to just be the zebra from earlier. On seeing me, she inclined her head courteously. "That monster gave me quite a fright; I thank you for ensuring I could make good my flight." I cocked my head to the side at the unexpected rhyming, but then simply shrugged. "For that no thanks are necessary; I was glad to relieve you of your adversary." What? I wasn't going to be outdone by some random zebra! For her part, the zebra seemed taken aback, but then smiled warmly. "Your deeds and words are truly most gracious; tell me, would you rather sleep in my home most spacious?" It took me a second to parse what she had just said and offered, and I took another moment to try to put together a rhyme of my own, before simply shrugging and giving up on that. "Seems better than sleeping out here, at least; thanks." The zebra nodded and smiled, sparing me one of her weird rhymes, and I grabbed my stuff to follow her. On the walk, she was silent, but chewed her lip persistently. Finally, as her home came into view, she caught my eye. "Tell me, what is a filly doing out here – especially one who wields magic without peer?" Hm, she noticed how strong my magic is. I need to be careful about that! Only after admonishing myself for the slip-up did I give her question some thought. I mulled it over and shook my head. "Let's just say some bad ponies are after me. I was looking for somewhere safe from them. I don't... really want to talk about it right now." To my surprise, I really didn't. It was a lot easier to look ahead to goals than to focus on how tenuous my fate seemed right now. The zebra's face was lined with concern, but she simply nodded and let me into her home. Before long, with how much of a drain my spellcasting had put on me, I was drifting off to the best/worst sleep I could remember, my thoughts stuck on the haunting first image I could recall. Those bad ponies who cursed me... I need to find out who they are, learn everything about them I can. Then I can figure out how to beat them! //-------------------------------------------------------// Do you have a way to beat a monster like this, Cozy?! //-------------------------------------------------------// Do you have a way to beat a monster like this, Cozy?! Over the next few days, I learned my host's name was Zecora and managed to throw together a half-decent costume (with her help). I kept pretty quiet, especially since I got the impression she generally preferred the silence, but I did make sure to impress upon her the need for secrecy. I also made sure she never saw my wings. When she asked my name, I panicked and told her I was called Quillon (that's kee-yon, in case you didn't know) – it just kinda came to mind based on my appearance, for some reason. I thought I'd have to re-apply the alteration to my coat color, or fight to keep my hair restyled, but it turned out they were much better-behaved than that. All told, I was pretty secure in my disguise, and since I'd managed to go a few days without being discovered I started to feel less anxious about my pursuers and more focused on the future. Since I'm a super hero, shouldn't I be out saving ponies, or beating up monsters, or something? Isn't that how super heroes get more powerful? And I need some kind of super hero name. I looked over my costume, which had a distinct rainbow-and-lightning hue. It's just what we had on-hand and what seemed 'super heroic' to me, for some reason – Zecora had found that funny, especially when I added wing slits (hah! Joke's on her!), but I didn't think it looked funny. It looked... what's the term...? Awesome. Yeah, that. And so, since I obviously needed way more power to defeat the evil wizards who had cursed me, I set off with my costume towards Ponyville (as I'd learned it was called) in the dead of night. And I sat around for a solid hour before I realized that evil wasn't just going to spring up so I could defeat it, spontaneously. This super hero thing is BORING. How am I supposed to know where the badguys will show up? They might end up attacking somewhere halfway across Equestria from here and I'd never even know! That's when I remembered I was some kind of super-powerful mage, myself. Clearly I must have had some kind of system to warn me about incursions, but what? Let's see... my experience with super heroics so far is that you hear a pony scream, and then you go bolting off in that direction to help. So... could I set some kind of scream-detector here, and have that alert me when trouble starts? Yeah, that seems reasonable! Ponies pretty much always scream and freak out when something goes wrong, so that should be foolproof! Affirmed by this line of reasoning, I pondered over what I knew of magic and what I'd need for that kind of spell. Crystals. Er, that is, I'll need gemstones as a focusing agent for this – one to act as a detector, and another for me to wear. But where can I get gems at this hour? I tapped my chin with my hoof, considering it, until I remembered Zecora mentioning there was an angry green dragon guarding its hoard in the Everfree. Of course, robbing a dragon was stupid, borderline suicidal, extremely dangerous, reckless. Brave and totally awesome, like a super hero. If there was one thing I knew about adventuring, it's that randomly taking on ridiculously dangerous tasks was how you got more powerful. So I set off straight for the dragon's lair, donning my costume and shifting my coat to a deep navy blue, and my mane to an ever-flowing rainbow just long enough to reach back to my shoulders; the super hero 'Dashing Savior' would have her debut with a super-sneaky stealth mission! Huh. This is the second time I'm stealing – not very heroic, I guess. On the other hand, the dragon stole most of that hoard, if what Zecora told me is true, and if it feels like its hoard is unsafe it will probably move further away from ponies. So that's a win! Less risk for those who wander into the woods. I wasn't sure why I knew so much about dragon behavior; I chalked it up to super hero studies again, and stole into the cave making less noise than a light-footed mouse. The cave was pretty well-lit, and it didn't take me long to spot the giant gem hoard or the giant, slumbering dragon behind it. For a moment, my blood ran cold at the sight of it. Wowza, somehow I didn't really register how big these guys were. But then again, that's what super heroes are all about! Facing up to stuff so scary a normal pony wouldn't go anywhere near it! I nodded to myself and tried to quell the sense I was making a huge mistake as I looked over the gem hoard. It didn't really matter what gems I used; even the cheapest, smallest stuff would do for a simple spell like this. The dragon would probably barely care they were gone. My musings were interrupted when I heard a loud snort. I had been very confident about my stealth skills, staying utterly silent. But I hadn't accounted for smell. I'd been bathing with aromatic zebra concoctions and I was wearing a spandex outfit that smelled like rubber. Two giant, yellow eyes cracked open. "Oh, fiddlesticks." The dragon reared up, furious at the sight of me, and roared so loudly I reflexively generated a shield around myself with my magic just to block out the noise. Oh wow! Now THAT'S a handy power! I saw the dragon take a deep breath, readying to fry me with fire. This guy is asking for it. It's time to show off the brand-new technique I've been working on! I charged energy into my horn, and started belting out in a loud, sing-song voice, "Iiii've, been working on my maaaaaagic, all the live-long daaaaay~!" The dragon belted out a giant fireball at me, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't terrified. But I hadn't just charged in to a fight with a dragon without any prep-work; I figured that if I was going to be fighting a big group of evil wizards, someone would try to burn me eventually, so while I was working on my costume I also worked on a little counter. A shimmering, magical cup of red energy appeared in front of the dragon, and as the fire filled it, it turned from red to blue. The flames dissipated into the field, and they melted together into a floating, crackling ball of electricity. The dragon blinked in confusion, but then shrugged and started towards me, apparently intent on biting down on me or rending me with his giant claws. That really ticked me off. "HEY! Don't you dare ignore my ball! YOU TAKE MY BALL SERIOUSLY!" And with that I blasted him in the face with a ball of lightning. Not exactly easy to make, or control, and even harder to trigger in a way that was deadly, but I just poured enough effort in to force it, causing my horn to shoot sparks and smoke slightly in the process. A deafening crash filled the room as dragon and ball collided, and the flash was so bright it left me blind for a few seconds. When my vision cleared, the dragon was visibly scorched all over, and twitching on the ground, clearly dazed and in great pain (though in no danger of death). "YEAH! YEAH! TAKE THAT! THE DASHING SAVIOR TRIUMPHS! I'm going to call that move my 'dragon ball' after this! Hah! Emergent move-names! Yeah!" I was so caught up in my antics I almost didn't notice the dragon growling at me. I knew I didn't have the energy to keep fighting him, but I couldn't let him know that, and besides, I figured a big predator like him must be pretty unaccustomed to pain. I was quick to capitalize on that. "Hey! Don't you take an attitude with me!" I put my hooves on my hips and shouted down at him as angrily as I could. "You tried to fry me just now! You got exactly what you deserved, mister! And you'll get a lot more than that if you don't apologize!" I flared my horn threateningly, and I was gratified to see the big bully flinch. Yeah! Fear my power! I didn't let the moment slip away, flying up closer to him and staring right into one of his huge yellow eyes. "Now you listen here! Your nasty attitude and dangerous habits aren't fit for being so close to a pony town, so you need to pack up and get out of here! If you don't, I'll turn you into a tiny little fish and huck you into the stream, and we'll see how you like it when bigger things try to chow down on you, GOT IT?!" For a second, I almost believed my bluster myself, and that really helped me sell it. The dragon made a whining sound and nodded meekly, which was really a boon to my spirits – despite a nasty headache setting in from my magical strain. I looked over his hoard. "Oh, right. And I need a few gemstones before you go!" The dragon's eye shot wide open, and his eyebrow ridge arched in fury. I rolled my eyes back at him. "Not big, shiny, expensive ones. Like, any gem will do, I just need a bunch of little ones. I'll let you pick them out." The dragon blinked a bit at that, and then slowly raised his head. I realized how much of a strain it was for him; I'd apparently done a lot more damage than I realized, and he wasn't in any shape to fight any more either. He eventually, hesitantly, reached over and scraped a few smaller quartzes towards me. I flew down to pick them up, and realized there was a sizeable diamond mixed in with the pack – probably on accident. I shrugged and stuffed all of the gems into the saddlebag at the rear of my costume. "Golly, thanks. Cheapskate." The dragon rolled his eyes at me while I flew out. Whew! I did it! Beat a dragon, discovered my shield spell, got some practice, and I got the gems! It's like I can feel myself leveling up! Wait, is that adventure games or comics? Whatever, basically the same concept. Now I can set up those alarms in every town. Soon, the Dashing Savior will be known Equestria-wide! If I'd only known just how fast word would spread, I might have taken things a bit more carefully. Author's Note Cozy Glow is best JoJo //-------------------------------------------------------// Cozy Glow's battle tendencies //-------------------------------------------------------// Cozy Glow's battle tendencies Zecora had warned me that there had been some sort of cataclysm recently, including the reemergence of the windigoes of all things, and it had set the local wildlife crazy – apparently, that was why the chimera that had attacked her was in the Everfree Forest in the first place. I wasn't sure how the evil wizards were involved yet, but I barely had time to set up my last alarm in Van Hoover before one of my gems began humming. Trouble at the Silver Stable retirement home! What kind of dastardly monster would attack elderly ponies? I actually paused to tap my chin and think about that. No point rushing into battle unprepared, after all. Still, I couldn't think of any monsters with a particular preference for old ponies, so I decided to just get in there and see for myself. One long-range teleport later (those were getting easier and easier), and I was on the roof of the retirement home, in full disguise. It didn't exactly take a master detective to find the source of the disturbance; ponies were screaming and fleeing full-tilt from a giant, furious-looking bird. A roc! I thought they only preyed on dragons, normally. I guess the monsters really are agitated. Let's see, roc, roc... I quickly threw together a plan. Rocs weren't exactly talkative or social, so manipulating it that way was out. Still, they had certain instincts... My rumination was cut off as the roc swept down and snatched a screaming pony in its talon. Okay, just gotta go with it! I've gotten a bit better at disguise magic, so let's give it a try! My horn lit up and I made several quick, subtle alterations to my disguise. A ridge of scales, webbed wings, and one seriously nasty smell. The roc, which had just circled to leave, suddenly u-turned and dove for me. Yay, it worked! The roc bore down on me with terrifying speed. Oh no, it worked! I barely managed to evade the creature with a quick teleport, and I blasted off from the ground, the giant bird hot on my tail. But I wasn't flying off in a random direction; I'd taken the time to study the geography of Equestria a bit (courtesy of a book at Zecora's house). The one that knows the terrain and plans ahead is assured of victory! This stupid creature can't hope to match wits with the great Dashing Savior! I quickly zipped over to a nearby marsh, and stood on a patch of vines, ducking as low as I could and charging my horn. The roc dove for me, and just as it clamped its talons around me I teleported to the side. As expected, the roc got its talons tangled in the vines and was stuck for a moment – just long enough for me to grab the hapless pony it had grabbed and teleport them back to the retirement home. I finally got a good look at them; a very old, light purple mare with a faded white and pink mane, and a book as her cutie mark. Oh great, a nerd. She quickly set a hoof on my withers. "Oh, thank you, little lady! I—" I cut her off in my most heroic-sounding voice. "Get inside, quickly! I, Dashing Savior, will deal with the monster!" I dropped the draconic alterations to my outfit, and replaced the scaly wings with what appeared to be magically-conjured rainbow wings; I figured I would be less likely to be recognized if folks thought I was just a powerful unicorn mage, rather than an actual alicorn. The nerd-pony leaned back in surprise and stared at me in appropriate awe and wonder. "It's far too dangerous! A little foal like you should get to safety!" Or maybe she was just horrified that I was going to take on a monster all by myself. Typical adult, underestimating me! I'll show them just how powerful I am! I snorted in disgust and blasted back off into the air before she could undermine my confidence any more. The roc had gotten free and was on its way back. It was time to set the next phase of my plan in motion. Which would have been a lot easier if I'd planned this far ahead. Instead, I just charged up a nasty laser beam and shot the creature right in the eye. I figured I would hurt it and maybe drive it off, but I was shocked when the bird was actually smacked out of the air like it had been run over by a giant cart, shrieking loudly in the process. Whoa. I'm waaaay more powerful than I realized. That wasn't even that hard! The roc screeched and made to flee as quickly as possible, and I chased it, firing off low-power blasts the whole way and screaming at it at the top of my lungs. "THAT'S RIGHT, YOU HAD BETTER RUN! IF YOU EVER BOTHER PONIES AGAIN, I'LL KICK YOUR BUTT ALL THE WAY TO ABYSSINIA!" What followed was a most-definitely heroic cackle as I singed its rear with a blast that got a really gratifying, chicken-like squawk out of it. Not so tough now, are ya?! I chased it for a good fifteen minutes, which took us far out of sight of the retirement home. The creature thoroughly driven off, I flew back to the retirement home to see if anyone else needed assistance. To my surprise, two alicorns – one huge and white, the other smaller (though still pretty tall!) and dark-blue – were reconstructing a part of the building that had caved in. Whoa! Didn't expect to run into other alicorns so quickly! That means they're princesses, right? But... I don't know if they're with the evil wizards or not, so I'd better play it safe. I set down near them, and carefully dispelled the rainbow-wing illusion while hiding my real wings under my costume. I trotted up to the giant white alicorn, who smiled down at me with an almost nauseating level of warmth before speaking. "You must be the 'Dashing Savior' Dusty Pages mentioned. What you did here today was very brave." I struck my best heroic pose, which barely came up to her knees. "Just doing my part to keep Equestrian ponies safe, ma'am. Do you all need any further assistance today?" To my surprise, she giggled. Giggled! At me! I can't get no respect, I tell you! "No, little one. I believe we have things well in hoof from here. Why don't you come in and get some hot cocoa? It's chilly out." To be honest, I hadn't noticed the cold at all. I chalked that up to alicorn resilience, but it wasn't like she knew that. I just shook my head; even though a reward sounded nice, I knew the more-heroic thing to do was to turn it down, and I was determined to be the best hero ever. Besides, the longer I spend here, the more I run up chances of getting discovered. "That won't be necessary, miss...?" She blinked at me in confusion, before realizing I was asking her name. She held a hoof up to her chest. "Princess Celestia...?" I puffed myself up to look as heroic as possible. After all, a hero who makes a quick exit after saving the day is mysterious and cool! "Got it. That won't be necessary, Princess Celestia! I must be off to save other ponies!" She seemed about to object, but I teleported straight back to Zecora's before she could do so. "Hah! I nailed it!" I did a little dance in place before realizing I wasn't alone; Zecora was brewing something in the center of the room, but had paused to watch my little celebration with a smirk. "I see my hospitality you've well-availed; might you tell me how you've prevailed?" I froze in place, blushing furiously, and coughed to conceal my awkwardness. I spent the next ten minutes telling Zecora of my glorious heroic deeds, and discovered she was actually a really good listener; she commented or questioned in all of the right places, always in her frustratingly clever rhymes, and seemed genuinely impressed at my bravery. I'd expected her to think I was fibbing, but I guess since I saved her personally, she knew better. It wasn't long before I'd worn myself out, both from the magic expenditure and the rapidfire chatter, and I crawled into bed with a deep sense of satisfaction. Look at how incredibly powerful I am. And I'm just getting stronger! And ponies admire me! As I drifted off to sleep I thought of what might have happened to that 'Dusty Pages' if I hadn't shown up. It brought a little shudder to me to imagine the same happening to me; powerless, at the mercy of forces beyond my control, held against my will... imprisoned... I bit my lip and swore nopony, myself included, would suffer that fate. Author's Note Now we're getting into the thick of it. //-------------------------------------------------------// MC Cozy //-------------------------------------------------------// MC Cozy Golly. Breaking into the Canterlot Archives really wasn't all that hard. The next morning, I'd woken up still sore from all of my recent exertion, but ready to tackle another day of super heroics. Except there were no emergencies to deal with, so I decided to train; since my biggest asset was magic, that seemed the natural focus. But, having no books from which to study more magic, I decided to make some blank ones out of some nearby trees (in itself one heck of a magical exercise, no doubt about it) and snuck into the Canterlot archives to magically copy anything that seemed combat-magic related. Security was surprisingly lax; 'Quillon' was able to basically trot right up to the library once I'd passed the outer security, and when a guard did stumble across me reading a restricted tome they just told me I must have gotten lost and to go back to my parents. Of course, he checked my saddlebags, but the books in there clearly didn't belong to the library (I gave them all cheesy foal's book covers), and once I started pouting and saying I'd gotten lost looking for the kid's books he escorted me out. No wonder Equestria needs heroes! Those guards are incompetent suckers! And so I was sitting in Zecora's hut reading a book on self-enhancement spells when one of my gems went off. Gee, already? This hero thing is really a full-time job! Oh well. At least I can try out some of the cool stuff I've been reading about. I quickly donned my costume, prompting a concerned look from Zecora, who was preparing a skin lotion for somepony named 'Rarity' who just insisted on buying her beauty products from the zebra. "Forgive me for delaying you with prattle, but are you again rushing off to battle?" I grinned as I slipped on my cool lighting-patterned mask. "Yup! And when I find those badguys they're going to be sorry, once I smack them so hard their vision turns all starry!" Zecora chuckled at that, but then fixed me with a look of concern. "Strong though you may be, you are still but a foal; are you sure such danger should be your goal?" I waved off her concern while I struggled to get one of my rear legs into the spandex. "Don't remind me I'm a foal, lately I've been on a roll. Whether ogre, dragon, or troll, every villain is going to pay the toll! I have to stand up to those who'd hurt, who'd kill, because if I don't, who will? It may be dangerous, but it's only when I face the danger I can grow; that's just my fate, because I am a hero." Zecora held up a placard with a '6' written on it. I shrugged. "Good enough." And with that I teleported off to see what was causing a ruckus in Ponyville. Author's Note You can either hate writing Zecora or you can just embrace it. //-------------------------------------------------------// I like the cut of her jib //-------------------------------------------------------// I like the cut of her jib I appeared on top of the tallest spire in Ponyville – the peak of the gaudy crystal castle. I stood there a moment to let my hair billow in the wind, looking all mysterious and cool. Then I looked around for the source of the disturbance. I sure didn't have to look long! There was a hydra rampaging on the far side of town. Oh, good. A simple, straightforward monster fight. Well, this should be— As I flew closer, I realized there was a slight complication. Apparently, some other rainbow-themed hero had gotten involved before I could! She was zipping around the hydra and confusing it, and generally limiting the damage it could do while the civilians fled. Whoa. She's awesome! Which means I need to find some way to out-do her! I quickly scanned the area, and formulated a plan. I was getting good at throwing those together at a snap pace. I swept down at a crazy pace, grabbing a cloud on the way, and dunked it in the little stream that ran by the outskirts of town, turning it into a black stormcloud. Then I banked upwards over the creature and gave it a sharp kick; I apparently messed up a bit, because it shocked me a bit too, but it still sent a satisfying bolt of electricity straight into one of the hydra's heads, causing it to stagger backwards in shock and yowl in pain. "Whoa! Kid, get out of here, you just made it mad! Er, madder!" The rainbow-maned pegasus was hollering at me and waving her hooves, and quickly dove under a bite from the hydra. Get out of here? She thinks I can't handle it! I'll show HER! I swept under the head of the hydra that had tried to bite the mare, plowing into the ground, and I charged my energy into my hooves. Then I swept up in a massive flying uppercut as my magic radiated from my upraised hoof, slamming into the bottom of the creature's jaw and sending the entire hydra keeling over onto its back. "FLYING HYDRA PUUUUNCH!" I blew on my hoof, which had caught on fire, and congratulated myself on the awesome move name. The pegasus flew up to me with her jaw slack, which got a giggle out of me. "That... was so AWESOME! How did you do that?!" I had just looked the technique up in one of the books, and turned it into an uppercut, but I wasn't going to tell her that! "Well, y'know, heroes train hard to defeat the enemies of Equestria. It's how we roll. I'm Dashing Savior. You are?" She laughed at that. "Oh, you're a fan! Well, I'm Rainbow Dash!" She extended a hoof to me. I wasn't sure what she meant, but I bumped her hoof regardless. Both of us looked over to the hydra, which was slowly regaining its footing. I looked back at Dash and grinned. "Let's send this bozo packing!" Rainbow whooped and punched the air. "Yeah! Alright, somepony who knows how to get stuff done!" We each banked in opposite directions around the hydra, causing its outer heads to track us and fight with itself over where to go. Then we both swept in from the rear and kicked the center head in the back of the skull, causing the whole creature to lurch forward. The center head swiveled drunkenly, eyes unfocused. "Hah! We really did make it see stars!" "Huh?" "Nothing! Inside joke! Let's finish him!" Dash needed no more prompting; she dove into the hydra's stomach with a flying kick, while I swept around it and stomped on its tail. The resulting wheeze-shriek was hilarious, and the creature yelped like a dog the whole way as it ran back into the forest. I chased it a bit, screaming after it. "IF YOU EVER COME BACK, THAT'LL BE THE LEAST OF WHAT YOU GET, UGLY! KEEP RUNNIN'!" Both of us landed on the ground laughing and traded another hoofbump. Dash shook her head and grinned wildly. "I totally thought I'd need to get the rest of my friends together to deal with that guy, but we sure showed him!" "Well, when Rainbow Dash and the Dashing Savior unite, who in Equestria could possibly keep up?!" "Right!" We laughed some more, and while she was distracted I dispelled my rainbow-wing illusion and hid my real wings. She looked me over appraisingly. "For a unicorn, you fly really well! That weird wing-spell thing you do is way beyond the other wing spell I've seen!" "Yeah? Thanks! It took a long time to develop." That was a blatant lie, but a real wing-conjuration that worked that well would be incredibly hard, so I had to keep up appearances. The rainbow mare shrugged. "Well, every hero's gotta practice and train like crazy. Can't believe you can do all of this stuff at your age, though. Say, you wanna cool off with a burger and some cider?" I was about to reject the reward, as per my newly-established usual, when my stomach growled. I realized grazing in the forest hadn't really been the most robust dietary plan. Really, what's the worst that could happen? And she's a hero! I'm sure I'll be fine with her around. "Sure, just let me get changed back into my 'civilian' getup. Can't let my secret identity get compromised. You promise to keep it a secret, right?" Dash's eyes lit up. "You really have a secret identity? That's so awesome! Yeah, I'll definitely keep it under wraps." Careful not to reveal my wings, I put on my regular cloak and teleported off my spandex. I might trust this mare, but there was no telling who was in cahoots or under the influence of those evil wizards; couldn't be too careful! I extended a hoof. "I'm Quillon. Pleasure to meet you for real, Rainbow." "Likewise!" And just like that, we set off to get hayburgers and goof off for the rest of the day. Author's Note Yes, that WAS a Street Fighter reference! //-------------------------------------------------------// The Main Villain: Cozy Glow...? //-------------------------------------------------------// The Main Villain: Cozy Glow...? "And that's how I saved Daring Do!" "Wow, good job!" Dash and I had been chatting up a storm while we ate our lunch on a cloud overlooking Ponyville. I didn't have much to say about my past, obviously, but I at least ran down the monster fights I'd been in so far, and she seemed suitably impressed. I was actually a lot more interested in hearing about her exploits, though. It seemed like she was on good terms with someone called 'Twilight Sparkle', who was apparently another princess (Just how many of us were there, anyway?) and they'd spent a lot of time together saving Equestria. I tried to keep my probing about the evil wizard group as oblique as possible, because I still wasn't sure what the deal was with them. I figured they must have been secretive; we must have been fighting some kind of invisible war, unknown to Equestria at large! "So, who are all the princesses? There's Celestia and Twilight..." Dash nodded, "Oh yeah, there's also Celestia's sister Luna." "Does she have a dark-blue coat? I think I saw her at the retirement home." "Right, that's her. She and Celestia are staying at Silver Shoals for now. And then there's Cadance, the Princess of Love. She runs the Crystal Empire with Shining Armor. There's also Flurry Heart, their kid – just a little baby. Didn't they teach you this in school?" I shrugged. "Maybe, it's just a lot of princesses to keep track of! Speaking of, wasn't there another princess?" Dash tapped her chin in thought. "No, I don't think so... the Hippogriffs have a queen, and I think her daughter counts as a princess...?" "I mean another pony alicorn princess type thing." Dash just shook her head. "No, definitely not. I've met all of the Equestrian princesses." I tried to hide my surprise. Holy smokes! I must not be from Equestria at all, then! Some kind of foreign princess? But then where am I from? Dash saw me deep in thought and flicked a fry at me. "Bit for your thoughts?" "Oh, just... I thought there was another one, that's all. I guess I just got it all confused." I did my best innocent foal impression, and that seemed to convince her. She just shrugged. "Don't tell Twilight this, but I kept getting it mixed up for the longest time myself. I often forgot that she was a princess, and at first I forgot Luna was a thing at all!" "Gee, that must have made her feel pretty awful..." "Yeah, maybe..." Dash looked off at Ponyville in thought, and I seized the opportunity to consider where I must have come from. But I just couldn't imagine a foreign alicorn princess emerging without anyone in Equestria hearing about it, and I definitely knew more about Equestria than anywhere else... so did that mean I had only ascended recently, and nopony heard about it? I must have really nailed that secret-identity thing pretty fast! "Say, Quillon." I stirred from my thoughts again, and worried for a second I had messed up my disguise somehow. "Huh? Yeah?" "I know you don't want to tell me anything about your past or who you are or whatever." More like I CAN'T... I just nodded and she continued. "I'm not going to push you on that. But... thanks. For helping ponies. Things have been absolutely bonkers since the big fight with Tirek, Chrysalis and Cozy Glow. The windigoes' coming back really spooked ponies, and now there's monsters rampaging, and Cozy managed to escape so there's this big pony hunt going on for her..." An escaped villain? That sounds like prime super hero material. "No problem, Dash. It's what heroes do, right? It's been fun." Dash nodded, chewing her lip over. "Twilight's been really crushed by all of it. She's scrambling to fix the damage from the fighting, but with monsters cropping up all over, it's splitting her attention between crisis management and restoration." "Well, tell her I can handle the monsters! Wherever they crop up, I'll have it well in hoof, so she can just focus on getting things back in order." "She'll definitely appreciate it." "So, Dash... that Cozy Glow you said escaped. What was she like?" "Well, she was a foal, like you. But she was rotten to the core. She pretended to be nice, won ponies' trust, and then used it against them, manipulating folks. She thought friendship was about power, and didn't care about anypony but herself, like, at all. She stole a massive amount of power for herself and used it to turn into some kind of alicorn, and then she tried to beat us all with it. Came close, too." "Wow. She sounds like..." "A real monster?" "No, a real loser! Like, what was even the point of trying to make friends and turn ponies on each other? What was even her game, there?" Dash frowned in thought, and folded her front hooves. "You know, I have no idea. She just wanted power, I guess...?" "Yeah, but for what?" "So that everypony would listen to her...? And love her? I guess?" "Creating strife doesn't make everypony love you, though! Heck, ponies can't really spare time for love if they're panicking or worried about each other, anyway! And it sounds like she had things backwards; she made friends, who are by definition ponies who listen to you and love you, and then used them to get power, so she could make strife and get more power, so she could get more friends?" Dash laughed at that. "When you lay it out like that, it does sound kinda silly! I guess she was just greedy? Had to have it all?" "But she started out with friends, then lost them by being a jerk. Then she had power, and from what you're saying she ran off and caused even more trouble with that, and then she lost anyway! So she wasn't satisfied with friends, she wasn't satisfied with power... she just had no plan at all." "Well, what's your plan?" I shrugged. "I'm a super hero. I'm going to be the best hero Equestria ever had. No point in doing things half-measure, right?" "Okay, but like, why? What do you hope to gain?" I opened my mouth to speak, and then closed it in thought. Dash pointed a hoof at me. "See? You're doing the same thing, where you're just kinda going through the motions, not sure why." "That's not true! I was just caught short, but the truth is... I don't need a reason to be a super hero. I don't have to have some kind of end-goal or whatever. I don't need to have something to gain." Dash cocked her head. "But then why do it?" "Heroics are their own reward. You know what I mean, don't you?" Dash chewed her lip. "I mean, the admiration and sense of awesomeness you get out of it are nice..." "Yeah, but they're not why you do it, right?" Dash considered that, and nodded. "Yeah, I do it because I care about ponies. I just want to save them when I see them in trouble. It's like an instinct." "Well, I took it beyond just instinct. I'm making a whole lifestyle out of it. I want to be the best at it. That's just how it is." Plus, the better I get at it, the more powerful I become. And I do like the power, the admiration, all of it. But that's not the only reason I do it, right? That wouldn't be very heroic, and I'm the best hero – so that's not why. Dash chewed over some fries in thought, and then grinned at me. "Y'know, for a kid, you're really insightful." I choked on my drink at that. "For a kid?" Dash held up her hooves placatingly at my angry expression. "Easy, easy! What I meant was, you're really sharp in general, and that's even more surprising for your age!" I nodded, placated. "Thank you. You're... actually pretty insightful, too. And that's even more surprising for a jock!" Dash laughed and playfully swatted some cloud at me, and we engaged in the aerial pegasus equivalent of a pillowfight as we each snatched clouds to batter each other with. I was so at ease around her I almost forgot to disguise my wings as magic. Author's Note They can't all be funny. Don't judge me! //-------------------------------------------------------// Dial it up //-------------------------------------------------------// Dial it up The next couple of days went by smoothly. I spent time with Dash and Zecora, but I focused mostly on training; just because I had won the last few fights soundly didn't mean I wouldn't eventually meet my match. After all, super heroes always do, right? But they come back stronger. And I still had those evil wizards to beat. I was in the middle of training my self-enhancement magic when several of my gems went off, all at the same time. Oh ponyfeathers! I won't be able to get to all of the disasters in time! For a split second, my irritation at the interruption to my schedule was overridden by a terrifying image of a horrible, gigantic red and black monster, towering over ponies who writhed on the ground in agony, amidst flames and devastation. The phantom memory passed as quickly as it came, but I felt a wet, terrible fear slither in my guts before I clamped down on it. I am not some weak pony who will cower or fail! I'm going to save the day, and NOTHING CAN STOP ME! I teleported into my disguise, and teleported for Manehattan; I figured I'd work my way back to home, since I'd likely be too exhausted when it was all over to teleport back to the Everfree from farther than Ponyville. My teleport beacon for Manehattan was on top of the tallest skyscraper I could find, and I wasted no time in spotting the disturbance and bolting for it. There was some kind of swarm of pastel-colored bugs zipping around, and ponies were shrieking and fleeing. I watched one of the bugs chomp half a bench off, and then split into two. ... Buck. So these things had crazy biting power, multiplied at an astonishing rate, and ate literally everything. I vaguely remembered a description of that sort of thing... Parasprites? But where can I find a tuba at this hour?! Oh. Wait. Duh. I bolted straight for the music store, though I at least opened the door instead of shattering the window, and I grabbed all of the instruments I would need in my magic. Then I flew back towards the swarm, and grabbed several ponies in the process. I set them all down, though I kept them from running off (kicking and screaming as they were), and magically augmented my voice. "LISTEN UP, YOU SCAREDY-FOALS!" That got their attention, and they stared at me in either awe or terror – either way worked. "I AM THE DASHING SAVIOR, AND I AM HERE TO SAVE YOUR TOWN! TAKE THESE!" I shoved instruments into the hooves of each of the ponies, and quickly got each one playing the one or two notes they needed to play on repeat to lure the swarm out of town. With a few encouraging zaps from my horn, they got to playing, and the swarm began following them to the border of Manehattan. Job done! Time for the next! My horn heated up, and my world tilted sideways as I slipped through space to Las Pegasus. I wobbled on my hooves slightly after that long-range teleport, and stared down from on top of the casino I had picked as my teleport zone. Huh. I don't see anything wrong. Then I heard screams from inside the casino directly below me, and I rolled my eyes and groaned. Of course. I teleported inside of the casino, and the source of the disturbance became obvious immediately; some kind of machine was going absolutely haywire, spewing boiling cider at ponies and running around on mechanical spider legs. One scalded foal was hiding under a table, which the machine flicked over before aiming its juice-jet at them. There was no time to plan, only to react, and I sprang between the foal and the machine. I thought I'd be able to get a shield up in time, but instead I just got a face of steaming cider. HOLY EQUESTRIA THAT BURNS! "YOU WORTHLESS SCRAPHEAD! BURN! BURN IN TARTARUS!" I screamed and loosed a magic blast that could have laid out a dragon, and the machine shattered and splattered all over the rear wall, thankfully away from the other ponies. I rapidly wiped the boiling cider off of my face before turning around on the foal, who was staring at me with an awed expression. Reel in the anger, Quillon! You're a hero! I managed to contort my facial expression to something vaguely friendly and/or heroic. "Are you okay, citizen?" "I... I got burned... are you a super hero?!" I nodded. "I am the hero, Dashing Savior! Get some ice for that and go to the doctor! I must go, for there are other ponies to save!" Also MY FACE HURTS SO BAD, ARGH! Having confirmed that the foal was not in any life-threatening danger, and the other ponies seemed alright, I teleported to Appleloosa. I was still blinking hot cider out of my eyes when I appeared on the top of the clocktower at the center of town. For a brief moment, I wondered how much worse it would have been if I wasn't unnaturally tough, or what a straight jet of cider to the eyes would have done to that foal. No time for empathy, Quillon! Find the next crisis! I glanced around, and saw a blurry commotion on the far side of town. My eyes still weren't really clear, but I set off for it anyway, like a hero should. I hope these stupid ponies are thankful for what I'm going through for them! I landed near the commotion and took a closer look. It seemed like there was some kind of mass fight going on. From what I could tell, buffalo, earth ponies, and a few unicorns were involved, but it didn't seem like there was any clear grouping to the combatants; it was just a giant free-for-all. Well what am I supposed to do? Fight all of them?! I started trying to think of ways to manipulate the combatants into stopping, when I suddenly realized something. The fighters weren't saying anything at all. Bystanders were crying out and generally having a good ol' fashioned pony freakout, but the fighters were almost robotically silent. Magical manipulation! Okay, just gotta release them—OOF! While I had been analyzing the situation, a buffalo had taken interest in me and rammed me from the side. Thankfully it was just a headbutt – their horns weren't curved well for frontal rams – but it still hurt like Tartarus. "Why you—No! BAD BUFFALO!" I zapped the buffalo in the face with a stun spell, which caused it to wobble drunkenly in place before falling over. I also felt the enchantment break under the stun. Well okay then! I flew above the melee, and began tossing out stunning spells left and right. Soon, only the unicorns were left, who kept shielding themselves with their magic. Dangit! Of course they had to be wizards! Now what?! One of the unicorns fired a horn blast at me, which I only barely managed to weave around in midair. It felt like the time was right for a heroic proclamation. "FOALS! I AM THE DASHING SAVIOR, AND YOUR EVIL WAYS WILL NEVER PREV—OW!" One of the unicorns had snuck out of my field of view and shot me in the back. It was a pretty weak hornblast, but still, the nerve! I teleported underneath his chin – advantages of being pint-sized! – and reeled a hoof back. "FLYING HYDRA PUNCH! MINIMUM POWER MODE!" It was really just a jumping uppercut, but it still knocked him on his haunches and stunned him enough that I could put his lights out with a spell. I wove around a couple more hornblasts and got some distance from the three remaining unicorns. "You don't know who you're messing with! Heroes never lose! Come on – give me your best shot!" I formed a cup of energy, and the unicorns obligingly fired blasts into it as hard as they could until they were spent. Then I turned that cup of energy into a tiny ball of electricity – far less powerful than the one I had used against the dragon, and far less dangerous. Plus, I had practice now, so I wasted no energy in zapping them all with it until they were down for the count. "Yeah! THAT'S MY DRAGON BALL TECHNIQUE, SO-NAMED BECAUSE IT DEFEATED A DRAGON'S BREATH! The Dashing Savior never fails!" I was talking tough, but frankly I was wobbling on my hooves at that point. The crowd was cheering for me, though, and that helped me power through. I charged my horn and teleported to Ponyville, and arrived feeling so tired my thoughts turned to my bed – but that thought was quickly dashed from my mind by what I saw...